by Jamie Davis
“What? I guess so, but he’s not here, Cari. I saw him this morning before they left. He seemed well enough. At least, he was his normal petulant and annoying self, but what else is new?”
“Where is he if he’s not here? Who’s with him? Who’s guarding him?”
“Cari, you don’t have to worry,” Rodrigo said. “We’re safe here. The Prince just went out for a day of hunting with the Duke and a party of nobles who traveled here with us. There are plenty of gamekeepers and other members of the Duke’s staff to watch over them.”
“So, none of you, none of the dragoons, are with him?”
Rodrigo laughed. “They’re probably more than a little hung over. I heard from the servants this morning they spent most of the night carousing with some of the local ladies. I suspect they’re all still asleep.”
“No, no, no, this is all wrong,” Cari said, pacing back and forth in the courtyard. “We have to find them. We have to go out and find the hunting party.”
“Cari, your friend here is right,” Stefan added. “The Duke’s staff will keep everyone safe on the hunt. Nothing will go wrong, you’ll see.”
“Who’s this gentleman in the livery of the Duke’s guard, Cari?” Rodrigo asked.
Cari started to introduce her traveling companion when she heard a sudden commotion over by the stables. Several servants rushed back and forth between the house and the stables, a few of them in tears.
Cari, Rodrigo, and Stefan ran over and intercepted one of the maids from the house who’d gone into the stables and emerged moments later, weeping.
“Miss,” Rodrigo asked, “what is wrong?”
“He’s dead, sir. The body’s half-buried under a pile of straw in one of the stables. The head stableman said it looks like he was strangled to death. Who would do such a thing, sir?”
The woman started crying again and darted into the manor house before getting an answer to her question.
“An assassin,” Cari replied under her breath as she considered what the maid had said.
“What?” Rodrigo asked.
“An assassin would strangle a man to death. An assassin would strangle a random stable hand if he was discovered in some way. Stefan, he beat us here, even though we cut across country.”
“Cari,” Rodrigo said. “You’re not making any sense. What assassin? It was probably a fight between two of the servants over money or an affair with someone’s sweetheart.”
Liam, Chance, and Thad came from the manor. All of them were still in the process of getting dressed. Thad was barefoot and had his boots in one hand and his sword and belt in another.
“We heard the shouts of alarm and murder in the house,” Liam said. “What is going —”
He spotted Cari, stopped, and then laughed aloud, slapping his elven companion on the back.
“Chance, you bastard, you won the bet after all. Look who’s decided to join us.”
“I never doubted she would arrive when she was needed most.”
“What a strange thing to say,” Liam said. “She obviously was detained longer than we expected.”
The elf nodded a hello to Cari and shook his head. “I suspect there’s more to it than a late arrival. Am I right, Cari?”
“You are. I came because I’ve been following an assassin from Tandon who is bent on killing the Prince. Now there is a dead stableman, strangled and hidden from view. It all adds up.”
“Why kill a stable hand if his target was the Prince?” Liam asked.
“It’s not a stable hand,” Thad announced, coming out of the stables.
While the rest of them had been talking, he’d continued past the group, likely to investigate the situation.
“The dead man’s an assistant to the gamekeeper, according to one of the servants in there. He’s also been stripped to his underclothes.”
Liam seemed confused. “Why was he stripped? Maybe he had just come from his bed and wasn’t dressed yet?”
Cari snapped her fingers. “No, he was stripped to provide a disguise for the assassin. He’s gone out with the hunting party. He means to make it look like a hunting accident. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“Cari, we must go after him. Let us ride out now,” Stefan said.
“I’ll ask again, Cari, who is this man?” Rodrigo asked.
“This is Lieutenant Stefan Claridge from the Duke of Tandon’s household guard. He came with me to show me the way to the estate. We were waylaid on the way here by brigands hired to stop anyone following the killer. The assassin has to know there’s a possibility we’re on his trail.”
“Can you identify this man?” Liam asked.
Cari shook her head. “No, I’ve never seen him. Judging by what we managed to learn from one of the men who attacked us, he knows who I am, though.”
“Our young lieutenant is correct, then,” Chance said. “We must catch up with the hunting party and intercept this man. It will be a simple thing for him to put a crossbow bolt or even a bullet in the Prince’s back if he’s disguised as one of the huntsmen.”
“Agreed,” Liam said. He reached out and grabbed the arm of one of the stable boys passing by. “Boy, we need our horses saddled immediately.” Liam flipped a silver coin through the air to the lad. “Hurry and there’s another for you and your helpers when the mounts are ready.”
Thad finished pulling on his boots and stood, buckling his sword belt and settling his blade on his hip. His gruff voice broke the momentary silence.
“It’s not going to be easy to locate them. The head stableman was in there examining the body. He said the hunting party could have gone to one of three different hunting areas on the estate, and he’s not sure which direction they went when they set out this morning.”
The news deflated Cari’s resolve. Three different directions meant they had yet another obstacle in the way of her rescue mission.
“It’s too late. I’m too late.”
