Voice Of The Demon (Book 2) (57 page)

‘Well, that’s a great comfort, coming from you, of all people!’

‘You think I’m misguided?’ Robert brought a cup of brew back for Aiden, then perched on the edge of his bed, his own cup between both hands.

Aiden took a swift burning mouthful. ‘Yes. Not only that, I still think you’re wrong. Can I ask you a question without getting my head bitten off?’

Something like amusement flashed across Robert’s face. ‘Go ahead.’

‘What happened between you and Selar? Why did you leave Lusara?’

With a short sigh, Robert gazed into his brew. ‘Selar wouldn’t keep any kind of control over the Guilde. They were growing too powerful and he let them. There was a land dispute which Vaughn had stuck his claws into. The decision would have been grossly unjust. I decided to intervene and had the land assigned to me. I sold the land to the rightful owner on a feu for one copper coin. Vaughn always hated me, more so when I told him I was a sorcerer – not that he can ever tell anyone about it. He demanded that I destroy the feu. If I didn’t, he’d see I was thrown off the council. I refused and he went to Selar.’

‘I heard you had a terrible argument with the King.’

‘I told Selar that if he threw me off the council for defying the Guilde, I’d leave Lusara and never return.’

‘So you left.’

‘Three years later, I found myself having waking dreams about home. My aide had travelled with me and he needed to go home. I suppose I didn’t think too clearly about the whole thing because if I had I wouldn’t have done more than put Micah ashore.’

‘You couldn’t stand being away.’

Robert shrugged. ‘Perhaps.’

‘This lady? She’s not your wife?’

‘And never will be.’

‘What does she say about all this?’

Robert shot a glance at Aiden. ‘Much the same as you – only not quite so rudely. She did say the whole thing was killing me.’

Aiden almost laughed at that – the irony was too cruel. ‘Very well, I admit I understand your dilemma. But I have to ask you one thing.’

‘One more thing, you mean.’

‘Please, don’t be pedantic with me, Robert. I haven’t had too much sleep since we started talking and it’s starting to wear on me.’

Then it happened. A smile – a
real
smile – lit Robert’s face in a way that Aiden wouldn’t have thought possible. It changed his whole appearance. Even the dark rings about his eyes almost vanished. Robert bowed his head in obedience. ‘I am tame, Bishop. Pray continue.’

Aiden stared at him. This man would drive a saint’s patience through hell and out the other side! How could he be so close to the edge one minute, then like this another? The self-control was frightening. ‘All those things you said about your uncle and Selar and everything. They came about because of your inaction, right?’

‘Correct.’

‘And you choose inaction because you’re afraid you won’t be able to alter your destiny to destroy, correct?’

‘Right.’

‘What would happen then, if you chose action?’

Robert sighed and came abruptly to his feet. ‘Well, it’s been nice talking to you, Bishop.’

Aiden raised both hands and nearly spilled his brew all over his robe. ‘Now wait just a minute. I’m serious.’

‘So am I.’

‘Don’t play games. Just tell me. Pretend I’m dumb. What would happen?’

Robert dumped his cup on the table and threw his arms wide in an aggrieved appeal to heaven. ‘Why is it that nobody ever takes me seriously? Why doesn’t anybody ever believe me?’

‘Probably because you’re such an ass.’

To Aiden’s eternal surprise, Robert burst out laughing,
falling to his knees in the middle of the floor. After a moment, he took a deep breath and glanced up at Aiden. ‘Ah, Bishop, you’re one of a kind! Let me explain to you exactly what would happen. I would go out the gates of the monastery and very soon I’d come across some example of legal injustice. Having chosen action, I would of course . . . act. Now, assuming I didn’t get either caught or killed in the process, I’d instantly become an outlaw, losing everything I own and turning my mother out on to the street. Then, of course, the King – and the Guilde – would come after me with lots of soldiers with very sharp swords and I’d have to fight them. Only I wouldn’t be alone because, after all this time, there’re a lot of people in this country who would just love to get into a fight like that. So we’d have a civil war on our hands. But of course, it would get worse because I’m a sorcerer and I have many more powers at my command than my opponents would know about – causing all kinds of confusion in people like you when everyone found out. And then there’s the problem of who would take the throne afterwards, because I certainly don’t want it and I don’t know anybody alive who has any kind of claim to it. But anyway, one day, as sure as the sun will rise in a few hours – I’d be faced with the situation where I’d no longer be able to win by stealth and arms alone. Now,’ Robert continued, getting to his feet, ‘I can’t tell you when that day will come. For all I know, it might come tomorrow, perhaps next week. All I know is that it will come and, I promise you, you don’t want to be around when it happens.’

