The thought sent a delicious thrill down his spine. To be rid of Chancellor Orkid Gravespear once and for all! It was his greatest wish.
His hands on his hips, Dejanus circled where he stood. He was a power here, a power in the greatest palace on Theare, maybe even in the world. His chest swelled with the thought of it. I have no need to be afraid of anything. And then, as it always did, the familiar voice in his head said, Except Orkid.
The puff went out of him, and his gaze returned to that window. As he watched, the light went out and the wavering shadow of the chancellor disappeared. 'If only it was that easy,' Dejanus said aloud, then looked around to make sure no one had heard him. The courtyard was deserted. It was very dark, and he suddenly felt exposed. He hurried to his own quarters. The guard on duty snapped to attention as he passed, and that rejuvenated some of his confidence. He settled in his bed with a flask of good wine, and in his mind played out the many ways he could kill Orkid. Maybe an arrow, he thought. Hire an archer with some grudge against the chancellor.
And the voice said, Or if you were brave enough you could simply use your own knife. Dejanus could find no answer to that voice. He never had.
He finished the flask and fell asleep dreaming of the day, the one blessed day, when he would be brave enough.
Galen led his knights in double file through the newly restored gates of Daavis. A cheering crowd lined the main avenue leading to the palace, and Galen noticed the surprised and gratified looks on the young Kendran knights he led. If nothing else, this campaign had taught them that there was more to the Kingdom of Grenda Lear than the city of Kendra, and more to concern it than the petty goings-on of the nobility.
At least it finally taught me that, he admitted to himself, and felt proud of the fact he was young and smart enough to adapt. Areava and her mother had been right all along. The provinces needed to be—deserved to be!—brought into the everyday decisions that were made on their behalf in the royal palace far away on Kestrel Bay. Grenda Lear certainly could not afford to ignore people like Charion.
Galen marvelled at the work the people of Daavis had done in preparing their city for a siege, and at the sacrifices they were prepared to make. He saw some streets where not one house remained standing, their stone cannibalised for the walls. In their place were makeshift shelters of canvas and sheeting, old wood and blankets.
Acknowledging the crowd with a broad smile, he wished he had earned all this gratitude. Setting up a series of outposts was not exactly the gallant work he and his knights had trained for and dreamed about. His smile waned when he remembered the battle against Lynan. They had earned something that day, he thought. But at what a cost. Half his knights dead on the field. It would be another generation at least before the Twenty Houses could field a full regiment of cavalry again.
Charion herself was waiting for them before the palace. She was mounted on her show horse, a fine-boned white stallion that was too delicate to actually ride to war, and wearing the crown of Hume. Her clothes looked bedraggled, but Galen thought she still managed to look regal, even imperious. Galen dismounted and bowed slightly before her. The cheering went up a notch.
'We were not expecting such a warm welcome,' he admitted to Charion.
'They are encouraging you to stay,' she said. She caught his gaze. 'Are you going to?'
'Unless Queen Areava orders us elsewhere, we will stay.' He returned her stare. 'Have you received such a communication?'
Charion smiled thinly. 'Not yet, although I've received one from her chancellor.'
'Orkid Gravespear?' Galen could not help the distaste in his voice. He immediately felt ashamed: his newfound generosity to the provinces obviously did not extend to Orkid, even though he was Sendarus's uncle. 'What did he have to say?'
Charion dismounted now and offered her arm to Galen, who took it. Charion nodded to Farben who indicated to the rest of the knights to follow him. Charion and Galen then walked into the palace.
'The chancellor says Areava lost her baby.'
Galen gasped in surprise. 'I did not even know she was pregnant.'
'Does she usually reveal these intimate secrets to her nobles?' Charion asked innocently.
'What?' He was momentarily confused by the question. 'No, of course not. I meant…' He shut his mouth. He was not sure what he meant. He was filled with sadness for Areava's sake, and for poor lost Sendarus.
Charion read something of his feelings in his expression and patted his hand. 'Orkid says she is recovering, but that her brother Olio has been injured in some way. Apparently there was a great fire in the city the same day our army met Lynan's. That is why we have not heard from Areava.'
'A black day for the whole Kingdom,' Galen said in a low voice.
They reached Charion's throne room, and she ordered her servants away. When they were alone she said: 'Orkid made no mention of you or your knights. I do not know what Areava intends for you. Under the circumstances, you might feel it best to go on to Kendra.'
For the second time Charion was offering him a way out of his royal predicament. He knew that as one of the Kingdom's leading nobles he could help Areava back in Kendra, but he was a member of the Twenty Houses and she did not trust him, and she had others to rely on for advice and assistance. On the other hand, he could make a decisive difference here if Lynan attacked into southern Hume. He glanced at Charion, who was doing her best to seem unconcerned.
'Her Majesty will send for me if she needs me,' he said.
Charion smiled mysteriously. 'Which Majesty?' she asked.
Galen coughed politely in his hand. 'The one furthest from me,' he replied, and saw her eyes widen slightly.
'You must be tired after your expedition,' she said quickly. 'And dusty.'
Galen looked down at his clothes, then behind him. He had left dirty footprints all the way into the throne room. 'I have been looking forward to a bath,' he admitted.
'Then you shall have one.' I will give you and your lieutenants rooms in the palace. We can talk again after you have rested.'
'Your Majesty is most generous,' he said, bowing to her for the second time, and started to withdraw.
'You will have rested by tonight,' she added lightly.
'Fully,' he replied, and matched her smile.
CHAPTER 6
The harbour was burning. Thick plumes of greasy smoke pillowed into the air. Ships blazed at their moorings, their masts crumbled and collapsed, their sheets sparkled, torn remnants of their sails whipped like beacons in the wind before going out. Charcoaled bodies bobbed with the currents under the docks, washed up on Kolby's Beach with barrels and other flotsam, smelled like rotten crackling. Seabirds wheeled overhead before diving on carcasses to feast as they never had before. In the middle of the harbour a single warship, flames shooting along its whole length, started to roll, slowly at first, but as the water sluiced over its side and then into its hold it quickly keeled over, its bow pointing slightly in the air. For a moment it looked as if it might hold, but then it slid beneath the water, stern first, and disappeared. An explosion of bubbles broke the surface and then nothing was left of its passing, not even a corpse.
Lynan could not look away from the destruction around him. In a terrible way it was beautiful. The harbour glowed with colour, the clouds of smoke above seemed to shine with it, the air itself shimmered. He could smell burning wood and tar and canvas, and underneath all that the sweet smell of burning bodies.
The sound of it was a giant's sigh, like something great coming to rest.
A Red Hand galloped up to Lynan and bowed. 'Your Majesty, Queen Korigan reports that the city is secure. The fighting in the palace has been quelled. There is no other resistance.'