Betrayal at Falador (19 page)

He pushed her away and looked at her gently, his eyes sparkling.

“You may not know your own history just yet, Kara, but you must continue to do what is right for today, not what was right in whatever past you may have lived. We must learn from history, but we cannot be bound by it.”

She looked at him and nodded. He kissed her gently on her forehead, and she lay back on her pillow, her sobs subsiding.

“You should sleep now, Kara,” he said. “I will watch over you.”

And with Bhuler sitting silently at her bedside, Kara-Meir slept as peacefully as he had seen since her arrival, calmed by the presence of her friend.

TWENTY-FOUR

“I have discussed Gar’rth’s affliction with my coven and I do not think we can be of any more help to him.” Kaqemeex’s expression was pained as he made this confession.

“You have done more than we had any right to expect, my friend,” Ebenezer said gently. The druids had developed a potion that had relieved Gar’rth of his ailment, yet it seemed his body was rebelling against it. Soon, the alchemist knew, the potions would be useless.

“There is another option, however,” Kaqemeex offered. “There is a monastery northeast of here, close to The Wilderness. The monks there, under Abbot Langley, are worshippers of Saradomin. They may have the power to heal the boy.”

Gar’rth was standing close by, his head lowered in unease.

“Then we shall go there, and soon,” Ebenezer said, glancing at Gar’rth with a fond look in his eyes. “I am sure Castimir will accompany us—it will be useful having a wizard at our side with the monster still on the loose.”

“The birds have told me of the beast, my friend,” Kaqemeex said earnestly. “It is no longer at large in the wild. It went south and has passed beyond the limits of my spies. I think the east road to Varrock will be clear of any danger, for the Knights of Falador have sent many of their agents abroad to guard travellers, and even the Imperial Guard are helping.

“I would suggest that you make for the River Lum, and take advantage of the hospitality of the barbarian folk. From there the monastery is just a few days north, east of Ice Mountain.”

Ebenezer nodded.

“Then we shall leave today to take advantage of all the time that may be given us. Have you prepared the potions for Gar’rth?”

“I have, but once they are gone, I feel certain that no potion we can make will be strong enough to help him. His only hope is the monastery.” The druid bowed low, turned, and departed.

From an upper window which he had opened to let in the morning light, Castimir watched the druid go. He had heard their conversation, and he quietly feared for Gar’rth. They had developed a tentative friendship stemming from his willingness to educate the unfortunate youth in the common tongue.

The young wizard made ready to pack his belongings, securing his precious rune stones in their many pouches upon his belt. He preferred to travel light, with only two packs and a straight staff which glowed a fiery red at its knotted top.

“Ah well,” he sighed as he found his yak in the stables. “Off I go again. Farewell, peaceful Taverley—until next time.”

In fact, every inch of Castimir was itching to depart. He had nearly finished his year’s wanderings, and he was eager to see as much as he could before he had to return to the Wizards’ Tower. The tales of the barbarians and their hospitality had been an inspiration to him when he was young, so he was eager to experience it first hand.

“I wonder if what they say about the barbarian women is true?” he asked his beast as he slung the first pack over the creature’s back.

The phlegmatic yak looked at him as if it thought him mad, and didn’t bother to answer.

TWENTY-FIVE

“Crown Prince Anlaf, has he been having your dreams?”

Sulla spoke with authority to the sybil, who stood in the red-carpeted meeting hall of the Kinshra.

“He has,” the hag replied. “He will soon be paralysed with fear, unable to make a decision, open to the suggestions given by our supporters in Burthorpe. Through his indecisiveness the Imperial Guard will be redundant.”

Sulla turned to the men gathered around the table. They were the most influential followers of the Kinshra, and they had sworn loyalty to him after he had assumed command. He knew how little their oaths were worth, however.

“Are you sure of this, Sulla?” Lord Daquarius asked. Sulla despised him, but was too wise to make an enemy of him, for Lord Daquarius was a cunning man who was popular due to his well-known concern for his men. Sulla possessed no such weaknesses.

“I am,” he replied. “All we require is the will. For long years we have held ourselves back from interfering in Asgarnian politics, and the Knights of Falador have grown strong, taking advantage of King Vallance’s illness. The followers of Zamorak are persecuted throughout the kingdom. How long will it be before the blessed name of Zamorak is forgotten in Asgarnia, unless we—his sworn followers—do something to remind the people? Our ancestors helped found Asgarnia with King Raddallin. Will we dishonour their memory by letting our enemies consolidate their grip? I say no!”

Several of the men growled approval, and even Lord Daquarius nodded.

Sulla raised his hand to silence them.

