DarkSkull Hall

by Lisa Cassidy

  They were on the Madman’s lands. They’d gone too far east. These must be his men.

  “Are you all right, Alyx?” Dashan called out, and received a vicious club to the head for his efforts. She winced as he doubled up in pain, then offered him a shaky nod to show she was physically unharmed.

  As the gates closed, the warriors dragged them up the steps and inside, into a large, airy hall lit with a warm orange light from fireplaces set along the walls. Alyx blinked, trying to adjust to this new reality. Was she still in danger?

  A figure appeared at the top of the steps at the end of the hall, his boots echoing on the stone as he strode down.

  “What’s going on here?” he demanded.

  Alyx studied him as a means of distraction from her fear. He was a young man, probably only a few years older than her, with a handsome, serious face, brown hair cut severely short and hard green eyes. He was tall too, of a height with Dashan or maybe even a little taller.

  “My Lord.” One of their abductors stepped forward to salute sharply.

  “Why are there strangers in my hall, Romney?”

  “We were on patrol over the border and spotted them approaching our lands. They were being chased by a group of Shiven trackers and a pack of their trained wolves. The Shiven we killed, but under the mud these are Bluecoats—escorting the young women, I’d say. I wasn’t sure what you’d want me to do with them, so we brought them back here.”

  The man moved forward. Though Romney had referred to him as a lord, he was dressed simply, in breeches and a shirt. He moved gracefully, but held himself stiffly, with his back ramrod straight. Alyx was confused. From what she understood, the Lord of Widow Falls was a much older man. Could this be his son? Her father, Cayr, and the court rumour mill had never mentioned a son, or that the old lord had died.

  “Who are you?” he demanded now.

  “That’s Lady Alyx Egalion,” Dashan said defiantly. “The daughter of Lord Garan Egalion of Rionn, chief advisor to the king of Rionn.”

  The young man’s eyes snapped from Dashan to Alyx at his words. “You expect me to believe the daughter of Lord Egalion was being chased through the disputed territory by a pack of Shiven?”

  Dashan’s jaw clenched. “My unit was escorting Lady Egalion and her two companions to Tregaya. Time was of the essence, and our orders were to travel overland. Despite the tensions in the disputed area, we were far from Port Rantarin and had no expectation of being attacked along the way.”

  “The Shiven attacked you unprovoked?”

  Tijer levelled a quelling look at Dashan and stepped forward. “Yes, sir. We picked them up on our trail soon after crossing the border, and several days later they attacked without warning. I am Lieutenant Tijer, sir, now in charge of this unit. May I ask who you are?”

  Ignoring Tijer, the young man simply stared at Alyx for a long moment, the skin around his eyes tightening imperceptibly. “You are the daughter of Garan Egalion?”

  “Yes, I am,” she said, wishing that her voice wasn’t trembling as she spoke. “If you truly are the lord here, then you know what he’ll do to you if you hurt me in any way.”

  “Your father doesn’t scare me,” he said dismissively, stepping back. “Romney, put them in a room under guard. I’ll think about what to do with them.”

  “Wait!” Dashan said angrily, struggling as they tried to drag him away. “Who are you? The lord of Widow Falls was an old man, last I checked. That is where we are, yes?”

  A cold smile spread across the young man’s face. “Your information is old, Bluecoat. My father died some years ago. I am Lord Ladan Mirren of Widow Falls, and yes, you are in my home.”

  “How do we know that’s true?” Dashan demanded. “If you are truly a lord of Rionn, you wouldn’t be holding us captive here, no matter what the stories say.”

  Ladan’s expression turned wintry. “I’m not holding you captive here. I simply require time to speak with my men and determine whether you are telling the truth. You won’t be harmed in the meantime.”

  Dashan’s expression settled into a glare. When he opened his mouth to reply, however, Tijer stopped him with another look.

  Ladan seemed unfazed. “Romney, get them out of here.”

  They were marched down a set of spiral steps lit only by intermittent, smoky lanterns. Dashan, the Bluecoats and the twins were thrown into separate rooms. Alyx was taken further along the corridor and up a set of stone steps. At the top of the steps, a heavy door opened, and she was ordered inside.

