Chapter 39: Hughes

Logan woke slowly.

He lay still, feeling his body throb and wondering what had happened. The last thing he could remember…he'd been on the dueling field with Gilbert, and he'd drawn first blood. He'd won. Then…what had happened afterward?

He opened his eyes. For a moment all he could see was ceiling. Then he turned his head and looked over at the side of his bed, and he saw he was in the Healers' wing. In the next bed lay a still, familiar figure with dark hair and pale skin. Alarmed at the pallor of her face, he tried to get up…and found himself prevented from rising by a hand on his other arm. He turned irritably to the person sitting on the chair beside his bed, and saw Vincet. "Hey," he said, his voice raspy.

"Stay down. The Healer doesn't want you to start bleeding again." Vincet looked tired.

"What happened?" Logan gave up trying to fight his friend and lay back, looking from Vincet's face to Jubilee's still form. "What'sgoin' on?"

"Gilbert went nuts. He jumped on you after you turned around and started walking away. Stabbed you in the back. He was about to finish you off when Jubilee jumped in there and picked up your sword. She fought him off you, refused to let him finish you off, and saved your life. Again." Vincetsounded bitter. "And while she fought him she used some tricks we'd come toexpect from 'Lee', not Jubilee. She blew it. Everyone knows who she is, now."

Logan sucked in a breath. "Is the King upset?"

Vincet sighed. "'Upset' isn't the word for it. He's been closeted with some of his closest councilors since yesterday afternoon—"

"Wait." Logan held up a hand. "Yesterday afternoon?"

Vincet nodded. "The duel was yesterday morning. You've been out since yesterday. So has she. Lucky for both of you."

"Why?" Logan asked warily, eyes narrowed.

Vincet looked at the floor, refusing to meet Logan's eyes. "Talk is that the King will strip you of your knighthood for lying to theKing," he said, "and Jubilee faces either death or exile, for lying and for murdering Gilbert."

"She killed him?" Logan asked in disbelief.

"Yes, she did." Vincet said shortly.

"But he's dead. The traitor's dead. She should be getting some kind of medal or somethin'!" Logan was indignant.

"But the only evidence anyone had of his treachery was what she said she heard in the torture chamber. The palace guard searched hisroom; there was nothing there to indicate that he had been in collusion with Gallas.It's her word against his…and he's dead. And he's the King's cousin. Itdoesn't look good for her, Logan."

"Exile," Logan whispered, his heart contracting. "But where'll she go? A lone girl out there, no family…and with Gallas's Lords scramblin' for power…they'd be only too happy ta capture the girl who caused Gallas's downfall."

"It gets worse," Vincet said miserably. "Gilbert's father, the King's uncle, wants to have her branded a murderer before they take her to the border and exile her."

"No," Logan shook his head, feeling sick. "She'll never survive that, she's barely healed from her ordeal in Gallas's dungeons. They can't do that ta her, Vincet, they can't!" He thought wildly. "The night before,the night o' the ball. There was someone else in the courtyard with Jubileeand Gilbert. A tall man, dark-skinned, wearing Gilbert's colours. Probably a manservant or something; Jubilee insisted there was someone else there,an' that the person was the same one who had killed her parents. If we can find him, he can prove that Gilbert was colluding with Gallas!"

Vincet frowned. "A dark-skinned man, tall, wearing Gilbert's colours…that sounds like Hughes!" "Who?"

Vincet looked excited. "Remember before you left, you told me to keep an eye on the new manservant Gallas had? I found out his name wasHughes. He's from beyond the border somewhere, from the mountains. I was going to go through his room, find out where he exactly came from, but I never got the opportunity. And then you came back, and I got…sidetracked…"

Logan struggled to his feet. "We have ta find evidence. Before they brand Jubilee an' banish her. Come on, Vincet, help me!" He stood, with Vincet's help, and he swayed for a few moments, unsteadily, before finding his balance. A fiery ache throbbed in his lower back, over the sword wound, but he ignored it and took a few experimental steps. By the time they got to his room door, he was able to walk on his own.

