Again, as if reading some portion of my thoughts, Donal offered a solution.
“It’s likely they’re not calling them what they truly are,” he said reasonably. “I expect there’s some long-standing story that explains their presence... and keeps them from plain sight and away from inconvenient questions. Are there any hidden areas on the palace grounds, Maia? Places with workers or staff no one’s allowed to talk to or approach?”
When he said it that way, I frowned.
Then, a bare second later, something clicked.
“The fire temple.” I breathed the words, hit by a flush of excitement. “There’s a crypt under the main temple, in the middle of the grounds. It’s locked. And guarded. I’ve never been allowed inside, nor has anyone else I know of, but my aunt’s husband told me holy servants tend nonstop flame rituals down there. According to him, they continually repeat protective spells for the palace grounds... and they live down there, too.”
“That is it.” Donal spoke with such certainty, I wondered if he’d used magic to determine something about my words. “Show me where it is.”
We’d crouched back over the stick drawing I’d done for him on an exposed area of the roof. Enough dirt had accumulated in an alcove there, from wind, rain and whatever else, that I’d been able to sketch out a fairly detailed diagram in the black soot and soil.
I used the same sharpened stick to point at the round temple I’d drawn in the middle of the grounds.
“There.” Frowning as the truth of it sank in, I’d deflated a little. “The worst possible place it could be for our purposes. Iron locks cover the only door. Human guards. I’ve never seen it left unmonitored.” Using the stick to motion around that circle in the middle, I added, “This is all open. It’s mostly grass, statues and walkways... very few trees. There are lanterns on poles everywhere. It is lit all night. Every night. There is no way to approach it without being seen, Donal.”
“What about from below?” He’d aimed a finger at the temple, running a line between it and the nearest building. “Can there be no other way inside? From one of these other structures?”
I shook my head, but not in a no. “I would have no way of knowing that.”
“I was told it was underground,” he said, still staring at the diagram. He pointed at the diagram with his own stick. “What building is this?”
Looking at where he pointed, I smiled wryly in spite of myself.
“That is the residence for the Regent’s Blood, the most senior of which is Lady Annika. The High Witch’s closest living family member.” I did not tell him Lady Annika was my mother, or that I had no idea who my father was. “Lady Annika and two other of the Regent’s sisters live there, along with their spouses, a few cousins... and the Regent’s mother, although she is infirm now, and cannot see or hear.”
“What is below the building? At the bottom?”
“I do not know.” Thinking about his question, I frowned. “I’ve never been lower than the ground floor... although I’ve heard it said there is at least one floor below that.”
“Where do you live?”
Drawn out of my thoughts, I looked back at the diagram. “Palace dwellers under the age of twenty-one live elsewhere. There.” I aimed the stick at the dormitories on the opposite end of the compound, then looked up at Donal. “I know of no tunnels below those residencies, either. But there are two floors below the ground floors. Those include dormitories and dry storage. None of the tunnels I’ve seen go anywhere near the temple, or even in that direction. They all belong to the Regent’s Guard, and concern defending the walls.”
“You are sure of that?” he’d pressed.
I’d studied his dark eyes, feeling a sharper meaning behind them.
“Is there a reason they would need something like that... or want it?” I said. “Wouldn’t an underground entrance to the crypt just be one more way for the slaves to escape? Or for someone to stumble upon them unknowingly?”
Donal frowned, but not at me. He shook his head, still staring at my map. “The slaves’ primary role would be to protect the Regent. They could hardly do that if the Regent can’t get to them easily. I would be very surprised if they had no way to get down there in the event of an emergency.”
I grasped his logic but found myself turning over his words. “Why would they protect her, though? If she’s enslaved them, I mean?”
Standing on that roof, he’d hesitated, looking at me.
“I don’t know that they would, for sure,” he said. “But Maia, living as a slave can mess with your head, especially if ye know no other way to live. If they’ve been told all their lives they’re holy guards, and they’ve never met with another red witch or warlock who might’ve told them different... they’d like as not be loyal to the Regent.”
More questions rose in my mind, not less.
I found myself remembering those questions now, as we walked across the finely-mowed grass of the palace grounds, keeping to the shadows by the walls. Donal was with me openly again, dressed in a cloak and dark green pants we’d stolen from a storage area for the Guard that I knew of because of Garet. The rest of his clothes more or less worked, since the Guard didn’t wear a formal uniform except for special events or public holidays.
As it turned out, Donal overheard at least part of my conversation by the gate.
He’d been curious. More than curious.
Borderline annoyed, really.
Moreover, he hadn’t been very tactful in asking me about it.
He also didn’t mention any of the things I expected to interest him in that brief conversation. His initial questions had been blunt, containing an audible emotion that startled me.
“Is that man your lover?” he said to me. He asked it seemingly the instant we met up by a small grove of trees near the wall. “Is that how you came to know so much about the tunnels of the Guard? From being down there with him?”
I gaped at him.
Truly, I had no idea idea what he even meant at first.
