King Javan’s Year (84 page)

The precaution proved to be well taken, for she sensed a presence in the room even before her hand touched the door latch. Forewarned, she opened it boldly and entered. Over at the far left end of the room, glaringly lit by a wash of sunlight from one of the bay windows, a black-clad back was hunched anonymously over one of the writing desks, intent on his scribing. He glanced back over his shoulder as he heard the door, then scrambled awkwardly to his feet, the sunlight casting rusty highlights on a familiar black scholar's robe, worn and much-patched.

Thank God. She had been expecting one of the sour
Custodes
scribes. She could deal with this young man.

“Why, Master Donal. God give you grace,” she said lightly, as she closed the library door behind her. “Hard at work, I see.”

He bobbed his head and blushed to the roots of his short-cropped dark hair. The gangly lay scholar adored her and usually became tongue-tied in her presence—a reaction that Rhysel did not try too hard to discourage, since a smitten suitor was far more malleable than a rejected one. Simple courtesy cost nothing, and she did not
dis
like Donal, for all that he seemed to work willingly for those who were her enemies.

“M-mistress Liesel,” Donal stammered. “Your unexpected p-presence fulfills the promised fairness of a glorious day.”

She favored him with an inclination of her head and an appreciative smile that made him blush even more, then turned her attention to a casual inspection of the room, her gaze brushing lovingly over the manuscripts and bound volumes scattered across another library table. There were more stored in the ceiling-high range of shelves and pigeonholes that occupied the right-hand wall of the room, and the familiar scent of leather and ink was like a heady perfume.

Masking her pleasure, she moved a little closer to the table stacked with books and ran a finger along a spine stamped with gold. Donal knew she could read and write, but he had no notion that her passion for learning probably surpassed his own—one of the many legacies of her beloved parents. That she had put it aside in a greater cause, he probably would never know. All her recent years had been spent trying to absorb the practical knowledge and training to enable her to function as she did now.

“Pretty words, Master Donal,” she said softly, a smile still playing at her lips as she glanced up at him. “But if you think to deter me from my errand with compliments, I must warn you that I will not be swayed. I come at the queen's behest. My lady bids me bring her the book of Lady Kyla's poetry, whose binding was to be repaired. Is it ready?”

Ducking his head in happy affirmation, Donal scurried over to the wide library table and sorted quickly through several stacks, finally selecting a vermilion-bound volume from among the rich jewel-tones of leather bindings.

“Aye, here it is.” He burnished the book's spine against a sleeve, then held it out for her inspection as she came nearer. “Brother Lorenzo brought it back only yesterday.”

As she took the book from him, it was no difficult thing to brush his hand with hers. The instant of contact reinstated controls used several times before, sufficient to forestall any possible interference.

“Thank you, Donal,” she whispered. “The queen will be pleased. Now go back to work and have a lovely dream.” She briefly closed her hand around his slack one, still poised from having given over the book. “Remember only that I came to fetch this. Go now.”

He turned without a word and went back to his desk, settling on his stool to gaze dreamily out the window, his chin propped on one hand, a grey-mottled quill slack in his other. As she opened the library door to slip back out, he was already sinking into the pleasant memory of an old daydream—a gentle fantasy just wishful enough to ensure that the fastidious Donal would never dream of mentioning it to anyone, even a prying
Custodes
confessor. Pleasant enough for Donal, harmless enough for both of them, and far less intrusive than other measures she might have employed to divert his notice of whatever he might hear from the room next door.

The corridor outside was still deserted as she closed the door quietly behind her. She cast with her powers in both directions, but no one was about. Hugging close the volume of poetry that was her ostensible reason for being in this part of the castle at all, she moved silently to the next door to the left. She already knew the room beyond was unoccupied, but as she gently turned the latch and slipped inside, she wondered what she would do if someone were assigned permanent quarters here. The location would be ideal for some avid scholar.

As she always did, she breathed a faint sigh when she had eased the door closed behind her, her visual inspection confirming that the small, lime-washed chamber remained disused. A sheen of dust blurred the surfaces of the table and chairs set before the cold hearth in one corner, and the mattress on the simple bed remained folded up against the head, hard against the wall to the right of the door. Despite the austerity of the room thus stripped, she could almost imagine the man who briefly had occupied this room and guarded what it contained, even though she had never met him.

