The Bloody Quarrel (The Complete Edition) (16 page)

Instead, the King rolled the scroll up and tapped it on the table. “All of these?” he demanded. “What if we were to—?”

Kemal held up his hand. “Again, you misunderstand me. This is what you have to do. There will be no discussion and no changes possible.”

“And if I am not happy with that?”

Kemal shrugged. “That is no concern of mine. But if you attempt to break this agreement then you will face the full force of the Elephant Throne. As it is, I will stay here with nine companies of my men for the winter, to await my father’s arrival in the spring. We shall then take over this castle. You and your court must move out.”

Then he stood. “Send me your reply when you are ready, and specify whether you require me to also address your nobles. But do not leave it too long. I expect a reply within two days, or I shall come back to find out why.”

Aidan did not even bother standing; he just waved the scroll in Kemal’s direction.

Swane, however, stood and Kemal paused for a moment.

“Crown Prince Cavan,” he said. “I do not recognize your new bodyguards. Won’t you introduce them?”

Fallon glanced at Aidan but the King was slumped at the table and not seeming to pay any attention to what was going on.

Swane looked at Fallon and then back to Kemal. “These are my Captain Fallon and my bodyguard Brendan,” he said, his voice soft and without its usual mocking tone.

Fallon found himself almost nose to nose with Prince Kemal. He locked eyes with the man and found it strangely disconcerting. Kemal seemed to be weighing him up, as if he were some sort of prize animal. And Fallon did not like the calculating look in the Kottermani’s eyes.

“Is this the Fallon we have been hearing so much about, who has inspired all Berry?” Kemal asked conversationally.

“The same,” Swane confirmed.

Kemal nodded, a slight smile playing around his lips. “You seem smaller than I expected,” he said. “And a little older.”

Fallon bristled instantly but Kemal turned aside from him to place a hand on Swane’s shoulder.

“Prince Cavan, send your agents to meet mine tomorrow, the usual place,” he murmured, his words just reaching Fallon’s ears.

Fallon kept his eyes on Swane, who bowed his head.

Kemal nodded, then looked at Fallon and smiled slightly, a secretive smile that Fallon did not like at all.

“Until I hear from you then, King Aidan,” he said, then signaled to his bodyguards.

The Kottermanis walked out, leaving the Gaelish standing alone, except for the King, still slumped over the table.

“Sire?” Regan asked tentatively.

“Get those rutting Kottermanis out of my home before I do something I will regret!” Aidan snarled. “Go!”

Regan scuttled off and Swane cleared his throat. “Father?” he began.

“Leave me!” Aidan thundered. “Kelty, take my son back to his room. Fallon, you and your man wait there for a moment.”

Fallon stopped still as Kelty waved Swane out through a different door from the one Kemal had used. He tracked Swane with his eyes but the prince did not even glance in his direction. Fallon had not found out nearly as much as he wanted from this meeting but he had at least one nugget of gold. Back when Cavan was alive, Gallagher and Devlin had followed a group of Kottermanis to a secret meeting with Swane’s agents. It seemed Swane’s men had been pretending to be Cavan’s agents, because Cavan had certainly never asked them to do that. Now Kemal wanted to talk secretly with the man he thought was Prince Cavan. That gave Fallon an idea and maybe a way out of this trap.

Aidan waited until the door was shut before looking up at Fallon. “So Fallon, are you ready to defeat the Kottermanis for me?” he asked brutally.

Fallon squared his shoulders and hid his misgivings about what was going on. “Of course, sire,” he said. “I will need more men though. And I will need to start training them again.”

The King nodded slowly. “Fallon, you have earned my trust, lived up to your promises,” he said. “I respect that. Trust earned is rewarded. I shall have the guards removed from your door and the locks as well. You are free to come and go as you need to get men ready to fight the Kottermanis. And there will be more men coming.”

“And, sire, what about our families if we start a war with the Kottermanis?” Fallon asked, knowing it was a risk but unable to walk out of there without an answer.

Aidan paused for a moment. “They will be part of a peace treaty. I give you my word,” he said.

Fallon saluted. “Thank you, sire!”

“I shall call for you again when it comes time to explain how we shall crush the Kottermanis. For now, you are dismissed, Fallon,” Aidan waved his hand.

