She Who Has No Name (The Legacy Trilogy) (28 page)

‘Indeed,’ Samuel replied, as a busy servingwoman dumped a plate, piled high with foodstuff, before him.  There were a couple of other plates sitting abandoned at the end of the table, but the lady seemed happy to let the half-finished breakfasts clutter up the table.

‘Master Celios has indicated that we will stay another day,’ Tudor revealed.

Samuel raised an eyebrow.  ‘Oh?’

‘Timing is critical, Samuel,’ Master Celios said,
his words
barely intelligible
due to
the great mass of eggs and bread
in
his mouth.  His lips were dripping slop and sauce all over
his cloak
.  ‘Last night I had a very strong feeling.  We have a role to play here and the Koians have also not yet played their part.’

‘When will we leave?’  Samuel asked.

‘When the time is right,’ Celios replied.

‘When will the time be right?’

Celios looked back at him, almost in disbelief.  ‘When the time is right, Samuel!’

Samuel could see Eric covering his amusement with the back of his hand.  It seemed Master Celios
could give
no particular reason why they should stay and be embroiled in the coming battle, when they had a perfectly good opportunity to slip away—but that was the way with Master Celios.

‘So we are going to assist with the defence of Ghant?’ he asked.

‘If necessary,’ Tudor replied.  ‘We will do what we must.’

Just then, something caught Samuel’s eye, there near the kitchen door.  He just had time to spy a figure—someone he was sure he recognised—darting away down a side entrance, although it hardly seemed possible in this far-flung place.  The little person even seemed to wave at him, as if to catch his attention, which seemed even stranger.

‘Excuse me a moment,’ he said, standing from the bench and sliding out beside the table.

‘Oh?’ Grand Master Tudor said with interest, pulling his staff aside before Samuel knocked it over.  ‘Something caught your eye?’

‘Someone,’ Samuel replied, peering towards the corridor.  ‘I’ll be back in a moment.’

Samuel darted off after his prey, finding that the doorway opened directly
o
nto an outdoor area where the cooks were hurrying about with their goods and carting wood for their ovens.  There, across the hay-strewn floor, the dwarfish figure disappeared into another corridor.  Samuel had not seen the man’s face, but everything about the man, and especially his aura—which Samuel had a knack for remembering—seemed to confirm the fact that
the man
was known to him.

That next door led away past great barrels of water, each piped and connected and surrounded
by
puddles on the floor.  The little man was standing at the end, as if waiting for Samuel and
,
when he got nearer, he even smiled in greeting, which was brave, because Samuel had the compulsion to kill him right there on the spot.

‘Doonan!’ he said.  ‘I knew it!  What in blazes are you doing here, you evil little monster?  I should kill you now.’

‘Poor Doonan,’ came another voice, and someone else, whom Samuel also knew very well, stepped beside the tiny man.  He was tall, neatly dressed in a finely
-
cut suit, and looked very sure of himself.  His name was Balten and he was surrounded by an aura of the sturdiest kind.  ‘Don’t harass him, Samuel.  That’s not fair of someone of your stature.  I thought the Order was more benevolent than that.’

Samuel looked between the two of them, for he was not sure which one disturbed him more: Doonan, the spy-assassin
-
midget who had captured him and helped Ash with his conquest of the Argum Stone
;
or Balten, a senior member of the Circle of Eyes, who had threatened Samuel on multiple occasions and manipulated him for his own ends who knows how many times.

‘Calm now, Samuel,’ Balten said smoothly.  ‘You look as if you’ve seen a ghost.’  Samuel was about to hurl insults at the man, but Balten already had his palms held up in defence.  ‘No need to become agitated.  Wait a moment while I tell you what is happening, and then feel free to abuse me as much as you wish.’

At this, Samuel took a calming breath.  ‘I don’t know why I should, but I will give you a chance.  What are you doing here?’

‘He’s just like you said,’ Doonan said in his squeaky voice, arching his neck to look up at the tall man beside him.

Balten only smirked.  ‘Yes, he’s very excitable.  Let me have a chat with him while you go back to the others,’ to which Doonan scurried off.  ‘Now, first of all, I’m here because I’ve been waiting for you, of course.  Once word reached me that you had been sent on this god-forsaken mission to rescue your Empress, I knew I would be able to find you here.  I do have an offer to make to you, as you probably expect, but you may be surprised to learn I have actually come here with instructions to help you.’

Samuel decided to disbelieve anything that came out of Balten’s mouth from that point on.  ‘How is that?’

‘As I’m sure you are aware, there is about to be a rather extensive battle here.  With you being as important as Cang believes you to be, I have been instructed to help defend this little tower of rock and its inhabitants, so that you won’t be killed.  What do you think of that?’

The smirk on Balten’s face was just far too big.

‘Firstly,’ Samuel began, ‘I don’t want your help and
,
secondly, the moment anyone here discovers who you are, you will have a lot of trouble keeping your head intact.’

Balten’s smile became even wider.  ‘Oh, I don’t know about that.  Let’s go give it a try.’

With that, Balten started back towards the dining room.  The man who had towered over Samuel when they first met, was now only a head taller, but he strode with such gusto that Samuel had to scurry to keep up.