His name had been Etienne de Courcy, and only a handful of men and women knew, or would ever know, how he had aided the Haldane cause. Because he had been loyal to King Javan, the great lords had executed him following the coup that put Rhys Michael on the throne, but they had never guessed that he was Deryni; never guessed that it was he who had spirited away the Deryni wife and daughter of a slain Healer during those first hours of confusion.

And though he might have stayed with them in safety, it had been Etienne's own choice to return, his powers and memories blocked, to let himself be captured, tortured, and eventually killed rather than risk that the great lords might discover how Deryni had been inserted into the midst of Javan's court. For that, and to keep this avenue open, Etienne de Courcy had given his life. Guiscard, his elder son, had also died in the Haldane cause, fighting at the side of King Javan.

Breathing a silent prayer of thanksgiving for the lives of both de Courcys, two more martyrs for the survival of her race, Rhysel moved quietly into the center of the room, trying to disturb the dust as little as possible. Stepping onto the only square flagstone for a full arm's length all around, she braced her feet and bowed her head over the book clasped against her breast. As she let fall her shields, she felt the powerful tingle of a Transfer Portal under her feet, and she drew on the Portal's power as she warped the energies.

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APPENDIX I

INDEX OF CHARACTERS
*

AARON
, Brother—Queron's alias among the Willimites.

ADELICIA
of Horthness—age 8; daughter of Rhun.

AGNES
Murdoch, Lady—age 21; wife of Rhun of Horthness, Earl of Sheele, and daughter of Murdoch of Carthane.

AIDAN
Alroy Camber Haldane, Prince—deceased infant son of King Cinhil
*

AILIN
MacGregor, Bishop—Hubert's Auxiliary Bishop at Valoret.

AINSLIE
, Lord—a royal commissioner.

ALANA
d'Oriel—Deryni wife of the hostage Healer Oriel.

ALBERTUS
, Lord—Grand Master of the
Equites Custodem Fidei;
formerly Peter Sinclair, Earl of Tarleton; brother of Paulin of Ramos and father of Bonner Sinclair, the present earl.

ALFRED
of Woodbourne, Bishop—Auxiliary Bishop of Rhemuth; formerly confessor to King Cinhil.

ALISTER
Cullen, Bishop—Deryni former Vicar General of the Order of Saint Michael; Bishop of Grecotha and Chancellor of Gwynedd under King Cinhil; briefly, Archbishop of Valoret and Primate of All Gwynedd; alternate identity of Camber MacRorie.
*

ALROY
Bearand Brion Haldane, King—age 16; dying King of Gwynedd; elder twin of Javan.

AMBERT
Quinnell of Cassan, Prince—client prince of Cassan, northwest of Gwynedd; father of Princess Anne, who married Fane Fitz-Arthur; grandfather of Tambert.
*

ANNE
Quinnell, Princess—daughter of Prince Ambert Quinnell of Cassan and wife of Fane Fitz-Arthur; mother of Tambert, first Duke of Cassan.

ANSEL
Irial MacRorie, Lord—age 22; grandson of Camber and a prime mover in the resistance against the former regents.

ARIELLA
of Festil, Princess—slain elder sister of the late King Imre and mother of his son, Mark.
*

ARION
of Torenth, King—age 22; Deryni King of Torenth and elder brother of Prince Miklos.
*

ASCELIN
, Father—
Custodes
priest at Saint Hilary's Basilica in Rhemuth, replacing Father Boniface.

BALDWIN
—soldier of the Rhemuth garrison who “attacks” Oriel.

BERTRAND
de Ville, Sir—age 20; squire to Prince Javan before Charlan.

BIRGIT
O'Carroll—Ursin's human wife and mother of his son Carrollan.

BONIFACE
, Father—deceased former priest and sometime confessor of Prince Javan at Saint Hilary's Basilica in Rhemuth.
*

BONNER
Sinclair, Lord—age 23; Earl of Tarleton; son of Lord Albertus and nephew of the Abbot-Bishop Paulin.

