The Guide

by Trudie Collins

  As they watched the wagon disappear from sight, Ria took the opportunity to broach a subject that had been bothering her for a while.

  “You take her for granted you know.”

  “Who?” Patrick asked, genuinely puzzled.

  “Ellen of course” Ria replied, taking up a stick and casually drawing in the dirt.

  “How? She volunteers to do things for me and I accept. How is that taking her for granted? I do not ask her to do anything for me.”

  Ria sighed. What was it about men that made them so dense sometimes? “She is in love with you.”

  “What!” Patrick was almost amused. “I have had my fair share of females being infatuated with me, so I know what to look for. Ellen behaves nothing like that. She is merely a good friend.” Even before he had finished speaking the smile had started to fall from his face. “You are serious,” he said, incredulously. Then he shook his head. “No. You must be wrong. She would have said something to me by now. She just cares for me as a friend, almost like a brother I suppose.”

  “You keep telling yourself that. I just hope you have not left it too late when you realise I am right. She will not wait for you forever.” Ria knew she would never be able to convince him, but she could detect a trace of doubt in his voice. Maybe she had given him something to think about, maybe she hadn’t, but at least she had tried.

  Throwing her stick to the ground, she walked deeper into the trees, looking for a good spot to relieve herself. She missed Samson. The wolf had run to the kitchen when it was mentioned that he should join them. He seemed to have spent a great deal of time in the kitchen, suggesting he was either very brave or very crafty.

  The head cook was tall and slim, looking more like a governess than a cook. If it wasn’t for the apron she always wore, visitors may well have mistaken her for the housekeeper. Her wiry grey hair placed her in her fifties, though nobody in the royal household knew for sure. She was a very hard taskmaster, frequently making the young girls who assisted her cry. Even Halvine had been known to run from her lashing tongue. The kitchen was her domain and nobody dared to invade it, not even Allias; no-one knew Selene often ate there unchallenged. But nobody ever complained, as the food that came out was always exceptional and it was well known that she tasted every single dish personally.

  Ria smiled as she imagined her reaction to a wolf invading the kitchen; Samson growling and the cook growling back. The poor wolf would probably lose. However, he did appear to be putting on weight. Maybe the cook had a soft spot for dumb animals and Samson excelled at pretending to be nothing but a stupid mutt whenever it suited him, especially when food was involved. Yes, Ria decided, it was definitely not bravery that kept Samson in that kitchen.

  ——————————-∞——————————-

  It was well past noon when the wagon reached the town. The first person they asked gave them directions to the central market square where the stallholders were still plying their trade. Turnips were not common in that part of Kinfen, due to the stony soil being better suited for other crops, and the first vegetable stallholder they approached gladly purchased the entire wagonload. Explaining that they wished to buy something for the return journey, he happily informed them that his brother may be able to help them. He owned a farm just outside of town and had just started to harvest his potatoes and carrots. Before the sun set, they were heading back to the cave with the wagon reloaded, supplies of bread, cheese, a large ham and a small barrel of ale, as well as some coin in their pockets. They had even managed to procure some of the herbs that Seth had run out of. All in all it had been a very successful day.

  As they were approaching the cave, looking carefully as they were not certain they were in the right place, Ria called out to them, emerging from the nearby trees. It was not close enough to nightfall to head out again, so, leaving the wagon fully loaded with Modo and Dal standing guard, the others tried to make themselves comfortable on the hard cave floor and get a few more hours of sleep.

  They were awoken by the smell of cooking. Though not in the same league as one of Seth’s stews, the meal Ria threw together was by far the best they had eaten in the last few weeks, mainly because it contained no turnips.

  After making sure the cave was completely clean and tidy, they set off again. Although only a day away, as the crow flies, to reach Bedden the group would have to cross the Midas river and this involved a detour to the bridge at Norman’s Crossing, resulting in a lengthy delay. By Tor’s calculations, if they continued to maintain their sleep and travel pattern, they should reach the outskirts of Bedden late evening in three days time.

