EPIC: Fourteen Books of Fantasy (67 page)

‘How dare you call me a liar, Mayor?’ Healer Euka said. ‘When I politely refused your offer, you sent your red-headed friend here to threaten me to stay away. She gave the order to attack me on my last voyage from Meligna to Borrelia. Some of my men died. I was only interested in having the young healer girl sign the register so King Erageo would know of her. The Queens wish the peace between the North and South to remain, but sometimes I wonder whether Senyans feel the same.
I’ve
never felt welcomed in this or any other town in South Senya. This Ruxdorian traitor here—’ Healer Euka pointed at Klawdia. ‘—she may not be Senyan born, but she
is
a citizen, so her actions represent the king’s since
he
protects
her
.’

‘But you keep her son hostage!’ I shouted. ‘Why don’t you let him go?’

Her smile infuriated me. ‘Nallael is a Meligna citizen and repays the debt that his mother could not.’

Klawdia clenched her fists, and her blue eyes flickered. If not for Captain Festral, Klawdia might have murdered the red-robed woman right then.

The captain took a step towards my warrior friend, stealing a glance at the blade in her hand. ‘If you did indeed attack a Meligna dignitary, you will suffer the penalty. I condemn your actions, and you
will
answer to the king himself.’ Shadows cast from torchlight distorted the captain’s face. His sincerity, in that moment, made me understand why he commanded the Royal Senyan Guard.

Klawdia narrowed her eyes and gave a single nod.

‘It’s not true,’ Emala said, clenching her fists. ‘Sir,’ Emala addressed Captain Festral. ‘She lies, sir. I heard their conversation some months ago. Healer Euka offered my father one hundred gold to sell Adenine.’

‘And I never accepted,’ Mayor Vawdon added.

‘You didn’t?’ Emala said, clearly shocked at her father’s admittance.

A twitch of Healer Euka’s mouth made me reflect on past events. Perhaps Mayor Vawdon had never accepted the money from the ambassador. Maybe he hadn’t been working with Healer Euka at all.

‘You must have heard me wrong,’ Mayor Vawdon said, crouching to put his hands on Emala’s shoulders.

‘I’m sorry Father, but I don’t believe you,’ she said. ‘I know what I heard.’

One of Mayor Vawdon’s eyes twitched. He stared at Emala’s feet, deep in thought.

‘Captain,’ Klawdia said. ‘All of this needs to be brought before the king.’

The captain frowned and spread his hands. ‘You do seem eager for the king’s judgement on this. He will see your guilt the same way I do. What do you hope to get from this plot of yours, savage?’

‘Klawdia is no savage!’ Jemely yelled.

Healer Euka pointed at Klawdia. ‘She’s a traitor to her people and to my people.’

‘Silence!’ the captain snapped. ‘I’ve ridden for twelve hours. My arse aches, my joints are stiff, and I’m in no mood for petty accusations. Devil’s balls, I’ve no stomach for any of this.’ He pointed at Mother. ‘You there, cripple. What did you do wrong?’

‘She locked me in a storeroom,’ Healer Euka said haughtily.

The captain sniggered. ‘And I’d heard healers were smart.’

‘Actually, it was me. I locked her in.’ Jemely said.

The captain folded his arms. ‘Now, that I can believe.’

‘Jemely—’ Mother began.

Jemely silenced her with a determined look. ‘The healer wench offered Capacia gold to have her and Adenine come live with her. When Capacia refused, Healer Euka started accusing her of neglecting Adenine. So I locked her in.’

‘No, it wasn’t her,’ Healer Euka insisted. ‘She wasn’t even here when it happened.’

‘I was hiding in that room.’ Jemely pointed toward Mother’s bedroom. ‘’Sides, you think this crippled crony could outsmart an ambassador of Meligna?’

The captain scratched his chin.

‘Of course not,’ Jemely continued answering her own question. ‘She’s just admitting to it ‘cause she didn’t want the girl being snatched away by the likes of you!’ She thrust a finger in Healer Euka’s direction.

‘I knew it!’ Healer Euka hissed. ‘The girl is
your
child! Capacia, you belong in Meligna. Come with me. You still have fertile bloodlines and a ripe womb. You could have another child. We have many handsome, strong men waiting to serve a beautiful woman such as yourself. You’d be treated like a queen, the same way Adenine would.’

Mother gave her a doubtful look. ‘If the people of Meligna share your moral compass, then I’d rather be under the rule of an inexperienced king and remain a widow than belong to your twisted world.’

