“You’re fucking crazy,” Robert said.
“Family trait, asshole.”
Robert waited another moment, then he lowered his sword. He pushed Whiteriver away roughly, who stumbled and fell to the ground. Robert kicked him in the kidneys, eliciting a breathless gasp of pain from the boy.
“Fine. I’ll let you have your way,” Robert said. “Pin her down.”
Bethany sucked in a breath, preparing for the violence. Strong hands clamped her limbs and Bethany bucked. Even tied up, she was stronger than any one of them. But her strength was sagging. Robert grabbed her jaw and forced open her mouth. He poured water down her throat. Bethany choked and spat up what she could. He slapped her and poured more.
“Hold still!” Robert ordered.
She screamed and spat, fighting the entire time. It was in vain. Moments later, her eyes grew heavy and her movements clumsy. Her thoughts became confused and disoriented.
“Beast,” Bethany mumbled.
Precious sleep overtook her.
CHAPTER 11
Three Weeks Ago
Allric leaned against his desk and focused on keeping his tone calm and steady, even as his own thoughts stomped and raged in anger. He had delivered plenty of bad news in his lifetime, and it was never easy to tell someone their loved one had gone to meet Apexia on the wind. This was different.
“I am so very sorry, Lendra,” Allric said.
Lendra was wearing one of Celeste’s gowns, a gift from the Queen before she’d died. Lendra resembled the tiny cakes that the Queen served at her weekly dinner with the senior staff. She looked all grown up and so very, very young—all at the same time.
“What do you mean?” Lendra demanded. “How is she missing?”
“She was out on a training exercise and has not reported back.”
“How exactly do you lose a pale, red-headed Elorian in a nation of tanned, dark-haired humans? It’s not like she blends into a crowd.”
In other circumstances, Allric would have smiled. Lendra was turning into a replica of her older sister, and it ripped at his heartstrings. “I am very sorry.”
Allric glanced at Jovan in the hope that he would have words of support for Lendra. But Jovan looked as shocked as Lendra, though he’d known the news for a good hour now. His face was whiter than any sheet in the castle and he stared at the floor with a confused, stricken expression.
Jovan and Bethany were closer than most siblings. They were certainly closer than he was with any of his. He knew how beside himself he’d be if any of them were missing. He could only imagine how badly Jovan felt for having been the one to send her out on this particular mission.
“Are you even looking for her?” Lendra demanded.
“Yes.”
“Then why haven’t you found her?”
Allric’s heart broke a little more. “We’re trying our best.”
Allric looked at the silent Erem, whose head was bowed. He felt for the man; Erem’s first independent decision on the field had been a disaster. He might be responsible for killing not just a friend and a superior, but the daughter of the Gentle Goddess. If Jovan didn’t kill him, Arrago probably would.
And Allric wasn’t sure of the details, but he suspected there had been some partiality between Erem and Lendra, and now the rest of the details about Bethany’s disappearance were about to come out. Erem might never recover from this. He would have to speak to Kiner, to have eyes kept on Erem during the search at all times, to ensure he didn’t do anything dangerous or life-ending.
“Since Erem was there,” Allric said, “I think he should explain what we know.”
Erem didn’t get to speak, because the study’s floor flew open.
King Arrago was a tall man for a human and still looked more like a peasant than a king, but he had really come into his own in the last six months. His hair was long, down past his shoulders and tied at the base of his neck. He wore furs and richer clothes than he ever had, though that seemed more the convenience of a castle filled to the brim with the belongings of two previous kings more or less his own height.
Arrago’s expression now was feral.
“Is she dead?” he bellowed. “Answer me, Allric! Is she dead?”
“Arrago, wait!” Kiner shouted, hot on his heels. “Apexia’s sake, just wait.”
“I want to know if she’s fucking dead!” Arrago’s face was red from anger.
Allric stiffened when he saw Arrago put his hand on the hilt of the sword at his hip. “Please be calm.”
