“Please him?” I howled. My voice almost squeaked it was so high by the time I got to the end of the sentence.
“Now, the belt. Why does it have an empty scabbard? We don’t have a sword. What will we do, Genda?” Goodie Chanter seemed like she might have the vapors right there.
“Calm down,” I said in my most irritated voice. “I have a sword. It’s beside my clothing as you’ll clearly see if you stop trying to make me your prized goat.”
“This is important, Allie,” Goodie Chanter scolded. “All our lives depend on it. All the lives in Skundton do. Do you understand?”
She gathered up my rusty sword and jammed it in the scabbard.
“Sure,” I said grumpily. “But I thought you didn’t believe the Fae were a threat.”
My mother exchanged a glance with Goodie Chanter. “The Fae aren’t the only ones who could cause us harm. A Knight can hold back ... other things.”
If I’d had any energy to spare, I would have asked about the other things. What could be worse than an army of Fae? Other than marrying Sir Eckelmeyer. Which I couldn’t do because I was already married.
“And you will go to the dinner?” my mother pushed.
“Yes.”
“And you will be good to the Knight?” Goodie Chanter asked.
“Define good.” I couldn’t keep the exhaustion and crankiness from my voice.
“And you won’t take that horrible cage and axe handle with you?” Goodie Chanter scolded.
“They stay or so do I,” I said with narrowed eyes.
She sniffed. “Well, you’re as pretty as we’ll make you in such a short time. Now, run, Allie! Maybe you can pretend you’re just fashionably late!”
My mother kissed my cheek, whispering. “Distract them for just one night.”
“And say hello to Olen for me!” his mother called as the door slammed behind me.
I stalked to my hiding place like an angry cat and stashed my bow and arrows, wishing I could bring them with the sword and the axe handle. At least I still had them – and the sword. It felt better to wear that than any fancy dress in the kingdom.
With a firm nod, I turned onto the path and began the walk to the center of town. Sir Eckelmeyer should know that he was messing with a hunter. And if I had to hunt knights as well as Fae, then so be it.
Chapter Twenty-One
If Scouvrel was here in my cage – still my prisoner and not my sort-of husband – I would have felt a lot more confident about this evening. Social interactions, trickery, negotiations, bargains – those were things he was good at. I probably could have struck a bargain with him to help me with this – whatever it was. Confrontation? Negotiation? Diplomacy?
If I was honest with myself, I wasn’t sure where this evening was about to go, only that I had no choice but to try to keep out of Sir Eckelmeyer’s bad books. I was only good at slash and hack and run. That was my skill set. But even if I was Scouvrel with all his tricks, even if I was willing to cut off an ear, that might not get me out of this tricky situation.
I stormed into town like a winter blizzard, glad I’d kept my boots on under the fancy shiny dress. It was too cold to be in a dress, even though it was only the beginning of winter, and already my fingers were losing feeling and my cheeks and ears were stinging before I’d made it to the town square.
My toes ached in my boots, but the cold was nothing compared to the fire that burned in my chest. I had children to save. I had a sister to stop. I had a purpose in life.
These knights would not take that from me.
Neither would the soldiers who clustered in a group of six around the edge of the town at the north road, a bonfire warming them as they watched for danger.
Neither would the citizens in their houses with windows lit while the streets stayed clear of all traffic except for soldiers carrying supplies and changing guard shifts or huddling around a fire on the street outside the barracks. I hoped my mother would get their children out safely.
Neither would the cluster of guards outside the entrance of Olen’s house who looked me up and down and frowned before opening the wide doors.
I scraped my boots off on the mat – after all, it was Heldra who would have to clean up the mud and none of this was her fault – and tromped into the house.
“This way,” Heldra said, hurrying up to me from one of the side rooms and gripping my upper arm a little too tight as she hustled me to a lit room I’d never been in. “You’re late.”
