Finnikin of the Rock

"Isaboe," Finnikin said.

  Tesadora nodded. "She found us. She found Vestie, but I believe her sleep spirit was searching for Beatriss's first child, Finnikin's half sister. Somehow, blood caused a bond between Isaboe and any child that Beatriss would give birth to. All because Finnikin made a sacrifice to keep the princess safe, and I'm presuming he used the same dagger for the sacrifice as he did to end my mother's suffering."

  Finnikin did not respond.

  "Of course, Beatriss was petrified about the message, but she knew she had no choice. I promised her that if she gave birth to the child, I would take it and she need never be reminded of who it was or what it represented. She agreed. She had nothing left to give. Oh, but the moment she saw Vestie," Tesadora said with a sigh, "I believe that if anyone had tried removing that child from Beatriss, they would have lost their life. I think many people were strengthened by the sight of them together. Villagers would visit Beatriss, afraid to speak but not afraid to hope, and somehow Beatriss gave them that hope. 'What needs to be done,' she would tell me.

  "Then one day the blacksmith of the River village of Petros came to see me. Confessed to me that he had turned a Sagrami worshipper out of his home after the deaths of our beloveds. He begged me to take his daughters for protection."

  "It was good of you to agree," Trevanion conceded.

  "I didn't," she said flatly. "So that night, while his family slept, he smothered his wife and three daughters and then plunged

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  a dagger into his own heart. He couldn't bear the idea of what the bastard king and his men would do to those girls.

  "Beatriss threatened that if I did not agree to come up with a plan to protect the young girls of Lumatere, she would refuse me access to her child. A child whose first word was 'Isaboe.' It was our earliest indication that the heir and Vestie had walked the sleep together. We were stunned by the knowledge that it was the princess who had lived and not the prince. When I argued that there was nothing I could do, Beatriss spoke about the potion my mother had once given her. She left me no choice but to take in the young girls. Unbeknownst to many, Beatriss of the Flatlands is quite a bully when she sets her mind to it. One can imagine who she learned that from," Tesadora said snidely, looking at Trevanion.

  "You had a choice," Finnikin said. "You protected the priestess of Lagrami and her novices long before that night."

  "Don't paint too sentimental a picture of me, young man," Tesadora said sharply. "It will only make you look like a fool." Her expression was hard, and Finnikin could tell that she had said as much as she was going to. She stood up to walk them to the entrance.

  "We will be questioning the baker tonight," Trevanion said as they followed her.

  "I doubt that very much," Tesadora said.

  Sir Topher and Finnikin exchanged glances.

  "The queen has already arranged for his release," she advised them.

  "Is that what you convinced her to do?" Finnikin asked angrily.

  Tesadora gave a humorless laugh. "I hear the queen allows only one person to convince her, Finnikin."

  "Once the queen knows what took place in the dungeons--" Finnikin began.

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  "There is little that takes place in this kingdom that the queen does not know about," she said, a glint of victory in her eyes. "I would take her advice, Finnikin, and concern yourself less with truth and more on what is for the greater good of her people."

  Finnikin shivered as he realized the truth. He saw by their expressions that Sir Topher and Trevanion had come to the same conclusion. This was no random act from vengeance-seeking Forest Dwellers. The poisoning of the impostor king and his men had come from the highest office in the kingdom.

  "Where is she?" he asked, as Moss approached them. "Where is she?"

  "Remember your place," Trevanion said firmly. "In Lumatere the queen rules, Finnikin."

  "Perri has taken her to the Monts," Moss said quietly. Finnikin was on his horse before another word was spoken.

  Trevanion felt Tesadora's furious stare as Finnikin rode away.

  "Remember his place?" she said angrily. "For the sake of this kingdom, gentlemen, I am hoping that you have not prepared your boy to remember his place among royalty, but rather to recognize it alongside the queen."

  "A very hard task indeed with your mother's premonition ringing in his head since he was a child of eight," Sir Topher replied.

