The Crow King's Wife (9 page)

“I can’t change my course now. I told Onvalla
I would make them bleed. I can’t break my word.” Caleb muttered
hoarsely. His face was still far too pale and his grey eyes had an
almost vacant look as he leaned heavily back in his seat shaking
his head slowly. “Syrah has been their captive since Amdany fell…”
Caleb muttered weakly. His voice trailed off and he shook his head
slowly.

“Make them bleed, but do it in a fashion that
you can live through, Caleb. Save Syrah and then do what you have
always been so god damned talented at and help Jala save everyone
else.” Finn pressed and looked back to Shade. “He is quite possibly
the most stubborn man alive, and I don’t have time to persuade him.
I’ll leave that in your hands. As to what I need from you… well
it’s a favor for an Aspect, but you have interest in it. It seems
several of her followers are being held in prison in Sanctuary and
she can’t seem to get them rescued. I need you to be a hero too and
save her followers.”

“I can’t even step foot in Sanctuary. Every
bloody person in that city knows I’m a wanted man.” Shade
objected.

“Then I highly suggest you change your
appearance before you go. One of the prisoners goes by the name of
Charm. I believe you know him, and I believe you owe him. So suck
it up Shade and be a damn hero and save him.” Finn snapped in
annoyance as he rose from his chair. He glanced once more at Caleb
and let out a heavy sigh. “I promise you Huntsman if you are stupid
enough to make that little girl an orphan I will have you serving
me for eternity. You can take your Grandfather’s place amongst my
demons since Jala and Valor saw fit to kill Nasurai when they
visited the Darklands.” Finn whispered as his form slowly faded
from the ship.

Shade sat in utter silence for long moments
trying to digest everything he had just heard. Charm was
imprisoned, Caleb was the Bloody Huntsman, Caleb’s daughter was a
Rivasan prisoner, and most terrifying of all Finn Sovaesh was the
Divine of Death. He didn’t think he had ever been flooded with so
much bad news at once before. He slowly glanced over at the
passenger seat as Caleb dropped heavily into it.

“Bloody Huntsman eh?” Shade muttered
quietly.

Caleb nodded slowly and let out a long sigh.
“I’d like to say it’s been a while since I have done the sort of
butchering that earned me that title, but that is exactly why Micah
pulled me out of retirement.” He confessed in a low voice. “He
needed someone who could spread fear amongst the Blights, and as it
turns out I scare just about everyone including the Blights.”

“Did you really kill a Serpent with your bare
hands in the Amdany harbor? One of the legends about you says that
you did, but I always thought it was bullshit.” Shade asked in an
effort to calm Caleb. The man was still far too pale and looked as
though he might pass out at any moment.

Caleb swallowed heavily and nodded his head
slowly his eyes still staring blankly ahead. “It tried to swallow
me when I was knocked over the rail in the fighting. I objected.”
His voice seemed almost mechanical as he answered and he raised a
hand to rub his face as he fell silent.

“And Nasurai Blackwolf is your Grandfather?
So you are Sebastian Blackwolf’s brother? I don’t understand how
you have the name Faulklin then and why you are from Arovan.
Shouldn’t you be with your own house?” Shade let his full confusion
show in his voice as he tried once more to draw Caleb back with
conversation.

Caleb looked at him slowly and lowered his
hand from his face his expression shifting from grief to bitter
amusement. “Why do you think they call me the Black Bastard Shade?
Sebastian is my half-brother and I live in Arovan because High Lady
Blackwolf can’t bear my presence in Glis. The sight of me is a
constant reminder to her that her husband was unfaithful so I was
exiled. I suppose I’m grateful she didn’t have me killed as a
child.” Caleb explained and then paused as he rubbed his face once
more. “Lady Faulklin is my Aunt on my mother’s side, and was kind
enough to give me a home as well as her name. My birth mother’s
name is Blue Bess, perhaps you have heard of her. She was at Amdany
and the final stand, and if you didn’t meet her there perhaps you
have seen her with High Lord Blackwolf serving as his Herald.”
There was pain in his voice as he spoke and Shade could tell it was
an old wound that refused to heal.

