Dragonspeaker Chronicles Box Set

by Patty Jansen

  “I saw it,” Henrik said. “I hope that is enough proof for you.”

  Master Thiele nodded. “You don’t have to convince me, Henrik, you know that.”

  “As directed, I shot at him. I thought I would create confusion to make it look like it was meant to be an assassination of the Regent, but instead I seem to have made things worse rather than better.”

  “You were directed to kill the shepherd?” Nellie asked.

  “We have a very short list of people that are better off dead than alive.”

  Master Thiele gestured at a board on the wall where a couple of names were written in chalk. The list included four names. One of them was Dirk Gouwens, which was the proper name of Shepherd Wilfridus. Nellie didn’t know the other men. They were likely to be common criminals.

  “Did you have that much evidence against him?”

  “The man has a long string of common crimes, involving theft from bereaved widows and organising a network of peddlers and magicians to defraud ordinary citizens.”

  A memory came to Nellie’s mind. “Zelda, the wayfarer.”

  “She is part of it. She gives him a lot of money for the sales of her wares that at best don’t work. We are still dealing with complaints from her dragon ointment. You should see the injuries that some people got all over their skin. But those potions and pills are full of magic. We’ve been in contact with the Science Guild to establish that.”

  And then Nellie realised something else. “You used to be part of the King’s Guard. Whenever people had a complaint about misconduct by guards or military, they requested an audience with the King’s Guard. You would investigate to see if there was a reason to take them to task.”

  “That’s right. Only, when the Regent came in, he wanted none of our meddling, as he said, so he disbanded us. As it turned out, the Regent had nothing to say about this but the shepherd didn’t want any of it either, for obvious reasons. That man has a list of crimes longer than my arm. I could list all of them, but I would be here all night. We have no way of sending him to jail, because the citizens adore him.”

  “So you have him up on that board because he is a common criminal or because he’s a magician?”

  “For his criminal pursuits. We strongly suspected there was something else going on, but he is smart and he doesn’t make it obvious to anyone who doesn’t have to know.”

  “But that’s why people adore him: because he uses magic to make people support him.”

  Nellie then told him about what she and Gisele had learned about the gin poisoned through magic.

  Master Thiele gave her a wide-eyed look. “I strongly suspected that the Shepherd had something to do with Lord Verdonck’s death. It’s not a secret that he hated the man, and he was too obviously offering for us to test the monastery’s wine, as if he wanted us to find something there.”

  “A man was sentenced to death because supposedly the wine was poisoned,” Nellie said.

  Master Thiele nodded. “I’m beginning to see what’s been going on. I spoke to Commander Patrick of the palace guards, and he gave me no reason I could believe to convict the Regent’s former taster. I didn’t understand how he had come to the conclusion that the taster was guilty, even when it was clear the wine was not poisoned. He was also unable to explain it to me. I should have taken that as a strong sign that something important was amiss.”

  “You make and eat your own food here,” Nellie said. “That has saved you from being afflicted with magic. The others have all eaten at the palace.”

  Master Thiele let out a heavy breath. “Every time when I think things are bad, they keep getting worse. So what can we do to get the boy out of the palace? Time is of essence. Not only do I have no idea how he is going to survive this, but when his father contacts us, we want to avoid a severe embarrassment.”

  “You’re still in contact with his father?” Nellie said.

  “He writes to us, once or twice a year. We write back to him, saying that everything is still as it was before, which is that the Prince is held somewhere in the church and that we haven’t been able to free him.”

  “Well, now he’s free.”

  “He is, but he may be in more danger than being mistreated. The church clearly had a reason to keep him alive, otherwise they would have killed him or let him starve to death long ago. The boy clearly has a strong constitution, because otherwise he would have succumbed to disease. The church had plans for him, and we have disrupted those plans, so they are likely to do something dramatic. I dread the day that we have to tell his father that he’s gone. I would dread to tell the country that their best heir to the throne is dead.”

  “What are you going to do?” Henrik asked.

  “I don’t think we have any option but to get into the palace by force and free the boys to make sure nothing bad happens to them.”

  Henrik gave him a sharp look. “Would you stand against other guards?”

  “If necessary, but only if we absolutely can’t avoid it and if we have enough support to guarantee everyone’s survival. We’re not into suicide missions.”

  “You do know that all of them are likely to be influenced by magic?” Nellie said.

  “We know, but that can’t be helped at the moment. To reverse those effects, we would need a magician. We don’t have one, and we don’t have the time to look for one, at least not before we can break this situation with the youngsters locked in the palace ballroom.”

  “Can I help?” Henrik asked.

  “Thank you. We will start in the morning. First we need to get our men together to see if we have the numbers to overwhelm the palace guards. We’ll send out our men in the morning. No use sending out anyone now.”

  “This is essentially a mutiny.” Henrik’s face was grave.

  “Hopefully, one that people can see is for the good of their city, but make no mistake, it will be dangerous. We’ve tried to avoid stepping out of the shadows like this. One mistake, and plenty of people can kill you, even my own men. Be here in the morning, and sleep well. I presume you have somewhere to stay?”

