King’s Wrath (31 page)

‘I can’t answer that,’ Piven admitted. ‘Not yet, anyway.’

‘Is that why we have the Green army trailing us?’

Piven shook his head. ‘That’s all Stracker’s doing. He’s got a hunch that his half-brother is in the north, too, and he wants his Greens nearby so that when Loethar is humbled, they’ll be there to witness his downfall.’

‘I don’t know who I want to fall more, you or Loethar,’ Greven grumbled.

Piven stared out the window at the passing countryside as they began to bear west towards Lo’s Teeth. ‘I was born near the mountains, you know. Well, the foothills anyway, north of Velis in Gormand. My mother came and got me after leaving me with a wet nurse for nearly a whole anni. I recall feeling confused and frightened to leave that woman but I was locked in my mind then and couldn’t express myself. I have never been back.’ He sighed.

Greven ignored him.

‘Do you know what I think?’ Piven said after a long pause. He didn’t wait for Greven to reply. ‘I think whoever the puppeteer is,
he has been protecting my brother all of this time. And if that puppeteer is the wily Faris my father spoke of often, how fascinating is the proposition that Kilt Faris might have been harbouring an heir to the throne of Valisar for all of the time that you harboured one too?’

Greven felt a yawning pit open in his stomach. He was in awe of the clever connections Piven could make but he feared it too. ‘You’re just reaching now,’ he said, trying to sound disinterested.

‘Am I? The more I think about it, the more I think Freath contrived to go north to meet with Leo. How or why he met his death really does baffle me, as does Felt’s part in all of this but this, dear Greven, is why I am taking us north, following in Lily’s footsteps.’

‘Because you think she’ll lead you to Leo?’ Greven asked, using a tone of disdain to cover his dread. What if Piven was right again?

‘That’s precisely what I’m hoping. And then it will be one claimant dead, one more to go.’

‘You’re forgetting your sister,’ Greven said acidly.

‘She’s a child of ten at most. She’s the least of my problems. Shall we sing, Greven? Remember how we used to sing when we walked through the woods collecting mushrooms? You said it made the journey shorter.’

Greven looked at the youth and wondered how he could ever have loved him the way he had. If he could kill him, he would do it this second with his bare hands.

‘Leave me alone,’ Greven said. Piven laughed and began the first strains of a repetitive tune Greven had taught him as a child. It disgusted Greven even more that Vulpan was smiling indulgently, moving his hands as though conducting Piven, encouraging him all the more.

24

 

Evie had recovered to some degree but she was still looking very ashen. Corbel sat in the dust with her and the two nuns, all of them staring in shock at the cloisters the pair of newcomers had used as their escape.

‘What just happened?’ Corbel wondered aloud.

‘That man,’ Evie said shakily. ‘Who was he?’

The Abbess shook her head, her hand covering her heart. ‘I don’t think I can take much more of these events. Those were two men I’ve known for a number of years. I’ve only ever known them as Heremon and Beven, wealthy men who donate to the convent frequently. They have called upon us now and then when passing through the northeast. But today they were using different names.’

‘What happened to you, Evie?’ Corbel asked.

‘I … I can’t really say. I was examining him. I lifted his shirt,’ she said, frowning as she recalled the events. ‘I wanted to check for swelling in his ab—’ She glanced at the Abbess. ‘In his belly. As I touched him this immense sensation overwhelmed me.’ She stood. ‘I have to see him again.’

‘What? No!’ Corbel said, holding her back.

She shook him free. ‘Let me go. You don’t understand. I need him. I have to see him. I have to talk to him. I have to … have to …’ Her face creased in frantic confusion. ‘He is mine to bond
with,’ she said, her expression telling Corbel that she hardly understood what she was saying.

He reached for her but she was gone, lifting her skirt and running after them.

‘Corbel, what is happening here?’ the Abbess demanded.

