by JF Smith
For the second time since leaving the apartment, Gully had become suspicious. He wished that all four of them were dressed as thieves so they could move about unseen in the dark, instead of Dunnhem and Krissain with their cuirasses and greaves and their bright violet tabards. But that was not possible this time. Once inside the Folly, the two guards accompanying them would need to be garbed in their uniforms to act in an official capacity. Instead, he was now sneaking down the street in the dark, but felt like he might as well have been juggling lit torches while singing loudly considering how Dunnhem and Krissain stood out and the noise they made.
Gully glanced back over his shoulder, and spotted it yet again. There was a shadow in the dark against a building behind them that he did not remember when they had passed that point seconds earlier.
It was late enough in the night that the streets were emptied of even those visiting the oratory towers for their prayers. Vasahle had already sped across the sky for the night and Pelaysha hung ominously in the west. The sparse torches illuminating the streets in this part of town had burned down to almost nothing, leaving the windows, doors, and streets black and still. The only thing watching were the stars overhead. And a shadow that seemed to keep up with them.
Gully wondered if the Domo Regent had spies out in the city, men that were with him, but who were not in the Kingdom Guard. He felt ill for not having thought of that possibility earlier. They could have been spotted coming into the city and even watched as they planned in the apartment earlier. He worried more that he had sent Roald out, perhaps into an ambush, and prayed that two wolves would be enough to fend any dangers off. He focused his worry back on the prince in front of him.
“What is your idea, then? The barbican and the postern are the only ways in and out of the Folly” insisted Thaybrill.
Gully knew of at least three other ways to get into the Folly, but dared not explain that to the prince. Instead, he planned to be utterly surprised when he found that his guess for getting into the Folly was fortunate enough to work. He cursed himself again for not baring the truth of himself to the prince when he had had the opportunity earlier, and for allowing the honest Thaybrill to see him as something he was not.
In the meantime, he concluded they now had a serious problem. Gully raised his voice enough to be heard by all three of his companions, “Thaybrill, Dunnhem, Krissain, listen closely, but do not stop walking as you are now.”
Thaybrill immediately stopped, but Gully placed a hand at his back and gently urged him forward.
“I believe we are being followed, and that is not good. Ahead yonder, we will turn left onto the next road. As soon as we do, we will pass a doorway set into the building. You three must continue on. I’ll fall back and see to this problem we are having.”
“Sir,” whispered Dunnhem as he walked ahead of Gully and the prince, “I should take care of this. Allow me.”
“Nay, nay, Dunnhem, you are too noisily clad and too easily spotted for this. I can handle this,” insisted Gully. “When you turn the corner, begin walking in single file so our follower cannot count one of us as missing.”
Both of the guards replied, “Aye,” and Thaybrill whispered, “Be cautious, Bayle!”
Gully wanted to look back to see if the dark shadow continued to follow them, but would not allow himself the luxury for fear of giving away his awareness to whomever it was. They approached the corner and then turned it. Gully knew the corner well and remembered the doorway to a loomer’s shop that was set into an alcove. As soon as they rounded the corner, the two guards and Thaybrill moved into single file with the prince in the middle. Gully pulled his throwing knife from his belt, ducked into the alcove, and slipped into perfect stillness in the inky blackness. He gripped his knife tightly in his hand, hiding the blade in the folds of his dark surcoat so it could not reflect any stray light. And then he waited. He did not scratch at his palm that had begun itching. He did not peer around the doorway to see who might be coming. He barely even allowed himself to breathe.
Gully silently counted off and stared straight ahead. At about the count that he had judged earlier, a person completely wrapped in a cloak and hood silently stole past the doorway where Gully had hidden himself. Gully did not flinch or move a single muscle in his body as the shadow passed. He waited several more seconds, and then he stepped out of the alcove with the stony silence of the dead.
In a few steps he had caught up to the shadow. In a flash, he grabbed the arm of his follower and pushed him forward into the side of the building. He pushed in hard against his uninvited guest and wrenched his arm up his back for leverage. With his free hand, Gully pressed the knife to the shadow’s neck so that there could be no mistaking what he held there.
Gully dug the knife in a little harder. “Tails are for beasts of the woods, and yet I find I have acquired one,” he snarled into his dark follower’s ear. “So perhaps it is best to cut it off, eh?”
Chapter 24 — The Phantom In The Courtyard
Gully wiggled the knife slightly to make sure his skulking follower knew how very serious he was.
A voice whispered in fear and pain, “Gully, please!”
Gully’s mouth dropped open in shock at the sudden blow the sound of the voice dealt him. He immediately let go of the shadow’s arm and withdraw the knife as he stepped away.
“Mariealle?!” he said breathlessly.
The dark-cloaked individual turned around, and even in the dark of night, Gully could see the eyes looking back at him and knew they belonged to her.
“What are you doing following me?” he hissed at her.
“Forgive me! I mean no harm, but what are you doing skulking ’round in the company of swordsmen in the middle of the night? Where did Roald leave for so suddenly earlier?” she asked in urgent whispers. “What is going on, Gully?!”
“You’ve been watching me all evening?” asked Gully in even more surprise.