Fallon nodded to Brendan and the pair of them hurried out of the room, although he could see Brendan was not happy.

“What do you mean by agreeing with that man? Making our families part of the peace treaty? That wasn’t the plan!” he growled.

“I know,” Fallon said. “We have to act ourselves. Let’s get everyone together and I’ll explain.”

“I learned more from what the King did not say than from the things he did say,” Fallon told the others, looking around Cavan’s table, gathered to plan as they had many times before. But this time Duchess Dina and Gannon had joined them. He had made sure Rosaleen was sitting next to them, with instructions to reveal if they were attempting some sort of trickery. It made things feel strange, having them there, but he could feel the pressure of what he was about to do and knew he would need all the help he could get. The rest of the rooms were empty. The rest of the men were out practicing with the crossbows. The King’s promise had obviously spread to Regan because both the locks and the guards were gone from their door.

“He made some sort of bargain with the Kottermanis. We don’t know the details but the price of what they want is too high for the King to pay.”

“Aye, you should have seen it,” Brendan put in. “That Kottermani Prince treated Aidan like he was a fat dog turd – and the King just took it, as well! Let the man insult him to his face and swallowed it down like it was nothing!”

“Surely not,” Rosaleen put in.

“I never thought to see the like. If anyone from Gaelland had attempted to do that, they would have been rewarded with their head decorating the castle gate,” Dina declared.

“It is no tale,” Fallon confirmed. “He treated Aidan like a rude child. But while the King might have taken it in the room, he is planning to give it back. He wants me to destroy the Kottermani force the Prince plans to leave here over the winter.”

“And our families?” Padraig asked.

Fallon sighed. “You were right, old man. He merely told me they would be part of the peace treaty. But, after the way the Kottermani Prince treated him, I can’t see them agreeing to any of his demands anyway. You should have heard it. ‘This is not a negotiation,’ he tells the King. ‘I will take over your castle.’ And all this right to his face!”

Padraig grunted. “Believe me when I say I take no pleasure in being right.”

“So what was the bargain the King made with them? What did they do for him that they demand such a high price in return?” Gallagher asked.

“That is the real question,” Fallon admitted. “To me, it
has
to have something to do with the families being taken. We always thought it was the Kottermanis behind that, but why would that be the result of a bargain with the King? What did he get out of it?”

“We’ll probably never know. But, for Aroaril’s sake, what are we going to do now?” Devlin asked.

Fallon rapped the table with his knuckles. “To business then. And we had a real stroke of luck in there. The Kottermani Prince thought that Swane was indeed Cavan. And, better yet, it seems Swane’s men have been meeting with the Kottermanis in secret but claiming to be from Prince Cavan. That was the purpose of the meeting Dev and Gall discovered last moon, when they followed Kottermanis to a house in Berry.”

“What?” Dina exclaimed.

Fallon smiled grimly. “Even better, the Kottermani Prince whispered to Swane that he wanted his agents to meet with the Prince’s men tomorrow. There must be something he is after and we can use that to get at him. Especially as the King has decided the Kottermanis are the real threat. He told us we are free to come and go as we wish.”

“Can we trust that we are not being watched?” Padraig asked.

“Not entirely. But if we are careful, we can do what we wish.”

“How do you mean?” Dina asked.

Fallon pointed to Devlin and Gallagher. “Can you describe the house where you saw the Kottermanis meet with Swane’s agents?”

Gallagher grunted. “Yes, but we don’t want to go near it. It will be watched. It is an obvious trap.”

“I wasn’t thinking of going there,” Fallon said, unable to keep a smile off his face. “Instead I am going to give Prince Kemal a message myself, saying the house is being watched and instead to come to the townhouse of the Duchess Dina. And there we shall strike. Once we have him, we shall force him to return our families.”

He sat back and waited for their reaction.

“What if he doesn’t agree to give them back? He didn’t strike me as the sort of man who will back down quickly,” Dina asked.

“I will make him,” Fallon promised. Inside, all the frustration, the fear and the anger of the past moons were surging to a peak. If he could but get his hands on that Prince Kemal, they would all be returned.

“And what then? It doesn’t change what is going on between Gaelland and the Kottermanis,” Dina argued.

