“I left because I was scared! Scared to death! I didn’t plan this one little bit. Planning means you’ve thought about it and thinking was never part of my life in that… palace!” Chloë fought hard to dodge unladylike words. “My new family, my friends, they taught me that it was okay to think! That it was okay to care! To love and be loved, no matter my background! And worst of all, they taught me to believe in myself!”
“You want your mother on the estate just to be thorn in my side!”
“No! Not even the slightest! I want her on her own estate where she isn’t in house arrest! Where she is free to travel and do as she sees fit!”
Philip stared at Chloë with the first honest smile she could remember in her life, “I believe you. I do… So is this how it is to end?”
“There is still the question of Count Alfonso and Sir Reinhardt,” replied Chloë evenly but with the beginnings of an honest smile. She wanted it to be over with Philip and her mother, she really did…
“The colonists who were killed, will blood money handle those cases?” Philip asked plainly.
“I think they will also call for the count to abdicate as well.”
“He was foolish at best, maybe abdicating to his son would be best for everyone.”
“And Sir Reinhardt?” asked Chloë softly.
Sir Reinhardt squirmed, obviously very nervous and agitated!
“Mea culpa. He is my responsibility and he will depart and trouble you no more.”
“What do you offer to pay for his transgressions?”
Philip looked confused, “What more would you have of me? I’m giving you a fourth of the land.”
“Either you take mother back in, freely and openly to the principality or you agree that remaining lands of the principality will not pass for a hundred years to anyone of the House of the Estherdales,” replied Chloë.
“You know of Amanda…” replied Philip somewhat shocked.
“I’m not a child. I understand: you and mother both were in a political marriage and you found yourself drawn to the widowed duchess. She was widowed ten years ago, the same time mother was moved from the palace… Just answer me this, were you drawn to her power or did you love her?”
“If I had divorced your mother I would have had to abdicate and surrender half the estate.”
“You are looking to lose a fourth anyway. And you never answered my question,” replied Chloë evenly.
“I, too, was scared when we were married. I grew to love your mother. I truly did. But the duchess, she was so… and the power of her House!”
“So lust and greed took over?”
Philip blinked as he looked squarely at Chloë, “You are so calm… I’ve hurt you and your mother both so dearly, yet you would set aside that pain?”
“The pain is still with me, it always will be. But I’m trying to look forward. Heather tells me there is good in everybody and of all the things she has taught me, I’m loathe to think she’s wrong about that one… If you and mother could reconcile, that would mean so much to me…”
“You are a stronger… better person than I. I… I can try.”
“I just have better friends.” Chloë leaned forward and kissed her father, Philip, on the cheek. “Then that will do for now. Try. If you fail, well at least you tried. She still holds my lands in my name.”
“You would still return to the Highlands with your new family?”
“Yes. For now. That may change, and I hope it does. But my strength here is running ever so thin and the pain, oh! the pain runs deeper yet! There is a warmth and strength there in the Highlands I’ve never had…”
“Take your quarter of the land as you see fit, but you are keeping your title! In time… well…” Philip smiled. “I think we have reached a settlement we can all agree on!”
“Prince Philip, this was not part of our agreement,” growled Sir Reinhardt.
“Things change, Sir Reinhardt. Things change. Consider your rough treatment of my daughter to be set aside… there are too many questions. Let’s close this with what’s left of our dignity intact.”
“That,” snapped Sir Reinhardt, “is not good enough! Plan ‘B?’” he laughed.
57
All eyes jumped between Philip and Reinhardt in confusion. The confusion vanished and changed to horror in a blink of the eye as Reinhardt pulled a side arm on Philip and reached for Chloë.
It all seemed like slow motion to Chloë. Reinhardt’s gun, coming to bear. His evil arm reaching out for her. Not again! Oh, not again! Chloë snarled as she lurched out of Reinhardt’s reach and brought her Live Steel blade out to play. The sparks seemed to dance and float in the air, twirling like maple seeds in the wind, dancing like dandelions on a cool Spring breeze. With a clumsy yet still effective lunge, she sprang forward and shredded the pistol in Reinhardt’s hand. She growled defiantly as she centered herself, ready for the next round from Reinhardt’s playbook.
Chloë’s smile broadened as she felt the display of Live Steel behind her: Heather, the quintet of younger girls and even Second Mother herself. Swords, halberds, armor, even that spritely and ethereal display of Lily’s, she could feel it, see it. Don’t mess with the ladies of House Stratford!
Reinhardt recoiled, his hand intact even if his weapon wasn’t, and snarled. There was never good to come of such a snarl, there was hatred and evil in it to the core. Reinhardt went for a remote in his pocket, and the world around them exploded in confusion.
Not again! Screamed Chloë’s mind as her senses became overloaded. No. No this time there was a difference as she felt Heather grab her from behind and extend her armor to engulf them both. Gunfire! Gunfire from the Shukurae filled the air as things chattered around her that she could not fully comprehend. Her eyes and ears had been spared the lion’s share of the assault by Heather’s quick action, but that didn’t make things around her less confusing. Smoke whirled in the air while the chatter of metal on the marble floor caught her off guard. She wanted to help, to lash out, but she was afraid to leave the protective cocoon of Heather’s arms and armor. Boots, boots running past. Sounds of Shukurae defiantly bellowing in their own language. Wave after wave rolled by until at last the smoke cleared and Heather’s armor relaxed.
