Captive of Raven Castle

by Jessica Greyson

  “If he loves it so much, why doesn’t he come rescue it?”

  “Oh, he will. I am counting on that. I always told him his daughter would be the first victim, and that has been a slight deterring factor for him, but now that she is on my side,” he laughed with a twisted sense of joy. “And when he finds out I still have his wife, I shall kill him. To know his beloved wife has waited for him for thirteen years behind these walls—that will be torture for him that his spirit cannot bear.

  But as to our strategy. I was wondering: who should we kill first? The men seem like a good idea since they could cause problems, but it would just tear my brother’s heartstrings to know that it was the women and children that went first.”

  “Why not do it a family at a time. They give us trouble; they are dead; simple as that.”

  “Excellent. We’ll need to have a strong presence in the city and we have to ensure that we have no mobs on our hands. The soldiers must keep them subdued. Let the peoples supplies slowly dwindle and ration their portions sparingly.”

  “Of course, your majesty.”

  “Good; well, I guess that is it for now. Let me know if there are any changes.”

  “Yes, your majesty.”

  Cassandra heard his footsteps fade. A moment later she felt her uncle’s cold shadow hovering over her. He leaned down and stroked a stray hair from her brow.

  He whispered her name.

  Slowly she opened her eyes and turned to look at him.

  “Have a good rest?” he asked.

  She nodded, pretending to be still sleepy.

  He took a seat by her, and slowly Cassandra sat up and taking her needlework.

  “Alexandra, do you remember your mother?”

  Cassandra looked up at him rather blankly, unsure what to make of this question.

  “A little,” she stuttered out.

  “I wish you could have known her. She was an amazing woman.”

  “How did she die?” Cassandra asked.

  “Defending you. I thought you knew that.”

  “I know that, Father, but how did she die as in who killed her?” she whispered delicately.

  He sighed. “It was the Rebel Aric who finished her off. He...strangled her to death trying to silence her screams. He was trying to take you away from me.”

  Cassandra shivered. Not in her whole life could she see her dear Pappa strangling anyone but the man that sat before her. He was capable of anything. She knew that now as she had watched and heard his plans for the coming winter.

  “Then you came and saved me,” she whispered.

  “Yes, I did, and how you screamed for your mother. I should have killed Aric when I had the chance, but I had to save you. By the time you were safe, he was gone, to be a menace to society ever since.” He was sitting beside her and putting his arms around her. “I am so glad you came back to me, Alexandra,” he said, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

  She leaned against him and forced the words to come out very naturally. “I love you, Father.”

  “I love you, too,” he said quietly.

  Cassandra could barely breathe.

  “Why don’t you tell your father all about this dream and see if we can’t unravel the mysteries about it.”

  Cassandra found her mouth dry. She closed her eyes, took a silent deep breath, murmured a prayer in her heart, and began.

  “Oh, you poor child. I wish I had known about this long ago. I could have dissolved it for you.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, oh Alexandra, yes. You see, I didn’t want you to know this but...well. Long ago I had to go to war, just after you had been born, in fact. I was gone for nearly two years, and in that time my brother took over the throne and tried to make you and your mother conform to his ways. That is why you remember him, Alexandra. He tried to be your father, but it is I who truly am.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “There, you see?”

  “But why do I keep having it?”

  “I think it is your mother trying to keep herself in your heart. It is the only memory you have of her. It is the only way of keeping the two of you close.”

  He put his arms close to her and she let him, though on the inside she felt as if he was trying to suffocate her to death.

  How long they stayed like that Cassandra didn’t know; she was just trying to breathe. There was so much to tell her Pappa. How much should she tell him? The people, her mother? What? How long before they could raid the valley? Closing her eyes as she rested against her uncle’s shoulder, she prayed, prayed that it would be soon.

  Chapter 33

  Being in the valley things seemed to blur her mind and heart. Things that had seemed so crystal clear now smudged and blended into one another. Everything she had ever known was challenged in Raven Castle, and now that she was back in the valley, everything she knew about Raven Castle was slurred. She had to spend time away from people, which was easily done, just to clear her head and think straight against all the lies Uncle Archibald and Judith were hurling at her constantly. It seemed as if they knew the way she thought.

  She wondered if she hadn’t already betrayed herself and they were just toying with her, like a cat waiting for the right moment to kill the mouse, or were they waiting for bigger prey? A raven, perhaps. She had passed on all that she had heard secretly to the soldier in a note, and now she had to wait.

  Cassandra was staring out her window. Two weeks had passed since her return. Things were taking shape. She knew that the army would be in the valley hiding in the north woods soon. How they were going to scale that north wall she had no idea. But if they had an idea, it had better be a good one.

  It was evening as she sat in her bedroom alone, her work sitting idle on her lap.

  A hand was on her shoulder. Cassandra jumped with a gasp.

  “Shh, it’s me.” It was the soldier.

  “Oh,” and Cassandra sagged back into her seat. “Did you get my message to them?”

  “Yes, your father has the information now.”

  “Anything new?”

  “None today. Everything is continuing forward. How are you holding up?”

