The Wrong Scapegoat: A Mythic Fantasy Novel (Ravens of the Morrigan)
Page 23
He reaches down and removes her hand. “You really are wasting your time, my dear. You know I can’t do any of that business with you.”
“I could take you back to your room after breakfast, and we could check.” She winks.
“You’d think, after all this time, that you’d understand how this works and what she took from me when she gave me my new life.” He points at her hand which he still holds in his other. “Would you care to step outside the door without your gloves on and show everyone what your particular blessing is, old girl?”
Wildcat pouts. “You’re no fun!”
“Well, at least not the type of fun you seem to be looking for this morning, my little Wildcat.” He nods towards Filippo. “Perhaps you should ask him if he’s interested.”
She laughs. “I already have.” She places the back of a wrist against her forehead and sighs dramatically. “Nobody wants me, nobody cares. I shall die a chaste virgin.”
The bark of laughter that escapes Lightning’s lips at this point nearly causes her to choke. “The only way you could die a chaste virgin would be if you had it sewn shut!”
Wildcat stretches across and punches her on the shoulder, grinning. “You can’t blame a girl for enjoying a good time.”
Gwen approaches whilst they are still laughing.
“I’m afraid that your duty calls, my children. Lord Phineas is approaching.”
Filigree patterns of light flicker and change colour upon the Fae Lord’s face as he listens to Gwen and exchanges information with her.
The others interject occasionally until the whole story, as they see it, has been laid before him.
“The Queen is upset about the loss of one of our own.. There are those at court who think to use her death as an excuse for direct action against whomever they feel might be responsible.” He grimaces.
“Do they mean Melissa?” Lightning chews noisily.
“Yes. She was one of our children, a real Fae child.” Phineas lowers and shakes his head. “We don’t bear children as often as humans. The loss of a life such as hers means much.”
“Why did nobody know what she was?” Piper sips from his cup. “Surely, if she was one of your children, someone should have been watching out for her.”
“We gave her to her new parents when she was born. They raised her believing that she was their own child. That’s how we maintain our presence in your world. As you can see, most of us wouldn’t fit in well there and a stranger turning up in a town might not sit well with the locals.” He places his hands on the table. “A child who’s grown with them, and who learns to use their powers correctly once they reach maturity, can live among them and never be discovered.”
“So you don’t even tell the children that they’re Fae?” Lightning looks puzzled. “What about if they use magic and frighten their parents?”
“Their magic is not active, as I said, until they reach maturity. Our children mature later than yours and when their time is close we contact them.” Phineas walks his fingers across the table and back as he talks. “They don’t come into their full power until they have crossed the threshold into our lands and returned. That cannot happen without our help.”
“Didn’t her parents think it was strange when a baby just turned up on the doorstep?” Wildcat frowns. “How could you be sure they’d take her in?”
The Fae Lord chuckles. “That isn’t how it’s done. We choose only good parents who would love their children or who already have a child which they love. We ensure that this new child will be loved because they think it’s their own.”
“You mean you steal their baby and swap it for one of yours? I say!” Piper exclaims.
Phineas laughs. “No, not at all. We do it to ease their pain.” Phineas shakes his head. “Usually their own child is dead or dying when we make the exchange. A glamour is laid on the new baby so it appears no different to their own. This is usually accomplished by our midwives closely after the birth. The details would only bore you all, but suffice it to say that great care is taken with our own children and their loss is felt deeply.”
“From what I understand,” Filippo says, “The Rule prevents you from interfering directly in matters outside your own realm.”
“That is true.” Phineas replies. “Yet, there are those who would be happy to break that Rule and bring about a war, the nature of which has not been seen for thousands of years.”
“Are we certain she was murdered and didn’t just fall from the parapet, as the castle physician said?”
“We examined her before burial. There was bruising to indicate that she suffered a blow before she fell, or was dropped, from the castle wall.”
“Someone knocked her out and then threw her off the wall - why? Why not just kill her?” Wildcat shrugs.
“Because they were trying to be more subtle than you usually are. They wanted this to look like an accident, as they did with the fire.”
Phineas points at the withered hand holding the black candle.
“This foul thing would have burned in the fire along with the girl’s family and nobody would have thought they were murdered. After all, what healthy person can’t be overcome by smoke and die in their beds, when they’ve accidentally left something smouldering on the stove overnight?”
“So what she saw must have been very important for them to go to this trouble?”
“Exactly! I’ve had our own agents go and question the family in detail about every word their daughter said, as you did yourselves. The only conclusion we can draw is that there was only one, very skilled attacker who laid a false trail and implicated Piper.”
Phineas chuckles and points at the Piper.
“Had they not chosen the wrong scapegoat, then this whole plot might have succeeded. A mock show-trial would have been held by now and the ‘guilty’ party would be dangling in a gibbet as food for our crows, and a warning to anyone entering the town.”
“Now.” He straightens. “We must discuss your unusual visitor and his part in these matters.”
“You mean that crazy old druid? We thought he might just be Fae, but Gwen didn’t agree.” Lightning looks to see if anyone has some spare food.
