THIRTEEN

MURDER IN THE COURT

They reached the outskirts of Braythe three and a half days later. Fearing Lorenso’s wrath, the four young people only spent time together around the campfire at night. During the day they sat upon their horses, deeply enmeshed in their own thoughts and worries.

Antano was the only one who maintained his high spirits, finding Lorenso’s antediluvian attitude amusing, but Nira really made him smile. Oh, he knew she was a tart, having heard all about her escapades with the stablehands, but he couldn’t help feeling elated when he discovered she thought him mature enough to draw her attention. Nira was only the second girl he had enjoyed in this way, and as they had scurried into the bushes, he feared she would be turned off by his inexperience.

Nothing of the sort had occurred, and now Antano truly felt a man of the world. Knowing Alecsis had finally discovered the same joys with Karina also pleased him. Something had always irked him about Alecsis’s seeming indifference to the female gender.

For some time he thought the pocked old whore from Linkana may have been to blame. Now he knew the real reason Antano almost felt sorry for him. Alecsis had been too full of self-doubt, too uncertain about his unusual appearance.

People didn’t find him nearly as ugly as he thought they did. Merely different. Most were in awe of him. Antano knew of two jealous princes who fell into this category. He’d never liked the selfish young fops. They should have been the ones to fight Captain Krystos and his crew. Then he and Alecsis wouldn’t be in this predicament.

Karina’s thoughts were moving along similar lines. Here she was, her legs and rear aching from days in the saddle, when it should have been her father and brothers making the trip to ensure Prince Dorban’s safety. But then the men of Scarthe Court never did have much sense. Leadership should be earned, not a Fortis given right simply because the individual was male and born of royal blood.

Alecsis possessed the qualities of a true leader, she thought. Strength, courage, righteousness. Keeping her gaze on his straight, broad back, she recalled the bliss of their union. Nothing anyone said or did would ever make her regret it. Over the past few nights she’d drifted off gazing longingly across the smoldering fire at his sleeping form. The flames dancing across his face drew her attention to the sharp contrast between his angular features and his gentle mouth. It made her conscious of how much his face reflected his personality; hard and ruthless on the battlefield, but kind and giving to those he loved.

Conscious that she was boring holes into his back, she returned her attention to the surrounding countryside. The main road into Braythe was lined with overhanging trees, spangled with pink flowers that would soon ripen into red berry-fruit passers by could pick at their leisure.

They came upon the township suddenly. Rounding a bend in the road, the high protective wall loomed above them. Built during times of great upheaval, the stone barrier stood over ten feet tall. Sentries still guarded the heavy iron gate, but it usually stood open. Today it did not. Two guards to inquire about the nature of ones business were usually enough, but there were at least ten milling about outside, several on horseback. All were heavily armored, weapons at the ready. Clad in Prince Dorban’s colours, deep ochre surcoats over their platemail, they cut imposing figures.

“Halt! State your business,” one of them demanded on seeing the small party approach. A short, slender fellow, his loud bellow didn’t suit his small frame.

They all exchanged glances. Alecsis, used to confrontation, eased his mount forward, but Lorenso stuck out his hand. “Let me handle it,” he said. “I have an uneasy feeling about this.”

Never one to question the old magician’s intuition, Alecsis stopped, allowing Lorenso to move to the front of the group.

“We are here to seek counsel with the prince. My name is Lorenso. I am the palace magician from King Rostan’s court. And this is Sir Alecsis, his first knight.” He motioned to the man in question, then indicated the two women. “His daughter, Princess Karina, and her maid, Nira.”

“Why are they dressed as boys?” the same guard asked curtly.

“It was the only way they could get here quickly, women’s clothing too cumbersome over long journeys,” Lorenso improvised.

The guard still wasn’t convinced. “I don’t believe ye’re really are who ye state. Prove you’re King Rostan’s daughter. Show us your travel pass.”

“Travel pass? Since when did ambassadors of the court have to carry travel passes?” Alecsis asked. Not once had he been issued with documentation; most people recognized him on the spot. “If this be a recent innovation by Prince Dorban, perhaps one of you gentleman would like to pass the message to the prince informing him of our arrival, so he can send us an escort.”

