Briar King

by Keyes, Greg

  Spendlove shrugged. “Courage? Courage is nothing. You’ll see what happens to your courage when we cut you open. Not to kill you, mind you. Just to convince you of your worth. I’m afraid I can’t merely release you to Saint Dun.”

  Stephen tried to say something in return, but he faltered. Hands shaking, he raised the weapon.

  “Ride away, Aspar White,” he said. “I’ll do my best to keep them back.”

  “I wouldn’t get far,” Aspar replied. “I might as well die here as anyplace.”

  “Then do me a favor,” Stephen said. “Stick that arrow of yours in my heart if they take a step toward me.”

  “This is very touching,” Spendlove said. He suddenly bared his teeth, and Stephen felt something like a hot wind pass him. Aspar White gasped in agony and the arrow he was holding dropped to the ground.

  “There,” Spendlove said. “And now …”

  He looked down at a sudden movement near his feet. It was the fratrex, pushing himself up on his palms, reaching toward the wall of the monastery.

  “Spendlove, betrayer, heretic,” the old man murmured, just barely loud enough to hear.

  Suddenly cracks spidered up the stone walls of the nave, multiplying, and in an instant, with a gritting roar, the entire face of the building collapsed. Spendlove and his men vanished behind the rubble and dust.

  “Ride, damn you,” Aspar shouted, even before the stones settled.

  “But I—” Stephen started helplessly toward the collapsing building.

  “Ride and we may live to fight later. Stay and today we’ll die.”

  Stephen hesitated an instant longer, then spun on his toe and leapt up on Angel’s back. Together, the two men rode as if all the dark saints were at their backs.

  As perhaps they were.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  A MEETING

  CAZIO RESTED HIS HAND on the pommel of Caspator and leaned against a pomegranate tree. The girl in the pool saw him, and with an audible gasp sank suddenly to her chin, which was disappointing. Though he’d only been teased by the view of her slim white body in the water, her neck had been shapely enough, and now even that was hidden.

  He smiled and picked at her pile of clothes with the tip of his sword.

  “Thank you,” he said, in a carrying voice, directing his face at the sky. “Thank you, Lady Erenda, patroness of lovers, for granting my wish.”

  “I am not your wish,” the girl snapped angrily. “You must leave immediately, whoever you are.” She spoke with a lilt as foreign and exotic as the color of her hair. This girl was growing more interesting all of the time. Of course, she was also the first girl he had seen in weeks, since he and z’Acatto had accepted the hospitality of the countess Orchaevia. The countess preferred male servants, and the nearest village was a full day’s walk. But here, only a league’s ramble from the mansion, he’d happened on a bit of luck.

  “And I am not your slave, lady,” Cazio replied. “I do not answer to your orders.” He waggled a finger at her. “Anyway, who are you to know what I do or do not wish? As I was walking along, just now, I said to our lady Erenda, ‘Lady, this world is full of ugliness and pain. It is a dismal domain of woe, and my trials have taught me to despise it. As a result, I, Cazio Pachiomadio da Chiovattio, who once loved life, now weary of it. Lady Erenda—’ I prayed this. ‘—if you could show me but one instant of the most perfect beauty imaginable, just a single glimpse, I could find the strength to forge on, to bear the burdens a man such as myself is fated to bear.’ Only a moment later I heard the sound of this water, saw this pool, and in it the answer to my prayer.”

  That wasn’t entirely a lie. He had been hoping steadily for female company, but hadn’t actually addressed the lady of love, at least not formally.

  The girl frowned a little deeper. “Are Vitellian girls more stupid than the usual sort? Or do you think me dense because I am from another land?”

  “Stupid? Not at all. I can see the intelligence in your eyes. You have, perhaps, been careless, to bathe in a pool frequented by highwaymen and other scoundrels of low repute, but I’m certain it’s only because you don’t know the area.”

  “I’m learning it quickly enough,” the girl replied. “I’ve been here only a few moments and already I’ve met someone of ill repute.”

  “Now you try to wound me,” Cazio said mournfully.

