Raven's Hand (14 page)

“We have little choice but to take the sword
to Prince Nathan,” Radden answered finally. “I would chastise you
for allowing such a thing to happen, but the fact is there is
nothing you could have done differently. Who are we to defy Eliam
or his priestess?”

Killian smiled with relief. “You don’t know
how badly I wanted to mention that point. I just didn’t want to
seem impertinent about it.”

“I know,” Radden said. “Something is
happening here that we just don’t understand. Still, the prince is
expecting a sword to be delivered.”

“Alternate sword made at breakneck speed?”
Killian offered reluctantly.

Radden slapped his palm down heavily upon the
work bench. “And I’m sure the prince would accept shoddy
craftsmanship,” he said in frustration. “A sword like that takes
time and tender-loving-care to produce. You know that as well as I
do, and we have no time.”

“I know, Father,” Killian said. “I’m just
desperate. This could harm our family, and that’s the last thing I
want to happen.”

Radden sighed heavily, relaxing upon his
stool again. “The fact is Eliam has done this for some purpose. We
don’t know what it is, but I doubt very much that he means to use
this as some way to destroy our family. If we trust Eliam like we
claim, then we must also believe that he will reveal his purpose in
due time. He must already know what recourse we have and don’t
have.”

“So, we take the sword to the palace and see
what comes of it?” Killian asked.

Radden nodded. “I can think of nothing
else.”

Morning was already well on the rise when we
stopped again. Kane’s horse began to graze and drink from a pond
off the road while the assassin and I attended to our own needs. As
much as I would have liked to go to Killian, I would not attempt to
escape again. I had no chance of making it with Kane around.

Little did I know that the assassin had
already noticed the Cindermen tracking us. There was never a moment
when he did not know what I was up to. He just wasn’t concerned
that I might actually get away from him.

As far as Killian was concerned, I had no
idea where he was, or even if he had survived the night. The man
with the eye patch, along with his men, may have killed my love
while he slept in his bed. That thought prompted a tear to roll
down my cheek. This was not the first one I had shed tonight for
Killian.

I was tempted to wonder why I should care so
much for a man that I had never met before. However, I knew in my
heart that our meetings in my dreams were not mere flights of fancy
in the night. We had truly met and danced and loved. Killian was
real. He could not be so different in life than he was in my
dreams, could he?

Kane appeared from behind a group of bushes,
walking toward me. “We are near Rainier,” he said.

I glared at him, but I did not speak to the
man. My look might have seemed proud, but I was trembling inside.
The Malkind spirit’s presence was pervasive. I knew that I could
not overcome it by my own power. I was quite certain Kane knew the
same thing.

A woman suddenly appeared between us in the
clearing where we had stopped to refresh ourselves. Her image
seemed spectral for a few moments before gathering resolution. I
immediately understood what was happening. Evelyn had sent her
visage traveling to find her servant.

Back at the palace, whatever room she
happened to be standing in would have taken on the appearance of
this glade. The effect was not the same for us, however, since our
images were not traveling. We only saw her.

In seconds, Evelyn’s form solidified, in
every detail appearing just like she was in person. Even her image
was unsettling to me, bringing back terrible memories of her
torturing me inside my room at the abbey. I shivered as her
traveling form turned to look at me.

She sighed noticeably when she saw me. “Good,
you’ve kept her alive,” she said, turning back to Kane.

It said something to me that Evelyn didn’t
appear to be the least bit intimidated by the assassin. She knew
her role as queen. Kane was her servant. He knew this as well. His
demeanor before the woman was humility itself. He didn’t have to
serve her, but he chose to.

“Yes, my queen,” Kane responded. “We were
tracked by a group of Cindermen for a time.”

Her brow raised slightly at this.

“I disposed of them,” Kane added.

Evelyn’s composure returned to severely
reserved. “Very good,” she said, which I supposed was as wonderful
a compliment as the woman had ever bestowed. “I suspected Judah and
his brutes would be watching the abbey. Only the blessing of Eliam
kept them from attacking it outright.”

