Treachery of Kings

SEVEN

Slice ‘im up cut ‘im up rippity-split! crack ‘im up rack ‘im up chop ‘im up a bit!

Hand in hand the children danced, danced in dizzy circles, danced around their fires, danced in the shadow of the great high towers, danced in the gloom of the fast-approaching night. Happy little urchins, cheery little waifs, raggedy-muffs with runny noses and bright shiny eyes. They danced and they sang and they circled about in the empty courtyard, round and round and round and round about…

And, when the story was done, they all fell down, screamed and wailed and thrashed about. Choked, croaked, stuck their tongues out in horrid parodies of death. Laughed till they cried, shrieked with great delight. Got up and started all over again…

Finn scarcely noted this grim event, was hardly aware of the empty stalls and tents, the clutter and the waste, the foul and odorous remains of Spring Fair and the Chopping of May.

His mind was so numbed, so fuddled and stunned, he was greatly surprised to see they were very nearly home, back in Garpenny Street.

Indeed, he had been so angry and distressed, he'd forgotten to retrieve Julia Jessica Slagg from the niche outside the Royal Hall. It was Letitia, then, who had no choice but to still her own fears, who stopped to retrieve the lizard herself-the lizard, and that damnable clock, which had cast a dark shadow over all their lives.

Farther from the castle, Letitia let Julia down to scuttle along by herself. The lizard croaked and complained about that, for as quick and agile as she surely might be when such a need arose, Julia knew that walking was not her most graceful attitude.

“You mustn't be upset,” Letitia said, determined to break the silence Finn wore like a cloak about himself. “He can't make you do this, Finn, you don't have to go.”

Finn stopped, shaken, for a moment, from his dark and desolate thoughts.

“He can't? What on earth gave you an idea like that?”

“There are laws, you know. Laws and rules and regulations of every sort. You're a citizen and a-a human, Finn. You have certain rights like everyone else.”

“That's partially true.”

“You can be heard. You can declare a grief.”

“A grievance.”

“I just said that, didn't I?”

“Yes, and I believe you chose the better word, not I.”

“Well, then. It will be all right, I'm sure. They certainly can't send you somewhere in an awful balloon. I know you. You'd be scared out of your wits up there.”

“I'm scared out of my wits right now, and I'm standing in Garpenny Street on solid cobblestone. Letitia, love, do you recall our conversation, as we were approaching the Royal Hall?”

“Of course I do. Why would I forget what we talked about, my dear?”

“We discussed how Count VanDork was a despicable person, and that the reason he is, is that he mirrors the equally despicable character of his master, the Prince. The Prince, with the help of a veritable horde of vermin like VanDork, makes the laws and rules and regulations. These laws do not apply to them. They do apply to us.”

“But Finn…”Letitia bit her lip, her voice no longer firm, no longer bold. Doubt, now, seemed to slip in and push resolution aside.

“You're not a vagrant, you know. You're not of common folk. You're a-a master of your craft is what you are. You know people of quality like Lord Gherick, brother of the Prince.”

“Yes I do.”

“Well, then?”

“I don't like to say it, but we can't be sure Gherick didn't know about this.”

“Surely not. He's such a nice man, Finn.”

“He made himself absent as soon as Aghenfleck gave us the news. I turned around and he was gone.”

“They're not really close, are they?”

“Aghen Aghenfleck isn't close to anyone, as far as I know.”

“He certainly wasn't close to that other relation of his. That… oh, dear, Finn.”

“His cousin, Baffleton-Kreed. They grew up together. Inseparable, I understand.”

Letitia looked up at Finn. In the near end of the day, her eyes seemed enormous pools of liquid night. And in those pools, he saw a reflection of himself, an image blurred by a tear, which Letitia quickly wiped away.

“I'm not being rational, am I,” she said, turning from him then. “I'm making up pretty endings in my head.”

“Somewhat, yes. But there's nothing greatly wrong with that.”

“It is, yes. If it holds no truth at all. Oh, Finn…”

He held her, then, and in a moment she simply turned and walked quickly across the street and opened the latch with her key. She appeared for an instant, before the dim lantern in the hall, and then she was gone. A moment later, Julia squeezed through the portal and followed Letitia inside. There, but a few steps from the door of his house, Finn felt as if he'd never been so utterly, completely alone