by C. J. Archer
"And the gem?" Lord Barborough asked. "Do you have that?"
"No."
Lord Barborough scoffed. "Of course you'd say that."
Princess Illiriya put up her hand to silence him. "Miss Cully, you clearly believe in magic too or you wouldn't be here, helping these men find their pasts. You're a long way from home. You're a medical woman, are you not?"
"A midwife," I said.
"With ambitions to become a doctor." She smiled. "If it were allowed."
"Which it is not."
"It's a travesty, in my opinion. Women would make marvelous doctors. Scholars too, and advisors, even queens in their own right. Perhaps one day the laws will change in our favor."
"Perhaps."
"What does your medical knowledge say about memory loss?" she asked, quite seriously.
I hesitated. Beside me, Dane gave his head a slight shake in warning.
"I couldn't possible say," I said. "I'm not a doctor."
Her eyes twinkled. "A diplomatic answer. You're wise to be careful among strangers. Very well, what would your father say about the servants' memory loss? He was a doctor, I believe."
"He said it's unheard of for so many to be affected at once."
"Does that make it impossible? Or simply improbable?"
I had no answer to that. She was right. It wasn't impossible. Precedents had to start somewhere.
She sat back, smiling. "I'm sorry if I seem reluctant to believe. I'm logical by nature and prefer evidence and reason over speculation and suggestion. Magic is neither logical nor reasonable, and yet…" She spread her hands to encompass Dane and Theodore. "I find myself wanting to believe."
"I, too, was hesitant at first, Your Highness," I said.
"Lord Barborough informed us of Leon's dying confession, how he admitted to finding the magic gem and was granted three wishes. He used only the one, is that correct?"
"Yes, Your Highness," Theodore said.
"Your father, the king, is aware of magic," Dane said. "Did he not want to meet us too?"
She gave a small, elegant shrug. "As you can understand better than most, the demand on a king's time is ceaseless. He wanted to meet you today, but alas it won’t be possible. How long are you staying in Merrin Fahl?"
"A few days," Dane said.
"You're going to ask if anyone has been reported missing?"
"We'll make some inquiries."
"You won't find any," Lord Barborough said with a hint of smugness. "I've sent servants into various quarters in both cities. They heard of no missing persons."
"Perhaps we'll get a different result," Dane said evenly.
Lord Barborough's lips tightened.
Princess Illiriya’s lips softened with her warm smile. "I wish you well in your search. Where do you think you'll go after you leave here?"
So she didn't know we were heading to Freedland. We hadn't made a secret of it, but we hadn't told many people either. Not even the servants we'd left behind in Tilting knew.
"We're not sure," Dane said. "Vytill is a big kingdom with many villages that could yet provide answers."
"It's probably wise to remain in Vytill for the time being,” she agreed. “There are tensions in Glancia. It might not be safe to return until the next ruler has been chosen."
"You mean until your father has manipulated his way onto the throne."
I sucked in air between my teeth and tried to glare at him but he wasn't looking my way. He watched the princess.
His accusation was a dangerous one to make. While we suspected King Phillip had sent messages to the lords of Glancia, confusing them with lies about which nobleman supported which duke, we had no proof. It was also madness to suggest it within these walls.
"Hold your tongue, Hammer," Lord Barborough snapped.
"It's all right," Princess Illiriya said evenly. "I don’t know if what you say is true, but I hope not. I don’t want my father to secure the Glancian throne for himself. I'll be forced to travel all the way to Zemaya and beyond to seek a husband. At least if one of the dukes wins the throne, I'll not be too far from here—if I can marry into the successful family, of course. I believe Buxton has a son near my age."
"And Gladstow is now looking for a wife," Lord Barborough said, a thread of glee in his voice that had his princess turning a disapproving frown onto him.
"Have a care, my lord. The poor duchess has not been gone long."
