Queen (Brotherhood of the Throne) (13 page)

“Make sure one copy is
sent to King Mannel as soon as possible,” Thorold said as he held out the
papers for the clerk to take. Yes, he thought, as he walked past the bowed head
of the clerk, bastards could cause problems. Even now he couldn’t believe the
witch had been impudent enough to declare herself queen. And both Aruntun and
Fallad had pledged to her. It was a rebellion against Soule and could not be
allowed to continue much longer.

Even two weeks after the coronation
he was still furious. Aruntun he’d expected to lose, but Fallad? Steady trade
with Fallad was the prize he’d tempted Langemore with. He could not have Mannel
discover that Fallad wasn’t his to command until Langemore was fully committed.
Which was why Beldyn must wed Mannel’s daughter Evlan as soon as possible.

Thorold
walked the short corridor to his own
office.

“Fridrick, I want you to
find out if Beldyn has fathered any children, either here or in Dryannan.” Thorold sat at his desk.”

“Yes my Lord.” The scholar
bowed. “At once.”

“And let me be clear - I
do not want more bastards of my line alive to cause problems.”

Fridrick paled slightly
but he nodded. “I understand.” The scholar bowed again and backed out of the
room.

Better to take care of
them when they’re young, Thorold thought.  That way no one gets too attached.
If he’d done that with the witch her mother would likely still be alive tending
his ills. Or at the very least, the ills of his staff. It was very disruptive
when a trusted cook or groom took ill and it happened far too often for his
liking. And healers were rare and good ones even more rare. The ones trained in
Kingsreach were certainly not as a good as the witches - he just had to look at
how Mattias had been treated. The man had been dying for years and his
Kingsreach-trained physician hadn’t been able to help him at all. Nothing had helped
until the witch had arranged to give him an antidote. He never did find out how
she’d known Mattias was being poisoned.

Yes, witches were the best
healers. If he could find one to trust he’d keep them for himself. As it was he’d
only found one healer in Kingsreach who was suitable to work at the Blackwall
mine - he’d been sent, unwillingly of course, with the first shipment of slaves.

Thorold
sighed and settled into his chair.
He always felt a sense of control when he was in his own office. He picked up
the pile of correspondence his clerk had left for him.

eight

Kane pushed his battered
hat lower on his head and gripped the reins tighter. He kept his eyes on his
dirty and torn fingernails as Master Turner went over his list of goods with
the Kingsguard. The two Guard who were inspecting the wagon weren’t familiar to
Kane but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t recognize him. He said a quick prayer
to Jik, wishing he had Brenna’s skill of invisibility. He flexed his muscles,
trying to prepare himself to run if he had to, but stopped when one of the
horses sensed his unease and started tossing its head.

The horses hitched to the
wagon were the most sensitive he’d ever come across. Turner had told him that
they were actually very fine mounts and were far too smart to be pulling a
wagon. Kane agreed. He’d had his hands full with them along the road. But any
trouble they caused was made up by the fact that they were fast. Even in the
traces, pulling a loaded wagon they’d shown speed.

Turner planned on leaving
them behind so his family could get out of Kingsreach if they needed to. They
were favourite mounts of his brother and nephew and he was hoping they’d be
able to outrun anything the Kingsguard had. Kane thought they probably could -
he’d always insisted that the Guard have the best horses they could find but
few rode anything near the quality of this pair. If his brother and nephew
stayed behind, Turner would buy or trade for a couple of less well-bred animals
for his trip back to Silverdale.

Finally the Guards moved
to the next cart in line and Turner jumped up onto the seat beside Kane.

“To the market, driver,
we’ve already lost the best part of the morning. Get on with you.”

Kane snapped the reins and
the horses moved forward, pulling the heavy cart after them. Once they were far
enough from the gates he felt Turner relax beside him.

“I hope my brother and his
son are willing to leave as soon as possible,” Turner said quietly. “The
questions the Kingsguard asked were about more than trade.”

“What else did they want
to know?” Kane asked quietly. He turned the cart down the street Turner indicated.

 “Have I spoken to anyone
from Aruntun in the past few weeks?” Turner said. “Did I know anything about
the pretender’s coronation in Silverdale? Am I loyal to King Beldyn and do I
follow the One-God?”

“What did you tell him
about the uh… pretender?”

“Just that I’d not paid
much attention to it, me being interested in trade and all,” Turner said. “And
that of course I was loyal to the rightful king.”

“At least he let you enter
the city,” Kane said. “Let’s hope they let you back out.”

“That’s a chance I took
coming here,” Turner said. He pointed to a street and Kane directed the team
that way. “Do you think my answers will help them decide?”

