“Bodies?” Symon asked, shooting a look at Aniska and Zaraki. They forgot to discuss how to handle this matter.
“Yes. Lukas and Lorant’s?”
He did not think she knew about it yet. Or perhaps she just guessed. “In shallow graves, outside the walls,” he admitted.
“Ask for volunteers to dig them up and put them in a wagon. Have them escorted to Stahle, pay them triple whatever their monthly pay is. I’m sure it’s going to be unpleasant. Deliver them to Levent. A gift, compliments of the queen, and one she expects to be unwrapped.”
Looking annoyed now, Leisha said, “Refusing to answer is no different than saying no outright, and both are treason. Let the nobles hear how I’ve chosen to deal with traitors, let them see I won’t tolerate this. I’ll also send a letter telling him now I expect fifty archers in a month.”
“It will be very difficult for him to have so many outfitted and ready to march in a month,” Andelko cautioned.
She shrugged, unconcerned. “He should have spent the last month preparing then. If he fails, I’ll send the mercenaries to Stahle.” Smiles met her gaze as she looked around the table.
***
Over dinner, Leisha listened as Andelko brought her up to speed with news from the north. Gerolt and his army advanced slowly, still taking time to stop and capture important towns. Ladvik and Vially preferred a strategy of harassing the Deojrin with small bands of men and mercenaries. It kept casualties low and let them see what tactics they might encounter in a full, pitched battle. But they could only engage when there were few, if any, Cursed in the ranks. They still knew almost nothing about the enemy mind readers or how to defeat them. Leisha wished she could think of any way to take one captive.
After servants cleared the tables, she made time to thank her rescuers properly, the way a queen should. Beginning with Aniska, she pulled her friend aside as they adjourned for the evening. “I wanted to thank you for saving me. I don’t know all of it yet, but I know you had to be responsible for much of it.”
Unprepared, Ani fumbled for words, wanting to apologize and make amends for failing her friend. “I’m so sorry—”
“No.” Leisha cut her off. “You aren’t to blame, and I won’t hear it. They planned it well. We had no way of knowing about the flowers and no reason to suspect Lukas.” Now she nodded her head toward Zaraki, who stood talking to Andelko across the room. “I especially want to thank you for taking care of that one.”
Ani smiled, knowing they would not talk further of fault or guilt. “I love him like a brother. He’s the closest thing I have to family.”
“I imagine he was quite difficult.”
“We both were,” she admitted. “He was a pain in the ass, but only because he loves you more than anything in the world.”
Leisha hugged her. “Thank you for keeping him safe. I can never repay you.”
When Zaraki saw her gliding towards where he stood with Andelko, he thought she looked tired. “Shall we go upstairs?” he asked.
Glancing out the window, Leisha saw a few hours of summer daylight remained. “I have a few people to thank still. Can we go find Ladvik?”
Zaraki saw she was determined to complete this task tonight. He sent for a pair of guards to accompany them outside the walls and they stood together on the steps in the courtyard.
As they waited for the escort, Leisha leaned against him. He heard her whispered voice in his mind. Thank you for saving me.
***
Ladvik and his wife walked together with his minder trailing behind as the children ran in circles, shrieking in delight at being released from the castle. As they saw the royal couple approaching, Astra curtsied. “Sire. Your Grace, we’re pleased to have you back with us.”
“Thank you, Astra. I’m very glad to be back.”
Standing next to his wife, Ladvik bowed deeply. “My lady, you look very well. Welcome home.”
Leisha hesitated, unsure how to proceed, feeling unsettled and uncomfortable standing with her former prisoner. A riot of emotions raced across her mind. Having been a captive now, she felt awkward with him and she wondered what it had been like for him living for four years in a cell. Yet forgiving and being indebted to a man who tried to have her murdered unnerved her.
“Shall we walk?” Leisha asked, hoping it might help clear her thoughts.
