The Born Queen tkotab-4

by Greg Keyes

  "Get out of the road, you naked idiot," another of the knights said. "By that popinjay's sword you wield, you're no knight."

  "Let me get this perfectly clear," Cazio said, leaning on Acredo. "You're afraid to fight a naked man. You understand I was saying you can all come at me at once, right?"

  "Knights of Gravio only battle knights, you slack-jawed pig sodomizer," the mustached man said. "All others have two simple choices: stand aside or be cut down like honorless dogs."

  "I heard that about you brave, brave fellows," Cazio said. "Heard you mostly kill women because headless lovers can't complain of your impotence."

  "Leave him be," one of the fellows in the back said. "He's clearly mad."

  "There's only so much I can hear before I must act," Mustache gritted. "But I make allowances. Stand aside."

  Cazio stepped a little closer. "If it's my words that are the problem, let me use a language more apt to you fellows."

  He sent an arc of urine in their direction.

  That did it. Mustache howled, and two of his fellows broke after him, all drawing broadswords.

  Cazio turned and ran as fast as he could. That wasn't as fast as a horse could run, of course, but he could reach his top pace first.

  As he dashed around the bend that took the road into the forest, he glanced back and saw they were gathering speed, their swords held low and cocked, ready to decapitate him.

  He ran another three pareci, hurtling around another curve, and then turned to get on his guard.

  The three horsemen thundered around the bend. Mustache had on a fierce smirk and started to shout something, but at about that time, he and his brothers hit the rope Cazio had strung between two trees. It caught Mustache right across the face and one of his companions at the gorget. The third had seen the trap and tried to bring his sword up to cut it, so he was caught by the forearm. All three went flipping backward off their mounts.

  Only one of them got back up, and that was the man who had brought his arm up. Cazio didn't wait for him to find his feet but walked up to him quickly, opened the visor that had snapped shut when he fell, and smashed Acredo into his nose. As the man screeched, Cazio lifted the helm off completely and hit him again. He went sprawling back.

  "I gave you cowards a chance to fight with honor," Cazio said. "It was more than you deserved, more than you offered me, and so here we are, with you forcing me to this."

  Then he turned and sped back toward the carriage, where he found z'Acatto standing over the fourth knight, who was prone on the ground.

  "Are they dead?" z'Acatto asked.

  "One of them, maybe. I didn't stay to find out."

  "We should finish them," the old man said.

  Cazio shook his head. "I don't murder men who can't fight back. You know that. You taught me that."

  "That's in a duel. In war there are times you do what you have to."

  "I'm not at war," Cazio said. "I'm only trying to save my friends."

  "You have to be practical."

  "I've been plenty practical enough for today," Cazio said. "Let's just get on with it."

  "Have it your way, then," z'Acatto said. "I'll just walk over and see if they have anything useful on them."

  "Oh, let's do that together," Cazio replied.

  "You don't trust me?"

  "On the contrary, I trust you to be you. Anyway, what if there are fifteen soldiers in the carriage? I'll need your help."

  Z'Acatto shrugged and wiped his sword on the dead knight's tabard. Then the two of them approached the carriage. The driver was gone, apparently having run off.

  Each door had a little barred window, but Cazio didn't see anyone peering through it, and his heart sank. What if they already had done away with her?

  He grasped the handle and pulled, but the door remained fast.

  "There's no lock out here," z'Acatto observed. "But there is someone in there."

  "Austra?" Cazio asked, rapping on the door. "It's me, Cazio."

  There wasn't any answer. He rapped again, harder. Cursing now, he started to pound on the door.

  "Step back," z'Acatto said.

  Cazio did so and saw that the swordmaster had the dead knight's heavy blade.

  "Careful," Cazio cautioned.

  The first swing shattered the glossy varnish, the second sent splinters flying, and the next caved in the panel. Using the tip of the weapon, z'Acatto pushed the cracked wood aside so that they could see in.

  Austra was there, pale, unmoving, and gagged. A fiftyish man with faded blond hair slumped next to her, eyes open but unfocused. His nose and mouth had drooled blood onto his chin.

