"Why?"
Caimbeul shook his head. "Just get them for me."
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
ANOTHER FUNERAL
Cooley moved the crate close to Larkspur and stood on it to brush her down. He spent hours with her every day since Kynyr told him the horse was his. She was stabled now in the small barn in the yard behind Cahira's shop.
Being with Larkspur comforted Cooley in ways that nothing else could since his father's death. A few days ago some of his father's friends had brought two chests filled with Cullen's personal belongings to Cooley. A small circle of grown-ups now knew that he was Cullen's son and they were looking out for him.
The swelling from the foal she carried had not yet become noticeable. Cooley wrapped his arms around her neck, hugging her. "I love you, Larkspur. You're the best horse in the whole world."
Rory slipped into the barn and leaned over the stall door. "Did you take it?"
Cooley stepped down from the crate and moved it to a safe corner, before letting himself out of the stall. "Yeah. Caimbeul got the list. What's he looking for anyway?"
Rory glanced around, making a show of checking to see that they were alone. "Malthus. That's my guess. I didn't like the way he looked at you."
"He scares me ... following me around asking questions. Bucky tried to kick him yesterday."
"Yup. He's scary all right."
Cooley's face screwed up and a rush of tears emerged from his eyes. "I'm afraid to go back."
"To the manor?"
"Um hmm."
"Talk to Todd. You don't have ta go back. He won't make you."
"He'll think I'm acting like a baby."
"Nah, he won't. You just talk to him. Promise?"
"Okay."
"They making you go to the funeral?"
"No. It's my turn to watch the shop."
"Okay. It's time for me to change clothes so I can walk behind the wagon."
* * * *
Todd drove the wagon bearing Ramsey's coffin that led the funeral procession with Glenna Fitzgerald riding on the seat beside him crying on Cahira's shoulder. Aisha's big carriage came next. Kynyr and Kady rode with Aisha and her family. Claw came next, mounted on a proud-cut gelding, leading sixty guardsmyn. The rest of the village followed, mostly on foot, but with some driving wagons and others on horseback.
More and more people joined the procession as it wended its way through the village. The loss of a guardsmon always affected the community deeply and everyone that could do so turned out to pay their last respects to Ramsey Fitzgerald.
Beyond the Willodarian Shrine, Sanctuary was silent. The women who lived there with their children huddled in their homes and did not come out. Preece Malloy and half a dozen of the young wolves who worked at the camp loitered beneath the trees across from the shrine, making no move to join the crowds.
The carriage parked in front of the shrine. Georgie Rogan jumped down from the driver's seat and came around to open the door. The bitches left the carriage by the left door while Finn emerged first from the right. He stepped down and moved to the side. Kynyr handed his crutches to Robert Morcar. Odhran and Lon extended their hands and helped Kynyr to the ground, yet the young guardsmon still managed to put too much weight on his wounded leg and nearly fell. Odhran steadied him with a hand on Kynyr's arms. Then Robert returned Kynyr's crutches.
Kady came around to Kynyr's side. "You okay?"
"Yeah." Kynyr's smile sagged around the edges. "I'm fine."
Claw's guardsmyn held the crowds back, maintaining a corridor for them to walk along. Kynyr moved the slowest and so he came last in the line, except for those who insisted upon staying with him: Robert Morcar and Kady. He walked as well as he could, trying not to wince or grimace each time he put his wounded leg down wrong. Kynyr grimly refused to give into his injuries. Pride kept him moving.
Pandeena stood at the head of the grave beside Caimbeul. To their left stood Glenna Fitzgerald, sobbing, with Erskine's arm around her shoulders. Pandeena began the formal prayers for the dead, casting a handful of flowers and fragrant herbs into the grave, and finally a libation of mead. She gestured to the guardsmyn standing beside the coffin and they lowered it into the ground. Erskine scooped up a handful of dirt and placed it in Glenna's hands. She addressed Ramsey's spirit, wishing him peace in the next life, and cast the dirt over the coffin. Erskine threw the next handful of dirt. Then he and Glenna moved to stand beside Pandeena.
