Courtly Masquerade

by Terry Spear

  “When the court gossip began to circulate that there was a female royal mage who could upset Duke Yalovon’s plans with the Dark One. You see I knew you had the mage ability, though until you had reached seventeen you wouldn’t have much power. But when you magically changed dead leaves still clinging to the trees into living green leaves in the middle of winter...tsk, tsk.” The baroness waved her finger at me. “Then I overheard your mother scolding you for it. ‘Don’t use your powers, ever,’ she had warned. Then I knew. You were the one the rumors were all about.”

  “I thought we got along.”

  She laughed, and the sound was pure evil. “Why should I care for the companionship of a young girl, when I could have the title of duchess and the man I always wanted?”

  “And if he decides he doesn’t want you later, just like he decided he didn’t want his wife?”

  The baroness’s eyes narrowed, and I hoped she’d gotten my point. After all, when it was so easy to murder the mother of his twin daughters, wouldn’t it be easy to kill the next wife, if he tired of her?

  “I will leave you to contemplate your end,” the baroness snarled. “I don’t imagine the Dark One will let you live for long once he has you in his grasp.”

  With every ounce of energy I could muster, I stood from the bed.

  The baroness took a step back.

  “What makes you think I won’t destroy him?” I took a step forward, clenching my teeth against the pain that shot through my forehead. “What makes you believe I won’t destroy you? Or Duke Yalovon and all of the rest who are in league with the devil?”

  The baroness made a hasty retreat out of the room, yelling for the guard, “Lock the door to the cell at once!”

  For hours I waited for Calla’s return, hoping she hadn’t been locked up so that she couldn’t aid me as I rested on the straw mattress. The sunlight faded from the single, high barred window in my cell. When the darkness came, Peterusk began to sing some strange tune.

  The next thing I knew, the Dark One was glaring at a man dressed in a plain brown tunic and black breeches, who held a note out to the mage. I glanced around the great hall and recognized it to be Prince Sumaria’s castle.

  Again, I’d shadow walked.

  Zars snatched the parchment from the man, and scowled as his sharp black eyes read the message. “What?” he exclaimed. His face turned redder than fresh blood. “She was to be killed if any found her! What do you mean Duke Yalovon is keeping her prisoner for me? How can my orders be so misconstrued?”

  He raised his fingers and began to speak an incantation I recognized to be the lightning bolt he’d used on the wild boar.

  Immediately, I reversed the spell and instead of the spark of white light striking the terrified messenger, it switched direction, forcing the bolt to strike the forty-foot ceiling.

  A tremendous boom reverberated through the hall. White marble rained down on the Dark One and the messenger as they dove out of the way.

  Ruffled, the Dark One brushed off his robe as he rose to his feet. He looked up at the new skylight in the ceiling, as the messenger remained cowering on the floor.

  “She was to be killed!” Zars shouted, then quickly looked around the hall as though he finally realized I most likely watched him. Evidently awakened by the racket, several of the courtiers hurried into the hall.

  “You think you are the one, but you’ll be dead like anyone else who opposes me!” Zars ranted.

  “I am the one,” I taunted. “Does it bother you that you might have an able adversary? Cannot you fight me on your own? Or do you have to have the poor non-mages make the effort? I thought you were the most powerful of evil wizards. Now I find you’re a sniveling coward, who hides behind his minions.”

  Zars black eyes couldn’t have narrowed any further without shutting and his lips thinned into an angry line.

  “Those who side with you, will meet with swift retribution,” I continued, for Prince Sumaria’s benefit, as I noticed he’d joined the growing crowd of courtiers. His blue eyes widened as he stared in the direction of my voice, then looked back at the Dark One to hear his wise rebuttal.

  Zars growled and stormed out of the castle.

  So much for a first-rate mage’s debate between good and evil. Now I knew he’d come for me and kill me as I sat locked in the cell at Castle Ro. I’m not sure why I felt it is so necessary to bait him like I did. But seeing him so out-of-control and unable to harm me while I shadow-walked, gave me a sense of power, that boosted me when I otherwise felt so low.

