"Private business that Laelliandir has been tasked with," Laella responded as she and Albatros strode across the main foyer to greet Luminear and Markus.
"Laelliandir told her he was leaving last night, and he told me as much before going out to meet up with her," Albatros faced Laella and answered her unspoken question. He sensed her suspicions and fears by her expression. Meanwhile, Luminear and Markus reached the bottom of the stairs. Both were covered in sweat from running around the castle and grounds searching for the missing Bella.
"Laelliandir is gone? Bella thought he was acting oddly and said she feared he might leave again soon," Luminear's eyes widened as she added, "She wanted to go with him this time."
"Laelliandir let her go with him? Another expedition or something to do with these filthy rebels?" Markus asked as much in fear as disbelief. Laella looked to Albatros for support as she answered Markus' question.
"No, he would never involve Bella. What else did he tell you, Albatros?"
"Nothing more than he intended to talk to her last night. I spoke to him briefly when we ran into each other in the upper halls. He said little other than he was concerned how she would handle it."
"Did you see them off? Are we sure she isn't with the soldiers?" Laella's reassurance did little to ease Markus' fears as he did not trust Laelliandir's judgment regarding Bella.
"We saw them off, and I would have seen Bella if she was there. Don't doubt my son. He would never have allowed her to come where he is going," Laella insisted.
"Then she followed him or thought she knew his destination and got a head start last night. She is not here, and her horse is missing." Luminear warned, fearing the worst. "Where is he taking those soldiers?" Laella thought over Luminear's words and also shared this fear.
"Somewhere she should not be going," Laella answered. "Albatros, summon the city guard and launch a full out hunt for Bella. Sound the horns. I want every room, house, alley, and tavern checked for her and the horse." Albatros nodded before turning to leave the castle and inform the guards at the gates and watchtowers surrounding the keep to sound the horns.
"She's not in the city. She would have returned here, not the city. Where would she even be out there this time of morning?" Markus asked.
"I don't know, but I'm not launching a hunt for her out there until I am certain she isn't in Garroth. Let the guards conduct their search and calm down. Go. Get dressed, and you can help." Markus focused on Luminear who looked scared to death and grabbed her hand.
"Lumi? Come, we'll have a look ourselves." Luminear glanced back at Laella. She nodded, fear and worry playing across her face. Laella grabbed Luminear's shoulders gently and kissed her forehead.
"Bella will be all right. Keep it together. I won't let anything happen to her," Laella promised. "Now go, child. You and Mark check places within the castle she likes to go." Luminear agreed and thanked Laella before she and Mark hurried down one corridor, and Laella turned to catch up with Albatros. Laella agreed with Luminear that Bella had taken some kind of drastic action. It was typical for Bella to make an erratic decision based on temper or stubbornness. Laella imagined Bella taking off in the night, but she hoped she was wrong.
∞ ∞ ∞
Unfortunately, Luminear's theory was spot-on. Bella had caught on to Laelliandir's secretive behavior, and she also noticed random carrier birds flying straight into his bedroom frequently over the last few months. The morning prior Bella had seen a carrier bird fly into his chambers. Moments later she'd knocked on Laelliandir's door with a plan in mind. Laelliandir had not worried about Bella sneaking about his room, and he'd been happy to let her in. After a few moments, she asked him to borrow a copy of a book he had offered to lend Luminear. As soon as he'd left his bedchambers and entered his study, Bella reached under his pillow and found an unsealed scroll that Laelliandir had quickly hidden away when she came knocking.
You,
Well, Golden Boy, everything is set. I'm not sure how you will go about doing what we have discussed, but our window of opportunity is short. In but a week the Novanian hoard is heading out to southern Verdan hoping to surprise the rebels. They are about three weeks from Magwhen, so act fast. I hope you are ready to send word to your people immediately and head out as soon as you receive this. Gather what you need and inform who you must, but your people south need to be marching as quickly as possible.
