King’s Wrath (12 page)

Barro swung his attention fully onto Corbel. ‘What is this madness?’

Corbel shrugged. There was no point in denying it. ‘She speaks the truth.’

The two men held each other’s gaze for a few moments as they sized each other up. Finally, Barro raked a hand through his hair. ‘I will need time to ponder this situation.’

‘I know the feeling,’ Evie said, moving back to the old man to check on him.

‘And you?’ Barro continued, pointing at Corbel. ‘I heard the name de Vis. Is this another jest?’

‘No jest,’ Corbel said, no longer attempting to keep up the pretence. ‘Why is it important to you?’

‘I’ve only ever seen one other man fight like you do. He carried the name of Regor de Vis,’ Barro said. ‘A man I loved and respected.’

Hearing his father’s name tore at Corbel’s heartstrings. ‘Then why do you shame him by your monstrous actions? Regor de Vis was a man of honour, not a thief and cutthroat.’

‘How are you related to Regor de Vis?’ Barro demanded.

‘Who said I was?’

‘The fire in your eyes, the tremble in your voice. You speak of him and I hear the awe. Besides, didn’t you just admit to her to the name?’

There was a silence, which Corbel refused to fill and Barro seemed equally determined to hold.

‘This is his son, Corbel de Vis,’ Evie said suddenly, wearily.

Barro seemed to be even more shocked by this revelation than his coming back from the dead. He visibly paled before Corbel.

‘Well, say something,’ Evie urged, sounding exasperated as she looked between them both.

‘You can’t be,’ Barro exclaimed.

Corbel scowled. ‘Get used to the idea.’

‘Why can’t he?’ Evie asked.

Barro frowned. ‘I … well … ‘ He shook his head as though clearing it of a fog. ‘My general was slaughtered ten anni ago. His fine sons had not yet completed their second decade. You look too old.’

‘How do you know either of the sons of Regor de Vis?’ Corbel demanded.

Barro was still looking stunned. ‘I never met either of his sons but like all the soldiers of the Penraven army we saw them from a distance, watched them grow up from that distance. Prove you are who you claim!’ he suddenly demanded.

‘Not to you, I won’t,’ Corbel said disdainfully, ‘not to anyone but a royal.’

The man actually laughed. He turned to Evie. ‘Your friend is deluded. Now I know he is not who he claims to be. There are no
royals
left. I’m sure the emperor will be as amused as I am to meet him.’

‘As he will you when you try and explain that I killed you. You’ll be thrown into the madhouse,’ Corbel snarled. ‘Are you coming, Evie?’

‘The emperor and I share no friendship. I remain loyal to the Valisar Crown, even though the Valisars are long gone. Why do you think I find myself roaming Penraven like a soul lost?’

Corbel swung back to face the man. ‘Loyal? By being a cutthroat? King Brennus would turn in his tomb. As for my father —’

‘If you are who you say then you should know that I loved your father. I would have gladly followed the Legate into death and never questioned the order.’ Barro looked down. ‘I’m not proud of where I find myself. After the death of the royals, your father, those of us who were loyal to Valisar lost our way. I’ll hand it to Loethar; he didn’t slaughter us as I’d anticipated. Sometimes I wish he had. I didn’t cope well under the new regime, not after watching how the Legate was treated, how the royal family was destroyed. We heard the king was butchered, the queen murdered by her own aide … ‘ His voice trailed off. He shook his head,seemingly trying to rein in an old emotion. ‘There was nothing else for people like me. I had no place in the new empire. I was a soldier. I knew nothing else but I refused to take orders from Stracker.’

‘So you decided to steal from honest Penravens,’ Corbel finished, winning a glare from Evie.

‘I had no trade. I couldn’t offer my services as a mercenary. I did odd jobs. I slowly slid from proud Valisar lieutenant to a pathetic cutpurse. You should have let me die. You would have done me a favour in ending my miserable life.’ Suddenly, unexpectedly, he rounded on Evie. ‘You should have let me die, you witch!’

Corbel leapt at Barro, pummelling him. ‘You bastard!’

Evie flung herself at both of them and wrenched Corbel away with a string of colourful insults. They all stood, breathing hard. Finally, Evie spoke. ‘I saved your ungrateful arse because I could and I didn’t think you deserved to die. Corbel’s got a strange fire in his belly that you haplessly stoked. That’s why I saved you.’

‘For a lady, you have a foul mouth,’ Barro muttered.

