by Taylor Leigh
Andrew smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his cold, computing eyes.
Thedric was not impressed. ‘Of course she’d say that. The real question is: What will the Traveller say? What do you think of that, girl? If we go talk to this man, will he vouch for you?’
Victoria highly doubted that. But what else could she do? If it was Tollin and he did recognise her, would he save her? He had twice already, but then she’d abandoned him. She had no way of knowing how he would take that, and if it turned out that her hunch wasn’t true then she’d be no worse off than she was now. There wasn’t much point not going along with it.
‘Why don’t you find out?’ she whispered.
Andrew again smiled coolly, obviously appreciating her response. ‘She’s right. Time to move on, standing round here is getting us nowhere!’ He marched off without another glance.
‘D’you think we should blindfold her?’ Thedric asked thoughtfully.
‘No, I don’t think so,’ Molly mused. ‘She seems pretty helpless, and even if she is a spy, she already knows where we’re headed anyway. It’s not like the keep is a secret.’
Thedric leant in close to her. ‘And if she does try to run away, or alert her little friends or anything, she’ll be dead before she can count to ten!’
Chapter Nine
Reginald crept down the dark hall, nerves as tight as a spring. The slatted windows that let in the dull orange light weren’t evenly placed and he was caught in one of the dark spots. He was in a part of the palace he’d never seen before, and would have appreciated a little light, since he was rather turned around and upset.
The day’s frightening events had left him on the edge of sanity. Victoria was right when she had said something was up. His concerns he had tried to shrug off as nothing but paranoia, but after the morning he’d had, he had to think otherwise. What if something really was going on?
The sound of footsteps approaching the opposite way hit his ears and he dove behind one of the twisting columns of the passage. He hugged into the shadow even as he was telling himself it was ridiculous for someone of his stature to be hiding. Then again, perhaps that was a perfectly good reason for him to be hiding.
He peered past the pillar he had taken refuge behind and watched as two Denizens shuffled into sight. They were wearing their customary red robes and one of them was leaning heavily on an ornate staff. They stopped just beyond the bend where Reginald was. He silently cursed under his breath.
His heart pounded inexplicably fast and he rested his head against the rock, praying they wouldn’t smell him. Luckily, the two seemed so engrossed in their conversation they paid their surroundings little heed.
The creature without the staff spoke first. ‘The little girl never made it to the temple.’
Reginald stiffened. They could only be talking about Victoria.
‘Ah, how unfortunate,’ the other said. ‘Did she meet with her prescribed fate?’
‘No!’ the other one gurgled. ‘We had no hand in the matter! Someone interfered. All of the scouts were drugged!’
Reginald jerked in surprise. He knew something was up! Victoria had been right after all. The horror of the realisation hit him like a punch to the gut.
‘What?’ the creature with the staff snarled. ‘You did not take care of her?’ His voice dropped a notch. ‘That was your one assignment and you fell through!’
‘By the Darkness I swear I did everything I was supposed to. Our troop was ready; everything was as it should have been. But she never arrived! When we came back down the ridge we found all of the scouts lifeless and no girl!’
The staff-bearing Denizen hissed. ‘What could have happened?’
‘I can only think of one possibility.’
‘Scottorr!’ The staff-creature bit his hand hard. ‘The little witch escaped. And someone helped her…’
‘Yes, the Traveller, no doubt. If she did get pulled to the other planet then she might as well be dead!’
The staff-bearer mulled over this for a moment. ‘It is a variable Sinsetun will not be pleased with. Especially if there is someone else like the Traveller involved.’
Reginald stared at the rock wall in front of him. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. The Denizens had planned on killing Victoria and now she was gone. Just as another question was forming in his mind, it was answered by the next words the Denizens said.
‘What about the boy?’
He froze.
‘He is a foolish, pathetic thing. Easy to control, something we don’t need to worry about.’
‘Sinsetun said he wanted them both gone.’
Reginald swallowed.
