The witch nodded her thanks. ‘Your Grace, we know now that the person who killed your father – and framed you for that murder – was your cousin Kelewulf. It is vital that I know where he is. The fate of this kingdom, possibly the world, might depend on it. Do you have any idea where he might be?’

Erik shook his head. ‘I wish I did.’

‘Is there no childhood place that was special to you both?’ She watched him closely as he frowned in thought. ‘It might have been little more than a cave, a forest clearing or a building in some remote spot. Somewhere that you went as children, long since forgotten. Does nowhere like that come to mind?’

‘I’m sorry, Fleya,’ the king said. ‘It is strange – I feel like I do know such a place, but when I try and recall it –’ he shook his head in frustration – ‘my mind is a complete blank.’

My mind is a complete blank … Fleya reached out and placed her hand firmly on the king’s arm.

‘King Erik,’ she said, fixing his eyes with her own. ‘Is … is your mind “blank” in the same way it was when you tried to remember being in the market and acquiring the poisons that killed your father?’

The significance of her words seemed to strike the king like a physical blow. ‘You mean that this memory could have been deliberately removed too?’

‘I believe so, yes.’

‘Then there is no hope of discovering this place you seek.’

‘Not necessarily.’ She moved nearer to him, her voice little more than a whisper. ‘Memories of a life are not so easily stolen. They can be buried, yes, but not erased. With your permission I might be capable of restoring that which was hidden from you.’ She paused, looking her king in the eye in a way that left him in little doubt he would rather not hear the words she would speak next. ‘But it would bring back all the memories you were robbed of.’

There was silence as the weight of this sank in.

Fleya studied the young king’s face. Despite being a puppet of another creature during the deed, Erik had killed his father – a man he loved more than any other living being. She knew he was glad to have no memory of the vile act. Even so, Fleya could also see how he desired justice, and in the end this emotion was the stronger of the two.

‘How?’ He looked down at his hands as he wrung them.

‘Your memories have been obscured using strong majik. They can be unlocked in the same way too.’

Erik swallowed. ‘If it will find my detestable cousin and the lich responsible for the wrongs done to my family, I will do it.’

The witch nodded. ‘Tomorrow. I will need time to prepare myself.’

‘Tomorrow it is.’

23