Trial of Fire (56 page)

‘How much more time?’

‘Another month perhaps – but even I can’t guarantee him more than that.’

‘You think Tirone will be content with what you’ve done so far?’

Robert nodded, looking up at her, his breath catching for a moment. With her hair a little messed, her cheeks a little flushed, her lips red from his kisses, she looked almost more beautiful than he could bear.

Unable to resist, he returned to her, pushing her back to the bed, kissing her again, trying to tell her all that he could never say aloud. Then he drew back, regret in every line of his body. ‘I’m sorry. I promised you—’

She put two fingers over his mouth, then kissed him softly. Done, she
rolled over and got off the bed. She moved to pick up her cloak – and froze at an urgent rap on the door. She looked at Robert, but he shook his head.

‘Finnlay.’

As Robert got up, Jenn crossed to the door and opened it. Finnlay stepped inside quickly, closing it behind him. His face was ashen, his eyes wide with an unspoken fear.

‘You have to come quickly! It’s Andrew. He’s in trouble!’

The rumble of horses travelling together echoed through the warm spring night. All but a few birds skittered away from the encroaching hordes; even the ground shuddered at the passage of heavily laden carts pulled by workhorses. In the darkness, they were all the same shadow, their uniforms of yellow dulled and without lustre.

Osbert pulled away from the main body, turning his horse onto a high place beside the road. The line of soldiers ran all the way into the darkness on his left, and he could not yet see when the last of them would pass him.

Another horse turned from the road, its rider joining him with a small bow from the saddle. Though he could not see a face in this shadow, he knew full well who it was. Lyle followed him as a precaution, as a testimony and as an unvoiced comfort.

‘We have made good time, my lord,’ Lyle began easily. ‘The weather has been kind. If it keeps up like this, we will arrive by midday tomorrow.’

Osbert was surprised. ‘We’re that close? But I thought we were still a full day away.’

‘We were, however, having the second ferry allowed us to cross the river much quicker than expected and marching through the night like this, making the most of the mild weather, has given us many hours we did not anticipate.’

‘Do we have further word of the rebels?’

‘No, my lord, but our information was accurate last time. The rebels had been there—’

‘They’d just left long before we could get to them. Do you have any idea how pointless it is running around
after
them? Is there no way to guess where they’ll go before they get there?’

‘The King—’

‘The King wouldn’t know—’ Osbert stopped abruptly and bit his lip, drawing blood. Kenrick ordered them here and there, chasing halfway across the country looking for phantoms before pulling them back. And now they had a clear report, a raid on a grain silo, and only the day before. The rebels were most definitely in this area and, come what may, Osbert
would be responsible for catching at least some of them, if nothing else. He would have something to show Kenrick if it killed him!

And something to show Nash.

As it had done a thousand times since he’d left Marsay, Osbert found Godfrey’s voice rattling around in his head, warning him of what would happen if he followed this path, asking him to reconsider, to choose more wisely – but Godfrey had not lived in the shadow of fear the way Osbert had. He had no idea what it was like to face Nash on a daily basis, knowing the sorcerer had ways to see into a man’s mind. Osbert had struggled for years to find a way to beat Nash, but all along he knew Nash would one day be the death of him. There was only one way to stave off that day.

‘When will you order camp, my lord?’ Lyle prepared to ride away.

‘I won’t.’ Osbert decided on the spur. ‘We ride through the night. A league from the town, I want the horses rested for an hour and then the men split into three groups. The first will head east around the town, the second west. I will remain with the third and head directly south. Have the men search every farm, every tavern, every building on the outskirts of town. If there are still rebels in this area, we will flush them out by morning. Let the captains know.’

Lyle smiled and bowed again. ‘Of course, my lord.’ And then he was riding away, happy to have this purpose in his life.

Happiness was something Osbert didn’t understand at all.

*

Jenn pulled on her reins, making the horse skid to a halt beside Finnlay’s. Her heart pounding, she jumped down and ran forward into the thicket. She barely heard Robert ordering Micah to round up the other men, the Guilde was closing in and they had to move on, now. All she could focus on was the noise in the distance, and the fear in Finnlay’s eyes.

