To the rest of the court, the next two days were completely normal. The morning after Midwinter Day, gifts were exchanged, and the usual parties and feasts continued to take place. Two squires passed the Ordeal of Knighthood and were knighted by the King, and a grand snowball fight took place in the courtyard between the pages and squires.
Only those who had heard Sato and Kel's explanations, as well as a few of the Queen's ladies-in-waiting, were aware that Princess Shinkokami was now sleeping in the Queen's own chambers, and even the latter were not aware that Kel's sparrows were watching everyone who entered or exited Shinko's usual chambers, the Queen's chambers, as well as Shinko herself. After seeing the sparrow's enthusiasm to help Kel, Daine had agreed to explain to them what they needed to do. It wasn't until the third morning, though, that Nari had landed on Kel's arm, and chirped three times - their agreed signal that they had seen something suspicious.
Kel had just woken up. It was barely dawn, and the weak rising winter sun only let the barest hint of light through her shutters. "Nari?" she said, still slow with sleep. The sparrow fluttered her wings and chirped three times again. This time, Kel realized what was happening, and was suddenly fully awake. "You've found them? Where?"
The sparrow chirped again, and flew to the door. Kel hurriedly pulled on a tunic, leggings, and boots, as well as automatically strapping Griffin to her waist in its scabbard. After three years at war on the border, early morning alarm calls meant arming oneself. As she dressed, Tobe sleepily opened his eyes.
"Wha's happening?" he asked.
"Go back to sleep," Kel whispered. Fortunately, he didn't seem to be awake enough to argue, and rolled over. Jump, however, stood, yawning, and trotted to her heels. She stepped out of the door and into the corridor, where they were joined by three other sparrows. Kel looked at them. "I'll have as many dried cherries for you as you can eat, later," she promised. "But for now, find Numair and Sato, please? And bring them to wherever Nari is taking me?"
Nari chirped again, seemingly giving the other members of her flock her own instructions, for the sparrows chirped in response and flew away down the corridor. Nari flew a loop around Kel's head, and then headed in the opposite direction. Steeling herself, Kel followed, unsure exactly what - or who - she was going to find.
Kel hurried through the palace corridors after Nari. They had already passed Shinko's chambers, turning off into a side passage, and were now in a part of the palace she wasn't sure she'd ever visited before. Nobody else was around, and dust floated in the shafts of sunlight from the windows. It seemed like this wasn't a corridor that was used terribly often. She sped up as she heard a muffled voice, shouting obscenities in the distance.
"Get off me, gods-cursed birds!"
Kel couldn't help herself. She gasped as she rounded the corner and saw who was there, penned into an alcove by the other sparrows and Jump: Quinden of Marti's Hill, dressed in servant's clothing and scratched bloody by sharp beaks and claws. The sparrows were diving at his face, while Jump nipped at his ankles and growled, preventing him from running. He had his sword out, slashing wildly at them, but Nari's flock were used to avoiding blades and even arrows by now, and he had not struck any of them. Behind him, on the floor, lay a crumpled white sheet - what looked like bed linen.
"Quinden!" Kel said, disgust and sour betrayal rising in her throat. She had never imagined that her yearmate would do something like this, for all his dislike of her personally. "What are you doing?"
"Call off your animals!" Quinden spat out. "Agh!" Nari had joined the fray, getting in a lucky nip on his ear.
"Drop your sword," Kel said. "Then I'll call them off."
Quinden pushed his sword back into his sheath, covering his eyes with his arm against the flock's attacks. "There! Happy? Now call them off!"
Kel raised a hand, and the sparrows reluctantly flew back to her, landing on her shoulders and the edges of the alcove. Jump sat, but kept up a low growl, his eyes fixed on Quinden.
Kel lowered her hand, letting it rest casually on her sword, and kept her own eyes fixed firmly on Quinden. "Now. Tell me. What are you doing here?"
Quinden raised his chin defiantly, blue eyes narrow and cold. "Taking a walk," he said. "Until I was attacked by your menagerie! They should be put down!"
Kel felt anger rise in her gut. Did he really think she was stupid? I am stone, she reminded herself. "I see," she said, keeping her tone flat. "And I suppose walking around the palace in the early hours always requires dressing yourself as if you were a servant, yet also carrying your sword?"
Quinden would not look her in the eye as he answered. He had always been cocky, but never a good liar. "What's it to you what I wear?" He faked a yawn. "If you must know, I was visiting a lady friend. I'm sure you know all about that, with all the whoring you've done in these walls."
That old chestnut, Kel thought, the old insult failing to enrage her as it once might have done. Still, it did nothing for the sour taste in her mouth that this conversation was already leaving her. "I see you brought the bed linen with you," she observed coldly.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Quinden muttered, but his eyes betrayed him, flicking towards the sheet. Was that fear that crossed his face, however briefly? Kel wondered.
She had had enough of this, in any case. "I think you'd better come with me, and explain what you've been doing to the King," she said, hoping Quinden wouldn't do anything stupid. His hand still rested on his sword hilt, and he had a twitchy look on his face.
"Oh, you do?" he asked.
A sparrow tweeted warning behind her as he suddenly drew his sword and rushed at her.
"Stay back!" Kel commanded the sparrows and Jump, and, quick as lightening, drew her own sword, and parried his strikes. "You forget," she told him. "I've been at war for three years, while you rode a desk."
