The Lost Endeavour Page 20

  Although she might suggest to Ende that he could look there. She doubted even the frozen walls could dampen his fire. Back within her little room, the one attached to the workshop, she was tempted to light the fire just to stave off the memory of the ice.

  The door handle rattled, and she turned to the door. A soldier would not be placed there. She moved to the other side of the wall and waited. The mage would have chosen another way. It was only as she stood by the glass vials and jars and they whispered that she realised she had left the dress on the bed the last time she had visited.

  It could only be the regent. What had he seen in the field that would lead him here?

  She moved to his rooms—one she had visited before, the balcony, the friendly space, although she imagined a different family here. There was a loud bang on the door, and she stepped back into the shadows, her cloak pulled tight around her.

  The door pushed open, and a tall soldier stood in the doorway, one she had seen here before. Another followed. “I told you he was not here. Go to the throne room and I will find him.”

  “I don’t have time for games,” the man said.

  “They are not games,” the other man snapped. “Major,” he added, bowing stiffly. “Much has happened.”

  “Well, more is to come.” He pushed past the other man and down the stairs.

  What news do you bring? Ana wondered. She reappeared in the room she somehow considered her own. The door was open, the regent’s back to her as she pressed into the shadows.

  “Major Field has returned,” a soldier said hurriedly.

  “Does he have news?”

  “He has sent men all over the castle to find you.”

  “Tell him to meet me in the throne room.”

  “Yes, Your Highness.” The soldier bowed and fled.

  The regent turned and looked over the small room again. His gaze rested on the dress on the bed. Ana didn’t think he had ever been in the room before. Would he realise she had been there? She held her breath, sure that he looked straight at her, and yet he didn’t see her. She could hide far better than she had imagined possible. As he left the room, she followed for a few steps, the door left open. It was still very dark. She turned back to the room and blew out the candle.

  Then she opened her eyes to the back of the throne. The soldier she had seen in the regent’s rooms was pacing before it.

  “What is it?” the regent asked, striding through the door. Ana wondered if he had run from her little room all the way here. Or if he knew of secret passages she was yet to find.

  The man sighed and bowed low.

  “You didn’t kill him then?”

  “He travels with the tribute. He will be here soon.”

  The regent slammed a fist down on the armrest and then reached for his forearm. Ana couldn’t prevent the smile that spread across her lips. Ed was safe, and people would see him for who he was.

  “Do we have anyone in the ranks?”

  The man shook his head, and Ana slowly released the breath she had been holding. She had to warn Ed. She wondered who this man was and why he would betray his king, but she could find out more later, once she was sure Ed was safe. Although she had seen him sleeping while Dray kept watch.

  Dray came into focus sitting against a wall, the light dim from a fire and several candles. She felt the number of people in the room. She heard the sound of steel being pulled from scabbards, but her focus was on Dray alone as he held up a hand and the swords stayed.

  “Ed?” a soft voice whispered, and she turned as Belle shook his arm.

  Ana bowed her head. “They know you come,” she said.

  “We guessed as much,” Ed answered, climbing to his feet despite the woman at his side who seemed to want to hold him back.

  “Major…” Ana said, the name escaping her.

  “Field,” Dray said.

  She bowed her head to him. “He is the regent’s man.”

  There was a murmur behind her, and she turned to take in the soldiers, some with their swords still at the ready in case she was a threat to their king. She bowed her head to the man closest, the man Dray had held his hand up to. “Do you trust them?” she asked, turning back to Dray. He nodded once.

  He looked tired. She knew he would protect Ed. And yet no matter how much she worried for the boy, Dray was what drew her.

  “Ana?” Ed asked, stepping forward. She tore her eyes from the soldier on the floor and smiled for him.

  “I was worried,” she whispered. “He will not forgive you.”

  “The king has done nothing to be forgiven for,” the soldier behind her snapped.

  “He has survived. Where is Phillip?” she asked, and Belle looked down at her hands.

  “The Near Folk,” Dray said.

  Ana turned then to take in a dark beautiful woman. “You were not here before.”

  She stared at Ana, but did not speak.

  “Dahli is tribute by choice,” Ed said.

  “Why?” Ana asked, not wanting to take her eyes from the woman.

  “It is a better life,” Dahli said.

  “Stay with us,” Ed pleaded, but Ana turned from the woman to Dray.

  “It is not safe for you,” she said. “Darkness follows me.”

  “Follows you?” Belle asked.

  Ana studied her. The hint of sunshine she had seen around her in the carriage glowed a little brighter. “Keep him close. Be the light in the darkness.”

  “I can’t protect him like you do,” Belle said, looking down again.

  Ana felt the shadows pressing in on her before she saw the movement in the corner of her eye. “No,” she said, taking a deep breath, then flicked her hand towards the door. As the shadows dissipated, she bowed to Ed and was gone.

  Only she hadn’t gone very far. The room smelt of stale blood, and she could feel the maid’s presence. It had been here. They had been here searching for him, and it appeared they had found something else. But they hadn’t taken her, simply fed from her. Ana shivered.

