Chapter 30
Aleron was quickly disarmed as he unsheathed his sword.
“Release me at once you, you, foot soldier,” Tashama growled as she attempted to twist loose from his grip. “Is General Karam here?” A mumble of voices ensued, then Tashama jerked her arm free. “I have business with General Karam!” Her voice grew with her agitation.
Horses’ hooves clomped in the dark as a cavalry officer approached on horseback. “Where is General Karam?” Tashama called out to him.
The man jumped down from his horse, then walked close to her. He ran his hand through her hair. She glowered at him while Aleron’s face darkened.
“You appear to be a Karthlander, and yet you ride with these Maldovians.”
“They are not soldiers but a wedding party. Let them pass.”
Narrowing his eyes, the officer said, “You speak with an untamed tongue that has a strange quality. Yet, you appear to be one of our women.” He studied the sheath dangling at Aleron’s waist. “And this one who rides with you is most assuredly a soldier.”
“Do you serve General Karam?” Tashama asked in more of an appeasing tone of voice this time, then her eyes caught sight of the red sash he wore. She knew then he wore the same-colored sash of Karam’s cavalry.
The officer grabbed her chin and twisted her head from side to side while she gripped his wrist as she attempted to remove his hand from her face. “Why would a Karthlander woman be interested in General Karam?”
Horses clip-clopping on the meadow floor filled the area. One of the mounted cavalry officers shouted, “What is it?”
“A Karthlander woman who presumes to speak for a caravan of Maldovians.”
“Bring her here.”
The officer yanked Tashama toward one of the horses.
She glared up at the rider. “I want to see…”
“Silence, Woman!”
Tashama fumed. She could see ruling Karthland would not be an easy task after all, even if she could oust Loran from his throne.
He studied her for some time as she remained silent. “What is she doing with the Maldovians?”
“They are a wedding…,” Tashama said.
The cavalry officer interrupted, “If she speaks again, have her gagged.”
“They appear to be a wedding party, Colonel Sorel,” one of the officers said.
The colonel’s eyes never left Tashama’s. “But not this one.”
“And the man she shared the carriage with carried a jewel-encrusted sword.” The foot soldier held up the sword for the cavalry officer to see.
“He’s a cavalry officer of some importance,” the officer said.
“The sword was a gift for…,” Tashama said, but the colonel waved his hand at a junior officer, who pulled a cloth from his belt and quickly tied it to Tashama’s mouth.
As she tried to free the cloth from her mouth, two of the soldiers grabbed her arms to keep her still. The colonel said, “Release the carriages. Wait. What else is in the third?”
One of the soldiers grabbed the carriage door and jerked it open, causing Listra to scream out. “She appears to be just another female Maldovian with the wedding party, Colonel.”
Listra was pulled out of the carriage to join Aleron, and the colonel considered the three of them, then shook his head. “We’ll take them all with us. Release the others. Return these to their carriage and hold them.”
As the soldiers hustled Aleron and Listra back to the carriage, the colonel turned to Tashama. “Is she linked?”
The junior officer grabbed her hand and examined her fingers. “No, my lord.”
“With a tongue like hers, I can certainly see why not. Return her to the carriage with the others.”
After Tashama was pushed into the carriage, she tried to remove the gag. Aleron reached over and untied the cloth for her. “I’m sorry, Your Highness.” She threw the cloth out the window. Some of the men who rode near the carriage chuckled.
“She’ll be giving the Maldovians grief now!” one of the officers shouted for all to hear.
“What were you thinking back there, Tashama?” Aleron’s mouth twisted in annoyance.
“I’ve seen this come to pass. We could do nothing further.
No matter what I said or could have done, we would have all three been taken.
The red sash around the officers’ waist is the same as the one General Karam wears.
These are some of his officers. I wasn’t sure when I first saw the foot soldiers. ”
Listra’s eyes shimmered with tears. Tashama moved over to sit beside her and wrapped her arm around her shoulder. “Dear Listra, do not fret. No one will harm you.”
“But King Aleron…”
Tashama smiled. “They will not harm him either.”
“You must mind your tongue, Tashama, around these men.” Aleron locked his arms together. “Soldiers, most of all, cannot abide a woman’s unheedful tongue.”
“They will have to get used to it.” Tashama squeezed Listra with a gentle embrace. “Women can do so much for your people if you would only give them half a chance. When half of your society is kept down…”
“A third of our society is female.”