Lord Barborough bowed his head. "My humble apologies, Your Highness. But I warn you, if you desire to marry the duke of Gladstow, we must work quickly. Lady Morgrave is circling."
"How can I desire him when your reports made him seem so unappealing?"
He spluttered an apology. "Gladstow has some fine qualities."
"Chief among them being that he might win the succession race?"
Lord Barborough's head dropped further.
"You would have encountered the duke of Gladstow regularly at the palace," she said to Theodore and Dane. "What do you think of him?"
"I couldn't possibly say," Theodore said. “I was merely valet to the king.”
Dane was much less diplomatic. "If Your Highness is looking for a lying, cold-hearted, manipulative and boorish husband, then by all means, challenge Lady Morgrave for the duke. Otherwise, my advice is to stay away."
She stilled and my heart sank. Dane had overstepped this time.
"Thank you, Captain," she said. "Your honesty is refreshing and your consideration for my welfare is kind, even more so because we are strangers to one another." She did not look at Lord Barborough, but her words were as much a stab at him as they were praise for Dane.
Lord Barborough adjusted his limp arm across his lap and looked away.
"I have nothing to gain by withholding my opinion of Gladstow," Dane said.
Princess Illiriya stood and put out her hand to him. He stood too and bowed over it.
"Good day, Captain. Theodore, Miss Cully, it was a pleasure to meet you all. I wish you well in your adventures." She suddenly grasped my hand and held my gaze with an earnest, compelling one of her own. "Do not give up on your dream of becoming a doctor. It may happen in our lifetime."
I curtseyed. "I hope so, Your Highness."
Footmen escorted us from the room and out of the castle into the courtyard where we stepped into the royal carriage. As we drove off, I peered up at the arrow slit windows, the turreted tower, the thick outer wall and the stony-faced guards at the gates. It was a cold, forbidding place, yet the princess had been warm and welcoming.
She was nothing like I expected. I'd been wrong about her. She wasn't bred to be an ornament. She was raised to be a capable leader in her own right. Considering she had a brother to take over the Vytill throne, that meant she was expected to become queen in another kingdom. But with Freedland now a republic, Dreen's king comfortably married and his sons not yet of age, that left only Glancia. And Glancia no longer had a king. If King Phillip succeeded in manipulating his way onto the Glancian throne, then the princess's marital options decreased further. Such a vibrant, clever and regal woman might not want to settle for anything less than a prince. A mere countess wouldn't do.
"Does Zemaya have a royal family?" Theodore asked, peering out the other window at the castle. Clearly his mind was working in the same direction as mine.
"Yes, but their kings are chosen, not born," I said. "When one king dies, the ruling lords come together and fight in a series of physical contests. The new king is the one who wins the most bouts. Besides, Zemayans marry young. A new king will usually already have a wife and children when he takes the crown."
He sat back. "I wonder what she'll do."
"Hope that the duke of Buxton wins," I said.
"Will hope be enough for her?" Dane asked.
Theodore tilted his head and regarded Dane. "You think she'll play a more active role to see Buxton on the Glancian throne?"
"It's possible. I don't know. She might be precisely as she seems—a friendly young princess wit
h few cares. Or she might be as manipulative as her father. All I do know is, I don't trust Barborough, and he was by her side."
We traveled in silence until we reached the base of the hill. Dane opened the carriage door and instructed the driver to leave us there. He assisted me out and indicated the extension of the castle road where it plunged into the city.
"We might as well start here," he said.
I wasn't yet ready to end our conversation, however. "Could Barborough have sent those men to attack us in the forest?"
"Strange way to welcome visitors," Theodore said as the carriage rolled away.
"Perhaps he instructed them to dispatch us and retrieve the gem. He suspects we have it."
Dane scanned the vicinity, his hand on the hilt of his sword. "We must be very careful. Barborough has influence here. He has the ear of both the king and princess. If he can convince them that we have the gem, they'll send more than a handful of swordsmen to search for it."
