Why do things like this have to happen on my watch, when I’m responsible?
He should have been notified of anything happening at the castle. How else could he be expected to provide protection for the royal family? Wylin—the little git that he was—had never said a word about a party for Captain Lawrence. Something had happened, and the entire castle was now on alert and Richard knew that somehow he would be blamed for the night’s fiasco.
“Barnes!” Richard shouted. “Where is he? Where’s Wylin?”
Sergeant Barnes was in the room at the top. The one that his son had become so fascinated with and the same one that made Richard so uncomfortable. There wasn’t much to it, just a round room of stone, long abandoned because it was out of the way, up too many stairs, hot in summer and freezing in winter. A harsh wind ripped through the open window, blowing curtains that were frayed and tattered. The chamber’s light came from a lantern on the table in the center. Littered with mugs and a picked-over tray of meats and cheese, it complemented the barrel of ale in the corner. The only other furniture was an old wardrobe and a dusty bed.
“I don’t know where the lieutenant is,” Barnes replied. He stood at attention, making Richard think he was being mocked. “Captain Lawrence ordered him to seal the gate.”
Richard’s mouth was already forming his next words when he noticed why Barnes was so formal. They were not alone. Outside the immediate glow of the lantern light stood Lord Simon Exeter. His Lordship was near the window, in his floor-length white cape. Underneath he wore a black leather tunic with buckles down the front that looked like sutures, as if someone had sliced his chest open and then strapped him closed again. His thumbs were hooked in his sword belt as he stared at Richard with an amused scowl.
“Your Lordship.” Richard snapped to attention.
Richard didn’t like being around nobles any more than he liked being around bees. He knew that if he didn’t bother them, they wouldn’t bother him, but Exeter was like a wasp—he was known to sting for little or no reason.
“I’m pleased to have you join us. I hope the alarm didn’t interrupt a pleasant dream. We wouldn’t want your duties to your king to get in the way of a good night’s sleep.”
Richard chose his reply carefully. “I wasn’t asleep, Your Lordship. I’m the senior royal guard on duty this evening. It’s my responsibility to investigate any possible threats to the king.”
“I see. You’ll forgive me if I conduct my own investigation.”
“Of course, Your Lordship. I welcome any and all assistance.”
Richard would have preferred to speak to Barnes alone, but as high constable, Exeter was the chief enforcer of the king’s law throughout Melengar. Every county or quarter sheriff, as well as each city constable, took their orders from him. He generally concerned himself with incidents beyond the castle’s walls, but Richard wasn’t about to challenge him over jurisdiction. Besides, Exeter was the Marquis of East March and the third most powerful man in the kingdom after the king and Chancellor Braga.
“Let’s bring Sergeant Hilfred up-to-date so we can hear what he thinks, shall we, Barnes?” Exeter said. “Repeat what you just told me.”
Barnes hesitated. He refused to look at either of them, his sight shifting to the barrel as he licked his lips. Barnes was one of the old guard, what Richard called the King’s Men, and one of those who took part in suppressing the Asper Uprising the year before Richard joined the guard. Having missed the event was something they never let him forget. Lawrence had been lieutenant then and Wylin the senior sergeant. Richard felt left out when they drank and reminisced about the campaign. According to them, the king had led the charge, but Richard guessed it was a lie. Nobles didn’t lead in battle. They waited safely in the rear until the tide had turned. Then they trotted around the dead, smiling at their victory.
The King’s Men were a tight and loyal group. They would say or do anything to protect each other, which was probably the reason why Barnes hesitated. Still, the presence of Lord Exeter was hard to withstand.
“Lieutenant Wylin planned a surprise birthday party for the captain. A few of us pooled our coin to buy him a present—a lady of pleasure.”
“You brought a whore into the royal residence?” Richard asked, stunned. “Did Wylin or Captain Lawrence know?”
“No, it was all very quiet-like. No one knew.”
“Obviously, as you kept the information from both the royal guard and the high constable,” Exeter said. “I won’t even bother mentioning the trouble that puts you in. Please continue.”
“Well … she disappeared.”
“What do you mean, disappeared?” Richard asked.
“The girl—Rose—she vanished. We had her hiding in that wardrobe.” Barnes pointed. “The plan was to get the captain here by telling him the princess was scared after seeing the ghost of—” Barnes coughed unconvincingly. He glanced at Richard, then looked at his feet. “Anyway, everything was going fine, but when the captain went to get his present, she wasn’t there.”
“Where’d she go?” Richard asked.
“Where indeed?” Exeter asked. “So let me get this straight, Sergeant Barnes. You secretly smuggled someone into the personal residence of the royal family—someone who I am guessing you knew nothing about—then left her alone to roam the castle wherever she pleased? What good are moats, gates, and walls if the king’s own men circumvent the castle’s defenses?”
“She’s just a young girl, a local whore. She’s not going to cause any trouble.”
Exeter’s eyebrows rose. “And yet here the three of us are. Do you think the entire castle goes on alert for no reason? Do we often search through every cellar and woodshed because we’ve nothing better to do? Oh, I think she’s caused quite a bit of trouble.”
A puzzled look crossed the high constable’s face. “Hmm … you do raise an interesting point, though. If this is a mere protocol blunder on the part of a dim-witted, ill-disciplined guard staff, why was the alarm sounded? I’m sure this isn’t the first time rules have been bent. Bringing her here demonstrated poor judgment on your part, and losing her is proof of your incompetence. But it hardly justifies sealing the castle and calling for a full-scale search. So why did Captain Lawrence empty the rest of the barracks?”
“I honestly don’t think he planned to. He was mad, all right—you know how the captain is. But at first he just told us to go find her and get her out of the castle. But then Bishop Saldur piped up and—”
Exeter raised a hand to stop him. He tilted his head down and peered up at Barnes. This was a peculiar habit of the high constable that Richard always felt was threatening, for no reason he could articulate. “Bishop Saldur was here?”
Barnes nodded.
“Was he invited to the party?”
Barnes almost laughed, which would have been a first. Richard had never seen anyone laugh in front of Exeter—not even the king. “No, Your Lordship. We don’t exactly run in the same social circles, if you get my meaning. We bumped into the bishop on the stairs when we were carrying up the refreshments and he just kinda joined us.”
“And you didn’t find that strange?”
“I think he might have just been curious, seeing all of us heading up the tower in the middle of the night. I would have been. And it’s not like we can tell the bishop he can’t share a drink. To be honest, I wasn’t looking forward to the sermon he would give us when Rose jumped out, but I figured that was Wylin’s problem, not mine.”