Cold Magics (56 page)

Thomas nodded. “All right.”

She leaned away from him. “Now get out of that uniform. It’s filthy.”

27

It was dark when Thomas woke. The fire was dying down, and the air in the room was starting to chill. Fortunately Eileen was very warm. He snuggled himself closer to her. She murmured something in her sleep and snuggled back, her warm, bare legs pressing against his. Her back, covered in the shirt she had borrowed from him, was warm against the bare skin of his chest and stomach.

Someone knocked at the door—for the second time, Thomas suspected. He blinked a few times to clear his head. The knock came again, a little louder. Thomas forced himself to sit up. Eileen moaned in protest and snuggled down further into the blankets.

“Sorry, love,” said Thomas, kissing her cheek and extricating himself from the bed. Eileen squealed when the cold air touched her and burrowed herself deeper into the blankets, grabbing at them and wrapping herself in them as soon as Thomas was clear of the bed.

Thomas stood, shivering in his braies, until he found his cloak on the floor and wrapped himself in it. He was nearly at the door when he thought better of answering it unarmed and picked up his rapier as well. He drew the blade but kept it out of sight behind him. “Who is it?”

“Marcus,” said the student. He was in his uniform and winter gear. The two knights Richard had assigned to watch Thomas flanked him. “We’re to assemble in the courtyard after supper and be ready to go as soon as Henry comes out.”

“How long until supper?”

“About a half hour, I should think,” said Marcus.

“Thank you, Marcus,” said Thomas. “See you outside after dinner.”

Thomas closed the door, locked it and threw the bolt. When he turned around Eileen was sitting up in bed, wrapped in the blankets. “You have to go now?” she asked.

“I do,” said Thomas.

“Too bad.” She smiled at him. “You were warm.”

Thomas smiled back and went to the bed. “Nice to know why I’m missed. Shove over.”

Eileen made room and he sat down beside her, wrapping the cloak over both of them before kissing her. Eileen wrapped her arms, still in the blanket, around him and kissed back. It was extremely pleasant and lasted far too short a time for Thomas. He gently extracted himself from the cloak with one last kiss and a squeeze that made Eileen squeal. “Your hand is cold!”

Thomas grinned and started pulling on the fresh uniform. Eileen sighed and pulled herself out of the bed. She yelped when her feet hit the cold floor and scurried across the room after her own clothing. Thomas watched with a combination of amusement for her actions and admiration for Eileen’s form as she gathered all the clothes up and climbed back into the bed. For the next little while the only sign of her was a wiggling lump under the blankets, with occasional glimpses of head or leg as she struggled into the clothes.

“What part of you do you think I’m going to see now that I haven’t already?” Thomas asked as he watched her.

“It’s not that,” said Eileen, her voice muffled under the blankets. “It’s cold out there!”

“Don’t I know it,” said Thomas, pulling the mail shirt over his head. It had a half-dozen rents in it. Thomas, thinking about what sort of damage the swords would have done to Eileen if she hadn’t been wearing it, shuddered as he pulled on his uniform shirt over top of it, then his black coat and cloak. Eileen emerged from under the blankets wearing a thick woollen skirt and a warm sweater.

“Where did you get those?” Thomas asked.

“Had them delivered while you were out cold this morning,” said Eileen. “Lady Prellham wanted me looking like a lady.” Thomas sat down on the bed and started pulling on his boots. Eileen grabbed her own. “Do you think the raiders are still here?”

Thomas shook his head. “I have no idea. I just hope Richard can get enough out of John to figure out where they are all coming from.”

“And when he does?”

Thomas shook his head. “I don’t know. I suppose we march against them.”

“You march against them,” said Eileen. “You’re the only one here who can use magic.”

“Aye,” said Thomas.

“I don’t know what I’ll do,” Eileen said. “I don’t know how I’ll stand it.”

“I don’t know either,” said Thomas. “But after last night…”

“I know.”

Thomas stood up and put on the sword belt, tightening it around his waist. Only then did he remember the two rods from the night before. He told Eileen about them as he looked. “I had them when I came in last night. Where are they?”

“In your desk,” said Eileen. “I guessed they were like the other one and thought I should hide them.”

