Treachery of Kings

FORTY-EIGHT

…It seemed as if his screams were inside his head as well, as if a horde of demons were in there, clawing, ripping, tearing at his skull. The pain tore like a fiery bolt from his head to his chest, exploded in his belly, cut, sliced through every tendon, every muscle, burst every vessel, snapped every bone.

He could feel himself flailing helplessly about, feel his body smashing against the stone wall, quaking, shaking, jerking this way and that.

The agony seemed to last forever, as if it had always been. Then, an eternity later, Sigdin was vaguely aware he was lying there, staring at the ceiling, wondering who he might be, and where he might have been…

"You, whatever your foul name is, cet over there now, cut the Mycer free or I'll boil your blood on the spot!”

The Guardsman's eyes went wide. Cadigar wasn't afraid of much, but he was terrified by the seer. Obern Oberbyght's chubby finger trembled before his face, and he could feel a great mass of spiders, flies, and pale wet worms squirming about inside his head.

He hesitated for scarcely a blink, then rushed to the Mycer, stumbling over his friend. Without even thinking of his knife, he snapped the cords from her throat with his hands, and set her straight on the stool.

Letitia gasped, filling her lungs with the precious air. Finn gave a joyous cry that ended in a strangle and a choke.

“Damn you, this is not your business, seer!”

Maddigern clutched his fists at his sides, scarcely able to contain his rage.

“It is, indeed my business, and you're the one damned, not I.”

Oberbyght pushed Maddigern roughly aside, ran to Finn and sliced the cords about his throat with a small silver blade. Finn tried to mutter his thanks, but the words came out dry as dust.

In spite of his anger, and his greater strength, Maddigern made no effort to lay a hand on the seer. One of his Guardsmen lay jerking about on the floor. The other stood trembling, his back against the wall, staring at nothing at all.

“Both of your louts will be fine,” said Obern Ober-byght, following Maddigern's wary glance. “If I intended them harm, you couldn't sweep them up with a broom by now.

“What is this about, Maddigern? You've committed torture here, dire affliction, and one step short of murder, it would seem. If I hadn't appeared-”

“Murder, is it?” The Badgie stepped back and thrust an accusing finger at the floor.

“Open your eyes, sorcerer. Murder's what brought me here!”

When the Badgie's shadow vanished from the wall, Oberbyght saw the body there, eyes glazed in death, the blood now a necklace of black about its throat.

“Dostagio?” The seer frowned at Finn for a moment, then turned his gaze on Maddigern again.

“He killed this poor fellow? Is that what you're saying?”

“No. I did not,” Finn said. “He knows that as well.”

“Would it be too much to ask,” Julia said, flailing her body about, rattling golden scales against her cage, “for someone to get me down from here? This is a most improper position, and quite undignified.”

“I think you will stay as you are for the moment,” said the seer. “You look proper enough to me.”

“I am unjustly confined!” Julia protested, snapping at the iron bars.

“Julia, you'll be all right,” Letitia said from across the room. “Truly you will.”

“My legs and arms are numb,” Finn said. “I can't feel a thing. If you won't release me, at least see to her.”

“No one's getting released,” Maddigern said. “You are held under the King's law.”

The seer, too, ignored Finn's plea. “You saw him kill Dostagio? He did this deed before your eyes?”

“No, he did not. What of it? You have no say in this. I don't need your spells.”

“Tread easy, my friend. You are not on steady ground here.”

Some understanding, some knowledge shared, passed between the two. Finn saw this happen, saw that though Maddigern would not back down, he would not, for the moment, push the magician too far. There was caution, distrust, even loathing between this pair, but there was something else there as well.

“You should not have taken him out of the palace. That was a fool thing to do.”

“I have reasons for what I do, Captain/Major. I do not have to explain them to you.”

“This trickster came back and killed Dostagio, First Servant To His Majesty, and Most Esteemed among the Gracious Dead. That should concern you, I cannot see how it would not!”

Too late, the Badgie knew he should not have spoken these words. Finn could see him draw in a breath, run a hand across his mouth. He could see, as well, the seer's eyes, see his face go rigid, see the dire warning there.

“This is-a matter of the King's justice,” Maddigern said, looking at the floor. “I will handle it myself.”

“I have still not heard how this killing came about.”

“He came back to the palace. Murdered Dostagio, and came back again. Through another way.” With that, he briefly met Oberbyght's eyes.

“So I have been informed.”

Maddigern looked somewhat surprised. “I say again, stay out of this. I'll see the matter quickly done. The King will be distressed, but that will be that. Dostagio will be discovered in an alleyway.”

Oberbyght shook his head. “You are a foul and disgusting creature, Maddigern. You have a great liking for all of this.”

“I only serve. As you do, seer.”

Oberbyght stepped away, his mouth distended as if he tasted something vile.

“This time you will not serve. This time, it is you who will step aside.”

“Be damned, Oberbyght!”

The bristles on the Badgie's chin began to quiver as if they had a life of their own.

The seer stood perfectly still. His eyes met Maddigern's, and the Badgie turned quickly away. “You dare not do your magic on me!”

“I did nothing to you. I am a mirror, my ignorant friend. If you saw something that made you squirm, that is your reflection, not mine.

“No, don't speak. Listen, and let your blood cool. You need say no more than you've said about this fellow's ventures, for if he's strayed somewhere he shouldn't be, it is I who must deal with him now. In my own way.”

“I see no need for that.”

“Yet I do. And if it is done, what does it matter how it is done? You want more wretches to meet your needs? They are not hard to find, you don't need these.”

“And that one?”

Oberbyght frowned. “Dostagio is dead. What would I need him for? I shall take Master Finn with me now. Leave the girl where she is, but she need not be so tightly bound that she loses her limbs. Although I'm sure you are not concerned with that. Leave the mechanical fiend in its cage.”

Oberbyght raised his voice so the Guardsmen could hear. “Post guards in the hall, but tell them they are not to come in. That goes for you as well. Until I think on this, consider that I shall leave a few-very small spells about.”

Oberbyght paused. “Do leave them alone, Maddigern. Is that clear enough for you?”

“Do as you will. And don't think I'll forget. You have said things this day that cannot be so easily unsaid.”

“Then I won't bother to try.” The seer's face split in a warm and generous smile. “Loose the fellow, please. And bring Master Finn to me. We'll be having our little talk, up there… “

It was only a very small gesture, hardly a nod, barely a motion at all, but enough to raise the hairs on all the Badgies there, for none of them wanted to think about what might lie in Obern Oberbyght's lair