The Named (28 page)

But Lord Whitby, undeterred, points his sword in my direction. ‘I know who you are,’ he hisses, and for a
moment wonder whether he really does. ‘You’re a trickster. You should be tried for witchcraft!’ To the king he says, ‘Your Majesty, I beg of you, do not be swayed by the temptations of a charming and beautiful woman.’

He doesn’t realise it of course, but he’s just given me an amazing compliment, as if
I
could tempt a king with my … What did he say? I shake my head.

Lord Whitby tries again to sway the king. ‘Your Majesty, have you heard nothing of my counsel? The charm of a woman will be your downfall. Is that how you want to be written up in history?’

‘You insolent knave!’ King Richard exclaims. ‘How dare you suggest—’

‘It will mean your death!’ Lord Whitby screams out.

King Richard raises his hand. ‘Everyone, put away your swords. You especially, Lord Whitby. No one here means me harm.’ He looks directly at Lord Whitby and says, ‘I will go to Ireland with my armies as planned. It is what
I
desire.’ He waves his hand at the rest of us. ‘Now, all of you, leave me.’

The lords all stand and two of them urge Lord Whitby to put away his sword or they’ll run him through with their own, reminding him how outnumbered he is.

Lord Whitby, utterly distressed now that his mission appears doomed to failure, returns his sword to its scabbard and storms from the room.

‘Should we go after him?’ I whisper to Ethan.

He swallows, seemingly in a daze. ‘We just persuaded King Richard on a course destined to end in his death.’

‘That is what we came for! Think of the alternative,’ I coax him.

The room empties as the king calls for his manservants to help him prepare for his journey to Ireland, announcing that he plans to leave immediately. Shaun explains to Jimmy, who waits outside, how well the meeting went, and my part in it. Jimmy pats my shoulder. ‘Well done, my lady! And now we must hurry and return to prepare ourselves for our meeting with Marduke.’

‘What about Lord Whitby, or whoever he really was?’ I ask. ‘He sure was one unhappy little warrior when he stormed out of that room.’

‘He’s gone.’

‘Are you sure?’ Shaun asks Jimmy.

‘Oh yes, I followed him. He summoned the maid and together they jumped out that window.’ He points to the opening at the far end of the hallway. We go up to the window and look down at a three-storey drop. ‘They disappeared before they were even halfway down.’

Shaun gathers us into an empty room. As no one is about, we’re free to call Arkarian, who will return us to the Citadel in a second. But before Shaun opens his mouth to call his name, Ethan starts backing towards the door. ‘You lot go ahead, I have something I want to check on.’

His action, his weird manner, has everyone’s curiosity instantly aroused. ‘What for exactly?’ I ask, growing more worried by the second. Ethan’s eyes are far too rounded for comfort, like he’s in shock, or about to do something really stupid.

‘I … I just want to make sure the king leaves, that’s
all. Then I’ll follow. I’ll try not to be too long.’

‘But the man who was Lord Whitby, or his assistant, the poisoner, won’t stop him now. Those two are gone,’ I explain, then add, even though he knows this fact already, ‘You know they can’t come back to the same time. The king is leaving tonight, you can hear the armies gathering outside right now. There’s nothing that can go wrong at this stage. And remember, we have an appointment with Marduke.’

‘I know all this. Do you think Marduke’s not on my mind?’

‘He should be on your agenda.’

Shaun walks up to him. ‘Haven’t you been trained not to form attachments?’

Ethan scoffs at his father. ‘I’m not attached to king Richard. I’m just doing my job, following it through. That’s all.’

‘Your job is over. Now we have to fight Marduke.’

‘Yes,’ Jimmy adds. ‘Marduke and five of his warriors. No doubt Lord Whitby and the servant will be two of them, eager for revenge. Why else would they be in such a rush? We need you there to make up our numbers.’

Ethan nods. ‘I’ll be there. I promise.’

Backing away, he leaves without saying another word. I don’t need my sixth sense to know that Ethan has something planned which is going to land him in a whole heap of trouble.

Chapter Thirty-seven

Ethan

I call Arkarian, who meets me in the Citadel in a room of bare walls painted black. ‘You can’t do this, Ethan.’

