by Amanda Fleet
I wanted to raise my hand, but Lord Sondan still pinned it down. He leaned over to whisper to me. “I know what you wish to say. Not here. Not now. I’ll talk to you after the meeting has finished.”
“If they were enslaved, they weren’t in control of their minds or their actions,” I said loudly, hurling a glare at Lord Sondan. “I agree that they should be apprehended and secured. But once the demon who enslaved them has been destroyed, they’ll be free of their influence.”
“And until then, they have no rights,” roared Lord Eredan, his voice ricocheting around the hall. “They are currently the agents of a hostile enemy and will be treated as such.”
I clamped my lips shut. Technically, only the talisman stopped me from being described as an agent of the enemy. Even if Faran surely wouldn’t follow any order to remove the talisman from me unless I agreed, I didn’t want him to have to choose between another public flogging and exposing me to being a guinea pig for Hesta to experiment on.
“We have several issues to deal with,” went on Lord Eredan, giving me a black look. “As you heard from Hesta, she’s strung several of the stones so that they can be worn. Any Guardians going outside the city confines will wear one and will be debriefed by Hesta on their return on their effectiveness. She will also make bracelets carrying both of the warning stones for testing in the field, but I would like to ask the Council to vote on allowing her to test those two stones with Cenan. If they are of no use to non-enslaved Guardians, we won’t waste Hesta’s time asking her to make them into bracelets. Yes, Lady Aeron?”
If looks could kill, I would be dead several times over. “Lord Eredan, are you also allowing Hesta to test whether the talisman stones will protect Cenan if he’s deliberately exposed to a demon trying to enslave him, or kill him?”
His lips made a hard line. “No. I’d be prepared to allow Hesta to perform such tests on disobedient or insubordinate Guardians, however.”
“Perhaps we should remember who brought the stones back from Outside?” said Lord Sondan, digging his nails into my wrist. “And at much risk to her life.”
Lord Eredan narrowed his eyes, but let it pass.
“Other than Lady Aeron, does anyone have any objections to asking Cenan to test the two warning stones?”
“I have no objection to him testing those stones,” I said. “Only tests that would potentially endanger his life.”
The vote passed easily.
“Which brings us to the rebels and another issue,” said Lord Eredan. “I am not asking for a vote on this. There are currently three demons trapped in vessels. Two of the original five were released from their vessels and allowed to take form again, before being destroyed by the stone dust. Lady Aeron, I will not be interrupted by you. Be silent or you will be removed from the hall.”
I closed my mouth, fuming.
Lord Eredan glared at me. “The remaining trapped demons will also be released and allowed to take form, before being destroyed. The Guardians who are sent out to affected villages will be encouraged to bring back any demons they find while they still have form. However, if this proves difficult or if lives are put at risk, they’ll be instructed to bring them back in vessels. Due to the increased unrest in the provinces, groups of six Guardians will be sent to villages that have reported deaths. Those villages that have rebelled will be reached in turn but have forfeited their right to any priority. If there are any further breaches of the city gates, offenders will be secured.”
“And experimented on or fed to demons,” I muttered in English, under my breath, earning another glare from Lord Eredan. I was past caring.
“Lord Sondan will draw up lists of teams to go to the provinces. Please ensure all members of your team have been supplied with both a talisman and a bracelet before leaving. Any questions?” Lord Eredan stared at me, and I shook my head, lips thin. “Good. Council is dismissed.”
I waited for Lord Eredan to say he needed to see me, but he stalked past me. Lord Sondan finally released my wrist. “Let’s go and talk somewhere quiet. Will you take me to the middle of the labyrinth?”
“Sure.”
***
“So what happened?” I leaned my back against the fountain at the centre of the labyrinth and glared at Lord Sondan. “Before last night, there were seven demons with the technicians. Two had form – the two Faran, Lady Morgan and I brought back yesterday – and the rest were in vessels, as mist. But today, Hesta says she destroyed three with stone dust, and Lord Eredan said two of the demons in vessels were ‘allowed’ to have form again, so those two demons in vessels were fed someone.”
