The Invisible Chains - Part 2: Bonds of Fear (43 page)

“Mistress, call me mistress.” The queen sighed. “Thank you

captain. You, sit down. What is your name?”

“Ondrov, my la— mistress.”

“Well, Ondrov, ready to take a message?”

The man nodded nervously. He was in his early twenties, and

Sobrathi saw he was in awe of Emelasuntha.

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“Yes… yes, of course, mistress.”

The queen looked inquisitively at him.

“You seem nervous, Ondrov. Any reason for that?”

It sounded like a normal question, but Sobrathi knew better:

Emelasuntha was in killer mode, and anything could unleash her

anger.

“It’s just that this is my first assignment, mistress. I would hate

to disappoint you.”

“Oh, yes, Ondrov, you would so hate to disappoint me,”

Emelasuntha agreed. Then she smiled and added lightly, “But I’m

certain you won’t. I have the highest confidence in you. You were the

best in your group, one of your teachers told me.”

“Yes, indeed. I was. I was indeed,” Ondrov stammered.

“Well, my friend, then neither of us has to be worried.”

Sobrathi followed the interchange with mounting worries of her

own.

“So, here we go,” the queen said. “I’ll speak slowly… To Anaxantis

from his mother and his aunt. We are coming. You were right: he

is sending a detachment of Black Shields to the Northern Marches

under the leadership of the baron of Damydas. We don’t know exactly

what powers your father has given him, nor what his exact mission

is, but we do know it was he who prevented the army from marching

against the Mukthars twelve years ago.

“We also know that he means to kill you.

“The caravan is over three thirds of its way to the Amirathan

border. We can’t stress enough how important it is that Damydas

never crosses it. He is hiding among the merchants in the caravan,

but we have a plan to smoke him out. As previously agreed we will

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meet you where the Northern Highway crosses the road to Garstang,

at the place called Elmshill.”

She paused to give the living letter time to absorb everything.

Sobrathi had listened with open mouth but every inclination to say

something was cut short by the forbidding look in Emelasuntha’s

eyes.

“There could however be a small change. Chances are we won’t

be coming alone. In all probability we will be in hot pursuit of

Damydas and his Black Shields. We managed to bribe someone who

worked at the royal castle and who knows him by sight. He knows

him so well that he will see right through any disguise he might be

wearing. The problem is that he will have to look at everybody from

close by, because it seems the baron has a small, but very distinctive

scar on his face that would be difficult to hide. We fully expect that he

will grow suspicious, choose the safer option and leave the caravan.

That’s when we will be certain of his identity, and that’s also when

we will leave the caravan to follow him.”

Again she paused. Sobrathi was looking down at the table and

shaking her head in disbelief. Emelasuntha gave her a vicious kick

against the shins which almost brought tears to her eyes.

“We will do our utmost to kill him before he gets very far.

Should this prove impossible then we will need your assistance.

Since Garstang is out of your jurisdiction, you’d better come

incognito with a small band of trusted friends. About twenty will

be enough. More would raise suspicion, and we don’t want anyone

to know that the governor of the Northern Marches had a hand in

the disappearance of the Bloody Baron. We will follow Damydas

with about twenty Tribesmen. We’ll crush him in a classic anvil and

hammer maneuver.”

For the third time she paused, daring Sobrathi with her eyes to

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utter a single word. The baroness remained silent.

“You see, my son, we have done everything to assure that

Damydas soon will be but a nasty memory. I send you my love, and

so does your aunt Sobrathi.”

Ondrov had closed his eyes and his lips moved soundlessly.

Once in a while he asked the queen to confirm if he had retained her

words exactly. She had to correct him only once. Finally, when he

was certain that he would be able to repeat her message verbatim,

he stood up.

“I will depart as soon as possible, mistress. Where am I to go?”

“Follow the highway to the north, ride past Garstang and cross

the Amirathan border. My son is waiting in the village of Fior-Dryff,

ostensibly to recruit troops. Almost everybody you meet will be able

to tell you his whereabouts.”

Emelasuntha gave him her most beautiful smile.

“May the Great Goddess protect you, Ondrov. Everything depends

on you. Not in the least the life of my son.”

Ondrov nodded and bowed his head, filled with awe and the

weight of his responsibility.

When he was gone, Sobrathi burst out.

“Where did you get all that? Anaxantis is nowhere near his

southern border. Not that we know of. What defector were you

speaking about? And, most of all, I didn’t realize we had a plan to

smoke out Damydas.”

“No you didn’t, because until less than half an hour ago we didn’t

have a plan. I have one now.”

“But why are you sending that poor guy on a fool’s errand? The

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Black Shields will be keeping an eye on the highway. If they catch

him—”

She stopped abruptly and looked at Emelasuntha with sudden

comprehension. The queen lifted the corner of her mouth slightly.

