Ammey McKeaf

by Jane Shoup

  Tom ducked his head and sighed heavily. Looking back up at her, he said, “We knew it had to be the case, but there was little left of the village and no witnesses. Some carnivorous beasts got to the bodies that were left. There was not enough left to identify anyone.”

  She swallowed hard, sickened by the thought.

  “Who attacked?” Ciro asked. “Was it a wolf pack?”

  She nodded. “It was.”

  Lucas frowned. “What did you do?”

  “I was snatched and dragged into the brush. A hand clamped over my mouth. I didn’t understand what was happening.”

  “Who was it?” Anthony asked. He stood with his legs slightly apart, his arms folded, a scowl of concentration on his face. He looked particularly formidable with his bruised face.

  “One of Forzenay’s Five.”

  Rehan Isolde cocked his head sharply. “The Five,” he repeated quietly.

  Lucas almost smiled with relief. “You were with the Five?”

  “Yes. For a time. I told them who I was, and they explained why there were there, which was to warn the villagers of the attack. They’d learned of it and come.”

  Her father nodded.

  “They were going to Vihlae to meet with the council of Elpis.” To her surprise, no one challenged what she said. Her father didn’t even look surprised. “Forzenay insisted I go, too. He said the Seidhkona would know whether it was safe for me to return home.”

  “So you’ve been with the Seidh,” Lucas said.

  She bit her lip. If only the explanation could be left there. “No.” She took a drink of wine with shaking hands.

  “No?”

  “I was told to help Forzenay and the others in Draven,” she replied haltingly.

  “Draven?” Lucas repeated with a confused frown.

  “You went to Draven instead of returning home?” Anthony demanded. “Why?”

  Was he not listening? “I was told I should help,” she said hotly. “That I would help. The Seidh are gifted. They know things, so when they said—”

  “Help how?” Dane interrupted. “What help does the Five need? And why Draven?”

  “The men who’d planned the massacre of Wydenyl were there. They’d planned many massacres, and so—” There was no way to say it gently. “We killed them.” She took another drink to hopefully bolster her courage.

  “We?” David repeated, frowning. “Are you saying you had something to do with it?”

  She nodded slowly.

  “You helped execute men?” Tom repeated with an incredulous expression on his face. “Is that what you’re saying? You joined Forzenay’s Five and helped execute some men. Men. Plural.”

  “Yes.”

  “Who?” her father barked causing her to jump. He’d withdrawn his hand, she noticed.

  “Tariq, Gilley, um, the men who attacked Wydenyl, and …another man.” Her face felt uncomfortably warm and she was beginning to stammer from nerves.

  “What was your part?” Anthony demanded.

  “I …well, at first I was to only poison Tariq’s wine. But then, later—”

  “What do you mean you were to,” Anthony interrupted. “Did you?”

  “I tried, but he wasn’t drinking enough.” She hesitated, wondering what more was absolutely necessary to admit of the encounter. “In the end, Vincent killed him.”

  “Vincent?” Dane asked.

  She nodded. “One of the Five.”

  “Ammey,” Rehan Isolde spoke up. “The Five are here.”

  She felt her breath catch. She stared at him.

  “In Lere,” he clarified. “Not in camp.”

  “I heard they were in Shilbridge, trying to hold off annexation.”

  He blinked in surprise that she knew this. “They were. But when Corin’s army attacked, they came to join us.”

  “Send for them,” Lucas ordered.

  Rehan nodded to his aide, who then scurried off.

  She was going to see them again, she realized breathlessly. She was going to see Vincent.

  “Continue,” Amador urged in his loud voice, jarring her. “So you kill the men in Draven, good riddance to them, I say, and then what?”

  She tried to collect her thoughts. “One of the Five was injured in Draven and I was told to bring him back to his village, Daleog, which I did.” She paused, but they were all waiting. It was a terrible feeling.

  “The men she arrived here with said they passed through Daleog,” Anthony spoke up. “They said the villagers confirmed what she’d told them.”

