Gods of Shadow and Flame

by M. H. Johnson

  Agda gave her daughter a gentle hug. “The more things progress, the gladder I am that some cards we now keep close to our vest.”

  Jess smiled. Her mother, in her own way, agreeing with her assessment that it was best to keep Apple's return secret still, for all that she chafed at being stuck in quarters. It was better than her enemies making a play for her under whatever pretext once more, at least until they had secured the board and eliminated the threats to their clan.

  “Very well, Jess. I have been patient while you were recovering, and even as the inquisitor asked to speak to you alone, without counsel.” Jess could sense her mother's frown. “No matter. You carry yourself well enough now, and none can question that this was a formal meeting, no undue favor given.”

  She turned to face Jess then, worried eyes lancing into her own. "Now tell me, Jess, everything that happened since attending the dean. What gambits are in play? Leave out nothing."

  “You're right. It's time you knew just how deep Eloquin's training went,” Jess said, leading her mother back inside their secure dwelling, and together, they prepared for the ordeal to come.

  27

  “Name?”

  “Ithop, sir.” This from yet another member of the royal cavalry unit formerly under Captain Vardelos, the soldier presently sitting across from Joshua who was at that moment gazing rather imperiously down at the man in question, seated as they all were in one of the school’s great auditoriums, conveniently set up to house their impromptu interrogation chamber.

  The academy's own body of armsmen stood rather imposingly at the ready about the room, as did Drake and Armond, Jess's personal retinue, all of them having passed Joshua and Jess’s tests with flying colors.

  "I had no doubt that our men would be true as silver, Lady Calenbry," Drake had wryly mused early that morning after they had, in fact, interviewed the entirety of the Academy staff. Those caretakers who were obviously ambivalent about the change in leadership from the year before, or who had radiated even the slightest bit of antipathy towards Jess or the prince, no matter how well concealed, had been quietly led off the premises and safely escorted to the nearby town with rooms rented out for them in advance, and a generous stipend for their years of hard work, as well as glowing references.

  Jess had no doubt that those servants would bitterly miss working in premises eternally warm with spring, having to find fresh work in the bitter cold of winter. She was only glad that far fewer members of the academy staff held her in poor regard than she had feared would be the case, despite the chaos and horrors that had occurred since her arrival.

  Jess shivered, earning her a sympathetic look from Joshua. She took some small comfort in the thought that if there had been any truth to her awful dream, had there been any informants in the staff who had been alerting her movements to enemies still unseen, at least those pieces had been taken off the board. For only staff that was clearly devoted to Jess, radiating warmth and fondness and free of any hostility were invited to stay on.

  Jess took solace in the knowledge that this would no doubt open up positions Drake and Armond’s own family members could easily fill, positions she would arrange especially for them, allowing their families entire to shelter within the balmy shelter of the academy’s grounds. Of the Academy guard, there had been nothing but heartfelt love and loyalty emanating from all members that they had interviewed.

  It had been a busy morning, really, with Joshua doing the interrogating, using his own skills as a commander and judge of character to ascertain the fair apples from the foul, so to speak, relying in no small part upon Jess's own innate talents, her gift for not only sensing malice in any who held it against her, but just as importantly, being able to all but taste deception. The greater the lie or falsehood, the more at stake or the more harm it could wreak, the sharper it stung her senses. White lies, a merchant's exaggerations, were trivial to the point of being all but undetectable to her senses. Yet any falsehood in these circumstances, where the lives and fates of all those who made their home in what was, after all, her personal Domain, she could sense with almost painful clarity.

  As it did now. The royal archer Ithop’s proclamation’s of loyalty and devotion to both kingdom and crown rang hollowly within Jess’s inner ear. When he was asked point blank if he knew if anyone amongst their number had nefarious plans involving Jessica de Calenbry or the prince, Ithop’s protestations of ignorance and innocence grated so sharply upon Jess’s ears that she couldn’t help grimacing, tasting the foulness of his lies.

