by Raven Oak
The words were worlds away, but King Leon nodded. Or at least he thought he did. When the words were repeated and his shoulders shaken, he pried open an eye to a fuzzy world, unfocused and very blue in color.
“Stop… shaking… me.” The words took an army’s effort as his tongue felt thick in his mouth.
“Your Majesty, do you know where you are?”
His vision sharpened some, and he recognized the tapestry on the wall of the field where he and Catherine had first met, her slender frame walking toward him. She’d been a complete stranger. The bravery it must have taken to travel so far, only to marry a complete stranger.
“Catherine?” Leon whispered.
“Your Majesty?”
Leon shook his head and blinked back time. The world snapped into focus. He lay in his bed. The same bed where his father had been murdered. The healer before him sighed and pinched Leon’s arm to check the flush.
“What happened?” Leon asked.
“We found you with Sir Goefrin’s body. You were near death, Your Majesty.”
“Did you find the vial?”
The healer glanced behind him at King Leon’s personal physician, Roland, before nodding. “We did, Your Majesty. Foul stuff ’twas.”
Roland held the vial between slightly swollen fingers. “How did Your Majesty come by this?”
“Goefrin. He had it.” Leon’s tongue still felt like a pile of leaves more than a proper tongue, and he tried to roll it around in his mouth. “He… he killed my father… w-with it.”
Roland sent the other healers out of the room with a nod. “I suspected as much at the time but couldn’t prove it. I didn’t want to raise suspicion against such a trusted family friend if I was wrong.”
“I understand. He admitted committing several acts of treason, and—”
“Your Majesty, there’s something more you must know—”
Roland’s concern was touching, and Leon reached up to grab the healer’s hand. “I know. I know. He’s been poisoning me, too, hasn’t he?”
The physician nodded.
“Is it reversible? This cough I have. Can this illness be undone?”
“I’m sorry, Your Majesty. I think your body has taken in too much of the poison. However many days you have left, I can’t fathom a guess. But you will eventually die from this poison.”
King Leon stared at the tapestry hanging on the wall across from his bed. Tears swirled the picture into a mass of green. How many people would this traitor’s actions cost him? First his father, then his wife, fifteen years with Iliana, and now his own life.
“Order his rooms searched. I want to know who hired this weasel to plot against my family,” said Leon.
“It is already being done, Your Majesty. When we thought you dying—immediately dying, I mean—I ordered the search in hopes of finding answers.” King Leon nodded and closed his eyes again. “Rest, Your Majesty. We will discover the root of this evil.”
Ah, my poor Margaret. I hope I live long enough to see you happy. And to see you home, Iliana. His body weighed him down, weary from his thinned hair to the tip of his toes. Gods help us discover the snake in our home and root it out.
Gods help me live long enough to see it done.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Forest of Alexander / Town of Tarmsworth
“My name’s Shendra Abner, sister of Malaki Abner—but ya know ’im under his Amaskan name. Eli Bredych.”
Adelei wobbled in the saddle, and she grabbed hold of the pommel for support. “Sister to Master Bredych?”
“Yes. I was also Amaskan. I was servin’ the Order when I—” Adelei’s head spun in confusion. “I brought ya to the Amaskans under my brother’s orders. I thought… I thought I was bringin’ ya to safety, but when I discovered that they planned to kill ya, I couldn’t do it, child. I asked to be released from the Order.”
“But you can’t—”
“—Leave. I know. How do ya think I got this?” Ida pointed at the long scar on her neck.
“If you’re Amaskan, where’s your tattoo?” When Ida tilted her head for Adelei to better see the old scar that ran across her neck, the scar’s tip began where the tattoo had been. Underneath the slightly raised and lighter skin, hints of the circle remained. Like random dots that formed a quarter circle. Invisible unless one knew what to look for.
“My own, dear brother, the one ya call Father, slit my throat and left me for dead. Someone found me and healed me. After, I fled east and returned to Alexander with the intention of tellin’ your father the truth, but the hands of Amaska are ever reachin’. I feared they would silence me for good. So I hid. Different name. Different person.”