I drag my eyes away from the severity of the walls. ‘I can and I must.’

He grabs my upper arms tightly and I feel his incredible strength. If I’m still in this body tomorrow, I’ll have bruises for sure. ‘It’s an outright breach. You’ll jeopardise everything you’ve worked for.’

He doesn’t only mean my wings, but my position as well. I could be thrown out of the Guard, all memory of it erased. I don’t want that to happen. But I can’t allow a king to be demoralised and destroyed when I have the means to change things.

‘Why, Ethan? Is he really worth the risk?’

I yank my arms from Arkarian’s grasp and take a step back from him, giving my arms a shake to restore their circulation. ‘I don’t know, OK? I don’t know why I’m doing this, but I have this inner compulsion to set things right for this king.’

‘I’ve taught you not to get attached to your missions.’

‘It’s not that!’

‘Then what?’

I look to the ceiling, also black, but there’s nothing there to enlighten my mind. ‘I can’t explain it. I just know it’s the right thing.’

He groans, shaking his head, and starts pacing the small unfurnished room. He gets to one end, turns on his heels and comes back, giving me a lengthy troubled look, then starts pacing again, his hands bunching into fists by his side. He turns once more, his hands now clasped so tightly that the skin has turned white at the knuckles. He comes right up to my face, his violet eyes piercing me, pleading, ‘Ethan, this is one time you must think your actions right through to their possible – and probable – consequences.’

His obvious concern is touching, but not even his unusual show of emotions can sway me from this course.

He realises this and hisses through teeth tightly clenched, ‘And you want me to help you?’

‘I can’t do it without you, Arkarian. You have to put me there, in the room where they’re holding him, before he starves to death. I’ll take full responsibility. I’ll make sure you don’t get repri—’

He holds his hands up in front of my face sharply. ‘Stop! Do you really think I’m worried about that?’

‘I’m sorry.’

He looks me in the eyes. ‘Do you know what caused the dispute between your father and Marduke?’

While I know of the dispute, which saw my father slice off half of Marduke’s face, I have no idea of the reason for it. ‘Tell me.’

‘They were a team with a difficult mission. A young woman by the name of Eleanor was to die during the
Black Death that hit France in the year 1348, but not before she saved the lives of her two younger brothers, soon to be orphaned. She was to make a journey with her siblings to family friends through the deep forest of Ardennes, into what is now Belgium. Once safely delivered, she was to return to her village to look after her remaining relatives – a dying father, an uncle and aunt and other loved ones. Eventually, she too would contract the disease and die.’

‘So what happened?’

‘Both your father and Marduke had a difficult time seeing where the danger came from. An assassin was attempting to infect Eleanor with the disease before she saved her brothers. Your father and Marduke spent sixteen days in her presence, carefully screening everyone and everything that came in contact with her, making sure she remained free of the illness until the time in history when she was to finally succumb.’

‘I gather one of her brothers went on to accomplish something special?’

‘Both did, actually, through their genes and various descendants. But that isn’t even the point, Ethan.’

‘I know. So what happened to cause my father and Marduke’s quarrel?’

‘Your father became attached to her.’

‘No way!’

Arkarian looks at me intently. ‘He wanted her to live, because, as he saw it, she deserved to. He was playing God, Ethan. And we can’t do that. It’s as bad as creating chaos. It makes us the same as them.’

‘So what happened? Wouldn’t Marduke let him?’

‘It didn’t go the way you’re thinking.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Marduke also formed an attachment to the girl. He fell in love with her, even while the woman he lived with sat at home with his child in her arms.’

‘You’re kidding!’

‘He loved Eleanor with such passion that it blinded him. She was an exceptionally beautiful young woman and beauty impressed Marduke considerably. He too wanted to risk everything and rescue her from such an ugly and painful death. He couldn’t stand the thought of what was going to happen to her beautiful skin and flesh once the disease took hold.’

I can understand this, as the thought itself is sickening, but still … ‘What happened?’

‘Your father came to his senses.’

‘Oh.’

‘But Marduke wouldn’t listen to reason. He injected Eleanor with an antibiotic from his own time, one that was meant for him, should it be required.’

‘So they fought.’

