“Well, I suppose that doing it will draw unwanted attention,” Ashlynn finally agreed, although with great reluctance. “If we can think of a quiet method, we should probably do that instead.”
There was a collective sigh of relief.
Oh yes. He was getting the story on this later. “Anything on how the abbey be laid out?”
Tant shook his head in frustration. “We tried, but no one really walks all the way into the abbey. They enter the main courtyard, worship or ask for help, and then walk back out again. The only people that actually know the place are the people that permanently live there…and the guards, of course.”
He’d reckoned as much. “Then it be an excuse we need to go in and take a tour of the place. What be the word on the street? Be they looking for new members?”
“Desperately so,” Amber confirmed. “Quite a few apparently quit earlier this year because the life was too strenuous.”
Serving the church likely was, and not much glory to be had, either. Broden had an idea playing about in his mind, one he thought had possibilities. “Ashlynn.” He waited until she faced him before asking, “How about being me daughter for a spell?”
Not understanding, she just stared at him blankly. “Daughter?”
Tant was the first to catch on, and he snapped his fingers in understanding. “Of course. Play the role of father and daughter, ask to take a tour of the place so you know what environment she’s going into, then walk away as if you’re thinking about it. No one will suspect anything, and you’ll get to see most of the building that way.”
“Ahhh.” Ashlynn gave a judicious nod. “Not bad. I like it. They probably won’t show us where my sisters are, but at least we’ll know how the rest of the building looks.”
“Lass, can ye remember a thing after seeing it once?” he asked uncertainly. His recall for places was dismal at best. He had to be very familiar with an area before he felt he knew it.
She dismissed this concern with a wave of the hand. “I have spells for that sort of thing. Actually, the spell I’ll use will let me play it out on a wall so that everyone else can see it for themselves.”
“Magic be a convenient thing,” he marveled.
Ashlynn winked at him. “Aye, it be that. Alright, I think this is a solid plan. Broden and I will go in tomorrow morning for our tour. While we’re doing that, I want you to split up in groups and find the quickest escape route. Try to find a way that will give us some cover so that I can heal. Their legs won’t stand up to long hours on horseback in their present condition.”
“I spoke with Jeri, and he’d more or less mapped out our possible routes,” Seth volunteered. “It really comes down to one of two ways. Either down the main street and through the gates, or through the market gate that lets out on the east side.”
“Which way did he recommend?” Tant queried.
Seth hiked up one shoulder in a shrug. “Depends on the time of the day. If it’s morning, then the market street. Evening, main street. More traffic that way, and a better chance to lose our pursuit.”
“So if we wanted to just quickly get out of the city, and then lose our pursuers later, we’d reverse that.” Amber frowned, chewing on her bottom lip thoughtfully. “Although I don’t know how we’ll lose them outside the city.”
“Without another wizard battling me, and no innocents around, I can just flatten them.” The way that Ashlynn smiled made the fine hairs on Broden’s neck raise in alarm. “We’ll go with the market route tomorrow. We shouldn’t stay past tonight and tomorrow.”
“It’s too risky to stay for more than two days,” Konrath agreed, hands tapping a silent rhythm against his thigh. “We’re already getting odd looks from people who think we should be out on business. We’re obviously foreign, so hanging about the inn like this without doing any business in the city doesn’t look right.”
“So we plan to get my sisters out tomorrow and leave before nightfall.”
Seth raised a hand. “Ashlynn, can we get dinner and think about how to break into the abbey? I can’t think on an empty stomach.”
Passing a hand over her face, she capitulated with a sigh. “Probably best. Hungry stomachs make desperate plans. Alright, go eat. We’ll meet back up here after dinner, and I expect someone to come up with something brilliant, otherwise I will blow a hole in their wall.”
Effective threat, that. Broden saw at least three people shudder in true horror.
