Returned

by Kimberley Griffiths Little

  “It will work,” I assured her, sensing her distress. She gave me a wavering smile and then I rose to slip my arm through Kadesh’s as he stood at the strategy table in the adjoining sitting room.

  “We’re finished,” Kadesh said. “You’re going to bed. We’re all going to bed,” he added when my eyes widened to include himself in that directive.

  In a low voice, I said, “I received the herbs from Tijah. I’ll see that Jonah gets them before I go to bed. Will he go alone?”

  Kadesh nodded. “Hopefully an early morning invasion will catch them all ill in their beds. This war could be over sooner rather than later, thanks to you.”

  “We shouldn’t be overconfident, my lord,” General Naham said, hand at his belt as he bowed to take his leave. “I apologize for eavesdropping, Your Majesty, but Horeb’s army is immense, and there is no guarantee Jonah can administer the poison, or that it will work. But,” he added, his eyes going to my face, “I will admit that the plan is a good one, so my acknowledgments to Lady Jayden.”

  That was probably the closest I would come to a compliment from General Naham, and I inclined my head in appreciation. “I hope Horeb rues the day he came to the Land of Sariba. Fighting within the boundaries of your enemy’s country can hardly be a plan for long-term success.”

  “I agree,” Kadesh said, lifting me to my feet to say goodnight.

  Before I left for my bedroom, I kissed my father, holding his cold hands in mine. “Go to bed, Father. I need to speak with you, but tomorrow when we’re both not so tired.”

  He pursed his lips, his eyes drifting from mine. “I’ve been pondering about what I can do to stop this war. War serves no purpose other than to create new enemies. There should be peace. If only your mother were here. If only we could have done our duties to one another.”

  His words pierced at my heart at the reference to my doing my duty by marrying Horeb. If my mother had been here this war might have been avoided. She might have helped to negotiate a union with Kadesh while maintaining good relations with Horeb and his family.

  Perhaps I was giving her too much credit. Horeb had been determined to seize his father’s throne and position long before the tragedies of the past year.

  “Please don’t blame me for loving Kadesh,” I said now. “He has been good to our family. I know you love Horeb like a son, but the boy I grew up with changed after his brother’s death. For more than a year, he has been nothing but cruel to me. He attacked me, tried to murder Kadesh—”

  My father jerked his hands up, palms facing me, shaking his head in agitation.

  I backed away, and slowly bowed to show my respect. When I left the room, my eyes were swimming. I had to tell him about Sahmril, but I dreaded it.

  “What kind of concoction did you get?” I asked Tijah when I finished dressing for bed.

  “The belladonna was running low and wouldn’t work as quickly anyway, so I pulled hemlock, which produces paralyzation until the victim suffocates. If Jonah uses it all we can only hope they will die within hours.”

  I shivered at her sobering words. “Has it already been passed on to him?”

  Tijah nodded, and we dropped the subject as I pulled the linen sheets up over my legs and fell into a heavy sleep.

  I became lost in the eerie darkness of a nightmare. My mind kept telling me I was asleep, but my body was running, running, running. Up and down strange corridors, stairs, and tunnels. Always turning in a circle. Never arriving at my destination.

  All at once, I was jerked out of bed. My sealed eyelids ripped open. After two nights of little sleep, the fatigue was so bad it was as though I’d drunk three jugs of wine.

  A flame flared and the ghostly face of Jasmine appeared, her mouth working in an attempt to speak to me.

  My head wobbled on my neck when I tried to get up. I had no idea what time it was. Had I been asleep five minutes or five hours?

  “We have to hide!” came the hoarse voice of Tijah.

  I untangled my legs from the sheets. “What’s going on?”

  The moment I spoke the words, a horrendous banging came from down the hall.

  “My lady—no!” Tijah shrieked, yanking me back from the outer door of the suite. “Horeb’s army is here! They’re coming for us!”

  My entire body crackled with sudden energy. “What do you mean?”

  She began to shake uncontrollably. “They’ve invaded the palace!”

  16

  I raced to the door and flung it open. Hazy smoke filled the hallway. My night guards were gone from their post. We were alone.

