With Silent Screams (The Hellequin Chronicles, Book 3)

  I sat motionless and counted to ten before extinguishing the flames. The cries had vanished, replaced with the soft whimpers of semi-conscious bodyguards. I glanced around and only saw three men, all lying on the tiled floor, but the mayor was nowhere to be seen.

  “You can’t hide forever,” I said, slightly surprised that the mayor had managed to escape the flames. If we’ve been outside I would have used a lot more magic, but in an enclosed kitchen, I didn’t want to risk igniting a gas main, or killing the mayor before I’d talked to him.

  “Fuck you,” he snapped and fired randomly, achieving nothing but giving away his position behind a door at the side of the kitchen.

  I crept around the counter until I was opposite the door, then I stood, took the extra two steps to the door itself and kicked it with everything I had. It tore off the hinges and collided with Mayor Richardson, who was standing behind it. His gun, a small revolver, fell to the floor as I pushed the door aside and grabbed my prey, throwing him back into the kitchen and over the counter.

  He landed on one of the guards, who was badly burned, his face already blistering. I’d tried not to kill any of the guards, they were only doing their jobs for the most part, but using semi-automatic machine guns to kill me was going above and beyond, and needed to be dealt with accordingly. The three in the kitchen would probably live, but they’d remember this day for a very, very long time.

  I dragged the mayor upright and punched him in the solar plexus, standing him back upright. He dropped to his knees.

  “You arranged for Simon to get out,” I told him.

  He opened his mouth to speak.

  “Don’t deny it, you’ll only make me angrier. You did it, we both know that. I just want to know what you got out of it. What did you get from having him murder wood trolls, or police officers?”

  “You have no idea what’s going on, do you? You stupid little man.”

  “Enlighten me.”

  “Why do you think Galahad had you do all this? Because he wants me dead. Because with me dead, that’s one less person who’s loyal to King Whitehorn. He’s using you, he set you up.”

  “Are you saying that Galahad is working with Simon? Because I find that hard to believe.”

  “You’re a fucking idiot.”

  I placed a foot on his knee and pushed down hard, causing him to cry out. “Keep talking, but do it nicely, I’m in no mood for rudeness.”

  I removed my foot and he rubbed his knee. “Galahad and Simon aren’t working together. But Galahad is keeping things from you, and you know that. Simon knew about the deal between Galahad and the trolls before you turned up; he allowed himself to be captured. And then allowed himself to be freed so he could kill them.”

  “Why?”

  “Because Simon was making a point, to show everyone that Galahad can’t protect his people. That he’s weak. The murder of that Sally-Ann girl moved everyone’s plan around. After her death you got involved, although until you told Simon that she was friends with Avalon, no one knew why she was so fucking important.”

  “That doesn’t explain why you think Galahad set me up, or why you’re spilling your guts.”

  “Because I got set up too. Galahad sent you after me. I bet he told you I released Simon from prison. But I didn’t, he was already free. He knew the first thing you’d do is come running here and try to kill me.”

  “You were going to release him anyway, so you’re just playing semantics.”

  “Maybe, but I didn’t want him to massacre a colony of wood trolls. I’m many things, but murdering women and children is a little above what I’m willing do to.”

  “And the cops? They would have had to die anyway, no matter who released him.”

  “Collateral damage.”

  The ease at which he described the murder of people who were there only to protect the public was sickening, but hardly surprising. “Why do you hate Galahad so much? What did he do to you?”

  “He sent me here,” he snapped. “I used to be a human advisor to King Whitehorn, and after he was overthrown, Galahad decided to remove me from that post and stick me in the middle of fucking nowhere to be the mayor of a shithole of a town. No one even knows where Whitehorn is, no one but Simon. I’ve heard rumors that Whitehorn plans to run for some political office in Washington, but hell if I know how accurate that is. Simon was in charge of this whole operation, I don’t even think the old king even knows about it.”

  “Then why go to all this trouble?”

  “Because Simon has a fucking hard-on for getting back at Galahad for Whitehorn and him being kicked out of the realm. When Simon turns up and tells you about your obligation to help him put Whitehorn on the throne, you do as your fucking told, or he skins you in front of the town hall.” Mayor Richardson sighed. “I don’t care about these people, or this town, I just want out. I want to move back to Shadow Falls, and Galahad isn’t going to make that happen. So, I hitched my wagon to Simon and Whitehorn. I just want my fucking life back.”

  “So, all of this death that you were quite willing to help cause is because of some petty attempt at a temper-tantrum.”

  “Simon came to me with a need. To be able to kill and take people without any police interference, so I helped facilitate that. In return, I was to be given my old life back and I would have gotten to be there when Galahad finally lost his head and it was stuck on a pike for all to see.”

  “Petty vengeance for a small man. All because Galahad demoted you, which it turns out was probably a good thing considering you were in league with his enemies.”

  “You call it petty vengeance, I call it justice. Righting a wrong against a man who committed harm against me and my life.”

  “Harm?” I said. “I’ll tell you what, you tell me all about what Simon wants from this town and I’ll pass you over to Galahad unharmed.”

  “I don’t know a damn thing,” he pleaded.

