In the Enemy's Service (Annals of Alasia Book 2)

by Annie Douglass Lima

  The royal clothes looked very odd on Teffil, the stable boy.

  Tonnis blinked and looked again. The dead boy in the royal clothing was definitely Teffil, not Prince Jaymin.

  This changed everything.

  Chapter 2

  Glancing around, Tonnis realized that the soldiers were all watching for his reaction. This must have been why they had allowed him to approach, but not too closely. They wanted to see how convincing their substitute prince was. And he would have been pretty convincing, Tonnis admitted to himself, for anyone who didn’t know both boys well. They were about the same height and build, and the soldiers had apparently dyed Teffil’s usually straw-colored hair to the same shade of brown as the prince’s. Add to that the royal clothes and the sight of the dead king and queen on either side, and Almar would probably be fooled.

  Tonnis had never been very good at acting, but it shouldn’t be hard to convince the Malornians that he was convinced. He scowled. “Butchers,” he growled, glaring at the waiting soldiers. “It wasn’t enough to murder the king and queen? Prince Jaymin was too young to harm you. You could have just… put him in the dungeon or something.”

  There was visible relief among the soldiers. Tonnis saw some of them exchanging glances, subtle smiles forming at the corners of their mouths. We did it! It worked! they might as well have been saying.

  “All right, off with you now,” the captain barked, shooing Tonnis away. “Get back to work. No laziness or no meals.” He turned to the others. “Looks like we’re set, so out you go. Corporal, you’re driving, so get up in the seat. The rest of you, bring the other horses out. Shields ready; you’ll be sure to need them. You, Private, go tell the men at the gate to unlock it.”

  As he made his way to the dining hall and then back to the clinic with a tray containing a loaf of bread, a stack of bowls, and a large dish of chicken stew, Tonnis mulled over what had happened. It was awful that the Malornians had killed young Teffil, an orphan who had been apprenticed to one of the grooms at the stable for the past four years. And yet – and yet – and yet, it wasn’t Prince Jaymin. They don’t have the prince’s body. Those six words made all the difference.

  Eleya could tell something was up the moment he walked in with their food. “What is it?”

  The private who had been assigned to keep an eye on them was in the clinic too, lounging on a bench in the front room and cleaning his fingernails with the point of his dagger, so Tonnis couldn’t tell her the truth. “I saw their bodies,” he announced, walking past the man into the back room and setting the tray down on the examining table. “All three of them.”

  He noticed the soldier prick up his ears as his wife’s eyes filled with tears. “Prince Jaymin, too? Oh, I almost dared to hope when you didn’t find him this morning. The poor boy, his life cut off so young. I remember when he was born – three weeks early, and so tiny he could almost fit into my two hands.” She held cupped hands out before her, remembering. “When I delivered him in Queen Esarelle’s chamber, I remember thinking what an honor it was to help bring Alasia’s next king into the world.” Eleya was sobbing now, and she pulled a handkerchief out of her pocket and paused to blow her nose. “How I’ve enjoyed watching him grow these last twelve years. I couldn’t have loved that boy more if he’d been our own child.” She dabbed at her streaming eyes, turning to glare at the soldier watching her through the doorway with undisguised amusement. “Don’t you people have any conscience? How can you live with yourselves, murdering innocent children like that?”

  Afraid she was going to dart across the room and strike at him with her bare fists, Tonnis placed a steadying arm around his wife’s shoulders. “Calm down, Eleya. Come, let’s sit a moment and eat.”

  “I won’t calm down, and I don’t know how you can think about food at a time like this.” Eleya shook him off. “Eat if you want to. I’m going back to work.” She blew her nose one more time, filled a bowl with stew, and stalked into one of the patient rooms.

  Cross-legged on the floor by the fireplace, Tonnis thought over the situation again as he ate. He hoped Prince Jaymin had somehow managed to escape from the palace, but if he hadn’t, the boy was in terrible danger. He could be hiding in some dark corner or closet, shivering in cold and fear and wondering what to do. The soldiers must be combing the palace and grounds for him, determined to kill him before he could get away. As long as even one member of the royal family was alive, their plans for conquest were in jeopardy.

