The Frostwoven Crown (Book 4) (45 page)

"That's enough of that, Snuff," Captain Gaulve growled.

Snuff snorted and spun his mace in his hand once before sliding it back into its belt loop.

"You're charged with treason, boy," Captain Gaulve said, "Whatever happens, you're in for a bad time of it."

"Treason?" Garrett exclaimed, "That's crazy!"

"A word of advice, boy," the captain said, "You won't be able to hide anything from the priestesses, so don't try. Even if you're guilty...
especially
if you're guilty, just tell the truth, and things will go easier on you."

"Shelbie..." Garrett scoffed, shaking his head.

"If you don't mind my askin', Cap, why are all of us goin'?" Hawk muttered.

"The Matron wants us to testify to the prisoner's behavior during the Shadetree raid." Captain Gaulve said.

"So
that's
why he was so keen to let those rats escape," Snuff chuckled.

"Or maybe I just don't like beating up little kids," Garrett said.

"Captain," Snuff said, "You think maybe I could have the day off to go watch 'em execute him when the time comes?"

Captain Gaulve ignored him.

"You know the punishment for treason, kid?" Snuff asked.

Garrett didn't even look at him.

"First they tie your hands and feet and stretch you out nice and tight," Snuff laughed, "Then this fella with a knife steps up and..."

"Shut up, Snuff," Captain Gaulve snapped.

"Yessir," Snuff grumbled.

"You know what the Chadiri do to Templars?" Garrett mused.

Snuff glared at him but said nothing.

"The same thing they do to necromancers," Garrett said, "As far as they're concerned, you guys and me are all on the same side. They'd probably laugh their butts off to hear you call me a traitor... I'd bet they'd love to see us killing each other off, so they can just walk in and finish off the survivors."

"Do we gotta listen to this, Cap?" Hawk said.

"Shut up, boy," Captain Gaulve sighed, "Save your breath for answering the priestesses. You're gonna have a long night tonight."

Snuff gave an evil, hissing laugh.

Garrett let out a slow breath as he walked on in silence between the Templar guards. He could feel the cold rage beginning to seethe within his chest, but he refused to give in to it. A time might come when his life would depend upon the Songreaver's strength, but he shuddered to think of losing control to that cold, ancient rage ever again.

Garrett's feet were aching by the time they reached the Upper City and arrived at the Chapel Ward. The Templars guarding the main gates shared a few words with Captain Gaulve and then let them pass, eying Garrett with alarm.

Matron Shelbie was waiting in the main courtyard with a score of armed Templars and a sharp grin on her face. "Bind him!" she commanded, and two of her men moved forward to tie Garrett's hands behind his back with green silk cords.

Once Garrett's bonds were secure, Matron Shelbie walked slowly forward until she stood only inches away from Garrett. She leaned close, relishing the moment with a cruel smirk.

"I knew this day would come," she whispered, "Praise the Eternal Mother, Her enemies have been delivered into my hands!"

"Enemies?" Garrett sneered, "You mean the ones in your head?"

Shelbie started to speak again, but her attention was drawn by the sudden appearance of Matron Serepheni who stormed out of the temple, her green robes fluttering behind her.

"What's going on here?" Serepheni shouted.

Matron Shelbie smiled sweetly at the approaching priestess. "So glad you could join us Serepheni," she said, "Perhaps you'd like to confess before these witnesses and save us all the trouble of a trial."

"Confess?" Serepheni hissed, her eyes burning with outrage, "You'd better explain yourself, Matron Shelbie. I have no further patience for your games!"

"Ah well," Shelbie sighed, "I'll enjoy seeing you squirm, trying to explain your actions to the High Priestess."

"The High Priestess
will
hear of this indeed!" Serepheni said, "And perhaps you will enjoy explaining the discord and strife you have spread through her holy temple again and again. Need I remind you of the embarrassment of your previous failures?"

"I need no reminders, Serepheni!" Shelbie spat, "I remember all too well what you have cost me in the past. This time, however, everyone will learn who has been truly serving the cause of our Eternal Mother, and who has been working against Her all along!"

"You go too far, Shelbie!" Serepheni whispered, "This ends now!"