  Still trembling with fear, she backed up, seeing only a bare room with a narrow bed and a single, high window in the darkness. The rain pattered on the glass, a calm counterpoint to the fear racking her body. Why had her father sent her away? Why had she agreed? She should have fought more, run away, anything to avoid this fear and danger.

  Though her body was limp with exhaustion, Alyx couldn’t manage to relax enough to sleep at all for the remainder of the night. She lay on the hard mattress, facing the door, and starting with fright every time she heard a noise outside. She half-expected the Madman’s men to come any moment to kill her, even though she kept telling herself they were just stories made up to frighten children.

  By the time the faint light of dawn trickled through the window, Alyx was cold and cramped, her eyes gritty and sore with lack of sleep.

  The door thudded open soon after. Two warriors, dressed in the same motley brown/green, came in and gestured for her to get up. They were gentler this time, allowing her to steady herself before one of them took firm hold of her arm.

  Alyx was taken to a bathing room where a maid helped her to undress and slip into a steaming hot bath. Not seeing any option to refuse, Alyx did as she was told, and the maid passed her a piece of soap to clean herself with.

  After a short time, the maid signalled she was to get out, and pointed to a stack of clean clothes sitting on a nearby chair. Then she left.

  Thoroughly confused now—why was she being allowed a bath and fresh clothes after the cold way they’d been treated the night before? —Alyx struggled to pull on a fresh tunic over riding skirts. Her hair she bound roughly at the base of her neck.

  The maid reappeared shortly after, pointing towards the guards waiting outside the door. Alyx went over to them and they took her firmly by the arm again, walking her back to the main hall where they’d entered the night before.

  She almost sobbed with relief to see Dashan’s tall form pacing impatiently, and the twins standing by the wall. Dashan had a livid purple bruise darkening his eye, but otherwise he and the twins looked unharmed. Tijer and the others were nowhere to be seen.

  “Alyx! Are you all right?” Dashan’s hard, angry, expression faded into relief at the sight of her.

  “Nobody speaks in my house unless I give permission.”

  Alyx spun at the sound of the ice-cold voice from the previous night. The Madman of Widow Falls had come downstairs, fully dressed and wearing a sword at his hip.

  “What do you want with us?” Dashan rounded on him angrily.

  Ladan ignored him, looking straight at Alyx. “Why are you travelling to Tregaya? Tell the truth. I will know if you’re lying, and I will kill you for it.”

  She cleared her dry throat, feeling slightly less afraid than she had. Ladan’s demeanour and threat to kill her were at odds with the warm bath and fresh clothes. If he’d truly intended to harm them, he would have done it already.

  “We are travelling to DarkSkull Hall to train to be mages. Dashan and the other Bluecoats are our protective guard. Where are they? Are they safe?”

  “On whose orders are you travelling to DarkSkull?” Ladan ignored her questions.

  “The king of Rionn, on recommendation from his new lord-mage, Lord Casovar.”

  Ladan’s young face hardened. “And I’m to believe this father of yours, the one who will hunt me down if I hurt you, sent you away into danger like that?”

  “He was ordered by the king,” she said helplessly. “T
here wasn’t time to travel by ship.”

  “Then he’s a fool.”

  Alyx’s father wasn’t a fool, but she had no other answer for any of this. So she stayed silent.

  Ladan stared at her a moment longer, then stepped away. “Your timing is fortunate. I too had plans to attend DarkSkull Hall. My men and I will provide adequate escort and ensure you arrive there safely.”

  “My Lord?” Romney looked startled but quieted at a look from Ladan.

  Alyx frowned. Fortunate timing? It seemed far too fortunate to be merely coincidence, particularly given it seemed Romney had no idea of these plans.

  Dashan spoke before she could, echoing her thoughts. “I don’t believe you. What’s really going on here?”

  “You don’t have any right to question me, Bluecoat.” Ladan’s voice was low and dangerous. “I am going to DarkSkull Hall, and it is my wish that you accompany me. That is the end of it.”

