Healer (Brotherhood of the Throne Book 2) (22 page)

“Show me,” Madelay said.

Brenna formed an image of the map and pointed towards Aruntun and the city of Smithin. As soon as she formed the image they were traveling toward it. Concentrating, Brenna formed a picture of Laurel, trying to catch the feeling, the essence of the woman she’d lived with in the spring. Suddenly she sensed another presence, one that was familiar, and they headed towards it.

“
Laurel, is that you
?” Brenna asked.

“
Brenna? How did you…
?” Laurel stopped. “
Who’s that with you?
You’re not my mother but you seem familiar.
”

Brenna could sense Madelay trying to speak but she made no sound.

“
It’s Madelay Kerrich
,” Brenna said. “
Your aunt. It’s a long story, one we’ll tell you when we have time - right now we need to know about Avery.
”

“
Oh Brenna, Duke Thorold has her imprisoned. She’s being treated fair enough, for now
.” Brenna could hear the fear and anger in Laurel’s thoughts. “
She’s been jailed but with enough food, water and blankets - but they won’t tell her where Neal is. She hasn’t seen him for nearly two weeks and is desperate to know how he is
.”

“
We heard he’d been taken elsewhere,
” Brenna said. “
We’re going to get them. Kane and I are meeting with Duke Ewart in a few days. We’ll know more then. What plans have you made?”

“Clift wants to go to Kingsreach. He wants to sneak in if he can – he doesn’t trust anyone, not after the edict.”

“He shouldn’t,”
Brenna said. “
You must go with him. We need to know where your mother is and if they move her somewhere else. Laurel, we will get them out
.”

“
Thank you
,” Laurel replied.

Brenna felt her relief just before their connection was severed. She opened her eyes to find Madelay swaying with exhaustion. Yowan wrapped her in a blanket while Brenna repeated the conversation to him and Kane.

Even after Yowan had helped an exhausted Madelay back to their bedroll, Brenna continued to stare into the small fire. She was aware of Kane, walking the perimeter of the camp, peering out into the darkness, while she peered inward.

There were pockets of old steel weapons, all with the feeling of true Brothers but what held her attention now was what else she saw. They were dimmer, these lights, but more plentiful - great swathes were concentrated in Aruntun and Kingsreach but there were other pockets scattered across the rest of Soule. Many of the lights in Comack were on the move, heading north towards Fallad and east to Aruntun. By joining with Madelay and the mortar and pestle, somehow, for some reason, Brenna was now connected to all who followed the old gods. As she watched she silently prayed that these people,
her people
, would be safe from the coming conflict.

On the third day after Brenna and Madelay had contacted Laurel, they stopped on the outskirts of Silverdale. Kane motioned to Brenna and they quickly reached out to each other’s weapons.

Last night Dasid had told them he was waiting for them at an inn not far from the main road into town but Kane wanted to confirm that nothing had changed – even this far into Fallad he didn’t feel completely safe. He held his breath until Dasid confirmed that all was secure. He dropped his grip on Brenna’s knife and waved Yowan and Madelay forward.

“Dasid’s at the inn,” he said. “Let’s go.”

Brenna confirmed that Dasid was inside, amongst more old steel weapons, and the two guards were exactly where she’d said they’d be. Kane led their small group around them – he didn’t want anyone to know they were on their way – not even guards Dasid trusted. Until they spoke with Ewart, he had to assume they had no friends in Fallad.

The inn was small, but neatly kept. Kane dismounted and loosely tied Runner up outside while the others stayed mounted. When he opened the door he almost walked into a surprised Andel.

“Well met Andel,” Kane said. He smiled at his former Kingsguard and stepped back while Andel re-sheathed the sword he’d half drawn.

“Captain Rowse, good to see ye at last,” Andel said and smiled.

“It’s not Captain anymore,” Kane looked past him into the room. Dasid was just rising from a chair. “Dasid!” Kane strode over and embraced his friend, slapping him on the shoulder. “Good to see you.”

“Well met Kane,” Dasid said. “You’ve managed to surprise us. I have sentries who were supposed to meet you.”

“I know. Brenna told me where they were.” Kane smiled at his friend. “I’d just as soon not be noticed. It’s a habit I’m not about to change even if we are in safer territory.”

“It sounds like your journey was interesting. I want to hear all about it,” Dasid said. “But first, let me get you sorted out. How many rooms do you need?”

“Two,” Kane replied. “One for me and Brenna and one for Madelay and Yowan.”

Kane took the seat that was offered and poured himself a mug of ale while Dasid spoke to the innkeep. He briefly touched his sword and sent a message to Brenna that all was well – they could come inside now. He sipped his ale with one hand on his sword pommel in case Brenna tried to contact him.