  Prince Sumaria ran his hands through his mussed up long blond hair, and I assumed he’d been sleeping when I made a hole in his ceiling. He looked up at the sky where a sliver of the moon cast silvery light across the blackness.

  “Better change alliances quickly,” I said to Sumaria.

  His mouth dropped open.

  “Maybe you should, sire,” a man said, I assumed was one of his advisors.

  “Yes, yes, you can see she is more powerful than the Dark One,” his steward said.

  “Send his books and magical items to Ezerah’s farmhouse at the base of the mountains,” I ordered. “If you do so, I will take this to mean you no longer want to be destroyed.”

  Prince Sumaria said, “But what if you can’t win against him?”

  “It’s all a gamble, is it not? Selling your soul to the devil mage, or doing what’s right for the good people of our realm? Nobody but you can make the choice. But do so quickly, before Zars returns. Now!”

  Five soldiers hurried toward the maze’s chambers before the prince even issued an order.

  “Wait!” he hollered.

  The men stopped.

  “Be sure you get rid of everything!”

  “Yes, sire,” one of the men said, then several more joined him as they stormed toward the mage’s chambers.

  “Tell me,” I said, “is there anything the Dark One fears?”

  “Besides you?” The prince furrowed his brow as if deep in thought. “Water.”

  “Water?”

  “Yes, he killed a servant who gave him water to drink instead of wine. The Dark One choked on it and I thought he was going to die, he coughed so hard.”

  “Water,” I said under my breath.

  “Will you protect us?” the prince asked.

  I shadow walked away.

  CHAPTER 19

  Benjorian was sleeping soundly in his bedchambers in Valdune when I poked him in the shoulder.

  He bolted upright. “A dream,” he muttered, then lay his head back down on his pillow.

  “Benjorian,” I said, impatient to get on my way.

  Again, he sat upright, then rubbed the sleep from his eyes. “Huh?”

  “Benjorian.”

  “Oh, oh...” He hurried out of bed in his long white linen nightshift, then yanked a blue robe over this. “My queen.” He bowed low.

  “Prince Sumaria needs your assistance.”

  Benjorian stared in the direction of my voice.

  “I need you to ensure that the Dark One’s magical artifacts are taken from the farmer Ezerah’s house that rests at the base of Creshion’s mountains. They need to be transported to your village for safekeeping. Can you do this?”

  “At once, my lady. At once. Have you vanquished him?”

  “The lady named Calla will be arriving here, soon, I hope. The villagers must welcome her.”

  “Duke Yalovon’s niece?”

  “Yes, she needs to live amongst you and learn the ways of the mages.”

  “Yes, my lady. Anything else you command?”

  “I ask these things of you to protect all those who are innocent. I don’t command you.”

  He smiled. “Ask or command, it is all the same to me, my lady.”

  “I must go before the Dark One comes for me.”

  “My lady...”

  I didn’t hear any more of what he said as I drifted away.

  The next place I visited was the woods, still filled with snow. I shi
vered in the cold, and my gown changed into a heavier white wool. I was amused that my gown would take on the color of the snow when nobody could see me anyway.

  Then I heard Conlan grousing. “So my men are returned to me, but when? When it’s too late to help Arabella. That’s when!” He paced across the snow. He wore a white linen tied around his head, the center stained with blood.

  Moravia sat on a blanket next to the fire, shaking her head. “She is the one, my brother. She will find a way out of this.”

  “I vowed to protect her. I vowed to...”

  I knew Conlan and his men couldn’t storm the fortified Castle Ro and hope to free me. Somehow I had to manage that on my own. Still, I wished him to know I was trying to reach him.

  “Conlan,” I said, next to him.

  He reached out to me and to my surprise, he was able to wrap his arms around me. It must have looked odd to everyone who watched his actions with the invisible mage.

  “Arabella, you’re shadow walking?” he said, and touched his lips to my face until he found my mouth.

