· Stephen Wormwood here. Thank you for clicking. Feedback and constructive criticism are always welcome at stephenwormwood@mail.com. As always hope you enjoy reading this and please consider donating to Nifty if you can, it's more than merited.
·
You
can find a map of the fictionalized setting of this novel here: https://imgur.com/JtpD8WU (this is my first time using Inkarnate
so it might be a little rough!)
·
If
you end up enjoying this, please read some of my other
stories on Nifty: The Dying Cinders (gay, fantasy/sci-fi), Wulf's Blut (gay, fantasy/sci-fi), The Harrowing of Chelsea Rice (gay,
fantasy/sci-fi), The Dancer of Hafiz (gay, fantasy/sci-fi), The Cornishman (gay, historical), A Small Soul Lost (gay, fantasy/sci-fi), and Torc and Seax (transgender, magic/sci-fi).
**********
Chapter Six: The Wretched of the
Realm, Part 1
**********
Unhidden Truths – Fracas in the City
– Luther – Assets and Seizures – The Queenswood Hunt – Gallows Grove
**********
Manse de Foy, Dragonspur, Kingdom of
Morland
40th of Summer, 801
Just a day prior Francis Gray had half expected to return to
Manse de Foy a victim of his master's wroth. He rode home swiftly but sulkily,
creeping in like a tardy apprentice in wait of a beating. But that beating
never came. Nor was there any dressing down. Upon Fran's return that yestermorn
Gustave was absent – busying himself at one of the local quays with the
wharfinger. When Fran took himself to Gustave's rooms, he found them empty –
the bed sheets freshly pressed, its windows washed, its airs scented with his
distinctive continental lavender. The chambermaids had already seen to it. So,
Fran went looking for one, and asked her for his master.
"Gone to the ports," said she, a coifed and smocked little
Wallishwoman named Yana. "One of the king's messengers came calling afore
moonrise with a missive."
That missive, as Fran was later to learn, was an invitation
to join King Oswald's personal retinue at the coming Queenswood hunt. When he
learned that, Gustave's absence made more sense. He'd be down at the ports
practicing that gaudy silver-tongue of his to beg through a shipment of Wallish
white for the King's pleasure – and if his verbose charms failed him, he'd
furnish the good wharfinger's purse with a few extra King's Marks to sweeten
the pot.
The Wallish Ambassador was right to take it seriously, of
course. An invitation to hunt with a king was no small honour, and given
Wolfrick's stupid blunder at Woollerton Green, it was a startling one. And when
Fran's thoughts took him in that direction he started to wonder if there was
more to the invitation than mere favour.
`Oswald is shrewd,' thought he. `Perhaps there's more to it than
Gustave realizes...'
But the thought was a passing one. As Francis Gray set about
his itinerary for the 39th (drawing in Perrin the Steward's ledgers
for review, overseeing wage payments, drafting responses to messages from local
lords, etc) his mind turned to Edward and the night they'd spent together, and
how it galled him to take flight so swifty after it. The boy sat out the
afternoon at his escritoire daydreaming of the blonde-haired swordsman, his
quill dripping at the nip as his mind idled away with thoughts unsaintly.
`I shall have to make plans to see him again,' thought Fran. `And soon.'
Gustave did not return home until moonrise. When he did,
there was a lightness in his gait, a smile to his face, and a crate of fine
Wallish white clanking at the back of a mule-driven wagon. Fran joined Perrin
and Wolfrick at the gates to receive him, welcoming him home and informing him
of matters requiring his attention, all of which he promised to see to after he
took some rest for the night, and bade Fran follow him to his chambers. The
clerk did as he was asked (much to Wolfrick's chagrin) and walked with the
ambassador back to his perfectly dressed rooms, its candles and sconces already
lit for the evening.
Gustave's lips swallowed up Fran's own as soon as the door
closed. The younger man gasped, taken aback by the sheer suddenness of the kiss
as the older one shoved his back against the scroll-patterned wall, rattling
its wall-mounted portraits, rustic landscape tapestries and shelved ornaments.
A rough hand snatched beneath Fran's undershirt and slipped
its way up the lightly muscled stomach beneath it, up the soft contours of his
breast and pinching at his nipple. The clerk's face scrunched into a grimace,
not that Gustave cared, not when his other hand took the boy by his neck and
shoved his thick tongue down his throat. Lusty moans smothered revolted ones.
The kiss was foul and drudging, the master's hot breath befouled with
commoner's ale and eel pie, and when their lips finally parted, Fran gasped for
breath, wide-eyed and disgusted.
Gustave was drunk.
"Get into the bed," he said slovenly, shunting
down his hose.
Fran did as he was bid.
Gustave had at him twice that night. Well, once and a half.
When the moon was high, he spread Fran flat across the bed and rutted him until
his swollen balls painted the boy's bowels white – then promptly collapsed into
a drunken slumber. When the moon was low, he awoke with a shivering Fran still
trapped beneath his great weight, his woollen chest pulsing against his back.
The Wallishman's manhood grew yet again. Clumsy hands
reached for a seed-smattered arse and pried them open until his bell-headed
girth aligned with that pink puckered hole it so cravenly sought. Fran snatched
at the sheets and bit down into the pillow to steel himself for a second round
of his master's dog-like humping, but its veined cock was only halfway through
before he dropped asleep again, and that time, he would not rise again until
morning.
The bed fell still. Silent (save for the snores). Fran
caught his breath. Thumbed the tears from his eyes. Bit his lip and willed
himself not to cry again. That was when The Fiend fingered its way up his spine
and plunged inside his ear, calling him a WELL-KEPT CATAMITE and a SUPPURATE
WHORE and a RUTTED BITCH. Most nights its whispered evils kept him
from sleep, but not that night. Fran was too drained and aghast. Some hours
after his master, the boy fell into slumber, wondering how a day that began so
well could end so ugly.
When Gustave woke the following morning, the morning of the
40th, Fran was already up and dressed, sat in silence by the
escritoire drafting more of his master's letters.
The Wallishman yawned, lumbering out of bed, padding across
the sunlight-dappled hardwood floor by his bare feet until his thick arms drew
around the Morish boy's thin shoulders.
His best approximation of a lover's embrace.
"My master wakes," whispered Fran.
Gustave kissed his ear. "And such a pretty face to wake to,
sweetling. How goes it with my gift?"
The boy paused. In his haste to see Edward he'd forgotten
about that cattle tripe of an excuse he'd concocted. "I... I struggled to find a
Morish brocade that would suit, master. I have the thread, but..."
"No matter. Fetch it another time, you have preparations to
make. Three days hence, you and I shall hunt with King Oswald himself."
"Truly?" He feigned ignorance. "But after that business with
Wolfrick...?"
"Perhaps Ludolf's poison tongue isn't quite so potent as he
thought. Or perhaps the boy is wise enough to understand that relations with
Wallenheim need not be threatened by such trifles. Either way, this is welcome
news, a fresh opportunity to sell the consortium proposal to him, once
Frogmoncke puts in his good word. I've even secured some good Wallish white as
a gift. One taste of it and he'll be begging for more to follow."
"An excellent plan, master."
A chuckle. "Indeed. Anyway. Today is my banquet with the
Wallish tradesman, is it not?"
Fran nodded. "Yes, master. They are scheduled to arrive at
noontide. I will speak with Perrin and Inga to ensure that the hall is properly
prepared for them."
"Good," said Gustave. "See that you do. And take yourself
into the city again, lease a pair of good hunting horses. Our little fjord
mares will not stay apace with these Morish ones. Collect the marks from
Perrin."
A nod. "Yes master."
Then a knock at the door. A hard one.
Gustave breathed a heavy sigh. "Who is it?!"
"Wolfrick, lord." Said he. "I have... urgent news."
Another sigh. The muscled ambassador drew away from Fran and
reached for his dyed wool night tunic, threading his arms through its sleeves,
and settling back into his high-backed chair before allowing in his captain of
the guard.
The door bolted open. In strode Wolfrick, short sword and
breastplate clunking with each footstep. He threw a dark look of disgust at
Fran before lowering himself into a bow before their master.
"May St. Wynnry spare you her wrath, Wolfrick. Why come you
calling to my door at so early an hour?"
Fran lowered his quill. He did not turn to Wolfrick or move
to be spoken to – it was not his place to do so – but he did peek a glance at
the old Wallish warrior and saw a look most curious. It was a fearful sort of look,
fearfulness to deliver his pressing news, but also a look of begrudging
self-affirmation, a sort of `did I not warn you' half-smile, half-frown.
Something was wrong.
Wolfrick lofted upright. "Lord, there is... no good way of
putting this. The meeting that you helped orchestrate between the King and this
man Stillingford... it has gone badly."
A knot twisted inside Fran's stomach.
The colour drained from Gustave's face. "...What do you mean?"
"Lord, I-"
"WOLFRICK!" Roared he. "What do you MEAN?!"
The grey-chopped man lowered his head. "A large crowd came
out in attendance. Thousands, they say. Things began well, the king was
receptive, but some rogue fired a shot, perhaps to kill the king, no one knows.
But it caused a panic and then a crush... at last count nearly a hundred people
are dead."
`Oh Saints!' thought Fran, his skin suddenly afire. `Oh, saints be
good! Ed! Edward Bardshaw, please be alright...!'
Gustave's face went still, his arm tremoring. "...And the
King? Is the King unharmed?!"
"King Oswald and Stillingford's people are safe," said
Wolfrick. "Thomas Wolner's men rode into the crowds and plucked them from harm.
But the city is on edge. After sunset some fights broke out between Odoists and
Anti-Odoists in the taverns. Now, The King's Eyes are patrolling the streets to
keep the peace, but..."
Silence.
