Kinshield's Redemption (Book 4) (5 page)

“My papa always told me that Jaesh was an old family name, like his name. He made me memorize them, starting with my papa: Rogan Cuttor Landon Rothyr Jaesh Dasurien... all the way back. Every year on my birthday, he gave me another name to memorize. That’s how his papa taught him, but he didn’t learn them all afore his papa died. Could I be related to the Beresfards from a long time ago?”

Given names were commonly reused within a family. His own name, Edan, had also been his grandfather’s middle name, and his father shared his given name with his own father. If Gavin’s family passed down these names... Edan stared at the boy, stunned and excited, his curiosity burning. Beresfard was the name of a family long thought extinct—the ruling family before the Engturys claimed the throne. “I truly don’t know, Jaesh. My history lessons didn’t cover these people in particular, but it’s interesting that your family uses the names. Give me a day or two to research this. Perhaps I can find a historian who can tell us more. Tell me those names again, slowly so I can write them down. I’ll see if any of them are listed in this book as Kinshield.” Edan wrote them on a separate paper as Jaesh recited them. “Good. I’ll see what I can find.”

Jaesh stood. “There’s another thing. Look at this.” He reached across the desk and flipped a few more pages for Edan. He stopped on a page with another list of names, the last of which was
Arek Engtury, 1401-
Above that was King Dantrek’s name, with the year of his birth and the year his reign began.

“Oh,” Edan said. “King Arek died in 1431, which means he only lived to be thirty years old. This must’ve been written while he was a teenager. His father was still king.”

“Look at this,” Jaesh said, pointing to a few names higher on the list. “The last Beresfard kings shared Uncle Gavin’s second name, and my papa’s given name as his second name.”

Rothyr Rogan Beresfard 1203-1245 r 1225-1245

Samuar Rothyr Beresfard 1230-1246 r 1245-1246

Nathem Engtury 1221-1301 r 1246-1301

Edan tapped the page with his index finger. “I remember reading that King Samuar was the last Beresfard to rule. Looks like he was king for only a year, perhaps less. One would think... Hmmm.” The dates didn’t make sense. If the First Cyprindian War began in 1246, then there should have been a succession of Beresfard rulers as each king fell to the Cyprindian poison before the Beresfard line died out completely.

“If we’re related to the Beresfards,” Jaesh said, “how come we’re Kinshields?”

“I don’t know if you’re related,” Edan said, studying the text. “It’s possible your given names are coincidental. Perhaps they were made popular by the royal family in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and your family has simply stuck with them through the years.”

“Or we could be related.”

Edan smiled. “Or you could be related.” He turned a few more pages, seeing only a faded account of an argument between Dantrek and his father, King Ivam, before something occurred to him. He flipped back to previous pages and confirmed what he’d first overlooked. This book had been written entirely by a single person. The handwriting was uniform throughout—same slant, same curls on the tails, missing tittle over the letters j and i. King Arek had written this book. Edan was certain of it—his was the last name in the list of kings—but why?

“Do you need this book for your report?” Edan asked. “I’d like to study it for a day or two.”

“No, I don’t need it,” Jaesh said, stepping back. “Will you tell me what you learn about those names?”

“I most certainly will. Thank you for sharing this exquisite find with me, Jaesh. I’m sure I’ll get little sleep in the coming days.” Edan gave him a self-deprecating smile and closed the book. He needed to finish his work before he could spare the time to study the old tome, and the sooner he got back to it, the better.

A messenger knocked twice before entering and handing Edan a rolled paper. “This just arrived for you, my lord.”

Edan pulled a large silver coin from his top drawer and gave it to the young man with his thanks. He carefully broke the seal on the paper, removed the string, and unrolled the note. His eyes went automatically to the bottom of the page and saw it was from Gavin.

“It’s another message from your uncle,” he said. They’d already received word that Cirang had escaped and they’d chased her to Ambryce, but Gavin had promised to come home as soon as she was back in his custody.

Jaesh sighed. “Bet I can guess what it says: he’s not coming home yet.”

Edan began to read silently, his brow furrowing as he read about the corruption of the water at the temple in Ambryce. When he read that the queen had drunk the water, his hand began to shake. He set the message on the desk and pressed it down, mostly to calm the tremor. The Well of the Enlightened was rumored to have unknown magical properties. What had it done to her? His answer came in the next sentence:

Her disposition has been altered to such an extent, you wouldn’t know her. I’m afraid my sweet, kind Feanna is forever lost. She’s more like a beyonder now than a human, vicious and devious.

Edan, you must warn the family of her foulness, for when she arrives, only cruelty and deceit will spill from her mouth. She’s not to be trusted, not to be obeyed. You must lock her in our bedchamber emptied of sharp objects, but by all means provide her the comforts and personal attendance a queen deserves. Above all else, don’t permit her to walk about the palace unattended, visit with any of the children, or be left alone with any man—not even you—for she will seduce him by any means necessary.

Edan’s first thought was that Daia must have written this letter. Not only did it not sound at all like Gavin Kinshield, the handwriting was lovely and well-practiced. His second thought was that they’d unraveled the secret of the Well of the Enlightened that King Arek had tried so hard to keep hidden.

“What does he say?” Jaesh asked.

