River! I looked frantically around the cell and spotted him in a similar position at the feet of another soldier. He was on his knees, clutching his belly. Streaks of red marred his shirt fabric. I breathed a sigh of relief on realizing he hadn't been eviscerated. Blu was helping a confused-looking Ivy from River’s pocket.
Two more guards had Opal, now in her human form, chained at her neck, ankles, and wrists, naked as the day she was born, thanks to her shifting. Her long pink and purple hair only covered part of her.
The commanding voice, which I now saw came from a purple-headressed man, spoke loudly enough for all to hear. “Take her to my cell, guards. Stop sandbagging and get moving. Do it now—move!”
The two guards holding Opal called back, “Yes, sir,” and led Opal through the cell door, rather than the one in the ceiling.
Opal snarled at the officer. “You carrot-loving son-of-a-sparrow, go find something shiny for your nest.” Though the officer ignored her, as did the guards, I took a savage delight in the litany of creative insults Opal shouted as they led her out. I had to hand it to the girl. Even naked in a strange place, manacled at the wrists and ankles, she still managed to hold onto her anger.
Once she was gone, and I could no longer hear her insults, the officer ordered the two remaining guards to secure River and me. They roughly drove River and me from the holding cell to another one as Blu and Ivy stabbed them with their tiny swords. The guard dragging me flapped his hand, sending Ivy spiraling. We came to another room, this one without a hole in the ceiling. The door slammed closed behind us, the click of the lock echoing off the room's stone walls and floor.
Our cell was small, but through the bars, I could make out more of the prison. The outer chamber was large, with a hole in the ceiling at either end and regular doors at ground level. The remaining walls were lined with cells large enough for four or five people each, with double bunk beds.
River sat with his shirt up as he gingerly probed the light cuts across his belly. “You may as well sit down. I think we'll be here a while.”
Ivy flew through the bars and joined Blu back in River’s shirt pocket.
I clutched the cage bars near the door, looking out, with my forehead leaning against two bars. I let out a long, slow breath, which caused some discomfort in my ribs, and then went to sit beside River. After a few minutes, I curled up next to him with my head in his lap, and shortly after, drifted into a fitful, exhausted sleep.
I was awoken by a loud, metallic clang nearby. I sat bolt upright with wide eyes. Nothing made sense for a moment until I remembered where I was, and why. I wiped the sleep from my eyes with the palms of my hands, then saw River beside me looking like I felt, startled awake.
A young man, perhaps twenty years old, stood near our cage with his back to it. he was the first person I’d seen since coming to this place that didn’t have wings. His attire was neat, a perfectly pressed uniform of varied lavender hues, with accents of the deepest purple. Instead of a spear across his back, a curved sword hung at his side, and when he turned slightly, motioning toward the cell, I saw that matching, square amethysts were embedded in both the pommel guard and the upper scabbard.
“Your Highness, these two are prisoners.” One of the guards spoke to him. “They were trespassing on Her Majesty's territory.” The two guards stood ramrod straight, and I could see the bottom tips of their wings were crossed severely, sticking out to either side by almost a foot.
The young man waved his hand at the cage. “Where did they trespass?”
The guard looked uncomfortable as he answered. “They were sailing down the great river, Your Highness. They came from the east through the gorge.”
The young man looked around, and I was able to see his face for the first time. The beauty of him took my breath away. His face was a picture of chiseled perfection, and his eyes a warm brown, the exact shade of his hair. When he saw River and I crouched on the floor of the cell, I saw an expression of compassion flit across his face. Maybe we weren’t going to die in this hellhole after all.
“From the east?” He was still looking at us, which made me wonder if he was still talking to the guard or to me. I nodded my head slightly as the guard answered his question verbally.
“Yes. They were apprehended by the bridge, close to the palace.”
“I'm sure the trespass was unintentional and certainly harmless. Let them go, and give them back all their gear.”
The guard was not happy about the command. His anger at it was painted all over his features, but if this really was a prince, I guessed he had no choice in the matter.
“And their weapons, Your Highness?”
“All their gear except their weapons. I order this in my own name,” the newcomer replied. “You are held blameless of any outcome, by my word.”
One soldier immediately headed to the cell without even looking at his companion for consensus. “Aye aye, Your Highness.”
The other soldier went to a series of locked iron chests stacked against one wall and pulled one out easily, set it down to open it, and then pulled out our backpacks.
The prince turned to face us, and this time, I knew he was talking to River and me. “You are free to go. I apologize for your incarceration. The Palace guards take their role very seriously.” He dropped his voice to a whisper. “Too seriously, most of the time.”
“Thank you for freeing us, but we can't leave without our companion who came in with us. She was taken somewhere else before we were thrown in this cell.”
The second guard approached with all our gear and handed a slip of paper to the prince. He read the note written on it.
“Your companion remains in detention. You have your freedom, but your friend does not. Go now before I change my mind.”
“What?” I cried. “She didn't do anything!”
River put his arm around me, pulling me back a step. “What are her charges, Your Highness?”
