Authors: John Marco
The Eyes of God (79 page)
Lukien braced himself for Cassandra’s reaction. To his surprise she reached out and brushed the hair from his forehead.
“My sweet Lukien,” she said softly.
“Sweet to you, perhaps, Cassandra, but not to the Jadori. To them I’m a monster.”
“Sixteen years, Lukien. A long time.”
“Not long enough to forget the death of a wife,” said Lukien. “You weren’t there, Cassandra. You didn’t hear Kadar. If I live to be a hundred, I’ll never forget the sound of his cries. So you see? I have to go back. You don’t owe the Jadori anything. I do.”
“We will go together, then,” said Cassandra. “I won’t leave you to them alone.”
“I won’t be alone. Thorin will be with me.”
“Thorin Glass is an old man, Lukien. Whereas I—”
“No, Cassandra,” Lukien begged. “Don’t argue with me, please. We’ve talked about this, Thorin and I. You’ll be safe in Marn. No one there knows you, and we’ll come back for you as soon as we can.”
“And if you don’t return?” asked Cassandra.
Lukien shrugged. “If I don’t return, I’ll die knowing that you’re safe. Now please, no more talk of this.” He smiled at her, trying desperately to change the subject. “It’s been so long, I want to enjoy this. And Gilwyn’s right, you know. There isn’t much time before we have to leave. In fact, you should be getting dressed. I’ve brought good clothes for riding. Food, too.”
“Yes, all right,” Cassandra agreed. “Will you fetch the clothes for me? It’s nice by the fire.”
They both rose, Cassandra standing by the fire, Lukien going to the horse. He expected Cassandra to disrobe and wanted to give her privacy, but she called to him a moment later. Lukien turned. She was blinking, confused. Her arms were spread and her eyes dropped down toward her legs. There, in the space between her thighs, a bloom of crimson stained her nightgown.
“Lukien . . . ?”
Cassandra’s breathing grew erratic. The bloody stain spread like ink down her legs. She groaned, softly at first, reaching for her stomach.
“Lukien!”
Lukien hurried toward her, catching her just as her knees buckled. Her skin turned deathly white as an anguished cry leapt from her throat. The blood was spreading; Lukien felt it warm against him.
“What’s happening?” she gasped. She clutched her stomach, slipping from Lukien’s embrace and buckling to her knees. Back and forth she rocked, screaming. Lukien stood over her, confused and terrified. And then he saw the amulet beneath Cassandra’s gown, burning a hot and furious red. Cassandra, shaking, looked down at the thing. “The curse. . . .”
Lukien felt panic rising. He knelt down beside Cassandra, watching in horror as her flesh curdled to a milky white. Her body spasmed as he held her. Cassandra’s hands clutched at his cape, clawing at him for help.
“What’s wrong, what’s wrong?” asked Lukien desperately. “Cassandra. . . .”
She couldn’t answer. Her wide eyes looked at him a moment, then shut tight as pain wracked her anew. A strangled cry rose up from her throat, loosed with a fountain of blood. The blood sprayed across Lukien’s face.
“The cancer,” she gurgled. “I feel it!”
Lukien wrapped her in his arms, bathed in her blood, hoping to somehow stem its tide. She was choking, bleeding from her mouth and thighs and barely able to speak. Beneath her gown the Eye of God shone with wrathful light. Cassandra’s fingers crawled toward it, resting on its shining surface. Lukien barely heard her throttled words.
“I’m . . . dying. . . .”
“You can’t die, Cassandra, you can’t!”
But she was, and Lukien knew it. They had broken the Eye’s power. They had, though it seemed impossible. Cassandra pulled at the amulet’s chain.
“Return . . . it,” she gasped. Weakly she collapsed into Lukien, choking up blood. A giant spasm shook her body. She wailed in his ear, crying for help.
“Tell me what to do,” he pleaded. “Tell me and I’ll help you!”