Her anxious gaze swept over me and her other hand gripped her fancy dress too hard. It was rosebud pink and had a voluminous skirt and the same small puffs at the top of the sleeves that mine did. Oddly, it seemed to suit her where it only looked ridiculous on me. I looked as if someone had dressed a buck in a fancy dinner gown.
“I’ll take that cage and that ... stick in your hands.”
I didn’t want to give them up.
“I’ll return them when you’re done,” she said, pleading. “If you bring them in there, Sir Eckelmeyer will just take them.”
I handed them over and she put them on a shelf filled with lanterns, frying pans and other tools in her kitchen, hustling me back out to the main room as quickly as she could.
“Be on your best behavior,” she whispered. “I know that is hard for you.”
And worryingly, that comment wasn’t snide. Her tone radiated concern for me. Heldra? Concerned for me? Suddenly, I was actually worried.
“Are your children safe?” I whispered back.
Her mouth thinned to a hard line. “They are with my mother. They will be safe. I will make certain of that. Now, do your part for Skundton.”
That was what everyone wanted from me, after all. I’d gone from Hunter to Sacrificial Goat in the minds of this town a little too quickly for my own liking.
She angled me through the door, pushing it open before her, her face morphing into a welcoming smile.
“Our last guest has arrived,” she announced, sliding easily along the backs of the chairs to sit at the foot of the table beside Olen. Spread out between him and Sir Eckelmeyer who sat at the head of the table, were a series of men in tabards, their hair combed and oiled. I could only assume that semblance of decency meant they were officers of some kind who served under the knights. Or maybe they were just the only soldiers who were housebroken. Who could say?
I’d never thought I’d be missing Ghadrot or even Werex. I never thought I’d be thinking with fondness over the strange circus-like Court of Wings or of Vhalot in my cage. I’d rather be in that company than this company.
The men seated at the table wore hard expressions, their hands gripping knives and forks in a threatening way. Somehow the fact that they were dressed like servants of the good made it all the worse that my senses were screaming to me that they were evil.
At least the Fae didn’t pretend to be nice.
“I see you found a sword to put in the belt I sent to you,” Sir Eckelemeyer said with a glitter in his eye.
Okay, Allie. This was it. It was word-play time. So, what clever thing could I say?
“Make a bargain with me, Sir Eckelmeyer,” I said, because I couldn’t think of anything else. Besides, if there was one thing I was beginning to get used to, it was bargains.
Too bad this wasn’t the room with the mirror in it. I could use a few hints on bargain-making.
I kept a false smile on my face as I strode down the long line of men to sit in the only empty chair – at the Knight’s left hand. On his right, a man equally young with a cruel mouth and flaming red hair ate with manners that suggested he’d never seen a dining table before.
“I only bargain with equals,” Sir Eckelmeyer said, downing whatever was in his mug.
My heart was racing, my cheeks stinging from the blood racing to their surface, but I controlled the breath shuddering through me. Time to take a risk.
“Usually, I do the same, but I’ll make an exception for you,” I shot back disdainfully.
Around me
, silence rolled over the table like a cloud passing over the sun. Not a fork scraped on a plate or a mug hit the table.
Sir Eckelmeyer turned his hard gaze on me slowly. “And where did you learn of bargains, village girl? You’re no queen.”
I threw that back at him, fast as thought. “Where did you learn of queens? You’re no gentleman.”
He froze and it was as if every set of lungs in the room was waiting for his reply to take another breath.
After a moment he snorted. “I suppose hard rocky landscapes breed hard rocky women. I should expect no less. Fine, I’ll humor you. What would you bargain for?”
Good question. I hadn’t thought that far yet, but there was only one thing he could give me.
“The safety of Skundton.”
There was a whoosh as everyone let their breath out, but they didn’t start eating again.
He raised his eyebrows, swirling his mug thoughtfully. “No need to bargain for that. Our sole aim in coming here is to protect this town.”
