The Long War 01 - The Black Guard (26 page)

Before William could speak, Brother Roderick stopped and swung round. ‘Knight Commander Rillion awaits you in the antechamber yonder.’ He gestured extravagantly towards an open doorway behind the raised platform.

William raised his eyebrows at Fallon and started towards the open door. Brother Roderick made it to the side door and leant heavily on the door frame, before clumsily leaving the hall.

‘I’m not sure the chance to fuck and drink is worth having to experience that,’ Fallon said grimly.

‘He should have retired to a nice, cosy church,’ William replied. ‘Though, if he’s the Sir Roderick from the Falls of Arnon, I may have heard of him.’

‘Oh really, what’s he done?’

‘I think he was a crusader, the abbot of the Gray Keep, and from what I hear a cleric who refused to continue killing risen men.’

It was unusual, but not unheard of, for a Black cleric to see some humanity in the faces of the risen and to fall from the crusade.

‘He was the man who claimed he saw the light of a dead god in the eyes of the last one he killed,’ William added.

‘Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard that swill before. I leave weighty matters to my betters, sir. I prefer just to think of them as undead monstrosities and leave it at that.’ Fallon was a simple man and had not given the other clerical orders much thought.

He screwed up his face as he spoke. ‘Although, it explains why they’ve got him ministering to funeral pyres at his age… former abbot or not, he disobeyed orders.’

The two knights of the Red crossed the hall and approached the open doorway. The raised platform, where Duke Hector once sat, had been stripped of adornments. The bloodstains had been recently cleaned from the flagstone floor where the duke had been executed and Father Magnus had entered his battle rage.

‘He killed four knights apparently,’ William said to his lieutenant. ‘He broke his chains when Rashabald beheaded the duke.’

Fallon shook his head. ‘Any knight who wants to be an executioner is not fit to execute men.’

William knew his lieutenant had an extreme dislike for Sir Rashabald and had, on more than one occasion, tried to call him out and kill him. Rillion had always intervened and protected the old executioner: he liked a man with a sadistic streak similar to his own.

The doorway led through to the duke’s personal chambers where Sir Rillion had positioned himself. The dark wooden desk had been cleared of Hector’s belongings and now contained piles of paper, troop rosters, maps and injury reports. Two members of Nathan’s company stood guard within the room, their armour untarnished by battle or from sleeping in the courtyard. Fallon glared at them and picked an imaginary bit of dust from the armour of one.

Within the room sat Rillion, Brother Animustus of the Gold church, and Ameira, the Karesian witch William had heard called the Lady of Spiders. Two more knights stood guard in ceremonial armour behind their commander, and the crossed swords and clenched fist of the Red church hung defiantly from the ceiling.

Commander Rillion still wore his armour and looked up across the light of several candles to William and Fallon. The room was primarily lit by flaming braziers in the four corners, but Rillion had clearly been studying papers and squinted to focus on the two knights before him.

‘Verellian, please come in,’ he said with a wave of his hand. ‘I’ll try to ignore the lateness and put it down to a head injury during the battle.’ His tone was mocking and his scarred face twisted in an unpleasant sneer.

William and Fallon came to stand in front of the desk and both the knights banged their fists on their breastplates in salute. Animustus, the Gold cleric, was drinking wine from a large brass goblet and barely acknowledged the two knights.

‘My lord, we’ve been busy supervising the mercenaries in the town. It takes more work than we thought,’ William said.

‘Yes, Captain Nathan stomped through here a minute ago complaining about your supervising tactics. He thinks you’re too soft,’ Rillion replied, leaning back in his chair.

‘Captain Nathan should be careful what he says. I already have several reasons to call him out.’ William could see the smile on Fallon’s face.

Rillion chuckled and the Gold cleric gave an amused snort, showing that he was listening. ‘Well, then, I’d say Captain Nathan should thank me for the orders I’m about to give you.’ The commander shifted his weight, flexing his neck to remove the stiffness. ‘The duke’s daughter has eluded the squads of knights sent into the tunnels.’ He turned to the Karesian enchantress. ‘The noble lady Ameira believes that the Black Guard Bronwyn has already made it out of the city.’

William disliked the way the commander looked at Ameira and again sensed that she exerted more influence over him than his knights knew.

