by Sandra Elsa
Bella was gratified to hear Captain Torel order, “On your feet.” Dalanor’s steps were slow and uncertain as he followed Bella, walking pain free for the first time in months. She could only imagine the agony he suffered on the ride south from Dylan’s farm.
Sergeant Alva paced behind the prisoner, a hand on her sword. When Bella reached the bottom of the stairs, she sent one globe of light soaring ahead of her. When she stood staring at the steps, Torel came up beside her and reached an arm around her waist. “Lean on me.”
Conall surfaced in her mind. Her muffled gasps of pain were accompanied by a constant low growl, that only she could hear. By the time they reached the next flight of stairs, Dalanor was walking much better. Bella slowly began to feel the pain ebb but the stairs remained a struggle.
By the top of the second flight, she found herself securely nestled in Captain Torel’s arms. Dalanor climbed steadily, hovering beside Torel, while Conall continued to growl. It was all she could do to keep from screaming in anger at both of them. She wasn’t sure how—but she knew she had created the problem with Dalanor. She would fix that when she found Angel. Conall on the other hand…
He would not obey her demand that he cease his growling and she shielded against him. She was in too much pain to deal with his jealousy. Particularly when there was nothing to be jealous about.
Two landings up, Torel put her down. “I had to make you wear mail.” He grinned. “It probably weighs as much as you do.”
Dalanor leapt at the chance. “I can carry her.”
“No,” erupted from both Bella and Torel. Crestfallen, Dalanor continued up the stairs ahead of them, Sergeant Alva dogging his steps, hand on her sword.
Bella rushed to assuage injured feelings. “It’s nothing personal. Your leg needs to recover its strength. It would not be good for either of us if you were to fall.”
“I understand,” Dalanor said, though his eyes still reflected thwarted worship.
Torel helped her out of the mail and handed it to Dalanor. “If you wish to carry something, carry this. It is hers, and it won’t break if your leg should give out.”
Once she shed the mail, Torel picked her up again and carried her the remaining flights of steps.
At the top, before they were back in the general populace he put her down and changed places with Sergeant Alva. Robin put an arm around her waist and helped her to the door of the dungeon. Before the door opened, Bella dowsed the bloodred lights.
As she hobbled through, heads turned their way. Captain Torel halted Dalanor. He turned to Robin and said, “Take Bella to the stable, I'll have the prisoner at HQ.”
“No.” Bella panted. “I need him at the stables.”
They worked their way slowly past the shops and as they crossed populated hallways, Captain Torel loudly said, “Make a hole.” And a passage swept open ahead of them, civilians and Guards alike, shifting out of his way. When they left the palace behind, the natural sunlight and the breeze felt wonderful. Before they traveled twenty feet, Bella felt her energy returning. Every step brought her more upright—less dependant on Robin’s supporting arm.
At a snail’s pace they approached the stables. When they were close, Bella heard hooves thundering in the aisle way. The stable door opened on utter chaos.
Bella’s slight form in the doorway returned calm as Angel slid to a stop in front of her. He reached out and snuffled her hair and dropped his head against her chest, taking the pain of the Healing, ignoring the angry sergeant behind him.
After assuring Robin she would be fine, Sergeant Alva cautiously circled the large black stallion in front of her and went to sooth, Sergeant Stefan.
Bella backed out of the door and Angel stepped out in the sunlight. The great black head swung from Bella to Dalanor, with a quizzical look, then back to Bella again. Bella sought out Conall. “Have you told Angel what the problem is with Dalanor, or did you only tell him enough to get him riled up?”
“I told him about that male. I told him about you Healing it without him there. I told him how you let that Captain carry you up the stairs.” The curt tone would have told her his feelings on that, even if she hadn’t been able to read them from his mind. “And I told him I could no longer speak to you.”
“So you got him excited on purpose.” Bella reached a hand out to Angel’s face and gently traced the star. “Can he help with the other problem?”
“Of course he can. That’s what unicorns do. They purify.”
“Purify?”
Conall’s tone went from sulky to superior. He had information nobody else had. “Usually when people speak of this ritual it is in conjunction with removing poisons from water, but it is the same theory in this process. He must remove the bit of your essence that transferred through the Healing.”
Angel turned and placed his nose on Dalanor’s shoulder. Bella watched through second-sight as he blew a strand of sapphire energy into Dalanor’s ear. Everybody else just saw the breath waft through the young Telgarn’s hair, so it was unexpected when moments later he collapsed, unconscious.
