The Bloody Quarrel (The Complete Edition) (39 page)

“What are we going to do when we get home?” Bridgit asked.

Nola looked at her quizzically. “Well, I want a big plate of stew for starters. Maybe some kippers as well.”

“Lamb chops and mash for me. Three plates of it,” Riona said. “I can almost taste it now.”

Bridgit shook her head. The last of the wounded men had slipped away, his body carefully sent overboard accompanied by the tears of his friends and family. She needed something to take her mind off that, and whether she could have done more to save him, and the others. “Well, obviously we are going to eat until our stomachs burst after this voyage is over but what happens after that?”

“Well, I can guess what Brendan has in mind but I’ll want a nice rest first,” Nola said with a smile.

Bridgit sighed. “But how do we stop the Kottermanis? They will be right behind us with an army.”

“Whist, woman!” Riona snorted. “That will be none of our business. That’s up to the King and the nobles. We have done more than enough.”

“But we know more about the Kottermanis than anyone and we have a duty to keep protecting these people, especially the children.”

“You are thinking too much,” Nola advised. “We are still in the middle of the ocean, with dwindling food and a pack of fishermen who seem unable to land more than one fish a day.”

Bridgit smiled dutifully but it seemed that, as they ate less, she thought more. It was as if the last of the old Bridgit was being emptied out and new ideas were coming in to replace that. She had never wanted the responsibility for these people but since it had been forced on her, she could not walk away from it.

“Let’s get home first and then worry about it,” Riona said, as if reading her thoughts.

*

Fallon held the knife to Orhan’s face, his eyes wild.

“You won’t touch my son,” Kemal said confidently.

“I’ll make him bleed!” Fallon screamed.

“Look over there,” Kemal said persuasively.

The Gaelishman glanced behind him and Kemal acted. Since they had crushed his toes, they had not bothered to tie up his leg and now, ignoring the pain, he raised his foot and smashed his heel into Fallon’s face. His nose broke and he fell backwards, losing his grip on both Orhan and the knife. Kemal lifted his chair and bounced forwards, slamming it down across Fallon’s throat, pinning the Gaelishman there.

“Back, or I crush his throat!” he snarled, making the other foul Gaelish stop their advance.

Orhan seized the knife and quickly cut the ropes holding Kemal to the chair, so he could rise. With one last heave of the chair, he finished off Fallon and then advanced on the other Gaelish.

“Let my wife and son go, or I shall send your souls to Zorva,” he promised them.

The Gaelish looked at the dead Fallon and then turned and ran.

Kemal embraced his family, as Feray kissed him passionately.

“You are the greatest man I know,” she said, her hand slipping down his body.

Then the dead Fallon coughed and spoke in Kottermani: “High one, we have sighted Gaelland.”

Kemal opened his eyes and groaned. Each night he defeated Fallon in some other way. And each morning he woke to the realization it was only a dream and he had lost. His family despised him for not saving them and he still could not find the missing slaves.

He looked down. At least his body had not disgraced him this time. “Time is ticking away,” Kemal muttered to himself. They could not have beaten his finest sailors to Gaelland. They must be lost.

“High one?” Gokmen asked from outside the door.

“Signal the fleet. We turn back and search the ocean. Anyone who finds them is to bring them here. If necessary they can be subdued but I will have the skin of any man who kills one of them. Is that clear?”

Gokmen paused. “It is clear, high one. Although the captains will wonder why we do not seek to punish runaway slaves.”

“They can wonder all they like. But they will obey me or the last sight they will see is their own entrails being slowly pulled out of their bodies. We shall meet back here again in a quarter moon.”

“Your will, high one.”

Kemal heard Gokmen stride away and laid back on his bed, rubbing his face. He could not bear falling asleep again. Where were they? He had to find them.

*

Blaine had given up, the knife’s blade long since blunted on the old, hard wood. But Carrick worked on, chipping away small splinters away to expose the locking bar. His fingers were torn and bloody but he sustained himself with visions of the revenge he would exact on Bridgit and her friends once he was out of there and controlling this ship.