  “Captain Sterling,” someone called from the other side of the door. Ana pressed against it.

  After several minutes and heavy footsteps on the stairs, she sensed him closer. “Barlow,” he said by way of greeting, his voice giving nothing away.

  “Is there something else you should be telling me?” he asked.

  Dray cleared his throat but said nothing.

  “That woman,” the other man said in a hoarse whisper. “She knew the king.”

  “She is…” Dray sighed. “She is his protector. Without her, the king would not have survived as he had.”

  “I thought that was your doing.”

  “More her doing,” Dray said. He sounded disappointed.

  “Where did she go?” the man asked.

  “Back to the capital would be my guess. She senses when he is in trouble.”

  “There was something else here,” the man continued. “I thought I saw…”

  Nothing was said, and she wondered just what the soldier had seen.

  “There is something between you,” he said instead.

  She could hear his footsteps moving away and feel the distance grow between them. Was the connection she was so sure had been there still holding them together? Or had it all been the silly thoughts of a young maid? She had called Dray, after all. She had forced his hand. And he was trying to distance them now. She just wasn’t sure why she found it so hard to let him go. He was her friend. He had been her friend. Or had he been a soldier looking after a girl?

  She moved into the shadows of the main room as more candles were extinguished and the women snuggled down between blankets. Ed seemed to watch over them, Belle at his side. She hadn’t looped her arm through his again, but she had called him by name. Soldiers stood to attention, watching windows, their backs to the women. The dark woman watched Ed across the room. Ana looked up at the landing where Dray stood watching over the room, but his gaze never left her.

  Could he see her in the dar
k, or was he simply hopeful that she would stay? He didn’t need her to stay. He was safer with her gone. They were all safer with her gone. When the other soldier said something and he turned away for a moment, she took the opportunity to disappear.

  Chapter 28

  In the shadows of the barn, by the dim lantern light, the mage looked at the child before him. A girl of no more than thirteen summers, yet she appeared confident. As the shadows moved around them, she shivered.

  “I feel you could be something very great,” the mage said to her.

  “She is something,” hissed the creature. The mage tried not to take a step back as it appeared, and the child turned to it in strange wonder rather than fear.

  “Could she be what I am looking for?” the mage asked, untrusting of his abilities in the light of the other girls he had thought might be of use until he had looked into their weak minds.

  “You cannot use her for what my queen has deemed unacceptable,” the creature hissed, leaning over him.

  He grunted. There had to be a way around Ana and her magic. There had to be a way to get Ana to see what he wanted, what the regent needed.

  “There is another,” the creature hissed.

  “I have a twin,” the girl said. Her voice wavered a little, but in the face of the creature he was surprised she maintained her confidence.

  “Does she feel the world as you do?” the mage asked.

  She nodded emphatically. “Sometimes we feel the same; sometimes one feels something the other doesn’t.”

  “Bring her to me,” the mage said. She ran from the barn, leaving him and the creature alone in the straw, certain that the animals watched them.

  “She will not return,” the creature hissed, stepping closer.

  “She will,” the mage said. He felt her desperation to be understood, to be wanted. The last child he had found was not what he had hoped. She hadn’t even contained the same power as the girls he had used to bring Ana to the castle. He should have left her on her windy islands. “Is it the soldier?” he wondered aloud.

  “The connection is strong,” the creature hissed as two girls ran into the barn. They were similar in features but not identical, one an inch taller than the other, their hair the same colour, their eyes the same bright golden hue.

  The creature beside him licked a forked tongue over its lips, and he tried not to shiver. It stepped forward. Although he didn’t want to put himself between them, he said, “I need them.”

  “As do we,” it hissed.

  ֍

  The journey had been harder on Dray’s body than he’d expected, being trapped in the carriage for so long. They had stopped several times, but it hadn’t been enough for him to stretch out his legs sufficiently. He should have asked for a horse. One of the men could have given one up for him easily enough, but then he had promised to stay by the king.

  The blonde hair of Belle never left his side. Every time she caught his eye, Dray thought of Ana and what she had said about Belle being the way to light the dark. She had hidden in the shadows; he had been so sure he saw her. Her green eyes had seemed brighter, but he had been distracted, and when he’d looked back she was gone. He couldn’t be sure if she had been there or not.

  He pushed the door open and then moved back for the tribute to step out of the carriage. A soldier offered his hand to Belle, and although she looked back at the king, he nodded for her to go. Dray looked into the light next, wanting to be sure they had been delivered somewhere safe. The stables opened up around him, and he looked at the man standing before him with his hand out as though to help another woman from the carriage.

  “Avers,” he said, raising an eyebrow.

  The man snapped to attention and smacked a fist into his chest in salute. “Captain Sterling, I feared you lost.”

  Dray tried not to sigh as he stepped down from the carriage and the king stepped into the light. “I was distracted by another duty,” he said.

