An Oath Of The Kings (Book 4) (15 page)

A hand on Kiernan’s shoulder shook her awake.

“Mistress Malley, it’s time to work,” Tilly whispered.

Work?
And, then the nightmare that had become her life pushed through the murky layers of sleep. As she sat up, the events of the previous evening flashed through her mind and chipped away at the purpose she so recently crafted and the words of optimism she had given to Cael. Because it had all been a lie. She wouldn’t be able to help the people of Lewstin after all. Not when everything that made her who she was—her memories, her family and now her magic—were lost to her. She had become scullery maid, Larkin Malley, in truth.

But, she could save Tilly.

And, it would cost another piece of her.   

Slowly, she got out of bed and dressed. In an apathetic daze, she joined the line with the others heading to the mines and someone pressed a piece of bread in her hands as she walked out the door. She took it listlessly and ate.

The sun had dried the mud to a manageable slush making it a little easier to plod along. The townsfolk ignored her as she walked among them. The soldiers ignored the townsfolk as they passed by. Both groups heavily burdened with a constant state of unease.

A hand grabbed hers and she spun around, terrified that she would find the leering grin of the Duke.

It was Cael.

“What are you doing here?” she gasped.

He shrugged and then winced at the pain the movement caused. “I wasn’t going to let you go to your first day at the mines without me.”

She scowled at him and ducked under his arm to help support his weight. Leaning on each other, they made their way to the top of the hill where Kiernan got a firsthand look at the Lewstin mines.

Shovels, hammers and picks littered the ground. Men, attached like animals to harnesses connected to a pulley system, lumbered in a continuous slow loop around the top of the hill as they hauled ore out of the mines in buckets one small load at a time. Sonorous discharges sounded from inside the mines followed by a series of shouted orders that impelled the human chain faster.

Children collected the ore from the buckets and carried their precious crystalline rock down another hill to the riverbank of the Illian where women waited with wash plans to extract, clean and polish the diamonds.

Everyone seemed to know their part.
Except me.

Cael sensed her uncertainty and squeezed her hand. “Go down by the river. The women will instruct you from there.”

Just then, a louder explosion rocked the air.

“Demon’s breath!” Cael swore. “Flood! Go down by the river now!”

“Where are you going?” she asked nervously.

“Inside to fix this! Go quickly!”

Kiernan did as she was told, picking up her skirt to run down the hill just in time to avoid the gush of water that blasted through the entrance of the mine and sent people and equipment spinning to the ground. She watched in dismay as the water flowed back down toward the town to soak the drying roads once again.

Why don’t they just divert the excess water to the river?
The question stayed on Kiernan’s mind as she joined the women down by the river. She picked out Marian’s gray head among the others and asked her.

“Still asking questions that don’t need answers, my lady?” she questioned irritably.

“Stop calling me that,” Kiernan hissed. “It just seems like it would be fairly easy to dig a trench down this way toward the river.”

“The Duke won’t spare the men to do it, you little twit! He needs them all mining during the day.” Marian shoved a pan in her hands. “Watch, learn and do.”

Kiernan snatched the pan from the matron’s hands and sat with another group as far away from Marian as possible. But, even as she worked, she chewed on the problem like a dog with a bone. The tedious work gave her an opportunity to observe the guards and their positions up on the hill.

When Tilly came down to the river to deliver more ore, Kiernan asked her if the guards ever came down off the hill.

“Oh, no, they prefer to stay out of the muck.”

The answer formed an idea in Kiernan’s mind. She might not be able to mindshift, but by the Highworld, she could dig.

An eagerness to see her plan through and the knowledge that she would finally get that much longed-for bath this evening slowed the remaining hours to an excruciating pace. A lifetime later, Marian signaled an end to the workday, and she raced back to the barracks without waiting for Cael or Tilly.

At her little cot, she undressed and hurried naked and riddled with goose pimples to the short line of women in front of a sectioned off area at the back of the building.

None of them spoke to her. She knew they saw her as a rebellious outsider and it would take time to change that perception. But, right now, all she could think about was a nice, hot bath.

At last, the privacy curtain was pulled aside and Kiernan was waved in along with the young girl behind her by one of the redheaded twin sisters named Serah and Salie who tended to the baths most nights.

Kiernan waited patiently while the twins poured water into a pair of large copper tubs. She couldn’t help but notice that one of the sisters held a kettle with hot steaming water and the other a bucket from the well. She was disappointed, but not surprised when she was led to the cold tub. She sighed, stepped over the rim and sank down into the icy water. Despite the temperature, Kiernan wanted to cry in relief as the mud slid away from her submerged body.

One of the twins picked up a brush and silently scrubbed Kiernan’s back. The woman used her free hand to work her fingers into Kiernan’s hair and massage soap into her scalp with vigorous strokes. Kiernan moaned in pleasure even as the clear water turned to a mucky brown. She barely had time to hold her breath as her head was pushed under the water to rinse away the lather. When she was hauled upright once again and a large comb scraped through her clean short hair, she thought she had died and gone to the Highworld.

Sadly, it ended all too soon and she was prodded out of the tub so it could be readied for the next in line.

Tilly was waiting for her at their cot.

“Did you hear?” Tilly asked excitedly.

“Hear what?” she asked, shivering as she stepped into the clean dress that had been put out for her.

“The Duke is gone.”

Kiernan’s heart skipped a beat. “Gone?”

“The Duke left town with a bunch of his soldiers.”

The terror that simmered just below the surface ever since her encounter with the Duke last night fled in an audible release of breath.

