4
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“You have brought me here just to threaten my friend?” I let out my own deranged cackle.
“No, Olivia –” Rory jumped down from his stool, aiming to move towards me if not for being interrupted by a lifted hand from Brian.
“I am not threatening you or your friends. I am telling you what will be done.”
My hand, still deep in my pocket, clutched that blade tighter.
“Easy,” Rory muttered, stepping between Brian and I, just as I realized my jaw was close to popping. “Let us explain.”
He shot a furious look to Brian, then softened his features for me.
“What makes you think I want to stand here and listen to this, Rory?” I cried out, caring little for how loud my voice carried with the noise of the pub upstairs drowning it all out.
“I’ve been brought here under the pretence that the one place I truly loved is going to be destroyed, and that the person I…
That my friend is going to be killed for it?
” I began shaking my head, my feet dragging me from left-to-right in the room as pacing slowed my beating heart.
“I know,” he followed me left-and-right, his hands outstretched as if to calm me. “Let me start back at the beginning. Then I will let you come to the conclusion that you wish.”
Chewing on the inside of my mouth, I finally slammed to a stop. A hand brushed against the bend of my elbow and I glared down at it in preparation to shout at Rory for touching me – but it wasn’t Rory. It was just the ghostly hand of Raegan once again.
I nodded at Rory.
“Raegan took Choilltean and Cluaineach, this much you know.
Some of the Rachainn see this as a good thing, they think it's a step towards a Saoghal where the borders will no longer define our ways, that our culture might start to shift. Others, they see it for what it truly was – a misjudged step on behalf of a young prince–” he lifted his hand to stop me from objecting, a defence for Raegan primed on the tip of my tongue.
“Raegan did what he believed would be right. I truly believe that. I am a part of a third group of onlookers. I think that Raegan took a bad situation and did what he could. Whether he had taken Choilltean or Cluaineach, war would have been waged between the two kingdoms. Raegan tried to stop that.”
Rory was being sincere. I was pretty sure of it. There was a softness to his eyes and a shimmer that suggested the emotion he dripped into his words.
“But not everyone sees it as I see it. The vast majority – not just the Rachainn, but Saoghal as a whole – saw it as step one in a larger plan of Raegan’s.”
“That’s absurd,” I barked. I knew Raegan – he hardly wanted one throne, certainly not two, definitely not anymore than that.
“I know,” Rory grumbled. “I know that. But those of Uisge? Of Speur? They do not see it that way. They believe… They believe Raegan intends to claim their kingdoms, too.”
“Who’s to say he doesn’t?” Brian said, earning him two threatening glares from both Rory and I.
“Uisge and Speur have cut all contact with Raegan – with Choilltean and Cluaineach. They do not respond to his missives, they refuse him access across their kingdoms. They have cut all trade. And last I heard, they prepare for war.”
I was shaking my head, over and over again. “This is insane. Truly, insane.”
“It gets… worse.” Rory placed his palm to his forehead, working the flesh against his skull. “Raegan has Uisge and Speur to worry about – yes. But the Rachainn… We grow concerned, too. The disturbance of Saoghal at his hand – it will be great. There are very few options as to how anyone proceeds.”
“I don’t understand.”
Rory gave me a pitiful smile. “Raegan must be removed from power. It is the only thing that will settle the four kingdoms once more. The Rachainn might want a change within Saoghal, but they still want to protect Saoghal above all else.”
“He can’t be removed from power. He’s the last of the two royal bloodlines. I was told that another cannot just be anointed.”
“Correct,” Brian added, “for the most part. But there was another time, one not so dissimilar to this, where the gods made an exception for Saoghal.”
My eyes flicked between the two of them. “You believe you can appeal to the gods? To, what? Not only remove Raegan from power, but somehow bring forth another heir? I don’t… I don’t understand.”
Rory’s face twisted into a sorrowful smile. “We juggle two options. Raegan steps down, willingly, and we ask the gods for forgiveness. We pray for a new line to be directed towards the remaining throne.”
“Or,” Brian mumbled, “We remove Raegan from his throne by force and leave two kingdoms without leaders. We, again, ask the gods for forgiveness and pray for two new lines to be directed towards the throne.”
“By force?” I croaked.
“We go to the gods without his permission,” Rory said.
“Or we kill him,” Brian sighed.
I had never been a violent person. Not a single second of my life had I felt any desire to be violent.
But then, and there, hearing Brian speak so freely of killing Raegan – my hand gripped to the scalpel with such strength that I felt it slice into my flesh.
