by Phil Parker
‘Please think about what I’ve said Robin. I’ll stop by later with your meal. If my brother starts to bother you with a demand for stories out of history, tell him I won’t allow more than five minutes. I need to find some herbs for a poultice.’
He turned, lifted the flap of a heavy blanket across the entrance, and left. I noticed out of the corner of my eye Luke watching me.
‘It doesn’t stop, does it? Everyone wanting you to do something to help them.’
I sighed and laid back, I felt exhausted suddenly, my eyelids were heavy. I don’t remember giving a reply.
The smell of food woke me, I was soon salivating at the wonderful aroma of well-seasoned meat, freshly baked bread and a hearty soup. One of the middle-aged women I’d seen cooking earlier brought it, more than enough for Luke and I, though I was so hungry I threatened to eat his portion too. We didn’t speak much; hungry men have that habit of filling their mouths instead of bothering with conversation.
With a full belly and the pain fading to dull aches I felt more like my usual self, something Luke spotted as I reprimanded him for stealing the remaining bread and soup. He chuckled as he told me it was a reward for carrying me for so many miles.
‘Where is Mahon, by the way?’
‘Outside, talking old times with a chum. He doesn’t seem to want to be with us.’
‘I was always more of a friend to Islene. I suppose he thinks I’ll defend her against anything he says.’
I wiped my bowl with the rest of the bread and licked my fingers. As usual, I realised Luke was watching me.
‘Are you ready to talk about it?’
‘Look, I don’t see…’
His look hardened.
‘One thing I learned after Afghanistan, Robin, you share what happened with your mates. I lost too many of them to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder because they bottled it up.’ When I looked bewildered he shook his head. ‘I don’t suppose they recognised PTSD in the Trooping Fairies, they just abused you. But you need to open up Robin. Please?’
I knew there was no use arguing, I didn’t have the strength.
‘All right doctor. I’ll confess if it makes you happy.’
‘It won’t. But it might help you.’
I pushed away the dishes and stared at the hardened ground between my feet. I’d been given a pair of trousers and a shirt to wear, they even smelled clean.
‘To be honest I don’t remember much. He injected me with something that meant intense emotions caused intense pain. I fought a battle to control my reaction to the pain. The more intense the pain, the harder the battle, and Taranis has some inventive ways to create pain.’
Luke didn’t attempt to hide his horror as I pointed to some of the places on my body and explained how Taranis conducted his experiments.
‘That’s what he called them? Experiments?’
‘Yeah. He said he was looking forward to conducting these experiments on someone with my resolution. I suppose I should be flattered. He said his other experiments had been on people with minds like glass, whatever that meant.’
‘And you don’t remember anything else?’
I suddenly realised there was one fact I didn’t know.
‘How long was I in there?’
‘Just over two days. And you only remember a few hours?’
I nodded. ‘After a while I started hallucinating so I don’t know what was real and what wasn’t. I remember being visited by a young woman at one point but I suppose I must have imagined that as well.’
He stared at the bowl that had contained the soup and idly turned it round and round. He looked up and realised I was watching him for a change.
‘It worries me what kind of experiments that bastard was doing on you. Why use that word, rather than saying he was going to torture you? I expected he’d come for me because he’d broken you and found out I was human. If he had, I knew he’d torture me to find out what kind of threat the humans posed; but you held out.’
‘You know me.’
He grinned. ‘I didn’t then.’
I looked at his youthful face, the splash of freckles over his nose that the sun had exacerbated today, at those chocolate coloured eyes that searched my face for answers.
‘I must admit, something feels wrong,’ I said. I hadn’t admitted it to anyone until this point, preferring to believe it was the drugs leaving my system but as my strength returned I knew I felt different.
‘In what way?’
I could only shake my head, I had no idea. ‘Like when you go into battle and you know something bad is going to happen. Ever had that feeling?’
A jerky nod. ‘The day I got captured by insurgents. I’d had a bad feeling all day.’
‘Like that. There’s something wrong in here.’ I tapped my head.
The other man frowned at me, he looked genuinely worried. ‘Remember he said how pleased he was he’d found you? Well, why you? What qualities do you have that makes you so useful to him?’
Our search for an answer meant we didn’t hear Cori’s arrival, it occurred to me that having been part of the process he might have the answer. He gave me the same sad smile.
‘My role was to hose you down and take specimens. When he worked on you I wasn’t allowed in the room. Those sessions sometimes lasted for two hours or more. When he allowed me to return, there were occasions when you raved like a wild animal and at other times you were unnervingly still. But I’m sorry, I don’t know what he was doing.’
‘Did a young woman visit?’
Cori raised fine eyebrows. ‘I’m amazed you remember. It was Princess Filidea from the Light Court. She was supposed to marry Taranis but he decided to show her what he was doing to you. It angered her, she screamed how sadistic he was and how she’d tell everyone what he was doing.’
‘Good for her,’ I said, surprised it hadn’t been an hallucination after all.
