Perilous Travels (The Southern Continent Series Book 2)

by Jeffrey Quyle

  “Thank you!” she said brightly.

  “You’re one of the outsiders, I see,” she stated the obvious.

  Grange began to maneuver their dancing in the direction of where he had last seen Shaylee.

  “I just got here tonight. I’ve been in a small village called Waters End,” he said.

  “Are you from that village?” the girl asked doubtfully, looking up into his eyes as they moved through the dance crowd.

  “No, I happened to be there visiting,” Grange answered.

  “Are you from around here?” he asked.

  “I live with my grandfather, the man at my table with me,” she answered.

  “The one who was sleeping?” Grange asked with a grin.

  “My name is Asper,” she announced. “Yes, the one who was sleeping.”

  “My name is Grange,” Grange told her. “Are your parents here too?” he cautiously asked.

  “My mother died when I was a baby, and my father is getting ready for a trading mission, so my grandfather is left to escort me to the palace. And I don’t really know anyone here. It was frightfully boring until you asked me to dance. Thank you so much!” she smiled brightly.

  Grange spotted Shaylee momentarily, not far away, but moving away from him.

  “Where does your dad trade?” Grange asked, as the song started to wind towards its close. “I’m from Palmland; does he trade there?”

  “No, he trades with a foreign land out in the east, and from a tin mine he owns in the wilderness, somewhere way down south, by some mountains. I don’t think there’s anyone there except his miners and the wild animals,” Asper answered.

  The music ended, and the people on the dance floor clapped politely.

  “Let me introduce you to someone,” Grange grabbed Asper’s hand and pulled her over to where Shaylee and her date were starting to return to the stage.

  “Shaylee!” he called out.

  “I just saw you. Were you out dancing too?” he asked as he and Asper reached Shaylee and her partner.

  “This is Asper. We just met,” he stated the obvious.

  “Is this the foreigner you mentioned?” Shaylee’s dance partner asked.

  “This is Grange, the boy I was telling you about,” Shaylee said.

  The orchestra began to strum the opening notes of the next song.

  “Let’s switch partners, share we?” Grange suggested, as he fluidly forwarded Asper’s hand towards Shaylee’s unnamed partner.

  “You two dance and get acquainted. Asper has hardly met anyone here,” he said, as he took Shaylee in his arms and started to dance.

  “I’m sorry we didn’t get to say good bye,” Grange told Shaylee, once their dance steps were underway.

  “Oh, we’ll see each other again soon. We don’t have to say good bye,” the girl said dismissively. “Mother asked the queen if you would be allowed to remain here on the palace island with us, and the queen said yes,” she reported. “And I think we may stay longer than mother originally planned.”

  Grange smiled with delight, happy to know he’d stay with the village travelers.

  The orchestra suddenly began to wind the song down.

  “That was a short bit of music,” Shaylee said regretfully. “I suppose I’ll have to go back to Jestroe to return to the stage with him.” They broke their dancing clinch, though Grange held onto Shaylee’s hand.

  The queen came strolling out to the front of the stage, and the audience grew very quiet, as everyone looked up at her expectantly.

  “We have guests with us tonight,” the Queen said. “Guests who are from far away, as many of you know. Two of these guests are of a race that is unlike ours, the race of wizards.

  “They can do great things, their reports say, and we have seen some small samples of that already. But these two have a kind gift they can share with us, I am told.

  “I call upon the wizards Grace and Grange to come up to the stage and join me here,” she finished, then stood there silently waiting.

  “What are you doing?” Shaylee asked, holding Grange’s hand.

  “I don’t have a clue,” Grange answered.

  Asper and Jestroe came over. “That’s you, isn’t it? You’re the wizard the queen called for! I didn’t know I danced with someone important,” she said.

  Jestroe reached over to take Shaylee’s free hand. “You better get up there and obey the queen, wizard,” he said.