  “Good, I think. Sometimes I can’t help but fear that they have discovered my secret, but at other times I know they haven’t, but I am always on my toes. Waiting, listening—it’s driving me insane.”

  He laughed softly. “It’s hard to lead a double life. You never know who you can trust.”

  “I wonder about my mother though.” He had been the one person she had entrusted the secret to under the promise that he would not reveal it to her father unless necessary. She needed to tell someone or burst. “I wonder how she has lived for thirteen years trapped by him. I just wish I could see her and talk to her.”

  “I am sure,” said the soldier with a nod.

  “Do you know where she is hidden?”

  “No, but I think I could find out.”

  “You do?”

  “Everybody has secrets, you know, and I think I might have the right one up my sleeve.”

  “You won’t risk anything.”

  “You needn’t worry. I’ll be very careful.”

  Two days later, the soldier bumped into her. She found a note left in her hand.

  We are here, Cassie.

  That was all that it read. She smiled and slipped the little piece of hope into the fire. All would be well, and that soon. The freedom of the people was near at hand, waiting for a signal to come over the wall.

  That night, she found another slip of paper beneath her pillow.

  I have something to show you. It concerns your mother. Stay awake; I will come for you.

  Your servant

  She smiled, hope rising in her heart. My mother, if I can only see her. Now how was she supposed to get rid of the paper? She couldn’t lay it on the fire; she could be spotted by Judith, and she dared not try to conceal it until morning.

  There was only one option. Cassandra shoved the small piece of paper in her mouth and started t
o chew. She wanted to gag. It tasted awful, but she dared not make a noise. She swallowed it and felt worse. Her stomach growled in discomfort. For several minutes she lay there trying not to make a noise. Unexpectedly, a hand was resting on her shoulder and another on her mouth.

  Cassandra turned over. It was the soldier with a finger over his lips. He nodded towards the door. Silently Cassandra slipped out of bed and followed.

  Once outside her bedroom door, the soldier slipped a cloak around Cassandra’s shoulders.

  “I found your mother. You need to go see her.”

  “You did?” asked Cassandra in disbelief.

  “Yes. Now listen to my instructions very carefully. You are going to go to the end of the corridor near your father’s apartments and press the large grey stone. It’s worn with time and usage. You should spot it easily. A small passage will open, and down that corridor is where you will find your mother. Hurry back. I’ll stay here to deter Judith with something if she finds you missing.”

  “I’ll be quick,” said Cassandra before slipping out of her suite and down the hallway. She kept her head down to be inconspicuous as possible.

  In a few minutes, Cassandra was standing very near her uncle’s apartments. She looked for the gray rock and gently touched a large worn looking stone. It moved beneath her hand. Breathlessly she pushed harder and a passageway appeared silently to her right. Cassandra slipped in, closing the door behind her. Her heartbeat soared as the darkness surrounded her.

  She stepped forward, her hand feeling her way in the dark.

  A light appeared in the hallways before her, Cassandra held her breath. Who was at the end of the hallway? If it was her uncle, she was as good as dead.

  The figure of a woman appeared—a woman with black wavy locks just like herself.

  “Hello?” the woman whispered into the dark.

  Cassandra could not restrain herself. She flew down the corridor and stopped inches from the woman. Her mother.

  “Cassie?” she asked in disbelief, putting down her candle and pulling back the hood.

  “Mamma.”

  Both women broke into tears and embraced. Cassie could have let that embrace go on forever, but in a moment she found herself free.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked, “How did you find me? Where is your...Archibald?”

  “A friend helped me find it.”

  “A friend?”

  “Yes. We are quite safe.”

  “Cassie, how did you know? Why are you here?”

  “I know everything, mother. I came back to the valley to be a spy. We needed to know his plan of action and now that we have it, Pappa is moving in. He will attack soon.”

  Serena sank down into a chair a look of disbelief and shock. “He is attacking soon?”

  Cassandra smiled and knelt beside her mother. “All will be well,” she said, slipping her hands into her mother’s. “We’ll be a family again, all of us.”

  “How do you know everything?”

  “I was more than captured by Raven Castle; it stole my heart and I saw the truth for the first time in my life.”

  “Oh, Cassie let me look at you. You have grown up so beautifully.” She buried her face in her daughter’s hair, letting tears fall freely. “Oh, Cassie, my beautiful Cassie.”

  In a few minutes she had recovered herself. “You have your father’s blue eyes, you know. How is your father?”

  “Doing well, and I know he will be doing even better when we are both safe in his care. Mamma, let’s leave. We can hide until Pappa comes. I know of a good place”

  “You know the way out of here?”

  Cassandra looked at her blankly, then, with a feeling of dread, she realized she had no instructions on how to escape this room.

  “I don’t know either, but it can’t be too hard since he told me how to get in here.”

  “Who?” Her mother’s question was cold and stiff.

  “A soldier who works for Pappa.”

  “He told you how to get in here?”

  “Yes.”

  She covered her face in her hands.

  “What is it, Mamma? What is the matter?”

  “He works for me. That is the matter,” said a voice from the darkness.

  Cassandra’s heart froze in her chest.

  Archibald stepped into the small circle of light, a sinister grin on his face.

