Code Redhead - A Serial Novel

by Sharon Kleve

  She turned to Lucas.

  “Good luck, Mist Prince. I think I shall not see you again.”

  “The full moon is tomorrow night,” added Gillis with a sneer.

  “Full moon? What is the significance of the full moon?” asked Lucas.

  “Go now.” Sarah walked away and busied herself with small bottles on the counter.

  On the way to the dungeon, Sarah appeared in the corridor behind the guards, as if by magic. She tapped Turner and Gillis on the heads. They fell over. She touched their faces.

  “You will awaken believing you have returned your prisoner to the dungeon and chained him up securely to the wall. Then you will go back to your quarters and…take a nap.”

  “Come here, Lucas. Close your eyes.”

  Lucas did as he was told. Sarah embraced him. She closed her eyes and thought of her private chambers in another part of Marlowe castle. Instantly, they were there.

  “Where are we?” Lucas whispered.

  “In my private chambers.”

  “Sarah, this is crazy. We will never make it out of here alive. They will find us. They will know you have helped me. They will hurt you. I cannot bear that thought. Take me back to the dungeon and wash your hands of me.”

  “No. I cannot.”

  “Then, we need a plan,” said Lucas

  “I have one,” she answered.

  Sarah quietly opened the door to the corridor and peered out cautiously. No one was there. She threw her shawl and her basket of herbs on the floor right outside her door. She slipped her key into the outside lock and closed the door.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Making it look like you kidnapped me.”

  “What? That is your plan? Why?”

  “No questions, remember? Come here.”

  Lucas moved toward her. Again Sarah embraced him. She closed her eyes and mentally pictured herself near the mission base camouflaged as the part of the hill in the midland forest near the waterfalls. Instantly, they were there.

  “Now where are we?”

  “In the midlands, the land of my people. My sanctuary is here in the woods.

  “Come. Hold onto my hand. Step carefully.”

  Sarah led him to the waterfalls and onto a small rock ledge that hugged the hillside and disappeared under the waterfalls to a cave.

  Once safely inside the cave, Sarah called and waved at the wall. “Hello! Anybody home?”

  “To whom do you speak?”

  “My dead ancestors.”

  Nobody answered.

  “Guys, where are you?”

  Still no answer. Sarah removed a stone on the wall and pushed some buttons on a panel.

  “What is that?”

  “Force field. We will be undetectable to Misters or Marlowes, even if they manage to get into the cave entrance behind the waterfalls.”

  “So we are invisible to everybody?”

  “Yes. Except the dogs. We must dispose of our clothing.”

  “Is this witchcraft?” Lucas asked as he took in his surroundings.

  “No, Lucas, this is science.”

  “Science? From where? Certainly not here.”

  “Not where, Lucas, when. All in due time, sweet prince. Now, remove your clothing.”

  “What? Why?”

  “The lowlanders will use the scent-sniffing dogs to track us. I will explain everything to your satisfaction when we are safe. Now, clothes off.”

  “Er, yes, Lady Sarah.” Lucas stripped and stood still while Sarah pulled a zippered black bag down from a nearby shelf.

  “Put your clothing in this sack.”

  Lucas did as he was told. He held the sack in front of him uncomfortably.

  Sarah reached out her hand. “The sack, please,” said Sarah.

  Lucas shook his head.

  “I have seen naked men before, Lucas.”

  “But not this one.”

  “Ahh, is the highland lover prince suddenly shy?” she teased.

  Lucas nodded.

  “The sack, please,” she insisted.

  He released his grip on the sack. Sarah took the bag, zipped it up, and put it in a metal compartment on the wall. She pushed a button. Heat emanated from the metal box.

  “Science?” asked Lucas.

  “Yes.”

  “I love science.” He smiled.

  “It is an incinerator. It will burn your clothing and reduce it to ashes. Now we both need to shower off any scent traceable by the dogs. Follow me.”

  Sarah led the way down a metal corridor and into a small, dark room. A light came on as they entered the room.

  “More science?” asked a mesmerized Lucas.

  “Yes.”

