Carack

Ch4 p4

Gerent was not looking forward to the dancing that he knew he would have to do, with all eyes on him, but Morvah had shown him several steps, sso he knew he would at least not step on her toes. When the meal was over he led her onto the central dance floor, trying to give the appearance that he knew of no better way to spend an evening and thanking his lucky stars that none of his mates or Hugh could see him now. After three dances, he found he was getting quite warm in his armour and asked Morvah to come out onto the balcony with him for some fresh air, but, at that moment, she was asked to dance by another of the knights. She whispered to Gerent that she could not refuse the knight as he was a friend of her fathers and she was the hostess, so Gerent went out onto the balcony alone. 

Almost instantly, N’zar, who had obviously been watching every move Gerent made, joined him. N’zar pulled him to the corner of the balcony, out of view of the room.

‘Perforce we must be brief,’ he said, ‘My brother ist dead, I know it, and yet I feel that thou doth believe what thou doth say. If it be that I can reach Wampa I will speak with him, but it will not be easy. I thank thee again for thy silence on yesterday, not only for mine own sake but for Cam as well, he hast been most uneasy since last night. I fear Lord Madron dost not trust me as he shouldst and so for thy sake we must not be seen speaking together thus, tis almost impossible to trust any one person within the castle. I will confer with thee on this matter when I hast spoken with Wampa.’ Without waiting for a reply he left Gerent on the balcony. Gerent felt that he was in the middle of something he did not understand as he did not have a clear view of all the players, their powers and programming. ‘It is a role play game,’ he thought,’ Hugh would be much better at this than I.’ He felt he was in over his head and could not even understand his own feelings as he switched from adoring Morvah to distrusting and disliking her immensely. He could not understand how these swings in feelings came about. This morning he had not cared about whether N’zar believed him or not, yet yesterday, and now, it was very important to him. Morvah appeared on the balcony and to keep up appearances he stepped to join her at once.

That night, although he fell into bed after the stresful evening Gerent awoke in the sticky heat, feeling very thirsty and finding his jug empty he decided to find his way down to the kitchen for some water. There were low burning candles, set in alcoves in the walls, that gave a soft light to the corridors and he stole along in silence to avoid disturbing anyone. Tiptoeing down the stairs and across the polished stone flags of the main hall, he noticed a glow of light filtering out from under the study doors and felt compelled to see who was there. Reaching the doors, he put his eye to the crack and saw Madron pacing around talking to Morvah, who sat with her back to Gerent. He placed his ear to the crack to hear what was being said.

‘I am certain pater he is in league with that N’zar. They have been seen talking.’

‘Have you not used the charm on him often enough?’

‘Often enough! I have whispered it to him so many times I’m sure he could repeat it. I have layered him in the aroma and wrapped him in the taste of it. No, it is not lack of diligence on my part, pater. I swear on the beach he was just like a puppy to me, I had him in the palm of my hand, yet still he would not tell me what he had done last night and I saw N’zar speak to him, though I could not hear what was said. We must get rid of him before he eludes our power and fulfils the prophecy or all our endeavours will have been for nothing and we shall never rule this land.’

‘The king is fully under my power despite all that the warlock at Widnbrea has tried, as is his house carl, even if the gamer is not under yours, daughter, do not panic, we shall rule. We cannot afford to be rid of him yet, it is to our strength that he sides with us, he will be something we can use against the warlock when the time comes. We must cast some stronger charm for this Lord Hugh, to bind him close to us. No, we must rid ourselves of N’zar; he has resisted our influence long after the rest of the bumpkins around here. He serves us, but does not worship us as we have tried to make him do, he still wishes to clear his brother’s name. N’zar has become a nuisance to us and our plans. I will see to it tomorrow, in the morning he will be taken, a disappearance, it shall be spread abroad that he had things to hide more shameful than his brother and we shall act bereft at his defection and desertion. Then I shall see to it that he shall have the same branch as his brother. The gamer, how to get control him, that is the question.’ Madron pondered. ‘If it were not for that idiot Wampa’s actions in escorting him here Trent would have met them on the road as planned and dispatched the problem for us before he was seen by anyone. As it is he has been seen and everyone knows the prophecy, we do not yet have sufficient hold on the people to summarily dispense with him.’

‘How then should we proceed my pater?’

‘Act as you have done, my own one, do not raise any suspicions, I shall consult my books and find a way to completely bind him to us. First, let me deal with our captain of the guard. To bed my girl-’ Gerent did not wait to hear anymore he raced back to his room as swift as possible without making a noise. He had to tell N’zar, warn him, he dressed with haste, putting on the hauberk under his tunic just in case and grabbing the ceremonial dagger he had been given. He briefly considered the breastplate but dismissed it as too heavy as he had to be quick if he were to warn N’zar in time to have him leave town before morning. His heart pounding Gerent opened the door of his room a crack and listened, on hearing nothing he then ventured to open the door a little and, seeing no one, he slid out of the room closing the door behind him.