Gustave, his skin utterly blanched with fright, threw his
face into his palms, screaming. Up he shot then, pacing about the room until
his fist met the wall. A blood smear fouled the dent his knuckles left in the
stencilling. His enflamed eyes rolled toward a day-old ewer of wine sat upon a
side table. Fran and Wolfrick watched tensely as Gustave poured himself a cup,
threw it back in three stolid gulps, and slapped it back down.
The ambassador wiped his lips. "...Speaker's Square was a
mistake. I never should have suggested it to the king. My reputation at court
is already curdled, this will only worsen it! My... my brother was right. We have
to distance ourselves from the Crow's Club..."
He turned to Fran.
"Go," said Gustave. "Leave me. I need time to think."
A nod. Fran left the parchment and quill where they lay and
excused himself from Gustave's rooms, leaving him and his captain behind to
plot their way forward. As soon as the door clicked shut Fran raced down the
dimly lit corridor to his own rooms and bolted it shut from within. He meant to
think, to plot, to consider how this might implicate Edward, to figure some way
of reaching him, but when he opened his eyes, he found another guest standing
in wait for him.
Lothar.
Wide-eyed. Shocked. Dishevelled. His normally atonal face
was now a picture of stunned disbelief.
`What now?' Thought Fran. "Lothar? You shouldn't be here without
Gustave's leave; it might make him suspicious..."
Lothar looked away, silently.
"Are you alright? Lothar? Whatever's the matter?"
That was when Fran noticed the parchment rolled up in the
espial's shaking hand. Lothar said nothing and handed it over, wordlessly
willing Fran to read it. His heart was racing with thoughts and fears for
Edward, but as the clerk paused to fully digest what he was reading, when all
the names and dates and secrets inscribed flowed into his mind and formed a
picture of themselves, only then did its true horror finally penetrate. Only
then did Francis Gray finally see the ugly truth of Lothar's birth.
"...No..." he whispered. "...He... could not be this evil... there is
no way..."
KILL THE BASTARD! The Fiend screamed with rage inside his skull. KILL
THE BASTARD! KILL THE BASTARD, KILL THE BASTARD, KILL THE BASTARD!
Fran looked up at his friend.
There were tears in his eyes.
"Oh Lothar," Tears found their way into Fran's as well. "I...
I'm so sorry..."
The espial knuckled his eyes dry. "...Regardless. I... I have a
brother. I have a brother, Fran. I would like to see him..."
"This document. Is it a facsimile?"
Lothar nodded yes.
Fran turned to the hearth. The chambermaids had lit a small
fire for him to stave off the morning cold. The clerk threw the document into
the fire and watched it burn. "Gustave would kill us both if he ever
found it."
"What about my brother?" Said Lothar.
Fran took himself to the window to breathe, to give himself
space to think, to process his thoughts. His mind was like a cluster of sparks
firing off in a single instant – Edward, Stillingford, Oswald, Gustave,
Magnhilda, Lothar, Luther, Wolfrick – he had to breathe, he had to focus.
"You... you can't slip into the hospice a second time; the risk is too great."
Lothar hardened. "I will not leave him to rot in that place
a day longer."
"Lothar, listen to me. You have to think! Alright? You have
to think clearly! Where would you keep him? You cannot sequester him in
Thormont's lodgings, and you CANNOT bring him here! We can only fetch him when
the time is right, when I have title and holdings to provide for you both!"
Pussyfoot and Bullyfoot rattled in their sheaths as Lothar
marched silently to the other side of the window. He gazed out at the courtyard
of Manse de Foy, beyond its tall walls to Dogford Bridge and the rushing waters
of the River Wyvern that it forded.
"I want to see him at least," said Lothar. "If I have to
wait to be with him, then I will wait. But I want to see him. You have to help
me."
Fran sighed.
"...Please, Fran. He is my brother. Please?"
**********
Harvenny Heath, Dragonspur, Kingdom
of Morland
40th of Summer, 801
The bread was stale. Its deliverer was a baker's apprentice,
a well-wisher sojourning some six doors down from Stillingford's dwellings,
someone whose master heard of, as he put it, `the fracas in the city'. Edward
thanked the boy for his diligence, his master for his kindness, then sent him
on his way with two half-marks. He carried the loaf with him to the table and
set his dagger to it. It would not cut smoothly.
"Stale..."
On a different day Edward Bardshaw would have chased the boy
down for his half-marks and chided him for his carelessness. "Did you mix my
master's bread for crow's feed?" He may well have said.
But not that day.
That day he cut the bread regardless, splitting it in half
then sawing off three thick slices, one for Stillingford and two for himself.
There was a bit of butter to hand (freshly churned by another well-wishing
neighbour) which Edward spread dispassionately over the slices. Meanwhile the
cooking pot over by the flaming hearth had boiled over, scenting the air with
carrots and chicken marrow.
The swordsman rose up staggering (a stumble in his step from
the fall at the forum) and fetched a brass ladle from the wall-hangings to
spoon steaming helpings of bone broth into a small, lacquered feeding bowl. Then
Edward took the buttered bread and broth to his master's bedside and set it at
his lap.
He was awake was Stillingford – abed but awake – yet it was
all he could do to lean upright and set his back against the headboard, so
unkind was the `fracas in the city' to his joints. He groaned. "Oh, the bones
are tired today."
"Here, Master. For your strength."
Theopold Stillingford, saints bless him, had no stomach for
breakfast that morn. He wore the weight of failure horribly; shoulders
slouched, brow furrowed, eyes downcast... but his bony, knobbed fingers still
took up the spoon and fed himself.
Ed slumped into a nearby chair as the room fell to
stillness. All was silent save for the slosh of broth and the snapping hearth.
And the silence caused Edward's thoughts to drift – to the chaos of Speaker's
Square and to the King's Eye horsemen galloping away from the stampeding
throngs until they were safely sequestered in a commandery near Dunnsfield
Market, half a mile from the uproar at the forum. A host of Bannerets, twenty
of them, were readily arrayed upon their arrival. They saw to the King, helping
him down from his saddle and spiriting him off to rooms undisclosed, offering
him food and water and assuring him that a carriage would soon arrive to
collect and deliver him to the safety of Staunton Castle. The reception Edward,
Will, and Stillingford got was far afield from that.
Thomas Wolner's men had each of them carried off into
separate rooms – boxy stone rooms carpeted with rushes and saturated with the
musty stench of rat piss. Edward recalled himself slumping over the croaking
wooden bench that was left for him; too exhausted to stay awake yet too wary to
sleep. One of the King's Eyes came for him – eventually. He came with a cup of
water, a bit of bread, and many, many questions. Questions about the Crow's
Club and the Old Lioness tavern, about Stillingford, Rothwell, Roschewald, the
Wallenheim Delegation, Odoism, and even Equitism. When the ringing in his ears
finally calmed down, Ed was able to answer some of his queries. Then after
some hours in their custody, long after the King's Eyes had ridden out into the
streets to dispel the crowds and quell the furore, the three of them were
released.
"King Oswald's orders," said one of the breastplated
guardsmen as he escorted them to a deserted laneway outside of the commandery.
Thomas Wolner was nowhere to be seen – no doubt he led the King's escort back
to Staunton Castle. "Take my advice – stay off the streets for a spell."
Then the trio were left alone.
They embraced together beneath the shelter of a tavern house
jetty. They traded stories of what had occurred at the Square from each of
their own perspectives. Stillingford said he heard a gunshot then a shout. Will
remembered it the other way around. Ed harkened to the marksman on the rooftops
and wondered with all his heart if he'd meant to kill the king. Will wondered
aloud how such a would-be assassin might botch the shot at such a height.
Either way, they all agreed on one thing.
Speaker's Square was a failure.
Edward recalled the tears in his master's eyes as he admitted
as much. Stillingford thanked the saints for the King's safety and cursed them
for allowing such madness to occur. William Rothwell embraced him. "Blame
not the saints, master. We did all we could."
Ed (mindful of that King's Eye's warning to stay off the
streets) bade Will and Stillingford wait for him as he doubled back through the
desolate backstreets to fetch Bessie where he'd left her, but his trusty mare
was long gone, pilfered no doubt by some desperate escapee or some
fleet-fingered opportunist.
Edward cursed the bastard (whoever they were) as he sought
the nearest inn for a coachman that would take coin at short notice. He found
one near the river, but the coachman wasn't willing to make the trip for
anything less than a King's Mark. Edward (who had no money on him) promised to
pay him upon their return to Harvenny Heath and put up his sword as collateral.
Fortunately, that was assurance enough. The coachman downed his last cup of ale
and went to the stables to fetch a brace of horses, two black-maned
thoroughbreds bloating with colic. Edward helped him fit on the harnesses,
straps, lines, breechings, and martingale, then climbed into the back as he
drove his horses upriver. By that time Ed returned to the commandery laneway,
it was almost nightfall, and Will and Stillingford had found shelter from the
cold in a nearby tavern.
"Escort the master home," Will had said. "Mine own
lodgings are none too far."
"Are you certain it's safe to walk home alone like
this, Will? Why not stay the night with us?"
Their words were curt ever since that clumsy moment in
Rothwell's lodgings. For the first time in many days William looked to Edward
wholly, truly, without any guise of coldness about him. His smile was stiff,
his eyes half-watered. A runny nose dripped over his lip before he scrubbed the
mucus away with the cuff of his torn sleeves. All the fire and passion from the
forum was gone. Firebrand Will was gone. And how lost he looked...
A sniffle. "Worry not for me, Master Bardshaw. I'd... I'd
like to take some air anyway. See to Stillingford, I'll come visit with you
both in the morning."
And now here they were. Morning had come, but Rothwell was
nowhere to be found. `Saints protect you, Will.' Ed thought. `Our
position feels less certain than ever before.'
