by Duncan Lay
He tried to urge them out and towards the front door but the first woman grabbed his hand and kissed it.
“Thank you! Aroaril bless you!” she sobbed.
Fallon smiled awkwardly at her, at the others who were all nodding and smiling through the tears. “I shall search the house for any sign of your children,” he announced.
So while Gallagher and Devlin helped the women and children out, Fallon and Brendan checked the rest of the house out, finding nothing interesting, although the smith knocked holes in every wall.
He would have liked to spend more time checking but a look out a window told him the crowd outside was becoming bigger by the moment and he wanted to get off the streets before something else happened.
The smaller children and some of the women were loaded into the cart, the bodies of the snatchers pushed hard up against the headboard.
“We need to get Padraig and Rosaleen to look at these,” he told Gallagher. “I don’t know if it was wizard magic or blood magic but something had been done to those men.”
The fisherman grimaced. “When I was moving the bodies, I saw they had had their tongues cut out,” he said.
Fallon did not like the sound of that. It said, whoever these snatchers were, they took orders rather than gave them.
“Conor,” he asked the man at the front. “Did you hear anyone speaking to them? Did they give you any idea of what they wanted with you?”
Conor shook his head. “We heard nothing. They did not like noise and we were scared to do more than whisper for fear they would kill our children. When they wanted us to do something, they grabbed a child and held a knife by their throat, then used hand signals to tell us what to do.” His face twisted as he remembered and fresh tears appeared in his eyes.
Fallon patted him on the back. “You are safe now, away from them. And we shall do all we can to find your missing children,” he promised.
Conor hugged his wife, looking incapable of talking any more.
Around them the crowd was getting restless, some demanding to know what was going on, others cheering as each family was brought out.
“What are we going to do with them?” Brendan asked.
Fallon looked around the crowd, guessing their numbers at over a thousand.
“Let’s use them against the King,” he said. “Give me a hand up.”
The smith helped him stand on the side of the cart so he could see the crowd and also be seen by them. He waved his hands until they quieted down, wishing he had Padraig there to help him.
“We have found the lair of the child snatchers, the ones who have been taking children and blaming it on witches,” he shouted, his voice booming off the houses and echoing down the street. “They are dead and you are safe!”
The crowd roared its approval in waves, those at the front passing the message on to those at the back, and he had to wait for them to quiet down.
“We have freed the families they had taken!”
Again they cheered him.
“Now we go to show them to our beloved King. Come along and hear how our great city of Berry is now safe!”
They bellowed their joy and, when Fallon jumped down, they fell in behind the cart and followed.
*
The crowd grew as they walked through the city, until there were thousands flowing in from the surrounding streets and filling the square in front of the castle. It seemed as if half of Berry was there and the guards on the gate looked terrified when Fallon ordered the cart stopped in front of them.
“What is going on?” their officer cried.
Fallon smiled to himself when he saw it was Quinn again. Kelty might have been a more difficult proposition. “We have killed the child snatchers and freed the families they had taken,” he announced loudly. “The people need to see us present this to the King.”
Quinn’s eyes bulged at the thought. “Send them away! Or bring that cart in and let us shut the gates. The King will lose his mind if he sees this crowd gathered here!” he cried.
Fallon jumped down and stepped close to Quinn, seeing several familiar faces behind him, guards he had led into Killarney. But he did not reveal that. “The crowd has grown too big. We cannot send them away. But I have told them the King wants to tell them they are safe and the danger is over. They are happy and excited, ready to cheer King Aidan. Go and tell the King what is happening. If he is angered, then it will be my fault. But if you send them away, they will grow angry. And it will be your head on the block then,” he said kindly, as if explaining something obvious to a young child.
“But I am ordered never to leave my post!” Quinn whimpered.
“I shall stand it for you. Do you not trust me?”
Quinn gulped and Fallon stepped aside, showing him the size of the crowd, which was growing every moment as more people rushed down to see what was happening.
