TWO KINGDOMS 42: THIEVES

[DoctorM]

TWO KINGDOMS 42: THIEVES

This is the fortieth part of an AU construction about a Gwynedd where the duel at Kelson Haldane's coronation went very differently indeed. We are now almost three years into the Gwynedd Wars-- Charissa's new kingdom at Valoret against the Haldanes in the south and the kingdom of Torenth in the east. This episode takes place a week or two after "Ghosts". As always, comments and suggestions are very much appreciated.

****

"This is how they came down," ar-Rafiq says. "Once they were in, they came through the kitchens to the tower. The Lord Marluk's library was down that corridor. That's where he kept his books and his private papers. Then they came here.  This is his workroom."

They're at Sendal, here on a late spring morning. This is the last duke of Marluk's hunting lodge and retreat, here in the upland forests. They're in the single squared tower, the old duke's private quarters. Down in the hall, the walls are lined with the heads of stag and boar. Up here this morning are the Grey Death's men. The Shadow Queen's Inquisitor of State has come himself, and there's a  burnt smell of Deryni magic in the air.

Aurelian turns back to ar-Rafiq. "How many do you think?"

Ar-Rafiq shrugs. "Half a dozen, I think. No more. Six of them."

"Minus one," Ratcliffe says.

"Minus one, yes." 

Aurelian looks over at Ratcliffe. Ratcliffe is head of the Queen's intelligencers in Tolan. Young for his position, but the Ratcliffes have been Tolan and Marluk courtiers for four generations. Ratcliffe's father had been chief intelligencer before him, and that counts. Ratcliffe is Sir Richard, too. That's something Aurelian takes note of. Tolan and the Marluk are part of Torenth, but Western customs have been filtering in for a while. Knighthood, though, still isn't common in Tolan and Marluk.

There are locked cabinets here, and a table filled with objects wrapped in silk. Ar-Rafiq has been taking inventory. Aurelian brushes a gloved finger over the edge of the table. "You had a second layer of wards here. Why here?"

Ar-Rafiq gestures at the cabinets. "There's very little valuable elsewhere at Sendal. The senior servant would have a small bag of pennies. There are no jewels, of course. But in here, these are valuable. The Lord Marluk was a collector. There are inlaid game boards here for chess and cardounet and backgammon, from fine craftsmen in Beldour and the South. And there are those." He nods at the table.

"Adept's tools," Ratcliffe says. "They're not really for the Deryni arts, whatever people think. But they show up in alchemists' workrooms. And they're expensive. There are collectors for these things, just like for saints' relics. There's a market for them."

Ar-Rafiq nods. "The Lord Marluk liked to collect things. Books, mostly, and things like this. In his later years, he collected books on the Deryni arts and Deryni history and he collected these tools, Some are very old. The Lord Marluk liked knowing about the Deryni. He liked that much more than he liked practicing the Deryni arts. He never practiced enough."

"No, " Aurelian says. "I suppose he didn't. I know how he died."

"As Sir Richard can tell you— Sendal has been mostly closed since ever the Lord Marluk died. Her Grace the Shadow Lady comes here rarely. But the Marluk secretariat has granted guest rights to two or three Marluk lords. They're allowed to use Sendal for hunting expeditions. There would be the lords and their people here for that, people we wouldn't always know. So I had extra wards set in place in the tower workroom."

"You've inventoried both rooms?"

Ar-Rafiq nods. "They took nothing here. They never had the chance. This is where they lost their man. My lord Inquisitor, I have a list of what's missing from the library."

"No state papers were kept here," Ratcliffe says. "Not since the old duke died. What they went through were all private papers. They went through those, and they went through the books. They knew what they wanted, it seems."

"They wanted the late duke's notes," ar-Rafiq says. "They wanted any notes on what the Lord Marluk practiced. They wanted his workbook."

"Grimoire," Ratcliffe says. "They wanted his grimoire."

Ar-Rafiq is scowling at the word. It's not one he likes. Ar-Rafiq has been in Marluk since Gwernach's day, first as a military advisor, then as keeper of the late duke's properties. Syed, of course, what the western Moors call Deryni, and of the Moorish faith, or at least some heretical version. of it. He doesn't want to be associated with witchcraft, and he doesn't want the old duke's memory tainted with that word.

Aurelian is looking at the table. "Not his workbook, Not for fifteen years and more. It passed to the Queen. It's the late duke's legacy to her. They wanted it because it's hers."

Ratcliffe frowns. "Her Grace keeps some papers at Tolan-by-Sea, but we transferred most of her Deryni things to Valoret. Whatever was here was the old duke's, not hers."

Aurelian shrugs. "They didn't know that. They knew this was where her father kept a workroom."  He turns to ar-Rafiq. "My lord nabil,  what do people say about Sendal?"