  “Leave, so I may dress.”

  “I cannot,” Cazio said regretfully. “My heart will not let me. Not until I know your name.”

  “My name? My name is … Fiene.”

  “An intriguing name.”

  “Yes, and now you have it, so begone.”

  “A musical name. Already my heart is singing it. From what distant land comes that name, lady?”

  “Liery, you graceless oaf. Will you go now?”

  Cazio blinked at her. “You’re smiling at me, Fiena.”

  “Fiene. And I’m not. Or if I am, it’s because you’re so absurd. And it’s pronounced Fee-en-uh.”

  “Don’t you want to know my name?”

  “You already said. Cashew, something like that.”

  “Ca-tsee-oh,” he corrected.

  “Cazio. Cazio, you must leave now.”

  Cazio nodded and sat down on the gnarled root of a willow.

  “Certainly I must,” he agreed. It suddenly struck him that the pile of clothes was a habit. “Are you a nun?” he asked.

  “No,” the girl said. “I found one and killed her and took her clothes. What do you think, you lout, with the Abode of Graces right up the hill?”

  Cazio looked up and around. “There’s a coven nearby?”

  “On the other side of the hill.”

  “A whole house full of women as lovely as you? Lady Erenda must indeed be pleased with me.”

  “Yes, you’d better hurry and court them,” Fiene said. “They’re all quite naked as I am.”

  “It would be a waste of time,” Cazio said, trying to sound mournful. “I’ve already seen the loveliest of them. I’d have to go up around that hill just to come back here. Which raises a question—why are you here? Something tells me you aren’t supposed to be.”

  “Are you a highwayman?” the girl demanded suddenly. “Are you a rogue?”

  “I am at your command,” Cazio answered. “If you want a rogue, I can certainly be that.”

  “I want a gentleman who will allow me to get dressed.”

  “This gentleman will allow that,” Cazio replied, patting the clothes.

  “Not while you’re watching.”

  “But the sight of you was granted me by a goddess. Who am I to deny her will?”

  “You didn’t see me,” Fiene corrected, though her tone betrayed some doubt. “I was submerged.”

  Cazio peered over his nose. “I admit, I’ve not viewed the undistorted image. The rippling of the water might mask defects in figure. I’m starting to wonder if you could actually be as beautiful as I imagine.”

  “Figs!” Fiene replied. “I don’t have to take such a slight. Here, you judge whether there are any defects.”

  So saying she began to rise from the water—but when the water rested across her breastbone, she snorted derisively and sank back down. “I repeat,” Fiene said, “why do you think I’m stupid?”

  Cazio drooped his head. “I’m the stupid one. I already know that your beauty is perfect.”

  Fiene rolled her eyes, then settled them boldly on him. “I am betrothed, sir,” she said. “I don’t care whether you find me perfect or perfectly ugly.”

  “Ah. Then you are not a nun.”

  “I have been sent here for my education, that is all.”

  “Praised be every lord and lady in the night sky and under earth,” Cazio said. “For now I have at least a slim hope.”

  “Hope? For you and me?” She laughed. “There’s no hope of that, unless you intend to kill me and abominate my body. After that you can look forward to your own death at the hands of my betrothed, Roderick.”
r />   “Roderick? That is an unwholesome name. It sounds of pimples and deception.”

  “He is noble and good, and he would never take advantage of a lady’s distress, as you do.”

  Despite himself, Cazio suddenly felt his ears burning. “Then he is hardly a man,” he replied, “for no true man could ever unfasten his eyes from your face.”

  “Oh, it’s my face you’re interested in. Then you won’t mind my dressing. My wimple will not hide my features.”

  “Not if you’ll promise to stay here and speak with me a bit,” Cazio relented. “I sense that you’re in no great hurry.”

  The girl arched her brows. “You’ll turn your back, at least?”

  “Lady, I will.” And he did so, despite the tantalizing sound as she emerged from the pool, and the rustle of her clothes as she retrieved them. For a moment she was so near he could have turned and touched her. But she was skittish, this one. She would take work.