“Go and get the King before it gets ugly,” he advised. “You can tell him I ordered you to so do, using Prince Cavan’s seal as my authority.”
Quinn still looked reluctant, so Fallon grabbed his shoulder and turned him around. “Quick man! Before it gets out of control! Go now, while you still have a head on your shoulders!”
That was the final straw for Quinn and he raced away.
Fallon watched him go for a few moments and turned to the squad of men barring the gates.
“Bran, good to see you.” He nodded to the black-bearded guardsman he had tricked and knocked down, then winked at Casey, the nervous young guardsman he had kept by his side at Killarney. “How have you been, lads?”
“Well, sir.” Bran nodded with a smile. “Are there any places in the Prince’s guard for the likes of us? We’d rather serve with you.”
“I’ll have to ask the Prince,” Fallon said with a smile covering the pain those words gave him. “But I would be proud to have you lads under my command again.” That part, at least, was not a lie. And if he could get at least some of Kelty’s men over to his side, it could only help.
“Just say the word, sir, and we’ll be with you,” Bran declared, most of the other guards nodding their approval.
“Good work, lads. Now we’d better keep quiet. For the King will be here any moment and he doesn’t allow talking on duty,” Fallon said with a wink.
“Sarge, did you really catch the snatchers?” Casey asked.
“It’s Captain now,” Fallon said. “And yes, we caught them and killed them.”
“How did—?”
“Better wait for the King,” Fallon told him gently.
He expected it to be quite a wait but the King appeared, followed by a handful of nobles, Finbar, Kynan, an angry-looking Captain Kelty and a swarm of guards, including a worried-looking Quinn.
Fallon glanced across to Gallagher, who nodded. If the King planned yet more treachery then the crossbows were hidden in the cart and they could at least take the bastard with them.
He could feel his heart beating faster as the King strode nearer – but found himself relaxing when he saw the huge smile on his face.
“Captain Fallon!” King Aidan exclaimed loudly. “You have done what many said was impossible, caught these servants of the witches!”
Fallon had to stop himself taking a pace backwards, as the King showed no sign of stopping. More than that, Aidan walked up and embraced him. Fallon stiffened in revulsion as the King’s arms went around him, then tensed, wondering if he was about to feel a knife going in, but the King merely patted him on the back and then released him.
“Show me these bodies, and the families you rescued,” he said enthusiastically.
Bemused, Fallon took him over to the cart, where the children jumped down and awkwardly bowed alongside their parents. Aidan ignored them for the moment, instead wanting to see the bodies of the snatchers.
“Brilliant. You used staff and hammer to kill them, when no sharp weapons would work,” he said approvingly. “I was right. You are the man for these times.”
Fallon was not sure wh
at he meant by that and was horribly reminded of the last time the King had wanted something from him.
But Aidan said no more, instead turning to the families and greeting them, shaking hands and patting shoulders.
“Thank you, sire,” Conor said in a rasping voice.
“Don’t thank me. You are safe now thanks to Captain Fallon,” he told them.
Once he had gone down the line, he turned back to those who had followed him out of the throne room. “Finbar, I need to be heard by the crowd,” he called out to the King’s Wizard.
“You will now, sire,” the wizard announced.
Fallon nodded to his friends. Anything could happen now. Gallagher leaned nonchalantly against the cart, right where their loaded crossbows sat, while Fallon let his hand fall naturally to the hilt of his dagger.
“People of Berry!” King Aidan called, his voice booming right across the crowd and silencing their chatter. “I have glad tidings for you! These servants of the witches, who had stolen children and families from their very beds, who had terrified you all, are now dead! Killed by Captain Fallon, the leader of my son’s guards!”
Aidan paused as the crowd cheered, thundering their approval.
“Fallon has rescued the families taken by these servants of the witches and saved them from a terrible fate! He is a hero and I thank him!”