Shelbie gave a bitter laugh. "Yes, Serepheni," she said, "You're quite right about that!"

She turned to Captain Gaulve and the other Logate men. "Captain," she said, "report to the library to give your statements to the scribe I have waiting there. I have given her a list of questions that I will have answered. Be sure to leave nothing out... the time has come for the
whole
truth to be known, Captain!"

"Yes, Matron," Captain Gaulve said, bowing crisply.

"Take the prisoner to his cell," Shelbie commanded the men holding Garrett's arms.

"Don't worry, Garrett," Serepheni said, giving him an earnest look, "I'll sort this all out quickly. I swear it!"

Shelbie laughed again. "Come along then, Serepheni," she said, her voice full of venom, "The High Priestess is waiting."

Serepheni glared at the sneering matron and then turned on her heel to walk stiffly back into the temple, followed closely by Matron Shelbie.

The two men at Garrett's elbows nudged him forward and he went without protest.

Garrett had never known that the Temple of Mauravant contained a dungeon, but now that he was a prisoner of it, he had to admit that it was exactly the sort of dungeon that the Goddess of Death might keep.

He sat in his cell on a low stone bench, listening to the steady drip of water from a corroded pipe that protruded from the mossy stones of the wall to his left. A muddy pool formed on the floor beneath it and emptied into a small sewer grate in the corner. The opposite wall was a single, carved stone bas-relief, depicting a scene of screaming, naked victims being fed into the jaws of a great tentacle-faced worm that seemed to be burrowing up from the core of the world to devour them. He amused himself by trying to count how many sacrificial victims were plummeting to their dooms in the scene, but the number of random body parts surrounding the Worm Mother's mouth made an accurate count difficult.

He soon grew bored of it and glanced again toward the thick oaken door of the cell, seeing nothing but darkness through the small, barred window placed at eye-level in the door. Only a single witchfire sconce sputtered in a recessed hole in the ceiling, lending a dreary green glow to the room.

Hours had passed since the Templars had shoved him into the cell. Obviously Serepheni's promise of a rapid resolution had not paid off. He resigned himself to a longer stay and stretched out on the uncomfortable stone bench, hoping he wasn't going to be here long enough to have to try to figure out how to use the drippy hole in the floor for a privy. He groaned then, realizing that just thinking about the drippy hole made him need to use it even more.

At last, he sighed and rolled off the bench onto his feet. He glanced toward the door again to reassure himself that no one was watching, and then walked slowly over to the drippy corner.

As he began to pull up the front of his robe, a voice called out from inside the shadowy hole at his feet.

"Don't even think it!" the brassy little fairy called out as he poked his head up through the sewer grate.

"Shortgrass!" Garrett gasped, quickly smoothing the front of his robe and stepping back to let the fairy climb free of the grate.

"Blessed be!" Shortgrass moaned, scraping a clot of gray muck from his shoulder and shuddering as he flicked it away, "Through the nine bowels o' Shaeol I crawled ta find ya!"

"Are you all right?" Garrett asked.

"Not'in' a few weeks in a hot bath won't cure," Shortgrass sighed, "but first things first...
Merciful Maker
, what's this?" The little fairy plucked some sort of wriggling insect from his hair and stared at it in horror a moment before tossing it away.

"How did you find me?" Garrett asked.

Shortgrass shook the grime from his wings and flew up to perch on the edge of the stone bench before answering. "Yer changelin' friend's been snakin' 'round tha place, tryin' ta lay her nose on ya. She tracked ya here, but couldn' creep past the guards ta reach ya. T'was then that yer other mates talked me into climbin' up tha nethers o' this place to sort out where they was holdin' ya."

"Lady Ymowyn's inside the temple?" Garrett asked, "What if she gets caught?"

"Nary a chance o' that," Shortgrass chuckled, "She's a tricky one, she is. She walked in, bold as brass, tha spittin' image of one o' them worm-women."

Garrett sighed and shook his head. "She shouldn't be here," he said, "Neither should you."

"Yer, welcome, yer majesty!" Shortgrass growled, "but, be that as it may, we're here, and we're gettin' ya out!"

