The Last Falcon: Book 1 of the Cael Stone

by Colleen Ruttan

CHAPTER 6

  Erynn had to abandon her plan to sneak down to the village the next morning when another servant woke her before dawn and put her to work in the kitchen. She was tired, barely able to sleep after everything that had happened, and was up so late doing dishes that she was the last one to return to the large room over the first stable that she shared with Adena and a dozen other women. But she went about her chores as diligently as she could, refusing to give Mirella any excuse to increase her sentence, and by the time she was finally allowed a short break, around mid-morning, she was eager to find Adena. She had found out something interesting while listening in on the gossip around the kitchen and was dying to tell her. She was also starving, so stopped just long enough to throw together a small sandwich out of breakfast leftovers before heading out the door into the rear ward.

  She hadn't gone more than a few steps when she heard dogs barking.

  Erynn froze — her sandwich halfway to her mouth. She had heard those dogs before and knew exactly what they meant: Holden was going hunting.

  The thought had barely entered her mind when four Alyrian soldiers rode out from the second of the three stables behind the keep, six large black dogs at their feet. They were followed by Holden, Lord Caden, and four Galians.

  Erynn quickly shrank back into the shadows near the door, afraid Lord Caden might turn his head and see her, but the dogs were jumping and barking at almost everyone and everything they passed and he was having trouble keeping a rein on his horse. Larger and blacker than those of his men, the stallion had its ears laid back and shied every time one of the dogs came close. Erynn had seen the horse before. It was the same one Lord Caden was riding when she and her father encountered him in Galia.

  Erynn crept along the edge of the keep as the men rode toward the inner gatehouse, peering around the corner just as they passed under the portcullis and on to the outer ward. It wasn't until they were completely gone from sight that she breathed a small sigh of relief, glad she had stopped for something to eat and hadn't left the kitchen a few minutes sooner. Then she took a bite of her sandwich and turned for the first stable — and once more she froze.

  Marik was standing in the doorway of the same stable the men had just left. Another soldier stood next to him, and appeared to be saying something, but the Army Commander's eyes were on her.

  Erynn swallowed. This was the second time she had seen him this morning. He had entered the kitchen not long after she started her chores, stepping in through the rear door and walking right past her to the great hall — giving her just the hint of a smile. The other servants had noticed and immediately started whispering, and now here he was again. She felt an urge to reach down to her pocket and touch the small letter tube, to make sure it was still there, but she resisted. Instead, she raised herself up, took another bite of her sandwich, and walked as calmly as she could across the ward to the first stable.

  She found Adena mucking out one of the stalls at the far end of the corridor, a bay mare standing patiently along the back wall and a wooden cart half-full of manure and soiled straw parked outside the open door.

  "He's definitely watching me," Erynn said as she stepped inside.

  Adena looked up. "Who? Marik?"

  Erynn nodded, taking a quick glance up and down the corridor to make sure they were alone. "I saw him in the kitchen this morning, and then again just now. Outside."

  "Think he talked to Faris?"

  Erynn could still see the look on Marik's face in the kitchen. The smile. "He must have. Faris probably told him I refused to give him the letter and now he thinks I still have it."

  "And do you?"

  Erynn reached into her pocket and pulled out the letter tube, showing it to her friend.

  Adena took one look at it and turned back to her work, scooping up a clump of soiled straw with her pitchfork and adding it to the growing pile in the cart. "Well, he knows you can't send it without Faris. I think he's just toying with you. I've heard he's like that."

  Erynn snorted. "You'd think the Commander of the Alyrian Army would have better things to do. Especially with Galian soldiers at the castle." She took another bite of her sandwich and started pacing back and forth across the stall. The bay mare raised her head and stared at her, clearly wishing the two of them would finish their business in her home and move on.

  "I'm surprised he didn't go hunting," Adena said. "Holden and Lord Caden just left."

  "I know. I saw them." Erynn felt a chill thinking about how close she had come to being seen by Lord Caden. She didn't know if he would recognize her after all this time, but wasn't in a rush to find out.

  "I still don't understand why you don't just tell the king what's going on. If Marik wants the letter so bad, let him get it from him."

  "I told you, Adena. I can't."

  "What about Lianne?"

  "What about her?"

  "Why not tell her? She is Gareth's wife. Maybe she can do something."

