Fire of the Soul (22 page)

A short time later, with Lady Elgida tucked
beneath the warm quilt she’d brought from Saumar, Calia left the
room to find Winn standing guard outside the door.

“Stay here,” Calia told him when he would
have fallen into step beside her. “See that no one disturbs Lady
Elgida.”

“What about you?” Winn asked.

“I am commanded to find Mairne.”

“Oh, that one.” Winn chuckled, shaking his
head as if at a naughty child. “I saw her wandering off with Anders
after we left the hall.”

“That’s good news. She took your advice,
Winn. She’s not alone.”

“No, but you are. Be careful. If you’re not
back here in a short time, I’ll go after you,” Winn informed
her.

“Thank you for your care of me,” Calia said
to placate his sense of manly duty. “I promise, I won’t be long.
I’m just going to see if Mairne is in the great hall.” Leaving the
man-at-arms, Calia hurried along the shadowy corridor and around a
corner to the stairs.

As she reached the top step, Mallory appeared
out of the gloom. He gave the impression of coming down from the
lord’s chamber that was located on the highest level of the tower,
but Calia suspected he’d been lurking in the darkness on the chance
that she’d be sent on some errand.

“Were you looking for me?” Mallory moved to
block her way. “If not, you should have been.”

Calia said nothing. She knew if she spoke,
she’d reveal the telltale tremor in her voice that had always told
Mallory how frightened of him she was. She clenched her hands into
fists at her sides and faced him with all the courage she could
gather, which wasn’t nearly enough. Mallory stood a full head
taller than she and he was very strong.

“What?” His low voice mocked her. “No tender
greeting for your beloved brother? Can’t speak a word? Overcome
with joy, are you? But my dear, I’ve a feeling you knew you’d meet
me here at Kinath, so you must have been expecting a conversation
with me.”

“I didn’t want to come here,” she whispered.
“Not after Lady Elgida told me who her daughter-in-law had married.
I knew you wouldn’t want to see me, so I tried to talk Lady Elgida
out of making the voyage, but she refused to listen to me. Once she
had made her decision, I was duty-bound to come with her.”

“Of course, you were. That’s my little
sister, loyal unto death.”

His contempt for her throbbed in every word
that Mallory spoke and suddenly Calia was more angry than
frightened. He was, after all, the brother who had conveyed her to
a beguinage against her will and abandoned her there despite her
resistance. No doubt he had expected her to remain at Talier,
permanently out of his way and absent from whatever shred of
conscience he possessed.

“Tell me what you expect me to do about this
situation we find ourselves in,” she demanded. “Shall I reveal that
I am your sister, or keep quiet about it? I’ve said nothing before
this because I was uncertain what you want. Left to myself, I’d
never say a word to suggest we are related.” She tried to look as
scornful of him as he was of her, though she seriously doubted she
was succeeding.

“So,” Mallory said, a faint smile curling his
lips without any lightening of his cold expression, “Garit doesn’t
know who our father was? No, of course not, for if he did, you
would not be here and he would have come against me with an army.
When Garit learns the truth he will want my death. And your death,
too, dear sister. He will try to exact vengeance for what our
father did to that silly girl he loved.”

“Then, you don’t want him to know?” Calia
prayed she had guessed correctly. If Garit didn’t learn who she and
Mallory were, the two men would have no reason to fight and there’d
be less chance of Garit being injured, or worse. Then she noticed
the slight change in Mallory’s expression, a tightening of his lips
and narrowing of his eyes that she’d seen too often during her
girlhood, and she realized it didn’t matter if Garit never knew the
truth. Her brother intended to seize any opportunity to hurt or
kill Garit.

“I’m sure you don’t want him to know,”
Mallory answered her. “I’ve seen how you look at him, and the way
he looks at you. Just wait until you see the horror on his face
when he discovers that you are Walderon’s daughter – which he will
learn at the moment of my choosing.”

“Don’t,” Calia cried, forgetting to keep her
voice low. “Please, Mallory.”

“You owe me a great debt, little sister. Have
you forgotten all the years when I provided a home for you,
protected and fed and clothed you?”

