Bricrui (The Forgotten: Book 2) (7 page)

There was much on both their minds…

*

The stone in Natalya’s pocket warmed and she
held up a hand to halt the procession. She fished out a mirror from
her bags and the surface of it shimmered. Her reflection
disappeared and was replaced by the countenance of the Queen.

“Hello, Natalya,” the monarch greeted her. No
matter how many times she spoke with her, Natalya still couldn’t
get over the fact that she was conversing with Her Royal
Highness.

“Your Majesty,” she replied, nodding her head
as it was the next best thing to a curtsey while riding a horse.
She waited.

“We have come across information about a
stronghold of the Faithful we did not previously know about,” the
Queen said.

Natalya’s heart skipped a beat,
could it
be?
After searching for so long for her sister, it was easy to
start believing she would never find her. “Where?” she asked,
trying not to sound too excited, and calming her racing mind.

“New documents were uncovered which spoke of
a project on a grand scale being performed somewhere just outside
the capitol. By following a lead as to what family may have
controlled the manor they were using, we determined that the most
likely overseer of this project is one Lord Farthen. He was
arrested after the war for use of blood-magic, but escaped during
one of Lord Telvani’s ‘accidental’ losses of records.”

“Where is his manor?”

“It is to the northwest, called Castle Storm.
Sir Ruawn knows where it is.”

The Queen was also in constant contact with
the true head of the Knights, Sir Ruawn, though she had technically
put Natalya in charge of this mission. Natalya didn’t mind. She
didn’t care who was in charge as long as it meant that Alina would
be safe. “Excellent,” she exclaimed, ready to bid farewell, but the
Queen had a look of discomfort on her face as though she had more
unfortunate news to convey.

“Natalya,” she began slowly, “you should know
that there is evidence that whatever project he was working on
involved blood-magic which, either on purpose or by accident,
transforms people into monsters.” She looked pained. “I thought you
should be warned in case of the worst.”

Natalya was silent for a moment. She refused
to contemplate that possibility, however. “Thank you, Your Majesty,
we will find out soon enough.” She broke the connection sooner than
she had meant to, or was actually polite, but she didn’t want the
Queen to see her crying. She sniffled and urged her horse forward,
out of the throng of men. They had all hung back a bit already in
order to provide her privacy for her conversation with the Queen,
and they did not make any move to catch up – for which she was
grateful.

When she had gotten her tears under control,
she reined in her mount to rejoin the group. She sidled up next to
Sir Ruawn, and he nodded a greeting to her.

“You’ve already spoken to the Queen,
ma’am?”

“I did. She said you know where Castle Storm
is?”

“I do,” he turned to face her, “and it is no
easy place to search. It will not be like the manors we have
searched in the past, and if it is indeed their stronghold, they
will not simply allow us entry to search the premises. I have a
feeling we could be fighting our way in.”

“You don’t think I’m up for it?” Natalya
asked defensively, sticking out her chin defiantly.

“I don’t know that any of us will be,” he
corrected. “There are only twenty of us, against an unknown amount
of enemy foes who have been using blood-magic, and who could
potentially be in control of some sort of new monster.”

The mention of the monster and who they might
have previously been made Natalya gulp. “If it’s near the capitol,
we should stop for reinforcements.”

Sir Ruawn looked relieved at not having to
make this suggestion himself or needing to overrule her. He had the
annoying knack of assuming she would always allow her emotions to
overcome her better judgment. He also seemed to believe that
Natalya really thought she was in control, but she was not so naïve
as to think that she could actually command the Knights. She was
well aware that her appointment was an honorary position, but still
fully planned on using the Queen’s guilt to do everything she could
to find her sister.

They arrived at the palace without fanfare,
both she and Sir Ruawn preferring to enter through the back to
avoid the parade they may otherwise be persuaded to put on. As they
dismounted, a young boy came scurrying up to greet them.

“Queen Layna will meet you presently in the
conference area when you are ready,” he informed them with a
bow.

