Victory and Defeat: Book Five of the Restoration Series (3 page)

Chapter
4

Aaron emerged from the hidden passage and closed the door behind him. For several moments, he just leaned against the stone wall, glad to be out of the gloomy hallway. Although, to be honest, this passage didn’t look much better. Most of the castle was made from large blocks of gray stone. In the nicer areas, he knew there were murals and paintings that covered the barren walls, but he was not even close to those areas. Taking a deep breath, he pushed himself away from the wall and headed toward the more populated part of the castle.

At this time of night, the majority of the nobles had disappeared, leaving servants and guards wandering the halls. Aaron thought his heart would beat right out of his chest the first time he passed another person; it didn’t help that it was a guard. The guard didn’t stop or say anything; he just merely nodded and kept on going.

Aaron walked the hallways in a haphazard and less direct approach. He gradually headed in the direction of the nobles’ quarters, but he didn’t rush straight there. If someone saw him, he didn’t want to arouse any suspicions.

King Darion’s
chambers were in their own wing of the castle, but Aaron didn’t even try to get too close, as a line of guards were strung out across the entrance. He nodded at the guards and kept right on walking. He was a bit worried at passing such a large number of the King’s guard; it was possible that one of them might recognize him, but there were no gasps of recognition or shouts for him to stop. He continued walking, neither slowing down nor speeding up, as he tried hard to maintain a constant speed. He knew that the best way not to be noticed was to act like he belonged there.

Even though the sheer number of the guards was a bit worrisome, there was a bit of good news in their presence
, as well. At least they now knew the king was in Telur. They had all been bothered by the very thought that perhaps King Darion might be out of the city and they would have to wait weeks, perhaps even months, to even try and get close to him. At least that worry could be put away, although he might as well be out of the city with that many guards watching over him. Aaron sighed. They all knew it wouldn’t be easy. It wasn’t his job to discover a way to get close to the king tonight, but rather to get more information on their situation.

Aaron turned his
steps toward the kitchens. At this time of the night, all the nobles would have already eaten, but the kitchens would still be serving meals. The kitchens actually turned out food all night long. A large number of servants did their jobs at night while the nobility slept. Most of the jobs probably could have been done during the day, but the nobles preferred to see the servants as little as possible. In addition to the servants, there were numerous guards who patrolled the castle all night long.

It took less than ten minutes for Aaron to reach the kitchens and
, as he suspected, there was a scattering of people at the tables. These were not the tables where the nobles or anyone of importance would eat. This was strictly for the servants and guards. The room was large and rather Spartan; twelve long tables filled the middle of the floor, and two long tables against one wall held trays of food.

Aaron’s stomach chose that moment to growl
, and he realized just how long it had been since he had eaten. He crossed the room, filled a plate, then turned to find a spot to sit. Half the tables were empty, and two tables were occupied by small groups. That left four tables occupied by individuals. A guard sat at the first table and Aaron passed right on by. A woman seemed to be asleep at the second table and he continued walking. An older man, with graying hair and an oversized belly, was attacking his food with gusto at the third table.

Aaron stopped next to the t
able and motioned toward one of the empty spots. “Do you mind?” he asked.

The o
lder man looked up and shrugged. “Help yourself.”

Smiling, Aaron
sat down on the bench that ran along the table. For the first several minutes, neither man said a word. Aaron was nearly famished, but that was only part of his reason for being quiet at first. He was playing the part of a servant, and a hungry one at that. It wouldn’t make sense for him to sit down and try to strike up a conversation.

He ate his food hurriedly, pleased that he had managed to show some restraint and not overload his plate. Finally
, he pushed the empty plate away and leaned back away from the table. The older man had finished his meal, but he hadn’t moved; instead he was looking at Aaron in a confused manner.

For the briefest
moment, panic flooded through Aaron, and his brain screamed that the man had recognized him from the time when he had trained with the Guardians in the castle. He swallowed hard and pushed the fear away. The man’s look was of confusion not fear.

“I don’t recognize you,” the man said. “Are you new?”

“Yes,” Aaron replied quickly and suppressed a nervous chuckle. “I’m still getting lost as I go through the castle.”

The older man
snorted and leaned in close. “That still happens to me too, but I think it might be because I’m getting older.” He laughed at his joke, and Aaron smiled politely.

“I’m Aleum,” Aaron said, “what’s your name?”

“Howard.”

“Which part of the castle do you work in?” Aaron asked.

“Laundry,” Howard answered with a shrug. “It’s not much, but it has to be done.”

Aaron nodded
. “Would you mind helping me?”

Howard looked confused now.
“What do you mean?”

“Well, I’m new and I’m not sure which of the nobles are friendly and which ones to avoid.”