One by one, people passed and cast the dirt over the coffin. Kady went before Kynyr and turned to help him once her small handful of soil had gone into the grave. He shook his head, balanced on his good leg, and cast his contribution over Ramsey's coffin.
Those who had made their offerings clustered in small groups. Kynyr got his crutches settled comfortably and moved away from the grave. The funeral service concluded with Glenna planting a tree in the soil covering Ramsey's coffin. Tradition decreed that if the tree flourished, then Ramsey's spirit had found rest. If the tree died, then the priest would say more prayers and plant warding herbs such as rue and garlic over the grave.
Kynyr looked around for Kady. When he failed to spot her, he turned to Robert Morcar. "Did you see where Kady went?"
Morcar thrust his chin at a stand of trees along the edge of the cemetery. "Looked like she wanted a private spot to cry. Losing Cullen and now two funerals this close together both of them friends of hers."
"Yeah. I'll go find her."
* * * *
Kady fought back her tears. She had never had many real friends; her father had discouraged her from forming bonds with the wolves that frequented his tavern. When Hereward withdrew his protection, Kady had swiftly discovered who her true friends were. Ramsey, Eideard, Robert, Erskine, and especially, Kynyr were the only ones who stood by her after her liaison with Cullen became known. Shame suffused Kady as she remembered Cullen and warred with grief for dominance in her heart. She wondered if, perhaps, she really was a slut. Certainly she had felt physically aroused as she flirted with the customers. Over the past year, the urge to mate had grown to an intolerable level, and only Cullen had been bold enough to risk her father's ire by initiating her into the pleasures of sex.
Shame burned hotter within Kady, becoming a cauldron of emotion stirred by a stick of guilt. Hereward had vehemently rejected the old custom of the wild cousins. Kady had defied him by having an intense affair with Cullen Blackwood. Her grief was as much for herself as for her slain protector. She glanced around at the grieving people, and a fresh surge of guilt made her want to be alone, to flee from the crowds.
Todd had forbidden her to go anywhere alone; demon guilt and shame made her want to run and run to get away to find a safe place to cry where no one would make assumptions about her tears.
Kady fled into a thicket of elms at the far side of the cemetery that were further shielded from view by an old growth of briars and a wealth of sweet pepper bushes. In the concealment of the trees and bushes, she dropped to her knees with a sob and buried her face in her hands.
"Hello, Kady."
Her head jerked up and she stared at Preece lounging against an elm tree. "Leave me alone."
"I got something for you, slut."
Preece was on her before she could gather her wits. Her brief training with Todd disappeared in a rush of terror, as Preece forced her onto her back and pinioned her wrists in one hand. "No, Preece. Please. No."
She writhed and struggled to get her hands free.
"I told you, Kady. I have something for you. It's long and hard and fits nicely into your flesh hole."
"I hate you."
Preece sneered. "Kynyr wants you. I saw it in his eyes. But you're mine, Kady."
"Never. I'll never be yours."
"I'm going to own you." He unbuckled her knife belt and threw it in the bushes. Then Preece shoved his hand down her pants and fingered her clit. "I've enough gold to pay whatever bride price your da wants."
Kady snarled, spit in his face, and sh
ifted into her hybrid form faster than she had ever believed possible. "Let go of me!"
"I'm going to marry you just so Kynyr can't have you."
"I'll go to the priest, damn you. I'd rather be a nun than marry you."
"If I can't have you, I'll kill you."
"Go to hell."
"Kady?" Kynyr's voice came from the far side of the copse.
Preece clamped a hand over Kady's mouth. "Call out and I'll kill him."
Kady ceased struggling, yet could not suppress a whimper as Preece yanked her pants down. Kynyr. Go away, Kynyr. You're not well. You can't fight him.
* * * *
Negotiating the crowds on his crutches proved more of a challenge than Kynyr had expected. By the time that he reached the trees, his leg had begun to throb and ache. He looked around for her. The thick copse of elm trees had a cluster of old growth briars along one side and a spill of sweet pepper bushes beyond that.
"Kady?" He frowned and called out again. "Kady?"
A muffled whimper drew his attention to the sweet pepper bushes. Kynyr rounded the bushes as quietly as he could manage on the crutches. He saw Preece lying on top of Kady with her wrists pinioned above her head. His lips peeled back from his teeth.
