Unleashed Fury (BloodRunes: Book 1) (21 page)

“Jezebel is the most powerful, Master.”

“Pity,” Master responded. “I'm going to let
you in on a little secret. This symbol represents a specific
bloodline. A bloodline that could potentially be very important for
our god's return. I want you to keep a close eye on all of them,
let me know immediately if any show signs of being more powerful
than they seem at first glance. Check in with Jezebel as well,
about her project. I need to know if there are any high talents
filtering in from Treymayne. The King is gearing up for a war, so
this information will be doubly important as he takes his new
position. Let's have her get Devon more involved, and interrogate
any suspicious people rather than just watch them.” Jonathan was
taken aback by Master's sharing of such sensitive information, and
pleased that he had found him worthy of hearing it.

“Of course, Master. And what of her
hellhounds?”

“Make sure that she knows we know about them,
but leave her to deal with them as she will. However, I want to
know where she found the information to produce them.”

Jonathan made his way out of the temple where
Master had arranged the meeting. He weaved through the throng of
people in the marketplace to his carriage. After giving the driver
his orders, he sat back to ponder how best to proceed. By the time
the carriage jerked to a halt he had come to a decision, and he
squeezed out through the carriage door and went up to the house to
have his arrival announced.

When he was shown into the library, Jezebel
was looking pleased with herself, surrounded by the five other
newest Council members. Jonathan had a momentary twinge of
annoyance that she would receive him with so many witnesses
present, but pushed it aside and instead begged their forgiveness
while he borrowed Jezebel for just a moment. He motioned for her to
follow him into the sitting room, and out of the range of prying
eyes and ears. Despite the look of irritation she gave him, she
obliged.

“And what do I owe this pleasure?” she asked
when they were out of earshot.

“Your man Devon,” Jonathan said, “I
understand is quite adept at getting people to open up to him.”

Jezebel smiled and let out a short laugh.
“Why, yes he is. What kind of information would you like him to
obtain?”

Jonathan was pleased to note that she
immediately assumed her responsibility to do whatever task he set
forth for her. “Of the latest list of suspicious names you have,
have Devon choose a few to interview. See what he can find out for
us about the talent in Treymayne. And congratulations on winning
the Council seat, by the way.” He acknowledged her accomplishment
with a nod of his head and a conspiratorial smile. She accepted
with a smile of her own, ignoring his slightly mocking tone.

“Indeed,” she answered. “I will set Devon to
the task as soon as my guests leave. Is there anything else, or may
I return to my entertaining?” She inquired politely but with a hint
of superiority.
She's letting her success go to her head
already
, he thought to himself.
But she'll learn soon enough
that while the Councilors are the advisors to the King, the King
still has the final say. Their primary function becomes keeping the
King informed and really they have relatively small amounts of
personal power themselves to actually make decisions
. Not to
mention that each of them were someone else’s puppet. Which was why
people like Lord Carlon were perfectly willing to support people
like Jezebel to occupy the seats. Lord Carlon remained free to
continue his own projects, which gained him much more than pursuing
a Council seat himself would. But to people like Jezebel, the
palace was the ultimate position of power, and power and status
were what motivated them.

“That is all for now,” he answered,
refraining from enlightening her on her situation. “I'll be back
sooner than usual as this matter is pressing, so please tell Devon
that it has precedence.”

“Fine,” Jezebel said shortly and held out a
hand indicating he should depart before her. He did so, but stopped
at the door.

“Oh, and Jezebel,” she turned back towards
him and arched an eyebrow. “Do make sure your little country
project doesn't sink you before you've even officially been
accepted. Having you get caught with them is not part of the plan.”
She didn't comment, but her other eyebrow joined its companion, and
Jonathan was given a sense of satisfaction at having surprised her
once again. He returned to his own home, disquieting thoughts of
Jezebel plaguing him.

CHAPTER 15

Layna was cleaning up the dishes from lunch,
when suddenly the door to Mila's house burst open and a young girl
stumbled inside. The girl collapsed, barely a foot within the door,
and Layna rushed to her side, calling out for Mila. The poor thing
had hardly a rag on her, and her skin was already red and raw from
wind and cold blistering.

