The Beast of the North (29 page)

‘Behead me, Lord,’ I told him.

‘Funny,’ he whispered. Balan looked at the figure of Taram. ‘For good or for bad, he is now in.’

‘He was going to kill me,’ I told him. ‘And Sand.’

‘I cannot guard you against him. Be careful. I will have Lith with you until the business is concluded. Taram is unstable.’

‘I’d rather not—’

He laughed but then looked sober and sad. ‘I see. She broke you and Shaduril, then. Perhaps for the better. Think of your dead family, Maskan. Think of the glory of nobility and Gal’s house. Your father’s house. Go and do us proud. Later on? Who knows if things will change for the better for you and her.’

‘Who knows?’ I echoed him. ‘As for you. You will give me another letter.’

‘I—’

I pushed him, and he stared at me in astonishment. ‘In that letter, you will confess the murder of the village. I have the book. I want this as well. You will not be the king.’

He hesitated and shuddered with indecision. Then, after a long while, he nodded. ‘You will have it,’ he said and went in. I hesitated and followed him, and I noticed Illastria was not in her usual spot at the end of the main hall. Her desk had been cleared.

Our room was silent and empty. So was the keep. All the men and even the servants had marched off.

‘I despise him too much. And he did dare me. He said I cannot hurt him any worse than I did. I think I can.’

Taram to Lith.

I
t was the day before the Yule feast. Something akin to snow was falling from the sky in a wet, freezing drizzle. We were standing in the shadows of an alley near House Tenginell, where the queen was supposed to make an entrance. The alley held no warmth, and the wind was blowing through it. Lord Balan was on a horse. The Lord of the Harbor was dead, and I was unsure how it would play out when the king had to fall. They had men, yes, hidden in the city, but likely not enough to take the wall of the Tower of the Temple and should they get in through the mint with me leading as Gal, perhaps the Brothers would fight very well. I had not seen Shaduril after that evening, but I knew she hated me. Sand was dead.

And I was about to begin my part in the show.

The Tenginell house was located in the Third Ring, not far from the mint or the Affront, in fact, and it was a very well guarded affair. There was a dark gray wall and then a gatehouse built of white and pinkish stones. The stones were lined with very green moss. The house itself had seen better times I decided while I shivered with the damned weather. I stared at the strange circular main building with four stories and a crenelated roof with the house flags. There was a red snowflake on a white field on the flag, a delicate symbol and strangely peaceful. Tenginell was the Ninth House, not an overly powerful house.

But they had the queen.

‘When will she appear?’ a man whispered.

‘They will be here,’ Lith whispered from the shadows, not far. ‘Patience, dolts. Patience. And keep alert.’

‘What if they use some underground tunnel,’ I asked her. ‘The city is full of them, as you know.’

‘That is her,’ a hulking soldier told us and nodded towards the mouth of a smaller street some hundreds of yards away. ‘I’m sure of it.’ There was movement there, indeed. A procession of savage armored men on horses surrounded a tall figure, riding on a sleek, white horse. There were seven Brothers riding before them.

‘Hardly subtle. Didn’t they say they would be subtle as she visits her house?’ I asked. ‘That she would sneak to her family? That is as secretive as a dozen roaring drunk sailors trying to attend a wedding.’

‘Shh,’ Lith said happily. ‘Perhaps the late events have made them value security over everything else. Does not matter. That is her.’ She nodded at the tall figure, and I saw it was she. Her face was covered with dark clothing, leaving her hair and eyes free, and those eyes were brilliant blue as she was nodding at the men around her. The gate to the Tenginell house was opened, and a slight man peeked out of it, then nodded back inside and they filed in. Balan guided his horse near us and sat there in silence with us as the parade came closer.

‘Falg is the one at the end of the procession,’ he whispered. Indeed, there rode a wide-shouldered man with thick, braided hair, and a sword and an ax on his silvery belt. ‘Take a good look at him.’ And I did. Most of all, his eyes were grim and cold, dull and full of life’s misery. He was a slave, a warrior, and a man who lived his life serving until death. He had no love in his soul, no fear, no hope.

‘Why would they have someone like that serving the queen?’ I whispered. ‘He looks homicidal.’

‘He is from the Shadowed Mountains,’ Lith whispered. ‘They swear a life oath if captured. They are wonderfully loyal, get by with very little, and no matter what they think about their masters, they will fight for them until their oaths are fulfilled. He, like any man, hopes to see home one day, but he won’t.’

‘I see,’ I told her and eyed the wealthy procession trotting inside the gates and to the yard. There were neighs beyond the gates, orders were barked, and some laughter could be heard.

