Chapter 8
GALLMAU
G allmau hated how quickly the three of them walked the path through the kitchen and servant halls to a side entrance into the Queen’s garden.
Despite the argument with Valentina, Gallmau arrived not much later than the guards had expected, since they stood ramrod straight, staring into the maze with their hands on their swords—totally missing his entrance behind them.
In fact, Queen Xiaolian spotted them first, her beautifully arched eyebrows rising as Valentina led Gallmau and Meri around the lotus pond to the pavilion where Xiaolian sat with a book upon her lap.
Courtiers, poets, and artists had fallen over themselves exalting the beauty of the Qingian bride the late king had brought to Soissons over his advisors’ objections, and even more than two decades later she could pass for Rixende’s older sister.
Only a few wrinkles around her eyes and an air of weariness hinted at her age.
As always, she wore an elegant gown that combined the silks and colors of her home country with the cut and styling of Soissons fashion.
The zoological garden was reserved for the reigning monarch of Soissons, and even members of the royal family had to request permission to visit it. It had driven his sister mad with jealousy that she couldn’t play in it anytime she wished.
In addition to unusual plants and trees, the grounds were home to a host of Touched beasts—animals with magic.
Peacocks crackling with electricity wandered over the grass, and the cat curled up in the sun near the pavilion had a sphere of water hovering above it.
The larger creatures were kept in elaborate structures, like giant birdcages.
There was a new addition since Gallmau had left, an Azhdarchid.
The giant bird-like creatures were said to be Archaics—beasts who had been walking the earth since the dark time before the coming of the Saints.
The monster opened its toothed beak wide and screeched fire as they approached.
“Your Most Saintly Majesty.” Valentina sank into a deep curtsey and pitched her voice a tad higher than it needed to be.
The guards started, whirling around in surprise, and Meri didn’t bother to suppress a snicker.
“May I present Monsieur Gallmau de Rohan and his companion Mademoiselle Meritamun d’Abdju, as you requested. ”
“Thank you, Dottoressa de Almania.” Queen Xiaolian never failed to address Valentina with her family name and formal title as a physician, even though most witches were addressed by their first name, with Magus as the honorific.
The medica straightened out of her curtsey and left the garden with perfect poise, even while throwing Gallmau a glance that indicated she would whack his hand with the soup ladle if he screwed this conversation up.
“Leave us.” Xiaolian directed this first at the guards, who bowed and left, albeit with dark glances in Gallmau’s direction.
When she turned her gaze on Meri, though, Gallmau knew he had to say something. He didn’t want to face the Queen by himself, and Meri wasn’t going to leave him without a fight that would get them both in trouble.
“Madame la Reine.” Gallmau gave a deep bow, the way he had been taught—the right way—then stood up. “I know much has happened since we last spoke. Mademoiselle Meri has important information to add to our conversation, and I would ask you allow her to remain.”
“Such a courtier’s manner, Gallmau.” Xiaolian sounded more resigned than infuriated. “And here I was expecting you to sneak into the palace through some window to avoid speaking to me.”
The heat rose in his face at that.
With a sigh, the Queen gestured to the chairs facing her own seat. “Very well, then, please invite your infamous companion to join us.”
Gallmau nudged Meri toward the pavilion.
She gave him a sideways glance but held her tongue and allowed him to pull out one of the rosewood chairs for her to sit on.
He didn’t take his own seat, but instead knelt in front of the Queen and lifted the teapot sitting in front of her to fill first her cup, then the one in front of Meri, and lastly his own before sitting down.
He always felt like an overgrown pet animal in front of his stepmother—large and ungainly—the exact opposite of the woman who radiated a delicate fragility as much as she did an iron will and uncompromising resolve.
Xiaolian said nothing at first, only accepting the teacup he offered her and taking a small sip.
After giving Meri a subtle nudge with his foot to drink the tea, Gallmau followed suit.
