Roar, page 31
“You should know that,” Camille shot back. “After all, you poisoned me. It’s your fault that I lost control.” But even as she said it, she had doubt.
“What?! Poisoned you?” Mara sounded confused. “Now what muck are you spouting?! Are you addled Girl?! Why would I poison you?! And why would that get you locked up?!”
“Because I entered the Great Dream and killed Thorm. I hadn’t intended to. I only wanted to hurt him. Perhaps even scare him a little. But you made me lose control!” But even as she said it, Camille could feel her alarm rising. It was clear from Mara’s shock that she hadn't done anything. It really had been all her own doing. Camille was the true cold blooded killer.
“You killed Thorm? He's dead!?” Mara's expression changed. Some of the fury seemed to leave her and she abruptly turned her gaze to the floor. “Oh!”
“I hadn't heard. He was a good man. For a while I thought he might even be a great one. Naive. A little gullible. But he had a good heart. If things had gone how I had wanted and the Eternal King was finally dead, I would have liked to have stayed with him. Maybe even been a proper wife to him.”
“Until everything fell apart of course.” She raised her head to stare Camille straight in the eyes, her face filled with anger. “Why did you do that? Kill him? He was no enemy of yours. No enemy of anyone. He was just a fool! And how? I thought you didn't have any magic.”
“Neither did I. It turns out that I'm a dreamer of some sort. Strong enough to kill.”
“Bull crap! If you were a dreamer with that sort of command in the Great Dream, you would have known it all your life. You would walk as a goddess in the Great Dream and everyone would know your name.” Mara abruptly turned to address one of the others in the room. A tall thin man with heavy lidded, sad eyes standing with the wizards.
“You, Dreaming Lord or whatever the hell you want to call yourself, tell her!”
“It's true.” The man with the heavy lidded eyes nodded. “What you did should not have been possible. Even with the aid of Madam Lily. A dream weaver could not have killed him. So you could not have used a dream weaver to kill him.”
“And it seems you did not, Child.” Potaine chimed in. “You hurt him badly. But he breathes still. Although he is greatly changed. His mind has gone, replaced by that of the beast whose form he wears. But he is not the green eyed lion we once knew either. At least, not exactly.”
“He lives?” The rush of relief that washed through her almost overcame Camille and she had to sit down on her cot. Until then she had not realised just how much the thought of being a murderer had repulsed her. Especially now that it seemed that the man she had killed was indeed innocent.
“Not well. He does not know his own name. Nor can he speak or think as a man any longer. In fact little of the man he was remains. He has become a beast in truth. But he is free of pain. I will work with him, but I have little hope that he will return.”
“You do realise crone, that none of that makes sense!” Mara interrupted. “I'm glad he lives, but how could he have been hurt in a dream by a dreamer who has no magic?”
“I used the dream strike on him,” Camille told her quietly. “And it worked.”
“Don't be a dullard! It cannot work!” Mara shot back. “Not if you are not a dreamer! Not even if you use the help of a dream weaver! And it certainly can't do what this eyeless muck spout here is saying it did. Even an idiot would know that!”
“Unless someone poisoned my niece's food,” Matilde accused her, looking straight at Mara. “And there are herbs and potions that can greatly amplify a dreamer's power. Others that can make a suggestion to kill a command in the listener's heart.”
“And you think I did that to her, hag?” Mara's venom abruptly went up a notch. “Have your wrinkles reached your brain Hag?! Even allowing for the fact that there is no herb, potion or spell that could make someone who does not have the gift a dreamer, why would I? I never wanted Thorm dead. And I have no great interest in harming Camille. My goal has only ever been to kill the Eternal King. Fate and mischance have however beset me at every turn. Ask the damned eyeless muck spout! She knows the truth when she hears it, does she not?”
Everyone turned to look at Potaine questioningly. She nodded.
“She may walk in deception and secrecy but in this she speaks true.” The Oracle shook her head sadly. “I have no answers.”
“But I do!” Mara suddenly surprised them. She might even have surprised herself from the shocked look on her face. “Or at least I might. If you have the gift of harming another through their dreams, you are a dreamer. More than just a dreamer. Much more. There is no other possibility. And there are no potions that may make one who is not a dreamer one, let alone a Dreaming Lord with the power of killing. But there are drugs that may take away the power. That may make a dreamer believe she is not one.”
“Dotard,” she snapped at the Dreaming Lord. “You clearly need to do some testing. I would guess that the drugs are wearing off.”
“What?” Camille tried to make sense of that. She had no gift! She'd never had any such gift! Mara had to be lying. Surely?
“No! You're lying. You came here to drug me! To make me do what I did!” But even as she denied it, Camille could feel the doubts gathering in her heart.
“By the gods Girl! How arrogant are you?! Do you think the bloody world revolves around you?! That I spend my days and nights dreaming of ways I can meet up with you?! Have you never met Pristia?! I hardly know you! And why would I want to drug you?!”
