Fortress Draconis (47 page)

Augustus shook his head. “We’ll get what we need. In Kedyn’s name, I hope it is enough.”

JTwo left turns out of his door in the Vilwanese tower and rWill found the room to which he’d been summoned. Because of the morning sun shining through the long, narrow room’s windows, he knew it faced to the east. Will also knew that was impossible since two left turns should have put the room beside his and sharing an external wall, but his room faced west.

He would have worried about that problem, but more immediate trouble presented itself. In addition to Crow, Qwc, Resolute, and Dranae, three other individuals were in the room. The only female stood in close conversation with Crow, sharing with him the grey coloration of age. Will recognized her as the combat mage sent out with the raid on Marcus’ place, Orla. The nonhuman was a Panqui—at least that’s what he assumed the hulking creature to be. The sun glowed golden and brightly off the beast’s bony-plated flesh. The Spritha hovered around the Panqui while the beast and Dranae both sized the other one up.

The third individual spelled troublefor Will. He expected to see recognition flickering through the tall youth’s green eyes.He was the one Scabby Jack and Garrow had their kids giving a beating to. Then Will smiled.He doesn’t know me because of the mask. Will gave him a curt nod, then lifted his chin and walked over to Crow.

“I’m here.”

Crow smiled benignly. “So you are. You remember Magister Orla from the other night. She has been assigned to help safeguard you from thesullanciri. Her aide is Adept Kerrigan Reese. Lombo is a Panqui and is accompanying them.”

Orla nodded. “Pleased to meet you again, Lord Norrington.”

Her words sent a jolt running up his spine. Her voice rang with respect and it chilled him.

Kerrigan moved forward for an introduction.

Will frowned. He was, after all,the Norrington. He would be the salvation of the world, so Orla’s respect was rightly due him. Despite that, he felt uneasy and, perhaps for the first time in his life, ashamed. Everyone wanted him to be a hero, and he’d done some heroic things, but he’d not helped Kerrigan. It wasn’t even that he was afraid that he’d have gotten a beating from the Garrow gang— most of them couldn’t hit worth spit anyway. He’d just walked away because it wasn’t his fight.If I did that in so simple a situation, why might I not do it when I need to be theNorringtorü

The Adept extended a hand toward Will. “I’m Kerrigan Reese.”

Will nodded. “We’ve met, sort of.”

Kerrigan frowned. “I don’t remember….”

The Panqui came over, striding on knuckles and feet and crossing the distance that separated them much too quickly for Will’s comfort. The Panqui took a healthy sniff of him, then nodded. “Prey-night.”

“I don’t…” Kerrigan blushed deeply.

Will slowly inched his mask up. He couldn’t believe he was hearing himself speak. “I didn’t help you when Garrow’s gang had you down.”

The Adept’s green eyes narrowed and his jowls quivered. “I called to you for help …”

Lombo snorted and smacked Will in the center of his chest with a casual backhand blow. “Hunter you became, Kerrigan. Lombo saw.”

Will coughed abruptly and staggered back. Will was certain Kerrigan never caught the glint in the Panqui’s black eyes, but Will saw it sure as dark comes with night.If I ever do anything that gets Kerrigan hurt, Lombo will punch my heart out through my back. Will rubbed at his breastbone, but nodded to the beast. He got a quick nod in return.

Resolute’s iron grip closed on the back of Will’s neck. “What did you do?”

“It’s what I didn’t do.” Will shook his head.If I’d kept my mouth shut, only Lombo and I would know, and we’d have our understanding. “When I was in the Dim, there was a gang manhandling Kerrigan. He asked me to help him and I didn’t.”

The Vorquelf spun Will around and, grabbing his shoulders, shook him. “How could you not… ?”

Will slapped Resolute’s hands off his shoulders. “I had other things going on at the time. I was running away from everything that had happened since I met you, and he was part of it.”

Razor-sharp silver crescents regarded him coldly. “Your role is to …”

The thief snarled. “I know what my role is, thanks, but right then I wasn’t beingthe Norrington. I was beingme. I know thatI —or whoever I was or am—wasn’tthe Norrington right then. But, look, I told him what I did. Kerrigan, I’m sorry I didn’t help you out.”

The Adept shrugged. “It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not.” Resolute crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t think you understand, boy, just how critical things have become. The Council of Kings has made their decisions. They are backing General Adrogans and the Okrannel offensive.”