Stillingford's dry spoon slapped its empty bowl. Nothing was
left of his bread but crumbs. A belch. And then a sigh. "That... that was our
moment, Ed."
The swordsman opened his eyes. "Master?"
"That was our moment to alter the tides of history,"
said the scholar. "To deliver a better realm for our people. And now that
moment lies shattered before our feet. How cruel are the stars that govern us?"
Edward clutched at his locket. "You speak as if we've
already lost, master."
"Have we not? King Oswald was almost trampled to death by
his own people...!"
"And yet he lives," said Ed. "The people meant him no harm;
they were startled by some shouting and a shot. Our pleas and our needs remain
the same. The King will not let this ugly moment obscure that."
"...Think you so?" A small smile formed at the corner of
Stillingford's wrinkled lips as he eyed his aide and protector. "Truly?"
He had to. Ed was not a saintly man by any stretch but knew
this much – there was providence in the workings of the stars. And deeper there
was a will, a human will, to strive and to survive. What else could have kept
he and Fran alive long enough to find each other again after ten whole years of
separation? The King was blessed to have Bosmund as his saint. But he did not need
his saint to grant him wisdom. He need only look to his own good sense and
reason for the truth of the matter.
The locket of relics went warm in the clutch of Edward's
fist. "Master. You were the one who convinced us to have faith in the King,
yes? Then share that faith again. Keep your hope alive. Reforms will come."
Stillingford smiled. "Master Bardshaw. St. Thunos' most
heartfelt soldier."
Ed chuckled, wryly.
"Dear boy. You need a fellow soul to warm your bed, son.
Wouldn't you like to be married? To sire children? Why dodder about caring for
an old man like me?"
His master was not the first to wonder. Will had wondered.
Basil Smeadon had wondered. Old Meg oft whispered to him about the giggling
tavern girls hoping to catch his eye. But Edward had never known what to say
for Edward had never really known his true desires.
What did he want?
As a boy his dream was clear. He wanted Fran in any manner
the saints would permit, and he wanted to follow in the footsteps of his
master, Ser Martyn Morrogh, and become a Banneret of the Bloom to protect Fran
from all who would do him or his house harm.
And then the bastard Imperials besieged that beautiful Isle
of Gead and destroyed everything. His home. His parents. His master. Lord and
Lady Gray both dead. His best friend Harry Grover gone in the chaos of it all. The
heart of his heart, Francis Gray, lost to him for a decade to come.
His dream, like Stillingford's now, lay shattered... then.
When boyhood Edward landed at the shores of Dragonspur ten
years ago, flesh stained with blood and soot, hair matted with clumps of dirt,
eyes sodden with bitter tears; he was a different person, an angry person.
Angry at the Imperials for besieging Gead and angry at King Osmund for failing
to break that siege. Angry at the Geadishmen for turning their pitchforks on
House Gray. Angry at the whole realm for turning a blind eye to their plight.
Cast adrift like all the other orphans of Gead, he was a ripened intrant for
the ugly underworld of the dockside cutpurse.
The world had cheated him so why not cheat others?
But where did it land him, that lack of faith? Gaoled and
tortured within the bowels of Staunton Castle with only the locket now clutched
in his fist to keep him sane. And who was the one who saved him upon his
release?
Theopold Stillingford.
This man for the ages.
This man who took him in and found him work, who taught him
philosophy and the written word, who saw past his angry eyes and rekindled an
inner goodness.
When he emerged from the Oubliette at his lowest, it was
Stillingford who told him, thusly, `The past is fixed and the future is
fluid, but both are shaped by the present. Who you are now, what you do now --
these are the things that matter most. Now you are free, and you are free to
choose a better path.'
It was Stillingford who taught him not to hate the townsmen
and villagers who rebelled against House Gray, for when all was said and done,
they were his kindred, his fellow Geadishmen, his fellow Morishmen. `They
were victims of circumstance,' his master had said. `Much as you were.
Blame not the commoner but the nobles who abandoned them.' And Edward knew
in his heart that Stillingford was right. His philosophy of Equitism, and the
Odoism that preceded it, would be the guiding light of the Morish commoner. And
Stillingford himself had to be protected from the forces of this world who would
stop at nothing to keep the Morish commoner underfoot. And so, Edward Bardshaw
found again his purpose. To protect the man whose teachings would reshape this
realm for the better. Ed's own need, Ed's own wants? They were nothing but a
small sacrifice for a greater good.
Or at least that was how he once saw it.
But now Francis Gray was back. Back in his life, back in his
arms, where he always belonged. Now there was someone else to protect. And Fran
too, Edward sensed, was another small but important piece on the gameboard of
Morish history. He could not say how – but he knew it to be true. What better
use could his sword arm have if not to protect these two men so dear to him?
And so riddled with import to the world he walked on?
Edward smiled to himself.
His mind was already made. "There is happiness yet for me in
this life, master. I don't need to abandon you for it."
The front door juddered.
Ed and Theopold turned towards the echo. A fist pounded at
it, three times, each time louder than the last.
Edward shot up to his feet. His left hand fell from the
locket at his neck to the locket at his scabbard, whilst his right reached for
the grip of the sword it sheathed.
"No," said the old man. "Ruffians don't knock. Put your
sword away, Edward."
It was like someone asking him to stop breathing. Edward
growled beneath his breath but complied, unstrapping his weapon from his belt,
and dumping it onto his chair as he made his way to the door to open it.
Bone pale morning light dappled the shoulders and wide
brimmed hat of the hulking figure staring back at him with a cold skeletal
smile. Thomas Wolner.
Sword-armed, this time.
And behind him? Behind him stood four of his men, The King's
Eyes, well armoured in bossed iron breastplates and boiled leather armguards.
Basket-hilted longswords swung from one side of their belts; holstered
flintlock pistols swung from the other. Their hooded cloaks shrouded their
faces in darkness.
Wolner smirked. "Where, pray tell, is Master Stillingford?"
Ed's tight fist tremored at his side. "The chill of this
failed summer has caused him a stiffness of the joints, Constable. Return again
tomorrow. He might attend you then, perhaps."
The smirk deepened. "Stand aside, boy."
"I have to insist, master, that he is not well enough to
receive visitors... come again tomorrow."
"I am afraid that will not be possible," Wolner pulled a
document from his cloak and presented it to him. "I have a warrant for Master
Stillingford's arrest."
"What?!" The blonde's eyes flared. "What do you mean a-"
"Edward," a raspy voice cut him off. "That is enough. You
are being rude. Allow our guests in, won't you?"
The Constable of Dragonspur did not wait for his cue. He
shoved Edward out of his way, brusquely, and lumbered in with his clinking spurs,
his four guards following close behind as he approached the old man at his
humble little bed. Above his toothy smile Wolner's cold eyes drifted about the
room, surveying it, smirking smugly at it, before settling upon Theopold. "Your
lodgings are unbecoming of your repute, master."
Stillingford eyed him, unblinking and unafraid. "What am I
charged with?"
"Sedition," hissed Wolner. "And conspiracy to commit acts of
sedition."
"He's an elderly fucking man!" Yelled Edward. "What harm
could he do the king?!"
"Ed!" Stillingford's frown darkened. "Come here, boy."
His eyes went to the sword at the bedside chair. None of
Wolner's men moved to secure it. The guardsman ran scenarios through his mind
as he willed himself not to hurl his fist into the good constable's ghoulish
face. `What if I dove for the sword, cut them all down before they even drew
their weapons. What if I snatched one of their pistols and shot Wolner in the
fucking balls? What if I grabbed the old man and ran?'
But `what ifs' were wind. Even with his sword he was
outnumbered and outmatched in that tiny little homestead.
Edward sighed, willing his shaking hands to still themselves
as he pushed past the line of men surrounding his master's bed.
Stillingford held his frown. "Still that temper of yours. Do
you hear me?"
"...Master..."
"Do you remember what you just said to me? Hm? About having
faith?"
"Yes..."
"Those words were beautiful. Abide by them, you unsung soul.
Did you not swear to protect me?"
"...Yes..."
"Then hear me plain. Engaging in violence here would do the
opposite. Do you understand?"
Ed's whole body shook from shoulder to foot. "...Y-yes..."
"There's a good lad," said the old scholar. "I have nothing
to fear from these charges because I have committed no crimes. No honest court
would find against me."
A groan. The old man slowly shifted his weight, moving his
bare feet from the sheets to the cold floorboards below. His rheumy eyes turned
to Wolner. "I would surrender myself to your custody willingly, Constable, if
only your men would help me up?"
The Constable of Dragonspur, stone faced, directed his men
to assist him. Edward grudgingly stood aside as two of the King's Eyes took
Stillingford by his arms and carefully ferried him outside to a rickety
horse-drawn wagon at the front of the property. Edward followed them out to the
communal garden where the budding crops of the season lay crushed by the hooves
of ten whickering horses – each one mounted by a King's Eye horseman – while a
line of lashed prisoners tailed behind them; six men bound at the wrists by
iron fetters and bound at the neck by tight leather collars, tying them
together. Each man was stripped, beaten, bloodied, bruised, and barefoot. All
were members of the Crow's Club. And one of them was William Rothwell.
`Oh no!' Ed's heart sank. `WILL!'
Around them all spectating crowds had formed. Men and women.
Young and old. Some had hoes in hand and others swaddled babes. Neighbours all.
Some cried, weeping tears for the old man who spent his tendays philosophizing
about their astronomical rent as he tilled his little garden plot. Others,
those who knew him not, merely looked on with gawking curiosity at the scene.
But there were also others. Neighbours who jeered, who booed, who
hissed, who threw things. Neighbours who peered through their windows with
disgust, their foul gazes and harsh whispers following Stillingford as he was
carried out along the dirt tract and bundled into the back of the wagon by
Wolner's thugs.