‘The pale queen,’ Lith said spitefully. ‘Very pale, very dangerous. But soon, much more white.’

I nodded, unhappy with my doubts. They were criminals. Deadly, dangerous killers. Our royals should die, indeed. It was my oath with Sand. Balan said they wanted to destroy the world of Red Midgard.
He was right, was he not?
Rumors of war were everywhere. And the king had killed my family. He had ordered them hung. Sand had died to them.

But I did not know the queen. And I would poison her. How could I?

‘Do you have the poison?’ Balan asked me as if he had read my thoughts.

I patted my chest. There, on a yellow bottle were three pebbles of gray color right next to Balan’s two letters. ‘Yes. I have them.’

‘Good,’ he said. ‘I know this is hard. But think of your mother and your family, your father even. They hung. They begged, cried, perhaps, and paid the ultimate price. No matter how much you distrust me, this will be good for the people. Do not hesitate. Never hesitate. Or you will die. And so shall we.’

‘I will do my best,’ I told him morosely, afraid. He was glowering at me, and I scowled at him. ‘I will do more than my best? I will exceed all expectations, even.’

‘You had better, thief,’ he said. ‘The Dark Sands event begins in a few hours. Falg will likely leave very soon to prepare for it. The queen will eat in a bit, and perhaps an hour from now, we shall move.’

‘Yes, Lord,’ I told him.

‘For Shaduril, do not fail,’ he added. ‘I know Lith made her wretched, but she is still there. I don’t want you in the family, Maskan, but I don’t want to see her unhappy either.’

‘We will see,’ I whispered, avoiding Lith’s long looks. ‘And if I get her back, you won’t get the letter back, nor the book.’

He hesitated at that and shook his head slowly, his eyes resentful. He nodded at his daughter. ‘Lith will tell you where to go after the killing. We must go to the mint, as soon as we can, so please hurry. Shaduril’s life depends on it. Gal’s treachery cost us time, at least. Follow her instructions, then and later. All of them. To the dot,’ he said and rode away.

‘In there,’ Lith said, and nodded at a house in the corner to the alley. There was a door, we entered it and found a former tavern. Men remained in the streets to look at the Tenginell house. Lith walked the shadows to sit by the window and showed me a seat across from her. She nodded at some of her men, who disappeared. She was beautiful, her smile wide, if nervous, and she was mad enough to think I’d let her back into my life, for she lifted her foot on my lap as soon as I sat down. I resisted the urge to break it. She saw my face and sighed. ‘Come now! It was Taram who hurt you. Not I. I only made both of us happy, briefly, and I am not even done with you. I would and will get you later, for Shaduril is a sad, dull specimen, and no man could love such a morose girl forever. Am I not desirable? Worth your time?’

‘I do not deny,’ I told her morosely, ‘that you are beautiful. But so is a poisonous flower. Fine. You kept your promise to keep our … mistake a secret. But I love her. And I do not find her boring. I have seen her whooping in the surf, happy as the sun.’

She hesitated at that and rubbed her forehead as if fighting a memory. ‘She was happy once. I remember that as well. But we loved the same man, and she has not been the same after. I loved the boy. I won. Now? It’s all happening again. Except you claim you love her over me!’ she cursed. ‘It is beyond my understanding. You don’t know the first damned thing about love. Massage. Calf.’

I hesitated. She kicked my shin. I cursed and pulled her foot up and removed her short, fur lined boot and massaged the leg, as instructed. Her skin was cold, but then, we were all freezing. She moaned in pleasure, and I looked away. ‘This good?’ I asked her. ‘Better than in the tub?’

‘It is excellent, Maskan,’ she groaned. ‘I knew you would get the hang of it. You took Father’s book,’ she murmured.

‘I did,’ I said. ‘He’ll not rule. That book will make sure of it.’

‘He will need it back,’ she said softly, eyeing me.

‘Why?’ I asked spitefully. ‘A murderer like him won’t dictate anything to me. There will be a king, and I’ll make sure it won’t be someone he controls. No.’

‘He won’t,’ she agreed. ‘Crec returns.’

‘Huh?’

She smiled. ‘Perhaps you will keep Crec’s face and live your life as him? Gal will die off, and you will be the king. Then I’d have you! I’ll be the queen. And you can let him have the book back. You have his letter, no? Surely enough?’

‘What?’ I asked, still distracted by her suggestion.

‘It’s possible,’ she said, and I shuddered with anger. ‘Crec’s son cannot wipe his rear on his own, little less rule the other houses. Won’t do. But you can.’

