The Clandestine Circle (39 page)

Linsha felt her frustration boil over. Lady Karine sounded just like the Circle leaders. “More suitable!” she exploded. “There is no other man more suited to be Lord Governor of Sanction. He loves this city, and he’s tough enough to keep it in line. He would rather bury it underground with the shadowpeople than allow any order or usurper to change this city. He isn’t going to deal with the Knights of Takhisis, Sable, or anyone else, so why can’t the Solamnics just try to work
with
him?”

Karine didn’t move. “You do not know enough of the workings of the Circle to comprehend what is happening,” she said stiffly.

“Don’t patronize me!” Linsha shouted. “I understand my assignment perfectly well. What I do not understand is why all of you insist Lord Bight must be removed.” A terrible conclusion came to life in her thoughts, and she asked herself, why do they say “our” and “we” so much when it is the Solamnic Council who governs the Circle’s activities? “Is this decision condoned by the council? Does Grand Master Ehrling know what the Circle is trying to do here?”

Karine’s slender face was unreadable. “It is apparent you have become too emotionally involved to be effective,” she said, sliding past Linsha’s question.

A cold burst of apprehension slid over Linsha like a bitter draft. Lady Karine, as well as the Circle leaders, had enough seniority to remove her from duty, and at the worst, to disavow her, or even strip her of her Knighthood if they chose. If they were scheming without the knowledge or permission of the order’s Grand Council, they could make her vanish and no one would ever know the truth. Fiercely she drove her anger to a deep chamber in her heart and forced herself to bow.

“Lady Knight, I apologize for my doubts. I am tired and concerned for our people. I came here only to warn you of the possible attack and to seek your advice.”

“Then listen well,” the commander said coldly. “I order
you to stand down. Do not go back to the palace or seek out Lord Bight with your information. Report to Lady Annian and stay with her to help organize a move against the Dark Knights. Do nothing more.”

Linsha felt her face grow hot. Her breathing turned harder and faster, and it took all her self-control to keep her voice even and calm. “What about Lord Bight?”

“The Skull Knight will take care of that problem for us. We will send our Knights to stop him before he can signal his forces.”

Linsha silently thanked whatever powers that be she had not mentioned Shanron. If all else failed and she was forcibly detained, Shanron still had Mica’s information about the Dark Knights, the plague, and its cause. “And the city? Do you plan to just let Sanction die of this plague and the Dark Knights’ swords?”

“Of course not. We will do what we can to help. If all goes as planned, the city will survive.”

But Lord Bight will not, Linsha told herself. This could not be right! There was no honor or justice in this action. Nowhere in the Measure did it suggest Knights of Solamnia could stand by and allow their enemies to assassinate a lord governor while they move in and take over his city for their own machinations. Surely, Grand Master Ehrling never condoned this.

But, oh, Paladine, what if he had?

Linsha stood still, her mind in a turmoil, her loyalty torn in two. There was nothing more she could think to say or ask, no more arguments she could put forth to Karine’s implacable countenance.

The commander raised her arm and pointed to the door. “You are dismissed. Report to Lady Annian,” she said in a voice of adamant.

A salute was almost more than Linsha could manage. Somehow she got her arm up in a crisp salute, then turned on her heel and marched out the door, her head up, her face deadpan, and with a feeling of finality, she closed the door behind her. No matter what she did, she knew Lady Karine
and the Circle would not trust her for some time to come. Now she had to decide how much
she
trusted the Clandestine Circle.

Varia flew out of a shadowed garret and landed on Linsha’s shoulder. The lady Knight began to walk in the direction of Lady Annian’s perfume shop.

“I have been stood down,” she told the owl in a strangled voice. “They are going to hide until Lord Bight is dead, then sweep in and snatch the city out of the grasp of the Dark Knights.”

Varia uttered a strange noise like a smothered squawk. “Where are you going?”

“I am to report to Lady Annian.”