‘I don’t have even the slightest clue,’ he said, and then he took off too, his long strides easily hunting down Evie, disappearing into the dark of the cloisters.

Kilt had regained his wits but still felt very weak and ill.

‘Who was it?’ he struggled, his breath coming in shallow gasps. ‘Which Valisar?’

‘A young woman,’ Jewd replied. ‘How is that possible? You’re sure this is the Valisar magic?’

‘Have you ever seen me behave like this other than in front of Loethar?’

Jewd dragged him into what looked to be a small storeroom. ‘She and that man are hardly going to leave us alone, then. Think, Kilt, you’re our hatcher of plans. You’re going to need a good one to get us out of this situation.’

Kilt looked around. He was slumped on the floor of a room containing fruit — mainly apples — that the convent obviously stored through the Freeze. Stocks were low by this time of the year and the apples looked very old and brownish.

‘Smells nice,’ he remarked.

‘Don’t you dare start to joke around now. This is serious, Kilt. If that’s who we think it is, then she — just like Loethar or Leo — has the ability to trammel you.’

‘I know, I know, it’s just that the smell has made me want a cider. I’m parched.’

‘Stay parched. Think, damn you!’

‘Bad news, Jewd.’

‘What now?’

‘The sickness is returning. She must be coming close again. Tell her to stay back or I’ll kill myself,’ he said, dragging a dagger from a strap around his thigh. ‘She’ll believe it. Because if I’m feeling this, so is she. Go, tell her. I need distance to think. Get her away so I —’ He couldn’t finish; overcome by the presence of the Valisar royal approaching, he began to retch.

Jewd stepped out of the storeroom.

Corbel had caught up with her. ‘Evie.’

‘I can’t stop, I’m sorry. I don’t —’

The big man, Jewd, stepped out of the shadows. He had an arrow levelled at Evie, his bow pulled taut. ‘Stop!’ he said in the most reasonable of voices.

Corbel grabbed Evie. ‘Wait!’ he yelled, trying to keep Evie still as she pushed against him.

‘Get her away.’

‘All right, all right. Please. Do not loose your arrow.’

‘Then start moving.’

Corbel wearied of Evie’s struggles and picked her up in a bearhug. It was easy enough. None of her protests were effective, simply irritating.

‘Keep going,’ Jewd warned.

‘We need to talk,’ Corbel said.

‘There’s nothing to discuss. We’re not sticking around for a chat. I’ll fight our way out if I have to,’ Jewd threatened.

‘My sword’s ready any time you want to take it on,’ Corbel said. He shook Evie. ‘Be still now!’

He’d never spoken to her like that ever and she instantly obeyed, looking almost perplexed as she regarded him.

‘You reckon you’re better than me and my arrows?’

‘I’ll take my chances.’

‘You’re very cocky,’ Jewd snarled.

‘You have a Penraven accent. Are you from there?’

‘Why? Do you think you know my aunty?’

Corbel smiled without humour. ‘Does the name de Vis mean anything to you?’

Jewd lowered the bow slightly. He looked suddenly unsure.

‘I am Regor de Vis’s son, Corbel. I thought it worth mentioning only so you know my fighting pedigree.’

The bow lowered even more. ‘You are lying.’

‘It’s an outrageous lie if I am. Why would I lie about that? Why would I gamble on anything but the truth?’

‘Because,
Corbel,
I happen to know your brother.’

‘Gavriel? Where is he?’

‘Congratulations on knowing his name. Now I’m really convinced. Hey, Kilt. Everything’s fine,’ he yelled theatrically. ‘Apparently Gavriel’s brother Corbel is out here and we’re all going to be friends.’

Evie began to struggle again. ‘I must see that man, I need to —’

Corbel scowled. ‘Give me a moment, will you?’ he said to Jewd, and turned to Evie. ‘Your majesty, I’m going to ask for your most sincere forgiveness.’

‘Why?’ she said angrily, trying to twist away from his grip.

