Chapter 59
No one bothered us that night. No one came to the doors or called for my permission or input. Connacher conjured all night, leaning low over his scrying bowl and speaking in whispers to whom I assumed was Blackfin. Sometime during the early morning hours, I fell asleep only to be awakened by the Elassai wizard. He told me to dress in the clothes laid out on the table and get ready to address both the Council and the head of the Lyr’s Army.
I obeyed him but not because he told me for it was Blackfin’s secret orders I was obeying even when I was not conscious of what they were. I was smart enough to know the Connacher was not privy to the Wizard’s wishes no matter what he thought.
I expected to see my great-grandfather lying in state in the Great Hall but it was conspicuously empty of any funeral or mourning accoutrements. It was full of the House Nobles, first and foremost – my paternal grandparents who looked both frightened and furious.
I did not recognize the Councilors but I knew the faces of the Generals, Minister of Defense and Minister of War. Connacher told me to stand up straight and speak. I looked helplessly at him; I hadn’t a thought in my head other than to escape, return to Blackfin and beg him to end my torment. But then, I remembered his orders to kill Connacher once I disposed of the Lyr.
He had taken away from me the bloodied knife but I sensed I would not need it; my bare hands would do the job. I straightened and spoke. “Behold the Lyr of the Border Kingdom,” I said so that my voice carried to the furthest part of the Hall. “I have taken the blood of Averon, I am of the blood of Averon and I will rule as I see fit.”
The entire mass of people shouted my name and the roar swelled to epic proportions. It was Connacher that basked in the praise; I merely stood there as if it were no more than the noise of the animals in the zoo. From their adulation, Connacher brought me to the Council Chambers where he made a show of asking me for my opinion on who I should keep or lose. By losing, he meant terminate so most of them were falling over backwards to stay on my good side. What they soon realized was that Connacher was the one they had to impress.
As soon as he began to speak, I turned around and struck him in the chest with my open hand. The blow was powerful enough to shatter his heart and cave in his sternum. He had time to ask me why and to listen to my answer.
“Because Blackfin ordered me to and his geas was more powerful than even Lyr Averon’s,” I said as the blood gushed from his mouth. It was as purple as his eyes but those dimmed to a pale icy blue as life left him.
I turned to the stunned nobles and spoke. “I am Lyr and more importantly, I am Yfed Gwaed now and forever. Cross me at your peril for I will brook no dissidence. My word is law and my power absolute for I control both the magic of the Elassai, the Border Wall and the cities of our ancestors.” I turned to the Generals. “We march over the Wall to the Wizard Blackfin’s Army and we will join him.”
No one asked why. “We are going to take the Newlands and drive on to Ehrenberg for the Emperor’s domain so that all lands old and new are ruled under my hand.”
There was stunned silence and then, the Fayette guards moved forward to dispose of Connacher’s body. I held my hand up to stop them. “Feed him to the condorlas,” I said cruelly as I cut off his hands. “And bring me his living relatives. I am hungry.”
Their faces whitened but they hurried to obey. They dragged his curiously shrunken body out of my sight and presently, my ears heard the sound of the birds feasting. Only then did I return my attention to the Council Chambers where I gave explicit directions to the Generals per Blackfin’s orders. I packed the dead wizard’s hands in a bag that Blackfin had provided for me.
In a matter of hours, the entire force of the Elassai warriors still stationed in the city and surrounding areas were on the move towards Elassen and the Border Wall.
Orders were sent out to the other regiments by message birds and magic scrying stones recalling all troops who are also to gather up any able-bodied man, woman or child over the age of 18 for new recruits. Blackfin had instituted a draft, something these people had never known but it was quite common to both Newland and Oldlanders. And one of the many reasons those Oldlanders had left the safety and comfort of the old world to brave the dangers of the new.
I was dug in to the Lyr’s private office when my Faet guards came with the news that all of Connacher’s family were awaiting my attention. I hurried to the holding area where a Captain of the Guards told me they were being kept.