The Lady of Toryn Anthology (Lady of Toryn trilogy) (61 page)

“You’re a bottomless pit,” he grumbled, but he
obediently followed her towards the tavern.

Chapter
Four

Sullied

The tavern was where Aik found them an hour later.
Ashlyn had stupidly drunk more than her fair share of Cosmean mead, but was
still teetering on the edge of sobriety, giggling over Vargo’s terrible jokes
and munching contentedly on a strip of draynor jerky.

Ashlyn saw Aik the moment he stepped through the
door, and sat up straighter, waving furiously as though he could somehow miss
her in the otherwise empty tavern. The wolf padded silently over to the table
and climbed into a chair, carefully placing two of Lord Li’s journals on the
table in front of him. He raised a furry brow at Vargo, who just shook his head
and made a tipping motion towards his own mouth.

“Did you finish reading?” Ashlyn asked. “What
happened to the baby?”

“It wasn’t…clarified.”

She frowned. “Well, what happened between my dad and
G?”

Aik glanced around. “Would you rather discuss this
in a more private place?”

Ashlyn followed his gaze, smiling wryly. “It’s past
the breakfast rush, Aik. The barkeep went home to get some rest before lunch. I
don’t think we’re gonna get any more private than this.”

“If you’re certain.” Aik straightened in the chair,
his tail curled neatly around his legs. “After G discovered she was pregnant,
Lord Li made a proposal of marriage.”

That wasn’t unexpected, Ashlyn thought. At least her
dad did the honorable thing. “Did she accept?”

“Yes.”

“Did they get married?”

Aik nodded, and Ashlyn blew out a breath. She’d had
no idea that her father’s marriage to Susyn hadn’t been his first union.
“Nobody ever knew he was married before. It must have been a private ceremony.
What happened to her, then?” She chewed ambitiously on her jerky, then paused
as a thought occurred to her. “Oh no, did she die in childbirth?” It was a
horrible prospect, but it would at least make sense as to why G wasn’t still
around, and why her father had been free to remarry.

“No.” Aik looked distinctly uncomfortable, and
Ashlyn swallowed, recognizing his hesitance.

“Hey,” she said, putting her jerky down. “I may be
tipsy, and I may be a little crazy, but I’m not going to kill you for being the
unlucky bearer of bad news. Spill. What happened after they got married?”

“Your father sent a messenger to Toryn explaining
the situation. He told the reigning Lord of Toryn that he would accept his
birthright only if G was permitted to become Lady of Toryn, and if their unborn
child could become Elder Heir.”

“What did my grandfather say?”

“The reigning Lord was in poor health, and in no
position to negotiate. He agreed, and composed an order signed by the lesser
lords, that allowed your father to pass the new laws shortly after his
coronation.”

“That would explain why my dad changed those laws,
but nothing else during his entire reign,” Ashlyn said, nodding thoughtfully.
“My grandfather put the wheels in motion. Remember what we talked about on the
airship on the way to…” She trailed off. On that particular day, she and Aik
had been on their way to North Camp to see her father, who had only just been
rescued from the
shift
army. Ashlyn
had fallen asleep that night in Lord Li’s room, and awoken to find that Kou had
murdered her father in cold blood.

“Um…” She laughed hoarsely, rubbing at her forehead.
“What happened after that?”

“Lord Li, Chief Redhorse and Loritta entered the
Caverns with the intention of re-trapping the Spirit,” Aik said.
“Unfortunately, there were complications. The stane took longer than expected
to take effect. Lord Li, Redhorse and the Cosmean soldiers were able to fight
the Spirit, and provide Loritta with enough time to activate the magic. But not
all of them were able to remove themselves from the area of effect quickly
enough.”

Ashlyn’s eyes widened. “Was G trapped in time?”

“No. G did not enter the Caverns. But Chief Redhorse
was trapped. A Cosmean soldier attempted to rescue him, and was frozen
himself.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Vargo
announced, and Aik and Ashlyn both looked at him, suddenly remembering that
Vargo had neither read the journal or been updated on the entirety of its
contents.