“I was worried! I went to your brother’s to see if he had heard from you of late, or to see if maybe you were there. But then I saw all the guards leaving from his apartment, and then you saying goodbye to your brother and two other men. You would never willingly allow yourself in so close of company with that many guards! Tell me what is going on!” she pleaded. She placed a soft hand on his shoulder that almost made his knees give way.
He glanced down the street and saw the shadows of the guards and Prince Thaybrill cautiously returning towards him.
“Mariealle,” he whispered urgently, “you must call me only Bayle. Do not make reference to my thieving, I beg you!”
Before she could respond, Dunnhem whispered loudly to Gully, “Is it safe, Bayle?”
Gully told them it was, but Dunnhem held the prince back with an arm and said, “Careful, Your Highness, we must be sure!”
Mariealle threw her hood back and gave Gully a shocked look. “‘Your highness?!’ You have Prince Thaybrill with you?!”
The prince approached and asked quietly, “Is she enemy or friend, Bayle?”
“Friend, of that you can have no doubt. Just too curious for her own good, perhaps,” he said with a glance of reproval at her.
Mariealle began to kneel before the prince, but Gully caught her arm and would not let her.
He hissed sternly, “No! No kneeling! You might as well shout to any peeping eyes around that Prince Thaybrill is with us! We are already in far too much danger as it is!”
Gully ventured to do something he would never had dared to do in other, more polite circumstances. He ran his hand in her hair and said, “Mariealle, this is no game! You place yourself in terrible danger following us! You must go home!”
“You... you’re helping the prince, aren’t you?” she asked softly.
Prince Thaybrill stepped forward and introduced himself and Mariealle introduced herself humbly to him in return. The prince immediately recognized her family name and had met her father on several occasions. He explained to her a little of what was going on, to her comple
te astonishment.
“You’re going to arrest them, then! That is why Roald brought you guards, ones you could trust. You’re going to arrest the Lord Marshal and the Domo Regent!” she said, correctly guessing the rest of their plan.
“Yes,” said Gully. “Which is why you must leave! Go home. Go to bed, now! This is not a place for you!”
“I want to help!” she said stubbornly.
The prince was about to reiterate Gully’s admonishment that she should return home, but Gully interrupted and said, “Fine! We cannot waste time standing here arguing about this. We must keep moving or we will all be as good as dead!”
Without waiting for agreement or discussion, Gully continued down the street. He would have agreed to almost anything at the moment to put an end to their loitering on the public street corner. And he knew that as soon as they got to the Folly, he could send Mariealle home then anyway, and it would even be closer to the safety of her house.
He expected Mariealle to begin asking a thousand more questions as they walked, excited about the “adventure” and pleased to be in the presence of the crown prince, but she surprised Gully yet again. She whispered not a word the whole time and was far stealthier and less noticeable than the two guards with whom they traveled.
By the time they arrived at the postern on the north side of the Folly, Gully was quite impressed with her ability to move so silently, making no extraneous noise or motion. Every moment he was around her increased his fascination and his affection for the girl that already stole the breath from his lungs.
Beneath the postern gate, Gully tried again, “Mariealle, you must leave us now. What we do tonight is dangerous, confronting powerful men that will do anything to keep their crimes a secret. Please, if you have any concern for me at all, any... affection, you will leave now for the safety of your home.”
Mariealle said, “I care, too! I am as willing as any of you to risk my life for what is right! What these men do is abhorrent! I will not leave you!”
Gully closed his eyes and sighed. “Fine, but once inside, you must obey! No arguments, no questions, no unnecessary risks. Am I utterly clear?”
“Yes, I promise,” she said.
Thaybrill had been looking up the long earthen ramp that led to the postern gate of the Folly and said, “Bayle, this is of no use. This gate is locked tight at night, with no guards manning it. It will not open again until dawn for any reason.”
His four companions looked to him for how he planned to get in. Gully said, “We’re not going up to the postern. We’re going to try a different way.”
He led them past the ramp that led up to the postern gate, to the back of the Folly instead, where it nestled up against the foot of Kitemount. They began to climb, slowly and carefully in the dark, up the slope where the promontory the Folly was situated upon joined to the foot of the mountain, and then around to the very back curtain wall of the castle.
“I do not understand. This will not work, either. The walls are as tall and sheer here as everywhere else around the Folly. They are insurmountable,” said Thaybrill.
Gully pointed at where the stream came down off the side of Kitemount and flowed under the Folly wall to the interior of the grounds.
“We’re not going to surmount them. We’re going to try to go under,” he said.
There was an iron grate set into the stone curtain wall where the stream flowed down Kitemount and under the wall and through the Folly, but Gully knew from past experience that the grate only fell a short distance below the surface of the water. It was simple to swim under it and under the wall of the castle to the interior of the grounds.
Thaybrill said in amazement, “Bayle, how did you know of this?”
“I didn’t,” lied Gully. “I only thought of it today, and it might not work. I thought, if the stars favored us, it would be our best chance. I hope all of you can hold your breath for a moment or two in the water. But we must move quickly. We cannot risk a stray guard wandering by on the top of the wall and spotting us here, even if Roald says most are away on a fictitious search.”
