* * * * *
Blaize headed slowly back to the barracks, once again playing the abduction through his head. He knew that he had missed something important but couldn’t figure it out. He shook his head. He had been surprised to hear of the kidnapping, but this type of thing was not unheard of. During his lifetime members of the royal family in Balthus had been taken for ransom several times. It was disturbing, however, that no ransom note had been left. It would be interesting to see what developed over the next few days.
As Blaize began to cross the fields surrounding the barracks, he turned his thoughts back to his responsibility as a general in the royal army. The troops would be grateful when they heard that they would have the next few days free. They had been training hard and really could use a small break before the long march to Candus. Blaize had not made an overstatement when he had told the Commander General that the men had been training so hard, especially Traven.
With the thought of Traven, concern flooded back into Blaize’s mind. He knew that the stress hadn’t caused Traven to react as he had. The young man had grabbed at the stone that he always wore around his neck. The stone had somehow caused the sudden pain. Blaize would talk to Traven about it in the morning when they did their exercises. They needed to get to the bottom of it. If something like that happened in battle, Traven could very easily lose his life. They definitely needed to talk about it in the morning.
Blaize pulled up in front of the barracks and dismounted his faithful steed. A few long strides had him back within the building. He put away his worried thoughts until another time and sat back down at his desk to finish what he and the Commander General had been doing before they had received the disturbing news.
* * * * *
The High King lay in the dark and let the deceitful face fall. Despair began to press down on him as tears came to his eyes. His beloved wife had been taken from him and now his only daughter. Why? He had worked all of his life for his people, and this was his reward!
The City Watch had come with their report as promised. They still had no news of his daughter but had made at least one interesting discovery. On the pant leg of one of the dead cutthroats, a tracker had found bristles from a stanchad reed. The stanchad reed only grew on the outskirts of the Black Marsh. Several trackers would be checking along the rim of the marsh for any other clues during the night, and in the morning a decision would be made as to their next actions.
The High King shuddered at the thought of his precious daughter in the hands of the filthy cutthroats. He still had hope that she would be returned to him unharmed, but that little hope was fading away in the darkness of the night. His hope had not saved his dear wife from the darkness nor would it save his daughter. Shuddering again, he tried to get some sleep, but his room felt unbearably cold.
32
Sound slowly began to come back. A howling wind rushed over his body, chilling him to the bone. Traven tried to shake the dizziness as he pushed himself off the ground and slowly opened his eyes. A wave of nausea washed over him, and he let himself sink back to the ground with a groan. He had a horrible headache. He took several deep breaths and pushed himself up into a sitting position. Once the dizziness began to fade away he slowly opened his eyes once again.
As his vision came into focus, Traven’s mind also came into focus, and everything that had happened rushed back. Traven took in his surroundings from his position on the cold stone floor. A single torch burned next to a small wooden door, lighting the room. He glanced around the room and was not surprised to find that the small door was the only one that led out of the room. There were also three large windows with their mouths open wide to the darkness of the late winter night. There was nothing else in the small, circular stone room except for him and the Princess.
Traven stared at the form of the sleeping Princess briefly before breaking his gaze away from her. He slowly pushed himself up off the floor and walked over to the nearest window. The cold wind blasted his numb face as he stepped back from the window with a gasp. The windows would definitely not offer a way out. He had not even been able to see the ground! In the darkness he had only seen mist far below. He moved to the center of the room as far away from the windows as he could get. They were trapped in the top of an impossibly high tower. Traven took several deep breaths to try and calm himself. He had never even imagined being up so high in the air.
He wasn’t sure what to do. Traven had always dreamed of adventure. He had dreamed of fighting bandits and saving princesses, but he had never dreamed of being captured. Some rescue it had been. The only thing he had accomplished was getting caught also. At least the Princess was not all alone now. A movement caught his eye, and he once more turned to stare at the sleeping princess, forgetting momentarily the problems that he faced. She appeared so fragile and so beautiful. He considered trying to wake her but couldn’t work up the courage to do it.
Instead he just sat down in the center of the room and rubbed his throbbing temples as he contemplated what would happen to them next. Since they had been captured and not killed, Traven assumed they didn’t have to worry about being murdered. He understood why the Princess might have been kidnapped, but could not figure out why he had been taken also. Why hadn’t he been killed along with the royal guards? The Princess was a valuable bartering tool, but he had nothing of value except for . . . He grabbed for his chest and with a sigh of relief found his amber stone still there. His sword, however, was gone. He shouldn’t expect for his captors to leave him with his weapon.
From off to his side, the Princess mumbled something and Traven stiffened up, but he calmed down when he realized she was just mumbling in her sleep. He watched as she shifted restlessly. He wondered once again if he should try waking her but decided against it. It would be best to let her sleep and wait for her to wake up on her own. He heard footsteps approaching the door, and he forgot all about the Princess. He could hear muffled voices as the footsteps drew nearer to the door. The footsteps then stopped, and he heard several loud clicks as the locks on the outside of the door were opened. Traven watched anxiously from his seat on the floor as the door swung inward.
