“Morning Ginata. How great is this?”
“It’s certainly a clever idea.”
“Do you think it will work?”
“I think if Everleigh hears about it, she’ll come. What will you do?”
“Take her prisoner.”
“Kill her? Kill him?”
“I won’t kill Will. I wish I didn’t have to use him like this. It’s the handmaiden’s fault, she shouldn’t have tricked me. But I don’t know about my sister...what would you do?”
“I think letting Will go free is a good idea. He’s a good fool. I cannot judge what to do with your sister, my King, but I will say that she is beloved of the people. And it never hurts for the man with the ultimate power to be seen as kind, to be forgiving.”
“What’s the point of power if I don’t use it?”
“You do use it, you used it yesterday, but Everleigh is different to her handmaiden. Everleigh is the Kingmaker.”
“Was the Kingmaker. Some say she should be Queen.”
“Do they?”
“Don’t you agree?”
“I have said before that it was what Halfreda wanted, but I also believe we have the power to change things. We don’t have to do what a prophecy says.”
“You don’t think it’s inevitable? That she will be Queen regardless of what I want?”
“I don’t know, my King. I wish I had answers for you. My powers aren’t what they were, I’m nowhere near the level of Halfreda...”
“I am sure you will get better in time.” He touches her cheek briefly. “Right, is there any sign of my lovely sister? Wolf!”
Wolf rushes over to them, shooting a dark look at Ginata and shaking his head. “I can’t see her yet. I think we should get you up on the platform, start talking, see if we can flush her out.”
“Good idea. Do one last sweep around the perimeter of the castle with Brett and then we’ll start.” Wolf bows and backs away, looking around for Brett.
“My King, may I speak to Will, to reassure him?”
“If you like.”
Ginata leaves the King’s side and walks over to Will. He looks pretty pathetic, standing there with the noose around his neck, his clothes wet from the ale and food people have been throwing at him.
“Will.” Ginata’s voice is soft and he lifts his head a little. It hurts to hold it up, his legs are buckling and he is desperately trying to stay upright, not to hang himself by accident.
“Any sign of anyone?”
“Not yet, but you know they’ll come.”
They are both silent and sad and wishing for the end of the day to come, whatever it brings.
Ginata
I CANNOT THINK OF ONE thing to say to cheer either of us and so I give up. What we need now is the cavalry.
I kiss the top of Will’s head; he smells of ale.
I head back over to Millard, the sick feeling in my stomach intensifying. What sort of man is he? And why is he sneaking in to my dreams?
“Wolf’s been ages. I’m going to start without him. Tell him to join me if you see him.”
I nod and a shiver of excitement goes through me. Wolf’s not back; have they got to him already? I cannot stand being out of the loop like this.
The crowd is rowdy, but not violent, and I am desperate to see Everleigh, to start this thing and finish it. I have no idea if our plan will work, but we have to try. When Everleigh is Queen, I can forget about Millard.
For now, I cannot. He is standing next to Will on the platform of the wooden tower, calling out to the crowd. “My people, my good people. Welcome, welcome.”
The crowd give a roar of approval; how quickly they forget. Three days ago, they would have had this King’s head if they could. The disgust for him had been palpable, the barely contained fury, real. Three days later he’s their best King for giving them a spectacle to watch. One small group have pulled up stools and are eating bread and meat.
Come on Everleigh. Come on Ceryn – she’ll give Millard a run for his money. Come on Weaver. I cannot stand this waiting and I know exactly how Will must be feeling: sick, sick, sick.
“I am saddened to be here today. But my fool isn’t a loyal fool and so...” Millard gestures at the noose; he cannot tell the crowd the truth; they would mob him, but now they happily boo and hiss at Will.
Millard is left stalling for time as he waits to see if his sister shows. I, of course, know that she will. Unless something has gone drastically wrong, but I don’t feel that.
Truthfully, I don’t feel anything. I am of no use.