At this hour of morning, most of the rooms in the upper floor were empty, their occupants going about their daily business. Logan and Vincet went up the stairs to the nobles' rooms, trying not to look as though they were doing anything wrong, and entered Hughes' room cautiously. The room was neat, almost Spartan. There was no sense of hominess, no feeling that anyone lived there. It was clean, and yet forsome reason the room felt dirty. Logan couldn't put his finger on it, but he just felt that the man was…wrong.

Vincet sighed. "I don't think we're going to find anything here, Logan," he said grimly. "He's so neat…any incriminating papers wereprobably burned yesterday afternoon when Gilbert died. Or he's discarded them somehow." Logan ignored his friend, and went to the bed. Most people kept personal things under their bed; his own box of mementos was under his.He went to his knees, grunting with the strain that put on his sore, pained lower back, and looked under the bed. The only thing under it was a long iron box. Logan reached for it, ignoring the pain in his back, and pulled it out. There was a lockon it, but it was only a matter of a few moments to snap the hasp and open it.Inside the box was a sword, carefully laid on a bed of black and gold silk. Logan stared at it. It had a mark near the hilt of the sword, identifying it as the work of the King's Swordmaker. And the design of the hilt… He had seen it too often not to recognize it. Jubilee had its twin in her room, under her bed. He had watched her stare at the deviceon the hilt too often not to have the image etched in his brain. It was Duke Gilbert's personal device…and it was in Hughes's room. Vincet joined Logan, staring at the sword in the box, and drew in a deep breath. "That's Duke Gilbert's sword. What is it doing inhere?"

"Hughes is the man who killed Jubilee's parents," Logan said, closing the box grimly. "She's got the twin of this sword in her room,in a swordbox under her bed. It's the one way to positively identify their murderer." He pushed the box into the middle of the floor, and turned to the tablein the corner of the room. There was an iron box on top of the desk, also locked. Again, Logan applied the blade of his belt knife to the hasp, and snapped thelock easily. Vincet joined him at the table as he lifted out the tightly-packed sheets inside the box, untied the string holding them together, and started to read through them. And the papers were horrifying. Some of them were letters; letters from the duke to King Gallas, scribbled notes from Julian toGilbert, and here also was the signed agreement between Gilbert and Hughes. Hughes was one of the barbarians from the north, whose clan had taken refuge fromthe unusually long, bitter winter two years ago by living in the hillside caves just above Gilbert's castle. When the snows of winter gave way to the flowersof spring, more than half of the clan's women had died. They needed more women to stay a viable clan, so they had started raiding Gilbert's lands for girls.

Gilbert had heard of them, but instead of driving them off, he had made a bargain with Hughes. Hughes and his clan would be allowed to raid onGilbert's lands…but only where Gilbert allowed them, and at Gilbert's direction. Vincet drew a deep, horrified breath. "He said they could conduct their raiding on his own people? That's monstrous!" He threw apaper down in front of Logan. "This is what we need. Look at this." Logan picked it up. It was a letter written from Gallas to Gilbert; offering Duke Gilbert the throne if the man would help Gallasgain a foothold in the kingdom and overthrow Richard. Once they had both gained the thrones of their respective kingdoms, the borders would be negotiated to give Gallas the greater part of land, but Gilbert would have the power and might of Richard's kingdom. And, most importantly, he would have the Queen.

"Fool," Logan said grimly, shaking his head. "You'd think he'd'a realized that Gallas's so hungry fer power he'd never share withanybody. The gullible fool."

Vincet smiled thinly. "If he were smart he would never have tried it in the first place," he said. "IS there anything else?" Logan flipped through the papers. "They're all incriminatin'," he said finally, putting the papers back in the box. "Now come on. Let'stake this to the King." He picked up the box, and Vincet opened the door forhim, letting both of them out.

They forgot to push the swordbox back under the bed.

Richard sat at the head of the long table, his face dark with anger. "She was Lee all along," he said angrily. "Or he was Jubilee allalong. I don't know which is accurate." He got up and paced the length of thetable. "What are we going to do about it?"

