Beyond the Blue Moon (Forest Kingdom Novels) (42 page)

And finally, like intrepid hunters braving the bear in his den, Hawk and Fisher went to see Duke Alric of Hillsdown. They’d deliberately left him until last, partly because he’d tried to pressure them while they were with the Magus, partly because they were mostly convinced their ambush and beating had come at the Duke’s orders; and mostly because Fisher desperately wanted her despised father to be the murderer. So they left him until last to allow themselves to get a better view of the various theories and motivations. And not at all because he was the most dangerous of the suspects, and they still felt weak and broken inside.

The Duke’s guest apartments were the finest in the Castle, outside of the Royal suites; big airy rooms stuffed with every luxury and modern convenience from the south. Hawk and Fisher had to pass a number of armed guards just to get to the Duke. At every stage guards demanded that Hawk and Fisher hand over their weapons, and at every stage Hawk and Fisher calmly made it clear that wasn’t going to happen. The threat of imminent violence hung heavily in the air, never quite materializing.

Eventually they were ushered into the Duke’s presence. He sat in a very comfortable chair in the exact center of the room while servants moved silently around him, hurrying to follow the endless series of orders barked in the Duke’s rough voice.
Bring me a footstool. Bring me a drink. Bring me a different drink. Close the curtains on that window
. Hawk and Fisher were clearly supposed to wait on one side until he summoned them, so they could be impressed by the Duke’s power and authority. Unfortunately for the Duke, Hawk and Fisher weren’t easily impressed. They just marched forward, scattering the servants like frightened birds, and planted themselves right in front of the Duke. They stood straight and tall, with no betraying hint of the bone-deep weariness that still filled their bodies.

“Nice place you’ve got here,” said Hawk.

“Far too small,” said the Duke. “Not at all what I’m used to. If it wasn’t for Felicity and the child, I’d leave this dump so fast, it would make people’s heads spin. But my daughter needs me, whether she wants to admit it or not. She needs my support. Those back-stabbing courtiers would walk all over her if I let them. They want to replace Felicity as Regent so they can get their hands on my grandson. I’ll see them all dead first.”

“You’re talking about war between the Forest and Hillsdown,” said Fisher.

“Wars are expensive,” said the Duke. “Something you only turn to when everything else has failed. That’s why I’m here, so far from home and real comforts. By protecting my daughter, I protect my interests here. Harald’s death ruined everything. I could talk to him. We understood each other. We might have had a few border disputes, just to see who could be pushed or pressured by a little military action, but never anything serious.”

“Serious enough for the men who died in those disputes,” said Fisher.

“Soldiers,” said the Duke. “Just soldiers. They’re paid to fight—and die, if necessary.”

He lifted a glass of wine slowly to his mouth. The leather straps and steel cables surrounding and supporting his arm made soft creaking noises as they moved. There were even delicate strips of bone and metal on each individual finger, hinged at the joints, like some exotic exoskeleton. The Duke caught their eyes on his supports, and laughed lightly, a dry, breathy sound.

“Arthritis. Every move I make is agony. Without my carefully designed cradle and the subtle magics that hold it together, I’d be a helpless cripple confined to my bed. But I’m not ready to give up my life to illness yet. There’s still far too much for me to do.”

“There are magics that could help,” said Hawk.

“Put my life and well-being into the hands of magic-users? I think not. I will be my own man, whatever that costs me. I use only the magics I must, and no more.”

“You see that polished black stone on a chain round his neck?” Fisher said to Hawk. “That’s the Candlemass Charm. Very old. Some say it came to Hillsdown with the first Starlight Duke, looted from the Forest Castle treasury. It’s a protective agent against all physical and magical attacks. But as long as he wears it, he can’t be affected by any spell that comes from outside, not even ones that might heal him. Of course, he could give up the Charm and be cured, but then he’d be vulnerable to attack. And you do have so very many enemies, don’t you, Duke? So you stay safe behind your Charm, safe from attack or help, a crippled old man crawling toward death, condemned by his own past deeds.”

“You’re very well-informed, Captain,” said the Duke, his face as calm as ever. “But then, there are always those ready to tittle-tattle in a place like this. Yes, I have many enemies, and I regret none of them. Everything I have done had at its heart the purpose of making Hillsdown strong, and keeping it safe and secure. I have given my life to the service of Hillsdown. That’s what it is to be the Starlight Duke.”