‘Really?’ she said, a hand moving to her hip. ‘And for a soldier meant to defend a Valisar you have a strange way of showing your loyalty.’

Barro’s face creased in yet another wave of confusion. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

‘Evie,’ Corbel said softly. ‘Please.’

Barro looked between them. ‘What do you mean?’ he repeated, angry now, urgent even. ‘The Valisars are dead and gone. I would give my life for any one of them.’

‘You almost did,’ Evie snapped.

‘What?’ Barro looked frantically at Corbel. ‘What is she talking about?’

‘Nothing. She’s raving. Come on, Evie, let’s go.’

Evie addressed Barro with thin lips despite her suddenly overly polite air. ‘You might feel a bit shaky for a few hours so don’t do anything too strenuous. Drink fluid. Your companion will sleepfor a while. When he wakes I suspect he will remember little of what occurred.’

Corbel frowned at her. She shrugged. ‘It’s a trick I used to use to help patients forget the horror of an accident or the pain of an injury. I thought it was just a mind game I played with them but I realise now it’s something real I can do. I used it on the old man because I suspect his lips are looser than Clem’s.’

Barro put a hand up. ‘Please,’ he said, his voice pleading. ‘Help me make sense of what’s just happened. Are you really Corbel de Vis?’

A fresh silence lengthened as Corbel took Barro’s measure. His skills definitely singled him out as an army man. And he was proud, eloquent. Perhaps he was loyal. Perhaps he did deserve better. ‘I am.’

Barro did a sort of skip. He began to laugh and then he clapped his hands. ‘How have you escaped his notice?’

Corbel didn’t need it clarified who ‘he’ referred to. ‘It’s a very long story.’

‘I would hear it if you’ll share it.’ But before Corbel could respond, Barro bowed deeply and unexpectedly before him. ‘De Vis, I pledge my life, my service, to you.’

Corbel was speechless for a few moments. ‘You owe me no fealty.’

‘I owed your father. And I lost my way, as I’ve explained. You have not, it seems. Let me walk with you, de Vis, let me serve whomever you serve. Here.’ He crossed his arms across his breast in the Penraven way. ‘You have my loyalty. Until my blood is spilled and I am dead … again, I am your servant. It’s time to regain my sense of worth.’

Watching the man sign, as he had watched so many sign before his father, Corbel was touched … far more deeply than he was ready for. He suddenly felt choked by strong emotion.

‘Accept me, de Vis,’ Barro urged. ‘I will help protect you and your wife.’

Corbel hesitated. An extra pair of eyes, an extra sword. They needed all the help they could win. And it did seem that Barro was in earnest. Amazing what death could bring on, he thought cheerlessly.

‘She is not my wife but she does need protection.’

He noticed relief flare in Evie’s eyes and Barro, who seemed to have been holding his breath, let it out with a sigh. ‘Thank you.’

‘I will kill you sooner than wait for explanations should I ever believe that you are insincere.’

‘And you have my permission to kill me … again … should I prove myself below my word.’ Barro held out a hand, and Corbel took it.

‘Will you tell me your story?’ Barro asked, intensifying his grip. ‘I have to understand everything, especially you,’ he said, glancing at Evie.

Corbel nodded. ‘I hope I can trust you with it. Walk with us. We are going to the convent.’

‘What about your friends over here?’ Evie asked.

‘The old man is nothing to me. You have made him safe and he is whole. Presumably he will wake and remember nothing. And the boy was a halfwit. He had no family, no friends, no way of caring for himself. He’s better off where he is.’

‘That’s harsh,’ Evie protested.

Barro shrugged. ‘That’s his lot.’

Corbel felt a pang of sympathy for her. She had not been raised in this way of life; she had little concept about how cheap life could be.

‘If the old man finds the body and remembers,’ Barro continued, ‘he’ll just be glad to have got away with his own life. I imagine he’ll wake up and walk away. He’s a drifter, an opportunist. He’ll fall in with the next halfwit he can persuade into some scam alongside him.’

Evie gently touched Corbel’s arm. ‘Let me heal those injuries.’

He shook his head. ‘I can stitch myself once I reach the convent.’

Her eyes narrowed in fresh irritation. ‘How do you think you will look when you present yourself to the nuns bleeding from these wounds?’

