[Brat 01] - Princess Brat

by Sharon Green

Sometimes tears came from pain, but much more often they came from the realization that the person you most wanted to care about you really didn’t. Elissia’s face was almost as well marked by the tracks of her tears as her bottom was marked by the hairbrush; that, however, didn’t stop the newest tears from making brand new tracks of their own. He had to know how she felt, but he’d still done this to her and then had left. She’d wanted to help rid him of the pity he’d been burdened with, and she certainly had. He just hadn’t replaced the pity with any more desirable emotion

  It took quite a while for the tears to stop, and by then Elissia had given herself a good talking to. She’d known right from the beginning that nothing could come of her association with the savage, so why was she wasting time and effort feeling so upset? It made no sense, and since Elissia wasn’t in the habit of doing things that made no sense, she would stop feeling deathly disappointed and think about what was really important: freeing her brother.

  The savage was out busily gathering information, but to judge by what he’d done so far, that information would be put aside and never used. If Gardal was to be found and freed, the matter was again up to her. And it had been part of their deal that she would not be excluded from helping to free Gardal. If the savage had changed his mind about that, which he apparently had, they certainly had no deal any longer.

  Moving was painful as well as horribly and deeply disturbing, but for the second time in as many hours Elissia had been given no other choice. She first fought to kick her boots off, then struggled to free her legs of her trousers and drawers. The process took much too long, but finally she’d rid herself of everything holding her where the savage had put her. The next step was to bring her arms down past her seat and then pull her legs through them, and it turned out to be a good thing she was still gagged. Rather than rousing the neighborhood with the noise she made, she finally had her bound wrists in front of her so that the wadding could be pulled out of her mouth.

  Elissia breathed deeply for a moment or two, and then she went at the leather with her teeth. Getting free would have been harder if the leather had been plainly knotted, but the savage obviously wanted no trouble getting it off when he decided to free her. He’d used a slipknot with a tail that merely had to be pulled, and once Elissia’s teeth had pulled that tail the leather all but fell from her wrists.

  The first thing to be done after that was ridding herself of the device. She pulled it out as quickly as possible, then threw it as hard as she could into the corner of the room. The man didn’t want her, he just wanted her to want him. Well, that was too bad about him. She was all finished with doing what he wanted, and would be happiest if she never saw him again. And if luck was with her at all, she never would see him again.

  Getting back into her clothes was difficult and painful, but Elissia would have gone through a lot more pain than that in order to be out of that house. She used the mirror to make sure that her hair was completely pushed up under the cap again, then looked at the grip holding her possessions. She hated the thought of abandoning the little she had with her, but dragging a grip around would slow her down as well as make her someone people remembered seeing. Instead of taking the whole thing, she went and got out the silver she’d brought but hadn’t used. Once it was safely put away in her clothes, she headed for the door.

  Chapter 8

  copyright 1999, 2002 by Sharon Green

  Derand’s good mood lasted until he’d fixed the mess his makeup had become and he’d left the house. The way the girl had treated him had really gotten him furious, and he’d enjoyed giving her that spanking more than ever. But the rest of it Tying and gagging her had been necessary to make sure their disguises weren’t compromised, but using the device in her hadn’t been. The device had only one true purpose, and Derand had known he wouldn’t be using it for that.

  People glanced at him as he walked along the street and a few of those people snickered, but no one actually offered him any overt insult. That turned out to be a very lucky thing, as Derand was busy being disgusted with himself. He’d used the device in the girl to get even with her for not wanting him freely, and he couldn’t deny that now. He silently called himself a whole list of dirty names, but that didn’t help even a little. If anyone on the street had given him the smallest reason he probably would have torn them apart, taking out on them the anger he felt toward himself.

  The temple of Kalifar he’d been told about was only three streets away, so he contented himself with the promise that he would conclude his business as quickly as possible and then get back to the girl. She would have to suffer for that length of time, but despite his self-disgust he couldn’t help feeling that that was only fair. If he had to suffer, why shouldn’t the person making him feel that way do the same?

