Queen (Brotherhood of the Throne) (7 page)

When he stepped into the
warehouse behind Gwylym the old man quickly slid the bar across the door.

“Don’t want t’others
knowin’ what’s in here,” Gwylym said as he led the way through a dark passage.

Kane heard the sound of flint
striking and then the cluttered workshop was illuminated by a lamp. He slowly
let his breath out as he looked around the crowded room. On every surface and
hanging from every hook, were tiny, wooden animals. Kane reached out and touched
a horse, his hand running smoothly across the finely carved arched neck.

“These are extraordinary,”
he said. There were hundreds of them and the quality of the work was
incredible.

“I’m might fond of them,”
Gwylym said. “Use t’ carve toys like this for my boy. Makes me feel closer to
him when I’m workin’ on ‘em.”

Kane met Gwylym’s clear
gaze and nodded. He understood how a man might want to remember when his life
was good and his loved ones were alive.

“And what about wood? You
said you had some we could buy?”

“Oh it’s not fer sale,”
Gwylym picked up the lamp and opened a door at the end of the workshop. “But
I’ll give it to the Caller, now she’s come. No doubt it will be useful. I’ve a
good bit of it, seein’ as the carvin’ don’t use much. No, not much at all.”

Gwylym stepped through the
door and Kane followed. The fragrant smell of wood filled the space.

“Sweet Anu,” he said
quietly as his eyes adjusted to the dim light of the warehouse. “Gwylym, how
did you manage to accumulate so much wood?”

The warehouse ran most of
a whole block and planks and boards were stacked fifteen feet high to the roof.
The wood was organized by length, from what Kane could tell – one stack nearby
looked almost thirty feet long.

“Oh, I like to find a good
piece of wood at a good price.” Gwylym said. “Findin’ the wood was always a
thing I liked to do so even after I stopped using so much I still kept my hand
in the findin’ of it. Some of it’s more’n ten years old so it’s cured real
nice.”

“So it is.” Kane gently
reached out and clasped the old man’s shoulder. “Thank you. This is a fine gift
you’re giving. Make sure you keep enough for your own needs now.”

“Aw, I think it’s time I
stopped thinkin’ so much about the past and started helpin’ with the future.
What’re ye plannin’ on doing with the wood?”

“We’re building homes.
Homes for the families of the new army - Brenna Trewen’s army - the men who
will help her become Queen.”

“That’s a fine use for my
wood, takin’ care of families. I like that.”  Gwylym grinned. “And I can’t imagine
a better home for my animals as well. It would seem fittin’ if each home made
from my wood came with one or two of my animals, don’t you think?”

“That would be fitting,
Gwylym, yes it would,” Kane replied.

four

Brenna eyed the pot of
stew and looked again at the long line up. They’d need another pot soon and
they were almost out of bowls, though most of the women had come with their
own. Clean ones now that they’d placed pots of hot water for washing beside
each stew line. There was no sense feeding them good nourishing food if they
were putting it into bowls that were fouled.

Brenna nodded to the woman
she’d assigned to serve the stew before she picked her way through the crowds
to the next food station. A hand plucked at her arm and she smiled when she
recognized the woman she’d given a coin to earlier.

“Thank ye mistress.” The
woman balanced her baby on her hip, a clean bowl in her hand. “Ye said ye’d
make sure we all got fed and ye did. Thank ye.”

“You’re welcome,” Brenna
said. “But I need you to help me out too.” The woman nodded solemnly as did the
women around her. “There’s a healer near the front of the line. Let her know if
you or your children are feeling ill or if you know of anyone who’s too ill to stand
in line. We have a place to treat anyone who’s really unwell. We have to make
sure sicknesses don’t spread while you’re all so crowded here,” she said to the
group of women and children who now surrounded her. “And you must tell the
militia who you are and the name of your man so we can make sure everyone can
be found and helped. We’ll move all of you to a better place as soon as we can,
I promise, but we need to know who you are first.”

“Thank ye again mistress,”
the woman said. “I know ye keep yer promises, I do. If ye don’t mind, will ye
tell me yer name?”

“My name’s Brenna Trewen,
what’s yours?”

“I’m Mistress Ventris,
Brenna Trewen, and I’m right glad to meet you. My man is named Pell, Pell
Ventris. If you see him tell him I said he’s to help you any way he can. He’s a
farmer mostly, but he has a fair hand at building. Helped raise up over ten
barns and houses since I known him.”

“Did he? I’ll make sure
Captain Rowse and Duke Ewart know that,” Brenna said. “They’re in need of men
who can put up a building - the first task for the new recruits will be building
homes for all the families.”

