“What?” cried Cricket. She pointed at Wrestler. “So he can rape me while I sleep?”
Diriel seemed offended. “Child, haven’t you heard me? This is where you are safe, not out there. Outside these walls you’re a deer to be hunted. Inside you belong to me, and no one touches what is mine.”
I looked at Wrestler. “Listen good, shit-eater. I don’t need sleep. I’m going to be up all night standing guard over her. You’re fast with your hands, I’ll give you that, but it won’t be a fair fight next time. You come after her, you’ll lose your head. Understand?”
Wrestler winked to mock me.
“Gargoyle, I asked if you understand me.”
“I understand.”
Grecht hurried forward and took Cricket’s hand, trying to lead her out of the throne room. She pulled free of him, glaring as though I’d betrayed her.
“Go with him,” I ordered. “I’ll be along.”
Pleased, Diriel relaxed as he watched Cricket taken from the chamber. “Think hard tonight, Sir Lukien,” he advised. “If you can get me the monster, we can part ways happy men.”
“And you’ll guarantee Cricket’s safety?” I asked.
“For as long as you’re here,” agreed the king. “After that, I guarantee nothing.”
18
I didn’t sleep at all that night.
We spent the first half of it arguing-me, Cricket, and Malator. Cricket was angrier than I’d ever seen her, blaming me for risking her life and dragging us all to Diriel’s hellhole in the first place. There was nothing I could do to defend myself. My mission was folly. I knew that the first moment I set eyes on Diriel. Now I had trapped us in a castle of horrors, where our host was a cannibal, and his henchman planned to hunt us the moment we left the grounds. Worse, I had learned almost nothing about the monster. I tried to apologize to Cricket but my words were stale. Up till now Cricket had always believed me, but this time I had truly blundered, and I knew that she wished she had never come with me to Akyre or ever agreed to be my squire.
We didn’t eat that night either. Grecht brought food to our dismal little room, a tray of gray meat, hard bread, and some fruit that wasn’t even ripe yet. Cricket and I took one look at the indistinguishable meat and wondered what, or who, it had come from. Food didn’t matter anyway. Cricket was too afraid to eat, and I couldn’t think about anything other than finding a way out. I stared out of the single dingy window, watching night collapse on the courtyard below. The tiny room felt like a prison cell. Malator stood by the door, fully visible to both me and Cricket, scratching his non-existent beard as he considered things. Cricket stretched out on one of the two hard beds, staring up at the ceiling, refusing to look at me.
“We’re going back to Isowon,” I said finally. This was after an hour of arguing, with no good suggestions from anyone.
“Why?” asked Cricket. “Didn’t you already burn that bridge?”
“We have to warn them,” I said. “Marilius was right about Diriel. He was right about everything. Diriel’s insane. He’s going after Isowon no matter what he says.”
“He wants the monster,” said Malator. “Maybe if he thinks you’ll get it for him, it’ll buy Isowon some time.”
I turned away from the window to look at him. “Tell me right now: is that possible? A straight answer, Malator. Can that thing be controlled? Can it hear what we say to it? Can it think?”
“I don’t know, Lukien, truly,” said Malator. He didn’t bother lowering his voice; the castle was so empty no one was listening. “You should have found out more about it from Diriel. He knows things.”
“He doesn’t know Fallon tore up his ancestors’ graves for it,” Cricket snorted.
“The creature comes from an Akyren tomb,” said Malator. “But it’s not some dead king. And it’s not a spirit, either. It’s something more powerful.”
“A demon, you said.”
“There are all sorts of demons, Lukien. All sorts of hells. But there is one thing I can tell you for sure: Diriel can’t bargain with you for the souls of those men. Those men are gone.”
“Gone where?”
“To whatever hell they believe in here. To the same realm the creature comes from, maybe. Remember what Marilius told you-the mummia only worked once the monster came.”
“How many of those legionnaires does Diriel have, you suppose? I counted at least twenty in his throne room.”
“More than that, surely,” said Malator. “If he’s planning on attacking Anton Fallon, he’ll need far more than that.”
“Well, we know they can die,” I said. “That’s something at least.”
Cricket sat up with a groan. “Why do you care, Lukien?” She rolled to the side of the bed. “You don’t know these people. You don’t owe them anything. Malator’s right-there’s nothing you can do for them. Let’s just get out of here.”
“Back to Isowon?” Malator asked.
“Right.”
“What about Sky Falls?” asked Cricket. “What about your promise, Lukien? I’m just starting to remember stuff. If I can just see the Falls again, maybe it’ll all come back to me.”
“And maybe it won’t,” I said sharply. “Has coming here helped your memory at all? You haven’t said.”
“No, but why would it? I’m sure I never came here before. No one could forget this place!”
“You forgot your mother and father. You forgot your family’s name.”
“I remembered the Bloody Knot.”
“And nothing else. We’ve been traveling for days, and that’s the only thing you remember.” I lowered my voice. “We’ll go to Sky Falls when we can, if we’re lucky and no one follows us out of here. We’ll see.”
Cricket scowled but said nothing. She flopped back on the bed.
“Diriel will want his answer in the morning,” said Malator. “What are you going to tell him, Lukien?”
Every option seemed dismal. “I need to think,” I sighed and went back to staring out the window.
* * *
Cricket slept, and I watched over her as I’d promised, tipping back on the legs of my chair with the Sword of Angels in my lap and no one to keep me company. Malator had disappeared back into the blade. I could feel him within it, as though he were far away. Outside my dingy window I watched the moon rise and fall, watched the rats skitter across the colonnade. I listened to the wind, like it was crying, wondered if the Kassen slaves were still piled atop each other, and closed my eyes just long enough to picture that man who’d slit his throat the way another might cut a cake. No one came to our room that night, not even Grecht. When the sun finally came up, I welcomed the light until I realized nothing outside my window had changed.
Cricket woke up looking for breakfast, but there wasn’t any, just the untouched tray of inedibles we’d been given the night before. She didn’t apologize, but she didn’t antagonize me anymore, either. She washed her face in a basin of gray water, waiting for me to tell her what kind of plan I’d come up with.
“So?” She dried herself with the inside of her cape. “What’d you decide?”
I was about to answer “Nothing,” when a knock at the door startled us both. Grecht pushed the door aside and peeked in his oversized head. “Sir Lukien? Good morning! Are you ready?”
“For what?”
“Oh, I thought it was clear. King Diriel wishes to speak to you. Right at this moment, please.”
I finally got out of my chair and sheathed my sword. “Our horses ready?”
“In the courtyard. Both fed and rested.” Grecht opened the door wider and stepped aside for us. “Come now.”
Grecht’s smile seemed genuine. Was Diriel really letting us go?
“Let us get our things together,” I said, even though we had almost nothing. Cricket draped her cape around her shoulders and shot me a look of mistrust. All I could do was shrug.
“Where is he?” I asked.
“In the cloister, waiting for you,” said Grecht. “He’s eager for your answer.”
“Take us there,” I ordered. Only I didn’t have an answer. Not really. I spent the night trying to think of one, but Diriel wasn’t going to be reasonable. He’d left reason behind a long time ago.