Guardian of the Night

25

To look at them, she could imagine that. They were all disciplined and stone-faced. Professional. No-one even glanced at Bilain as the guard gave her a sturdy push to move her along, pointing to a door opposite from where they had held her. As she approached the door, it opened. As though whoever had opened it could see through the decorated wood to see her coming. However they knew it, she passed through the door into a long corridor that stretched away, widened and ended in a set of double-doors in, what Bilain had guessed, was the Eastern wing of the building.

Again, the doors opened as though expecting her approach, two guards to either side, turning to face each other as Bilain passed between them. The doors led to a large hall, even larger than the entrance hall, that stretched out before her, standing candelabra beside wide columns that held up the roof high above. The columns led the way to the far end, where Bilain caught site of Ghistreen Ganshorn for the first time.

Younger than Bilain, the woman still carried the years upon her face. Bilain didn't doubt that, once, Ghistreen would have turned many a head in the halls of the wealthy. A catch, no doubt. Now, however, she had streaks of grey in her long, lustrous hair. Deep lines at the edges of her mouth, not through smiling too much, either, were Bilain to judge. She wore the blue of mourning, but had not a sign of that mourning upon her features

She sat upon a chair that, for all intents and purposes, was a throne. Tall, carved, uncomfortable, it gave Ghistreen an air of royal authority that she could not ever truly have in Adrasusk. The city was ruled by the Senate and would never accept a king upon a throne. Not a man or a woman. With her hands resting upon the arms of the throne-like seat, Ghistreen watched Bilain approach, eyes narrowing as she neared, and then lifted a finger.

A guard, that Bilain had not seen, behind the throne, tossed something toward Bilain. A hessian sack that landed near her feet, stopping Bilain in mid-stride. She didn't want to look inside that sack. She knew very well what it looked like and she felt her bladder loosen at the thought that rushed through her mind.

"You were to perform one duty, Captain Grasall. One. A simple one and we could have all put this behind us." Ghistreen crossed her legs, leaning to one side of the throne, her manicured fingers touching her lips. "Take a look. See what your defiance has wrought."

Legs shaking, Bilain dropped to her knees, trembling fingers reaching out for the mouth of the sack. She didn't want to look, but had to. Yet the fear that gripped her was not the only emotion she felt. Anger had begun to boil and, if she found what she expected within this sack, that anger would find a release that these people, experienced warriors, servants or would-be-king would never live to tell of. She opened the sack, rolling it down to look at what lay inside and failed to hide the gasp that escaped her lips.

The head of Ilivno stared up at her and, between her teeth, Bilain saw the paper she had given her Sergeant of Investigations. She could see the handwriting upon the paper and that handwriting was hers. The last page of the report, swapped with the orders for the whale oil barrels. Orders now in the hands of the woman who had supposedly signed for them. Senator Hilnauun En Shafir.

-+-

Ghistreen Ganshorn showed little reaction to the disembodied head revealed within the sack. Little except for a morbid curiosity. Not for the head of Ilivno, but for Bilain's reaction. Of course Bilain had thought the bag would hold Ranaie's head or, even worse in many ways, that of Amaini. That Bilain felt a swell of relief pass through her upon seeing Ilivno's face rather than Ranaie's, she knew her reaction would haunt her for the rest of her life.

Ilivno didn't deserve this. No-one deserved to suffer such a fate. Even as she covered up those once-intelligent eyes, Bilain noted how the edges of the severed neck looked ragged and ripped. They hadn't cut off the head cleanly. Instead, they had taken their time, sawing at the girl's throat. Bilain prayed to Go-Rar Kha that they had killed her first and that Ilivno had not suffered more than a quick death.