“It’s... It’s open.” Ferd spoke in a muffled tone, slurring the words, and he shook the arm of the dead guard who was closer to him. “This wine is so good.” He tried to take the carafe, only to push it off the table. It crashed on the floor, spilling the wine.
“Idiot,” the man who was the first to enter the room and seemed to be the leader, snapped. Velna followed him, pushed from behind by another man. “Light more torches,” he growled at the man behind. “And put these two in jail.” He gestured at the dead guards.
Hidden behind the open door, Saliné waited until the last man entered and sneaked behind him. The man in command hit one of the dead men with his boot, and the body fell slowly onto the floor. Taking advantage of the noise, Saliné plunged her dagger into the ribs of the man in front. It was a skilled strike, and it pierced his heart, but the man still groaned, and the other two turned swiftly. Ferd jumped on the lead man and slit his throat from behind while Saliné found herself in front of a man with a sword in his hand.
“Drop your sword,” she ordered coldly and, recognizing her, the man hesitated for a few moments before falling on her with his sword. It was enough time for Ferd to plunge his dagger into the man’s neck. Eyes closed, Saliné breathed deeply. “Ferd, hide all of them in a cell and lock it. Take the key with you. Then arrange the two guards we found here at the table again.” She went to Velna, who was sobbing quietly. “I am sorry, Velna,” she whispered and took the woman in her arms. They stayed like this until Ferd had finished hiding the bodies, and came back with Alma.
“Alma, throw the keys in the cells with the other jailed men and take torches,” Saliné ordered. “The position of the key on the wall matches the row of the cells.”
“We are leaving, Herby,” Ferd went to the man’s cell, and locked the door, then threw him the key. “Wait five minutes, and when you leave, lock the main door and take the key with you.”
“Are you sure?” Saliné whispered.
“He gave me something that may exculpate him partially, and we need to verify it. It’s important.” He thought about telling her about the possible spy at Codrin’s court, but changed his mind.“Please give him a chance.”
“Tell him to leave through the small wine cellar.”
Ferd threw a surprised stare at her, but executed her order. “Let me go out first,” he said, gesturing at the door. “More soldiers may come, and from the window, we can’t see the whole corridor.” Without waiting for an answer, he took the sword from the fallen guard and opened the door slowly, sneaking his head out. “There is no one outside.” He moved into the corridor, followed by Alma and Velna.
“Go left, the last door on the left,” Saliné whispered behind them, and locked the door, then let the key fall inside through the small window. Once she had finished, all four ran toward the cellar.
“This is the small wine cellar,” Ferd said when they entered the vault. “There is no other door to leave by.”
“There is a window.”
“There are bars too.”
“Ferd,” Saliné snapped. “You will go out through the window. That one,” she pointed up to her left. “It leads into the inner garden. Shake the two bars on the right, push them up, and they will move.”
Ferd glanced at her, then shook the first bar, and it moved. He threw a shamed smile at Saliné and took out the second bar too.
“Out there,” Saliné said, “go to the northern wall of the palace, through the garden. It’s important to escape by that route. Climb the stairs on the left and walk the length of the wall. There are no sentries on it,” she added. “Then climb down at the end of the wall into the city. Alma, there is a rope in front of the door. Give it to Ferd. You must leave the rope on the wall. Here are twenty galbeni,” she pushed a small purse to Ferd. “It should help you leave Severin. Take your families and go to Codrin, in Poenari. He will help you.”
“Thank you, Lady Saliné, but it will not be possible to leave Severin for a while. They will wait for us at the gate. We already have a hiding place prepared for such an emergency. Herby doesn’t know about it. And you?” Ferd asked.
“I will manage. Go now.”
“From now on, you should contact only Felcer and Herat, the chandler.”
Yes, she nodded. “Thank you for everything.” Saliné embraced Alma and Velna, and she stayed until they had all left the cellar. She barely had time to hide behind a barrel when Herby entered. One of the torches was still alight, and he found the open window. He quickly climbed onto the sill and vanished into the darkness. Saliné went and put the bars back in place.
