The Scourge of Muirwood (Legends of Muirwood #3)

The middle of an orchard of apple trees was a peculiar place to hold a meeting, but Martin did as he was told and patrolled the edges of it, alert for signs of intruders, while the Prince and the Aldermaston inspected the fruit and conferred quietly together. A few awkward learners had ventured towards the rows of trees to spy, but Martin waved them on with a growl in his voice and a curt nod to move on. After making the rounds twice, he ventured back into the trees and easily found them.

The look on the Aldermaston’s face alarmed Martin. He had a chalky pallor, his eyes intense on the Prince’s face. As Martin approached, the Aldermaston gave him a look full of daggers, his teeth baring into a hiss. “We are not finished speaking,” he said tightly, unable to control his anger at the interruption.

“It is all right,” the Prince said. “I wish him to know.”

“But I do not wish it,” the Aldermaston replied stiffly. His face was warped with angles and wrinkles, with an expression of emotions flashing hot and cool across his brow. “I have never encountered someone so Gifted in the Medium. If what you say is true…”

The Prince gave him an arch look, then a twisted smile. “If? You doubt already? That does not bode well for me, Aldermaston.”

He clenched his jaw and his fists. “I am reeling from what you have told me. The preciseness of your visions. The way you describe events that have not occurred as though they were in the past. I am unfamiliar with the Gift of Seering. I do not mean that I doubt your word.”

The Prince approached a thin tree and rubbed his hand along the bark. He stared from the base and up the trunk to the first crown of limbs. “My grandfather had this Gift. My own father did not or else he would not have plummeted to his death from Pent Tower. I cannot imagine choosing that fate.”

“But to know of your own death…beforehand. How have you endured it?”

The Prince stared at the bark closely, his fingers slowly stroking it. “The same way you will learn to,” he answered softly. “It is a burden to know the future. And a blessing. Look at this tree, Aldermaston. The fruit is nearly ripe. Soon you will harvest it. You have that knowledge because you have seen it before. The ripening and the harvest is a familiar experience. So it is with the future.” His voice grew husky. “This grove will be a place dear to her heart.” He winced saying the words and Martin caught the glint of an unshed tear in his eye, invisible to the Aldermaston.

The Aldermaston bristled, his emotions flaring to anger again. “Your…your daughter, as you said.”

The Prince turned and looked at him, a penetrating look. “In time, you will care for her as if you had been permitted to rear your own. She will heal the chasm in your heart that was breached when your lady died last year. Though I cannot expect it of you now.”

The Aldermaston was like a huge gray stone. His face impassive, his eyes speaking quite loudly, How can you ask this of me?

The Prince plucked a bud of ripening fruit from the stem and held it close to his nose, smelling it. He turned it over in his hand several times. “What else would you know from me before we leave for Comoros?”

“Tell me of my enemy. Tell me of the woman who will bring about my death.”

“She is hardly a woman yet. The Queen of Dahomey is with child, I believe.”

“Yes, I did hear that she was.”

“The child she carries is your enemy.” The Prince looked amused at the Aldermaston’s shock. “When I said your enemy was the Queen of your realm, what I meant was that she will be. The king’s current lady wishes me dead. But she will be poisoned herself by a kishion from Dahomey, giving the king the excuse to marry again. The Dahomeyjan king will offer his young daughter. She is your enemy, Aldermaston. An unborn babe. But does it not make sense? Are not the Myriad Ones called the Unborn? This child will be very powerful. There is something in the lineage of that family, especially the daughters. They do not require a kystrel to manipulate the Medium after their training. When they use one, it does not leave a mark on their flesh. She will have enormous power at controlling emotions. Men will do her bidding, even those you think impervious. Be warned, Aldermaston. You will be betrayed in the end by someone you trust.”

Martin noticed the narrowing of the Aldermaston’s eyes. His lips were hard and white, his expression growing chalkier. “Will you tell me who?”

The Prince shook his head. “It is not important that you know it. Remember that those from Dahomey are expert at cunning. They are quite devious. But remember also that the wisdom of the Medium is greater than all the cunning of the Myriad Ones.”