Arrago’s fingers wrapped around his sword’s grip. “Is. She. Dead.”
“Please don’t say that,” Lendra cried, weeping.
“I didn’t see you there,” Arrago said, deflating. His tone softened, and though his eyes were still wild with fury, he managed a quieter voice; “I’m sorry, Lendra. I didn’t know you were here.”
Kiner muttered, “That’s why I wanted you to wait.”
Allric turned to Erem, who paled considerably. “Erem?”
Erem closed his eyes for a moment and nodded. “We rode to the location Kiner’s scouts gave us without event. We made camp. We needed to scout the area, so I sent a dozen experienced soldiers to do that. Since we were vulnerable to attack, because it was all farmland around us and no trees, I…” he gulped, “I sent Bethany to scout the surrounding villages and homesteads to see if she could get any information from the locals.” Erem’s voice cracked and he inhaled harshly.
They waited in silence for him to finish his story.
Erem took a few breath, which strengthened his voice. “I did that because I thought it was the safest option for her. I knew she was out there to train me, but she didn’t protest when I suggested it. She laughed and said she’d take twenty people with her. It was just a jaunt around the cottages, to talk to people. But she didn’t come back. None of her team did. So I sent more to look for her. I didn’t want to move, since if she came back…But eventually I did and…” Erem closed his eyes. “We found a gully with several dozen bodies rolled into it. Some of them ours. They were all from Bethany’s team.” Then Erem looked at Allric, his eyes now pleading.
Allric nodded, giving him an encouraging smile. If Erem wanted to be in command one day, then he needed to do this himself.
The horrible thought dawned that Bethany had flagged Erem to be her successor. He would have to take over from where Bethany left off, and Allric would be the one to make that decision.
One thing at a time.
“We followed the trail from there. It was easy because the ground was torn by cavalry. We found Magi in the midst of an assault on River Archibald Watchtower. We assisted and repelled the attack.” Erem glanced at Jovan. “That’s when I sent word to you. And when we were searching the bodies in the gully, one of my men found this…” Erem stepped over to Allric’s desk and picked up the cloth wrapping that had rested out of view.
Allric moved aside as Erem pulled back the corners for Arrago and Lendra to see. “We found this amongst the bodies.”
Arrago swore at the sight of the Blessed Blades—still in their harness—and a hiccupping sob escaped Lendra. Allric put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed before putting his hands back at his sides. He would ask Amber to stay with her for a couple of nights. Between him and the wet-nurse, they could look after Opal just fine.
He watched the colour drain from Arrago’s face. He’d need to be watched, too. Having lost his wife and his…whatever Bethany was to him, in such a short time, and with his best friend battling for his own health, it would be too much for any one man to take. Allric would speak with Kiner and see if he would help keep watch on Arrago.
“I’m so sorry,” Erem whispered to Arrago. “Most Magi can’t touch Blessed Blades—the entire purpose of them is to defeat Magic, blessed by Apexia, and all that. They must have disarmed her, and realizing they couldn’t take her weapons, tossed them to one side.”
“How did they even get them off her?” Arrago said.
Allric pulled up one edge of the strapping. “They cut it.”
Arrago closed his eyes and paled.
A frightful moment passed where Allric thought he might have to prevent Arrago from falling. Kiner and Jovan remained silent, jaws clenched.
Erem turned to Lendra. “I’m so sorry. You have to believe me, Lendra. I didn’t mean for this to happen. She put me in charge and told me to choose everyone’s assignments. I thought…I thought I’d given her the easiest. I wanted to avoid putting her in danger…”
Lendra glared at him and snarled, “I hate you.”
“Lendra,” Allric said softly.
Erem’s eyes welled with tears. Allric knew then that Erem did care for Lendra. “Please forgive me.”
“I hate you!” she shrieked. She stormed to Erem and pounded her fists against his chest, weeping. “I hate you so much! You killed my sister. How could you? How could you do that to me? She’s my sister!”
It broke Allric’s heart to see the tears streaming down Erem’s face as he whispered, over and over, “I’m so sorry.”
