D&D - Mystara - Penhaligon Trilogy 02

by The Dragon's Tomb - Heinrich, D. J (v1. 1)

  A rumbling commotion had begun behind Jo, and as she looked over to see its cause, the crowd shifted, and a stream of villagers pressed toward her. Shouts broke out in the crowd, redoubling into a roaring tumult. Jos eyes went wide as she saw that Brisbois was held in the hands of the throng. They had dragged him from the mule, kicking and bellowing—dragged him through the churning crowd. Only as they reached the side ofjo s horse could she discern what they were shouting.

  “Kill him now!” they cried. “Kill him now!” Wyrmblight, still raised in the raking wind, seemed to tremble wTith anticipation in Jo s hands as the people lifted Brisbois up toward her. The gem in her belt-pouch was hot, as though aflame, and a small voice in the back of her skull seemed to say Kill the traitor, Jo. Kill him as you have wanted to these many months. It was not the sword speaking, she knew, but the vengeance sounded sweet indeed.

  “Kill him now! Kill him now.”

  Jos grip on the sword faltered, and the blade fell toward the shackled form. A hand, strong as iron, clamped onto her fist and raised the sword before it struck home. Wideeyed, Jo blanched as she saw Sir Graybow’s granite features next to hers. He sat on horseback beside her, having pushed his way to her through the mob. His very presence quieted the crowd.

  “That, my dear,” he said, his voice devoid of warmth, “is enough of that.”

  Johauna, Braddoc, and Graybow hurried down the long halls of the Castle of the Three Suns, escorting Brisbois among them. The two guards who had met the trio at the gate followed them, making sure Brisbois would have no opportunity to escape. Graybow had not said another word to Jo from the time they had cleared the mob, and Jo felt chagrined by his silence. She wasn’t going to kill Brisbois, she told herself, it was just a story that had gotten out of hand. Jo winced as a slight misstep jarred her bruised rib, despite the tight wrap Braddoc had applied to it. And her injuries were nothing next to Brisbois’s. The day in the saddle had obviously aggravated the knight’s wounds. His face was a mixture of purple bruises and pale fatigue, and he clenched his teeth against the pain. Brisbois glanced back balefiilly at Jo, then fixed his eyes once more on the hallway.

  As they rapidly made their way through the corridors, Jo saw that many of the magical lanterns still hadn’t been repaired. She wondered how Arteris was handling the delinquent mages. The scattered torchlight lent an eerie look to some of the longer halls and in some areas the smoke collected and stung Jo’s eyes and nose. This was not the same glowing castle she and Flinn had entered some months before.

  Two guards stood outside the meeting room entrance. One turned and threw open the doors as Jo and Braddoc approached. The guard announced in a clear, strong voice, “Your Ladyship, Castellan Graybow escorts Squire Menhir, Master Briarblood, and Sir Brisbois to your council chambers.” The guard bowed and stepped aside.

  Graybow, Jo, Braddoc, Brisbois, and the two guards behind them entered the room. The entire council was assembled, and the visitors’ entrance had apparently interrupted some meeting. Jo noticed that three of the castle’s four magicians were also in the room, sitting before the council members as if to give a report.

  The chamber’s heavy doors closed with a bang. Jo and Braddoc stepped forward, Brisbois reluctantly doing the same. The two guards took up positions behind the knight.

  The mages and all fifteen members of the council turned to face Jo. Baroness Penhaligon rose and demanded, “Your report, Squire Menhir!”

  “Master Briarblood and I intended to journey to the village of Rifllian, where we had been told Master Brisbois was hiding,” Jo began stiffly, trying to be succinct. Still embarrassed that her overblown account had gone awry, Jo wanted to avoid a rambling report. “We stopped in Kelvin at the end of a day’s ride. While there, we came across Master Brisbois being beaten by three thugs—”

  “You and Master Briarblood are not responsible for the knight’s condition?” Sir Graybow broke in.

  “No, sir,” Jo said quickly. She saw the castellan’s little nod of relief.

  “Continue, Squire Menhir,” Arteris said. She took her seat at the table.

  “We rescued Master Brisbois from the thugs; we killed two, but the third escaped.” Jo turned to look at Brisbois, but the knight refused to meet her gaze. “Sir Brisbois claims to have been made a pawn, kidnapped by Teryl Auroch. He was given a note, which I am afraid I no longer have in my possession. Master Briarblood will confirm that the note bore the sigil of Auroch.”

