Chapter Eleven #3
Jaska strode out of the mass of rebels, clasped Teryn’s forearm, and shook it soundly. “Thank you, Mahouk. We wished no harm to anyone. We simply needed a way to show the ruling classes that our needs, the wants of the poor, cannot be ignored yet again.”
“Stealing a pair of innocents was your best plan?!” I barked, striding up with fire in my heart. Jaska stood his ground as I closed the distance, his hand falling from Teryn’s.
“Pasil…” Teryn warned, but I pushed my chest into the man who had caused such grief. I would not be called off, not now. I had watched those children grow from squalling infants to hearty toddlers filled with grace, good humor, and inquisitive minds.
“Ripping them from their nursery in the dark of night, drugging an old religious woman and a royal guard who is a noble, trustworthy protector that stands head and shoulders above you even though her frame is small. I should run you through for nearly killing her.”
“That was unfortunate,” Jaska replied calmly. A rumble went through the masses at his back, the tension rising quickly. “We meant no harm to the pixie. I have always enjoyed her company. She fares well, I hear from my sources.”
“No thanks to you,” I snarled, itching to plunge my blade into his chest just to eradicate the smugness he oozed.
“I will see the children. Now. The ambassador will not sit at a table with you until we are assured that the prince and princess are hale and unharmed. And mark my words, if either of the twins has even a scratch on their arm, I will rip through this throng of accomplices of yours like they were wheat falling to the scythe.”
“We have no doubt that you could, Slayer of Yeti.” For once, I did not argue that moniker. His gaze held mine for a long moment before he spoke to those behind him. “Fetch the prince and princess.”
“Pasil, you may step back now.” Teryn’s smooth voice somehow managed to wiggle into the red haze.
I took a step back, weapons at the ready, eyes locked with the man who had betrayed us all.
Jaska did not flinch, but I did notice the deep inhalation he took.
So not as unaffected as he wished his followers to think.
Good. Skewering the traitorous slug would please me greatly.
“Let us go to the main cavern. We have wine and cheese, a fire, and a table set up for the talks,” Jaska offered, waving an arm at the tunnel as if he were the head server at a royal dinner.
“I am aware that the fare is not what you would find at the table of the grand advisor, but we are not able to procure delicacies such as rare pink oysters or tundra ox roasts that set the working elf back a thousand gold per platter.”
“We go nowhere until we see the children,” I stated, planting my feet.
“So be it,” Jaska replied and then turned at the sound of a high-pitched squeal.
The people parted to allow Prince Al’fur and Princess Alfina to race to us.
For them, I lowered my shield and slid my sword into its scabbard.
The two flung themselves at me, clinging to my shoulders as I lifted them from the damp rocky ground to hug them. Tears rolled down their pink cheeks.
“Captain Pasil!! Did you bring Papa and Mama?” Princess Alfina asked, her face buried into my neck just as her brother’s was.
They smelled clean and appeared to be in good health.
Scared, surely, but unharmed. The bastard who had taken them should be counting his blessings.
Her brother, always a bit shyer, whimpered into my shoulder around his thumb.
“I did not, for we had to travel quickly, and you know how slowly the queen moves in the morning,” I teased and got a tiny nod of a gold head. Alfina lifted her head to stare into my soul. “I am so glad to see you, Princess. And your brother. Have you been treated well?”
“They fed us stinky fish with eyeballs, but the cheese was good. Can we go home now? We miss our kitten,” she said with utmost sincerity.
“We will go home soon,” I promised, my sight flying to Jaska as if to dare him to say otherwise.
He did not. He merely waved a hand to indicate a move into the cave.
I glanced at Teryn, smiling at us with damp eyes.
“This is a friend of your parents. Do you remember meeting Mahouk Nouradi at the castle?”
Both shook their blond heads. Al’fur mumbled something about a monkey eating a banana as we made our way deeper into the sea cave.
It was damp. The stone walls slick from the moist sea air.
Small alcoves of rock popped up here and there, the interiors dark aside from one, which had a single torch lighting a box in the middle of the craggy grotto. A box of plundered goods, perhaps?