Howard grinned. “If I were you, I would avoid them all.” Once again, he laughed at his joke, and Aaron smiled pleasantly. Howard waved his hand in the air. “I joke, of course, but you’re right - there are some of the nobility that you should avoid.”

“For instance?” Aaron prodded.

“Well, the new crown prince, for one.” Howard looked around, then whispered, “You don’t want him to notice you.”

Aaron nodded
, not needing a warning to know that Barrett was a bad apple. “And is he currently in the castle?”

“No,” Howa
rd said, still speaking quietly. “Luckily for us, he’s in the country. Has been ever since that princess of his called off the wedding.”

“What about the other two princes?”

Howard shrugged. “They’re not bad for nobles. The younger one has actually been known to be downright friendly to us, and Aldon’s decent enough.”

“Are they in the castle?”

Howard nodded. “Well at least Danal is, but Aldon’s probably with his whore.”

Aaron’s eyes widened
. “His whore?”

“They don’t even try to keep it a secret anymore. He spends most of his nights with the Countess Lells
, so you won’t have to worry about running into him until at least tomorrow morning.”

That might be useful,
Aaron thought, then he asked out loud, “What about the king?”

“You won’t see him.”

“Oh, is he out of Telur?”

“No, he’s in the castle, but you won’t see him. He has his own special attendants
, and you won’t be one of them for a long time.”

Aaron nodded
. “I see.”

Howard picked up his plate and made to rise from the table. “It’s been nice talking to you, Aleum, but I have to get back to work.”

Aaron rose as well and said, “Would you show me where the laundry is? I may need to know its location sooner or later.”

Howard shrugged
, and Aaron followed him from the room.

Aaron didn’t return to the secret passage until a couple of hours before dawn. King Darion’s castle was huge and sprawling, and Aaron wandered from area to area. There was little chance of running into someone he had seen before.

When Aaron decided it was time to return, he turned his steps first to the laundry and then to the kitchens. He arrived at the hidden door carrying two large canvas bags. He set the bags down on the floor and quickly pressed the three stones, exactly as Dagan had shown him. Each stone had been placed high in the wall and, if pressed in the proper order, caused the secret door to slide open.

The door opened slowly, and Aaron bent down to retrieve his bundles. He looked back up into a rather scary sight. Atock stood just inside the door with both swords pointing out into the hall.

“It’s just me,” Aaron said quickly.

Atock nodded but still looked around the hallway before sheathing his swords, then he stepped back and Aaron slid past him.

“Any problems?” Atock asked, watching Aaron intently.

Aaron shook his head. “No. No one showed the first signs of suspicion.” He glanced around at the others; they were all lying under their blankets and appeared to be asleep. “Should we wake them?”

“No,” Atock answered, “they’ll be awake soon enough. Why don’t you get some sleep and I’ll wake you when everyone else is awake.”

Aaron nodded, and then remembered the two bags he held in his hands. He lifted one of the bags up and held it out to Atock.

“What’s this?” Atock asked.

“Just a little something from the kitchens,” Aaron answered with a grin. They still had some of their provisions from the Faerum wastelands, but they weren’t exactly fresh.

Atock took the offered bag and pulled the top open, then he leaned his head in and inha
led deeply. He grinned at Aaron. “Smells good. I might not leave any for them.” He nodded at the second bag. “What’s in that bag?”

“I stole some clothes fr
om the laundry,” Aaron answered. “I thought they might be useful.”

Chapter 5

Aaron was shaken awake by Warren several hours later. He bolted upright and saw everyone staring at him.

“You planning on sleeping all day?” Dagan asked in a rather grumpy voice.

Aaron didn’t reply right away but instead began stretching his neck; sleeping on the hard floor had not done anything for his muscles. He looked back at Dagan’s tired face and decided to overlook the sorcerer’s nasty tone. It was probably a good idea to grant a sorcerer some leeway, but there was another reason. Dagan was old, and sleeping on the hard floor had to be even more difficult for him than it was for the rest of them; perhaps, some of the prickly attitude was due to his old body hurting so much.

“Well? What did you find out?” Dagan demanded.

Aaron took a deep breath; then again perhaps Dagan was ill-tempered just because he was a cantankerous old bastard. He began stretching his back. “The king is in the castle, but there are even more guards in front of his chambers than when I was assigned as a guard in the palace.”

Several people looked a little worried at that first bit of news. “What’s the matter with you?” Dagan asked. “Surely you knew we were never going to get past the guards into the royal
chambers. That was never an option.” He turned back to Aaron and motioned for him to continue.

“Barrett is out of the castle and has been, apparently since that princess from Ont
aria broke off their engagement. Both Danal and Aldon are currently staying in their own rooms in the palace.”

“And what of the princesses?” Cassandra asked. She had folded her blankets up and
placed them at the base of the wall. She sat on the blankets and used the wall to support her back. “I mean, Darion’s daughters, not the princess of Ontaria.”