Quinden stepped sideways as she blocked his thrust, and feinted to the left. "Oh, and whose fault is that, that I was stuck with paperwork? They stuck you in a refugee camp to play mother, anyway," he said, hatred bleeding from his words.
Kel saw the feint before he made it, and blocked as he swung again. "You'll find it was your own stupidity that caused your situation," she said, concentrating on his movements rather than his words. "Don't be stupid again now. Come with me and talk to the King. Maybe he'll be lenient with you." She doubted it, rather - treason was not exactly a pardonable offence - but since Quinden did not have the magical ability to have cursed Shinko himself, she hoped he would tell them who did.
Quinden sneered at her in response, and struck again. It didn't look like he was giving up soon, and Kel decided it was time to stop simply blocking his strikes and start trying to force him to submit. "I don't want to fight you," she warned him.
"Oh, but I've been longing for a chance to fight you, Lump," he replied, and, as she blocked him again, kicked at her ankle, trying to trip her as her weight moved into the block. Kel let herself fall, more quickly than he could have anticipated, so that he too fell forwards. She rolled away from him and pushed herself back up before he could fully turn back to her, pushing him down with her boot and holding her sword to his throat.
"Stop, Quinden!" she said, commandingly. "Don't make me hurt you!"
He looked her in the eyes, and she realized he had no intention of submitting to her, just as he kicked upwards, hitting her hard in the kneecap. She stumbled backwards and whirled around as he came at her again. "I won't ever give in to you, girl," he said, pushing her back against the wall with a barrage of quick slashes. "You're the biggest example of everything wrong with Tortall today!"
Kel took a breath and twisted to one side along the wall, away from his thrusts. Quinden's sword bounced off the wall with a clang, and she caught him in the sword arm with a quick thrust. Blood dripped down his arm, but he barely seemed to notice, coming at her again with an enraged roar.
Behind him, Kel was barely aware that they now had an audience - Numair and Sato, she guessed - but she didn't let the new arrivals distract her from the fight. Quinden seemed like he actually wanted to kill her, so she had no choice but to respond. Her knee throbbed from his kick, but she ignored it as their swords met in a deadlock. His nose almost touched hers, and sweat dripped from his blond hair and down his fine-boned features. Kel took a chance, and head-butted him, then quickly brought up her sword as he stumbled back, thrusting forward.
Quinden cried out as Griffin thrust through his shoulder, and dropped his own sword. Kel drew back her sword, and he dropped to the ground with a wail.
"That was quite enough of that," she said firmly, pulling a handkerchief from her tunic and wiping the blood from her blade as she regained her breath. Her ears rang from the headbutt. Note to self, she thought ruefully. That's a bad move without a helmet. She glanced up, and realized, to her surprise, that not only Numair and Sato had arrived with her sparrows, but also Alanna, who had briskly stepped forward as soon as the fight had ended.
"You're hurt," the Lioness observed, and Kel raised her hand to her bruised forehead, surprised to see drops of blood come away on her fingertips.
"I'll live for now," she said. "Make sure he will too." She gestured to Quinden, who was pale, gripping his shoulder, and groaning. "I want to know what he was doing. And who he was doing it for."
"That will help," Numair broke in. Sato had collected the white sheet from the alcove, wrapping it carefully in a black cloth without touching it. "It reeks of magic."
"Interrogating the knight would still be of use," Sato said coldly, her face its usual blank, but her eyes filled with disgust. "But we will take this back to Numair's workroom, and see what information it can provide us with."
Kel nodded, sheathing her sword, and took a step towards Quinden and Alanna, stumbling as her damaged knee threatened to collapse under her. Alanna glanced up, and glared at her. "You. Sit," she said firmly. "Numair, send Neal?" she called to the mages, who had begun to walk away, arguing theories of how the curse on the sheet worked.
Neal had clucked over her bruised head and injured knee - "You've got a hairline fracture here. And whatever made you think using your head as a battering ram was a good idea? You're lucky you didn't knock yourself out! I'm surprised you're not seeing stars with a concussion like this…" - but had healed her quickly, despite her protests that he should wait. Unfortunately, as usual, the healing had sent her to sleep.
As she awakened, her mind stuck in the fuzzy haze she always experienced after a healing-induced nap, it took her a moment to remember what had happened. She was aware that something felt urgent, but not quite what it was. "I've got to…" she began, sluggishly, and started to sit up, her mouth feeling like it was full of glue.
"Got to what?" Neal's face came into view as she blinked away the sleep residue. "You've got to drink something, at least, before you get up."
She took the cup gratefully, and drank deeply, immediately feeling more human. "What time is it?" she said, noticing that her room was now bright with daylight. "Where's Quinden?"
"Don't worry - he's in the fine company of the King's Guards, who are keeping a very close eye on him while Numair and your Yamani mage work out who he's working for," Neal said, his own disgust at Quinden's treachery obvious on his face. "They should be done by this evening, and then you'll be needed to explain what he told you before you fought, since Alanna said you weren't there for that bit."
Kel sighed, and handed him back the empty cup. "He didn't say much. Not who he was working for, anyway."
Neal shrugged. "Then let's hope the King can truth-spell it out of him later - or that the mages can work out the spell on that sheet he had."
Nari landed on Kel's hand, and chirped. Kel grinned at her. "I guess that gives me time to find cherries for you all, then," she told her, pulling herself out of bed. Her stomach gurgled as she stood up, and Neal snorted.
"I think you could do with some yourself. Lunch?"
"Lunch," Kel agreed with a grin.
