ALTDORF (The Forest Knights: Book 1) (29 page)

Pirmin remained unconscious as the judge gave specific directions on how to pack straw around the arm and tie it in place. Once finished, they dragged Pirmin into the cell in the middle of the room. Before locking the door, the one-eyed soldier loosened his breeches and, to the snickers of his fellow men-at-arms, relieved himself on Pirmin’s straw-covered limb.

Chapter 32

“W
HERE ARE you going?” Seraina asked.

“To get Pirmin. Where would you have me go?” Thomas threw the under pad over Sutter’s pony and then bent down and hefted the saddle. The horse regarded him with suspicious eyes. Being saddled after dark was not a normal occurrence for her.

“Did you not hear what I said ferryman? They have him in the fortress. You cannot simply march in and ask the fifty guards watching him if they will hand over their prisoner.”

“What choice do I have?”

Seraina stepped in front of Thomas. “You mean what choice do we have. I am going with you. Noll would not get near the jails without someone recognizing him, but I can.”

Thomas scowled at Seraina but she met his look with firm resolve. She would not be swayed and Thomas knew better than to attempt it. “Very well. I could use your help.”

“Seraina is right when she says I cannot go with you, but that does not mean I cannot help. Pirmin is my friend too.”

Thomas could take no more. He dropped the saddle and shoved Noll in the chest with both hands. Noll stumbled backwards, cursed, and had to leap over the fire to avoid falling into it.

“Thomas, please!” Seraina said, coming between them and putting her palms on Thomas’s chest.

The heat of the moment passed, and when Thomas looked at Seraina his breathing slowed. “He is not welcome here. I want him gone.”

“Or what ferryman?” Noll stood across the fire smiling, taunting. “What will you do? Sink down into the grass like a spotted fawn and pray danger passes you by? As you did when Landenberg torched your home?”

“We both know why he burnt my ferry,” Thomas said.

“Just how much suffering do you need to experience before you see the truth? How many friends do you need to see hurt? Or raped?”

“Enough!” Seraina’s voice boomed through the dark night like a thunderclap. Both men froze, then turned together and looked at her in surprise.

“You are both acting like children,” she said, her voice once again her own. “And selfish children at that. Our friend is in trouble. We must do all we can to help him, and that means working together. Thomas, Noll has connections, and if he offers help, it would be wise to accept.”

She kept speaking. Her words were soft, and much slower than Thomas remembered her ever speaking. Yet soothing, the way a warm bath is after a hard day’s ride. His anger subsided, and Thomas once again felt in control. Seraina made perfect sense. He needed Noll. They would sort out their differences another time.

Thomas cast a doubtful glance at Noll across the fire. “Can you get us into the jails?”

“Perhaps. I will talk with Walter Furst. He may have an idea.”

Thomas saw the beginnings of a plan coming together. Not a good one, but if he could get past the guardhouse and into the jails there was hope. He would have the long trip to Altdorf to worry about getting out.

“To the house of Furst then,” Noll said. “If we leave now, we can be there by dawn.”

Thomas glanced at Seraina and was surprised at the look of concern on her face. She turned quickly away when she caught him staring. No, not
concern,
he realized. For all her previous talk of selfish children, she had, for a moment, worn the expression of a child caught in a lie.

Chapter 33

“Q
UICKLY NOW. Get inside and bar the opposite door. It leads to the main cells and is where the guards will be patrolling. I have to get back to the gatehouse and make sure no one notices that key ring missing.”

Walter Furst, dressed in his magistrate robe, ushered Thomas and Seraina through the heavy door and closed it behind them.

Seraina pushed back the hood of her cloak and allowed her eyes to adjust to the torch-lit room. The moment she stepped into the chamber her heartbeat quickened to a painful crescendo and the air stuck in her throat; every fiber of her being screamed at her to flee. The energy of the room was terrifying. She swayed on her feet and leaned against Thomas for a moment to catch her breath.

When she looked up into his face she saw him staring at a large cauldron on the far side of the room. It was blackened with soot. The remains of a burnt-out fire lay below it, now nothing more than a cold pile of ash. Before Seraina could speak, Thomas was moving. His long legs carried him across the room in a few quick strides. He stopped at a cell in the room’s center and fumbled with the ring of keys Furst had given him. Seraina joined him and peered into the blackness of the cage. Someone was chained to the floor.

Someone huge.

She ran to the nearest wall and pulled a lit torch from its sconce. By the time she returned, Thomas had the door open and was crouched in the darkness at Pirmin’s side.

Seraina’s torch bathed the two men in light and what she saw made her gasp.