“Of course I didn't come here to see you!” Mara let her anger loose again. “Why in all the hells would I? You don't fit into my plans. I can’t see any way you could help me in killing the Eternal King. And why would I want to get you to kill Thorm?! I like Thorm!” She shouted the last angrily.
“But –.”
“I came here because Elspeth was coming here! She's the one I can use – not you!”
“But she's a barmaid!” Camille tried to defend herself. And that made no sense. Elspeth could not help anyone get to the Eternal King.
“She's a pretty young girl who fell in love with a noble and got punished for it. She's a foolish girl, not the sharpest of wits around. But she has a good heart and loves truly. More importantly she believes her man loves her the same way and if she's right then she can be useful. As she told you, the man’s father refused the union. He threw her into the dungeons and had her mutilated. If the son didn’t know – and I’m guessing he doesn’t – then he could be persuaded to cross his father. A quick wedding without the father's approval, and Elspeth becomes Lady Elspeth. And with me as her trusty handmaid, we can enter the Palace of the Sun.”
“Shite!” Camille swore, stunned by the plan. It was at once brilliant and ruthless. But more than that, it made sense. Some sense at least, where nothing else did.
“It wasn't the way I originally planned on entering the Palace,” Mara continued. “But Thorm's secrets and lies made a mess of that plan and I had to find another. This would have worked. Perhaps even better than going in as a noblewoman. After all, a servant can go places a noble can't. All I had to do was to change my appearance a little so that the father would not recognise me, and everything would have been perfect.”
“But while I was out hunting what I needed, you somehow ruined my plans. Soldiers were waiting for me when I returned and I had to flee. Why?!” She raised her voice in frustration. “Why do you miserable people insist on ruining all my plans?!”
“Are they ruined?” Camille tried to defend what had happened.
“Of course they're ruined! Elspeth knows that I am not who I said I was! Matilde told her I wasn't a Dunmore! A wronged noble woman!” Mara flashed her eyes angrily to address the older woman “You let her know that I was using her! And when she found that out I'd imagine she was upset. There’s no way she would let me take a place at her side as her hand maid now! She wouldn't trust me!”
“And should she trust you?”
“Of course she should! You all should! I am your greatest hope. All I need is access to the Palace of the Sun. With that, a little time and a few select poisons, the Eternal King would suffer a horrible death, and everything would be set right again. But instead you all set about interfering and ruining my plans. First Thorm and now you! It's like a curse! I am beset by meddling fools!” She smashed her fists into the bars and swore some more. “Why?!”
Camille sat on her cot looking across at the woman and wondered what to say. Or to think. Her aunt though wasn't so confused.
“Who is this boy who you want to use to gain access to the Palace?”
“Gabrial Aston. The Son of Lord Aston.”
Elspeth’s Gabe was Gabrial Aston?! The son of the Royal Enforcer?! If Camille had been standing just then, she would have fallen over. But suddenly everything made sense. Elspeth had never said anything about Gabe's father, except that she hated him. But then there she had never had any reason to say anything about him. Her focus had always and only been on Gabe. But now that Mara had told them who Gabe was it became clear just how useful she could be. Elspeth’s access to the Palace of the Sun would be unimpeded. As would her handmaid’s. And it explained why Mara had to change her appearance. She had after all met the Royal Enforcer. She had even slept with him. To change her appearance she would have to take a number of potions. But as an alchemist creating those potions would be easy.
It was a clever plan – and one which had been neatly destroyed. But listening to Mara’s tale, Camille had to accept that the woman had not tried to use her to attack Thorm. Which meant that Mara was likely telling the truth when she said she believed she was a dreamer who had had her gift stolen from her by drugs. Drugs that could only have been given to her by her mother – at least originally. After that it must have been by the guards in the dungeon, though again she suspected her mother’s hand in it. After all, the guards had no reason to drug her. Now that the drugs were wearing off Camille was hurting innocent people with her gift.
By the gods it was almost farcical! Everyone appeared to be working against everyone else without even knowing it. It was only a pity that this farce was so damned serious!
She tried to turn her thoughts to the one thing that remained constant in her pain. Her mother. Suffering and alone. In part because of her mistakes. And getting ever closer to the day when the Eternal King fed her to the lamaia. A day her mother surely knew was coming and dreaded. So had she done the unthinkable? Had she tried to kill herself? And if her mother had drugged her all her life, it was becoming clear that she didn't know her at all.
“So you lied to me. There was no fiery whirlwind. And my mother really did try to kill herself?” It was so hard just to force the words out. But they had to be said. And if Mara hadn't done it, and Thorm hadn't done it that left only her mother. A woman not only desperately sick and suffering, but in danger of being fed to the demons of the underworld. Camille didn't want to imagine it. But she understood that a quick death would be preferable to that. Especially if it killed one of the Eternal King's henchmen.
“No. It was a bizarre accident. I just told you that stuff about the funnel of fire to deflect the blame. Because you were about to suggest that I knew Thorm was a wizard. I couldn't have you suggesting anything about me being involved in front of Elspeth. She wouldn't have trusted me! I need her. Needed her. I was too close!”
