Malediction (Scars of the Sundering Book 1) (16 page)

The guards
directed them to the side of the avenue as a gilded, horse-drawn carriage
approached. Delilah marveled at the gleaming white coach as it passed, every
surface covered with ornate carvings and gold accents. Sheer curtains drawn
over the windows provided privacy for the passengers while allowing diffused light
to illuminate the interior. To Delilah the carriage was large enough to be a
drak house on wheels, although she suspected Pancras would consider it cramped.

A bridge
crossed the moat that surrounded the palace's wall. They crossed over it, and
Delilah looked down, only to be disappointed by the brown, murky water in the
moat.
Damn. I hoped for some monsters or something waiting to gobble up
invaders.
She noticed murder holes, similar to those at the city gates, as
they passed beneath the gatehouse and its twin portcullises. Beyond the
gatehouse, the palace grounds sprawled with fields of green. Groves of trees,
their once-green leaves having given way to the multi-colored palette of
autumn, were surrounded by fields of late-blooming flowers. She was surprised
to see draks and humans working alongside each other tending the greenery.

The palace
itself was vast. Delilah lost count of the spires and turrets jutting up from
the main structure. "You could put dozens of clans of draks in
there!"

"Compared
to the crowds in the rest of the city, this will feel spacious, indeed."
Pancras pulled her close. "We may be going from one cage to another,
Delilah, but at least this one is warm and has good food."

* * *

Glancing at
the garden as they passed through, Pancras identified half-a-dozen plants he
could use for various potions and unguents. He expected they would be allowed
free run of the palace grounds but suspected the prince would forbid them from
going out into the city, at least, not without an armed escort. He could live
with that until spring, but he feared the drak twins would chafe at those
restrictions. Pancras also wondered about Edric.
Maybe Kale will see him at
the inn.

The guards
led Pancras and Delilah up the palace steps to the gold-inlaid double doors
that opened into the entrance hall. Pancras pulled Delilah by her cloak to keep
the wide-eyed drak moving. A woman dressed in the garb of the Royal Guard
approached them as they moved through the entrance hall.

"Hail,
Borys!" She raised her hand in greeting to the mustachioed guard.

The guard
bowed. "Lady Milena. Here are His Highness's new… patrons."

She regarded
Pancras and Delilah before returning her gaze to Borys. "There were three
of them."

"The
third went with two of my guards back to their inn to retrieve the remainder of
their possessions. He should be along shortly." Borys saluted and turned
on his heels, leaving Pancras and Delilah with Lady Milena.

"I am
Captain of the Royal Guard. Lady Milena Trueblade, Protector of the Realm, at
your service." She crossed her fist over her chest and bowed, her long
auburn hair falling forward and obscuring her face. With her free hand she
brushed it back over her shoulders as she stood. "Follow me to your
quarters, please."

Pancras
grabbed Delilah to keep her from wandering over to gape at a painting of a
long-forgotten battle and followed Lady Milena as she guided them through the
palace's halls. Gold-framed paintings and tapestries covered the walls,
interrupted only by sconces in which glowing gemstones provided light. Beneath
the sconces were marble busts of men and women.

"Former
rulers of Etrunia." Lady Milena pointed to the busts as they passed.
"Each one, immortalized in stone. My family has proudly served for five
generations."

Pancras
nodded. "Do you know anything about our service to His Highness?"

"Nothing."
She held a door open for Pancras and Delilah. "I am not privy to His
Highness's dealings. I serve Etrunia first, Almeria second, and the current
ruling family third. My ultimate duty is to crown and country, not who wears
it."

After they
climbed a series of stairs, past a hall of mirrors, Lady Milena led them down a
hall whose open archways looked out over the gardens.
It would be easy to
jump that wall and escape into the flowers. Of course, one would have to
contend with the drop and the outer wall.
The look on Delilah’s face
indicated she, too, might be mentally calculating a way to sneak out. He
snapped his fingers behind him to gain her attention and shook his head to
discourage thoughts of escape.

