| |
Chapter 31
––––––––
Loren sat with Geneal in the upstairs parlor, waiting. They turned all the lamps in the house down, drew the curtains, making it look like everyone inside was asleep for the night. No one was. Loren got up and started pacing again.
Grissam had made his displeasure with the entire situation known before they’d hardly settled in. He already knew why Dynan was in Crey, what he intended to ask, and made it clear that he wouldn’t allow it. Her mother, Aleen wasn’t too happy with the prospect either, but she’d at least told her husband that they could wait to have this argument. Of all the people they had to convince to allow their marriage, Loren wasn’t worried about Grissam. She couldn’t believe that a man she wasn’t even related to was determined to see that this marriage didn’t take place.
She turned around and found Geneal watching her. “This is the hardest part of knowing them,” she said. “The waiting.”
Loren nodded mutely, wishing that she could take it all back, change the situation, go back to Quilar and just not come here. Not under these circumstances. She thought if she’d just stopped Dynan from going to Brent then none of this would have happened. Then, of course, Marc would have been in trouble, or even killed in Brent, but it was hard to see it that way with everything that had happened. She didn’t want Dynan to be a Prince again. Not yet. She didn’t want him in the kind of danger that being a Prince brought him.
“I didn’t think Marc and Sheed would be gone this long,” Geneal said and stood to look out the window, opening the drapes to a crack. She frowned then, peering out more closely. “There’s something happening.”
Loren looked with her. Five men rode up on horseback and came down the lane to her house. “Maybe we should go see what they want.”
“Maybe you should stay here,” Geneal said, surprising her. “I’ll go.”
“And what are you going to do if they mean us harm? You’re a doctor, you’re not allowed.”
“Makes me a better negotiator.”
Loren smiled at that. “I’m coming with you.”
“Stubborn,” Geneal said. Loren nodded and together they went down. The hallways and rooms were dark, so Loren led the way, heading for the kitchen. She heard voices at the back door and then they came inside. Aleen’s voice came from the kitchen, demanding to know what the men were doing barging into her home. Loren froze when she heard Sadek answer.
“Forgive me, my Lady, but I believe you’re harboring a criminal. Marc Talryn. Where is he?”
“Marc? That’s ridiculous. You may think you can do this sort of thing in Quilar, Inquisitor, but not here in Crey. Get out of my house. Atren, is that you? And Don? I can’t believe you’re going along with this. What’s gotten into you?”
“Just following orders, my Lady.”
“He has no order-giving capacity in Crey. Get out.”
“Enough,” Sadek said. “Search the house.”
Geneal pulled on Loren’s arm, yanking her down the hall and into the shadows under the stairs. They got under cover just as two men came out and went upstairs. Two more followed and started looking through the first floor. Loren could hear her mother complaining about their behavior. She heard Grissam, startled in his room, demanding to know what was happening. She also heard the guards coming around behind them.
Loren took Geneal by the hand and hurried into a room that had already been checked, getting by the stairs just before Grissam was hustled down them. He was threatening severe repercussion for the guards.
“Loren, what are you doing?” Atren Bel came up behind them, having doubled back. “It’s no use hiding.”
Loren heard Sadek say what an idiot Kint Bur was in response to Grissam’s threat to inform the Captain. “I’m listening to Sadek, Atren. So should you.”
The Inquisitor was still speaking derisively about Kint. “He’s an inept fool, my Lord, a fact he’ll discover tomorrow when he realizes what invaluable assistance he’s provided me. Where is the other guard?”
“He heard something in one of the rooms and went to check on it,” Don replied.
“All of you wait outside and send in my men.”
The orders were followed, but Loren knew how much Don respected and admired Kint Bur. She wondered what he was thinking now and hoped he realized that Sadek was the one who was the fool. He’d just made a mistake, speaking badly of Kint in front of his guards. Atren was staring.
“It’s all a lie isn’t it?” he asked, knowing the answer already.
“Sadek twists the truth to suit his purpose, Atren. You’ve got to warn the others.”
“Loren—”
She held up her hand because Sadek was talking to the new group of men who came in, telling them he’d made a mistake with the other guards and issued orders to have them killed. “Take them somewhere quiet and deal with this. Just those three who were in here and one of you go find the fourth. He’s been gone too long.”
“Go,” Loren whispered urgently. “Now. Out the front window and circle around. Start yelling. Tell them it’s a lie. Go!”
Atren went.