Jemely covered her mouth to hide a snicker, and her shoulders jostled.

The captain smirked at Mother. ‘It seems your tongue is the most likely thing to cause harm here. Unless you all have something else to accuse Capacia of?’ He looked pointedly at Mayor Vawdon and then at Healer Euka. Neither spoke. ‘I don’t really see why we should take the maid either.’

Jemely reddened. She hated being called a maid.

‘She hit me across the face,’ Healer Euka said.

‘And I’d do it again,’ Jemely replied.

‘And that Ruxdorian savage hit me across the head so hard that I fell to the floor. I blacked out,’ Healer Euka said.

‘I don’t see any marks on you,’ the captain said.

Healer Euka pursed her lips. ‘I heal quickly.’

Captain Festral groaned. ‘All right, you’re all coming except the mother.’

‘Good. I want both the savage and the maid on trial,’ Healer Euka stated.

I held up my hand. ‘No. Please. Let Jemely stay.’

‘Which one’s Jemely again?’ Captain Festral asked, rubbing his forehead.

Jemely raised her hand. ‘Me.’

Healer Euka smiled at me. ‘If you want Jemely to stay here, then maybe you and I can come to some agreement about the future.’

Mother wheeled her chair into the back of the ambassador’s legs. ‘
What
did I say about speaking to my daughter?’

The healer tightened her lips and took a couple of steps back.

Captain Festral brought his hand to his mouth and seemed to be hiding a smile. ‘All right. So you, you, you, you,’ he said, pointing at the selected people. ‘And… are you going to murder that child or not?’ he asked Klawdia.

‘No,’ Klawdia replied, dropping her blade from Emala’s throat. ‘I meant the girl no harm.’

The captain stepped forward and snatched the weapon. ‘Why did you get involved in this?’

‘I have a history with the healers,’ Klawdia said. ‘This girl does not want to go to Meligna, and I believe that should be her choice.’

‘Even if it antagonises the already tense relationship between North and South?’

Healer Euka asked. ‘The Queens were most displeased to hear of my misfortune on my last visit. They’ll be even less appeasing if the king does not punish this savage adequately. We will want a formal apology.’

Klawdia puffed out her chest and strode towards the healer, who took a defensive step back. Healer Euka looked to the captain for help. The captain sighed and pulled at the hilt of his sword allowing the scrape of metal to fill the space between the two women.

Klawdia’s eyes darted to the captain’s steel, and she halted, her face inches from the healer’s. ‘Do not call me savage when you manipulate people with lies and gold. My father left this world with many regrets, his biggest being that he ever trusted the Queens. On that night, tears bled from his eyes for the first time. A curse on you who gives no aid to King Erageo and forces children to become whores.’

‘All right. Calm down,’ Captain Festral said, grabbing Klawdia’s arm.

She snapped her eyes to him, and he held her gaze boldly. She conceded and stepped away.

Outside, I could hear shouting, but I was unable to understand the words. Then, those shouts turned rhythmic. A chant. It repeated over and over, and my blood chilled in its veins. I shivered and wondered if they would call for my death like they had Father’s. The chanting grew louder. ‘Whores! Whores! Whores!’Captain Festral tilted his head, listening.

‘Let’s go. The town grows agitated and I’ve only enough soldiers with me to keep the people controlled for a short time. We’ll settle the rest in the king’s court.’

Mother’s eyes glistened as she hugged me. ‘Take care. We’ll see each other soon. I know it.’

A guard pulled me away, and I followed Captain Festral downstairs, where the rest of his soldiers waited to escort us.

Chapter XXXI

T
HE
SHOUTS
GREW
LOUDER
AS
the door to Mystoria opened. About six soldiers left first to push back the large crowd that huddled around the entrance.

Captain Festral went next and shouted, ‘You will all fall back and let the
king’s
men deal with this.’

The people quieted a little until they saw Healer Euka. There were gasps and curses. They’d seen Healer Euka before, but their courage had grown as their numbers swelled. More gasps erupted when I followed behind the elegant ambassador.

Every face displayed shock or disdain. No longer able to endure the rawness of their hate, I looked at my shoes. I jiggled my foot, and a little powdery ice fell off the brown leather.

‘There she is!’ a man said, shoving people aside to get closer to me. ‘That’s the girl who stabbed my brother!’ The man seemed familiar, yet I was sure I’d never seen him.

Captain Festral looked at him and then me. ‘What have you to accuse this girl of?’

