The Nightblade Epic Volume Two: A Book of Underrealm, page 76
“I am glad to see you well,” Loren told him as Annis closed the door.
“And you, Nightblade,” said Jo.
“Enough of that,” said Kal. He fixed Loren with a look. “I notice your lover left this morning.”
Loren straightened, glaring down at him. She did not answer.
“Is it safe to have him running around out there?” said Kal. “Can we trust him?”
Loren kept any rancor from her tone, but it was a near thing. “I trust him a far sight better than I trust you.”
Kal scowled at that, but when he answered, it was to change the subject. “I have been collecting information. Wojin did more than attack you in the sewer yesterday. At the same time, his soldiers rounded up those in the royal army who are loyal to Jun.”
Annis gave a little gasp. Loren thought of Duris, the noblewoman who had offered to help them, and Morana, her daughter in the palace guard. “Were they executed?”
“No,” said Kal. “There were too many of them, and even if Wojin is a treacherous snake, he is no fool. So many murders would only stoke the flames of anger that still burn in the people of this city. The loyalists have been imprisoned. We will free them when we can, but it shall have to wait. I have a plan. We know, of course, that we cannot let Dorsea remain part of a rebellion. It is a grave danger to all the nine kingdoms. Not only because of Dorsea’s military might, which is considerable, but because it could sway the minds of other kings who have yet to join the war. Dorsea had already allied itself with the High King, and then it changed sides. Moreover, Dorsea borders five of the nine kingdoms. I know you never studied numbers, but that is more than half. Dulmun could not have chosen a stronger ally.”
“Forgive me, Grand Chancellor, but we know this, and it has no effect on what we must do,” said Annis. She had not lost all of her snippy tone from yesterday, being still angry at Kal for the way he had treated them. “You said you had a plan.”
Kal’s jaw worked. “We must depose Wojin and restore King Senlin to the throne. You lot had concocted a plan to raise the army against him. It was complex, and therefore doomed to fail. Much of that blame may be laid at your feet, I am sure, but I know, too, that King Jun was more honorable than he was practical. Meaning no disrespect to the dead, of course.”
He inclined his head at Senlin. The boy’s mouth had set in a grim line, but he nodded.
“In any case,” said Kal, “I mean to remove Wojin the old-fashioned way: attack the palace with a small, determined group of soldiers, and kill him.”
Loren balked, but she kept her mouth shut. Annis, however, did not restrain herself. “That seems a difficult task, to be sure.”
“Difficult?” said Kal. “Yes. But we should be able to pull it off. The capital is in turmoil after the Nightblade’s very foolish, very public display—the only good thing to come from your stupidity.”
Loren’s stomach did a turn. Not at Kal’s words, but at his intentions. He meant to assassinate a king—a false king, but one sitting a throne nevertheless. She did not think cold-blooded assassination fit within the Mystics’ purview. Yet she knew it would be little use arguing with Kal about it now. The grand chancellor’s mind was set, and he would no doubt relish the opportunity to dress Loren down again. Off to the side, she could see that Senlin also looked deeply troubled. He had the same sense of honor as his father, and Loren imagined he did not look favorably upon assassination. But he held his peace. Why should he not? Kal’s plan would put him upon the throne.
Kal noted Loren’s hesitation. “Enalyn vowed that she would not force you to kill,” he growled. “I am required to respect that vow. But if you think I will follow your foolish rules, you are very much mistaken. Though I will not order you to deliver the killing blow, you will aid my soldiers in this. You have ruined enough already, and a kingdom is in chaos because of it.”
Loren lifted her chin. “Very well. I will help.”
That made Kal subside, at least for the moment. “Good. And I have decided to grant you a boon as well. Once my men are inside the palace and have set about their work, you are to look for Damaris. You have chased her across two kingdoms. I doubt you will ever have a better chance to catch her. See if you can capture her. We will end Wojin tomorrow, certainly, but it would be better to kill two birds with one stone.” He managed a grim smile. “Or rather, since you cannot be bothered to dirty your hands, to kill one bird and cage the other.”
