“Ripken!” the princess hissed in a low voice.
“I know,” he answered.
Ripken turned to Kestrel again.
“We don’t wish to be seen together,” the nobleman said hastily. “But we seem to have called trouble in upon ourselves.”
Kestrel’s eyes widened. The princess was on the eve of her wedding, and he had found her and Ripken meeting covertly in his garden. Now, because of their startled shouts upon meeting the yeti, they were in danger of being found together.
“How can we help?” Kestrel asked.
“Thank you Kestrel,” Ripken said gratefully. “I’ll go lead the searchers away from here, if you’ll escort the princess back to the palace. She knows the way to discreetly reach the back entrance of course.”
Aurelia was wrapping the scarf around her head, covering her face except for her eyes. It reminded Kestrel of when he had seen her before, during the tournament in the previous summer, when she had strolled about the tourney grounds with Lucretia, disguised with a veil covering her face.
“Such a pretty face to cover up,” he murmured, not meaning to speak aloud.
“I understood that despite your accent,” the princess said. “Ripken, you’ll need to watch out for our suave young hero; he may steal my heart away!” She laughed and kissed the nobleman on the cheek, then took Kestrel’s hand and started to lead him through the garden.
“Come on Putty,” Kestrel urged the yeti, wanting it to follow closely.
“I’m here, over here!” they heard Ripken’s voice shout, moving away from them at a quick pace as he starting running towards a far corner of the garden to draw the searchers away from Kestrel and Aurelia.
“Must the yeti come with us?” Aurelia asked as they ducked under branches and wove around flower beds, until they came to a tiny door in a brick wall.
“What choice is there?” Kestrel asked. “I can’t leave her here; that would raise a ruckus, and she might get hurt, or hurt someone else.”
Aurelia opened the door and passed through, followed by Kestrel, and then by Putty, who ducked and scraped the sides as she squeezed out of the garden.
“We’ll make do with her, I’m sure,” Aurelia said. She released his hand, and started walking along the wall, in the deep shadows of a row of trees that grew alongside the wall as well. They came to an alley and turned down it, then froze in place when a boisterous group of people walked past the other end.
Kestrel followed Aurelia silently, anticipating trouble at any moment. He was ready to call the sprites instantly to lift them away from being caught. He wasn’t sure what to think about the fact that he had interrupted a liaison between the soon-to-be-married princess and the high-ranking nobleman who was one of her family’s closest advisors. They were both people he esteemed highly; the thought of them as a couple made perfect sense, but for the two of them to act illicitly seemed far out of character.
“Did you say you were expecting me?” he asked, as he suddenly recollected her unusual comment earlier in the garden.
“Ssshh,” she said. She grabbed his hand, and silently led him out into the city street, straight across it, and into an alley on the far side.
“What was that?” a voice called from the streets.
“Squirrel dung,” the princess muttered a mild curse. She increased her pace, starting to trot with Kestrel’s hand still in her grasp.
There was a scrabbling noise at the end of the alley. “There it is,” a voice called.
They passed a doorway, and Kestrel jerked Aurelia to a stop.
“In here,” he whispered, as he pressed the door open and ushered Putty in ahead of him.
The room they entered was empty.
“Stillwater, Stillwater, Stillwater,” Kestrel called urgently.
The imp appeared, and Aurelia gave a frightened squeak.
“I need help – immediately,” Kestrel said, “Can you transport us out of here this instant?” he asked before the imp even spoke.
Mulberry, Acanthus, and Odare arrived a moment later. “We do not have enough on such short notice, my friend,” Stillwater explained.
They heard people outside in the alley.
“Take the princess; take her up to the top of the tower and wait until I call you to return,” Kestrel ordered.
“No,” Aurelia instantly said. “Don’t let them see the yeti; she’ll be harder to explain and keep this whole affair quiet.”
She looked into Kestrel’s eyes with a pleading expression. “As a friend, I beg that you stay here with me, and send the yeti to a safe hiding place.”
