Unleashed Fury (BloodRunes: Book 1) (22 page)

Mila looked over at the two girls and smiled.
“I was a little worried about her because I was having trouble
staving off the fever, almost as if the poor child's body didn't
care to fight it. She was up and flailing about a couple times,
mumbling something about 'not the unicorn' or some nonsensical
babble. But there's suddenly much more positive energy coming from
her. I think you two did a good thing bringing this one back with
you. I have the feeling that now she'll be all right.”

She handed each of them a muffin, which they
took with thanks, and Layna took a small bite of hers so as not to
burn her tongue. “How did your business this morning go?” Mila
turned to Gryffon to ask. Mila had taught him how to weave healing
charms into stones to then be embedded into swords and other
weapons. It was both a way to earn some income, as well as
providing a legitimate reason for their being so much power in
Mila’s house and his frequent visits as he was running part of it
through her. She had many stones for her official healing, the kind
that the authorities knew about, and their presence wouldn’t be
questioned. Stones radiated power as well as people, so it would be
difficult for anyone to distinguish which was which.

He shook his head side to side in a gesture
of ‘so-so’ and answered, “It went pretty well. What worries me is
how many people suddenly are interested in them. There's fear
running through the people and I'm not sure why. Several of them
made comments about the forest being a more dangerous place
recently, but none would elaborate.”

“Charles couldn't have been serious about
their being bloodbeasts in the forest could he? Everyone knows that
they were eradicated when the Dark King fell, and the knowledge to
create them was destroyed in the fires, don’t they?” Layna asked
almost pleadingly.

“They could only burn the ones they knew
about,” commented Gryffon noncommittally. “I suppose there might be
someone who knows about them and would use them.”

“What kind of person would bring back a
creature or creatures that went down in history as being
destructive and bringers of death? Not to mention using a lost art
of blood-magic to create them?”

“What kind of person would completely make up
a story about an innocent girl to get her in trouble, and then try
to throw her into a cell with no one but Devon as company?” Mila
interposed.

“You think that Jezebel has something to do
with this?” Layna asked incredulously.

Mila chuckled. “Not necessarily, child. I
don't think that woman is nearly as smart as she thinks she is. I'm
simply pointing out that there are a lot of people who don't
believe in right and wrong as we do. To them, 'right' is what gains
them the most and 'wrong' is anything that doesn't. Your Jezebel is
like that. You were someone who made her feel insecure, so she got
rid of you to make herself feel better. In her own little warped
mind, that makes it right because she feels better, with no regard
as to what she's doing to others.”

A moan sounded from the bed and Megan
exclaimed, “Carolyn? Carolyn, sweetie, wake up.”

The girl on the bed moaned softly again, and
then blinked open her eyes, her dry lips cracking into a smile when
she saw Megan. “Megan,” she whispered. “It is you, I thought I was
dreaming.”

“Shh, shh,” soothed Megan. “It's not a dream.
I'm here, and you're going to be all right now.” Relief seemed to
wash over Carolyn and she broke down crying, her sobs wracking her
broken body. Megan took her in her arms gently and rocked her back
and forth as the tears flowed. Mila motioned to Layna and Gryffon
that they should leave the girls alone, and they quietly retreated
upstairs.

The next morning when they went down to check
on them, Carolyn was looking much better. The color was back in her
cheeks, and a smile was permanently affixed to her face as she
gazed at Megan. Megan was hand-feeding her bits of bacon, while
Mila sat watching them contentedly. She let them enjoy one
another's company a while longer before regretfully breaking in,
saying, “I'm sorry to break up the party, girls, but I have to
change these bandages.” Megan suddenly looked concerned and
possessive of Carolyn, and looked as though she was going to stop
Mila.

“It's alright,” Carolyn told her. “She's
trying to help.” Megan reluctantly moved away from the bed so that
Mila could reach Carolyn more easily. Mila proceeded to undo the
bandages that she and Layna had applied last night. Layna grabbed
more salve and fresh bandages and stood by, waiting for Mila to
indicate that she needed them.