Early in the morning, it took Bucur five minutes of punching at the door to wake up Saliné up. “Saliné,” he growled, “open the door.”
She waited for a few moments then, shrugging, she went to open the door in her nightgown. “Sorry,” Saliné said, “I struggled to sleep last night. Those women,” she shook her head. “Please help them.” She stared at Bucur, who nodded. “Let me dress, and I will come for breakfast.”
Bucur pulled her toward him and kissed her, his hands slipping under her gown.
“Let’s eat now,” she said, stopping him. “I am hungry.”
“Ferd has escaped,” he said.
“You are joking. How could he escape from that jail?”
“I am not joking.”
“Someone must have helped him,” Saliné frowned. “Let’s eat; I can’t think on an empty stomach.”
Breakfast was brief and morose; neither Aron nor Bucur wanted to speak. Grigio tried a bad joke on Saliné, who ignored him.
“They escaped through the small wine cellar!” A guard burst into the room.
“We should go and check,” Aron said and stood up.
Ferd left traces in the snow by the wall... She pushed her nails into her palm to stop a smile. “I don’t think that you need me there,” Saliné said. “I am tired. It was a hard day yesterday. It may be even harder today.” She waited until the last out of them left, and she left too, through the smaller door going straight into the corridor leading to her suite. She walked at leisure and, once inside her room, she locked the door.
She waited for a few minutes to make her mind up, and then opened the secret door behind the fireplace. With a sigh, she stepped into the hidden corridor. At the end of the upper stair, she took out one of the two stones, and her eyes searched the northern wall. Aron was climbing the stairs by which Ferd had escaped during the night. His face was tense, and he was frowning. That brought a brief smile to Saliné’s lips. Grigio and Bucur followed him, the same tension filling their bodies. The last man to mount the rampart was a guard, the only one who seemed not to care much about what had happened. They walked briskly toward the end of the wall, where they found the rope. Aron bent over it, and looked over the wall. From her hiding place, Saliné lowered her body a bit to get a better view.
“Go down and check,” Aron ordered to the soldier, who cursed him silently.
The soldier tested the rope for safety, then climbed over the embrasure. His head vanished behind the merlon. Bucur and Grigio gathered behind Aron, their bodies touching, all of them slightly bent to follow the soldier’s descent.
“There are footprints in the snow,” the soldier shouted.
“Don’t touch them,” Aron ordered. “Go and tell Karel to come with more soldiers and follow the footprints.”
Saliné’s eyes moved from one man on the wall to another, and she took a deep breath. “I wish I could kill him,” she whispered, “but I can’t. The Circle may take revenge on Codrin. But my hands are not fully tied.” She smiled and released her arrow, which flew and pierced Bucur’s buttock, its point smashing into his femur. He fell against the wall with a wail of shock and pain. The second one hit Grigio, and the third one too. Deliberately, she aimed at his stomach. She fixed the stone back in its place again, and walked quickly to her room, and got there just as Gria knocked at the door. “Who is there?” Saliné asked.
“Gria.”
“Come later, I am tired.” She went to change her dress, and washed out the small stains it had suffered in the hidden corridor. Then she placed it close to the fireplace. She checked her riding costume, which she had washed after her night escapade to the jail, and it was already dry. She grabbed it and placed it into her wardrobe. And she sighed.
The arrow she used on Bucur was a special one; it had a dented point, and that shredded Bucur’s flesh. Because of the pain and shock, Bucur fell on his back and broke the shaft of the arrow, and he needed help to return to his room. Felcer and Saliné were called to take care of his wound.
“We need to extract the point,” Felcer said in a worried voice. “It won’t be easy; the shaft broke inside him,” he stared at Aron. “We need to make him sleep.”
“Give me the potion,” Bucur moaned, lying on his belly.
Felcer went out and returned with a jar and a bag filled with several small boxes and bottles. He rifled through them and took some powder from one or another and dropped it into the jar. Then he poured liquid from two bottles. Patiently, he mixed them for more than five minutes.
