The Inner Seas Kingdoms: 02 - The Yellow Palace

by Jeffrey Quyle

  Kestrel reached for the bottle of wine and took a swig, then rested his head against the wall and closed his eyes. “I think I might want to, butI don’t know; I’d never fit into a human land any better than I did in the elf lands, except up in Estone maybe. I could live comfortably– there are humans and elves together there. What would you do?”

  “You’d fit in with all of us!” Picco said enthusiastically. “Wouldn’t he, Margo?”

  “He would with us, but I see his point. I remember Philip asked you about your ears once, thinking you had a haircut or something. I think it would be hard to live in Graylee with elven ears. But we’d try hard to make it work!” she smiled.

  They talked on throughout the evening, until the wine bottle was empty and the plate of cake was finished, and they fell asleep leaning against the wall and one another. When Kestrel awoke the next morning he found Margo in the center, as he and Picco both rested their heads on her shoulders, and he smiled. They were good women he knew, good friends to each other and to him he realized, and a part of him wished he had been born and raised in a human village instead of an elven one.

  He left the room quietly and when he came back the girls were awake. In short order they were on their horses getting the early start Kestrel wanted in order to reach Ressel’s estate. It was lucky for Kestrel that they did start early, under a dirty, cloudy sky. Rains began falling after just an hour of travel, leading Margo and Picco to mutinously agree that it would have been a better morning for sleeping in than for riding out. Their pace slowed as their horses tracked through the mud and the puddles

  “Kestrel, this is awful,” Picco complained when they stopped in a village for lunch, and dripped away their excess rainwater every minute they spent sitting at a table eating stew and bread.

  “I don’t think it tastes so bad. Not as good as that chocolate last night though,” he answered.

  “No not the food! I mean riding in the rain on a horse,” Picco clarified. “Isn’t there anything you can do to hurry us out of the rain?”

  “No,” he said shortly. “All we can do is ride through it, and be glad it’s not winter snow.”

  They returned to their horses and rode all afternoon, finally reaching Ressel’s turn off the road in late afternoon, as the last clouds cleared away, and the afternoon sun shone down upon them.

  “Does your aunt have hot water for baths?” Picco asked as they rode up a knoll on their way.

  “Yes, and no,” Margo said. “She has a bath house in the back, where we load wood in the boiler and burn it to heat water for the tubs

  – there are four of them together in one room,” she looked over at Kestrel. “I didn’t know Aunt Ressel when she was young, but she must have had some interesting parties with her house guests if they all took baths together!”

  “So there’s one tub for each of us? We can all take our baths together,” Picco said in an innocent voice.

  “You’ll have to persuade me to have another bottle of wine with dinner tonight before I’ll think about a group bath!” Margo responded.

  “We’ll have to have the wine before dinner then, because I’m not waiting until after dinner to soak in a hot tub!” Picco answered.

  They crested the knoll just then, and saw Ressel’s estate mansion, a beautiful red granite structure, build much like a castle, separated from them by only a short meadow, and when they arrived at the door, Aunt Ressel was waiting for them. She was a tiny woman, very thin and fragile, but she welcomed Margo with a tender hug and a peck on each cheek, then was introduced to her friends.

  “It’s so nice to meet you young people,” Ressel said, as she shook hands with Picco. “The servants said someone was coming up thedrive, and I was so excited to have house guests arrive.”

  “It’s so nice to meet you too! Margo told us such wonderful stories about visiting here! She’s persuaded us to look forward to a bottle of wine and taking a bath as soon as we can,” Picco said immediately.

  “Margo! Good for you to have such an open mind!” Ressel said approvingly. “I wasn’t sure whether you’d ever grow out of that timid stage or not. I’m so glad you have! Jars,” she spoke to a servant, “please go fetch a wine bottle and some glasses, and tell cook to have someone light the fire in the bath house.”

  Before Margo could protest and prevent activity from taking place, Jars the butler was gone to set things in motion, and Picco was stifling a laugh behind her hand. “I’ll take our horses to the stables and then take our things up to the rooms,” Kestrel offered.

