And yet if Lanorie drops Everleigh in it now, which she has to, to save her own neck, what can I say or do?
If I step in or speak up I will die.
So, is that my answer, I’ll help her reach her throne, serve her brother in the meantime and do everything I can to secure my own life?
I have become a selfish witch indeed, in a short space of time. I wonder what difference there would be to my thoughts if Halfreda was still alive. She was a better witch than me, a wiser woman than me, I know. Was she less selfish too? Probably. She never had a love of her own, a life of her own, she was here only to serve the King, as am I now, I suppose.
Still trying to see Lanorie’s intention I focus on her face, her eyes, her tears, her heart. I feel despair and tension in the air, but I suppose that is coming from me, Will and Lanorie.
There is glee and excitement. A building of anticipation; probably Millard and maybe Wolf.
There is a mixture of revulsion and the rush of power that I guess maybe the guards are feeling. Power over someone is a heady thing, and yet when a young girl crumples against you, sobbing and wretched there must be a part of any good man, any good heart, that feels pity for her and despair of themselves.
The mix of emotions is making me feel dizzy. Or is that the fear?
“I’ll take you to her.” Lanorie’s voice is small but steady and I can see Will is ready to fall over. With all attention on Lanorie I move from Millard’s side to Will’s and I take his arm. He cannot show loyalty to Everleigh at this moment; now is not the time to admit fealty.
Millard laughs and the sound curls my toes, just not in a good way. My head is spinning and spinning and spinning trying to think of anything to do or say that will help, buy us time, anything.
“Can you trust her?” I ask, my voice surprisingly steady. “Where’s she been all this time? Where was she found? What if this is a trap or something?”
“She was found by the river, my King,” one of the guards speaks up. “I recognised her straight away. I knew you were looking for her. Needed a bit of help bringing her in. She’s feisty.”
Millard smiles at Lanorie. “Feisty...I like it. Take me now. Wolf, gather some more men, in case she won’t come quietly and we’ll see. Will Everleigh live or die? I’ll see what mood I’m in when we get there.”
He has totally ignored my words, my questions and I sink into a gloom of upset and a bit of indignant fury. I thought I was supposed to be the wise woman here, isn’t he supposed to accept my counsel?
I hold on to Will even tighter, for myself now as much as him.
“What can we do?” My voice is less than a whisper and his reply is the same. “I have no idea.”
We are watching Lanorie and she meets our eyes and gives us the tiniest of nods. If we hadn’t been desperately searching her face for an answer as to why she’s doing this would we even have seen it?
A nod. What does it mean?
I’m sorry.
I have no choice.
We may never know.
As Millard pulls Wolf along the corridor and calls for his hounds and his horses, we stand together, not invited to the party.
Not wanting to go, either.
23
CERYN PULLS HER HORSE up at the river. There’s no sign of Lanorie and though she might be hiding, Ceryn doubts it. She has a feeling that Lanorie would want everyone to see her and whatever misery she imagines she’s feeling. She might have wandered off; she seems a bit mindless to Ceryn.
Finn and Weaver are rushing around, looking in ridiculous places no one would ever hide, under a tiny hedge row, behind a particularly large rock. Ceryn shakes her head, stifling her laughter.
She walks around, eyes scanning the ground, the trees, the whole area. What happened and where is she?
“No sign here,” Finn calls out, head tucked behind a bush.
“Or here,” Weaver says, backing out from a thatch of trees.
Ceryn laughs. “She’s not playing hide and seek, boys. I think something happened.”
Weaver comes to her side. She has a good instinct for things like this and he knows it. “Trouble?”
Ceryn nods.
“Here.” Finn is holding up a single shoe.
Ceryn takes it off him. “Was she captured? Did she kick this off?”
“Let’s take it back to Everleigh. She’ll know if it’s hers.”
“It has to be hers. Why did she go out wandering; stupid girl.”
“It’s not her fault.”
“That she got captured? Of course it’s her fault. Going off in a huff. Come on, let’s head back.”
The three of them run back to the cottages, Finn bringing up the rear, Ceryn and Weaver evenly paced; all of them filled with a new sense of urgency.
Ceryn pushes through the cottage door. “We can’t find her, but we found a shoe.” She holds it up for Everleigh to see, who promptly lets out a cry.
“So, it’s hers?”
Everleigh nods.
“Damn her!” Ceryn kicks the chair and gets a shocked look from Della. “Sorry.”
“What’s happened to her?”
“We think she might have been captured by one of your brother’s men. I can’t see who else would carry her off on a horse, well we presume a horse. There’s no sign of a struggle, just the shoe.”
“So, she kicked it off so we’d see it?”
“I think so. Listen, you lot stay here, Weaver and I will go out on our horses. We can travel a bit further afield, see if there’s any sign of her. We’re quick and no one from the castle will recognise us if they do see us.”
“What will Millard do if he’s got her?” This from Addyson, her little face white and eyes filled with unshed tears.
Everleigh hugs her. “I’ve no idea.”
Ceryn clears her throat. “Will she give you up? If it’s him that’s got her. Will she give you up?”
Addyson shrugs but Everleigh shakes her head. “I know she wouldn’t.”
