It's all true, every word of it. She's not lying to you, Gilwyn. She is the queen. And now that you know she's probably told others, as well."
'No, she hasn't. I'm the only one who's even seen her. She contacted me because she needs my help."
'I'm sure," said Figgis. He leaned back miserably. "She needs 'Not now," said Figgis crossly, turning back to his books. The catalog continued to whir. Figgis kept writing, ignoring Gilwyn as he appeared over his shoulder. "Go to your room. I don't need you anymore tonight." Before Gilwyn had left Queen Cassandra, she had given him a note she had written for Lukien, carefully folded and impressed with a wax seal. Gilwyn took the note from the pocket of his trousers and dropped it squarely onto the desk.
'What's this?" asked Figgis.
It took a moment before he took full notice of the seal. When he saw the mark of Luria impressed in the wax, his lips pursed. Gilwyn glared at him. He was too angry to be subtle or bullied by his mentor.
Figgis' eyes drifted slowly from the note up to Gil-wyn's face. Something like guilt laced his expression.
'Guess who that's from," said Gilwyn.
Figgis seemed unable to answer. There were only two people allowed to use the royal family's seal, and either one of them meant trouble. Figgis picked up the note but did not open it.
'Tell me," said Figgis softly. "Did Akeela give you this?"
'No. Guess again."
Figgis rose immediately and shut the door, leaving only the single candle to light the room. "Tell me where you got this," he insisted.
'You know where I got it, Figgis. I've been to Lionkeep."
'It wasn't Akeela?" asked Figgis.
'No," said Gilwyn. "It wasn't Akeela."
Still Figgis wouldn't admit the truth. "Who, then? One of the king's men? General Trager?"
'Figgis, it was her," said Gilwyn ruthlessly. "Queen Cassandra."
Figgis looked stricken. "Great Fate..." He fell back against the door, staring at Gilwyn through the darkness. "How?"
'I met her. I saw her the night of the moon shadow and I've spoken to her since. She told me everything, Figgis."
Figgis was incredulous. "You looked at her?"
Gilwyn nodded. "There's no curse," he said simply. He sighed, a sound that carried all his hurt and confusion. "Oh, Figgis. Why didn't you ever tell me?"
me. But you, well, who knows. I would never risk that. You don't know the lengths Akeela would go to." He shook his head regretfully, but then suddenly brightened. "You say there's no curse anymore?"
Gilwyn shrugged. "That's what the queen said. I first saw her days ago, and she's perfectly fine. The amulet is still keeping her safe. She said her illness hasn't troubled her."
'Remarkable. And she's still young?"
'Oh, yes. Young enough to fool me into thinking she was a housekeeper!" joked Gilwyn.
'She was very beautiful," Figgis remarked. "Still is, I'm sure." Suddenly his eyes narrowed on Gilwyn.
"Is she the one you've been heartsick over?"
Gilwyn felt his face flush. "Yes," he said. The admission set Figgis into hysterics. "I don't think it's that funny!" snapped Gilwyn. "She looked my age! How was I suppose to know she was the queen?"
Figgis swiped tears away with his thumb. "I'm sorry," he managed between chortles. "You're right. It's not funny."
But he wouldn't stop laughing. "Ah, forgive me, boy," he said at last. "But it's the first time I've laughed in days. You're right, though, it isn't a joke. The truth is, you still don't know everything."
'Oh, but I do," said Gilwyn. "You're going back to Jador to find the other amulet. You think it's somewhere in Grimhold."
Figgis frowned. "My, you have learned a lot. Did Cassandra tell you that?"
'Yes, but she didn't have to, not really. I knew something was going on when I heard you arguing with General Trager. That's why Cassandra wants to find Lukien. She wants him to come back and rescue her from Lionkeep. She plans on leaving with him to warn the Jadori before Akeela's army leaves."
'Great Fate," groaned Figgis. "This just keeps getting worse and worse."
'Well someone has to do something," said Gilwyn. "Otherwise the Jadori will be slaughtered."
'Don't you think I know that? What do you think I've been telling Akeela?" Frustrated, Figgis pushed his books aside, your help to escape, right? This note-I'm supposed to give it to someone to help her?"
Gilwyn smiled. "Figgis, it's not what you think." 'Oh, I'm sure it is. You see, I know everything about Cassandra, too. I've waited for this day for sixteen years. I don't even have to read this note to know what it says. It's for Lukien, isn't it?"
Gilwyn was amazed by the man's seeming clairvoyance. "How did you know?"
'Hmm, I wonder how much the queen actually entrusted to you, Gilwyn. Did she tell you about Lukien?"
'She did. She told me that he was banished, but I already knew that. And she told me that you had gone to Jador with him to find the amulet. She called it the Eye of God. Is that true, Figgis? Did you really go to Jador with Lukien?"
'Yes, believe it or not," said Figgis with a grin. "I was a lot younger then, and in far better shape. But what else did she tell you? Did she tell you that she and Lukien were lovers?"
Gilwyn's eyebrows went up. "Lovers? She said they were friends."
'That's why Lukien was banished," explained Figgis. "He had fallen in love with Cassandra, and she with him. It broke Akee-la's heart when he discovered the truth. And it changed him." The old man fiddled with the inkwell on the desk, studying it with undue care. "He's never been the same, Gilwyn.
Some people think it was the pressures of kingship that drove him mad, but that's not it. He could have handled anything if Lukien and Cassandra had stayed loyal to him. He loved them both, and they betrayed him. That's why he's the way he is. That's why everyone debates his sanity."
There was real sadness in Figgis tone. Gilwyn slid closer to him.
'Why didn't you ever tell me any of this?" he asked. "You could have trusted me. All those times I asked you about the king, you never once told me the truth. You lied to me."