“So that’s the way it is with you and Brenna now?” Dasid sat down beside him, his green eyes looking at him solemnly. “Your uncle was always afraid you’d get too close.”

Kane sighed. “I know, but it seems I was fighting a family tradition.” He looked up at his friend’s puzzled expression. “Kerrich women don’t marry, they build their lives with consorts.”

“A consort?” Dasid asked.

“Yes - typically a military man who is content to follow his woman and advise and protect her.”

“And you would do that willingly for the heir to the prophecy,” Dasid said and nodded.

“I would do that willingly for
Brenna
,” Kane said. “Who happens to be the heir. I follow her path. As I said, it’s a family tradition - Duchess Avery assures me there has never been a Duke of Aruntun.”

Dasid sat up straight. “There must have been one.”

“No - not in two thousand years,” Kane said and smiled. Dasid had always been fascinated by history - it was one of the reasons he kept the archives for the Brotherhood. “Only women rule and they do that by not marrying.”

“So the lands and title don’t pass to their husbands?”

Kane nodded as Dasid puzzled it out.

“But what about an heir?” Dasid asked. “The Duchess has a child, does she not?”

“A daughter who is a Seer - which means she is much too valuable to be Duchess Avery’s heir.” Kane sipped his ale. “Avery’s granddaughter is her heir and her grandson is, well, I don’t know exactly what he is.”

“And the father of Duchess Avery’s child?”

“Neal Ravershaw,” Kane said. “It makes sense when you think about it.”

“Yes,” Dasid said slowly. “I suppose it does. But I never guessed.”

“I don’t think anyone did. Uncle Feiren, if he knew, certainly never mentioned it to me. And he was on the council with Avery for years.”  

“So you’re cut from the same cloth.” Dasid leaned back and studied him. “It suits you. You look content, despite the times we find ourselves in. And you are Brenna’s consort?”

“Brenna is a Kerrich,” Kane said. “We knew she had to have the bloodline in order to be the heir. Her grandmother is Avery’s sister. You’ll meet her and Yowan, a Brother and her consort.” He tilted his head, trying to get a feel for where Brenna was. Ah there she was. The door opened and a grinning Andel held it as Brenna entered the room, followed by Madelay and Yowan.

eighteen

“Duke Thorold,” the man said to him, bowing low. He nodded at his guards and they stepped out of the room, leaving him with this man and the two he’d sent to secure Duchess Avery’s sister. Fridrick stood by the door, trying to decide if he should stay or leave. Thorold looked directly at the scholar, who stopped fidgeting and stood still.

“Councilman Minchen, my lord Duke,” one of his men said. “From the mining town of Blackwall. We met him on the road - he has a rather interesting tale.”

Thorold nodded. “Very well, councilman, let’s hear your tale.”

Thorold listened as Minchen described how the witch and Rowse, accompanied by an older man, came to Blackwall. The councilman was going to apprehend them, believing them to be criminals, but he was poisoned and the three escaped. After they’d gotten away it was discovered that the healer Madelay was also missing.

“They left by the mine gates. The guards there had been drugged. We sent a search party out but the terrain was too rough for tracking,” Minchen said.

Thorold looked at the councilman for a long moment before turning to Fridrick. “You are confident this healer is the one we have been looking for?”

“It seems so, my lord.” Fridrick took a step forward. “Her daughter came to you from Lord Pantall and Blackwall is part of his holdings.”

Thorold nodded and turned back to Minchen.

“Councilman, you are the cause of a great deal of inconvenience.” He smiled grimly when the councilman paled. “I will reward your incompetence. I’m sure you already regret allowing a witch to cook your meal and now you’ll regret not sending a search party good enough to find them once they left.” How dare this minor, self-important underling interfere with his plans?

“Guard, I believe Councilman Minchen needs some religious instruction from High Bishop Valden.”

Minchen caught the looks of pity the others in the room sent his way and cowered.

Thorold smiled. “Tell the High Bishop he can do what he likes with this one if he spares Ravershaw for a few more days.” This inept fool would be useful to him after all - as a distraction for Valden - Thorold still wasn’t convinced that Ravershaw was expendable. As a lesson, he’d shown Ravershaw to his son and the Aruntian captain had looked a little too close to death for his liking. But Beldyn had carefully followed his orders ever since so there was some value to the man’s suffering.

The councilman was taken away by his guards and Thorold relaxed. He should really do something about Lord Pantall as well, he thought as he stood and made his way toward his private study. The man had started this by indenturing the sister of the Duchess of Avery - there would be unwelcome consequences to that action, he could feel it.

