“Would Nysian be able to make himself king?” Lori asked
Tamsin shrugged. “He might have a chance with Segann out of the way.”
“What about when the girl grows up?”
“She won’t live long enough. He’ll get rid of her as soon as he’s got his arse on the throne.” Tamsin drew a deep breath. “So, the next question is, what’ll he do now that he knows we’re looking for him? The Derwyddon will have noticed the fuss in Goose Market today as well—nothing subtle about that.”
“Why was he waiting before?” Lori asked. “The thief said he’s been in town for days.”
“Reconnaissance. Waiting for the right opportunity,” Widget suggested.
Tamsin bounced to her feet. “Something like that, no doubt. But he can’t afford to wait any longer. He’ll make his move today. And we can’t afford to wait around for Finn and the others. We have to get to Segann before Nysian does.”
Chapter Sixteen
“Come back tomorrow.” The guard spat out the words.
“We have to see King Segann right away.”
“No. Nobody gets in without permission. There was trouble today in town, and we have orders.”
“That’s what we’re here about. Take a message to King Segann. Tell him the captain of the Silver Ravens has an urgent message.”
“I don’t take orders from you.”
Tamsin sighed. In one fluid move, she snapped open the catch on her holster, drew her pistol, and pointed it at the guard’s head. “If I shoot you, do you think your replacement will be more reasonable?”
The guard’s manner flipped from surly to shocked, but he did not back off. “You’re surrounded.”
“And you’re an easy target.”
With matching clicks, Shorty and Widget also drew their guns. Lori copied their action, although her hand was shaking so much she would be no use should the shooting start. They were hopelessly outnumbered. Was iron really so deadly to Annwyn life forms?
“I have orders from King Segann. He’s having a feast and does not want anyone to come in without him saying so first.”
“If I don’t get to talk to him, this feast will be his last. Now open the gate, or we will demonstrate something called gelignite.”
Tamsin put her free hand on the guard’s chest and pushed. The boggart stumbled away, barely keeping his balance. He scowled at his fellows, who shifted their feet anxiously, but then the group of guards stepped back, allowing them past.
The scene in the great hall was livelier than the last time Lori had been there. The long tables were filled with boggarts, eating, drinking, and squabbling. Servants went up and down the lines, filling tankards while dodging groping hands. A drummer and two pipers were making a noise that might count as music. King Segann was in the middle of the top table, with a selection of better dressed boggarts on either side. A mound of sacks, boxes, and baskets was piled on the ground before the dais, either gifts or tribute.
The disturbance as the Silver Ravens barged past the guard on the door made him look up. He pushed aside the servant who was filling his tankard. Silence flowed over the hall.
“Why are you here?” The last of the drumbeats punctuated the king’s words.
Tamsin marched to the centre of the hall “Because you’re in danger.”
“Here? Now? Could this not have waited until tomorrow?”
“I don’t think Nysian intends for you to see another morning.”
“He hasn’t the power to strike me here, in my own hall.”
“You’ve gathered everyone he wants to impress. So yes, this would be a very good time and place.”
“Nysian is too weak.”
“No doubt. But if I read things right, the young female he sired isn’t. And I think they’re both in this hall, right now.”
“That would mean—” Segann broke off and clamped his hands on either side of his head. However his posture did not suggest either fear or confusion, rather that he was channelling his abilities. A magical contest was taking place.
Lori sidled closer to Widget. “Do you know what Nysian looks like?”
“Absolutely no frigging idea.”
“Does Tamsin or Shorty?”
“I doubt it.”
Which was the problem. The torc wearing humans could only see the true appearance, but could not recognise Nysian. The boggarts knew what he looked like, but would see only illusion.
The amulets were back in the inn, but there had not been time to wash off the green ointment. Lori pulled the torc from her throat and pressed it into Widget’s hands. “Hang on to this.”