“Well, there’s no wonder. Being female isn’t worth…”
“We treat our women with great respect.”
Tashama frowned. “You would think with so few females, you would share equal status with them.”
Aleron shook his head. “You have more latitude as you are a princess who’s entitled to rule a country, but our women are satisfied to have us take care of them.”
“And they take care of you too.”
Listra considered her words, but was not sure how to take them.
“Well, I may need to go more slowly about the task, but there will be great changes I do foresee.”
Tashama leaned over to the window and pulled the flap aside. Several of the officers looked in her direction, and she said, “Tell General Karam, Princess Tashama wishes to speak with him at his earliest convenience.” She sat back in her seat as Aleron considered her.
He shook his head again. “You are a gem in our country, Tashama. No doubt about it.”
The party rode for another twenty minutes, then the carriage was halted. Boots clomped on the ground as they approached the coach while the occupants all watched the door. Then, as it was thrown aside, the soldier said to Tashama, “Come with me.”
She stood partway in the cramped conditions, and Aleron said, “I must go with her.”
“You, stay. The Karthlander woman is the only one the colonel has asked for.”
“Not General Karam?” Tashama hesitated to leave the carriage.
The soldier grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the carriage. As Aleron tried to follow, a man poked a spear at his chest. “Return to the carriage and remain there.” Another shoved the door closed while Tashama was led away in the dark.
She was soon brought to a campfire where cavalry officers gathered as they drank their evening mugs of ale. Her eyes searched for signs of the colonel, then, seeing him watching her from across the campfire as the flames cast twisting fingers of light across his stern face, she crossed her arms.
Handing his pewter mug to a junior officer, the colonel stood taller. “Her Royal Highness vanished without a trace.”
“With Balthazar.” Tashama nodded. The men grew quiet, and she could hear their doubts scattered in their thoughts.
“She would be twenty-three now.”
“Yes,” Tashama said.
“And eligible to marry and rule her people.”
Tashama took a deep breath, then nodded.
He shook his head. “She is lost to us. Loran rules in her place and Valmor beside him.”
“I am she and vow to eradicate this plague on our people, whom we know as Loran. There has been too much killing. The war will end.”
Stifled laughs followed, but Tashama’s eyes kept unbroken contact with the colonel’s. “The general is not here,” he said in response to her unspoken query.
Again, without speaking a word, Tashama asked the colonel, “Where is he?”
“He is leading our men in a charge against Oshon’s cavalry as we speak on the Plain of Doredon.”
One of the senior officers broke in, “Sir, should we let this woman know our plans?”
Tashama concentrated on the colonel further. “Send word to him at once that I want to speak with him,” her mind relayed to his.
The colonel turned to a lieutenant. “Send our swiftest messenger to General Karam. Give him word that Princess Tashama wishes an audience with him.”
“But, sir,” the senior officer said, “do we know this woman is truly Princess Tashama? There is no proof, and she’s been found with Maldovians. Could she be a spy?”
The colonel looked back at Tashama when she commanded him to do so, and he said, “Release the Maldovians.”
The senior officer grabbed the colonel’s arm to everyone’s surprise and led him from the campfire. He spoke to the senior officer in muffled tones, then the colonel looked back at Tashama and stared at her. She smiled, then turned to consider the other men who waited to see who would speak next.
Her focus shifted to a lieutenant, and he nodded to her. However, as he started to walk away from the fire, the colonel motioned for another officer to detain him. “Who are you?” the colonel asked Tashama as the wrinkle in his blond brow deepened.
“I will speak to General Karam. I have returned to this place to lead my people to victory. Only victory will be achieved by removing Loran from the throne and bringing peace to the region, not by destroying the Maldovians. Certainly, as you are from the 4th royal house, you should know this to be true.”
“Tashama is no longer with us,” the colonel said. “Return this woman to her carriage.”
“And if I am Tashama and you have failed to notify the general of my presence here as you hold me hostage, do you not think he will have you demoted on the spot? The general and I were at the Maldovian compound as prisoners together even.”
“Preposterous!” the colonel blurted out. “A Karthlander woman wouldn’t have been taken there. He made no mention of you to me.”
Sighing deeply, Tashama said, “So many say how things are a certain way here, and yet they know little of what they speak of.” She turned to the lieutenant. “Tell the colonel you will lead the men as your father has done, but sooner than later, if I do not see the general.”
The colonel glowered at Tashama. “You presume to…”