Ch 15 Interrogations
Darin walked through the living room, then the hall to what he assumed was the front door. Another knock echoed in the bare entryway. He sighed and tried to open the lock, it took him a few tries before he got it open.
He knew the woman standing on the other side of the glass door with her hand raised to knock again must be Anna's mother. Her hair was the same shade of red, only threaded with silver, though her eyes were a light blue. And her wary expression reminded him of Anna's the first time he had met her.
"You must be Darin" she said when he opened the door for her.
"Yes" he said.
"Brave man"she said.
Darin grinned and gestured for her to follow him "Anna's in the kitchen, she has started the water for tea". Before going there himself, he locked the door. When he turned he saw Anna's mother standing there waiting for him, a grim look on her face.
"You do anything, anything at all to hurt Anna and you answer to me" she said making sure he got her meaning.
"I couldn't hurt her" he said quietly. "She is my heart".
He didn't find any concept within the language that could exactly convey what lifebonded meant, he wished he could have comforted her mother, only time would do that. A lot of time, he thought ruefully looking at her expression.
Finally she turned and started for the kitchen.
"So, what do you do" she asked as they entered the kitchen, he looked helplessly at Anna, wondering how she wanted to handle the situation.
Anna looked up from her mug at her mother's words and caught Darin's expression. In that instant, she realized, she had to tell her mother, if Darin didn't exist she would have been able to keep it from her, but if she wanted him in her life, both her lives, her mother needed to know. "He's a Herald" she said. He started, surprised.
"A what" her mother asked, confused. She almost laughed, both Darin and her mother had similar expressions on their faces. He caught her humor and smiled uncertainly.
"A herald, I'll explain in a few minutes" she said with a calmness that was purely feigned.
"Would you like some tea first" she asked her mother.
Her mother sat and nodded, perhaps wondering if she was going to like what she heard. "Darin, could you go get your shirt and bring it here" she asked, looking up at him. He nodded and left the room.
"What was that about" her mother asked.
"You'll see later, first I need a promise from you" she said pouring the water over her mother's teabag.
"You have it" she said.
"I need you to listen to everything I tell you, without interrupting and to keep it a secret" she said seriously.
"Can I tell your father" her mother asked.
"No one, or I would have to leave, you would never hear from me again" she said a serious tone in her voice.
"But why" her mother asked scared for her daughter.
"I can't leave Darin" she started to say.
"What did he do to you, is he threatening you..." she started to say, Anna interrupted.
"No, he couldn't harm me, he would die for me as I would for him. I think if either of us died the other would soon follow" she said her thoughts turned inward, feeling her way through what she had to say.
"What in the world" her mother exclaimed.
"Funny you should say that, it has something to do with what I wanted to tell you, well actually show you" Anna said.
Darin entered the kitchen as she said that, his uniform top hung over his arm. He walked over to Anna and handed it to her. She moved her mug and spread it out on the table.
"What's that" her mother asked.
It's part of Darin's uniform, where he comes from, he holds an office of a sort" she said.
"Where he comes from" her mother asked looking at the heavy shirt.
"Yes, I'll tell you about that soon" she said.
"Why can't he tell me for himself" her mother asked , shooting him a sharp glance.
"Because he's still not used to the language, and he trusts me to tell you what you need to know" she said.
"He speaks it well for someone recently come to it" her mother said , looking at him again.
"As well as I now speak his" she said adding in Valdemaren to Darin "Which is worse, yours or mine". He choked back a laugh as Anna's mother looked between them both suspiciously.
"You know that things have been different, since the accident" Anna said getting to the point.
"Yes" her mother nodded.
"Well, you don't know how different" she said taking a sip of her now cooler tea.
She continued "I started seeing things, from the time I woke up in the hospital" her mother took her hand a concerned look on her face.
Anna smiled and shook her head "It wasn't like that" she said. "Though I did wonder at first, I didn't dare tell anyone, and it wasn't until I got home, and something amazing happened, that I realized, exactly what had been happening".
"What happened" her mother asked.
"I woke up next to a rosebush" she said.
"A what" her mother asked.
"A rosebush" she said pointing to the now half dead rose dropping, it's petals falling on the table between them. "I had been dreaming of a garden, in fact, been seeing it in the air, then I was there..." she paused.
"What happened then" her mother asked.
