by Duncan Lay
Feray shook her head, her frustration obvious. “However you were born, you are the power in this land now. Don’t throw away this chance.”
Before he could say anything else, a young recruit raced over.
“Captain, the Duchess Dina is approaching the castle,” he announced.
Fallon nodded acknowledgement and the young man raced away.
“He has been using the sword for less than a moon. How will he fare against men who have been fighting for ten summers or more?” Feray asked softly.
“Devlin, find rooms for Feray and her boys. Somewhere nice, and find some servants to bring them whatever they want. I want at least ten men guarding them at all times as well.”
“Prisoners, again?” Feray asked bitterly.
“No, guests. But guests who must be kept safe. You may go where you wish in the castle but we cannot be sure all of the King’s men have been found and removed. Until the castle is ours, you must be protected,” he said. “Our families’ lives depend on it.”
She smiled then. “At least let me talk to this Duchess Dina. Explain things to her.”
“We will speak again,” Fallon promised. He did not like the idea of Feray trying to cut a deal with the Duchess behind his back. The only important thing was to get their families back. Everything else came second.
*
Duchess Dina walked into the castle as if she owned it.
“Captain Fallon, I do believe you have saved our country!” she exclaimed, striding over to him.
“Your grace.” Fallon bowed and she reached out and touched the top of his head, in what felt like a blessing.
“Now come, let us go inside. We have much to talk about.”
Fallon lingered to wait for Rosaleen. The priestess looked exhausted but raised a wan smile for him.
“She answered every question, swore she had not breathed a word to anyone. And I could only find truth in her words. She wants to help, wants to wipe away Aidan’s foul rule and bring Cavan’s dream to life,” she whispered.
Fallon breathed a sigh of relief and grasped her shoulder. He was reluctant to trust a noble, particularly Dina, but he needed help here. If Rosaleen said Dina was speaking the truth, that was all he needed.
“I have to go. There are many who need my help,” Rosaleen warned.
He nodded agreement and hurried to catch up with Dina, getting caught up in her entourage. A score of servants in the Duke’s livery, as well as carts filled with furniture and clothing. They were not just being escorted by his recruits but, in some cases, the men were helping pull them along.
“What is all this?” he hissed at Gannon.
“The Duchess is moving out of her house and into the castle. She said she needed everything,” the big sergeant said with a grimace.
Fallon shook his head and hurried to catch up with her.
Dina led the way up to the King’s rooms, where the bodies of Aidan’s guards had been removed but the bloodstains still remained outside.
“Gannon, I want these rooms cleaned, my furniture inside and a fire lit. Drag anything of Aidan’s out into the courtyard and we shall either burn it or give it away to the poor,” she ordered.
“Wait, Padraig is in there, going through the King’s papers,” Fallon protested.
“He can continue that task elsewhere. Gannon, get the papers all bundled up and send them along to Prince Cavan’s old rooms,” she said crisply. “But first of all, we need the King’s seal.”
Fallon coughed. “That was taken, Duchess. Prince Swane escaped us and took it with him, by pretending to be dead.”
She closed her eyes briefly. “That makes things even more difficult. Right then. Gannon, begin working. Fallon, follow me. We have little time.”
With that she swept away again.
Fallon hesitated for a moment then hurried after her.
She led the way down to the throne room, where the last of Kelty’s guards sat in a corner, watched by nervous recruits.
“Out of here. All of you,” Dina said crisply. “Take them to the stables and finish the job there. We need to begin the work of ruling.”
The recruits glanced at Fallon, who nodded.
While they prodded the guards and escorted them out, Dina walked around the other side of the room, looking at the tapestries and snapping orders to a pair of servants in her wake. Fallon felt like a bewildered sheepdog, trailing after a strange sheep.
“Those can go. The King had no taste,” she said over her shoulder, pointing at a pair of tall tapestries. “We shall find new ones.”
She glanced over to see the last of the recruits heading out of the throne room door and gestured to a table and chairs by the wall, the set that King Aidan used to eat in between audiences and where he had tested Fallon with the shillelagh and crossbow.
“Get every servant in the castle up here, ready for when we have finished, and then get me scribes and parchment,” she ordered, then pointed at the chairs for Fallon.
He sat down awkwardly while she waited until the servants had hurried away before joining him.
“You did it!” she exclaimed, an enormous smile on her face. “But why did you not tell me first?”
“It was not deliberate. I just did what I had to,” Fallon said stiffly.
“Well, we are going to have to work fast to hold on to what we have won. Swane escaping, with the King’s seal, is a setback. We have Berry but the nobles control the rest of the country. So the first thing we need to do is execute Aidan publicly at dawn tomorrow. He must die. Not just for what he has done, which is beyond evil. But because the nobles will never declare for me while he lives. They are too afraid of him. And him being alive also gives Swane power, because he is the agent of his father, with his father’s seal. Anything he signs and says can be made law by the King. But with Aidan dead, Swane is merely the second son and a contender for the throne. All the nobles hate him and news that Cavan is murdered will horrify them. The only other noble who might challenge me for the throne is the Earl of Meinster—”
“He is dead. Burned to death,” Fallon interrupted.
