Druid's Bane

by Phillip Henderson

  “Say what you will, Michael. I know it is very likely about Kane.”

  “Well she has no reason to fear him.” Michael matched her quick pace, their feet drumming on the stone floor. “I think if this week has proved anything it is that she has twice the skill with sword than most of her competitors. Kane will prove no different. Every bookmaker in the city has her favoured to take his title today.”

  Faith drew up, appalled. “Is that what this is to you? Have you placed coin on your sister?”

  “No, of course not!” he replied in an injured tone.

  She could see he was lying and shock her head in disgust and continued on. Michael went to follow but she rounded on him. “Leave me alone.”

  He frowned at her disapproval and stopped, if only grudgingly, and she continued on alone. In hindsight, Faith knew she should never have left Danielle alone this night. How could she have been so careless and selfish? Now, somehow, she just knew that her friend was in trouble. Impatient to find out what Martha wanted her for, Faith hoisted up her nightgown and broke into a run.

  In a few minutes she entered the marble-floored vestibule that served as the entrance to Danielle’s plush chambers. Near-panic washed over her as she saw that there were no guards standing watch and the sound of a young woman wailing somewhere inside issued out of the open doorway.

  Faith burst in through the double doors to Danielle’s dayroom, calling to her friend. The elegantly furnished chamber was in near darkness, the only light coming from the embers in the hearth and several night candles. The room was also devoid of company. Realizing the crying was coming from Danielle’s bedchamber and hearing Martha trying to calm someone, Faith bolted to the hallway, calling to the old woman.

  She threw open the door at the end of the hall and burst in. The crying stopped instantly as Martha and three startled chambermaids looked up from where they stood by the hearth. Faith took in the familiar chamber at a glance. Danielle wasn’t here either, but her bed had been slept in.

  “Where’s your lady?” she demanded more sternly than she intended.

  Martha got up and mothered the three maids to the door where she quietly dismissed them.

  Faith could hardly breathe; she was so worried, and when the old woman closed the door she said, “Where is she? Martha, what is going on?”

  Before Martha could respond the door opened and Michael came into the chamber. Moody and sullen, he glanced at Faith before his light blue eyes flitted around the brightly lit chamber, stopping when they reached the rumpled sheets on Danielle’s bed. Concern clouded his face? “Where is she?”

  Martha’s craggy features hardened into a scowl. “It’s always a sad thing, young Michael, when a brother knows of his sister’s comings and goings only by way of a servant.”

  “Save me the lecture, Martha, and tell me what happened! Where is she?”

  “It seems that she was left alone with Eden at the banquet last night. I think we all know how opposed Eden is to her competing in the tournament and how he’s been at her about it almost constantly since he got back from Vafusolum. It is a shame Kimberly isn’t here, she would have seen to it that Eden was otherwise occupied and a wise distance from Dee. Unlike you two.”

  “So they quarrelled again, did they?” Michael sighed heavily, slumped into a chair and began to massage his brow as if the whole thing were little more than a nuisance.

  Faith had the burning urge to slap him, except that she knew she was as guilty of negligence as he, in truth more so, since she knew better. And as for Eden, well, that was proving to be an on-going battle. She thought she had managed to broker his agreement to stop hounding Dee about her decision to compete in the commoner’s tournament. Obviously not.

  “Martha, what happened?” Faith asked.

  “I don’t know the exact details, but apparently their quarrel grew so heated Danielle struck Lord Eden over the head with a wine flagon before storming from the banquet. A maid came and got me and I found Danielle in here shortly before midnight and still in quite a temper and very tight lipped on the matter. She also had a bit of a fever. I managed to calm her down with a sleeping remedy and got her to bed. With her facing Kane in the final tomorrow … well today, I was quite worried—and I am more so now.”

  As far as Faith was concerned, worried was putting it mildly. “So where is she?”

