Well of Tears (Empath Book 3) (25 page)

Sammah was not a cruel man. He knew that, and
he needed his daughters to see that, too. That’s why he’d given
them this rest. He was benevolent, their father, and Neyv’s
unfaltering loyalty proved just how she thought of him.

Tomorrow, Sammah resolved, he would need to
push both Neyv and Quinn harder. With a full day of rest, Quinn
would be able to take that little bit more from the session. He
needed to make the breakthrough, and soon. The twinkling lights of
Shiver’s army hadn’t been lost on Sammah, and it was only a matter
of time before Shiver himself stepped through these hallways to
confront him. Sammah needed both of his girls to be in form at that
point, able to twist Shiver to Sammah’s own will again.

Had the inner castle been barricaded against
their casual intrusion? Was Elias organising this like Sammah had
asked? Impatient after being unable to do anything constructive all
day, Sammah decided he’d make sure his mercenaries were least
earning their keep. He headed down towards Quinn’s rooms, where
Elias was standing watch over the girls. Only when he got there,
Elias was not there. Sammah was confused. Elias always followed his
orders, so where, by the spirits, was he? The door was slightly
ajar. Sammah looked into see that the room was disturbingly
empty.

“What have you done Quinn?”

He didn’t doubt that Quinn was behind this
somehow. She’d been able to manipulate Neyv, who would then have
twisted Elias into cooperating with them. Sammah ripped the bedding
off, knowing that the girls would not be there. “Where are you!” He
howled in frustration, throwing things around the room. His noise
brought one of his men running, and a mute sprinted into the room.
Sammah spun to him,

“Have you seen Elias?”

The mercenary shook his head.

“Dammit! Find him, now! All of you, this is
the only thing I want you doing. Find out where Elias is. He has
both of the girls with him. We need to find them as soon as we can.
Go to the gates, make sure they don’t get out of here.”

Sammah scratched his head, ignoring the
palpitations racking his chest. The worst thing that could happen
now was that both Quinn and Neyv escaped into Shiver’s custody. He
had very little faith that the self-proclaimed king would let the
girls live, especially Neyv with what she’d helped Sammah do so
far. And Quinn? How much good grace did Quinn have left in the
court of Sevenspells? Usually Sammah would leave his men to do his
dirty work, but this was too important. He couldn’t trust his men
to do this on their own. Sammah crouched, taking some deep breaths.
He had to calm down and think about this rationally. When was the
last time he’d seen Elias? Not an hour ago at the most. Enough time
for them to get out of Everfell sure, but Sammah was positive that
he’d have heard of that by now. Where could they be? Where would
they go what they do? What could Quinn even be thinking? Her only
intention would be to escape surely? Either that or…

“No!” Sammah rushed to the door yelling for
someone. One of his men came running past, and Sammah yelled at
him. “Get to the roof now. Get to the battlements, check them.”

Sammah hoped beyond hope that Quinn wasn’t
crazy enough to throw herself off ramparts, but then, why would she
need Neyv? To get past Elias, that’s why. The mercenary sprinted
off, and Sammah did try to keep up with him though only halfway up
this spiral stairs he was out of breath. His legs were heavy, but
he pushed himself forward. Never before had he wished so fervently
that someone was alive, now he prayed to each and every spirit that
he knew that they were safe. When he reached the top the steps, he
was greeted by his mercenary, who gestured at the ramparts.

“All of them? You checked them all?” The man
signed that they had. There was no sign of the girls. “Then where
are they!"

Sammah’s breath crystallised in the air as he
tried to calm himself down. If they’re not up here, then…down. I
have to down.”

Sammah pushed the mercenary forward, knowing
he wouldn’t be able to get there first. “Down the stairs to the
spring! It’s the only place they can be. Go!”

Why on earth did Quinn want to go to the
springs?

* * *

By the time Sammah made it down to the
springs, he could feel the toffee taste of hot breath in his
throat, and his legs felt leaden. He was never running this far
again. Not, he resolved, that he’d ever need to. The mercenaries
rushed up to meet him—a couple of them had made it down here
already. What was that sound? Struggle? Sammah rushed into the
springs, and all he could see was Neyv. The water was thrashing
around the little girl, and Sammah came to a quick conclusion.