“An accident?”
“Of course. Everything these past few years has been one damned accident after another. Mischance and bad luck at every corner. As I said, I'm bloody cursed!” Mara snapped. “And you lot are the dullards and dimwits bloody cursing me!”
“Everything I told you was the truth until the very last. Every deceit must be based on a kernel of truth to be effective. It was what happened at the last that ruined everything.”
“What happened?” Camille didn't know what that meant. She guessed the others didn't either – which was why they were letting her ask the questions from her cell.
“Rotten luck at every corner. That's what happened! Everything was going perfectly according to plan. Thorm was going to be upset. But I would have fixed that up. In fact once I'd killed the Eternal King, he would have been happy. I would have made certain of it! And he wasn't the one who had to lie down with that filthy pig! I did! And it was truly awful. But necessary. The Royal Enforcer entered the store and he was gloating. He loves nothing more than to best others, and he assumed he had bested Thorm. It was why I lay with him. He would have been ten times as happy to admit Thorm to the ranks of the nobility should he feel he had bested him in a contest of virility. Every time he saw Thorm he would have been laughing at him. Even better, he wouldn’t ever have thought about me again. Of course I would have killed him too in time. He is a disgusting creature.” She shuddered. “But still, the plan was perfect!”
“All Thorm had to do was say yes! But from somewhere he found the spine to refuse the Enforcer. I did not expect that.” She shook her head as if she couldn't believe what she was saying. “I thought he would do anything for me. But he refused! Why?!”
“Then what happened?” Camille nudged the alchemist along with her story, not wanting to get involved in the woman's upset and denial.
“And then the witch hunter came in! I had expected her of course and had been prepared. I have always been able to hide my gift with careful use of a couple of potions. It’s just that I had never considered that Thorm might have magic and that the witch hunter would accuse him of being a witch! It was at that point that everything fell apart. Who would have thought he could hide such a secret? I mean, he’s so lacking in guile. And he makes guns of all things!”
“Then your mother came rushing in, and the battle commenced. Though of course it wasn't really a battle. Thorm never stood a chance. He might have been a wizard, but he'd never had a chance to be trained. Against a fell witch he was helpless. She must have damn near killed him with her first strike. She blew him right through the back wall of the store before he even knew what was happening!”
“I thought he was dead then! I don't know how anyone could have survived a blast like that! But somehow he did and the hag – your mother attacked him again.”
“For a moment I was shocked. Too stunned to move. But then things got worse. The damned witch hunter pointed her finger at me. My control must have slipped a little as I panicked. I thought I was going to die! After that, the battle raged and I ran, my plans in ruins, just desperate to get away.”
“I was barely out of the door when the witch hunter started screaming at me. Witch, witch, witch! And the soldiers outside the store saw her pointing at me. They raised their guns and I had to fling myself to the ground as they fired. One of the musket balls must have hit something, because the next thing I knew there was a fire ball bursting from the store, just above my head as I lay on the ground. The store's stone wall under the glass protected me. But not them. The blast caught the soldiers full on as they were standing their with their weapons aimed.”
“After that Lord Aston came flying out, his hair on fire. I don't know how he survived the blast. Your mother was just behind him. I got up and started running again and then the really big explosion hit. It was only luck and speed that saved me.”
“After that I ran and hid. I had no idea that Thorm had survived. Or that he had become whatever he is. I knew that Lord Aston had survived – and that he knew I had too. He was looking for me. Soon after his soldiers were out on the streets asking after me and I didn't want him to catch me. Whether he knew I had magic, or just that I had been engaged to a wizard I don't know. But it didn't matter. He would have killed me.”
“So I made myself into a seeming slave and hid under his nose for years, while I tried to resurrect my plan. Or make a new one. Naturally he never suspected. He is as stupid as all the rest. He never even thought that the woman in chains cleaning his floors was listening to all his plans and reading his notes. Or that the woman cleaning his son's floors would learn about Elspeth and his son.”
“When Elspeth was thrown in the dungeon I spent a few copper bits and arranged to become the strumpet in cell fifty one. It was the one directly opposite to Elspeth's cell. I would have broken her free in time, after we had become firm friends, then arranged to have a letter sent on her behalf to Gabriel to inform him of what had happened. After that, I would have organised a quiet wedding for them and soon after, would have arranged to get into the Palace as Elspeth’s handmaid. Again, the plan was perfect! And yet once again I found myself cursed. Thorm ruined my plans by breaking us out early. The man has a positive genius for upsetting my plans!”
“You did all this just to kill the Eternal King?” The Oracle finally asked.
“Kill? Oh my dead old crone, that's barely a beginning. I don't want to just kill him! I want to completely destroy him! To make him suffer the worst of all possible fates. I want him to scream! To beg for mercy! And only after that will I send his sorry arse to his friends in the underworld. Still breathing so his suffering can be prolonged just that little bit more!” Mara glared at Potaine. And then she levelled her glare at the rest of them before finally stopping to fix her eyes on Camille.
