Court of Conspiracy (29 page)

“She is fine now. Bring her food and wine.” He turned back to Bertila. “You may rest easy. You are well. Nothing can harm you.”

“Bertila, your scar’s gone,” Will said, stroking a finger down his sister’s cheek.

“It was but a symptom of her malady,” Dufay said smoothly. “She is whole and well. I shall visit again soon. Keep her warm. She is past the worst, but still weak. Let her come downstairs, but on no account is she to take up the reins of the household until she is stronger.”

As they left, Luke felt Dufay threw a misremembrance spell over Will and Corbin. Luke approved the Elemagus’s caution.

“I know you feel exhausted,” Dufay said as they walked across the park. “That is the problem when an elemancer fights a sunderer, and this was no ordinary sorcerer. I should have taken thought and come with you.”

In truth, Luke was almost dropping on his feet. The battle had drained him physically and his mental processes were still caught up with the manifestation of the dark force and the terror he had felt for Bertila.

Dufay, as if trying to deflect Luke’s thoughts from his recent ordeal, spoke of the other elements that Luke now needed to study. He talked about the earth as a living entity and the fact that all living souls had affinities with different plants.

“For example,” he said, “you will find that people born in the same period will have an attraction to the same plants, stones and colors. The numbers that guide their lives will be similar. For example, Pippa and the King share a birthday, so there is an affinity between them and anyone else who shares the same natal day.”

“Aye, indeed they do, sir. And I believe that is why Peveril took up with Pippa, so that he could bind her to him and then use her to hurt the King. I am sure he is our enemy, but I cannot yet prove it,” Luke replied. “What I would like to know is whether he romanced Bertila knowing that Pippa would come into his sphere or if that was merely an added twist of fate.” Dufay nodded.

“That would certainly chime with the information we now know. You must also consider that he knew that you were friends with the Quaynes.”

“That makes no sense, sir.”

“Sadly, it does, Luke. It speaks of a power such as we have seldom encountered. It seems he knew you would be assigned to your mission before we knew such a mission existed, but how, I have no idea. What is worse, we have no time to think it through now, so we may be running into even greater danger than before. I told you, I have been studying the way numbers affect our lives. The King and Mistress Gardiner have another mystical bond in that their character numbers are the same.”

“Was that why you wanted her to come and work for you?”

“Aye. I thought that she might help me protect the King.”

“Instead, she allowed Geoffrey Peveril to break her heart as he has Bertila’s.”

“Aye, and there is something I have discovered about Master Peveril that we must discuss. First, though, you must come back to my house, Luke. You are in need of cleansing and replenishing after your trial.”

When they reached Dufay’s house, Luke frowned. All was dark even though some chinks of light from the candles should have been showing. Dufay, too, showed sudden unease.

The door was wide open, the house empty. Pippa and Ajax were gone.

Chapter Thirty-Four

“She has gone to Peveril,” Luke said through clenched teeth.

Dufay beckoned him through to the workshop. “Possibly, but not, I would wager, willingly. First things first. I must cleanse you.” The purification ritual took a few minutes, during which Luke felt his rage, his spike of fear for Pippa and his exhaustion seep away. Then Dufay handed him a flagon. “Drink this.”

Luke sipped at the sparkling gold liquid. It tasted of sunshine, rosehips and a spark of something he could not identify. At once, it was as if new strength flowed into his bones. When the flagon was empty, they sat on either side of the kitchen table.

“The strength will last some hours,” Dufay said. “But it will mean that your fatigue when it next hits will be so much the deeper.”

Luke shook his head in impatience. “Peveril,” he said.

“Peveril. Aye. We must talk about him. I am certain he will not use Pippa until tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?”

“Aye. What is the date tomorrow?”

Luke rubbed his brow. “The 25th July.”

“Which is?”

“God’s teeth. The King’s natal day when he will be susceptible,” Luke replied. “And we must not forget Pippa.”

“True, and that is why we have until tomorrow. Now, we have more pressing matters. You need to solve the cipher immediately, Luke. Because of the urgency of the situation, I will help you with the first part. It is a number code. Once you set the grid up, you can transpose the numbers into letters. This is based on a simple five-by-five square, one of the easiest. Anyone finding the note would think a child had been at his lessons. Begin with the letter
A
, which will be the number 1 on both horizontal and vertical axis and thus translates to the number
11
. Go from there and do not forget that
I
and
J
are interchangeable. Here is paper and ink. Concentrate. Time is of the essence if we are to put our plans in place. Every moment is important.”

“If it’s that important, why haven’t you done it?” Luke grumbled before he could stop the words. He held a quill in his hand and, under Dufay’s guidance, drew a number grid. “We should be out searching for Pippa,” he said through gritted teeth.

“Believe me, Pippa is in no serious danger until tomorrow. This is more vital and it is not the only thing I must tell you. Remember that the quicker you solve the puzzle, the sooner we can find Pippa. Well, can you make sense of it?”

