Lily looked at Pepper, disbelief in her eyes.
Pepper nodded. “The Handbook is the Tribunal’s way of keeping everyone under control. Everyone but themselves, that is. But that’s only the start of what I’ve learned.” She led Lily over to the sofa.
Pepper touched her knees to Lily’s as she told her how their parents had been eliminated because of their father’s so-called subversive views. When she was finished, Gael took her place beside Lily and described what they planned to do next.
“So Lily, are you in or out?” Gael asked.
“I’m in! Just tell me what to do. Are you sure Mama’s in the camp?” There was a catch in her voice.
“There’s no guarantees but we’ll find out where she went if she isn’t. In the meantime, you better be ready for the midnight express,” Pepper said. “You look exhausted. How about I give you a massage and you try to sleep?”
“What about the elixir?” Lily asked hopefully.
“Not now,” Gael said. “After all the months you’ve had the illness, the prakinroot could knock you out for eight to ten hours and you’d miss all the fun.”
Once Lily was settled in Pepper’s room, Gael and Pepper welcomed various dignitaries and specialists in the main part of the suite. They handed out enough prakinroot elixir to treat every person in Rosemoor County known to be suffering from Waking Illness. They handed over a week’s supply, hoping it would be enough.
Gael accepted the presents given to her by the local people and permitted many photos to be taken by the town’s photographer. When she’d given the dignitaries and other healers enough time to be seen as accommodating, she politely and firmly closed the world out of the suite.
Gael looked at her CommBand. “We should try to get some rest before we head out tonight.”
“Do the guards know our plans?” Pepper’s voice trembled, a mixture of anticipation and worry.
“I’ve ordered them to take shifts, resting in between. I’ve told them I want a team of fresh drivers ready to go at any time at a second’s notice. They are to work out for themselves how they arrange that.”
She patted Pepper’s arm and waved her through to her own room.
“And now it’s time for us to get some rest so we can sneak out of here the minute the rest of this town turns off its lights.”
* * *
At midnight Pepper’s alarm woke her and Lily. The light from under the door said that Gael was already up. Within minutes, the three of them had packed their small bags and were ready to go. Gael and Pepper wore the denim skirts and knee-high boots that allowed them easier movement than the sloppy midi-dresses. Gael had sewn three more patches on Pepper’s skirt and supplied her with three more herbal mixes.
Lily looked at Pepper’s denim skirt longingly but insisted on wearing her usual Handbook-prescribed sack. Her only act of defiance was stuffing her modesty cap into her bag.
While the sisters looked around to make sure they weren’t leaving anything important behind, Gael contacted the guards and told them to bring the cars out front, fueled for a twenty-four-hour trip. They had fifteen minutes to be ready.
Pepper packed food into the travel chests while Gael braided Lily’s hair.
As Gael worked, she recapped her other preparations or as she called it, The Official Cover Story. “I contacted Kai last night and told him that there’s another case of joint pain plus the usual Waking Illness symptoms in the next town as well. I said it would be negligent not to check it out while I was so close.”
“Is there?” Lily asked.
“I’m sure there must be. I was speaking more from my experience with the disease than any confirmed facts.”
“Did Kai accept that?” Pepper asked.
“He did. Mind you I woke him up after an entire day of military exercises. He may have wanted to get back to sleep more than he wanted to talk to me.” She grinned.
“What about when he gets up in the morning?”
“For some reason Kai got the impression we were headed to Littington. He knows we’re going with a full security detail, so he didn’t sound concerned.”
Pepper grinned. She’d expected the princess to be aloof, maybe a bit judgmental of someone like her. The last thing she’d expected was the princess to be lending her rank and privilege to an effort to find out if Pepper’s mother was alive.
When a guard knocked at the door to let them know that the convoy was ready, the three women filed downstairs silently, not wanting to wake anyone, particularly anyone with a connection to Quinn who might figure out where they were headed and why.
