“What are you going to do?” Jennery kept his voice low as his eyes flicked around the quiet gardens. Birlerion drifted off and shimmered into his sentinal, and the sentinal trembled. The pointed green leaves rustled above them.
“Speak to Liliian, see what she can tell us. I think we need to disguise our companions here. The scholars seem the best option to me. Unless you have any better ideas?” Jerrol waited expectantly, but after a few shakes of the head, he continued. “That is, if Liliian is here. Tagerill, you come with me, the rest of you wait here with the horses. The scholars are peaceful historians who support the Lady. We don’t want to scare them; they are not soldiers. Whatever happens, if an alarm goes up, protect those in silver robes; do not hurt them. Understood?” Jerrol looked around the group of tall men surrounding him.
They all nodded. “As you command, Captain.” Darllion appeared to be their spokesperson. “Though this Chapterhouse does not look like the Lady’s Chapterhouse; the buildings were much taller, and there is no palace. I cannot sense the Sentinals – were they lost?”
Tagerill stiffened. Serillion lifted his head as if searching. Darllion gripped Tagerill’s shoulder in sympathy. “I regret, but Marianille is not here.”
“I didn’t realise this was the Chapterhouse of Vespers, but she would have been up at the palace, not here. Where is the Lady’s Palace?” Tagerill surveyed the town before him. “The Lady’s Palace is gone, and the Captain’s bridge is missing. This can’t be Vespers.”
“We couldn’t protect the buildings and the people,” Birlerion said from behind them.
Serillion moved as if he was about to speak, but he held his tongue as Jerrol spoke. “There has only ever been one Sentinal in Old Vespers,” he gestured at Birlerion, “and never a bridge. The Chapterhouse before you is the only Chapterhouse of the Lady’s Order of Remargaren in Vespiri. Legend has it that the old city was engulfed by a huge landslide at the end of the Ascendants’ rebellion when the stone was sundered. The scholars are still excavating the archives below the Chapterhouse.” He looked at Birlerion. “The temple and your Sentinal were only discovered in the last hundred years or so.”
Birlerion’s eyes widened, but he remained silent.
“Remargaren,” breathed Tagerill. “The Lady still watches.”
“She never stopped,” Jerrol said. “I will signal if it is safe and you can bring the horses in; otherwise, you wait here. Understood?”
“We will await your signal or your return. If the alarm goes up, we will come to your rescue. We will not harm any of the Lady’s scholars,” Darllion repeated.
Jerrol closed his eyes. He sincerely hoped he would not set off any alarm. He couldn’t imagine what havoc his Sentinals would cause coming to his rescue.
Jennery grinned at the Sentinals. “You gonna rush to my rescue if the garrison gets upset?”
Darllion smirked, a glint in his eye. “As the Captain orders, it would be our honour. Are we allowed to harm the soldiers?” he asked, straight-faced.
Jerrol glared at Jennery. “Don’t encourage them,” he said. “They are the King’s soldiers. They are just misguided. The King would be unhappy if we disabled his garrison. We need to cause as little disturbance as possible. You can cause havoc at New Vespers. The Prince will have his men on duty; you can deal with them as you see fit. I’ll need a diversion to get to the King anyway.”
Serillion, a quietly enthusiastic young man whom Jerrol hoped would not turn out to be another Tagerill, returned from a self-imposed sortie around the Chapterhouse, his face alight with anticipation. “Guards on the main gate, none at the back. If there is a patrol, it must be inside,” he reported.
“Very well, the back it is; somehow I doubt we would pass inspection.”
The Sentinals grinned viciously in anticipation. “We will bide until your return. Walk silent, my Captain,” Darllion said before glaring at the other Sentinals. Serillion pulled Birlerion to one side and began talking fast. Jerrol wondered what they were discussing.
Jerrol and Tagerill slipped around to the back of the Chapterhouse. As Serillion had reported, there were no guards in sight. Tagerill paused at the double gates; he gave them a tentative push, but they were barred from the inside. “How about I give you a boost, and you open the gate for me?”
Glancing up at the stone walls, Jerrol estimated the distance was a good fifteen feet above him. He searched Tagerill’s face. He was serious.
Tagerill continued. “There are no signs of patrols on the walls, very sloppy,” he finished in a disappointed tone.
Jerrol put his foot in Tagerill’s linked hands and was shortly landing on top of the wall. Tagerill peered up at him as he searched the courtyard, before spotting the stone pegs drilled into the walls an equal distance apart. A simple stairway leading down. He climbed down and unbarred the gate, opening it enough to allow Tagerill to slide in unnoticed.
Chapter 35
Chapterhouse, Old Vespers
“This way.” Jerrol headed across the courtyard towards the cloisters and then under the arch which led into a walled garden. A small fountain tinkled to itself in the quiet evening: a gentle counterpoint to the soft cooing of doves roosting in the eaves of the buildings rising either side of the gardens. A peaceful oasis bathed in the evening sun.
“The Deane’s office is in the north tower. We need to go this way.” He led Tagerill down the passageway behind the golden stone columns which lined the garden, pausing in the shadows as Scholars crossed before them, intent on the scrolls in their hands and oblivious to their surroundings.
Jerrol’s lips twitched as he heard Tagerill tsking behind him. They reached Liliian’s tower and her gatekeeper, seated at his desk at the base of the stone stairs, having traversed the length of the Chapterhouse unnoticed.
The scholar-secretary lurched to his feet
