She cast her eyes around his rooms, looking anywhere but at his face. Why did I come here?
So much for her objectivity. She felt too emotionally invested in this job to be able to do it as Cezar trained her to, but at least now she knew how Zaraki felt when he was spymaster. “I’m sorry, too. I’ve been avoiding you,” she admitted.
Andelko sat down across from her. “I know. It’s been obvious.”
Aniska sagged back into the chair. She picked up a book resting on the little table next to her and read the title. The Strezan Civil War: The Battle of Three Bridges.
“Out with it,” he prodded.
Sighing, Ani thought how much easier this had seemed last night. “I don’t know why I came, honestly. Maybe just to talk.” She paused before saying, “Absolution, maybe.”
Andelko wanted to reach out to her but felt sure she would not appreciate it in this mood. “You don’t need forgiveness. No one blames you. No one. Not me, not Symon, Not Zaraki and not Leisha. We had no reason to suspect Lukas would do something like this and every reason to think he would be a friend.”
She shook her head and glanced away. “I’ve spent all morning trying to come up with a plan. Andelko, maybe I’m not the right person to do this.”
“Is our spymaster suffering a crisis of confidence?” he asked, and offered her a small smile.
“Maybe I can’t do this. Maybe it should be Jan or Eamon or maybe even you.”
He looked shocked at the suggestion. “Me? No. I lead men into battle and find taverns to brawl in. I don’t know how to sneak around or hide myself. And look at me.” He gestured to his long legs stretched out in front of him. “Perhaps you’ve noticed? I’m very tall. You, on the other hand, are very small.”
As he indicated their respective sizes with his hands, Ani laughed but then sobered. “I just don’t feel competent to do this. Any of this. I broke my oaths. I care too much about you all and now I can’t think straight.”
They sat together in silence for a minute before Andelko said, “Ani, he’s been through all this before. Go talk to him. He can help you.”
Jumping out of the chair, she moved lightning quick. “No. We aren’t exactly speaking to each other right now. Mostly at each other.”
“Ani, listen to me. This isn’t about your oaths or your objectivity or any of the bullshit you Ostravans love to trot out. This is about your brother, your best friend. You both need each other right now.” Holding out a hand, he tried to snag her as she rushed to make her escape. “Don’t be ridiculous. You two should be working together.”
“I’m doing the best I can. I’m sorry,” she said as she bolted from his room.
***
Zaraki appeared for dinner and then spent the evening pacing the halls of his castle, the one she gave him. At one time, he thought he might rename it, after his father, dead for twenty years now. But try as he might, he could not remember his name or what the man looked like. At least I’ll never have to worry about forgetting her name or her face, he thought. This situation could only end one of two ways.
He thought of all the memories they made together here. Two years ago, they spent a month preparing for their wedding and letting him get to know Cheylm. They rode Capar through Prem so Zaraki could survey his town and meet his city leaders. He hired castle staff and appointed people to his new household. Together, they dug out tax records and looked over business and holding records to see what her uncle left behind. Leisha stood back and left it all to him to decide on, making it clear to everyone this was his castle, his town, his title. If he asked for her help, she gave advice but never dictated to him.
They made love in any room they wanted because it was his castle. If he chose to throw everyone out of the library and take her there amidst the books, so be it. Sitting rooms, stables, storerooms. The servants at Cheylm looked scandalized, but those who traveled from Branik shrugged and smiled, no longer surprised by their queen and her lover’s appetite for each other.
Now he saw her everywhere. Every room held her shadow, every window her silhouette.
When he thought he would go mad if he stayed inside any longer, Zaraki let himself wander through the small stables. A patrol had returned earlier and brought Evka in with them. He spent time checking her over, running his hands over her chestnut-colored sides, remembering Leisha’s delight when he gave the mare to her. In the back of his mind, he despaired wondering if Capar would disappear into Lukas’s army the way Evka almost had. His friend deserved better than a lifetime pulling carts, but Capar knew nothing of battle or war. He would make a poor mount for a soldier.