  Jess lowered her gaze, freezing in tight place her mask of indifference. She shook, not with fear, but to suppress the desire to unsheathe her sword and strike that treacherous worm down in a berserker’s fury right where he stood, never mind injuries only recently mended.

  For all his humble words, when Jess had composed herself sufficient to lock gazes with Ithop once more, she noted that the man’s eyes were as cold as the freezing winter beyond the Academy estates, as was the frigid contempt that he felt for her.

  Subtly, Jess laid down a card, unobtrusively leaning it against the spine of one of the opened books on law before them, artfully arranged so that Joshua could catch its depiction without losing focus on his interrogation, or giving away to the interviewee what it said.

  The card's face was black as charcoal.

  Joshua gave a slight frown, showing no other sign that he had received Jess’s feedback as he continued to question the archer regarding far more innocuous topics, at the end even congratulating Ithop on his remarkable archery skills.

  "I understood from Captain Vardelos that you were one of his best. It is no wonder he made you a lieutenant. May all our archers have skills with the bow similar to your own." With a final enigmatic smile, Joshua gave a slight tip of his head. "Very well. You are dismissed, Ithop. Carry on with your duties."

  Blinking cold gray eyes for a moment, as if surprised to have made it through the interrogation. Ithop grinned, slamming fist to heart. "We live to serve, my prince." With that he bowed low, spinning about, proceeding to the door graciously opened by Drake, still eyeing daggers at the man.

  Joshua took a contemplative sip from his glass of brandy, pausing a moment before glancing at Jess, eyebrow raised questioningly.

  “Yes, my prince. He is away from the door, and no one is eavesdropping.”

  Joshua gave an approving nod, flashing a teasing grin. “Marvelous talent, my dear. I should hire you on as chief of my house security.”

  Jess chuckled at that.

  Her prince's eyes gazed deeply into her own. “And may I thank you as well, dearest Jess, for resisting the impulse to slice the man in twain. It would have looked quite bad, I’m afraid, for all that I have no doubt your wrath was fully justified.”

  Jess flushed, earning a cool gaze from her mother, who had no doubt heard every word. “I didn’t think it was that obvious.”

  Joshua grinned. "I know well the difference between a shiver of fear and when a warrior is shaking with barely suppressed battlefury. I suspect even your mother picked up on it, and she does know you best, after all. Frankly, I'm surprised Ithop isn't running for the hills, even as we speak."

  Jess flushed under her mother's cool appraisal. “I didn’t actually do anything,” she murmured.

  Quickly enough, Joshua’s gaze turned serious once more. “So. There we have it. All four of Vardelos's lieutenants with the coldest pairs of eyes I have seen since the last time I faced a man looking to kill me. I can well see how one might think them complicit of something sinister, though save for your admittedly fortuitous hunches, we have, as of yet, no definitive proof.”

  Jess grinned archly. “Even if I don’t sense all the fork-tongued games of deception and innuendo that occur within the byzantine halls of power, when I do sense deception of a malevolent sort, I am never wrong. And you never told me those men I flashed the black cards for were all his lieutenants!”

  Her mother, sitting to Joshua’s left on their impro
mptu questioning session gave a wry snort, which Jess promptly ignored.

  Joshua gave a solemn nod. “There was a reason for that, my dear Jess. It gives added validation to your judgment. Were I to tell you ahead of time who was who among the mounted ranks, then that might, in the eyes of some, prejudice your views unduly. As we made sure all were dressed out of uniform and otherwise free of both arms and insignia, it helped assure that any judgments made would be based solely on the archer’s perceived character, and not on any preconceptions of rank.”