The owl was quiet for a moment, her head turned sideways to gaze solemnly at Linsha’s face. “You have a good heart, Linsha. You must follow it.”

Linsha’s eyes hurt with threatened tears. She made a face. “My heart has led me into one quagmire already. I don’t want to follow something so flawed.”

“Your affection for Ian Durne is only a small part of your spirit. Maybe I should say you have a good soul. Let it guide you.”

“It could guide me into exile or dismissal from the Knights. I don’t think I could bear to bring that kind of dishonor on my family.”

“What about the dishonor you could bring on yourself?”

“What are you, my conscience?” Linsha said it lightly, but in truth Varia was only vocalizing the sentiments another small voice whispered in her mind.

The owl did not answer. She regarded Linsha through her moon eyes for another moment or two, then she shifted her gaze to the streets behind them.

Linsha continued to walk, although by now she paid little attention to where she was. A faint light, yellow and orange, lined the eastern mountains, and the stars retreated before the approaching sun. She looked to the east and saw Mount Thunderhorn illuminated with a dawn light that lit its smoke-crowned peak with fire and glowed on its rugged
inclines. Up there, she knew, Lord Bight would soon be walking to stand on the boulder-strewn slopes and face the power of the volcano. He had asked her to be with him and protect him during the execution of his spells. Had he known of the presence of an assassin? How would he feel when she did not appear?

It was time to choose. Would she be his friend or his enemy? Either choice bore a great cost. If she chose to believe in the integrity of the Circle, to blindly follow her oath and return as ordered to Lady Annian, she would turn her back on Sanction, on Lord Bight, a man she deeply admired, and on Ian Durne, the man she wanted to love. They would be condemned to whatever fate befell them without warning, without help, without support from her. She would betray Lord Bight’s faith in her, Shanron’s trust, and her own promise to Mica and follow a course of action she did not believe to be right or honorable. Nor could she willingly put the entire responsibility on Shanron. While it was true Shanron had heard Mica’s message and was capable of defending Lord Bight from most men, she was no match for a Skull Knight.

If, however, Linsha chose to disobey the Circle and help Lord Bight, she could face punishment and possibly the dishonor of exile and disgrace. There was no time to present her case to the Solamnic Council; she would have to act on her own, and in doing so, she could lose her place in the order, in her very world. Part of her thoughts wished fervently Caramon or Palin could be here to help her sort through this dreadful maze and to give her their blessing on whatever decision she made. She had tried for so many years to make her parents and grandparents proud of her. How would they understand this?

Yet, another part of her knew this resolution was hers alone. She could seek sanction from no one but herself. It was her sense of honor and justice she had to satisfy, her conscience she had to live with.

Linsha came to a stop. In surprise, she looked around and saw she was nowhere near Lady Annian’s shop. She had walked in circles and was close to the West Gate in the city
wall. The coming morning light was stronger now, and the city was beginning to stir. A light breeze rustled the flags and banners that hung on the towers. The horn would soon be blown to signal the change of guard.

Linsha twisted her neck to look at Varia and found the owl regarding her again with wide, round eyes. “How do you feel about exiled Knights?”

“It depends on why they were exiled.”

“For following their hearts.”

Varia tilted her head and blinked. “It is your inherent goodness that drew me, young woman. Not your status.”

A faint rumbling reached her ears, and she looked up to see a laden baker’s cart coming over the cobbled road toward her. An old man with graying hair and a shuffling gait grinned at her from between the shafts of his cart.

“Mornin’, Gorgeous. I see you’ve managed to survive so far. Where’d you get the owl?”

“Calzon,” she cried, unaware of the raw emotion in her voice.

Twenty years seemed to drop from his body as he suddenly straightened. “What’s wrong?” he asked with more compassion than Lady Karine.

Linsha’s hand tightened around her sword hilt. “Mica’s dead,” she said. “A Dark Knight killed him last night.” Several choice curses exploded from the Legionnaire, and his face darkened with rage. “How? Where? Did you find him?” he demanded in one breath.