“I haven’t forgotten what happened after we
were turned out of Catherstone,” she declared, interrupting the
too-familiar accusations. “You called me a burden, an obstacle to
your plans to make a new life for yourself at the court of the
prince of Kantia. Not once did you hint that you’d send for me
after you had established yourself. On the day you left me at
Talier Beguinage, you wanted only to be free of me. I suppose you
were content to know you hadn’t abandoned me to sell myself or
starve.”

“You are incredibly stupid, Calia.”

“Perhaps I am,” she said, hearing the weight
of sadness in her own voice. “Cruel as you were, I loved you,
Mallory, because I had no one else to love. But now—”

“Now the time has come for you to repay me,”
he said. “You owe me the respect and loyalty due to your closest
blood kin. You will do as I say and you will tell me what I want to
know. Begin with Garit’s intentions. Is he here to seize the
castle?”

“What, with only -?” She stopped before she
revealed how few men-at-arms Garit had brought with him. Mallory
couldn’t know how many armed men were waiting aboard
The Kantian
Queen,
so she decided to say what he had already learned. “With
only three women, one nobleman, a single squire, and a few
men-at-arms for troops?” she amended her question with a shaky
laugh.

“Perhaps he won’t try just yet,” Mallory said
thoughtfully. “Ah, but if he reaches Kerun and speaks to the king
in his own behalf, that’s a different matter, isn’t it? I’ll have
to stop him before then.”

The unconcealed malice in her brother’s voice
made Calia shiver. It also increased her anger. She spared just an
instant to wonder if her love for Garit and her fear for his sake
was making her brave, before she returned all of her attention to
what Mallory was saying.

“Now, sister dear,” Mallory continued, “for
the remainder of your visit to Kantia, you will listen and watch
both Garit and his grandmother for me, and then you will report
anything you see or hear that has aught to do with me, or with
Garit’s plans against me. I am certain he has such plans. Surely,
he wants to be lord of Kinath, like his father before him.”

“You mean you want me to spy for you, as you
forced me to do at Catherstone?” Calia exclaimed. “No, Mallory, I
refuse! I will no longer aid your schemes, whatever they are.”

“Did you learn this unwarranted independence
from Lady Adana? Don’t look so surprised, Calia. Before I sent you
to Talier Beguinage I knew exactly who Mother Mage Adana really is.
I hoped you’d make friends with her so you could be of some use to
me in the future, but you have far exceeded my grandest
expectations. You truly are our father’s daughter. First, you
plotted your way into that old woman’s household at Saumar Manor
and now you’ve forced your way into Garit’s heart. Into his bed,
too, I’ll wager.”

“No!” Calia cried. “I had nothing to do with
being sent to Saumar. I didn’t know Lady Elgida is Garit’s
grandmother until after I reached there. And I have not slept with
Garit. I swear it. Who knows better than a bastard child what
dangers lie along that path? I have not slept with Garit,” she
repeated.

“In that case,” Mallory told her, “you may
use the possibility of succumbing to his charms as a way of
controlling him. I expect you to be useful to me in return for the
many kindnesses I showed to you when you were a troublesome
girl.”

“I was never troublesome. In those days I was
always obedient, because I believed a sister ought to obey her
older brother.” Calia’s voice shook with the anger both old and new
that she felt against Mallory and against herself, too, for ever
being weak enough to love and obey him. “How can I be useful to you
when I don’t know your intentions? It seems to me that you have
done very well for yourself. You have a noble wife, you are the
guardian of a large castle and of your wife’s children, and most of
all, you are said to be a close friend to King Dyfrig. What more
can you possibly want?”

“I don’t want to be a mere guardian,” Mallory
answered her. “I want to be lord of Kinath Castle in fact and in
title. I want to rule in the stronghold that Garit always assumed
would be his. I want Garit permanently exiled from Kantia or,
better yet, I want him dead.”

“No! Mallory, please understand. Garit
doesn’t want—” At that point Mallory slapped her hard, the force of
his right hand sending her to her knees.

“You will do as I bid you,” Mallory snarled.
“If you do not, Lady Elgida will die rather suddenly. Of apparent
old age, of course. How sad. I’ve noticed that you are fond of her.
Next Garit will die. Then you will discover that the maidservant
you brought with you was responsible for poisoning the old lady,
whom she secretly disliked. You do recall what punishment is meted
out to servants who kill their masters?”

