Sworn To Secrecy: Courtlight #4 (28 page)

As she reached for Christian, she feared he was dead.

“He’s alive,” said Thanar in relief. “He’s alive.”

She choked back a sob and struggled to stand as Lillian rushed over.

“Are you all right?” her mother asked.

“Thanks to Thanar and Christian,” Ciardis responded.

Lillian nodded grimly in thanks to the daemoni prince who held the
koreschie
in his arms.

Turning around Ciardis looked for Sebastian. He stood in the distance. Turned away from her. Her first thought was,
He still can’t be so angry that he wouldn’t come when I woke.
Worry for his health and hurt for his rebuttal cut her. But then she opened her mind and she felt his horror. Something was wrong.

Stumbling at first as she struggled to gain her footing on the slick cobblestones, she rushed over to his side. With a gasping breath she halted at his shoulder and stared down at the body she hadn’t been able to see from a distance.

On the ground, with a sword by her side, her face solemn and grave, lay Stephanie—companion, friend, and trusted ally. Dead from an assassin’s blow. Tears sprang to Ciardis’s eyes as the others shuffled up to surround their fallen friend. Ciardis was only grateful that Christian was unconscious and couldn’t see his friend had fallen to a deathblow.

Caemon was the first to speak. “We can’t stay here. On the streets. There may be more coming.”

No one moved.

Until Sebastian spoke. “I’ll carry her. Ciardis, you take her horse.”

Nothing more was said as they mounted back up and rode away in the distance, the wagon forgotten and their bloodied foes bodies lying dead in the street behind them.

“Where are we going?” Ciardis asked.

“To the underground city,” responded Caemon from where he rode his gelding beside her.

She was tired. She was wet. And she felt heartsick over Stephanie. His answer was enough. She didn’t want to know more. She glanced up occasionally to see Thanar flying ahead of them with Christian safely in his arms.

As they reached the northern quadrant of the city, Sebastian turned down a narrow alleyway. As Ciardis followed unease grew in her. The pathway wasn’t really an alley, as it sloped farther and farther down until the buildings and even the city streets were far above their heads. When they reached a stone-crafted entrance at the end of the canyon-like depression in the ground she stared in wonder. A massive black metal gate stood before them. As Sebastian kicked his stallion forward, he raised his hand and called on his connection to the land. The gates swung smoothly open with the whisper of the wind.

They had to cross a shallow stream to enter and Ciardis could swear she saw faces in the water as they passed. Maybe an effect of the concussion from before.

As they entered the dark underground surface, light flared and she had to shield her eyes. When she lowered her hand, she saw dozens of faces before them. Each person had a pike and shield in their grip. All were armored in silence. But she didn’t despair. Because at the head of that armored group were two faces that she felt nothing but relief at seeing.

Garbed in the attire of the people of Panen, Terris and Meres strode forward carrying lighted torches in their hands. As the gate clanged shut behind them, Ciardis reached down from her horse to clasp her best friend’s hands. She wanted to speak. She was about to speak. But instead she tumbled from her horse unconscious to fall into Terris’s arms without a word.

When Ciardis awoke the next morning, she had a moment to wonder where they were. A sloped hard ceiling of red rock was just above her head. She scrambled out of the nook only to see Terris walking toward her with a bowl in her hands and a welcoming expression on her face.

Straightening and standing, Ciardis greeted her. “It’s been a long time.”

“Too long,” Terris said while holding up the bowl. “Hot soup?”

“Gladly,” responded Ciardis.

As she sat on the ground cross-legged, Terris watched her devour the offering.

“The prince heir told us what happened to you on your way here,” Terris said sympathetically. “I’m sorry about Stephanie.”

Ciardis grimaced as regret filled her. “So am I.”

“You know this isn’t the end,” Terris said quietly as she took the finished bowl and handed Ciardis a washcloth. “If the duke was brazen enough to attack your group in the streets of Sandrin, he won’t stop there.”

“Do we know it was him?” Ciardis asked numbly.

Terris raised a sarcastic eyebrow. “I’ve been here less than eight hours and even I know that. You have many enemies, my friend, but this seems to be among the worst of them.”