  The old nursemaid squared her shoulders and looked between Michael and Faith. “I don’t know exactly. According to the maids Danielle had a terrible nightmare a short time after I left. By the time I got my old bones back over here she was gone.”

  It was clear Martha had a good idea where Dee might be. Or at least suspected, but was hesitant to say.

  Michael frowned. But before he could say anything Faith ushered the old woman into a chair and quickly poured her a glass of wine from an earthen jug on the dresser. The poor woman looked frail and exhausted and half out on her feet. Faith waited as Martha took a few sips of wine to revive herself before saying, “Martha, where do you suspect she has gone? Please, I need to know.”

  The old woman nodded her head in the direction of Danielle’s sizable timber wardrobe. “Her riding boots and gloves are missing, along with her favourite long coat. I don’t know anything else.”

  “She has ridden from the palace?” Michael’s frown became a scowl as he stood up.

  Faith stifled a curse. She wasn’t worried about Dee’s safety as much as the trouble her actions would cause.

  “By the gods, what is it with her?” Michael blustered. “She knows well enough she’s not allowed to do any such thing. And her bloody guards as usual are as good as useless. They are with her I hope?”

  “Well they’re not here, if that’s what you mean,” Martha said.

  Michael shook his head and then said, “I’ll tell Father and Eden, and we’ll go after her.”

  “Over my dead body you will,” Faith said firmly as she reached out and grabbed his hand as he went to pass on his way to the door. She flashed the old nursemaid a grateful smile. “Martha, thank you. I’ll handle this matter from here. Now, if you will please leave us, I need to speak with Michael alone. Oh, and say nothing of this to anyone. Please.”

  Martha looked relieved. She thanked Faith before kissing her on the cheek and leaving the chamber. Faith closed the door and turned to face her fiancé.

  Michael looked puzzled that she had stopped him.

  “Eden and your father are not to be told, you hear me? Danielle has enough to worry about with Kane and her match today without you three causing a distraction she can ill afford. And you are assuming she has ridden anywhere. And even if she has it appears her guards with her.”

  “And you know that for sure?”

  “Michael, this is not helping.”

  “Father has forbidden her from riding beyond the city walls at night. I’m thinking of her safety,” Michael said defensively. “She’s been told, but as usual, she didn’t listen.”

  Faith knew Michael’s bluster was born of worry, but his lack of empathy annoyed her greatly and she leaned into his face, saying firmly, “I will not wed a man who doesn’t know the meaning of loyalty. So, one word, Michael, and you’ll be sleeping in your own bed from now on. Do you understand?”

  His frown hardened. “Am I not allowed to be anxious about my own sister?” He paced away, shaking his head, and then he turned sharply and came back. “And don’t you ever call me disloyal. I love her deeply. There is no one I admire more, nor do I owe anyone as much as I owe Danielle—and you, Milady, know as much.”

  “Then stop being such an oaf and protect her.”

  “You mean that I should lie for her?”

  “If need be, yes.”

  “I am trying to…”

  “Then try harder!”

  Michael eyed her moodily and then slumped back down into a chair and looked into the fire. Faith was too angry to be reasonable right now. Besides, she could hear Eden out in the vestibule, demanding to talk to his sist
er, and she was itching to give him a piece of her mind; remind him of the promise he’d made to her at breakfast yesterday, that he’d stop castigating Danielle over the tourney and respect her choice to compete. A choice sanctioned by their father.

  Leaving Michael to his sulk, she stalked from the chamber. She found Eden at the entrance to Danielle’s apartment attempting to interrogate Martha, who was holding her own. From the mouth of the corridor seven of his knights were watching the heated exchange with some amusement, all of them clearly inebriated.

  Faith went forward and laid a hand on Martha’s shoulder. “Martha, you may leave. His Lordship and I need to speak,” she said calmly.

