Retribution

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Several men were still intently questioning the prospector. They huddled around him, some asking new questions, others seeking clarification. They were officers and senior enlisted men, and it didn’t appear the session would end soon. When the prospector’s eye found Hannah, a flash of fear crossed his features, and he talked faster.

She would also speak to him, but later, and alone. She had an envelope with a powder that encouraged truth in her backpack, and it would make the man believe he liked her and wanted to please her. But, she couldn’t use it with others nearby. Nobody must know of her powers because they were far more effective if people didn’t know. She shunted the opinion most held of magic to the side.

Brice jogged a few steps and joined her. She briefed him, and they agreed to verify what the army learned before making rash decisions. He said, “The main trail is out as far as I’m concerned. It’s a death trap, and I’d rather go all the way back to Calverton and take a ship to Wren.”

“Probably a month. I don’t have that long,” she said.

“The traps waiting on the second path also mean certain death. Two mages are waiting to release a landslide where workers weakened the hillside. They intend to release it after we pass. They also control a rope bridge over a gorge with no other way around. We’ll be trapped with no way out. You are the only target, but they don’t care how many others die, as long as you do.”

Hannah said, “There’s supposed to be a third way. A way they don’t know about.”

“Then with all these paths in the mountains, why haven’t people used Eagle’s Nest Pass in the past? It should be a trade route, even if only used in summer.”

“I think they did, long ago. Then somebody blocked it off, and the monastery was originally a military outpost built to prevent people from traveling from one kingdom to the other. Why? Either gold or power, it matters little which. Over time people who knew of it died, and the knowledge wasn’t passed on.” Hannah took them into the building where the kitchen had stood, the short battle fought, and Brice’s fireballs thrown.

It had burned. The roof had caved in, and only blackened beams and portions of the walls remained where the kitchen had stood. She moved on and examined the rest of the monastery. The long, narrow stone buildings connected to each other. Some connected with two or more, leaving small courtyards sandwiched between. The fire had destroyed only a single section, but most of the buildings were in terrible shape. Roofs had caved in places and sagged in others. In a few more winters, only the stone walls would stand.

It made her sad, like watching a ship sink or making its last voyage. She tried to imagine what it had been like years earlier and failed. Another thought came to mind. Had Princess Elenore discovered the building and the route between kingdoms before or after the monks abandoned it? The stories said after, but Hannah had doubts.

She could imagine either scenario occurring, and her mind still chewed on those ideas when a pair of soldiers escorted the man who claimed to be a prospector to her. They quickly bound his feet and hands, at her direction, withdrew, leaving them in a small room, alone.

With a glance at Brice for confirmation that he was prepared for her inquisition, she said, “Do you understand that if you lie, you will never leave this room?” She waved an arm around at the burned husk of the building where they stood. The stink of the burned building permeated the air. The fire had driven away animals and quieted the insects. The silence was as alien and frightening as the blackened timbers.

He nodded.

Brice slowly stepped back and focused his full attention on Hannah. She clasped her hands behind her back and spoke directly to the imitation prospector, “I am going to ask only a few questions because those are the only answers I care about knowing from you. Then I’m going to use a magic spell I brought from Gallium to determine if you’ve told me the truth.”

The mention of a spell scared him. His posture shifted slightly, and his eyes darted to Brice as if asking him to intervene. Hannah decided the prospector had lied and had intended to do so again.

She half-turned to Brice. “This is my head knight.”

The introduction gave her stature in his eyes, putting her on an equal royal level with Elenore. She waited until that registered, then continued as casually as if choosing the color of a dress to wear, “If he lies, or hides information, or tries to deceive me in any manner, kill him. The manner is up to you.”

“As you wish, Princess.”

For once, Brice responded exactly as required, although she doubted he would do as directed. She looked at him for a brief second, and then she doubted herself. Brice might do it. She drew a breath and turned back to the prisoner. “I heard there is a third trail to Wren.”

He swallowed and nodded.

“Only you know of it?”

“Yes.”

