The Crow King's Wife (The Elder Blood Chronicles #5)(71)
“The gates are actually intended to open outwards.” A man’s voice was announcing from inside. It wasn’t Neph talking. Zoelyn was certain of that. She had no doubt that her brother would have chosen more colorful language as a greeting. “And the wards should have killed whoever touched them.” The man added in a concerned tone as she stepped up behind Grim and peaked around him to get a look at the speaker.
She had seen him once before she realized with a start, and he wasn’t Delvay. He had been at the last stand in Arovan, and it had been his voice of reason that had prevented the alliance from falling apart there. She couldn’t remember his name, but she was grateful for his calm manner now. By the expressions on the guard’s faces around him they did not share his opinion on how to deal with the intruders. The man was dressed genteel in a long dark coat and his brown hair pulled back loosely at his shoulders and tied with a neat black ribbon. Compared to the burly armor clad guards beside him he looked harmless, and yet he seemed to hold authority over them despite how the Delvay typically despised anything refined.
“Well now you know that they can open inward, that you need better wards and more than one bar across the gate, Madren. Better to learn those facts from friends than enemies.” Shade’s voice was pleasant as he spoke but there was a trace of confusion to his voice. “Why are you here?” he asked after a moment’s pause, obviously deciding that it was better to get the question out of the way quickly.
Madren Goswin, the name returned to her in a flash. The man before them was the High Lord of Goswin, and she found herself just as confused by his presence as Shade was. Grim had stiffened at the name and she pressed a gloved hand to the back of his arm. She wasn’t sure why his expression had darkened at the High Lord’s name, but she sincerely doubted attacking the only peaceful person in sight just after breaking down the entry gates was the best course of action.
“Delvay and Goswin are allies. Delvay needed support, Goswin answered.” Madren replied quietly and his gaze moved past them to rest on the gates. With a flick of his hand he motioned to the guards behind him. “Get a work crew up here and see to the repairs. Inform our builders of how easily the gates were breached and see that improvements are made. I will show our guests to Lord Delvay myself. I’m sure he will be eager to speak with them.” Madren’s tone shifted from casual to commanding without any hesitation and with a quick nod he motioned for them to follow as he turned toward the city.
Zoelyn had expected the guards to balk at his orders, but they moved to Madren’s command without hesitation. She noticed the continued scowls on several faces, especially when they saw the goblin, but it wasn’t their expressions that brought the frown to her face. It was the fact that she didn’t recognize any of them. She was home amongst her own people and they were all strangers to her. When she had been planning to come to Delvay it had been a secret homecoming in her mind. None of them would or ever could know her, but she had believed she would know all of them.
With a quiet sigh she pulled her mind back from those paths and fell in step beside Grim. There would be plenty of time to figure things out later, for right now she had more important things to worry about. Such as controlling Grim until he was out of Delvay. The memory of him so casually suggesting he might have to kill her brother was still very fresh in her mind, and the look she was giving the Lord of Goswin wasn’t much better.
“I thought Neph hated you?” Shade said. He was matching pace with Madren and looked perfectly at ease, but then it was Shade and he seemed to treat everyone with the same friendly acceptance he was showing now. From what she had seen of the man she knew she couldn’t trust his assessment of people. To Shade there was no such thing as a stranger, and he seemed to trust everyone until they gave him a reason not to. In her mind trust wasn’t something given freely. It had to be earned.
“We have an understanding between us now.” Madren replied casually. All trace of command was gone from his voice and posture now that the guards were no longer in sight. Madren glanced back at Grim as he walked then looked to Shade. “Caleb Faulklin?” he asked apparently deciding that Shade was the friendlier of the two considering Grim’s continued scowl.
“Old prison buddy of mine.” Shade offered with a boyish grin.
Madren’s steps faltered, but he quickly regained his composure and glanced once more back at Grim. “The Sanctuary prison?” he asked hesitantly.
“Aspects no.” Shade shook his head quickly. “Glis. I paid a social call to the Blights and as it turns out they aren’t too social. They decided to keep me as an ornament in an old barn, and Caleb had the good fortune to be my roommate there.”
“I see. Perhaps we should wait until we are with Neph to discuss this further then. If it involves the Blights it involves Delvay as well.” Madren said and his pace seemed to quicken with his words.
As both men fell silent she found her attention straying to the city and some of her tension eased. The guards had been strangers, and the outer city had been recently rebuilt, but the area she walked through now was as familiar as an old friend. This was the oldest part of Valemuir and she doubted the Rivasans could have destroyed it even if they had wanted to. When the original city had been built her people had used the mountains themselves as the foundation. Each of the massive buildings around her was carved into the stone itself. Only the outward facing walls were mortared stones. The rest of the structures were raw stone walls that had been smoothed and shaped to fit the Delvay needs. To bring down one of the buildings would collapse part of the mountain itself. Valemuir was as solid as the people that built it, and just as enduring.