Conspirators

Writers: Estelle
Date Posted: 12th March 2023
Series: White Hollow Hold

Characters: Tasni
Description: Tasni overhears an incriminating conversation
Location: Emerald Falls Hold
Date: month 6, day 13 of Turn 11
Notes: Mentioned: Corowal

Tasni followed Marsena reluctantly into the Headwoman's small office. Since she'd just been caught doing exactly what she'd been told not to - talking about Gil - so it wasn't hard to appear apprehensive. Shells, she hoped she wasn't about to be dismissed. Not when she was just starting to find out more about what was going on here at White Hollow.

"Sit down." Marsena gestured to the chair wedged into the corner in front of her desk, and took her own seat with a long sigh. To Tasni's surprise, she didn't launch into an immediate scolding, but studied the younger woman's face for a long interval before she eventually spoke.

"There's something you need to understand, Elayni." Marsena looked tired, suddenly, the fine lines around her eyes deeper. "Gil is not going to ride back into this hold and rescue you from Dallo and his friends. And even if he did, you might not like it."

Tasni stared at her. She certainly wasn't relying on any man to "rescue" her! Before she could protest, though, she remembered who she was. Tasni, harper and agent of the Northern Hall, had no need of a male champion, but she could see how Elayni the maid might hope for one. Besides, she needed an excuse for her interest in him, and Marsena had just given her a good opening.

She lowered her gaze, as if in modest embarrassment. "Davika said he was kind."

"Davika hasn't the sense to see beyond a handsome face," Marsena said sharply, "like most girls her age. I'm not going to say he wasn't polite and well-mannered, and it was a weight off my mind when he dealt with that beast Loxan, but..." She sighed. "No one knows why he left Emerald Falls, but I'd not be surprised if the way he fought that day in the ring wasn't a clue. He spent all his time practising with the sword or the staff, when he wasn't on the holder's business. There was violence in him. A lot of the men here boast about it, but with him, it was real."

Tasni remembered how Davika had described the fight, the blood splattered in the white dust of the old quarry, and on the fallen man's face.

"Holder Obriel's justice is harsh, and Gil carried it out without question," Marsena went on, as if to drive her point home. "He didn't only deal with crimes like Loxan's. There were other matters that Davika chooses not to remember. You're not a silly girl, Elayni. If you'd known him, you've have more sense than to pin your hopes on him."

"I understand, Headwoman. But it doesn't matter now, does it? He's gone."

Marsena gave her a sharp look. "Yes, he is. And I've enough trouble without the past being stirred up. I don't want to hear his name mentioned again. You have to learn to take care of yourself. Otherwise, you'd be better off going back to your family."

**Believe me, I can't wait to get out of here,** Tasni thought, but she
kept her eyes down. "Yes, ma'am."

"And no more of that talk about the Weyr, either. I appreciate you may not have started that, but I won't have wild gossip in my kitchens. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Headwoman. I'm sorry." She did her best to look contrite. In a way, it was reassuring; maybe not everyone here believed those stories.

"Good. Best get back to your work now. Lady Agriona will be retiring soon, and you'll need to have her bedchamber ready."

Tasni stood, bobbed a curtsey and hurried out. She paused to listen at the kitchen stairwell to make sure no one was lurking there before ascending to the family quarters, where she went through the motions of turning down Lady Agriona's bedcovers and laying out her nightgown.

Who was right about Gil, she wondered - Davika, or Marsena? If she found him, in the quarry or elsewhere, would it be safe to hand over the letter from his wife? She didn't know exactly what it said, but surely it held the news that their marriage was over. She trusted Calenta wouldn't have asked her to deliver her letter if it was dangerous, and her friend had been married to the man. She was a good judge of character.

But that had been eight Turns ago. Before Gil had left Emerald Falls and pledged his loyalty to the likes of Holder Obriel.

And she still didn't know who had really burned down the Harper Hall.

Tasni shook her head. She'd come all this way to find the man; she couldn't let Calenta down now. Besides, if he had been flogged and thrown into the stone quarry, there was a fair chance he was no longer alive. If it was anything like what she'd heard about the prison mines, the work would be hard for a healthy man, and his fellow convicts wouldn't warm to a former guard. Perhaps even the one who'd put them there, as the headwoman had hinted.

Something nagged at her about their conversation, though. Something she couldn't quite put her finger on...

The glows flickered, and Tasni shivered. With everyone being still at the evening meal, the family quarters were silent, dimly lit and eerie. **I'd better change them, or Lady Agriona will complain about the light.** She smoothed down the bedcovers, then crossed the room and reached up towards the basket fixed to the wall by the door.

Then, an idea struck her. She glanced across the room to the door beside Agriona's bed. It led to her dressing-room, and beyond that to Holder Obriel's study. What better time than now, while all the Hold was at dinner or in the kitchens?

She unhooked the basket and crossed the room, soft-footed. In the dressing room, among racks and shelves stuffed with fine gowns, scarves and slippers, she gently tried the door. It wasn't locked. Holding her breath, she entered the darkened study.

Obriel had the same taste for luxury as his wife, she thought. The furnishings were finely carved dark wood, there were new rugs on the floor and the tapestries, showing the Hold from different vantage points, looked to be a master's work. Her glowlight glittered off the facets of glass bottles in a well-stocked cabinet. No paintings, she noticed. That would have required an artist, and perhaps he didn't welcome the attention of the Harper Hall.

