The Duke snorted deridingly. “Who told you this, some merchant? Don’t be a fool. If it’s not known by the college of alchemists it doesn’t exist.”
“Yes, I know, and we want to keep it that way. So, Mr Maland, do I have your co-operation or do I make you watch me kill your lovely wife and your three children?”
“You leave em’ out of this.”
“Too late for that old boy.”
“You miserable cur! If you’ve touched them …”
“Is that a yes?”
“Fuck you. Your father will have your head.”
“We’ll see about that.” Kane lift his boot and slammed it down on the man’s head, rendering him unconscious.
In due course they reached the wretched and narrow back streets of the southwestern quarter of the city and the carriage eventually slowed and turned down a rubbish-strewn alleyway. Kane recognised the place as that to which Lea had brought him last night. It didn’t look any more inviting in the early morning light. Even through the carriage window the air hung heavy with the stench of sewage and the nearby piggery the Druid Council used to dispose of the human remains from their sacrifices. The alley opened into a courtyard overgrown with weeds and strewn with more rubbish. As they drew to a stop several of Henry’s men emerged from a side door and approached the carriage. The Duke was hauled out and dragged inside and down the narrow stone stairs to the dank cellar. Kane and Lord Cameron followed at a more sedate pace.
“You sure this will work?” Henry asked.
“The man has a love for his family, despite his myriad of faults. It’ll work.”
As they reached the bottom of the stairs the Duke was already being tied to a chair in a torch lit room that looked ready to collapse with roots growing through the stone and water dripping onto the wet floor. His family was sitting against a crumbling brick wall, all of them tied and gagged and looking slightly the worse for wear.
Kane drew his dagger. “Bring me the little girl. And take that sack off his head.”
“You leave her be,” Maland yelled. “You leave her be!”
The girl began to cry in terror as she was dragged across the room, and her mother began to struggle against her bonds, her eyes wide with fear. Her two other children began to cry as well. The noise was most irritating to Kane’s ears. He took the girl’s wrist in an iron grip and wretched back her little finger, snapping the bone. Her scream was piercing. A nod from Kane and one of Henry’s servants restrained the writhing child while he drew his dagger and cut off the broken finger like a chicken’s foot. The girl went slack in their grip, and another nod saw her unceremoniously dumped on the ground next to her weeping mother and her other children.
Maland was sobbing like a baby, too. “I’ll do it, just leave them be. Please.”
Kane slipped the vial of poison and the girl’s finger into Maland’s shirt pocket, before patting the man’s cheek. “Wise decision, old boy. Wise decision. But to see that you do, your wife and children will remain my guests. And if you fail me, if you whisper a word of this to anyone, I assure you they will never be found; at least not in one piece. We understand each other?”
“Yes. Yes, absolutely.” The man nodded, broken, all trace of insolence gone.
“Very good. I’m pleased we have come to an understanding, Mr Maland. I suggest that as soon as you get back to the palace you administer the first dose. I suspect my father is going to need his wine today, particularly when he hears the news that his beloved daughter has been murdered.”
“And my wife and children?”
“I’ll see that no more harm befalls them. And once this is done, they’ll be returned unharmed. You have my word as a gentleman.”
There was a commotion above and Fren appeared, storming down the flight of stairs. Her grey eyes were sharp as they found them. Kane knew that look and braced himself.
“There’s been a change of plan.” She nodded at the pitiful wreck of a man sitting before Kane. “Does he have the poison?”
“He does,” Kane said, wondering what was coming next. He had seldom seen Fren look so un-nerved.
Fren continued down the stairs into the light. A menacing grin grew on her face. “Remember me, Mr Maland?”
He nodded fearfully and promptly pissed his pants.
“How much gold did the Lord Protector give you when you told him I was a witch?”
“Some, perhaps more than some,” he confessed, beginning to whimper.
As Kane understood it, Maland had seen Fren turn into a crow as he’d sneaked out of the palace late one night. The chance encounter had forced Fren to flee her employment.
