The Wizard's Daughters: Twin Magic: Book 1 (21 page)

30.

It took four days with his new wives before Erich began to remember his predicament.

“We need to leave Köln,” he said one morning. “One way or another. I cannot hide out in here forever, however pleasant the imprisonment may be.”

“I am ready to return home when you are,” Walther said.

“We should get as far from here as we can,” Astrid said. “Let it be our wedding trip. Wherever we go.”

“Those sellswords are surely here by now,” Erich said. “And I suspect they are watching the university. If they found their way back here, it was surely because they knew where you and Walther were going. We will need to slip out as carefully as we can.”

“Johannes told me the guards have seen nothing suspicious.”

“That may mean they are not here. It may also mean these men are too subtle to betray their presence. If they have tracked us here, they know we cannot remain in here forever.”

“What should we do?” Ariel asked.

“Could we sneak out, late at night?” Astrid asked.

“We could. But that is likely the very thing they expect us to do. And with the streets deserted in the dark of night, there would be little to prevent them from attacking us.”

“But if we left during the day, they would be sure to see us.”

Erich thought for a few moments. “They are waiting for me. Not you. If you were to leave without me, it might throw them off my trail.”

Ariel and Astrid immediately objected. “We will not leave you behind,” Astrid said.

“Bear with me. We would regroup. But if you departed on your own, it would make it easier for me to slip out.”

“I do not like this idea,” Ariel said.

“At best, these men know I came here with you as your hireling. Only Johannes and Franz know the full truth of what has happened. If you leave without me, they have no reason to bother you. They will simply assume I have found other work here, or taken service with someone else.”

“I think Erich is right,” Walther said after a few moments. “They should have no concern with us, if Erich is not with us. News that you have matched has gotten out, but no one here knows Erich, and it is difficult for me to see how anyone could make that connection. Almost no one would believe it in any case.”

“Once you leave, they should stop watching the university so closely,” Erich said.

No one said anything.

“I can see no alternative,” Erich said. “They are surely watching for the obvious tactics such as trying to disguise me or hide me in the wagon somehow. I am open to other suggestions if you can offer them.”

Walther looked back and forth between Ariel and Astrid.

“I would prefer it if you left the university very soon after we do,” Astrid said. “Perhaps our departure will distract them enough.”

Erich nodded. “I think that should work.”

♦ ♦

Walther, Ariel, and Astrid rode out the university gate the next morning. As Erich had suggested, they had packed the wagon such that it would present no suggestions anyone was hiding in it. The cover was down and their one large chest was left open.

To further allay suspicion, all of them did their best not to look around for anyone watching them, though it was difficult. Astrid sat in the back, facing behind, with Shadow next to her. She saw no one following them through the city that she could tell.

In a few minutes, they reached the south gate and passed through the city walls. The road led along the Rhine. They had debated whether to cross the river at the city or further south, with Erich finally deciding he preferred to remain in open country until they were well away from Köln, rather than risk a potential trap.

“I don’t see anyone,” Astrid finally said.

Gehard turned around. “Let’s hope this is working. With luck, we should see your husband again shortly.”

♦ ♦

Erich had actually left well before the others, just before dawn. He took up a position in one of the university towers so he could watch them leave. When they rolled out the gate, he slipped around to the rear of the university walls, where he had scouted out a window that did not drop very far to the ground outside. He had no intention of riding out the front gate if he could help it.

He saw no one watching the street below and climbed out onto the sill, then reversed himself to hang from it before he let go. The fall was about twelve feet, and he had to tuck and roll when he hit the ground, but he had made larger jumps and completed this one safely.

A few blocks down, he reached the inn where Astrid had stabled his horse the night before. He hadn’t liked sending her out alone, but she had insisted, and nothing unusual happened.

He paid the stableboy and took his horse, keeping his cloak around him. He had to be careful about this, hiding his identity without
looking
as if he were trying to hide it. Fortunately, the morning was a bit chill, so it would not be overly suspicious to be so clothed.

He would leave by a different gate, as they had discussed, on the hopes that Walther would have drawn most of the attention.

They caught him just outside.

There were two watching the gate, and they clearly were not expecting to see him there. As Erich passed, he made the mistake of looking in their direction, again trying not to appear to be skulking out the gate. Somehow or another they recognized him or least something on him that caught their attention. Erich spurred his horse forward out the gate.

As he looked around, he could see them coming after him on their own horses. He had a good lead on them, but he realized that while he might be able to outrun them, he could not rejoin the others with these two in chase.

A hundred yards outside the gate, he drew up his horse and spun around. They were charging toward him, one holding a club, the other carrying what appeared to be a net, the sight of which chilled him. They intended to capture him alive for Wilhelm.

Erich drew the war knife and charged in, then turned his horse at the last moment just as the man with the net made to throw it. He tried to adjust his throw and lost his balance, causing the net to wrap itself around him instead. As Erich rode past, he swung his sword.

The war knife was a fine weapon for horseback because of its length, and Erich’s aim was true. He opened the man’s throat to his spine. The head lolled backwards, blood fountaining into the air as the dead man fell from his horse.

The second man had been following the first, presumably to knock Erich out once he was in the net. Instead, Erich’s counterstroke as he rode past deflected the club away from him.

He spun around again, as did the second man. The man charged in again, but this time, Erich drew a throwing knife with his free hand and fired it at him. The man saw it coming and instinctively raised his arm to block it; instead it buried itself into his upraised wrist, causing him to drop the club.

That was all the opening Erich needed, and the second man was dead in less time than the telling of it took.

He spun around, looking for any others, seeing nothing. Then he charged off, knowing that if there were two men watching this gate so closely, there would be other men at the gate Walther and his wives had used.

