Days of Air and Darkness - Katharine Kerr [70]
“Rhodry! Lady Mallona’s escaped.”
“What, Your Grace?” Rhodry sat bolt upright. “How could she?”
“Someone unlocked the door from the outside. On your feet, man—there’s not a minute to lose.”
“If His Grace would be so kind as to turn his back so my lady can dress, we’ll be as quick as ever we can.”
The tieryn strode over to the window and stared out. While Jill and Rhodry dressed, he told them how a page had wakened him only a few minutes ago, saying that the servant who went up to feed the lady had found the door unbolted and the prisoner fled.
“Elyc and Tudvulc are going to question the womenfolk,” Dwaen finished up. “It must be one of them, and I’ll put my wager on that little Babryan.”
“So would I,” Jill said. “But how did Mallona get out of the dun?”
“A stolen horse and men’s clothing again, probably. There hasn’t been time to question the gatekeeper yet.”
They were all hurrying down the staircase to the great hall when they met a page hurrying up.
“Your Grace, the Lady Babryan’s gone, too.”
Jill felt as sick as if she’d bitten into tainted meat.
“The faithful little dolt! You’re right, Your Grace—there’s not a minute to lose.”
The table of honor framed a tableau of hysteria. Lady Davylla and Wbridda wept and clung together; Elyc and Tudvulc paced back and forth and shouted at each other. In the background hovered Cenwyc and a crowd of frightened servitors, while across the hall the men ate standing up and straining to hear every word. Sevinna ran over and caught Jill’s arm.
“I’ve been searching the chambers. All of Lady Mallona’s herbs and stuff are gone, and so are Baba’s traveling cloak and riding boots. They took the blankets off Mallona’s bed, too.”
“Do you know if Mallona had a weapon?” Jill said.
“A dagger. It was a long one with a metal handle, because she used it for the rites. That’s gone, too.”
“I’m less worried about steel than I am about herbs,” Rhodry broke in. “Oh, ye gods, where do they think they’re going? How do they think they’re going to get away with this?”
“I doubt me if either of them’s thinking at all,” Dwaen said. “Especially the Lady Babryan.”
“Just so.” Sevinna turned to him, her voice quivering in rage. “Mallona’s been working on her. She’s got ways of doing that. She tried them on me, but it didn’t avail her much. I beg you, my lord, don’t think unkindly of my cousin for this. I swear she’s been ensorcelled.”
“Never did I think anything else,” Dwaen said. “And for your sake, I’ll bring her back safely or die in the attempt.”
Sevinna dropped him a curtsy, then hurried back to her aunt. With an impatient bellow, Tudvulc waved them over.
“The grooms are getting the horses ready. You’d better eat fast, lads.” He grabbed a couple of chunks of bread from a bowl on the table and threw them, one at a time, to Jill, Rhodry, and Dwaen. “When I catch this fiend who’s got my daughter, I’m going to skin her alive!”
“I trust His Grace is merely overcome by his feelings,” Dwaen said. “The penalty that great Bel decreed is hanging.”
Tudvulc snarled wordlessly.
“Well, Your Grace, the laws say—”
A yell from the door stopped Dwaen’s disquisition.
“My lords! He’s dead! Gello—he’s been stabbed.”
“The gatekeeper,” Rhodry muttered. “Poor bastard.”
Old Gello, as frail as a stick, lay broken on the floor of his little hut beside the gates. He’d been stabbed once from behind and thrown face down, so that a pool of blood stained his shirt.
“It’s still wet.” Dwaen knelt down and laid a hand on his face. “And he’s barely cold.”
“What?” Elyc sputtered. “How could—”
“My lord?” Rhodry broke in. “It means they waited till he opened the gates. Just at dawn, not all that long ago at all.”
“We’ve just missed the bitch,” Elyc snapped. “Ye gods, her gall!”
Tudvulc chained a string of foul oaths worthy of a bard. Elyc turned and yelled to his men, clustering out in the ward.
“Get every man in the dun into the town! You, you, and you—run like the hells were opening under you! I want the town