Chapter Fourteen
A FRIEND’S TRUST
Romana walked silently up behind Marten as he walked through the grounds with his captain of the guard. She knew something was going on, the servants were abuzz with the news that Marten had arranged for Tommy to be moved tonight. She had planned to interrogate him, but when she caught a few of the words of the conversation she simply followed in silence.
“…There’s only one thing she could be doing in the sewers, your grace.” The older man was saying as he shoved the gold cape that marked his rank out of his way where it had been caught on the white plate armour. “And you want to give her the lad? She’s building up ties with the thieves’ guild.”
“Who’s building ties with the thieves’ guild?” Romana asked casually, her suspicion growing as Marten jumped and looked around guiltily.
“Silver, your highness.” The guard said helpfully, and Marten glared at him.
“Thank-you captain.” Romana replied. “If you don’t mind, I would like a private word with King Marten.”
The man bowed low to the both of them, his armour making the movement loud to her advanced hearing, and left without a word.
“So when were you going to tell me all of this?” Romana demanded. “She’s my sister and he is my friend.”
“I was going to tell you!” Marten scrubbed his hand along the side of his face looking exasperated. “I was just going to wait until after the exchange had gone down and there was no argument to be had.”
“You mean to give her my friend; the boy I still cook breakfast for when he’s not out spying for you?”
“He’s not exactly a boy anymore.” Marten commented. “And Silver says she can help him. If we don’t give her to him then she’ll just steal him and kill him when she’s done with him.”
“Have you told him about this? Asked his opinion?” Romana was outraged.
“He agreed.”
“Of course he did! He’s been loyal to you since he first saw you when he summersaulted into my kitchen. Plus he’s probably terrified of what he’ll do if you don’t manage to restrain him when he flips out. He doesn’t know what he’s agreeing to!”
“She vowed not to harm him.”
Romana blinked, her anger blowing out of her as curiosity filled her. “That doesn’t sound like her.”
Marten said nothing, and Romana put her hand on his shoulder as she leaned into him. His arms went around her automatically.
“Your sister has never been completely on our side, she never takes orders and her methods are unorthodox. Yet she has never been on the side of those who oppose us, and she’ll protect you with her life because of the bond you share.” Marten finally said. “And I don’t think I’m wrong in saying that she has never broken a vow.”
“If she can heal Tommy, maybe we should let her.” Romana agreed slowly. “He’s my friend, and I can’t stand to see him suffer like this.”
“You tried everything you could to help him.” Marten tried to comfort her. “If I remember rightly you asked over twenty different healers to help. You even asked your mother, though she could not interfere.”
“What are you saying?” Romana asked.
“I’m saying you’ve exhausted all other possible options. This is Tommy’s last chance, it would be wrong of us to deny him the option and he has accepted the Silver Eyed Wytch’s terms.”
“I want to see him.” Romana demanded. “I know you think he’s too volatile but I’ll remain incorporeal. He won’t be able to hurt me if I fuse myself with the wind.”
“He asked not to see you.” Marten reminded her softly. “He doesn’t want you to see him like that.”
“It doesn’t matter, I’m his friend.” Romana insisted.
“I’ll go in first to tell him you’re coming, surprising him isn’t such a good idea at the moment.”
Romana shook her head. “He’ll smell me before you get a chance to tell him. Just let me go in.”
She didn’t mention it, but their walk had already led them to the enchanted cells hidden under the palace gardens. Silver had escaped from those very cells by holding Marten hostage all those years ago. Fortunately no-one else had ever managed a successful escape attempt.
Her sister was the exception to many rules.
The entrance was a trap door hidden in the gazebo by the palace lake. As they approached the guards nodded.
Marten looked around when the doors closed behind them. “I didn’t even realise we were here.” He muttered.
“How long has it been since you last slept?” Romana demanded, concern for him banishing all thoughts of Tommy for the briefest instant.
“A day or two?” Marten sounded as if he was asking her instead of telling her.
She knew better than to tell him to sleep while she talked to Tommy; he would never leave her unprotected around someone who could cause her harm. So instead she held her quiet as they walked through the many levels of offices and cells. Her silence usually spoke louder to Marten than her ranting did anyway.
She didn’t know her way around these tunnels as well as she would have liked, but here was where most of the royal spies were based. The amount of intelligence information that passed through these halls every day was staggering and decisions were made within these walls that affected the entire world.
When they reached Tommy’s cell, she hesitated. Would her being here cause another of his rages? She hoped not.
“I’ll be in here,” Marten informed her as he opened the door to the adjoining room with its two-way mirror. “Stay incorporeal.”
“Or you’ll do what?” Romana teased as he disappeared.
He stuck his head back around the door. “Or I would have to tell you that there’s a spare cell next to this one with your name on it.” He winked and disappeared into the room.
Romana willed herself into the air currents so that she was visible but untouchable. She breezed through the cracks between the door and the floor and reassembled in the small room.