  “Is the palace on fire?” I stepped out, my neck turning back and forth from one end of the corridor to the other. One end branched off toward the foyer and the other toward the guest rooms.

  There were echoing shouts, but I couldn’t tell from which direction. When I raced back toward my suite, my feet ran over an odd patch in the hallway rug right before the threshold.

  I bent down and ran my hand across it. The carpet was singed, clearly burned. But also damp, as if one of my guards had doused the rug with a bucket of water.

  Cold drafts of air wafted in from the outer doors that were open at the end of the corridor, and I shivered in my nightgown. Black smoke rose up along the high ceilings and I tried not to cough from the fiery taste burning my throat.

  “Where are the guards?” I choked out.

  Had someone tried to start a fire in front of my suite, or was it a spilled candle? Then I noticed that the wall sconces weren’t burning any longer. Only one farther down, closer to the intersecting corridors, that cast a small glow.

  “I’m not going to stay here and be ambushed. Tijah and Jasmine, hide in the wardrobe after I leave. Can the door be locked?”

  “I have a better place, my lady,” Tijah said. “Created for an emergency.” She passed through the bathing room past the tub and pushed against the tiled wall in three different places. A narrow door slid open, exposing a small dark chamber.

  “Does this secret closet go anywhere else?” I asked in astonishment.

  “There’s another door that connects to a guest suite farther down the hallway in case we ever need to get out a different way.”

  “Do all royal rooms have these?”

  Jasmine nodded, her face pale, her dark eyes stricken.

  Tijah followed me back to the dressing area. “What are you going to do, my lady?”

  Ripping my nightgown over my head, I tossed it into the bureau, then yanked a shift from a hook in the wardrobe and pulled it on. The simple gray tunic was shorter so I could move about more easily.

  I coiled my hair up on top of my head and jabbed a pin from the dressing table into it. My vision was now unhindered as I pulled my sword belt off the shelf and buckled it around my waist. My fingers shook with nerves and fear.

  “Go!” I said, herding the girls inside the narrow space behind the wall.

  Tijah’s eyes were swimming. “My lady, you must hide with us. You’ll—”

  I placed a finger on her lips, our faces close. “We will all survive.”

  I pushed them inside, and my chest ached when I heard Jasmine’s whimpering. After closing the door, I moved silently through the suite. We hadn’t lit any lights, but the nearly fat, full moon bathed the window ledge in eerie light.

  I scooted toward the door. Voices were coming closer.

  My heart squeezed as I peered around the doorjamb. I had no protective clothing, no armor. If foreign soldiers were going to invade the palace, I needed better protection.

  Shadows lurked far down the hallway, near the eastern doors, but I couldn’t identify anyone. Sidling along the wall, I stepped slowly. At the intersecting halls, I nearly fell over a palace guard lying on the floor. I sucked back the scream that nearly shot out my throat.

  Bending down, I touched his chest, and came up with blood on my fingers. He was dead.

  Every nerve was on fire. I needed to go to Kadesh’s suite. Behind me, in the hallway that led to the
foyer, swords rang out, bronze against bronze in a sickening clash. I picked up my pace, terrified that I was going to run straight into a Maachathite soldier.

  Soon I was flying down the hallway, turning right and then left toward the royal suite of the king. Hulking shadows were fighting down each bisecting hallway, the sound of fists and bodies slamming into the walls. I passed Aunt Naomi’s suite and tried the door, but it was locked. I could only pray she and Naria and her servants were safe.

  I shoved at the door to my father’s rooms and burst through. My heart hammered so loudly I swore everyone from the kitchens to the lookout towers could hear it.

  I raced about the suite like a mad woman, but the bed was empty. Not even slept in. The rest of the rooms empty.

  Where was my father? Surely he wasn’t fighting off an Assyrian soldier somewhere in the palace? “Don’t die, Father, not like this,” I moaned.

  Hurrying, I kept moving toward Kadesh’s rooms.

  Right in front of the carved royal doors, four palace guards were fighting a group of foreigners dressed in black tunics. Kadesh’s double doors had been flung wide open and the receiving foyer was pitch black. Not a good sign.

