Well sung, Maddo. Maryn was grinning. Oggyn will think twice before he extorts any more coin from my subjects.
So we may hope, your highness, Maddyn said.
Ive got a little trinket for you, Bellyra said. May it bring you luck in the wars.
My lady is too generous, Maddyn said.
You deserve somewhat for escorting me round to all those dusty rooms all winter.
Smiling, Maryn nodded at Maddyn, as if to say take it. When Maddyn held out his hand, Bellyra dropped it into his open palm. The bard looked at the rose pin, then grinned up at her.
Its beautiful, my lady, Maddyn said. You and your husband have my humble thanks.
Most welcome, Bellyra said with a little nod.
Maddyn pinned the rose to his shirt collar. Ill treasure it always, your highness.
That gladdens my heart. And now I think Id best summon my women and get back to our hall. Bellyra rose, glancing idly away, as if Maddyns smile meant naught to her.
At the end of the table Elyssa stood waiting for her, but Degwa seemed to have left already. Oh gods! Bellyra thought. Poor Decci, having to watch all that! With a wave to Elyssa to follow, she left the table and hurried for the stairs, but by the time the two women reached the upper landing, neither Nevyn, Oggyn, nor Degwa were anywhere to be seen.
Nevyn had led Oggyn into the first empty chamber they came to, a tiny room containing naught but one chair. Oggyn sank down upon it and allowed himself to sob aloud. Repeatedly he ran his face over his sleeve, and eventually the tears stopped coming. Nevyn leaned against the wall and waited while Oggyn pulled a rag from his pocket and blew his nose. He shoved the rag back, then sat slumped, his hands hanging limply between his knees.
Ah ye gods, Oggyn moaned. My life is over.
Oh come now! Nevyn said. Its not as bad as all that.
But Ill have to leave court. How can I possibly stay in the princes service now?
The prince will consider you amply punished and forget the matter.
But the shame! Ye gods, everyone will talk of this for years.
They wont. You forget their vanity.
Oggyn looked up, startled.
The noble born in particular, Nevyn went on, think of very little but their own doings. The servants will remember for a few days, truly, but with the wars starting, soon everyone will have plenty of gossip, fears, and bereavements to occupy them. Besides, youll be riding with the army, and you wont even be here to snicker at.
Youre right, truly. My thanks, Nevyn! A thousand thanks and more! Oggyn sat up, squaring his shoulders like a warrior. If I can just get through the next few days
Youll have plenty to keep you busy, with all the provisions to tally.
Right again. But I dont think Ill go straight back to the great hall.
I wouldnt either if I were you. Nevyn stood up. Shall we go?
As they were leaving the chamber, they saw Lady Degwa, trotting towards them. Her widows black headscarf had slipped back, and locks of her curly dark hair dangled free around her face.
There you are! she burst out. My poor Oggo! I simply had to see you. That awful bard, that awful song!
When Oggyn held out his hands, she took them in hers and stared up at him. From her puffy eyes and trembling lower lip Nevyn could tell shed been weeping. Nevyn made them both an unobserved bow.
My pardons, Nevyn said. Ill just be getting back to the great hall.
He strode off, but at the staircase he paused and turned to look back. Oggyn and Degwa stood just as hed left them, hands clasped. Oggyn had bent his head to speak to her in what seemed to be an anguished flood of words, while Degwa stared up adoringly, nodding her agreement now and again. For the first time it occurred to Nevyn that his fellow councillor actually cared for the lady as much as he did for her title. The insight made him end his eavesdropping and hurry downstairs.
In the great hall Grodyn was waiting for him, leaning on his stick over by the hearth of honour. The winter had not been kind to the man who had formerly been the head chirurgeon in Dun Deverry. When Maryns forces had taken the dun the summer past, Grodyn had fled with the other servitors of the Boar clan, only to find that Lord Braemys distrusted him.
Its been a long walk youve had, Nevyn said. All the way here from Cantrae.
Im surprised I lived through it, good councillor, Grodyn said. Especially after I ruined my knee in that fall. It gladdens my heart that youd take an interest in my plight.
Ah, I take it you dont remember me.
Grodyn blinked, stared at him, then swore under his breath. The herbman, he said, that old herbman who came to the dun ye gods, how many years ago was it?
I dont remember either, but a good long while.