‘In the deep forest of Ardennes. It was a hard and bitter duel, using weapons of the time – they’re both superior swordfighters. Eventually, it was your father who took the first wound, a deep slash to his thigh, but before he passed out from loss of blood, he made one fierce final attack.’

‘Slicing Marduke’s face in half?’

Arkarian nods. I wonder what happened to the beautiful young woman who was the centre of their rift, and he reads my mind.

‘She recovered from the plague, but the sight of so much ugly death scorched her soul and made her go insane. And the villagers who escaped the plague, and knew of her miraculous recovery, assumed she had
been touched by the devil. They scorned her and called her a witch. She lived the rest of her life in a wooden shack buried deep in the Ardennes, alone.’

‘That’s terrible.’

Arkarian takes a deep breath. ‘Now you must understand there are always consequences.’

‘I understand what went wrong back then, and the point you’re trying to make. But listen, I’m not saving King Richard because I’ve become emotionally involved. I don’t want to play God. I wouldn’t do that! My father and Marduke’s past mistakes have nothing to do with me.’

Arkarian’s whole face shows exasperation that a student of his could be so dense. He doesn’t need to speak.

‘Look, what I’m going to do will have no effect on the future, and won’t send anyone insane.’

‘How can you be so sure? No one knows what may happen once the unpredictable element is thrown in.’

I thump my chest with a closed fist. I believe in what I’m doing, even though I’m not really sure why. ‘There’s not going to be an unpredictable element, Arkarian, ’cause I’m not going to leave King Richard in the past as a free man. I have a plan, and a gut feeling I can’t explain.’

‘Ethan, you can never predict what might happen. And you must remember that our physical bodies can only be in one place at one time. It’s your soul that can shift through time, housed temporarily in bodies that resemble your own. If you try to transport King Richard, he will only die – slowly and unpleasantly.’

His points are valid, especially the last about our souls and one body and such. Still, Arkarian’s always
telling me he doesn’t know everything, and this time I realise he’s right, ’cause something deep inside me feels sure that if I can get King Richard to Athens, and into the healing room in the palace quickly, this one time death will not result. Where King Richard is now, he’s going to die anyway. Trying to save him will be worth the risk.

‘I’ll never ask anything of you again, Arkarian. Just this once, please help me get to King Richard before it’s too late.’

Chapter Thirty-eight

Isabel

I want to go after Ethan, though I’m not sure where he’s gone, or even why, only that it has to do with King Richard. But Marduke is preparing for battle and he’s bringing five of his warriors with him, while we are five without Ethan. As we’re already short on numbers, how can I run after Ethan without making our position against Marduke even more vulnerable?

We return to the Citadel, where we change and shift back into our sleeping bodies. I wake instantly, my heart skittering away as if waking from a dream where I’m racing towards a cliff edge with no way to stop in time. Finally, it dawns on me that I’m home and safe. I clamber out of bed, throwing on some fresh clothes, not even thinking what they are – jeans of some description, an old ratty jumper that dropped off its hanger a few days ago. The plan is to get to Arkarian’s chamber as soon as we return to our bodies. There’s heaps to do before meeting Marduke and his warriors.

Outside my bedroom door I bump straight into Jimmy, who shushes me with a sharp frown. ‘Mum’s sleeping, let’s go.’

‘Matt too?’

He shrugs. ‘I don’t know where he is. He’s not in his room.’

We hurry down the hallway, but once we get near the front door, both of us stop in our tracks. The door is open, yanked off its hinges, smudges of blood on its slanted front. Furniture in the immediate area has been knocked around. Obviously there’s been a scuffle where someone’s been hurt. The last person I know that came to this door was Mr Carter. ‘What happened, Jimmy? Do you think Mr Carter and Matt got into a fight?’

He shakes his head. ‘I can’t see that happening.’

‘How well do you know Mr Carter? Sometimes he acts weird.’

‘That’s just him, Isabel. Don’t jump to conclusions.’ Jimmy pushes me towards the opening, then sets the door in place, repairing the hinges and fractured splinters with just the touch of his hand. Even the blood disappears. ‘How does that look?’

‘Great.’ I’m surprised at his skill, but then remind myself that Jimmy is the one who set the traps in the ancient city, so the simple fixing of a door shouldn’t really be too astonishing.