The hot liquid smelled of jasmine, and he resisted the urge to swig it down like brandy and get this whole confrontation over with.
“I was concerned by the reports you and Mademoiselle Meritamun had been attacked outside the capital.” Xiaolian rested her cup on the table. “Perhaps if you had sent word to me that you would be returning to Lutecia, a proper escort could have been arranged.”
“With all due respect, Your Majesty, that would only have increased the number of dead.” Meri kept her language diplomatic, at least by her standards. “Regular troops aren’t of much help against Bone Lords. The more the bodies pile up, the greater power the necromancers have.”
The Queen watched Meri’s face closely, but when she spoke she directed her words to Gallmau. “You didn’t ask my permission to leave the palace in the first place.”
“I left because you wanted me to, Madame.” The words spilled out of Gallmau before he could stop them.
It wasn’t as if he didn’t understand why Xiaolian might resent her husband keeping his bastard son in the palace even after she finally gave birth to the legitimate child the country had been waiting for.
But if the threat she thought he presented to Rixende’s inheritance of the throne was that concerning, why hadn’t she told him herself?
“The honorable Zhang Jue told me those were your wishes, and I wouldn’t have come back if he hadn’t written to me.
Please, ask the Sorcier du Roi to join us in this discussion.
He’ll confirm I’m telling you the truth. ”
“The honorable Zhang Jue is dead.” The Queen’s voice was level and emotionless, but her hand shook as she placed her book on the table. “Killed by the necromancer who abducted my daughter.”
Gallmau could do nothing more than stare at the Queen, unable to believe what he was hearing.
The death of Zhang Jue was a blow in and of itself.
He had been clinging to the hope the Sorcier du Roi would be able to help Meri with her curse, even if his witch-hating friend was far from comfortable with the idea.
But the thought that his only sister might be in the hands of a Bone Lord was more than he could handle.
“Rixende has been taken—from the palace?”
The Queen didn’t answer his question. Instead, she held out her hand, her fingers appearing too slender for the jewel-encrusted rings that encircled them. “This letter from the Sorcier du Roi. Show it to me.”
“You think we had a hand in this?” Meri had kept her mouth shut for more of the conversation than Gallmau had expected, but she reached her breaking point at the worst possible time.
“I think you should look closer to home. The heir to the throne of Soissons abducted, the royal sorcerer murdered—all under the noses of the witches of the Noviodunam? Your Majesty, I have a hard time believing that. So should you.”
Xiaolian drew back, her posture stiffening. “You presume too much, mademoiselle.”
“I presume only that I have greater experience killing necromancers than most.” Meri pointed to Gallmau’s chest, and he stared down stupidly before he remembered the letter was hidden in a pocket sewn into the fabric of his shirt. Meri had insisted upon it.
Getting it out involved partially disrobing and using his belt knife to cut the cloth to speed up the process. He did so, cringing at the offense to court etiquette. Granted, no one expected much from him at court, but he usually succeeded in keeping his clothes on in front of the Queen.
“Most Bone Lords care about their territory, dead things, and little else.” Meri kept her eyes level with Xiaolian’s.
“There are two exceptions. The Order of Katil, who kill for money, and the death cultists in Karakoncolos. The attacks you describe don’t sound like the work of a feral necromancer hiding out with a heap of bones in a cave somewhere. ”
“That’s Monsieur de Plancy’s opinion as well.
” Queen Xiaolian also didn’t address the incensor by his witch title, but instead used the aristocratic family name of Jacques’s mother.
There was less stigma about having a child who became a sorcerer than there had been years ago, but titles and surnames didn’t pass down to witches, even in Soissons.
The de Plancy family had petitioned for Jacques to keep his name and title through the maternal line, and King Syagrius had granted the request. “He’s sure Karakoncolos is involved, and that his father’s banishment and the disbanding of the benandanti allowed this all to happen. ”
Jacques’s father, Odart of Dol, was the architect of the Witches’ War, which had been touted as an end to the scourge of necromancers upon the earth.