Dual images were again superimposed. As expected, in her left eye, the barren hall was cheerfully decorated. The plank walls were oak panels. King Segann was taller and younger. His features were more finely drawn. His skin held a trace of blue, giving an almost fay-like sheen. Everyone was better dressed, but otherwise unchanged.
“Hey. Be careful.” Widget was alarmed
Lori shook her head. “He’s not here. Nobody is disguising themselves with illusion.”
“Even so, you shouldn’t do that.”
Tamsin turned around. “Transmutation. That’s what he’s been up to.”
“Right. On it.” Widget shrugged his pack off his shoulder and rummaged inside.
Tamsin took the torc and thrust it back at Lori. “Get this—”
The hall exploded in flame. Lori’s skin blistered. Her hair was on fire. She sucked in a breath to scream, but the scalding air burned her throat and lungs. Her hands blackened, seared by the inferno.
And then it stopped as if a switch had been thrown. The torc was back around her throat. However, the boggarts were still in the grip of the illusion. Around the hall, they writhed and screeched in agony—all except two.
King Segann was clearly struggling, but his shouts were of anger and effort, not pain. And although he might withstand the illusion for himself, he could do nothing to break its hold on his followers.
The other unaffected boggart was the serving maid, standing behind the king’s chair. Now Lori recognised her, the relative in the square who had dragged the girl away. “That one. There.”
The servant dropped the wine flagon and tugged on Segann’s shoulder, shoving him back in his chair. Her other hand lifted high, grasping a dagger, ready to bring it down in Segann’s heart. Her whole attention was given to her victim, ignoring all other activity in the hall.
Shorty charged forward. He hurdled the high table and slammed into the serving maid, knocking her away from the king. Tamsin was a half step behind. She wrenched the dagger from the would-be assassin’s hand and held it up to inspect.
“Silver? That’s handy. Won’t need to use my own.” Tamsin’s words were barely audible over the uproar.
Shorty slammed the captive onto the table, smashing her face against the wood, without heed for the goblets and platters of food. Tamsin grabbed a flailing wrist, pulled it down, and then drove the dagger through the boggart’s hand, pinning it to the table. The boggart howled in pain, struggling ineffectually, but immediately a change began to flow over her. In the space of a few seconds, the boggart was older, heavier, and male.
However, the scene did not calm. The hall was a mass of thrashing bodies. Howls, sobs, and screeches came from every corner. Boggarts flailed around, engulfed in their phantom inferno.
“The girl. She has to be here somewhere.” Tamsin shouted to be heard.
“How about there?” Lori pointed to the largest of the baskets heaped in front of the king’s table.
Before she could move, a hand grabbed her ankle. A boggart lay on the floor, clinging to her like a drowning man. Lori did not have time to be gentle. She kicked her leg free. More boggarts blocked her path, crawling, contorting, staggering around roaring and slapping themselves, to put out the nonexistent flames. She ducked around those she could and shoved aside the others, at one point narrowly avoiding a backhand to the face
She reached the mound of
tribute and pulled the basket lid off. The girl from the Goose Market was curled in a ball at the bottom, crying.
Lori dragged her out. “Stop it. Stop hurting everyone.”
The girl struggled at first, but then went limp. The screams and shrieks began to abate, replaced by gasps and moans. As the hall calmed, the girl’s sobs grew louder.
“No. You mustn’t. No. He said he’ll kill my ma.” Tears flowed down the girl’s face.
Behind them, Widget muttered, “Too late for that, pet. He already has.”
* * *
“Do you hear that?” King Segann spoke to the girl sitting beside him. “He murdered your poor ma and all your ma’s folk and tricked you into doing bad things.”
The girl nodded. A fresh tear rolled down her face, but the sobs had stopped. Apart from Segann, Nysian, and the girl, only a few guards and the Silver Ravens remained in the hall.
Segann turned back to the bound prisoner. “Nysian, you’ve been very naughty, don’t you think?”
