“Who are you?” she asked, although the question sounded harsher than she intended.
“Cleric Peck,” he said, bowing his head. “Do you have questions? Did your parents talk of me?”
“I have many questions, not all of which I think you can help me with, and my father died when I was a child. Telling me very little of his life here.”
He leaned forward and reached a hand for her knee. “Who raised you?”
“I did,” she said, leaning away from his reach. “I worked in the Seat of the Lord as a maid.”
“She didn’t care for you?”
“Not in any sense,” Ana said, wanting the broth yet unable to swallow any more. “I didn’t know who she was until the day she tried to give me away.”
He waited, and she looked into his expectant features.
“The day the mage came with Dray to take me away. But then he didn’t want me, and they tried to throw me from the Walk.”
“Why did he no longer want you?”
“I think he saw something that scared him. And then…” She couldn’t relive the Walk again. It appeared to plague her sleeping and awake.
“Yet he brought you here.”
“I think once they realised Ed was missing, they thought we would not be a danger together.”
“Where is the boy?”
“I don’t know,” she said loudly as the door clicked and she jumped up, the bowl still tight in her hands.
The sword master moved quietly into the room, closed the door behind him and then looked from them by the fire to the bed. His eyes hardened.
“She was trying to keep me warm,” Ana said quickly. “I wouldn’t hurt her,” she added. She had used the girl, but she understood what she was to Ed.
“I want to trust you,” the man said, stepping further into the room, “for her sake, and the king’s. Only I don’t know what you are. Or why the mage would go to such lengths to bring you here and then lock you away to die.”
“I won’t do what he wants me to do.” Ana wasn’t surprised that he didn’t trust her. She barely trusted herself. But he had helped her, saved her. “Maybe you should have let me die.” She sat back slowly in the chair.
“What did he want of you?” the cleric asked.
“To put the regent on the throne.”
“He is there already. And the boy doesn’t want to be King.”
“But he is the king, whether he wants it or not. He has no confidence,” she added slowly. “He doesn’t think he can be the king his father was.”
The cleric made a tsk-ing noise, as though he didn’t believe her.
“He was locked away as a boy, no experience in being a king, no one to show him how it was done; no one included him in decisions for the kingdom or talked to him of how the world worked. He knows less of the kingdom than the boys I grew up with.”
The cleric blinked at her in surprise and then glanced at the sword master, who gave a small shrug.
“Prince Thom already sits on the throne,” he said matter-of-factly.
“But it is not his. He only keeps it warm. He would have it for himself.”
The sword master nodded slowly.
“You said that the regent had a plan for a wife or heir,” Ana said.
The cleric turned to him quickly, and Ana wondered if he had shared such ideas with anyone else.
“I thought his plan was you,” the sword master said, taking a step further into the room. “I thought he would use your power to keep him where he was.”
She shook her head slowly. She doubted he was right. The regent wanted her power sure enough, but not her as a wife. Certainly not when she scared him as she did, although that hadn’t been until more recently. He really thought she would do as he wanted her to.
She looked around as the morning light peeked through the curtains. She stood, sat the bowl down on the small table and went to the window. Pulling the curtains back, she squinted into the sun.
She wasn’t sure what she had expected. She had heard so many differing stories, and she had no idea how they had found her such a room or where she might be hidden away. A very different world stretched out before her. Stone and brick buildings covered the world as far as she could see. They were much higher from the ground than she had expected, perhaps somewhere in the castle. She had memories of similar yet very different points of view from the castle on Sheer Rock.
A green world had stretched before her there. Here, she could see no green at all. People and horses moved through the streets between the buildings. She felt hemmed in, as though all of this stood between her and Ed. Or Ed and his crown. Could he walk through this? How had he made it out in the first place? Surely someone would have recognised their king. Even this early in the day, there was so much movement, so many people. The height and thickness of the walls prevented her hearing any of it, yet she imagined it would be busy and loud, like market day but more so.
She allowed the curtains to close, any excitement she had previously felt about the capital evaporated. She shivered.
“Mistress Merrin?” Cleric Peck said, too close behind her.
“I’ll find my way out when it is dark. It is too dangerous for you to be here.”
“I thought you would stop the regent,” Salima whispered from the bed.
“I can’t,” Ana said, trying to hold herself up when all she wanted to do was sit. Her legs gave way before she could convince them otherwise.
Chapter 6
Ed stood at the doorway of the small hut and took in the morning light over the village before him. He could hear some chatter and movement of people, but he had yet to see anyone. He wasn’t sure if they should wait for their guide to reappear or if they were safe to explore on their own. But then, he also wasn’t sure what was expected of him. Or what he was expecting from these people.
The Near Folk were a myth. At least they had been until they had talked to him in the forest and then walked from the trees. He looked into the cloudless sky and wondered if anyone would find them here.
