His Ancient Heart (18 page)

"Breyan, you're free to go," Talon said, turning to the soldier. He had a nice red welt across his face from Firth's fist.

"No, my Lord."

"No?"

"I'd like to ride with you, if I might."

Talon considered for a moment, and then shook his head. The man may have been remorseful right now. That didn't make him trustworthy enough to bring to Edgewater. "I'm sorry."

"I understand. In that case, I'll stay here for the night and help them bury the dead if they'll have me. Fare well, my Lord."

Breyan started walking back towards the bakery. Talon could see that most of the town was gathering there, and doing their best not to stare at him.

"What now?" Wilem asked.

"We'll get some supplies from the Constable's office. Weapons, horses. Then we ride for Edgewater."

"I killed a Cursed, once," Wilem said, casting his eyes down. "Not long before I met Eryn. I never gave it a second thought."

"You're hardly the only one, my boy. Let our trespasses die with the past. There is too much at stake to carry them with us."

Wilem nodded, the words seeming to bring him some measure of comfort. Even though he had spoken them, to Talon they were hollow.

Murderer.

II. DEATH

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Eryn

The first time Eryn had entered Varrow City, it had been with leaves bundled under her skirts to make her look pregnant, on the back of a mule that Talon was leading, while carrying a huge bag of manure on his shoulder. They had waited for hours to get through the gates, only to be confronted by a merchant, who turned out to be a stronger ally than they could have expected.
 

The second time Eryn entered Varrow, she would do so through a special entrance reserved for soldiers and the upper-class of nobles, the favored of the Empire. She was escorted by one of the Captains of the Varrow City guard on her left and a Commander of the palace guard on her right. She rode a white Portnis stallion, and she was clothed in a rich, dark violet gown with a low neckline and high collar. An ircidium necklace holding a large red crystal pendant rested between her breasts. She wore the finest and softest black calf leather boots on her feet, and her hair had been washed, cut, braided, and held back by a small tiara with a clear gem at its head.

She looked like a princess.

She felt like a fool.

She was also more nervous than she had expected. She trusted Talon when he said he trusted the Overlord. Even so, she was riding right into the gaping mouth of the only thing that might be more dangerous than the creature that had taken her in Genesia, and she had no protection at all.

Don't be foolish. You have yourself.

She rubbed at one gloved hand with the other. The gloves matched her boots, the softest leather she had ever felt. They went from her fingertips to just above the elbow, leaving only two inches of exposed skin between them and the short sleeve of the gown. It was a good thing, because the scaly skin of the Shifters was spreading again.

Slowly, as long as she didn't use her magic. That didn't mean she couldn't or wouldn't use it if she had to. If there was no other choice.

They trotted up to a small steel gate. There was an entire squad of guards here, half on the ground inside a small gatehouse, and the other half on the wall above, the tips of their longbows visible over the parapets. Their looks were more of surprise and awe than anything else. Fehri had stuttered and stumbled to find words when Eryn had emerged from her room wearing the gown. It seemed his opinion was a common one.

"Sergeant Olms," Fehri said, bringing the horses to a stop.

"Cap'n Fehri, my Lord." The sergeant bowed to him, despite the fact that he was at least twice his age.

"Commander Trock and I are returning from overseeing the Overlord's interests out of the city. This is the Lady Valerie, the Overlord's niece. She will be staying in the palace with the Overlord for some time, learning to manage the affairs of the province. If she has need of you, you are instructed to provide whatever assistance you can, on order of the Overlord."

Olms looked past Fehri to where she was sitting. His eyes softened, as though he was looking on his own child. "As the Overlord commands, it will be done," he said. He bowed deeper and longer for her than he did for Fehri. "Welcome to Varrow City, my Lady. I'm honored to serve you."

"Thank you, Sergeant," Eryn said, hoping her voice didn't sound as shaky as it felt.

Olms turned back to the gatehouse. "Well, what are you waiting for? Open the gate."

