Working as Chief Librarian for Prince Amlis in New Fyris. Kevis didn't hide the smile this time—it had become a full-blown grin. Well, Kevis continued, Morrett is an avid reader as well as a scholar. Nefrigar has supplied him with a comp-vid containing many volumes that can only be found in the Larentii Archives. Morrett is perhaps the happiest of librarians at the moment.
I hope Terrett and I get to meet him soon.
It can be arranged.
"Therefore, we will send two of ours in disguise tomorrow, with the weekly delivery bound for the research facility," Kooper said. I turned back to his announcement; more news of Terrett's brother would have to wait.
* * *
Karathia—Past
Zaria
A Karathian month before the attack that killed Warlend, Wylend Arden's father, was the time in which when we arrived.
No, we weren't allowed to interfere with the coup; Li'Neruh Rath was very specific about that.
What I hadn't expected was where we'd end up—in the Queen's Palace, which was occupied by Helsa Blackmantle-Arden.
We were to be her servants, waiting on her, her children and grandchildren. She'd recently cleaned house, firing most of her servants and hiring new ones. She'd only kept a handful of those who'd previously served her. I suppose if you were one of King Warlend's Queens, you could do whatever you wanted.
Someone had cleared the way for our employment—Ilya, Bekzi, Gerrett and me. No, we weren't expected to perform any sort of sorcery in the execution of our duties. Gerrett was the one I'd worry for if that were the case. Bekzi held his own power and could do anything required of him.
Regardless, Gerrett was listed on his paperwork as a mute First-level, whose work would keep him cleaning, dusting and other various duties involving near-invisibility.
Bekzi and I—we'd been hired for the kitchen.
Ilya was hired as the stablemaster, since Helsa's family enjoyed riding. As Ilya was Falchani-trained to care for horses and such, I had no worries about him.
At least we didn't have to deal with Helsa right away; the hiring had already taken place and we only had to report to our superiors to learn what was necessary to serve the family.
I wondered when we'd meet Helsa's grandchildren, who were in their late teens and destined to cause more trouble than most people I'd ever met. That included a rogue god and others who practiced evil.
You see this? Bekzi sent as we were led through the enormous castle toward the kitchen at the back.
I see it. I did. If it weren't made of, or covered by, expensive fabric, it was gilded and decorated with precious stones or made of a precious metal or the rarest of woods. This home compared to the royal palace of Karathia, nearly one hundred miles away.
One hundred miles is nothing to those who can fold space. This home, unlike the palace, was nearly surrounded by a scenic lake bordered by a forest. To me, it looked like something from a fairy tale.
You think Warlend loves her this much, or rebuilt it for her to keep her away from the palace? I sent. It was more than evident that all the furnishings and embellishments were new or recently updated.
She complain. He give, Bekzi replied.
Yeah. I get the same idea. I stared up at a highly decorated plaster ceiling, washed over in gold.
"Be careful of the carpets," the servant who led us through the house cautioned. "They're from Serendaan and cost much."
They still cost, Bekzi informed me.
He and I wore the plain, black uniforms of the household. I'd already transformed my long, black skirt to a split skirt, because I hated it the other way. Nobody would know—it was still full and swished about my ankles as I walked behind Bekzi.
We expected to cook right away, Bekzi's mental sigh echoed his drooping shoulders.
Yeah, I saw it in the chamberlain's face when we walked in, I confirmed. Welcome to the world of being on duty all the damn time, I told myself.
* * *
Jaledis
Quin
I understood that I'd have to go with the delivery; I merely hadn't considered who else might go with me. My duty was to read whoever came to inspect the goods destined for Ruther Kend's research facility. The one assigned to go with me would protect me as well as he or she could.
Queen Lissa was the one to volunteer.
"I don't go into the field as often as I once did," she reassured me when my jaw dropped at her appearance. "In this case, it's for the best."
"Thanks, Gran," Bel Erland stepped forward to embrace her. I received a hug from her after Bel Erland stepped aside. Never forget how much we love you, the Queen whispered in mindspeech before letting me go.
