by Phil Parker
Tears filled my eyes, stopping me from seeing clearly, but I noticed Goodfellow look at each of us and shake his head.
‘You truly are an evil bastard. My earliest memory is of hating you.’
Taranis glared at me, wide-eyed and lacking his earlier confidence.
‘Call off your attack dog, otherwise you know what I’ll do.’
I think Goodfellow may have growled. It was a guttural noise as he broke free of the others’ clutches and launched at Taranis and fell on him. He attacked with the snarl of an angry animal, attack dog had been right. He sat astride Taranis, punching the man’s face into a bloody mess, gabbling vengeance.
I screamed at Petroc to get him off the other man, to restrain him though I knew how hard that would be. Petroc, Islene and Luke tried to haul him off Taranis but Goodfellow fought and kicked and punched so they were all dragged onto the floor to form a writhing heap of bodies. Finally Luke was on his feet, he dragged Goodfellow away from Taranis’s semi-conscious and bloodied body, while the lunatic screamed to be allowed to finish the job.
Suddenly, Sibeal called Oisin’s name. I turned, Clodagh too. The others were too occupied in restraining Goodfellow to notice what Sibeal saw.
Oisin had got up and walked towards the melee. He stooped to pick up Islene’s knife from where she’d dropped it.
He stumbled over to where Taranis groaned.
Sibeal and I glanced at each other, uncertain how to react and in that moment, Oisin fell to his knees at Taranis’ side and stabbed him in the throat. It was the wet gargling noises and Oisin’s words that caused the others to pause in their struggles to watch the horror. Oisin’s voice was soft, as though he spoke to a lover.
‘You will not destroy another life as you did his. I only wish I could make this pain last as long as the cruelty you visited on him.’
Oisin plunged the dagger into the man’s shoulder, as the gargling noise grew louder the blade was slammed into the stomach, a thigh and finally, as Petroc stumbled over to stop it, into the heart. The noises stopped.
Like a scene in a mummers’ play at Beltane, we froze and stared at the horror.
Goodfellow reacted first. He called Oisin’s name, yanked himself free of Luke’s grip and threw himself at him. He lifted him off the corpse though Oisin didn’t move, he looked barely conscious. Goodfellow cried as he hugged and rocked the other man, as if he was a baby.
The others looked at them, at the corpse, at me, each one unable to process what they saw. I didn’t dare think what would happen now, not just to Oisin but to me. I’d staged the whole thing, I’d hosted a murder in the most important room of the Light Court. Petroc staggered to his feet, helped by Islene. His look was one I knew well, the formal, official face of a man bound to do his duty.
‘Highness, I need to fetch the palace guard. A murder has been committed.’
My throat was dry, my mind whirled, unable to make sense of anything. I saw him wait patiently, he understood my shock. I felt Clodagh at my side, her face ashen.
‘You can’t let him be arrested. He shouldn’t have done it. But it’s what the bastard deserved Filidea. You know that, don’t you?’
My stomach twisted into knots that made me wince.
‘But shouldn’t the courts…? I began.
‘Highness, I must fetch…’ Petroc’s eyes, serious and dark.
‘He’s suffered so much, don’t make it worse.’ Clodagh pleaded tearfully.
On the floor Goodfellow continued to clutch Oisin tightly, as though he wouldn’t ever be torn away from him again. I sought Luke, who stood over his friend, as though he was protecting him from harm, he sensed my gaze. His was full of concern but there was sadness in his eyes too. His message didn’t need words.
My head cleared.
‘Petroc, fetch the palace guards. But I would ask you to remember your crippled leg, which has sustained further injury in the fight. I am sure it will take you several minutes to reach the guard. Am I right?’
Those dark eyes, set in a face looking increasingly grizzled, searched my face and then cleared his throat.
‘You are correct, highness. My limp will slow me down. I imagine it will take me five minutes to assemble the guard.’
I turned to Goodfellow who wrenched his attention from Oisin and looked up at me. For a warrior, a man with a violent reputation and one who had needed three others to restrain him, he looked utterly helpless. I struggled to feel sympathy.