“You are to put the first dose of poison in the king’s wine on the day the Lady de Brie rides for Amthenium. Do you understand?” Fren said.
“Not today? I could do it at the evening meal if you wished. Before even…”
“What did I just say?”
“Yes. I’ll do it, on the day the princess rides for Amthenium.”
Kane felt his heart sink. Danielle was obviously still alive. That bitch’s luck never failed to astonish him.
“Good, get him out of here.”
Henry’s men moved quickly. They put the sack back over Mr Maland’s head before dragging him back up the stairs. As he was led away the Duke reassured his wife and children in a quivering voice that all would be well, and to do as they were told.
“Remember what I told you, Mr Maland. Fail me and you’ll never seem them again,” Kane said.
“I won’t fail you, Milord. Please, just don’t harm them.”
“I hope I don’t have to.”
When the door closed above, Kane nodded to the men holding Maland’s family. They all knew what was required and acted with the efficiency he had come to expect from Henry’s men. The woman was first, a fist full of brown hair pulled her head back and a blade opened her throat from ear to ear. Her three children were butchered next, and with barely a sound.
Kane drew a handkerchief to his nose and urged the servants to remove the bodies for the stench of urine and faeces was most off putting in the confined space of the chamber. There was no need for instructions on what to do with the corpses. They’d be hacked up and fed to the pigs like those that bleed out on the sacrificial altar far below their feet.
He turned his attention on Fren, eager to know how things had gone so bloody wrong that his sister was still alive and still beyond their clutches.
Fren drew an apple from her robe pocket and bit into it with her blackened and rotting teeth, waiting for the chamber to empty. When the three of them were alone she tossed the apple core away and said, “Keira’s jaunt didn’t succeed in its purpose this morning. Worse, we think your sister has taken her first step along the path of enlightenment.”
“Maig have mercy on us,” Henry muttered. “How many lost?”
“Too many. But we are not undone.” Fren blessed them both with that enigmatic grin of hers, which today looked slightly unbalanced, and patted the pocket of her robes, making her little bag of bones dance and sing. “Seems the fates favour us even as our enemies succeed.”
Kane wasn’t sure how that was the case.
“Your sister’s presence has brought Cargius out of the shadow. There is now an opportunity to seize them both together at Amthenium.”
Henry seemed to understand what this meant even if Kane did not, for the genial lord now shared Fren’s mirth.
“And this is to our benefit how?” Kane demanded.
“Cargius has long been our target, Kane. He is the last of two White Druid responsible for the enlightenment ritual; the path that all who have the First Mother’s gift must travel if the divinity in their blood is to be enlivened,” Henry said. “Every Child of Light in the last five hundred years has come to know herself through his embrace. A betrothal of sorts. We kill him and there can be no more Children of Light. The White Goddess’ blood will remain eternally dormant and useless as a weapon against you.”
“What about
these other two children? They may not be so useless if they are already awakened as you are want to call it,” Kane said. The thought of being over confident about any of this concerned him and Fren had said that these other two appeared to be veiled. Not that he exactly understood what that meant.
“We don’t know that for sure. What we do know is that even if they have been awakened, they have not completed the path for there is no word in the ether of a living Child of Light. With any luck, this will make it easier to discover who they are, and capture the one we need to secure the Book of Minion.”
“Even so, are you sure this abduction can still succeed? Amthenium is an island fortress, and after this first attempt on Dee, they’ll be expecting us. My father will have a double ring of steel around her everywhere she goes, be sure of it.”
“Fifty men at arms, to be exact,” Fren said. “But the fates have revealed an opportunity to take them that no amount of steel will prevent. You don’t need to know the details. More immediately, you should be concerned that your sister and father are planning to murder you.” Fren opened her hand, palm up. “Henry, I need your lord’s ring.”
He looked surprised but complied without hesitation. “What have you in mind?”
“A little smoke and mirrors. Let’s just say Kane will be leaving the city this night twice and only once in the flesh.”