“Fridrick,” he called as reached his study. He heard the man come rushing up behind him, his slippered feet sliding on the cool stone floor. “Do we know if it was Duchess Avery’s older or younger sister?”

“Older, my lord. By two years from what I could learn.”

Thorold stood in the door to his study, staring at his scholar. “Have them move Avery somewhere else - the fewer who know where she is the better.” He waited just long enough to see Fridrick nod then he closed the door to the hall. As he walked over to his desk he stared at the weapons that decorated the back wall. He trailed a hand over one long sword, feeling the cool steel under his fingers. He’d lost two witches - he wouldn’t lose the third. He sat down and picked through the correspondence littering his desk.

Duke Thorold scanned the message in his hand before he crumpled it and tossed it into the fire. Lord Stobert had let the witches get away as well. He scowled at the fire as the note quickly blackened and burnt. Stobert was so much less useful than he’d been led to believe - a key member of the Brotherhood, he’d said, with the allegiance of many men. He didn’t even have enough men to keep control of his own holdings. Reports he’d received said that Duke Ewart’s militia was in control of the main roads through Stobert’s lands and Stobert himself was hiding out on his estate. Stobert’s lands were key to gaining strength in Fallad - perhaps it was time to hand them over to someone better able to execute his plans.

Brenna studied Dasid as he met Yowan and Madelay. There had been something almost disapproving about his manner when he’d greeted her. Kane stood beside her, relaxed and comfortable, but she was aware of Dasid watching them from the corner of his eye.

“Did you notice anything strange about Dasid when you met him earlier?” Brenna asked Kane quietly. She was aware, as she’d never been before, that she really didn’t know the Brotherhood well. Even Dasid, though a frequent guest at Feiren Rowse’s, was almost a stranger. And he was more loyal to Kane than to her.

“He’s suspicious of everything, is all,” Kane said. “Including us.”

“And that concerns him?”

“My uncle warned me to keep my distance from you,” Kane said. “He was afraid I might lose the ability to think clearly and rationally.”

“And have you?” She hadn’t been aware Feiren disapproved of her so much. It hurt.

“At times, yes, ” Kane’s expression turned serious, “but I think it’s kept me more focused on what’s important.”

“Which is?”

“Keeping you safe and alive,” he said and smiled at her. “Besides, Clift told me it was my fate. Who am I to argue with the gods?”

“Dasid is very loyal to you.” She paused. “That worries me. Would he blame me if something happened to you? Would he still he follow me?”

“He would follow you,” Kane said. “The Brotherhood would follow you. They’ve waited two thousand years for you - that wouldn’t change because of any one man.” Kane regarded her solemnly. “But those
are
issues a ruler must worry about. As Ewart found out with Stobert - loyalty should never be taken for granted.”

Brenna nodded. It was a trust given to her, this loyalty from the Brotherhood, and she hadn’t earned it.

“I’m sorry your uncle thought so little of me,” Brenna said. “Although I can understand it.” She sighed. She’d certainly tried to use the situation to her advantage so she couldn’t blame him for thinking less of her for that.

“Look at me.” Kane turned her until she was facing him. “Uncle Feiren loved you. He also believed with all his heart that you were the one to reunite Soule.” His lips twitched into a smile. “His concern was about me –
my judgment
– not you. He understood what a shock it was for you to find yourself in this situation. It’s a lot to have thrust on your shoulders all at once and he was concerned that you needed clear-headed advice. He would be proud of how you’re handling everything,” Kane said. “As am I.”

Brenna blinked back tears as she studied his face. She returned his smile, tentatively at first, and then more confidently. She
was
doing well, under the circumstances. And it was up to her to earn Dasid’s loyalty and trust, just as she had to earn it from every single person in Soule.

They contacted Laurel again that night. Avery was as well as could be expected, but there had still been no word of Neal Ravershaw. Listening to Laurel relay her mother’s concern Brenna could imagine how she’d feel if Kane was in danger and she was unable to help him.

“We’ll go after Neal first,” she said abruptly. She looked up to find a ring of faces looking at her. “Avery seems to be in reasonable health. I think they don’t dare hurt her openly - at least not yet.” She looked over at Madelay who nodded, her face pale. “And we can contact Avery through Laurel,” Brenna said. “If Neal has been in the hands of the High Bishop we may not have much time left.” She closed her eyes, remembering the pain she’d shared with Feiren when the High Bishop had tortured him.

“Who do you want with you?” Kane asked.

“You, Dasid and one other, in case Neal must be carried out. And Madelay,” she looked over at her grandmother. “He’ll need a healer and I won’t have any strength to spare.”

“No,” Dasid spoke from across the room. “She’ll be a liability. We’ll need to travel fast.”

