The Crow King's Wife Read online

  Shade sat in utter silence for long moments trying to digest everything he had just heard. Charm was imprisoned, Caleb was the Bloody Huntsman, Caleb’s daughter was a Rivasan prisoner, and most terrifying of all Finn Sovaesh was the Divine of Death. He didn’t think he had ever been flooded with so much bad news at once before. He slowly glanced over at the passenger seat as Caleb dropped heavily into it.

  “Bloody Huntsman eh?” Shade muttered quietly.

  Caleb nodded slowly and let out a long sigh. “I’d like to say it’s been a while since I have done the sort of butchering that earned me that title, but that is exactly why Micah pulled me out of retirement.” He confessed in a low voice. “He needed someone who could spread fear amongst the Blights, and as it turns out I scare just about everyone including the Blights.”

  “Did you really kill a Serpent with your bare hands in the Amdany harbor? One of the legends about you says that you did, but I always thought it was bullshit.” Shade asked in an effort to calm Caleb. The man was still far too pale and looked as though he might pass out at any moment.

  Caleb swallowed heavily and nodded his head slowly his eyes still staring blankly ahead. “It tried to swallow me when I was knocked over the rail in the fighting. I objected.” His voice seemed almost mechanical as he answered and he raised a hand to rub his face as he fell silent.

  “And Nasurai Blackwolf is your Grandfather? So you are Sebastian Blackwolf’s brother? I don’t understand how you have the name Faulklin then and why you are from Arovan. Shouldn’t you be with your own house?” Shade let his full confusion show in his voice as he tried once more to draw Caleb back with conversation.

  Caleb looked at him slowly and lowered his hand from his face his expression shifting from grief to bitter amusement. “Why do you think they call me the Black Bastard Shade? Sebastian is my half-brother and I live in Arovan because High Lady Blackwolf can’t bear my presence in Glis. The sight of me is a constant reminder to her that her husband was unfaithful so I was exiled. I suppose I’m grateful she didn’t have me killed as a child.” Caleb explained and then paused as he rubbed his face once more. “Lady Faulklin is my Aunt on my mother’s side, and was kind enough to give me a home as well as her name. My birth mother’s name is Blue Bess, perhaps you have heard of her. She was at Amdany and the final stand, and if you didn’t meet her there perhaps you have seen her with High Lord Blackwolf serving as his Herald.” There was pain in his voice as he spoke and Shade could tell it was an old wound that refused to heal.

  “I’m sorry I pried. I was confused that’s all.” Shade offered softly and let out a sigh of his own. “We can get your daughter back you know. Once we finish in Merro we will head straight to Rivasa and you can be the hero Finn was talking about without dying.”

  “Merro? Why in the hell are we going to Merro first?” Caleb demanded with an almost frantic look on his face.

  “Look I know you don’t want to leave her there any longer than you have to, but I have to see Jala before we can go. I have to be healed first, Caleb. I cannot stress how important this is. My magic isn’t what it should be and I am crippled in more than the obvious ways you can see.” Shade paused and ground his teeth in frustration as he contemplated what he was about to say. Glancing over at Caleb he grimaced slightly and let out a quick breath. “My turn for confession and I’m going to pray you don’t gut me for it. I had planned on telling you before Finn’s visit, but I have to admit finding out who you truly are is giving me a bit of pause.”

  Caleb’s eyes narrowed at his words and Shade felt his throat tighten at the sight. He wasn’t comfortable with sharing any secrets, but for Caleb to understand fully he needed to know everything.

  “Out with it then.” Caleb pressed and Shade nodded slowly in response.

  “The Morcaillo are Changelings, Caleb. Right now I can’t shift the areas that were wounded, the flesh is dead, which means my birthright is useless. If I can shift my forms this mission will be much easier, but if you are saddled with a cripple as a partner in this rescue slash assassination than I think we will both be standing on Finn’s door step awaiting a very dismal eternity as his personal bitches.” Shade explained quietly.

  “A Changeling.” Caleb repeated with a note of distaste in his voice. He nodded slowly and let out a heavy sigh. “You know you are supposed to be pure unholy evil right?” he muttered sourly.

  “I was supposed to be a lot of things. I’m afraid I’ve been a disappointment on every last one of them including the unholy evil part. I just didn’t turn out the way father hoped.” Shade sighed.

  “Merro first then.” Caleb agreed with a faint nod as he leaned further back in his seat. “Then we both get to be heroes.” He added with a snort of disgust.

  “In the stories the heroes always triumph.” Shade offered with a shrug.

  “In reality they suffer more than anyone else and usually die horribly at a young age.” Caleb countered.

  “Oddly enough I have always preferred fiction to reality, so I’m going to stick with my version.” Shade replied quietly. He glanced down as the goblin wrapped its scrawny arms around his leg and settled beside his chair. “Just perfect, me, a goblin, and the Bloody Huntsman of Arovan against an entire nation of bloodthirsty flame-hurling madmen. Wonderful.” He muttered.

  “If you listen to the stories about me I could handle the entire nation of Rivasa with one hand tied behind my back and blindfolded.” Caleb offered dryly.

