Raphael grinned. “Think quickly on your answer, Rolin. For I am a patient man, but my dear friend here is not.”
“Talk!” Jess roared in the man’s face, dagger now against his neck “Tell the truth and live with gold, or lie and die by my blade. Now talk!”
“All right!” Rolin screamed. And Jess could tell by one glance at his terrified eyes that Raphael had turned him. “Give me your word, my lord! Give me your word that, no matter what, if I tell you the truth you will give me gold if it is in your power to do so, and that you will tell them nothing if they capture you!”
Jess smiled. For with those words, Rolin had said all that he needed to say. Malek caught her gaze and chuckled softly. He too had caught the significance of the man’s words, and Jess turned to see Alex and Jera also give her small nods of respect. Jess felt a moment’s fierce triumph, and she hated to admit it, but relief as well. In some dark corner of her mind, she really had wondered if maybe she had been losing it. Josie, however, still gazed at Jess with a look that made her gut clench.
Raphael’s smile was one of pure benevolence. “Of course, friend Rolin. You have my word on that. In fact, I shall even do you one better. As a gesture of good faith…” As if by magic, a gold crown appeared in the palm of the young lord’s hand, its perfectly imprinted royal seal sparkling in the warm afternoon sunlight. Rolin gazed at it with undisguised avarice. “You are committed now, dear Rolin. For you have made it quite clear that trouble does indeed await us. But I am a generous master. As generous as you will ever find, and far more trustworthy than the treacherous captain awaiting you below. This gold is yours, Rolin, right here and now, in return for all the details of what had occurred at the chateau and what awaits us below. When we return, if successful, five additional gold crowns will await you as promised.”
Rolin gazed down in disbelief as Raphael stepped behind the man, gently placing the coin into the man’s tied up, shaking hands. “Now it is time for you to keep your end of the bargain.”
The man nodded desperately. “Yes, my lord. I will tell you all I know.” He took a deep breath, collecting himself. “Captain Petrie took command of the guardhouse some months ago. He was not quite so stuck up as the captain before us, making it clear that he didn’t mind a man relaxing and enjoying himself so long as he trained hard, and that he thought house staff should start paying us all a bit more respect.”
“Captain Petrie, you said? Name doesn’t ring a bell.”
Rolin dipped his head. "I am sorry, my lord. It was not my place to say anything. He had arrived with a handful of his own men, giving papers to the seneschal from what I understood, that made it clear that he was to be the new captain of the guard." Rolin shrugged. "Didn't matter to us. Most of us haven't even seen the diOnni clan since being hired. In any case, my lord, he made it clear things were going to change, and change they did, at least for the guardsmen." He chuckled. "Most of the house staff didn't like the changes, but they knew better than to complain. Anyway, after a while, Captain Petrie let a select few of us know which way the wind was blowing, said he had a few more of his fellows to bring on board, and anyone who wasn't up to, well, a change in management, had best leave that very night."
Rolin shivered. "Please forgive me, my lord. I never met your family, so knew of your clan only as the owners of the estate we guarded, and Captain Petrie made it quite clear our loyalty was to be to the new owners of the chateau." When he looked up his gaze was troubled. "But I've served with the men of our barracks for the last two years, faithfully and well. When several of my friends told me they were leaving and I'd best join them, well, I let them know that I thought that probably wouldn't be a very good idea." He grimaced. "Anyway, my friends that left? I never heard from again."
Jess glared at him. “But the truth is, you know what happened to them. Don’t you, Rolin?”
Rolin shuddered. “Please, my lady. I had nothing to do with it.”
Jess snarled. "They were killed, weren't they? Captain Petrie and the men he brought with them. Shot them in the back as they made their way up this very road, I bet."
The man they were interrogating grimaced, his breath hitching in his throat. It was obvious the man feared that such was exactly what had occurred, even if he hadn't actually witnessed the event.