“You were right,” said Thomas. “Are you coming back here after dinner?”

“I guess so,” said Eileen. “At least from here I can see the city.”

“I’ll tell Henry about them tonight,” said Thomas. “One of them shouted something before he threw fire at me. Sounded like ‘Kone-Skob’ or something. I don’t know the language, but Henry might. I’ll tell him when I get the chance. If that’s the word that activates them, we might be able to use them when we march.”

“I hope so,” said Eileen. “Will you test them, first?”

“If I have time,” said Thomas. “Come on, it must be nearly supper time.”

He took her hand, opened the door and led her out. The two knights, still at his door, fell in step behind them and followed them to the great hall. The wounded had been cleared from the room, and the tables once more set up. The servants served out stew in bowls from a table in the middle of the room, rather than bringing it to people where they sat. The room was very grim. Most of the men were in armour with their weapons at their sides. Thomas and Eileen got their food and headed to where George and Henry’s other knights sat. Lady Prellham was already there, along with Rose.

Lady Prellham looked at Eileen’s clothes and sighed in relief. “You are not going out tonight.”

“I’m not,” said Eileen.

“I am glad,” said Lady Prellham. “You shouldn’t have been in battle.”

“No one should be in battle,” said George. “No sane man would want to.”

“True,” said Patrick. “But sometimes it’s necessary.” He looked at Thomas. “I heard this morning’s matter got resolved.”

“It did,” said Thomas. “Any word?”

“He protests his innocence.”

“Not surprising,” said Rowland. “Given what’s going to happen to him if he’s guilty.”

No one else had much to say after that. Around the room men shoved the stew into their mouths with the hunger of those who didn’t know when they would next eat. The women mostly picked at their food. Worry was in every face. Rose, sitting beside her father, kept looking at him, as if trying to memorize his features.

“Rose,” said Eileen. “I’ll be in Thomas’s tower tonight while he’s in the city. Did you want to join me?” She looked at Bethany. “You, too.”

“Thank you,” said Patrick’s wife. “I think we will stay in our rooms tonight. There is unlikely to be another attack inside the castle.”

“Very unlikely,” said Patrick. “Richard has the palace sewn up with troops. He put Lord John’s knights under his own command, and has them and his father’s knights reinforcing the castle guard. His knights and the Wolves will be out in the city, along with the levies.”

“Will it be enough?” asked Thomas.

“Should be,” said Patrick. “The city’s under curfew. Anyone with a home to go to has to be inside by the first bell of the night. Anyone without a home has to gather in the main square in the poor quarter. Anyone else on the street not part of the levies gets arrested, and killed if he resists.”

“The refugees have to be in the square all night?” said Rose, aghast. “They’ll freeze!”

“Some of them, aye,” said Sir Patrick. “And before you go on, I don’t like it any more than you, but here’s nothing to do about it. Those are the orders.”

“The refugees aren’t the problem,” said Thomas.

“We know,” said Rowland. “But this will keep them all in one place and safe from attacks in the street. It will also keep the people in the city happy.”

“How bad was it?” asked Thomas. “The riots?”

“Bad,” said Rowland. “We ended up killing our own people. It’s not something that’s easily forgotten. Folks will be hate hating each other for a long time over that.”

Thomas nodded his agreement. He finished up his meal with the others and sat, waiting for the order to go outside again. To Thomas’s surprise, servants came around with extra jugs of wine and filled everyone’s glasses as people were finishing up their food.

“Toasts?” said George, taking his wine. “Not tonight, surely?”

At the head table Richard rose to his feet. “Friends,” he said, loud enough to get everyone’s attention. “It is not a night for celebration. But I wanted to make one toast tonight, and I wanted everyone to raise a glass for it.” He looked to Henry, sitting beside him. Henry was looking very unhappy, but he rose to his feet beside his brother.

“It has been a long, difficult night, and an equally long day,” said Richard. “Our city—our home—has been breached by the enemy. We have stopped them, but we do not know if we have banished them from the city. We do not know if we have defeated them. Our populace is living in fear, and those refugees who sought shelter here have become a danger to the city.” Henry looked ready to contradict his brother, but held his tongue. Richard continued. “It is, as I said, a very difficult time. And it is for these reasons that I have decided to accept the offer of assistance from Father Roberts.”