  He knew well enough that that was a really low thought, and by the time he reached the temple he was truly ashamed of himself. As he stepped inside the cool dimness of the temple entrance, he thought it would have been more fitting to meet in a temple of Donnias. Kalifar was the god who looked after travelers, but Donnias was the patron god of fools. If he didn’t deserve to be there, no one did

  “Majesty, over here,” a soft voice called, bringing Derand’s attention to the shadowy side wall of the entrance where someone stood. Derand joined the shadowy figure, who grinned at him as soon as he was close enough. “But please don’t bat your lashes at me,” Listan added with a come-on smile. “I’m a pushover for big women.”

  “How would you like to be executed slowly, Listan?” Derand asked sourly as he glared at his good friend and advisor. The man was dressed in ordinary clothing, which made him almost a stranger. “One more remark like that, and I’ll make sure it happens.”

  “But then who would you have handy to flirt with?” Listan asked innocently, then he held up his hands in surrender. “All right, I know you’re not enjoying any of this, so I’ll stop the teasing. Now you can stop trying to kill me with a stare.”

  “All right, tell me what, if anything, the men have learned,” Derand said with a sigh. “Tomorrow I’ll be dressed as my ‘husband,’ so I’ll be easier to live with.”

  “Finding anything out at all hasn’t been easy,” Listan said, his amusement now completely gone.

  “Everyone knows about the kidnapping, but no one who has any details is willing to talk about them. And those ‘search parties’ the prince has out They really are searching, but not for a kidnap victim. They’re searching for anyone asking questions about the victim, and they arrest anyone they feel the least bit suspicious of.”

  “Have any of the men been taken?” Derand asked at once, a new worry crowding into his mind. “If they have we’ll have to free them before the pigs in this city start to use torture to make them talk.”

  “So far we’ve been incredibly lucky,” Listan said with a headshake. “None of them has been taken, so we don’t have to plan any rescues. We made sure to ask our questions at only the right time, like when the people we questioned were all but falling down drunk. When you’re doing the buying, the people you buy for are relaxed and easy in your company.”

  “But they’ve also probably forgotten half of what they know,” Derand said, still feeling sour. “It looks like I wasted my time sending all of you ahead of the girl and me.”

  “Not exactly,” Listan disagreed, satisfaction now shining from his gaze. “It happens we did pick up one small bit of information, which could well be the place Prince Gardal is being kept. One of our other men got friendly with the thief who bought the jewels from Listore and Amis, and began to get drunk with him on a regular basis. Or at least the thief got drunk. Foreon is one of those lucky devils who never does get drunk.”

  “Even if he matches you drink for drink,” Derand agreed with a grin. “The thief couldn’t help but notice that Foreon wasn’t nursing his drinks, so he didn’t get suspicious. So where does the location turn out to be?”

  “It’s in a warehouse district that’s also used as a m
inor headquarters by the city’s thieves,” Listan replied. “The district is on the far side of the city from the gate, and the warehouses are in use during the day. At night is when the thieves take over, and they’ve got to have at least a few secret places in some of the warehouses. We haven’t moved in and tried to find out where because we didn’t want to force them into killing the prince before we could locate him.”

  “I agree with that,” Derand said with a thoughtful nod. “And all of you are in line for a reward once this is all over. Right now I need to know which of the warehouses has a thief or two hanging around during the day. They won’t want to be too obvious about it, but they’ll also want to be on hand in case something unexpected comes up. If we can narrow the search down to a single warehouse, we can get some men inside and spread out before letting the thieves know we’re there. Then the inside men can watch to see where the thieves rush to first, naturally following right on their heels. Letting them lead us to the prince will be easier than trying to find him ourselves.”

