Royal Exile (49 page)

She had smiled lovingly at her husband and then given Freath a sympathetic glance. ‘Sorry, Freath. The new uniforms for the kitchen staff may have to wait a bit longer. Although I could always sell my pearl earrings, I suppose.’

Freath now smiled sadly to himself at the memory. New uniforms had been measured and made the following moon for the entire kitchen staff through to the youngest scullery maid. Iselda had always known how to play Brennus.

He looked up to see Genrie approaching. ‘Master Freath,’ she said, curtseying, always a stickler for propriety.

‘Genrie, are you all right?’

She looked at him with a cool, direct gaze. ‘Of course. I’ve just got a headache. I’m sorry about this evening.’

Freath had not had a chance to discuss what had just occurred with Genrie; all he had been able to do was enquire politely how she was feeling. Genrie, in her usual no nonsense way, had muttered that she was recovered and said no more, barely giving him eye contact. And still the sight of her fired hope in him. He had loved serving Iselda. Any other woman would have suffered for his dedication to the queen and so he had never taken a wife, not even pursued a life partner. But Genrie had surprised him. Her delicious auburn waves, pale complexion and intensely green eyes aside, he adored her defiance and especially her courage. She had carried herself with dignity throughout this whole invasion, and unlike him, had convinced the barbarian that she was trustworthy without once publicly relinquishing her sympathies to the Valisars. His heart melted just a fraction more for her bravery. ‘You have nothing to apologise for, Genrie. You were incredibly courageous. If anyone should be sorry, it’s me, for allowing you to be put through it.’

She shook her head. ‘Neither of us have any say. I wish I could have been stronger.’

He risked taking her hand, looking around furtively before pressing his lips to it. ‘He did not suffer, I promise you. I made sure of it.’ He didn’t bother to mention the purse of money, for he knew no family could be compensated for the loss of a child.

She looked up at him, baffled, her eyes misty. ‘I don’t understand what happened. I thought we were all destined for the same fate as those boys. I still can’t believe —’

‘I know. Coincidence, perfectly timed,’ he soothed, reaching now to tuck back a soft wisp of hair that had escaped her careful pinning.

‘But Father Briar — was that coincidence, too?’

‘Blind luck, I think. I agree, I thought we were done for.’

She stared at him, confounded by his explanation. ‘You’d better go see Father Briar. He has a nasty headache too,’ she said, her eyes narrowing as she regarded him.

He cleared his throat under the scrutiny. He wasn’t quite ready to admit what he believed, even if Genrie’s thoughts seemed to be keeping pace with his own suspicions. ‘I’ll do that,’ he said, unable to think of anything else with which to fend her off.

‘And I must warn you that the Droste woman is on our path.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘She watches me constantly. Questions me incessantly. Wants to know if I’m in liaison with you.’

‘Liaison? What on earth does she mean by that?’ Freath felt his gut twist with horror. ‘Collusion?’ he added.

Genrie gave him a fresh look, one that suggested he could be awfully vague for a normally sharp man. ‘She means a romantic liaison.’

‘Pardon?’ He didn’t like the way his voice squeaked slightly on the word.

Genrie explained wearily, ‘She doesn’t know anything. She’s simply sending out feelers in all directions.’

‘She’s looking to make trouble, that woman,’ Freath said, checking again that no one was watching them. ‘I so want to kiss you again but I daren’t, not here.’

She nodded, smiled sadly and dropped her hand. ‘It’s more sinister than simple trouble, Freath. She’s on the trail of what she believes is conspiracy. We must be very careful.’

‘Indeed.’ He already missed her touch. ‘I’ve been granted permission to personally re-staff the palace.’

This caught her attention. ‘By whom?’

‘The man himself. He is very cunning, very smart to do this. He wants to quickly return Brighthelm’s life to as normal as possible.’

‘He’ll never wash the bloodstains from it,’ she said, her voice bitter.

‘Never let your anger show like that, Genrie, promise me. They must believe that you now work for them with diligence, if grudgingly. They must think they have cowed you through the threat to the family we’ve pretended you have. Each day you must show yourself to be more indispensable, more accepting of their presence, more reasonable about their needs and culture. Fake it, Genrie. If not for yourself, then for me. I could not bear to lose you.’ And then he bent, kissed her so fleetingly he could almost convince himself later it hadn’t happened, and then he was gone, striding away, not looking back.