“It’s such a long story,” Ashlyn said ruefully.
“There is an ancient evil here in Cosmea called the Spirit of the Caverns, that
has to be trapped with a special kind of stane every nine thousand days- or
just about every twenty-five years. The stane freezes time, but the catch is that
only an immortal like an Angel can cast the spell without being trapped. When
my dad was here on his diplomatic mission, he helped the Chief of Cosmea
complete the spell.”

“And this happened twenty-five years ago?” Vargo
said, quirking an eyebrow.

“Uh…yeah.” Realization dawned, and Ashlyn turned
back to Aik. “What’s the deal? Did you guys just activate the spell again
recently? How’d you do it with no Angels?”

Aik looked at Ashlyn, then at Vargo, incredulity in
his expression. “I know this may sound ridiculous, but…I’ve never even heard of
the Spirit of the Caverns, and it certainly didn’t occur to me that it might
still be here in Cosmea. If your father’s journal was written twenty-five years
ago, then the Spirit could be released at any moment.”

There was a long pause as the meaning of Aik’s words
sank in for each of them.

“Okay, don’t freak,” Ashlyn said at last. “We don’t
even know if the Spirit is still trapped in the Caverns. Maybe they found a way
to destroy it between then and now.”

“I need to get into the Caverns,” Aik said, standing
on his chair so abruptly that the chair legs teetered on the stone floor. “I
need to see for myself. There is a door built into the deepest part of the
caverns that prevents anyone from going further- I always assumed it was just
so no one got lost-”

“Calm down,” Vargo said, standing and sliding his
chair back. “You’ve got to tell Ashlyn the rest of this story. I have a feeling
that whatever her dad wrote, it’s a big deal. I’ll send the Spartans into the
Caverns, don’t worry.”

“They could end up trapped. We have no idea just how
large the area of effect for that stane is.” Aik shook his head, eyes
narrowing. “We don’t even have the stane of
Novem
Milia
to reactivate the magic when the previous stane is drained!”

“Hey,” Vargo said sharply. “Relax, wolfie. I may not
be the Chief of Cosmea, but I’m sure my guys have a pretty good idea of what a
couple of dudes and an evil spirit frozen in time will look like. I’ll send a
messenger to Jackson and see if a stane of- what’d you call it?
Novem Milia?
That’s Angelic for nine
thousand, right? I’ll see if we have one on inventory. And
if-
big if- the Spirit of the Caverns is still trapped in Cosmea,
we’ll deal with it. You stay here and finish Ash’s story. I’ll be back.” The red-haired
man was headed for the door almost before the last word was out of his mouth,
and both Aik and Ashlyn watched him go.

Aik sat down again, looking slightly sheepish.

“He’s right,” Ashlyn said, even though she was
worried too. “There’s nothing we can do right now. And the Spartans have
probably been going out of their minds, looking for something to do.” She had
met the other three Spartans only briefly- and was surprised to see that two of
them were women- but hadn’t missed their expressions of complete and total
boredom. Patrolling Cosmea and occasionally fending off the area’s foot-sized
alligator fiends was probably not the kind of pulse-pounding action the
Spartans were accustomed to.

Seeing that Aik was still distracted, she finished
lamely, “And I’d really like to hear the rest of what was in my dad’s journal.
I appreciate you reading it for me.”

Aik seemed to snap out of his reverie at her words,
and he nodded. “Yes, I suppose you’re right. The Spartans will tell us if they
find anything. Where…where was I?”

“You said Chief Redhorse was trapped with the
Spirit, and a Cosmean soldier died trying to save him?”

“Ah, yes. Presumably, if the Spirit is still trapped
here, then Redhorse’s body- and the soldier’s as well- are perfectly preserved
within the field of magic. But we would be unable to resuscitate them, even if
we could successfully extract them from the area of effect. At the time,
however…needless to say, both your father and G were devastated at Chief
Redhorse’s death.”

“I can imagine.” Ashlyn tried to picture her father
frozen in time, appearing as if he were alive, but completely still. How
torturous would it be to look at him, to be almost within reach, and yet know
that his heart would never beat again?

