Chapter 30 #2
His speech was interrupted as a soldier ran into the camp. “My lord, one of our lieutenants rode out of here as if he were being chased by the dragon of Ramoria itself!”
“In which direction?”
“Toward the plain where General Karam clashes with Oshon’s forces.”
“Have him stopped at all costs!” the colonel said, then turned to face Tashama.
The flames' gentle light flickered off his green eyes like the emeralds that sparkled in the caverns of the mountains of Maldovia as she studied him. “They’ll never catch the young man,” she said softly.
“She’s a sorceress, I tell you,” the senior officer said to the colonel.
“There is only one per royal house,” the colonel responded. “None of them have a female sorcerer.”
“By morning’s light,” Tashama said, “General Karam will see me.” Then she turned to return to the carriage, but one of the officers stopped her.
“The colonel hasn’t released you,” the major said.
“I am Tashama,” she said, and the way in which she said it showed she delighted in saying so, “and the colonel has no say over me.”
As the officers’ voices stirred, Tashama turned her head away from the crackling fire.
“Return her to the carriage,” the colonel said with a wave of his hand.
The lieutenant led Tashama away, and she studied him while his eyes avoided hers. “You need not be afraid of me, young man. I only want what’s best for our people.”
Two captains followed close behind, and she turned her head to observe them. She smiled. “None of you are from the 4th royal house. The colonel, though he doesn’t believe in me, uses caution anyway just in case.”
The captains exchanged glances. Tashama laughed.
“You are from the 6th house.” She pointed to the one.
“And you, the 5th. The young lieutenant, here, is from the 7th house.” She patted the lieutenant’s firm grip on her arm.
“This young man will be marrying Deloria, of the 2nd house, niece of Loran himself, soon, but I will not hold that against you. Do not tell her I told you this, or she will think the idea mine, instead of yours.” At this comment, the lieutenant looked at Tashama, and she smiled back at him. “I have the gift.”
Tashama and the lieutenant looked back at the two captains. One motioned for him to continue on his way, while the other hurried back to the campfire.
As Tashama entered the carriage, Aleron reached for her arm and pulled her close. “We must join General Karam and Oshon on the battlefield on the plain,” she said.
He glanced over at Listra, and Tashama shook her head. “Listra must stay here and act as a diversionary force.”
“Oh, Princess Tashama, I could do no such thing.”
“You’ve aided me before.”
“But with my own people. I could not face these Karthlander soldiers on my own.”
“They will not harm you, Listra. I promise. You must slip away through the camp and run to the colonel’s tent. He is of the 4th house and will have a blue flag waving in front of it. You must make a scene, then faint. Soldiers cannot stand to see a woman faint.”
Aleron frowned at her.
“No, I have never done such a thing,” she said, smiling, “but just the same, I’ve read how effective the maneuver can be.” She turned to Listra. “You must do this, as Aleron and I must stop the warring of our people. I need all the soldiers I can get to help me rid Karthland of Loran’s influence.”
“All right,” Listra said, but her tone of voice indicated her heart wasn’t in the task she was given.
Tashama hugged her. “Go now, and quietly as you must make it to the colonel’s tent.”
Aleron shook his head. “I’m not certain.”
“I’ve seen this is what must be done, Your Highness. Please help me in this, as I cannot do it without both your help.”
Aleron opened a flap to the window and saw several officers conversing nearby.
Tashama peeked out the other side of the carriage and found the soldiers so far away from the vehicle that she motioned in that direction.
Listra walked out first, then, as she moved behind the horses that pulled the carriage, one of them whinnied, and Tashama motioned her to continue.
When Listra was out of sight, Tashama grabbed Aleron’s hand and dashed toward a stand of horses as they were tethered in a long line nearby. He reached to untie a horse, and she pulled at the reins of a painted pony.
He helped her onto her horse, then mounted his own and walked into the dark, aware that the soldiers were bedding down for the night in their tents scattered all over the meadow, their conversation still cluttering the air.
Barely breathing, Tashama worried her heartbeat could be heard over the muttered conversations.
She followed Aleron’s lead because she hadn’t a clue where the battle might be taking place, and they stopped their horses when a man said, “Who goes there?” He only spoke to a fellow soldier, and the other laughed.
