by Glenda Larke
“I don’t know what you are talking about!”
“I’m here, Sorrel.” It was Ardhi’s voice at the window. They both turned to look as he hauled himself up on to the sill, a coil of rope over his shoulder.
“What’s happening?” she asked.
“Guards are rushing around in a panic on the ground floor,” he said, “and they’ve closed the gates. All’s well, though; I saw Peregrine hightailing it up the street as soon as things went wrong.”
That meant their back-up plan was about to be implemented. Relief quelled her panic, at least in part. “Have you seen Fox?”
“He’s down there. They’re bringing up the dogs from the kennels. I think you’d better get out on to the roof as quick as you can.” He swung himself over the ledge into the room. “You go first.” He was already tying one end of the rope to the solid wood frame of the double bed. “Your Highness, Horntail made a harness, and I’m going to lower you both down, one at a time. When it’s your turn, you can hold on to Prince Garred yourself to keep him calm.”
“Horntail? Horntail’s with you?”
Bless you, Ardhi. Why didn’t I think of Horntail?
“He’s waiting for us outside the palace,” Ardhi said. He sounded cheerfully confident. “With the Pontifect. The real one. Sorrel, I want your shoes and your kerchief, as well as the kris.”
She didn’t waste time asking why. The kerchief was the one Saker had given her so long ago, but she handed it over without a word. He held out the harness to her. She slipped it over her head and tied it firmly. They had practised this, just in case.
“It’s not far,” he said, “but you might spin a bit. Just concentrate on fending yourself off the wall. Use your feet. When I send Bealina down, there’ll be a tail of rope below her. Grab that as soon as you can. You keep it taut, away from the wall, and that will stop her from grazing the stonework as I lower her. When you and Bealina and Garred are all at the bottom of the tower, don’t wait for me. Go to the – what are those things called again?”
She guessed he meant the roofed turrets projecting out over the river from the curtain wall. “Bartizans.”
“The southernmost one, as planned. I’ve opened the watch port and anchored the other rope. It’s too short, though.”
She nodded. “Right. Has anyone seen you from below yet?”
“Not that I know of.”
Bealina watched him suspiciously. “You’re a Pashali,” she said at last, and made it sound like an accusation.
“No, I’m not,” he said. “I’m what you would call a lascar.”
“Would it make you happier to know that he belongs to a ruling family and has a university education that far surpasses anything you or I possess?” Sorrel asked, hauling herself up on to the window ledge.
Ardhi raised an eyebrow at her, but she didn’t apologise. She was so weary of people making stupid assumptions about him. Mathilda and Ryce had both irritated her with their innate belief that their birth made them automatically better people, and it looked like Bealina might be the same.
Royalty. Pah! “I’m ready,” she said. “Your Highness, I beg you, for the sake of your son and your husband, trust us.”
Bealina gave her a weak smile and nodded.
Ardhi had been right. She did spin and she bumped her knee once, hard enough to give herself a bruise, but she was down on the roof in seconds. He hauled the rope up, and it wasn’t long before she was steadying Bealina’s descent as Ardhi paid out the rope from above. The silly woman had her eyes closed, and if Sorrel had not warned her, she would have landed with a thump.
“I thought I was going to die,” Bealina said.
“Garred seems to think it was fun.” Indeed, the boy was chortling.
“Again!” he shouted, and they both hastened to shush him.
Ardhi loosed the rope and it dropped down from above. Bealina jumped. “How will that fellow get down?” she asked.
“His witchery,” she said. “No, don’t take the harness off. You are going to need it again. Come, we’ll wait for Ardhi in that bartizan over there. We’ll be out of sight.”
“And then what?” the princess asked.
“A boat. That’s why we need the rope.”
“But—”
“Quick.” She grabbed Bealina by the arm and hustled her across the roof. It sloped slightly downwards to the parapet walk of the curtain wall bordering the river. The door to the bartizan stood open and once inside they had a view through the wooden watch port, now propped open, while remaining concealed themselves. Back through the doorway, Sorrel saw Ardhi climbing down the outside of the central tower, using no more than his fingers and toes.
At her side, Bealina shivered. “He looks like a spider. Why doesn’t he wear shoes?”
“People don’t where he comes from. There is little need to, for the weather is always warm.”
“How do you know that?”
“I’ve been there.”
Bealina’s eyes widened. “How brave!”
She didn’t reply. Instead of joining them, Ardhi had disappeared behind the tower.
“You don’t like me very much, do you?” Bealina’s whisper was barely audible over the sound of wind and waves and the distant barking of dogs finding a scent.
Fiddle me witless, what’s bothering her? “I don’t know you, Your Highness. Forgive me if I was rude. I am scared too, because we are running out of time. Right now, I’m worried about my friend as well.” She managed a smile. “Don’t worry. We’ll have you both safe soon.”
She looked around the interior of the bartizan. Ardhi had already anchored a rope on the solid bracket of the door bar; she needed to to make it long enough to reach the water. Fortunately, sailors’ knots came easy to her after her time on board ship and she began to knot her rope to his.