  “My eldest daughter’s house,” Henrik said.

  “All right then. Have a good rest.”

  On the way down the stairs, Nellie wondered if this was what being a spy was like.

  Chapter 16

  NELLIE AND HENRIK walked through the harbour and then into a street along the canals.

  Henrik’s family was not terribly rich, but they were not poor either. They lived in a house one block back from the canal, in a respectable street, where the neighbours worked in the trades or were employees for the larger companies. Warm light radiated from the windows, and the scent of wood fires hung in the air.

  Nellie hid in the collar of her coat. She longed to be warm again.

  Henrik had not sent a message to his daughter because he didn’t want to risk people who shouldn’t know finding out he was back in the city. He knocked on the front door.

  Surprised voices came from inside the house. Nellie imagined that not many people visited after dark.

  The door opened, and a young woman with blonde hair and freckled face looked out. Her eyes widened when she saw Henrik. “Papa!”

  “Clara!” Henrik swept her up in his arms.

  She called into the house, “Oh Jan, Annie, come have a look who it is.”

  Two young children came into the hallway, a boy and girl. “Grandpa!” They ran to Henrik, and they all piled together in hug.

  Finally, Henrik’s daughter’s husband came into the hall. “Henrik. It’s good to see you,” he said. “We were all afraid we’d never see you again.”

  And then they looked at Nellie in an uneasy silence.

  “This is Nellie,” Henrik said. “She’s an old childhood friend who used to live a few houses down the street where I grew up. Nellie, this is my eldest daughter Clara and my son-in-law Gus.”

  “My papa’s friends are my friends,” the woman said. “Come into the kitchen. Have you had anything to
eat?”

  “We have,” Henrik said. “But some tea would be nice.”

  They followed her to a warm, well-lit kitchen. A table with a red-and-white checkered tablecloth stood in the middle, with cabinets of the family’s tableware around the sides. A door opposite probably led to the dining room, but this room was where the family spent their evenings. It was warm, and the table held a slate for children to learn to write, and a ball of wool and a pair of knitting needles.

  Clara set a pot to boil for making tea.

  They all sat around the table, including the children. The boy Jan was the older, about five or six. He still had soft curls and rounded cheeks.

  The girl was not much more than a year younger. With her red cheeks and flaxen hair, she reminded Nellie of Anneke.

  Clara said, “Now be nice, children. I know it’s past your bedtime, but if you behave you can have a glass of milk and talk to grandpa.”

  “Are you coming back to live with us, Grandpa?” Jan asked.

  “Maybe for a little while,” Henrik said.

  “Surely you’re kidding?” Gus said. “The guards are combing the streets in search of you.” His eyes met Nellie’s. “Both of you.”

  “We have ways of avoiding them,” Henrik said.

  “Do be careful, papa,” Clara said. “We don’t want anything to happen to you. The guards have already been to the house once to ask where you were. I wouldn’t know what to do if they came while you were here.”

  She brought the teapot to the table and poured some hot milk out of the pan for the children who sat very quietly in their seats, looking on with wide eyes.

  “What else did they want?” Henrik asked. “Magic trinkets?”

  “No, they asked specifically for you. They had a long list of accusations to do with the Regent’s death. I told them that I didn’t know about any of it, but that you’re one of the most respected guards in the city, and you never do anything without a very good and just reason.”

  Henrik put his hand over his daughter’s. “Thank you.”

  Her eyes widened. She realised what that meant.

  Henrik told them of the things that had happened since they fled the harbour. He left out the details about Prince Bruno, because it was better that not too many people knew.

  “So are you coming back here to live?” Annie asked.

  “I would like to, but I don’t know if that would be safe for you.”

  “Don’t be silly, papa, you’re always welcome here. Your friend is welcome, too. I mean what I said. If you did anything, I’m sure you had a very good reason.”

  While they drank tea, talk was about general things, for the sake of the children. Clara then went to take them to bed.

  Left in the kitchen with Nellie and Henrik, Gus asked, “Did you do it?”

  “Yes,” Henrik said. “There were reasons that I can’t talk about.”

  Gus nodded, and everyone was silent until Clara came back into the kitchen. Gus was a bookkeeper, and as far removed from violence as possible. He was clearly uncomfortable with the idea that his father-in-law had killed someone in view of the public.

  “I’ll show you upstairs.” Clara smiled at her father. “No, we haven’t rented out your room yet.”

  “I was worried there for a moment.”

  She preceded Nellie and Henrik up a narrow flight of stairs. Several rooms opened up into the hallway. From one door came the giggling voices of children.

  “Be quiet now. It’s bedtime,” Clara said as they walked past.

  The room at the back of the house contained a double bed, a couple of chairs and a wardrobe with a palace guard uniform on a hanger on the outside of the door. Up an even narrower flight of stairs was the attic with one room that clearly hadn’t been used for a long time, and an area where spare furniture was stored.

  “You can have this room,” she said to Nellie. “Wait until I bring you some hot water bottles. Let me get the sheets and make the fire.”

  “I can do that,” Nellie said. She followed Clara into the room.

