She pondered further the choices they hadbefore them. Weren’t they desperate long before now to kill forthat power? Distracted, Kambry realized just before they steppedover the threshold that they were in the rooms behind the throne.Passages riddled the old part of the castle. Wasn’t that how Russalbelieved the assassins had gotten in without the guardsknowing?
“Russal, is the map room inside the oldcastle?”
“The central tower in the old keep.” He gaveher a nodding glance over his shoulder before tugging her down anarrow hallway. Scrapping a long stick match, Russal set aboutlighting the candles mounted in sconces set at intervals as theywalked. The old fortification was not the airy place of the neweradditions built around it. In the confined hall, the scent ofsulfur immediately tainted the air and seemed to hang there. Howwould Kavin Wood reach this map room if it was deep within theinner keep and lacked even a hint of airflow?
“Here we are,” Russal said, and he opened amassive wood door, the hinges of pounded iron squealing metalagainst metal as they turned on their pins. He took a taper from abox by the door and lit it before wedging the candle with itsfledgling flame into the sconce by the door. The match burnt outjust as he dropped it to the stone floor and pressed his heel downon it. He lit a second taper with the first and mounted it in asecond sconce. “There should be a lantern in here somewhere. Do yousee it?”
Kambry was busy taking in the walls of mapsand the table in the center with more maps lying willy-nilly onit.
“We don’t come in here often. I suppose Ishould clean it up.” He scratched an ear and shrugged. “That’s amap of all of Kavin Wood.” He pointed at the wall opposite thedoor. “Ah, there’s the lantern.”
Kambry approached the stylized map of thesmall forest, gazing at it in wonder. It was more art than map. Shewondered if it was accurate in dimension. It portrayed the whole ofKavin Wood as enormous and oddly shaped. For some reason, she’dalways thought of the woods as round and compact.
Russal pointed at the larger of two lopsidedbulbs of forest. “There’s Kavin Castle.” He tapped the center ofthe larger bulb on the left. “This here is the Neck Kingdom. Ofcourse, that’s not really its name.”
She could understand how it earned theappellation. A narrow strip of woods connected the two bulbs andwithin the stretch was a kingdom, Froneck. There were two otherkingdoms, and they were in Lesser Kavin, the smaller bulb: Lonst inthe north and Croiven almost directly across from the Kavinkingdom. “Russal, is Kavin the only kingdom on this side of KavinWood?”
“Hmm?” He was examining the stone-block wall,which unlike the others lacked plaster or paneling. “Been awhilesince I’ve used this door. Always was a tricky one,” hemuttered.
Kambry took in the rest of the layout of theroom. There were cabinets along the walls. They contained shallowdrawers, which she assumed contained more maps. After pulling out adrawer to confirm she was correct, she watched Russal for a minutebefore looking back at the map on the wall. “Do you have the onlykingdom on this side of Kavin Wood?”
“Yes, we do. Ours is the largestkingdom, and Croiven and Lonst usually side with us when there aredecisions to make that affect the wood in its entirety.”
“But not Froneck?”
“The Neck Kingdom makes a point ofdisagreeing with us regularly.” He tapped the wall.
Kambry walked to his side and watched him.“You said that Felip wanted you to take over ruling the NeckKingdom so they would no longer generate trouble for you.”
“He has a firmer response to aggravation. Inegotiate first; he advised immediate rebuke.”
“So Froneck, if it had a choice, would preferyou over Felip Covey.”
Russal stopped running his hands over therough stone and gave her his attention. “Where are you going withthis?”
“I thought at first that Froneck mightsupport Felip against you, but if he was more likely to punish themfor voicing dissent, then wouldn’t they prefer your more patientruling?”
“But I don’t rule Froneck, nor would it begood governance for me to take them over. They are a small kingdom,and grumbling doesn’t hurt anyone. I don’t get support from them,and they don’t need it from me. Kavin Wood can protect itself. Ourfew decisions regarding its shape and size have always met withgentle resistance from Kavin. We push for a specific arrangement,and Kavin Wood obliges, for a time. Then it returns to whatevershape it prefers.”
“You can reshape the woods? Why bother?Doesn’t that change as people cut down trees?”
“Kavin shifts and trims itself. If a bordertown takes to culling trees from the forest, the old and infirmtrees find their way into that area or the wood pulls back, gainingsize elsewhere. Over time, it returns to its original shape.”
She eyed the map and considered how she feltwhen directing Kavin magic. “Is Kavin Wood aware, like a personis?”
Russal looked uncertain. “It has some senseof presence and understanding. Just when I am convinced Kavin isaware, it slumbers, and I persuade myself otherwise. So, Ican’t say. I think it has preferences, but not actionablebehaviors. It leaves those to us.”
Kambry recalled having to ask Kavin directlyto take action. If she supplied a general desire, it didn’t react.Yet, sometimes it seemed to act on its own to protect her andsupport her. She was certain it had deflected the knife meant tohit her that day in the guards’ shooting range. And when she hadbeen firing at the men chasing after Amily and the guardsprotecting her, Kavin had made her aim far more accurate than shewas capable.
“Ah, found it,” he said.
“What?” She stepped close.
“The map room.”
Kambry looked about her, confusion warringwith curiosity when a portion of the wall snapped away at histouch. Like jagged teeth, the seams of the fitted rock of the wallcleaved apart, revealing a dark space. The gap was wide enough forthem to slip through.
Russal grinned and swept his arm before theopen
