Gods Of Blood And Fire (Book 1)

by A. J. STRICKLER

  Raygan knew then that Cain had heard about Rhys. She had tried to keep his visits private and make them appear unimportant as possible, but Cain had found out anyway. She was not surprised, many of the servants in the palace were his spies.

  No wrong had been committed and she was the Princess of Bandara after all and had the right to have a personal healer if she chose to. There was no reason to fear, but she found herself petrified.

  “I found a very good physician in the city, he worked wonders on the damage you caused.”

  “I know what you’ve been up to, Sister, and who you’ve been up to it with,” the King said. “His name is Rhys Morgan, and he is from Tara and if I’m not mistaken he is on his way here right now. I also know he had to have used magic to fix your face. Selmac said there could be no other way the damage was repaired.”

  Raygan’s eyes widened. “No, no, no, there was no magic used, he has a special talent it has nothing to do with magic at all. I can tell you…”

  Cain crossed the distance between them in two strides and put his hand over her mouth. “Shut up, Raygan, don’t try to lie to me; sit down on the bench and keep quiet and I will tell you what your King is going to do.”

  Tears came to her eyes and she began to shake all over, there was no hiding it now she was terrified.

  She obeyed Cain and sat down on the bench like he told her and she hated herself for doing it. “Very good, dear sister, you are learning. First, your healer will be arrested when he arrives today, the guards at the gate will take him to Bishop Lyfair and he will stand trial for using magic without consent from the Church, he will be found guilty and he will most likely hang.”

  Raygan began to sob; she covered her mouth with her hand and tried to stifle the sound. “Second, you will marry Talorn tonight before he takes the Army north, and I will not listen to any complains about it. You should have kept your affair more secret, Raygan, on the bright side you have your looks back, and I won’t have to listen to Talorn grumble about wedding a woman with a ruined face.”

  Raygan was stunned. Marry Talorn tonight? “Cain, there was no affair, he’s just my healer and…”

  Cain held up one finger then pointed at the Princess. “I can put your face back like it was, if you like?” Raygan hung her head and said nothing.

  The King stepped back from his sister. “Guards.” Four of the Royal Guard emerged from behind a row of hedges; they marched over and saluted their King. “Take her to her rooms and stay with her until the wedding.” They saluted again, then two of them grabbed Raygan’s arms and pulled her up from the bench. They formed a square around her and prepared to take the Princess back to the palace. Cain lifted her chin until she was looking in his eyes. “Don’t ever forget who rules Bandara, little Sister.” He jerked his hand away and motioned for the guards to take the Princess away. Raygan could only look back at her brother, tears streaming down her face as the guards led her away.

  Isabella thought the guards were acting strange at the palace’s north gate. They seemed to be more alert than most days, watching the people of the city walk by with much more interest than usual. There were more of them too. Most days only two of the Royal Guards were at each entrance to the palace. Today the north gate had four.

  She thought little more of it, perhaps it was on account of the coming war. The whole city was on edge about it. That and the tax collectors that were going door to door assessing what each citizen should be paying.

  The Princess had bid her wait at the gate for Rhys and escort him to her as usual. Isabella didn’t mind, she liked the healer and he had been very kind to her over the last few weeks; he didn’t treat her like a servant at all.

  At first she thought he was a wizard or evil mage, but as they spent time together and she watched him with the Princess she knew she had been all wrong about him. Isabella had grown fond of Rhys but not as fond as his royal patient had.

  He had greatly improved the Princess’s mood and Isabella was very thankful to him for that. When the Princess was sad, she had a way of making everyone else around her sad too.

  She saw Rhys coming and started to wave. As he got closer Isabella realized it wasn’t him, just a man who looked similar. The guards drew their swords and grabbed the man by the arms and started dragging him towards the gate, the man was struggling and asked the guards what he had done.