  Clara set an oil lamp on the table next to the unused bed. She pulled some neatly-folded sheets out of the wardrobe.

  “You look after your father’s bed,” Nellie said. “I can manage.”

  Clara left the room again, and Nellie busied herself lighting the fire and putting the sheets on the bed while Clara went downstairs to get some blankets.

  Henrik came into the room, leaning against the doorpost. “Are you comfortable here?”

  “It’s very kind of your daughter to put up with us,” Nellie said. “I hope this is isn’t going to be risky for them.”

  “That is what you do for family. But we’re safe. If it were really as bad as Gus says, Master Thiele would have warned us.”

  “He did say to be careful.”

  Clara came back, and a moment later the bed was made.

  It was now starting to get warmer in the attic, and Nellie invited Henrik to sit by the fire in the attic room for a little while.

  “Bring your blankets,” she said. “You can warm them by the fire and they will be nice and warm when you go to sleep.”

  “I’m pretty tired,” Henrik said. “I’m not used to all this travelling anymore.” But he brought his blanket anyway, and he sat on the hard wooden chair with the cushions that stood next to the hearth.

  “I’m sorry if I embarrass you,” Nellie said.

  “You don’t.”

  “But your family doesn’t know what to think about me.”

  “That’s because I don’t know what to tell them. A friend doesn’t sound very satisfactory, does it?”

  Nellie looked down. Blood rushed to her cheeks. “I don’t know that this is a good time to discuss . . .”

  “Why not? We’re about to start something dangerous tomorrow. I don’t know that you understand how dangerous. It’s a mutiny. This whole town is eating out of the shepherd’s hand, and we’re wanted people. There are few people in town who will protect us, and we’ve spoken to those already. Everyone else in this town is hostile to us.”

  “I understand.”

  “But then surely you understand not wanting to do this alone?”

  Nellie wasn’t quite sure what he expected her to say. Martha had died a few years ago, and sometimes noblemen took a new wife very soon after their previous wife had died. But obviously Henrik and Martha had been very much in love, and she didn’t think that it would be appropriate to push Henrik on the matter.

  She didn’t even dare hope that he was interested in her.

  The attic was under the sloping roof of the house, and there was a small window in one of the sloping sides. From where she sat, Nellie could see the dark sky.

  “You’re avoiding me,” he said.

  “I’m not.”

  “Why are you looking out the window, then?”

  “Because I’ve just noticed there is a window.”

  “I still think you’re avoiding me.”

  “What do you want me to say to that? It seems that whatever I say, you will never believe me.”

  “Not when it’s about you. I can see the look in your eyes. You’re wondering if it’s appropriate for me to be up here with you.”

  “Well, I do wonder that, especially because of your daughter. What is she going to think?”

  “Stop thinking about what people think. This is my house, so I have the final say over whether something is appropriate.”

  He met her eyes. “You’re so guarded, I couldn’t possibly do a better job guarding the palace with all my colleagues. Why are you scared?”

  “I’m not scared.”

  “Yes, you are.” He rose, and crossed the room. The bed wobbled when he sat next to her.

  “Whatever should I be scared of?” But her heart was hammering.

  “Precisely.” His look was very intense. “Have you ever been with a man?”

  “I’ve had suitors.”

  “Anyone you favoured? Anyone who kissed you?”

/>   “Of course.” There had been some young men, and she had taken some walks by the river holding hands, and one or two had kissed her, but it was all a very long time ago, and working for the queen had been a life she didn’t want to give up. Mostly because Mistress Johanna had never wanted to marry. She always said that the life went out of a woman’s eyes once she married and there were children to look after. Of course not being married for a noblewoman like Mistress Johanna was out of the question, but most maids didn’t marry, and if they did, they gave up being a maid, and that, more than anything, frightened Nellie: sitting at home by herself in a prison of her own making would be insanely boring. As maid, she had travelled, she had been the queen’s closest friend, she had influence without responsibilities and the citizens of the city didn’t even realise that she, and not the queen, had a major hand in raising those two children.

  “So who was it? Tell me about it.”

  “I can’t see why. It was a long time ago. The men are happily married as far as I know, and I don’t need to blot their reputation.”

  “That’s just it: you are always concerned with other people first. Is there going to be a time you’ll think about yourself?”

  Nellie started laughing. Her hands were sweaty with nerves, and she could do nothing else.

  “What?” Henrik asked.

  “Men are so transparent. Henrik, if you really want to kiss me in my unattractive old age, I suggest that you shut up and do it.”

  He laughed, too. “Practical, down-to-earth Nellie.”

  If she’d been wondering about kissing, the next moment he did just that. It turned out she didn’t really know anything about kissing at all, or about any of the things that might follow from it. But, as they said, you were never too old to learn.

  Chapter 17

  NELLIE WOKE UP the next morning because faint light filtered onto her face. Through the window above the bed the sky was dull grey. Something warm and heavy lay by her side.

  By the Triune, Henrik.

  Nellie pushed herself out of the bed, her heart thudding. It was already light, and he’d been here all night. She remembered how he had rested his head saying that he should really go downstairs.