The Green-Eyed Man (The Dark Amulet Book 2)

Book Summary

Stefan, appointed to protect Sasha, the young, green-eyed, usurped Queen of Kimora, faces unforeseen challenges when she's kidnapped, sparking a desperate mission filled with magic and a battle for the throne. High stakes and ancient mysteries intertwine in this tale of loyalty and destiny.

Excerpt from The Green-Eyed Man (The Dark Amulet Book 2)

Chapter 1

Sheldrake and Maud had been summoned to the palace to confer with the King.

A dour, solid woman in black ushered them into the same study that Jon and Sasha had entered. On this occasion she was not glaring. In fact, she smiled in welcome, but her eyes narrowed briefly in warning.

The King was not pleased.

“Thanks Josie,” said Maud casually. “I’ve brought you a bunch of our lovely bottlebrushes. I’ll give them to you after I’ve seen Gav… His Majesty.”

Josie’s smile broadened. “Lovely,” she murmured as she withdrew.

Maud turned to the King and executed a low curtsey, lower than usual, while Sheldrake bowed, bending one knee. Gavin waited a moment before allowing them to rise, a sure sign of his displeasure. Once he had made his point, he waved them to armchairs and took up his favourite position, seated behind his desk. For a full minute, Gavin scrutinised them without speaking. They waited, knowing it was he who must speak first.

“So,” Gavin said at last, picking up a gold pen and tapping it idly on the desktop. “Do I have your complete loyalty?” Then he held up a hand. “No. Don’t answer that. Silly question. You’re bound to say yes.” He grimaced. “I know you finally told me about Jon and Sasha and that we have worked out their future living arrangements, but it preys on my mind that you did not do so straight away and that your loyalties may be compromised by your care for them. I have discovered for myself that they possess a vulnerable charm that is hard to resist. I need your objective reasoning and knowledge to help me decide what to do. Are you able to provide that? And can you explain your actions?”

Maud did not gush with reassuring words. In fact, she spoke with more reserve than usual. “I hope so, Your Majesty. As you say, Sasha and Jon are endearing, aren’t they? We have become very fond of Sasha and were stunned, as you may imagine, when we discovered that our recently employed stable boy was actually a stable girl. Then Jon turned up and decided to trust us with the knowledge that Sasha was the rightful, but usurped, Queen of Kimora; a fact he had kept, even from her.”

“And that you and he also decided to keep from me,” interposed Gavin, with a clear note of censure.

“Ah. Yes.” Maud looked uncomfortable

Sheldrake came to her rescue. “But not with the intention of deceiving you, Your Majesty.”

“We will come back to that. Go on.”

Sheldrake took up the thread. “By this stage, we had already begun to suspect that Sasha was someone out of the ordinary, Sire. People were looking for her, you see.” He drew a breath. “And then, on top of all that, Jon told us that he was Sasha’s elder brother.”

Maud gave a tight smile. “Not something you’d guess, really; with Jon blue-eyed, fair and blond and Sasha the complete antithesis; dark hair, eyes and complexion.”

“And we learnt all of this in the space of two days, Sire,” said Sheldrake. “It was a lot to take in.” He took a deep breath. “Sasha and Jon’s identities had far-reaching implications, Sire, for them, for you, for us, for our country and theirs.” He sat forward to give his next words emphasis. “But from the moment we knew who Sasha was, we thought through the ramifications of harbouring her, in terms of our loyalty to you and to Carrador. Under no circumstances would we compromise either.”

“I am pleased to hear it. I would, however, have preferred to be a party to the consideration of those ramifications.” Gavin’s voice was not sharp, but his face was still shuttered.

“We were concerned, Sire,”countered Sheldrake, “that you would not want to appear complicit in supporting a pretender to a neighbouring throne. So we thought that if you didn’t know about it, the issue could be avoided.”

Now Gavin did sound annoyed. “Sheldrake, I am quite capable of appearing ignorant of information, if it is politic to do so. I do it all the time.” He took a breath to rein himself in, then gave a faint smile. “You have not cornered the market on intrigue, you know.”

“I beg your pardon, Sire,” said Maud with true contrition, “I believe we have been remiss, but not through any desire to undermine you. You have our undivided loyalty.”