Theodore and I exchanged glances. Then we moved closer to Dane.
Chapter 3
We spent the rest of the day in Merrin, asking in the market and surrounding streets if anyone had gone missing in the past two years. Only one had, but Dane and Theodore didn't recognize his name and he didn't fit the description of any of the palace servants.
It was a long and strange day. Everywhere we went, people stared. My height and blonde hair marked me as Glancian, and Theodore was clearly from Dreen with his flat features, while Dane was taller and darker than the Vytillians. In Tilting, we'd seen people from all nations, including Zemaya, going about their business. I expected Merrin to be the same, at least certainly with Glancians and Freedlanders since Vytill was situated between the two countries. But everyone looked like the typical Vytillian with brown hair and of medium height, a blend of the people over its northern border with those in the south.
We returned to the inn in Fahl to meet Kitty, Meg, Erik, Max and Quentin who'd been making the same inquiries in the god's city. From the looks on their faces, they'd had no luck either.
"No one," Max said. "Not a single missing person matched anyone we know."
"The same," Theodore told them.
Kitty groaned as she eased herself onto a stool in the taproom. "My feet ache, my legs hurt, my back is stiff. How do ordinary people walk all day?"
"Practice," Quentin said.
"We have no other option," Meg added.
Erik placed four large tankards of ale on the table. "This is why I ride everywhere. My feet ache too. Later, you can massage them, Kitty."
She pulled a face. "That's disgusting."
"I will massage yours too." He returned to the counter to retrieve the other three tankards, just as Balthazar entered the taproom.
Dane dragged over another stool for him. "You've been with the supreme priest all day?"
Balthazar sat with a shake of his head. "Our meeting was brief. After I explained our predicament and our reason for remaining in the city for a few days, he loaned me a carriage. I drove around Merrin and asked about missing persons."
"What did you find?" Max asked.
"None of the reported missing matched anyone we know," Balthazar said heavily. "It was a disheartening day."
Theodore cradled his tankard between both hands and stared into the liquid. "Does anyone else think it strange we've come up with nothing?"
"It's early days," I assured him. "Merrin and Fahl are large cities. We'll continue tomorrow."
"What did the supreme priest want with you?" Dane asked Balthazar.
"He simply wanted to meet me. The high priest's letter mentioned everything about my disappearance and reappearance at the palace, and the supreme priest was curious."
"The letter mentioned everything?"
Balthazar nodded. "He asked me why I thought magic was involved, and how. He listened without comment. When I finished, he merely changed the subject. He wanted to know what Leon was like, my thoughts on the Glancian political situation, and my plans for the future."
"So you don't know if he believed you about magic?" Theodore asked.
"He's a religious man," Max said wryly. "He's not going to believe in anything that questions the existence of the god and goddess."
"What was he like?" I asked.
Balthazar shrugged. "Intelligent, quiet, considerate. Rather bland, really, when comparing him to the Glancian high priest. I found him difficult to read."
"What about you three?" Max asked Dane, Theodore and me. "Who did you meet at the castle?"
"The castle?" Balthazar asked, his bushy brows arching.
"We received a summons after you left," Dane said.
Theodore smiled into his tankard. "You're not the only important person in this group, Bal."
Quentin chuckled. "He is the most self-important though."
Balthazar stabbed Quentin's leg with the end of his walking stick. "I may no longer be your superior, but you don't get to tease me until you've got hairs on your chest."
"I've got hairs on my chest."
"Those bits of fluff are not hairs," Erik said.
Dane told them about our meeting with the princess and Lord Barborough, as well as our theories about the princess's future.
"Is that why you think she wanted to meet with us?" Balthazar asked. "She wanted an opinion other than Barborough's about the political situation in Glancia?"
"Perhaps," Dane said. "But the king must have more spies than just Barborough. She doesn't need us."
"Perhaps her father doesn't keep her informed and she wanted to make up her own mind."
"Can she do that?" Quentin asked.