  "Austra!" Cazio shouted, reaching through the hole to locate the bolt on the inside. He found it, drew it, and yanked the door open.

  He touched her face and found it warm. An angry red mark on her cheek and left eye told of a bruise to come in the next day or so. Her dark saffron gown was slashed and bloody, revealing red-smeared thighs.

  "Austra!"

  He put his ear to her heart and to his relief felt it beat.

  "We need to go," z'Acatto said. "The Church is all over these roads. We'll take the carriage and hide someplace."

  "Right," Cazio muttered, still trying to get some sort of response from Austra.

  "Help me get the man out."

  Reluctantly, Cazio reached over and opened the bolt on the other door. When z'Acatto started pulling, he began to shove.

  The fellow coughed, and blood spewed from his nose.

  "Diuvo!" Cazio swore. "He's alive."

  "So he is," z'Acatto said.

  Snarling, Cazio reached for Acredo.

  "No," z'Acatto said, holding up his hand. "I'll drag him over in the woods, see if he has anything useful on him. Yes?"

  Cazio balanced on his rage for a moment. He looked back at Austra. The blood on her was coming mostly from a series of shallow cuts on her thighs.

  "Why don't you do that," he said softly.

  Cazio dressed quickly and found several skins of white wine liberally mixed with water. As they bumped along in the carriage, their own horses on trotters behind them, he washed Austra's cuts as best he could. None were particularly deep, but it looked as if the fellow had been cutting a methodical diamond pattern on her. He made another search for any deeper wounds but couldn't find any.

  He was starting on her second leg when she suddenly sucked in a huge breath, then screamed, her eyes wide open and brimming with terror.

  "Austra, Austra mia errentera."

  She beat at him with her hands, still screaming, probably unable to hear him over her panic. He let her flail away until she had to pause for breath.

  "Austra, it's Cazio!" he said urgently.

  The look in her eyes shifted to dazed puzzlement.

  "Cazio?"

  "It's me, errentera, min loof. Porcupine."

  "Cazio!" she gasped. Then she looked down at her bare legs, and a huge sob heaved out of her, and then another. She kept gesturing at her wounds and trying to talk, but she half strangled on whatever she meant to say.

  Cazio wrapped his arms around her and pulled her face onto his shoulder.

  "It's not bad," he whispered in her ear. 'It's not bad. Just a few little cuts, that's all. You're going to be fine."

  He held her like that for a long time before she could talk.

  He got the story out of her in drabs. Her carriage and guard had been set upon by knights, many more of them than Cazio and z'Acatto had dealt with. They had slain her guard to a man.

  "There were two leaders," she said. "The…the man you found in the carriage and a younger fellow with a little beard. They seemed to know who I was, or-I think they thought I was Anne."

  "Why do you say that?" Cazio asked gently.

  "I don't know. Something one of them said. Cazio, it's hard to remember. But they had some sort of fight, and the younger man said something about the Fratrex Prismo, and that's-" She shuddered and closed her eyes.

  "What?"


  "The man you found me with stabbed him in the side of the throat and laughed while he died. The other knights laughed, too. Then he got in the carriage with me, closed the door, and tied my hands behind my back. The way he looked at me. I've thought I was going to be raped before, and I've seen the look in the eyes of men when they're thinking about it, but this was more than that."

  "How? What do you mean?"

  "More. He wanted more than just to rape me; he wanted something worse. He pulled up my dress, and I didn't do anything. I thought that if I was quiet, he wouldn't hurt me. But then he said something about the 'blood telling,' and he started to cut me, and then I-" She coughed off into crying again, and he waited, stroking her hair.

  "We can talk about it later."

  She shook her head. "If I wait, I won't be able to. I know I won't."

  "Go on, then. When you're ready."

  "I fainted, and when I woke up, he was still cutting me. Blood was all over. I was so scared, Cazio. Everything we've been through, everything we've seen. I couldn't take it. I couldn't take it."

  "What happened?"

