Cold Magics (63 page)

“Of course he did,” said Thomas. “How foolish of me.”

“You have impugned my honour,” said Steven. “And the honour of all these men.”

“Oh,” said Thomas. “Is that all?”

Steven turned to Richard. “I demand satisfaction.”

Henry rose. “This is hardly the time,” he said.

“I agree,” said Lord Richard. “Nor is this the place.”

“With respect, my lord,” said Steven, “this is the time and the place. Captain Thomas has already defaulted on one duel. By rights we should have him declared a coward and whipped. Instead, I am giving him a chance to regain what little honour is left to him.”

“But why now?” asked Thomas. “Surely the next banquet would be a far more suitable place for you. More public, more witnesses. It’s the way you dogs like doing things, isn’t it?”

“You call us dogs?” said Steven, his hand going to his sword.

“Only the eight of you,” said Thomas. “You, Cormac, James, Anthony, Andrew, Charles, Geoffrey, Edward and Ethan. Dogs, traitors, cowards and liars. The rest are merely victims of your plotting.”

“What do you mean?” demanded one of the others. “What plotting?”

“Captain Thomas is convinced that these eight were in league with Lord John to overthrow the duke,” said Lord Richard. “A charge that has been disproved.”

“Oh, I know they’re in league,” said Thomas, desperately hoping the man in question would be appearing soon. “Just not with Lord John.”

Richard blinked, “What?”

“It was you, Richard. You betrayed the kingdom, you had your brother tortured, and you probably had your father murdered.”

All but eight of the lords looked stunned. “What?” repeated the lord who had spoken first. “You dare accuse Lord Richard?”

“Aye,” said Thomas, even as he watched Richard’s three knights straighten themselves from the wall, their hands drifting toward their sword hilts. Henry’s eyes were fairly wide, too. “And the rest of them. In fact, the only one that we couldn’t figure out was you.”

“We?” sneered Steven. “Who are we?”

“Well,” said Henry, rising. “Me, for one.” He left his seat and crossed the floor, Sir Lawrence staying three steps behind him the whole way. Henry stopped beside Thomas and said quietly, “You do know what you are doing, right?”

“No,” said Thomas, just as quietly. “But Lord John is chasing down the barons and we need to buy time.”

“By having us all killed?” said Henry. “Very original.”

“Liar! You should be strung up,” said Cormac. “He doesn’t deserve the honour of a duel. Hang him!”

“And is that because I’m a liar?” asked Thomas, “or because you don’t want everyone else to hear what I have to say once the duel is over and Steven here is lying on the floor?”

“These are not traitors,” protested another lord. “These are our friends and our peers.”

“No, they’re not,” said Amelia, her usual prattling tone gone. “They worked with Richard to let in the raiders. They hid while you fought in the halls. They tried to rape Eileen and they tried to have Thomas killed, all so Richard could get his way. They’re traitors.”

Thomas was caught completely off-guard by Amelia’s pronouncement. Henry just smiled. Amelia curtsied low to him. “Very glad to have you back, Lord Henry.”

“That’s my girl,” he said, tousling her hair. “How goes it with Lord William?”

Amelia smiled. “He’s starting to come round.”

“I knew he—”

“In the name of the Four, stop this prattle!” shouted Steven. “Lord Richard! This man has given me the gravest of insults, and I demand satisfaction as is my right!”

“He is within his rights,” said Richard. “And given the rather vile accusations you have heaped on me, I am rather inclined to let him face you.”

“What a surprise,” said Thomas. “Give me a moment to prepare, will you?”

“Choose a second,” said Richard.

“Henry,” said Thomas. He turned away and started stripping off his cloak and coat. Henry took them. “Steven is quite good,” said Henry.

“He ever beaten you?” asked Thomas.

“Never fought him,” said Henry. “Though people think we’re about equal.”

Thomas managed a grin. “Shouldn’t be a problem, then.”

“Ha, ha.”

“How much longer do you think we can delay?”

“Not much,” said Henry.

A few feet away, Amelia whispered into Eileen’s ear. Eileen’s mouth dropped open and she turned bright red. Amelia whispered again then shoved Eileen towards Thomas.

“What was that all—” was as far as Thomas got before Eileen wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in for a long, deep kiss. Thomas accepted it with great pleasure, breaking off long enough to say, “Amelia’s idea?”

“Delaying tactic,” said Eileen.

“Good choice.”

