The Griffin's Flight (77 page)
Read The Griffin's Flight Online
Authors: K.J. Taylor
Held firmly between two guards, she found herself looking straight at Annir. She bared her teeth. “Liar!”
Annir looked helplessly at her. “Please, just do what they tell you; they’re not going to—”
The guard standing beside Annir smacked her in the face. “Shut up an’ get movin’. Go up an’ tell ’em they’re a-comin’ now.”
Annir clutched at her cheek. “Yes, sir.”
“Now, you,” said the guard, turning to Skade while Annir left. “I don’t want anythin’ from you except ‘Yes, sir’ an’ ‘No, sir,’ understand? Try anythin’—anythin’ at all—an’ I’ll tear your tits off.”
Skade hissed at him and said nothing.
The guard nodded to the two holding her. “Move it.”
They moved off, marching her between them up the corridor. She tried to break away from them at first, but one of them hit her in the head so hard that stars filled her vision. Stunned and bleeding from a cut above her ear, she stumbled between them without any further resistance. Their short journey ended in a small room at the end of the corridor, the same one where she had been interrogated. But this time there were other people waiting for them.
Skade blinked, cringing as her head exploded with pain. Eight people, four of them guards. The other four were in manacles: Saeddryn, Rhodri and two Eitheinnians who had been arrested on the same day as she had.
One of her guards saluted. “Got the last one, sir. Sorry for the wait; she’s madder’n ever.”
“Bring her here.”
Skade allowed herself to be taken over to the other prisoners, and was made to stand just behind Saeddryn. The Northerner shifted backward slightly and managed to brush Skade’s hand with her own. “Skade! Are ye all right?”
“I am not hurt,” said Skade. “What is—?”
“Shut up,” a guard commanded. “Now.” He moved to stand in front of the prisoners so they could all see him. “We’re takin’ you out’ve here. There’ll be guards flankin’ you the whole time, so don’t even think about tryin’ anything on. Behave an’ you’ll get fed. Do anythin’ to piss me off, you get a beating. The choice is yours.”
“Where are we goin’?” Saeddryn piped up.
He hit her. “Did I say talk? No? Right. Now move. Go on, move!”
The prisoners were taken out of the room and marched in single file up and out of the dungeons, with guards in front and behind them, swords drawn. Once they had ascended to the upper levels of the prison complex, they were led out through a gate and into the open air. More guards were waiting, standing around a large cage on wheels that had a pair of oxen yoked to it.
The captain signalled to two of them to open the door at the back of the cage and gestured at it with his sword. “In.”
They climbed up one at a time and sat down on the pair of benches provided. The door was closed behind them, and the guards took up new stations: two climbed up onto the driver’s seat, and others perched on special ledges that ran around the outside of the cage. Those that remained behind guarded the door, and they waited there like that for some time until the gate opened again and Annir came through.
She took a few steps back, and bowed low. “Master.”
Inside the cage, Skade tensed when she saw the griffin emerge. It was female, thin and long-legged, with pale brown feathers and blue eyes. She approached the cage and sat on her haunches, looking haughtily at the prisoners. Skade snarled at her.
Annir’s master came close on the griffin’s tail. He was a boy, younger than Arenadd, stockily built and clad in a fine blue velvet tunic. His face was round and snub-nosed, decorated by a sprinkling of freckles and a pair of bright blue eyes. Those, coupled with his tousled sandy-brown hair, made him look almost comically similar to his griffin.
One arm was bound in a sling. He waved the other at the guards. “Put her in the cage.”
“Yes, my lord.”
One guard opened the door and gestured at Annir, and she climbed up into the cage without argument and sat down next to Skade.
“Now—” The boy shifted uncertainly and cast a quick glance at the griffin. She looked back stonily, and he stood up a little straighter. “Now, if everything’s in order, we should go.”
