The Queen of Mages (20 page)

Dardan did so, but very deliberately put
himself between her and the stairs. “Keep your voice down. What in
the black spirits are you doing here?”

“It so happens that I’m here to tell you
something,” Calys said, crossing her arms. “King Edon came to the
house yesterday evening.”

“We all assumed that would happen, m’lady,”
Liam said. Unlike Dardan, he didn’t seem angry, but there was
little humor in his voice.

“Well I overheard father and the king
arguing. They said—”

“You were
eavesdropping
?” Dardan
gaped. “Calys, you should not have done that! It’s wrong to begin
with, and on a private conversation with the king, to boot! And you
might have been seen!”

“I wasn’t!” Calys protested.

“How can you be sure?”

“Because…” Calys hesitated. “Oh, bother it.
It’s the closet next door to father’s office, the one that opens
into the rear hall. I didn’t go anywhere near father’s office door,
which had king’s guards on it. The wall in that closet is
practically as thin as parchment.”

“I’ll be certain to alert father to this
problem when I speak to him next.”

“Wet blanket,” Calys muttered. “Well, I
suppose you don’t want to know what they were saying.”

“That is not—” Dardan cut himself off. “Just
tell us.”

Calys sighed dramatically and tossed her
hair, all the while glaring at her brother. Amira fought to keep a
smile off her face. Calys would thoroughly bedevil some nice young
man some day. Finally the girl spoke. “They spent most of the
argument—what I heard, anyway—threatening each other. The king kept
saying that he wanted to know where Lady Amira was, and father just
kept saying you’d gone off south to visit some baroness, and had no
idea when you’d be back. And Edon didn’t believe him! He just about
called him a liar. I wish I could have seen father’s face. He
probably wanted to sock the king right in the jaw for that
one.”

“Stick with what’s important, please,”
Dardan said.

Calys looked like she wanted to argue, but
perhaps her tongue was held in check by being surrounded by four
angry adults in a cold, ancient keep. Amira had to know more. “Go
on,” she said after a moment, trying to sound encouraging.

“Well, the king said father had better not
be hiding you. Father tried to get Edon to say what he wanted you
for, but he wouldn’t.” Calys narrowed her eyes. “Why
does
he
want you?”

“That’s none of your concern,” Dardan said.
Amira was sure Calys had not been told the story of what Edon had
done to them in Callaston. Even Dardan did not know the whole
truth. Amira felt a pang of grief at having lied to the Tarians
about that; but how could she have told them? And now Edon’s
presence might force the issue. “Answer the other question,” Dardan
said. “How did you find us?”

“Well, after Edon left, father and Old Ban
talked for a minute. And Ban said something about how he hoped the
‘old keep’ would hide you well enough. It wasn’t hard to figure out
what he meant. So I, um, went to the stables, and borrowed Prancer.
I thought you’d want to know what happened.”

She was so guileless that Amira, for once,
felt sympathy. Calys had just wanted to help them, never mind that
Edon would judge her harshly for it, if he knew.

Dardan still glared, though it had softened
some. “Well you can’t go back now. We can’t risk you blabbing our
whereabouts to anyone.”

“I would never!” Calys said, indignant.

“Not on purpose, m’lady,” Liam said
smoothly, taking Calys’s hand and guiding her over to one of the
few intact chairs in the keep. “But you are young, and even you
must admit that you have a loose tongue from time to time.”

Calys grumped a little but did not disagree.
In fact, she was gazing up at Liam adoringly. Liam seemed to
realize this, and put his back firmly to her, walking to the window
and looking out. Amira certainly hoped that there was nothing more
to that than childish infatuation. Katin, she saw, looked
livid.

Dardan stalked about, eyeing the stairs as
if he might bound outside at any moment. Clearly he thought Calys
might have been followed, but no shouts came. The three women sat
and chatted quietly.

The day’s shadows grew long. Amira did not
want to think about Edon, for that way lay only terror and grief.
Sir Thoriss’s face loomed before her again, and she tried to banish
it. She studied her betrothal ring for the hundredth time, hoping
to find some new facet she’d missed before; anything to distract
her.

Her reverie was broken by the realization
that everyone had stopped talking, and in a moment she recognized
why: hoofbeats. Lots of them.

“What now?” Dardan said, and grabbed his
sword again. “Keep her up here,” he said, meaning his sister. Calys
had the good sense not to argue.

Amira wanted to go with him. She’d be in
less danger than he probably thought. But she took Calys’s hand and
gave her a smile. “Thank you for coming, whatever your brother
says.”

Calys grinned, but it did not break the
worry in her eyes. They all wondered who was arriving now. Katin
looked at her makeshift club as if realizing it would be no use
against a large party of armed men, which is what the hoofbeats
portended.

“Where is she?” came a roar a few minutes
later, and Amira recognized Count Asmus’s voice. Calys went pale,
and even Katin looked scared.

“We should go meet them,” Amira said,
standing.

Dardan’s sister did not move. Katin knelt
down beside her. “Better to face him now, m’lady, and get it over
with.”

The girl nodded slowly, clasped her hands
together, and stood up. They went down the stairs to the yard, to
find four men waiting for them: Dardan and Liam, and also Count
Asmus and his
valo
, both mounted. Amira wondered where all
the other horses were; it had sounded like there had been
dozens.