  Maybe I can find him first. Maybe I can help him. Tonnis frowned into his slice of bread. He wasn’t sure what he could do, but he had to try something. Alasia’s future depended on that boy. If only I could talk to Eleya. But there was no hope of that while this soldier was here.

  Finished with his own meal, he got up to help his wife feed their patients, spooning broth into the mouths of the worst injured, setting bowls and slices of bread before those who could feed themselves. By the time they had finished, he had formed a plan. Not a very good one, he acknowledged, but perhaps better than nothing. It was the best he could come up with on his own.

  “I’ll go take the dishes back,” he announced, stacking the empty bowls onto the tray. He hoped Eleya wouldn’t guess he was up to something, or she would be sure to say it was too dangerous and try to stop him. Quickly, he hurried upstairs for his other coat. He wasn’t sure what had happened to the one he had placed over the queen’s body, but he supposed he would probably never get it back. If he found Prince Jaymin, he would give the boy this one. It was cold at this time of year, even indoors, if you didn’t have access to a fireplace.

  Taking up the tray, he let himself out the front door and strolled casually across the courtyard. Some of his fellow Alasians were starting the grim task of dragging the bodies away toward the mass grave he knew was being dug behind the palace in what had once been the queen’s rose garden. A few soldiers stood about watching them, but seeing the tray and the direction he was heading, no one stopped him.

  A small door in the southern side of the palace led down a short hallway and into one of the kitchens. Phenniel and a Malornian soldier stood at one end, leaning on a counter and chatting like old friends, while Lutian and two red-eyed young women bustled about putting away leftover food and stacking up dirty dishes.

  Spying a basket of apples beside the door, Tonnis reached down and dropped one into his pocket when no one was looking. The prince, if he could find him, would be hungry. He set the tray down on the counter beside a mound of plates and bowls, nodded politely to Lutian, and surreptitiously slipped a half-eaten slice of bread from one of the plates into his other pocket. Poor fare for a prince, but it would be better than nothing.

  Now came the dangerous part of his plan. Well, the first dangerous part. After this, everything would be dangerous. Walking briskly as though he had been given an assignment, Tonnis strode toward the door that led from the kitchen to the dining hall. He didn’t dare turn to see whether the traitor Phenniel and his Malornian companion were watching. Looking at them would only make them suspicious. He did notice Thessa casting a puzzled glance his way as she stacked clean dishes in a cupboard, but he smiled at her as he went by and she said nothing.

  Tonnis breathed a sigh of relief as he emerged into the dining hall, which was deserted. A few dirty plates and bowls still lay on the tables, but apparently everyone had finished eating and returned to work. Still trying to act as though he were supposed to be here, Tonnis made his way around the tables and toward the door at the back of the room, pocketing another half slice of bread from somebody’s plate along the way.

  He paused at the open door and glanced through it. The hallway beyond was deserted at the moment, and he let out another relieved sigh. Sooner or later he was bound to encounter someone, but in the meantime, his luck seemed to be holding.

  The prince’s room, like that of his parents and the most important palace residents, was on the fifth floor. Several times on his way in that direction, Tonnis heard Malornian voi
ces and footsteps, but each time he was able to dart into a doorway or around a corner and hide until they had gone past. Only once, as he started down the fifth floor corridor, was there nowhere to disappear to in time. So he kept his gaze straight ahead and his pace businesslike, bowing his head humbly to the Malornian private who strode by in the other direction. The soldier barely glanced at him as they both continued on their ways, and Tonnis sighed again when the man had disappeared around a corner.

  He knew exactly where Prince Jaymin’s room was, though he had seldom been inside. The last time had been a year and a half ago, when the usually healthy prince had been suffering from a bout of influenza. Tonnis had been in and out two or three times a day in the four days the illness had lasted.

