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“Void’s Edge?” I turned the words over on my tongue.
“He’s a mercenary. No, much worse than a mercenary, an assassin. A highly skilled and extremely lethal one at that. His reputation is built on his unique style–he moves as silently as a void. His blade is there and then gone, into nothingness. A shadow in the night. A ghost in the dark.”
“I’d almost think you were trying to frighten me with a children’s tale, Sir Ector,” I said lightly. But my heart was speeding.
“It is hearsay, yes, but I’m afraid it is no tall tale, Morgan. But frighten you? Yes, I am. I wish for you to take what I am telling you very seriously. Your life may depend on your doing so,” Sir Ector said, his jaw clenched.
“There must be many mercenaries, many men who have worked for hire, killing for others. What makes Draven the worst?”
Sir Ector was quiet for a moment. “A man may work as a mercenary, even an assassin, and still have honor. He may still follow a code. A line in the sand that he will not cross, even for coin.”
I swallowed. “And Draven has no such code?”
Sir Ector shook his head. “I will tell you one story. Only one. Do you know how the current king of Rheged attained the throne?”
Rheged again.
I shook my head.
“Nerov the Unyielding, he is called. He was not supposed to rule. The man we can thank for putting him in power is currently dancing there across the room.” Sir Ector nodded his head towards Draven, with an expression of disdain. “To achieve this, Draven had to complete an impossible task. Eliminate all who stood between Nerov and the throne.”
“I suppose there was a brother or an uncle or two?” I ventured.
“There were sixteen people in line to the throne before Nerov,” Sir Ector said quietly. “Men, women, and children. Most of them belonging to the last king’s family–his wife, his seven children, one a babe still in arms. The others were relatives, the king’s sister and her family and so on.”
“A baby?” I whispered. I felt my stomach turn.
“The family was protected by a large army of loyal retainers. The last king had been a good ruler. Hard but fair. He was beloved by his people. Draven had to find a way to bypass what was in essence an army. He did this in a single night, forcing his way into the castle by some means still not known. He eliminated all of the soldiers who stood in his way, and then one by one, executed the royal family as they lay asleep in their beds. I will spare you the details. They are not for the faint of heart.”
I could not help it. My eyes leapt of their own accord to where Draven was still dancing with the beautiful woman from Lyonesse. Could we really be speaking of the same man? Draven was a pain in the ass, yes. Bold, cocky, arrogant. But I had seen a glimpse of good in him, too. Why would a man who killed helpless innocents have given a coin toss for the marks Florian had dealt me?
Perhaps it was just part of his elaborate cover.
I felt a cold chill come over me. “Perhaps he was sent here to kill Arthur. Or to kill Kaye. Why would he come here for any other reason?”
“That was our first thought, too. Dame Halyna and I went straight to the king to warn him.”
“And?” I asked eagerly.
Sir Ector met my eyes. “Our visit was pointless.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that the king knew exactly who Draven was, from the moment he arrived in Camelot. Dame Halyna and I might have been duped. Your brother was not. He had arranged Draven’s arrival.”
I thought of the convincing recommendation letters and papers that Sir Ector said Draven had provided. This explained where they had come from.
“Why would Arthur do such a thing? Trick his own knights into training such a man?” Especially when Draven likely needed no further training. What a joke it must have been to him to spar with me the other day.
“Why would he send such a man along with his own sister, supposedly to safeguard her?” Sir Ector asked quietly. “I think that’s the more important question.”
I stared back at him. “I don’t know.”
Sir Ector’s face turned weary. “Under other circumstances, I would suggest that you ask your brother. But you and I are both familiar with the sort of king we have. I am not sure what sort of an answer you would receive.”
“Neither am I.” I was quiet, thinking.
There was an easy answer to all of this. Arthur wished to kill me and he wanted Draven to do the job.