“Man?” My mind pulled off its circular worries about Donal himself. Then something clicked, and I almost laughed. “Garet? Are you asking me if Garet and I are lovers? Do you really not know how insulting that is? You must know, surely, that to do such a thing would have broken every vow I made at the monastery? It would also have put Garet’s life in danger... something I would never do, even if Garet wasn’t one of my dearest friends.”
Donal didn’t reply. I couldn’t clearly see his dark eyes in the shadows.
Even so, I felt him waiting for more from me.
“No,” I said, my voice a touch colder. “Garet is a brother to me. We grew up together.”
I felt more than saw Donal’s frown. “I highly doubt he views you as a sister.”
“Oh?” I said, stiffening in spite of myself. “You figured all that out from one five minute conversation, did you? In your vast wisdom, you now know all about Garet and I?”
“I know men,” Donal grunted. “I know when they’re joking and when they’re not, and I’m telling you, huntress, he wasn’t joking about wanting you. Or running away with you, for that matter. Are you really going to tell me you hadn’t noticed him looking at you, Maia?” His voice grew a touch sharper. “Or is it Maiwe? Is that your true name? Or a pet one? Something also from your childhood together?”
I shook my head, fighting irritation now, more than worry.
“Just shut up, will you? And put this on.” I’d shoved the cloak into his arms, along with the dark green pants, a belt and a sword. With his height and build, disguising him as a member of the Guard was really the only thing that made sense. I couldn’t get him a rifle to wear, but that hardly mattered; the Guard wore those only at the gates and outside the palace walls.
Donal hadn’t spoken more than a handful of words to me since.
Which was good, since we were now in a place where there was some chance I might run into someone I knew. Of course, it wasn’t that unusual that I might be walki
ng somewhere with one of the Palace Guard. I just didn’t want anyone to get a close enough look at Donal’s face or general build to begin to ask questions.
In the end, our plans on the roof solidified around trying to get below the residence of the Regent’s Blood. If we found nothing that way, we would approach the temple directly.
If we were forced to do that, we might end up having to fight the Palace Guard, which struck me as a supremely bad idea for multiple reasons.
Donal and I had discussed different ways we might try to distract them or knock them out quietly, but to think we might get away with that, given their numbers and training, struck me as delusional in the extreme. All of those in the Guard were tied into magics that would alert the whole compound in the event of an attack. If Donal was identified as an intruder from outside, trained witches would join the fray, too, and he would be subdued in minutes, if not seconds.
No, we would risk entering my mother’s residence first.
It was worth the detour; it might be our only way out without violence.
In all likelihood, my mother wouldn’t be there.
The nightly banquets for those making up the Regent’s court went on until midnight, and often later. My mother lived for the social intrigues occurring within these walls. She wouldn’t dare miss even an hour, much less half an evening at the court––not unless she was on her deathbed and maybe not even then.
I’d never known her not to stay for the duration of the night; she sat at that head table like a hawk above a field, surveying the ground while poets, singers, dancers and other entertainers attempted to divert the district’s royalty.
I don’t know what my aunt, the Regent, thought of such things.
My Uncle Karlen, who was married to my youngest aunt, Jalinee, was the only member of the royal family who’d ever taken much interest in me. He wasn’t a blood relation, so maybe that was part of it. His position in court was solely due to his wife, and I’d never gotten the sense their marriage was anything other than a convenience for either of them.
Because he showed little interest in the doings of the court, as well as having no degenerate habits nor torrid affairs, Karlen operated mostly below the radar.
I envied him that invisibility.
“We are only going to look for a door.” I murmured the words like a mantra to myself as we approached the flame-lit hallway leading to my mother’s residence. “We are only going to look for a door. We are only going to look for a door––”
Donal touched my arm.
I saw it, the instant he did.
A small group of people stood just outside the main entrance to my mother’s residence, in a courtyard decorated with fountains, candles and potted palms.
I recognized my Uncle Karlen in that group, as well as his wife, my youngest aunt, Jalinee. The others appeared to be servants.
The group dispersed even as I watched, with my aunt bowing politely to Karlen before walking away with her servants through the arched opening on the opposite end of the courtyard. I knew that path led to the main audience chamber of the Regent, via the rose gardens and the most elaborate of the four statue gardens of the palace.
Neither my aunt nor her servants appeared to have noticed me, luckily.
My uncle had, however.
I saw him glance in our direction, then start and stare, raising a hand in greeting.
My footsteps faltered as my muscles tensed, but I forced myself to continue moving in his direction, a smile on my face.
It was too late to back out of this now.
If we had to run, we would, but I had small hope we’d make it through the gates in one piece, even if Garet helped us.
“Ah!” My uncle broke into a warm smile and waited for me to reach him, holding out his hands in greeting. I didn’t see his eyes so much as flicker towards Donal in the hooded, ankle-length cloak, which had been my hope.
“Here is my lovely niece now!” He kissed me on the temple once I was close enough, warmly clasping my arms. “Where have you been, darling? I was just gossiping about you, speculating as to your whereabouts. I sent over some of those prints you so enjoy... and my servant told me no one had seen you at dinner.”
Realizing Donal would likely figure out who I was if my uncle talked for long––very quickly, if he hadn’t already––I kicked myself mentally for not confiding in him my true identity sooner. Granted, I had cause for caution, but I knew that wasn’t all of my reasoning, or even most of it.