‘Tis already been arranged. Airships are not the safest way to travel. His way home will not go as smoothly as hoped.’
A chuckle.
Reginald felt close to panic. There was a coup going on right under their noses and he was next on the hit list! His brain was jumping to wild ideas of what to do when he felt a hand land on his shoulder. He almost cried out when another clamped over his mouth. His eyes darted up to see a tall pale woman leaning over him.
‘Hush! Keep still if you want to live!’
Reginald shook free and stared up at her. ‘Who are you?’
‘Doesn’t matter now, but if you want to stay alive you’ll do as I say.’
She peered round the pillar and watched the two Denizens ambling along the passageway and into the darkness. Reginald didn’t know where to fix his eyes: On the curvaceous woman or the creatures.
‘What are you doing here?’
‘Same as you, trying to figure out what’s going on.’
He tried to, as casually as possible, take all of her in. The woman had long black hair and eyes the colour of steel. She was beautiful, but the left side of her face was so badly marred with shiny scars Reginald could not even make out her facial features. She was wearing a tight black tunic that went to her knees, baggy black trousers and high black leather boots. Not normal Scrabian apparel. An assortment of bags and weapons hung from a belt strapped to her thin waist. Her long, spiderlike fingers drummed on the pillar as she watched the Denizens round the corner.
‘Do you know what happened to Victoria?’
‘She’s been pulled up to Scottorr, as far as I can gather. The name’s Arkron, by the way.’
Reginald put his hands over his eyes for a moment. ‘Then she’s dead! Or worse than dead!’
The woman, Arkron, shook her head. ‘Oh, quit your worrying. She’s a lot safer than you are.’
Reginald looked up. ‘You’re right. Those monsters want to kill me!’ He flopped back against the rock wall. ‘What am I going to do?’
Arkron stared down at him in a look of disbelief. ‘Well, you’re not going to hide behind this pillar for the rest of your life, you useless thing!’ She grabbed him by the collar, yanking him forward. ‘Come on.’
Reginald cast a look around him. ‘Where are we going?’
‘Out of the city!’ Arkron hissed.
‘Out of the city? But that’s mad!’
Arkron appeared to be an expert when it came to navigating the castle and she led him down a steep winding staircase that seemed to cut down through the centre of the mountain. Through the slatted cuts in the stone Reginald could see out to the city, all in the orange glow of perpetual twilight. Beyond the city’s massive stone wall was the horrible vast emptiness of the desert. He had only been out there once, for the Trials, and had had no intention of going back again. Unfortunately, Arkron had other ideas.
The woman reached the bottom of the stairs, turned a sharp corner, darted down more stairs and at last came to a halt in front of an inconspicuous stone door. She reached into her satchel, humming a tuneless song. Reginald looked around them, growing more paranoid by the second.
‘How d’you know Victoria’s all right? Did you see her leave or something?’ He was rather sure he’d never seen this section of the palace before, and by the look of dust, it looked as if no-one else
had either.
‘No, but she’s in good company. If I’m not mistaken she met up with an acquaintance of mine. He’ll look after her.’
‘Great,’ Reginald moaned. ‘There’s more than one of you running around? Is he the Traveller that I heard mentioned? I don’t like the idea of her with some strange man.’
Arkron pulled an enormous ring of keys out of her bag with a happy cry and started fingering through them quickly. ‘Oh, do lighten up, will you? I thought you hated her anyway.’
‘I don’t think we can really afford to hate each other, after everything that’s happened.’ Reginald said, wondering how she knew so much about he and Victoria’s relationship.
‘Charming.’
Arkron finally found the key she was searching for, a battered, rusted old thing, and slipped it into the hole. The key worked marvellously and Arkron swung the door wide. It opened to reveal the flat, barren landscape of the desert. The city and wall were nowhere in sight. Reginald turned to look at her, confused.