“I see someone decided to wake up,” said the first man.
He was tall and gaunt with long, stringy black hair. The instant Traven made contact with the man’s grey, beady eyes, he knew that the man was undoubtedly evil. At his waist hung Traven’s sword. Behind him stood a thick man who held a blazing torch in one hand and a drawn sword in the other. He was dressed in the same type of worn clothes as the thieves who had attacked the Princess. The tall man was dressed much better, though his clothes were not fancy. Traven didn’t feel threatened by the man holding the drawn sword, but for some reason the tall man made him very uneasy.
The man stared at Traven for several moments before walking towards the Princess. The thick man stayed at his position in the frame of the open door. Traven watched as the tall man nudged the Princess with the tip of his boot. When the Princess made no response, the tall man cocked back his foot. Traven cringed as the man kicked the Princess sharply in the stomach.
The Princess Kalista’s eyes shot open as she let out a yelp and grabbed at her stomach. With dazed eyes, the Princess pushed herself up and unsteadily stood. As she took in the scene, her eyes cleared and took on a frightened look. Traven followed her example and rose to his feet also. He felt slightly less intimidated looking at the tall man eye to eye. The Princess looked around for several moments before the fear in her eyes turned to anger, and she turned to face the tall man.
“Who do you think you are?” she demanded. When the tall man only answered with an amused smile, she continued. “Do you know who I am? You will be executed for what you have done!”
Traven watched, amazed at the Princess’ words. He didn’t think they should try to upset their captors if they wanted to get away safely. Fortunately, the tall man only seemed amused.
“Princess,” he began with a wicked grin on his face. “You are in
no position to make promises you cannot keep. And of course I know who you are. Otherwise I would not have gone through so much trouble to capture you. Now please keep your pretty little mouth shut unless I give you permission to speak!”
The Princess turned red as she shook her head with a scowl. She opened her mouth to say something, but what it was that she was going to say Traven would never find out. He stared in amazement as the tall man back handed the Princess across the mouth, effectively stopping her words. Tears came to the Princess’ eyes as her hand rose to touch the trickle of blood coming from her split bottom lip.
“I think we now understand each other,” the tall man said with a grin.
Traven could hardly believe his eyes, but the man seemed to have enjoyed hitting the helpless Princess. Traven’s dislike and fear of the man continued to grow. Anger began to boil through his veins. He fought to restrain himself from lashing out at his evil captor. He tried not to flinch as the man turned his attention away from the now silent Princess and focused on him.
“You might be wondering why you are still alive.”
Traven stared back into the beady eyes of his captor. The man looked as if he was waiting for something. After several moments the man reached inside his tunic and pulled out a dark black rock. Traven could see tiny specks of red, marring the black surface. As the man lifted the stone up and began to approach him, Traven could feel the familiar warmth of the stone around his neck grow hotter. He resisted the urge to grab at it as the man continued to move the black stone closer to him. When the stone was only a foot from his chest, the man shook his head. He then lowered the stone to the hilt of Traven’s sword. Traven watched with surprise as the stone changed to deep red. It must have been a might stone. Off to his side he heard the Princess gasp. The tall man smiled and slipped the rock back into his tunic.
“You are still alive, boy, because I need some answers. I do not like it when I don’t know something. I make it a point to find out what I don’t know. As you can see, the stone I possess is not an ordinary stone. It changes from solid black to red when in the presence of something magic. As you saw, my new sword is magic.” The man grinned mockingly at him as he patted the hilt of Traven’s sword. “The stone also changes when you are near, boy. It doesn’t turn solid red, however. Maybe you could explain why.”
Traven felt his mouth go dry under the intense stare of the evil man. He didn’t know how to answer. He knew if he said anything about his might stone, it would be taken from him. He wondered if the man would find out anyway and be more angered. After struggling in his mind for a long second, Traven ended up saying nothing at all. He answered with a simple shrug of his shoulders and a blank look on his face.
“I think you do know something,” the man replied with cold eyes. “It really doesn’t make a difference. I will finish off what I started when I destroyed your caravan outside of Kavar. I’ve followed you since then.”
It only took a moment for Traven to realize what the man was saying. He had been among those that attacked Maritza’s caravan. Traven’s hand unconsciously drifted to the red cloth tied around his arm. This man had been among the murderers. He took an angry step forward without thinking. He stopped in mid step, however, as he found the tip of his sword against his throat. If he had not stopped quickly enough, he would have been dead. As it was, he could feel a trickle of blood sliding down his throat. He remained perfectly still, glaring once again at the amused man.