'I had to. I had to protect you. You don't know what Akeela is like, Gilwyn. He's not Akeela the Good anymore. If you knew the truth, you'd be in danger. I'm only safe because Akeela needs sending them tumbling off the desk. "The Jadori are peaceful. Akeela knows that, he just doesn't care. He wants that other amulet, and he'll stop at nothing to find it."
'Well, maybe he's looking in the wrong place." Gilwyn shifted nervously. "I mean, are you really sure it's in Grimhold?"
Figgis fixed him in an insistent glare. "What do you mean?"
'Figgis, I have something to tell you. Promise me you won't get mad."
'I'm already mad, Gilwyn. What is it?"
Gilwyn grimaced. "I think I know where the other amulet is. I think I saw it."
The little color in Figgis' face drained away instantaneously. "What?" He rose from his chair, his gangly shadow falling on Gilwyn like a hawk's. "You saw the other Eye of God? Where?"
'Figgis, calm down," said Gilwyn, putting up his hands. "I'm not even sure it's the same amulet..."
'Where?" Figgis insisted.
'In Koth, about a week ago. When I went missing, remember?"
'I remember. Go on."
'Well, it's hard to say exactly," said Gilwyn. "I'm having trouble recalling everything. But I know there was a woman. And a man, a big fellow. And a lot of light."
'Whoa, slow down. You're not making sense," said Figgis. He guided Gilwyn toward the chair he had vacated. "Now sit down and tell me everything. Don't leave anything out."
Gilwyn sat down, composing his thoughts. It was all such a jumble now. Every time he tried to recall the events in the alley, the memory became more and more clouded.
'It's difficult," he said, shaking his head. "It slips away from me. It won't let me get my hands around it."
'What won't?" asked Figgis.
'My memory. Sometimes I see it clearly, but when I try to talk about it..." Gilwyn snorted in frustration. "Something's wrong with me, I don't know..."
'Gilwyn, I want you to relax," said Figgis gently, "and tell me everything you can remember, all right?"
He knelt down before the boy in the soft candlelight. "Where did you see the amulet?"
'In Koth," Gilwyn repeated.
'With a woman and a man?" Gilwyn nodded.
'Who were they, do you know?"
'I don't know," said Gilwyn. He closed his eyes, trying to summon a picture of the strangers. All he could remember was that they were very odd looking. "Figgis, I think they may have enchanted me. I can't remember!"
'Easy," bade Figgis. "Try again."
'I can't. Every time I try it gets worse." Gilwyn balled his good hand into a fist, struggling to summon an image of the two in his mind, but the harder he tried the more distorted the images became. He knew he had seen the woman do magic, and he knew that she had helped him. But he felt like an old, senile man suddenly, unable to find his way home. "She's done something to my mind," he said angrily. "She's made me forget."
'You're sure it was a woman?"
'Yes," said Gilwyn. He looked at Figgis pleadingly. "I think it was the Witch, Figgis. The Witch of Grimhold. She was the one with the amulet. But that's all I can remember."
Figgis smiled ever so slightly. "The Witch of Grimhold. Not just a legend after all."
'I saw her, Figgis. I know I did. But I can't remember anything else about her." Gilwyn cursed and covered his face with his hands. "She's bewitched me."
'She doesn't want you to remember her," Figgis surmised. "She wants you to forget so that you can't tell anyone about her."
'Yes," said Gilwyn, nodding. "I think I promised her I wouldn't. I'm not sure. But when I try to speak about it..."
'Gilwyn, look at me."
Gilwyn lowered his hands. Figgis was staring at him, his old eyes blazing in the darkness.
'Watch me closely. Don't look away. Don't even blink."
'What is it?" asked Gilwyn.
'Shhh, don't talk. Just look at me." Figgis' voice took on the regularity of a clock. It was soft, firm, and as clear as a breeze.
'Now, relax. Relax and don't think about anything but my voice."
'All right," said Gilwyn. "Yes___"
'Yes," repeated Figgis. "Good. Now close your eyes."
Gilwyn's eyelids shut before he could even control them. He felt light suddenly, as though he were drifting off to sleep. The humming of the catalog filled his brain, but it did not disturb him. All was tranquil.
Figgis' gentle voice reached him through the darkness.
'Be calm, Gilwyn. Breathe deeply. Nice and regular. Let everything else but my voice fall away.
You're in another place. Nothing can touch you."
'Nothing can touch me," said Gilwyn. The sound of his own voice seemed strange to him. He was exhausted from all that had happened, and the darkness around him felt good. The soft warmth of Figgis'
breath caressed his face. A great and pressing desire for sleep washed over him.
Figgis was talking, repeating his calming words. Gilwyn didn't know what was happening, and he didn't care. It felt wonderfully good to be like this, all alone and perfectly relaxed. He listened to Figgis'
voice as if it was music from heaven.
tablet out for Gilwyn to see. "I wrote it all down, Gilwyn, every word of it. Remarkable!"
The alley, the midget woman with her bodyguard Trog, the glowing amulet and the spirits she had summoned; everything Was written in Figgis' tablet.
'It's incredible, Gilwyn," said Figgis. "You saw the Witch of Grimhold!"
'Did I?" Gilwyn wasn't so certain. "How can you be sure?"
'I've been reading about Grimhold, everything I could find. Your story matches much of what I've read. You said she was tiny, like a midget, and that she had striking white hair. That's what the stories say!"
'And she wore a coat," Gilwyn remembered suddenly. "With lots of colors."
'Like a rainbow," said Figgis excitedly. "The legends talk of that too, and how she controls spirits, likethe ones you spoke of."
Gilwyn couldn't believe his ears. "All the stories say this?"