Heroes Return (41 page)

Hiroki rushed into the room. “My lady,” he gasped. “The Guards have taken Healer Browne! They saw some of her healing tools and they claim they’re for casting. They’re going to flog her in the village square!”

Without a trial? Could they do that?

Fiona swore. “Get my horse, Hiroki,” she ordered, and the young man ran out. “Frances!”

Fiona’s personal maid walked into the room. Did she hover around her mistress at all hours to be readily available?

Fiona handed Stacin to Frances. “Tell Bailey to have all the strongest of the staff go to the village square as soon as they can.” And then she ran from the room, too.

Taro and I followed her out the back of the house. A horse was in front of the stable, a groom in the process of tightening the cinch. Without a word Fiona mounted the horse and kicked it into a canter and then a gallop.

Taro and I didn’t wait for permission or help. We chose two horses, threw their tack on, and were on their backs as quickly as possible.

It wasn’t a long ride to the village, and we got there pretty much on Fiona’s heels. Everyone was gathered in the square, shouting and booing. The village didn’t have a flogging post, because they weren’t barbarians. The Imperial Guards had commandeered a wagon and were trying to tie Browne to one of the wheels. This process was being hampered by the blacksmith and his two apprentices, who were pulling the Guards away and standing between Browne and the wheel. The First Lieutenant had a whip but didn’t have the space to use it. No fists had flown and no swords had been drawn, but I had a feeling it wouldn’t be long before they were.

“Stand aside!” Fiona shouted. “Stand aside! Stand aside!”

It took some time to get the people to pay attention to her, to get them moving out of the way. She slowly forced her horse forward.

The Imperial Guards noticed, of course. The First Lieutenant shouted something, but I couldn’t hear it over the noise of the crowd.

I was thrilled that the tenants were protecting Browne. In High Scape, corporal punishment was a form of entertainment. I didn’t know if I could bear to watch Browne being beaten. If she was going through it, the least I could do was bear witness, but I didn’t think I had the fortitude for it.

Then Fiona was shouting, and I couldn’t hear her, either.

This was getting ridiculous. “Will everyone shut the hell up?” I shouted.

The sudden silence was shocking and gratifying. Who knew I could do that? That had never worked at any other time in my life.

“This woman,” the First Lieutenant announced, “has been found with books, purporting to instruct readers in the use of spells, and the tools used to attempt to carry out those spells. She is in flagrant violation of the law.”

“Those are books and tools of healing,” Fiona sneered. “I doubt you can appreciate the difference.”

“It’s interesting that you mention her ability to heal, Lady Westsea. She has a patient who should have lost her leg and possibly her life, and yet she has lost neither.”

“And you’re claiming Healer Browne cast a spell to accomplish this?” Fiona scoffed. “How very provincial of you.”

The First Lieutenant flushed with anger. “Of course not.”

“So you’re saying Healer Browne pretended to cast a spell and that somehow caused the Wind Watcher to survive?”

“That doesn’t make sense,” the First Lieutenant snapped.

“You’re quite right, and that leaves us with the only possible answer. Healer Browne is an effective healer and she doesn’t use spells to do it.”

“Don’t attempt to twist things, Westsea.” The First Lieutenant pulled a small book from beneath his belt. “This is a book of spells. She has fifteen others like it. That earns her—”

The blacksmith whipped the book out of the First Lieutenant’s hands and passed it to another tenant. The book quickly disappeared into the crowd.

“Return that immediately,” the First Lieutenant ordered, to no effect.

Fiona laughed. “I see no book of spells, First Lieutenant.”

“You think this amusing?” he demanded, outraged.

Fiona’s expression hardened. “I think you’re ridiculous,” she said. “Did you really think you could come here and flog people with no legal procedure?”

“We follow the Emperor’s orders.”

“Then the Emperor forgets himself, for not even his orders can supersede the law. These are my people, and I will not see them beaten on nothing more than your word. And if the Emperor has a problem with that, he can come here and tell me himself.”

