Romana's Freedom (Soul Merge Saga Book 1)

by M. P. A. Hanson

  So when someone slammed their fist hard enough to make the door groan, she jumped out of bed like someone had chucked cold water at her. She could hear the two guards shuffling outside, and grabbed her sword and mask up from where she’d left them. The men had come to search her rooms for anything suspicious. But where on earth should she hide the damn things? Her eyes fell on the large chimney and she shoved them up on the shelf inside, praying they’d stay hidden.

  Pulling on a night robe, she ran to answer the door before they broke it down.

  “You want to search my rooms, why?” She asked, getting straight to the point.

  “We have reason to believe un-authorised persons are hiding somewhere within the palace.” One of the five guards there explained, “We’re to search everywhere.”

  “What did this person do to warrant this much attention.”

  “She saved the prince’s life, miss.”

  “She?”

  “Yes miss; she’s been described as around five foot nine, with short hair and a black mask.” The guard looked her up and down, obviously noting that she was five foot nine and had short hair. “She’s also supposed to be good with a sword.”

  “Well don’t look at me, I wouldn’t have the first clue what to do with one.” She replied, “But I suppose you’d better come in, but if you could be quiet, Katelyn’s still asleep.” What had sounded like thunder to her elvenhearing had in fact been relatively quiet to human ears.

  “Yes miss. Is she going to school today?” One of the guards asked, as they all moved into the living room.

  “For the first time,” Romana informed him.

  “I’ve got a kid in there myself, great boy, he enjoys it, and I hope she loves it too.”

  “I’m sure she will.” Romana reassured him, “Would any of you like a drink, coffee maybe?”

  “I think I can vouch for all of us when I say a cup of coffee would be welcome.” He replied.

  She walked over to the stove and put a kettle on to boil. She wouldn’t drink any, but human’s loved the stuff.

  “Nothing here,” one of the guards whispered several minutes later, coming out of Katelyn’s rooms. “We searched all over.”

  Romana served up the coffee and the guards added their own milk and sugar, wolfing the coffee down in minutes.

  “We’ve got a lot of rooms to cover,” one of them replied when she asked what the rush was. “We’ve done all the other rooms in the maid’s block already, and the children’s wing of the palace. We’ve been at it since the prince reported her saving his life from the three men that managed to find their way into his room earlier.”

  “What will you do if you find her?” Romana asked

  “Depends, either way our orders are to take her to the dungeons to be questioned by the prince. Whether she has to be conscious or not for that to happen is another matter.” He gave a sad smile. “I don’t enjoy the violence of my job, but if it protects the man that gave my child a life off the streets, I’ll do it fifty times over.”

  “And if you don’t find her?”

  “We’ll lie low and wait for her to come out again. The fact she was wearing a mask suggests that she’s at least related to crime in one way. It’s my experience that criminals always strike again.”

  “I think it’s funny that she saved the man who makes the law if she’s a criminal.”

  “So do I, miss.” The guard that was talking to her agreed. “Who can tell what her motives were, but one thing’s for sure, she took one man’s hands, and gave the other a slash along his ribcage that killed him then and there.”

  “Will the other man live?” Romana asked, tinting her voice with worry on purpose. Life had always meant very little to her, and when they were trying to end the life of a man who seemed to be better than the average royal snob, hell who cared about life, it was over in a blip for humans anyway?

  “The priests are working their healing prayers on him now. But, to be honest with you, that man wants to die if he knew his highness’s methods of persuasion. They’re not something I’d ever tell a lady.”

  Romana’s curiosity was triggered by the last sentence, but this man was one of morals and rules. He wouldn’t tell her. Hana however, might just tell her anything she wanted to know.

  “This room’s clear as well.” One guard announced as they finished searching the main room.

  “Bathrooms fine.” Another chipped in.

  Romana let her mind relax as they went into her bedroom. They hadn’t searched the chimney in the front room, so it was logical to assume they wouldn’t search the chimney in her room either.

  Ten minutes of searching later and another “All clear.” Sounded from her room.

  “Sorry we woke you.” The man who’d been talking to her the whole time apologised.

  “It’s alright. Elves need far less sleep than any human I’ve ever known. I’m thankful that you didn’t wake Katelyn though. She needs her rest.”

  “Just wait till she’s a teenager, she’ll be telling you that every time you come in to wake her up in the morning.”

  Romana laughed slightly, giving the sound more volume to make her seem slightly more human.

  “I’ll have to wake her soon anyway.” She replied, seeing them to the door. “Good morning.”

  “The same to you miss.” The guard replied, as she closed the door.

  She used her elvensense to listen to them for a while.

  “…so nice, that coffee was amazing, just don’t tell Annie I said that.” One of them joked.

  “I thought that elvenfolk were supposed to be aloof.” Another added “She certainly wasn’t what I expected.”

  “People like that that makes the job worthwhile.” The first contributed “You want to protect people like that.”

  “I’m not sure she counts as a person.” A third man replied.

  “What do you mean?” The second asked, outraged. “She’s a person if ever I saw one.”

