The Wrong Scapegoat: A Mythic Fantasy Novel (Ravens of the Morrigan)

by Cornelius Flynn

  “That’s a very good point.” Gwen says, leaning back in her chair.

  “Taking into account which of you Ravens the Tavern has assembled, I’ve a feeling this goes much deeper than we think.”

  The black figure reflects upon how much he enjoys winter.

  The shorter days, the extra darkness, the weaker sunlight all increase his pleasure in life. It is so much easier to move around in the shadows when there are so many more shadows.

  He spent the day establishing the girl’s routine.

  He knows where she works, he knows where she lives, he knows who she socialises with and what duties she carries out. His analysis seems to leave him only one option. He must wait until darkness has fallen, and she’s sent out for another task, once the majority of the townsfolk have withdrawn indoors.

  Then he will see. Then he will know. Then she can die.

  “So, this girl, Melissa, wasn’t it? Do we know what she saw?” Lightning says.

  “Not exactly. It’s not like our girl at the castle is invited into every little secret meeting, although she manages to attend some of them almost unobserved.” Gwen smiles. “There’s scant information about it. From the little that she heard, the girl confided in one close friend who, as is usual with confidences, let it slip to another friend and so on.”

  “But we know where to find her?” She asks.

  “We’ve found out where her family live and I’ve sketched directions for you all.”

  “Well then, what are we waiting for? Let’s get going.” Piper rises, pushing back his chair.

  “Not you!” Gwen says. “You are not going into that town. Not yet.”

  “But you said that it’s vital and that she’s our only witness. How else am I to prove my innocence?”

  “You’ll have no chance at all if one of the guards recognises you and captures you. They’ll not listen to us at the moment. Feelings are running high. We need to get the girl to safety, talk to her and her family, and then somehow present our findings at the castle.”

  “I could go in disguise.” He suggests. “It worked for getting into the Tavern, didn’t it?”

  “It is not worth the risk. Don’t make me tie you up, Piper!” Gwen rises to her feet.

  He sits back down on his chair with a thump. “It’s not right, everyone else doing things when I’m the one in trouble and I should be helping.”

  “I don’t think that you’re the one in trouble. From what I’ve learnt through my conversations with Lindy at the castle, it’s the prince and his family who are in trouble.” She fixes him with a stare. “There’s something nasty going on here. We have to find out what it is and we don’t need any complications, got that?”

  “Yes.” His shoulders slump. “I do hope the rest of you can manage without me.”

  Lightning and Wildcat both laugh. “Why on earth would we need you? You’re a complete liability and just get us into trouble.”

  “Ladies, you pierce me through the heart.” He pulls a silk handkerchief from inside his jerkin and holds it to his nose delicately.

  “You see,” Filippo says, “I told you all that foppery wasn’t just an act. Why else would he still be carrying around silk handkerchiefs?”

  Piper laughs. “Get out of here before I change my mind and Gwen has to tie me up.”

  “Yes, you’ve wasted enough time.” Gwen walks over to a blank wall. “Just let me relocate things and I’ll open a door into the right area of the town.”

  It’s early evening and it’s dark, just the way he likes it.

  He wonders, was he always a creature of the night? Even in the days when he lived and worked among others, before he received his gift, he always preferred the times after dusk and before dawn.

  The traffic of people has died down now as they’ve all returned to their homes and closed their businesses.

  The girl is inside with her family, and he expects they’re finishing the evening meal and getting ready to settle for the night, since there’s little more to do once it is dark in the winter, other than go to bed. His own favourite nocturnal activities, other than stalking and killing naturally, tend to be of a more lustful nature.

  He licks his lips as he remembers the last couple he’d enjoyed.

  Finally, the girl exits her house with the water bucket in hand. He follows her at a distance, admiring the sway of her hips and her womanly figure.

  If this weren’t a contract he might be tempted to taste her fruits and hear her screams before finishing the job, but he always prefers not to mix business and pleasure.

  She’s oblivious to him as he flits through shadow behind her, checking that no one else will interfere with his plans. The full moon shines down illuminating his target, at the same time as it provides the darkness he utilises to stalk her.

  Need he interrogate her? He wonders if they have all the intelligence they require from her.

  She arrives at the well, removes the cover and lowers the bucket down the dark shaft with the rope. He steps from the shadows and walks towards her, deliberately scuffing the floor to make a noise as his usual silent approach won’t work here for his purpose.

  Turning, she sees him and lifts a hand in greeting. He keeps walking calmly and steadily towards her, but inside he’s now in turmoil. She’s looking directly at him, and he can’t feel it! Has his gift deserted him?

  “Chilly tonight, isn’t it?” He lowers his heart rate.

  “Yes. Father says there may be more snow overnight. That’s why I’m filling up now.” She hauls the rope back up from the well.

  “I think he may be right. We’re in for a cold winter this year.” He leans against the well as they talk.

  Something about this man prickles her senses, but she can’t say what it is.

  She feels a little nervous, but the lit windows surrounding the square reassure her that she can call out and friends will rush to her aid. She heaves the bucket over the edge of the well lowering it to the floor, then fills her own bucket with the water.