  Grange looked over and saw that Grace was already approaching the steps up to the stage.

  “I’ll talk to you later,” he told Shaylee. He smiled at Asper, then released Shaylee’s fingers, and started working through the audience, going up to the stage.

  He reached the queen a pair of seconds after Grace had already arrived there and curtsied to her. He made a deep bow, though it felt awkward.

  “Your highness,” Grace said courteously, “we are here as yours to command; we have come to Kilau to help you and your people. How may we serve you?”

  It was a pretty comment to make, Grange thought, and he wished he had thought to say such a thing.

  “Thank you child,” the Queen replied. “I am told that the two of you have musical talents, and that when you perform together, you can use your wizard talents to make your audience healthier. I would like for you to explain this and demonstrate it to my people.

  “You can not only show us your nation’s good intentions, but you make us all feel better, especially if your magical music will take away tomorrow morning’s ills from those who imbibe too much tonight!” the Queen smiled at the pair. She swept her hand towards the audience in a motion to indicate that the stage belonged to the wizards.

  The queen backed away from the duo, and Grange turned to look at Grace.

  “You do have your flute with you, don’t you?” she asked archly.

  Grange grinned and pulled the small instrument from his back pocket.

  “Wait a moment,” Grace said. She reached into the front of her blouse, as Grange had seen her do so many times before, and she pulled her wand out of the cleavage, then pressed the tip of the wand against her throat and uttered a brief sentence. She looked at Grange speculatively, then pressed her wand against the flute in his hands, and then to his lips, and repeated her request to the energy to amplify its sounds.

  Grange saw each of the momentary glows occur as the power congregated and acted.

  “Let’s perform a love song, shall we?” Grace asked. “’You Will Always Have Me’?” she suggested.

  Grange shrugged, and raised his flute to his lips. He tuned a few notes momentarily, as he thought about the song, which he had played on many occasions while playing with Guy’s band in Palmland.

  “Okay,” he nodded to Grace. She smiled at him, and listened, as he played the introduction, then she joined in as the song began. She looked at him, not at the audience, as she relied on the energy to broadcast their music to all corners of the hall. There was a sparkle in her eyes and she seemed to be singing directly to him.

  They were performing well, Grange could tell. Even though they hadn’t performed together in several weeks, his instrument and her voice blended together easily, matching timing, volume, and emphasis seamlessly. Something about the music, and the perfection of the performance, as well as the emotion that Grace seemed to emit while telling the tale of dedicated love, made her seem more attractive than Grange could remember her appearing in the past.

  As the song began to wind towards its conclusion, Grace winked at him with the eye that was turned away from the audience. She sank to her knees as she finished the song, looking up at him with a soulful devotion, then she wrapped her arms around his legs and clung to him tightly as he played the final, closing instrumental notes to finish the song.

  For a long pause after the end of the music, Grange held the flute to his mouth, then he lowered the instrument as the audience began to give a loud, enthusiastic round of applause. He looked down at Grace, then offered her his hand to lift her from h
er knees.

  She rose in a motion that was fluid as it transitioned from rising to hugging him, while his own arms wrapped around her tightly.

  “That was quite a performance,” he said huskily as the audience continued to clap.

  The Queen approached, and they separated to bow and curtsy to her.

  “You have granted us a tremendous gift, whether there is any healing to come from the music or not,” she said graciously. “Your performance was superb.”

  “In Palmland we performed our musical healing for the people in hospitals, and we would be pleased to do the same for your subjects, your highness,” Grace said.

  “I will look forward to talking to your Ambassador Bartar about arranging such visits,” the Queen said appreciatively.

  “Tell me,” she spoke in a lower voice, a confidential tone, “this is the first time you have seen each other in several weeks, I understand. Your performance was so genuine and affectionate. Are the two of you?” she left the question unfinished.

