Horse Charmer (5 page)

"Princess Cassia," Torr responded with a small bow, both he and Erich standing as the ladies did.

The chambermaid led them down multiple hallways and up several flights of stairs before they saw the small group of Karahan guards clustered in the hallway. They snapped to attention at the sight of their princess and queen.

"Madam Celeste," Maconahay said, "is waiting for you." He motioned to the door behind him.

"Thank you, Captain." Sarahann led the way into the room.

A small crowd awaited them. Cassia and Sarahann's handmaidens, Mistress Witen and the boys, and two Karahan guards out of uniform. The only reason Cassia knew they were guards was because she'd seen them talking with her father many times. The crowd was completed by two ladies Cassia didn't recognize.

The two guards stood, set their tea cups on the table, and bowed.

"What do you have to report, Captain Kenrick?" Sarahann said without preamble.

Kenrick, the senior of the two guards, glanced to the two strangers in the room. Sarahann followed his gaze to the two women standing nervously together.

"How may I help you?" Sarahann asked.

"I'm Madam Celeste, the seamstress," said the more elegant of the pair of red heads. "This is my assistant, Lola."

"Of course." Sarahann gestured to her handmaiden. "Jenica, where would you suggest Madame Celeste set up?'

"Cassia's bedchamber should do nicely," Jenica said, stepping from her customary position by the serving table. She traveled well just like her mistress and her simple green dress matched her eyes and looked like it had just been pressed.

"Would you help her get ready?" Sarahann said. "You know where the dress is? I'll send Princess Cassia in a moment."

"Yes, Your Highness," Jenica said as she headed back into the hallway. Celeste and Lola followed.

"Witen," Sarahann said. "Perhaps you could settle the boys into one of the rooms." Sarahann turned to Ula and Yaffa. "Set up the princess's room."

They bowed and hurried out of the small sitting room.

"Now." Sarahann turned to Kenrick. "What have you learned?"

"They know nothing for sure," Kenrick said, his command presence clearly showing he was a high ranking Captain within the Karahan Guard. "There's been no sign of Talent Westleigh. Both of us have searched the town and castle grounds to no avail. According to the gate guards they were unaware King Robet and Talent Westleigh had even left the grounds. Let alone why. We questioned and searched where it occurred."

Cassia stepped closer. This was the first time she had heard anyone really discuss the circumstances of her father's death. She was shocked Sarahann hadn't sent her out of the room as well.

"It's in the poorer section of the town," Kenrick reported. "The alley led to a seedy pub which isn't easy to find unless you're looking for it."

"Why was he there?" Sarahann asked.

"We haven't been able to ascertain that, Your Highness," Kenrick said. "We searched his rooms here in hopes of finding some information, but there was nothing by the time we got here."

"Are you suggesting King Erich's people removed the information?" Sarahann asked.

The two guards glanced at each other. "No, Your Highness. The Vesperan Guard, though slightly put out, has cooperated with us fully and we haven't been able to find any fault in their investigation. "

"So, we still know nothing," Sarahann said in frustration.

"You didn't find anything?" Cassia asked quietly.

Sarahann looked at her in surprise like she'd forgotten Cassia was in the room.

Kenrick shook his head. "There are no witnesses, we scoured the neighborhood and beyond, no one saw anything. We haven't even found anyone who saw them leave the castle grounds."

"There's got to be something," Sarahann said.

"Just the absence of Talent Westleigh," Guard Nolan said. His lean frame made Cassia wonder if he could even hold the massive sword hanging at his waist.

"What do you make of that?' Sarahann asked.

Kenrick was silent for a moment. "I don't know. We should have found him whether he's alive or dead. No one just vanishes. His horse is unaccounted for as well."

"I wasn't aware of that," Sarahann said.

"King Robet's was found tied to the hitching post closest to the pub," Kenrick said. "Talent Westleigh's was not and it wasn't in the castle stable. He must have taken it with him wherever he went."

"Do we know for sure that Talent Westleigh was with His Majesty?" Sarahann asked.

"No," Kenrick said.

"What of the Karahan guards who were with him?" Sarahann asked.

"They saw nothing," Kenrick said. "I questioned them extensively. I can find no hint of treachery."

Sarahann paced away in frustration. "You've found nothing."

Kenrick kneeled down. "I'm sorry I've failed you, My Queen."

Cassia didn't understand how nothing could have been found. How could they not know who killed her father and why he'd been out of the castle? It wasn't like a king could go anywhere without being noticed.

"You must find Talent Westleigh." Sarahann turned back to him.

Kenrick looked up. "We'll intensify the search."

"Take who you need from the guardsmen," Sarahann said, dismissing them with her hand. "I want answers, Captain Kenrick."

Both men bowed first to Sarahann and then to Cassia before they exited the room.

Sarahann sighed. "You'd think they would have discovered something."

Cassia didn't know what to say. It was hard to think past him being gone. Let alone who had taken him and why. She began to get angry at that thought. Someone had taken him from her. They'd stabbed him in the back and left him to die.

"How can no one know anything?" Cassia finally spoke up. "Why did he go out? There has to be a reason."

"Yes, there does." Sarahann paced about the room. "But we have other things to think of. Go to your chambers and get Madame Celeste started. She has very little time to get your gown ready."

Cassia chaffed at the bit. She didn't want to be a pin cushion. She wanted to figure out who had killed her father and why, but she bowed her head obediently and left the room. The group of guards saluted her.

"Which one?" Cassia asked.

"The door on the right," Maconahay said with a grin as he escorted her to her room. "Let us know if you need anything."

"I will, Captain." Cassia attempted to give him a smile in thanks.