"Piss on you!" Shouted a farmer. "Piss on you for what you
did to our king!"
"A thousand lashes would not be enough!" Cried a cobbler.
"To oblivion with you all!"
"Saints damn you!"
"You traitors!"
"BASTARDS!"
The jeers and insults grew louder and fouler as Thomas
Wolner took to his horse and commanded his men to move out. Boos and hisses
followed them off as the rickety wagon rolled along and the captured prisoners
were dragged afoot. Villagers took clumps of dirt and horse dung into their
hands and hurled it at the Constable's prisoners. Ed watched Will catch a
cowpie in the ear with naught but a jerk of the head in resistance. From the
look of him, beaten and abused from purpling flesh to clotted nose, it was all
he could do to stand and walk.
And Edward, dumbfounded, fell to his knees.
**********
Hospice of St. Bosmund, Dragonspur,
Kingdom of Morland
40th of Summer, 801
Despite all to do and all to come, Fran's thoughts were of
Edward that morning. He couldn't help it. A pall of creeping terror swept over
him as Dragonspur's increasingly deserted streets rolled by his glassed
carriage window. The mood was plain. Word of the calamity at Speaker's Square
now flooded the city from alehouse to counting house. The coachman now ferrying
them said it was all anyone could talk about at his master's inn.
"They say a hundred dead at last count!" He'd said
excitedly. "They say King Oswald barely escaped with his life! They say that
bastard Crow's Club set the whole thing up to kill him and set their leader up
as the new king!"
Fran could not bear to listen to his ignorant nonsense, but
if Gustave taught him one valuable trick it was never to ignore the whispers of
the commoners. There was always much to be learned if one could parse through
the horseshit and conjecture. And what Fran could glean from the coachman's
diatribe was that the Crow's Club was being blamed for the disastrous outcome
of the King's visit to Speaker's Square. Not Wolner in his lapse of security,
not the King for failing to anticipate the size of the crowds that flocked to
his heels, nor even the people themselves for a stampede of their own making...
it was the Crow's Club, that vile nest of heretics and seditionists who hated
the king and worked mischievous plots to author his downfall. Or so went the
talk.
`Stay safe, Ed...' Thought he. `And trust not these jackals you
fight for...'
Then a sweet girlish voice called to him from his right.
"Master?"
Fran turned to her. Lady Eleanora of Stafforth. Swept from
head to toe in the feminine fineries; her pearl-studded caul and ermine-furred
shawl atop a tight black corset and a flowing gown of velveteen brocade in the
shade of deepest scarlet. From her supple white neck swung a silver pendant
bearing the sigil of House Comwyn – to symbolize and signify its master's
possession of her. She looked the part. But the façade of sweet and charming
innocence with which she presented herself at Woollerton Green was blunted by a
trepidant air of hope and fear that she could not mask.
"What troubles you?" She asked.
`That lilting voice,' thought Fran, soberly. `You are
almost too good at this, my friend.' "Nothing is the matter, my
lady. I have your master's writ of instruction and we should be arriving soon.
All is well."
The ride to the Hospice was even swifter than expected.
Within the centre of the city the streets lay barren of almost all traffic save
for a handful of other carriages and wagons nearly all of which bore the royal
sigil. There were some checkpoints set up by agents of the King's Eyes dotted
up and down the length of the Old King's Way, but as guests of the court,
Francis Gray and Lady Eleanora were given leave to proceed. They arrived at the
Hospice of St. Bosmund before noontide.
Fran was first to exit the cab and helped Lady Eleanora
down. And once again they beheld those spiked white walls and spear-like
spires. Daylight's pall did little to ease its foreboding presence. Fran's own
sense of dread grew starker and more bitter, like chalky bile rising up in his
throat and warning him to turn away. But he had no choice.
Fran could not complete his plans without Lothar... and Lothar
could not focus until he was at last reconciled with his family. Better to get
it over with.
Francis Gray approached the two guardsmen at the gate. He
handed over Lord Comwyn's letter of instruction – or rather the letter Lothar
had forged in Comwyn's name, mimicking his handwriting, and sealing it in wax
with the viscount's stolen seal. One of
the two burly men snuffed his pipe and cracked it open, reading it, then
commanding his partner to strike a bell from within the hospice walls. The
black-painted iron gates swung open and the two were allowed into the grassy
forecourt.
Water fountains and marbled statues decorated the grounds.
Wide gravel tracts quartered off the key buildings of its enclosed expanse –
the sanitorium, the leprosarium, the infirmary, the surgeon's hall, the lecture
hall, the kiln, the kitchens, the barracks, the temple, and beneath them all,
the wine cellar and the under croft. Neidhart's dossier even made room to
detail that morbid place.
They were approached by a barber-surgeon in the courtyard. A
tall man in a tall coat with gloved black fingers peeking out of its furred
sleeves. At his hooked belt danced a wealth of surgical tools: small knives,
hooks, hammers, needles, prods, crackers, drills, forceps, prongs, and tongs.
He doffed his falcon-feathered flat cap to the Lady Eleanora.
"Greetings to you both," said he. "I am Thomas Fitzwalder,
deputy to Sergeant Surgeon Ser John Goodwyne and chief administrator of the
Hospice. And might I say it is an honour to make your acquaintance, Lady
Eleanora. I have only now received word of the generous donation Viscount
Thormont made to this establishment. Please offer him my deepest and sincerest
thanks."
The `donation' was a thousand marks. Lothar poached the coin
from Lord Comwyn's pay coffers before his departure to Thormont. When Fran
first heard of the theft, he chided the espial for his carelessness, only to be
told the cunning alibi; `One of his drunken guards accosted me a few nights
ago. I took two thousand marks and fattened his purse with half before pointing
Comwyn's paymaster his way. We are in the clear.'
"You are most welcome," said Eleanora. "I had come to check
that the donation was received, but also to see about a boy my master helped
sequester here. A boy named Luther; if I recall?"
Fitzwalder's preening smile weakened. "Eh, Luther...?"
"You know him?"
"Aye. He... he is a good boy, well-tempered, much of our own
doing. Might... might I enquire if this has aught to do
with the... recent arrival of the Wallish ambassador...?"
Eleanora shook her dainty head. "My good master. Of course
not. The Lord Viscount simply thought of the boy recently and wondered of his
circumstances. We come only to confirm he is hale and hearty and then we shall
take our leave."
Fitzwalder squirmed. "My lady, it is not typically customary
to-"
"The heart of my heart Lord Comwyn once spoke of a draughty
spire here in the hospice. And some clogged hearths and some broken tools. If
these things were stressed to me, I should love to return to him and bid him send
another donation to assist with the repairs. Perhaps the Viscount might
even fix you a purse, Master Fitzwalder, for your most comforting
welcome of me."
Fran kept his mouth shut. His realm was one of ledgers and
accounts and by-laws, this realm of disguise and espying and skulduggery was
Lothar's own. And by the saints he was good at it. All Fran needed to do was
stand aside and play the part of the humble escort – that was why he wore the
breastplate, plaid skirt, and basket-hilted sword of the Wallish halberdiers –
for no lady of the court would go about the streets of Dragonspur without an
escort.
Fitzwalder relented. "Come with me, lady. But I can only
grant you a few moments."
The Deputy Sergeant Surgeon led the way. Fran and Eleanora
followed close behind as he took them across the hospice grounds to a
cloistered building encircling a small herbal garden. The surrounding
apartments were high by three storeys and supported by rows of stone columns.
Fitzwalder fished a ring of brass keys from his pocket and unlocked its door, which
yawned open into a darkened corridor lined with more barred iron doors. Moans
and groans wailed behind them. Erratic shouts and mad sudden laughter, cackles,
and shrieks. Fran felt his flesh crawl beneath the tartan of his tunic.
There were some sconces lit but the light was low. They were
warned to "mind their footing" as the barber-surgeon led them down the hall and
up two flights of curving stone steps until they happened upon the second
floor. And here Fitzwalder counted the doors until he came to the thirty-fifth
one. A room marked with a pair of initials.
LR.
Fitzwalder unlocked the door with his ring of keys and bid
the other two enter with him.
Nodding, Fran and Eleanora followed into a small but
comfortable room of hardwood floors carpeted with bright yellow rugs and low
stone walls – the rearmost of which allowed light through a glassless window
protected by star-shaped stone latticework. There was a feathered bed and a
lacquered cabinet, and three high shelves filled with lush woven toys and brass
figurines. And there, seated in the centre of the room upon a circular rug of
plush velvet, sat a young man.
He was tall – taller than anyone else in that room. His grey
hair was bushy and unkempt – save for a single enlarged bald patch amid the
right side of his skull, centred around a deep pink scar. Spittle flew from his
thin lips as he pursed them together in a duck-like shape and blew out silly,
child-like noises. He was pale and he was thin. Fitzwalder called his name.
"Luther?" He spoke. "Luther, you have guests."
No answer.
The young man had toys in his hands, a lacquered wooden cube
riddled with bite marks and a straw-filled doll stitched with button eyes and
woollen hair. He excitedly bashed the latter with the former.
"Gu!" He spat. "Gu! Gu! Gu! Gu!"
Lady Eleanora scuppered her tears.
"Luther is a good boy," said Fitzwalder. "We keep him in
comfort. He grows tall and strong, as you see, but his mind is... little
progressed from its infancy."
A sniffle. "W-what can you tell me of him, Master
Fitzwalder?"
"...I-" The barber-surgeon sighed. His surrender was swift.
"His name is Luther Roschewald. Wallish by birth, as you can imagine. Twenty
summers young, born 22nd of Winter 781 beneath the Star of
Temperance, a child of St. Bosmund."
"What of his birth?" Asked Eleanora. "Why... why is he like
this?"
Fran sighed. They had both seen the records, read well of
them before he burned them. But perhaps Lothar needed to hear it aloud and make
it manifest in all its ugly truth.
