The Unwilling Accomplice (Book 5) (11 page)

"I. . .I should have told you all earlier-" Ned began.

"Probably," Canto spoke up.

"-but Fred here is not merely my apprentice. He has been my apprentice before, in another life," Ned told them.

"Come again?" Percy wondered.

"The soul inside of Fred's body, the one Canavar tried to claim that night in String, belonged at one time to Cedric Osgood, son to Martley and Canavar," Ned revealed.

A quiet like the grave settled over the group. Canto and Pat stood agape, while Sins and Percy remained stiff. Ruth furrowed her brow. "But how is this possible? Can souls travel from one life to the next?" she asked Ned.

"It is possible only through Canavar's interference in the natural order of things. He sought to use soul magic to revive Cedric, but I interfered in his plans and Cedric's soul was sent far afield to land in Fred's body when he was quite young," Ned explained.

Pat stiffly stepped forward toward Fred and looked into his eyes. "Then you're. . .you have died before?" she asked him.

"Yes," Fred told her.

"In a way, yes, and in a way, no," Ned spoke up. "His soul has died, but the young man we have here, my apprentice Fred, is a different person. He has not died."

"Martley didn't say that. She said I was her son," Fred argued.

Canto held up his hands and stalked over to Ned. "Just wait a minute here," he spoke up. He looked keenly at Ned. "Yer saying that we have Canavar's son in our little group here, and ya knew about it all along?"

"Since I met Fred at his childhood home, yes," Ned revealed.

"Then why the hell did ya take him along with ya? What if his soul decides he wants to go back to his father and leave us behind?" Canto suggested.

Pat swirled around and glared at the dwarf. "Fred would never do such a thing," she argued.

"I believe him," Ruth quietly spoke up.

"Ah'm not saying Ah don't believe Fred would do it, but that soul in him might have other ideas," Canto added.

"A moment, if you please," Percy spoke up. He turned to Ned. "If what you say is true then perhaps Fred is the source of all the problems we have faced so far."

"Percy!" Pat cried out.

Percy shook his head. "Here me out. These stones were tampered with fifteen years ago. When did this Cedric Osgood pass on?"

"Shortly after Cedric visited the Temple of Phaeton fifteen years ago," Ned replied.

"Then it seems Fred is unwittingly the source of all our troubles," Percy confirmed. "Canavar has tampered with the Region Stones for some terrible purpose, and every time one has come alive we have been near them. Could not Fred be the purpose, or at least the catalyst, for these terrible events?"

Ned shook his head. "No, I will not blame Fred for Canavar's selfish attempts to revive the dead."

"No one is blaming Fred, but his soul may be a problem," Percy rephrased. "Where does its loyalty lie?"

"Not with Canavar. Cedric had very little love for his father in his life, I would doubt he would have much for him after his death," Ned replied.

"Ah don't know if we can trust that," Canto argued.

Pat marched into the center of the group and glared at each of the men. "Do you know of what you speak? You're accusing Fred of being a traitor, a danger to all of us! He has done nothing but help us in our adventures, why should anything change now?"

"Because, as Ned explained, Canavar took a part of his soul. What can he do with it?" Percy wondered, directing his question at Ned.

Ned grimly shook his head. "I wish I could speak of all the abilities Canavar knows in regards to souls, but I do not. As Martley informed us she was an experiment in soul recalling, and her soul passed on several years before I made the acquaintance of Cedric."

Fred slowly stood to his feet and everyone quieted. The young man glanced up and looked into each of their eyes. Canto turned away, Percy raised an eyebrow, and the others' eyes wavered. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cause any of this. I. . .I thought I was helping save everyone, but I was wrong. I'm. . .I'm just sorry." Fred rushed from the room.

Pat was close on his heels, but Ned barred everyone else from following. "Let the young ones work things out," he commanded them.

Fred didn't go far. He hurried into his room and tried to shut the door, but Pat slipped inside. Fred turned away from her toward his bed. "Go away. Don't you know I'm just trouble?" he reminded her.

"No, I don't know, and that's why I followed you." She passed him, plopped herself down on the bed, and patted the space beside her. "I want to tell you a few things, and I want you to listen."

"Bossy as ever. . ." he grumbled.

Pat's face softened and she shook her head. "No, I want to speak with you as a friend. Please?" Fred raised an eyebrow, but shuffled over and seated himself at her side. Pat tried to catch his eyes, but he kept looking away. "Ned is right, you're not to blame for all the trouble that's been caused by the stone," she insisted.

"Then why do I feel like I'm the trouble?" he countered.

"Because you're an idiot," she replied. Fred whipped his head to face her and opened his mouth, but she put her fingers on his lips. His cheeks lit up in a dazzling red and his lips were sealed. Pat's eyes shone into his and a small smile played on her lips. "You're not to blame for anything other than your own actions. You didn't force Canavar to set the stones, nor hurt all those people. Those were his actions. Your actions have been to stop his madness, and you have risked your life and soul to do that. Does that sound like the work of an evil soul, one we can't trust?" she asked him.

"Mm hmh mm," he replied.

Pat rolled her eyes and pulled her fingers away. "Care to repeat that?"

"I guess not," he repeated.

"Good. Now get some rest and I'll speak with the others to convince them you're not a threat," she promised as she stood.

Fred snorted. "Good luck changing Canto's mind."

Pat grinned, and the expression had a bit of mischief in it. "We could always threaten to leave him here to live off the elf portions," she suggested.

Fred smiled. "He might change his mind with that," he conceded.

"We'll see, now get some rest and we'll look on you in a while," Pat commanded him.