CAMBER
Kyriell MacRorie, Saint—Deryni former Earl of Culdi; father of Joram and Evaine; canonized as Saint Camber in 906; sainthood rescinded by Council of Ramos in 917.

CARMODY
, Declan—see
Declan Carmody
.

CARROLLAN
O'Carroll—age 4; Deryni son of Ursin O'Carroll.

CASHEL
Murdoch—age 17; younger son of Murdoch of Carthane.

CATHAN
Drummond—age 12; brother of Michaela and son of Elinor and James Drummond.

CATHAN
MacRorie—slain elder son of Camber, father of Ansel and the deceased Davin.
*

CHARLAN
Kai Morgan, Sir—age 19; formerly squire to Prince Javan and now his aide.

CINHIL
Donal Ifor Haldane, King—late King of Gwynedd (reigned 904–917); father of Alroy, Javan, and Rhys Michael.
*

COLLOS
—alleged brother of Dimitri, Deryni.
*

CONCANNON
, Father Marcus—see
Marcus Concannon, Father
.

CORUND
, Sir—a knight formerly in the service of the royal household, now deceased.
*

CULLEN
, Bishop Alister—see
Alister Cullen
.

CUSTODES FIDEI
—
Ordo Custodum Fidei
, the Guardians of the Faith; religious Order founded by Paulin of Ramos to replace the Michaelines and reform ecclesiastical education in Gwynedd for the exclusion of Deryni. Mandate later extended to ferret out and eliminate Deryni by whatever means.

DAÍTHI
, Father—a
Custodes
priest at Rhemuth; official King's Chaplain after Father Faelan.

DAVIN
MacRorie, Lord—slain older brother of Ansel.
*

DECLAN
Carmody—Deryni in service of the regents; he and his wife and two sons slain at regents' orders after he refused to misuse his powers.
*

DE COURCY
—see
Etienne
and
Guiscard de Courcy
.

DERYNI
(Der-in-ee)—Racial group gifted with paranormal/supernatural powers and abilities feared by many humans.

DIMITRI
, Master—Paulin's new Deryni.

DRUMMOND
—see
Cathan, Elinor, James, and Michaela Drummond
.

DUVESSA
(Sinclair), Princess—dowager Princess of Cassan and mother of Anne Quinnell.

EDWARD
MacInnis, Bishop—age 24; Bishop of Grecotha; son of Earl Manfred and nephew to Archbishop Hubert.

ELAINE
de Fintan, Lady—Murdoch's wife, and Countess of Carthane.

ELINOR
MacRorie Drummond—widow of Cathan MacRorie and mother of Ansel and Davin by him; wife of James Drummond, by whom she bore Michaela and Cathan.
*

EQUITES CUSTODUM FIDEI
—Knights of the Guardians of the Faith; military arm of the
Custodes Fidei;
intended to replace the Michaelines.

ESTELLAN
MacInnis, Lady—as Manfred's wife, Countess of Culdi.

ETIENNE
de Courcy, Baron—a southern lord, secretly Deryni, sent by Joram to infiltrate the Haldane Court in preparation for Javan's accession; a law lord.

EVAINE
MacRorie Thuryn, Lady—Deryni adept daughter of Camber, sister of Joram; widow of the Healer Rhys Thuryn; died 918 attempting to restore her father from a suspension spell.
*

EWAN
, Duke—Second Duke of Claibourne, treacherously deposed from power as one of original five regents of young King Alroy and slain; brother of Sighere and Hrorik, father of Graham.
*

FAELAN
, Father—young
Custodes
priest from
Arx Fidei
who becomes Javan's confessor.

FANE
Fitz-Arthur, Lord—eldest son of Earl Tammaron, and husband of Princess Anne Quinnell.

FITZ-ARTHUR
—see
Fane, Fulk, Nieve, Quiric
, and
Tammaron
.

FULK
Fitz-Arthur—age 13; son of Tammaron, and a junior squire at Court.

FURSTAN
—dynastic name of the ruling House of Torenth.

GABRILITES
—priests and Healers of the Order of Saint Gabriel, an all-Deryni esoteric brotherhood founded in 745 and based at Saint Neot's Abbey until 917, when the Order was suppressed and many of its brethren slain; especially noted for the training of Healers.
*