“It's all right, Rolin," Raphael assured with a sympathetic smile. "There was a change in leadership. You tried to warn your friends which way the wind was blowing, yet they were too stuck in their ways to understand their best move. I understand. Believe me, I do." He gave a soft chuckle, his bemused gaze making it quite clear he could appreciate Rolin's position. "We merchants have to be flexible at all times, you know. Shifting tides of fate and fortune, and all that.”
“Exactly, my lord.” Rolin flashed a relieved smile. “Shifting tides of fate and fortune, just as you say. My friends and I, we don’t mean you and yours any harm, we are just following our captain’s orders. That’s all.”
“Of course," Raphael soothed. "Now we just need to fill in the missing pieces, my friend. Let's just say that management has shifted once more, and now you work for your true master, the diOnni clan once again." Raphael nodded with satisfaction. "In fact, you've always been a loyal hireling in your heart of hearts, haven't you, dear Rolin? Working undercover, gathering all the intelligence you could on this Captain Petrie, and now at last you are ready to report, and with a hefty reward for all your hard work. That's the real truth of this situation, is it not, dear Rolin?" Raphael gave a confidential smile, as if they were co-conspirators, working together.
Rolin gave a relieved sigh, his anxiety and hesitation melting away. “That is exactly right, Lord diOnni! I have all the information you need, right here in my noggin!”
“Very good," Raphael nodded. "Now please, don't let me interrupt you any further. Pray continue your report on the state of things at our chateau, and leave nothing out, my good man."
“Of course, my lord,” Rolin enthused. “As I was saying, Captain Petrie was making some changes, and he had already gotten rid of the guardsmen who protested too much. And just like you said, I thought it best if I were to stay on and not reveal my true allegiance to your family. Working as an agent, I guess you could say. Anyway, I pretty much did as I was told, keeping an eye out on things, and a time or two I saw Captain Petrie riding up to meet a curious gentleman dressed like a man with aristocratic pretensions, if you will, though he looked more a fop than a lord, if you catch my meaning. Anyway, he and the captain would chatter away, always with a few of the captain’s most loyal men between him and the rest of us, so we knew to keep our distance. I never did make out what they said, but that man always signified new changes. For one, we were all elevated to royal guard status, the captain assuring us that everything we did from here on out was royally sanctioned! He even gave us crossbows to train with to prove it!”
Jess gazed coldly at the constrained guardsman. “Either that, or he enticed you into committing an executable offense. You do know that men who dare to train with crossbows or longbows without royal leave are guilty of a hanging offense, do you not?”
Rolin’s eyes rolled with terror. He gazed imploringly at Raphael.
Raphael tutted and shook his head, though his twinkling eyes implied all was forgiven. “Now, now. No need to worry, I’m sure. Our dear Rolin is a loyal agent working on our behalf. No doubt he used them only to fit in for the sake of his cover as a gullible guard of this Captain Petrie. He knows where his true loyalties lie.”
“Exactly, my lord!” Rolin enthused, gazing up at Raphael with undisguised gratitude.
Jess did her best not to smirk, the man fully embracing the face-saving story they were constructing as if it were absolute truth. He was starting to convince himself that he really had been working on behalf of Raphael, which was of course exactly the state of mind they wanted him to have, assuring that he would answer their questions honestly and wholeheartedly.
“So there we were, my lord, training a
way with our crossbows, when our captain comes over, all jovial as can be, letting us know that the change in ownership is official. He went on to say that the diOnni clan is now out of royal favor, and it is our job to capture any of their number who visit our chateau, at which point the captain would send for that conspirator he always consulted with, who we were then told was a royal agent himself."
Raphael gazed thoughtfully at Rolin. “I don’t suppose your captain or this agent showed any of you any sort of official documents declaring that our clan was out of royal favor, or worse, fugitives, did he?”
Rolin shook his head. "No, my lord. None of us really believed that the diOnnis were fugitives. We just assumed it was maneuvering between the Houses, and that your clan had crossed someone powerful who was engineering your downfall."
Raphael nodded. “Very good, Rolin. Very good. Tell me, besides Captain Petrie and his coterie, are there any other players within the chateau who appear to be profiting unusually well with the arrangements?”