“Do it, Stillwater,” Kestrel said without hesitation, responding to the plea of a friend. “Take Putty.”
“You wait for me, and everything will be fine,” Kestrel grabbed the yeti’s cheeks in his hands and spoke directly into her face. “You’ll be okay, and I’ll be there soon,” he promised, as the imps swarmed around the yeti.
Kestrel stepped back, the large bundle of imps and yeti disappeared, Aurelia grabbed him and pulled him down onto the ground atop her, and the door swung open as a guardsman with a lantern, a member of the city patrol, burst in upon them.
“Thank you Kestrel,” the princess said. “Everything will be okay now.”
Chapter 27 – The Stone Patrol
“Where’s the monster? Who are you two?” a patrolman said. A trio of the guards entered the room, their knives drawn and a lantern held high, swinging around rapidly to aid the search of all corners of the room.
“What monster?” Aurelia asked, still beneath Kestrel. He realized he was probably crushing her with his partially human frame and weight, and rose to his knees. He stood up, then offered her a hand up as well.
“Please play along,” Aurelia whispered in his ear as she flung herself into a tight embrace. “I’ll explain later.”
“Who are you two? Where’s the monster? Take off that scarf,” the chief patrolman ordered.
“Just let us go,” Kestrel replied.
“What’s wrong with you? Can’t you talk?” another patrolman asked.
“Where’s the monster?” the third asked.
Kestrel kept an arm around Aurelia’s shoulders, and started edging towards the door, hoping to make an escape.
“Stop right there!” the commander shouted.
Kestrel reached the limit of his tolerance. The night was already long, and already overly full of adventure and danger and confusion.
“Enough!” he shouted. He raised his arms, and called on the powers to create the same shield, the dome of energy, the great, powerful magical implement that was beginning to seem like a commonplace tool, as he used it more and more frequently.
“Oh Novell!” one of the patrolmen swore, as the dome appeared around the two fugitives.
“Kestrel!” Aurelia squeaked, shocked by the erection of the magical edifice that was protecting her.
“All of you, out right now!” Kestrel commanded. “Go out and leave us, or face the consequences.”
The elves of the patrol scrambled madly to circle around the dome and run to the door, then exited the room. Their panicked footsteps could be heard thundering down the alley, and Kestrel released the power.
Aurelia instantly backed away from him. “What was that?” she asked incredulously.
“It was a way to get out of that predicament,” he snapped. “Now, let’s get you back to the palace, so I can go get Putty, and then we can all get some sleep.
“I can’t believe that all this is happening because you and Ripken are sneaking around two nights before your wedding,” he added, unable to contain the emotion within him from the long night of threatening adventures.
“You’re going to be married in just a couple of days, and here I find you sneaking around meeting Ripken in the middle of the night. What would your fiancée think if he had found out?” Kestrel asked
Aurelia looked at him with a stunned expression. “You don’t know, do you? You don’t know what you’re talking
about.”
“I know that you and Lord Ripken are two people I admire, and it disappoints me to see you carrying on like this,” he said. He had said more than he intended, gone further than he intended, but it was a relief to get it off his chest.
“Kestrel!” she said loudly. “You have no idea what you’re talking about, do you? Ripken is who I’m going to marry in two days!
“Under the protocols of the royal family, I’m not supposed to see my betrothed for the two weeks prior to the wedding,” she told him. “And that was just too long!” she giggled then.
“So he and I have been secretly meeting every other night in the garden, but tonight, things turned out differently,” she explained.
Kestrel realized his jaw had dropped, and his mouth was open in astonishment.
“I owe you an apology,” he said humbly. He felt foolish, terrible for having doubted the scruples of the couple.
“Oh Kestrel,” Aurelia smiled brightly, then reached over and patted his cheek. “You are such a good elf! No harm done.”