He glanced around then, thinking of Ende and wondering just where he had gone. Did these people not like dragons, or could he not cope in the trees? He had lived on the mountain for so long; could he have flown home without anyone noticing?
How had such a man become friends with Mother? His thought was interrupted by Phillip barging from their hut beside his. His face dark, he glared at Ed, and then his expression became more worried.
“Where is Belle?” he demanded.
“I thought her still in bed,” Ed said. “I haven’t seen her.”
“She wouldn’t wander,” Phillip murmured.
“Where is she?” Ed asked.
“That is my question,” Phillip snapped, crossing his arms. “I thought she had snuck out to be with you.”
“I…” Ed took a step back.
“She clings to you. She wants to be noticed by you,” Phillip grumbled. “I don’t know what her thoughts are, but there is something in you that she sees.”
“That I am king,” Ed said unkindly.
Phillip sighed. “She liked you well before then.”
“Did she?” Ed asked, unsure if Phillip had read his daughter right.
“Where is my daughter, Your Majesty?” Phillip growled, and Dray appeared in the clearing from behind a hut.
“What has happened?” he asked.
“Belle has…” Ed started.
“Disappeared,” Phillip finished for him. “I woke and she was gone. She wouldn’t do anything silly.”
Ed found his eyebrows rising in question.
“She is strong-willed, but not stupid.”
“All right,” Dray said, his hands raised to placate the old man. “I haven’t seen her this morning, and she would have said something. Has anyone seen Ende?”
“Not since we entered the leader’s house.”
“I fear he has gone on without us. You didn’t hear anything?” Dray asked Phillip.
“No. If someone to
ok her, she would have screamed.”
“If she could,” Dray said, then turned an apologetic face towards Phillip.
“These people have taken her,” Phillip said. “They offered help and now they are just taking what they want.”
“We don’t know that,” Dray offered, but he looked around as though that was what he believed. “We should find someone.”
Ed nodded and straightened his collar. He had thought these people wanted to help him, but maybe they wanted more than he realised. “Would they take her to give as tribute?”
“Do the Near Folk pay tribute?”
“The Near Forest is required to provide wives. I’m not sure my uncle would have stipulated who in the forest had to provide. The province, and that is all that matters.”
Phillip closed his eyes and groaned.
“You should have headed home,” Ed said. He didn’t want to sound like he was apportioning blame. “Where did the others go?”
“You didn’t help them?” Dray asked, and Ed cringed inwardly.
“They were determined to help themselves, or head home.”
“How many women were there?” Dray asked.
Ed looked to Phillip. He had no recollection for the exact number; Belle had stolen his attention. He sighed as he ran a hand over his face. He was not a good leader. He had been selfishly searching for his own needs, his own assistance. For a man who had now left them.
“The trees were protecting them,” he said weakly, knowing it was not enough to forgive what he had done.
“Let us find the Near Folk leader and see what can be done,” Dray said, his hand on his sword. Ed wondered if the man ever took his armour off.
He allowed Dray to lead the way towards the leader’s dwelling. And then as they drew closer, Ed had the same strange feeling he’d had outside the clearing that night, the women unheard beyond. His feet faltered and he stopped. Was the forest still playing with him? Was it protecting them from him?
The guide stood outside the house as they approached it and bowed his head in greeting.
“Where is my daughter?” Philip asked, rushing forward, his voice stern. The man simply indicated the building. Phillip pushed his way through the door. As it opened, Ed could hear the chatter, and he stepped forward to look.
The Near man turned his gaze on Ed, but said nothing. He wasn’t sure if the man was trying to gauge his reaction, or if he blamed him in some way that all these women had been left in the forest. Ed turned his back and headed back to the hut. He couldn’t face this, any of it, and he wondered what Ana was so sure she saw in him.
“You’ll die,” the Near man said.
Ed turned back to him. The chatter had ceased, and Dray had drawn his sword.
“That is what she knows.”
“Ana?” Ed asked, stepping forward. Had the man read his thoughts?
He nodded once. Then closed his eyes and tilted his head to the side. “She thought you would die,” he said, as though correcting himself. “She’s scared.”
“Now? For herself?” Dray asked, stepping between them.
“She fears she cannot help you.”
“How do you know this?” Dray’s voice was firm, and for the first time the guide looked at him rather than Ed.
“I sense her. I sensed her in you.”
Ed glared at Dray as though his connection to Ana might be more, or stronger, than his own. Although those two had met and bonded first, Ed felt a jealousy he regretted.
“Both of you,” the Near man said. “The forest is a part of us; she is a part of you. She came to you. She came to the forest and she didn’t travel alone.”
Ed stepped closer. “Salima?”
The man looked him up and down. “She saw it all.”
“How?” Ed asked, the exasperation overwhelming.
The man looked back at the building behind him for a moment, then indicated that they follow him in another direction. Ed started without hesitation, but Dray grabbed at his arm. Ed glared at Dray’s hand before looking up into the worried face of the soldier.
