by Duncan Lay
“There was only two men out there. No doubt they think that is more than enough to watch three old ducks like us and a flock of children,” Nola said. “Each group of our people came with more guards, but that won’t be a problem in the night. The doors are locked from the outside and they are big enough and heavy enough that we could not break through them. That means they are relying on the lock alone. If we can get the key, we are home and free.”
“Maybe we could wait until they are praying at dusk, then lean out of the windows and drop something on them, then one of the older boys could climb down a rope we make by tying sheets together, get the key and let us all out,” Riona suggested.
“That sounds like many things could go wrong,” Bridgit said gently. “And there’s still the little matter of finding all our other people and getting them to the docks, then getting a ship and getting out of here, all without raising an alarm.”
“But we are getting closer to a way out, aren’t we?” Nola asked.
“Piece by piece,” Bridgit agreed. “But we have to be really confident. If it goes wrong, the punishment will be terrible. Death may be easier for all of us.”
She could see their shoulders slump but reached out to embrace them both. “We shall find a way. We just have to keep our eyes open and our wits sharp. In the meantime we need to decide what to do about Ely. And maybe all this is for nothing. Fallon and the men could turn up at any moment. I have a feeling that they are getting close.”
CHAPTER 3
“I need you all to listen,” Fallon said heavily.
There was no room big enough for all of them, so they were crowded into the long corridor and clustered in doorways. He could not see everyone but at least they could hear him.
He could see Kerrin and Caley standing close, next to Padraig, and had to look away. What would his son think of him after this?
“Prince Cavan is dead,” he said.
He waited while the shock rippled through them, only waving his hands for silence as they began to shout questions and demand answers. “We thought we had won when we captured Swane. But the King is the one really behind all this. When the Prince refused to keep quiet, Aidan lured Cavan into a trap and then tricked me into thinking I was loosing at Swane when it was Cavan. It was my crossbow bolt that killed him.”
This time there was just shocked silence, until it was broken by a hoarse voice from the back. “Then we’re dead men and our families are gone for ever.”
Fallon could not deny that, although he could feel many of them willing him to. “We are prisoners here now and have to do what the King wants. If we cause no trouble, he has promised to get our families back.”
“And you believe that?”
Fallon turned to face Sister Rosaleen. “We have no choice,” he said roughly. “It is that or be killed.”
Even as he spoke, they all heard hammering at the door.
“What in Aroaril’s name is going on?” Brendan cried.
“I would say they are locking us in, so we can only leave when they want,” Fallon said dully.
Devlin was the first to break the silence. “And if the King does not keep his word? Are we to sit here and wait for slaughter, like sheep in the butcher’s yard?”
“They are watching us. If we try to break out, most of us will die,” Fallon said. “Our only hope is to make them think we believe the King. Then we have a chance.”
“That’s it? Trust that a mad King will keep his word and not kill us all in our sleep?” someone cried.
“We’re still alive now, aren’t we? Regan could have killed me, Brendan and Gallagher in the garden, while Kelty’s men could have brought Devlin and the others back dead, then hunted the rest of you through these rooms. They want us alive for a reason.”
Rosaleen sighed heavily. “That is what I am most afraid of. If King Aidan has a secret purpose for us, then it cannot be good.”
Fallon shook his head. “What else do you expect me to offer you? I cannot see a way out of this. If any of you can, then speak now.”
He could feel their despair and frustration but none had a miracle way out of this hole he had dug them into.
“I am sorry. More sorry than I can say. I will do everything I can to fix it. But, until we can work out a way to freedom, we need to get some rest. There is nothing else to do.”
“Nothing else to do? We should break out of here and take the ship back and get out of here!” someone shouted at the back.
“And how many of us would make it? They are waiting for that. We have to be patient. They made fools of us, made an idiot and, worse, a traitor, of me. Unless we can be smarter than them we shall end up dead. But while there is life, there is hope.”
He hated the words and he could see they didn’t like them either. But what could any of them do?
The men slowly shuffled into the rooms, moving beds aside to lay blankets on the floor for those who had come from the ship. Few looked at him, and then only to glare angrily. He took it all, knowing he deserved it.
Finally he was left with his friends, Kerrin and Caley, Padraig and Rosaleen. He patted Kerrin on the shoulder. “Head to our room lad, I shall be there soon,” he said.
“What now?” Devlin asked.
“I need a drink,” Fallon said, leading the way into Cavan’s old room. It looked just like they had left it that day to go and see the Moneylenders Guild. It felt like Cavan could walk out at any moment and that was a knife to the heart.
While they pulled out chairs around Cavan’s table, he poured them a glass of wine.
“To the Prince,” he said.
As the others raised their glasses he drank his down in one mouthful, the thick wine burning the back of his throat. He poured himself another.
“Go easy on that,” Brendan said. “You don’t normally drink.”
Fallon took another huge swallow and then brought the flagon to the table with him. “I don’t normally kill Princes and friends either,” he said, thumping the flagon onto the table. “So tonight I feel like drinking, what of it? Maybe I don’t want to think about what awaits me in my nightmares.”