"We have information on how to present yourself and the protocol of the delivery job," Kooper said. "We'll meet after dinner to make sure everything is in place."
"It'll be fine," Lissa smiled at me.
How could I tell her that something churned in my belly, and I hadn't a clue about what it meant.
* * *
Karathia—Past
Gerrett
Queen Helsa had already dismissed three of her new servants. Two she sent out the door with burned flesh from the spells she'd thrown at them as they cowered.
I'd been pressed into serving her tea in her massive sitting room, which held a window overlooking the most scenic portion of the lake about her home.
"This had better be right," she snapped as I poured tea carefully into her cup and added two small spoons of sugar, just as Zaria had directed. I didn't question Zaria's knowledge; I did question Helsa's sanity and unpredictable anger.
She wore her long, blonde hair braided and pinned atop her head, like a makeshift crown. No doubt she'd had it lightened with a spell. Her features were even and would be considered beautiful by those just as shallow as she.
"This is the mute servant, Mother," a man strode into the room to take a chair near the Queen's.
"Good. He can't talk back like that other filth. I've been forced to get rid of three already," she waved a hand that a servant had worked on to carefully shape the nails and stain them red.
That's Wellend, Zaria reported. She'd asked to look through my eyes and I'd gratefully allowed it. He takes his tea with no sugar, and usually has two cups. Wait for him to get nearly to the bottom of the first before refilling his cup. Serve his tea, then place two of the tiny cakes on a saucer for Helsa, and lay the fork carefully by her right hand so she can reach it easily.
I did as Zaria said, moving carefully but not so slow as to draw Helsa's ire. Wellend nodded distractedly when I served his tea; Helsa watched like a bird of prey as I set two tiny cakes on a saucer in front of her before placing her fork exactly as Zaria said.
"Hmmph," Helsa rumbled and lifted the fork to examine it for stains or spots. Temporarily satisfied, she cut into the first cake and lifted a bite to her mouth. I waited, worried that she'd find something wrong with Zaria and Bekzi's baking. I knew they were exceptional at it, but taste is always subjective.
Helsa rolled the taste of it on her tongue before swallowing and nodding. Turning toward Wellend to hide the relief in my eyes, I saw that he'd almost reached the bottom of his cup.
Lifting the teapot, I silently offered to refill it. With a nod, Wellend set the cup down so I could pour.
"Where's Wallend?" he asked.
"Oh, he and Valia went to visit her mother. The twins wanted a holiday. They'll be back in three days."
"Ah."
Wellend's thinking that Valia merely wanted to get away from Helsa, Zaria sent. He's wishing he could have gone with his brother.
Wasn't he invited? I asked.
He's just gotten back from court with his father, Zaria explained. Helsa has no love for Warlend—or Warlend's other wife, Terez. Mostly, Helsa loves Helsa.
I can see that for myself, I returned. Is that the ring—the heir's ring—on his finger?
Wellend wore a ring on his right hand. It held one large, clear, faceted jewel, surrounded by black
diamonds in a pale gold setting.
Tiralian crystal, Zaria confirmed my guess. It holds the heir's spell.
Was it made by a warlock or a witch? I asked.
Neither, Zaria answered. This bears consideration, she added.
* * *
Zaria
The ring I'd seen in the casket had been perverted. Not only did it bear a red stone instead of Tiralian crystal, the gold around it was plain instead of the paler, more expensive version. No black diamonds surrounded the stone, either.
Something was very, very wrong, here—there was no other way to explain it. The ring Wellend wore had been crafted by a Grey House wizard, more than fifty thousand years before it came to him. Warlend had worn it before he took the throne, but it was Warlend's father, Worlend, who'd had the ring made to designate the heir.
I couldn't say as yet who'd perverted the ring in the casket, or what it had been designed to do in the beginning; it wasn't a face I could easily read. And, as it hadn't been perverted yet where I currently was, I only had a houseful of suspects at this point.
