The Lost Endeavour Page 21

  He works against you. Against us.

  “The mage will do as he will do. I have destroyed his plans. He cannot bring anything from beyond that could harm the king.”

  If he were to find something here…

  Ana shook her head. He would return to his work room at some stage, and she might be able to learn what he does then. “I have already told you that the king comes first.”

  When will you show him what you are?

  “He knows,” she murmured. She had shown herself to a full room. Beautiful women set to be tribute, the soldiers. Dray had seen her, she was sure. Only she wasn’t sure she could face him now. He was no longer hers. Or was it just the realisation that he was a man of duty and had never been hers in the first place?

  He kept you safe.

  He kept me from the mage, she thought. She looked around then, hearing movement in the grass. But it was only a fisherman headed for the river. The shadows had not returned. She could feel them, though, not far away, pulling at her, calling to her, pleading with her to bring them closer. She wondered if she could heal them, heal herself of whatever it was that pulled at her. She thought of the old cleric. He knew her mother, knew what she was, and he had helped her despite Master Forest’s concerns.

  She sighed and reappeared in their rooms, hoping the child would be able to tell her something, but the sword master stood at the window. A soldier at his side turned slowly as she stepped forward.

  “I can try,” the sword master was saying. “But the regent will not listen to me, no matter who knows he is king.”

  “They only need realise he is no longer a boy,” Ana said, and the man turned quickly, flinching. She bowed her head. “Forgive me,” she whispered.

  He surprised her by stepping forward and taking her by the shoulders. “Where have you been?”

  “There is more at risk than the king alone,” she said. But at his searching eyes, she couldn’t say any more. She was thinking only of herself. Dray barely looked at her, turning back for the window.

  “You have made another soldier friend,” he said, and when she looked up, he was studying the view from the window.

  “She made it,” the sword master said, as though he wasn’t quite sure and yet felt the need to defend her.

  “I couldn’t get warm,” she said as Dray turned and studied the man beside her. “Is he here?”

  Dray nodded once. “I wished he looked more like a king. He will attend the throne room when the tribute is shown.”

  “What would you have me do?”

  “Stay out of the way,” the sword master said quickly, but she glanced at him. She couldn’t. “Is he alone?”

  The sword master reached for her as though she might run, but Ed’s safety had to come first. When Dray didn’t answer, she looked at him. Something sad pushed out from him, and she took a step forward. “What has happened?” she asked. But as she reached for him, he stepped back and bowed.

  “There are two soldiers with him. Men I trust.”

  She nodded slowly. Anger then flowed from him, and she chewed her lip. He didn’t trust her. “I will stay away,” she murmured, closing her eyes. As she sighed, she felt him reach for her, but she disappeared far from his reach.

  She leaned back against the wall, wiping at her face, disappointed that she was so unsure of what she was. That she had only ever wanted to help the king, and now she did more harm than good. The practice hall was empty around her. No one had returned since the death of the boy, and she wondered at what that might mean for the sword master with no pupils to teach.

  The door squealed open, and she pressed herself into the wall.

  “Your Majesty, I don’t think this is a good idea,” a soldier said.

  Ed was silhouetted in the doorway. Ana understood then what Dray meant. He was dressed as a young man, as any of the young men who would have visited this hall. The regent would be far more lavishly dressed, and she wondered if Ed might disappear into the crowd of the throne room. She doubted his uncle would have provided anything of worth for him to look like the king he was.

  “Is someone there?” he called into the space.

  She wondered then if the mage knew he had been found. She blinked away from him. She would want to be in the throne room when the tribute was shown, to see what they would say of the boy returned. She stood before the fireplace in the little room. The sword master had not commented on her state of dress, but then he had been distracted. As had she.

  Two faces beamed at her, and she took them in. Two girls, clearly sisters, the same and yet so different. They bowed their heads to her and then smiled at each other.

  Ana moved away again. What had he done? Had he found a replacement that would do his bidding?

  “Ana?” Belle asked, her voice a little shaky as she reappeared in the room she had recuperated in for so long. She turned slowly to take in the woman. Belle appeared to glow even more brightly than when she had seen her at the inn. Her dress was far finer than anything she had worn at the castle in the mountains. More real than anything there, Ana thought.

  Belle raced forward and took her hands. “I am so happy to see you,” she said, squeezing her hands tight.

  “Are you?” Ana asked.

  “You look so different,” Belle said, her face scrunching a little as her eyes settled on the muddy hem of Ana’s dress.

  Ana wasn’t sure what she could say. She felt different, and yet just the same.

  “How did you find me?” Belle asked.

  “I wasn’t looking,” Ana said honestly. “I stayed here for a time myself.”

  “And now?”

  Ana shook her head. She didn’t stay anywhere for very long. If she managed to sleep, it was usually under the careful watch of the dragon, in a chair.

  “You look tired,” Belle whispered, pulling her close.

  There was a sharp knock at the door, and a soldier opened it. He bowed and then smiled. “His Majesty has asked if you will meet him in the courtyard. The tribute is to be presented, and he would wish to see his uncle.”

