CHAPTER 10
Natalya was jostled awake by someone shaking her shoulder violently.
“Wake up,” Lord Morven ordered, pulling both her and Alina to their feet roughly. They complied and he led them out of the carriage and down a long stone pathway through a maze of gardens. It was really quite beautiful and Natalya felt a pang of annoyance that such an awful man should be able to have such a wonderful place available to him.
He brought them to a room and threw them inside. Alina stumbled as her foot caught the edge of the carpet and Natalya rushed forward to catch her. She turned to glare at the man for his insensitivity, but he had already slammed the door in their faces.
“Are you alright?” she asked Alina, holding her shoulders protectively and looking into her sister’s eyes. Pain brimmed behind their surface which she could see her sister trying hard to conceal, and she nearly started shaking with rage.
“I’m fine,” Alina lied to her, dropping her gaze to the floor.
Natalya drew her close for a hug, holding onto her fiercely as though she could squeeze all the bad things that had happened to her out. She held on, even as Alina tried to pull back, knowing that she would have to cause her sister more pain.
“Alina,” she began, “I have something I have to tell you…”
“Our parents are dead,” her sister whispered, still not meeting her eyes. “I know. Morven was sure to tell me about it in great detail. He said that it hadn’t been his intended outcome of the day he took me, but that it had come as a welcome surprise. Although he said he wished he had taken our mother too before it happened, and made sure to explain exactly what he would have done to her afterwards,” she spat out. Her lips turned slightly upwards in a sadistic smile. “He did apparently get in quite a bit of trouble because of what he did with me, though, so that’s something.” She looked to Natalya, her huge eyes pleading with her, “Did anyone make it?”
Natalya shook her head sadly. “I went there a few weeks ago to help identify…” she had a hard time getting the word out, “bodies. They completely demolished everything.”
“Did they…” Alina’s voice shook, “did they suffer much?”
Natalya shook her head, glad she could tell her the truth. “It happened fast. The Faithful wanted to be in and out, so it was mercifully quick.”
“That’s good.” Alina fell silent.
After a few minutes of silence as they both mourned the loss of their parents and their friends, her sister spoke again. “Why were you riding with a bunch of Knights?”
Natalya smiled, pleased to talk about something more happy with her. “It’s a long story…” she said and launched into everything that had gone on after Alina had been kidnapped.
“So you’ve been looking for me this whole time?” Alina asked her, the appreciation in her tone causing Natalya to reach out to hug her once more.
“Of course,” she agreed, “And I would never have stopped looking.” Talking about the events that had transpired with the Queen made her sense of duty kick in. Alina had been at Castle Storm before Lord Morven had come and taken her back for whatever cruel purpose he now had in store for them. Perhaps she would know something about Lord Telvani’s plans or what he had been doing with the Death-bringers. “Do you know what Lord Telvani was up to?”
Alina cringed at the name, but the fear in her eyes was different from when she looked at Morven.
“I don’t know exactly,” she began, “but I do know some. He was collecting talents – like me – in order to force them to help him perform a control spell. He never actually told us who he was trying to control, but there was enough talk around us that I’m fairly certain that he was intending to influence the Queen’s Council.”
Natalya nodded. That would make sense, and corresponded with what Queen Layna had said about the Council members all suddenly being more complacent to his wishes while she and the King were incapacitated. She had a sudden thought and interrupted her sister’s narration, “You are talented!” she exclaimed, “You can get us out of here!”
Alina just shook her head sadly. “They have me drugged, I can’t use it. And even if I could, I’m not sure what I would do…they only trained us to do what they wanted.”
“Oh,” she said, disappointed. “So what happened? What exactly are the Death-bringers?”
“Death-bringers?” Alina asked, her face scrunching up in thought. “You mean the Bricrui – that’s what Lord Farthen called them – the people who caught the sickness and became monsters?”
“Yes,” Natalya agreed, “The townspeople called them Death-bringers.”
Alina looked horrified. “Why did the townspeople even know? Did he release them?”
“Apparently one was released to warn the people what would happen if they told Farthen’s secret. It killed six people in town before it was contained.”
“How awful,” Alina gasped, and Natalya was impressed that she could think anything was awful after what had been done to her. She continued, “Farthen discovered that after a while of performing the spell, the person who did it suddenly became ill. It began with headaches and nausea, progressing to a fever and sweats, and finally to pustules developing all over the body, the eyes filling with blood, and the brain turning to mush, making the person a blood-thirsty crazed lunatic.”
“Lord Telvani was in the royal prison, turned into one of these…Bricrui.”
“Is that what happened to him?” Alina laughed, and though Natalya was glad to hear the sound from her sister, the subject and the tone of it were disturbing. “Farthen had those of us who were talented performing both the control spell and practicing directing more magic to the person doing it. Telvani was eventually the one to do the real spell, and they chose me to be his amplifier.”
“Was it bad?” Natalya asked, afraid to hear the answer.
