The Blight of Muirwood (33 page)

She shook her head, still amazed that he was standing before her. “I do not understand. The Aldermaston told me he did not know where Martin was taking you. It breaks a maston oath, does it not? To swear falsely?”

He cringed as she said it. “Do not speak of things you know nothing about. I believed him, but would Martin have betrayed him? I was assured of his loyalty, and he led us into a trap. But you can help me, Lia. If you get the Cruciger orb, you can show me the way to them. I must find them.” His face looked even more desperate. “They have my sister too,” he choked out.

“What?” Lia demanded, unable to pull her thoughts together. “The Queen Dowager has them?”

“No!” Colvin said fiercely. “The Pry-rians! We were ambushed. We were led right into their midst. Martin said they were taking Ellowyn back to Pry-Ree, back to her true family. They took my sister as a hostage.”

“Where is Edmon then?” Lia asked, sick.

Colvin shook his head. “Though they warned us not to follow, I told Edmon to follow after, in case they let my sister go. I came straight here, but as you can imagine, I do not know my way through the Bearden Muir. There are still remnants of the Dowager’s men in the woods below the grounds, so I had to wait until dusk to approach unseen. I knew you made your run of the grounds around this time and hoped to encounter you as I did and persuade you to abandon the Aldermaston to help me.” He gripped her shoulders with both hands and it made her shiver. “Please, Lia. I must beg you to help me. Help me rescue my sister. Help me save Ellowyn. I swore an oath to protect her. On my life, I swore it. I promised her I would safeguard her. Please – I will do anything you ask if you help me fulfill my vow.”

Lia stared at him, at the panic in his eyes. She could only imagine at the depth of desperation that had driven him back to Muirwood to seek her help. No doubt he remembered his coldness. No doubt he remembered they stood in the same grove of apple trees where he had scorned her. No doubt he remembered that he had not fulfilled his previous promises – to teach her to read or the dance with her. He was a proud man. Yet his determination to fulfill his duty and to protect his sister outweighed the personal humiliation he was enduring.

His fingers burned into her shoulders, as if he clutched her like a drowning man to a rope. His expression was exhausted. He had probably walked without sleeping. Was he hungry? When was the last time he had some water? She looked at his face, his concern, his helpless expression.

A feeling of tenderness and sympathy moved her. Even though he had spurned her, she chose to help. His earlier scorn still stung, and she could not bring herself to try and comfort him with a hug or murmured assurances that all was forgiven. She winced, not with the pain of his fingers stabbing her shoulders, but at the conflict boiling inside of her. Helping him would mean being near him, even if that closeness would make her heart ache.

“Of course I will help you,” she whispered, her throat catching on the last word.

* * *

“No maston ever became wise by chance.”

- Gideon Penman of Muirwood Abbey

* * *

Lia knelt by the bedside and clasped the Aldermaston’s hand. His grip was surprisingly strong, his face flushed. Great drops of sweat dripped down his forehead. The clenched jaw of his mouth shook with repressed anger and unbearable pain.

“What would you have me do?” Lia asked, meeting his gaze. “Colvin is gathering victuals from the kitchen right now. We are to meet in the stables and take his and Edmon’s horses.”

“Of course,” he said with a choking voice. “Use the orb to elude the marauders in the woods. I am sure…” he stiffened with a wince, the pain so severe it stole his breath. When he was able to speak again, his voice was pale with weakness. “They…have…made it to the Pry-rian border by now. Or they are…nearly to Bridgestow and will ferry across…from there. You must…find Ellowyn. She was under…our protection. She still…is.”

Lia squeezed his hand harder. “Why did he do it, Aldermaston? Why did Martin betray you?”

He shut his eyes, sighing deeply. “He always felt…he was betraying Pry-Ree by not fetching her. He loves his people deeply. The Blight that struck…Pry-Ree…was so severe. He could not live there…like a sickness. A cancer.”

Prestwich bathed his forehead with a damp rag. He looked miserable.

