Donnel's Promise

by Mackenzie, Anna

  Nolan coughed. ‘We should move on.’

  Risha stepped away. ‘Of course.’ Her skin felt hot, the cool of the lake dissipated in a moment.

  ‘You might let Croft have some of that salve,’ Muir said. ‘He’s in a worse state than me.’

  ‘And better-looking than the lot of you despite it,’ the guardsman said, and the tension of the moment was gone.

  The bird’s eye

  Minna folded her broad arms and stared balefully at Nolan. ‘And this is your version of looking after that little girl, I take it?’

  ‘I’m fine, Minna. Just tired.’

  She eyed first Risha then Croft.

  ‘We had a little trouble on the road,’ Risha added.

  ‘You don’t say.’ Minna stepped back from the door and waved them into the kitchen. ‘I thought you’d be safe with your father by now.’

  ‘He wasn’t in Fratton.’

  ‘So I heard.’

  ‘You did? Fenn’s been here, or Lillet? We—’

  ‘It’ll keep. Food first. Have you been starving her?’

  Nolan sighed under the force of Minna’s onslaught. Risha attempted distraction. ‘Minna, this is my friend Muir. He needs your help, and Croft’s face—’

  ‘Food,’ Minna growled.

  ‘I’ll see to the horses,’ Croft said.

  ‘Sit. Horses’ll keep.’

  Minna refused to answer their questions until they’d eaten. The men made no complaint, but Risha’s stomach still baulked, and the woman pursed her lips in disapproval at the meagre portion she managed.

  ‘Lillet was due back yesterday. When you set the dogs barking I thought it was her — that, or more of Vormer’s ruffians.’

  ‘You’ve had trouble?’ Nolan straightened in his chair.

  Minna flapped a hand. ‘Nothing I couldn’t handle. They’ve been making a nuisance of themselves everywhere, from what I hear, conscripting all able-bodied men — and some not so able-bodied. They took Peebie from over the hill. Kalla’s fit to be tied.’

  ‘Peebie with the gammy leg?’ Nolan asked. ‘He’s too old, surely?’

  ‘He’s my age,’ Minna said wryly. ‘They’re requisitioning as well. It’s a good thing you didn’t leave the horses, they’d not be here if you had. They took all that remained of last season’s grain and every sack of potatoes. I don’t know what they expect us to live on come winter. There’s been other trouble as well. They killed a farmer at Carlaw who tried to stop them taking his pigs — breeding sow and all — and there was a girl—’ She glanced at Risha and broke off. ‘Well. I daresay some of what we hear is exaggeration, but there’s probably as much that’s kept quiet. Evens it out I expect.’

  Risha felt sick.

  Minna eyed her. ‘You’ve been all the way to Fratton then?’

  Risha nodded bleakly.

  ‘How’s their little lass?’

  ‘Coping,’ Muir said.

  Risha glanced at him. ‘Muir is—’

  ‘Donnel’s bondsman,’ he finished.

  There was a brief silence.

  Minna stretched to lift a crock from a shelf behind the kitchen door. ‘I’ve got something that might help that bruising,’ she said to Croft. ‘You run into a wall, or something worse?’

  ‘Vormer’s thugs,’ Risha said. ‘Those few, at least, won’t be bothering anyone else. Could you check Muir’s ribs as well please, Minna?’

  ‘I’m fine,’ Muir said.

  ‘You’re not.’

  Minna raised her brows.

  Nolan tended to the horses while Croft submitted to the woman’s ministrations.

  ‘I’d say that cheekbone’s cracked. You might want to avoid fights for a few months.’

  ‘That’s good advice,’ Croft said.

  ‘It is.’ She fixed him with a glare.

  Croft shrugged. ‘I’ll do my best.’

  ‘You should stay here till you’re healed,’ Risha said.

  His mouth opened but Minna overruled whatever protest he’d been planning to make. ‘If he was found that would put us both on the wrong side of Vormer’s militia. I’ve already assured them I’ve no menfolk to hand over.’ She turned to Muir. ‘Let’s see the damage.’

  Muir reluctantly shrugged off his shirt and allowed Minna to remove Risha’s bandaging.

  ‘Hmm.’ She applied a liberal dose of her salve. ‘I’m going to strap it tighter. Might hurt.’

  He couldn’t quite keep silent as she did it.