  “Is this true, Master Briarblood?” Sir Graybow inquired.

  The dwarf nodded. “Sir Brisbois says it was the mage’s sigil—a curved line, like the horns of a bull.”

  “That is the sigil,” the castellan replied. “We will accept this by the honor of your people.” A nodded again, a slight smile on his lips.

  Jo continued: “The note told Master Brisbois to meet the mage at a certain time and place—”

  “A time and place in which you discovered I was being beaten to death,” Brisbois interrupted harshly.

  Arteris pounded her fist against the table. “Quiet, Mas- ter Brisbois! You will have your say. This is a court of honor—despite those who still pretend to possess it.” Arteris pointedly eyed the stained midnight-blue tunic Brisbois still wore. “Continue, Squire Menhir,” the baroness said.

  “It is true that we found Master Brisbois at the time and place indicated on the note,” Jo said. “And it is true that we saw no sign of Auroch. Master Brisbois says he has no love for Teryl Auroch—”

  “We will let the man speak for himself, Squire Menhir,” Arteris interrupted testily. “Continue with what you know to be true.”

  Johauna nodded. “We returned to our inn, tended to Master Brisbois’s w'ounds, and rode out this morning.”

  Sir Graybow glanced at Brisbois and said, “Did Master Brisbois give you any indication that he did not want to return to the Castle of the Three Suns? Did he try to escape last night or today?”

  Jo did not want to answer the question: she knew it would lend credence to Brisbois’s claim of his hatred of Auroch. She wanted Brisbois punished at any cost, but knew that she must answer truthfully.

  “No, Sir Graybow, Master Brisbois did not resist us in any way” Jo hesitated. She was about to add, “But he was in no condition to do so,” but Sir Graybow held up his hand for silence.

  “Thank you, Squire Menhir” the castellan said. He gave Jo a warning glance, and suddenly Jo was glad she hadn’t made the petty qualifier to her statement.

  Sir Graybow nodded to one of the guards, w ho left for a moment to bring in three extra chairs. “Please take a seat, Squire Menhir and Master Briarblood,” the castellan said gruffly. “I’m sure sitting is the last thing you w^ant to do after a day in the saddle, but perhaps you can rest a bit while we finish today’s proceedings.”

  Jo sat gratefully, taking care to position Wyrmblight between two of the chairs. Beside her, Braddoc sat, too. He gave a tiny sigh of relief that only Jo heard. She smiled inwardly.

  Silence fell in the room as everyone waited for Arteris to speak. She folded her hands on the table before her and fixed Brisbois with her agate-brown eyes. They were hard and stony and inflexible, without an ounce of mercy in them. Sir Graybow had told Jo that the baroness was growing more and more like old Baron Arturus every day, and her present mood seemed to support the claim.

  “Do you know why we sent Squire Menhir and Master Briarblood after you, Master Brisbois?” Arteris asked calmly.

  Brisbois was caught off guard. “Ex-excuse me, Your Ladyship?” he asked.

  “Do you know why you were brought here?”

  Brisbois s puffy face took on an impassive cast. “No, Your Ladyship, I do not ” Brisbois obviously could not meet the womans stony gaze.

  “Then let me inform you,” Arteris said graciously. “You are here because it is believed by our court mages that Teryl Auroch has destroyed the magic in the Casde of the Three Suns ”

  “Destroyed—?” Brisbois blurted. He turned his attention
to the council and looked at each person in turn. “You must believe me! I know nothing of Auroch’s plans—”

  “Then why did you leave with the mage after he attacked Sir Flinn and his party here in the castle?” Graybow inteijected suddenly.

  Brisbois shook his head angrily. “I didn’t leave with Auroch willingly! He abducted me as he disappeared.”

  “Are we to presume you have quit his company?” Arteris asked and added quickly, “and, if so, how did you escape from so powerful a mage?”

  Brisbois s face displayed emotions ranging from anger to shame; he looked aside at the floor. After a few moments, he turned to Arteris and addressed her squarely, “Auroch spirited us away to Specularum, Your Ladyship. We appeared on a crowded dock, and I took advantage of the confusion to slip away. The attack had drained Auroch, and he was not capable of retrieving me.”

