Strab had told him he could bring a guest, it dawned on him. That gave him the excuse he wanted, a reason to go find and talk to Lucretia. Provided she didn’t try to kill him when she saw him, he could talk to her, invite her to the palace, find out how her heart felt about life after months away from her captivity and abuse. Kestrel would have to find her first, and had no more direction to go on that to head to the southwest quadrant of the base.
Kestrel knew next to nothing about the layout of the guard base in Center Trunk. He’d never actually been on the base for more than a day at a time it seemed, many of those short visits involving medical emergencies and deliveries by sprites. Once he’d checked on his horse, he went to the mess hall for a brief meal, then began to walk to the south, a part of the base that seemed to be mostly forges and armories and storage. On one street there were a short row of low cottages incongruously tucked among the large, colorless buildings, and Kestrel concluded that he had narrowed down Lucretia’s location.
There were five cottages, each raised a mere three steps off the ground. Two of them were forlorn looking, clearly empty and abandoned. Of the three that appeared occupied, two were side-byside. Moved by some impulse, Kestrel went to the door of the third cottage, the one that was isolated from the other two, and knocked on the rickety door.
No one answered his knock. He felt certain that Lucretia would be in this home off by itself, and that she would be very likely to shun visitors if she could. With a push of his shoulder he opened the door. “Hello? Lucretia?” he called. “It’s me – Kestrel.”
He stood at the threshold and waited for a moment, then heard the sound of feet on the floor, and she appeared in the hallway at the side, her face pale, and her eyes examining him suspiciously, yet looking even more beautiful in a way Kestrel hadn’t anticipated, a haunting air that spoke of a soul that had been whittled down to its purest substance through difficult trials, and somehow survived. Her foot was whole, he saw, and the scars on her face was visible only because he knew where to look to see faint shadows of the fierce red marks she had formerly carried. Her hair, shaved off during her enslavement, had begun to grow out, softening the appearance of her features.
“Oh Kestrel, what are you doing here?” she asked. She walked towards him, then held her arms open, and they embraced silently, Kestrel letting her lean against him. He felt her body release its tension and relax as they held onto each other, then she released the hug and looked up at his face.
“You still have those violet eyes, I see,” she commented. “Come with me back to the bedroom so I can lay down while we talk,” she told him, and led the way to a small room where he took a seat on the floor as she lay down on her narrow cot.
“Did yourlittle blue minions bring you back from Graylee?” Lucretia asked as she lay down.
“No, I came back the long way – on horseback,” Kestrel answered. “I’ve got the horse here in Center Trunk as a matter of fact, causing a little bit of a fuss.”
Lucretia laughed briefly. “So what did you accomplish while you were in Graylee? Besides setting me free, that is?”
“I killed Brace and Sleek, personally,” Kestrel said quietly.
Lucretia was silent, then gave a stifled burst of sobs. “Thank you,” she said as she wiped her face with the back of her hand.
“What’s happening in Center Trunk?” Kestrel asked her. “It feels oppressive in this city.”
“There’s something bad here,” Lucretia agreed. “It reminds me of Graylee.”
“I learned that they’ve exiled the spymaster I report to, Silvan,” he said.
“I know,” Lucretia replied. “And they’ve imprisoned Alicia at the palace for having an affair. They say they’re going to hang her.
“She’s been kind to me, Kestrel, since you shipped me to her. She doesn’t deserve this. But she’s handling it as bravely as I can imagine. They let me visit herin the palace, and I’ve been to her cell to talk to her,” the girl told him, “It’s the only time I leave my house except to get food.” She turned her head to look directly at him. “She told me to warn you Kestrel, if I ever saw you.”
“Warn me about what?” he asked.
“Strab, the man who took Silvan’s place. She thinks he, Sir Chandrel, and others who are high up in the king’s court are actually agents from Uniontown,” Lucretia told him.
Kestrel sat silently, letting the thought sink in. It frightened him to the core, to consider a Uniontown cadre within the court, controlling some of the levels of power, and possibly having power over his life.