“Are you going to die?” Lia whispered. “What will happen to the Abbey?”

He shook his head, thrashing it in the effort. “My pains…come and go. When it passes, my strength will return. I am old, but I have work yet to do. The Medium has assured me of that. The pain will pass soon.”

Lia bit her lip, watching his suffering with sympathy. “What if the Queen Dowager comes back…?”

“Hush,” he interrupted. “Would you bring her to us…with those fears…so soon? The Medium controls my destiny. I told you…that. Go, child. Help the Earl of Forshee find his sister. And Demont’s heir. I was certain…several days ago…that you would be going. Now I know why. Prestwich…I am going to be sick again. Fetch the basin. Go, Lia…leave tonight.”

Once more, she squeezed his hand, kissing his sweaty forehead and hurrying from his sickroom. Astrid was just beyond, pacing nervously.

“Will he die, Lia?”

She shook her head. “I do not know. You must help him while I am gone. Search the boundary each night. Warn him if you see any riders.” She gripped his shoulder firmly, gave him a stern look and then hurried to the kitchen. Pasqua and Sowe were fussing over the stores they had gathered and tied into linens and leather rucks. She had already fetched the Cruciger orb and tied it to her waist. While Colvin shouldered the burdens, she took her bow sleeve and three quivers of arrows. Pasqua stifled a sob and gave her a crushing hug. Sowe was more gentle and whispered in her ear, “Keep Edmon well for me.”

Lia promised she would and then left with Colvin into the dark. They crossed the Abbey grounds afoot, their stride marking their urgency to reach the stables.

“What did he say?” Colvin asked brusquely, his eyes unreadable in the gloom.

“That Martin was convinced Muirwood would fall. That Demont will as well. He has lived through this season before – when the Abbeys are destroyed and the Blight comes. He has always been loyal to his native land. Maybe Martin thought that because of her birthright, she will be able to reverse the Blight that has plagued Pry-Ree.”

“I should have foreseen this,” Colvin muttered darkly. “It is dangerous whenever there is a conflict of loyalties. You were right to confer with the Aldermaston. I am glad you did.”

Lia smiled in the dark. “I regretted I did not the last time I ran off with you. I have learned a little wisdom since that day.” Then she saw it. “There is a light on in the stables.”

“The groomsman?”

“No, he should be abed by now.” Again her hand went to the hilt of her gladius. Must everything be so difficult?

“Let me see who it is,” Colvin said, increasing his pace, but Lia held out her hand and blocked him.

“This is my duty, Colvin. We go together.”

Without trying to disguise her approach, she walked straight to the stable doors and thrust them open. Inside, she found two saddled horses – Colvin’s and Edmon’s. The third was being fitted by a crouching figure who rose when the door opened.

It was Dieyre. He glanced at them, his face flushed from the exertion of saddling the horses so quickly. “Where are we riding?” he asked, cinching the harness and adjusting the bridle.

Colvin stared at him in surprise and loathing.

Dieyre peered over his shoulder, snorting when he saw the look on Colvin’s face. “Please, Forshee, do not take this amiss, but I
am
coming too. You can draw your blade and get humiliated again in front of the girl, or you can recognize that I am a better fighter, a better rider, and equally interested in what happens next. I had a suspicion that if I lingered, one of you would wander back. Or she would lead me to you if I watched her like a kystrel. Do not start, Forshee! I am not speaking of amulets, I am talking of birds! There are two of you, you say. Fair enough. But why waste time fighting about this? I can help get you past Pareigis’ traps.”

“Why?” Lia demanded, approaching Edmon’s horse and stowing her gear in the saddle bags.

“Not for the ten thousand marks,” he replied snidely. “You already know the reason, Lia.” His heavy lidded eyes flashed at Colvin. “You are either here because the plan was botched or returning for the horses was part of it. Care to enlighten me?”

“Not really,” Colvin replied. He mirrored Lia by unloading the foodstuffs into the saddle bags.

