Thinking on it, he would not have granted himself physical bravery, the kind of bravery that made Skan and Zhaneel fly off and risk their lives, over and over, as if such risk was no worse than a cold bath on a winter morning.
And right now, he felt as if he were the biggest coward in this whole shattered world. As Skan vanished out of sight, all Amberdrake wanted to do was find somewhere to hide until the whole mess was over. He wished he could find a nice, secure room and lock the door so that no one could get at him. That would be the sensible course, really—what could he expect to accomplish?
There’s no way I can just hide when the most powerful and dangerous of our enemies are both here, somewhere, wherever that is. Something has to be done about them. They may be engrossed with whatever magic they’re controlling, or they may be confident they’ve already won, or—
With no real Mindspeaking ability of his own, he would not know whether Skan arrived in time to save the King and Winterhart until long after the fact. The light grew dimmer with every passing heartbeat—and Hadanelith was due to strike at the darkest part of the Eclipse. No one knew he was here except Skandranon and Kechara. Assuming that Kechara wasn’t watching Skan, she would know what was happening on his side of this little battle, but otherwise he was on his own.
And somehow I doubt she’ll be able to tear her mind away from her “Papa Skan.”
Was this how Skan felt when he went off on one of those famous solitary missions? Lonely—and deserted—and completely terrified?
Not terrified, not Skan. He’s been scared, but always confident in himself.
Kechara might be able to call for help if things went wrong and she was watching him, but that also assumed that she had enough understanding of what she saw to tell the others if Amberdrake was in trouble. She had shown a surprising grasp of abstracts lately, but—well, she was tired, and stressed, and under a great deal of pressure, more than she ever should have had to bear. Little Kechara was more toddler than warrior.
No. I’m on my own here. His insides knotted up as he acknowledged that. I have to find those so-called “friends” of Hadanelith’s, and I have to neutralize them before they can rescue him. If all that means is that I occupy their attention until he’s secured against magic, then that’s what I’ll do.
That certainly sounded brave enough. He only wished that it was going to be as easy as it sounded.
But they were all running out of time; he’d better find Hadanelith’s co-conspirators before the full Eclipse fell!
He gathered up what “weapons” he could find—the ropes he’d been bound with, and a length of metal bar. He picked them all up so quietly that there wasn’t even a scrape of metal against the floor, even though he knew objectively that the noise was negligible. At least while he was concentrating on keeping quiet, he could convince his body to move, and not freeze like a frightened tree-hare. He crept toward the door, listening with all his concentration after he made each step. His hands shook so hard he nearly dropped the bar. He closed his eyes and swallowed, willing his hands to stop shaking, but they wouldn’t. Finally he reached the doorway; he plastered himself flat against the wall next to the door, and listened again, this time holding his breath.
Nothing. Not even a distant murmur of voices. No matter how thick the walls were, this close to the door he’d surely hear something if there was anyone out there!
Wouldn’t he?
Carefully, he reached out to the door handle, and eased the door open a crack, his teeth clenched as he waited for the hinges to groan. That would be just my luck. But the hinges were silent, and he heard nothing, and there was no sign of a guard on the other side.
Meanwhile, the logical part of his mind was still worrying away at the problem of who Hadanelith’s co-conspirators were. This is—probably—a suite in the Palace, which means that one of Hadanelith’s friends must belong to the Court. But who could it be? Unfortunately, Amberdrake had no idea who was quartered where; probably only the Chamberlain would know that. He’d been under the impression that this section of the Palace was about empty. The rooms were not very desirable; they were all too near the outer walls, and the sentries and far-off noise of the city disturbed the nights. There were only a few gardens shared among the suites here, and the entire section was a little too damp during the winter. The only people who lived here, so he’d thought, were those too lowly in status to complain about the rooms they were granted. That seemed to fit with someone of low rank, perhaps exacting revenge for being overlooked and slighted, and finding a shortcut to exalted status as well.
But that didn’t mean that someone who was quite high in status couldn’t commandeer a suite or two, especially if they were empty. The conspirators’ knowledge of the movements of the courtiers seemed to be that of someone familiar with the ebb and flow of the court.
Then there was Hadanelith’s assertion that one of his “friends” could take the Lion Throne, which also argued for a high status. Yet, all the King’s Year-Sons were in the guard of his fellow rulers, which would make it rather difficult for one of them to be there and here at the same time.
Unless a Year-Son is using magic to transport himself? Oh, surely that would have been noticed! Or—could he have found someone to impersonate him, and crept back here? That’s even more far-fetched a notion than the use of magic to transport him. Impersonators are less reliable than magic—
Or were they? He clenched his eyes closed as he thought about Hadanelith impersonating him, closing in on Winterhart, cutting once to the side, again, up—
Pull yourself together, Amberdrake. Think. Think about what you have learned. Lifebonded pairs can feel each other. If she was hurt, you’d feel—
He’d feel sick, he realized with a lurch of his stomach. What if it wasn’t fear for himself that was making his hands shake so? What if this was the side effect of feeling his beloved Winterhart die, somewhere far away?
And what if it isn’t? Think, Amberdrake—alive or dead or dying, would Winterhart admire you for shaking and hiding? You have to act. No matter what happens to Winterhart or you, you have to act for the good of White Gryphon.
Amberdrake eased the door open a little more; there was still no reaction indicating someone out in the hallway. He turned his intellect back to narrowing down or eliminate possible suspects; he had a particular suspicion of his own, and he devoutly hoped it was wrong.
But the doubt kept recurring—could it be Palisar? It was a horrible suspicion, no matter how you looked at it. It was an unworthy suspicion, because he knew very well he would never have entertained it if Palisar hadn’t been so openly hostile to the foreigners. But if the Haighlei had customs and rituals for everything, perhaps the Speaker was prohibited from hiding his true feelings, even if it would mean giving himself away to those he plotted against.
But he kept wondering . . . for certainly there was no one better placed than Palisar to know everything about the movements of every courtier in the Palace. Who better to know exactly what was going on, and who better to know which courtier was vulnerable and which was not? Add to that the fact that Palisar was a priest, a trusted priest. Who better to ensure that the chosen victim was alone? If Palisar sent messages to each of the women who’d been murdered, telling them he needed to talk to them alone, wouldn’t they have made sure to send every servant off on errands to obey him? He was the King’s Advisor, and it might be presumed that the King had a message he wished to send discreetly. He was a priest, and it might be thought that as a priest he had something of a spiritual nature to discuss. Both of those would require absolute privacy.