Two couples and three guards made for a sizable procession, so their maid gathered up the children and turned back towards the castle. Leisha and Ladvik walked side by side in silence as they strolled around the edges of camp while Zaraki spoke with Astra.
“How are things with the men?” Leisha asked finally, trying to find some way to begin.
“Much better now you’ve returned. They’re overjoyed. As am I, Your Grace.”
Peeking at his thoughts, she felt his sincerity. What a change from four years ago when he planned his coup. “Ladvik, I understand you contributed quite a bit to my rescue, and for that, I thank you.”
Shaking his head, he said, “I did very little. Aniska and the others did all the work.”
“No. You could’ve said nothing. If I never returned, you would likely have gone free. You could have fled to one of my enemies. Instead, I owe you my life.”
Ladvik frowned, looking pained and feeling embarrassed. “Your Grace, I care deeply about this kingdom. I would never betray Tahaerin to our enemies. When I—” he paused, digging for the right words. “When I acted against you, I truly believed I was doing what was best for the kingdom. I see now I was very, very wrong. But at the time— I’m sorry, and I’m very glad you’re back with us.”
“I want to wipe the slate clean between us,” Leisha said, feeling humbled. “I want to call you a friend, Ladvik. There are only two things I can give you to thank you for all you’ve done, and one of those is meaningless at the moment. So, from now on, the restrictions on your movements are lifted. You may come and go as you please.” She had only one thing he wanted now, and she hoped it would be enough to keep him loyal.
Found
Two days later, with Leisha returned and strong enough to travel, the time had come to begin making plans again. The city of Prem could only support an army of their size for so long, and already foragers ranged far afield to find food for men and horses alike.
Over lunch, Andelko laid out a tentative course of action he and his two marshals wanted to start discussing. They believed with the last mercenaries hired, the army could start retaking lost lands in the south. “Right now, we need more scouts out there before we select any targets. But we can work on that as we travel,” he said.
A servant knocked and sticking his head in the door, motioned for Aniska.
“We’d like to at least stop their advance and hold some territory here in the south,” Andelko continued as she excused herself and followed the man out of the library. “Ideally, we’d like to see a few battles and season our men some.”
“It’s your army, cousin,” Leisha said, still enjoying the novelty of calling him that. “Whatever you decide.”
He shrugged. “We haven’t decided anything yet—”
They heard Aniska begin shouting as she skidded to a halt outside the doors to the library, titles and formality forgotten. “Leisha, Zaraki, Andelko, come quick. You want to see this.” She thrust the doors open, beckoning to them all. “You won’t believe it.”
Out in the courtyard, Leisha could see a patrol had just returned. Their horses stood together, sides heaving, and the men were still covered in dirt from the road. People crowded around, staring at a crumpled form lying on the ground.
Pushing them aside, Zaraki cleared a path when the crowd did not disperse for them. In the center of the press of people, Leisha finally saw him. The bald prisoner lay bound, blindfolded, and unconscious. Mud and leaves covered his odd black robes.
Leisha looked up at the soldiers, who grinned at her, delighted. Amazed, she asked, “How? How did you capture him?”
“It was easy, Your Highne
ss,” one of the young men said. “Just like you said, we attacked from the trees where they couldn’t see us. It spooked this one’s horse and he fell off. When we found him, he wasn’t dead, just confused and dazed.”
Another of the soldiers took up the story. “My lady, we remembered what they said in camp, about what happened to you and how the flowers work. We thought maybe the men carried some and we found two pouches of them. It was simple to make him eat them, every time he moved or made a sound.”
Beaming at all of them, Leisha realized Lukas had inadvertently showed them how to take an enemy mind reader alive. Aniska and Zaraki must have told the captains about the flowers and they passed the knowledge onto all of the scouting parties. Finally, they had their captive, and if she could figure out how to release this one from his compulsion, perhaps he would talk to them. “This is brilliant. Just brilliant. This is exactly what we need. Thank you, all.”
