queen.”
“You three losers against him?”
“We weren’t going to fight him, we were going to tell him the king had moved the trial to Motlace.”
“And me?”
“We were supposed to, ah… eliminate you. Then bring your head back to Nodlon.”
“How did you know to find me here?”
Again that nervous swallow. “We made one of the stableboys tell us. Agravaine spoke his language.”
I knew which stable boy they meant. “He was a little kid.”
Hoel looked desperately guilty and fearful. “I know.”
“You killed him, didn’t you?”
“Cador did,” Hoel said quickly. “Agravaine held him.”
“And you just stood there and watched.”
Hoel’s words spewed forth in an attempt to save his life. “I was just following orders, I didn’t have a choice, I’m a soldier. You were a soldier once, weren’t you? I can tell. We have to do what we’re told, even if it’s awful. A soldier who goes against his orders is a traitor, right? Right? ”
Despite my best efforts, I recalled that eager little boy’s bright face. “Was it quick?”
Hoel knew what I meant. He didn’t answer.
I slowly drew his sword from the ground, its hilt and pommel still gummy with Agravaine’s drying blood. Dirt stuck to the blood at the tip. The horror on Hoel’s face as the blade rose above him filled me with my own icy joy.
“I have an order for you.” I gripped the hilt with both hands.
Hoel swallowed. “Anything.”
I smiled. “Go to hell.” Then I split his skull down to the bridge of his nose. It took a long time for his corpse to stop twitching.
“That was for you, Jack,” I added, even though no one was alive to hear. I hoped wherever he was, the boy could now rest easy.
TWENTY-SIX
I left Hoel’s sword outside by his body and went into the cottage. Kern was gone, and the bedroom door was closed. I took off my jacket, went into the kitchen, and found a bucket of water and some soap. Washing my hands did nothing about the blood splattered on my clothes, but I couldn’t help that. I also washed my face and wet down my hair. My beard was starting to grow back. It had been three days since I had a bath, and I could smell it even if no one else could.
My movements stirred up the dust, which sparkled in the light coming through the window. I watched it for a long time; the only sounds were the birds and insects outside, and Amelia’s muffled crying.
Man, I was tired. Down to the bone. The last time I’d slept decently was before Sam Patrice’s death… three days ago? Had it only been that long? Since then I’d grabbed a few hours here and there, but not enough to call any of it rest. Certainly not last night, bouncing in that wagon.
My shoulders and wrists still felt the impact of the blow that killed Hoel. Splitting a skull wasn’t easy, and I was lucky the sword was both heavy and sharp. I looked at my formerly broken hand again, marveling at the flexibility despite the purple blotch over the knuckles. I tried not to think about what it meant.
At last I knocked softly on the bedroom door and went inside. Kern stood at the foot of the bed smoking his pipe, while Amelia knelt and brushed Jenny’s hair. The tall woman hummed a nursery-rhyme song, her voice cracking.
Somewhere she’d found a demure white dress that fit the smaller woman. With her eyes closed and hands crossed on her chest, Jenny did indeed look like a corpse. If she was breathing, it didn’t show, and the giggleweed masked any lingering shatternight odor.
“She was so sweet,” Amelia said, interrupting her nontune. “She just wanted to live with her man in peace. She never wanted to be someone important.” Amelia’s face contorted and she began to cry anew. Her nose ran, the snot pinkish with dried blood, and she wiped it carelessly on her sleeve. “Why did this have to happen?”
“If I could answer that, honey, we wouldn’t be living in the middle of the woods,” Kern answered. He turned his red eyes on me and said, “She’ll stay like this for three days or so. Then it’ll wear off on its own. To bring her out of it before then, wave the fumes from that sealed bottle under her nose.”
I nodded.
Kern waved his pipe at my bloody tunic. “Would you like some fresh clothes?”
“Do you have anything with less than five colors?”
He smiled. “I left all those behind when I quit my job at court.”
“I’ll pass, then.”
I watched Amelia’s brush make its way through Jenny’s hair. She really did look like Queen Jennifer with her features immobile and relaxed. Then I had an idea. I was too tired to judge if it was good or bad. I said, “Amelia, do you have any jewelry?”
The question caused her face to scrunch with effort. Her nose, puffy and starting to bruise, did not join the scrunch. She said guardedly, “A little. Odds and ends. Why?”
“Is it sparkly stuff?”
She looked more confused. “Some of it.”
“I need you to use it to make Jenny look regal. I want people to think she is Queen Jennifer.” I turned to Kern. “Do you have any wooden planks?”
“Some.”
I patted him on the arm. “Good. We have some carpentry to do. Come on.”
It was nearly dark before we finished. I’d long since accepted that I’d get no sleep this night, either.
First we cleaned up the mess. We carried the bodies of the three knights far into the cave and dumped them down a crevice so deep we never heard them hit bottom. I used bent nails to attach one of their discarded swords under the wagon’s seat, one along the inside edge of the bed behind me, and one on the bottom of the wagon. It was only overkill if I didn’t need them. Then Cameron showed me his available lumber and we got to work. It was a simple project, and there were two of us, so it didn’t take long.
As the sun set behind the trees, Amelia carried Jenny out to the wagon. I’d hitched up my original two horses; the knights’ mounts ran when I tried to catch them and didn’t look suited to such mundane work anyway. The horses from Spears’s stable were well rested and fed now, so they’d do fine.
Amelia had also done well. In addition to the white gown, the false corpse now wore a tiara, long earrings, and a wide necklace. All were gaudy and weren’t really the jewels they pretended to be. But they worked: Jenny looked angelic and almost magical in them, a sleeping princess awaiting true love’s kiss. If only.
When she saw what waited in the wagon bed, Amelia froze. “No.”
“Amelia,” Kern said gently.
“No, Cammy, that’s a coffin.”
“I need to take people off guard,” I said. “A man hauling a coffin gets automatic respect and right of way. And if anyone looks inside, they’ll think it’s the queen, which should be a surprise that buys me some more time.”
“She’s not dead, ” Amelia insisted. “What if she wakes up inside there?”
“She won’t,” Kern said with certainty.
Amelia looked at him. “Cammy-”
“She wants to see Elliot,” I interrupted. I didn’t have the patience for long explanations. “There’s an army between us and them that we have to get through. This is the only way that’ll happen.” At least, the only way I could think of in my sleep-deprived state, but I saw no need to mention that.
Amelia continued to look at Kern. He said nothing.
At last the tall woman stepped to the side of the wagon and slowly lowered Jenny into the box we’d built for
