Prudence ran towards the deck and looked around wildly to see where her mates had gone. She saw them—all of them were hunched in pain, beaten down, and seized by the enemies.
“No!” Prudence let out that cry from the depths of her heart with immense pain, while her companions were bound and gagged. She approached the Azarian warrior of great stature as he controlled that his soldiers seized them in such a way that they could not escape.
“Let them free! It's me who you want” she begged, with tears falling from her eyes.
“We know it’s you, but do not worry. We'll take care of them,” said a voice with a very strange accent, while Prudence felt the cold touch of a hand on the back of her neck. Then she felt her strength suddenly vanish and she lost control of her muscles, falling to the ground. It was the girl. She was quickly tied up in the same way as her companions, and placed next to them. Prudence met Skuld's gaze, which was beside her. She could see the terror deep in her eyes. She also looked at Dedric who stood unmoved, watching everything that was going on around him.
“Cirid,” exclaimed the young woman with short hair, referring to the enormous warrior. “Before proceeding, we should let our informant identify himself so he can be untied,” she added.
At that moment, everything inside Prudence collapsed. She looked at Skuld and Dedric who were as surprised as she was. All this time she had been suspicious that there was a traitor in the Company, and at last she would come to know his identity. They all looked at each other’s faces, but most of the glances focused on Genuss. The silence seemed to spread infinitely and that moment became eternal. Nervous and accusatory glances kept crossing, until finally someone stood up.
“You little, miserable, greedy bastard,” Genuss was heard to speak as Evard rose to his feet. Nobody could believe what they were seeing. Prudence’s head was swimming.
“Come to our side. Join us,” Cirid exclaimed as two other soldiers helped to untie Evard.
Cirid opened his arms as if to give him a hug, but Evard approached and knelt down before referring to him.
“Master, I hope you will give My Lord knowledge of my actions,” he said.
“You do not have to worry about anything, soldier. Lord Alanel will know of your service to the cause,” Cirid exclaimed.
As everything that begins badly ends badly, Evard approached Cirid to embrace him, proud to have done his job, when he would never have imagined that by doing so, he would receive a lethal stab in the back, because no traitor expects to die betrayed.
“Sorry, but you're no longer useful,” Cirid said, as Evard dropped to the floor, speechless and breathless. Prudence stared bewildered as her heart writhed in pain.
"Now, Citrine, take the girl and let's get out of here," Cirid commanded to the girl with short hair.
As Citrine approached Prudence, she tried to move backward but her legs wouldn't move. Citrine took her arm and pulled her so that she stood up. Prudence fought to wrench from her grasp, but she was too strong. She tried to get away and threw herself on the floor, but suddenly all she could feel was both of Citrine’s hands around her neck. She felt her skin burning. A terrible pain was building in her head until she couldn’t see anymore. Around her, the sounds went off one by one until at last, Prudence could not hear any more and let herself go.
She blinked at a thin thread of light streaming through a crack in the wood. It was daylight all of a sudden. Prudence looked around her and realized she must have been taken to the Azarian ship. She knew this from the obvious unbearable smell of the orcs, and because the Entheas did not have dungeons like the one in which she was enclosed.
The morning smelled like rain, but the scent was not like the earthy scent of rain she'd experienced before. This was different. Nothing compared to the smell of rain on the high seas. The cell was heavy with the scent of wet wood, and the air was dank and salty. A whole day had passed until at last somebody approached her cell. It was Cirid.
Prudence stared at him as he paced in front of the thick bars of the cell.
"Hungry?" he asked. His voice was high and demanding.
Prudence shook her head. "Where are my friends? What have you done to them?"
"You will meet them when we get to our destination."
"Where are you taking me?"
"We are taking you home."
“What do you mean?"
"You should imagine what it means. Home. In the morning, you will be home to your father. But, given the situation that you are our prisoner, I'm not sure if he will be very happy to see you."
CHAPTER 15
So that was the plan. Alanel and his army of Azarias were ready to invade Arkana. Despite being alone and locked up in a cell, Prudence had no choice but to find a way to stop the invasion.
Before that day came to an end, Prudence heard the door to the cellar open. After hearing a few steps down the stairs leading to the cells, she realized that the sound did not correspond to one person but two.
When she peered out to see under the hood of her coat, she saw Cirid open the door to her cell and throw someone inside. When the individual turned, twisting in pain after crashing to the floor, she saw that it was Genuss.
"You cannot cause so much trouble down here. And if you dare to try any movement, I will kill you," Cirid sneered.
“You wish you could. You need us alive,” Genuss breathed.
Prudence was absolutely astonished to see her, and remained silent until Cirid left the dirty hold of the Azarian ship, leaving them alone. When Genuss turned to see Prudence, her expression was not at all friendly.
“All of this is your fault. If it were not for your uncontrollable need to meddle in the affairs of others, I could have stopped Evard long before he gave away our location.”
“But… I thought it was you.”
“Of course you thought it was me,” Genuss laughed. “You are too dumb to realize things.”
