Shrouded Sky (The Veils of Lore Book 1) (23 page)

“I look forward to meeting him,” Jhon said.
“A bear might come in handy
.” He rang for a servant and within moments a carriage was being called.

“Have you a wrap, m’lady?” Jhon asked as they walked toward the door leading from the building.

“Of course,” she said. She unwrapped her long skirt and threw it around her shoulders. Jhon, at first startled, was relieved to see another skirt beneath the one she had so daringly removed.

“Do I surprise you, Master Seth?” she asked, smiling. She clasped the cape beneath her chin.

“Always,” he replied.

They stopped at the portico in front of the building. Dar and Gage met them there.

Gage stepped toward Jhon. “Gage,” the bearded, bear-of-a-man said. He extended his hand.

“Jhon of Seth,” Jhon said, shaking it

“You’re lucky you didn’t get a handful of batter,” Dar said to Jhon as they stepped toward the coach now arriving. “Found our friend here dipping into Cook’s mixing bowl.”

“I tell ye the woman’s a damned genius,” Gage said. “The venibron
she prepared fer us was beyond compare.”

“I am pleased to hear you have learned to appreciate Tearian dishes, Gage,” Edrea said.

“That I ’ave, but Cook’s good enough to prepare a few Basyl selections as well. Yer Lady’s trained her staff well, Master Seth.”

“I’ll be sure to tell her that,” Jhon said, taking Edrea’s hand and assisting her as she stepped into the carriage.

The other two men climbed in after her.

“Inform the Sovereign that our guests have requested a casual tour of the city,” Jhon said to the servant standing by. “If she has need of us, we’ll be visiting the west quadrant first.”

The servant bowed and Jhon entered the carriage, closing the door behind him.

As soon as they were past the gates, Jhon tapped on the panel above their heads. “Driver,” he called, leaning his head out the window. “To the east quadrant. The
catacombs.
And be quick about it.”

“I thought you said casual tour,” Dar said, but Gage seemed oblivious to the detour. His eyes were riveted on the sites speeding past the carriage window.

“Master Seth thought we might want to tour them while we’re here,” Edrea said.

Dar lifted his brow. “Oh?”

“There’s someone there he thinks we might want to meet.”

“So why the secrecy? We have a right to inspect them if we wish.”

“The catacombs, yes. This particular prisoner? Probably not.”

Gage swiveled his head toward them, suddenly interested. “What sort o’ prisoner are ye talkin’?”

“A Taubastet,” Jhon replied. “Hopefully we aren’t too late.”

“Too late fer what?” Gage asked.

“The Sovereign’s Shield men can sometimes be overzealous,” Jhon said, “as they are with all who seek to take the Sovereign down.”

Dar narrowed his gaze. “What are you implying?”

“I’m saying you should all be on your guard. Give no one reason to doubt your purpose here.”

“Our
purpose
is to meet with your Lady and her Council to discuss where Syddia stands with the Taubastets.”

“It’s not your dispute.”

“It’s everyone’s dispute,” Gage said.

Jhon noticed the man’s hands were fisted. Clearly the topic had touched a nerve.

“Tell them, Jhon,”
Edrea said in his mind.

“Can they be trusted?”

“Well, you have to trust someone. Unless you plan to take this on single-handedly.”

“What are you two plotting?” Dar asked.

Jhon and Edrea looked at him.

Dar scoffed. “You think I don’t know?”

“Know what?” Gage asked, glancing between them.

“We need to question the Taubastet, is all,” Edrea said. “He might be able to provide some insight that will help put an end to the dispute.”

“Now that I’d like t’ see,” Gage said.

“But why question him now?” Dar asked Jhon. “Why not wait until after we’ve spoken with your Lady? Sneaking behind her back will certainly not endear us to her.”

Jhon hesitated. Should he simply come out and say it? He had only just met Gage, and Dar he had not seen in years. As for Edrea, he could reach into her mind easily enough. But she would never betray him. There were few with the gift of Knowing left in this world. Since the last shifting of the stars, those with Transcendor blood had become far and few between.

“I only wish to provide you an opportunity to learn all you can first,” Jhon said. “Clearly you wish to stop Syddia’s reinstatement of war against the Taubastets. Why else would you be here?”

“Of course we want to stop it,” Dar said. “While the rest of us have evolved into peaceful realms, Syddia has remained an oppressive pain in the ass.”