Corbel hadn’t considered this. Her logic was correct. He nodded unhappily and tried not to react to her touch when she guided him to sit against a big boulder so she could concentrate. He noted Barro watching in awed fascination and chose instead to close his eyes, lean his head back as he felt his beloved’s hands placed against his chest. She was leaning near enough that he could feel her breath against his face; close enough to kiss. He ground his jaw, turned his head away and hoped she wouldn’t sense his despair but it seemed Evie was too entranced by her ministrations to notice his discomfort and he was glad of the distraction of the strange ice-like sensation that spread through him as though moving within his veins, the magic swimming with his blood to all parts of his body and healing as it went.

Finally her hands lifted and he felt their removal as a private grief. He missed them already but wasn’t prepared to feel them touch his face. He flinched.

‘Sorry,’ she said gently. ‘How do you feel?’

‘Grateful,’ he replied. ‘Thank you.’

Evie sighed and he couldn’t bear her looking so deeply into his eyes. ‘I hope it didn’t hurt.’

‘Worrying about you hurts more,’ he said, trying to be flippant, but his voice caught.

She leaned forward and kissed his cheek, slow and deliberate. ‘No more fighting. I should be honoured, I suppose, that you’d risk your life, but don’t do that again for me. I couldn’t bear to lose you.’

Corbel swallowed. If only she knew how unbearable this closeness was for him. He nodded perfunctorily. ‘Help me up,

Barro. We need to get going. But Evie’s right, we should wear our jackets to hide the bloodstains.’

The big man offered a hand and heaved him up easily. They turned away from the bodies and continued towards the convent.

‘So, my lady,’ Barro began. ‘You have my name. May I know yours?’

‘I am called Evie.’ She looked to Corbel and Corbel haltingly began to tell their tale.

The small opening revealed a pair of rheumy eyes. ‘Yes?’

‘Visitors to speak with the Mother, please,’ Corbel began.

‘She is not seeing anyone today. Make an appointment for next moon.’

‘Er, please, sister. We are so weary. We have come from a long way. Please tell her that a man by the name of …’ He hesitated. ‘Please say that an old friend called Regor awaits her patiently. It is important, sister. I am a former noble. That alone should open the door.’

‘Pushy … and arrogant!’ she remarked as though tasting something sour.

The opening closed abruptly and he flinched.

‘That went well,’ Evie commented.

He bit his lip. ‘I have this immense charm with women, as you can tell.’

She burst into laughter. It was the first reason she’d had to smile in what felt an age.

Barro had been silent for a long time. She noticed he’d begun regarding her with awe, stealing furtive looks as though he had to keep mentally pinching himself that she was real. So she was surprised when he spoke up. ‘It’s nice to hear you laugh, your majesty.’

‘It certainly feels good,’ she admitted. ‘Barro, Corbel has asked you to stop addressing me in that way.’

He adopted a contrite expression. ‘I promise it will not happen again, although you understand, my lady, that I am still in a state of utter disbelief.’

‘I do understand but according to Corbel your disbelief — if you don’t rein it in — could get us killed.’ He nodded sombrely, no doubt more aware than she could ever be how true her statement was. ‘Now how exactly should I behave here if I’m supposed to be royal?’

‘Humble,’ Corbel replied. ‘Only Sergius knows of your existence and he won’t know you have returned. I don’t even know if he is alive, although it was his magic that brought us back.’

Evie blew out her cheeks. All the anger she’d previously felt had diffused. She wanted to speak with Corbel in quiet. He had said so little to her directly in the last few hours. She knew he would have been hurt by her earlier attitude towards him, but how was she supposed to react to witnessing such savagery and death? She still saw the young man’s face, slack and lifeless, in her mind’s eye. He hadn’t had to die. ‘I am so confused.’

‘You are?’ Barro queried with an edge of sharp sarcasm.

They had waited several long minutes, talking quietly. But at last the door was unbolted, interrupting their conversation. It swung open with a loud sigh, as though unused to the movement. Before them stood a woman of senior anni and behind her, scowling at the gate was another, a bit younger, and likely the sour-sounding sister who had tried to turn them away.

The elder smiled.

‘Are you the Abbess?’ Corbel asked.

‘I am. Call me Mother. It wasn’t so long ago that I welcomed another Regor.’

Corbel hesitated, surprised.

She noticed his reaction. ‘A relative, perhaps? Though you’d have to be close to share the same birthname.’

‘It … it’s a family name. I don’t use it often.’

‘Just to open doors?’ Her eyes twinkled in amusement. ‘Regor?’ She tasted the name on her lips. ‘Such a steadfast, proud name of the former Denova.’