“But you got ahead of us in the swamps before we were attacked by the nymphs. And I followed you to the Mothingale River when we reached Penrith.”
“You followed me?! With what right did you follow me?”
“I had my reasons to distrust you! Now explain yourself!”
“I found no trace of danger in the swamps. I guess nymphs do not manifest themselves at the mere presence of a woman. They were definitely a surprise to me. With reference to what happened after our arrival to Penrith, I simply went to inspect. I do not like leaving loose ends, and at dinner, listening to Evard talk raised a big question.”
“What question?”
“He said the forest had changed a lot since the last waning quarter. That caught my attention — I found it very strange he commented on that. I knew Evard. He was a simple archer. So I went to the river bank to hear what the magicians were saying about it and when they named the presence of black magic, I knew there was something wrong. The waning quarter was always used by the Azarias to practice their kind of magic. How could Evard know that the forest had changed exactly from the last waning quarter if he had no knowledge that the waters of the Mothingale River had been enchanted with black magic? He knew something else.”
“What about the ash-smelling cloak I found in your room?”
“You got into my room? Are you serious? I warn you, you are earning yourself a beating!”
“You are cuffed.”
“I can beat you down anyway.”
“You wanted to do it from the first moment we met. You cannot stand the fact that I am who I am and I have powers that you do not possess.”
“Powers you're too dumb to know how to handle.”
“Of course I know how to handle them!” Prudence exclaimed furiously. She let out a direct ray of light into Genuss's body. Quickly she covered herself with her hands, and the beam of light broke the chains that held her in two and then revoked, following the way to the lock of the cell. The door squeaked slightly as it opened.
They looked at each other in absolute surprise and amazement.
“You almost killed me!”
“But I opened the door. Now we can escape!”
“How did you not think of it before?”
Prudence realized she could have done it a long time ago, but she did not give in to Genuss. “I realized it days ago, but I was waiting for reinforcements to be able to escape. I was sensible enough to comprehend that I could never do it alone. Sense is a virtue that not all individuals possess, clearly.”
“Shut up,” Genuss snapped and got to her feet. "We must leave this ship immediately."
When they went outside, they both froze at the image they found. A gigantic fleet of Azarian ships were aboard, which held endless hordes of Azarian warriors, orcs, and all kinds of disgusting creatures that served Alanel.
"I do not like your father, but we must stop this invasion," Genuss said unexpectedly, to Prudence's surprise.
"Then why do you want to do it?"
"If the King falls, we will all fall” Genuss whispered.
Prudence hurried back into the corridor. No matter where she looked, there seemed to be no easy way out.
Genuss stared as Prudence walked back into the compartment and rummaged through the wet coat that had been stripped away from her. She took the rune.
“What do you think this thing can do?” Prudence asked.
“What do you have in mind?”
“We must blow up this ship,” Prudence exclaimed. She did not expect a positive response, nor any support from Genuss when-
“I’m up for it,” Genuss said surprisingly. “But you will let me do it,” she added.
Prudence carefully extended the rune to Genuss, who took it as if it would break easily. The inner gears of the artifact sounded as Genuss spun them counterclockwise. But before she finished giving it a complete spin, something flew over her shoulder and dragged her against one of the walls. Her wrist had been trapped.
“Stay right there! Do not dare to make any move!” Cirid exploded.
Prudence froze at the sight of him.
“This is something my Lord would really appreciate to see,” he said as he stepped forward to snatch the rune from Genuss.
A small group of guards quickly appeared to catch them and escort them out of the hold, onto the deck.
This time, Prudence's gaze did not stop at the endless and monstrous fleet of enemy ships. She looked beyond, toward the horizon.
There it was. The faraway Kingdom of Arkana, land of snowy summits, cold winters and white lions. The wind roared as if it were the last time it would do so, but that breeze did not bode well.
“Orders, sir?” asked the warrior that held Prudence.
“Take them in a boat and into to the camp.”
The water was freezing, so much so that even above the boat their muscles ached from the cold.
The camp was settled somewhere in a remote forest. The night roared with cold when they entered. They passed between hundreds of dark tarps and dirty-looking cages as they surrounded the camp. Finally they reached one large tent that differed from the rest. A guard stood at the entrance of it. Prudence had a slight suspicion of who might be in there and did not want to think about it. She would see it with her own eyes a few moments later. Genuss was silent and began to crack her knuckles. Prudence knew that she was very nervous — she had never seen her do that.
The soldiers escorted them at sword’s point. They passed between the enemy troops, intensely noticing their voracious looks. When they got close enough to the big tent, the escorts stood in front of the guard and they saw Cirid was already there. He peered inside. Moments later, he reappeared back outside and with the help of one of his soldiers dragged Prudence and Genuss sharply into the tent. He wore a satisfied smile on his face.
Inside the tent, the light was very dim and almost drowned in darkness. Prudence had a very bad feeling. He cannot be in here, she thought desperately. But as Prudence looked around the gigantic black tent, her gaze met a figure in the shadows.