“That could be,” he thought out loud. “I was with him all morning, telling him about things I’ve done and seen. There were odd times when his reaction didn’t make sense to me.
“He told me there are some of those monster lizards here in Center Trunk now,” Kestrel went on. “Those things – there’s something about them.” He tried to piece together what he knew. “The Uniontown leaders, they seem to take them everywhere and keep them as pets. They had one in Estone, the ambassador to Graylee had them, the monsters guarded the Hydrotaz prisoners, and now they show up here in Center Trunk.
“Maybe they are the best indication of where Uniontown has influence. Strab told me that a nobleman at the palace has lizards, and he’s courting the princess,” Kestrel tried to unravel the mystery.
“What else did Alicia say?” he gave up the lizard puzzle and turned his attention back to Lucretia.
“She is so sorry about hurting Silvan, and she knows she upset you; she wants your respect Kestrel. She thinks very highly of you, which shows how gullible she is,” Lucretia gave him a grin to soften the gibe.
“I’m supposed to go to the palace tonight, to a reception Strab invited me to,” Kestrel told her. “Do you want to come?”
“Be careful Kestrel. It could be a trap,” Lucretia warned. “No, I can’t go; I’d be a basket case around all those people.”
“Roll over to the other side,” Kestrel told her suddenly, looking at how tense her body had become again as they talked.
She started to turn her back to him. “I don’t think there’s room on this cot for the two of us,” she said.
Kestrel scooted across the floor to the side of the bed and rose to his knees, then began to massage her shoulders. “I could see the knots in your back from clear overthere,” he told her gently as his fingers kneaded the tense muscles in her back.
“Did she say anything else?” he asked.
“She says you and Silvan are the key. As long as he’s alive, and you’re alive, the kingdom can be saved. She thinks that we all – elves and humans and imps – are in danger from these southern gods,” Lucretia answered, then moaned with pleasure as Kestrel relieved the tension in her lower back.
“Where is her cell in the palace? Maybe I could sneak down to see her while I’m there,” Kestrel said.
“I’m sure you could get down there; the question would be whether you could get out alive. Security is tight. I passed through three different checkpoints on my way down there,” she told him. “There’s a large green door back by the kitchen, and stairs go down from there,” she began to recite the directions. “The hallway at the bottom of those steps goes right, to a pair of guards, then you go down stairs again. There are guards at the bottom of the stairs, and then you go down a hall to the left, and past the last set of guards to enter the prison. There’s a watchman there, and the cells with the prisoners. Alicia is on the right side in the last cell.”
“And Silvan is in Oaktown?” Kestrel asked.
“That’s what Alicia said. She said the court sent both Silvan and Giardell together, probably to try to goad them into attacking one another,” Lucretia let out a sigh as Kestrel began to rub her scalp.
“Hitchens told me where to find you,” Kestrel told her.
“I should smack him, but I’m glad you’re here – just for the back rub,” Lucretia told him.
“Hitchens also told me there were people in the court w
ho want to send our guards out into the open to attack Hydrotaz,” he queried her. “Have you heard that?”
“I have. I can’t believe there are any fools who have responsible positions who would order such a thing. It would be a slaughter,” she replied.
They remained silent for several seconds after that, as Kestrel continued to try to unknot the muscles of her back.
“You make a pretty good human, Kestrel,” she said. “You make a good elf, of course, but I noticed that you managed to fit right in with all those rich humans in Graylee. You’re good at being a spy. I hope Silvan comes back to power so that we have someone who knows how to use you, because I’m afraid that without persuasion and guidance you could decide you like being human and just stay among them,” she perceptively told him.
“I’ve worried about how comfortable I felt in the west,” he easily admitted to her. “I don’t know why we even have to fight them the way we do. They’re just like us, really, for the most part.
