call me, though, which is Velmont.”
“Malden.”
The two of them clasped hands, but only for a moment.
The thief made a point of looking away as he spoke out of the side of his mouth. “Now maybe my boss has heard o’ your boss. Maybe they’s even friends. Well, men of business will come together, eh, and find ways to help each other out, from time to time. Still, I don’t know what you’re after, showing me that.”
Malden frowned. “Just a bit of knowledge, really. The watch here-the kingsmen-are rounding up every scofflaw in town, it seems. I’ve never seen such a complete sweep before. Unless you tell me this is a common occurrence in Helstrow-”
“It ain’t.”
“-then I can only wonder why they’re being so thorough. There must be a hundred men in this room. And why here? This looks like a banquet hall, not a dungeon. The only reason to put us here is if the gaol is already full. And that means there must be plenty more of us stashed in other places, too. Maybe hundreds of men. Surely the king doesn’t intend to hang us all. He wouldn’t need to slaughter so many just to improve public morale.”
Velmont scratched himself. “It started just a few days ago. Folks that’d been in the game far longer’n me- folks that shoulda been untouchable, like-got scooped up in the middle o’ the night. Then they started raiding the gambling houses and the brothels at dawn.” He shrugged. “No one tells us anything, o’ course. We’re just peasants, what do we need t’know? But ’twas at the same time that all the honest men in town got taken outside the wall to learn how to shoot a bow.” The thief shook his head. “You just in town today? Your accent says you’re from Ness, is that right?”
Malden assented with a nod.
“You picked a lousy time to come see Helstrow, friend. Now, I don’t think we’re to be killed. No, not as such. But I’ve been wondering ’bout what they’re up to meself, and there’s only one conclusion I can draw. Conscription.”
“They’re going to press us into military service?”
“Give us a choice, like.” Velmont smiled wickedly. “The noose or the army. Well, I know my answer already.”
“I suppose we all do. That must be what they’re counting on. By law they can’t force freemen to fight for the king-”
“But a prisoner’s another story, aye.”
Conjecture was all Velmont had to go on, but what he said made sense to Malden. But why did the king want an army? The two thieves discussed various theories for some time, without coming to any useful ideas.
They were still talking when the sun went down and darkness filled the hall. The only light they had came from the fire in the hearth. All around them men laid down as best they could and curled themselves in sleep. Those who still spoke softly among themselves all seemed to agree that they were to be kept in the banquet hall overnight at the very least. So when someone entered the hall with a lantern and started shining it in the faces of the imprisoned, everyone sat up and looked. Velmont and Malden fell silent and tried to look as if they’d never spoken to each other. They were in enough trouble as it was and didn’t need to be accused of conspiracy.
The lantern moved up and down the hall. The guards never spoke, just played their light over each face and then moved on, clearly not finding what they sought. As the guard with the lantern came closer, Malden somehow knew they were coming for him. When the light hit his face, he refused to blink. The guard beckoned to someone else-a kingsman-who came rushing up out of the darkness. Then the guard pointed one accusing finger at Malden. “Him.”
Chapter Ten
“This way, Sir Knight, milady,” the castellan said, and ushered them inside a low-ceilinged room. “Please wait here until you are officially presented.”
“What are we waiting for?” Cythera asked. “I don’t understand. We wanted to talk to the magistrate so we could find out where our friend is being held.”
“I was bidden only to bring you here, where you may await your audience,” the castellan told her. Then he stepped backward out into the hall and closed the door behind him.
Croy stared at the doors, wondering exactly what was going on. Why had they been brought here, of all places? Why now?
Cythera turned to him and said, “This doesn’t look like a law court. Where are we?”
The knight cleared his throat. “The privy council chamber. This is where the king consults his closest advisors.”
“And-our audience? Who have we been summoned to see? One of those advisors?”
Croy could barely speak for the emotion he felt. This room-this very room. “I don’t know why we were brought here,” he said at last.
Cythera sighed deeply and went to sit down. It had been a very long day for her, Croy thought. They’d had to run from office to office in the inner bailey, looking for anyone who might tell them where Malden might be, or who might take charge of Balint so they didn’t have to keep looking after her. They had at least succeeded in the latter goal. They were allowed to turn the dwarf prisoner over to the king’s equerry, of all people-the official in charge of the royal stables. It seemed there was nowhere else in the inner bailey that wasn’t already full of prisoners.
No one could tell them anything about Malden. But after they approached the keep, where they were told some prisoners were being held, the castellan himself had come looking for them and then brought them here.
To this room.
Croy had been inside the privy council chamber before, many times. There was a time when he had stood in this room every day. The Ancient Blades had been forged to slay demons, but by the time Croy received Ghostcutter from his father, there were too few demons left to justify having five knights just for that purpose. Instead the bearers of the Blades had been commissioned to be the personal bodyguards of the king-the previous king, Ulfram IV.
It was in this room that Ulfram IV had died. A villainous councilor slipped poison into his mutton. The Ancient Blades had caught the councilor before he could escape, but it was already too late. It was also in this room that the king’s son, Ulfram V, current sovereign of Skrae, had blamed the bodyguards for his father’s death and stripped them of their commission. He would have done far more to them if he’d been able to prove they had anything to do with the assassination, but everyone knew the sacred honor of the Blades. All Ulfram V could do was send them forth from Helstrow in disgrace.
Croy remembered that day very well. It had been the worst day of his life. In some ways he would have preferred to be hanged rather than face that shame. That was the day he became a knight errant-a servant without a master.
He had never expected to enter this room again.
He looked around him and saw how little had changed. The shields hanging on the walls were a bit rustier than they had been. The upholstery on the chairs that lined the walls had been changed from red to green, that was all, really. Then he spotted the one significant change.
A tapestry map covered one wall of the chamber, a cunning depiction of the natural and political features of Skrae picked out in minute embroidery of silken floss. The Whitewalls-the mountain range that formed Skrae’s eastern border-had been stitched from thread of silver, and it glittered in the firelight. Except for one dull patch.
Croy approached the map and looked more closely. It was as he expected. Someone had used the point of a knife to pick out all the threads that made up the image of Cloudblade, the kingdom’s tallest mountain. Which only made sense, since the mountain wasn’t there anymore.
He blushed to think of the part he’d had in that.
“Croy,” Cythera said, turning to him to speak in a hurried whisper, “I don’t know what we’re doing here. But I’m certain that once it’s done we should leave Helstrow as soon as possible. My mother sent me a message today, telling me to come home.”