Me
It was Lonewolf's handwriting to be sure, and Bella assumed they were working together to spring a trap on these enemy rebels. She had read over it twice before stashing it back under Laelliandir's pillow. Bella interpreted the message to mean Laelliandir, and the soldiers must expect an attack from the rebels at Magwhen. It did not make a great deal of sense to her, but then again, she had no clue of life outside Garroth and understood nothing concerning Novanian armies. Laelliandir and Bella hardly ever spoke of politics, and she didn't pay much mind to anything other than Laelliandir these days. What was clear to her was she intended to go, and when Laelliandir refused her request, Bella decided she would go anyway. Once she discerned his destination, she intended to be at Magwhen waiting for him.
By the time the soldiers and volunteers had thoroughly searched the city, the sun had risen in the early winter morning. The hunt yielded nothing. Back at the main gates before the castle, Laella, Luminear, Markus, Fern, Albatros and the captain of the city guard discussed what to do next. Luminear was certain Bella had followed Laelliandir, yet she didn’t understand how.
"Perhaps she hid outside the gates and waited until Laelliandir and the riders rode off before following them from a distance. Wolf taught us the basics of tracking, and it couldn't be too difficult to follow that many horses across the countryside." Fern and Markus agreed with Luminear's supposition.
"The only way to be sure is to track her horse itself. She's a few hours ahead of us if she left this morning, or over half a day ahead if she left last night," Laella said. "I'll take my rhino to the riverfront where Laelliandir and Bella were last night and look for her horse's tracks. My beast can pick up her trail, and I'll track her myself," Albatros proposed. "I'll find her."
"That is the best option. Albatros, you must make haste to catch up with her," Laella implored. "If she left last night, then she could be anywhere if she is only guessing where Laelliandir is heading. Perhaps she ran away upset and got lost."
"She keeps a map and compass on her, and she didn't just run away. I doubt she's lost. This is all about Laelliandir," Markus insisted. "She would leave for no other reason."
"I agree, and I want to go. Please, my lady." Luminear pleaded with Laella, but Laella shook her head.
"Out of the question. If she is out there, then Albatros will find her." Luminear, Markus and Fern would have been more than happy to join the hunt but realized there was no point in arguing with Laella over the matter. They would have to trust Albatros to find her and bring her home.
After the brief meeting, Albatros bid them farewell and boarded his rhinoceros once more. Full speed ahead he charged right back out of Garroth and toward the northern river shores. Laella advised Luminear to join her for the day while Markus and Fern should stick to their normal schedule. They could do no more, and because of her relationship with Luminear, Laella wanted to keep her close. She did not wish Luminear running out after her sister. Just in case the boys tried to leave, she ordered the captain of the city guard to keep a tight watch at each gate, to make sure nobody else left that shouldn't.
It took Albatros and his rhino little time to find where Laelliandir and Bella had been, and once he determined which tracks belonged to Bella's horse, he communicated with his four-legged ally to begin the hunt. Onward they backtracked close to the city of Garroth before veering southeast. Bella's horse and Laelliandir's battalion had not taken the same path after all, for the soldiers headed due east. Instead, Bella's steed was heading toward Magwhen, and now so was Albatros.
Chapter Twenty Five
Obsession
“Y ou’ll see me for who I am and know better than to leave me behind. You don’t take me as seriously as you should, but the look on your face when I come riding in will be priceless. That’s all you need to know. I’m not one to sit back and wait around, Lae. I’m every bit as proud as you. What do you take me for? I’m no lady-in-waiting! I am just like you, and I’ll prove it to you if that’s what you need to believe it!” Bella talked aloud to herself as if she were speaking to Laelliandir as she rode. It wasn’t always he who she addressed, for the horse got an earful of random mumbling too. On this journey, more often than not, she chattered to herself, verbalizing her every thought to her faithful steed. If another person overheard her conversations, he may have mistaken her for a maniac going on about this and that, raving in one moment or speaking poetically in the next, dreamily love-struck. This was typical Bella though. Luminear had always written her thoughts down, but since Bella had grown up hearing Zynoa and even Lonewolf talk to themselves, she was almost predetermined to be one of those who spoke aloud when alone.