They filed out of the room, Seth leading the charge down the stairs. Broden hung back, catching Marissa’s eye before she could leave as well. With a wary eye on Ashlynn’s retreating back, he asked in a low whisper, “Lass, could ye tell me why it be no one be keen on the idea of Ashlynn making her own door?”
Marissa also flashed a look in Ashlynn’s direction before answering in an equally low tone, “She tried this about two years ago. We had a situation where a house was burning in town, leaving a pair of siblings trapped in a back room with no way out. She cast a quick spell around them, to protect them, but we still had to get them out quickly before they inhaled too much smoke. Ashlynn tried to carve a hole in the wall so we could get in.”
Broden quirked a brow. “What went wrong?”
Shaking her head, Marissa corrected, “Nothing went right. Oh, the spell worked, certainly. But she blew away the whole side of the house. If the children hadn’t been protected by that shield of hers, they’d have been crushed under the roof. Ashlynn has never been good with moderation.”
Which was why Edvard set Ash to building things and not Ashlynn? Broden had thought it because the lass had a better handle on punishing the unjust, but mayhap that was not the only reason. Regardless, he now understood why no one wanted Ashlynn making her own doors in the walls. She like as not would bring the abbey crashing down upon their heads.
“Before we go down,” Marissa openly hesitated before continuing, “I should tell you something. You’ll probably need to take the lead tomorrow, when you go in as father and daughter. She won’t know how to act.”
Blinking at her, he cocked his head in confusion. “What mean ye by that, lass?”
“I don’t know how much of Ashlynn’s personal history you know.” Blowing out a breath, she shucked her caution and just spelled it out plainly. “Ash and Ashlynn’s father died when they were two from drowning. He was a sailor, you see, and his ship went down off the coast in a mother storm. They have no memory of him. Their mother got by because she was the old duke’s mistress after losing her husband. None of us really blamed her for making that choice—she had two children to feed somehow—but it wasn’t the best decision she could have made, either. It would have been far better if she simply remarried. Edvard’s father wasn’t a father at all, to any of his children. The only man that has been a constant in their lives is Edvard, which is why all the siblings are so good at looking out for each other, and are so fiercely protective of their own.”
Broden took this all in, mulling it over. So Ashlynn had no father figure in her life, did not remember her true father at all, and a mother that no one thought highly of. His wizard had a harder start in life than he’d assumed. But it explained, too, why Ashlynn called those three girls her sisters when there was no blood connection twixt them. It was a bond forged by hardships and love.
“Bless ye, lass, for telling me,” he responded quietly. “It be a thing I needed to know, so that I can watch out for her proper-like.”
She flashed him a quick smile before offering cautiously, “We’re all hoping that you’ll be a father to Ashlynn. You’re such a good one to Riana. We’ve seen that for ourselves. Whether Ashlynn will admit it or not, she needs one man that she can turn to, no matter what happens. With Ash and Edvard, well—” Marissa sighed “—she tends to be half-mother, half-sister with those two. Even Tierone, although we don’t see him often.”
Broden rubbed at the back of his neck, looking away. “Whether the lass will accept me as such be up to her. I can no’ force such a bond atwee
n us. But I would no’ worry about it, lass. A wizard’s partner be the one thing they can lean upon, always. She knows that.”
“Oh. Good point.” Somewhat relieved, Marissa took in a breath and suggested, “Well, let’s go down to dinner. We have a brilliant scheme to hatch.”
“Lovenanty,” he groused, turning toward the door. “Me talents be in hitting things at a distance, not breaking through guarded walls.”
“If you don’t want a building crumbling around your ears, you’d better think of something.”
Broden started praying for a miracle.
Chapter Twenty-one
Directly after breakfast, they left the inn and headed for the abbey. They’d prepared as much for the role of father-daughter as they could last night. Seth had pointed out that the two of them would need to speak like each other, otherwise the abbot would find it odd. Broden had spent the majority of the evening trying to mimic Ashlynn’s speech and failing. Ashlynn, however, had an ear for such things, and had already spent the past month or so teasing him with his own phrases, so she had his pattern more or less down. It also made her seem more like a Trenenian, so the wizard was the one that adapted her speech.