Ameira stepped forward and William thought for a moment that she had detected what he was thinking. The witch had lustrous black hair and deep green eyes. Her robes were black and flattering in a way that was clearly not accidental. William disliked her spider’s web tattoo and did not want to be too close to her. He was not naive enough to believe every story he had heard about the Seven Sisters, but he did not doubt that Jaa had gifted them with strange hypnotic abilities.

The witch locked eyes with him for a second and William looked away sharply. ‘My lord, I am not comfortable in the presence of an enchantress,’ he said with conviction.

Ameira laughed, a lyrical sound that made Rillion smile with a slight euphoria. She stepped forward and stood in front of the commander’s desk, making it difficult for William to not look at her. ‘Sir Verellian, surely you do not think me a danger?’

‘Enough of this,’ Rillion interrupted sharply. ‘Ameira, please don’t tease the captain. William, you are to travel north and apprehend the girl. Clear?’

The witch smiled and backed away, returning to stand at the commander’s shoulder.

‘It is clear, my lord,’ William said. ‘Do we know where she went?’

‘She had help escaping. A Karesian spy called Al-Hasim killed eight knights and then escaped somewhere into the town. When Pevain finds him, we’ll know where she went.’

‘Surely he left town with Bronwyn?’ Fallon asked.

Sir Rillion looked at the lieutenant as if he disliked being spoken to by an adjutant. His eyes narrowed and his face fell back into its customary sneer.

‘Well, Lieutenant Fallon of Leith, I imagine we must appear very stupid to you. Hasim was seen shortly after Father Magnus had healed him. Castus, the gaoler, saw the spy leaving via the food trough but he couldn’t level his crossbow in time to kill the dog. It seems the heathen powers of the Ranen make a considerable glow when they are used, and Castus was alerted. Sir Pevain was despatched an hour ago and will capture the man and extract the necessary information.

‘In the meantime, you will ride north to the Grass Sea.’ He stroked his beard as he spoke. ‘We will send a fast rider with news of her location when we know it. Pevain has men with him who are skilled at… extracting information.’

The euphemism for torture bothered William. He knew that it was often thought okay for those under the command of knights to engage in such activities, so long as the knights themselves did not, but the practice was very much a grey area within the church.

‘Is that all, my Lord Rillion?’ William asked. ‘Travel north and try to find the girl?’

The commander glanced at Ameira before he answered. ‘And you are to kill any members of Wraith Company you encounter.’

William narrowed his eyes and considered the order for a second before he spoke. ‘My lord, I wasn’t aware that we were at war with the Free Companies?’

‘We are not, and if you keep them away from the city, hopefully we will remain not at war with them.’

‘If those are your orders, my lord.’ William was a seasoned knight and wasn’t going to argue. ‘We’ll muster the men and leave within the hour.’

Rillion waved his hand as if to dismiss them. William and Fallon repeated the salute and turned to leave.

William gave in to curiosity as he went to exit the room and turned back to his commander. ‘My lord, am I to understand that the king is coming here?’

Rillion scowled at the knight and, with another glance at Ameira, said, ‘Yes, Verellian, he’ll be here within the next two weeks. The death of Hector the betrayer was only the beginning of our work in Ro Canarn. King Sebastian has other duties for us to perform.’ He narrowed his eyes and became guarded. ‘Do not worry, Captain Verellian, by the time you return from the Grass Sea, our duty will be clear.’

‘Yes, sir,’ William said wearily as he turned away.

Once the knights were out of earshot, Fallon turned to his captain. ‘What about him,’ he said with anger, ‘can I slit his throat?’

‘I’m not sure we can justify killing the new knight protector of Ro Canarn.’

William was deep in thought and greatly troubled that the words of a follower of Jaa should hold so much influence over a knight of the Red. Even more worrying was that Fallon’s gossip might be true, and that the king might be intending to attack the Freelands.

‘So, what do we do, sir?’ Fallon asked.

‘We follow orders, my dear boy,’ he replied. ‘We follow orders and die where we’re told to die.’