Bella felt a concoction of emotions on her way to Magwhen. Excited to be a part of Laelliandir’s mission, afraid he would shun her for her determination, fearful of Laella’s punishment, eager to see Magwhen and join in some grand scale event, but mostly Bella was deeply in love and out of her mind. Regardless of how she had expected things to turn out, she found an altogether different outcome when she reached the capital of Divox.
Bella had ridden across northern Divox for a week and a half before arriving outside the city of Magwhen. The guards at the gate greeted her in a decidedly unfriendly manner. Their behavior surprised Bella who expected better from those representing the greatest power in the land. They laughed at her requests to gain entry, and once they realized the girl did not live in Magwhen, nor was she a Novanian citizen, they ordered her to leave. She looked dirty and starving, and they thought her a homeless peasant. They would not hear her claims of ties to the Javalla family. She begged for passage into the city, and they returned her pleas with insult. The men removed her from her horse by throwing her off if it, then claimed the steed as Magwhen's property for her disobedience before sending her away. It was a good thing she wore gloves for they likely would have stolen her engagement ring too.
“What in sarding Xio’s name was that? That’s no way for guards of the greatest city in all the land to treat anyone. When Laella and Laelliandir catch word of this!” Belittled, robbed and tossed aside like refuse was the last thing Bella expected. She set out on foot up the northern hill grateful she, at least, still had her sword. There was nothing else she could do now but wander on. “Why did they not know about Laelliandir’s arrival? They didn’t even care.” Confused and a little fearful, Bella felt ashamed. In her whole life, no person had ever regarded her as a commoner. Now she understood how people like Icaz, Lonewolf, and the Javalla family had sheltered her from such treatment. This was not how Laella or Laelliandir allowed the people of Garroth to treat their people, poor or rich. With her head down, she walked back the way she’d come, chastened like a kicked dog with a tail between her legs.
Horseless and starving she headed north where she remembered seeing signs pointing towards different locations, and she figured this was her best bet to find shelter and food. “Maybe this was a terrible idea. No money left. No horse. I’ve really made a mess of this. What was I thinking?” she scolded herself. After following a long dusty trail from Magwhen for a couple of hours, she paused at a sign that pointed toward Magwhen back south, and a village called Dalwick about 30 miles north. Continuing to Dalwick would be a daunting task, taking a full day to get there. “I’ll never make it there. I’ve better odds returning to Magwhen and demanding hospitality.” Bella fought with herself there in the road trying to decide what to do now. “Likely just lock me up going back there,” Bella reminded herself before deciding to attempt the hike to the village north. Stuck in the cold with aching legs, already dangerously hungry and thirsty, Bella had no clue how she would make it to Dalwick, but good fortune was on her side and she did not have to make it there of her own accord.
About six hours into her hike, and on the brink of collapse, a peddler driving a horse and carriage rode upon Bella. The man was a merchant who traveled back and forth to Magwhen, bringing in winter produce from the village of Dalwick. By the time he stopped and offered Bella a ride, she looked as if she would collapse at any moment. “Thank Xio or whoever!” Bella thought to herself. The man saw how young she was and apparently alone. He assumed she was down on her luck, so he didn’t pry for details, which was another stroke of good luck because Bella had no energy to make up a story and was a terrible liar anyway.
The peddler was a friendly old man who didn't think twice about lending her a hand. In fact, he insisted on it. First, he fed her some of his spare goods that were not fresh enough for Magwhen's merchants to accept, and then he offered her water. She gulped and ate every bite, and when he offered her a ride to Dalwick, she accepted it with thanks.
