A Dance of Death

10

Madelyn kissed Tori’s smooth forehead and then wrapped her swaddling blanket tighter as the commotion grew. Her husband had been in his study when the first shouts came from outside the front door, but while he no doubt rushed to investigate, she’d retreated further within her walls, clutching the baby to her chest. Her home was her sanctuary, her place of locked doors and safe walls. Already the Wraith had violated that sanctity. Would someone else be vile enough to do the same?

“Go see what is causing that ruckus,” she told her nursemaid, Lily.

“Of course,” said Lily, hurrying away. Two other servants were with her, and they stood patiently in the corners of the parlor, one tending the fireplace, the other waiting for orders. She tried to put them out of her mind, instead softly singing a lullaby to the already sleeping baby. After three lines, she stopped, for the commotion had grown louder, and Lily returned looking confused, yet trying to hide it.

“Well?” Madelyn asked.

“It’s Alyssa’s guests,” Lily said, the name immediately putting a rock in her stomach. “The newly married couple. They’re both bleeding.”

Madelyn stood, angry she had not been summoned. To have guests in her house injured, yet not brought to her attention? Still, something was off with how Lily was acting. It reminded her of when Lily had been sleeping with one of the guards, that slight hesitance, her unwillingness to stare her in the eye for long.

“What happened to them,” she asked. “Did they tell you?”

“No, but…they are wearing strange clothes. I cannot explain.”

Strange clothes? What nonsense was this?

“Lily,” she said, adopting a pleasant tone that she knew chilled all of her servants. “What are you not telling me?”

The nursemaid bit the top of her lip and held her arms against her waist. She was still a fairly young girl, though the last of her girlishness would be gone within another year or two. But she was young enough to have lingering instincts to obey a motherly figure, and Madelyn shifted her tone.

“Lily. You aren’t in trouble, now tell me what you’re hiding.”

“We were instructed not to speak of it to you.”

“By who?”

“Your husband, milady.”

Madelyn breathed in deep to hold back a retort. If Laurie was hiding something from her…

“His anger will fall on me, not you, now speak.”

Lily glanced to one of the other servant girls, and Madelyn’s ire grew. Their single look showed they both knew. How many kept this secret from her?

“The two have been sneaking out at night,” the third and eldest servant said, standing by the fire. Her face was lined with wrinkles, for she was their midwife, staying in the mansion to ensure all went well with baby Tori. “We’ve seen them using our door. They dress strange, and they got weapons with them when they do.”

“Strange?” Madelyn asked. “What do you mean? Dressed like what?”

Lily looked to the others for support, and she lowered her voice, as if whispering a curse.

“Like thieves.”

Madelyn was out of her seat fast enough to stir Tori, who softly groaned upon waking. Her servants trailed after her as she hurried through the mansion, heading toward the room they’d given Haern and Zusa for their stay. The room was crowded upon her arrival, Torgar standing before the door, several armed men milling about.

“My husband inside?” Madelyn asked, nodding toward the shut door.

“He is.”

“Open it.”

“It’s locked, miss.”

“I said open it.”

Torgar shrugged. Drawing his enormous sword, he used it was a wedge to break the flimsy lock, jarring the door open a crack. Through it, she saw her husband glance at her in the dim lamplight, Alyssa standing beside him. He had a hard look to his face, and she knew he’d been preparing for her discovery. That fact only infuriated her more.

“Will they live?” she asked as he stepped out to join her.

“I believe so,” he said.

“A shame.”

Laurie glared.

“They are guests in our house, Madelyn. Such a callous attitude is unwarranted.”

“Is it? Where’d they come from, Laurie? What is it that nearly got them killed?”

Her husband looked to the gathered house guards, then shook his head.

“Somewhere quiet,” he said.

She followed him back into his study. Only Lily remained when he shut the door, accepting Tori into her arms. Sitting down in one of the several padded chairs, she exposed a breast and began feeding. Even in feeding, Madelyn refused to ever let the baby out of her sight. Laurie glared at her, but was wise enough not to fight that battle given the larger problem with Haern and Zusa…assuming those were even their real names. Already she doubted their relationship to the Gemcrofts.