“He was not Fae.” Gwen turns to face Phineas. “I can’t say what I felt from him. There was a power there, but he was hiding it. He opened a doorway where none should exist, from a place which cannot be. When Lightning tried to pursue him, she was too slow.”
Phineas frowns. “No one should be able to move faster than her, not even the Fae. From your brief report I gather that he helped with the rescue of the girl’s family?”
“Yes.” Filippo sips his ale. “He just turned up there too. We didn’t even know where we were taking them until the last minute, yet he appeared. It was like he knew we would be there. He called them his people and thanked us for helping them.”
“And he had really good cheese.” Lightning observes, those around her shaking their heads. “Well, he did. It’s the best I ever ate. You should all ask him for some.”
Phineas questions them further about the strange visitor and has them recall every detail they can of their dealings with him, his appearance, his mannerisms and exactly what he might have said.
“The fact that he could enter this place at will shows we are dealing with someone of great power.” He states.
Wildcat snorts. “Power? That dotty old man? He wears sandals in the middle of Winter, for goodness’ sake. He’s not all there.”
“As you’ve no doubt realised yourselves, sometimes the best disguise is to appear ‘harmless’.” Phineas points around himself. “This Tavern is Otherland, that’s why your little hands are not furred as we sit at this table. Do you know of any others who can enter this place without being called?”
He pauses for a few seconds and then continues.
“Only a race older, and more powerful, than the Fae would not be bound by our magics. Whatever he is, he’s certainly in full possession of his abilities and mind.”
“In the Elder Days, the Fae were not yet on this Earth. There were beings here, beings of great power who knew how to create life where there was none. Our ancestors were the Sioga, some now call them Sidhe. There were others during the time we know as The Fall. It’s because of these past actions and races that The Rule exists.”
“You mean elder gods? Aren’t those all just made up stories, like this ridiculous ‘Son of God’ at the temple?” She stares at Phineas and Gwen, her mouth open.
“No.” Gwen says. “You know at least one real goddess, or at least that’s how they’re seen now. Even in all our millennia of existence we’ve not come to understand exactly who the Elders really were, or are. The One God cult is a human invention, like some other spirits and superstitions, but elder powers exist, bound by their own Rule. If one of them has awoken and taken an interest, you can be sure things are much more serious than we’ve thought so far.”
They take a short break from their meeting.
Gwen makes Piper lift his shirt so she can examine what remains of his wounds and bruises.
“You’re healing well now, Master Piper.” She taps his wrists which still show the marks of the irons. “Someone at that temple knew enough to keep you unwell.”
“They bound him in iron?” Phineas asks and sees Gwen nod. He sucks air slowly over his teeth. “So they had an idea what they were dealing with. That doesn’t bode well.”
“Indeed it does not.” She turns his shirt back down to cover his ribs and indicates that he should tuck himself in and replace his jerkin. “Most people don’t realise that iron restricts the flow of power, and any who’ve heard it think it a superstition. Those who dealt with our Piper were adamant that he be bound in iron.”
Piper nods. “So that’s why I felt so dreadful. I was wondering why everything hurt for so long.”
“I would say that our plotters know more than they’re telling.” Gwen stands up. “Reports from the castle indicate that they’re still presenting a plot organised by enemies of the temple, to bring down the prince. We know differently, since their main conspirator sits with us, and we’re certain of his innocence.”
“And then we have these.” Phineas points to the sheets of parchment on the desk. “Written in a supposedly dead language and yet concerned with modern events. I’ll have our historians research these and see how old they are. We should be able to trace someone who can read it.”
“You have magic that can read dead languages?” Wildcat asks, leaning forward to examine the unintelligible squiggles on the paper.
“No, my dear Kit, we do not.” Phineas reaches out to ruffle her hair. “What we have are librarians and archivists who have been alive so long that, to one or more of them, this is merely a language of their youth, rather than dead.”
“Are we certain the prince isn’t dead?” Piper turns back to the table to face the others, his silk shirt spinning outwards with the sudden movement.
“I thought we’d established that he’s unconscious?” Lightning asks, moving over to him. “Stand still. We need to tuck that fancy shirt of yours in, it’s getting distracting.”
He winces as she pushes the tails down under his waistband. “But nobody’s seen him, so how do we know he still lives?”
“I’d say that his wife would have commented on that matter at some point.”
“But the word from the castle, for quite a while there, was that he’d been murdered. Why would they say he was dead if he wasn’t dead?” He frowns.
Gwen returns to join them, Phineas close behind her.
“Because, dear Piper, I suspect they were trying to catch the attacker by making him think he’d succeeded in his task, so he would become lax.”
“Or perhaps they were trying to protect their prince by claiming that he was dead so they wouldn’t return to try to finish the job.” Phineas offers. “After all, considering that the other four were killed, it seems likely they would think the aim of the attack was to murder the prince.”
Piper turns to stare at Phineas. “You think they didn’t mean to kill him? Why would they attack him but not kill him?”