  “The priests don’t believe that the elves have souls. They said that they shed them to become more powerful than humans. They say they have no morals or kindness, only a façade which they show to outsiders. They traded all the things that made them human to the Ancients to become powerful.”

  “And what did humans trade to become dragons?” A first asked sarcastically “The priests get people hooked on religion by scaring them into it with stories like that. Father Sebastian’s the worst of the lot.”

  The others continued to make fun of the man’s superstitious beliefs as they walked towards the stables.

  Romana’s cheeks burned with what she’d heard. The men had been on a second mission apart from their search. They’d wanted to see if she was a decent enough person. It was perhaps that that had saved her from being discovered. They had been too focused on her to be paying that much attention to anything else.

  She checked the time, half past seven, and went into Katelyn’s room.

  The little girl was still asleep, and Romana pulled out the school uniform she’d been given by the maids earlier, and laid it over the end of the bed, before walking over to the little girl and stroking the hair from her face.

  “Katelyn, wake up. Time to get ready for school.”

  That was all it took. The girl fluttered her eyes, and then rubbed the sleep from them, before rising in a slightly zombie like manner to a sitting position.

  Romana left her to get dressed, and poured her a glass of orange juice.

  “Do I get one too?” Tommy’s voice came from her bedroom doorway. She’d known he was there from the moment he’d hopped through her window.

  “Did you come for breakfast?” She asked, looking over his still too thin figure. “You still look like you need it.”

  “You did say if I ever needed food, you were the person to come to.” He replied, smiling what she was coming to call his own personal cocky smile.

  “Come sit down.” She told him, “and next time just ask me to leave the window open. It’ll save
you the effort of picking the latch.”

  “So what’s for breakfast today miss?” He asked.

  “Boiled eggs and toasty soldiers!” Katelyn squealed as she waltzed into the room.

  “How do you know that?” He asked curiously.

  “Because it’s what I want, and Romana doesn’t mind giving me what I want, as long as it’s for breakfast.”

  “One or two?” Romana asked.

  “Two, two, two.” Katelyn replied in a sing song voice, then when Romana didn’t move she amended “Two please Romana.”

  “Much better.” Romana congratulated her, picking her up, swinging her round and putting her onto the stool next to Tommy. “Tommy, this is Katelyn, Katelyn, this is Tommy, and he’s a friend I met while I was shopping.”

  “Hi Tommy! It’s my birthday on third-day.” Katelyn informed him excitedly.

  “Wow. And how old are you going to be?” The thief asked.

  “This old.” Katelyn held up seven fingers, and Tommy pretended to struggle at counting them.

  Satisfied that both of them were going to get along fine she started the water boiling and poured another two glasses of orange juice. “How many eggs Tommy?”

  “Two for me as well please.” He replied just as Katelyn swarmed him with questions.

  Romana smiled slightly, and pulled the eggs out of their box on the side, pouring the boiling water into the pan before adding them and starting on the toast.

  When she was done she served up, and drank her own glass of orange juice, before running her eye over Katelyn’s uniform.

  The grey pinafore dress was short, a result of the girls thin-but-tall figure, but not too short that it would be a problem. The navy blue cardigan, however, could be an issue; it was far too short in the sleeves. Something Romana would get sorted out later, she promised herself.

  She fetched the brush from her friend’s room and began to pull it gently through Katelyn’s hair, before catching the front strands and tying them up at the back of her head with ribbon.

  “Do I look pretty now?” The girl asked.

  “Beautiful,” Tommy answered before she could reply. “Far more pretty than any of the court ladies could ever hope to be.” And with that he leapt from his stool and gave her a small bow. “But now I must bid thee farewell your ladyships. My trade beckons.” He smiled and walked towards Romana’s room.

  “Tommy, use the door.” Romana instructed, “No-one’s going to see. And if you don’t mind I’ll ask you to put back my necklace.”

  The thief blushed, and gosh it looked adorable. “Sorry, but one of these days I’ll succeed.”

  “You have a very limited time to do so.” She replied. “Tomorrow, I’m buying a new lock and I’m bolting everything to the surfaces.”

  His laughter echoed even after he’d stubbornly jumped out of the window and left her necklace on the bedside table.

  “Come on you.” She told Katelyn, “We need to get you to school.”

  “But don’t you need to get dressed first?” Katelyn asked.

  Romana gave a theatrical gasp and ran to her wardrobe, changing at elvenspeed, and getting back to Katelyn’s side a bare fifteen seconds later.

  The girl giggled, and Romana piled the plates by the sink before leading the girl down to the classrooms, where a nice looking teacher welcomed them and introduced Katelyn to the class, sitting her next to the friend she’d mentioned, Betsy-Ann, before setting them to work and walking over to where she’d asked Romana to wait.

  “She’s a wonderful girl.” The teacher informed her “I’ve worked with her in the playroom. I’m sure she’ll give us no trouble.”

  “If she does, tell me, and I’ll sort her out.” Romana promised.

  “Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something, are you aware we have cultural awareness week coming up?”

  Oh Ancients, she so did not want to be one of their study animals. This had happened in the Slave Shop as well.

  “No, I didn’t know.” She replied cautiously.

