Catherine Fisher - The Margrave-crow 4

“Congratulations.”

“Oh. I intend to do much better than that.” The castellan looked at her archly. “Because, like you, I play by my own rules. I find they profit me better. Do you understand?”

She was beginning to. But somehow she had to make the situation profit herself too. “You want information. For your own ends.”

“I do. And we’ll begin now.” The castellan nodded at Quist; he fetched paper and a quill from an alcove and went and sat on the window seat, taking one candle with him. The draft made the flame quiver wildly, and as he dipped his nib in the ink Carys glimpsed the dim outlines of the shattered hills outside. The castellan’s eyes followed him fondly. Then she turned to Carys. This was it.

“What has happened,” the woman asked, “to the relic called Flain’s Coronet?”

“The Sekoi have it. In their Great Hoard.”

“And where is this Great Hoard? Because it is no longer where you left it.”

Carys blinked. “Then you know more than me.”

“In this case perhaps we do. A month ago a triple patrol was sent out from Rendar, riding fast into the Sekoi country. It was known later that they found a vast arena, immensely old, with the smashed statues of ancient Sekoi blocking the road to it. The destruction had been recent, and thorough. The arena was empty. Nothing of any hoard remained, not even one gold coin.”

The castellan smiled. “You look baffled. Is it that amazing?”

“Yes,” Carys said, heartfelt.

“The Watch have always underrated the Sekoi.” The castellan got up and wandered to the window, gazing out. “This Hoard, Carys. It was big?”

“It was beyond counting!” She remembered the hills and valleys of treasure. How could they have moved it so quickly?

“And you don’t know where it is now?”

“No.”

“I believe you.” Scala turned abruptly. “The Sekoi keep their secrets, even under torture. I should know. How I would love, Carys, to find the place they keep their children.”

Cold, suddenly weary, Carys shrugged. “Don’t ask me. So the Coronet is gone, then.”

Scala smiled. She looked very small in the black Watch tunic, the dark trousers, her face as delicate as a child’s, her deep brown hair caught in its silver pin. “Ah. Not the Coronet. We know, as you do, that the Coronet was given by the Sekoi to the Order, after that strange mass hallucination you all suffered, when you believed you had mended the weather.”

Carys shrugged. “You seem to know all about it.” “We do. The Coronet belongs to the Order now. Therefore it must be in the Order’s safe house. On . . .” She came and turned a few pages, as if searching for the name, though Carys was sure she didn’t need to. “On the island of Sarres.”

Carys had been waiting for this. She kept her face totally closed, though a sudden memory of Felnia with her arms wide running over the grass flickered in her mind.

Scala turned. “Where is Sarres?”

Carys was silent. Then she said, “In the Unfinished Lands.”

“More exactly?”

“I don’t know.”

Quist looked over. The castellan leaned against the table, folding her arms. “You’ve been there.”

“I was blindfolded each time.”

“The keeper still doesn’t trust you, then?”

Carys shrugged. Secret delight filled her. Galen had been right. The Watch hadn’t found Sarres. When she and the Sekoi had delivered the Coronet four days ago, the sacred island had been just the same, the flowers in early summer color, Felnia dragging her to see a nest of sunbirds, a new line of scrawny goslings crossing the lawn. The Coronet was safe there, with Tallis. Carys would never betray them.

A bell clanged out in the courtyard. Quist dipped his pen in the ink and turned a page. He looked up, impatient. “We’re not getting far.”

“Patience, lover.” Scala tapped her fingers on the file. Her lips were delicately reddened. It was against the Rule.

“Look.” Carys sat up and leaned forward. “You and I know that the Margrave lived in Solon the keeper for months. He saw Sarres, the Hoard, everything. What is there left for me to tell you?”

Scala lifted her head, eyes steady. “The Margrave?”

“Oh, yes.” Carys stared her out. “The Kest-creature that controls the Watch. That lives down in Maar. You wonder why I gave up my glorious career, Castellan, and he’s one reason. A beast and a man, mingled, bred together. A thing of evil working through you. And me, once.”

She’d said too much. Shown feeling. Always a mistake. Her face was hot and they were both watching her closely; Quist had stopped taking notes. He looked at Scala. “Is this true?” He sounded appalled.

She gave a husky laugh. “Keep writing, lover. I ask the questions.”

He looked back at the page quickly.

Behind Carys the door opened. An elderly man shuffled in with a flagon and three cups; no one spoke as he set them down. Carys tried to think fast. They were still only playing with her. Letting her think she was winning. She had to be very careful.

The servant shuffled out. As he closed the door a clock was chiming, far off in the castle. Ten o’clock. She felt drained, bone-weary.

The castellan poured wine into the cups. “Yes,” she said. “I have heard this legend of the Margrave. I thought it a tale to terrify the people, that grew in the telling. Useful, no more. But you say it’s true?”

“I’ve said too much.”

“Carys, you and I are very alike.”

That was an old line. The odd thing was, she thought Scala meant it.

“And if this creature exists, it explains a few things. Because I admit the orders concerning you have been puzzling me.” Sipping from the cup, Scala reached for the first sheet of paper and swiveled it around. “Most of the things you could tell us we already know. We know Galen Harn has been calling himself the Crow . . .”

Quist went quite still; Carys noticed it.

“. . . and that he claims to have spoken with the Makers. We know of Sarres, if not its location, and we know the Order is re-forming sense-lines of communication across the Western Province. We know their secret group in Tasceron is led by one Shean, from a place called the Pyramid, though I have to say when we eventually found a way into that, it was empty. All these things are important, but Maar doesn’t seem to think so.” She looked up. “The strange thing is there is just one demand that keeps coming, in every directive, every batch of orders. One person who has to be found, arrested, captured by any possible means. Captured alive. And I think you know him.”

Carys was silent.

The castellan leaned forward. “Tell me where he is, and you can come back to us. It will be as if you never left. All your promotions back, your record wiped clean. That glorious career, Carys. If not . . .”

Carys put the tips of her fingers together. “I want time to think about this,” she said carefully.

“You can have tonight. No more.”

“I may not know where he is.”

“You were on your way to meet him.”

“He’ll have moved on. Galen is unpredictable.” Her mouth was dry.

The castellan nodded. “You’ll have some meeting place, I’m sure. But you misunderstand me, Carys. The urgency is not for the man Harn. These desperate orders from Maar concern only a boy.”

“A boy?”

“A mere scholar. His name”—she sifted the papers—“is Raffael Morel.”

Carys stared in utter shock. “Raffi?” she breathed. The castellan smiled, and drank. “So you do know him,” she said.

3

The loyalty of the faithful is vital, though our service to them does not depend on that.

Second Letter of Mardoc Archkeeper