"Get off her!"
"Kynyr, no! He'll kill you." Kady shrieked.
Preece rolled off Kady, scrambled backwards, and got his feet under him. He reached for the knives at his side. "Bloody cripple wants to fight?"
Kynyr lifted himself up on his crutches, swinging his body forward as his good leg snapped out and caught Preece in the chest hard enough to stagger him.
Freed, Kady's fear gave way to rage. She tackled Preece's calves and took him to the ground.
Preece grabbed her hair, pulling her head back. Kady pounded her fist into his groin like a hammer, and he screamed.
Kynyr came down too hard on his bad leg. It buckled. He caught himself with the left crutch, barely managing to keep his feet as pain shot through his injured leg. Shrugging off the pain, the young guardsmon drove the right crutch into Preece's stomach.
Gasping for breath, Preece rolled and dislodged Kady. She hit him in the face before he could get clear of her.
Preece scrambled away from them. "Fucking slut."
"Malloy!" Kynyr started after him. "You so much as say her name I'll kill you."
Preece fled.
Victory lent color to Kady's cheeks as she got to her feet and hugged Kynyr, kissing him. "He said he'd kill you if I called out."
A bemused smile lit Kynyr's face. "He can try."
"Oh, Kynyr!" She kissed him again. "You're impossible."
"We make a good team, Kady."
"Yeah."
"Will you go to the faire with me?"
Kady stepped back. "If you keep your hands off my tits"
Kynyr shrugged, his smile yielding to a naughty boy look. "I promise to try."
Kady laughed.
* * * *
The day had been more tiring of the spirit than of the body. Todd sat with a bottle of whiskey in front of him and a glass half-filled. His tremendous lycan capacity for hard liquor barely felt two doubles. "Will the tree flourish, Pandeena?"
Pandeena stared at her hands clasped together on the table. "Are you asking for the truth or for comfort?"
Todd glanced at Cahira nursing a glass of brandy before he answered. "The truth."
"I doubt it. Have you looked at Cullen and Eideard's trees? They're barely hanging on. The only thing that has kept them alive is that someone has been feeding them tears."
Cahira stirred with a loud inhalation. "Cooley."
"I thought so." Pandeena nodded.
"Kynyr spoke of Ramsey and Eideard so often in his letters home that I felt I knew them long before I met them."
Todd leaned over and hugged his wife. "They were good myn."
The three fell silent for a time. Cahira refilled her glass and pinned Pandeena with a glance. "What would make the trees flourish?"
Pandeena's expression darkened. "Vengeance."
A pounding at the front door ended their conversation. Todd went to the door and opened it. "We're closed," he said before taking a good look at the tall mon standing on the board walk.
"And I'll whip your ass." She threw back her hood and grinned at him.
"Maevra!" Todd hugged her. "It's been too long."
"Hasn't it though?" Maevra de Groot had a droll smile and a crisp voice. "Come out and give the children a hand, Todd."
"Sure."
Todd stepped onto the boardwalk and spotted the four children standing with an enormous brown chest in the shadows of the street. Maevra followed him. They each grabbed a handle and heaved. The chest was heavy and awkward, but with a minimum of effort, Todd and Maevra managed to get it into the middle of the shop floor.
The children two boys and two girls trailed in after them and, when the lamplight revealed their faces, Todd received a pleasant surprise. He had not seen them in close to eighty years, yet they had not changed a bit.
One little boy, his flame-colored hair more orange than red, wore a leather jacket and cap that had flaps over the ears. His head sported a strange pair of eyeglasses, the lenses set in leather straps. "Hi, Todd! We only got a minute."
"Pie? Bodi? Lilac? Sugar? What are you doing here?"
He seized the nearest boy, a little fellow with strawberry blond hair, an upside down triangle of a smile, and big blue eyes. "Bodi!"
Todd swung the little boy around, making him laugh; hugged Lilac who was patting her pouches to hear the coins jingle in a nervous manner; politely bowed and kissed the hand of the oldest girl who had long marmalade hair and dreamy eyes that seemed to look on many planes of existence at the once. Then he shook hands with Pie and thumped his glasses. "What have you brought?"