“Did anyone harm you?” I asked the twins as the gloom of the long walkway slowly gave way to a large inner chamber, with rounded rock walls and sleeping pallets laid out around small cooking fires.
A larger fire burned in a stone circle—several large fish being cooked over the flames on spits—burned brightly.
About fifty people watched us. Some the greeting party, some small children or teens, and some elderly.
No two were alike, as opposed to Celear, where all the noble elves had a similar look of elegance.
There was not an elegant face among them.
Just common faces, hungry faces, tired faces.
“No.” The princess rode on my right hip, her brother on my left. “We had warm milk and woke up on a boat. The sea was big. Grandpapa’s guard,” she looked right at Jaska, “told us we were going to a new land on an adventure.”
“I like adventures,” Al’fur said and shoved his thumb back into his mouth as Jaska and Teryn made their way to a deeply worn round table with two chairs.
Bottles of wine, round wheels of cheese, and a few dark loaves of bread sat atop wooden platters.
I took a step toward the table to taste the fare, but Jaska placed a hand on my breastplate. A low snarl rolled out of me.
“The food is not poisoned,” he said, waving a small boy from the masses. The child ate some bread and cheese, washed it down with wine, and then burped.
“It’s good, Papa!” the towheaded boy exclaimed and darted back to a young Sandrayan woman who was heavily pregnant. She gathered her son to her side. I had never known that Jaska had a child, let alone a woman from the Black Sands.
“Now, let the mahouk and me sit and speak,” Jaska said, his smile one that if I had not been holding the twins, I would have loved to slap off his face.
There would be time later. This man, the leader of this band of insurgents, would surely end up in the dungeons under the castle.
Perhaps he knew that to be the case. Whether he did or not, Aelir would surely imprison him at the very least, and rightfully so.
If one upset rebel could get away with stealing a member of the royal family with no punishment, we would all be in great peril.
Laws were there for the good of the people.
I knelt down, placing tiny feet in rough leather shoes on the ground. “I must stand guard over the ambassador. Can you sit by us?”
“You always stand near Papa and Guard Tezen is with us.” I nodded at the princess, who dropped to a sit by my foot. Her brother curled up beside her, big blue eyes on me as I took my stance behind Teryn. “Where is Guard Tezen?”
“She is home. We’ll see her soon,” I whispered down to the princess.
Two children of mixed blood came over, carrying old toys, and tempted the twins from my side.
I watched intently as they settled down near a fire, wooden blocks in hand, gold heads together speaking to each other as only twins did, as an old woman handed them some bread to chew on.
Seeing that they were safe yet still close enough to reach, I folded my arms over my breast as wine was poured.
A glass was offered to me. I refused it.
“Now, let us speak of what requests the Court of Gray Ice has that they wish to enter into debate with King Aelir and Vahasi Khorsiri,” Teryn announced to all.
The people in the cave looked happy enough, so they settled into routines such as sewing, cooking, and tending to children and the elderly.
I had no idea how long this discourse would take, so I made sure not to lock my knees while keeping my sights on the twins and the man who had called me dear.
There was much to sort out, both at that table and in my heart, but the table took precedence. For now.
The talk went on and on throughout the night and into the following day.
There were many points made on both sides, some good, some poor, and some that were dismissed as outlandish.
Jaska was a smart man with a solid knowledge of what was at stake.
My stomach growled loudly at the time of the midday meal.
The talks were put on hold for food, refreshments, and sleep.
It was cool in this cave, but the routines of those who dwelled in the heat of the Black Sands were observed.
Seeing that Teryn was safe and the children napping with a group of other little ones, I set off to relieve myself.
I asked an older man, pale-skinned like me but missing the pointed tips of his ears, where the privy was.
He gave me a dank look but led me to the grotto with the box in the center.
Plodding to the wooden box, I could hear the sounds of the sea as I neared.
Once I stood beside it, I saw a hole cut neatly in the top.
Ah. Leaning forward, I looked down through the box into the sea far, far below.
I’d used worse places. Military forces quickly learned to shit in the woods, sand, or mountain peaks.
Many times with wild beasts watching. This was no different from the latrines at the castle, perhaps just fresher-smelling.
The fish down below were not pleased of that, I was sure.