And then, to my surprise, everyone cheered. It was heartening, in a way, but it was also kind of disappointing. Had they really thought Fiona would let Browne be flogged by those interlopers?

“I think you’ve overstayed your welcome,” Fiona said once she could be heard again. “You’ll be escorted back to the manor, where you’ll pick up your possessions, and then you’ll be escorted off my land, and you can go back to the Emperor and tell him whatever the hell you want.”

“You’ll regret this,” the First Lieutenant warned her.

“Perhaps, but not today, and tomorrow will have to take care of itself.”

The blacksmith and his apprentices, along with Bailey and two footmen, escorted the Imperial Guards away. The miller was untying Browne from the wheel, and Fiona went to talk to her. I couldn’t hear them from where I stood. “Fiona’s going to pay for this,” I said.

“Aye,” said Taro. “But that will be in the future. I doubt she could have lived with herself if she had let Nab be flogged. From the sounds of it, Nab wouldn’t have survived it.”

“I agree, but she’s walking a dangerous path. And she’s all alone against him. When he chooses to, he’ll squash her like a slug.”

“Well, he’s annoying the Triple S, too,” Taro reminded me. “Maybe they can stand against him together.”

Standing against the Emperor? Was that what we were saying? Were we insane? “So they can get squashed like two slugs.”

“Don’t borrow trouble.”

He had a point there. And there was nothing I could do about any of it in any case.

Later that evening, the overmantel was emptied of its contents. The books were returned to the library. Fiona distributed the knives and the hairball and all the other items. I would have preferred to keep the books hidden in our suite, so I could read them unnoticed.

I wondered what the Guards were going to tell the Emperor about Taro and me. Did they suspect that I had used spells? Had Lila really told them nothing?

Was Lila even her real name?

I knew it was a waste of effort to worry about the future, but I couldn’t help it. It seemed to me that Fiona was bent on aggravating the Emperor at every step. Sooner or later he would feel forced to stomp on her.

I liked her. I didn’t want her harmed. There was just nothing I could do about it.

Chapter Thirty-one

So few words to deliver such disappointing news. I didn’t understand it. It was against Triple S policy. So what if we could channel? Barely. With the help of a spell. Which I couldn’t tell them about. Why wouldn’t they move us? If for no other reason but to show the Emperor who had control over the Triple S?

It was in the Triple S’s best interest to have us stay in Flown Raven. What the hell did that mean?

Damn it, I’d been so sure they were going to move us. It made perfect sense to move us. Transfer in a Pair who had no previous connections to the place, who didn’t care about the Dowager Duchess, who wouldn’t be a walking reminder of the family the tenants thought should be the titleholders, who would easily protect Flown Raven from natural disasters with no difficulties.

What was going on?

I sighed as I folded the letter into a tight little square. I really couldn’t believe it.

We were staying in Flown Raven. For at least a few more years. In a place where the weather was always grim. In a place where we couldn’t ignore the fact that the titleholder was barely hanging on to her authority. In a place where Taro’s mother lived.

A slew of the servants had left, either frightened by the partial destruction of the ridge or infuriated that they’d been forced to dig through it looking for corpses. Some of the tenants had left for the same reason. It wasn’t right. Fiona didn’t deserve that.

I wouldn’t have blamed her if she’d packed up her son and moved back to Centerfield, letting the estate fall into ruin. It wasn’t as though she actually needed it to live well, with her own lands still earning money.

I would miss her if she left. She was one of the few sane people around.

I changed into a dark purple gown before going to the second-floor guest rooms. A quick knock on the door was answered with permission to enter. I stepped into the nicely appointed bedchamber that was housing Radia as she recuperated.

A maid I didn’t know was collecting a meal tray. She curtsied before she left. I believed she was a new hire. I hoped she had nothing to do with the Emperor.

I sat in a chair drawn close to the bed. “How are you feeling?”