“It’s possible,” Kane
said. “But if they are trying to keep Brenna’s coronation quiet they wouldn’t
have let us into the city.  And since when is following the One-God required?”

“I guess since the edict,”
Turner replied. “Following the old gods is illegal.”

“But that shouldn’t mean
following the One-God is mandatory.”

“Turn right here,” Turner
said. “There’s an alley halfway down that we can drive the cart into. The
horses can be taken off from the front and put up in my brother’s stable.”

Kane twitched the reins
and the guided the horses into the narrow alley. As soon as the end of the
wagon was clear of the street, he stopped it. He wrapped the reins around the
wagon seat, jumped down and walked to the front. By the time he reached the
head of the lead horse, a young man of about twenty was confronting him.

“What business do you have
here?” As he asked the question the man slipped his vest aside to show Kane a
knife strapped to his side. Kane stepped back and raised his hands.

“You don’t need to worry
about him, Nole,” Turner said from the other side of the cart and Kane relaxed.

“Uncle Reece, what are you
doing here?”

Turner came forward and
hugged his nephew, patting the young man on the back.

“Do I need a reason to
visit my own brother and nephew?”

“These days you do,” Nole
said, eyeing Kane. “You can take the horses into the shed, driver. Come on
uncle, I’ll get father. But I warn you, he won’t be happy that you’re here.”

Kane set about removing
the horses from the harness and getting them settled in the shed. He’d insisted
on doing the work all along the trail despite Turner’s objections and he wasn’t
about to do anything different now. As soon as he was finished he would ask for
his pay, like any driver would, then slip off to his own business in
Kingsreach.

Turner and Nole entered
the shed just as Kane was putting the clean tack away.

“The horses are watered
and fed and the tack all cleaned,” Kane said. “If you want help unloading the
wagon that’ll be another crown, otherwise I’ll just take my pay and leave.”

“I told Nole who you are,”
Turner said and Kane frowned. “He wanted us to hire you to drive us all out
tomorrow. I had to explain to him why you couldn’t.”

“I didn’t tell my father,”
Nole said. “I’ll tell him once we’re away from here. Uncle Reece says that
Silverdale is safe for those fleeing Kingsreach.”

Kane studied Nole for a
few seconds before replying. The young man looked weary with worry and tense
with fear. “Duke Ewart has been welcoming any who enter his lands.”

“And they have food
enough? We have money, my father and I, but money won’t feed us over the
winter.” Nole looked at his uncle. “As we’re already finding out here.”

“There are food shortages
already?” Kane asked.

Nole nodded and Kane
frowned. The harvest should just be in - this time of year should be a time of
plenty. “Fallad is prepared. In the spring Ewart asked farmers to plant extra
crops if they could. Some of the early refugees were sent to help on the
farms.” And thank the gods for Brenna’s vision, Kane thought. “It’s much the
same in Aruntun, from what my sources say.”

Nole nodded again and
looked relieved.

“We’ll go to Silverdale
then and see what can be done about trade later.” Nole turned to his uncle. “You
should leave town as soon as possible. They don’t mind some trade goods coming
through but the Guard don’t look kindly on extra mouths in town these days. You
gave them Father’s name at the gate?” When Turner nodded, Nole continued. “Then
it’s best you leave tomorrow at dawn. If this one,” he gestured to Kane,
“doesn’t mind we can trade him some other clothes and send another man out with
you and the empty wagon. Between us we should be able to convince Father that
he and I need to leave the day after.”

A change of clothes was
found for Kane and he gratefully slipped them on. No cleaner than the last set,
but at least they marked him as Kingsreach, he thought as he laced up the rough
shirt. He’d kept his own boots – he wasn’t about to let them go, not when
having proper footwear could mean the difference between life and death if he
had to walk away from town.

After a quick goodbye Kane
let himself out of the stable. It was getting dark and the streets were even
more deserted than before. In the market area he had to wait for a train of
wagons to clear the road. The horses pulling the wagons looked as tired and
drawn as the men who drove them. Once they passed, Kane went in the opposite
direction down a small lane. In less than an hour he was at the back entrance
to the Crooked Dog.

Kane sipped his ale as
Eryl filled his own mug.

“Thorold’s been rounding
up the folk from Thieves Quarter and sending them to work his mines?” Kane
asked.

“We think it’s been
happening for about two weeks,” Eryl said, a dark look on his face. “Someone
escaped and found their way back to tell us.” He got up and opened one of the
doors to the hall. After a low conversation he sat back down. A minute later
the door opened again and a boy of about ten entered.

“Ye wanted t’ see me
Master Eryl?”