Ar-Rafiq shrugs. "The ordinary folk, and some of the lesser lords, they think Sendal was where the Lord Marluk did magic and alchemy. They say he made gold here, and that he set demons on his enemies from here. The world is filled five deep with fools."

Aurelian nods. Ar-Rafiq is from Nur Hallaj, and he's a nabil there, one of the city nobility. The man has little time for fools, and even less for unbelievers and their ignorance.

"What they wanted," Aurelian says, "was all about that. That's what they were looking for. What the late duke knew, and what he passed on to Her Grace."

Aurelian looks over at Ratcliffe. "That's what they thought," he says. "The Queen grew up in Tolan and Marluk. These people, they thought whatever the Marluk taught her, it would all be here."

Ratcliffe makes a face. "But that would've been when the Queen was just a girl.  She's almost thirty now; Her Grace would surely have learned her own skills."

"These people, I think they still think of the Queen as just a girl. They think that what she knows all came from her father."  He looks back at ar-Rafiq. "They're southern, aren't they? How did they break the wards in the library?"

Ar-Rafiq slides a white cube onto the table. He taps at it with one finger. "You can see the markings," he said. " Look at the whorls. Look at the way they're shaped, how they burned into the warding cube. That style, that knowledge, it's from the far south. Maybe al-Zakkar. But there's something else, too. Maybe Andelon. I've seen something very like it there."

"They were from the far south," Ratcliffe says. "They wouldn't know. This would all be alien to them up here."

"Exactly." Aurelian is turning the cube from side to side. "They're building up a file. They want to know what the Queen knows. They want to know what her skills are."

"A reconnaissance."

Aurelian smiles. "They're doing their scouting. Christian and I, we always did our scouting before we rode in to anyplace. That's exactly what they're doing."

There's a crisp knock at the workroom door. The Inquisitor's men Darcek and Richter  are there. Where the Grey Death goes, Darcek and Richter are there, too. Richter is wiping his hands on a towel. There's blood on it. Aurelian looks back and tilts his head. "Tell me."

"Mind-burnt," Richter says. "He was probably dead before he hit the floor. But they mind-burned him nonetheless. Thorough job, no memories left. I went in and looked, into the eyes and brain both. They were good at what they did."

"He had a ring," Darcek says. "You can see where he wore it. They took that. Deryni signet, or maybe a house signet. The skin was bruised. They were moving fast."

"That's just panic," Ratcliffe says. "They'd killed all three guards and both servants. No one else would've been coming 'til morning. Sheer panic."

Aurelian shrugs. "They haven't done this much before. They went into the library, then the workroom. But they didn't look for a second set of wards, and they lost their man. They knew they couldn't get the body out, and they mind-burned the body and left him. They came in through the kitchen garbage chutes, and they didn't know how to get him down. They were scared someone would come, or maybe that there were more hidden wards. They took whatever they had from the library and left."

Darcek is holding something up. It's a broken chain. "He had this around his neck. It's silver. Looks like a southern thing— down someplace like Logreine. They like that double twist pattern on jewelry. He had something on it, probably some kind of medallion. They pulled it off him, broke the chain."

Aurelian nods. "A pendant. A hand or an eye. One or the other."

He looks at Ratcliffe. "These were Hand of Camber people. Not Stefan Coram's people, not Wencit's. It's the Hand of Camber. Anybody else, they'd have known more about Sendal and the Queen and the old duke."

Ratcliffe looks at ar-Rafiq. "Whatever they took, we'll need an inventory. Are there copies of anything? If it's a reconnaissance, we need to know what they know."

Aurelian is holding the warding cube. He smiles. "We need to know what they think they know the Queen knows. We already know what they want to do." He looks at  Richter. "Message to the Queen. Tell her what we found. Messages to Christian and to al-Fayturi. Go through the ducal library at Tolan-by-Sea, Look for any notes on Deryni techniques from the old duke's papers. New wards on the Queen's quarters, extra security as well."

"These Hand of Camber people," Ratcliffe says, "these hand-and-eye people. Are they a distraction or a real danger? I'd be more worried about Wencit."

"I think they're both," the Inquisitor says. "They're unsure of what they're doing just yet, but they're dangerous enough. We need to keep them unsure. They don't know this part of the world yet, so let's use that." 

Aurelian looks at Ratcliffe. "Now you and I, we do have other things to do. We have something to do in Torenth. Wencit is about to need a new vizier. But the hand-and-eye people, they're coming for the  Queen. They're coming soon. We need to be ready for that."

[tmcd]

Ratcliffe is Sir Richard, too.