But Cassandra was beyond words now. There was no more warmth from her body; her skin lost its hue. Even her shaking subsided. A final, violent spasm rippled into smaller ones, slower, slower. . . .
And stopped.
“Cassandra?”
In the moonlight of the orchard, Lukien’s voice was small.
“Cassandra, don’t do this to me.”
There was no answer.
Lukien knelt with Cassandra in his arms, her head bobbing lifeless on his shoulder. The red light of the amulet went out like a candle.
Across the orchard, Gilwyn was relaxing when he heard the scream. He had found a clearing a respectable distance from Lukien and Cassandra, one with a good view of Koth and anyone that might venture into the orchard after them. With Teku on his shoulder, Gilwyn was sitting against a tree, feeling wonderfully satisfied. But the scream he heard shattered his calm.
He bolted upright at the sound, then knew it had come from the camp. Lukien? He sprinted forward as quickly as his bad foot allowed, gripped by terror. The scream was unholy, an ongoing, anguished wail. Teku’s tiny hands clung tightly to his coat as he hurried toward it. The light of the campfire cut through the fog. Next to it was Lukien, on his knees. The knight was rocking Cassandra in his arms. Gilwyn halted. Cassandra wasn’t moving.
“Fate above . . .”
The shocking scene weakened his knees. Blood soaked Cassandra’s face and gown as though she’d been butchered. The stench of her blood hung heavy in the orchard. Lukien was weeping, hacking up great sobs as he clung to Cassandra’s lifeless body. Unable to move, Gilwyn simply stared, horrified at the grisly scene and Lukien’s inhuman cries.
“Lukien, what happened?”
Remarkably, Lukien heard his query. The Bronze Knight turned his tear-streaked face toward Gilwyn.
“You told me it was a hoax!” he snarled. “You promised me!”
“Promised you?”
“The curse! You promised me it was a lie, you wretched little beast!”
“It was!” cried Gilwyn. His head reeled as he looked at Cassandra’s death-white body, splattered with her own bright blood. “I swear, Lukien, it was a hoax. I looked at her. I saw her with my own eyes!”
“Then look at her now!” roared Lukien. He rose with Cassandra in his arms, holding her out toward Gilwyn. “Look what’s happened!”
Gilwyn could barely stutter a response. “I’m sorry! I didn’t know!”
Lukien fell to his knees, dropping Cassandra gently to the ground and collapsing over her. He hid his face in his hands, shaking. The sight of the broken knight shocked Gilwyn. Not even when his own mother died had Gilwyn grieved so violently. He stared at Lukien and Cassandra’s ghastly corpse, letting Lukien sob out all his misery. It was long moments until the knight finally composed himself. When he did he drew a sleeve across his tear- and blood-stained face, gazing hopelessly down at Cassandra.
“Lukien, we have to go,” said Gilwyn shakily. He didn’t like making the suggestion, but knew that their danger had just increased a hundred-fold. “Do you hear me? We have to go, before Akeela—”
“I heard you,” said Lukien. Then, to Gilwyn’s surprise he reached down and took the amulet from around Cassandra’s neck. His free hand went to her face and lightly touched her sunken cheek. It was as if all the life she had stolen for years had gone out of her in one enormous wind. Gone was the beauty that had driven men mad. In its place lay a drained husk.
“Why are you taking the amulet?” Gilwyn asked. He chanced a step closer to Lukien, hoping the knight wouldn’t strike him. But the rage had left Lukien. When at last he turned to Gilwyn, there was only sorrow in his expression.
“We’re bringing the Eye to Jador,” he said. “You and me.”
Gilwyn said nothing. He knew he couldn’t return to the library. Once Akeela discovered Cassandra’s death there would be no safety for either of them. And Akeela
would
discover Cassandra eventually, because they couldn’t take her with them.
would
discover Cassandra eventually, because they couldn’t take her with them.
