"She knew what might happen if she tried to help Orithia. We all did."
"Perhaps this has taught your little band of rebels a lesson, my friend." At Phillipa's look of surprise, Erudite laughed. "Did you think I did not have eyes and ears in your group of misfits? I knew what you were planning an hour before you set out for Rysalia."
"Why didn't you stop us? Aradia would be safe and--"
"I'd hoped she could find a way to rescue her cousin. If she had, her actions would have gone a long way in placing her in the good graces of the Elders. Now..." Erudite wiped at her eyes. "Now, that will never happen."
Phillipa touched her friend's hand. "What can I do?"
"We will send a large ransom offer to Rysalia. I cannot believe Hasani Jaleem is as enamored of Orithia as the Diabolusian was with Aradia."
"He loved Aradia, and she him," Phillipa said.
"She told you this?" Erudite asked, her face showing shock.
"Aye. Had it not been for the prince's father, I believe Aradia would be in Diabolusia now."
"Could she really love the Rysalian?"
Phillipa shrugged. "Anything's possible, and he's a handsome devil. She's been a long time without a man. Perhaps hormones led her on this reckless course."
Erudite flinched. "I'll need trustworthy warrioresses to take the ransom to Rysalia and bring back that selfish little bitch of Hyacinth's--in chains, if need be. Will you do this?"
"It will be my honor, Majesty. May I take my misguided band of misfits?"
"Be my guest. Better with you than causing mischief here for the Elders. If I know Aradia, she'll try to get word to you in some fashion. If she has the ear of the Shadowlord, perhaps he'll allow her to speak with you."
"And if she does?"
"Tell her that her mother loves her. I want only the best for her. Say nothing to her of this, but I do not intend that my daughter spend her life in that hellish desert. I've sent word to Diabolusia asking the king if my daughter can find sanctuary with him."
"His wife won't like that," Phillipa cautioned. "Nor will his people. They'll remember how he felt about Aradia when he was a prince."
"It matters not how either his wife or his people feel. If he still has feelings for my child, he'll help me wrest her from the Hasdu's clutches."
Chapter 5
* * *
The tavern lay in darkness, filled with smoke. One man slumped over a table, his raucous snores the only sound as two strangers entered and took a table at the far end of the room. After a cursory glimpse at the newcomers, those who sat drinking ignored the tall man in black and his smaller companion.
"Where the hell is the tavern keeper?" Jaelan grumbled.
"I may be mistaken," Aradia said, "but I'm willing to bet that's him on the table. He's wearing an apron."
"Too fond of his own wares."
"Shall I wake him?"
"Keep your pretty ass right where it is." Jaelan put two fingers into his mouth.
The piercing whistle brought the sleeping tavern keeper upright in his seat. He yawned and scraped back his chair. He got warily to his feet, yawning again, and started toward them.
"My humblest apologies." A good look at Jaelan stopped him dead in his tracks. His eyes bulged. He dropped to the floor, his arms straight out before him. "Forgive me, Lord Jaelan!"
At the sound of the Shadowlord's name, the other patrons scuttled away, quietly closing the tavern door behind them.
"Two beers--and be quick about it," Jaelan ordered.
"Your wish is my command, Milord!"
Aradia smiled as the man began crab-walking his way out of the room. She chuckled. "You are an evil man, Jaelan Ben-Ashaman."
Jaelan stretched out his long legs and crossed his arms over his chest. "Rank has its privileges. So how will you go about finding one of your women allies?"
"That's a secret I'd rather not share, even with you." At her husband's stony look, Aradia shrugged, then lowered her voice. "You would not tell me how you hide your identity as Lord Asim, would you?"
Jaelan held his wife's gaze for a long moment, then looked away, seemingly unconcerned about her suspicions. The tavern keeper brought their beers, locked the door and left them alone, while Jaelan sipped from his mug.
"What? No comment, warrior?" Aradia inquired.
Jaelan took another long pull on his beer. Licking the foam from his upper lip, he set down the tankard, drew in his legs, and leaned over the table. "Where did you hear about Asim?" He clucked his tongue. "Tarsis has a big mouth."
