The Wildkin’s Curse (5 page)

‘Yes, and what a wild child she was too!'

Liliana scowled. ‘I was not!'

‘I don't think threatening to shoot someone is how you usually introduce yourself in polite society,' Briony teased.

Liliana raised her chin. ‘You were trespassing.'

‘That is how we met, anyway. Me exploring the ruins of Stormlinn Castle, and Lili leaping out from behind a broken arch with an arrow aimed at my heart.'

‘Well, I did try and get rid of you by other ways.'

‘By moaning and rattling old chains and throwing rocks at me,' Briony said, smiling.

‘Well, it usually works. Most people are afraid of ghosts.'

‘I wanted to see the ghosts of my family,' Briony replied. ‘I had so much I wanted to know.'

‘So what happened at Stormlinn Castle? How were you lost?' Merry asked.

‘It's a very sad story,' Briony said, and poured herself another glass of wine with hands that were not quite steady.

She drank deeply, then put her glass down, wrapping her arms about her knees. Her eyes were very dark.

‘I think you know that the wildkin used to be ruled by the Erlkings and Erlqueens of Stormlinn. Their court was merry with feasting and dancing and singing and storytelling. All kinds of wildkin were welcome there, and those born with Gifts were venerated.'

There was a long pause as Briony rested her chin in her hand and stared into the glowing heart of the fire. ‘Seven generations ago, the starkin came to this land. You all know the tale. How they were welcomed kindly at first, and even in some cases worshipped like gods.'

‘Until they revealed their cruel, cold hearts,' Liliana said.

‘Not all starkin are like that,' Zed protested.

Liliana snorted in contempt. ‘All starkin are scum.'

‘I wish you'd stop saying that,' Zed said.

‘It's like saying all wildkin are savage,' Merry cried, ‘or all hearthkin are stupid. It's just not true! Zed's family are good people, and there are plenty of other starkin families who try to do the right thing too. You're being as narrow-minded as all those people who hunt the wildkin down, regardless of what they've done.'

Liliana opened her mouth to argue, but Briony spoke sternly. ‘He's right, Lili. And we will never have peace as long as such prejudices exist. You shame the Vendavala name with such talk. The Erlkings and Erlqueens always ruled with justice and compassion.'

Colour rushed up Liliana's face, and she looked down at her interlinked hands to hide the sudden sheen of tears in her eyes. ‘Unlike the starkin kings!'

Briony nodded. ‘I'm afraid that's all too true. The starkin kings have always been cruel in throwing down any opposition.'

Merry said impatiently, ‘We know all this.'

‘What you may not know is that the people of the Stormlinn were the only ones to resist the starkin's rule,' Briony said. ‘They were protected by the Perilous Forest, and by their magic. For more than a hundred years the starkin were preoccupied with building their cities and laying down their laws and did not pay them much heed.'

She sipped her wine, as if seeking courage to go on. ‘The Erlkings tried to keep their people safe in the forest, but as the years went by, Stormlinn Castle grew overcrowded as refugees fled from the massacres, and the Erlking did not know how to feed and keep them all. Then the starkin came and began to cut down the forest and the wildkin began to fight.

‘That was when young Prince Zander, son of King Zabrak, came with a troupe of soldiers, professing to come in peace.'

Liliana made a contemptuous noise in her throat, but did not speak. Briony glanced at her and smiled reassuringly.

‘They killed them all, didn't they?' Merry said. ‘The Erlking let them into the castle, and broke bread with them and drank wine and ate salt, and the starkin prince waited till everyone was sleeping and then killed them all. He broke all the laws of hospitality.'

‘Not to mention decency,' Zed said dryly.

‘There was no king then,' Liliana said. ‘The Stormlinn was ruled by the Erlqueen, Avannia. My grandmother.'

‘And my mother,' Briony said, very low.

Merry exclaimed in surprise. ‘So your mother was the Erlqueen?'

‘That means you're a princess,' Zed said. ‘A wildkin princess.' He stared at Briony in amazement, and she frowned a little as if forbidding him to think of her differently.

In the silence that followed, the crackling and popping of the burning wood seemed very loud.