Ida’s eyes teared up as they pleaded with Adelei. “But once I saw ya, grown up and-and—alive, I returned to His Majesty and confessed. Now I’m ordered to bring ya home safely, as I couldn’t do before. I’m so very sorry for my part in this.”
“Tell me.”
“What?”
“Tell me what you told him. Tell me exactly why you kidnapped me.”
“I would ask that it wait ’til we reach Tarmsworth. I feel the need for a good pint and a comfortable chair before I tell it.”
Adelei sheathed her dagger. “You don’t deserve the reprieve, no matter how temporary, but a drink sounds like an excellent idea for soothing betrayal. We’ll wait until Tarmsworth.” And if you don’t tell me there, I’ll kill you myself and finish the job Bredych started.
A hard silence lay between them, its sharp edge slicing them both with words unspoken. Their horses continued picking their way across the dense forest toward the town of Tarmsworth. Master Bredych wouldn’t have slit her throat unless she’d betrayed the Order. Once an oathbreaker, always an oathbreaker. If King Leon still trusted her, they were going to have a problem.
Ida wisely remained mute through the evening. She lit a torch to guide them and finally broke the quiet. “Troubled as ya are, I thought it might help ya to know that despite your upbringin’, your father chose to send for ya once he learned ya were alive. He wished to make the best of the situation.”
“Then he should have left me at home.”
“Angry as ya may be, he can’t just bring ya back from the dead and introduce ya as a princess. Even you must see the folly in that plan. He’s doin’ the best he can though, and the least ya could do is live up to the expectations of the Order. I know it’s not the ideal situation or the easiest news to hear, but ya must move beyond the wallowin’ and prepare to do the job your kingdom has asked of ya.”
“Which kingdom?” Adelei retorted. “If I’m to believe you, my father’s a liar and a kidnapper. Everything I know about him is false. And I’m supposed to just do my job as if nothing’s changed.”
Ida rested a gentle hand on Adelei’s shoulder, a pained expression on her face. “Forgive me, Adelei. I forgot how young ya are, despite your reputation. I don’t expect ya to wall it off, but if ya aren’t in some control when we reach Alexander, your emotions may get your sister or ya killed. We don’t have much longer before we reach the capital, two days at the most. Deal with the betrayal later. For now be Amaskan.”
Even Adelei’s slow breaths were jagged and her chest ached. “If ya must,” Ida said, “perform the Ro-maá.”
Adelei swallowed hard and handed her reins to Ida. Horse secure, she sank into the darkness of closed eyelids and pushed away thoughts until her mind sat empty. The wall was there. Waiting. Brick by brick she built it—between herself and the emotional turmoil. Her mind tapped against it, but Adelei hummed beneath her breath and focused on stillness.
Another memory popped into her mind and dissolved a brick. The first time she’d seen the Ro-maá as a trainee. It was the last job they’d accepted from Alexander. Poor woman had been captured by those who had hired her and tortured her for information. They had wanted the name of who had ordered the hit on some child. Oh Gods—they were asking about me. I didn’t see it then. Damn you, Father. Adelei ground her teeth and foc
used on repairing the mental wall.
When Mersi’s body had been discovered at the border, her mind was a storm and her body a bloody hurricane. The healers helped Mersi into a trance and helped her build the Ro-maá—the wall. When the woman awoke, much to the shock of Adelei and her classmates, Mersi was calm and alert. Adelei had protested—they couldn’t turn emotions on and off like that.
“Mersi will process the situation as slowly as she needs, but for now, she can carry out her duties without endangering herself or others,” the healer had said.
Even now, Adelei shivered inside the memory. I know it can be damned useful, but it still creeps me out. Certainly never thought I’d need it. But then no one ever does. The meditation technique worked, though Adelei didn’t understand why. Only that it did, and she breathed as she built up her wall again and pushed the old memories back.
Empty the vessel. Like water I flow to the sea, nothing between it and me.
She sank deeper until the wall was twice the width of Midnight’s shoulders and covered in ivy. Adelei lay down in the water that ran alongside it, reveling in the chill that washed over her. Ice water to her temper, to her flame.