  “We have energies that are very sympathetic to one another,” Grace answered. She took Grange’s hand in hers. “We are drawn by the natural compatibility of our abilities, and they make us alike in surprising ways, such as with the healing of our music together. I’m not sure we’ve really begun to understand what the two of us can do together, have we Grange?” she asked as she turned to him.

  Grange started to respond, then, out of the corner of his eye he noticed that nearly the entire audience was watching them, focused on the seemingly private conversation that was taking place on the stage. Only one person seemed in motion, and he realized it was Shaylee, pressing her way through the crowd, seeking to depart from the audience hall it appeared.

  She had heard them! The entire audience had heard them! Grace’s amplification spell still applied to their words, and everyone in the hall had heard Grace’s exaggerated description of their relationship and compatibility. Shaylee had heard the talk, the claims of what Grace and Grange could do together, and she was leaving the hall, leaving him after hearing that Grange and Grace were a special couple.

  “Turn it off,” Grange growled to Grace. “Turn off the power. This isn’t a conversation for the whole hall to hear.”

  “Oh, forgive me,” Grace said in what seemed a sincerely contrite tone. She pulled her wand out, closed her eyes and focused, then gently mouthed the words in the ancient language, asking the power to remove the amplification, and she touched it to herself, then Grange, then his flute.

  “I’m sorry,” she repeated. “Fortunately, we didn’t say anything embarrassing.”

  “No, not embarrassing,” Grange agreed half-heartedly. He looked back at the hallway, where he saw Shaylee disappear through a doorway. He turned to look back around the stage, and saw that Layreen was gone as well.

  “We’ll talk about this with the Ambassador, I assure you,” the Queen told them. “Thank you for your performance. Now go back and enjoy the dance tonight.”

  They bowed to her, then backed to the steps and returned to the dance floor. The orchestra began to play once again as the two apprentices walked in the direction of the foreigners’ table. They were repeatedly thanked and congratulated for their musical performance as they passed among the dancers on the floor, and it was several minutes before they reached Bartar’s table.

  “That was quite a performance!” the nobleman greeted them. “You two did more good for our cause in four minutes than I’ve accomplished in two months.”

  “We promised the Queen we would perform for their hospitals to heal the sick. She’ll talk to you about it,” Grace said, as Grange remained quiet.

  “I’m going to go take a walk and get some fresh air,” Grange said, and then he walked away rapidly, before he could be called back.

  He headed towards the door where he had seen Shaylee disappear.

  “Grange!” he heard a girl’s voice call, and he turned, hopeful.

  Asper came hurrying towards him. “I’m so glad I found you. Would you like to come to dinner at my home and meet my father?” she asked.

  Grange stood with his hand on the door handle, anxious to go find Shaylee. “I would like to do that sometime. Let me ask the ambassador about what night I can come to your home. I’ll send you a note, if that’s okay?”

  “Yes, that’s fine. Can we dance one more dance?” she asked hopefully.

  “I really have to go meet someone,” Grange deferred. “I’ll talk to you soon, I promise,” he told her, then bolted through the door and into the adjacent corridor.

  The corridor was empty. One direction led generally towards where Grange thought they had started the evening, while the other presumably went into the bowels of the palace. He started forward in the direction that was towards where they had been before, hoping that Shaylee had gone in that direction. The hallway came to a fork, and he guessed which way to go as he continued on.

  He came to a pair of doors across the hallway, where a single guard stood in a relaxed pose.

  “Have you seen a girl come through here in the past few minutes?” Grange asked.

  “These are the guard quarters,” the man answered.

  “But did a girl come through here, a pretty girl in a green dress?” Grange asked again.

  “That’s not your business. This is for the guards only,” the man replied, and he stood straighter, sensing that Grange wasn’t going to be easily turned away.

  “All I’m asking is about a girl. I’m trying to find her,” Grange said, taking a single step forward.

  The guard reacted by swiftly lowering the spear he had held, and thrusting it towards Grange’s midsection.

