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Andala planted her feet, staring at him. But before she could ask what he thought he was doing, someone seized her arms from behind, and Kitt’s hand slipped out of hers as someone grabbed him, too.
Terault’s people had filtered through the crowd. They were rounding everybody up.
‘Getoffme,’ Andala growled, thrashing against her captor, a tall, thin man with a vicelike grip. Kitt was struggling too, but the man who held him was much bigger. Panic was threatening to daze Andala now. She had come here to give herself over willingly, and to the king, not Terault. This could not be happening.
‘Don’t do this!’ bellowed King Tomas.
The fear in his voice sent Andala’s own to a fever pitch. She gave an almighty wrench against the tall man’s grip, and managed to catch a glimpse of the king. He was being restrained by two of his own guards now, and Terault’s blade was still pointed directly at him. King Tomas’s head was turned towards the front of the room, and as Andala followed his line of sight, her limbs went numb with terror.
Three people in blue robes were ascending the stairs to the dais, where Oriane sat in her cage. All Andala and Kitt could do was watch as they approached the gleaming prison. One stood on each side, and one reached down to open the cage door.
‘No,’ Andala shouted, thrashing harder than ever against her captor. The man on the dais had thrust an arm into the cage. In a burst of fury and fear, Andala managed to free herself. She stumbled forward, trying to push through the mess of warring bodies, trying to get to Oriane—
But she soon slowed, staring in disbelief, along with everybody else in the suddenly frozen room. For the guard had withdrawn his hand from the cage, a puzzled look on his face as he stared down at what lay, still and wooden, within it.250
‘My lord,’ he called across the hall. His words were oddly loud in the silence. He looked up at Terault, the confusion on his face now mixed with alarm.
Terault had lowered the knife he’d been holding to the king’s throat. ‘What is it, boy?’ he called impatiently, taking a step forward.
‘It’s not her,’ the man called back, and he sounded downright fearful now. ‘This bird – it’s not real. It’s some sort of decoy.’
He paused, seeming to grasp the seriousness of his own words.
‘The skylark is gone.’
251
Chapter 34
‘Gone?’
Terault was standing very still, staring at the decoy bird in his follower’s hand. Behind him, still held back by two of his guards, King Tomas looked thunderstruck.
‘Bring it to me,’ Terault said. ‘Now.’
The unlucky blue-robed man descended the dais stairs. He looked more nervous than ever. The crowd hastily cleared a path for him, Terault’s followers hauling their captives out of the way. When the man reached Terault, he raised his hand, and even from where she was, Andala could see it was shaking. Delicately, Terault picked up the false skylark and held it in front of his face.
Andala squinted. She could not make it out in great detail, but from this distance it certainly looked convincing – so much so that part of her tensed to see it in Terault’s cruel hands.
An age seemed to pass as the seneschal examined the decoy. No one dared breathe. Finally, with a careless movement, Terault dropped the little bird to the ground. Then, with alarming viciousness, he raised a boot and crushed it beneath his heel. The resulting noise – a sharp crack, and the grinding of metal on stone – made half the room’s occupants jump.252
Andala fought the urge to glance at Kitt, to confirm he had done this. Of course he had. She could not give him away.
‘How,’ said Terault, his voice low, smooth, dangerous, ‘has this been allowed to happen?’
No one responded.
‘How,’ he said again, ‘can the most well-guarded creature in the kingdom have disappearedbeneath all of your noses?’
‘We’ve been here the whole time, sir,’ piped up one of King Tomas’s turncoat guards, an older man somewhere behind Terault. ‘We’ve been—’
He cut off with a grunt. A guard next to him appeared to have elbowed him in the ribs. But it was too late; Terault had heard.
The seneschal turned, a terrible slowness to his movements. ‘Who said that?’
Once more, nobody answered. But Terault already knew.
He pushed past King Tomas and moved towards the guard who had spoken, stopping before him. The man was slightly taller than Terault, but he looked small next to the towering heights of his leader’s fury.
