Chapter 11
“Do you wish to suspend breakfast, my lord?” Carissian hurried after the prince. The prince glared back at him. Carissian nodded, then motioned for a servant in the hall. “Tell the chief steward, breakfast will not be had this morning.”
“Let it be known that the escape of the Karthlander woman is the reason.” The prince ran down the flight of stairs to the basement.
They approached the sewer grate for the upper sewer levels, and the guard hurried to open the lock.
Then the guard climbed down the ladder to the walkway alongside the sewer flow.
The prince wrinkled his nose as he climbed down after him.
They spied guards searching the corridor ahead of them. One of the men ran toward the prince.
“We’ve found no sign of them, save a couple of skewered rats. They’ve been down this way, but for over an hour, we’ve found no other indication as to which of the tunnels they continued into, sire.”
The prince shook his head as he joined more of his men.
They walked for nearly two hours as water dripped perpetually, casting a shiny gloss on the moss-covered walls.
Rats squealed out in the tunnels when soldiers ran across the critters along their path, and the smell of sewage and decaying matter permeated the air.
When they arrived at an outlet in the vast countryside, the prince took a deep breath of fresh air.
He studied the landscape as one of the guards said, “We’ve investigated the path leading from here.
Though it is well-worn, there’s no indication feet have passed this way recently.
” He pointed at the blades of grass poking out of the black soil.
“Not a blade has been tromped on.” He walked onto the grass, then stepped back.
“The grass doesn’t spring back, you see.
If a man walked on it, we would see the imprint. ”
“All right, not here then, but through one of the exits.” The prince reentered the sewers.
“Yes, sire, there are well over seventy. They will all be investigated as soon as possible.”
The pattering of footsteps on the stone-cut path made everyone turn. A servant, offended by the smell of the sewers, held his nose as he tiptoed on the path. “Sire, they’ve found the Karthlander female.”
“What?”
“She has been sleeping in the clockmaker’s bed.”
“What?” The prince grabbed the man’s arm and headed for the nearest exit from the sewers.
“Should we call off the search, sire?” a palace guard asked.
“No! The thieves must be apprehended!” The prince turned to the servant. “Tell me what happened.”
“The clockmaker never arrived at work this morning. He’s been known to sleep late on occasion…so there was no concern for quite a while. But when the time grew close to the lunch hour, one of his helpers grew worried that something was wrong.”
The prince exited the sewers into the basement, and Carissian said, “Perhaps His Highness would prefer a bath before we investigate the matter further.”
“She’s back in the tower, sire,” the servant said.
“How did she end up in the clockmaker’s bed?” The prince quickened his step as he headed for the clockmaker’s apartments.
“He said several shadows entered his room, tied him, then gagged him. All the while, the biggest of the group cradled a golden-haired woman in his arms. He laid her in the bed next to him, while she slept the sleep of the dead. She didn’t even wake up until the clockmaker’s helper entered the room.
Then she seemed confused and frightened.
Of course, the helper was just as terrified as he feared whosoever had bound his employer might still have been in the chambers.
Why else would the young lady have still been there?
“The helper hurried to untie the clockmaker, then once the man was freed, he told his helper to call the guards while he watched over the woman. Her feet were bound in cloth, and she wasn’t able to walk on her own.
The tower guard soon came for her and carried her back to the tenth floor.
Why would a woman like that be taken to the tower, we all wondered? ”
The prince reached the clockmaker’s apartments, and the royal guard opened the door for him.
“Sire.” The clockmaker ran to join the prince.
“The tower guard took the woman to the prison, but she shouldn’t have been taken there.
The lady didn’t do anything but sleep in my bed, for heaven’s sakes.
One of the men took a jeweled clock. They were thieves to be sure.
But the lady was drugged, of that I’m certain.
She couldn’t have done anyone any harm.”
The prince grunted, then left the room. He headed for the stairs as Carissian motioned for the guard to leave them. “Sire, what do you propose to do?”
The prince forged up the stairs like a salmon headed upstream and didn’t say a word.
“Sire—”
The prince walked more slowly now in the direction of the tower. “If she cannot walk, as several have said—”
“You do not think we should remove the woman from the tower, Your Highness?”
“She will stay in the guest chambers .”
“But—”
The prince glowered at him.
Carissian sighed deeply. “Yes, sire.”
The tower guard jumped from his seat when the prince walked toward him. “She’s back in the tower, sire.” The man bowed low.
“Notify a palace guard to remove her to the guest chambers at once.”
“Yes, sire, right away, but there’s no one here to guard the prisoner in the meantime.”
“Do you think perhaps Carissian and I might thwart her in the event she has an urge to flee?”
“Of course, sire.” The man bowed and hurried away.
The prince walked into the room and frowned at Tashama as she lay on the bed of straw. Her eyes met his. She glared at him, then looked away. He turned to Carissian. “What thoughts has she?”
“She’s angry with you, sire.”
“And I with her.” Aleron folded his arms. “Why do you treat my kindness with an attempt to escape from the palace grounds?”
She twisted a piece of golden straw in her fingers, then snapped it in two. “She says, Your Highness, she won’t be a caged animal. She says you drugged her and tried to take advantage of her in her delicate state.”
“I did not!”
“You deny you drugged me?” She turned to him as her green eyes heated.
“I did not take advantage of you, nor did I make any such attempt, young lady.”
Tashama stared at the gray eyes of the sorcerer. “All right then. Your sorcerer confirms you speak the truth.”
The prince looked at Carissian. “She can read your thoughts?”
“I’m not certain, sire. She blocks my trying to read hers, but…well, I’m not sure.”
“You cannot swim,” Aleron said to Tashama.