“Yes, my lord,” said the captain. He nodded to the two men holding the reins, and they lashed the oxen into motion. The cage lurched and began to roll forward, toward another gate that would lead them out into the city. That was opened, and they were out of the Eyrie and away. The boy and the griffin followed behind until they were in the open, and then the boy climbed onto his partner’s back and she flew away. Skade watched them fly ahead of the cage as it wove through the city, passed out of it and began to follow the main trade road that headed northward.
“Maybe we are being set free,” she muttered aloud.
Saeddryn leant forward. “Skade, d’ye know what’s goin’ on?”
Skade looked up. “No.” She nodded at Annir. “But she does.”
Saeddryn gave her a distasteful look. “And what d’ye know, blackrobe?”
Annir glared back. “Don’t you dare talk to me like that, girl. I’ve spent more of my life living free than you’ve been breathing, and I will not be called a blackrobe by you or anyone.”
“Put on airs if’n ye want,” said Saeddryn, unimpressed, “but that ain’t gonna change much of anythin’. Now what’s goin’ on? Where’re we goin’?”
Annir shook her head. “All I know is that we’re being taken somewhere out in the countryside. Lord Erian—”
“Erian?” Skade said sharply.
“Yes, Lord Erian, my—” Annir’s face twisted. “My master. He’s agreed to meet someone there. I don’t know who, but he needs us with him.”
Saeddryn looked troubled. “But who? It couldn’t be—” She checked to see if the guards were listening, and then leant forward. “What’ve ye told them? What do they know?”
“I told them nothing but my name,” said Skade.
Rhodri shook his head. “They asked some questions an’ roughed me up some, but I din’t tell ’em anythin’ much. Just my name. I kept sayin’ I didn’t know nothin’ about anythin’ else.”
The other two gave similar replies.
“Good,” said Saeddryn. She leant forward even further, her voice a mere whisper. “So it seems they don’t know anythin’. They mustn’t think we know anythin’ much, or they would’ve tortured us properly. Or maybe they was just waitin’ for approval from up top. They don’t just torture everyone; they got to get permission first. They can’t hang us; all they know we’ve done is resist arrest, an’ who wouldn’t? Everyone in Tara hates the Eyrie. They could’ve sold us for that, but seems they ain’t interested. Maybe they’re gonna set us free. They can’t keep us locked up forever.”
Annir didn’t look happy. “I don’t think so. There’s something big going on behind this, I’m sure of it.”
Saeddryn gave her another unpleasant look. “An’ what would ye know about it?”
“Everything,” Annir snapped. “I happen to be Lord Erian’s personal slave, and I saw him while he was planning this. I’ve never seen him so anxious. And why would he be coming with us if this was just a routine prisoner release? Well? Why would
I
be coming?”
I
be coming?”
Saeddryn stared at her. “Just who are ye, anyway? Have I seen ye before?”
“I’m Annir.”
Saeddryn squinted. “Annir, from where?”
“Idun village. What’s your name?”
“Saeddryn.”
“Oi!” a guard’s voice interrupted. “No talkin’!”
They kept quiet after that, and the cage rumbled on for most of the rest of that day. That night they stopped at a roadside inn, and the prisoners stayed out the back in their cage and were provided with food that was at least fresher than what they had had in the dungeon. Skade slept that night leaning against the side of the cage, and dreamt of flying.
The journey resumed early the next day and continued until noon. The guards had become less attentive now, no doubt tired from all the time spent on the road, and the prisoners could talk again.
“Where d’ye think we’re going?” said Rhodri.
“Who knows?” said Saeddryn. She looked up at the griffin still flying above them. She was low enough for them to be able to see the colour of her feathers. “Who’s this Lord Erian, anyway?”
“The Master of Farms at Malvern,” said Annir. “His griffin is called Senneck.”
Saeddryn glanced at Skade. “And how do ye know him, Skade?”
Skade shook her head. “It does not matter.”
“But if it could give us some clues, then it does matter,” said Saeddryn. “Who is he? Ye’ve heard his name before, so don’t lie about it.”