Alina held out her arms so that Natalya’s attention was drawn once more to the burned scars covering them. “The spell required the use of blood-magic, but luckily my portion of this was just to cause pain with melted wax. Someone else donated the blood…”
Natalya shuddered. “So he actually spelled the Council members?”
“He did.”
“Do you know how to break it?”
“There are objects that he used for it…I think that if they were to be found…” she left the thought unfinished.
Natalya finally asked the question she had been dreading. “So will you turn into one of the Bricrui?”
“Yes.”
*
Layna rode out along the road ahead of the entourage of Knights, letting her mount, Fly, take her swiftly to the scene of the ambush. As they neared the place, Layna could see where the scuffle had happened. There were arrows stuck into the ground, chunks of dirt that had been dug up, and trampled foliage all around the area.
Sir Ruawn came up beside her and described the fight. Lord Morven’s carriage and the original guards had apparently continued on down the road as the Knights were otherwise engaged. Any who had attempted pursuit were immediately set upon by several of the Baron’s mercenaries.
Layna didn’t waste time wondering about their route. There was only one route that they could possibly have taken with a carriage, according to Sir Ruawn.
All too soon, however, they came to the first fork in the road. Layna searched the ground for clues, but she could no more determine which path had been taken than the Knights who had looked only minutes after it had been traveled. The ground was far too dry to have left any noticeable tracks and either there were none with magic in his group or they had been smart enough to break off contact with the power so that she could not follow a magical trace.
Layna ordered the Knights to split up, half of the men with her and half following Sir Ruawn. She arbitrarily picked the fork on the left and spurred Fly into motion. She had to rein him in, slowing his pace so that they could watch for anything out of the ordinary; carriage ruts leading off onto an unused path, a newly broken branc
h, or any sign that someone had passed this way recently. The road was well-used, but not so much this time of year, so any sign of passage they could find might well have been Morven and his men.
Layna opened herself to the power and wracked her brain for a spell that might prove useful. Making her magesight show her anything that was new to the area in the last day or two, she looked around again. Something shone brightly to her, and she reined in Fly to take a closer look.
She dismounted and strode over to the spot. Bending down, she reached out to touch the object. It squished disgustingly under her probing finger and she broke contact with the power, her regular sight revealing that she had just stuck her finger in bird poop.
“Lovely,” she murmured to herself, wiping it off onto the grass before straightening.
“Did you find something, Your Majesty?” one of the Knights inquired?
“Nothing useful,” she replied, refraining from mentioning what it was.
Another of the Knights made an excited sound. He hopped down off his horse and practically ran over to something on the side of the road. He picked up a small item from amidst the grass, and it dangled out from his fingers.
“What is that?” she asked him, moving closer to inspect it for herself. It appeared to be a piece of string with a few beads attached to it.
“It’s a worry bracelet,” he said excitedly, “I gave it to Natalya so she wouldn’t have to worry about her sister so much.”
“So they went this way…” Layna voiced, but wondered what the significance of the beads was. Did that mean that there had been a struggle here that had resulted in the breakage of her bracelet?
They moved farther down the road; Layna refrained from remounting, choosing to lead her mount in order to be closer to the ground. After a few minutes of walking, another of the Knights shouted and bent down. He straightened, holding a bead up triumphantly in front of him. Layna smiled. So Natalya had broken the bracelet on purpose. Smart girl.
Layna sent one of the riders back to gather up Sir Ruawn and the rest, informing them that they had found evidence that Natalya had been taken this way. Then, the remainder of their group moved forward, their eyes peeled for more beads. They came upon two more forks in the road, one with four different directions and they had to search each and double back on them in order to find the correct path, but each time Natalya had succeeded in leaving behind the trail of beads. Without them, they would never have been able to track her.
Sir Ruawn and his group of Knights caught up with them presently and their refortified assemblage followed the trail of beads to completion. Eventually, the trail ran cold; either she had run out of beads, or she had fallen asleep. Given the time that she had been taken, and the distance they had traveled since then, by the time the carriage had reached this point it was likely to have been quite late.
Fortunately, the area that the last bead had been found only led to a handful of estates, none of which were officially tied to either Lord Morven or his father, but no doubt there was some kind of connection. Layna debated the pros and cons of researching what that connection might be to simply storming each of them in turn.
If they searched each one, however, starting with the wrong one could potentially warn Lord Morven that they were coming and he could move before they ever knew he was there. She mind called to Gryffon. They had not yet found a range that this did not work at.
- Gryffon, - she thought. A moment later she felt his warm presence in her mind.
- Yes, my love? –
- Can you find out if Lord Morven has any connections to any of the estates in the Barva region? Natalya’s trail ran cold at the top of the region and there are too many to search without alerting him that we’re on to him. –
- Right away, I’ll let you know the moment I find something. –
Layna send a rush of love over the connection and felt it returned. Being apart from him and the baby was made easier knowing that she could connect with him anytime.