Pirmin, his ankles chained to an iron hoop embedded into the stone floor, lay on his back unmoving, his arms splayed out from his sides like a giant bird fallen from the heavens. One was wrapped in a thick layer of straw held in place by twine cinched tight in several places. His once handsome face was beaten and swollen beyond recognition, and his blond hair was caked and matted in blood and dirt.

“Oh God, what have you done?” There was panic in Thomas’s voice, and although it frightened Seraina, it also shocked her into action. She jammed the torch into a holder inside the cell and dropped to her knees beside Pirmin.

“Pirmin! Can you hear me?” Thomas said. He pulled his knife and began cutting the twine encircling Pirmin’s left arm. His hands shook.

Seraina put one hand to Pirmin’s forehead and the other to his heart. He stirred under her touch and moaned. He whispered something that sounded like a name.
Mathias? Who was Mathias?

Although Pirmin lived, he was burning with fever. His right shoulder had a wound that had soured. Even in the low light, she could see his upper arm beginning to darken. Soon the poison would drain into his torso and then it would be too late. She dug into her pouch and removed a small knife and several vials. They did not have much time.

Distracted by the task at hand, she was unaware that Thomas had unwrapped Pirmin’s other arm, until a rotten stench assaulted her nostrils, forcing the contents of her stomach into the back of her throat.

She turned to see Thomas sitting with his head in his hands, his knife on the ground beside him. He looked at her with vacant eyes.

“Oh God. Seraina…”

She looked down at the source of the odor, already fearing the worst. A blackened log of flesh, bloated to three times its normal thickness, had replaced Pirmin’s left arm. Scattered over his arm, a demonic harvest of straw poked up from the congealed mass. Seraina realized that what she had thought before was dirt and filth on the left side of Pirmin’s chest, was actually rivers of decay flowing through his blood.

Thomas stared at her. His dark eyes big and round, begging her to do something for his friend. She put her hand once again to Pirmin’s heart, though she did not know why.

“I am sorry, Thomas,” she said, shaking her head.

He closed his eyes, and after a moment, nodded.

Pirmin moaned again and his leg spasmed.

“Can you do something for the pain?” Thomas asked.

But Seraina was already reaching into her pouch. She popped a handful of ditch nettle leaves into her mouth and chewed them quickly, taking care not to swallow. Once moistened, she spit the leaves into her hand and formed them into a ball.

“Help me open his mouth,” she said. Together they tipped Pirmin’s head back and Seraina wiped his gums and the insides of his cheeks with the leaves.

Pirmin coughed once and his eyes fluttered. “Mathias?” he said.

Seraina held the big man’s head in her lap and Thomas scrambled around to his side.

“Pirmin. It is me, Thomas.”

He grunted and his eyes opened halfway. “No need to yell at me,” he said.

His voice was thin, not much more than a whisper. He closed his eyes and opened them again.

“Thomi? Ah, Thomi. I was wondering when you would appear.”

“Save your strength, Pirmin. I am here. So is Seraina.”

“Stay still,” Seraina said, using the power of her voice to bring him some small amount of comfort.

“They put me to the Ordeal,” Pirmin said and tried to move his left arm, which only caused him to grimace in pain.

“I know,” Thomas said.

“It did not go so well.”

Thomas’s mouth stretched into a smile. “You did well enough.”

“Had to use my sinister arm. Right was hurt too bad.”

“That explains it then,” Thomas said.

He closed his eyes for a few heartbeats, and when he opened them they appeared clearer. Seraina could see the ditch nettle was in his system now.

“They got Vex.”

Seraina placed her hand on Pirmin’s forehead and said, “No, Vex is fine. Noll saved him. Do not worry yourself over him, Pirmin.”

Relief washed over his agonized face. Whether it was because his dog was safe or the herb was dulling his pain, Seraina could not be sure.

“I wish to confess,” he said.

“And I will hear it,” Thomas said, his voice breaking around the edges. “Go ahead.”

“I did some bad things. But I did a lot of good things too. I hope God will take that into account.”

Thomas waited for Pirmin to continue. After a long pause Pirmin said, “Say your piece Thomi.”

“That is your confession?”

“One other thing.” He turned his head and looked at Thomas. “I lied to you, Thomi.”

“That does not matter.”

“I never intended to go to Wallis. I would have missed your miserable face too much. I think I made up most of those stories…”

Thomas nodded. His eyes glistened in the torchlight.

“The fighting cows?”

“Nay. That one is true,” Pirmin said. He ground his teeth together against a fresh wave of pain. Thomas held Pirmin’s right hand and the big man clenched with what little strength he had left. His face cleared after a moment, but was a shade whiter. Even though he took a deep breath, his next words shuddered forth like his lungs had all the air of a spent bellows.