Someone was screaming.
Laela’s heart pounded. “What the. .?”
Another awful cry drifted down the corridor into her room. Laela heard shouts and running feet, and glimpsed several people dashing past her doorway. She heard another scream after that, but this one was smothered into silence. That only made it worse.
Another memory came back to her, all too quickly. She dragged herself out of bed, swearing at the ache in her limbs but ignoring all her own discomfort now.
Oeka lifted her wings. “You must not-”
Laela turned on her. “Where’s Arenadd? What happened to him? For gods’ sakes, is he all right?”
“No,” the griffin said shortly. “The King is gravely wounded.”
“What d’yeh mean, wounded?” said Laela. In her head, she saw that terrible moment in the Temple. . but surely that had just been an hallucination.
“The Amoranis tried to assassinate him,” said Oeka. “The Emperor is denying that he had anything to do with it. Lord Duach thinks it must have been one of the priests, but they, too, are denying it. .”
“But nobody tried t’kill him,” Laela said blankly. “I never saw. .”
“You were so full of fungus-smoke, you would not have known your own name,” said Oeka.
“You were there,” said Laela. “What did yeh see?” She looked around for her clothes, found them, and clumsily started to put them on.
“I was not there,” said Oeka.
“What?”
“After you breathed in the smoke, you went mad,” said Oeka. “You began talking to the walls, laughing, and wandering about. . When I tried to bring you to your senses, you acted as if I were not there.” She paused, her tail twitching rapidly. “The smoke. . gathered itself around you. I could not go inside it. It was as if there were some force. . keeping all others away. The priest tried as well, but he could not touch you, either.”
Laela froze at that. “What d’yeh mean? How could smoke. .?”
“I do not know,” said Oeka. “The priest said it was the power of his god, keeping your meeting with him from being disturbed. I did not know what to do. . I was afraid for your life. So I left the Temple and flew as fast as I could to find help. I went to the Mighty Skandar himself, and begged him for his help.”
“Yeh went to. .?” Laela could hardly believe it. She tried to imagine the proud little griffin ever begging anyone to do anything, and failed.
“Skandar did not want to help,” said Oeka. “So he sent his human in his place.”
“He sent Arenadd into the Sun Temple?” said Laela. Very quickly, her disbelief turned to anger. “That son of a. .”
Without any warning, Oeka rose up, her feathers puffed out so that she appeared to double in size. “Do not speak that way about the Mighty Skandar!” she screeched.
Laela faltered and winced. “Arenadd got hurt in there,” she said. “Somehow. But it wasn’t no living man what did it.”
“Few would believe you,” said Oeka.
“It doesn’t matter,” said Laela. “I’ve got t’see him, an’ fast.”
“You have your own illness to concern yourself about,” Oeka said stiffly. “And the King is in good hands. The Emperor has sent his finest healers.”
“An’ how d’yeh know they ain’t gonna try an’ hurt him, too?” said Laela. “He needs me.”
She ignored anything else her partner said and left the room-unsteady on her feet but too determined to let it slow her down. Out in the corridor, there were dozens of people, all talking at once and getting in each other’s way. There were Amoranis there, of course, but there were Northerners, too-Laela saw most of the griffiners who had come with them on the ship.
Lord Duach, the most senior of them, looked the most upset. He was shouting something at an Amorani man, who looked as if he were doing his best to calm the angry Northerner down, and failing.
Laela marched toward him, pushing people out of the way. “Oi!” she shouted, ignoring the flare-up of pain that caused. Duach didn’t notice her, but she solved that by grabbing him by the arm. “Oi, I’m yellin’ at you!”
Duach turned irritably. “What. .? Oh! Lady Laela, I didn’t know ye were awake. .”
“Well, yeh know now,” said Laela. “What’s goin’ on? Where’s Arenadd?”
“In there,” said Duach, gesturing at the door next to the one that led into Laela’s room. “I can’t tell ye much else about what’s going on,” he added, glaring at the hapless Amorani he’d been yelling at.
Laela turned to the victim. “What’s happening?” she said, using griffish.
The man only looked back helplessly and said something in his own language.
Laela snapped. “What the. .? He doesn’t speak griffish, yeh thick-headed blackrobe! For gods’ sakes, someone go an’ find Lord Vander or someone else what can translate for us.”
Duach went red. “How dare ye. .?”
Laela reached over and grabbed him by the ear-lobe. “Listen t’me,” she hissed, “I dunno if yeh’ve noticed, but the King’s out of commission, an’ I’m the most senior official here. So I reckon if he’s not givin’ commands, then I’m the person yeh’ll be listenin’ to instead, got that? You”-she turned and pointed at Penllyn, one of the other Northerners who was there-“go an’ find Lord Vander, an’ make it snappy.”
Penllyn glanced at Duach and hurried away.
“Good,” said Laela. “Now, what’s goin’ on?”
It had gone very quiet in the hallway all of a sudden. Everyone was staring at her now. She ignored them.
Duach was clenching his teeth. “The Amoranis have betrayed us,” he said. “They tried to kill the King, and now they’re keeping him here and refusing to let any of us see him. And they tried to kill ye, too, while they were at it!” He tugged at his beard. “I told the King we shouldn’t come here, an’ now see what’s happened! These filthy sun worshippers have us at their mercy. Without the King. .”
Laela suddenly realised how frightened he looked. “Calm down,” she said. “He’s survived worse. What’s happened with the negotiations?”
“Nothing’s happened,” said Duach. “They’re saying that unless the King marries this princess of theirs, they won’t send any of the slaves home.”
A moment later, Vander arrived. Laela wanted to hug him when she saw him coming. “There yeh are,” she said. “Now listen, we need some help here.”
Vander watched her closely as she spoke, his dark eyes gleaming. “I’m at your command, my lady,” he said when she was done.
Part of Laela was screaming at her now, telling her this was impossible, that she couldn’t possibly be doing this. “I need yeh to translate for us,” she said, quite calmly. “We want t’find out what’s happened to the King an’ whether he’s all right, but the healers here don’t seem t’speak Cymrian. Can yeh do somethin’?”
Vander nodded. “Certainly, my lady.” He turned to the healer and spoke rapidly to him in Amorani. They carried on an animated conversation while Laela and the other Northerners looked on impatiently.
Finally, Vander turned to Laela. “The King was not attacked,” he said.
“So ye say-” Duach began.
“Shut up,” said Laela. “Vander, what’s this about? Why do they think he wasn’t attacked?”
Vander gestured at the healer. “He says that the King’s wound is not new, but an old one that re-opened suddenly. They have been trying to treat it, but it will not stop bleeding.”
“I knew it,” said Laela. She didn’t even think before she said it, but the instant the words were out of her mouth, she believed they were true. “The Amoranis had nothin’ t’do with this,” she said, more loudly. “I was there. It was a ghost attacked the King, not a man.”
“My lady, ye were under the influence of a powerful drug,” said Duach. “Yer story can’t be relied on.”
“Maybe not, but I’m master of you now, an’ I say that’s what we believe,” said Laela.
“I don’t understand, though,” Penllyn interrupted. “Why would an old wound suddenly re-open like that, unless someone. .?”
“He went into the Sun Temple, yeh idiot!” Laela yelled. “That’s why! Don’t yeh get it? Don’t yeh understand why he’s been so sick? This is Gryphus’ land, Gryphus’ place. He’s not welcome here. But he came here anyway,” she added more quietly. “T’set our brothers an’ sisters free.”
