Cold Magics (48 page)

The baron caught the tone, too. “Of course,” he said, rising and limping forward. “And I pray you’ll accept my apologies, Miss Eileen. Thomas, well done.”

“Thank you. Can we go now?”

“We can,” said Henry, and led the troop out of the room.

23

T
he noise of the banquet became a dull roar when Henry closed the hall doors behind them. Thomas breathed a sigh of relief and took Eileen’s hand in his own as Henry, with Sir Lawrence on his heels as always, led them down the candle-lit hallway. George and Cecily walked arm and arm behind Thomas and Eileen, and Goshawk brought up the rear. Music started up again in the great hall as they walked down the main corridor, the clear notes of flute and harp and the beat of the drum rising above the tide of chatter in the room and wafting through the hallways.

They were just coming to the end of the main hallway when they heard light footsteps running up behind them. They turned and found Rose, holding up her skirts and gasping as she dashed toward them. “Lady Prellham,” explained Rose when she caught up. “Said I should go with you and keep you company.” She blushed and lowered her voice. “And keep you from doing anything untoward.”

Good luck with that
, thought Thomas.

“Of course. Come along.” There was still an edge to Eileen’s voice, but Thomas didn’t ask after it. He would find out soon enough he was sure, and he really wanted to get out of the hallway. He let Henry lead them to the tower door, then stepped to the front and unlocked it. Henry snagged some candles from a sconce and held them out to George. “Bet you’re better at lighting a fire than I am.”

“Aye, probably,” said George, taking them. “Assuming Thomas is keeping any kindling.”

“There’s some,” said Thomas, stepping in and holding the door wide for his friends, “by the fireplace.”

George grunted his acknowledgement on his way past. The rest of them followed, Eileen last, and Thomas closed the door behind them and shot the bolt, thankful for at least a semblance of privacy. George set his bottles of wine on the table, and headed for the fire. Henry found one of the chairs and sank himself into it. Sir Lawrence, Baron Goshawk and Miss Rose stood uncertain in the middle of the floor.

Eileen watched George until the kindling was starting to catch fire. The she turned on her heel and drove her fist full force into Thomas’s chest, driving him back against the door and knocking the wind out of him. His mouth gaped open in shock and pain.

“How dare you!” Eileen shouted. “Did you think I was your property that you could hand me over to Baron Goshawk like that?”

Thomas gasped for air as Eileen kept yelling. “It’s bad enough that I’m stuck here in this place and can’t go anywhere by myself and can’t do anything I want! Now I find out you set the baron up to sit watch over me like some helpless infant! How dare you?! And you!” She rounded on the baron. “Coming to my rooms! Feigning interest in me and my affairs! Why did you do that? What did Thomas offer that made you pretend to care?”

“Thomas offered me nothing,” said the baron, stiffly, “and I was not pretending.”

“What, exactly, did Thomas do?” asked George.

“He turned me over to this one,” Eileen shoved a hand in the baron’s direction, “and put me under his protection!”

“Thomas asked me a favour,” said the baron. “He felt Eileen was in danger from those whose rank allowed them to behave with impunity. So he asked me to spend time with her and care for her, so she could be shielded by my rank. Given the events that occurred at my party, I thought it was the least I could do.”

“Oh.” George looked thoughtful. “When was this?”

“The morning after the last banquet,” wheezed Thomas, finally able to force some air into his lungs. “Lord John suggested it.”

“Clever of him,” said Henry. “So what is the trouble?”

“He never asked me!” Eileen shouted. “No one ever asks me! They just tell me what to do! And then those lords of yours sneer at me and jeer at me and hate me for nothing! Look at me!” she spun back to Thomas. “Look at me! I’m in the most expensive gown I’ve ever worn, and it fits perfectly and I look great!”

“I know,” said Thomas.

“Then why didn’t you take me to the banquet instead of sending
him
?!” Her finger stabbed towards the baron.

“I didn’t send him,” said Thomas.

“But he came anyway! Why didn’t you ask to be my escort?”

“I didn’t get the chance! I had to look after the students!”

“And they’re more important than me?”

“Stop!”

Henry’s shout froze Thomas’s reply. Henry grabbed Thomas’s winter cloak and coat off a hook. He threw the first at Eileen and the second at Thomas. “Come with me.”

“But—” Eileen began.