Torel knelt beside the fallen man and Angel nuzzled him again. Bella watched Angel retrieve his sapphire energy. It was wrapped around a brightly glowing green and gold strand. Once free of it’s host, the strand struggled toward Bella. Angel released it and the energy returned to its rightful place.
Dalanor moaned, and began to sit up. Torel kept him down with a hand on his shoulder. “Give it a minute. You’ll be fine.”
The young man’s steady green eyes sought out Bella. “Lady Pink, you must not go to Telgar.”
Torel’s manner changed. He stood and snatched Dalanor off the ground, threw him over his shoulder and marched off to HQ.
Bella ordered Angel back to his stall and hurried after them.
HQ was not much better than the stable had been, when they arrived there. Being held at bay by the desk sergeant, Johann was demanding to see Captain Torel.
Torel strode past him carrying Dalanor to the sealed room. When Bella walked through the door, Johann latched on to her hand and followed her down the hall. Behind them, Sergeant Alva carried Bella’s mail from where it had fallen. She sat in a chair, grateful for the respite.
Bella heard other feet climbing the stairs to the Guard HQ, but when Torel slammed the door behind Johann, silence reigned.
In the sealed room, Johann spoke first. “What have you been doing?” The question wasn’t directed at anyone specific.
Bella and Torel spoke at the same time. Bella closed her mouth, allowing Torel the right of his rank.
“I have been interrogating a prisoner. Not that it’s any business of the King’s Wizard.”
Johann scowled. “It becomes my business when it involves my granddaughter and energy of a sort that has never been felt before. I felt her draw the earth energy and I knew she was using it to Heal, but the whole process was overlaid by an energy I have never felt in my lifetime. And during the wars there were many different energies present.”
Bella frowned at Johann, “You felt me draw the earth energy?” She turned accusing eyes on Torel. “You said they would not feel it, as deeply as we were buried.”
Johann answered her. “The others did not feel you use the earth. The palace and its grounds are mine. I feel the use of my branch of energy, anywhere, within the confines of the inner wall, above or below ground.” He waggled a finger under her nose. “It is part of my position to be able to know when the energies are accessed within my domain. What else did you use?”
When she did not respond, he paced to the chair the Telgarn sat in and returned. “What was that other energy, Bella?” His tone demanded an answer she didn’t have. “That was so strong they will all have felt it. They are no doubt already clamoring at my door. Paulus will not be easy to put off.”
Bella couldn’t explain what she didn’t understand. “It was the red. You told me the colors other than earth tones were shades of spirit. You know more than I what it was.”
Johann shook his head. “Red is a fire wizard. I know what red feels like and it was not that.”
“No, Grandfather. My red is not the scarlet of fire. It is the red of freshly spilled blood.”
Johann stopped pacing and straightened. He searched her with second-sight, even in his trance, he remained alert. When he again focused on Bella’s eyes he asked, “How is it possible that it’s strong enough for you to use, yet I cannot see it?”
Bella lifted her shoulders, and returned his steady gaze. “My strengths faded underground. That strand became stronger, brighter, so I used it to keep my witch’s light glowing. While I healed Dalanor’s leg with what remained of my earth energies.”
“Dala…” Johann spun and looked at the young man he had nearly paced over earlier, seeming to see him for the first time. “You…it’s...Bella, why must you care for all the lost sheep?”
“I'm not the only one here who could be accused of that. But if you must know, I Healed him, because I left him damaged. And because healthy, he may have information I need.”
Dalanor nodded eagerly in his chair and attempted to speak.
Torel shook his head angrily and raised a fist before Dalanor spoke the first word. “If I must break your jaw, I will do so. Speak only when you have permission to speak.”
Dalanor shrank away from the raised fist and closed his mouth.
Johann said, “I need something I can tell Paulus and the others from the Corps. If he has a suggestion let him speak.”
Dalanor sat up straight and risked uttering, “Blame me.”
Johann turned his back, chewing at his lower lip.
Torel rubbed his temples.
Bella saw merit in the idea. “He was nearly out of his mind before and now he can speak and think. Why not claim that he was under a spell of unknown origins that shattered under interrogation?”
Dalanor’s face lit. “Yes. I will tell them that.”
Torel turned on him. “And will you tell us any information you have about why you were in Ronan?”
Dalanor did not become as sullen as he had in the dungeon, but he repeated the statement he made there. “I've already told you all you need to know. Anything else, I will tell only, Lady Pink.”
“Do not call me that again.” Bella did not intend the sharpness to her tone, but she had left the name Pink behind for a reason.
“Is it not your name? I was fevered on the farm, but I thought that was what they called you?” He wrinkled his forehead in confusion. “I have lived with a part of you for months now, it is what you’re called.”