"Nothing," Renee said coolly from the other end of the table. The Council, sitting along each side of the table, turned to look at her. "My Lord, there is no law in the kingdom that says a girl who masquerades as a boy is wrong. There is also no specific law that states all squires have to be boys, or that all knights have to be men. She did nothing wrong by being who she is, Richard."

The King actually looked taken aback by this revelation, and floundered for a moment before regaining his composure. "Well, putting that aside for a moment…the girl killed my cousin! We are royally offended!"

Renee sighed and folded her hands in her lap. "Again, my Lord, there is no law that specifically states putting a traitor to death is wrong."

Richard shook his head. "We have received no proof that Our cousin was a traitor!" He turned to the Weaponsmaster. "When you had hisrooms searched did you find anything that would indicate he had any type ofcontact with Gallas?"

The man hesitated. "Your Majesty, because we didn't find anything doesn't mean that he isn't a traitor," he said finally. "Hecould easily have hidden whatever evidence he had—letters, financial reports, money—destroyed or hidden when Sir Logan started asking questions."

Richard stopped pacing and turned to face the Weaponsmaster. "All right. Out with it. Do you think my cousin was a traitor?" The Weaponsmaster sounded reluctant. "Your Majesty—Richard—I don't know what to think. The girl went through a lot in the dungeons;in her dazed, anguished state she could very easily have misheard, or misinterpreted, anything Gallas and Julian might have said. But I also can't think of a reason why they would have mentioned Gilbert's name in her presence unless they were all in collusion. I honestly don't know what to think, Your Majesty."

Richard looked at Renee. "What about you, Renee?"

Renee looked levelly at Richard. "She is not the kind to mishear things, Richard. If she were not absolutely sure that that is what she heard, she would never have said anything. She had the training we give our squires; she knows what honour is, and what it requires. She knew that if shesaid something, and it was proved false, she would pay the penalty. I trust her implicitly, Richard. If she said she heard Gallas say Gilbert was a traitor, then Gilbert was in collusion with the enemy. And it fits, too. We have known since last summer that someone close to us was sending information tothe enemy. I didn't expect it would be Gilbert…but I'm not surprised either."

"But you've never liked Gilbert either," said a new voice, acidly. They all looked at the speaker; it was Henry, Gilbert's half-brother. "You would be the first one to accuse him, the first one to believe anything bad about my brother, because you don't like him. I say he was innocent; he's my brother, after all."

"Yes, he's your brother," Renee replied with equanimity, "Which means you can't be objective about his guilt or innocence either." They were interrupted by the sound of voices in the hall. A low, tense argument went on, finally ending in a raised voice. There was thesound of a scuffle, and then the door to the conference room was flung open. Logan and Vincet stood in the opening, and behind him stood a rather crestfallen member of the palace guard.

"My apologies, YourMajesty," the man said, bowing to the King. "I know you said this was a private council meeting, and I tried to explain it to Sir Vincet and Sir Logan, but they insisted…rather forcefully…on seeing you at right this instant."

Logan strode into the room and deposited the strongbox on the table in front of the King. "It's all here, yer Majesty!" he said triumphantly. "All the letters, all the papers an' documents Gilbert had, they're all here. He gave 'em ta his manservant, Hughes, ta keep, an' the man put it in hisown room, where Vincet and I found it!" The two knights stood in front of the king for a long time, as Richard leafed through the documents in the box. His face remained impassive until he'd finished with the last scrap of paper, and then hardened.

He motioned to the guard. "Bring Gilbert's man Hughes here," he said. "We will deal with him now." The guard saluted, then turned and left. Richard focused his hard gaze on the two knights in front of him. "And why did you search another man's things without his permission?" he said coolly. "Regardless of the outcome, you both have behaved dishonourably in the commission of this act."