He circled the city, heading south to where the Rhine began to bend. When the road entered the woods, he saw a small gray form coming rapidly up toward him. After a few moments, he realized what it was: Shadow.

The wolf had left in the wagon, but he could see nothing ahead. Shadow stopped as he approached, then turned and ran back down the road. Erich spurred his horse faster.

He heard them just before he saw them. Around the bend was the wagon, and there were four men on horseback around it, including the man with the black cap the guard captain had mentioned. Walther was on the ground on his hands and knees, and man in the black cap was trying to pull Astrid from the wagon.

There was a fifth horse with no apparent rider. On the ground beside the road was a motionless man whose clothes were on fire.

Erich drew the war knife, riding in at full gallop. The two men at the rear of the wagon heard him coming and spun around, drawing their swords.

He rode to the side to keep them from surrounding him, and as they closed, the nearest man swung at him. Erich parried the stroke, and returned it, slashing across his stomach as he went past the wagon. Ariel called something to him, but he was riding too hard to hear it.

The fourth man was up ahead, turning around with sword out. Erich swung at him but was parried. He blocked the counterstroke, then slashed again, but was parried again. He saw the first man, who had ridden past him on the way in, having turned around and come back. The leader was still struggling with Astrid, and Ariel was trying to pull her free while Shadow was biting at his leg.

The man’s next stroke was off-balance, and Erich parried it high, then slashed down across his throat.

But then he saw three more men thundering down the road toward them, apparently the remainder of the band. And just as Erich prepared to engage the first man, their leader got Astrid out of the wagon and put a dagger to her throat.

“Stop!” he shouted.

Erich drew up, sidestepping his horse to keep the first man on the other side of the wagon.

“I have already killed four of your men,” he snarled. “If you do not wish to join them, let her go. You are not the first mercenaries of my brother’s who have died under my blade.”

“That is quite so, sir, but we will be the last. Drop that blade, or I will kill her.”

“You will die.”

“Perhaps, but only after she does. Then I will kill the other. I can reach her before you do. My contract concerns only you; they mean nothing.”

Astrid struggled against his grip, but the man was far too strong. “Erich, no!”

The man dug his blade into Astrid’s neck, and she cried out. Even from this distance, Erich could see the blood blossoming on her throat.

“
Now
, good sir.”

Erich raged impotently. He could try to kill him with a throwing knife, but the range was far and if he missed, the man would certainly kill Astrid.

He threw down his sword. “Damn you.”

Ariel cried out in despair, and Astrid sagged against the man holding her, sobbing loudly.

“Dismount, please, and step away from that horse and your blade.”

He did as instructed. The remaining sellswords moved in and bound him, removing his throwing knives, even the ones concealed in his boots.

They bound Ariel, Astrid, and Walther as well, gagging the other three to deter spellcasting. As they did so, the men groped at the girls, laughing at their cries of protest.

“Leave them alone!” Erich shouted.

“And what are they to you?” the leader asked. “They are but your master’s daughters?”

“They are my wives.”

The man’s face changed in an instant. He had clearly not expected this answer. He spun around to his men.

“Let them be!”

They back up at him in confusion. “Sir?”

“These are married women,” the leader said, “and you will respect that.”

Erich forced himself to thank the man.

“I have a wife at home in Firenze, sir. You are not a Moor. You have two wives?”

“Twin mages must marry the same man.” He did not feel like giving him a more involved explanation.

“I see. I do not know what your brother will do with them, but we will not be responsible for any affronts to their honor.”

“You could let them go.”

“Believe me, I would like to, but they are dangerous mages”—here he paused to look down at the man they had apparently killed by fire—“and you are their husband. You will excuse me if I do not believe they will simply proceed on their way while I take you to Count Wilhelm, whatever assurances I might try to extract. Trust me, sir, I know how the mind of a woman works when it comes to her husband’s welfare. I have lost half my men today as it stands.”

They threw Erich over his horse and the others in the back of the wagon. As they rode off, Erich could see Shadow loping along in the woods, following them.

31.

Wilhelm was eating dinner in his private chambers when his chamberlain burst in. He was about to erupt in annoyance when the man shouted, “Your grace, Giancarlo Attendolo has returned, and he has your brother!”

The thrill of satisfaction that surged through him was so intense he could not answer the man for several moments.

“Where are they?”

“The outer bailey, your grace.”

“Bring them into the main hall.”

The chamberlain left, and Wilhelm walked to the audience chamber. Guards and servitors were trickling into the room as word of the news spread. Wilhelm climbed up the dais and took his seat.

Giancarlo entered the room first. Behind him, his men and Wilhelm’s guards led in a small group: two women, identical twins, and an older man—all gagged—and Erich.

Wilhelm did not immediately recognize his brother. The resemblance was there, but this was not the callow youth his father had driven from the house, who had occupied his thoughts for a decade. He was larger: broader shoulders and tightly muscled arms like the knotted roots of an oak tree. Even bound, he moved with an unsettlingly lupine grace, and carried a murderous look in his eyes that Wilhelm did his best to return.

He no longer wondered why so many men he had sent after Erich had died.

But Wilhelm was in control here.

“Who are these others?” he asked Giancarlo.

“The women are mages, and his wives. The man is their father, also a mage. We captured them together.” Giancarlo paused to gather himself. “Your brother killed four of my men, and the women killed another by fire.”

Oh, this was delightful. Not just Erich, but also two women he presumably cared about. And the pompous Giancarlo taken down a few notches as well.

“I warned you he was dangerous.” Wilhelm laughed. “You have outdone yourself, Giancarlo.”

The man nodded. “Our final payment, your grace, if you will.”

“Of course!” He motioned to the chamberlain, who fetched Giancarlo’s money. “I assume you will wish to stay for the entertainment?”