When she opened her eyes, she sat relaxed in the saddle. While she wasn’t pleased with Ida, she didn’t feel the need to kill the woman either. A calm neutrality.
Turning to Ida, she said, “I apologize for my behavior and immaturity these past few days. It will not happen again.”
Ida studied her face, surely critiquing every line and muscle movement. Satisfied, she nodded and returned Midnight’s reins. “Good. We approach Tarmsworth.”
Adelei unrolled the map from her saddlebag and located Tarmsworth with a steady finger. A third of the way to Alesta, the capital city. She was right—maybe another day or two in the saddle at the most before we reach Alesta.
Unbidden, her thoughts turned to her sister, a person she didn’t remember and didn’t know. Maybe it was better that way. It was another job guarding another stranger.
Several hours after sundown, they reached the town of Tarmsworth which was nestled in the forest like an afterthought. At first, Adelei wasn’t sure they hadn’t simply stumbled upon some hunter’s cabin in the woods.
Two buildings came to view from astride her horse. Beyond them, three dozen more tangled through the torch-lit area. All surrounded an opening in the center which was unusually clear of trees. A man bearing a lantern walked through the clearing and nodded to them, then moved on his way with his bundle of wood. Ida led them toward the small inn tucked into the corner of town.
Only one of four stalls in the stable remained, and Adelei led Midnight and Ida’s mare into it. The horses would have little room to move about, but it was better than someone losing a hand or rib trying to ‘capture’ a wandering horse. Well stocked with feed and water, both women needed only to groom their mounts and remove the saddlebags before retiring themselves to the inn.
“The stable’s packed. Will they have room available for us?” Adelei asked as she untied the saddlebags.
Ida pulled a coin out of her pocket and tossed it to Adelei, who flipped it over in her palm. The silver coin bore the face of a serious looking man whom she assumed was her birth father. His crown bore hints of color smelted into the silver. “That coin will get us a room in any town, full or not,” said Ida.
Adelei frowned as she tossed it back. “I wouldn’t want to kick anyone out of their room. If there’s not one available, I’d be just as happy sleeping out here with Midnight. Done it before many a time.” While she meant it, after the day’s turmoil, she wanted a room. She’d even share one, so long as it was something softer and warmer than hay and a blanket.
Both women entered the inn and conversation paused as the occupants glanced up from drinks. Once the peek was given, talk and drink resumed inside the rather simple inn. The sun’s warmth was long gone, and a chill clung to the air. Adelei steered herself closer to the fireplace’s warmth as they approached both it and the innkeeper behind the bar.
The gray-haired bar matron cleaned a glass with the sleeve of a yellowed blouse bearing more stains than her full skirt. She flashed equally yellow teeth at Ida, her grin splitting her face into two reddened beets.
“Ida. Good ta see you makin’ the rounds agin. What’s it this time? Servin’ on the border?”
Ida grabbed the woman’s outstretched hand with a grip that spoke of the strength and joy of longtime friends. Still smiling, Ida slid a bar stool up to the bar. She wasn’t even seated before a mug was in her hands. She drank long of the brew before answering. “Nope. ’Twas visitin’ family. Headin’ back to the capital now.”
The barmaid rested her eyes on Adelei. The rugged voice matched the rugged exterior. “Are ya with Ida here? Somethin’ I can help you with?”
Ida rested her hand on Adelei’s sleeved arm. “The poor thing was out in the woods, lost and confused. Haven’t heard a word outta her yet, but I figure I’ll take her with me to the capital. See if maybe someone would have use for ’er. I figure she’s tired and all—whattcha have by way of a room for tonight, Mel?”
Adelei pulled her hood closer to her face and widened her eyes, feigning fear. Mel, who certainly looked man enough to bear a man’s name, frowned but let it go with another mug for Ida. The barkeep led them up a rickety flight of stairs to a room in the rear.
“I remembered ya preferred th’room in the back. I’ll let ya have it tonight for tha usual.” No money exchanged hands, nor any indication as to what the “usual” was, but good to her word, the woman left them alone.
