Devan Chronicles Series: Books 1-3 (44 page)

“Your lord father is waiting.”

Jihan slipped into his old unresponsive attitude and did not speak. Instead, he sheathed his sword and walked unhurriedly to the training rooms.

“You took your time,” Athlone said and Jihan shrugged. “That was a pretty piece you brought back with you. At least you take after me in your tastes where women are concerned. It’s about the only thing we do have in common. If I didn’t know better, I could almost believe your mother had been whoring to the guards.”

Jihan fumed at the traitor’s slanderous words about his mother. If only Keverin had been his father instead of this foul traitor.

“You don’t answer? I think it’s time you had another lesson in who rules here.”

“You were never interested in my opinions before now,” Jihan said. “What has changed? As for the lesson, how many of your cronies can you afford to lose?”

“Boy...” Athlone growled. “You aren’t man enough to even inconvenience me, let alone take my place. I ought to disown you. See how you like living as a peasant.”

“I’m tired. Are you going to be long? If you want to teach me something, why not do it yourself?”

Jihan drew his sword, but he was disappointed when Athlone stepped back. He could run his father through right now and save himself a lot of bother later, but Athlone was unarmed. The guardsmen though were not. They circled him with their swords bare. He knew he would win. There wasn’t a doubt of it in his mind, but he had promised himself he wouldn’t put up with this kind of thing anymore.

“I swore I would not play your games any more, father. I will kill them if you don’t call them off,” Jihan said but Athlone remained silent. He tried the guardsmen, “I don’t want to kill you. Please… let my father fight his own battles.”

“You’re a cocky bastard, Jihan,” the sergeant said. “You always was. You ain’t got a chance against all of us.”

“I will not tell you again. Back off,” Jihan said in a cold voice.

The guardsmen attacked together. Their first mistake was to get in each other’s way, and Jihan took full advantage by gutting the one who had spoken. The stunned look on the remaining guardsmen’s faces said it all. Jihan had killed their sergeant so fast they hadn’t seen him land the blow. One moment there had been four guardsmen confident of their skill, the next only three.

Jihan watched the warily backing men. He didn’t move to attack—not until his father’s voice rang out.

“Did you think I didn’t know that you betrayed me Jihan? I’m disappointed in you, but then I always was. I gave you everything, and you repay me by running to my greatest enemy. Kill him!”

Before the guardsmen could even attempt to comply, Jihan was on them. Attacking one with a cut diagonally downward, he followed through to kill the man’s companion. Both men fell dead without a sound. The last guardsman was clearly panicking, which made Jihan more wary. A man pushed too hard could be unpredictable. In this case, he was almost taken by surprise, but not through the actions of the guardsman. Athlone had retrieved a fallen sword and attacked him from behind. Jihan ducked under the guardsman’s panicked swing at the same time as he threw himself clear of Athlone. His father was good with the sword. He couldn’t afford the added distraction. He charged and knocked the guardsman off his feet. One thrust of his dagger and the guard fell dead.

A slow clapping came from across the room.

Jihan turned to see his father standing next to a black robed sorcerer calmly applauding. It was Abarsis. Jihan was stunned. He had expected the sorcerer to be with the legion in Camorin not here at Malcor. Did he know about Julia?

“You have met Abarsis, but I don’t believe you know his two friends.” Athlone gestured toward the entrance.

It was a trap, and Jihan had led Julia right into it. With his heart sinking, Jihan turned as the door opened.

* * *

Julia slipped from her room and crept silently along the corridor. She had been careful to note the turns Athlone had taken when he escorted her to the women’s quarter, and now she retraced her way through the citadel. She ducked into an alcove when two serving women approached chatting and giggling about Jihan coming home, but she wasn’t seen. The corridors were even darker than Athione’s. She reached out with that sense that told her when Mathius was coming to scold her, but she felt nothing. Unlike Jihan, she wasn’t willing to take it for granted that Athlone didn’t have a pet sorcerer on call, but she detected nothing of the sort within her range which was considerable. Julia felt better about her escapade knowing that she was the only mage within the fortress and made her way to the south courtyard with more confidence.