But Loren barely heard his jibe. She could think only of Gregor—and of her dreams, in which she saw him over and over again.
In the palace of Danfon.
“I will do my best,” said Loren.
Kal fixed her with a hard look. “I expect you to do more than that. You will give every fiber of yourself to ensure this mission’s success, as some small token of payment for your buffoonery so far. If you interfere in any way with my soldiers’ mission to kill Wojin, I myself will ensure that the full weight of the King’s law falls upon your head. Is that clear?”
Loren kept her face as still as a mask of stone. “It is clear.”
Kal grunted. “Good. Now get out of my sight, and ready yourself. Tomorrow we topple a king. A false one, it is true, but nonetheless it will be no mean feat.”
He waved them off, and together Loren and Annis left the room.
LOREN RETURNED TO THEIR CHAMBERS and informed Gem and Kerri of the plan. Gem sat silently in the corner of the room, not looking at her. He had taken Chet’s departure hard, and had refused to even say good-bye. When Loren saw the look in his eyes, she could not help but be reminded of how he had been when Jordel died. But she forced herself to ignore it. If she spent too much time thinking of Chet’s departure, she was not sure she would be able to go on.
When she had finished outlining the plan, Gem finally spoke in a small voice. “I am ready to go whenever you are.”
“And I will guide you, of course,” said Kerri.
Annis smiled ruefully. “And I suppose I will remain here—again.”
“Annis,” said Loren, frowning. “You know that—”
The girl’s smile only broadened, and she waved a dismissive hand. “Yes, I do know. I speak in jest, though I do so poorly. There is plenty to keep me occupied. I think I will meet with the new king. Likely he knows something of how to rebuild his court when he is in power, but I think I may be able to help him with some specifics.”
Gem looked at her with sudden interest sparking in his eyes. “That is unfair! Why should you get to stay behind and have all the fun?”
Annis winked at him. “I doubt you would call the planning of finances and court appointments ‘fun’—and if you did, I think you would only do so because of the company. You will do far better by Loren’s side, but I can put in a good word for you with the new king, if you like.”
Blushing furiously, Gem began to pick at his fingernails. “I do not know what you mean,” he muttered darkly.
Loren smirked to see them jibing with each other again. It almost helped to remove the dark cloud of Chet’s absence. But she noticed that Kerri did not join in the room’s cheer. She sat completely still, and her gaze was far away.
“Kerri?” said Loren. “What is it?”
“Nothing,” said Kerri quickly, looking up. “Nothing, I only …” She sighed and shook her head. “Oh, very well. I am worried. We had one good moment in the beginning, taking Wojin completely by surprise. But ever since then, he has outsmarted us at every turn. Even when we tried to escape. It has nearly gotten us all killed, and it did get King Jun killed.”
Loren nodded slowly. “That is true. And sometimes I feel the same sense of foreboding. But this is a new situation. It was not Wojin who predicted our plans, but Damaris, who got her information by putting Duris to the question. But she has no one to turn to for information now. And Kal—whatever else he may be—is a cunning man. If he thinks this scheme will work, I am willing to try it.”
Annis and Gem frowned but did not speak. And privately, Loren wrestled with her own doubts. Did she truly think Kal was capable of outwitting Damaris? She would rather have relied on Annis than the grand chancellor. The girl knew her mother better than anyone else. Loren had a suspicion—even a fear—that she was only submitting to Kal’s will because she no longer wanted to be the one in charge. Her choices had led to many deaths already. For the moment, at least, she was content to let someone else make those decisions.
In the end, mayhap, she would find out at last whether or not all the killing could have been avoided—whether she was indeed the foolish girl Kal believed her to be, or if their foe was truly as devious as she feared.
Kal spent the rest of that night and all the next day in hurried counsel. Jo and Senlin gave him much advice on the layout of the palace and the probable distribution of guard patrols. Kal even summoned Kerri at one point. She went, despite some reservations, and came back a short while later. Kal had wanted to know details about the servants’ quarters and passages, which Senlin and Jo had been unfamiliar with.
