Chapter Thirty~eight

Good Friends

Part One

~*~

 

 

Kazia sat in a chair at her bedroom window, where she had a view of the bailey and part of the city beyond the castle walls. Kelvaran's transmitter occupied a table beside her chair, with a new battery he had sent in case the other was depleting.

She had tested the Artifact these past several days by having Neiphi roam the castle grounds with the watch, while Kazia listened from here. It was certainly working now, although Kazia hadn't done anything to it since adding her own blood into the potion.

The Solstice had passed with none of the usual celebration, but the sun still set quite early, and lights were blinking on in the streets and houses scattered up the hills along the river valley. Kazia watched them, trying to imagine the lives of the people who lived there, the ordinary citizens of Elisaen.

It was a city on edge now, according to what news had come to her.

Several of Elisaen's wealthy business class had been killed in the explosion. It was putting a hardship on many people, as shops and factories were closed until wills and successions could be sorted.

Queen Inaissa was providing aid to those out of work, but nothing could help the people's fear of more violence to come.

Kazia looked across the bailey to the infirmary building as a man emerged and entered a grand carriage parked there.

“Oh, I think that's Sir Palanaida's brother, the Duke,” Brandra said, peering over Kazia's shoulder. “Very good of the Queen to admit him while the castle is locked down.”

“I should go see him,” Kazia said. “If he's fit for visitors now, I would go.”

“You'll go when you're well,” Brandra said.

“Madame Brandra, I feel much better, and I have read all the books I can stand for now. The walk will do me good.”

“All the stairs?”

“If I take them slowly.” Kazia stood. “I'm determined, Madame Brandra. I will go now before the evening wears on. Will you help me or shall I take all the stairs alone?”

Brandra glared at Kazia, then began to examine the side of her head.

“You see,” Kazia said. “It doesn't even hurt if you touch it now.”

“Alright, let's get you dressed,” Brandra conceded. “But no corset, you don't need to be squeezed just now. We'll put your overcoat on you, no one will see.”

“I should get some Caedran dresses,” Kazia mused. “They seem so comfortable.”

“Oh, you would look lovely, yes,” Brandra agreed.

She helped Kazia on with a skirt and blouse, boots, and her coat.

As they left Kazia's rooms, though, they opened the door to Edwis, just about to knock, and Kelvaran standing in the hallway behind him.

“Lady Devratha, are you going out?” Edwis asked cheerfully, giving her a small bow. “I'm happy to see you recovered!”

“Thank you, Edwis,” Kazia answered. “I am feeling much better. How can I help?”

“We've come to take the transmitter over to intelligence headquarters. Mistress Thanelin did say that it seems ready?”

“It does seem so,” Kazia agreed. “And I suppose I should be glad to see the back of it at long last. Do you need me to stay or can you manage? Only I'm going to the infirmary to see Sir Palanaida.”

She glanced at Kelvaran, who still stood back in the hallway.

His mood was strange tonight, a mixture of despondent sadness, agitation, ardent resolve, and when he looked at Kazia, relief, but also a chilly sense of distance. He looked away from her with an odd expression.

“Oh, no,” Edwis answered, “You go on, we can manage between us.”

“It is there in the bedroom. Edwis, use the cart in the laboratory. You know where to find it, yes?”

“Aye, aye,” he answered with a salute.

Kazia and Brandra left them to it, setting off for the infirmary.

As Kazia passed Kelvaran in the hallway, he gave her a stiff and shallow bow.

“Lady Devratha,” he said in a toneless voice, “You look well. It's... good. Good to see.”

~~~*~~~

Tamyn sat in his office, staring blankly at a note on his desk.

He had been staring at it for half an hour, smoothing its creases where it had been folded, tracing a finger along its lines of text, wracking his brain for any hidden meaning in any of its words, then repeating it all again.

He was at a complete loss. His mind was too scattered to think through any solution.

Finally, gathering all of his resolve, he folded the note along its original creases again and took it downstairs to Amelys' office, lightly rapping on her door until he heard her invitation.

He sat quickly in front of her desk, staring at her like blinded prey.

“Tamyn?” Amelys asked gently, “What is it?”

It took him a long time to answer, drawing in sharp breaths as he opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again silently several times. Finally, covering his lips and speaking through his fingers, he told her in a rush.

“Abrizhen Devratha has requested that I meet him tonight at the House of Stelenis.”

Amelys' brow furrowed, her eyes narrowing in confusion.

“Why would...?”

“I expect that his purpose is a personal matter,” Tamyn said, trying to keep his voice as even and perfunctory as possible. “He and I have... personal history.”

Amelys' eyes widened briefly before she settled into a neutral expression.

“I see. From your University days?”

“Since he's been in town, he's been... nostalgic for the past, I suppose. That's probably all this is about, but given the timing, with the University-”

“This must be difficult for you,” Amelys said, her eyes warming with sympathy.

“I have no idea how to respond. I thought I should bring it to you.”

“Do you want to go?”

Tamyn smiled bitterly and shrugged.

“I...”

He put an elbow on the chair arm and leaned his forehead in his palm.

Amelys drew a clean sheet of paper and took up a quill, writing furiously.

“I'll write you a permit to leave the castle,” she said, already blowing the ink. “We don't need to take this to the Queen just yet, but I'd like you to report back to me when you return. Not to be crassly opportunistic, but if you can learn anything from him, that would be advantageous.”

She gave Tamyn a questioning glance as she stamped her seal onto the permission letter.

He nodded thoughtfully.

“I won't pry into your personal matters any more than I must...” she continued.

He waved a hand at her.

“I understand that privacy is a luxury when one works in the political arena,” he said. “I suppose I must prepare myself.”

“Have you spoken with Kazia about this?” Amelys asked.

“I... think she has guessed some things,” he answered quietly, “but no, we haven't spoken frankly.”

“She is very perceptive. You might consider it,” Amelys suggested. “Kazia loves her brother. It appears that you have that in common.”

“If he was involved...” Tamyn whispered, shaking his head.

“Don't get ahead of yourself,” Amelys said gently. “But whatever comes next will leave none of us unscathed, I'm afraid, and we could all do with good friends to lean on.”

