Wintertide trr-5 Page 7

  "Arista?" Hadrian asked. "The Princess of Melengar is here?"

  "Yes, and they plan to execute her on Wintertide," the man answered.

  Saldur looked confused. "Why would he care-"

  "Because Hadrian Blackwater and his partner Royce Melborn, better known as Riyria, have been working as the Royal Protectors of Melengar. They've been instrumental in nearly every success either Alric or his sister has had over the last few years. I suspect they might even be friends with the royal family now. Well-as much as nobles will permit friendship with commoners."

  Hadrian tried to keep his face neutral and his breathing balanced.

  They have Arista? How did they capture her? Was she hurt? How long have they been holding her? Who was this man?

  "You see, Your Grace, Mr. Blackwater is a romantic at heart. He likes his honor upheld and his quests worthy. Killing an innocent knight, particularly one as distinguished as Breckton, would be…well…wrong. Saving a damsel in distress, on the other hand, is an entirely different proposition."

  "Would that be a problem?" Ethelred asked Saldur.

  The regent thought a moment. "The girl has proven herself to be resourceful and given us more than a fair share of trouble but…Medford is destroyed, the Nationalists are disbanded, and Drondil Fields won't last much longer. I can't see any way she could pose a serious threat to the Empire."

  "Well," Ethelred addressed Hadrian, "do we have a deal?"

  Hadrian scrutinized the man at the chessboard. While he had never seen his face before, he felt as though he should recognize him.

  "No," Hadrian said at length. "I want Degan Gaunt, too."

  "You see, he is the Guardian!" Guy proclaimed. "Or he wishes to be. Obviously Esrahaddon told him Gaunt is the heir."

  Ethelred looked concerned. "That's out of the question. We've been after the Heir of Novron for years. We can't let him go."

  "Not just years, centuries," Saldur corrected. He stared at Hadrian, his mouth slightly open, the tip of his tongue playing with his front teeth. "Esrahaddon is dead. You confirmed that, Guy?"

  The sentinel nodded. "I had his body dug up and then burned."

  "And how much does Gaunt know? I've heard you've had several little chats with him."

  Guy shook his head. "Not much, from what I've been able to determine. It doesn't look like Esrahaddon has even told Gaunt he's the heir."

  "But Hadrian will tell him," Ethelred protested.

  "So?" Saldur replied. "What does that matter? The two of them can travel the countryside, proclaiming Gaunt's heritage from the mountaintops. Who will listen? Modina serves us well. The people love and accept her as the unquestionable true Heir of Novron. She slew the Gilarabrywn, after all. If they try to convince people that Gaunt is the heir, they'll find no supporters from peasants or nobles. The concern was never Degan, per se, but rather what Esrahaddon could do by using him as a puppet. Right? With the wizard gone, Gaunt is no real threat."

  "I'm not certain the Patriarch will approve," Guy said.

  "The Patriarch isn't here having a standoff with a Teshlor, is he?"

  "And what about Gaunt's children, or grandchildren? Decades from now, they may attempt to regain their birthright. We have to concern ourselves with that."

  "Why worry about problems that may never occur? We're at a bit of an impasse, gentlemen. Why don't we deal with our present issues and let the future take care of itself? What do you say, Lanis?"

  Ethelred nodded.

  Saldur turned to Hadrian. "If you succeed in killing Sir Breckton in the joust, we will release Degan Gaunt and Princess Arista into your custody on the condition that you leave Avryn and promise not to return. Do we have a deal?"

  "Yes."

  "Excellent."

  "So I'm free to go?"

  "Actually, no," Saldur said. "You must understand our desire to keep this little arrangement between us. I'm afraid we're going to have to insist that you stay in the palace until after your joust with Breckton. While you're here, you will be under constant observation. If you attempt to escape or pass information, we will interpret that as a refusal on your part, and Princess Arista and Degan Gaunt will be burned at the stake.

