Irons in the Fire (20 page)

There was still no sound of anyone else in the attics. She glanced at the hearth. No one had lit a fire, so she would have no way of burning a letter if someone surprised her with it still half-written. But if Duke Garnot was recruiting mercenaries for some summer campaign, she must send a warning to her uncle. Once she was riding with her escort outside the castle, she wouldn't have a chance to exchange more than a few words with anyone. It might be days before she could get a letter safely away from wherever she was being sent.

Before her doubts got the better of her, she opened the drawer of her modest dressing table and took out paper, pen and ink. Hesitating over the cipher that her priestly uncle had drilled into her when she'd last visited the shrine in the town, she blotted the page several times. There was nothing she could do about that. She folded the paper hastily and tucked it inside her bodice. It would be safe there. Duke Garnot would have dismissed her from his thoughts as soon as he'd dismissed her from his presence and no one else would dare lay a finger on their duke's doxy.

Picking up her gloves, she took a heavy cloak from a peg and was about to leave the room when she remembered the reticule. She tucked the beribboned trifle into her cloak's inner pocket. Ignoring the bustle in the great hall, she walked briskly across the cobbled outer ward to the stable yard, where she looked around for Horsemaster Corrad. He wouldn't incur the duchess's wrath if he was seen talking to her. Tadira had no interest in Garnot's prized and pure-bred horses beyond the gold and silver they brought into the ducal coffers.

"You'll be riding Ash, and young Parlin's going with you." Corrad walked out of the harness room. He didn't look pleased. "You're going to Thymir Manor. Go easy, and Parlin is to rest the horses overnight before he comes back. Greater Moon's dark and Lesser Moon's all but gone, so I don't want him riding after sunset."

Failla nodded. "Of course."

As Parlin led out the horses, she stepped onto the mounting block. Once astride, she took her time settling her skirts and petticoats comfortably. No one could wonder at that, if she was going to be in the saddle all day. She looked discreetly around the yard but to her frustration, there was no sign of her young cousin Vrist.

Parlin scrambled gracelessly into his own saddle and Corrad handed him the leading rein of the mule loaded with Failla's leather-bound chests.

"Go easy," he warned Parlin sternly.

Failla gathered up her reins. Corrad wasn't just fussing about his precious horses. Thymir Manor was too far for anyone to visit and return to the castle inside a single day, so she need not worry about Duke Garnot turning up unexpectedly. If he wanted her within easy reach, there were several other closer houses he could have sent her to. Did that mean the duke expected to be spending all his time with these mysterious visitors? Who were they and what did they want?

Her uncle would want to know. He needed to know. She bit her lip as the grey mare's hooves drummed on the wooden bridge spanning the ditch that separated the castle from Carluse Town. Did Duke Garnot suspect that his secrets were slipping through his fingers? Was that why she was being sent so far away?

Or did he just want to be certain that no one else could leave the castle and visit her without a noticeable absence? Could Duchess Tadira have persuaded Duke Garnot that his pampered mistress would just lie back and open her knees to his own son? When he had seen for himself how Failla dealt with the youth's puppyish infatuation?

She had made very sure that Duke Garnot's men had seen her swiftly make her excuses and withdraw when Lord Ricart had contrived an unexpected visit to find her walking in the gardens between the outer walls and the sheer cliff of the crag the castle stood on. When the boy had sent her a handsomely bound book of Tormalin poems, she had taken it straight to Duke Garnot, carefully torn between amusement at such a ridiculous gesture and faint indignation that the callow youth imagined any man could ever usurp the duke's place in her heart.

No, it would be Lord Ricart whom Duke Garnot trusted least. After all, he was the one who had always taught his son that his rank entitled him to take whatever he wanted from those who owed him their fealty, body and breath. Meanwhile, Duchess Tadira would be determined that no shadow of scandal should come anywhere near the youth before she had safely negotiated a marriage to advance Lord Ricart's chances of being crowned High King.

