The Pendant Read online

  Jamie nodded. He was no longer smiling. “The story Ria told me about my father seemed too incredible to be true. I could not believe he could ask someone to break one of his own laws, then have her executed for doing so. In the morning I confronted some of the servants. Everyone I spoke to confirmed that I had been seriously ill; most had feared that I was dying, and they spoke of a strange woman arriving who managed to save me. None mentioned witchcraft though and nobody seemed to know what happened to my saviour.”

  His voice was that of a frightened little boy. “I get on well with some of my father’s personal guards. They used to look after me sometimes when he was too busy to spend time with me. I managed to persuade one of them to admit the truth to me. That afternoon I commanded that the Bard be brought to me. My father was visiting friends so was not in the palace when the Bard arrived, accompanied by his sister.” A faint smile touched his face as he remembered the encounter. “She does not hold back her opinion does she?”

  An image of Utel telling Jamie exactly what she thought of his father flashed across Tor’s mind and he had to hold back a chuckle. “She is an interesting character,” he said diplomatically.

  “I questioned them both about what they knew of the events Ria spoke of. The Bard, being a loyal subject, initially refused to tell me anything, but his sister managed to persuade him. They confirmed everything Ria had said. By then, too many people had told me the same thing for me not to believe that my father had done something terrible. That evening, while we ate, I challenged him about it. He denied nothing. He even had the audacity to tell me the witch got what she deserved.”

  “What did you do?’ Ria asked. She could not keep the glee out of her voice. She may not have killed the King herself, but she had still brought about his death and now felt that Ellen had been avenged.

  “I slipped poison into his wine.” He spoke calmly, as if he was talking about a trivial, every-day occurrence instead of murder.

  “But....You....Why....” Sam was so stunned that she was unable to articulate a proper sentence. The young King was talking about killing his father in cold blood and, judging by his demeanour, saw nothing wrong with what he had done. Ria, too, did not know what to say, though she was unable to keep the smile from her face. Surprisingly, Patrick was scowling at her. Sam had expected him to share Ria’s pleasure in the death of the King.

  “Jamie,” Tor said softly, purposely omitting the boy’s title. “Do you realise that what you did was wrong?”

  The boy gave him a serious look as he pondered what had been said. Everyone watched him, expecting a quick response, but it was a while before Jamie spoke. “No,” he eventually said. Tor was concerned and was about to explain why it was wrong, when Jamie continued. “What my father did was wrong. He abused his power for personal gain. I removed a corrupt man from power for the good of my people, therefore my actions, though not nice, were just.”

  Patrick startled them all by slapping Jamie on the back and laughing. “Are you sure you are not a dwarf pretending to be a boy? That is a well thought out and logical argument. I am very impressed.”

  Tor looked pained. “Removing the corrupt from power is a good thing, but killing them is not the way to go about it. Everyone should be entitled to defend themselves at a fair trial.”

  Jamie sighed dramatically, as though he had had this discussion many times before and was going over old ground. “While you are correct, unfortunately there is no such thing as a fair trial in this county. Yet. It is one of the many things I plan to change.”

  “For one so young, you have a very smart head on your shoulders. You are going to need to remove a lot of people from their positions if you want to make any sweeping changes. You will need to make sure you have loyal people to back you up.”

  “I was thinking of making the Bard my chief advisor,” Jamie said. “What do you think?”

  “That would be a good move. He is honest and trustworthy and your people respect him.” Tor looked up at his friends, realising they were all staring at him. “Sorry. Maybe Sam and Ria should return to the inn and make preparations for our departure while Patrick and I remain here to advise King Jamie on what his next moves should be.”

  He glanced towards Jamie, who nodded his approval. Sam and Ria left the room and managed to find their way out of the palace without being accosted by anyone or questioned as to why they were walking the corridors unescorted. When they got to the inn, they found Nosmas and Quartilla in the room where they had left them. Quartilla was still lying on Patrick’s bed, but she was awake once more and looking a lot better than either Sam or Ria had expected. They explained what had happened, sometimes having to repeat themselves when either Nosmas or Quartilla didn’t believe what they were hearing.

  “So let me get this right,” Nosmas said when they had finished. “Prince Jamie is now King. Nobody is permitted to leave the city until the person or persons responsible for the death of the old King are found and executed. However, once Patrick and Tor have finished giving him advice on how to rule his kingdom, Jamie is going to give us authority to leave. He is doing this because he knows we did not kill his father, based on the fact that he did that himself. Have I missed anything?”

  “No, that about covers it,” Ria confirmed.

  “Well one thing you can say about being on this quest,” Quartilla piped up. “It is definitely not boring.”

  Night was not far off when Patrick and Tor eventually returned. By then, everything had been packed and loaded into the wagon, along with enough food to last nearly a week. Good to his word, King Jamie had handed over a sealed document that would allow them to leave the city. He had warned, however, that some officials were yet to accept his ascension to the throne so it was best to depart via the north gate during the night.

  “Why the north gate?” Ria enquired.