"I can't go!" Garrett said, "If you guys break me out of here, it'll look bad for Serepheni. I don't know what they'll do to her."

Shortgrass stared at him incredulously. "I neither know nor care to know who Serepheni is," he said, "but we're gettin' ya out, and that's nae up fer debate!"

"No!" Garrett said, "I have to see this through. The High Priestess will know that I'm not a spy. I just have to talk to her."

The fairy grabbed his hair with both hands, his eyes bulging. "I just engaged a water bug the size of a housecat in mortal combat, not seven minutes ago! Me left eyeball is still burnin' from whatever it was I had ta swim through for the last three feet o' tha pipe! I don't even want ta know what it was!"

"I'm sorry," Garrett said, "I appreciate you guys wanting to help, but I'd rather you didn't take the risk of getting caught here. You're just going to make things worse!"

"Worse?" Shortgrass cried, "boy, they're goin' ta skin ya alive, you know that? I'm not exaggeratin' there. These people are actually goin' ta skin ya! Cut ya open like a melon an' scoop out all tha juicy bits. They do that sorta thing here ya know!"

"They're not gonna skin me!" Garrett laughed.

Shortgrass shook his head. "I don' know why I'm waistin' my breath on ya," he said, "I knew ye were a bit simple, but I suppose there's no point at all in tryin' ta shove any sense inside yer great ugly stone of a head."

"I'll be fine," Garrett sighed, "Just do me a favor and try to get Ymowyn out of here before she gets caught, all right?"

Shortgrass gave him a flat look and then answered. "Yes... of course," he said, speaking very slowly, as though he were addressing a rather slow-witted dog, "That is
exactly
what I am goin' ta do. You wait here, and don' worry about a thing."

"I mean it!" Garrett insisted, "I don't want you guys trying to break me outta here. It could get my friend Serepheni in a lot of trouble!"

"Of course!" Shortgrass said with a wide smile as he took wing again, "Just lay yer little head down and get some rest now. Ya look tired. We won't bother ya again."

"I'm serious!" Garrett said.

"Close yer eyes and dream o' cute little bunnies and dandelion fluff," he said, buzzing back down to the mouth of the sewer grate, "I'm sure it will all work out for tha best." Shortgrass gave Garrett a little wave and then disappeared back into the wet black hole.

Garrett sighed.

"An' mind ya give me a three minute head start before ya go waterin' tha daisies!" Shortgrass's voice echoed up from the sewer grate.

Garrett considered pretending that he hadn't heard that last part. He was starting to wish that Mrs. Veranu had picked a different cage with which to test his abilities.

An hour later, as Garrett lay stretched out on the stone bench, considering exactly what he was gong to tell the High Priestess when he saw her, he was startled from his thoughts by a low rumble coming from the corner.

Garrett rolled off the bench with a muttered curse and hurried over to investigate the sounds coming from the drainpipe. He rubbed his hand over his eyes and gritted his teeth as he heard an all-too-familiar yelp of pain following a particularly loud crash.

"Diggs," he sighed.

"Shut up, you idiot!" hissed another familiar voice.

"Warren!" Garrett groaned.

A low hammering noise echoed up the pipe now.

Garrett cast a fearful glance toward the door and then crouched down above the drainpipe and whispered as loudly as he dared. "Guys?"

The hammering continued unabated.

Garrett stood up, stamping his boot on the grate itself, hoping to draw the attention of the burrowing ghouls below.

"Guys!" he cried out again, louder this time.

Then his blood went cold as he heard another sound, a low grating noise, coming from the hallway outside.

Garrett's eyed bulged as he rushed to the door, seeing a dim light flickering against the stone wall opposite the door in the hallway, a light that was growing brighter by the moment. He heard muffled voices and footsteps growing ever closer.

Garrett put his hands on his head, trying to think of something fast. He rushed back to the sewer grate in the corner and kicked it a few more times, but the ghouls kept tunneling somewhere in the sewers below.

Garrett groaned. The footsteps in the hallway were louder now. At any moment, whomever it was might hear the noise of the burrowers beneath. His eyes darted back and forth from the grate to the door, and then he had an idea.