  The room looked much the same now as it had then. To his relief, there was no blood on the floor or bedding. Cautiously, Tonnis stepped inside, pushing the door shut behind him in case someone were to walk past. “Prince Jaymin?” he whispered loudly. “Are you in here?” There was no answer, not that he had expected one. The prince’s own bedroom would be far too obvious a hiding place, but it was worth checking just in case.

  Tonnis glanced around, hoping for clues as to what had happened. The covers on the prince’s bed had been thrown back as though he had jumped up in a hurry. The cot beside the door, where the prince’s young attendant slept, was in similar condition. Tonnis felt the sheets and pillows of both beds, but as he had expected, they were cold. No one had lain there recently. The fireplace was cold too, with only the remains of a few charred sticks left from last night’s fire.

  Beside the bed stood a polished oak dresser, a few of the prince’s treasures arranged on top. Three leather-bound books in a neat stack. The sleek form of a tiny dolphin made of clear glass from the factory in Wistra. Six wooden horses harnessed with strings to a little carved carriage, painted white and gold, with wheels obviously designed to actually turn. A sawdust-stuffed dog with floppy ears and a body of brown velvet, a toy the prince had been too old to play with for years now but probably couldn’t bring himself to get rid of. But there were no clues as to what had happened, and there was no room to hide under or behind the dresser.

  On the other side of the bed stood a stately oak wardrobe of matching design. His heart in his throat, Tonnis tiptoed toward the wardrobe and reached for the handle.

  “Your Highness?” He pulled it open, and his heart sank back into its normal position. Nothing but clothes, rumpled and in disarray. Probably from earlier that day, when the Malornians had riffled through them to find some for poor Teffil to wear. Tonnis bent to peer under the bed, but there was not so much as a speck of dust. Nothing under the desk below the window, either, or behind the armchairs on either side of the hearth.

  A second door stood closed before him. Hearing nothing from the other side, Tonnis opened it quietly and stepped through. He found himself in a much smaller room, just a nook, really, with a low table standing between the single sofa and a fireplace. There was nothing else in the room except a stone window seat at the arched window in the outside wall.

  No one was under the table or behind the sofa. Disappointed, Tonnis backed into the bedroom again, closing the door behind him. Where should he look now?

  He sat down on the edge of the prince’s bed to try to think. Probably Prince Jaymin and his young attendant had been awakened by the commotion and had fled before the soldiers got there. They could have turned left to go to his parents’ room, but in that case they would probably both have been killed along with the king and queen. No, they had to have turned right, heading for a part of the palace the invaders must not have gotten to yet.

  Feeling more sure of himself, Tonnis rose to his feet and headed for the door. He would try to retrace the prince’s steps, and perhaps he would find him hiding somewhere along the way. Hearing nothing from outside the bedroom, he quietly turned the handle, peered both directions down the empty corridor, and turned right himself.

  But almost immediately he heard footsteps and the sound of voices. He froze, glancing quickly around for somewhere to hide. There were no rooms close by except the prince’s, so he scurried back and darted inside. There was no time to close the door; the footsteps had rounded the corner now and their owners would be sure to see. So he stepped behind the door out of sight and tried to quiet his breathing.

  “This is not the arrangement I agreed to!” exclaimed an angry voice, and Tonnis’s eyes widened. He knew that voice. It was Talifus, captain of the Alasian palace guard. Good! So not all the guards had been killed after all.

  “I don’t know what your agreement was, but I’m telling you what I was told,” a calm voice replied. The accent was Malornian, but it took a second before Tonnis remembered who it belonged to. Captain Almanian.

  “Then your people have a serious communication problem,” retorted Talifus. The footsteps stopped, as though the man had determined not to leave that spot until the miscommunication was sorted out. Tonnis realized with dismay that they were standing right in front of the doorway.

  “Be that as it may, Lieutenant Talifus, this is indeed your situation, and I suggest you accept it,” Almanian told him sternly.

  Lieutenant? Tonnis frowned. What was going on?

  “Accept it? Accept being demoted when I was promised a promotion? Accept receiving only a lieutenant’s pay when I’ve been a captain for years, and when I was promised wealth beyond what I could imagine?” Talifus sounded furious.