“I’m sorry I pried. I was confused that’s
all.” Shade offered softly and let out a sigh of his own. “We can
get your daughter back you know. Once we finish in Merro we will
head straight to Rivasa and you can be the hero Finn was talking
about without dying.”

“Merro? Why in the hell are we going to Merro
first?” Caleb demanded with an almost frantic look on his face.

“Look I know you don’t want to leave her
there any longer than you have to, but I have to see Jala before we
can go. I have to be healed first, Caleb. I cannot stress how
important this is. My magic isn’t what it should be and I am
crippled in more than the obvious ways you can see.” Shade paused
and ground his teeth in frustration as he contemplated what he was
about to say. Glancing over at Caleb he grimaced slightly and let
out a quick breath. “My turn for confession and I’m going to pray
you don’t gut me for it. I had planned on telling you before Finn’s
visit, but I have to admit finding out who you truly are is giving
me a bit of pause.”

Caleb’s eyes narrowed at his words and Shade
felt his throat tighten at the sight. He wasn’t comfortable with
sharing any secrets, but for Caleb to understand fully he needed to
know everything.

“Out with it then.” Caleb pressed and Shade
nodded slowly in response.

“The Morcaillo are Changelings, Caleb. Right
now I can’t shift the areas that were wounded, the flesh is dead,
which means my birthright is useless. If I can shift my forms this
mission will be much easier, but if you are saddled with a cripple
as a partner in this rescue slash assassination than I think we
will both be standing on Finn’s door step awaiting a very dismal
eternity as his personal bitches.” Shade explained quietly.

“A Changeling.” Caleb repeated with a note of
distaste in his voice. He nodded slowly and let out a heavy sigh.
“You know you are supposed to be pure unholy evil right?” he
muttered sourly.

“I was supposed to be a lot of things. I’m
afraid I’ve been a disappointment on every last one of them
including the unholy evil part. I just didn’t turn out the way
father hoped.” Shade sighed.

“Merro first then.” Caleb agreed with a faint
nod as he leaned further back in his seat. “Then we both get to be
heroes.” He added with a snort of disgust.

“In the stories the heroes always triumph.”
Shade offered with a shrug.

“In reality they suffer more than anyone else
and usually die horribly at a young age.” Caleb countered.

“Oddly enough I have always preferred fiction
to reality, so I’m going to stick with my version.” Shade replied
quietly. He glanced down as the goblin wrapped its scrawny arms
around his leg and settled beside his chair. “Just perfect, me, a
goblin, and the Bloody Huntsman of Arovan against an entire nation
of bloodthirsty flame-hurling madmen. Wonderful.” He muttered.

“If you listen to the stories about me I
could handle the entire nation of Rivasa with one hand tied behind
my back and blindfolded.” Caleb offered dryly.

“Any truth to those stories?” Shade asked
hopefully.

“My mother is a bard and writes most of the
stories about me. What do you think?” Caleb replied sourly and gave
a long sigh.

“I think by the time we reach Rivasa I will
have a plan that keeps us both alive to see this through. It may
not be conventional, but I promise it will work. My only concern is
you actually following my plan.” Shade said with a smile.

Sanctuary

Heavy boots rang on the marble floors behind
him, but Remedy ignored the sound. It was most likely just guards
making their rounds, and none of his concern. The quarry he
followed was silent as she moved, and she was already slipping
around another corner ahead of him. He paused long enough to fish a
sprig of mint from his pocket and chewed on it as he continued down
the hall. A cigarette would have been much more satisfying, but
given his current life it simply wasn’t possible. The mind cloud he
was using to keep himself from being detected in the palace could
persuade people to ignore the smell of mint, but smoke was another
thing entirely. Smoke was visible in the air, mint was not.

Faramir’s steps slowed and he paced himself
to match hers. He didn’t want to get too close to her. Despite the
mind cloud there was still a slight chance she might detect him,
and that would destroy several weeks of spying.

When he had been captured in Rivasa he had
thought there might have been a chance of corruption in the
Fionaveir. Then Shade had echoed his thoughts on the matter which
raised his suspicions further. However when important people began
disappearing from the Fionaveir ranks he knew without a doubt there
was corruption, and it was only recently that he had managed to
trace it all back to Faramir.