  ‘Same advice applies to you. Those ribs won’t stand up to another battering. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a shard of rib pierce a lung. It’s not a good proposition.’

  Muir ducked his head inside his shirt.

  ‘Now you, missy.’

  Risha’s hand tightened convulsively on her shirt. Her reaction wasn’t lost on Minna. She set her fists on her broad hips and cocked her head to one side. ‘There should be enough hot water for a bath. No point dressing that bruise till after.’

  Risha tried to relax but her muscles felt twitchy. She both ached for sleep and dreaded it. ‘What news did Lillet bring?’ she asked. ‘And when?’

  ‘She’s been twice, first with your message from Fratton, then with news from Leighton — which didn’t amount to much. I told her it wasn’t worth the risk, especially for a girl on her own. She sailed back to Caledon after.’

  ‘Did she see Fenn in Leighton?’

  ‘Not that she mentioned.’

  Nolan ducked quietly through the door. Minna bid him carry water and Risha found herself bustled upstairs. ‘I’ll be fine,’ she said quickly, when the woman looked ready to stay.

  ‘I’ll bring more water in a while to rinse your hair. Smells like lake weed.’

  Which was better than it had smelled before. Risha slipped out of her clothes and stepped into the scalding water. The heat reddened her skin and stung her grazes, locating cuts and scrapes she’d previously ignored. She told herself sternly that her injuries were nothing compared to Croft’s or Muir’s, but it wasn’t enough to stop the tears from puddling in her eyes.

  At Minna’s tap on the bedroom door she scrubbed her face and wrapped her arms around her knees to hide the worst of her bruises, though she couldn’t hide them all. Minna lathered her hair without comment.

  ‘Head back.’

  The woman tilted the jug, one hand curved at Risha’s hairline to keep the water from her eyes. Squeezing the excess moisture from her hair, Minna slicked it into a short tail then began to sponge Risha’s shoulders and back. ‘There’s no accounting for some men,’ she said, ‘but they’re not all made the same.’

  Risha let her head fall forward against her knees.

  ‘Your friend Muir told me, to save you having to say it yourself.’

  ‘Nothing happened. I’ve a few bruises, that’s all.’ Her voice, echoing in the cave between water and chest and knees, sounded less than unconvincing. She cleared her throat.

  ‘And that’s a good thing to know, but it doesn’t stop the nightmares I’d warrant.’

  Risha lifted her head. ‘Nolan told you?’

  ‘It’s written on your face. You’re not sleeping and you’re jumpy as a scalded cat.’ Minna’s sponge ran down one arm then up and across the back of her neck to the other. ‘You’re not the first girl to fall foul of the worst kind of men, but you were lucky enough to have a couple of good ones to hand. Remember there’s all sorts, that’s all I’m saying.’

  Later Minna brought a bottle of pale liquid and a glass of warmed milk. ‘This will help you sleep,’ she said, pouring a viscous spoonful.

  The potion was claggy and sweet. Risha gulped a mouthful of milk to wash it down.

  ‘I’m sleeping here tonight, so you’ve nothing to fear. You’ll be safe, whatever happens. Hold to that: I’ll be with you.’

  The words didn’t quite make sense, but the drug had already begun to spread fuzzy tendrils through her brain. Her eyes drifted closed. She forced them open. ‘Where’s …’ Her tongue fu
ddled the question.

  ‘Sleep, Arishara. How that tangle unfolds is a question for another day.’ Minna’s broad hand touched her hair. ‘There are other questions waiting, I warrant. Let’s see how we get along with those.’

  Ciaran stood in a room filled with dappled light. ‘Do you think I wouldn’t like the answer to that as well? My Gift is limited, as you know.’ She shook her head. ‘Either way it is begun. Goltoy will play this game until the end. As will Donnel.’

  A man strode forward and took Ciaran’s chin in his hand. It was Vormer.

  ‘Do you lie to me, Ciaran? I trust you do not. Clemency is within me for those who repent their mistakes, but I warn you, once crossed, I am pitiless.’

  She pulled away. ‘My lord, I must go.’

  Vormer’s tongue flicked across his thin lower lip. ‘Let me speak with her.’

