A Gift Freely Given (The Tahaerin Chronicles Book 1)

by J. Ellen Ross

  Given the royal mark, it likely meant attending with Leisha. Engraved with the Tahaerin hawk and sword, the emblem spoke truth the whispered rumors he had heard. That the queen and her blonde spymaster were more than just lovers, that he had moved into her rooms and they now spent their days and nights together. That his brother was in love.

  It meant things had progressed faster than Fellnin expected. First the foreign prince and now this? He imagined Staval frothing at the mouth when he heard the news.

  This time, Leisha Tahaerin risked too much and her affair played right into her uncle’s hand.

  Ducking out the door, Fellnin headed to the small apartment the merchant guild provided him. The coded letter would arrive at Cheylm Castle in four nights.

  ***

  A month later, on the night of the party, all of the rich and powerful in Lida descended on the old keep on the western edge of town. Once the seat of the monarchy, one of Leisha’s ancestors replaced it when he built Branik. Despite frequent calls to tear it down, city leaders kept up with repairs, in case they ever needed to retreat to safety and could not reach the castle. It served as a meeting place and banquet hall, an oddity, a delicious, old compound complete with a curtain wall and gate.

  Leisha wore a gown in a rich cream velvet edged with dark brown fur. Her bodice and skirts were embroidered in a matching color. But the seamstresses kept her dress simple for this event. For his first official outing as a guest of the queen, Leisha’s women created a matching vest and dark brown overcoat for Zaraki. When he protested it was too nice an outfit for him, Leisha informed him he could dress himself, or she would order Andelko to wrestle him to the ground and put it on him.

  Andelko selected a detail of soldiers to accompany the royal party to the keep. During the celebration, he and his men would remain outside, keeping watch. Inside, the merchant guild had off-duty city guards hired to keep the peace. At first, Zaraki balked at the idea. With Leisha in attendance, her soldiers should be inside, he argued. But, as Symon pointed out, the guild was not expecting Leisha to attend after so many years declining. Zaraki relented but sent Jan and Eli ahead to scout it out early in the day. They had reported everything seemed to be in order.

  Andelko gave the order and the cavalcade moved out. Inside the carriage, Leisha beamed and held Zaraki’s hand. I can’t wait to show you off. You look very roguish.

  Zaraki, on the other hand, felt his nerves trying to get the better of him. Aniska, riding in the coach with them, grinned and chattered, which did little to calm him. Hiding in the background and making sure Leisha was safe was different from stepping out of a carriage as her lover and dancing with her in front of the leaders of the town.

  “You’ll get used it,” Leisha insisted.

  Once they reached the keep, they joined the line of carriages waiting to drop off their passengers in the small courtyard. Andelko and the guards went to stable their horses and take up positions around the keep. Aniska excused herself to patrol around the wall outside.

  Zaraki drilled with Symon in etiquette for a week to be sure he was prepared. When they reached the front of the line, he waited for a servant to open the carriage door before stepping out and offering Leisha his hand. She took it, smiling, and they walked up the stairs arm in arm. People stared, and not just because the queen never attended these events.

  Ahead of them the herald announced, “Teodor and Natia,” for a pair from the weaver’s guild.

  When it was their turn, Leisha asked the man to use a less formal introduction. “Leisha Tahaerin and Zaraki will suffice,” she told him. As queen, she could be announced with a surname, and she thought it sounded friendlier in a room full of gentry, with no titles.

  All eyes in the chamber turned towards them and Zaraki felt his palms begin to sweat. He heard a few whispers as Leisha swept them into the room. Keep up, she sent to him, laughing. Completely at home here, she moved towards the head table and found Dumin, who jumped to his feet.

  Bowing, he said, “Highness, you both honor me.”

  “Nonsense. I should have come before, Dumin. Happiest of birthday wishes.” She introduced Zaraki.

  “Greetings to you, young man. I’ve seen you around for a while. You move very slowly,” the old man said laughing.

