by Vicky Savage
We join the others in the courtyard and get ready to mount up, when a relaxed and smiling Catherine appears. This morning she wears a buckskin blouse with turquoise trim and a matching skirt. Her raven hair is held in place by an elaborately beaded headband. She looks remarkably like a young Pocahontas, instead of her usual Xena the Warrior Princess persona.
She makes a small curtsey and speaks to me. “Chief Blackthorn wanted to be here to see you off, but he is not well this morning. He has some gifts for you, which he has given to Professor Ralston to place in your wagon. He sends you his highest regards and his thanks, and he bids you have a safe journey home.”
I bow my head in acknowledgement. “Thank you Catherine. Tell Chief Blackthorn we appreciate his kind hospitality and his gifts. We hope he feels better.” I hold out my hand and she shakes it.
She turns to Drew, smiling sweetly. “Prince Andrew, I brought this for you.” She holds up an eagle feather tied with a beaded string. “It will bring you luck.”
His eyes light up, and he removes his glove, taking the feather in his hand. “It’s beautiful. Will you put it on for me?”
She gently loosens a curl from his mop and ties the feather in place. He smiles a little forlornly. “Thank you, I will treasure it always.”
She holds out her hand to him, and his lips graze her skin.
“Be safe,” she says softly.”
FORTY-ONE
Ryder and I ride side by side as our group makes its way down a back road to the conveyance station. A few townspeople watch and wave as we pass, but most of the town is still sleeping, and we’re not the same novelty we were two days ago.
Ryder has arranged for some large conveyances to take us, our horses, and wagon through the underground tunnel back to Domerica. He says it’s faster and more relaxed than going on horseback. I sit next to him in the roomy, comfortable vehicle. The others sit at the opposite end, giving us our own space. I’m happy it’s now public knowledge, among these people at least, that we’re in love.
Ryder and I talk about trivial things and snack on hydroponically grown peanuts during the ride. I’ve made up my mind that once we reach Domerica, I’m going to ask Ryder not to accompany us back to the Enclave. It’ll be easier and more private to say goodbye to him at the tunnel instead. I don’t need my father and the rest of the household to witness me falling apart as Ryder leaves me, maybe forever.
But, when we reach the end of the tunnel and I ask Ryder not to come with me, he refuses to stay behind.
“Jade, no! I’m going to see you safely back to your father.”
“It’s only a short distance,” I tell him. “We’ll be fine. I’m well guarded by Drew and his men. Besides, it doesn’t make sense for you to ride all the way there, just to turn around and come right back.”
“No. I’m coming with you.”
“But, Ryder—”
“Jade,” his voice is strained. “I need more time with you. You’re not the only one who suffers.”
I put my arms around him and hold him close. “I’m sorry. Please come with me.”
“I thought we might ride together on Tenasi,” he says.
“Yes. I’d like that.”
He ties Gabriel’s reins to the back of the wagon and helps me onto Tenasi’s back. Climbing up behind me, he takes the reins in his right hand and wraps his left arm around my waist. He nods when we are ready, and our little group sets out for the Enclave.
We ride in silence most of the way, enjoying each other’s warmth and sharing the same melancholy at having to part again. When the walls of the Enclave come into view, my stomach twists itself into a knot. According to Ralston, I have a week left, at most. I don’t know how I can leave Ryder. My whole body trembles at the thought.
Ryder’s arm tightens around my waist. “Are you all right, love?”
“Ryder, promise me we’ll see each other again, within the week,” I say. “Just promise me, please.”
He leans in close, his lips in my hair. “Of course. Yes, I swear it.”
My trembling stops on the promise that I’ll have one more chance to see him again.
As we approach the wooden gates of the Enclave, they open for us without our having to announce ourselves. We ride inside and turn onto the tree-lined lane to the manor house. It soon becomes apparent that my father has visitors. At least a dozen horses are tied to the hitching posts at the side of the courtyard.
Drew pulls his horse to an abrupt stop. “Mother’s here,” he says to me.
I quickly slide down from Tenasi’s back. “Leave now,” I hiss to Ryder.
He hastily turns his horse around, but the gates have already closed behind us, and twelve mounted soldiers of the Queen’s Royal Guard are positioned across them.
Ryder swings Tenasi back toward me and, to my shock, he dismounts.
I run to him. “Ryder, what are you doing? Get out of here. Go!”
He shakes his head, his features taut. “Any attempt to escape now would be suicide, Jade, which may be exactly what she wants. The queen and I have unfinished business to attend to. Now is as good a time as any.” He strides determinedly toward the house, and I trail after him, pleading for him to reconsider.
Father’s front door opens, and Mother flies out onto the veranda with LeGare close on her heels. A dozen more Royal Guards file out behind them.
“Seize him,” Mother cries, and the guards hustle down the steps, converging on Ryder. Two men take hold of his arms and remove his sword and knife from his belt.