“I make no excuses,” she said softly. “It’s just something that

needed to be done.”

“You want the Black Shields to catch him,” the baroness said, not

believing her own words. “Yes, you want him to fall in their hands.

You want him to be tortured, and you want him to spill his guts,

probably literally, and feed them that absurd story.”

She sighed and shook her head.

“Emelasuntha, dear, he’s so young…” she added, knowing it

would be to no avail.

“Anaxantis is younger, Sobrathi,” the queen said. It was most

uncharacteristic, but she sounded almost apologetic. “It’s not only

that he is my son. On him depends the fate of thousands. Have you

thought about that?”

Sobrathi relented. She hadn’t taken into account that without

Anaxantis the whole of the Northern Marches would lie wide open

to the barbarians.

“You’re right, of course, but still... was there no other way?”

Emelasuntha remained silent.

“Right,” Sobrathi said, “we discussed that not half an hour ago.”

“I’m not too sure the baron will believe his cover will be blown,

but I would bet a lot that he won’t be able to resist the chance to get

Anaxantis so early in the game. You can see, can’t you, why I needed

a living letter? When he finally breaks down they will believe he is

telling the truth. And he will be, as far as he knows it. Whatever they

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do to him, there is only one story he can tell them. We need that

convincing quality of someone who believes totally in what he is

saying, dear.”

“Yes, I can see that. I don’t like it, but I can see why you did it.”

“I don’t like it either, Sobrathi, but that is the only plan I can come

up with to force him to break cover. I’m open to suggestions though.”

She waited impassively, but her friend shook her head sadly.

“I hate days like this one,” the baroness said in a resigned tone.

“It’s not over yet. There still remain two less than agreeable tasks

for us.”

“Yes?”

“We can’t simply rely on the competence of the Black Shields.”

“Oh, dear, no…”

“I am afraid so. We’ll have to make certain that a rumor is started

that a very important messenger was sent ahead of the caravan by a

party or parties as yet unknown.” Her eyes were cold. “We can’t run

the risk that the Black Shields would overlook our letter, can we?”

Sobrathi sighed as she saw the last glimmer of hope for

Ondrov getting out alive of this mission evaporate into thin air. But

Emelasuntha’s iron logic, in all it’s horrifying cruelty, couldn’t be

countered.

“Yes, I can see that,” she complied reluctantly. “I wish—”

“Wishing something doesn’t make it so. Just think how many

lives will be saved by sacrificing his. Anaxantis will live and stop the

Mukthars from ravishing the province.”

Again Sobrathi felt there was nothing she could say. She stared

morosely in the distance, until suddenly it occurred to her.

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“Two things. You said there were two unpleasant things that had

to be taken care of.”

Emelasuntha shrugged.

“It’s no good setting a trap without some kind of bait. Damydas

will send men in advance to reconnoiter Garstang—”

In a flash Sobrathi knew what her friend was planning.

“No. Emelasuntha, no.”

“Yes. And what they see will have to match what the living letter

told them.”

“Not calling him by his name won’t make this less horrible and

please, tell me you’re not thinking what I’m thinking.”

“They will expect to see Anaxantis and so we will—”

“No, please, no, dear, you can’t—”

“I can and I will. Because it is necessary.”

“They have seen him. Some among them at least. Damydas most

certainly has.”

“They were half drunk by then. It was in the tower, in a room

without windows, so they saw him by the flickering light of candles.

Besides, they make the staff wear those ridiculous caps. You would be

surprised how difficult it is to recognize someone out of his familiar

surroundings, out of his usual context. You often don’t see what you

don’t expect to see. Different clothing, a more commanding way of

speaking—”

“He won’t fool them for long.”

“He won’t have to. We will be there. With more than sixty

Tribesmen, and not twenty as the letter will have told them.”

“Yes, yes… but, no, please, don’t do this.”

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Sobrathi looked defeated, but she soon recovered.

“We will be there,” she thought, “like she said. Nothing will

happen to him. He’s just a decoy. Bait. Damydas won’t get near him.

We will see to that. I will see to that.”

Still, she repeated her plea.

“Don’t do this. Please, dear.”

“I must, so I will. I’m sending for Jerruth.”

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Chapter 10:

Gathering Clouds

Speed was of the essence. The queen herself had said so. She

had urged him to make haste and to take the shortest route possible,

which was the Northern Highway. If he rode fast he could be in

Fior-Dryff in less than four days. Although the Tribe had issued him

with a horse, Emelasuntha had hired one for him shortly after she

had dictated him her message. The inn where they had stopped

for midday happened to be a Merchant Guild station. That way he