Wicked As You Wish (A Hundred Names for Magic #1) - Rin Chupeco Page 0,76

If we had waited for the wockling to reach adulthood, we would have suffered more casualties. Its remains are displayed in my great hall.”

“That was a jabberwock cub, not a dragon?” The jaws alone had been as wide as the castle doors. Tala didn’t want to imagine how big an adult would be.

“Perhaps it’s arrogance on my part, but there is very little to celebrate nowadays, and its bones are a reminder we can still prevail. I can only imagine how much worse it must be everywhere else. My men frequently scour the land for survivors, but…” He lifted his hands helplessly.

“Doesn’t it ever get lonely, milord?” Loki asked.

“I chose to settle here permanently over forty years ago, long before the frost stole Avalon. I grew tired of the constant politics and backbiting that surrounds the Lyonesse court, and I find I prefer the isolation and solitude over the false conviviality constant in many of the houses, although I suppose that point is moot now. I had not always been in agreement with the peers of the realm, but I hope they have found a safe haven amid all this ice. My mother’s predictions prepare us for most impending attacks on our castle, else we would have lost much more.”

“Is Great-Aunt Elspen coming down for supper?” West asked.

“She rests upstairs.” The count sighed. “The Dame Tintagel fares most days, and the Dame Tintagel fouls in others, but she is just as mad as ever, I’m afraid. She is older now, and weaker. Her sight grows dimmer as the months pass, but her visions continue, and they do not stop. You would think the spirits would be kind enough to allow her the rest of her years in respite, but they do not.”

“What kind of visions?” Ken wanted to know. Loki shot him a warning look, but the count did not seem to mind.

“She is both blessed and cursed with the old gifts of prophecy, Sir Inoue. She is one of the Hundred Seers still living. The seeds of prophecy are coming, she tells me—the sword of ivory and ebony, the staff of snakes and lilies, the reap of shadows and thorns. The white doe and the bearskin comes, she said, on their way to meet the witchborn. The key lies in the frog prince, she says.”

Alex shifted uneasily.

“The Dame can be very obscure, sometimes.” The count smiled. “My father was a meticulous scholar, and one of his life’s works was a catalog documenting every family coat of arms currently in existence, along with any segen users within their lineage. Most I have committed to memory. There is nothing else to be done in these parts but defend the keep and indulge in study.”

“With all due respect to your mother,” Alex said, “that doesn’t sound like much help. A sword of ivory and ebony sounds like a nod to Ken, but the others? Witchborn?”

“I believe I can make a few educated guesses on my part. The ‘sword of ivory and ebony’ do describes the swords you wear to the letter, Sir Inoue. I have fought beside your father in battles past, and have seen your famous blade in action.”

Ken grinned around a mouthful of chicken. “Technically, they’re swords of ivory and ebony, plural.”

“I said as much, but the Dame insisted she made no mistakes on that score. And the ‘reap of shadows and thorns’ could only mean the Nottinghams’ scythe, the one they call Gravekeeper. It is the only segen I know forged from nightwalker blood.”

The others stirred uneasily, but the count glanced at the main doors. “Sir Nottingham left to explore the castle grounds an hour ago. I offered to send a few of my knights along, but he refused—” He broke off. Loki had half-risen from their chair.

“Should I go after him?” they asked, glancing back at Ken.

“Is there something about the Nottingham lad I am not aware of?”

“The Cheshire never sent him to join us on this mission, milord,” Ken explained. “He volunteered, and a Nottingham volunteering for anything is suspicious enough.”

“Do you have reason to suspect his intentions?”

“Comradeship isn’t something the Nottinghams are known for.”

“That is true,” the count admitted. “Perhaps the burdens the Gravekeeper places on their shoulders make them that way. I know his grandfather enough that I would place little credence on rumors. As difficult as he can be, William Nottingham would fall on his scythe before he would betray the kingdom. Still, my men will keep a close watch over him. William, I