I hear the first call of Kingmaker before Millard does and I turn my head. The crowd is parting, like they did in the coronation, and there she is.
The Kingmaker who will be Queen.
Della has dressed her in one of her own dresses but altered it and it suits her perfectly. The colour is soft pink, and it makes her look beautiful but vulnerable too, which is good. Her lovely long hair is loose, and the soft curls also add to her vulnerability. She looks young and ethereal.
Just behind her I see Weaver and Ceryn. Ceryn grins and nods at me before walking to my side, letting Everleigh continue onwards.
“All good?” I ask her.
“Yes. We’ve got Wolf. Easily. I walked towards him, pretending to have hurt my ankle and Weaver came behind him. Cracked him over the head with an axe handle – he’ll live.”
“More’s the pity.”
They smile and turn as Everleigh speaks to her brother.
“Millard.”
I note that she doesn’t call him King, nor does she bow to him. She stands directly in front of him, though he is on the platform and she is on the floor. I see Will lift his head, despite the pain, to get a look at her and the smile on his face is filled with love and relief.
The crowd is murmuring, unsure of what’s going on.
Ceryn and Weaver have their hands on their bows and an arrow ready each. No one in the crowd even notices; all eyes are on Everleigh and the King.
“Ah, sister.”
Millard surprises me then and pulls the noose off Will’s neck. He must be so sure that Wolf or Brett or one of his guards will grab Everleigh that he’s happy to free his bargaining chip, and yet there’s no sign of any of them. Will bows to Millard and then jumps down off the platform, rubbing at his neck. He comes to me and I squeeze his hand. We cannot talk or relax or rest. We aren’t all safe yet.
Ceryn lowers her bow. “I don’t trust him.”
Weaver nods. “Stay alert.”
“Sister, I have freed your friend but I want you in return.”
The crowd’s murmurs are turning more hostile. The love the Realm has for Everleigh, a tragic figure all her life because of her role as Kingmaker, is still evident and it cheers me.
“Brother. You have something that I want.”
“I’ve already freed your friend.”
“Not Will, though I thank you for keeping him safe.”
“What then, sister?” Millard is starting to look nervous. He’s not focussing solely on Everleigh; his eyes are darting around the crowd and I can tell that he’s unhappy with what he sees. We have hurt Wolf, so does that mean the other men haven’t had any orders? I can see some of them on the outskirts of the crowd, but none are close, none are near enough to be of any use, I don’t think.
“What’s he playing at...” Ceryn mutters the words but they’re not really a question.
Everleigh takes a step towards her brother. “My crown. I want my crown.”
He laughs then, a strange sound and the crowd join in. They don’t understand this power play and are waiting to see what will happen.
“You will never be Queen.”
Everleigh ignores him and looks up at the sky – blue and clear, some wispy white clouds. I can see her lips moving and I feel the air turn thick; she’s summoning a storm. She’s going to bamboozle him with her powers.
“You two get in position and when he’s distracted, grab him.”
W
eaver shakes his head. “If we do, his men will attack us. We need to wait and see what happens...”
I nod, unhappy but accepting that both him and Ceryn know how to fight better than I ever will.
“Sister, what are you doing?”
“Brother. I am doing something you can’t.”
Millard doesn’t answer her, just humphs, watching the sky.
“I am controlling the Realm, not just the people within it.”
With those words, she flings her arms into the air and the rain lashes down on her upturned face. I grin at the drama; she’s getting the hang of this.
Millard shrugs. “So, it’s raining.”
Everleigh lifts her face to the rain again and says something out loud, the weather stealing the sounds as she speaks them.
Lightning bolts split the sky, causing the crowd to call out and many of them to back away. Everleigh is still muttering as thunder cracks overhead.
I am so proud of her at this moment that I forget about any connection Millard has tried to forge with me and I am almost jumping and clapping my hands for her. Will is the same. “He doesn’t know what to do!”