  He heard her carry her clothes back toward the pool.

  “What day is it?” she asked.

  “May I turn yet?”

  “You may not.”

  “The day is Menzodi,” he replied.

  “Three more days,” she murmured. “Good. Thank you.”

  “Three more days of what?” he asked.

  “Do you have anything to eat?” Fiene asked, instead of answering him.

  “Nothing, I’m afraid.”

  “Very well. No, keep your back turned. I’m not quite finished.”

  Cazio puffed his cheeks and tapped his foot.

  “You never told me what you were doing out here,” he said. “You’re up to mischief, aren’t you?”

  She didn’t answer. “May I turn yet?” he asked. “I’ve kept my bargain.”

  When she didn’t answer again, he did turn—in time to see her vanish up the hillside.

  “Faithless beauty!” he shouted after her.

  She popped back into view briefly, waved, and blew him a kiss. Then she was gone. He thought about chasing her, but decided against it. If she wanted to play that sort of game, to Lord Ontro with her.

  With a sigh, he turned and began walking back toward the mansion of the countess Orchaevia. But he took care to remember the landmarks of the place.

  The sun was a perfectly golden coin and it was an hour before sunset when Cazio came back in sight of the manse. It lay below him, in the midst of a hundred versos of vineyards, a single narrow road wandering to and away from it. The house itself was splendidly huge, white-walled and red-roofed, with a spacious inner courtyard and a rustic-walled horz on its west wing. Behind that were stables, barnyard, and the must-house where wine was fermented and bottled.

  Cazio descended between rows of grapevines, idly picking the amethyst fruits now and then, enjoying the sweet, wine-like smell of those that had fallen to rot upon the ground.

  He couldn’t stop wondering about the girl. She said she’d come from Liery. What country was Liery? One of the northern ones, surely, where such pale skin and strangely colored hair were commonplace.

  He found himself at the mansion gate almost before realizing it. A sharp-featured serving boy in yellow stockings and plum doublet recognized him and let him into the red-flagstoned courtyard.

  A throaty female voice greeted him as he entered. “Cazio, my dello!” she said. “Where have you been? You’ve almost missed dinner.”

  Cazio bowed. “Good evening, casnara Countess Orchaevia. I was merely taking my leisure in the beautiful countryside around your estate.”

  The countess Orchaevia sat at a long table beneath the eaves of the courtyard wall. She was a woman in her middle years, enlarged and rounded by the copious foods that always graced her table. Her face was as round and shiny as a porcelain platter, with a little snubbed nose, emerald eyes, and pink cheeks. Cazio had rarely seen her without a smile on her face.

  “Rambling again? I wish I could think of more to entertain you with here, so you needn’t walk all over creation.”

  “I enjoy it,” Cazio told her. “It keeps me fit.”

  “Well, a young man should be fit,” she allowed. “Please, join me in repast.” She nodded at the viands before her.

  “I think I will,” he said. “I’ve worked up a bit of an appetite.” He pulled out a leather-bottomed chair, sat, and surveyed what was to be had. He settled on a fig, cut and opened to resemble a flower and garnished with the dry, salty ham of the region. A servant approached and poured him a goblet of dark red wine.

  “Was z’Acatto with you?” the countess asked. “I haven’t seen him today either.”

  “Have you checked your wine cellars?” Cazio asked. “He has a tendency to settle there.”

  “Well, let him stay there then,” she pouted, spooning a cube of fresh cheese, drenched in olive oil and garlic, onto a slice of toasted bread. “He can’t get to the choicest vintages, anyway. He thinks I don’t know he’s searching for them.” She looked up at Cazio. “Which direction did you go today?”

  Cazio gestured west with the half of the fig that remained.

  “Oh! You paid a visit to the Abode of Graces.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Cazio replied innocently, taking a sip of the wine. “I saw only trees and sheep.”

  She looked at him suspiciously. “You’re telling me a handsome young dello like you hasn’t yet sniffed out a coven full of young ladies? I never thought it would take you this long.”