Pat stepped outside the room and quietly shut the door behind herself, but she didn't immediately go to Ned's room. Instead she placed her forehead on the door and sighed.

"What's wrong?" a voice asked her. Pat spun around and found Ruth standing close behind her.

"I-it's nothing," Pat replied.

Ruth smiled in her knowing way. "What is truly bothering you?" she asked her friend.

Pat glanced around the hall and, seeing no one, firmly took hold of Ruth's arm and led them to the end of the balcony at the front of the castle. She lowered her voice so only Ruth could overhear her. "Fred has-would you consider Fred as being dead?" she asked Ruth.

Ruth blinked and tilted her head to one side. "In a way, but what brings you to ask such a question?"

"It's nothing, really. I was just-I was just wondering. But could you keep watch outside Fred's room? Martley may return for Fred at any moment," Pat pointed out.

Ruth smiled and bowed her head. "It would be an honor," she accepted.

"Good. I will see what the others are doing," Pat replied as she hurried to Ned's room.

CHAPTER 14

Pat returned to Ned's room to find the others in tense conversation.

"We will wait for our adversaries to make the first move," Ned insisted.

"Is that wise? We now have two enemies with whom to deal, and they have both shown themselves as competent castors," Percy countered.

"Unless you have another plan then I can see no other option," Ned pointed out.

"What if we were to leave Crutchen?" Pat spoke up.

"That would leave Fred outside the protection of the barrier. Canavar would be able to capture him," Ned reminded her.

"Then if we remain here are we to tell the king of what we've learned?" Percy asked them.

"It would be best to keep the secret between ourselves, at least for the present, and telling the king will not assistant him any better in catching Martley," Ned advised.

"Unless we can perhaps capture her using Fred," Percy pointed out.

"No! We will not be using Fred in such a manner!" Pat refused.

Canto stood from his chair and huffed. "Yer all worrying like a bunch of old women. If ya don't know what's coming then prepare yerself as well as ya can. That's all ya can ask of yerself, and anyone else," he advised them.

Ned smiled and gave a nod. "I agree, and on that note I suggest you resume Pat's training."

"Now? Is this such a good time?" Pat wondered.

"There is no better time than the present," Ned returned.

"Aye, we didn't get a good practice in before that damned horse and she-elf interrupted the match," Canto agreed.

"Exercise does help the spirit, and you can say battle frees the spirit," Percy joked.

"Only for the loser, and Ah don't plan on being a loser in any fight, now let's get practicing," Canto quipped.

The group filed from the room, but Ned noticed he was the second-to-the-last to make for the exit. He turned to see Pat standing among the chairs were her hand on her scabbard. "There was something I wished to speak with you about. Something that also concerns the past," she told him.

"Alone?" he guessed.

"It is a private matter," she returned.

Ned turned to the others who stood in the hall waiting for them. "We will be down in a moment," he promised her. They grudgingly moved downstairs. Ned closed the door and looked to Pat. "What troubles you?" he asked the young woman.

"Ruth and I met an elf at the Library who informed us my sword was elven-made, and a gift from the elven king to the king of Galaron," she revealed.

Ned took a seat in one of the empty chairs and chucked. "This elf wouldn't happen to have the name of Tolen, would he?" he guessed.

Pat frowned. "Yes, how did you know?"

"He is an old acquaintance of mine, and I recall he had an interest in weaponry. That is why I supposed you could find the answer to your question at the Library," he told her.

"He told me its origin, but not how such an important gift could have fallen into the hands of a lowly knight of Galaron," she pointed out. She seated herself at his side and put her hand over one of his that lay on his knee. "Please tell me about my father, and how he came to have such a sword as this."

Pat noticed Ned looked into her eyes searching for something. "You are a young woman, and yet now you ask these questions. Is the only reason you ask because you care for the sword?"

Pat removed her hand and turned away. Her voice was quiet and composed. "I thought I knew my father. The priests told me he was a brave and honorable man, and I asked no further because I didn't wish to ruin that image of a shining knight that comforted me when I was little. It gave me comfort among those white walls and the ever-present reminders from the priests of my future duty to Galaron."

"And now that you are grown and away from those walls?" Ned wondered.

She sighed and turned back to stare into his eyes with an unwavering glance. "Now I am no longer bound to my duty for Galaron and do not need to hold onto that image to comfort myself. I have seen the world, and I have seen good and evil, and now I wish to know what was in my father's heart."

Ned smiled and clasped her hand. "Your father could not have said it better, and he would have been proud to know you have grown to become a brave, honorable young woman."

"But do you know anything of him?" she persisted. "I know you were acquaintances before I was born."

"Yes, we rode together on a few adventures whenever my path led me near Galaron. Tramadore and he were great friends, and it pained him when your father left Galaron to go to the east," Ned told her.

"But why did he leave Galaron? And how did he come to have such a precious sword?" she asked him.

"He feared the Mad King. Not Stephen, but his father. He saw ruin for the city when he realized Stephen would be much like his father, and when he could not convince the king of his folly he renounced his homeland and journeyed east. His path took him to the Temple where he met your mother." Ned chuckled at the recollection. "She was a serving girl and he a gallant knight. There was quite an adventure between them, and afterward they were wedded. While you were in your mother's womb your father journeyed with an expedition of priest-geographers to map the routes to the top of the dormant volcano in the center of our continent. Worshipers of the Dark Phaeton hold that mountain sacred, and they considered them trespassing and murdered many in the party."

"Then my father died honorably?" she wondered.

"Very. The survivors owed their lives to him, and that was why he was so praised by the priests," Ned replied.