  “Any truth to those stories?” Shade asked hopefully.

  “My mother is a bard and writes most of the stories about me. What do you think?” Caleb replied sourly and gave a long sigh.

  “I think by the time we reach Rivasa I will have a plan that keeps us both alive to see this through. It may not be conventional, but I promise it will work. My only concern is you actually following my plan.” Shade said with a smile.

  Chapter 3

  Sanctuary

  Heavy boots rang on the marble floors behind him, but Remedy ignored the sound. It was most likely just guards making their rounds, and none of his concern. The quarry he followed was silent as she moved, and she was already slipping around another corner ahead of him. He paused long enough to fish a sprig of mint from his pocket and chewed on it as he continued down the hall. A cigarette would have been much more satisfying, but given his current life it simply wasn’t possible. The mind cloud he was using to keep himself from being detected in the palace could persuade people to ignore the smell of mint, but smoke was another thing entirely. Smoke was visible in the air, mint was not.

  Faramir’s steps slowed and he paced himself to match hers. He didn’t want to get too close to her. Despite the mind cloud there was still a slight chance she might detect him, and that would destroy several weeks of spying.

  When he had been captured in Rivasa he had thought there might have been a chance of corruption in the Fionaveir. Then Shade had echoed his thoughts on the matter which raised his suspicions further. However when important people began disappearing from the Fionaveir ranks he knew without a doubt there was corruption, and it was only recently that he had managed to trace it all back to Faramir.

  That in itself was disquieting. Faramir was married to the leader of the Fionaveir, and Caspian didn’t seem to notice any problems. Either she was lying very well to her husband, or Caspian was involved in the corruption. Remedy calmly pushed that thought away and let out a long slow breath. If he was going to save Symphony he would have to face it eventually, but for now all he needed to worry about was what Faramir was up to currently. She had seemed pensive all morning, and there were several times when her expression had shifted to fury without warning. Had anyone else been present, Remedy might have believed it was a part of a conversation that he had missed that had shifted her mood. She had been alone all three times however, which meant she was in mental communication with someone, and the news she was hearing wasn’t pleasant. Now all he had to do was follow her long enough to try to get some
indication of what was wrong.

  Faramir paused in the hall ahead of him and turned to look back over her shoulder. Remedy froze in place, even going so far as to hold his breath. It was ridiculous of course. The nature of his magic didn’t make him invisible. It infiltrated the minds of those around him and simply forced them to ignore him. It wasn’t as if he had to be silent. If his magic was functioning as it should, his quarry wouldn’t acknowledge any noise he made. Faramir made him too nervous though. In the past few days he had seen a side of her that he had never noticed before in all of his years living amongst her with the Fionaveir. She was acting more devious and some of the magic she had used when she had believed she was alone were spells that there should have been far beyond her mastery. Faramir simply wasn’t that great of a mage, at least she hadn’t been from what he had known about her. The Faramir he knew was an archer and a damn good one, but not a mage.

  She turned once more and walked a few steps before stopping in front of a door. Turning slowly Faramir scanned the hallway once more and slowly stepped into the room. It took every ounce of speed and stealth that Remedy possessed to slide through the door before she could close it behind her and the action put him much closer to Faramir than he wanted to be. Her eyes narrowed as the door clicked shut and she turned slowly to stare about the room with searching eyes. Once more Remedy found himself holding his breath until her attention passed over him.

  “I’m losing it.” Faramir whispered softly and shook her head slowly as she moved to the far side of the room.

  It was a bedchamber Remedy realized with a start, and from the location they were at in the palace it must have been one of the rooms reserved for visiting dignitaries. By the looks of the furnishings and linens it hadn’t seen much use yet, but then that was understandable. From what he had heard in the halls lately the entire world was still fighting, and he doubted any dignitaries had time to spare for an overnight visit at the palace.

  Faramir walked slowly across the room and placed her hand against the wall. A slight grating noise grew in the stones and a panel slowly slid back. Remedy stared at the hidden tunnel for a long breath as the full extent of his latest revelation slowly sank in. He hadn’t even realized the palace had a network of hidden tunnels, and it likely meant there was no place safe for him to drop his guard. Who knew how many tunnels there were or how many spy holes might be in the walls. Even when he thought he was alone in a room, there was a very good chance he was still being watched.

  He barely managed to rein his thoughts in as Faramir stepped inside the shadowed hall. With a silent prayer for luck he slipped in behind her hoping there would be enough room in the tunnels for him to stay out of her reach. His magic would work flawlessly, unless she happened to brush against him rather than the stone wall, or she was a better mind mage than he was. If she had strong mind magic she would detect him at close range.

  This is a mission better suited for Vaze. Remedy thought for what must have been the thousandth time. He wasn’t a spy, and he wasn’t used to skulking. The Fionaveir had always sent him on missions of diplomacy or at times to gather information from certain individuals with his charm. Vaze was the one they relied on to skulk. Remedy had never before had to rely on stealth this much, and it quite honestly wasn’t his strong point.