Again the pause for cheering and Fallon looked over at his friends. Gallagher shrugged, while Brendan and Devlin looked bewildered.
Aidan strode back to his side and raised Fallon’s arm in the air. “Wave to them. You are the hero both they and I need,” he said softly.
Fallon’s head was whirling. What madness was this?
“Remember the name of Captain Fallon! He is a man to trust and a man to follow!” the King roared and the crowd shouted back their joy at him.
“You can sleep safe in your beds tonight, thanks to Captain Fallon! Now go home, tell your children and your friends what has happened here, and how you are free of the witches! Go now, spread the word!”
The crowd howled its approval, then began to slip away, melting back to whatever they were doing before.
“A very good day’s work, Captain,” King Aidan said, in a normal voice now, patting Fallon on the shoulder. “Not only killing the snatchers but freeing the families.”
“Just doing my duty, sire,” Fallon said, feeling he had to say something.
“It shows me I was right to choose you. And the people will remember what you did here. I shall make sure of it. Your men already do whatever you say. Soon the others will also,” the King said, much softer this time.
Before Fallon could recover from his astonishment, the King turned away and strode over to Conor and the rest of the families. “Regan!” Aidan shouted. “Where are you, man?”
The chamberlain appeared at the King’s side, seemingly from nowhere.
“Make sure these people each receive a gold coin,” he ordered.
“Your will, sire,” Regan said with a small bow.
“Sire, thank you,” Conor said, taking a step forwards; Kelty took a step forwards of his own.
Aidan waved off the thanks.
“But sire,” Conor persisted. “What of our missing children?”
Aidan paused. “You must prepare yourself for the worst there,” he said sadly. “But, if they still live, then I am sure Captain Fallon will find them.”
Fallon blinked at being brought in again, but Aidan said no more and strode back into the castle, Kelty at his shoulder, his face making it clear that the conversation was now at an end.
Fallon looked around the rapidly emptying square and wondered what to do now. Almost before he had finished that thought, Regan was in front of him.
“Good work, Captain. The King is very pleased with you. Quinn’s men will dispose of the bodies and you are free to return to your rooms. If the King needs you again, he will call on you,” the chamberlain said.
“These bodies need to be examined. Dark magic was used on them,” Fallon said. “I want Padraig and Rosaleen—”
“We shall have Archbishop Kynan and the King’s Wizard Finbar look at them,” Regan interrupted. “They will report to the King.”
Fallon saw Conor and the other families being given money and turning for their old homes and decided he’d had enough of this. There were many questions but here was not the place to discuss them.
“Come on, lads,” he waved, “our job is done.”
*
The rest of the villagers were waiting for them back in the rooms and cheered them in, Rosaleen rushing to see that Devlin was healed. Fallon took their congratulations and felt their relief and it was some time before they could get away to try and work out what had happened.
“What do you make of that?” he asked.
His friends looked back blankly, none obviously able to say.
“Aidan’s mad, obviously,” Devlin said.
Brendan grinned at his friend. “Good to hear you have your humor back, Dev!” he said.
Devlin stared at him. “What are you talking about? I was serious. The King is mad. Who knows why he does anything?”
“It is not that easy,” Padraig said. “But it was obviously an elaborate trap. Or perhaps we should say test. Kelty’s men chase you into the snatchers’ arms but you turn the tables and return triumphant. Instead of killing you, he celebrates it. To me, it looks as if he is setting Fallon up as the man to lead an army against the Kottermani.”
“But why Fallon – why us?” Devlin asked. “How could Aidan think we would do what he wants?”
“Aroaril knows. But if he does start a war, where does that leave our families? On the wrong side and not coming back,” Fallon growled.
That silenced everyone.
“So what in Aroaril’s name do we do?” Brendan asked finally.
“I won’t lead an army for him,” Fallon said. “I will not be remembered as a man who slaughtered more of our people than at the battle of Caragh Lake.”