Gavin leant back in his straight-backed chair and let out a long breath. “I am pleased to hear that, and I accept your apology. I would never say this in front of my other advisors, but I depend very heavily on you two; you, Sheldrake, for your wealth of knowledge and contacts, and you, Maud, for your wisdom and the way you find patterns in that information to guide me.”

Maud smiled warmly at him, the need for formality past. “You are doing well, Gavin. You are a fine king; authoritative, but receptive and fair, or as fair as you can be. Regardless of our loyalty, it is in our own best interests, as citizens of Carrador, to keep you as our sovereign.”

Gavin gave a short laugh. “Thanks. Thank you indeed. Coming from you, who rarely praises and never flatters… ”

“Oh Gavin,” protested Maud. “I’m not that bad, am I?”

“Yes,” said Sheldrake baldly. When she looked shocked and perhaps a little hurt, he smiled and added, “But… you are also warm and joyful and a tower of strength in times of trouble.”

This was said with such rarely expressed, deep emotion that an awkward silence ensued. It was broken by Gavin who said prosaically, “And she’s clever.”

Sheldrake let out a little breath of relief. “Naturally. I would not align myself with someone tedious.”

Maud looked from one to the other, smiling. “When you two have quite finished…”

“So,” said Gavin, bringing them back to business. “As you are aware, my father’s younger brother, Alfred, married Crown Princess Corinna, with the intention that he become Prince Consort when she became Queen, thus allying our two nations. Needless to say, that plan died in its infancy when my uncle and Corinna were assassinated. Until recently, I had no idea that my cousins had survived or that Queen Toriana was behind the attack.” He paused, tapping the gold pen on his desk, frowning. He looked up suddenly. “Are we sure the Queen is implicated? It wasn’t just a random bandit attack, as has been widely believed until now?”

“That is a good question,” returned Sheldrake. “Our only source of information about the actual attack is Jon, who was only twelve at the time. He did not say that the attackers were Toriana’s men.”

“However,” continued Maud, “from what he says, the attackers were clearly bent on obtaining the amulet, which is the symbol of authority and source of shamanic power in Kimora. Only a usurper would want that, don’t you think?”

“Not an evil, power-hungry shaman?” asked Gavin.

Maud and Sheldrake both looked sceptical.

With a slight smile, Sheldrake answered, “From the information I have gathered, Toriana fits that description pretty well. She has bound shamans to her will using shamanic powers, which has never been done by previous monarchs. She has misled her people into believing that she has the one true amulet. She threatens or imprisons families of shamans, while hunting down those who have not yet been forced into binding their will to hers.”

“And she has infiltrated your kingdom to do it.”

“I have tried to find witnesses to, or participants in, the attack on Corinna’s family.” Sheldrake shrugged. “Naturally, no one is talking. But interestingly, within months of Toriana ascending the throne, an elite band of the Queen’s warriors was sent by boat along the Kempsey River to quell a disturbance in a western province. Apparently, their boat capsized and all were lost.” The spy master leaned forward. “But even more interesting; apparently a freak wave rolled down the river and swept them away.”

Gavin looked from one to the other. “So you’re saying…?”

“Strong shamans can control the weather, currents and the flow of water,” said Sheldrake flatly.

Maud stood up and began to pace around the room. “Gavin, we are dealing with a very evil woman here. We must proceed very, very carefully.”

“I see.” Gavin stood up and crossed to a small side table that held a forest of cut crystal decanters and an array of glasses. “Drink, anyone? I think I need one.”

Gavin poured himself a fine old amber brandy and one for Maud. Then he looked enquiringly at Sheldrake who opted for port.

Once he had handed them their drinks, Gavin sat down, this time in an armchair, an indication that his suspicions of them had been allayed. He idly rolled his brandy around his glass, watching the light playing in the amber liquid.After a minute, he said, “It is uncomfortable for me not to acknowledge my cousins for who they are, but I think we are agreed that the risks are too high if we openly declare that we are hosting them. Sasha doesn’t just rival her aunt’s rule; the existence of Sasharia wearing the High Shamanic amulet actually invalidates Toriana’s right to rule. Toriana needs that amulet and she must force Sasha to say the words of power to pass it on to her.”