Whispers swirled around
Brenna as she walked among the crowd. Maybe one of the women was connected to
the Brotherhood - why else did the word queen follow her for the rest of the
day? She tried to shrug it off and instead concentrate on getting more stew to
two of the lines but the coronet hidden in her pack echoed the whispers. By the
time the sky had darkened and the stars were visible she was on edge and
restless.

Neemah and Dasid had agreed
to take a boy with an infected foot back to Duke Ewart’s house. The boy’s
mother gathered up her three other children and Neemah herded them through the
crowded streets, trailing after Dasid who carried the boy. Brenna sighed and
ran a hand through her hair. She should leave now as well. It was late and everyone
had been fed and checked by the healers. The women and children were now settling
back onto their small parcels of alley or street.

Brenna visited each of the
healers one more time, grateful that Mother Lryan had been able to send so many
competent women to her on such short notice. Each of the eight women promised
to find her at Duke Ewart’s in the morning. They would be setting up an
infirmary wherever Duke Ewart had found them space.

“I know where the best ale
in town can be had.”

Brenna turned. Kane smiled
at her as he headed towards her. The crowd parted to let him through.

“An ale sounds lovely,”
Brenna sighed and reached for his hand. “But I still have a few more things to
do.”

“They can wait.”

 As Kane pulled her
through the crowd the women they passed nodded and smiled. At a cross road Kane
stopped in front of an older woman who was crouched on the corner, her shawl thrown
around the shoulders of two young girls.

“As you see I found her
Mistress, thanks to you,” Kane said.

“You look after her,” the
woman said. “She’s the type to wear herself out, that one.”

“I know it,” Kane said.
“I’ll do my best to see she gets some rest.” He pulled Brenna past the woman,
who smiled and settled in with her children.

“You’ve made quite an
impression on these folk today,” Kane said.

He led them through the
streets of Silverdale and after being the one who’d been making decisions,
organizing feeding the families and making sure people had what they needed, Brenna
was grateful that all she had to do was follow Kane.

“When I asked around after
you some of them wondered did I mean the young queen.” Kane’s smile flashed
white in the night.

“I heard that too,” Brenna
said. “I don’t know where it started because it certainly wasn’t anything I
said.”

“No, it wouldn’t be,” Kane
said and she heard the humour in his tone. “Ah, here we are.” He stopped in
front of a worn, wooden door.

Brenna didn’t see any sign
that this was a tavern – the street was quiet and only faintly lit and there
was no sign over the door. She hadn’t paid any attention to their path through
the city but she could smell that the river was close by. The building in front
of them looked like a warehouse of some sort.

“Kane, where are we? This
isn’t a tavern.”

“I never said we were
going to a tavern,” he replied. He reached for the door. “Just that I knew
where to find the best ale in town.” He pushed the door open and gestured for
her to enter, following close behind her.

“Well now lass, come in
and sit.” An old man carried a lamp toward her and she smiled at his welcoming
grin. “It ain’t fancy but yer man said you’d never mind that. I tapped a fresh
keg in back.”

Brenna sent Kane a bemused
smile as she followed the man along a short hallway into what could only be a
workroom. She stopped when she saw the wooden animals. Deer and rabbits and
cows and horses and chickens. Every type of animal that she could imagine was
here, carved so carefully that they seemed almost alive.

She picked up a small
kitten, its tail curled around its tiny wooden body. “These are wonderful,” she
said, putting the kitten back down beside a dog that had been caught mid bark.

“I like to carve,” the old
man said.

“Brenna, this is Gwylym.
He’s offered us lumber for building,” Kane said.  “As well as a fine mug of
ale. Master Gwylym meet Brenna Trewen, the Caller.”

“I’m right pleased to meet
ye, Mistress Brenna. I been hearin’ about the Caller for more’n sixty years.
Glad I could wait around for ye.” Gwylym handed her a mug of ale and she took
it gratefully.

“And I’m pleased to meet a
Brother who has been patient for so long.” Brenna sipped her ale and sighed. It
truly was a very fine drink. “And please, call me Brenna. Do you make the ale
as well?” she asked and Gwylym laughed loudly.

“Oh no, not me. I traded some wood
for it. Folks aren’t sure what I got put by in here so they always offer me
their best.”

“Well, it’s very good,”
Brenna said.

“I told you it was,” Kane said
and took a drink from his mug.

Brenna sat quietly on a
wooden stool, content to enjoy her ale and listen as Gwylym and Kane discussed
different woods. It was almost as complex as herbs for healing, she thought as
the old man compared oak and ash by holding up two carved animals. She drained
her mug and closed her eyes for a moment, enjoying the warmth of the small room
and the earthy smells of the wood.

“Here Brenna, let me get
you home.” She opened her eyes to find Kane standing beside her. He took her
mug from her now loose fingers and set it down the table.