  ‘You cannot.’ Ciaran paused by the door. ‘She has not left her bed since we arrived. The journey was a nightmare. The child Harbin has put in her belly sits uneasily; the less she is disturbed the better. At least she goes willing to her wedding.’ There was something brittle in the smile she flung at him.

  ‘A shame. I would rather she had fought it.’

  Ciaran dropped into a curtsy. ‘I will see you tomorrow, my Lord Havre.’

  ‘I look forward to it, Mistress, and to your report.’

  Risha tried to see Ciaran’s face but the room had begun to fade.

  Does your spying bring you joy?

  The words bit into her brain as if inscribed there with knives.

  Ah, you thought yourself rid of me! It is not so easily done. But to know scrying is among your talents is a pleasure. It is my strongest.

  Risha’s body went rigid as she tried to force him from her mind.

  He laughed. I will find you out, my dear. Wherever you are. I will know who you are.

  Risha slammed away from him, spiralling out into the dark. Her breath came in panting gasps. Ciaran was reporting to Vormer, Lyse was already pregnant. She cried out at the horror of it. Someone touched her forehead with cool fingers.

  My kitten, my kitten.

  She knew the voice, and didn’t.

  Come back to me.

  Risha cried and curled herself into Nonno’s arms.

  Hush my pretty. Hush. What is it that you seek?

  The woman no longer felt frail or faded in her mind. Risha tried to see her, but there was only darkness beyond the circle of her arms and light within.

  Donnel. I must find Donnel and Talben.

  A hand stroked her brow, and it was as if she were a bird hanging in the sky above an ocean that spread in a thousand shades of blue. She swept down in wide arching circles, the wind a soft road that opened before her. Dark dots rode the water. Down, and yet down, she saw that they were ships. The colours beneath her narrowed and deepened, the wind that held her was laced with salt. She circled the mast of a ship. A quartered flag ran north on the breeze above the belly of the sail. Insignificant on the deck, men scurried like insects. At the helm one lifted his face skyward. It was Gorth.

  The wind called her and she rose, riding the currents that flowed from the south, the angled barb of a feather steering her towards the distant line of land. Where sea met stone she rode the thermals that climbed the face of the cliff and saw horsemen riding its lip. A mind brushed her own and she knew it for Talben. A memory of an attack, of Harbin’s men, of riding — too late — for Bray poured through her, then she was swept upward, higher than before, away from the blue of sea and the blue of sky, away from sound and smell and taste, into the impassive unknowing of night.

  The darkness crushed her wings. As she fell, Risha screamed.

  ‘Hush. Hush now. It’s all right, girl, you’re safe.’

  Risha’s body shook in wild unmanageable tremors.

  ‘It’s all right. It’s all right now.’ Minna rocked her.

  The door clattered back against the wall. ‘What is it? What’s happened?’

  Risha curled into a ball within the circle of Minna’s arms.

  ‘Is it another nightmare?’

  Footsteps pounded on the stairs. The voices wove a pattern of sound above her head. Risha closed her ears and wrapped herself tight around her pain. ‘Nonno.’

  Someone was holding her hands, pulling them away from her face. Someone was keening in a high, tuneless wail.

  ‘Enough Risha. Stop.’

  She took a gasping breath and stared at Muir. The scar that marked his face cast a crease of shadow down his cheek. His eyes held her.

  ‘Is she all right?’ Nolan’s voice.

  She turned her head. ‘Nonno. It’s Nonno. She’s gone, Nolan. She’s dead.’

  ‘You gave her what?’ Nolan’s anger filled the room.

  Minna heaved herself to her feet. ‘It brings sleep. You told me she was suffering nightmares.’

  ‘And that wasn’t a nightmare?’

  Minna said nothing.

  ‘Nonno came to say goodbye. I wish you’d met her, Muir,’ Risha said. ‘She took me to Gorth.’

  There was a confused shift of the energy in the room.

  ‘You had a vision?’

  ‘I saw Talben.’ She yawned. ‘I’m tired.’ A weight seemed to be pulling her backwards.

  ‘Risha—’

  She wished she could stop Muir from frowning. ‘Sleepy.’

  He was looking past her. ‘Is this the drug?’

  Her eyes closed, the murmur of voices fading till it became the gentle slap of waves against the hull of a ship.