“A transmutation spell? That will take a great deal of magic to conjure. Particularly after the reanimation rituals this morning.”
“We will manage. I’ll need your help of course. I also need you to secure bodies similar to Lea’s, and your own, since you will be accompany Kane from the city this evening.”
“What pray tell is this you speak of?” Kane demanded.
“Nothing you need concern yourself with.”
Henry was now pulling off the rings that graced his hands. “Kane, Fren will need your rings as well,” he said
“To what purpose?”
“To prevent your murder,” Fren said sharply. “Now hurry up, I have much to do and little enough time to see it done.”
“There’s also the small matter of the Archbishop,” Kane said. “You know he will assume this attack on my sister was done at my bidding and take it as a breach of trust.” He’s not likely to be alone in thinking so either.
“All is in hand, Kane, you needn’t concern yourself.”
“So what am I supposed to tell him tonight at the celebration, hmmm?”
Fren handed Lord Cameron a glass vial and took Kane’s hand. “I said you needn’t concern yourself about that.”
When she drew a small knife from her belt, he pulled free, frowning at her. “I’ll have an answer, hag.”
Her grey eyes flashed. “There’s not going to be a celebration.”
“Your bones again?”
“Yes. In a few hours the old goat will have more pressing matters to concern himself with than toasting your ascension, namely his own lords threatening mutiny. Then shortly after the noon bell has tolled his troubles are going to be compounded by a certain message from one of his spies in Renwick. Now, if we are to see our plans back on track, and put the dogs off your scent so we can get you safely out of the city with Henry and Lea this night I need some of your blood.”
Kane let her take his hand. He winced as the knife pricked him. “It will not help our cause if I suddenly disappear.”
“You’re not going to disappear,” Fren said, squeezing his hand so the blood dripped through the narrow neck of the glass vial and began to accumulate. “You’ll be answering the Archbishop’s summons late this afternoon, but not as you might expect. Then, as you leave the city tonight you are going to be captured. Again, not as you might think. In fact I think you’ll find it all rather amusing.”
“Meaning what?” he said, letting his irritation show. He felt more like a lackey than a bloody king in waiting.
“We need time, Kane,” Henry said kindly. “Fren, Keira and those of the eldership will spend the rest of the day conjuring a rather elaborate and difficult spell. If it is to succeed it is essential that you do not know its nature until it is prepared. And I can assure you, Fren is right, you will find it rather amusing.” Henry had undone his cuff and was now rolling up his sleeve.
Kane grudging accepted Henry’s explanation. “This message from Renwick, something regarding the search of the Helidon estate I suspect?” Kane asked.
Fren merely smiled. “You’re going to make a suggestion that will set the old fool’s mind at ease.”
“That being?”
“All in good time.” She handed him a cloth to wrap his hand before beginning work on Lord Cameron. “For now you need to trust us.”
“Trust? You said ‘if’ this spell works, I’m not sure I like the sound of that.”
Fren looked at him as she drew blood from Henry’s hand. “The fates are never certain, Kane; you should know that by now.” She put a cork in each of the two vials and slipped them into opposite pockets of her robe. “It’s time to go. An unmarked carriage waits for you above. It’ll return you to the safe house. Lea will be there. She’ll make sure you stay out of sight. We will see you tonight.”
“That tells me nothing of what I should tell the Archbishop when I answer his summons.”
Fren and Lord Henry had begun up the stairs. “You needn’t worry about that.” Fren patted the pocket of her robe. “It’s your blood that will be doing the talking. Think of it as a reflection on water. Like we said; you’ll find it all rather amusing when we are ready to release the conjuring.”
Her enigmatic grin was the last he saw of her before she passed from view. Then the door closed, and Kane was alone in the flickering light of a single torch.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“The lady is returned, the lady is returned.” The sailor’s voice sailed out from high up in the ship’s rigging and out across the lake.