  Baroness Penhaligon considered the knight s words, her face devoid of emotion or thought. “And what have you done in the weeks since this abduction, Master Brisbois?” Arteris asked impassively.

  Brisbois took a deep breath, as if he were about to reveal some grave personal secret. Jo found herself entranced, despite her anger.

  “At first, I sought to escape Auroch’s influence. He is obviously more powerful than I, and I feared for my life,” Brisbois replied leadenly. “But I slowly realized that if the man were as powerful as I thought, I could not hope for any real escape. My only option was to kill him before he killed me. I have been running from him only to gain opportunity to decide how I might kill him.”

  “Where is Auroch now? Rifllian? Kelvin?” Sir Graybow asked.

  Brisbois rubbed his brow, then said, “He stayed for a while in Specularum, and I tried to figure out how to trap him there. But he tracked me down, so I escaped the city and traveled north on the Duke’s Road. I stopped in Kelvin, hoping to buy some time there.” Brisbois paused.

  “You were never in Rifllian?” Graybow asked.

  “No, sir, I was not,” Brisbois said readily. Jo stared at the knight intently.

  “My sources—” began the castellan.

  “Were misinformed, Sir Graybow” Brisbois said steadily. “I arranged for them to be misinformed”

  “What!” demanded Graybow and Arteris simultaneously.

  The other council members murmured to each other, and even the three mages shot questioning looks at Brisbois. The castellan stood and shouted, “Explain yourself, Master Brisbois!”

  The knight shrugged. “I led your informants to believe I was in Rifllian in the hopes of throwing Auroch off the track as well,” he said clearly. “I also hoped you might send someone after me, someone who might encounter and dispatch Auroch in Rifllian.”

  Arteris exclaimed, “Surely you must know that you are an outlaw to the order? Surely you must know that breaking your bond with Sir Flinn was the final stroke in your dismissal. This new transgression—willful misdirection of the order for your own purposes—may well have won you your death.”

  Brisbois inclined his head in the baroness’s direction. “Yes, Your Ladyship, I do know all that,” he said. “But I also know that I could not take on Auroch by myself. I hoped for an envoy from the castle to back me up. If I could prove my good intent by battling side by side with the order against Auroch, perhaps you would have allowed me to return to the Order of the Three Suns.” Brisbois looked at the council members. Jo’s eyes darted daggers, but he avoided looking at her.

  The room was brutally silent. Eventually, Sir Graybow stood. “You hoped for many, many things, Master Brisbois,” the castellan said slowly, “and I am appalled at your lack of humility!” Sir Graybow turned away from the table and stalked over to one of the windows. He shook his head. The sun was setting, but the magical lanterns had not begun to glow. One of the guards began lighting lanterns.

  Arteris rose and said slowly, “Are we to infer, Master Brisbois, that you wish the court to show you leniency once more?” Her voice was laced with astonishment.

  Brisbois’s cheek rippled. He nodded and said, “Yes, Your Ladyship, I do.”

  “This is . . . most unprecedented, Master Brisbois,” Arteris said coldly. “Pray, tell us how you possibly esteem yourself worthy of this grace beyond grace!” The baroness took her seat.

  Brisbois gestured in Jo’s direction. “I came willingly with Squire Menhir and Master Briarblood. I in no way harmed Sir Flinn—”

  Johauna jumped up. “Yes, but you didn’t help him, either! You let Auroch attack—”

  The castellan swung around from his position at the window. “You are out of order, Squire Menhir!” Sir Graybow shouted thickly. He pointed at Jo. “Sit down at once, or remove yourself!”

  Stunned, Jo sat down in her chair. She looked at Sir Graybow, and the blood drained from her face. Jo turned to Braddoc for sympathy, but the dwarf only gave her a warning shake of his head.

  The castellan returned to the table and bowed formally to the baroness. “My apologies, Your Ladyship, for the actions of my squire,” Sir Graybow said gruffly. “I assure you, Squire Menhir’s outburst was the last you will ever hear from her.”

  The baroness stared at Sir Graybow and said icily, “And I assure you, Sir Graybow, that that is the last such outburst I shall allow.” Arteris turned to Jo and stared pointedly at the young woman. Jo swallowed hard.

