He let the subtle threat hang in the air between them.
She did not dare to ask for details. She just trembled, nodded and retired quietly to her room.
But it seemed to her that the walls of her gilded cage were pressing in on her.
***
She investigated the castle more the next day, choosing to climb to the highest parapets long after the dragon had left for the day. She found the perch the dragon used by the claw marks gouging great trenches into the top level.
But she soon bored of wandering around and returned to her room to strategize how she would handle this night's conversation. She decided she wanted more information out of him. But she would have to be very sweet to the king and make him think he had a chance with her.
That night a green and silver gown was set out for her to wear. Her hair was plaited and piled and suitably pinned with gems and silver. And she was led down to the expected dinner with her captor lord.
She, as planned, was very sweet to him. She laughed at all his jokes even if she did not find them amusing at all. She even allowed him to hold her hand and kiss it.
He seemed to be playing right into her plans, staring romantically into her eyes and leaning towards her, his meal forgotten.
"Oh my lord," she said smiling sweetly up at him. "Why did you threaten me so our first night? Was it really necessary? You couldn't possibly kill me now could you?"
And she leaned her soft cheek against his hand.
His hand was suddenly pulled away and his eyes grew dark and hard. He gestured to his man servant as he pushed himself back in his throne. Then he whispered in the servant's ear and waved him away.
Looking back to her he sniffed and smiled.
"Let me show you what I can do," he said and his expression was no longer romantic.
Five young women were led into the room. They were all beautiful and all as blank face and soulless eyes as the other servants.
"What is this?" Rhi asked warily.
"These are some of my most precious possessions." Nazar told her. "I found five pretty birds. They were each so lovely that I could not let them fly free. Something bad might happen to them. So I caught them and put them here in my golden cage where they would be safe from all harm the cruel world might do to them. I gave them every little thing a pretty bird might want. I even asked each one of them to marry me. And still they were not happy."
His eyes shifted to meet Rhi's gaze.
"So I separated them from their souls. Now they do whatever I tell them to do, whenever I tell them to do it. It doesn't matter now if they are happy or not. They're just birds, pretty to look at and play with but of no good use for anything really important other than my amusement."
His gaze held her eyes. They were cold and hard. "Now I have found a sixth pretty bird to add to my collection."
Rhi felt her chest get tight and it was getting very hard for her to breathe. "Please excuse me, sire. I believe I need some fresh air."
He nodded and waved her away. "Of course you do. I've given you a lot to think about. Until tomorrow night, my lady."
She found she had a hard time walking calmly away from the table and out of his presence. She either wanted to faint or run. She was trembling so badly her knees were knocking. She refused to faint.
So she ran. She ran through the castle. She had no idea where she was going just that she needed someplace which didn't have a roof over her head. She needed to feel the free wind on her face and in her hair. She needed to ride Falcon fast and far away from this place.
But Falcon was gone so she ran to the courtyard.
By the time she got there, her lungs burned and her legs ached. It had been a long time since she had used her own legs to run anywhere. She collapsed in a heap of green silk and silver trim. She gasped for breath. The free wind buffeted her face and cooled her heated skin. She turned her face up to the night sky and sobbed. She was trapped again and it was all her fault. This would have never happened if she had not taken the left fork in the road.
Both her hands found the silver medallion she wore about her neck.
"Shayne!" she sobbed. "Please help me. I'm in a cage again. Please help."
There was a flash of light the minute the words left her lips.
And he was there just as he had promised, standing before her as she knelt in silk and diamonds at his feet.
"Rhiannon?" he said in confusion.
And bending down, he stroked her expertly styled, bejeweled hair. "What's happened to you?"
She realized Shayne barely recognized her dressed as she was.
Then he looked about him at his surroundings. "You're…here?" he said slowly and his voice had a strange ring that she had never heard before. "How? Why are you here?"
"The dragon lord has caught me and won't let me leave," she said.
He spun about at her words. "Dragon lord? Did you tell him your name?"
Rhi climbed to her feet. "Well, yes. He asked."
Shayne uttered a word in another language she didn't understand. He ran his fingers through his hair and danced in a circle in frustration.
"Never tell him your name! Do you hear me? Never! That's how he catches you!"
Rhi had never seen him so upset.
Then a voice shouted from behind them. It shouted one word, a word Rhi didn't recognize.
"Oh no!' Shayne said and his face blanched white.
"What is it?"
Soldiers began to materialize out of the shadowed recesses of the courtyard, lots and lots of soldiers.
"I can't help you, Rhi. He has my secret name. My magic is useless here."
"What? How is that possible?" Rhi cried out as she saw soldiers headed for her now.
She turned back to see that four soldiers had grabbed Shayne, taken his sword and were dragging him away. He struggled and thrashed but he could not fight them off.
"You need to save me this time!" he called after her.
She felt the dead hands of two soldiers take hold of her arms. "Shayne!" she screamed.
"Save me, Rhiannon! You're the only one who can!"