Luke worked for some minutes, at first with irritation, but then with concentration. He scribbled on the parchment and then read his words. “
Nigek Rhyn and Ben Lannoe will meet their destiny.
You may put your trust in Harold Forkwon and GP and the holly.
”

He looked up at Dufay. “Who are Nigel Rhyn and Ben Lannoe? This makes no sense.”

“They sound like Welsh names,” Dufay answered. “And we must remember that the King’s ancestry is Welsh. What worries me more is the reference to holly. I have only just discovered that it is the plant for which both Pippa and the King have an affinity. So the link between them is even stronger. That brings me to Master Geoffrey Peveril, for I think he must be the
GP
in the note.”

“You know where he is?”

“I have had agents out scouring the country to find his place of origin. There is a small village in the marshes of East Anglia where the name of Geoffrey Peveril became so evil that the villagers drove him out.”

“And this is the same man?”

Dufay sighed and looked at his hands. “It might be. He is described in village folklore as having gray eyes and the ability to charm anything female, be it a bitch, a filly or a woman.”

“Village folklore?”

“Aye. He was thought to practice the dark arts. They drove him out in 1335. Since then, there have been four recorded instances of a Geoffrey Peveril appearing at times of unrest. On each occasion, he has been instrumental in bringing death and suffering. I fear he may have used other names at other times. The smaller villages have a consistent history of evil forces. They might all be Peveril in his various guises.”

“Ah.”

“My knowledge is incomplete, but my belief is that Peveril, using various names, is an Elemagus-turned-sunderer who feeds on the essence of his victims, goes to ground from time to time, but returns when called by the
malus nocte
. By my reckoning, he is eons old. The way he seems to have divined your role in all this before anyone knew you would be involved supports my theory.”

“God save us. This is the man who has Pippa? And you sit there and say we need not worry until tomorrow?”

“Pray calm yourself. If I am right, he will use both holly and Pippa to create a mental link to the King. Only when that link is established will he harm Pippa, because without it, he’ll be unable to harm the King. His magic will be stronger on their natal day—hence she will be fine until tomorrow.”

Luke studied the translated cipher again. “I wonder if there is a clue here as to where he is holding her.”

“There may well be. I suspect he will try to kill the King in his sleep. That would fit in with the sunderer’s underhand methods of working in the dark, out of the light of day. If he were to strike him in the middle of the court, it might have a greater impact, but it would rouse too many suspicions.”

“Which means, what?”

“That he will have obtained something from the King’s bedchamber. Part of the bed covers, or a hanging or, most powerful, a feather from the royal pillow.”

Luke was staring at the paper. “What about the Queen?”

Dufay frowned. “The Queen would not kill her only son and safeguard.”

“No, how would Peveril kill the Queen?”

“Unless he has another prisoner, he cannot.”

“Look at the paper,” Luke said, shaking it in front of Dufay’s face. “You may be skilled in the art of numbers, but my apothecary’s training in letters has not been wasted. Nigek Rhyn is King Henry and Ben Lannoe is Anne Boleyn. I have also thought of something else. Mistress Gwenette Paige also has the initials
GP
. Her close relatives are in the Merchant Adventurers. We all know how much they hate the King since he revalued the coinage. It could well be they who call Peveril’s tune. And we must take into account that if they rearrange names, perhaps
GP
should be
PG
, and the only
PG
we know is Pippa Gardiner.” He shook his head. “I have no idea who Harold Forkwon could be. How do we identify who is for us or against us in this? In a few hours, it will be tomorrow. We must find Pippa now. If she is in danger, she needs us, and if she is a plotter, then without her, they cannot act.”

The last sentence was said with such force that Dufay shrank back from Luke’s anger, just as Luke sagged onto the table, his hands to his head. Before the darkness came, he felt Joss at his side.

He was in a dark tunnel, looking toward a feeble light at the other end. A light he knew he must reach, but his path was blocked by a door. Pippa’s voice came from the other side, weak with pain but with a core of steel. “Luke, King, danger, save. Luke, King, danger, save.”

“Where are you?”

“Luke, King, danger—” A shrill cry of pain cut her off and Luke was thrust back into Dufay’s kitchen.

“Pippa. That fiend is torturing her and she has found the courage to resist him. And you,” Luke stammered, pointing at Dufay, “you told me she was in no danger until tomorrow. I need to find her and find her now.” Luke shouted the last word and thumped his clenched fist on the table.

Dufay leapt to his feet. “Now is a time for calm heads. Control your rage and channel it. Our priority is the King’s life, not hers. You can do nothing to help her now. How stupid I have been, falsely lulled, played like a lute string. Go to the palace, explain the peril and be guided by the Queen. I will communicate with her to say you are on your way. In the meantime, I can best aid you by throwing a protective circle round the palace until your plans are in place.”

“And Pippa? Are we to abandon her?”

Dufay laid his hand on the other’s arm and stared directly into his eyes.

“My friend, we must save the King and pray we are in time to find her.”

Luke realized there was no point in arguing further.

“How will I get past the guards?”

“Tell them that you are summoned. They will not question you. I shall take steps to see they do not remember you, either. At all costs, you must get the King out of his bedchamber, so that any diabolical link will not work properly. Our enemy will expect him to be there. You must ensure he is elsewhere.”

