Nightfire | The Whispering Wall #1 - Chapter 20: Chapter 20

"Why are you shaking so much?"
"Because it's cold." Grace's eyes glittered at Nova through the gloom. She hadn't stopped crying for hours. "Aren't you cold?"
"I'm used to it." Nova settled back against the cage bars and crossed her legs. Her lacerated back ached in protest. It hadn't recovered from her last punishment when Faellian had added another dozen lashes, but at least she hadn't screamed like Grace had. Screaming always made it worse.
The girl was curled in a tight ball on the other side of the cage, which wasn't far considering it was designed to only hold one person. Their feet were almost touching in the middle. Grace had at least been left with the dignity of clothing, though she had put her dress on back to front so that it didn't chafe the wounds on her back from the whip. The lord had been considerably harder on her than on Nova during the interrogation about Sebastien's death. Nova knew she ought to feel guiltier for being relieved, and she was, for the most part, able to squash it.
It had been such a long time since the attention had not been on her, however, that the relief was very powerful.
"How can you be used to it?" Grace demanded. "It's freezing."
"It's always freezing down here," Nova said pointedly. The girl was quiet for a moment.
"Sorry. That was insensitive of me."
Nova blinked.
"That's okay," she said slowly, uncertain it was the right response. When Grace seemed satisfied with it she relaxed.
"How much longer do you think he'll keep us down here?" Grace asked after a moment. She looked sick; her eyes were ringed with dark circles, and Nova didn't think that washed-out and greyish was a normal or healthy colour for someone from Earth.
"I don't know," Nova replied. In reality, it would be anywhere between a day and a week, but Grace was already at snapping point and she didn't think that telling her would help.
She was saved the burden when an hour later the door rattled and swung open, illuminating Brillan holding a lantern and the keys to their cage. The butler unlocked the door and let Grace out first, and then he roughly dressed Nova and secured cuffs on her wrists. Grace's outrage was snuffed with a sharp look over Brillan's shoulder. Nova didn't need defending, especially not from something that had been her lot for ten years.
A deeper part of her just didn't want Faellian to work out that anything more than forced proximity was between them. She didn't think he would suffer her to have anything close to a friendship, especially not with a member of his staff.
"What's going on?" Grace asked, turning her back to pull her dress on the right way round. "Is it time for a trial already?"
"No." The butler's response was clipped. He pointed to the door, and then shunted Nova out after Grace. "Turn left, girl. The trial's been postponed. Someone is here to see you and would like to vouch for you."
Nova frowned. There was only one person that was likely to be, but she couldn't think what Jordan Haverford could offer that Ethred wouldn't have already put forward to have his acolyte excused. The thought still made her blood boil. After the bodies had been found and Silas had been taken away, Faellian had taken them both into his study, where he had interrogated them with the help of a barbed whip; afterwards Ethred had threatened to frame Grace by whatever means possible. There was very little doubt that Grace hadn't committed the crime – she would have been bloodied, for a start, and Sebastien had had a good foot and a half of height on her and was at least half her weight again. Silas would have had some fighting skill from his training at the temple, and was a teenage boy in the middle of his growth. There was also the prickly issue of his being alive; two separate weapons had been used, only two people were present, and only one of them died of poisoning.
The baron Ethred, however, was next in line to take the headship of House Orthan, a close friend of the Harkenn household, and Silas was a public favourite of his. Money and influence of that nature was powerful. Jordan would only throw that kind of influence if he had something Faellian wanted more than gold and favours.
Magic.
She sensed it before they even reached the study, the collective presence of three Gifted individuals in the room beyond the door tangible even through stone walls. She picked out Jordan's by the erratic, unrefined nature of his aura, spiked with his terror and kept sharply in check by Yddris.
"Wait here," Brillan said to Grace at the door, but shoved Nova inside ahead of him. Inside the lord was lounging on his chair with his feet on the desk, eyes on the three men in the middle of the room. One of them was Yddris. The other she didn't recognise right away, but she was sure she had encountered that strange, cold aura before.
