Medieval 02 - Forbidden

lighthearted tunes,” Simon said.
    “God save us,” Erik muttered. “Leave off, lady. You will have my peregrine in tears.”
    The peregrine in question flared her wings briefly before she settled to watching the gathered humans with inhuman curiosity.
    “I would have expected you to be with Duncan,” Dominic said, “driving Learning into his thick skull.”
    “My sister tried a more certain method,” Erik said, smiling slightly. “She went to Duncan last night.”
    Dominic’s smile was an exact reflection of Erik’s. “That explains their absence at morning chapel.”
    “Aye.”
    “Did it help my quest for peace?”
    Erik hesitated. Then he shrugged. The peregrine shifted restlessly on his wrist, making silver bells on her jesses ring.
    “Something has changed,” Erik said. “I can sense it. But I don’t know what.”
    “Permit me to educate you,” Cassandra said from behind Erik.
    The quality of the Learned woman’s voice brought a hush to the room.
    Erik stepped aside, allowing Cassandra room to pass. He saw that her normally braided and concealed hair was loose, a seething silver glory rippling freely over her scarlet cloak. Ancient silver rune stones glittered in her hands.
    The peregrine flared her wings again and gave a keening cry.
    “You have just come from casting silver runes,” Erik said, his voice toneless.
    There was no answer. None was needed. The hammered silver markers in the Learned woman’s hands spoke for themselves.
    “What did you learn?” Erik asked.
    “More than I wished. Less than I hoped.”
    Cassandra walked until she stood in front of Dominic and Meg.
    “Witch of Glendruid,” Cassandra said formally, “do you dream?”
    A single glance at Cassandra’s silver eyes brought Meg to her feet.
    “Yes,” Meg said. “I dream.”
    “Will you share your dreams?”
    “A scream the color of amber. A darkness being torn apart like tough cloth, one fiber at a time.”
    Cassandra bowed her head for a moment. “Thank you.”
    “For what? There is neither comfort nor answer in my dream.”
    “It was confirmation I sought, not comfort.”
    Meg gave the older woman a curious look.
    “When my emotions are involved,” Cassandra said calmly, “I have to be wary of casting the silver stones. Sometimes I see what I wish rather than what is.”
    “What did you see?” Meg asked. “Will you share it?”
    “The amber prophecy is complete. She has given her heart and her body and her soul to Duncan.”
    “You didn’t need to cast the silver stones to see that was coming,” Erik said.
    Cassandra nodded agreement.
    “Then why did you cast them?” Erik asked. “They are not to be used lightly.”
    “Aye.”
    Silently Cassandra looked from Erik to Dominic. Then she looked at no one at all.
    “Erik, son of Robert,” she said. “Dominic, Wolf of Glendruid. If you go to war now, it is because you wish to. Amber is no longer your excuse. She has—”
    “What are you saying?” Erik interrupted roughly.
    “—removed herself from your masculine equations of pride and power and death.”
    “ What has she done ?” Erik demanded.
    “She gave her amber pendant to Duncan.”
    The peregrine shrieked as though its blood had turned to fire.
    But even the falcon’s scream couldn’t drown the chilling scream of masculine rage that came echoing down the keep’s great hall from above.
    Cassandra tilted her head as though savoring the sound. Her smile was as cruel as winter.
    “Duncan’s suffering has begun,” she said softly. “Amber’s soon will end.”
    Dominic looked from the Learned woman to Erik.
    “What is she talking about?” Dominic demanded.
    Erik simply shook his head, unable either to speak or to calm his falcon’s wild cries. He looked as though he had been struck by a mailed fist.
    Another scream of anger echoed. Before it ended there were horrible sounds of smashing and clashing and rending, as though a battle were being fought in the lord’s bedchamber.
    “Simon,” Dominic said, coming swiftly to his feet.
    “Aye!”
    Side by side, the two brothers raced up the stone stairway to Duncan’s bedchamber. What they sawthere made them pull up short in the doorway.
    Duncan was a man possessed. Naked but for two amber talismans, he stood with the battle hammer in one hand. His lips were drawn back from his teeth in a grimace of pain or rage or both in unholy communion.
    With a lunge, he ripped covers from the bed and flung them into the hearth. Smoke