Lord Sondan dipped his head, his arms folded. “I know.”
I held my hand up, still fuming. “I’m not done. Faran and I only brought back enslaved people from Barsdal. Did Hesta feed them to the mist? And who were the non-Guardian, non-enslaved people who were not protected by the new talisman stones? Rebels?”
Lord Sondan breathed steadily before answering. “You know the answers to all of those questions. You just want me to confirm it.”
“So they are some of the rebels? You captured the rebels and then fed them to demons, or exposed them to demon blood.”
He leaned his elbows on the stone bowl of the fountain. “I have nothing I can say that you’ll want to hear. Yes, your father-in-law instructed Hesta to use some of the rebels to test the stones. But he’s also consented to allow his son to be used in tests. And knowing what we now know, both the Guardians and the people of The Realm will be more protected.”
“At the expense of some of them.”
He threw his head back. “What would you have us do? How would we know if the stones kill demons? How would we know if killing the demons freed the people they had enslaved? What would you have us do?”
I didn’t have an answer. Somehow, we had to know if the stones worked and what they did; whether they protected both Guardians and non-Guardians alike. I wished I had a less barbaric way to find all that out.
“And you’re happy for Hesta to use your brother in her tests?” I asked quietly.
“It will help to protect others.”
“That’s an answer to a different question.”
He closed his eyes, his jaw clenched.
“Okay,” I said. “Do you agree with Lord Eredan, that these people have forfeited their rights to our protection? That they deserve to be experimented on because they raised grievances?”
His eyes snapped open again. “Lady Aeron, they did not raise their grievances. They stormed the city gates and slaughtered the guards on duty. They are murderers.”
“And some of them were not in control of their minds – they were enslaved.”
“Not all of them!”
Lord Sondan’s roar was almost as terrifying as Lord Eredan’s, and I flinched.
He stared into the water of the fountain. “Lady Aeron, I understand your concerns. You’ve spent a long time Outside and things are evidently very different there. Faran told me that people are imprisoned for their crimes, not hanged or flogged.” He turned, and rested his back against the fountain. “That’s not what happens here. Those men who stormed the city gates and killed guards would have been tried for murder and hanged. They’d have died anyway. Why not gain knowledge from their death? Learn how to protect the rest of The Realm.”
“It’s still inhumane!”
His face hardened. “Would you rather have risked your life to retrieve those stones and then the stones merely sit on a shelf while we put demons in vessels and hide them in the vault, rather than destroy them? Would the death of that child have been worth that?”
My heart lurched. I didn’t have an answer for him.
“Tell me what you would have us do,” snapped Lord Sondan. “How would you know if the stones protected non-Guardians? We don’t have enough to test them in the field as we do with the Guardians. We could have wasted them, giving them to people who would not benefit from them, while those who could be protected were left vulnerable.
”
I dipped my hands into the fountain, letting the cold water run between my fingers. My anger and stress made me hot, dampening my armpits and making my neck prickle.
“I’m still waiting to hear what you would advise as an alternative.” He stared at me, eyes clear.
“The people would have been terrified.”
“You think they’re not terrified when they’re about to be hanged?”
I pressed my wet hands against my neck, trying to cool my skin. “You won’t make me say that I agree with any of this.”
“And yet you have nothing to offer as an alternative. Which leaves me wondering whether you would prefer not to test the stones at all.”
I stayed silent. Where was he was going with this?
“If you don’t want us to test the stones, does this mean you don’t want us to know what they do – who they protect, who they kill, who they warn?” he said. “Why would you want that? Why would you not want to protect The Realm? Because Aegyir is still in your head? Are you acting under his instruction, even though you wear the talisman?”
“No! You think I would have risked my life to get the stones if I was still Aegyir’s slave?”