“Faster,” Bucur growled.
“It must be done properly,” Felcer said, unmoved, continuing to blend everything in the jar. “Leave the room,” he said to Aron, when Bucur finally fell asleep. “Saliné and I can take care of him.”
Aron frowned, and tried to object but, in the end, he obeyed; it was not good to disturb a healer when working on a serious wound.
“How long will Bucur be bedridden?” Saliné whispered when she was alone with Felcer.
I want to kill him, but even though he deserves it, I can’t, Felcer thought. I am a healer, not a killer. “It depends on how I extract the point. Would two months be enough?” he asked.
Yes, Saliné nodded. “He tried to rape me,” she said, her voice filled with anger.
“He will not bother you for a while.” Felcer gently squeezed her hand, and nodded at her. He turned back to Bucur, enlarged the wound with his knife and took out the arrow. “Quite a strange point.” He raised the remains of the arrow to see it better.
“I chose it with care,” Saliné said.
Felcer fought hard not to burst into laughter; it could be that Aron or somebody else was listening through the door. “This thing seriously damages the tissue, and the wound may not heal properly inside, close to the bone, and in time, he may limp. He deserves it.”
There was nothing Felcer could do for Grigio, who had died during the night.
Next morning, Aron called Saliné to Bucur’s room. “Grigio died,” he said, his voice bland. “Why Bucur and Grigio?” His voice was edgy, and he stared at her. I don’t like to ask this bitch, but I have no one else...
“It was not a skilled archer,” she said, after a few moments of thought. “All the arrows were aimed at a large target, the belly. How far was Bucur from Grigio?”
“It was a tight place on the wall. Their shoulders were touching.”
“I think that he wanted to kill Grigio. The first shot was a miss. It hit Bucur in error. There was enough time to kill both you and Bucur, if the archer wanted to. One or more arrows... He did not even try.”
“Why?”
“The many soldiers who were killed, now Grigio...” Saliné said, after a brief silence. “Someone wants to make you look weak. I suppose that the Circle will not be happy after losing another Sage in Severin.”
“No, it won’t be,” Aron growled. “It must be Codrin’s work.”
“Codrin doesn’t play like that.” She looked straight into Aron’s eyes. “It’s the work of someone from here; someone who knows the castle well. It may be related to Mohor, as Ferd said, but it may be somebody else who wants to take your place. Like one of your Knights. Whatever the reason, they don’t want to kill you yet.”
“Ah, your noble Codrin,” Aron snapped.
“He is not mine, but you are right about the noble part. Focus on your men here, one of them is sabotaging you. I will come at noon, to read you a book,” she said, caressing Bucur’s hand, and she kissed him briefly on the temple. “I just...,” she said, hesitantly, from the door. “I just thought of something. It looks more like someone from the Circle is behind this. There may be no connection between this killer and the ones hunting the soldiers. Perhaps someone who opposes the Master Sage, and wants to create a conflict between him and you. That could be the reason the archer killed a Sage, but did not try to kill you and Bucur. To be sure things are under your control, send some of your Knights and their soldiers away from Severin. We are not in danger now.”
“What do you think?” Aron asked when Saliné closed the door behind her.
“Saliné is a clever girl, and in the last months we have become closer than I expected. She thinks of us as family. I am good at that,” he smiled despite all the pain on his back. “She may be right about a dissident in the Circle trying to harm us, but we have no proof.”
“She doesn’t know that Maud is the new Master Sage, and it’s bad if we have an enemy in the Circle,” Aron frowned. “I can’t find a better explanation.”
“Neither can I; we need to keep our eyes open. Promote Saliné into the council, and we will watch her closely. My wound will make her protective and she is able to work hard.”
“I will send some Knights home. It’s still winter, and nobody will lay siege to Severin right now.”
Felcer was right, and the wound kept Bucur in bed for almost two months, and it took him three more weeks to recover enough for riding or fighting. He still limped slightly.