Gully stepped into the chilled waters of the stream and swam under the grate, the same as he had done on other occasions. When he surfaced on the other side of the iron grate, he said, “The bars do not go all the way to the bottom of the stream and it is trivial to pass beneath. Follow me!”
One by one they followed, and a few moments later they emerged, dripping and wet, between the curtain wall and a building that served as the storehouse and buttery for the Folly.
Dunnhem emerged from the waters of the stream and stood a moment looking at where it came out from under the wall. He commented that such an egregious lapse in the security of the castle would have to be rectified soon. Gully humphed and said they needed to save the kingdom first. He felt irritated at having to give away one of his best secrets about the Folly, but still had a couple of other ways to get in and out if the need arose. They were not as convenient, but still useful in a tight pinch.
They crept along the back of the storehouse, then the kitchen building as they passed the locked postern, until they reached and followed along in the shadows of the great Dining Hall.
Before they turned the corner into the central bailey yard of the Folly, Gully stopped them. He asked the prince, “Thaybrill, it would be best if we had someone who could act as a witness to your safety and presence, and to see what we are doing and why. It would, though, need to be someone whom you know you can trust to not be on the Domo Regent’s side. Is there anyone here that you trust so much? A favorite servant or valet, perhaps?”
“Yes, I would probably trust Pluck that much. But even better than Pluck is the Archbishop, Nellist. I would stake my life that he is not a part of Krayell’s conspiracy.”
“Good,” said Gully. “I recommend that we now split up. Dunnhem, you and Krissain go and arrest the Lord Marshal. The prince, Mariealle, and I will go and end the Domo Regent’s dreams of overthrow.”
Thaybrill nodded to the two guards and added, “If Soudern resists, or if anyone seeks to help him, do not hesitate to take his life and be done with it. Is that clear?”
“Yes, Highness!” replied Dunnhem sharply.
Thaybrill turned to Gully and said, “I would like to slip into my rooms first and retrieve my sword and dagger before we go to arrest Krayell. I am unarmed, and do not suffer the illusion that the Domo Regent will give in easily, even if we catch him by surprise.”
Mariealle said, “I know the Nighting Chapel, Your Highness. I will go and fetch the Archbishop. Shall we meet in the Courtyard of the Empyrean before we go to arrest the Domo Regent?”
Gully grunted his reluctance to allow Mariealle to go off on her own, but she whispered in his ear, “It is not far and I know the way well from my visits to the Folly with my family. I will be safe to do this, sweet Bayle. Time is very short and every moment we do not have these men in irons increases our risk!”
Gully frowned, and itched at his palm a moment while he considered her offer. He tried to think of a convincing reason not to let her split off unaccompanied, but he finally relented to the plan. Gully nodded to the two guards to send them off on their way. He then frowned at Mariealle, but wished her luck on her task.
Mariealle reached out and put her thumb gently to his chin. “I believe you worry too much. You are not the only stealthy one in the kingdom, dear Bayle!” she said and disappeared around the corner of the building used for housing nobles and honored guests when they visited the Folly. Gully watched her steal off into the dark, again impressed by how well she moved in the shadows of night.
Thaybrill placed a hand on Gully’s shoulder and said, “Follow me. I know the safest way to my rooms.”
In the times that Gully had snuck his way into the Folly, he had merely been curious about how extravagantly the nobles and royal family lived. He had been honest with Roald when he said he had never stolen anything, although he had been tempted sorely once or twice. He had never venture
d into the royal solar, where the prince and royal family lived, either. He had merely snuck around in the elaborate guest house, pretending to be a stable-boy looking for someone, and then the offices of state after that. The most he had seen there were archives and office rooms used to keep track of everything going on in the kingdom. None of it held much interest for him.
Thaybrill took him through a side door into the great Dining Hall. Gully had not been here before, and it was more impressive than what he had seen on previous times. The long, polished table could comfortably seat more than thirty people, he guessed, each person in a chair cushioned in violet velvet and with a back as tall as a standing person. The three chandeliers overhead each must have held thirty candles each and torches, too. The stone vaults forming the roof overhead soared up high enough for a starling to feel comfortable flying about inside, and gave the room a cavernous feel.
Thaybrill pulled at Gully and led him to the far end of the Dining Hall, then back through the kitchen area, which Gully guessed had to be the size of three or four large inns in total. There was a discrete doorway built into a back wall that allowed access through the storeroom and into the tower of the royal solar itself.
Thaybrill led them up a servant stair for several steep flights until they stepped out into a broad hallway. There were large candles lit along the hall, illuminating tapestries of hunting trips, the Trine Range, and people that Gully did not know.
Thaybrill opened a door and Gully followed him into a massive room, many times the size of Roald’s apartment. But this room served only one small purpose. It was Thaybrill’s sleeping chamber. The elaborate bed, carved of dark wood, and hung with heavy embroidered drapes, was the largest Gully had ever seen. Near the bed was a huge fireplace, so large a man could stand in it and not have to duck his head down. There was a comfortable reading couch nearby and shelves filled with more bound parchments and books than Gully knew existed.