“You humans understand so little of your own laws. If the prince were killed then troops from Aberffraw would arrive immediately, take over the governance here and appoint a ruler that they felt was worthy of the task.” He pauses watching their faces. “Let’s suppose that you already had a ruler in mind and the only way to have him move into power was if the current prince were incapacitated, but not dead. What would you do?”
“Have him attacked, render him unconscious and blame it all on a likely scapegoat.” Piper spits the words out, his eyes filled with fury.
“How long can a man live, with no food and no water?” Filippo asks pushing away his plate. “It’s been over a week since the attack. I remember from my time in the campaigns, they told us that a week of starvation would kill a man.”
“And they were right.” Phineas nods. “I’ve been pondering that too.”
“So he may be dead then, by now?” Piper asks. “And they think to blame me for it still.”
“You and your accomplices, naturally.” Phineas indicates the others at the table.
“But we weren’t even here when the attack took place.” Lightning spreads her arms wide. “How can we be his accomplices.”
“His accomplices were never seen, so they can decide they were whomever they want them to be. Or should I say, those in charge of this plot can.”
“I look forward to getting my hands on them.” Piper mutters. “I’ll explain a few things to them, slowly and painfully.”
Wildcat smiles. “I’m looking forward to that part.”
She yelps as Lightning punches her on the arm. “What was that for?”
“You know exactly what that was for, you sadistic little she-cat.”
“Who is allowed in to see him?” Phineas looks to Gwen.
“Only his wife, his brother, his sister-in-law and the healers are actually allowed inside. Even our own folk in the castle aren’t allowed in to serve him, that’s why Lindy had to pass Piper’s note off to Elena. Everything has to be left outside the room. The preparation of all of his food is supervised.” Gwen replies.
“Our spies are safe?” Phineas taps the tips of his fingers together.
She nods and smiles. “Oh yes, they’re all good girls. They go to temple every week and regurgitate the nonsense that the abbot and the others spew forth from their lecterns when required. No one suspects them.”
“I don’t think I thanked that girl properly when she got me out of the dungeons.” Piper frowns. “I don’t think she told me her name. If she did, I admit to being a bit dizzy at the time and my memory wasn’t what it should be.”
“Don’t worry, she knows how grateful you are.” Gwen scratches her shoulder, adjusting the apron. “Her name isn’t important and it helps that they can be as anonymous as possible. I’m sure Lindy has told you, everyone just ignores the servants as long as they do nothing to attract attention.” She turns to Phineas. “I don’t suppose one of them could sneak in and look at the prince?”
“You mean to attempt a diagnosis I take it?” He rubs his chin.
“Yes. If someone could get inside to examine him, perhaps take a moon mirror with them to catch his breath, we might know more about what they’re doing to him.”
“That’s assuming he’s still breathing.” Wildcat comments finishing the last bite of her sausage. “I mean, if it was me, I’d just pretend he was alive and maybe do some magic on his wife, so she thinks he’s still alive too.” She wiggles her fingers, suggesting the actions of a wizard.
“Very funny.” Lightning says pushing Wildcat’s hands back down to the table. “That isn’t even possible, it’s all just fairy stories. Present company excepted of course.”
“Actually,” Phineas replies, “that is very possible. That’s something which I hadn’t
considered.”
“Then it’s settled.” Piper says stretching and wincing slightly. “Fetch me this magic mirror of yours, Lady Gwen, and I shall make my grand entrance, to see the prince.”
“You mean to just walk in the front door and demand to be allowed into his chambers?”
“No my dear lady,” he smiles and places his hands as though playing an imaginary pipe, wiggling his fingers, “I mean to use magic, as suggested by our dear Wildcat.”
“If he’s going to do that, couldn’t we just bring the prince out with us?” Wildcat looks around at the others.
“I don’t think that our illustrious Piper could control that many guards with his music. Remember, even should he send them to sleep it’ll only be a short sleep. It takes time to bring each new set under that influence. Once they awaken they’ll be more alert and less susceptible to his powers.”
“But if someone were to sneak me in to the right part of the castle, then I could deal with the guards and be in and out again before they awaken, could I not?” Piper raises an eyebrow as he looks at Gwen.
“Your ribs are not yet fully healed and it would be dangerous. If they catch you again I’m sure they’ll just execute you on the spot as a warlock or something. I really don’t think we can allow you to do this.”
“And I, my dear lady, do not think you really have any method of stopping me.” He smiles wickedly.
Phineas laughs. “That attitude is what got you into this mess in the first place. I do seem to recall telling you a few centuries ago that your arrogance and bravado would come back to bite you someday.”
“Alas, my dear Lord Phineas, it appears that you wish to say — I told you so?”
“Nothing quite so crass, but I do wish you would be a little less ostentatious at times. I like it so much better when you’re happy to be a travelling minstrel, rather than a fop.”
“But being a fop is so much more fun and, to be honest, is closer to my real personality. Besides, I don’t see any other way you’re going to get someone in there without killing a few guards, do you, old boy?”
“He’s got you there!” Wildcat laughs.