“This will all be over soon,” she said, working at the task. “Prince Ryce is coming to Vavala with an army.” She sketched in all that had happened to Gromwell and why the prince had gone to Throssel first. “So, you see, it was our job to rescue you. I’m sorry I made a mess of it and the guards and Prime Fox have been alerted.”
“He will never let me go,” Bealina whispered. Her face was as white as bleached linen.
“Fox? He won’t have a choice in the matter. As soon as the boat appears, we go down the rope to the water. And then we take you to the Great Oak shrine. In the many months the shrines have been hidden, not one has been found by Fox’s men. You can wait there in safety for the prince’s army.”
“The guards will find us any minute.”
“That’s what the rope is for. To lower you into a boat. We planned for every contingency. The boat will already be on its way, manned by loyal Shenat boatmen all arranged by Pontifect Fritillary.” All the boatmen had needed was a word from Peregrine – and Ardhi had seen him leave.
“Me look!” Garred said, pointing to the lookout window.
Hounds in the distance bayed and Sorrel suppressed a shudder as she bent to pick him up, glad of the distraction.
“And you’ve spoken to His Highness?” Bealina persisted, frowning.
“Prince Ryce? Yes. He’s been fretting about you and Garred. He adores you, doesn’t he?”
Her words didn’t appear to cheer Bealina. She looked sick.
Garred wriggled in Sorrel’s arms as he leaned out of the window. “Water,” he said.
She tightened her grip on him. “Yes. That’s a river.” She looked across his head to Bealina. “You’ll be safe soon, and together with your husband. You’ll be queen before you know it.”
“I can’t see a boat.” Bealina’s shoulders slumped. “Fox controls everyone. You can’t fight him. You just can’t, no matter how hard you try…”
“We have witcheries on our side.”
“There was a time,” Bealina said, so softly that Sorrel had to strain to hear, “when all I wanted to be was Ryce’s queen. But sometimes dreams die, and evil men win.”
“Fox hasn’t w
on yet,” Sorrel said.
Princess Bealina gave a bitter smile. “Fox saw to it that I will never be a queen.”
Oh, blister it. What does she mean? She made a guess. “He’s… hurt you? That won’t make any difference to Prince Ryce. Have faith in him, in his affection for you. He spoke of his admiration for your courage during the siege, and how his men adored you. There is nothing that would ever change that, truly.”
“You don’t understand anything.”
“Try me.”
Bealina was silent.
“Ah, look – I think that’s them now.” A small sailboat was battling a moderate headwind towards the palace seawall. “I do believe that could be Horntail in the prow!”
The princess fixed her eyes on the boat. She began to shake. “It’s a long way down,” she whispered.
“It looks further than it is,” Ardhi said, entering the door behind her. “I think I’ve confused matters a bit for those searching the palace. I barred the door to that guard room, so they won’t know what happened inside and will have to spend time breaking it down. The guard is still out cold.”
“My shoes?” Sorrel asked.
“I dropped them, and the kerchief, from the roof on to three different levels below to confuse the dogs. They found the first shoe almost immediately, and that diverted the search to the other side of the palace.” He turned to Bealina. “This time, Princess, you go first. Sorrel is stronger and Garred is obviously fine with her holding him, so she will take him down after you. Let’s get you ready for when they arrive underneath us.”
Sorrel watched as he tied the rope to the harness Bealina still wore.
She would have understood fear, or panic, but the closer rescue came, the more the princess appeared subdued and miserable, rather than scared. “Don’t worry. I’ll take such care with Prince Garred,” she said. “He’s the most precious of cargoes. Ryce will be so proud of the way you have kept him safe.”
The look the princess gave her was unreadable, and it worried her. Something was not right.
They both helped Bealina over the sill of the watch port the moment the boat arrived underneath. Ardhi began to pay out the rope as quickly as was safe. At least this time there was no danger of her hitting the wall; the bartizan projected far enough over the water to make that unlikely. As soon as the men in the boat caught the tail rope and began to haul her in, Sorrel stopped watching to turn her attention back to the roof, in time to see guards stepping out from a dormer window on the far side. Quickly, she closed the door.
“Guards coming,” she said, putting Garred down on the floor. “At least three.”
“Did they see you?”
“No.”
“The moment you arrive in the boat, I’m going to throw the rope down and jump,” Ardhi said, watching as the princess was helped out of the harness and seated next to the mast.
Sorrel nodded, aware they might not escape in time.
He hauled the rope up the moment the harness was free, and she put it on while he wound the other end around the bracket for the door bar to keep it taut while she climbed out through the window opening. He handed Garred to her and started to unwind the rope.
“Ardhi,” she called out as she began to descend. “There are another two men running along the parapet walk!”
The rope dropped shockingly fast, and her stomach lurched in protest. Garred squealed as they spun. Eager hands grabbed them as they reached the boat.
As soon as she was safely seated, Horntail snatched the boy into his arms, laughing with joy. “I remember you, lad!” he cried.
Garred grabbed the sergeant’s beard and began to prattle about whizzing round and round.
Sorrel only had eyes for Ardhi. He splashed into the water beside the boat almost immediately. “Get out of here!” he cried as one of the sailors hauled him in. “They’ve seen us!”