“If they asked my opinion, I’d say we ought to send our army west to fight with the humans against Uniontown,” he added. “Graylee is coming to a civil war. There’s talk about rebellion against the prince, and he’s torturing and murdering his opponents within Graylee. We could turn the balance of power in Graylee, or in Hydrotaz, and make friends with our neighbors, like we are with Estone.”
“Maybe,” Lucretia said doubtfully. She struggled up into a sitting position, and Kestrel backed away from the cot. “Excuse me,” she said as she rose to her feet and disappeared for a quick minute. “My bladder couldn’t wait any longer,” she apologized as she returned and lay back down. “You can keep rubbing, you know,” she said gruffly.
“I don’t care if I never see another human again. When I decide I’m ready to leave this place, I’ll probably go home to my village with my mom and dad, and stay as far away from humans as possible,” she added in a forlorn tone that touched Kestrel’s heart. “I’ve been placed on permanent leave from duty.”
“Alicia and I talked about you,” he told her. “She believed you were strong enough to overcome this, and that you’d see the joy in the world again someday. I believe that too, Lucretia. I hope I can help you someday.”
“If anyone could Kestrel, it’d be you,” she awkwardly reached around and grasped his hand inhers in a show of friendship. “Come east and visit me in Karbeen when I get there and you have time.”
“I better get going,” he said at last.
“Are you going to set Alicia free tonight?” Lucretia asked.
“I don’t know,” he answered. “I think I’ll see if they’ll let me visit her first. I know you say she said not to trust Strab, and I don’t, but I need to be careful and try to figure out what’s going on – if there’s a way to help bring Silvan back, if there are Uniontown influences in our own court, if I’ll be sent back west on a mission. Or kept back at home. I don’t know what to do.”
“You’ll do what’s right,” Lucretia said as she stood up and began to walk to the door with him. “You’re the goddesses’ favorite – they wouldn’t pick you if they didn’t expect you to do the right thing. That’s a pretty good endorsement.”
They reached the door, and Lucretia tilted her face up towards his, and he bent down to kiss her on the lips, thinking about how entranced he had been by her beauty the first time they met.
“Good bye Lucretia,” he told her, then was out the door and walking away without looking back, though he desperately wanted to.
Chapter 19– Rescues in Center Trunk
When Kestrel left Lucretia’s cottage it was late afternoon, and he knew he would need to move on promptly in order to go to the palace to attend the reception. Whether he would try to visit to Alicia was something he couldn’t decide. He didn’t know if it would be beneficial or harmful for her, or for himself, and he was at a loss about how to decide. He pondered the problem as he walked back to the warehouse where Thunder was located, and was so focused on his problem that it wasn’t until he entered the building and stood inside for several seconds that he was startled to realize that his horse was gone.
The blanket and his saddle and bags were in a heap on the floor; the saddle straps had been slashed, apparently by someone who hadn’t known how to remove the saddle properly. But the horse itself was missing. Kestrel was puzzled, then outraged at the thought that someone would steal a horse, especially in Center Trunk. He grabbed his staff and sword, arming himself with weapons in addition to the knife that was already on his hip, and went back outside the building. The ground beyond the wide loading door showed hoof prints that were a confusion of directions, reflecting the times Kestrel had led the horse in and out. A quick survey of the area found a single trail of tracks that he had not created, traveling in a direction he had not gone, and he began to lope along in the direction of the suspect trail, following the tracks all the way to a gate in the back of the base.
The back gate was unfamiliar to Kestrel, as was most of the base; it led to a secluded road that followed a wide, shallow brook flowing calmly through the city.
“Did someone take my horse out this gate?” Kestrel asked the two guards on duty.
“A big animal – bigger than a buck?” one of the guards asked.
“Yes,” Kestrel affirmed. “Which way did they go? How long ago?”
“They went that way, about a half hour ago,” the guard pointed to the right.
