“Is it not their duty to protect Her Majesty?” Ead asked.
“They have no reason to suspect the Duchess of Justice of doing her harm. They think Sab is resting.”
“Then we need to let them know that Sabran is being held against her will. The Knights of the Body are formidable. With even half of them on our side, we could stamp out the insurrection,” Ead said. “We should try to find Lintley. Perhaps they have put him in the guardhouse.”
“We could take the secret route I showed you,” said Margret.
Ead made for the door. “Good.”
“Wait.” Margret held out a hand to Loth. “Lend me a weapon, brother, or I shall be as much use as a fire in an ice house.”
He surrendered his baselard without complaint.
Margret took a candle and led the way down the corridor. She brought them before a portrait of a woman, and when she dragged one side away from the wall, a passage was revealed. Ead climbed into it and gave Margret a hand. Loth pulled the portrait shut behind them.
A draft blew out the candle, leaving them in darkness. All Loth could hear was their breathing. Then Ead snapped her fingers, and a silver-blue flame jumped like a spark from a firestriker. Loth exchanged a glance with his sister as Ead cupped it in her palm.
“Not all fire is to be feared,” Ead said.
Margret appeared to steel herself. “You had better make Crest fear it by dawn.”
They followed a flight of steps until they reached a way out. Ead pushed it open just a crack.
“All clear,” she murmured. “Meg, which door?”
“The closest,” Margret said at once. When Loth raised his eyebrows at her, she stamped on his foot.
Ead stepped into the unlit passageway and tried the door, to no avail. “Captain Lintley?” she said, voice soft. When there was no answer, she knocked. “Sir Tharian.”
A pause, then: “Who goes there?”
“Tharian.” Margret joined Ead the door. “Tharian, it’s Meg.”
“Meg—” A muffled oath. “Margret, you must leave. Crest has had me locked in.”
She clicked her tongue. “That sounds like a reason to get you out, fool, not to leave.”
Loth glanced down the corridor. If anyone opened the door to the guardhouse, they would have nowhere to hide.
Ead knelt beside the door. When she flexed her fingers, the fire drifted to hang beside her like a corpse candle. She studied the keyhole and used her other hand to slide a hairpin from her curls and into the lock. When it clicked, Margret eased open the door, careful not to let the hinges creak.
Inside his chamber, Sir Tharian Lintley stood in a shirt and breeches. Every taper in the room had burned to a stump. He went straight to Margret and cupped her cheek with one hand.
“Margret, you must not—” Catching sight of Loth, he started, and bowed in his soldierly way. “Saint. Lord Arteloth, I had no idea you had returned. And—” His stance changed. “Mistress Duryan.”
“Captain Lintley.” Ead still held her flame. “Should I expect you to try and arrest me?”
Lintley swallowed.
“I wondered if you were the Lady of the Woods herself,” he said. “The Principal Secretary’s retainers told stories of your witchcraft.”
“Peace.” Margret touched his arm. “I don’t yet understand it, either, but Ead is my friend. She returned at great risk to her life to help us. And she brought Loth back to me.”
A look from her was all it took to soften Lintley.
“Combe ordered us to arrest you that night,” he said to Ead. “Is he in league with Crest?”
“That, I do not know. His morals are questionable, to be sure, but he may not be the true enemy.” Ead closed the door. “We suspect Her Majesty is being held against her will. And that we have not much time to reach her.”
“I have already tried.” Lintley looked as if all hope had forsaken him. “And I shall be banished for it.”
“What happened?”
“Rumor had it that you were in league with King Sigoso and had returned to him, but it was so soon after Lord Arteloth vanished, I sensed a deliberate attempt to make Her Majesty vulnerable.”
“Go on,” Ead said.
“Her Majesty had not emerged from the Queen Tower since the White Wyrm came, and there was no light from her window. Dame Joan Dale and I demanded entrance to the Great Bedchamber to reassure ourselves she was well. Crest had us stripped of our armor for disobedience,” he said bitterly. “Now I am confined here.”
