Quintana of Charyn

face.

‘Gargarin has a brother who is a physician,’ Froi explained to the others. ‘They look the same, you know,’ he couldn’t help adding. ‘Twins. I’d never seen twins before.’

‘We have a pair on the Rock,’ Finnikin said.

‘You should never have trusted anyone,’ Trevanion said.

Froi covered up quickly, shivering. He noticed that Perri’s stare was back on Gargarin.

‘How is Lucian faring?’ Froi asked, trying to take Perri’s attention away from whatever it was that seemed to irritate him about Gargarin.

He noticed the uneasy look between Trevanion and Perri.

‘Finn?’ Froi asked, praying that nothing had happened to Yata or any of Lucian’s lads.

‘Lucian lost Phaedra of Alonso,’ Finnikin said. ‘They were close to reconciling and he lost her.’

‘She went home to her father?’ Froi asked.

Finn shook his head and suddenly Froi knew the truth.

‘Dead? Dead? How?’

‘The plague in the north. It’s been a bleak time in the valley for the Charynites.’

And still Perri stared at Gargarin, and Froi knew that if Perri wanted to strike, there would be no stopping him.

‘He’s not a threat, Perri,’ Froi said, a plea in his voice. ‘On my life he’s not a threat!’

Perri’s stare didn’t waver until he turned to Froi.

‘My Charyn is weak. Can you fill in my words?’

Froi was confused by the request but nodded.

‘In the first days after we took back Lumatere,’ Perri began, ‘I escorted the impostor King and his men to the dungeons. Inside one of the cells was a Charynite, half-starved and mad, and I thought nothing of it and locked them up together. Later it occurred to me that if the man was in the dungeons, the impostor King must have placed him there. So I returned to the dungeon and moved the Charynite into another cell, intending to come back the next day to find out why he was imprisoned.

‘But one morning, as we know, the impostor and his men were poisoned.’

‘By who?’ Gargarin asked, listening to the translation.

‘Not your concern,’ Finnikin responded.

There was an uncomfortable silence.

‘I discovered the Charynite was innocent of any crime against Lumatere,’ Perri said. ‘So thankfully he escaped death.’

Froi couldn’t understand why Perri was telling this story, but he realised how much he missed the blunt way Perri spoke.

‘I sent for the Priestking and he and this man spoke for hours. The Charynite had a strange tale to tell about a child long ago smuggled out of Charyn, and how this man had been travelling through Lumatere to Sarnak to retrieve the boy, who was then five.’ Perri looked up. Suddenly, he had the audience he deserved. Gargarin and Lirah exchanged glances and Froi’s heart was hammering.

‘The prisoner had taken that journey thirteen years ago.’

Froi was beginning to understand. The Charynite was the messenger Simeon had spoken about, who had never arrived in Sarnak to retrieve Dafar of Abroi. Froi realised why.

‘He became trapped by the curse?’ Froi asked.

Perri nodded. ‘In the early days of the curse, the Charynite prisoner had hid in the forest between the borders of Sendecane and Sarnak. He even made Tesadora’s acquaintance and was one of two men who hid the novices of Lagrami. Remember, the novices were smuggled out of the palace village one night and Tesadora hid them with the novices of Sagrami. The prisoner was found by the impostor King’s men and arrested, mistaken for a traitor back in Charyn. They placed him in the palace dungeon and he stayed there for ten years. The second man, a young soldier named John who helped the prisoner save the novices, was hanged.’

Finnikin was intrigued. ‘I remember this. The Priestking petitioned Isaboe to have a prisoner released on religious grounds. He was the first Charynite we sent home.’

Froi remembered Tesadora telling him the story.

Perri pointed at Gargarin. ‘He had your face.’

Froi stared at Gargarin, speechless.

‘What did he say, Froi?’ Gargarin demanded. ‘What?’

Froi couldn’t respond. He thought of the fury Gargarin and De Lancey had felt for all those years they were unable to find Arjuro. He thought of the Charyn word for traitor scorched on Arjuro’s back.

‘Froi!’ Gargarin asked. ‘What did he say?’

‘Arjuro,’ Froi whispered. ‘Arjuro was trapped in Lumatere for ten years in a bid to bring me home, and the impostor King and his men imprisoned him for all of that time … because they thought he was you.’

Lirah covered her face with her hands. Gargarin stumbled to his feet, staring at Perri, stunned. Then he turned and walked away. Moments later they heard the roar of fury and the sound of Gargarin’s staff striking the tree. Froi turned to see the splintered pieces. He heard Gargarin’s grunt of rage with every blow and Froi went to stand, but felt Lirah’s firm grip on his wrist.

‘Leave him.’

Finnikin watched Gargarin. ‘Well, that makes better sense. Now I see the resemblance.’

The next morning, Perri handed Froi the reins of his horse, Beast.

‘Don’t be ridiculous, Perri. He’s yours.’

‘I’ll be home in three days. You won’t.’ Perri said. ‘I’ll ride with Finn.’

‘No, you’ll –’

‘Take it,’ Lirah said and when Froi didn’t, she reached for the reins. ‘It’s a Serker horse, did you know that? The King ordered the slaughter of the Serker people and the army took the horses. The King’s army invaded Lumatere on these horses as a show of strength.’

Froi stared at the reins and before he could speak, Perri walked away and mounted Finn’s horse.

Overwhelmed and unable to speak, Froi handed Finn three letters. They embraced quickly. Finn held out a straight hand to Gargarin and Froi wanted to laugh at how rigid it seemed.

‘Sir Topher of the Flatlands is the smartest man I know,’ Finnikin said. ‘And Froi seems to think you’re a smart one yourself. One would like to think that a collection of smart people can put their heads together and do something right for once in this cursed land. Not just for their own kingdom, but the whole of Skuldenore.’

Gargarin was silent. He had said very little since the news of Arjuro, but Froi could see the strength of the handshake between the two men.

‘Walk with us, Froi,’ Trevanion said, and Froi obeyed, feeling the Captain’s hand on his shoulder. At first he believed the Captain wanted to speak, but as always with Trevanion his silence spoke loudly. At his horse, Trevanion handed him a quiver of arrows.

‘You know where your home is,’ the Captain said, mounting his horse, and then they were gone.

Yet Froi didn’t know where home was anymore. He wanted to return to Lumatere and he wanted to stay in Charyn. What strangeness was that? To belong in two kingdoms. He felt a sob rise within him that he swallowed hard the moment he felt Lirah and Gargarin at his shoulders.

‘They think they own you,’ Lirah said.

They do, he wanted to shout. Half of his heart.

‘Where to?’ he asked instead.

‘We go to the Priests of Trist,’ Gargarin said. ‘I need to see my brother.’

Chapter 15

They reached Sebastabol two days later and Froi felt as if he had been gone for an eternity rather than merely a week. Although he had a fair idea where he and Arjuro had exited the underground community of Trist, it