“Give me a hand here,” he told his brother.

“It’s useless,” Blaine complained.

Carrick stepped across and kicked his brother’s leg. “Get on your fat feet and help me! We are nearly through!”

Grumbling, Blaine rose and Carrick showed where he had opened the edge of the wall to reveal where the locking bar slid into it from the door.

“If we work together, use our weight,” Carrick suggested.

They hauled at the door, trying to bring it inwards and force the locking bar through what was left of the wall. Once, twice, three times and then on the fourth impact, the locking bar tore free of the wall and the door swung open.

The brothers looked at each other and froze guiltily, expecting someone to come and investigate the noise. But nothing happened. There was always noise on the ship of course, everything from the usual sounds of sailing to screaming children. This morning the ship was crashing through the waves and the noise of that was enough to disguise the screech of tortured wood they’d just created.

“What should we do first?” Carrick asked, picking up the blunted and dented knife. It was not much of a weapon now but better than nothing.

“Food,” Blaine said instantly, his mouth caressing the word.

*

Almost everyone was asleep and the only ones awake were up on deck, so they found it easy enough to slip along the corridors. Neither was normally quiet and graceful but after a quarter moon of eating almost nothing, they found the thought of food was a powerful motivator. They knew where the food store was, having visited it several times in the night before that bitch Bridgit had stopped them.

The store was locked but they merely slipped the tip of the knife between the ill-fitting door and the frame and forced the locking bar up with brute strength, powered by the knowledge of what was inside. Carrick shut the door as Blaine fell onto a pair of fish, cramming the flesh into his mouth.

“Don’t take too long. We have to find Keegan and then take the ship back,” Carrick said.

Blaine turned to him, mouth full of fish and shook his head. “Not until I have had my fill,” he mumbled.

*

Bridgit was dreaming of home when the scream woke her. Woke all of them.

“What is it?”

“What’s happening?”

Children were wailing and adults were either trying to soothe them or get themselves to their feet as the screams continued to echo through the ship before being cut off suddenly. Bridgit was awake and running while most of the others were still rubbing eyes and trying to find their children.

The noise was coming from the direction of the food store and fear gave her extra speed. She rushed up, men and women beginning to follow her, to see one of the women lying sprawled on the floor, blood on the part of her face she could see.

Bridgit shouted in shock and anger – and shouted again when the familiar flabby figure of Blaine emerged from the food store, hand cocked into a fist. She drew her knife and did not even bother about thinking of a warning. She slashed it at his stomach, which looked suspiciously full for someone who had spent the last few days locked in a sail locker eating hardly anything.

But Blaine was not alone. Even as he staggered back down the corridor, trying to avoid her attack, his brother Carrick emerged from the doorway and swung wildly at her arm. His hand connected with hers and the knife was knocked away, to bounce off the wall and land at Blaine’s feet. She turned to try and hit him, only for Carrick to raise a knife to her throat.

“Nobody move or I cut her bogging throat!” he shouted.

Men and women, who had been converging from both directions, stopped, glaring hate at the brothers.

“Now, things are going to change around here,” Blaine said with satisfaction, picking up Bridgit’s knife.

Fallon led the march back into Berry at the head of a wagon train filled with sacks of grain. Their trip around the western counties had proved fruitful indeed and they were cheered loudly as they marched back into the capital. The slaughterhouses were busy again and the markets full, while the millers would also soon be hard at work.

Best of all, any chance of Swane marching towards the capital before winter gripped the country was gone. Many of the nobles had been talking to the disgraced Prince but that was all finished now. Without men, food or anyone capable of sending messages by magic, they could do nothing to help Swane. And, as far as Swane knew, a massive army waited for him. No, they were safe until spring now. Or, rather, he was trapped until spring, when they could go hunting for him.

