Chapter 5: Will

By the time the trio finally got up, it was late in the morning.

They met in the dining room. Ty was grumpy with a mild hangover, while Willow was tense, not looking forward to the day ahead. Vincent was the only one in a good mood.

Hettie had slipped into his room earlier and taken care of his morning problem while he took care of her insatiable itch. If he didn’t need to get back to start school, he would be more than happy to stay a few more days and keep scratching it for her.

Morris came in, “Lady Terrell, Dr Hall and Druid Nathanial are here, as is Mr Wickham.”

Willow frowned, trust the lawyer to turn up uninvited, she didn’t like the man even if she did need to see him. “Show them into the parlour please Morris.” She straightened her back and said to Ty, “Duke Arrondale, I hate to put this upon you, but I would appreciate it if you were to sit in on the discussion that I must have with Mr Wickham.”

Ty had noted her frown when the man’s name was mentioned. He also felt she truly didn’t wish to meet with the man alone. He bowed his head, “I’m at your disposal, my Lady.”

Willowed sighed, “Thank you.”

Vincent decided to make himself scarce and said that he was going to go and check on Brain and the horses. Ty was grateful for his cousin’s Gift of reading a situation. He had to smile; Vincent was going back to school to study Law. He had always had a way of putting forward a convincing argument and was apt at reading people’s actions and body language.

Vincent couldn’t always tell if people were straight out lying, the way he could. However, he did have his own way of getting to the truth. He would be more than happy to hand his job as King’s Inquisitor over to him when he was ready.

Ty escorted Willow to the parlour. She introduced the three men to him. Then to his surprise, she introduced him to them, simply as Ty. The five then sat to discuss the day’s events. Dr Hall would go examine the prisoners and then help Grace, and the other servants prepare the dead. He also happened to be the undertaker.

They didn’t use caskets in this culture, the dead were dressed and wrapped in a shroud and put in the ground. The Terrell’s would be buried in the family plot and their servants in the one reserved for them. Harry would be taken to the public cemetery in town. If the constables found a family that wished him moved, they would have to pay for it.

Druid Nathanial offered to stay with Willow during the ordeal of preparing the dead. She informed him that she had Ty and would be all right. Ty wasn’t sure he liked how dependent she had become on him, but he knew she believed she would be okay as long as he was with her today. So he stayed with her.

Mr Wickham offered his condolences, but Ty didn’t believe he was sad at all. The man made his hackles rise, and he didn’t trust him. He was too pleased with himself for his liking. He also didn’t like the predatory look he gave Willow. He found himself taking her hand. Willow leant into him, and Mr Wickham didn’t look pleased.

Her farm workers had already started to dig the graves for the people they had to bury. Willow asked to be excused to go lie down while they waited. Ty escorted her to her room and said he would come and get her when they were ready. Reluctantly, she let him leave.

She knew him staying with her in her room would not have looked good. She would have liked him to stay with her and to hold her as he had the night before. She had found herself searching for him when she woke. She had been disappointed to find him gone. It was only her good sense that assured her it was for the best.

A very sad Willow curled up with her pillow.

Ty made his way to the basement to talk to his prisoners.

Ty wasn’t pleased to find Mr Wickham with them and asked him to leave. Mr Wickham blustered that they were entitled to representation. Ty informed him they would be assigned council when they got to Bavindor. They were prisoners of the Crown, not the Constabulary.

Mr Wickham told him he would report him to the King’s Inquisitor. Ty grinned at him and told the man that his concerns were duly noted. He waited patiently until the man got the hint, to get the hell out of the basement. Ty frowned as the man left with ill grace.

Willow hadn’t introduced him by his title, but by his first name. He also realised it had been deliberate. She had stressed his name. Mr Wickham seemed uninformed as to who he was. As he didn’t realise his threat was wasted on Ty, as he was the very man, Wickham was planning on reporting him too.

Paul had not been impressed when the Doctor looked at his leg and told him there was little more he could do. He told him to stay off it for a week and put hot then cold packs on his knee to get the swelling down. He told Smally to keep the finger clean, and it will heal fine. He gave him a paste to smear onto the burns to stop the blisters from getting infected.

