Keelan whistled softly. “And instead of two dead to mourn, they have two live embittered people reminding everyone daily of the insult simply by being alive and present.”
“Yes. Geavon says that there’s no doubt this time. The whole of South Coast and its clan is seething. Allied keeps are sending men. They see it as not only an insult to the clan but also a clear indication of just how the keeps and their lords are disregarded. Franzo is already assembling an army. If we don’t get out of Kars now, we’ll be under siege.”
“But if we do, what guarantee is there that it will work out our way?” Aisling questioned. “We need to see Kirion stripped of his sorcery and dead. Shastro deposed at the least. I daresay Franzo would like to ensure Shastro’s death, but what does he do about Kirion?”
“What? Kill him too, I’d think.”
Aisling shook her head. “Kee?”
“No. Kirion will say he merely obeyed his duke as is his oath. He will spread his hands and look innocent. He’ll be horrified at the things Shastro forced him to do. He’ll wriggle, use his power to cloud minds and issues. He’ll hole up in his tower and make sure he’s forgotten. When a new duke is in place and things calm down he’ll drift out again. Once he finds what the new ruler wants most, what his weaknesses are, he’ll move in on them. In a year or two it will be ‘my Lord Duke,’ and ‘my dear advisor’ all over again.”
Hadrann looked from one to the other. “And you both think that will happen?” They nodded. “So we need to stay.” His voice was heavy. “But not here in the palace; there are too many eyes. Better we take a small estate in Palace Lane.” He studied the last page of Geavon’s missive. “According to this, Franzo could arrive in another week if he’s moved almost impossibly fast. But Geavon thinks three weeks is more like it. Aisling, you and I will go out to consider houses this minute. Kee, I want you to ride to Geavon.”
“For supplies?”
“Clever man. Yes. Take a couple of packhorses. Hire them if you have to. Buy food made to last. Nothing fancy, siege food: journey bread, spiced sausage, dried meat, hard cheese. Get what you can from Geavon and buy the rest carefully. Not too much of anything from the one market stall. We’ll try to find a storage place in whatever house we move to, a hidden cellar or secret room perhaps, one that can be secured and spell-hidden.”
“What of servants?” Aisling asked. “The three guards we had at Jam’s perhaps. The brothers and their cousin. They aren’t clever men, but they’re solid. If they take our money they’ll not betray us.”
Hadrann nodded. “Good idea. I’ll start looking at estates, you find the three guards and see if you can hire them.” He turned to Keelan and grinned briefly. “Hire a woman too if Geavon can recommend one who doesn’t mind getting her hands dirty and would be loyal. Bring her back with you.”
“Anything else you’d like me to haul to Kars? A few guard dogs maybe, or would you prefer geese?”
“Geese are a good idea,” Aisling said seriously. “They’re excellent watchdogs, they won’t cost to keep, and they taste a lot better than dog meat if we get desperate.”
Her brother groaned. “Why didn’t I keep my big mouth shut? I have to bring back half a pack train of siege supplies, a woman who’ll probably boss us about, and a herd of geese to keep us awake half the night.”
“A flock,” Aisling said absently. “Geese come in flocks. You could bring a half dozen hens too.”
Keelan stared at her in horror. “I’m going, in fact I’m gone, before you think up any more awful ideas.” He vanished through the door with the air of a hunted man. The two left behind laughed.
“Hens!” Hadrann said, grinning. “Do you have any idea of what house we should hire?”
Aisling grinned. “I do. Come and look at it first. If you don’t think it’s right we can split up. You keep looking, and I’ll find the guards we want. But I remember Merrian, Varra’s granddaughter’s best friend, talking about it one afternoon when I was chatting with Lady Varra. Merrian’s family keeps the house because they have to. Something about her great-grandfather’s will. He was a merchant, and I think she’s a little ashamed of that.”
“Merrian’s at court now?”
“Yes, her whole family is in the palace. I’ll talk to her at once.” She departed, to return three hours later, brandishing a ring of keys.
“Perfect timing. Merrian and her lot are leaving on a tour of family outside of Kars. They leave in three days and they don’t expect to be back for a month.”
“By which time if Franzo’s army has arrived, they won’t be getting into Kars to rejoin us.”
“No. Merrian says to look over the house. If we like it we can rent it by the quarter year. I didn’t tell her we were planning to live in it ourselves. She’d have wondered why we’d want to leave our suites in the palace. I said we were expecting family and needed a place to put the servants and lesser family members.”
“Good work. Let’s go and look over the place.”
They did so, enjoying the chance to leave the court awhile. They peered into every corner of the old house, walked about the grounds, and forced open long unused doors to various sheds. The place was a good size as to grounds. Perhaps five acres enclosed by an immensely thick stone wall built from huge stone blocks. Aisling looked at that. The original builder must have been paranoid, she thought. Or else he’d had some very dangerous enemies.
Around the house the land was landscaped with a formal garden and beds of brightly flowered shrubs, many of them with medicinal uses. But there was ample land left unused. Someone had planted that with lassin grass. The grass grew rapidly to some three inches before stopping until it was grazed down again. Then it swiftly grew back. Geese and hens would do well left here to live as free-range birds, Aisling thought.
She looked back at the house. It was two storied. Hadrann had counted seven bedrooms in the main family section, all double-sized with their own hearths. The servants quarters had another two and a small dormitory. The house was massively built, like its surrounding wall, and old. It would have secrets. And with Merrian’s attitude, perhaps secrets no longer remembered. She returned to the building, found an empty room, and locked the door. She took out her pendant, called the mists, and chanted softly, allowing her power and her will to fuse with her question.
“Let what is hidden be revealed. Let that which is shut be laid open to me.” She sank into the silver mist, opened her inner eyes, and saw. Here and there in the rooms, gold light flickered. She noted all the places it indicated, then turned her inner eye to the grounds about the house. Under an edge of the house, extending well out across a corner of lawn she could see the light outline a shape. She followed that with the inner eye. It carried on under the house and out again.
Aisling studied the area, memorized the outlines and dimensions carefully before relaxing. The silver mist slipped away as she tucked her pendant back in concealment. She wondered if Merrian had even known that her despised house had what seemed likely to be large cellars. Hadrann could be heard walking down the corridor toward the room. Aisling unlocked the door and seized his arm.
“This may be better than we knew. I spelled to seek out hidden places here. I expected hides within the walls. Any merchant would have those. But I think there are cellars as well.” She recalled the thin line of gold that had arrowed away to the surrounding wall. “There may even be an escape tunnel. Oh, let’s go and look quickly. I can pay Merrian this evening before her family leaves, if I’m right.”
Hadrann laughed, catching her hand in his. They ran along the passage and down to where the large ancient kitchen stood in all its stone-slab paved glory. Hadrann looked down. That was interesting. He could vaguely remember something he’d seen once as a young boy. His father had taken him to visit friends in a keep far south. They had a keep kitchen that was paved with large flat stone slabs. The keep’s heir and Hadrann had run and played, and his friend had shown him a secret.