“Bring him and let’s put him in a cell,” Andelko said. “And someone find Sarika.”
***
A little crowd of people gathered around outside the cell door, waiting to see what the two mind readers would decide to do with their new prisoner. Leisha felt their anticipation and excitement. They wanted to be a part of this and to know if this might turn the tide in their favor. She certainly hoped freeing this man might lead to some knowledge that would help them.
After some discussion, they decided to drug the stranger once more, to make sure they would know when to expect him to wake up. Leisha told Andelko how to do it, but when she saw him dig out one of the little yellow flowers from the leather pouch, she panicked. The air in the cell felt stifling and hot. She could not breathe. “I can’t do this,” she stammered, remembering the bitter taste and the smell of Lukas’s hand covering her nose and mouth. Zaraki caught her as she stumbled back, almost falling in her rush to get away.
“Sire,” Sarika blinked, feeling the flood of Leisha’s distress as it bled out into those in the cell. “Let me try first. You can take her out. There’s no reason to upset her.”
Taking her hand, Zaraki led Leisha through the crowd and into the stairwell at the end of the hallway.
Alone now, she shivered, resting her head against his shoulder. “I hate those flowers. I hate them,” she spit through clenched teeth. “I’m glad you killed him and I’m glad he died terrified.”
They had not discussed Lukas’s death and Zaraki certainly had not told anyone the details. He never did, considering it a private act between himself and his victim. Of course, he could not be surprised she had seen his memories of the night.
Leisha drew a breath and raised her head, shaking off the last of the panic. “A few times when this has happened, the fear, you’ve remembered that night. Very vividly, because you’re still angry at him,” she explained. “I’m sorry, I’m better now. I just don’t want to see us acting like Lukas and Lorant.”
Together, they walked back to the cell.
“Highness, your talent is greater than mine. If this can be done, you’re likely the only one of us who can do it,” Sarika said when she saw her. “I can see whatever it is in his mind, but I’m not able to do anything with it. It seems indistinct, vague. I see almost a shadow.” She shook her head and frowned.
Leisha understood why she struggled to vocalize something that occurred in their heads and in the heads of others. They did not see things so much as perceive them, and their language did not contain words to explain what she and Sarika experienced.
“Is there any danger to removing the compulsion?” Zaraki asked, sounding unhappy. His lovely, stubborn wife protested she had recovered fully from her ordeal. But he knew how fragile she still seemed at times, and had seen the fear stalking her. He did not want to lose her to it again and fretted over her safety.
“I can say with some confidence nothing we do here will wake him. I never once came awake before Lukas expected it.” Leisha felt her heart flutter and she closed her eyes. She felt Zaraki slip his hand into hers and blew out her breath. “The real question is, how do I do it?” she asked.
Sarika shrugged, frustrated she could not help more. “I don’t know, Your Highness. There’s nothing in our stories to explain this. I only know what you read from the scroll.”
“I’ll take a look, then. Please, can we clear most everyone out? I want room to run if I have to.” A few people laughed nervously, but not everyone appreciated the joke.
“I’m staying,” Zaraki said in his Don’t argue with me, Leisha tone.
Of course. Watch over me? she asked, knowing it did not need asking.
Closing her eyes, she considered how to do this. She rarely had cause to dig deep into another person’s mind. The first time had been when Zaraki snuck into her rooms and asked for a job. The second time came six years later when she took control of her would-be rapist. Besides the archer in Savne, there had been no other need.
Slipping into his mind, Leisha listened to its rhythms as they pulsed around her. It sounded incredibly foreign, as though something was grossly out of place. The normal flow of heart and breathing throbbed around her, but the patterns of thought clanged and chimed out of tune.
This felt so wrong. It frightened her and she wanted to withdraw, to move away from the malevolence she felt inside him.
