by Guy Antibes
“Rebellion? There I said the word that you want to hear,” the duke said.
“No,” Pira said. “Rebellion will cost lives, and I have never wanted that, but my cousin is not rational, especially not now.”
Noacci nodded. “I don’t suppose he is. I have some ideas. I’ll spare you some time tomorrow, but we can’t make a habit of meeting. I’d be happy to listen to your points of view. I must go.” He rose from the table and tossed a heavy purse on the table. “You can use this to get what you need.”
Ricky looked at the purse and stood to bow. “We will do our best.”
“I don’t doubt that coming from you, young Valian.” Noacci left them through the door. He pointed to the lock.
Merry locked the door before she returned to her chair. She took a deep breath. “It’s really happening. Saganet told me of the Order of the Curled Fist, but he never mentioned Duke Noacci. I probably wouldn’t have believed the man could head the secret society. He has an unsavory reputation.”
Ricky looked at the back door. “I really don’t know how much is deserved and how much has been a carefully-crafted ruse. I think it is a combination. We don’t have much choice at this point. Agreed?”
The two women nodded their heads.
“I’ve only spoken to him a few times,” Pira said. “He scares me. Although I have to admit, I am scared in a good way.”
~~~
Chapter Two
~
A fter an afternoon in the marketplace, Ricky returned with his own bags. His purchases didn’t rival the women’s, but his needs were modest. He decided to link with Hemo to see how Mirano fared. They could fly out of Sealio and avoid the increased security once the healer recovered.
The link happened after Ricky had tried a few times. He finally connected.
Is that you, Ricky? Hemo said. I wasn’t sure, so I fought off the link.
It is. How are you doing?
Mirano is going to need at least another day. He is lucid but weak. Everything is crazy in Sealio’s inner city. We are in hiding in the house. It has been searched twice. If Bespa is ready, we will leave tomorrow night. Siria is familiar enough with the countryside to guide us if Mirano isn’t. How will we know where to go?
Ricky thought for a moment. Link with me when you are close to Applia, and I will join you. We can all fly together to the back garden of where we are staying.
Hemo asked, Is everything in order in Applia? Siria has expressed some concern.
We won’t be here for long. Duke Noacci is, at this point, an ally, but that might not last. We can talk more when you arrive.
The link ended. Rick sat back and felt uncomfortable. He didn’t know what was happening, so how could they make any kind of decision? He would have to wait until tomorrow when the duke would speak with them again. A few hurried minutes just wasn’t enough.
“Do you need help with your bags?” Pira asked as she walked into the sitting room. She eyed his purchases. “I’d be happy to lug them upstairs.”
She was enough of a distraction to make him smile as she grabbed the smallest bag and began to trudge up the stairs.
“Will you demand that I show you every single purchase?” Ricky said.
“Of course.”
“Really?” Ricky said smiling.
Pira looked at him quizzically and then colored. “Well, maybe not every purchase.”
Ricky grinned. “I felt the same way this morning.”
“Oh,” she said, as she resumed her stair-climbing.
~
Duke Noacci had to use his key to get in the townhouse in the afternoon. Espina was toiling in the kitchen when he arrived and showed him to the front room.
The duke sat in the large chair the trio had left empty for him. He looked into their faces before he sat down. “I bring news, of course.”
Ricky nodded. He looked at Merry and Pira. The princess looked the most anxious, and for a good reason, thought Ricky. She had lost the most. Merry could return to Tossa. Ricky might be able to go back to Duteria, and he had a place in Dimani, if he chose.
“Princess Pira is no longer King Leon’s ward.” Noacci pulled out a sheaf of documents from his coat. “He has rescinded your princess title.”
Pira let out an involuntary gasp.
“Don’t worry too much, Princess. Leon can’t hide the fact that you are next in line. If something happens to the king, you still become the queen.”
“I’m not banished?” she asked.
Noacci shook his head. “Not banished, but I wouldn’t try to remove your things from the castle, at least not you personally. He has no grounds to call you a traitor, other than your association with Valian, here.”
