Read The Queen of Thieves: The Line of Kings Trilogy Book Three Online
Authors: Craig R. Saunders,Craig Saunders
Rena
had never seen a city, not in all her short life. Naeth was the first city she
had ever visited, and yet still she did not see it as others would, but
something entirely different. Her new sight was remarkable indeed.
Her
senses were alive with the city. The smells of a city were not the perfume of
the countryside that Rena was used to, but of sweat and sewage, and rot and
mould, and old fruit on the roadside stalls. Off fish in the markets and bad
breath of drunkards roaming the streets in the early evening light.
Where
the snow in the fields twinkled in the sunlight, here it was muddy and grey and
slushy. And yet there was something undeniably beautiful about the city.
The
sounds of hawkers and shouts of guards and courtesans, the clink of coin changing
hand and the brush of people close by as they passed. Yet none brushed Rena,
for she was marked apart from others.
Asram
walked at her shoulder, silent, obviously uncomfortable in the city. But he did
not mark Rena out as different, but her insistence on walking alone with a
bandage around her missing eyes - a silk strip of bright red. It did not affect
her vision at all, and she walked through the throng of people unerringly
toward the castle gates, through the outlying areas, never faltering. People
whispered as she passed, but she knew it was a time for witches and magic again
on Sturman lands, and if these people found her strange, she did not care.
She
just wanted to see the throne upon which her lover had died. Her lover, her
friend, and near the end, her husband, too. Her husband, Tarn, the Outlaw King
to the people of Naeth, but more, so much more, to her.
Rena's
wounds were healed and she felt stronger. Her back did not hurt from carrying
her babe. The babe, too, had grown and become more talkative on the journey,
gurgling and giggling again, where for a time he had been quiet. She thought of
all she had lost to come to this point in time, to come to this city. And now
she realised that she had found much, too. Asram had become a friend upon whom
she could rely. She knew her power, now, knew her strength. She had her babe.
Together,
Asram and Rena walked through the city's districts toward their ultimate goal.
Through the Gates, the Merchants, and finally the Noble quarters, until together
they stood before the castle gates. Asram took Rena's lead. She, in turn, waited
for the guard to speak.
'My
lady?' said the guard, because he was confused by this beautiful, blind woman
standing serenely before him. Though the armed man next to her had the look of
the brigand about him, and gave the guard pause, the woman...
She
was arresting.
'I
am here to see the Lord Protector,' said Rena shortly. 'This is Asram Fell,'
she said, then with a grin that Asram found quite becoming and startling, because
he had yet to see a sense of humour in Rena, she added, 'And I am the Queen.'
Rena
stared at the man, and even though she had no eyes and proclaimed herself a
queen, he did not laugh, but stepped aside and ushered her in.
'My
lady,' he said, instead, in the face of her determination. 'Master Fell. Please
enter.'
And
it was Rena's turn to be surprised, but if she was to claim a throne, then she
could not afford doubt.
The
Queen of Sturma that would have been entered the castle. Asram patted the shoulder
of the guard as he passed. He looked slightly crestfallen, as though he was not
entirely sure what had just happened.
Asram
knew how the poor man felt, because he, too, was in awe of this new woman who
he thought he had known. It turned out he did not know her at all.
Together,
they strode through the castle's corridors, to meet their fate, whatever it may
be.
*
Filcher,
the young thief, sat on crossed legs in Durmont's chambers. Durmont, for his
part, showed no surprise when the thief appeared, but offered the gaunt child
an apple from a bowl on the table. Durmont had no doubt that Filcher could have
taken the apple and eaten it without him being any the wiser, but he felt, as
did all the castle, that the Queen of Thieves chosen emissary, this filthy
urchin, was in need of feeding up and a little love. He was a mystery, but a
good boy.
'Thank
you, and the lady, Filcher, for bringing me word.'
'S'alright,'
said the lad. 'Can I go now?'
'You
can.'
'She'll
be here about now,' said Filcher, and pushed himself from the floor to his feet
in one supple motion.
A
knock came at the door and Durmont went to answer it, not supple in his
movements at all. He was an old man, and he felt every year of it as he opened
the door to his quarters and found a stunningly beautiful blind girl at his
door. He turned his head and just caught Filcher dropping out of his window.
'My
lady,' said Durmont...'I should come to you.'
'You
are Durmont?' said Rena without preamble.
'I
am. And you, my queen...'
'I
do not intend to be queen for longer than it takes, Durmont. Please, Asram has
told me of you. I would not have you bow and scrape to me.'
'My
lady. Where is Asram?'
'He
has gone to change and clean up, he said.'
'And
you?'
'Time
for that later. I need to see the Queen. Selana. Before Roskel returns. I hear
the battle goes ill.'
'I
hear as much, too. I think the army is two days ride away. The enemy...I do not
know.'
'Then
time is short. Can you take me to the Queen?'
'Two
Queens, eh?' said Filcher, who to Durmont's surprise had not left at all. 'Can
do, M'Lady,' said the grubby child with a grin. 'What happened to your eyes?'
Rena
smiled. 'A witch burned them out.'
