She made one last desperate effort and ripped free of one of her captors, but the other held her fast. There was a sudden sharp pain at the back of her head, and then the world went black.
“PRINCESS? PRINCESS MEGLYNNE, can you hear me?”
Meg opened her eyes. It took a few blinks to make them focus. And then all she seemed able to see was dirt and darkness.
“Princess?”
Meg groaned and tried to sit up. This was more difficult than it should have been, since her hands were still tied tightly behind her. Her arms and shoulders ached terribly. And her head. Ugh.
Jakl was hovering anxiously at the edge of her awareness. He was worried but trying to obey her wishes of keeping away. Good, she thought. I’m all right. Just — just wait.
“Tessel?”
“Yes. Are you hurt?”
“I don’t know. I mean, everything hurts, but I think I’m okay.” She finally managed to twist herself upright. She could just make out Tessel sitting a few feet away, her back against a plain, rough wall. A faint bit of light was coming in from a small window, high above. She thought it was daylight, not moonlight, but it was hard to tell. The place they were in was still very dark. “How long was I unconscious? And where are we?”
“Several hours? I’m not certain, but I think the sun’s up. As for where, I believe this is the Royal Prison of Lourin.”
“What?” Meg stared around, trying to see more of their surroundings. “They shouldn’t have . . . Did they tell the king who we are? He should not have —”
“I’m not sure what they told him,” said Tessel. “They knocked me out, too.”
Even if King Gerald’s attendants had not wanted to wake him in the middle of the night, etiquette should have required them to put Meg and Tessel in a guest room, under guard, until the king was ready to see them.
Then Meg remembered that Sen Eva had somehow changed her face and made herself King Gerald’s advisor, and she was suddenly grateful that they were only in the king’s prison and not dead.
Sen Eva. Meg remembered the way the woman had smiled at her, and her stomach clenched into a tiny ball of fear. She still couldn’t believe it — their enemy, here in Lourin, and somehow not looking anything like her true self. But Meg was absolutely sure it was her. And Sen Eva knew Meg knew, and didn’t seem to care at all.
They were in more danger than Tessel realized.
Meg closed her eyes and reached out through the link. Jakl, she thought as clearly and forcefully as she could, find Calen. Go now. Find him and find a way to let him know where I am. She pictured Calen in her mind as clearly as she could, tried to feel how much she needed him, tried to feel it enough that Jakl would know what she wanted. She knew he understood her when she spoke to him directly, but from this distance, she wasn’t sure how much she was really getting across. Feel this, she thought desperately. Please, Jakl. Get Calen. Go get him right now.
She couldn’t tell whether he understood. She knew he felt that she was afraid, and she thought he understood that she wanted him to go, to fly away from her, and she tried to take heart in the knowledge that he’d understood her last night when she told him to stay away. In a moment she could tell that he’d begun flying, back in the direction of home. But did he know what she wanted? Was he going to find Calen or just going away?
But wait — home was wrong. Calen wasn’t there. She tried to bring to mind maps she’d seen showing the location of the Magistratum, far to the south. Very far. Calen must either still be there or just be starting his way back. She pictured the Magistratum itself, images pieced together from books and Calen’s descriptions: a huge, square fortress with no towns around it for miles.
That’s where he is, she thought at Jakl. Hurry. Please.
She couldn’t tell if he had understood or not. He was far enough away already that she could no longer sense which way he was going.
“Princess?” Meg opened her eyes again. Tessel was looking at her with concern. “Are you all right?”
“Yes. No. I was just — just trying to think.” She bit her lip, trying to make herself focus. “We have to get out of here,” she said.
“How?” asked Tessel. Meg’s eyes were adjusting quickly to the dark; she could see the other girl much more clearly now. She almost wished she couldn’t — Tessel looked utterly defeated. “This is just what I was afraid of. I should never have let you come here, Princess. I should have betrayed you to the Trelian guards for your own safety.”
“No,” said Meg. “It’s good that you didn’t.”
Tessel gave an odd, half-choked laugh. “How can you say that? Look what’s happened!”
“No, trust me.” She tried to meet Tessel’s eyes in the darkness, but the other girl’s face was turned slightly away. “Tessel, listen to me. That woman, the one who calls herself Delana? She’s . . . an enemy of the kingdom. A terrible enemy. It is a very good thing that we know she is here.”
“An enemy? But . . . how can that be? She’s King Gerald’s advisor.”
“I don’t know. She’s — she’s in disguise somehow. And she must have something to do with what’s happening here — the attacks and the anger toward Trelian. I have to get back and warn my family. She’s very dangerous.”
Tessel shook her head. “I don’t think you understand how much trouble we’re in right now, Your Highness. I don’t think King Gerald is just going to let us go.”
“I’ll figure out something,” Meg said. “I have to.”
Tessel looked at Meg for a moment without speaking. Then she asked, “What do you think your parents will do when they discover you’re gone?”
Meg had been trying not to think about that. In her original plan, she would have been back before they had a chance to notice her absence. “They’ll be angry, of course. But once they learn what I’ve discovered —”
The older girl was shaking her head again, in denial or — disgust?