  "Breckton's death has to be seen as a Wintertide accident at best or the actions of an overambitious knight at worst. There can be no suspicions of a conspiracy. Commoners aren't permitted to participate in the tournament, so we'll need to transform you into a knight. You will stay in the knights' quarters, participate in the games, attend feasts, and mingle with the aristocracy as all knights do this time of year. We will assign a tutor to help you convince everyone that you're noble, so there will be no suspicions of wrongdoing. As of this moment, your only way out of this palace is to kill Sir Breckton."

  Chapter 7

  Deeper into Darkness

  Drip, drip, drip.

  Arista scratched her wrists, feeling the marks raised by the heavy iron during the regent's interrogation. The itching had only recently started. With what little they fed her, she was surprised her body could heal itself at all. Lying about Edith Mon had been a gamble, and she had worried Saldur would return to her cell with the inquisitor, but three bowls of gruel had arrived since his visit, which led her to conclude he had believed her story.

  Whirl…splash!

  There it was again.

  The sound was faint and distant, echoing as if heard through a long, hollow tube.

  Creak, click, creak, click, creak, click.

  The noise certainly came from a machine, a torture device of some kind. Perhaps it was a mechanical winch used to tear people to pieces or a turning wheel that submerged victims in putrid waters. Saldur had been wrong about her courage. Arista never had any doubt she would break if subjected to torture.

  The stone door to the prison rumbled as it opened. Footsteps echoed through the corridors. Once more, someone was coming when it was not time for food.

  Clip-clap, clip-clap.

  The shoes were different and not as rich as Saldur's, but they were not poor either. The gait was decidedly military, but these feet were not shod in metal. They did not come for her. Instead, the footfalls stopped just past her cell. Keys jangled and a cell door opened.

  "Morning, Gaunt," said a voice she found distantly familiar and vaguely unpleasant, like the memory of a bad dream.

  "What do you want, Guy?" Gaunt said.

  It's him!

  "You and I need to have another talk," Guy said.

  "I barely survived our last one."

  "What did Esrahaddon tell you about the Horn of Gylindora?"

  Arista lifted her head and inched nearer the door.

  "I don't know how many ways I can say it. He told me nothing."

  "See, this is why you suffer in our little meetings. You need to be more cooperative. I can't help you if you won't help us. We need to find that horn and we need it now!"

  "Why don't you just ask Esrahaddon?"

  "He's dead."

  There was a long pause.

  "Think. Surely, he mentioned it to you. Time is running out. We had a team, but they are long overdue, and I doubt they're coming back. We need that horn. In all your time together, do you really expect me to believe he never mentioned it?"

  "No, he never said anything about a damn horn!"

  "Either you're becoming better at lying, or you've been telling the truth all along. I just can't imagine he wouldn't tell you anything unless…Everyone is so certain, but I've had a nagging suspicion for some time now."

  "What's that for?" Gaunt asked. His voice nervous-frightened.

  "Let's call it a hunch. Now hold still."

  Gaunt grunted then cried out. "What are you doing?"

  "You wouldn't understand even if I told you."

  There was another pause.

  "I knew it!" Guy exclaimed. "This explains so much. While it doesn't help either of us, at least it makes sense. The regents were fools to kill Esrahaddon."

  "I don't understand. What are you talking
about?"

  "Nothing, Gaunt. I believe you. He didn't tell you anything. Why would he? The Patriarch will not be pleased. You won't be questioned anymore. You can await your execution in peace."

  The door closed again and the footsteps left the dungeon.

  Esrahaddon's dying words came back to Arista.

  "Find the Horn of Gylindora-Need the heir to find it-buried with Novron in Percepliquis. Hurry-at Wintertide the Uli Vermar ends. They will come-without the horn everyone dies."

  These words had brought Arista to Aquesta in the first place and were the reason she risked hers and Hilfred's lives trying to save Gaunt. Now she once more tried to understand just what Esrahaddon had meant by them.

  ***

  Drip, drip, drip.

  The protruding bones of Arista's hips, knees, and shoulders ached from bearing her weight on the stone. Her fingernails had become brittle and broken. Too exhausted to stand or sit upright, Arista struggled to even turn over. Despite her weakness, she found it difficult to sleep and lay awake for hours, glaring into the dark. The stone Arista lay on sucked the warmth from her body. Shivering in a ball, she pushed herself up in the dark and struggled to gather the scattered bits of straw. Running her fingers over the rough-hewn granite, she swept together the old, brittle thatch and mounded it as best she could into a lumpy bed.