Allric let it go on for a few more beats before he stepped over to Lendra and wrapped his arms around her small frame. “Hush now. It is not Erem’s fault.”
“She’d dead,” she sobbed.
“We don’t know she’s dead,” Jovan said in his softest voice.
“I’m so sorry,” Erem whispered.
“No one blames you, Erem,” Allric squeezed Lendra a little harder before releasing her. She looked so terrifyingly young.
He turned to Erem and spoke firmly. “You gave an order. Bethany followed it. Someone had to scout out the farms and the countryside. If it wasn’t her, it would have been someone else. And if it was someone with less experience, perhaps we’d have more bodies on our hands.”
“If it had been a dangerous or stupid order,” Jovan said, very quietly, “she would have corrected you. That was her job. You said yourself that she laughed. She knew you were sending her out on a safe mission. We all know Bethany. She’d never let you put her, or anyone, in danger on a training run.”
Arrago nodded. “He’s right. Lendra, it’s not Erem’s fault.”
More sobs escaped Lendra and she buried her face in her hands. Jovan walked over and wrapped his arms around her. He whispered soothing words until she settled down. Poor Lendra had already witnessed the death of her sister Drea, killing Sarissa was the end goal of this entire war, and now her beloved Bethany might be dead. Allric’s heart ached.
He gave them all another minute to allow the shock to settle before he said, “Erem? Kiner? Let’s lay out everything we know and get to work.”
Kiner nodded. “After Erem and the water tower guard successful repelled the attack, Lady Gera, the commander down there, sent word ahead to Eve.” Kiner looked at Arrago. “Gera reports through Eve’s battle command. Gera only has one healer, which she shares with locals and scouts, so that’s how we got word from her.” He looked at Erem, waiting.
It took Erem a moment before he understood that he was supposed to speak. He cleared his throat. “One of the men with Bethany’s squad lived long enough for Gera to speak with him. He died before I could, though. By the time I got there, the tower was already under attack.” He dug into his breast pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper from his map case. “She wrote it all down. I’ll read it.”
I interviewed a Mister Ward at River Archibald Watchtower today. Ward was a part of Lady Champion Bethany’s scouting mission in Westbridge Hills. He reports that Lady Bethany and Apprentice Knight Jackson, along with Jonas Carpenter, Lady Kia, and others were alive when he quitted the field under Lady Bethany’s orders. Ward reports he turned his horse around to assist a fallen Lady Bethany, but Lady Bethany ordered him and the others to flee, so he did. She’d previously given the order to head to River Watchtower for help, so he and the others followed that order.
Ward was the only member of Lady Bethany’s team to reach us. He reports archers took down the other fleeing members of Lady Bethany’s team. I asked how many escaped and were left behind. He wasn’t sure, but he can confirm Lady Bethany was thrown from her horse. As well, he saw Jonas Carpenter and Lady Kia fall during the first arrow barrage, though he doesn’t know if they lived or not.
Ward is too ill to move to Castle Gree, and I fear he won’t make it through the night without assistance. I’ve sent a messenger to find Lord Erem in the fray outside for him to interview Ward. I’ve ordered no further interview, beyond Lord Erem, be granted until Ward gains some strength.
I’ve sent word to Lady Eve to dispatch three of her healers from the forward camp, as we only have one. I’ve also requested the assistance of three surgeons, to help with the amputations.
Lady Gera, daughter of Tor
Commander of River Archibald Watchtower
“Ward died an hour or so later,” Erem said. “We went back and combed the area. We found six from Bethany’s original team, but those weren’t in the list of names Ward gave. There’s no trace of Bethany, Jackson, Kia…nothing.” He pointed at Bethany’s Blessed Blades. “Just that.”
“Does Lady Kia have a Blessed Blade?” Allric asked.
Jovan shrugged. “I think she just passed her training and was shipped up here on the first boat.”
Kiner nodded. “She came with Apprentice Myra, if you’ll recall. They were both in Ellentop for training.”
