Treachery of Kings (30 page)

“Yes, I quite agree with that. And this is what the King will hear, no doubt. That Finn, maker of lizards, was discovered slitting this poor fellow's throat. Loyal guards tried to take him alive, and had no choice but to cut the maniac down.”

“You've a way with words, human. I'll hand you that.”

“And Letitia? She's a slasher as well?”

“I think she hangs herself in despair.”

For all his efforts, there was no way Finn could hide his fear, his apprehension now. The Badgie's words had struck home, and Maddigern knew it well.

“I'd face you on even ground,” Finn said, “if you had the courage for it.”

“That would be too easy, too quick. I'll need more than that.”

Finn risked a look at Letitia. She returned his glance with a smile, her eyes bright, her chin raised in defiance. Finn gave her an encouraging smile in return.

The Badgie shook his head. “You so carelessly show your feelings to the world. I cannot imagine such a weakness as this. … Cadigar! Sigdin!”

The Badgie's words had scarcely left his lips before the two cloaked guardsmen came at a run through the open door. Both came to rigid attention, as Maddigern shouted orders in the harsh Badgie tongue.

At once, the first mailed warrior took up a position at his leader's side. The other moved to Letitia, stood with his stubby legs apart, his hands behind his back.

“Tell him to get away from her, Maddigern, now!”

“Don't concern yourself, please. I'll give you time to say your farewells before he takes the stool away. I have something else for you first. My kind are more efficient than humans, Finn. When we begin a task, we see it to completion. We do not leave a job undone.”

He turned, then, facing the Badgie by his side. The Guardsman started to move, but Maddigern stopped him with a glance.

“Hold your post. I shall handle this myself.”

Maddigern stalked to the door and disappeared.

“What do you think, Letitia? I'm guessing fatcake, sugar tarts. Squash pudding with a cherry on top.”

“Thornberry pie,” Letitia added. “That's the least I'd expect from such a caring fellow as this. Thornberry pie, dripping at the crust.”

“I knew you'd say that. A thick red filling, bubbling at the—”

“Stop. No talk!”

The Badgie close by clutched the hilt of his sword. “You know what we're saying, then? Fine. What would
you fellows think of a tub of gold coins? One each, of course, wouldn't ask you to split a single tub, why, you'd slaughter each other out of hand.

“No? How about two tubs, a place in the country, a vat of ale so big you can bathe in it if you like. Wouldn't hurt either of you fellows, no offense—”

“Wassik! Jass dega!”

Something in the Badgie tongue, Finn was sure, and no translation was required. The tip of a sword at Finn's throat said it all.

“Oh, I think I understand. One thing more if I may… “

“Finn!”

At Letitia's cry, Finn turned, startled, and stared in disbelief at the door. Maddigern held an iron cage in one hand, held it out stiffly well away from any bodily parts. Behind the thick, rusty bars, hung Julia Jessica Slagg. Her long tail was fastened securely to a chain attached to the inner dome of the cage. Julia swung free, flailing her wicked claws, snapping at the air with her jaws.

The two Badgies glared at the angry lizard and backed up a cautious step as Maddigern hung the cage from a hook in the ceiling of the cell.

Clearly, the two had faced Julia's wrath before and didn't care to get within her reach again.

“Julia, you're not looking your best,” Finn said, “but it's good to see you again.”

“I'm
not looking well? That's the bush calling the grass green, I'd say. You're not one to talk, but it is, indeed, a pleasure to be back. Though I wish you would inform me before you leave on one of your exciting expeditions again.

“Letitia, I'm sure you know I did what I could to maim these brutes, but I fear I was foully undone.” “I know that, Julia. You did what you could.” “You never get that right,” Finn said. “You do it every
time. That business of the bush. It's not a bush it's kettles and pots. And it's black and not green… “

“Enough,” Maddigern said, and stepped between Finn and the lizard's cage.

“Sigdin, when I tell you, remove the Mycer person's stool. Do it slowly, for Master Finn will want to see the life go out of the creature's eyes. When he's finished, Finn, I'll personally slice this damnable machine into very small bits. Then we'll get to you.”

“What do you want?” Finn said, straining at his bonds. “Did I kill poor Dostagio? Yes, of course, and anyone else you'd care to name. Let them go, they're no use to you at all.”

Maddigern waved Finn's words away. “I'm done with you, Finn, there's nothing I want to hear. Look at her once more. In a moment, she won't be a pretty sight to see.”

“Letitia…”

“Oh, Finn, look away, please. I don't want you to see.” “I love you, Letitia, and I will not turn away. Just keep your eyes on me. Look at me, love… “ “Do it, Sigdin. Do it now.”

Finn shouted her name until his throat was raw, until the cords about his neck choked off his words.

Sigdin, the Badgie Guardsman, looked at his leader once, then did as he was told

S
ICDIN DIDN'T CARE FOR HUMANS. THE FAY
was good, but he was never comfortable around them. Humans didn't smell. They didn't smell bad, they just didn't smell at all. That was only one of the qualities he didn't like. Next to a Badgie, they had very little hair. Good, thick hair and a smell you could count on set a Badgie apart from humankind and most other Newlies, as well.

A Bowser, now, creatures that every Badgie loathed, a Bowser had a most unpleasant smell. Especially a Bowser that was wet. Now
that
was not a good smell.