Radia, propped up on pillows, shrugged. “Only mildly uncomfortable. The healer has given me a serum that dulls the pain. It makes me thirsty, though, and leaves my mind smokey.”

“Shall I get you something to drink?”

“No, no, I just had some water.”

I would have liked to have had something useful to do, if only for a moment, to have had something to do with my hands. “How long will you need to be laid up?”

“Browne said nearly two months.”

“That’s a long time,” I said with sympathy.

“I’m more worried about the fischen being sounded when needed.”

That was the horn that was blown to warn the people of strong winds, and it, out of all her possessions, had survived the collapse of the tower. “Where is it?”

“In Lord Tarce’s suite.” She winced. “He has claimed responsibility for sounding it.”

I grinned. “Has he, now?”

“He said it was the duty of the family to make sure the warnings were sounded while I was incapacitated.”

“That makes sense.”

“Aye, but Lord Tarce.” She grimaced again.

“You don’t think he’ll do a good job?”

“I don’t even know if he can get a note out of the horn, but no one else is available to do it. I can’t even imagine why Lord Tarce volunteered.”

“Do you not?” Of course she did. The girl wasn’t stupid, after all. She just didn’t want to talk about it. I didn’t blame her, but I was sorely tempted to harass her about him, now that she couldn’t run away.

“I regret that I won’t be able to go to the funeral today,” said Radia. “I believe Lady Westsea will need all the friendly support she can get.”

The day was going to be pure hell for Fiona. The funeral was to commemorate both Dane’s death and the deaths of those who had been killed by the rock slide. I had no doubt Fiona would have preferred a separate small ceremony just for Dane, but I didn’t feel it was my place to ask her why she wasn’t having one. Holding the ceremony for everyone at once would mean Fiona would have to show more concern for her tenants than for her own loss, or someone would have something negative to say about her. “I’m hoping the people who remained are the ones who feel some loyalty toward her,” I responded.

“They could merely be the ones too cowardly to leave their homes.”

“As long as they’re prepared to support Fiona as they should, I don’t care what their motives are.”

There was a knock on the door, and upon being bid to enter, Taro stuck his head in the room. “Lee, they’re starting to gather.”

“Do you need anything before I go?” I asked Radia, and she shook her head.

I joined Taro in the hallway, feeling a little uncomfortable in his presence as I had been for the past week. It still upset me that he had failed to release Lila before the rocks crushed her. I thought he’d had time to free her. And yet, I wasn’t sure I was right. He was the only one who could bury people that way, after all.

He knew it still bothered me. He wasn’t an idiot. But we hadn’t had an argument about it yet. I didn’t know what I could say that wasn’t purely accusing him of deliberately killing her. I didn’t believe that was what had happened. I was just so unsettled.

Despite the privacy Lila’s absence had granted us, Taro and I still hadn’t slept together. Since Lila’s death, we hadn’t laughed together, either. Taro was fairly formal with me, and to be honest I appreciated that distance while I tried to figure out how I felt about him.

We went out behind the manor. Fiona was already there, as were many of the members of her staff, a handful of tenants and almost every aristocrat in the area. Fiona looked grim but well rested. I didn’t know whether to talk to her or not, so I settled on not. Noninterference was usually the better path of action.

The ceremony began. It required over twenty children to bring the personal tokens of the dead to the fire. The speeches about the dead took hours. And I could feel the anger in the crowd, see it in the glances sent Fiona’s way, hear it in their clipped words.

Myself, I glared at the Dowager Duchess. She could have made this easier for Fiona. As a member of the original family of titleholders, she could have assured the tenants that nothing important would change when Fiona took the title, that they would be taken care of. Instead, she had helped poison their minds against Fiona.

Simone wasn’t with her, or anywhere in the crowd. Maybe she had gone home. I wondered if that meant the Dowager had given up her plot to separate Taro and me.

The speeches wound down. After that, there would be eating and drinking. The drinking would include alcoholic beverages. Given the current mood of the people, I thought that was a bad idea.