“That may be a good thing,” said Annis. “I feared Kal might try a frontal assault. If he wants to know about the servants’ passages, he may be trying for stealth—for as long as he can, at least.”
“Mayhap,” said Kerri, looking troubled. “Yet this all seems to be going so fast. He means to attack tonight. He has had scarcely more than a day to plan.”
“He hopes to surprise Wojin—and Damaris,” said Loren. “The more time we take to plan, the more time they have to guess our aim.”
In the afternoon, Loren slipped away from the group to visit Shiun. The scout had been put up in a room of her own, and two healers tended to her wound—one a Mystic, the other not. Shiun was awake when Loren came, and she tried to push up on her elbows at once.
“Still yourself,” said Loren, even as one of the healers leaped forwards to hold Shiun down. “I only wanted to see how you were doing.”
“There is a hole in my gut,” said Shiun. She tried to smirk but only managed a grimace. “Other than that, I could not be better.” Her voice was tight with pain, and every other word came through gritted teeth.
Loren sat by her side, putting a hand over Shiun’s. She glanced up at the healers. “Might we have a moment?”
They looked at each other apprehensively. The Mystic healer, a stout woman with dark skin and many bags of medicine on her belt, wagged a finger. “She is not to move for any reason.”
“Of course,” said Loren.
They nodded and withdrew. Shiun regarded Loren carefully for a moment. A thin veil of sweat covered her face, and Loren guessed that her wound pained her much more than she wished to show.
“Some rumors have reached me,” said Shiun. “About words the grand chancellor had with you.”
“Let us not speak of that,” said Loren. “It is nothing you should worry yourself over. And I will not apologize for the events that led to your injury, for I know you would not want to hear it.”
“Certainly not,” said Shiun with a snort. “But then why have you come here?”
“I said I wanted to see if you were well,” said Loren. Then she blew a long sigh out through her nose. “And I wanted to tell you that Chet left. We all rode many leagues together. I thought you ought to know.”
Shiun’s brows rose almost imperceptibly. “I am sorry to hear that. Though I suppose he was bound by no oath of duty. None of your friends are soldiers, not truly.”
“No, they are not,” said Loren. “I myself am not a soldier.”
“Yet you are also not faithless.”
Loren frowned and shook her head. “Chet was not faithless. He did more than almost anyone else I have met in my travels. In time—if our road had been somewhat less dark—I think he would have become a great man, and a great servant of the High King. A man somewhat like Jordel.”
“You cannot be serious,” said Shiun. “Do you think Jordel never walked any dark roads in all his journeys? That is what made him a great man—he never turned his course from the right one, no matter the pain it might bring him.”
“Yet some pains are too deep,” said Loren. “You know what happened at Yewamba.”
“Actually, I do not know,” said Shiun. “You never told us. But I guessed. From the way things changed between you.”
Loren gave her a hard look. “If you guessed right, then you know better than to call Chet faithless.”
Shiun met her stare for a moment, but at last she turned her eyes away. “You are right. Forgive me. I suppose, in my own way, I am sad to see the lad go. And … may I speak frankly for a moment?”
“You may,” said Loren, smirking. “Have you need to chastise me? Have I spoken too honestly with you, my underling, again?”
“Not that,” said Shiun. “Sometimes honesty is necessary, as it is now. I worry for what Chet’s departure might mean for your own peace of mind. He was good for you. I know he needed to look after himself, but now I worry about who will look after you.”
“Why, you will, of course,” said Loren. “The moment you are healed and back up on your feet, I expect you to return to duty.”
Shiun gave a loud snort, then winced in pain. “I am hardly interested in providing the sort of comfort that Chet did, if you take my meaning.”
Loren smiled and put her hand over Shiun’s. “I am only joking. Do not worry about me, Shiun. Worry only about getting well.”
A knock came at the door, and Loren turned just as it opened. Gem poked his head in the door. “It is time. Kal has ordered the attack to begin,” he said. His gaze slid past her to Shiun. “How are you?”