The door closed, and Adelei threw off her hood before falling into one of two small beds in the room. Her feet hung off the bed by a good twelve inches, but her hips sank into the stuffed mattress. Adelei sighed in comfort. Ida, mug still in hand, sank into the only chair, which stood by the fireplace.
Ida warmed her fingers as she drank deep of her ale. “Nice inn for the room to have its own fireplace,” Adelei commented from behind drooping eyelids.
“Um-hmmm,” was the only reply the warrior gave.
Adelei’s mouth watered, her tongue tasting the air for the drink’s flavor. Probably watered down or a mild ale, but at this point, she didn’t care. Anything besides stream water.
The room’s warmth and her exhaustion lost her the battle, and she awoke a good twenty minutes later when a light knock sounded on the door. When it opened, a small boy entered, carrying a tray twice his size. The tray was loaded to the brim with food and drink.
Through slitted eyelids, Adelei winced at the serving boy’s reaction when he saw her. Even though she was lying down, he could see her bald head. Ida took the tray from his trembling hands with thanks and a small coin. Fear forgotten, he beamed at the coin as she gently pushed him out the door and locked it behind him.
“Keep the hood on next time,” said Ida. The woman scooted the room’s tiny table and only chair closer to Adelei’s bed—not that it had far to go in so small a room.
Adelei picked up the glass of goat’s milk from the tray. “What in all hells is this?”
Ida chortled. “I guess ya looked like someone in need of milk.” Two more glasses of ale sat on the tray and before Ida could lay claim to both, Adelei switched out the milk for a glass of ale.
“I’ve had worse,” she said after a sip. “Just strong enough to numb the senses some.” She alternated sips with strips of deer meat and potatoes. Ida helped herself to food and even drank down the offending goat’s milk before returning to her ale.
“As we approach Alesta and the castle, keep your head covered. Did ya bring any head wraps or scarves besides your hooded cloak?”
“Both.”
“Good. No need to announce your presence like we just did with that boy.”
“Will it be a problem?” When Ida cocked an eyebrow, Adelei clarified, “The boy?”
“No. If he tells Mel, Mel knows to keep her trap shut.”
Adelei finished her mug of ale, but still felt t
hirsty. Maybe she should have drunk the milk after all. A knock on the door brought an entire pitcher of ale, and Adelei settled cross-legged on the bed. “How does King Leon wish me to appear once on the job?”
“Depends on what ya thinks necessary, I guess.” Ida belched and pounded her chest once. “Sometimes, you’ll dress as the Princess to be the body double. Though ya might need to use some makeup or somethin’—ya look entirely too much like Princess Margaret. Oh, and you’ll need to wear a wig or a head covering of some sort at times. You’ll be introduced as a guard in special service to the King—that way the royal guards will listen to your commands.”
“Like a sepier.”
“Similar enough, I guess.”
“How many attempts have been made on Her Highness?” Adelei asked, and Ida held up two greasy fingers. “Any idea who hired the hit?”
“Yes, His Majesty’ll give ya the details when ya arrive. The weddin’s two months away, and just about everyone will be in the capital for the royal wedding. The various lords and ladies and dignitaries will be at the castle by the time we arrive—at least those travelin’ from afar. Considerin’ it’s unitin’ two families who’re once sworn enemies, it’ll be a big weddin’. Lots’a state dinners, dances, and the like.”
Ida scowled, and Adelei asked, “I take it you don’t approve?”
“No. I don’t believe His Majesty sold Her Highness for the peace treaty, but I know he would’ve avoided all this if given half the choice. We’ll be passin’ half of the kingdom on the road tomorrow, so we should get some rest while we can.”
“Aren’t you forgetting something?”
The warrior sighed and filled her mug with ale. “Let’s get this over with…”
Capital City of Alesta—254 Adlain 15th
The sleeping woman in his arms shifted, her heel connecting with his shin. The jagged scar to the right of her eye bunched together with worry lines. One of her hands flitted to the scar tissue along her throat, and she whimpered in rhythm to the twitching of the facial muscles around her eyes.
“Shhhhh,” King Leon murmured, running his thumb down her jawline. Through the deep blue bed curtains, tiny hints of light streamed in from one of four windows which left most of the room dark in the early dawn.