Chapter 10 #2
Their plot to trap the traitor had gone horrifically awry.
Then again, how could they have planned for this?
Magical statues that disgorged monsters?
She worried for Gustav, especially once they entered the woods where she could clearly hear the sound of fighting.
The ringing clash of blades and shouts indicated more danger.
Avera should have turned around, but given the choice between the monsters or Gustav, she chose the latter. At least he seemed to be fighting men.
Josslyn cried out, and Avera half turned her head in time to see the duchess yanked from her mare as a man stepped out from behind a tree. The lady didn’t go quietly or easily.
“Let me go!” Josslyn thrashed and yelled.
Avera slipped from Luna’s back and raced to Josslyn’s rescue, sliding low and slashing her captor behind the knees.
He screamed as he slumped, and Josslyn stumbled away from him, wide-eyed and afraid, as Avera gritted her teeth and jabbed, killing the attacker.
But he was only one of many.
“What are we going to do?” Josslyn panted.
Avera didn’t know. A battle raged all around. There were at least a dozen brigands fighting Gustav and his men. Twice as many as Gustav had brought. Many more than they’d expected. Just how deep did this conspiracy to remove her run?
With two choices—run or fight—Avera chose the latter. Gustav and the soldiers fought to save her. Would die to save their queen. A queen should be willing to do the same for her people.
Screaming, “For Daerva,” Avera ran at the nearest brigand, not caring if he had his back to her. They’d chosen to not fight fair. They could now pay the price. She skewered him in the back, her blade sliding in easily, and as the body went to drag it down, she yanked it free. Whirled. Swung.
Clang. The vibration of metal hitting metal rang up her arm, and she clenched her jaw as tight as her fist. She couldn’t let go of her weapon.
If she did, she’d die. The man facing her pulled back to swing again, his skill with a blade more about brute strength than finesse.
She thanked all her lessons as she parried and found the opening to slash, opening up the brigand’s stomach.
As she turned to look for the next foe, Gustav yelled, “Get out of here. There’s too many.”
“The path to the castle is blocked!” Avera hollered back as she ducked a swing and thrust her weapon under a man’s guard, nicking him in the thigh.
“Bloody whoresons,” Gustav cursed as he swung his heavy blade, smashing aside a sword before he took his opponent’s head.
Only two other rooks remained standing, and still six brigands to go. Make that seven, as one stood off to the side watching, while also holding Josslyn by the hair.
Avera headed for him and growled, “Release the duchess at once.”
“Or what?” mocked the figure, his tone familiar.
It hit her suddenly. “Benoit?” she exclaimed.
“As if you didn’t already know,” he replied. Despite having a sword clenched in his hand, he managed to tug free his hood, showing tousled hair and a smirk. “I have to admit, I was surprised you didn’t have the guard out looking for me after you overheard me and Venne in the cellar.”
Should she admit she hadn’t known? While familiar, the man in the dungeon had spoken in a deep and serious tone, unlike the Benoit she’d barely known, who usually either spewed syrupy praise or sly rejoinders.
“How did you know I was there?” Avera thought they’d gone unnoticed.
“I have my ways. One might even say a little bird told me.”
Her mind flashed to the statue she’d seen in her late mother’s office. “You were the one behind the assassins,” she stated.
“And so much more.” His grin turned smarmy. “Assassins aren’t the only thing I had smuggled into the country. I’ve been running Horizon’s End’s black-market for more than a decade now.”
“You?” She couldn’t help but sound surprised.
“Yes me, and no one outside my circle of allies ever suspected. Thanks to me, things banned for import could be acquired for a price.”
“What did my mother ban?” She didn’t recall a list.
“Things she didn’t think added value to Daervian society. Certain alcohols, drugs, magic infused tokens. Because of me, no one had to do without.” He sounded quite proud of breaking the law.
“You’re a criminal.”
“I prefer the term entrepreneur. I see an opportunity and I take it. Like the throne for example. I wanted it, and so I took steps to sit on it. Alas you keep getting in the way. A pity the little surprise I left in the bedroom failed.”
“Guess you should have used more than one statue,” was her dry reply.
“At the time, I only had a single sample, but as you noticed, I’ve since increased my stash of magical weapons. Expensive, but worth it.”
“You’ll pay for your treason,” she stated, wondering how to get him to release Josslyn.
“I don’t think so. See, already the story of your greed is circulating. The bastard daughter of the late beloved queen, hiring assassins to murder her family so she could steal the throne.”
Her jaw dropped. “No one will believe it.”
“Won’t they? After all, Venne wrote about it in his captain’s log, full of regret at what he helped you do.”
“You’re a monster,” she huffed.
“I am a man of vision who will be king. And my first act will be to execute the traitor known as Avera Voxspira.”
She shook her head. “You’ll never be king. The people will choose someone wise and—”
“The people will do as they’re told and those that don’t will die. Kill a few, and the rest will fall in line.”
“Move aside, Avera. I’ll handle him.” A grim Gustav limped to her side, bloody, but alive and alone. The rest of Benoit’s brigands lay dead, but at the cost of all the soldiers but for Gustav.
Josslyn remained wide-eyed during the exchange. Surely terrified. Or not… She had her hand in front of her, the fingers flexing around an object. A hairpin. Not a dagger, but suddenly Avera understood what she planned.
Gustav growled, “You’ll never sit your scurvy buttocks on the throne.”
“And who will stop me, old man? You? The Grand Rook who failed to stop the murder of all his charges? Who actually abetted Avera in her devious plot so that his own sister could become duchess.”
Benoit had thought of everything. Avera saw Josslyn’s eyes narrow and knew she was ready to act.
“The people will soon realize you’re a despot. They’ll see through your lies,” Avera countered, keeping his attention on her.
“And if they do? What then? You’ll be gone.”
“Over my dead body,” Gustav growled.
“That is the plan, and no one will care. Amazing how easy it is to convince people to join your cause when you promise them wealth.” Benoit’s lips tilted into a sly grin.
“And then there’s the fact they’ve been told they can have any of the ladies whose husbands refuse to follow my lead, as well as those who think they can play the part of a man, like the uppity duchess.
I’ll be showing the duchess her proper place before the day is over. ”
Benoit pulled Josslyn’s hair, yanking her head back, and the lady hissed, “I’d rather die.” She rammed her hairpin into his thigh, slamming it deep, and while not grievous, it led to Benoit grunting and thrusting her from him.
His eyes narrowed in anger. “I’ll make you hurt for that.”
“Only if you can catch me.” Josslyn grabbed her skirts and ran for her mare, which stood with Luna on the outskirts of their impromptu battlefield.
Gustav advanced on Benoit. The coward didn’t stay and fight, but rather ran in the direction of the fields and the lizards. When Gustav would have followed, Avera snared his sleeve. “You’re in no shape to fight Benoit or the monsters he unleashed.”
“But he killed Calixte.” His voice emerged low and raspy.
“And he’ll kill me and your sister, too, if we don’t escape.”
The decision, stay or go, took only a second before his shoulders slumped and he sighed. “This isn’t over.”
“No, it’s not. We will beat Benoit, just not today.”
Probably not even tomorrow.
Or the next day.
Because killing him wouldn’t be enough. She also had to counter his lies.
And there wasn’t a weapon in Daerva that could slice through the web he’d woven.