JOURNEY OF THE SACRED KING III

by JANRAE FRANK

  Dynarien sensed Hadjys bow to his rival, the Sun-Lord. The young yuwenghau felt a sudden misgiving as if Hadjys had abruptly thrown him to the wolves for the audacity of invoking them both in that moment of desperation. And then they hit him for his innocent arrogance and his defiant hubris, his foolish nature that frolicked where angels feared to venture. Pain lanced upward from his hand holding the staff through his arm into his chest. The fiery hymns of the heavens sounded through the room and the burning sunfire burst behind his eyes. He heard Edouina scream just before he collapsed across Yukiah.

  Sha, locked into the tight corner with Dynarien and Yukiah's body, wailed in helpless, growing terror. She pushed herself into the farthest corner from them and balled up on the floor. The ceiling vanished, becoming starlit sky and visions passed in the night. Torrundar Storm-Lord, King of the Gods, roared across the skies with his wildhunt, riding swiftly, accompanied by Tala and her moonwolves. Havoc and panic reigned over the castle grounds as the most powerful god of life and light opened an exception in the wards of a god of death's inner sanctums and entered. Hadjys strove to maintain a balance with Kalirion in shifting patterns that would not tear their shared vessel to shreds.

  Hadjys attempted to open a channel to return Yukiah's soul and draw back the web he wove within his paladins to prevent this even as Kalirion's burning strength entered Dynarien and reached for Yukiah. Power crashed on power like waves caught in a hurricane, crashing against stony cliffs, neither wishing to yield to the other despite their master's wishes. The earth shook. And Dynarien shrieked in anguish.

  * * * *

  The earthquake hit as Osterbridge emerged into the basement of the Guild Wing with Isen. He staggered and managed not to fall. Leonè was waiting for them as they and their companions spread into the room. The door had snapped shut behind them so abruptly it nearly caught one of the priests. It felt like a backlash of power.

  "Quick, Leonè, get to Queiggy! He was holding that door open for us," Osterbridge ordered without thinking, for Leonè had always been senior to him. "Check on him. See that the backlash did not hurt him."

  Leonè started to protest.

  Aramyn shook his head. "I'll go with you."

  Osterbridge gave him a nod of thanks. "I'll get my wife settled in the star room."

  "Wife?" Aramyn asked.

  "Yes. Isen St. Jon Dulac, Yukiah's daughter. If Queiggy's okay, we can hold the meeting in the star room when Isen can be part of it. She's an eidetic. She has the names from him."

  "He named his murderers?"

  "Yes. Now, go."

  * * * *

  They beat on the door to Queiggy's room and received no answer. The door was locked, which was unusual. Aramyn ordered it broken down and a sea of books tumbled out. So it had not been locked at all, simply blocked by debris. The room was a mess. The earthquake had knocked every thing down. He spotted Queiggy lying in a heap in a corner, with a toppled bookcase across him. Aramyn stepped over everything and reached Queiggy at the same time as Leonè, stopping the big mon from lifting the little yuwenghau.

  "Don't," Aramyn said softly. "I must check his head and neck first. Make certain that nothing is broken or out of place there. I don't want you paralyzing him." The signs were good and he gestured to two Guildsmyn and Leonè. "Okay. Lift the bookcase off him first."

  They freed Queiggy, cleared a space, and dragged a blanket from his bed, using it as a stretcher to get him into the hall. Then Aramyn's smooth voice calmly took over, ordering the myn into groups. "I want every room checked for injured myn, top to bottom, wing and annex, all the rooms, quarters and so forth. Turn the dinning hall into a hospital, Guild only while we assess things, meals in the kitchens, take the food to your rooms if necessary." Then he turned to Leonè. "I want Queiggy taken to the lower star room annex, put him in one of Captain Osterbridge's spare bedrooms or one of the adjacent rooms with a guard until he comes around. Get him a healer. I don't know how hard that bookcase hit him."