She smiled briefly. “Good. Then I clearly have rank. Next we need to appoint people we trust to powerful positions. Your wife’s father Padraig must become the Royal Wizard, while that priestess of yours should be the new Archbishop. Gannon will be captain of my guard and you, obviously, will be the head of our army.”
Fallon felt his mouth drop open and shut it with a snap. “But who will pass judgment on the King? No magistrate can convict him.”
“That does not matter. Drag the body of the Fearpriest out and hang it from the castle walls, for all to see. Then get the parents of the children he sacrificed to Zorva out here and let the people of Berry hear what he has done. Show them he had Cavan killed and then execute him.”
Dina grabbed his sleeve and jerked on it, so he looked up and into her burning eyes. He shrank back from the intensity there.
“You must understand, until he is dead, everything we have won here today is at risk,” she hissed.
He pulled his arm free and she seemed to subside a little.
“Fallon, we have a chance now. A chance to let Prince Cavan’s dream come true. A fairer Gaelland, ruled not for the benefit of a few but for all. No more heavy taxes, no more strange parties where servants are beaten and killed, no more children starving to death in streets while nobles dine from gold plates and the church has its hand out for what little the people have. Think about a church that helps the people, without demanding favors in return, nobles who must care for their county rather than themselves and a ruler who obeys the laws the way the people are supposed to. Don’t you want to see that?”
He could see the new country as she spun the vision for him. It was exactly what he and Cavan had talked about. It sounded almost too good to be true and he hesitated, until he remembered that Rosaleen had only heard truth from Dina. “You know that is what I long to see for Gaelland,” he said.
“The
n let us make it happen! We can do it. You have the only army in Gaelland.”
“The nobles still have all their guards. They could match us, maybe outnumber us if they all come together,” Fallon warned. “And then there is the fyrd. Each noble can summon every man between sixteen and fifty summers to fight for them. We could see ten, twenty thousand men outside the gates of Berry in a moon’s time.”
Dina chuckled. “The nobles all sent their stocks of arms and armor here, remember? They took the money Aidan stole from everyone with his selkie tax and there is no way their blacksmiths have replaced that much in such a short time. And they will not summon the fyrd, because they will fear it will turn on them. The ordinary people will not fight for Zorva.”
“They might be forced to, if the nobles still call the fyrd,” Fallon argued.
“They might,” she said, “if you leave the King here. Every noble will know that Aidan will be demanding why they did nothing to free him. While he is alive, they will do everything they can to defeat us and save him, for fear they will be killed by him later. But remove the head of the snake and the others will not know what to do. Once he is dead they might follow Swane but all that will come with them will be their guards. And you know how to defeat them.”
“Aye, I do,” Fallon admitted.
“So why do you hesitate? He tricked you into killing your Prince, sold your families into slavery and tried to kill your son. What else does he need to do?”
“Nothing,” Fallon said harshly. Any one of those reasons was good enough to kill Aidan. But he was still the King. Down in the chamber he had been happy to kill Aidan and had even tried to. If his hand had not been so bloody he would have ended the King’s life and not thought twice about it. But that rage was gone and he worried about being the man who judged and executed the King. He remembered what he liked about being a sergeant. Other people made the big decisions and you just carried them out.
“Why do you hold back? I would have thought you eager to finish him off,” she asked.
“I wanted the church, the magistrates, to pass judgment on him. He was happy for the church to burn innocent women for being witches. Why can’t the church do it? That way it is Aroaril passing judgment on Zorva. I will be happy to enforce the death penalty on him for them,” he said.
“No, we need to do this. If the church kills the King then that makes the Archbishop more powerful than the throne. And the nobles will never allow that. I can never allow that,” Dina said with a shake of her head. “It is too dangerous a precedent. We might as well crown the Archbishop. No, everyone will understand what had to be done. And, by killing him, we clearly take power for ourselves. None can doubt who the new rulers are.”
“But this way I am just the man who murdered the King,” he said. “I know what people are like. They cheer for me now but they can turn on me just as quickly. Aidan was the one who told the people to love me.” Although he did not say it, it also meant he must turn his back on the plan to escape to Cavan’s island. Once he killed the King, he tied himself to Gaelland forever, and made himself responsible for the people. And that was a responsibility he did not want. He did not trust himself to live up to it.
She smiled at him. “If you give them a better country, they will love you more. They will remember you destroyed an evil King who wanted them to sacrifice their children to Zorva and who starved their families but asked for more and more of the pittance they had. If they have food in their bellies and coin in their purses, they will love you.”
“And Kotterman? They still want us as part of their Empire.”
“Indeed. And that is why the King must die. The agreement dies with him. They can push pieces of paper at us all they like but the man who signed it will be dead.”
“Then they will try to make new demands on us.”
“But we have their Crown Prince’s family,” she said triumphantly. “They can do nothing while we hold them.”
“I gave my word they were to be returned once our families were back,” Fallon protested.
“And so you did. But, if I am the ruler, then I can hold them and you have not broken your word,” she reminded him.