“Then evacuate the civilians. Before the Fae rush through the circle and kill them all,” I challenged. Someone set a plate in front of me, but I hardly glanced at it, despite the appealing scent of roasted chicken. I was not here to enjoy myself.
If I was being honest, I was barely managing to stay awake. I needed sleep and I needed it soon.
He smiled slightly. “I’ll consider bargaining with you, but first, please accept my hospitality. Eat. Drink. Pretend you are a lovely lady here to be wooed by the greatest knight of the plains kingdoms.”
“I don’t pretend.”
He raised a finger as if to scold me, waiting.
I picked up the chicken leg with my hand and tore a huge chunk off, chewed, and swallowed all without looking away.
“Happy?” I asked.
His nose wrinkled. “Hardly. I can’t see your eyes. Will you take down that blindfold?”
The rest of the town was used to it by now. No one even questioned how I could see through a blindfold. I’d forgotten that I would look strange to this man. Strange and magical.
The hair on the back of my neck rose. “I think I like it where it is.”
His hands were so fast that I didn’t see them move. He snatched my blindfold from my face and the room flooded with darkness. All up and down the table, all I could see were faint spirit outlines and the specters of the people around the table. The edges of them were unwinding, twisting in a spirit-wind only I could see. Had they been like that before they arrived here? Were the Fae affecting the people on the plains as well as the people of my town?
Olen was the most surprising. Where in the past, he had been beautiful and tall in the spirit world and hunched in the real world, now he stood straight in the real world, but his spirit was hunched over itself. The first tattered edge of him was just beginning to unwind.
Heldra, surprisingly, looked lovely in my spirit sight. That was a change.
I shook my head, frustrated by mixed messages and turned to Sir Eckelmeyer.
It was all I could do not to gasp aloud. That was no young man before me anymore. Old and gnarled, tangled up almost as badly as Scouvrel, the Knight was nearly Fae-like in the horror of his soul. His flesh hung raggedly from his bones and his smile, cruel and wide, showed flickers of fire when his mouth opened to speak.
Was he Fae? Was I only seeing a glamor with my magical sight?
“Give it back,” I said calmly, quietly.
“I don’t think so,” he said, spinning my magic blindfold on his index finger like a trophy. “You wanted to bargain with me? Consider this a bargaining chip. Marry me, Allie Hunter, and I will return this blindfold to you and protect your town. Refuse, and I will keep the blindfold and also keep these people where they are, under martial law, for as long as it pleases her majesty Queen Anabetha. Which, since she listens to my every word, might be forever.”
Martial law? A lot had happened in the time it took me to rescue those children.
“I don’t believe that. In fact, I think you have very little power beyond what you can trick foolish villagers into believing,” I said, boldly. I should never have come here. I was outnumbered and outmatched. But I still spoke the truth. “If you had any real power, what would you need a village girl like me for?”
He flicked a finger and before I could react, the knight beside me grabbed the back of my head and slammed my face into my food. I managed to twist at the last second, keeping my nose out of it so I could at least breathe. He kept me pinned there, hot gravy filling my ear as Sir Eckelmeyer leaned forward to where I could see his tangled specter.
“You’ve been to the Faewald. You know the enemy. You will be my bloodhound to find and seek the Fae. And together we will destroy them.”
“I’d like nothing more than to destroy all the Faewald,” I said through gritted teeth – though that was not nearly as true as it had been a few days ago. “But why do you need to marry me to do that?”
He laughed. “Don’t you know? Queen Anabetha has a strict code of ethics for her knights. We must treat those under our protection with dignity. We must care for them and enact rule of law. This includes hired swords and even spies. Do you know who it doesn’t include?”
He paused and I inserted a snide remark while I still could.
“Anyone with the sense to stay far away from you?”
The soldier gave my head an extra shove into the chicken. I winced.
