The Hekamon (46 page)

The hall was his favorite waypoint south of the river. A
familiar place in otherwise unfamiliar woods. It was also a place the
Demedelites rarely ventured. They thought there were bears roaming
there or something. It was also the place his sister would head for
if not under duress. She'd been there before and knew it to be a
place of sanctuary for them.

He tried to get into her mind.

If Alyssa was trying to avoid the guards, and she would
be, there is no way she would stay in Tivitay, not with the guards
patrolling there, not if she had any say in the matter. The short
walk to Tivitayall was something she might do.

His spirits lifted. Kormak knew his sister well, she would go this way if she could. If
she had any control over her situation then this is the direction she
would head. Quickening his pace he went deeper into the forest, as
the darkness descended around him.

Despite the twilight, this particular window gave a good
view over the courtyard, and from it, Brigantia could see a stone
path. It ran from the north door of the keep, across an open expanse
of grass, to the range of buildings that were built against the
fort's outer bailey wall. The buildings swept around in an arc. From
the dining hall against the north wall, through the prison to the
east, the guards quarters and then finally, the main gate to the
south.

Bree watched, as her father ambled along the path toward
the entrance of the dining hall. She waited patiently. Once he was
through the door, she began to move. Descending the spiral staircase
at its narrowest point. Usually Bree moved with silent grace but
not now. This time the sound of her footsteps filled the corridors of
stone keep. The patter of her feet like a prolonged drum roll,
signaling her haste and urgency. It might take her father an hour or
more to return from his evening meal. It didn't matter. She didn't
want to waste any time. She wanted it now.

The staircase spiraled down from Bree's own personal
apartments in the keep's west tower. Her father's apartments were in
the north, above his chancery, with his personal armory in the
cellars below. His chancery was her destination.

With the stairs descended, she moved into the great
hall, with the lanterns hanging on the wall providing the only
illumination. This was the heart of the building and Bree noticed
that all of the doors leading from the hall were
closed. Was it a sign that the drafty, colder days of autumn had
arrived? Or was it the arrival of something else that had brought a
chill to the fort.

Having hurried down the stairs, Bree now adopted a
quieter, more circumspect approach. She knew where her father was but
not the captain or his wife, Kate. They occupied the apartment in the
east tower and there was every chance that one or both of them would
be in residence there. Bree listened for any sign they were.

On hearing nothing, and certain the way was clear, she
made her way across the great hall.

To her right was the south side
of the keep and the main entrance. Any visitors would most likely
enter through the large oak door there. That was the side that faced
the town and the mountains beyond, and for that reason it was
heavily fortified.

The only person that Bree had ever known to spend any
time in south tower was herself. On the rare occasions that she had
gone too far when exploring the grounds of the fort, with it's
tunnels and adjacent forest, her father would insist she spent time
in the sparse, prison-like south tower. Days and nights on end. It
was for her own good he would say. For her own protection.

She approached the door of the chancery. Might her
father have locked his office? He rarely did, but if he had on this
occasion, then her search would have ended before it had even begun.
She tried the handle and found, much to her relief, it was unlocked.

Bree entered the chancery, closed the door and began her
search.

She'd seen plenty of valuable pieces of jewelry before,
mostly belonging to her mother. Some of which had even been
bequeathed to her. Rings, necklace's and broaches, some with jewels
embedded, others with intricate patterns and engravings. Most of them
were locked up in her fathers apartments for safe keeping. The
valuables were hers, some of them anyway. She just wasn't allowed to
see them, touch them or possess them. It was better that way her
father had reassured her.

The necklace that Tregarron had brought in was
different. From what she'd overheard, the men had seemed almost
frightened of it. Could they be fearful of the necklace itself? She'd
heard of charms and talismans, but to the best of her knowledge had
never seen one, could the necklace be such thing? Did such things
even exist?

If only she'd paid more attention to what they'd been
saying. When she'd walked by the chancery door, she had assumed they
were talking about the usual matters of Demedelei and gave little
heed. It was only on hearing a few snippets of their conversation,
thanks to her father's raised voice, that her interest had been
aroused. She had listened in, and the more she'd heard, the more
intrigued she had become. Now that she was alone in the chancery, she
could begin her search for the object of their consternation.

Bree walked over to the large and ornately carved wooden
desk in the center of the room. The oak varnished so deeply that it
looked almost ebony. She moved some papers to one side. Even as she
did, it was immediately apparent that the object she sought was no
longer in the place that she'd last seen it.

She cursed loudly. The act of doing so caused her to
stop and look around, startled by her own expletive. She never
cursed. Loudly or otherwise. Might her need for subterfuge be
agitating her?

Bree waited for her frustration to pass. She couldn't
afford to be clumsy, everything needed to be returned exactly.

Over the next few minutes, she moved all of the
parchments and then replaced them just as she had found them. In
doing so, she could see that the necklace, or at least, what she
presumed to be a necklace, was not anywhere on the desk.

Her heart sank. Had her father taken it with him? There
was every chance that he had. Or maybe he'd placed it in the locked
cabinet where he kept some of his more valuable papers. In either
event it was beyond her grasp.

She cursed again.

Trying to get a look of the object might have been a
mistake, doing so may have encouraged her father to hide it. On the
other hand, she'd managed to get a glimpse of it, so at least had an
idea of what she was looking for. It had been an alluring silver
necklace, she was sure it was. It had been resting on the
desk as though it were an important document, one to be studied and
discussed. Only this time, a discussion she might be interested in.