"I see what you did there." Were any cats or dogs mentioned before? And what does that make Charissa, hmmm?

The background, though my learned readers likely already know:

In July 1484, William Collingbourne, a Tudor agent, nailed a lampooning poem to St Paul's Cathedral, London, which obliquely identifies Ratcliffe as one of the three aides to King Richard:

The Catte, the Ratte and Lovell our dogge rulyth all Englande under a hogge.

William Catesby, Richard Ratcliffe, Francis Viscount Lovell, and Richard III, respectively.

[DoctorM]

Ratcliffe is Sir Richard, too.

"I see what you did there." Were any cats or dogs mentioned before? And what does that make Charissa, hmmm?

The background, though my learned readers likely already know:

In July 1484, William Collingbourne, a Tudor agent, nailed a lampooning poem to St Paul's Cathedral, London, which obliquely identifies Ratcliffe as one of the three aides to King Richard:

The Catte, the Ratte and Lovell our dogge rulyth all Englande under a hogge.

William Catesby, Richard Ratcliffe, Francis Viscount Lovell, and Richard III, respectively.

Well, I am something of a Ricardian...and I wondered if anyone would pick up on the name...

[Jerusha]

"Wencit is about to need a new vizier."  Now that is interesting...

Excellent chapter - love it when Aurelian shows up. 

[DoctorM]

"Wencit is about to need a new vizier."  Now that is interesting...

Excellent chapter - love it when Aurelian shows up. 

I think Aurelian will be carrying the Shadow Queen's regards to a couple of people... There may be a lesson or two taught about what one says or does not say about a reigning queen.

[tmcd]

"Wencit is about to need a new vizier."

Would be funny / interesting if someone tries to attack Wencit by trying to kill Rhydon, not realizing that he may be more powerful than they knew, or that it's actually a bad idea.

With two more moles against Wencit, you could get quite a farce out of it. Wencit obliviously strolling in the palace garden while shape-changed Stefan Coram is trying to dagger Teymuraz, while Teymuraz is trying a quiet heart-crushing spell against a disguised Azim, while Azim is summoning a stenrect against Coram ... Wencit is totally safe just because his enemies are cancelling each other out.

[DoctorM]

"Wencit is about to need a new vizier."

Would be funny / interesting if someone tries to attack Wencit by trying to kill Rhydon, not realizing that he may be more powerful than they knew, or that it's actually a bad idea.

With two more moles against Wencit, you could get quite a farce out of it. Wencit obliviously strolling in the palace garden while shape-changed Stefan Coram is trying to dagger Teymuraz, while Teymuraz is trying a quiet heart-crushing spell against a disguised Azim, while Azim is summoning a stenrect against Coram ... Wencit is totally safe just because his enemies are cancelling each other out.

There are possibilities there, though...it's a dangerous assumption to think there's been shape-shifting going on yet...

[tmcd]

Hmmm ...

I haven't read all of the installments. (Though I did just read one and noticed your alt-"First Blast of the Trumpet".) So I'm sorry if you covered it.

I'll assume one Point Of Departure (I think the term was), that Rhydon does not die of a heart attack in 1115ish in the presence of Stefan Coram. In the main timeline, there was no Christian or Aurelian or Lionel at Kelson's coronation. So Stefan as Rhydon would have had to have blocked the attack somehow (but how?), or more likely, would have had to have assassinated Christian beforehand, which would stop Aurelian too and presumably keep Lionel at Wencit's side. (Moreover, assassinate Christian in a way that couldn't be traced back to him or Wencit, or Charissa would have been going against Wencit instead of the Haldanes. Though come to think of it, if Stefan  could have framed Wencit for it, ...)

[DoctorM]

Hmmm ...

I haven't read all of the installments. (Though I did just read one and noticed your alt-"First Blast of the Trumpet".) So I'm sorry if you covered it.

I'll assume one Point Of Departure (I think the term was), that Rhydon does not die of a heart attack in 1115ish in the presence of Stefan Coram. In the main timeline, there was no Christian or Aurelian or Lionel at Kelson's coronation. So Stefan as Rhydon would have had to have blocked the attack somehow (but how?), or more likely, would have had to have assassinated Christian beforehand, which would stop Aurelian too and presumably keep Lionel at Wencit's side. (Moreover, assassinate Christian in a way that couldn't be traced back to him or Wencit, or Charissa would have been going against Wencit instead of the Haldanes. Though come to think of it, if Stefan  could have framed Wencit for it, ...)

A point of departure here is that Rhydon didn't die...though I always thought that there was an implication in the books that Coram may have poisoned Rhydon. And of the list of people you mentioned, only Lionel knew what Christian was planning to do at the Coronation (he sent troops via Portal), and he was unlikely to tell Wencit.