“Pink, is what I was called. I do not use it now. It isn’t safe for me to use that name.” Her lips turned up in a lopsided grin. “And the, Lady part of that title, I have never been.”
Dalanor’s face fell. Then his smile returned and he said, “It is what you are now. It’s what you have always been. Ask the one inside your head.”
Bella’s jaw dropped. How had he known about Conall?
Conall joined the conversation for the first time. “I told you, I’ve been in your head since first I spoke to you. With his shadow of you, he must have seen me. But he’s right. There is no doubt that you are a Lady.”
Bella felt her cheeks burn. She plopped into a chair near the door and jumped when someone pounded on it.
Johann opened the door, to the stormy face, and peach robes, of Paulus, the Commander of the Wizard Corps. “How dare you lock me out? I demand an explanation for what occurred at the castle this afternoon.”
Johann waved Paulus into the room. “Relax. We‘re all friends here. We locked you out because we didn’t know you were here.”
“We were nearly on your heels until the lackeys in the front office dared to stop us, insisting that you were not to be disturbed by anyone.” Paulus’s robe swirled in agitation as he stalked around the small office glaring at all those within.
“That was the order they were given. I’m glad to know they obeyed, but had we expected you, we would have made it clear you were to be permitted through.” Captain Torel was not cowed by the wizard. Nor was he afraid to lie to someone with the ability to use a truth spell. If Bella hadn’t known he was royalty before, she would have now.
Paulus let the words pacify him, though he knew them to be false. It was enough that the Prince, and the King’s Wizard displayed proper respect, even if it was only lip service. He turned his raptor’s gaze upon the other occupants of the shielded room, sliding from Bella to Dalanor. He turned to Johann and said, “Your granddaughter turns up in some peculiar places. Why would a corporal be in this group?”
In a voice of spun silk Johann told half-truths to deflect the abilities of magic to discern the lies. “Bella sewed up young Dalanor’s side when we were at a farm up north. He must have succumbed to infection because he took a turn for the worse when we departed.” Johann walked behind Dalanor and laid a hand on either shoulder. “When Captain Torel discovered she had assisted the prisoner, he thought perhaps a friendly face would bring him out of his stupor.”
Paulus stood sorting through the words Johann wove, applying the truth spell to them. “And did it help. He was carried up here over the good Captain’s shoulder?”
“It helped very much indeed. You yourself have tried to get sense out of him and were unable to do more than watch him rock back and forth shrieking about changelings. Here he sits, calm as can be.
Dalanor opened his mouth but a subtle tightening of Johann’s fingers on his shoulders silenced him.
Paulus observed the interchange. “Let him speak.”
Johann released his grip and Dalanor said, “My assignment was a simple one. I was to spread the news that Prince Lorun is alive, and King Thale is willing to exchange his prisoner for a changeling.”
Once again Paulus sorted for the truth. Thunderclouds grew as he assessed what he found. Captain Torel cut off his words. “You can see Commander, this is my prisoner. If it has anything to do with my brother he is no longer your problem.”
“But there are no changelings.”
Relief flooded Bella’s mind. Dalanor showed more restraint than he had thus far. He kept his mouth closed. She knew he believed she was a changeling. There had been enough clues in what he said while insane. If Torel chose not to hear them, she certainly wasn’t going to tell him. All she needed was somebody going around saying she was a fairy.
Not that anybody would believe it.
The Commander of the Wizard Corps had just declared there were no changelings. That was commonly accepted knowledge. Bella could understand Dalanor being sent on a mission at the ravings of a madman but for some reason he seemed to believe he had found King Thale’s changeling. She wanted to understand why he believed the way he did.
“And there you have it,” Johann told Paulus. “A soldier, sent on a fruitless quest by a lunatic. If Thale’s ravings have kept Prince Lorun alive this long, we should be glad he’s a madman.”
Torel held the door for Paulus. “If you don’t mind, we were just about to question the prisoner to find out what he knows, or doesn’t know about Lorun.”
Paulus turned to leave, but swung back around. “That burst of energy this afternoon… You still haven’t explained that.”
With a shrug Johann made light of it. “We don’t know what it was either. As I said we took Bella down to see this prisoner because she helped him when he was captured. The strength of a friendly face seems to have broken whatever spell King Thale used to prevent him from speaking. All evidence of the spell dissipated when it was broken.”
