Late afternoon was fading into evening the following day when Lily and Vetch spotted the servant they would try to buy to their side. Following their dinner in the noisome inn, they had slept, woken early, and returned to the street before the castle. All day they had watched from the shade of a building’s side alley as people came and went, each having to pass the scrutiny of the guards on the two bridges. Lily found it hard to measure one visitor from another. There were those who appeared to be dignitaries or nobles of some sort. Others were clearly serving folk of various ilk. There were the soldiers, too.
It was hard to focus on the people they spied on, because all the while she could sense Marigold up in the castle. Almost, she felt she could point out the very room, somewhere halfway up its imposing structure. She had whispered this to Vetch at one point. His eyes had followed to where she had indicated and he had nodded grimly.
The setting of the sun brought out a cool breeze, which carried upon it the fresh, mossy scent of the water springing from the apex of the castle hill’s gully. It also brought out a small parade of serving folk from the castle, all those whose duties had finished for the day. They trooped down across the two bridges in small groups and then went their separate ways upon reaching the street. This group of people seemed most likely to deliver to them their access into the castle.
Lily stood up from the uncomfortable crouch she’d been in and stretched. Vetch remained kneeling, idly scratching his stubbled cheek. Lights were appearing up in the windows of the manor and soon the flow of people dwindled. It was getting almost too dark to see beyond the torches burning at the gates when a single woman in maidservant’s attire came from the manor and made her way across the bridges. Unlike the other servants who had been allowed to pass straight through unchecked, the guards at the lower gate stopped this one. Lily was too far away to hear what words passed between the maidservant and two soldiers, but their laughter and the woman’s meek posture told her all she needed to know. After some more words, the maidservant side-stepped the two men and hastened through the gate. One of them managed a rough grope of her backside on her way by, but that was all. Their laughter followed her as she hastened up the street and disappeared around a corner.
Lily touched Vetch’s shoulder—a question.
“Her,” he agreed with a nod. “Yes. Let’s go.” He rose and together they followed the woman. They kept their distance until they were well enough away from the eyes of the castle.
The maidservant led them a merry chase through Black Crux’s markets and thence through the city’s center toward a less populous quarter. Vetch had wanted to spy and eavesdrop first, to be absolutely certain that the target they chose would not betray them, before they approached and made their offer. But as the woman disappeared around another corner, leading them further and further away from the inns and taverns where one might easily sit near and eavesdrop, Lily made a snap decision.
In a hushed tone, she said, “I don’t think we should wait. Let’s speak to her now.” She heard Vetch’s assent and they both sped their pace around the corner, only to halt fast. The woman had stopped before a small bakery and was haggling with the baker over the day’s unsold loafs. When the baker lifted her gaze toward Lily and Vetch, Vetch turned and pulled Lily into a close embrace, just two lovers finding a quiet spot off the main street to share a moment. It was enough to dissuade attention away from them. The baker and maidservant resumed their haggling.
Despite her pounding heart, Lily chanced a smile at the man and blushed. If only they really were just out for a stroll and stealing a quick moment of intimacy. But it wasn’t for them. Not right now. In silence, Lily gazed into Vetch’s eyes, while surreptitiously they both stole glances at the maidservant and baker.
“Somewhere without any other people,” Vetch whispered. “We’ll give no one a chance to overhear us and take word back to the castle.”
Lily nodded. When the transaction was finished, and the baker had gone back inside her shop and locked the door, they resumed their pursuit. Again, the maidservant rounded a corner. This part of Black Crux was a veritable warren of small, cramped domiciles. It was dark, and there were few torches, and the gutters stank with discarded night soil. Each new narrow street the maidservant turned down Lily hoped would contain no people, so they could make their move. But there was always someone—another worker returning home, a beggar holding out their hand for a bit of copper or crust of bread. Lily, at least, was confident that they had chosen the right person to help them; anyone who resided in this part of town would benefit greatly from the gold she and Vetch could offer. Still, she would not feel at ease until they had spoken to this woman and confirmed an agreement for getting Vetch inside the castle to Marigold.
They finally got their opportunity when the woman turned into an empty, moonlit little courtyard and stopped to dig a pebble out of her shoe. Vetch stepped forward out of the shadows.
“Excuse me, mis—”
Before Vetch could reveal himself, there was a harsh whisper of “Wait. Wait, don’t!” Out from a shadowed cross alley, a strange man stepped directly into his path. Before Vetch could react, the man grabbed him roughly by the shirt and yanked him back into the alley’s gloom, slamming him against the side of a woodshed. Lily yelped in surprise.