  Chapter 34

  Cassandra rose to her feet, anger boiling in her heart.

  “How dare you,” she spat out. Her eyes sunk daggers into him.

  “My, how you look like your mother when you are angry, and I can see my brother’s righteous anger-sparkling in your eyes,” he said, moving forward and catching her chin to look her directly in the face.

  Cassandra batted his hand aside. She had never stood taller or straighter in her life.

  Archibald chuckled under his breath. “You aren’t the daughter I raised you to be.”

  “I am the daughter my father raised me to be.”

  Their eyes dueled in anger. Cassandra found herself pushed aside by her mother as something came sweeping out of the darkness. As she felt something catch at the side of her face, hard and painful, she fell to the floor. The world was spinning and different colored lights were flashing and dancing before her.

  “There was no need for that, Archibald.” She felt her mother stepping over her, protecting her.

  “Really? Thirteen years with me, and she throws it all away after three months with her father. I think that was called for.”

  Blinking, Cassandra made the world focus. He held a club in his hand. No wonder nothing would hold still. She pulled herself slowly to her feet.

  “He has the truth and she knows it,” said her mother.

  The club swung; Serena ducked; it missed.

  “Did you catch your little bird?” asked a voice coming in from the dark. A moment later the soldier appeared.

  “How could you,” snarled Cassandra beneath her breath.

  He looked at her, his eyes betraying pain. “I am sorry. I had no choice. It was betray you or let my family pay the price for helping your father. I couldn’t pay it.”

  “Yes. Now for your favor, I am releasing your family. They’ll be waiting for you in the courtyard. Take them and go. You are henceforth banished from this kingdom.”

  “Thank you, your majesty.” The soldier bowed and turned away.

  A moment later Archibald moved, his dagger flashing in his hand, stabbing the soldier in the back between his plates of armor. The young man gasped and dropped to his knees.

  Archibald smiled and withdrew the blade. “Yes, go join your family in their grave. It’s already been dug.”

  “But...” the young man spluttered, death written on his face.

  Cassandra wanted to turn away, to close her eyes, but it was too late. The soldier slipped from this life into the next with a shudder.

  Archibald laughed and, turning away, he wiped the bloody dagger before placing it in its sheath.

  “Well, Alexandra, your game is up. You play my game now or you all die.”

  “Never,” she whispered in defiance.

  “Guards, seize them and bring Alexandra to my chambers. I hate dead bodies.”

  Before she had time for a second thought Cassandra found herself seized. They dragged her through the hall way and into Archibald’s apartments, forcing her into a chair they bound her hands firmly behind. Archibald circled like a wolf coming in for the kill.

  Circling, Archibald slowly drew ever closer.

  It was driving Cassandra crazy. At last she found her tongue and voice.

  “Why did you do it? Why?”

  “You don’t understand, do you?” he asked, looking at her as if she were an imbecile. I wasn’t born yesterday.

  “No, I don’t.”

  “Your father was never fit to be king. When we were lads, he was better than me at a lot of things. As we grew older, that began to change. I worked and trained until I could b
eat anyone that challenged me. I wanted to prove that I was just as fit to be king as my brother. What made him fit to rule beside his birthright? Tell me. What makes him fit to be king?” he yelled at her.

  Cassandra waited a moment before answering him. “He is wise.”

  “Really; do you think leaving the people to my care all of these years has been wise?”

  Cassandra swallowed the lump in her throat. “He did it for many reasons.”

  “Don’t I know it. A lot of excuses if you ask me. There is nothing—nothing, I say, that makes your father more fit to be king than his birthright. The very act of being born first gives them everything; the title, the lands, the money, the adoration, and the woman they love, regardless of anyone else’s affections or interests. It’s all about them. Simply because they are born first, not for their abilities.”

  “It is not all about them,” Cassandra shouted back.

  “Oh, yes it is. I loved your mother long before your father ever took notice of her. Long before, and you know what it got me? A broken heart. No one cared that I loved her. Aric loved her and she loved Aric for his title and his title alone. Eventually, she managed to fall in love with him, but what else would endear a girl to marry Aric other than his title?”

  “A lot.” whispered Cassandra, mentally comparing the two men. They were completely different.

  “Like what?” asked Archibald with a grind to his teeth and narrowing his eyes with hatred.

  For a moment Cassandra forgot her own name, the look was so hateful. Then she found her voice. “He loves the people, and takes care of them. He cares about their wellbeing far more than you do. All you care about is power and being feared. No one loves you except yourself. You don’t care a thing about what happens to Chambria.”

  “Oh, yes I do. I want to destroy my brother, and when I succeed. I will be happy. It took me years to create an army—an army of forgotten and looked over younger sons. We amassed our troubles and misfortunes together. We swore we would take down those who lorded over us as betters. We would prove to them that we were just as strong, powerful, clever, and deserving as they. I waited seven years to get my revenge. Then the day came that I met a dissatisfied nobleman from another country and pulled him into our scheme. We plotted against our crowns and laid in wait, starting a war between our two countries. By the time they figured out that they hadn’t started a war with one another but we had started it for them, they had been at it for three months. When he came back to confront me and straighten everything out, we attacked.