Logan spluttered for a moment. "Yer Majesty, look what we found!" The Weaponsmaster stood from his place at the table. "Your Majesty, I ordered them to search the rooms belonging to all of Gilbert's men. I believed that if Gilbert could have been a traitor, perhaps his menmight be as well. They were following my orders." Logan cast the man a look of startlement, but the Weaponsmaster ignored the look. He didn't approve of lying…butin this case, it was necessary.

The guard came back in, looking puzzled. "We can't find Hughes anywhere," he said in puzzlement. "His room's empty, and the box hekeeps his sword in was empty too."

"Continue looking," Richard said crisply, angrily. "Search the castle. Close all the exits, check everyone coming in or going out. He must not be allowed to leave the castle!" he turned to Logan, frowning. "Sir Logan, you should be in bed. I command you to return to the Healer's rooms at once." Logan sighed in relief and allowed his shoulders to drop. He really was aching, and his lower back was throbbing. He bowed stiffly tothe King, then turned and left the room. Vincet threw his arm across Logan's back and supported him as they went down the stairs. They made their way slowly back to the roomin which he'd woken up…and were only part of the way there when they saw the knot of healers and servants and pages. A page went running past them, back down the hall from which they'd come, and their interest grew.

As soon as they reached the room Logan had woken up in, they heard the sound of steel clashing against steel. Logan rushed forward…and stopped short in the doorway, clinging to the frame for support. Hughes was in the room, brandishing a sword over a huddled figure in the corner, who had just been disarmed. "Jubilee!" Logan criedas he saw her tense, set face. "Hughes!" His hand flew to his waist, but his sword wasn't there. Hughes stopped pressing his attack, and saw Logan. Ignoring the girl in the corner, not even pausing to kick her sword aside, he strode to Logan.

"You went through my room," he snapped. "It was a sneaky,cowardly, dishonourable thing to do. You took those papers…and you left the swordbox sitting in the middle of the room. I saw it and I knew I'd been found."He turned to Jubilee, lying in a gasping, crying heap in the corner. "If it wasn't for her, the Duke's plans would have gone through. He would have the throne by now, and my clan would have rich, fertile lands to settle into, cities to loot and pillage, women for the having. She's ruined everything. When I killed her parents I should have killed her too." He smiled at Logan's startledlook. "Oh, yes, I remember the little acrobat girl from the traveling fair." He laughed unpleasantly. "After I've finished you off, I'll take care of her. The guard won't get here in time; I'll be gone before they can be summoned." He raised his sword. Logan closed his eyes. There was nothing he could do; he didn'thave a sword, and the guard wouldn't get there fast enough. And Vincet didn't have his sword either.

A sudden stain of crimson blossomed over Hughes's chest. At the center of that stain was the bloody point of a sword. Hughes turned around, shock and disbelief warring with each other in his eyes. Jubilee was behind him, clinging to the hilt of thesword with all her strength, her grip on it being the only thing keeping herupright. "You…killed my…parents," she gasped, her breath catching in her throat. "You're…not killing…the man I love!" As she said that, Hughes' legs collapsed, and he fell facedown, heavily, to the floor. The impact dislodged the sword from his back, and it clattered to the floor. The light went out of the man's eyes, and he died.

Logan heard footsteps, and turned to see Richard, Renee, and the other council members, as well as a few other knights, appearing in the doorway, looking aghast. He ignored all of them, stumbling to his knees beside the girl who knelt next to the body. Jubilee raised her head, her face flushed. "He came down here," she croaked weakly. "He woke me up. He had the sword from my room; the sword he'd used to kill my parents with. He said…he said he'd finish thejob with the same sword he'd killed my parents with." She was shaking now. "I grabbed his hand, and somehow I got the sword away from him. He reached for his own sword, hanging around his waist…and we fought. He managed to disarm me, and then you showed up. You kept him from killing me. You saved my life.Thank you." She swallowed convulsively as she looked at the dead body. "And…and I think I'm going to be sick." Logan grabbed a nearby chamber pot and held it as she retched. When she finished she burst into tears, and clutched him forcomfort. He sat there next to her, stroking her dark hair and whispering soothingwords to her.