  “No need to consider it a demotion, Lieutenant. You have simply been transferred, and until you can prove yourself, the Malornian army has no reason to believe that an untried stranger – and an Alasian at that – should be given a captain’s command. However, if you prove yourself, I’m certain our superiors will consider you for promotion in due time.”

  “That wasn’t the agreement!” Talifus was nearly shouting now. “The messenger told me very clearly that I would be given a high position and great riches.”

  “That may very well be, Lieutenant. For all I know, Regent Rampus could be planning to bestow those honors on you himself when he joins us in Almar in a couple of weeks. But in the meantime, I have my orders, and they specifically place me in control of this mission. Until we are both informed otherwise, you answer to me like all the rest of my men.”

  Talifus gave a wordless growl of frustration. “Do you think I betrayed my king and country just for a demotion and a pay cut?”

  “I have not the slightest interest in why traitors do what they do.” Almanian’s voice was cold. “Your service to Malorn is appreciated, and I’m certain you will eventually receive what you deserve. In the meantime, the matter is out of my hands. You are welcome to appeal to the regent; I can arrange for your letter to be sent this afternoon along with my first report. But in the meantime, you are to continue to follow my orders as you serve in the capacity of a lieutenant. Do I make myself clear?”

  There was an angry pause, and the man muttered something Tonnis couldn’t make out. It must have been unintelligible to the captain too, because he snapped, “I didn’t hear you, Lieutenant.”

  “Yes, sir,” Talifus bit out.

  “Good. Then I don’t want to hear any more of this. Go put on the uniform you were given and get to work.”

  The footsteps continued down the corridor, fading away and finally disappearing. When he was certain they weren’t coming back, Tonnis leaned against the wall and furrowed his brow. So Talifus, along with Phenniel, had betrayed them to their enemies! Abruptly, he remembered one of the soldiers mentioning something last night about guards who had been on their side. Perhaps the former Alasian captain had opened the gates for the invaders; unlocked the palace doors; shown them exactly where to find and kill the king and queen. Perhaps he had even killed the monarchs himself. Tonnis clenched his teeth, feeling a fresh wave of grief for his friend King Jaymin, who might still be alive if not for Talifus’s treachery.

  But he couldn’t let himself get distracted. He might still be
able to help his friend’s son, if he could find him. And he had to hurry, before someone told Lieutenant Lasden the doctor was missing and they sent a whole platoon up here to look for him. Squaring his shoulders, Tonnis opened the door and stepped out into the hallway.

  And bumped right into Talifus.

  The lieutenant had not moved. He was staring into space, his fists clenched, a ferocious scowl on his face, probably ruminating on the unfairness of his lot or on what he planned to do about it. When Tonnis bumped into him they both gasped and jumped back in alarm, but the traitor reacted first. Before Tonnis could think what to do, Talifus had whipped out his sword, seized him tightly by an arm, and brought the weapon up to his throat, bellowing, “Don’t move!”

  Tonnis couldn’t have moved if he had wanted to. He was frozen in terror. What should he say? What should he do?

  Recognition replaced the alarm in Talifus’s eyes, but he didn’t relax his grip. “Tonnis. It’s you. What are you doing here?”

  Tonnis swallowed, but he had no idea what to say. Except in medical emergencies, he had never been good at thinking on his feet. Eleya was much better at that.

  “Were you eavesdropping?” Talifus demanded.

  “N-no,” Tonnis stammered. “Not intentionally.”

  “Then why are you out of your clinic? And you’d better have a good answer.” The blade twitched a little closer.

  Tonnis swallowed again. “I-I have permission to be here. Sir.”

  “Do you, now.” Talifus obviously wasn’t buying it. “Whose permission?”

  “Uh – Lieutenant Lasden’s.” Tonnis blurted out the first name that came to his mind. “He – he said I could check the bodies to see if there were any survivors.” That part was true, anyway.

  “You’re a little late. All the bodies have been brought down to the courtyard already.”