Legends of the Riftwar (64 page)

Kethol raised both palms in surrender. ‘Oh, never mind. I'm with the two of you.' He sighed. ‘And if you choose to think me a fool for having considered staying, then you can just go ahead and do so.'

Pirojil clapped a hand on Kethol's shoulder. ‘Well, what I think is that there are no other men I'd rather have watching my back, and that's a fact. We're agreed, then?'

‘I already said so.'

‘Good.' Durine nodded.

A thought occurred to Pirojil, but he dismissed it, or at least tried to.

Manipulation was one thing; murder another.

It was unlikely that Lady Mondegreen had poisoned her
husband so that she could marry her lover. Wasn't it? The Astalon priest treating the Baron would probably have been able to discern the existence of the poison, if not necessarily find a cure.

No, he decided, she hadn't murdered her husband. If she was willing to leave dead bodies in her wake in order to advance herself, there was no reason why she would have waited this long to rid herself of a troublesome husband, and the trail of bodies would have been long. Besides, Durine had known his share of cold-blooded killers and he relied on twenty years' experience that she wasn't such a one.

In any case, it was almost over.

The air was warming, peace had been made between the two most hostile of the feuding barons, and all they had to do was politely turn down Baron Morray's and Lady Mondegreen's generous offer, get their pay, and head south as quickly as possible, leaving LaMut behind them. Assuming that they could get their pay before they had to leave.

He shivered.

It might be warmer outside than it had been, but he felt colder.

Everything appeared peaceful.

The golden morning sun had just barely breached the eastern walls, so that it shone in through the now-unshuttered windows, splashing golden morning sunlight into Lady Mondegreen's bedroom on the second floor of the castle. Tapestries covering the stone walls opposite the windows blazed with unexpected vibrancy, made brilliant by the golden light playing across them. An array of jars and bottles resting on her personal table glimmered like jewellery as the sunbeams reflected off their glass and porcelain surfaces, sending sparkling motes into the gloomy corners of the room. As the sun rose, the reflected light seemed to move, alive, shimmering and changing colour from golden, to silver, to white.

An obviously empty bottle of fine Ravensburgh red lay on its side on the bedside table next to two glasses, one empty, one with a thimbleful of wine remaining at the bottom. Some delicacies lying on a tray beside the wine–shelled nuts, sweetmeats, and a bit of cheese–had dried during the night.

On a chair beside the bed, a man's clothing and a woman's nightgown lay neatly folded.

The bedside lantern had long since burned itself out of oil, or been quietly, peacefully extinguished.

The bedclothes had been disturbed no more than bedclothes would normally have been disturbed in sleep by the two forms that lay there, intertwined, beneath the covers.

It was all peaceful.

The lovers lay facing one another, as if they had been gazing into one another's eyes as they succumbed to slumber. Even what seemed to be a veritable sea of blood from their cut throats had soaked into the sheets and clotted, leaving Baron Morray and Lady Mondegreen lying together, unmoving in death.

The guard had fallen asleep.

White-faced, still shaking, he admitted as much.

Steven Argent believed him.

The Swordmaster gestured him into a chair while Tom Garnett looked on. There was no point in keeping a dead man at attention, after all, and clapping him in the dungeon could wait for a few minutes, until Steven Argent worked out what questions, if any, he ought to ask him right now.

He found himself possessed of a bizarre sense of utter calm. He didn't even ask the man when he fell asleep, or how long. How would he know?

How could the idiot have been so sloppy? How could Tom Garnett have picked a sergeant who would have picked a soldier to stand guard over Morray's suite who would have been so sloppy? How could Steven Argent have picked–

Damn!

‘Are you certain that you didn't see Baron Morray go to Lady Mondegreen's room?' he asked, quietly.

‘Nossir. I mean, yessir. I mean, yessir, I did.' The soldier was
staring straight ahead, not meeting the Swordmaster's gaze. ‘It was none of my concern, I thought, and the Baron didn't need to tell me that. I just stood my post–I could see the lady's door, down the hall, and I didn't think that the Baron would have wanted me to move over to a post in front of her door while he was inside.'

That made sense.

Not that it would have made any difference if he had fallen asleep while standing next to Lady Mondegreen's door, or had just gone down to the barracks and abandoned his post.

First things first,
he thought,
first things first.

The obvious suspect was Verheyen–at least, that would be the obvious suspect to Morray's men.

Tom Garnett nodded, as though he was reading the Swordmaster's thoughts. ‘I've got the Morrays, with Karris's company, on a quick march to the north, with the Verheyens and Kelly's men to the south.' His mouth twitched. ‘I know it's not my prerogative, but–'

‘But it seemed more important to separate them, even for a few hours, than it was to take the few extra minutes to get my orders on the subject.'

Garnett agreed with a nod. It would have seemed that way to Karris and Kelly, as well.

Not that Steven Argent thought that it was Verheyen, not given the arrangements that Verheyen and Morray had made between them the night before, which amounted to Morray's surrender. Yes, Verheyen might have hated Morray, but part of that was just rivalry over the earldom, and as of last night, that rivalry had ended, with Morray's surrender. Whatever animus remained would be set aside once the larger prize was won.

