WINDOWS: A BROKEN FAIRY TALE (24 page)

           
“Where
did you get this?”
 
Stephen demanded,
shoving a work order that had been sealed with the mark of the White Rose into
the man’s face.

           
The
small man chuckled rudely and spat at Elspeth’s feet.
 
“That’s pretty clear, ain’t it?
 
I got it from someone in this castle.”
 

Stephen reached
back to punch him but Elspeth grabbed his arm.
 
“We don’t torture prisoners.
 
You
know that.”

           
Stephen
scowled but lowered his fist.

           
The
Duchess spoke to the prisoner.
 
“Who
exactly gave this sealed work order to you, Kevin?”
 

           
Kevin
cackled, “I’m not telling you, but I’ll give you a hint if you grant me mercy.”

           
Stephen
started say no but Elspeth agreed.
 
“Tell
me the hint.”

           
The
captive man leered up, the light of madness brightening his eyes.
 
“Are you sure you can trust everyone in your
family, Duchess?”

 
         
Stephen was unsure how to
say that the man wasn’t lying.
 
He cast a
reading spell on Kevin and now knew for certain someone in their family was a
traitor.

           
Elspeth
felt her jaw clench.
 
If she had been
lied to, Stephen would have told her.
 
Though it didn’t come as much of a shock it still hurt that one of her
family could betray them.
 
“Give me a
name, Kevin, and I’ll release you to your Protectorate superiors.”

“I’m not
Protectorate you stupid tramp.
 
I’ve gone
freelance and was trying to build a rep.”
 
The man spit again, this time hitting Elspeth in the face.

           
Slowly
the Duchess wiped the saliva off her face and flicked it onto the floor.
 
Kevin glared mockingly, almost daring her to
do something.

Without changing
expressions Elspeth turned on her heel.
 
“Kill him.”

“Br…“
 
Kevin started to speak, but Stephen couldn’t
stop his sword in time from slicing through the man’s jugular.
 
The rest of the name died in Kevin’s throat
as crimson drops sprayed across the bleached white tiles.
 
But Elspeth and Stephen had heard
enough.
 
The traitor was Branwyen.

           
By
the time she got home, Sarah felt nearly dead on her feet.
 
The driver dutifully helped her get the bags
and boxes in and she accepted his offer to carry them upstairs.
 
The smithy looked just like she had left it
which meant that, thankfully, there was nothing that needed immediate
repairing.
 
She wanted a night to
herself, to catch up on some reading and just relax after a very fun day.

           
The
burly man sat the packages down in front of the door and turned to leave.
 
Sarah pressed five gullions into his hand,
knowing it wasn’t expected but always felt she should tip.
 
With a grateful bow, Joseph pocketed the money
and left.
 

Wary of misaimed
magic, Sarah turned the knob, walked inside and gasped.
 
She hadn’t expected this at all.
 
Raven stood in the center of the living room,
grinning from ear to ear.
 
Okay that part
she expected because Raven was almost always smiling, but the cleanliness of
the house came as a total shock.

“What did you
do?”
 
Sarah questioned dubiously.
 
Usually a day without supervision meant Raven
had burned, broken, tinkered with or somehow destroyed something.

The redhead gave a
thumbs-up sign.
 
“Just cleaned the
apartment.”

Sarah wasn’t
buying it.
 
Raven never cleaned anything
without literally being forced to.
 
“Why?”

“Because today is
your day to relax.
 
After we get
everything in, I want to see what you bought.”

           
Confused,
she moved robotically to the side as Raven grabbed an armful of bags.
 
Raven never, as long as Sarah had known her,
cared about clothes any more than she did about cleaning.
 
Sarah wasn’t real sure what happened to her
roommate but refused to ask stupid questions.
 
Their insurance premiums were fully paid, she made constant sure of
that.

           
After
modeling most of the new clothes, Sarah fell exhausted into bed; she didn’t
even have enough energy to pick up a book.
 
Before she turned out the light though, she looked at the photo of a man
smiling through a thick, bushy beard.

           
“I
guess I finally made it, huh Dad?”
 
She
asked the picture, caressing it gently.
 
She knew he would be proud of everything she had accomplished.

           
The
next morning, Sarah’s life changed.
 
She
and Raven were lazing around, enjoying a Sunday afternoon with no plans, when a
knock came from the door.

           
“I’ll
get it.”
 