  Sarah reached into a metal enclosure and turned a knob on the wall. Water came out of the ceiling. She adjusted the temperature of the water. “In you go,” she ordered.

  Lucas got into the enclosure. Sarah stripped off her clothes, put them in the nearby clothes chute, and got in with him.

  “Sarah…you are…and…I…I…”

  “Yes, I bet you do. Soap,” She handed Lucas a bar of soap. “Wash.”

  Lucas averted his eyes and lathered up.

  “Turn around,” said Sarah. “I will get your back.”

  Lucas turned and held on to the wall.

  “Oh, Sarah. This is close to heaven. Are we going to stay here?”

  “Not for long.”

  “Why?”

  “Questions later, Lucas. Rinse off now.”

  Sarah got out and handed Lucas a warmed towel from the heated towel bar.

  “Dry off.”

  He moaned when the warm cloth met his skin. “I like it here. I really like it. What is the reason we cannot stay?”

  He dried off and emerged with the towel wrapped around his lower half.

  “Because I do not live here by myself.”

  “A lover? You have a lover you live with here in the woods?”

  “No, Lucas. Not a lover.”

  “Well, that’s good. Because I would have to challenge him to a duel because I…I am…I...”

  “Save it for later. We are in a bit of a hurry.”

  Sarah walked back to her bedroom. She pulled out an elegant suit of men’s clothing and undergarments from her closet. “I have been planning your escape for quite a while now.” She laid them across her bed. Lucas examined them as she dressed.

  “These are Mist made clothing. Top quality materials. Fine workmanship and attention to detail.” Lucas ran his fingers over the clothes. “Feel the weave on this tunic. It is smooth and fine. The cloth is so soft with a sheen to it. It feels wonderful…and so very familiar.”

  “It should be familiar to you. These are your clothes. Put them on. There is no time to waste.”

  “They are? Where did you get my clothes?”

  “In the back of your wardrobe in your room in Mist Castle. Hurry up.”

  “When were you in my room in Mist Castle?”

  “No questions, remember? We must go.”

  “Go where?”

  “Mist Castle.”

  “No.” He walked away from her. “I will not go home.”

  “Yes, you must.”

  “No. Why do I have to go back?”

  Lucas was dressed when she turned around.

  “Lucas! You are…”

  “What?” He smiled at her, aware of his dashing image.

  “Incredibly handsome.” Sarah giggled.

  “No, I am not. You are just used to my chains and rags. My brothers were handsome men, tall and muscular, with a royal presence. You like my princely dressings.”

  “I like what is in your princely dressings as well. Come here. We must go.”

  “No. Why?”

  “Lucas, your people may attack Marlowe Castle in an attempt to rescue you at any moment.”

  “No. That will never happen. I am sure of it.”

  “Then the lowlanders may attack Mist Castle.”

  “Why would they do that
?”

  “Because they think you regained your strength and abducted me. King Jason will either attack or negotiate for my return. Either way, we must avert an attack so no one dies in a senseless battle. Hold on to me tightly.”

  “My pleasure, My Lady.” He gently kissed her, his lower lip lingering against hers after the kiss was over. “You feel wonderful, and slightly familiar. Tell me, are you mine, also?”

  “No.”

  “Do you think maybe you could be mine? You have captured my heart, Sarah. I have never known a woman like you before. I never want to be away from you, not for a single moment.”

  Sarah pulled away.

  “You have nothing to fear when you are with me. Please believe me when I tell you my people did not vaporize your people.”

  “I know they didn’t. Hold on tight.”

  Four guards sent by the king to look for Lady Sarah, approached the door to her bedchamber in Marlowe Castle.

  “Look! Her basket and her shawl. Her key is still in the lock. Lady Sarah was accosted right here. That is why she did not meet with the king as she was directed,” said Gillis.

  “Who in their right mind would attack Lady Sarah?” asked Turner.

  “The Mist prisoner, I suspect. The beast must have regained his full strength,” said Captain of the Guard Roderick. “Turner, go check to see if the prisoner is still chained to the wall in the dungeon where you left him, which I doubt. Gillis, report Lady Sarah’s disappearance to the king. He is in the solarium waiting for her to discuss details of the public execution this evening.

