The mention of a spell scared him. His posture shifted slightly, and his eyes darted to Brice as if asking him to intervene. Hannah decided the prospector had lied and had intended to do so again.
She half-turned to Brice. “This is my head knight.”
The introduction gave her stature in his eyes, putting her on an equal royal level with Elenore. She waited until that registered, then continued as casually as if choosing the color of a dress to wear, “If he lies, or hides information, or tries to deceive me in any manner, kill him. The manner is up to you.”
“As you wish, Princess.”
For once, Brice responded exactly as required, although she doubted he would do as directed. She looked at him for a brief second, and then she doubted herself. Brice might do it. She drew a breath and turned back to the prisoner. “I heard there is a third trail to Wren.”
He swallowed and nodded.
“Only you know of it?”
“Yes.”
“That sounds hard to believe.” She took a threatening step nearer him.
“True! I swear it.”
Hannah slowed and asked, “Why should I believe you?”
The words tumbled from him, “They knew about the two trails and placed guards on them. They killed anyone who tried getting past. I figured they were hiding a treasure here and decided to find another way to Eagle’s Nest so I could try to steal it.”
That sounds like the truth. She said, “So you were a ‘prospector,’ in a way. Or a potential thief, not an officer.”
“I found some old maps. A man in our village had them.”
“One showed the third way to the pass?”
“Yes. It begins a full day north of the others, so in the old days it would be faster from our village, but not for most others.”
“Why didn’t you tell Princess Elenore or Lord Jeffery about it?”
The torrent of words came to an abrupt halt. He’s hiding something. “Remember your life depends on telling me the truth. All of it.”
He hung his head in shame. “I was hoping I could sell it to them. I waited for the right time.”
Again, the truth. “That time never came?”
“I thought it might when we heard you were on the way from Peermont. But things happened too fast, and they were going to kill me along with the rest.” His face turned redder, and he acted like a child who had just said too much.
She reviewed the response and considered his fear, but none of it accounted for the physical response. The rest? “Tell me about the rest.”
He tried looking at her face and failed. His eyes dropped to the stone floor, and the voice that had been so firm and decisive turned to slush. “The workers and servants—most of them. When Princess Elenore heard you were coming with an army behind you, she ordered her guards to kill all but her favorites because they would slow her down … and tell tales she didn’t want others to hear.”
“She didn’t kill you.”
“I was bait. Not my choice. She made me do it.”
How many times in history was the excuse that someone else made him do it, been used? But in this case, it sounded truthful. His whole story sounded the same. He was an opportunist and fortune seeker, but neither of those was a crime. He sold his integrity for life, a choice many would make. “Where are they? The dead?”
He pointed to a fallen wall, and the trees behind it.
She asked, “Who warned them I was coming?”
“A young man. He’d been brought here before when the Princess found out he was telling tales about you and knew where you were hiding. They became friends. He went to Peermont to help set a trap for you there. They say the Princess sent him with a mule carrying so much gold the animal could hardly walk.”
Jam. It had to be Jam. She turned to Brice. “Go see what’s behind those trees.” Then, as she fumbled in her backpack, she continued, “Now, I’m getting that truth spell out. Before I administer it, is there more you wish to tell, or that I need to know?”
An odd noise erupted from behind her. She turned to see Brice bent double, hands on knees, his stomach heaving. He shuffled a step back, then another, his eyes centered on something Hannah couldn’t see—and didn’t want to.
He spun and walked on wobbly legs until he stood before her. “Laid out in a row like firewood. A few evergreen branches over them to hide the frozen bodies, but scavengers found them. Wolves, maybe. And others. A few crows, but I don’t know why crows are up here.”
“Crows?” There had been one that warned her, but that was far down the mountain. She turned to her prisoner. “Was there a sorceress with her? Ever?”
“Yes.”
Spies. Damn crows. “Brice, go find the general and tell him you need poison. Place it where the crows will eat it and have archers kill every crow they can. I want them all dead.”
At her words, Brice fled. He understood what she needed and sprinted away.
Hannah turned back to the prospector. “I didn’t know that was important or I would have told you,” the man begged, tears streaming down his cheeks.
“I believe you.”
“I didn’t kill any of them. I just bargained my way free of joining them.”
She took pity on him. “I might have done the same.”
He shook his head. “No, you’re an honorable woman. You would have dared them to try and kill you two times as if once wasn’t enough. Use your magic on me. You’ll see I’m telling the truth.”
Hannah almost felt using the spell a waste. If her instincts were worth anything, the prisoner acted as most would, trying to save his life. His pursuit of wealth was no crime.
The spell took hold and his eyes glazed. She questioned him, but from the first, his answers confirmed the story. One question she’d failed to ask was answered when she wanted to know if there was anything else he knew that might help them reach Wren.
He said that he had hidden the map he’d spoken of. It was nearby.
Archers were sneaking through the forest behind her. She only noticed because more than one reacted as Brice had. One ran to her and said, “There were four crows. We got them all. Are there more?”
She repeated the question to the prisoner.
“I don’t know.”
“How many do you remember seeing?”
“Three.”
Hannah knew a fourth crow had been sent to warn her. She said, “Put out the poison, just in case. Have everyone watch for them. I think they are being used to watch us and report to our enemies, so finding them is important. Make sure you kill any you see.”
She dismissed the soldier and continued her interrogation, but found nothing he’d lied about or anything else but the map he concealed. She broke the spell’s hold and told him the results.
Hannah took him by his arm and allowed the man to lead her to the main trail that went to Wren, and across the trail to where a cedar, taller than others, grew. He retrieved a small package in a waterproof wrapping from a notch where a low branch joined the trunk,. He handed it to her.
She unrolled a detailed map, without more than glancing at it out of fear the man might attempt escape, but he didn’t. He stood and waited.
Together, they took the map to the general, and she quickly explained all. Two officers joined them and studied the map that was spread on a small table rescued from the monastery. Oddly, with the shelter from the cold at hand, nobody seemed to wish to venture inside for the night. She glanced to where the bodies were and found shovels and picks had been located and men were trying to dig in the frozen ground to bury them. She also noticed a ring of archers, their eyes searching the trees and sky, arrows ready to fly.