‘I do not believe the starkin came to the Stormlinn intending to murder,' Briony said in a calm, detached voice. ‘Several things happened to offend and upset them. Firstly, of course, they thought it an insult to be asked to kneel before a woman. Women have no value in starkin society; they cannot own property or inherit a title or lands. Prince Zander could not believe the Stormlinn allowed themselves to be ruled by a woman, and thought they must be trying to trick him, or insult him. Also, Avannia had just given birth to me . . . I was only a few weeks old.'

‘Starkin women are cloistered after giving birth,' Zed said, nodding his head in understanding. ‘They are not permitted to be seen by men for the waxing and waning of two moons.'

‘Yes. Prince Zander was disgusted and angered by Queen Avannia appearing in mixed company, and presiding over the feast, and particularly, I think, by feeding me in public. You may not know that was the custom among the Stormlinn.'

‘It certainly isn't the custom among the starkin,' Zed said.

‘No,' Liliana said caustically. ‘Imagine feeding your baby when it's hungry!'

‘Oh, I think they feed it when it's hungry . . . just not where anyone can see,' Zed said, spreading his hands and shrugging to show he meant no offence.

‘I don't think it was that which led Prince Zander to massacre the Stormlinn, though,' Briony said. ‘Do you remember what I have told you about the Gifts, boys? That I am the Erlrune because I have three of the Great Gifts—the Gift of Seeing, the Gift of Making and the Gift of Understanding.'

Merry and Zed nodded.

‘Something you two could do with a little more of,' Liliana muttered. She was feeling on edge and combative. She hated hearing this tragic story again, and was afraid of showing weakness before these starkin boys.

Briony frowned at her, and went on, ‘Well, my eldest sister, Shoshanna, had the Gift of Telling. She had been named the Teller of Tales only a few years earlier, after the old Teller died. She rose to her feet during the feast and uttered a prophecy which the starkin saw as being a veiled threat.'

‘A child of storm shall raise high the spear of thunder, and by the power of three, smite the throne of stars asunder,' Liliana intoned in a deep, reverent voice.

‘Yes, that is what she said. Not very diplomatic, of course. But the Teller of Tales cannot always choose what they say, or when,' Briony said.

‘Not another prophecy,' Zed sighed.

‘The Gift of Telling is more than mere prophecy,' Liliana said fiercely. ‘The words of the Teller of Tales have power beyond simple divination. It is a curse, a wish, an invocation. What the Teller says
will
happen,
must
happen, for they have spoken the words and given them weight.'

‘Are you trying to tell me that if a Stormlinn Teller told someone to drop dead, they would, just like that?' Zed asked disbelievingly.

‘Eventually,' Liliana said, nose in the air.

‘It is a strange, unknowable Gift,' Briony said, ‘like all the Gifts of the Stormlinn. It is one of the most honoured, and one of the most dangerous, for it is the Gift of wishing and cursing, of prayer and prophecy, of storytelling and true-telling.'

Merry bent his head over his lute and softly strummed a few chords. His mouth moved silently, as if quietly singing the words to himself.

‘Certainly Prince Zander saw it as a threat,' Briony said. ‘He was also furious that a woman—more of a girl, really— should dare look upon him and speak to him in such a way. He wanted to break her, and yet he also desired her. My sister Shoshanna was, by all accounts, very beautiful.'

‘So what happened?' Merry asked.

‘Lady Marjolaine had seen the coming of the starkin in the Well of Fates, and what was likely to happen. She summoned a grogoyle and flew down to the castle to seek an audience with the Erlqueen. The Erlqueen refused to believe a man who had just broken bread with her could try to murder her, and would not break the laws of hospitality herself by having the prince thrown in prison.'

‘It was stupid,' Liliana said gruffly. ‘She should've listened to the Erlrune.'

Briony continued in an unsteady voice: ‘While Avannia and the Erlrune were arguing, the starkin had already begun their bloody work. They slaughtered most of the servants and guards, and then, when the alarm began to be raised, burst into the royal wing and killed the Erlqueen's husband and her three sons as they lay sleeping. Avannia heard the screams, and ran at once to try to save them. She was cut down by Prince Zander himself as she came through the door.'

‘That is so sad,' Merry said.

Liliana felt his eyes on her face and kept it cold and hard as stone. She wanted no-one to know how deeply this story affected her. Emotion was weakness, and weakness was death.

‘At least he's only a distant relation of mine,' Zed said unhappily. ‘My second cousin, once removed.'

