by J. D. Rogers
"What?"
"It's been several months since your mother last heard from General Dacus and the Army of the West."
"Is that long?"
"Normally, she received monthly reports. A few months ago those reports stopped coming. She sent several messengers to find out what was going on, but they never returned."
"Perhaps they were waylaid by bandits," Vomeir said, joining us. "I don't mean to alarm you, Your Highness, but these hills have eyes."
"We're being watched?" I looked around. If someone was watching us, they were hiding in the trees on the mountain side.
"A woman lives in this valley," Patera said. "She commands a handful of men and is known as the Queen of Thieves. It would be her men that are watching us."
"Do you think she killed the messengers?" I said.
"Doubtful," Patera said. "They were always accompanied by a dozen armed men. The Queen of Thieves doesn't have the manpower to go up against that many soldiers. They were in no more danger than we are."
"Then something happened to the messengers when they reached the Army of the West," Vomeir said.
Patera nodded, then looked at me. "I was hoping Lila could use her gift to find out what happened to General Dacus."
I focused on General Dacus. A short stocky man with a shaved head and piercing violet eyes. I saw him sitting in a prison cell. He was still in uniform, but the gray leather breeches were dirty and the green tunic was tattered. He had grown a beard since I last saw him.
"He's in prison."
"Who put him there?" Vomeir asked.
"I don't know. I can't see into the past. I can only see things that are happening or will happen."
"Sounds like a coup," Patera said. "Can't say I'm surprised. The Army of the West has always had its share of malcontents. That's one of the reasons they were sent out here, to get them away from the population centers where they could cause real trouble."
"So we're riding to seek the aid of a legion of malcontents that no longer answers to the Queen of Adah," Vomeir said.
Patera looked at me. "Sure you don't want to turn around?"
I thought of what Bedonna did to Salisha, how she scarred her face out of spite before killing her, and then took her braid as a trophy. "Thanks, but I think I'll take my chances with the malcontents."
I didn't have enough men to defeat Bedonna in combat, and nothing I said would convince her to spare my life. So there was no reason to turn around. I didn't have enough men to go up against the Army of the West either, but I might be able to find a way to win back their loyalty. I wasn't sure how I would do that, but I still had a couple of days to figure things out.
That night, when I lay down to rest, I had a vision of what lie ahead. I saw us arriving at the Western Palace. Like the other two palaces it was constructed of white granite. It sat on top of a gently rolling hill with brown grass and a few palm trees. The surrounding hills looked the same. Behind the palace lay the mountains. In front of the palace, somewhere beyond the rolling hills, lay the Desert of Shifting Sands.
The Western Palace was a rectangular building that ran from left to right rather than front to back. It was a two story structure. There were no windows on the first floor, just a pair of heavy double doors in a recessed archway set in the middle of the building. The second floor consisted of a balcony that ran the length of the building. Several smaller doors opened onto the balcony. At each end of the building was a square tower.
At the bottom of the hill, a white granite wall surrounded the palace. Scattered on the hillside between the wall and the palace were several buildings. The buildings were made from logs and served as barracks, mess halls, and various other buildings for the Army of the West.
Between the Western Palace and the Desert of Shifting Sands lay the Land of the Wild Men. Calling them men might be a misnomer. Court scholars believed they were more like pre-men. They were shorter than men, the tallest being no more than my height. They had sloping foreheads and broad flat noses. Their arms were longer than a normal man's and their bodies were covered with brown hair that looked more like fur. They didn't wear clothes, didn't speak a language other than to grunt and screech at each other. Their use of tools seemed limited to rocks and sticks. They lived in small bands of no more than a dozen and survived by hunting small rodents and each other. Yes. They were cannibals.
In my vision, I arrived at the gates with Vomeir, Patera, and everyone else. I was wearing the Ruby Crown and the red velvet dress. I rode to the front of my party and called out to the men manning the ramparts above the gates.
"I am Lila Marie Haran, heir hopeful to the throne of Adah, and I request an audience with General Dacus."
My presence caused a stir among the men on the ramparts and they didn't seem to know what to do or say. Finally, one of them said, "One moment, Your Highness."
It was several long minutes before anything else happened. Eventually, a tall man with broad shoulders, short black hair, and a bushy black mustache leaned on a rampart over the gate. He was older than Vomeir, but younger than Patera.
"Commander Trager Selis," Patera whispered to me. "One of General Dacus's division commanders."
"Princess Lila," Commander Selis said to me. "This is a pleasant surprise. What brings you way out here?"
"Queen Bella is dead. I seek the aid of General Dacus and the Army of the West in my fight with my sister, Bedonna."
"I see," Selis said.
"Is General Dacus here?"
"Oh, he's here. He's just not in charge of the Army of the West anymore."
"I don't understand."
"It's quite simple, Your Highness. The Army of the West is no longer under the command of General Dacus."
"Who does command it?" Vomeir said.
"I do." Selis bowed, introducing himself. "Trager Selis, King of the Western Hills."
Selis raised his right arm and a line of archers appeared on the rampart, crossbows ready. Patera and Vomeir ordered a retreat, but it was too late. The arrows came too fast for us to do anything. One hit Patera in the neck, knocking him off his horse. Two penetrated Vomeir's breastplate and he fell.