The doctor took Ty aside, “When did the two men get injured?” he asked.

“About this time yesterday,” Ty answered.

The doctor looked over at the men and then back to Ty. “Who treated their wounds?”

“Willow, she made some paste from herbs in her pouch and dug the bullet out of Paul.”

The doctor nodded, “Yes, she has always had a Gift for plants. It doesn’t surprise me that she is adept at healing with them as well. The man who gets her will have a treasure for sure, with her being twice Gifted.”

Ty frowned at him. The doctor then explained, “The Terrells have had bumper crops the last seven years. Willow was old enough to shuck the seeds at ten. Every seed she touches before planting has produced well. It is why her mother insisted they go to the Grove again.”

“The nadack plants are most vulnerable just before harvest. They have to be left to dry in the pods on the plants before they can be harvested. This means they are susceptible to fire.”

“Fire destroys the seeds if they are not dry enough and the plant too. Normally you can get four to five growing seasons from a plant. If it is burnt, it dies. The last two years, someone has been deliberately lighting their fields.”

“The Terrells have been petitioning the King to investigate, but no one came. The price of nadack has sky-rocketed, as the Terrells have always been the largest producers of quality crops in this region. I worry about Willow. Her father had to borrow against this year’s crops. Nearly half of it has been destroyed,” The doctor shook his head in worry.

Ty absorbed all that the Doctor said. The Doctor believed everything he said. Plus it had a ring of truth. Ty compressed his lips. He and the King would be having a little chat when he got back. He hadn’t seen the petitions in Council in either the Winter or the shorter Summer meetings. The Barons must have considered their petitions unimportant. It stank of intervention.

The doctor patted his arm and left him with the prisoners. Ty found a chair and sat on it in front of the two men who were trying not to look at him. He folded his arms and waited.

Ty had learnt one of the best tools for getting people to tell you what you wanted was ‘silence’. He knew they had been listening to the conversation and had decided that it should be enough to get them thinking and worrying.

He sat still and waited not taking his eyes off them. He could see Paul start to squirm. He gave him a calculated look, and Paul squirmed more. Smally had shut his eyes and was pretending that he was asleep. Ty could tell that he was still very much alert.

“We weren’t going to hurt her, honest, just have a bit of fun,” Paul blurted out.

Ty shook his head in the negative and focused on Paul. Smally intervened, “Shut the fuck up Paul, or you know what will happen?”

Paul shrunk from Smally. When the man didn’t make a move at him, he screamed, “It won’t make no difference, we are dead men walking. Fuckin’ Harry said it was a simple job of burning a few fields. He didn’t say nothing about killing folks.”

Smally then lunged at Paul through the bars that separated them, he smacked his finger on the bar as he did. He howled with the pain that burnt up his arm. Paul had danced away clumsily on his bad leg from the big man. He turned to the front bars that separated him from Ty.

“I didn’t want anything to do with killing, Harry made us do it. You ask Brain. Harry and I argued, we did. See, he hit me and told me I’d be next if I didn’t do it.” The tears were genuine as was the bruise on his cheek, but not all of what he said was true. He was hiding something.

“So why did Harry truly hit you?” Ty asked.

Paul blanched, looked down and mumbled, “The girl, I told Harry I wanted her. Harry said no, we couldn’t touch her until we knew if she was Gifted or not.”

He looked at Ty beseechingly, “I wasn’t gunna hurt her, honest. I was gunna try to get her home. I didn’t tell Harry she was in the tree, you ask her. I had hoped that she would get away and that we wouldn’t find her again.”

“Who told Harry to not hurt her if she was Gifted?” Ty asked mildly hiding his anger from his voice.

Paul shrugged and then looked at Ty. The look in the man’s eyes almost made him wet himself. They were the coldest, scariest eyes he had ever seen. It was as if the man was looking into his soul and found him wanting.

Paul shrunk back and tried to close his mouth, but heard himself say, “I don’t know, I don’t, Harry never said. He just said the boss was a rich, powerful man who would pay us well and protect us as long as we stay loyal.”

