Secrets at the Keep (Kingdom of Denall Book 2) (10 page)

“And look at you, mayor of Cotham. You see, you are not the same as your father,” Odon reasoned. Caleb seemed confused and didn’t respond. “What has he been doing since he came back?” Odon asked.

“He’s been gathering a group of bandits. They have started a small village down the road,” he pointed to the east toward the ocean.

“Are they robbing travelers?”

“No.”

“Are they stopping caravans from trading in the area?”

“Well, not yet,” Caleb replied in a voice that was starting to seem frustrated.

Odon put an arm around Caleb and began walking with him. “If he is setting up a community where someone who was previously thieving can make an honest living, I think that can only help in this area, don’t you?”

Caleb nodded his head and began talking, but Farin was not able to hear the rest of what he said as Blade clamped his hands over Farin’s ears. “Eavesdropping is rude,” he said.

“I’m sorry,” Farin replied automatically, “but I can’t really help it. I pretty much hear everything that’s going on all the time.”

Blade released his ears. “Then at least try to be subtle about it,” he said with a grin. “Odon’s probably just securing a place for Boon to stay.”

“What?” Farin asked, surprised that Boon would not be traveling with them.

“I thought you heard everything?” Blade taunted. “Boon’s leg injury from the landslide has been acting up, so he’s thinking that he’ll stay here for a while, maybe join with us in the fall at the Lexingar tournaments, or perhaps earlier than that if he can’t stand staying still any longer. Nothing to worry about. Now come over here and help me set up the saddle display.”

“I didn’t think they rode horses much here in the east,” Farin said as he grabbed a saddle to put out for display.

“Compared to the people in the Wollar Plains, that is true, but that is why they will buy saddles from us,” he explained. “In the Wollar Plains, they ride so much that they all know how to repair their own saddles. “Here they mainly use horses for hauling lumber from the forest, and for travel to the other villages. They don’t know much about making good saddles.”

Farin grabbed a barrel filled with arrows he had made and placed them next to the saddle display. “You won’t be selling any of those here,” Blade said as he pulled out some leather patches with strings attached to them. “Here they don’t use bows and arrows; they prefer to use stones and slings. While we’re stopped you should definitely watch them, they are deadly accurate.”

“Stones and slings?” Farin asked in surprise. “Are you joking with me?”

Blade smiled and shook his head, “It’s so funny how people react to different traditions.”

“What do you mean?” Farin asked, not sure how he had gotten on that line of thinking.

“Well you see, here in north eastern Denall the people use slings and stones, but you think that is silly as you use bows in the west. If you ask someone here what they think of the magicians in the far south, they might tell you that magicians don’t exist, or that they have three heads. I’ve been around to most corners of Denall, and everyone’s perception of other regions is different. At this point when someone tells me something about themselves, I’ve just come to accept it.”

“So they seriously use slings and stones?” Farin asked, still not convinced. “How can that even work?”

Blade covered a smile and shook his head slightly. “After you watch them you might change your mind.”

“I doubt that very much,” Farin replied as he set his barrel of arrows down next to his table.

Blade pointed out into the field to a young man about Farin’s age who was coming in their direction. “I bet he can hit three targets quicker with his sling than you can with your bow and arrows.”

Farin looked questioningly at Blade. “Is he the village sling champion or something?”

Blade almost burst out laughing. “Wouldn’t that be nice if the first person walking by just happened to be the best with the sling? Would you prefer I ask someone else? Oh, there is a young girl way over there, perhaps she is a better match for you.”

Farin gave Blade a playful shove. “Fine, I’ll accept your challenge. What are we betting for?”

“When I win,” Blade began, “You’ll set up all my supplies exactly as I dictate.

“Sounds fair,” Farin replied. “But when I win, you will do the morning run with Angela and me - one day for every arrow I sell while I’m here.”

Blade immediately stuck out his hand to shake on the deal. “You’re not going to sell any arrows, and you’re not going to win this bet. This is a no-brainer.”

Farin greeted the young man as he made his way through the assembled caravans. “Hello, my name is Farin.”

“Hello, I’m Ethem,” he replied quickly, then he returned to looking at the wares.

“Do you happen to have a sling with you?” Farin asked. He normally did not bother customers as they shopped, but he wanted to get the bet over with.

“Yes I actually already do have one I use all the time, I’m not interested in buying a sling today,” he responded quickly while holding his hand up.

Farin was a little discouraged by his response, as he did not use his bow every day, but he had already agreed to the match. “I’m actually not trying to sell you anything,” Farin answered, “I have a bit of a challenge for you.”

“That sounds interesting,” Ethem said, coming to a stop. “Will this challenge cost me anything?”