Within minutes, everyone who took an oath to serve me, save for Prentice, was dead. Before I could recover from the shock of what happened, the gates opened and half a dozen armed men came riding out of the fort. One of them took the reins to my horse and led me into the fort. Another threw a struggling Prentice face down over the front of his horse and brought her into the fort.
Selis was now on horseback. He circled around me, and looked me over. "You've changed since I last saw you, Princess. You've grown up."
"I wish I could say the same for you." In truth I didn't even remember the man. Not that I thought it was a good time to let him know that.
Selis laughed and spoke to the man holding the mare's reins. "Take her to the palace and put her in my quarters. Looks like I finally have a consort fit for a king."
I woke up and saw no more, not that I needed to see more. I could figure out what happened after that. What I needed to do was figure out how to get the Army of the West back. Getting them back meant dealing with Trager Selis, the self-proclaimed King of the Western Hills.
I grabbed the dark blue silk cloak I wore during the day, wrapped it around myself, and slipped out of my tent in search of Patera and Vomeir. Luckily, they were still up, sitting by the campfire.
"I know what happened to General Dacus," I said.
"What?" they said in unison.
"One of his division commanders, a man named Trager Selis, has taken control of the army. He's proclaimed himself the King of the Western Hills."
"And the Army of the West is loyal to him?" Vomeir asked.
"As long as he lives." Whether they would fall back into line if he was dead remained to be seen.
"He's a strong willed man," Patera said. "And apparently more ambitious than anybody realized."
"So what are your plans?" Vomeir said.
"I can't take an
ybody with me to the Western Palace. Trager Selis will kill them."
Vomeir leapt to his feet. "You can't go alone. I won't allow it."
"I appreciate your concern, Captain, but I'm one of two people in this party he won't kill."
"How can you be sure he won't kill you?"
"Because he didn't kill me in my vision."
"Even if he doesn't kill you, I can guarantee he'll make you wish you were dead."
"Vomeir is right," Patera said. "You can't ride to the Western Palace alone. It's too dangerous."
"What will you do when you get there?" Vomeir said.
"I'll request the aid of the King of the Western Hills."
"At which point he'll make you his slave."
"Trager fancies himself a king. The best way to legitimize his claim is to take a princess as his bride."
Vomeir scowled. "Bride or slave. Your duties will be the same."
"The best chance I'll have to kill him is when we're alone in the bedroom."
"And how do you propose to do that?" Patera said. He didn't seem as bothered by my plan as Vomeir, but I didn't expect him to be. He had been through all of this with my mother, when she had to battle her sisters for the throne.
"That's the part I haven't figured out yet. I need to talk to a woman, a woman with experience in deceiving, robbing, and killing men."
"The Queen of Thieves?" Patera said.
"My intuition tells me that she'll be able to help me."
"She'll want something in return."
"I was thinking maybe amnesty."
"That might do it. She's been out here for years, I suspect she's growing tired of living in these woods. I've been told she comes from the Port of Nadal. She might like to see the coast one more time before she dies."
"If amnesty won't satisfy her, I have some gold and jewelry. I suspect she'll accept some of that as payment."
Vomeir folded his arms across his chest and glared at me from the other side of the campfire, making it clear that he didn't like any of my ideas. "Are you planning on seeing her alone?"
"No, Captain. You may accompany me when I meet with the Queen of Thieves."
"When do you plan on doing that?" Patera asked.
"First light tomorrow, while the rest of you break camp. Assuming we're still being watched."
"We are," Vomeir said.
Chapter 6
Vomeir and I left camp at first light, heading toward the mountains on the southern side of the pass, to the spot where Vomeir said there were people watching us.
"You're sure we're headed in the right direction?"
"Positive, Your Highness."
I took his word for it, since I could neither see or sense anybody hiding in the trees.
"Don't suppose you can tell me how many there are?"
"One that I know of. Maybe more."
"And they won't try to shoot us?"
"If they wanted to attack us, they would have already done it."
We reached the southern side of the pass, where the grass covered flats met the mountains. Even at their base, the mountains were steep. At this elevation, pine trees grew thick. Further up the mountain, they began to thin out, until you reached the tree line, the point where they didn't grow at all.
I pulled the mare up and surveyed the trees. I still couldn't see anyone. I couldn't hear anyone either, due to a stiff morning breeze that whistled through the trees.
"Say something," Vomeir said. "They'll hear you."
"I am Lila Marie Haran, heir hopeful to the throne of Adah. I request an audience with the Queen of Thieves."
A woman stepped out of the trees. She wore black riding boots that looked surprisingly new. Probably stolen from an unlucky traveler. She wore brown leather breeches, a long sleeved white wool shirt that tied in the front, and a brown leather jerkin. Her head had recently been shaved and her hair was still short, cropped close to her head like Bedonna's.
That was where the similarity between her and Bedonna ended. She was shorter than Bedonna, not nearly as muscular, and a lot prettier. She was also too young to be the Queen of Thieves, somewhere around my age. She had a quiver of arrows slung over her shoulder and held a bow and arrow in her hand. The arrow was ready to fire, but she kept it pointed at the ground.