Part of me had very much enjoyed Donal not knowing who I was.
“Hi, Uncle.” I smiled warmly, hoping nothing strange showed in my face. “Yes, I stayed behind at school, trying to catch up on my studies.”
I saw a faint frown touch my uncle’s brow, there and gone. It brought a flicker of fear in me briefly, but I knew that was irrational. My uncle, like everyone inside these walls, was fully aware of my difficulties in school. He knew how my problems compounded with each passing year, and how this year, above all others, would finally determine my fate.
Because he actually loved me, he likely worried what would become of me.
Therefore, he didn’t ask how my extra studying went.
“What brings you to our side of the rabbit hutch?” he joked, releasing my arms and beaming at me jovially. “Did you come looking for your present? I already told the servants to leave it for you on your bed.”
I shook my head, smiling back. “No, no... I was entirely ignorant of your generosity, I’m afraid. I haven’t been back there yet.” I took a breath. “No, I came here looking for a book I might have left downstairs. During a game we played last weekend. I noticed in school that I didn’t have it with me.”
I was gambling, hugely, by saying such a thing.
I thought I’d be making that gamble with a servant, not with my uncle. Despite his genial affect, I knew Uncle Karlen was far cleverer than many knew. He could also be acutely perceptive with me. Unnervingly so, at times.
If he saw anything in my face just then, I couldn’t see it.
“Downstairs?” He frowned, thinking. “Which downstairs?”
I felt myself tense as I remembered such a place may not exist at all. Or perhaps even my uncle didn’t know of the secret tunnels meant for the Regent and her red witches.
I opened my mouth, about to try and cover in some way, when my uncle spoke.
“You don’t mean the old tunnels? Beneath your mother’s bed chambers?” He gave me an openly curious look. “Whatever were you doing down there, Maiwe? I didn’t even know we still had keys to those old doors, much less that anyone would venture to meet what might live on the other side. Those tunnels were built by the First Regent, in the event ravagers breached the palace walls. I’m not sure anyone’s been down there in an official capacity since those early years, before we had the fullness of Heaven’s Sky to protect us...”
My cheeks warmed in shock and excitement, the longer my uncle spoke. For his benefit, I tried to turn that sudden flush of emotion into the appearance of embarrassment.
I didn’t let my eyes stray anywhere near Donal.
“Yes, I’m afraid I do mean those tunnels.” I spoke sheepishly. “No one ever told me I couldn’t be down there, but I guess I should have asked. Kiki and I have played there since we were children...”
Another lie, but I highly doubted my Uncle Karlen would run into Kiki that night.
Even so, I felt a twinge of guilt for speaking it.
“...We still go down there sometimes,” I added. “To practice magics, mainly. We were doing that over the weekend for a few hours, studying and working on illusions, which is why I think I likely left the book there.”
Donal stood beside me, as still as a statue, his head down.
“Is this fellow with you to open the gate?” Uncle Karlen raised an eyebrow when I looked up, meeting his gaze. I saw a flicker of something in his light brown eyes, but it was there and gone. “It’s not usual for you to require an escort, niece.”
I’d been teased for refusing the Regent’s Guard as escorts in the past.
One of the worst tongue- and bottom-lashings I’d ever received as a child was when I’d made such a refusal publicly. I’d been more brazen back then, and told my mother at the wise old age of nine that only a baby needed guards. Further, I’d shouted––and this was the part that infuriated her, I suspect––that I wouldn’t allow her to use the nice Regent’s soldiers to spy on me, since they were my friends.
A few of the Guard themselves had hid smiles.
My mother, however, had not been amused.
“Yes,” I said to my uncle now, still flushing. “I hoped not to have to ask mother. Kiki was not around and I did not wish to venture down there alone. This servant of the Regent was kind enough to offer to help me when I ran into him, while looking for Kiki.”
I motioned towards Donal without looking at him, again as was custom.
My uncle followed my example and didn’t really look at him either.
Luckily, the courtyard was lit only by torches and the fountain, and Donal wore the hood, so my uncle had no reason to stare. Even so, every mention of Donal’s presence ratcheted my panic up another few notches, making it harder to appear as calm and normal as I needed.
My uncle only smiled, however.
“Your secret is safe with me,” he assured me.
Stepping out of my way, he motioned towards the stone corridor behind him.
“It is Toruk-Hai tomorrow,” he reminded me. “Most of the servants have gone home to visit family. If you need anything, you might have to venture to the audience hall on your own. Or the kitchens, if you require food.”
When I glanced at his face, I was more sure I saw that sharper edge.
Did he know? Did he guess somehow, why I was really here?
The thought brought a flush of panic so intense I could scarcely breathe through it. My mind turned around where such a door leading below-ground might be.
“Thanks for reminding me... I was just marveling at how quiet it was.” I said. Impulsively, I blurted, “Do they leave candles near the wooden door? Outside mother’s bedchambers? I cannot remember, since Kiki and I usually brought our own.”
Red Magic: an Adult Dystopian Paranormal Romance: Sector 6 (The Othala Witch Collection) Page 9