The Bloody Quarrel (The Complete Edition) (9 page)

Fallon glanced across to Gallagher, who nodded. If the King planned yet more treachery then the crossbows were hidden in the cart and they could at least take the bastard with them.

He could feel his heart beating faster as the King strode nearer – but found himself relaxing when he saw the huge smile on his face.

“Captain Fallon!” King Aidan exclaimed loudly. “You have done what many said was impossible, caught these servants of the witches!”

Fallon had to stop himself taking a pace backwards, as the King showed no sign of stopping. More than that, Aidan walked up and embraced him. Fallon stiffened in revulsion as the King’s arms went around him, then tensed, wondering if he was about to feel a knife going in, but the King merely patted him on the back and then released him.

“Show me these bodies, and the families you rescued,” he said enthusiastically.

Bemused, Fallon took him over to the cart, where the children jumped down and awkwardly bowed alongside their parents. Aidan ignored them for the moment, instead wanting to see the bodies of the snatchers.

“Brilliant. You used staff and hammer to kill them, when no sharp weapons would work,” he said approvingly. “I was right. You are the man for these times.”

Fallon was not sure what he meant by that and was horribly reminded of the last time the King had wanted something from him.

But Aidan said no more, instead turning to the families and greeting them, shaking hands and patting shoulders.

“Thank you, sire,” Conor said in a rasping voice.

“Don’t thank me. You are safe now thanks to Captain Fallon,” he told them.

Once he had gone down the line, he turned back to those who had followed him out of the throne room. “Finbar, I need to be heard by the crowd,” he called out to the King’s Wizard.

“You will now, sire,” the wizard announced.

Fallon nodded to his friends. Anything could happen now. Gallagher leaned nonchalantly against the cart, right where their loaded crossbows sat, while Fallon let his hand fall naturally to the hilt of his dagger.

“People of Berry!” King Aidan called, his voice booming right across the crowd and silencing their chatter. “I have glad tidings for you! These servants of the witches, who had stolen children and families from their very beds, who had terrified you all, are now dead! Killed by Captain Fallon, the leader of my son’s guards!”

Aidan paused as the crowd cheered, thundering their approval.

“Fallon has rescued the families taken by these servants of the witches and saved them from a terrible fate! He is a hero and I thank him!”

Again the pause for cheering and Fallon looked over at his friends. Gallagher shrugged, while Brendan and Devlin looked bewildered.

Aidan strode back to his side and raised Fallon’s arm in the air. “Wave to them. You are the hero both they and I need,” he said softly.

Fallon’s head was whirling. What madness was this?

“Remember the name of Captain Fallon! He is a man to trust and a man to follow!” the King roared and the crowd shouted back their joy at him.

“You can sleep safe in your beds tonight, thanks to Captain Fallon! Now go home, tell your children and your friends what has happened here, and how you are free of the witches! Go now, spread the word!”

The crowd howled its approval, then began to slip away, melting back to whatever they were doing before.

“A very good day’s work, Captain,” King Aidan said, in a normal voice now, patting Fallon on the shoulder. “Not only killing the snatchers but freeing the families.”

“Just doing my duty, sire,” Fallon said, feeling he had to say something.

“It shows me I was right to choose you. And the people will remember what you did here. I shall make sure of it. Your men already do whatever you say. Soon the others will also,” the King said, much softer this time.

Before Fallon could recover from his astonishment, the King turned away and strode over to Conor and the rest of the families. “Regan!” Aidan shouted. “Where are you, man?”

The chamberlain appeared at the King’s side, seemingly from nowhere.

“Make sure these people each receive a gold coin,” he ordered.

“Your will, sire,” Regan said with a small bow.

“Sire, thank you,” Conor said, taking a step forwards; Kelty took a step forwards of his own.

Aidan waved off the thanks.

“But sire,” Conor persisted. “What of our missing children?”

Aidan paused. “You must prepare yourself for the worst there,” he said sadly. “But, if they still live, then I am sure Captain Fallon will find them.”

Fallon blinked at being brought in again, but Aidan said no more and strode back into the castle, Kelty at his shoulder, his face making it clear that the conversation was now at an end.