‘I couldn’t hear all of it, despite listening at the door. He threatened her and she went very quiet. It had something to do with a story about a man raping a woman and getting her pregnant and how wrong it was the man wouldn’t be punished for the crime. It was written by a fellow called Oisin, I don’t know if you’ve heard of him? His sister is rumoured to be the woman Taranis raped.’
‘And you think the threat involved Oisin?’ I asked.
The young man shrugged. ‘Taranis needs his reputation intact. I suppose he threatened to do something unless that story was retracted, I don’t know what it was though.’
I looked at Luke and shook my head. Whatever Taranis was doing appeared to be a lot more complex than I’d initially thought. As Cori resumed his ministrations I couldn’t stop thinking how Oisin featured in this string of events. I found myself wishing that the horrors I’d suffered would be worthwhile if only I could see him again.
Chapter 14
‘Congratulations. Uncle Oisin.’
‘Thank you Filidea.’
We shared our false smiles, I hoped mine was a little more convincing than the man stood in front of me, his died all too quickly. My mood was bleak, I couldn’t imagine how Oisin felt. His sister’s rape was going unpunished since we had no evidence to confirm whether its perpetrator was Sibeal’s husband or not.
‘I’m sure my guards will be passing on their felicitations too.’
‘They’re only there to ensure your safety Oisin.’
He gave me another false smile, he knew the truth. The man desperately needed protection, from himself. The guards were there to stop him from leaving the palace, to prevent him from murdering Taranis. He didn’t have any specific plans to seek his revenge, meetings like this one allowed me to make sure of that, but his state of mind could lead him to do something stupid and reckless. Something which would implicate me. I hated thinking that way but Taranis’s words in his dungeon had shown me the man’s capacity for evil and where it could take us. The implications scared me beyond belief and now I couldn’t share them with anyone.
Not now Gra
ndmother was dead.
We’d argued constantly for so long that our brief time together as joint conspirators felt inconsequential. I realised I hadn’t known her at all, in those last months I’d glimpsed the depth of her intelligence and wisdom and felt daunted by the need to replicate them.
Oisin was good at reading people, you had to be as a storyteller I suppose. He’d guessed where my train of thought had deposited me, it took me there every time we spoke. It made me realise how Oisin had felt about her too.
‘Etain exceeded her normal levels of bad taste, didn’t she?’
‘Mother was true to her word, she’d promised the funeral would be a celebration.’
‘Of Nimue’s death, rather than her achievements. It said more about Etain’s bitterness and hatred of your grandmother than anything else. The rest of the Court know that and yet your mother is oblivious.’
I could only shrug at his observation. Mother saw and heard what she wanted to see and hear. I needed to get the topic back to Oisin’s predicament.
‘It’s fitting, in a way, that little Granuaile arrived on the same day, isn’t it? I like her name, don’t you?
According to Sibeal, her child represented a symbol of hope for our society, a solution to our problems of infertility, it was why she’d chosen to name her Granuaile, which meant remarkable.
We shared more false smiles until he looked out of the window, at a grey world that matched our moods. Without sunlight The Silver Reception Room lacked its usual light show of shimmering rainbows. I pressed on.
‘Have you seen the baby?’
Oisin shook his head. His blue eyes had sunk into deep and dark recesses and his normally perfect complexion had a pale, waxy quality.
‘Midir said she looks beautiful, like Sibeal.’
I got a shrug of tight shoulders before he shuffled over to look out across the gardens and grandmother’s orchard. He used the walking cane I’d given him, it helped him move with greater ease. I might not be able to read people as well but I knew the pain displayed on his face represented more than the repercussions of a serious wound. His pain came from failing to bring Taranis to book.
He stared out the window grandmother’s orchard, a cool breeze wafted the fine lace curtains, it made me shiver. For a moment or two neither of us spoke until I felt Oisin’s eyes on me.
‘Do you think he was behind the attempts on your life?’
I remained silent for a few seconds to consider my reply. There was no question who Oisin was referring to, my dilemma lay in deciding whether to share my concerns, knowing how he’d react if I did. I decided to do as Grandmother had advised, to remain vague when I was uncertain.
‘There’s no evidence to say what they were. Poison is an arbitrary tool. It might have been intended for any of us, likely some resentful court official.’
He continued to watch me out of the corner of his eye, I remained focused on the orchard.
‘What about the man in your bedchamber?’
‘Is it impossible to imagine there might be one there occasionally, Oisin?
I tried to force a degree of light-heartedness into my voice but when he didn’t react I resorted to the story I’d concocted for the benefit of my family.
‘He was drunk. The poor man must have wandered in and fallen asleep. My screams brought the guards running and they over-reacted, it was unfortunate he fell over the balustrade to the courtyard below.’
‘And no one knows who he was?’
I feigned a carefree shrug. ‘His face was quite a mess apparently.’
Oisin turned back to stare out the window again, I couldn’t tell if I’d satisfied his curiosity but talking about it made my stomach churn at the thought of how close I’d come to death. If I hadn’t side-stepped when he launched at me with his knife, things would have been very different, I’d been lucky. Very lucky indeed.
‘You need to be more careful,’ It might have been little more than a whisper but Oisin had lost none of his voice’s resonance. ‘Things are changing. And not for the best.’