“I won’t leave her to the rats,” said Lukien. “We’ll bury her here, before it gets light.” His voice had lost its friendly timber. Now it was flat, as dead as Cassandra. Once again he went to his knees. “You’ll have to help me.”
“Lukien, we don’t have a spade.”
But Lukien was already digging, using his fingers to claw up the loamy ground. Without a word Gilwyn knelt down beside him, using his good hand to join the gravedigging. It needn’t be deep, Lukien told him, just deep enough to keep the vermin away until Akeela could find her.
“Akeela will bury her well,” said Lukien through tears. “He loved her, too.”
40
T
he next morning, Akeela discovered Cassandra was missing.
he next morning, Akeela discovered Cassandra was missing.
He had risen early to meet with his wife and tell her the good news—that General Trager’s army was ready to march, and that they would be departing on the morrow. He had expected to break his fast with Cassandra, sipping tea together through the partition while Megal and Ruthanna served them. He had been in an excellent frame of mind. But at the doorway to Cassandra’s wing, he found Jancis.
The blind handmaid looked stricken. She told Akeela that she had only just arisen herself, and that she had gone into Cassandra’s chambers to check on her. But Cassandra wasn’t there, she said. She was gone.
“Gone?” asked Akeela, not quite believing it. “Gone where?”
“Gone, my lord!” said Jancis frantically. She was crying real tears, but Akeela was immediately suspicious. “We’ve looked for her everywhere. She’s left!”
“You looked for her?” hissed Akeela. “
You?
You’re blind, woman! Why didn’t you report this immediately?”
You?
You’re blind, woman! Why didn’t you report this immediately?”
“I told you, my lord, I’ve only just woken up myself. I went in to say good morning and she didn’t answer. I felt around her bed, thinking she might have fallen out. . . .”
Akeela shoved Jancis aside and raced forward. Megal and the other servants were in Cassandra’s quarters when he arrived, calling out her name, blindly searching the opulent rooms. Ruthanna was in tears as she bumped into furniture. Gone was her usual, inhuman poise. Now she was hysterical, her voice hoarse from calling for her mistress. Freen, the cook, was with her, his consoling arm wrapped around her shoulder. It was bedlam in the chambers and Akeela didn’t know what to do. He stood in the center of Cassandra’s main living area, staring dumbly at the chaos, his jaw slack. A terror like he’d never felt before crept up his spine.
“Cassandra?” he called.
Freen and Megal turned their blind eyes toward him.
“King Akeela?” asked Freen. “Is that you, my lord?”
“Great Fate, Freen, where is she?” asked Akeela.
“I don’t know, my lord. We’ve been looking, but—”
“She’s got to be here somewhere!” cried Akeela. Madly be began searching the rooms, dashing into Cassandra’s bedchamber and finding the sheets rumpled with sleep. Obviously she had been here before leaving. But how could she have left? It was unthinkable. If anyone saw her she’d. . . .
“Jancis!” bellowed Akeela.
He ran out of the chambers, back out into the main hall of the wing. Jancis was still there, waiting for him. She stood like a statue at the end of the hall, her white eyes blinking and teary. Akeela stalked toward her, his anger cresting. Behind her, wardens were rushing forward, led by Egin the fuller. The wardens halted at once as they noticed Akeela, giving him a wide berth as he closed in on Jancis.
“You were supposed to protect her,” Akeela seethed. “You were supposed to watch out for her!”
“My lord, I’m sorry,” pleaded Jancis. She dropped to her knees, putting her hands together in a prayerlike plea for mercy. “I don’t know what happened, I swear. I went to sleep after she did. When I woke up she was gone!”
“It’s true, my lord,” said Egin. The fuller inched cautiously toward Akeela. “I went to bed after the queen myself. She turned in early because she said she was tired. That was the last any of us saw of her.”
“Saw of her? Saw of her?” Akeela began to laugh hysterically. “How could any of you fools see anything? You’re all bloody blind!”
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