The night air was cold and bitter, but still. The sky was clear and the moonlight reflecting off the snow made it a bright night. Quilla walked slowly along the path towards the Bear Fountain, trying to slow her pounding heart. She couldn’t turn back now, as much as she wanted to. All that would accomplish would be to have to pack and leave in the morning. Admittedly, she kind of wanted that, too, but she’d made a commitment. She needed to do this.
After this morning’s scuffle, Princess Annai had banished her from the Palace, and the Queen had signed off on it. She’d been given twenty-four hours to pack and leave. Gabriella had tried to argue on Quilla’s behalf, but after Tianna’s and Zandrue’s damning testimonies, she’d backed off. At least the Queen hadn’t ordered her hanged. For a brief moment, Quilla had worried that was going to happen.
So now she was banished.
Which was exactly the result she and Zandrue had hoped for. Still didn’t make it feel good.
Gods, she hoped this next bit worked.
Zandrue had assured her that she, Rudiger, Captain DeSeloön, and several of DeSeloön’s men were ready to come to her aid if needed. DeSeloön had given her a horn to use if she got in trouble—if Dyle tried to harm her in any way. Of course, the soldiers had to stay quite some distance back to stay out of sight and would need time to get to her. Also, DeSeloön’s people could only protect her for so long. If Dyle accepted her, she would soon be alone amidst Dyle’s people—Darkers, murderers, and who knew what other sorts of criminals?
What she was about to do was extremely dangerous. She could end up dead. She knew it. Zandrue knew it. They all knew it.
The Bear Fountain was up ahead. There was a figure standing on the bridge. From this distance, it was impossible to tell who, but it was probably Dyle. As she got closer, the figure waved to her.
Quilla stopped for a moment. She took one last moment to decide if she really wanted to do this, or if she should just take off in the morning and begin a long trek to Quorge by herself. Maybe she could get Corvinian to accept her. No. Her mind made up, she continued along the road onto the bridge.
It was icy, but not too bad. The figure was leaning on the rail, looking out over the fountain and the pond. He pulled back his hood, revealing Dyle’s face. He smiled as she approached. “I had a feeling I’d see you tonight.”
Quilla stopped beside him and looked out over the rail as well. “You heard what happened then?”
“Of course. I hear everything that happens in the Palace.”
Quilla rolled her eyes. “Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Her heart was beating out of control. What if he saw through the deception?
“Because you’re an intelligent woman and you’re aware I have access to many resources.”
She glanced at him. He was looking at her, still smiling. “I suppose so,” she said.
“You’ve decided to accept my offer then?”
She closed her eyes, lowered her head, and sighed. She wanted to make this look like the hardest decision she had ever made—which was fairly easy because it was the hardest decision she had ever made, or close to it. “Yes, I’ve decided to accept your offer. But I have a couple conditions.”
He held up his hand and turned to face her. “We can discuss conditions in a moment. First, I need to be sure this isn’t some sort of deception.”
She glared at him. “You don’t trust me?”
He chuckled and put a hand on her shoulder. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, Quilla. It’s that I don’t trust your friends.”
She turned aside and looked over the pond again. “They’re not my friends anymore. Well, maybe Rudiger, but not Zandrue.”
“There are soldiers in the wood tonight.”
Shit. He’d spotted them. “There are?”
“They’ve been there for hours. I can’t be entirely sure what they’re up to, but I have suspicions.”
Quilla gripped the rail tighter. “You think I arranged for them to be there?”
Dyle chuckled. “You? No. Zandrue? Very likely. The question is, did she do it with your knowledge?”
“After the fight we had today?”
“You could have staged it.”
Quilla shrugged. “I suppose we could have, but you say you trust me. Trust me when I say we didn’t. Besides, what have your...resources told you about me and her?”
Dyle leaned on the railing again. “Let’s see. They say you’ve spent less and less time together over the last three weeks. Ever since the funeral, Zandrue’s been spending more time with Princess Annai’s little clique. She’s still visited you on occasion, including yesterday. Mind telling me what that visit was about? It’s interesting that the very next morning, the two of you had your little spat.”
“She said she just wanted to say hello. She didn’t even stay five minutes. She’s too busy palling it up with royalty to stay long enough for even one drink. We just said a couple of fake pleasantries and she was on her way again. I’ve been ignored by the entire Palace for the last few weeks. Even Gabriella has mostly ignored me. I’m fed up with it. It’s time to move on.”
“Then why come to me? Why not just move on?”
She sighed. “Because Darkers like you will keep hunting me, and some of them won’t be the ones working with you. You said you could protect me. Was that the truth?”
“Of course. As I told you before, I have never lied to you.”
“You’ve kept things from me.”