  Sarah closed her eyes and imagined herself in Lucas’s room in Mist Castle. In an instant, they were there.

  It was definitely the room of royalty. Dark blue velvet draperies adorned with golden braids and tassels surrounded the wall of massive windows with many varieties of potted plants along the ledge. Many pillows adorned the large, high, ornately carved bed. An intricately carved writing desk held leather-bound books on seed propagation and agriculture. Writing supplies filled the desk spaces and cubbyholes. Labeled jars with seeds in them were lined up against the wall.

  “What? What do you mean you know they didn’t? Where am I? Oh, no…Sarah, I do not want to be here. Let us go somewhere else. Anywhere else. Sarah, please.”

  “This view is breathtaking, Lucas,” said Sarah, as she gazed out the wall of windows.

  “You should see it first thing in the morning, when the clouds surround the castle,” he said as he came up behind her. He kissed her neck. “As the sun heats up the sky, the clouds lift and you can see all the way down the mountain, past the alpine forests and the wildflower meadows to the great green valley at the bottom and the immense waters beyond. It is a tapestry of vibrant color and texture, truly a sight to behold. The most beautiful sight in all LaMere.

  “And I still do not wish to be here,” he said. “Let us go elsewhere.”

  “Do not fear your father.”

  “Easy for you to say,” said Lucas. “I disgust him. I am the object of his wrath.”

  “You are not the same person who had a royal spat with his father and rode off into the countryside many months ago. You have held your own, despite dungeons and chains, wounds and starvation, threats and interrogations. You can hold your own against a royal bully.”

  “He is a very effective royal bully. I cannot stand up to him. “

  “Yes, you can. You know who you are and what you are. You have no illusions of might or the need to hide behind myths of imaginary magic weaponry. And, you have me. At a moment’s notice, as long as you are holding on to me, we can disappear. Into the next room. Back into the forest. Anywhere I can imagine.”

  “Sarah, what if there is some truth to the old stories? What if he did have your people killed? Not vaporized, but killed some other way. You are not safe here.”

  “The old stories are not true. And did you not promise that I am safe with you?”

  “Yes. Always.”

  “Then, let us go.”

  “You are so much braver than I am,” Lucas said, holding tightly to Sarah’s hand.

  “You are so much braver than you know.”

  Lucas gulped hard, straightened his posture, and opened the room to the hallway. He and Sarah walked to the main corridor to the staircase. Many people stood at the bottom of the staircase looking up. Some murmured. Some gasped. Then a boisterous cheer went up throughout the crowd.

  “Look! Prince Lucas! Prince Lucas has returned,” shouted the people. “Hurrah!”

  Lucas waved enthusiastically and smiled. He grasped the hands of people who raced up the stairs to greet him.

  “Jonathan!” Lucas called out and hugged the man who approached.

  “Luc, I am so happy to see you. Welcome home, my dear friend. Are you well?”

  “Never better, Jon. And you?”

  “Good, good.”

  “It is good to see you,” said Lucas. “Sarah, this is my oldest and dearest friend, Jonathan of Dell. Jon, this lovely creature is my Sarah.”

  “Jonathan,” said Sarah, as she reached for his hand.

  “My Lady. Welcome.”

  “Oohh, Loo-kiss!” crooned a bevy of lovely young ladies, waving and giggling from below.

  “Good day, ladies,” Lucas flirted. “You are all looking particularly ravishing today.”

  More giggles permeated the hall.

  “The ladies love Lucas,” whispered Jonathan.

  “Oh, I am sure they do. He is quite the charmer,” answered Sarah.

  “Lucas?” called a tall, elegant woman. “Lucas, dear, is that you?”

  “Yes, Mother. I am home.”

  The queen ran toward the staircase. Lucas and Sarah ran down the steps. Lucas embraced his crying mother without letting go of Sarah’s hand.