“What are you waiting for! Get in there; get
them out.”

Sammah wasn’t jumping in himself—he was
already exhausted, and wasn’t the strongest swimmer in the world.
Two of his men dived in expertly, and were quickly alongside Neyv.
One grabbed the young girl, and within seconds, Quinn’s body
floated to the top. She was unconscious, but another man grabbed
her.

“Get her here, now! On the rocks,
quickly.”

Sammah got down on his hands and knees,
desperately trying to see if Quinn was still alive. What had Neyv
done? Neyv was screaming, squealing, trying to get free from the
clutches of the mercenary. Elias stood dumbly by, looking at them.
Sammah got to his feet, confronting the man.

“What did you do? What did you let them
do?”

Elias gestured frantically, explaining to
Sammah that he’d known the girls were taking an evening bath.

“Does that,” Sammah pointed viciously at the
pool, “look like two girls bathing to you? Why didn’t you stop
them!”

Elias shook his head and dumbly shrugged.
Sammah elbowed him, and Elias barely moved. Sammah saw the
murderous rebuke in the man’s eyes. “What are you going to do? Kill
me?
Me
? Get back to my suites and wait there until I come to
deal with you. You’re not meant to be as weak as normal people,
Elias, but tonight you’ve shown me that I can’t trust you at
all.”

As Quinn’s body was lifted onto the solid
ground next to the pool, Sammah dashed to her. He slammed his fist
down on her chest. Quinn immediately coughed, water spewing from
her mouth. She rolled over, coughing until her throat was raw.
Sammah heaved a sigh of relief. At least she was alive—at least
Quinn was still with him. Neyv was hauled out next, and the
mercenary had to let go of her to get out himself. The girl tried
to dash away, but Sammah snaked out a hand, grabbing her by her
slim ankle. He yanked her to the ground and dragged Neyv towards
him.

“What did you do? Why did you do this?”

“I didn’t do anything!”

Sammah felt the ripple against his mind. It
wasn’t the truth. She’d tried to murder Quinn, and Neyv knew that.
Sammah try to calm himself but couldn’t. He knew now that he could
do this without Neyv. Quinn had already shown how powerful her own
abilities were. Was one empath enough? Yes, especially if Neyv was
willing to murder someone so essential to Sammah. Neyv was a little
girl. Sammah couldn’t let her grow up to become a dangerous woman.
Sirah had died because she had been a threat to his delicate plans.
Now, Neyv was no different. Sammah wrapped one strong hand around
Neyv’s slender neck. He started to squeeze.

“You only ever get to cross me once,
Neyv.”

As they
walked through the great hall, they expected someone to jump out at
them at any moment, sword raised and yelling for help. No one did,
but this didn’t calm Eden down one jot. Everfell should have been
crawling with people—he’d never seen anywhere before go from such a
hive to almost a derelict. The castle being this devoid of life
went beyond eerie. Harn was just as nervous, constantly talking to
his men, making sure he knew where they all were at all times. They
all expected an attack of some form, staying as one distinct unit
as they searched through the primary areas of the castle. So far
they had only encountered petrified staff, and everyone had they
had seen had chosen to run back to the safety of the camp of the
Sevenspells’ men rather than attempt to defend Everfell and Sammah,
the man who claimed to be working on behalf of their king.

“Where are they all? We’ve not seen a single
soldier, yet. He must have someone guarding him?”

“If they are dedicated to guarding him,” Eden
said, “then presumably they will be precisely where Sammah is?"

“We are meant to be laying siege to the
place—why isn’t he trying to stop us from getting into the
castle?"

“This is why I thought should stay behind
your highness. This could all be a deception. Sammah wants to kill
you above all others, and we’re letting you walk right to him.”

“I am the ruler of Sevenspells and I will not
spend any battle behind lines with the wagons and the women."

“No one is questioning you on that score,
your highness, but this is not a battle. This is a trap, and I feel
that you are walking straight into what Sammah wants. If these
girls can manipulate, like we know they can, then what’s going to
stop someone from turning you to his side as soon as you’re within
earshot? Please your highness, I beg of you, listen to me just on
this.”