An anxious Rolin grimaced, his pleading gaze wilting under Jessica’s fierce scowl. “In truth, my lord, most have not. Only the seneschal struts like he thinks himself a lord as well, the only man besides his horsemen that Sir Petrie treats with any respect at all. The captain made it clear that any servitor, particularly any… maiden who flees without proper papers will be deemed a traitor and executed most… ruthlessly. Our evening patrols are about assuring no one flees as much as they are about protecting the grounds. Of course, since we bar the servitor’s wing at midnight, and most have relatives or loved ones they are forbidden to leave with at the same time, the captain has never had to make good on his threat.”
Jess could only imagine how awful it must have been for any female servitors in kitchen, garden, or maidenly duties. For if they had been maidens before, Jess had no doubt it was but an honorific now, and that the girls had had no choice in the matter. And it was all too easy to realize the inevitable consequences of that brutality, the innocent young blood that had been spilled.
Jess clenched her dirk fiercely, causing Rolin to gasp. “And how many young men, once sweethearts to the girls your captain and his cohorts have been ravishing, were butchered to serve as an example to all? To assure the chateau’s docility? To assure no woman would dare deny the captain’s advances?”
Rolin hitched his breath, his pale face a mask of horror. “My lady, I swear! I had no control over such things. We were all made to watch!”
“And I am sure it was a trial, maintaining your role as my agent on the scene, not fleeing at the first opportunity," Raphael soothed. "Fortunate for us, for now you can tell us if there are any good guardsmen left such as yourself. Guardsmen, perhaps, who remember what it was to serve under my father. Men whose reservations have been kept well hidden, like your own. Men who perhaps also realized that to leave per the captain's orders would result in their deaths and so kept quiet. Tell me, friend Rolin, do you know of any such men?"
Rolin gave a thoughtful frown, even as Raphael stepped back, gesturing for Jess to do the same, even going so far as to allow the man a sip of water from his horse flask. The man sighed gratefully. "Thank you, my lord. You are a wise and understanding master." He nodded to himself after a moment's contemplation. "Timothy and Kilton, my lord. Those two men alone have remained from years before. I can tell neither likes the captain, and both seem reserved. But they always do as they're told, and have never done me a bad turn so of course I have… kept their confidence." He did his best not to flinch when poor broken Neltose gave a piteous moan and continued to hack up gobs of clotted blood.
“Very good," Raphael commended a relieved looking Rolin. "You have served me well this day, Rolin. And as soon as we take care of things down below, I shall see that you are given suitable recompense after being allowed a week to… rest from your ordeal in well protected quarters. Now we shall take you and Neltose into the underbrush right there, where you both can rest easy. Should we be taken captive I have no doubt you'll be able to unbind yourself in a few hours' time. At which point, should my friends and I have failed to retake the chateau, I give you charge to head to the capital and seek out my father and let him know all that has occurred. Tell him everything you can of Captain Petrie and all you know of his coterie, most especially this mysterious noble he has been consorting with."
Raphael gave a conspiratorial smile. “You may also inform him that I promised you no less than a full twenty gold crowns, should your information aid in our rescue. So tell me, my dear Rolin, is that the promise of a master you would serve to your dying day?”
Rolin nodded his head enthusiastically, looking both relieved and grateful. “My lord! I swear to you, should you and your friends need me to, I shall make it to your father’s very side in the capital and let him know what has occurred!”
Raphael gave him a comradely clap on the back. “I knew I could count on you, my dear Rolin. No need to flinch, that is one of my rings you now have in your possession, along with the gold coin. Tell my father it is a gift from his third son. He will know what it means.”
“Yes, my lord, absolutely!” Rolin swore, eyes alight with greed and devotion in equal measure.
Raphael smiled. "Very good. Now please keep an eye on poor Neltose here. Remind him that if he struggles overly should any of Captain Petrie's men come this way once more, it will mean both your deaths, and only through my auspices will the man have even the slightest chance at acquiring the services of a healer, since I can all but assure that this corrupt Captain Petrie won't waste the resources needed to afford this man's recovery."