“Elizabeth and Alicia are both at
the royal retreat of Briarhill. I gather they have been there for some time. Cierra was quickly married to the third son of Lord Steel.”

“What?” Dagan demanded
, flabbergasted. “Royal weddings usually take months of planning. Why would they rush it?”

“I heard two opinions about that last night. The first belief is that the
king is trying to pull House Steel closer to him, but the more common opinion is that Cierra is pregnant.”

Silence settled in for the briefest
moment, and then it was broken by Cassandra laughing. “Knowing that one, I don’t doubt it,” Cassandra said. “I’m just surprised it took this long.”

“How do you plan to approach the king?” Holgar asked. “It seems that we cannot approach him while he is in his bedchamber, and we certainly cannot get near while he is holding court.”

“True,” Dagan answered, “but the guards will be less wary around the princes. Perhaps we can convince Aldon to help us. I don’t know, perhaps take a message to the king.”

“I do not like that idea,” Cassandra said quickly. “Even if Aldon agrees to help us and the king agrees to see us, we’ll be surrounded by troops during that meeting. Doubtless Darion would have that bootlicker Angaria there
, so the church would know of our arrival. They would demand that we be turned over to them, and Darion might just have to agree.”

“Besides, I’m not sure just how much we can trust Aldon,” Aaron interjected. The others all turned to look at him and he hurried on
. “Apparently, he’s Hannah Lells’ latest plaything.”

Cassandra snorted in derision. “What is it with that woman and King Darion’s sons? Flare was first
, and now it’s Aldon’s turn.”

“I do not believe she is picking them herself,” Dagan said slowly. “That woman is nearly fanatical when it comes to her devotion of the
church.”

“So?” Atock asked. “What does that have to do with her sleeping with Aldon?”

“My point is that I do not think she is picking the men so much as the men are being picked for her,” Dagan replied in a tone that indicated a return of his earlier grumpiness.

“You think the c
hurch is telling her to seduce King Darion’s sons?” Agminion asked in surprise.

Dagan ignored the question and turned to Cassandra. “There was a time when Flare was sleeping with Hannah. Did you ever sense anything strange about him during that
period?”

“What do you mean?” Cassandra asked, looking confused.

“Well, it seems to me that if I’m going to have one of my agents seduce a prince of the realm, then I might try to use sorcery or perhaps magic to get information out of them.”

“There would be some signs,” Agminion said, ca
using the others to turn toward him. He swallowed hard but kept on speaking. “I know a bit about this. I did something similar in the service of my king.”

Aaron grunted.
Agminion had used his sorcery on him to persuade him to answer a few questions.

“I never noticed anything strange,” Cassandra ans
wered after a moment of thought, “but if they had used magic or sorcery on Flare and learned anything, then they would have executed him and us a long time ago.”

Dagan nodded.
“I agree, but Angaria’s no fool. One thing you can say about him is that he learns from his mistakes.” He glanced over at Aaron. “Please tell me that Prince Danal isn’t sleeping with Countess Lells.”

Aaron snorted and shook his head
. “Not from what I’ve heard.” Aaron felt a little uncomfortable and squirmed on the blankets he was sitting on. “Uh, in fact, some of the grooms think he …”.

“Out with it!” Dagan barked.

“Well, some of the grooms think he may not like women.”

“Really?” Dagan asked, his eyes going a bit wide. “If that’s true, that would be a bit of a royal scandal.”

“It’s not true,” Cassandra said, and there was no mistaking the sincerity of her words.

“And you know this, how?” Dagan asked.

“Trust me, I’ve seen the way that boy looked at me. A couple of times he caught me watching him and he turned the brightest shade of red and disappeared. The boy’s shy, extremely shy,” Cassandra answered.

“Perhaps,”
Warren said after a moment of silence, “but what does it matter? If we got this Aldon on our side, or his brother Danal, neither one of them can get us in to see the king without a large number of guards waiting to arrest us.”

“True,” Dagan agr
eed, “but it’s a place to start.” He was silent for a couple of moments, considering where to go from here. Finally, he looked back up, his eyes searching out Aaron. “You feel like going back out tonight?”

“Of course. Where am I going?”

“Danal’s quarters. I want to see if we can get close. This time, however, you’ll take Warren with you.”

Aaron nodded.

“Oh,” Dagan said, as if it were an afterthought, “thanks for the food. Do you think you might bring back some water tonight?”

Aaron and Warren left the secret passage several hours after sundown. It was earlier than Aaron had gone out the night before. They left the less-used part of the castle and headed toward the royal apartments. There weren’t as many guards around this time, only a few scattered guards standing outside the various rooms.

They were still
several hallways away from the king’s chambers when Aaron suddenly realized that Warren was no longer beside him. Tensing up, Aaron turned and immediately spotted the Fae prince standing next to a window. Aaron glanced around and, satisfied they were still alone, rejoined Warren.