* * *

Luke struggled to appear confident as he hurried past the guards on the main gatehouse. To his astonishment and relief, they did not challenge him. He made his way to the door of the Queen’s apartments and knocked. Within seconds, he was in her presence. The two greysprings greeted each other with wagging tails and busy noses.

She had obviously been abed when the connection with Dufay had come through and had merely put a thick velvet robe over her night attire. Luke was taken aback to see Gwenette Paige in attendance.

“Tell me all, quickly,” the Queen said. “You may speak before Gwenette. She is not of this plot, despite what her uncles may want or believe. She has my full trust.”

Luke took a few moments to gather his thoughts. He could only hope the Queen’s belief in Gwenette was not misplaced. It would not be the first time a confidante had turned traitor. Anne’s face paled when she heard of the link between Pippa and King Henry. “You are sure about the Peveril sorcerer?”

“We have no proof, but it seems likely. The only other
GP
is Mistress Paige, and you vouch for her.” Luke could see from Gwenette’s expression that she was fully aware of his misgivings and he was sorry for it, but now was no time for finer feelings. He turned back to the Queen.

“Because we are dealing with the left-hand path, madam, I had considered the initials could have been reversed. In other words
PG
for Pippa Gardiner but I am now certain that she is guiltless in this matter and is actively trying to aid us. Madam, we must persuade His Majesty to leave his bedchamber at once.”

She held up a hand. “Aye, but we also need to catch the perpetrator. Follow me. You, too, Gwenette.”

The Queen swept back into her bedchamber, ordering her ladies to wait in the outer room. Then she pulled one of the wall hangings aside to reveal a door.

“This is a secret passage. His late majesty had it constructed in the first flush of our love, so that I could make my way to his chamber without being seen.”

The passage was narrow, not surprising, Luke thought, when it had been built between two walls. The Queen went first, followed by her dog and Gwenette. Luke followed the seamstress with Joss at his heels. Three upward steps marked the end of their journey. Queen Anne pushed open the door at the top and they tumbled into the King’s bedchamber. The page on the pallet at the foot of the bed sprang up, pulling out a dagger that shook in his hand until he realized who he threatened. Then it shook even harder.

“Have no fear, boy. Is the King awake?”

“He said he was fatigued, Your Grace. In truth, he could hardly keep his eyes open,” the page said, lowering the dagger but looking at Luke with suspicious eyes.

The Queen sprang to the bedside. “Sorcery. Help me wake him, but do not disturb the guards outside.”

It did not matter how much they shook him. Luke, in desperation, slapped his face, but King Henry did not wake up.

“Is there nothing you can do as his mother, Your Grace?”

“Of course. The family link. My wits are disordered. But we are so short of time.” She swung the page round to face her. “Go and stand facing the window, boy. Do not look round.”

The boy nodded and obeyed, and Luke threw a misremembrance spell at his back before turning to watch the Queen. She nodded her thanks.

He saw her face grow pale and her small rosebud mouth purse in concentration. She relaxed her shoulders, closed her eyes and raised both arms. The air seemed to swirl and Luke caught the fragrance of musk, roses and geraniums. He could see that the Queen was trying to swirl the scents into a cloud, but the forces she was fighting blocked her every move. He raised his arms and lent his psychic strength to hers.

The tussle continued for a few seconds and then, in an instant, the cloud solidified into a thick coverlet. Luke swished it across the King’s still inert body and helped the Queen surround her son until all three were almost lost to view in a dense haze. The figure in the bed stirred, then sat up and yawned.

“Your Majesty. My son. Henry. Wake up.”

It took precious minutes to explain the situation to the King and several more before he understood that unless he left the chamber, he was in extreme danger. As he sat up, Luke noticed a small white plume on the royal pillow and showed it to the Queen before turning and throwing it into the fire.

“Sire,” he urged. “You must go now.”

“I will not be seen to run like a coward in the night.” Luke nearly laughed at Henry’s sulky expression. There was no doubting he was Great Harry’s son.

Luke bowed. “Sire, you once permitted me the honor of physicking you. I pray you to allow me to counsel you now. England needs you, strong and steadfast, to battle for her against all enemies. Face-to-face fighting is not always the best way to win a war.”

“He is right,” the Queen said.

“What would you have me do, then, Master Apothecary?” Henry’s tone was sardonic.

“We can assume that the attack will come through the door. Who are the guards on it? They should be dealt with.”

“You believe my guards have been corrupted? If I cannot trust them, who may I trust?”

“Captain Byram Creswell is true to you, Sire. I think he has already foiled one attempt on your life at the risk of his own, but we must be as cunning as the enemy. If you change the guards and make a clamor, it will be known. We must work in secret.”

Luke dragged his fingers through his hair. “I think I have it, Sire. It is your natal day celebrations tomorrow and the arrival of the delegation. The clock is only half an hour from the midnight. May I suggest that you have thought of a problem regarding the arrangements for the reception of the commissioners? You need to speak to Captain Creswell now. Give that order to the guards and they will suspect nothing, but it must be achieved before midnight.”