Allric drummed his fingers on the desk. “So they unarmed Bethany, which would have been quite a task without killing her. But we can’t find a body, so…”
“But why didn’t they kill her outright like the others?” Lendra asked.
“Because they knew who she was and took her prisoner,” Arrago said—the words that Allric didn’t want to say.
Allric nodded gravely. “I think that’s most likely.”
“Oh,” Lendra whispered. “Why did she tell them to run, then? If she’d been thrown from her horse, she’d need help, wouldn’t she? Why would she order the others to go?”
“Because she knew…” Kiner sighed.
“They needed to warn the nearest outpost, Lendra,” Allric said. “That was her main focus.”
“She wanted to warn others that a Magi attack was coming. Because she is a knight and that is what knights do.” Jovan said, very quietly. “She knew she was probably going to die, and would have done everything she could to save lives.”
Lendra wept again.
“Seriously?” Arrago demanded. “She’s just a kid.”
“I’m not a kid,” Lendra snapped, making Allric smile. She had really grown up in the last year. He wished it hadn’t been because of such horrible experiences.
“No, you are not,” Allric said with a sad smile. If Bethany really was dead, his head was going to end up in a noose once this war was over. He might have killed the daughter of Apexia. Gentle Goddess forgive him.
****
Arrago watched in fuming silence as Allric appointed Erem to the position of Lord Champion. Arrago had protested that Kiner or Eve were more qualified, but Allric said, firmly, though not in so many words, that he was in charge and not Arrago; he would make his own decisions about his inner circle of knights.
Jovan had pointed out to him that Bethany wanted Erem to be her successor, and Arrago had to grudgingly admit he knew that already. But Erem had failed his first training mission so badly that he’d lost the third in command of the Silver fucking Knights, the elite of the entire elven army. He’d lost the daughter of Apexia herself.
And he was being rewarded for it.
He told himself to take deep breaths or break his own jaw from clenching his teeth. Or even more likely, break Allric’s jaw. Or Erem’s. Or Jovan’s. Someone’s jaw was sure to get broken.
“Arrago, are you all right?” Eve asked.
He looked up at Eve and realized he’d gripped the edge of the table so tightly he’d driven a splinter into his hand. Blood was dripping from his palm. His flesh began to sting in protest. He pulled
the thing out and threw it on the polished marble ballroom floor with contempt. The fucking servants could clean it up.
Arrago closed his eyes and counted.
Ten. This was not the time for grief.
Nine. He had to get his anger under control.
Eight. If Celeste were alive right now, she’d tell him his anger would not bring Bethany back.
Seven. Celeste would say that if Bethany was dead, angry outbursts would serve no purpose but to hurt the others who were also grieving.
Six. Bethany would never want him to cause strife with the others.
Five. This was war.
Four. Death happened.
Three. Bethany might be dead and there was nothing he could do.
Two. She was a soldier first. Before anything else.
One. If she’d known those Magi were out there in that location, she still would have gone, because that’s who Lady Champion Bethany was.
“I’m fine,” Arrago said through clenched teeth. He bent to pick up the wooden shard and threw it in the fire. “Continue, Allric.”
Allric nodded and continued issuing commands. Eve was being reassigned back into the field. She was leaving as soon as this meeting was done, with a force of a hundred riders to comb the countryside. They would be looking for Bethany and the remainder of the team, of course, but there were other important questions.
How could a force of hundreds of men, many on horseback, go unnoticed? Where did they come from? Could Magic hide their horses and their sound too? Were they somehow crossing from the Island? If so, how? Did that mean the army could also cross over?
Arrago glanced at Erem, who stood straight and unflinching, his face racked with guilt and despair. Erem wasn’t experienced enough to run this mission. Eve didn’t have time to train him, either. She had to find out what in Apexia’s name was going on.
“Arrago?” Allric asked.
“Hmm?”
“Are you even listening?”
Arrago sighed. “I’m trying.”
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