But if not Verheyen, then who?

And why?

Steven Argent shook his head. That sort of question wasn't
going to be answered by an idiot of a swordmaster, who apparently couldn't keep his mind on the simple task his earl had given him of keeping one land baron alive, and who had such slack discipline among his troops that soldiers fell asleep on watch.

He shook his head. There would be no excuses. He had always emphasized such basics, and any one of his sergeants would have kicked a man bloody if he'd found him sleeping on watch, even what was supposedly a perfunctory watch as that on the Baron's suite in the castle had been. And yes, it had been important to separate the factions of these fractious barons in this once-in-a-lifetime combination of too many of the wrong troops in LaMut, too few of the right ones, and a blizzard locking them all in the city.

He would present his resignation to the Earl, immediately upon Vandros's return, and in the unlikely event that the Earl would have such a useless fool as a private, Steven Argent would expiate his guilt with a sword and pike in the line.

He pointed at the soldier who sat in the chair, and then at the door. ‘Get him down to the dungeon, Tom, and put three men on the door, watching him. He looked down at the ashen face. ‘You are not to hang yourself in your cell; you're to await the Earl's justice, and suffer it like a man.'

The soldier nodded.

‘As will I, I suppose,' the Swordmaster said. If only he hadn't gotten clever, if only he hadn't let Lady Mondegreen persuade him that Kethol and his men would be far more useful keeping things quiet in the city while she brokered a peace between Morray and Verheyen, rather than worrying about some unlikely assassin that had agents not only in LaMut, but among the Tsurani.

But she had been persuasive, as had the facts–this hypothetical assassin had been just that–hypothetical–up until this morning, and had looked less and less unlikely to exist as the days had gone by. Neither she nor he were easily impressed, but the three freebooters had impressed both of them.

Yes,
he thought, disgusted with himself,
blame the dead.

But it
had
seemed to be a good idea at the time, and if the idiot soldier now departed for the dungeon hadn't fallen asleep, it would
still
have seemed like a good idea. The immediate danger had been warfare breaking out among the factions, and if that had happened…

As it still could, and probably would.

He glanced over at Tom Garnett. ‘This one can't wait upon the Earl's return, can it? I don't see much other choice, do you?'

The Captain shook his head. ‘Somebody has to find out who murdered Baron Morray and Lady Mondegreen–somebody with credibility, that credibility backed up by the authority of the Earl of LaMut. And quickly, before everything falls apart around us. It can't be you or me,' he said, holding up one finger, then adding another, ‘as we're the incompetent idiots who let the Baron get murdered on their watch.'

Steven Argent forced himself not to wince, but instead just nodded.

‘It could be Viztria or Langahan,' Tom Garnett added another two fingers, ‘but to choose them is tantamount to turning over LaMut to Guy du Bas-Tyra, one way or the other. Besides,' he said, shrugging, ‘you've spent time at the court in Rillanon, and those of the court in Krondor are only a little less devious. I wouldn't at all put it past Guy to have sent his barons here just to make trouble–'

‘Of course not, but…murder?'

‘And what could be more trouble than this?'

‘You think that one of them is the killer?'

‘I don't think so, but I don't
know
,' Tom Garnett said. ‘
You
don't know. I know it's not me, and I know it's not you. But you don't know that it's not
me
.'

‘You?'

Tom Garnett threw up his hands. ‘It was my man who fell asleep
on watch–maybe you should have Kelly or Karris keep an eye on me, down in the dungeon. I surely would, if our situations were reversed. I'm not even sure that it's not Erlic, who–'

‘Erlic?'

‘The guard.' Tom Garnett frowned. ‘He might have done it. I don't have the vaguest idea as to
why
he might want to murder the Baron and Lady Mondegreen, but I can swear that falling asleep on guard isn't
his
custom. Or that of any of my men–which is why I've got three men on his cell, and intend to go down to the dungeon and supervise them myself, lest we find that he's hanged himself in that very cell…with or without some help.'

‘You think he may be a dupe?'

Garnett shrugged. ‘At this point, anything is possible. More likely, he might have seen something he doesn't know he saw; talking to him may draw out a clue as to who's behind this bloody-handed business. You might want to send someone to watch me.'

‘I trust you, Tom.'

‘Well, then maybe I need someone to keep me safe, as well as to keep Erlic safe.'

‘You don't trust your men.'

‘Up until this morning, I would have trusted any of them, in any combination, with my life, and with things that I value more than my life.' Tom Garnett's hands actually shook; he knotted his fingers together in rage to stop the trembling. ‘But I've just been given reason to reconsider, haven't I?'

He spread his hands, and stared at them until his traitor fingers stopped trembling. ‘And you can't put any of the landed barons in charge of the investigation. All of them have something to gain with Morray dead, especially if suspicion falls on Verheyen.'

Steven Argent nodded. ‘There are only three men in this castle who we
know
have everything to lose, and nothing to gain, by these murders.'