‘Today. This afternoon. She stabbed my brother, Derkal, in his own house after trying to seduce his son for the second time!’

‘Whore!’ a woman cried.

‘Yeah, send her north with the healer witch where she belongs,’ another said.

My own people didn’t want me and maybe, once upon a time, the Queens had felt the same way. The forefathers of the people that were glaring at me had fought a war alongside my grandfathers. Their families had suffered from the Death Plague, as had mine. There seemed more reasons for us to be united than divided.

‘Send her north? Hang her, I say,’ someone else said.

‘Come with me,’ Captain Festral said to Derkal’s brother.

We pushed through the crowd. More yelling, jeering, and chanting of my name made me cover my ears. We arrived at the council building, and Jemely shoved me through the building’s entryway. The soldiers filed in behind us, locked and barred two solid doors. The shouting continued outside.

‘You all right?’ Jemely asked.

I was so shaken all I could do was stare at her.

Jemely pulled me close, giving me a squeeze. ‘It’s not you they hate. It’s the Queens. They just can’t tell the difference between them and you, that’s all.’

I tuned into the conversation between Captain Festral and Derkal’s brother.

‘It’s her, all right. She went to my brother’s farm today. Now he’s at the doctor. He barely survived. If he’d lost anymore blood… so the doctor said. There’s a deep wound in his back. Derkal said he found the healer whore straddling his son. On his sickbed!’ Derkal’s brother scowled at me. The man stood as tall as a horse and as broad as a bear.

The captain regarded me. ‘Is this true?’

‘Of course it ain’t true,’ Jemely spat. ‘Our Adenine wouldn’t hurt no one.’

‘Quiet her, please,’ the captain ordered, and a soldier pulled Jemely away from me.

‘Hands off, oaf!’ she said, thrashing about.

‘Adenine?’ the captain prompted.

‘It’s not the way it happened. I… well, I was going to leave town because Mayor Vawdon wanted to send me away to Meligna. I wanted to say goodbye to Frooby first. But when I went there Frooby’s father, Derkal, tried to make me… he tried to make me lay with Frooby.’ My face flushed. ‘But I couldn’t. I couldn’t. And then Derkal dragged
me
onto the ground, undid his pants, and…’ My throat closed up, and tears trickled down my face.

‘My brother wouldn’t do that!’ Derkal’s brother yelled. ‘She’s spinning devil’s lies.’

‘Rape is a severe allegation, young lady.’ At first I thought the captain wasn’t going to believe me until he asked, ‘If you didn’t attack Derkal, who did?’

I paused for a moment. I could save myself, but I couldn’t do that to Frooby. Frooby valued his honour and would feel his shame deeper than any wound.

‘I was defending myself,’ I said, wiping at the tears on my face.

Captain Festral sighed. ‘You’ve already been through enough today.’ He turned to Derkal’s brother. ‘Your brother attacked a girl with a dagger. He deserved his injuries. I see no reason to pursue the matter.’

Townspeople began to pound on the council building door. The soldiers seemed to brace themselves at the sound.

‘What? The healer bitch gets away with it then? She’s bewitched you too, eh? You’re all under a spell, every single one of yous.’ Derkal’s brother shoved his fists in Captain’s Festral’s face.

A soldier drew his sword and rested the tip at the nape of Derkal’s brother’s neck. The man glanced at the sword, smirked, and stalked towards the door.

Captain Festral raised a hand and gestured with his fingers. The soldiers drew their weapons and formed a horseshoe shape around the entrance. Two of them unbarred the doors and flung them open, and a couple of others shoved the man into the angry crowd before the doors were quickly pulled shut again. When the wooden beam was replaced, I sighed with relief.

‘Men, deal with the mob,’ the captain ordered. His voice seemed to growl with his frustration.

One soldier stayed inside while another ten spilled out of the council hall and into the streets.

‘What a headache.’ Captain Festral rubbed his temples and punched a nearby table. Outside, there were shouts, cries, and screams followed by silence. ‘Ah, much better. You healers sure cause a lot of trouble,’ he said, looking at me and then at Healer Euka.

‘Perhaps the king needs better leaders to keep his people under control,’ Healer Euka retorted.

Captain Festral scowled at her.

A soldier interrupted. ‘All clear, sir.’

The captain rolled his eyes. ‘Let’s leave.’

Two large carriages led by four horses waited outside. Jemely, Klawdia, and I were put in one with a guard. Mayor Vawdon, Emala, and Healer Euka went into the other.