Will frowned. “What does that mean, exactly?”

Crow came over and waved everyone toward the table and chairs. As they moved to take places, with the Spritha lighting on the back of Will’s chair and the Panqui squatting at the far end, he began to explain. “It means, quite simply, Will, that we are bound for Okrannel.”

Trie youth frowned. “But, I mean, I thought we were going to Fortress Draconis. From there we just go north and kill Chytrine and be done with it all.”

Crow, Orla, and even Resolute shared a smile before the older man continued. “Were that it would be as easy as you suggest. That was the thinking a quarter century ago, and it did not work.”

“How did this happen?” Will snorted with disgust. “There’s a Hawkins there at Fortress Draconis and even Resolute said I need one with me when we go kill Chytrine.”

Crow nodded. “I’ve been told this was a point raised by the Draconis Baron. He argued long and loudly that you should be brought to Fortress Draconis, but General Adrogans claimed you for himself.”

“Next time I shake his hand, that ring is mine.”

Resolute scowled. “The discussion was balanced until Scrainwood threw in with the Jeranese. You want to avenge yourself on someone, he should be it.”

Will chuckled softly. “Already done.”

Crow’s left eyebrow rose sharply. “What?”

Will’s smile broadened and he dipped his hand into the pouch on his belt. “Well, the king was being an idiot and I didn’t like him, so when we shook hands, I took his ring.” He produced the sapphire and held it up proudly.

Orla covered her face with a hand and Crow shook his head. “You didn’t.”

“But Resolute just said … I just anticipated him.”

Crow plucked the ring from his left hand and set it on the table. “Resolute, my friend, I apologize to you. Throughout our search and journeying with Will, I thought you were just being too thorough, too hard on him. I hoped he had more of his father in him, or less.”

“Not your fault, Crow.” The Vorquelf, who had seated himself at Will’s right, turned toward the youth. “Give over your other loot.”

“What are you talking about?” Will refused to flinch, refused to drop a hand to his pouch. “The king had it coming.”

Resolute’s voice came low and cold enough to suck all the heat out of the room. “Your choice, boy. I saw you stumble against the prince. Do you want me to believe you were clumsy? Or should I believe you were so practiced and smooth that you fooled me, even up to now?”

Will hesitated. If he claimed clumsiness, Resolute would just search him and all his gear. If he coughed up the other ring, the signet ring the king had used to mark his mask, at least Resolute would have admitted he missed the theft. The punishment would end up being the same no matter which course he picked, so the only bright spot in the whole picture was the admission from Resolute.

The thief fished the ring from his pouch and set it there with the first one. “It has magick on it.”

Kerrigan, seated at Will’s left, reached for the rings. Will gave him a quick, backhanded slap with his left hand. His knuckles cracked off the Adept’s upper arm.

“Ow!” Will shook his hand, then sucked at his knuckles. He glared at Crow. “The prince was stupid, too.”

“Will, while it might be true that were Linchmere a cow, he’d starve because he doesn’t have the brains to sneak up on a blade of grass, that gives you no cause to steal from him—and certainly not a ring that serves as the king’s official seal. You don’t know King Scrainwood. He can be insanely paranoid and could see the disappearance of either ring as the glimmerings of a plot against him. He could use it to justify letting Chytrine station more troops in Oriosa. He could strike at allies, thinking they are out to topple him.”

“I understand. I get it.” Will sighed loudly. “I can get into the house where he is and put both rings back and they’ll never notice. Resolute didn’t see anything that night, no one did.”

Orla rested a hand on Crow’s shoulder. “Perhaps, given the omen of the last visit by a Norrington to the leader of Oriosa, having Will return the rings is not a good idea. In fact, if you wish, I can have them returned to the king, noting that once we heard they were missing, we undertook a search and are returning them. The remarks will be cryptic, he’ll not know how and where….”

Crow nodded. “That should work.”

A blue aura sprang to life, surrounding Kerrigan’s hands. In his left he held the king’s ring and in his right* the seal glowed red. “Magick on both of the rings. The signet has a basic sealing spell.”

The Adept set the ring down, then reached a fat hand toward Will’s mask. Blue flashed before Will’s eyes, then the hand came away and Kerrigan was nodding. “The ring made the mark on the mask. Easy way of verifying orders as coming from the king.”