The girl nodded, but Nysian did not react. He was probably still dazed from the beating he had received. Despite offering no further resistance after he was freed from the table, it had not stopped the guards from dealing out retribution. The burning had been an illusion, but the pain had been real. And although, technically, the girl had cast the illusion, Segann’s guards had not let a mere technicality get in their way. Nysian’s clothes were smeared with green blood.
More droplets splattered the floor around where he knelt.
“What should I do with you? I’ve tried being nice.”
Nysian remained silent.
Segann turned to the child. “What do you think I should do with him?”
She wiped the last tear away and a sullen smile touched her face. “Eat him.”
“There’s a good idea. Especially since he’s spoiled this feast. But we’ll have to cook him first…slowly.” Segann gestured to his guards. “Take my cousin somewhere safe. I don’t want him to have any more accidents before I can deal with him. And take my young friend as well. Find a nurse to look after her. We need to get to know each other better.”
Only the Silver Ravens were left. King Segann settled back in his chair and smiled. “That was a surprise, wasn’t it—Nysian showing up like that? If I’d known he was in town I’d have invited him. Still, Nysian never did wait to be asked. And he brought a surprise guest. One who’ll need careful handling, I’m thinking.”
Was that a threat to the girl? Lori was getting tired of the verbal sparring. “What will you do with her?”
Segann turned his head slowly in her direction. “Why do you ask?”
“Because she’s a child, and innocent. She’s lost her mother, been taken from her home, been intimidated, lied to. And now she’s all alone. I’m worried about what might happen to her next.”
“You care about Bukka spawn?”
“Yes. And I’d call her a child, not spawn.”
Segann gave a yelp of laughter. “There’s something I never thought to hear from a human.” He fixed Lori with a hard stare. “You say you’re worried. Don’t be. She’s no concern of yours.”
“I get to pick what I worry about.”
“Do you?” He laughed again. “Well, there’s two ways things can go. With power like hers, in six years, she’ll either be dead or Queen of the Bukka. As for which? I don’t know.”
“I didn’t think she counted as part of your family.”
“Not at the moment, but to be honest, my sisters’ offspring have been a disappointment. Half don’t have the magic to rule, and the other half don’t have the brains. This girl, she’s got the magic—oh, yes indeed—but does she have the brains? That’s the question, and it’ll take time to answer. I admit, I’d rather pass things on to blood kin. But there’s no point giving the throne to someone who isn’t able to keep themself there. So, to answer your question, I’m going to see how things go. If we get along, I might adopt her. And if we don’t…well, I told you the two ways it could turn out.”
Segann turned back to Tamsin. “Anyway, Captain, you and I agreed to keep an eye out for missing people. You’ve done a great job with Nysian. I’m afraid I can’t be quite so helpful with Queen Rianna’s nephew. But I’ve heard someone’s moved back into Castle Farraon. You could try checking it out.”
“Thank you. We’ll call by and see what’s going on.”
“If I hear any more, maybe we can come to an agreement.”
“Do you think you’re likely to hear more?”
The king shrugged. “Who knows?”
“Who indeed?” Tamsin gave a polite nod of her head. “We’ll take our leave.”
* * *
Now that Lori had the iron torc on, the common room at the inn had reverted to being a squalid dump, and they would have to stay there one more night. Finn, BH, and Hippo had only recently arrived back, and their horses needed a rest. If it were not for memory of the illusory inferno, Lori might have asked Widget for the amulets. The damp stain on the wall that looked like an upside-down map of Australia had limited amusement value. She sat in a corner, half listening to the conversation. Tamsin had nearly finished updating the others.
“Castle Farraon?” Finn looked scornful. “We should have guessed.”
“It was high on the list of possibilities, I agree.”
“Do you think we can believe Segann?” The king had not impressed Lori with his sincerity.
“Oh yes. He’ll play fair with us because he never knows when he might need our help with other problems.”
BH leaned back, resting her shoulders on the wall behind her. “Sounds like it was tight on the timing. We might have been dealing with King Nysian.”
Tamsin nodded. “And I don’t think he’d be as reasonable as Segann. We’re lucky Nysian didn’t have any shapeshifter dust.”