  “Why don’t you seem more surprised that we were attacked by the Shiven?” Dashan demanded. “I don’t trust you, and I want answers.”

  Ladan stepped up to Dashan, and they stared coldly at each other; they were of a height and age, both strong young men with hard, angry expressions. Neither was willing to look away first, and Alyx was struck by the observation that both were immovable forces who could not overpower the other.

  Eventually Ladan smiled coldly. “As you pointed out last night, Bluecoat, I am a Lord of Rionn. It is my duty to ensure Lady Egalion and her companions reach their destination safely. Beyond that, my personal choice to attend DarkSkull Hall is none of your business.”

  He stepped away, but Dashan continued to stare furiously at him. “You didn’t answer my question.”

  Ladan ignored him and turned to stride away. “Romney, get them some food. I can’t afford to have them slowing me down.”

  “Dash?” Alyx asked as soon as Ladan and Romney had disappeared. “What do we do?”

  Dashan’s jaw was clenched. “We have no choice. We have to go with him.”

  “At least he hasn’t killed us, right?” Finn offered.

  “Finn, don’t,” Dawn said quietly. “Those are just stories. He may be rude and cold, but he hasn’t hurt us. Do you really want to travel the rest of the way to DarkSkull without his protection?”

  Finn looked chastened. “No, I don’t.”

  “They’re right, Dash,” Alyx laid a hand on his arm.

  He nodded tightly. “Did you hear about the old Lord of Widow Falls dying?”

  “No, but the stories about the Madman of Widow Falls exist for a reason. I don’t think he’s been to Alistriem since I was a girl. The king might know—Ladan would have had to send an official notification at the very least—but this is a minor and remote holding and the news may not have registered with the court gossips. It’s far more interesting to spread stories about an old hermit who eats those he captures.”

  “It’s unlikely the men here would be following Ladan if he wasn’t the heir,” Finn pointed out.

  “Fine. Let’s just get this over with.” Dashan stalked off.

  They rode out within a half hour, Alyx and each of the twins sitting before one of Ladan’s warriors on their horses. All five Bluecoats had been given horses and their weapons back. Their expressions ranged from mutinous anger in Dashan’s case, to wariness in Tijer’s. The wound on Tijer’s arm had been bandaged neatly, though, and none of the Bluecoats looked to have been harmed since Alyx last saw them.

  Ten of Ladan’s men rode out of the gates with them, but quickly vanished into the surrounding forest. Ladan rode ahead, leading the way, and determinedly intolerant of any slowing down on the part of those he was escorting.

  “Lady Egalion, why hasn’t the king insisted on closer contact with Lord Mirren?”

  “I’m not sure.” Outside the scandals that occurred occasionally, Alyx had never paid much attention to how the king managed his lords. “I know that he pays his taxes on time every year, and as I said, his holdings are small and remote.”

  “Even so, I would have thought the king would insist on closer ties, particularly given he’s so close to the Shiven border.”

  “You’re right,” Alyx agreed, curiosity taking hold. Was there something special about Lord Mirren she wasn’t aware of?

  “Quiet!” the warrior behind Finn barked. “We’re about to cross back over into the disputed area.”

  All three fell instantly silent at the harsh note in the warrior’s voice. As time passed, Alyx half-slept in the saddle, her mind in too much of a haze of exhaustion to really notice what was happening. She should probably be more worried about the Lord of Widow Falls, or that the Shiven would catch up with them, but she was too far gone in misery to summon any real concern.

  Long after night fell, Ladan signalled a halt by reining in his horse and calling his men by some silent method. Alyx found a blanket being put into her hands along with a thick slice of bread and cup of water. She ate and drank gratefully, then curled up in the blanket and went straight to sleep.

  Chapter 8

  The sound of people moving about woke Alyx the next morning, and instantly she felt terrible; a thick head, gritty eyes, and itchy, dirty skin. When she opened her eyes, she found herself looking straight into an implacable green gaze. Ladan was watching her from across the clearing, muted anger on his face and in his bearing. She wondered what it was that caused such anger and coldness in a man so young.