  “Are you a guest or a stablehand?” Ressel asked sharply. “You don’t need to do that. Jars will be back soon.”

  “Why don’t you let me get it started, so that the girls can sit down with you, relax, and start drinking their wine sooner?” Kestrel proposed. “We’ve had a long, wet ride today and I’m sure they’re ready to rest. Let me take care of this and I’ll meet you all in the bath house,” he said as he winked at Picco, drawing an exasperated snort from Margo.

  “We’ll have a second bottle of wine sent to the bath house to wait for when you arrive,” their hostess said, and then Kestrel was gone with the horses, walking in a wide semi-circle around the home to locate the stables in the rear. He found a groom, and together they unsaddled the horses and led them into airy stalls, where the animals enjoyed nice bags of oats for dinner. Kestrel gathered the luggage from each horse, and carried them into the house, where he deposited them in the guest rooms, then asked for directions to the bath house, and was shown by a maid through the hallways that led to a courtyard where a small building stood alone, smoke rising from its chimney, indicating that the water was heating.

  With a grin he entered the building, then stopped in surprise at the sight of Margo and Picco already soaking in two tubs, one on either side of an empty tub.

  “Here’s your tub,” Margo called, as she tipped a wine glass at him and motioned towards the empty tub, where Kestrel saw tendrils of steam rising from the already drawn bath water. “Cheers, and come on!”

  “The look on your face is priceless!” Picco laughed. “Here” she reached back to the wall behind the tubs and released a cord, causing a curtain to fall down between her tub and Kestrel’s.

  “You could have made him panic a minute longer, I think,” Margo pouted, but then reached back and released a cord on her side, dropping that curtain as well, and creating a private space within, whereKestrel hurriedly undressed and splashed into the tub, then saw the curtains rise as the girls pulled the cords while he settled into his water.

  “Here’s your wine,” Picco said, pointing at a full glass on the floor next to his tub, “and now it all seems worth the ride today, to be able to sit here like this and relax.”

  “And will we all sleep together again tonight?” Kestrel asked after he sipped his wine and closed his eyes. He felt the tension rise from his body, carried away by the wisps of steam that rose from the water in the tub.

  Both girls splashed water at him in response to his question, and he splashed back at them.

  “You know, it reminds me just a little of soaking in the spring of healing water. When the sprites and imps get in the water they pass out, and dream the most lovely dreams possible, they say,” he told the girls as they listened. “We’d let them lay in the water for hours while we soaked. That’s what made them agree to take us to the spring, if we said they could soak.

  “One time I was with Merilla,” he started to tell a story, then stopped as he realized it wasn’t one to tell.

  “Who’s that?” Picco asked. “What happened?”

  “She was a widow, a human widow. I killed the yeti that killed her husband, and then I took her and her sons back to the city,” he answered lamely. “And one night when we were together the sprites came and demanded that I go with them and tend to them It was Dewberry’s honeymoon, and she wanted to soak in the spring water.” He thought about the surprise Merilla had received at the sudden appearance of the sprite.

&n
bsp; Both the girls sat silently, until Kestrel spoke. “Soon after that, Merilla’s mother arranged for her to be married to a very nice man, a leathermonger who had a shop in Estone. And that’s all of that story.”

  The door opened and a servant carried in a large tray, which he put on a table near the tubs. “My lady thought you would enjoy a casual dinner in here tonight,” he explained, then lit a pair of candles and left the building.

  “I didn’t realize how dark it had gotten until he lit those candles,” Margo said.

  “That’s just what I was thinking,” Picco said, as she pulled her cord loose again and let the curtain fall by her tub. Kestrel watched her wavering shadow profile on the curtain as Picco climbed out of the tub and pulled on a robe, then appeared seconds later with a plate of small food items.

  “You mean there are robes?” Kestrel looked around.

  “We hid yours,” Picco laughed, as she knelt between the two occupied tubs and popped a piece of food into Margo’s mouth.

  “I’ll always remember this journey together,” Kestrel said sincerely, as he watched the demonstration of deep friendship that was evident in the interactions between the two girls. “The friendship, the chocolate cake, the sleeping together on the floor,” he said.

