FOUR OF US sat around the large round table in the council chambers, while Gorman, the captain of the city guard, paced the floor. I stared at a groove etched on the surface of the table, tracing it with the tip of my finger, while feeling lost. Cedric had murdered Colin Pendragon when he found out that Colin had unsuccessfully attempted to have Mediera killed. Colin Pendragon had been difficult, but he was the Lord of Barriershire, and we needed him. Now he was dead, and we would have to figure out how to fight the war without him. I couldn’t see a way out of the mess around us.

Cedric comforted Mediera, who cried softly into a kerchief. She kept glancing at Colin Pendragon’s slain body, which lay crumpled in the corner of the room. To be fair, we were all stealing glances in that direction as we tried to come to terms with Colin’s demise.

I couldn’t help but remember Thomas’s letter. He had said that Colin Pendragon was critical to Barriershire’s survival. It was his leadership that was holding the war together. How would we manage without him?

“Why is he here?” Mediera sniffed, her eyes turning to Fynn. “I don’t see how an artist can help us. We need a strategy, not a painting.”

“It seems unnecessary,” Cedric agreed, although he sounded uncertain. “We should keep this as quiet as possible.”

“He’s my brother, and I trust his counsel,” Gorman countered as he continued to pace back and forth. The lie was simple and believable, and Gorman offered it without a trace of hesitation. Only a faint hint of surprise on Fynn’s face belied the truth.

“I’ll leave,” Fynn offered, more than willing to flee this sinking ship.

“No,” Gorman said, catching his arm. “Don’t leave. I haven’t figured this out yet.” Gorman was the only one of us who had any real chance of fixing the problem, and I expected we were all well aware that we ought to listen to any request he made.

“Oh, sweet sisters. What are we going to do?” Mediera moaned. “Can we pass it off as an accident? Or can we say he’s sick or something and not permitting visitors.”

“I don’t think we can pretend he’s still alive. He’s much too active of a leader,” Gorman said. “It won’t work. The captains in the field will know that something is wrong.”

“You said Lord Pendragon sent an assassin to kill Lady Mediera. What happened to the man?” Gorman asked. “Perhaps we can question him.”

“He escaped,” I murmured.

“Did you recognize him?” Gorman asked.

I looked away without answering. For the time being, I wasn’t prepared to let Cedric or Mediera know about Azriel.

“I feel sick,” Mediera moaned. “I need to lie down. Can we discuss this in the morning?”

Gorman’s jaw tightened. “It’s morning already. The sun is up.”

“I can’t think about this right now,” Mediera moaned. “Can’t you take care of it? That’s why we brought you here.”

“She needs to rest. This experience has been trying for her,” Cedric added quickly. “We know we need you.”

“I’m not going anywhere. Rest and collect yourself, Lady Mediera. But know that this can’t wait too long. We must come up with a plan. And I can’t do it on my own. I will need both of you.”

“Understood. I’ll escort her to her bedchamber,” Cedric offered. “We’ll be back after she sleeps.”

Once Mediera and Cedric had stepped out of the room, Gorman turned his glare on me.

“What happened, Anais?” Gorman asked. “I don’t understand how you allowed this travesty to occur. We needed Colin Pendragon alive.”

I took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of my nose with my fingers. “The fat man tried to make me kill Lady Mediera. Apparently, Colin wanted her out of the way.”

“If he ordered you to do it, why isn’t she dead?” Gorman asked. “That seems like a simple enough request.”

“I didn’t want to kill her. She’s my friend.”

“Wait,” Fynn said. “The fat man doesn’t make polite requests. He sends orders. How the shyte were you able to overpower him? It’s not possible. I’ve tried to push him out of my mind. He likes to drop in at the most inconvenient times, but I’ve never been able to do anything about it. How did you even try to fight him?”

I shrugged. Both Gorman and Fynn were staring at me, waiting for an explanation that made sense. I had to say something. The truth was unbelievable and terrible. But I had no substitute.

“Magic,” I stumbled. “I can use blood magic.”

“Really?” Fynn asked.

“Even if we accept that you have some skill, I doubt you’re stronger than the fat man,” Gorman said. “I can’t fathom that as a reality.”

I sighed. “Look, do you want me to finish telling you what happened, or do you just want to refute me?”

“Talk.”

“When the fat man couldn’t make me do it, he sent Azriel in my stead. I warned Cedric that Mediera was at risk, and while Cedric stood guard, he caught Azriel in the act of trying to sneak into Mediera’s room. Cedric put Azriel in a cell in the dungeon. I went to speak with Azriel with the intent of figuring out who was paying the fat man. Azriel confessed to me that Colin had ordered Mediera’s death. I let Azriel escape and then told Cedric that Colin was behind the attacks. Afterward, Cedric went looking for Colin and found him here in the council chambers. They dueled, and Cedric won.”

“Why did Azriel let Cedric best him? What happened to him? Where is he?” Fynn asked.

“He left.” I looked away, not meeting Fynn’s eyes. I skipped the part where I cut the sickness out of Azriel and cut his ties to the fat man because I didn’t think either Fynn or Gorman were privy to Azriel’s secret.

“How could he just leave?” Fynn asked.

I shrugged.

“I wish the fat man had employed me. I would have gotten the job done. You mangled everything,” Gorman muttered.