The helmsman in the stern was already pushing the tiller over for the sail to catch the wind, the boat heeled and Ardhi tumbled in over the gunwale.
“Get down!” Horntail yelled, and bent protectively over Garred. Sorrel thought he was warning them about the boom swinging over, and ducked, but at the same time there was the bang of an arquebus being fired up on the wall, followed quickly by a second.
Bealina gasped and flung herself down between the seats, Sorrel spreadeagled on top of her. There was a silence, and then more shots. The boat scudded on.
When Horntail raised his head a little later, he said, “It’s all right. We’re out of range now.”
Sorrel pulled herself on to the seat, and bent to help Bealina up. The princess’s face was ashen and she was clutching her chest.
“Did you hurt yourself?” Sorrel asked.
Bealina looked down and pulled her hand away.
Her dress was torn. Blood stained the edges of the tear.
For a moment Sorrel was uncomprehending, until she realised the first ball fired must have hit the princess. She hadn’t flung herself down for safety; she had been toppled by the shot.
She looked up at Sorrel, and then leaned against her, gasping. “I feel strange.” She sounded surprised.
“Let me look.” Sorrel slipped an arm around her back to hold her upright, and the princess slumped against her, coughing.
“Va save!” one of the sailors said, appalled. “That’s blood!”
A froth of red bubbles spattered down Bealina’s dress.
Aghast, Horntail handed Garred to the sailor and scrambled over. He ripped up his own shirt to make a pad of cloth to press against the small wound in her chest, but it was obvious to them all that the real problem was internal. “We need a healer!”
“Garred needs you. Stay with us,” Sorrel said into her ear.
“Va knows… better…” Bealina’s words were faint. Blood dribbled from her nose. She began to cough again and this time there was much more blood. In between the spasms, she tried desperately to draw in air.
Sorrel clutched at the bambu around her neck, fumbling for another wisp of feather. Ardhi dived at her, rocking the boat, to stop her from opening it. “No,” he said. “No, Sorrel. That is not what it is for.”
“Saker did it for me!”
He didn’t reply, but his hand tightened over hers, clamping the stopper in tighter.
“Tell… Ryce…” Bealina whispered. She closed her eyes as if she was too weak to keep them open. She dragged in more air in rasping gulps between each word as she murmured, “Love… always… but… better… this… way. Tell him I won. For Garred…”
Garred pulled away from the sailor to clutch at his mother’s knee. The final movement she made was to touch a finger to his cheek – and smile.
Sorrel held her close, resting her own cheek against the princess’s. Each breath wheezed into Bealina’s lungs, a ghastly sound, and was expelled in a haze of blood. Each breath was further and further apart.
Somewhere before they reached the shore, life was gone.
Sorrel exchanged a look of despair and guilt with Horntail over the top of Bealina’s head. His face was ashen. “I remember everything,” he whispered. “Everything.”
31
Rage
Bealina looked tiny in death. More girl than woman and mother. A Staravale princess who had fallen in love with the man she’d married, dreamed of becoming a queen – and died far too young. The shrine keeper, Akorna, laid her on one of the shrine-oak’s great boughs, close to the trunk. In the subdued light filtering through the oak leaves, her body lacked substance, as if in death it had begun to fade away into its surroundings.
Sorrel stood by the body grieving and wretched, shaken, wishing she had done things differently, knowing that if she had fled out of the gate after the dog attacked instead of going to look for the princess, Bealina might still be alive.
My mistake killed her…
Ardhi came up and slipped his hand into hers. He pulled her away to where they could speak privately. “It wasn’t your fault.”
She burie
d her face in his shoulder. “If only I had−”
“Valerian Fox was to blame, the guards were his instrument – and it was just appalling bad luck that a stray ball hit her the way it did and did the damage it did. It could have been you. Or me, or Horntail, or one of the sailors.”
“I thought I could use the feather to—”
“We can’t save everyone, Sorrel.”
“Saker saved me with one of his!”
“And the power disappeared from it for ever. You are part of the ternion; Bealina was not. Your life is key to success. But using it to save you has left us with only three pieces – and there are three sorcerers in this world who have dangerous access to power because of who they are: Valerian and Mathilda’s twins. The feather pieces were granted to us to rid this world of sorcery. We have to use them where they are most effective.”
She wiped away her tears with the back of her hand. He was right, confound it. “I don’t like the idea that my life is worth more than another’s…”
“I know.” He didn’t speak again until her tension dissipated and she took a deep breath and stepped away from his hold.
“What was it the princess said to you?” he asked.
She revisited the horror of the moment in the boat. “She knew she was dying. Ardhi, she was glad! She said it was better. She meant it was better to die than to live. She told me to tell Prince Ryce. It was horrible.”
“What would make her say that?”
“I don’t know. Maybe she was ashamed. I think Fox raped her.”
He frowned. “But if so, that wasn’t her fault!”
“No, but women of her class are taught to hold to their virtue as though it’s their exclusive responsibility.”
“Maybe she thought Prince Ryce wouldn’t want her back. That he’d blame her,” he suggested.
“I don’t think he’s like that. And I don’t think she thought he was.”
“No, there’s more to it than that.”