  They held him there until an officer came down from the enter wall of the palace he told the guards they had the wrong man. They released the fellow and pushed him back into the street without even an apology. It took no time for Isabella to catch on to what man they were looking for. Someone in the palace had ordered Rhys’s arrest. The Princess would be furious.

  She had to warn him, but what could she do? If she yelled when he approached she would be seen and that could go bad for her and there was no time to go find the Princess. She couldn’t let the healer be caught, she would just walk into the city and try to warn him before he got to the palace. Yes, that was a good plan. She walked out the gate as she did any other day, acting as if she didn’t have a care in the world.

  Isabella had gotten only a few steps past the guards when they stopped her. “Halt, girl, the King has given orders for you not to leave the palace grounds.” She turned back towards them hands on her hips.

  “The Princess has sent me on an errand and I must go unless you want to deal with her.” She turned her back to them and walked on. One of the guards grabbed her by the arm.

  “You’re not going anywhere, girl.” She started to give the guard a good cussing when she saw Rhys come around a corner down the street. He was heading right for the gate. She had no choice, if she didn’t do something it would be too late. “Run, Rhys, run they mean to arrest you,” Isabella screamed as loud as she could.

  Rhys looked up the street at her struggling with the guard. He seemed confused at first. Isabella thought he was going to come on down the street to see what was happening. So the handmaiden continued to yell, the guard tried to cover her mouth, but she bit him. Rhys must have finally heard her and realized the guardsman was holding her back. He turned around and ran back the way he had come. The guard holding her arms, cuffed her in the head.

  “You’ll pay for that, you little Celonian ally cat.” The guard shoved her down on the ground and all but one of them ran down the street after Rhys.

  The remaining guardsman picked her up and held her by the arms. The alarm bells were sounding throughout the palace grounds. Royal Guardsmen appeared from everywhere, she watched as over fifty of them ran out into the city.

  A tall officer walked up to the guard holding her. He was so mad he looked like he could bite his sword in half.

  “What the hell happened? All you had to do was stand here and he would have walked right up to you.” The man shoved Isabella forward still holding her by the arms. “This little bitch called out to him and he ran before he got all the way up the street.” The officer slapped Isabella across the face, making her mouth bleed. “Take her and lock her up inside, the King may want a word with her.”

  The guard grabbed her by the hair and started dragging her to the palace. Isabella struggled but the man punched her in the back twice and she lost her air. She was caught, there was nothing she could do now. She hoped Rhys was a fast runner or it would all be for nothing.

  General Talorn and King Cain stood talking together in the throne room. Captain Overton Hightower did not want to tell the King they had been unsuccessful in capturing the healer. The new King was already notorious for how little patience he had for failure.

  Hightower had just been promoted to the position of Captain of the Royal Guard, and he didn’t want to lose the position or his head.

  The King had been in a foul mood the last few days and Hightower didn’t want to be the one he took his displeasure out on. If he were lucky, the King’s anger would be directed at the scrawny blonde girl he had in chains by his side.

  She had fought them when they first tried to p
ut the chains on her, but his guards had slapped the disobedience out of her. Besides they would catch the healer soon enough, he had over a hundred men out looking for the elusive physician. Like it or not, he had to make his report.

  “Majesty?”

  Cain looked to the door. “Come in, Captain we were waiting for you, did we catch my sister’s … healer?” The King gave Talorn a smug look. The new general said nothing, but the captain could see he looked very unhappy.

  Captain Hightower’s boots clicked on the marble floor as he walked his shuffling prisoner across the throne room. He brought the girl to stand before the two most powerful men in Bandara. The captain told the King and General Blackthorn what had happened at the north gate. They listened without interruption.

  Cain climbed up the stairs of the dais and sat down on the phoenix throne. “Talorn, would you go see if Raygan is still in her room? I want to make sure she is preparing herself for the wedding.” Isabella’s head snapped up she looked at the King but she didn’t say a word. Talorn slightly bowed and left the throne room.