“She's being held by order of the only person in the kingdom I don't outrank....my mother.” He stepped aside to let us pass. As staying in the small cell wasn’t going to help Opal, River and I ducked out, bowing our heads slightly at the royal. I grabbed my backpack and hauled the strap over my aching shoulder, then picked up Opal’s. There was no way I was going to leave her behind. I just needed to get out of here to think of a plan to help her escape. As River and I walked along the large chamber, the prince fell into step beside us.
“We never get traffic from the east. Your people apparently are very insular. But I am curious to learn more of you, your people, and what in the queen's name you're doing here.”
“We came with no ill intent, Your Highness,” I said, glancing at each empty cell as we passed it. “We are on a fact-finding mission. No more. We didn’t plan to stay, and we didn’t plan to hurt anyone. Our weapons were for defense only.”
“A fact-finding mission? That sounds like an interesting tale. I’m keen to hear about your lives in the East Kingdom. I’m thinking of doing trade there. Will you join me for brunch? I swear to you, the surroundings will be far more conducive to a proper appetite than this place. You can tell me of your adventures getting here.”
“Well...” River began.
I interrupted during his pregnant pause. “Your Highness, we would be honored to join you and share our story with you.” I glared at River for a moment before looking back to the prince.
Unblinking, he looked back. “Then, by all means, please, follow me.”
The cells turned out not to be a prison, rather than the dungeons of a tremendous palace. Once we had left the oppressive nature of the dark stone and headed up a level, the decor of the house became something like I’d never seen before. Thick plush carpet covered every floor while beautiful paintings in heavy gilt frames hung on the walls. My thoughts went to my mother, who would love to see something as exquisite. The prince led us along magnificent corridor after corridor to a room with a high ceiling and a round table in the center.
; In the center of it stood a vase with freshly cut flowers that scented the air.
“Have a seat. I’ll have some food brought out. You must be hungry?”
I’d been so preoccupied with the pain in my ribs and my situation that I hadn’t thought about food, but the last time we’d eaten was hours ago, and then it was only a snack on the raft.
He clicked his fingers, and a servant dressed in gold appeared. Like the prince, he didn’t have wings. I wondered if it was only the guards that did.
“Dinner for three, please. A cold buffet will do. I don’t think our visitors would like to wait for a cooked meal.”
I was so hungry I’d eat anything.
“While we are eating, please tell me your tale. I’m interested to know how you got through the gorge. I’ve heard the rapids are especially dangerous.”
“The rapids were the least of our problems, Your Highness...”
“Please call me James. I do not stand on ceremony at my own dinner table... Oh, and speaking of dinner...”
A line of servants walked into the room, each carrying a platter of food. My eyes goggled at the sheer amount of dinner brought to us. My stomach gave a loud gurgle as my brain processed the feast being laid out before us. My instinct was to reach out and fill my plate, but I’d never dined with royalty before. I’d never dined anywhere so luxurious before, so I waited until the prince filled his plate, then heaped food onto mine. It tasted as delicious as it looked.
I could have quite happily eaten in silence, savoring each mouthful of foods the likes of which I’d never tasted before, but the prince showed such an eagerness to hear our story that I had to talk between mouthfuls.
“We set out on a mission to find unicorns,” River said, leaving me gratefully to eat. “The plan hadn’t been for us to raft down the gorge, but a past landslide had blocked one of the paths I knew of, and we were eager to get here. I didn’t want to put us in danger by using one of the more traditional routes.”
“Ogres?” the prince inquired.
“Exactly.”
The prince nodded thoughtfully. “They can be a nuisance. I’ve tried sending my guards out to see to them, but they simply refuse to fly that far. Everyone else is too scared to try. Might I ask, why are you searching for unicorns?”
“For breeding purposes,” River said smoothly. “We have a unicorn, but she is lonely. She is the only one we know of in the East Kingdom.”
“You are in luck. The Royal House has a herd of them.”
My heart beat in double time at his words. Opal would be over the moon if she knew. I doubted that the unicorns belonging to the prince were one of the three special unicorns, but Opal never said she needed one of those, Any unicorn would do. Any male unicorn. If we could persuade the prince to sell us one of his herd, we had half our problem solved. Unfortunately, our other problem was much greater.
“Does one of them have a ruby or sapphire horn?” River asked, and I kicked him under the table.
The prince didn’t need to know the full story. He might be royalty, but I didn’t know him enough to trust him. He eyed River curiously. “I don’t mean to disappoint you, and I’m not sure what you’ve heard about the West Kingdom, but unicorn horn is just that. Unicorn horn. It’s an impossibility that it could be made out of a rare jewel.”
“We are not just here for unicorns,” I said, swallowing a bite of croissant and trying to get away from the topic of rubies and sapphires. “Our friend is lost. We have reason to suspect he was kidnapped.” A look from River was enough for me to think about my words before blurting them out. To tell the prince we suspected that his winged guard was the reason we came here would have him turning on us in a second.
“That is sad to hear. You suspect he was brought into the West Kingdom?”
I shook my head, trying to keep things light. “Not necessarily. We think he was taken because of a key that hung around his neck. We know there is another in this kingdom, and we hoped that if we found it, we might find our friend.”
“A key?”