Linsha told him quickly how she had found Mica in the woods and the last words the dwarf tried so hard to say. “The Knights of Takhisis have planned an attack to take place while Lord Bight is distracted by the volcano,” she went on. “I believe a Skull Knight assassin will attempt to kill him so the Dark Knights can invade the city virtually unopposed.”

“Have you told your superiors yet?” Calzon asked.

Linsha answered simply, “Yes.” She wanted to warn the Legionnaires, but she would not discuss her problems regarding the Circle with an outsider.

Calzon’s eyes narrowed, as if he sensed more in her words than she intended, and he was about to say more when a slight tremble shivered through the ground and quivered up their feet and ankles. Both agents looked down, startled, and felt it again. All at once three or four dogs bounded out into the street and began barking. A flock of birds burst out of a nearby tree. Varia hooted a warbling cry. A deeper tremor rattled the buildings and shook up a cloud of dust. People shouted in alarm.

“The volcano. Look!” Calzon cried out.

Far in the distance, against the brightening sky, the red cone of Mount Thunderhorn belched out a billowing cloud of smoke, and a low, continuous thunder shook the morning air. Suddenly a bright orange light trailed up from the distant fortifications, and it shot up into the sky like a shooting star and exploded in a brilliant burst of orange and gold light.

“The signal from the tower,” Linsha exclaimed. “The dome has already started to collapse. I’ve got to go!”

Calzon grasped her arm and gave it a squeeze. “Thank you, Lynn. The Legion will be ready.” He dumped his cart beside the road and dashed back the way he had come, his long hair flying behind him.

Varia waited until he was out of earshot, then sprang aloft. “I will get Windcatcher,” she called, and she flew, swift as a hawk, for the city gate.

Linsha broke into a run.

At the West Gate, the City Guards on duty stood looking east, worriedly watching the volcano. The pounding of Linsha’s footsteps drew their attention back to the gate, and they raised their spears, wary of her precipitous approach.

“Do not look to the east for danger,” she shouted to them. “Keep your eyes to the west. We have had word the Knights of Takhisis are massing ships for an attack.”

The Officer of the Watch stood in the middle of the gateway and eyed her scarlet uniform. “We received no word of this. Who are you?”

Linsha skidded to a stop. “Governor’s Guard, Lynn of Gateway. Late of the City Guards. We just learned this news.
They may attack the harbor this morning.”

“How do you know this?”

“Mica, the healer. Didn’t he come through here earlier this night?” The guards glanced at each other and nodded. “He told me,” she said.

“Why didn’t he tell us?”

“I don’t know. I think he was in a hurry to reach Lord Bight. But he didn’t make it. A Dark Knight murdered him. I reached him just before he died.”

Gasps of surprise and outrage met her news. The guard officer slapped the signal horn hanging at his side. “I will put the City Guard on alert,” he said, his face filled with anger.

“And warn the harbormaster. He can post watchers at Pilot’s Point,” she added, then she turned on her heel and ran back the way she had come, east on Shipmaker’s Road.

L
insha passed by the bazaar again and was hurrying through a small suburb of walled houses and well-trimmed gardens when she heard hoofbeats behind her coming at a fast pace. She moved to the side of the road and saw Windcatcher cantering toward her. The bay mare wore only a halter and trailed a broken lead rope. Her eyes rolled in excitement; her coat was damp with sweat. Varia flew above her head, warbling a wild song.

A nearby watering trough provided a convenient mounting block. Linsha climbed swiftly on Windcatcher’s bare back, snatched the rope, and urged her into a canter toward the East Gate and the guard camp. She didn’t stop at the gate but pounded through, past the astonished guards and on toward the camp.

The volcano was clearly visible now. A loud rumbling issued from its throat as smoke, steam, and ash poured forth, swelling into the air in shapeless gray and white masses. The dome could not be seen behind its cloak of smoke, but every
now and again flashes of red and orange gleamed upward in the gloom.