Her father had always cautioned that there was no good to be had in the cities. She’d been aware that he had always avoided any contact with the capital in particular; even at festival time when it seemed as though everyone except themselves would travel to Brighthelmstone to enjoy all the merrymaking, she and her father had remained deep in the woodland. When she was younger, Lily had resented their isolation.
But now, sensing Kirin’s fear, knowing that General Stracker was a thug, she realised that life in the woods with her father, and more recently with Kilt, had been so wise. How had Kirin and Freath lived with such constant anguish all these anni?
‘Just a moment,’ Kirin called out and he looked her way.
They had no choice. She nodded.
Kirin opened the door. ‘Yes, what is it, Leak?’
‘General Stracker wishes to see you immediately, Master Kirin.’
‘Immediately?’ Kirin repeated. ‘I thought the general was away.’
‘He returned a short while ago, Master Kirin.’
‘I see. And why the urgency? I have only just returned from a long journey myself. My wife and I are weary, keen to —’
‘I’m sorry, Master Kirin. I was simply asked to fetch you. I have a soldier escort waiting.’
Lily felt her throat go dry as she watched from behind as Kirin peered into the hallway.
‘Since when do we use armed escorts around the palace?’ he demanded, his voice even tighter. ‘What is going on?’
Lily stepped up to her husband and linked arms; she had to convey to him that she would be brave and he must do whateverhe had to in order to keep up the front they had constructed. As frightened as she was, and she knew Kirin must be, it sounded as though facing the general was his only option now. Escape would have to wait.
‘Forgive me, Master Kirin. I am just doing as bid by the general. Can you please come with us now.’ The messenger’s voice was polite but even Lily could hear his waning tolerance.
‘Let me just settle my wife, please. This is most inconvenient and —’
‘Er, the general has requested your wife’s presence too.’
Lily’s heart skipped. ‘Now look here, Leak,’ Kirin tried, ‘this really is —’
‘General’s orders,’ a new voice growled.
Lily didn’t think Kirin had even seen the soldier approach. His bulk filled the doorway without warning as the man stared down at them with an unswerving gaze.
There was nothing her husband could say. ‘Right. Just give me a moment.’ He closed the door and turned to Lily, his mind clearly scrambling.
‘Listen, Kirin,’ she whispered. ‘You have nothing to fear. You had nothing to do with Freath’s death. Your conscience is clear and they will see that as they question you.’
‘But, Lily, I am a traitor. Perhaps they’ll see that too,’ he whispered back, sounding helpless.
‘You’ve hidden it for a decade. Keep hiding it. Come on. How do I look?’ she asked, pushing back her hair and pinching at her cheeks.
‘Beautiful,’ he replied, taking her hand and kissing her cheek. ‘Let’s go face the barbarian beast.’
‘I sense you would prefer to face Loethar.’
‘Not really. Stracker is just a thug. Loethar is far more dangerous because he’s clever and cunning.’
‘So there’s hope, then,’ she quipped and felt a surge of helpless affection for Kirin’s lopsided smile when it came.
Kirin hesitated. ‘Why are we being taken to the emperor’s salon if we are to see General Stracker?’
‘The general has summoned you from these rooms,’ Leak explained.
Kirin glanced at Lily. She looked so pale. He hated himself for bringing her here suddenly. He had endangered her life in order to secure his cover. Glancing at the two guards who flanked him, he caught Lily’s attention and gave her a soft sad smile of encouragement. And as the messenger knocked on the door, he promised himself that come what may he would get Lily out of the palace to safety … even if it killed him.
‘Enter!’ boomed the familiar voice.
‘Kirin and Mistress Felt to see you, general,’ Leak said, entering first.
Kirin duly trooped in, resisting the urge to quail before Stracker’s overwhelming bulk. The general eyed them both smugly and with what Kirin sensed was malicious intent.
‘Welcome back, Felt. You’ve had us all worried.’ He looked over their heads to the soldiers and a slight inclination told them they were dismissed. ‘You too may leave, Leak.’
Kirin waited while the three others left. When the door closed he swallowed. He thought about Freath and how he no longer had the man’s cunning to rely upon; now it was down to him to find a way to extricate them from Stracker.
Stracker seemed to be waiting for a response. Kirin frowned and shrugged. ‘I don’t know why, General Stracker. There was no need for anyone to worry. Master Freath gave me permission to leave Francham.’
‘Freath is dead.’
Kirin blinked. ‘I still can’t believe it. I’ve known the news barely minutes. It seems unthinkable.’
‘And yet it’s true. His body was brought back just days ago. He lay in the morgue while my brother came to terms with it.’ He turned, walked back towards the window and seemed to ponderthis thought. Kirin glanced at Lily, trying to reassure her. She looked petrified. ‘He was murdered, you see.’ He swung back and gave Kirin a hard look.
A silence lengthened as they stared at one another.
Kirin swallowed as the horror of what he’d just heard sank in. ‘Murdered?’ he finally repeated. ‘Kain at the gate mentioned he’d been killed. I assumed it was an accident.’
‘No accident,’ the general said harshly. ‘Stuck in the gut like a pig.’
‘When?’
The general smiled maliciously. ‘The same night you disappeared. Coincidence, eh?’
Kirin felt his throat go dry. He swallowed again. ‘And you think I had something to do with it, general? That I might have organised the slaughter of the man I have kept company for the past decade, with whom I have been friends for all of that time, my superior?’
Stracker shrugged. ‘We’ve been waiting to hear your side of it, certainly.’
‘I did not kill Freath. I did not know of any plot to kill him and I have no knowledge whatsoever of anyone who would wish him harm.’
‘Apart from any number of people he has offended at the palace, starting with me,’ Stracker continued acidly.
‘No one knew of our arrival in Francham. He hadn’t even met anyone official for anyone to be forewarned.’
‘Well, you knew. And then you conveniently disappeared.’
‘I left Freath, at his behest and with his best wishes, to visit my old home. There was nothing untoward about my departure. We planned to see each other back at Brighthelmstone on this day, as arranged,’ Kirin lied.
‘And he had no other meeting arranged in the north other than with the local mayor?’
Kirin frowned. ‘None whatsoever,’ he said indignantly, hoping his lie sounded convincing. ‘Certainly none that I was privy to.’
Stracker’s glance slid across to Lily. Kirin could feel her flinch beside him.
‘This is my wife, Lily.’
Stracker’s tatua