“Not the same.”
Quilla shook her head. “Perhaps. At any rate, have you decided if I’m sincere or not?”
“Almost. Are you willing to come with me?”
“I did say there were conditions,” Quilla said.
“And I said, we will discuss them, but don’t you think it would be better if we discussed them without fear of interruption?”
“What do you mean?”
Dyle waved vaguely across the pond. “The soldiers out there. They won’t let us stand here forever. Assuming they’re not waiting for a signal from you, they’ll move in soon to apprehend us. We’d better get moving before they do.”
Quilla took a moment, but then nodded. “Very well.” There wasn’t really any option to back out of this even if he rejected her conditions. She just wanted to make her decision to accept his offer look more believable. Hopefully, she’d achieved that by now.
Dyle raised his hand above his head. A moment later, a tall man emerged from the woods and approached the trail.
“Won’t the soldiers recognise that as a signal?” Quilla asked.
“They’re pretty far back,” Dyle said. “They might not see it, but even if they do, they’re pretty far back. We have a head start.” He raised his voice for the tall man to hear. “We’re going.”
The man nodded briskly. “Right.” He glared up at Quilla. “We need to move quickly. Make sure you keep up the pace.” He raised his hand high into the air and shaped it into several different signals Quilla didn’t recognise.
“We also have other people to distract the guards,” Dyle said.
“This way!” the tall man called. He set off back into the woods.
Dyle motioned to Quilla, then hurried off the bridge after the tall man. She followed after him.
The tall man hadn’t been joking about moving quickly. She had to practically run to keep up. With the ice and snow, plus her heavy skirts and furs, it was no easy task.
“I said, keep up!” the tall man called back. “Or I carry you!”
Dyle was only a short way ahead of her. He glanced back at her. “That’s Sam by the way.”
Quilla did her best to pick up her pace and caught up to Dyle. “I don’t think Sam likes me.”
Dyle laughed and spoke loud enough to ensure Sam could hear. “Sam likes you just fine, don’t you, Sam? Don’t worry about his threat. He’s all mouth and doesn’t mean it. He knows full well that if anyone so much as lays a finger on you, there will be hell to pay. Unless you consent first, of course.”
Quilla groaned, and let herself fall behind again so she could avoid talking to Dyle for a while.
They made their way through the grounds, heading east first, and then north, occasionally following the trails, but mostly going off-trail through the woods. They stopped only infrequently, mostly so Sam could get his bearings and not so Quilla could catch her breath. The farther they got, the more out of breath she became and the farther behind she fell. Sam got noticeably more annoyed, but slowed the pace enough to allow her to keep up.
Eventually, they reached the gardens south of the main Palace complex. They stopped by a small pond near the west wall of the grounds. It had its own elaborate fountain. Not as large as the Bear Fountain, of course, but it was similarly elaborate with numerous carved gargoyle heads that would spew water out of them in the warmer months of the year.
Quilla collapsed against the back of the fountain, gasping at the cold air.
Dyle sat beside her, breathing just as heavily as she was. He placed a hand on her shoulder. “Quite the workout, isn’t it?”
She glared at his hand. “Don’t touch me.”
He withdrew it. “Of course. My apologies.”
Sam knelt in front of them. He didn’t even seem to have broken a sweat. “Wait here a minute. We’ll be more in the open here. I just need to be sure we remain unseen.” He jumped back to his feet and ran off.
“Let’s get one thing straight, Dyle,” Quilla said. “That rule about not laying a finger on me applies to you, too. Got it?”
Dyle nodded. “Got it.”
“That’s my first condition. Just because I’m accepting your offer doesn’t mean we are getting back together. Agreed?”
“Agreed.”
“Our relationship is long in the past and it’s going to stay that way.”
“As you wish, but let’s talk about your conditions when we reach our destination. We can catch our breath and be more comfortable.”
“We’ve got time now. Let’s use it.” She didn’t want him comfortable when they talked about these things. She wanted him as uncomfortable as possible. He’d have a harder time manipulating her into agreeing to things she’d later regret.
He nodded, still breathing heavily. “All right. Go ahead.”
“I want to be reunited with Corvinian.”
“It will be one of our top priorities.”
She wagged a finger at him. “Oh no, we are not doing it your way. There will be no kidnapping him. No dragging him here against his will. It doesn’t have to happen right away, but you will take me to him, and I will convince him to come with me. And that will take as long as is necessary for him to come to trust me. Agreed?”
“It’s not ideal.”
“I don’t give a damn.”
He nodded. “But yes. I agree.”
“Good. Next condition.”
Sam reappeared and knelt by them. “The way’s clear. We need to move fast.” He looked at Dyle.