Neither of them saw Valya watching.

He’d run blindly, crashing through the now thinning forest’s undergrowth, his only thought that he must lead them away from the Stone of Truth at Lackmarin and where King Leo hid. Stupid, stupid, stupid! He had run right into the warriors Faris had mentioned; he knew this by their horses — the stockier, more muscular breed with long manes and tails. Though Gavriel desperately wanted to head up the incline, slowing down the animals, he knew that would lead them closer to Leo and Lily.

The warriors came after him, seemingly uncaring whether their horses could handle the uneven ground. But still Gavriel ran, his arms cartwheeling to give him balance, aid his speed. His breathing was erratic, his thoughts had scattered in a dozen directions and his fear was overwhelming.

They hit him hard, his head snapping back as they leaned down from their saddles and walloped his legs out from under him; his chin hit something, he didn’t know what, nor did he care. The darkness welcomed him and he moved into it willingly. His final thought was of how much he missed his brother.

Kilt Faris squinted from his perch high in one of the tall trees. He felt his gut twist at the sight of the barbarians bringing the young man down. Thank Lo he had decided to do another check on the tribal men. At least De Vis had had the presence of mind to run away from Lackmarin rather than toward it. Cursing, he called down to Jewd, ‘Are you going to break my fall or drop me this time?’

‘Drop you,’ came the answer.

Faris scaled halfway down the tree and then leapt. Jewd broke his drop, cushioned the landing.

‘They’ve got him,’ Faris said to his companion, scowling.

‘Did you think they wouldn’t?’

Faris shook his head with frustration. ‘To his credit he did everything right. He remained utterly still, tried his best to blend back into the forest, remained upwind of the beasts and then mercifully ran away from us.’

‘Not bad for a city boy.’

The head of the outlaw gang regarded his giant friend ruefully. ‘They’ll kill him, Jewd.’

The big man shrugged. ‘He’s an idiot. Idiots don’t deserve to live.’

Faris walked on. ‘I could reel off a dozen or more idiotic events from our own early years that I’m sure you don’t wish to be reminded of.’

‘Yes, but we survived them.’

‘My point entirely. We,’ Faris emphasised. ‘De Vis has no one to look out for him. He has done a mighty job in keeping the young king safe thus far. He got him all the way here on his own, with nothing more than a sword at his hip and a bow around his chest. Come on, Jewd. De Vis is impressive and King Brennus was right to entrust the heir to him.’

‘I didn’t say he wasn’t impressive. I said he’s an idiot.’

‘We all were at his age,’ Faris persisted, giving his friend a glance of admonishment. ‘He’s just seventeen. His king is twelve. Lo’s wrath, what a pair. Imagine them in another ten!’

‘The new legate won’t make it to that age, methinks.’

Faris halted, turning on his huge partner. ‘He won’t, unless we help him.’

Jewd sighed. ‘Why did I know you were going to say that?’

‘Because you know the promise I gave King Brennus.’

‘That was about the heir, not De Vis.’

‘When you say the name De Vis you might as well say Valisar. Brennus would expect us to include either of the twins in our ring of protection.’

‘Why did I know you were going to say that as well?’ Jewd grumbled loudly.

‘Because you know me.’

‘More like because I know you want to impress the woman and she’ll likely kill you if you don’t agree to go after him.’

‘Ah, you saw through my thinly veiled plot, then?’

‘Rescue the boy, bed the girl, it’s rather obvious, don’t you think, Kilt … even for your simple mind to hatch?’

Faris grinned, even though he was feeling a genuine clench of fear for Gavriel. The bravado helped him remain optimistic for the youngster. ‘When I get him back, I’m going to kill him myself, I think.’

‘I’ll leave you to explain that to her, then.’

Faris sighed. He knew he could count on Jewd — the big man had been there for him practically since they started walking, large and strong, ever prepared to follow him right into the dangers he had always managed to find. ‘Right. Get Tern to track the barbarians. You go back as far as you need to. Use arrows as soon as you can to signal the men — we’ll need eight of our boys, I reckon.’

‘Any more people and you might as well bring instruments and play a rousing tune to herald your way in,’ Jewd said dryly.

Though Faris normally relished Jewd’s humour, he was too annoyed about the unnecessary rescue mission to laugh. ‘I’ll meet you back here. I’ve got to get the king to swear his oath this evening, no matter what’s going on with De Vis.’

