Kalista let out a triumphant sigh as one last whistling sound shot through the air. After a few seconds her speeding mare came crashing to the ground, sending the Princess flying forward through the air. She hit the street and bounced across the hard stone before coming to a stop. She lay motionless for several seconds before she could remember what was happening. She quickly tried to pick her dazed and aching body off of the ground, but the remaining three men were instantly upon her. One grabbed her arms and yanked them behind her back as another roughly gagged her with a soiled cloth. Her hands were quickly bound as well as her feet. She was then rolled over onto her back. As Kalista’s head finally cleared completely, she tried to scream. The scream was effectively stopped by the rag, not letting out any sound at all.
“Quit struggling, little Princess,” one of the men said as he slapped her across the face. The other two men joined him in laughing as tears came to her eyes.
“STOP!” someone shouted sharply from down the street.
The man jumped back from Kalista and whipped around with the other two. Upon seeing who it was, they all calmed down.
“Keep on walking boy,” one of them spat. There were then a few moments of intense silence. “I said get moving!”
Kalista propped herself up on her elbows to see what was going on. What met her eyes amazed her. Not far down the street the young soldier who had shot against her so well stood defiantly facing the three men. He was once again all in black. Kalista felt a glimmer of hope that was almost immediately snuffed out as she realized her would be rescuer was outnumbered three to one. She watched as the young man looked from the three men to her. He offered a quick half smile before setting his jaw in defiance and returning his gaze to the three men.
“I’ll take care of ‘em,” one of the men said as he pulled out his sword. “We warned you!” the man said mockingly to the young soldier as he started towards him.
The young man slowly unsheathed his sword, but other than that he did not move at all. He watched his advancing attacker intently from his calm face with his sword gripped loosely at his side. The man suddenly leaped forward with a yell at the young soldier. Kalista was sure the young man was going to be cut down, but at the last second his sword shot up to block the slash. With blinding quickness, the young man’s counter stroke left his opponent dead. Kalista stared in amazement along with the other two thieves at the young man who had so effortlessly disposed of his attacker without hardly moving. It was then Kalista remembered that General Blaize had said the young man was one of the best swordsmen in the army. The warmth of hope slowly began to creep back into her cold body.
Kalista looked on as the other two men shook off their initial shock and bared their swords. They advanced cautiously toward the killer of their partner. The young man stepped over the lifeless body at his feet and with the same look of calm concentration as before poised his sword horizontally at his side. The two attackers slashed at him simultaneously, but he easily avoided their slashes blocking one and dodging the other. He then kicked one sharply in the stomach. As his surprised attacker stumbled back with a grunt, the young soldier unleashed his fury on the other man. Three quick swipes left the man face down in the street, never to rise again. The young man then struck at the third man who had barely recovered from the surprise kick. Their swords clashed together several times before the assailant fell to the ground to accompany his partners.
The young soldier, still alert, scanned the streets with his sword ready. At his feet the white cobbled street was stained not by the bright crimson of wine as earlier but by the deep crimson of blood. After several moments, he relaxed and bent down to cut off a piece of cloth from one of the attacker’s sleeves. He then used it to wipe the blood from his sword quickly. When his blade was clean, he sheathed it and hurried over to her. He bent down at her side and with a shy smile undid the gag and pulled the soiled rag carefully from her mouth.
Kalista stared into the bright eyes of her smiling rescuer as gratitude flowed from her heart. She was about to thank him, but his smile disappeared as a look of concern came to his eyes. His eyes grew large, and Kalista heard a dull thud. His eyes then rolled back, and the young man collapsed onto her, muffling her startled scream. The young man’s limp body was almost immediately pulled off of her. In its place a man with dark stringy hair and a thin face gazed back at her with a wicked grin. His grin turned to a snarl as he brought something hard down into the side of her head. The world went black.
* * * * *
Wraith walked nonchalantly away from the two still bodies and back to his horse. He retrieved two large brown sacks and returned. After retying the gag around the attractive princess’ mouth, he pulled the bag over her body and tied the end shut. He then took the magnificent sword from the young man and after deftly gagging him and tying him up, stuffed him into the other bag. He quickly rounded up two of his men’s horses and hefted the limp bodies onto them. After making sure that they were secure, he pulled Kadrak’s seeker stone out one more time.
As he passed the stone over the sword it turned red. The sword definitely had magical properties, but other than feeling as if it were molding to his grip, Wraith had no idea what they were. The assassin then waived the stone over the sack that the young man was in. It returned to black once again but with small, almost unnoticeable specks of red. With a shake of his head he pulled the stone away, and it went solidly pitch black once again. Wraith was not sure what to think about the young man, but he would have plenty of time to find out. Wraith had watched as the young man defiantly stood against three of his small troop of cutthroats. He had thought about shooting the man with his blow gun but had waited to see what would happen.
