Keela brooded and brooded until it was time to go. In quarter of an hour it would be midnight and she still had to find a way of getting past the guards. She crept quietly and with weak knees out of her room and along the corridor. A guard was standing downstairs in the hall. She watched nervously as he stretched out his arm and then went to the door that led to the kitchen. He opened it and said something to someone in the kitchen. This was her chance. His back was to her and he could not see her. Without a sound she crept down the stairs and into the hall that led to the rear exit.
So far so good, but now a new problem lay before her: two guards were at the exit. She could see their silhouettes through the glass in the door. There was no way for her to get past these two men.
“Shit!” she swore quietly.
She slipped into the breakfast room to her right. It had patio doors and the patio was surrounded by a low wall. If she ducked down the guards would not see her. She opened the patio door carefully and peered out. The guards were deep in discussion. Now and then they glanced into the garden, but not onto the patio where she was. Their concern was about someone forcing their way into the castle, not escaping from it. Bent over, Keela crept to the end of the patio, hidden by the wall. Once there she considered what to do next. A good fifty steps away she had a row of trees and bushes to hide herself with. But Keela was afraid that the guards might see her run from the patio to the trees out of the corner of their eye. She thought very hard.
Time was running out – she did not want to arrive late and therefore make the Verkuzzi angry. He would undoubtedly begin to kill his hostages if she did not get there at the set time. But how was she to get away from the patio without being seen? Then the great idea came to her. She would simply crawl through the grass to the trees. At survival training she had done this often enough. She lay on the ground, glanced over at the guards one last time and crawled away. It was hard and at first the distance did not seem to decrease. But at last she reached her goal and leant, relieved, against a tree trunk. Keeping hidden by the trees and the bushes, she moved away from the castle. Without any further problems she reached the small pond. She was very worried. Her heartbeat was droning loudly in her ears. After a few moments of anxious waiting, a hand was suddenly placed over her mouth from behind.
“Are you going to be good and not cause any problems?” asked a familiar voice. It was Mangan, one of the guards.
She nodded and the hand was moved from her mouth. Her heart pounding, she turned to face Mangan.
“Why are you doing this?” she asked the man that she would have suspected least of all.
“The reasons are none of your business. Come on. Get on my back. I’ll give you a ride. We’ll get there quicker.”
“I can’t believe that you’d give in to such a thing!” She said, shaking her head.
“Listen, if you cooperate, then nothing will happen to you. Please don’t make me to use force. So get on!”
She did as he said and stepped off the bench onto his back. She had hardly put her arms around his neck when he set of at an incredible speed. She had not believed that he would go very quickly with her on his back, and therefore found his suggestion somewhat strange, but now she had to admit that he could run faster giving her a piggy-back than she could have run alone. He did not appear to notice her weight.
***
Y-Quadrant, Karrx7
At the border of the Verkuzzi Region
8th day of the month of Lumino in the year 7067
Federation Time
“What are we going to do now?” asked Berka in frustration.
Mortociar shrugged his shoulders.
“We need a magician. That’s a magic barrier. Without a spell to undo the magic we won’t get any further. We’ll have to send someone back to get Bajaja. I’m afraid we can’t do anything until then.”
“Perhaps we can go around the barrier,” said Marruk hopefully. “We’ll lose too much time if we send for Bajaja.”
“We have no idea how far the barrier goes. It could block off the whole border. I even think that’s highly probable. It’s not a big deal, extending the barrier length-ways. They won’t take any risks and because they can’t be sure at which point we’ll cross the border it’s likely that they’ve blocked everything,” thought Lurruk.
“Lurruk’s right,” agreed Mortociar. “We’ll send two men back to the palace. Kemal and Quartar, go straight back to the glider and fly to the palace! Bring the magician!”
The two men nodded and quickly disappeared. They had to go back over the Jade Mountains to get to the glider that they had left on the other side. The king looked at everyone and shrugged his shoulders again.
“It looks as if we can’t do much at the moment, so I suggest that we set up camp and rest. Remember that we’re on enemy territory. We mustn’t drop our vigilance at any point. Set up watches of six men at a time. Change of shift every five hours. Whoever falls asleep whilst on guard will be executed without hesitation.”
“Balda, Jeffe, Dunba, Kerretin, Jusabor and Trinko will take the first watch. Lurruk and Lamiha will collect wood for the fire. The others will set up the camp. Right, to work!” Marruk commanded.
***
Y-Quadrant, Karrx7
Somewhere on the way to the Jade Mountains
7th day of the month Lumino in the year 7067 Federation Time
Keela had no idea how long they had already been moving. Hours must have passed. It was already beginning to grow dark. Her abductor was not growing tired of carrying her. Her legs had been hurting her for a while. She was not used to spreading her legs like this for such a long time. Although at first it was quite pleasant not to have to run, she would now really like to use her legs. She wondered how Mangan was expecting to get to the land of the Verkuzzi carrying her if it was right that it took weeks to get to the Jade Mountains without a glider.