Before stepping out of the citadel and into the night, Julia searched the courtyard for guardsmen with her mage-sight. She was scanning the darkness for the telltale auras that would indicate a guardsmen standing watch. She spotted them immediately. There were none in the courtyard, but she counted an even dozen on the gate towers and along the short stretch of wall over the gate itself. Jihan said twelve was normal practise, but it never hurt to check. The gate to the north was likewise guarded he said. Any disturbance would bring thousands of guardsmen boiling out of their barracks when the alarm was given. It was Julia’s job to ensure the alarm was never sounded.

Julia stayed in the shadows close to the wall as she nervously made her way toward one of the gate towers. The night was very dark... she gritted her teeth and swallowed the panicky feeling back. She could do this. If she could fight thousands of soldiers in the pass, she could cross one stupid courtyard! She wished there was some kind of magic she could use to take away her fear of the dark. There were some very real things to fear in this world, fearing the night itself was stupid.

Julia hesitated outside the tower door, and went over what she was expected to do. The machinery that operated the gates was in the towers, as were the locks. She needed to get one of the gates open, but she also had to prevent the guardsmen from giving the alarm. Taking a deep breath, she pasted a smile on her face and entered the tower. The room was dimly lit—thank God!—and filled with machinery. There were long chains disappearing into the darkness overhead with massive stones attached. The lower stone was resting on the floor. Julia could not see a way up to the battlement at first, but as she rounded the counterweight she saw a wooden stairway leading up to a shadowy balcony almost lost to the darkness.

“Hey! You ain’t allowed in here.”

Julia jumped and spun toward the voice. She tried to keep her voice meek when all she wanted to do was scream at him for scaring her. “I only wanted to see how the gates work. You won’t tell any one will you?” She didn’t quite simper, but her coy little smile had the desired effect.

The guardsmen blinked twice, and a vacuous smile appeared on his face. “Well... I suppose it will be all right this once.”

“This all looks
very
complicated. You must be
ver
y clever to make all this work. Would you explain things to me?”

The guardsmen puffed up at the praise. “This shaft here goes…”

Julia was genuinely interested as she looked around at the gears and chains. She listened closely to the guardsman’s explanation of their workings. How a culture without technology could make such things was beyond her. Maybe magic had been used in some way, but if it was she didn’t know how. She had always been good at what she did in the past, but now was a different matter. Not understanding how to use her magic properly was intensely frustrating to her. If she knew more, she could have waved a hand and have all the guardsmen disappear. Instead, she would have to hurt people again… or would she?

Suddenly Julia had an idea.

“See? Then I pull this one, the stone rises up again, and the gate closes all by itself. Clever eh?”

Julia nodded and put her hand on the lever she now knew unlocked the right-hand counterweight.

“Don’t!” The guardsman yelled and grabbed her hand.

That was what Julia was waiting for. As soon as he touched her, she grasped her magic and infused him with exhaustion. He collapsed as if someone had hit him on the head. Someone had in a way. It was a misuse of her healing, but it was infinitely better than killing the man… biting her lip and hoping he wasn’t permanently harmed, Julia used her magic to check. To her relief she found a healthy man who would sleep for a day at least. Quickly moving to the lever she unlocked the gate, but she didn’t open it. If she had tried the noise would surely have alerted the other guardsmen. Keverin and his men would just have to use muscle power and shove it open.

Julia took one more look around and then climbed the stairs up to the battlements. Before opening the door, she listened for footsteps, but she heard nothing. With a firm grasp on her magic, she stepped into the darkness and found the sentries spaced along the wall with her mage-sight. To her they looked like pillars of blazing energy. Reverting to normal sight for a moment she could barely make out the first one. The others were lost in the darkness. There were no lamps or torches to give her away, such things would aid an enemy by ruining night vision. In this case, the lack of light helped her immeasurably.

Muttering under her breath, she steeled herself to step into the darkness. She knew how silly it was to be frightened of the dark when there was a lot worse to be frightened of right nearby, but she still had to force herself to step out onto the battlement. Trying to appear casual in case someone could see her after all, Julia stepped up to the first guard. He had just enough time to look up at her touch, before slumping against the merlon. She pushed him into a position resembling a man looking into the night, and then left to find the next man.