The Mycer, she was something else again. The Mycer smelled nice. Musty, dusty and sweet. You wouldn't tell a Badgie female that, she'd tear you to bits. But it was true. The human tied up across the cell found the Mycer appealing, and Sigdin did as well. One kind of folk could find another attractive, it happened all the time.

Sigdin felt bad about doing away with the Mycer, but he knew he'd feel a lot worse if he didn't do what Maddigern said. Everyone in the King's Third Sentient Guards feared the Captain/Major, and well they should. It was common knowledge in the barracks that Maddigern was completely deranged. Touched, wiggy, whacked-out, nuts. Cross him, look at him crooked, and he'd have your head on a stick.

So, as much as he might regret it, Sigdin gave the Mycer's stool a little nudge, then another, and another after that. Slowly, the way the Captain/Major said. Soon, she began to make really awful noises in her throat, but the human male was screaming so loud, and the scaly thing was squawking, making such terrible sounds, that Sigdin could hardly hear her at all. …

…I
T SEEMED AS IF HIS SCREAMS WERE INSIDE HIS
head as well, as if a horde of demons were in there, clawing, ripping, tearing at his skull. The pain tore like a fiery bolt from his head to his chest, exploded in his belly, cut, sliced through every tendon, every muscle, burst every vessel, snapped every bone.

He could feel himself flailing helplessly about, feel his body smashing against the stone wall, quaking, shaking, jerking this way and that.

The agony seemed to last forever, as if it had always been. Then, an eternity later, Sigdin was vaguely aware he was lying there, staring at the ceiling, wondering who he might be, and where he might have been.…

Y
OU, WHATEVER YOUR FOUL NAME IS, CET OVER
there
now
, cut the Mycer free or I'll boil your blood on the spot!”

The Guardsman's eyes went wide. Cadigar wasn't afraid of much, but he was terrified by the seer. Obern Oberbyght's chubby finger trembled before his face, and he could feel a great mass of spiders, flies, and pale wet worms squirming about inside his head.

He hesitated for scarcely a blink, then rushed to the Mycer, stumbling over his friend. Without even thinking
of his knife, he snapped the cords from her throat with his hands, and set her straight on the stool.

Letitia gasped, filling her lungs with the precious air. Finn gave a joyous cry that ended in a strangle and a choke.

“Damn you, this is not your business, seer!”

Maddigern clutched his fists at his sides, scarcely able to contain his rage.

“It is, indeed my business, and you're the one damned, not I.”

Oberbyght pushed Maddigern roughly aside, ran to Finn and sliced the cords about his throat with a small silver blade. Finn tried to mutter his thanks, but the words came out dry as dust.

In spite of his anger, and his greater strength, Maddigern made no effort to lay a hand on the seer. One of his Guardsmen lay jerking about on the floor. The other stood trembling, his back against the wall, staring at nothing at all.

“Both of your louts will be fine,” said Obern Ober-byght, following Maddigern's wary glance. “If I intended them harm, you couldn't sweep them up with a broom by now.

“What is this about, Maddigern? You've committed torture here, dire affliction, and one step short of murder, it would seem. If I hadn't appeared—”

“Murder, is it?” The Badgie stepped back and thrust an accusing finger at the floor.

“Open your eyes, sorcerer. Murder's what brought me here!”

When the Badgie's shadow vanished from the wall, Oberbyght saw the body there, eyes glazed in death, the blood now a necklace of black about its throat.

“Dostagio?” The seer frowned at Finn for a moment, then turned his gaze on Maddigern again.

“He killed this poor fellow? Is that what you're saying?”

“No. I did not,” Finn said. “He knows that as well.”

“Would it be too much to ask,” Julia said, flailing her body about, rattling golden scales against her cage, “for someone to get me
down
from here? This is a most improper position, and quite undignified.”

“I think you will stay as you are for the moment,” said the seer. “You look proper enough to me.”

“I am unjustly confined!” Julia protested, snapping at the iron bars.

“Julia, you'll be all right,” Letitia said from across the room. “Truly you will.”

“My legs and arms are numb,” Finn said. “I can't feel a thing. If you won't release me, at least see to her.”

“No one's getting
released,”
Maddigern said. “You are held under the King's law.”

The seer, too, ignored Finn's plea. “You saw him kill Dostagio? He did this deed before your eyes?”

“No, he did not. What of it? You have no say in this. I don't need your spells.”

“Tread easy, my friend. You are not on steady ground here.”

Some understanding, some knowledge shared, passed between the two. Finn saw this happen, saw that though Maddigern would not back down, he would not, for the moment, push the magician too far. There was caution, distrust, even loathing between this pair, but there was something else there as well.

“You should not have taken him out of the palace. That was a fool thing to do.”

“I have reasons for what I do, Captain/Major. I do not have to explain them to you.”

“This trickster came back and killed Dostagio, First Servant To His Majesty, and Most Esteemed among the Gracious Dead. That should concern
you
, I cannot see how it would not!”

Too late, the Badgie knew he should not have spoken
these words. Finn could see him draw in a breath, run a hand across his mouth. He could see, as well, the seer's eyes, see his face go rigid, see the dire warning there.

“This is—a matter of the King's justice,” Maddigern said, looking at the floor. “I will handle it myself.”

“I have still not heard how this killing came about.”

“He came back to the palace. Murdered Dostagio, and came back again. Through another way.” With that, he briefly met Oberbyght's eyes.