The morning market was in full swing. Even though they had not reached it yet, people were coming and going at a fast walk, about their morning business and not dallying. He kept Ashlynn close at hand to avoid being separated, and to shield her some from the more careless elbows that passed them. As they walked through the streets, he ground the thought into his mind, repeating the litany: The lass aside ye be yer daughter. Daughter. Daughter. She be yer daughter.
It was not a hard idea to get into his head. Ashlynn was like his Riana in so many ways, after all. Mayhap that was the reason why he’d took to the girl so quickly. As they walked, he stayed closer to her side than he normally would, and he kept an eye on the men they passed. A few let their eyes linger too long, and to them, he gave a warning glare.
“Broden. Be there a reason ye glare at everyone so?”
“That’s ‘Da’ to ye, lass, and aye, there be good reason. Some of those men we pass seem to have some trouble keeping their eyes on their business.”
She choked on a laugh. “Is this what Riana has to put up with? This overprotectiveness?”
“Nonsense,” he snorted. “I give me daughter time enough to warn the man off herself. If he do no’ listen, well, that be the time a father should step in.”
Those sky blue eyes glanced up at him, a quirk to her mouth that could have been a smile. “Heavens, Da, ye be worse than Edvard. And I thought he be bad.”
Broden just grinned, not the least bit insulted.
Shaking her head, she said instead, “I wish everyone hadn’t vetoed the idea of me creating another door inside. It would solve a lot of problems for us.”
“They be worried ye would bring the building a-toppling on our heads,” he answered truthfully.
“What?!” Indignant, she stopped in place and nearly got bowled over by a passing matron who had her arms full of groceries and children. Stumbling, the wizard hopped to one side, almost ducking behind him, to avoid a certain crash. When she straightened again, she demanded, “Now why would they think that?”
He shrugged. “They told me a tale about a burning house with children trapped inside.”
“Ohhh.” Ashlynn gave a put-upon sigh. “Of course. That’s the only time anyone’s seen me actually do that. But that truly wasn’t my fault. The fire had weakened the brick and mortar so much that what should have been a small concussion became a huge explosion. I just hadn’t taken into account how hot the fire had gotten, or how much damage it had done.”
Made sense. “So ye be thinking that ye can tackle yon abbey’s walls and not take off a corner doing it?”
“Oh, sure, it’s a very sturdy building. I mean, those walls are what? Two, three feet thick? I couldn’t bring that thing toppling with a single hit. It would take several strikes, and a lot of determination before I could do any real damage.”
He found himself nodding in agreement. He could not fault her logic. “Then we should keep the idea in mind.”
Satisfied he saw things her way, she went back to acting like his daughter instead of his partner.
They wound their way through the crowded market streets, at times almost holding their hands over their faces. It was such a mix of smells from the overly ripe to the enticing, that Broden’s nose could not decide whether to wrinkle in disgust or not. Finally, though, they stood before the towering wooden gates of the abbey.
Broden could admit frankly that he did not like the feel of this place. It felt…cold. Aye, that was it. Like stepping into a graveyard at night without even the moon to keep a man company. An errant shiver ran up his spine as they stepped slowly past the open doors and into the paved courtyard.
“They be ordinary locks,” Ashlynn said in surprise, although she kept her voice low.
He turned that over in his head, but it did not make sense. “What did ye expect, daughter?”
“Magical protections of some sort,” she responded, twisting her head so that she could study them a second longer over her shoulder. “Or divine protections. Something, anyway. But those be just ordinary, iron locks. Stout enough to ward off thieves, certainly, but not anything more.”
From the way she said this, he felt it changed things. “Can an ordinary lock stand up to a wizard, then?”
“Not a determined one.” Her smile was borderline evil as she replied. “I thought that we would have to get in and out afore they closed the gates, but—” Ashlynn abruptly snapped her mouth shut as a man in a long black robe with greying hair made a beeline for them.