'Cor,'
said Filcher.
'I'm
a witch, too,' said Rena.
'Cor,'
he said again.
'And
give Durmont his purse back, won't you? Good lad.'
'Sheez,'
said Filcher, 'you're worse than her.'
If
he'd thought a blind woman an easy mark, he reassessed her very quickly.
*
The
suns had long set. In the darkness of Durmont's quarters a small candle burned
in a long-tarnished pewter candlestick. Durmont read a missive by the light,
still in the calm night. The candle flickered.
'Filcher?'
he asked.
No
reply, but the sense of movement behind him.
Durmont
was old, but he was not slow.
Hierarch,
he thought. He had a dagger at
his hip. Before he could draw it a cold hand fell on his, immensely strong.
Durmont could not move his hand at all. No Hierarch, this, he saw, looking at the
hand that held him fast. 'Ah,' said Durmont, his voice remaining steady and
dignified, as it always did. 'Shawford Crale, I presume?'
'You're
perceptive, for an old man,' said Crale. He released Durmont and stepped back. 'Durmont,
yes?'
Durmont
nodded.
'Now,
there. We are acquainted.'
'And
I am no doubt poorer for the acquaintance.'
'Have
a care. You know, Durmont, nobody knows I am here.'
'And
would you feed?'
'On
you?' Crale laughed with genuine humour. 'I don't think you're my type.'
'To
business, then?'
'You
seem well informed,' said Crale.
'A
mutual...friend...informed me that you would be visiting. As the Lord Protector
and you have something of a history, I merely surmised that you would deliver
the package in a round-about manner...'
Crale
smiled. 'You have a pretty way of speaking. I like it. No more bandying, then,
eh? To business. I have the Crown of Kings. I wish nothing in return.'
'Nor
shall you get it,' said Durmont calmly, though his old heart fluttered in his
chest.
'Save
one thing,' said Crale. 'Pass on my apologies to Lord Farinder, and my regards
to the Lady. My service is done. I would not have the Lord's enmity any
longer...I believe it would not prove prudent in the future.'
Durmont
considered this for a moment.
'I
will pass along your message and your apology for Lord Farinder's unfortunate
detainment with your lovely wife.'
Crale
smiled again.
'Then,
Durmont. I wish you good eve.'
'I
would say the same, but I fear someone will not make it through the night.'
'Worry
not, Durmont. I shall not feed in your city.'
Durmont
could not bring himself to thank the fiend.
'I'll
see myself out,' said Crale, and stepped from the window of Durmont's room, as
though it were on the first floor rather than atop the eastern tower.
'I
shall have to do something about that window,' he said to himself once his
racing heartbeat had slowed. 'It might as well be a bloody door.'
He
looked at the sack the Crale had left upon the floor. The Crown of Kings. He
knew enough about the Crown to leave it be. It was a fey artefact, and he'd had
his fill of fey for one night.
'I
do hope you know what you're doing,' he said. But he wasn't entirely sure who
he meant. Roskel, or The Queen.
Both,
perhaps.
*
Asram
and Rena stood before the Queen of Thieves, in the Queen's domain under the
city. It was a simple room, with a bare kind of luxury. A beautiful room. A
room, Rena didn't doubt, that few ever saw.
She
wasn't sure, but she thought that Asram was a little afraid - the first time
she had sensed such fear in her stoic protector. Possibly it was being in the
presence of the Queen, though, dressed as she was. Selana wore next to nothing
in her own chambers, and what she did wear was practically see-through.
'Asram,'
said Selana, 'You have done a remarkable job, and one to be rewarded, I think.
Bringing Rena and the babe all this way, and by and large unscathed...well,
baring the loss of an eye or two...a feat unparalleled.'
Rena
felt the Queen made light of the loss of her eyes, but she herself had taken it
in her stride, too. It was nothing to joke about, though. The fact that she
could see well enough, in her strange manner, was beside the point. She had lost
her eyes.
But
Selana looked at her and smiled, softening the slight. Rena was not immune to
the Queen's glamours. She smiled back.
'Asram,
we will talk more of your reward in the coming days, but your job is not done,
not yet. Lord Farinder returns shortly and he will need men at arms. I charge
you to protect him upon the field. Rena will be my charge from here on out.'
'My...Queen,'
said Asram. There was a but in there somewhere, thought Rena. 'I would ask my
reward now, if I may be so bold,' he said, though he didn't sound bold at all.
Quite the opposite.
'Interesting,'
said Selana with a knowing grin. 'Speak on.'
'If
you and Lord Farinder would give me permission, I would guard Rena during the
coming days.'
Rena
turned and stared at Asram. She hadn't thought for a minute that he would want
to spend longer in her service. She had been little but a burden.
'Asram...'
she began, 'There is no need for you to guard me...I am safe here...'
'You
will be,' he replied. 'Because I will not leave your side.'
He
smiled at her, and the Queen of Thieves grinned. 'Done, Asram. Done. Now,
before I change my mind, leave us. We have...girl talk...I should imagine.'
Asram
bowed low to his Queen, then the other.
*