“Holy ground,” Kane added in a somewhat
delicate manner.

“Yes, I suppose,” Evelyn replied
distractedly. “At any rate, this girl, as unfortunate a choice as
she is, is my only recourse. We must have her here at the palace
for the bonding ceremony in two days’ time.”

“The Prince’s sword is ready?” Kane
asked.

“I’ve only just received word by courier,”
she reported. “The bladesmith will arrive today with the weapon. I
want you back at the palace later today, as well. In fact, I’ve
placed a garrison outside the South Gate that will accompany you
inside the wall and on to the palace.”

“Only the one garrison at the one gate?” he
asked.

“I’m not a simpleton,” she retorted. “I have
a battalion at each gate, waiting. The Cindermen will not know
which gate you arrive at. By the time they realize, you’ll already
be inside the wall and safe.”

“Of course, my queen.”

Evelyn turned from her servant then, looking
sternly at me now. “Well,” she said, “I hope you realize the
opportunity you’ve been afforded here. Thanks to the Cindermen, you
are my last resort. I trust you have learned your lesson finally
and will behave yourself in a dignified manner as is befitting your
station.”

Inside, I glared at her with every ounce of
venom I could muster. However, outwardly, I remained subservient. I
did not wish to undergo any more of her
lessons
. Nothing
good could come of my rebellion now. Yet, my vision of Killian had
filled me with hope. He was out there somewhere, waiting for me to
find him. All was not lost.

I nodded and said nothing.

Evelyn didn’t seem happy. She glowered at me,
but then finally nodded in return, seemingly satisfied. As long as
I did what I was told, she didn’t care about how I felt. In fact,
my feelings were the least concern she had. I was nothing more than
a tool to her, a means toward assuring her son a great deal of
power—power that was necessary if House Rainier was going to
survive the coming months.

Turning back to Kane, she said, “One of my
armored carriages awaits your arrival at the gate. See that Raven
is interred before another move is made. Her safety must be assured
for the sake of my son and House Rainier. Let there be no further
delays. Time is of the essence.”

With her final command issued, Evelyn’s image
vanished from the clearing. No farewells; not even for her servant.
I looked at him. He flashed me a feral grin.

“You’re no different than I am,” I said to
him.

“No?” he replied impishly.

I glared at him in a somewhat self-satisfied
way. “You’re a servant to House Rainier just like I am.”

His eyes narrowed, showing teeth in his grin
now. “But I don’t have to bond with the prince, or spend my nights
in his bedchamber.”

Kane’s remark deflated me instantly. He was
right. Despite being a servant to Evelyn, he did have a measure of
freedom. He was not humiliated by her, but prized. I was a prize
for a completely different reason. I would be forced to bond with
Nathan, meaning that, at least once, he would bed me as part of the
ritual that made us one in body and spirit. I would belong to him
and be forever under his control and the control of whatever woman
became his queen. She would become Mistress of the House when
Evelyn stepped down. She would be a queen, while I remained a
slave.

Kane smiled broadly now, seeing the effect
his words had on me. He gestured toward the black stallion waiting
for us to climb back onto its saddle. The rest of the journey could
not be long enough for me. When it ended, I would be placed inside
Evelyn’s locked carriage, like a diamond inside a jewelry box. When
it opened again, I would face my fate with Prince Nathan.

Killian and his father had attempted to do
the right thing with regard to the waiting prince. A courier had
been dispatched immediately that morning in order to convey their
sincerest apologies for any delay felt by His Royal Highness and to
let him know that they would soon arrive with the sword in hand.
However, before they could make ready for their journey to the
palace, a contingent of royal guards arrived with orders to escort
them to the palace where Prince Nathan and his mother, the queen,
would receive them.

A dozen guards rode before them in the livery
of House Rainier. Dark gray breeches with navy shirts and white
gloves. The soldiers wore leather-bound plate armor capped with
polished steel plating at the breast and the back. Swords hung at
their sides and short spears hung in special holsters attached to
the horses’ saddles.