“This is too much fun,” the grim man chuckled. “As long as you don’t move, I will let you live one more day. I will let you think about death throughout the night. It will make your death more enjoyable tomorrow.” Traven gasped with relief when the man whipped back his sword and sheathed it in a fluid motion. The gaunt man gave him one last menacing look before turning to the still sniffling Princess. “And do not get your hopes up, my Princess,” he said mockingly. “There will be no ransoming. I don’t kidnap for money. I kidnap to kill. Your fate will be the same as his,” he said motioning to Traven. “I will leave you now to get some rest. Tomorrow I will make my last trip into the city. When I have everything I need for my journey home, I will finish my task and be done with you. Enjoy your night and the sunrise tomorrow. They will both be your last!”
Traven watched in amazement as the man turned and sauntered out of the room laughing. The thick man with the torch shut the door behind him. The clicking of the locks confirmed that once again there was no way out. Traven watched the locked door in despair as the fading footsteps carried the man’s wicked glee out of hearing. He wiped away the blood from his throat. He had no doubt that the man had meant what he said. In his eyes he had seen the total disregard the man had for the lives of others. He had never seen such coldness in another human being’s eyes. They had to figure a way to get out of their high prison. If not, the Princess and he would not live to see another night. He turned to the Princess and was unpleasantly surprised to find her glaring at him.
“Why did you not awaken me before that man kicked me?” she demanded. “Did you think it would be amusing to see me beaten like a commoner?”
Traven stared back with his mouth open as the Princess rubbed at her sore stomach. He couldn’t believe the words of the Princess. She hadn’t thanked him for attempting to rescue her. She hadn’t even cared to know his name. Instead she had berated him. He was once again reminded that beauty too often was only skin deep.
“Sorry,” he managed to say.
The Princess did not seem to be satisfied with his answer, but he didn’t know what else to say. She glared at him for a few more minutes before saying anything else. When she did speak, he was glad that it was about a different subject.
“We need to get out of here!” she said sternly. Of that Traven agreed. “So how are we going to get out of here?”
He was once again surprised by the question and once again did not have a good answer.
“Well, um, I . . .”
“Are you an imbecile?” the Princess cut in. Traven was not sure what the word meant, but by the way she had said it he was sure it was an insult. “Do you know how to speak? You are always just shrugging your shoulders or mumbling unintelligible things with that dumb look on your face.”
Traven felt his face flush. He had definitely not left a good impression on the Princess. He wanted to say something in his defense but didn’t know what to say. Of course that only seemed to prove what the Princess had just said about him.
“All right!” the Princess almost screamed in exasperation. “I will figure something out myself.”
Traven watched silently as the exasperated Princess strode over to the door and tried to yank it open. When it did not budge, she crossed the room and looked out one of the windows. He was surprised to see her actually lean part way out of the window as she looked down. She definitely did not have the fear of heights that he harbored. The Princess soon left the window and walked around the room several times before finally giving up her search for a way out. She slid down under the center window and sat with her arms crossed and a stony expression on her face.
Traven was somewhat disappointed when she sat down. He had enjoyed watching her graceful figure circle him. He knew he should be trying to think of a way out of their predicament but couldn’t help himself. She was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. It was a shame that she disliked him so much. He wondered if part of it had to do with him almost beating her in the archery match. As he thought about it, he had never actually done anything to her to make her so upset with him. In fact, he had risked his own life to save hers, and thanks to that he was going to die along with her. He could have just turned back up the alley and left the Princess to be kidnapped, and he would still have his freedom.
Traven thought about pointing out to the Princess that it was actually her fault that he was here in the first place, but then he finally realized why she was trying to hold the stony expression on her face. She was trying not to cry. He suddenly felt bad for his t
houghts. His mind was once again working normally, and he began to realize what was really happening. The Princess was not mad at him. She was just frightened. New feelings rushed into his troubled heart. He suddenly felt the desire to comfort the Princess and let her know that everything would be all right. The only problems were that he was not sure that everything was going to be all right, and he didn’t know how to comfort her. If she was not the Princess, maybe he would put his arm around her, but he realized that he couldn’t do that. He decided he could at least offer some words of comfort. After working up the courage, he opened his mouth.
“Don’t worry, my Princess,” he finally managed to say. “Everything will be all right.” When the Princess raised her eyes from the cold stone floor, Traven wished that he would have just kept quiet.
“What do you mean that everything is going to be all right!” the Princess shouted. “There is no way out of here, and I am sure that filthy man meant what he said. Tomorrow we will both be dead. How can you say that everything is going to be all right?”
He watched helplessly as tears began to stream down the Princess’ cheeks. He felt somehow guilty for her sorrow and looked down at his fidgeting hands ashamedly. After several minutes, the Princess stopped sniffling.
“I think we should try and get some sleep,” she finally said in a surprisingly calm voice. “Maybe with some sleep and the sunlight of a new day our minds will be clearer and we can think of something.”
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