His friends looked at the table, all except Padraig, who reached out and grabbed his wrist.
“Don’t,” Padraig said. “It is not your friend. I should know. Once you start down that path it is a long way back. And we need you now. Your son needs you and Bridgit needs you.”
Fallon pulled his arm back, expecting to break the old man’s grip easily, but Padraig held on doggedly. “You think we are the only ones playing this game? There is another side here, maybe more than one side, and they are all playing to win as well. So we have lost this round. We have lost the Prince and that is a bitter, bitter blow. He was a fine man and the hope of us all. But we are still in the game. At stake is not just our families but our souls, so for Aroaril’s sake, Bridgit’s sake and our sake, put down the wine my son and let’s work out what we do next.”
Fallon laughed harshly. “What do we do next? We wait and see if Aidan wants to kill us, or torture us first. We put our trust in a madman who’s in league with Zorva. What else is there to do?”
Padraig dragged the goblet and wine out of Fallon’s reach. “Think about why the King has kept us alive.”
“It has to do with the Kottermani visit,” Gallagher said. “They want us silent until then. And, I guess, all the people too.”
“Yes,’ said Rosaleen. ‘The Kottermanis are said to be very religious. If the people of Berry realized Zorva had corrupted the King, there would uproar. If the Kottermanis heard that we were allowing worship of Zorva they might invade to stop it. They pray to Aroaril three times a day, not just once every quarter moon, like we do. To a Kottermani, Zorva worship would be a terrible threat.”
“What does any of this matter?” Fallon demanded. ‘Our families are trapped and now we are too.”
“So we just give in to despair?” Padraig challenged. “You got us into the mess, true enough. But you can get us out of it
as well.”
Fallon shook his head. “How? You would be better off praying to Aroaril for answers.”
He could not stand the pity in their faces. He would have welcomed anger but sympathy was more than he could bear.
“I am going to bed. Maybe the solution will come to me in a dream,” he snarled.
Behind, he could hear them muttering. Probably blaming him. He left them to it.
*
Fallon pushed open the door to his room. The wine was sitting sour in his stomach, but the knowledge of what he had done weighed heavier. Although he might be able to throw up the wine, the guilt would never leave him. He wished he could close his eyes and have this nightmare all over, or at least get Cavan back again.
“Dad, what is happening? What was everyone talking about?” Kerrin asked, sitting on the bed with his arm around Caley.
Fallon could not answer. He had no words left. He looked down at Kerrin, whose expression said he knew his dad had all the answers.
He sat down next to Kerrin and wrapped his arm around his son’s shoulders. Caley ducked her head under his other arm, nudging him in the chest with her nose, her tail swishing against his back.
“So Dad, what is your plan? What will we do now?”
He could not answer. He just buried his face in the top of his son’s head and held him close, like a drowning man clutching onto a piece of wood.
“Dad, what is it?” Kerrin asked, his voice quiet but fearful. “Can I help?”
Fallon almost laughed then, a strangled grunt of a sound. “I wish you could. But nobody can help me, and nothing can fix the mess I’ve made,” he said thickly. “Now we have to go to sleep.”
“That’s not true. You need to talk. That’s what Mam would say.”
So Fallon, as coldly and carefully as he could, explained how thoroughly they were trapped and how he had no idea of a way out.
He could feel Kerrin’s eyes widen as he spoke but his son said nothing, only reaching around to hug him.
Fallon could not sit up any longer and laid back on the bed. Instantly Kerrin lay down beside him,
“I am sorry, son,” Fallon said. “All my life I have tried to do the right thing, live by the laws and now I have killed our Prince, the man who was going to help get Mam back.”
“It just means you have to get Mam back, not the Prince.”
Fallon looked up at his son but Kerrin’s face was completely serious. He sighed. How could he have been so stupid? How could he not see that was Cavan down there? Why did he trust the King? There were so many moments when he could have changed things, so many bad decisions he had made. If he had only seen what was happening, he could have sent his bolt through King Aidan and now Cavan would be King. All would be right with the world. Instead he had plunged them into chaos and darkness.
“You can do it, Dad, I know you can. You can do anything,” Kerrin said.
That was the last straw.
The tears came. He cried for himself and his family, for Cavan and for Gaelland. He cried for the mistake he had made, for his foolishness, his arrogance, and because he hated himself almost as much as he hated Aidan.
“I am sorry, son,” he said thickly. “I have let you down. I’m not worthy of you.”
“Don’t say that, Dad!” Kerrin begged, and Fallon saw his son’s eyes fill with tears.
“It is true,” he insisted. “Before this, when Mam was in charge of you, I didn’t see you properly. There were many times I wished you were stronger or faster, or that your mam would let me do something to change you. Yet you did not kill your friend, the Crown Prince and the hope of this country. I am sorry, son. I let us all down, and it is my fault if we don’t get mam back. You would have done better with another dad.”
“No!” Kerrin cried, the tears streaming down his face now too. “You are the best dad and the only one I want. And we will get Mam back. We will! You made a mistake but you were tricked. You tell me all the time not to give up after one mistake. You can’t give up. You can’t!”