I take it you were a spy?
I wasnt, oddly enough. I merely decided that Id find no place in Dun Deverry, so I moved on to Pyrdon, where the princes father took me into his service. Here, lets sit down.
At Nevyns order, a page placed two chairs in the curve of the wall, where they could talk without being easily overheard. Grodyn sat down with a long sigh and propped his stick against the wall near at hand.
Did you ever get to plead your cause to the prince? Nevyn said.
I did, and a well-spoken man he is, Grodyn said. But alas, he couldnt help me. When I fled the dun, you see, I was forced to leave some books behind, and I was hoping to reclaim them. He knew naught about them.
I may well have them. Any books came to me as my share of the looting not that anyone else wanted them. Did yours discuss Bardekian physic and medicinals?
They did. With those in hand, I might be able to find a place in some great lords dun. Without them, well, why should they believe a shabby beggar like me when I tell them Im a chirurgeon?
True spoken. You shall have them back. Nevyn hesitated, considering. Or even what would you think about staying here and taking the princes service?
Would he have me?
If I recommended you.
Grodyn leaned back and looked out over the great hall. I served the Boar clan for years, he said at length.
Not as I remember it. You served the kings clan when I first met you, and Im willing to wager high that you hated the Boars then and hated them even more later.
You have sharp eyes. Grodyn smiled thinly. Very well. If the prince can forgive me my former service, Ill be glad to have done with all this cursed travelling.
Ill speak to him in the morning. Theres someone else here, by the by, who might well remember you: Caudyr, your young apprentice who got himself run out by the Boars.
Ye gods! Did he end up in the princes service too?
He did. Hes the chirurgeon for the princes bodyguard, the silver daggers.
Ai. Grodyn shook his head. How the world changes, eh?
It does, it does. Nevyn rose and held out a hand. The stairs to my chambers are a bit steep, but come with me. You can wait down at the foot.
My thanks.
As they were making their slow way across the ward, Nevyn saw Lilli walking alone and hailed her. Theres my apprentice, he said to Grodyn. Well just send her up instead.
Grodyn clasped his stick with both hands and leaned on it while he stared open-mouthed at Lilli. Your apprentice? he whispered. Ye gods! Thats Lady Lillorigga of the Boar! Apprenticed to a chirurgeon?
Shes a daughter of the Rams of Hendyr now, and Im not exactly a chirurgeon.
Smiling, Lilli trotted over, dropped them a curtsey, then suddenly stared at Grodyn in turn.
It is me, the chirurgeon said. I fear me your cousin Braemys refused me shelter in Dun Cantrae last autumn, and wintering on the roads has left me changed.
No doubt it would, Lilli said. It saddens my heart to think of Braemys being so miserly. Thats not like him.
Wasnt miserliness. Grodyns voice turned sour. He accused me of being a poisoner.
Lilli considered him narrow-eyed.
Its doubtless a long tale, Nevyn broke in. Lilli, up in my chamber are three books of Bardekian medical lore. Would you bring them down? They belong to Grodyn here.
I shall, my lord.
Lilli curtsied again, then trotted off on her errand. Just then Branoic popped out of the back door to the great hall, looked around, made a sketchy bow Nevyns way, and took out running after her a good thing, since the books were heavy. Nevyn turned back to Grodyn.
Tell me somewhat, Nevyn said. This business of poisons. Is Lady Merodda mixed up in this?
She was, truly, Grodyn said. I heard, by the by, that your prince had her hanged. I have to admit that the news didnt ache my heart. Braemys accused me of supplying her with poisons. I did naught of the sort, I assure you.
Oh, I believe you. Here, why dont you shelter in the dun tonight? The prince is a generous man and wont begrudge you bread and board whether or not you take his service in the morning. Id like to hear what you know about Lady Merodda.
After he left the great hall, Maddyn considered going back to the barracks, then decided to climb up to the outer wall and make his way along the catwalk for some privacy. By then the sun was just setting, and a soft twilight was gathering over the dun. To the east a few stars gleamed against the darkening sky. With the firelight and lantern light flickering at the windows, the central broch looked for those few moments almost inviting. At the top of the wall Maddyn squeezed himself into a crenel and looked out over the hillside below. Near the bottom of the hill little fires bloomed in the encampment where the assembled warbands sheltered behind the outermost wall. For all its size, Dun Deverry could never have quartered the entire army.