Fallon looked around the rapidly emptying square and wondered what to do now. Almost before he had finished that thought, Regan was in front of him.

“Good work, Captain. The King is very pleased with you. Quinn’s men will dispose of the bodies and you are free to return to your rooms. If the King needs you again, he will call on you,” the chamberlain said.

“These bodies need to be examined. Dark magic was used on them,” Fallon said. “I want Padraig and Rosaleen—”

“We shall have Archbishop Kynan and the King’s Wizard Finbar look at them,” Regan interrupted. “They will report to the King.”

Fallon saw Conor and the other families being given money and turning for their old homes and decided he’d had enough of this. There were many questions but here was not the place to discuss them.

“Come on, lads,” he waved, “our job is done.”

*

The rest of the villagers were waiting for them back in the rooms and cheered them in, Rosaleen rushing to see that Devlin was healed. Fallon took their congratulations and felt their relief and it was some time before they could get away to try and work out what had happened.

“What do you make of that?” he asked.

His friends looked back blankly, none obviously able to say.

“Aidan’s mad, obviously,” Devlin said.

Brendan grinned at his friend. “Good to hear you have your humor back, Dev!” he said.

Devlin stared at him. “What are you talking about? I was serious. The King is mad. Who knows why he does anything?”

“It is not that easy,” Padraig said. “But it was obviously an elaborate trap. Or perhaps we should say test. Kelty’s men chase you into the snatchers’ arms but you turn the tables and return triumphant. Instead of killing you, he celebrates it. To me, it looks as if he is setting Fallon up as the man to lead an army against the Kottermani.”

“But why Fallon – why us?” Devlin asked. “How could Aidan think we would do what he wants?”

“Aroaril knows. But if he does start a war, where does that leave our families? On the wrong side and not coming back,” Fallon growled.

That silenced everyone.

“So what in Aroaril’s name do we do?” Brendan asked finally.

“I won’t lead an army for him,” Fallon said. “I will not be remembered as a man who slaughtered more of our people than at the battle of Caragh Lake.”

“But having an army that obeys you may be a good thing,” Padraig pointed out.

Fallon rubbed his face. “Maybe. But I don’t trust anything he does or says. I have to get into his rooms. We have to find out what he is doing. And I am going to try it during the next dinner he has planned with his nobles. We all know what they will be doing for most of the night.”

“It is not safe,” Rosaleen warned.

“Nothing is. But if we don’t get to the heart of what is going on soon, we might as well cut our own throats before the King does it for us.”

Nobody disagreed with him – and then someone knocked on the door.

Devlin opened it to reveal a grizzled fisherman called Donnchadh.

“You’re not going to believe this, but Regan’s at the door again,” he said apologetically.

*

Fallon took a seat across from the King, keeping his face as blank as he could. He felt like a puppet on Aidan’s string – but until he got the chance to cut the strings and turn the knife on the puppet master, he had to play along. Regan had given him nothing but a scroll telling him to meet with the King at first light. Understandably he had not slept much and now his nerves felt scraped tight, as he prepared to hear what strange game Aidan wanted to play this time.

“Since your fight with the Moneylenders Guild I have been obviously hunting them down,” Aidan said conversationally, leaning back in his deep, padded chair. “You will be pleased to know that most of their leaders have been arrested or killed and their funds have been seized by the Crown. In time a new Moneylenders Guild will be created and the rights to lend money auctioned off. But, for now, the Bankers Guild has taken over their duties, in exchange for a modest fee.”

Fallon nodded, wondering why he was being told this. The Guild deserved to be punished for their treachery and alliance with Swane, but surely they were just operating secretly for Aidan?

“But that is not the real problem,” Aidan continued. “We have discovered that the remnants of the army the Guild used to attack you have returned there. They now lurk there, perhaps as many as a hundred of them.”

Fallon sat up straighter at that. The Guild bashers and thieves had been bad enough when they attacked but when some had been turned into undead monsters by Swane and his Fearpriest …

Aidan nodded. “Yes, you see the problem as well as I. They are doing nothing, just sitting there. But what if they realize they have nothing to lose and start attacking the people? So we must destroy them before that happens. I want you to do it.”