I looked at his dark expression. Oisin had always been a happy guy, optimistic and playful. Grandmother had enjoyed how he could always make her laugh, no matter how difficult things were. I wished he could do that for me but that man had vanished.
‘What does that mean?’
It was enquiries like this that helped me find out what was really going on in this man’s head. Finally, we’d got there. He didn’t reply for a minute but when he did, he turned to look directly at me.
‘Nimue told you about a mistake she’d made, didn’t she? She didn’t deal with the consequences of a secret that has existed for longer than you’ve been alive.’
‘She mentioned something about it but she rambled…’
I tried to mask my bewilderment. How had we stumbled upon this topic? It was apparent grandmother had shared private information with Oisin, she’d hinted at it during our conversation in the orchard but now I wondered how much he knew. It sounded like he knew more than me and that conclusion irked me. I’d left my answer vague in the hope he’d continue. He did. But not in the manner I’d expected. Tears ran down his cheeks all of a sudden, he ignored them. He looked at me with those beautiful blue eyes, they pleaded for something but I didn’t know what.
‘It’s all so complicated Filidea. I don’t know what to do. I know what my heart demands of me, I want vengeance so badly.’ His breathing shuddered. ‘But my head tells me it will only make matters worse. I think he’d hate me.’
I reached out to take his hand but he drew it back and shook his head. Tears rolled down his cheeks, big fat globules that dripped off his chin unnoticed.
‘You need to explain, Oisin. You’re not making any sense. Who’s going to hate you?’
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them, there was a different look in those cornflower blue eyes. They’d regained their earlier emptiness.
‘It doesn’t matter.’
Outside I heard heavy footsteps and several voices, I turned, nervous suddenly. I relaxed the moment when Petroc, resplendent in his silver and white uniform limped into the room. He was followed by four of the palace’s security retinue, they each looked stern, disciplined and exceptionally fit, I hauled my eyes away from the toned muscled bodies as I reminded myself who I was these days.
The four guards came to an immediate halt without any obvious signal and Petroc stepped closer. I liked Petroc. His no-nonsense approach was a breath of fresh air in the palace, I’d insisted on him always telling me the truth, rather than what he thought I wanted to hear. He’d frowned in confusion at my instruction, as though any other approach was possible.
‘My apologies for this interruption, your highness, but a matter has occurred that needs to be brought to your attention immediately.’
His icy-blue eyes flicked over to Oisin, I waved away his concerns. He gave me a curt nod of a head speckled with very short black and grey hair, he was quite dark-skinned for our race, I hadn’t dared ever ask why.
‘News from the Dark Court, your highness. The High Lord was assassinated during his coronation.’
Time stood still. I felt my body rock slightly and immediately applied rigidity to my core muscles, this was no time for any weakness. Oisin’s dire warning about change echoed in my head but I didn’t look at him, instead I kept my eyes fixed on the soldier in front of me.
‘How?’
His eyes flickered for a second. For a man with the same iron discipline he demanded from his troops, Petroc’s reaction was the equivalent of him screaming at me. I prepared myself to be shocked.
‘Stabbed repeatedly by the High Magistrate.’
He’d forgotten my honorific, this man’s world had been rocked to the core. I understood why.
‘But Lord Rowyn is so gentle. And old. How could he…?’ I realised I was shaking my head repeatedly and tried to stop. It wasn’t easy. ‘There must be some mistake Petroc?’
He held my eyes,
I’d offended him with my careless statement, this man did not make mistakes. I looked back at him with an expression of regret. The smallest of smiles formed on his lips and vanished just as quickly.
‘His lordship was arrested and is being interrogated as we speak. He was arrested by the unit led by Lady Mab. My report tells me the old man attempted to cut his own throat when he was caught. I was told by a witness that he kept slicing the air in an automatic motion, as though he thought he could still end his life.’
The man hesitated slightly before continuing.
‘My witness reported hearing his lordship say that he’d woken up in a nightmare, when he saw the body of the High Lord. I cannot corroborate that statement, your highness, but I thought it might be important.’
I nodded. ‘Woken up in a nightmare.’ I glanced at Oisin whose face showed the same shock that had to be on mine. His voice was the softest of whispers.
‘And so it continues.’
I realised Petroc remained standing to attention in front of me. There was a look of indecision on his face, this truly was a day of surprises. I waited.
‘Highness, there is a person outside who is desperate to meet you and Master Oisin. Normally I wouldn’t bother you with such matters, she is a person of no importance, at least in most respects. However, her story is worth hearing. Plus, she gave several of my guards a good beating to ensure she reached you.’
I raised my eyebrows.
‘Who is this woman?’
If it was possible for Petroc to stand any more upright, he managed it, he took up the facial expression soldiers use when they expect to be reprimanded, he stared blankly over my left shoulder.
‘She is a Pixie, your highness. I knew her in a different life.’
Perhaps it was the shock of hearing of the assassination, but I restrained a chuckle.
‘Petroc, what you do in your private life…’
The poor man didn’t see any humour in the situation, he looked directly at me.