Between them, clearly using Yddris's arm as a support, was Jordan. He looked around as she came in, blue eyes turned shockingly green and glowing with poorly contained magic. His blonde hair had a thick streak of white in it that hadn't been there before, and he looked more sickly than his sister did; sweaty and pale, with burst blood vessels in both eyes and looking slightly deranged with shock. At the sight of her he was visibly disappointed, clearly hoping she had been Grace.
"Put her over there," Faellian said, pointing to Nova's habitual chair in the corner of the study. It gave her a good view of the visitors. "Then bring the other one in, please."
When Grace was led inside, both she and her brother froze and stared at each other for several long moments. Jordan was the one to break it, looking away at the floor as tears glistened and then spilled over in Grace's eyes.
"It happened yesterday," he muttered. "I was planning to come and see you anyway but..."
Grace ran at him, cutting off his words as they collided. Jordan almost lost his balance and was caught at the last second by Yddris, prompting Grace to jump back and clap her hands over her mouth.
"I'm okay," Jordan muttered, stumbling a little as Yddris helped him back up. "Just dizzy, that's all."
"Is that normal?" Grace demanded of Yddris.
"Very." The other Unspoken answered instead, and Nova recognised where she had heard his voice before. This man had been at the castle many times, though not for years. She remembered meeting him for the first time just a few months after she'd been captured and enslaved. It wasn't an association that she looked upon favourably, and tried to ignore the shudder of revulsion that rocked her. "He'll be on bedrest for the rest of the week, but it was important he was here in person for this, for obvious reasons."
"Bedrest sounds good to me," Grace said, violently wiping tears from her face and fixing her brother with a hard glare. Nova blinked. She hadn't seen this Grace before. "He'd better do what he's told."
Jordan looked cowed when he turned to face Faellian with his sister beside him. It was obvious to Nova that Grace was very uncomfortable standing next to Jordan, and didn't blame her – it was probably akin to standing out on the plains in a lightning storm – but she was trying not to show it. Jordan's stance didn't suggest that he was very adept at detecting those emotions in her aura himself, but he also looked ready to faint and probably wasn't even trying.
It was clear the siblings both had more to say to each other, but before either of them could start Faellian cleared his throat and locked gazes with them. Jordan looked immediately to the desk, but Grace held it with her jaw set. Her fingers snaked into her brother's and squeezed. The only indication that the lord had noticed was faint snort as he dropped his feet from the table.
"As far as I am aware, we are all on a similar page with this situation," Faellian began, starting to play with a pocket knife he had dislodged from somewhere up his sleeve. Jordan's eyes moved from the desk to follow the blade, but he didn't raise his head. "Grace Haverford was present when a member of my household staff was murdered with a poisoned blade, as was Anarabelle. Also present was an Orthanian acolyte, a favourite of the baron Ethred, called Silas, who was also injured and is currently under house arrest at the temple."
Jordan's brow furrowed, but he held his silence.
"The problem we have," Faellian said, voice taking on a darker tone, "is that Ethred would lose a great deal from Silas being publicly found guilty. It would also damage my reputation greatly for Anarabelle to be found the perpetrator. Grace, however, would not shame anyone but herself."
"But Grace didn't do it," Jordan blurted. "Sir. She would never do anything like that."
Faellian was silent for a moment. "You will soon learn, boy, that the truth is not always the most important part of politics."
"But that's not- Ow!" Jordan glared at Yddris, who stood stock still and ignored him. Under his cloak, Nova thought she saw his leg move and presumed that he had stamped on Jordan's foot.
"Ethred would be most displeased with me if Silas were to be found guilty in court," Faellian said, pretending he hadn't noticed. "And I would never hear the end of it. However..." He picked at his jacket, his usual sign of feigning disinterest. "I will also very soon wish to contract the services of another Unspoken, preferably one in his younger years. Soon as in, say...three to five years?"
Jordan stiffened. Grace clasped his arm with her other hand, eyes wide.
Nova could picture the smile that was in Faellian's voice. "You see, the terms of agreement between this household and the Guild of Unspoken means that I cannot force your hand into signing a contract. If there were to be an ultimatum, however, and you signed by choice...that I can hold you to."
