37
My lady. We weren’t expecting you.”
Jess frowned at the panicked servingwoman carrying a tray of fried meats destined for the hall beyond. The delectable smell of crisp ham and bacon ladled with sweet syrups would normally have sent Jess’s stomach to growling, the aromas only intensified by the pervasive odor of spice that always permeated the kitchens and its helpers.
Jess frowned, feeling some profound insight but a hair's breadth away, yet it was immediately lost, much like her appetite, to behold not just one but two women crumpled to the grown, sobbing uncontrollably.
Jess swallowed, feeling a horrid twisting in her stomach as she approached the two women, inconsolable for all that they were surrounded by consoling staff, the cook’s desperate eyes locking onto Jess.
“Oh, my lady! You were always so good to us, when so much of the nobility just treats us like, like flotsam. I am so sorry that we haven’t been sending you food properly as we should, it’s just, it’s just...”
Jess bent down, taking the cook’s hand in her own. Surprisingly strong despite her plump frame, the cook’s hand clenched tightly to her own, hazel eyes red with tears refusing to let her go. “Tell me, Lena, what troubles you so?”
“My son is missing, and now Ylva’s is as well!”
Jess turned to gaze at the young serving woman huddled in a sobbing puddle, her beautiful face crumpled, tears of sorrow dripping upon the cold stone tiles as she sobbed endlessly.
Jess grimaced, locking gazes with the cook once more. “Saints above, I had no idea! We must tell the proctors at once.”
“They said they had no time for the likes of me!” Lena sobbed.
Jess blinked, dumbfounded to hear this. Her present dilemma aside, she rarely heard the proctors spoken ill of, and in a school full of wild students, she knew that was saying something. She frowned then, as it all clicked into place. “They replaced the head proctor not that long ago, yes?”
Whimpering, the cook nodded. “Hatsk came on board when poor Walter fell right off the battlements! What was that fool thinking? He was always so zealous about patrols, considered the children all members of his extended military family. Fatherly, some might say.” The cook gave a bitter shake of her head. “But he just had to drink on duty, didn’t he? Not just a sip of table ale for a parched throat, but drink so strong he plummeted to his death. What an awful shame.”
Jess felt her stomach knot. “Indeed.”
The cook took a deep, trembling breath, gazing so bemusedly at Jess through her tears. “And you’ve just had to make an enemy of the newest head of those proctors. A former inquisitor, from what I am given to understand, and not one to cut any slack for students, or for staff. Just a spiteful, spiteful man. Bloody bastard. My Johnathan is missing, and all he did was glare at me and act as if it were my fault for not keeping him in line!”
Jess frowned. As hostile as the head inquisitor had been, she had not known his name before. “Let me get this straight. Little Johnathan is missing, and all Hatsk could do was castigate you?”
The cook gave a tearful nod.
“And now my little Bobbi is missing, and they still refuse to do anything!” Ylva sobbed. “Bobbi swore that he and Johnathan had not been getting into mischief, that he had no idea where his friend was. So I forbade him to go off exploring, already worried as I was for Johnathan.”
Her slender hands began trembling. Jess couldn’t help but gently grip them as Ylva burst into fresh tears. “Both our boys, missing! And for all that the assistant proctors tutted and swore to keep an eye out for me, kind-hearted dears, Hatsk shouted them down, condemned me for bothering him with pathetic trifles when he had a keep to care for, calling his own men distracted fools!”
Malek cracked his knuckles. “No matter if Eloquin beats me silly, I’m glad I hit that gods-damned bastard.”
The cook laughed through her tears. “Good on you, young sir. Good on you. Oh, if only the dean hadn’t brought him on!”
Malek gently patted her shoulder. “Dean Echobart isn’t a bad sort. At least, he always had a kind word for me. Like as not, this is politics. If the Crown sends a former inquisitor to join your ranks, there is no way you are turning him down, even if he could care less for the people under his care, his real job just to spy for the head of his order.” He shared a bleak, sympathetic smile with the cook, now giving him a fierce hug. “Believe you me, as a Squire, I know these games better than most.”