Just as she thought that she would no longer be able to bear the torture, Mangan suddenly stopped and put her down. She would have fallen if he had not held onto her arm to steady her. He helped her to sit down carefully.
“Rest,” he said, passing her a bottle of water.
Her hands shaking, she uncorked the bottle and put it to her lips. It was only when the refreshing fluid touched her lips that she realised how thirsty she was. Until then the pain in her legs had distracted her from her thirst and hunger. Her stomach rumbled as the water hit the emptiness prevailing there.
Mangan passed her a piece of dry meat and she accepted it gratefully. For a while she was occupied with satisfying her need for food and she almost forgot that he was there.
“We have to keep going,” he made her aware of him again.
Mangan put the bottle away and looked at her expectantly.
“Come on,” he ordered her, when she did not move.
With great difficulty Keela pulled herself up from the ground and followed Mangan on shaky legs through the forest to a cave. The entrance was quite hidden behind a bush.
“Why are we going into a cave?” she asked suspiciously.
Was he going to kill her now and hide her body in the cave? Perhaps it had been a lie that he was to take her to the King of the Verkuzzi.
“Just go,” he demanded, giving her a nudge that made her stumble forward.
He pushed her ahead and they entered the cave. It was not much more than a narrow passageway and she felt very uncomfortable, above all, as the light from the entrance was becoming weaker and weaker. There was a sharp bend to the right in the passageway, then, to her relief, she could see light at the end of the passageway. This path was clearly a short-cut through the hill. But as they approached what she thought was the exit she had to correct her presumption. The passageway did not open up to the outside but into a large cave lit by shimmering crystals. In the middle of the cave was a stone circle. The stones were all about three meters high and stood about a meter apart from one another. The diameter of the inner circle was perhaps ten meters.
&nbs
p; “Come on!” said Mangan, walking towards the stone circle.
He turned round to her, just before reaching the huge stones, and he frowned because she was still standing in the same place as before.
“I can always use force if necessary, but I’d prefer not to have to. I’m not a man who likes to hurt women. So come on!”
Keela gave herself a nudge and walked towards her abductor. Once she had reached him he grabbed her by the arm and led her into the middle of the circle. She suddenly felt very strange, as if she were standing next to herself. She was here, but on the other hand she was not. She thought she could hear laughter in the distance and a man’s deep voice. Then everything was turning around and she almost lost consciousness. Where was she? What was happening to her? Who was she? All at once nothing made sense in her universe. She felt two strong arms being put around her and pressing her against the hard body of a man.
“Quiet,” said the voice that seemed vaguely familiar to her. “It’ll be over soon. The first time is always the worst.”
Blackness enshrouded her and released her mercifully from these frightening feelings.
***
Y-Quadrant, Karrx7
Royal Castle of the Arr’Verkuzzi
8th day of the month of Lumino in the year 7067
Federation Time
“So, this is Marruk’s new mate,” she heard a man’s voice say in her dream. “She’s even more beautiful in real life than in the vision.”
“I’ve had the message sent to Prince Marruk, Your Highness,” said a female voice.
“Good, very good. Everything is going exactly as it should. Take good care of our guest and look after her when she wakes up. I don’t want a hair on her head harmed. I’m making you personally responsible for her well-being. Have I expressed myself clearly?”
“As you wish, Your Highness. I’ll watch over her constantly.”
Footsteps moved away, then the voice again: “And have me called when she wakes up.”
“As Your Highness wishes.”
Chapter 12
Y-Quadrant, Karrx7
Royal Castle of the Arr’Verkuzzi
8th day of the month of Lumino in the year 7067
Federation Time
Keela woke up feeling that something was not right, only she could not tell what it was. She felt as if the bed was empty next to her. Marruk was not there. Then she remembered that he had of course set out on a skirmish with his brother, his father and some men. But still something was not right. Had something happened to him? She threw open her eyes and sat up in bed. Where was she? This was not her room in Marruk’s castle. It was just as big and similarly furnished but it was a room that she did not know. She could not be in the palace either because all of the walls there were white-washed and hung with tapestries. These walls were made of pure stone like the walls in Marruk’s castle.
“Good morning, My Lady,” sounded a female voice from somewhere. “Did you sleep well?”
Keela looked around but could not see anyone.
“Who are you? Where are you?”
“I’m Maara, the central computer of the castle.”
“Whose castle?”
“The castle of King Abziarr Arr’Verkuzzi,” answered the computer.
Keela’s heart began to beat hard. All at once she remembered everything again: the letter, the night-time abduction and the cave with the stone circle. Then she had apparently lost consciousness.