Pira shot a sorrowful glance at Ricky. “If my relationship with this fine young man makes me a traitor, then I shall gladly reject my title.”
“I wouldn’t be so hasty, Princess Pira. You will need to be able to travel freely,” Noacci said, looking at Merry and Ricky. “I suggest that you take over my summer palace in Naparra for a while if one of your group can stay behind and do that mental communication that Baron Mansali does.”
“I can link with any competent sorcerer,” Ricky said.
Noacci shook his head. “Whatever will work so we don’t have to wait for birds. I have a man who will visit you. He will be one of your subjects, Ricky, when you become the Duke of Naparra.”
“Not while I’m branded a traitor,” Ricky said.
Noacci raised his hand to stop Ricky’s words. “That is what we are working on. You aren’t the leader of the Curled Fist, but your status as my heir will become a benefit before we are done.”
“And Paranty will be a different place,” Pira said.
“Most citizens won’t really know the difference,” Noacci said. “The old Council of Notables has minimized the damage King Leon could cause until recently. Tossa will certainly be a better place than it was under the rule of Duke Bariani. I’m sure Mansali will be an excellent placeholder. I would suggest you retreat to Tossa, but if you have to escape you have nowhere to go. At Samira, you are only hours away from the Vorrian border if you have to flee.”
“I don’t know how welcome I am.”
“Your sorcerer friend is Vorrian. I haven’t spoken to King Renako in a while, but things are settling down for now.”
“We will wait for our friends and head south.”
Noacci grinned. “I have Naparran troops, loyal to me and you, who will take over from Parantian soldiers in the south. I don’t expect you to stay there for long, but you need a base, and Applia isn’t that place unless you want to return to Hessilia.”
“I will use Applia as a last resort,” Ricky said.
“From this point on, be very discreet about your movements. You can send messages with Espina if you need me. She will forward any messages from my staff and me to you. I will leave now.”
Noacci left by the back door.
Pira let out a big sigh. “All my dresses.”
Merry patted her hand. “Those can be replaced.” She looked at Ricky. “Any word from the Vorrian or Bespa?”
“Tonight,” Ricky said and smiled. “I suppose I have to be discreet now,” he said, referring to Noacci’s remark.
~
Without much to do, Ricky, Pira, and Merry sat around the house talking about Ricky and Merry’s experiences at Doubli. Merry clearly wanted to return to Doubli Academy. Ricky agreed with Duke Noacci, and Pira seemed to be withholding her opinion about it all.
“Why don’t you have your Vorrian wand-maker friend join you in Naparra?” Pira said. “The historian, too, if she’s willing. Before this is over, you’ll need lots of allies, including me, of course.”
“Of course,” Ricky said, returning the smile that Pira sent his way. “I’ll see what my friends think. I didn’t drag them to Duteria only to put them through more travel.”
“You haven’t given your Duterian friends the latest information, have you?”
Ricky looked at Pira and nodded. “I haven’t, and that will give me something to do this afternoon. We’ve got to wait a few days before we can expect to hear from Hemo.”
Ricky walked out to the back garden and sat on a bench in the sun. He looked up at the spring sky and wondered what his friends were doing. Now he’d find out.
Tobia? Ricky said when he felt the link engage.
Where are you?
Applia with Princess Pira and my original guardian, Mistress Marissa Doubli. The princess has had her title yanked, but she’s still first in line to the throne until the woman King Leon had relations with gives birth, Ricky said. How are Pirie and Minnie?
We are fine for now, but there are rumblings, according to Kened, inside the Tower. The Greens are beginning to be isolated by the Rings faction. No evidence of any discord outside the Rings. Wedo is still settling in, but your friend Greda isn’t doing well at all, Ricky.
How so? Ricky asked.
It isn’t the language; she’s picking up Duterian well enough, but word has spread up here about her role in the little uprising in Okansil, Vorria’s capital. The Suns are doing what they can to freeze her out of the Rings. Kened is doing what he can, but there aren’t many Vorrians here, and it isn’t a happy time.