“Let’s go. Let’s see what we can see. If there’s anything we can do.”
Ceryn turns back to face them all. “Stay out of sight. Is there anywhere you could hide, in case?”
Della shakes her head. “Both cottages are tiny. There’s nowhere to hide. You don’t think-”
“I don’t know her like Everleigh does. But she’s only young. And she’ll be frightened. If she has been captured and she tells Millard everything, then he’ll come here looking for you. Just close the door and Finn, keep a look out.”
Finn nods and puts a hand on Everleigh’s shoulder.
Ceryn and Weaver leave them behind, jumping up on their horses, who were enjoying their grassy dinner outside the cottages. “What do you think?” Weaver’s voice is quiet as always, measured.
“If she’s been captured, I reckon she’ll squeal like a pig.”
“Really?”
“She’ll be petrified.”
“Have we missed something? Is she lost or...I don’t know, fallen in the river.”
“She won’t be lost. There’s nowhere around that river to be lost. If she fell in the river, she’d have climbed back out. It’s not deep or strong there. The shoe means she’s been taken.”
“Right, so who else would take her?”
“If not the King’s men? I have no idea. She’s a harmless young girl alone by the river. Any men with unpleasant thoughts would have attacked her there and then and left her behind. We’d have found her. She’s been taken. She’s got nothing worth stealing.”
“So, someone’s seen her and recognised her from the castle?”
“Any of the King’s men would know her. If she’s been with Everleigh since they were both little. All his men would be on the lookout for Everleigh and Addyson. It’s got to be killing him that they’ve gotten away.”
“So, what do we do? We can’t go and ask for her back.”
“We’ll ride around, see if we hear anything, see if we see anything. We’ll go back to the river and
take the path to the castle. It’s all we can do.”
“Do you wish we’d just gone home? After we found out about Archer?”
“No. I’m enjoying myself. I never thought I’d say that, with Archer gone. But I think he’d want us to help her. If he loved her like they say.”
“He would have wanted us to help, even if he didn’t love her.”
“True. So, let’s help.”
WILL AND GINATA ARE standing in the middle of her room, white faced and silent. They have no idea what to do or what to say or what’s going to happen next.
No one is guarding Will because all the King’s men have gone with Millard, and yet he has no idea what to do with his freedom. “Shall we go to the cottage?”
“We can’t. If Lanorie leads them there, then they’ll find us too.”
“He’s baying for blood.”
“He is.” They are both silent remembering the rush of men and hounds that left the castle, in a swarm of promised violence. The dogs were literally salivating, probably left hungry. The men were laughing, calling out and whooping. Millard was silent as was Wolf, but the menace was tangible.
Lanorie, thrown on a horse, with Wolf riding behind her looked like a prisoner in some sick war game. She hadn’t said a word to either of them before she was taken away and Will and Ginata had trooped straight to Ginata’s rooms.
Ginata holds her stomach. “I feel sick.”
“We need to think.”
“I can’t. All I can see is Everleigh being captured and killed.”
“He will kill her, won’t he?”
Ginata nods. She is sure, if Millard gets his hands on his sister, she will die.
“We cannot do anything. Even with horses we won’t catch them up.”
“I hate not being able to help her. I hate that I haven’t seen her. If Lanorie tells Millard where she is, I will kill her. I will.”
“Will. If Lanorie tells Millard where Everleigh is, he will probably kill her himself.”
Will wipes away furious tears. Ginata is right. They have no way of helping and no way of knowing what’s happening. All they can do is sit and wait and wonder.
Ceryn
WHAT I SAID TO WEAVER is right. I am enjoying myself. I like being useful. I hate being idle. I hate being girly, helpless and waiting for things to happen. Riding through the woods now, heading for the castle, I feel happy.
Though if I see Lanorie and she’s not dead, I’ll happily wring her neck.
Why she had to fuss and sulk off to the river, I’ll never know. I hate girls like her. Pathetic and whiny and looking for attention all the time.
Weaver whistles a low note and I fall in beside him. We both stop. With our horses quiet, we can both hear the thundering of hooves, the calls of men. We pull the horses back into the trees. They are near but I can’t see anything yet.
“Can you see anything?”
Weaver shakes his head. I jump down off Pitch, patting her flank as I do. She snorts softly and I pat her again.
I look for a tree I can climb, and see one straight away. If we are down low and the other riders are down low, we’ll sit here all day not knowing anything about them. It might not be anything to do with Lanorie, just the King’s men hunting deer.
I’m a quick climber. I am surefooted and fast, up a tree or otherwise. I pride myself on being good at physical things. It has always made up for my face.
I am pretty high up when I see them, a snake of hounds and horses threading through the trees. The men are wearing the King’s livery and two of them hold banners, like they are heading off to a great battle. The King’s banners mean the King is riding out, and, right enough, one of the horse riders is wearing a crown. And next to him is another horse with Lanorie on, being ridden by a right scary looking man.
Lanorie looks miserable – though she always has since I rescued her – and she’s not trussed up. Does this mean she’s helping the King willingly? Though how many people would refuse the King? He’ll kill anyone who won’t help him.
So, she’s helping him.