"Does he know?" she asked, lifting her tankard to her mouth.
"Tarsis knows less than he thinks he does."
Aradia nodded, understanding. "A dangerous game you play."
"Life is dangerous. Isn't that what you told me?"
"Who else knows about your rebellious activities?"
"How do you get word to a Daughter?" he countered.
"I tie a lavender ribbon somewhere in a prominent place here in Yulcaf--somewhere a Daughter will see it. I wait and see who unties the ribbon and wraps it around the index finger of her left hand. I then follow her, and we exchange code words. Code words I'll not reveal." She cocked an eyebrow at him, waiting.
"'Lui," he responded, then took another drink of beer.
"He's the only one?"
"One other, but that identity I'll not reveal."
"Only two?" Aradia breathed a sigh of relief. "How do you get in contact with your rebels?"
He gave her a steady look. "You don't need to know. There's enough insulation between me and the Protector that no one will ever discover the truth."
She smiled. "I did."
"You made a wild guess, wench."
"No...I'm merely beginning to understand the way you think."
Jaelan grunted, then drained his tankard. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Let's go find your Daughter." He dug into his robe and pulled out coins to pay for the beer.
"You can't go."
"I go, or you won't go at all!" His voice brooked no argument.
"One look at you and no Daughter will venture near me!"
He stood and drew in a long breath, nodding his understanding. "You go out first, tie your ribbon, then watch. I'll wait at the tavern window and guard you."
Aradia rolled her eyes. "As though I can't protect myself!"
"Do it my way or not at all. I was not thrilled to bring you along in the first place." He didn't tell her he'd done so without Gehenna's knowledge.
Dropping her hand to the dagger at her waist, Aradia gripped the handle, making sure his gaze went to the lethal weapon before she shrugged. "You drive an impossible bargain--but I can live with it."
He watched her get up, adjust her billowing robe, then touched her cheek as she made to walk past him. "Be careful, aziza." He cupped the back of her head and brought her lips to his.
The kiss, though the lightest touch, had the power to weaken Aradia's knees.
Standing at the window as he promised, Jaelan watched over his lady. She headed for a low building, where other women entered and exited. At the hitching post, Aradia withdrew a pale silk ribbon from her robe and tied it to the post. Jaelan's eyes never left her. He pursed his lips as his wife ambled to another building and took up a position.
For half an hour, few women took notice of the ribbon fluttering in the breeze; those who did shied away from it. One man saw it and headed that way, but his companion stopped him, shaking his head.
Jaelan shifted his attention to Aradia to see her reaction. "He knew what it was," he said under his breath and shifted his attention back to the man.
Delving into the man's thoughts, Jaelan caught a word that puzzled him--"sentinel."
"He is a helpmate to a Daughter."
Jaelan blinked, realizing his wife had sent him the explanation. He saw her grin and he nodded, making a mental note to ask what exactly a "helpmate" or "sentinel" did.
A young woman carrying a large wicker basket came out o
f the building and stopped when she saw the ribbon. Neither glancing to her left or right, she sat the basket on the ground, untied the ribbon, then casually wrapped in around her left index finger. Stooping, she picked up her basket, then started walking toward where Aradia waited.
Jaelan tensed, his eyes narrowing as the women met. The young one placed her basket on the ground, then unwound the ribbon and handed it to Aradia. An exchange of a words followed before Aradia headed back to the tavern.
Jaelan opened the door for his wife. "Well?"
"Salome with get word to her council. They, in turn, will send word to Amazeen. We should know something within the next three days."
"Sentinel?"
"Every Daughter has a male who's pledged to aid her. He's her protector, servant, a loyal friend who'll do her bidding without question."
Jaelan frowned. "Do you have a sentinel?"
"I've never needed one, warrior, but it would be nice to--"
"You have all you need in me! There's no need for any other male in your life."
"A Sentinel doesn't help in the same way a husband does."
"They are not lovers?"
When Aradia took in her husband's warning look, she admitted that, on occasion, some Daughters had taken the companionship offered to them by their Sentinels.