Dyle met his gaze for several seconds before nodding. He reached into his coat and pulled out a strip of cloth. “Quilla, until we can fully trust you, I need you to agree to one condition too.”
“You are not blindfolding me.”
“We can’t let you know where we’re going. Please understand. I won’t force a blindfold on you, but if you refuse, we will leave you here now. You can remove it as soon as we’re inside.”
Quilla stared at the strip of cloth.
“We need to get going,” Sam grumbled.
Quilla sighed and turned her back to Dyle. “Fine.”
Dyle placed the blindfold over her eyes. He pulled it tight and tied it off. “Your hand.”
Quilla groaned. “Damn you, Dyle.” Barely moments after establishing no physical contact as a rule, he had manipulated her into physical contact. She held out her hand, and he took hold of it.
He helped her to her feet and led her a short distance, presumably around the edge of the fountain. “We have to run. Trust me?”
“I don’t have much choice, do I?”
“Not really. Ready? Now.”
They broke into a run, him pulling on her arm as she did her best not to stumble over any unseen objects on the ground. Several times she did stumble, and on a couple of occasions almost fell. Dyle always kept pulling her forward, though. Occasionally, they slowed down to turn left or right, sometimes just a small turn, other times a larger turn. She tried to keep track of the turns, but there were too many. The gardens had lots of obstacles, which meant needing to turn frequently just to go in a straight line. There was no way she could tell where they were going with any accuracy. At best, she could estimate they were somewhere in the northeastern part of the complex, possibly in the vicinity of the conservatory or orangery.
Eventually, they slowed down and then stopped. After a brief pause, Dyle let go of her hand and said, “Straight ahead. That’s it. One more step.”
The cold air was replaced by slightly warmer air, and a door shut. Then another door opened, and Dyle guided her to turn to the left.
“There are steps just ahead,” Dyle said. “Going down.”
She felt carefully with her foot before taking each step. It was slow going until she found the step down, but then she was able to take the remaining stairs more quickly. Once they were at the bottom, another door closed.
“We’re here,” Dyle said. “You can take the blindfold off now.”
She reached behind her head and fiddled with the cloth to untie it.
They were in a dimly lit chamber with walls of stone. It looked like a cellar—probably was a cellar. There was a long table in the centre with a bench along each side. Two of the walls were lined with empty shelves. A door behind her presumably went back to the stairs they’d just come down. Two other doors exited the room.
Dyle sat at one of the table’s benches. “I’ll give you the tour once we’ve caught our breath. Until then, why don’t we discuss the rest of your conditions?” He motioned for her to join him.
“I’ll go check that the others make it back fine,” Sam said. Dyle nodded and Sam went back through the door to the stairs, closing it behind him.
Dyle began removing some of his furs. “It’s still cold down here, but it’s not as bad as outside. The torches on the wall help provide a little heat.”
Quilla walked over to the table, unwrapping her shawl. She sat across from Dyle and a little to the side. She wanted some space between them.
Once he’d removed some of his excess outdoor clothes, Dyle rested his arms on the table. “So, what’s the next condition?”
“I don’t take part in any of your...Darker activities. Whatever it is you do. I’m not murdering or stealing, and I’m definitely not worshipping the Lord of Darkness.”
Dyle chuckled. “I wouldn’t expect you to. That said, as I mentioned, your powers—and Corvinian’s—are needed for some specific purposes. You’ll need to take part in those, but it’ll be much more pleasant with me than with anyone else.”
“All right. Fair enough.” If things went according to plan, those moments would never occur, and if things didn’t go according to plan, everyone was doomed anyway. “But I am not a Darker, and I’m not becoming one.”
“Servant of Sunset, or just Servant for short.”
Quilla rolled her eyes. “Fine. I’m not a Servant.”
“Any other conditions?”
She shook her head. “No, that’s all.”
One of the doors opened and another man strode into the room. He was tall and lanky with pale skin, blonde hair, and a thin face, with a small, flat nose. His most striking characteristic was his long moustache, which hung below his chin. “I thought I heard voices. So this is her, is it? The Catalyst?”
Quilla forced a smile. “My name’s Quilla. Quilla Steranovist.”
“Of course.” The lanky man sat beside her. “A pleasure to meet you at last, Quilla.”
“And you are?” Quilla asked.
“Don’t bother,” Dyle said. “He won’t—”
“Lamaën.”
Dyle’s jaw dropped.
“A pleasure to meet you, too, Lamaën,” Quilla said.
Dyle leaned forward. “I’ve known you for more than a year, and you’ve refused to tell me your name the entire time, and now you tell her at your first meeting?”
Lamaën smiled. “Some people are more important than even the future Dusk Supreme. The Catalyst—Quilla—deserves our highest respect.”