  The man gaped at the king for a moment and then bowed deeply. The king waved him out of the way, and a murmur went through the soldiers.

  “Home again then,” the king sighed, looking around the stables and then up to the windows that overlooked them.

  “I’m sure they already know you come,” Dray said.

  The king nodded.

  “We are to escort the ladies to their chambers to prepare to meet the regent,” Avers said. “Perhaps Your Majesty would like the chance to bathe and change.”

  The king nodded somewhat absently, then looked at the man before him more seriously. “My guest,” he said, indicating Belle, “will require the same, but she is not to be confused with the tribute.”

  Avers bowed again. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

  “What if I get lost?” Belle said.

  “I will find you. But go with the soldiers for now.”

  She bowed her head and followed with the other young women. Dray stood and watched them go in different directions, but he was quick to follow after the king.

  “I doubt I’ll get lost,” the king murmured.

  “That is not my fear,” Dray said, watching as they headed inside and along corridors. He seemed to know where he was going. “Do you think Ana is here?” he asked, then bit down on his lip as the king turned to him, a question on his face that he didn’t answer.

  He pushed open a door into a small room. A narrow bed sat against the wall, and a large desk filled the space beneath a window, covered in papers and dust. Dray moved over and looked out over the world below. The carriages were still in the stables and several men moved about, but the girls were already gone.

  “This is your room,” he said, turning as the king opened a cupboard behind the door.

  “Where else would a king be found?” he murmured.

  “Particularly if you don’t want him found,” Dray said. He pulled fresh clothes from the cupboard. The jerkin bore the Ilia insignia, and Dray wondered how he had managed to not look like a king for so long. Although the clothes he held were not what he should have been wearing.

  He wasn’t quite sure how to broach the subject when the door flew open. He drew his sword as something small and red flew through it and wrapped around the king.

  “Ed,” she sobbed, pressing her face into his chest. The king placed his hands over her head and held her close as he shook his head at Dray.

  The sword master’s child, he thought, watching her check the king to ensure he was uninjured. The sister, he realised.

  “Ende said you had returned.”

  “Ende?” Dray asked. “He is here?”

  She nodded and turned to take him in, although she didn’t release her grip on the king at all.

  “Salima, I need to change.”

  “You smell pretty awful,” she agreed, finally stepping back. “You are Dray,” she said, and Dray bowed to her. “You kept him safe.” Dray nodded again. She swung around and slapped Ed hard on the arm.

  “Oww,” he moaned, grabbing at it. “What was that for?”

  “You left without me,” she growled. The room rumbled, and Ed looked over her head at Dray.

  “It wasn’t safe; you were safer with your father.”

  “I don’t know about that. There have been some strange things going on.”

  “What sort of strange things?” Dray asked as the king opened his mouth.

  “Strange shadows, boys killed, the witch and her…” She looked back at the king then and chewed her lip.

  “What witch?” he asked slowly.

  “Ana,” she said, pulling back from him as though he might lash out. “But she’s not a witch, we don’t think. Ende isn’t very sure. Papa is different around her, and the regent wants her dead.”

  “He hasn’t found her?” Dray asked, wondering more about how her father might be altered.

  “She is very good at hiding. Even I can’t find her anymore.”

  “When did you last see her?” Dray asked, stepping closer, and the king held up a hand.

  “A
couple of nights ago. She worries about you,” she said, turning back to the king, and Dray felt an overwhelming disappointment.

  “We saw her then,” the king admitted. “I’m sure she is fine.”

  “That is what Ende says.”

  “The old man often knows more than he tells,” Dray muttered.

  “What old man?” she asked. “Can you come and see Papa before you go to your uncle?”

  “I’m not sure,” the king said. “You need to be careful. My uncle might be here himself very soon.”

  “You be careful,” she said, reaching up and kissing his cheek. Then she gave Dray a little bow before she disappeared.

  “Should you go to your men?” the king asked as Dray closed the door after her.

  “Until I am sure you are safe, I don’t think I can leave your side.”

  “You haven’t bathed or changed either.”

  “I’m used to it. Until we know what your uncle will do, I am not leaving your side.”

  The king nodded and pulled the jerkin over his head. It was only when he stopped moving that Dray realised he was staring at his shoulder where Ana had healed him. He turned his back and allowed the young man to change. Was she a witch?

  Two soldiers appeared in the doorway. Two of the men who had travelled with them, and Dray nodded to them both. Despite his reservations he needed to know just what Ana was, and left the king in their care.

  Chapter 29

  Ana tried not to sigh as she looked at the damp fields around her. Why she was back in the marsh, she wasn’t sure, and she had the strange sensation that the sword master would tell her off for dirtying her dress again. Not that she had seen him in a couple of days. She could change before she returned, but there was something nice in having the man worry over her.

  That is not what he does.

  No, she thought, he doesn’t. He worried what she might do and the danger it might put his daughter in. “Ed will have returned.” Showing himself to be king, she thought.