Mike Shevdon - The Eighth Court

Had Fellstamp shared Fionh’s secret hatred of the mongrel fey? I found that hard to believe and preferred to think that was what had kept the distance between them. I’d once fought Fellstamp in a duel, to earn my place as a Warder, and Garvin had hampered him with a broadsword, a slow, heavy, brutal weapon. Even so he had fought skilfully and with courage, until I’d pierced his shoulder with my sword. I remembered that it was Fionh who’d fallen to her knees beside him and pressed a pad to the open wound. We were supposed to be fighting to first blood — a scratch with the tip of the blade, not running him through. He’d pressed me with the broadsword until I had no choice but to use the lighter, faster blade with full force. I’d been lucky not to make a real mess of it, and pierce his heart.

Fionh had objected to my being tested in the first place, claiming that I was not ready for a Warder’s greys. Frankly, I had agreed with her, and said so, but it was not my decision or hers. It was Garvin’s.

I’d felt the cooling in my relationship with Garvin. I’d let him pressure me into action, sometimes for reasons I could not fathom, because I thought he had my best interests at heart. As it turned out, he’d been thinking I was betraying him at every turn, and intent on discovering why and how. Blackbird had said not to trust him, interpreting the wariness to some treachery on his part. Now that we knew who the traitor was, it made obvious sense. Fionh had been the Warder the courts trusted most. She had been present for more of their discussions — more even than Garvin. She was their conduit, their confidante, and had been given access to all their secrets.

There was a bitter irony in that betrayal, not just because she’d been the most trusted, but because she had maintained her loyalty in her own twisted way while secretly betraying the mongrel fey to the Seventh Court.

“I thought I might find you here.” Garvin stood in the open doorway.

“I just needed a little space to think,” I said.

“Can I disturb you?”

“Sure.”

He came and sat facing me across the fireplace, and for a while he said nothing.

“I was thinking about Fellstamp, and about Fionh,” I said.

“They are foremost in all our thoughts,” said Garvin.

“It seems that at least some of this can be laid at my door — mine and Blackbird’s.”

“I’m not blaming anyone,” said Garvin, “Except perhaps Fionh. If I’d known that she felt that way then perhaps I would have been able to accommodate her elsewhere.” He sighed heavily. “No, I’m kidding myself. If I’d have known, then I would have been forced to strip her of Warder status. I can’t have Warders choosing their own sides and playing one off against another — she knew that.”

“She was right about one thing. We’ve brought you nothing but trouble,” I said.

“If that’s true, and I’m not saying it is, then it is trouble of our own making. We set off down this road because it was what we had to do. I came to apologise.”

“What for?”

“For not trusting you. For failing to recognise the treachery where it lay. For assuming that you were the traitor.”

“It was an obvious conclusion,” I said.

“And one exploited by Fionh to sow the seeds of doubt in my mind. When I think back… she used my own prejudice against me.”

“It’s where we are most vulnerable,” I acknowledged, “and she was ever one to exploit a weakness.”

“So she was.”

“What are you going to do?” I asked him.

“Now? I’m going to go and tell the Lords and Ladies that the Warders are down to five. I’m going to tell them that their confidences may not be as secret as they would wish, and that the fault is mine. I’m going to offer my resignation.”

“Resign? Why?”

“In these circumstances, it’s the right thing to do. The Warders have failed them, and it’s my responsibility. I was blind-sided and I should have known. That has led to the Warders going from seven to five. We are weakened and our enemies are all around us.”

“Perhaps that was our enemy’s intent. You don’t think they’ll accept your resignation, do you?”

“I don’t know what they’ll do,” he admitted. “These are strange times, Niall.”

“If you go, I’ll go too,” I said.

He shook his head. “I’m offering my resignation, but it’s up to them to decide, Niall. I swore an oath to serve until they release me from service, as did you. It’s not up to me whether I go. The same applies to you. You can’t resign.”

“What will the Warders be without you, Garvin?”

“That,” he said, “is not for me to say.” He stood and offered his hand, which is a gesture of profound trust amongst the Feyre where a touch can be an opportunity to exercise power over another.

I took his hand and held it for a moment. “I’m sorry about Fellstamp — about both of them.”

“Me too,” he said, releasing my hand and straightening his jacket.

As he left the room, I called after him, “Good luck.”

The problem was, I thought luck had very little to do with it.

I was waiting for Blackbird when she returned from the meeting of the High Court. “I have something to tell you,” I told her.

“Garvin just explained,” she said. “We all need time to think through the implications. None of us openly suspected Fionh, and we’re now all wondering who knew and who didn’t. It was a surprise, I think, for most of us.” She unzipped her dress and stepped out of it, hanging it carefully on the waiting hanger. “I wish I believed it was a surprise for all of us.”

“Is Garvin still Head of the Warders?” I asked.

“For now. He’s offered his resignation, but the High Court hasn’t accepted it. They’ve asked for time to consider the matter, which would probably be the right thing to do if we had time. The trouble is, I don’t think we do.”

“So what happens in the meantime?” I asked.

“Nothing. That’s the problem. Garvin asked the same question, and the answer was far from clear. They’ve asked for time, and he has no choice but to grant them all they want.”

“Without Garvin, the Warders are leaderless,” I pointed out.

“I never thought I’d hear myself say this,” said Blackbird, “but we need Garvin. There isn’t anyone else who can ensure the safety of the courts, and the idea of choosing a successor is ludicrous. Who will take his place? Amber? Slimgrin? Tate’s a great Warder, but he’s a follower, not a leader, and you’re just not ready for that kind of role.”

She didn’t say it unkindly, but she saw my face fall. “I’m only stating facts, Niall. You are coming to terms with life as a Warder, but you’re not ready to lead. You don’t have the experience, or the confidence of the other Warders or the High Court, and you know it. The trouble is, I don’t think anyone else does either.”

She slipped into her skirt and top, and used the mirror to reorganise the tangled curls of her hair.

“Anyway,” I said. “That wasn’t what I meant when I said I had something to tell you.”

“There’s something else? I think I’ve had my share of surprises for one day, don’t you? What now?” she asked. “Alex has disappeared again? More new arrivals? Another disaster to clean up?”

“I went to see Kareesh.”

She put the dress away. “Did you take her anything? Not boiled sweets, I hope.”

“She wasn’t there.”

“If she doesn’t want to see you Niall, you mustn’t take it personally. What did you want from her anyway?”

“You’re missing the point. I went to see her and she’d gone.”

“Gone? Gone where?”