“Wives,” he said, leaning down so that I could smell the wine on his breath. “A man may carry out any punishment, any treatment at all that he deems just, on his wife. Which is why I plan to marry you. You will be my hunting dog, under no one’s rule but mine. You will do everything I order, knowing that if you fail me you will face unspeakable torture.”
“And if I’m already married?” I asked through gritted teeth.
Around me, there was hesitant laughter.
“Well, that would be a shame because then I’d have no reason to bargain with you.”
And I’d thought Scouvrel was cruel. I was starting to believe that he was almost kind to me. Not to mention that it was hard to negotiate with mashed potatoes starting to get into one of your blind eyes.
“Do we have an agreement?” Sir Eckelmeyer snarled and I tried not to grimace as his spittle hit my face.
“I’m afraid not,” I said, not sorry at all despite his threats. “You see, I really am already married, and my husband is a vengeful man. He’d cut off his own ear before he’d let you have me.”
And I felt almost Fae since not a word of that was a lie.
Chapter Twenty-Two
They locked me in the cellar.
After the most intense beating of my life.
In fairness, the only beating of my life.
My second sight made everything seem to happen either too fast or too slow so that I braced for a punch only to relax again just before it hit, or I was hit before I knew to dodge it. It made the whole beating a terrible mingling of darkness, mocking laughter, and sharp agony.
I didn’t know how many of the soldiers were in on it.
I didn’t know if Olen had joined them in their efforts to kick me apart.
I remembered hearing Heldra crying before someone escorted her out. I remembered being worried about her, too.
I didn’t know how long it lasted or how bad it was.
With my blindfold gone, I couldn’t see my dress, only feel the tears in it. With it gone, I couldn’t see if my knuckles were bloody from the punches I’d thrown when I’d tried to give as good as I got. I’d tried at some point – between bright flares of pain – to pull the rusty sword and swipe myself away from here, but someone had stomped on my fingers until I was sure they were broken and I couldn’t pull the sword free.
I was most worried about the blood running hot and steady down my face. And the agony that flared in my ribs anytime I moved, making it feel impossible to breathe. And the way my jaw hung down in a way that I couldn’t quite pull back u
p again.
I was even more worried about the panic that overtook me, robbing me of logic and dignity, leaving me sobbing and shuddering and terrified.
I was trying not to think of the pain. I was trying not to worry about how permanent some of these injuries might be. Thinking like that only brought the panic back and feeling nauseated from panic only made everything worse.
“A few days in the dark might remind you that walking in the light is a privilege,” Sir Eckelemeyer had said when they were finally done beating me into what they thought was a fit shape for his wife, and thrown me on the dirt floor of Heldra’s cellar. I could smell potatoes and onions here. Heldra was a good Skundton wife.
“I’m blind, in case you’ve forgotten,” I’d shot back, trying desperately to be defiant instead of defeated. If I were being honest, I hadn’t really been blind until he’d stolen my blindfold. I’d forgotten how helpless that made me feel. I’d forgotten how weak and hopeless and lost it made me feel.
Oddly, they left the sword in my scabbard, as if they were pretty sure it would be useless to me so there was no point in taking it. I wasn’t entirely sure I could even draw it, much less hold it up to fight. Maybe they’d been right.
That was hours ago.
I’d passed out for part of it and woken again to the sound of footsteps and something being set down on the ground beside me. The footsteps left and I reached out tentatively, my fingers searing me with pain when I moved them.
Tea on a tray and some bread. My cage. My axe handle.
Heldra had taken pity on me.
There were big gaps between the floorboards. Which meant I could hear the others discussing everything in the dining room above, as I lay on the cool dirt floor coughing up blood and trying to stop my head from spinning enough to rise. Which also meant that now I knew exactly how much Olen had turned on his own. The Fae-taken little traitor.
“Are you certain you can enforce martial law?” Eckelmeyer had asked him. “Are you certain you can keep them quiet and subservient? We need free rein to operate as a unit without this town interfering.”
Fae Nightmare Page 10