“You must be one of the black spirits
yourself, to run off so foolishly as that!” Asmus roared when his
daughter appeared. “With the king about, you ride here? I thought
you at least had your mother’s wits, but it seems I was
mistaken!”

Calys’s spirit seemed undiminished by the
assault. Amira thought she looked mulish, ready to fight back.
“Father, they had to—”

But Asmus gave her no chance. “I had to drag
out every man I could find looking for you! At first I thought
maybe you’d gone off to sneak a peek at the royal soldiers, but
then one of the lads saw your tracks heading off north. I never
thought you’d be fool enough to come straight here! What if the
king’s men saw you?”

It was not a question meant to be answered.
Dardan came to his sister’s side and took her hand. “Calys was very
brave to come here, father. Even though she knows it was foolish.”
This he said after catching his sister’s eye. “Go back home. We
will be well.” He looked at Amira. “There’s a search party out
front of the castle. Father told them to wait there, so they will
not know that we are here, only that Calysane came here for some
reason.”

“And we will return home this instant.
Calys, fetch your horse. Now.” Asmus’s face was a thunderhead.
Amira had seen him play at anger a few times, but this was the
first time she’d really seen his wrath.

Calys looked at her father, and then at
Dardan. Her eyes watered but tears did not fall. She rudely yanked
her hand away from Dardan and started walking toward her horse.

Before she reached it, another shout came.
“Count Asmus!” A man came riding around the corner of the keep;
Amira saw that it was one of the Tarian house guards, in green and
silver livery. He halted before his lord and bowed slightly from
atop his horse. “M’lord, there’s… there’s men on the road. Armed
men. A lot of them.”

“What?” Asmus reared his horse around and
trotted away, Old Ban following. The guardsman gave the women a
quizzical look, then bowed to them and raced after his lord.

Armed men. Amira knew it was Edon; it had to
be. She couldn’t just stand here. She picked her skirts up off the
ground and ran as quick as she could toward the gate. Katin and
Dardan both called after her, alarmed, but Amira ignored them.

She came to the gate. Just outside it stood
a party of men, mostly Tarian house guards, with a dozen or so
townsfolk and farmers also mounted, on what looked to be every last
horse the Tarians owned. Luther, the master-at-arms, was there as
well. Asmus had not skimped when creating his search party. Amira
looked past them, down the long sloping hill toward the Hedenham
road. There she saw several hundred armed men, stretched out in
ranks and coming toward them.

Amidst them were banners in purple and blue,
with a silver eagle in the middle.

Dardan saw them and cursed aloud, then
blanched and looked at Amira. “My apologies. How on earth did they
find us?”

Calys looked utterly mortified. “They… they
must have followed me… but I was careful, I went through the woods
off the back of our estate, how would they have known?”

“They’re here now, m’lady. Blame won’t
help,” Katin said. “Come, away from the gate.”

Asmus was a little ways off, arguing with
Old Ban and one of the guardsmen. “I bloody well know who it is!
Just…” He aimed a bewildered scowl at Amira for a moment. “Get
everyone inside, and close the gate.”

“But, m’lord—”

“Do it, or I’ll do it myself!” Asmus
shouted, and in moments the entire search party had drawn through
the gate into the yard, and several men were busy shutting and
barring the gate. The others looked around nervously, and Amira
felt the weight of their eyes on her. They would know Amira and
Dardan had not come with them on the search for Calys. Would they
blame her for this mess?

When the gate was barred, Asmus strode over
to his son. “Take the women into the keep. I will deal with his
majesty.” He looked at Amira. “Do not let him see you.”

“He must already know she’s here,” Dardan
said. “If he demands you produce her—”

“Just go!” Asmus shouted. He turned away and
climbed the stairs on one side of the gate, until he stood atop the
wall and could look out over the field.

Amira wanted badly to see what Edon was
doing, but she let Dardan lead her to the rear of the keep and up
to the chamber where they’d spent the last day. Katin stayed right
by her side. Calys came quietly, as if suddenly realizing that the
consequences might be much more serious than a scolding from her
father. Dardan saw them settled in, then led Liam back down the
stairs.

The women waited a few minutes, but Amira
could not stand it. She’d already found the stairway to the roof,
the day before, and strode for it.

Katin yelped and raced after her. “M’lady,
what are you doing?”

“I mean to see what’s happening. Come, or
don’t, but I must know.”

Katin groused but went along. Calys did as
well, most likely wanting not to be left alone. Amira could
understand, even if the girl served no purpose but to get in the
way.

Amira pushed open the trap door to the roof
and climbed out. Her dress was dirty after a day away from the
manor, tromping all up and down the keep, and its marred beauty
bothered her. She scolded herself for caring; it was not important
now. She went to the edge of the roof and looked out through an
arrow-slit in one of the merlons.

The sun had just set, but there was still
plenty of light in the sky. Below, arrayed in a broad arc along the
hill before the keep, milled a mass of soldiers—two or three
hundred, at a guess. Half a dozen Relindos banners were scattered
among them. A small fleet of wagons came up in the rear, carrying
provisions or something. A few torches had been lit against the
creeping twilight.

Amidst the mass stood a group of knights in
polished armor. In the center of them all was a man, taller than
the rest, in golden plate. She shivered when she realized that it
was Edon.