Gritting her teeth, Leisha delved deeper and found a dark knot, a malignancy reaching out long, thorny vines. They plunged into every recess of the man’s mind, invading it, warping it and she struggled to make sense of what she saw. But then as she plucked at the strange web, she understood the compulsion. Shivering, Leisha stood terrified of the Deojrin construct, knowing she would rather die than be subjected to this.
The constraint did not change the victim but locked away his free will. Under the compulsion, the stranger’s original personality still existed, imprisoned, watching the world through someone else’s eyes. They did not enslave the person so much as they enslaved his abilities. These were not mindless actors, they were prisoners in their own bodies forced to watch as their physical selves acted on the orders their captors gave.
Removing the threads took time, and at first, Leisha struggled. But with each thread she cut her confidence grew. As she removed the tangled filaments filling this mind, she learned how the Deojrin constructed their constraints and could guess as to how they put it in place.
A half hour in and Zaraki wanted to shake Leisha awake and force her to abandon this attempt. He had long since given up standing with her and had asked for a chair. When one appeared, he pulled her down into his lap and sat, trying to remain patient. It disturbed him to see her body almost vacant, devoid of what made her Leisha.
When she sagged against him and opened her eyes again, a triumphant smile on her face. “I did it. I did something amazing.” Her voice rang with a confidence he had not heard since her rescue. That alone made it worth all his worry, then.
“I have no doubt of that, love. How are you?” he asked, trying not to sound anxious.
“Tired, happy. I accomplished something. Something that might help us. And maybe him.” She favored him with a radiant smile.
***
Around midnight, the man awoke. At first, he seemed confused and disoriented, but as soon as he recovered himself, he burst into a flurry of energy. The guards watched but did nothing, given the late hour. Servants brought food and water and pushed both through the small grate at the base of the door. The stranger began shouting a stream of words in a foreign language and rushed the door. He crashed violently into it, knocking over the jug of water and scattering the food all over the floor.
By morning, nothing had changed, and the guard sent for the queen’s doctor. Alarmed by the scene in front of him, Jarden asked a servant to find Leisha and have her come down to see their captive.
Annoyed no one thought to call her sooner, Leisha hurried down the stairs with Symon and Zaraki trailing in her wake. Over the sounds of the man’s mad pacing, she heard his voice, but he spoke so fast sh
e could not easily understand him. Brushing over his thoughts, she retreated from the maelstrom that confronted her. Animal fury, violence, and outrage raced through him like wildfire.
“What is this? Is he mad?” Symon wondered.
As they watched through the window of the cell, the man grew more and more agitated. He strode back and forth like a wild animal, caged and furious. At times, he stopped to scream and claw at the walls or throw himself against the door, howling in rage. His fingers were bloodied where he tore the nails from their beds. The anger would subside for a time and he would resume pacing, but the mad howling and shouting continued unabated.
“I don’t know,” Leisha said sadly, disappointed at the thought of losing this chance and of this poor man never tasting his freedom. Perhaps she had damaged him.
Jarden said, “Highness, he won’t eat or drink. Another day of this and I doubt he’ll survive.”
“Do we drug him again?” Leisha asked, unsure of what else they could do.
“We could try, with three or four of us, but someone is going to get hurt.” The guard did not sound enthusiastic about this plan.
“Wait,” Zaraki said, stopping to stare at her. “Wait. The words carved in the wall in Branik? I don’t think they’re a warning. I think they’re instructions.”
When Leisha frowned, not understanding, he grinned. “Think about it. And they will awake angry, as dragons from sleep. Rage will fill their hearts with a fire no death can quench. But with sleep and solitude, they will be free once more. Think about it,” he said, sounding excited.
“It sounds similar,” Leisha admitted, still not sounding convinced. “But why would they carve that on the walls?”
His smile grew wide. “Apparently, your family tree sprouts from roots made up of angry war mongers. Who knows why they did anything?”
As Dragons from Sleep (The Tahaerin Chronicles Book 2) Page 32