  Belle nodded and then turned back to Ana, her brow creasing when she couldn’t find her in the shadows. She nodded again and lifted the fine dress to follow the soldier out of the room.

  Ana appeared in the shadows behind the throne, but she was soon aware that she wasn’t alone. The mage, his odour all too pungent, and something else—something Ana had thought gone.

  Soldiers filled the doorways, and Ana was tempted to step out of the shadows. Then a soldier stepped forward and bowed low before the regent, and Ana realised they were the only ones in the room.

  The regent nodded, and women filed into the room. Beautiful women who were dressed as elegantly as Belle had been, their hair all tied up in a similar fashion, even the dark woman from the trees. They all looked down as they walked and lined up before the throne; and then, as one, they curtsied.

  Ana wondered at what training or instructions they might have had. They were all likely farmer’s daughters, yet they appeared as though they had lived in the capital their whole lives.

  Something shifted in the shadows behind her, and she was tempted to send it away. Would it want to be seen, or did it want something else? They, she realised, although this wasn’t the creature she had seen in the trees, the mage’s maid. This was a scared boy, wanting something—power, strength? She was distracted trying to determine the feelings she sensed from the shadows when the room hushed and anger washed from the throne.

  “Ed,” she whispered.

  The king moved forward, Belle on his arm. He didn’t bow before the regent, although Belle gave a small curtsy. Some of the guards pulled swords; the regent grinned. Dray stepped into the room behind him.

  “Captain,” a soldier to the side said, the same man who had reported the king. A major. “Do you want to explain this?”

  Dray smiled, and Ana felt the warmth of it across the room. “His Majesty, King Edwin of Ilia, returns from his visit of the provinces,” he an
nounced.

  Ed gave him a quick glance, and Dray returned a nod.

  “I thought you ran away with a maid,” the major sneered.

  “You should not believe all that you are told,” Dray replied.

  “What was she then?” the major asked.

  “Enough,” the regent snapped. “How can we be sure this is my nephew? He has been missing for some time.”

  Ana took a deep breath, closed her eyes and blew it out across the room. Whispering followed, and she opened her eyes to see the king dressed as she thought Dray would expect. Belle’s mouth hung open. Dray’s eyes darted around the room. He was searching for her, but she wouldn’t be seen.

  “My queen,” a voice hissed in her ear.

  “Leave,” she replied.

  “I have business here.”

  She turned to the towering beast. Despite being lost in the shadow, she could sense the solidness of it. “Not business I want you to undertake,” she said under her breath.

  The shadows closed around her, tight and constricting, and then they were gone. She wasn’t sure how she had such power over them, but she was grateful for it now.

  “Do you have some magic?” the regent hissed.

  Ana focused on the group before her. The women had bunched together, Belle holding tighter to Ed’s arm. Dray had pulled his sword. Had he not realised it would be her doing?

  “This was not your mage?” he asked.

  The regent shook his head, standing slowly from the throne. “Where have you been, boy?” he asked. Ana could feel the hatred ebb from him.

  “Doing what any king would,” Ed said calmly, despite all that was occurring in the room.

  “The tribute?”

  Ed held out his hand, and the women smoothed over dresses, gently touched hair and reformed into a line. The regent walked towards them, looking each one over. He paused at the dark woman from the trees, but not for long, and then turned back to Ed.

  “Who is this?”

  “Belle Poales,” he said. “My friend.”

  “Did you steal her from the tribute?”

  “Can you not count, uncle?” Ed said. “There are ten, as the province promised. I met Belle prior to meeting up with the tribute in the forest.”

  His uncle stared, and Ana wanted to step between them. The soldiers by the door still held their swords, as did Dray.

  “Go,” the regent said, waving his hand towards them. “I accept payment. They will be presented before the capital tonight.”

  “You have husbands selected?” Ed asked.

  “Some,” his uncle said with a sigh. “I have offered one to your sword master; he needs a mother for that child of his.”

  Ed clenched his jaw. Ana wondered if Ende would let her stay when it came time for him to go, and if he would be present tonight.

  The women filed back out the way they had come. The number of soldiers in the room didn’t appear to decrease with the tribute.

  “Are we not to talk, uncle?” Ed asked.

  The man looked over Belle again before he shook his head. “I am busy. Tomorrow.”

  The shadow moved quickly out of the darkness behind Ed, and yet it reached for Belle. As she flinched and turned, it disappeared. The regent took a step back as Ana took a step forward from the shadows.

  “You bring your shadows here, witch!” he cried, stepping out of her reach.

  “Your mage brings them. I prevent them,” Ana said, stepping closer. He backed up.

  The creature moved to her side. And as the mage stepped from the shadows as well, Dray moved forward with his sword.

  “I have told you, they are not to be touched,” Ana said quietly.

  The creature bowed, and the boy inside smiled. He glanced up briefly at the king and then disappeared.

  She waited silently as the mage stepped forward to stand beside the regent.

  “You control them.” The major pointed towards her.

  She turned on him then. Her hood had fallen down, and the room stood still around her. “Do you want to see what I can do?” Her voice was darker than she intended, not her own. “You are darkness itself; you are what they want,” she said, and although the man maintained his pose, the confidence and hatred clear on his face, she felt the shadows moving in with the permission she had given them.