“Thank you,” Natalya said, her apprehension
growing now that they were here. She was afraid of what additional
news the Queen might have for them.

They followed the servant to the conference
area and were served tea while they waited for the Queen to arrive.
She did so shortly, and shook both their hands in greeting in a
most informal fashion.

“I’m glad you are here,” she told them both,
though focusing more on Natalya, who squirmed uncomfortably under
her gaze. “I’ve been discussing it with Gryffon, and we think there
is something you should see.” She paused and Sir Ruawn raised an
eyebrow.

When she continued, she no longer met
Natalya’s gaze. “We think that it is important that you see exactly
the type of situation you may be walking into,” she put in
hurriedly, “and please know that no one would think less of you for
leaving this particular adventure up to the Knights to
investigate.” This last bit was obviously directed only towards
her.

Natalya bit her lip. “No, I want to go,
whatever it is. If Alina is there, I need to find her.”

Queen Layna did not answer her right away. “I
think we’d better go have a look. Be prepared; it is not a pretty
sight.”

“What exactly are you showing us, Your
Majesty?” Sir Ruawn asked warily.

“What we believe is the result of one of
Telvani’s experiments,” the Queen answered, looking slightly pale.
She led the way to the dungeons, followed by a large group of
people encircling their small group, and held a hand up to the
guard stationed there, indicating he should let them through.

“I thought this dungeon was unfit for
prisoners,” Natalya mumbled to herself, and was surprised when the
Queen answered. She had meant the comment to be too low for any to
hear.

“Usually it is,” she said pointedly, “but in
this case it was deemed necessary. You will see what I mean
presently.”

Natalya exchanged a look with Sir Ruawn, who
was looking confused. She quickly filled him in on what her
question had been and his eyebrows went up another notch.

As they rounded a corner, they were met by
snarling and growling. Something shuffled across the floor, making
horrible scraping sounds and spraying out hay that had been put in
the cell presumably for warmth and comfort.

Natalya was afraid to step farther in to be
able to see into the cell, but Sir Ruawn moved forward without
pause, and she forced herself to follow suit. Willing her
stiffening muscles to relax, she took a halting step forward.

The scene before her was unimaginable. The
creature must once have been a man, but aside from the ragged
clothes draped over its disfigured body and the general shape,
Natalya would never have thought it so. Its face was beyond
recognizable, she couldn’t even begin to try and determine what the
person had once looked like.

And its eyes. She sucked in her breath at the
sight of them, and the blood-red orbs stared back at her with no
intelligence behind them. Nor had there been any movement in them
since they’d stepped into view, which only added to the eeriness.
In fact, she had yet to see any part of it move; it stood there
frozen like some sort of grotesque wax statue staring back at her.
If she hadn’t just heard the racket it had been making before their
arrival herself, she might have thought that was all it was.

Then it blinked. Natalya had a split-second
reprieve from the stare, only to have her hearing assaulted instead
as the thing opened its bloody mouth. It let forth such a shrill
and awful shriek that she clamped her hands over her ears, muffing
the sound.

Layna ushered them out of its presence and
didn’t stop until they were back up the stairs and out of the reach
of the horrible noise.

“You see why I wanted you to be prepared,”
she intimated quietly.

“Yes,” Natalya acknowledged, catching her
breath from the encounter. To her surprise, Sir Ruawn was looking
rather taken-aback as well. She supposed no one could have been
prepared for…
that
.

Sir Ruawn soon excused himself to gather the
reinforcements that had been their primary reason for the stop,
while Natalya attempted to compose herself. The Queen was called
away with other duties, so she was left with nothing but her memory
of the beast and her imagination. And her imagination was something
that she had no control over.

Swirling images of Alina transforming into
such a creature roiled through her thoughts, haunting her. What if
she was too late? What if all that time she’d spent searching for a
way to get the Queen back to talk to her had taken too long?