“Drew, Jaden, in the house now,” Mother says.
“No Mother! Stop!” I turn to the guards. “Let him go,” I shout. They pay no attention to me, and I tug at their arms trying to free Ryder.
“Jaden, come in the house this instant,” Mother says. “That man is a murderer and a thief. He tricked you into trusting him by lying to you and manipulating you.”
“That’s not true, Mother. You don’t know what you are talking about. Let him go,” I shout again more loudly. I reach for the hilt of my sword.
“Jade, let it be,” Ryder says, in a tense voice.
I hesitate for a moment, not sure what I’m going to do with the sword anyway. All I know is that I have to do something.
“Eleanor!” Father appears around the eastern corner of the manor house, accompanied by a small regiment of heavily armed, mounted men. “Perhaps you’ve forgotten you have no legal authority here.”
“John, what are you doing?” Mother is incredulous. “We know this man is a murderer and has stolen the Xtron cell. He must be arrested and interrogated immediately.”
“Call off your men, Eleanor. I would like to hear what young Blackthorn has to say before I decide whether he needs to be arrested.”
“This is outrageous!” Mother cries. “He could escape again.”
“I hardly think that’s a possibility. He’s greatly outnumbered, and this is a walled city. Call them off Ellie. Now!” Father climbs from his horse and goes to Ryder who is still being held by Mother’s guards.
“Release him,” Mother says, glaring at Father. The guards let go of Ryder’s arms and step back.
Father places a hand on Ryder’s shoulder. “I beg your pardon for this rather excessive display of brute force, Ryder.” He scowls at Mother’s guards still hovering nearby. “But you have been formally accused of stealing the dome energy source from the Sacred Caverns and with murdering two guards in the process.”
“That’s absurd,” Ryder says. “I have never been to the Sacred Caverns. And I am no murderer!”
“The two guards who survived the attack have given sworn statements identifying you as the leader of the intruders. Will you agree to come inside and speak with us about it?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Fine.” Father sweeps an arm toward the house. “Let’s all go inside, shall we?”
“Father, this is so wrong. Don’t let her do this,” I say, agitated and frightened.
“Come inside Ja
den, and we’ll discuss it,” he says calmly. “Andrew, come along. Eleanor, your men may wait out here. Captain Hornsby will require them to surrender their weapons until this matter has been resolved.” Father signals to the captain of his little brigade. Hornsby and his men immediately dismount and prepare to collect the weapons of the Queen’s Royal Guard.
“John!” Mother protests. “This is intolerable.”
“Eleanor, you are in my community, we’ll do this my way.”
She nods stiffly to LeGare, and he orders his men to turn over their arms.
“General LeGare is welcome inside, of course,” Father says, “as long as he leaves his weapons out here. I think we’ll all be comfortable in my office.”
He speaks to Drew and me, “You two should remove your swords also. You’ll have no need of them in here.” He pats my shoulder reassuringly.
We unfasten our swords and give them to Erica, who is positioned at the doorway. She’s smiling and openly delighted with the high drama being played out in this normally quiet little hamlet.
We file into Father’s office, and he asks everyone to be seated. He takes his own chair behind an enormous, ornately carved desk. LeGare refuses to sit, choosing instead to lurk behind Mother’s chair near the floor-to-ceiling bookcases. Father pays him no heed and speaks directly to Ryder.
“Again, I apologize for this Ryder, but Queen Eleanor arrived this morning with the sworn statements of two surviving guards who were stationed at the Sacred Caverns. They report that a band of armed men broke into the caves and killed the two men posted at the front entrance. The statements allege that they then surrendered their own weapons and were restrained while the thieves made off with the Xtron power source. The guards have identified you as the leader of the band of thieves.”
Ryder bolts to his feet. “It’s not true! I swear it.”
“Please stay calm,” Father says. “You’ll have ample opportunity to speak your piece.”
“What would I gain by stealing the dome power source?” Ryder says. “Unicoi’s own energy source is much stronger and more efficient than the power used by the domes.”
“You could hold it for ransom as you intended to do with my daughter,” Mother says.
“I never intended to hold your daughter for ransom. She knows that. Your son and daughter have been in my country these past two days of their own accord. It was my hope to convince them in a peaceful way to help us find a solution to the problems of my people.”
“But it would benefit you, would it not, to have some insurance, just in case your efforts failed?” Mother says.
Ryder shakes his head in apparent frustration and turns to my father. “John, when did this theft supposedly occur? I’ve been here and in Unicoi for the past three days.”
“It was prior to that,” Mother answers. She opens a file on her lap. “It was the night of May 17th, around midnight. The theft was discovered the following morning. Due to a breakdown in communication, I was not notified of the theft until the 23rd.”