  Alben, also asked to sit upon their informal counsel, nodded his concurrence. "I marked upon my cards who stood out in my mind as well. Wise of you to have us do that beforehand, so that our views are not later swayed by each other's perceptions." He offered Jess a wry smile. "I must be honest, Professor Calenbry, I did not sense much of anything untoward from the first two men our prince identified as lieutenants of the late Vardelos, but these last two, any agent worth his salt would have felt something a bit off about them. You could see it in the way they gazed at you, as much as they tried to hide it. I would never turn my back to such a pair of men."

  "Such was my opinion in regards to all four of those so called ‘lieutenants'", her mother noted. "Greasy rodents smiling in your face while looking for the main chance, happy to take any opportunity to stab you in the back. Their artifice was evident in every careful gesture of obeisance and devotion they genuflected towards you, Your Grace. For the likes of those, honor and country-love are such alien concepts that they must overcompensate in trying even to mimic it, having no real understanding of either."

  Agda's gaze hardened. ”And the way those latter two gazed at you. By the gods, I wanted to gut them myself!”

  Joshua nodded. "I had much the same assessment about the latter two. The first pair did not overly prick my alarm, and I did not wish to judge too quickly."

  “Foul as rot. I wanted to lop their heads clean off, listening to their simpering lies.” Jess angrily squeezed the pommel of yet another longsword, this one a gift of the guard, well balanced and of excellent quality steel, the last one having been damaged beyond repair in her battle against commander Vardelos and his infernally cursed blade.

  Jess suddenly blinked, startled to hear herself say the words out loud. “My apologies Joshua, Captain Alben. I did not mean to sound quite so bloodthirsty.”

  Joshua smiled. “You merely spoke from the heart. And your intuition is one I trust like no other.”

  “Anyone left for us to interrogate?”

  Joshua shook his head. “That was the last one.”

  Jess gave a firm, approving nod. “Excellent. Now we have a handful of possible accomplices to the late Captain Vardelos, whittling down forty to four. With your permission, I shall prepare what I need from my garden, and we will be ready to conduct a more... thorough interview of our four lieutenants.”

  Joshua gave a cold smile at that.

  “Very well,” Alben sighed. “We shall make use of the cellar chambers, as we discussed.”

  28

  "Ithop, Saven, Chot, and Alev, thank you all for attending," said a coolly smiling Joshua, raising his herb infused wine in toast.

  The dean also saluted the men, drinking deeply from his own chalice, Jess, seated beside the dean, smiling politely as well.

  The four lieutenants, having been peremptorily summoned to attend their prince at dinner to discuss the return to Krona were all dressed in fresh uniforms, boots blackened, blade hilts freshly polished. Joshua took care to pour everyone's wine from the same pitcher, movements as natural as would be any host to his guests. Four academy guardsmen were also in attendance, acting as humble as could be, saluting the lieutenants deferentially before serving them whatever they desired from the platters of cold cuts, cheeses, breads, and fruit laid out for their enjoyment. The officers seemed to breathe easy in unison, clearly pleased to see that it was an informal, even friendly meeting, happy as well to have their station over their inferiors in such clear evidence, treating the house guard as arrogantly as any lord.

  Joshua merely smiled, tilting his head as if in approval.

  “As you four know, Captain Vardelos had been... retired. And I like men that know their place. I give no man authority to claim that which is mine, and I expect officers of the Crown to put royal interests above all else. Those that fail me are guilty of treason. Those that put my interests first may expect to be rewarded for their loyalty. Now all that remains is for me to find a replacement for the captain that failed me. You four have all proven to me on our journey here and in our interview that you are bold men, in full command of your troops, willing to fight for a cause you believe in, willing to seize the day and claim that which is your due.”

  "May we all seize the day!" Dean Echobart declared, saluting them with the toast, all of the officers turning almost jovial to find that it was a promotion they have been interviewing for, not suspicion of treason. The thought that the prince was himself ruthless enough to arrange for the death of their captain for breaking the only rule that truly mattered to the corrupt; that their power, pride, and possessions were respected, seemed to come as a strange relief to them. For his was a mindset they could relate to. The prince did not care about external machinations, only that the captain had threatened his doxy. Sharing relieved smiles they drank deep, even as the house guard bowed deferentially to their collective esteemed guests.