Half a dozen soldiers rode at both sides, and
another dozen rode behind Killian and his father. The men and their
captain were noticeably tense. They carried on as though an attack
was imminent. Yet, they were riding inside the city walls—walls
that were said to be impregnable.

“Isn’t this a bit like overkill?” Killian
whispered toward his father riding next to him. “We’re only
delivering a sword.”

“But not just any sword,” Radden said. “This
is the sword of a king, blessed by Eliam himself.”

“Still,” Killian observed, “We’re behind the
wall.”

“Which should tell us something,” Radden
said. “Something is wrong. The soldiers know it. The queen isn’t
taking any chances…”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning something must have happened that we
don’t know about,” Radden said.

Killian straightened in his saddle. His
father had allowed him to ride Esmeralda today, and her anxiety was
filtering through to him. She didn’t like this whole situation any
more than they did, causing Killian to believe even more that
trouble lay just around the corner.

They lapsed into silence as their procession
continued down Halifax Way. The boulevard had been named after one
of House Rainier’s previous kings. He had been a great general of
his day and had fought valiantly to hold onto control of the
kingdom. At least, that’s the way it was told in Rainier and cities
under House Rainier’s sovereignty. The story was markedly different
when told elsewhere.

The captain called for their group to halt.
Killian and Radden stopped their horses as the soldiers came up
short around them. Up ahead, another column of soldiers was
approaching by way of the intersecting King’s Road. Their numbers
were far greater than in Killian and Radden’s escort group. Theirs
would defer until the other passed.

An officer from among the larger group came
upon a white mare to stop beside Killian’s escort captain. They
conferred briefly, and then the officer rejoined his group. Killian
noticed an armored carriage that appeared to be the centerpiece of
the battalion’s attention.

“We’ll join their group on the tale end,” the
captain called back to them.

Killian glanced sidelong at his father.
“What’s wrong?”

Radden’s eyes darted around to nearby
buildings and homes lining the boulevard. “I don’t like this,” he
said. “It’s not good stopping. This would be the perfect time for
an enemy force to attack.”

“With a battalion of soldiers marching by?”
Killian asked with a little chuckle. “Who would be so foolish?”

“Someone who knows how we think…who is
counting on us believing only a great fool would dare attack
now.”

Killian swallowed hard. His father’s words
caused him to reconsider the matter. Could he be right? The queen
had sent an armed escort for the prince’s sword. This battalion
appeared to be marching with only a single armored carriage. And
who was inside that carriage that was considered to be so important
as to warrant such an expenditure of manpower?

Certainly, it couldn’t be the queen. She and
the prince were supposed to be waiting to receive them and Nathan’s
sword. That thought—Nathan’s sword—moved vomit up into Killian’s
throat. He sighed heavily against the sudden nausea and forced the
thought of giving the sword away out of his mind. Still, who could
it be inside that carriage who was so important?

Esmeralda grew impatient beneath him as the
carriage passed through the intersection. The battalion marched on
beside and behind—soldiers on horses with broadswords, while others
walked along carrying spears. The men seemed alert, but lacked the
kind of nervous energy present in their own escort.

At last, the final soldiers passed before
them on foot. The captain of Killian’s escort motioned for their
group to proceed. The horses moved forward as one and joined with
the battalion at the rear. Over a block away, the top of the
armored carriage was barely visible among a forest of silver-tipped
spears and blue and silver flags bearing the standard of House
Rainier.

Killian watched now with Radden, leaving his
doubts about the wisdom of an attack behind. His father had once
been a soldier. He knew the kind of tactics an enemy might use in a
situation like this.

Still, nothing happened. Other than
pedestrian traffic skirting by the procession of soldiers, there
was no one else around. Citizens of Rainier were naturally curious
about the parade and the carriage. After all, they had seen their
king and queen travel these boulevards with escorts. They liked to
pause in their daily activities to watch. Nothing was out of the
ordinary.