Bree
suddenly remembered that the desk had drawers, an ideal place to
look. She went around to the other side and as she did,
an image came into her mind, of her father casually opening a drawer
and dropping the necklace in. It was exactly the kind of thing he
would do.
It's what
he had done
.
Somehow, she just knew, and could even picture the necklace laying
there, waiting to be found.

She moved her hand to open the drawer.

She stopped herself. So far she had only entered the
chancery and that was not something she was forbidden from doing.
Searching through the desk though, that would be something else
entirely. It would look suspicious, and if she was caught it would be
more difficult to explain away. Her father would guess what it was
she was looking for and several weeks spent in the south tower would
follow.

Deciding that what she had seen was worth the risk, Bree
moved to open the drawer again, but hesitated once more. The only
part of the conversation she'd overheard with any clarity was that
the object was dangerous, cursed even. It seemed to be something
powerful. Was she sure she wanted to find it? Something that troubled
her father? Occupied the thoughts of the captain?

She opened the drawer, and there, resting on top of a
brown leather-bound ledger, was the silver necklace. She reached in
and took possession of it.

Her first realization was that the chain was broken,
that detail seemed important. Was that how it had come to be in her
fathers possession? Had it fallen or been grabbed from the neck of
person to whom it belonged? It seemed plausible, nobody would
willingly give up something so beautiful.

Even by the dim light
coming through the narrow chancery window, Bree could see how the
silver shimmered and sparkled, while the delicately etched symbols
sharpened and faded again as it spun about its chain.

Looking more closely at the pendant that hung from it,
she could see a small catch on the side, it wasn't just a pendant but
a locket. She could open it. Inside there was what looked
like a lock of hair and more symbols and motifs. These were things
she would examine later.

Closing the locket, she allowed it to rest in
the palm of her hand. No sooner had she done so, than she realized she
could hear something. Voices and very close at that. So close she
would have sworn they were in the same room as her.

She placed the necklace back in the drawer and moved
back to the center of the room, anticipating the chancery door to
open at any moment. She stood facing it, ready to explain herself and
the meaning of her presence there, but it remained shut. Taking a few
paces forward she opened it herself, expecting to see visitors, but
the great hall was empty.

Could the voices have come from the courtyard outside
the keep? She doubted it. Some sound did get through the windows but
not much. They were small and the glass several inches thick. The
walls were several feet thick and no sound came through those at all.

She looked at the desk and thought of the object it
contained. She hadn't come this far to go back now.

Returning to the
drawer, she once more took possession of the necklace, and, holding
it by the chain, slipped it into the pocket of her white dress.

Stepping out of the chancery and into the great hall, she walked back
towards the steps of the tower that lead to her apartments. Before
she had even made it to the tower she reached for the necklace and
held it again.

This time she didn't just hear, she saw, she felt, and
she knew.

It was powerful, it was charmed and it might even be
cursed. There was a raven nearby, she could feel its mind. See what
it could see, hear what it could hear. It wasn't the only mind she
could feel. There was another one, much more powerful and it seemed
to surround her.

Suddenly, Bree had a powerful connection to other living
things. She had felt that before, but now the connection seemed to
strengthen into something far more tangible than she could ever have
imagined. Her mind was no longer her own, not entirely, it was a
small part of something greater. It was as though something, or
someone, had reached in and grabbed her.

Returning the necklace to her pocket, Bree tried not to
make a sound. Not because she thought anyone might hear her. But
because she worried that if she did make a sound, it would not be an
intelligible sound. It would not be her voice. It would be something…
unworldly, like the cry of an eagle or, more likely, the croak of a
raven. That disturbed her. More than that, it frightened her.

Reaching the first step of the stone staircase to her
rooms, she stopped. Her breathing was heavier and heartbeat faster.
She had wanted more than anything to take possession of the
mysterious object, right from the very moment she'd seen it. Now she
wasn't so sure.

Should she return it? Might it be for the best? For her
own safety? The necklace had the potential to bring trouble and lot's
of it, she could feel it. It was stolen and it's owner was looking
for it. Of this she was certain.

Bree hesitated, unsure of what to do.

She stepped from the tower, back into the great hall and
toward the chancery door. She placed her hand on the handle and
opened the door. Immediately, she heard another door open, the north
door to the courtyard. It caused the lanterns on the walls to flicker
and sent a chill draft through the corridor.

So familiar was Bree with the sounds of the fort, that
she immediately knew who had entered. Simply from the way the door
had opened would have been enough, she could have identified the man
from that alone, but if she needed more, then then footsteps that
sounded along the stone corridor confirmed her suspicions. The
precise steps and efficient movement, the strident, heavy boots and
brisk pace. It was Tregarron.

Bree
made her decision, but then, she had no choice, there was no decision
to make. She couldn't just wait for Tregarron to walk around the
corner, because if she did, then he would know that she'd stolen the
necklace. He would take one look at her,
and
he would know
.

This time Bree didn't hesitate, she slipped through the
chancery door and closed it behind her in one silent movement.
Tregarron had his talents and she had hers. She could be as quiet as
a mouse when she wanted to be.

Bree stepped away from the door, and faced it.

The captain would be rounding the corner at this very
moment. He was going to his quarters, he had to be. It was
evening, he must be going there. She waited. Waited to hear him cross
the great hall, listening for the sounds that would confirm his
movement. The footsteps grew louder, he was nearing the door, they
grew louder still. He was coming to the chancery.

Bree faced the door, but couldn't face the captain.

The handle turned and the door began to open. As it did,
she moved quickly and quietly into the corner behind it. She was
delaying the inevitable, she knew that, but she couldn't help it. Her
instincts told her to hide, so that's what she did. The door opened
and it concealed her, for the moment anyway.