  Vaze was gone though, and everyone else was acting too strangely to trust enough to approach. Lutheron seemed aggravated all of the time, and Symphony existed in a sort of haze that he had never seen her in before. The few times he had managed to glimpse the Empress she had been oblivious to everything and had simply nodded to Faramir for most of the conversation. The only one that left was Caspian, and he was acting the strangest of them all. It had been his idea to clean the streets of Sanctuary, and Caspian was going about it with the fervor of a fanatic. If the rumors in the halls were to be believed the prisons were overflowing with petty criminals, and there was talk that the executions would start soon.

  Faramir stood in the shadows of the tunnel watching the panel as it slowly slid back into place. The shadows deepened to near pitch darkness and Remedy silently back stepped several feet from her. He had darkvision, but it wasn’t the best. A shifter would have been able to see in these conditions as clearly as if it were a bright moonlit night. He could barely make out Faramir’s form and the stone walls, and all details were completely obscured. He couldn’t even tell what expression she had on her face. He listened intently as the faint scuff of her boot sounded on the floor. She was walking at a quick pace and to his vast relief it was away from him. Had she chosen to walk toward him there was no way he could have avoided brushing against her, the tunnel was simply too narrow.

  With grim determination he fell into step and tried to keep up with her as best he could. Once again he found himself wanting to trade places with Vaze. Vaze could see in pitch black better than even a Shifter. Which brought another interesting point to mind…Faramir shouldn’t be able to see clearly in darkness either. With the pace she was setting she could either see perfectly, or she had been this way so many times it was familiar. Either way it was unsettling. Faramir was a powerful member of the Fionaveir council and Symphony’s chief advisor. There was no reason someone in her position should have been skulking through tunnels. If it was spying on the ranks of the Fionavier than she should have had an underling she could trust enough to do the job for her.

  They walked for what seemed an eternity, though Remedy knew it was likely closer to half an hour before Faramir stopped once more. He shuffled silently to a stop and shook his head in disgust with himself. He had nearly walked into her back before he realized she was no longer moving. He could barely make out the outline of her hand as she raised it to a wall and once more a panel slid open. Dim light flooded the tunnel and once more he could see Faramir’s face clearly. She had a thoughtful expression on her face as she stepped from the tunnel and he followed briskly after her. He had no desire to be locked away in her tunnels, no matter how useful it might be to explore the extent of them. He was more interested in her agenda than exploring at this point.

  The room he emerged into was a cramped one. A small bed, barely more than a pallet sat against one wall with a table and two chairs a few feet away. The walls were rough stone without the glossy finish the rest of the palace had with no sign of any door beyond the one they had entered through.

  The most interesting feature was the woman seated at the table however and the expression of pure malice she had on her delicate face as she regarded Faramir. Her hair was long and chestnut brown and her skin was swarthy despite her obvious lack of sun. The dress she wore was simple and from the looks of it could use a good washing. Remedy gazed around the small room and back to the woman and wondered how long Faramir had kept her prisoner here, or who she was for that matter. He had been in the business of knowing all of the power players of Sanctuary during his time on the Fionaveir council, and this wasn’t someone he recognized.

  “Good morning Azashy how are you today?” Faramir’s voice was overly pleasant as she spoke and the woman’s glare intensified in response.

  “May you burn in the Darklands while the crows feast on your corpse Myth.” Azashy responded coldly.

  Remedy’s breath caught at her words and he felt himself pale as he regarded Faramir silently once more. Myth, that explained so much of what he had seen, but he didn’t understand how it was possible. His throat tightened at the thought of who he was truly stalking and he swallowed heavily. Faramir had made him nervous, Myth terrified him. Myth was a Changeling and had been alive for countless centuries. There was no telling what a creature like that was capable of or what power she possessed.

  “Not likely Azashy sorry to disappoint you.” Faramir responded casually as she settled into the chair across from the woman. “I need information Azashy and you are going to provide it.”

  Azashy shook her head slowly and turned her eyes away from Faramir to settle her gaze on the grey stone wall.

  “Do we reall
y have to go through this every time I visit Azashy?” Faramir sighed with annoyance. She leaned forward on the table and crossed her arms as she stared at her prisoner. “You know I don’t like hurting you or those you care for, but I’m limited on my patience today. I need information and I warn you if you lie to me again as you did last time I will make it a lasting pain that you will never forget.”

  “Do what you will Myth, I will not help you destroy the world any further. You are evil!” Azashy snapped and shook her head quickly, though it was obvious to Remedy that the woman was scared. It was a bluff she was showing and in the end he knew she would cave to Myth’s demands. His heart went out to her and he silently promised to help her when he could, but for the moment he didn’t dare interfere. Not only did he need to know what information Faramir was after, he didn’t want to be forced to fight her. He wasn’t sure he could win.

  “How many fingers do you require for your spell casting Azashy?” Faramir asked nonchalantly. She smiled as the other woman paled slightly and nodded her head slowly. “A wise person would say ten, but that would be a lie. I know you don’t require all ten.” Faramir paused and pulled a dagger from her belt then laid it quietly on the table between them. “You don’t require two eyes, two ears, or a nose for spellcasting either.” Faramir continued casually as she raised an eyebrow at Azashy who looked on the brink of tears.