  The distinctive white head scarves of the Maachathite tribe were wrapped about the foreheads of the men the Sariba guards were fighting. Flashes of metal sparked with every strike as they thrust and parried.

  I slammed my head against the wall behind me when a Maachathite suddenly fell with a thud. A spurt of blood came up from his mouth, his eyes still open as he died.

  The other two were taller and heavier than the Sariba men. Their backs were to me, fast closing in while the Sariba soldiers kept swinging their swords and moving them down the hall. Even so, the skill of the Maachathite men was impressive.

  My eyes focused on the distant hallway I’d just crept down. More soldiers were fighting in that direction and parrying closer. I was caught between the two groups, grateful I was hidden by shadows but without any place to retreat to safety.

  Where was the rest of the army? The entire scene made no sense.

  No sight or sound came from the king’s suite. Was Kadesh lying inside bleeding, dying? Had they assassinated him in his sleep? Was Sariba’s king, my beloved, gone without warning, without any battle at all?

  Even before I could cry out with grief, rage filled my belly. We were not going to lose the war by a skirmish with a few soldiers right here inside the palace. I slid my sword out from my belt and gripped it with both fists.

  The struggling men breathed heavily, sweat and fear reeking. I moved backward, searching for an escape when one of Kadesh’s guards saw me crouching against the wall. “My lady!” he cried.

  A Maachathite soldier heard him and swung around. I could see the outline of his profile, so close to me. Instinctively, I raised my sword and brought it down on top of his head as hard as I could. The impact was fierce. My bones vibrated, and my fingers turned numb from the impact.

  His body went limp. Within seconds, the Sariba soldiers had finished him off as well as the other foreign soldier.

  “My lady,” the guard repeated, staring at me with a dazed expression. Before I could respond, they charged forward to help their comrades at the other end of the hall. I flung myself toward the royal suite, but before I reached it, a shadow passed swiftly inside.

  I screamed, but the shadow completely ignored me, did not even flinch for a moment. Someone with a distinct objective. Insight flashed through me. The other soldiers were a distraction for this. For this man to reach King Kadesh and take him out.

  My heart hammered and my ears rang. Recklessly, I leaped forward and ducked inside, clinging to the wall of the suite’s foyer.

  I wiped my sweaty hands on my shift and gripped my sword tighter. When I rushed into the study, the doors slammed against the wall. I held my breath, my eyes roving the room. Fat candles sat in glazed bowls, their flames low, keeping the room dusky.

  Was I too late? No one seemed to be here in the main room.

  Heavy breathing came from the interior of the bathing area. Kadesh was awake. And aware. He must have gone into hiding when he heard the alarm raised and the sounds of fighting.

  I flew across the room, sword raised, ready to clash with the shadow I’d seen pass inside only moments ago. My breath was knocked out of me when I stumbled over the out flung arm of a palace guard lying motionless near the doorway of the bathing area.

  The sounds of grunting and fighting came to my ears. Shafts of moonlight spilled onto the floor from the high windows, and the scene appeared in the silvery light before me. Kadesh was locked in a two-man battle, his sword held against the weapon of an assassin dressed completely in black, his face masked.

  The two swung at each other with a strength and fury that was breathtaking. The assassin was an enormous man and highly skilled. I would never stand a chance against him. Despite my relief to see Kadesh still alive, it was disturbing to see the enemy’s blade creep closer to his neck or ribs with every stroke.

  All at once, the assassin jerked Kadesh’s sword from his grasp and picked him up by the throat, slamming him into the wall. He pulled down his scarf, spitting out his message. “This is your reply to King Horeb’s surrender. He will claim your bride and your throne. Even if it means killing every one of your citizens.”

  Kadesh’s face was remarkably calm even as he gasped for breath. His black eye patch had been ripped off. The scar on his face lit up in the starlight. He grappled with the man’s arm around his throat, kicking and shoving while he tried to keep from passing out.

  “Horeb sends someone else to do his killing,” he choked out. “He must be afraid to confront me himself.”

  The assassin laughed. “He’s too wise to dirty his hands. When you’re gone, he will sweep in and claim it all. We all go home wealthy.”

