THE CLAMOR OF THE BELLS
“You’re not doing anyone any good pacing like that,” Gil said. “You’ll wear out your boots.” He sat at the long table in the common room playing a card game with Merla. There had been no news about the queen, and there was no getting near the royal wing at all to try to find out what was going on. The way was blocked by a wall of Weapons, and there was no openness to their demeanors. They were steel, and they did not look at all like they would budge. Not that anyone would try to force their way through, anyway.
“How can you just sit there and play cards?” Anna demanded.
“I got no use for pacing,” Gil replied, “so might as well play cards.”
He hadn’t had a knife drawn on him and he hadn’t seen the queen doubled over in pain, so maybe it was no wonder he was calm.
“Hah!” Merla exclaimed. “I’ve got three cats.” She laid her cards down.
Gil groaned. “Good thing we’re betting only coppers or I’d be in big trouble.”
Anna wanted to take their deck of cards and throw it at the wall. As she was contemplating doing just that, another Rider entered the common room. Ty Newland made his slow, limping way to the table and sat heavily in one of the chairs. He’d only recently been released from the mending wing, and remained off duty while he continued to recover from the injuries delivered by the Darrow Raiders.
“Evening,” he said.
“Good to see you, Ty,” Merla said. “Can we deal you in for a round of Cats and Mice?”
“Afraid I don’t know that one,” he replied. “I’ve actually come to let you know that Mara sent me a runner with the news that the queen is in labor.”
“Is she all right?” Anna asked.
“Mara said nothing more than that.”
Was it coincidence, she wondered, that the queen went into labor after the servant, Felice, pulled a knife, or had that somehow set it off? She loosed a trembling sigh and finally sat down next to Merla. Merla patted her on the shoulder.
“I’m sure Queen Estora is receiving the very best care from Master Vanlynn and Ben, and she’ll be fine. You had a hard day, too, what with that woman pulling a knife on you.”
“You had good sense smashing that pot over her head,” Gil chimed in.
“I hope no one else tries anything,” Anna said.
“Too bad my wards only help with magical attacks,” Merla said.
“No doubt the Weapons are scouring the castle and grounds to make sure there aren’t more people with ill-intent skulking about,” Ty said.
A shadow filled the common room’s doorway. “That we are,” said the Weapon who stood there. They had not heard her approach. “I am Sergeant Brienne Quinn, and I am looking for Anna Ash.”
Anna stood. “I’m her. Anna Ash.”
“I would like to have some private words with you, Rider Ash.”
Chairs scraped the floor as the other Riders stood and departed.
“Please sit,” the Weapon told Anna.
“Am I in trouble?”
“I just want to hear your version of events from this afternoon in the queen’s chamber.”
They sat across the table from one another, Gil’s deck of cards between them. Anna told the Weapon everything she remembered.
“Thank you, Rider,” Sergeant Quinn said. “This gives me a better picture of what happened.”
“You believe me?”
“Is there a reason why I should not?”
“I’m just a nobody, and maybe you think I meant to do something bad to the queen.”
“Generally,” the Weapon said, “we trust the word of Green Riders. The calling the Riders answer seems to choose honorable and honest individuals.”
“But, I was not called,” Anna replied. “I’m not like the others.”
“Are you saying you are not honest and honorable?”
“No—I mean, I . . .” Flustered, Anna stared at the tabletop.
“We are aware of your background and how you became a Rider. Wasn’t yours a calling of a sort?”
“That’s what the colonel said.”
Sergeant Quinn nodded. “A calling that was different from the others, but with similar intent. You chose the calling where the others had no choice, and that means something. Also, Colonel Mapstone is an excellent judge of character and she would not have championed your becoming a Green Rider without good reason. Not to worry, Rider, you are not under suspicion. The woman, Felice, has confessed to poisoning the queen and—”
“Poison!” Anna exclaimed. “Is the queen gonna be all right?”
“It appears so, if labor and birthing go well. That drink you saw her pour out while you were there? It was tainted. In any case, she did not receive a full dose of the poison, and the menders created an antidote to remove whatever she did ingest from her body.”
Anna went limp in her chair with relief. “I hope it does not hurt the babies.”
“That is what we all hope. Frankly, Rider Ash, though you may doubt yourself and your position among the Green Riders, you have proven yourself one of them. Your quick thinking saved the queen, first when you stopped Felice from using a knife on her, then when you immediately ran to get the menders. If you had not been there, we might have had a terrible tragedy on our hands.”
“Why did Felice want to hurt the queen?”