I bristled. "We women are quite capable of forming opinions."
Quentin reddened. "I meant can she go behind her father's back and talk to his spies."
"We don't know if the king knew about our visit or not," Dane said. "She implied he did but was too busy to meet us."
"So if you don't think she was simply gathering information, why did she want to meet you?" Meg asked.
"I'm not certain." Dane looked to me. "Josie?"
"I think she wanted to decide for herself if you've truly lost your memories," I said. "She might not have believed Barborough."
"And by extension," Theodore said, "she wanted to decide for herself if magic is behind this." He tapped his temple.
"I wonder what she thinks now," Max said.
We finished our ales and we women returned to the room we shared on the second floor. Kitty flopped on the bed, her feet dangling off the end. She undid her bootlaces and kicked them off before lying back with a groan.
"I'm tired and hungry," she mumbled.
"Then come and freshen up before we rejoin the men for supper." Meg tossed her a cloth and indicated the basin of water. "You can use it first."
Kitty sighed and got to her feet with some effort. "I don't think the boots you bought for me in Tilting are very good. My feet shouldn't hurt this much."
I inspected one of the boots. It was made from the finest leather, but like all new boots, they needed to be worn in to soften. I told Kitty as much.
"How long will that take?" she asked, lifting her hair off her neck and turning her back to Meg so Meg could help her undress. She hadn't shed all of her duchess's ways yet. Perhaps she never would.
"Another day walking around Merrin should do it," I said cheerfully.
"I want to help them find out more about themselves," she said. "I truly do. But surely there's a better way. Can I not ride with Erik? We can cover more ground on horseback."
"The horses need a rest," I said.
"I need a rest."
Meg helped draw Kitty's shirt over her head. "It has only been one day. Would you prefer we leave you at the inn while we go out?"
Kitty wrinkled her nose. "No, thank you." She squared her shoulders and tossed her head. "I'm a humble woman now. If I must traipse the streets with my friends, then I will do so and suffer aching feet like the rest of you."
; "Please do it quietly," Meg muttered.
Kitty washed and dried herself with the towel the maid had left for us to share. "What was the princess like?" she asked as I performed my ablutions at the basin.
"She seemed nice," I said. "Her bearing was very noble, her manner friendly if a little aloof. She reminded me of Miranda."
"Miranda!" Kitty pouted. "Why not me? I have a noble bearing. I'm friendly and a little aloof too." She sniffed. "I'm also a duchess which is only one rung down from a princess."
"Um…"
Meg cleared her throat. "She looked more like Miranda. That's what you told me earlier, Josie."
"Yes, that's it," I said. "Her hair was more like Miranda’s than yours."
My excuse satisfied Kitty enough that she let the matter drop and didn't ask any more questions about the princess.
Having left Balthazar at the inn, the rest of us split into two groups the following morning. Dane, Erik, Kitty and I began our inquiries at the riverside dock and moved through one of Merrin's slums before choosing random streets to wander down in the afternoon. Erik received stares wherever he went, but took them in his stride, even smiling at the children. Most ran off in fear, but a few brave souls asked him what he was doing so far from home.
"Searching for my missing friends," he always said. "You might know them." And that provided us with an opening to broach the subject of missing people. But by the end of the day, we'd not had any success.
"Wait here a few moments," Dane said as we approached a large inn beneath the sign of a rearing white horse.
"Good," Erik said. "I am thirsty. Come, let's drink."
Dane agreed but was the last to head through the archway leading to the inn's courtyard and stables. He checked up and down the street then followed me.
"What is it?" I asked.
"We're being watched."
"Did you see someone?"
He didn't get a chance to answer me. The ostler caught Erik's arm and Erik retaliated by grabbing hold of the man's jerkin.
The ostler swallowed heavily but didn't let go. "I know you."
Erik's fist sprang open and the ostler moved away, out of his reach.
He wagged a finger at Erik. "Thief!" he shouted.