They were speaking in the lowest whispers possible—so quietly they could only just hear each other—but Skade checked the guards anyway and leant very close to Saeddryn to reply. “He is the son of Lord Rannagon.”
Saeddryn didn’t move a muscle. “An’ what is he doin’ here?”
“He is Arenadd’s enemy,” said Skade. “He wants to kill Arenadd for killing his father. He came to the North to find him and sold both Arenadd’s parents into slavery. Cardock told me before he died.”
Saeddryn pulled away from her. “Damn him!”
Skade, however, was looking at Annir. Those eyes—and not just the eyes, she thought suddenly. There were the brows, too, and the line of the jaw. All familiar. Her pulse quickened, and she leant forward. “Annir, why are you the Bastard’s slave?”
“I was a prisoner,” Annir said briefly. “At Norton. My husband and I were locked up there. Lord Erian found us there and had us sold.”
Skade’s eyes widened. “Your husband. What was his name?”
Annir sighed. “His name was Cardock, and I don’t know—” She stopped dead, and every guard there jerked awake, at the cries of astonishment from both Skade and Saeddryn.
“Here!” one shouted. “Stop that right now, damn you!”
They had to wait quite a long time before calm returned and the guards’ attention lapsed again.
“Cardock!” Saeddryn exclaimed in an undertone. “Ye mean Cardock Skandarson? Cardock Taranisäii?”
“Yes,” said Annir. “I don’t know what happened to him. I haven’t seen him since the day we were sold.”
Skade leant very close to her. “He is dead.”
Annir just stared. “What?”
“I was there when he died,” said Skade.
“Where? How?” Her voice was sharp now, urgent and no longer concerned with whether the guards might hear.
“He was killed by a—” Skade was silenced by a blow to the back of the head, delivered by the guard perched just behind her. She turned and tried to bite his hand, and then lurched backward and nearly fell off the bench as the cage came to an abrupt stop. They had driven off the main road and over a field, toward a patch of large pine trees, and Senneck had come down to land just in front of the cage, hissing disdainfully as the oxen shied.
Erian got down off her back. “We’re there,” he said to the guards. “Come on, you know what to do.”
The guards nodded and went into action. The cage door was opened and the prisoners were made to climb out. The guards surrounded them in a ring and herded them toward the trees, with Senneck and Erian following. When they were at the very edge of the patch, they halted and the captain addressed them.
“Now,” he said, “I want you to walk. Go into the trees, an’ don’t stop walkin’ until you find a clearin’ with a big yew tree in it. Stop there, an’ don’t move. We’ll be followin’ at a distance.” He unshipped a crossbow from his back and loaded a bolt into it. “If you turn back or try to run, you’re dead. Now march.”
Saeddryn was the first to step toward the trees. “Follow me,” she told the others. “Keep together.”
They formed up and followed her. Skade cast a baleful glance at the guards and especially at Erian, and went, too. They walked on until they saw the clearing ahead, then the captain stopped them and gave Annir the key to the manacles.
“Unchain ’em.”
Annir did, and the guards gathered up the chains. After that the captain nodded silently at them, and they walked into the clearing. Skade pushed ahead, every sense alert for signs of trickery. She heard a noise behind her and looked back to see the guards spreading out, ringing the clearing, with their bows at the ready. There was no escape from here.
She walked toward the yew tree. It was indeed big, its trunk dark and gnarled. Low twisted branches were laden with poisonous red berries. She could smell their aroma, all sharp and acidic, mingled with the scent of pine needles—and with something else. Some other scent, a dark, cold dangerous scent, a wonderful scent.
Skade’s mouth opened to say the name, but she was too slow. In that moment, a tall robed figure dropped out of the tree in front of her, and she was enveloped by a pair of arms.
“Skade!”
Skade jerked in shock but returned the embrace. “Arenadd!”
Arenadd held her close. “Skade. My sweet Skade.”
They parted reluctantly, and he looked her up and down. His face looked different: thinner, older, more worn and troubled. But his smile was genuine and his eyes warm with concern. “Have they hurt you?”
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