"The boy was born a twin... conjoined at the skull with his
younger brother. Luther & Lothar, they were called. And this hospice is one
of the few places in the world with experience of such an uncommon abnormality.
Their father brought them here some fifty days after their birth pleading for
our help... to separate them. And we did. It was Master Goodwyne, with myself in
assistance, who performed the surgery. Normally, in such cases, one or both
siblings die in the attempt, but the saints were good to us that day, and both
boys lived. But... some damage was done to Luther's mind... and here you see the
result."
Eleanora thumbed a tear from her eye. It was an unwomanly
gesture. Fran noticed it. Thankfully Thomas Fitzwalder did not. "And what of
his brother? This boy called Lothar?"
"We do not know," said the barber-surgeon. "He was a fit
lad, morose in character, if I recall, but no worse for the wear. We gave him
to an orphanage so are attentions were more focused on Luther here, for him we
could not release. The healing process required him to remain in our care."
And then came a glint of restrained yet seething anger. "And
their father... what was his name?"
"My lady, as you can imagine I cannot-"
"His name, master."
Lothar knew. Fran knew. But to hear it out loud...
"Gustavius," said Fitzwalder. "Their father's name was
Gustavius von Roschewald. But as a guest of His Majesty's court, surely you
already-"
Now Fran interjected. "Master Fitzwalder? Might the Lady
Stafforth have a moment with the boy? I fear she is overcome with pity for him,
Child of St. Jehanne as she is. Please, master. Grant her this last wish before
we depart."
Fitzwalder sighed but offered no protest. They were several
breaches of protocol deep into this game, it served no purpose. The master of
the hospice stood aside and stepped out, shutting the door behind him, allowing
the good lady Eleanora a moment with the boy.
When Fitzwalder was gone Eleanora lifted up her chemise and
knelt down to meet Luther at eye level, smiling through crystalline tears. "My
brother. Look at him, Fran. I have a brother!"
"Gu!" He cried. "Gu! Gu! Gu!"
She cupped him by his shoulder. Luther did not respond.
"Brother. I promise. One day I will free you from this place. We will forge a
family! No one will ever hurt you again! I SWEAR it! And that bastard we
call a father will pay with his fucking life...!"
Fran stilled.
Never had he heard Lothar speak with such emotion. Every
word was a promise, not a threat.
"Lothar..." Fran caught himself. "Lady Eleanora. I am
happy for you, truly I am. But we have to bide our time. When land and titles
are restored to me... once I have a foothold in this court... your brother will be
retrieved, and we will take our revenge against Gustave. I swear it to you."
Eleanora nodded softly. "When do we start?"
"First, we deal with Wolfrick. Then..." Fran retrieved a
letter from inside his tunic.
"What is that?"
"A missive... for the Duke of Greyford."
**********
Harvenny Heath, Dragonspur, Kingdom
of Morland
40th of Summer, 801
There is anger and there is fury.
Edward Bardshaw felt anger many times throughout his short
life. But fury? Fury was new to him. Fury was what dragged his bloody knuckles
from the grass-laden dirt as his friends and master were carted off to the dark
depths of the Oubliette. Fury was what powered him through that swelling throng
of gawping villagers until Thomas Wolner and all his men disappeared along the
highway. Fury was what made him sprint back to Stillingford's cottage and draw
his sword.
A scream of rage boomed from its glass windows.
Edward seethed through grinding teeth, nostrils flaring,
eyes bulging, his weapon brandished at no enemy and every enemy, tears spilling
from his eyes as he thrust and swung the blade at the shadows. He growled
himself hoarse. He swung his steel sword at phantom after phantom until his arm
grew too tired to fight on. It fell from his grasp and Edward fell along with
it.
He wept.
And then, slowly, Edward Bardshaw began to piece himself
back together.
`The others,' thought he. `What about the others?'
It was that one thought that fetched him from his fury. And
then there was only anger. The swordsman hauled himself up, scrubbed his eyes
dry, sheathed his blade, donned his cloak, shrugged its hood over his messy
blonde whorls, then charged out of the cottage. Slops of mud squelched beneath
his boots as he bolted down the southbound path of the lane towards the stables
of Master Malbus, the wealthiest horsemaster in Harvenny Heath.
One of the journeymen stablers was there shoeing a piebald
Highland horse (and giving instructions to an apprentice about the proper
technique of doing so) when Edward's rigid shadow fell upon him. He threw down
his scabbarded sword.
"I'll need that horse," he said sternly. "Get her saddled
and bridled then give my blade to Master Malbus as collateral. I'll have her
returned by morning."
The journeyman froze nervously. He looked around the stables
for his master then swallowed a lump in his throat when he couldn't find him.
"Begging your pardon, Master Bardshaw, but without my master's permission it
wouldn't be right to-"
Edward gripped him by his collar with both hands and dragged
him to his feet, startling the little apprentice boy at his side. "Who was it
who spoke up for Malbus when the city court posted a warrant for his arrest
over those unpaid grazing fees? Hm? Who was it who plundered his own pension to
fund the repairs to the tavern house after your mutton-wit brother almost
burned it to the ground? Hm? STILLINGFORD! That's who!"
The journeyman winced.
"Borrowing isn't theft, lad. Malbus will spare you his fists
once he sees that sword. And by tomorrow morning the mare will be safely
returned. So now do as I ask and GET THAT FUCKING HORSE SADDLED AND BRIDLED!"
"Y-Yes Master Bardshaw...!"
A gulp.
The journeyman and apprentice sprinted into action, and
before long the piebald mare was leathered and watered for the ride. Edward
thanked them both as he mounted up, drew its reins aside and galloped off down
the main highway through the village toward Dragonspur. The cloaked rider
huddled down and dug his heels into the horse's flanks yelling for it to pick
up the pace as his thoughts raced twice as fast.
`I have to check in with the others,' he thought. `Under whose
orders were Theopold and Will captured? Why now and not yesterday? What if
Wolner found something in the paperwork?'
His thoughts were scattershot ramblings shooting through the
fog of his own anger. All conjecture and passing suppositions. Nothing
cohesive. Not until a kindled memory brought him back to the bedlam of
Speaker's Square... and of the cloaked marksman he saw perched upon the rooftops...
a shadow in the shadows of a red brick flue... pistol tilted low, too low to hit
the forum or the king sat atop it... yet close enough to kill a spectator... to
trigger a panic... and then how quickly came Wolner's men to King Oswald's rescue...
how handily close by their streetside commandery was... and so conveniently soon
into the good Constable's investigation into the Crow's Club...
Too many coincidences to be a coincidence.
Edward was almost to the gates of Dragonspur when the
straying threads of this sordid matter finally wove together into a single
cohesive skein. This was no mere happenstance. None of it was. This was a plot.
A carefully and meticulously calculated plot.
`I see it now...' Ed thought, seething, his anger brewing more bitter
with each frantic hoofbeat. `The King was never brought to Speaker's Square
to listen to the people or give the Crow's Club a chance to make appeals to
him! It was about creating a pretext to finally bring us down! Wolner...' His
leathered fingers drew tightly to the bounding reins. `This is all YOUR
doing! You orchestrated this! You orchestrated this entire act! DAMN YOU!'
No doubt the Duke of Greyford had a hand in this – Wolner
was a molossus reared beneath his leash – but did King Oswald know about this?
Did Roschewald? How deep did the conspiracy go?
The southern gatehouse of the outer city walls cast a long
shadow over the winding presence of the Old King's Way. Edward rode Malbus'
mare into that darkness until her pounding hooves stopped. Ed bunched up her
reins as he eyed the shouting throng ahead of them; a mass of villagers and
townsfolk, hundreds of them, with mule-drawn wagons full of crops and cages
rattling with livestock, all of them crowding together at the maw of a single
chokepoint where a small contingent of King's Eyes billmen stood guard.
`Checkpoints they've made now,' thought Ed. `Bastards'.
The Constable of Dragonspur was slowly tightening his talons
around the city's throat, no doubt conjuring pretexts and premises to flush out
the dissidents and miscreants once and for all.
One by one each prospective entrant was stopped, searched,
and questioned about their business in the city. Edward growled. Was it better to
loop around the wall and ride for the eastern gatehouse near the river? No.
There was no point. He had to wait until his fellow townsmen and women were
slowly processed, whittling down the bottleneck across the hours until he was
next. And all the while he heard the whispers.
"D'you hear what happened at Speaker's Square?"
"That pulpit of rabble-rousers, yeah? What was said?"
"What was did! There was a crush there! More'n a
hundred people dead now, I heard. The Bloody Parley, they're calling it! And
you know what else? I think that Crow's Club lot had a hand in it! I think they
wanted to kill our king and take over the country, just like Greyford did! To
the underworld with `em!"
Edward felt his blood boil.
And there were many more gossipers of the like. Morishmen
and women accusing the Crow's Club of working for the Duke of Greyford to
undermine King Oswald, accusing Stillingford of seeking to install himself as
king, or condemning the Club as a nest of `alien sympathizers' seeking to bring
Morland under the thumb of the Empire. Baseless claims all, all rooted in
ignorance. Ed wanted to SHOUT at them and chide them all, to protest, to remind
them all that Theopold Stillingford spent the majority of his long life
fighting on their behalf - but instead he grit his teeth and forced himself to
bear it. Any outbursts might draw the ire of the King's Eyes and scupper his
entry into the city.
The guardsman stayed mute until he was next in line. He
dismounted, held his arms aloft to be searched, gave them his name (a false one
– Kit Whitehead) and his purpose (a lie – selling his horse) then re-mounted
and galloped off when they allowed him through.
A dark mood had settled throughout Dragonspur.