“Then let me see if I can help you,” Dieyre continued, tightening the final brace before swinging himself up by the stirrup. “We received word that the Pry-rian council was plotting to kidnap the Demont girl. Some of our informants in this Hundred spied your hunter…the bearded one…meeting with emissaries in some villages northeast of here. We have been fairly certain that he is allied to the plot. What you may or may not know is that he fought during the Pry-rian wars. There are men who have sworn testimony that he participated in some massacres after the fall of Pry-Ree. He is not just a simple woodsman, he is a soldier. There are many who say he was at Winterrowd with Demont. That he was part of the massacre there. Can you vouch for that, Forshee?”

Colvin looked taciturn. “I never saw him. The Pry-rians helped Demont cross the sea. That is all. There were none in the camp.”

Dieyre looked skeptical. “I have heard otherwise. They were there, Forshee.”

“So was I,” he answered defiantly. “And I was there when the old king tried to lure Demont to his death by sending false knight-mastons in the middle of the night.” He also mounted the horse boldly, sitting straightbacked in the saddle. “Lead the way, Lia,” he said, without taking his eyes off Dieyre.

“I want to believe you,” Dieyre said in a low voice.

“I do not care whether you do,” Colvin replied sternly.

“The king had an arrow in his back. It had Pry-rian fletching. The same fletching in the arrows the girl carries. How did it happen if it was not murder?”

Colvin leaned forward, his expression full of loathing. “Edmon’s brother was the Earl of Norris-York and he was murdered because he was a maston. He could have been arrested for high treason. He could have been tried by a court of his peers as per the law. But he was butchered and killed because of the markings on his sword. If you crave justice so much, why do you ride with a woman who flaunts the law and twists it to her own ends?”

Dieyre also leaned forward in the saddle. “Because I know she wants to kill you too. I did not think your sister would like that. I have tried all along to warn you, to help you, to win your trust. Think of it, Forshee. All of my lands, all of my wealth – on your side. On Demont’s side. All I want in return is your sister.”

Colvin’s jaw clenched. “You think I would barter her to someone like you?”

“Do not be naïve, Forshee. Of course I think that. Despite your pretty speeches about the Medium and fate and thoughts and old tarnished tomes, we are still men of blood and bone. You are afraid to let her choose on her own because you know she would choose me. Imagine what we could do if we
joined
instead of bickered at each other.”

“I have imagined it. You would want me dead as well,” Colvin replied. “I have seen how you treat other women. I have witnessed it, Dieyre. I will not put my sister through the misery of being your wife.”

Dieyre smiled at the rebuke. “Well said, Forshee. Well said. You have been
practicing
that insult, I imagine.” He twitched at the reins and made the horse snort. “You do not trust me. I can understand that. Trust must be earned and I am no maston. We can both agree on that. But let us also agree that I can help you. Obviously I am here instead of with Pareigis. I am my own man, not her vassal. So much of her plans are still coming together. There is time still to thwart them.”

The only light in the stable was a single lantern dangling from an iron ring on the wall. Lia could see the dancing flame mirrored in Dieyre’s eyes. He was anxious to ride. The thought of plunging into the darkness was thrilling to him. The thought of betraying Pareigis seemed to give him a glimmer of delight.

She had to admit that having the best swordsman with them when they caught up to the Pry-rians was tempting. She fastened her foot into the stirrup and hoisted herself up. The beast shifted beneath her, but she knew and was known by the animal.

“If you would betray her like this, you would also betray us,” Colvin pointed out.

“Very astute.”

“You are not promising that you will not.”

“Would it do any good to waste words that I know you would not believe?” He eased back in the saddle. “I am coming with you, Forshee. Whether you like it or not. You may as well use it to your advantage, as I am using your helplessness to mine. I have a feeling this is a hunt we will all remember the rest of our lives. Lead the way, girl.”

She looked at Colvin, saw the set in his jaw, the defiance in his eyes. Every instinct within him warned that they could not trust Dieyre. She could see it plainly written on the criss-cross of his eyebrows, the frown so deep on his mouth.