Neal Barrett Jr - Treachery of Kings

“And so many can die,” Letitia sighed. “It's a terrible kind of trade where you come home from work without a limb, or you don't come home at all.”

Finn held her close, feeling the warmth, the sweetness of her downy flesh against his own. In the dark, her enormous Mycer eyes mirrored the buttery light of the moon that fell across their bed.

“It is a great sorrow, Letitia, that we are led down such a hurtful path by men such as Aghen Aghenfleck. Even King Llowenkeef-Grymm, though I thought him a pompous fool, had more kindness in him than the Prince.

“Someone in the palace was the Prince's agent, but I'm perplexed as to who it might be. Certainly it wasn't Maddigern, and I'm nearly sure it couldn't be the seer. It had to be someone we didn't know. Some royal or noble, perhaps. Someone who fooled the Princess DeFloraine-Marie into passing that ring to me.”

“By the way, I must remind you that it took a very long while for you to tell me about this ring. Not the sort of thing I wished to hear in a swamp while those awful bugs were biting me to death.”

“Quite frankly, I thought nothing more of the object she'd given me-or why-until we had a moment to catch our breath. Damn it all, Letitia! I'd have tossed the thing away if I'd known the dire message it contained-that my action would condemn poor Gherick!”

“You couldn't have known, my dear. Only men of a vile and treacherous nature weave such webs of sorrow and deceit.”

Finn reached out to bring her closer to him.

They whispered together for a while, then her steady breathing told him she slept. He lay there with her, grateful they were together, and praying that nothing would part them again.

He dozed for a time, then woke with a start, a most unpleasant dream of Badgies bringing him out of sleep.

Taking a care not to wake Letitia, he slipped out of bed and into his trousers, pulling on a heavy shirt against the cool of the night and feeling about for his boots.

What would happen now in Heldessia? he wondered. It would surely be a most traumatic moment when the King and his family learned it was not entirely true that napping was the same as being dead.

Maybe it would simply all go on without the seer about. Maybe the Millennial Bell would peal now and then, and the Gracious Dead would go about their duties as they'd always done before.

As he made his way carefully down the stairs, he remembered he'd forgotten to tell Letitia that Obern Oberbyght had been appointed the new Grand Sorcerer of Aghen Aghenfleck's court, for there had been a vacancy in that position since the Prince had executed the last poor magician on the Chopping of May.

Not a pleasant choice, as far as Finn was concerned. Still, since he omitted his own shortcomings in his tale to the prince, it seemed only fair-and prudent as well-to skim over other folks’ misdeeds.

When he thought of misdeeds, rogues and traders and thieves, he couldn't help but grin, and wish good Bucerius luck, wherever his ventures might take him now. He was surely a fellow who was there in time of need, and more than worthy to be named a friend

“Going out, are you? I suggest you wear a cloak, Finn. It's chipper out there tonight.”

Finn caught Julia's ruby eyes blinking in the dark. She sat at the foot of the stairs, no doubt pretending she could sleep.

“I'm walking out front for a moment, if that's all right with you.”

“Why ask for my feelings on this, or any other matter? I am only a machine, a mechanical device, an artifice, a thing, a creature of cogs and gears and wheels… “

“To say nothing of a creature who talks a great deal. Be sure and mention that.”

“Be sure and remember that I did not acquire this power of speech myself. I had some help in that.”

“I recall that indeed,” Finn said. “It's a thought that often haunts me in the night…”

Garpenny street was dark, not a light in a window anywhere in sight. The rest of the town seemed quiet as well. Except for the taverns by the waterfront, and the revelry at the palace itself, the good folk of Ulster-East put themselves to bed early nearly every night.

“And why can't I find any peace?” Finn asked himself aloud. “It's not that I don't desire the rest, and it's surely not that I don't have a warm and loving companion waiting for me beneath the covers there. Yet, here I am, walking the street like a poor homeless fool, with nowhere else to go… “

“Up and about, I see, Master Finn. You're just as restless a fellow as I recall.”

Finn started, then checked himself, for it was only a Coldie who faced him there in the dark. He truly did need a good long rest, if he was jumping at the sight of the dead. Letitia would get a laugh out of that when he “Kettles and Pots,” he said, the hairs standing up on the back of his neck. “Koodigern! I swear I never expected to see you again!”

The phantom was little more than a wisp, a grim reminder of his mortal Badgie self, though not as ghastly as many Finn had seen.

“I expect you're surprised, though I didn't mean to startle you, sir. I arrived here by balloon but a few nights past. It's an easy way to travel, you know. We don't take up any space, and weigh next to nothing at all.”

Koodigern seemed to enjoy his jest, and he laughed in that harsh, rattlesome manner that passes for a chuckle among the dead.

“I felt I should speak to you, Finn, for even those bereft of life look to whatever comfort we can get, when there's much that's left unsaid.”

“I can understand that. I expect there's much I'll regret when I pass from this side to the next.”

“And terribly right you are,” Koodigern said, and his ghostly shape seemed to quiver at the words. “For that's why I'm here. I am sadly torn with great regret!”

Finn waited, and the specter settled into a somber veil again.

“I must tell you, sir, that great wrongs have been done, and I am the cause of many of these myself. I was in your Prince's pay, his agent in Heldessia's court. I am not proud of this betrayal, but I had a weakness for gold, as many a mortal has found to his regret.

“It was I who discovered the traitor in Aghen Aghenfleck's court. It was I who sent the ring that would identify the man to the Prince.”

“This is a startling thing to hear,” Finn said. “I doubt you'd know it, but Lord Gherick was a particular friend of mine. I was greatly sorrowed to learn he had plotted against his brother. Though, in truth, I can't say I greatly blame him for his feelings for that miserable lout…“

“No, that's the thing, sir. It wasn't Lord Gherick. He's not the traitor at all!”

“What's that you say? I do not understand this, Koodigern. Do you tell me you falsely accused my friend?”

Once more, the grim shade trembled, each small particle of smoky substance a'shiver before coming to rest again.

“This is the guilt I bear, Master Finn. In my foolishness, I gave way to my desires for Princess DeFloraine-Marie. More foolish still, I thought she stood for the war, which her country has ever soundly supported.

“I was wrong, sir. I was cruelly taken in. I confided to the princess, shared all my secrets, for I believed she loved me as well. She said she would, indeed, see that the ring reached the Prince, in whatever manner she could.

“I gave her the proper ring, for I had learned through sources in the palace the name of the traitor in Fyxedia's court. Only she was too clever for me! She knew the traitor, and only used me to find the rings.

“The traitor is one Count VanDork, Master Finn. Only she sent the ring that would name Lord Gherick the guilty one… “

“Stones and Bones, Koodigern-a great wrong has indeed been done!”