That conflict had ended in abysmal defeat, and the benandanti— the Noviodunam’s Bone Lord hunters—had paid a price for that failure, as had Odart himself.
Good thing, too. Odart was a real son of a bitch.
Gallmau clutched the letter in his hand as the meaning of the Queen’s last statement struck him.
“The officers of the Gardes Soissons knew nothing about this, but Jacques is in your confidence?” That damned overbred fire witch shouldn’t know more than loyal soldiers.
Then he thought about Tumas’s near-treasonous statements and the unrest among citizens in the countryside.
He had to admit the Queen might have good reason to keep the current crisis secret.
How long it could be kept quiet was another matter.
Meri snatched the letter from him and gave it to Xiaolian. “Here it is. Your sorcerer asked Gallmau for his assistance in a matter of grave import to both himself and the kingdom. Long on flowery language, short on details.”
The Queen studied the parchment. “It has the Sorcier du Roi’s seal, like the other invitations.”
“What other letters are out there?” Gallmau couldn’t take much more of this. “Rixende’s in danger. You have to believe I’d do anything to rescue her. I swear upon Saint Attilio I’ll fight an army of Bone Lords to get her back.”
“You might have to do that.” Xiaolian rested the paper beside her. “I have sent a message to Karakoncolos that we hold them responsible for the princess’s abduction and threatened war if they don’t return her.”
Gallmau shot a glance toward Meri. The Witches’ War, as most people called it, had ended six years ago in a total rout.
The Synod of the Noviodunam attempted a direct attack on Karakoncolos, deep in the heart of the wild country of Zyx in the East, and Soissons provided both monetary support and troops for the effort.
The Noviodunam’s best sorcerer fighters, able to rain fire or bring bolts of lightning down on their enemies, came close to their goal of wiping the Bone Lord city off the map—until a single necromancer who became known as the Prince of Shadows rallied the remaining death witches and turned the tide of the battle.
Most of the regular soldiers, including Gallmau, arrived too late to take part in the fighting, and hundreds of mages were killed or committed suicide rather than face unimaginable tortures at the hands of the necromancers.
A few hadn’t succeeded in choosing death over captivity—Jacques had been taken alive, then returned in a controversial hostage exchange.
At the time, Gallmau and his fellow soldiers shared the common opinion that fewer witches in the world was a good thing. The necromancers disappeared back into their mysterious city of monsters, which was described as similar to Hell, only with fewer amenities, and the Soissons army returned home.
Gallmau, sixteen at the time, had missed the larger implications of the defeat.
Odart of Dol had strung up some merchants in Iotape on the way out, dealing a major blow to trade relations between the eastern port city and Soissons.
Worse yet, the governor and ruling council had expelled any Noviodunam-trained mages in their territory and recognized Karakoncolos as a sovereign city-state.
King Syagrius had made a serious error in taking the side of the Noviodunam in that conflict, and the Queen might be about to make the same mistake.
“The death witch who left us on the road told me he was from Karakoncolos.” Meri leaned forward, her expression of suppressed fury at the Queen’s accusations against Gallmau changing to the intense interest of the hunt. “Sinan said he was coming to your court to represent their interests.”
Xiaolian paled. “One of the Bone Lords who attacked you threatened to come to the Noviodunam tonight?”
“Please, tell me what’s happening.” Gallmau felt like punching someone. Sinan, preferably, but he might take out his frustration on a wall or two if he wasn’t told the truth. “I’ve made a most solemn pledge to you, and Meri will stand by my side, but we must know how to help.”
Queen Xiaolian closed her eyes for a moment.
When she opened them, her words were clear and firm.
“After Rixende was taken, Zhang Jue left to investigate a location where she might be held, after sending out letters to those he thought best suited to rescue her if he failed. I have pledged Rixende’s hand in marriage to the sorcerer who brings her back to me. ”