Where thousands once walked its streets, there were now only
a few hundred. Most of its businesses had closed shop for the foreseeable. The
markets were shut. Even the bourse had closed its doors to the merchants and
tradesmen. All along the Old King's Way, the city's longest and most important
highway, Wolner's jackals established checkpoint after checkpoint to choke off
the city from its people.
But Edward knew those backstreets well. He avoided the
King's Eyes outposts by slowly picking his way through narrow alleys and
darkened back routes until he could ride unimpeded through the deserted city
centre.
Ed went for where was closest. First
to the Guildhall at Black Bow Street where Basil Smeadon was based. He
called for him at the gate, but the yeoman posted there said Smeadon had `gone
to ground' at his cottage in Alfriars.
The legal practice of Kenrick Thopswood came next, but Ed
found it shuttered for the day. No doubt Thopswood had gone to ground as well.
Then, at the last, came the Crow's Club's dearest haunt –
The Old Lioness. Edward rode down its dark laneway towards the stabling in the
rear, dismounting and tethering Malbus' mare to one of its rickety posts. It
was there he found Old Meg and the tavernmaster, clutching each other for dear
life and weeping.
The tavern doors were externally boarded and there was a
notice nailed to one of its planks.
BY ROYAL
PREROGATIVE THIS BUILDING AND ALL ITS CONTENTS HAVE BEEN CONFISCATED BY THE
CHAMBER OF THE LORD JUSTICIAR UNDER SECTION 79 OF THE 689 ASSETS AND SEIZURES
ACT.
ALL PETITIONS TO
THE CONTRARY SHALL HEREAFTER BE DIRECTED TO THE OFFICES OF THE CONSTABLE OF
DRAGONSPUR.
"Bastards," spat the tavernmaster. "Bastards!"
Old Meg peeled herself from her husband's arms as Edward
approached. "Ed!" She threw her warm arms around him and sniffled against his
shoulder. "Oh, thank the saints you're alright! How's the master?"
Glinting tears welled in Ed's eyes as he was returned to the
image of burly men carrying off his master. "Stillingford's been arrested, Meg.
Will Rothwell too, and some of the others. Smeadon's sheltering in Alfriars and
Thopswood I cannot find, but... he is hiding, I suspect."
"Oh no..." Meg palmed her lips before she wailed. "Oh no... poor
Theopold. Poor Will..."
"What of you both? Are you well?"
The tavernmaster scrubbed his eyes. "We're alive and we have
our freedom. What more can we ask for in the wake of all this?"
"The Old Lioness is gone," Meg returned to her husband's
side. "My girls have all found other work. There's nothing left for us here. We're
going back to our farmhouse in Merry Makepeace to see this all out. Then after
that..."
Ed shook his head. "You're giving up? Truly?"
"It's over, Ed." The tavernmaster pointed a thick finger at
the nailed boards. "It was over the moment Thomas Wolner walked through those
doors. The Crow's Club is over."
"So, you see it too then? How Wolner authored all of this?
We have to pull the veil from people's eyes, expose him to the king, something!
We cannot simply..."
"...Ed..." The tavernmaster palmed his shoulder. "Listen to me. It
is over. Perhaps someday something can be rebuilt from the rubble of our
movement but at this moment... we're finished here. I have to protect my wife. We
have to go."
He was right.
Meg was his wife. The Constable was at their heels and
gnashing for blood. Edward could not in good conscience ask him to do otherwise
than protect Meg. The swordsman cradled the hand upon his shoulder with his
own. He sighed.
"Aye. It's farewell then. To you both... and to the Crow's
Club."
Old Meg took Edward into her embrace again, stifling her
little sobs before stepping away. "...We'll keep Will and Theopold in our
prayers. In the meantime, go back to Harvenny Heath and keep the cottage warm
for him, Ed. Mayhap the saints will be merciful. For the Folkweal."
Edward smiled, bitterly. "Aye. For the Folkweal."
Old Meg took to the tips of her scuffed moccasins and kissed
his cheek with a farewell wish. And then Edward watched them both leave, two of
the warmest faces he had ever had the pleasure to see. They mounted their
mule-drawn cart laden with any salvageable goods – food, wine, clothes,
furniture, etc. Old Meg offered Ed one last goodbye as the tavernmaster cracked
his whip and drove the mules on through the dirt-tracked laneway. And then they
were gone.
`Keep the cottage warm,' thought he. `But not today.'
Instead, he rode out. From the boarded-up doors of the Old
Lioness he cleaved through a series of side streets before emerging at the
stonework promenade along the River Wyvern, galloping east towards Manse de
Foy.
There was another King's Eyes checkpoint ahead, this time at
the southern bridgehead of the Dogford. Edward's stomach turned at the mere
sight of Wolner's dogs, standing at the prowl and harrying every passing
tradesman and marketeer seeking to hawk his wares in the northern (more
affluent) side of the city. But the swordsman held his tongue. Kept his head
down. And eventually he was allowed through after (falsely) declaring his
business.
Edward rode on.
Manse de Foy, the Wallish chancery, was none too far ahead
and at once – as before – its sumptuousness struck him; the empyreal white
marble statues ornamenting its babbling water gardens, the little plots of
lavender and juniper bestowing sweet fragrance to its hedge mazes and gravelled
walkways. It was a nobleman's haunt if ever there was one, and Edward almost
felt small approaching it. The northern side of the city was never made or
meant for men like him. And yet there he was riding to the very gates of
Roschewald's festooned holdfast in search of aid. `He claimed himself a
follower of my master's teachings, did he not? A sympathizer of him? Well – let
him prove it now.'
Three halberdiers of the Wallish Ambassador's household
guard stood watch by the gates – now sealed. One of them, Edward recalled, was
called Edrick – that Wallishman he'd saved from a thrashing. His wounds were
healed. He smiled when he saw Edward, but his compatriots warily crossed
polearms at his approach. Ed pulled back the reins and dismounted, proceeding
the rest of the way on foot as he led the mare forward by the bridle.
"No harm is meant, masters." Said he. "I've been here
before. My name is Edward Bardshaw."
Edrick smiled. Softly. Almost guiltily. "I well recall,
friend."
"Aye. Well. I won't tarry with idle talk. My master Theopold
Stillingford has been arrested under false pretences. Thine own master,
Ambassador Roschewald, was ever kind to him. In that spirit of fellowship, I
humbly request an audience with him to discuss the matter."
Edrick sighed. "That I cannot grant, master. His excellency
is currently entertaining guests and is not receiving visitors."
"Very well then, what of Francis Gray? Might I speak with
him?"
"Master Gray is away at present," said Edrick. There was an
air of guilt about him, palpable and ill-suited. And then? It softened into a
look of relent. He lowered his halberd and took Edward aside – and out of
earshot. "My Lord Roschewald orders that no member of his household is to associate
with any members of the Crow's Club. He will not entertain you. But if you want
to see Francis – wait by the river. When he returns, I will send him to you."
Ed's smile returned – a small but earnest one. "Thank you,
friend."
A nod. "Go now, quickly."
Edrick stepped back and proclaimed loudly, "Away with you!
His excellency Ambassador Roschewald will not entertain you. Away!"
There was a clutch of trees between the riverbank and the
south-facing wall of Manse de Foy. Edward gestured to it with a slight nod,
Edrick nodded back, then Edward made his way to it, ducking around the corner
between the southern and eastern walls. He held the mare steady and petted her
as he waited out the hours for Fran's return.
It was long past noon when the clerk's carriage rolled by;
its coachman bringing its team of galloping black horses to a brisk stop afore
the chancery gates. Ed peered around the edge of the wall. He watched Francis
climb out of the carriage. A noblewoman within blew him a kiss and thanked him
for his aid. Fran gave the woman a polite bow then bade her coachman drive her
off to Viscount Thormont's apartments. At once the carriage was away. Fran then
turned to greet Edrick, who murmured discreetly to the younger man before
gesturing at the tree now designated as their meeting point.
Fran excused himself and ambled over to it, his emerald eyes
brightening when he found Edward Bardshaw lying in wait in the shadows. Their
kiss was instantaneous. One moment they were apart and the next they were in
each other's arms. It had only been a day since they last met and yet it felt
like an eon. They parted lips, but not their embrace.
"Oh, Ed. I heard about what happened at Speaker's Square.
Are you alright?"
"I am well," said he. "But Stillingford's been arrested."
A sigh. "That poor man. What happened?"
Edward told the sweet boy everything he remembered about The
Bloody Parley. The gigantic crowds. Rothwell's demands. King Oswald's candour.
The marksman atop the roof. The crush. The King's Eyes charging to their
rescue. Their eventual release and eventual arrest. And their jeering,
ungrateful neighbours. And before that the investigation led into them by the
Constable and his men, and before even that the beating of their supply man,
Knorris.
He watched Fran digest and piece together the information to
form a conclusion not so dissimilar to Edward's own.
"Thomas Wolner," said Fran. "He's had this planned from the
moment the King agreed to attend the square, I'm certain of it. He means to
discredit you."
"At the Duke of Greyford's discretion no doubt. Can you help
me, Fran? Your master has the king's ear, he's been warm to Stillingford in the
past. Roschewald is the only one who can help him now."
Fran's smile softened. "Gustave cares only for Gustave, Ed.
He wants nothing more to do with the Club in the wake of this. But I will try."
"Thank you," Edward drew Fran closed, chestnut head to his
broad shoulders, and thanked the saints he still had this sweetheart to cling
to. "Thank you..."
**********
The Queenswood, The Midburghs, Kingdom
of Morland
43rd of Summer, 801
It was Ser Fynn Glenyster who took the lead. As King Oswald
and the inner circle of his hunting party sat aside in their saddles, his
strapping Master of the Hunt stalked ahead of them to the edge of the footpath,
where the hoof prints veered off into the leafy bushes between two towering
oaks. Ser Fynn knelt down (his boiled hunting leathers squelched in muddy
stains from boot to haunch) and called for one of his men to part the nettles.
