David Dalglish - A Dance Of Death

“I pray you are right,” she said, pulling away from him so she could join Lily’s side. After Tori was burped, and her bit of spit-up cleaned, Madelyn accepted her back into her arms. Lily covered herself and excused herself from the room. Now fully alone, the two looked at one another, as if neither had anything to say.

“I should go check with the healer,” Laurie said.

“Go then.”

With him gone, she rocked Tori back and forth until the baby slowly settled back into a shallow sleep.

“I’ll keep you safe,” she whispered to the baby. “Always and forever.”

She returned to her own room, summoning her servants. Her arms tired, she passed Tori over to the wet nurse, then waited for the inevitable. After an intolerable length of time, one of her servants came to her, as ordered.

“They’re here,” she said.

Madelyn went to the front parlor, her servants in tow. From the window, she could see the entire front yard, including the gate. At least fifty mercenaries lined the surrounding wall, many of them unfamiliar to her. On the other side stood a contingent of the city guard, and they seemed not at all surprised when Torgar refused to unbar the gate. Madelyn had a servant open the window so she might hear the exchange.

“Not happening,” Torgar said, his deep voice carrying easily. It helped he was shouting, as if he wanted all of Angelport to know he couldn’t give two shits about the city guard. “A few money-grubbing peons come saying one thing, and I got Lord Keenan of the Trifect saying another. Who you think you should be believing?”

The leader of the guard looked flustered, and he tried to match Torgar in both volume and depth. He succeeded at neither.

“We come only to search the premises for murderers wanted by Lord Ingram. Even if your Lord is uninvolved, those we seek might be hiding within.”

“You brought a whole lot to be just searching.”

The guard sneered at him.

“It’s a big mansion.”

Torgar was hardly one to be outdone.

“Well then, let me help you out. My asshole’s pretty big too. Think they’re hiding there?” Down went his trousers. “Here, take a look. You see anything? Come stick your hand up and search; you look like you’d enjoy that sort of thing. Oh damn, right, I’m not a little boy. Ah well, have Ingram come on down instead. He’d probably enjoy a poke.”

Even at her distance, Madelyn could tell the guard leader’s face was beet-red. Beside her, one of the servants blushed and looked away. Madelyn, however, wished she could throttle the big idiot. She wanted them to leave without incident, not be provoked into an unnecessary fight.

“You dare insult…” the guard started to say before Torgar interrupted him.

“Stop it, already. You want in? Well, you aren’t getting in, not unless you come back with a shitload more than what you got. We got walls, gates, and enough swords in here to cut you all down in seconds should you try breaking in. So either draw your blade, man up, and actually do something…or get the fuck out of here.”

Without even waiting for an answer, Torgar put his back to the guard leader and returned to the house, buckling his pants up as he did. Behind him, the guards stood looking strangely helpless. Madelyn held her breath, waiting for their response. Several of them were swearing, and none looked happy, but they marched back toward the castle in formation.

When Torgar stepped through the front doors, Madelyn was there, and she slapped the lug across the face. He smiled down at her with a wolfish grin.

“I wouldn’t do that again, milady,” he said.

“Are you out of your mind?” she asked him, hoping her harsh tone would hide her discomfort. Torgar shrugged as Laurie appeared, having watched from another room.

“No way Ingram gave them orders to fight their way in,” said the mercenary, shooting a glance toward Laurie. “They came all show, no teeth. I figured I’d call them on it, and sure enough, they went running with their dicks tucked between their legs.”

“They’ll be back,” Laurie said. “And you insulted Ingram.”

“He’ll get over it. Now’s your turn to talk your way out of this.”

“And if I can’t?”

Torgar nodded toward the window.

“Then out there, those boys will get to kill themselves a whole lot of city guard. You ain’t even seen a scrap of how many we’ll soon have. Sounds like Ingram tossed the mercenary guild leader into his prison. What I’m hearing, half the sellswords in the city are volunteering up just to get some free food and a shot at payback.”

Madelyn thought of open warfare filling her gardens and walkways with corpses, and blood running like rivers across the carpets of her mansion.

“Like Veldaren,” she said. “Just like Veldaren. She did this. She brought them here, and now we’ll suffer the same madness.”

Laurie swallowed hard.

“Do what needs to be done,” he told Torgar. He looked to Madelyn. “I’m tired, and shall take a rest.”

She knew what that meant. They’d be sleeping in separate rooms that night, which was fine with her. Knowing that her best time to act was now, she went searching for Alyssa. She found her in the room with the two wounded troublemakers, sitting at Zusa’s side. Madelyn smiled sweetly at her.

“How do your cousins fare?”

“Well enough,” Alyssa said, standing. “May I help you?”

“You can,” Madelyn said. “You can leave. Go back to Veldaren, where you belong. My husband doesn’t need your help to handle the likes of Ingram and the merchants. And take these two wretches with you.”

“Watch your tongue…”

“I will speak as I wish in my own household. You are guests, and I am being gracious calling you that. The city guard has left for now, but they’ll come back. Go to Veldaren where you’ll be beyond Ingram’s reach. Don’t treat me like a fool, Alyssa. I know no Gemcroft blood runs in either of their veins. I won’t have you destroy my household just because of some crude attachment to your pet killers.”

Alyssa did not back down, and more shocking, her hand fell to the hilt of a dagger attached to her belt.

“Do not presume to give me orders,” she said. “I will not go running like a coward, nor refuse the protection your husband has offered me. Now, if you please, Haern and Zusa need to rest.”

Madelyn went to the door, but could not resist one last parting shot.

“You should be responsible for your own actions, your own errors. Too often the rest of the Trifect gets dragged down with you.”

“You stupid woman,” Alyssa said. “I’m the one who faced the thieves while you fled. It was my servants who died, my coin that paid for the mercenaries to stand against them. I earned our current peace with blood and gold while you stayed down here in Angelport, so eager in your safety to tell me everywhere I went wrong. Why do you think I’m here, Madelyn? It was your sole task to keep the Merchant Lords in line, and you and your husband have failed spectacularly. You once owned every boat sailing from Angelport, yet now hardly a ship bears your crest. The Merchant Lords have taken your boats, your trade, and now take aim at the last lucrative business you have left. I’ve come to help clean up your mess, and now you accuse me of being the cause of it?”

She reached into her pocket and flung a small bag at her. Madelyn caught it out of pure reflex, but only after it softly smacked against her chest. She barely felt it, so stunned was she.

“Try some Violet,” she said. “Bite down on a leaf and breathe deep, and when you do, imagine what will happen when the value of your crimleaf trade dwindles to nothing because of it. When Connington and I open our coffers to keep your family afloat, we’ll see who drags who down.”