* * *

Keverin watched the fortress from where he lay upon the ground. Mathius was nearby waiting for Julia to contact him, but so far there hadn’t been a whisper from her. He had snuck out to his current position hoping that when he arrived Julia would open the gate for him, but she hadn’t. The wait was becoming unbearable. What if Athlone had hurt her? If the traitor harmed one hair of her head, he would gut the bastard himself!

“My lord, Julia says to come now,” Mathius whispered.

“The gate is shut, Mathius. I can see it.”

“She dare not open it for fear of the noise it will make. She has unlocked one of them and has taken care of the sentries.”

“Right.”

Turning to his sergeants, Keverin signalled silently then ran in a crouch toward the gate. He wished he knew which one was unlocked, but it would take only a moment to try both. With a heave, he felt the right-hand gate move slightly. His men arrived in twos and threes and helped him shove it open. Once through, he turned and gave his orders in a hushed voice.

“First ten take men the tower on the right and hold it. Next ten, same on the left. Once we’re all inside lock the gates.”

Keverin spun as a figure dashed toward him, but before he could even think of drawing his sword, he knew who it had to be. A moment later the shadow resolved into Julia.

“I have twelve men asleep on the south wall,” Julia said as she ran to him.

“Well done my lady,” Keverin said and quickly sent some men to collect the prisoners.

Jihan had described the fortress well, and it was not long before they had men in all the strategic locations. The barracks were the thorniest problem. There were a dozen huge barracks full of guardsmen. He sent Mathius with the rest of his men to ward and guard the entrance to each one.

“Where is Jihan?”

“He said his father would set a punishment. He didn’t know for sure what it would be, but he thought Athlone might set the guardsmen on him.”

“On his own
son?
” Keverin said hardly able to believe it. “Where—no, it has to be the armoury.”

Keverin ran into the citadel with Julia by his side. He didn’t try to dissuade her from coming along. He knew she wouldn’t heed him. The first person they saw was a shocked servant who tried to run, but Keverin pounced on him before he could get far.

“Show us to the armoury,” Keverin growled.

The shocked man rolled his eyes up and back at Keverin. “The... the armoury?”

“Wait!” Julia said. “Where are Athlone and Jihan?”

“I couldn’t say lady,” the servant said evasively.

Keverin shook the man until his teeth rattled. “You tell her what she asked or I’ll kill you right now.”

“I’ll tell you... I’ll tell you! They’re in the sparring room.”

“Show us.”

Keverin followed the man and hurried him along with threats of chopping pieces off him until the man stopped outside an iron bound door.

“Here. They’re inside.”

“Open it and introduce Lady Julia.”

“But—”

Keverin drew his sword.

“All right,” the servant said sullenly. He opened the door and stepped inside. “M’lord, the Lady Julia and—”

* * *

Jihan watched the door open with a sinking heart, but the man who entered wasn’t wearing black. He was wearing the usual livery of a servant. Abarsis scowled at this, but then his face went blank as Julia’s face did when she used her magic. Jihan tensed expecting a fireball or some such to appear, but nothing of the sort happened. Instead, the sorcerer smiled. The smile made Jihan feel worse than the expectation of a fireball. He didn’t know what Abarsis had done, but whatever it was couldn’t be good.

The servant stepped inside nervously. “M’Lord, the Lady Julia and—”

“Me,” Keverin said walking in as the servant bolted out the door. Julia stepped beside Keverin keeping her eyes firmly on Abarsis.

“Julia!” Jihan shouted. “There are two more black robes somewhere loose!”

“I’ll worry about them later.”

“Oh really?” Abarsis drawled nodding to his two companions as they entered through the other door. “How about now?”

Jihan tensed. Abarsis must have contacted them with his magic. Julia and Keverin backed toward him keeping the sorcerers to their front. He did the same as he edged closer to them.

“What are you waiting for? Kill them!” Athlone shouted.