Corbel pulled her close and, reaching nimble fingers around her neck, he muttered, ‘For doing this.’

Evie collapsed and he caught her, laying her gently at his feet. He looked up. ‘We don’t have long.’ Before Jewd could speak, he undid his sword belt, removed all his weapons and threw them to one side. ‘I’m unarmed. I need to talk to you.’

Jewd looked surprised.

‘I don’t understand what’s happening but it seems to me that you do. Now I’ve told you the truth about who I am. Do you really know my brother?’

‘Yes. I saw him only days ago, in fact.’

Corbel gave a nervous sigh that came out almost as a bleat.

‘But you must be lying. Gavriel is not yet thirty anni. You look well past that.’

Corbel nodded sadly. ‘It’s a long story and it involves the Valisars, as I suspect you have guessed.’

‘What makes you say that?’

‘If you know my brother you know of our connection to the former royals.’

‘And current ones.’

Corbel frowned but before he could reply Evie began to stir.

‘Tell me that isn’t the Valisar princess,’ Jewd said.

Corbel hesitated. If Jewd and his friend were already aware of Evie’s presence perhaps they were not enemies. And if they were, there was no point in keeping up the pretence. He sighed. ‘I would have to lie to you, then,’ he replied.

Jewd rolled his eyes and dropped all tension on the bow’s string. ‘Lo damn you!’ he cursed.

Corbel wasn’t ready for this. ‘I don’t understand.’

‘You have to get her away from Kilt.’

‘What do you mean? And be quick — you have to explain to me what’s going on before she wakes up or we’re going to be right back where we started.’

‘In a nutshell, then.’ Jewd pointed at Evie. ‘That’s the Valisar princess, hungry for her aegis. In there,’ he pointed, ‘is my closest friend for the past thirty-six anni. He is an aegis. But she’s having him for dinner only over my dead body. Do we understand one another?’

Corbel frowned. ‘No.’

Jewd took a step towards him.

‘Wait, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Why would she want to eat him? Who is he to her? I didn’t even understand the word you used. Ayjess? What’s that?’

‘Do you jest?’

Corbel shook his head. ‘Can we just sit down and —’

‘No more talking, de Vis. Your brother’s thrown his lot in with Leo and is hunting my friend. Loethar wants him too and now she does also. You can all go and —’ He stopped. ‘What’s so funny?’

‘Behind you.’

Jewd never had the opportunity to discover what Corbel meant. Barro hit him so hard with a club of timber that the big man fell like a stone.

‘That was fun,’ Barro admitted.

‘I thought you’d never come.’

‘The Abbess found me and pointed me in the right direction. Though I’ll admit I didn’t understand most of what she was muttering.’

Evie was coming to fully. Corbel knew he had to move fast. ‘Barro, I need you to do something for me. It means defying the princess and whatever orders she gives you.’

‘Why?’

‘I’ll explain everything later. But right now we need lots of rope.’

Later, with Jewd tied up but his head being seen to by the nuns of the apothecary, and Evie equally restrained and behind a locked door, Corbel finally entered the storeroom to confront Kilt Faris. The outlaw was sitting up, and though he looked dazed he certainly had his wits about him.

‘Corbel de Vis, I presume?’

‘Correct.’

‘Even if I hadn’t heard who you were, just looking at you tells me who your father is. And there’s no doubting who your reckless brother is either.’

‘I’m the handsome one,’ Corbel said dryly.

Kilt gave a tired chuckle. ‘So I’m now your prisoner?’

He shook his head. ‘I don’t need encumbrances.’

‘Then you plan to give me to her?’

‘Her name is Genevieve. Before I do anything I want you to explain everything to me.’

‘Where is she?’

‘Well away from you.’

‘It can never be far enough. I can feel her presence. Her magic reaches through stone for me.’

‘Then you need to be quick. I need to understand what we’re up against here.’

Kilt shook his head. ‘Where have you been?’