  “Yes.” His warm touch heated my body to dangerous levels. “Oh, Conlan, I’m all right,” I said, touching his bandaged head. “Are you?”

  “I’ve failed you,” he whispered.

  “Is she shadow walking?” Moravia asked as she drew closer to us.

  “Yes,” I said.

  “Where can we find you?” Moravia asked.

  “I...” I couldn’t say anything more as someone violently shook my arm.

  “Arabella,” Calla said, harshly. “Arabella, have they drugged you?”

  I bolted out of the bed. “Are we ready to leave?”

  “I’ve drugged the guards.”

  “Release the man, Peterusk, in the cell across from mine.”

  “What has he done, my lady?”

  “Stolen bread. But hurry.”

  When Calla took the keys and opened Peterusk’s cell, she said, “Peterusk, you are being released. Come out at once.”

  The old, gray-haired man walked out of the cell with an unsure step.

  I joined the party, only I had pulled the silver ring from my boot and was invisible.

  Calla called out, “Princess?”

  “Duchess. I’m here.”

  She stared at me, then hurried back into the cell. “Where are you?”

  “Here, hurry. We must leave. I’ve told Benjorian you are coming.”

  “You...how could you have?”

  I still wasn’t certain I could completely trust Calla. I said nothing and tugged her arm. “Hurry, now, Calla. The Dark One is coming for me. If he finds me, he will try to kill me.”

  Her gray eyes rounded. Then she touched my arm and found my hand. With hers wrapped around mine, she pulled me toward the stairs leading out of the dungeons, I presumed. “You are more powerful than he.”

  I certainly wished so, but didn’t believe for a second that I could be. Though I think the Dark One was coming to the conclusion that I was...and this could be a good thing. The more he thought I was, the more I could unsettle him. Maybe he’d make a mistake. I’d always heard the warriors who made the fewer mistakes on the battlefield won.

  That’s all I could hope for.

  Peterusk shuffled behind us. “Boy, oh boy, oh boy. Wait until I tell Benjorian what you’ve done.”

  I glanced over at Peterusk. “Don’t tell me you are a mage.”

  He smiled.

  “You wear a leaf necklace, too?”

  He pulled his out of his tunic and showed it to me.

  I shook my head as we ran up the stairs leading from the dungeon. “Why didn’t you use magic to leave your cell?”

  “I stole bread to get into my cell. Why would I want to leave?”

  “What?”

  “I had to know how you fared, my queen.”

  “Duchess.”

  Peterusk scratched his gray beard. “We are not to interfere in your dealing with the Dark One.”

  I snorted. “Everyone has to do their part to get rid of evil influences. I can’t do it all.”

  Peterusk’s smile stretched across his face. “Oh, we will help you, my lady, in any way that you need. But you must lead us.”

  “As long as it doesn’t interfere with my dealing with the Dark One.”

  “Aye, you will not need our assistance.”

  Says everyone. Why did I not share their confidence? It was like everyone lived in some kind of fantasy where the heroine would rise up and save them all. And again I thought back to the practice makes perfect scenario. Without practicing the spells I had learned, how could I do well?

  As far as I knew I was only safe when I visited the Dark One during my shadow walking.

  When we reached the great hall, everything was quiet. At the doors that led out to the courtyard, two men stood guard.

  “Calla,” the one said, bowing curtly. “Where do you go at this hour?” He eyed Peterusk. Then his eyes grew big. “You...you are the one who stole the bread.”

  “You must be mistaken,” Calla said, and motioned to the door. “Peterusk kindly offered to walk with me in the gardens tonight because I couldn’t sleep.”

  The guard said to the other, “Get the steward.”

  Peterusk tsked. “We only wished a walk in the gardens. Troublesome, troublesome.” He motioned with his hands and both guards slipped down to the floor in a deep sleep. Then he wiggled his fingers again and the doors opened. “Hurry. We cannot waste any more precious time.”

  I agreed and pulled Calla along.

  “I have to learn to do that,” Calla whispered. “I had to drug the guards, but I want to learn how you did that, Peterusk.”

