The stableboy saddled his mount quickly and within moments the duke was leading the two soldiers through the west gate and onto Curlinte Moor. They road south toward Kretsaal by the dim glow of the moons, drumming past the jumbled boulders and the still, tall grasses of the headlands and then past small farmhouses that already smelled of cooking fires lit in the cold hours before first light.
Before they were halfway to the barony, the sky over the Sea of Stars began to brighten, silver at first, then blending to soft shades of rose and purple, and finally, as they came within sight of the walls of Kretsaal, to pale gold.
They reached the village gate just as the sun emerged from the shining waters and began its long, slow climb from sea to sky. One of Sertio’s soldiers and several of Kretsaal’s guards met them inside the walls. Sertio’s man looked weary but pleased.
“Good morrow, my lord.”
Sertio swung himself off his mount, tossing the reins to one of the baroness’s men. “Have you found them?”
“We believe so, my lord. The two men we’ve been following took a room at an inn on the south edge of the village. We’ve men posted in front of the house and behind it. We were waiting for word from Curlinte before taking them. We had no idea that you’d be coming yourself.”
They hurried through the village, Sertio laying a hand on the hilt of his sword. Already there were men and women in the narrow, muddy lanes, leading small herds of goats to the gate or casting a critical eye at the wares of one of the few peddlers in the small marketplace. All of them stopped to stare at Sertio, looking wary, even frightened. House Curlinte ruled its lesser courts with a gentle hand, but the appearance of the duke or duchess in the barony usually meant trouble of some sort.
Upon reaching the southern end of the village, Sertio found several of his men standing a short distance from the inn, speaking to a grayhaired woman with clear brown eyes and a toothless grin.
“This is the innkeeper, my lord,” the guard said, as he and the duke stepped into the circle.
“The men are still in their room?” Sertio asked her.
“Must be. Haven’t seen them since they paid me. They didn’t even come down for their supper, though they paid for it.” She grinned again, but when Sertio remained grave, her smile faded.
“What did they look like?”
“Like I told these others, they was bald, both of them fairly tall. They wore riding cloaks and carried bows. They said they’d been hunting.”
“They paid you in silver or gold?”
“Gold, my lord.”
“Did you see anyone with them? A white-hair perhaps?”
“No one, my lord. And it was a slow night. Just the one other fellow who took a room was all. And he ate his supper like a gentleman and went upstairs.”
“Where is he now?”
“He left before dawn. I didn’t even see him go. That’s why I have them pay when they get here. If I didn’t, I’d be chasing all over the realm trying to collect.”
Sertio looked toward the inn, feeling vaguely uneasy. Whether they intended to flee or make another attempt on Diani’s life, they should have been up and moving by now. “Which room?”
“Last one on the left.”
He was walking before she finished, several of his men falling in step around him.
“Get them!” he called to the captain standing by the entrance to the inn. “We’ve waited long enough.”
“Yes, my lord,” the man said. He shouted a command to the men standing with him and immediately they filed into the inn.
Sertio drew his sword, but he remained in the lane, awaiting word from the men inside. For several moments there was silence. Then the captain appeared in the doorway once more, a sour expression on his face. Even before he spoke, Sertio felt certain that the assassins had managed somehow to escape.
“What is it?” he demanded, ice in his voice.
“You’d better come look, my lord.”
The duke eyed him a moment before following him into the house. Inside, the inn smelled of roasting meat and stale wine. The captain and Sertio climbed the steps swiftly, taking them two at a time. A knot of soldiers stood in the upstairs corridor just outside the last room, but they parted to let Sertio pass, most of them lowering their gazes.
The two men lay in the center of the room, their throats slit, dark blood pooling around their heads.
“Demons and fire,” the duke muttered.
He squatted beside them to take a closer look, noting that the blood on their necks was already dry. They’d been dead for some time.
“I guess they got what was coming to them,” the captain said. “Question is, from who?” He glanced at Sertio. “I suppose the duchess will want to know. Shall I-?”
Instantly Sertio was up and striding to the door, his heart battering his breastbone like a siege engine. The duchess. “Bring your men, Captain! We have to get back to the castle!”
He ran down the corridor and nearly fell rushing down the stairs. Bursting through the door, he crossed to the innkeeper and gripped her arm.
“The other man who stayed the night! What did he look like?”
She blinked, looking confused.
“Quickly, woman!” he said, shaking her.
“Tall, like the others. Yellow hair, pleasant face.”
“What else? A mustache? A beard?”
“No.” She shook her head, as if groping for an image of the man. “He had a small scar by the side of his mouth, like from a fight.”
“Good.” He released her and started running toward the village gate, heedless of the stares that followed him. “See to it that she’s paid for her trouble,” he called over his shoulder to the captain, who had emerged from the inn. “Leave a few men to clean up the mess and bring the rest with me!”
He was too old for this. He should never have left his mount with the baroness’s men.
He heard footsteps, and looking back once more, saw the captain just behind him. “Where are we going, my lord?”
“Back to the castle, you fool! The man who killed those archers will be after the duchess next!”
Diani awoke to the sound of knocking at her door. She felt lightheaded and confused for several moments until she moved, wincing at the pain in her shoulder and leg. Of course. The herbmaster’s tonic. Damn his potions.
The knock came again.
She rose carefully from her bed and crossed on unsteady legs to where her robe hung. She shivered slightly as she shrugged it onto her shoulders. There was warm water in her basin and a bright fire in her hearth. It seemed she had slept through a good deal.
Whoever had come rapped on her door a third time.
“Yes, enter!” she called, belatedly passing a hand through her tangled hair.
The door swung open revealing a guard, who looked uncertain and just a bit frightened. He glanced first at her bed before seeing her at the wardrobe.
“What is it? Why do you disturb me?”
“Forgive me, my lady. But a soldier has come from Kretsaal bearing news from the barony. He says it pertains to the attempt on your life.”
“Have him speak with my father. The duke is looking into this matter.”
“The duke rode southward during the night, my lady. He received word that the men had been seen near the barony.”
Diani frowned and shook her head, still trying to clear her mind. “Father rode to the barony?”
“Yes, my lady.”
“And yet this man comes from Kretsaal?”
“He does, my lady. He bears the barony’s colors. He and your father must have passed each other in the darkness without either of them knowing it.”
She nodded, though she found all of it rather puzzling. Why would her father leave, without telling her, particularly with assassins abroad? And what news could a man of Kretsaal have that her own soldiers did not?
“Tell this soldier that I’ll speak with him shortly. I want my breakfast served first, in here. And I want the herbmaster told that I’m awake.”