A servant of his chopped a path through the brush with a threshing hook, and
with each yard cleaved more tracks were revealed. That and dung. Stinking, hot
black clumps of dung fused together into an unsightly log and dumped into the
earth where it lay.
Ser Fynn smirked victoriously.
Up ahead, where the wide beaten footpath swerved between the
high oaks and thickets into the deep shade of the forest canopy, barking dogs
were heard, snarling beasts held back by studded collars and the leather straps
of Ser Fynn's fewterer, and behind him, the Duke of Greyford rode into the
clearing at the head of his own branch of the hunting party, he and six of his
closest retainers.
"What say you, Glenyster?" Barked he. "Was the beast not
cornered?"
Ser Fynn drew his dagger and pointed to the chopped brush.
He did not seem to notice the Duke's curt tone – or if he did, he did not show
it. Greyford was rather infamous in his distaste for new men. "Aye, your grace.
But he broke from the path and into the brush. Yet it may be to our advantage!
There is a dell in that direction, perhaps a half-mile long that ends in a
large glade where my best beaters are placed. From here we need only pick up
the trail."
"Very well," Greyford gathered up the leather reins of his
white-maned thoroughbred and cantered over to young King Oswald, sat
imperiously in the gilt saddle of his prized silver backed stallion –
Ambassador Ludolf's cunning gift to him. "Your Majesty. Your fat boar alludes
us not. Glenyster says we may yet have him cornered."
The King threw back his hair, breathing deep of the country
air, and cast his Lord Uncle the broadest of smiles. His exhilaration was
evident. Despite his studious demeanour and continental education, Oswald's
love of hunting and horsemanship was well known throughout the kingdom. Few
were as surefooted a rider as he (or so it was said).
A chuckle. "Ah! Welcome news. And none too soon, how low the
sun looms." Oswald turned to his leftmost outrider, Ser Robert Mountjoy. "Do
you recall our first hunt through these woods, Ser Robert?"
"I do," Said the Lord Seneschal, with that ornate golden
half-cloak perched across arm and shoulder. His saddle was customized with
weights and harnesses to compensate for his lame leg. "You were a boy of seven
at the time. The Queen Dowager insisted you were too young for the trail
but that did not deter you."
Oswald drifted off, nostalgically. "Indeed. I rode off
anyway and joined you. We caught a monarch that day, didn't we? Sixteen tines.
What a fabulous beast. And what an ear thrashing mother gave me when we
returned."
"You and I both," said Ser Robert. "But then your father,
the late King Osmund, saints rest him, said... `The prince who masters his
hunt shall be the king who masters his wars' if I recall correctly. That
settled her humours."
Greyford frowned.
"What a day," the King cast a flat smile to his Lord Uncle.
"What a pity I've so few experiences of the hunt since then."
The mood amongst all of them soured.
A group of around thirty now occupied that clearing in The
Queenswood, the ancient hunting grounds of the Morish Royal House, half a day's
ride inland of Dragonspur. A group split between King Oswald's retinue;
himself, Ser Robert Mountjoy, Ser Fynn Glenyster, and several of his closest
courtiers as well as Ambassador Roschewald – and the Duke of Greyford's band
consisting of himself and the Earl of Huxton, Ambassador Ludolf, Matthias,
Marquess de la More, and a handful of his various retainers.
All eyes turned to the king and his lord uncle.
Fran, eying them both, petted his horse's mane with gloved
fingers as he and Gustave, similarly ahorse, felt plain the tension between the
two factions. There were long standing rumours abroad the court of the King's
unhappy upbringing in the household of his mother, the Queen Dowager Emma of
Wuffolk. His many interests in hunting and riding were curtailed in favour of
more academic pursuits – much to the desire of his lord uncle, it was said.
Greyford sighed. "For all its joys, hunting can be
dangerous, Your Majesty. A mother's love is oft mistaken for churlishness. An
uncle's concern for his nephew... and a duke's concern for the heir to the realm...
similarly so."
Silence.
Fran had never cared for hunting, despite it being one of
Gustave's favoured pastimes. He always found it so brutal and unbecoming. Yet
when he looked to his master, sat so smug yet so nervously in his
silver-trimmed black velvet and bear pelts, Fran wretched within himself. `Even
this filthy pursuit is too great for you,' thought he. `Abandoner of thy
child. Whoremonger of thine own son... vile bastard...'
HEH, HEH, HEH... Chuckled The Fiend in Fran's ear. HE DESERVES NOTHING
LESS THAN HIS OWN GRAVE, BOY, BUT WE NEED HIM ALIVE. ALIVE!
King Oswald cut a false smile with pursed lips. "My sweet
Lord Uncle. Take the joys of the hunt for thine own self this once. Ride ahead
with the dogs, track my boar along the dell, and blow your horn when the
beaters have it trapped for the kill. We shall follow anon."
The Duke returned a curt half-smile, equally false. "Yes,
Your Majesty."
He turned his horse about and whipped at its reins,
galloping ahead into the shaded forest trail. The Duke's retainers quickly
followed, including his excellency Ambassador Ludolf, who cut Gustave a dark
glare as he broke away with the others. Ser Fynn's fewterer and his gnashing
bitches did the same.
`There are factions in this court,' thought Fran. `And their rift
grows...'
It was an interesting development, but nothing that could
not help him. He thought of Lothar and how much easier it would now be for him
to slip his secret letter into the Duke of Greyford's chambers. And then,
finally, Fran could begin his plans...
King Oswald saw his uncle off with a wry smile. He leaned
into his Lord Seneschal's ear to whisper something inaudible (Fran being so far
behind the rest of the King's retinue) but what came next defied that fact. It
was the monarch's broad smile turning back to the Wallish ambassador and his
humble Morish clerk. He gestured to them both with a flick of his hairless
chin. "Your Excellency? Master Gray? A word, please?"
Most of the court now lodged at Rutherworth, a palatial
summer retreat for Morish monarchs since the reign of Oswyke I, nestled at the
edge of the Queenswood. Gustave and his Wallish retinue were some of the last
to arrive yestermorn and their reception amongst the other courtiers was cool
at best. The events of The Bloody Parley had cast a long and dark shadow over
them, just as Gustave feared.
The King's retainers grumbled amongst themselves but held
their position as Oswald coaxed his horse down the path in a slow even canter
with only two of his mounted Bannerets following after him.
Gustave, taking the cue, swallowed a heavy breath and
steeled himself for what was to come. With Fran in tow he followed King Oswald
deeper into the woods away from prying eyes and ears with naught but slow
hoofbeats and chirping birds and rustling leaves to break the silence.
Until...
"Why do you think I've asked to speak with you privately,
excellency?" Asked the King.
Gustave exhaled. "...Perhaps to discuss the events at
Speaker's Square...?"
Silence.
"What happened there was utterly regrettable," said Oswald.
"By last count 109 Morish souls lost their lives in that stampede. A great
waste. A great tragedy. And yet... certain issues were brought to my attention
that I cannot in good faith countenance."
"Your Majesty?"
The peacock feathers of King Oswald's flat cap wafted about
his shoulders as he rode. He did not look back at the ambassador. "Your
agitators were correct. Odoists have been burned by the hundreds in the
Lowburghs. The Earl of Wrothsby attests to it. He asserts the necessity of his
work, but I have ordered him to suspend the Sacred Inquest until such time as I
am able to review its workings myself."
Gustave kept his smile low – but his mood perked. "A wise
decision, Your Majesty."
"Before everything fell apart, they spoke also of a Guard
Tax. I had not known such unfair burdens had been placed upon my people
throughout my Lord Uncle's regency. Such burdens are harbingers for unrest, I
see that now. That is why I have given instructions to my Lord Sergeant to
draft a bill for its repeal."
`Saints be,' thought Fran. `Perhaps your faith in this boy was not
misplaced, Master Stillingford... even after the Bloody Parley, he-'
"An even wiser decision, Your Majesty," said Gustave. "Your
Lord Uncle's rule was no doubt just, but perhaps these measures would go some
way towards placating those... disaffected during his paramountcy."
King Oswald nodded. "I think so too. However, my Lord
Treasurer is not so keen on the measure."
DE LA MORE! Spat The Fiend. DE LA MORE! DE LA MORE!
Gustave petted his horse. "His Lordship the Marquess of Gead
does not approve?"
"He is miserly," said Oswald, chuckling softly. "But miserly
men make for fattened coffers. He says repealing the Guard Tax would merit a 9%
shortfall in annual revenue to the crown. That is no small amount of money,
excellency. Which returns me to your consortium proposal."
No longer could Gustave hide his smile. He rode ahead until
his horse was side to side with the King's own. "I did have other
proposals in mind..."
"Good. I should like to hear them. I will sit for counsel
with my Masters of the Realm very soon and I would like you and Master Gray to
attend. Draft your proposals and we will discuss them."
Though it threatened his plans for Gustave to be further
side-lined at court, a little piece of Fran had champed at the bit to watch
King Oswald tear strips out of the Wallish brute for his role in the Speaker's
Square fiasco. And yet here he was in the wake of that chaos somehow managing
to benefit from it. They were slippery as eels were the Roschewalds,
always falling by some miracle into greater heights. They had the luck of the
saints... or rather... the brothers Gustave and Neidhart did. The brothers Lothar
and Luther? Perhaps not. But still. This did not amend everything. There was
still the matter of...
"Your Majesty, I-"
Fran stopped himself.
He was speaking out of turn.
He knew that.
Gustave glared at him for it.
And yet, die cast, as the King glanced over his cloaked
shoulder and asked the clerk a swift, "What is it, Master Gray?" Fran could not
help himself. He knew his bastard master would punish him for it later, but he
could not help himself. "What of the Crow's Club, Your Majesty? The men who
brought these concerns to your attention. What becomes of them?"