She filled the Knights in on her plan. Unfortunately, it left them with little to do until Gryffon got back to them with which place was their most likely target. Not wanting to sit around doing nothing, however, she split them up into small contingents and sent each of these to investigate the area around each of the possibilities. That way, they would already have an idea of what to expect when they got the word.
Layna was tempted to send out magical probes to try and detect them. If Natalya’s sister Alina was with them, she should be able to sense the girl’s talent at least. But it would also give away that they were there if Lord Morven had mages under his employ. She didn’t want to take the chance, so she waited.
- Layna? – Gryffon’s voiced sounded in her head. The feeling of warmth spreading through her took hold, giving her a most pleasant sensation.
- I like the feeling of having you in my head, - she told him happily, - we should do it more often. -
She felt his pleasure at the suggestion, but his answer was all business. He had located a place that was a possibility. There had been dealings with the Baron in the past, and more recently, one of the sons of the family was mingling in Lord Morven’s circle of friends.
“It’s the best lead we have,” she said as she explained the location to Sir Ruawn, who nodded his agreement.
“It’s starting to get dark,” he stated, looking to the sky, “Do we do this now or set up camp and rest and then take them on in the morning?”
Layna chewed her lip. She hated to leave Natalya, and probably Alina, alone for another second with that awful man; but she didn’t want to put the Knights in danger either, by forcing them to fight when they were tired from a day of riding.
“We’ll go first thing in the morning.”
She and Sir Ruawn stayed up most of the night anyway, planning, but the majority of the Knights were well-rested when they woke them at the crack of dawn. The small party which had already combed the area reported that the estate was not well-guarded, and didn’t appear to expect any attack.
Layna hoped that this was truly the case. She was not concerned that she would be harmed, since her magic was great enough that she was well-protected, but she couldn’t protect all of the Knights at once.
As Gryffon had told her many times, and Sir Ruawn had reminded her last night, she sometimes just had to trust others to do their jobs and worry about doing her own.
The bulk of the Knights were going to rush the main hall and the guard barracks to quickly quell any resistance, while she and Sir Ruawn took a small group to search the dungeons and guest rooms for the girls. They had no idea whether he would be keeping them in cells or suites, so they would simply search everywhere.
As they approached, Layna opened herself to the power, sending probes out to try and narrow their search. Unfortunately, it seemed that everything in the house had some kind of magical taint to it, and it was hard to distinguish any as the young girl. She did not notice any in the dungeon area, however, so decided to sweep the guest rooms first.
They banged open doors, twice barging in on the estate’s actual guests, one of whom was in the middle of getting dressed. She squealed indignantly, clutching the dress to her body, out of the hands of the maids-in-waiting, who scattered around the room. Layna caught a few of the Knight’s gazes lingering on her a moment longer than necessary, but all remained professional and did not hesitate to follow her back out of the room. Any other reaction would not have been tolerated. Her Knights needed to uphold a high standard, and she was happy to see them doing just that.
Farther down the hall, she suddenly felt a ripple in the power in the next room. Layna burst through the door, feeling a powerful – though subdued –young talent beyond it and convinced that it must be Natalya and Alina. Sure enough, the two girls were huddled in the corner, Natalya standing resolutely in front of Alina with a brush out in front of her. It must have been the only weapon she had been able to come up with. Layna smiled at her and the girl’s combat stance relaxe
d and she dropped the brush, rushing forward to wrap her arms around Layna.
“Oof,” exclaimed Layna happily, holding up a hand towards the Knight who stepped forward to intervene. Natalya quickly let go, rushing back to her sister’s side and dragging the younger girl forward.
Alina was the spitting image of Natalya except that her face was full of tarnished youthful innocence, her large eyes staring up at Layna with hope. Though she could see that behind them there was a lot of pain. She would be deeply scarred by this, just as Natalya had been by Hardonia’s massacre.
Layna felt yet another wave of guilt that her subjects were suffering so badly under her rule. It did not seem right. She needed to do something to add light to her subjects’ lives. So far, it seemed there had only been more and more darkness even after vanquishing the evil of Nuko.
“Come on,” she told the girls, who had locked hands and were looking at her expectantly, “Let’s get out of here.”
Layna sent Natalya and Alina outside with a group of Knights, and went to find out what had happened in the rest of the manor. Unfortunately, it wasn’t good news. They had managed to round up a small portion of Morven’s guard, but the majority had escaped, aided by the manor’s usual occupants. The Knights were busy charging them all with obstruction of justice, but none would tell them where Lord Morven had fled to.
But at least they had recovered Alina and Natalya.
When they were back on the road home, the girls riding double so that they were not separated, Natalya pulled up beside her.
“Your Majesty,” she said, “I think Alina knows a way to free the Council from their compulsion.”
Layna gave her full attention to the two.
“Telvani was working on a spell,” the younger girl said shyly, but rapidly picking up confidence and volume, “where he was trying to influence the entire Council by mind-control…he said something about a collar, but I didn’t know what he was talking about.”
Bricrui (The Forgotten: Book 2) Page 14