"I panicked" she smiled and looked at Darin. "I pulled myself back, but not before I took this as a momento of my visit" she said, pointing again to the rose.
"If it wasn't for the rose I might not have believed what happened" she said.
"You went back" her mother asked.
"Yes, a few days later, when I got back my nerve, I'm so glad I did" she said.
"Why" her mother asked.
"Because I met Darin then" she said softly, smiling as she remembered, she looked up and saw he was remembering as well.
Her mother looked back and forth between them and relaxed, comforted by what she saw.
"Nice story, but hard to believe" she said looking at her daughter.
"I know, that's why I'm going to show you" she said. "Are you done with your tea, mom" she asked.
Her mother looked at her mug startled, without realizing it she had finished her tea nodding she said " I guess I have, what do you mean by showing me" she asked.
"Come" she said standing and grabbing her cane. Darin came to her elbow ready to help if needed. Her mother stood and followed as they walked to the hallway, that held the doorway to Valdemar.
"The linen closet" she asked her daughter, wondering if her first impression of her daughter's story was true.
"I couldn't resist" she said with a sparkle of humor in her eyes. "It's a little like something C. S. Lewis would have written, though it's not exactly a wardrobe" she said.
"What is it then" her mother asked skeptically.
"It's a doorway to Darin's world" she said opening the door.
Her mother opened her mouth to say something but then stopped, staring without saying anything. The light of the lantern from the shed was shining weirdly from a darkness in the wall, then a large white head emerged, looking at them with blue eyes.
:Are you sure this is wise: Jeraela asked Anna.
:It's the only thing I could do, I can't lose Darin and I don't want to lose my family: she sent back silently.
Anna's mother had closed her mouth when they had spoken to each other "What are you" she gasped staring at Jeraela. "You're not a horse, they don't talk".
Jeraela whipped her head around staring at her :You heard me: she said startled.
'Of course I heard you" her mother said.
"Interesting family you have" Darin whispered in her ear.
Elspeth entered the building where the men were being held, she nodded at the man on watch "Have they started the interrogation yet" she asked.
"No, Alberich, left word that he wanted us to wait until he arrived" he said.
"Good, I'll wait" she wasn't surprised that he had already heard of the attack, even those who didn't know him well, knew he took Selenay's security seriously.
It wasn't long before he arrived, he nodded to Elspeth and the two of them followed the guard waiting to guide them to the cell where the first of the men was being held.
He was a little the worse for wear, the guards hadn't been gentle, taking it personally that someone had endangered their queen, they had stripped him of most of his clothing in their search for weapons. He sat shivering in his undershirt, pants and bare feet, his head down and in his hands.
His head snapped up at their entrance, his eyes widened and he backed away as far as his chains would allow. Elspeth glanced at Alberich, with that expression on his face she wasn't surprised the man appeared terrified. The two Heralds stalked forward until they were close enough to touch him. He stared at Alberich in horrified fascination almost ignoring Elspeth. He flinched when Alberich fingered the handle of the sword he still wore , a forbidding look in his eyes.
:You hardly need the sword: she sent.
He didn't respond, instead he continued to stare at the man until he looked down unable to look him in the eyes. Alberich murmured the first stage of the truth spell, then asked in a surprisingly soft voice "Hunting, were you, what prey were you after".
"Not the queen, we didn't know she was there, if we had we would never have come".the man said as fast as he could trying to get it out before he was stopped. The blue of the truth spell never faltered.
Elspeth sighed, relieved that this wasn't a plot to kill Selenay. "You wanted to kill someone, who was it" she asked.
He looked at her "We weren't trying to kill anyone", the blue light disappeared.
"Funny, you don't look stupid" she said.
"What" he asked.
"You're under truth spell, you know what that means" she asked him with a sour look.
He nodded a sour look of his own, he rubbed his face and looked up again.
"Lord Farron, that's who we were hired to kill" the blue light returned.
"Who hired you" she asked.
"I don't know, All I know was we were given invitations to the party and passage into the palace, I don't know who ultimately arraigned for it" he said.
"A pity, for you" Alberich said.
"What do you mean" the man asked.
"If known, you had, a lighter sentence, have you had" he said.
"You know what they do to murderers" Elspeth added.
"I haven't killed anyone" the terrified man gasped, the blue light winked out again.
Elspeth sighed "You never learn, do you".