“Are we tellin’ ye anythin’ ye didn’t know, Master Seth?” Gage said.

“No,” Jhon conceded. “But you do realize the Taubastets are not completely without fault in this?”

“We do,” Edrea said. “They’ve refused all aid the Three realms have offered. No council, no arms, not even medical aid. How can one help a race that refuses it?”

“You can’t, at least not directly,” Jhon said.

“And yet our consciences will not allow us to ignore their plight,” Dar said. “We do not wish to enter into your Lady’s war, Master Seth, but we may not have a choice.”

“I understand,” Jhon said. He looked at the three of them, one by one. “Your coming here was a risky decision, but admittedly a convenient one.”

Dar eyed him questioningly.

“The Taubastet in custody claims he came in peace, but there’s also the issue of the Imela,” Jhon said, and proceeded to fill them in on the details.

“Surely the cat doesn’t expect to bargain for the girl,” Dar said when Jhon had finished. “That would be folly.”

“That’s why we need to question him.”

“No doubt whatever answers he might give have already been gotten out of him,” Dar said.

“Perhaps, but the Sovereign has not yet examined him, so there may be more that can be learned.”

“Jhon,” Edrea said, “what does Orryn say in all this?”

“He wants me to perform subjugation,” he said quietly.

Edrea was taken aback. “He cannot mean it.”

“What do ye mean, subjugation?” Gage asked.

“It means having your memory erased,” Dar said.

“So yer familiar with the term then?”

“My family and Edrea’s are tied by blood,” Dar explained. “Though my branch of the tree does not blossom with the gifts of Agneis, we are well aware of what Edrea, as a descendent of a Transcendor, can do.” He shifted his attention to Jhon. “What I didn’t
know until moments ago, Master Seth, is that you too are a Mind Walker.”

“That is to go no further than this carriage, Dar,” Edrea said firmly.

“Well I don’t mean t’ be soundin’ like a dunce, but what’s a Mind Walker?” Gage asked.

Dar remained silent, allowing Edrea to tell the man, or not.

“A Mind Walker is someone who has the ability to visit someone else’s thoughts,” she said. “Both Jhon and I have the gift.”

Gage straightened in his seat. “Ye mean ye know what we’re all
thinkin’
?”

“No,” she said. “It is not as easy as that. Two Mind Walkers can easily communicate through that means, as Jhon and I often do, but to know the mind of another, Knowing, or melding, as we sometimes call it, we would first need their permission. To do so by force is unacceptable. But even with permission, our level of the ability requires us to place our hands strategically, and of course it takes a great deal of concentration.”

“So why would someone let ye do it, if ye don’t mind me askin’? It seems a terrible intrusion on one’s privacy.”

“Sometimes people are hurting or they have bad habits they wish to break,” Edrea said. “We can help them by closing doorways, deflecting memories and impulses.”

“But what’s t’ keep ye from misusin’ it? I mean, if ye can reroute memories, maybe ye’d want them to forget somethin’ they’d just as soon remember.”

“Deflecting through Knowing is only temporary. It is meant to lead them to a path of safety and healing, nothing more.”

“And subjugation?”

“In that, a person’s memories are stolen, erased permanently.”

“No gettin’ ’em back?”

“No getting them back.”

“So why do ye want to do that t’ this Tygg fella?” Gage asked Jhon.

“As I said, to protect him from the Sovereign. If she discovers what he knows, it would go bad for him as well as—” Jhon stopped. No need to explain further.

“Is yer Lady a Mind Walker, too?” Gage asked.

“No,” Jhon and Edrea said simultaneously.

Gage waited for further explanation.

“Our Sovereign Lady does not just Know minds,” Jhon said. “She enters the person’s body both physically and mentally. She takes what she wants without regard to their wellbeing, sometimes killing them, sometimes leaving them without memory, mind, or will. The Sovereign is not a Mind Walker. She is a subjugator in every sense of the word.”

“So the rumor about her’s true then,” Gage said.

“Which rumor?” Jhon asked.

“Pardon me fer sayin’ it, but the one that says your Lady’s no lady. That she’s a demi of some sort.”

“When you meet her, you will see no sign of it,” Edrea said, and Jhon did not argue. “Dar and I have met with her on three previous occasions, and we have never seen her behave in any way to suggest she is anything other than what she appears to be.”