“‘Tis impossible,” the guard stated.

“Why?” everyone seemed to ask at once.

“Because the prince is dead,” came the blunt answer.

“What?” they chorused again.

“He was murdered in his bed last night. His wife found his body this morning. However, nobody can find his head. It seems to have magically disappeared.” This emphasis was directed at Lorenso, who’s gut was churning sickly. Now he knew for certain something sinister was at play.

Alecsis sensed his troubled thoughts, and turned to the mage. Lorenso gave him a warning look not to say another word.

“I take it this means we’re not permitted to enter the town,” Lorenso said.

“Nobody is allowed in or out until the prince’s murderer is found.”

“So be it.” With that, Lorenso swung his mount around and motioned for his party to follow.

“But I want to see my cousins. Surely they’ll need consoling at a time like this!” Karina cried as the mage cantered to a stop beside her. He grabbed hold of her horse’s rains, and leaned towards her. “Ye’ll follow me, now. We’ll discuss the matter ere we’re safe.”

Then she saw the fear in his eyes. She needed no further warning. If an experienced mage was afraid, then the situation had to be very grim indeed.

“Halt!” the guard yelled after them. “We wish to question you further.”

“Not likely,” Lorenso muttered under his breath, digging his knees into his mount’s flanks.

It wasn’t until they had been riding steadily for about ten minutes that Alecsis dared look back. True to his suspicion he saw the mounted guards following them through a gap in the trees. Still a long way back, he knew they would have to move quickly if they wanted to lose them. Even if a messenger from Rostan’s court hadn’t beaten them to Braythe, they would be under suspicion simply by the strange nature of their party. In rescuing him, Lorenso, Antano and his beloved Karina were now in mortal danger.

Speeding up his pace, he urged the others on. Now at the head of the group, Alecsis gripped the reigns tightly, wondering what was going on. Why in the name of Serpon would anyone kill the peace-loving Prince Dorban and then seek to frame Alecsis for the deed? Once again King Rostan’s two jealous sons came to mind. Who else had the resources to sneak past Rostan’s guards and into his private bedchamber? Who else hated him enough?

“Did anyone see a turn off on the way?” he finally called over his shoulder.

“Why be we in such a hurry?” Karina yelled back.

“The guards are following us,” Alecsis told her. “We have to lose them somehow. They’re gaining on us. Our horses are tired and in need of a rest. Theirs are fresh and ready for a chase.”

“Yes, I think there was a turn off,” Karina called out. “If my memory serves me correctly, a road leads up to the Sirmon Ranges. We could lose them in the rocks, but ‘tis an inhospitable place. Few dare venture there after dark. Rumour has it that banished spirits lurk there, that they howl like ghosts in the dead of night.”

“How did ye find out about this place?” The lovers were now riding neck and neck, and Alecsis caught her gaze. She looked frightened. I’ll protect you, my love, he thought, trying to convey this message to her with his eyes.

“Father showed me the way when we were children. I know my way around Scarthe and Braythe as well as any man.” Although this comment had been directed at Lorenso, she knew he hadn’t heard her. He was too far behind them. Not far behind him were their pursuers. Why didn’t Lorenso do something to stop them? Surely he knew a few spells to throw them off their trail.

“Sirmon Ranges it is then,” Alecsis cried. “I hope we reach this turn off soon.” He tried to urge his mare to speed up, but she was exhausted, her coat lathered with sweat, her breathing laboured.

They almost missed the turn off. It was little more than a gap in the trees, and Alecsis rode right past it, but Karina knew the spot. She remembered the disused barn in the field opposite.

With a quick flick of her reigns, Karina urged her horse into the forest. As Alecsis swung his mount around to follow, he saw the rest of his party disappear through the line of trees, and caught a glimpse of their pursuers’ distinctive colours through the foliage further down the road. He prayed they wouldn’t see the route his party had taken. They would work it out eventually, but hopefully it would give them enough time to find a hiding place and work out what to do next.