“Ah, but we have—” Brendan began, only for Fallon to kick him under the table. He needed Dina’s help but he did not want her to know about their plan to sail away to Cavan’s island. She thought they would aid her grab for power, and he reckoned she needed that incentive to help.

“Once we have their Prince, the Kottermanis will be forced to negotiate,” Fallon said. “And part of the deal could be a change of ruler for Gaelland, to someone better suited.” He nodded to Dina. “And, of course, we would make the return of the Duke of Lunster, your husband, part of any deal.”

Dina said nothing for a long time, then she nodded. “Yes, I can see how that could work,” she said quietly.

“So you will stand with us?” Fallon pressed.

“Of course,” she assured him.

He flicked a glance across to Rosaleen, who nodded fractionally.

“But Fallon, why are you sending them the message? Wouldn’t it be safer to send someone else?” Gallagher asked.

“Prince Kemal knows me now; he met me with Cavan and thinks I am trusted. If we are to trick him, we have to do it this way,” Fallon insisted.
Besides, I want another chance to meet this Prince. There is something between us, something I do not like.

“Then this is how we shall do it,” he said, slapping his hand on the table.

*

“And what did the Gaelish King say?” Feray asked.

Kemal smiled lazily. “He looked as though he had swallowed a wasp! But he has no option but to agree to everything. He cannot stand against us and he must know that, for all his arrogance.”

“I still think it is a risk, threatening a man like that. From all I have read on him, and everything you say, he is not a rational man. He has been pushed into a corner and could do anything to get out. Men like that are truly dangerous because they do not care who or what they hurt. Do you think he cares how many of his people he sacrifices to preserve himself? Look at the insane bargain he negotiated with you last time!”

Kemal tugged at his beard, before realizing what he was doing and stopping. “That reminds me,” he said absently. “Ali and his men have not made contact with us. Abbas must find out what is going on with them. I wanted them to report in detail what they have been doing at King Aidan’s bidding. The story of Fallon freeing the streets from darkness. I hope that does not refer to Ali and his men. Or Aidan will have more to answer for.”

“My love, please listen to me. I have a bad feeling about this place. It stinks, and not just of unwashed Gaelish. There is something rotten here – I don’t think your father knows what he is getting by trying to bring Gaelland into the empire.”

He shook his head. “It does not matter what you or I think. My father has decreed it, so shall it be. And Aidan will do his best to slip out of the bargain he has made but he will find it impossible to move with us inside his castle.”

To his surprise, she did not take that as the end of the discussion and looked ready to keep arguing, except there was a knock on the door. He gestured towards the curtain that covered the stern window and she darted there, vanishing from sight in an instant.

“Enter,” he commanded.

One of his guard captains hurried in and bowed low.

“Highness, there is a Gaelish man here. He says his name is Captain Fallon and he has a message for your ears only. He refuses to speak to anyone else.”

Kemal was instantly intrigued, on several levels. “Is he armed?”

“With a sword and some sort of strange staff.”

Kemal nodded absently, his mind racing. “Bring him in, but make sure he has given up all his weapons. And have two of your best men escort him in, ones who speak no Gaelish.”

“Your will, highness.” The captain bowed and hurried away.

“Is this the Fallon you were telling me about?” Feray asked.

“Indeed. And now he comes with a message. Presumably it is from his Prince Cavan. Perhaps he warns us of the King’s intention. In any case, it should be fascinating,” Kemal said with relish.

He only had a short wait before a pair of hulking warriors escorted Fallon in.

If Fallon were worried by the armed men on either side of him, he was not showing it. Instead he looked straight at Kemal, his face devoid of emotion.

“He merely has a scroll, which he refuses to give to anyone but yourself, highness,” one of the guards rumbled.

Kemal nodded his understanding and then switched to Gaelish. “Welcome, Captain Fallon, to my ship. What brings you here?” he asked pleasantly.

“I bring a message from Prince Cavan. He could trust nobody else. The former meeting place is watched and the King’s eyes are everywhere. Prince Cavan’s words will explain all,” Fallon said, holding out the scroll in his left hand.

“Bring it to me,” Kemal ordered one of his guards in Kottermani.