‘You seem very sure you can slay Falg,’ I stated, my mind whirling with her words.
King? Living as Crec? Never.
‘He looks like a capable fighter. And he had a partner as well, no?’

‘We can kill one or two men, yes, no matter their worth. We have these men here, and you saw the army yesterday. Some will be at hand,’ she grinned and poked me with her other foot, demanding I employ a more vigorous approach to her toes, and I did my best.

‘What,’ I asked her, ‘is her name? The queen’s?’

‘Name?’ she said, staring at me with exasperation. ‘You people of the Bad Man’s. Don’t even know the names of your royals. It is fine, perhaps. Don’t ask the name of someone you aim to kill. We call her the Pale Lady.’

‘Very well,’ I said miserably. ‘But I’m not like you. I will do this only once. And try to live with it on my conscience.’

She stared at me in astonishment. ‘Didn’t you kill our guard? Pray, tell me what I am like?’

I regretted saying anything but shrugged away my apprehensions. ‘Vivacious. Beautiful. But I don’t think you care about anything. Except a foot rub, of course,’ I added to take away the edge of my claim. But I could not. I looked away from her. ‘You are murderers. Did you help kill those villagers?’

She sighed. ‘Really? Did I? Yes. It’s war, Maskan. And I used to care,’ she said with a soft voice. Yet, her eyes were hard as stone as she yanked her leg off my lap. ‘You know nothing of my hardships. And I care for many things. You as well.’

‘I don’t think I will ever be as casual about it as you are. Or … Shaduril.’

‘It’s in my nature, Maskan, to enjoy occasional bloodshed, same as Shaduril, but you need not worry. You’ll perform just fine. Just do this one deed and then play Gal and Crec. Imagine it is sugar you pour on her dinner and then go.’

‘Alert,’ a man said from the doorway. ‘Look out!’ We jumped up. Lith pulled on her boot while jumping with one foot, cursing. We moved out carefully. We saw there was something happening with a side gate, a small, red door on a side street.

‘Damn, he is early. I wonder if the queen skipped her lunch,’ Lith growled.

Men got out. A Brother, the White one rode out of it. He was whipping his horse; the horsehair tail was flying from his helmet. He passed by quickly, riding his horse through the higher parts of the city. Then, more men came out, some to look around cautiously. We saw a man whispering to a tallest of the men, and there was some altercation going on between them. Then the gate opened fully with a sudden creak. A shrouded man left the gate. He was wearing a long, dark red cape; his arms were gauntleted with leather gloves. They were laced with iron strips and a chain mail glinted from under his tunic. A silver belt was evident under the shadows of the cape. His eyes were wide and savage, and Lith pulled me into the alleyway. ‘It’s time indeed. That’s Falg. Our slave is sneaking out to have some fun.’

‘Where did the Brother go?’ I asked.

‘Doesn’t matter,’ Lith stated. ‘Come.’ She nodded at me, and a burly Blacktower guard watched me as she went in. There were sounds of preparation in the tavern; men were talking as Lith whistled at them. They filed out.

‘Now,’ she said with apparent excitement. ‘We join him,’ she nodded, and we walked to the street. I could see Falg in the distance, walking quickly. Some men were following the fighter from the distance, flashing hand signals to each other in the alleys, and our main troop tromped after. ‘We will go and enjoy the show. You saw his face?’

‘I did,’ I told her, resisting the urge to change my face. ‘What is the plan?’

‘We will take him out in the Pit’s Edge, the dressing rooms. They all have their own. We know which one he will use. He belongs to the Silver Fingers, and they always use one near our booth. Or, if it is impossible to do the job in the Edge, then we shall shoot him full of arrows in a maze of alleys near the Dark Sands,’ she said and glanced at me. ‘You see; harsh, cold. Calculating.’

‘I’m sorry it is so,’ I agreed.

‘Bah!’ she spat, and we marched on. We passed fabulous tavern of high rock facades, outdoor eateries, now near abandoned for the winter. The sky was a billowing front of gray clouds, and they looked very ominous, promising rain.

We passed the gates to the Second Ring and came to the main road of the area, a red-bricked road rich with statues, pine trees, and strange yellow golden house facades. ‘I always imagined this is what our whorehouse should look like,’ Lith said, eyeing a tall building with velvety red drapes and some sort of a party going on inside.

‘I’ve lived in a basement all my life,’ I told her. ‘Not sure I could live in something like this.’ We walked on for fifteen minutes and passed a small market, now empty. Then, the alleys Lith had mentioned. They were full of people, dark with shadows and filled with opportunities. I could see how one could murder someone easily there and escape. We passed the alleys, long, wide ways for a long, long time.