  Erynn shook her head. "She'd just go to the king. Or confront Holden." She took another bite of her sandwich and remembered what she'd learned in the kitchen and had been so eager to tell Adena. "I heard Krystalix didn't just fly over the castle yesterday. He attacked the Galians right after they crossed the bridge. Killed two of their men. And he followed them all the way here, too."

  Adena paused what she was doing and straightened up, a frown on her face. "That's odd, isn't it?"

  "Yes," Erynn replied, still pacing. "The day my father died is the only time I've ever heard of him attacking someone unprovoked."

  "The only time?"

  "As far as I know. I did hear that a few of the old kings sent out men to try and kill him, and that most of them never came back alive. But that was different. They went after him."

  "You think maybe it has something to do with what happened in Galia? To your father?"

  That was exactly what Erynn was thinking. Ever since she first heard the news. The only problem was it didn't make sense. "I don't know. I can't think of anything else that would explain it." She paused. "I know the king has a book on Krystalix. Sort of a history book. He keeps it locked up in a cabinet in his study, along with his crown and the Queen's jewels. It's apparently been used for hundreds of years to record sightings of Krystalix. Encounters. Stuff like that. If he has done something like this before, it would be in there."

  "Think the king would let you look at it?"

  Erynn knew he wouldn't. The history of Krystalix was the one book in the king's whole study she had most wanted to read, ever since she'd first laid eyes on it, and the only one he had ever forbidden her from touching. "I've asked. He says its too old or something."

  Adena shrugged and went back to her work. "Well, maybe it's nothing. Maybe Krystalix doesn't like Galians. Or maybe he's after Lord Caden because of that other dragon."

  "Melaryx? If that was it, why hasn't Krystalix killed him already? I mean, I've seen him rip men apart, Adena. Easily. I know what he can do."

  Footsteps came down the corridor. Erynn finished the last of her sandwich as a young man with blonde hair and a very black eye walked by. Adena straightened and fixed him with a hard stare, but he didn't say a word. Seconds later he was gone.

  "Let me guess, the one who called Jared a traitor?" Erynn asked.

  Adena didn't respond, just started flattening the pile of soiled straw in the cart with the edge of her pitchfork.

  Erynn headed for the stall door, thinking maybe it was time to leave.

  "What are you going to do about the letter?" Adena asked.

  Erynn paused. "I don't know. There's no way I can get down to the village now. And tomorrow's going to be even busier."

  "Do you really think Gareth's written? And that Holden's keeping the letters?"

  Erynn remembered the look in the falconer's eyes when she asked him about the letters. "Yes."

  Adena stopped her flattening. "Think he'd keep them?"

  Erynn stared at her friend, recognizing something in her voice
— something she knew likely meant trouble. "Maybe. Why?"

  Adena motioned in the general direction of the inner gatehouse. "They have gone hunting. Probably won't be back for hours."

  Erynn realized what she was suggesting. She peered up and down the corridor again, and then took a step closer. "Do you know how dangerous that is? Searching his solar? What might happen if we got caught?"

  Adena laughed and shook her head. "Not me. I'm stuck here. You're the one who spends time with the king. And has access to the upper floors of the keep."

  Erynn rubbed a hand across her face, not sure she could do it — and especially if she had to do it alone. She was intrigued at the thought of finding Gareth's letters, if they did exist, but was also terrified of getting caught. Holden was not Mirella. If he found out she'd been snooping around in his solar, he would definitely see her punished — and not with dishes. "I don't know, Adena."

  "Unless you don't think he'd keep them in his solar?"

  "He wouldn't keep them in the falconry. I don't think he trusts Faris. That's why he had Marik post the guards."

  For a few moments, neither of them said a word. Then Adena stepped even closer.

  "You have been in there before?" she asked, her voice almost a whisper. "Haven't you? I remember you telling me."

  Erynn could feel her heart pounding already. "Yes, but this is different, Adena."

  "How? Just pretend you're cleaning or something."

  Erynn turned away and started pacing across the stall again, still not sure she wanted to risk getting caught, but then suddenly she remembered something and her eyes widened and she spun back around. "If Holden was expecting the Galians, maybe they exchanged letters before they crossed the bridge. Letters that could tell us why they're really here."

  Adena smiled. "Exactly."