He smiled as the gates moved aside, and Fehri brought them into the city.
 

It was the same place she had been only a few weeks past, and yet it looked completely different from astride the stallion. She saw the tiredness in the eyes of the commoners who took to the streets, headed from one place to another. She saw the defeat in the merchants who hawked cheap goods or pushed heavy carts in search of a coin or two. She felt the superiority of the nobles. The two they crossed paths with on their way to the palace bowed and curtsied to them as they passed, but otherwise looked down on the rest of the populace, though they weren't riding a horse.

The one thing she noticed in all of the people they rode past was a look of awe, even in those who weren't able to contain the jealousy they were clearly feeling. Not every awestruck eye was wide. More than enough narrowed in anger or frustration. It only made her feel like more of a fraud.

All of this for me? Who am I, really? Talon's Cursed girl. There is nothing that makes me more special than any other Cursed, except who I know.

She knew that wasn't completely true. She was here because she had fought back. She had survived. The soldiers, the juggernauts of Genesia, the Shifters. She had survived.
 

Even so, she wanted nothing more than to break free of Fehri and Trock, and lead her horse at a gallop to Waverly's. She knew she would find a warm hug from both Urla and Patina waiting there.

The palace gates were already open when they reached them. The guards at either side bowed their heads in respect both to her and to their Captain, and the jailers made their way out into the courtyard to see what their Commander had brought back. Soldiers walked in formation in the distance, and a scattering of administrators and nobles paused from wherever they were going, to give her a look before continuing their business.

Fehri slid off his horse, the reigns taken immediately by a slight boy in black cloth, who bowed his head to the Captain and didn't raise it until Fehri put a hand on his shoulder.

"Kivan, this is the Lady Valerie. She's a very important person, and I want you to look after her. Can you do that?"

The boy looked from Fehri to Eryn and nodded, his face turning red.
 

"Might I take your horse, Lady Valerie?" he asked. His words came out slow and strained, but he smiled when he was done, pleased that he had gotten them out.

Eryn was happy to dismount, the sidesaddle style more trouble than it was worth. "Of course you may. Kivan, is it?"

"Yes, my Lady." He took the reigns from her, and then moved on to Trock.

"I'll take you into the palace to meet her," Fehri said, coming up next to her, keeping his voice quiet.
 

Eryn nodded and approached Trock. "Commander, it was a pleasure to meet you, and to ride with you." The journey from Ember had been made easier by the man's love of telling stories, many of which he was initially reluctant to tell out of fear of soiling her young ears. She had pressed him to continue with them, and they had shared plenty of laughter as a result. At the same time, she knew by his eyes that there were more stories there, stories that he wouldn't tell. Fehri had told her that Trock served under Talon many years ago. She could imagine what those stories might contain.

"The pleasure was mine," Trock said, taking her gloved hand and bringing it to his lips. "If you're ever in the mood for some more of my particular brand of entertainment, you know where to find me."

Eryn laughed and put her hand on his cheek for just a moment. Then she turned back to Fehri and held out her arm. "Captain, I'm all yours."

Fehri crooked his arm. She took it exactly the way Trock had taught her. It had been a quick lesson in the etiquette of the wealthy and privileged, but she was a fine actress, and learned and adjusted to the differences of being without difficulty.

"Is there anything important I should know before we get there?" Eryn asked.
 

"The camp," Fehri whispered in reply.
 

She couldn't help but see the labor camp set up outside the city walls. People were being held there for petty crimes, or perhaps for no crime at all, waiting to be sent back to the Washfall mines as soon as possible. She had looked past the makeshift fences to where the prisoners gathered together in stained clothes, their faces devoid of hope. She knew then the falseness of their victory at the mines, as temporary as the rebellion's victory in Elling. It had taken all of her will to stay in character, seated and calm.
 

Especially when she had seen Patmos.
 

Fehri's mention of it now threatened her composure.

