by Mike Shelton
The man fell on top of Kelln, his weight barely allowing the ambassador to breathe. After a moment of scrambling, the Preacher slowly pulled himself off. Kelln instinctually rolled to the side and grabbed his sword from the ground once again.
Sean, still on top of the Cremelino, was in apparent physical and mental anguish from not being bonded. The usually docile Cremelino reared up in the air and came down with her front legs toward the Preacher’s skull. At the last possible moment, the wizard turned his body and tried to run away, but Kelln stood behind him now, holding his sword out in front of him. As the Cremelino’s muscular legs crashed into the Preacher from the back, Kelln’s sword impaled him from the front. The man died in one brief moment.
Sean dove off the horse, flying through the air. He hit the ground and lay there for a moment catching his breath.
Rapp sat on the ground next to Taliana, wide-eyed. The young girl wizard was breathing better now and gaped, with newfound affection, at Sean. Kelln stood and stumbled over to the man who surprisingly had saved his life. He helped Sean sit up.
“That was either very brave or very stupid,” was all Kelln could find to say.
“Couldn’t think of anything else to do.” Sean hunched his shoulders up and rubbed his head with his hands. “I thought the pain would kill me, though. Those horses can destroy your mind.”
Radiance reared upon her legs again, emitting a loud wailing neigh, permeating the minds of all those present. “Evil will not take us again! We will prevail!”
Chapter Nineteen
ESCAPE
Mezar returned from staking out the building where Christine was being held prisoner. While waiting for the rest of his men and Leandra to join with him, he took up watching the movement of people and detecting patterns. Originally his father was still in the building, so he had to be careful. Now two weeks later, his father had left to ride to the border with his special forces. From informants, he had gathered that the battle on the border would begin in the next few days, so the time to act was dangerously soon. Darius awaited word on the rescue of his wife before taking any further action against the general’s army.
In an inn owned by a man loyal to Mezar and the Emperor, Mezar and his companions sat around a dining table, discussing plans to free the queen. Lowell, William, Allon, and Gregor stared expectantly at Leandra. She blushed from the attention, but nodded. Mezar brought forward a plan utilizing Leandra at the center of it. Since the rest were known to some degree in the capital city, it was best for a stranger to infiltrate the building. If something went wrong, it would be easier to get her out without being noticed.
The amulet that Mezar gave to Leandra before leaving Anikari earlier that year had been infused with a new spell. With a hand touching the amulet and her other hand in contact with another person, she would take on the form of that other person. In fact, they would immediately switch outward appearances with each other. It was only a simple physical transference, the person’s personality and thinking remaining intact, and it would only last for a brief time.
“Leandra,” Mezar said, “with the small size of the amulet, the spell will only work three different times for Christine after you give it to her. Also the simple illusion seems to work best on someone the same size and sex; otherwise strange shadows and reflections could be seen around both people.”
Through Mezar’s contact in the building where Christine was being held, they would sneak Leandra inside as part of the kitchen help. It wasn’t unheard of for people of other countries to work as servants in Gildan. When the opportunity arose, she would change places with the person bringing food to Christine and then pass the amulet to her with instructions on how to work the spell. The rest of the group would be waiting outside a back gate to take her away.
Leandra stood up. “I’m ready.” She wore typical Gildanian servant attire. A serviceable but attractive pale blue dress hung across her slender body, a lacey apron tied around her middle. Her short brown hair hung almost to her shoulders now and included a lace ribbon on top.
“Be careful, Leandra.” Mezar worried for her. “If there was another way I could think of to do it, I would.”
“You could blast into the mansion with your and Gregor’s powers,” she said, though he knew she was only joking. They had discussed it already. They didn’t know how many other wizards were inside. Most trained wizards could sense the power from another wizard, so they could be detected.
“Just blend in. Don’t say a lot. We are certain it is a woman who takes the food each day and removes the chamber pot. A guard will probably be stationed outside the door, but you should have a brief moment to pass on the amulet,” Mezar instructed.
Before leaving, Mezar leaned in and gave Leandra a quick brush of his lips on her soft cheek. The others bade her luck, and she left with Lowell and William. The two friends of Mezar’s would escort her safely to the back gate of the building where their contact would be later that night to let her in.
Mezar himself had one last place to go. He meant to visit his grandfather, the Emperor.
* * *
Christine sat alone in her room. She had not been treated badly but was definitely a prisoner. Her only contacts with others were the three meals a day that were dropped off and the changing of the chamber pot each morning. The servants came in and left without a word. The third day of her confinement, one of the servants left some books for her to read along with her meal. This and gazing out of the window at the city below were her only companions. Two days ago, she watched as a column of soldiers on foot and horse left the city with General Alrishitar in the lead. She spent her time looking for a way to escape, but in all that she did, she had to be protective of the new life growing inside of her.
The architecture and colored lights around the city below gave her some notion of internal calmness, but her mind wandered into a realm of nothingness more often. The beginning of winter lengthened the shadows over the city. Thoughts of missing Darius and what he must be going through brought her to tears, so she tried to push those negative thoughts to the back of her mind.