Frightened by the clamor, the maidservant in the courtyard let out a little screech and took off running. For a second, Lily watched her go, their chance at buying their way into Black Crux Manor fleeing into the night. Then, she whipped her head around to see Vetch engaged in a heavy scuffle with the man who had grabbed him.
In the dark of the alley, Vetch threw a short punch that caught the man in his ribs. He grunted but still held fast to Vetch, pinning him against the wall of the shed. It was hard to make the man out clearly as they fought in the shadows, but Lily could see he was big, with arms that bulged with muscle as he growled and pulled on Vetch’s shirt only to shove him back against the wall a second time. Vetch cried out at the violent jolt to his injured body and nearly crumpled, only held on his feet by the strength of his attacker. With his face screwed up in agony, Vetch managed to free one arm and raise it in defense. Vetch was a strongly built man himself, so it disturbed Lily to see him man-handled so. She felt frozen to the spot watching this play out, willing Vetch to fight back. And all the while, Vetch’s attacker was saying forcefully, “Shut it! Be still, be still! Quiet!”
Vetch’s hand went to his belt. He had not neglected wearing his dagger this day. But the other man noticed before Vetch could reach it. He stepped back and raised his fist, ready to rain a blow down. That’s what jolted Lily into action.
“Stop!” she cried. “Stop!” Without pausing to think or concentrate, she threw her arm up and drew her upraised hand through the air before the attacker. The Barrier she cast shimmered into being in the dim alley, a perfect half-circle that instantly caged the man against the wall of the building behind him, one of his arms pinned at his side, the other above his head. The violence stopped.
For a moment, the man struggled, unaware of how he’d been trapped. But then he stilled himself and looked in bemusement at the Barrier holding him captive. His eyes swept from the hunched and panting Vetch over to Lily. To her surprise, he smiled, displaying stained, chipped teeth.
“Well, I’ll be cursed,” he chuckled. With a look somewhere between surrender and amusement, he gazed again at the shimmering Barrier. “Look at this. This does change things ...”
“The fuck it does,” Vetch grunted through gritted teeth. He pushed himself back upright from the wall and drew his dagger. “That Barrier might stay my hand, but cold steel can still pass through it.”
“Wouldn’t do that,” said the trapped man, shaking his head so his long hair swept his broad shoulders. “Don’t.”
Vetch coughed, turned his head and spat, wiped his mouth. “Gimme one good reason not to.”
“Vetch,” pled Lily.
“‘Cause I just saved you from a world of trouble,” the man said. He looked between the two of them, the smile on his face remaining as he spoke. “And ‘cause I think I can help you.”
“What trouble did you save us from?” Lily asked skeptically. She moved to stand beside Vetch. Seeing how he still held his knife at the ready, she added to him, “He’s not going anywhere.”
“I know it,” the man answered, as if she had meant this last for him. “And what I saved you from was spilling your scheme about getting into the manor to one of Lady Iris’s spies.” When Lily turned her head to peer in the direction the maidservant had run off in, the man nodded in confirmation. “Servant, spy, same thing. Those foreign soldiers our lady employs tell her all, and the household servants tell all to the soldiers. Every whisper makes its way up to Lady Iris eventually.” Looking to Vetch, he added. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to rough you up. I had to act before the girl saw your faces. You can have no doubt she would have told the soldiers tomorrow morning, and by noon those foreign bastards would be out scouring the town for you two. Do you have any idea what Lady Iris does to folk who lie their way into her house? A long stay in a dank cell would be the least of your worries.”
“But ...” Lily began.
Vetch sheathed his dagger and stepped closer to the trapped man in order to peer in at him through the wavery golden ‘glass’ of Lily’s Barrier. “It’s the drunk from last night,” he exclaimed. “You were the one heckling the puppet show. You were eavesdropping on us.”
“You two weren’t exactly being quiet with your plan. I probably wasn’t the only one who overheard. I am, however, the only one who followed you and stopped you from making a big mistake.” He attempted to lower the arm trapped above his head by the Barrier, grunted, then gave it up as useless. “And because I heard you mention the name Marigold.” He turned his eyes imploringly upon Lily. “Is she here in town with you? The mage? If it’s no trouble, I would like to meet with her, so I can thank her.”
“You know Marigold?” Lily asked, despite herself.
“Aye. I was a guard at Black Crux Manor for years. She shielded me and my fellows from her apprentice’s wrath on more than one occasion.”