“Tell this gentleman what
happened to you, Perin.” Eryl’s smile softened as the boy shuffled his feet.
“Not to worry, he’s come to help,” Eryl said.

“Well, I was lookin’ fer
pigeon eggs, over by the church, ‘cause they likes to nest on the roof,” Perin
said. “When the witch haters come. Only this time they had the Guard with them.
And their Captain.”

“Barton was there, are you
sure?” Kane asked.

“I knows the Captain of
the Kingsguard when I sees him,” Perin said. He looked more closely at Kane and
paled. “T’other one, not you.”

“All right, you know the
Captain of the Guard,” Kane said. “Go on.”

“Well, the witch haters,
they starts to round up folk, starting with the men but just takin’ everyone
who’s there. Then the Guard herds us all together, poking some with their
swords so’s we keep up and all.” Perin stopped and licked his lips, eying the
pitcher of ale. Eryl poured a small amount into a glass and pushed it across
the table towards him. The boy snatched it up and took a gulp before wiping his
mouth on his sleeve.

“They takes us out the
gates past the church, and I tell ye, some of us thought we was fer the High
Bishop, so women were cryin’ and men were swearin’ even though we’re still gettin’
poked by the Guard. Then the captain, he says stop here and we all huddle
together until it gets light. Then they bring a long line of wagons. And they
take these long chains from the wagons and they chain all the men and women
together in two long lines, one fer the men and one fer the women. And all us
kids, they hoist us inta the wagons an draw a piece of canvas down on us.”
Perin paused to swallow the rest of his ale and Kane met Eryl’s eyes.

“And then what happened?
How did you get away?” Kane asked.

“We traveled for two days.
Then I heard two of the guards talkin’ about what they’d do once they got to
the mines and which men they thought would be for the top of the mines and
which would be goin’ underneath. Me, I’m not interested in bein’ a miner, so that
night when the guards are lookin’ another way, I slip out and follow the wagon
tracks back to Kingsreach. Took me more’n two days to do it too, ‘cause I was
worried they’d send someone after me. I was fair starved by the time I got
here. When I told my story in the Quarter I was brought to Eryl.” Perin looked
up at Eryl, his eyes bright. “I been here ever since, haven’t I?”

“That you have, Perin,”
Eryl said. “Thank you, you can go now.”

Once Perin closed the door
behind him Kane reached for his ale. He swallowed the rest in one gulp and set
the glass down on the table.

“Six generations of my
family have been proud to be Kingsguardsmen,” Kane said. “To think that they
have been reduced to shackling and driving men, women and children like
animals. It shames me to think they’ve fallen so low so quickly.”

“Much as it pains me to
say this.” Eryl sent him a slow smile. “At least when you were Captain a man
knew what to expect. The laws were clear and you knew what would happen if you
were caught by the Guard. Now,” he said with a shrug. “An honest man is as likely
to be rounded up as a thief and neither one of them will ever be seen again. From
what I’ve been able to find out the Kingsguard are targeting folk from the
Quarter.” Eryl sighed deeply. “At least we know they aren’t all being sent to
the High Bishop. There’s some chance they are still alive.”

“For a while, anyway.”
Kane thought back to his days in Blackwall. The miners were alive, yes, but it
was dangerous work even for strong men. Most of the residents of Thieves
Quarter started off underfed. Would Blackwall be any better prepared than
Kingsreach to feed its people once the snows came? Even in summer food had been
scarce and expensive – which didn’t bode well for the prisoners sent there. And
what about the women and children? They weren’t being sent to the mines, he
hoped, so where were they being sent?

“We need to plan a way to
divert these wagons. Show me exactly where you think Perin was when he
escaped.” Kane leaned over the table as Eryl unrolled a map and spread it out.
He’d contact Brenna later, when he had a better idea of what to tell her, he
thought as Eryl’s finger traced a path along the map.

Brenna closed her eyes,
trying to will the images of her vision out of her mind. She’d tried to sleep
after Kane had contacted her but now it was almost dawn and she’d barely rested
all night. Finally she got out of bed, pulled the blanket around her and sat at
the window staring at the sky as it lightened.

When Brenna had told Kane
about her Seeing he’d been relieved that they knew for sure the wagons and
people were headed to Blackwall. It would help them find a place to intercept
them, Kane had said, a place where they could rescue them now that they were
certain about the start and end points of the route.

All those people. Kane had
confirmed that most were from Thieves Quarter. Brenna knew in her heart that
Duke Thorold was targeting them because of her. Eryl was sending his lads out
to try to find out when the next wagons and people were being shipped out and
Kane promised to let her know what they found.