Sadek’s man came through the kitchen door. Loren pulled in a breath and stepped out from hiding, hoping to distract the man. She thought she knew him from Quilar, one of the ones from Brent, but she was careful not to show that. Geneal came with her and they moved out into the hallway by the stairs before being noticed.
“Where’s the guard?” they were asked.
“He told us to go to the kitchen and then he went outside,” Loren said evenly.
She was grabbed by the arm and pulled into the kitchen. “She says the other went outside.”
Sadek glanced out the door. “Go find him. Take him with the others.” He smiled then, as she was handed over. “How nice to see you again, my Lady.” He pulled her too close, gesturing Geneal away and over to where Grissam and Aleen stood. “A pity really, that you should be sent into mourning again. Where is Marc Talryn?”
Loren swallowed, afraid of what he meant, but tried not to let him see that. “He went out to stop you. He knew you were here. Knew you were behind all the lies.”
Sadek laughed. “And he will fail. A pity indeed. Just as he failed to save his own brother, your second intended meets the same fate. And I had wanted to see Marc’s reaction as it happened.”
“What are you saying?”
“Your Prince is dead, my Lady. You did look beautiful in black. It suits you.”
Outside, Atren started yelling as he came around the house, screaming that Sadek meant to kill them all. Again, the sound of men fighting for their lives surrounded them. Loren started shaking, unwilling to believe Sadek’s declaration that Dynan was dead, unable to bear it. Her mind froze and anger filled her. Sadek let her go, moving to the door with a snarl to look out at the battle.
A cast iron cooking pan caught her eye. Rage boiled through her and she grabbed the handle. Sadek had time to turn around. He opened his mouth, threw up his hand to protect himself, but couldn’t. The pan smashed into the side of his face and he crumpled.
Loren dropped the pan and meant to go out the door, but Geneal grabbed her back, holding her by both arms. “Don’t you believe it, Loren. Marc would know what was happening. Sheed is with him. They won’t let anything happen to Dynan. They won’t. I know it.”
Loren realized there was only one place in Crey that Dynan could have been taken for such a purpose. She understood what Sadek meant by meeting the same fate. She wrenched away from Geneal, stumbled over Sadek, but couldn’t get out because he was in front of the door. She pushed him out of the way, bashing the door against him until she could get through. She squeezed outside and started down the side steps, heedless of the fighting around her, dodging swords to get by them.
She made it three steps off the stairs and ran into a man, or he into her and he stopped her. An arm went around her, lifting her off her feet and she was carried back the way she’d just come. “He’s all right,” she was told. “Loren, he’s all right. Dynan is all right.”
The words sank in, cutting through paralysis and she looked up at Sheed. He smiled at her, then spun around and hit a man coming at them. He picked her up again, backing for the stairs. She breathed for the first time since Sadek had told her that Dynan was dead. “Where is he?”
“Ralion and Marc are bringing him here right now,” Sheed said and lunged at another man who thought to get close. “I’ve seen that one before.”
“They’re from Brent.”
“The ones who escaped from Quilar?” Sheed said and set her down on the top step. He didn’t let go of her, fighting off another attack. “I should have known I’d find you in the middle of a pitched battle. Do me a favor and don’t tell Dynan. We’ll try to get this mess cleaned up before he gets here.”
“Where is he?” she asked again, forgetting that she’d asked before.
“He’s coming. I promise. Do you think I’d let anything happen to him? He’ll be all right. Where’s Sadek? Do you know?”
“Inside,” she said, feeling suddenly weak.
Sheed turned around, startled for a moment, until he saw Sadek on the floor just inside the doorway. He laughed this time. “Did you do that to him? Good girl.” He turned back as another man raced up to them, not realizing until the last moment that this one was on their side. Don lost his weapon and got smacked across the head with the hilt of Sheed’s sword anyway, but he was cringing as it happened. “Sorry. Sorry about that. Damn. You all right?”
Don only moaned. Loren clamped a hand over her mouth. “I never liked him much anyway.”
“That makes me feel better. Thanks.”
“The ones in uniform are on our side.”
“I know. Apparently, Captain Bur has come to his senses. He’s sending us the Quilar Guard. I think I hear them now.”
She looked and a troop of men rode into the lane and then charged into battle. By then, there weren’t too many of Sadek’s men left standing. Sheed felt it safe enough to let her go, but changed his mind quickly when Loren almost fell. He was the only thing keeping her on her feet.