As the bandages came off, Megan gasped and
demanded, “Who did this to you? I'll, I’ll kill them with my bare
hands!”

Carolyn reached out a hand to her, looking
forlorn, and Megan took it, forcing herself to calm down with
obvious effort. “I don't know who he was,” whispered Carolyn, not
meeting anyone's eyes. She paused, and no one made a noise, waiting
for her to continue. “I remember I was coming home from a
house-visit and then...I don't know...suddenly everything was in a
haze. I think maybe I was being drugged. I was chained up and there
were a bunch of people in black and then,
he
came and...”
she closed her eyes shuddering “He came and did horrible things to
me, I must have blacked out or something because I can't remember
more and when I woke up I was in a cell for I don’t know how long,
and then moved to the chamber where I have been since. Tied to the
bed, I don't even know how long I've been gone.”

She wailed and Megan soothed her. “It's all
over now.” She petted Carolyn's head affectionately and Carolyn
nodded at her, trying to smile.

“It's over,” she whispered as if trying to
make herself believe it. She rested her head on Megan who had
squeezed her way back onto the top of the bed so she could hold
Carolyn.

“It's over,” repeated Megan firmly.

CHAPTER 16

“My lady,” Devon greeted Jezebel as he knelt
before her.

Jezebel gazed down at him. “I think perhaps
you should start referring to me by my new title; Councilor,” she
said, rolling the word over her tongue.

She smiled and Devon stood. “As you wish,
Councilor. I come bearing interesting news involving your Lord
Gryffon.”

Jezebel snarled at the name. “Unless it's
that he's rotting in the gutters, I don't want to hear anything
about him.” Devon had not had any luck finding that whore of a
maid, and Jezebel’s attempts to make Gryffon’s life miserable kept
falling short.

Devon hesitated before going on, obviously
weighing his options. “His current situation is irrelevant,” he
decided on evasively. Jezebel felt a flash of annoyance as this
probably meant that the man was not rotting in any gutters, but she
let Devon continue anyway. “Besides which, he soon will find
himself being pulled rather rudely out of it.” Jezebel gave him an
impatient look, and he went on hurriedly. “You see, I've been
following him since that day in the market.” Jezebel raised her
eyebrows at him, warning him that he was in dangerous territory if
he wished to bring her back through that again. Once more, he
hastily continued, stumbling over his words. “He's lost my tail on
several occasions, which is not easy to do, and not something that
normally happens to people who don't know they're being tailed, and
especially not more than once. So I put more people to the task of
checking up on him, and guess what we found out?” Jezebel licked
her lips at him and shook her head, sighing impatiently and tapping
her fingers against her folded arms. “Apparently, our little friend
Gryffon was not completely honest about where he's from. No one
from the town he claims to have come from has ever heard of him,”
he announced triumphantly, gaining confidence as Jezebel's look of
irritation turned to one of interest, and she stopped drumming her
fingers. “Not only that, but my sources believe that he is actually
from Treymayne. They confirm that he has had several secret
meetings with others who were followed heading east before we lost
track of them, and he has once been spotted at a known drop
spot.”

“Really,” Jezebel said slowly, drawing out
the word as the wheels started turning her in head. “Perhaps we
should bring him in as one of the latest bunch,” she mused, her
lips curving into a smile.

“That was my thought as well,” confirmed
Devon, returning her smile.

“That's why I like you so much, Devon,”
Jezebel purred, running a finger over his jaw line. “We think so
alike.”

Jezebel thought she saw a hint of an
uncharacteristic blush, and Devon turned his eyes downward a
moment, before bringing them back up to meet hers. “With your
permission, Councilor, I'll see to it right away. Would you like it
to be a private or public affair?”

Jezebel thought about it for a moment. “Why
don't you make it private for now. I'd like to be able to have a
little chat with him myself before we turn him in to the proper
authorities.” She laughed. “Not even seated, and already the newest
Councilor has brought a spy to justice. Good work, Devon. I look
forward to seeing you once this task is completed. Let me know the
moment he arrives.”

