Treachery of Kings (38 page)

I
MUST SAY, MASTER FINN, I HAVE GREATLY EN
-joyed the tale of your ventures, though some of it, I feel, you might well have left out. The parts, I mean, where people simply talk to one another, or have some passing thought.

“Still, all in all, I commend you for your efforts. You have carried out my command, at some little risk to yourself, if your story is partially correct, and I must assume it is, for it's most unseemly to lie to your Prince.”

“I would not dream of doing so, Your Grace,” Finn said, bowing extra low so Aghen Aghenfleck could not discern the expression on his face.

Partially correct indeed! It's hardly even that, for I'm not fool enough to reveal all to you!

“Whatever, then,” said the Prince, rolling his eyes at the court assembled before him, “you will certainly receive a substantial reward, as promised. We shall see to that in time.

“I hope you will recall, of course, that it was a troop of the King's Dragoons who found your party floundering on the edge of that dreaded swamp.
Their
efforts have to be considered, too.

“At any rate,” the Prince continued, leaning closer to Finn, without leaving the comfort of his throne, “this ring you have brought me from the Princess of Heldessia, this is most helpful to me. Most helpful, indeed.”

Aghen Aghenfleck paused, and a cunning smile crossed his rather unappealing features.

“There was more to your mission than was revealed to you at the time, Master Finn. I am not a simpleton, you know. I did not send you to that ghastly lair of Llowenkeef-Grymm's merely to deliver a clock. There was more at stake than that.

“I share this with you because I wish the court to hear this tale as well. I must tell you now—all of you assembled here—that there is a traitor among you. A person who is in this very chamber now.”

The crowd gasped as one, and each man and woman turned to the person nearby, then backed a step away.

Finn felt suddenly numb. What was all this, now, what was this cunning fellow about? He wanted nothing more than to absent himself from this foul business as fast as he could.

“This ring tells me the traitor's name, for there are a number of rings I might have received. Each would name a man, and the ring that was sent to me would tell his name.

“I have an agent in Heldessia, you see. I will not give you that name, but it was he who gave this ring to the princess, and told her to get it to me.”

The princess, DeFloraine-Marie? Finn could scarcely believe his ears.

“There is a plot, you see, a scheme that has long been in place, which I now unmask for you. The purpose of this scheme is to stop the war between Fyxedia and Heldessia, and plunge us into a disastrous peace that would ruin the economy of both our nations, undo all we've fought for, and spread chaos throughout our lands.

“People would then want to mix with those they do not know, see places different from what they've seen. Want things they do not have and don't need. Peace would be a disaster such as we've never seen before.

“Our enemies, those who plot against me, would use that peace to gain our throne, and do away with us all.”

Another gasp, another murmur, swept through the crowd. Aghen Aghenfleck raised his jeweled hands to bring them to silence again.

“King Llowenkeef-Grymm is a useless old fool. He knows nothing about this business, so as usual, everything falls upon me. That's the burden of a prince, and I envy those of you who lead simple, ordinary lives, without the grave responsibilities I must bear for you every day.”

The Prince sat back, weary, exhausted from the strain of all this.

“One more thing, of course. The traitor's name. It is my dear, dear brother, Lord Gherick, my own flesh and blood who would bring us to ruin.”

“No!” Gherick's face went white. “I am no traitor, brother, I am ever your loyal servant, sire!”

Finn felt a chill creep up his spine, for Lord Gherick was a friend. And, shamed as he was to think of himself at such a moment, the Prince knew that as well.

The crowd moaned, moving restlessly about. Finn knew there was not a one among them now who would admit they'd even spoken to the Prince's brother at any time.

Aghen Aghenfleck folded his hands across his chest, making little effort to hide his pleasure, as his distraught and shaken brother was led away. He turned, then, and for a moment, gave Finn a puzzled, most bewildered look.

“Is there something more you wanted, Finn? Some reason you are still here? Count VanDork, would you kindly see this fellow out? I've much to do, even if this craftsman has the time to stand about. …”

I
T'S ALL A TERRIBLE MUDDLE,” FINN SAID. “STICKS
and Bricks, Letitia, I know Gherick despised the Prince, but I cannot believe he'd go so far as to betray his own brother. Damn me, are they all daft? Clearly, forces on both sides have kept the war going for seven hundred years—so everyone can make money, everyone can have a job!”

“And so many can die,” Letitia sighed. “It's a terrible kind of trade where you come home from work without a limb, or you don't come home at all.”

Finn held her close, feeling the warmth, the sweetness of her downy flesh against his own. In the dark, her enormous Mycer eyes mirrored the buttery light of the moon that fell across their bed.

“It is a great sorrow, Letitia, that we are led down such a hurtful path by men such as Aghen Aghenfleck. Even King Llowenkeef-Grymm, though I thought him a pompous fool, had more kindness in him than the Prince.

“Someone in the palace was the Prince's agent, but I'm perplexed as to who it might be. Certainly it wasn't Maddigern, and I'm nearly sure it couldn't be the seer. It had to be someone we didn't know. Some royal or noble, perhaps. Someone who fooled the Princess DeFloraine-Marie into passing that ring to me.”

“By the way, I must remind you that it took a very long
while for you to tell me about this ring. Not the sort of thing I wished to hear in a swamp while those awful bugs were biting me to death.”