  * * * *

  Galee screeched. "God strike! God strikes! Lots of them! All over!" She danced and whirled as if caught in a pattern of madness. She had felt six of her allies die, six of her oldest allies. The Master of Blood had been forced to shield himself so tightly, dig so deeply into the caverns that it had been a very near thing, and she could scarcely feel him. She shrieked and danced and shrieked and danced. Her altar had shielded her, but only just.

  Belyla stood chained to the wall, nude and withering from long deprivation. She had not fed since the night of her escape with Yahni. Madness glazed her eyes. The sacrificial slab stood before a shelf of images and beside it a small table with the tools of the rites, blades, incense, oils and paints, herbs and other materials in jars. The slab itself had manacles to hold its victims.

  "Yahhhhhnniiiiiii!" Belyla moaned.

  Galee seized her by the dried straw of her hair and shook her savagely. "Shut up, Belyla or I'll make you my next offering." She turned to Meilurk. "Get her out of here. Gag her securely."

  For a woodland yuwenghau with only a fragment of a soul, who would have dreamed that the Twice-Born Son could have called down such a conflagration? What was going on? She felt deeply shaken and that angered her still more.

  * * * *

  Alysyn woke with a scream. Her sleep crusted eyes focused slowly and she blinked at her surroundings. She was still in her tent on the western borders of Hellsguard. As she had promised Eshraf, she had gathered two-thirds of her riders and a large portion of her Netherguards. The former she held by right of rank, having gone to them instead of the Guild; the second she held by right of birth. She was the Black Swan, avatar-descendant of her namesake, Alysinjin. "Yukiah!"

  She pulled her blanket around her shoulders and rose from the cot, walking out of the canvas tent to stare into the night. Guards and others had been drawn by her scream and gathered around her, watchful and wondering.

  A shivari, tigerkin, in his full human form of a broadly built, barrel chested mon approached. "What is wrong, Commander?"

  She gestured from him to follow her back inside and several others came with him. "A sending. From the gods. I refuse to march before dawn, but we will march. I cannot put it off any longer, Kerr."

  "What kind..." He frowned, drawing his thick brows together until they met in the middle of his forehead.

  "Send everyone else out, Kerr, save you and Father Wynn." As soon as they were alone, Alysyn began to force air into her lungs to master herself. She did not really want to tell anyone or to speak of her dream, but it required speaking of. "I believe that my husband, the prince is slain."

  "That cannot be!" Father Wynn, a small wiry man who appeared almost fragile, yet was actually still tough as leather despite his white hair and wrinkled countenance.

  At her gesture they settled into camp chairs by the bed where she now sat cross-legged with her blankets drawn up around her lap. "I've told you very little about him. It is a caution the swans keep, especially when we are forced to speak of a prince. He was armsmaster to the Grand Master. I say was, because sitting here, with each growing moment I become more certain that he's dead. It's the nature of my gift."

  "Did you see how he died?" Kerr asked.

  Alysyn closed her eyes briefly. "Yes. The hedgerows around the palace were burning. It was night. I could see their faces. Ambrose stuck the prince in the back."

  "I remember Ambrose," Kerr growled. "Treacherous mon."

  "Until then my lord had been holding his own. Yukiah was a powerful, highly skilled mon: he did not go down easily. They pursued him across the quad and gardens. They pulled him down and fed, tore the rings from his fingers..." Her eyes went distant. "I want a riding in force. I'm taking all the veteran and elite units, bring the reserves to active duty and order them to coordinate with Lord Channadar's home guard units."

  "I assume we will proceed with scry wards raised?"

  "Yes, Kerr. Full battle array."

  My Dear Alysyn,

  It is with a
very heavy heart that I regret to inform you that your husband, Yukiah Woodbourne, is dead. Please bring your units to Havensword. I have no authority to order you, but please come, for the sake of his memory, if nothing else. Bring your units to Havensword. Before the prince died, he gave Isen in marriage to a fine Guildsmon, Captain Ceejorn Osterbridge. I hope that you may find some small comfort in that.

  Eshraf

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  MEETINGS

  The northwest garden was a charred ruin, but the servants and the guard managed by working together to prevent the fire from reaching the buildings. The smell of smoke permeated everything. The fire had flushed vampires and other creatures out into the open where the Guild, stalking the edges, brought them down. There were only three human deaths: Yukiah, Jarisse, and Lord Westli. The Guild had counted for fifteen vampires including Wrathscar's three daughters. Twenty-five burn cases were treated.

