The Last Falcon: Book 1 of the Cael Stone

by Colleen Ruttan

CHAPTER 18

  When Quinn returned with Briggs the next morning, Erynn could tell right away they had learned the truth. She rose slowly to her feet — still stiff and sore from her journey the day before, as well as a long and rather uncomfortable night's sleep on the cold ground next to the fire pit, and hampered by the fact her hands were still bound behind her. Adena pulled herself up next to her.

  "Untie them," Quinn said the second he rode into the clearing.

  The two men who had watched them all night came over and untied their ropes, but they remained close behind them — as if afraid they might bolt.

  "Didn't exactly tell us the truth, did you?" Briggs said. He walked over and plunked a roll of bread in each of their hands, his gaze lingering on Erynn. "Daughter of Maegan."

  Erynn hated his tone, but was almost too hungry to care. The men left behind to watch them had given them each a couple stale biscuits and some water overnight — untying their hands for a few minutes one at a time so they could eat — but it hadn't done much to curb her hunger and she was still starving. As she tore into the roll, Briggs started pacing back and forth in front of them.

  "Lord Caden was sent here to arrest you," he said. "That's why Marik's after you. Not because of some plot to kill Gareth. If any of that's true."

  "I'm not lying," Erynn said through a mouthful of bread. "I just didn't tell you I was Holden's part of the deal."

  "The deal?" Quinn said as he walked over. "You mean where Holden gives you to Naedra and in return she kills Gareth?"

  He didn't seem particularly surprised that Naedra was after her, which was something Erynn found a little surprising herself. "I did hear them talking about it. They just didn't mention my name. I didn't even know who I was until the king told me the night of the banquet."

  "And that's when he gave you the coins? And the key to the tunnel?"

  Erynn glanced at Adena. Holden had figured out how they'd escaped. "The king gave me the coins, but not the key. I found that in his cabinet." She smiled a little, almost wishing she could have seen the look on Holden's face when he found out. "Holden took the king's tunnel key the night I heard them in the study. I guess he forgot his mother had one, too."

  A trace of a smile appeared on Quinn's face. "And is that also where you acquired the map?"

  "I stole the map," Adena said, with a sideways glance at Erynn. "I thought we might need it."

  Quinn remained quiet a moment, staring at Erynn like he was still trying to decide whether or not he believed her. Then he shook his head. "I always knew something wasn't right about you. The way the king brought you to the castle after your father died. The way he chose you to write his letters. Then there were the rumors about him really being your father, but I always had trouble with that because he just didn't seem the type. But this? This makes sense. He was in Tallon during the war. He would have met Queen Sasha. And possibly others in the Order of the Cael. If you were a couple of years older I'd say maybe you were her lost child — and worth a very high price — but unfortunately you're not. Still, Wryden could have met another Daughter when he was in Tallon. Did he tell you who your parents are?"

  Erynn stuffed another piece of roll in her mouth, curious how Quinn knew so much about the Daughters of Maegan. "He doesn't know. A friend of his brought me here and apparently he didn't say."

  "Then how'd the Galians find out you were here?" Briggs asked.

  "He doesn't know that, either. He just gave me those coins and told me to leave Alyria. To go find his friend and get the answers from him."

  "What's the friend's name?" Quinn asked.

  Adena had finished her roll and now she stepped forward, her arms crossed over chest. "Why do you care?"

  Quinn didn't look amused. "Because now that I have your little friend here, I'm trying to figure out what I want to do with her. And you."

  "You can't give her to the Galians. They'll kill her."

  This time Quinn smiled. "Well, firstly, I can do what I like. And second, your friend's far too valuable to just hand over to the Galians without us getting something. A reward, let's say. Maybe the Order would even pay for her."

  Erynn wondered if he was serious. If he did ransom her to the Order, she wouldn't have to worry about Paddon. He might just deliver her to her mother. She waited for him to say something more, or to even ask again who it was that had brought her to Alyria, but he no longer seemed interested and turned to the other men.

  "Best get your things together," he said. "Cole should be here soon and we'll want to clear out."

  "Yes, we've got one mighty upset Galian Lord ready to tear up half of Alyria to find this one," Briggs said, nodding toward Erynn. "Not to mention Marik tracking us as we speak."

  The other men immediately began gathering up their bedrolls and packs.

  "What are you going to do with us?" Adena asked.

  "Lock you up for a while," Quinn said. "At least until this place cools down and I can figure out a plan."

