The Traitor Queen

She frowned at him. “Why?”

His smile widened. “The Higher Magicians have a farewell dinner waiting for you in the banquet room. You didn’t think we’d let you go without saying goodbye, did you?”

She looked at him in amazement. Osen chuckled. “Come on, they’re all in the Night Room having a drink while they wait for you to join them.”

Chapter 7 A Different Approach

“The roof is unstable here,” Anyi said. Looking up, Cery noted the cracks in the walls and the slight sag in the roof. Fine roots matted the passage ceiling – perhaps from a tree above.

“If we have to use this escape route, and Lilia is with us,” Anyi continued, “we could get her to collapse it when we’re all far enough past, to stop anyone following us. Or we could rig it up to collapse. Lilia could help us by supporting it with magic while we install weights and ropes that we can operate from further down the tunnel.”

Cery nodded. I like the way she thinks. “We’ll ask her.”

“Now, where does this go?” Anyi grinned and hurried past the unstable area, leading Cery down an increasingly deteriorated passage. It ended not at a tunnel entrance, but where a tree had fallen through the roof and blocked the way. A weak, grey light filtered through a hole between two of the great roots. Bricks and rubble, smoothed by accumulated dirt and moss, provided a rough ramp up which Anyi scrambled.

She peered out, then looked back at him and beckoned. Picking his way up to her, he took her place and peered up through the hole.

A forest surrounded him, lit by pre-dawn light. He sighed as he remembered taking Sonea through the Guild forest many years ago – before she had been captured by the magicians – so she could watch magic being performed and perhaps learn to control her powers. It hadn’t worked, of course. Only another magician can teach a novice how to handle magic safely. But they hadn’t known that then.

So much has changed, Cery thought, but thankfully the forest is still here. He extinguished his lamp and set it down, then climbed out of the hole. Anyi followed.

“Where in the Guild do you think we are?” she whispered.

He shrugged. “Probably north of the buildings, since the southern part of the grounds are hillier than this.”

“The servant quarters are to the north.”

“Yes.”

“We might find discarded things there. Furniture. Blankets.”

“We might.”

Cery moved away from the tree, then looked back and slowly circled it, trying to fix the image of it in his mind. Neither he nor Anyi were used to navigating their way through a forest, and he could see it would be easy to get lost and not find the tunnel opening again. Fortunately the tree did look a little different from the others, thanks to it being half dead, partly sunk into the ground and leaning at an angle.

Turning away, Cery led the way through the trees, counting his steps and noting they were moving downhill. He knew the ground rose up from the Inner Wall to behind and above the Guild buildings, so he guessed he was heading west. After several hundred strides he discovered he was wrong. The slope met another and, in the crease between, a little stream flowed off to the right. Oh well, at least the stream is something we can follow. It should take us downhill, at least. He marked the place by moving some stones into a circle and a line pointing back the way they’d come, then headed downstream.

It was not long before they saw signs of habitation ahead. Creeping forward, they made out simple shacks and fences. “Servants quarters?” Anyi murmured.

Cery shook his head. “Too shabby.” The ramshackle appearance of the buildings was puzzling. A few large structures appeared to be made from glass, but from the overgrown look of the vegetation inside he guessed they were abandoned. It wasn’t until they finally drew close enough to see what the fences surrounded that he worked out where they were.

“The farm.”

“Ah. Of course.” Anyi pointed. “Is that an orchard over there?”

He looked in the direction she indicated and nodded as he made out rows of carefully pruned trees and arches of berry vines. Next to them were small fenced areas of ground, the earth grooved as if someone had run a very large rake along them.

“The question is: does anybody live here?” he murmured.

Anyi glanced at him. “Let’s take a closer look.”

They moved closer, hiding behind trees and then the long arched rows of berries. The shacks were spaced along the other side of the crops. Cery’s heart sank as he noticed smoke wafting out of a chimney. Further away, a woman in servant’s clothing had emerged from one of the shacks. He watched as she disappeared into what looked like a rassook pen.

“Looks occupied to me,” Anyi said. “Want to move further along?”

Cery nodded. Retreating to the edge of the forest to take advantage of the undergrowth, they made their way along the length of the farm. He was right about the rassook pen. At the end of the crops and buildings there were larger open fields where enka, reber and even a few big, lumbering gorin grazed.

Not enough to feed the Guild, he noted, but they’re making use of what space they have.

“Over there,” Anyi said, pointing to the last of the buildings.

He looked, and realised it wasn’t the building she was indicating, but a collection of old wooden furniture. Mismatched chairs circled a plank set upon tree stumps. Benches had been constructed out of scrap timber and placed on old barrels.

“We could use some of that straw to make mattresses,” Anyi said, pointing toward a shelter under which several bundles had been piled. “I saw it done at the market. You need some old sacks and a needle and thread.”

“You can sew?”

“Not very well, but we need mattresses, not ball gowns.”

Cery chuckled. “Just as well, eh? I remember your mother couldn’t get you to wear a dress. I don’t think even the king could get you to wear a ball gown.”

“Not a chance,” Anyi replied. “Not even if he was the handsomest man in the world.”

“Pity,” Cery said. “It would be nice to see you all dressed up. Just once.”

“I’d settle for a change of clothes.” Anyi narrowed her eyes at the huts. “I wonder how many people live here, and what they wear. Probably servant uniforms. I suppose it would be handy to look like servants whenever we sneak out of the tunnels.” She pursed her lips. “I’ll come back here later and spy on them for a bit, if that’s fine with you.”

“Good idea. But stay in the forest and don’t try to steal anything yet.” Cery nodded. “For that we’ll come back at night.”

* * *

Dannyl stared out of the carriage window, not registering the view outside as he braced himself for the morning’s dismissal.

Lorkin had been in the palace prison for only three days, but it felt much longer. Of course, it probably feels even longer to Lorkin. Ashaki Achati hadn’t visited again. Dannyl couldn’t decide if he was relieved or regretful about that. Any meeting with Achati was likely to be tense and full of resentment and awkwardness over the situation with Lorkin, but Dannyl missed Achati’s company and longed for his advice.