“Your mother, and I as well, felt you would not be safe,” he said simply.
“Wouldn’t I have had guards and a castle?”
“They were not enough for your parents. Almost everyone in Castle Cameron died that night. I had no way to prevent something similar from occurring again. Even now I worry that you might fall prey to a similar fate, but you cannot remain as you are anymore.” For a moment I wished that I could remain a simple blacksmith’s son, the world he described was too big, too dangerous. Mort Eldridge didn’t belong in a place like that.
“Why not?” I wished aloud.
James responded, “Your only protection until now, has been anonymity, and anonymity is no longer enough. You now have an enemy who will someday be one of the most powerful peers of the realm, rivaled only by myself and superseded only by the king. Your only protection now is that of rank and station.”
I had to admit the logic of his words, but something else occurred to me, “You said ‘almost’ everyone in the castle died. Who were the survivors?”
“The only ones that lived were those who were away or didn’t eat the meal that evening. Even those that didn’t partake were slaughtered when the assassins came. A handful of servants hiding in the cellars survived, as well as Father Tonnsdale; who was fasting and locked himself within the chapel,” he answered.
“Who was the poisoner?”
“We never found out. There was nothing left to discover. The fire gutted the castle and the few that survived didn’t work in the kitchens,” he said. The lack of evidence obviously bothered him as much as it did me.
“What about the assassins? Surely something must be known about them, or who sent them…” I asked.
“We believe they were the Children of Mal’goroth, a cult to one of the dark gods. They overran the Kingdom of Gododdin many years before you were born, we thought they had plans to repeat their actions here, but there has been little sign of them in Lothion since that night. The few we found were already dead,” he sighed. “We won’t uncover the secrets of sixteen years ago tonight, and we have other things to accomplish.”
“Such as your grace?” I was curious now.
“You reached your majority last year, I believe…,” he looked at his wife.
“Mordecai is sixteen and will turn seventeen in almost two weeks,” she answered. Genevieve was possessed of an excellent memory regarding birthdays apparently. The age of majority in Lothion was sixteen.
“Very good, Mordecai I will confer your title and land upon you tomorrow evening, followed immediately by your commendation ceremony.” He smiled at me.
“I am overwhelmed your grace.” I said, stunned. Who could have thought he would move so quickly?
“Please, call me James when we are in private. Now, you should go and get some rest. Marcus is planning a boar hunt in the morning and you’ll want all your wits about you for that.” He clapped me upon the back and led me to the door. He leaned out and shouted, “Benchley! Fetch the scribes. We’ll be working late tonight!”
“Thank you your gra… James,” I stumbled. He nodded at me and I found myself walking back to my rooms in a state of profound shock. I was barely aware of my surroundings and nearly walked into Penny as I rounded a corner. She was accompanied by Rose Hightower.
Penny let out a most unladylike yelp when she saw me. At first it seemed she didn’t even want to meet my eyes. I had never known her to be shy before, but she had been through a lot lately, so I figured it might be understandable. “Penny! Thank the gods! I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” I grabbed her hands with a sense of relief. “I need to talk to you.” I gave her my most serious look.
A slight cough caught my attention and I realized my mistake, “Forgive me Lady Rose, I forgot myself. I hope you are well this evening.”
“No need to apologize, I cannot blame a gentleman so taken with the sight of his lady-fair.” She gave me a knowing smile and I started to protest but she continued, “What is this?” She was looking at my surcoat. Penny took notice as well.
“Mort?” she made my name a question.
“It’s complicated, and one more reason I need to talk to you, but not the most important one,” I was having trouble getting her attention. She looked to Rose.
“Unless I am mistaken those are the arms of the family Cameron, long thought defunct. It would seem that Master Eldridge has a surprise in store for us. You just left the Duke did you not?” Fantastic, Lady Rose was an expert in heraldry as well. She would have made a fine detective.
“Lady please, I beg of you, keep this to yourself for now.” Surely she could see my desperation; I think she enjoyed tormenting men.
“Until the day of revelation I suppose?” She pursed her lips in a mock pout. The woman was entirely too perceptive.
“Indeed,” I replied. “If you will allow me a moment alone, I truly need to talk to Penny.” I tugged at Penelope’s hands and Lady Rose nodded her approval. We walked a short way down the hall. “Penny I’ve been trying to find you for two days, it’s about the other night…”
She flinched when I said that, “Whatever you heard is probably true Mort. I’d rather not be reminded.”
“No that’s not what I meant,” I was puzzled. “Did you get my note?”
“The one where you told me that you are a nobleman in hiding, biding his time to reclaim his ancestral home or the one where you told me that you’re a wizard with the powers of light and darkness at his command?” She had gone from curious to upset rather quickly.
“I tried to explain that to you the other day but you ran off before I could finish!” My own frustration was bubbling up.
“And how long have you known about your illustrious heritage?” she countered.
“I just found out this afternoon when I went to see my parents, that’s where I got this tabard.” I held the fabric out as if it would support my tale.
“And yet within just hours of finding out you manage to challenge one of the most powerful men in the realm to a chess match and clean him out.” She said in a tone that implied she was not as mad as I thought.
“Yes, well he said something about you that I couldn’t forgive, and things just sort of went downhill from there.” I replied.
Penelope’s face went white and her entire demeanor changed, “I appreciate you defending my honor Mort, but you don’t understand.”
“I wasn’t defending your honor exactly… he said some things about my parents, and then he mentioned how he had learned them; Which is why I need to talk to you, about the other night. When you were in his room; I know what happened and I wanted…” I tried to say, I wanted to tell you what happened after you went to sleep, but I never got there.
Her hand struck me solidly across the cheek and left a ringing in my ears. “So you were upset that he insulted your parentage! Never mind that you think I’m a whore, that’s completely understandable. You are the world’s second biggest ass! And what did you say you wanted? Were you going to ask if you could pay for an evening as well? Now that you’re about to be a high and mighty lord yourself. Go to hell Mordecai!”
She was walking away now, as I stood there trying to figure out where I had gone wrong, “Wait Penny… you’ve misunderstood me, and I still haven’t told you the full story yet!” I yelled after her.
She didn’t stop and I didn’t chase her. After a minute Rose walked over to me, “You certainly handled that well.”
“Do you ever say anything helpful? Anything sincere, to actually help someone? Or do you just sit there on your high society horse and play games with everyone?” I was mad and Rose was near at hand.
“That actually stung. Despite what you believe I care a lot. That girl of yours has been through a lot and if you love her you’ll be patient,” she actually looked sincere as she said this, her usual sly smile was gone.
“She’s not my girl,” I answered. “And she’s been through a lot more than you know. If she would talk to me I could help her.”
“I know more than you realize, and I’m telling you to be patient. Simply put, you may think you know what she’s been through but you haven’t the faintest clue. Keep barging around and you’ll only drive her away.” Rose Hightower had drawn herself up to her full height and she radiated a warning aura. I had well and truly pissed her off. “Good evening to you,” she finished and turned to head the same direction that Penny had stalked off in. I might have said she ‘flounced’ away, but a woman as high bred and well mannered as Rose Hightower never flounced.