When the young man killed the first bandit effortlessly, Wraith had raised his blow gun, but on a hunch he had set it back down and pulled out the seeker stone. To his surprise, it was the same mottled color that it had been that night when he had attacked the caravan months before. He did not know what to think. The young man could not be a wielder since the stone had not turned a solid red, but apparently there was something about him that affected the stone. Wraith had quickly crept down to the street and subdued him. He would have killed him, but dead people did not give any answers. He wanted to know why the stone changed around the young man. For that reason alone he had left the young man alive.
Wraith pulled himself onto his horse and leading the other two horses, turned down the next street. When someone stumbled upon the scene of death and found the royal guards dead, the city would go into an uproar. Wraith smiled to himself as he made his way past the unsuspecting citizens of Kalia with his prizes. He had set out to kidnap the Princess Kalista. He had succeeded as he always did and had even gained a magic sword and the young man whom he had followed to Calyn. What a wonderful afternoon!
31
“Excuse me, Commander General.”
Gavin looked up from the papers that General Blaize and he were discussing. A very pale and winded city watchman stood before them, anxiously waiting for Gavin to acknowledge him and let him give his message. Gavin was slightly annoyed by the interruption, but from the look on the watchman’s face he could tell that the message must be somewhat important.
“Go ahead,” Gavin replied as he looked back down at the reports.
“The Princess Kalista has been kidnaped,” the young watchman said quickly.
“What!” Gavin shouted as he jumped up from his chair. “Explain yourself,” he all but shouted at the quivering watchman.
“Yes, Commander General,” the watchman said as he took a deep breath. “The guards escorting her were found dead on a side road in the Capila section of the city. The Princess is nowhere to be found. I was dispatched immediately to give word to you and lead you to the sight of the apparent abduction.”
“Lead on,” Gavin commanded as he let the papers fall to the table.
Gavin followed the watchman quickly down the hall and out of the barracks. He could feel the presence o
f the large general following close at his heels. All three were soon on their horses and heading into the city. Gavin was so stunned by the announcement that he did not know what to think. His bride-to-be had been kidnapped! A member of the royal family had not been touched for centuries. As the realization of the situation began to finally sink in, he began to feel pangs of guilt. He should not have let her ride back to the palace with only six guards. He should have gone with her with the rest of the guards. If anything happened to her, he did not know if he could live with himself.
When they arrived, Gavin’s eyes were met by a confusing scene. The small side street had been blocked off by the City Watch, and they moved aside for the three men. Immediately in front of them lay three bodies surrounded by their own blood. By the look of their clothes, they were poor cutthroats. Further down the street lay all six royal guards. As far as Gavin could see they had no wounds and there were no signs of a struggle. Further down the road lay another cutthroat with a bolt in him, and further still lay the mare of the Princess, unmoving but seemingly untouched. Gavin looked up and down the street trying to figure out what had happened. Behind him, General Blaize’s eyes darted in every direction as he reenacted in his mind what had occurred. The watchmen who had been inspecting the bodies stood up straight as the Commander General cleared his throat.
“What have you found?” Gavin asked in a steady and controlled voice. The captain of the City Watch stepped forward with a bow.
“I am sorry but we have found no trace of the Princess Kalista or any clues as to where she might be. Apparently no one saw or heard anything. Several of my watchmen were only one block away monitoring a disturbance that was the result of a wine spill. They reported that they saw the Princess watching the celebration cheerfully with her escort no more than an hour ago. After watching the scene for several moments, the Princess and her escort headed around the celebration using this street. About half an hour ago someone heading away from the celebration stumbled upon this scene. Even in his drunken state he hurried back to tell the watchmen who were supervising the festivities.
“They immediately quarantined the street, and we have been looking for clues and seeking out witnesses ever since. We still have been unable to find anyone who saw the attack or anything out of the ordinary. I have my best trackers searching for clues as we speak. We have only begun to investigate and are still hopeful that something will turn up. At least we can assume the Princess is unharmed. They would not have taken her if they were not planning on a ransom or something of that nature.”
Gavin took a deep breath, hoping the captain was correct in his assumption. He could not bear the thought of Kalista being hurt by the scum that had abducted her.
“Captain,” General Blaize cut in. “Would you tell me how the six guards and the Princess’ mare were killed?”
“None of them had any visible wounds except for a small dart in their necks. We assume the darts must have been tipped with very deadly venom.”
Upon hearing this, the large general dismounted from his steed and walked over to the six lifeless guards. Gavin watched as General Blaize knelt down next to one and turned him onto his back. He pushed back the dead man’s eyelid and gazed into his eye. He then peered into the guard’s open mouth. After a moment the general turned the guard onto his stomach and walked back to Gavin.
“Cottonweed,” the large general stated confidently. “They were killed by the venom of the cottonweed viper. The vipers are very rare and only live in the northeast of Balthus. Their venom kills almost instantly. There is your first clue captain. The attackers either came from Balthus or purchased the venom from a trader from Balthus. The venom loses potency with time. It is not something that can be stored for very long and still have much of an effect. Before a year’s time the venom is no longer lethal. The venum was brought to Calyn between last spring and now.” The captain looked from the general to Gavin and then back again. General Blaize shrugged his shoulders. “It’s not much of a clue, but at least it is something.”