“If you say so.”
“She’s swimming in waves of the ocean, sire. I see her diving under the frothing, foaming breakers.”
“She’s tricking you into seeing this. How can she perform such a feat?” He circled Tashama as he studied her. “What does she wear while she swims in the ocean? That strange tunic she wore with the unusual leggings? What?”
“Something similar to what she had on underneath the leggings and tunic, only instead of white and lacy, they were shimmering blue, trimmed in sparkling gold.”
Aleron studied Tashama’s gowns as he tried to visualize her wearing such a garment, then he frowned at her. “Why would you wear such a meager garment as that? Were you trying to catch the attention of the mermen of the sea?”
Tashama smiled. “A prince on the beach would have been more like it.”
Aleron exchanged glances with Carissian. The prince said, “You thought you could ensnare me?”
“Ugh.” Tashama closed her eyes, then opened them. “Heavens forbid. I had no intention of enticing one as mean as you.”
“You were being punished for your disobedience!”
Tashama wrinkled her nose as the breeze carried the scent of the prince’s clothes to her. As two palace guards arrived at the tower, the one said, “You wished the prisoner relocated, Your Highness?”
“To her guest chambers and have the healer look at her injuries again. And post a guard.” Then he stormed out of the room.
Tashama was transported to her chambers, as Carissian followed close behind. “What is it that you see, Carissian?” she asked.
“How can you swim?”
“I taught myself.”
“Mortals cannot swim.”
She smiled. “So you say.”
“Did you free the men?”
“Of course.”
“You answer my questions freely now.”
“Now you don’t try to steal the answers from me. Ask me what you will.”
“The prince will want to hear your answers to my questions.”
“Will your abilities not be lessened in the prince’s eyes if he realizes I will answer your questions without your sorcerer ways?”
“Are you a sorceress?”
“What do you think?”
“I’m not certain.”
“It must be difficult for you to have to deal with one like me.”
Carissian smiled. “You amuse me.”
“You don’t fear me? The prince seems to.”
“You move men, like the Gods move mountains. Who would not fear a woman who can do such a thing?” He stared at her hair as it swept around her hips, then shook his head.
“Any other woman would have been at risk in the presence of the male prisoners—both in the compound and in the tower, but not you. In neither situation have the men shown anything but compassion in your disposition. How can this be? You confound me, woman.”
“I have not eaten. I’m dizzy.”
Carissian stopped the guards. He thought for a moment, then a slight smile appeared. “Take the lady to the prince’s chambers.”
She sighed deeply. “He won’t like that you do this.”
“He will hear your answers to my questions while you dine in his chambers.”
“Does he always dine there?”
“When he entertains.”
“The ladies?”
“Only one at a time.”
“He will not like this.”
When they arrived at the prince’s chambers, the men hesitated to enter the room. Carissian insisted and motioned for them to lay Tashama on the pillows. He excused the guards as the prince walked into his bedchambers wearing a gold towel around his waist.
Aleron only saw his sorcerer at first in his outer chamber and said, “I can see by the smile on your face that the woman has revealed something about herself to you.”
“She wishes to answer our questions.” Carissian waved at Tashama, who studied the prince’s muscular figure as a fine smattering of water still dotted it. She smiled at the sparse growth of dark hair covering his chest, running down his stomach in a narrow trail.
The prince’s mouth dropped open, then he stormed back into his bedchambers. “What were you thinking by bringing her here, Carissian?” The prince shouted at his servant, “No! The blue one!”
“She needs to eat, Your Highness.”
“So feed her!”
“She wishes to answer our questions. I thought you might like to hear what she has to say.”
The prince walked back into the room as he buckled his belt over his pale blue tunic trimmed in gold. Tashama touched one of the satin pillows with her fingertips as he turned to his servant. “Have the steward fetch us a meal.”
He paced across the floor for a moment. “All right, ask her something.”
“Do you not wish to have a question of yours answered first, my liege?” The prince considered Tashama’s golden curls draped over her shoulders. Carissian shook his head. “I mean about who she is.”
Aleron glared at his sorcerer. “Stop reading my mind. Read hers!”
“She won’t allow me to, but she promised to answer our questions.
” The prince stared at Tashama. Carissian laughed.
“All right, since your mind doesn’t seem to wish to focus on the questions that I believe need answering, I’ll ask a question or two of the lady myself.
” Carissian folded his arms across his chest, then tilted his chin up slightly. “Where do you come from?”
“Oh.” She pushed her curls behind her shoulders. “I’m really famished, and I’m having difficulty concentrating.” She frowned at the prince. “It has something to do with a certain kind of drink I’ve been plied with.”
“See, she will not answer our questions! She dallies with us.”
The servants hurried into the room with trays of cheese and apples.
Tashama smiled. “Are you not going to join me?” She picked up a slice of cheese and wrapped her full pink lips over the snowy-white morsel.
Aleron studied her. “It’s excellent. To answer the sorcerer’s question, I don’t remember the name of the village. ”
Aleron glowered at her. “She’s not answering your question!”
“She doesn’t seem to remember the place of her birth, sire.”
Carissian offered her a goblet of wine.
“It’s not drugged, is it?” she asked.
“There is no need.”
She took a sip and nodded. “This is what the prince drank before.” She ran her finger over the top of the cup, then slipped her finger into her mouth as she sucked the wine from her skin.
Her brows rose when Aleron followed her movements with intrigue.
Picking up a slice of blue apple, she ran her tongue over the length of the fruit.
“I hadn’t remembered it tasting like peppermint.
” She took a bite and savored the crispy, sweet fruit, then lay down on the pillows.
“Are you afraid of me?” she asked the prince.
“Who are you?”