“And the Starlight Duke is Hillsdown,” said Fisher. “So what’s good for the Duke is good for Hillsdown.”

“Exactly,” said the Duke. “Politics is my lifeblood, now I’m too old and brittle to defend my country on the battlefield. Politics is just war by different methods, when all is said and done.”

“What about your family?” asked Hawk. “Couldn’t you delegate some of your power and responsibilities to them?”

The Duke smiled, but there was no humor in his eyes. “My last wife died ten years ago. My daughters have all been disappointments to me. None of my wives proved capable of giving me a son, and the chances of my fathering one at this late date would seem to be very remote. So when I die, there’s no direct heir to Hillsdown. God knows I tried hard enough. Someone must have cursed me. Rather than see Hillsdown split up among whatever strangers eventually marry my daughters, I have chosen my grandson, Stephen, as my official heir. Half Forest blood, but still of my line. It has to be him. All my other daughters produced only daughters. Apart from Sophie, who became a nun just to spite me.”

“And that’s really why you’re here?” asked Hawk. “To protect your daughter and your grandson?”

“And because the Blue Moon is coming back. Don’t look so surprised, Captains. We have witches in Hillsdown. They See things. The last time the Blue Moon came, I had no magic-users among my defenders. I never trusted them. The first we knew about the long night, it had already covered the whole Forest Kingdom, and demons were pouring across my borders. The Rainbow put an end to the long night in time to save us, but it was still a hell of a shock. I was determined never to be caught napping again. Now my newly installed and very expensive magic-users tell me the Blue Moon’s coming back again. They can’t See when or where, but they know it’s tied to Forest Castle somehow. So here I am, where I need to be, right at the heart of things. My army is massed on the Forest borders, waiting only for my call. If the long night comes again, and the demons rise, my army stands ready to do what is necessary.”

“Of course, you could always call them in if you just suspected the long night might be coming,” said Fisher. “You could even use them to take control of the Forest Kingdom—for its own good and protection.”

“My grandson will rule both the Forest and Hillsdown,” said the Duke. “He will combine them into one country, as it was once, long ago. I’ll be here to see he’s raised right. To be strong and mighty, and to stamp out all this Southern democracy nonsense. I will do whatever’s necessary to see that nothing threatens that.”

“We need to talk to you about Harald’s death,” said Hawk, deciding he’d had enough of standing around and listening while the Duke talked. “Where were you when the King was murdered?”

“Right here, with my people. My arthritis was particularly bad that day. Don’t seek to put the blame on me, Captain. I had no wish to see Harald dead. Fliss was far more use to me as a Queen than as a Regent. And Harald’s death has stirred up this democracy nonsense more than ever.”

“Who do you think killed him?” asked Hawk.

“You want me to do your job for you?”

“You’re as much an outsider here as us,” said Hawk. “But you’ve been here longer, and you’re much better connected. Perhaps your people have seen things, heard things, that we might find useful?”

“The Magus has to be your best bet,” said the Duke slowly. “He’s even more powerful than he lets on, he’s mysterious as all hell, and he knows far too much for anyone’s comfort. And who better to get through magical wards than the man who set them up? I did wonder about Fliss for a while, but she hasn’t the gumption.”

“There are rumors about a lover,” said Fisher.

“Just rumors. There was no one. I’d have known.”

“Could Harald have had a lover?” Hawk asked.

“No. I’d have known that, too. And I wouldn’t have permitted it. No one insults my daughter and gets away with it. There’s always the Hellstrom, of course, Sir Vivian. Once a traitor, always a traitor. Harald should have killed him when he turned up alive after the Demon War. And of course, there’s Sir Robert, the Landsgrave, and the democratic scum he represents. The only way they’ll ever come to power is by assassination. Dig there, and you’ll find dirt.”

“But with Harald gone,” said Fisher, “you’ll find it that much easier to pressure Felicity into doing what you want. Like you tried at Court yesterday. And you just said you had your own ideas on how Stephen should be raised. With your army massed on the Forest borders, you could pressure the Court into making you Regent, and then you’d be in effective control of both Hillsdown and the Forest Kingdom.”

