The War of Six Crowns: The Vanished Knight

Misunderstandings

James became aware of his surroundings. Even though the room was dim, his head drummed a long, steady rhythm of pain. Bile rose to his mouth, filling it with a taste of the drink he'd enjoyed earlier. Never again. He shut his eyes and swallowed down the threat.

What was that stuff? It didn't taste like alcohol, but it sure worked like it. No...it worked better. Maybe it was some sort of drug...

Somewhere through his sleep, his arms must have shifted out from under his head, because the coarse tabletop ground against the raised parts of his face. Uuuuuurgh...so much for a soft bed. He tried to straighten, but his muscles refused to move. Except for his forearms, which he could shift forward and back, but not in any way useful to his predicament.

"Jemmies still asleep?" Stor asked, his accent much lighter than before. The sound of scraping chairs scratched at the inside of James's head.

James froze, willing himself to keep quiet. The fact that Stor had checked told James something important would be discussed that they didn't want him or Ward to hear. James wouldn't miss it for the world.

Phipps chuckled softly. "I don't think they'll get out of the ale so quick."

"Aye. Told 'em to drink slow. Why didn't ya?"

"If James doesn't listen to an ox like you, I don't think he'll listen to an old man." Phipps sighed.

"You're not a man who brings insubordinates, Conroy Phipps. What's the story?"

Fire crackled in the pause that followed. Light shimmied on James's table. He could barely catch movements out the corner of his eye.

"They'll come in line," Phipps said. "James needs to find a girl who was kidnapped from Earth."

"Then why are ye here?"

"The soldiers who grabbed her belong to King Aurek."

Wood creaked and Stor's huge shadow fell over the table. "An yer hopin' I saw the filly?"

"Yes."

"Nae. She wouldn't have been brought this way."

"Where then?"

The merry crackling of the coals sounded wrong with the tension in Phipps's voice.

"I don' know. The timin's bad, friend. Aurie's in Alfen Cairn. He wouldn't steal a filly while he isn't here."

"Well, I know he tried," Phipps rasped.

"Tried?"

"There's something I didn't tell the boys yet."

James stopped breathing in case the sound would drown out Phipps's hoarse whisper.

"There's another group involved. One I tolerate at the castle."

"To yer regret."

Phipps paused. "Stor, I've never seen anything like it. It took them seconds to mobilize under attack. When they moved, they killed. Many."

The ones who had killed the soldiers in red. Had to be. Come to think of it, James couldn't remember seeing a single different uniform in the heaps. Only red-clad corpses had been visible.

"What color was their uniforms?" Stor's concerned tone caught James's attention again.

"Black."

"All black?"

"Yes, except for silver insignia on the officers' tunics."

Stor stayed silent and James's chest constricted. Something was very wrong.