Bitterly, Ciardis said, “I guess I’ll have to kill him, too.”

Shock flashed across Terris’s face before she stood hesitantly. “I’ll let you get dressed. The others are waiting in the main hall.”

Ciardis looked up, wishing she could take her words back just to wipe the look of horror from her friend’s face. But knowing at the same time that she meant every word that she had said.

“The main hall?” she asked instead as a headache came on.

Terris pointed her chin to the lighted door in the distance. “Just that way.” Her braids clinked with every movement of her head. It was a pleasant sound. More suited to the Ameles Forest with its brilliant and verdant people than the dark city streets of Sandrin, but Ciardis wouldn’t chide her for it. The sound brought to mind happiness. A small light in the darkness.

She quickly wiped as much grime as she could from her face and body while using the bucket Terris had left behind and changed into the simple attire that had been left with her. One feel of her hand through her sticky, dirty hair led her to declare it a disaster. She combed as much of the dirt out of it as possible and wrapped into it in a head cloth with the hope that she could get to a bathhouse sooner rather than later. In her mind she chuckled.
Could be worse. It could be caked in blood
.

With a sigh, she followed the sounds of the others’ voices to see everyone standing in a loose group surrounding Prince Heir Sebastian. She came to stand by her mother, unsure of her welcome by Sebastian’s side.

“We accept your aid, Lord Kinsight, and welcome it,” said Sebastian.

“The underground city is protected on all sides from both magical and physical attacks,” said Lord Meres firmly. “The only way in and out is the gate through which we came—protected by alloyed metals and the Stin river.”

“River?” said Ciardis. “Does he mean that creek we crossed?”

“Yes,” her mother responded. “It may seem small, but it has a veritable history as a protective barrier for the imperial family.”

“Then we are safest here,” responded Sebastian while clasping Meres’s arm in thanks.

Meres gripped Sebastian’s arm hard in return. “I only wish to serve. If I had known that your own personal militia was depleted in the northern war, I would have come sooner.”

“Depleted?” whispered Ciardis to Caemon.

Quietly he told her, “Every noble from the emperor to the smallest baron has his or her own private army. Those who serve them, answer to their lords and ladies alone, although the emperor is allowed to call on his vassals for aid. The prince heir didn’t have the greatest militia in the first place, with the calls at court ranging from those who wanted to displace him at best, kill him at worst, before you arrived on the scene. Then he took what he had left to the northern campaign and called for more from his reserves which he left under Lord Crassius’s command.”

“Oh,” Ciardis said as she realized. “How do you know all this?”

“I spoke to him about his thoughts on the Algardis Empire’s steps taken in the northern campaign. He explained that he ordered his men to establish a fallback boundary on our side of the northern gate of Ban, where the forces amass to enter Algardis, with Lord Crassius in command. No more excursions into Sarvinia are going to take place as a result.”

“Why?” Ciardis asked.

“Why what? Why establish the boundary?”

“No, that’s clear. Why did you ask?”

Caemon turned to her in exasperation. “Because it’s important to me. And you would know this if you bothered to spend time with anyone else besides that blasted daemoni prince.”

Ciardis stiffened, “I wasn’t—”

Caemon held up a hand and lightly touched her wrist. “It’s not my place to judge, Ciardis. But your affair with the dark one is tearing our group apart. We don’t need this when we’re fighting for our lives. You need to choose and choose quickly. I’d tell you which one I’d pick, but I doubt you would want to hear it.”

Ciardis said, “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“I think I have a fair clue.”

A voice interrupted their harsh discussion like a scythe cutting through wheat.

“Ciardis,” said Sebastian from the center of the group. “What do you think of the plan to go directly to the emperor’s court?”

Ciardis raised her head and stepped forward. “How safe would we possibly be? The duke could attack any time we leave this underground city.”

“There are no guarantees,” said Meres, “even with my men. We can get you there and back safely but it would leave us vulnerable. And is it well-known that the duke has a well-armed and large militia backing him.”

The sound of a buzz echoed throughout the cavern. Puzzled, Ciardis turned, “What was that?”