Their destination wasn’t shared with the guards until Pepper had guided them to the far side of Rosemoor. At that point they stopped the vehicles and Gael had the guards stand in formation in front of her. Pepper sensed that Gael was establishing her authority as much as anything. She told the guards they were on a top-secret mission, under her authority as crown princess of Senne. Under no circumstances were there to be any communications with anyone outside their three vehicles. She implied that retribution for disobedience would be fearful, even though Pepper and she had discussed the fact that Gael had no legal jurisdiction in Elsinania.
When they piled back into the rides, the only address supplied to the leader was geographic coordinates to take him partway to their true destination. After that they fed him piecemeal details. The plan was to release information slowly on a need-to-know basis.
Gael insisted they travel at higher than usual altitude for the journey, which let them move twice as fast as normal.
As they sailed toward their destination, Pepper kept imagining what Quinn’s reaction to this escapade would be. She remembered the paddle he’d used the night before she left and how it had made her jump and howl with pain. Yes, he’d use that again for sure. Probably she’d have to sit on the horrid tulip chair every day for a week.
Or maybe, just maybe, her heroism in rescuing her mother would impress him so much, he’d simply lay her down on his big bed and tease her to the orgasm a conquering hero deserved.
Probably not.
She forced herself not to contemplate the punishment she’d face for this adventure. If she thought about that, she wouldn’t have the nerve to keep going. The only way to avoid that now would be to tell Gael that she couldn’t go through with it. She’d have to insist that they turn around and that would be an unbearable loss of face after confiding how Quinn’s punishments made her feel safe. So she sat back and asked Gael questions about life on Senne, determined to focus on the answers and not worry about how much her backside would suffer when she got back to Rosewyld.
By dawn, they were on the far side of Littington, traveling over a thick forest. Beyond the forest was a jagged mountain range that pierced the sky above the tree line. The peaks stretched as far as the eye could see. The temperature in the ride chilled with the altitude. The land below was so hostile, Pepper shivered.
“We are in the middle of nowhere,” she said.
Gael reached and squeezed her hand. “Don’t worry. My family’s castle is set on the far side of an inhospitable range like this. The mountains create a natural fortress, discouraging transient visitors.”
Pepper clutched Gael’s hand for comfort. With long slender fingers, it looked like the delicate hand of a cosseted princess but, as Pepper had discovered when they first met, Gael’s hands were muscular and slightly rough. She was accustomed to hard work.
Gael rubbed Pepper’s hand between her two. “If the camp was a normal prison situation, it would be heavily guarded and well-fortified. By placing it out here, the sheer remoteness of it is a large part of its security. It’s a smart strategy.”
Pepper enjoyed the trip over the endless peaks until, at long last, a valley stretched out in front of them. As they descended, trees again filled the landscape. Rivers and creeks ran down from the mountain before being hidden under forest canopies. Soon the forest gave way to rolling farmland that filled the valley. The sun was just breaking
over the land and birds were rising from their overnight roosts. There, squatting on the hill at the rise to the distant embankment of mountains, stood a huge stoned fortress. It was an ancient walled city, surrounded by a moat.
Gael clapped her hands. “Yes! Just as I hoped. And look,” she said, “there is only one road to and from the fortress. Your friend in Rosewyld came through! We’ve found the Healing and Rehabilitation Camp.” She laughed victoriously. “And it looks remarkably like my castle territory in Senne, only farther away still.”
Gael lowered the privacy screen and told the guards to dock at the front gates. On a tower above the walls, a flag flapped in the gentle breeze. It had the image of a two gender-neutral figures holding hands on a heart-shaped background: the sign that a healer was in residence. Other than that, there were no other indications of what this place was or who inhabited it.
The crop fields were fallow for the coming winter. Cows, sheep, and one enormous devsow, a pig as big as a cow, grazed in open paddocks. As the three hover vehicles glided down to park, the shepherd minding the animals rose to his feet. Two working dogs lay on the ground with their bright eyes fixed on the livestock.