My anger numbed it, the only evidence of the wound being the slow trickle of blood across my palm.
“Calm down,” Rory sighed, watching my face contort.
I closed my eyes for a moment, if only to see the faint green reflection of Raegan’s against my eyelids.
“To appeal to the gods requires a certain ritual. It was performed once, then never again, deep within the castle of Cluaineach. According to the tale, it was recorded and stored away.”
“In the castle?” I cocked a brow.
“In…” Rory’s face squeezed. “In the King’s chambers.”
“You… You want someone to go into the King’s chambers?” It was a question, yet I laughed as I said it.
“It’s that,” Brian growled, “or the King dies.”
I swung so quickly in his direction that I didn’t have the time to register what I was doing. But that scalpel was out, thoroughly gripped in my blood-soaked hand, and on its way to Brian’s chest only to be interrupted by Rory.
“Listen to me, Olivia. If we can’t get that document, we won’t have an alternative anymore. I will have to accept that the only solution will be Raegan’s death.”
He was lucky he was capable of speaking with such a soft voice, because yet again my chest shook with the thought. But I said nothing, only stared at him.
It was Brian who dared to fill the silence. “We will give this one shot. But the King will see right through this ploy, our spy will be killed, and we will be forced to default to our only true option.”
“Not helpful, Brian,” Rory hissed.
They’re going to kill Raegan.
“You need a spy,” I repeated. “You need someone who can get close enough to the King’s chambers to locate the document,” I echoed. “And you need it to work on the first try.”
They both narrowed their eyes at me.
“Then you need to send me.”
Rory’s ears pulled back as creases formed against his eyes. But he did not say no. Instead, he said, “The risk is great. And Raegan… Raegan isn’t the male you once knew. He has changed.”
I shook my head a few times. “I can do it, Rory. I can get the ritual that you need. I might even be able to convince him to cooperate. But even if I can’t – you will get the ritual, and you will spare his life. Right?”
Rory and Brian shared a look, then turned back at me and nodded as one.
“Then I will do it.”
~
Preparations started.
The whole time, I sat in the corner of that dusty, mouldy cellar and watched as pixies flicked from miniature to human-sized, bustling in and out of the cellar with various things.
After about an hour, finding myself in the most awkward position to be had on a stool, Rory approached the dark corner.
“Here.” He smiled at me, sliding a mug of something in my direction. “It’s a medicine of sorts – helps with keeping you little for extended amounts of time.”
I frowned down at it, the somewhat pink hue of the liquid and the overwhelming smell of cherries. “It looks disgusting.”
Rory chuckled as he winked at me, watching as I placed my lips to the cup and drank.
“It is likely that he will make you swear an oath once you arrive. Like I said, he’s not who he was before – he is paranoid. He will make you swear an oath, Olivia, and I need you to listen to me and understand.”
Finishing slurping the pink concoction of what definitely did not taste like cherries, I nodded at Rory.
“The oath he will put you under will mean that he will know when you lie to him. But it doesn’t compel you to offer truths.”
“What do you mean?”
“If he asks you a question, he will know if you lie. But you can tell half-truths, you can twist what you believe, and you can manipulate the question to fit what will pass as a non-lie. For example, if you were to ask me why I sought you out today, I could say to take you to a bar. It’s not a lie, but it’s not the truth either.
All that matters is that it’s not a lie. He will know if you lie.”
“Don’t lie. Got it.” I grinned at him.
Brian appeared in the stairwell. “We’re almost ready, Rory.”
I was about to jump up, to sprint over to the stairwell and let them take me deep into Saoghal. But Rory got up first.
“This will be no easy task,” Rory began, staring me down. “You are not being asked to spy on humans. We are sending you far into the depths of a fox den.”
His words meant nothing. They simply floated into my ear and shot out the other just as quickly.
I’m going back to Saoghal.
“You have not yet seen this side of Raegan. You think the ploy that he pulled on his kingdoms was cunning?” Rory shook his head as he chuckled.
“The fox has been backed into a corner, and he will not use claws and teeth to free himself. He will use his mind — his slyness and his wickedness to escape.”
My eyes inadvertently pinched as I tried to square my shoulders.
I’m going to see everyone again.
“You will have no friends there. You will have no one around that cares about you. And, most certainly and most importantly, not a single one of them will watch your back. And if they do, understand they do not intend to protect it — instead, they watch for the optimal time to attack it.”
I get to see Raegan.
I gulped as I finally let my eyes meet Rory’s. “When do we leave?”