From behind, he heard Aniska’s footfalls. After twenty years together, he knew the sound of her approach intimately. She was annoyed with him.
“Is she all right?” she asked, coming up next to him and looking over the mare.
Keeping his eyes on Evka, he said, “She seems to be, yes.” He did not want to see the annoyance he knew she wore on her face.
“You’ve been out here for two hours. Just thinking?”
It irritated him she did not even try to be subtle in her rebuke. She had asked him to stay close to the castle and to stay inside after dark. If he pushed her, she would order it, and king or not, he knew the others would listen to her. Even so, he chose to needle her. “Wondering how many men I can order across the river with me.”
Though he tried to keep his voice flat, Aniska heard the desperation. “Please, don’t do anything stupid, or I’ll have to put a guard on you.” She said it kindly, but with an edge of warning behind it.
Zaraki gave her a small, tight smile. “You already have.” The soldier was young and no spy, and he spotted him easily.
“True, but this time I’ll make it Jan. He’ll stop you, lock you in a cell and tell me everything.”
As friends, he would have taken it as a joke. But as spymaster, she meant it as a threat. He crumbled. “Ani, I left her there. I just left her with them. I have to do something.”
Putting a hand on his arm, she said, “And what happens when we get her back and I have to tell her you’re dead because you rode off into the night without thinking? Give us time, Zaraki. Don’t make me confine you to your rooms.”
“I’m sick of the bullying, Ani. I will do something.” He could make threats as well as she could. Turning away, he walked a few steps and stopped again. “I cowered in a wagon while I watched them slaughter my family. I’m not going to sit and do nothing while the same happens to her.” Zaraki stalked out of the stables and across to the castle.
Andelko caught him as he stormed through the hall. “You look like you could stand a drink. I’m heading to my rooms now. Join me?”
Zaraki hesitated at first, then shrugged, glad for the distraction. They walked in silence through the halls together.
When they reached Andelko’s rooms, the Lord Constable opened the door and pointed to a chair. “Sit,” he commanded. “I’ve found this is the best way to pass the evenings now.” He started digging around in one of his trunks, looking for an extra ceramic mug. Wine glasses would not hold enough of what he planned to drink tonight. When he found one of his spares, he opened the cask of strong beer he purchased in Prem and filled both mugs. Handing one to his friend, he then decided a pitcher would be more convenient.
Zaraki sniffed at the beer before taking a drink, remembering the last time he and Andelko got drunk together. It had been because of Lukas then, too.
“Aniska says you’re not speaking to each other.” Andelko set the pitcher of beer between them on his small table.
The beer tasted awful, bitter and dark. Zaraki sighed, thinking he should have seen this coming. He did not want to talk about Ani right now. He just wanted to drink, but apparently, the Lord Constable had other ideas. “I wouldn’t say we’re talking, no. She mostly just threatens me. She’s so afraid I’m going to do something stupid.”
“Are you?” Andelko asked.
Tired of the probing and prodding, Zaraki�
�s head snapped up. “Like what?” he demanded angrily. “Scale the walls of that keep myself? Tear it down with my bare hands?”
Shrugging, Andelko said, “I don’t know. It’s not my wife they’ve taken.”
“Well, I’m not. I’m going to sit here and do nothing but try to keep myself sane and my kingdom in one piece. I’m doing my best.”
“That’s what she said today. And yet, you’re not speaking to each other.”
Zaraki tossed back the contents of his mug, poured himself another and did it again. It still tasted awful. ”That’s more than enough to get me fantastically drunk. Thank you. In half an hour, I’ll be unconscious so I can wake up tomorrow and do this all again.” Pushing himself out of the chair, he walked out without a word.
Plans
After watching Zaraki storm back inside the castle, Aniska raced around to the kitchen entrance and up the back stairs, taking them two at a time. Cursing, she realized she should have thought about his family before. Of course he would do something foolish. She needed to move now if she hoped to avert a disaster.
