“Now he knows about the hidden passages,” Myrick said. “He will probably be in them.”
“Maybe.”
“Sire, should I request aid from Tabor Till’s men? Sealing off the whole castle will be very difficult with the five hundred men that I have. There’s less than five hundred now,” Talon said.
“No. Do the best with the men that you have. And double the guard on Grimwulf’s officers.”
Talon went to relay order to his lieutenants. I looked at the faces of my friends and my mother. I shrugged.
“Ideas? It is a huge castle. There are almost unlimited places to hide.”
“Let’s concentrate on sealing the third, fourth, and fifth floors of the wing where the duke’s suite was. Grimwulf stands out. He will have to move carefully. I think that he will try to stay in the hidden passages as much as possible until he finds a way out,” Myrick said.
“The passage in his suite gives access to the third and fourth floors and the old castle,” said Brin.
“If he goes into the old castle, there’s no telling where he might be,” I said. “Captain Talon, where is Sergeant Serria?”
“The infirmary, Sire. She sustained injuries.”
“The infirmary? Was Doctor Ahem there?”
“No, Sire. We could not locate the doctor. I brought up one of Sigmenni’s priests to take care of her until the doctor was found,” said the captain.
“Myrick, go to Grimwulf’s and Callis’ quarters and see if you can learn anything. The rest of us will be in the infirmary. I want to talk to the sergeant, if she’s able.”
Myrick left us. As we walked to the infirmary, we four and an equal number of guards, I was inwardly amazed at the quiet in the corridors. Guardsmen occasionally hurried passed us. But otherwise there were very few people about. I understood that part of what the captain would be doing involved getting people to their own quarters to make searching easier. But I felt that after the attack there would have been a palpable fear or excitement; after all, the castle had just been plunged into darkness. I realized though that I had no idea how total that had been. Perhaps only those areas that the asps had passed through or targeted had been affected. That seemed likely. Most of the people in the castle seemed to be wholly unaware of what had just happened. That was best.
The priest in the infirmary was none other than Geldan. He looked pleased to see us. Sergeant Serria was stretched out on a bed with her rent armor lying on a nearby chair. Her bloody and torn shirt was with her armor. She was wearing a long white gown and appeared to be resting uneasily.
“Francis, I am glad that you are here,” Geldan said. “She has serious burns and a puncture to her abdomen. Her wounds are severe. I’ve cleaned them and dressed them, but I believe that she is bleeding on the inside. Will you look at her?”
We went to the sergeant’s bed. Her eyes opened. She was conscious but in pain.
“King Dexter,” she said. “I am glad to see you well. I feared the worst when the attack came.”
“Sergeant, Francis is going to examine your wounds. If you are up to it, I would like to talk to you when he finishes.”
“Of course, Sire. I can talk now if you want.”
“No, I am going to let him work and get out of the way.”
“Francis, let me help,” said Emily. “I know a few things about healing.”
“More than I do, I am certain. I brew a fair healing draught but that is about it.”
Brin and I went and sat across the room while they worked. She sat on the edge of a bed and I took a seat on a hard backed chair. I was wracking my fatigued brain for a solution to what seemed like a rapidly deteriorating situation. Brin looked sullen, but she usually did. She was playing with a piece of paper that was sticking out from under the bed with her foot. I tried to ignore her and figure out my next move. But it seemed impossible. I didn’t trust Tabor Till or his forces. Grimwulf was free.
It didn’t look like I had enough material to win, but resigning was not an option.
Brin was still kicking at the slip of paper. I was wondering about my mother. I had not had a chance to talk to her, but realized that she might be an asset. She had handled the whole lot of shadow asps with relative ease. It seemed wrong to be considering my mother in terms of power, but survival was at stake. If we failed now, we would never have the opportunity to get to know each other later.
Brin got off of the bed and picked up the slip that she had been kicking. I could see that one edge was charred, as if it was it had been part of a larger sheet that had been burned. Brin was reading it.
“Dexter, look at this,” she said, handing it to me.
I took the discolored corner of paper. Brin had gotten down on her hands and knees and was looking under the bed. The paper contained writing in a spidery script that read, “...acquire the weapon that severed our Lord’s worldly bond...enemy stronghold contains the key to His return...will be the site of our victory...I fear your diligence is lacking...Continue your search. Help will be forthcoming...Garris Stone.” It was signed with a symbol—one of those that had been drawn on the diagram that Brin and I had discovered; the one that had been closest to Garegon’s symbol if I remembered correctly.
“There’s nothing else under here,” Brin said, “except this.” She held up a half-burnt, black candle.
“Brin, this has to be part of one of the messages that was sent from Bleakmoor.”
She sighed in exasperation. “I know. That’s why I gave it to you to read, duh. That’s alright; I know you can’t help it.”
“If you’re so smart, tell me what you think this means.”
“It means you were right about Doctor Ahem. He’s trying to get the weapon that finally banished their god, and it’s here.”
“How do you know it’s here?”
“It says the key is at the enemy stronghold, Pozzelby Castle. So either the weapon itself is here or the key to finding it is. I think they need the weapon to bring their god back into this world,” she said. It made sense.