‘You heard him. Behind that mirror,’ I pointed to the far corner of the room, ‘is a staircase. It will take you through the servants’ corridors from where you can reach the stables. Tell the groom I have instructed you to find my brother. Later, I will claim to have said no such a thing.’
No one spoke. Goodfellow stood up, reached out a hand to help his lover to his feet but Oisin couldn’t stand, he looked so weak and helpless too. Luke joined in, between them they hoisted Oisin to his feet, he wobbled as he placed his arms around the neck and shoulders of the other men. Luke had to understand the implications of his actions, but I needed to spell them out anyway.
‘Luke,’ I should have used his formal title, ‘if you go with them, you will become an accessory. I’m sorry but perhaps if you stayed here…’
I couldn’t find the words to finish the sentence. If he stayed with me he would still be an enemy in my Court, alone and isolated. I wouldn’t be able to protect him, I doubted I’d be able to protect myself. His expression told me he understood all those things, it said them in his sad smile. He turned as the three of them stumbled to the corner of the room, opened the mirrored door and disappeared into its darkness.
Petroc limped in the other direction, shaking his head as he moved past the body where blood pooled around it, to stain the perfectly white marble floor.
Sibeal sobbed as she rocked the baby that cried in her arms now.
Clodagh put an arm around my shoulder, hugged me tightly.
‘He’s won Clodagh, even in death, he’s ruined me,’ I said.
She didn’t speak for a moment, neither of us could turn away from the grisly sight on the floor. I’d never seen violent death before, I’d been sheltered from such things, Clodagh too. Taranis’ dark form, that hid some of the blood, was out of place in a room filled with light and rainbows. It sullied it. It was a space which would never be the same.
When Clodagh did speak there was so much venom it surprised me, she had always been so demure and quiet.
‘He deserves everything he’s got Filidea. You said it yourself, he was a rapist and a torturer. Don’t forget that. This world is better because that bastard is no longer in it.’
Sibeal joined us and placed a hand on my arm and squeezed. The baby in her arms looked up at us with bright blue eyes full of innocence.
‘I’m glad he’s dead,’ she said quietly. ‘I would have been afraid for my child’s life. Clodagh is right, he deserved this.’
They were trying to make me feel better but reality sounded as the palace alarm bell tolled its heavy, ponderous knell. Taranis might have deserved to die, it didn’t change the fact he had been murdered, summoned to Court by me. My hatred of the man was well known, I would be implicated but so would my family. They would bluff their way out of the crisis, it’s what we always did. But privately, they would turn on me. I’d proven them right and grandmother wrong. If I didn’t finish up in prison, the alternative would be banishment to the library. I would vanish from public life and my time in the light would be gone.
Taranis had beaten me again.
Chapter 21
‘We’ll stop here,’ I said.
Luke didn’t argue, he’d worked out it was best to keep quiet. He dismounted and hurried to us, reached up his powerful arms and carried Oisin over to the side of a stream where the horses quenched their thirst. He laid him down, very gently, on a grassy bank and placed the back of his hand on Oisin’s forehead.
‘I think the fever’s broken Robin, but cool water will help, like Cori did with you.’
He tore a strip off his shirt, dipped it in the stream and dabbed the pale, waxy skin on his patient’s face. The water trickled down the side of Oisin’s head and soaked the sweaty blonde curls already plastered to his skull. I stood over them both, uncertain how to help now he’d left my arms, holding him felt like the best I could do.
‘He passed out some time ago, the pain was too great. At least I had a stretcher, sitting on a horse must be hell.’
Luke looked up at me, those chocolate brown eyes scrutinising my face as he kept dabbing the wet cloth.
‘How are you holding up?’
It was irrelevant and I told him so, he dipped his head instantly and immersed the cloth in the stream again before laying it across Oisin’s forehead. Guilt reared up inside me, I’d bitten his head off more times than a hungry dragon and he’d not complained once. We wouldn’t have escaped the palace if it hadn’t been for his wit and his courage. I didn’t remember most of it, I could only stare at the man I carried in my arms as I visited a library full of regrets.