‘Back part of the castle,’ Arkron explained. ‘Ancient families had this built as a sort of escape hatch in case there was a revolt or something. Doubt they still know it exists. Not that it matters, still will suit our purpose.’
‘How’d you know it was here?’ Reginald asked. He stared out at the red desert and felt his heart sink. There was nowhere to go out there. Just dust and heat and beasts.
‘Maybe I was round for some of those ancient revolts.’ Arkron smiled knowingly. She stepped out to the rocky landscape and started down the steep hill. ‘Come on, you!’ she called cheerfully.
On shaking legs, Reginald took his first reluctant step out into the harsh, vast void.
Chapter Ten
The next hour for Victoria was a numb blur.
Rain had started falling from the sky, something that shocked and filled her with wonder. It immediately lost its charm once it turned to a downpour. Now she cursed it. It made her cold and the hot sun of her homeworld was obscured by the rain’s dark clouds, keeping her from drying.
She was now wearing Thedric’s heavy cloak and was sitting in front of him on his horse. There had been some contention about who she would ride with. Andrew had made it more than clear she wouldn’t be riding with him. Yet he still made his displeasure known when Thedric finally relented, allowing his brother to ride with Molly, though it was obviously something Thedric had been keen on. Andrew clearly didn’t like to share.
Thedric was not the companion she would have preferred riding with. He looked at Victoria like he might the mud on the bottom of his boots. Unfortunately, they hadn’t asked her opinion in the matter. She tried to lean away from him as much as possible without being too obvious about it because the idea of him touching her was frightening. She’d seen the knife on his belt and knew he wouldn’t hesitate to use it. Every breath or shift that came from him made her spine tighten with fear. At the height her nerves were at, she would have been grateful walking tied up behind the horse, as unbecoming as it was.
Being in such a distressed state, Victoria didn’t have much hope to keep her from despairing. Her only comfort was that perhaps they were going to find Tollin, if he was indeed the Traveller, and then she’d get him to take her back home. This mission she repeated over to herself constantly. It was the only courage she could cling to.
The rest of her company was in notably high spirits, not that she blamed them. They had an impressive find on their hands. Victoria figured she should be counting her blessings, all things considered. She hadn’t been killed outright, and she had been well treated so far—well, as much as could be expected. She couldn’t free herself of the knot at the pit of her stomach, however. It kept whispering to her that everything could change for the worst in the briefest of seconds.
Andrew was still an enigma to her, inexplicably drawing her in. He’d been adamant about saving her life but now paid her absolutely no mind. The quick looks she cast his direction were not promising. She thought him to be painfully arrogant, considering the way he spoke to his companions and disturbingly void of all emotion. The entire morning he seemed to think of as something momentarily interesting, but already forgotten. That was the most troubling of all, for if the man who saved her life forgot about her, what chance did she have of surviving?
They had been travelling for what felt like ages. As time passed conversation dwindled, which was disappointing, since with every word they spoke she grew more accustomed to their accents and the people who spoke them. Victoria didn’t know why they had grown so quiet. She figured she was at least partly to blame. She made them uncomfortable. The idea was rather ridiculous. What could she possibly do?
A cacophony of loud, yipping, howling and whooping echoed from all round them, ripping the stillness apart. The horses pulled up short and Thedric had his crossbow fitted and ready, immediately looking for something to aim at. His other arm wrapped around Victoria protectively. Andrew glanced round, unconcerned, a look of mild interest in his hooded eyes. He reminded her of a bird of prey and even in the frightening confusion, Victoria found herself admiring his sharp profile.
Victoria’s back was pressed against Thedric’s broad chest and she breathed hard, panic starting. She tore her gaze from Andrew and sent her eyes darting round the green wood. The animalistic noises were everywhere, above them, surrounding them.
‘Come to shoot us through the trees like cowards, Flynn?’ Thedric shouted above the din, making Victoria jump.
The forest went deadly still.
‘Talking of cowards?’ a smooth voice from behind them said.