‘But you won’t tell me what it is.’

‘Never.’ Robert shrugged and sat once more. ‘So, any other suggestions?’

Aiden sighed and shook his head. ‘You know, I was right about you. We’re both in prison, only of a different kind. You have the power to act, but not the will. I have the will, but no power at all. You have no idea how much I would give to trade places with you.’

Robert frowned. ‘You still don’t believe me, do you?’

‘Oh, I believe you. It’s just that I don’t believe there’s no solution.’

‘But there is a solution. If I don’t act, only I die, Bishop. If I do act, then many will die. I would have thought the solution would agree with your priestly soul.’

‘For pity’s sake, Robert, will you please stop calling me Bishop! Call me Aiden if you must, or Father in public, but never again address me by a title that’s been dead for me for almost two years.’

Quietly sober, Robert straightened up. ‘And you were wrong about that, too. It was my fault you were arrested. I just didn’t say anything before because I didn’t want to argue and have us start out on the wrong foot.’

Aiden groaned and rolled his eyes at the ceiling – but he had to laugh. This last few weeks had drained him like a porridge bowl at the end of breakfast.

‘I suppose that means you’ll leave me alone now, as I requested.’

Glancing across the room, Aiden was relieved to note the gentle irony in the young man’s eyes. ‘No, sorry. I should have warned you. Sometimes I’m hard to shake off. Besides, that was no request. That was an order.’

‘And I can see you always do as you’re told.’

Aiden would have taken the bait, but Robert’s face took on a strange quality and he held up his hand for silence. ‘Somebody’s coming towards the stable.’

The words were barely out before Aiden could hear feet running through the mud and up the stairs. Instantly Robert was at the door, pulling it open. It was Brother Damien, breathless and dripping with the rain.

‘Forgive me, Father, but the Abbot has sent for you. He’s just received some news. He’s asked that you come at once.’

Robert immediately grabbed a jacket. ‘I’ll come with you.’

They hurried through the orchard, slipping on puddles of mud and raised tree roots. Breathless and drenched, they reached the cloister. Abbot Chester waited in his study.

The Abbot was still dressed in his sleeping robe, but had thrown a cloak over his shoulders. He moved to speak, but paused when he saw Robert. Aiden drew them all into the room and closed the door. ‘It’s fine, Chester. He knows who I am. What is it? What’s wrong?’

Chester frowned deeply. ‘The worst news. Prince Kenrick has been returned to his father and the Queen . . . the Queen is reported to have died in his rescue.’

‘Sweet Mineah!’ Aiden shut his eyes for a moment, then opened them again quickly to look at Robert. Of all the news they could have received now, this was perhaps the worst.

Robert stood beside him, pale as the dawn. The fragile humour had drained and his face was wooden, immobile.

‘But that’s not all, Father,’ Chester moved closer to them, a small sheet of paper in his hand. ‘One of our brothers, Archdeacon Hilderic, has been arrested on charges of treason. It appears he went to Tirone for help in your cause. Now the King has let it be known that unless you give yourself up to his justice, Hilderic will be executed.’

‘No!’ Aiden breathed, but the life had just gone from his body. He reached for the nearest chair and sank down, unable to absorb this new horror. First the poor Queen, and now Hilderic . . .

‘Have you any idea where they’re holding Hilderic?’

Aiden’s gaze shot up to Robert. Chester scanned the paper again, then replied, ‘They were taking him to Calonburke.’

‘Near Payne’s place,’ Robert murmured to himself. Then he turned swiftly back to Aiden. ‘What are you going to do?’

‘You have to ask me that? I’m going, of course.’

‘Yes, that’s what I thought you’d say. Well, come. Don’t sit there feeling sorry for yourself. I’ll help you pack.’ Robert leaned down and unceremoniously took Aiden’s elbow, lifting him to his feet. Months of digging gardens and shifting great blocks of stone had hardened already tough muscles and Aiden was powerless to stop him.