“You have both asked me that, now,” growled Shiun. “I have a hole in my stomach, master urchin. I am hardly well, though I will not die.”
Gem grinned. “I am glad to hear it.”
Loren gave Shiun’s hand a final squeeze and then followed Gem from the room. In the main chamber in the basement, she found her party of Mystics ready to go. At their head, to her surprise, was Jormund. Loren drew up short before him, looking around, but Kal was nowhere to be seen.
“Are you to come with us for the attack?” said Loren.
“I am to lead it,” said Jormund, giving her a grim nod. “I wish I had been with you in Yewamba. But I can make up for it now—at least in part.”
Loren gave him a smile, but she knew it looked weak. What if he had been there in Yewamba? He might have died, as Weath had.
She heard footsteps coming down the stairs and turned to see Kal enter the room. Close behind him were Kerri and Annis. Kal stopped short and scowled at Loren.
“I have put Jormund in charge,” he said. “He is not unfamiliar with this sort of mission. You are to obey his every command, just as you would my own. Understood?”
Loren nodded. “I will. You have my word.”
Kal snorted. “The last time I thought I had your word, I—” He bit the words off. “But never mind that. I would rather not be at odds with you, girl. Do your job now, and I will consider that a good first step.”
The hard wall Loren had built up around herself softened, at least somewhat. She gave him another nod, and this time it was more genuine. “Then I will endeavor not to let you down.”
It was time to leave. Annis sprang forwards and gave Loren a hug, and then Gem. It was the first time in a long time that Loren had seen them share an open embrace without any awkwardness.
“Take care of yourself, you great fool,” said Annis quietly.
“And you,” said Gem.
Annis released him and motioned to Kerri, who started in surprise. “Come here,” said Annis. “It is for good luck, I suppose.”
Over Annis’ head, Kerri looked at Loren with a little smile as the girl embraced her. Loren returned it. The muscles in Kal’s jaw kept spasming, as though he longed to order an end to all this silliness, but he restrained himself.
Then, at last, it was time to go. They followed Jormund and his squadron of Mystics up the stairs leading to the street. A fine mist had come with the evening. Loren took that as a good portent: a dark and misty night for dark deeds. She followed the red cloaks into the greyness.
LOREN SIDLED UP BESIDE JORMUND as they walked. “What is your first order, O my captain?” She tried to put an indifference in her tone that she did not feel.
Jormund chuckled. “I am no captain—though who knows? If tonight goes well, the grand chancellor might promote me. But my first instruction is that, once we are inside the palace, you should avoid the fighting at all cost.”
“That is an order I can follow easily,” said Loren. “How do you mean to sneak into the palace? We climbed the wall, last time.”
“And that is still the best way in, but they will surely have redoubled the guard,” said Jormund. “Therefore we mean to make a feint at the front gate. When they are distracted there, the larger part of our group will enter the same way you did last time. Once we are inside, Keridwen will lead us through the servants’ passages to the king’s quarters.”
Loren frowned. “The main gate will be guarded. The mists will help, but surely they will still see us when we try to make the climb. We will be exposed.”
“But we will not be climbing for very long,” said Jormund, smiling. “Yond here is a mindmage.”
He pointed to a man by his side. Yond did not look quite like Loren thought a wizard should—he was too short and wide for that. But he smiled at her and lifted a hand, and his eyes began to glow. A dagger flipped up out of Loren’s belt to spin in midair.
“I shall get you on top of that wall quickly, girl.” He had a voice like two stones grinding together. “I hope you can do your job after that.”
Loren smiled at him before plucking her dagger out of the air and sheathing it once more.
Soon they reached the palace. A wide main road ran in front of the walls, and they stood in the shadows on the other side. Mayhap ten paces separated them from their target—ten paces they would have to cross in the open air. Guards stood in the windows of the gatehouse and the towers, but there were also two guards on the street in front of the gate. The mists would help cover their approach, but they would be seen before they could sneak in. A thrill coursed through Loren. It was the same feeling she had had just before they infiltrated and attacked Yewamba. She only hoped that the results would be somewhat better this time.