“I am tired.” Brenna
smiled past him to Gwylym. “But this was lovely. It was nice to meet you
Gwylym. Your workshop is very soothing. I can see why you would want to spend
your time in here.” Brenna stood and Kane took her hand.

“And I also thank you,
Gwylym,” Kane said. “For the wood and the ale. I’ll send someone over in the
morning to sort the wood. You’ll help won’t you?”

“Aye, I’ll help.” Gwylym
nodded. “Wouldn’t do to use the wrong type of wood for things. I best make sure
it gets done right.”

Brenna followed Kane as he
once again led the way through the streets of Silverdale to Ewart’s house. As
she headed up the stairs to Ewart’s house she looked across the square to the
Church of the One-God. It was dark and looked uninhabited although she knew
that there were priests living there. Ewart had suggested it as a possible
infirmary. If it became the place where they helped the injured and sick it
would be the exact opposite of the church in Kingsreach, where High Bishop
Valden dealt pain and death to his and Duke Thorold’s enemies.

Brenna dodged the women in
glittering dresses and men in fine silk suits as she searched the room for him.
She
had
to talk to him now, before it was too late. She worked her way through
the crowd only to find herself facing a blank wall. Whirling, she headed back
into the crowd. Her palms were sweaty and her heart was beating fast - she
broke into a run. Where was he? He had to be here, he
had
to. She searched
through the crowd for what seemed like hours before she finally spotted the top
of his head. Brenna pushed past the last few people in her way and reached out
to him. But when he turned towards her, her smile died on her lips.

“I told you she’d try to
take everything from you, son.” Duke Thorold stood with his hand on Beldyn’s shoulder,
a smug smile on his face.

Beldyn, wearing the crown
of Soule, looked from his father to Brenna. Then he laughed - a malevolent,
evil laugh that Brenna had never thought to hear from him.

“She’ll get nothing from
me, father.” Beldyn’s gaze settled on her for a moment and then contemptuously slid
away. “I will not step aside for a deceitful witch. I may have trailed after
her when I was young but I don’t need her now.”

Thorold clapped Beldyn on
the shoulder and the two of them laughed together.

As Brenna backed away from
them a wave of despair engulfed her. Her vision changed from the Kingsreach
throne room and the celebration of Beldyn’s coronation to a battlefield.

The sun was just setting
and shadows dotted the field. In shock, Brenna realized that the shadows were
men lying dead in pools of blood. The carnage stretched out as far as she could
see. She turned to run and stumbled. When she looked down she was horrified to
see Neemah’s dead face staring up at her and clutched to her side - the small,
bloody body of her son Ronan. With a cry of despair Brenna tried to run and
found herself clasped in strong arms and held tight against a warm chest.

“Brenna, wake up,” Kane
said gently.

Her heart still racing, she
clutched at him.

“Can you hear me?”

She opened her eyes and
shuddered, struggling to sit up straighter in bed.

“Brenna, are you all
right?”

She felt Kane’s hand on
her cheek as he brushed away her tears.

“I had a dream, a vision.”
She raised her eyes and read the concern in Kane’s. “I must talk to Beldyn as
soon as possible. Everything will go wrong if I don’t.”

“Wrong how?”

“I saw Beldyn and Thorold aligned against me. Beldyn was evil, just like his father. And the war.” She
closed her eyes seeing again the field of bodies. “The war is more terrible
than anything I’ve seen before. So many dead - hundreds, thousands. I must talk
to Beldyn.” She leaned over to the side table and searched for the lamp and
flint. Her hands were shaking so much that she couldn’t strike the flint to
light the lamp.

Gently, Kane took the
flint from her and lit the lamp. She leaned back into him, his steady presence
helping calm her frayed nerves.

“What do you want to do?”
he asked quietly, settling his arms around her and pulling her against his
chest. “Who can help?”

“I need to contact Jemma
and Marcus Brunger and anyone else who may be able to get close enough to
Beldyn in the next few days.” Brenna sighed. “Tonight - right now. I must talk
to Beldyn before the coronation, Kane. After that, it will be too late, I know
it, I
feel
it.”

“All right.” Kane slipped
out of bed and padded over to the hooks on the wall near the foot of the bed.
He took down both of their knives and placed them in the middle of the bed and
sat down opposite her. “I want you to promise you’ll use my strength if you
need to, Brenna.”

She nodded and reached out
and placed her hands on both weapons. With a sigh, Kane did the same.

It had taken a while but
they finally had woken Marcus Brunger. Brenna’s hopes had soared when he’d told
her that the guild was delivering their gifts to Beldyn the next day and that Jemma
was to be one of the bearers. Marcus also promised to have both his daughter
Carolie and Colm there. Each of them would try to tell Beldyn to see Jemma.

Jemma had been easier to
wake.