“What’s a Garris Stone then?”
“I have no idea; some kind of rock?”
“It sounds familiar, but I can’t place it.”
Francis and my mother finished treating Sergeant Serria. They walked over to where Brin and I were talking.
“We’ve done all that we can right now,” Francis told us.
“How is she?” I asked.
“The sergeant will be fine, but it will take her a few days to recover. Her wounds were rather severe.”
“Can she talk to me?”
“Yes, but keep it brief please. She needs to rest.”
“I will. Read this while I speak with her. Brin found it and a black candle under the bed.” I handed the burnt note to Francis and went to talk to Sergeant Serria.
She looked much more comfortable that before. Apparently Francis and my mother had been able to help with her pain as well as her injuries.
“Sergeant? Do you think that you can tell me what you remember happening in Grimwulf’s room?” I asked.
“Yes. I remember it all. We were in the passage and I was observing the duke through the spy hole. He was in his bedroom, in bed, snoring. I heard a loud sound, like someone moaning or like the sound a strong wind makes in the mountains. Grimwulf stirred, but he didn’t get up. The sound faded and we kept our post.
“A few minutes later, Callis came into the room. He seemed different that the other times I had seen him. He was moving quickly and did not seem enfeebled at all. He said, ‘My Lord, the king has sent assassins for you, we must get you out of here now.’ Grimwulf was up pretty fast then. I didn’t know what had happened to the guardsmen in the hallway outside of the duke’s room, but I assumed the worst. I told my squad that the duke and his advisor were escaping and that we were going to go in and stop him. Fool that I was, I viewed Grimwulf as the biggest threat.”
“H
e wasn’t?”
“Not at all,” she said. “We went in through the hidden passage and I ordered both men to surrender. My squad had four crossbows covering them. Callis said, ‘The assassins, my Lord.’ He put up his hands and I thought he was surrendering—he wasn’t. He shot flames from his hands. Most of my squad was hit and went down. I got caught in the chest, but still advanced on them, along with two of my men who managed to avoid being hit. Callis told Grimwulf that they had to fight us or die. Grimwulf took up a sword from one of my fallen squad members and attacked me. I was too slow and weak from my burns and he ran me through. I fell. I missed some of what happened then, the other guards who had been uninjured went down a moment later. I remember a flash. I don’t know if Callis was responsible or if my injuries were causing my eyes to play tricks. I think I lost consciousness for a moment. When I came back to myself, Grimwulf and Callis were both gone and my squad was dead—every one of them.”
“Do you know which way they went? Through the passage or into the main hallway?”
She shook her head. “I didn’t see them leave, but I believe they went through the hidden passage. They had seen us come out, so it wasn’t hidden any longer at that point.”
“Did Duke Grimwulf say anything that you can remember?”
“Very little. He seemed...puzzled. He was trying to question Callis it sounded like. But then, when we came in he said nothing else.”
“Thank you, Sergeant. Get some rest; you’ve earned it today,” I said and I left her to sleep.
I went back to where Francis, Emily, Brin, and Geldan were talking.
“...There have been portents, but until now I did not understand them,” Geldan was saying.
“What portents?” Emily asked.
“A lunar eclipse a fortnight ago.”
“Two nights before the king was killed,” said Francis.
“A month ago, we unbarreled all of last year’s wine, only to find it had turned to vinegar. And there have been other, troubling signs,” said the priest. “Small things that individually were fairly unremarkable—milk going sour prematurely, several priests coming down with fever, one of our altars even caught fire when a brazier overturned. If this cult is trying to raise Garegon, that would surely explain all of the signs.”
“Dexter,” said Francis. “Emily and I think you and Brin are right about the meaning of this. I have one thing to add. Garris Stone was the name of an enemy commander during the Unified War. He led the armies of Gosk and, if I remember correctly, fought your grandfather at least once.”
“If there is something here, some key that the Twelve Sect Order is searching for, do you think that it could be in Nightshade’s library?” I asked.
Francis looked thoughtful. “Maybe, that could explain why someone, probably Ahem we can surmise, was trying to get inside of it.”
“We should go investigate,” I said, yawning.
“No. You need to rest,” said the alchemist. “Must I remind you that last night you nearly died. Then you ignored my orders and left the infirmary, which in retrospect was probably an excellent choice. But rather than go to your suite and sleep as you should have, you started sleuthing before the sun was even up. You rode ten miles, entertained nobles, and then were attacked by withsperi. If you do not rest, you will soon be useless to us.”
There was that. I was ready to go until I dropped, but I needed to be effective. I had to acknowledge that I had reached my limit.
“Alright, I’ll sleep, but only for four hours. And I want to be awakened immediately if anything happens.”
“Agreed. Brin you should sleep too. Except for not having been poisoned, you have been just as busy as Dexter.”
“I don’t want to go to my room,” she protested. “I want to stay with Dexter.”
“You can stay in my suite,” I suggested. “There is plenty of room. You can have the bed; I’ll take a sofa—there are three of them after all.”
Francis started to object, but stopped and just threw up his hands.
“Fine. As long as you sleep.”