Fallon walked with his recruits, Dina was riding beside him, graciously acknowledging the grateful crowds. It was slow going through the streets and even worse when they reached the square outside the castle. There they pushed gently through the people, many of whom were waving fresh bread or other food.

“Now all we have to worry about is the Kottermanis. And we have Prince Kemal’s family,” she said. “So there is little to worry about there.”

Fallon shook his head. “I gave my word,” he said softly. “I swore on Kerrin’s life.”

She reached down and tapped him on the shoulder. “Fallon, trust me. We make a good team,” she said. “Let me take the responsibility for this decision, to protect Gaelland and keep us free and strong. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices to get what you want.”

He had been growing increasingly comfortable with her but this reminded him unpleasantly of Aidan. He was saved from replying by the roar of the crowd and he let the crush of people naturally carry them apart, until she was a good ten yards behind him and occupied with waving.

Then he saw the crowd parting ahead of him, making way for his friends, not just Brendan but a whole pack of Baltimore villagers, including Gallagher.

Fallon rushed forward to meet them, shoving people aside carelessly in his sudden fear. Had something happened to Kerrin?

“What’s happening?” he demanded.

Brendan jerked his head towards Gallagher. “They got back not six turns of the hourglass ago. And they have big news.”

“What is it? What did you find out?” Fallon demanded.

Gallagher did not reply straight away, while the rest of the villagers kept walking, until they had formed a circle around the front of the column.

“What is going on? Will you stop being so bloody mysterious and talk to me!” Fallon growled.

Gallagher sighed. “I am sorry my friend but we have to be careful. We know what happened to the Duke of Lunster, to your friend Hagen and why the ship ended up in Baltimore.”

“Well, what?”

Gallagher nodded towards the Duchess. “She was behind it.”

Fallon kept from turning around only through an immense effort of will. Instead, he swore furiously. “Just when I was beginning to trust her!” he said. “Aroaril save us. You know she just helped us get enough food to last the city through the winter?”

“Aye. She has been helpful. But she has also been playing her own game. We cannot trust her,” Gallagher said. “Her men tried to kill us in Lunster and we are only alive because of Rosaleen. We have witnesses back in the castle.”

Fallon patted his friend on the shoulder. “Good. We shall get her back quietly and do this without alarming anyone. Whatever else she has done, she is a reassuring presence for the people after we killed Aidan.”

He saw Gallagher’s eyes widen in warning and turned to see Dina rein in her horse beside them.

“What is going on?” she asked.

“Vital news,” Fallon said. “We need to go back to the castle to discuss it.”

“What is it?” she demanded.

“It is not for the open street. We would do better to wait until we are back in the castle,” Fallon suggested.

Her face did not change but she began to turn her horse, so Fallon reached out and grabbed the bridle.

“You need to follow us,” he said.

“What are you doing?” she demanded. “Let go this instant!”

Behind her, the squad of Lunster guards that accompanied her everywhere began to hurry forwards – only to stop when Fallon’s villagers formed a wall in front of them.

“It would be better to come with us,” Fallon said stolidly.

Dina glared down at him. “Do not be a fool, Fallon. We are a good team. Don’t make the mistake of breaking this.”

“I have been foolish many times already. One more won’t make any difference,” he said. “Now smile for the crowd and let’s get going.”

“I will not!” she exclaimed loudly. “I am a Duchess of this realm and I demand that you let go of my horse this instant.”

Instead of answering, Fallon tugged on the horse’s bridle to get it walking. “Let’s get inside the castle. And make sure all her guards come with us,” he ordered.

“Already done,” Brendan promised, signaling to the men he had brought with him.

“Help! Someone help me!” Dina cried out.

The crowd stopped cheering and watched uncertainly.

“Set me free and you will be rewarded!” she shouted. “Remember your oaths you swore by the royal seal!”

“All right, that’s enough!” Fallon growled, dragging her horse along by its bridle.