  Grange reacted instinctively, using the fighting skills that Lastone had taught him during his stay at Waters End. He pivoted to turn sideways, pulled his hips backwards and he lifted one hand beneath the spear and simultaneously slapped his other hand down upon it. He grabbed the wooden handle just behind the metal point, then pulled hard.

  As the unprepared guard was suddenly pulled forward, Grange raised his hand immediately, and brought it down on top of the off-balance man’s shoulders, thrusting him violently to the floor, while Grange’s lower hand grabbed the shaft of the spear and held onto it, wrenching it from the possession of the guard.

  “Now,” Grange said angrily, not thinking about what was happening, but simply reacting to the situation that was developing, “tell me if there was a girl here.” He lightly poked the spear in the man’s shoulder.

  “What’s that noise out there?” another voice called from behind the door. “Did you get drunk and fall down Lougee?” someone called.

  “Tell them it’s fine,” Grange hissed. His eyes locked with the eyes of the man he held captive.

  “Everything’s good as gold,” the man on the floor said loudly.

  There was silence from the other side of the door, and then it popped open and a man looked out.

  Grange stared at the new man, as the fallen man he had overcome reached over and grabbed Grange’s leg, then pulled hard on it, throwing Grange off balance. Grange twisted the spear to use it as a staff, the way Brielle had taught him at the Palmland armory, and he planted it on the floor as he fell, then spun around it and used his momentum to allow him to regain his feet and come to a stop, several feet away from where he had started.

  He knew he was in trouble. If the other side of the doorway truly held the guard quarters, he was likely to face an onslaught of fighters in a matter of moments.

  “Nerth mawr, os gwelwch yn dda fy helpu nawr. Gwneud i mi allu gwrthsefyll,” he uttered, asking for help from the power to make him invulnerable.

  The energy glowed around him instantly, he saw, then faded, and he looked and felt no different.

  The power had reacted, he told himself.

  “What in the name of the northern storms is going on here?” the new man asked loudly.

  “Lougee’s in trouble – everyone come out!” he shouted. He pulled back behind the door, then b
urst through it a moment later, holding a spear like the one that Grange now held. At the same time Grange’s first victim was getting up off the floor, dripping blood from where his chin had split open after hitting the floor so hard.

  “I don’t want any trouble,” Grange said, taking a step back. “I just asked a question and he tried to attack me.”

  “This kid was going to barge into the guard quarters,” Lougee replied in a shrill voice. “And when I told him no, he ambushed me.”

  A pair of new guards came out the door.

  “What’s happening?” one of them asked.

  “Lougee and this foreigner got into a scuffle, and Lougee got the worst of the deal,” the first man through the door replied, as the three newcomers started to space themselves out, separating as they sought to find lines of attack to approach Grange.

  “I just want to know if a girl came this way!” Grange said in exasperation. “If Lougee would have answered me, we wouldn’t be doing this.”

  Another guard looked out the door, then closed it again.

  “This girl?” he asked as he opened the door again, and pulled Shaylee out into the hallway.

  “Grange? What are you doing?” she asked as she belatedly recognized him.

  Grange was distracted for just a moment as he looked at her, and in that moment of distraction two of the armed guards attacked. They thrust their spear points at his chest.

  “Grange! No!” Shaylee screamed.

  Grange reacted to the attack, but too slowly. He swept his captured spear to the left, knocking one of the attacks away, and he tried to swing the butt of the shaft upward behind his defensive move, trying to block the second attack as well.

  His effort was a fraction of a second too late to strike the critical blow it needed to. The head of the second attacker’s spear struck him forcefully in the chest, just above the heart, and pressed him backwards, back against the wall. When his body met the wall and offered resistance to the weapon, the point did not penetrate his flesh, but skidded off to the side, making a skittering, scratching sound as it traced a route atop his skin. The point of the weapon rounded his ribs without leaving a scratch on him and struck the wall, then slid off to the side.