“Me, sire? But my men—” Fallon began.

“Not just your men. I will give you an equal number of my guards to lead in there as well. With your force doubled, then you will have no problem,” Aidan continued. “Here are your orders. You may select your own men. Captain Kelty has been told to give you only the ones you ask for. Clean out this nest of vipers for me, Captain Fallon.”

“Yes, sire,” Fallon said stiffly.

“You will need all your men but I fear it will be too dangerous for your son. Make sure you leave him behind, with perhaps three or four trusted men to look after him,” Aidan said thoughtfully.

Fallon bowed, to give himself the time to get his face under control. The message was unmistakable. Try to run away and Kerrin would pay.
Threaten my son, you bastard? I’ll rip your bogging head off!
he screamed inside his head. But the guards were close behind him and he had no weapon.

“A sensible idea, sire,” he said.

*

“So this is how he is going to kill us,” Devlin asked.

“I don’t think so. Or why would he let me choose who I took from his ranks?” Fallon pointed out. “It is another game of his. He might be testing us but we can come out of it alive. And, after today, I want those guards to fight for me, not for Aidan. He thinks we will just keep playing along with him. Not for much longer.”

“Well, then get the city on to our side,” Gallagher said.

Fallon pushed a smiled onto his face and waved to the crowd that was following them, a crowd that was still growing.

Fallon had picked out the guards swiftly, making sure he chose all the ones who went in with him at Killarney and getting Bran and Casey to help him select the rest, making sure that Kelty’s favorites and the lazy and useless were left behind at the castle. Then he equipped everyone with crossbows, dressed his own men in surcoats and made sure half of them had barrels of lamp oil. If these renegade Bashers and thieves could not be killed in the normal manner, he would be ready.

Then he had divided them up into three companies of a mixture of villagers and guards, putting his three friends in charge of one each. Working all that out had to be done in the square outside the castle and the sight brought out the onlookers – and then led to the cheering.

“It’s Captain Fallon, our savior!”

“Three cheers for Fallon!”

Fallon was filled with ice at the thought of walking off and leaving Kerrin at Aidan’s mercy, to be watched by Donnchadh and a pair of others. He used his hatred to keep him warm. He had to fight to keep it off his face as he waved to the crowds as they marched through Berry.

Many of the crowd followed them all the way, while new people replaced those who stopped cheering. Fallon could see the effect it had on all the men. His villagers enjoyed the adulation, while the guards – more used to being jeered at – loved it. He had to call a halt when they came close to the square where they had fought the Moneylenders and Swane. He turned to the crowd, asking for Padraig’s help so he could be heard by all.

“I can make you heard but anyone in the square will hear us as well,” the old wizard warned.

“They must know we are coming anyway, and we can’t risk having some of these people follow us in there.”

“Go on then.” Padraig gestured tiredly.

Fallon turned to the crowd and held out his hands. “No further. This could get dangerous and I don’t want to see any of you hurt. Go back to your homes now and leave it to us,” he called, his voice echoing down the street and silencing the crowd.

They gave him one last cheer and then stayed where they were, keeping watch from a safe distance as he spoke to the men in his normal voice.

“Listen now,” he said. “We stay close together. We think most of them are in the main Guildhall, but we will make sure there are no unpleasant surprises behind us. Gallagher’s company will watch the main hall, crossbows at the ready. Brendan, you take your company in to the houses on our left, Devlin’s company will go in to the houses on the right. If you see anything, fill it full of crossbow bolts. If it still tries to get up, then get out of there and we burn the houses down,” he said. “There’s no Fearpriest here, so I don’t think they will be impossible to kill. But we take no risks, understand?”

He saw the smiles disappear from the faces of the guards at this. His own men were looking grim enough already, having been there once before.

He grinned at them. “Cheer up, once we are done here, we get to walk back through our adoring crowds again. I reckon we’ll be so full of free beer and food by the time we get back to the castle, we may not make it!”