"A Sentinel is something you'll never have," the Shadowlord decreed and took her by the arm. "I have business to conduct in Yulcaf. I'll take you back to the camp."
Aradia said nothing, knowing her husband would make good on his decision to return her to the camp where his Death Lords waited. She had completed her mission, and now it was merely a matter of time before Phillipa and the others arrived.
"Dressed as nuns, no doubt," Jaelan mumbled, "and stinking to high heaven."
Aradia cast him an annoyed look. "Stop reading my mind."
"Best I do, so I can help your friends do what we need."
When Jaelan opened the door and ushered his wife outside, he became aware of a troop of horsemen riding toward them from the edge of town. He tensed, putting his wife behind him.
"Your men?" Aradia asked.
"No." Jaelan closed his eyes, but snapped them open once the identity of the riders came to him.
"Who are they?"
"Temple Guards...Gehenna's men."
Aradia felt tension rippling through her husband. He stood rigidly, his hand on the dagger at his hip. She put a hand on his taut back. "What should I do?"
"Get inside and close the door. Go out through the back and make your way to our horses. Ride to the camp and tell Tarsis that Sekhem Neter has arrived."
The name of the Temple's Chief Guard unsettled Aradia. "Why is he here?"
Jaelan hissed, ordering her to do as instructed. "Now, woman."
Knowing it would do no good to argue, Aradia reluctantly did as demanded.
As she rode out of Yulcaf, she looked back and saw the horsemen grouped around the tavern where her husband stood. A sense of unease followed closely on the hooves of her mount. She kicked the animal into a fast gallop, hell-bent to reach Tarsis as quickly as possible.
* * * *
Sekhem Neter halted his stallion in front of the Shadowlord. "I have been sent by His Grace, Lord Gehenna, to escort Lady Ben-Ashaman back to Abbadon," he said without preamble.
Jaelan's eyes narrowed into thin slits. "Why?" he demanded, a muscle bunching in his jaw.
Neter smiled nastily. "You did not seek, nor were you granted permission, to bring her with you to Yulcaf, Milord."
"I was unaware I needed anyone's permission to do with my wife as I saw fit!"
"A man does not take his woman with him when he has been given an assignment from the Temple."
Jaelan raised his chin. "I'm not any man, Captain. I'm the Shadowlord--or have you forgotten?"
Neter made the mistake of shrugging. "It matters not to His Grace, Lord Gehenna, what you are. He--"
Neter flew off his horse, hovered in midair, then plowed head-first into a nearby horse trough. Water sprayed up and swirled over the sides of the trough as an invisible hand held the thrashing body beneath the surface. No rider dared interfere, even if it meant attempting to save the Chief Guard's life.
"Is there another of you who wishes to insult me?" Jaelan bellowed.
After a chorus of "no's," the second in command held up his hand and motioned the troop to leave. He cast a nervous glance toward the trough, where Neter had surfaced long enough to gasp a lungful of air before again being pushed beneath the undulating water.
"He'll not meet his much-deserved end today," Jaelan snarled, "but I won't say the same about the rest of you!"
The mass exodus of Temple Guards, turning horses and scurrying away, Neter's horse trailing behind, rewarded Jaelan.
Allowing Neter to surface before shoving him under the water a final time, Jaelan whistled for his stallion. The animal came trotting to him, the beast's tether untied by the same invisible hand that had ceased to punish Neter.
"Cross me once more, Sekhem, and it'll be the last time."
Jaelan swung into the saddle, clucked to his mount, and left the dripping wet man vomiting water from his shuddering body.
* * * *
"You like to live dangerously, don't you, bantling?" Tarsis complained.
"Take her back with you to Abbadon tonight," Jaelan said, ignoring the jibe. "Make sure she's safe."
"You know you'll wind up paying for nearly drowning Gehenna's pet."
"I can handle whatever they throw at me as long as I know she's not in danger."
"I said you will--"
"I heard you, old man," Jaelan snapped. "I'm well aware of Gehenna's plans for me. Even now he's with the king demanding I be sent to Ghurn Colony for daring to lay hands on his precious Chief Guard."