She tiptoed over to the desk and moved the light over the papers scattered atop it. They looked to be related to the quarry - records of shipments of stone, marks received. A list of names, some crossed through. Workers? But no record of wages, which fit, if he wasn't paying them. When she tried the desk drawers, the only one which opened was the top one, revealing a litter of broken pens and stained blotters. The others were locked. Tasni bit her lip. Did she have time to come back with something to pick them - a hairpin from the lady's dresser, perhaps? Or would it be better to come back in daylight?

Standing, she glanced around the room again. From this angle, behind the desk, she could see something in a frame, on the wall next to the dressing-room door, where the Holder would be able to see it easily. Not a portrait, but... She approached, lifted up the glowbasket to get a better view.

It was a family tree. Holding the fading light close to the parchment, she frowned, searching for Obriel's name. There - but off to the side, in a cramped script. This wasn't his family, but that of Agriona, his wife. Next to her was her brother's name, and his wife and children. Tasni traced the line upwards with her finger, past Agriona's mother and grandfather, until she found a name she vaguely recognised. Then downwards again. Dariel, Ziadriel, Enrizial... This was the Blood of Emerald Falls.

No Corowal, she noticed.

That was when she heard the heavy footsteps, and a man's voice, raised, approaching from the main corridor.

Tasni instantly shut the glowbasket and ran back to the door she'd entered by, closing it softly behind her. Her heart thudded in her chest. Shards, she hoped Dallo hadn't guessed she'd be up here alone. Inside the dressing room it was completely dark, without even the faint moonlight which made its way through the cracks in the shuttered windows of the study. She reached out, brushing the fabric of a heavy velvet cloak with her fingers. Should she go back to the lady's chamber, or stay here, hidden among the gowns?

Suddenly, light spilled under a crack in the door behind her, and the voices grew louder. She heard the clink of glassware, a drink being poured. Tasni breathed a sigh of relief. Holder Obriel and his brother-in-law.

"...face is all over the Hold. How did Corowal get to know what he looks like?" Ingrizon's voice was as petulant as his habitual expression, with a slight nasal edge to it, and he sounded like he'd had a glass or too already at dinner. "Did someone talk?"

"If one of us talked, it would already be over." Obriel sounded exasperated. "It was probably that wretched woman. The mother. She knew him. I told you we should have left her alone."

"There was a dragon seen near her cot."

"So what? Maybe they were keeping an eye on her. Maybe she was bedding some rider to feed her kids. We don't know."

"She was colluding with the Weyr. She ruined everything."

"And if you had to have her dealt with," Obriel went on, his voice rising, "you shouldn't have ordered Gil to do it. Shaffit, Ingrizon, he was my man. I knew how to handle him. Faranth knows he had no reason to love Hold, Hall, or Weyr, but he had limits, and burning children in their beds went far beyond them."

Tasni's eyes went wide in the darkness. Who were they talking about? Shards, had these two had someone murdered? Or asked Gil to do it? Was that why he'd been punished - had he refused?

"Well, it doesn't matter now. They're never going to find him," Ingrizon said.

A long silence followed. Even hidden behind the door, Tasni felt the tension in it.

"Are they?" The younger man's voice lowered, almost to a growl. The whine had faded, and suddenly, he sounded far less childish. There was a dangerous edge to him.

Another silence.

"_Are_ they?"

"Of course not, brother." Obriel's tone had changed. He didn't sound so sure of himself any more, and there was a forced cheer, an ingratiating note in his voice. "He's quite safe."

"Safe? What do you mean, _safe_?" The word hissed through Ingrizon's teeth. "Is he still alive?"

"You know how hard it is to find strong workers. There aren't so many around here anymore." A nervous laugh. "It would have been a waste..."

A sudden smash, of glass against stone. Tasni jumped, but fortunately any sound she might have made was lost beneath the tirade of abuse that followed.

"He's in the quarry, isn't he? You greedy, grasping whershit! You'd do anything to squeeze a few extra marks out of that barren, Thread-blighted hole, and it'll get us all killed!"

"Keep your voice down! This is your fault. If you hadn't..."

"Fine. If it's my fault, I'll deal with it myself." There was a scraping sound, metal on leather. The hairs rose on the back of Tasni's neck. A blade?

"No!" Obriel sounded frantic. "Not tonight. There...there's too many men around, here for the fights. I'll see to it once you're all gone. Make it look like an accident."

Another long silence. Then another sound - the blade, if it was one, being shoved back into its sheath. "You'd better. We're too close for mistakes. The line is very narrow, between getting everything we want, and all of us ending up put out for Thread." Footsteps, moving away. "You think about that. Brother."

A door creaked, then slammed shut. Tasni held her breath. She could sense Obriel in the room beyond, hear his harsh breathing. If she closed her eyes, listened very closely, she could just about hear him muttering.

He was cursing. Repeatedly.

Then, faintly, she heard more footsteps, lighter ones, and Ingrizon's voice, indistinct, greeting someone. His sister? Quickly, Tasni backed away from the study door, fled through Lady Agriona's bedroom and across the hall to the drudges' staircase. By the time she got to the bottom, she could already hear Lady Agriona's bell ringing.

**Glows. I went for fresh glows.** They mustn't know she'd been anywhere near that conversation. Tasni leant against the wall outside the kitchen door, letting her heartbeat slow.

She had to get word back to the Harper Hall. This wasn't just a scheme to use convict labour without permission. These men were part of a conspiracy. Against who, she wasn't sure - they'd mentioned the Weyr, but what good would that do them? Or was it the Lord Holder? She remembered that family tree. If Ingrizon was of that bloodline, what might his ambitions be?

There was someone who might know.

Tasni recalled her plan to go to the quarry tomorrow, while the tournament was going on. It might not be enough any more to take a look, she realised. If Gil was there, she had to get him out.

Last updated on the June 25th 2023

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Conspirators