First, she stopped by the rooms Jan and Eli shared with their families. At this hour, the children were sleeping and both wives knew what a late-night visit from the spymaster meant. She would remember to apologize to Ivanka and Gabina tomorrow.
Sitting down at their table, she blew on the cup of tea Eli’s wife had set in front of her before leaving them to their discussion. “I want to attempt a rescue. I have no idea how successful we can be, but we can’t just sit here and do nothing. Would you be willing to help?” she asked both men.
Eli nodded immediately.
Jan looked offended. “Of course I would. I’d be pissed as hell if you tried without me.”
“I need to ask a couple others. What do you think about taking Eamon? And Irion, for some tactics? I can handle myself, but I’m no expert at planning a raid.”
“Both solid men,” Eli grunted, taciturn as always.
“I’ll go talk to both of them. Meet me in my rooms in an hour?”
Eamon opened the door almost as soon as she knocked. He looked exhausted still, but she saw the pack on his bed. “I’m ready to go back, Spymaster.”
“We have other ideas, Eamon. Let’s go find Irion.”
As they headed towards the army camped outside the gates, they ran into Ladvik and his youngest son in the courtyard. Behind them, a guard stood watch, as the former nobleman still did not have the freedom to move about alone at night.
“Spymaster, I was just showing my boy the stars.” In the torchlight, he stopped, looking from Aniska to Eamon. Bending down, he ruffled his child’s hair. “Go inside, son. Your mother will wonder where I’ve taken you at this hour.”
As his son trotted up the stairs, Ladvik smiled at them. “Two Ostravans out for a walk in the dead of night? Very suspicious. If you’re planning a raid to rescue Her Majesty, I can help you work out the details. If you need help, that is. They were a sort of specialty of mine.”
Still wary of the man and his motives, Aniska started to decline, but realized Ladvik could just as easily have said nothing. If he wanted to be helpful or if he just wanted to curry some favor, the results would be the same, and she certainly did not have the experience he did.
“All right. Welcome to the rescue party. Let’s go find our last member.”
Taking responsibility for Ladvik, she dismissed the guard. Together, the three of them tracked Irion down and took him away from a pretty camp follower. Once he realized the purpose of their visit, the disappointed look left his face.
They all talked strategies until near dawn. Ladvik outlined a straightforward plan which could be adapted to a variety of situations. Using cups, bottles of ink, and tiny boxes of tea leaves to represent riders and soldiers, they discussed how to adjust to different numbers of men, a carriage, archers, no archers. Nervously, they worked out how to handle a situation where Gerolt’s men arrived to collect Leisha. Ladvik proved surprisingly helpful as he pointed out holes and suggested alternatives.
Next they discussed supplies needed and how to gather them in secret. Food and water would be their biggest concerns, as no one knew how long they would be hiding in the woods, waiting. But cloaks, bedrolls, several bows, crossbows for Aniska and Eamon, arrows and quarrels enough—all those things would be giveaways to a grief-stricken husband trained to watch and observe. So they needed to be discreet.
Finally, they huddled over a map of Embriel laid out on a table at the back of the library. “This would be the fastest way out, but of course it’s also the most obvious,” Aniska said, pointing to the main road from the river crossing.
“When I was leaving the keep, I followed a cart path cutting over to a small road, here.” Eamon pointed to the map. “The crossing I used was here,” he indicated a spot well south of the main ferry landing.
“Slower, but off the main road, so I like it.” Aniska considered for a moment before saying, “Ladvik, can you talk to Andelko? We’ll need to have several patrols in the area to meet us when we cross back. But they’ll have to stay away from the river or else it will be too obvious. Once we’re on our side, we’ll find them and they can escort us here.”
Looking up at the windows, she saw the sky brightening. “All right, it’s nearly sunrise. Everyone start gathering what you need, but be careful. Get some sleep and we’ll leave tomorrow morning.”