  Cazio shrugged and reached for a ripe black olive. “Perhaps I’ll go there tomorrow.”

  The countess wagged a grilled partridge leg at him. “Don’t go to cause trouble. Those are my neighbors, you know. Each year I throw a small fete for them. It’s the only such luxury they are allowed.”

  “Do you indeed?” Cazio said, placing the olive pit in a small dish and turning his attention to a plate of sliced pears and hard ewe’s cheese.

  “Oh, Orchaevia has your attention now, doesn’t she?”

  “Nonsense,” Cazio said, stretching his legs out and lazily crossing them at the ankle.

  “Well, if you’re not interested …” She shrugged and took a long draught of her wine.

  “Oh, very well, let us assume I have some slight interest. When might this fete take place?”

  The countess smiled. “On the eve of Fiussanal, the first day of Seftamenza.”

  “In three weeks’ time.”

  “Of course, you aren’t invited,” she said slyly. “But I might be able to arrange something, if a matter of the heart is involved.”

  “No such matter exists. Besides, I may not be here in three weeks.”

  Orchaevia shook her head. “Oh, things haven’t cooled in Avella yet. That will take more time.”

  “I had considered a trip to Furonesso,” Cazio said.

  The countess sputtered into her wine. “In this heat? Whatever for?”

  “My sword is growing rusty.”

  “You practice every day with my guards!”

  Cazio shrugged.

  The countess narrowed her eyes, then suddenly laughed merrily. “You’ll stay,” she opined as she spread rabbit liver pâté on another toast. “You’re only trying to convince yourself that someone hasn’t got you by the nose.”

  Cazio stopped with a buttered quail egg halfway to his mouth. “Casnara, what under heaven are you talking about?”

  She smiled. “I can see it in that distracted look on your face, the expression when I mentioned my fete. Never try to fool Orchaevia when it comes to matters of love. You are in love.”

  “And that is very ridiculous,” Cazio said emphatically. He was becoming annoyed. “Even if I did meet someone today, you think my heart could be so quickly swayed? That’s the stuff of your romances, Countess, not real life.”

  “That’s what every young man thinks until it happens to him,” the countess replied, with a wink. “Tomorrow you’ll wander in the same direction you did today. Trust me.”

  Anne woke in darkness. From a vanta
ge on the hill, she’d watched the strange man leave, but she didn’t trust him not to return, so she’d slept in the cave. Of course, he seemed relatively harmless; he’d never threatened her, only swaggered and strutted like a rooster. But there was no sense in being stupid.

  She rose, stretched, got her bearings, and began cautiously back toward the outside. Her stomach rumbled; all of the food that had been sent down with her was back in the fane of Mefitis, and Anne didn’t want to go back there until she had to. She’d considered going all the way back there to sleep, on the off chance that the sisters might check on her, but if they hadn’t in the six days that had already passed, she couldn’t imagine they would today.

  Still, she would have to do something about her hunger soon. Perhaps she could find apples or pomegranates.

  She waited at the cave entrance for a while, watching and listening, then began climbing back down. She found the pool again, circled it several times, and found no one there. Then she went to look for food.

  Around noon she was ready to give up and go back to the fane. She’d found some fruits, but either didn’t know what they were or didn’t find them ripe. She’d seen a rabbit and many squirrels, but knew nothing of hunting or how to build a fire if she did manage to get one. Austra had been right, of course; her fantasy of living free and off the land was just that, a fantasy. It was a good thing she hadn’t managed to run away.

  Disconsolate, she started back toward the cave.

  Passing by the pool again, she caught a motion from the corner of her eye and ducked behind a bush. She winced at the stir of noises she made, then cautiously peered around the leaves.

  Cazio was back. Today he wore a white shirt and dark red breeches. His sword was propped against a nearby olive tree and he sat on a blanket. He was busy removing items from a basket—pears, cheese, bread, a bottle of wine.

  “I’ve brought food this time,” he said, without turning.

  Anne hesitated. He was far enough away that if she ran, he probably couldn’t catch her. Still, what did she know of this fellow other than he was an arrogant ass?