It swung open with great force. A man grabbed her as she fell forward out of the cabinet.
“Been hiding out, sneaking around?” said a cruel voice in her ear. “Light a lantern!” he called. “We have a spy!”
“No, no, I was only locked in and I fell asleep—I didn’t know where the sheets went and—”
“Silence!” he said, striking her nose. Anna recoiled, the shot of pain and dizziness overtaking her. She tasted blood.
“What is this?” said a voice Anna shuddered to remember as the king’s. He walked into the room. “My good king, we found a servant girl, locked in the wardrobe.”
Anna kept her eyes on the floor.
“And how long have you been there?” But he didn’t wait for an answer. Waving his hand he said, “It doesn’t matter. Kill her.” He turned back as he reached the door. Anna felt his eyes rove over her. “Wait. Muzzle her instead. Jaali will make good use of her. Lock her in the dungeon until he can be summoned.” The king left.
“Do you know what muzzle means?” said the burly man, grabbing her by the hair. “We cut spies’ tongues out so they can’t tell what they know—either that or we cut their throats. You are fortunate. We’ll see what Jaali will pay for you.”
“Jaali loves the muzzled girls best,” the other man said, snorting. His breath reeked.
The two men grabbed Anna and held her head back. She kicked and screamed as hard and as loud as she could.
“No! I didn’t hear anything! Please no! Help me! Help!”
The man punched her in the stomach, and she doubled over in pain, gasping for air. “No! No! My father! My father.” The words came out in a choked whisper. Someone. Please.
“Your father won’t save you!” the man smirked, snapping her head back by her hair. He studied her for a second. “The king didn’t say we couldn’t have a little fun first.”
“You idiot, get on with it!” the other man shouted, forcing her hands behind her back. Anna felt her chin jerk toward the ceiling. A rough, filthy hand grabbed her tongue. Anna gagged. She saw the other man holding a knife. She squeezed her eyes shut. This was it. Please, no. Her heart pounded so fast she thought she might collapse.
The door burst open.
An arrow released.
The hand lost its grip on her tongue as its owner fell to the floor. An instant later, the other man fell, clutching an arrow piercing his chest. Anna would have fallen as well if strong arms hadn’t caught her and tossed her over his shoulder. He ran.
He tore down the stairs, taking them two at a time. Anna’s sore head hit his back on every step and jolt. He sprinted to the stables. Finally he reached his horse and plopped her on the ground, breathing hard. He threw the saddle on and yelled, “Can you ride?”
“Yes, yes,” Anna choked out. She hoped he was the man who had asked for water, but she hardly cared. Her heart pulsed adrenaline through her body.
He mounted and pulled her up easily behind him. The horse charged out the stable door.
“Duck!” he yelled as the doorframe zipped over their heads. Anna whipped her neck around to see men with swords yelling and running in their direction. An arrow whizzed by her arm.
“Go, go!” she yelled. “They’re coming!”
Chapter 7
The man glanced back and laid his reins on his horse’s side. Anna locked her arms around his waist.
“Yah!” he yelled as the horse burst into a gallop toward the outer palace gate. “Open for the messenger of the king!”
By some miracle, the gatekeepers opened for them. His horse thundered through the city. “We must make it through the gates before they close at nightfall,” he shouted over his shoulder. “We won’t survive in the city tonight.”
He steered his horse skillfully around covered tents, wagons and the few people left on the streets. Anna heard hooves pounding the ground behind them. She glanced back. Several guards were in pursuit with swords drawn.
“Hurry!” she yelled, digging her fingers into his cloak.
They flew through several alleys as they worked their way to the front gate. Down one alley they overturned a cart of melons and oranges as they raced by. The man swung his horse to the right and dashed down another alley. As they weaved through the narrow street, they came to a dead-end courtyard that opened into a group of homes. People ran out of their homes to see who the intruders were.
The man cursed colorfully and spun his horse back the way they’d come.
The horse had to jump the overturned fruit cart on the way back and skidded around a corner onto the main road. At once, a guard on horseback burst out of an alley, right on their tail.
“Go!” Anna shouted as the guard drew his sword with a yell. Another horse joined the pursuit. An arrow smacked the wall behind them.
The man kicked his horse in response and lay over his neck, urging him faster. Anna doubled her grip on his cloak. The horse had another burst of speed as they rounded a bend and saw the city gate. Anna peeked around his shoulder. It was still open.
Angry shouts followed them as they flew through the gate. The horse kept galloping north until they were out of sight of Kasdod. Anna dared to look back. The desert sand sparkled in the full moon’s light.
“I think we lost them.”
He slowed the horse. They both breathed a sigh of relief. He let the horse trot for twenty minutes as the sun went down, and then turned abruptly east when darkness settled around them. The horse’s hooves were quiet in the sand. He slowed the animal to a walk. Fatigue washed over Anna now that the immediate danger was gone. She knew she didn’t need to hang on anymore, but she struggled to let go of the man’s cloak. Though she could hardly see in the darkness, she was inches from his broad shoulders and strong back. Every few minutes her forehead would sag against him as she nodded off and then shook herself awake again.