“As you wish,” answered Devon, his dark eyes
sparkling in their shared laughter, and then he left her to her
thoughts.
Well, well, well
, she thought,
how fun this
little reunion will be.
She imagined all the wonderful things
she would do to him.
Well, it will be fun for me anyway
. Her
lips parted in a sinister smile.

She called a Council meeting later that
evening, unable to contain such a wonderful turn of events, and she
put together her presentation for the other members. When she had
collected all the papers she thought she would need, she stacked
them neatly into a folder and carried it out to the waiting
carriage.

She glanced at the time as she entered the
palace, and noted that she was running late.
A
h well,
they can wait
. She strolled into the Council chamber and
immediately made her way to the speaker's podium. It was a spot
that she planned on spending much of her time as the official
speaker for the Council.

She cleared her throat, ignoring the pointed
looks from a few of the members who made obvious gestures of
impatience due to her tardiness. Rather than acknowledge this, she
took note of which members needed to be taught a lesson on who was
running the show here. She started right in on her speech. “Thank
you for coming on such short notice,” she began, and then paused a
moment to glare at one of the men who made a rude comment about
having hurried to get here and then ended up sitting around for
half an hour for her to arrive. She did not rebuke the comment,
deciding instead to simply continue on with her information. “I
have been made aware by my extensive network of informants -
details of which does not concern you - that we have had a traitor
in our midst. In fact, right under our very noses.”

She paused again for dramatic effect, amused
when several of the members glanced around as if expecting her to
point the finger at one of them. She let them mutter amongst
themselves for just a moment before enlightening their pitiful
attempts to divine who it could be. “Lord Gryffon, who until
recently I so charitably gave house to has been found to be a
traitor of this country and, in fact, a spy from Treymayne!” Her
mouth twitched into the tiniest of smiles at the outburst of
reaction through the Council. Gryffon had been well-liked, though
why Jezebel could never figure out.

She caught her thoughts wandering as to why
he was so liked when he spent so much time talking to people that
weren’t worth the effort, and she pulled them back to the meeting.
The cacophony had died down, and they were once again looking to
her for direction.
As it should be
, she thought smugly. “I
have already dispatched one of my own guard troops to bring this
traitor to justice. It will be my extreme pleasure as my first act
of an official Council member to carry out an inquisition into his
clandestine behavior.” She smiled at them all and continued, “Also,
I have reason to believe that he may have a co-conspirator in his
spy dealings. One of my own maids, a girl named Layna. It shames me
to think that I had traitors under my own roof and therefore played
a part, though indirectly, in exacerbating our spy troubles. I
suppose that's what I get for being so generous and so trusting.
Now that I have discovered this betrayal, as a concerned Council
member and a loyal citizen, I would be remiss to ignore the
alarmingly real and substantial evidence against them which could
result in dire consequences for our country if their actions are
not forcibly and immediately ceased.”

The Council members broke into a flurry of
voices once more, and one member spoke up with a tone that did not
properly display his subordination to her. She narrowed her eyes a
trifle.

“Lady Jezebel, we are all aware of your
current problems with Lord Gryffon and the girl Layna.” Jezebel's
eyes narrowed further, becoming mere slits, and she inadvertently
let out a hissed breath as he continued. “As Council members, we
are responsible for the safety and proper maintenance of the
country. Not carrying out your personal vendettas.”

Jezebel fought hard to control the anger that
threatened to boil over at his words, and in her mind she burst him
apart with fire.
Who has been spreading that kind of talk?
She silently raged, and made a mental note to take a good look at
the so-called friends she had been speaking with lately.
I
may just need to find a new circle if this is the way my current
friends are going to treat me
.

She took a deep breath and reminded herself
that convincing them was only a formality as she was the one of
real importance. “I have here,” she responded as sweetly as she
could manage through clenched teeth, and patted the bulging folder
before her, “reports of Gryffon carrying out secret meetings with
known operatives, being present for no apparent reason at a known
drop point, and there is also this tiny little detail that no one
in the town he claims to have come from has heard of him. Is that
enough proof for you?”