“My dear children, welcome.” He spread out his hands in a welcoming gesture, expression and voice warm. “I’m Abbot Haney. Have you come to worship this day, or to seek counsel?”
Ashlynn changed in the blink of an eye from a strong, independent woman to a shy little girl that hung onto her da’s arm. Broden’s eyes nearly crossed watching the transformation. “Oh, I be not sure,” she said in a sweet voice, eyes demurely on the ground. “W-we came to talk about me joining ye here in the abbey.”
It took all Broden’s control to bite his tongue and not bust out laughing. Lovenanty, what game was she playing?! They’d spoken the night afore about her acting more demure today, aye, but he did not remember advising that she be a doormat either.
The abbot found nothing strange about her behavior. In fact, he was delighted. He beamed at her, excited by her words.
Afraid the man would get the wrong idea, Broden hastily added, “Me wife and me, we be no’ so sure this be the right choice for our daughter. So we came to take a tour of the place, and see what life here be like. If that be fine with ye, sir.”
“Oh, certainly, certainly,” Abbot Haney assured them. “Might I have your names?”
“Broden Ravenscroft,” he replied truthfully, having no reason to lie. “This be Ashlynn.”
“A pleasure to meet both of you.” Haney gestured toward the main doors and offered, “Let me show you around and explain things as we go.”
“Kind of you.”
Ashlynn seemed to be under the impression that a ‘demure’ girl had all the backbone of a washcloth. She openly clung to Broden’s hand as they followed the abbot, her eyes never looking up. Then he realized she was muttering steadily under her breath, her words barely discernable even for him. It hit him that she was using that gold amulet around her neck to somehow take a record of what they were seeing, and her focus was so totally on the spell that she weaved and trusted him to guide her.
Internally, he groaned. The lass should have warned him afore she would do this!
No help for it now. He would have to look out for her feet as well as keep the abbot’s attention away from her. Somehow.
They came to the center of the courtyard, a vast, open space that could house all of the people in Cloud’s Rest without strain. In the center stood a stone altar sever
al feet long and two feet wide, where money and religious trinkets seemed be traded back and forth.
Haney blathered on and on about religious rites practiced here, and the services that Lugh’s worshipers came here for, and so forth. Broden smiled, nodded at the right times, and let his eyes roam about the area. The building had stout walls, over two feet thick, made of a red-brown stone he had never seen the like of before. They had used mortar to build with, and some of it was coming loose from sheer old age. Broden saw many a foothold in the walls, and he knew it would not be any challenge to climb the walls, if it came to that.
On the second level, there were, well, a man could only describe them as battlements. They had turrets poking out on all four corners, doors open and guards milling about on top. Oh, they dressed in the black robes like the other priests and such, but no servant of Lugh would wear a sword strapped to his side like that.
There was a bit of an overhang from the battlements so that the side doors on the main floor had a sliver of protection from the rain. But it was no more than a foot’s width, not enough for a man to hide in.
“Well, let’s go inside, shall we?” Abbot Haney suggested with a charming smile.
They went in with him, Ashlynn still muttering to herself, Broden guiding her so she wouldn’t trip. They went the full circle of the main floor, seeing the kitchens, main dining hall, worshipping alcoves, and other rooms that the abbot called “service rooms.” To Broden’s eyes, they looked like forced labor, as dozens of men and women sat at tables and sewed leather together. He did not like the look of it. Oh, the industry was fine, but the depressed way that the people huddled around their work, no one speaking, gave him an unpleasant knot in his stomach.
For a full hour, the abbot led them about and talked their ears off. Finally, however, they came back to their starting point. Broden’s smile muscles were giving out, but he managed one more as he said, “Well, Abbot, it seems a fine place here. Me wife and me will discuss it with our daughter, and think on it for a spell. We be seeing ye again after that.”
Arrows Of Change (Book 1) Page 19