‘This way, is it?’ Balten said, gesturing into the room and he stepped in and went right up to Grand Master Tudor’s table.

‘Grand Master—’ Samuel began, but his mouth only hung open when he saw Balten sit down at the end of the table, where the midget Doonan was already eating with zest, and he, too, began eating away at the plate of food that remained.

‘What’s that, Samuel?’ Balten said.  ‘You were about to say something?  Go on?’

‘Sit down, Samuel,’ Grand Master Tudor insisted, ‘and stop gawking.  Yes, I know who this is and I know he is a member of the Circle.  I have known of Balten for a long time and
,
although he is no friend of the Order, we find ourselves in a situation where we require his considerable talents.  We have been talking through most of the night and I can see that he was correct
in
his estimate of your reaction
to his offer of assistance
.  I was going to break the news to you gently, but you rushed out after them like a dog after a
hare
.’

Samuel sat back down at his place and looked at the two Erics
in
disbelief.  He hoped they would
feel
as outraged as he
was
, but they were only waiting calmly to see how the discussion would progress.

‘I don’t know what he’s told you, Grand Master, but this man—both of them—cannot be trusted.  They are from the Circle of Eyes.  Don’t you understand what that means?’

‘Yes, I do,’ Tudor responded flatly, taking a bite from his well-buttered bread and letting the crumbs tumble down and gather in his beard.

‘They are killers!  Assassins!  Spies!  They are...they are—’ he struggled for more words to appropriately describe them.

‘Scoundrels,’ Balten suggested.

‘Cut
-
throats,’ Doonan squeaked, looking up from his plate with one eye.

‘
But n
ecessary,’ Tudor finished.  ‘Master Celios gave me some forewarning that the Circle would have a presence here and, believe it or not, Samuel, the Order has had contact with the Circle at various times before—even if it is one of our deepest, darkest secrets, which it is to remain,’ he added
,
looking towards the two Erics to ensure they understood.  ‘I have dealt with the Circle before, although admittedly never of my own
volition
, and I have heard many colourful things about Mr Doonan here, who was quite often in the employ of our belated Archmage.  Despite all this, the situation is quite clear and requires that we put our differences aside.  We
must
save the Empress and the heir to the Empire.  To do that, we must get through these mountains and
in order
to do that, we must defend Ghant.  We need all the help we can get.’

‘But—’ Samuel began to retort, but Tudor cut him off.

‘No.’

‘What—’ Samuel attempted.

‘No.’

‘Grand Master—’ came his last attempt, but Tudor raised a solemn finger and gave Samuel a stern look as he
shooshed
him.

‘Hush, Samuel.  It will be as I have said.  Now you can continue flapping your gums like a fish out of water, or you can finish your breakfast.’

With that, Samuel gave up and did as he was told, picking up a lukewarm sausage on the end of his fork.  He scowled towards the end of the table, but Balten only smiled back at him
disarmingly
.  There would be no good to be had from this.

After breakfast, Eric Pot and Goodfellow managed to squeeze all the information out of Samuel about Balten and they were both astonished that Grand Master Tudor had decided to work with him and the rotten dwarf, Doonan.

‘But how did he get here before us?’ Eric asked.  ‘Do you think he can use a Journey spell?’ he added, making sure no one was near enough to hear.

‘No,’ Goodfellow replied.  ‘I think it was luck
more than anything
, or else he was already in Cintar and just
left
ahead of us.  No one else can use the Journey spell besides you, Eric—as far as we know.’

‘It’s true,’ Samuel agreed.  ‘As much as I hate to admit it, it was no great secret that we were coming here, but I just don’t trust him.  The Circle never does anything that is not
in
its own interest.’

‘Well, at least we may be lucky in this case
.
O
ur interests
appear to
coincide,’ Goodfellow added.  ‘If we are going to be here for this battle and Balten is as powerful as you say, then he will be very useful to us.’

‘That’s what worries me.’

Grand Master Tudor called them up to a high rampart later in the afternoon and it was surprising to see the Koians had also been summoned.  The wind had been blowing strongly in the morning, but it had settled now and the sky was a clear blue, revealing the towering peaks that crowded over them from all around. 

Soldiers were mostly milling about, but some were checking and preparing their equipment.  Periodically, there would be a loud noise as the ballista teams launched tremendous lengths of sharpened timber
and sent them
hurtling across the chasm, testing their aim, seemingly able to strike with exact precision.  Enormous catapults affixed to the ramparts could also shower the approaching path across the ravine with stones.  It seemed obvious how Ghant had withstood all assault
s
until now.  There just seemed to be no way to even near it.

Balten and Doonan were there: Balten dressed in his neat jacket, while Doonan seemed almost attired as a carnival clown, in a suit of coloured stripes and patterns.  The Koian god-woman was
also
there, surrounded by her party, but this time her costume was far less extravagant.  Whether it was the impending battle, or just some mysterious facet of her culture, she was now dressed in a many-layered coat with loose sleeves that hung almost to the ground.  She wore no wig, but her hair had been greased and
coloured
with white stripes.  Her face was painted snow-white and her eyes etched in black, as if to match the frosty mountain tops around.