  “The way Picco’s robe gapes open when she bends forward,” added Margo, making the strawberry-blond girl blush and pull the robe tight, then laugh.

  “It’s hard to believe we were fleeing from the palace just a couple of days ago,” Margo agreed. “You’re right Kestrel; maybe that’s what makes this interlude so special is that we caught it so unexpectedly between the bad times behind us and the unknown times that are yet to come.”

  Picco fed them all the delightful meal, then they pulled the curtains and put on their robes and went out into the dark night, and sat on the patio with their wine bottle, as Kestrel told the girls the names of the stars in Elvish, then kissed each of them good night when they all strolled upstairs to their suite of rooms and went to sleep in their own luxurious beds.

  Chapter 13– Within the Yellow Mansion

  Kestrel awoke early the next morning. He slipped into each girl’s room and woke them to quietly bid them farewell, then went to the kitchen and stuffed fruit and bread in his bag before he went to the stables. He saddled his horse and rode away, looking up at the front of the castle to see Picco and Margo waving at him. He smiled and waved back, then was over the knoll and gone from view.

  The road remained muddy from the previous da y’s rain, but Kestrel and his horse made good time nonetheless. In mid-afternoon they passed the inn where he and the girls had stayed the previous night, and turned off the main road while the sun was still above the horizon. Kestrel spotted the lights of the Yellow Palace in the dusk, then entered a clump of trees and dismounted not far from the mansion. He tied his horse to a a tree and set out on his way.

  Kestrel still wore the blue palace uniform he had worn during the effort to set his friends free from the palace, and he intended to use that as part of a ruse to enter the palace. He had a means he intended to use to hopefully help his targets escape. He assumed that they were in shape to be able to escape, and that they would agree to go with him; since a goddess had ordered him to carry this mission out, he counted on divine intervention, if needed, to make it a success.

  His walk to the palace was only fifteen minutes, and when he reached his destination he presented himself to the guards at the gate, at the beginning of a bridge that crossed a wide lake surrounding the castle, which appeared to be built on a small island surrounded by placid water. “Kestrel, reporting for observation, as ordered by the Prince,” he informed the gatekeepers, causing confusion.

  “Do you have written orders?” a lieutenant asked when he was called to the scene to straighten out the unusual problem.

  “None were given, sir. The palace was a little unsettled on account of the prisoners’ escape,.” Kestrel answered.

  “What escape? What prisoners?” the lieutenant asked.

  “Prisoners held in the cells beneath the palace and in the south tower,” Kestrel answered. “Someone broke in through the back gate, set them all free, and then broke out with them again.”

  “Must have been valuable prisoners, not like the ones we have here,” the lieutenant said. He started to lead Kestrel inside. “We’re going to execute one tonight. The princess.”

  “Yulia?” Kestrel asked with a sinking feeling, naming the hostage he had been sent to set free. He had dawdled along the way, enjoying the opportunity to flirt with Margo for the past two days, when he should have been directly on his way to the Yellow Palace to set Yulia free. Now, it seemed he might be too late to obey his goddess, and too lateto save a girl’s life.

  “Yes,” the lieutenant told him, Kestrel’s legitimacy seemingly confirmed by his knowledge of the princess’s name. “She doesn’t know it, but Nicolai executed her brother two weeks ago; she is now the last member of the ruling family of Hydrotaz. As far as I care, we could wipe out the entire collection of scum here at the palace; they’re good for nothing, and the rebellion in the province goes on despite these hostages. Better to make sure they’re not a future problem than to let them escape the way you say the prisoners did at the palace. That must have been sloppy work by your comrades,” he said insultingly.

  They walked down a long hallway, and came to a door. “She’s in the dorm here, with the other females. We’ve tried to break her spirit by treating her like all the other prisoners, with no royal privileges,” the lieutenant explained.

  “Very good,” Kestrel commented. “Who is your commander here?”

  “Major Buffa, but he’s so drunk right now you couldn’t wake him with an ice bath and a hot poker,” the lieutenant said dismissively.