* * *

Al-Hasim had seen the two knights enter the antechamber and had waited in the secret passage for them to emerge. He had heard much of what they’d spoken about with their commander and was worried for a number of reasons. He hoped that the two hours’ head start Bronwyn had was enough, and that Wraith Company would find her before the knights did. It was at least a two-week journey to Ro Hail and Bronwyn would not know that she was being pursued. Either way, Hasim could do little to help her and she would need to show her mettle in order to remain free.

The secret passages provided an excellent way to move covertly around the keep and he’d spent half an hour or so curled up in a ball looking out of a secret door high in the rafters of the great hall. Magnus had healed him just in time, as the Red pig, Castus, had appeared and fired his crossbow at the Karesian a moment later. Since then, he’d tried to find Kohli and Jenner, the Karesian brothers who’d smuggled him into the town in the first place.

Sir Hallam Pevain was a tenacious pursuer and Hasim had been close to capture twice. First, when he’d hauled himself out of the trough, a shout from Castus had alerted the mercenaries above. He’d not stayed to fight, but had thrown himself into a nearby sewer which ran along the walls of the keep, and the smell had been enough to dissuade the mercenaries from following him. Around an hour after that, as he’d emerged from the sewer into a stable near the blacksmith’s guild, he’d been spotted by Pevain’s bastards and had to run into the dark streets of Canarn.

He’d not known that Pevain was after him personally until later, when he was hiding in the tunnels of the keep and overheard Rillion shouting at the mercenary knight for taking too long in finding him.

He had not yet had time to worry about the Lady of Spiders. Algenon had told him little about the witch. Hasim believed that she was manipulating Rillion – that much was obvious – but to what end, he was not sure.

The thain of Fredericksand was inscrutable at the best of times and, where the Seven Sisters were concerned, he was downright mysterious. Hasim trusted Algenon, though, and was now of the opinion that his next move should be to free Magnus from his gaol cell.

Kohli and Jenner would have gone to ground during the battle, and Hasim was certain they’d have found a warm place to hide with plenty to drink. The brothers were from Thrakka, a city several leagues to the south of Al-Hasim’s home of Kessia, and were the kind of Karesian scum that Hasim liked. They worked for money to buy alcohol and women, making them very predictable in Hasim’s eyes. They also owned a boat, which would be a likely escape route once Magnus was freed.

Hasim backed away from the hatchway high above the great hall and crawled back down the narrow tunnel. He wondered who would have installed such a covert listening point, but he was glad they had done. He’d found several such places throughout the keep – narrow passageways, large enough to crawl down, which looked in on most of the rooms in the building. He’d even found several spy-holes that looked in on the other secret tunnels, and had more than once observed Pevain’s mercenaries as they searched for him. He’d remained hidden thus far, not wanting to alert them to his presence by killing any of them. However, he was becoming frustrated with his inability to move freely. Hasim was not used to being hunted and found it an unpleasant sensation.

As he left the watch-hole, he was faced with a steep set of stairs that led back down to the main body of secret passages. Beyond was a small wooden door, no more than five feet high and largely invisible from the other side. Each of the doors to the watch-holes had a small peephole, through which Hasim could make sure the way was clear.

As he walked down the small staircase, he thought quickly. Magnus would not be easy to break out of his cell and, even if Hasim could free his old friend, their position would still be a difficult one. He had to leave the city and he couldn’t leave without the Ranen priest. He was fond of Magnus and had grown to value him as a friend. He’d miss the drinking sessions and talk of women bedded and battles won. Other than Brom and Rham Jas Rami, Magnus was the only other man Hasim had ever called brother, and that still meant something to him.

He looked through the peephole and saw nothing but a dark passageway. Beyond, he knew the tunnel led along the side of the great hall and then down through the walls adjacent to the keep. Al-Hasim had been in the tunnels for several hours and had already identified the best exits and the places least likely to be guarded. He needed to find Kohli and Jenner first, which meant exiting near the port. The Karesians would have retreated to their boat, hoping the knights wouldn’t check the harbour. Hasim thought it unlikely that they’d have been able to leave the port after the battle and imagined they’d be cowering below decks with several bottles of wine.

Hasim opened the door slowly and immediately stopped. He felt pressure against the wood and was then flung back as the door was shoved back into him. Someone had been hiding beneath the peephole, waiting for him to leave.