“Are you all right, Mistress Malley?” Tilly asked.

“Yes, I’m fine,” Kiernan told the girl reassuringly, already planning what to do with her reprieve.

After dinner, and with an hour to spare before curfew, she went out the back door and walked through the copse of trees out back, but instead of going left to Cael’s house, she took a right toward the river. The mud was thicker than usual because of the new flooding today, but Kiernan refused to be daunted. She retrieved a shovel from the now deserted mines, and starting at the river’s edge, she began to dig. Little by little, one shovelful at a time.

A fresh coat of dirt soon covered her clean body, but it couldn’t be helped.

One way or another, the town of Lewstin would get their trench whether they wanted one or not.

****

Beck had acquired a small army whether he wanted one or not. The line of people stood with him now at the lip of the Valley of Flame, a deep gorge filled with a plethora of swaying red and yellow flowers that gave the appearance that the ground was afire. Beyond the valley on the eastern rise stood the formidable Starfell—once a Mage Keep named after his grandfather, Galen Starr, and now home to the Halfie race of people. It had taken several years after the Demon War to find a suitable home for the Halfies, but this Keep isolated away from most inhabitants of the island fit their needs—and the needs of Massans—perfectly.

Beck beckoned his followers close and pointed. “We will be entering the lair of the legendary half-pint sprites called the Halfies. Has anyone here ever met a Halfie?”

Most in the group shook their heads, but a few grimaced with a remembered encounter.

“If you value your skin, I suggest you allow me to create a shield of protection around you. The mischievous Halfies stand only four feet tall but can be quite injurious without intending to be.”

When all agreed, Beck cast a spell around himself and the others and started down the steep slope. Not surprisingly, it didn’t take long for the imps to make their presence known. The moment Beck reached the valley floor, a rock whizzed through the air and bounced against his shield.

“Enough!” Beck growled. “Show yourselves!”

Amid a flurry of squeaky giggles, three male Halfies eased up out of the flowers dressed in simple loincloths wrapped around their hips. “Greetings,
Savitar
,” they said in piercing unison.

Beck was taken aback at their recognition of him as it had been several years since he had last been to Starfell.

“Greetings, Halfies. I am here to see Vinni Vee.”

More laughter burbled forth. “Of course you are. We’ve been waiting for you. Follow.”

Beck shook his head and started after the Halfies. It took over an hour to reach the eastern canyon wall and his shield took several more hits along the way. At the base of the slope, he beckoned Tristan over. “You can make camp here while I go up to the Keep. Instruct the others that we’ll leave at first light tomorrow.”

“Sounds like a good plan, Your Grace. Just keep that shield nice and tight around us if you don’t mind.”

Beck assured him that he would and followed his three escorts up to the Keep. The Halfies had built a wooden walkway into the side of the valley wall making the climb easier than it used to be.

At the top, Beck stepped off the platform into a courtyard littered with refuse and discarded furniture and overturned carts. Halfie children scampered up trees and swung from branches screeching at the top of their lungs. Beck stepped through the disorder and made his way into the foyer of the Keep. He was surprised to find the statue of Galen Starr still standing unmarred because the rest of the interior had not been so fortunate. Beautiful stained glass doors hung on their hinges. White marbled floors were scuffed and cracked. The elegant woodwork and walls were stained with what looked and smelled like black tar.

Heartbreaking to see, but a small price to pay, he supposed, to keep the menacing confined to one place.

“This way
, Savitar!
”

His Halfie escort pointed through the broken doors into a large sitting room. Beck squeezed through the opening and found Vinni inside sitting on none other than a tiny throne made for a petite King.

Beck had to bite back a laugh. The Halfie always did have quite the ego.

The imp looked older, his shock of curls a bit grayer, his middle a bit thicker. The eyes, however, were as sharp as ever.

“
Savitar
,” Vinni drawled in a bored voice while meticulously studying his fingernails.

“Well met, Vinni.”

“Let’s dispense with the niceties, shall we? What can I do for you?”

“All right then,” Beck replied, wondering at the brusqueness of the Halfie’s tone. “The clouds, Vinni. Can you still read them?”

Vinni issued a loud snort. “Vinni Vee, Son of Verdi, Tribal Leader and Cloud Reader, is a name that is not given lightly.”

“No offense intended, Vinni, but I need your help.”

Vinni sat forward with a sneer. “Of course you need my help! Why else would you be here? It’s not as though you would ever visit otherwise. Oh, no, not a busy
Savitar
such as yourself. What would you care about a Halfie who saved your life and that of your wife?”

Beck’s face reddened with guilt. “You’re right, Vinni. I do consider you a dear friend and I should have visited long before now.”

The Halfie’s expression came alive. “Really? I am your friend?”

“Yes, really.”

Vinni hopped down from his throne and Beck involuntarily took a step back, his hands crossing to cover his lower region. “Well, then,
friend
, I can help you.”

“How?”

“I know what you seek,” he whispered conspiratorially.

Thank the Highworld!
Beck squatted down. “I can’t thank you enough, Vinni. You don’t know how desperately I need to find my wife.”

“Not your
wife!
” Vinni scoffed with a wave of his hand.

Beck blinked. “Yes, Vinni! She disappeared and—”

“No! You need to find
you!
”

Beck stood, panic burrowing into his stomach. “What in demon’s breath are you talking about?”

“Just as I do, my friend, you go by many names. Earthshifter,
Savitar
, Prince, First Mage. Some you wear more easily than others, but you have to decide soon. Who
are
you, Beck Atlan?”