Lily knit her brows in confusion. First there was the strange puppet show, and now this man’s odd claims. “She was here before? And she taught Lady Iris? She never mentioned ...”
Vetch snapped his fingers. “Siegert. That was your name. Frankly, I’m surprised you remembered our conversation considering how pickled you were last night, before they threw you out.”
“That’s me. And I wasn’t as drunk as I made out. Inns are good places to learn things, and nobody remarks you when you’re drowning in your tankard. I admit I lost my temper at the puppet play—that wasn’t how things really happened. Would you please let me free from this Barrier? My arm is becoming numb.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
Lily raised her arm, but Vetch made a motion to still her. “First, tell us what you want. You said you can help us. There must be something you’re looking for in return.”
“That’s as you say,” Siegert agreed. “I’ve been looking for a way in there, too, but it’s no easy feat for myself alone. When I heard you two talking at the inn, and especially when you mentioned Marigold, I realized I could trust you. Mage Marigold was always kind to me, and she was no friend of Lady Iris when they parted ways. Whatever you’re doing here in her name, you have my support. I could show you a route that bypasses the bridges, only it’s inaccessible by normal means. With a Barrier-Caster’s help, though ...” he rapped his knuckles on Lily’s Barrier and smiled at her. “It would be easy.”
Lily shared a look with Vetch, then, sweeping her hand over Siegert, she neatly dispelled the Barrier entrapping him. The man grunted and began massaging life back into his numbed arm.
“My thanks,” he said. He rotated his arm a couple times, wincing as sensation flooded back into it, then held out his hand to Vetch. “We got off on the wrong foot. Again, I offer my apologies. My name is Siegert. As you gathered.”
“Vetch,” said Vetch, clasping the man’s large hand. He offered it then to Lily, who clasped it in turn.
“Lily,” she said.
“Ah. Flower names,” said Siegert. “Marigold. Iris. Lily. Then you must be her apprentice, as Iris was years ago. I heard that’s the way of it with mages, taking their new names in kind with the names of their teachers.”
Lily acknowledged that with a nod and crossed her arms to stave off the night chill. It was growing late, and they were not in a good part of town. She could see how Vetch continuously scanned the courtyard and alleyways around them with a dogged wariness. Siegert’s confirmation that Marigold had once lived in this place and trained Lady Iris brought forth strange emotions in her, not the least of which was an odd sense of betrayal that her beloved teacher had never divulged to her that period of her life. It also further complicated how the attack on her town tied in with Marigold’s abduction. She had never known Marigold to have enemies. How could the relationship between student and teacher have become so poisoned?
“So, you know of a different way into the castle,” Vetch said, bringing them back around to their shared purpose.
“Just that,” Siegert confirmed. “And I’ll be happy to explain it all, and propose my plan to you. If you two only knew how much you represent the answer to all my prayers. Would you allow me to invite you to my home, where we can talk? It’s close to here.”
‘Close’ turned out to be only a few streets over from the little courtyard. Siegert’s dwelling was a ramshackle stone and plank shack sandwiched between two similarly run-down abodes. He invited them in and offered Lily one of the chairs at his table, before stoking up the coals in the fire grate and throwing some wood on. The fire chased some of the chill from the room, and lent pleasant light to cheer the otherwise bare apartment. There was a teapot that had been left near the coals to stay hot. Siegert took it up and poured from it, offering a mug first to Lily. Catching its aroma, she declined politely, but Vetch accepted one.
Siegert also offered him the table’s only other chair, but Vetch shook his head, saying, “My thanks, I’m fine standing.” He chose a place by the door to lean against the wall, content to cradle his mug of tea and let it warm his hands.
Shrugging, Siegert pulled the second chair out for himself and sat down heavily, before pouring his own steaming mug. He swept his long hair back from his face with a rough hand, took a sip of his tea, and leaned back in his chair so that it creaked under his muscled frame.
“Well. I’ll get right down to it, then. As I said, I’d been a guard up at the manor under Lord Marcus. He was Lady Iris’s husband, and a good lord. It was a good job, being a guard in his household. After he died, things began changing. Not only in the manor, but in all of Draffor.”
“When did he die?” interjected Vetch.