Poor Gerrett had been pressed into serving tea to Queen Helsa, who truly was a privileged bitch, used to getting whatever she wanted. She didn't care whom or what she hurt in order to get it, either.
"More servants come tomorrow," Bekzi sighed beside me, tossing the kitchen towel he held over a shoulder and shaking his head at the ingredients covering the prep table for the feast we'd planned for dinner.
We'd put a beef and chicken dish on the menu for the evening meal; Helsa favored both, so we hoped to appease her by giving her and the rest of her household a choice.
Any of her family in residence was expected to join her for dinner and dress appropriately. I could think of nothing worse than dressing in uncomfortable clothing just to have a meal with the sow. Except Bekzi and I had to prepare the meal and hope to please her unpredictable whims.
* * *
Jaledis
Quin
"What's wrong?" Berel asked. He'd wakened after midnight to find me sitting up in bed beside him.
"I don't know," I said, wrapping arms about myself to stop the shivering. "Something's wrong, I just can't understand what it is."
"Something about tomorrow?" He pulled himself into a sitting position beside me.
"I don't know," I mumbled. "I feel like something terrible will happen, but I have no idea when or what."
"To you or someone else?" He pulled me onto his lap and wrapped me in the blanket from the foot of our bed.
"I don't know that either." I settled my forehead against his neck and shoulder while he ran a soothing hand down my back and feathers.
"Queen Lissa will be with you tomorrow, sweetheart," he whispered before planting a kiss on my hair. "She is quite powerful, although not everyone knows it."
"I know it." I settled into a more comfortable position in his arms.
"Father likes Zaria. Very much," he whispered against my hair. "If you wish to discuss her absence, he will be more than willing to listen."
"Because we both miss her?" I guessed.
"I think so."
"I wish she were here to go with us tomorrow," I said. "She'd know what to do."
I couldn't say why I'd said what I did; I merely felt it, somehow.
"She is elsewhere and needed there," Berel rumbled softly. His heartbeat soothed me and soon I fell asleep.
* * *
Karathia—Past
Zaria
"Dinner was exceptional. Mother will never say it, but she ate with good appetite." Wellend appeared in the kitchen, scaring Bekzi and me half to death by his unexpected arrival.
"Thank you, Prince Wellend." Bekzi and I bowed our heads to the current Crown Prince of Karathia.
"If Mother ever dismisses you for any reason, take this to my Father, the King," he handed Bekzi a small, gold token. "He will hire you for the palace kitchen with no question."
With that, Wellend disappeared, folding space to who knew where. Bekzi turned to me, then. This—your father. Should have been. You look like. Dark hair, blue eyes. Should have been.
My eyes widened in surprise. Had Bekzi recalled my past?
"I know some things always," he hmmphed and turned to inspect the cleaning job the kitchen assistants had performed earlier.
I love you, I whispered into his mind.
I love you, he replied and turned to me. Gerrett—he not remember. He know he love you anyway.
That's more than some people. My shoulders sagged.
Not let that upset you. All will come. Time for bed.
Yeah. We have an early morning and no days off in sight, I agreed. Waving an arm, I turned off the spelled lights in the kitchen.
* * *
Ilya
Zaria?
Ilya? Her reply sounded sleepy.
Never mind. Sleep, my love. Tomorrow is another day.
* * *
Jaledis
Quin
I hadn't ridden in ground transportation in moon-turns. The hovervan lurched along the narrow, winding path toward the research facility, while the occasional tree reached out to slap the windshield of our vehicle as it passed.
At times, the limbs would scrape and screech down the sides of the van, causing me to jump.
It's just the trees, nothing to worry about, Lissa turned to me with a smile.
We sat directly behind our driver—Caylon Black in disguise. Behind us were boxes piled almost to the roof of the van, all filled with food and other necessities ordered by Ruther Kend and his staff.
That staff probably included either Deris or Daris Arden and an unknown Sirenali.
"Two more clicks," Caylon announced as another tree limb whacked the windscreen in front of his face. Ruther Kend had made it more than difficult for anyone to go in or out of the property located on the steep side of a mountain.