‘I’m sorry Luke.’
He glanced at me, gave me the million-megaton smile I hadn’t seen for such a long time. It made me realise how much I had missed it.
‘We’ll get him better Robin. We will. Perhaps we should take him to Cori?’
It was the first time we’d talked of destinations; our priority had been to escape the Light Palace and get as far away as possible. I wasn’t even sure where we were. I nodded, it was a good suggestion. I didn’t have any. I couldn’t think. Every time I engaged my brain it insisted on showing me all the ways I could have changed what had happened. It was all my fault. I should have killed Taranis, not Oisin. I’d taken too long, gone along with their stupid plan for a confession and the man I loved had paid the price. I looked down at the victim of my procrastination and wished I could go back in time. I knelt at Oisin’s side, stoked his hand, wished I could heal him like Cori. Riding a horse wouldn’t help his recovery but I couldn’t think of anything else to do. I only wanted things to be different.
Fingers clasped my hand. Cornflower blue eyes opened and searched mine. There was something in those eyes that told me he was going to be all right, I could see the Oisin I knew and loved, he was in pain and he was exhausted, but he was the same man. Relief flooded through me like the cold stream in front of us. Now I needed to make sure he recovered properly and, more than anything else, keep him safe.
‘How are you? Do you need anything? Can I get you a drink? You don’t need to worry, we’re safe now. We got away, I won’t let them find us, so just relax. We need to get you better, that’s the main thing.’
The slightest of smiles formed his lips.
‘Good to see you too.’
I laughed. I must have sounded ridiculous but it was good to hear the Oisin I knew again. Suddenly my laughter turned into tears, like a dam had burst, a cataract of salt water that had no end. I felt stupid, letting my emotions get the better of me in front of Luke. I tried to wipe away the tears but more kept appearing, I’d tapped into an enormous reservoir of them. My hand was squeezed again and those blue eyes held mine, wouldn’t let them go.
‘I had to kill him. Couldn’t let you do it. Need to explain.’
I told him to shush, to rest and get better and we’d live somewhere quiet, where no one would find us, how that was what he always wanted. How attractive I found the idea of living on his farm in Mag Mell.
The smile widened.
‘You’d hate it. Stop blaming yourself, you can’t protect people all the time. I’ve told you that before.’
He winced at the effort of speaking and I told him to shut up.
‘You shouldn’t have left the palace. You were safe there.’
The look in his eyes told me what was coming. ‘I had to find you. Don’t need protecting.’
That provoked a derisive snort from me. ‘And look what happens.’
He gave a little chuckle and winced. He thanked Luke for taking care of him and closed his eyes and was asleep in seconds.
‘Feel better now?’ Luke asked, smiling at me with a more relaxed expression. I sighed. I admitted there was a small chance I had panicked and got over-protective.
Twilight arrived silently and discreetly, purple and pink clouds scudded above us and so we decided to camp by the side of the stream. While Luke made a fire, I hunted for supper. Hours later, beneath a sky filled to capacity with stars and with Oisin able to sit up and possessed of a massive appetite, we finished our meal of roast rabbit. We regaled Luke with stories of our youthful adventures, sans the more intimate details, though often their omission only led to more laughter. Luke and I described our escape from Taranis’ castle and my vivid portrayal of a plague victim as well as Geralt’s ambitions for social change.
‘Our young friend, Keir, the new Dark Lord has made a similar start. He’s freed some slaves, promoted servants to positions aristocrats held, which is causing some large waves across the Dark Court,’ Oisin said.
‘Good for him. Though with the likes of that bastard Cernunnos, he’d better watch his back.’
I could just make out Luke shake his head in the light from the fire.
‘Not another one of your enemies?’
I couldn’t help but shrug, it was the consequence of a long life, you had more time to really piss people off. Oisin looked at my reaction and grinned. Sitting around a camp fire, reminded me of the few happy times we’d had in the human realm, I hadn’t realised at the time how much closer it had brought us. Despite his obvious discomfort he watched me with an expression of which I approved greatly. For now, miles from anywhere, alone except for Luke, we could forget the problems that faced us. I hadn’t answered Luke’s question.