  Erynn was glad that he wasn't taking them back to the castle, or handing her over to the Galians, but she didn't like the idea of being locked up at all. She had just ripped off another chunk of roll and was going to ask him about delivering her to the Order, when a rider approached from the south.

  The men tensed, but it was just another man from their group, the one who had left the clearing on his own the night before. Quinn walked over to him as he dismounted, leaving Briggs and the other two men with the girls.

  Erynn finished off her roll as she watched them talk, wondering where Quinn was planning to take them. Minutes later, a wagon pulled by two light-colored horses approached from the same direction. The driver was a middle-aged man with a bald head and a reddish beard. A younger man of about sixteen, and looking very much like his son, sat next to him on the bench.

  Erynn's mouth dropped open. The driver was the same man she had seen talking to Gareth and her father in the back of that shop in Caraden! Right before Gareth left for Ridan. The man's beard had been shorter then, and a little darker, but she knew without a doubt it was him. For several moments she was so stunned that all she could do was just stand there and stare. But then she frowned. What would a friend of her father's — let alone a friend of Gareth's — be doing here in the woods, meeting with Quinn?

  The bald man set the brake on the wagon, climbed down from his seat, and glanced around. His eyes passed briefly over Erynn — and then quickly returned. He blinked a couple of times, as if he thought she looked familiar, and then recognition passed across his face. Recognition and fear.

  And right then Erynn knew the answer. "You're not working for Holden. You're working for Gareth." At first she didn't realize she'd spoken the thought out loud, but then a silence descended over the clearing.

  One of the horses hitched to the bald man's wagon snorted and shook his head.

  "Working for Gareth?" Adena said. "Erynn, what are you talking about?"

  "I saw him talking to Gareth and my father," Erynn said, nodding to the man she now assumed was Cole. "In a shop in the village. Just before Gareth left for Ridan. They killed the dogs so they could find out what we knew. And that's why he wanted to know what I heard in the study." She looked at Quinn. "He's spying on Holden."

  Adena looked speechless, and for several moments, no one in the clearing moved or made a sound. Then Quinn let out a breath and slowly reached up to rub the back of his neck.

  "Seems I should have just let them catch you," he said, shooting Cole a very displeased look.

  Cole raised his hands, shaking his head. "Mason didn't tell me you had Davy's daughter. Only a couple of servant girls from the castle."

  "And I wasn't aware the two of you had already met," said the man who had arrived just before the wagon.

  Erynn's mind was reeling, trying to understand what this all meant. Was her father spying for Gareth, too? And if he was, how could she not have known?

  Briggs and the other men were staring at Erynn, not looking very happy at all.
Even the younger man still sitting up on the wagon seat appeared rather shocked.

  "Marik will kill us if he finds out, Quinn," Briggs said. "You know that."

  Quinn didn't seem like he needed reminding. "Obviously this complicates things a bit."

  "A bit?" Briggs said with a laugh. "You know what'll happen if he gets his hands on them. What he'll do to get the answers he wants."

  Quinn rubbed a hand down over his face. "I say we just stick to the plan. Lock them up until things cool down." One of the men had grabbed the girls' packs and he took them and tossed them into the back of the wagon.

  "Should be fine once we hit the road," Cole said with a bit of a shrug. "Can't track us in that much traffic."

  Briggs snorted. "You don't know Marik. He doesn't need the dogs."

  "Then what do you suggest, Briggs?" Quinn snapped. "Do to them what we did to the dogs? We knew this job would be risky. We just need to be more careful."

  Briggs stared at Quinn. Then he turned to the other men and motioned with his head to the girls. "Get them in the wagon."

  As the men stepped forward, Cole came around and opened the tailgate. Six large bales of hay sat in the back of the wagon, plus a number of heavy horse blankets and a few large bags filled with what Erynn could only guess was grain.

  "But we're on the same side," she said, shaking off one of the men as he tried to grab her arm. "Can't you help us get out of Alyria? Or to the Order?"

  "If Holden hasn't sent word to the bridges to watch for you, he will soon," Quinn said. "And Marik's expecting us to meet up with him later and I know he'll ask questions if anyone's missing. That man notices things more than anyone I've ever met. Not to mention he's got spies everywhere."

  "Then let us go," Adena said, scowling at one of the men as he grabbed for her elbow. "We can find a way out of Alyria on our own."

  "You two wouldn't stand a chance," Briggs said. "The bridges are guarded and the Delorin too wide and swift. Even if you could find a boat."

  "And I'm not exactly keen on you getting caught," Quinn added. "Not now."