Briony's face was pale, her eyes shadowed. ‘The Erlrune only had a few seconds before the soldiers burst in upon her. She scooped me up from my cradle, picked up my sister Ladonna, then leapt out the window.'

Merry drew in his breath sharply, and Liliana gave him an angry look. How dare he look at her with pity in his eyes?

‘She was wearing a magical cloak of feathers, and so should have been able to escape unharmed,' Briony went on. ‘But Prince Zander had a fusillier. He ran to the window and shot at her. The Erlrune flew higher, but the flame caught the edge of her cloak and burnt away seven of the feathers, those that held the pattern of magic. She plunged three hundred feet into the lake. Somehow she managed to cling on to Ladonna, but I was only a baby. I slipped from her arms when she hit the water, and although she tried and tried to find me in the darkness, I was lost.'

Liliana drew a deep, shaky breath. She imagined what the Erlrune must have felt, feeling the baby slip from her arms into the freezing depths of the lake.

‘She could not stay searching for me, it was icy cold and snowing and the soldiers were searching for her. She had to escape. So she called the grogoyle and flew back here, weeping all the way. She looked for me in the Well of Fates but saw nothing but darkness. She thought I was surely dead.'

‘How on earth did you survive?' Merry asked.

‘A lake-lorelei saved me. She brought me up from the depths of the lake and swam with me to shore. Then she sang, until one of the Crafty—an old woman called Oreal—heard her and came to see what she had found. I lived with Oreal until I was six or so, but then she was killed by soldiers, and so I ran away and lived wild for a few years, before they employed me as a spinner and weaver at Estelliana Castle. That was where I met your mother, Zed.'

‘And the other little girl? Liliana's mother?' Merry asked.

‘My mother was raised by the Erlrune,' Liliana said, ‘and then, when she was around my age, she went back to Stormlinn Castle and lived there in the ruins, doing what she could to help the wildkin. She tried to find the lost Spear of the Stormlinn, which Prince Zander had stolen, she tried to rescue her sister, she tried to build the castle again, she did her best. Eventually she had me, and died.'

‘That's such a shame,' Zed said.

‘Strange to hear that coming from the mouth of a starkin, since it was your scum relatives who killed her,' she retorted.

‘What do you mean, she tried to rescue her sister? Do you mean Briony?' Merry asked.

‘No,' Liliana said scornfully. ‘Her other sister. Shoshanna. Prince Zander took her back to Zarissa with him, and kept her as his concubine, and paraded her in chains before the court for his amusement. She was the new Erlqueen, you see, after my grandmother died.'

‘The Erlrune tried many times to rescue her,' Briony said. ‘Every attempt failed. The palace at Zarissa is too heavily guarded, and Shoshanna was kept in a high tower made all of crystal glass, so tall it is called the Tower of Stars. Sixteen years ago, she gave birth to a daughter there. It was a difficult birth, and she had no-one of her kind to help her. She died.'

‘Such a sad story,' Merry said, gazing at Liliana with pity in his eyes. She stared back at him stonily.

‘So that girl . . . the wildkin granddaughter of the king . . . is your cousin, Liliana,' Zed said. ‘Why, I know all about her. She's the only living offspring of the crown prince. Apparently half the court at Zarissa is vying for her hand, in the hope the king will name whoever marries her the next in line for the throne. She can't inherit herself, of course, being female . . .'

‘She is the Erlqueen of the Stormlinn!' Liliana snapped. ‘She won't want to inherit the starkin throne. She will want to smite it asunder.'

‘With the Spear of Thunder,' Merry said, laughing.

Liliana glared at him. ‘That's right,' she said coldly.

‘Except Rozalina, Erlqueen of the Stormlinn, is held captive in Zarissa, and the Spear of the Storm King was lost long ago,' Briony said sadly.

‘I'm guessing that's where we come in,' Merry said. Zed turned surprised eyes his way. ‘Well, it's obvious. Liliana wants to try and rescue her cousin, and the Erlrune thinks we can help her. Or that
you
can, really, since you're one of the Ziv.'

Zed rubbed his chin reflectively. ‘Comets and stars! I should've seen that coming. Though I must say she has a very odd way of asking people to help her. I mean, hissing “starkin scum” at me all the time. I ask you!'