Danielle could see the sailors through the trees pointing in her direction as she walked back down the overgrown path from Ra’majum’s ruins to the stone jetty. That a ship had arrived during her absence wasn’t exactly a surprise. Illandia was only fifty or so miles down river, and when her father received Eden’s message and news that the Arkaelyus had been attacked, she would not have expected him to delay his response. If she was surprised it was that more ships weren’t moored out on the lake bristling with soldiers and her father with them.
The distant drumming of boots carried to her on the afternoon breeze, and then armour glinted in the sunlight as a small group of men came down the gangplank and proceeded along the jetty in her direction. Eden was at the head of the group, and when he spotted her emerging out of the trees, he quickened his pace and began up the path to meet her. “Are you alright?” he called out. “We were just about ready to send out a search party.”
“I’m fine,” she called back.
His gaze danced over her as he approached. “Is it done?”
She offered a tight smile. “Yes, it’s done.” Or at least it’s begun. Not about to discuss what she’d been up to over the course of the morning with so many men in her brother’s company, she said, “How is James?” Cargius had told her she was worrying without cause, but it was a convenient distraction until they were in a more private setting and could talk freely.
“Much improved. He’s with Bastion. Whatever Lord Cargius did, it seems to have worked wonders.” A shadow passed over Eden’s face as he glanced up the path behind her and back at her. “Where is Lord Cargius?”
Danielle continued down the jetty, her pace unabated. “He’s gone.” Danielle ignored her brother’s puzzled frown.
“Gone? Where? Is it possible we might catch him up? Bastion arrived with a royal communiqué and orders to see that Lord Cargius received it.”
“You won’t catch him up,” Danielle said. She wasn’t going to tell him that the druid had turned into an eagle and winged off into the mountains after performing a lengthy and rather invasive anointing ceremony upon her, w
hich included intercourse no less than three times across the course of the morning; at least not here with them in company. Just before they parted ways Cargius had emphasised for the umpteenth time the need for secrecy. Secrecy. She smiled at that and not with any humour.
“We should try,” Eden said, running to catch up. He grabbed her arm drawing her to a stop.
“He won’t accept any such offer.”
“Why, may I ask?”
She gently removed his hand from her arm with a telling look. “Perhaps we could talk aboard ship?”
Eden’s lips pressed together and he nodded curtly, “If it pleases you. But father will not be happy.”
Father will not be happy with a great deal more than that.
They said nothing more as they walked up the gangplank to the ship’s mid deck. Danielle offered a polite smile as a lanky middle-aged man with weathered features offered her a nervous bow, and introduced himself as Captain Ferguson and welcomed her aboard his ship, The Dragon. The fastest river vessel in all of Illandia he claimed before saying, “My cabin is at your disposal. Mr Beckett will serve you as you have need and show you to your cabin.”
“Thank you, sir. Would it be possible to depart for Illandia at once and with all haste?”
“As you please, Milady.”
“And do you have a royal carrier bird on board?” She was sure her father would not have sent this vessel ahead without one.
“We do, Milady.”
“I’ll have need of it in a short while so could you have it brought up on deck?”
“I’ll see it done, your highness.”
Danielle offered a polite smile and followed Mr Beckett. A little overawed, the captain bowed and hurried off shouting orders to depart. The crew had been watching her like hawks and jumped to, each running to his task.
Eden led her down below deck through an open hatchway. The Dragon certainly wasn’t the Arkaelyus. The ship could not have been more than eighty feet in length, her masts only two-thirds the height of those aboard the royal barge. Her corridors were narrow and ladders were in the place of stairs. Not that such things as the vessel’s dimensions were in the forefront of Danielle’s mind. It was the looks the scurrying sailors and the soldiers milling around the deck had settled on her from afar that troubled her. They were polite and respectful enough, and obviously relieved to see that she was safe, but the curiosity she had seen as she boarded the Arkaelyus hours before was now fraught with unease, even a hint of distrust. It wasn’t a sentiment she liked at all.
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