A few men stepped forwards, a little cautiously, to try and bar the way, only for Brendan and the others to shoulder them aside. But the others merely watched, confused, as Fallon and the others hurried the Duchess inside the castle gate.

“Make sure nobody gets in,” Fallon ordered. “I want all of the Lunster guards disarmed and watched.”

“All the rest have been done already,” Brendan said.

“What about Gannon? Him too?” Fallon asked.

“He’s a Lunster man, isn’t he?”

Fallon nodded agreement. Something was telling him that Gannon was on their side but perhaps that was because the man had been there almost from the start. And, besides, he could hardly trust his own judgment any more. Just a turn of the hourglass ago he’d have sworn Dina was on their side.

“Fallon, have you gone mad? Berry will fall to pieces without me,” Dina said angrily.

He reached out and grabbed her arm, tugging until she was forced to dismount or be pulled from the saddle. “Let’s see how mad I am,” he said. “Let’s get to the bottom of this, once and for all.”

*

Rosaleen was waiting for them in the throne room, along with a line of men tied to chairs. One looked strangely familiar.

Fallon heard Dina’s sudden intake of breath at seeing the men waiting for them. He let go of her arm and she turned away – but Brendan was right behind them and there was nowhere for her to go.

“This way, Duchess,” the big smith said harshly.

Fallon ignored Dina’s protests to look at the seated men. Most of them could not meet his gaze but the one at the end, the familiar-looking one, glared at him defiantly.

“Lieutenant Keverne,” he said slowly. “Hagen’s old deputy. The man who supposedly vanished with the Duke of Lunster in a mysterious attack. Are you going to tell me why you are here and not at the bottom of the sea in the embrace of a selkie – or slaving in some Kotterman field?”

“I will say nothing to you, dog,” Keverne snarled. “I am loyal to the Duchess. I answer to her and nobody else!”

Fallon turned to see Dina shrinking backwards – but Brendan had his big hands on her arms and she was not able to move an inch.

“Sister, can you shed some light on this?” he asked, his voice rising to a shout. “I for one am heartily sick of not knowing what in the bogging hell is going on!”

“Give me your hand. He will not say a word but he does not have to. I can show you what happened,” Rosaleen promised.

Fallon took her hand and she pressed it to the top of Keverne's head.

“No! Stop it!” the man yammered but she closed her eyes and her fingers tightened in Keverne’s hair.

Next moment Fallon gasped. The throne room had melted away and instead he was somewhere else. It felt like some sort of dream. Some aspects were clear as day and over the rest there seemed to be a fog.

Yet things began to make sense now. He saw Keverne meeting with Dina, watched her flirt outrageously with the guard officer. In exchange for promises of being not just her trusted captain but, later, her companion as well, he would do what she wanted. Using gold and a combination of promises and threats, he won over six of the Duke’s guards and organized them to be on the ship. Then, while the sailors slept, they were tied up and thrown overboard. The Duke was surprised in his cabin while he ate dinner. There was almost no bloodshed – except for when the Duke produced a small Kottermani crossbow and loosed a bolt that creased Keverne’s arm before disappearing behind a storage chest.

The Duke was also overpowered and thrown overboard, his feet weighted with chain, while the guards scrubbed away any traces of blood in the cabin.

But they were rushing because the tide was turning, and they missed the little bolt, hidden behind the chest. The sails were raised and the tiller locked in place and the ship aimed at the cliffs near Baltimore, where tide and wind would cause it to crash and founder, while Keverne and his gang of traitors made their escape in a fishing boat. Except they had spent too long in the Duke’s cabin searching for the missing bolt and trying to clean up the blood and instead of taking the Duke’s ship into a watery death at the cliffs, the rushing current took it two miles to the west, to Baltimore. A furious Duchess had sent Keverne and his men to wait out the resultant storm in the Duke’s summer retreat down the coast. There they had made contact with a Kottermani ship and helped guide the Kottermanis in their attacks on the Lunster coast, with messages carried down from Lunster by another man, a man Fallon recognized but did not know. Worse, Fallon saw Keverne travel back to Lunster in the dead of night and lure Hagen out with false promises of answers to the mystery that had engulfed Lunster. There Hagen was killed, his body dragged away and dumped at sea as Keverne returned to the Duke’s beachside cottage.

