Forest Kingdom Trilogy 2 - Blood and Honor

his back on the vision, and it faded away.
    'I apologise for my failure, your highness,' said the Monk, in his cold, distant voice.
    'I don't want apologies, I want results!' Lewis glared at the Monk. 'And what the hell did you think you were doing, raising Bloody Bones? If you hadn't been able to put him back in his grave, he'd have been a bigger menace to us than Viktor ever could be!'
    'It was a calculated risk,' said the Monk. 'There was never any danger to us. I was in control of the situation.'
    'Sure you were,' said Lewis. 'That's why Bloody Bones is now nothing more than a pile of old bones, and our enemies are still on their way here.'
    'Gawaine's axe was an unknown factor,' said the Monk calmly. 'I can deal only with known factors.'
    Lewis glared at him, and then shook his head slowly. 'All right, what else can you do to stop them from getting here?'
    'Not a great deal, your highness. My magic has its limits. I'll need to rest for a while before I can use my power again.'
    'But they'll be here in a matter of days! And you saw how
    good they were. That bloody Gawaine and his axe . Viktor and his fire magic . .
    'You do have other allies, your highness,' said the Monk. 'Allies you can call on when Prince Viktor and his party arrive at Castle Midnight. There is, for example, Ironheart.'
    Lewis looked at the tall suit of armour standing in one corner of his room. 'Yes,' he said finally. 'There's always him.'

Chapter 3
    Real and Unreal
    Jordan got his first sight of Castle Midnight on the evening of the fifth day after leaving Bannerwick. His whole body ached after so long in the saddle, but his first glimpse of the Castle was enough to drive the pain right out of his mind. The great brooding shape of Brimstone Hill could be seen from miles away, the Castle squatting at its top like a skull on a burial mound. Jordan studied it obsessively through the darkening twilight. Open fields lay stretched out around the Hill, neat and even within their low stone boundary walls. The single straight road that led to the Castle was wide and even and well maintained.
    All in all, everything seemed pleasant and ordinary and civilised, and yet Jordan felt increasingly uneasy. It was the Castle, of course; as out of place in the peaceful countryside as a toad in a rose garden. It stood stark and forbidding against the blood-streaked evening sky, and unhealthy lights burned in its narrow windows like so many watching eyes.
    Not for the first time, Jordan got the feeling that he was well out of his depth and sinking fast. He was an actor, not a double, and what little experience he'd had with Court intrigues had left him with a steadfast determination to avoid them like the plague whenever humanly possible. He had little talent for treachery and double-dealing, and trying to keep track of who was really working for whom gave him a headache.
    He wasn't even particularly happy about working as a double. Roderik and Argent had been very thorough in filling
    him in on the background details, and Gawaine had grudgingly offered a few anecdotes that helped to reveal the Prince's character, but when all was said and done Jordan was an actor, and used to a script and stage and props. He could ad-lib when he had to, as could any actor worth his salt, but if truth be told, Jordan hadn't varied his act much in almost four years. He hadn't needed to. Now he had to take on a new character, in a strange setting, with no script and an audience who would probably have him executed if he didn't do an extremely convincing job.
    Fifty thousand ducats didn't seem nearly as much as it once had.
    Brimstone Hill drew steadily nearer as Count Roderik led his party along the deserted road. Both he and Argent had become grim and silent, and the suppressed tension in their body language hadn't done a thing for Jordan's nerves. He steered his horse in beside Sir Gawaine's. The knight nodded to him absently, but said nothing, his gaze fixed on Castle Midnight.
    'Glad to be home again, Gawaine?' said Jordan, finally.
    'The Castle isn't my home, your highness; it's just a place where I happen to be living. But yes, I am glad to be back. We'll all be safer once we're inside the Castle walls. Not that our enemies will give up on us, but their attacks will have to be more subtle, and therefore less effective.'
    'Speaking of my two brothers,' said Jordan, 'just how are we going to get into the Castle without being spotted by their agents? As far as everyone else is