Failla glanced idly from side to side as she let Parlin and the mule go ahead of her. They rode slowly down the long slope of Carluse Town's main street, windows here and there hung with black and white pennants to show their loyalty when Duchess Tadira passed by.

Most of the townsfolk were too busy with their own concerns to look at her. A few men indulged themselves, their expressions as lustful as if she rode clad in nothing more than her own hair. A couple of women leaving the alley that led to Saedrin's shrine spared her a glance of scathing condemnation.

She couldn't see anyone she could trust. Should she stop and tell Parlin she wanted to leave some token nailed to the door of the shrine? Not without everyone pausing to watch and wonder what favour she might be beseeching Saedrin to send her. There'd be more than one who'd carry the tale to the castle, to Duchess Tadira, for the sake of a few coppers.

Even if she did such an unexpected thing, there was scant chance she'd be able to talk to her uncle. Priest or not, he'd be in his house at this hour of the morning, teaching the sons of those merchants who hoped to see a university ring sealing their letters one day. Failla wouldn't dare interrupt him, not least in case someone found him teaching less than absolute loyalty to Duke Garnot. If Uncle Ernout fell under suspicion, what would become of the gold and silver he kept hidden for her among the dusty rows of funeral urns lining the rear of the shrine?

Failla rode on, her expression serene, showing none of the frustration twisting her stomach. She felt the letter she'd written crackle beneath her stays. How long would it be before the news that she'd left Carluse Castle reached someone like Master Findrin or Master Mausel? And it would be longer still before they found out where she'd been sent. The blacksmith and the baker were both resourceful men, though. One of them would find an excuse to send someone to her, to discover what she had learned since she'd last communicated with them.

She studied Parlin's back as they rode out through the town gate and onto the high road. He should be long gone from Thymir Manor before anyone she could give the letter to might arrive. Failla smiled as she settled comfortably in her saddle. A night to herself was a treat she intended to savour. It was only a shame Thymir Manor was so far from the farm near Dromin.

But with Duchess Tadira returning to the castle, if Duke Garnot was busy with these mysterious guests, it could be days before he sent someone to reclaim her for his bed. Could she risk the journey? No, she decided, regretful tears momentarily blurring her vision. If she wasn't found at Thymir, she'd be punished. If she was discovered anywhere near Dromin, how could she possibly keep her secret?

She would use the tedium of the journey to go over everything she had read that morning, she decided resolutely, to be quite certain she had every detail fixed in her mind. If she couldn't send that letter safely onwards, she would burn it at the manor. Along with the grease-stained purse.

The road from Carluse towards Thymir wasn't one of the dukedom's better highways, but heavy rain after the Spring Festival had been followed by bright days and strong winds, so the mud had dried to a decent enough footing for their horses. As the morning wore on, Parlin exchanged brief greetings with folk labouring in the fields, glad of an excuse for a moment's pause. Farmwives bustling around their vegetable gardens dismissed him with a curt farewell. The villages were quiet, everyone occupied within doors barring the occasional maid sweeping dust across a threshold, much to the mule's indignation.

Parlin tried striking up a conversation a few times. Failla answered politely enough but gave him scant encouragement. The groom soon fell silent and turned his attention to the road ahead. The sun rose high in the sky until it hung above them, marking noon.

They were walking the horses through a stretch of woodland sorely in need of coppicing. Failla was wondering how far it might be to an inn where they'd find decent food for themselves and water for the horses when three riders appeared ahead, coming towards them.

Parlin turned in his saddle. "Shall we stop for a luncheon, my lady? These travellers might recommend somewhere?"

"Perhaps." Failla shaded her eyes with one gloved hand. The riders looked to be in a hurry. The first two rode into a shaft of sunlight falling through the leaves. Their golden hair shone. Would Mountain Men know anything about taverns? She'd heard they shunned all company but their own kind.