Johann went on a bit too long. Paulus spent the effort to sort it out. Bella held her breath, watching him read the truth spell. He was methodical. It was apparent that he weighed every word, taking nothing for granted. He scowled at Johann. There was enough truth in the statement that the confusion could simply be that nobody knew what the strange source of power was. That much Bella knew to be true. It was her magic, and she didn’t have a clue where it came fr
om.
Paulus spun on his heel and strode down the hallway. Johann waved a hand and slammed the door shut behind him.
Bella slouched even further in her chair. “At least that’s over with.”
Johann’s brows raised higher than she had ever seen them. “For you, perhaps it’s over. If you ever think to do something so foolish again, I hope you’ll at least warn me. I'll probably spend my evening pacifying and convincing Paulus.” Speaking to Dalanor, he said. “My Granddaughter nearly gave her life for you. I trust you’ll keep that in mind when you speak to people.”
Dalanor was pitiful in his eagerness. “Yes Sir. If it’s within my power, I'll protect her.”
“Then since it seems it’s her you want to talk to, I will go to prepare for my duel with Paulus.”
Torel walked out the door with Johann. As he left he ordered, “Shield yourself, Corporal. Do not take chances, no matter how grateful he seems.”
Bella did as ordered. Dalanor jumped to his feet, and walked towards her, only to find himself blocked from getting close. “Lady, I would speak quietly with you.”
“You can shout within this room and nobody will hear it. It’s shielded from all intrusion.” He already knew too much about her. He didn’t have to know Conall was still here.
He glanced about doubtfully then said, “If it’s your wish that I sit across the room and shout to you, I will do so.”
When she said nothing more he pulled his chair up to the very edge of the physical shield.
She straightened in her chair and said, “I don’t have the slightest idea what we’re supposed to talk about. I’ve been in the military for all of three days now.”
Dalanor was eager to talk. “As I told the wizard. I was sent out to spread word in your country that your Prince is alive.”
“And is he?”
Dalanor hunched his shoulders. “I can’t say for certain. I started in Telgar’s military recently myself. Perhaps not as recent as you, but before that I worked as a prison guard.” Dalanor, stretched his hands toward her shield then knotted them in his lap. “There were political prisoners kept in the lower reaches of Thale’s dungeon. One of those doors was kept locked all the time. He was allowed no visitors. There was a certain time frame his meals had to be delivered in, if they weren’t in the cell by the end a fifteen minute period, he didn’t eat. I was warned that if anything happened to that particular prisoner, the King would have my head.”
Dalanor sunk lower in his seat, cheeks blushing light pink. “I asked what was so important about him and they laughed and called him the prisoner of prophecy. Said the King was going to trade him for a fairy.” The young soldier writhed uncomfortably. “We all had a good laugh, about our Mad King, and since I was not responsible for his meals, I forgot about him until I received an assignment ordering me over the Rortags to search for the King’s imaginary fairy.”
For a long time Bella sat and looked at Dalanor while he said nothing. Finally she prompted him. “And?”
“And-I almost deserted, rather than traverse the mountains. There are horror stories told about the things that live there. I saw no reason to put myself in that much danger for no good reason.” Gray suffused Dalanor’s skin, his lips stretched into a tight frown. “But Thale is not a reasonable man. If somehow he discovered that I deserted, he would have killed my entire family. So I rode with two others over the mountains.”
Bella looked up. “What happened to your companions?”
Sweat beaded on his forehead as he sat lost in memory. “The Rortags, happened to my companions. There are no roads through them. Packs of wolves, bear, wild cats, and critters that aren’t so normal, and are far more dangerous, roam the heights. We lost one man to a pack of wolves, no offense to your friend, and the second to a landslide. Took him and his horse down a hundred foot drop.”
He searched Bella’s face and stopped speaking. “I didn’t mean to frighten you, Lady.”
“It’s all right. It’s not you.” She shook as she thought how she was supposed to go through these very mountains in only three months.
Conall reassured her. “I will lead you. I’ll not let harm come to you.”
Bella wished she had half his confidence.
“Anyway, Lady, I found myself in your country, despairing and on a fruitless mission. That’s when your border guards found me. I couldn’t go home. I’d never find a fairy. I was doomed no matter what I did. I didn’t even change my uniform to try to hide. I fought the border guards hoping they’d kill me. You know the rest of my story.”
Bella shook her head. “I don’t know why you seem to have decided that I’m the changeling you were sent to find.”
Dalanor looked puzzled, “Are you not? With the magic you possess… and the shadow you left within me. I felt different, very different. Thale said his fairy would have copper coloration, and you are copper from head to toe.”