  Sha was utterly exhausted by the time she had finally been able to drop into her bed, and then was up again a few short hours later to attend a council meeting that Eshraf had called. He wanted her testimony. Sha refused to allow palace healers to treat Guildsmyn and vice-versa. She kept a cautious segregation of her patients because of her distrust of anyone associated with Galee. Eshraf had called a special session of the council. It had been a long night and it promised to be a longer day.

  She splashed water on her face from a basin and looked around the room. Even on the far side of the palace, soot and ash had blown in through her partially closed windows. She had not returned to Mohanja, but slept in her own quarters among the Guild healers. Sha wondered how long it would be before she stopped smelling the fire and burned flesh. Then she dressed in fresh clothes – she had fallen into bed in her clothing, too tired to care. Walking into the Great Central Hall, she found it crowded. The fire and the divine manifestations that had accompanied it had everyone agitated. The chamber was loud with voices trying to understand what had happened, trying to overcome their fears. Fear was by far the worst of it.

  Aramyn fell into step beside her. "Mohanja is asking a lot of questions."

  "I can't answer them, Aramyn. Not for you. Not for him. Not until Eshraf holds his meeting."

  Aramyn rubbed his chin. "So it's that way is it?"

  "Yes, it's that way. I was there for all of it. Nearly all. And that's why Eshraf wants me there."

  "They're saying Yukiah died last night."

  "I can't speak of anything until after the meeting." She picked up her pace, not wanting to be late.

  * * * *

  "Wrathscar," Galee growled sharply to get his attention as they strode down the corridor toward a small meeting room near the council chambers. He ignored her and she seized his sleeve, nearly ripping the fabric as she spun him around.

  "My daughters..." An unexpected thickness to his voice overlaid the old rage.

  "There is no way to prove those were Guild kills. But there are many ways to prove that your late daughters were vampires."

  "Galee..." His voice caught, his eyes avoided hers, and his shoulders slumped. "I was proud of them. They were everything that Bryndel and Belyla are not."

  Galee looked astonished. She had never suspected that he might have some real feelings for them. "Then act the grieving parent and keep your mouth shut. Let me do the talking. If you are asked a direct question, answer it briefly."

  "As you wish."

  "If you give them any reason to suspect us, we are dead." Then she walked on, leaving him to follow.

  He caught up with her easily. "You should have taken the bodies."

  "My people broke into the healers' chambers once too often. So they were taken to the Guild wing. My people and I cannot get past the wards."

  * * * *

  Mohanja had arrived first and watched as Eshraf swept into the council chambers well ahead of the scheduled meeting. Edouina walked beside him, and his eight well armed, battle-priests came along behind them. It had been years since Eshraf traveled the castle grounds alone, but it was a change to travel with a battle unit as his companions. Mohanja wondered where Yukiah was. When the summons to this special council concerning last night's events reached him from Eshraf with the Grand Master's seal on it, Mohanja had sent back that he wanted Yukiah present to speak for the training branch and vote Hanadi's proxy. So where was Yukiah? He especially wanted to know about all the weird phenomena that had occurred last night and frightened the entire palace, the earthquake that had ripped through, knocking down two of the spires.

  Eshraf eyed the atrocious tapestries in the chamber. "Take them down. Take them all down. Better bare walls on a cold day than look at those travesties." Then he went to the Grand Master's throne and sat in it.

  Edouina sat on the dais steps where Hanadi always sat with Brundarad. A sharp alarm ran through Mohanja. Yukiah was not coming. Edouina looked worn, her face tight, eyes red rimmed.

  Mohanja moved to the steps and sat down beside her. "Where is Yukiah?"

  "He's dead," she answered quietly. "Dynarien and Sha did everything they could, but he died."

  "When? How?"

  "Around midnight. Wait for Eshraf to tell it. He's going to announce it to the council. I'm taking Hanadi's place and another takes Yukiah's."