“What?” Meg asked her.
Tessel hesitated; from what Meg could see of her expression, she hadn’t meant to display such an obvious negative reaction. “It’s not my place to say,” Tessel said at last.
“You can say whatever it is you’re thinking,” Meg said. “Really. I want to know.”
“I think — I think you might need to consider your actions more carefully sometimes. I don’t mean any offense, Princess. But to have come here, to have risked yourself and risked making Lourin even more angry . . .”
“I’m trying to find a way to convince Lourin not to be angry!” Meg said. “It seemed the only way —”
“But it probably wasn’t the only way,” Tessel said. “I understand that you wanted to act, that you wanted to do something to help. But there’s a reason you didn’t tell your parents what you were doing. There’s a reason you didn’t want to alert the guards. And you should think about that. If coming here was the right decision, why hide it?”
“Because —” Because you don’t understand about my dragon. Because my parents don’t really understand, either, even though they know about the link. Because I was afraid of what would happen if I let my parents try to chain Jakl up somehow, and I can’t bear just sitting and doing nothing when anyone I love is in danger, and if he goes crazy again while chained to the ground, lots of people I love could be hurt. Or worse. But she couldn’t say any of that. “Just because they’re my parents doesn’t mean they always know best,” she said instead. “Sometimes they make the wrong decisions, too.”
“Of course,” Tessel agreed. “But so does everyone. Even you.”
Meg bit back an angry retort. It was hard to argue that this had been the right decision when they were sitting in a prison cell and had no idea what was going to happen to them.
But if she hadn’t come, they would not have found out about Sen Eva. Didn’t that have to count for something?
“I can see that you love your dragon,” Tessel went on gently, “but I’m not so sure that the princess-heir can afford to put love bef
ore duty.”
“I didn’t! I’m here because of my duty!” But even as she said it, she wondered if it were really true. She had a duty to her kingdom, but was that really what had led her to sneak off to Lourin in the middle of the night? And what about her duty to her parents, to obey their wishes? And her duty to the people of Trelian, including this unfortunate young woman she’d led into terrible danger? Hadn’t she a responsibility to protect Tessel as much as she did the people of Trelian in general? And had coming here really been the best way of protecting anyone other than her dragon?
But she had a responsibility to him, too, didn’t she? How could she choose between them?
Meg looked at Tessel with a new level of respect. “Do they teach this stuff in courier training?” she asked.
Tessel gave her a small smile. “Not exactly. But they do teach us about duty. To our commanders, to each other, to our kingdom. Being a courier is a little like being a soldier in some ways. You have to know where your first responsibility lies at all times. They teach us to keep that straight in our hearts and minds, so that we know what to do if something happens out on assignment somewhere.”
“That sounds nice,” Meg said wistfully. “To always know what to do.”
“Well,” Tessel said judiciously, “some situations are certainly clearer than others. But it helps to know in your heart what your first priority is. Deciding that makes other decisions easier.”
Meg fell silent. What was her first priority? A year ago, she would have said her family, without question. But the princess-heir had to put her kingdom first. Her parents, as much as they loved their daughters, had a responsibility to the people of Trelian. Which is why Meg and her sisters’ marriages would be arranged for political gain, why they were taught what they needed to know to lead a kingdom, why they could not simply follow whatever was in their hearts. But now, since the link, Jakl was a part of her. More than that, he was dependent on her. Her, and no one else. How could she not protect him?
She realized she could barely sense him now. It felt strange to have him so far away. They hadn’t been separated by this much distance since the time she and Calen had been sent so abruptly and violently away from Trelian by Calen’s accidental alteration of Sen Eva’s spell, meant to kill them. The link had still been so new then that it had taken her a while to realize what she was — or wasn’t — feeling. But now she was very aware of Jakl’s absence. The link was still there, of course, and she wasn’t nearly as far away from him as she’d been that other time, but he was so faint, she couldn’t sense anything other than that he was alive — somewhere. She had no idea where he was or how he was feeling or whether he’d found Calen or anything else. She felt disturbingly incomplete.
Would Sen Eva try to kill her again? Now that she was caught, without Calen or Jakl to help her? Would Sen Eva try to use her captivity against her parents? There were no limits to what she could imagine Sen Eva doing, really. She fought back another wave of fear. Being terrified was not going to help.
Instead, she tried to make herself focus. Duty and responsibility. If she had to, she knew she could sacrifice herself for her kingdom. But did she have the right to sacrifice Jakl as well? He hadn’t asked for this any more than she had. Even if he’d linked to her on purpose, he had no idea what it meant to be a princess or a queen. He would die for her — she knew that. But would he die for Trelian? Did she even have the right to ask?
She just had to hope that no one would have to sacrifice anything right now. King Gerald would send for them eventually, and she would try to convince him that Trelian was not his enemy. Maybe he would be able to protect them from Sen Eva, once Meg alerted him to his advisor’s true identity.
And if King Gerald could not be reasoned with, surely Calen would come and get them out of this mess. Somehow.
If Jakl could find him.
And if they could get back here before it was too late.
SEREK LED THE WAY DOWN CORRIDOR after corridor, always keeping to out-of-the-way passages and stairwells that no one seemed to use very much.