  "The boy remembers her words the way he wants to remember them," she said, "but the man must understand them the way they were intended."

  Finnikin caught up with the queen and Perri as they rested at the foot of the mountains. Isaboe was sitting next to the guard, her back against a weeping willow, her knees tucked under her chin. The ride had done nothing to quell Finnikin's rage. When Perri saw the horse's fast approach, he was on his feet in an instant, his

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  sword ready. Isaboe stood behind him, her eyes dark and piercing. Perri returned his sword to its scabbard and she stepped past him as Finnikin dismounted.

  "I hope you've come to tell me that Froi's been found," she said, anger lacing her words. She wore a violet dress, scooped at the neck with gold trimmings, falling loose to her ankles to give her the freedom to mount and ride a horse.

  "What have you done?" he asked, his fury barely contained.

  Her hands were clenched. "What I needed to do," she responded.

  "We needed proof," he spat, "of what Charyn had planned. Yet you ruin any chance of bringing to justice those who were responsible by destroying the ones who could prove it."

  There was so little guilt in her eyes that it fueled his rage. Over her shoulder, he could see Perri poised for action, a look of warning on the guard's face. Finnikin knew he would be flat on the ground the moment he stepped out of line.

  "You feel no remorse?" he said. "Regret nothing?"

  Hatred blazed in her eyes. "I regret not being able to watch them suffer. I heard it was long," she said through clenched teeth, "and my heart sang to hear just how painful."

  "Belegonia has been--"

  "Wanting a chance to invade Charyn for as long as this land has existed," she shouted. "Waiting for any justification."

  "They have every right to know that Charyn was planning an attack on them through us."

  "Belegonia will not care for those who are caught in the middle, Finnikin. They will take Charyn, not out of revenge but for what they can get from that kingdom. And they will use Lumatere as the pathway."

  "So the truth stays hidden?" he asked.

  "Better than a truth revealed that will lead to war involving

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  our three kingdoms. Not to mention Sarnak and every other kingdom on our borders. Let Charyn pay, Finnikin. Let Trevanion and Perri do what they do best. Let's not pretend the captain and Perri know nothing about slipping into a palace and cutting the throat of a savage foreign king who deserves to die. But do not ask me to sacrifice my people."

  "That's called assassination, isn't it, Perri?" Finnikin called out to the guard. "To do exactly what was done to our king and --"

  "Don't!" she shouted, sobbing the word. Behind her, Perri shook his head at Finnikin in warning.

  "Do not compare the slaughter of my family to the killing of the monster who planned it and the traitor who carried it out. We are not ordering the deaths of innocents here. We are taking revenge, while ensuring that Lumatere is not bled dry."

  "Your people need to know the truth, Isaboe."

  "What my people need to know is that the beast and his men who razed our kingdom to the ground are dead. That they suffered. That the beast and his men who raped their wives and children no longer exist. Do you know how they punished the men who dared to stand up to them? How they kept them from resisting? Do you know how they came for their young daughters in daylight hours? Do you know how many drowned themselves in the river rather than endure what was happening? And I felt every one," she sobbed, hitting her chest with her fist. "Every single one,
Finnikin. Oh, that leaders of kingdoms should feel the pain of every one of their citizens who they send out to fight their wars. Put me out of my misery now, rather than allow me to feel the deaths of my people fighting for such a truth to be known."

  Finnikin gripped the hand pounding her chest, and she leaned toward him, emotion strangling her voice. "If you want to help run my kingdom, you do so from by my side and not from your rock

  village," she said.

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  "What makes you presume that I have a desire to run your kingdom?" he said coldly. But she was standing too close and he wanted to rest his forehead against hers. Take everything she was offering.

  "Is it not what Seranonna predicted?" she asked quietly. "In the Forest when we were children? Light and dark. And what else was it that she said, Finnikin? What is it you fear so much?"