Raven complained, seeing that
Sarah was currently pinned down by Snuffles, who was snoring gently on her
chest.

           
She
opened the door and looked down at Captain Longman, the head of Valentria’s
guards.
 
He stood four inches shorter
than Raven but carried himself like a much larger man and was the target of
many of her and Sis’s pranks.

           
“Lady
Chandlish, Ms. Petty.”
 
Longman bowed
deeply, “I am sorry to interrupt you this afternoon but Her Grace demands your
presence at the castle.”

           
“Oh
yeah?
 
Not going.”
 
Raven attempted to close the door but the man
barred it with his foot.

           
“Apologies,
milady, but Her Grace insist.
 
It is a
matter of utmost urgency.”

           
Sarah
got up hastily, Snuffles falling ungainly to the floor with a startled
cry.
 
Ignoring him for a second, she
walked to the door.

           
“What
is it?”
 
She asked Longman.

           
The
man bowed stiffly again.
 
“I have no
clue, madam.
 
I am simply here to escort
the two of you safely to the castle.”

           
With
no further argument, Raven and Sarah pulled on their coats and followed him
down to the waiting car.

           
During
the drive, Sarah and Raven discussed what it could possibly be.

           
“No
idea, Lil’bit.”
 
Raven answered, careful
to avoid looking at Sarah by watching the homes grow more distantly spaced as
they left the out skirts of Valentria.
 
“Maybe Sis got home early and they’re planning a surprise.”

           
Sarah
doubted that was the case.
 
Raven and
Bekah’s reunions were a cause for panic, not jubilation.
 
There was no way Elspeth would bring more
potential lawsuits into the blast radius.
 

They pulled into a
small alcove Sarah hadn’t noticed before.
 
The car door was opened by another guard but this one had friends.
 
At least twenty and they were all wearing
swords.

           
‘Whatever
it is, at least we’ll be safe’, Sarah reassured herself before one of them
locked handcuffs around her wrist.

CHAPTER
21: TRAITORS

“Please remove
your weapon and put these on, Lady Branwyen.
 
Her Grace is insistent.”
 
The man
held out heavy iron cuffs.

           
Raven
arched an eyebrow at the rune covered shackles meant to prohibit the use of
magic.
 
If Elspeth was demanding she wear
them, it meant that things were working out like she and Sis expected and she
felt a twinge of excitement.
  
For the
past couple of years they knew someone was passing information to the
Protectorate and that she would be a prime suspect.
 
Her sisters would be safe because there was
no way anybody could think Elspeth’s real daughters capable of treachery.
 

Sarah was another
matter entirely.
 
Clucking cheerfully to
herself, Raven allowed the manacles to bind her hands.
 
She had been afraid that everything would go
exactly according to plan and that would’ve been boring.
 
Now she needed to think of a way to keep
Sarah safe while escaping the castle so things were gonna get interesting.

           
As
they followed the guard through the castle’s cavernous halls, Raven whispered
to Sarah to just stay quiet and let her do all the talking.
 
Sarah was too staggered to argue.
 
She knew, since it was apparent to everyone
who saw them together, that Raven and her step-mother kept each other at an
arms length.
 
Even when they spoke, which
rarely happened, the conversations were short and to the point.
 
More like general and soldier than mother and
daughter, but Sarah never expected this.

           
The
guard paused in front of the Judgment Chamber door and knocked once, the hollow
sound rolling through the hallway.
 
Sarah
trembled as the reverberation died away.
 
A voice from within told them to enter and the guard held open the
door.
 
Sarah’s breath was taken
away.
 

Before meeting
them, she expected the Chandlish family to be strange and aloof.
 
While Sarah still considered Raven to be
completely bizarre, the rest of the family seemed just like everyone else,
except for having a lot of money.
 
Standing in the entrance to the Chamber, Sarah realized just how high
the barrier between commoner and nobility was.
   

Guards stood
silently along the walls in their finest military regalia, medals glittering
under the light of the huge chandelier.
 
A small group of Valentria’s most influential people stood together,
many of whom Sarah recognized as customers.
 
Felicity, Rebekah and Amanda sat in plush chairs near their mother with
heads bowed.
 
Judge Emma Lockwood and her
brother, Stephen, were at a table in the center of the room.
 
Behind them, perched imperiously upon her
intricate throne, lording over all was Duchess Elspeth Chandlish.
 