Jewd nodded. ‘I’m on my way. I’ll be back tomorrow.’

‘I hope we’ll be in time.’

‘Kilt, you know they’ll hurt him.’

Faris’s brow furrowed deeper. He nodded. ‘I just have to hope he can hold on. Go, Jewd. Hurry.’

The huge man loped off, running higher into the forest, heading west. Faris turned back toward Lackmarin and the unpleasant task of telling Leo and Lily what had occurred.

He found them pacing restlessly. As soon as he emerged from the surrounding oaks, they ran up to him both telling him what he already knew: that Gavriel had disappeared.

‘I know,’ he replied when they’d finally stopped talking at him.

‘Where is he?’ Leo asked, sounding relieved, scanning the trees behind Faris.

Lily quietly watched him and he could see in her eyes that she knew he brought only bad news. She said nothing, waiting for him to work out how best to deliver it.

To try and dilute the danger Gavriel was in would be to underestimate the young king — and insult him, considering the traumas he had already witnessed, survived, and buried somewhere. ‘He stumbled into the path of three of Loethar’s warriors. He did his best to hide, and almost got away with it, but they saw him, ran him down.’ Leo’s mouth dropped open, while Lily’s face drained of colour. Faris turned to Tern. ‘Track them,’ he ordered. ‘When you know where they camp, come back and let me know. I’ll be staying here for now. Jewd’s gone back.’ The man nodded and melted away as though he had never been among them.

Lily looked at Faris, astonished. ‘And you’re staying here? What does that mean?’

‘Someone has to watch over you two,’ Faris replied, sensing accusation in the words she wasn’t saying.

‘Was he hurt?’ Leo asked.

‘I can’t tell. He fell heavily. He was motionless when they picked him up. They put him over a horse.’

He watched Leo take a slow breath, admired the youngster all the more for his stillness. ‘Is he dead?’

‘I doubt it. They wouldn’t bother with a corpse.’

‘What if they know who he is? They may want to take his body back to Penraven.’

‘They may but again I don’t think so. They stumbled upon him. They were not looking for him. These were barbarian posts, that’s all. We’ve been aware of them for some time. They had been left there to keep guard of the low-lying areas of the forest, where it turns to the woodland that fringes the towns and villages. They’re looking for people trying to move into the forest, not those running out of it. And Gavriel was certainly headed out of it.’

‘He’s such an idiot!’ Lily exclaimed.

‘My thoughts exactly,’ Faris said, watching her carefully.

Leo rushed to his friend’s defence. ‘He was upset. You forget Gavriel had to watch his father brutally killed. And his twin brother has disappeared without a trace. Those two were inseparable but I’ve never heard Gav complain. In fact all he’s done is look after me. He’s not an idiot, he’s just …’ Leo didn’t know what to say, it seemed.

‘Impulsive,’ Faris suggested. ‘The point is he’s put himself into tremendous peril.’ He scratched his head beneath his longish dark hair.

‘You are going to help him, aren’t you, Kilt?’ Lily said.

Hearing her say his name for the first time felt odd, but nice. ‘Tern is tracking them. Jewd has already gone back to alert the men. He —’

‘Back?’ she quizzed, alarmed. ‘That will take too long.’

‘Not necessarily. Jewd has his ways.’ And as she opened her mouth to protest again, he raised a hand. ‘Trust me.’ He looked up at Leo. ‘Your majesty, I’m here to keep my promise to your father, to ensure that you take your oath at the stone as all your predecessors have.’

Leo looked surprised. ‘I’d rather go after Gavriel,’ he said, looking between Lily and Faris. ‘My oath can wait.’

‘No, it cannot, highness,’ Faris assured. ‘I know you’d rather find your friend but we’re already following him and my men will get word to me as soon as he’s found. Right now he’s unconscious and on horseback. These men are truly dangerous — I’m sure you know that?’ Leo nodded. ‘It would be unwise for us to underestimate their fighting capability. For now Gavriel is a stranger to them, a lone man travelling on foot. They have no idea that we are watching them, nor will they until I make a move. And I will not run in blindly without a plan.’

‘So you are going after him?’ Lily persisted.

‘I don’t intend to leave him to the barbarians, no,’ Faris replied. As both of them looked relieved, he added, ‘As for food, it’s more of the same, I’m afraid. De Vis made sure there was no rabbit hunting achieved this morning.’