  “That’s Horeb’s lie to drag you across the desert.” Kadesh’s eyes flicked to mine without giving away my presence. “Where are my guards?” he asked.

  “Dead.”

  “If it’s me you want then leave them alone.” Kadesh was giving me time to reach him without the assassin knowing I was sneaking up behind him.

  I slid my fingers along the edge of my sword to be sure it was in position, coming closer with each step while I reached for my dagger with the other hand.

  Before my next breath, the assassin whirled about, hearing my footsteps, and my heart sank.

  “Ah, the princess reveals herself,” the Assyrian said with a barking laugh, dropping a half-dead Kadesh to the floor.

  While the man still laughed, I flicked my wrist and threw the knife at his chest, sinking it into his ribs. His eyes shot wide with surprise. Before he could react again, my sword was out from my belt, and I plunged it into his heart with both hands on the grip.

  The assassin’s lips moved, and a gurgling noise spewed from his mouth as he slid to the floor in a heap.

  From the tile, Kadesh gasped, swallowing as he tried to suck in air. “Jayden—”

  I hurried over to him and knelt, checking the back of his head where he’d fallen. “Don’t speak,” I ordered him.

  “I can’t believe—” he began again.

  “Stop it. You’re going to have bruises on your throat. Let me get a cold cloth.”

  Within seconds, the royal suite was filled with guards and one of the army lieutenants. “The rest of the enemy assassins are dead,” the lieutenant announced.

  The men halted, staring wide-eyed at the dead man slumped on the floor in a pool of blood, his sword still in his grip.

  “This one failed, too,” Kadesh said weakly as I forced him to sip from a goblet of water.

  Before I knew it, my legs failed me. I found myself lying next to Kadesh on the cool tiled floor, dizzy and disoriented, every limb shaking like a leaf in a fierce wind.

  A voice spoke from across the room. “Dawn will be here in two hours.” It was Jonah, the scout. “I’m ready to leave, my lord.”

  “Are there any
others still in the palace?” Kadesh asked. “Did any escape?”

  The lieutenant answered, “They’re all dead. Six total. Five to kill the guards by your doors and set a fire to create a diversion, and the assassin to kill you.”

  “One of my guards is dead,” I spoke up. “Down the hall from my bedroom door. I discovered him when I smelled smoke.”

  A flash of sorrow crossed Kadesh’s face. “Those four guards—I was sending them down to you. The entire skirmish only lasted a few minutes. But I was caught by surprise when the sixth man sneaked into my suite as I was gathering my weapons.”

  Slowly, Kadesh rose to his feet, then helped me up, holding me steady with an arm tight around my shoulders. I tried not to think about the man I’d just killed.

  “It’s done, then,” Kadesh said decisively. “Make sure the rest of the palace residents are fine. Dispatch new guards to every entrance and bedroom. Send a runner to the barracks to inform General Naham about what happened here. I request his presence as soon as he can dress. It doesn’t look like anybody will be getting any further sleep tonight. I advise the household to pray the poisoned wells are successful to give us extra time to prepare. Hopefully, dozens of our enemy will fall ill and succumb to death.”

  He broke off when a lean older man staggered into the room, held up by two pale-faced servants while Kadesh’s elderly body servant hovered behind.

  My breath scraped at my throat. “Father!” I cried out.

  “He’ll be fine, but he needs to lie down,” said the manservant moving to confer with the king while the others helped my father onto a sofa.

  I knelt by my father’s side and brushed a hand along his forehead. His color was as gray as a thunderstorm. He was breathing shallowly, but alive. “What happened to him?”

  “I understand that he walked out to the desert tonight to try to talk to Horeb,” Kadesh said. “The scouts surrounding the camp refused to take him to Horeb’s tent. He was heartbroken. He thought he could talk reason with Horeb and stop the war.”

  “We’re lucky he’s alive,” I murmured.

  A knock came at the door and the general of Sariba’s army entered. His headscarf was a deep magenta. Medals decorated his crisply cut coat, worn tight over a tunic and trousers. His belt held a long sword as well as two daggers.