When Quinal was emerged from the room, he did not look pleased. Sardec raised an eyebrow.
“He died without telling us anything.”
“He had some sort of counter-spell?”
Quinal shook his head. “Some training in resisting magic perhaps, and a very strong will. His heart broke before he could tell us anything.”
“We’d better hope not all of his compatriots are made of the same stuff. Or we will have a lot of trouble.”
“Lieutenant, I think we are already in a lot of trouble.”
Sardec did not disagree.
Chapter Fifteen
Rik looked up at the painting on the wall of the Palace library. It showed Terrarch knights doing battle with Elder World horrors that looked like monstrous worms. Books lined the walls. Scrolls filled niches. Ladders were needed to reach the upper bookshelves. From the point of view of his former profession the books here were worth a fortune. Someday he hoped he might have a chance to work his way through them.
Asea sat down at a reading desk. He and Karim stood over her. “Watch the door, Karim,” Asea said. “Do not let anyone enter unless they come from Lord Azaar himself.”
“As you wish, mistress,” said Karim. He left the room as quietly as he had entered it. Asea spoke the words of a warding spell. The sounds from outside became flat and distant in the now familiar way.
“I think it’s time that you and I talked about some things, Rik.”
“And what would those things be?”
“I think I have solved a murder.”
“I thought the death of Lord Elakar had you baffled.”
“No. I suspect I know who committed it. I suspect I know who killed your mother. I suspect I know who killed the Old Queen Amarielle.”
Rik looked at her opened mouthed. “You have come to a lot of conclusions very quickly. If you know who killed Lord Elakar, don’t you think you should tell Captain Quinal and the High Command?”
“I don’t. This is a matter I wish to resolve myself.” There was something in the way she said it that chilled Rik’s blood. At that moment, she looked every bit the arch-demon that Tamara claimed she was. He forced his voice to calmness.
“Who killed my mother?”
“The same Terrarch who was responsible for the death of Amarielle.”
“And Lord Elakar?”
“No — that was someone else.”
“Now you have me confused.”
“Lord Malkior was present in Sorrow during the period your mother was killed. He was part of an embassy from Sardea. There were more killings — or should I say ritual sacrifices — during the embassy’s visit. They stopped when it left.”
“Why was nothing done?”
“The Queen and her Parliament did not want war with the Dark Empire just then. What could be done? It might have been coincidence or an attempt to discredit the embassy.”
“They did not want war just then?”
“More preparations were needed. Our army needed to be built up.”
“This war has been a long time coming, Milady.”
“There’s no need to sound so disapproving. Our forces had been allowed to run down in the long peace following the Treaty of Oslande. We could not afford a war with both Valon and Sardea which is what would have happened then.”
“You are saying that the Chancellor of Sardea is a black sorcerer and a multiple murderer,” he said.
“I’m rather afraid the former Chancellor is.”
“And you came to this conclusion when you saw Lord Elakar’s body.”
“I have suspected something like it for awhile.”
“For how long?”
“Since I started investigating your history, Rik. Since I found out that the Shadowblood are still with us.”
He looked at her. A lot of things started to make sense. “That is why you have kept me with you.”
“One reason. The other is, and you are welcome to disbelieve me, that I am genuinely fond of you and grateful to you too.”
“What makes you think Malkior killed my mother?”
“It’s circumstantial, Rik. He is the only member of the embassy old enough to remember Al’Terra. There were others who could have the training in sorcery, but he’s the only one old enough to be an Al’Terran Shadowblood.”
“That is not evidence that would stand up in a court of law.”
“You can see why I do not want to tell Captain Quinal. There is another reason. Take a look at that picture. Take a look at the central figure.”
“The tall knight with the glowing sword?”
“Yes. Does he remind you of anybody, Rik?”
There was something familiar about that central figure. He heard something clink on the table behind him. When he turned around he saw a small beauty mirror there. Asea held it up to him, reflective surface facing in his direction.
“No,” he said.
“Yes.”
He looked into the mirror, fascinated as if it were a snake. There was a resemblance.
“The knight in the picture is Lord Malkior. This painting was commissioned to celebrate his triumph over the Deep Lords at the Battle of Pelagia in the year 189 of the Conquest.”
“That was nearly 800 years ago,” Rik realised that he was pointing out the obvious but he could think of nothing else to say. “You are saying I am his son.”
“I believe that to be the case.”
“What makes you think that he killed the Old Queen?”
“He was there. He was in a position to do it, if he had the powers of a Shadowblood.”
“If…”
“There are many other things that can be explained if he is, Rik. Old defeats and old betrayals. The Princes of Shadow were always suspiciously well informed about our plans on Al’Terra. Many traitors were found, but not all of them, it seems.”
“Anything else? It still seems a very slender theory to me.”
“To me, too. But I have waited for almost five centuries to put this together, Rik, and this is the closest I have ever come. I think Lord Malkior killed Queen Amarielle. He certainly benefited from her death. He became Empress Arachne’s closest councillor.”
Rik did not like the intensity in her voice. There was a trace of madness there, of insane obsession. He reminded himself that this woman was more than two thousand years old, and she had brooded on this thing for centuries. That could twist a mind in ways he simply could not comprehend. Perhaps she was not insane. Perhaps this was simply the way of ancient Terrarchs. That was a frightening thought.
“But you are not certain…”
“No. Rik. All I have is a theory. But like all good theories it is subject to verification.”
“How?”
“There is a family resemblance between you and Tamara. Even Lieutenant Sardec spotted it the other night.”