  “It leads into Thauma. Of all of the countries that surround Kavern, it is the only one that has never tried to invade. The rulers of the two countries have always been amicable, so going there will cause the least amount of suspicion.”

  Tor’s answer made sense so nobody questioned the decision. “Anything we need to know before we cross the border?” Sam asked, remembering the lecture Tor had given before anyone was allowed to enter Kavern the first time they visited.

  “Nosmas is probably the best person to answer that.” Quartilla raised a questioning eyebrow, curious as to what inside knowledge the wizard might possess. It may have been her imagination, but she thought she saw him flinch.

  Reluctantly he started to speak. “Thauma is a small, but very ancient country. Its history probably dates back further than any other place we have visited so far.”

  “So why do you know so much about it?” Quartilla interrupted, unable to bridle her curiosity any longer.

  “Simple. It is ruled by wizards.”

  Nosmas told all he knew about the homeland of his profession. Originally, all wizards were born there. Eventually, mainly due to migration, they spread to other lands until almost every known country could boast its fair share of magic users. But Thauma was still known as the homeland and the best potential wizards went there to study. It had never had royalty, the person in charge always being the most powerful wizard, who was given the title of Chancellor. There was no democracy. When someone wished to take control, they challenged the ruler to a magical duel, the winner of which would be named the new Chancellor. If the current ruler did not wish to battle, his title and authority were automatically handed over to his challenger. Nobody challenged unless they were extremely confident of winning, as the duel was to the death.

  As the country was ruled by wizards, it was not surprising that most of the laws were designed to give them even more power and influence. No non-magical person could own a business or residence; instead they had to rent from the wizards, thus keeping those with magic rich, and those without poor. When a commoner was accused of a crime, a wizard was appointed to defend them; a task which they had to carry
out to the best of their abilities. The punishments handed down to those found guilty were much in line with most neighbouring countries. If, however, a wizard was accused, he was allowed to defend himself, but few did so as their sentencing was much more severe. They were seen as a more intelligent class of people and therefore should know better than to break the law. Depending on the crime, they faced either banishment, temporary or permanent blocking of their powers or, in extreme circumstances, the guilty party was flailed and left to die.

  Only those with magical ability could hold any office of power and, as the country also banned witches, that meant the men were always in charge. When Nosmas stopped speaking, nobody felt worried about entering the country. Some of the rules and regulations seemed unfair, but they did not plan on being there long enough for them to be a problem.

  “Carry on,” Tor instructed. Nosmas had missed out the one law that the group really needed to know about.

  Nosmas sighed. “The biggest problem with Thauma is the way the women are treated.” Ria bridled, but Nosmas moved his hands up and down, indicating she should calm down. “Maybe that came out slightly wrong. They are not mistreated, but do not have a say if a wizard wishes to marry them.”

  This did not put Ria at ease. “How exactly is that not mistreating them?”

  “Is that really any different to a woman having an arranged marriage for political reasons?” Tor asked.

  Ria paused to collect her thoughts before voicing them. “Arranged marriages are only for those with titles and they are brought up knowing this from the day they are born.”

  “So are the women from Thauma,” Tor countered.

  Ria opened her mouth to argue back, but Nosmas cut her off. “It is worse than that I am afraid. A lot worse.” Those last three words drew everyone’s attention back to him. “A wizard can make a woman marry him even if she is already married. He can make her leave her husband and children and has the authority to declare her original marriage null and void, not only making her children motherless, but also turning them into bastards.”

  “That’s horrible,” Sam exclaimed. After all she had seen and been through since arriving in this land, she thought she was past being shocked. She was wrong.

  It was Quartilla who first worked out the implications of what Nosmas had said. “Does that mean that if a wizard happens to take a liking to one of us women while we are there, we have to marry them and stay in the country?”

  Tor nodded. “Unfortunately the law applies to all women, not just the natives. This is the main reason women rarely visit there.”

  Nosmas looked at Quartilla. “You should be alright. While you are of marrying age, you look young enough for us to convince any potential suitors that you are still classified as a child.” Then he glanced at Sam. “I am not too worried about you either.” Sam looked hurt, so he quickly explained. “While there is nothing preventing a wizard marrying a woman who is pregnant, I have never heard of one doing so, unless they are the father of course.”

  Patrick, seeing where the conversation was heading, grinned broadly. “So all we have to do is find a lonely wizard in need of some female company and we can get rid of Ria,” he teased.

  He just made it out of the room before her knife slammed into the doorframe.

  As the King had promised, the company had no problems leaving the city. The guards on duty had carefully inspected their travel documents before opening the gates, but did not question the group as to where they were going, or why. Hawk had been brought up to date with the day’s events before they headed out and was posing as a wagon driver when they departed. Once they were safely away from prying eyes, he halted the wagon and asked Patrick to take over.

  “I am going to scout ahead,” he informed them all. He glanced at Ria before adding, “And will try to find the sort of desperate wizard Patrick said we would need.” Luckily for the vampire, he was out of hearing distance by the time Ria had worked out what he meant.