Dyle scowled and looked away.
Quilla thought she might just like this Lamaën person.
“I’m so glad you came to us willingly, Quilla,” Lamaën said. “I’d’ve hated to use other means.”
On second thought, she didn’t like him. He was a Darker, charm notwithstanding.
Lamaën stood back up. “I’ll let you get settled in. I believe Dyle has arranged a room for you. Right beside his. Goodnight.”
Quilla forced a smile. “Goodnight.”
He left through the door he’d come in by, and Quilla rounded on Dyle. “A room right beside yours, huh? Remember what I said about our relationship.”
Dyle sighed. “Relax, Quilla. I’m not expecting our relationship to start back up. There aren’t very many rooms in here to choose from. It’s actually difficult for anyone to have a room that’s not close to anyone else’s. Most have to share. Lamaën’s just trying to rile us up. He likes doing that to me.”
Quilla sighed. “Fine. I suppose it’s not a big deal.”
“If you hadn’t picked that fight with Princess Annai’s best friend, you could have stayed in the Palace for now. You wouldn’t have to hide here.”
“I didn’t pick a fight with her. I picked a fight with Zandrue. Tianna just got in the way.”
Dyle laughed. “You always had a way of doing that. Remember that time you—?”
“Have you really known Lamaën for a year and only learned his name just now?” She was not in the mood for reminiscing right now.
Dyle frowned and looked away from her. “Unfortunately, yes.”
Quilla laughed. “How do you refer to him?”
Dyle grinned. “Moustache Man, mostly. Though never to his face. You’ll quickly notice he loves nothing more than playing with that stupid moustache of his. Constantly strokes it. Be careful of him, Quilla. He’s dangerous.”
She rolled her eyes. “You’re all dangerous, but you’ve promised me my safety, right?”
“Yes, but he’s not like the others. He has unusual powers. It’s like he’s got…”
She leaned forward. “Like he’s got what?”
Dyle shook his head. “He just has strange powers and is, by far, the most dangerous of all of us. He’s the only one I’m not sure I could stop if he...well, just be careful.”
Quilla shivered. “All right. I’ll be careful. I’ll stay away from him.”
“That’s often harder than it sounds. He’ll just show up. With luck though, he won’t do that with you. He’ll keep it to just me.”
“I’ll avoid him as much as possible then, and I’ll be careful.” Quilla suspected she was going to need to be careful of everyone here. “How many of you are there anyway?”
“Actually staying here? Six of us. Seven now with you.”
“And staying in the Palace?”
Dyle smirked. “You’ll meet everyone in due time. Once I’m certain I can trust you.”
“Is one of them Lidda Plavin?” Quilla asked.
Dyle closed his eyes and sighed.
“Not surprised I know that?”
He shook his head. “Lady—” he said the word with a sneer—“Plavin acted like an idiot last year in Tyl. She pretty much advertised what she was, so no, I’m not surprised Felitïa and Zandrue figured things out. Any other questions I’m not ready to answer yet?”
Quilla smirked. “Lots, but if you’re not going to answer them…” She thought for a moment, then indicated the room. “Where are we?”
“Disused cellar,” he said, “converted for our use.”
“I can see that. I mean under where?”
He chuckled. “You don’t really expect me to answer that?”
“It’s not like I can tell anyone from here, and if I leave—which presumably you won’t allow, but if I do, I’ll see anyway, so what harm is there?”
He tried to hide a smile. “I’ll think about it. Come. I’ll show you around and to your room. It’s not a very big place.” He stood up.
“What about my things? I packed some things already, but they’re still in my apartments.”
“I’ll arrange to have them retrieved for you. We’ll make certain you’re still able to dress nicely. Would you like Marna here too?”
Quilla held back a gasp. “Is she...is she one of you?”
Dyle chuckled. “No. I was suggesting we could…” He shook his head. “No, never mind. You wouldn’t like that.”
“Damn right, I wouldn’t. I’m quite capable of making myself up.”
“I never meant to imply otherwise.” He gestured to one of the doors. “Shall we?”
“How do you get around? I mean, you seem to appear and disappear. I assume you don’t run everywhere like we did tonight.”
Dyle shook his head. “It’s too soon to reveal that.” He gestured to the door again. “Shall we?”
Quilla sighed. She gathered her shawl and fur from the tabletop and stood up to follow Dyle.
She was in the thick of it now. She had put so much effort into convincing Zandrue that this was a good idea—that she could do this. Now that she was cut off from Zandrue for the next who-knew-how-long, she wasn’t so certain anymore. She’d always been something of a coward. She just hoped that cowardice didn’t get the better of her now.