  "I wanted to hurt him," she said. "I wanted to reach inside of him and tear him up. I wanted it so bad, and then he screamed, and there was blood, and I don't remember anything until you were here."

  "It's over," he soothed. "The cuts will heal, and everything will be fine."

  "It doesn't feel that way."

  "I know," he said, although he reckoned he probably didn't.

  "Now I know how Anne felt," she said softly. "I should have understood."

  "You mean when she was nearly raped?"

  "No."

  Something about the timbre of the word sent a little witch shot through his chest. It was as if an infant in its crib had just looked straight at him and said something no child that age could possibly say.

  But quietly, almost in passing. Not showing off, not even trying to be noticed.

  She looked up at him and tried to smile. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

  "Looking for you, of course."

  "Why?"

  "I got to Dunmrogh and found it full up with churchmen who wanted to skin me. I knew Anne was sending you to me, and I figured you were in danger, so z'Acatto and I hid along the road, planning to waylay every carriage until we found yours."

  "How many did you waylay?"

  "Only the one, really. There aren't many casual travelers on the road these days."

  "I'm glad," Austra said. "I was afraid I wouldn't see you again. I knew I wouldn't. But I should have known. You always manage to save me somehow, even if it's just because you saved Anne."

  "It's all for you this time," he said.

  The carriage bumped along without any talking for a little while.

  "Why did she do it, Cazio?" Austra asked finally. "Why did she send you out here?"

  "I don't know. She asked me to do something I didn't want to do, and I don't think it sat well with her."

  Austra attempted a chuckle. "Everyone thinks she's so different now. It's funny."

  "What do you mean?"

  "Well, I mean she used to be frivolous, and now she's taken responsibility. She never even thought about being queen, and now she is."

  "It does sound like she's changed."

  "Sort of. I love her, you have to understand, more than anyone. But I know her, too. She's always been impossibly selfish, so selfish she didn't even have a clue she was selfish. You know what I mean?"

  "I think so," Cazio replied.

  "She always had to have her way, whoever had to pay the cost. Did you know that when we were on our way to the coven, she decided to run away? She would have if I hadn't caught her. Actually, she still would have done it, but I broke my leg trying to catch her. She hadn't given a single thought to what would become of me if she went missing.

  "It wasn't that she wanted to hurt me or get me in trouble; it just never occurred to her to think about whether her actions would have repercussions for others. A stablejack back in Eslen was beaten and sent away for letting her take her horse out when her mother had forbidden it. I could go on, but the fact of the matter is, the rest of us are shadows to her, some more real than others maybe, but still shadows."

  "But I think I've seen some change even since I've known her," Cazio said.

  "Yes," Austra agreed. "Some, yes. But then she became queen."

  "Which you say she never wanted."

  "Right. Because she never thought about being queen. When we were girls, there was no chance of that ever happening. Her father didn't get the Comven to legitimize his daughters as heirs until just before this whole mess started, and even so there were still Fastia and Elseny ahead of her." She pushed back a little and regarded him seriously. "Now, though, she's talked herself into believing she was forced into this new role, and true, there is something to that. But here's the thing, Cazio: She loves it. Now she always gets her way, even if what she wants is stupid and even if everyone knows it. What queen gallivants about playing knight-errant when a serious war is threatening?"

  Austra's voice was rising as she got angrier.

  "You're right. When we were out on the road, running for our lives, she was starting to get the idea, to think about the rest of us now and then, to understand that the world wasn't all about her, with the eyes of every foocned saint on her. But now it is all about her, isn't it?"

  "She cares about you, Austra."

  "Yes, and you. You and I are more real to her than anyone else. But it's what we mean to her that matters: what we can do for her, how we make her feel. When we cross her, when we don't want to do what she wants, she can't understand it. It doesn't make sense to her, and rather than figuring we have our own wants and reasons, she thinks we're attacking her. You see? That's how she sees things: Everything we do is about her."

  "It can't be that bad," Cazio said.

  "You just said she sent you away because you wouldn't do something she wanted."