"Her
Highness, Princess Valene, enjoys walking this corridor. The open air is good
for one's health, you know, especially during the crisp mornings of autumn and
winter!" She looked up at the sky. "We may get our first snow
tonight. Can you feel it?" She stopped in front of a set of double doors
and pulled a key from behind her tunic. "Your quarters are here. You will
all be sharing, but I trust you will find them spacious."

Spacious was
not the word Pancras would have chosen. The room they entered seemed to be the
hub for four other rooms. A multi-colored, hand-cut woven rug, larger than most
rooms in Drak-Anor, covered the floor of the parlor. A dining table constructed
of dark, polished wood sat at the far end of the room in front of a window that
overlooked the back garden. Matching high-backed chairs surrounded the table;
enough place settings for six people and enough space to fit in at least
another four by Pancras's reckoning. A smaller, ornately decorated round table
stood in the near corner of the parlor, surrounded by four plush armchairs
covered in velvet jacquard. Pancras could not identify the design on the table,
but the repeating pattern on the chairs appeared to be some sort of stylized,
ornamental flower. Two doors led out of the parlor on the wall to his left and
right.

Delilah
whistled as she looked around. "Very fancy. But where are the beds? We
don't sleep on the floor, even if it does have a nice covering." She
flexed her toes on the rug.

Lady Milena
pointed to the doors on the side walls. "Bed chambers on either side, as
well as a bathing room." She pointed to the farthest door on the right and
then stepped over to a tapestry that depicted a sumptuous feast and, which hung
from the wall near the right side of the table alongside the bathing room door.
Pulling a dangling cord beside it, she raised the tapestry up and out of the
way and revealed a small door inset into the wall. After winding the cord
around a hook, she opened the door. Pancras eyed a rope leading down a shaft.
Too
small for me, but I’d wager one of the draks could fit if they didn't mind
being cramped.

"Nourishment
will be delivered here. Servants will be by shortly to check that you’re
settling in. The kitchen does not take special requests, usually, but there are
often limited choices each day." She closed the door and lowered the
tapestry. "You are free to go where you like in the palace. Guards will
turn you away from forbidden areas like the royal chambers or the
treasury."

"What
of the gardens? We may also wish to go into the city at some point."
Pancras examined one of the tapestries on the wall. It depicted a battle among
men of three armies and a fourth army of skeletons and what he assumed were
spirits or ghosts of some kind.

"My
instructions were to keep you here. You will not be permitted to leave the
palace."

"That's
ridiculous! I thought we were guests, not prisoners!" Delilah stomped her
foot for emphasis, the impact lessened by the plush rug on which she stood.

"I know
nothing of your arrangement with Prince Gavril. I was ordered to bring you
here, nothing more." Lady Milena approached the tapestry Pancras examined.
"This tapestry depicts the Battle of Badon Hill, the final defeat of the
Lich Queen." She straightened, placing her hand on the hilt of her sword.
"My father led the armies of Etrunia as they fought alongside the free
peoples of Vlorey on those bloody plains. He gave his life to help defeat that
witch."

The mention
of the Lich Queen caused a pang in Pancras's chest. He knew of the necromancer
of the north, of course. She conquered nearly half of the continent with her
army of the dead before the combined forces of Vlorey, Etrunia, Cardoba, and a
smattering of aid from the elves of Celtangate stopped her. Nearly every living
defender who fell became part of the Lich Queen's army.

Darkness
engulfed Pancras's vision. He staggered, grabbing Lady Milena's arm to steady
himself. In the place where his hand should have been a shadowy claw wrapped
around her mail-covered arm. Before his eyes, her flesh blackened and rotted
away until nothing remained but red eyes in a gleaming white skull.

"Are
you all right?" The captain's question snapped Pancras out of the vision.
Delilah ran over to them.