  He shuddered. "Why don't you fear me?" he said, his fingers digging into her arm. "Why don't you fear me shedding your blood to be king?"

  He saw her wince with pain and felt Perri's arm around his neck as he was pulled away.

  "You are a fool," she said, the tears spilling down her cheeks. "Do you believe you are not man enough for the task? Perhaps I should give that privilege to the prince of Osteria, who begs to come calling to strengthen ties between our kingdoms."

  Finnikin bit his tongue until he tasted blood. Something savage inside him wanted to kill any man who dared touch her.

  "But know this, Finnikin. I will despise you for the rest of your life if you force me to take another man to my bed as my king."

  She walked away and he ached to follow, but Perri refused to let him go, his lips close to Finnikin's ear. "Speak to the queen or touch her like that again," he threatened in a quiet voice, "and you will find yourself, on your father's orders, guarding the barren border at Sendecane."

  Finnikin broke free, his breath ragged. "Make sure you leave someone behind to protect her as you would, Perri. For it looks like sometime soon you're going to Charyn," he said bitterly. "To kill a king."

  "If that is what my queen wants of me, Finnikin, that is what I will do."

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  ***

  CHaPteR 29

  A week passed and then another. Cottages began to appear, built from mud bricks and straw, their roofs thatched and floors earthen. But the exiles had slept in worst conditions and many of them relished the idea of having a door and space and privacy. Those who had been trapped inside became accustomed to greeting their new neighbors. In each village, plowing and planting continued and routines began to be reestablished.

  One morning, Trevanion stood with Perri and Moss watching Lord August work the land alongside his young sons and the villagers. The sun was hot, but August looked content among the men. Their lives were beginning to return to something close to normal, and talk of crops and planting at times erupted into healthy arguments. Trevanion noticed the workers seemed to enjoy the task of turning over the soil with the hand-held plow, despite the demanding nature of the work.

  "Where are the oxen?" Perri asked, holding out a hand to take the plow from Lord August.

  "We share them with the rest of the Flatlands on rotation," the

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  Duke said, wiping sweat from his forehead. "I think the village of Clough has them today."

  "Sennington was extensively damaged, Augie," Trevanion said. "Can you not have Abie convince Lady Beatriss to move her village to Fenton? They lost most of their people in the fever camps. There are acres of fertile land with no one to work it."

  Lord August gave a small humorless laugh. "Have you been in the same room as my wife and Lady Beatriss and Tesadora?" he asked. "Terrifying. The moment I tried to make such a suggestion, I was cut down. Then I displayed greater stupidity by suggesting to the viper Tesadora that since the queen had been removed from her cloister and the guards were no longer there, I could request some sort of protection for her and her girls. Just in case." He shook his head, shuddering. "I'm sure she cast a spell on me with one flick of her eyelid."

  "You're scared of the women?" Trevanion asked, amused.

  "I am not ashamed to say so, and you are a fool if you're not," Lord August said pointedly.

  "Lucian has volunteered to send the Monts down to work on Fenton," Perri said as he returned with the plow.

  "I fear the boy is too young and does not have the heart to lead the Monts," Lord August said.

  Trevanion shook his head. "He carried his father's body up that mountain over his shoulder, Augie. That has less to do with physical strength and more to do with heart. Finn has spent much time with him and his people, and they are doing what Monts do best. Getting on with life."

  "I'm presuming Finnikin is not there now," Lord August said disapprovingly.

  "He's in Sarnak. On palace business," Trevanion replied, frowning at Lord August's tone.

  "On his own?" Perri asked.

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  "He took some of his lads from the village. Why are you so certain that he wasn't with the Monts?" Trevanion asked.

  "Because the queen is with them, and some say that Finnikin can be found wherever the queen is not."

  Trevanion bristled. "Another contribution from the women? If anyone has a problem with my son's movements, Augie, I will tell them to politely mind their own business, whether it's your wife or Tesadora."

  "You left out Lady Beatriss," Moss said.

