Matthew fixed his gaze on the floor. “Sir Althalos said that soon all of this would belong to him.”
“Holy Hell,” Otto exploded, a pulse pounding at his temples. “Arrest him, now.”
“It is too late for that.” Gaius stepped forward. “Sir Althalos has gone.”
Several beats passed. “Gone?” Otto repeated.
Matthew nodded. “He’s taken his horses and all his men. They’ve cleared out. Gone.”
Otto spun around to face Gaius. “Did he say anything to you of these intentions?”
“Not a word,” Gaius declared, folding his arms over his heavily embroidered tunic. “I saw him this morn and did not think anything amiss. That was before Matthew came to find me.”
Otto scratched at his scar, thinking hard. “He told me he would be gone by midsummer, but that is still several weeks away. It’s strange that he has fled without word to anyone.”
“Most odd.” Gaius nodded emphatically. “It looks as if he is planning something.”
Otto met his eye and nodded once, sharply. “You’re right, Gaius. I want extra guards stationed at all look out points, day and night. Can you carry that order back to the gatehouse?”
“Straight away.”
Otto clapped him on the arm and nodded his thanks to Matthew. “If Sir Althalos means to attack, then we shall be ready for him, have no fear. And that’s thanks to you. I won’t forget this, Matthew.”
The stableboy reddened, but with pleasure not embarrassment.
“What will you do now?” Gaius asked.
Otto came to a quick decision. “Later tonight, I will join the look out,” he promised. “But first, there’s someone I need to speak to.”
Someone he mayhap should have spoken to days earlier, if only his pride hadn’t gotten in the way.
He left them both in the great hall, determined to fulfil his goal before anything further happened. Servants were preparing for the evening meal, carrying platters of food on heavy trays which they lifted swiftly out of the way when Otto appeared before them. His cloak billowed out behind him as he strode through the keep. He had never had cause to enter Merek’s chamber before, but he knew where it was situated. A gust of balmy air caressed his cheeks as he entered the inner courtyard and he noted with faint relief that the rain had finally stopped.
He raised a fist and hammered on a bolted door, uncaring of the curious eyes upon him. Now that he had realized the extent of his uncle’s treachery, his thoughts turned to questioning Ariana’s role in recent events. He had presumed her guilty, but had she been a victim of Althalos’s game-playing?
It was a dizzying possibility.
The physician shot back the bolts and opened his door quickly, bowing down low when he identified his visitor.
“Good evening, my lord. Are you taken ill?” He was clad in a stained apron and his untidy gray hair reached his shoulders.
Otto strode past him into the cramped room, unable to help a curious glance around. Dozens of bottles glistened on narrowshelves covering every wall, and earthenware bowls of colorful herbs were scattered here and there. Merek appeared to be midway through mixing up a potion using a pestle and mortar on his scrubbed wooden table.
“I need to speak to you,” he said, by way of greeting. “And I need you to tell me the truth, Merek.” Otto put a hand to the hilt of his sword and then thought better of it. He fixed the ageing physician with a meaningful glare instead. “On pain of being branded a traitor to Darkmoor.”
Merek’s pale eyes had followed the path of Otto’s hand. He met his gaze without a tremor. “What is it you wish to know?”
Otto knew a flicker of guilt for showing such aggression towards the man who had once saved his life. “It concerns the Lady Ariana.”
Merek blanched at that. He tugged at his beard thoughtfully and sighed with resignation. “May I sit?”
“Of course. ’Tis your own chamber, Merek.”For now,Otto added silently.
The physician sank into a hard wooden chair by the table. “I knew Lady Ariana’s mother, many years ago.”
His words piqued Otto’s interest and he too sat down in the opposite chair. Immediately the sweet smell of lavender assaulted his senses from a nearby bowl.
“Before you came to serve us in Darkmoor?”