Chapter 26 – Cleyre
Through the open window of the office, came the pleasant fragrances of the early spring, but Cleyre could not enjoy them. Dark clouds were gathering over Frankis. War was coming, and Peyris would become soon involved in a fight that she tried to avoid.
Fate take the Council and their Candidate King. “Grandfather, we will gain nothing from sending half of our army to help Bucur,” Cleyre said.
“I gave my word.” Duke Stefan was morose, but he did not scold her. For years, he had depended on Reymont, his secretary, and his own judgment. As he aged, his judgment became less stable and he was prone to unexpected influences. Cleyre had started to challenge the Secretary more than the Duke would have liked, but she was not without merit; he had to give her that. I wish Albert could be like her, he thought.
“You gave your word to help Bucur, and you kept it. You already helped him, and you will help more, but it was never assumed that we will send half of the army. Do you think that your friend, Mann of Loxburg, will not seize the opportunity?”
“Don’t talk to me about that savage,” Stefan growled.
“Better to talk now, than when his army comes to Peyris.”
“Reymont assured me that will not be the case.”
“Your Secretary is a Sage of the Circle. Don’t tell me that you don’t know that. To whom is he loyal first?”
“Of course I know that he is a Sage,” the Duke snapped, “but you should consider that he worked for me from before you were even born.”
“And, wasn’t it Reymont who pushed you to have that five years of useless war with Loxburg?”
“There were reasons for that war. Well, not all of them were well founded. What do you really want?”
Cleyre walked behind Stefan and embraced him, leaning her head on his. “Send only five hundred soldiers. The Duke of Tolosa will send soldiers. Orban will send soldiers. That should be enough for any decent commander to take Deva and Dorna.”
“What if it’s not enough, and Bucur loses? Wouldn’t that fall on my head? He is a bastard, but he is my grandson, and better than our dear Albert. We need someone to keep Peyris safe.”
I hope that he will lose. The scoundrel. From her visions, Cleyre knew much more than her Grandfather about Bucur, including how he had drugged Saliné to make her pregnant. “Bucur will never help Albert, apart from taking the Dukedom from him. The Circle should ask Loxburg to sen
d soldiers too. That will keep us ... safe.” For a while.
“That’s indeed strange,” Stefan said, ruefully. “The Circle did not ask Loxburg to send soldiers.”
“See, Grandfather?” Cleyre said, her hand gripping his. “Reymont avoided any talk about Loxburg. Ask him in the council today.”
“Fine,” Stefan sighed. “Gather the council.”
There were eleven people in the Peyris Council, and ten of them were men. That made Cleyre feel lonely and insecure. And even worse, one of them was Albert, Stefan’s heir, with his stupid insistence that she must be thrown off the council. For him the value of a woman was related to what he could find under her skirts. Cleyre knew that, in fact, Reymont was the one who really wanted her out. After Cleyre moved to postpone the departure of the army for two weeks, she and the Secretary were almost at war. As Reymont wrote the agenda for the council, it was no surprise that the contingent for Bucur was the first point to discuss.
“We are delaying too much,” Reymont said. “We assumed some obligations and we need to fulfill them on time.”
“Yes, yes,” Stefan said absently. “You know what I’m wondering, Reymont? Why Loxburg will not send any soldiers.”
“He will gain little when Bucur becomes King. The King will be gracious enough to solve our borders problems in our favor. We all know this.”
“It may take a while for Bucur to become King. Both Orban and I waited twenty years, and it did not happen. What if Loxburg attacks us while half of our army is away?”
“We have already touched on this subject.” Reymont spoke to Duke Stefan, but his eyes were directed at Cleyre, who smiled innocently at him.
“Not entirely. Not entirely, my dear Reymont. What do you think, Nicolas?” The Duke turned toward the Spatar. “Would Loxburg...?”
“He may think of that,” Nicolas said, “but I don’t know if he will dare. That doesn’t mean that we should not be prepared.”
“What do you mean by prepared?”
“Maybe we should keep some more soldiers here.”
“We will still have almost two thousand soldiers in Peyris,” Reymont said, “and the Circle will watch Loxburg.”
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