“It’s not just any key. The key we had is made up of four parts. It is an intricate object that fits together. Each has a diamond. We believe the other key might have a sapphire or a ruby in place of the diamond.”
“Just like your mythical unicorns, eh?” The prince sat forward and rubbed his chin. “That is indeed an interesting tale. It's the fates who brought you here, it seems.”
River coughed lightly. “Why do you say that, Your Highness?”
“I told you before, while we're here in private at my own table, call my James.”
“My apologies, James.” River tipped his head to the prince.
James's expression blossomed into an easy smile. “To answer your question, I think I know of the key you speak of. I knew someone who wore something similar to which you speak. A pendant. It did indeed have a ruby.”
My heart leapt. A lucky break and the first one of the trip as far as I was concerned. "Excellent!" I couldn't hide the excitement in my voice. "Where can we find them?"
James's smile fell away. He pursed his lips for a moment. At last, he replied in a quiet tone, “She was my grandmother.”
River blurted, “Your grandmother? Fantastic. Can we meet with her?”
I, however, felt my heart plummet into my gut. “She was your grandmother?”
River's exuberant grin fell too.
“She passed away a few years back.” He pushed his still half-full plate away from him. “Listen, I find my appetite has faded. We were close. I invite you to spend the night here in the palace, and I won't take no for an answer. It's the least I can do after the not-so-warm welcome you received here, and I'd like to ask more questions about the East Kingdom later, if I may.”
I nodded. “Of course, we'd be delighted.” Though my tone was carefully casual, inside, my stomach fluttered. It seemed that though we had been invited, and we had the illusion of freedom, without Opal, we were just as imprisoned as she was.
“Wonderful. I’ll have my servants show you to the guest suites. Please, feel free to make yourselves at home.”
River's grip on my knee under the table tightened, though he wore a cheery smile as he, too, accepted James's offer. His grip didn't loosen until the prince rose and left the room, blaming official duties to which he had to attend.
Once he was gone, River met my gaze, and he wasn't smiling anymore.
Chapter 14
Sunlight filtered in through a gauzy curtain, casting dances of light on the carpet and walls of the room I’d been assigned. The room was part of a suite with a bedroom, living area, and bathroom. The three rooms were bigger than the house I shared with my mother and grandfa. If only they could see me now. My dirty clothes had been taken away and, at some point in the night, brought back cleaned and folded and left on the living area table. After a long luxurious bath, I pulled on some clothes and put the rest in my bag. I’d been shown to my room first, so I had no way of knowing where River’s room was. I’d harbored hopes he’d come to me in the night, but he never did. He probably felt the same way as I did about creeping around the huge palace in the middle of the night. We had more chance of getting Opal out by being guests above the dungeon than doing something that might get us thrown back in it.
I’d just slid my boots on when a knock came from the door.
Instead of calling out, I opened it to find River grinning at me from ear to ear.
I brought him into a quick kiss. “Good morning. How did you sleep?”
River rolled one shoulder, holding it with his other hand. “Poorly. Such terrible bedding doesn't permit good sleep, you know.” His expression was blank, but there was a hint of mischief about him.
I grinned. “Shut up. Liar.”
His expression sprouted a faint smirk. “Hopefully, breakfast will be better than that bed.”
I rolled my eyes and groaned.
“By my life, no one has a right to sleep on something so comfortable. I think I fell asle
ep the moment my head hit the pillow. I don't know how I'll ever sleep on anything else, ever again. The only problem with it was that you weren’t in it.”
I looked up at him to see if he was being serious. When I saw that he was, I kicked the door shut behind him and forced his back to it, pinning him with a kiss. If he was ready, I certainly was. It didn’t matter to me whether our first time together was in a bed or by a campfire. I only cared that the first time was with him. My hands circled his waist, then ran up his back under his top as my breathing quickened, and our kiss became more urgent. His hands circled me, and I felt a tug as my shirt was pulled free from my jeans. I lifted my arms for him to pull my shirt over my head, and as I did, there came a knock on the door. River looked at me, and all at once, our passion turned into something else. I stifled a laugh as he rolled his eyes.
“What impeccable timing,” he whispered. Then aloud, he shouted through the door. “Who is it?”
A man’s voice shouted back. ”The queen requests you attend breakfast with her in her chambers. I am to bring you directly.”
“Directly?”
“Yes, sir. She is waiting for you.”
River rubbed his face as I tucked my shirt back in. I kissed him on the nose. “You are on a promise, my friend.”
“I’ll hold you to that!” He opened the door to find the servant waiting for us. I ran my fingers through my hair and stepped out into the corridor.
We followed the soldier to the ground floor and through a guarded set of double doors. Everything here was plush, more ornate than anything I’d seen before, practically dripping with wealth. The floor was tiled in mosaics showing scenes I imagined were from royalty past. I resolved to ask about them when I saw the prince again.
We rounded a corner, and the corridor ended in another set of double doors. The guards had been standing with legs apart, spears extended such that they crossed, blocking the way to the door, but on spotting us, they snapped to attention and brought their spears upright. They kept their eyes straight ahead as the servant led River and me through the doors.
The Unicorn Quest Page 8