Every once in a while, Christine felt a faint tugging on her mind. It must have been Lightning trying to reach out to her. The missing one left a gaping hole inside her. It was like a part of her was missing, and she still did not understand why it wasn’t working. She went deep inside herself, trying to concentrate on the bond, but to no avail. It always just unraveled like something blocked it.
One of the happier parts of her life was the baby that she carried inside. More often recently, she felt a small kick and beginnings of a slight stirring. Amazed at the size her stomach had grown, Christine would sit with her hand on her belly and talk to her little one. She told the baby about her life growing up, meeting Darius, and the new Diamond Palace that was being built in the Field of Diamonds, where the baby would live part time, growing up surrounded by the beauties of the farmlands. She thought back to the times she had started feeling nauseous and then how long she had traveled and been held prisoner since then. She surmised that she must be around five months pregnant by now; however, she was growing much larger than she would have thought.
Twice today a woman entered her room and brought food to her. Due to a lack of exercise and the baby pushing on her stomach, she hadn’t finished either meal yet. She reached over and picked up an apple and absently bit into the fruit. It was a little too ripe, leftover from the fall harvest, but it still tasted good.
The door handle turned. Christine was surprised it was already time for another meal. She didn’t even turn around to look at the servant. What use was there? There would be no recognition or talk.
“Christine,” the servant whispered.
Christine whipped around, suddenly knocking the food on the floor. Never had they spoken to her.
The guard stuck his head in the room.
“Just an accident, sir,” the nervous servant said. “It will just take me a minute to clean up.”
Chris
tine gaped hard at the woman as the servant bent down to pick up the food.
“It’s me. Leandra.”
Christine looked but stayed silent. She had only spoken to Leandra a few times, and although the voice was familiar, the face was someone else’s.
“I only have a moment while we clean this up.” She handed Christine the amulet. “Take this. Hold one hand on it while you touch another person. The two of you will exchange physical looks. It will not change who you are, just your appearance.”
The guard walked in. “What is taking so long? Orders are that no one is allowed in the room.”
Leandra picked up the last remaining bowl and stood up. The guard turned around to resume his post at the outside of the door.
“The change doesn’t last long. Help will be waiting outside the back of the stables whenever you can leave. It won’t last long, but you can use it three different times..” With that, Leandra left the room and closed the door.
Christine heard the guard and Leandra arguing outside of the door, but her heart leapt with joy. She fingered the golden amulet, wondering how it worked but accepting the gift happily. Finally a way out. She planned her escape for the next meal.
She didn’t sleep that night, her mind fresh and new again with thoughts of seeing Darius. He still didn’t know about the pregnancy. Examining her belly, she laughed for the first time in weeks. Once he saw her, he would surely know. All of a sudden, she felt fat and wondered if she would still be attractive to him. She took a brush from the nightstand and brushed her hair out.
The morning sun woke the queen of the Realm earlier than expected. She used the cloth and pail of water they left for her each night to wash herself. They supplied her with a few changes of clothes, mostly to accommodate her slight change in size due to the pregnancy. None were made to run in. She chose the plainest dress and readied herself for the servant. She had nothing else to take with her.
It seemed like hours, but a short time later, the door clicked and a maid stepped in. She was the usual morning servant, a few years older than Christine, with shorter black hair, a small mouth, and slightly tilted eyes. Her plain attire made her appear younger than she was.
Using the same unplanned distraction that worked the previous evening, Christine knocked into the girl, spilling the contents of the food on the ground. As they both bent to pick it up, Christine held the amulet in one hand and touched the arm of the servant with the other. She didn’t know what to expect, but she gasped as she saw a mirror image of herself appear on the form of the servant. They had instantly switched identities.
Not knowing if she had changed or not but assuming so, Christine picked herself up off the floor, grabbed the dishes, and started walking out of the room.
“Wait. You can’t go out there,” the servant wailed, but as she looked at Christine, she gasped and panicked without saying anything for a moment. That moment was all it took for Christine to swiftly leave the room.
The guard came to the door to find out what was going on. Seeing what looked like Christine still in the room he went to shut the door.
“No, no,” the servant yelled. “It’s me. It’s Sarah. She tricked me somehow.” Christine could understand enough Gildan to make out what was going on.
The guard’s eyes followed Christine in the hallway, seeing her as the servant. A questioning expression flickered across his face. Not wanting to speak and give herself away, she just shrugged and rolled her eyes like the lady in the room was crazy. The guard laughed, and Christine, being careful, walked back down the hall.
Not really knowing where she was in the large compound or how long the deception would last, Christine found some stairs and ran down with long strides. On her way down, she encountered two other servants coming up and started to panic. One of the servants turned to her and said something that Christine couldn’t understand. She assumed it was in the language of Gildan, which she didn’t speak. To keep from getting caught she forced herself into a coughing fit. Signaling that she couldn’t speak and needed water, the two servants left her on her own.