‘Yes. Three men who don't want anything out of LaMut except to be
out
of LaMut, with the money that they're owed–money that will now remain in the vault until Earl Vandros gets back–unless somebody else knows the spell that will open the vault. Do you?'

Steven Argent shook his head. ‘No. I'm a soldier, not a clerk. At least, I was a soldier, up until this morning. But I take your point. Still, they could have accepted the offer to watch over Baron Mondegreen's child, and if they did, that hardly makes them uninvolved.'

It had been an unlikely possibility, but the lady had been very persuasive, and–

No. No, he wasn't thinking clearly at all. Agree to watch over the baby, then kill it in the womb–along with its mother and its father?

When they could just have said no?

Stupid, stupid, stupid. His only excuse was that this wasn't the sort of thing that he was used to.

Either way…

Tom Garnett spoke what should have been obvious to Steven Argent: ‘With respect, if it does, it makes them involved only innocently.' Garnett shrugged. ‘They'd hardly accept the offer, and then kill the Baron and his lady, when simply saying no would have done, would they?'

Argent nodded. ‘I was just thinking that.' He fell silent for a moment, considering his options. Then he said, ‘There's an old saying, “you've a willing horse, so flog him another mile”. Send for them.'

Tom Garnett smiled as he got up. ‘I already did, sir. They should be waiting outside the door. And if I know Pirojil, he's probably been eavesdropping just outside.' He drew himself to attention. ‘Unless you have other orders for me, sir, I'll be in the dungeon, watching the prisoner.'

‘Yes, you're dismissed, Captain. Send them in. And may Tith-Onaka watch over us all.'

 

Kethol shook his head.

The Aerie was filled with glares. The midmorning sun glared in through the window, and Durine and Pirojil were glaring at Kethol, if only because he was petting Fantus, rather than paying attention to anything else.

Well, what was Kethol to do? Steven Argent had just laid this matter in their hands, and gone downstairs to gather the remaining barons together for an impromptu council, and to announce that he had chosen Captains Kethol, Pirojil and Durine to investigate the murder of Baron Morray and Lady Mondegreen.

The Swordmaster's latest orders made sense, sort of, in a way, but…

Pirojil put it into words for him.

‘There's only one problem with this latest set of orders,' Pirojil said. ‘I don't have the vaguest idea
how
to find out who did this.'

Durine nodded. ‘Usually, after a battle, if I've wanted to know who killed somebody, I just asked–although I swear that Mackin is lying about having done that Bug all by himself.'

‘The one in the forest or the one near the Grey Towers?'

Durine raised an eyebrow. ‘He claims two? I thought he was just talking about that little mishap in the Yabon Forest last autumn.'

‘Could you two please, please keep to the matter at hand?' Kethol pleaded. ‘I don't know how we can do this either and as you know, thinking things out isn't my specialty.'

‘Apparently.' Pirojil frowned.

Kethol repressed a protest. His most recent attempt to think things out seemed to have gone well–it had distracted the baronial troops, after all, and perhaps it had even given Lady Mondegreen the arguments she had apparently needed to get
Verheyen and Morray to come to terms with each other. He would have liked the opportunity to ask her that.

On the other hand, if that was so–and Durine and Pirojil would think it was so–that very distraction had also triggered the offer from Baron Morray, and Pirojil and Durine were still angry with Kethol for having not simply spurned that offer.

So it was best to keep his own counsel on whether or not he had been clever or a fool. He didn't have the slightest doubt how the other two would see it.

In the meantime…‘How long do you think we have?'

‘Hours,' Pirojil said. ‘Unless we get awfully lucky. Baron Morray's troops are loyal to him: and there are too many Mondegreens about; their lady is lying dead in her room, and the perpetrator of both crimes must be sitting downstairs in the Great Hall.'

‘Tom Garnett sending the Morrays and Mondegreens to try to break through to the closest villages made sense.'

‘Yeah. That's why we've got hours, rather than a battle raging in the streets.'

It wouldn't be the first time that feuding between local factions had turned into outright war–Pirojil could have asked the residents of Traitor's Cove about that.

‘I'm hoping,' he said, ‘that one group can push through to Kernat Village to the north or Vendros to the south, but they're miles away, and I doubt that they can make it, especially through waist-deep snow, when they probably can't even find the roads.' His eyes seemed to lose focus for a moment. ‘Probably the best thing to do is to send out Tom Garnett's and Kelly's companies to slaughter one or the other side without warning–but I don't think the Swordmaster is going to order that.'

‘Bad precedent, that,' Durine said. ‘It just might run to slaughtering some mercenaries, rather than paying them off.'

‘Yeah, there is that. The story about Morray and Verheyen making peace between them isn't going to sell very well–'

‘You don't believe it?'

‘I do believe it, but I don't think that it's going to be very persuasive, not to the Morray and Mondegreen men, and it's only a matter of time before they take matters into their own hands, or the regulars stamp on them a little too hard.' Starting a fight was easy; stopping it before it started was difficult; crying halt after it had started was next to impossible.