The Beast of the North (18 page)

‘But they are not in danger of being beheaded for thievery,’ I said and grinned. ‘The king would pardon Shaduril, no doubt, and Lith as well if he has Shaduril to warm his … bed.’

He waved his hand tiredly. ‘Ah, that bothers you. It bothers me, even if I fight to hide it. Every day my girls suffer him. He might pardon them for thievery, for Shaduril is his lover,’ he allowed. ‘Of course, he will not if we get caught with the flans you stole and if we fail in killing both of the royals and if my ally betrays me. Then we will all die. We are all thieves, most everyone in the Ten Houses.’

‘Hypocrisy is the mark of the great houses,’ I whispered, but he heard me.

He scowled. ‘I have a need of you, hypocrite or not. And perhaps, since you are Tal’s boy, I shall learn to tolerate your arrogance. Mind you, our Tenth and your Seventh House were in good enough relationship before Tal died. Had been for ages. Gal, your uncle, is the Merchant Lord now, Master of the Harbor and we occasionally do business together.’

‘Gal, I don’t know him,’ I told him.

‘But gods love us, for Gal is perfect and will make everything right. I always thought we needed Gal in this but never had a way to get to him. If he joins this conspiracy, we have a way to kill the Danegells and to take the Tower. You see, that is the issue. There is no need for us to smuggle an army all the way up to the Tower of the Temple. No need to fight through the wall and then to dismantle the gate, for that gate is too hard to break with … conventional methods. Gal is the answer. Do you know why?’

‘No. And the Mad Watch would stop you anyway,’ I said.

‘Not if the king-to-be is their commander,’ he laughed.

‘Crec Helstrom?’ I breathed.
The Butcher. The man we had sworn to kill.
I struggled with the thought. To deny Balan my help for this fact would surely ruin everything. But I did not want to see him as the king. Sand would not understand. ‘Go on,’ I said hollowly.

‘Crec will join if we have a way inside the tower. The Mad Watch doesn’t guard it, you see. Danegells do. Gal can take the tower,’ he laughed. ‘There is a way. And you have seen it. By chance, you have.’

I sat there and thought carefully. Then it came to me. ‘The mint?’

‘Indeed. Gal can open the mint to us,’ he cackled. ‘That way we can march an army under the hill and inside the Tower and surprise the Danegells after the king is dead. Gal is the key. And you might be the key to Gal. Let me think about it. I need just a day to plan this. Less! You are gods sent. With you, we might survive. All of us. Shaduril as well. Now, I am done explaining myself to a noble who has lived like a pig all his life. Show me.’

I nodded, angered by his insult. My face flowed and hair thinned and took on his features. My eyes and hair were dark, my neck thin and mouth arrogant, and I instinctively stooped to make myself shorter. I tilted my head, snorted with dry sarcasm and spoke: ‘It is a miracle I have such handsome sons and daughters, considering my obvious handicaps.’ I screwed my face into a disapproving grimace and stalked before him, my hands behind my back. Then I stiffened with terror. Gods, what did I say? I expected him to explode. Yet, his face did not twitch as he regarded me coldly, and I kept my head as I stared at him, cursing my idiocy, but perhaps I was tired of being pushed around, and Lord Balan was nothing like Shaduril. They needed me.

‘You are obscene and rude,’ he stated as he stared at his own face. He smiled at the irony of his statement for a moment and chuckled, but the joy passed quickly.

I shrugged and sat down and accosted him. ‘Had Lith told us she was no whore, but a Blacktower, there might be fewer dead loved ones now. Though, of course, you would hold them as ransom to get me dancing to your tune.’

He grunted and slammed his hand on his desk. ‘Do not blame us for your misshapen plan. We owed you nothing, and are you not a grown up, despite being a virgin? Your family died at the hands of the king, and we but helped you along with your plans,’ Balan snorted. ‘Abandon my face, boy.’

I did, and my thick, dark hair ran down my back, and my brooding face replaced his weak features. ‘Do I pass?’

‘I’m not the judge. The queen is. And the king.’ He leaned forward. ‘We are planning a regicide, son. To save the realm. You are of the ancient blood. I would have given you gold and silver as a reward, but I shall offer you an alliance now.’

I nodded. ‘To save the realm. You know, the Horns wanted to loot his treasures. The King’s. You are not so interested in the treasures he has accumulated?’ I asked him, raising my eyebrow at him.

He leaned back, his eyes flashed what I thought was greed, and finally he spoke. ‘Maskan, Maskan. If we succeed? Yes, I’ll take his treasures. I know, and you know and anyone would. There is enough treasure in the Temple of the Tower to make us all fabulously wealthy. But I will reward you with better than treasure.’

‘I was not looking for treasure as reward.’