“You would have killed her?”

“Yes. We’re in the middle of a war, Anais. Don’t you understand? Mediera isn’t important. She’s just a girl.”

She was more than that to me, and I would not allow her to be killed. Fearing my position would never make sense to him, I said nothing.

Gorman rubbed his eyes. “We must get rid of the body and provide Colin a meaningful death if we are to have any chance of this not destroying us. We don’t want it known that he died in a duel.”

“Losing a duel you mean,” Fynn said, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. “Our fearless leader
lost
a duel.”

Gorman groaned. “I’m aware of that. But, he needs to die in battle,” Gorman said. “And we need a witness to his bravery. Maybe it will be enough.”

“Heroics and a witness. How are we going to manage such an elaborate fiction in a house full of guards? It may be the middle of the night, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t being watched,” Fynn said.

“I don’t think we are being watched,” I added. “The guards aren’t on duty. At least not the ones that guard Lady Mediera’s suite of rooms.”

“How is that possible?” Fynn asked. “Lord Pendragon doesn’t seem the sort to be lax with the household staff.”

“She’s right,” Gorman admitted. “I remember him telling me that he was going to dismiss most of the household servants and guards this evening. At the time, it had seemed strange. But I was hardly in the position to question him.”

“That seems a bit convenient.” Fynn’s brow rose.

“Not really,” I said. “I think he did it so that Azriel could assassinate Mediera without interruption.”

Gorman nodded. “That makes sense. Colin likely assumed one of the guards was responsible for saving her from the others. He would have wanted to ensure she wasn’t protected this time around. How would he have known that Anais was the one protecting her?”

“So we have no guards to contend with. That’s an advantage. Still, how do we manage it?” Fynn asked.

“We’ll need to put him into a position where he’s fighting furies. He has to be a hero,” Gorman said.

“But, we should place the battle outside the city. Talk of furies in Barriershire would start a panic. No need to terrify the masses,” I suggested.

“Yes. A panic would only make things worse.” Gorman closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “A runner came and delivered a message to Lord Pendragon whilst Lord Pendragon, Cedric, and myself were having a late night discussion in the council chambers. There were fury attacks outside the city. Help was needed immediately. While I stayed to protect the Great House, Cedric and Lord Colin took horses from the stables to aid in the defense of the croft. He died defending his people, and Cedric returned to tell the story of Lord Colin’s bravery.”

“A croft? No crofters live outside Barriershire’s walls anymore,” Fynn said.

“Not a croft. An illegal settlement,” I said, remembering the burning settlement we passed as we traveled into the field. It had been torn apart by a band of furies. They had left nothing behind but a boy who would not speak. “People are living outside the city who can’t pay Barriershire’s taxes.”

“I’m not sure if Lord Pendragon would risk his life over outlaws,” Fynn said. “It seems a bit too charitable.”

“If they posed a threat outside the city, he may have acted,” I offered. “Perhaps it wouldn’t be safe to leave them exposed. Perhaps he feared they would turn into furies.”

“Can that happen?” Fynn asked.

“Yes,” Gorman said. “A few skins who went too deep into the field changed. That’s why the men on the ground don’t trust the skins.”

“Did Lord Pendragon know?” Fynn asked.

“I doubt it,” Gorman said. “It was a well-guarded secret. But, it doesn’t matter. We can use it as a cover story. It’s not perfect, but I doubt we’ll conjure up a better one. We need to get moving. Let’s get Cedric. He needs to ride out to our imagined battleground.”

“Wait. Cedric rides off on a horse. But two horses must disappear from the stables to support your story that Cedric and Lord Pendragon rode off to play at being heroes. Now we have to dispose of Colin’s body and a horse,” Fynn said. “You’re making this harder.”

“I have an idea for how we can get rid of both Colin’s body and a horse.” When I had to deal with Chen, I had sunk his corpse so deep into the earth that no trace had been left behind. If I could do it once, I could do it again.

Gorman’s eyes turned to me. “How?”

“I told you I could use blood magic. I can bury Colin At least I think I can.”

“I doubt you can hide Colin and a horse without it being obvious. A hole in the ground would be noticed.”

“Why don’t I show you? If you see, you’ll understand.”

Gorman sighed. “I don’t know if I can trust you.”

“Let’s just give her a chance, Gorman. It’s not like you have a better idea,” Fynn countered.

“Fine,” Gorman huffed.

Gorman and Fynn carried Colin’s body down the tower’s winding stairs and out into the garden. They placed his corpse down under a starless sky lit by a full moon. I dug into my pocket searching for a chunk of black rock, but all that remained was powder.

“I need some black rock,” I said, shivering. “Without it, I won’t have enough power,” I stuttered, suddenly nervous. Would I be able to deliver this miracle I had promised?

Other books

Underwater by Maayan Nahmani

Blood Diamonds by Greg Campbell

China Flyer by Porter Hill

Snared (Jaded Regret #1) by L.L. Collins

The Drop by Howard Linskey

Naughty by Nature by Brenda Hampton

Herculean (Cerberus Group Book 1) by Jeremy Robinson, Sean Ellis

Return to Skull Island by Ron Miller, Darrell Funk

Writers of the Future, Volume 28 by L. Ron Hubbard

Growl by Eve Langlais