  When she woke, pale light had begun to drain the darkness from the room. Muir was asleep in the chair, one leg stretched out, the other bent up against the bed. There had been an argument: she recalled it only vaguely. Minna had said it wasn’t right for him to stay with her. Nolan had been angry about something. She’d lost their voices to a dream about a ship.

  Grief stripped the shadows of sleep aside. Nonno was gone.

  She sat up. Her head pulsed with sludgy pain. She pressed the heel of her hand hard against the bone above her eye.

  Muir mumbled and turned sideways, quickly flinching back. She watched him wake, grogginess giving way to the discomfort of his cracked ribs. He dragged a hand across his face, blinked a couple of times and focused. Seeing her awake he sat forward. ‘Risha. How do you feel?’

  ‘My head aches.’

  ‘Minna said that it would.’ He got up, one hand pressed against his ribs, and brought her a cup. ‘She said this would help.’

  Risha drank, recognising the bitter taste of Minna’s tonic, and gulped the water he offered after.

  ‘Tastes vile. You should have some,’ she said, and smiled. ‘I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. Only, sleeping in that chair can’t have been comfortable.’

  He shrugged. ‘Do you remember waking last night?’

  ‘Not much of the waking. I remember dreaming.’

  ‘Minna called it a vision rather than a dream. You woke screaming.’

  The pain of Nonno’s death broke through her afresh.

  ‘Can you tell me?’

  She swallowed.

  ‘These visions, and the voices you spoke of in Fratton—’

  ‘I don’t understand it myself, Muir.’

  He paused. ‘Does Donnel know?’

  ‘No.’

  He sat back.

  ‘Can you fetch Nolan, please?’

  He stared at her a moment then stood abruptly. ‘Of course.’ His tone was clipped, and the door closed none too gently behind him.

  Was it the fact that she had the cursed Gift that upset him? It was not as though she had a choice. Risha pushed the bedclothes aside and stood up, dressing in rapid, angry movements. She met Nolan on the stairs as she went down. ‘Where’s Muir?’

  ‘He said you wanted me.’

  ‘Both of you.’ She pushed past him, into the kitchen. The room was empty.

  ‘I think he went out.’

  Her mouth set.

 
; ‘I could try to find him,’ Nolan offered.

  Risha opened the firebox of the stove. The banked embers glowed red. ‘Do that.’

  She had calmed a little by the time the men returned, and boiled water for tea and started on porridge. Her headache had settled to a dull hum, and for the first time in days she felt hungry.

  Nolan watched her warily. Muir, by contrast, looked inexplicably appeased. ‘You look better. Minna’s tonic?’

  ‘My head hurts less,’ she agreed. ‘Have you eaten?’

  Muir shook his head.

  ‘Barely woken,’ Nolan muttered, blowing on the tea she passed him.

  Dark shadows lay beneath his eyes. She wondered when he’d last had a full night’s sleep.

  ‘I’m sorry.’

  He waved her apology aside.

  She ladled porridge into bowls and placed them on the table. ‘I wanted to talk about the visions.’ She glanced quickly at Muir’s face. ‘I can’t pretend to understand them. I used to get just brief flashes that made no sense, but lately—’ She broke off with a shrug. ‘Often enough they still make no sense.’

  Neither man spoke. She began again. ‘Vormer is in Elion, which means Lyse is no longer safe. He has only to see her and the ruse will be revealed.’

  Nolan sighed. ‘I know it’s hard, Risha, but in truth it changes nothing. Lyse hasn’t been safe since she left Bray.’

  ‘There’s more than that.’ She shifted uncomfortably. ‘Ciaran told Vormer that Lyse was pregnant.’

  Muir hissed between his teeth.

  ‘It seemed—’ She hesitated, not wanting to say it. ‘It seemed as if Ciaran was reporting to him.’

  ‘Donnel has always believed there was a traitor within the castle; someone close to the family,’ Muir said, after a pause. ‘The coup could not have been accomplished so easily without.’

  ‘You’re not suggesting Ciaran?’ Nolan demanded. ‘Her own children—’

  Risha shook her head. ‘It was Vormer, I’m sure of it. There’s nothing he wouldn’t stoop to.’

  ‘I’m not arguing with that,’ Muir said.

  ‘There was something else.’ Risha wet her lips. ‘Muir, if Donnel had learned I was safe soon after leaving Fratton — say, if he’d met Gorth on the road — might he have changed his plans without letting you know?’