“What of the other Knights of the Body?” Margret asked.
“Three are also here for protesting.”
“Not for long,” Ead said. “How many retainers would we face, should we make our move tonight?”
“Of the thirty-six retainers Crest has at court, I would guess that about half are armed. She has several knights-errant, too.”
The Knights of the Body were among the best warriors in Inys, hand-picked for their skill. They could defeat a rabble of servants.
“Do you think the others are still loyal?” Ead asked.
“Absolutely. Their first allegiance is always to Her Majesty.”
“Good,” she replied. “Muster them and go after Crest. Once she is apprehended, her retainers will lay down their arms.”
They stole out of the chamber. Ead broke the locks on three other doors, and Lintley whispered the plan to his soldiers. Soon they stood with Dame Joan Dale, Dame Suzan Thatch, and Sir Marke Birchen.
“There are not many guards outside the armory.” Ead offered Lintley one of her own blades. “Retrieve your weapons, but I would advise against armor. It will make you slow. And loud.”
Lintley took the blade. “What will you do?”
“I will find Her Majesty.”
“She will be surrounded by retainers in the service of Crest,” Lintley reiterated. “They were stationed on almost every floor of the Queen Tower when last I was there.”
“I can deal with them.”
Lintley shook his head. “I cannot tell if you have lost your wits, Ead, or if you are the Knight of Courage come again.”
“Let me go with you,” Loth said to her. “I can help.”
“If you think a handful of traitors will keep me from her side,” came her immediate answer, “you are sorely mistaken.” Then, softer, “I can do this alone.”
The conviction in her words caught him unawares. He had seen her fell a wyverling. She could handle a few retainers.
“Then I will go with you, Sir Tharian,” he said.
Lintley nodded. “It would be my honor to fight alongside you, Lord Arteloth.”
“I will go with you, too,” Margret said. “If you will have me.”
“I will, Lady Margret.” Lintley raised a smile. “I will have you.”
Their gazes held for a moment longer than necessary. Loth cleared his throat, making Lintley look away.
“I still say you will be arrested before you get to the doors,” one of the Knights of the Body said darkly to Ead.
“You speak as if it is a certainty.” Ead stood with folded arms. “If any of you wish to turn back, say it now. We can afford no cowardice.”
“We number the same as the Saint and his Holy Retinue,” Margret said firmly. “If the seven of them managed to found a religion, then I sincerely hope the seven of us can rout a few milk-livered knaves.”
Ead climbed the ladder of woodvines up the Queen Tower, as she had before. When she was close to the Privy Kitchen, she pushed off the wall and seized the windowsill. Weakened by her last climb, the woodvines tore away under her boot and collapsed onto the glasshouse far below.
She pulled herself through and fell into a crouch. Somewhere below, a bell began to ring. They must have found the body in the well.
For Lintley, the alarm was good tidings. He and his Knights of the Body could take advantage of the distraction to retrieve their swords from the armory. For Ead, however, the outlook was grim. This commotion would raise every retainer in the Queen Tower from bed.
Only a few more rooms now stood between her and Sabran.
The Gallery of the Blood Royal was empty. She strode past the portraits of the women of the House of Berethnet. Painted green eyes seemed to follow her as she approached the stair. There were differences between the queens—a curl to the hair, a dimple, a well-defined jaw—but each of them looked so much like the others, they might all have been sisters.
Her siden thrummed, and she could hear up to the next floor. Footsteps were approaching. By the time a group of retainers in green stormed down the stair, she was pressed against a tapestry, out of sight.
The bell had drawn them away from the royal apartments. This was her chance to reach Sabran.
Upstairs was the corridor she had lived in as a Lady of the Bedchamber. Ead stopped when she heard a voice from far below.
“To the Queen Tower!” It was Lintley. “Knights of the Body! All swords to the queen!”
They had been seen, and too early. Ead ran to the window and looked down.