  ——————————-∞——————————-

  As Tor and his team were heading out, the royal family and their guests were just beginning their evening meal. Bellak and Liselle had joined them for the first time that week, having managed to drag themselves away from the library. Sam would not have been shocked to discover that Bellak actually slept there.

  There was a knock on the door and everyone turned toward the sound, evidently surprised when Torrick and Sabastian walked in, the latter looking very disgruntled.

  Showing no respect whatsoever for his king, Sabastian took an empty seat and began piling food onto a plate. “Mind if we join you?” he asked. “Sorry about the state of us, but we are famished. We have only just returned from battle practice in the forest.”

  Torrick, however, waited until Allias nodded before taking a seat next to Liselle, who took one sniff of him then asked him to move to the other end of the table, which he reluctantly did. They really did look a mess with their uniforms ripped and covered in mud and sap and the smell they were emitting demonstrated that they were more in need of baths than food. Allias, however, did not comment and Sam noticed he had a slight smile on his face.

  “I take it that Torrick’s side won then?” he asked once everyone had started to eat. Sabastian just grunted in response so Allias turned to Torrick, eyebrow raised.

  “Yes Sir, we did,” was all he would say on the matter.

  “Oh come on Sabastian,” Allias continued, obviously trying not to laugh. “You have lost before have you not? What happened to upset you so much?”

  “Yes I have lost before,” he growled, “but not for a long time, and never so quickly. Torrick took my young apprentice and his men out three days ago to get them settled into a camp and ready for an attack. I headed out yesterday with my men. We had planned to be back by then end of the week.”

  “And?” Allias was now getting a bit frustrated. Though Sabastian hated talking about himself or his training methods, it did not usually take this long to get information out of him.

  “The bastard attacked at night. He had all of my men under guard before half of them even realised the attack had started. The whole thing took less than an hour. You cannot even call it a battle.” Disgust was evident in Sabastian’s voice, though whether it was directed at himself or at Torrick’s tactics was not clear.

  “And why were you not prepared for this?” Allias inquired, the innocence in his voice being counteracted by the laughter in his eyes.

  “Because professional soldiers do not attack at night. It is too dark to see anything. You risk killing your own men.”

  Allias turned to Torrick. “It sounds like you took a great risk to me. How many of your men were injured?”

  Torrick looked a bit embarrassed as he answered. “None, your Majesty.”

  “Sounds like you were lucky.” Allias suspected there was more to the story, but did not want to bait Sabastian by asking straight out what he was not being told.

  “Luck had nothing to do with it,” Sabastian grunted. “He planned ahead.” When it seemed obvious that Torrick was not prepared to blow his own trumpet, Sabastian continued. “He blindfolded half his men before leaving the compound and had the other half lead them. When they removed the blindfolds, their eyes had gotten used to the dark so they could see a lot clearer than my men. Leaving
behind the horses with those who had done the leading, the ’blind’ soldiers quickly found and disarmed my sentries, then they rounded up the rest, tying some of them up while they were still asleep in their tents. I was awake and the first I even heard of his men was when I heard Torrick calling me to surrender. I left the tent in full armour, thinking the battle would start next morning. Imagine my surprise when I found myself surrounded by the enemy and all of my soldiers under guard. I had no choice but to immediately surrender.”

  This was too much for Allias and he burst out laughing. When he finally stopped, tears streaking down his face, he asked, “So how did he find your camp so quickly. From my experience, it is usually so well camouflaged it takes days to find it. What went wrong this time?”

  “He has yet to tell me that,” Sabastian answered, throwing his fork onto his plate and glowering at Torrick, who turned red again.

  “I must admit that I cheated a little,” he admitted quietly. All eyes were now on him and everyone had stopped eating. “I took Samson with me. He followed your men’s trail from the palace without any problems and the smoke from your fires announced your exact location. We actually found you by mid-afternoon, but waited until your men had started to bunk down for the night before attacking, seeing as our plan required it to be dark.”