Jess nodded coldly. "At best he will just slice Neltose's throat to save him a lingering death.”
Neltose moaned, shuddering at the words. Nonetheless, neither man struggled when Jess and Malek roughly shoved them into the underbrush by the side of the road, the plants springing back up to conceal the two figures completely, as if sensing Jess's need. She spared Rolin and the still softly moaning Neltose a last look, grimly certain that without the intervention of a healer the broken man would die. Unable to eat anything solid, even drinking would be a chore, assuming he did not die of blood loss or infection before he starved. Jess did her best to tune out Josie’s soft sobs, Jera comforting her as they moved away from the captured guardsmen.
“but Jera, I can help that man! Even if healing him fully, regenerating shattered bone and lost teeth would require weeks of diligent work, I can still help ease his suffering and agony.”
“I’m sorry, Josie, but we are about to head into the thick of it," Jera explained, eyes alight with gentle sympathy. "You have complained to me more than once how difficult it is to heal completely destroyed tissue, especially bone, when you had helped to regenerate that nobleman's hand, cleaved clean off in a duel. You made it quite clear even then that mending cuts was far easier. And if you expend yourself healing this man who would have happily raped either of us, you may be unable to heal us if we need you in the battle to come."
Josie began to sob openly again, Jera gently passing her to Raphael with a silent nod of mutual understanding.
Jess shook her head and sighed, realizing how truly awful this must all be for her friend of such gentle temperament. Innocent Josie, who had never been forced to witness the true savagery of conflict, who had never been forced to hold a shaking young lord at sword-point while half naked as Jess once had, months before she had first enrolled at Highrock, Twilight having awoken her in the nick of time to avoid being raped. It had been a surprised young lord indeed who had met the fierce young warrior, near naked save for a shirt of mail and sword in hand, quickly disarming him and forcing him to the main chamber, with her blade pressing against the young man's neck so hard a trickle of blood had been dripping down her blade.
There Jessica had confronted the arrogant noble in the midst of his coup of the Calenbry estates. Furious eyes had locked with Jess's own, roaring for her to surrender at once. Yet Jess yielded not an inch, and perhaps there had been
something in her gaze, for the corrupt lord had understood at that moment that her threat was no bluff. If the lord refused to stand down, Jess's last act would be to tear out his son's throat even as she charged the sire in a berserker's fury, no matter the consequences. Even then she had understood that to surrender was to sign her family's death warrant, and as far as she was concerned, she had nothing left to lose. Coldly, Jess had stared the furious lord down, barely fifteen summers old and armed only with a single steel blade and her fierce resolve.
In the end, it was the conniver who had surrendered that day, earning back the son whom Jess had indeed been ready to kill, and safe passage from Calenbry lands. For Jess had instinctively understood that the fate of her entire family depended on her willingness to do what must be done, and for her enemy to understand that nothing would deter her, that she was absolutely committed to her declared course of action.
Josie had never been forced to embrace the terrible lessons Jess had learned so well that day; that one’s enemies must be able to sense your resolve, to see the desperate bloodlust in your eyes, to know that you will make good on your threats.
“Worry not, my queen.” Twilight’s gaze caught her own, a momentary pause in his watching the road below. Jess blinked then, feeling suddenly dizzy, almost as if she were falling. She smiled faintly, bemused with the sudden fancy that she was soaring within the endless chasm of her familiar’s brilliant sapphire eyes, two massive suns burning in the black depths of space. The very dream of it made her shiver, though whether in terror or delight, she could not say.
“You did what had to be done to protect your garden at fifteen summers, just as you ready yourself for what must be done even now at eighteen, to protect your friends." Her familiar flashed a toothy smile of approval, fierce and brilliant, and Jess felt an answering mad grin grace her own tight cheeks. "Revel in the battle to come, my mistress. We shall teach our foes to weep tears of terror and blood at the merest whisper of your name. The darkness of our presence shall send them screaming for the hills, morale shattered, when they see our crimson banner, just as they have so many times before."
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