He waved me down. ‘I know. But deliver me the queen and the king, and I promise you will find out what happened to your father. It’s in Illastria’s book.’ His hand rapped a massive dark tome on his desk. ‘And since I know who you are now, I shall make you a lord. One of us. Would that please you? Silver and gold shall follow the title and the house.’

I hesitated and bowed to him stiffly.
A lord? How would Sand react to that, then? But I could make Sand one, no?
‘Yes, Lord. I agree.’ He nodded, snapped his fingers and a black-liveried, bald servant with a cropped beard appeared and smiled at me, indicating the door. I felt Lord Balan’s dark eyes on my back as I left, and I vowed to be careful. Very careful.

‘Maskan?’ Balan asked stiffly as he saw I was not paying attention.

‘Lord?’ I turned towards him.

‘Can you change anything else than your face?’ he asked with curiosity. ‘Or do you feel strange, sometimes?’

‘No, Lord,’ I told him. ‘Why?’

‘Does not matter,’ he told me happily and waved me away. ‘I shall make plans for the after part now, Maskan. Thank you. And do not tell Sand anything about this discussion. That is critical.’

‘Why, my lord?’

He leaned forward. ‘Because you will prove to me you have discipline. And I do not trust him. Neither should you. Not after his family died. It changes people. Say nothing or the deal is off.’

I hesitated. Then I nodded. ‘Yes, my lord.’

I left him to his plans and fingered the ring in my hand. I would one day know the truth of Father. And be a lord. A noble. Like Shaduril. But the price would be the reign of Crec Helstrom. And Sand’s trust, perhaps.

Gods help us.

O
ur room was cozy, plain, but functional. There was a pair of sturdy beds, a red rug and table by a small window overlooking the Callidorean Ocean. I slept the rest of the night though not very well. When I woke, it was very early morning. There were already people running around the keep. I got up stiffly, looked out of the window and found myself looking at the vast, beautiful sight. The ocean. I gazed at the smaller islands very near the coast, most bereft of woods. That was a clear hint the ocean was far from calm most of the time, but right then I enjoyed the sight of sturdy ships racing back and forth, many heading for Ygrin, others yet for Dagnar, some going for Aten, the port city of the Verdant Lands and Malingborg beyond the Arrow Straits. Beautiful white and blue waves rolled for the coast. I sat by the window and stared out of the excellent glass panes, and pushed the window open. A freezing wind whipped in the room, and I embraced the biting cold. Yet, it did not offer me any solution to the nightmares that had plagued me that night.

I had been offered lordship. And the truth of Father, even if I had mocked our host in his study, unwisely.

But Crec was to rule?

I brooded and hated the thought.
Should I take Sand and leave?
Or stay and hope Crec would not be part of the plan, after all? The Mad Watch would take the city. Gal and Blacktowers would take the Tower. No, he needed Crec. And I wanted to spoil that plan. I did. I decided Shaduril was right. I was dangerous. To myself. To them. Balan was right not to trust us. I wanted the king dead but also Balan’s ally. And worse, a small part of me began to justify Crec.

Mother was dead. Was it not my fault and not Crec’s?

I banged my head to clear it.

No. It was his fault as well. Unjust tortures, no trials. It happened to our family. They hung like geese.

I was numb when I thought of Mir. I felt strangely unattached. I had seen my family hang. They were corpses. I owed them. I had been a boy with dreams of travel. Now I was trying to kill the king. No, the queen. I felt small, foolish, like a child out to fight a bull. I would kill the queen, and Crec would reign.

No.

I could not do it to Sand. To myself. Crec as a king? I would not have a part in that. Perhaps we would leave and find a way to hurt those who hurt us. On our own, if we must.

There was a constant roll of thunder as the water crashed itself against the rocks below. I hoped to freeze to death rather than decide such important matters, but the cold did not bother me at all. Then I rubbed my face. I heard teeth chattering, for Sand was asleep, shaking with the cold. He was snoring lightly, like a baby, in fact. I pushed the window closed and turned to regard him. He was scratching his belly, which annoyed me. His tongue was lolling on his cheek, like a dog’s.

He was real.

Everything else was just promises and memories. He was worth fighting for. We would leave. I spied a fat spider spinning down from the roof and grinned. Our family was gone, but we had each other. That was something. And there was no reason to waste a perfectly good spider. I groped for the thin strand of the industrious thing and found it and resolutely moved over to Sand.

‘You wouldn’t,’ Shaduril breathed from the door. She was wearing a knee-length dress of white and her blonde hair was in a braid on her chest. She was carrying clothes, expensive and elegant ones. They were well-crafted leathers and animal skins. I noticed Sand already wore his. He looked like a young gentleman. ‘He has to shave. He might be presentable then.’