Siegert took another sip of tea, swallowed, and tapped his lips. “Ahh, twelve ... thirteen years ago. It was a sad day. We were all taken by surprise. The entire manor was in disarray for what seemed a very long time. Lady Iris ran things differently. We all—that is to say, myself and most of the soldiers who had been employed under Marcus—were kept around for a few years. But just when things seemed to finally be settling back to normal, one day she sent us all packing, just like that. Some of the people she turned out belonged to families who’d worked there for generations, grandchildren of guards who’d patrolled the walls for Lord Marcus’s grandparents.”
Siegert wrapped his large hands around his mug and stared down into the dark tea for a moment. When he went on, there was a well-aged bitterness in his voice. “Iris dismissed us, one and all, and replaced us with those damned foreign sellswords. Good Drafforan soldiers replaced with farm-raider scum!”
At the mention of raiders, Lily shared a significant look with Vetch. His eyes did not betray what he thought of this information, but when he turned them back to Siegert, there was a new avidity to the way he watched and listened to the man’s tale. Lily could only wonder at how Vetch felt hearing all this. Here was a fellow soldier who had also lost his garrison, just as Vetch had. It had happened in quite a different fashion, yet still as a result of the actions of Lady Iris and her raider army. Did he see a kindred spirit in this man? Did Vetch look at him and imagine his future? As a soldier adrift? No. Vetch would not let things come to that. Neither would Lily allow it to happen. They still had a chance to rebuild their lives and Moonfane Forge, and that began with saving Marigold.
Still looking down into his tea, Siegert took a calming breath that caused his broad shoulders to rise and fall. “After we were turned out of the manor, we tried to find whatever work we could, but those of us who remained in Black Crux found there was little to be had. I tried hiring out as a bodyguard for a while, but those jobs were too infrequent to make ends meet. So, I did the same thing a lot of us former guards did. I took up farm labor. I put up my sword and went to work in the wheat fields. It’s backbreaking and thankless work. The owners of those fields drive us hard from sunup to sundown. But it put food on the table.
“Or, at least, it did for a time.” He sighed and looked back up, his drab eyes seeking sympathy. Perhaps it was not often that someone would hear his story out like this. By the interior of his dwelling, Lily could see no one lived with him. Had he ever had a wife or a sweetheart? She could tell he had once been quite handsome, with strong features that made his deep-set eyes stand out, and chestnut wood-hued skin, tanned from farm work, as Vetch was tan from long days patrolling in the sun. Even the little mole on the tip of his nose was not unsightly, but merely distinct.
But she could also see the wear that middle years and hard farm work had etched into his face and body. The creases around his eyes were deep cracks, his long hair lank and stringy, and while he had the sturdy muscle of a swordsman, he moved as if his joints pained him.
“What happened?” Lily asked, when it seemed as if Siegert would leave his tale off there.
The smile he gave her was one of irony as he answered, “Lady Iris began raising the taxes on every trade imaginable. It gets worse by the year. She squeezes every copper piece out of us, until we are left with hardly enough to buy a meal at the end of the day. Lord Marcus knew how to manage Draffor without doing that, and the people loved him for it. But Iris seems only to be concerned with filling her coffers. Spirits know what she spends it on. I suspect those foreign soldiers of hers don’t come cheap.
“It’s been the hardest on good folk like me and my fellows, who don’t own the fields we work in. We didn’t make much to begin with, but with every passing year, it gets harder to keep Iris’s tax collectors satisfied. If you cannot pay, her new soldiers come to bully it out of you. So, some people, myself included, have begun paying in kind with whatever we have. Animals, tools, family heirlooms.” He voiced a humorless laugh and glanced off into an empty corner of the room.
“Quite a sob story, but not my first. What does this have to do with us?” Vetch’s hard words surprised Lily. She resisted the urge to admonish him. Should they not be keeping on Siegert’s good side? Here was someone able to provide them a better way into the castle than ever the serving girl could have, if his claim of knowing an alternate route proved true.
She jumped in her seat when Siegert pounded his knotted fist on the table. Yet, it wasn’t anger she saw on his face, but amusement.
“I knew I liked you,” he said, pointing a finger at Vetch. “I’ve been spending too many years only talking to dullard farmers. You speak the same language I do. Get to the point and take action, right?”
Vetch crossed his arms and waited. Only Lily could see how much effort it cost him to appear casual, to appear as if he wasn’t still smarting from the jolt against the wall in the alley.
“Right,” Siegert went on. “Okay. So, here’s the way of it. A lot of folk are fed up with it all. Sure, some fools worship the ground Lady Iris walks on, like those jackasses cheering the puppets in the inn. But some ... some are talking revolt, including some of my old garrison mates ...”