‘But you can’t go, Father,’ Chester protested. ‘Hilderic went to save you.’

‘Which is exactly why I must go.’

‘But—’

‘Don’t try and stop me, Chester. I’m sorry. I have to do this. Thank you for the sanctuary you’ve given me. A few weeks of freedom were better than none at all.’

Aiden barely had time to wave a blessing before Robert almost dragged him out the door. Then they were hurrying
along the cloister towards Aiden’s room. Robert somehow made the door open before they’d reached the top of the stairs. He propelled Aiden inside and shut the door, waving a hand over it before turning to face him.

‘Well, don’t just stand there, get packing.’

‘But . . . I don’t understand,’ Aiden frowned, doing no such thing. ‘If I didn’t know you better, I’d say you wanted me to go.’

‘Well, you do know me better, but I still want you to go. Come on, hurry. Unless I miss my guess, we don’t have much time. We have to get to Calonburke before they decide to move Hilderic.’

Aiden stood there in shock as Robert swiftly turned about the room, picking up everything he saw and shoving it into the leather bag in the corner. ‘Can you ride?’

‘Of course. How do you think I got here?’

‘But can you ride well?’

‘I used to hunt.’

‘Well, I hope that’s enough.’ Robert came to a halt and noticed that Aiden wasn’t moving. ‘What are you waiting for?’

‘Robert – just stop and tell me what’s going on. What do you mean, we have to get to Calonburke?’

Robert stared at him a moment, then closed his eyes and let out a loud sigh. He crossed the tiny room and pressed the bag to Aiden’s chest. Carefully, as if talking to a child, he said, ‘You don’t really think for one second that Selar will let Hilderic go if you scurry back? He’ll just execute both of you – probably at the same time. The only hope Hilderic has is if we mount a small rescue. That means you and me. It’s a two-day ride to Calonburke from here if we’re quick and that means we have to leave now. Right now.’

‘Just wait,’ Aiden clutched the bag and tried to assert a shred of authority. ‘Are you, the great hero of inaction, about to go against your own creed?’

At this, Robert stood back, his urgency in abeyance for a moment, though it was written in every line of his body. ‘I helped Rosalind get out of the country, Aiden. I sent her to what I believed was a safe place and now she’s dead and the
child she hoped to save is back with his father. I promise you, the safest place in the country for you right now is standing next to me.’

Aiden studied him for a moment longer. ‘Are you sure about this?’

‘This is all I know how to do.’

‘And the prophecy?’

Robert’s expression became painfully whimsical. ‘Please don’t be pedantic with me, Father. I’ve not had much sleep over the last year or so and it’s starting to wear on me. Now pack up the rest of your things and I’ll meet you at the stables.’

Robert threw the door open. ‘And don’t fall in the stream this time!’

They rode through what was left of the night, tearing down the mountain at such a speed Aiden was sure he would fall from his horse and break his neck. Robert didn’t seem to either notice or care, however, and the moment they reached the gentler hills, he pressed his horse to even greater efforts. They travelled away from towns and villages, skirting farms along the way. Mostly they kept to the valleys, but every now and then, Robert would bring them to the crest of a hill and pause only long enough to get his bearings. His stamina was extraordinary – long before dusk, Aiden was ready to fall asleep in his saddle. Nevertheless, he said nothing and just held on. Eventually, with the horses winded and ready to drop, Robert called a halt in a small glade beside a clear stream.

‘Go ahead, you can fall off now.’ Robert leaped down from his horse and came over to Aiden. ‘Do you require help to collapse, or can you manage on your own?’

‘I know what this is,’ Aiden murmured, reaching out to
take Robert’s hand. ‘This is penance for some great crime I’ve long forgotten.’

He groaned and swore as Robert helped him down, then, when his knees refused to lock, he sank to the damp grass and peered up at the darkening sky.

Robert gazed down at him with mild amusement. ‘How long have you been a priest?’

‘I entered orders when I was nineteen. I was ordained six years later.’

‘And how old are you now?’

‘Forty-eight and never likely to make forty-nine.’

‘Oh yes, you will – but I suppose, having spent so much time in the cloister, you never learned anything important like how to gather firewood or boil up salted beef?’

‘No,’ Aiden snapped grumpily. His head ached, his back ached, his knees and feet and hands were numb. He was in no mood to go hiking for firewood. He’d rather freeze.