Corbel slid down the wall to sit opposite him. ‘A long way away for a long time.’

‘Then I have a long story for you.’

‘Lo, I’m parched. Is it me or does this make you want to swallow a cider?’

Kilt laughed. ‘I’ll tell you everything I know.’

All of Leo’s nerves were on edge. He was desperate to feel even the slight giveaway tingle that might suggest he was in the presence of the Valisar magic. So far he’d been asked a series of questions by an older man who looked more like a civil servant than one of the barbarians. He’d explained that he was one of the former realm’s nobles. When his lands and assets had been seized by Loethar’s people he was given the choice of dying for his Crown or living for the new regime.

‘I’d had a lot of disagreements with our sovereign anyway, and I wasn’t going to lose my family over what I had begun to believe actually had nothing to do with Barronel.’ The man looked embarrassed as he said this, not meeting Leo’s eyes. ‘We were the innocents, caught up in the emperor’s bid to demonstrate to Penraven that he could crush and overrun any realm he chose. We were an example, you could say, that he set for Brennus’s interest.’

‘How did you know?’ Leo asked.

‘There were a lot of rumours coming out of the Steppes that the young hot-headed new chieftain had some sort of personal vendetta with Brennus. But our king ignored the information and trusted Penraven because he was very thick with Brennus — trusted him implicitly — and it’s true the Valisar king had never even set foot on the plains.’

‘But you believed it all the same.’

He shrugged and nodded. ‘One of the merchants who brought the information of the east was a man I knew and liked. He had no reason to lie. But mine was one small voice among too few, and because my disagreement with our own king was widely known about everyone thought I was being affected by that.’

‘But you fought,’ Leo insisted, quite convinced he would kill the man with his stylus if he said he’d given up on that as well.

‘Of course I fought!’ he said indignantly. ‘I was loyal to the Crown, even though our General Marth believed we were getting involved in a hopeless war, one that Barronel could not win. In the end our king surrendered, which was the right thing to do, given the circumstances. Our soldiers had been massacred. I lost all my sons. My wife was never the same. I think she eventually died of heartbreak rather than a sick heart as the physic declared.’

‘Well, I suppose you’re happy that Ormond lost his life.’

‘No! Not at all and certainly not in the way his body was defiled. Ormond wasn’t a bad man; he was even a good and beloved king. His ties to Brennus were perfectly natural and I’d be lying if I didn’t say our realm benefited hugely from their friendship. But he was blind to the truth and made errors in judgement. His best decision was to surrender.’ He sighed. ‘Such old history. Forgive an older man his indulgence.’

‘Not at all, sir. We are all in much the same boat.’

‘Alas, you don’t have your freedom, young man. I hear you offered yourself up. What’s in your head?’

‘It was getting tedious staying on the run and living wild.’ He shrugged. ‘At least now someone will feed, clothe and keep me warm. It’s no longer my problem.’

The man gave a nod of surprised agreement. ‘I suppose that is a way of regarding your situation.’

‘What happened to General Marth?’

‘He was murdered by Stracker’s mob, despite the surrender. It was a terrible time. All of Ormond’s family was slaughtered.’

‘But here you are working for the barbarians,’ Leo remarked.

‘I often daydream of breaking free of their shackles. The problem is the empire is prospering and people seem content with Loethar’s rule.’

‘Except here,’ Leo said.

‘Yes, except here. Though most of the Vested are quite helpless there are also a few who think themselves militant.’

‘Really?’

The man nodded. ‘There’s a woman called Reuth who never lets the rest of the Vested forget what has happened to them. Both her husbands have been killed — the first in the initial wave of interest in the Vested, and then her second not so long ago actually. Her losses keep the fire in her belly well stoked, as I’m sure you can imagine. Actually Reuth’s a good person for newcomers like yourself to talk to — she’s full of help. Look out for her.’

‘I will,’ Leo said. ‘Are we almost finished here?’