  “We’ll have to make sure the timing is exact, but it can be done,” Listan agreed, also looking thoughtful. “We’ll need some time to get things set up properly, but we ought to be ready to go by tomorrow.”

  “Then it’s time you got started on that other matter we discussed before you left,” Derand reminded him, feeling depressed despite the elation of impending victory. One more day, and then he and the girl would have to part. His Seea, gone for good and always “Everyone should be in position by now.”

  “I’ll take care of it first thing,” Listan promised. “It wasn’t practical until now, but since we’ll be moving tomorrow the time is now right. How many of the men do you want sent to the house to be your ‘servants’?”

  “We can’t afford to have any servants, not when we’re living in that neighborhood,” Derand pointed out.

  “Send Kravil by later with provisions for a decent meal, and have him pretend to be a friend of my ‘husband’s’. I’ll invite him in to visit, and then he can prepare something better than what we’ve been eating for the last couple of days. The only break we had from trail fare was when a meal was bought from an inn, and that wasn’t the best I’ve ever eaten.”

  “Buying provisions and then cooking them will take a while, so I’ll send Kravil over as soon as I get back to the men,” Listan said with a nod. “He’ll also be able to give you directions to where the rest of us are, based on what it takes to walk to your house. I don’t like having you in a position where you can’t contact us.”

  “Until now it was necessary that I not know,” Derand said, his anxiety to be on his way back to the house growing. “If something had gone wrong and I’d been taken by the gate guards, I didn’t want it to be possible to betray the rest of you. And you haven’t been to the house, so you don’t know where it lies in relation to where you and the others are. Otherwise you could give me the directions.”

  “But we’ll get that all straightened out in just a couple of hours,” Listan said. “Now you’d better go into the temple and give your thanks, just to be certain no one wonders why you came here but weren’t seen by the priests. I’d hate to have a slip like that betray us just when we’re getting ready to move.”

  “Unfortunately, you’re right,” Derand grumbled, hating the idea of a longer delay but knowing there was no help for it. “I’ll go in while you disappear, and I’ll see you again tomorrow.”

  The two men shook hands before they parted, Derand hurrying into the temple proper. He knelt at the altar and thanked Kalifar for keeping him and his ‘family’ safe during their journey, then he gave one of the priests a silver coin to have a chicken sacrificed in his name. The priest smiled his agreement as he made the coin disappear, and Derand was finally free to leave.

  The trip back to the house couldn’t be allowed to be faster than the trip out, so Derand was nearly frothing at the mouth before he got there. He tried to unlock the door, found that he couldn’t, then discovered that the door was already unlocked. Filled with a dread that nearly choked him, Derand literally raced up the stairs to the bedchamber he’d left the girl in. The door was open after he’d left it closed, and he walked in fearing the worst –

  Only to find something almost as bad. The girl wasn’t lying dead in her bonds, but she also wasn’t there. Derand quickly searched the rest of the house to make certain of that, but there was no mistake. The girl was gone, with no clue as to where she’d gone or with whom.

  Derand went slowly back to the room she’d been in, then sat down in a chair. His frantic worry hadn’t eased much, but at least his mind had begun to function again. If agents of Waysten had found the house, it wasn’t likely that they would have untied the girl before taking her with them. That went for almost anyone else as well, and the fact that the leather he’d used on her wrists lay in a pile on the floor was very encouraging.

  And that led him to stand up again and look around more carefully. The girl’s grip and its contents were still there, but the cap he’d taken from her wasn’t. Then he noticed something lying in a far corner of the room, and went to see what it was. It turned out to be the device he’d put in her, and a mark on the wall above where it lay said the thing had been thrown there rather than simply dropped.

  “So that has to mean she got herself loose,” Derand muttered as he went back to the chair and sat again. “But if she did, where could she have possibly gone? And how could she have gone anywhere at all? She gave me her word”

  But only as long as she was allowed to help rescue her brother, a small voice in Derand’s head reminded him. You left her here rather than take her with you, so in her view that must have constituted a break in the agreement. That left her free to go her own way, and now you’ve lost her even sooner than you thought you would.