“You going to stop?”

“Not until they tell me to.”

The kiss lasted a good bit longer before Steven shouted, “Will you hurry up!”

There was a fair amount of snickering when Thomas and Eileen separated. “We’ll do that again, soon,” promised Thomas. He turned to Steven. “A moment to recover, if you please.”

The other lords snickered and Steven glared at them. “Be silent!” He turned on Thomas. “You’re making a mockery of this! Take it seriously!”

“They are,” said Richard, suddenly sitting forward in his seat. “They’re taking it very seriously.”

Well, so much for this
, thought Thomas. He pulled his sword and dagger from their scabbards, then loosed the belt and handed it to Henry. “Shall we dance, Steven?”

“Henry,” said Richard, pushing himself to his feet. “What have you done?”

“Me?” protested Henry. “I was here with you.”

“Henry…”

“One question, Steven,” interrupted Thomas. “You were the one Henry and I couldn’t figure out.” Thomas stepped into the middle of the room, his rapier pointed to Steven, his dagger at the other conspirators. “They all get land out of the deal. What do you get?”

“There was no deal,” said Steven, taking off his own sword belt and drawing the blade. “And I have no dagger.”

“Someone lend him one,” said Henry. Cormac stepped forward, proffering his blade to Steven.

“There had to have been a deal,” said Thomas, raising his voice so all the lords heard him. “If you look at a map of the attacks, you can see exactly where those seven stand to gain land. But not you. There’s nothing for you.”

Steven grinned and raised his blades. “I get to kill you. That’s enough.”

“Not enough to risk being flayed alive, I should think. That is what they do to traitors, isn’t it?”

“I am not a traitor,” said Steven and lunged.

He was fast and skilled and Thomas had to work to get the parry around in time. He sent a riposte back at Steven and was comforted to see the other man retreat. Thomas pursued and nearly got skewered for his efforts. He jumped back and Steven pursued. Now the blades were flashing back and forth in earnest, swords seeking each other’s bodies, daggers flashing back and forth to parry and occasionally strike out when the other got too close.

The crowd around them was shouting encouragement—mostly to Steven. Thomas ignored the noise, ignored everything except the blades of the man in front of him. Steven had a look of fierce concentration and joy on his face, his grin spread wide as he skipped in and out of range, his blades aiming for Thomas’s heart and wrists and eyes. They were almost equally matched and Thomas knew it would become a contest of endurance as much as anything else.

“Enough!” shouted an older man’s voice. “Weapons down! Now!”

Steven ignored the words and drove forward with a lunge. Thomas stopped the thrust with a twisting parry that threw Steven’s blade to the side. He started the follow-up thrust and was knocked backwards as Steven, instead of stopping, tackled Thomas and drove them both to the ground.

Around them, pandemonium was breaking loose. People shouted and weapons clashed. Thomas didn’t hear any of it. He clouted Steven on the head with his pommel, then let go of his sword to grab Steven’s dagger hand before the other could use the blade. Steven raised his sword and Thomas hooked one of his legs under Steven’s, rolling them over. Steven tried to hit Thomas with his own pommel then stopped, gasping in pain.

“The blade’s in your belly,” said Thomas, still not letting go of the other man’s dagger hand. “Yield and you live.”

A pair of strong hands pulled Thomas away, the dagger slipping out of Steven’s belly as easily as it went in. Steven shouted in pain and Thomas spun, his dagger coming up. Baron Rasmus caught Thomas’s wrist in one very strong hand and stopped it. “Enough, I said!”

“It’s all right,” said Baron Goshawk, picking up Thomas’s rapier and handing it to him. Eileen had her own weapon drawn and was staring uncertainly at the men around them. Thomas looked around. Richard’s knights were surrounded by armed castle guards. The students were squared off against the lords, swords out and pointing at each other. William was shouting at the lot of them and half a dozen older barons were surrounding Henry and John, demanding answers. Alfred lay on the floor, still tied, while Lady Prellham stood watch over him, a dagger in her hand and one boot pressed firmly on Alfred’s throat.

“Put down the sword, you fool of a girl,” said Baron Rasmus, contempt in his voice. He turned to the crowd, his voice overriding everyone else. “All of you, put down your weapons! NOW!”

“Where’s Richard?” asked Thomas. He looked around. “George! Henry! Where’s Richard?”

