Chapter 60

 

This chapter has been copied from the original and may contain typos and grammatical errors.

~*~

Blake looked at the gently breathing figure of Gloria laying in the bed, a frown on her face as if she were having bad dreams. “How long will she sleep?”

“Probably a day or two more,” the seer nonchalantly took off her shoes and plopped down on the couch.

“She’s already been sleeping for three days already!” he jerked his head towards her.

She shrugged. “It was a bit more powerful of a charm than I thought. I got caught up in the moment. Can you blame me? It was a rousing occasion.” She stretched her arms over her head. “That charm does more than make her sleep though, you should be thanking me.”

“What do you mean?” he asked. “Why should I be thanking you?”

She snorted “It’ll make you a hero.”

“This isn’t a fairytale, a kiss won’t wake her up. And after her reaction to the death of that man...” Blake looked skeptical.

“No, but the sparkle to that charm is that it causes forgetfulness.” She conjured a glass of wine. “She won’t remember what happened that night, or that she’s angry with you. You can make up any story you want to fill in her blanks. You should-” she smirked and took a sip from the glass. “thank me.”

“I can thank you when we get to the palace,” he said, walking away from the bed. “You never named your price.”

“I haven’t decided my price, but I’m getting a good idea of what it will be.” The corner of her mouth inched upwards, making Blake’s spine crawl. What was he going to have to give her in exchange for her assistance? He felt like he had made a deal with the devil.

He sighed and sat down on the other end of the couch. “You said I didn’t need the other man, but you didn’t say anything about the boy. Why is he important? Who is he?”

“That would be telling, child.”

Blake set his jaw and tried not to yell. He didn’t like not being in control of a situation. He wanted to know all the cards in the deck and who had each card so that he could plan ahead and come out on top. If he didn’t know what was coming or who to pressure, he was a player in someone else’s game instead of his own.

“Relax, child. You’re still in charge of… most people. It’s a rare person indeed who can read minds, and decades to hone the gift that most mortals don’t have the time for. Or patience.”

“What were they doing?” he wondered aloud. “What happened since she was thrown in the river? Was she captured? Did the two men harm her? Why was she so upset when I killed the other man? If they forced her to do something…. But then why would she be upset over his death?”

The seer raised an eyebrow, then took another sip. It was obvious she wasn’t going to help him and as much as he wanted to know what had happened for those two months, he knew he couldn’t get any answers right now. Focusing on what was happening presently may help his head to stop spinning. “You’re sure that the boy can’t get out?” he asked.

“I’m quite sure. When I bind the entrances of the tent and the cabin, anything that’s in the tent can’t exit through that portway. And since the tent only has one entrance, and he’s quite tied up, I doubt he’ll be able to get through the canvas.” She sipped from her wine again. “Like a cat in a bag.”

“Maybe we’ll get some answers from him when we reach the palace. I’m going to find out what happened, and they will pay for any harm that came to Gloria ten fold.”

~*~

Midshore shivered as she walked down the road. She hadn't stopped shivering for days now, and it felt like she was getting colder. At least she knew which direction she was going now, based off of the position of the sun, but she was dismayed to find out she had been walking south, not north.

It had been years since she had been to the mainland, a lifetime ago, really. It had been a different time, when she had been trained by the underground alliance of witches. Beatrice had been a part of that circle, and while Midshore hadn't been fond of the woman who bred frogs, she still came politely for tea a few times. That was before the inquisition by the Church.

She had forgotten how cold it could get here. The fashions of the Islands were far different than those of the mainland as well, and whenever she walked through a settlement she got weird looks as though she were a woman of loose morals. Then again, being married to a woman was probably considered loose morals, too.

Still, she looked different, and she was freezing. She needed new clothes. She had packed some money that she had kept tucked away in case she ever had to return to the mainland, even though it was forbidden once you had the rebirth ceremony. She was breaking so many laws right now, she couldn't even count them. But just because she was breaking some laws, didn't mean she was going to steal clothes. Hopefully the next town north would have a clothes shop.