  Arista lay there imagining food. Not simply eating or touching it, but immersing herself. In her daydreams, she bathed in cream and swam in apple juice. All of her senses contributed and she longed for even the smell of bread or the feel of butter on her tongue. Arista was tortured with thoughts of roasted pig dripping with fruit glaze, beef served in a thick, dark gravy, and mountains of chicken, quail, and duck. Envisioning feasts stretching across long tables made her mouth water. Arista ate several meals a day in her mind. Even the vegetables, the common diet of peasants, were welcomed. Carrots, onions, and parsnips hovered in her mind like unappreciated treasures-and what she would give for a turnip.

  Drip, drip, drip.

  In the dark there was so much to regret and so much time to do so.

  What a mess she had made of a life that started out filled with so much happiness. She recalled the days when her mother had been Queen of Melengar and music filled the halls. There had been the beautiful dress stitched from expensive Calian silk that she had received on her twelfth birthday. How the light had shimmered across its surface as she twirled before her mother's swan mirror. That same year, her father had given her a Maranon-bred pony. Lenare had been so jealous as she had watched Arista chase Alric and Mauvin over the Galilin hills on horseback. She loved riding and feeling the wind in her hair. Those were such good days. In her memory, they were always sunny and warm.

  Her world changed forever the night the castle caught on fire. Her father had just appointed her Uncle Braga as the Lord Chancellor of Melengar and celebrations ran late. Her mother tucked her into bed that night. Arista did not sleep in the tower then. She had a room across the hall from her parents, but she would never sleep in the royal wing again.

  In the middle of that night, she had awoken to a boy pulling her from bed. Frightened and confused, she jerked away, kicking and scratching as he tried to grab hold.

  "Please, Your Highness, you must come with me," the boy begged.

  Outside her window, the elm tree burned like a torch and her room flickered with its light. From somewhere deep in the castle, she heard a muffled roar, and Arista found herself coughing from smoke.

  Fire!

  Screaming in terror, she cowered back to the imagined safety of her bed. The boy gripped her hard and dragged her toward him.

  "The castle is burning. We have to get out of here," he said.

  Where is my mother? Where are Father and Alric? And who is this boy?

  While she fought against him, the boy lifted her in his arms and rushed from the room. The corridor was a tunnel of flames formed by the burning tapestries. Carrying her down the stairs and through several doors, he stumbled and finally collapsed in the courtyard. The cool evening air filled Arista's lungs as she gasped for breath.

  Her father was not in the castle that night. After settling a dispute between two drunken friends, he had escorted them home. By sheer luck, Alric was also not there. He and Mauvin Pickering had secretly slipped out to go night hunting, what they used to call frog catching. Arista's mother was the only royal who failed to escape.

  Hilfred, the boy who had saved Arista, had tried to rescue the queen as well. After seeing the princess to safety, he went back into the flames and nearly died in the attempt. For months following the fire, Hilfred suffered the effects of burns, was beset by nightmares, and had coughing fits so intense that he spat blood. Despite all the agony he endured on her behalf, Arista never thanked him. All she knew was that her mother was dead, and from that day on everything had changed.

  In the wake of the fire, Arista moved to the tower, as it was the only part of the castle that did not smell of smoke. Her father ordered her mother's furniture-those few items that survived the fire-to be moved there. Arista would often cry while sitting before the swan mirror remembering how her mother used to brush her hair. One day her father saw her and asked what was wrong. She blurted out, "All the brushes are gone." From that day forward, her father brought her a new brush after each trip he took. No two were ever alike. They were all gone now, the brushes, her father, even the dressing table with the swan mirror.

  Drip, drip, drip.

  Arista wondered if Maribor decreed she should be alone. Why else did she, a princess nearly twenty-eight years old, never have a proper suitor. Even poor, ugly daughters of fishmongers fared better. Perhaps her loneliness was her own fault, the result of her deplorable nature. In the dark, the answer was clearly visible-no one wanted her.