Mila came running into the room and
immediately got down to business, ordering Layna to lift the girl
up onto the bed and to get her out of the wet and shredded clothes.
Layna did so without question, ripping at the rags in her haste to
comply. She was horrified to see the condition of the body beneath
them. There were scars all over it. The white lines traversed her
length, and newer red ones, still scabbed over with dried blood,
criss-crossed her body.

“What happened to her?” Layna asked Mila in
horrified bewilderment.

“I don't know,” answered Mila regretfully.
“Hopefully she'll be able to tell us when she wakes.” Mila paused,
a look of real concern on her face. “That is, if the poor little
thing's mind hasn't been damaged as well.” They wrapped the newer
wounds with salves and bandages and re-dressed her in warm dry
clothes before leaving her to sleep.

She still had not woken several hours later
when Gryffon returned. Mila was starting to get worried as the
girl's forehead was beginning to become feverish. They explained to
Gryffon what had happened, and he listened with interest, and then
went over to check on the girl.

“I recognize her,” he exclaimed suddenly.
“I've been trying to figure out from where. She's one of the Golden
Girls.” He paused. “Or at least she was.”

Mila gave him a look and answered, “I'm not
even going to ask how you know that, but assuming she is, I wonder
if any of the other girls would know who did this to her.”

“I could go ask,” Gryffon offered.

Layna added, “I'll go with you.” She wasn’t
about to let him go there alone.

They saddled up Axe and Fly, and rode deeper
into the city to the Golden Girls brothel. As they entered, Layna
was happy to note that none of the girls greeted Gryffon by name or
seemed to be overly familiar with him. Several who were lounging in
the lobby eyed him with interest, however, and then looked her over
as if trying to decide what they were here for. A particularly bold
one came right up, brushing past Layna and draping herself on
Gryffon.

“Here for a good time?” she asked, batting
her eyes at him.

Gryffon gently extricated himself from her.
“Uh, no. Thank you. We just want to know about one of the girls
here.”

“You want someone special?” the girl asked
putting on a pout as if hurt. “I can be better than whoever it is,
and she can even come too,” the girl lifted her chin to indicate
she meant Layna, and then blew her a kiss.

“I'm sure you can,” Gryffon acknowledged
politely, “but we really just need to talk to the Madame here. If
we could. Please.” He seemed to be grasping for words and Layna
felt a little claustrophobic as several others girls moved forward
to surround them.

Someone clapped, making Layna jump, and the
girls scattered back to their couches. A new woman, significantly
older than the rest of the girls and garbed elaborately with a
mountain of hair piled high on her head and a large mole on her
upper lip stood in the curtained doorway to the back.

“I am Madame Blanchet,” she introduced
herself, moving towards them gracefully. “What can I do for you?”
She looked at Layna appraisingly. “Are you interested in joining
our ranks?” she asked her.

Layna blushed and shook her head
negatively.

“Pity. So to what then, do I owe this
pleasure?”

Gryffon cleared his throat and explained, “A
girl collapsed at our doorstep this morning and I thought that I
recognized her as one of your-”

He was cut off by gasp, and a young brunette
with big brown eyes ran forward, ignoring the harsh look from
Madame Blanchet. “Is it Carolyn? Is she alright?” the girl
demanded.

Gryffon answered truthfully, “We don't know
who she is, she's been unconscious since this morning. We're
currently in the employ of the healer, Mila, who is caring for
her.”

“Mila,” sighed the girl, “she's alright. Why
is Carolyn unconscious?”

Gryffon hesitated, unsure how to break the
news to a girl so obviously close to this Carolyn. “We don't really
know what happened, but she basically collapsed at our doorstep.
She's obviously been mistreated.”

The girls had all crowded forward now, and at
this, they all started talking at once. “She's been missing
forever!” exclaimed one.