“What is it you know?” she asked. “Tell me all of it, and no lies. The gods help you if you’ve put Tori in danger.”

“We’re in no danger!” Laurie shouted, the uncharacteristic display startling Madelyn back a step. Feeling naked without Tori in her arms, she crossed them and sat beside Lily. Laurie looked away, and she could see the anger fuming behind his eyes. Good. Only seemed right he be as angry as she was.

“At least, I don’t think so,” he said when he’d calmed. “But things are changing fast, and never did I think the Watcher would be so stupid.”

Madelyn’s jaw nearly hit the floor.

“You brought him here?” she asked. It felt as if her husband were playing a sick joke on her. “But he…I heard Ingram’s announcement. The Watcher was supposed to hang tonight.”

And suddenly his wounds made perfect sense. Overwhelmed with rage, she dug her nails into the flesh of her arm hard enough to draw blood. Her precious mansion, her only place of safety, housed one of the most notorious killers alive?

“He broke out,” she said, and her husband never contradicted her. “And after he broke out he came here. Damn it, Laurie, was he seen?”

Laurie sighed.

“Torgar says they were.”

The words hit her like a blow to the chest.

“He’ll find out,” she said, meaning Ingram. “And then he’ll come here. We can’t be caught housing fugitives, Laurie. We have to turn them over!”

“Alyssa won’t allow that and you know it.”

“Then turn over Alyssa!”

He slapped her, hard. She leaned back in her chair, holding trembling fingers against her bleeding lip.

“Alyssa Gemcroft is a member of the Trifect,” Laurie said. “And the Trifect does not hand over its own, not even to kings. I don’t care how many of the city guard Ingram sends, they won’t cross our walls.”

Panic crept up Madelyn’s spine, and she was helpless to stop it.

“We don’t have enough men,” she said.

“Torgar’s already sent runners to hire every available sellsword in the city, regardless the cost.”

“But the mercenaries are all in league with the merchants. We can’t invite them into our home! They’ll outnumber our house guards!”

“Damn it, woman, enough! Do you think I’m a fool? I have enough problems trying to keep the damn Merchant Lords from ruining us, I need no grief from you. If Violet gains popularity, and it will, what do you think will happen then? If they ever have the coin to challenge us, to spread out beyond Angelport, nothing stays certain. Nothing stays safe. ”

He said the last word with a cruel edge, for he knew her paranoia and phobias. The open sky was a torment. Unlocked doors were a danger. His shouting upset Tori, who released Lily’s nipple and began to wail. Lily shushed her, rocking her back and forth while shifting her to the other breast. Madelyn watched her rub the other nipple across Tori’s upper lip, and she thought of all that might happen because Alyssa had brought the Watcher and his whore with her from Veldaren. She thought of what the city guards might do to such a helpless thing if they came crashing through the doors. It sent her to tears.

“Why?” she asked. “Why are they even here?”

“Who? The two? Alyssa brought them to hunt down the Wraith. It was her gift, to bring Taras’s killer to vengeance.”

“She gives us poison and calls it a gift, and yet she stands equal to you in the Trifect. This is madness, Laurie. Utter madness.”

He went to her and wrapped his arms about her waist. When he kissed her lips, she kissed back out of reflex, and nothing else. They both tasted blood.

“I promise nothing will happen,” he said. “Ingram can only do so much. He needs us, no matter how much he wants to admit it. Without us, our guards, our trade, and our influence, the Merchant Lords would have him hanging naked from a pier for the ravens to tear apart. Without us, he cannot stop Ulrich and his madness from starting a war he can’t hope to win. He’ll bluff and bluster, but the man is a superstitious coward. Do not fear him. When he knows we will not relent, Ingram will turn away.”

“I pray you are right,” she said, pulling away from him so she could join Lily’s side. After Tori was burped, and her bit of spit-up cleaned, Madelyn accepted her back into her arms. Lily covered herself and excused herself from the room. Now fully alone, the two looked at one another, as if neither had anything to say.