  Sabastian stared at him. “Ingenious,” he said when he managed to find his voice again. “Who is to say that the enemy will not have trained sniffer hounds or will only attack during the day? You have taught me a valuable lesson young Torrick, for which I am eternally grateful. Tomorrow we go back out to the forest and you get to teach us all your underhand tactics.” He looked at Liselle and winked. “Tonight however, you get to spend with your lovely wife. You have definitely earned it. I myself am off to find a bath.”

  With a stiff bow, but without asking the King’s permission to depart, he left the room. Rupert’s was the first voice to fill the stunned silence.

  “Why do you let him speak to you like that father? How do you expect the men to respect you when their commander treats you as an equal?”

  “Relax,” Allias said soothingly. “None of his men were around to hear, so no harm was done. He was too angry at himself to realise the disrespect he was showing me. He is really going to hate himself in the morning when he has calmed down and had chance to think back to this evening.”

  Allias, of course, was completely right. Sabastian was just drifting off to sleep in a warm soothing bath when he sat bolt upright, swearing loudly. When Allias opened his bedroom door the next morning, he found Sabastian waiting for him, resignation letter in hand. He surmised that he had been there since dawn. He allowed the downcast man to fully apologise before laughingly ripping up the letter, commenting that he would not escape his duty that easily and sending him back to the barracks.

  Later that morning, Sam and Selene made their way, yet again, to the garden. What had started out as a pleasant way of killing time while waiting for Tor to arrive, had turned into a colossal task, leaving both of them dirty and exhausted each evening. But progress had been made. Bushes had been cut back and weeds removed. The path, which everyone thought would lead from the gate to the centre, was beginning to be reclaimed. Between them, Selene and Sam had decided that the best approach would be to clear the path fully before spreading outward. At least it felt like they were making progress this way.

  The path turned out to be in remarkably good condition; there would be no need to have it removed and replaced. It gently twisted from left to right, with red rose bushes lining one side and white lining the other. They were now about thirty meters into the garden and getting close to some trees.

  At midmorning they were joined by Milly, who was laden down with drinks and fruit, sent by Mrs Hubert with orders to take a break. Selene was not too happy receiving orders from a housekeeper, but, realising Mrs Hubert only had her best interests at heart, she obeyed. They had uncovered a stone bench on their second day so Milly placed the tray there and sat down next to it, enjoying a few minutes rest. After grabbing a quick drink, Sam picked up an apple and wandered closer to the trees while eating. As she followed them around, she realised that they formed a ring, almost as if they were hiding something inside. Thick vines had grown between the trees, wrapping around the trunks, making it impossible to see between them.

  When she had completed her circuit, she returned to where Milly and Selene were busy chatting and informed them that, apart from the gap for the path, the trees were completely enclosing something. Intrigued, Selene sent Milly away with the empty tray, in search of a large sharp knife, or a sword.

  Shortly afterward, a sword found its way into the garden, attached to a soldier in full uniform. It took a moment for Sam to realise it was Prince Rupert. She had never seen him in uniform before and was quite impressed. He noticed her approving look and smiled at her. He explained that he had run into Milly as he was just finishing his morning session with some of the soldiers and volunteered to help. Upon seeing the task ahead of him, he quickly put his sword away and ran to fetch an axe. He spent the rest of the morning happily chopping away vines and commenting that it was one of the best workouts he had ever had. When lunchtime arrived he opted to stay and picnic in the garden instead of joining his father in the dining room. Relaxing back on a blanket, sipping chilled water, he entertained Sam by telling her amusing stories of Selene when she was younger. Selene, of course, took great pleasure in getting her own back by revealing a few embarrassing moments from Rupert’s childhood.