  Ammey was grateful they had thought to say so, but mostly she felt dread.

  David took a seat across from her and leaned forward, elbows on knees, his gaze intense. “So you go to Daleog with one of the Five who is injured.”

  “Yes.”

  “Which one?” Isolde asked.

  “Graybil.”

  “He’s with them now,” Isolde said.

  She nodded. “I know. He healed from the injury and was instructed to return to Draven before the next full moon. I was told to stay.”

  “To stay in Daleog?” Dane asked.

  She nodded. “I was helping with the planting.”

  “Why weren’t we told any of this?” Lucas demanded.

  Ammey drew back. “We sent letters. I did and Forzenay did. From Draven. It was the first opportunity we’d had.”

  “They never arrived.”

  “I’m sure they were sent.”

  “So you’ve been safe and sound,” David said “In Daleog?”

  “No.” She looked down at her mug. “A wolf pack raided the village.” She felt the tension rise in the room. “Many were killed. Others, including me, were taken captive.”

  “You were taken captive,” Anthony repeated. “By a wolf pack?”

  “They were soldiers of Bellux Abry. They wore uniforms. But, yes, I was taken captive and we were marched north. But s-something went wrong on the way,” she said, stammering in her nervousness, “and I was hurt.”

  “How?” Tom asked.

  She let out a shuddering breath. “One of the men came for a child, so I … killed him.”

  David shook his head. “You’ve never hurt anyone in your life and now you’re talking about executing men. Professional soldiers, at that. How? How did you kill him?”

  “My hands were bound, but I got the rope around his neck and strangled him.”

  “I’ve never known the girl to lie,” Ciro commented.

  “She doesn’t lie,” Dane snapped. “Go on, Ammey. What happened then?”

  Her throat closed and for a moment she couldn’t speak. It was suddenly silent, just when she didn’t want it to be. She looked down at her mug of wine again and tears pricked the backs of her eyes, but she had to keep them in check. “In retribution for the soldier I killed, I was dragged.” There was the sound of exhaled breath. She didn’t dare look up. “I must have … hit my head. I was knocked unconscious. The next thing I knew, I was waking in a strange room.” She was feeling sick and she desperately wanted to have the explanation over with. She forced herself to look up. “I was in the palace because Marko Corin had come upon us and saved my life.”

  “Corin!” her father burst, nearly coming out of his chair.

  Every one in the room looked murderous. She had to go on, but she didn’t want to. She so didn’t want to. “Yes. I was his prisoner. At first,” she added shakily.

  “What do you mean,” David asked in a hushed voice, “—at first?”

  She drew a breath to speak, but couldn’t form the words.

  “Ammey?” Tom asked.

  “You see, there’s a man by the name of Nafino Zephyr,” she stammered.

  “Corin’s right hand man,” Isolde spoke up. “Older man. He was also counsel to the elder Corin.”

  “He is evil,” Ammey said vehemently. She looked at Isolde, because it was easier. “He is the one behind the sieges and the wolfpacks. When I told Marko what happened in Wydenyl, he’d didn’t believe me. He
hadn’t known.”

  “Marko?” Anthony exclaimed. He huffed with indignation. “Are you on a first name basis with him now?”

  It was the moment of truth. The worst of the truth. She let out a shaky breath feeling both hot and bone-achingly chilled at the same time. “He thinks my name is Jade, but yes.”

  Isolde sprang to his feet. “Not as in Lady Jade? His wife?”

  Every eye was upon her. They were all shocked speechless. The silence in the room was painful. Slowly, she nodded.

  “His wife?” Lucas repeated. His face was a mask of horror.

  They were all looking at her as if she’d betrayed them. As if she was Theresa. “I …was hurt by Nafino Zephyr and w-when I woke, I pretended to have lost my memory because I knew I could not take any more torture, that I’m not strong enough.” She was speaking too quickly, desperate to make them understand. “Marko saw my loss of memory as an opportunity and … claimed we were married.” She shrugged. “And everyone pretended it was so,” she said weakly. “Or they thought it was.” Her father stood and took a few steps away, but there was nowhere to go.