“But I still break my word—”
“Fallon, do you want Kottermanis ruling this country and sending our people off as slaves?”
“No,” he admitted.
“Then leave it to me. Listen now, much has happened in the past few turns of the hourglass and your head must be whirling. I have much to do to begin to establish our control. Can you grant me one favor?”
“What is that, your grace?”
“Go down and talk to King Aidan. Speak to him and then come back and give me your decision as to his future. If you still decide you cannot kill him, then we can leave him imprisoned. Or perhaps give him to the Kottermanis!”
“That is one thing we cannot do,” Fallon said. “If they got hold of him, they would use him as a puppet to justify their claim on the country.”
“Please, speak to him and then talk to me. I have the noble birth but you are the man who put me on the throne and I shall never forget that,” she said gently.
Fallon nodded. “I shall speak to him, although I do not know what good it will do.”
“Perhaps nothing. But do it anyway.”
*
The smell had not improved much in the chamber, even though the bodies had been cleared away. His men were clustered down one end of the cells, keeping away from the one that held the King.
“Has he been making much noise?” Fallon asked.
“Nothing with his mouth gagged. But he looks like he wants to murder us all,” Craddock replied.
Fallon patted him on the shoulder and walked on down to the cell. The door was wedged shut and he eased that away before stepping inside.
King Aidan had rolled over until he was sitting with his back against the far wall, although his hands and feet were tied. His mouth was blocked with rags but his eyes blazed. Fallon stepped around to the side, where Aidan could not kick or bite at him, and jerked the gag down, allowing the King to speak.
“What are you doing here, Fallon? Come to beg forgiveness?” Aidan snarled.
“Forgiveness?” Fallon laughed. “For stopping you killing my son? For refusing to sell my soul to Zorva?”
“You fool,” Aidan said. “I thought I saw greatness within you but I was mistaken. I offered you the world and you threw it away. How could you not understand that? Unlimited power. The chance to lead armies across all of Kotterman and even beyond, to other lands. Everything you ever wanted!”
“You know nothing of what I want. And I would have had to kill my own son to get it!” Fallon cried.
“Nothing comes without sacrifice. I should know. I had to have my first-born killed,” Aidan said.
Fallon dropped to one knee beside him, grabbing Aidan’s tunic. “You made me do that. He was my friend, he was my Prince and killing him nearly destroyed me!” he cried.
“I would do it again in a heartbeat. Nothing good comes without blood. That was the secret I learned from Zorva.”
“You are mad,” Fallon told him, standing up and turning away.
“Don’t turn your back on me!” Aidan raged, an insane fury in his voice. Fallon turned to see him raving, almost frothing at the mouth. “You are a little man and even Zorva will be disappointed when I tear out your heart and give it to him!”
“You sit in a cell, with your hands tied, and you still threaten me?” Fallon asked.
“You struck your King – cut my flesh even! Your death will be long and terrible and I will make sure that every one of your friends and family dies first. I will rip apart your wife and son and let them die slowly for days. You will see your friends die screaming and, at last, when you are begging me to end your torment, I will give your heart to Zorva,” Aidan screamed.
Fallon’s fury ignited. Dina was right. This was not a man but a creature. Every moment he drew breath was an affront to Aroaril. He touched the knife a
t his belt but left it in its sheath, contenting himself with replacing the gag. Aidan tried to bite his fingers and Fallon was forced to kick him in the side, winding him, to get the fabric back in.
“The next time I see you, it will be to kill you,” he told Aidan.
The King was still raving at him from behind the gag but he could not understand the words. Nor did he care.
“Are you all right?” a shaken Craddock asked as Fallon wedged the door shut again.
“I will be tomorrow, when I kill that bastard,” Fallon said. “Give him nothing.”
He could feel their eyes on him as he walked away but did not care.
CHAPTER 34
Bridgit gathered all the men together. The ones who were still healthy anyway. The children had found handfuls of cobwebs but of the seven men who had been wounded, only two looked like they would recover. Ahearn had died before they could do anything for him. Bridgit had the women all busy, going through the sacks of supplies they had thrown on board in the final rush to get out of Adana. Night was falling and there was no sign of pursuit. The wind was blowing briskly and she had made sure there would be no lights showing on the ship. By the time the Kottermanis sailed after them, she hoped to be over the horizon and out of sight. Granted, the slavers would know they planned to sail back to Gaelland and would know the route. But they would not catch them. She would not let them. For the first few moments after Ahearn’s death she had felt panic but she had crushed it ruthlessly. He had been her main hope but he was not her only hope. They were free. Getting home was not the hard part.
“Who knows the stars? Who can look at the night sky and see where we are?” she demanded. “You are fishermen and farmers, used to moving at night. We need to travel north and east to hit Gaelland again.”
She looked expectantly at them but they merely shuffled their feet and looked at each other, waiting for someone else to take the lead.
“Look, Ahearn gave me the directions to sail home before he died. We just need someone to make sure we are sailing in the right direction each time. We do not have to sail into Baltimore, or Killarney. We just need to find Gaelland and then we can sail around it from there,” she said briskly, injecting confidence she did not feel into her voice.