“She is an agent of Second Empire,” the sergeant replied. “She was determined to kill the queen and children in a single blow as a victory for her people. She was also responsible for making so many in the servants’ quarter sick so she could gain access to the queen. She, and likely others, had planned this for many long months, how she would gain access and get around the Weapons, but what she didn’t count on was a Green Rider wielding a flowerpot. Felice is not best pleased with you.” The sergeant’s serious expression broke with a smile. “That was well done, by the way. I think your colonel would be proud.”
Anna’s cheeks warmed from the praise, unexpected as it was from a Weapon. “What happens now?”
The sergeant stood. “We will continue to investigate whether there are other enemies who have infiltrated the castle, despite Felice’s claims she acted alone. And also, we must pray that the queen and her children make it through the night alive and well. As for you, Rider Ash, I thank you for answering my questions and the service you rendered the realm today.” With that, she turned on her heel and swiftly strode from the common room.
Anna did not know what to do with herself after that. Had Sergeant Brienne Quinn actually validated her status as a Green Rider? She felt both elated and exhausted. She did not think she’d be able to sleep at all that night, so she decided to wait in the common room until they received word of the queen. Many of the other Riders must have felt the same as they congregated in the common room to play cards or tell jokes. There may have been laughter and some singing, but behind it all was a nervousness about the queen’s condition, the heirs, and what it meant for the future of the realm if things went badly.
As the story of Anna’s victory over an agent of Second Empire got passed around, the Riders congratulated her. Gil decided to reenact the head bashing with a flowerpot, much to the hilarity of all.
Worry lent a frenetic quality to the laughter. It was a little too loud, the Riders a little too eager to horse around and find some outlet for their nerves.
Anna dreamed of bells. Bells clanging through the city enough to vibrate the table and throb in her skull. When she raised her head from the table, she realized it wasn’t just a dream. The bells were ringing in actual fact, and not just the ones down in the city’s chapel of the moon but from all over, including the castle.
She rubbed the crust out of her eyes and realized she’d fallen asleep at the table in the common room. Dusky morning light filtered in through the arrow slit windows. Across from her, Gil’s mouth was open in a cavernous yawn.
“What is all the noise?” Merla asked in a peeved voice, her eyes squinted.
A few other Riders had also managed to keep vigil in the common room through the night, as well, and looked disoriented and spoke in hushed voices.
Why the bells? Had the queen died?
“The queen!”
Everyone woke up then and started talking all at once, wondering what it meant. Then Lieutenant Mara entered the common room. She’d dark circles beneath her eyes.
“Yes, it is the queen,” she said. And then she grinned. “The queen is well, and so are her twins, a boy and a girl. Rejoice, Riders, all came through the night well.”
Anna was so relieved that tears trickled down her cheeks. The queen meant so much to her beyond the fact she was the queen. She’d taken an interest in Anna, which had very much changed the course of her life for the better.
Merla and Gil did an impromptu jig to celebrate, and the others clapped and shouted.
When everyone settled down, Lieutenant Mara said, “You all know that this doesn’t mean you get out of classes, training, or chores today. I expect you all to look sharp.”
This was met with good-natured groans and protests, but the Riders started to disperse to get ready for what was surely going to be a long day.
As Anna began to leave, Lieutenant Mara touched her arm. “Anna, I heard all about what you did to protect the queen yesterday. Well done. I am glad the colonel chose to make you one of us.”
Anna was filled with so many emotions she didn’t know what to say.
The lieutenant then sighed. “With an event like this, normally we’d send Riders to all the lord-governors with the news, but they are scattered across the provinces dealing with Second Empire, and our experienced Riders are with the king and his army, and can’t be spared.”
“What will you do?” Anna asked.
“The lord-governors will have to wait, but there is one person who very much needs to know as soon as possible.”
Anna smiled. “King Zachary.”
“Exactly. And it’ll be just the news he needs to lift the spirits of his troops.”
“Who will take the news?”
“I’m sending Ylaine,” Lieutenant Mara replied. “She is our most experienced Rider here, after Ty and Merla. Ty is not able to ride yet, and Merla needs to keep working on the castle wards.”
It would be an honor to be the one to take that message to King Zachary, but Anna was relieved it wasn’t her. She was not ready for a long distance errand, and she couldn’t imagine trying to ride Maddie cross-country just yet. Which reminded her . . .
“I have an early riding lesson today,” she told Lieutenant Mara.
She ran down the corridor to prepare for the day like all the other Green Riders even as the clamor of the bells continued unabated.