The Spritha’s wings filled the room with a humming as the creature darted from ring to mask and back again. “Yes, yes. Same.”

Kerrigan held the sapphire ring up in his left hand. “This one is fascinating because it has a rather unique spell on it. It has to be invoked and will detect hostile intent in a sphere roughly twelve feet in diameter around the wearer.”

Resolute laughed. “He must never use it lest he be overwhelmed.”

The Adept frowned. “It has some narrowing factors on it. One thing is that it seeks to warn him especially of enemies from the Norrington bloodline.”

“He must have had it made after his mother’s death

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because he certainly would have fled from thesullanciri if he’d had any warning.“ Crow’s dark eyes narrowed. ”Why wasn’t he warned about Will’s stealing his ring?“

Orla accepted the ring from Kerrigan and surrounded it with her hands. A blue glow leaked out from between her fingers. She thought for a moment, then nodded. “There are a number of different answers to that question. The first is that Will might not, in fact, be a Norrington.”

Resolute waved that idea away. “He is. Of this there is no question.”

Lombo extended a single claw and scratched at the corner of his eye. “Thief steals. No hate.”

Orla nodded in agreement. “Will’s penchant for theft seems to be independent of any emotional content. When the spell was created, the mage who cast it would have provided his own sense ofhostile and Will’s thievery might not rise to that threshold. After all, he did not mean to do harm to the king, just to enrich himself. It would take some time to determine, but I suspect that was it.”

Will frowned. “Maybe he just didn’t have it working.” Orla nodded. “Another good idea.”

“At such a gathering, heralding the debut of the Norrington?” The Vorquelf laughed harshly. “He had it working. If Chytrine wished to strike terror into the hearts of the world’s leaders, she could have done it there by attacking and destroying their only hope.”

Dranae, seated across the table between Orla and the Panqui, raised a hand. “So, then, we have a curious situation.If King Scrainwood has determined that Will stole his ring, and if the king would consider that a hostile act, then he must think Will is actuallynot the Norrington. This could explain why he is willing to have Will bundled off to Okrannel.”

Will’s brows beetled.If he doesn’t know I stole it, then he thinks I am theNorrington, but if he does know, then he knows I’m not? Unless, of course, he knows my theft wasn’t hostile, in which case he thinks I am the Norrington. Or, if the

wagkk wasn’t working, then… He raised his hands to his temples and began to massage them.

Crow tapped a finger against his lips for a moment. “Interesting idea, but I think the most simple answers are likely the best. First, he doesn’t know Will stole the ring. Scrainwood is petty and vengeful, but also resourceful. He’d have called Will in, told him he was going to Fortress Draconis, and offered him a lot of money to steal a sample of the dragonel powder from there. More importantly, though, there is a more basic reason he’s not sending Will to Fortress Draconis. We’d move by land through Oriosa. Chytrine has troops there, so Will would be most vulnerable. If she killed him in Oriosa, the other nations would pull the nation apart in rage, fear, and retribution.”

He turned to Orla. “Please do see to it that the rings return to King Scrainwood. You might even have your envoy suggest a modification of the sapphire ring to more broadly define ‘hostile.’”

Dranae smiled. “That could guarantee that Scrainwood would survive an attack by Chytrine’s forces. Wouldn’t Oriosa be better off with someone else on the throne? Wouldn’t the rest of us be better off with someone else on the throne?”

“Scrainwood is unreliable and a schemer, but as long as he is alive, he is a problem for Chytrine just the way he is a problem for us. If he dies, her forces could back Linchmere, other forces back Erlestoke or even Ryhope. The nation would collapse, other nations would pick sides. It would not be good.”

“But what if he sides with Chytrine and turns against us? That ring could prevent him from being slain when we need him dead.”

Before Crow could answer Dranae’s question, Resolute rapped a knuckle on the table. He glanced up at Orla. “The spell on the ring—to target the Norrington bloodline; there is something of a Norrington in the ring to allow that.”

She nodded. “A hair. Probably from the son.”

The Vorquelf nodded. “That which includes could exclude?”

Orla nodded hesitantly. “Your knowledge of magick does you credit, Resolute.”

“I’m honored, Magister.” He reached up and plucked a single white hair from the stripe running down the center of his scalp. “When you fix the ring, make sure it will not recognize me.”