‘He is really into boys, you know,’ I said mischievously, and Shaduril giggled.

She shook her head. ‘Don’t worry. He is not for a daughter of the Blacktowers. Dress up. I’m taking you to the beach below and shall explain what you will be doing here. I can even give you some hints on the fine art of tasting food in court. Gray will teach you, but I can begin.’

‘How hard can it damned well be?’ I complained, staring at the spider, which was fat and getting worried as it scuttled up the line now. ‘You chomp it up in your mouth, and they wait to see if you die. Is this thing poisonous, do you know?’ I asked, looking at the spider.

She sighed. ‘It’s not. It’s just a sorry little dust spinner. Harmless unless you choke on it. As for the job you are to fill, it is all done according to the etiquette.’ She frowned. ‘And the queen is a big one for etiquette. You cannot just slurp some of the soup like an animal, no. You have to do it in public and with grace as people will observe you. Of course, they wish to see you choke from some exotic poison, but still, you have to have manners. I think you should have them even if you died of poison. Crawl into a petite ball of misery and smile as you die. She would smile, the queen.’

‘With grace? My gods,’ I complained. ‘This Falg is a damned southern fighter from the Shadowed Rocks. Some of them fight with their ass bared, nude! And you say this one wears silks and linen and shoes, and he likely bows before he tastes each and every food she is to eat?’

She gave me a long-suffering stare. ‘Yes. He is a barbarian, but also a slave and can adapt. So can you. ’

‘Odin’s balls,’ I complained and dropped the spider in Sand’s mouth. ‘Come,’ I said and ran out, pulling her after.

‘This way!’ She giggled, and we passed the other way. Sand was sitting up, his face screwed up in a look of utter disgust, and our laughter echoed in the hallways and the spiraling stairway. ‘His father just died, and you feed him spiders?’ she breathed as we dashed past some frowning servants and a young guard.

‘I lost a mother. I needed the laugh. And he is my friend,’ I said with a grin as we reached the great hall downstairs. I loved her laughter.
But we would still leave,
I thought, my heart breaking. ‘Everything’s changed. But I don’t think I wish to forget our ways. I pranked him often, in the past. It will do him good. Keeps his feet on the ground.’

‘Dangerous, are you?’ she smirked. ‘Taram will train you in an hour. In the meantime, let’s chat a bit. This way.’ She led us to the doorway, one leading to the western wall. Then she took nearly imperceptible stairways down a winding, oppressive path with thick, stale air. After ages of clambering down them, my calves began to ache. I fought the impulse to ask her how far we would go, and I was rewarded for my patience as we reached an iron doorway and she fumbled with something. She struggled with a ring full of keys, picking off one after another until she found a red key, which she inserted into the lock. ‘Took Father’s keys. Hope he won’t miss them,’ she said conspiratorially. She pushed the door open, kicked off her shoes and ran to the beach. I gazed up to the keep towering above us and wondered at the tall cliff. Then I walked for Shaduril. She was tottering on some very loose sand and nearly fell, and she laughed. Fat, black birds looked at her in terror and took off for the cliffs, complaining with high-pitched calls to each other, but Shaduril Blacktower did not care. She ran to the water’s edge and waded in until her dress was wet, and spread her hands to the sides, trying to keep her balance as the waves pushed and pulled at her. She was beautiful, beyond beautiful indeed. Her smile was competing with the Lifegiver’s rays in brightness and warmth.

I walked to sit down on the beach. I laid down my new clothing on a white rock and stared at the girl whooping as a fish nibbled her calf. I called out: ‘You challenged Valkai with a pig sticker and run from a fish?’

‘He wasn’t trying to eat me!’ she complained and ran to the shore. ‘I think,’ she added and ran out of the waves. A horde of small fish were following her, obviously attracted to her. She plopped down next to me. I saw she had tears in her eyes.

‘Can I help—’

‘No!’ she said and wiped her face. ‘It is nothing. A fading memory, of the past. I loved to run here on the beach. With Lith and …’ She went quiet.

‘Taram?’

She shook her head. ‘No, not Taram. Someone else. Never mind. It is the past and what is time but a dream?’ She smiled, her eyes still teared over and poked me. ‘That pig sticker belonged to Mother, by the way. It has killed evil men before. You have that strange staff somewhere? I saw it when you hit Red Brother with it. I was proud of you when you did.’

‘You saw that?’ I asked her, fidgeting uncomfortably.

‘I saw you, yes. You were very brave,’ she whispered.

‘Yes, I have it,’ I told her, blushing for her compliment. ‘It is strange, isn’t it? Mother gave it to me. Something from the night Father died.’ I shook my head, wondering why I spoke so freely of that to her.