“What is it?” Aaron asked, stepping
next to Warren and peering out the window. The castle was an ancient and sprawling collection of buildings, but they were near the exterior walls. From their current vantage point, they could see over the walls and they had an excellent view of the surrounding city. It was dark, but numerous torches, lamps, and fires of all kinds illuminated the vast expanse of the city.

Warren
didn’t answer; he just continued to stare out at the city of Telur.

“
Warren?” Aaron said, and placed a hand on the Fae’s shoulder.

Warren
jumped and looked around. “What?”

“Is something the matter?”

Warren shook his head and looked back out the window. “I’ve just never imagined anything like this. It goes on forever.”

At last, Aaron
understood. The Fae had lived hidden in the wastelands for thousands of years. They didn’t have any cities of their own, although they did guard over ancient ruins. Those old, collapsed piles of stone could not compare to a thriving city like Telur.

Aaron gave
Warren’s shoulder a gentle pull. “Come on, we need to keep moving.”

Warren
took one more look out the window, then followed Aaron. He walked like a man in a daze.

They passed the king’s chambers without a second look. In the next hallway, they passed Aldon’s rooms; there was only one guard standing in front of the door. The lack of guards wasn’t surprising, as Aldon was spending his nights at Hannah’s manor, but nevertheless, the prince still wanted a guard on his door. Once again, they passed right by. The next several apartments were empty but there was still a guard posted. The guards looked bored. These were the rooms of Barrett and the princesses, none of whom were currently in Telur. The very last of the royal apartments belonged to Danal. A bored-looking guard stood beside the door. He watched them approach and returned Aaron’s nod as they walked past.

Warren
waited until they were out of earshot before he stopped and spoke. “We could get in there if we had to.”

“Yes,” Aaron nodded, “but what happens when they go to change the guard and they can’t find him?”

Warren sighed. “I don’t know, but I hate all this sneaking around.”

Smiling, Aaron started walking again. “I got an idea. Flare told me once that he
would often see his brother in the royal library.”

“And?”
Warren asked, looking skeptical.

“Well,” Aaron replied hesitantly, “since we’re not going to get in his
chambers, why don’t we visit the library?”

“Surely he won’t be there this late at night.”

“Probably, but it’s either that or return to the others.”

Warren
sighed deeply. “All right, let’s go to the library.”

They arrived at the library half an hour later. There were quite a few more people out in the hallways than there had been last night. Aaron simply attributed it to being so much earlier. On several occasions, nobles walked past, and Aaron and Warren moved to the side of the hall and bowed, just like the other servants. The nobles completely ignored them, and the guards didn’t glance twice.

The library was located on the first floor
toward the middle of the sprawling castle complex. Aaron had half-expected the doors to be locked, but was pleasantly surprised to find that they opened easily at his touch. He pulled the door open, leaned his head in, and gawked at the sight that awaited him. He had never visited the library before and had never suspected that there could be so many books in one place in the castle. It did not compare to the royal library in Eled Aminor, but it was still impressive nevertheless.

The library was immense. The rows of books stretched off into the distance
. The ceiling opened up to multiple levels of the library. He waited, trying to hear if there were any sounds, but it all seemed quiet.

Pulling the door open a bit farther, he slipped through
, then held it open long enough for Warren to enter behind him. Being careful to make as little noise as possible, Aaron slowly closed the door and motioned for Warren to follow him.

Off to the right of the entrance were several wooden desks. Most likely the desks were used by librarians who kept the massive number of books organized. It wasn’t a job that Aaron would have wanted; he imagined it was quite boring and tedious.

After walking for about ten yards, they emerged from under the ceiling overhang and could see the upper sections of the library. It was simply amazing. Along the upper tiers was a railing that allowed the library patrons to look out onto the floors below. There didn’t appear to be anyone here.

Aaron felt a tapping on his shoulder and turned to see
Warren holding his finger to his lips. Aaron nodded, and Warren pointed to right rear corner. Aaron nodded again and motioned for Warren to lead the way.

Warren
led them farther into the library and they passed long rows of bookcases. Aaron couldn’t help but scan the multi-tiered balconies of the upper levels of the library. Just because they couldn’t hear anyone, didn’t mean they weren’t there. He kept thinking that at any moment movement would betray a watcher, but a stillness lay on the upper floors and nothing moved.

However, after trave
ling a good distance into the library Aaron heard a sound and he knew what it was. His eyebrows went up and he looked questioningly at Warren, who smiled back at him. How had Warren known? There was something strange about Warren, but then again, he wasn’t a man. He was a Faerum, and Aaron wasn’t exactly sure what that meant. Had Warren been able to hear the sounds from the library entrance, or could he somehow sense the people in the back of the library? Aaron decided that was a question for another time.