Another said, “I bet it was that Farthen
fellow, he's always been a little too interested in pain for my
liking.”

Madame Blanchet clapped her hands once more
for silence and was met with an immediate response. “I'll have a
meeting with you in the back room,” she told Gryffon and Layna.
Then she addressed the rest of the girls. “Go about your business
as usual, rest assured I will do everything in my power to find out
who committed this outrage upon one of our own, and they will come
to justice.” She swept the curtain aside and ushered Layna and
Gryffon in.

Once inside, she sat at a large desk and
indicated that they should take the seats in front of it. It struck
Layna as amusing to have such an official looking office in a
brothel, but she made no comment.

“What Helena said was true,” Madame Blanchet
started as they settled into the chairs. “Carolyn has been missing
for quite some time now. I have had my people checking into the
last couple clients she had, but none of them have seen her, nor
seem to have had anything to do with her disappearance. I thought
that maybe she had run off with one of them. That happens sometimes
with the younger ladies,” she paused in her narration to explain,
“they think that they fall in love with one of the clients, that
his amorous talk is serious, and they disappear for a few weeks.
They usually end up right back here crying their eyes out over
broken hearts. I thought she had a better head on her shoulders
though, Carolyn did - does,” she corrected herself. Her eyes
darkened and she said in a low voice, “I will add whatever
resources I can to her hopeful recovery and when she is able to
tell us what happened, have no doubt that I will make sure that
whoever hurt her will pay for it.”

They agreed that Carolyn would stay with Mila
until she was healed, and Megan begged leave of Madame Blanchet to
go with them to visit with Carolyn. She was granted it.

Megan climbed up behind Layna on Fly,
exclaiming in girlish delight at riding a horse. The girl's mouth
went a mile a minute on the short ride back to Mila's, talking
about everything from Carolyn to the city in general, to how pretty
Layna's hair was - even if it was getting all in her face.

Layna suddenly felt Megan let go of her waist
as she ran her hands delicately through Layna's hair, twining it
around and setting it over her shoulder so that it wasn't blowing
in her eyes.

“Hey,” she observed, “what a pretty picture
you have on your neck. What is it?”

“What?” Layna asked, puzzled. “I don't have
anything on my neck.”

“Yes you do,” Megan corrected her
mischievously. As Gryffon reined Axe back so that he was beside
them, she pulled Layna's hair away from her neck again to show him,
and Layna felt her cold finger pointing just behind her right ear.
“See?” she asked Gryffon.

Layna looked to him for confirmation and was
confused when he nodded that 'yes', indeed she did have some sort
of mark on her neck. “It's too small for me to tell what it is
though.”

“How odd,” was all Layna could think of to
say.

Gryffon gave her a look of 'we'll discuss it
later'.

Megan continued her barrage of words, hardly
slowing even as they dismounted and entered the house. The moment
that she saw Carolyn, however, the flow abruptly ceased, and she
let out a strangled cry. She ran to the unconscious girl's side.
She very carefully took a limp hand in her own and started
whispering encouraging words to her, the rest of the world gone
from her mind.

Mila yelled out from the kitchen that she was
making muffins that were just about done, so she'd be right out.
Layna and Gryffon took seats by the fire, and starting talking
softly in low voices.

“What does it look like?” Layna asked
him.

He glanced over at Megan, but she had her
back towards them and was still intent on Carolyn. He leaned closer
to Layna and brushed her hair away from her ear, craning his head
around to look at the strange mark. She hoped he didn’t notice the
goose-bumps that his touch caused. “It could almost be taken for a
hive or an irritation. It just looks like the skin is raised a
bit,” he remarked. “But it's very obviously a symbol of some sort.
Have you burned yourself with anything maybe?”

Layna made a face. “I don't think so, not on
my neck anyway. I would think that I’d remember doing something
like that.”

“Hmph,” shrugged Gryffon. “That is odd.”

Mila came bustling out of the kitchen, and
Gryffon rose to take the tray full of muffins from her. He set it
on the table by the bed. “How's she doing?” Layna asked her
quietly.