That in itself was disquieting. Faramir was
married to the leader of the Fionaveir, and Caspian didn’t seem to
notice any problems. Either she was lying very well to her husband,
or Caspian was involved in the corruption. Remedy calmly pushed
that thought away and let out a long slow breath. If he was going
to save Symphony he would have to face it eventually, but for now
all he needed to worry about was what Faramir was up to currently.
She had seemed pensive all morning, and there were several times
when her expression had shifted to fury without warning. Had anyone
else been present, Remedy might have believed it was a part of a
conversation that he had missed that had shifted her mood. She had
been alone all three times however, which meant she was in mental
communication with someone, and the news she was hearing wasn’t
pleasant. Now all he had to do was follow her long enough to try to
get some indication of what was wrong.

Faramir paused in the hall ahead of him and
turned to look back over her shoulder. Remedy froze in place, even
going so far as to hold his breath. It was ridiculous of course.
The nature of his magic didn’t make him invisible. It infiltrated
the minds of those around him and simply forced them to ignore him.
It wasn’t as if he had to be silent. If his magic was functioning
as it should, his quarry wouldn’t acknowledge any noise he made.
Faramir made him too nervous though. In the past few days he had
seen a side of her that he had never noticed before in all of his
years living amongst her with the Fionaveir. She was acting more
devious and some of the magic she had used when she had believed
she was alone were spells that there should have been far beyond
her mastery. Faramir simply wasn’t that great of a mage, at least
she hadn’t been from what he had known about her. The Faramir he
knew was an archer and a damn good one, but not a mage.

She turned once more and walked a few steps
before stopping in front of a door. Turning slowly Faramir scanned
the hallway once more and slowly stepped into the room. It took
every ounce of speed and stealth that Remedy possessed to slide
through the door before she could close it behind her and the
action put him much closer to Faramir than he wanted to be. Her
eyes narrowed as the door clicked shut and she turned slowly to
stare about the room with searching eyes. Once more Remedy found
himself holding his breath until her attention passed over him.

“I’m losing it.” Faramir whispered softly and
shook her head slowly as she moved to the far side of the room.

It was a bedchamber Remedy realized with a
start, and from the location they were at in the palace it must
have been one of the rooms reserved for visiting dignitaries. By
the looks of the furnishings and linens it hadn’t seen much use
yet, but then that was understandable. From what he had heard in
the halls lately the entire world was still fighting, and he
doubted any dignitaries had time to spare for an overnight visit at
the palace.

Faramir walked slowly across the room and
placed her hand against the wall. A slight grating noise grew in
the stones and a panel slowly slid back. Remedy stared at the
hidden tunnel for a long breath as the full extent of his latest
revelation slowly sank in. He hadn’t even realized the palace had a
network of hidden tunnels, and it likely meant there was no place
safe for him to drop his guard. Who knew how many tunnels there
were or how many spy holes might be in the walls. Even when he
thought he was alone in a room, there was a very good chance he was
still being watched.

He barely managed to rein his thoughts in as
Faramir stepped inside the shadowed hall. With a silent prayer for
luck he slipped in behind her hoping there would be enough room in
the tunnels for him to stay out of her reach. His magic would work
flawlessly, unless she happened to brush against him rather than
the stone wall, or she was a better mind mage than he was. If she
had strong mind magic she would detect him at close range.

This is a mission better suited for
Vaze
. Remedy thought for what must have been the thousandth
time. He wasn’t a spy, and he wasn’t used to skulking. The
Fionaveir had always sent him on missions of diplomacy or at times
to gather information from certain individuals with his charm. Vaze
was the one they relied on to skulk. Remedy had never before had to
rely on stealth this much, and it quite honestly wasn’t his strong
point.

Vaze was gone though, and everyone else was
acting too strangely to trust enough to approach. Lutheron seemed
aggravated all of the time, and Symphony existed in a sort of haze
that he had never seen her in before. The few times he had managed
to glimpse the Empress she had been oblivious to everything and had
simply nodded to Faramir for most of the conversation. The only one
that left was Caspian, and he was acting the strangest of them all.
It had been his idea to clean the streets of Sanctuary, and Caspian
was going about it with the fervor of a fanatic. If the rumors in
the halls were to be believed the prisons were overflowing with
petty criminals, and there was talk that the executions would start
soon.