And with that the darkness swallowed him up.
NOBLE LIES
Rhi was bodily dragged back into the castle. The servants pulled her, kicking and struggling, up the stairs.
At the top of the stairs stood King Nazar. She stopped fighting. For a long moment they just regarded each other. The king had a strange smirk on his face, almost as if he had expected this to happen.
Rhi felt her heart hammer in her chest. She half expected him to unsheathe his sword and cut off her head right then and there. But he didn't.
Finally he waved the servants on and turned away.
"Until tomorrow night, my lady," was all he said to her.
She was taken back to her room and shoved unceremoniously inside. The door was slammed and she heard the key turn in the lock.
She went to the bed and buried her face in her hands.
She had trapped them both. If she hadn't chosen this path she would never be here, held as a hostage, like a bird in a beautifully gilded cage. And through calling out for help she had unwittingly trapped Shayne too, the only man who could possibly save her.
What a mess she had made of things! Now what was going to happen?
She might as well just give in and do whatever the dragon lord asked of her. She burst into tears and cried herself to sleep. She awoke the next morning to a cloudy day and a new frame of mind.
Just as every morning before, the dragon swooped low over her window and left on its daily flight around the kingdom.
The door opened and a servant came in with a silver tray bearing her breakfast. He placed it on the small dining table in her room and stood waiting.
Rhi looked him up and down thinking hard.
"You, man!" she said in a commanding voice.
The servant turned to face her. His eyes were still blank.
"Am I now allowed to leave my room?" she asked.
> The servant turned to the side and held his arm out to the door.
So they could respond if ordered correctly, she thought.
"Am I allowed to wander wherever I wish within this castle?"
The servant blinked and nodded once.
"Am I allowed to travel outside the castle?"
The servant blinked twice and shook his head no.
"Hmmm," muttered Rhi thinking. "Bring me a maid servant, please."
The servant nodded and left.
Rhi stood up and went to the dining table. She caught a glimpse of herself in the vanity mirror as she strode past. She looked a sight! Half of her was all dolled up for a party, the other half all wrinkled up with fly away hair like she had just been rolled down a street.
Her hands went to her hair and she began to undo the hairstyle from the night before and pick out all the gems.
The servant girl stepped into her room.
"Ah good. There you are," she said. "Look, see here. I want my old clothes back. Them or a close enough replacement. I want a tunic, breeches and riding boots. Go get these for me now. I order you to obey me."
The woman blinked twice, nodded and left.
Rhi sat down to eat, a plan taking shape in her head. She had barely finished when the servant girl returned with some items she arranged on the bed for her inspection.
They were not her clothes. But they were the attire of a man.
There was a white tunic and a leather vest, brown breeches and tall black riding boots. Rhi nodded. They would do if they fit.
She stood up and busied herself with getting out of this grand get up which she had been forced to wear. She kicked the rich dress to the side. She never wanted to see or wear it again. She hurriedly donned the clothes the maid had provided her. Everything fit perfectly.
She sighed in relief and hugged herself. It felt so good to be wearing real clothes again!
She removed all the pins and gems from her tresses and brushed out and braided her hair in one long plait. She then inspected her reflection in the mirror and nodded. This was so much better! She looked like a real human being again, much more like the old Rhi.
She hailed one of the man servants.
"Do you have a dungeon in this castle?" she asked.
The servant nodded wordlessly.
"Good. Take me there," she commanded.
The servant blinked twice, then turned about and led her out of the room. She followed him wordlessly. He led her down a maze of stairs into areas of the castle she hadn't explored yet. Their progress was steadily downward. She knew they were underground when the windows suddenly disappeared.
They reached a dark spiral staircase. Here the servant stopped and lit a torch. He then handed it to her and motioned she was to go on alone. She took the torch from him and taking a deep breath, plunged down the stairs.
It was a good thing she took the breath. It was the last fresh air there was. The stench of dank, moldy walls and rotting other things she did not want to think about wafted up to her from the dark recesses before her.
She reached the bottom and peered about. The torchlight didn't go very far. She had no idea how big the room was. She picked a direction and headed that way. A stone wall soon reared up before her eyes and to it was chained a bearded skeleton. She squeaked in surprise, almost dropping the torch. She clapped a hand over her mouth to keep from screaming and backed away.
There was a scrape of something moving in the darkness. She spun about at the sound but couldn't see what made it.
"Rhi? Is that you or am I dreaming?"
"Shayne?" she called out.
"Over here! Behind you," the raspy voice directed.
She turned about and walked in the dark direction. Floor to ceiling iron bars suddenly loomed out of the darkness. A white hand reached out of the murky depths towards her. It was attached to something light colored crouched on the floor pressed up against them.
It was Shayne. He was beaten up and bruised but alive.
Rhi ran to him and fell to the floor to sit beside him.
"Just let me touch you to make sure you're real. I've had so many horrible dreams of late."