“Francis,” said my mother. “I am going to go with Dexter and Brin as well. I’ve been flying all night and would like a chance to talk to my son.”
Flying? Well, she had come in through my window, fifty feet up.
****
My suite felt crowded. The guard was doubled and they insisted on half the men being inside. I sent a servant to Brin’s room to bring her a change of clothes for the morning. We were all tired, but knew something had to be said before anyone could sleep. But I did not know what to say. My mother began, but with Brin, not with me.
“I knew your mother,” Emily said. “You look like her.”
“You can’t have known my mother; my mother was pretty,” Brin said.
“She was pretty and I see a lot of her in you. I knew your mother well. She was warm and very intelligent, much like her daughter. I was heartbroken when she died.”
“If she was so smart, why did she marry my father?” Brin asked sharply.
“Only she could have said for certain. She once told me that it was meant, but did not explain herself. She also said that Horace was a different person when he was with her and that he had qualities that he did not often show to others. Perhaps there is more to your father than you know.”
“I think there’s less.”
“At least Brin’s mother stayed with her, and then when she left she had a good excuse,” I said with more bitterness than I had intended.
“Dexter, Brin’s mother was gone quite a bit too. We were of the same coven. I happen to be the high priestess and the demands of the role are great. But it was not my choosing to be gone from your life entirely. It hurt me very much. If Francis had not sent me news of you periodically, it would have been unbearable.”
“Then why did you leave if it was so hard?”
“Your father would not have it otherwise. When I told him that I could not stay in Earmund, he became very angry. He said it would be too painful to have me in and out of your lives. He believed it would be less painful if you believed that I was dead. I did not agree with it, but since you were to live with him, I respected his wishes. Perhaps he was right.”
“Maybe. I know it was easier when I thought that I had no mother. But I’m glad I do now.”
“As am I. I hope that sometime you will be able to forgive me. Now that Alden is gone, there is nothing to prevent us from being in one another’s lives.”
“Does that mean that you will stay?” I asked, hopefully.
“I still have responsibilities. However, I will always come when you need me to, and often when you don’t. Right now, I intend to do everything that I can to help resolve this problem. I am not going to get my son back only to lose him.”
“Can’t you just blast Grimwulf and the others, like you did the shadow asps?” I asked.
She looked sad. “No. Shadow monsters, at least lower order ones like withsperi are easy if you have the right tools. Most of my power is suited for dealing with things not of our world. I have more limits when the enemy is worldly. Not that I am helpless. I hope that I can help a great deal.”
“So do I, mother. I have been trying my best to deal with this, but I am afraid that it might be beyond me.”
“When you are tired, things look worse than they are. Get some rest and in the morning it won’t feel so overwhelming.”
I did what she suggested. Brin and my mother took my bedroom for the night. I stretched out on one of the sofas in my lounge. With so much to think about, I was worried that sleep wouldn’t come. I was asleep almost as soon as I lay down.
Chapter Ten
The wall that surrounds Pozzelby Castle is almost as impressive as the castle itself and every bit as disjointed. Because of the haphazard fashion in which additions have been built onto the castle over approximately three millennia, the castle has outgrown the wall repeat
edly. This has required that the wall be torn down and rebuilt in sections as needed. The reconstruction has rarely been uniform. The result is a patchwork wall of varying heights and a remarkable number of nooks, oddly placed projections, and recesses.
Excerpted from J. R. Grimble’s Pozzelby: A History
While Dexter slept, Grimwulf Morbrick followed his advisor through the dusty, often narrow, hidden passages of Pozzelby Castle. Thanks to a powder that Callis had applied to their shoes, they made no tracks in the dust. Grimwulf had asked his advisor where he had gotten such a thing; his trusted friend had simply replied, “From a friend.”
Callis slowed and held up a hand for Grimwulf to stop.
“It’s here, my Lord.”
The old man touched a spot on the wall and a low door swung open. Callis disappeared through it. Grimwulf followed, though it was a very tight squeeze for his massive frame. When he could, the duke stood upright and looked around. Standing before him was General Tabor Till. They appeared to be in the general’s private quarters.
“Callis? What is this?” Grimwulf asked.
“At ease, my Lord Grimwulf. General Till is on our side.”
“That’s correct, Duke Grimwulf,” said Till. “I have been investigating the murder of King Ardwulf and I’ve found strong evidence that the attack was orchestrated by the king’s advisors, Myrick, Layred Vu, and the alchemist, Francis. They attacked the hunting party to put the boy on the throne. It was felt that he could be manipulated because of his trust in the alchemist.
“Initially, I thought that the boy was merely a dupe, an innocent stooge. Unfortunately, what I have learned suggests otherwise. My evidence shows that Dexter was complicit in the attacks. Apparently, the boy had a deep-seated hatred for his father and brothers and was only too happy to get them out of the picture.”
“When you arrived, they saw an opportunity to shift the blame. They fabricated the story about an attack on Earmund Castle to make Dexter appear to be a victim as well—when logic shows he had the most to gain. But they hoped to make it seem as if he was a target and that you were the one with the most to gain. I believe they have used the time since you were arrested to create false evidence. And now that they are ready, they are planning to kill you.”