"Presents," said Pieface. "Dyna heard your grandson got shot. She can't get here before mid-autumn so she sent us with them. We gotta go back now. See ya later."
Pieface's magic swirled through the room in rainbow colors and the four children vanished.
Todd's eyebrows shot to his hairline.
Maevra laughed. "Beware of gremlins bearing gifts."
Pandeena rose from the table. "Uhmn, Todd. Cahira. There's something you need to know. Dyna is far more than she seems."
"I can tell that." Todd ran his hand through his hair.
Maevra cleared her throat to get their attention as she unshouldered a back pack. "Before you get distracted with the contents, can we take care of my business first? I need to be back in Creeya by morning."
"Certainly." Cahira fetched a glass from the cabinet and gestured at Maevra. "Brandy or whiskey?"
"Brandy, if you don't mind." Maevra placed her pack on the table, opened it, and took out several books. "The Guild has lent the dwarves a hand replicating the books in that library they unearthed. They can't bring the books out because once the fresh air hits them they disintegrate." She shoved the books across the table to Cahira and accepted a glass of brandy. "The language appears to be ancient Engla-Yurpan. But a lot of the words have us baffled. Since you're one of the best intuitive translators, Patriarch Mikkal wants you give it a try."
"This is going to cost you a lot." Cahira opened the first book.
"And what doesn't?" Maevra took a sip of brandy. "What's this about your grandson being shot?"
"I'll tell it." Todd joined them at the table.
Maevra's expression became more and more serious and reflective as Todd told her all that had happened. "Did you save the arrowheads?"
"Ayup."
"Can I take some of them back with me? I'm certain that the Patriarch will be willing to set our toxins experts to work on an antidote."
"I appreciate that, Maevra." Cahira closed the book, reached across the table, and squeezed Maevra's hand.
Pandeena eyed Maevra from where she sat on the floor, contemplating the chest. She straightened and joined them at the table. "You're Guild?"
"Courier. I don'
t do fieldwork; if you're looking for an assassin." Maevra's tone gained an edge and she sized Pandeena up.
"I want to send a message to Grand Master Ceejorn and High Patriarch Mikkal."
"Say it and I'll decide whether I want to carry it or not."
"The Butchering Serpent is in Hell's Widow or possibly, Wolffgard itself."
Fire and steel flashed in Maevra's eyes. "You're sure of that?"
"Yes. The Trickster must think so too otherwise why open her armory to Todd Sinclair?"
"The Trickster?" Todd's eyebrows knitted as he lifted his glass to his lips. "That chest is from her ?"
"You didn't know?" Pandeena shifted in her chair to direct her gaze at him. "The Trickster rescued you after the ambush at Kinsdale Wood."
Todd half-choked on a swallow of whiskey and spewed part of it back into his glass. "Dyna is Dynanna?"
"That little bit of magic you witnessed earlier? Those four 'children' are her paladins. They aren't children. Well, they are, but they aren't. I can't explain it any better than that."
Maevra burst out laughing at Todd's discomfiture. "Well, I'm convinced. I'll take your message to the Grand Master and the Patriarch. Now, I need to get on my way. I rather imagine that the Ceejorn and Mikkal will be sending presents and help as soon as they hear about the Serpent."
As soon as Maevra departed, they went to investigate the contents of the chest.
"The Trickster" Cahira's hands hovered over the chest, trembling with trepidation. "The trouble she has gotten people into and out of is both legion and legend."
"Be careful with whatever is in there. Half the time she doesn't bother to figure out what things do before she starts handing them out." Pandeena grabbed the lid and pulled it open. "But let's see what's in it anyway."
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
THE LESSONS OF TODD
Todd went looking for Kynyr. His grandson had not been the same since Ramsey's death. He found him in the salle, stretched out on the mat on his back. Todd watched in silence as Kynyr, his face twisted into a mask of anger and determination, raised the damaged leg again and again and again.
"Kynyr"
"Let me be!"
Janrae Frank - [Lycan Blood 02] - Fireborn Law Page 26