Lord Alanel was a dark elf. Dark Elves were a race of warlike and vicious elves. They were cruel, sadistic raiders with much disdain for all other races, especially the High Elves. Dark Elves, also called night elves, were the most sinister and evil of the elven races. Their skin was pale as snow and their hair darkened to ebony black. Lord Alanel’s eyes were a pale blue but they sometimes glowed red, especially when he was angered. His expression was grim, as well as his voice.
That was the first thing Prudence saw when Alanel emerged from the darkness. He was looking directly at her. Cirid, who was behind them, stepped forward and bowed before him.
“My Lord,” he greeted him.
“Who is the girl?” Lord Alanel asked dismissively.
Cirid pushed Prudence forward. She stumbled and fell on her knees before the Lord. The steel of the wires that chained her rang on the floor. She stood up with some effort.
“I've been looking for you for so long,” he said and paced in front of her. “I remember the night your mother escaped with you. I was there. I found her later, but not you. It was as if you had vanished. She did a pretty good job at hiding you. She was good at hiding things. Things like this” he muttered, and took the rune from Cirid’s hand. “Where did you find it?” he asked, but Prudence did not respond.
Everything remained silent for a few seconds. Genuss watched Prudence nervously. Lord Alanel stepped forward and laid his hand on Prudence's shoulder. She felt a pain pounding inside her body and she moved away from his grasp. She felt a chill inside her.
“You won’t speak, will you? It’s fine. I think I know someone who you might be interested in talking to.”
He walked past her and approached Cirid.
“What do we do with the other girl?”
“I already have what I wanted, so do as you please. She is useless to me.”
Cirid took Genuss by the neck and dragged her away, out of Prudence’s sight. She was by her own once again.
A company of thirty spearmen was seen approaching the King’s golden gates. Their horses marched up the valley ahead of a dark carriage that came behind them.
The King’s guards watched them approach from above the towers and balconies behind the wall as they awaited their arrival. The carriage advanced until it stood right in front of the gate. Now the elven bowmen were fully positioned to charge.
The tall figure of Lord Alanel stepped out of the carriage and with him he took Prudence. He was holding a blade against her throat. Prudence tried to hold her breath so that her skin would not touch the edge of the dagger. She was falling apart inside. On one side was the being she had heard so many terrible things about, for whom she had felt deep contempt since she had been attacked back at the Percivals' house. And on the other side, spears and elven arrows were pointed straight at her.
“Behold! You won’t intend to harm the King’s long lost daughter.”
The guards didn’t answer, neither with words nor with actions. First, they looked at each other. Then their wondering eyes looked up to the bowman-in-chief, waiting for some order of how to proceed. Incredulity and confusion fell upon them all.
“Send the message to your king that his heir’s blood will not be shed this day, if he opens the gates and lets us in.”
The message was communicated. They waited a moment or two, but the king had no choice. The great doors opened. The noise echoed throughout the valley, and every soldier and settler of Arkana feared the worst.
Without wasting any time, the company of Azarias hurled at full speed through the narrow bridge that connected the gate of the walls with the city itself. As they advanced forward, they noticed a battalion of elves waiting for them, blocking the passage and pointing their swords and spears and other weapons, in separate groups and ordered in perfect formation.
Prudence gazed around nervously. She could see heavily armed elven warriors stationed along walls and balconies. It was at this moment that in spite of the fear that gnawed inside, Prudence allowed herself to be eclipsed
by the beauty that surrounded her.
The beauty of Arkana was awe-inspiring. Then she remembered what they had told her about the Azarian invasions after her birth. There they were again, in the same place, seventeen years later. No trace had been left of previous invasions and wars.
The architecture was magically combined with the natural surroundings of the valley and the forest. Most buildings were artfully intertwined with twisting trees, designed to protect and augment their beauty. The structures were mostly constructed from silver, crystal, and wood, and smooth, twisting towers were popular architectural motifs. Every building and street was painstakingly crafted with both magic and hard work. In the air, the smell of springtime, even in the winter, could literally take her breath away.
But something took her out of her astonishment and brought her back to the bridge, where at the other end there was a movement between the elven ranks. A captain in his imposing uniform emerged from the crowd and addressed them.
“Only the two of you will be allowed to pass.”
The crowd opened to give way. At swordpoint, they entered the city, heavily escorted. Prudence noticed the curious and frightened looks of the settlers, and saw that many whispered words to each other. She wanted to run away from there but her neck was still under the edge of Lord Alanel's dagger. As she set foot on the first step of the long stairway that stood above the entrance to the royal palace, she was surprised to see that the King and his guards and a court of servants peered through the gigantic doors.
The King was her father. Prudence shuddered at the thought of it. Even greater was her surprise at realizing that this man meant nothing to her. She did not know him. In fact, at that moment, feelings of revulsion woke up inside her.
She looked her father in the eyes. He held her gaze for a moment and his eyes acquired a new glow. It was the kind caused by slight tears, or the remembering of some deep emotion. Prudence could hardly maintain her stare. Although she had thought about this moment before, she never imagined it could happen. She was now in front of the only person who could tell her the truth about her past.
The Elven Tales: The Company of the Rose Page 12