“Thank you, General,” the captain said. After thinking a moment he asked General Blaize if he would share his thoughts about how the abduction had taken place. “All clues, however small, will help us greatly in trying to locate the Princess.”
“I doubt I can add anything that your trackers don’t know.”
“Share your thoughts,” Gavin commanded, urging the general to share his opinion. From his earlier observation, Gavin was sure the large Balthan must have other insights. He was eager to hear any information that could possibly help in finding his dear Kalista. General Blaize took a breath and then began to illustrate what he had been working out in his mind.
“The attack was very well planned,” he began. “The kidnappng was not done by normal thieves. It began with the diversion on the main street. It effectively drew the attention of all the surrounding citizens and forced the Princess and her escort to use the vacant side street. A very skilled assassin, hidden perhaps on a rooftop, sent his bolts deftly and silently into the necks of the guards. With them out of the way it would be easy to capture the defenseless Princess. The Princess tried to escape, but her horse was also brought down by the sharp shooting assassin. She somehow killed one of her attackers before being brought down.”
“A bolt from her crossbow was found in the thief,” the captain interjected. General Blaize smiled and continued.
“After the Princess was captured, it appears that an attempt was made to rescue her. Whoever tried to rescue her was a decent swordsman, for he killed three of her abductors before being brought down. For a reason that I cannot figure out, he was captured also and taken.”
“How do you know this?” one of the trackers inquired.
“If he had been killed, his body would be here with the others, and if he escaped, he would have contacted the City Watch. The only other option is that he was captured and taken. The fact that he was not killed like the guards disturbs me, for it makes no sense.” The large general shook his head and finished. “After that, the Princess and the other man were somehow hidden and taken away. I cannot be certain of the number of thieves that were involved, but there couldn’t have been too many or they would have been noticed.” General Blaize shrugged once again. “That’s all that I can piece together.”
“Thank you,” the captain once again said. “While your theory follows closely with those of my trackers, you have offered several helpful insights.”
“What else can be done?” Gavin interjected.
“We are doing all that we can,” the captain responded. “We will finish our investigation and send word to the palace tonight. The High King has not yet been informed of the abduction,” the captain said hesitantly. “I can send a messenger immediately if . . .”
“I will inform the High King,” Gavin stated solemnly. “Keep all of this quiet. We do not need the citizens to worry. I will be anxiously awaiting your report.”
Gavin parted with General Blaize, leaving him to go back to the barracks. Gavin then headed towards the palace to inform the High King. He did not like being the bearer of such news but felt partially responsible for the abduction and would not try to hide his guilt.
When Gavin arrived at the palace, he left his horse at the stables and with a stone face mechanically walked through the palace to the High King’s waiting room. He stood silently, waiting as a messenger slipped inside to inform the High King of Gavin’s presence. Gavin once again tried to think of the best way to inform the monarch of his beloved daughter’s abduction, but almost immediately the messenger slipped back out and motioned him into the High King’s presence. Gavin walked slowly into the lavishly furnished room, desperately seeking the right words to tell the High King. His heart sank as he saw the cheerful smile of the High King.
“My boy,” the High King announced as the door was shut behind Gavin. “Please do not bow. You are family now. I always wanted a son you know. And now I have one! How are the preparations for the march?” When
Gavin did not answer, the High King paused and took a closer look at him. His smile slowly faded from his face as he sensed Gavin’s mood. “What is it, son?” he asked.
Gavin opened his mouth and then closed it again. He should have let a messenger bring the dismal news. He had made the choice, however, and decided that he might as well be direct.
“My High King,” he began slowly. The rest came out in a rush. “The Princess Kalista has been kidnapped.”
Gavin watched the High King expectantly for his reaction. He was surprised when the High King merely nodded his head slowly.
“When did this happen?” the High King demanded in a surprisingly calm voice.
Gavin, wishing that he could remain as calm as the High King, blurted out the details of what had happened and begged forgiveness from the High King for his failure to protect Kalista. The High King stood in silence for several moments and then crossed the room to stand beside Gavin. He reached up and patted his future son-in-law on the shoulder.
“Do not be a fool and blame this on yourself. Sometimes things happen that are beyond our control,” the High King paused as if remembering something and then continued. “Do not let this harrow you down. I am sure that my daughter will be found soon. No one would dare harm her. The best trackers in Kalia are worrying about finding her. Do not worry also. She will be found.”
Gavin stared back at the High King who gave him a small, but reassuring smile. He could not believe how well the High King had taken the news of the capture of his only daughter and heir to the throne. Gavin was told to go and change and try to relax before dinner. He watched as the High King left his side and walked back to his desk in such a stately manner. As Gavin left the High King’s presence, he understood a little better what it meant to be the High King of Kalia. Gavin was not nearly as calm as the great monarch, but felt much better after standing next to the firm man. His confidence had lent comfort to Gavin. Gavin decided to follow the High King’s advice and headed for his chambers as he tried in vain to forget about the situation.
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