The Silent Shield (Kingfountain #5)

They were belowground in the bowels of the castle. The noise of the grinding stones had faded, and all was quiet other than her footsteps and the hissing flame of the torch. The smell of pitch was strong.

As she walked carefully ahead, she saw an iron gate blocking the way. The darkness and her weariness descended on her, making her fearful. There were several iron doors farther down the corridor, beyond the gate, but no one was standing guard. She approached the gate, watching the light play off the round bars. There was someone in the corridor, though not behind any of the iron doors. Someone she could sense but not see.

When the magic dissolved, all the air huffed out of her in a gasp. Dragan stood leaning against the bars, his cheek pressed against them.

“Hello again, lass,” he said by way of greeting. There was a look of cunning and cruelty in his eyes as he stared at the left side of her face.





CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE


Lost




Once again Trynne found herself facing the man who had harmed her as a child. Even with the bars separating them, she felt part of herself plunge into a dark abyss. Her childhood had been shattered by this man. She wanted revenge. The oath she had taken would be tested again.

Somehow she found the courage to speak his name. “Dragan.” She stepped forward, holding the torch higher to get a better look at his face. He winced, his eyes not adjusting well to the stabs of light.

“Put it down or put it lower; I can see ye well enough,” he said with a growl in his voice.

“Why are you here?” she asked, keeping a good distance between them. She reached out with her magic and tested him. His reserves were running low. How did the thief lord usually supply his needs? Was it through stealing? If so, his cage was preventing it. Then again, there was no reason for him to be invisible in his prison.

“Even a clever rat gets caught by a trap,” he answered, wagging his eyebrows at her. He gripped a bar with one hand and slid his palm up and down, taking the measure of it. Then he shook the bars roughly, impotently, furiously. His teeth were bared. “I was not expecting ye, lass.”

“Then who were you expecting?” she demanded, trying to keep her voice from quavering. She probed his weaknesses. He was not a threat to her physically. His heart beat in quivering, irregular thumps, and his other internal organs were tender from hard drinking and complacency. He’d be winded in a trice if he tried to run—and that was if his knees held him.

“Someone else,” he answered with a shrug of one shoulder.

“Well, I’m the one who found you. The king is here. Did you know that?”

Dragan blanched. “Well, I daresay he didn’t leave Kingfountain on a pleasure jaunt, did he? His time be almost up. There will be a new king soon.”

Trynne glared at him. “Not if I can help it.”

He chuckled roughly. “And what can you do, lass? You’re not half as clever as your papa.” He said the endearment with loathing in his voice. “Naught like your mam, neither. She was powerful. I heard about the day she saved the sanctuary from flooding. My ilk still pay homage to me. You swooned when ye tried to help her. If the other lass hadn’t come, you would have faltered and they’d all have drowned.”

He was plying her with his words, trying to manipulate her emotions. She was tempted to thrust the torch through the bars to burn him. No! She reined in her feelings sharply.

“You want revenge on me,” Dragan said. “I see it in your eyes. Your kind like to strut and mince and make a tinkling with your fancy jewelry. You say ‘as it please you, Father’ and make a little curtsy. Your papa got my daughter killt.” His eyes blazed with animosity. “I tried to be revenged on ye in turn. A daughter for a daughter. Right is right. But it didn’t satisfy. I made ye ugly, but it’s your father I wanted to destroy. Do you know where he is, lass?” He leered at her.

“Tell me,” Trynne said in a low, dangerous voice.

Dragan shook his head. “First, ye open this little rat trap. I swear I won’t harm ye further.”

“You think I trust you?” Trynne said with annoyance. “You got your daughter killed. I know the stories. She died saving my father’s life. It was your fault.”

He clucked his tongue. When he resumed speaking, his accent was less affected. He was comfortable speaking to any class, it would seem. “I know what I know, lass. A daughter’s duty is to her father, is that not the way of things? Now let me out of this cage. You can help me. And then I will help you. There are answers I can give you. Answers worth a king’s ransom, I should think, if you only knew them. It won’t save your king’s life. Nothing can do that now. But it could help you, lass. It could bring back your father.”

Trynne stared at him. He was desperate for any way to escape the punishment he knew was coming. He had stolen all his life and he knew his life would be forfeit now that he had been caught.

“I couldn’t believe anything you told me,” Trynne said with a shake of her head. “You’re a liar and a thief. You’re not acquainted with the meaning of truth.”

He pressed his face against the bars, his eyes burning into hers. His lips quivered with rage. “I’m a liar, am I? The secrets I know are valuable.”

“Prove it.”

“Your father was summoned to a grove of trees in Brythonica,” Dragan said. “How would I know that except if I was there? He had a little ring . . . a ring on his finger. No one could see it, but it was there.”

Trynne’s stomach twisted with dread. Dragan knew.

“I see by the twitch of your cheek that you know I’m right. There’s more, lass. I know where the ring is.”

Trynne narrowed her eyes. “How could you know that?”

He grinned at her, his teeth rank and rotting. “Lass, open the gate and I’ll tell you all. My stash means nothing to me if I’m trapped in here. I was the one who captured him. But I was paid to do it by someone who knew about the grove. Who knew about the silver dish and what would happen if water were poured from it onto the slab. That was the trick, you see. That was how we got him. I had some sanctuary men with me.”

“You cut off his hand and left the ring in the grove,” Trynne said, barely controlling the fury she felt as she stepped forward again, gazing into his green eyes.

He shook his head. “No, lass. That wasn’t his hand!” he said. “It was only made to look like it. It was meant to throw you off the trail, looking for a one-handed man. But I kept the ring, sez I. And I know where it is. You have a decoy. A copy. She’s very good at copying.”

Trynne jumped on the clue instantly. “She?”

Dragan’s cheek twitched. He’d revealed more than he’d intended. “I will be killt for what I know, lass. Come, little dove. Open the gate. I’ll tell you all. You’ve a spider in the corner. A spider with fangs.”

Morwenna.