“G eventually realized that with her father
deceased, leadership of Cosmea had fallen to her. She told your father that she
could not return with him to Toryn.”

“Oh gosh. Poor Dad,” Ashlyn said, with feeling. She
knew a little bit about rejection, and it certainly wasn’t easy to deal with.

“He truly loved her,” Aik said, placing a paw on the
table to wipe a few crumbs off onto the floor. “Your father decided to return
to Toryn and decline leadership so that he could remain in Cosmea with G.”

“Mmm.” Ashlyn knew that something had to have
happened to G, since her father clearly had become Lord of Toryn anyway and
gone on to marry Susyn. She waited impatiently for Aik to confirm her
suspicions.

“G didn’t believe him. She told him that she hadn’t
truly understood family obligations until Chief Redhorse had died, and that she
knew he hadn’t fully grasped the concept of his responsibilities yet either. So
she reassured him that no matter what happened, Cosmea would be allied with
Toryn for as long as she was chief, and that she would name their daughter-
your sister- after him. Then she bade him goodbye.

“When he returned to Toryn, your father discovered
that your grandfather, the reigning Elder Lord, had finally succumbed to his
illness. And, just as G had predicted, the obligation of your family birthright
suddenly became real and unavoidable.”

“My dad decided not to return to Cosmea?” Ashlyn
breathed, and her heart was aching for the horrible decision that her father
had been forced to make.

Aik nodded. “He sent a letter advising G of his decision…and
apologizing. He then ascended the pagoda and became Elder Lord.”

“Oh, gosh, I feel so awful for him,” Ashlyn said
quietly, twisting her hands in her lap. “I can’t even imagine how that must
have killed him, to abandon the woman he loved. And for her to be pregnant,
too…”

“He was extremely distraught,” Aik agreed. “There
were many pages dedicated to venting his…frustration. He went on living,
believing that he had given up everything for Toryn.”

“How did G die?” Ashlyn asked. “That must have been
even more devastating for him.”

Aik paused before answering, flipping open the first
journal in front of him to a page near the front of the book. “It wasn’t
discussed in your father’s journals, but I checked the public records before I
came here and found a chart that listed births and deaths of previous Cosmean
chiefs. It appears she was killed by Lord Angelo during his takeover of
Cosmea.”

“Lord Angelo’s takeover? But when Lord Angelo took
Cosmea, that was way after…I think I was four or five…” She trailed off. “Wait
a minute, Aik. What are you saying?”

He pushed the journal across the table to her, and
she took it, frowning down at the paragraph that he indicated.

***

SUSYN
AND I WERE MARRIED YESTERDAY.

She is under no illusions as to what this “marriage”
is- a farce, a sham with no legal basis. She knows of my marriage to G, which
cannot be dissolved according to Toryn law. Unfortunately it has now become
apparent that G has no intentions of ever relocating to Toryn. She made it
clear in her last letter that she has severed her ties with me, remarried, and
that her current husband has adopted our daughter as his own.

With my little girl lost to me, I have no choice but
to produce an “Elder Heir” for Toryn, and Susyn has graciously agreed to assist
me in this deception.

***

Ashlyn drew back, her hands to her neck, as if her
fingers could somehow loose the tension in her throat.

“I can’t believe this is happening,” she muttered,
her voice cracking in the middle of the sentence. “This is impossible. This
is…this is unbelievable.”

“Ashlyn. Look at me,” Aik said, and she looked up,
stricken, at his earnest wolf face.

“You and I are the only ones who know about this,”
he said, articulating every word clearly and carefully. “No one else knows. No
one else will know unless we tell them. Do you understand what I am saying?”

She tried to respond, but her throat was so tight
that she couldn’t force the words out. Instead Ashlyn buried her face in her
hands, utterly overwhelmed.

Tears did not come, and she wondered why, when up
until a few weeks ago she had cried at nearly every emotional upset she had
encountered. This revelation was absolutely monumental. In the Free Lands, it
was not uncommon for children to be born out of wedlock, or for partners to
sever ties and marry others, but it simply was not done in Toryn.