Jess gave a sympathetic nod, knowing those games all too bitterly well herself.
Banging could be heard upon the door to the kitchens. A frightened servitor gazing at Jess and Malek like a startled deer. “Hatsk is just outside, and he’s in a temper!”
Malek smiled coldly. “Good. Let’s end this.”
Jess smacked his head. “Don’t be a bloody fool. You might get away with just a beating, two hundred sympathetic students did watch the man strike you with his club as if you were gutter trash, but anything further and it's the penitent’s robes for both of us!”
Muffled shouts, angry pounding upon the thin door separating the kitchens from the dining hall.
“Please don’t shout so, sir, the door is stuck!” Placated the panicked servant as Hatsk swore endless vile punishments to the kitchen staff entire.
Malek turned to Jess.
She winked. “It is made of wood, after all.”
The cook’s eyes widened. “A sacred gift, and always there for us you are.” She wiped away her tears, turning to a wide-eyed helper. “Alice, a bag full of salted meats and cheeses, on the double! Rachel, a flask of mead and those two meat pies cooling on the rack.” Both ladies gave quick nods, Jess and Malek’s hands were filled with tasty fare almost before they could blink.
“You’d best be off, my dears. There is little you can do for me, but save your own skins from that bloody bastard!”
Jess nodded. “Thank you, dear Lena. But please, tell me, where did you last see Johnathan?”
The cook rubbed her eyes. “I had put him to bed just the night before last, him sleeping like a babe. When I checked on him the next morning, I thought he was off in play, but he never came home, not all day!”
Trembling, Ylva squeezed the cook’s hand. “’Tis the same with mine! Little Bobbi sleeping like an angel. I wake up this morning and he is gone without a trace, and no one has seen him! It has not been so many hours, but I always know where Bobbi goes. No friend or servitor has seen him, he is absent from all his haunts.” She turned to Jess. “Oh, my lady, if only you could help us!”
“Oh Ylva, look at our poor Jess,” the head cook gently scolded. “She is at the cliff’s edge as it is. What can she do, save make a tincture for our tears?”
Lena smiled sadly at Jess. “I am sorry we had to burden you with our troubles, my lady. Please forgive us, and make yourself scarce before that vile Hatsk breaks down the door.”
Jess turned to the sound of banging, startled to see that one of the men glaring at the door looked chillingly familiar. Her heart lurched, recognizing his bulky frame and scowling features an instant before turning away.
“Who is the helper by the door, holding the tray of fresh loaves?”
The cook frowned. “That’s Glist. Came on board not that long ago. Surly type, but a skilled brewer and baker.” She shook her head. “His is one shoulder I would never lean on, but his ale is good, and his bread some of the tastiest we’ve had in Highrock. Still, he is an impatient one, as like to break the door down as Hatsk. Best you get a move on, my lady.”
Jess gently squeezed both their hands. “Thank you for the bounty of your kitchens.”
Exchanging a solemn glance with a grim faced Malek, the both made a quick exit out the back into the courtyard outside the wing.
Jess took a deep breath of crisp air smelling of wildflowers and the sharp clean scent of evergreens, dozens of students sparring or relaxing upon lush fields of grass and wildflowers rippling in the breeze. Jess felt a weight ease from h
er soul, even as her heart was filled with sudden resolve.
She turned to Malek. “You know what we have to do, right?”
Malek sighed, taking a bite of savory meat pie. “See if we can track down those boys. Do you think it’s possible they could have gotten it into their heads to explore the forest?”
Jess frowned. “A possibility, I suppose, though not too likely. Still, it’s not like we can get into any more trouble today. Out of sight, out of mind. I will check the woods while you check with our friends. See if Alex has any spells he could possibly cook up that might help us find a missing boy. Perhaps Raphael knows someone in the know.”
Malek nodded. “I’ll see what I can do in the keep. If our brothers weren’t still enjoying the revels, I’d loop them in.” He frowned. “Perhaps I will anyway. Bloody hells, Jess, if they had been attending class by your side, it wouldn’t have been nearly such a torment for you. You'd have allies in every class, glaring at any student or professor dead set on belittling you.”