‘Between us, we’ve done our share of killing the great and good of this realm. We’ll leave him to someone else.’
We both chuckled as I considered the emptiness of this realm, how it was big enough to hide two men. I’d been an idiot to let other things get in the way. This was our chance, our reason, to disappear for good and let everyone else get on with their wars and politics.
Luke settled himself down on the opposite side of the fire. He described it as a discreet distance and we laughed. I held Oisin in my arms, it avoided the rough and uneven ground and would be more comfortable for him, he didn’t argue and smiled at my selflessness. I kissed his neck, he sighed.
‘I thought I’d lost you forever,’ I whispered into his ear. I felt him nod his head. ‘I’m not letting you go now, you know that, don’t you?’
‘You’re an exile accompanied by an enemy soldier who everyone will think is a spy. I’m wanted for murder. How do you plan to keep us together?’
I didn’t have definitive plans. They were little more than hopes masquerading as vague ideas but there was a strong will behind him. I didn’t say any of that, obviously.
‘I told you. Your farm in Mag Mell. We can hide there.’
‘The three of us?’ he scoffed. ‘Does Luke know about this new relationship?’
‘Ah. Luke. Well. We’ll find him a woman somewhere. Perhaps ask Filidea to join us.’
We giggled. Oisin turned his head to kiss me. His face was only inches from mine but it was too dark to see anything other than his outline. I traced a finger across his lips, felt the smile on them.
‘Remember that time, we’d escaped Oberon’s masked ball because I’d made a complete dick of myself and we found that barn. Remember your suggestion?’
I felt Oisin nod, heard his soft snort of amusement. There was no hesitation.
‘I asked you to leave the Court behind and live with me in Mag Mell.’
There was a lump in my throat.
‘But I kept being a dick. I loved all the attention, the money, the notoriety. I thought those things were important. I should have listened to you. We would have been happy together.’
I could hear the tiredness in his reply, I needed to let him sleep.
‘No, we woul
dn’t.’
I started to argue and realised it wasn’t the right moment, he needed to rest so I kept my mouth shut. He didn’t stop though.
‘You’ve always craved excitement Robin. And you’ve always needed to look after those you love. You would have gone crazy with boredom and we would have fought constantly.’
‘I suppose.’ I said it as much to bring the matter to a close. It worked. He was asleep in less than a minute.
I lay looking up at the stars, felt the soft rise and fall of his chest and knew he was right. We’d have driven each other crazy, probably finished up hating one another. The time hadn’t been right then, but it was now. Money and notoriety were meaningless, they’d led to a life of boredom and loneliness. I’d never expected to see Oisin again but fate had been kind to me. She had never done that before. The conniving bitch normally kept us apart.
I watched the stars wheel above me and made a vow to myself; I would not lose this man a third time.
Luke nudged us awake. Oisin opened eyes just inches from mine and smiled.
‘Guys!’ I could hear Luke’s urgency and I shrugged away sleep and sat up, looked in the direction he was pointing. Men marched in our direction. A dozen of them. They wore uniforms. Army uniforms.
‘How could they get here?’
I helped Oisin up, he moved with greater ease now. Luke hadn’t taken his eyes off our visitors.
‘Put your hands in the air. No sudden movements. Let me do the talking.’
We did as he said and waited.
They had guns which they brandished suspiciously in our direction. The man in the middle of the group wore a jaunty beret tipped with a red feather, he approached with less anxiety than some of the younger men behind him, a blonde-haired youth looked panic-stricken. A couple of others surveyed the area nervously, probably anticipating a trap.
Luke took a step forward and gave a crisp salute to the man with the red feather, it took them all by surprise, they frowned and glanced at each other.
‘Lieutenant Luke Weir, sir.’
They came to a halt without any visual command from the beret-wearer, he took a couple of extra steps closer and looked Luke up and down.