“Without proof—” Dar began.

“The rumors will remain just that,” Jhon said.

“And if the rumors prove true?” Gage asked.

“Let’s just say the time for diplomacy will end,” Dar said.

“War with the realms ye mean.”

“Unless her current illness proves to be terminal,” Edrea suggested.
“We can only hope.”

“Or she dies at someone’s hand,”
Jhon said to her.

“Do you think that is the Taubastet’s plan?”

“Perhaps.”

“Then he is my hero.”

The carriage came to a halt and the driver leapt off and opened the door. “The catacombs, Master Seth.”

Jhon stepped out. “Thank you. We won’t be long.”

He assisted Edrea out of the carriage, then stepped aside as Dar and Gage climbed out.

A guard met them at the door leading to the prison. “State your name and business,” he said formally.

“Councilman Seth, here with ambassadors Edrea of Tearia . . .” She smiled her most charming smile, but her razor sharp gaze told the guard she was all business. “Dar of Oonayei.” Dar nodded politely. “And Gage of the Basyl clan lands.”

“Your purpose?” the guard asked.

“A casual visit,” Jhon said, “nothing official, of course.”

“I’ve been instructed to let no one enter,” the guard said.

“My good man,” Jhon said, keeping his temper in check. “As head Councilman, I need no permission from you or anyone else to enter that door. As for the emissaries, the Accords of the New Realm allow them right of access. If you require the paperwork, clearly you have something to hide.”

“I’m only following orders,” the guard said somewhat defensively.

“Whose orders?”

“Commander Pey’s of course.”

“And where is Commander Pey?”

“Inside, questioning a prisoner. He said he’s not to be disturbed.”

Jhon leaned toward him threateningly. “You can either follow Pey’s orders, or you can follow mine. One may get you demoted, but the other will land you in front of the Sovereign, that I’ll guarantee.”

“I—I can’t say I want either one, sir.”

“Then unlock the door,” Jhon said, “and I’ll see that neither happens.”

The guard fumbled for the key, then turned it in the lock and allowed them to pass.

The door clanked shut behind them.

“By the gods, what is that stench?” Edrea said.

Jhon grabbed a torch flickering near the door. “I haven’t been here in quite some time, but as I recall, it only gets worse. If you have a handkerchief, m’lady, I suggest you use it.”

“If the prisoners are not afforded the luxury of one, then neither am I,” she said. “Though feel free, gentlemen.”

They headed down a central passageway. Bodies could be seen tucked within the walls, shrouded corpses and crumbling skeletons, and some no longer recognizable. Thick wooden doors came into view. Some were ajar and covered in dust, while others were bolted and still in use.

“So they’ve got the livin’ with the dead,” Gage noted, eyeing a crypt.

“Not much difference in a hole like this, I imagine,” Dar said.

A scream sounded from the far end of the passageway. They stopped in their tracks.

“Stay,” Jhon said. “I’ll send Pey to you. Tell him—”

“They did not make us emissaries based on our weak stomachs,” Edrea said.

“Very well,” Jhon said, “but I warrant you won’t like what you see.” He glanced down the corridor. “If it’s the cat, I’ll need time with him. Perhaps a diversion could be arranged?”

“Leave that to us,” Edrea said, and they all headed in that direction.

The door to the room was ajar, the fiery glow beyond it casting elongated shadows into the corridor. Jhon, the emissaries at his back, stepped into the doorway and felt his belly tighten. The chamber was filled with chains and cressets and assorted torture devices, and at its center was a prisoner hanging by his wrists. The smell of blood and singed flesh permeated the air.

Pey, a glowing hot metal rod in his gloved hand, wheeled toward the doorway, shock registering on his face. Clearly he had not expected anyone to walk in on him, especially not a Councilman and three emissaries.

“What’s the meaning of this?” Jhon said, stepping into the room. He ran his eyes over the prisoner. The young man was in worse shape than he had expected: unconscious and battered, blood running down his naked torso and darkening his leathers.

“Is this form of barbarism condoned by your Sovereign?” Edrea demanded. But Dar and Gage gave the Commander no time to respond. They marched toward him and shoved him aside, then cranked down the chain, lowering Tygg to the floor.

Pey’s face reddened with anger. “This is an interrogation and I gave specific orders that I was not to be disturbed!”

“Clearly,” Jhon said. “But I would say you are outranked and outnumbered.”