"He's
tired. We're tired. We've been treated like dirt since we arrived here and
spent last night in jail for the crime of defending ourselves." The drak
looked around the room. "It looks like we've traded one cage for another,
albeit a gilded cage."

Pancras held
Delilah by the shoulder. "No, it is all right. She is right, my lady. It's
nothing, just fatigue." He bowed his head. "Thank you for your
concern."

Lady Milena
bowed. "I shall take my leave of you, then."

After she
left, Delilah tugged on Pancras's arm. "Are you sure you're all right? You
looked like you were about to faint, and the tips of your horns glowed. I don't
think she noticed that. Most tall folk don't bother looking up."

Pancras
reached up and rubbed his horns. "It was strange, like I was seeing her
through someone else's eyes. I didn't feel like myself." He shook his
head. "It was nothing, fatigue. Like you said, we're all tired."

I hope
whatever ails Kale isn't contagious.
He sat down in one of the
armchairs.

Delilah
peered behind the food lift's tapestry. "How does one get an ale around
here? We could use a drink."

An ale would
hit the spot right now.
"Maybe Kale can bring some back. Send him a
message." He hoped Delilah's brother stayed out of trouble. The drak twins
were known for making mischief back home, but Kale was more of a practical
joker than a conniver. Schemes were his sister's forte. Pancras kept her with
him so he could keep an eye on her. He thought it unlikely Kale could concoct
an escape-from-Almeria plan without her.
I hope I'm right.

* * *

Scar refused
to let the guards accompany Kale up to their rooms. "Guards never help us.
If you lot aren't here to arrest me or one of my guests, you can wait
outside." Kale's escorts were not inclined to argue with a broken-horned
minotaur who stood a head-and-a-half over them. The solitude suited Kale fine.
His escorts were disinclined to answer his questions with anything more
elaborate than non-committal grunts or one-word answers, and they didn't laugh
at his jokes.

Kale banged
on Edric's door before opening his own. As he crammed his possessions into his
pack, he wondered how he would carry Delilah's and Pancras's belongings as well
as his own.
Maybe Edric will help.

He knocked
again on Edric's door, but there was no sign of the dwarf.
Maybe he's gone
next door for a drink.
For a brief moment, Kale entertained the thought of
inviting his escorts for a drink and then decided they were poor company. He
closed the door to his room, locked it from inside, and then opened the window.
A blast of cold air whipped his cloak around. Dark clouds moved across the sky,
laden with rain, or worse. He looked down at the side of the building, the
half-timbered construction provided some purchase for would-be climbers, and
Kale spotted a downspout that would help steady him.

Kale pulled
himself up on the window frame and swung his legs outward. He gathered up his
cloak to keep it from snagging on the rough wooden edge and lowered himself.
Hand-over-hand, he worked his way along the window sill. The downspout was
within reach, but only just. Taking a deep breath, he grabbed at it. His claws
made no purchase on the pipe, and he slid, scraping the conduit until his toes
caught on a protruding support beam.

Taking a
moment to catch his breath, Kale dared to look down. The street was still
farther away than Pancras was tall. It was a longer distance than Kale cared to
fall. He tightened his grip on the pipe and allowed it to support his weight.
When he felt he was not in danger of sliding the rest of the way, he began his
descent anew, breathing only when his feet touched the ground.

Kale looked
up as he straightened his cloak. "That wasn't so hard." The alley was
deserted, though Kale heard the din of early drinkers in The Assassin's Dagger.
The kitchen door was ajar, so he ducked in and dodged the cook's assistant,
hiding behind a barrel of salt pork.

Lenka wiped
her hands on a greasy apron, and then carried a steaming platter with some sort
of roasted bird on it out into the tavern. Kale took the opportunity to scamper
behind her, ducking under a nearby vacant table. When Janek's back was turned,
Kale stepped up to the bar and climbed on one of the stools. He looked around
the dining room and saw no sign of Edric and then rapped his knuckled on the
bar top.