  “Captain Hightower, be so good as to shut the door and dismiss the rest of the guard. You and I should be able to handle one small girl.” The captain did as he was told. The room was still, only the hush of their voices disturbed the quiet. “My sister didn’t tell you about her upcoming wedding did she?” The handmaiden shook her head. Cain smiled down at the girl. “Don’t feel bad, she doesn’t think much of the lower classes. I doubt she would have allowed you to come to the wedding anyway, you know how she is.” The King watched the blonde girl carefully, but her expression didn’t betray her thoughts.

  “Isabella, I want to ask you a few questions. Be at ease, just answer me truthfully and no harm will come to you.

  “Did this healer, Rhys Morgan, defile my sister?” Isabella shook her head no. The King looked perturbed. “I want you to speak Isabella, not just nod. How will I know if you’re telling me the truth?”

  The handmaiden shifted her feet rattling the chains around her ankles. “I don’t even think they like each other that way. At least I never heard either one speak of it, Your Majesty.” Her voice sounded very small in the empty throne room.

  Cain tapped his finger against his lips and looked down at the girl. “Did the healer use magic to mend your lady’s injuries?”

  “No, Your Majesty, I saw nothing like that.”

  Cain rubbed his eyes. “Isabella, why are you lying to me? This is especially important, you do understand that don’t you? You can tell the truth, I will see to it Raygan never finds out who told me. You’re a pretty girl, it will not be hard to find another noble for you to serve. You will never even have to see Raygan again. All I want is the truth.”

  Isabella raised her manacled hands and tried to pull her hair back behind her ears. “I’m telling the truth, Your Majesty, I have no reason to lie. Neither one of them has done anything wrong I know of. I will even swear to it on the Holy Tome before Bishop Lyfair.”

  “Well, Isabella, you disappoint me. Captain Hightower, take her to the dungeon and see if Arn can ring the truth from her.”

  The captain looked at the King, puzzled “The royal executioner, Majesty? A good twist of her bony arm and she would most likely give you the truth.”

  Cain stood up from his throne “Are you questioning my order, captain? Is that what I just heard you do?”

  “Not at all, Majesty, I will take her down right now.” The captain took Isabella by the arm and led her out. There was no need to send the girl down to the dungeons, the new executioner was a monster of a man. This waif of a girl wouldn’t last a second with him.

  Arn had been sent from Braxton Bluff by Duke Blackthorn as a gift to the new King. The duke had told the King every ruler needed a good executioner and he swore this Arn was the best.

  Hightower didn’t even like to be in the same room as the vile, mutilated man. He looked at the thin young girl shuffling along beside him. He pitied her for what she would have to endure. “I’m sorry, lass,” he whispered to Isabella as they passed through the doors of the throne room.

  The ceremony was to be in the royal chapel, it would be small and quick. That’s what Raygan’s new attendants had told her. She had never seen any of the women before. They belong to her brother and they were there to spy on her, Raygan was sure of that. She had been told that the women were there to help her prepare for the wedding. They were all ugly and she hated them. She wanted Isabella, even Agnes would be better than these hags. She had no one to share her despair with. Isabella was nowhere to be found, and Cain said that Duke Blackthorn informed him that Agnes had returned to her family after their father died.

  This was not the wedding Raygan had dreamed of. She had often spoken to her father about her wedding day and what she wanted. It would have been a grand affair with the palace full of guests and of course gifts. The ceremony would be in the garden. Afterwards the whole city would have turned out to see the royal couple waving from the balcony of the palace. Her father could have decreed her wedding a national holiday and on her anniversary the whole city could have celebrated with her every year. That wasn’t going to happen now. Now she was to marry a man she despised, surrounded by men she hated in the cramped royal chapel at night. It was all unbearable.

  She was wearing a wedding dress that was old and plain and the matching shoes were an atrocity. They told her it was what the King had ordered her to wear. The servants had fixed her hair and dressed her but when she looked in the mirror she saw only misery. Her eyes were swollen from crying and the smile everyone loved was gone, maybe never to return.