“She comes,” Brenna said firmly. “I won’t have any energy to spare to help Neal.”

“What will you be doing that takes so much energy?” Dasid’s voice was quiet as he challenged her.

“This,” Brenna said. She grabbed both Kane and Yowan’s hands and recited the spell to make them invisible. The surprise on Dasid’s face was muted by the spell. After a few moments Brenna dropped the spell.

“All right. Madelay comes,” Dasid said. “Traveling fast apparently isn’t as important as I thought it would be.”

“I can keep up.” Madelay assured him. “I’ve spent quite a number of years scrambling up and down mountains.”

“How long can you hold it?” Dasid turned back to her. “Keeping people invisible?”

“I kept the four of us and our horses spelled for a day and a half when we escaped from Blackwall.”

“But there is a cost to Brenna,” Kane broke in. “So we need to keep the group as small and as fast as possible.”

“Once we find Neal I won’t be able to spell the group who get him out of the city,” Brenna said. “I’ll be going after Avery.”

“Do you think Duke Ewart will approve of this plan?” Dasid asked.

Kane chuckled. “Does he need to approve it?”

Brenna walked into the kitchen, breathing in the smells of baking bread and frying ham. She ducked around the cook who smiled and pointed her toward a stack of clean dishes. She grabbed a plate before tearing a crust off a warm loaf.

Brenna had always loved fresh, warm bread. Growing up as an indentured servant in Duke Thorold’s household meant that she’d rarely been given anything other than stale crusts. Hot, fresh bread was still a treat. She tore off another chunk before she filled a pot with hot water and tea leaves.

She and Madelay had promised to spend the morning healing and in the afternoon they were off to meet with Duke Ewart. But before the day started, Brenna wanted to share a quiet pot of tea with Kane. She put the pot and the bread on a small tray along with two mugs and headed back to her room. She nodded at Dasid as he came out of a room along the hall.

She stopped in front of the door to her room and was about to balance the tray on one hand when it was taken from her.

“Let me help you,” Dasid said, taking the tray from her.

“Thank you.” She paused and then turned back to him – meeting his clear, green gaze. “I know Feiren thought this would be a mistake,” she gestured to the room door, “but he was wrong. It’s right for both of us. And I’m trying to be worthy of him, I am.” She opened the door and took the tray from him. “I would die for Kane - I never thought I’d say that about anyone, ever.” Brenna slipped through the door, leaving Dasid outside.

She and Madelay treated various patients throughout the morning. Amongst the inn staff and locals close enough to travel there were a few patients with more serious illnesses - an elderly man with a wet, wheezing cough - a boy who had broken his arm when he fell out of a tree. Then Kane was there, asking them to pack and get ready to leave.

Brenna finished dabbing an ointment on a woman’s wrist and handed her a small jar of paste. She dipped a clean cloth in a bowl of fresh water and ran it over the mortar and pestle before she slipped the old steel items inside her pack and tucked her herbs and jars of salves around them. She smiled at Madelay, who stood ready at the door, then slung her pack over her shoulder.

“This is what I always wanted to spend my life doing,” Madelay said. She eyed the room sadly before she turned to leave. “Traveling from inn to inn and helping regular folk deal with the wear and tear of living.”

“But weren’t you the foremost healer in Aruntun?” Brenna asked. “That’s how it was explained to me.” Avery and Laurel had spoken as if Madelay’s position was a great honor.

“Because of an accident of birth, I couldn’t determine my own fate,” she said with a sad smile. “But in the end I did anyway. I did spend my years looking after the ills of hard working folk, though I didn’t get to travel much.”

“Do you regret it? Leaving Aruntun at the time, I mean?” Brenna was still amazed at Madelay’s resolve to act on her vision even though she’d known that the personal costs to her and Yowan, and their unborn daughter, would be almost unbearable.

“The burden you choose to carry is always easier to bear than one forced upon you, I’ve always found,” Madelay said. She headed out the kitchen door to the yard and the stable.

Brenna’s steps slowed as she followed.

Months ago she’d fought against the Brotherhood and their plans for her but she’d since accepted the burden as her own. When had that happened? She paused at the kitchen door. When she’d started to believe that
she
could make a difference - that
she
could stop Thorold, whether the prophecy was real or not - that’s when she’d chosen to bear this burden. And in order to succeed she needed to earn the respect and trust of many people. She straightened her shoulders, aware of the weight of her pack, the weight that included the old steel coronet of King Wolde, tucked away in the secret pocket. She’d told Dasid this morning that she was trying to be worthy of Kane. She must also become worthy of wearing the coronet. Until then it would remain hidden in her pack.