‘What happened?’

When he didn’t answer immediately, she turned, only barely stopping herself from running towards Andrew. Finnlay waited until Robert joined them, then said, ‘I don’t know what happened exactly. He and Micah were having supper at the tavern. I had just gone in to join them when Micah grabbed Andrew and hauled him outside. He pulled a cloak over the boy’s face and told me we had to get him out of town immediately. We rode as far as we could, but Andrew seemed to be in pain and wouldn’t answer when I spoke to him. We got to this wood, but he couldn’t travel any further. He stopped and dismounted, then ran in here. Every time I try to get close, he warns me away.’

‘Warns?’ Robert growled. ‘What kind of game is this? We don’t have
time to play here! The damned Guilde is on our tails! Micah, go back to the town and warn all our people. If we don’t get clear—’

But Jenn held up her hand, seeing something in the darkness that didn’t make sense. ‘What’s that?’

Finnlay took one look at the faint blue glow to the night and said, ‘I noticed it a few weeks ago. I thought it was his powers beginning to emerge but nothing else happened. It flares up and fades down. He has no control at all. And that’s the problem.’ Finnlay turned his gaze on Robert. ‘That’s why we can’t get close.’

‘But why is this happening now?’ Jenn murmured, inching forward despite Finnlay’s warning.

‘Why is it happening now?’ Finnlay repeated, incredulous. ‘After the way he’s been pushed around by my pushy brother here? I tell you, that boy is in there because he’s terrified of what’s happening to him. And he’s terrified because he no longer trusts any of us.’

Jenn stiffened at that. ‘He trusts me! I’ll go in.’

‘Jenn, no!’ Robert reached out to stop her, but she squirmed away from him, picking up her feet so she didn’t trip on the uneven ground.

She followed the blue glow, tracing the flares in it, how it faded before emerging again. Of Andrew she could see nothing, but she could hear him, gasping in pain, occasionally thumping his fist on a tree or something. ‘Andrew?’ she began softly, not wanting to scare him further. And he would be scared, as Finnlay said. All these years they’d waited for these powers to emerge, and now that they had, he didn’t know what to do with them. ‘Andrew, can you hear me?’

‘Stay away, Mother!’ His anguished rasp reached her, making her heart bleed. ‘Just stay away! It’s too dangerous!’

Before he’d even finished speaking, she heard a great crack and a nearby tree shuddered and toppled, falling to the forest floor with an almighty crash. The ground beneath her feet shook, making her reach out to steady herself, but she didn’t turn back. ‘Please, Andrew, you don’t need to be afraid. I can help.’

‘No, you can’t. Nobody can help. I can’t control this. Every time I move, I—’

And another crash split the night. Jenn heard Robert calling her, but she just waved at him to keep his ground. The last thing Andrew needed right now was another confrontation with Robert.

She inched forward, listening hard for any more disruptions. Moving to her left, she swung around the area most illuminated by the glow, until she could see her son crouched on the forest floor, his back against a tree, arms wrapped around his stomach as though his belly ached. Every now and
then, his fist would hit the ground and the earth beneath him would ripple like a wave, leaving cracks in the dirt like shattered glass. And then he opened his eyes.

Jenn gasped and took a step back. His eyes were black, all the colour absorbed. His face was white, covered by a sheen of sweat. His mouth was open as he panted, needing air. She wanted to go to him, but didn’t dare.

‘Andrew, please listen to me. I can help, I promise you. I can help you control this. You just need to listen.’

‘No, Mother, please leave me! I’ll just hurt you! I know I will – and I can’t do that, don’t you understand? I can’t!’

‘Of course you won’t hurt me. I know that. You could never hurt me.’

‘I would.
He
hurt you even though he said he wouldn’t. But he hurt you and you – Please Mother, you have to go now!’ Another thump against the ground and the soil rippled higher this time, enough to make her stumble and almost lose her balance.

Such power! So like his f—

Just as that Prophecy had said.
And one shall be born to raise his armies, increasing his faithful tenfold
 …

But she’d known all along he wouldn’t be spared. That was why she’d done all that work, in the hope that she would find something to prove her wrong. But all that time spent researching had only given up more evidence that this
was
all preordained.

