“My Lady,” he said. “Forgive me for what I have done. A miserable lying murderer such as myself doesn’t even deserve a second glance from a true queen, but I thank you.”
“Thank me? For what, Lano, may I ask?” She was puzzled by his words. He had killed her servant and was now thanking her? Talk about strange irony. What would Romone have thought?
“For speaking the truth in the court of the King and striking down the filth streaming forth from my venomous mouth. I deserved my punishment, milady.” He glanced down at his body, his shoulders slumping. The motion pained him.
Silvia nodded. “Romone was an excellent servant and I miss him dearly; it was a great shame, what you did. But life is about justice and forgiveness, understanding and learning.” She took a deep breath. “I forgive you Lano, and I understand your remorse. But if you have not learned from this tragic mistake, I have no sympathy for you.”
Tears fell from his eyes. “I have learned something, madam. I have learned the value of a human life and that I had no reason to quarrel with him or kill him. When I was on the racks I screamed for the gods to take me out of this world, but they let me live with my agony.” He looked away, and she knew he was feeling every movement he was making. “I am half out of my mind with regret for taking his last breath. He haunts my dreams, tormenting me, twisting my heart with grief.”
“What is done is done,” she said simply, though she felt a twang in her heart. Romone had never wronged anyone. “I have to think of the present right now. There are many things that need to be done.”
Another man started to speak now. “You are a powerful magician, wondrous lady. We saw how you fixed your dress and escaped your imprisonment. Can you conjure food to feed us hopeless fools? We’ve only had molded pork with a small slice of stale bread to eat in two days, with only a splash of water to wash it down.”
Silvia let go of Lano’s hand and whispered, “Mylaknos nia robuz vical bunatus.” Her skin tingled as a thick aroma of meats, stewed vegetables, and stout wine filled the air—the objects pulled magically from the kitchens far above them. On the cold stone floor, all around the prisoners appeared platter after platter of freshly prepared food. The ravenous men went at the food with a passionate hunger, ignoring several cautions to eat slowly to avoid cramping of the stomach. It was a rather large spell, for there were so many prisoners, but the only side effect she felt was a brief wave of dizziness. Her magic was improving each time she used it. Now, if only she could bring herself to concentrate on it when she was in trouble…
Chapter Seventeen—Untimely Deaths
Suddenly, the door to the dungeons flew open; George and Stefan entered, red-faced and sweating. Neither could hide their surprise at seeing Silvia outside both cells.
Silvia was very disheartened at having been caught so soon, but this changed when George spoke.
“Well, it looks as if someone beat us to it.”
“Excuse me?” she asked.
“To letting you out against His Majesty’s direct orders, milady,” Stefan answered. His face held a bemused expression.
Silvia was pleased. “Out of curiosity, why would you want to let me out against orders? Would that not mean imprisonment or even death for the both of you?”
George said, “When the King went outside of this door he told us not to let you out under any condition, no matter how you screamed, unless you agreed to marry him. As soon as His Highness left, Stefan and I had a conversation as to how atrocious it was to put a woman in a cell full of men.”
“And that is why you chose to free me?” Silvia walked over to them as the prisoners watched, silently eating their food.
“Well, sort of,” Stefan said. “Two gentlemen offered us a choice of letting you out or dying painfully.”
“Two men?” she said, furrowing her eyebrows.
“If that is what you wish to call us, milady,” came a voice from the door.
She smiled broadly as Prince Dalton and Sir Grant stepped into the dungeons.
“We saw Gregorich leading you away ever so impolitely and thought we’d see what he was up to,” said the Prince casually.
“And having been about the palace for a while now, we knew another way down here,” said Grant. “We overheard what he told the Guards outside the door and were more than a little upset about it.”
George and Stefan glanced at Sir Grant as if to say that were an understatement.
“Thank you kindly for coming,” Silvia said sincerely.
“But, milady, how did you escape from both cells?” George asked.
“I have my ways,” she answered slyly.
“This beautiful creature before you is quite the sorceress,” Dalton said. He gave her a wink that would have made her melt on the spot if she were not already betrothed.
It was not until this moment that the two Guards noticed the prisoners eating quietly in their cell. George’s mouth dropped open. “How did they—“
“Did you not listen? I am quite the sorceress,” she said with a smile.
“I certainly believe that on all accounts,” muttered George. “But I am damn glad you are all right and that you have good people to watch out for you.”
“And I have to watch out for my people as well,” Silvia muttered to herself, glancing towards the prisoners. She felt guilty for not being very concerned the past few days for the well-being of these prisoners; she had only cared about the homeless, for the innocent had been involved. But these men, although being punished for some crime or another, did not necessarily deserve to be sent off to a war against their will and betray their countrymen. “George, will you and Stefan guard this door until the morning?”