“Hold on,” Vetch stopped him. “Are you talking some kind of armed rebellion? Against the head of all Draffor and her men-at-arms?”
Quickly, Siegert shook his head. “Rebellion?” he said incredulously. “Hells and demons, man, no. Nothing like that. I’ve seen what mages like Marigold and Iris could do with their magic and, begging your pardon, young lady,” he added with an acknowledgement to Lily, “I want no part of that. Nor her swordsmen, if I’m honest—though my pride would have claimed otherwise in my younger days. No. They’re killers. And I’m just one farm laborer. It’s been a long time since I swung a blade at anything bigger than a stalk of wheat.”
“Then why do you want to get into the castle?” Lily asked. It was difficult to sit patiently through Siegert’s tale. With every passing moment, she feared more for Marigold up in that fortress with all those soldiers. The word ‘killers’ was accurate. She had seen their work, upon waking to the carnage left over from the attack on Moonfane Forge—in the streets, in the rows upon rows of fresh graves, in the charred homes. Those were the people who held Mari this very moment.
“Why?” Siegert asked rhetorically. He showed his chipped teeth again in a grin that faded quickly. “Because I want to steal my tools back.” At the looks of confusion on the faces of both Lily and Vetch, he said, “I know, it sounds pathetic. But look around me.” He spread his arms wide to indicate his home. “I’ve fallen a long way in a few short years. Earlier this year, when Lady Iris’s tax collectors came, I didn’t have enough. My choice was to pay with what I had or be condemned to a debtor’s cell. So, I paid with what I had: a good sickle and a flail.
“My taxes are paid now, but without those tools, I can’t work to earn the money to feed myself, let alone purchase them back. The farm owners won’t lend us tools for fear we’ll take ‘em and sell ‘em. I just want to get into the storage buildings behind the manor and steal them back, so I can work again. It’s the same with some of my friends. Those brave enough will be joining us.”
“And nothing else?” There was an edge of caution in Vetch’s question. “None of your friends plan on stirring up trouble? Like something that would draw attention to us?”
“You have my word that I’ll keep them in line. We just want to get in there, take our tools back, and leave. Nobody at the manor will find out. If you can help us do that, then I’ll guide you along an old trail I know of on the far side of the hill. It leads to a dead end where a chasm guards the back of the manor. But I know of a place where the chasm is narrow enough that it could be bridged.” Here, Siegert grinned again and this time his cheer was genuine. He jerked his thumb toward Lily. “That’s where you cast us a bridge over the chasm. We go across it and we’re right there behind the manor, where no one patrols. My friends and I can go take our things back, and you two have your access to the castle to do whatever it is you came for. Can you do that, Mage Lily? Do we have a deal?”
“Walk across a Barrier?” The words were out of Lily’s mouth before she could mull the possibility over. Vetch was studying her face, awaiting her answer. She averted her eyes down to the table, thinking about it. Why couldn’t she? It wouldn’t even have to be a complex Barrier. Yes. Of course, she could do it.
“Once, years ago,” Siegert added conversationally. “I witnessed Mage Marigold create a Barrier staircase.” He chuckled. “You’d never believe me if I told you who it was that walked on those magic stairs. But it’s possible, right? You could make a Barrier for us to walk on?”
“Yes,” Lily said softly, then more confidently. “I could. There would be a limit on how long it lasted ...” She looked up at Vetch.
He shrugged. “I don’t know how long it will take me to find her. Perhaps Siegert can give me an idea of the castle’s inner layout before we go in.”
“I can do that,” he agreed.
“Good. That should cut down on searching. I don’t think the time matters, though, Lily. I won’t leave until I have her. If the Barrier has faded by then, either you or Marigold can cast another.”
Quiet fell around the table. Lily sensed that all three of them were considering what they were planning, seeing if they could poke holes in it. Would it hold water? Siegert broke the silence.
“Do we have a deal?”
Vetch looked first to Lily. She nodded her confidence.
“We do,” said Vetch. “Tomorrow night? The sooner the better for us.”
“Suits me just fine,” agreed Siegert. “Will Mage Marigold be coming with you?”
Vetch and Lily shared a look. Lily answered, “She’s a prisoner of Lady Iris. We’ve come here to rescue her.”
Siegert’s brows lifted in surprise at this revelation. He leaned back heavily in his chair and crossed his arms. “Huh. Then we both go to steal something from The Lady of Black Crux. Let us wish each other luck then, that we will both get back what was ours.”