Unlike her previous visit to this chamber
when everyone was laughing and joking, Sarah could feel a pall in the room that
was almost physical.

           
“Hey
Sis!”
 
Raven shouted, raising her
shackled hands in greeting.
 
Sarah
realized the gravity of the situation they found themselves in when Bekah
turned her eyes away from Raven.

Elspeth addressed
the audience, her voice deeper and more commanding than Sarah remembered.
 
“The trial will now commence.”

For a moment,
nobody dared breathe until Judge Lockwood broke the stony silence, “Lady
Branwyen Chandlish and Ms. Sarah Petty, you stand accused of betraying
Valentria secrets to our enemies.
 
How do
you plead?”

           
Sarah
wanted to vomit.
 
How could she be
accused of betraying secrets when she didn’t know anything?
 
There had to be some mistake; some horrible
mistake that would be cleared up very soon.

           
Having
decided long ago that being implicated for something she didn’t do was a lot
less worrisome than, say, hiding the fact she was a vassal for a demon that
would kill everyone in the world for kicks, Raven grinned.
 
“Not guilty.”

           
Standing
in the center of the room, Sarah felt every eye uncomfortably measuring her but
noticed that Raven was remarkably nonplused.
 
Of course, she considered, given Raven’s general attitude of ambivalence
it was entirely possible she just thought this would be a fun diversion.
 
With a great effort Sarah managed to choke
out, “Not guilty, your honor.”

           
Elspeth
watched the two defendants with a cold, calculating stare.
 
She knew they would declare their innocence,
the guilty always did, but an admission of guilt would have been easier on
everyone.
 
This was particularly hard on
Rebekah, who was sniffling.
 
Deciding to
give Branwyen and Sarah one more chance to escape the hangman’s noose, Elspeth
spoke again, but with a softer voice, meant to make the prisoners feel more at
ease.

           
“Branwyen,
Sarah,” she cajoled, “if you admit to the charges, I will guarantee leniency in
the sentencing.
 
Persist in denying the
obvious and you will be dealt with in the harshest possible manner.
 
Be warned that you were named by a
Protectorate saboteur.”
 
Elspeth paused
to let her words sink in.
 
“I ask you
again; how do you plead?”
 

Sarah didn’t know
what to say, but Raven, who never suffered that affliction, repeated their
innocence, more forcefully than last time.
 
Elspeth nodded her head, the woman’s stoic visage impossible to
read.
 
“Very well.
 
Lance,” Lady Chandlish motioned towards a
guard who had been hidden by a pillar, “please repeat to the court what you
told me yesterday.”

The guard mumbled
something unintelligible.
 
Stephen told
him to speak louder and the man cleared his throat.
 
“Last Monday night I was in Augusta to visit my cousin, Lucy Webster, and
her family.
 
While there I went to one of
the local pubs and I saw Richard DeGuire speaking with a man.”

Judge Lockwood
scribbled on a piece of paper and asked Lance to describe the woman.
 
“He was large, but wearing a hat so I
couldn’t see his face.”

“Was there
anything else?
 
Something more
detailed?”
 
Stephen asked, his eyes narrowing
with distaste as they traveled over the two girls on trial.

“Yes sir.
 
As I walked by, I overheard Richard say
‘Branwyen’.”
 
Elspeth interrupted to ask
if he were certain.

“Your Grace, I
am.
 
It’s not a very common name.”

Elspeth posed
another question.
 
“Did you happen to
overhear the conversation that Richard and this man were having, Lance?”

The guard shook
under the stern gaze.
 
“I wondered why
Richard would be talking about Lady Branwyen so I stayed just close enough to
hear them without being recognized.
 
The
man said, ‘The plan is in motion.
 
Are
your men ready?’”

Lance glanced
around nervously, as if about to drop a bombshell.
 
“Then Richard said, ‘You will be rewarded for
your help.
 
Soon, Valentria will belong
to the both of you.”

Right after Lance
finished, Raven demanded to know how he could hear the conversation but not see
the mystery man’s face.

Lance stammered
and hastily apologized.
 
“His face was
shadowed by the hat he wore.
 
I didn’t
dare get any closer on the chance I might be recognized.
 
I didn’t think it would be a good idea for a
Valentria soldier to be caught spying on the Leader of the Protectorate.”

Judge Lockwood
wrote some more on her paper as Elspeth told Lance he could sit down.
 
