Part 22 (1/2)

”I don't see myself doing much to help you achieve that end,” she snapped at him. ”You have made me a prisoner against my will. You have kept Thom in indentured servitude for years, an act that my father would never-”

”I did what?” His Eminence demanded, interrupting her. ”Indentured servitude?” He looked sharply at Thom. ”Is that what you told her? That I was holding you against your will?”

Mistaya was confused. She looked quickly at Thom, who was clearly uncomfortable with the attention. ”I did,” the boy said simply.

”Goodness, no wonder the two of you got caught out! Co-conspirators, and you don't even trust each other enough to reveal your true ident.i.ties! Oh, this is really too much! Did she tell you who she is, Thom? She didn't, did she? And you didn't tell her who you are, either, did you? I will never understand young people. So, I ask you again, Princess. What was it you were doing back in the Stacks? And please don't tell me you were looking for a lost piece of family jewelry.”

Mistaya tightened her lips. ”I heard someone moaning. I was trying to find out who it was.”

His Eminence and Pinch exchanged another glance. ”Someone moaning,” the former repeated. ”Did you discover who that someone was?”

She shook her head. ”It was too dark to see anything. And there was a wind of some sort that kept pulling at us. We were frightened and turned back.” She hesitated. ”But then I went back into the Stacks again last night for another look. I thought I could find a way to get through the wind and the darkness. But I couldn't.”

His Eminence smiled rather unpleasantly. ”After standing toe-to-toe with the Witch of the Deep Fell five years ago and somehow besting her to the extent that she has not been seen since, you failed to find a way to get past some wind and darkness? Really, Princess?”

He came forward until he was standing right in front of her, looming over her like a big tree. ”I don't believe a word of it. I think you know exactly what we are doing here, and I think you have been trying to interfere with our efforts. I don't know that you have succeeded, but I suspect you have worked some sort of mischief and I intend to find out what it is. Meanwhile, you will stay locked in this storeroom until your father comes to take you home. You and Andjen Thomlinson Andjen Thomlinson both. You are not going to be allowed to disrupt my plans further.” both. You are not going to be allowed to disrupt my plans further.”

He was grinning so hard that all his teeth were showing, and Mistaya stepped back despite herself.

”Now, I know something of magic, little girl,” the other continued softly. ”In fact, I know a great deal more than you do. I have bound up your hands with a spell that you cannot undo without my help. That way, you won't try something foolish. You and Thom will stay here as my guests guests for as long as I wish it. Thom owes me continued service under the terms of our bargain and you owe me some days in the stables. I intend to collect from both of you, on that and maybe more. I have a special use for you, Princess, one that requires you remain here awhile longer. Think on that and make of it what you will.” for as long as I wish it. Thom owes me continued service under the terms of our bargain and you owe me some days in the stables. I intend to collect from both of you, on that and maybe more. I have a special use for you, Princess, one that requires you remain here awhile longer. Think on that and make of it what you will.”

He wheeled about. ”Come along, Mr. Pinch. We are done here. Leave them fresh candles so that they can see each other's faces while they confess the truths they keep trying to hide.”

Pinch grinned wolfishly at Mistaya and Thom. ”You were warned, weren't you? See what your disobedience has gotten you!”

He dumped a handful of candles on the pallet and followed His Eminence out of the room. The door slammed shut behind them with a bang, and its locks slid into place. The girl and the boy, standing next to each other, were left in blackness once more.

As soon as they were alone, Thom found and lit one of the candles. ”What do you think he meant when he said he had a special use for you?”

Mistaya didn't know, and right at the moment she didn't particularly care. ”Andjen Thomlinson?” she asked, giving him a stony look.

”My given names,” he admitted.

”You knew who I was all along, but after listening to His Eminence, I get the impression that maybe I don't know everything about you. That doesn't make me feel very good. It makes me feel a little foolish and a whole lot angry.”

”You have a right to be angry, but I was just protecting myself out of habit.” He sat down on the pallet, looking up at her. ”I've been hiding my ident.i.ty now for the entire three years I have been at Libiris. I don't even think about it anymore. I'm always just Thom, the boy from the village. I'm Thom to everyone.”

She sat down next to him. ”But it appears that you are actually someone else.”

Thom nodded. ”I am. Thom was the name I took when I came to stay here. I was looking for a place to hide, and His Eminence offered me one. He said no one would ever think to look for me here. We agreed that I would be Thom, a boy from a distant village, come to work off an indenture. I wasn't making something up on the spur of the moment when I told you that; I was just repeating what I told everyone. Actually, it's not so far from the truth. I committed myself to serve His Eminence for five years for the privilege of hiding out here. He needed someone to take over the cataloging of the books, and I had the necessary skills.”

He paused. ”At least, that's what I thought when we made our bargain. Now I don't know why he let me stay. It obviously doesn't have anything to do with cleaning up the library.”

”You should have told me the truth,” she said quietly. ”You should have trusted me.”

He shook his head slowly. ”I think so, too, now. But when you first came, I was afraid that telling you the truth would be a very bad mistake. I was afraid it would make you hate me.”

