From Darkness Won - Jill Williamson [65]
Against her will, Vrell pictured Achan, fallen in the vineyard.
Good, good. His fingers rubbed her neck like sandpaper.
Vrell sobbed. She had to break away from his probing mind.
She had to protect her thoughts.
Arman, help me!
As if thrown, her perspective soared out of her body and through the bars of three cells. She screamed, startled by the motion. She could see all the way back into her cell, where her body crumpled to the floor.
Macoun glanced around. “Don’t be a fool, girl. Leaving your body is a good way to die.” Macoun spoke aloud, as if he could not see where she was now.
So Vrell stayed put. She knew the dangers of the Veil. But she could not return to her body. Not until Macoun left.
Footsteps drew Vrell’s attention. Three men walked down the narrow corridor that separated one row of cells from another. They stopped before her cell.
Macoun Hadar vanished, leaving behind a flock of squawking shadows.
Gowzals?
“Hear that?” a man said. “Sounds like birds.”
“There ain’t no birds down here, fool. Just rats.” Something banged against the bars. “Lady Averella?”
Vrell tried to drift closer, wanting to see who they were, but she suddenly realized she was drifting near the ceiling. She circled her arms, as if trying to catch her balance, but the action only made her lift higher until she passed through the ceiling and lost sight of her body completely.
11
“My brother and his family are safe, for now,” Sir Caleb said. “They are being held in one of the outbuildings.”
“But not with Sir Jax?” Achan asked.
“No. Sir Jax and his men are in the dungeon.”
Achan sat at the head of a table in one of Granton Castle’s frescoed assembly rooms. To his left sat Sir Caleb, Sir Eagan, Inko, and Altair Bentz, captain of the contingent from Zerah Rock. Sir Gavin sat on Achan’s right. Beside him, Captain Tristan Loam of Carmine, Sir Eric Livna of Tsaftown, and Sir Koyukuk Orson of Berland. The duchess sat at the opposite end of the table. Anillo stood by the door.
Achan wished Sparrow were here. Given the heavy nature of this meeting, he could use her bloodvoicing quips. Plus she made a tea that could quell any headache. “How many were lost in the attack?” he asked Sir Caleb.
“Baruch fears it was a slaughter,” Sir Caleb said. “They attacked at dawn the same day they attacked here.”
Pig snout. “How many men did Allowntown have?”
“Just over one thousand.”
A thousand men. Lost to the devil who might have killed Achan’s parents. He rubbed his throbbing temple with the heel of his palm.
Are you well, Your Highness? Duchess Amal’s voice soothed his pain. Perhaps Sir Eagan had taught her the trick.
Only a headache, my lady.
“Anillo?” Every head at the table turned to face the duchess. “Some chamomile tea, please?”
Anillo nodded and slipped from the room.
Thank you, Achan said.
“Berland will help destroy this enemy, we will,” Sir Koyukuk said to Achan. Like Shung, the young general from Berland was hairy and dark. He wore needles of white bone through each ear lobe.
Achan worded his reply to fit Berland customs. “Your presence and offer honor us.”
Sir Koyukuk smiled and bowed his head to Achan.
Sir Gavin stood and rolled out a leather map that covered their end of the table. The bitter smell of tanned leather filled Achan’s nostrils as he leaned forward to examine the burned lines that depicted roads.
Sir Gavin set his finger on the word Allowntown. “We now know that at least part of the enemy army is gathered in Allowntown. That there will be a battle before we reach Armonguard, none now can deny. I can’t guess whether they intend to wait in Allowntown in hopes of blocking our path south or if they will advance north. If we move now, we may be able to avoid both those options—at least make it a battlefield of our own choosing.”
“How so?” Achan asked.
“If we can pass the Sideros River before they reach us, we can move south over the Allown plains, perhaps bypass Esek’s army altogether.”
Achan examined the map. “Why Allowntown? Wouldn’t they make a stronger stand in Mahanaim since