"
His
orders," Fehri said. "She didn't deny them then because she didn't know the truth. She can't deny them now because it will reveal her true motives."

"That's supposed to make it better? She sent the people we freed to the ore mines. When they escaped, she rounded up more innocents to replace them. And now what? They suffer so that she can protect me?"

"She is on your side. The army is not. Most of it, at least. The rebellion would be short lived."

"She could destroy this entire city if she wished it."

"Do you wish it?"

Eryn sighed. "Of course not."

"I understand your anger. I feel it myself. Changing the way isn't easy, and it is rarely immediate. Amman touches me, so that I may touch others, one at a time if need be. It is the same for you, and for the Overlord. Try to remember that."

She bit her lower lip, holding back any further complaint. Was Talon innocent? Was she? Did it matter how recent the change of heart was, or that it changed in the first place? She had forgiven Talon for his past. Could she do the same for the Overlord? "I'll try."

They entered the palace through a pair large doors that led into a small antechamber. It was a waiting area for the main assembly room, where the Overlord would preside over the affairs of the province, receiving reports from her numerous administrators. At any given time there could be anywhere from two to fifty such nobles waiting for their turn to deliver information, along with various interests from the towns inside of the province looking to make requests of the Overlord and the Empire.
 

As they entered the antechamber, Eryn could hear the voices from behind the heavy door that separated them from the assembly room. Two men were shouting at each other about troop levels and the recent rise in the number of children being Cursed.

"Name and position. Are you here to report, or request?"
 

An old woman was sitting behind a desk, a thick ledger lying open in front of her, a quill to her right. The ledger was filled with lines of names, only half of which were crossed off. She picked up the quill, ready to take down their information. She had to be one of the oldest people Eryn had ever seen, with wrinkles covering every bit of exposed skin, a thin patch of white hair on her head, and hands that shook every time she tried to move them.

"Reema, it's me. Captain Fehri."
 

Reema squinted her eyes, and then smiled. "Ah, Captain. My apologies. I didn't recognize you with a beautiful girl on your arm."

"This is the Lady Valerie. Overlord Prezi should have mentioned her to you?"

Reema pushed herself slowly to a stand, taking hold of a cane that was resting against the desk. She balanced herself on it, taking two more slow steps towards them. Eryn met her halfway.

"A pleasure, my Lady." Reema took her hand and held it with both of hers. They were small and frail. "Caela has been excited for your arrival. I'll let her know you're here." She reached up to Eryn's ear, and when her hand came away, she had a disc in it. Eryn couldn't help but smile at the trick. "There now. She told me, four taps for the Lady. Or was it three?"

Eryn could see the disc shiver slightly in the woman's hand.

"I'll take you around to Caela's private offices. She'll greet you there."

CHAPTER THIRTY

Eryn

She led them into a small, quiet room, around from the assembly hall and towards the center of the palace. It was a dark place, windowless, with only the one door. It was decorated in tapestries and paintings, and ornate candle holders balanced on stacks of books or scattered along the floor. There was a desk buried there somewhere, a soft, well-padded seat behind it. Another similar chair sat in the corner. There was a pile of books next to them, and it was obvious the chairs had been recently cleared in anticipation of her arrival.
 

"The Overlord will be right in," Reema said, closing the door behind her when she left.

"Who is she?" Eryn asked. The matronly old woman seemed so out of place in the palace.

"The Overlord's sister," Fehri said, removing her pack from his shoulder and placing it on one of the few bare spaces on the floor. "It isn't common knowledge, so don't tell anyone. You know the Overlords don't age like normal people do?"

"Because of the Curse."

Fehri nodded. "I didn't know that before meeting Talon."

"
He
lets the Overlord keep her sister in the palace?"

"I don't think
he
knows."

It was incredible to Eryn to hear that an Overlord was doing anything behind
his
back, even something as small as staying close to family. Reema had to know she was Cursed, then. She'd managed to keep the secret all of these years.

"Do you think we'll have long to-"