  Looking much more like his father than Dee, Michael or Kane, Eden towered a good eight inches above Faith. He had let his closely trimmed beard grow out while away in Vafusolum leading Arkaelyon’s military contribution to that vast empire’s struggle against pirates from the Black Isles who had begun raiding and pillaging villages and towns down its immense eastern coastline since the beginning of spring last year. His wavy brown hair was much longer, too, and with the stench of drink about him and the cut above his eye, he had more the look of a brawling waterfront drunk than the man she respected and loved as a brother, the man who usually graced these halls with dignity and compassion.

  “Are you sure, Milady? You don’t have something else you need to do?” Martha asked.

  Faith knew Martha was referring to finding Dee. “I will see to it. You may go.”

  Martha nodded and looked to the prince regent. Eden dismissed her with a polite word.

  He watched as Martha walked across the vestibule and disappeared down the corridor before turning to Faith and saying, “I need to see her, Faith. Please. I owe her an apology.”

  “You promised me, Eden,” she said, eyebrows raised expectantly.

  His lips pressed together with regret and he nodded, before turning and ordering his men to leave them. When they were alone he said, “I did, and I’m sorry. I know I owe her an apology for upsetting her at the banquet, and you for not keeping my word to hold my tongue about the tourney when in her company. I am sorry. We had too much to drink tonight. And just now a servant passed me in the corridor and said she wasn’t sleeping well and I figured I was to blame. I just thought if I apologised she might be able to sleep.”

  Faith was bewildered. “You came to apologise? It sure as Vellum doesn’t look that way. You turning up here drunk and in company. You wait until Kimberly gets back from visiting her family. She will rip shreds from your hide for what you have done to your sister since your return to Illandia. You’ve been nothing but a troublesome distraction to her since your return. She has bruised ribs because of you, and she almost lost her match to Sir Rathison when you decided to show up at the tourney unannounced after three months away. What were you thinking?”

  “I know. I know. It wasn’t well thought out. Now, please, Faith, is she awake?”

  “Very much awake,” Michael said, walking up beside Faith. “But you won’t find her within.”

  “Michael,” Faith warned, glaring at him.

  Concern darkened Eden’s features. “Where is she?”

  To Faith’s disgust her fiancé blurted out what they feared: that Danielle had most likely ridden from the palace grounds to cool her heels in her usual undisciplined way. On hearing the news Eden uttered a curse and glared at Faith. “You allowed this?”

  “Hardly,” she said, before adding pointedly, returning her displeasure on her fiancé, “And we don’t know for sure where she has gone.”

  “Her riding boots and garb are missing, I think it is pretty obvious what she is about,” Michael retorted.

  Faith shook her head. “You two are as bad as each other. Why don’t you both go and wake your father. I mean, isn’t this exactly what you wanted—an opportunity to convince him to reconsider Dee’s right to compete?”

  Eden looked at her, appalled. “That has nothing to do with this. She knows how dangerous it is beyond the palace walls at night.” He muttered a curse and shook his head as he rubbed a hand over his face, wondering what to do. He suddenly stopped and frowned at Faith again. “She does have guards with her? Please tell me she had that much sense at least.”

  “Apparently not,” Michael said.

  Eden uttered another more profane expletive and turned to go. Faith quickly grabbed the sleeve of his robe, preventing him.

  “Please, Eden, you can not tell your father. She had a nightmare that is all. You know what difficulties she is dealing with—what tomorrow means to her. She won’t have gone far. Please?”

  “We have to find her. That’s all that matters.” His gaze bore into her as he added, “And you honestly think she will be in any state physically or mentally to face Kane tomorrow after this?”

  They all turned expectantly to the hallway as the sound of hurried footsteps silenced them.

  Danielle came into the vestibule, three guards following behind. She looked deeply troubled, her eyes red from crying. Seeing them, she lowered her head and quickened her pace, making a beeline for the doorway to her chambers.

  It was impossible not to notice her windblown hair and the long coat over her riding trousers, which concealed the tops of her riding boots. And she had gloves clutched in her fist.

