Palace Intrigue (Medieval Tale Book 3)

by Lina J. Potter

  She smiled into his kind face, but her thoughts were grim. What would Tahir do if someone tried to separate him from me? Or if someone tried to stop me from practicing medicine? I believe he would commit murder. He knows how to use poisons that no one here could discover.

  ***

  Tahir Djiaman din Dashar had never imagined that an opportunity like this one existed. He had spent everything he had to get out of the Khanganate ahead of the palace guards. He was old and tired, and he knew he would need to find a place to live, but he had never expected such good fortune.

  When Ali first brought him to Earton, he had looked on the countess with surprise. Here was a woman who was attempting to understand the greatest secrets of the human body. How could she hope to attain any sort of standing? She was a woman. That meant she was supposed to adorn a man’s home and raise his children while the man made all the important decisions. Life had always worked that way.

  And yet, after his first private conversation with Lilian, Tahir realized that he might never know as much as she did about the art of healing. He was confident she was telling him the absolute truth about what she knew. If anything, she tried to make the material easier for him to understand.

  Without this absolute faith in the countess, he would not have believed some of the shocking things she told him. For example, there were tiny creatures that lived everywhere, even inside the human body. It was these creatures—and not bad blood—that caused a wound to become infected. They could be defeated through a process she called dis-in-fection. How was a man to believe that?

  And what was he to make of her avowal that blood contained tiny beads, each with its own job—white cells, red cells, and platelets? It sounded like nonsense, and yet he believed her. Tahir could tell that Lilian Earton was the recipient of an age-old tradition of healing. This was not the work of a single person, however wise. But when he tried to learn more about her sources, the countess just shook her head and told him she had learned it all from reading old manuscripts.

  That part of her story was a lie. Tahir would have liked to press her to get at the truth, but the attack by the slave traders had distracted him. While he and Lily and Jaimie stitched up the wounded, he often glanced over to watch the countess’ hands. They were strong and sure, always putting instruments back in a precise order. The more he saw, the more he became convinced that her ladyship was a born healer like himself. If she had been born a man, she would have accomplished much in this life. She is already doing a great deal, as it is.

  Out of gratitude, he decided not to press her about the sources of her knowledge. Tahir would have given his right hand to study with the people who had taught Lilian Earton, but something whispered to him that that way was closed. He would just have to take what he could get from the countess and thank the Great Mare for the opportunity.

  Tahir had never laid eyes on Jess Earton, but if the earl got in the way of his lessons, the Khangan healer would grind him like a snake under his heel, both out of gratitude to Lily and because of what he hoped to learn from her.

  The old healer had no children, but if the Mare had given him a daughter, he would have wished her to be just like Lilian: clever, beautiful, and skilled at healing. He was sure the countess deserved to be happy.

  ***

  The admiration was mutual. Lily spent as much time as she could on her lessons with Tahir and Jaimie. She preferred to sleep less so that she could teach them more. Her new world would not benefit from the invention of gunpowder and cannons, but it could gain a great deal from her medical wisdom.

  The snow was blowing hard against the window during one of their lessons when Tahir turned to Lily with a dreamy look on his face. He had remembered a question that had long vexed him. “Why do men die from some head injuries and not from others?”

  The countess picked up her pen and began to draw. “Look here. The skull is actually many different bones fused together. Like this.” She scratched away on her parchment for a moment and then looked up and smiled at Tahir. “You must also remember that the brain is divided into multiple sections…”

  They bent their heads together over the drawing, studying it at great length while the winter sun crawled across the horizon.

  ***

  Leif was finally back in Earton, and he was visibly pleased with himself as he stood before the countess. “My Lady, the baron’s castle and his lands are now fully under our control.”

  “Excellent. What did you find there?”

  “We tossed all his papers in this chest. Would you like to see them?”

  “Later. Why did it take you so long to return?”

  “The baron had about forty people in his dungeon, My Lady. He was planning to sell them to the slave traders. We thought you’d like to hear their stories. As evidence.”

  Lily nodded. “Of course. I will question them and send their statements to the king. Was the castle difficult to take?”

  “Not in the least. The baron’s men had gotten into his wine, so we waited until it was almost light to go in. They were asleep.”

  “Did we lose any men?”

  “Four.”

  “Wounded?”

  “Eight.”

  “Get them to Jaimie and Tahir, and the sooner, the better. Did you dress their wounds?”

  “Yes, My Lady, just how you showed us.” Lily taught the Virmans and the castle guards how to dress wounds in the field and gave them bottles of alcohol and clean bandages she had steamed and wrapped in parchment.

  “Good. We will take it from here. That is a very small number of men wounded while taking a castle.”

  “Yes, My Lady. Erik lost two, and I lost two. Our men did an excellent job.”

  Lily was pleased to see the pride in Leif’s eyes.

  “Did any of the men who were killed leave families?”

  “One of them had a wife.”

  “She will continue to receive her husband’s pay. It isn’t enough, of course, and it won’t bring him back, but still…”

  All of a sudden, thoughts of the past flitted through Lily’s mind and scratched at her heart.

  My father. My mother. Alex… Has he forgotten me already?