“The amulet protects Sasha,” Sheldrake reminded him.

Gavin sipped his brandy before putting his glass down on a side table. “Perhaps so, though to what extent I think none of us is sure. But it does not protect those around Sasha. All Toriana would have to do is threaten to kill or maim Jon or Jayhan. Sasha would do anything to protect them. And once Toriana had been given the true amulet, she would kill Sasha. Don’t you think?”

Maud felt her blood run cold. An involuntary shudder coursed down her backbone. “And already, a military force has made an incursion within your borders and nearly succeeded in abducting Sasha.”

Sheldrake laid a reassuring hand on Maud’s arm. “We think they were simply looking for unregistered shamans to take back and force into service with the Queen. They might suspect or hope or dread that Sasha survived the attack on her family but only a very few know for sure. And the only survivors of that attack are safely in your custody, Sire.” He stood up and paced to the window, looking out at white cumulus clouds billowing on the horizon beyond the lake. After a few moments, he turned back to face the other two. The lines in his face seemed deeper than before. “The force we tangled with may have been small, but where there is one small force, there may well be more.”

“I agree,” said Gavin. “Even though we have already made it clear to Toriana, have we not, that her shaman hunters are not welcome within our borders?”

“Yes, Sire, we have,” said Maud, tucking her legs up under her as she sipped her brandy, rather reminiscent of a cat. “And I am sure the message has had time to reach her.”

The King ruminated while he swirled the brandy in his glass. When he looked up, he had clearly come to a decision. “So not only has she had my uncle killed, she is continuing to hunt people within our borders, despite a clear prohibition from me. Still, I do not want to push Kimora to war with us. It would hurt both of our countries and their people. She may not care about that, but I do. But I do want these incursions to stop. Sheldrake, our borders are already guarded but obviously not well enough. Where are our weaknesses?”

Sheldrake crossed to the large map of Carrador that hung on the study wall. Using it to demonstrate his points, he said, “Two main roads run between our nations, one through the Great Forest and one to the south of it through fields and farms. These both have secure checkpoints that can be placed on high alert. There is also a narrow, twisting, overgrown path in the south of the forest but few people know of it or can even navigate it. However, a skilful elite force is much more likely to cut across the fields or infiltrate through the forest. There we have a problem.”

“Couldn’t we enlist the aid of the farmers near the borders?” asked Gavin, glancing at Maud for her opinion. “Perhaps offer rewards for information about strangers in the area or put them on a retainer?”

Maud nodded. “Good idea. I think rewards might be more motivating. I suppose you may get some who will try to falsify trails or give false evidence.” She looked at Sheldrake “But I presume your spiders could sort the wheat from the chaff, couldn’t they?”

Sheldrake looked pained, as she knew he would, at having his agents referred to as spiders, but everyone knew them as the King’s Spiders, whether he liked it or not. He sighed. “Yes. Time would be wasted, of course, following up false leads, but overall I think the idea has merit.” He shrugged. “It does not, however, solve the problem of incursions through the forest.”

Gavin frowned. “No, it doesn’t, and the border between our two countries winds through more than a hundred miles of forest.” He stood up and walked over to study the map closely. “Most of it follows the Charville River but that is no deterrent. There are many places where the river can be easily crossed…and most of them are deep within the forest, out of view of checkpoints or farmers.” The king straightened and looked at Sheldrake. “The stakes are high. We must secure our borders. I’ll give you a fortnight to consult and come up with a plan to secure the border within the forest. Meanwhile, we will strengthen our checkpoints and instigate incentives for farmers to be our eyes and ears. Agreed?”

This was a rhetorical question, but Sheldrake and Maud both nodded dutifully and soon afterwards were sent on their way.

Just as Josie was about to close the door behind them, Gavin called them back. “By the way, as agreed, I’ve arranged for a master at arms to take up residence with you. Don’t let his looks belie you. He’s good, very good. He will protect and teach Sasha and Jayhan. His name’s Stefan.” He flashed a knowing smile at Sheldrake. “If you’re wanting to do a background check on him, his men call him Stefan Longshanks.”