Sebastian didn’t bother explaining. To a foot soldier he announced, “To the gate—see who approaches.”

Looking one to the other they waited as he and four other soldiers ran off.

When he came back, he had news.

“The emperor has sent an emissary,” the man announced, “Safe passage to the magistrate’s court, where the trial of Lillian Weathervane will commence.”

Thanar mumbled something about ‘bullshit’ from where he stood.

“On this my father’s word is law,” said Sebastian firmly. “None will chance this and bring the wrath of the emperor’s blade down on their heads.”

And so it was settled. They left their citadel for the magistrate’s court.

A
s they emerged from their temporary citadel, the bright rays of the sun shone down on them. Nary had a cloud appeared in the sky, which was strange considering all the random weather they’d experienced the day before. Ciardis thought that the sky would at least be overcast. But then again she wasn’t going to complain, either. Maybe it meant the emperor was in a better mood today; she needed all the luck she could get.

Today was her mother’s trial. Today was the day she needed to convince the emperor of everything she had found and make sure he didn’t execute her mother and brother, as well. As she mounted her horse and they rode toward the palace proper, she looked in the eyes of the people on the streets. As they saw their party riding forth under the guard of the emperor’s own men, street chatter ceased and the city denizens cleared a somber path. Only the clopping of their horses’ hooves on the cobblestone path disturbed the silence, and in many ways the ride through crowds of silent, damning faces was even more eerie than the previous night’s gallop through deserted streets.

Ciardis knew that the people standing in the streets, climbing the fountains, and peering down from shuttered windows had heard about their fight with the duke’s assassins. How could they not know? People would have seen. Word would have spread. The question was what thoughts ran behind their silently judging eyes? Did they think their prince heir and his group deserved retribution for the slaughter? Should they be lauded for defending themselves? It was impossible to tell.

She left out an audible sigh of relief when they entered the palace gates and were able to dismount in a courtyard empty except for stable hands, who quickly took their steeds away for a good feed and brush down. Taking off her gloves, she looked to Prince Heir Sebastian.

“I thought we were to go to the magistrate’s court?”

He shook his head mutely, still not looking at her. “All trials overseen by my father are held in his personal criminal courts. Your mother will be tried and punished in front of her peers.”

“Very well,” she said stiffly.

Still he didn’t glance over. His mind was closed to. She couldn’t hear his thoughts or feel his emotions. Hell, she hadn’t even known that he possessed the ability to block her like that.

Frustrated, worried, and tired she rushed after him, leaving their companions a few feet behind, and deliberated stepped to stand in front of him. Blocking his way with her fists clenched by her side, her face was fierce under the wrapped cloth that bound her hair. “Is this really how it’s going to be? You’re going to ignore me except for the courtesies demanded?”

Sebastian gave her a cold look.

“What about your promise?” she demanded. “Did you not say you would stand by my side?”

“Am I not here?” he said softly with steel in his voice.

“Your body may be here. Your mind may be here. But your heart lies miles away,” Ciardis snarled.

Sebastian responded in kind, “You lost the ability to command my heart when you gave yours to another.”

He stepped past her with his cloak billowing in the wind.

She whirled around. “Just like that you’re giving up? You would deny what we are to each other without even talking to me about it?”

“Do you deny it?” he said, his voice taut.

“You’re acting like a child.”

“No, you, Ciardis Weathervane, are acting like a child. A little girl who cannot pick or choose. A woman who is not grown. And a mage who plays with powers she can’t possibly understand. I will not lend my heart to this anymore.”

She stared at him in pain.

He cocked his head to the side, still turned away. “I know my responsibilities, Ciardis. Regardless if I’m too broken to look you in the face, I know my duty lies with my empire, and I will do everything in my power to see its people prosper. Including working with the woman who has broken my heart.”

Everyone else caught up to them then. There was nothing more that could be said.

Prince Heir Sebastian Athanos Algardis held out a cold and distant hand to Ciardis Weathervane. She accepted it silently. Because she couldn’t be petty. Not now. Appearances were everything. Unity was everything. Strength in the face of their enemies was everything.