“You think well,” said the Duke approvingly. “If any of my daughters had half your brains, I wouldn’t be so depressed about my legacy.”

Fisher swallowed an angry retort. She wanted her father to be the killer, but as yet there just wasn’t the evidence to justify accusing him. And she was too good a cop to let her emotions cloud her judgment. She wanted to ask the Duke more questions, just for the feeling of power over him it gave her, but it was hard to take satisfaction from browbeating a crippled old man. Hawk saw the conflict in her eyes.

“Time to be leaving,” he said quickly. “Thank you for your cooperation, Duke Alric.”

“Don’t bother getting up,” said Fisher. “We can find our own way out.”

“You’re not going anywhere just yet,” said the Duke.

Armed guards suddenly appeared all around Hawk and Fisher, their swords already in their hands. Hawk and Fisher moved quickly to stand back to back, but made no move to draw their weapons. Exhausted as they were, they didn’t want to start something they might not be able to finish.

“I haven’t forgotten how you humiliated me at Court yesterday,” said the Duke. “I never forget a slight. I think you should both apologize to me before you leave.”

Hawk looked quickly about him. There had to be forty armed guards in the circle around him and Fisher. Big, professional-looking men. Bad odds, even if they weren’t so drained by the healing spell. There was only the one door, and it seemed a very long way away.

“All right,” said Hawk. “I’m sorry we offended you. Can we go now?”

“Captain Fisher hasn’t apologized yet,” said the Duke.

“Go to hell,” said Fisher.

“Say it,” Hawk said quietly. “We’re in no position to stand on our pride. It’s only words.”

“I’m sorry,” said Fisher, just loud enough to be heard.

“I really don’t think that’s good enough,” said the Duke. “It didn’t sound like you meant it. I think you need to do it properly. I think both of you should kneel down before me and bow your heads till they touch the floor, so that I can put my feet on your necks. So that there will be no misunderstandings about who’s in charge here.”

“Sorry,” said Hawk. “We don’t do that. We’d rather fight and take our chances.”

“But your chances really aren’t very good just now,” said the Duke. “Not in your present weakened conditions. And you can’t attack me, because of my charm. It’s really very simple. If you don’t do exactly what I say, Captain Hawk, I’ll have my men kill Captain Fisher. And vice versa, of course. Either way, at least one of you will bow down to me.”

“You’d never get away with killing us!” said Fisher.

“Oh, I think I will. Remember my army waiting at the borders? You’re not important enough to be worth fighting a war over.”

“You’d start a war just over your own hurt pride?” said Hawk.

“Oh, he would,” said Fisher. “Nothing’s ever mattered more than his pride.”

“My reputation is all I have left to savor in my life,” said the Duke. “No one speaks to me as you did and gets away with it.”

Hawk and Fisher turned and looked at each other. They both knew that if they tried to fight, they’d lose. And probably die. Hawk remembered dueling the Champion all those years ago in the main courtyard of Forest Castle, remembered how that terrifying warrior had beaten and humiliated him, and left him lying in his own blood. He’d promised himself then that he’d never allow anyone to treat him that way again, but he couldn’t risk Fisher’s life.

It wasn’t such a big thing. He’d suffered worse, for her sake.

“All right,” he said finally. “We kneel, we bow, and then we leave. Agreed?”

“Of course, Captain Hawk. You have my word.”

“We can’t do this, Hawk,” said Fisher. “I can’t. Not to
him.”

“We have to. It won’t kill us.” Hawk lowered his voice to a murmur. “There will be time later, for revenge.”

“Hawk—”

“We have to.”

Hawk walked forward, knelt down before the Duke, and pressed his forehead to the cold marble floor. He was trembling with suppressed rage, and the taste of humiliation was bitter in his mouth. He would never have done this for himself, but this was for Fisher. He heard her kneel down beside him. There was a pause, and then a quiet creaking of straps and cables as the Duke lifted his feet and set them on Hawk’s and Fisher’s necks. And then he laughed quietly before he took his feet away again. Hawk and Fisher scrambled to their feet. Fisher’s face was scarlet with shame and barely controlled rage, her hand shaking beside her holstered sword. Hawk’s face was cold and composed, and his single eye burned with a cold and deadly fire. The Duke looked at him thoughtfully.