“That sounds hard to believe.” She took a threatening step nearer him.

“True! I swear it.”

Hannah slowed and asked, “Why should I believe you?”

The words tumbled from him, “They knew about the two trails and placed guards on them. They killed anyone who tried getting past. I figured they were hiding a treasure here and decided to find another way to Eagle’s Nest so I could try to steal it.”

That sounds like the truth. She said, “So you were a ‘prospector,’ in a way. Or a potential thief, not an officer.”

“I found some old maps. A man in our village had them.”

“One showed the third way to the pass?”

“Yes. It begins a full day north of the others, so in the old days it would be faster from our village, but not for most others.”

“Why didn’t you tell Princess Elenore or Lord Jeffery about it?”

The torrent of words came to an abrupt halt. He’s hiding something. “Remember your life depends on telling me the truth. All of it.”

He hung his head in shame. “I was hoping I could sell it to them. I waited for the right time.”

Again, the truth. “That time never came?”

“I thought it might when we heard you were on the way from Peermont. But things happened too fast, and they were going to kill me along with the rest.” His face turned redder, and he acted like a child who had just said too much.

She reviewed the response and considered his fear, but none of it accounted for the physical response. The rest? “Tell me about the rest.”

He tried looking at her face and failed. His eyes dropped to the stone floor, and the voice that had been so firm and decisive turned to slush. “The workers and servants—most of them. When Princess Elenore heard you were coming with an army behind you, she ordered her guards to kill all but her favorites because they would slow her down … and tell tales she didn’t want others to hear.”

“She didn’t kill you.”

“I was bait. Not my choice. She made me do it.”

How many times in history was the excuse that someone else made him do it, been used? But in this case, it sounded truthful. His whole story sounded the same. He was an opportunist and fortune seeker, but neither of those was a crime. He sold his integrity for life, a choice many would make. “Where are they? The dead?”

He pointed to a fallen wall, and the trees behind it.

She asked, “Who warned them I was coming?”

“A young man. He’d been brought here before when the Princess found out he was telling tales about you and knew where you were hiding. They became friends. He went to Peermont to help set a trap for you there. They say the Princess sent him with a mule carrying so much gold the animal could hardly walk.”

Jam. It had to be Jam. She turned to Brice. “Go see what’s behind those trees.” Then, as she fumbled in her backpack, she continued, “Now, I’m getting that truth spell out. Before I administer it, is there more you wish to tell, or that I need to know?”

An odd noise erupted from behind her. She turned to see Brice bent double, hands on knees, his stomach heaving. He shuffled a step back, then another, his eyes centered on something Hannah couldn’t see—and didn’t want to.

He spun and walked on wobbly legs until he stood before her. “Laid out in a row like firewood. A few evergreen branches over them to hide the frozen bodies, but scavengers found them. Wolves, maybe. And others. A few crows, but I don’t know why crows are up here.”

“Crows?” There had been one that warned her, but that was far down the mountain. She turned to her prisoner. “Was there a sorceress with her? Ever?”

“Yes.”

Spies. Damn crows. “Brice, go find the general and tell him you need poison. Place it where the crows will eat it and have archers kill every crow they can. I want them all dead.”

At her words, Brice fled. He understood what she needed and sprinted away.

Hannah turned back to the prospector. “I didn’t know that was important or I would have told you,” the man begged, tears streaming down his cheeks.

“I believe you.”

“I didn’t kill any of them. I just bargained my way free of joining them.”

She took pity on him. “I might have done the same.”

He shook his head. “No, you’re an honorable woman. You would have dared them to try and kill you two times as if once wasn’t enough. Use your magic on me. You’ll see I’m telling the truth.”

Hannah almost felt using the spell a waste. If her instincts were worth anything, the prisoner acted as most would, trying to save his life. His pursuit of wealth was no crime.

The spell took hold and his eyes glazed. She questioned him, but from the first, his answers confirmed the story. One question she’d failed to ask was answered when she wanted to know if there was anything else he knew that might help them reach Wren.