After what seemed like an eternity of
torturing herself over what-ifs, Natalya resolutely decided that
she needed to get a grip on herself. The past was over, and there
was no changing it now. If Alina had already been turned into one
of those beasts, no amount of wondering what could have been would
bring her back. If she hadn’t, and was still alive, her best chance
would be for Natalya to concentrate on the future.

By the time Sir Ruawn came looking for her,
having rounded up additional men, she was ready. The ride to the
castle seemed tortuously long, and all of the Knights were subdued.
Though she hadn’t mentioned the encounter with the beast and was
sure that Sir Ruawn had not either, there must have been talk of it
at the palace. All the Knights seemed to understand what it was
they were riding towards.

As their slow procession neared the castle,
Natalya got the distinct impression that something nefarious was
indeed underway. Their approach was too quiet. No one appeared on
the castle walls to look down on them. The iron gates guarding the
entrance were lowered. Even the murky water of the moat was eerily
calm, the smooth surface reflecting the sky above.

Sir Ruawn held up his hand to halt the
troupe, now another thirty men stronger. They paused while he
examined the castle. Natalya clicked her tongue and nudged her
horse over next to him.

“Any thoughts on how we’re going to do
this?”

He didn’t answer immediately, but moved
cautiously closer to the lowered gate. He knelt at its base,
reaching out to touch the dirt that had been displaced as the iron
spikes had been forcefully thrust into the ground. He stood and
dusted his hands off on one another. He moved to the edge of the
gate and angled for a better view towards the mechanism that
lowered it.

He grunted to himself. “The gate chain’s been
cut,” he informed her over his shoulder. She started to move
forward to investigate for herself, but he held up a cautionary
hand. She watched him as his eyes scanned the empty courtyard
beyond.

“What does that mean?” she asked
curiously.

“It means,” he replied, “that for some reason
they really didn’t want something getting in,” he paused in quiet
contemplation and then added grimly, “or out. Ever.”

They walked along the walls until they came
across an archway, through which water poured out of the castle
into the moat. Several boards had been haphazardly thrown over the
grating that covered it and nailed into place. Sir Ruawn stood
staring at this for some time.

Finally, he commanded the troupe to withdraw
to a safe distance while they pondered how to proceed. Obviously
they still had to get into the castle in order to investigate, but
without knowing the reason for the desperate action the occupants
had taken, it was a bit of a gamble.

“So what do we do now?” Natalya implored. “We
can’t get in.”

“We can,” Sir Ruawn countered, “just not
through the gate.”

“What do you mean?”

“I have a spell that combines with a special
substance to blow a hole straight through the castle walls, and I
have been authorized to use whatever means necessary by the
Queen.”

“Than what are we waiting for?” Natalya
exclaimed, jumping to her feet.

He didn’t move. “I have been contemplating
the reason for the gate being closed,” he explained patiently, “and
am not sure that blowing a hole in the castle wall is such a good
idea.”

“Why not? You said it yourself we can’t get
through the gate.”

He gave her a hard stare. “You saw what we
might be up against,” he said in a whisper that was barely audible.
“I am becoming more and more certain that this castle was closed
off to keep something in. Can you not imagine what it might be that
is locked inside?”

She sat back down in a heap. She had spent
all day trying
not
to imagine just that. So the castle could
be filled with those, those…things. She shook her head. Those
things that Alina might now be one of.

“Well,” she challenged him in a sudden rush
of confidence, “That’s why we stopped for reinforcements, isn’t it?
We won’t find out anything by sitting here outside the walls.”

Sir Ruawn gave her another intense look,
searching her face. Then he sighed. “You are right, of course. But
I am not wont to waste my soldiers’ lives purposelessly. We will
proceed with caution, treating this as a hostile environment. We
will not rush in and do anything rash, will we?”

By ‘we’, Natalya understood he meant her. He
didn’t want her overreacting if she saw her sister turned into a
monster and do something foolish like running to her and getting
herself killed. She lifted her chin.