“Thanks,” Kestrel called over his shoulder as he began jogging in the direction the guard had indicated. He was unable to imagine any reason for taking a horse in Center Trunk, but he didn’t think there was any good reason to steal one under any circumstances. He found occasional hoof prints in the dust of the road, and several minutes later he saw the traces of the horse’s passage turn down the drive to a large, palatial home build back from the road, with a high, stout fence surrounding the property. There was a pile of manure on the drive inside the fence, confirmation that Thunder had been led to the house.
Kestrel climbed the gate and landed inside the fence, then trotted up the drive looking for any sign of something unusual, though he wasn’t sure what to expect. As he rounded the corner he heard, rather than saw, a clue to the horse’s location, as he heard Thunder whinny in terror from an unseen location behind a hedge, down near the creek in the back, and he smelled the same frightening sulfuric odor he had smelled at the Yellow Palace. Kestrel burst into a sprint and pushed through the bushes of the hedge within seconds, to see two men fearfully holding ropes around Thunder’s neck to keep him in place while the horse pranced in terror and tried to escape. The cause of the animal’s fear was evident, and just feet away from Thunder, as Kestrel saw that a giant lizard monster had crawled out of an ornamental pond and headed intently towards the horse.
Kestrel shouted in anger and shock, and ran straight at the lizard to prevent it from attacking his horse. He approached close to it, drawing its attention, then, as the malevolent eyes focused on him instead of Thunder, he swung his staff down hard upon its head and skipped hurriedly away as it hissed in anger and unsuccessfully snapped at his staff.
The two men holding the horse shouted in surprise and protest, as the horse continued to rise and rear, and the monster turned towards Kestrel. A second lizard emerged from the pond and ponderously stamped forward to join the first in heading towards Kestrel, who leaped further away from the monsters and from Thunder. Another man’s voice shouted, and Kestrel looked up from his intent study of the lizards to see a man with a bow and arrow lining up a shot.
“Kill these things!” Kestrel shouted, as his head swerved back to watch the lizards, just before he was shocked to feel the impact of the arrow hit his chest and knock him down. He saw the closest lizard rear up to strike him while he lay vulnerable in his fallen position, and he hurriedly grabbed his knife and threw it, then rolled away and scrambled to safety.
There was a scream from somewhere, but Kestrel had eyes only for the monster his knife struck, causing it
to thrash wildly in its death throes, while the remaining live one reacted by springing towards him at an astonishing speed. “Lucretia! Return!” he called, as he ran towards the lizard, leaped high in the air over it, then landed on the surface of the pond and ran across the water, making the animal turn and chase after him. He felt his knife thrust itself into his palm, and he held it tight as he reached the far side of the pond and saw the lizard rapidly swimming through the water towards him. He turned to retrace his steps across the water, returning to the original bank he had been on, and making the now waterborne monster turn once again and chase after him.
As soon as the lizard was on solid land Kestrel swung his staff at it, raking its face with his staff’s metal spikes and blinding it in one eye, then he threw the knife again, and breathed a sigh of relief as the blade sank into the monster’s chest, making it briefly writhe in pain before it grew still and died.
“What have you done, heathen?” screamed the man with the bow, another arrow pointed at Kestrel.
Kestrel walked angrily towards the man, ignoring the bow, and then swung his staff at full force in a mighty arc that ripped across the front of the man’s shirt, knocking the bow from his hands.
“What are you doing, idiot fiend?!” Kestrel shouted back.
“You stole my horse, you brought these evil creatures to the city, and you shot an arrow at me! By all the leaves that ever fell, I ought to rip your ugly face off!” Kestrel said angrily, driving his staff into the man’s stomach and knocking him down. There were shouts behind him, and Kestrel saw one of the horse holders leave the animal to run to defend the man Kestrel had just attacked.
Kestrel wheeled towards the new threat and pulled his knife back as if he were about to throw it, making the newcomer duck to the ground in fear.
He turned again, looking back down upon the man who he had confronted, lying in a painful daze on the ground. “What made you think you could steal my horse?
“Why do you have these terrible creatures here?” he added.
The Inner Seas Kingdoms: 02 - The Yellow Palace Page 31