Tommy was sat on his cot, and once again Romana was struck by how much he’d changed since he tried to pick her pocket all those years ago. He still had the same tousled dark hair, long coffee brown eyes and broad, slightly tip tilted nose. But those features were hardened now, the lines of his profile more angular, and he had grown. He towered over most men now with broad shoulders that she’d heard more than one serving girl call dreamy.
He sat on the edge of the neatly made up cot that had been set up, reading a book. The only evidence of his episodes were the claw marks in the metal bed frame and the bloodstains on the floor.
“I asked Marten not to let you see me.” Tommy spoke softly for a man his size, and she smiled slightly as he marked his place in the book, placed it on the mattress beside him and turned to look at her.
“Did you think he was going to stop me?” Romana asked. “I stayed away before, but I have to know if you’re sure about going with Silver. I could protect you; you don’t need to feel like this is your only option.”
“Romana, this is the only way. If I don’t go she’ll kill people till you give me up. And this is the only way I may finally be free from whatever Alda did to my mind.” He patted the space on the bed next to him to indicate she could come and sit beside him.
She moved closer and sat, leaving a space between them in case Tommy didn’t want to be that close to her while at the same time glancing at the cover of the book he had been reading.
“You never told me about your animal traits.” Romana began, looking pointedly at the book.
“I didn’t know we had them till long after we first met.” Tommy said. “Then I was so scared of what was happening I just shut off all of my emotions and tried to be the perfect spy for Marten.”
Romana remembered that day. Tommy’s very soul had appeared to vanish overnight. She’d talked to him and decided that he’d just decided to suddenly take his work as a spy far more seriously. But that had been years ago.
“You told no-one, all this time you’ve been alone?”
“I thought I was a freak. The elves don’t exactly advertise the fact that they can shape shift.”
“Only the male elves.” Romana corrected him. “Elven women cannot switch between forms. And I agree, they hide it well through their level of sophistication and the way that they separate themselves from the other races. But what you did was dangerous, and I’m hurt that you didn’t trust me with it.” She paused and smiled. “Although, you do remind me of somebody else I know,” She glanced knowingly at the mirror.
“I’m sorry,” Tommy looked sincere. “If I knew how to control it maybe I could have prevented all the damage I did. Or maybe I could have fought off Alda’s men.”
Romana sighed. “Maybe you could have. But then you also may have forced the men to kill you and I would never have forgiven you for that. You are not allowed to die.”
Tommy laughed. “We’re all going to die before you, remember? You have immortal blood.”
Romana didn’t want to remember. Sometimes she wished her life was as fleeting, that she could grow old with the people she loved and watch her children and her children’s children grow before her eyes.
Tommy quickly realised his blunder and moved closer to her. “It’s a good thing; don’t be sad. You’ll be around to watch over our children when we’re gone.”
“Yes, but who will be with me? Only the Ancients live that long; my longest living companion apart from them would appear to be Silver.”
“I’ll try and soften her up for you.” Tommy joked, still smiling despite the circumstances.
“Try not to give her too many reasons to kill you.” Romana replied laughing.
But her ears caught onto the sound of the conversation in the next room.
“She’s been sighted by a kill attributed to the Guild of Death.”
“Two of the dark guilds in one night?” Marten sounded shaken.
“We haven’t seen her near any of their dens that we know about.”
“Another report, your grace, she’s on the other side of the city.” Someone else said.
Romana sighed, so Marten was still trying to find her sister. She had told him it wouldn’t work, but he never listened.
“Trouble?” Tommy asked.
“Marten refuses to accept that when my sister does not want to be found, there is not a soul on this earth that can find her.”
“You won’t be able to find me when I go with her.” Tommy muttered.
“No, but you must convince her to let you write to me.”
“Does she live near a post tower?” Tommy laughed. “I can just see her choosing to put her secret lair right next to a village so she could send hawks with messages to all of her friends.” The sarcasm was cutting. “Maybe she will let me. Even if she doesn’t, it’s not impossible for me to sneak out; I am a thief after all.”
Romana smiled. “Now what do you want to take with you? I can have the servants pack anything you want.”
Chapter Fifteen
GRANDMOTHER BLACK
Silver smiled as she looked across the rooftops at the assassin. She didn’t blame the woman for not being able to see her; ever since night had fallen she’d summoned a nycto-demon to cover her presence as she tracked the assassins going about their business.
And she’d learned a great deal in the few hours she’d shadowed them. She’d tailed the novice members of the guild until she found their supervisor and then she tailed him until eventually she’d ended up here; following a master assassin.
She had to admire this woman’s work; the kills of the novice assassins had been messy and unprofessional but the master assassin had obviously learned her prey’s movements. When she had struck, the mark had simply disappeared; dumped into the sewers, unlikely to be seen again, while the contents of their pockets were no-doubt pilfered by the thieves.
Silver wasn’t used to feeling admiration for anyone, but for the elite assassins, she would make an exception.