  After lunch they quickly went back to work, though the competition between brother and sister over who could embarrass the other the most, continued late into the afternoon. Sam found herself frequently stopping work to watch them. It was good to see Selene so relaxed and at ease with her brother, as there had been an estrangement between them ever since her return, and this was a side to Rupert that Sam had never seen before. It was a side that she hoped to see a lot more of; the real Rupert rather than the future King.

  They were getting ready to call it a day, when Rupert called out. The two women went running to see what he was so excited about. He was in the trees to the left of the path where Selene and Sam were working and had just removed the last few vines that were blocking the view. It took them a few minutes to get to him and when they arrived he did not say anything; he just pointed to where he had been working. They turned to see what he was pointing at and, between the trees, they could just make out stonework.

  “What is that?” Selene asked. “It cannot be the garden wall as the trees go all around it.”

  Sam, being the smallest, forced her way through, not caring as her clothes caught on bushes and low branches. As she got closer, she was able to make out more clearly what they were seeing.

  “It’s a building of some sort. It looks like a small dwelling,” she called back. “Why on Earth would there be a cottage in the middle of the garden?”

  “I have no idea,” Selene replied, seeing Rupert shrug. “But hopefully my father does. If we go and get cleaned up now, we should be dressed in time to meet him for supper. We can question him then.”

  Unfortunately, however, Allias had no idea what the building was or what it had been used for. He had never heard of anything being built in the garden.

  “Oh well,” Sam sighed. “I guess we spend tomorrow exploring it then. Maybe something has been left inside that will help us figure out this mystery.”

  Chapter 12

  During that night, however, a horrendous storm blew in and was still raging hard the next morning. Sam went to visit Selene as soon as she awoke; she needed someone to grumble to. Unfortunately, when she arrived outside the Princess’s door and knocked gently, it was Kally who opened it.

  “Sorry Miss Sam,” she said politely, “but her Highness is not well this morning and is not yet receiving visitors.” In the background, Sam could hear the distinctive sound of retching and opted to make a hasty retreat to the dining room to get breakfast. Only R
upert was present when she arrived, and he stood as soon as he noticed her presence, remaining standing until she had seated herself.

  “There’s no need for formality as far as I’m concerned,” she informed him.

  “Of course there is,” he replied. “If you show proper respect at all times, it soon becomes second nature and you find yourself doing it automatically, making one less thing you have to remember whenever there are visiting dignitaries.” He smiled at her and Sam thought, not for the first time, how nice his eyes were. Something had changed since Tor’s departure and Rupert was becoming more and more friendly with her, something she found surprisingly pleasing.

  After eating her fill, she headed back into the main wing of the palace to see if Selene was feeling any better. She found her propped up in bed, looking very pale, eating dry biscuits washed down with water. She suffered quite badly from morning sickness and today was worse than usual. The midwife had been called and, after a quick examination, declared she was just worn out and had to spend the day in bed. Selene was not very pleased to hear this. It was only a few hours after sunrise and she was already bored.

  The two women chatted for a while, then Sam, feeling brave, asked Selene about Prince Tallon and how he got to be the father of her child. Instead of the expected explosion, Selene just went quiet for a while, then softly said, “Alright. I feel I know you well enough to share a few secrets and there is nothing else for me to do today, so I will tell you my story. I have told parts to my family, but nobody believes me, so I have never told anyone everything. I suppose it is about time I did.”

  ——————————-∞——————————-

  Selene had lived a very sheltered life growing up in the palace. Although she had received a very thorough education, which was unusual for a female, and was taken on many state visits, she was never allowed to venture far outside the cities. Since her mother’s death, her father had become overly protective. The boys, especially Rupert, were given the freedom to explore other places with only a few guards, but she was always left behind. Her brothers often filled her in on what she had missed, making it sound as dull as possible, but she still longed to see things for herself. One day, when she arrived back at the stables after her morning ride, she started talking to a new stable lad and discovered he was originally from Kinfen. She had only ever heard bad things about that land, mainly from her father, and was fascinated to hear someone talking about what a wonderful country it was.