Everleigh calls more lightning and almost as though her hand is controlling the charge, and maybe it is, she points at the wooden platform that Millard stands on and the lightning strikes – she aims to the left of him, to the wooden tower, and the fire sparks up immediately.
She moves closer, whispering and gesturing as the flames take hold, despite the rain, impossible but true. The fire erupts and Millard shrieks and jumps down, batting at an errant flame on his arm.
“Witch.”
“Queen.”
“Seize her!”
29
AT MILLARD’S WORDS his men rush forward at Everleigh, but the roar of the fire or the change in the weather or the fact that these people love their Kingmaker turns the crowd even more hostile. As Millard’s men charge, the horde turns and suddenly the village men are fighting the King’s men and fists are flying, swords are reached for and Everleigh ducks under arms and around battling bodies to jump on the platform, the fire blazing behind her.
Seeing that Everleigh is safe, for now, Ceryn and Weaver raise their swords and join the fray, helping the villagers to protect their Kingmaker and future Queen, keeping the King’s men away from the flaming platform.
“Come on brother. Come on King!” Everleigh screams at him and he turns to look at her. “If you want to keep your crown so badly, come and fight me for it.”
Millard pauses, looking from his sister, to his singed skin to the men fighting around them. “I’ve got the crown. You cannot win this, not through fighting or bad weather or anything else. Brett!”
Brett turns to look at the King and gets punched clean in the side of the nose. He turns to his assailant and punches him back before running to Millard’s side, wiping his bloody nose on his sleeve.
Millard looks at Everleigh. Will has joined her. “String him up and take her to the tower. I’ll deal with her once Ginata’s fixed my arm.”
Millard walks away as though fighting Everleigh and battling for his crown, is beneath him.
Will takes Everleigh’s hand and they leap through the smoke. They cannot wait for Brett or anyone else to catch them. Once again, their plan has gone awry, and damn Millard still wears the crown.
Millard calls to Ginata and she hesitates; she wants to follow Everleigh, be part of the squad that saves their Queen but Millard calls for her again and duty trumps desire. “Ginata, please, help me get out of here.”
It’s typical that he doesn’t stay to take part in a fight that he started, but wants to duck out of the way to safety, letting his men take the fall, and sending someone else to take Everleigh prisoner.
The throng of fighters are screaming, yelling, shouting, the observers making a run for it and part of Ginata is glad to be out of it, she just wishes their plan had worked.
As she follows Millard she can see that he’s injured. “I’m burnt.”
She can see the singed edge of his clothes where the skin has bubbled.
“She tried to set me on fire. She tried to kill me.”
“I’ll fix you.”
“She will die. When I get my hands on her she will die. Where the hell is Wolf?”
EVERLEIGH AND WILL run, the rain impeding their vision, the fighting expanded beyond just the courtyard, the sound of thumps and punches masked by the rain but the yelling and crying out loud enough to be heard, the throng of battling bodies getting in their way.
They know Brett is on their heels, maybe even more of the King’s men. They can’t stop. They weave through the courtyard and then jump over a wall. Will risks a quick look backwards. “He’s not there.”
They tuck their backs against the wall, catching their breath, composing themselves for a minute.
“He’s done it again. Damn him Will.”
“It’s fine. We’ll try again, and again, and again until we get that crown on your head.”
“Is it worth it? What if I just surrender? No more death, no more battling. Just let him win.”
Will takes Everleigh’s face in his hands. “Everleigh. You have to be Queen. Your brother killed his own brother to get the throne. If you weren’t fighting to win the crown, if he was left to his own devices, what do you think he’d do?”
“Kill anyone who disagreed with him. Kill anyone he took a disliking to. But it’s so hard. I can’t do it...”
“You can and you will. The prophecy says you will reign. Who knows why? Maybe this fight with your brother is just the beginning, maybe in the future we will need a powerful Queen more than we do now, who knows...but you cannot let him win.”