“All right,” he said softly. “It’s all right.” He leaned his sword on the railing when he saw Jurdin station himself at the foot of the stair and put the other arm around her. “He’ll be here in a minute, Loren.”
“They tried to drown him,” she whispered.
Sheed nodded, his arms tightening around her. “He’s not going to feel too good because of it. He’s probably unconscious. Geneal will take care of him. He’s going to be fine.”
“Marc?” she thought to ask.
“He’s all right too. He knew where Dynan was. He got him up to the surface by himself. He’s a lot stronger than I took him for. I owe him for this one. Next thing you know, Dynan will think about replacing me.”
“He wouldn’t ever do that, Sheed. He’s so lucky to have you and Ralion. He knows that. I’ll never let him sneak away from you again.”
Sheed laughed and shook his head. “Never say never, my Lady.” He nodded down the road at the wagon pulling in. “That’s them,” he said and walked her down the stairs, knowing that she would want to go. “He’s going to be all right.”
He kept up a steady stream of assurances, preparing her to see Dynan unconscious and injured. It didn’t help, except that she knew he was alive. He didn’t look that way, pale, and hardly breathing. Sheed’s hold on her tightened and he told her again that Dynan was all right.
Marc was propped against the front of the cart, holding Dynan up. They were both of them exhausted. Geneal was right there, climbing into the cart with them. She gave Dynan a whole string of injections, some of them along his sides. She turned on Marc and gave him some too, despite his protests that he was fine.
They moved everyone inside, Sheed taking Dynan slung over his shoulder to the upstairs guest room where his things had been taken. Geneal made everyone except Sheed go away, insisting when Loren didn’t want to leave. After all the noise, all the activity, the house seemed suddenly too quiet and she was left to wait again.
She wasn’t left alone long. Marc came out of his room, a towel draped around his neck and in dry clothes. He sat down with her on the bench outside Dynan’s room. “Some excitement.”
“Tell me what happened,” she said, not really understanding why she wanted to know, just that she needed to hear it from beginning to end. Marc hesitated long enough that she thought he wouldn’t, but then he did, telling her everything that he and Sheed had done, what he’d felt when Dynan was drowning, and how narrow a thing it had been, getting him out of the water.
“You know, he almost drowned once when he was little. Fell in the Palace pool.”
“Pool?”
Marc smiled. “It’s an indoor swimming hole. A big rectangle in the floor. Has a deep end. A shallow end. I can see it, like I’ve been there before. Dain screaming. Kamien is the one who pulled him out. Dynan has been afraid of water ever since.”
“He doesn’t act like it,” Loren said.
“On a boat he’s fine. You’d think he’d be terrified to get anywhere near water. He just doesn’t like going under. Don’t blame him.”
Loren put her arms around him and kissed his cheek. “Thank you.”
Marc smiled, patting her hand. “I couldn’t let him drown, Loren. It was so similar. All Dynan was thinking about was you, just like Matt. I couldn’t see us having to go through that again. And somehow, it makes up for not being able to get to Matt. Makes it easier to stand losing him. I didn’t think anything could do that.”
Ralion came up, nodded to them and stuck his head into Dynan’s room. Geneal came out with Sheed and she finally agreed to let Loren see him. “He’s asleep, but you can go look at him if you want. Don’t wake him up.”
Loren hardly heard the admonition, her mind centering on getting to his side. He was still so pale. She took his hand and kissed his forehead, his skin warm to the touch. Alive, she thought. Breathing. She shuddered at how close she’d come to losing him and didn’t think she could stand to face that kind of fear again. She questioned whether she could bear it, the fear she knew she’d be confronted with when he left Cadal. Not knowing whether he was all right was a thing far worse than being there when he was in danger. She knew that now.
She held his hand to her, wondering how she could convince him to let her go with him. His fingers moved, brushing against her cheek and when she looked, his eyes were open. He didn’t say anything for a moment, just looked at her. He winced when he swallowed and his voice was hardly above a whisper.
“I’m sorry...”
Loren shook her head, knowing that he meant he was sorry for worrying her. She kissed him when he tried to talk again. “I’m fine, Dynan. All of us are fine. You’re not supposed to be awake. Go back to sleep.”
He thought to protest, but Loren kissed him again and started running her fingers through his hair. That did the trick. He gave up trying to keep his eyes open, but he patted the space beside him. He pulled her down into his arms, surprising her with how tightly he was able to hold her. Fear left her. She closed her eyes and fell asleep.