Thomas felt his stomach plummet inside of him.

“Father Roberts and his men left this morning,” said Richard. “They will march to the ports at Weaversland, then go by sea to Hawksmouth. It will take time,” Richard warned his audience. “We will not see his troops for two months. But they will come. And in the meanwhile, we shall no longer be sitting behind our walls, hoping for the enemy to starve himself out. Instead, we shall be taking the fight to the enemy.

“All the refugee men shall be put to arms, and shall serve as part of the external force. My own knights and those of my brothers will go with them. My father’s knights will remain here to secure the city, along with the city’s guards. If we can find where the enemy is basing themselves, then we will bring all our might to bear against them, either in siege until the church’s forces arrive, or if we are strong enough, in an attack to destroy them all.

 “It is a very difficult time, now,” said Richard, “and we all know that times grow harder before they grow better. But this is my pledge. We will no longer wait. We will take the fight to the enemy, and we will destroy them, wherever they are.” He raised his glass. “My friends, rise to your feet and raise your glasses.”

Everyone did, though Thomas was sure the tremble in his hand would spill the wine before the toast was done. Richard looked at them a moment, then raised his own glass higher. “To victory!”

“To victory!” echoed around the room. Thomas said it along with everyone else, and managed to get the glass to his lips before he spilled any. He drank the glass dry in one go.

“Captains to Henry for instructions!” called Richard. “We will root the enemy out of our city this night, and tomorrow, we will start to drive him from our land!”

The knights put their glasses down, and around the room men and women embraced each other or clasped hands. Many words were whispered back and forth, and some had tears flowing down their faces. Eileen hugged Thomas hard, then her brother. Holding a hand of each, she said, “Come back, you hear me?”

“We will,” promised George.

“And be careful,” said Eileen. She reached up and kissed her brother on the cheek, then went back to Thomas for another hug and a much deeper kiss. Thomas accepted both as best he could. She clung to him a moment after it was done and whispered, “What Richard said—what does that mean for you?”

“I don’t know,” Thomas said, squeezing her. “I’ll ask Henry.”
And hope it doesn’t mean I’m a dead man. He handed her the key to the tower. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

***

Six hours later, Thomas was walking a slow patrol around the square, watching the refugee men huddling together in the cold, wrapped in blankets and sitting on bags of their possessions, facing the fires Henry had ordered built for them. The women and children had been given shelter in the stores and taverns around the square at Henry’s order. One of the merchants had protested and had been told in no uncertain terms that he could accept it or spend the night chained against the fountain. The man had relented, grumbling.

Thomas walked slowly along the perimeter, watching the men. He was sure there was no threat there, even though the men themselves were watching each other warily. They sat in groups, letting only those from their own town or village sit with them, and not talking to the others. On the perimeter, Henry’s levies stood watch, looking none too pleased to be there. Thomas rotated his own small troop throughout the night, taking turns on watch or standing beside the fires, waiting. No one slept.

It was well after midnight when Henry finally showed up. He inspected the troops and then told Thomas to let Marcus rest while the two of them walked the perimeter of the square. Thomas waited until they were out of the other students’ hearing. “Now what?”

Henry shook his head. “I don’t know.”

“Do you know what deal Richard made with Father Roberts?”

“No,” said Henry. “Only that the envoy took his men and rode south.” He sighed. “Most of his men, anyway.”

“Which ones did he leave…” Thomas realized who it would be even as the words left his mouth. He suddenly felt much more tired. “The inquisitor.”

“Aye. Plus four guards.”

“And when is he coming after me?”

“Not until he’s done with John,” said Henry. “Richard took John into custody this afternoon. The inquisitor’s been working on him ever since.”

“They’ll kill him.”

“No,” said Henry, looking tired and grim and much older than his years. “They won’t.”

They walked in silence around the square. The refugees looked resentful as Henry and Thomas went by, but no one said anything. Small clouds of steam surrounded the faces of the men as they spoke to one another. Thomas watched them huddle closer to the fires and each other.