«Breathe, Alyce!» he ordered. «You're all right. Just breathe».
She did, forcing herself to take a few deep, steadying breaths, then shakily looked up at the two of them, father and daughter.
'There were three of them», she managed to whisper, forcing order and distance on what she had seen and felt. 'Two were men-at-arms, I think. They had him first. But it seems to have been the third man's idea to throw him down the well. And no, he wasn't yet dead, at that point. He drowned».
«Could you identify the men?» Kenneth asked.
«If I had suspects to question, I could certainly tell whether they were lying. There was something about the third man..».
Casting back for his image, she closed her eyes to bring it into focus — and opened them with a start as she realized that she knew him.
«Dear God, it was Septimus de Nore!»
«Lord Deldour's priest? Are you sure?» Kenneth asked.
She nodded. «Absolutely. He was one of the chaplains at Arc-en-Ciel, when I first went there. I had several run-ins with him. You remember him, Zoë».
Zoë nodded. «He was terrible. And he hated Deryni».
«And who was he with yesterday?» Alyce persisted. «Lord Deldour, who also hates Deryni». New images came into focus in her stunned mind. «That's what the badges were on the other men's tunics. They were Deldour's men». She swept her gaze numbly toward the stable. «Have they already left?»
«I would be very surprised if they'd stayed around», Kenneth said, getting to his feet. «You're sure about this, Alyce?» he asked, looking down at her. «Deldour is a powerful man, and the priest's brother is a bishop».
«I know who and what they are», Alyce said coldly. «And yes, I'm sure».
Chapter 27
«Blame not before thou hast examined the truth; understand first, and then rebuke».[28]
Kenneth's quick inquiries in the main stable yard confirmed that, yes, Lord Deldour's party had left the night before, said to be headed south out along the Carthane road. While a cavalry troop made ready to ride, Kenneth told Duke Richard what had been discovered. Delegating Kenneth to take the news to the king, Richard himself mounted up and took out the troop designated to apprehend and return Lord Deldour and those in his company, especially the priest Septimus de Nore.
Once they had gone, Kenneth pressed Alyce for a fuller account of what she had learned, then passed that information on to the king, sparing her that. Meanwhile, women from the queen's household tenderly received the body of the murdered Krispin MacAthan, helping his mother wash away the dirt and blood and dressing him in fresh page's livery before laying him out, at her request, in her own bed, where the women would keep watch and say prayers for his soul.
Later that night, numbed by her loss, Jessamy asked Alyce to join her in her deathwatch, sitting rigid beside her son's body, wordlessly stroking his hand as tears rolled down her cheeks. Though she asked, as a mother must, regarding what had been discovered in her son's death-reading, Alyce declined to add to Jessamy's grief by going into overmuch detail, only assuring her that the perpetrators would be brought to justice.
The king was not in evidence that night, being closeted with his council regarding what should be done when the miscreants were brought in. Whatever Donal's own feelings in the matter, any public display of his grief was carefully tempered to only that expected of one who has seen brutality done to any child. Of his true kinship with the murdered boy, he dared speak to no one, not even Jessamy, in her present state.
Richard and his men did not return that night, but they rode into the yard at Rhemuth Castle the following morning, the eighth of January, with an irate Lord Deldour, Father Septimus de Nore, and Deldour's six men-at-arms under heavy guard. Richard had given Deldour no specifics of the reason for the summons back to Rhemuth, mentioning only that the king had recalled certain business that he wished to discuss with the Carthane lord. Deldour was livid, but Richard had refused to be moved. None of the Carthane party looked happy as they drew rein in the yard and dismounted.
They were even less happy when they found themselves disarmed, Lord Deldour as well — not restrained, but escorted forthwith to the king's withdrawing room behind the dais in the great hall. Deldour complained all the way, protesting his innocence of any wrong-doing, but he fell suddenly silent as he was admitted to the royal presence.
Two chairs of state had been set before the fireplace for the king and queen, who both were dressed in funereal black, both wearing crowns. The two courtiers standing behind them likewise wore black, as well as the young woman standing beside the queen. Ranged along both side walls of the room were archers — eight of them, black crepe banding their upper arms and with arrows nocked to their short recurve bows — each choosing a target as Richard closed the door behind them and stood with his back against it, one hand on the hilt of his sword.
«What on earth is the meaning of this?» Deldour asked, most of his former belligerence evaporating as the gravity of the situation became apparent.
«I, in turn, might ask the same question», the king replied.
«A child was murdered here two nights past. Brutally. Obscenely. By two of your men. And that man condoned and finished the job». His finger stabbed at Septimus de Nore.
«I don't know what you're talking about!» Septimus blustered.
«Do not further disgrace your cloth by a lie», Donal said calmly. The only remaining question is, which of the six behind you brutalized the boy?»
«This is preposterous!» Deldour blurted. «What on earth would make you concoct such charges?»
«Ask him if the charges are false», Donal replied, pointing randomly at one of the men-at-arms. «Did you participate in the rape and murder of one of my pages?»
The man went white, looking wildly at the other men as he fell to his knees, lifting his joined hands to the king in trembling entreaty.
«Sire, I swear I know nothing of this!» he blurted. «I swear to you, on my mother's life…»
«I do not want your mother's life!» the king snapped. «But I will have the lives of the men who did this. How about you?» He stabbed his finger at another white-faced man. «Did you do it?»
The man melted to his knees, speechless with terror.
«Speak up, man. One word is sufficient: yes or no».
«N-no, Sire», the man whispered.
«And you?» The royal glare shifted to the man directly behind the nay-sayer.
«I am innocent, Sire», the man said defiantly. «What kind of man would murder a child?»
«Two of the men in this room», Donal replied, his eyes narrowing. «But let us see how many of them we have uncovered thus far. Lady Alyce?»
As he turned his head in her direction, Alyce moved softly behind the chairs of state to stand at the king's right hand. With her fair hair covered by a close-wrapped veil like the queen's, the men in custody had paid her scant attention until now. But she saw recognition lighting in their eyes as she moved, remembering her from her Twelfth Night betrothal, and naked fear and even loathing flickered among them.
«The second man is lying, Sire», she said quietly. «And his accomplice will be one of the three you have not yet put to the question».
The guilty man gave a sob, cringing back on his hunkers and covering his face with his hands. Consternation stirred immediately among the others, stilled only when the bowmen raised their weapons and half-drew in warning. Lord Deldour was staring at the guilty man as if he suddenly had sprouted horns, even shying back from the two men who had been cleared, as they scuttled sideways on their knees, distancing themselves from their wretched comrade.