She barely noticed her rumbling stomach as she forced her scratchy throat to swallow. Just water and rest, she thought miserably. After they had gone for perhaps an hour Anna noticed the horse’s hooves making more noise. Grass had returned. Another hour brought trees and a small stream.
Here he stopped.
“Get down,” he said. “I must care for my horse.”
He led the horse to water, took off the saddle and rubbed his back with a cloth.
Anna went straight for the creek and took long, deep drinks, quenching the horrible thirst that had tormented her so many hours. She washed the blood off her face and felt inside her mouth. Yes, her tongue was fully attached. The man walked up beside her. Anna jumped.
“I didn’t mean to frighten you,” he said. “Are you hurt?”
“No, I’m fine.”
“Are you? Your face was wounded. What happened?”
“They decided to punch me a few times before cutting out my tongue. No permanent harm done. I don’t have the best luck.”
“Maybe your luck has turned around.” His voice was warm, not the kind of voice she imagined attached to a warrior.
Anna shrugged. “I wouldn’t go that far.”
“Come and rest.” He took her hand in his. It felt solid as he led her through the dark to the makeshift camp. “I take it you heard something you shouldn’t have?” he asked.
There it was. Who was this man? Someone sent to lure her into false security? Someone to take advantage of her weakness? She pulled her hand out of his grasp and bit her lip, unsure how to answer. She swayed on her feet.
“Never mind,” he said. He unrolled his bedroll and motioned for her to take it. She gratefully fell to her knees and was asleep before her head hit the ground.
When Anna woke, she realized the sun must have been up many hours. She eased up and held her throbbing head in her hands. Her ribs ached with every breath. She touched her swollen lip and blood-crusted nose. The man was gone. She didn’t even know his name. At least she was away from Anwar and his brutes. Anna got up and stumbled toward the creek. She again quenched her thirst and washed the sweat and blood off he
r body. Her stomach growled. She hadn’t eaten at all the day before.
She returned to the makeshift camp and realized that the man must have slept on the hard ground. There was only one bedroll.
Before long the man came around the thicket, leading his horse. It took Anna a couple heartbeats to recognize him because he had shaved his beard. At second glance, Anna took in his a square jaw, tanned skin and piercing crystal blue eyes peering out from thick, dark hair. He could use a haircut, but beyond that—she glanced away when she realized he was smiling at her as he led the horse with strong, confident strides. His shoulders were broad, but not overly burly. He moved with a grace and ease that suggested wiry, lethal strength.
“I found a clearing of nice grass, where he’s had some four hours of grazing,” he said, raising his eyebrows. “Now that you’re up, we can go soon.”
Anna blushed. “I must have been tired.” She stood up.
He came close and examined her head. His touch was soft around her wound and firm under her chin as he tilted her head to the light. “You had quite a day, yesterday, Miss. How are you feeling?”
“Better now that I’m away from the city,” Anna replied. She didn’t want to complain about her pounding head.
“You rode well,” he said. “You must have ridden a lot in the past.”
“I merely hung on for life,” Anna said, remembering the death grip she’d had around him the night before. She gestured to his face. “You shaved your beard.”
“I was glad to get rid of the filthy thing. I can’t go back there anyway.” He shook his head. Anna knew she shouldn’t automatically trust him, but there was something honest about his face. “I suppose we should share our stories.”
Anna nodded. “What were you doing there?” she asked.
He shrugged. “I was on a mission I can no longer complete.” So he was being cautious with her as well.
“Because you helped me.”
“Yes, but I’m not sure I’d ever have found what I was looking for anyway. Few people talk.”
He pulled a dry crust of bread out of his saddlebag. “When have you eaten last?” he asked, tossing it to her. “It’s all I had on me. Today we’ll ride to a village where I’ll buy everything we’ll need for our journey.”
“You haven’t said where we are going.”
“Back home, of course,” he said. “It’s a long journey this way, but I can’t cross the desert. There would be too many enemies, and the heat would kill us anyway.”
“Back home?”
“You are obviously from the north. I’ll leave it up to you to tell me where. I’m sure you have people missing you. How did you end up in Kasdod?” His eyes searched hers. How had he guessed so much so quickly?
“It’s a long story. I fell from a horse and hit my head. Traders picked me up and sold me as a slave into Anwar’s house. Kumud asked me to prepare Anwar’s private quarters. That’s where I went instead of bringing you water. I wasn’t finished with his room, so I hid in a cabinet. When I shut the door, it locked. They found me, assumed I was a spy and were going to cut out my tongue.” She shuddered. “Then you stepped in. How did you find me?”
“Good ole’ Kumud was storming around. I figured out you were missing. I got lucky when I heard you scream.”
“Thank you.” She nibbled on the bread. She was starving. She felt color moving into her face. She hated being at this man’s mercy. She could only hope his honest face held true.
“How long will it take to get home?” she asked. “Those men took me across the desert in less than two weeks, I’d say,” Anna said.
“Maybe four, maybe six weeks, depending on the weather,” he replied. “We must go through the mountains.” He wrinkled his brow.