  But much worse than that, she was out in the city without anyone there to protect her. Derand was furious about that, but he was also worried sick. She had nowhere to go and no one to help her, but she’d still gone off on her own. If she hadn’t hated him before, she certainly did now.

  Derand wanted to jump to his feet and go out to look for her, but he had no idea in which direction to go. He could have used his men to search in all directions, but he didn’t yet know how to reach his men. He’d have to wait until Kravil got to the house, and by then the girl would be swallowed up by the thousands of twists and turns of the city. He’d change disguises to the male one waiting in the wardrobe in that very room, but that would just be something to fill the time until Kravil arrived. It would do nothing to help the woman he loved, the woman he missed more than he’d ever imagined would be possible.

  And if he ever found her in one piece again, he’d spank her absolutely black and blue for running away.

  Elissia had to ask directions three times, but finally she found the street of the Inn of Inner Delight. Her friend and former maid Renni really had married a farmer in the area, but Renni’s last letter had mentioned the trouble her husband’s aunt and uncle were having with their inn. They’d lost their cook to a terrible accident, and they couldn’t just hire anyone in the cook’s place. The man had been a true artist when it came to cooking, and the inn had gotten a reputation for having the best food in the city.

  So Renni had been asked if she would do the cooking until her husband’s aunt and uncle were able to find someone good enough to replace the original cook. Renni was a good deal better than average in the kitchen, but she had no interest in making a career of the talent. What she wanted was a family to cook for, but she’d still agreed to help out by coming into the city every day and going home again at night. Elissia’s plan had been to come into the city with Renni, but now she needed a haven more than anything else.

  Rather than going in the front of the inn, Elissia made her way around to the back door. She knew that that was where the kitchen ought to be, and sure enough, it was. She looked in a window to see Renni and a number of others, but it took a few minutes before her friend lo
oked up. Waving a hand got the girl’s frowning attention, but a moment later Renni realized who she was looking at. She said something to the other people in the room, then made her way to the door. Once outside she closed the door firmly behind her, then turned to Elissia.

  “Elissia, what are you doing here?” Renni demanded in a whisper. “What are you dressed in, and why are you all alone?”

  “I’m here to find my brother,” Elissia whispered back, joining Renni in a hug. “Haven’t you heard that Waysten had him kidnapped?”

  “What I heard was that the High King of Arvin is responsible for the kidnapping,” Renni answered, now looking even more disturbed. “What makes you think it was Prince Waysten instead?”

  “Only the fact that the High King of Arvin has no reason to bother,” Elissia replied. “If he wanted our kingdom, all he’d have to do is take it. Kidnapping Gardal would be completely unnecessary, even to make Waysten look guilty. Besides, the High King is also looking for Gardal, to clear his name and help my father, who’s beside himself with worry. Not to mention the fact that the High King and my brother happen to be friends.”

  “So what are you doing here?” Renni asked, her large, dark eyes showing that she still missed nothing. She was a relatively small woman, but only physically. Her mind was as sharp as any Elissia had ever come across.

  “I’m here trying to get the job done right,” Elissia said, ready for the question. “The High King’s intentions are good, but he has a habit of sitting around waiting for other people to find things out for him. I don’t have the patience for sitting around.”

  “You never did,” Renni said with headshake, her expression still filled with worry. “But what will happen if Prince Waysten discovers that you’re here? If he’s responsible for kidnapping your brother, what’s to stop him from doing the same to you?”

  “Nothing, so he can’t find out that I’m here,” Elissia said while glancing around to make sure they were still alone. “Do you think you can get me a room here that no one knows about? You can tell everyone that I’m the cousin of a friend of yours, and I need to keep my location quiet for a short while. I do have silver with me, so I can afford to pay.”