“I should go check with the healer,” Laurie said.

“Go then.”

With him gone, she rocked Tori back and forth until the baby slowly settled back into a shallow sleep.

“I’ll keep you safe,” she whispered to the baby. “Always and forever.”

She returned to her own room, summoning her servants. Her arms tired, she passed Tori over to the wet nurse, then waited for the inevitable. After an intolerable length of time, one of her servants came to her, as ordered.

“They’re here,” she said.

Madelyn went to the front parlor, her servants in tow. From the window, she could see the entire front yard, including the gate. At least fifty mercenaries lined the surrounding wall, many of them unfamiliar to her. On the other side stood a contingent of the city guard, and they seemed not at all surprised when Torgar refused to unbar the gate. Madelyn had a servant open the window so she might hear the exchange.

“Not happening,” Torgar said, his deep voice carrying easily. It helped he was shouting, as if he wanted all of Angelport to know he couldn’t give two shits about the city guard. “A few money-grubbing peons come saying one thing, and I got Lord Keenan of the Trifect saying another. Who you think you should be believing?”

The leader of the guard looked flustered, and he tried to match Torgar in both volume and depth. He succeeded at neither.

“We come only to search the premises for murderers wanted by Lord Ingram. Even if your Lord is uninvolved, those we seek might be hiding within.”

“You brought a whole lot to be just searching.”

The guard sneered at him.

“It’s a big mansion.”

Torgar was hardly one to be outdone.

“Well then, let me help you out. My asshole’s pretty big too. Think they’re hiding there?” Down went his trousers. “Here, take a look. You see anything? Come stick your hand up and search; you look like you’d enjoy that sort of thing. Oh damn, right, I’m not a little boy. Ah well, have Ingram come on down instead. He’d probably enjoy a poke.”

Even at her distance, Madelyn could tell the guard leader’s face was beet-red. Beside her, one of the servants blushed and looked away. Madelyn, however, wished she could throttle the big idiot. She wanted them to leave without incident, not be provoked into an unnecessary fight.

“You dare insult…” the guard started to say before Torgar interrupted him.

“Stop it, already. You want in? Well, you aren’t getting in, not unless you come back with a shitload more than what you got. We got walls, gates, and enough swords in here to cut you all down in seconds should you try breaking in. So either draw your blade, man up, and actually do something…or get the fuck out of here.”

Without even waiting for an answer, Torgar put his back to the guard leader and returned to the house, buckling his pants up as he did. Behind him, the guards stood looking strangely helpless. Madelyn held her breath, waiting for their response. Several of them were swearing, and none looked happy, but they marched back toward the castle in formation.

When Torgar stepped through the front doors, Madelyn was there, and she slapped the lug across the face. He smiled down at her with a wolfish grin.

“I wouldn’t do that again, milady,” he said.

“Are you out of your mind?” she asked him, hoping her harsh tone would hide her discomfort. Torgar shrugged as Laurie appeared, having watched from another room.

“No way Ingram gave them orders to fight their way in,” said the mercenary, shooting a glance toward Laurie. “They came all show, no teeth. I figured I’d call them on it, and sure enough, they went running with their dicks tucked between their legs.”

“They’ll be back,” Laurie said. “And you insulted Ingram.”

“He’ll get over it. Now’s your turn to talk your way out of this.”

“And if I can’t?”

Torgar nodded toward the window.

“Then out there, those boys will get to kill themselves a whole lot of city guard. You ain’t even seen a scrap of how many we’ll soon have. Sounds like Ingram tossed the mercenary guild leader into his prison. What I’m hearing, half the sellswords in the city are volunteering up just to get some free food and a shot at payback.”

Madelyn thought of open warfare filling her gardens and walkways with corpses, and blood running like rivers across the carpets of her mansion.

“Like Veldaren,” she said. “Just like Veldaren. She did this. She brought them here, and now we’ll suffer the same madness.”

Laurie swallowed hard.

“Do what needs to be done,” he told Torgar. He looked to Madelyn. “I’m tired, and shall take a rest.”