Now the assassin was presumably headed back to their den to report her success, unwittingly leading Silver back to the leader of the Guild of Death.
When Silver saw the woman go under a bridge and disappear she knew she had arrived. She hopped down from the top of the bridge onto the footpath that wound along the canal below.
She hadn’t seen ripples, or heard a splash, so the entrance must be above the waterline. A trapdoor built into the paving slabs? She looked at the ground, searching for anything that showed some indication of an edge that could be lifted. The nycto-demon that followed her ran straight to the curved wall that formed the underside of the bridge and started sniffing and pawing at the stonework.
Silver followed its movements for a while before she could see the door. It was more of a small hatch really, barely two feet across. With a kick it came loose and she sent the nycto-demon down first before following.
They reappeared in a tunnel that led away from the canal and towards the city’s main market district. The master assassin was quite far ahead already but Silver let her get further and further away till she could only just make out her outline in the darkness.
She followed, occasionally speeding up if the woman turned a corner so as not to lose her. There were millions of passageways, and sometimes Silver would recognise the design. She had known the passageways had interlinked but when they briefly travelled through the fireplace passageways of the palace Silver realised exactly how much of a warren the subterranean tunnels were.
It was only after she heard the sounds of the canal above her again that Silver realise the assassin had walked around the tunnels for over an hour as a precautionary measure to see if she was being followed. Unfortunately for the Guild of Death it hadn’t worked, so Silver saw the woman pull down on a torch bracket and enter what looked like a cellar. She also saw the guards come out of their hiding places to welcome the woman. Before the door closed again Silver slipped inside, banishing the nycto-demon back into its realm as she used her speed to pass unnoticed by the guards, still following the woman.
They ascended the stairs, and then Silver had to get creative in order to dodge the many guards while still following the master assassin all the way through three floors of the house and into the attic room.
Finally, she had arrived.
“Grandmother Black,” The master assassin was on her knees in a room that seemed out of place in the context of the people who used it.
Everything Silver could see was white; everything except for the crumpled pile of blankets in the armchair which the woman was addressing.
Silver moved closer until eventually she could see it was not a crumpled pile of blankets at all; in fact it was a cloak, a long one which covered the diminutive wearer from head to toe.
“Give me the evidence required then move so that I may greet our guest.” The old woman with milky white eyes informed the assassin with a surprisingly strong voice. The assassin gasped and searched the space behind her, yet nonetheless did as ordered, handing over the dead man’s finger and attached signet ring.
“You have done well.” The old woman murmured, twirling the butchered digit in skeletal hands. “Now go to the contact, and collect the second half of the payment. If it is not given, you know what to do.” The woman’s lips barely moved, yet her words were clear. “Silver Eyed Wytch, you have been discovered so there is little point in your hiding now. Come forward, child of demons and darkness.”
Silver dropped from the place where she had wedged herself in the ceiling beams, rising from her crouch as the master assassin left, looking annoyed at having been followed.
As she walked towards the aged figure she re-evaluated the Guild of Death. Silver had assumed that it was run by a leader or Council as a profit organisation. Her preconceptions had made her believe it was a business, but instead she had found a cult and that made this all the more dangerous.
“Grandmother Black.” She knelt, following the example of the master assassin
.
“So the wytch queen of the demonic realm is respectful. That is a change from what the dead tell me about you, child.”
“In unfamiliar territory it is best to blend.” Silver replied. “And I am not a child.”
“I was around before you were born to your elven mother for the first time,” Grandmother Black informed her. “Very few can claim that, can they? So you may rest in the knowledge that you are but a child to me still.”
Silver stored that information for later. “You requested my presence.”
“I did,” The woman’s white eyes never moved yet seemed to twinkle with unknowable humour. She was truly emaciated to the point of seeming like the washed out corpse of a famine victim nestled among the fine black wool of her wrappings. “I have a request to ask of you.”
Silver’s eyes narrowed. “Do I receive anything in return for this favour?”
Grandmother Black didn’t answer her, “I am a wytch like you, a rogue wytch. I was hunted since I left the Isle of the Gifted as a young girl some three and a half millennia ago. The other wytches hated me from the moment I stepped foot among them, do you know why?”
“Because you had already killed one of their own.” Silver muttered. “You’re the girl who killed the Lady of the Isle before Kate, aren’t you?” She remembered the story, though it had been considered history when she was a girl. A young girl had lost control of her powers, sending the world of wytches into chaos.
“So the legend is not lost then.” The old woman’s lips twitched. “But I sense it has warped slightly from the truth.”
“As all legends invariably do.” Silver replied. “But I was alive closer to the time than most who would know the story now.”
“Yes, but you were not there.” Grandmother Black snapped. “And you do not know the true story.” She sighed, and it was a surprisingly heavy sound for one so frail. “It does not matter now. I killed the Lady of the Isle and fled. It was not my fault; my powers were not under my control. I found my familiar a year later.”
Silver's Redemption (Soul Merge Saga Book 3) Page 17
