Part 27 (2/2)
”I understand, majesty.”
”This abduction is almost certainly a countermove on the part of the Emperor's secret service,” continued the queen, adding, ”and if he has come to any harm, Eugene of Tielen will pay-and pay dearly.”
”Maistre.” Jagu stood looking down at Ruaud de Lanvaux's body in the golden light of the many funerary candles burning around his bier. The Grand Maistre's waxen face was calm in death, all signs of his final agony erased by the skillful work of the embalmers. Jagu heard a sob, and glancing at his captain, saw that Alain Friard was weeping unashamedly as he stood at attention before their leader's coffin.
”How could such a thing happen?” he asked Friard, his voice low and unsteady. ”Murdered-and, of all places, in Saint Meriadec's?” He wanted answers to the questions crowding his mind; answers would keep the grief he could feel welling up inside him from spilling out.
Captain Friard saluted the coffin and took a step back; Jagu did the same, following him swiftly down the aisle. Other dignitaries, Commanderie and Inquisition, were arriving to pay their respects. He saw Friard take out a handkerchief and blow his nose. ”What do you say we go drink a farewell gla.s.s to the Maistre?” he said as they emerged from the chapel. Jagu understood; in the noisy bustle of a city tavern, they'd be able to speak frankly with less fear of being overheard than in the Forteresse.
The Pomme de Pin tavern was crowded, but the two Guerriers made their way through the drinkers to a secluded corner table.
”Your usual, Captain?” The landlord brought over a bottle of red wine from Provenca; Jagu poured two gla.s.ses and touched his to Friard's. ”To the Maistre.”
Friard nodded and they both drank in silence.
”And to his successor,” Jagu said, raising his gla.s.s to Friard.
Friard glumly shook his head. ”Haven't you heard? The queen's summoned Maistre Donatien back from retirement.”
”But by rights it should be you-” began Jagu.
”Listen, Jagu.” Friard leaned close in and began to speak in a quiet, urgent tone. ”A great deal happened while you were in Smarna. A great deal that we've had to keep quiet. Don't you think it's strange that the Maistre's favorite student is nowhere to be seen? Wouldn't you expect to see him paying his respects at his tutor's bier?”
”Not the ki-”
”The word from the palace is that his majesty is prostrate with grief. But I was the first to reach Ruaud.” His voice became unsteady. ”I fear the king may have been abducted-by a Drakhaoul.”
Jagu was still recovering from his recent daemonic encounter in Smarna. ”A Drakhaoul?” One hand shot out and gripped Friard's arm. ”Was it Lord Gavril? Describe it.” Drakhaoul?” One hand shot out and gripped Friard's arm. ”Was it Lord Gavril? Describe it.”
”It was golden-almost too dazzlingly bright to look at, the priests at Saint Meriadec's said. But that's not the first time it's been seen here.”
”So it wasn't Lord Gavril.”
”Lord Gavril was here too, at the Forteresse. The king used Sergius's Staff against him. But... others others came.” came.”
The noisy hubbub around them seemed to recede. ”Others?” Jagu leaned closer still to Friard. ”Other Drakhaouls? How many?”
”Four of the Seven were here. They destroyed the Staff.”
”Four?” Lord Gavril in his Drakhaoul-form had been terrifying enough; Jagu still remembered the way the air had turned blue-black around him as he flew, s.h.i.+mmering with the same penetrating cold fire as the creature's glittering eyes. Eyes that had burned with a bleak and relentless anger. Eyes that had chilled him to the depths of his soul.
But four of them let loose...
”We're powerless against them, Jagu. Is this the beginning of the end of the world?”
”So the Staff was useless. And our mission was all in vain.” Jagu released Friard's arm. Friard refilled their gla.s.ses, swilling the dark wine around in the gla.s.s, staring at it-through it-before taking a long, contemplative swig.
”So is Celestine back in Lutece?” Jagu asked.
”Haven't you heard? Inquisitor Visant sent his men to arrest her. But she gave them the slip.”
”It was Visant?” Jagu's heart juddered wildly with shock. He had been dreading this possibility for years. And Celestine had become so headstrong of late that she had become careless. ”What does the Inquisition want with Celestine?”