Turning her steely gaze back to the defendants,
she asked where they were the night in question.

Raven figured that
telling them she had been locked in a magical cell while a mythological demon
ran around controlling her body was probably not the best thing to admit, so
she lied.
 
“Liz asked us to go to a play
but we were tired from working.
 
We just
went to bed.
 
Besides, how was I supposed
to be in Augusta
when Liz talked to me in the store right after we closed?”

Elspeth smiled
with her lips but the eyes maintained their icy veneer.
 
“I believe you have a familiar, do you
not?
 
A large, black dragon unless I’m
mistaken.”

“Yeah, you’ve met
Bryson.”
 
Sarah looked over at Raven, and
saw what looked to be concern cloud the green eyes.
 
Everyone else in the room seemed to have
missed it.

“A large, black
dragon was seen leaving Valentria shortly after sunset that day.
 
It was reported to have returned sometime
after midnight.”

Sarah almost
blurted everything out right then.
 
If
someone had seen where Bryson landed, then treachery was the least of the
charges they would be facing.
 
She was
not happy to see that Raven looked almost like she was enjoying herself again.

“Sometimes Bryson
likes to roam around.
 
I sent him back to
his world when I woke up the next morning.”

Judge Lockwood
raised her voice.
 
“Lady Branwyen, we
know for a fact you were not in your shop on Monday night.”

“And how exactly
do you know that, Your Honor?”
 
Raven
curtsied with a giggle.

“Because I was
there at 8 p.m. sharp.”
 
Stephen snarled,
half rising out of his seat.

Elspeth stared at
Sarah.
 
”Ms. Petty,” There was venom
dripping from the words, “do you care to tell me why you failed to answer
Stephen when he knocked at your door?”

Sarah stammered,
trying to think quickly.
 
“I suppose I
didn’t hear him.”

Stephen slammed a
hand down on the desk.
 
“I was inside
your apartment, Ms. Petty.
 
You were not
asleep and you were not there.”

“Hey, why do you
have a key to our apartment?”
 
Raven
acted offended and Sarah wondered why, of all things, that part was what she
got upset about.

“As a subsidiary
of Chandlish International, we have full access to your premises,
Branwyen.
 
Or did you not read that in
the fine print?”
 
Elspeth could sense
victory.
 
“Now, where were you when
Stephen went to find you?”

Raven beamed, “I
forgot that we went to get something to eat.”

Not buying that
explanation at all, Elspeth fired another question at Raven.
 
“Tell me again how it was you managed to
break into and rescue Sarah from a Protectorate prison.”

“We went in
uncontested.
 
It was a trap, which Felicity
told you as well.”

Elspeth asked her
eldest daughter for her version.
 
Felicity rose slowly and when she spoke her voice cracked.
 
Her eyes, filled with apprehension, darted
between her mother and sister.
 
“We got
in with no trouble and then two guards stopped us from getting out.
 
They said it was a trap with Sarah as bait.”

“And how did the
three of you escape?”
 
Judge Lockwood
asked.

Felicity gave
Raven a worried look before answering.
 
“Raven cast some sort of spell.
 
I
had my eyes closed the entire time.”

“So you didn’t see
the spell Branwyen used?”
 
Stephen
demanded.

“No.
 
My eyes were closed though I could hear Raven
talking to someone.
 
It sounded terrible.
 
I… I was too afraid to look.”

Elspeth looked
intrigued by this new information.
 
“Do
you know who it was she was speaking to?”

“No.
 
I had my hand over my ears.
 
I heard muffled talking but nothing
distinct.”

Elspeth told Liz
to sit and turned her attention back to the co-defendants.
 
“Do you mind telling this court which spell
you used that could make another witch keep her eyes shut and who exactly you
were talking to?”

Raven was already
growing bored with this charade so she decided that it would be fun to watch
what happened if she told them the truth.
 
“Necromancy.”

She wasn’t
disappointed.
 
With a single word, the
upper caste of Valentria became a seething mass of hysteria.
 
What had been a low drone erupted into a
calamitous uproar.
  
Bellows of outrage
rained down upon the accused.
 
Books,
pens, whatever was available flew towards Raven and Sarah.
 
Men and women alike stood, furiously shaking
their fist.
 
A few tried pushing past the
guards only to be rebuffed.
 
There were
shouts to forget the trial and execute Raven right then.