“Stop,” Calia cried in horror. “You cannot
treat folk here as you once dealt with them at Catherstone.”

“Can I not? You will see, sister dear. If you
object, then I fear that treacherous maidservant will decide to
kill you, too. You know I can do it, Calia, just as I did at
Catherstone. And if you decide to run to Garit and tell him what
I’ve threatened, well then, you will all have to die at once. So,
if you want your lover and your friends to continue to live, you
will listen to their plans, and you will report those plans to me.
No one will question the private conversations of a devoted brother
and sister, so long separated, who have found each other again and
have much catching up to do.

“You will speak to me immediately after the
midday meal tomorrow and make your first report then. Go, now.”
With a flick of one hand, Mallory coldly dismissed her and
remounted the steps to the chamber he shared with Fenella.

“Calia?” Winn’s heavy footsteps pounded down
the corridor. “I heard a noise and loud voices. Calia, where are
you?”

“I’m here, Winn.” She staggered to her feet,
using the corridor wall for support. The old excuses that she had
once used to explain similar incidents at Catherstone came much too
easily to her lips. “I tripped on my hem and almost fell down the
steps. So careless of me,” she added, trying not to cry from the
shame and disgust she felt toward herself. She ought to know better
than to defy Mallory to his face.

“Let me help you.” Winn took her arm to
steady her. “Are you badly hurt?”

“I banged one knee and struck my cheek on the
stone wall.” That excuse would explain the facial bruise she was
sure she’d have on the morrow. “Thank you, Winn. I’m all right now,
just feeling a bit foolish for hurrying so fast in an unfamiliar
place.” She made herself stop then, knowing from past experience
that too many excuses were worse than none at all.

“Calia?” Mairne suddenly appeared, coming up
the stairs from the direction of the great hall with Anders close
behind her. “What happened?”

“I tripped and fell,” Calia said, trying to
dismiss her friend’s concern. “Actually, I was looking for you.
Lady Elgida wants to see you at once. She’s annoyed that you
disappeared after the meal.”

“I’m so sorry,” Mairne said. She turned back
to her companion, to share a long look with him. “Good night,
Anders. We have Winn to escort us to our bedchamber.”

“As you wish. Sleep well, ladies. And, Winn;
thank you.”

“You’ll report to Garit?” Winn asked.

“Aye. I think I saw and heard more than you
did,” Anders said in a low voice that Calia suspected he didn’t
mean for her to hear. But she did hear the squire’s words and they
helped her to make the decision she had dreaded while knowing it
was inevitable.

When they reached the bedchamber, Lady Elgida
was snoring softly. With a finger at her lips, Calia cautioned
silence while she and Mairne made ready for bed. Then she lay in
the darkness for hours, trying to think of the right words to use
the next morning when she at last defied Lady Elgida’s command and
confessed the truth about her parentage to Garit.

Only two secrets would she retain, the first
being that she possessed well-concealed Power. The second secret
she intended to keep was in obedience to the wishes of the Great
Mage. She’d tell no one about the stone box that Ultan had
entrusted to her. Thanks to the training she had received at
Talier, she felt reasonably certain that she could obscure her
thoughts about the box from Mallory, so he’d not learn of it,
either. Once she placed the box into Queen Laisren’s hands, thus
fulfilling her duty to Ultan, she’d never have to think again about
the box, or about the casket it contained.

“By the heavenly blue sky above us!” Garit
muttered as Anders finished his report.

“I am sorry to be the one to tell you,”
Anders said. He flicked a fast glance at Durand, who had stood
silent during the squire’s description of the events on the stairs.
“I know you’ve grown to like Calia very much, but—” He spread his
hands as if to indicate that nothing could be done about who she
was.

“It sounds to me as if the lady is none too
fond of her brother, nor he of her,” Durand remarked. “From what
Anders says, she doesn’t want to spy for Mallory.”

“By not revealing who she is, she has been
lying to me,” Garit said. “What’s more, she has lied to my
grandmother in the same way, by omitting important information.
“The first time I saw Calia,” he continued, “I thought we must have
met before, because she looked so familiar. Now I know why. Her
coloring is the same as Walderon’s. I wonder that I didn’t see the
resemblance before this.”