  The countess frowned. This was not the time for such thoughts. She needed to deal with Leif and the other Virmans, who, as she could see from her window, were driving their prisoners into the courtyard like livestock.

  “You brought them all here?”

  “Yes, My Lady.”

  Lily stared at him. “Where am I supposed to put them all?”

  “Keep the ones you can use, and show the others the gate. They’ll settle in the villages.”

  Lily paused to think. “I suppose you’re right. Lons and I will interview them. Go tell Leis to send them in five at a time, and then you may have the rest of the day off. You have earned it.”

  “Thank you, My Lady.” The giant smiled sweetly before turning to leave.

  When he was gone, Lily rested her chin on her hand and thought to herself how lovely it was to work with the Virmans.

  A brief hour later, the countess was no longer smiling. In fact, she threw a vase against the wall in fury. One of the men the Virmans brought from the baron’s dungeon was none other than Etor. Her supposedly dead former estate manager.

  Lily was filled with a mixture of anger and excitement, but she was afraid of making the wrong move. She had already dealt hastily with Etor once. After thinking it over, she told the Virmans to hold Etor separately until they located his wife. Then they were to feed the pair and leave them to await their interrogation.

  She would deal with the others first. Etor could wait.

  ***

  The others were soon sorted out. It seemed that the baron had seized a random selection of his own peasants – most of them young men and women – to sell. Lily immediately ordered that the women be returned to their families. She offered some of the stronger-looking men jobs at the Earton salt works, which they gladly accepted. The others would be r
eturned to Donter.

  All the prisoners sorted, Lily went to see how Jaimie and Tahir were faring. She found them in the infirmary with their patients, all of whose wounds had been cleaned, so she started teaching them how to set a drain tube and what type of stitches to use.

  After a short lesson, she stood back to watch them work. My students are progressing nicely.

  Then it occurred to her that Jaimie—who had every chance of becoming the new Baron Donter—might not wish to continue as her student. She made a mental note to speak to him about it later.

  ***

  Jaimie wasted no time. One day, shortly after the lesson on stitches, he sat down in Lily’s office and told her his whole story, as far as he knew it.

  He hadn’t known his pedigree when he asked to travel with Lily. He had only known that there were rumors about his mother. He remembered she always seemed a cut above the people around her and his father (or stepfather, as he now understood), an herbalist, had always paid a neighbor woman to do the heavy work around their house.

  Both of his parents died during an epidemic, and after that, his grandmother had taken him in. Jaimie thought she must have known that he wasn’t her blood relation, but she gave him a place to live, fed him and taught him what she knew about herbs and treating illnesses.

  When his grandmother died, she gave him the box he had shown Lily and Leis.

  “Why didn’t you open it then?” the countess asked.

  Jaimie hung his head. He explained that he had been too busy trying to earn his keep in Altver, and once he arrived in Earton, the countess had kept him on his toes setting up the infirmary.

  “I suppose I was afraid of what I would find,” he admitted. “So I kept putting it off.”

  The rings had belonged to his grandfather, his uncle and his mother. The bracelet and the portrait were his mother’s. Lily thought Jaimie looked the spitting image of his mother.

  She looked at the boy sharply. “You said Pastor Leider didn’t like you. How long has he been in Altver?”

  “At least ten years, My Lady.”

  “I wonder what he could have known about you.”

  Jaimie shrugged his shoulders, showing that he saw no point in guessing.

  Lily persisted. “But if you knew you were the rightful heir to the Donter estate, why didn’t you tell me before?”

  He shrugged again. Lily understood what he wouldn’t say. It was highly unlikely that she or anyone else would have declared war on the baron just to restore Jaimie to his rights. But now that the baron was gone, the boy saw an opening for himself. Why not? My neighbor was my enemy, but now he will be my friend.

  She reflected that it would be prudent to have Jaimie in Donter. If things went badly with the earl, she could always escape and move her manufacturing with Jaimie’s help.

  It was clear enough what had to be done. The countess sighed and took out another sheet of parchment.

  “Let’s write a letter, Jaimie.”

  After much discussion and editing, the following text was born:

  Your Majesty,

  It is with great sorrow that I write to inform you that Baron Donter, my neighbor, fell prey to incurable insanity that has led to his death. That is the only explanation I can find for his attempt at kidnapping my daughter, Miranda Catherine. All thanks to Aldonai, he was unsuccessful. I believe that this madness was sent to him by Aldonai to punish him for the sins of his father, who had an unnatural union with his sister to sire Lord Donter. This is a strange story, to be sure, and as evidence, I am sending you a copy of the testimony of Lady Marianna Donter, the wife of the old baron, likewise deceased. The original testimony is in my possession and can be produced. I must also inform you that Lady Donter’s son, the last of the line of Donters, is currently living here in Earton and awaiting your instructions.

  I remain your faithful servant,

  Lilian Elizabeth Mariella Earton

  It was the best she could do on short notice. She would let Erik run the Donter estate while she waited for word from the king.