  “Lucas, they told us you were dead, too. Killed at the hands of those barbarous Marlowes. How did you get home? Were you harmed?”

  “All in good time, dear Mother. Sarah, this is my wonderful, regal mother, Queen Renata. Mother, this beautiful and extraordinary woman is Sarah. Without her I would indeed be dead by now.”

  “Your Majesty,” said Sarah with a small curtsey.

  “Oh, Lucas, your father will not be pleased,” sniffed the queen.

  “That I am alive when my good brothers are not?” Lucas tensed up.

  “No, no, of course not, my dear. That you brought home a Red.”

  “Well, he’ll have to deal with it. If Sarah is not welcome here, Mother, then neither am I.”

  “Then welcome, Sarah,” said Queen Renata. “And I thank you for—”

  “What is going on here?” shouted the king. “Lucas, you dim-witted fool, how dare you bring this witch into my castle?”

  “Ready to run yet?” Lucas whispered to Sarah.

  “No. Do not worry. There is a lovely little creek in the forest with a large stone where we can sit and dangle our feet in the warm, rushing water.”

  “She is under my protection,” Lucas announced as he moved in front of Sarah.

  “She is?” howled the king with laughter. “And who will protect you, you worthless tree toad? Guards!”

  “I miss the dungeon already,” whispered Lucas.

  “Stand your ground,” Sarah whispered.

  Guards approached Lucas and Sarah.

  “You would do well, Father, not to perturb my guest. She is no witch, but she is powerful.”

  The guards backed up.

  “Has she touched your head?” asked the king. “Has she placed her hand upon your face?”

  “She has touched me, more than I ever thought possible.”

  “You idiot! You are the victim of Red mind control.”

  “No, I am not.”

  “Red Witch, were you aware he was a highland prince when you laid your hand upon him?”

  “My name is Sarah, King Theodore. I do not answer to ‘Red Witch,’ and yes, I knew his identity,” answered Sarah. “He was gravely ill, near death, with infected wounds an
d fever, possibly blood poisoning. I soothed his pain and calmed him while helping him to heal. If I had not laid hands on him, he surely would have died.”

  “Red lies! You infiltrated his brain so you could use him as your puppet!” shouted the king.

  “I see the loss of my dear brothers has done nothing to improve your compassion or your ability to deal effectively with others. Everyone, Sarah is a Red, yes, but not a witch. She is the kindest, gentlest woman I have ever met. She saved my life and somehow, against all odds and manner of logic, and with my impending public execution looming large in my future, managed to return me home to you.”

  There was some light applause led by the queen.

  “Very good. Wonderful, in fact. You must be exhausted from your arduous journey up the mountain, my dears,” said the queen.

  “Yes.” Lucas and Sarah nodded in unison.

  “Then let us retire to the drawing room while your rooms are made ready for you to rest.”

  “Our room, Mother. Sarah stays with me.”

  Queen Renata led them to a large, ornate room off the grand hallway.

  “Mother,” said Lucas, “Marcus, Darius. Do we know anything about their deaths? Were my good brothers murdered?”

  The queen broke down in tears. Lucas consoled his mother.

  “Who would do such an atrocious thing?” he asked.

  “Lowlanders. We suspect lowlanders poisoned Darius while he prayed for their depraved souls in his church. A church is holy ground. What barbarians murder a priest in his church?”

  “And Marcus? What do we know of Marcus?”

  “We know he broke his neck from a fall off his horse. How, we do not know. He was an outstanding horseman.” She sobbed. “My heart is so heavy. But the sight of you is good medicine, my son. Were you mistreated? You look well, a little thinner perhaps.”

  “I was detained in prison. Rations were sparse and lowland food is extremely unappetizing. It is bland and lumpy gruel. But I am well. My heart aches for my brothers. Marcus and Darius embodied all that is good and noble in the Walker royal line.”

  “This has taken a toll on your father’s health. He is unwell.”

  “It does not seem to have improved his nasty disposition, Mother.”

  “He is ill. His doctor claims his heart is failing. He does not have long to live.”

  “What will become of us?” asked Lucas.