A Whisper of Darkness by Troy A. Hill

Author:Troy A. Hill [Hill, Troy A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-04-25T22:00:00+00:00

23

A Crack in the Wall

Bleddyn and I stood outside his door, his hand on the latch. He turned before opening it.

“I’ll send Siors and the men back to Penllyn in the morning to fetch those seaxes for Penda,” he said. Although he kept his voice quiet, it still drifted in the empty hallway. “Perhaps the bird Penda and I sent will arrive to let Emlyn know to meet Siors as quickly as possible with them.” His smile was coy, but his eyes flicked towards the door to my room. Thea might be in the bed there. I doubted she was sleeping.

“Oh, I’m sure the bird will alert Emlyn in time,” I said. Seren had already let me know that Sawyl and a few men would ride out to meet Siors halfway. “I’d like Talian to stay here.”

“Enjoy your evening,” he said. Then he waited until I turned away before he opened his door. The lightest whiff of roses drifted from his chamber once more.

A few hours later, I eased out of bed. The sleep command I had left in Thea’s mind would dissipate in a few hours, about the time the sun rose. She’d have no idea I had used my undead nature to cloud her memory of our time entwined on the bed, body against body. Like the bite marks on her neck had already faded and healed, my undead magic helped me hide the wound where I had fed from her.

I didn’t need the lamp to see as I found my sword clothes. Tunic, trousers, and boots. My hand had just closed on Soul’s scabbard and belt when I heard something rub against the wood outside the window. I reached out with my mind, expecting to find another of Lord Chamberlain’s “ears”.

Instead I sensed nothing. No one there. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. Like they had a year before when Onion Breath and Hunchback were pursuing me across Britannia.

I kept my scabbard, with Soul in it, in hand and rose as though I was heading towards the water basin on the small table. That let me step out of line from the window. I slid towards the shutters. Drapes hung across the inside of the window, and the shutters were barred from the inside. There were always cracks, though. I wrapped my fingers around Soul’s hilt, ready to pull it forth.

Was there something beyond the shutters? Something I could not sense? I paused and let my ears search the night. All I heard was Thea’s gentle breathing, along with that of Bleddyn and his companion in the next room. This late at night, Penda’s fort stood silent. The night was still too chilly for insects to be about.

The drape barely rustled as I eased it aside. I looked down through the slit at the bottom of the window. There was enough of a gap there for me to see the ground. Bare, rocky soil lay below. Nothing else. I could smell the soil and Thea’s own odours.

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