  Faith was just deeply relieved she was safe and that she had guards with her, even if they too had all pulled on night coats and looked as if they’d been riding.

  “Where did you go?” Eden demanded, moving to block her way.

  “Leave her alone,” Faith said, and she got in front of him long enough to let Danielle by.

  “Danielle, we have to speak,” Eden said to her back, a note of sympathy in his voice. “I’m sorry about this evening. Truly I am.”

  Michael had managed to avoid the hand Faith had used to try and grab him and rushed ahead and forced Danielle to stop in the doorway to her chamber. “We’ve been worried sick about you.”

  “Michael, leave her be,” Faith warned.

  Danielle met his gaze. “Please…not now.” she glanced at Eden. “ I’m tired and I need to sleep. We’ll talk tomorrow.” Despite Dee’s obvious wretchedness Michael balked, and for a moment Faith thought he might persist, but to her relief Eden called him off.

  Danielle kissed Michael’s cheek, cast her older brother a forlorn smile of thanks, then dismissed her guards and disappeared into her chambers, closing the door as she went.

  Eden was frowning heavily at the closed door. Faith knew what he was feeling and she took his hand and squeezed it, drawing his attention.

  “She is safe. As you said, that’s all that matters.”

  “Yet you are going to tell father in the morning that she is able to compete. You saw how tired, nay exhausted she looked.”

  “It has to be her choice. You know that.”

  He drew in a deep breath and slowly let it out. “Then she had better win.”

  “She will.”

  ***

  The moment she had entered her chambers, Danielle had gone to her bureau, lit an oil lamp and gathered a quill, inkbottle, and clean parchments. She was sitting at her desk frantically writing down every detail of her dream when Faith came in and closed the door behind her.

  She had spent the last hour watching the city sleep from the top of the palace’s highest turret, trying to decide whether her nightmare was some sort of premonition or merely a manifestation of all her present fear. In the end, she had given up and decided to take the matter up with Joseph in the morning. The Lord Protector would know if there was anything in the dream. No one was as knowledgeable as Joseph in such matters, and she trusted him implicitly.

  “I could brain your older brother,” Faith said. “Michael’s not much better. Do you know he didn’t even realise that your confrontation with Kane last year still bothered you? I honestly think he sees you as fearless.”

  Faith placed two glasses of wine on the desk then collapsed into a chair. “I can’t believ
e you actually broke a flagon over Eden’s head, and then to go riding in the middle of the night when your father has explicitly forbidden it…” She leaned forward, placing her elbows on the desktop, her hands cupping her olive cheeks. “Dee, what were you thinking?”

  Danielle didn’t pause in her labours. “I was seriously tempted, but I didn’t ride anywhere. In fact, I never left the palace. As for smashing a jug over Eden’s head, I’ll face the consequences of that on the morrow. Right now, however, I have other things on my mind.”

  “You should have come and got me. Or, I shouldn’t have left you at the banquet alone. I am sorry.”

  “Don’t be silly. There’s nothing to apologise for. I couldn’t have got through this week without you. And I think you have every right to spend a little time alone with Michael. Besides, I wanted to be alone,” Dee said, continuing to write.

  With her brown doe eyes full of regret and worry, Faith reached across the bureau and played a tress of Danielle’s honey blond hair around her finger. Danielle found it most annoying, and after scratching out several sentences, she stopped and looked up. “What?”

  “Martha said you had a nightmare?”

  “So?”

  “I think you’re over tired and need to get some sleep.” She looked at the parchment sheets on the desktop. “Can’t that wait until after the final tomorrow?”

  “I’m afraid not. Then again maybe?” Danielle wasn’t sure herself. “No, I have to finish this. If you want to make yourself useful, go stoke the fire—it’s chilly in here.”

  “Okay.” Faith retrieved her glass, and made her way to the hearth. “How long is it going to take?”

  “Not long. I’m almost done.’

  “You should have invited James to be here during the tourney. He would have made you rest.”