  “But Lady Jade was murdered,” Rehan Isolde said carefully.

  “No,” she said with a shake of her head. “I was abducted. But I got away from my captors in Uerad. In the dessert.”

  Anthony was shaking his head. “This isn’t making any sense! No one escapes the desert of Uerad.”

  She raised her chin, exasperated to the point of tears. Every word out of her mouth had been challenged by too many people for too many weeks. It was exhausting and maddening. “I did.”

  No one spoke.

  “Ammey, when were you there?” Isolde asked. “In Bellux-Abry?”

  “Late spring to early autumn.”

  “Early autumn,” Isolde exclaimed. “When the latest wave of aggression began. Don’t you see? That’s what began it all again, the shock of her murder.”

  Ammey nodded. She saw what he was getting at. “If you tell him I’m here, he will not attack.”

  “No,” the McKeaf exploded.

  Everyone jumped slightly, startled by the uncharacteristic outburst.

  “At the very least, it would buy us time,” Isolde reasoned.

  “My daughter will not be offered as a bargaining tool. No matter what she has done.”

  The words cut through Ammey like a knife, robbing her of breath. The complete silence that followed was as thick and gray and suffocating as quicksand. It was interrupted by a young soldier who came through the door of the tent and looked around, confused by the tense atmosphere. “General?”

  Lucas turned to him, his face as dark as a thundercloud.

  “Your son woke,” the soldier reported. “The surgeon said to get you.”

  Ammey tried to stand, but her legs were too weak.

  Lucas started from the tent, avoiding any and all eye contact. “I need some time.”

  “We don’t have time,” Anthony exclaimed.

  Lucas stopped abruptly and turned to his eldest. “I am still the commander of this army and I will decide what we have and what we do,” he said in a barely controlled tone.

  Anthony’s fists clenched in frustration, but he held his tongue.

  Lucas turned to David and said, “Find your sister appropriate quarters,” before walking out, leaving an unnerving tension in his wake.

  Ammey felt desperately ill. Her brothers were avoiding looking at her. Alexander seemed dazed. Only Rehan Isolde was looking directly at her, intrigued. She couldn’t bear it. She set her mug aside and managed to rise. She took her coat and left the tent. Her legs were weak, but she held herself stiffly and kept in motion knowing David would follow.

  As expected, he did. He eased her coat from her grip and helped her into it. “Your hand is freezing,” he commented.

  She felt so empty and strange.

  “You’ll take my tent,” he said. When she did not reply, he looked at her. “Ammey?”

  She shook her head. “Not now. Please. I can’t talk about it any more right now.”

  “Baba was shocked. That’s all.”

  She looked further away from him, barely holding back tears. She had to hold them back because once they started, they would not stop.

  “Here,” he said when they came to his tent. He pushed open the door for her and she walked through. He hesitated, but then shut the door, knowing she needed time.

  “Will you ask the men from Keved to join us?” Anthony asked Jan Meade when Ammey and David had gone.

  “Of course.” Jan replied. He left as Rehan Isolde began talking.

  “I understand the general’s feelings,”Isolde said. “But we must view this information objectively.”

  “She is our flesh and blood,” Tom said evenly, but with a definite ring of warning to his tone. “Someone of more worth than you can possibly know. Any one of us would give our lives to protect her.”

  “But the lives of thousands may depend on it,” Isolde returned calmly.

  Alexander sank into a chair, astounded by the revelation that Ammey had been Marko Corin’s wife. Why was no one questioning that? He could tell she was changed, but Corin’s wife?

  “I’m going to see about Richard,” Dane said as he started for the door. When he was free of the tense atmosphere of the tent, he breathed deeply, trying to collect his wits. He felt shaken that Ammey was so changed. At first, he’d thought it merely her appearance, the result of having been ill or injured. But that was the least of it. Her innocence was gone. It had been stolen from her. In place of the girl he’d known and loved was a woman of incredible strength, born of complexity and pain, a woman he no longer knew as he’d known his sister before. They had failed her. They had failed her so much more than they had realized.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  “Richard?” Lucas McKeaf said.