  "I could not imagine Lady Beatriss concerning herself with Finnikin's business, but if the question arose, I would be just as firm with her."

  "Finnikin needs to bring the queen home to the palace, Trevanion," Lord August pressed. "Not her Guard. Not Sir Topher. Finnikin. And Lucian of the Monts will need to be looked out for. He's still a young man who will have to work hard to gain people's confidence, no matter whose son he is. Those mountains are Charyn's entrance into our kingdom."

  "Why are you telling us what we already know, Augie?" Perri asked tersely.

  "I have Lucian looked out for," Trevanion said. "He has his uncles and his yata, and the Mont lads are under constant training."

  "And who is guarding the novices of Sagrami?" Lord August continued. "It's too secluded out there in the west, and if we ever have a repeat of--"

  "Tesadora and the novices are protected," Perri said firmly, "whether they know it or not. Men trained by me, Augie. So anyone who decides to walk into that part of the kingdom for no good reason may find himself with the sharp edge of a dagger across his throat. Now, do you have any other questions about the protection of this kingdom?"

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  Lord August stared from Perri to Trevanion and Moss. "Tell me our Perri's not sharing the viper's bed?" he asked Trevanion.

  Moss chuckled. "Brave man indeed who strips himself bare in front of that one."

  Trevanion saw Lady Abian walking down the path to the manor house on her return from the palace village.

  "Gentlemen!" she called out with a wave.

  They held up their hands in acknowledgment.

  "Finnikin?" she asked. "Where is he? I have seen little of him, Trevanion."

  "In Sarnak. On palace business," he called back. "I'll have him come see you as soon as he returns." He heard a snort of laughter beside him as Lady Abian shook her head in disapproval and proceeded toward the house.

  "Oh, you really told her to mind her business," Perri mocked.

  Later, Trevanion, Moss, and Perri traveled farther into the kingdom, as they had done each day since their return. Trevanion knew the people of Lumatere felt comforted by the presence of his men, and he made it a priority to ensure they were visible in as many villages as possible. He was careful, trying to find the fine line between authority and protection. It was Lady Abian who suggested that the Guard not wear formal uniforms. Both the exiles and those trapped inside had been victims of the violence delivered by guards across the land. Instead, they wore gray and blue, colors representing both goddesses.

  In the afternoon, they reached a village at the
edge of the Flatlands, where men and women worked together to prepare the soil. Before the others realized what was happening, Perri had leaped off his horse. "Froi," he said with satisfaction.

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  Trevanion sighed with relief. In addition to his own fondness for the boy, he had feared the queen's anguish if they had lost him.

  Froi saw Perri and Moss coming toward him, and he couldn't stop the smile, couldn't stop the happiness he felt inside as he put down his tools. And then Perri was grabbing him and they both pretended it was a tussle but really it was a hug.

  "Where've you been, Froi?"

  "Been here. Working a strip," he told them.

  "Has our boy got some crazy notion he'll earn enough to buy a small pocket himself?" Moss asked, and Froi liked the way Moss said "our boy" as if Froi belonged to them instead of belonging to no one. Sometimes, during their travels, he had imagined there was someone inside Lumatere searching for him. But there had been no mother like Lady Abian or father like Trevanion waiting. No kin who recognized him as theirs.

  Perri ruffled his hair. "Moss, go see the bailiff and tell him Froi's coming with us."

  Perri began to walk back to the road, and Froi followed to where he could see the captain astride his horse. But then Froi looked back to where his work lay unfinished and it made him sad because there had been something about the touch of earth in his hands that made him feel worthwhile.

  "Disappear like that again, boy, and I will send you back to Sarnak, where they found you," the captain growled when Froi reached him. "Where I'm certain Finnikin is roaming the streets looking for you as we speak."

  Froi felt his eyes smart, but he kept his anger and hurt inside because anger made him want to spit and that was the last thing he wanted to do to the captain.

  "What have you been doing, Froi?"