Fallon hugged his son close.
“Don’t give up on me and Mam. We need you,” Kerrin whispered. “And once you get her back, everything will be all right again.”
Fallon feared that was no longer true. That nothing could be put right or go back to the way it used to be. But he closed his eyes and tried to find some sleep.
*
Cavan stood there with the crossbow quarrel jutting out of his chest, dripping blood.
“I am sorry! It was me. I was the bastard who killed you and I deserve to die. Let me go in your place – take me instead!” Fallon pleaded. The anguish filled him, poisoning him.
Cavan said nothing, just turned away with a sad look on his face.
“I will avenge you. I will. And I don’t care what it costs! I will die to bring you peace!” The words seemed to release something inside and the anguish drained away.
Cavan disappeared from view and Fallon awoke with a start. His heart was pounding but he felt more at peace. The answer was obvious. He had to kill Swane and Aidan. And if it cost him his life, then it was no more than he deserved. With them dead, the others would be free to sail for Kotterman. Padraig would watch over Kerrin until they had Bridgit and all would be well. He closed his eyes again. He would see Cavan and beg his forgiveness, then take whatever punishment he deserved.
CHAPTER 4
“I think I’m pregnant,” Bridgit said softly.
“Very funny, Bridge! We can always rely on you to say something to give us a laugh at the end of the day.” Riona smiled. “I never knew you had it in you. You’ll be giving Dev a run for his money before long!”
Nola chuckled too but Bridgit did not smile and, slowly, the grins faded off her friends’ faces.
“What, you are serious?” Nola gasped.
“I am. But I wish I wasn’t,” Bridgit said, her voice barely a whisper. The fear had been growing within her, to the point where she had to say something. But saying it did not make it go away.
“Why do you think you are pregnant?” Riona hissed.
“Well, unless the moon has changed since we came here, I’m late. And I’m never late unless I’m pregnant,” Bridgit said simply. “My appetite has gone as well and I cannot abide the sight nor smell of meat. That always happens too.”
“You don’t know that. You’ve never been in Kotterman before. This is not normal. We are not eating right and with everything else that is happening—” Nola said instantly.
“I know this is not Baltimore!” Bridgit snapped. “But I think I know my own body after all these summers!”
“Well, that might be it as well. You’re not as young as you were,” Riona said gently. “Maybe it is your change in life happening.”
Bridgit shook her head. “Why are you working so hard to persuade me that I am mad and imagining things?” she demanded.
Riona and Nola looked at each other and then Nola reached out to take Bridgit’s hand. “Because we know what you’ve been through before and what this could mean.”
Riona took her other hand. “And because were relying on you to get us out of here and get us home.”
Bridgit could feel the tears threatening to burst through the barriers she had put up after that fateful night back at Baltimore. Once she would have let them through. But she forced them back with an effort of will. “I know,” she said. “I know what it all means and that is why I have been struggling to sleep these last few nights. They have churches here and they are always praying, but will a Kottermani priest want to save the baby of a slave like me?”
“You don’t know you are going to lose this one,” Nola said firmly.
Bridgit had to clench her teeth to stop herself from howling. “I have lost all the others. What makes you think I can keep this one?”
“Because you are not the same Bridgit,” Riona said.
“What are you talking about?” Bridgit snorted. “Look at me, it is the same person.”
“Not inside,�
�� Nola said. “We’ve all seen it. It’s as if they left your fears or something behind when they took you.”
Now it was Bridgit’s turn to reach out and hold her friend’s hand. “But I am afraid,” she whispered. “Afraid I shall let you all down.”
They embraced her then and again she had to work at keeping her tears in check.
Her friends drew back and she could see they were examining her closely. But it was as usual easy enough to keep her thoughts from her face. “Come now. Let’s talk of something else. Like what are we going to do about Ely?”
“I wonder what her story is,” Nola said. “How did she come to speak Gaelish? Does that mean there are more of our people here?”
“Who knows? But I can’t trust her yet. The question is, did Gokmen put her in with us so we could talk to the guards or did Prince Kemal order her put in with us, to act as a spy and report back if we plan to do anything. I want to think they look down on us and see us as broken but I worry they are too clever for that. But you are right, we should at least pretend to be her friend: she might let something slip. And make sure the children try to play with her. Most people cannot resist children and that will tell us if she is a friend or not. If she ignores the kids or sends them away then we know she is not with us.”
“And our plan to escape?”
“I need some more time to think about it,” Bridgit lied easily. “Come on now. We need to get some sleep. Who knows when the crying will start?”
They lay back on the thin mattresses, which were stuffed with something strange and lumpy, and wrapped thin sheets around their shoulders. That was just one of the many strange things about this land. The idea of going to sleep without a fire or a blanket was strange, and yet neither of those things was needed there.
Bridgit made sure her breathing was slow and even, knowing her friends were listening for that. But her mind bounced from fear to fear.
Things had seemed so simple just a few days ago. She’d had terrible things to worry about, but they were all new worries and they could all be faced and fought. Now an old enemy had come from her past to terrorize her again.