“But I don’t understand,” Calen said, nearly breathless with trying to keep up. “Shouldn’t we be telling the council what Mage Brevera was doing? Why are we running away?”
“It’s not that simple,” Serek said back. “And what part of ‘not now’ did you fail to comprehend? Stop asking questions and just keep moving.”
Calen stopped asking questions out loud, but he couldn’t stop them from running through his head. None of this made any sense to him. The Magistratum was supposed to be a safe place, the place they had come to in order to get their questions answered and to figure out how to find Sen Eva and stop her once and for all. All of the mages were supposed to be on the same side, weren’t they? The good side. Not the side that locked up apprentices and forced their masters to burst in and rescue them and then run quickly and quietly away.
But if Brevera and the others really thought he was working with Mage Krelig . . . did that make them bad or just wrong?
Serek finally stopped near a plain-looking door at the bottom of one of the stairwells. Calen halted beside him. Anders arrived a few steps behind.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Serek asked the older mage. “It’s not too late to change your mind and stay.”
“I’ve already done more than enough to get myself in fairly serious trouble,” Anders said jovially. “I might as well continue.” He looked at Calen. “You know, I was just thinking only a month or so ago that my life could use a little more excitement. And now here it is. Hurrah!” He raised his hands briefly over his head and did a quick little two-step dance. Calen stared at him in consternation.
Anders turned back to Serek. “The horses should be right outside. Shall we?”
Serek pushed the door open to reveal a narrow alley. They hurried along to where it opened onto a small rectangular area with several large crates piled to one side. A young boy was standing there, holding the reins of three horses in his fist. Each of the horses had several bundles tied to its saddle. Seeing the bundles made Calen remember his own bundle of belongings, no doubt still piled up in the room the mages had been keeping him in. He supposed there wasn’t anything irreplaceable in there, although it would have been nice to have a change of clothes.
“Excellent work, my young friend!” Anders said to the boy. He reached into his pocket and took out a small sack. “Coins for you and some treats for the animals, eh? And an extra bit to pay the stable master if he gives you any trouble.”
Anders handed the sack to the boy and took the reins from him. The boy flashed him a quick grin, then scampered off around the corner. Anders handed the reins of the largest horse to Serek and one of the others to Calen. “Jorry’s a fine lad. Always good for a bit of under-the-table business when I need something taken care of. He’s got a collection of mangy animals he’s rescued and needs the extra coin to buy them food and such. A veritable animal orphanage! If you’re ever in the market for a puppy, let me know.”
Calen had a brief, enchanting vision of bringing home a large dog to take on Serek’s irritable gyrcat. He looked over at Serek.
“No,” Serek said, not looking at him. He was tightening the girth on the saddle and checking the straps. “Check your horse, and let’s get moving.”
Calen was no expert rider, but he’d been on horseback often enough to know what to do. “Nice girl,” he said softly, patting her neck as he checked the saddle.
“That there’s Killer,” Anders said.
Calen jumped back in horror, and Anders laughed. “Oh, just kidding. Does she look like a killer to you? Her name’s Posy. She’s a sweetie. Serek, yours is called Killer. Mine’s Franny. They are all good friends, except for Killer, who likes to bite everyone. Just keep him in front, Serek, eh? He’s not one for following.”
Serek acknowledged this with a lazy wave of his hand and neatly hoisted himself up onto Killer’s back.
Calen led Posy over to one of the cra
tes and used it as a mounting block. That was less embarrassing than having her wander off while he was midhoist would have been. Anders did the same, which helped Calen feel a little better.
Once he was up, Anders turned Franny back to face the building. Frowning slightly in concentration, he lifted one hand and created a swirl of orange, white, black, and blue energy. As Calen watched, the swirl expanded and then spiraled out around Anders, Calen, and Serek before flowing back along the alley toward the door, circling there, then shooting into the door itself and disappearing.
Calen had never seen magic behave in quite that way before. It was almost as though Anders had given the spell instructions somehow, telling it where to go and what to do.
“That was . . . how did you . . . ?”
Anders grinned at Calen over his shoulder. “You don’t get to be as old as I am without learning a trick or two, my nice young friend.”
“But —”
“Now, now. Time to go!” He waggled his eyebrows at Calen and then turned his horse away from the alley. Serek was already riding Killer off along the rough dirt road. At minimal urging, Posy and Franny fell into companionable step behind him.
Calen wondered if Serek’s admonishment against questions included all questions, or just those addressed to him. Anders didn’t seem inclined to explain about the spell he’d just cast, but Calen had more pressing questions, anyway. After a moment, Calen leaned toward the older mage, whose horse had come up nearly even with Posy.
“So, shouldn’t we be, um, running?”
“Yes,” Anders said. “Most definitely. But there’s a rocky part up here when we enter the woods. I imagine once we get past that, we’ll be speeding along with all possible haste.”
“Will the Magistratum be sending mages after us?”
“Hmm? Oh, yes. I imagine so.” Anders smiled at Calen, then looked ahead and began humming a little tune to himself.
The Princess of Trelian Page 12