  “One of the Madman’s men says we’ll cross into Tregaya tomorrow, if we’re lucky.” Dashan hunkered down before her. “How are you holding up?”

  She smiled at the concern written in his warm brown eyes. “What, no teasing about the current state of my dress? I’m disappointed, Dash.”

  “I thought I’d give you a break, considering the circumstances.”

  “Do you really think he’s going to hurt us?”

  “No,” he conceded. “If he planned to, he would have done it already. Still, he’s clearly a dangerous man. If his warriors had mistaken us for Shiven the other night...”

  “Why do you think he’s so angry?”

  “I don’t know, it’s odd. I’m not convinced he had already planned to head this way either—it almost felt like he decided to go to train at DarkSkull only when he found out you were going there. But that makes no sense either.”

  Something about that niggled at Alyx, but she felt too tired to pursue it. Instead, she nodded and tried to stand, taking Dashan’s hand when he offered it. “We’d better get moving then.”

  Ladan appeared, scowling. “Hurry up, we don’t have all day.”

  “Hey, why don’t you back off?” Dashan said, moving towards Ladan with his fists clenched tightly at his sides.

  “Dash, it’s okay,” Alyx said, recognizing he was about to lose his temper.

  “Just hurry,” Ladan snapped.

  “Dashan, no!” Tijer was suddenly there, moving in front of Dashan as he stepped towards Ladan.

  “We need to leave now,” Ladan said, turning on his heel and striding towards his horse.

  “Get off, Tijer, I’m fine.” Dashan shoved the Bluecoat away.

  “Keep that temper of yours under control,” Tijer said calmly. “That’s an order, Dashan.”

  “Fine.” His jaw clenched.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” Alyx hissed as she approached Dashan.

  “He can’t tell me what to do.”

  “He’s a Lord of Rionn,” she snapped. “Use your brain, Dashan, and stop acting like a schoolyard bully.”

  He said nothing, and they glared at each other for a few long moments before they were forced to mount up and follow Ladan.

  “Didn’t you say you grew up together?” Dawn asked Alyx as the horse she was on moved up beside the warrior carrying Alyx.

  “You mean Dashan and me?” Alyx nodded.

  “Sometimes you look like you can barely stand each other.”

  “Most of the time we can’t,” Alyx said ruefully.
“He carries a chip on his shoulder the size of a boulder, and me being noble-born just rubs him up the wrong way.”

  “Because he’s half Shiven?”

  “Because he’s not rich.”

  “Oh.”

  “Don’t get me wrong. Dashan doesn’t care about money or power. He just hates the way he’s treated because he has neither of those things.”

  “I can understand that.”

  “So can I, to a point, but he can’t go around losing his temper like he did just now. Without Lord Ladan’s protection, we’re unlikely to make it to DarkSkull Hall alive.”

  “I’m sure that’s much easier for you to say than him to actually do.”

  Alyx swallowed a sharp retort to Dawn’s gentle chiding. Dawn hadn’t spent her life being treated to Dashan’s temper and prejudice, and Alyx wanted to avoid making anyone else angry with her if she could.

  Ladan wouldn’t allow them to stop until well after sundown, and when he did, they were not allowed a fire.

  “The Shiven are close,” he said tersely. “We may have to move on during the night if they get much closer.”

  “How do you know that?” Dashan demanded.

  “He’s right. I can hear them,” Dawn said, shivering.

  Dashan glanced at her, then back at Ladan. “Your men are riding our back trail?”

  “Yes,” Ladan said shortly.

  The fear that had died down during the day surged back through Alyx, and she tried to shake it off as she looked at Ladan.

  “What can we do? Should we run?”

  “We’ll move on before they get too close,” Ladan said. “You’re safe, Lady Egalion.”

  “I don’t know that!” The fear made her angry. “You practically kidnapped us two nights ago, and now I’m supposed to trust that you’ll keep us safe. If the Shiven are on our trail, I don’t think we should sit here and do nothing.”

  “My men and I have been dealing with Shiven patrols for years, Lady Egalion,” Ladan spoke in clipped tones. “I ask that you trust our knowledge. If I’d wanted to harm you, I’d have done it already.”