She should join us. We are heading back to Naparra to the summer castle. If she wants to meet us there, Greda is more than welcome.
I’ll tell her, Tobia said.
What about Pirie?
Ah, the little lady is doing just fine. I don’t know how she puts up with her mother and me, but she does. Well, most of the time. I’m afraid she is becoming as headstrong as her mother, and I am hoping that is a good thing.
Ricky laughed. I assume Minnie isn’t around?
No. I’ve got diaper duty. I long for the day when that is over. Our housekeeper said Pirie will be ready when she is ready. Have you met with Duke Noacci, again?
Ricky nodded his head and realized that he’d have to think a bit harder. He has been our information source. The duke suggested that we head south. I’m going to take Merry back to Tossa, first.
Stay vigilant, Ricky. Minnie has bought a for-hire coach that we will use if we have to leave Duteria at a moment’s notice. She even has bags packed. Kened thinks it is that serious.
I hate to hear that. There is always your cousin’s blacksmith shop, Ricky said.
If we leave, we’ll head wherever you are, if that’s possible. Minnie can help with all kinds of things.
I know, and so can you. I’ll be in contact again once we are on the move.
Do that. Oops. Pirie is dirtying another diaper. Duty calls.
Ricky disengaged. The Sun faction rot was finally taking over the Tower. He hoped he wasn’t the cause of it, but he might have been the catalyst that made it happen sooner than later.
He let the sun bathe his face a bit more while he thought more about the miracle that Pirie was in Tobia and Minnie’s life. He wondered about something and returned inside to ask Pira about it.
“What if the heirs of the King of Fisttia and the other kingdoms weren’t sired by their fathers?” he asked.
Merry’s jaw dropped. “You can’t be serious.”
“Oh yes, he is,” Pira said. She closed her eyes for a few moments. “Anything is possible.”
“Can healers determine who a child’s parent is? We will have to wait for Mirano to answer that question.”
“You will,” Merry said. “Doubli Academy never had such a thing as part of our magic curriculum.”
Ricky laughed. “Now I really have something to look forward to when Mirano arrives.”
~
Ricky?
Ricky?
The call woke Ricky up from a deep sleep. Hemo! Where are you?
Mirano collapsed. We aren’t far from the city, but Siria and I can’t continue to carry him. Siria thinks we are about ten miles from the city just south of directly west. We are in the middle of nowhere in a meadow. I will light a fire. Please come as soon as you can.
Ricky rubbed the sleep from his eyes and jumped out of bed to splash water on his face. He clutched the dresser that held the water pitcher and shook his head. He took a deep breath before throwing on yesterday’s clothes that were strewn over a chair and then opened the window and flew into the night, with only his wand as protection.
Finding a fire in the middle of the night should have been easy, but Ricky spent forever in the air until he spotted a pinpoint of light piercing through the darkness of forest below. He engaged a link to his Vorrian friend.
Hemo, wave a torch or something, so that I know you are whom I see.
After a few moments of waiting for some kind of response, nothing happened. Ricky descended into a tiny clearing on the west side of the fire, opposite from Applia.
Ricky didn’t see any figures huddling around the fire or anyone resting on the ground. He set down quietly some distance away and walked toward the light. Ricky tried to sense how many people were in the woods, but if that kind of magic existed, it wasn’t Ricky’s to use.
Obviously, something wasn’t right about Hemo’s call nor about no one huddling around the fire. Ricky sang his shield and proceeded slowly through the forest.
The night was cool and damp on the soft soil and rotting leaves on the ground beneath the trees. Ricky sang his freeze spell and quickly made a tour of the camp. Hemo, Siria, and Mirano were bound and gagged, sitting against a tree. Nemo Mattia seemed to be leading ten soldiers. Ricky waited for time to speed up before re-invoking his spell. He put the soldiers to sleep and attempted to remove a compulsion spell from Nemo before putting him to sleep, as well.