Chapter Twelve

Failla

The Thymir Road, in the Lescari Dukedom of Carluse,

31
^st
of Aft-Spring

The three men heading towards them were urging their horses to a faster trot. Parlin hauled on the leading rein to draw the mule aside and Failla followed his lead towards the verge. The first two riders passed the groom with a brief nod.

As the third came close behind, he sent his horse veering into Parlin's mount. The groom cursed as the indignant mule brayed and threw its head back, the rein yanking Parlin's arm.

The man rose up in his stirrups, startlingly tall, and punched the groom hard in the face. The youth fell heavily to the road. The mule reared and tried to flee, soon defeated by the weight of the chests on its back and Parlin's senseless body dragging at its bridle.

Failla realised that the blond riders were intent on her, one reaching for Ash's bridle. The mare proved just as quick-witted. Rearing and turning on her haunches, she galloped away. Failla gripped the saddle tightly with her knees and wound a twist of pale mane around one gloved hand. She drew breath to scream if she saw anyone who could come to her aid.

The bandits' horses were fresher. They came up on either flank. Failla dug her boots into the mare's ribs, lashing Ash's neck with a loop of rein. It was no use. The bandits forged ahead, driving their unwilling mounts towards each other to force Ash to a stop.

The mare stumbled on a rut. Failla kicked her feet free of her stirrups lest she fall. One of the bandits was reaching for her. She slapped at his grasping hands, screaming as loudly as she could. Someone might hear. The man caught her elbows, dragging her from her horse, horribly strong. She writhed and squirmed. Better to fall than to be carried off. Ash neighed and reared away and Failla was indeed falling. Strong arms caught her; the second man had jumped down from his horse. As the first man let go of her arms, she twisted around to punch this second assailant as hard as she could. Her leather-clad knuckles split his lip.

"Maewelin's tits!"

He dropped her. She landed on her tailbone with a shock hard enough to take her breath away. Before she could recover, the man bent to lift her up, strong hands around her waist. She would have punched him again but he transferred his grip to her upper arms, forcing her hands down. She couldn't hope to fight back. He was so much stronger, even though he was scarcely taller than she was.

He grinned at her and she smelled cloves and salt on his breath and expensive scent on his linen. He was older than she had first thought, she realised inconsequentially. Fine wrinkles made crow's feet around his piercing blue eyes. What was a Mountain Man doing on Carluse's back roads?

"Help me get him roped!" The tall man was throwing Parlin across his own saddle.

"Knocked him cold? Good lad." The second Mountain Man tested a length of cord between his hands, flaxen hair bright in the sun. "Sorgrad, are we taking him with us?" He drew a dagger and wound his hand in Parlin's dark hair to lift the youth's head. "It's no trouble to cut his throat."

"No!" Failla screamed.

The man holding her winced. "You're louder than Maewelin's crows, girl. No, Gren. Leave him be."

"You said we needed him." The third man, so much taller than the other two, spoke hurriedly. "To take word back to the duke."

The blood froze in Failla's veins. These men were working for Garnot? Why would he send men to seize her like this? Because he knew she had betrayed him?

"Dump a body and sure as Misaen made the mountains, someone's nosy dog will find it before we're half a league away," the man holding her pointed out. "We don't want a hue and cry too soon."

"True enough." Shrugging, the second man sheathed his blade and passed the cord under the horse's belly to tie the groom's feet to his wrists.

The man holding Failla looked sternly at her. "Will you behave, to keep your man there alive?"

She nodded mutely.

"Good." The blond man released her upper arms, only to fasten one hand around her wrist. He led her, unresisting, to stand beside the horse now burdened with Parlin's unconscious body. The tall one went to gather up the loose horses while her captor's partner fetched the mule, which had taken its chance to go browsing on a hedge.

Behind her woeful expression, Failla thought furiously. Something must have happened since she'd left the castle. There had been no hint of trouble that morning. Or was that why Vrist hadn't been in the stable yard? Had Uncle Ernout been taken? Or one of the guildsmen? She tried not to let fear numb her wits.