Chap huffed twice at Magiere with a clack of his jaws and then turned on Wynn with a snarl.
We will speak of this later. Brot’an knows too much as is ... because of you!
Wynn flinched but ignored him, and stepped closer to Magiere.
“There are more important things at stake than your hatred for the undead,” Wynn insisted. “Chane retrieved a scroll from that castle, the very one Li’kän was trying to get me to read. Without Chane, we’d all be stumbling blindly about, more clueless than the Enemy’s minions!”
Chap growled and snapped his jaws more loudly this time.
“Don’t make excuses,” Magiere shot back. “He is one of the Enemy’s minions. You, of all people, know that!”
Chap glanced sidelong at Brot’an, who remained fixed on the two women. What would it take to keep these two quiet? And if Wynn kept this up, Magiere’s calm might break again.
“The scroll has the only hints to finding all five orbs!” Wynn argued.
That pushed Chap over the edge, and he lunged off the bed, snarling at both of them. There seemed nothing to be done short of biting one of them, though all he did was snap and snarl.
Wynn, enough!
But Wynn’s words finally caught Magiere, as well. “He took a scroll from the castle? Did you know when we left that place? What else have you been holding back?”
“I didn’t know until he found me here in Calm Seatt,” Wynn countered. “When you arrived, I didn’t have time to tell you before we got separated.”
“Tell us where he is,” Leesil ordered, “before he kills again.”
Wynn stared at him as if he were a stranger.
Chap did not know what to do to keep this from escalating further. He agreed with Leesil, but the secrets Wynn was spilling had gone too far—much too far.
“Where is this scroll?” Brot’an asked, his voice still quiet.
Wynn glanced his way, as if really seeing him for the first time. “What are you doing here? What are any of you doing this far from your homeland?”
“Protecting Magiere,” Brot’an answered. “Protecting the ... orb she has from Most Aged Father.”
Wynn studied him. “Truly ... you’re here to help us?”
“Yes.”
Chap turned his rumbling toward Brot’an, but when he looked back, the expression of finality on Wynn’s face terrified him.
“Good,” she said. “Chane has the scroll.”
Wynn, shut your mouth!
“No,” she said flatly, looking down at him. “We’re in no position to ignore any help we can get—from anyone—and that includes someone as experienced and skillful as Brot’an.”
She glanced over at Leesil, who was no more pleased than Chap.
“But not from anyone who isn’t honestly trying to help,” she added.
Leesil’s eyes brightened with some of Magiere’s fury, but before he could respond, Wynn pulled up her hood and drew her cloak around herself.
“I’m going to Shade ... and Chane,” she added. “If we’re to locate the remaining orbs, we need that scroll, and we need both of them.”
“No, you’re not,” Leesil said, and he stepped in her way before Magiere could make a move.
“Yes, she is,” Brot’an said.
Chap stood stiff. He was not fooled by the butcher’s willingness to help, and he did not need to wait to catch any of Brot’an’s well-hidden memories. This was a ruse, another twist and manipulation, like the one Brot’an had used in a final moment to get Leesil to kill Lord Darmouth.
As soon as the shadow-gripper learned what he needed, he would go after the other orbs himself—alone. The worst part was that Chap still needed to learn the same for himself, and Wynn had hidden that knowledge with Chane.
And worse, the last thing he needed was Brot’an and Leesil assaulting each other, forcing all present to take sides.
“I will keep her safe,” Brot’an added. “Léshil, you must accept that she is right ... in this, at least. If there are more of these artifacts, and Most Aged Father and his agents do not know of them yet, it must remain so. That is the purpose here that comes before all personal issues.”
Chap had his own concerns, and he closed on Wynn.
I am going with you, as well.
She looked down at him in surprise, and then sudden relief, but that expression quickly vanished, replaced by suspicion.
“Only if you mean to help,” she said.
It was not a request ... and you are not going alone with Brot’an.
She crouched down, leaning in close to whisper in his ear.
“We need Chane on this. If you hurt him, Shade won’t be the only one unable to forgive you.”
He could not believe what he heard. But neither could he let her leave without him. This was not the Wynn he knew.
She rose and turned to Leesil and Magiere. “I’m sorry you’re angry, but there is no time for more explanations ... ones you wouldn’t accept, anyway.”
Leesil shook his head and looked away.
“Just go,” Magiere breathed.
Something had broken between those three, and Chap doubted it would ever be mended. And though he hated to admit it, Wynn was correct about one thing.
What mattered most was gaining the orbs. That took precedence over outrage ... and betrayal.
Osha and Leanâlhâm still watched in quiet confusion, though for Osha there was also pain in his long features. Chap thought Wynn might go to him, for the way she looked at him, almost longingly, with equal sadness over not having seen him in so long.
But then Wynn turned quickly and left. Chap waited just long enough to trail Brot’an out the door.
After walking away from Sykion and High-Tower, Rodian felt an unwanted wave of exhaustion. He tried to remember the last time he’d slept.
As he made his way toward the gatehouse tunnel, he saw Corporal Lúcan at the far end, standing before the portcullis beams. In the last day and night, the corporal hadn’t looked much better than Rodian himself felt, and four of their comrades were now recovering in the guild’s hospice. He paused near the small tower that contained the gatehouse’s mechanics.
“Lúcan,” he called out. “I’ll have the portcullis up in a moment. Ride back to the barracks and tell Branwell to gather four men and come relieve us. Then you get some sleep.”
“Yes, sir.”
After Rodian reached the gear room, he gave his orders. By the time he returned to the courtyard, Lúcan was gone. Events of the evening rolled through his mind, and he wondered what would come next with the dawn. Would Sykion come at him with some unexplained charge against Wynn? Would he finally get any hint as to what was actually going on here?
His thoughts wandered too much as time passed quickly. He heard horses’ hooves and headed down the gatehouse tunnel to the open portcullis. There had been little point to closing it until reinforcements arrived.
Branwell came riding through the bailey gate, followed by four men. The lieutenant dismounted and strode up to face Rodian. He held out a folded piece of paper with a royal seal.
“I was told to give you this immediately, sir.”
Something in Branwell’s voice sounded a little too satisfied. With reluctance, Rodian took the message and broke the wax seal.
It was a summons to the royal castle.
“Owain is dead, and you took no prisoners?” Fréthfâre asked from her chair.
Dänvârfij had no illusions about this moment, now that she had returned and begun her report. They had gone back for Owain’s body. It now lay in the room’s corner, wrapped in a scavenged blanket and spare cord and awaiting rites. Dänvârfij did not know how that would be accomplished here in this stinking human city. Fréthfâre would use tonight’s failure to her own advantage, feeding her own hunger for vengeance as well as seizing more control over their purpose.