Heather looked more angry than scared, while the quintet of girls completely circling Second Mother looked pissed! Second mother, still with a longsword in her hand remained calm as she looked to Heather and Chloë and nodded. Chloë spun around to find Philip gagging and coughing from the smoke, but otherwise unharmed.
“Caleigh!” screamed Grandmother Heigen, “He took my Caleigh!”
58
The Shukurae stood close to them as they tried to sort out what all had happened. Stun grenades and smoke had gone off, that much was obvious. Chloë was amazed to find that the Shukurae had been completely unaffected by the stun grenades, they were truly formidable. Smoke… well… everyone had problems with that.
“Some form of spider inspired robots,” commented one of the Shukurae as he kicked the battered pieces lying on the ground. “Complete with smoke dispensers and stun grenades. Good for climbing and as a scare tactic, not very good at fighting.”
“Where did they come from?” asked Grandmother Heigen with dread in her voice.
“They seem to have been built into part of the elaborate light fixtures on the ceiling…”
“Those were gifts from a week ago…” melted Grandmother Heigen. “False favor… from Reinhardt no doubt. What of my daughter, Caleigh?”
“It appears that Reinhard made off with her in the confusion. My guess is he planned on grabbing Lady Chloë, but she proved too dangerous a target. Don’t worry, the port is locked down, he can’t escape with her and our troops are already scouring the grounds.”
“What if he has a private ship hidden away? He seems to have planned ahead,” asked Chloë blankly.
“Between the Amsterval ships and our own ships, he would not make it out of orbit, Lady Chloë. They are here… som
eplace…”
“Get Father!” barked Heather. “He could track a fish up a waterfall!”
“Only with Prince Philip’s permission,” replied Maria evenly.
“If it had been one of us, you’d called him in a flash! She’s Chloë’s mother; that makes her our mother!”
Maria shook her head, “It isn’t that simple…”
“Yes it is! Things are only complicated because we make them that way!” bellowed Heather hotly.
“Things were made complicated many years ago,” began Maria. “Now, if you can hold your temper, we will try this the other way. Prince Philip…”
The prince still seemed in a daze; what of his character that wasn’t showing confusion was radiating hatred. Hatred for the errant knight!
Maria tried to move closer to Philip and was amused to find that the circle of girls wouldn’t let her, “It’s okay dears, let me talk to the man.” They relented, but they were still quite unhappy.
Chloë would have pegged the girls as nervous, but the expressions on their faces was that of steely determination, not apprehension. Only little Lily looked like she was about ready to lose it and Chloë feared the fate of anyone in Lily’s path if she did break down…
Grandmother Heigen and Maria helped Philip to a chair as Maria continued, “Prince Philip, he’s taken your wife, Caleigh. My husband could easily resolve this in a matter of minutes if you will agree to let him come and help.”
The words seemed to whirl in Philip’s head, “Caleigh… what is he going to do with her…”
“We don’t know, your Highness, but we can help. My husband would be perfectly willing to extend the olive branch and come to your aid, but only only at your request.”
Philip seemed to still be in a partial daze, the words were slow to come, but they were clear, “If he is so willing to help, then why is he not already here? Is this some point of pride that I am supposed to beg?”
“Would it matter if it was!” screamed Chloë. “He has mother!”
Maria smiled and hugged Chloë tight before turning to face the Prince again, “No, it is not about pride. It is about his word, he agreed never to return unless asked.”
“I cast him out? Your husband?”
“You and the other Houses bid him leave, never to return. But he will come back; he will help you. You only have to ask.”
Philip suddenly looked nervous, “You’ve dodged his name… Highlander’s house names are matriarchal, that much I know… what is his name… his full name?”
Maria sighed and smiled, “Llewellyn Stratford of Clan Silverglade.”
59
Chloë had seen her father’s wide range of emotions over the years… anger, pride, lust… But apparently she had never seen fear. Much less fear at such a level…
“Noooooo!” screamed Prince Philip as he stood up in his chair. “Never again! No!” His nose and ears drained white and even his lips and pads seem to grow pale. He stood in the chair trembling before finally bolting from the room screaming into the night.
“Well, I guess that means ‘no,’” replied Raymond evenly.
Heather just rolled her eyes, “What a stupid baby…”
“I thought you’d be proud of your father’s reputation,” teased Maria.
Heather glared at her Second Mother, “No! No I’m not! And this certainly isn’t the place to make jokes of it! Caleigh is in trouble!”
Maria nodded, “You are correct, Heather. That was poor of me.”
“If I hadn’t lashed out, if I had let him grab me… Would father have come then?” asked Chloë as she started to tear.
“Oh, my little dear,” tutted Maria as she held her tight. “Yes. Yes he would have. But you made the right choice. Don’t let anyone try to tell you otherwise. You stood up for yourself and did so with a great heart. You struck down the weapon that was threatening Prince Philip. Had things gone poorly, Philip might have been shot and killed.”