“They’re in there,” a voice called outside in the alley, and Kestrel suddenly realized that he had indistinctly heard the stealthy sound of feet in the alley while the two had been talking inside the room.
“Stillwater, Mulberry, Acanthus,” he called hastily.
The imps arrived. “Your yeti is unhappy and lonely,” Mulberry scolded him. “You should take better care of her!”
“Will you take us to her right now?” Kestrel asked.
“There are only three of us,” Acanthus observed.
“Please take the princess now and come back for me immediately,” Kestrel urged.
He heard more noises and ran to the door, throwing his weight against it to keep it shut, just as a force on the other side attempted to open it.
Sensing the urgency of the matter, the imps dropped around Aurelia. “But Kestrel!” she started to protest, only to disappear from the room as the imps spirited her away.
The door behind Kestrel banged several inches open as the elves outside hit it hard, but Kestrel managed to press it shut once again.
“Hurry back, Stillwater!” he muttered.
The door was hit a third time, and the force was unstoppable, as the bursting door sent Kestrel tumbling into the room, and a squad of elves came stumbling in and pounced upon him.
“Hit him! Knock him out before he uses his magic!” Kestrel vaguely heard a scream, then he blacked out as he was knocked sharply in the temple, and he heard no more.
**********
When he awoke again, it was some time later. He was in a soft bed in a darkened room, but he could see lines of sunlight coming in around the curtains. He raised his head and felt a searing pain on the side of his skull, making him wince.
The bed started to bounce, making his head hurt more, then Kestrel saw Putienne’s face come into view, as the yeti murmured with concern.
Kestrel groaned, then raised a hand and stroked the yeti’s scalp affectionately.
“What happened Putty?” he asked.
He heard someone yawn. “You got knocked silly, silly enough to ask a yeti a question. That’s what happened,” Lucretia’s voice sounded clearly from someplace in the same room.
The curtains were suddenly pulled open, and light flooded in, causing Kestrel to clamp his eyes shut.
“Lucretia? Are we in your apartment?” he asked. “Where’s the princess?”
“She’s sitting in the other room, waiting for you to wake up and escort her to the palace so that everyone can be excited and embarrassed all at once and get it over with,” Lucretia said matter-of-factly.
Kestrel’s head seemed to hurt even more. “I don’t understand. How did I get here?”
“You apparently sent your yeti and the princess to the top of my tower through your imp service. You got in a fight with the night patrol, but the imps came and dragged you out of it – frightening off the patrol, and dropped you off with the other two,” Lucretia explained.
“Somehow, Aurelia managed to maneuver both a nervous yeti and an unconscious elf super-being onto the lifts, and she brought the whole party to my humble abode,” the woman told him.
“She said you did something unbelievable – you used the powers of the gods to make a big bubble? What kind of trick was that?” Lucretia asked. “And tell me quickly; she’s been away from the palace overnight now and you need to escort her back there quickly and discreetly this morning.”
Kestrel looked at Lucretia. “Do you have any willow bark tea?” he asked first. “My head is throbbing.” He would have preferred to have a skin of water from the healing spring, but that was in Lord Kestrel’s home, where he had left it when he had gone out for a simple visit to the garden with Putty; Hampus must be worried, he realized.
“Of course,” the woman answered. She lightly touched the welt on the side of his head. “Let me go brew some.”
“Can you send a message to Lord Ripken’s home, to let them know I’m here and I’m alright?” Kestrel asked further as Lucretia stood up.
“Aurelia has already sent a message this morning to Ripken,” Lucretia replied, then she left the room.
Kestrel reached out and absentmindedly stroked the yeti’s head. He let his mind go free of thought, and lazed quietly, until he heard the door open, and Princess Aurelia entered, then sat down on the side of the bed. She smiled at him comfortingly, and held his hand while she sat silently with him until Lucretia returned with the cup of tea a few minutes later.
Kestrel sat up and drank the tea thankfully.