Roschewald's fists tightened around his reins.
"The agitators?" The King cast his eyes ahead again. "The
Constable of Dragonspur has investigated them for some time now and sends me
disturbing reports of their activities. Reports of sedition and the
proliferation of seditious materials from clandestine printing houses. Some
members have even been found smuggling arms and funds to Edith the Exile."
"...Y-you mean..."
"An example must be made," said King Oswald. "Their
properties have been seized, their finances frozen, and their two ringleaders,
Stillingford and Rothwell, have been arrested. The pair will be tried on
charges of sedition and conspiracy to commit acts of sedition... then they will
be executed."
Fran's heart sank.
Gustave looked away. "If... if that is Your Majesty's wish,
then..."
A hunting horn blared in the dark distance.
The King's smile widened. "Ah! Seems my Lord Uncle summons
me for the kill. Come along now, masters! Let's soak Rutherworth with the scent
of roast boar!"
The boy king cried with zeal and galloped off with a single
beating of his horse's reins. Gustave and the two Bannerets did likewise and
yelled at Fran to stay apace. And from behind them approached a mass of
thundering hoofbeats –
Ser Robert and the other courtiers of the King's personal
retinue riding hard to catch up with their lord sovereign.
Fran's horse did not move. It held its place, whickering
softly as the others trundled past it down the forest path.
Fran was still and silent and tearful.
COME ALONG, BOY! Yelled The Fiend. FOLLOW THE OTHERS! TARRY NOT
LEST IT MAR YOUR STANDING WITH THE NOBLES! FOLLOW!
FOLLOW NOW!
But he did not listen to The Fiend. Fran took up the reins
of his horse, tears in his eyes, and coaxed it back around in the direction of
Rutherworth Palace. His thoughts were of his life's love, Edward Bardshaw, and
of the letter he would write to him, ruing bitterly the sad tidings it would
deliver.
**********
Gallows Grove, Dragonspur, Kingdom
of Morland
89th of Summer, 801
There was a wrinkled letter inside Edward Bardshaw's
calloused hands. He opened it up and read it.
To
thee, my beloved E.B.
I write to
you now from my apartments at Rutherworth Palace. I shall send for a rider
soon, mayhap this letter will find you within the day, I pray that it does.
Know that
what good news I bring you is deeply tainted by the bad. King Oswald has
stopped the Sacred Inquest. For now, there will be no more burnings or
persecutions of Odoists. And he is drafting a bill to finally repeal the Guard
Tax – to that end he has invited myself and Ambassador Roschewald to his next
session of counsel with the Masters of the Realm to discuss alternate sources
of revenue. At least some of the Crow's Club's requests have been heard. I pray
you take some solace in that.
But I am
sorry to say, dearest heart, that the King has not extended his mercy to
Theopold and William. They, and the others arrested by Thomas Wolner, have been
arraigned and scheduled for trial at Staunton Castle under charges of sedition.
If they are found guilty, they will be executed. And I do not think the King
means for them to be found innocent. Nothing will sway him.
I am so
sorry, beloved.
I know
Theopold's import to you. My faith is gone, but if yours yet abides, pray to
the saints that they will be merciful. This is all anyone can do for him. I
will be unable to see you for a time as Roschewald makes plans to address the
Masters of the Realm, but as soon as I am able, I will come to you. These are
dangerous times, dear heart. Take heed and await me.
Your
entirely own,
F.G.
Edward Bardshaw folded the letter – by halves, then by
quarters – and slipped it back inside the middle seam of his tunic. There were
tears in his eyes (as there always were) when he re-read it, perhaps for the
twentieth time in as many days, but he thumbed them away, his bearded face
obscured by the flapping hood drawn over his ears. He looked to his left. Basil
Smeadon stood there swathed and hooded by his own dark cloak, eyes burning with
rage as he glanced through the jeering crowds to the croaking wooden gallows
erected in the heart of the fields.
A quarter of a mile rightward stood the soaring western
gatehouse of the city walls, and from beyond it, temple bells tolled. It was
noontide on execution day and the headsman had a few benighted souls to send to
the saints.
Hard winds rocked the scaffold, begging no small wonder how
it held its own weight against them, much as the commonfolk whispered. And
there were whispers in the hundreds that day, whispers in numbers almost
reminiscent of that terrible day they now called the Bloody Parley. The
whispers were of traitors and seditionists, of evil old men seducing young
maids to slander the king, of a guildmaster's son seeking to import armies of
alien workers to take over the realm and impoverish the good Morish yeoman. The
whispers were of the Crow's Club – a secret nest of greedy bankers, corrupt
clerks, evil Odoists, alien sympathizers, and traitorous tradesmen with designs
to kill the king.
"Fools," whispered Ed. "Absolute fools!"
Smeadon eyed him sideways. "Quiet. Here they come."
That was when the chanting began and the crowds fell into
respectful silence as a young pair of cassocked castratos slowly scaled the
scaffold, singing the Chant of the Ancient Ones in honour of the four saints.
Hooded shepherds followed close behind the boys with smoke trails of burning
incense wafting into the air from chained lanterns swinging from their palms.
And behind them came the High Shepherd of the Midburghs, Aldwyn; a
dough-skinned shave-pate ambling barefoot in pearly robes emblazoned with intricate
golden symbols – each one a reflection of the chief aspects of the four saints
– Courage, Love, Strength, and Temperance. He was the only man beneath the Lord
Shepherd with authority under saintly law to bless any child of any saint. He
and the castratos sang a canticle with the gathered, slowly and softly, to
bequeath the moment with reverence and holiness it did not deserve.
Then came the headsman.
Tall. Muscled. Dressed in nothing more than a brown hood,
brown breeks, and brown boots. His axe awaited him at the chopping block as he
mounted the scaffold with the others.
And then, finally, the prisoners were brought out of the
paddock beneath the rigging. Men of the Crow's Club, one after the other, gyved
by iron shackles at wrist and ankle – men whom Edward had drunk with, japed
with, laughed with, debated with, trained with. Men of honour. Men with hearts
of gold. Men who wanted nothing more than to deliver a better realm for the
people who now stood there scorning them.
Then they brought out Will.
Ed bit his lip.
They'd done him over.
That firebrand silver-tongued speaker, the guildmaster's
son, William Rothwell, was now a shadow of himself. His flame red hair was gone
– shaved down to the grain. His flesh was pallid, bruised, and riddled with
flea bites, his figure gaunt, his cheeks sunken and sweaty. Both his eyes were
blackened. Some of his teeth and toenails were missing. His white undershirt
dripped red from the whip welts weeping at his back. He looked like he hadn't
eaten in days. His broken gait was reminiscent of palsy, he could barely stand.
It was as if the light had been sucked from his eyes. The gathered crowds
insulted him, all of them, but Will Rothwell couldn't have been aware of it.
Wolner's tortures had taken him to another world – a world Edward knew all too
well. Death was almost a mercy if it delivered you from that place.
"Hang on, Will..." Ed said, lips trembling. "Stay strong... just
a bit longer..."
Then they brought out Stillingford.
Edward caught his breath.
His master. His teacher. His confidant. His good friend. The
man who saved him from the same plane of desolate ruin that Will now walked.
His fucking father, by all accounts. And they'd beaten him. Head to toe. Barely
able to stand, eyes fused shut with clotted blood, his withered lips gasping
for breath as a brace of bastard King's Eyes carried his broken body up the
scaffold steps to join the other prisoners.
Edward didn't hear himself scream Stillingford's name until
Basil Smeadon slapped his mouth shut, warning him to hold his fucking tongue
lest he lose it. But it did not matter. The crowd now was too raucous with
bloodlust to notice either of them.
Naught was to be done.
High Shepherd Aldwyn stepped forth and proclaimed loudly.
"PRAISE BE TO OUR SAINTS! MAY THEY BLESS US ALL AS WE DISPATCH UNTO THEM THESE
BENIGHTED SOULS WHO HAVE STRAYED SO FAR FROM THEIR PATH! THE FIRST OF THE
CONDEMNED IS THIS MAN!" To the old man he pointed. "THEOPOLD STILLINGFORD! THIS
MAN WAS TRIED AND FOUND GUILTY OF SEDITION AND CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT ACTS OF
SUCH! DOES THE ACCUSED HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY BEFORE HIS SOUL IS DELIVERED TO THE
STARS ABOVE?"
Edward and Basil looked on.
Stillingford wept, frowning through broken teeth, tears
crystallising in caked blood, as he raised his chin to the jeering crowd he
could not see. And his last words were very, very simple.
"F-f-for... t-t-he... f-for the Folkweal..."
They dragged him to the block. Fixed his neck into the
groove. Pinned him down and held him there as the headsman collected his
freshly cleaned axe and held it aloft in the bone white light of the sun.
"SEND HIM TO THE SAINTS!" Cried Aldwyn.
A single warping flash of steel flew through the air. An axe
fell through a noble neck and clapped the grain below like a cleaver through a
lamb leg. A crowd gasped. And then a single gelid head fell softly into the
bloody basket twelve feet below.
**********
·
Thanks
again for reading everybody! Stay tuned for more. Feedback and constructive
criticism are always welcome at stephenwormwood@mail.com .
·
Please
read some of my other stories on Nifty: The Dying Cinders (gay, fantasy/sci-fi), Wulf's Blut (gay, fantasy/sci-fi), The Harrowing of Chelsea Rice (gay, fantasy/sci-fi), The Dancer of Hafiz (gay, fantasy/sci-fi), The Cornishman (gay, historical), A Small Soul Lost (gay, fantasy/sci-fi), and Torc and Seax (transgender, magic/sci-fi).