  “He woke for a short time,” the surgeon said. “He knew his sister had been here.”

  “What did he say?”

  “He called her name.”

  “Richard. Wake up, son.” Richard’s eyes fluttered and then he opened them with what looked like great effort. Lucas exhaled with relief. Richard’s mouth moved and Lucas leaned closer to hear, but he could not make out a word. Pulling back, he said, “Did you hear your sister speak to you? She’s here. Ammey is here.”

  Richard smiled weakly and his eyes closed again.

  “It is a good sign,” Lucas murmured.

  “Oh, yes, general,” the surgeon replied. “It’s a very good sign.”

  ~~~

  Ammey curled up on David’s cot and cried bitterly. The joyous reunion had lasted a short while and then she’d devastated her entire family. They had all looked at her as if she was a traitor. It was what she had feared and it is what they thought.

  ~~~

  When Lucas returned to his tent, it was to find it crowded from the addition of the men from Keved and Forzenay’s Five. Ammey was gone, which made him feel great remorse. Forzenay walked to him and they clasped hands. “I just learned she was with you for a time,” Lucas said stiffly.

  Forzenay cocked his head in confusion. “I sent word of it months ago.”

  “No message arrived.”

  Forzenay looked away and sighed before looking back at Lucas. “That means the messengers were killed, although we were told otherwise. I would never have left you to wonder. I wrote and she wrote, as well. We thought you knew.”

  “Father,” Anthony spoke up.

  Lucas looked over at him, regretting the harshness of his tone earlier. What he’d uttered had not been true. He was not a one man force, nor did he make decisions as if he was. He’d simply lashed out.

  “We thought we should hear what occurred from other perspectives.

  Lucas went back to his seat.

  “Forzenay?” Anthony said. “Will you start?”

  Forzenay nodded. “We’d gone to Wydenyl,” he began.

  ~~~

  “Miss McKeaf?” a man called from outside the
tent. “I have food for you.”

  She sat up and wiped her face. “Come in.”

  He entered with a tray which he quickly set down. “Is there anything else you need?”

  “No. Thank you for this.”

  He nodded and left. She rose. Her body was in need of nourishment, and yet she had little appetite. She was desperately tired, but her mind would not allow her to sleep. Their current predicament was too dire. She forced herself to take a bite of stew and then another. She sipped water and then wine, took another bite and went to wash her face. She filled the ewer, bent and repeatedly splashed water on her face. She found a towel and dried off. Her father had been hurt by her revelations. Her entire family had. They still wanted to protect her, but she was long past protection. It was possible that she was the key to negotiation or even a settlement. She loved and respected her father, but she could not allow him to do nothing when the mere mention of her might save lives. She would make herself presentable and go back to have her say. She was not a child any longer, nor was she a traitor. She’d suffered and fought and tried to do what was right at every turn. She’d earned the right to have a say in what happened next. She would not be sent to her room like a child.

  But she hadn’t actually been sent. She’d retreated. As if she was guilty and ought to be ashamed. She had known shame and known it well, but she was finished with it. She straightened her clothing and breathed deeply, steeling herself for what she had to do. She would make them understand or she would take matters into her own hands.

  ~~~

  Darius had a talent for recounting details, so he was relaying all they’d learned from the villagers of Daleog. The men who made up Forzenay’s Five had preceded him and their stories had been captivating. He wanted to be as good and to reveal everything he could to help Ammey. “Then Ammey fainted,” he said. “Zephyr said the marking should be stopped until she woke, but Corin, who they said looked like misery itself, ordered it to be finished quickly and for to be made as small as possible.”

  There were puzzled frowns all around the room since it was baffling to hear Corin represented as cruel and then merciful. He’d saved Ammey’s life and then hurt her, spared her and eventually married her. Or, rather, claimed to be married to her, for whatever difference that made.