  “Ana?” Ed said, slowly stepping forward as Dray held a hand across his chest.

  “Protect the king,” she said, her eyes on Dray. Then she turned back to the major as the shadows moved in around him. She could feel the want, the hunger. “He is yours,” she said.

  The scream filled the room. Belle pushed her hands over her ears and dropped to her knees. Ed turned away. The regent raised his arms before his face as the mage stared into the shadows, a grin wide on his sharp face.

  Soldiers raced forward, except Dray didn’t move, his eyes only on Ana. She wasn’t quite sure what she could sense from him. Disappointment, perhaps, as the major was pulled away. When the shadows cleared, there was nothing of the major left. She had seen the darkness in him, and despite the cry he had gone willingly.

  “Protect the king,” she said to Dray and then disappeared herself.

  Chapter 30

  Dray shuffled the king towards the door. His feet seemed frozen to the floor. He wondered what exactly Ana had become. “I think we should hide you in Belle’s room,” he said when he finally had the king out of the throne room. The regent was screaming at the mage and several of the soldiers, but no one seemed quite sure what had happened. Let alone what to do next.

  “What…” the king stammered.

  “She said to protect you,” he snapped, trying to focus the king’s attention enough to get them out of the way of the regent. He wouldn’t be surprised if the man had the king killed before the whole kingdom and found a way to pin it on someone else. Ana most likely.

  She had been something very different, as she had been in the forest. Confident, but not like when he had first met her as she had led him from the castle. This confidence scared him.

  “This way,” Belle said, leading him through the courtyard towards the walkway that ran along the side of it. They were headed towards the main tower, and he wondered just how close to the royal suite the regent had put them.

  She pushed open a door as the king followed, and Dray half expected Ana to be waiting for them. He rushed forward and pulled the curtain open, allowing the light to fill the space and reduce the shadows. Belle was struggling to lock the door when it pushed open and a tall man entered followed by the red-haired girl, who raced straight for Ed. Belle squealed.

  “Let me do it,” he said, taking the key from her shaking hand. Dray wondered what further madness this was.

  The man stopped and looked at Dray, then bowed his head to the king. “You certainly look like a king.” His voice was low, but it filled the space.

  “Ana,” the king stammered. “What is she?” He turned to Dray as though he might hold the answers, but he could only shake his head.

  “Still drawn to each other,” the tall man muttered.

  “Shall I find Papa, Ende?” the girl asked, her grip tight on the king.

  The man shook his head and moved to the fireplace. “Ende?” Dray asked.

  He turned and bowed his head again, his dark eyes flashing, and then he grinned.

  “How?”

  “Too much to explain, young man. What happened exactly?”

  “She directed the shadows,” the king whispered, sitting heavily in a chair.

  “Should I fetch the cleric?” the girl asked.

  Ende shook his head. “Maybe go to your father.”

  “The sword master. She is…” Dray whispered.

  “No,” Ende said, looking at him as though he could see into his soul. “She isn’t.”

  The child looked between them, confused for a moment.

  “What did she do?” Belle asked, her voice barely audible.

  “What she did in the forest,” the king said, “bu
t different.”

  “She didn’t scare it away. She let it take that man.”

  “What?” Ende growled, stepping forward. He appeared larger in some way, and Dray wondered if he would turn into the dragon he had seen so long ago on the mountainside.

  “In the forest,” Belle said, “she told the monster that it couldn’t have the king or Dray,” she added, turning to him. “Today, she told them to go.” Ende nodded. “Then she said it could take the soldier.”

  “Was he a threat to the king?”

  Belle nodded slowly and then shook her head. “I thought the shadows were more a threat. What is she?” she asked again.

  “Something linking this world and theirs. I fear she is still trying to find her place.”

  “She knows what she is,” the king said slowly. “She told them to go. Her loyalty is to us first.”

  “Or it appears that way,” Dray said.

  “You haven’t spoken to her,” the child snapped. “If you knew her, you would know that Ed is right.”

  “I have spoken to her,” Dray said as calmly as he could.

  “Not recently,” Belle said. “Not since the forest. You wouldn’t talk then.”

  “Have you met somewhere else?” Ende asked, and Dray looked up at him wondering just what he was asking. What might he know—or had Ana told him?

  “You have been here,” he said instead to Ende. “What do you know?”

  “We don’t see her very much,” the child answered for him. “We did, but since her magic returned, she hides.”

  “Where?” the king asked, but she shook her head.

  “I saw her here,” Belle said, and everyone’s attention shifted to her. “When I was preparing to go down to meet the regent. She just appeared. She looked so tired, so frail and yet…”

  Dray nodded, although he wasn’t sure why. She had done the same when he had met with the sword master. Was she disappearing to this other world? Would she tell him if he asked?

  Dray spent the rest of the day searching the castle. At one stage, he stood on the wall overlooking the main gate and wondered if she might be somewhere in the city. There were so many buildings, so many homes; she could have formed a friendship with anyone, and they could be hiding her. Although Salima seemed certain that she was extremely capable of hiding herself.