Chapter 15

Part 4

The Cook and the Thief

- Elly -

Riding to the capital Elly was swept away by excitement. Her head had been swirling for days, but as soon as they left the forests and the first village arose in the distance before them a thrill caught on.

She had meant to travel. She had meant to see the world. She had never thought she would do it riding a horse through winter lands and sleeping with frozen earth for a mattress and the stars for a roof, but nothing ever turned out how one expected it to be.

How similar the houses were to her own little town, and yet so very different. How beautiful the rivers were covered in ice on the edges and the tree branches weighed down with thick snow.

"Are you listening at all?" Nathaniel meant to shake Elly out of her daze.

"Forgive me," Elly said, not eager for a conversation with the man. He was a horrible person and he had been talking non-stop for hours already.

"You are Queen to be, you'd do good to learn at least a little bit about your kingdom."

"I am learning right now, look there is – wait, what?"

"Ah, finally she listens."

"I am not – We are not – it is not like that," Elly stuttered. Heat rushed to her cheeks, remembering in what inappropriate way Jake and her had parted ways.

"Maybe not for you, but he likes you and are you really going to say no to a King?"

"You cannot mean to be serious." In more than one way. Nathaniel had made Elly tag along on this insane voyage, but she hardly truly believed it more than a fool's errand.

Her horse caught on to her feeling of distress and buckled, she pulled the reins tighter, then bowed down to pet its neck to calm it.

"In either case, little maid, you'd do good to shake some of your naivety before reaching the capital. Live is not the same there."

"I think I can handle myself," Elly said. She had been through enough. She had seen all the ups and downs of societies, the nobles and the lowborn, even the church. Now she even saw the nature which had brought forth all of that. She was not to underestimate their goal, that would have been truly naïve, but she trusted herself to manage.

"King Samael the third. What was his greatest accomplishment?" Nathaniel asked, probably in an effort to prove her wrong.

"The peace treaty with Sovania," Elly said. "My family might have been humble people, but not fools."

"How did he become the king?"

"Due to a tragic accident within the royal family." Everyone knew that, even those who couldn't even read. Elly had been too young to fully understand the extend back then, but it had shaken the whole country.

"Tragic indeed." Nathaniel smirked. "But not that accidental. I suggest you ask your beloved for details, I'm sure he'll be delighted to tell you."

Elly grimaced. "It is not like that!" And even if it was, it wouldn't matter because Jake never talked to her about anything either way.

"Anyway," Nathaniel continued in his lecture-tone. "If a village had a rough year and cannot pay tribute, what to do with it?"

Elly took a moment to answer, taken aback. "Send help?"

"And what about the ten other villages who have it as bad? The hundred others? You'd do nothing but send your men around the lands, and if Sovania chooses not to value our treaty anymore and attacks, we have no soldiers to defend us."

"What is your point?"

"That's the type of decisions a king has to make. Sacrifice a few for the many. Even more, you might not be able to send help, but need to punish them instead, otherwise all the other villages might stop paying tributes too and you'd run out of money to pay yourself any soldiers at all."

"I though soldiers fight for the King out of a sense of duty," Elly said. At least David had claimed so, when he had left their home.

"Very few truly do. And even if, they'd still need a roof and food and weapons."

"Well." Elly meant to find a valid argument to shut Nathaniel up for good, but thinking about it, she did not have one.

"Well?" the man spat at her.

Elly grumbled.

"Leave the girl alone," Annabelle said. "Since when do you care about such things anyway? Your only interest ought to be the next chance to cause mischief."

Elly turned around to regard the woman, who had been quietly riding behind them. She did not look like she had much interest, rubbing a frozen leaf between her fingers, she must have plucked from a tree in passing. With the thick winter clothing and shawl over her odd hair, for once she did truly appear like a woman.

"Am I not doing such right now?" Nathaniel grinned.

"Stop picking at her. The boss is gonna be hellishly mad at you, if he finds you scared her away."

"Oh, please, even if I tried. There'd be only another unnatural turn of fate that had their paths cross again."

Unnatural turn of fate. Unfortunate coincidences. Certainly odd. Nathaniel might have had a point. There was no escaping somehow. Jake had even found her at the end of the world, as Sarah had called the convent.

"Did you bewitch her?" Annabelle snarled.

Nathaniel laughed heartedly.

Elly frowned. Sometimes that odd group did take their jokes about Nathaniel rather far. As if they truly believed him a demon. Elly mustered him from the side. At times he did indeed seem oddly inhuman. The way he moved, his voice.

Elly shuddered and eagerly shook her head.

What nonsense. She would not fall for the superstition.

"Too bad you don't see what I see," Nathaniel said eventually.

Annabelle let go of the leaf in her hand to reach for a hidden dagger fastened to her side. "I could give it another try at killing you dead. What do you say?" she growled with anger that seemingly never truly had left her ever since she'd found herself strapped to a horse in her unvoluntary sleep.

"Try me. I'm thirsting for bloodshed even more than you," Nathaniel answered and halted his horse.

Elly gasped for air. That had not sounded like a jest anymore at all. "Calm down, both of you," she hurried to say.

