Pendant of Fortune (61 page)

Wrong
, he thought grimly.
There’s nothing you
should
do.

That might be more correct. But he knew as he set off down the tower stairs that whether he should or not, this was another thing he
had
to do.

The guard in front of the north tower was the stag Rogis. Volle took that as a sign from Fox—or Canis—that his decision was approved of on high. As he walked forward, he thought again of Xiller, and saw the spot where the cougar guard had stood, and a plan crystallized in his mind. He raised his unencumbered paw as he approached the stag.

Rogis greeted Volle warily, looking at the sword he was still carrying. “Afternoon, my Lord.”

“
Good afternoon, Rogis.” Volle propped the sword against a wall and folded his arms. What he was about to do horrified him on one level, but he knew it was necessary, both for his profession and for his life. “I was wondering if you’d heard the news.”

“
News, my Lord?”

Volle told him briefly about the rabbit’s attack and death, and explained why he was carrying Forrin’s sword. He allowed himself to feel the events again as he told them, letting the anger simmer inside him. “So he was just a pawn of the rat you’re guarding. Did his dirty work for him.”

“
He got what he deserved,” the stag said.

“
Indeed,” Volle said. “I just came to have a word with the prisoner, to tell him that his servant has been killed.”

He could see the doubt in Rogis’s eyes as they flickered again to the sword. “I…”

“
Naturally,” Volle said smoothly, “I would remain in the doorway, and I think you should remain close by to make sure I don’t do anything rash. But it would be best if you stayed out of sight.”

Rogis nodded uncertainly. “Yes, my Lord.” He hesitated another moment, and then climbed the stairs, glancing back frequently at Volle.

Volle waited halfway up the stairs until the door was unlocked. When Rogis stepped aside, he walked past the stag, set his paw to the door and pulled, thinking of the last time he’d opened it. There was no eagerness this time, just the hot wash of barely suppressed rage. He forced himself to breathe normally as Dereath came into view, seated at the bottom of the stair looking up, wearing the same clothes he’d been wearing at the hearing. Volle took pleasure in noting the rips and stains that were most uncharacteristic of the fastidious rat.

Dereath looked over at the door, and his narrow face split into a grin. “How sweet,” he drawled. “You asked to share my cell. Well, I won’t be here long, and all my toys are elsewhere, but I’m sure we can recapture the old magic.” He patted the stone next to him.

“
I’m not staying,” Volle said. “I have a peerage to manage again.” He enjoyed the flicker of disappointment that ran across Dereath’s ears and whiskers.

The rat scowled, and then his expression lightened. “I didn’t really think that Wallen would be up to the job, but there wasn’t anyone else. I hoped his passion would sway the king.”

“
An Ursid?” Volle said.

“
We make do with the materials at paw,” Dereath said. “Don’t get too comfortable. I’ll be out of here soon enough and then you’ll get what’s coming to you.”

“
If you’re waiting for your rabbit to help you, you’ll be waiting a long time.”

The rat tilted his head. “If he were arrested, I’d be already out of here. I guess that means he’s dead.” He shrugged. “Saves me the trouble of disposing of him later. I hope he put up a good fight, at least.”

Volle saw Streak’s panicked expression, Forrin’s wide eyes and bloody muzzle. He squeezed his eyes shut and slid his ears backwards, listening for Rogis’s breathing. The stag was listening.

“
How many more cougar soldiers have to die, Dereath?” he said, not needing to fabricate the pain in his voice.

“
Are you still on about him?” the rat said scornfully.

He’d taken the bait. “He didn’t deserve to die.”

“
He was a soldier with a mission,” Dereath said. “He deserved exactly what he got, and good riddance.”

The same words he’d said earlier, designed to hurt. Volle heard the quick intake of breath behind him. His plan was working, but he felt no satisfaction, just an icy calm. “He was a pawn in your game. He deserved a better chance.”

“
You really need to break your habit of forming attachments to inbred, dimwitted gutter trash,” Dereath sneered. “They make you easy to manipulate, because nobody cares what happens to them.”

“
I do,” Volle said, refusing to rise to the rat’s baiting. “And I’ll continue to care.”

Dereath shrugged. “Makes it easier for me. What happened to Terril, anyway?” He asked it deliberately, and Volle was sure he meant to underscore the fact that he had no attachment to the rabbit.

“
He tried to hurt Streak, and Forrin tore his throat out.” Volle said emotionlessly.

Dereath grinned. “Making up for letting you at the cinnamon, no doubt. He’ll be hard to replace, I’ll say that for him.”

Volle felt his stomach churn, and took a step back outside the door. “I just wanted to tell you that your plans failed. And to get used to the feeling.” He could see the stag now, and the flattened ears and dilated nostrils told him that Rogis would be very willing to carry out the second part of his plan.

“
I’d be more worried if you ever learned from your mistakes.” The rat examined his claws and looked back up lazily.

Volle felt a grim sense of satisfaction at being able to hear the rasping of the stag’s breath behind those words. “I’ve learned more than you’ll ever know,” he said.

“
Don’t be so cocky,” Dereath said. “Speaking of which, how’s your little friend feeling?” He flexed his claws, rubbed his own sheath through his pants, and gave Volle a twisted smile.

Volle returned it in kind. “He’s just fine,” he said. “And so am I. Goodbye, Dereath.”

He swung the door closed, cutting off the rat’s retort.

Rogis didn’t move as Volle slammed the door closed. The stag stared past him at the door, fingers clenched around the pommel of his sword. Volle put a paw on his arm, and the stag jerked to attention. “My Lord?”