“Certainly. We’re supposed to anyway—King’s orders.”
“These men are to be sent off to war in the morning, but they must not go.”
“Yes, the King said something about that this morning,” Stefan said. “Why can they not go?”
Sir Grant stepped over to stand beside Silvia and answer for her. “Because Gregorich Hapshamin is one of Lord Rohedon’s children and if he sends any men at all to fight in this war they will do so on Rohedon’s side, not ours.”
The look of shock on George’s face was almost comical. “What treachery!” he bellowed angrily. “That means Rohedon can come and take over this city at any time he pleases and no one can stop him! Are you sure this is true?”
“Unfortunately,” Dalton said with a shake of his head.
“And no one can stop him,” said George incredulously. “Zacharias and Madeline never would have wanted this for their city. How is this possible?”
Silvia looked at Dalton, who was staring at the prisoners with a strange expression. How must he feel to have his city under siege? Her heart went out to him. “It won’t be possible,” she said quietly. “I will stop him.”
Stefan’s eyes widened. “You, milady?”
“Yes, me. Alone, if I have to, but I can and will defeat him.”
George took all of this into consideration and nodded his head. “These men will not go to war in the morning, and I will fight to the death anyone who opposes that decision, even the King himself. But whom shall I say gave me this order?”
“The Dead Queen That Has Risen,” Sir Grant said softly, “and that is all they need to know.”
Leaving the dungeons, they went through countless halls, trying to avoid any contact with servants or the Royal Guards. When they did happen to run into people, they would slow down, acting as though they were supposed to be walking down that particular back corridor. Silvia’s heart was racing; she wondered if Grant’s and Dalton’s were doing the same. It took them nearly half an hour to arrive at Silvia’s guestroom, where Maura, Hans, and Frero immediately hurried them inside. A blazing fire had been built and the room was a bit too warm. Hans was still infuriated that he had been kept from following his mistress, saying phrases about the Guards and about Gregorich that the women should not have heard. He touched her dress where the large
pieces of clothe were missing, but said nothing, tears forming in his eyes at the thought of what she must have went through. He vowed the bastard King would pay dearly for touching his Queen so.
But Frero was concerned about something else. “What of the two brothers? Where are Quentin and Keelan?” he asked.
Silvia’s heart shattered. Since being placed inside that horrible cell and making her daring escape back to her room, she had not much thought about them, assuming they were with her other servants. Her tears spilled forth as she realized they had all been separated at one point or another, more or less forced to go different ways. Without further hesitation, she grasped her necklace, the sapphire making imprints in her palm. “Keelan? Quentin? Where are you? Speak to me, please!”
No answer.
“Please let us know that you are okay!”
The only response she received was Zander, inquiring in a worried voice what was going on at the palace. She briefed him of their situation and told him they would see him very soon.
Then her knees grew weak and she collapsed into Frero’s arms. Dalton helped him carry her sobbing form to her bed, where they lit a single candle.
“You may cry in here all you like, milady,” the prince said softly. “These stone walls will trap the sound of your voice and keep you from being heard. I don’t believe he will come knocking on your door, since you are supposed to be in the dungeons. But we have to be careful all the same. It wouldn’t do to have the King find you already.”
“I care not if he finds me right now. But happened to Keelan and Quentin? They won’t answer through the stones and no one has seen them,” she cried, and no one needed to ask of whom she was speaking. “I’ve led them far too close to danger! Oh, what shall I do without them? What shall I do without my Keelan?”
Her tears and utter heartache were too much to bear for the men, and so they left her bedside to Maura. The older woman held Silvia tightly, assuring her that they were all right and to be strong like Keelan would want. She distracted Silvia by telling of how she had calmed down the men when they were in the Guards’ arms: she had convinced the Royal Guard that she would keep the men quiet in their rooms as long as they would be allowed to see their mistress in the morning. Of course, no one had bothered to tell them that Silvia was going to be put to death the next day.
An hour later Silvia, though still crying, had calmed down and had been brought a decanter of brandy. Her eyes were swollen and red and her hands shook so badly that Maura had to hold the cup of brandy to her lips.
At that instant, a light knock sounded in the other room, signaling someone at the door. Prince Dalton drew his sword and dagger at the same time as Sir Grant while Frero and Hans answered the door. No one was there, it seemed, until a large gust of air whooshed by them and an unseen voice ordered the door to be shut and locked. This was done and Quentin appeared, throwing back his hood from his magnificent white mane. In his arms was the limp form of a male fox; an arrow stuck out from its shoulder.
“By the Dark Moon, what ill tidings,” Frero said, as Dalton and Grant sheathed their weapons in silence.