  They found seats at the head of the room and enjoyed an excellent meal. Servants cleared the plates, tables were removed and chairs pushed back against the walls to make room for dancing. The musicians filed in and everyone found spots on the floor. Leisha looked confused as people began to form into lines. “I’ve only danced in a circle.”

  They stood next to each other and Zaraki held out his arm. “Good thing Symon refreshed my memory over and over again.” As the music started, he guided her through the steps. “Forward, forward, turn, bow. Back, back, now I twirl you.” The first song moved slow and they grew accustomed to dancing together.

  “I haven’t done this since I was a boy,” he said, feeling his nerves settle. He might not quite believe where life had brought him, but he would enjoy every minute of dancing with her before going back to the castle and peeling her out of the lovely dress she wore.

  In the back of her mind, Leisha heard the small voice that hated the thought of her subjects watching her attempt something she did not excel at. But she refused to listen to it as the other dancers moved to the music, laughing at their own missteps. Instead, she reminded herself to just enjoy experiencing this with Zaraki and tried to concentrate on her feet.

  With the simple warm-up out of the way, the musicians struck up a lively song with pipers and a drum. The corresponding dance included a confusing mix of hops and jump steps where they lifted and slapped one foot. Halfway through, it came together and Leisha found herself laughing with the other couple next to her who also struggled. Zaraki, perfect as always, never faltered.

  As the next song started, everyone paired up facing each other in rows. Women in one row, men in the other. Zaraki pulled her close and saw her face flushed with pleasure. He thought he had never seen her looking as beautiful as she did now. She smiled up at him and held his hand tight in hers.

  “This one is easy, but we’ll be switching partners. You’ll come back around to me by the end,” he whispered, flicking his tongue out and over her ear. She jumped and gasped.

  The dancers started moving and they took four quick steps to the left, then clapped three times. Everyone skipped four times to the right and kicked. “Eight steps left and on eight you jump and I pass you to whoever is to my left. Repeat.”

  Eight steps and right on cue, Leisha hopped. Zaraki’s hands went around her waist and shifted her to the left. As they repeated the moves, she assured Melo, head of an influential importer family, he could lift her. Before long she was at the end of their row and everyone turned around to send the ladies back down to their original partners.

  ***

  Fellnin, dressed as all the other soldiers, watched the dancers from the gallery above the hall. He saw Zaraki with the lovely Tahaerin queen and felt his annoyance rising again. Zaraki had always been the luckier one, the favored one, as they grew up together under Cezar’s tutelage. Fellnin got more beatings, more punishments, less food, less approval. And he hated his brother for it, even after all these years. Now, he was courting a queen.

  Killing Zaraki was not why he was here. He was paid to set this up and make sure Staval got to kill a queen. It just so happened his wish to kill Zaraki also coincided with his employer’s goals.

  He watched as the pair danced and smiled at each other. He watched the touches they exchanged and tried to conceal from everyone else. With her hair pulled up and her lovely, dark eyes that never left Zaraki, Leisha looked beautiful. And he could see she loved him. Fellnin, on the other hand, loved the promise Staval made to let him have her for the night.

  One night to do anything he wanted to her. One night to make his brother pay.

  When he saw the dance change to one that would separate Zaraki and his queen, he gave
a signal.

  ***

  Shouts erupted from along the side of the hall, from the doors leading to the kitchen. Leisha looked down the row, confused at the outburst and saw Zaraki as he reached for his blade. He wheeled to find her and saw the enemy before she did.

  A soldier appeared from one of the servants’ doors in the wall and grabbed her waist. Leisha screamed and fought to free herself, shocked to be handled this way.

  “Come with me, Your Highness,” the man said in her ear.

  Zaraki, already in motion, raced down the row of stunned partygoers, shoving them out of the way. He saw as Jan bolted down the stairs at the back of the hall and plunged his knife into her attacker’s right shoulder, at a gap in his armor. Leisha stumbled as the man released her and her feet tangled in her gown.

  “Upstairs. Go.” Zaraki shouted as panic seized the crowd. People closed in around them, cutting them off from each other, and Zaraki off from any escape.