Anna was lost in thought. Hadn’t Seamus said two moons? Would that be two months or less, depending on when the next moon came? Anna closed her eyes for a moment. We must get there sooner. She opened her eyes and found him searching hers.
“What’s your name?” he asked.
“You haven’t told me yours,” she said.
He kept tightening his horse’s girth.
“Or your horse’s,” she said, stroking his chestnut neck. “He was great yesterday.” The horse nuzzled her.
“You can call me Jack,” said the man. “This is Avery.”
“Jack?” she said with amusement. “A bit short, don’t you think?”
He went to the other side of Avery to adjust the saddle. “Yeah, well, that’s what my friends call me.”
He came back around and rolled up the bedroll.
“What do your enemies call you?”
“I can’t speak those words in front of a lady.” The corner of his mouth flicked up.
“Why would you call me a lady?”
He gestured to her entire person as if that explained it. “You are obviously from noble birth.”
“And you’re just Jack?”
He stood up. “I was born John William. My older brother got to calling me Jack. It stuck.” He peered into her eyes, leaning close enough that she could smell the tang of his sweat. They were almost sharing breath. “I would have sworn you were someone else when I first saw you. But it seems impossible.”
“Who?”
“You look like a girl I remember from Sunderland, in King Vilipp’s court. You remind me of his youngest daughter, Anna, but she had golden hair. With that veil on, I only got a good look at your eyes.”
“I have golden hair,” Anna whispered.
“What?” Jack frowned.
“Those mongrels dyed it black when they sold me.” She bent down and showed him the new blonde growth at the roots.
“Who are you, then?” he asked. He tilted his chin a little sideways as he studied her. “A cousin?”
“I am Anna,” she said in a soft voice, nodding, almost not believing it herself. “I haven’t been home in a long time.”
He pushed his hair out of his eyes and glanced at her thin frame and work-roughened hands. He studied her face and found her eyes. Anna held his stare before he dropped into a quick bow.
“Your Highness,” he said.
“Thank you, but please call me Anna. And don’t bow.”
He moved to take her hand and then changed his mind. His posture stiffened. “I pledge to get you home as soon as we can.” He handed her Avery’s reins.
Anna swung up on Avery while Jack walked beside them. Occasionally Anna would dismount to give Avery a break. The poor beast seemed tired. She knew the feeling. Her legs were not in shape for riding. She kept a hand on Avery. Somehow the warm, solid feel of the horse comforted her.
Anna found Jack had come to the castle from the Oclen kingdom when he was fourteen years old. Jack knew Stefan and Saira, but because Anna was four years younger, their paths hadn’t crossed much. He’d then been sent away to apprentice in the desert.
She’d never heard of a knight training in the desert before.
“I was working on a mission around Anwar’s palace, but I abandoned it soon after I saw you in the tavern.” Haunted grief flashed through his eyes and was gone.
“Why?”
“I knew you didn’t belong there.”
“There are probably plenty of other girls there just like me.” She thought of Micah. “And many others born there that need to be freed as well.”
He sighed. “I couldn’t help all the slave girls, but I knew I had to help you.”
She glanced at his face, honest and tainted with sadness.
“I haven’t told you everything,” she said.
“I figured that.” He winked.
“Do you want to know why they were going to cut my tongue out?”
He nodded. “What did you hear?”
I hope he is who he says he is.
“Sunderland is in danger. We must warn my father.”
“What?”
“I heard that there is going to be an attack on Father’s kingdom in two moons—when will that be?”
&nb
sp; Jack grew serious.
“We are a few days past a full moon.” He lowered his voice. “Who did you hear this from?”
“Lord Anwar, and you won’t believe who else.”
“Lord Anwar himself?” Jack picked up his pace. “That was why I spent the last three years wandering around that god-forsaken land trying to figure out when and where! We knew he was building his army and would eventually strike.”
“Listen,” Anna said intently. “Seamus was there. He was making plans to betray Father.” Now the words gushed out. “Seamus has been getting men on his side for a coup. He gave Anwar gems of power! He said he would take care of the castle—something about giving him all the royal heads. Then Anwar would sweep in from the south and attack us unprepared. Seamus is in charge of all the armies. He’ll make sure they aren’t around that day. He said it would happen in two moons.” Anna’s words came to an abrupt stop. She suddenly remembered Seamus sending Stefan away. “And he’s sent Stefan and the armies far away.”
Jack’s face drained of color.
“Are you sure? How do you know it was him?” he asked.
“Trust me, I’d know his voice anywhere.” Anna swallowed the bitter tang in her mouth.
“But you didn’t see him?”
“I heard him!” Anna said. “And that was enough. Please, believe me.”
“That’s quite a charge.” Jack thought for a moment.
“I know how he was when you trained with him, kind and loyal. He is my godfather. He loved me and cared for me until…” she paused for a moment. “But he’s changed. He’s cruel and cunning, and… and he beat my stable boy just to spite me. He would have killed him without a second thought if I hadn’t stopped it. You’d never know him.” Her eyes pleaded with him.
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