Volle guided him down the stairs. “Might I have a word, Rogis?” he said quietly.

The stag looked towards the unlocked door, then reached for the keys at his belt. “My Lord, I should…”

“
In a moment.” Volle put a little more pressure on the arm, and the stag followed him. At the bottom of the stairs, Volle turned to face the stag. “I have a problem, and I wonder if I might share it with you.”

“
Of course, my Lord.”

“
You heard what he said just now, did you not?”

The stag growled deeply. “I did, my Lord.”

“
Is there any doubt in your mind of the prisoner’s guilt?”

“
None, my Lord.”

“
Nor in mine. Unfortunately, the prisoner has many friends, and a great deal of information accumulated about some high ranking Lords. And with the rabbit dead, it seems likely that he will go free. Nobody will be able to
prove
that he planned it all.” He heard the stag’s deep rumble, and nodded. “I feel the same. In fact, I feel that the prisoner poses a significant threat to the kingdom.”

He paused, briefly, on the brink. Fox and Canis would approve of this, wouldn’t they? He was defending his pack. Not avenging, but defending, because Dereath would get out of prison and he would never, ever stop hounding Volle and those dear to him.
Fox
, Volle prayed,
understand what I do and why, and let it succeed.

“
Rogis,” he said, “do you believe that there can be heroes whose deeds are never acknowledged?”

“
My Lord?”

He thought of Xiller, who’d been told he would be a hero for his terrible deed. “Do you believe that an individual might perform a great service to his country, but that because of…circumstances, that service might never be acknowledged?”

The stag looked confused. Volle didn’t want him to lose his emotion, so when Rogis said, “I suppose so, my Lord,” he was ready with his rejoinder.

“
I believe Tephos is in need of such a hero now,” Volle said. “I don’t believe any of us will be safe if the prisoner there is released. Someone who would be willing to ensure that he never leaves that cell alive would indeed be doing a great service to his country. I wish I had the strength to do it myself.”

“
My Lord, you must not!” Rogis released his sword and reached out to Volle. “You have only just been restored…you would jeopardize your standing!”

Volle nodded. “I know.” He looked up. “Then what am I to do, Rogis?”

He saw the determination he’d hoped to see. The stag’s gripped his sword. “I will help you, my Lord.”

Volle stepped closer to Rogis and spoke quietly, though he was sure that nobody was within earshot. “Rogis, I admire you. You have a strong heart, a great passion, and a wonderful sense of justice. I know you want more than anything for your friend to be avenged. What was his name?”

“
Arnie…I mean, Arnut, my Lord. We called him Arnie.”

“
I’m certain that Arnut would not want you to sacrifice your reputation or your life, even to avenge him. Let me think a moment.” Volle stepped back and looked down one of the corridors. “I was thinking of walking down that way. There’s a lot of debris, there, though. I might easily slip and hurt myself.”

Now Rogis looked confused again. “I suppose so.”

“
If you heard a crash in a few minutes, of course you would be expected to come see if I were all right.”

“
I would…?” The stag nodded doubtfully.

“
And if you helped me up—clumsy fox that I am—and we returned to your post to find that you’d dropped your keys…why, anybody could have gotten into the cell in that time. You would only be guilty of a brief dereliction of duty, and I suspect you wouldn’t even be punished.” He paused. “
If
anything happened to him.”

The stag’s eyes lit up, and he drew himself up to his full height. “I see, my Lord.”

Volle nodded. “Rogis, I believe you neglected to lock the door. When you go back up, you should make sure that the prisoner is safe. I’ll wait here in case anyone else comes by, shall I?”

“
That would be most kind of you, my Lord,” Rogis said. “I won’t be but a minute.”

He clomped heavily up the stairs, and Volle leaned against the wall and waited, tensely. He could see now why he had had so much trouble putting to rest the notion of Streak’s guilt. It returned to the question of whether Streak would kill someone if he thought they were a serious threat to Volle. The thought of the wolf killing someone had been troubling, yet impossible to dismiss. What Volle had not understood fully until now was that he’d believed that of Streak because the same capacity existed within himself.

He searched himself to see if there were any pleasure in him at what he had set in motion, but there was not, any more than there had been on a cold night many years ago when he’d given an assassin the location of Secretary Prewitt’s chambers. The bear had masterminded the plan that, with Dereath’s help, had taken Xiller away, tricked him into committing a horrible crime, and finally killed him. But Volle had felt no pleasure in his revenge, only, at best, grim satisfaction that it would finally be over, and at worst, sickness that it could not end any other way. Just as he felt now.

Behind him, he heard Dereath’s voice cry out, and then he thought he heard a dull thud. After that, all was silent until the door opened and closed again. He heard the chunk of the key turning in the lock, and then the stag’s footsteps on the stair. A moment later, Rogis stood beside him, keys dangling from his fingers.

“
All well?”

“
Indeed, my Lord,” Rogis said. “The prisoner is…resting.”

Volle nodded, feeling the tension drain out of him. The wall he was leaning against became much more necessary for support. “Door locked?”

“
Yes, my Lord.”

He examined Rogis’s sword, but saw no sign of blood or fur on it. The stag was breathing heavily, but showed no signs of uneasiness or regret. Volle leaned back against the wall. “Did Arnut have a family?”

Rogis nodded. “A wife and a cub.”

“
Bring them to come see me when we return to Divalia,” he said. “I’ll make sure they’re taken care of.”