Aranth bowed and said, “Understood, Your Ladyship.” He leaned back, his eyes averted, but his lips curled in resentment.
“And the lights must be restored by the next day—all of them restored,” Arteris continued. “Understood?”
The three mages reluctantly nodded. Aranth said, “To do so, we will need to discover a way to break the enchantment. That may take time.”
The baroness’s eyes were like spheres of ice. “The less time, the better for you.” Her chill gaze warmed slightly, and she added, “The better for all of us. In the meantime, Sir Graybow, I want you to step up security. Double the guards throughout the castle, and treble them before magically warded portals. I don’t care if you must draw from the ranks of the squires and knights to do so. Security in the castle is the utmost concern ”
“Yes, My Lady,” Graybow responded, with a gracious bow.
“And I want Auroch found ” Arteris finished. “Found and slain, and his head paraded on a pike.”
“We will use every means at our disposal to magically detect the whereabouts of the rogue mage, Your Ladyship,” Aranth said quickly. “We will undo the damage he has wrought.”
Arteris pursed her lips at the mage but said nothing. Jo could clearly see the baroness’s thought: Fools. I’m surrounded by ineffectual fools. Jo smothered an irreverent smile, then felt the smile fade as Arteris turned to Sir Graybow. “My mages, Sir Graybow, plan to search for Auroch with their rapidly failing magicks. I pray my castellan can devise a more reliable plan. What do you plan to do, castellan?”
A gentle smile tugged at the corners of Graybow’s mouth, as though he had been waiting to be asked that question. “My scouts have discovered someone who—I am convinced—will know the whereabouts of Teryl Auroch,” Sir Graybow said slowly. Jo felt her heart begin to pound uncomfortably. A rushing noise filled her ears. “I intend to send Squire Menhir and Master Briarblood after the man.”
Sir Graybow paused, the grim, determined smile deepening across his lips. “The man is Sir Brisbois.”
Chapter VII
“Have you lost your senses?” Arteris raved at Sir Graybow. She looked away; her lips pressing into a thin line. Regaining her composure, Arteris leaned toward the castellan and splayed her hands across the wide expanse of table before her. “Tell me. Sir Graybow,” the baroness asked sarcastically, “by what logic do you send an untrained squire after a former knight who is, by all accounts, a man of dishonor and treachery?” Arteris arched her eyebrow.
Johauna hurriedly took the last step separating her from Sir Graybow. She raised her hand and was about to speak, but the castellan caught her wrist and flashed his eyes at her. Jo pursed her lips and kept silent. The castellan gave her hand a brief squeeze as he released it, then turned to Baroness Penhaligon.
“My logic, Your Ladyship,” Sir Graybow responded drily, “is this: Brisbois, for all his dishonor and treachery, is a coward—no match in battle for my squire and her associate. Furthermore, Brisbois is merely a tag for the whereabouts and weaknesses of Teryl Auroch and Verdilith, the true villains. While Squire Menhir and Braddoc are pursuing Brisbois, I need every other experienced knight and squire to guard the castle against further attack from the mage and the dragon. You yourself said that the castle’s security was paramount.”
“I did, indeed,” Arteris said, lifting her hands from the table and standing erect. She drew a breath in preparation to speak, but Graybow was already talking.
“And, most importantly, I am your castellan and have been for many years now. I have every faith that my squire and her companion are best suited for this task. If you have faith in me as your castellan, you should have faith in my choice of assignment.” Lile Graybow lifted his bushy eyebrows slightly and stared at Arteris.
The baroness blinked stoically. Her expression remained inscrutable for a long moment. Finally, she coughed once, delicately, and said, “You are correct in your assumption that I have every faith in you, Sir Graybow.” She fixed her penetrating gaze on the castellan. “As such, I will extend that faith to your squire. But know you this, Sir Graybow—” Arteris pointed at the castellan “—I do not want to discover that this choice of yours has been dictated by either infatuation or senility. Do I make myself clear?”
Sir Graybow bowed low. “Yes, Your Ladyship, you do. And no, you will not.” Jo caught the briefest trace of a smile lingering around the castellan’s lips.
“In that case, Sir Graybow,” Arteris said wryly, “I suggest you adjourn to brief Squire Menhir and Master Braddoc. I wish to talk with these—” there was the briefest pause “—mages. Please attend me later tonight.” The baroness nodded dismissal to Jo, Braddoc, and the castellan, then turned to the mages. Jo saw Aranth actually squirm before she turned to follow Sir Graybow out the room.
The castellan maintained a quick pace through the halls and stairwells that led to their chambers, despite the lack of adequate light. “This will take some getting used to,” he murmured when he discovered that one hall was virtually unlit. He stopped, put his hand on Jo’s arm, and squeezed it. Graybow said gruffly, “We’ve a lot to discuss tonight, Jo. I suppose I should have asked first if you wanted to go—”
Jo shook her head vehemently, unable to see much of Sir Graybow’s expression in the dark. She gripped the man’s hand. “No, sir,” she said strongly, “I do want this opportunity—I do! If you won’t let me hunt Verdilith yet, I can avenge Flinn’s honor if not his death—”
Sir Graybow raised a gnarled forefinger in warning. “No, there will be no talk of that,” he said sternly. “I am sending you after Brisbois to bring him in, not to seek vengeance.” Sir Graybow’s voice had a hard edge to it that Jo had never heard him use with her. “Understood?”
Conflicting emotions warred within Johauna, and for a moment she couldn’t respond. Then she quelled all her thoughts and said lightly, “Of course, Sir Graybow. You can count on me.”
Something in her tone made Sir Graybow pause to look at the young woman, but the darkness hid her expression. “Jo … ?” he began, his voice like a low growl.
Jo closed her eyes and felt her skin flush. “Yes, sir?” she forced herself to say with just the right degree of concern.
The castellan peered at her once more, then, seemingly satisfied, he turned down the hall. Jo and Braddoc fell in step beside him.
Early dawn found Jo and Braddoc mounted on horse and pony and traveling south on the smooth, hard-packed Duke’s Road. Only a few ruts, puddles, and frost boils hampered the steady, ground-eating canter they set for the animals. The road was the finest thoroughfare around and was used by almost anyone traveling across Penhaligon. Originating in Specularum, to the south, the Duke’s Road worked its way north through Kelvin, on through the southern Wulfholdes to Penhaligon, then through the Wulfholdes again as it wound its way north to the Altan Tepes Mountains.
The River Hillfollow bordered the western edge of the Duke’s Road. Its bank had come alive with a flush of vivid green as the trees burst into leaf. The Wulfholdes surrounding Jo and Braddoc seemed pale by contrast, though a few tenacious shrubs and grasses dotted the shale slopes. Jo glanced at the river, her eyes drawn by the glint of sparkling waters. She remembered they’d have to cross that river to get to the tiny village of Rifllian, which was just on the other side of Castle Kelvin to the south. Brisbois was supposed to be hiding in the village. She turned to Braddoc.
“There’s a ford at Kelvin, isn’t there?” Jo asked.
Braddoc nodded, his long-legged pony cantering to keep up with Carsig’s stride. “Aye, there is,” the dwarf replied. “We’ll cross the river there, and then the Duke’s Road branches westward. We take that into Rifllian.”