"And you'd pardon Grace if I did?" Jordan muttered, voice hard. "Even though she's innocent anyway? My Lord."
"Precisely. I'm glad we understand each other."
"But why me?"
"Well, the situation has put us in a prime position to make such an arrangement, of course. Being an otherworlder such as yourself, there's also a great deal you can add to the records, I'm sure." A pause. "And of course, you have not yet apprenticed to anyone, and I would very much like to hire one of Yddris's students. All his others seem to have slipped through my fingers. I'll pay your apprenticeship salary plus the full sum for any demons you may dispatch on your own, Yddris will be fully reimbursed for your keeping, and your sister will not swing from a noose in the market square. I'm even willing to scrub the entire episode from the records and allow her to keep her job. All you have to do," the lord produced a roll of parchment from a desk drawer, "is sign."
Nova shrank in her chair at the tension in the room. Only Faellian's aura was calm, radiating smugness as he waited. Jordan and Grace's were both chaotic and borderline unreadable, while both Unspoken were distinctly uncomfortable.
"I can't read this, sir," Jordan finally said in a strangled voice.
"Of course you can't." A flicker of irritation passed across Faellian's aura. "That's dark-damned inconvenient."
"I can read it to him if you wish, my Lord," the other Unspoken said.
"You have letters?"
"Yes, my Lord."
Faellian sighed sharply through his nose and then got to his feet. "I have some papers to sign off in the clerks' offices. I will be approximately half an hour. If I do not see a signature on that contract by the time I return I will assume you are turning down my offer."
He swept across the room, stopping just briefly in the doorway to cast all of them a warning glare before disappearing. The study door slammed shut behind him. Nova relaxed in her chair, unfolding her legs so that her raw back wasn't pressed against it.
"How did this happen?" Grace exploded, after a short moment of silence in which everybody listened to the lord's retreating footsteps. "You're not even from here!"
"Jesus, Grace, don't shout," Jordan said. He had gone very pale and Yddris seemed to be holding him up more than supporting him. "It's bad enough as it is."
"But..."
"I don't know, okay?" Jordan's voice regained some of its strength as the other Unspoken found a stool in the corner and lowered him onto it. "I don't know how it happened, I don't why it happened, and I wish it hadn't happened, but we're here anyway. Just gotta deal with it."
Grace was about to start crying again, and considering the riot that had taken over her aura, Nova was impressed that she wasn't screaming yet.
"And anyway," Jordan said, louder this time, "It's not me we've got to worry about at the moment. You heard him. He's actually considering hanging you, Grace. And if this hadn't happened to me, we might not even be having this conversation."
"But it's so unfair," Grace whined.
"Tell me about it," Jordan growled, "He wants to hang you for something you didn't do! Why the hell aren't you more worried about that?"
Grace's mouth pinched into a line, cheeks wet with tears. The look she directed at Yddris was so sharp that even Nova winced a little. "Is it true you're all...you know...eunuchs?"
"I fucking hope not," Jordan muttered, looking alarmed.
Yddris was holding back a laugh, Nova could tell. "Whoever's spreading that one, girl, has got very dubious sources indeed."
Grace seemed unsatisfied. "Is it true that you're forced to abandon your name and pick a new one?"
"There's...something in that," Yddris said hesitantly, as Jordan glared at him. "But you aren't forced to. It's strongly advised, that's all."
"Do you eat the demons you kill?"
Yddris did snort this time. "Whoever you're getting these things from is leading you on a merry dance, girl. The most edible species of demon will still have you squatting in a gutter for three days, spouting from both ends."
Grace wrinkled her nose, but didn't seem inclined to ask more questions. Jordan had gone slightly green.
The other Unspoken picked up the contract, and the rustle of parchment brought everyone's attention back to it. Even Nova found herself listening in, even though it didn't affect her in any substantial way.
Guilt pinched at her when she realised it did; Grace was partly in this position because Nova was an inconvenient suspect. More than that, she realised she was quite keen that Grace stayed alive. The girl was company, and Nova hadn't had real company in a very long time.
"There's a lot of legal jargon in this," the Unspoken said, "I expect you want a potted version?"