“No,” Farin reassured. “I just have a bet going with my mentor here,” he pointed back at Blade, “on who can hit three targets quicker. You with your sling, or me with my bow.”

Ethem smiled and pulled three rocks from a pack at his side. “That’s not really a fair bet,” he began. “Blade knows I’m one of the best with the sling in this village, and you look more like a swordsman than an archer, am I right?”

Farin turned to his mentor who was leaning back on a chair with his feet up on a stool waving at the young man. “Hi Ethem, it’s great to see you,”

Farin glared at the older man before returning to his conversation. Perhaps, he thought, if he made the targets farther away it would give him an advantage with the bow. “Yes the sword is my first weapon, but I grew up using a bow. So what do you say? Are you up for the challenge?”

“What’s in it for me?” he asked, stepping back with his arms crossed over his chest.

“The satisfaction of winning?” Farin suggested tentatively.

Ethem shook his head and looked to Blade for a better answer. Blade stood up and slowly joined the two young men. “Ethem, I’ll give you, free of charge, a pouch filled with stones you can use in your sling.”

“Nice try!” Ethem replied. “How about a new sling for my nephew? He’d be thrilled if I came home with it.”

“I’ll knock the price down by one third if you win, but if you lose, you will pay full price. Do we have a deal?” Ethem stretched out his hand and shook Blade’s enthusiastically.

Farin was amazed at how the older man had secured a sale whether he won the bet or not. The Algernon’s were fierce negotiators. “I’ll go ahead and set up the targets,” he said as he grabbed some leather scraps from Blade’s wagon.

“You can set up one, Ethem can set up one, and I’ll set up the third,” Blade said, grabbing the leather from Farin. “That way things are fair.”

“It’s not really fair,” Ethem countered. “You benefit if Farin wins.”

Farin tapped Ethem on the shoulder, “He also benefit’s if you win, trust me.”

Ethem began laughing. “You are a shrewd trader, Blade. Shrewd.”

With the targets set up, Farin was beginning to question his chances for success, he was also nervous as there was a crowd gathering to see what was happening. Ethem set up his target at about ten paces away, Farin’s target was back at about twenty paces, and Blade’s was about twelve paces behind them in the opposite direction from the other targets. Ethem expertly swung his sling around his head, like nothing Farin had ever seen before. He experimentally pulled his bowstring, hoping that his training with Blade would somehow help to increase his speed with archery.

“Fire!” Blade called out.

Farin drew his bow and started by taking out his target that was twenty paces away, he could see Ethem beside him casting a stone from his sling. He drew another arrow and shot it into the target Ethem had set up, and was surprised to see Ethem easily hitting the leather that he had set up twenty paces away. Farin spun quickly while drawing his bow, but as he focused in on the leather Blade had set up, it rippled as Ethem’s stone hit it.

Farin released the tension on the bow slowly, not even taking his final shot. “Well done!” he said, extending a hand to Ethem. “Great job!”

Ethem shook Farin’s hand and patted him on the back. “That was fun, we should do it again.”

“I’d love to, but it’ll have to be another time. It seems there is a crowd here around Blade’s wagon, and now I need to set up all his supplies.” Farin returned to the wagon and began unloading Blade’s wares as the older man joked with the people who were gathered around and, true to his word, sold Ethem a discounted sling for his nephew.

After two weeks of trading in Cotham, the Algernon’s turned their wagons west, heading toward Kinstock on their way to Omer’s realm.

In the morning P and Kaz left the others in order to scout around the keep. If they were lucky, they might see their targets and be able to form a plan of attack. “So how long have you had the Hearing Stone?” Kaz asked in his most casual tone.

“I was wondering when you would ask me more about it,” P responded. “I acquired it from a man I once knew.”

Kaz looked expectantly. “I think you can give me a little more information than that.”

“I told you that I was on this mission for redemption.” Kaz nodded. “I have done a lot of things in my life that I regret. Taking that stone from my father was not one of them.”

The look of hatred in her eyes suggested to Kaz that there was much more to the story than she was sharing, but it also told him to drop the issue. “Other than hearing magic things, how does it help your hearing?”

P was silent and looked like she was considering what she would say. “Do you know how you can focus your sight over long distances?” Kaz nodded. “Sound works like that too. I can direct my hearing to a conversation that is happening far away.

“I can see almost twice as far using the stone,” Kaz told her.

“Right, I can do that too, but the really amazing part is that I learned how to focus on two conversations, then more and more. I’ve never heard of anyone else being able to do that, so I think it’s probably connected to the stone.”

Kaz nodded, he knew that seeing clearly at night was something he was only able to do with the help of the Sight Stone. He wondered if there was more to his gift, other hidden things that he could do while using the stone. He had tried several times to see a magic aura around objects, but so far that had only led to headaches and disappointment. “So how far can you hear?”