The rides parked in a neat row beside a sentry box on the outside of the moat. The three women and seven guards got out and stretched. Inside the towering stone walls, a large bell was clanging furiously. A drawbridge was lowered over the moat as they watched. The camp gates creaked open but a heavy iron portcullis remained closed behind it. A crowd was gathering on the far side of it.
A tall, dark-haired man with pale blue skin worked his way through the chattering mob. He wore a white lab coat with diagnostic instruments poking out of its pockets. Holding up his arms in a quietening gesture, he addressed the crowd. “Quiet, please. I need to talk to our visitors.”
Gael didn’t miss a beat. As the man approached them, she waved the guards out of her away and walked toward him so they were only inches apart, separated by iron bars.
She lifted her chin and spoke in a haughty manner. “I’m Crown Princess Gael Vasa from the country of Senne.”
The tall man bowed and the people behind him copied his gesture.
“Your highness,” the man said. “I’m Doctor Axel Mekhi, the founder of the Healing and Rehabilitation Camp. We are honored to have you here. Is it too much to hope that you may have brought some of your prakinroot elixir with you?”
“Our hover-rides are loaded with it. I’ve also brought seeds that we may sow in your considerable fields.”
“This is very good news,” he said before yelling at the guard in the tower over the gate. “Raise the portcullis!”
While they waited for entry to the camp, Pepper scanned the mob behind the doctor. Her chest tightened when she could find neither Mama nor Anna in the many faces swarming in front of them. This couldn’t be everyone in the camp, she reassured herself. Now that they were inside the fortress, it proved to be a sizeable town with three main buildings, several stories high, surrounded by clusters of small houses and yards. To their right was what looked like the commercial center of the complex: a cobblestone street lined with small shops. Hand-painted signs advertised their wares.
As Pepper watched, people of all species and colors gathered behind the doctor. There were Devmaereans, Kedrants, humans in their rainbow shades, and all mixtures in between. Most looked well. Some had slightly unhealthy color. A few walked with aids like canes and crutches. They were all dressed like sector captains in gray fatigue pants and black shirts, even the women. Different status and ranks were indicated by shoulder flashes. When a few shadows flitted at the back of the crowd, she squinted, hoping to see her mother. People moved and shifted around, obscuring any hope she had of seeing the elusive figures.
The Tribunal guards from Rosewyld had donned their protective gear and picked up their long arms. They fanned out around Pepper, Gael, and Lily, keeping the curious at bay. When the portcullis was raised and locked into place, the crowd behind the doctor didn’t move. They stood waiting, to take their cue from Axel. He was calm, unconcerned. Quickly the crowd imitated his mood and muted their excited conversation.
Pepper stood, grateful for the guards who kept the mob at bay.
Gael leaned forward to speak confidentially with the doctor. “I’ve brought you prakinroot elixir and will sow seeds so you can grow your own.” She fixed the doctor with a pleading look. “But may I ask you to help us. My dear friends, Pepper and Lily Thornback, hope to be reunited with their mother, Bernadette Alberta Thornback. We understand she is in residence here.”
“Yes, Sister Bernadette—or Bernie as I call her—is an essential member of our team,” Axel said smoothly as he looked Pepper up and down. “Sister Pepper Thornback, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” He held out his hand to her. “I heard you might be joining us.”
“Really?” Pepper asked, ignoring the spider chills that crept down her spine, as she freed her hand from his crushing grip.
“You’re reputed to be an even better therapist than your gifted mother.” Axel beamed and glanced at his CommBand. “Bernie is our top healer but she’s in a therapy session at this time. We can go and wait for her at the Quarantine Center.”
Pepper wondered if Quinn had known where her mother was and had told the doctor he might be bringing her here to visit. She’d think about that later, particularly its implication about Quinn.
