A Hero's throne

“Is Kelm still out there?” Daniel asked.

“Yes,” Frithfroth said in a low tone.

“Who else commands the yfelgopes besides Kelm?”

“Where are you going with this, Daniel?” Vivienne asked.

“Information. We came here for information, right? What about it, Frithfroth?”

“Kelm is the only one who orders them. There are no captains or lieutenants, as far as I can make out.”

Daniel was walking back and forth in the entryway, craning his neck to see more of what lay beyond the large doors. “Is there any chance that he would know that we’re here?” he asked.

“If you entered by the upper door, I do not know of one.”

Daniel turned, excited, his hands opening and closing at his side. “We can take him off guard!” he exclaimed in a hushed voice. “We can defeat the yfelgopes by cutting off their head-killing their leader!”

“I’m not sure, Daniel. .” Vivienne said.

“No,” said Freya, as firmly as she could, turning and coming back to the centre of the room. “We should stay here. There’s more going on than we know; we should find out what it is.”

“We know enough. We know how Ni?ergeard got taken; we know that Kelm’s here. If we go fast, we can find him, kill him, and hole up back here and wait for Ecgbryt and Alex to arrive.”

“But then what would the yfelgopes do?” Freya asked. “There’s no telling how they’d react. They could completely flip out-run away, chase after us-it’s not in the plan.”

“The plan is to liberate Ni?ergeard, and this is a way to do it.”

“No, we’ve got to wait here for help.”

Daniel smirked at her. “I guess people don’t really change,” he said after a moment. “Viv, you agree with me, right?”

Vivienne looked from Daniel to Freya and then back. Her concerned, puzzled face was a rigid mask. “Actually, no,” she said. “Daniel, there’s no rush. We can look around here, and-”

“There’s every reason to rush! We’ll have him off guard! We can get a start on liberating the city. This is why we came here.”

“No, it’s not. We came here for information, first and foremost,” Vivienne said forcefully. “Everything else happens afterward.”

Daniel turned to look out into Ni?ergeard again. “Well, I’m going to do it. I don’t care what you say.”

“Daniel, please,” Freya pleaded. “It’s really too dangerous out there. You don’t know-”

“I’ll be fine, Freya, really,” Daniel said condescendingly. “It’s sweet of you to worry, but I can handle myself.”

No, Freya thought, people really don’t change. She recognised a crazy look in his eyes. He’d caught the scent of the quest again. He wanted to do something heroic. This is getting out of hand. .

“Daniel.” She hesitated. “Both of you-there’s something I need to tell you. You aren’t going to think. . You’re not going to be too thrilled.”

“Well? What is it?”

“Daniel. . Gad’s not dead. When you killed that. . thing, he didn’t die.”

Daniel frowned in confusion. “What? No. . What-what do you mean?”

“He’s not dead-you didn’t kill him. Daniel, you failed; we all did. Gad’s alive.”

Daniel’s mouth opened and closed wordlessly.

“Why didn’t you speak of this before?” Vivienne said in a grave voice.

“Because-I’m not sure I disagree with him. He said things that made a lot of sense.”

“But he killed Swi?gar, Freya,” Daniel said, staring at her in disbelief.

“I know, but. . well, Swi?gar attacked him. We all did. What right did we have to go out and try to kill him?”

“Are you working with Gad? Is that it?” Daniel asked.

“No, of course not. Of course I’m not saying that. It’s just-I think we should reevaluate what we think we’re doing down here and why.”

Daniel goggled at her. “Reevaluate?”

Frithfroth stood there, motionless except for very small swaying movements. If he had been following their conversation, if anything that Freya had revealed had made any impact on him at all, he did not give any sign.

“Freya, why didn’t you bring this up before?” Vivienne sighed, putting a hand to her temple. “Ecgbryt and Alex have just charged off completely unprepared! You’ve endangered their lives by sending them off without adequate knowledge or preparation.”

“‘I. . I. .”

Flushed and furious, Daniel glared angrily at Freya. He suddenly rushed at her, drawing his sword.

“Daniel! No!” Vivienne threw herself forward, knocking into Daniel and holding him back. Daniel struggled, and either his heart was not in it, or Vivienne was stronger than she looked.

“What are you going to do? Kill me?” Freya shouted. “You psychopath!”

“You’re a traitor!”

“A traitor to what?” Freya said, spreading her arms. “Look around. To this? A moldy old building? An old man who trapped and manipulated us?”

“Yeah, that seems to happen a lot to you. You keep harping on about it, but what makes Ealdstan any worse than Gad or Professor Stowe?”

“Honestly? Neither of them asked me to kill anyone.”

Daniel sneered at her.

Freya raised a finger accusingly. “Do you really hate me now or what? What is this anger? Where does it come from? It’s not just good and bad out there, Daniel-as much as you’d like it to be! This is real life, and it’s messy.”

“Then why are you the one who’s least willing to get dirty?” He relaxed and Vivienne released him. Daniel turned away.

“Freya,” Vivienne said in a low voice. “This is catastrophic. Gad makes everything worse. If we’d known he was still running around-there’s no telling what he could be up to. He’s had eight years. Running amok. Plotting. Planning.”

“Better him than Ealdstan,” Freya said hotly. It was all starting to pour out now. “This city. . this city is an occupying force-stockpiling warriors, against what? What’s it all for? All the lies, using us-Daniel and me-to kill an old man. That’s not the side I want to be on.”

“But Swi?gar and Ecgbryt. What about them? Modwyn? Your friends?”

“They’re not my friends. I don’t trust them, I don’t know them; they don’t know me.”

“What about me?” Daniel asked.

“You? You who just pulled a sword on me?”

“Quiet, both of you, quiet!” Vivienne said. “Let’s think about this.”

Freya and Daniel silently retreated to opposite sides of the room.

“It actually changes nothing,” she said.

“What?” Daniel said as Freya turned back to Vivienne.

“It changes nothing,” Vivienne repeated.

“It changes everything,” Daniel said.

“We carry on as before. Same plan. It’s just-the stakes are higher now. The potential danger greater. But our goals are the same.”

“Right,” Daniel said. “Which makes it all the more important that I kill Kelm. Or Gad, if I can find him.”

“No, don’t do that.”

“What? Vivienne. .”

“Daniel, we don’t have a strategy for that. Be reasonable. Our first priority is to investigate this tower, try to see if there’s anything in Ealdstan’s writings that would indicate where he’s gone or if he’s prepared any fail-safes for such a situation. Then we’re to look into finding the Carnyx-to see if it will summon the knights. Then we should find Godmund and Modwyn-they will no doubt have information vital to tactics and the lay of the land.”

“Sounds fascinating. I tell you what. . you two can do that, I’ll do my thing. And don’t worry, I won’t just