“How does he know this?” Dray mouthed silently.
“The fact that he does is all I need,” Ed said, pulling from his hold.
“Or he is not being truthful with us.”
Ed ignored the comment and followed the man along the dusty street. The morning light grew brighter as more and more of the Near Folk started their daily chores. When he passed, they would pause in their activity and bow.
They ended up by a stream on the outskirts of the village, the trees looming nearby as though wanting to close the gap between them.
“Tell me of the hanging men,” Dray demanded.
“They were not what we thought they were.” The man sounded disappointed. “We thought it best to direct you.”
“You could have tried another method. Asking works well,” Ed suggested.
“Perhaps you should have gone around. It was only at your determination that I came for you.”
“We were all quite determined to make it through the forest. To find Ana,” Dray answered.
The man smiled. “You were all searching for something very different. Not all of you searched for the mage. Not all of you want her found.”
“Ende?” Ed whispered.
“Belle,” Dray said, and Ed looked at him.
“Really?”
They both turned back to the Near man.
He shook his head slowly. “I cannot say,” he murmured. “But the mage has sacrificed herself for you.”
Dray pulled his sword too quickly, and Ed threw an arm across his chest.
“Is that what she is?” Ed asked.
“She is called many things; the people call her witch, but it does not suit her. Magic lives in her.”
“Lives in her?” Dray said. “She is gifted.”
“She is more than gifted. She is…” He appeared to struggle for the right word.
“What are you called?” Ed asked.
The man blinked as though he didn’t quite understand the question. “We are all Near Folk.”
“But what are you called, if someone needs you?”
“Eilke,” he said
“I-el-ca,” Ed sounded out. The wind moved through the trees, and the man smiled as he bowed his head.
“Not many need to call. I know when I am needed.”
“The women in the forest?” Dray asked, glaring at Ed before turning back to the man.
“There is tribute owed,” he said.
“You would send them to the capital?” Ed asked, confused for he had thought they would help them. “You would give them away?”
“It is for them to choose their path.”
“But they were stolen,” Ed stammered.
“Not all of them. And the king demands ten.”
“I haven’t demanded anything.”
“The tribute is requested in your name; the people must show their allegiance. They must prove they are loyal to the kingdom and the king.”
“You won’t include any of your own women in that gift,” Ed said.
Eilke smiled knowingly. “We are not wanted.”
“Surely the Near Folk must be part of the kingdom, and so pay tribute.”
“We are not like men,” he said.
Ed ran a hand through his hair and blew out a breath. He had no idea of what he was doing, and he wasn’t sure where to even start. “So, some of them are willing to go?”
The man nodded.
“We could travel with them,” Dray said. “It could be a way into the capital.”
“And then what do we do?” Ed asked. “I can hardly turn up at the castle gates and ask them to let me in.”
“Do you need to ask when you are King?” Eilke asked.
Ed turned back to the man, taking in his height and build. “You offered assistance.”
“And when you know what you want, we will provide.” The man bowed and walked away. And although the soldier tried to hide it, Ed saw the disappoi
ntment in Dray’s face.
Chapter 7
The regent glared at the mage, only to get some sort of response. The man huffed and puffed as he moved around the dusty shelves of the cave he called a workshop. How he had managed to keep the witch here, Thom wasn’t sure. How she had managed not to look as lost and dishevelled as the other creatures he had glimpsed also escaped him.
“Where are the girls?” he asked, sure that was what they had been at some time.
“What girls?” The mage looked up from the book he was scanning.
“The…” The regent waved his hand, unsure how to describe them. Hadn’t the mage been searching for gifted ones throughout the kingdom? “Girls.”
The mage looked confused for a moment and then nodded. “The girls,” he said slowly. “I used them.”
“Used them?”
“To bring the Merrin girl here. Although that was a waste of time.”
“She may come around,” Thom said, more hopeful than certain. He had the idea she would make a formidable queen, if he could keep her in check. She seemed so unsure of herself, so lost. And then she had scared him more than he would admit.
“She’ll be dead by now, unless she could muster any magic in that cold.”
“I wanted her,” Thom said, allowing the anger and disappointment to be heard in his voice.
“As did some other young men, I should imagine,” the mage said without looking up. “The soldier being one of them.”
“The captain? He wasn’t that young to be swayed by a girl. Maybe I could try again, now that her anger has had the chance to cool.”
“Go if you must. I still think she will be dead.”
“Why did you drag her here?” Thom asked, wondering if she might actually be gone.
“I thought she would be a help. With the boy she is too strong; without him she might be strong but not a threat, not like she was.”
“I felt somewhat threatened,” Thom murmured, touching his arm again. It hadn’t felt right since the moment she had touched him. He would ensure that didn’t happen again. Even if he had to hold her down. She certainly hadn’t had any fight left in her the last time he had seen her.
The Lost Endeavour Page 4