Liam saw her shoulders sag at the news from Thad. “Cari, you’ve made what I’m sure is an amazing journey to get here with this news. We don’t know it’s too late at all. At this point, no news is good news. If something had happened, a servant from the hunting party would have been sent back to us immediately. We just have to find them and stop the assassination attempt.”
“But we don’t know where they are.”
“If there are three different directions to search, then we’ll split up and search each location.”
He turned to their orc comrade.
“Thad, go and get instructions on where they might have gone from the Duke’s major-domo. He’ll know if anyone will. Once you know where they might have gone, if you think we’ll need guides to get there faster, enlist them from among the servants.”
“Chance,” Liam continued, “you and I will take the first and most likely destination. Cari and Lieutenant Claridge can take the second while Thad and young Rod here can take the third.”
Rod deflated a little when Liam assigned him to go with the orc and not Cari.
Thad returned a few minutes later with three of the household servants in tow, just as the boys led their horses from the stables ready to travel.
Cari took the reins of a fresh horse from one of the boys as Liam distributed a silver coin to each of them. Then the dragoon sergeant mounted and waited for the others to do the same.
“Remember, find the Prince at all costs and keep him safe until we can return here to make other arrangements for his safety.”
Cari looked to the servant leading her and Stefan and pointed to the gate. He nodded and started out of the courtyard, followed by the other search parties.
With their mounted guides in the lead, three pairs of rescuers split off to search for the Duke’s hunting party.
Quest accepted: Stop the assassin.
Cari bent low over the horse’s neck as it raced across the rolling hills, holding on to the saddle horn with a death grip lest she fall from the galloping horse. This was it. The fate of the
Empire relied upon their success.
Chapter 33
Cari spent the entire galloping race to the northeast corner of the estate with her body so tense she felt every jarring step of her mount’s hooves. She envied the graceful flow of Stefan’s body as he seemed to move in tandem with the horse on the run, absorbing the up-and-down motion with apparent ease.
She knew she needed to try emulating the relaxed carriage of her comrade, or she was going to rattle the teeth from her head before they arrived. Cari took a deep breath and tried to start with her legs, loosening her hips and knees a little.
Just as she settled into a comfortable middle ground in the saddle, her mount leapt over a small tree trunk lying in their path. The landing on the far side nearly pitched her off the left side of the horse. Her full-body tension came back as she returned her hands to a death grip on the saddle’s pommel. This time, she couldn’t banish it.
Cari had faced death in many ways during her time here in Fantasma. Not one of the other instances terrified her as much as falling to her death off a galloping horse.
Luckily, she was distracted from thoughts of her impending demise by the distant, ragged crackle of scattered musket fire. The servant guiding her and Stefan reined in his mount and turned, smiling back at them. He pointed ahead to an opening in the trees. They’d entered a small offshoot of the valley filled with tall, undulating grasses. A narrow river flowed through the center of the bowl, running north to south.
A cluster of armed people stood in a jagged line below them while a larger group worked back towards the line of musket-bearing noblemen from the opposite side of the smaller valley. Every now and then, there’d be a flurry of activity as game birds flew from their cover. A few scattered shots rang out from the line closest to Cari, puffs of smoke rising from the muskets.
Cari realized what she was seeing. The people on the far side of the valley were driving forward, making noise and flushing out wild game, while the static line of hunters stood and waited for a target of opportunity to launch into the air.
“Do you see the Prince?” Cari called out to Stefan and their guide, a young man named Trip. She scanned the line of hunters closest to them but didn’t see him.
“No,” Stefan replied. “Could he be with the other group on the far side, flushing out the game?”
Cari snorted a laugh. “The Prince doing the work of servants and missing the chance to do the actual killing? Not a chance.”
“He must be with the closer group then,” Stefan said. “Come on.”
He led the way now as the trio rode down into the vale.
The closer they got, the more certain Cari was the Prince wasn’t present. She didn’t see him anywhere and started to wonder whether this group was from another hunting party altogether, perhaps from a different estate nearby.
The group they approached consisted of a line of eight hunters. Behind each of the hunters stood a pair of servants, loading fresh muskets and holding them ready to hand off to the nobles in the hunting line.
A man in an officer’s coat similar to Stefan’s, but with a lot more gold braid and decoration, stood nearby holding a musket. He lowered it after firing at, and missing, a low-flying pair of geese spooked by the beaters from the area of the riverbank.
When he turned to take another musket for his next shot, he spotted them approaching. He called out to them.
“Lieutenant Claridge, what in Fantasma are you doing here? Aren’t you one of the officers left in charge of the palace guard while I’m gone?”
Stefan rode up to the other officer and dismounted before coming to attention. He saluted.
“Colonel, I became aware of a dangerous plot to harm Prince Timron while he was under the Duke’s protection. I came to warn him of the impending threat.”
Cari dismounted and her overly tensed muscles betrayed her, making her limp. She moved over to where Stefan stood at attention, trying to work out her stiff muscles as she walked. They protested with repeated cramps and spasms, worn out from the stressful ride.
“I see,” the Colonel said as Cari approached. “Who is this woman with you?”