“But I don’t know what to do.”
“We’ll go now, we’ll reconvene, make a plan.”
“Our plans don’t work. I’ve tried killing him in his sleep and asking him to fight. I just want that damn crown. What am I missing?”
“Something, but now’s not the time to worry. Come on.”
They stand up to run to the safety of the cottage and Brett cracks Will over the head, and he drops. Brett looks at Everleigh who is paralysed with fear, remembering their previous meetings.
He mouths the word, sorry, then throws a black hood over her face, before bundling her, kicking and screaming, over his shoulder.
He checks that no one is looking and runs into the woods, leaving Will on the floor, alive, but unconscious.
GINATA TAKES MILLARD’S hand as she leads him through to her rooms. Burns are nasty and the sooner she gets to work on him, the more chance there is of a scar, if any, being smaller and less angry looking.
“Why is she doing this, Ginata? Why is she so eager to get the crown?”
“She thinks it’s hers.” Ginata’s voice is dull, all of a sudden, she cannot stand this battle for power, this dance between the two of them. This feeling of being on the other side, the outsider.
“What do you think I should do?”
“Maybe stop chasing her. Stop attacking her. Stop threatening her. Maybe she’ll leave you alone...”
Millard shakes his head. “She tried to kill me today. Burn me to death. Imagine how much that would have hurt?”
“I can only imagine, my King.” She gathers the things she needs to attend to his wound. The burn is nasty, some of the material of his clothes burnt into his skin where the fire has melded the two together.
“I will have to kill her. I know she’s beloved and the people love their Kingmaker and she thinks she should be Queen, but really, people have no idea what it’s like to be me, to be King, to be in charge. I took huge risks to get this throne. I killed my brother, that wasn’t easy. I loved him, but I needed the power more. I killed Halfreda, she’d looked after me since I was tiny. Such sacrifices...”
Ginata has her back to Millard sorting out her lotions, and while he prattles on she tunes out. Everleigh needs to be Queen, but their plan has been thwarted again. This raving King thinks he’s har
d done by but what can she do? She is torn between wanting to knock him out and kiss him until he’s quiet.
She hears a massive thunk and whips around to see Millard slumped in the chair and Ceryn holding a stone bowl, the one she uses for grinding herbs and seeds, above his head, a massive grin on her face.
“Everleigh and Will got away. One of the King’s men’s chasing them but they had a good head start. Weaver’s fighting off the King’s men and I followed you up. Help me tie him up. Hell, no, I’ll tie you both up, for now, just in case.”
“What have you done?”
“Whacked him. He’s not dead. Though...”
“No, don’t kill him. Everleigh needs to see him.”
“She’ll be glad if I kill him.”
Ginata shakes her head. “No. Everleigh has to make that decision, not you, or me.”
Millard murmurs something unintelligible and turns his head slightly. Before he can come to, Ceryn hits him again, not as hard as the first time, but he collapses back down. “Quick, Ginata, have you got rope?”
“Yes.” She roots through her drawers and finds a thick coil of rope. “What do we do now?”
“I’ll tie you both up, fetch Everleigh and we’ll do an exchange. His crown for his freedom.”
“Ceryn. That might work.”
“I know and it was great to whack him too!”
Ceryn moves Millard onto the floor and Ginata sits with her back to him. “Do I really need to stay with him?”
“If something goes wrong; we still need you on the inside.”
“But we’ve got him now. I don’t think anyone would look for him here. Get Everleigh quickly.”
Ceryn ties them up, but leaves Ginata’s wrists slightly loose, not loose enough to cause suspicion if someone finds her, but enough that she’s not in pain.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Ceryn
I AM HUMMING AS I WALK; oh, it was satisfying whacking that dirt bag over the head. Twice. I wish I could kill him but I know it’s up to Everleigh to decide.
The Kingmaker Complete Trilogy (The Kingmaker Trilogy #1-3) Page 42