The path was narrow and uneven. They had to move slowly to avoid low hanging branches and roots protruding from the ground. The denseness of the foliage blocked out the sun, making it as dark as twilight. The damp air was heavy with the sickeningly sweet stench of decay and regrowth. The slower pace gave the horses some respite, but Alecsis continued to listen for their pursuers.

The faint drumming of hooves indicated the soldiers were still moving at a gallop, but because the track had taken several twists and turns, Alecsis couldn’t tell whether they had passed the turn off or not.

Sudden shouting greeted his ears. It sounded like every one was yelling at once. Alecsis thought he overheard the words; “Did you see them, a party returning to Scarthe?”

Who had they met along the way? Alecsis wondered. He received his answer a moment later.

“Seeking three fugitives... Murdered the prince.”

King Rostan’s men, he realized, which meant another search party from Scarthe had been less than an hour behind them.

“They must have gone this way,” he heard someone bellow.

Now we have two parties after us, Alecsis thought in dismay. “They’ve found out where we’re headed,” he hissed in a loud whisper.

“Keep moving,” Lorenso urged. “Time for some spell-binding. I’ll stay behind to cast a suggestion over their minds to make them think this road is blocked so they can’t go on... If only I could make them forget who they are looking for... Too much energy required for that... Have to consume my strength... Fear I’ll need it.” He saw the questioning look in everyone‘s eyes, but didn’t have time to explain. He wasn’t even sure he could. He sensed great danger ahead, something that would test his powers to the limit. “Go!” he urged. “And don’t look back. I’ll find you.”

“How?” Antano asked.

“Give me The Avenger, Alecsis. It’s holy light will guide me to you.”

With no time to unclip the entire sword-belt, Alecsis yanked the weapon from its scabbard with a loud shing of metal, and threw it hilt first to the mage. Lorenso caught it, and holding it by his side, he turned back in the direction they had come. The Holy Avenger started to glow faintly the moment it left Alecsis’s hands. Bound to its current owner by a force Lorenso had created himself, the wizard was able to deactivate it temporarily by a simple incantation. He didn’t want the weapon growing ever brighter the further away Alecsis went.

Their pursuers were closer than Lorenso had thought. He caught a glimpse of them moving through the foliage a few minutes later. So far they hadn’t caught sight of him, and laying The Avenger across his knees, he immediately began the spell of suggestion. More than six verses long, and requiring the harnessing of all of his mental energy, they would be upon him before he finished.

He was right. Halfway through the fourth stanza one of them saw him. Raising his sword, the man yelled, “We have them now.”

A powerful spell could never be rushed, and neither should it be interrupted. Lorenso refused to let their appearance make the harnessing of his inner power falter.

“Will ye give yourself up willingly, or do I have to use this?” the man asked, jabbing his weapon in the air. Lorenso continued to mutter words which meant nothing to the soldier. He reached for the slack reigns of the wizard’s skittish horse with his free hand. At that moment Lorenso shouted the release word, his arms thrust forward.

The man withdrew his hand, his eyes clouding in confusion. “Er, I don’t think they came this way,” he said, his voice slow and halting. “The road looks impenetrable. We’ll have to turn back.”

“I think ye’re right,” the man directly behind him answered blandly.

Lorenso had to smile. There he was, directly in front of their eyes, and they were deciding to head back. Due to the narrowness of the track, they had to turn around one by one, the last man now the first.

He expelled a deep sigh of relief once they were gone, finally succumbing to the weariness seeping though his bones. You’re getting old, Renso, he told himself. Such a spell would never have weakened him this much in his younger days. But this wasn’t what worried him. Lorenso didn’t fear death. He was more concerned with what was to come. The final battle had yet to be staged. He felt it in his bones, and it chilled him to the core. Somewhere out there stalked his nemesis. Lorenso hoped he had enough strength left to face him.

Forcing the terrible truth from his mind, he reactivated the bond that linked The Holy Avenger to Alecsis. In the fading light it glowed a bright yellow, leading the way through the shadows.