  “What? No.” Leisha protested even though she knew she had no place here.

  Zaraki pointed at Jan and then back up the stairs. “Get her upstairs, now.” As Leisha tried to argue again, Jan grabbed her and began dragging her towards the stairs he came down earlier.

  “I’m so sorry, Highness. I have orders.”

  “What’s happening, Jan?” she demanded, finally giving in and running with him.

  “Those men, the ones the guild paid. I don’t think they’re city guard like they were supposed to be.”

  Panic and a chilling fear took hold of Leisha. Too perfect, too easy. This could not be random violence. They were there for her, and that meant Staval. After all his years of silence and brooding, he returned again.

  Eli met them as they dashed up the stairs. “Here. I found a large room. I think it’s where the musicians were practicing.”

  ***

  People screamed and raced for the entrance as the hall filled with soldiers. Four men appeared through the small wicket gate and stood in front of the exit, blocking any escape. Trapped now, partygoers turned and tried to retreat towards the other end of the chamber, searching for any way out.

  Fellnin walked out of one of the servants’ doors along the wall and onto the dais. He called for quiet. Though it took some time, people turned to look at him finally. “My employer isn’t here to harm anyone,” he said over the fearful murmurs. “You’ll all be released if you remain calm. He’s only here for the queen and for him.” He pointed at Zaraki, who stood near the center of the room now, staring. Staval did not want any of the town leaders killed. He said he needed them alive to witness his coup.

  Zaraki forced his mind to still, even as his heart raced. Fellnin was here. Six years had put weight and height on his brother, but he recognized him anyway. Jan had Leisha upstairs and safe for now, but it would not last. He needed to be thinking about how to get her out once Fellnin found her because it would happen soon.

  If they wanted him alive, then it was to make him a tool to use against Leisha - a chip to bargain with. Andelko might still be alive, but he could not count on it. If Fellnin was this well organized, then the twenty men they’d brought from the castle were overwhelmed already. Zaraki prayed Ani had the sense to stay outside the walls for now.

  “My employer has no quarrel with any of you, so now let’s start leaving, gentle folk,” Fellnin said. “Everyone but you, Zaraki.”

  At first, no one dared to move. Then, seeing the doors open, they headed for freedom. Outside, soldiers led the terrified partygoers towards a small side gate and let them through one at a time. They could hear sounds from Branik as guards raced down the hill, but by the time they arrived, it would be too late. The old keep would be sealed.

  Stepping into the hall, Staval saw Fellnin and asked, “Where is she?”

  “Men saw her running upstairs, sir. Likely she’s locked herself in up there. We mostly control the yard, though her soldiers are putting up a fight. There aren’t many of them, though.”

  “Excellent. And the peasant?”

  “Right down there.” Fellnin pointed, looking vicious and impatient. “I’d like to go down and take him now.”

  “Fellnin,” Staval said with warning in his voice. “Don’t kill him. I need him alive. Don’t forget, he’s the reason I’m here. To save our great land from the commoner our whore queen has taken up with.”

  “You sound almost sincere, sir.”

  “I’ll take a few men and go find my niece,” he said as a smile spread over his face.

  After he had emptied the hall, Fellnin pointed at Zaraki. “You and me.”

  “Fuck you, Fellnin,” Zaraki said.

  “That’s rude. Now throw your knives away. You won’t get the chance to use then. I told you I’d kill you one day. You always got everything I wanted. Father’s affection, his praise,” he paused before saying, “and Ani.”

  Zaraki snorted. “Aniska? Fellnin, I never got Aniska. We were friends, nothing more.”

  “Father told us all you were fucking her. He said you broke your oaths.”

  “It was almost seven years ago. It never happened. He was lying.” Zaraki tried to think how to drag this out, how to buy more time for them.

  “Where’s Ani? This was going to be our reunion. All three of us together once more. It doesn’t matter at this point. I’m not here for you or her.” Fellnin shook his head, turning in circles and swinging his arms. Warming up, it seemed. “My employer wants to be king. You and your queen have to die for that to happen. First, though, he wants her a bit more cooperative.”