Silvia wandered into the room in a daze, Maura by her side. Upon seeing Quentin, her breath quickened and she ran forward. But then she caught sight of the arrow shaft protruding from its red-coated target in his arms.
“No,” she whispered. “It can’t be!”
“I…I am so sorry, my Queen.” Quentin choked on the tears that poured from his confused, hurt eyes. “I tried to s-save him! I tried!” His sobs became heavier. “All these years I was lost to him, and then he found me…Now, I’ve lost him again. Is this my punishment? To lose my only brother?”
“You wouldn’t have lost me if you hadn’t shut the bloody door in my face!” came an angry voice from the corridor outside the room. They rushed to open the door and there was Keelan, covered in sweat in his human form, and as alive as he ever was.
Everyone looked from Keelan to Quentin and the red fox he carried and then back again. Quentin dropped the fox and wiped his hands hastily on his robe, his face turning extremely red.
As it turned out, Keelan had been taken outside by the Guards on the King’s orders. There, he had been set loose so that Hapshamin’s archers could shoot him for sport. Keelan ran straight to the stables and changed to his human form. Luckily for him Willis the stable master had passed out on a bit of rum in one of the stalls and so saw nothing out of the ordinary. When the King’s archers had entered the stables Keelan pretended to be oiling the saddles. He had had to wait awhile for all of them to either tire of the ridiculous hunt or move away from the stables before he could leave, sneaking back into the palace through one of the back entrances.
Quentin had not known what to do when Keelan and Silvia got separated. He had for several moments tried to figure out which one to help first. Quickly he decided on his brother, so that Keelan could help him to rescue Silvia. He had suspected Gregorich was taking her to the dungeons by one of many different ways, and knew where she would be. By the time Quentin got outside the palace, Keelan was already in the stables and out of sight. So, at a loss, he had followed a group of archers until they killed the beautiful red male fox in the woods, nearly a quarter mile from the stables. The archers had argued whether or not it was the right fox, however, for this one did not have an onyx-studded collar. One archer claimed it could easily have been torn off while the fox was running away. Excited by this idea, they went in search of the expensive necklace, leaving the fox behind. Weeping (although he dared not say this aloud in his story telling), he carried what he thought to be his brother’s body back to the palace. He had not seen his brother, lurking down the hall in human form, as he had knocked.
Silvia was ecstatic that the brothers were alive and unharmed, and she did not Keelan out of her tight embrace.
Plans for that night and the next morning were sketched out very carefully before Dalton and Grant returned to their rooms to rest. Hans, Frero, and Maura were to stay behind, making it look as if Silvia had escaped without their assistance. Silvia gathered her nicest clothes and tied them in a light leather bag, along with a few other things. She and Keelan and Quentin crept outside well after the rest of the palace was asleep. Silvia and Keelan waited while Quentin quietly went inside the stables and retrieved Windfall, with the finest of the King’s saddles. Keelan inquired if Willis was still asleep, and Quentin laughed, saying that he would be lucky to wake up before noon the next day, judging by the size of the liquor bottle beside him. Silvia rode double with Keelan, wearing a full nuuisaket to hide her face, though there were unlikely to be many people out and about so late. Quentin transformed into a beautiful dappled mare, and galloped alongside them all the way to Zander’s home, never once losing his pace beside his brother and his Queen. After he had seen them safely to their destination, he returned to the palace alone to watch over the treacherous King.
They did not rest much that night and were up before daylight. Dessica helped Silvia change into a gorgeous, expensive green silk dress and her hair was done up extravagantly, with strung pearls threaded into her thick red locks. A thin silk green nuuisaket was easily pinned upon her hair. Her boots were stained green leather to match her dress and she wore Keelan’s dagger proudly on her thin belt on her right side. Her sapphire hung gracefully at her bosom and she wore her large engagement piece on the third finger of her left hand. The diamond and amethyst-studded bracelets Keelan had bought her were on her wrists and in no time at all Zander had made her earrings to match. Dessica rubbed a fine powder on Silvia’s cheeks to make them appear rosy and another powder on her eyelids to bring out her eyes. A thick cream was applied to her lips to make her appear more sumptuous and grown up.
Keelan’s hair was trimmed and pulled back into a tail at his neck, and his stubble was shaved away to make him more clean cut. He was dressed in beige pants with thigh-high brown boots decorated with jewels, and a white silk shirt that tied at the throat. Zander claimed to have tailored th
em himself, along with a beautiful brown cloak that clasped at the front with a golden ‘K’. On the back of the fur lined cloak was an intricately woven red fox on the face of a coat of arms bearing a dragon. Keelan showed great love for the clothes and kissed Zander on each cheek after hugging him.
Rise of the Dragon Queen Page 24