"You can see it now," Lissa pointed through the windshield.
The facility, painted white and green, rose above the trees on a higher stretch of the mountain. To me, it looked almost like a castle, complete with turrets. Perhaps Kend fancied himself some sort of king. If he had in the past, it no longer mattered. He was a hostage to evil, now.
We passed our first visible security camera, which followed our passage along the road. Somebody watched us from the facility; had probably watched us all along, but now we knew it for sure.
Two minutes, Caylon informed us in mindspeech. Apparently, he'd detected voice receptors as well as camera-operated weaponry. We had to look and sound just like a delivery crew or we'd be targeted. If the Arden twins had become involved with the weaponry, they'd kill anything they found suspicious.
We're fine, Lissa reassured me. The uneasiness in my belly increased.
* * *
Karathia—Past
Zaria
Two new servants walked into the kitchen for the Queen's breakfast tray early the following morning. Two young men; Norn and Gale. Gale was handsome and tall, with blond hair. Norn was shorter, not as handsome and had close-cropped dark hair. A shiver went through me as I studied them.
No, they weren't bad. They were good.
They were also employed by the Karathian King—as spies.
Warlend was spying on his wife and her household, including one of his sons, who stayed there most of the time.
I wasn't about to report them; they had a job to do. And, if I'd been Warlend, I'd have spied on Helsa, too.
I wondered if Helsa would ever know that it was due to the fact that Wellend had reported Helsa's treatment of her servants to his father, because he certainly had.
"Set the currant jam at her right hand, about three-quarters up the side of her plate," I instructed as Bekzi piled items on the tray to be taken to the Queen's suite. "Place the small spoon next to the jar and remove the lid. Make sure her toast is crisp when it arrives; if it isn't, send mindspeech and I'll have more brought."
"Of course," Norn bobbed his head.
I placed a
heating spell on the eggs, small sausages and strips of bacon on the covered plate before Norn and Gale left the room. I sincerely hoped they knew how to serve royalty. I didn't want to see them mistreated and tossed out like garbage after only one meal.
Those are the King's spies, I informed Bekzi as they rushed out the door with the tray. He's looking into Helsa's mistreatment of his subjects—at Wellend's request.
Plot thickens, Bekzi wiped off the prep table behind the stove.
It sure does, I agreed.
* * *
Jaledis
Quin
One minute, Caylon informed us. I felt so ill by that time, I thought I might be sick. Caylon pulled to a stop in front of two employees, who wore what looked to be servant's uniforms for Kend Industries.
Caylon stepped out of the van to greet the two servants.
The Orb blinded Lissa and me when it appeared inside the van. I remember shrieking as it seared the wings from my back and flung me away from Jaledis.
Chapter 9
Jaledis
Lissa
Caylon understood what I'd done to keep everything from blowing up around us. I'd been forced to hold back; The Orb would have killed Quin if I hadn't. Instead, the foul thing had sent its threats against Quin if I failed to cooperate. Then, I was commanded by the Orb to step back while it muted her screams and seared the wings from her back.
I wept when I sent her black wings back to the compound before Kend's employees signaled others to come forward and unload the van.
We'd needed Quin's talent to identify those who'd come from Kend's facility, in order to transfer information as to what was going on inside it. The Orb had appeared and crippled her while I watched in helpless horror.
Yes, I was angry and intended to become mist and go through the facility myself, but that idea was short-lived. For whatever reason, those inside the facility got spooked. Kend Industry employees disappeared around us and the mountain facility behind them imploded with an ear-deafening roar.
I turned to mist, then, just to get Caylon and myself away from the destruction. The machine Kend built for the Arden twins had likely been ordered to destroy the facility. Whether it was planned or set in motion by our appearance, I didn't know.
A horrifying and terribly sad spectacle met us when Caylon and I arrived at the compound. Bel Erland couldn't move. Berel wept. Terrett wore the grimmest of expressions as he cradled Quin's severed wings in his arms.
SpellBreaker: First Ordinance, Book 4 Page 11