She knew what that meant. They’d be sleeping in separate rooms that night, which was fine with her. Knowing that her best time to act was now, she went searching for Alyssa. She found her in the room with the two wounded troublemakers, sitting at Zusa’s side. Madelyn smiled sweetly at her.

“How do your cousins fare?”

“Well enough,” Alyssa said, standing. “May I help you?”

“You can,” Madelyn said. “You can leave. Go back to Veldaren, where you belong. My husband doesn’t need your help to handle the likes of Ingram and the merchants. And take these two wretches with you.”

“Watch your tongue…”

“I will speak as I wish in my own household. You are guests, and I am being gracious calling you that. The city guard has left for now, but they’ll come back. Go to Veldaren where you’ll be beyond Ingram’s reach. Don’t treat me like a fool, Alyssa. I know no Gemcroft blood runs in either of their veins. I won’t have you destroy my household just because of some crude attachment to your pet killers.”

Alyssa did not back down, and more shocking, her hand fell to the hilt of a dagger attached to her belt.

“Do not presume to give me orders,” she said. “I will not go running like a coward, nor refuse the protection your husband has offered me. Now, if you please, Haern and Zusa need to rest.”

Madelyn went to the door, but could not resist one last parting shot.

“You should be responsible for your own actions, your own errors. Too often the rest of the Trifect gets dragged down with you.”

“You stupid woman,” Alyssa said. “I’m the one who faced the thieves while you fled. It was my servants who died, my coin that paid for the mercenaries to stand against them. I earned our current peace with blood and gold while you stayed down here in Angelport, so eager in your safety to tell me everywhere I went wrong. Why do you think I’m here, Madelyn? It was your sole task to keep the Merchant Lords in line, and you and your husband have failed spectacularly. You once owned every boat sailing from Angelport, yet now hardly a ship bears your crest. The Merchant Lords have taken your boats, your trade, and now take aim at the last lucrative business you have left. I’ve come to help clean up your mess, and now you accuse me of being the cause of it?”

She reached into her pocket and flung a small bag at her. Madelyn caught it out of pure reflex, but only after it softly smacked against her chest. She barely felt it, so stunned was she.

“Try some Violet,” she said. “Bite down on a leaf and breathe deep, and when you do, imagine what will happen when the value of your crimleaf trade dwindles to nothing because of it. When Connington and I open our coffers to keep your family afloat, we’ll see who drags who down.”

Madelyn crushed the bag in shaking hands, and she heard the sound of crinkling leaves.

“All three of you deserve nothing but the noose,” she said. “One day, my husband will see that.”

Alyssa slammed the door shut in her face.

At first Madelyn wanted to find Tori and hold her to her chest, to cry out all her anger and frustration, but she knew she could not. Not yet. Despite his subtle request for privacy, Madelyn went to their room. It was dark inside, heavy curtains blotting out the little light given off by the setting sun. Laurie lay half-naked across the bed, staring up at the ceiling. He didn’t look at her when he spoke.

“I wish to be alone.”

“I know.”

Her dress fell to the floor. When she climbed into the bed, he tried to resist. She grabbed his wrists, pressed her mouth to his, and straddled him, ending the protest. She let the fire within her take over, riding out her fury as her husband moaned. When he climaxed, she lay atop him, her lips beside his ear.

“We’re losing control,” she whispered in the dark.

“I know.”

“How did it happen? You were feared among even the Trifect. Your cruelty was legendary.”

“Seven long years happened. I never enjoyed it, and here in Angelport, I thought the fear unnecessary. You know that.”

She nestled closer to him, resting a hand atop his chest.

“Your cruelty was a tool, and we need it back. Everyone is against us: Ingram, the Merchant Lords, the elves, that murderous Wraith; even Alyssa. We can’t trust them, not any of them. We were meant to rule. You were meant to rule. Can you not do so?”

Laurie sighed, and she could tell he was staring at the ceiling, searching through his thoughts for the right words to say. That alone told her she wouldn’t like what she would hear.

“Alyssa is one of the few left we can trust, Madelyn. And the elves are helping us, just as we are helping them. Did you not know?”