  Sir Graybow looked at the council members, then addressed the baroness, “Your Ladyship, determination of Master Brisbois’s fate is something we may postpone. The death of our castle’s magic is not.” The castellan bowed slightly and took his chair.

  Arteris looked at Brisbois, who was swaying noticeably now. She pursed her lips, then gestured for a guard to give the man a chair. When Brisbois sat down, Arteris said, “Your involvement with both Verdilith and Teryl Auroch, your conspiracy against Sir Flinn and the principles of the Order of the Three Suns—these transgressions alone give us reason to suspect you in the plot that has destroyed our magic.”

  “I know nothing of this!” protested Brisbois. The council looked at him, as the words rang hollowly through the room. Brisbois said nothing more, and Arteris continued.

  “Only a few of our mages have any spells or powers left to them, and virtually none of our enchanted items work.” The baroness paused and steepled her fingers. “Master Brisbois, to put it plainly, we suspect you of conspiring with Teryl Auroch in the destruction of our magic. How say you?”

  Brisbois blanched. “I am innocent, Your Ladyship.” His voice rang with sincerity, though Jo was hard pressed to believe him. You re guilty of other things anyway, and they will be exposed, she thought.

  “You still haven’t addressed the castellan’s question. Do you know where Auroch has been the last several weeks, and do you know where he is now?” Arteris asked coolly.

  “As I said, Auroch was in Specularum and then traveled north along the Duke’s Road. He was in Kelvin as recently as yesternight—” Brisbois said slowly.

  “Excuse me,” Sir Graybow cut in. “Did you actually see Auroch in Kelvin, Master Brisbois? Might he have sent you the note from elsewhere?”

  Brisbois blinked. One eye had completely closed over, and his bruises had darkened to deep purple. “You are correct, Sir Graybow,” he said after a moment. “I did not actually see Auroch in Kelvin. 1 only assumed he passed through Kelvin because of the note and because he had been traveling north.” He turned to the baroness. “To my knowledge, Auroch has not been in Penhaligon at all since he attacked Sir Flinn.” Brisbois shook his head. “That is not to say that he didn’t have the time or the magical means to travel to the casde.”

  “Do you know where the mage is now, Master Brisbois?” the baroness repeated testily.

  “No, Your Ladyship, I do not,” Brisbois replied slowly. “I last saw him on the Duke’s Road just south of Kelvin. I assumed he entered the town there.” Brisbois sighed and then said, “What makes you think Auroch is responsible for the failure of your magic? Isn’t it possible that Verdilith has done
this to you?”

  “It is one and the same,” Sir Graybow said. “Haven’t you heard? After Sir Flinn died in single-handed combat with the dragon, a detachment from the castle engaged Verdilith in his lair. The dragon escaped with the aid of Auroch.”

  Brisbois nodded impatiently. “Yes, I have heard the tale! Every inn is abuzz with the story of Flinn’s life. Why, some of the minstrels claim Flinn the Mighty is not dead, but being transformed into an Immortal.”

  Jo caught her breath; her hand rose, but Braddoc grabbed it and shook his head at her. Jo held her peace and listened avidly to the knight.

  “. . . an unlikely event,” Brisbois was saying, “considering the difficulties involved.”

  “Though if any man in known history could have become an Immortal,” Sir Graybow interrupted, “it would have been Sir Flinn.” The castellan’s expression was grim.

  “Er, yes, Sir Graybow,” Brisbois said hastily. “My point is that the minstrels will tell any tale, and so I hadn’t believed their reports of Auroch and Verdilith together again, especially since the mage seemed so preoccupied with killing me.”

  One of the doors to the council room opened to admit a guard. He coughed politely, but, before he could speak, an old woman pushed forcibly past him. Following her was a young boy. Karleah and Dayin! Johauna thought. She almost rose but remembered her place just in time.

  The guard would not be outdone, however. He stepped before the intruders and announced to the baroness, “Your Ladyship, the wizardess Karleah Kunzay and her apprentice request—”

  “I didn’t ‘request’ anything. I demanded,” Karleah interrupted the guard and stepped around him. Arteris made a dismissing gesture, and the guard returned through the door to his post outside. Karleah stepped forward, Dayin by her side. He cast Jo and Braddoc a quick smile.