Axel indicated the way and the crowd parted to let the women and their security detail pass. The doctor led them through a maze of cobbled streets to the inner reaches of the compound and stopped at a tall stone wall that was topped with razor-toothed iron spikes. A sign reading Quarantine Center hung over its wide iron gates. He touched his hand to a bio-reader and the gates opened. Axel waved the women in, pointing to two guards randomly.
“You and you may come in. This is a small facility and I don’t want our new arrivals frightened by a troop of armed personnel, something they won’t see in their normal lives here. Leave your firearms outside.”
“Wrong.” Gael crossed her arms over her chest. “They will come with me. Armed.”
She and Axel stared at each other for a minute before he conceded with a slight nod of his head. Gael ordered the other guards to go back to their vehicles, secure their firearms, and unload the prakinroot elixir.
While the remaining guards attended to her orders, Pepper, Gael, and Lily filed inside the quarantine compound. They stood on a sidewalk on the edge of a small park. There was a lawn, big enough for a badminton game but not for soccer. Flower beds with orange and yellow flowers bordered it. Four single-story houses surrounded the park. They all had wide porches with wicker furniture and planters overflowing with herbs and red geraniums and blue raskin flowers. The cottages looked cozy and inviting.
At the far end of the park was a small, flat-roofed white building. It had large double wooden doors. Its frosted front windows didn’t give away any secrets of what lay inside. The words Healing Cottage were handwritten in tall red letters above the doorway.
Axel looked at the women’s reactions and grinned. “When people learn they are being transported to the Healing and Rehabilitation Camp, their first reaction is fear—if they’re even conscious when the transport happens. They arrive, having left behind all that is familiar, sometimes dreading a torturous incarceration.” His voice sounded wounded as though it personally hurt him that new arrivals would think so badly of his facility. He waved at the small wooden building in front of them. “This center is their first stop, where we try to make their orientation as pleasant as possible while we investigate how serious their symptoms are.”
He dug in the deep pocket of his lab coat and distributed surgical masks to the visitors.
“You’re not wearing one?” Pepper asked, pulling one over her face.
“I’ve been here for so long, nothing as simple as disease is going to carry me off.”
He glanced at his CommBand. “Bernie won’t be finished for a few minutes. Would you like to
see the accommodation for our new arrivals?”
They murmured yes and followed Axel for a tour. All four of the houses were two-bedroom bungalows with luxurious en suite bathrooms, furnished far more comfortably than anything in Rosemoor, but not quite as lavishly as the houses Pepper had seen in Rosewyld.
When they were done, they sat on the wicker furniture on the porch closest to the Healing Cottage. Lily stared at the front door as if she could make her mother appear by the sheer intensity of her focus.
“How many people are in quarantine now?” Pepper’s head was still spinning from the sheer numbers of people who’d thronged them at the gates.
“In quarantine? Only one at the moment. We’re expecting more as the weather gets colder and the Waking Illness takes a stronger hold.” Axel looked at his CommBand, distracted by a new message. “Ah, Bernie is free now. Would you like to go in and surprise her?”
Chapter Twenty-Four: Lost and Found
“Yes!” Lily chirped.
Pepper smiled at her happiness but remained seated for a second. If there was only one person in quarantine, why had it mattered how many guards had come in with them? She decided that Axel must be erring on the side of caution for the sake of that one new arrival and let the question go.
“Please come with us,” Pepper said to Gael. “Mama will want to meet you, I’m sure.” Pepper resisted saying, if it wasn’t for you and your royal status, we wouldn’t have made it this far.
Gael hesitated, looking at Axel, then back at the guards as if she was summing up the situation.
“Okay,” she said cautiously. “But I’ll hang back. I don’t want to distract from this precious moment.”
Pepper shook so badly as she reached for the brass handle of the cottage door, she had to open it with both hands. The three women stepped into a waiting room that welcomed them with thick carpets, low elegant sofas, a wall of books, and soft recessed lighting.
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