Madelyn felt her blood run cold.

“We help the elves? How?”

“Alyssa helped pay, but I secured places for the elves to stay within the city. We need their aid in stopping the Violet from spreading across Dezrel. If the merchants ever gained access to their forests, and start growing it in crops…”

Madelyn felt a chill run through her as she thought of what Ingram would do if he ever discovered their involvement. She thought to challenge Laurie over this, but then bit her tongue. Her hand reached under her pillow, to where she kept her dagger.

“You’re not the man I married,” she said.

“I suppose not, but neither are you the wife I once knew.”

She plunged the dagger into his throat. He caught her wrists when it was an inch in, blood pooling about the tip. His neck tightened, and his eyes flared wide as he fought against her.

“Just stop,” Madelyn said as she flung all her weight into the thrust. Tears ran down her face. “Please, stop, just stop, just let it go.”

The tip sank further in. He tried to scream, but all he could do was let out a quiet gurgle as he choked. He shifted his weight, but if there was any part of her stronger than her husband, it was her thighs, and she straddled him as she had only moments ago. His whole body began to shake violently. His eyes met hers, and she refused to look away despite the horror she saw. Despite the betrayal.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered as his strength faded, and he could no longer stop the blade from sinking another inch. Her lips brushed his ear as blood smeared across her bare breasts. “But you aren’t strong enough to save us. Tori needs better. I need better.”

She stabbed again and again, turning and shredding flesh. I do this for Taras, she thought. I do this for his child. When her dagger revealed bone, she finally stopped. All at once, it seemed the room was painfully quiet. Only her breath broke the silence, that and the soft patter of blood dripping from the drenched sheets to the floor. Madelyn felt something lurking heavy above her, like an animal ready to pounce, but she could not relent. She had to be strong, stronger than Laurie had ever been. Steeling herself, she took the dagger, knelt on the floor, and began to draw.

Taras, she thought, even as she scrawled the symbol left by his killer. For you, Taras.

It wasn’t hard, the drawing. It’d only been burned into her memory, only haunted her eyes every time she looked to the little baby girl left in her care.

Compared to that, tearing Laurie’s body to pieces was a simple but tiresome measure, especially with only a dagger to do the cutting. It had to match, she thought. Had to be perfect. Everything felt detached, her own actions that of a stranger. Was it really her twisting and pulling until an elbow joint snapped, and the bloody flesh tore free? Was it really her jamming a dagger into her husband’s eye sockets? The tears running down her face, dripping into the innards spilling across the carpet, were the only thing that convinced her she was still human.

At last she stood in the center of the room, her naked body hopelessly stained red, her arms coated up to the elbow with gore. The hours had passed, each one threatening to crush her completely. The heavy weight felt closer, more dangerous. It clung to her shoulders, dragged at her arms, and threatened to tear away her eyelids so she’d see everything she’d done in that horrible room. That detached feeling was gone, though she wished for it to return. Yes, it was her husband that lay before her.

Not done yet, she thought as panic clawed her throat. She slid underneath their bed, stabbed a hole into the feather mattress, and then shoved the dagger inside. In the darkness, she could barely see but for the dim glow of a single lamp she’d lit. Removing it from its hook upon the wall, she set it on the ground so its light would spread underneath the bed. Dipping her hands in her wash basin to clean them, she retrieved a needle and some thread from their closet, crawled underneath, and began the painstaking process of sewing the mattress shut.

No one could know. No one could ever know.

With that done, she put everything away. Taking her husband’s sword from the decorative crest above their dresser, she clutched the scabbard and breathed in deep. With three hits she smashed open a window, then put the sword back it in its place. At last, she was free. At last, she could invite the torment in, let the realization of what she’d done consume her like a brutal fire. Again and again she screamed, letting free every bit of her grief, fury, and loss.

In moments, the door burst open.

“He said he’d kill me if I made a noise,” Madelyn sobbed, Laurie’s horrific corpse held lovingly in her naked arms. “He said…he said…”

Her wail echoed throughout the mansion as guards poured in, once more baffled and furious at their inability to stop the Wraith from killing.