  Emery had thought he loved Arista, but he never really knew her. Impressed by her wild ideas of taking Ratibor from the Imperialists, he had been swayed by the romantic notion of a noble fighting alongside a band of commoners. What Emery fell in love with was a myth. As for Hilfred, he had worshiped Arista as his princess. She was not a person but an icon on a pedestal. That they died before learning the truth was a mercy to both men.

  Only Hadrian escaped being deceived. Arista was certain he saw her merely as a source of income. He likely hated her for being a privileged aristocrat living in a castle while he scraped by. All commoners were nice to nobility-when in their presence-but when in private their true feelings showed. Hadrian probably snickered, proclaiming her too repulsive for even her own kind to love. With or without magic, she was still a witch. She deserved being alone. She deserved to die. She deserved to burn.

  Drip, drip, drip.

  A pain in her side caused her to slowly turn over. Sometimes she lost feeling in her feet for hours, and her fingers often tingled. After settling onto her back, she heard a skittering sound.

  The rat had returned. Arista did not know where it came from or where it went to in the darkness, but she always knew when it was near. She could not understand why it came around as she ate all the food delivered. After consuming every drop of soup, she licked and even chewed on the bowl. Still, the rat visited frequently. Sometimes his nose touched her feet and kicking would send it scurrying away. In the past, she had tried to catch it, but it was smart and fast. Now she was too weak to even make an attempt.

  Arista heard the rat moving along the wall of the cell. Its nose and whiskers lightly touched her exposed foot. She no longer had the energy to kick, so she let it smell her. After sniffing a few more times, the rat bit her toe.

  Arista screamed in pain. She kicked but missed. Still, the rat scurried off. Lying in the darkness, she shivered and cried in fear and misery.

  "A-ris-ta?" Degan asked sounding horse. "What is it?"

  "A rat bit me," she said, once again shocked by her own rasping voice.

  "Jasper does that if-" Gaunt coughed and hacked. After a moment, he spoke again, "If he thinks you're dead or too weak to fig
ht."

  "Jasper?"

  "I call him that, but I've also named the stones in my cell."

  "I only counted mine," Arista said.

  "Two hundred and thirty-four," Degan replied instantly.

  "I have two hundred and twenty-eight."

  "Did you count the cracked ones as two?"

  "No."

  The princess lay there, listening to her own breathing, and felt the weight of her hands on her chest as it rose and fell. She started to drift in and out of sleep when Degan spoke again.

  "Arista? Are you really a witch? Can you do magic?"

  "Yes," she said. "But not in here."

  Arista did not expect him to believe her and had doubted her own powers after being cut off from them for so long. Runes lined the walls of the prison. They were the same markings that had prevented Esrahaddon from casting spells while incarcerated in Gutaria, but her stay would not last a thousand years as his had. Gutaria's runes halted the passage of time as well as preventing the practice of magic, and the ache in her stomach reminded Arista all too often that time was not suspended here.

  Only since the Battle of Ratibor had Arista begun to understand the true nature of magic, or The Art as Esrahaddon had called it. When touching the strings of reality, she felt no sense of boundaries-only complexity. With time and understanding, anything might be possible and everything achievable. Were it not for the runes disconnecting her from the natural world, she was certain she could break open the ground and rip the palace apart.

  "Were you born a witch?"

  "I learned magic from Esrahaddon."

  "You knew him?"

  "Yes."

  "Do you know how he died?"

  "He was murdered by an assassin."

  "Oh. Did he ever talk about me? Did he tell you why he was helping me?" he asked anxiously.

  "He never told you?"

  "No. I didn't-" he broke into another fit of coughs. "I didn't have much of an army when we met, but then everything changed. He got men to join and follow me. I never had to do much of anything. Esrahaddon did all the planning and told me what to say. It was nice while it lasted. I had plenty to eat, and folks saluted and called me sir. I even had a horse and a tent the size of a house. I should have known all that was too good to last. I should have realized he was setting me up. I'm just curious why. What did I ever do to him?" His voice was weak, coming in gasps by the end of his speech.