Jess grimaced, shaking her head. “I did put us all at risk, disobeying a direct order.”
Malek scowled. “You trusted your instincts, you acted on your own initiative, just as Eloquin forged you to. Did you make a bad call? Was it foolish? Dare I say it, maybe it was. But I’m equally a fool. And we saved ten of our own, two of our closest friends, and lost not a Squire. We’re we lucky? Sure as blazes. But for you to be treated like you are a wretched stain upon Highrock’s honor is an insult to every life you saved, every charge you led. Honestly, Jess, were you not ever our shield against spear and arrow, we’d be lucky to have half our number, all the mad missions we embrace.”
Jess shrugged. “I saved my friends, but I disobeyed my commander. He has to do this so everyone understands that there is a bitter price for disobedience, even if, in the end, we got lucky. Very lucky. It’s why I haven’t been expelled already, I think.” Jess sighed. “If a Squire did this under the king, he’d probably pay for it with his life.”
Malek chuckled softly, shaking his head, gazing with awe at the massive keep they called home. “Actually, no. If you emerged victorious, the king would take credit and you would give it, grateful for his praise in turn."
He turned to Jess, fingers brushing her cheek, intent eyes locking upon her own. "After all this time, don’t you get it, Jess? We aren’t just students. We are the king’s secret weapon, already well in service, embracing madness I suspect would be the death of most men.”
Jess took a shuddering breath, gazing off at the verdant green woodlands just past the extensive training fields, lush and inviting, sunlight sparkling through rustling foliage, the chirp of birdsong filling the air. “I know, Malek. It’s just… I know.” She gently squeezed Malek’s hand. “I’m off for the trees. I will see you this evening. Hopefully one of us will have some answers.”
And though she gained no profound insights into the whereabouts of missing children while meditating under the trunks of massive trees near the edge of the woods, she felt a remarkable sense of peace, as if ancient wisdom was conveyed with the gentle rustles of every leaf and branch, filling her with calm.
“Meditating, are we? I don’t suppose our dear oak knows of any secret pools filled with succulent fish, now does he?”
Jess’s eyes popped open, and she laughed for joy, catching sight of her sapphire-eyed familiar, gazing at her so seriously before favoring her with a cheshire grin.
“By the gods, Twilight, how I missed you! I wondered why the leaves were rustling so mischievously there at the end,” she said, holding her purring familiar close. “It’s been a very long week," she whispered, surprised to feel her eyes red with sudden tears.
Twilight nodded solemnly. “I know, my mistress. I know. And as much as I would dearly love it if you were a bit better at staying out of trouble, two of our Circle friends owe you their lives. You did good, my mistress. You followed your heart.”
Jess grinned. “Thank you, Twilight.”
He shrugged. “Of course, you also played the fool, and are quite fortunate indeed that Lady Luck favored this roll of the dice.”
Jess shuddered and nodded. “I couldn’t watch them die, Twilight. And poor Abella, her screams haunt me still.”
Twilight butted his head against her cheek, securely perched upon his favorite spot once more. “I know, my mistress. I know. I do have some good news for you.”
Jess raised her brows. “Lighten my heart. Speak of this good news.”
“Sable, Liam, little Julia. It was a harrowing journey, but they are safe at last.”
Jess gave a relieved sigh. “That is good to hear. Very good to hear. Thank you, Twilight. Thank you for caring enough to help their story be a happy one.”
Twilight arched his neck at odd angles, locking gazes with her despite his perch. “Sable has enemies, mistress. More determined than one might have thought, almost fanatic in their devotion to put Sable’s little one upon the altar of their madness.”
Jess felt her lip curl into a snarl. “I’ll see those bastards dead first.”