***
The nightmares started again. Zaraki woke covered in sweat, breathing hard. Early morning light filtered in small windows and showed him an unfamiliar room. Then he remembered not being able to bear the thought of sleeping in their bed without her.
The details of the dream rarely varied. He could see the men crawling through the darkness towards his family, feel the rough wood under his small hands as he shrank down in the wagon. The scream always froze in his throat just as the slaughter started. This time, though, when his family lay dead, his mother wore blue, blood-stained silk.
“Eight years,” he muttered to himself. It had been eight years since he had last woken up like that. And two years since he had tried to sleep without Leisha next to him.
Dragging hands through his hair, he climbed out of bed. He still had most of his clothes on, and threw a coat on over to ward off the early morning chill. When he opened the door into the hallway, the boy sitting at the far end jerked awake. He sighed and cursed, forgetting to be quiet.
Zaraki did not want to deal with Aniska’s pet right now, so he turned in the opposite direction and walked down the hall. He heard his shadow scramble to his feet and start after him, leaving a respectful distance between them both. Realizing there would be no peace from this today, he turned. “Come on. Stop hanging back there like a dog.”
“I’m sorry, Sire,” the young man said, rushing to catch up. “Lady Aniska—”
“I’m aware of what our spymaster has ordered, and I won’t make it any harder for you. What’s your name?”
“Vledmir, Sire.”
It crossed his mind to try to lose this shadow, but it would only annoy Aniska and get the boy in trouble. Then she probably would put someone larger on him then. “Vledmir, I’m not going to be very interesting this morning. I’m probably going to go sit and stare out the window for a few hours. So, I apologize for that.”
“It’s fine, Your Highness,” he said, smiling faintly. “I’m paid no matter what.”
Together they wandered through the halls until Zaraki tired of pacing like a caged animal. He chose one of the second-floor sitting rooms with windows looking east. Like every other morning since Lukas’s betrayal, he pulled a chair over so he could prop his feet on the sill.
From this angle, he could see over the wall, watch the sun as it poked above the horizon and could ignore the yard. Watching the patrols returning with no news crushed any hope or optimism and left him feeling brittle.
Instead, he imagined he could see the river across the flat expanse of the Tymek. Across his lands, the lands sh
e gifted to him. Stop it, he told himself.
Without turning he said, “If you distract me until breakfast I’ll pay you double what she’s paying.”
Settled in a chair near the door, Vledmir talked at random about the town he came from, which led to how he joined the guard. He worried about the refugees from his home in Trnava and talked about life in camp. When he ran out of things to say, he lapsed into silence for a moment before continuing.
“Sire, I just wanted to say how much we all want her back. The men love her. And I’m not supposed to tell you this, but there are loads of us who would volunteer to help. If someone were to mount a rescue.”
Zaraki took a deep breath as desperate hope gripped his chest. The urge to do something propelled him out of the chair and he turned to look at his shadow. He forced down the impulse to demand to know who these men were. He wanted to grab Vledmir and shake the knowledge free. How many there were, what training did they have, were they willing to storm a keep? Instead, sensing this was one of those times when he had to be king and inspire their people, he said, “Thank you, Vledmir. I’ll make sure she knows how highly you all think of her when she’s back with us.”
“Everyone loves her, Sire.”
Hands clenched by his side, Zaraki turned so the boy would not see the pained expression on his face. Looking out the window again, he watched another pair of riders entering the gate to make their report of no sightings, no signs of Lukas or Lorant. This time, though, he also saw two men, hoods pulled up against the cool morning, rushing across the yard. Both men carried saddle bags and bedrolls towards the stables. Without more light, he could not make out much detail, but the taller one moved suspiciously like Jan. The shorter one could be Eamon, but he would not swear to it. “What do you make of that?” he asked Vledmir absently.
“The two men?” the young man asked, coming to look out the window. “They look like they’re getting ready to leave, Sire.”
As Dragons from Sleep (The Tahaerin Chronicles Book 2) Page 21