  “That was a very nasty business, the attack on the prince, wasn’t it?” He asks.

  “Goodness!” She exclaims. “It were horrible.”

  “Someone I work with claims they saw the attack.” He whispers, leaning closer to her. “He says the guards have got it all wrong and that there wasn’t five or six of them.” He makes a show of looking around to make sure he’s not overheard. “I told him he should tell them at the castle, but he said we mustn’t get involved in that sort of thing.”

  He hears her gasp and sees the puff of vapour leave her mouth in the bright moonlight. A small flash of light accompanies it. Realisation hits him — she’s not human!

  “My father says the same thing. Says how as we mustn’t get involved with them at the castle. He says they’ll just cause trouble for people like us.” She whispers to him. “I wanted to go tell them.”

  “You saw it too?” He says, feigning surprise. “My friend thought he was the only one. What did you see?”

  She too now looks around to make sure they’re not overheard.

  “There were one man there. I didn’t see any other people, just one man. He did some very strange things, but father said I mustn’t tell anyone.”

  He nods. “Your father was right.”

  His left arm flies upwards, the heel of his hand striking her under the chin. He catches her before she falls and quickly moves her into the shadows, adjusting her limp form so it hangs over his right shoulder.

  The girl has shared her tale with her parents, and he needs to deal with them too. They’ll have to meet with a terrible accident and then everyone locally can talk about how tragic it is that they died such a short time after their daughter.

  Keeping to the shadows by the wall, he swiftly mounts the steps to the parapet by the castle wall, staying to the right of the tower to remain obscured by darkness. He moves to the edge and looks down at the cobbled street below estimating the distance to be at least thirty feet. He smiles at how warm an
d soft she feels.

  It seems such a waste, but the job must come first.

  He grabs her by the ankles, easily lifting her light form, and swings her over the edge. Once she’s hanging, upside down, he releases her and watches as she falls and hits the ground head first. A satisfying crunch tells him that the impact snaps her neck. He checks that she is dead, from a distance, to leave no footprints in the thin covering of snow around her body.

  He shakes his head, remembering how he couldn’t feel her eyes upon him, then leaves the area, his mind already planning the demise of her parents.

  “John!” The guard yells. “Come over here, someone’s hurt.”

  He rushes to the prone figure lying in the fresh, falling snow. Her neck twisted at an unnatural angle and a small amount of blood has seeped from her shattered nose staining the pristine ground.

  “I think it’s too late to do anything for her.” John arrives moments later. He looks up. “She must’ve fallen off the parapet.”

  “What were she doing up there? There’s no reason to be up there at this time of night.”

  “I’ve no idea. She’s young, maybe she was meeting someone. Maybe she just wanted to look out over the walls in the moonlight. I don’t think we’ll ever know.”

  He squats down on his heels by the body.

  “There’s no other mark on her and no footsteps in the snow round about except ours. I don’t think there’s any reason to believe someone attacked her, do you?”

  “Don’t look like it. Maybe she just slipped. The stones get treacherous once you get a bit of snow on them.”

  “We better find out who she is and let her family know. No need to wake everyone up. You stay here with her and I’ll go get the sergeant.”

  The young guard stands and looks down sorrowfully at what’s left of this pretty girl. He shakes his head and removes his cloak laying it over her broken body as onlookers gather.

  “Such a shame. I hope you’re at peace now, wherever you are, Miss.”

  Chapter 9

  A short time later Filippo steps out of a door that didn’t exist only seconds before to enter a moonlit, snow-covered alleyway somewhere in the south of the town.

  Lightning and Wildcat follow closely, shutting the unassuming wooden door behind themselves. They stop for a moment and consult the directions Gwen has scribbled down for them.

  “Looking at the moon, I’d say we need to go that way.” Lightning points and sets off, staying alert.

  The huge figure of Filippo follows her, Wildcat dwarfed beside him.

  There seems to be some kind of disturbance up ahead. Lightning holds up her hand to slow them and waves towards the shadows where they congregate.

  “Too much noise here for this time of night.” She whispers.

  “I would offer to go take a look,” Filippo says, “but I know nobody is going to let me do anything of the sort since I’m not really suited to sneaking around.”

  “Let me see what’s up ahead.” Wildcat says, but she does not move.

  The others watch as she relaxes, her arms dropping to her sides, her fingers fanning out. Raising them and taking a deep breath, her face serene, she twitches several times.

  “Death. Not much blood, but death up ahead. They’re curious. People are gathering. From the scent, it’s a young female.” Her eyes still closed.

  “That doesn’t sound good. You don’t suppose…?”

  “That someone beat us to it?” Lightning finishes for him. “It wouldn’t shock me, the way this job’s been turning out from what I’ve heard. We’d better get a move on. I don’t know if this is the girl we’re after but in any case, if she’s dead, she’s no good to us. I say we push through, avoid the crowds and reach her home quickly.”

  She pulls out the sketched map and holds it into the moonlight so all three of them can study it.