Twilight chuckled softly. “And a merry chase it was, those fools stumbling in the wilds of lands for which they have no name. Only a matter of time before they are all croc food.” He gave a feline shrug. “A fitting end for such filth, I suppose. The important thing, of course, is that Sable’s little family is now safe and snug in a beautiful village surrounded by arboreal splendor. And for all that she and her mate are struggling with a language quite different from any you have heard in a very long time, the villagers are exceedingly friendly, awed by Sable's beauty, and Liam's carefully revealed gold has gone exceedingly far to pave over any difficulties, just as it does in most parts of the world.”
Twilight shrugged. “Of course the villagers will probably hammer the metal into trinkets and ornaments, having no use for coin, but Sable and Liam both seem genuinely happy together, little Julia content in their arms. And that’s all that really matters, I suppose.”
Jess held her familiar close. “Thank you, Twilight. With all of my heart, thank you.”
Twilight nodded. “Fear not. I had no sense of disease or plague, there is a competent medicine woman among that tribe, and as far as a Squire’s lessons are concerned, the village has not seen war in centuries.”
Jess smiled. “I won’t ask where, but it sounds like a land as far off and exotic as any faerie tale."
Twilight bobbed his head. “It is. Sable sends her thanks, by the way.” He flashed a playful grin. “Of course, when she says that, she does so praying before an altar in your honor, somehow convinced you are but an avatar of the sacred goddess the village itself worships.”
Jess burst into laughter. “Does she really think that?”
Twilight shrugged. “You did bless her, and with my help they did find themselves hopping about the world at a rather strange pace. No need to worry over the particulars. I couldn’t do it with you in any case. Your soul is far too heavy for that.”
Jess smirked. “Are you saying I eat too much?”
Twilight grinned. “If you like.”
Jess shrugged, taking a sip of mild ale from her flask, rich with the taste of pears and apples, free of oddities and impurities of any sort. However surly his temperament or poor his choice in friends, Glist was a competent brewer, Jess had to give him that.
Her lips froze upon the lip of her flask.
It was all she could do not to spit out the brew.
Suddenly, it all made sense.
Jess turned to her familiar, brilliant sapphire eyes locked upon her own.
Slowly, he nodded. “Plausible, my mistress.”
Jess grimaced, trembling with suppressed fury. “That bastard. That gods-damned bastard. All of them!”
“I quite agree. Assuming your assumption is correct, we have found our enemy. Now it is for us stay in the shadows while our foe gloats, thinking himself invisible to our eyes, and strike when and where we can do the most damage.”
Jess nod
ded. “And rescue those children.”
Twilight grinned. “Of course. First things first, however. Let’s see if our Hound has found any clues to add to our own suspicions.”
Jess frowned. “Why do you call him Hound?”
Twilight grinned. “A long, boring story unworthy of your time. Come, Jess, back to the keep. With any luck, excitement and heroics await. And if we are really lucky, some poached fish await us as well.”
38
Malek, you look awful!”
A bruised and battered Malek grimaced back, wincing as he stretched his broken lip.
“Let’s just say our master wasn’t quite as understanding with the umbrage I had taken over that bloody arrogant head proctor as I had hoped.”
Jess winced. “Just how badly did he beat you?”
Malek chuckled. “Badly enough that bloody Hatsk quit hollering for my immediate expulsion. Of course with dozens of students shouting him down as a violent madman, a score of our cafeteria brethren swearing that Hatsk had pummeled me in a blind rage, there was thankfully enough muddying of the waters that Hatsk's demands bore little weight, his station aside.
"Eloquin also stated, quite solemnly, that I was technically protected by the Revel Edicts, the same as any crusader returned from campaign, since it hasn’t quite been seven days since, well...”
“Since we charged those Velheim bastards set on sacrificing our friends in some hideous ritual, and I was demoted and cast out of the Squires for not backing off and letting them die?”
Malek grinned. “Yes. Since that engagement. Anyway, the entire cafeteria was declaring Hatsk guilty of assault, and whether or not I am their favorite fish, everyone hates that bastard of a former inquisitor. I get the feeling he’s also guilty of a few discrete beatings with few witnesses so everyone, even the staff, swore up and down that I am but the most virtuous of souls.”
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