  "Well, that's not what she said. She said she needed someone she could trust in Dunmrogh."

  "What did she ask you to do?"

  "Ah, walk the faneway of Mamres."

  Austra's tear-reddened eyes went bigger. "Oh, saints, Cazio." She lay back. "You see?" she sighed. "As much as she ought to know you, she doesn't. How could she think you would sacrifice your art as a dessrator to become one of those-things?"

  Cazio blinked and suddenly realized he was on the verge of tears himself.

  "Ted amao," he said, completely lost in emotion. "Edio ted amao. I love you."

  "Ecco," she said, her voice faint but firm. "I love you too."

  He took her hand.

  "Anne loves us, too, in her way," Austra said. "I think she sent us away because we know her. We remind her that she has been better, could be better."

  The pace of the carriage suddenly picked up, and z'Acatto was shouting something up front.

  "A moment," Cazio said, and kissed Austra on the forehead. He stood and opened the little door in the ceiling and pulled himself up.

  "We have friends," z'Acatto shouted.

  Cazio looked behind and saw six mounted knights, all in the colors of Lord Gravio.

  Swearing, he drew Acredo, but there was nothing much to be done until the riders caught up with them, which wouldn't be long. Then there wouldn't be any time for tricks, just two against six.

  Well, that wasn't so bad. He had beaten more than that below the palace in Eslen. Of course, they hadn't been as heavily armored, but the odds had been worse.

  If he could reach the same state, chiado sivo, they had a chance.

  So he paused, clearing his mind, trying not to think about the fight ahead, only about the symmetries of arm, foot, body, point, edge, and grip.

  A moment later they passed into a wood, and Cazio began humming, because that was even better: Their horses would be less useful here, their armor more of an encumbrance. He was just about to jump to the ground and start the fight when z'Acatto cursed a saint whose nam
e itself was a curse.

  He turned to find out why in time to see footmen pouring into the road from the trees and the trap well and truly closed.

  Chiado sivo. Entirely sword.

  He leaped from the carriage toward the lead rider, blade straight out like a spear.

  CHAPTER SIX

  BRINNA

  NEIL KNELT to the masked woman.

  "Majesty," he said, trying to keep his mind still.

  "Pleased to meet you, Sir Neil," she said with a slight emphasis on "meet" that he thought he understood.

  Neil heard a little gasp behind him and saw that Alis had been brought in. Her eyes were founts of incredulity.

  "Ah, Sister Alis," Brinna said. "Did you know who I was?"

  "Lady, I did not know," Alis said. She seemed completely off her footing, something Neil hadn't ever seen before. Of course, he was having a hard time keeping his own face composed.

  "And now you do," the woman he had known as both Brinna and Swanmay said. She took a step toward Alis and raised a cup of wine. "Would you like a drink?"

  "No, Highness, I would rather not."

  "You admit it, then," the inquisitor snarled. "You admit the attempt at murder."

  Alis held her head high. "My queen and this knight knew nothing of my intentions. You cannot hold them accountable."

  "Oh, it was all your idea, then?" the masked woman said.

  "I'm telling the truth," Alis said.

  "I'm sure you are," Brinna relied. "You just haven't mentioned who actually put you up to it."

  Alis didn't reply, but Brinna's gaze turned languidly to Neil. "That would be your Queen Anne, Sir Neil."

  "I don't believe that, Highness," Neil said.

  "Because it is untrue," Alis added.

  "Well, we shall see. Inquisitor, take Lady Berrye to the room of the waters. Don't do anything permanent to her, do you hear? I want to talk to her myself later."

  "Very good, Highness. And the knight?"

  "I wish to converse with him alone," she replied.

  The matron frowned. "That is unwise."

  "I do not think so, inquisitor. Every exit from this place is guarded, and he is unarmed. But from what I've heard of this man, that wouldn't stop him any more than your continued presence would if his intention was to strangle me. What will stop him is his word. Sir Neil, will you behave yourself if left alone with me? Will you promise to make no assault on me or attempt to escape?"