“What’s that?” Lori asked.
“It speeds up transformation. Otherwise fay need hours, if not days, to fix a new form. Few boggarts can master transformation, and even if they can, takes them far longer.”
“Oh, right. That would be the powder Gilwyn sprinkled over himself to turn into a raven, when he escaped from Caersiddi. The change was instantaneous.”
“Sounds like it. But it explains what Nysian was doing, hanging around in Mud Town. No matter how good his daughter is, she was going to need time to transform him into a new shape that could get past the guards. I’m guessing his plan was to kill Segann, then nick himself with the silver dagger, so he reverted, and try to pass it off as illusion and all his own magic.”
“Would it have worked?”
“It might.”
“Why did he want his daughter there?”
“As backup in case something went wrong with his plan—such as us turning up. I’d guess he’d also want her on hand to dispose of quickly once Segann was dead.”
“He ballsed up all round,” Shorty said.
“In a nutshell, yes.” Tamsin stretched her arms so her shoulders cracked. “But I think that’s all we need to cover, for now. So, I’m going to finish my beer, then have another, followed by a good night’s sleep. We’re done in Mud Town, but there’s no need to rush away. We’ll leave late morning and take it easy, to time our arrival at Farraon for dusk tomorrow night.” She matched her words by draining her tankard.
The briefing broke up, and Shorty went in search of more beer. BH waved a pack of cards in the air. “Who wants to play?”
“Count me in, when Shorty gets back.” Tamsin stood, looking uncharacteristically hesitant, but then she joined Lori in the corner. “How are you doing?”
A matching awkwardness blossomed in Lori’s chest. “Fine.”
“You were chancing it, pushing Segann with questions about Nysian’s daughter.”
“I was worried about the girl.”
“It’s all right. I think you amused him. But you should be careful. When in doubt follow my lead, or one of the other Silver Ravens.”
I wasn’t in doub
t. Maybe she should have been, but she was old enough to make her own mistakes, and deal with the consequences. She did not need a babysitter. “I was tired of all the games.”
“Games here can be deadly. You don’t know enough about the way Annwyn works.” Tamsin met Lori’s eyes and her voice dropped. “I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you.”
The irritation faded into warm fuzzy feelings. “I wouldn’t want anything to happen to me either.”
“Today in the Goose Fair, and afterwards…”
Lori’s pulse quickened. Before she could work out what to say, Tamsin continued. “The army training course you went on?” Her tone made it something close to a question, and her gaze was now fixed on the floor between her feet.
“Yes?” Where was this change in tack going?
“It covered chains of command, army structure, military protocol?”
“Bits, but there wasn’t time for much more than an outline of daily life for a grunt.”
“When Queen Morgaine recruited the first human fighters and called them her Raven Warriors, it was way back in Earth history, before 1000 BC. The force she put together was based more on a Hittite war band than anything else. Over the years, both the Silver and Iron Ravens have been updated where it seems useful, but at its core, our structure falls well short of Cromwell’s New Model Army. There’s no need for anything else in Annwyn.”
Lori confusion was growing. “I can see that.”
“To any soldier in a modern Earth army, we’d seem appallingly slipshod and amateurish.” Tamsin raised her eyes briefly. “And in that category, I’d include letting you come with us. There’s no way anything like it would be allowed on Earth. And as I said, I was wrong to agree.”
She’s going to send me back to Caersiddi. Lori’s blood turned to ice.
“Though, I’d add that modern Earth armies never have to deal with dragons or magic.” Tamsin’s attempt to lighten the tone did not deflect from her serious expression. She scratched the back of her neck, then suddenly raised her eyes again to met Lori’s. “All of which is a long way round to say that, at the moment, we’re officer and subordinate, and there are rules covering inappropriate behaviour—important rules that even the Silver Ravens follow. But I think, once we get back to Caersiddi, there are things you and I need to talk about. Agreed?”
Silver Ravens Page 21