They had set up camp in a protected circle of rocks that acted like a small courtyard. Without The Avenger’s guiding light Lorenso would never have found them. Nobody could see their campfire from the track that had degenerated into a thinly marked route through the boulders.

The abundance of vegetation had given way to a barren wasteland within a few hundred metres, almost as though some deadly disease had killed off Navin’s work. No doubt a legend presided in these parts about why nature changed so abruptly from dense vegetation to a few stunted shrubs clinging tenuously to the rocky ground, but Lorenso wasn’t familiar with myth and folklore. Spell-binding left little time to learn about the beliefs of others.

A biting wind screeched through the crags. Not only did the ground become rougher, but the air grew ever colder and the spirits whispered louder. Lorenso wasn’t the only one to hear their angry mutterings.

“They get more distressed the higher up one goes,” Karina said as the wizard crouched close to the fire. Everyone sat huddled in their cloaks, warming their hands over the flames.

“Who are they and what do they want?” Antano asked.

“Tortured souls one or all the gods thought unworthy of a place on the other side,” Karina answered. “Or so the legend goes. It was their anger at being barred from a spot in paradise that made them destroy this place. Every year it grows larger as more souls arrive, but it doesn’t seem changed to me. Perhaps fewer people have been judged these past years.”

“I can hear naught more than the wind,” Nira murmured, pulling her cloak tight.

“‘Tis probably just as well. I fear their voices will keep me awake most of the night,” Lorenso remarked.

Alecsis drew Karina close, wrapping his arms tightly around her. “They won’t trouble us, will they?”

“As long as we leave them alone, aye,” she answered.

“I have no intention of disturbing the dead,” Antano muttered, reaching out to turn over the bird roasting on the fire. They had been lucky to catch it. Few animals dared venture this high, and the four young people had feared they’d go hungry this night, their food supply having dwindled to a few pieces of dried fruit and lumps of stale bread. Alecsis’s quick reflexes had saved them from going to sleep with rumbling stomachs. He shot the bird down with the small slingshot Lorenso had packed in Antano’s rucksack.

“Can ye understand anything the spirits are saying?” Lorenso asked Alecsis.

The young man looked thoughtful for a moment, and then shook his head. “Nay, all I hear is their pain.” He shuddered. “I think they might keep me awake as well.”

“Yer power is strong, Alecsis. If only Rostan had allowed me to teach you how to use it properly... Scarthe needs a new spell-binder.”

Alecsis frowned, his blonde brows coming together. “It will never be me now. We’re fugitives... all of us.” He turned to stare at them in turn, the flickering light of the fire making his fair skin look almost translucent. “In rescuing me ye’re all in danger.”

He watched Karina’s maid clutch Antano’s arm, and fixed his intense gaze on her. “Do ye wish you were safe in your bed, Nira?”

“I - I want to be with my mistress,” she whispered hoarsely.

Silence fell, and they all slipped into deep reverie of their own, their eyes focused on the flames cooking their meager meal. Finally Antano skewered the bird with his knife and removed it from the fire. Placing it on a large flat stone beside him, he started slicing it up.

“So who do ye think killed Uncle Dorban?” Karina asked as she accepted her portion.

“Do any of you suspect me?” Alecsis asked, once again trying to meet everyone’s gaze. Nira was the only one to look away. He had never liked the girl, finding her too loose in her morals. But she seemed to care for Karina, which he supposed was all that mattered for now.

“What makes ye ask such a foolish question?” Lorenso snorted. “Of course we don’t suspect you.”

Alecsis shrugged his broad shoulders. “I was openly accused of the crime before. Perhaps I sneaked off last night while you all slept.”

Karina jabbed him in the ribs with a pointy elbow. “Don’t talk such nonsense.”

“Then who?” Alecsis demanded. “Who would want Prince Dorban dead?”

The time had come for Lorenso to voice his suspicions. “I think I know.”

“Then tell us,” Antano urged.

Lorenso sighed heavily, wishing it was anything but the truth. “Leonado, my son,” he said eventually.