He raised a brow. “Yet that’s what people will suspect. You object to the technicians discovering the properties of the stones, yet offer no other option. You were banished as a traitor and returned without permission. You left to go Outside, again without permission and became enslaved by Aegyir. That’s what people see when you object. You may never accept that the tests are necessary, and you may never say that you agree with it, but please Lady Aeron, stop saying how much you disagree with it. At least publicly. By all means, rant and rave to Faran, or to me, but keep quiet in the Council.”
I scanned his face, suddenly recognising concern for me there. “When did you become my friend? When I returned, you couldn’t abide me.”
He smiled. “When I realised you’d never been a traitor. When I saw you fight Aegyir and protect Lord Eredan, despite having significant injuries. When you fought me at the portal, thinking I was trying to take the stones from you. When I went Outside and saw what it was like. I realised you were right that the Guardians would fail to find Aegyir if they went Outside without you to guide them. You probably saved my life.”
“Yeah.” I gave him a wry smile. “I’ll try my best to keep quiet in Council, but you have to realise that it makes me feel as if I’m agreeing with it all.”
“If you come up with any alternative options, tell me? Both as a friend and as Acting Successor. I would relish another option, as much as you would.” He pushed himself away from the fountain. “We should go and find the team. They’ll wonder where we are.”
“Thank you for not pairing me with Faran.”
He bit his lip. “If you both come back empty-handed, I’ll pair you again. You’re a formidable duo.”
We started back through the twists and turns of the labyrinth.
“Did you ever ask Doron and Leif about what had happened at Barsdal, when they patrolled there with Orian?” I asked. The bodies we’d found must have died not long after they’d been there.
“Yes. They said there was nothing untoward. Orian didn’t believe there were any suspicious deaths and no indications of anyone acting strangely, so they left and went on to a different village. Orian was the only one who spoke to the village leader though. Come. We’d better go and find them.”
22
As our team of six reached the outskirts of Hoveld, the village we were to patrol, I glanced down at my wrist. Both stones glowed slightly – my original charm-bracelet warning me that there were demons nearby, plus the reddish “slaves” stone that may be warning me that some people here had been enslaved. I nudged Lord Sondan and showed him my wrist. He nodded. The two stones he wore glowed brightly.
“Is your red stone warm, too?” I asked.
“Mm. Slightly.”
Next to me and Lord Sondan stood Leif, Doron, Eskil, and Mallan. Leif and Doron were supporters of Orian and were the two who had originally patrolled Barsdal and reported all was well there. A few years older than me, I knew them to be reasonable warriors, though with some attitude. I wondered how much they would challenge Lord Sondan’s authority. They stood close to each other, eyeing me coldly. Doron’s long black hair was fastened in a thick plait down her back, her grey-green leathers matching her eyes. Leif looked smart in all black, his posture straight, his hair cut neatly.
Eskil glanced across at me. He was Faran’s age and had been one of his supporters in the past, but I had no idea where he stood now. I hadn’t had much to do with him, but he’d always seemed fair-minded and prepared to listen. I hoped he would follow Lord Sondan rather than Leif. Mallan, the final member of the team, was very junior and would do exactly what Lord Sondan told him to. He was Cenan’s best friend and a fan of Faran.
We stood a few hundred metres away from the first of the small houses of the village, hedges separating the dirt track from fields of livestock. Like all the settlements I’d seen, this one had simple houses lining a main thoroughfare, with more industrial buildings on parallel streets. At the moment, those buildings were quiet, and the main road empty. Was everyone dead? Or on strike? I hoped the latter, though that still wasn’t a great option.
Lord Sondan turned to the team. “Right. We have both demons and people under the control of demons here.”
“And some less than friendly locals,” I added, indicating a small group of people approaching us. I checked my wrist. Neither stone glowed more brightly.