”Why would you think that?” she demanded, suddenly angry all over again. ”What did I do or say to make you think I wouldn't like you if I knew who you were?”

”Nothing It isn't you. It's me. It's the truth about who I am. I'm not some village boy. I came to Libiris to hide after my father died and one of my brothers murdered the other and banished my sisters to various places around the Greensward.”

He paused. ”I came here to hide because Berwyn Laphroig is my brother.”

FROGS, DOGS, AND THROGS.

”I know you've explained it, but I still have a very hard time thinking of The Frog as your brother,” Mistaya said. know you've explained it, but I still have a very hard time thinking of The Frog as your brother,” Mistaya said.

She was back to sitting next to him on the pallet, the clouded b.a.l.l.s that bound her hands resting in her lap. Food had arrived, finally, and since she couldn't feed herself, he was helping her by spooning into her mouth small portions of something that was just a notch above gruel on the nutritional meter. She was eating without tasting, her concentration elsewhere ever since His Eminence had departed, leaving behind his latest p.r.o.nouncement on her fate.

”Well, it does take some getting used to,” he agreed.

”At least he isn't your real brother. That would be even more difficult to accept.”

”We had different mothers. Really, we're nothing alike. We share a common father and that's the extent of it.”

”I wouldn't ever think you were like him,” she said after a moment of chewing and swallowing. ”No one would.”

Thom smiled. ”He's not like anyone, really. He was never interested in being friends with other people. He only wanted one thing from the time he could walk-to be Lord of Rhyndweir.” He paused. ”Actually, I think he wants a great deal more than that. That might have something to do with his interest in you.”

She thought about it for a moment. It made sense. If he married her, he would be her spouse when she took the throne. Took the throne Took the throne. That sounded so weird. She almost never thought about it. She couldn't quite make herself believe it would ever be necessary. The idea of her father not being King of Landover was inconceivable. Laphroig wouldn't think that way though; he would already be antic.i.p.ating her father's demise.

”He wouldn't be satisfied with being married to me unless he could be King, would he?”

”He would want you to bear him a son he could raise as future King while he acted as regent during the child's minority. That's how he thinks. You would be a means to an end and not much more.”

”Then he would get rid of me,” she agreed. Thom didn't say anything. He didn't have to. She accepted another spoonful of whatever it was he was feeding her. ”Well, I hate to disappoint him, but none of this is going to happen. I'm not ever marrying The Frog or bearing his child-ugh-or having anything to do with him. Once we get out of here and tell my father what he's done, we won't either of us have to worry about him ever again!”

Thom had related the details of his story earlier, laying it all out for her once she had calmed down enough to listen. After his father's death, he had lasted through the brief reign of his oldest brother, thinking that things at Rhyndweir might actually improve, since his brother was a decided improvement over his intractable and impetuous father. But when his brother had died under circ.u.mstances that were decidedly suspicious and his sisters had been shunted off to the farthest corners of the Greensward, he had recognized the writing on the wall. His other brother, who was now the new Lord of Rhyndweir and almost certainly responsible for everything, would soon get around to disposing of him. Telling no one, he departed his home in the dead of night. Once safely away, he resolved to wait things out until he knew which way the wind was blowing. When Berwyn's wives began dying one after the other, he abandoned any thoughts of returning and resolved to stay away as long as necessary. Shortly after, he reached Libiris, a refuge he had been considering from the first, and convinced His Eminence to let him stay.

Thom finished feeding her and put her bowl and spoon aside to take up his own. He ate with studied disinterest, eyes downcast and his usually cheerful demeanor subdued.

”What's wrong?” she asked him after a few minutes of silence.

”I was just thinking. After I fled Rhyndweir, my brother announced that I was dead. He did it in part, I think, to see if I would reappear to dispute it and in part to make everyone stop thinking about me. The first didn't work, but the second did. All this time, ever since I left, everyone has believed it. My mother, my sisters, my friends-everyone. I don't have a place in their lives anymore. I'm just a memory to them.”

She looked down at her bound hands. ”Don't be sad. All that will change once we're out of this mess.” She gave him a tentative smile. ”Think how happy they'll be to have you back.”

He shrugged. ”I just wish I knew how to make that happen. His Eminence isn't going to let us go; he can't afford to do that now that he's made a prisoner of you. Not to mention that he clearly has something bad planned for your father.”

”I know,” she agreed. ”It has something to do with using me as bait to lure him to Libiris. He made that clear enough. My so-called special use. I wonder what it is.”

”Whatever it is, he plans to improve his situation at our expense. Or maybe at your father's. I don't even trust him to keep his agreement to hide me, though he's done so up until now. If he thinks it will gain him anything, he will give me up in a heartbeat. Laphroig has never stopped hunting for me. If he finds me, I know what will happen.”

Mistaya knew, too. Laphroig was ruthless and ambitious, and he had demonstrated on more than one occasion that he would eliminate anyone who got in his way.

”We're going to get out of here, Thom,” she said suddenly, standing up as if ready to do so right that moment. ”He can't keep us locked up forever. Sooner or later, we will find a way to get out.”