She grabbed the bars and pressed herself close to them. He touched her face with trembling hands.
"I knew you were in trouble," he whispered to her. "For days I've had dreams you were here. Terrible dreams. I was hoping I was wrong. Now I find they were true."
She sniffed. "I was trying to take care of this by myself. I was trying not to call for you."
He stroked her face through the bars. "You can't. Nazar is too powerful especially when he's in his own kingdom. And he never leaves."
"Then we're both trapped here."
She felt his forehead nod against hers. "I hate this place," he told her. "Not just the cell. I hate this whole castle. It reminds me of all the mistakes I have made that I can't ever take back or change. I never wanted to come back here. Too many bad memories, too many ghosts from the past."
Rhi shuddered at his words and tried not to think about how many ghosts were possibly haunting the dungeon.
"But your cell seems a lot nicer than mine," he tried to jest. His laughter fell into the silence and was swallowed up.
"What will he do to you?" she asked.
"Nothing. Just leave me here to die of thirst and hunger. He never takes care of his prisoners. He just starves them to death."
She groaned. "I'll bring you food every day until I figure something out," she promised.
He nodded, looking hopelessly at the floor.
"What will he do to me?" she asked.
Shayne sighed. "Don't! I don't want to think about that right now."
But she wouldn't be put off. "Shayne please! I need to know."
He sighed again and his hands clenched into fists on the bars. "Every night he will dress you up like a princess and have dinner with you. And every night at the end of dinner, he will propose marriage. He will do this every night for a month. The last night, if you persist in refusing him…he will remove your soul from your body. You will be dead but not dead. Like all the others up there. When he asks you to marry him, your time is short."
He swallowed with difficulty. "Normally he just runs off any stranger he meets or kills them. But you've done something to catch his fancy. He finds you interesting so he'll keep you around. He'll try to break you if you refuse to marry him."
She was silent for a long moment. "Then I guess I will have to marry him," she said blankly.
"NO!" Shayne said and grabbed her shoulders. "There's got to be some other way. Please just put him off until we figure something out. Please, Rhi!"
She hissed and pulled away from him. "Then what would you have me do? I cannot leave here. He has forbidden it. He says if I leave the castle I will die. I'm not sure whether he's telling the truth or just trying to frighten me."
"Both!" Shayne insisted. "Frightened people are more obedient. And if you leave this castle you will die. I've seen it happen before."
Shayne took hold of her hands. "Please give me a chance to figure this out. There may still be a way we can escape here. Every spell has its counter-spell."
Rhi sighed. "I never want to wear another one of those abominable dresses ever again!" she said squeezing her eyes shut against the thought. "Will he kill me if I show up for dinner like this?"
Shayne laughed and looked her up and down approvingly. "Well, I certainly prefer it!" he said and then he uttered a heavy sigh. "No, he will not kill you for wearing it. But he will not be pleased about it either. You will aggravate him and he has very little toleration for being aggravated. Just like a dragon. You do not poke a dragon if you mean to live long."
"Well I mean to live long and I mean to poke him! I've had it with being demur and polite!"
Shayne reached out and stroked her cheek. "I would never make you wear a dress if you didn't want to. I would just make you ride horses to the end of your days."
She smiled and leaned against t
he bars. "That doesn't sound so bad."
She wanted to stay there all day with him. She wanted to open the cell's great iron bars and set him free. She looked about, inspecting the bars more closely.
"Where is the lock for these bars? Where is the door?" she asked as she searched.
"It has none. It's magical. It stays open until it has an occupant and then the bars become a solid wall, no doors, no lock. His prisoners do not come and go. They just get thrown in and left."
She groaned. "What kind of man is this King Nazar? A tyrant?"
Shayne smiled. "Yes, that's all he's ever aspired to be. Bad to the core."
Rhi had no idea how she was going to save Shayne. She needed more information. However the collection of the information meant she had to brave Nazar again.
***
That night, once again the servant arrived in her room before the evening meal. A dress was laid out for her, this time one of gold and silver. A maid appeared to style her hair.
Rhi stepped away from them.
"No," she refused.
They gestured to the dress and vanity again.
"No," she insisted. "I go dressed like this or I don't go at all."
And before they had a chance to gesture more, she walked out of the room without them.
"Excuse me. I think I know the way," she told them.
She strode alone through the castle, down the stairs and into the dining hall unescorted. The king shot to his feet when he saw her.
"My lady, you are not properly attired for dinner!" he said.
He looked at her dressed in a tunic, breeches and riding boots with a disapproving eye.
"You look like a post man!" he said in disgust.
"Then you will have dinner with a post man," she stated firmly. "And I am not your lady…yet!"
She did not wait for him to assist her, she seated herself.
Slowly he sat down after her, scowling all the while.
"Why did you not wear the dress I assigned for you?" he growled.
She looked him fully in the face. "I did not like the dress," she replied.
"There were others," he muttered. "And the jewels?"
Wanderling's Choice Page 6