Nathaniel smiled at her like an angel. Annabelle blew the air out, but leaned back in the saddle to take the lead of the group.

"You are not normal. None of you," Elly grumbled.

"None of us, you mean," Nathaniel smirked, before turning to ride on as well.

Us.

Had Elly really become one of that group?

She had, hadn't she? How tragic.

They crossed a river, and soon after the forest thinned out. Elly caught a first glimpse at the capital and forgotten was all the bickering.

The city was beautiful.

And so much bigger than Elly could have ever imagine. The castle was at least three times the size of the Baron's, there was an inner city encircled by walls, and an outer city with houses in all kinds of sizes and colours. They grouped together in knots along the roads, each about as big as Burgate, in between were farms and fields.

Elly clenched the holsters of her horse tightly.

She had been arrogant.

She would not manage that.

***

- Jake -

Jake lay in wait.

He was covered with enough snow to lose all feelings in his toes and fingers. The boots and gloves could only do so much against the cold. If it wasn't for the demon Jake was almost certain he would have frozen something off a while ago already.

Soldiers rustled about the church. Two men in the winter uniform stood at the entrance gate to the mainbuilding. Regular patrols rounded the church grounds. Jake didn't know why, but it seemed they had been there quite some time already and it didn't look like they were to leave anytime soon.

He had planned to be in and out withing an hour, nothing more than a quick errand. Instead he had been forced to observe the church and soldiers within for almost three days now. Three more days, 72 hours, 4320 minutes, 259200 seconds Jake did not have left to spare.

He had spent them learning the soldier's schedules and how they worked things. Shift changes, the laziest worker, the weakest fighter. Anything and everything helpful to find a gap to slip into the church.

And he had concluded, this was more than safety measures that close to the border guarding against Sovania in case of an issue. The soldiers were indeed guarding the church. All the prayer halls, the monk's quarters, and everything in between.

When evening came and darkness settled Jake left his look-out post in the forest's underwood and returned to the camp. Meagre tents barely keeping the winter's cold at bay, with a fire theyonly lit a few hours a day for cooking. Another thing Jake had not planned for, but with the soldiers around it would have been too dangerous to stay at the village.

Rutger already awaited him and nodded a greeting. He handed Jake one of Nathaniel's messages.

The cursed raven, that had brought the letter, cocked its head attentively. How that creature always found its target, even in the most desolate regions, was helpful, but greatly disturbing. It always reminded Jake that there was no escaping Nathaniel and his sinister magic as long as he was alive.

The note was  probably an update on how things stood with the Earl, but Jake expected nothing good and he didn't have it in him to deal with more bad news. He put the letter aside, unsuccessfully tried to shoo Nathaniel's raven awaiting the answer away, sat down next to the fire and rubbed his hands together, trying to regain some warmth.

Rutger gave him a look, Jake chose to ignore. But Rutger wouldn't have it. He grabbed for the note and put it in Jake's hands again. He must have already read it, Jake supposed, and known it was something that required immediate attention.

With a sigh Jake let his eyes wander over the few lines. Left the hut, went for the capital, Elly looking for work in the castle.With every word more dread settled upon him. Then came the anger. The moment he would get hand on that demon again he was going to choke him to death. Or at least try until the monster begged him to stop.

Rutger signed Jake to calm down. But he couldn't. He wouldn't even try. How dared the demon involve Elly in their business.

How could Jake have been stupid enough to think he would not.

He sighed and threw the note into the fire to be burned, along with his hopes that anything at all was going according to his plans. The best strategy was useless with Nathaniel doing as he pleased onevery turn.

Rutger tapped twice on his leg to gain Jake's attention again. His hands moved to form the signs to give Jake some comfort, not to lose his head or his temper, but to Jake it felt more like a scolding.

He needed to act even faster now. Be at the capital even sooner. He did not have time to waste. But he couldn't rush either. The last time he had, it had almost cost them their heads and only turned out well due to the young Earl's murderous ambitions.

"We'll need to split up," Jake concluded. To cover more ground. He rustled through his things for pen and paper ignoring Rutger's disproval. "It cannot be helped. We don't have the time." Jake needed the pawns in his army too. He had spent enough effortgrooming them, getting the people attracted to his ideas. Now it was time tocollect, give them time and place for the attack.

Rutger eagerly shook his head. And Jake knew all too well why. It wasn't many people that understood how to communicate with a man that couldn't talk.

"I will write some letters and instructions. All you'll need to do is deliver them."

Rutger insisted Jake go and he would stay to fetch the item from the church.

"No," Jake said. "Nothing can hurt me, but for you it is too dangerous." Rutger would be King, Jake could not let anything happen to him.

Whatever reason the soldiers guarded a church for, it could not be anything good.

Someone must have caught on. Someone must have figured out that Jake was gathering the seven seals. And whoever it was, was connected enough to the King to have his soldiers on command. Jake just couldn't risk getting Rutger involved in that danger. Rutgerhad already been through enough because of the mistakes Jake had made.

"Besides, it'll do you good to practice leadership for once. I can't always be there."

If those seals didn't work, Jake wouldn't be there at all.

***