Lord Sondan stood tall, an imposing sight at almost a foot taller than most of them, his dark brown leather gleaming in the thin sunshine, his hand on the hilt of his sword. “Who’s the village leader?”
The group shoved a man forward. “Me. My name is Ketill.”
Lord Sondan sized him up. “How many deaths have you had here, Ketill?”
Ketill clasped his hands together, shifting from foot to foot. “Forty-two.”
My breath whistled through my teeth. All of the team shuffled nervously.
“And any ill? Weak?” said Lord Sondan.
“Another nine.”
Lord Sondan nodded. “Can you gather the village together, please? We’ll also need to see those who are weak.”
The group of men stared insolently at us, making a solid wall between us and the village. The tallest of the men jutted his chin up. “How do we know you’ll help?”
“We’re Guardians,” said Lord Sondan. “Please. Gather the village together.”
“So you can kill us?”
“So we can try to rid the village of demons,” said Lord Sondan, sounding tired.
The man wasn’t appeased. “What happened to the people from Barsdal? They were killed by Guardians. There were witnesses.”
I glanced at Lord Sondan. I was also a witness but from the other side. He didn’t look at me, so I held my tongue. I wasn’t the captain.
Lord Sondan exhaled heavily. “Do you want us to check whether any of the people here are demons or not?”
The man took half a step forwards, his hand on a knife in his belt. “How many people have been killed who weren’t demons, but you thought they were?”
Several of the group planted their feet as if spoiling for a fight.
Lord Sondan took a full step forward, crowding the man. “We have better ways of being able to detect demons now.” He glanced across to Ketill. “Either gather the village together, or we’ll move on to the next place and the demons can kill all of you.”
I closed my eyes. “Not helpful,” I murmured to Lord Sondan.
He shot me a look. “I’m not in the mood to be helpful.”
I spoke softly so that only Lord Sondan would hear. “But see it from their perspective? Rumours are rife that the Guardians massacred everyone at Barsdal, and there have been instances of people being mistakenly killed.”
Leif stepped forward, shoulders squared. “Lord Sondan gave you an orde
r, Ketill. Get the village together. Now.”
His hand rested on the hilt of his sword. Ketill eyed him, and for a moment I wondered if it would all erupt, but Ketill stepped back and turned to walk into the village. Leif sneered at me. “Too much talk and not enough orders. Stop thinking that the people will listen to you. They’re sheep, not wolves.”
Heavy drizzle started to fall, coalescing on my hair then dribbling down my neck. The dirt track had a high proportion of clay in it and the rain made it slippery. I fluffed some of the rain out of my hair, starting to share Faran’s dislike of the countryside.
Lord Sondan nodded to us to head into the village. “Stay alert. I’m not convinced there aren’t wolves here as well as sheep.”
Ketill gathered the village together in a large barn on the edge of the village. The settlement was maybe only two hundred or so people. Most of the villagers were surly, a few downright hostile. Lord Sondan, Doron, and I walked down one side of the barn, checking the stones on our wrists; Leif, Mallan and Eskil stood ready to apprehend anyone who made the stones glow. Five of the villagers made the stones glow red and become warm, and they were all pulled out of the line.
Things kicked off almost immediately. No huge surprise. Even given the lack of any official communication system, gossip travelled. Those pulled aside struggled and fought; some of the rest came to their aid. The six Guardians drew their swords and stepped into formation – a formidable sight – and many of the people fell back. Even so, there were only six of us and about two hundred discontented people. Lord Sondan must have been thinking the same.
“We are here to help,” he bellowed. “If you do not want our help, we can leave. I’m sure Ketill will happily share his plan on how to kill the demons without us.”
Ketill blanched. Four of the villagers lunged towards Leif. Bad move. He punched two of them so hard they collapsed, unconscious, clubbed another with the hilt of his sword, and pinned the fourth down, his sword point at his neck. Beside me, a man surged forwards to help the man on the ground, and I yanked him back.