Finding herself in a large marble hallway, she looked up and down its length. The walls were all a creamy plaster with large displays of weapons, art, and tapestries covering its length. She heard a noise and saw a younger boy walk around the corner holding a large plate of food. That gave her the directions to the kitchen. Approaching the boy, she saw her reflection in a nearby mirror on the wall and noticed the deceptive spell had begun failing.
The boy almost dropped his food as right in front of his eyes, a short dark-haired Gildanian changed into a taller, blonde Anikarian. He opened his mouth to scream.
Christine, still holding the amulet, touched him on the arm, and her appearance changed once again, now into the form of a young page. On the other hand, the boy started screaming hysterically. Christine actually smiled at his antics but knew she had to leave.
Up on the higher floor, the maid’s deception had obviously also worn off, and lots of yelling meant they were searching for Christine. Running into the kitchens, she almost bowled over the cook.
“Look here. What are you doing back?” the lady said to her. “I just gave you food. What have you done with it now? You couldn’t have eaten that much.”
Christine didn’t dare talk to her. She was having a hard time moving around with the illusion of the boy. Her belly still stuck out, even though others couldn’t see it. She found herself bumping into a few counters.
“Now what has got into you, boy?” the cook continued. “You haven’t gotten into the master’s wine have you?”
Christine gave a sick guise as if she was going to throw up. The cook raised her hands in the air and started yelling while pointing the way to the back door. Obviously she didn’t want a mess in her kitchen. Finding the door, Christine opened it and ran outside.
The morning air felt cool, but she drank the freedom in and ran as far away from the buildings as she could. Hearing a fervent increase of drama in the household, Christine ran toward where she thought the stables would be. Halfway across the large expanse of yard, she had the feeling that her own form was back once again. She only had one more spell to work with. She skirted behind trees to stay away from any prying eyes but still ran toward her destination.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” A groomsman reached out for her as she walked into the stables. She was about to touch him and put the illusion on again when someone hit the man from behind. The groomsman crinkled to the ground. The attacker then proceeded to grab Christine by the arm.
“Come on. We have to hurry. Mezar is waiting for you.” The attacker was young, only a few years older than Christine, though since he had grabbed Christine while she was still holding the amulet, they suddenly switched appearances. It was strange to see herself beside her.
“Oh no!” the young man said. “Why did you do that?”
“You grabbed me,” she said as they continued to run.
“How do you run like this?” The man glanced down to his illusioned belly, which was now protruding from him. “You’re pregnant.” He spoke in the language of the Realm but with a Gildan accent.
Christine just smiled. The man had mentioned Mezar, so she assumed she could trust him. At this point, she would go with anyone that was taking her away from her captivity. She knew from sounds in the estate that she couldn’t go back there.
Running for a few minutes, they encountered a back fence. They didn’t know who should help who over the fence, so they managed on their own.
Dogs barking and people yelling could be seen and heard gathering throughout the compound. Christine imagined the wrath they feared from General Alrishitar if she escaped. Through some bushes, she saw a flash of white. A Cremelino came riding into view. It wasn’t Lightning, but she could feel this Cremelino’s presence in the air and as a trickle in her mind.
Mezar sat on top of the horse and seemed confused at first. He reached for the man that looked like her and offered a hand up.
“That’s her.” He frowned and pointed toward Christine.
Mezar broke in to a loud laughter. “Lowell?”
“That’s enough, Mezar. It’s not funny.” Lowell grinned.
“We have to hurry,” Mezar said, reaching out his hand for the real Christine. As he did so, she changed back. “That’s better. Welcome back, my lady. My noble steed and I are here to take you away.”
Tears blurred Christine’s eyes. She had never beheld such a beautiful sight. The young prince pulled her up to sit behind him on the Cremelino. “Star said it’s fine for you to ride. You are one of the bonded.”
“You have a Cremelino, too?” Christine’s voice rose in excitement.
Embracing the full force of the Cremelino’s speed, Mezar took off through some backcountry. The trees and bushes blurred by as they rode toward a cover of thicker trees, putting as much distance between them and her captors as possible.
The whisper of the wind against her face made Christine feel alive again. Memories of times when she rode Lightning flashed through her mind. She held her stomach with one hand, trying to cushion the baby.
Suddenly, Star skidded to a stop and went up on his hind legs. Christine grabbed both hands around Mezar, who hung onto his horse’s neck.
A loud wail screeched through the bond. We will prevail!
It was as if for a moment they both felt the combined weight, power, and intelligence of all the Cremelinos. Many voices ran through her mind at the same time. In that mix, Christine felt Lightning for the first time in almost two months.
“Lightning!” The joy almost overwhelmed her. Tears came unbidden to her eyes and slid down her cheeks.
Christine! It is good to hear you again.
Then before she could figure out why the bond worked again, Mezar’s Cremelino came back down on all fours, the voices dissipated, and the bond with her Cremelino was once again gone.