  Jess hid her grimace with a smile, not knowing how she was able to read these newcomers quite so well, but knowing it was so.

  Joshua flashed a cynical smile. "And I am sure, loyal men that you are, your write-up of the events that transpired shall make note of Vardelos's strange fit of madness, his delusions regarding my doxy, as worthy of pity, not contempt. A disease of the mind, my healer assures. Obviously my woman is innocent of any wrongdoing. You can see that as well as I. And any man who says or implies otherwise is fit to be spitted on a stake!"

  As one the four lieutenants favored the prince with near identical smiles, raising their cups in unison. They knew this game well indeed, and Jess had no doubt that they were quite pleased to join forces with a ruthless man happy to reward them for their loyalty. And their lies. The mood turned almost jovial as Joshua laughed, made sly jokes about the silly excuse for a council taking place at the college, even intimated that the time for significant change would soon be upon them.

  "So what I want to know, my friends, is when that fateful day of change arrives, whose camp will you be in? Will you accept your present lot; the next ten, fifteen years as lieutenants before you are inevitably cashiered out with a paltry stipend? Or do you hunger for the chance to achieve rank and prestige, to lead hundreds of men, to have the opportunity to become so much more than what the paltry status quo has given you?"

  Jess smiled as Ithop grandly saluted the prince, sensing his inebriated state shift from cool contempt to avarice-laden bonhomie with the giving of a single speech, flattered by gestures of conciliation and tribute paid via a single sit-down with his betters. "My prince. Grateful we are that you have chosen to honor us with your trust, to recognize men of potential willing to serve Your Grace with utter devotion. Whatever boon or rank you choose to grant us, we shall prove our worth with the blood of your enemies!"

  Two of his fellows cheered that proclamation, the fourth frowning at Ithop's choice of words, even as he saluted in turn.

  Or perhaps his frown was for entirely different reasons, as he began to clutch his belly.

  “That is extremely reassuring to hear, Ithop,” Joshua said, hazel eyes locking upon Ithop's own, even as the man blinked and grimaced, clutching his belly.

  “My Prince?” Ithop asked, now visibly wincing, gazing at the man before him with growing alarm.

  And before his bolt of panic could solidify into action, live steel was placed against the shuddering Ithop's neck, as it was each of the four suddenly moaning lieutenants, their deferential servitors revealing their true role at last.

 
“You shall indeed serve me. To the bitter end. With utter devotion. As you had sworn to do from the first day you signed on!” Joshua roared, even as the four writhing men were stripped of blades and daggers, roughly slammed to the ground, trussed and gagged.

  Joshua's eyes flashed, and Jess shivered to see such cold fury in a face that had always treated her so tenderly. Her heart raced to witness the ruthless commander that he normally hid from her so well.

  “And you shall indeed prove your worth with the blood of my enemies. I can assure you of that,” Joshua declared, even as the four men began to tremble and shake, moaning through their gags, and Jess could imagine all too well the horrific cramps ripping through them, as if their bowels were on fire

  “My Prince, you have let that woman poison us!” One cried out from his imperfectly tied gag, the guardsman behind him promptly slamming fist to kidney, the disgraced lieutenant collapsing and screaming.

  Joshua gave a curt shake of his head. "It is not time for that."

  “My apologies, my prince.”

  Within seconds, all four of the lieutenants were dragged off to a set of rooms presently cleared of all guests and students, rooms conveniently close to the dean's own.

  Each of the chambers had been emptied, lined with hay over burlap and a single stout hardwood chair the men were stripped naked and bound to, gags only then removed. Their cries for mercy and protestations of innocence were utterly ignored, even as their pain increased in pitch, their spasms increasing in intensity.