‘Truly?’ she asked. ‘Father told me about your father last night. Seems you are born high.’ She smiled at that and shook her head. ‘It is good.’

‘You think so?’

She nodded. ‘We have our traditions, Maskan. It’s just so. I wouldn’t sit here with Sand. I am sorry. And that staff fits you. The whole of Dagnar is filled with rumors about it. Father knows about it, just like the ring. He knows it belonged to the king. It was his mark of rank. But it’s a weapon, and he finds them boring. I doubt he will ask you about it. But it is clearly magical, and the One Eyed priests, who were looking for trouble in the shadows city will want to know more about it. And they say the king has sent a hundred spies to find it. They lie, these rumors.’

‘Why?’

‘He sent two hundred,’ she grinned. ‘It might be true it belonged to him. He needs it, it seems.’

‘It’s mine now,’ I growled. ‘And I’ll keep it. Besides, our king has no use of it when you are finished with him, no?’ I eyed her sourly. ‘I cannot understand you are his lover.’

‘You jealous?’ she laughed softly and pushed me hard. ‘I don’t want to talk about it. But I tell you this much. I give him wine. He often falls asleep before he can have me.’ She shook her head.
But not always
, I thought and cursed softly. She nodded at my obvious thoughts. ‘Three months is a lifetime.’

‘Can’t you be sick or something?’ I asked her, miserable.

She chuckled and rubbed my hair affectionately, looking sad. After awhile, she went on. ‘No. He’ll take another. You know it. We likely won’t survive the whole ordeal. The Brothers will have to be dealt with, no matter who takes over. As long as the king and the queen die, then we should all be happy. You have to motivate yourself, Maskan, with duty. Red Midgard. Our people’s well-being. Forget my discomfort. And accept Father’s plans. He said you looked dubious as he outlined his ideas to you.’

Crec,
I thought.
I cannot.

‘I don’t hate my land,’ I told her, unsure if I were telling the truth. ‘But neither do I love it. I will figure it out, I am sure,’ I stated with more confidence than I felt. ‘But I hate the thought of the beast laying his hands on you. It’s wrong. You should be able to choose.’

‘I’m honored you like me.’ She looked troubled. ‘I’m afraid to like you.’

‘Why?’ I asked her. ‘I mean, I am only the most handsome man you have ever seen? I can make it so, at least.’

She giggled. ‘You certainly can. But … life. It is merciless. It’s almost natural to be the lover of the rancid, old king. You have to beware of the queen, yes, but otherwise, you know what you get. You hate it, and you will hate it the next day. But if a man comes along and takes your heart? Everything is risky. Life changes. You will be miserable, but not like you were. Happiness is a terrible affair. You are always afraid of losing it. And you will. You always will.’

‘That, Shaduril, Lady Shaduril,’ I said, feeling like a ship lost in the sea, ‘is a terrible way of living your life. I’d rather be terrified of losing you, than just miserable.’

‘Losing me?’ she said with a smile though there was a small flutter of nervousness in the smile.

‘I …’ I stammered. ‘I’ve never lost anyone before. Save for Father, but I was not even born. I lost them yesterday. Or the night before. You know what I mean. Mir was my mother. Ann, sister, half sister. Or not at all. And Bear. He was an excellent man. A highwayman, but just a fine man. But I think losing you might hurt more than I was hurt yesterday. It is a terrible thing to say.’ And it was. ‘But I don’t know why, but seeing you, there, surrounded by Valkai and his bodyguards? I didn’t think once.’

‘Gods help you,’ she said sadly. ‘You are in love. You were not supposed to be here. Or in love.’

I stared at her. ‘What?’

‘Never mind,’ she answered.

‘I am not sure, but I think I have known you since forever,’ I said gallantly.

She sighed. She looked at the ocean’s waves crashing down on the beach and did not speak. It was torturous. I had reached for the moon, one of the Three Sisters high up in the sky, and what else could a man expect but to tumble down to the hard, rocky ground and splatter there like an egg? She would refuse me. She would deny me. She would, perhaps, laugh at me.

Then she spoke. ‘I am fond of you. More fond than you might guess. When you grinned at me with that rogue Alrik’s face? I didn’t know you then. Not your real face. I think you are very handsome, Maskan, the real you, and I trust this face is truly yours. Lith would think about that, your looks, the way you move. You would be an ornament to her. Especially if I wanted you. But with you, it was that smile. It was real, honest, love by a complete stranger. That crooked smile when we were all in danger of dying and it filled me with warmth. I could not stop thinking about it. Had you been a nobody? Valkai would have killed you and I would miss you. Tell me this. Would you have done it had I not been so beautiful? A girl of your dreams?’ She wiped hair off her face and hid any emotion there might be playing on that face, but there was curiosity in her voice, somewhat intense. She wanted to know.