He said that he had hidden the map he’d spoken of. It was nearby.

Archers were sneaking through the forest behind her. She only noticed because more than one reacted as Brice had. One ran to her and said, “There were four crows. We got them all. Are there more?”

She repeated the question to the prisoner.

“I don’t know.”

“How many do you remember seeing?”

“Three.”

Hannah knew a fourth crow had been sent to warn her. She said, “Put out the poison, just in case. Have everyone watch for them. I think they are being used to watch us and report to our enemies, so finding them is important. Make sure you kill any you see.”

She dismissed the soldier and continued her interrogation, but found nothing he’d lied about or anything else but the map he concealed. She broke the spell’s hold and told him the results.

Hannah took him by his arm and allowed the man to lead her to the main trail that went to Wren, and across the trail to where a cedar, taller than others, grew. He retrieved a small package in a waterproof wrapping from a notch where a low branch joined the trunk,. He handed it to her.

She unrolled a detailed map, without more than glancing at it out of fear the man might attempt escape, but he didn’t. He stood and waited.

Together, they took the map to the general, and she quickly explained all. Two officers joined them and studied the map that was spread on a small table rescued from the monastery. Oddly, with the shelter from the cold at hand, nobody seemed to wish to venture inside for the night. She glanced to where the bodies were and found shovels and picks had been located and men were trying to dig in the frozen ground to bury them. She also noticed a ring of archers, their eyes searching the trees and sky, arrows ready to fly.

The general interrupted her silence, “Princess Hannah, how certain are you of this map?”

“It looks old. Unless this man was enchanted in some fashion, it is completely true. I used a spell I brought with me to make sure he didn’t lie, but there is a faint possibility he is under a different spell and does not know he is lying.”

One of the officers spoke up, “Sir, I’ve studied geology and cartography. A person without my knowledge would draw a map with water misrepresented in numerous ways. Water either flows downhill or is contained, a simple concept but one hard to fake on a map. Every river and stream on this map is accurately depicted, if that helps.”

“Princess, it’s your decision—and ours to obey,” the general said.

“We depart at dawn. Have your men rest and eat well from the supplies in the monastery. Take additional supplies, the north trail will be longer and more rugged.”

The word was passed. Brice soon returned, his eyes quick to look to the sky. He said, “I heard the plans. We follow the main trail for half a day before we find the other. I don’t like that.”

She pointed to the west where a pair of white peaks speared the sky. On either side, more peaks rose as high, or higher. “We can’t go over those.”

“That is another natural place for a trap or ambush.”

“I think they will know the men will be fresh and on guard when we reach there. Plus, they’ll know we’ll be extra vigilant in such a confined space. If it was me, I’d let us tire and get overconfident and sloppy, so I’d set my first ambush farther along.”

“You’re beginning to talk like the general.”

She shrugged. “The good news is that right after we go between those two mountains, we veer off the main trail, and we should be safer. With luck, Elenore won’t know I’m in Wren until I’m there.”

“Have you ever met her? You’ve never said.”

“I believe she came to Sir James’s rooms when I first entered the palace and insulted me. I got angry and made her curtsy to me in front of her friend.”

“Is that what this is all about?”

She considered, then relented. “No. It just adds another layer to her hatred of me.”

“All because she wants to be Queen.”

Hannah again shook her head. “No, that’s not it. She was born with the anticipation of being crowned. She knew the King’s son would abdicate because he was weak. My father was a great mage, and he would refuse to take the crown to order to pursue his work. My uncles were too old, and she was next in line. Her entire childhood was centered on training to wear the crown. Every person in the King’s Palace treated her as a queen-in-waiting.”

“And then you came along.”

“Before Sir James died, he told me about her. He said there was a flaw in her character, and that flaw was that she believed she was as wonderful and great as everyone told her. He said she could never rule with compassion.”

Brice said, “You have compassion, she has the training. Together, you could rule the world.”

“Apart, I don’t know if either of us can rule a small kingdom.” Hannah turned her head away to hide the tears.