Edan startled, having all but forgotten the boy was still in the room. “It seems Queen Feanna is on her way home. Do me a favor, will you, Jaesh? Gather your brothers and cousins and your mother in the family room. I’ve more news to share with the family.”

Chapter 5

As they approached the top of the mountain where the path leveled out, Cirang, leading the way, slowed to a stop. Gavin could only see her rigid posture from behind. He guided Golam past her. Her eyes were open wide and fixed ahead of her in a terrified stare.

“What’s wrong? What do you see?” Daia asked.

“I—I don’t—nothing, but... What if there’s something up there?”

Gavin smiled. He could tell her the Guardians used illusion to drive people away, but it would be more amusing to watch her squirm. “What do you see in the Well of the Damned?”

“Please don’t go any farther, my liege,” Cirang begged. “The demon is there. In the water. Perhaps the water is a door or gateway of sorts.”

“What demon?”

“The one Ravenkind released from the palace. The one that... that killed us.” Her voice trembled. Gavin’s playful smile fell away. Every muscle in her face was taut, her breathing shallow and rapid, and her hands gripped her horse’s reins as if to let go meant death. She was truly terrified. Whoever she might have been a couple days earlier was not the person he saw now. She wasn’t even a Viragon Sister anymore.

He took pity on her. “Cirang, relax,” he said. “Ritol isn’t here. The Guardians know what you’re most afeared of, and they use that to create illusions to scare you off.”

“It’s true,” Daia said. “I saw... something else. When Gavin asked them to stop, the illusion vanished. Let’s wait here while he greets the Guardians, and perhaps they’ll spare us the terror this time.”

Gavin left them near the path and dismounted a few yards from the water’s edge, just as bubbles appeared on its surface. It looked like the well was starting to boil before the spinning, glassy forms of the two Guardians broke the surface. Gavin thought the sight beautiful and wished he could share it with his companions, but the Guardians revealed themselves and spoke only to him. As their ascent slowed, so did their spinning, until he could make out the forms of the two Elyle standing back-to-back. It was a fascinating view and beautiful in its way. He didn’t think he would grow tired of watching it anytime soon.

“Wayfarer,” they said. Their two voices were spoken as one within his mind. Though their true language consisted of whistles and clicks, King Arek’s magic translated it into words he understood. “It is fortunate you have come. We have need of your assistance.”

His help? What did they need from a man who made nothing but bad decisions? They knew he was the Wayfarer, but they must not have known about all the people he’d let down. “I came to ask for your aid. What do you need my help with?”

“The constant rain in your land loosened the earth, and a leak formed deep within the wellspring. The water that has been infused with our essence trickles out, but we are trapped here. We ask you to use your magic power to staunch the flow of our essence from the wound in the earth.”

“I tried that with putty,” Gavin said, “and only made it worse. I was hoping you had another idea for how to stop it.”

“There is another way. A crystal rests on a ledge beneath the surface, thrown there by our contemporaries. The minerals in the water have been drawing our essence out of the crystal like tiny sponges, but this can be reversed.”

A spark of excitement ran up the backs of his arms. “How?”

An image appeared in his mind of a white crystal in the cold, dark water.

“This is the Nal Disi,” the Guardians said. “If you remove it from the wellspring, our essence will no longer infuse the minerals in the water.”

“Awright, but the spring water already has your essence in it,” Gavin said. “This water’ll keep leaking out until the wellspring is dry.”

“The same magic you use to pull the Nal Disi from the wellspring can be used to pull our essence from the water back into the crystal.”

He knew mages could store magic within gemstones. The gemsmith who’d created Gavin’s and Daia’s rings had done it, storing a spell of binding. He’d also done it by creating a rain canopy to keep himself and his companions dry during their journey to Ambryce. It hadn’t occurred to him that the same technique could be used to store something other than magic spells, but if the Nal Disi contained their essence, then that made perfect sense.

Excitement began to burn brighter in his thoughts. He had Daia’s gift to empower him. He had the gems in his sword to focus his efforts. If pulling the essence back into the crystal could solve the problem, it was worth a try, though the idea of tampering with the essence made Gavin ill at ease. “Won’t that throw off my khozhi balance?”

“The essence itself won’t affect your khozhi balance. Only the water presents a danger, and then, only if you ingest it. In doing so, you take our essence into your body, where it gets absorbed by your own essence. Make certain that none of it goes down your throat. A few droplets on your body won’t hurt you.”

“My companions are here to help me. You won’t try to scare them away with illusion, will you?”

“We will tolerate their presence.” They sounded disgusted by the request, but Gavin wasn’t going to complain.

He turned to Daia. “The Guardians had an idea.” He repeated what they’d told him and reassured her that he would be safe.

“How deep is this crystal?” Daia asked. “That mud, er, water is surely too cold to withstand for more than a minute.”

Gavin gave her an impatient look and then used his magic to pull the dagger from the sheath strapped to her calf. The hilt slapped into his palm hard enough to sting. He winked as he handed it back hilt first.

“All right,” she said with a grin as she resheathed it. “No need to swash. After you pull the crystal out, what then? What will you do with it?”

Gavin chewed the inside of his cheek. It was a good question for which he had no answer. “I’ll let the Guardians guide me on that. Whatever I got to do to keep it safe until I find a permanent place to put it. I’ll need your help to pull it out.”

She straightened and set her shoulders. “I’m ready.”

Chapter 6