“I can hear as far as I could ever want to and through almost any substance.” She made a very subtle smile of satisfaction at this declaration.

“I bet I can see farther than you can hear,” Kaz challenged.

“You're on!” She smiled at him, and for a moment he thought he saw past her hard exterior.

As they came within sight of the keep Kaz focused in on the guards on the tower. “The blue-eyed guard seems to be the most dangerous,” he said as their private challenge began.

“He might be the best with the crossbow, but he's too busy talking with his cat to notice if we move.”

Kaz looked at P, doubt written all over his face. “There is no way you can know…” Just then the man bent over and picked up a mangy-looking tabby cat.

“I guess I win that round,” P said, as she continued to search their surroundings.

“Where do you think we'll see these advisors?” Kaz asked. “And what will they look like?”

P shrugged. “I imagine they will be pale white from being inside all day long.”

“If they're inside all the time how are we going to see them?” Kaz said, as he looked at the thick stone walls before him.

“That kind of question will only lead to another round for me. Can't you see through rock walls?” She snorted a laugh and turned to face the walls.

Kaz silently continued to scan the surroundings, but could only see the regular contingent of guards. With his new found encouragement, he tried to see if he could see through the wall. He honed in on the wall, a specific part of the wall, a certain stone and then on a grain of sand that was sitting on the top edge of the stone. He concentrated so hard on that speck that he felt his pulse begin to race and his head begin to pound. He knew that this was the point where he usually worked himself into a headache, but he forced himself to strain harder. He almost screamed when P placed a hand lightly on his arm.

“You're doing it all wrong,” she said to him.

“What are you talking about?”

“I can see your eyes about to pop out of your head, you're straining too much. I used to do the same thing when I was first learning how to use to the Hearing Stone.” Then she took a breath and tried to explain. “When you focus your vision it narrows to a point.” Kaz nodded to her statement. “If you focus on that point you will only ever see to that point. For me to hear through the walls I focus on the entire wall, then I search for any cracks that will let out sound and I almost piece together all that is coming out of the different parts.”

“I'm not sure I understand,” Kaz said. Then he added, “I think hearing may be different than sight. There aren't spots of light coming out of the walls, and even if they were, I couldn't piece them together to make a picture of the inside of a room.”

“You're right.” She was silent for a moment and then tried a different strategy. “Try focusing on the back end of the keep. If your focal point is beyond the wall maybe that will work.”

Kaz was up for anything at this point and very optimistic about the prospect of seeing through walls, so he picked a target beyond the wall, a tall evergreen on the far side of the keep. The tree was half covered by the edge of the eastern wall, so he would be able to focus on the tree while looking at the keep. He concentrated and tried to look beyond the keep. The result was amazing. As he focused on the tree, the wall came racing into sight with such clarity that he had not been able to see before. He could see the grain of sand he had previously been watching, but he could also see that it was not an actual piece of sand but the flat edges and white color suggested it was instead a grain of salt. The flat edges of the grain of salt reflected the sunlight.

“How's that coming?” P asked, as she continued to scan the levels of the castle.

“If you're so great at listening through walls, why haven't you found him yet?” Kaz countered.

“I can't hear much beyond the first hallway, so I'm listening to fifteen different partial conversations trying to hear if there is anything noteworthy. Also the sound through stone is somewhat muffled, so it isn't exactly like being next to them.”

“Sorry,” Kaz said. “I did find that if I focus on something twice as far as what I want to see I can widen my focus and increase the detail of what I see at a distance.”

“Now I'm confused,” P admitted.

“It's hard to explain,” Kaz replied. “I can see the reflection off a grain of salt out on the stone walls.”

“I think this round goes to you,” P said, clearly impressed. Then she paused for a minute. “Did you say you could see a reflection?”

“Yeah, the sun was reflecting off the salt. Why do you ask?”

“Reflections can go around corners,” she said with a smile.

Kaz began a second scan of all the arrow slits in the stone wall. On the first floor he could see nothing but partial tapestries. The second floor brought him some more luck. There was a shield on the wall that was curved. Kaz looked at the shield and could make out no details. “There is a shield on the second floor it has a reflection, but I can't make out what it is.”

P gave him a gentle reminder. “Are you looking at the reflection, or beyond it?”

“Right,” said Kaz. “It's not easy to focus on a small object while trying to fool your eyes into looking at something beyond.” He refocused on the tree beyond the keep and then looked over to the arrow slit. This worked very well. He could see down the hall to the left about twenty feet.

“What can you hear from that level?” Kaz asked.

“There is a scratching noise, like a mouse or rat or something small.”

“This round goes to me,” Kaz said with a smile. “A maid is rubbing a stain from the rug.”