“With everything Sammah’s put me and my
family through, I’m going to kill him with my bare hands. Do you
dare stop me from doing that, Harn? I’m not having you find and
drag the man down to me like a common mongrel. I will kill Sammah
in a fair fight. The only place that can happen, is here.”

“At least keep in the centre of the group,
father. Let us keep you safe until we can bring you to Sammah and
you do what you need to do.”

Harn didn’t give Shiver a chance to disagree
with Eden’s suggestion. The circle of men tightened around their
king, and they carried on out of the great hall through to the
king’s suite of rooms.

“We’ll go to Vance first, and if we don’t
find him there, we’ll head across the castle to Sammah’
s rooms. If he
’s not in the great hall, then those
are the only two places it makes sense for him to be hiding.”

Despite walking slowly, with
trepidation
, and expecting a fight every second,
they made it to the king’s chambers without incident. They didn’t
know what to expect, but when Harn swung the door in, he yanked it,
slamming it shut immediately. He turned back Eden, Shiver, and the
rest of the group. “Please sire, don’t go in there. I implore
you.”

Shiver, annoyed to have already been cowed
once by Harn, pushed past his captain to be met with a horrific
sight. The stench of death was thick through the room. Shiver tried
to cover his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt, but it did no
good. He wasn’t a stranger to this smell, but to be here, of all
places, was wrong.

There was a body in the bed, only the head
visible facing away from the door. The hair was matted with blood,
and though Shiver had no real doubt as to who it was, he had see
for himself. There was no one else in this room, so he strode
quickly over to the bed, ripping off the sheets and revealing the
naked body of Vance. Shiver tugged him over to get a better look at
his wounds. The body flopped to one side leaving the head in
place.

“Not this!”

Expecting the king to have been bludgeoned to
death, Shiver fell to the floor in shock. He vomited despite
himself, and Harn rushed in to drag his king to safety. Eden joined
in, and they both slammed the door shut quickly as they could.

“That… That monster! What did he do! Vance
didn’t deserve this.”

“No, and now there’s no question how our
king
is going to avenge his death.”

The significance of Harn’s words was lost on
no one. Who was there left to challenge Shiver’s rule? Nobody would
dare. Who was there left now to challenge Sammah in Everfell? Only
Sevenspells. Shiver wiped at his mouth, desperate to remove the
odour of death from his lips. “Water—someone pass me some blasted
water.” A skin was passed down the line, and Shiver washed out his
mouth, spitting the water to the ground. “Where else is there to
go? There’s nothing we can do here.”

“The only the place I can think of his
quarters.”

“Then we go there.”

* * *

Harn, Eden, and Shiver stood in a triangle
facing each other in Sammah’s opulent rooms. “And this! Where is
he! He can’t have just up and left, we would have seen him!”

“Sire, there is clearly no danger here,
let’
s split up! We
’ll cover more ground
that way, surely.”

“Yes, Harn, yes. Finally, yes, please just
go. Let’s find where this bastard is so I can take his head. Think,
Eden, is there anywhere else you know Sammah would go?”

Eden looked the bookcases, down at the desk,
then at his hands. He scoured his mind, trying to remember all of
the conversations with Sammah, dredging up every little detail,
minor though they all were, about the baron. He could only think of
one other place. “The bathing springs. He liked to take time there.
That’s the only other place I think he could be.”

Shiver nodded
.
“Good. That’s where we will go.”

“We, father? But you sent Harn away—we have
no guards.”

“You were my captain of the guard once upon a
time, Eden, and we both know how to swing a sword. We will protect
each other.”

Shiver was showing more trust in Eden than
any ever had before, despite everything. Buoyed by his father’s
confidence, Eden grasped his sword hilt, squeezing at the blade to
encourage himself.

“Let’s go, father.”

* * *

It hadn’t been that long ago at all, when
Eden and Quinn had been playfully flirting in these springs. As
they descended through the corridors, they had heard a commotion.
Sammah’s voice had risen above the rest, and both men had broken
into a run. The last thing Eden was expecting to see when he ran in
that room was Sammah strangling a little girl, whilst Quinn lay
nearby, barely conscious.