  “Well, I heard how you didn’t know much about your own people, and I thought that maybe it would be good for you to come in on fifth-day, when we learn about your people’s culture.” Okay, maybe this wouldn’t be as bad as she’d thought. “His highness suggested that you might want to come along. And I was wondering if maybe you could teach them a little elvish while you were here.”

  Not as bad as it could be, Romana thought. “Alright, but what sort of elvish would I be teaching them?”

  “‘Hello’, ‘goodbye’, ‘how are you?’ those sorts of things maybe? It all depends on what you think will be suitable for a load of six to seven year olds.” The teacher suggested, shrugging. “But anyway, just come along if you feel like it, I’m probably making you late for your duties. It takes most maids five years to get to be attached to the prince’s quarters.”

  So why had he chosen her? Romana wondered as she walked away from the classroom, and towards the rooms she’d be getting well acquainted with from now on.

  Hana met her at the door, mop and bucket in hand, the rest on a cart that she pulled out from inside a small room opposite.

  “That’s the supply room.” Hana informed her, gesturing towards the small room. “Everything you’ll ever need to clean his highness’s rooms is in there. Don’t go looking anywhere else, it is not necessary. Understand?”

  She nodded. “Do you often repeat yourself?” She asked, curiously.

  “I shouldn’t have to.” Hana muttered, “But the new maids usually don’t listen first time, so I tell them twice so that I can put them on something awful like trash duty when they don’t listen a third time.”

  Romana nodded, and began giving everything Hana did her full attention.

  The Head maid showed her everything there was to know about cleaning the prince’s rooms; from waxing the floorboards in the study properly, to the correct way to clean the sofas.

  She also got floods of advice from Hana.

  “When you go into the study, you keep your eyes away from anything with writing on.” She had explained as they left the room in question, “especially if his highness is in there.” She’d paused for breath as she locked the room behind them. “And for goodness sake, don’t you ever move anything away without putting it back in its proper place.”

  Chapter Ten

  UNRULY

  She’d carried on dropping hints like that all the way through the day. Romana had soaked it all up, and then been forced to memorise more as she was talked through her scribe duties that afternoon.

  Scribe duty turned out to be quite interesting. She was assigned to all and any letters concerning the prince. Shortening them by removing the courtly jargon, and writing it into letters that the prince wanted sent to other nobles.

  So she was there when the letter bearing the seal of the Royal Isles of Grenov came to her desk. She read it quickly, skimming the long list of titles and courtly gossip to eventually find out that in two weeks time, the prince would be travelling the dangerous road to Carin by night to a ball in his honour, where, she blinked and re-read the sentence, where nearly every lady of the court would be awaiting the pleasure of a dance with him.

  Well, it seemed like the king and queen were trying to play match maker for their eighteen year old son. Judging by the tone of the letter however, their son didn’t often make it to social events.

  As the Scribemaster passed her desk, he peered over and saw the seal. Romana watched with amusement as his face paled and every emotion he felt passed across his face. Humans, so readable, she thought as he moved forwards.

  “Letters from their majesty’s the royal king and queen of the Human Realms are to be relayed straight to the prince, unopened.” He informed her. “Anything else is a breach of protocol.”

  “Then I shall have a message runner take it to him immediately.” She replied instantly.

  “The office closed just now. Most people are already off work, it’s just us scribes who take l
onger hours.”

  “Then I’ll deliver it myself.” She decided, logic taking the lead in her decision.

  “After that, from what I can see you’re pretty much done; take the rest of the time off. You seem to be a fast worker, so I don’t think you’ll need to work the hours the others do.”

  Romana stood and left, not giving the scribemaster the small-talk that most humans seemed to like. Saying goodbyes to people she didn’t know, or snotty old men who liked to poke their noses over everyone’s shoulders all day wasn’t how she did things.

  She used elvenspeed to reach the prince, provided he was still in his study, it would only take 30 seconds to reach it from the scribe office, even buried, as the scribes office was, in the bowels of the palace.

  Luck was with her, as Romana rounded the corner, turning onto the corridor where the prince’s rooms were located, her elvensense tuned into the sound of his voice as he talked to the Captain of the palace guard. Morals warred with a burning curiosity in her head. Unsurprisingly, curiosity won, as it always did for her, and she allowed her enhanced hearing to listen in on what they were saying.

  “… you say that your saviour was elven, the only elf in the palace is the new slave—”

  “—Romana.” The prince inserted.

  “Romana, then, your highness.” He corrected himself. “She’s the only elf here and apparently she has no idea how to use a sword. We could bring her in, ask her questions, but from what the guards who went to search her apartment tell me, she’s a perfectly nice- probably innocent- lady, who would probably be eternally pissed – err – begging your highnesses pardon – annoyed at us to say the least. And from what you’ve imparted to me about elven grudges often lasting centuries and extending onto family; I don’t want to be on the receiving end of that woman’s fury.”

  “I can understand your hesitance, but are there any other leads?” The prince replied, sounding slightly impatient.

  “Well, we have had a boy that’s been seen crossing the grounds and entering through her window; we’re almost certain he’s thieves’ guild. The slave – err Romana – is cooking his breakfast as of the last two days.”