“You’ll feel better in a few minutes,” Aurelia told him. “So, can you explain that blue energy you used last night?”
Kestrel looked at the two girls. Although Lucretia had cultivated a reputation as a free-wheeling, wild individual, he had seen that she was truly a good friend, and discreet.
“I will tell you a part of my story, if you promise that you will keep it secret,” he decided.
Both girls nodded their heads.
“Last year, when I was here before, I was fighting a battle against the Viathins, the monsters that had invaded our land. The gods gave me weapons and powers to use against the Viathins and their god, and I eventually won that war, and used up all the power and weapons they gave me.
“But Kere told me that I might be able to use the powers again, because she said Morph is my father,” he paused.
The two elven women looked at him blankly, then Lucretia spoke. “Morph? Morph the god of speed?
“I don’t get it. What’s the joke?” she asked after a pause.
“There is no joke, or the joke’s on me,” Kestrel answered slowly.
“You’re saying?” Aurelia left the question open.
Kestrel had not shared with anyone else the information that Kere had shared with him about his parentage. He had thought about it, often, long and hard, but never spoken about it. The discomfort and awkwardness of the conversation with the two women in the apartment made him realize that such silence had been wise, and he wished he had kept silent about it.
“I’m saying,” he confirmed. “My mother has been dead a long time, so I can’t ask her. Morph has never spoken to me; I only have the word of Kere. And the proof of the power that I’m starting to find within me,” he added.
“So you’re a baby god?” Lucretia asked.
“I think demi-god is the phrase,” he replied crisply, his sense of dignity annoyed at the phrase ‘baby god’.
“Really, this isn’t anything I’ve told anyone else so far. Please don’t share this,” Kestrel wanted to end the conversation.
“I just expected a god to be more imposing in person,” Lucretia said in a thoughtful voice. “Maybe if I look at you from this side instead of the other side,” she moved around the room, studying him as though he were a specimen.
“You’re mocking me now!” Kestrel felt embarrassed.
“No Kestrel!” she laughed, and sat down on the bed, next to him, and place
d her hands on his chest. “I’m just trying to have some fun. I can’t imagine there’s anyone who would do a better job of being a demi-god than you.”
“Kestrel, that is extraordinary! We should celebrate you as a national hero,” Aurelia exclaimed.
“There’s something else too,” Kestrel decided to tell the rest of his recent story. The comforting words from his friends had overcome his embarrassment.
“I’ve been fighting some kind of thing, a force of power. I don’t know what it is. I faced it in the mountains, when it tried to make some miners perform a human sacrifice. Then it came hunting for me at the healing spring. Kere warned me that it came there looking to fight me,” he said.
“What is it Kestrel? A monster?” Lucretia asked.
“It is like the power of a god, without a god being there,” he tried to explain.
“But now that you’re a demi-god, you can fight it and beat it?” Aurelia asked. “How can we help you?”
“Thank you,” Kestrel answered. “If I knew anything about it, I’d know what to tell you.” He almost was ready to tell them about the attack he had suffered from the human god Krusima, except he decided he had already revealed too many fantastic things. As he recounted them to himself, he found that he almost didn’t believe his own story.
Putienne gave a murmur.
“Are you hungry, my friend?” Kestrel asked. His head felt better, and he suddenly felt ready to leave the apartment. “Can we take the princess back to the palace now, and get some food for everyone?”
The two women looked at one another. “Kestrel, there’s going to be some complications,” Aurelia explained. “I’ve been away from the palace all night now, just two nights before my wedding. I can’t let anyone find out it was because I was with Ripken.
“If I return to the palace with you this morning, we won’t have to say anything, but everyone is going to make assumptions and start rumors about us; only you and I and Lucretia and Ripken will know the truth. Everyone knows that I was excited because I knew you were coming for a visit, and so they’re going to jump to the wrong conclusion,” she explained.
The Guided Journey (Book 6) Page 28