“Quite frankly, I thought nothing more of the object she'd given me—or why—until we had a moment to catch our breath. Damn it all, Letitia! I'd have tossed the thing away if I'd known the dire message it contained—that my action would condemn poor Gherick!”

“You couldn't have known, my dear. Only men of a vile and treacherous nature weave such webs of sorrow and deceit.”

Finn reached out to bring her closer to him.

They whispered together for a while, then her steady breathing told him she slept. He lay there with her, grateful they were together, and praying that nothing would part them again.

He dozed for a time, then woke with a start, a most unpleasant dream of Badgies bringing him out of sleep.

Taking a care not to wake Letitia, he slipped out of bed and into his trousers, pulling on a heavy shirt against the cool of the night and feeling about for his boots.

What would happen now in Heldessia? he wondered. It would surely be a most traumatic moment when the King and his family learned it was not entirely true that napping was the same as being dead.

Maybe it would simply all go on without the seer about. Maybe the Millennial Bell would peal now and then, and the Gracious Dead would go about their duties as they'd always done before.

As he made his way carefully down the stairs, he remembered he'd forgotten to tell Letitia that Obern Oberbyght had been appointed the new Grand Sorcerer of Aghen Aghenfleck's court, for there had been a vacancy in that position since the Prince had executed the last poor magician on the Chopping of May.

Not a pleasant choice, as far as Finn was concerned.
Still, since he omitted his own shortcomings in his tale to the prince, it seemed only fair—and prudent as well—to skim over other folks’ misdeeds.

When he thought of misdeeds, rogues and traders and thieves, he couldn't help but grin, and wish good Bucerius luck, wherever his ventures might take him now. He was surely a fellow who was there in time of need, and more than worthy to be named a friend

“Going out, are you? I suggest you wear a cloak, Finn. It's chipper out there tonight.”

Finn caught Julia's ruby eyes blinking in the dark. She sat at the foot of the stairs, no doubt pretending she could sleep.

“I'm walking out front for a moment, if that's all right with you.”

“Why ask for my feelings on this, or any other matter? I am only a machine, a mechanical device, an artifice, a thing, a creature of cogs and gears and wheels… “

“To say nothing of a creature who talks a great deal. Be sure and mention that.”

“Be sure and remember that I did not acquire this power of speech myself. I had some help in that.”

“I recall that indeed,” Finn said. “It's a thought that often haunts me in the night. …”

G
ARPENNY STREET WAS DARK, NOT A LIGHT IN
a window anywhere in sight. The rest of the town seemed quiet as well. Except for the taverns by the waterfront, and the revelry at the palace itself, the good folk of Ulster-East put themselves to bed early nearly every night.

“And why can't I find any peace?” Finn asked himself aloud. “It's not that I don't desire the rest, and it's surely not that I don't have a warm and loving companion waiting for me beneath the covers there. Yet, here I am, walking the street like a poor homeless fool, with nowhere else to go… “

“Up and about, I see, Master Finn. You're just as restless a fellow as I recall.”

Finn started, then checked himself, for it was only a Coldie who faced him there in the dark. He truly did need a good long rest, if he was jumping at the sight of the dead. Letitia would get a laugh out of that when he—

“Kettles and Pots,” he said, the hairs standing up on the back of his neck. “Koodigern! I swear I never expected to see you again!”

The phantom was little more than a wisp, a grim reminder of his mortal Badgie self, though not as ghastly as many Finn had seen.

“I expect you're surprised, though I didn't mean to startle you, sir. I arrived here by balloon but a few nights
past. It's an easy way to travel, you know. We don't take up any space, and weigh next to nothing at all.”

Koodigern seemed to enjoy his jest, and he laughed in that harsh, rattlesome manner that passes for a chuckle among the dead.

“I felt I should speak to you, Finn, for even those bereft of life look to whatever comfort we can get, when there's much that's left unsaid.”

“I can understand that. I expect there's much I'll regret when I pass from this side to the next.”

“And terribly right you are,” Koodigern said, and his ghostly shape seemed to quiver at the words. “For that's why I'm here. I am sadly torn with great regret!”

Finn waited, and the specter settled into a somber veil again.

“I must tell you, sir, that great wrongs have been done, and I am the cause of many of these myself. I was in your Prince's pay, his agent in Heldessia's court. I am not proud of this betrayal, but I had a weakness for gold, as many a mortal has found to his regret.

“It was I who discovered the traitor in Aghen Aghenfleck's court. It was I who sent the ring that would identify the man to the Prince.”

“This is a startling thing to hear,” Finn said. “I doubt you'd know it, but Lord Gherick was a particular friend of mine. I was greatly sorrowed to learn he had plotted against his brother. Though, in truth, I can't say I greatly blame him for his feelings for that miserable lout. …“

“No, that's the thing, sir. It wasn't Lord Gherick. He's not the traitor at all!”

“What's that you say? I do not understand this, Koodigern. Do you tell me you falsely accused my friend?”

Once more, the grim shade trembled, each small particle of smoky substance a'shiver before coming to rest again.

“This is the guilt I bear, Master Finn. In my foolishness, I gave way to my desires for Princess DeFloraine-Marie. More foolish still, I thought she stood for the war, which her country has ever soundly supported.