  That should have been Mohanja's choice, but he said nothing. They still did not fully trust him. "Is it true about the daughters?"

  "Yes. They were all three vampires. Lemyari," Edouina said, a grim, tightness to her voice.

  "Guild kills?"

  Edouina shrugged, glanced significantly at the servants removing the last of the offending tapestries, and signed, : Yes. :

  Mohanja settled on the step beside Yukiah, moving the crutch and his halberd onto the base behind him. Then he signed back. : How did you know? :

  : Philomea tried to take Yukiah in the Great Central Hall. :

  "Hah!" Mohanja snorted. : More vengeance for Yahni. And then he sobered abruptly, wondering if taking that vengeance was what had gotten his friend killed.

  : And the others. :

  The first of the councilors arrived, taking their places with uneasy looks at Eshraf on the throne. Galee and Wrathscar came in. Wrathscar settled into his place at the table with none of his usual displays. He folded his hands and laid his face into them. Galee started to mount the dais while glancing at Edouina, and Eshraf shook his head at her. "At the tables, please."

  Galee accepted the rebuff in silence, taking a seat beside Wrathscar. She patted his shoulders as if comforting a deeply grieving mon.

  People started to ask questions and Eshraf again shook his head. "Not until everyone is here," he said in the quiet, assertive, yet non-aggressive tones for which he was famous.

  Eshraf ordered the doors closed as soon as the room was filled, and allowed not a single guardsmyn inside. "The Grand Master is ill and has requested that I come in his stead. Last night three vampires and a lord who was trafficking with them were slain. We have no evidence to suggest that these were Guild kills."

  The Patriarch allowed that time to sink in. "Lord Westli and the three daughters of Lord Wrathscar are all dead. The West Wing has been filled to capacity with Lords, their families, and entourages who have come for the wedding. Soon we will have so many that they will be camping on the green. There are too many factions here for us to begin laying blame in an indiscriminate fashion.

  "Furthermore, as with all cases of undeath, it is difficult to precisely pinpoint the date of their original death and rising. There is a small room for error in Reading such things. However, having conducted the initial examination of their remains, I would estimate the time of their original death as having occurred around the time that Yahni Kjarten married Belyla Wrathscar."

  Lord Wrathscar's head came up. He stared at Eshraf, disbelieving. "They were married?"

  "Yes. I know that the enmity between your houses runs deep and, therefore, you might not have been privy to this information. Mikkal performed the ceremony and they were
planning to run away, fearing parental disapprobation."

  "Oh gods! Oh gods, Belyla ... my poor little Belyla." Wrathscar laid his face on his arms, his shoulders shaking.

  "Lord Wrathscar, while I understand your grief, I must ask you. Did you know your daughters were vampires?"

  Wrathscar sucked in a breath and lifted his head again. "No. Had I known, I would have freed their souls myself."

  "We can only suppose," Galee said. "Only suppose, that the vampire who nearly murdered your son also turned your daughters."

  "Why would anyone visit such grief upon my house? I had five children and now I have only one."

  "I assure you, Lord Wrathscar, I will do everything in my power to stop these monsters and keep your son alive." Galee ran her gaze around the room, as if daring anyone to question her statement, including Eshraf.

  A chill breeze out of nowhere passed through, drawn by the scent of vengeance and treachery. It touched each of the councilors in turn, making them start in their seats and glance to see where it came from. The breeze of the spirit's passage avoided Eshraf, Edouina, and Mohanja to gather itself for a moment in the corner farthest from them and then passed through the walls in search of prey.

  "Other news, Edouina Hornbow is now interim lord lieutenant to the Grand Master in charge of training to the Guild voting Hanadi's proxy. Captain Ceejorn Osterbridge, husband of Yukiah Woodbourne's daughter Isen, is armsmaster. Last night Yukiah Woodbourne was murdered just outside the doors to the Guild-student dormitories in the gardens. Two students found him. One of them was his daughter, Isen St. Jon Dulac. Our Beloved Grand Master has made these appointments out of his deep love and reverence for his slain armsmaster who served him so faithfully and long. It is felt that the manifestations of divine anger last night were in response to Yukiah's murder."