During the ride back to his home, her planned destination, she slept until they arrived in the village that night. It was a small humble community that lay in a valley, including a few dozen homes with thatched roofs, along with a couple of churches and taverns. Lars Tullen, the old man who rescued Bella, lived on the outskirts of the village in a two-bedroom house where he lived alone. A large farm lay behind his simple abode which was where he grew seasonal crops to sell at market to make his living. He told Bella that his son had lived with him until he moved off to Magwhen many years ago, but Lars Tullen kept his room just as it had been while his son was growing up as a place for him to stay when he visited. He offered Bella use of the room, and she conveyed profuse appreciation to him for his hospitality. She didn't want to tell the old man much, given the way the guards had treated her. Instead she pretended to be a homeless lass looking for work. She looked homeless so Lars took her at her word, and even offered her some work if she wanted to make a little money before being on her way again, which she agreed to.
“Well, it’s a start until I decide what I will do next.” Bella decided she didn’t have a choice in the matter. She was stranded and had lost her way. She was frightened and unsure what she should do and even considered stealing a horse and some food to ride back to Garroth. That would likely be her smartest choice. Own up to her wrongdoings and beg forgiveness, but if she did that her whole mission would be a failure. Then she learned something about Lars that sparked her interest.
The old man went to Magwhen every few days as part of his route to peddle goods. “What if I don’t have to go back to Garroth? He could be my ticket inside even.” The wheels in Bella’s head spun once more and a new plan emerged, she liked much better. “That may be how I find out if Laelliandir has arrived or what is going on.” She was obsessed with seeing this through to the end, and despite her hardships, she did not want to go back home yet, especially since she thought it might be possible for her to finish what she had started.
For the time being, this was her life. She lived and worked on the farm and asked the old man questions. He told her that Magwhen's guards were relentless about checking who came and left the city, and he could not allow her to come along, but he could share any news he heard. Although he found her inquiries about a small army arriving at Magwhen odd, he did not press her for much information. She explained she knew someone in the Novanian army who could get her permission to enter the stronghold, but Lars found her story dubious. To his mind, she likely had a vivid imagination, and he didn’t take her story seriously.
∞ ∞ ∞
As for Albatros, he followed Bella all the way to a dead-end at the great gates of Magwhen. He, unlike Bella, did not request permission to enter though. Instead he asked about a girl that may have passed through. They admitted there had been one they had turned away, but they couldn’t tell him where she’d gone. This was not helpful to Albatros. After two weeks of hunting, he knew Laella and Luminear were l
ikely worried sick about what might have happened to them. He explored the surrounding area hoping to find her tracks, but he found none. Then he spent the next three days searching through patches of forests, lakes and villages along the way, even passing through Dalwick. When he crossed through, Lars was already on his route to Magwhen, and when Bella spotted Albatros, she hid.
“Oh no you won’t. Laella sent you?” Bella was not pleased to see him, knowing if Albatros caught her, she’d be marched back all the way home. If that happened, this journey would be fruitless, and she’d likely be shamed. She would not have it. Bella kept quiet and well hidden within the house, her eyes stalking from the windows.
Determined to find her, Albatros asked anyone he met until one villager said there was a new young lady in town helping an old merchant farmer that lived just outside the village. In the meantime, Bella had discovered an old hiding place under the floorboards of Lars' son's old bedroom, and when Albatros invited himself into the old man’s house, she ducked into the hiding place and evaded him. Even though he’d found no trace of Bella, he had a hunch he might be on the right trail. He climbed back onto his rhino and headed out of town but turned into a nearby patch of forest with a good view of the village and Lars' farm. Within the forest, he made camp for the night then stood guard waiting for Bella to come back around. Surveying for hours he saw no movement in or around the house until Lars rode in on his little horse and carriage that evening and went inside. Still Albatros figured he'd wait this out until morning just to make certain, for he saw no reason for a villager to lie. That night he did not sleep but stood like a statue in the forest stalking the house for hours and hours.
∞ ∞ ∞
Medley of Treason Page 25