  “I also need to see another prisoner, Graysen,” Kestrel said. “Is there a place I can meet him to question him?”

  “I’ll send someone for him. You can meet in the steward’s office off the kitchen,” the lieutenant answered. He motioned to a guard and sent him on the assignment.

  “I’ll go in and see Yulia now,” Kestrel said.

  The lieutenant opened the door, and the two of them entered the room. It had formerly been a ballroom or some other public function space, Kestrel noted from the large area, which was only lit from a pair of dim candles. Multiple bunks were scattered around the room, some already occupied, and near each candle a small cluster of women sat and socialized.

  “Yulia!” the lieutenant called sharply to the group of women at the far end of the room. One of them stood up after a brief pause, a girl with short, dark hair, and walked towards them.

  “Yes, lieutenant?” she answered with a guarded expression in her eyes.

  “This visitor from his highness in Graylee wishes to speak to you,” the officer told her, motioning towards Kestrel. Her eyes followed the motion then returned to the lieutenant.

  “Come with us,” he directed, and led the way out of the room. Kestrel put his hand into his pocket to feel that the vial was still securely in place, the vial that the goddess Kere had given him. He counted on the trick it offered, invisibility, to allow him to spirit the two hostages away from the palace. It struck him suddenly, finally, as he walked behind the hostage princess, that it was unusual for an elvish goddess to direct him to save the lives of human prisoners. Did Kere see some advantage to her people to be gained through these hostages?

  Kestrel’s guide turned suddenly, and they entered a short back hall that led to the kitchen, and then they entered a small office on one side. “Have a seat, please,” Kestrel told Yulia as he motioned to a simple round table. “How long until Greysen arrives?” he asked the lieutenant.

  “It should only be a couple of minutes. The boys’ quarters aren’t far away,” the lieutenant replied.

  “I’d like to limit the number of guards in the room for this to no more than two,” Kestrel told him. “Reliable types who won’t repeat anything they hear.”

 
“I’ll stay,” the lieutenant replied, as Kestrel had expected. Yulia was watching them with wary eyes now. “And I’ll go get another. I’ll be right back.” He slipped out of the room, and Kestrel was suddenly alone with the princess.

  “You’re going to see some things that will surprise you in the next few minutes,” Kestrel told her is a rush of words. “You have to trust me, and we will make this work out. Just trust me,” he pleaded with her, holding eye contact, as the door behind him opened.

  He turned and saw a guard leading in a teenage boy, a young teenage boy. The prisoner was built solidly, and was of medium height, with shaggy, dark blond hair.

  “Have a seat next to the girl,” Kestrel directed. “The lieutenant will be back in a minute,” Kestrel told the guard, “if you’d like to remain here until he returns.”

  Seconds later the lieutenant arrived with a trusted guard, one who appeared more pop-eyed than anyone Kestrel had ever seen before. The lieutenant dismissed the guard who had brought Greysen, then took a position in one corner of the room as the guard took the other.

  “What are your views of Graylee?” Kestrel asked the two hostages, hoping that he would give the lieutenant and the guard time to settle into their positions and relax.

  “I think the nation stinks! You’re a bunch of traitors and scum,” Greysen said defiantly.

  “Lieutenant,” Kestrel pulled his knife from his scabbard and brandished it threateningly for a moment at the boy, then walked toward the officer. “Do I have permission to administer punishment to this boy?” he asked.

  “By all means,” the lieutenant answered.

  Taking a deep breath, Kestrel plunged the knife into the chest of the lieutenant, bringing a look of horror to the man’s face as he died. Kestrel pulled the knife free, turned, and threw it at the shocked guard opposite, who also slumped to the ground dead.

  Kestrel looked at the two hostages. His nerves were jangled by the look of betrayal he had seen in the eyes of the lieutenant he had just murdered up close, but he tried to overcome that uneasiness. “I want each of you to take a small sip of this potion I have,” he pulled the vial out of his pocket and offered it to the princess. “I’m here to set you free and take you back to Hydrotaz, but we have to go fast.”