The pair continued scanning hallways on the east side of the keep and although it was good practice for expanding their sight and hearing, it did little to help them find the advisors. Around noon the maids picked up their cleaning supplies and disappeared and all the guards began to stand a little taller. Kaz looked to P and she nodded for him to keep a sharp eye out. Before long, a tall man dressed in dark plate mail stepped outside the keep followed by a small contingent of guards.

Kaz ducked down behind a rock and looked over at P. “Is that Omer?” he asked as the man walked around surveying the grounds.

P looked down on the small group of men, and pulled Kaz back out from behind the rock. “He wants us to think it is,” P responded. “But he’s shorter than the man in the dark armor.”

“Are you saying he's a decoy?” Kaz asked.

“That's right. Omer is the man just to the left of the man wearing his armor. Hopefully, he thinks that he is the target, then his advisors will be more vulnerable.”

Kaz looked down at the group, the man P indicated was short, but there were several other guards who were just as short. “How do you know what he looks like at this distance?” Kaz asked.

“Very few people alive have ever actually seen Omer,” P began. “Omer is a very cautious man and he knows that he has many enemies.”

“I thought he was a powerful baron, favored of the king?” Kaz asked surprised.

“That’s true,” P conceded. “The king, and many of the nobility like him very much. He throws elaborate parties, shares with them his wine and gives them a place to stay if they are traveling through his realm, but the lesser nobles, merchants, businessmen and anyone who is lower class has good reason to hate him. He swindles them constantly, and, as you know, doesn’t really provide the protection they need.”

“So he hides who he is constantly so he can take advantage of the less fortunate and escape the consequences?”

“That about sums it up. He rarely leaves his keep and when he feels his enemies are watching he always has a double act in his place. His advisors, his personal maid and his immediate family are the only ones who know for certain what Omer actually looks like.” Almost inaudibly, P shared a secret with Kaz that shocked him. “I know what he looks like because that man tried to claim the Hearing Stone. And I can identify him at this distance because he walks with a limp I gave him on the day I took back my stone and left his keep.”

“What? You want me to kill your father?” Kaz asked, completely shocked by the revelation. He sat back down behind the rock and put his bow on the ground.

“No,” P said firmly. “I'm going to kill him. I want you to kill his advisors, and then we'll plan how to best overrun the fortress and give freedom to the people of Hess, and end the oppression in this realm.”

Kaz held his head not sure how to process all that was happening. He knew he wanted to help the people in Hess. He also knew first hand how terrible Omer’s men could be. He wanted to stop them, but was beginning to question P’s closeness to Omer and the entire situation. “So how did he get that limp?” Kaz asked seeing how he was walking.

“Before I left with my stone I threw one of my knives at him. I tried to make sure I wouldn’t have any more half siblings born to chambermaids and slaves, but I missed. It struck his leg. It really is a shame too,” she remarked, “I liked that knife. Any more questions?”

“You know I’m always filled with at least one or twelve,” Kaz replied with a smile.

“I’ll give you two,” she countered.

Kaz asked in a quiet and somber tone. “What happened to your mother?”

“She was a lesser noblewoman from Pike Point. She married Omer as part of an alliance between Omer and her parents that helped him get some business and political connections in Pike Point. When her parents died, Omer took over their business completely, and my mother was no longer needed for any of his plans. Let's just say that this trip is not just for my redemption, it's also for revenge.” With that P looked down at the man to whom she owed her existence and her countenance darkened.

“I’m really sorry,” Kaz said trying to comfort her, though he knew his words would not bring peace to her. She was determined to get revenge, and nothing else would suffice. “So what happened to you when your mom died?”

“He thought that when I was of age, I could marry some nobleman and help him get more established. You see, right now he is powerful, but men with power always want more. So he kept me around. And that ends your questions,” she concluded. “Time to get back to work,” she said pointing down at the keep.

Kaz focused in on the group that were walking around the grounds. There were several guards holding spears, and shields marching in a protective circle around Omer. The decoy walked in the lead, with the limping Omer directly behind him. Surrounding the man P called Omer, were several people who looked like noblemen trailing behind. “P, I think his advisors are walking right behind him.”

“Why do you say that?” P asked, trying to see the two men walking closest to Omer.

“Do you see how he steps back from time to time and they gather around to speak with him?” Kaz pointed down at the group.

“I can't make out that kind of detail at this distance,” she answered. “Do you think you could hit them from here?”

“That shouldn't be a problem. The trick is getting both of them with kill shots before they retreat back into the keep.”

“If we wait until they are far away from the gate, then you can shoot one of them and then the other while they are running back to the keep. Could you make that shot?”

“I think it might be best to wait till I can get the two lined up. They are wearing soft silk clothing, no armor so the shot should go through the first into the second.”

“So you think you can kill them both in a single shot?” P asked, incredulously.