  A bat flew overhead, reminding Sam that she should send another message to Dean. She called to it and it flew in closer, remaining just out of reach until she managed to persuade it that the humans meant it no harm. Instead of riding Thresnine, she was seated in the wagon beside Patrick. The bat landed beside her, eyeing him warily. She explained why she needed the creature’s help and, once it had heard that she had been using birds up till then, it gladly agreed to be of assistance, pointing out that, though bats were nocturnal, they were faster flyers and much more reliable than those animals with feathers. She carefully described Dean, Cirren, Brodin, Seth and Dal, hoping that they were still all together, and the locations they were heading to and from. The bat was confident it would be able to find them so Sam told it everything she wanted Dean to know.

  As Patrick watched it fly away, a thought occurred to him and he called out to Tor. “We should get a message to Tallon,” he suggested. “He has the right to know what happened to his brother.”

  “I am one step ahead of you,” Tor said, pleased that he was not the only one concerned about how Manus’s death would affect their friend. “Before we left, I spoke to the innkeeper and left a letter with him. It will be on its way to Allias’s palace first thing in the morning.”

  “I should have known. So which way do we go? Should we head to Fester or Janton? Which is closer?”

  “Janton,” Tor replied. “But we may want to consider going through Fester. I am not sure I am ready to face Helen again yet.”

  Patrick and Sam both grinned. Tor and his brothers had snuck out of Linket, Janton’s capital, while the city was in lock-down during the lead up to Queen Helen’s wedding and she had not been pleased that they had managed to leave, despite the tradition that everyone had to stay for the full length of the celebrations. Unbeknown to Helen, the three brothers, along with Modo, had gone through the escape tunnel and when the rest of the group had finally been allowed to leave, Helen was still trying to find out where the Princes had gone.

  “The road leads north for a while,” Patrick observed, “so you do not need to make a decision yet.” Tor left them and rode ahead to catch up with Ria, who was leading the party, her eyes constantly searching the skies for any sign of Hawk. The moon was full, providing plenty of light to navigate by.

  To pass time, Sam and Patrick talked as they travelled. She had noticed that Patrick had not been as pleased as Ria to find out that Ellen’s death had been avenged and she was curious as to why.

  “I am over the moon that that murderous bastard is dead,” he told her, referring to the King, “but I am also very concerned about the fact that a child as young as seven did it. It is something that is going to haunt him for the rest of his life.”

  “You sound like you are talking from experience,” Sam observed.

  “I am.” Patrick sounded bitter. “I was not much older than Jamie is now when raiders attacked a wagon my family was travelling in. I killed one of them while trying to defend my sister. I slit his throat while he was raping her. I did not know she was already dead.”

  “I’m so sorry,” Sam said, placing her hand on his. He had suffered so much, lost so many people he cared about that she could not even begin to imagine how he coped. Suddenly his mistreatment of women made sense. Treating them as objects rather than people prevented him from caring about them. His reaction to losing Ellen became more understandable.

  They continued in silence for a while until a noise from the back of the wagon made them both jump. They looked behind to find Hawk grinning at them.

  “You scared the crap out of me,” Sam accused, attempting to hit him and failing. Her arms were not long enough.

  “There is a farm up ahead,” he informed them. “The sun will be up by the time you reach it and Tor wishes to stop there to get directions. I am going to get some food while I still can. Any particular meat you feel like eating?”

  Sam thought for a moment. “What I really feel like is roast pork.”

  Hawk laughed. “I think a farmer wi
ll be very upset if I steal one of his pigs. How about a small deer? I saw a herd not far away.”

  “I suppose that will have to do,” Sam replied, folding her arms in front of her and pretending to sulk. Hawk laughed once more and flew off.

  As he had predicted, the sun was up before they reached the farm, so he was safely tucked away out of sight in his coffin when they passed through the gates. The farmer and his wife were just finishing their breakfast when Tor knocked on the large wooden door. As well as providing directions, they also insisted that their visitors take a few jugs of fresh milk with them. It was still warm, as the cows had been milked just before breakfast, so Nosmas put a cooling spell on the jugs. The group would have to find somewhere to camp before they crossed the border and the spell would make sure the milk was cool and refreshing by the time they were ready to drink it.

  The farmer’s wife, who had seemed tense, visibly relaxed when she watched Nosmas performing the magic. “You are a wizard,” she said with obvious relief.

  “Yes,” he replied. “Why does that matter?”

  She pointed at Ria, Sam and Quartilla, who were all by the goat pen, stroking the animals. “The owner of this farm is due here soon and he likes his women young and attractive. If they are married to you then there will be no unpleasantness.”

  “It will probably be best if we get out of here before he arrives anyway. Thank you for everything, especially the warning.” He called over to where Tor was still trying to persuade the farmer to accept payment for the milk. “Tor, we need to get out of here as soon as possible.”

  Tor looked up and saw Nosmas incline his head towards the ladies. Tor understood and gave up on his negotiations. He ordered the women to mount up and the group were soon on the move once more. Before he was out of sight, Tor called out to the farmer, who turned around to look at him. He flicked a gold coin towards him then turned his horse around and galloped away before the farmer could throw it back to him.