"You're lucky he doesn't ask for the Labyrinth," Aluino snorted.
"Hasani would never send Jael to Tyber's Isle," Tarsis scoffed. "Not unless Jael did actual murder, and even then, it would have to be someone the king had feelings for, and we know he has feelings for no one other than himself."
Aradia stood, uncharacteristically silent, while the men talked. Jaelan glanced at her when he ordered Tarsis to take her back to the fortress, surprised she had not protested. Her lack of response perturbed him. "What ails you, wench?"
She raised her head. "This is the second time I've unknowingly caused you trouble, Milord. Once more you're being chastised because of me."
"So?"
"If the King sends you to Ghurn--"
"He won't."
She locked gazes with him. "How can you be so sure?"
He shifted beneath her scrutiny, shrugging off her concern as though it were an unwanted garment. "Because he needs me. Lashing me is one thing. Sending me away is another."
"You have more faith in him than I." When he started to protest, she held up a hand. "Regardless, I've done what I needed to do in Yulcaf, so I'll return with Sir Tarsis and bide my time as you see fit."
Suspicious at her meekness, Jaelan got up from the rock on which he'd been sitting. "Why does that answer not sit well with me?" he asked, hunkering beside her.
"Because you don't trust anyone other than yourself?"
"I trust you," he said, smoothing an errant lock of hair from behind her ear.
"I'll not be the cause of any more hurt coming to you." She captured his hand and brought it to her lips. Through the sweep of her lashes, she stared into his amber-gold eyes. "I'd give my life for you."
A shiver ran through Jaelan's body. He gathered her to him, holding her in a fierce grip. "Never say that. Never!"
* * * *
Tarsis cocked his head for Aluino to leave.
"I do not like the sound of that," Aluino whispered.
"Should anything happen to that woman, Jaelan would lose his mind," Tarsis replied.
"What little he has left."
"I hate to think what would happen if he lost her."
Aluino let out a long
breath. "It would not be pretty..."
Chapter 6
* * *
"Send word as soon as you cross into Rysalia," Queen Erudite ordered Phillipa. She looked at Okyale, Euryleia, and Ulivia Helioposis. "Ladies, be careful and come back to us unscathed."
"And unshackled to Rysalian pigs," Queen Hyacinth spat.
"We'll guard the ransom with our lives, Majesty," Phillipa said.
"All I ask is that you bring Orithia back to me," the Domestic Queen answered. "Your lives are not as important as my daughter's, but I'll pray to Aluvial for you."
"Very generous of you," Erudite murmured.
"Go with the Wind," Hyacinth declared, lifting her hand to give the ancient blessing. She cast Erudite an annoyed look, then turned and stalked off.
"Such a gracious, caring lady," Phillipa sneered.
"Ignore her," Erudite stated. "Bring that conniving piece of worthlessness back to us, because I want to publicly humiliate her for being the cause of my daughter's banishment. I will be praying for you to the Goddess--your lives are far more worthy than Orithia's."
"One way or another, Orithia will be returned to Amazeen," Phillipa said.
"Go with the Wind, my friends," Erudite blessed the warrioresses. "I'm counting on you to set things right."
* * * *
From the shadows of the throne room, hidden behind a tall screen, Kydoime Valsca, Aradia's half-sister, carefully listened. She loved Orithia more than anything in the world, and to be privy to plans designed to cause harm to the beautiful blonde set Kydoime's blood to boiling. Scoring the palms of her hands with nails clenched into her flesh, Kydoime pressed against the wall to keep from being seen as the warrioresses left on their mission.
As Ulivia passed, she turned and looked at Kydoime. "I'll catch up with you," she called to the others. She knelt and pretended to work the laces of her sandals.
"Don't tarry, Ulivia," Phillipa replied. "I want to be in Daedel by week's end."
"I'll be right along," Ulivia assured.
When the others were out of sight, Ulivia stood. "What instructions do you wish me to give Her Grace?"
THE SHADOWLORD Page 24