Garrett let out a loud, anguished moan, hoping to cover the sound of the would-be rescuers.

"
Why!
" he cried, "
Why am I persecuted so?
"

He turned toward the door as he heard the sound of a key scraping in the lock.

Another crash sounded from the sewer grate.

"
Whoooo has come to torment me now!
" Garrett howled, "
My life is filled with woe and... and misery!
"

The swollen oak door wrenched open then to reveal a half dozen armored Templars eyeing him warily beyond the door.

"
Nooooo!
" Garrett cried again, drowning out a muffled boom that just then sounded from the grate, "
Why have you come, oh, men... of the temple?
"

The Templars shared a confused look before coming in. They held their cudgels at the ready, watching Garrett for any sign of resistance.

"Uh..." Garrett floundered for something to say to cover up the rhythmic pinging racket that was steadily growing louder in the corner, "I swear my innocence! I can prove it in fact! Take me to the High Priestess, and I will throw myself on her mercy.
Take me there at once... at once!
"

Garrett fell silent then at the mocking laugh of a familiar voice.

"I would not waste her Holiness's time with your foul lies!" Matron Shelbie said as she entered the room, keeping safely behind her wall of Templars. She carried a small jade bottle cradled in her hands.

Garrett stared back at her in wordless rage for a moment before the sound of crumbling masonry stung him to action again.

"Waste her time?" Garrett said, forcing his voice up in affected indignation as he jabbed an accusing finger at the Matron, "It’s not
me
who’s wasting her time, but
you
... with
your
lies... not mine!"

"Enough!" Matron Shelbie barked, "Be silent, or I will have you silenced!"

Garrett held his tongue, grateful that, for the moment at least, the ghouls seemed to have paused in their labors.

"I have come to tell you that sentence has already been passed against you," Matron Shelbie said, "You are to be executed tomorrow morning as a public spectacle... Your flesh will be torn from your body in front of the people of the city as an example of what happens to those who betray the Eternal Mother's trust!"

"No," Garrett whispered, "That's not right." A cold, tingling sensation spread through his chest as he stared back at the gloating Matron in disbelief.

"Matron Serepheni has been humiliated by these revelations, and..."

"What revelations?" Garrett demanded, "I haven't done anything wrong!"

"Oh," Matron Shelbie said, feigning a look of shock, "Haven't you?"

"No!" Garrett cried.

"Well, putting aside your ties with the Neshite cultists, one of whom has already named you as his accomplice, we have the testimony of a Templar captain and his men that you refused to follow orders in apprehending these same cultists... that you, in fact, were found to be carrying one of their unholy weapons when apprehended..."

"Apprehended?" Garrett scoffed.

"Putting aside all of that,
all of that!
" Shelbie shouted, "forgetting that any one of these crimes would be sufficient to condemn you to death, we still find your treason to be the least...
the least
of your crimes!"

"What are you talking about?" Garrett said.

"Did you really think that we wouldn't notice your calling card from your recent foray into our most holy sanctum?" she roared, "Did you think that we wouldn't find the small metal canister of poison with which you sought to profane the most sacred site in the world?"

Garrett fell silent, remembering the essence flask that he must have lost during his escape from the worm pit.

"Yes... you remember now, don't you?" Matron Shelbie laughed, "Damned you are by your own stupidity! You are damned, and now you will die for it!"

"You're a monster..." Garrett rasped hoarsely.

"
You
are the monster, you little freak!" Shelbie shouted, spittle flying from her lips, "You and your kind twist the laws of Death itself, perverting them to your sick pleasures. Did you think that the Eternal Mother would look the other way forever? Did you think that you would escape
justice?
"

Garrett's eyes fell as he considered her words. Had she really won after all?

"Yes, now you know you are doomed," she said, "Now you finally come to accept your just fate!" She paused a moment to relish the hollow look on Garrett's face before continuing. "And yet, even now, the Eternal Mother would offer you one final mercy..."

Garrett narrowed his eyes as he looked at her again.

"Your public execution," Matron Shelbie said, "while it would serve the purpose of instilling righteous fear in others who might otherwise consider following in your footsteps... It would be an embarrassment to the Church, in particular to young Matron Serepheni."