“This is Captain Cari Dix of the merchant ship Vengeance. She became aware of the plot during an engagement with a raider ship and brought the information to my attention at the palace as soon as she docked in Tandon. She is, apparently, an acquaintance of the Prince.”
“This is most alarming, Lieutenant. I’m afraid the Prince is not here.”
“Not here?” Cari blurted out. “Where the hell is he? We have to find him. Is there another hunting group out there somewhere?”
“Miss, I assure you, now that you have brought this to my attention, we will deal with the matter. The Prince is quite safe. He and the Duke went off on their own with one of the Duke’s gamekeepers. The Duke’s man had spotted a rare white stag in the forest nearby and wished to lead them in a private hunt for the beast. There is no one else with them, so I’m sure he’s quite safe until he returns to rendezvous with us.”
Cari turned to the two servants reloading the colonel’s muskets. “You two. Who was the man who went off with the Duke and Prince Timron? Was he known to you?”
The elder of the two scratched his head. “You know, miss, I don’t recall ever seeing him before, though I don’t profess to know all the gamekeepers. He was wearing the right livery, though, so I suppose he was alright. Those huntsmen keep to themselves in the far reaches of the estate.”
“Captain Dix,” the colonel said. “Why is it important if they know this gamekeeper?”
“A dead body was found hidden in the stables back at the manor. He was one of the gamekeepers and he’d been stripped of his clothing and livery. That has to be the assassin out there with them. He’s going to stage a hunting accident to kill the Prince. I know it. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“Cari, are you sure?” Stefan asked.
“Trust me on this. That is where he is. I’m sure of it.” Pointing to the servant who’d answered her, Cari asked, “Which way did the man lead the Duke and the Prince?”
“They went off to the northern end of the valley, near the falls where the river forms.”
Cari turned and remounted her horse, ignoring her protesting leg muscles.
“Cari, you can’t go alone,” Stefan shouted.
“You’re welcome to follow after me once you get some people organized here. I’m leaving now.”
She spurred her horse forward with a few kicks of her heels. Soon, she was galloping across the valley floor, racing along the banks of the narrow river for the northern end of the valley.
Reaching the tree line, the horse slowed as it weaved its way through the broad, moss-covered trunks and underbrush. Suddenly, the horse pulled up and reared, balking at jumping a broad rocky ditch in their path. Cari pitched backward out of the saddle. She fell head over heels into the brush beside the trail, landing with a jolt of pain in her chest. She’d cracked the freshly healed ribs again.
Health damage: Health -10
Her mount reared once more and then cantered off into the woods away from her.
“Damn,” she called after the fleeing horse. “Come back, you stupid beast.”
Cari climbed to her feet, hissing at the renewed pain in her side. She really needed to start carrying a few healing potions around with her. These ribs were never going to fully heal at this rate.
She drew her sword and started forward afoot until she reached the rocky ditch. The horse had been right, she realized. If it had tried to ride at any speed across the uneven surface, it would have broken a leg for sure.
Cursing her rotten luck, she stepped down into the ditch and moved as fast as she could. It was tough, but Cari picked her way across the treacherous ditch and reached the far side.
A distant roaring sound marked the waterfalls the servant had mentioned when she’d been back with the main hunting party.
Cari advanced at a jog, ignoring the jarring pain in her ribs with
each step. She’d come this far. She wasn’t going to be denied victory at this point.
Far ahead, in the direction of the falls, the crack of a gunshot rang out. Fearing the worst, Cari cursed again and broke into a run. She was going to be too late after all.
Chapter 34
Cari heard the voices first, the shouts of an argument drifting through the trees as she ran. She wished for more speed, but between her stiff legs and sore ribs, she couldn’t go any faster.
Her ragged breaths shot stabbing spasms of pain through her side with each inhalation.
The voices loudened along with the sound of the waterfalls. A few seconds later, she stumbled into a clearing on the banks of a large pool formed by the water tumbling from the rocky outcropping above.
Beside the pool stood Prince Timron, his hands raised in surrender. A man in the Duke’s livery stood ten feet away, aiming a musket at the Prince’s chest.
Another man, presumably the Duke, lay on the ground a few feet from the assassin. A soft groan sounded from the prone figure. He wasn’t dead, at least not yet.
“Stop!” Cari called. “Put the musket down and I’ll let you live.”
The assassin turned to look at her and, to her shock, she recognized him. It was Quint, Merrick’s man from back in the Crystal City.
“Lookee who it is. The would-be princess hero shows up again to save this man’s pitiful life. I’m afraid he’s not getting away this time. This time, he dies. Then, I’m going to kill you, missy, slowly, for what you did to my brother.”
“I don’t understand. Why did Merrick send you here after he did all he could to help me escape the city?”
Quint laughed. “Merrick didn’t send me. He fired me when he found out I outed you to the city inspectors. That was all for the best, though. I found a new benefactor who is going to make me rich beyond my wildest dreams, and all I have to do is kill this idiot Prince. You’re just an extra bonus I didn’t expect. It makes all this the perfect ending to my long journey trailing after His Highness across half the Empire.”