”Ruaud thought a great deal of you, you know, Jagu.” The wine was loosening Friard's tongue. ”He always spoke very highly of you.”
Jagu stared at the pitted, wine-stained tabletop. Hearing Friard refer to the Maistre in the past tense brought home to him the brutal fact that his mentor was dead and could no longer protect Celestine from the Inquisitors.
”We're all marked as Ruaud's men,” said Friard glumly, as though reading Jagu's thoughts. ”If I were a betting man, I'd wager that you, Kilian, and I will soon be sent off on some obscure mission overseas. Just like Pere Laorans, all those years ago.”
”Kilian's in Lutece?” At the mention of his friend's name, Jagu lifted his head. Kilian would help him get a better perspective on matters; his clear, cynical eye would see through the lies spun by the Inquisition.
As Jagu rose, Friard caught hold of him by the arm, pulling his face close to his own. ”There were three priests a.s.sisting Ruaud,” he said in a slurred undertone. ”They were injured when the Drakhaoul took the king. But Visant's keeping them under lock and key, 'for their own protection.' I reckon he's interrogating them, Jagu, and he doesn't want anyone else to learn what they saw.”
”And that's because...”
”There was a circle of Galizur marked on the chapel floor when we broke the door down. When I returned to the chapel, it had been erased.”
”An exorcism? You don't mean...” Jagu wondered a moment whether the wine was talking, but the look in Friard's bloodshot eyes convinced him that he was talking the truth.
”Enguerrand was was the Drakhaoul. Ruaud was trying to drive the daemon out of the king's body when it turned on him.” the Drakhaoul. Ruaud was trying to drive the daemon out of the king's body when it turned on him.”
Is this the beginning of the end of the world?
Friard's drunken words echoed around Jagu's mind as he hurried through the darkening streets of Lutece toward the Forteresse. His ordered life was fast crumbling about him. Ruaud was dead, and creatures of darkness, the daemon Drakhaouls, were wreaking havoc.
He reached the banks of the Senon; the wide river churned as grey as the threatening sky overhead. A lightning bolt of memory threw him back suddenly to the moment he and Kilian had first sailed with the regiment for Enhirre. She She had come to wave him good-bye, standing just a few yards from where he was now, the dawn sun catching glints in her hair. Until that moment, he had not dared to dream that she cared for him. had come to wave him good-bye, standing just a few yards from where he was now, the dawn sun catching glints in her hair. Until that moment, he had not dared to dream that she cared for him.
He stopped, gripping the rough stone wall, overwhelmed by a feeling of regret so strong it punched the breath from him, leaving him gasping.
If this is the end of the world, what am I doing here? I should never have left her side. He hit the bal.u.s.trade with his clenched fist. She had become so distant, so evasive, during the last months. She had taken idiotic risks. She had used her father's secret grimoire, even though she had promised him she would never take such a risk again. Was it the Drakhaouls' destabilizing influence that was affecting her? What was causing her to behave so recklessly? He hit the bal.u.s.trade with his clenched fist. She had become so distant, so evasive, during the last months. She had taken idiotic risks. She had used her father's secret grimoire, even though she had promised him she would never take such a risk again. Was it the Drakhaouls' destabilizing influence that was affecting her? What was causing her to behave so recklessly?
”Celestine,” he murmured into the night. Since Henri de Joyeuse's death, he had stood by her, protecting her, supporting her.
Everything is falling apart around us. She needs me-and I have no idea where she is, or how to find her.
”So it's the end of the world and you didn't even invite your oldest friend to share one last bottle of wine?” Kilian's eyes glinted in the darkness.
Jagu held out the bottle he had brought from the tavern.
”You'd better come in.” Kilian pulled him inside his room and shut the door. ”We can't be seen to be setting a bad example to the cadets, can we?”
”It's getting too dark to see,” said Jagu. He fumbled for his tinder-box and tried, with unsteady hands, to strike a spark to light the oil lamp.
”If this is the end, then I might as well be d.a.m.ned.” Kilian's habitual bantering tone had gone. His friend was looking at him oddly, almost as if he could not quite focus clearly on his face.
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