  Zaraki could not stop the laughter bubbling out. “If you figure out a way to make her cooperative, you tell me. So, are we doing this like we did in the yard when we were children?”

  “Still a smartass?” Fellnin looked annoyed. “But no, you heard my employer. I can’t kill you yet.” He motioned to three large men standing to one side. “These fine fellows are here to make sure your queen knows we mean business. But remember, I get to have the most fun, gentlemen. No weapons, just fists. He has to live until morning.”

  As Fellnin advanced, Zaraki thought how he needed to survive this intact. He needed to be able to fight if given the chance later. So, no broken fingers. Leisha liked his face, so he would try and protect that, too.

  He knew how to take a beating. Years of being smaller, skinnier and younger than all the other boys in Ostrava taught him fighting back now, when there was no hope of getting away, just made it worse. Better to just take it and live to fight another day. With four on one, the odds were not in his favor.

  The first blow landed. The ribs. Fellnin always went for the ribs first. Just like when they were boys. He tried to remember the more time spent down here, the more time Leisha had. The next came from behind, one of the mercenaries. Knowing they wanted him alive made it easier to endure, but gods it hurt.

  ***

  When the attack started, Andelko saw enemy soldiers pouring out of the keep and pointed at one of eight men he had with him. “You. To the castle, now. Find Symon and Ignaci and get people down here.” The boy raced off and under the portcullis before the enemy soldiers could lower it.

  Now he had seven men and as he watched the attack unfolding, impotent rage roiled his stomach. Andelko could see things swinging against them. They could fight and die here in the yard or they could find a place to hold and defend while waiting for reinforcements. The thought of retreating made him sick, but he could not help Leisha if he and all his men were dead.

  A collection of buildings stood around the courtyard still and no enemy soldiers occupied any of them he could see. The easiest to reach would be the old barracks. “All right, time to move. Don’t stop for anything,” he shouted at his soldiers and pointed to the barracks. Some argued, wanting to stand and fight, but he would not let them waste their lives. “Go, now,” he barked and they relented, fighting their way across the courtyard.

  When they reached the building and barricaded themselves inside, several of their enemies la
y dead. Andelko counted all seven of his men still alive. Somewhere out there were ten more soldiers, but he had no way to let them know where he was.

  ***

  From an unlit alleyway across a narrow street, Aniska watched two pairs of sentries patrolling along the top wall around the keep. They passed each other and nodded, acknowledging their counterparts and continuing around the wall-walk. Everything seemed in order. With Andelko and Zaraki inside, she prowled around outside, looking for any unsavory types and chasing off anyone who had no business hanging around.

  Aniska heard the first shouts as she moved towards the gate, wanting to make sure the guards there were alert. Until that moment, nothing had seemed unusual or out of the ordinary and then everything went wrong.

  A liveried soldier darted out under the portcullis as someone inside raced to lower it. He grabbed the reins of a horse and pulled the rider off. Another instant and he headed up the hill towards the castle. From doorways in the buildings across from the keep, groups of armed men burst out.

  Ani hissed in frustration and faded back into a dark alley. As good as she was, she could not fight a small army. Looking at the top of the wall, she saw men armed with crossbows appear. She felt helpless and frantic, unsure how to respond to this attack. Every avenue seemed blocked.

  The men on the street formed into small gangs. A few stayed behind to amble around outside the walls, but most began moving out from the keep, down larger streets leading to the main thoroughfare through the city. They seemed terribly organized and intent on something.

  Ani cursed, unsure what to do. She wanted into the keep, but she was one woman against a band of mercenaries and the number of men on the wall had increased, blocking the easiest way in for her. Soldiers from the castle would arrive soon, but what about the city guard? Where were they? She decided to see where these swop-swords led her.

  Following on quiet feet, she slipped in and around shadows, trailing a group of five men. This way would lead them towards one of Lida’s five gates, which they likely meant to take. Ahead, she saw the road widen at a fountained intersection and heard shouts. Her quarry rushed forward.