Ty said in a quiet but deadly voice, “So who killed who?”

Paul shuddered and again his mouth opened against his will. “I did one of the servants. I didn’t want to honestly; he ain’t done nothing to me. Harry would have killed me if I didn’t. Smally stabbed the watch and did the other servant.”

“Harry shot the Lord and then tried raping his wife ‘efore stabbing her. She stabbed herself with his knife and got him mad.”

“We killed the two guards on the last field we burnt. Harry did one and Smally the other. My guy got away, and I let him, I don’t like killing, honest.”

Paul slumped onto the floor and passed out. A trickle of blood leaked from his nose. Ty looked at him in disgust. He looked at Smally, and the guilt was written all over the man’s face. He got up and walked away before he shot them both.

He went over the confession in his head. It had felt different from before, it was as if he was forcing the man, to tell the truth. It was a little frightening. His Gift had changed. It was now even more powerful. He would have to be very careful using this new side to his Gift.

He didn’t want the King to know, or he would never be free. The King had promised two more years of service, and then he could go about his own business. He would only have to attend the King during the sitting of the Council. His attendance was expected anyway, as a Duke.

Ty was worried that if the King knew he could force people, to tell the truth, he would consider him too dangerous and too valuable to be free. Ty found the decanter, poured himself a large shot and swallowed it down. Normally he drank little, but the last few days had been anything but normal.

The Druid found him in the parlour and informed him that they were ready when he and Willow were. Ty had learned that Willow’s family were of the Pagan faith. To become a Druid, you must have become ‘a chosen one’ of the Gods and blessed with at least one Gift.

The Pagans treated the Druids as conduits to the Gods, not as teachers of the faith. They followed an ancient religion that worshipped the six Keltrians Gods, The Matriarch, Justice, Genesis, Unity, Charity and Faith.

The Matriarch was considered the Queen of the Gods, her word was final, and she was considered the mother of the people. The God of Justice deemed what was right and what was wrong. Genesis was the protector of the land and the animals.

You prayed to the Goddess Unity when you had family problems or were looking for love. Charity was also the Goddess of compassion and goodwill to others. Faith was whom you prayed to when you needed hope, courage, luck or acceptance.

The Pagans also believed in reincarnation and places called Purgatory and the Void. All people were sent to the void when they died. If they were really bad and had angered the Gods, they went to purgatory to reflect upon their sins. If they were lucky, they might get a chance to come back and atone for them in their next life. Most people came back to a better life than the one they left.

Ty headed upstairs and knocked on Willow’s door. She bade him enter, and he walked over to her. She stood, and he found himself wrapping her in his arms and just holding her. Willow felt his distress but didn’t know its origin. She simply hugged him back.

She felt stronger when he held her. She had the first time and this time was no different. She felt him calm, and he stepped back a little and looked into her eyes. Then he kissed her, and it wasn’t a little peck. He plundered her mouth until she was limp against him. He lifted his mouth from hers and placed his head against her forehead breathing hard.

“Gods woman, I always seem to be apologising to you,” he said and lifted his head to look at her.

Willow tilted her head up and looked at him with a little smile, “I like the way you apologise.”

Ty barked out a laugh. The truth of her words rang in his ears and soothed his battered soul and his headache. He sobered and murmured, “Come on Kitten, it’s time.”

Sadness shadowed her face, and she took his arm. He led her downstairs and out to the graveside. Willow didn’t shed a tear during the ceremony. They hovered over her vision, but they never fell. Ty wasn’t sure if his arm would work again as she had clutched it so tight, but she didn’t waver.

A single teardrop fell when she stepped up to the grave of her parents and said, “I’ll miss you both every day. As long as I live, you shall both live in my heart.” She stepped back into Ty’s arms and tucked her head into Ty’s chest. He led her away.

He settled her in the parlour, and Grace brought in a pot of chamomile tea for her. Grace’s eyes were still red from crying. Ty agreed to a cup and remembering her manners, Willow poured. The doctor and the Druid stayed for a cup of something stronger. They didn’t stay long however and left after their condolences.