  "But we wouldn't say anything," Erynn said. "We want Gareth back just as much as you do. We've been trying to warn him!"

  Briggs stepped closer to Erynn, pointing his finger at her. "Marik will make you talk, little girl. He'll want to know who killed his dogs and he will make you answer."

  Erynn swallowed, remembering the way Marik had questioned her in the kitchen. So calm and friendly. What would he be like when he was angry? Still, she refused to let Briggs scare her. If she could survive Galia, she could survive Marik. She stood up taller and looked him right in the eye. "I'd tell him we were captured by some men on the road. Maybe those thieves you've been looking for. They didn't tie us up well and we escaped." She looked at Adena, who nodded in agreement.

  "We did think they were in the area," the man named Mason said.

  Briggs didn't look convinced. "He won't buy it."

  Quinn just pointed to the wagon. "In."

  Mason grabbed Erynn's elbow and this time she couldn't wrench it away. He dragged her to the back of the wagon and motioned for her to climb inside, but she resisted. "What about Gareth? If you're working for him you must be communicating with him. Can you warn him?"

  A somewhat uncomfortable look came over the men's faces and they all exchanged glances.

  "Our falconer's dead," Briggs said. "Marik killed him a few months ago."

  "Him and his wife," one of the other men added.

  Erynn's mouth dropped open. "Your falconer was Sheldon Birch's son? I looked for Sheldon when I went to the village two days ago. I thought maybe he could help us warn Gareth."

  "He's gone into hiding," Briggs said. "Left town after Caelin died and now no one can find him."

  "Town?" Erynn said. "You know where he lived?"

  "Blackwood."

  Erynn knew Blackwood was a small town in the southwest corner of Alyria. Her father had gone there twice in the years after Gareth left, but had never taken her. Was that why he went? To see Sheldon? Or to give Caelin information to send to Gareth? "That's why Sheldon came to town so often. He wasn't just there to sell his daggers at the market. He was delivering messages for you."

  Quinn hadn't said a word, but she could tell by his face she was right.

  "Do you know if he has any falcons?" she asked. "Could he send a message to Gareth?"

  "Marik took all of his falcons after he killed them," Briggs said. "We haven't been able to reach Gareth since."

  "We don't that know for sure," Cole piped up. "Sheldon left to come see me that morning, right before Marik showed up. He told me Caelin had just sent a letter."

  Erynn realized what this meant. "Then that falcon might have come back. At some point Gareth would have sent it back. Right?"

  "Doesn't do us much good if we don't know where Sheldon is," Quinn said. "If it even went to him."

  "But it is possible, isn't it?" Erynn asked. Sheldon had told her how smart the falcons were. How loyal they were to their handlers and the lengths they might go to find them. She looked around at the men, and even up at Cole's son, but none seemed in a rush to answer.

  "Sheldon always said those falcons were well trained," Cole said. "Trained to find Gareth no matter where he was and to find Caelin when they came back, too. And other than him, I can't imagine anyone else who knew those falcons better than old Sheldon."

  "Well, it's of no use to us now," Quinn said. "Marik has far too many spies down there to go asking questions." His eyes shifted to Adena. "Thanks, I suspect, to your father, Holden's figured out that Gareth has a contact at the castle. Someone feeding him information. And now Caelin and his wife are dead and Marik's on the hunt for Sheldon."

  Adena's mouth had dropped open. "My father? How do you know it was my father?"

  "Because he's working for the Galians," Briggs said. "Gareth told us so in his letters."

  Adena was about to respond, suddenly looking very angry, but Quinn held up a hand. "We haven't got time to discuss Keegan Fields. Or warning Gareth about that banquet. Or finding Sheldon and a falcon he may or may not have. I want you both in that wagon. Now."

  At first Adena refused, but then one of the men made a grab for her elbow and she shook him off and climbed up into the wagon.

  Mason was pulling on Erynn's arm, trying to get her into the wagon, too, but she still had a question. "What about sending someone to Sarda?"

  "In twenty-five days?" Quinn said. He shook his head. "Briggs is right. Even with the best horse, that's not much time. And like I said, Marik notices things. He'd notice one of us missing and would also probably hear about it if any of us crossed the river."

  "What about Cole?" Erynn asked waving a hand at the wagon driver. "I mean, you are working for Gareth. You can't just let the Galians kill him."

  Something flashed behind Quinn's eyes, but he remained calm and simply pointed once more towards the wagon. "I need Cole to watch you. Now get in the wagon or I'll pick you up and throw you in there myself."