George and Henry’s heads swivelled on their shoulders. “His knights are gone, too,” said Henry. “Baron Rasmus! Summon the castle guard! The Order of the Bear needs to be needs to be confined to quarters!”

“Which way did he go?” demanded John.

“I didn’t see,” said Henry. “Did anyone?”

“The kitchen,” said one of the young lords. “He went out through the kitchen.”

Thomas took his rapier from Goshawk and, without another word, charged into the kitchen. Goshawk, George, Eileen, Henry and Sir Lawrence were all right behind him. “Which way?” Thomas demanded of the cooks. They stared, too stunned to say anything.

“Which way did he go?” shouted Henry. One of the cooks pointed out a back door. “Family quarters,” said Henry. “Come on.”

He charged through the door and down the hallway at top speed. Thomas could hear George puffing as they ran the length of the hallways and up the stairs to the family quarters. He led them to Richard’s room and kicked the door open. There was a chest open at the foot of the bed and a door open on the far side of the room. Henry ran through it, the others right behind him. A door slammed behind them and Thomas turned. The other door to Richard’s room was closed. Thomas changed direction, shoving past Eileen and George, hauling the door open and running. He spotted Richard, heading down the hall, and gave chase.

Richard dodged through the hallways then up a set of spiralling stairs. Thomas chased after.

“Kyun skob!” Richard shouted and Thomas pushed himself against the inner wall of the stair. The flames from the fire rod raced around the tower, charring the outer wall and narrowly missing Thomas. He started up again, keeping his sword in front and hugging the inner pillar of the spiral stairs. Behind him he heard Henry and the others calling his name. He ignored them, following Richard up and up until they reached the door that opened onto the roof of the castle. Thomas opened it cautiously and found Richard standing a dozen yards away, a sword in one hand, looking over the parapet. Thomas risked a look down himself. There were guardsmen everywhere, and the knights of the Order of the Bear were being herded back at the tips of the castle guard’s pikes.

“Dammit,” said Richard. He turned and saw Thomas. “And damn you.”

“There’s nowhere to go,” said Thomas.

“There’s another door on the other side of the roof,” said Richard. “All I have to do is reach it.”

Behind him, Thomas could hear footsteps coming up the stairs. “And you think I’ll allow that?”

“You have to,” said Richard. “After all, I saved your life.”

“When?” said Thomas, inching forward.

“Father Roberts,” said Richard. “I sent him south instead of letting them have you.”

“Which means they’ll bring back another two thousand men who hate magic,” said Thomas. “Thank you so much.”

“Oh, they didn’t make it,” said Richard. “I had the raiders ambush them two days’ march away. They all died.”

“Why?” said Henry, coming out of the stairwell with Lawrence right behind him.

 “It’s so obvious, really. I couldn’t have them come back. They might figure it out, the way you did.”

“Not that,” said Henry. “Why all of this? Why kill our father? Why start a war?”

Richard laughed. “By the Four, you think I’ll tell you?” He looked beyond Henry to Lawrence. “If you please.”

Sir Lawrence drew a dagger and in one smooth motion shoved it into Henry’s back. Henry shouted in pain. Sir Lawrence pulled him upright and thrust the dagger in again.

“Did you think I wouldn’t have planned for this?” said Richard as Henry collapsed onto the parapet, his eyes wide. Richard watched his brother fall. “Kill Thomas, Sir Lawrence. Then join me.”

“Yes, my lord.”

There was an animal roar and George charged onto the parapet, slamming Lawrence into the roof, the old timbers holding the roof up groaning at the impact. Thomas didn’t stay to watch. It was a long roof, and Richard had a good start. Thomas ran as fast as he could, only slowing enough at the corners that he didn’t skid into the parapet and over the side. Richard was moving lightly, minding his step. Even so, he nearly fell rounding a corner. He regained his balance and kept going. Thomas skidded around the same place and saw Eileen at the far edge of the roof, running towards the door and the stairs that would allow Richard to escape. Richard saw her and raised the stone rod in his hand. Eileen skidded to a halt and scrambled backwards.

Sir Lawrence’s scream filled the air, and a moment later there came the sound of the man’s body hitting the ground below. Lord Richard looked in the direction of the sound, and when he looked back Eileen had her own fire rod in her hands.

Richard kept the fire rod pointed at Eileen and dropped his sword. He reached under his shirt and pulled out a second fire rod, which he pointed at Thomas. “Any sudden moves from either of you,” he said, “and I’ll cook you both before I die.”