“How long have I been asleep?” she asked.
“Five hours, sixteen minutes and twelve seconds,” replied Maara.
“Thank you for the precise answer,” said Keela, amused.
“No problem, My Lady.”
“Do you know what King Abziarr intends to do with me?”
“I’m sorry, this is level one information. Only level six information is available to you.”
“May I at least know where the toilet is? Or is that also level one to five information?”
“The toilet is behind the door to your left,” answered Maara.
Had she imagined it or had the computer actually sounded irritated? No matter! She had a need that demanded her attention. Sighing, she slid down off the high bed and swayed to the door indicated. She still felt weak-kneed.
When she returned from the toilet a young girl was standing next to her bed.
“My Lady? I’ve brought you a little something to strengthen you. His Highness wishes to speak with you in an hour. I’ll fetch you later. His Highness wishes you to be a little stronger first. He is very concerned about your well-being. You were unconscious for a long time. Are you feeling better now?”
“I’m fine, thank you,” Keela lied. She did not want to display any weakness in front of her enemy.
“Then I’ll leave you alone now. Unless you have any other wish?”
“No. My only wish would be for my husband to be released, as well as his father and all of his men and for us to be permitted to return home immediately, but that’s not up for discussion, I presume?”
“I’m sorry, My Lady. I know nothing about that. But you can of course discuss it with His Highness when I take you to him later.”
Keela snarled sullenly, but said nothing. The servant nodded to her and disappeared.
Keela had no appetite but she took a cup of the wine and sat down in an armchair to wait. It seemed like ages before the servant finally returned to fetch her. Keela’s heart raced as she followed the servant through the castle. Her thoughts revolved around Marruk and the other men. Where were they being held captive? Were they OK? Would she ever hold Marruk in her arms again? She wondered what sort of a man Abziarr was. According to what she knew about him he must be a cruel barbarian, but she could not say that she had been handled badly here. If one overlooked the abduction, she had been well cared for, like a valued guest, not like a prisoner.
The castle was more elegant than Marruk’s castle but not as luxurious as King Mortociar’s palace. All the doors opened and closed automatically. There was electric light and sort of air conditioning.
“We’re here, My Lady,” the servant pulled Keela from her thoughts.
They were standing at a door with a coat of arms on it. The coat of arms showed of a tiger, a shield and a sword, as well as lettering which said: ‘Manikatu Gajoiji Duka’, that she was able translate thanks to Solima’s lessons, and it meant: ‘Truth, Honour, Courage’.
She now became very curious about her mysterious host. If he really valued these attributes then she may be able to speak with him.
The door opened and the servant indicated that she should enter the room. Keela walked through the doorway and jumped in fright when the door immediately closed behind her.
“My Lady Keela,” came the sound of a pleasant voice and she turned her head to the right, the direction from which the voice had come.
King Abziarr was anything but the old, bearded barbarian that she had imagined. He was young, probably Marruk’s age, and very attractive, with shoulder-length black hair and brown eyes. Like all men on this planet he was enormous and very muscular. He was dressed in black, leather trousers and a richly decorated, dark green tunic. He was standing next to a group of comfortable looking armchairs. He had clearly been sitting down there and had stood up when she entered.
“Your Highness,”she responded with a nod.
He laughed - a pleasant, warm laugh that made his brown eyes gleam.
“My Lady. You do not need to be so formal. Please simply call me Abziarr. But would you not like to come and sit down with me? Please!”
He made an inviting hand gesture and she accepted his invitation. Once she had sat down in one of the armchairs he sat down opposite her.
“Where … where is my mate?” she asked, encouraged to be direct because of the king’s calm manner.
“At the moment he is on the border and is trying to break through the barrier that my magician has set up. I have sent a messenger with a letter to him.”
“Then
you lied to me. You don’t have him and the other men in your power at all!”
Abziarr laughed.
“That is true. I beg your forgiveness, but it had to be. There was no other way in which I would have been able to bring you here without force. I really do not wish to harm you.”
Keela laughed dryly.
“And now you’re expecting me to be grateful to you for your consideration, are you?”
He shook his head.
“Of course not. I’m completely aware that it is not in your interest, but I am still concerned to at least harm you as little as possible.”
“So why am I here, then?”
“As a decoy, of course. I permitted myself to cut off a little of your silver hair and sent it with the message. Marruk is to come alone and unarmed.”
“Whilst we’re on that subject, who’s hair was it that you sent me?”
“Oh, that belongs to one of my servants. Your lock of hair needed to be genuine, of course. After all, you’re the only woman with such unusual hair colour anywhere near here.”
“What do you intend to do when Marruk gets here? Are you going to kill him? You’re hardly going to invite him to dinner, are you?” Keela became agitated.
Kidnapping Keela Page 13