  “You go straight ahead, Filippo, and find out who’s dead on the way past. Wildcat and I will get there faster without you. Join us as soon as you can.”

  He nods. “I won’t be far behind you.”

  Less than a minute later, he arrives at the scene of the disturbance.

  “What’s going on?” He asks, standing at the rear of the crowd.

  “Young girl, been found dead.”

  A man in front answers and then turns to face him, finding himself staring into his chest, he cranes his neck backwards to look up.

  “I haven’t seen you round here before. I’d remember somebody that big.”

  “Highcrag, Philip Highcrag.” He extends his hand in greeting. “I run a barge.”

  “You paddle it with that huge sword on your back?” The man asks, chuckling.

  “It gets pretty nasty out in the wilds further up river. No point not being able to handle yourself in my business.” The huge swordsman winks. “Has she been murdered?”

  He looks over the top of the crowd.

  “Doesn’t look that way. Looks like she fell from the walls, maybe slipped. Could’ve been pushed.” He shrugs.

  “Did you know her?”

  He makes a show of craning his neck for a better look.

  “Seen her around. Don’t know her name though.”

  A man to his right turns and speaks.

  “Melissa, she were called. Don’t know what she were doing all the way down here though, she lives on the other side of the square.”

  Filippo draws a breath and decides it’s time to help the others, if they’re not too late.

  The snow has made things more treacherous for her, but Lightning continues to take advantage of her speed, sprinting through the cobbled alleyways and circumventing the area next to the walls by travelling down the market streets.

  Wildcat knows that she can’t match the other girl for speed on the ground, but on the rooftops she has no equal. Before Lightning’s out of sight, she’s run up the wall of a storehouse and is moving across the apexes and flat roofs of the market district.

  She senses the trouble before she arrives at the girl’s home.

  Her mind is still extended in the web of her contacts, and she can feel fear, and certainly trouble. She increases her pace as her other senses begin to receive what her informants are sensing.

  Smoke. Flickering flames. Heat.

  She reaches the edge of a warehouse to see the cooper’s below, which is adjacent to the property they seek. Melissa’s home is now aflame. She drops to the street, a fall of only twenty feet, to land nimbly in the snow as the door seemingly bursts inwards of its own accord, when her fellow traveller arrives just ahead of her.

  Lightning is momentarily beaten back by the flames and wonders why the family haven’t been roused by the sound of the burning timbers. Wildcat rushes through and sees her point to the doors on the other side of the main room.

  “I’ll go left, you check right.” Lightning calls to her and dashes into the flames.

  The heat is intense as she moves to the left but something on the mantle catches her eye.

  Recognising what it is she grabs it, douses its flame and tucks it inside her jerkin in one swift movement. She kicks the door open to reveal two beds, only one occupied. She shakes the girl in the second bed. Getting no response, she drags back the blankets and picks her up.

  “In here! I’ve got two.” She hears Wildcat shout.

  “One here. Young girl. Taking her out.”

  She makes a run for it, depositing her across the street by the side of the warehouse in the snow. Cold is better than dead.

  She turns and rushes back into the burning building to assist Wildcat. She sees the other carrying a woman out of the flames and points to where she has left the girl as she runs through to get the last occupant out.

  He’s male, and weighs about twice what she does.

  The bedroom is fully aflame now, and she pulls the smouldering blankets from him and tries to move him out of the bed without success. Moments later she is joined by Wildcat. Holding an arm each around their necks they begin to drag him out t
owards safety.

  There’s a splintering crack followed by an explosion of smoke and sparks as the roof beam ahead of them collapses knocking them backwards.

  They lie on the floor alongside their burden coughing and spluttering trying to clear the smoke and soot from their eyes. The roar of the flames becomes more intense as air rushes in through the open doorway and sparks fly out the hole in the roof like a chimney.

  It’s not looking good.

  They hear a thudding and banging ahead of them through the smoke, staying low to try to find cool air to breathe. Another great disturbance and it all swirls once more, as a giant figure appears in the midst of the flames. He rushes to them and grabs one in each hand, lifting them to their feet.

  Wildcat protests and points at the man on the floor.

  “I’ve cleared the beam. Make a run for it, I’ll bring him.” Filippo yells over the crackling flames, smelling his hair singeing.

  They nod and sprint for the exit as he effortlessly gathers up the girl’s father, flipping him onto his shoulder. He runs out through the roaring inferno and down the front steps of the property just as the whole roof collapses behind him.

  The warning triangle is ringing once more and people are rushing to their aid.

  “We got them all. He shouts at those arriving. Put the fire out before it spreads, the house is empty.” He points to the three figures lying by the warehouse opposite. “We’ll move them somewhere safe.”

  Around a dozen people are here already, some with axes and some with buckets. Others arrive carrying shovels and crowbars, cloth wrapped around their faces, as they all rush to tackle the fire before it can spread to the wooden buildings on either side.

  More people are streaming towards them as they move back towards the market area carrying their burdens.

  “It seems someone almost beat us to it!” Wildcat carries the girl.

  Filippo walks swiftly alongside the two women, the still unconscious man over his shoulders and seemingly not affecting his gait.