"Why does the heir to the throne of Adah wish to see the Queen of Thieves?"
I dismounted and handed the mare's reins to Vomeir. "Wait here."
Vomeir didn't argue with me. He took the mare's reins from me and remained on horseback. I walked over to the girl and looked her in the eyes. "I'm going to meet a man that has taken something from me, something I want back."
"You intend to steal it?"
"Not exactly."
"So what do you want from the Queen of Thieves?"
"I need to know the best way to kill a man who shares my bed."
The girl smiled. "The Queen of Thieves might be able to help you, but she will want something in return."
"I can offer her and her people amnesty. She'll be free to live anywhere in Adah that she wants. She can even return to the Port of Nadal. I'm told Nadal was once her home."
"If you become Queen of Adah, you can offer the Queen of Thieves amnesty. But you are not the queen yet. What have you to trade now?"
"What does she want?"
The girl circled around me, studying the silk gown I was wearing. It was cut exactly like the red velvet gown I wore a couple of days ago, except that it was made out of yellow silk and had white lacing around the hem, neckline, and cuffs. Once again, I wore my hair in a ponytail and had on the silver headband known as a princess crown. A white silk cloak with yellow trim around the hem and hood covered my shoulders. "The gown you're wearing will suffice."
I couldn't imagine why an elderly woman called the Queen of Thieves would want a silk gown. Not that I was going to argue. I was more than happy to give her my gown in exchange for some advice on how to kill Trager Selis.
"We have a deal?"
I nodded. "We have a deal."
She put the arrow back in the quiver and slung the bow over her right shoulder. "Come. We will go to the Queen of Thieves's camp."
"You will assure my safety?"
The girl seemed amused by my question. "I will assure your safety."
"If she's not back by sunset," Vomeir said. "I will hunt you down."
I followed the girl into the trees and up the mountain side. Not an easy thing to do in an ankle length silk gown. We trudged up the mountain a good mile. Eventually the trees began to thin out and the air grew cooler. By the time we reached the tree line, I was out of breath.
"Your friend is following us."
"He's just worried about my safety. As long as I'm not harmed, he won't cause trouble."
"Sounds like he cares for you very much."
"He's taken an oath to serve me." I stopped and put my hands on my knees, trying to get my wind back. "Is it much further?"
"We are here," the girl said.
I looked around. A ring of rocks that once served as a campfire was there. Next to it was a bedroll, already rolled up, and a knapsack. There were no men, no women, no Queen of Thieves.
"Where is everybody?"
"The Queen of Thieves died last winter, as did the last of her men. They were old and these mountains are not kind to the old, especially during the winter months. I am the last of her people."
That explained why she thought it was funny when I asked if she could guarantee my safety. There was no one around to threaten me except her.
The girl tossed her bow and quiver on the ground and sat on a fallen log. She opened her knapsack and began to rummage through it. I sat next to her, grateful for the chance to catch my breath.
"How long have you been by yourself?"
She paused in her digging long enough to look at the sun. "Mother died just before spring arrived and it's now midsummer. How long would you say that is?"
"About four months. You're the Queen of Thieves's daughter?"<
br />
"I am." The girl pulled something out of her knapsack and looked at me. "My name is Talia Pock. My mother was Sharice Pock, the Queen of Thieves."
"Why did you stay here after your mother died? You're not wanted and no one knows who you are. You could've went to one of the cities. Started a new life."
"I was born and raised in these mountains. I've never been to a city, wouldn't know how to live in one."
"Don't you get lonely, living here all by yourself?"
"I am familiar with loneliness. I am not familiar with cities."
"Suppose you didn't have to go to the city alone? Suppose you went with a friend, someone that knew all about cities, knew all about the people that lived in them."
"You are speaking of yourself?"
"The people that are with me have taken a oath to serve me. If you'd be willing to take that same oath, you'd be welcome to join us."
"First we trade," Talia said. "Then you will explain this oath to me."
She opened her hand and showed me two palm-sized pieces of bone connected by a thin silk cord.
"What's that?"
"This is what you need to kill the man that took what is yours." She grabbed a piece of bone in each hand and snapped the cord taunt. "This cord is very strong, strong enough to choke a man to death if you so wish."
"Where do you hide it? Especially if you're naked?"
Talia looked at my gown. "First you give me the dress. Then I'll show you how to hide it in plain sight."
"I'll need something to wear."
"You can have some of my clothes."
"You'll have to help me out of this." I stood, dropped my cloak, and turned my back to her, so she could see the lacing on the dress.
Talia glanced toward the trees, then lowered her voice to a whisper. "Your friend is watching us."
"Let him watch."
Talia pulled an outfit out of her knapsack that was identical to what she had on. It looked a lot more practical, not to mention comfortable, compared to what I had on, so I gladly gave her the gown. Talia's breeches were a little long for me, but fit well once they were tucked inside my riding boots. The sleeves on her shirt were a little long but worked fine once I rolled them up. We were about the same size in the waist and chest, so the jerkin fit perfectly.