~*~

Montoya's breath caught in his chest. He smiled, trying to not show his alarm, but even at his age, with all of the court drama he'd seen over the years, and all the bad news he'd received over those years, he was having a hard time acting natural and enthusiastic.

"That's wonderful news, my king!" he congratulated. "It's been forever since we had some good news, and the heir alive and well is the news of the year! How long until they arrive?"

"Lucian says they should be here in a week. They've hired a carriage and a prison wagon. He says that he's bringing back a prisoner as well, who was with my daughter on the island they were found on." he recited from the letter before him.

"I look forward to meeting her." Montoya looked down at his food, trying to remember his hunger he had had two minutes ago. This was exactly what he hadn't wanted to hear. Gloria was supposed to find her way home, not be brought back here.

He finished his dinner and excused himself, his stomach in knots. He felt like he had eaten too much, and that snakes were wriggling around beneath his lungs.

He waited until the house was quiet and the king was fast asleep for the night. He fell asleep earlier these days; his age was catching up with him and he rested more.

He wrapped up in a jacket and with shaking hands he tied his boots. A walk wouldn't be suspicious, and the guards tended to be lazy the further away from the king they got. Once upon a time he would have reprimanded them for slacking and slouching, but as he got older Montoya let more and more things slide. He didn't need to be hard all the time.

The air hurt his lungs as he breathed, and the snow crunched under his boots. He wanted to hold his head high as he walked, but he also didn't want to slip on any ice that had formed, so he shoved his hands in his pockets and trudged forward.

"Sir, it's a bit late for you to be out here, isn't it?" one of the new recruits asked. What was his name? Martin?

"Dinner isn't sitting well with me, lad. I thought maybe if I got a bit of a stroll in it would move through the pipes better." Montoya gave his stomach a pat and kept walking.

"Alright, sir. Watch your step out there." He was respectful at least, that was good in a guard.

Montoya waited until he was out of view and then broke into a jog to get to the cabin. He didn't worry about the footprints he was leaving, the inhabitants were his family after all, no one would wonder why there was a path leading there.

He pounded on the door, and he saw a lamp light, then Romeo's head peak out the window. Recognition sparked on his face, and he opened the door, ushering Montoya in.

"I'll stoke the fire," he said, setting more wood on the fire. Anwyn and Liam came out of the bedroom, wiping sleep from their eyes.

"It's late, Montoya. What do you need?" Liam asked, the words rolling around in his mouth like cotton.

"Your daughter is on her way to the palace. Lucian Blake has found her, and they're on their way back. The estimated arrival time is about a week, travelling by carriage. They have a prisoner with them, someone who was with your daughter when she was found." he sat down, agitation in every line of his body. "What's the plan?"

Anwyn looked like she was shook, Liam's jaw was set as he wracked his brain, and Romeo worried his fingers. "At least we know she's alright now," Anwyn said without any conviction.

"But she was never supposed to make it this far, to this point!" Liam shouted, and he kicked the wall. "How are we going to get her out of there? The king will never let her out of his sight,"

"Montoya, you're in charge of the guards, can't you weaken the guard and make it easier for us to slip her out?" Romeo asked.

"The king trumps anything I say, and I'm sure that he'll order guards to watch her at all times. Nothing I could say would change that, and they would wonder why I was trying to change what the king ordered. It would bring suspicion to me."

"We have a week until she arrives, we'll have to come up with something." Liam rubbed his face, feeling his cheekbones and beard under his fingers.

Sorry that this chapter took a bit longer to post, I wanted the ball to keep rolling after the climax but I figured I should start to build up again and that requires slowing down. I visualize it as a pyramid; I have to place the base first before I can build the rest of it, and with each climax I have to build a new platform.

If there were any typos, I didn't give my editor friend enough time to go over it, so it's wholly my fault. As always, your comments keep me going, so let me know if you thought anything at all!

TTFN!