  “You are partly responsible for everything that has happened here, for all the death and terror that Simon and his friends spread. You thought you could do all of this and get away free. I’d planned to come here and kill you, but I’m not going to do that. Galahad wants you dead, and I’m not playing his game anymore. So, if you want to lie there and tell me you don’t know anything about what’s happening in your town, that’s fine with me.” I removed a paring knife from a nearby knife block. “In fact, that’s exactly what I was hoping you’d say.”

  It didn’t take long for me to discover that Mayor Richards knew nothing more, so by the time I’d finished and dragged his bloody and broken body through the house, Galahad had arrived with five of his guard in tow.

  I dropped the mayor at Galahad’s feet. “Surprised to see him alive?” I asked.

  Galahad glanced down at the human and then up at me. “Yes, to be honest. I figured you’d kill him.”

  I dragged the mayor to his feet and shoved him into the arms of the nearest guard, a young woman who spun the mayor so he was facing away from her, and then slit his throat. She pushed his body to the ground to let it bleed out on the driveway.

  “He needed to die,” Galahad said, turning his attention back to me.

  “You set me up,” I said, barely able to keep my temper in check. “You got me here to find Simon, and you knew that he was going to escape. You planned for it.”

  “Nate, do you really want.…”

  “Yes, I fucking want to talk about it. Right here, right now. You knew someone would free Simon from his cell, didn’t you?”

  Galahad nodded. “We were pretty certain of it, yes. Like I told you back in Portland, I didn’t know whom I could trust here. We needed Simon alive to hopefully identify those he was working with. We were sure the mayor was in on it, but weren’t certain if he was acting alone. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that members of my own guard were working with them. Those who betrayed me have
been dealt with.”

  “You told me the mayor had set Simon free, so I’d come storming over here and kill everyone.”

  “Yes, I’d hoped you’d make so much noise that anyone looking here would realize what happens to people who cross me. That it might bring some peace to my reign.”

  I punched Galahad in the mouth, drawing blood and knocking him to the ground, as his five guards all reached for their weapons.

  “No,” Galahad shouted at them. They stepped back, but kept watching me, a tense readiness in their stances.

  “I’m not your personal assassin. I don’t kill for your political career. You came up with this plan to get me to kill for you, but it backfired and now there are two dozen dead. Today you’re responsible for the murder of innocent people. If you’d been honest with me, if you’d actually protected the people you were sworn to keep safe, Rean’s family might still be alive. You played at being this manipulator and, let’s be honest, you’re just not that good at it.”

  “You think I like knowing that because I fucked up people died?” Galahad said as he got back to his feet. “It was meant to show that we would protect people. Simon escapes and we get to him in time. You kill the mayor for helping and I get to tell everyone that there’s no one untouchable. That even if my people can’t do it, I have those outside of Avalon or Shadow Falls who will do it for me.”

  “Your plan was horseshit from the start,” I snapped. “All you had to do was be honest with me. That was it. I never would have left Simon alone if I’d known that you’d planned for his escape. I never would have left those wood trolls unprotected.”

  “Wood trolls can take care of themselves,” Galahad said. “They’re not weak.”

  “Yeah, those children were great at protecting themselves, especially from an attack in the middle of the night. By the time anyone knew what was happening, those who could have fought back were dead. Simon’s not a fucking idiot, he knew how to attack the colony to create the most fear and get the most dead.”

  “Like you would have done, you mean?”

  “I’m well aware of the innocent people I’ve killed or hurt. We’ve both lived a long time and killed many, many people. But I never thought you were the kind of person who would allow such a plan to go through.”

  “I had to show people I was strong.”

  “Yeah, well now you not only look weak, but you look like you can’t even protect your own people. Good fucking job there, your kingship. Are you going to mention in the story how you slit the throat of the mayor or how…?” I noticed the misericorde dagger on the ground; I must have dropped it when I was fighting the mayor’s bodyguards. I walked over and picked it up, throwing it at Galahad’s feet. “You had someone put this in my room. You wanted me angry, focused. You gave me a reason to really hate these people, as if all the murder and pain they’d caused wasn’t enough.”

  “I was advised.”

  “Fuck your advisors,” I screamed. “You’ve known me since we were children, we grew up together. You could have just come to me and said ‘I have a problem, I need your help.’ Instead, you tried to make me your own personal killer.”

  “You’ve killed for worse reasons in the past.”

  “Watch your fucking tongue, Galahad.”

  “Go fuck yourself, you arrogant asshole. You think you’re above all of this, that there are no innocent deaths on your hands. I remember that battle with the Saxons. I remember you burying an axe in that soldier’s chest, finding out he was only twelve. I saw you sit with him until he died as a battle raged about you. Was he the first? How many innocent people followed him?”

  I charged toward Galahad, picking him off his feet and dumping him on the ground, with me straddling his chest with a blade of fire in my hand. “You fucking cunt,” I snapped.

  “No, stop,” Galahad called out to his guard. “He will kill you.” He returned his attention to me. “Isn’t that so, Nathan? That’s all you are, a killer. Are you going to kill me too?”