“Drank a little too much ale tonight.”
Their conversation drifted off as Tashama and Aleron continued on their way.
By the time the sky lightened slightly, Aleron motioned to the plain. Tashama nodded, then rode to where Oshon’s men prepared for the day’s battle while General Karam’s men did the same.
The order was given to release a hail of arrows. Tashama perceived Carissian was nearby. Fearing he would see what she had planned and would have Aleron stop her, she dashed into the center of the meadow. Her hair and the horse’s blond mane and tail flailed in the breeze, kicked up with his gallop.
She turned at the end of the battle line and rode like the zephyr back across the plain between the two forces. Stunned, several of the men lowered their bows, though their respective generals stormed through the ranks, urging them on without regard to the woman in their midst.
Tashama neared the halfway point across the battlefield.
An enthusiastic Maldovian archer struck her in the shoulder with a well-placed arrow aimed at a Karthlander, and the Karthlander, in response, aimed for the Maldovian.
But Tashama, determined to stop the war at all costs, kneed her horse forward to stop the arrow meant for the Maldovian.
The arrow hit her thigh, and she lurched forward, then pulled her horse to a stop in the middle of the field.
She sat with her head held high as the blood trickled from her wounds while Maldovians and Karthlanders waited in silence.
Then Aleron jerked his horse’s reins from the officer who tried to keep him from aiding the lady.
As he rode through his own ranks, Oshon hurried to speak with him.
Tashama watched them, then turned as General Karam was unmoved. As word was passed to the Karthlander’s healer, he hurried to reach her with his bag of medicines in hand, while Aleron’s healer did the same.
Both pleaded with her to dismount, but she declined. As one of General Karam’s officers rode forth, then dismounted by Tashama’s side, she shook her head.
“I won’t leave this place until General Karam comes forth and agrees to end hostilities.” Oshon and Aleron advanced toward them. “The Maldovians have already agreed to such a thing.”
Aleron pulled in beside her and touched her wounded arm. “Tashama, let my healer see to your wounds.”
“Not until General Karam agrees to cease this conflict.”
Voices rose in discussion on both sides as the air heated with men’s anger, and Tashama gripped onto her reins tightly as she felt her mind drifting. Carissian appeared beside Aleron. “Our healer must see to her wounds at once. The pain she’s feeling…”
Tashama shook her head. “General Karam must come forward. We must be patient. He’s just very stubborn.”
“And you are not?” Aleron said. “You’ve lost a lot of blood, Tashama. Your cheeks have lost their color.”
“We must wait.”
The Karthlander healer reached up to break off the arrow in Tashama’s leg as he feared waiting any further. As the arrow snapped off in his hands, the pain shot up through her leg. Tashama saw the sky grow white, then turn black.
The next morning, Tashama opened her eyes to find the Maldovian and Karthlander healers checking on other wounded soldiers.
She rubbed her forehead for a moment, then sat up on the cot.
As the bed creaked, Throckmorton, the Karthlander healer, looked her over.
“My lady, you must lie down and rest.” He hurried to attend to her as a Maldovian page ran from the tent hospital.
“What has happened?” She lay down.
He smiled. “Well, none of us would ever have thought it possible, but General Karam vowed for peace as soon as you fainted.”
“Took him long enough.” Tashama considered the bandages on her arm.
Aleron hurried into the tent with Carissian following two steps behind. “Well, it seems your plan worked after all.”
“Can we work together to remove Loran from the throne?”
“Most assuredly. We’ve had discussions all morning, and we’re all in agreement. In the meantime, we’ve also concurred that you will return to Banff, where you’ll be safe during the duration of the conflict.”
Tashama shook her head. “I will not be safe there as someone is still trying to murder me.”
Aleron rubbed his chin as he’d failed to consider this. “Your proposal?”
“If our combined forces attack Loran’s, we have a good chance of succeeding, but I must get into the palace. Valmor is the real threat to me, and I must exile him from here for good. If Valmor is gone, Loran will certainly fail.”
“But Valmor is a powerful sorcerer. You’ve said so yourself, and you still don’t even know what he’s capable of.”
“I know. I wish more than anything in the world that Balthazar was here with me now. He would know what to do.”
“Oshon will lead my forces then. I will go with you.”