  Sometimes it seemed to Lily that the Virman looked at her with a hidden passion in his sparkling brown eyes. She was flattered—and she had no intention of living like a nun for the rest of her life—but this was not the time. If she was to have any hope of success in this new world, she would have to reach an arrangement with her husband. Cheating on him with a Virman guard would make that all the more difficult.

  It would be a good idea to keep Erik as far from Earton as possible.

  ***

  Etor was pale and exhausted, but Lily felt no pity for him. She had spent most of her time in Earton cleaning up his mess.

  If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime!

  She looked down at her former manager with one eyebrow raised. “Here we are again, Etor. Shall we talk?”

  Her soft tone of voice fooled no one. Etor’s face got even whiter, and he did his best not to faint…unsuccessfully. Olaf, who stood behind the prisoner, slapped the back of Etor’s head, quickly bringing him to. Etor whimpered and stood up straight.

  “My Lady…”

  “I’m right here, Etor, and I am eager to hear what you have to tell me.”

  “About what, My Lady?”

  “Start at the beginning.”

  At this point, Taris stepped out of the corner and stood where Etor could see him. “How long did you manage the estate?” he asked, keeping his voice low. Etor was startled, but Olaf put a fist in his face, and he started to talk. He knew where the Earton castle dungeon was and what they could do to him there.

  Of course, he tried to lie, or at least to minimize the truth, but Lily, Lons, Taris, and Leif worked him over for hours. The interrogation moved slowly, but it covered a lot of ground.

  Etor had originally managed the estate for Jess’ father. Jyce had been a tough master; he kept a close eye on income and expenses, and everyone knew he would hang anyone who tried to steal from him. Etor had despised him. When Jyce died, not long before Jess married Lily, Etor realized he needed a succession plan. Jess was smart, but he was too much of an aristocrat to bother thinking about all the ways his employees might steal from him. In fact, the old earl’s son thought that most commoners were too stupid to get the better of him. That opened interesting opportunities for Etor.

  He had talked the matter over with his wife’s third cousin, Shirvey Lindt, who approved wholeheartedly. They would squeeze all they could out of the land and the people who worked it. The enterprising bastards even talked Baron Donter into introducing them to some pirates. Soon, they were making money hand over fist.

  It didn’t take long for Etor to discover that the Grismo family was chipping away at a deposit of amber and to demand his share. Soon after that, things began to get interesting.

  Jess got married and sent his wife to live on the estate. At first, Etor was prepared to be disappointed. Noblewomen usually took charge of their own estates, or at least, their households. However, Lilian Earton turned out to be a quiet girl who prayed and embroidered and cried instead of looking after the running of the castle. Etor could think of no explanation for her strange behavior, but his wife, Tara, opened his eyes; she had seen Sara putting something in the countess’ food. Husband and wife forced the girl to give up her secret, and soon the Darcey family was paying them for their silence.

  Taris wanted to know why the medicus had not noticed anything unusual about his patient. Etor explained that the medicus had been in on everything from the beginning and that he had even added some potions of his own. They made the countess sleep for hours on end every day. Martha had tried to intervene, but the medicus told her that sleep was good for the growing baby and that the earl had ordered the treatment.

  “What about the earl?”

  Etor admitted the earl had known nothing of how Lily was being drugged. To be safe, the conspirators stopped putting the herbal mixtures in her food whenever the earl came to visit. As a result, she was irritable and angry during tho
se periods. Lily cursed inwardly when she heard this.

  When the countess had kicked him out, he had turned his feet toward the Donter estate, hoping to ride back with the baron’s men to wreak revenge on Lily. Instead, he and his wife ran into a band of angry peasants, all of whom had lost children to Etor’s secret slave trading. The men gave the pair a severe beating. Tara died of her injuries the next day, and Etor spent a month recovering at Erk Grismo’s house. By the time he was on his feet again, it was too late; Lily had returned from Altver with her new Virman guards. He was trying to make his way down the Earta to the coast when he was captured by a band of the baron’s men. Afraid that the baron would have him killed outright now that he had little to offer, he decided not to reveal his identity and had been sitting quietly in the baron’s dungeon, planning his next move.

  Etor was pitiful, but Lily’s heart was hard. She would let him live because he had value as a witness, but she would keep him under guard day and night.

  A new idea occurred to her. “Do you still have any accomplices at the castle?”

  He did. There was a stable boy named Alex who had done odd jobs for him. Lily ordered the Virmans to bring him in for questioning. Then she sent Etor back to his cell, where she would leave him until she could take him back to the capital and present him to Hans in the spring.

  ***

  Damis Reis was furious. The countess continued to ignore him. No matter what he wore or how he looked at her, it was like he didn’t even exist. And he was afraid to do more than look since the countess didn’t react to him like most of the women he had known. All she did was work from sunup to sundown. Any free time she had was spent with her stepdaughter. How am I supposed to seduce a woman like that? Still, he hated to face his client if he was unsuccessful.

  He understood that he had been hired because he resembled the Earl of Earton. His client wanted to be able to dispute the legitimacy of any of Lily’s future offspring. But alas, the countess had her own plans, and Damis was stuck teaching a rowdy bunch of children. He hated the job more with each passing day. If he didn’t manage to get in the countess’ bed soon, his client would cut him off.