“But having an army that obeys you may be a good thing,” Padraig pointed out.
Fallon rubbed his face. “Maybe. But I don’t trust anything he does or says. I have to get into his rooms. We have to find out what he is doing. And I am going to try it during the next dinner he has planned with his nobles. We all know what they will be doing for most of the night.”
“It is not safe,” Rosaleen warned.
“Nothing is. But if we don’t get to the heart of what is going on soon, we might as well cut our own throats before the King does it for us.”
Nobody disagreed with him – and then someone knocked on the door.
Devlin opened it to reveal a grizzled fisherman called Donnchadh.
“You’re not going to believe this, but Regan’s at the door again,” he said apologetically.
*
Fallon took a seat across from the King, keeping his face as blank as he could. He felt like a puppet on Aidan’s string – but until he got the chance to cut the strings and turn the knife on the puppet master, he had to play along. Regan had given him nothing but a scroll telling him to meet with the King at first light. Understandably he had not slept much and now his nerves felt scraped tight, as he prepared to hear what strange game Aidan wanted to play this time.
“Since your fight with the Moneylenders Guild I have been obviously hunting them down,” Aidan said conversationally, leaning back in his deep, padded chair. “You will be pleased to know that most of their leaders have been arrested or killed and their funds have been seized by the Crown. In time a new Moneylenders Guild will be created and the rights to lend money auctioned off. But, for now, the Bankers Guild has taken over their duties, in exchange for a modest fee.”
Fallon nodded, wondering why he was being told this. The Guild deserved to be punished for their treachery and alliance with Swane, but surely they were just operating secretly for Aidan?
“But that is not the real problem,” Aidan continued. “We have discovered that
the remnants of the army the Guild used to attack you have returned there. They now lurk there, perhaps as many as a hundred of them.”
Fallon sat up straighter at that. The Guild bashers and thieves had been bad enough when they attacked but when some had been turned into undead monsters by Swane and his Fearpriest …
Aidan nodded. “Yes, you see the problem as well as I. They are doing nothing, just sitting there. But what if they realize they have nothing to lose and start attacking the people? So we must destroy them before that happens. I want you to do it.”
“Me, sire? But my men—” Fallon began.
“Not just your men. I will give you an equal number of my guards to lead in there as well. With your force doubled, then you will have no problem,” Aidan continued. “Here are your orders. You may select your own men. Captain Kelty has been told to give you only the ones you ask for. Clean out this nest of vipers for me, Captain Fallon.”
“Yes, sire,” Fallon said stiffly.
“You will need all your men but I fear it will be too dangerous for your son. Make sure you leave him behind, with perhaps three or four trusted men to look after him,” Aidan said thoughtfully.
Fallon bowed, to give himself the time to get his face under control. The message was unmistakable. Try to run away and Kerrin would pay. Threaten my son, you bastard? I’ll rip your bogging head off! he screamed inside his head. But the guards were close behind him and he had no weapon.
“A sensible idea, sire,” he said.
*
“So this is how he is going to kill us,” Devlin asked.
“I don’t think so. Or why would he let me choose who I took from his ranks?” Fallon pointed out. “It is another game of his. He might be testing us but we can come out of it alive. And, after today, I want those guards to fight for me, not for Aidan. He thinks we will just keep playing along with him. Not for much longer.”
“Well, then get the city on to our side,” Gallagher said.
Fallon pushed a smiled onto his face and waved to the crowd that was following them, a crowd that was still growing.
Fallon had picked out the guards swiftly, making sure he chose all the ones who went in with him at Killarney and getting Bran and Casey to help him select the rest, making sure that Kelty’s favorites and the lazy and useless were left behind at the castle. Then he equipped everyone with crossbows, dressed his own men in surcoats and made sure half of them had barrels of lamp oil. If these renegade Bashers and thieves could not be killed in the normal manner, he would be ready.