“Sire,” Carissian said, “do you not think…”
“I go where the lady goes, Carissian.”
Carissian scratched his head. “She’s confused and still suffers from her wounds.”
“When can I ride, healer?” Tashama asked.
Both healers answered, “By tomorrow.”
“Good, before sunset then, we will enter the palace grounds.”
Shaking his head, Carissian said, “But, sire, as your advisor, I have to say the risk to both yourself and the princess is too great.”
Aleron touched Tashama’s cheek with his fingers. “You should never have darted in front of the troops as you did, Tashama.”
“I hadn’t intended to be shot, but I knew Carissian would soon realize what I had intended to do and would have had me confined. I had to take the chance.”
“Had I been able to have stopped you,” Carissian said, “I would have done so, but certainly by the time I could see your thoughts, it was too late.”
“Had I been able to, I would have rushed after you to stop this foolish notion, but Carissian stopped me with one of his mind-control techniques.” Aleron squeezed Tashama’s good hand.
“I’m glad he did. No sense in both of us getting stuck with arrows after all, when one could do the trick.”
“You, young lady,” Aleron said, “will have to settle down as I cannot have a queen of mine doing such a foolhardy thing in the future.”
Tashama smiled as Carissian’s eyes widened. “Surely, Carissian, you had some inkling such a thing would occur.”
“I thought you had some ability to project thoughts that were nothing more than a ruse.”
“Not I, or at least I don’t think I can,” Tashama said.
“Of course, only yesterday, I realized I had some mind-control ability over the members of the 4th royal house. It must be in the genes. And certainly, I didn’t realize that I could understand the sprites as there was no such thing in Texas.
But still, I thought everyone could understand their words.
So maybe I have further powers that I haven’t even discovered. ”
“But she cannot read our written word,” Aleron said.
Tashama smiled. “Yet.” She sat up in bed suddenly. “Listra!”
“She’s here. The colonel and his forces brought her here an hour ago. Of course, the word has spread how you faced down the archers of both regiments to stop the war. For being only a woman, you have earned much respect.”
“But Listra…”
“I was going to return her to Banff with you, but since she was also at risk…”
“No, she must come with us.”
“To Karthland? But…”
“I have seen this, sire.”
He nodded. “So far, your plans have worked.”
Carissian frowned. “She has no plan I can see.”
“You’re right, Carissian.” Tashama ran her hands over the folds of her blankets. “I have no plan, but when I arrive at Napolia, it’ll come to me.”
The Maldovian page waiting to be heard coughed, and Aleron motioned to him to speak.
“Sire,” the boy said, “Princess Listra is waiting to see Princess Tashama, if you so desire.”
“She may,” Aleron said. He turned to Tashama. “I have other arrangements to make to get us to Karthland.” He leaned over and kissed her lips. His mouth rested against hers for longer than he intended as she kissed him back.
Several of his wounded soldiers said, “Whoa,” in response.
Aleron ignored the men and kissed Tashama’s forehead. “Rest so we may ride tomorrow. I’ll be back to see you in a little bit.”
Aleron retreated from the tent. Carissian shook his head at Tashama.
“What?”
“What will you do?”
“You know already, I don’t have a clue. But just as I freed my fellow prisoners at your compound and just as I freed the thieves in your tower, the situation will present itself, and then I’ll know what must be done.”
“If I could, I would join you, but I would put all of you at risk.”
“Yes, I know. Even I might trigger the alarms that Valmor has in place in the event a sorcerer should infiltrate the castle. He fears Balthazar’s return, of course.
He knows nothing of my powers, as my mother and grandmother hid these from our people.
” She furrowed her brow. “Well, except he realizes I had something to do with the river that carried his men away.”
“What about your hiding these powers from your people yourself?”
“Balthazar had often said I would have to use them to keep myself alive and well upon my return here. I don’t have the luxury of just stepping into my role as ruler of Karthland as my ancestors had done.”
“For being only part sorcerer…”
“Ah, but the part of me that is…”
“Who was the sorcerer in your family line?”
“Morkenza.”
Carissian’s eyes widened.
Tashama smiled. “Yes, he was one of the most powerful sorcerers of his time. Only he had a weakness––my grandmother.”