He kept an eye on Fallon as the guardsman took the scroll but Fallon did not move a muscle. Once he had it in his hands, Kemal broke the wax seal and read swiftly. The words merely echoed what Fallon had already said, begged forgiveness for changing things but pleaded for the Prince to come in person to the house of the Duchess Dina, who would not be suspected by the King.

“Why does he ask for me in person? All this time, we have only exchanged words through agents,” Kemal said, tapping the scroll into his free hand.

“The stakes are much higher now,” Fallon said. “Prince Cavan wants to speak to you himself. He does not want any confusion or any chance of misunderstanding. If his words speak directly into your ears and yours into his, then he can be sure you are in agreement.”

“Why has he not spoken to us before now?” Kemal demanded.

Fallon smiled briefly. “King Aidan is not a foolish man, for all his shouting and screaming. He misses little and he has plans you want to hear. Plans that would identify Prince Cavan as a traitor if they were ever read by the King’s men, so he cannot risk writing anything. Plans that only Prince Cavan can fully reveal to you, for he is the only one the King has told. That is why I am here now. He dare not trust anyone else. And I hardly need remind you of the stakes involved.”

Kemal believed the words but he knew what Feray would be thinking, and he had her voice in his head, saying that he should not take any risks.

“You must know something though. If you really are as trusted as the King says,” he challenged.

Fallon nodded. “I don’t know how he plans to do this but the King has already asked me to kill your men.”

“What?” Kemal snarled, coming out of his seat.

Instantly his guards, neither of whom spoke Gaelish, drew their swords and pointed them at Fallon’s throat.

“Stand down!” Kemal told them irritably and the guards reluctantly sheathed their blades. “Why you?” he asked Fallon.

At this, Fallon smiled a little and shrugged. “In truth, my Lord Prince, I do not know. One day I was a mere village sergeant and now the King wants me to lead his soldiers.”

“How would you go about defeating my men?” Kemal demanded.

Fallon chuckled. “My Lord Prince, I do not know yet. I have not seen them in action and I fear the bows they use, which I have not seen before.”

“You are right to fear them,” Kemal said with satisfaction.

“But there are thousands of us and your men have to eat, and sleep,” Fallon went on.

Kemal was about to reply angrily when he saw the truth in those words. “So your Prince has an answer to this?”

“He does. If you are willing to hear it from his lips.”

Kemal could almost hear his wife’s voice from behind the curtains, warning him not to accept this. “Why can the Prince Cavan not come here?”

Fallon smiled. “The King’s men watch this ship all the time. I can slip through the crowds unseen; he cannot. For him to turn up here would be as good as saying he intends to betray his father. And how would that help both your causes?”

Kemal acknowledged the point but he still had to convince his wife. “How will we find this house?”

“I can guide you there,” Fallon offered.

Kemal gestured to the two big guards. “And you know they will be either side of you, ready to take action if you play us false?”

“I would expect nothing else,” Fallon said. “Bring as many guards as you feel comfortable with. The Duchess’s house is large indeed.”

“And what if I was to order you taken below, where my men would make sure you told the truth?”

“Torture me? You would not discover anything new and you would lose the chance to have the Prince as an ally,” Fallon said evenly.

Kemal stroked his beard to make it look like he was considering things but, in truth, he had made his decision already. “Then it is agreed. I shall bring a company of guards.”

“Perhaps a few less might be better, if we are to avoid the attention of the King’s men,” Fallon suggested.

Kemal nodded agreement. “Before you go, Fallon, which village were you from?” he asked.

“Baltimore, my Lord Prince.”

Again Kemal made a show of pretending to think. “Did I not hear of some disasters befalling that part of Gaelland? Something about being attacked by strange creatures – called selkies or something? Was your family safe?”

For the first time he saw a reaction from Fallon.

“The families were all taken from that village, including my wife,” he said, his voice rough where before it had been smooth.

“That must be terrible. You must be devastated,” Kemal said, watching the man’s face carefully.

“Prince Cavan has promised to do whatever it takes to get our families back,” Fallon said.

Kemal nodded. “So your loyalty is tied to a promise to see your wife again?”

“It is. I would do anything for that day,” Fallon said, his voice throbbing with intensity.