“Five days after the fact, Ellie?” Father says. “That’s quite a communication breakdown. What happened?”
“Captain Carver, former head of security for the Sacred Caverns, made the decision that it was best not to deliver the news to me while the delegation from Dome Noir was present at the palace,” she says tightly. “In a further exercise of poor judgment, he decided that he and his men would attempt to recover the Xtron themselves. Based upon the information given him by the two surviving guards, they made an ill-fated attempt to break into Unicoi. A small battle ensued, in which we lost two additional men.”
“We heard about the skirmish when we were there,” Drew says. “The Unicoi assumed the intruders were Outlanders. They had no idea they were Domerican.”
“Yes, well, Captain Carver has since been relieved of his post and will soon take up residence at Wall’s Edge Prison,” Mother says.
While this exchange is taking place, I do some quick calculating in my head. “Mother, wasn’t that the day Prince Damien left the palace? May 17th, I mean?”
She thinks about it and glances at LeGare who nods. “I believe it was. Why?” she says.
I jump to my feet. “Then it can’t have been Ryder. He was with me that night.”
FORTY-TWO
Mother is clearly taken aback. “What! He was where?” she sputters.
“Ryder was at Warrington Palace, with me, in my room,” I say. “Ralston saw him there… and so did Fred and Ethel.”
“At the palace? In your room?” Mother rises to her feet. “What was he doing in your room? How did he get in? Were you alone?”
I ignore her questions. “Father, get Ralston in here. He’ll back up what I’m saying.”
Father goes to the door and speaks a few words to someone in the hall. “Everyone, please sit down,” he says. “Let’s hear what Ralston has to say, and perhaps we can resolve this matter.”
Ryder and I sit, but Mother remains standing, fists clenched tightly at her sides. “Jaden, this is disgraceful! How could you?” She whirls around on LeGare.
“How did he get past your guards? You assured me the palace was impenetrable.”
“We had a small security lapse that night,” LeGare says. “Two guards were overpowered and locked in a garden shed. They could not identify their attacker.”
“And, I was not informed?” Mother roars.
He opens his mouth, but Father cuts him off. “Ellie sit down. You too, General LeGare.”
Mother grudgingly complies. LeGare perches on the edge of an empty seat. Father turns to me. “Sweetheart, are you certain Ryder was with you that particular night? May 17th?”
“Yes, absolutely. It was the day Prince Damien left the palace. I’m positive. He stayed until well after midnight.”
A sharp knock on the door makes all heads turn toward Ralston as he walks cautiously into the room.
“Please sit down Professor Ralston.” Father gestures to an empty chair. “I am sorry to involve you in this matter, but there have been some rather serious charges leveled against young Chief Blackthorn, and we are attempting to establish the facts. Will you help us?”
“Certainly,” he replies.
“Thank you. We were discussing a visit Ryder paid to Princess Jaden at Warrington Palace. Do you recall an evening when you saw Ryder with Jaden in her room?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Do you remember what night it was? The date, that is?”
“It was a week or so ago. I don’t remember the exact date,” Ralston says. “But it can easily be checked. It was the same day Prince Damien departed Domerica.”
“Yes!” I cry. Both Father and Mother look at me sternly, and I hold my tongue.
“Professor,” Father says. “May I ask why you did not report this meeting to the queen or to one of General LeGare’s men? You were aware that Blackthorn was wanted in Domerica.”
“I didn’t report it because I knew Ryder’s motives for being there were… shall we say friendly and not hostile. I knew he would never harm Princess Jaden, and I was unwilling to hurt two decent young people by turning him in.”
“Humph,” Mother grunts. “It seems everyone has been keeping secrets from the queen.”
Disregarding this, Father continues, “To your knowledge, did anyone else see him?”
“Only Fred and Ethel.” Ralston smiles. “As I recall, Ethel took quite a liking to him.”
Mother groans. “Oh, saints preserve us. Skorplings cannot serve as alibi witnesses.”
“No, but our daughter and Professor Ralston can,” Father says. “I believe they make very strong witnesses. Do you question their truthfulness?”
“I don’t know what to believe anymore,” Mother says. “Why would the only survivors of a bloody massacre lie?”
“For any number of reasons, Ellie. It may be a case of mistaken identity, they may have thought young Blackthorn would make a convenient scapegoat, or they may have been paid off themselves. The w
hole situation is troubling.” He rubs his knuckles across his bearded jaw. “The most important question may be why they were spared by the thieves. It’s not likely, after killing two men, they would leave witnesses.”
“The guards are being brought to Warrington Palace as we speak,” LeGare pipes up.
“That would be prudent, since there appear to be a number of holes in their story,” Father says. “In any event, I believe we have adequately established that Ryder Blackthorn could not have been involved. The Crown Princess and Professor Ralston will swear to that, effectively refuting your sworn witness statements, Ellie.”