  “Some skills take years to learn,” he said.

  See? That’s what I figured. So why did everyone trust me to defeat the Dark One?

  When we reached the gates to the outer wall, the guard there, stiffened his spine and gripped his staff tighter, shifting his attention from Calla to Peterusk, then to Calla again. “What are you doing out here, Calla?”

  “I wished to take a walk in the woods with this gentleman,” she said pointing to Peterusk and smiled.

  The guard immediately waved to another man sitting inside the guardhouse to join him. “Trekal will escort you back inside the keep. Baroness DeChamplainet said you are to be watched at all times. Certainly, you are not to--”

  “Leave the castle grounds?” Calla asked. “But you see, my dear Sul, when the Dark One discovers the female royal mage has escaped our dungeon, he will destroy every one of us. So I will slip away now before he arrives, thank you very much.”

  “She can’t have—”

  “She has. See for yourself.”

  Trekal watched Sul as he thought over the situation. Then Sul said, “Take her back to her chambers and have a guard posted. Then check on the prisoner.”

  Trekal took hold of Calla’s arm. But Peterusk waved his arm in a strange pattern and the guard changed into a dove.

  Sul grabbed the warning bell pull and Peterusk turned him into a cat.

  Peterusk waved his hands at the gate. The bolt slid across the massive doors, then they opened. Before we hurried to the road, Peterusk said to Sul, the cat, “Don’t eat your friend Trekal.”

  “How long will they stay changed like that?” I asked, impressed with the mage’s spells.

  “Twenty-four hours.”

  “What about the duke’s twin daughters?” I asked Calla. “Will they not be in harm’s way because their father murdered their mother?”

  Calla smiled. “That’s why I was so late getting back to you. I had to make arrangements to have them taken from here in a merchant’s wagon before the gates were shut for the night. They are on their way to Crondor, since Prince Renault is on our side.”

  Peterusk cast a soft light spell to illuminate our way as we dashed down the road. I noticed then that Peterusk, despite looking old, was incredibly spry.

  “It’s too bad you do not have invisibility rings for all of us,
” Calla said, as she still held my hand tightly, almost cutting off the circulation. Was she scared of losing me? Or just plain scared?

  “Only one of its kind in this region that I know of,” Peterusk said. “It is good our queen has it.”

  “Duchess,” I said.

  “Princess,” Calla corrected.

  I gave up.

  A mile from Ro Castle, the sound of wagon wheels approached. All three of us bolted for the cover of the woods. Then Peterusk turned off his light spell.

  “I still don’t understand what this is all about,” I recognized Dorian to say. Was Neda’s brother transporting more sacks of goose down feathers, only this time farther north? To Crondor perhaps?

  But who was he talking to?

  I strained to see in the dark. Then I realized it was my nursemaid, Cesil. Whatever was she doing riding with Dorian when she never left Cambria Castle?

  “Dorian!” I called out and yanked off the invisibility ring.

  He immediately pulled his horses to a dead stop. “My lady?”

  “Oh, oh, the duchess,” Cesil said. “You must return at once to Foxmoor Castle, my lady. The king is about to have a stroke.”

  “What are you doing out here?” I asked.

  “We were looking for you,” Cesil said.

  Dorian added, “I presumed you were already at Crondor, and I was headed there now.”

  I climbed into the wagon. “Come, Peterusk, Calla. Dorian will take us to Valdune first.”

  “Valdune?” Dorian asked. “Never heard of it.”

  “It’s on our way.”

  Peterusk and Calla climbed onto the sacks of feathers while I rode on the bench seat with Dorian and Cesil.

  “Have you another delivery to make?” I asked.

  “I hope that Prince Renault will buy them, but if he doesn’t, it’s still for a most important cause.”

  “He will pay for them, or I will.” I looked at Cesil who watched me in the pale moonlight.

  “You don’t know yet, do you, my lady?”

  “What’s wrong now?”

  She wrung her hands.

  “Cesil?”

  “Oh, my lady, I thought you knew. It shouldn’t be me who tells you.”