"Please," Jordan mumbled. He had gone from green to greyish. Grace hovered near him for a while, before whimpering a little and wrapping her arms around his neck. His arm snaked around her waist and squeezed.
"It essentially says what you might expect," the man said. Nova wished she could remember his name. "You will be paid three Shil per week, which is a standard rate allowance for any apprentice. You will be able to collect it from the bursar at the castle at the end of every month, since you will in essence be working here, or Yddris can take it out for you in advance if required. You will also receive the full standard sum for any demons you dispatch, but Yddris would take you through that in more detail." He cleared his throat. "You are consenting to Yddris reporting regularly on your progress to Lord Harkenn, and pledging your total dedication to learning your craft. You are also signing a waiver for your right to sign on with any other permanent employer before or during your term working for the household, until the event of your dismissal or retirement."
"So I'm signing my life over?" Jordan said bitterly. "Is there anywhere that promises he'll do what he says he will or is it all on me?"
"This very small paragraph down here details the full pardon of your sister upon signing," the Unspoken said. "So yes, but not in so many words."
"Did you have to sign anything this extreme?" Jordan asked Yddris, who grunted.
"It was just as strict, boy, but he hired me later on and my retirement is regrettably not so far away. My salary is also much more generous."
"I didn't need to hear that last bit."
"I know you didn't."
Jordan glowered at Yddris, who radiated amusement from his aura. "What do you mean you're retiring, anyway? You're not that old." He paused. "Are you?"
Yddris laughed. "I've been doing this job a long time and sometimes you need a change, that's all. Wouldn't be accepting an apprentice if I was that bloody old. More trouble than it's worth by then."
"You can't quit?"
"No. My contract doesn't allow me to, boy, same as you."
"Oh." Jordan frowned again. Puzzlement was fast becoming his default expression, Nova noted with a small shimmer of mirth.
"What do you think, Nova?" Grace asked. Nova blinked.
"Eh?"
Everyone was looking at her now, and she could sense a similar confusion in their auras. Why was Grace asking her? About this, of all things? All Nova wanted out of it was for it all to go away.
"It's not about me," she said, when Grace continued to look at her expectantly.
"No, but I value your opinion," Grace replied. Nova snorted before she could stop herself.
"Now that is something I've never heard in my life," she said, chuckling, "You confuse me, Grace Haverford." She waited, but Grace's face didn't change. "Elandriel's balls, you're serious, aren't you?"
"Yes, I am." Grace frowned at her and insisted, "What do you think, then?"
"I think," Nova said, still surprised and half-expecting someone to stop her, "That this is about the best deal there's going to be. This isn't a job contract without repercussions. He doesn't make empty threats." She swallowed, "And besides, even if there wasn't some convenient way of blackmailing you available, he'd find a way to get the same result."
"I can believe that," Yddris grunted, "He's been asking me whether I'm thinking of apprenticing again soon with increasing frequency."
"Were you planning to?" Jordan asked. He sounded very young. It had never occurred to Nova to ask Grace how old they both were.
"I was...considering," Yddris said. "If I found someone suitable. There was never going to be more than one before I retired."
Jordan's question was apparent in his face, but he seemed too shy to voice it.
"If there had been any doubt that you were suitable," the other Unspoken said, "Yddris would have left you at the inn under the supervision of someone else in the guild who was looking for an apprentice. There are plenty around who would have been happy to take you on."
"That makes it sound a bit harsh, Nika," Yddris muttered. Nova glanced between them. So that was who it was.
"Who says it isn't harsh?" Nika retorted, but a glint of wry amusement was in his aura. "Once a bastard, always a bastard."
"I don't want you to sign it," Grace said in a small voice, after silence fell. Jordan picked the contract up off the desk and glowered over it at his sister.
"I don't want you to die."
"Neither do I," she replied, in barely a whisper. "I don't want to die, Jordan."
Nova narrowed her eyes and then winced as Grace's shock dissolved in her aura and gave way to panic as the reality set in. It was about time.
"Then I'll sign it," Jordan said. His voice wavered but didn't break. "Where's the goddamn pen?"