Then the visions lifted as Rosaleen removed her hands.

“This is the other man,” she said, guiding Fallon down the line to the man from Keverne’s thoughts, a vicious-looking scarred man who was tied up even tighter than the others. “His name is Mika and he is a leading light among the scum of Lunster. He tried to kill us and, as you saw, killed Hagen.”

“What do you want to know?” Mika asked fearfully. “I don’t want the Sister to rip my thoughts out of my head and leave me a bogging fool. I did what I did for gold, not love.”

“Then talk. And it had better be the truth,” Fallon growled.

“How can you believe a man like that? He would lie to save his own skin!” Dina cried.

“Duchess, not another word, or I will see you gagged. You will get your chance to talk soon enough. For now I want to hear what this man has to say,” Fallon snapped.

Dina opened her mouth again but Gallagher silently produced a filthy rag and gestured with it towards her face and she shut it swiftly, pressing her lips together.

So Mika explained how a servant from Castle Lunster had brought him information and gold and he, in turn, had ridden down to the Duke’s summer home where it could be passed on to the Kottermanis. He had also set men to watch Hagen’s house, in case anyone came calling.

“I didn’t ask why; I was paid well,” he said.

Fallon wanted to drag him out and hang him high for what he had done to Hagen, to Lunster and to Baltimore. He controlled his anger and turned back to the Duchess.

“Time for you to talk now,” he said. “Why?”

“Let go of me!” she demanded, struggling against Brendan’s powerful grip and Fallon nodded to his friend.

She stepped away, rubbing at her arms and glaring at them. “How can you believe anything these traitors and liars say?” she asked coldly.

“So what is the truth then? And don’t tell me that they are making this up, because I saw the memories and it all fits now.”

Dina’s shoulders sagged a little and she wiped her eyes with her hand. “I was tricked into it by King Aidan, forced to do his bidding,” she said in a small voice.

“What? How?” Fallon demanded.

“You know what he is like,” she said fiercely. “He did it to you as well. He says one thing and makes it seem as if you are helping yourself, then, once the deed it done, he has you. He told Kinnard what was happening with the Kottermanis and how the only way to stop them was to become what they feared. The Kottermanis are obsessed with Aroaril, even though their priests gain no power from him. Aidan had seen the power of the Fearpriests before, when he was a boy. He was a man possessed. He thought it was the key to saving Gaelland. He wanted Kinnard to help him but the Duke refused, said he was going to take it to the next council and have the nobles remove Aidan if he did not change his mind. So Aidan came to me and promised me the world. He was going to have Kinnard killed, one way or the other. I could either join my husband in death or I could save my county and my future. He promised that if I got rid of Kinnard then he would protect Lunster from the coming Kottermani attacks and then, after the danger was past, make me his Queen.”

“No!” Keverne cried in horror from his seat.

Fallon took two quick steps across to the traitor and backhanded him brutally across the face, rocking the tied man on his chair. “Another word and I will cut out your tongue,” he said. “We don’t need you to talk to read your mind.”

He turned back to see Dina wiping away tears.

“I made a terrible mistake. I thought I could save my people,” she said. “What else could I do?”

“You could stand by your husband, the Duke, and stop the King’s evil!” Fallon cried. “How could you think otherwise?”

“Because we would have both been dead! You have to make sacrifices sometimes and I knew that Kinnard would die for his people.”

“And you would rise at the same time,” Fallon said sardonically.

She dashed away her tears. “How can you judge me? You were also lured by the King’s promises. He made you kill Prince Cavan, for Aroaril’s sake! You killed the Crown Prince and landed us all in this mess!”