~~~*~~~

When Kazia and Brandra had gone, Edwis ran off to the laboratory to retrieve the cart, and Kelvaran stepped into Kazia's sitting room to wait for him.

His eyes wandered about the room. Other than his brief, angry intrusion several days before, he'd never been this far into Kazia's apartment.

Could a look around really count as impropriety if one found oneself alone in the quarters of a suspicious person?

He noticed that most of the items in the room were ordinary things that were supplied by the Queen in all the apartments of the Alchemists' tower. The only personal items he could see were on the mantel over the fireplace; a small portrait of a woman, a porcelain doll, and a framed pencil sketch of a horse farm. He stepped closer to peer at them.

The woman bore a strong resemblance to Kazia, with dark hair piled up in curls secured with a familiar peacock comb, tendrils framing large, deep-set eyes, full lips set in a wistful smile. Kelvaran guessed that it must be Kazia's mother.

The doll looked old, the white lace on its ruffled silk dress and bonnet turning yellow in places, its brown ringlet-ed wig a bit unkempt.

The pencil drawing seemed familiar somehow, but Kelvaran couldn't put his finger on where he'd seen something similar.

Next to the fireplace, a small, ornate chest stood on a table. He flipped the lid up to find two long daggers with silver handles nestled in the velvet interior, both wrapped in leather sheaths designed to attach to the top of a tall boot.

He humphed at this sight, but quickly closed the box as Edwis entered the room wheeling a cart before him, which he pushed through the door into the bedroom.

Although his curiosity was rampant, Kelvaran would not enter behind Edwis, only standing in the doorway as the boy loaded the transmitter from the table onto the cart.

The room was a mess. The bed was unmade, all the bedding still rumpled.

Kelvaran's chest tightened as he remembered the sight of Kazia lying there a few days before, a bandage around her head, pale and exhausted.

A precarious pile of books was stacked on the bedside table, as well as a few on the floor, and a few open and face-down on the bed. He couldn't see any titles from where he stood, and almost let his curiosity get the better of him to let him approach, when Edwis came to the door wheeling the cart, now laden with Kelvaran's Artifact.

“Shall we?” the boy said brightly, snapping him out of it.

Kelvaran moved aside.

“After you.”

~~~*~~~

The journey to the infirmary was stretched to three times its usual duration. Kazia felt as if she could take the stairs much faster, but Brandra insisted that she take one step at a time. When they finally emerged into the bailey, Kazia stood for a moment just breathing in the open air of the early night.

There was a chill of winter on the wind, and she pulled her coat closer. The cold seasons in Caedra were far milder than those she'd known in Valesk, but she'd been closed up indoors where hot water radiators kept her rooms comfortably warm.

As they strolled slowly across the park, Kazia peered at all the statuary they passed by. The gas lamps cast strange shadows on the faces of the gods, on the wings and horns of the mythical creatures, giving Kazia an uneasy feeling.

She tried to brush it aside as fancy, but as they approached the old well, a figure stepped out from behind it in the gloom. She and Brandra both startled.

“Lady Kazia!” came the voice of Mister Cardil. “How lovely to see you up and about. Taking an evening constitutional? I love to walk after dinner myself.”

Kazia had the feeling that he was as startled as they had been.

“Mister Cardil,” Kazia said, catching her breath. “It is such a pleasure to see you as well. I have missed the library these days I've been convalescing. I did want to thank you for the books you sent with my Apprentice.”

“Not at all, Lady Kazia. I was happy to do it. I know a mind such as yours couldn't lay abed idly.”

“If you don't mind, Mister Cardil,” Kazia said, “we're just off to the infirmary to visit a friend before it's too late in the evening.”

“Of course,” he replied. “I won't keep you. Very happy to see you recovered, though. I'll bid you goodnight, and you as well, Madame Brandra.”

“He's a funny little man,” Brandra said as they went on their way. “Very friendly, isn't he?”

“I think he's delightful,” Kazia replied.

 

 

~~~*~~~