“Silence,” ordered Henry, taking her by the hand and pulling her up the stairs to the next level. “Thomas, now!”

Thomas followed on Eileen’s heels, pulling the coat on as he went.

Eileen glared at Henry, but wrapped the cloak around her as best she could. Henry, not letting go of her hand, pushed open the trap door and led them into the empty room above. Thomas had hoped the man would stop there but Henry kept going, taking them up the other flight of stairs and putting his shoulder hard against the trap door above. After a brief struggle he forced it open and a blast of cold wind and snow drove down on them.

“No, Henry!” Eileen gasped. “It’s too cold out there!”

“No it isn’t,” said Henry, “Get out!”

He hauled on her hand to get her in front of him, then shoved on her backside to send her the rest of the way out, earning himself a shocked expletive from Eileen. Thomas glared at the lord on his way past, and found himself shoved out by his own backside. Thomas’s expletive was even more to the point than Eileen’s.

Henry grinned. “Now stay here until you’re done arguing. And Eileen, you are not allowed to throw him off the roof.”

Henry shut the trapdoor, leaving them alone on the cold, dark, windy tower roof. Thomas looked over the battlements, seeing the torches and lights shining from the castle windows, and through the dark city below, occasional torches of night-wandering individuals or set up out front of taverns and other late-open establishments. He sighed. “Where were we?”

Eileen hit him again with just as much force as the last time, and began crying.

Thomas stood, watching the tears flowing down her face and feeling completely stupid. “Eileen, I’m sorry,” said Thomas. “I just didn’t want to see you hurt.”

“You should have stayed with me yourself!”

“I couldn’t!”

“Then you should have let me come with you!”

“I couldn’t do that either!”

“Why not?”

“Because I was expecting to be ambushed again! They attacked you at Baron Goshawk’s party. They attacked you in the practice room. They certainly wouldn’t have hesitated to attack you in the streets. And once they’d killed me, what do you think they would do to you?”

“I can protect myself!”

“You didn’t want to!” shouted Thomas. “You didn’t want to fight anyone; you didn’t want anyone touching you; you didn’t want anyone near you! And you certainly didn’t want me around!”

“I did, too!”

“Then why didn’t you say so?”

“I’m saying it now!” Eileen stamped her feet. “By the Four, Thomas! You stopped coming near me after the party. I thought you didn’t want to be around me anymore!”

“How could you think that?” Thomas demanded. “I love you!”

“Then why wouldn’t you come around?”

“I wanted to keep you safe,” said Thomas. “And then, whenever I was going to come around, the baron was already there.”

“Because you asked him to be!”

“Well, I didn’t expect him to be so efficient about it!”

A quick laugh exploded out of Eileen’s mouth, fading to nothing just as quickly. “By the Four, Thomas, I just wanted to be with you.”

Thomas crossed the space between them and opened up his arms. Eileen didn’t say anything when he wrapped his arms around her, but she didn’t resist either, and he pulled her to his chest, holding tightly. “I am sorry,” he said quietly. “I just wanted to make sure you were safe while I found out what was going on.” He sighed. “Not that I’ve done that.”

“I should have come with you,” said Eileen.

“I know,” said Thomas. “Maybe after tomorrow morning.”

“Tomorrow morning?” repeated Eileen. She shoved herself away from Thomas’s chest. “You could be dead tomorrow morning! What possessed you to challenge them all?”

“They insulted the girl I love.”

“Oh, you idiot.” Eileen began crying again. “They could kill you.”

“Not from what I’ve seen.”

“Then what?” Eileen demanded. “Are you going to kill them all?”

“No, he isn’t,” said Henry, opening up the trap door. “I’ll speak to my father tonight and have a writ calling for any duels to end at first blood.”

“I’m sure he’ll be thrilled,” said Thomas. “Were you listening to all of it?”

“Yes,” said Henry. “And it’s our opinion that you behaved horribly and owe her an apology.”

“Our?” Eileen repeated.

“Well, I wasn’t going to listen alone,” said Henry. “It would be undignified.”

“Get up here,” Eileen commanded. “All of you!”

Henry grinned, opened up the trapdoor and called, “Come on!” He stepped up onto the roof. “Cold out here.”