Maddyns blue sprite materialized in mid-air, bringing a trace of silvery glow with her.
Well, there you are, Maddyn said. Ive not seen you in days.
She smiled with a gleam of needle-sharp teeth.
You werent in the great hall just now, Maddyn went on. And a cursed good thing, too. I played a song I wish Id never composed.
She cocked her head to one side as if she were trying to understand.
Having a bit of fun with Slimy Oggo is one thing. Tearing the poor bastards pride to bits was quite another. Ah ye gods! That was the sourest revenge Ive ever taken.
The sprite looked at him for a long solemn moment, then shrugged and disappeared. Maddyn climbed back down from the wall and headed for the barracks. He wanted the company of his own kind.
Lilli heard about Oggyns shaming from her maid, Clodda, who had watched the entire spectacle from the servants side of the hall. She had, she told Lilli, climbed up onto a table for a good view.
It was ever so awful, my lady, Clodda said, but she was grinning, and her eyes snapped with something suspiciously like delight. Poor old Slimy Oggo. Thats what the silver daggers call him, you know.
Oh really? Lilli was smiling herself. And how would you know? Youve not been consorting with silver daggers, have you?
Clodda blushed scarlet and busied herself with straightening the bed clothes. Morning sun poured in the window. Lilli moved her chair round so that she could sit in the warmth.
It feels so good, she remarked. Did you see Lord Nevyn in the great hall?
I did, my lady. He told me hed be up in a bit.
Nevyn appeared but a few moments after. Clodda made a hurried excuse and fled the chamber; like most of the servants, she believed him to be a sorcerer of the sort found in bards tales, who can turn men into frogs and talk with the spirits of dead though in a way, Nevyn told Lilli, hed been if not raising a spirit then at least discussing one.
Grodyn told me many an interesting tale last night, Nevyn said. About your mother, that is.
Indeed? Lilli shivered, suddenly chilled. The poor man! Did he truly walk all the way here from Cantrae?
He rode at first, but his horse threw a shoe and stumbled badly. Thats how he injured the knee. But about your mother, unpleasant subject though she is? He confirmed my suspicions about that woman who died from the tainted meat.
Lady Caetha?
The very one. Grodyn attended both her and your mother when they were both supposedly so ill. Caetha was ill, all right. He caught your mother drinking an infusion of bitter herbs to make herself vomit convincingly. It wasnt the meat they shared that killed Caetha.
Lilli felt as if someone had slapped her. Tears gathered and threatened to fall. Nevyn leaned over and caught her hand in both of his.
Ive upset you badly, Nevyn said. My apologies.
Not your fault, Lilli said. She really was a murderess. Oh gods! My own mother!
Its not a pleasant bit of news, is it? Nevyn stood up. And Im afraid I have to leave you with it. The prince is holding a proper council of war this morning. The musters nearly complete.
One of the last lords to lead his men to Dun Deverry was Tieryn Anasyn, the Ram of Dun Hendyr. A messenger had preceded him to ensure that the prince knew Anasyn was merely late, not traitorous, and that hed be bringing a contingent of thirty riders, five more than demanded, to make up for his fault. On the day that he was due to arrive, Lilli kept a watch on the gates from her window. As eager as she was to see her foster-brother, she was frightened as well. How would he take the news that she was the princes mistress? She decided that it might be better to keep it from him, if she possibly could, but if his wife was coming with him to shelter with the princess during the summers fighting, the cause was hopeless. When it came to gossip, Lady Abrwnna could hunt with the best of them.
Lilli sat at the window with the dweomer book propped against her table. Every time she turned a page, she would pause and look out, watching the shadows of the towers creep across the cobbled ward. The sun had nearly disappeared behind the western-most broch when she finally heard shouting out in the ward, servants calling, The Ram, the Ram! She laid the book on the table and leaned out of her window to see six men riding through the inner gate, each with the ram shield of Hendyr hanging from their saddle peaks.
She left her chamber, rushed down the stairs, and ran out to the ward in time to see Anasyn and his honour guard dismounting. He was a tall man, grown somewhat stouter since last shed seen him, with a long face and a long thin nose. As well as the extra weight hed also grown a full moustache, thick enough to hide most of his upper lip.