Bella laughed. Relief flooded her entire being. “That is what you based your assumptions on? A strange feeling you received from an aura of a woman, and the fact that I have copper hair. You yourself said it. The Commander of the Wizard Corps just declared it, ‘there are no such things as fairies.’”
He scowled but a smile from Bella restored his good humor.
“Let me tell you my life story and see if you still feel I'm a changeling powerful enough to attract the interest of Kings.” She told him everything about herself. If Captain Torel had heard, he would have been envious of how free she was with information about her past.
When she finished, he said, “You’re right. If you were this changeling you would never have been a slave, but…” He shook his head, “I cannot explain it. The difference in your aura is what caused me to be unbalanced in your absence. It could not possibly have been just the difference between male and female.”
“Perhaps it is the difference between somebody with power and somebody without.”
He shuddered. “I hope you’re right. If you’re the one Thale is searching for, he’ll not stop until he has you. And if I read your Captain’s reaction to my statement by the stables correctly, I’m guessing you’ll be walking straight into the Mad King’s traps. Please be careful, Lady.”
She looked at him long and hard. He was perceptive. She nodded her head, “Not to worry. I do not plan to go anywhere close to your Mad King,” she lied.
A banging at the door told her Captain Torel’s patience had been exhausted. She flicked a weary hand at the door, and it popped open.
Captain Torel stood framed in the doorway, fist raised to bang again. His wide shoulders nearly obscured Trace. Without a word they entered, leaving the door open. Captain Torel seated himself behind his desk and waved Trace into a chair beside Bella. “Was your time productive?”
She exchanged a steady gaze with Dalanor. “I believe so, Sir.”
“And what do you think we should do with our prisoner?”
This was a test. It had to be. He wanted to know if she was too soft hearted to send a man to the dungeon. She trusted Dalanor as much as she trusted any man, but she didn’t want him free. Not with his suspicions, and his family held hostage in Telgar.
“It’s all right,” Dalanor said, as though reading her mind. “You cannot do otherwise.”
“He must return to his cell,” she told Captain Torel. “Though I would ask, he be treated well. Perhaps some straw for a mattress, another blanket and a pillow.”
When Captain Torel nodded, Dalanor displayed the stoicism of a much older man. “I could ask no more.”
Captain Torel called down the hall. “Sergeant Alva.”
The rattle of mail announced Robin’s arrival at the open door. “Yes Sir?”
“Find an escort detail to take the prisoner back to his cell. Then you're dismissed for the remainder of the day.”
“Yes Sir.” She stepped into the office and asked, “Where would you like your mail, Sir?”
“That’s Corporal Gunter’s mail now, until she can have h
er own made. It hasn’t fit me in over fifteen years.”
Trace took the mail and Sergeant Alva returned to the front desk to send the runner in search of detail personnel.
When Dalanor was gone, Torel turned his piercing gaze on Bella, sitting next to the door. “Close the door, Corporal.”
A breeze wafted across the room and closed the door. A slight twist of her hand sealed it.
Torel watched closely. “Since when do you have so much control?”
“Since my power drained under the earth. It is still weak, so it’s not such a hassle to exert control.”
“Did he tell you anything more definite about my brother?”
Verbatim, Bella repeated Dalanor’s words concerning the prisoner of prophecy, and as much as he had known of the supposed prophecy.
When she was through, Captain Torel dismissed them. “Thank you for your efforts, Corporal. I must talk with my father. Sergeant Gunter, I’d appreciate it if you could escort your sister to her quarters.”
Bella expected Conall to greet her when she entered the room. She was surprised by his silence and thought he was sulking, until she turned and saw the door. He had scratched huge gouges in it.
He lay now with his nose in his tail, halfway under the bed, avoiding her accusing glare. “You should not have shut me out,” he sulked. “You are my pack, I feared you needed protection.”
He yelped as she threw a pillow at him. “You feared I might get close to somebody else. I will not tolerate such behavior. Just because you’re in my head doesn’t mean I belong to you. You will not interfere in my life or I’ll cut you out of it.”
He slunk away from the bed and lay down by the door. “Would you like me to go?”
She blocked him from her mind and waited a minute, letting him worry.
“Bellana?”
“I’m thinking,” she snapped. “If you stay, you must promise there will be no more jealous outbursts. I’m not looking for a mate, but I’m not going to distance other people because my pack cannot behave himself.”
Conall stood up and slunk back to the bed. His tongue lapped her hand and he lay down again on the floor beside the bed. “I can only promise to try harder.”
“I guess that will have to do. Because I don‘t know what I‘d do without you around now.”
His tail wagged. Two heavy thumps on the floor and he turned soulful grey eyes on her.
Chapter 36