  “You would use that boy’s death against me, you dare compare the heat of battle to your wretched attempt at manipulation? To your ability to follow a plan that you must have known would fail? You placed your secrets and lies above our friendship.”

  “I’m a king,” he seethed. “I had no choice. Unlike you.”

  “What the fuck does that mean?”

  “You’re like a nuclear missile, you’re dropped somewhere and cause devastation all around. You’ve always been that way. And I figured you’d come here and just fucking destroy everything that stood against me, like you do all the time. I wanted to tell you, I really did, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t risk you saying no, to the whole plan going out the window.”

  I got off Galahad, who adjusted his suit, but didn’t bother getting back to his feet.

  “Do you even know what Simon was here for?”

  “No, although we will. A few years in a dungeon will loosen his tongue a little.”

  “I never thought you’d be on the receiving end of my anger,” I said softly. “I always thought you’d be honest with me. That you knew how I felt after leaving Merlin, leaving behind the lies and manipulations. But I was wrong. You’re just shittier at it than he was.”

  “I have more important things to do than lament whatever has broken in our friendship,” he said, anger leaking from every syllable. “I think you should leave this city and this state.”

  “You’re having me kicked out?”

  Galahad shook his head. “I’ll be putting Bill Moon in charge of the investigation into what happened here. We’ll make things more palatable for the humans living here, and then we’ll be taking Simon back to Shadow Falls.”

  “And Rean?”

  “He has refused my aid and vanished with his remaining colony into the woods. Nine out of twenty-two died today, I doubt he wishes to involve himself with the affairs of anyone other than his colony.”

  “You lost two allies in space of a day and damaged your reputation as a ruler who takes care of his own. Congrats. You must be very proud.”

  “I think we’re done here,” he said and got back to his feet once more.

  I took a step toward him and I noticed something in his expression. Fear. But not fear of me, Galahad would never have been scared of me, but maybe the fear of what had been lost between us, and my anger evaporated, replaced with sadness. “Galahad, you should know something,” I said, gaining his attention as he walked off toward the house.

  He stopped at the open door and glanced back at me. “What is it?”

  “I’m not a nuclear bomb, I’m a scalpel. I cut away the tumors and diseased flesh that threatens to consume everything. So, you need to be very careful that during your reign, you don’t become something that requires my utmost attention.” And with that, I turned and walked away.

  CHAPTER 24

  Portland, Maine. Now.

  On the journey from the top-floor office to the basement of the Mill, I managed to fill Caitlin in on what had happened between Galahad and me through whispers and the occasional hand gesture. Rebecca walked several paces in front of us, so didn’t hear us. Which was good, because I was pretty certain that if she had, it would have just started another row. And I had precious few desires to get punched again.

  Once we reached the basement, where the number of very tough-looking restaurant staff increased exponentially, Rebecca led us to the far end and placed her hand on the palm reader before entering a five-digit code into the numerical pad next to it. Runes were etched into the door along the top and bottom; I didn’t want to find out what they did, but I was certain it wasn’t good for anyone forcing the door open. The door clicked loudly and moved aside. Rebecca took one step inside and the whole place lit up immediately, showing the lengthy staircase that spiraled down several dozen feet.

  “Have you been here before?” Caitlin asked. “To
Shadow Falls, I mean?”

  “Once, about a hundred years ago. The security here has been upgraded a lot since then.”

  “The old security was insufficient,” Rebecca said. “Anyone could come and go.”

  I assumed that meant me, but let it go. I’d punched her king and humiliated his guard by preventing them from interfering. If circumstances were swapped, I’d be pretty pissed off too.

  After descending the fifty or so steps, and walking down a short hallway, we ended up at a second door, which Rebecca opened, motioning for Caitlin and me to enter.

  “No security on that door?” I asked.

  “If anyone has managed to get past the guard upstairs and then through the door without killing themselves and everyone else with them, I think any security measures we have left would be sort of moot.”

  The room inside turned out to be a long corridor, about half the length of a football pitch, although nowhere near as wide. A dozen or so doors led of each side, most off which I discovered were closed as we made our way along the marble-floored hall.

  “This hall is probably worth tens of millions of dollars,” I said as I recognized some of the incredible art that adorned the walls in between each door.

  “What happens down here?” Caitlin asked, which was just as well as my curiosity was hitting fever pitch, and I doubted Rebecca would have told me.

  “We have rooms for those who have made a long journey to get here. Most people like to be rested either before or after the trip, there are beds on the other side too, if you feel the need to take some time.” She glanced at me. “Although some people may not be offered them as easily as others.”

  “Yeah, we get it, you’re all pissed off at me,” I snapped. “Galahad was the one I hit, not you guys. So, let’s all move on, shall we?”

  Rebecca took a step toward me. Part of the floor moved up her body to her hands, where it became a very sharp looking dagger. “You have no idea what you did that day? Do you even care? You made my king’s guard seem impotent. Worthless. The king told them not to touch you, that you would kill them without a thought. The king’s fear of your actions forced them to stand by while you spoke to him as if he were a common traitor. As if he were nothing. It is not something we can just ‘move on’ from, as you eloquently said, it’s something that we have spent thirty years ensuring never happens again.”