But the direction they are going is not the direction of the cottages.
Is she leading them the wrong way? If she is, then he’ll kill her.
I bound back down the tree, easily hopping from branch to branch.
“It’s the King and his men. About thirty of them on horseback, about thirty hounds running ahead. Lanorie’s on a horse with some big fellow holding onto her.”
“Tied up?”
“No.”
“So willingly helping?”
“Probably not. In fairness, she’ll have no choice.”
“What shall we do? We need to warn Everleigh.”
“That’s the thing. She’s leading them the wrong way.”
“But he’ll kill her.”
“I know. But with thirty men, I don’t know what we can do.”
“Let’s follow anyway. See what happens.”
It’s exactly what I was going to say and as we quietly ride along in the same direction, but far enough away that they won’t see us, I try to think of how we can help.
Thirty men, all on horseback and me and Weaver the same. I have my bow and arrows, my dagger, Weaver has his dagger. What can we do against all those armed men, hell bent on protecting their King?
Will he kill her? All I know of this King is what I’ve been told. I’ve seen him from a distance a few times but never been in his company. We’ve been told he’s mad. And he wants his sister, dead or alive.
If Lanorie has told him that she’ll help him find Everleigh, and I can’t think of another reason they’d all be out in the woods together, then he’ll be furious when he realises she’s not.
He will want her dead.
“Any thoughts?” I whisper to Weaver. I don’t think we’ll be heard but I’m not stupid. We are well outnumbered here.
“He’ll kill her, if she doesn’t take him to Everleigh. And she’s obviously not, given the direction we’re going in. Good on her, though.”
“Yes, I suppose.” My agreement is grudging. I don’t think much of this handmaiden of Everleigh’s. I think she’s sulky and whingy, helpless and stupid. She might have been brave when she swapped places with Addyson, but I reckon she was just too dumb to think through what she was doing.
If she is leading the King the wrong way though, I suppose she is brave.
But she’ll die for it.
“There’s too many of them.” Weaver’s voice is strained. “I don’t see what we can do.”
“Try?”
“Yes, we’ll try.”
“What if we get hurt? Or killed?”
Weaver shrugs. “We said we’d help. If we serve the Queen, we do so at our own risk.”
“I think so.”
We are moving quickly and start closing the gap between them and us, riding forwards and slightly to the left as we go. We don’t want them to see us, but we need to see them.
They ride into a huge clearing, the woods behind them, and flat land ahead. The King calls out and they all come to a halt.
Lanorie raises her head and says something. It’s so frustrating not being able to hear.
The King bellows something at her, again we cannot hear the words, but he doesn’t look happy.
He jumps off his horse and the man behind her does the same. He pulls her down and she drops to her knees. The King pulls her up by her arm and she staggers.
We both ride forward; I don’t feel good about this.
We are still too far away to be helpful. We cannot make out what is being said or done. The dogs are sniffing around the grass, some of them peeing, some of them laying down and resting. The men stay on their horses, where they are harmless enough for now.
Lanorie is gesturing as she talks to the King. I wish we knew what she was saying.
Is she begging for her life? Apologising for duping him? Crumpling with fear and telling him the truth?
I canter forwards a little, Weaver beside me, and
cry out when I see Millard reach for his sword.
In less time than it takes me to squeeze my thighs against Pitch’s sides, ready to spur her forwards, he has sliced Lanorie’s head clean off.
He just kills her.
Despite what I thought about her, I am sobbing, and sliding off Pitch. Weaver has come off his horse and catches me, turning my head to the side to hold me.
I pull at my mask, ripping it off in time to vomit all over the grass.
Spent, I wipe my mouth on my sleeve and stand up, pulling an arrow from my quiver.
“Ceryn.” Weaver’s voice holds a warning and I know he is right and I know I cannot inflict anything like what the man deserves but I cannot let Lanorie die without at least answering his violence with some of my own.
I am one hell of a good shot but I jump back up on Pitch so my arrow can fly higher and farther.
Weaver is on his horse. “One shot then we ride away.”
I nod.
“Don’t even stop to check if it hits him.”
“I won’t need to check.”
I trust my skill, aim and fire and seconds later as we hammer in the other direction I hear a cry and I know I have hit the King.
I vow, not for Lanorie, or Everleigh, really, but for Archer, that it won’t be the last time he feels pain because of me.
24
MILLARD IS SCREAMING. An arrow, flying out of thin air, has hit him right in the top of his arm and there is blood, swearing and threats as Wolf rushes to help him. He rips the bottom half of his shirt off and wraps it around the King’s arm.
“Get me back to Ginata.” Millard’s voice is rough and he has already forgotten that he just killed someone, in the sadness he is feeling for himself and the pretty minor injury he’s received. “Men, find out who did that. Search the woods.”
The men take their order but Wolf stays with Millard. After helping his King on to his horse, he holds the two sets of reins and leads them back to the castle.
Neither of them looks back at Lanorie’s body on the floor.
“Who did that to me?”
Wolf shakes his head. “No idea, my King. You have no enemies other than your sister.”
The Kingmaker Complete Trilogy (The Kingmaker Trilogy #1-3) Page 38