“We have the weapons needed to break the walls of Falador, and we have spies everywhere. We have agents monitoring those who come and go from the Wizards’ Tower in the far south. We have agents patrolling the greatest city of humankind, Varrock, in neighbouring Misthalin.” He paused. “We even have the promises of the goblin chiefs, who are angered by the unfair treaties they have been forced to sign by the knights, requiring them to cede their lands to human farmers, driving them farther and farther north.

“For many years now I have worked toward this moment. I have been called extreme, and some have decried my methods as too violent.” Sulla smiled as he noted the amused looks on the faces of the men seated before him. “But over the course of years we have exhausted diplomacy, and only war remains!”

His captains hammered their fists upon the tabletop, indicating their agreement, and Sulla looked with satisfaction into their feverish eyes. He knew they would back him, for it had been many years since the Kinshra had ridden forth to open battle against their hated enemies. Many years during which their anger had only grown.

Some hours later, when only Sulla and the sybil remained, his wandering mind focused upon the girl. He had continued to dream of her, and he knew not why.

“She is alive. I know she is,” he hissed to the sybil, his fists raised in sudden hatred.

“Do you fear her, Sulla?” the old woman said in a crackling voice.

He didn’t answer, ignoring her and her evil laughter, for she alone had the power to mock him now. Instead he spun and walked away.

But as he left the hall he knew with certainty that he
did
fear the girl. For he sensed in her a nemesis, someone as violent and angry as he was—someone who was set solely and absolutely upon his destruction.

TWENTY-SIX

“Does the name Justrain mean anything to you, Kara?”

Sir Amik stood in the ward, his back turned to the girl, his hands folded behind him.

“No. I have never heard that name before.” Kara’s face was open and honest, and Theodore was certain she was telling the truth.

Sir Amik turned to face her then.

“I would like you to tell me about your father” he said. “About what happened to you after your village was attacked, and how you came to possess the broken ring.”

“The ring was my father’s,” she replied. “He was a woodcutter in the village. He would spend long periods away, sometimes travelling as far as The Wilderness. Once he left us for some weeks...” Kara’s face fell. “When he returned he was badly injured. Shortly after that, in the winter, the man called Sulla came and killed everybody.”

She raised her head to the knight, who looked at her with sympathetic eyes.

“My mother forced my father’s pack into my hands before she was dragged screaming from our house by her hair,” she continued, her voice strained with the effort. “I escaped from the village, evading their hounds and hiding in the woods. I found the ring later, when I searched the pack for food.”

Kara’s eyes were far away as she recalled the horrific events.

“I was found by a party of dwarfs. They took me back to their caves and I was adopted by Master Phyllis. I learned to craft metals better than any human smith in Falador. I learned to mine and how to fight. I was always fighting. Master Phyllis saw the anger in me and took it upon himself to educate me. I even learned to speak their language.

“Then a few weeks ago Master Phyllis became ill, and he made me promise to leave the mountain. He thought it very wrong that I should be kept away from other humans, and decided that I was old enough to find my way in the world. I took my sword and my father’s ring, and sought out the men who had killed my parents.”

Sir Amik listened carefully, and showed no sign that he thought she was telling anything but the truth. Yet to Theodore he seemed uncomfortable as he began to speak again.

“There was a time when we knights had in our service a powerful mage who shared our aims,” he began. “He created the Rings of Life and we issued them to those men who undertook our more dangerous missions—men like Justrain, who went to live amongst the people of your village, in order to spy on the Kinshra.”

Kara’s expression suddenly changed, to show that she understood.

Could it be true?
she thought furiously.
Could he have discovered the true identity of my father?

“But, Kara, there is something you should know about Justrain,” Sir Amik said. “He forfeited his knighthood when he accused some in our order of being treacherous, of passing information to the Kinshra. When he left Falador for the final time, he did so without his squire, without his armour, and without his sword. He went as a normal man with a sacred mission. That would allow him to marry if he wished—and it seems as if he did, becoming a woodcutter and having you as his daughter.”

The tears rolled down Kara’s face. Suddenly she felt as if she had found something that she had been searching for her entire life.

“But you must listen to me, Kara,” Sir Amik continued urgently. “There is evidence that the traitor might still be alive, and if he is, he must be brought to justice. I need you to think of
anything
your father might have said to you about this person. Promise me you’ll think about it?”

Kara nodded her head in agreement, although she was too excited to speak. Sir Amik smiled sadly as he squeezed her hand and left her in the ward with Theodore.

For Sir Amik, the conversation had been one of the hardest things he’d ever had to do.

He had lied to Kara.

Sir Amik had read Justrain’s reports, and they mentioned nothing at all about taking on the persona of a woodcutter. The knight lowered his head in shame. Not only had he wildly raised her hopes, he had set her on a path that would put her in danger. Kara-Meir would try to remember something that would incriminate the traitor, and Sir Tiffy would see that the suspect knights in the almshouse would know of it.