Which meant that Andrew was just as much a part of the Prophecy as she and Robert, and that in the end—

‘Andrew, I want you to listen to me. I can teach you how to control the power. I understand how you’re feeling. I know how frightening this can be when it first happens.’

‘No, Mother, please! You can’t help me. Nobody can.’

‘But I can teach you.’

‘How? The same way you killed my father?’

*

The fire flickered every time Osbert peered through the trees, tantalising his imagination, making him hungry. But he knew what it was. Even though he didn’t want to, even though he could wish with all his heart that it was anything but.

Osbert rode without questioning. He kept the firelight to his left, his attention on staying awake in the saddle, on getting his men to their destination without mishap. But the fire flickering in the corner of his eye grew bigger and he knew he wouldn’t be allowed to ignore it the way he wanted to.

He turned a corner in the road and found exactly what he’d expected: an
open fire, a dozen men with their horses tied to trees standing back out of the way, another man seated with his feet and hands warming at the flames, while a third cooked a meal before him.

The seated man looked up as Osbert appeared. A smile spread across his face and Osbert accepted the inevitability. He turned off the road and took his horse up to the edge of the firelight. For a moment he considered not dismounting, but he would be made to pay for that. So he swung his leg over the back of the horse and slid to the ground. Miraculously, another chair was brought for him, his horse taken by one of the men and a cup placed in his hand.

‘Sit, Osbert. I won’t bite. At least, not before supper.’ Nash stared into the flames for a moment, then laughed a little at his own humour. ‘Sit, sit! If you’re good, I’ll even see to feeding you.’

Osbert kept his silence, holding his cup but not drinking from it. Who could tell what it might contain? He, along with many others, had heard of the poison in Nash’s wine, of how it had made him ill for a week but had not killed him, despite the enormous amounts that had been poured into the bottle.

Nobody knew who’d been responsible, and it seemed even Nash was at a loss, as there had been no sudden executions or even disappearances over that week. But he was here now, alive, perfectly well, in fact, better than Osbert had ever remembered seeing him.

Sorcery. Just as Godfrey had told him, Nash had used the blood of his own daughter to regenerate, to heal all his wounds, to increase his powers, to give him immortality. What could Robert Douglas hope to do to beat that?

A plate was handed to him, filled with a delicious stew and fresh bread. His own travel-fare had long since been consumed, and he’d refused exactly this kind of meal in order to hurry his army along the road.

But if he didn’t eat, again he would pay. Nash was simply looking for an excuse to punish him. They’d been treading this path for a long time, and Osbert could only attribute his continued survival to the fact that he’d never given Nash any real reason to kill him.

He ate. Nash watched him with wry amusement.

‘You think I would poison you? When I have so many other choices at my disposal? How unimaginative you must think me.’

Osbert swallowed, saying nothing. The food went down with difficulty, but he cleared the plate, ignoring his stomach protesting. He handed the plate back to the servant and got to his feet. ‘If you don’t mind, I will continue on my way.’

‘Anxious to get there, are you? Do you know something I don’t?’

‘I am indeed anxious to catch these rebels – as you should be.’

Nash stalked around the fire until he stood only inches from Osbert.

‘Why are you here?’ Osbert muttered, unwilling, even now, to admit total defeat.

‘I’m looking for something called the Key and I think it’s somewhere in this region. If you see it, let me know.’

‘A key? To what?’

‘Ah, now that’s the real question, isn’t it? A Key to what. But we were never told, so I can’t answer you. What I can tell you is that this Key is an orb, about this big,’ He made a shape with his arms. ‘It’s incredibly powerful, but could kill a normal man with its touch – so as I said, if you see it, let me know.’

Osbert met his dark gaze for a moment longer, then nodded and gestured for his horse. He mounted up, wrapping the reins about his hands and turning for the road where his men still marched by.

‘Good luck hunting your rebels,’ Nash called after him. ‘Make sure you don’t go changing sides.’

*

Jenn froze, her throat so tight she could hardly breathe. ‘What?’