The Captain shook his head. ‘I’m afraid not, no; without a monarch on the throne we’re within our rights to—’
I cut him off with a gesture, then considered my next words. Despite my history, I really don’t go around trying to get into fights with Ducal guardsmen on a regular basis. ‘I understand your desire to protect your Lord, but there are three things you need to consider.’
‘What would those be?’ he asked, visibly determined not to give ground.
‘First, Valiana is Ducal Protector of Tristia. She’s not subject to arrest by anyone without an edict from the Ducal Council.’
‘That’s debatable,’ the Captain said.
I sighed. I sometimes think it’s like they want to be beaten senseless. ‘Second, as First Cantor of the Greatcoats, I have no intention of leaving this in the hands of a bunch of thick-witted grunts from a backwater Duchy whose sole distinction in the judicial arts has thus far been its occasional efforts to exceed Rijou in the practice of torturing suspects.’
‘Falcio . . .’ Kest began.
‘Does he do this all the time?’ Chalmers asked. ‘He just hauled me off for threatening a guard and now he’s ready to start a war?’
I kept my eyes on the Captain. ‘Third, and of vastly more consequence to your current predicament, Valiana val Mond is my daughter.’
‘Guess that explains it,’ Chalmers muttered.
‘You have no idea,’ Brasti said.
Captain Lendale seemed a reasonable enough man, and from the expression on his face, I suspected he might have a daughter of his own. ‘Look, Trattari, I mean no disrespect to you, or to the Realm’s Protector, but my orders are—’
A woman’s voice boomed from behind me, ‘Who the fuck do I kill first?’ and Darriana came striding down the hall towards us, that long, thin blade of hers in hand and a fire in her eyes more black than red.
‘Oh, hello, dear,’ Brasti said. ‘I promise I was coming to visit you first, but circumstances—’
‘Shut up.’ Darri turned to me. ‘Valiana’s in there?’
‘I believe so.’
She looked at Captain Lendale and his soldiers, who probably outnumbered us three to one. ‘Why haven’t you killed them yet?’
‘I was getting around to it.’
Kest came to stand next to me, examining the assembled guardsmen and doubtless assessing the best lines of attack.
When I looked at the Captain, I saw that he too had a keen eye for the logistics of violence. ‘Soldiers of Luth, form up,’ he said grimly.
‘You’ll lose,’ Kest warned.
‘Not before I take you lot down with me.’
Kest raised his shield and Brasti took up position behind it, resting an arrow just above the circular rim.
‘Captain,’ I said, ‘in about five seconds I’m going to give the order and Brasti will begin to fire. Several of your men will be injured trying to get to him, but I promise they won’t get past Kest. In the meantime, I’m going to do my best not to kill you while Darriana takes out two of your—’
‘Three,’ she said.
‘Sorry, three of your soldiers.’
‘You forgot about me,’ Chalmers said, her cutlass in hand. ‘Again.’
‘None of us want to spill blood tonight, Captain, but this hall is crowded and with these narrow angles, several of you will be sleeping six feet below ground when we’re done.’
To his credit, Captain Lendale looked fully prepared to test my calculations – but fortunately for all of us, Pastien, Ducal Protector of Luth, finally managed to rouse himself.
‘Let them through, Lendale,’ he murmured, and the Captain instantly stood down, his soldiers following suit a beat after.
‘What happened here, Pastien?’ I asked, stepping past them, ‘and more importantly, where is Valiana?’
The handsome young Lord managed to look both ashamed and defiant as he pointed to the barred door a few feet away. ‘She’s in there, but I can’t allow you to—’
I pushed past him and confronted the two men determinedly guarding the door. ‘I’m told good soldiers are hard to find, Pastien. It would be a shame for you to lose two of yours.’
‘You don’t understand, Falcio. Something’s happened to her. She . . .’ He paused, giving his best impression of a man torn in two. ‘Very well. I would have preferred to keep this matter quiet, but—’
‘You’ve done a fine job of that so far,’ Brasti said, waving airily at the assembled mob of nobles, servants and guardsmen who formed Pastien’s entourage. From their faces I could see that they had already formed their own opinions: some looked horrified, some offended – and the rest were smirking.
‘Talk, my Lord,’ I said.
‘Valiana and I were . . . That is to say, we have grown close of late and . . . although I respected her modesty without question, we were . . .’
‘The word you’re looking for is “fucking”,’ Brasti offered helpfully.
‘Not helping,’ I told him.
Pastien swallowed and located the balls he’d apparently not had any trouble finding earlier. ‘We were sharing an intimate moment when she . . .’ He looked at me and swallowed again, then turned his back to me. I could see thin tracks of blood beginning to stick to the inside of his shirt. ‘I’m sorry, First Cantor, but she went insane. I believe the adoracia has taken hold of her again.’
I felt something tearing at my guts. No, she overcame the Adoracia fidelis. She proved she could withstand it.
‘Valiana attacked you?’ Kest asked.
Pastien nodded. ‘I barely managed to get out – I had my men bar the door from the outside so she could do no further harm to anyone.’
Several of the nobles snickered and someone remarked, ‘A bitch in heat is often hard to contain.’ I thought about killing him, but that would have to wait; I had bigger problems to deal with right then.
‘Tell your men to move aside and unbar the door, my Lord. I will see to Valiana.’
He stepped in front of me and put a hand on my shoulder, which would have been brave, had I not been able to feel him shaking. ‘You cannot, First Cantor. The madness has taken her. She is like a mad dog now. We must wait until morning and hope it passes.’
That was the second time someone had referred to her as a dog.
I can’t have been doing a very good job of hiding my reaction, because a moment later Pastien stepped aside and motioned for his men to do the same.
As I reached up to lift off the bar they’d wedged between two brackets that normally held lanterns, I felt a hand on my arm.
‘Falcio . . .’
‘Don’t start with me, Kest.’
‘I know, but just tell me you’ve got a plan in case things go badly in there.’
I lifted the bar and leaned it against the wall. ‘When do I ever have a plan in these situations?’
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The Madwoman
I entered into near darkness, the only light coming from a candle that had been knocked to the floor and was now threatening to set the rug aflame.
‘Stay away,’ Valiana said. Her voice was growly, rough, as if she’d been screaming. ‘I don’t want you to see me like this.’