He went to his friends and removed their bonds as he sang the compulsion counter-spell and waited for them to wake up. He put a bit more wood on the fire and checked his adversaries’ bonds.
“What really happened?” Ricky asked Hemo as he began to stir.
The Vorrian looked at Mirano. “He was under compulsion before the King put him in the cell. We were caught at Siria’s friend’s house. Pira isn’t here? Good. This was a trap for both of you.”
“And?”
“I agreed to be compelled.” Hemo lowered his head. “They would have killed Siria and Mirano,” he said quietly. “They wouldn’t accept my cooperation unspelled.”
Ricky nodded his head as the soldiers began to struggle with their bonds.
“Where are the sorcerers?” Hemo said. “There are three of them accompanying the soldiers!”
Three streams of fire lit up the clearing, centering on Ricky.
“Hold my hand,” Ricky said to Hemo. His shields were dropping from the onslaught.
The fire stopped, but not before Ricky traced one of the flames and sent out one of his thin tendrils of fire. It exploded, and the sorcerer screamed. Siria and Mirano ran from Ricky’s protection and hid behind trees. Ricky stalked the woods, wand in hand. Hemo’s touch had helped Ricky maintain his power.
A fireball flew from behind Ricky into the trees ahead. He heard a person yell, but it didn’t sound like Siria had put the person out of commission. He ran towards the sound, shields reinforced, when another stream of fire came from another direction to splash against his deflection shield. Without waiting for the attack to stop, Ricky sent another fireball back along the fire’s path and obliterated another sorcerer. That left the one Siria had probably wounded.
Another stream lit up the night, heading towards the trees to Ricky’s right. That one was answered by Siria’s large firebolt, lighting up the entire clearing. Siria stepped out from the trees.
“He or she didn’t survive that one,” she said, her hip smoldering from the attack.
“I’ll take care of that,” Mirano said, emerging from the darkness. He seemed to move a bit more slowly than normal.
Ricky and Hemo checked on the sorcerers. All were dead. “If you were compelled, why didn’t you tell them about my request to wave a torch?”
Hemo grinned. “They gagged me so I
couldn’t tell them.”
“Saved us all, I imagine,” Ricky said.
He stepped over to his old Applia Juvenile Home instructor, who had struggled to sit.
“Can I trust you to speak?”
Mattia nodded, holding his head. “I was compelled. That is a nasty spell. Where’s the princess?”
“I left on my own,” Ricky admitted. “She might have come if Hemo hadn’t awakened me in the middle of the night. What is your role in all this?”
“I’ve been a good soldier, but I was compelled just before I was sent to capture Mirano. The sorcerer who did it wanted Pira captured. He thought we were all together.”
“And you thought ten soldiers and three sorcerers would be enough?” Ricky said.
“I don’t think they knew you could eliminate the spell that made us do what they wanted.”
Ricky nodded. “How much does King Leon know about everything?”
“He knows you took Pira away and now knows that you can fly. The king doesn’t know why you went to Applia. He thought you would head for Tossa.”
“It’s better that he doesn’t know. What do you plan to do? Are you going to try to arrest me on your own?”
Nemo made a face. “I have no complaints about you. You aren’t a traitor in my estimation, but you aren’t loyal to the king.”
Ricky nodded his head. “I’m not. I’m loyal to Paranty. That’s a big difference. What does Warden Sarini think about all this?”
Nemo chuckled without mirth. “You have come between us,” he said.
Ricky felt his cheeks heat up. “Me? I’m not—”
That brought out a real laugh. “No, she sides with you over the king. She trusts you more than I do.”
“Shall I leave you here with your soldiers?” Ricky tried to come up with a rationale to have Nemo work with him. The Order could use an experienced military person like Nemo, Ricky thought.
Mattia grimaced, his face twisted by the firelight. “You would trust me? I’ve tried to abduct you twice.”
“And I heard a bit of your conversation in the tent on the island. You were compelled this time. What do you really feel after King Leon didn’t trust you to lead this mission on your own?”