“It’s freezing!” said Eileen, watching in horror as George, Rose, Baron Goshawk, Cecily and Sir Lawrence all stepped out onto the roof. Rose and Cecily had the good manners to look slightly abashed. “If you were all going to listen anyway, why couldn’t we have fought this out inside?”

“Well,” said Henry, “I thought the argument would be shorter in the cold. Also, it was funny.”

“
Funny
?” repeated Eileen. “How is this funny?”

“Well, not for you, maybe.”

“Eileen,” said the baron, coming to her and holding out his hand. “Please accept my apologies. I didn’t mean to keep Thomas from you…” He stopped, then smiled and for the first time looked slightly shamefaced. “All right, I did. After our turn on the fencing floor, I was feeling somewhat embarrassed and when Thomas asked…” He turned to Thomas. “Sorry, Thomas. I should have let you take her to the banquet.”

“My fault,” said Thomas. “I didn’t ask Eileen in time. I was an idiot.”

“Yes, you were,” agreed Eileen. She took the baron’s hand and curtsied. “And I’m still mad. But I thank you for the apology.”

“Will you forgive me?” asked the baron.

“Eventually,” said George, before Eileen could answer. “But she’ll make you pay for it first.”

“Oh, you!” Eileen leaned down, scooped up a handful of snow and threw it at her brother. George tried to duck and, instead of getting hit in the chest, received the snow full in the face.

“Wench!” he shouted, and picking up his own handful of snow, threw it back.

“Thomas!” Eileen shouted, ducking. “Defend me!”

“Against him?” Thomas asked. “Are you crazy?”

“If you loved me,” said Eileen, hands on her hips, “you’d defend me.”

Before he could react, the baron had already picked up his own handful of snow and caught George in the head. He grinned. “Well, you did ask me to protect her.”

For a reply, Thomas picked up the snow, ignoring the cold in his hands, patted it into a ball, and threw it directly at the baron’s chest. It hit square on.

“Fiend!” shouted the baron, and from then on it was a free for all with snow flying in all directions.

Thomas, being able to see much better in the dark then the rest of them, got half a dozen good hits off before George, Henry and the baron all ganged up to pelt him. Then Eileen dumped snow down his back and Thomas, shouting at the sudden cold, whirled, caught her, and wrapping his arms around her, dropped them both to the roof and rolled her over until he could get a good handful of snow which he put down the front of her dress.

Eileen squealed and struggled fiercely. “You’ll pay for that!”

“How?” said Thomas, grinning, just as George caught him from behind and put an enormous handful of snow down his back. Thomas practically jumped out of his skin and rolled off Eileen, leaving her to the mercy of her brother who descended with another handful and began giving her a thorough face-washing, accompanied by squeals and shrieks of protest.

Thomas grabbed another handful of snow with the intent of giving George the same treatment when he noticed the baron standing at the edge of the parapet staring out at the city. In the time they had been fighting, the dark clouds above the city had changed, turning ruddy orange as they reflected the flames dancing in the city below.

“By the Four,” Thomas breathed, letting George go. “Stop! Everyone stop and look!” The combatants separated and went to the battlements. Below, glaring yellow and orange flames had engulfed a half-dozen buildings, lighting up part of the maze of city streets. Even as they watched, a building’s roof collapsed.

“Father above,” said George as he reached the parapet.

“It’s in the poor quarter,” said Baron Goshawk.

“What’s happening?” demanded Eileen, rubbing the snow off her face. She saw the flames. “Oh no….”

There was a fresh gust of wind, and riding it were the sounds of the fire below—flames crackling, people screaming and, unexpectedly, the sound of steel clashing on steel. Thomas felt the blood drain from his face. “Oh, by the Four…”

The words were barely out of his mouth before a new flame gouted up from the ground, rising to the top of a building and engulfing the roof. Then another did the same about a block away.

Henry rounded on Sir Lawrence. “Get to the banquet hall! Tell them raiders are in the city and tell the White Wolves to gather at the stables and send out the call! George, go with him!”

Lawrence turned on his heel and ran down the stairs, George following a moment later. Thomas could hear alarm bells ringing in the city.

“I’m getting my sword,” said Eileen.

“Do that,” said Henry. “Meet us in the great hall. Hurry. Rose, Cecily, stay with her. Go!” Eileen grabbed her skirts and dashed for the stairs, Rose and Cecily hard on her heels. Henry swung toward Thomas. “What do you see?”