“But instead a madman has my mother!” blubbered Chloë.
“Then we had best be getting her back!” growled Heather. “Come with me! We finish this together!”
Chloë started to bolt to Heather but looked up to Maria.
“Go, go with Heather. You too Raymond! Someone has to keep the two girls safe.”
Chloë nodded and ran to join Heather and Raymond.
“Can the girls come, too?” asked Heather as her snarl started to evolve into a sinister grin.
“No! They stay here with me!” snapped Maria strictly. “It is against my better judgment that I let you two head out. Don’t push your luck!”
Heather grinned, “Had to try!”
“Where to first? Try to track him in the dark across the garden?” asked Raymond.
“First, I want to try asking Prince Philip again,” offered Chloë.
“You have two minutes and then we do this my way!” grinned Heather.
“Yes, ma’am!” grinned Chloë.
“Stratfordslance!” called one of the Shukurae. “Here, you may need these!” He produced a Taik-sized pulse rifle and a commlink and tossed it to the grateful Raymond.
“Thank you kindly!” he beamed in return as he readied the action on the weapon and slipped the earbud of the comlink firmly into place.
“If we find anything we will relay it to you, brave Highland guardian!”
Chloë laughed as Heather grabbed Raymond by the head and squarely kissed him. Heather grinned back, “Shall we find the loon?”
“Let’s!”
“North end of the garden, lost in the hedge maze,” barked one of the Shukurae.
“You heard the lady, let’s go!” grinned Heather.
Chloë nodded and followed the other two out into the nighttime garden. How did Heather know that that Shukurae was a girl? Chloë laughed at her own ignorance as they ran through the flower garden into the hedge maze.
“They say near the big bird,” relayed Raymond.
The swan… Chloë knew right where that was and expertly guided the three of them through the maze until they came to a clearing with a large topiary of a swan with its wings extended. Sure enough, Prince Philip was there, trapped, looking like his next plan was to climb over the wall…
“Prince Philip!” called Raymond. “We need to talk!”
The prince turned to face them with fear still in his eyes, “You sent for him, didn’t you?”
“No,” began Chloë calmly. “We would never do that without your permission. Llewellyn is a man of his word.”
“And you would call him father! Do you know what he has done?”
“Yes, yes I do. He protected himself and his friends when the great houses tried to ambush the peacekeepers. That was cowardly on your part, why bring in peacekeepers if you are just going to ignore them? What did that serve?”
“They killed tens of thousands!”
“Who struck first? Who? It wasn’t them! They just defended themselves! How many others were lost in the Great War? How many millions died?”
“You are a child, you don’t understand. You weren’t there…”
Chloë managed a laugh, “Oh, back to that argument again… Have you sat with Llewellyn, eaten supper with him? Have you walked with him through the woods on a calm Spring evening? Have you seen him play with delight with his children? With his grandchildren? He’s a loving, caring man who did things he isn’t proud of. Horrible, violent things, but he did those things to protect those he served with, those he loved! He laughs, he cries, he is no monster.”
“Prince Philip, I personally lost two of my uncles that night. I will never get them back, but that is beside the point. Llewellyn can help us find and rescue Princess Caleigh and do so with minimum risk. We just need you to let him help us!”
Philip shook his head, “No! I won’t risk it! Not again!”
“Would you have a different heart if it was the Duchess Amanda?” screamed Chloë. “Would you?”
Philip just stood there shaking his head.
Raymond cued the comlink but the Shukurae had no new news…
“He had a plan,” began Heather. “We know that. He went through all the effort with the elaborate gifts to get his stupid robots in place, he isn’t just acting randomly. He probably planned to grab you not Caleigh, but that is beside the point. He had to have someplace in mind to hide you while he made his ransom demands. Someplace safe and secure.”
“Wait a minute,” began Raymond suddenly. “We all assume he ran out the front door with Lady Caleigh, but did anyone actually see him do that?”
“Um, no…” began Heather with sudden understanding. “Like you said, we all just assumed…”
Raymond cued the commlink and parroted the obvious question around; the response was the same, everyone had assumed he had run out the front door, but no one could actually recall seeing him.
“He’s still in the château,” growled Heather. “Quick! Back inside!”
60
“Did you find him?” called Maria as the three burst back into the house.
“Princess Philip, yes. Reinhardt, no,” snarled Chloë. “We think Reinhardt is actually still in the building, no one actually saw them leave.”
“I’m sorry Chloë. I didn’t mean to get false hopes up for you with Philip,” murmured Heather.
Chloë just laughed and hugged Heather, “It’s okay! There was good in him… just not enough! But I’m actually happier thinking him a crybaby loon than evil…”
Heather let out a timid chuckle, “Okay… if that works for you…” Heather finally sported a grin, “Okay, where were we? This man has a plan and that means he had someplace in mind where to stash his kidnapping victim. He then either had a way out of here, or a bulletproof concept of how to absolve himself after the kidnapping. So where?”
Chloë Page 24