Thedric gripped his horse’s reigns and he and Andrew spun their beasts round to face a figure Victoria recognised. It was the man who’d been overseeing Andrew’s ambush. ‘Aren’t you the one who attacks children half your age?’
Thedric laughed. ‘You have no right to talk, you lot just tried to kill my brother!’
Flynn looked grave. ‘Your hunting parties have ventured too far into our territory. We were not at fault.’
Thedric leant forward in his saddle, pushing Victoria forward as well, and glared down at Flynn. ‘Oh, please, spare me! You’re the one who broke your father’s bloody peace treaty. Don’t give me any of this high, pious nonsense!’
The woods round them stirred ever-so-slightly and Victoria became aware of many pairs of eyes watching them. She could almost feel the arrows and spears pointed at her and her captors.
‘Brother,’ Andrew purred under his breath. ‘Considering the odds, it might not be the wisest course of action to taunt him.’
Thedric blew out an impatient breath. He spoke without bothering to keep his voice down. ‘They’re not that stupid! Flynn would be dead before the rest of them can even get a shot off.’
Victoria wasn’t very thrilled about Thedric’s assessment of the situation but kept her mouth shut. She doubted anyone cared for her opinion. Her gaze quit wandering round the trees and fell on Flynn. His grey eyes found hers. His eyebrow went up slightly.
‘This must be your newest acquisition. The one that is rumoured to have fallen from the stars.’
‘How did you hear of her?’ Molly asked, head tilted to one side.
Flynn smiled faintly. ‘We have many eyes. In the forest nothing gets by us.’
Thedric looked at Flynn through narrowed eyes. ‘She did not fall from the stars. She’s one of yours, I wouldn’t doubt.’
‘Ours?’ Flynn took a step towards Victoria. Thedric and Molly both raised their weapons a little higher. ‘I have never seen such an exotic beauty,’ he said curiously.
‘Cut the act, Flynn. We know she’s your spy, and you can bet right now that we’re going to get any information out of her that we can!’
Victoria winced, shrinking back against Thedric, even though he was the one making the threats. He tightened his arm across her chest unpleasantly.
‘You did not question the Traveller when he arrived,’ Flynn said thoughtfully.
Thedric
rolled his eyes. ‘The Traveller is different.’
‘How so? Because he looks like you? The Traveller is not one to be trusted. He is a breed of his own. But no. This girl is not ours. She is unnatural here. Like a whale in the forest. We want nothing to do with her. And neither does the forest.’
‘Great,’ Thedric said flatly. ‘We agree on something.’
Flynn eyed the close trees around him. ‘You should not have stepped so far out of your bounds, Tartans! No ships will come to save you. We’re all playing this little game. You hunt us, we hunt you. Well, I would be foolish to rob my people of this triumph. What an honour for you!’
Victoria knew the sound of bows bending all-too-well and squeezed her eyes shut. She was going to be murdered by savages! How painfully dishonourable. Good thing her mother couldn’t see her now.
Blood pounded through her ears, muffling the scene before her. Thedric was shouting something challenging and Andrew was sitting calmly with a frightened Molly, everything was commotion until something drowned out all thought, all noise, all action. A tremendous roar, identical to the one Victoria had heard when she’d crashed down, shook the forest. It was a deep, engulfing roar, shaking all other life to its marrow. Victoria thought her head would split, the trees would crack, the very ground would break open from it.
In terror, she sobbed and buried her face in the horse’s mane. The horses reared and the trees round them where the savages were hiding, trembled. Flynn crouched like a terrified cat, eyes wild. Everyone cast about for the source of the noise which was so close it sounded right on top of them. Victoria’s gaze swept the thick brush. She heard the horrible crunching and shaking of trees being snapped. Something was moving, and if she wasn’t mistaken it was coming towards them.
Flynn looked Thedric in the eye. ‘The forest has spoken. We leave you to its fury!’ And with that, he and his followers were gone, desperate to escape.