  Where was Isabella and what had happened to Rhys? Raygan could not stop wringing her hands, she had not realized how much she cared about the healer until Cain said he would be hanged. He might be swinging from a rope right now for all she knew. The very thought of the man who gave her back her beauty hanging in the city square sent chills down her spine, and it made her loathe her brother even more.

  The time had come and she was escorted to the chapel by four Royal Guardsmen and her new attendants. Bishop Lyfair stood at the altar, Talorn and Cain in front of him. The guests included the royal council: Bradford, Fox, and Kaspar. Standing against the wall, she noticed William Blackthorn and Finn Selmac. This was worse than she thought, not even the lesser nobles were in attendance. It was ridiculous for a Princess to be married in this fashion. She would protest. Before she could say anything she saw the look that Cain gave her and she decided to keep her complaints to herself.

  Raygan knew she was truly alone, she was missing Isabella terribly at the moment. She realized in that instant the girl had been her only friend since her father had died. Maybe the only friend she had ever had.

  She was led to the altar by the guardsmen; they saluted their King and then their general and stepped to the back leaving Raygan standing by her future husband. Lyfair began the ceremony. Talorn stammered through his vows, the general seemed very nervous. He didn’t have the confident look Raygan had seen so many times on the tournament field.

  When it came Raygan’s turn to recite her vows, she found the courage to remain silent and not repeat the words Bishop Lyfair had just read to her.

  She looked to her brother. “I will only proceed with this on one condition.” The look on Cain’s face was pure fury but he kept his voice even. “What is your condition, Sister?”

  “I want my healer Rhys Morgan left alone and no charges brought against him by you or the Church. I swear before God in his holy chapel he has done nothing wrong.” She looked at Talorn, “He healed the woman that is to be your wife. Is that a crime, my lord? Or did you prefer my crooked face?”

  Cain started to answer, but Talorn spoke first. “Majesty, grant her this favor, so our marriage can begin on good terms without any malice in my bride’s heart.”

  Cain put his hand on Talorn’s shoulder and sighed. “If that is what you want, my friend, then so be it.” The King waved one of the guards to him. “Te
ll Captain Hightower to call off the hunt for the good healer.” The guard saluted and left the room.

  Raygan almost smiled. Rhys still lived, they hadn’t captured him yet. “Consider that my gift to you, Sister, on this day of your wedding,” Cain said with a mocking bow.

  Raygan tilted her head towards her brother feeling she had won a small victory. Bishop Lyfair cleared his throat and the ceremony continued. That night Raygan Albana became Raygan Albana Blackthorn before God and witnesses.

  As everyone quietly filed out of the chapel, Duke Blackthorn touched the King on the arm. “That was very magnanimous of Your Majesty to call off the hunt for the healer after what I heard about him.”

  Cain stopped and waited until everyone was gone. “Once the girl Isabella confesses that she saw him dishonor your new daughter-in-law and use magic, my hand will be forced. If I don’t arrest him, the Church will and he will still be brought before my judgment.” Blackthorn smiled. “Very cunning, Your Majesty. By the way, where are you holding that girl?”

  ***

  The cell was so humid that Isabella’s hair and body were soaking wet. It made the blood running down her legs look thin. The huge pig man had put her in a pair of manacles that hung from the ceiling. The stone beneath her was wet with sweat and blood. Her toes barely touched the floor, causing her to sway and the manacles to cut deep into her wrists. Blood had started to run down her arms now. The pig man had also ripped all her clothing off and rammed things inside her in places they shouldn’t go. This wasn’t Isabella’s first time in chains or the first time a man had hurt her.

  The pig man had left the cell. He didn’t say where he was going, he had not actually said anything at all. Through all the torture, he hadn’t asked her one question. It wouldn’t have mattered if he did. She would protect her Princess, no matter what.

  She could hear other people moaning from outside her cell, she was not the only prisoner down here. Maybe the pig man had gone to hurt someone else.