CHAPTER FIVE

Cassia entered her room and was yet again greeted with a crowd. Not only was the seamstress, the assistant and handmaidens there, but Witen and her two brothers were as well. The boys raced around the room.

"They wanted to see you," Witen said in explanation.

Tully and Faolan ran to her and she nearly catapulted backward as they grabbed onto her skirts, chattering excitedly.

"Hold on," Cassia said. "I can't understand you if you're both talking at once."

Tully pulled on her hand. "Look out your window." Cassia allowed him to tug her forward. "Our room is right next door."

"We are soooo high," Faolan said as he took her other hand.

She obediently followed them and looked out. The windows faced out and away from the mountain and over the valley giving the illusion the rooms were in the sky. Cassia leaned forward pressing her head against the glass to look down. She could just make out the front gate and courtyard. A stable sat inside to the left with a small gate open to the servants' wagons.

"Don't you think?" Faolan tugged on her hand.

"Yes, we're very high." She kneeled down to their level and pointed. "But look, see how the floor of the valley slopes away from the gate. We actually aren't as high as it seems."

"We're on the top floor," Tully said importantly. "Captain Maconahay said the roof is the only thing above us."

"Captain Maconahay would know."

Cassia stared out the window again, glad she wasn't afraid of heights at least, normally she wasn't, but looking down a feeling of separation and smallness wound its way inside her. She was relieved Maconahay and his guards already knew the lay of the land. Though she had to wonder at how quickly they'd performed the task. She hadn't thought she was with Erich for that long.

"Princess," Celeste said her back ramrod straight as she stepped forward. "I don't wish to hurry you, but we don't have a lot of time."

Tully made a face.

"She's right," Cassia said. "You boys need to return to your room with Mistress Witen."

They groaned as Witen gathered them up and left the room with them.

"I'm at your disposal, Madame Celeste," Cassia said as Ula and Yaffa hurried over to begin unlacing and unbuttoning the traveling gown she wore.

 As night began to descend outside her chamber window, she stood on the little table pinned into her mother's dress. She was of the impression it would have been easier to start from scratch as her mother was about a foot and half taller and had much larger breasts.

The breast area seemed to be what caused the most trouble for the seamstress, but with a sound of encouragement she announced she would be able to make the bodice fit Cassia nicely without the alterations being obvious. She pulled the dress off once again and Madame Celeste began working almost fanatically on it.

Cassia decided that this was the perfect opportunity to escape for a bit. She was going stir crazy. First, she'd sat cooped up in the carriage, and now, she stood in this room for several hours without a single break.

"I have some other things I need to do if you can spare me, Madame Celeste," Cassia said.

Celeste glanced at her in alarm and jumped up. "Oh, of course, Your Highness, I have quite a bit of work to do before I'll need you again."

Cassia shook her head at the dress Yaffa held up. "Something simpler."

"This is it," Yaffa said quietly.

Cassia sighed as Yaffa and Ula tied her into the yellow gown.

"You go, Yaffa," Ula said. "I'll stay with Madame Celeste and see to anything she needs."

"What?" Cassia stopped as she was about to dart out the door.

Ula and Yaffa shared an uneasy look.

"Queen Sarahann's orders," Ula said. "No one's to wander alone."

Cassia frowned at them. The "no one" really referred to her. She shrugged. It wasn't like she was sneaking out. She just needed a break and wanted to explore a bit. Maybe talk to some people. Of course, who was she kidding? If the royal guards hadn't found out any information, it wasn't likely she'd be able to.

The door silently opened at Cassia's tug. The Karahan guards had their backs to her.

"It's got to be Julyan," Nolan said. "We haven't found any trace of Talent Westleigh."

"I thought Westleigh was loyal," Maconahay said, "but people closer than him have killed kings. It would be easier for everyone concerned if Westleigh did it on his own."

"What do you mean?" said Guard Sanford, barely eighteen and freshly added to the royal guard.

"We need Julyan and his Talents," Maconahay said. "If he's behind this I can't imagine what would happen if Karah went to war with the Guild."

"Who says we'd have to go to war with the Guild?" Nolan said. "Just take Julyan out."

Maconahay laughed. "Like you could get close enough to him. Julyan didn't rise to power without a drop of royal blood because he's a nice man."

"I still don't like it," Sanford said.

Maconahay sighed. "She's got to marry him. There's no way around it."

"We don't know that Vespera wasn't involved," Sanford said stubbornly.

"Trust me," Maconahay said. "If there was any hint they were involved in assassinating our king, Princess Cassia would not be marrying a Vesperan prince."

Nolan rolled his eyes and shifted so he was staring directly at Cassia. He snapped to attention. "Your Highness."

Maconahay and Samson spun around to look at her, aghast.

"Please continue," Cassia said, and she meant it. She wanted to know what they knew and not what her mother decided she should know.

Maconahay looked sharply at both men. "What can we do for you, Princess?"

She sighed. They wouldn't continue with her present. "I need a walk."

"I'd be happy to escort you," Maconahay said.

She raised an eyebrow in challenge. "No unescorted walks."

"I'm afraid not, Your Highness," he answered.

"The Vesperans are our allies." She pointed out to see what he would say.

Maconahay shrugged. "Where would you like to go, Princess?"

Cassia looked around the hallway and noticed for the first time there were only the three of them. "Where are the rest of the guards, Captain?"

"Various duties. I sent the other three assigned here down to the kitchen to get something to eat."

"That sounds like a plan, Captain," she said.

Maconahay nodded and led the way down the hallway and through the maze until they'd reached the kitchen on the ground floor. The layout of the hallways and stares were entirely different from Castle Karah, but somehow the castles looked the same.

"If you'll allow me, Princess?" Yaffa asked anxiously.

Cassia nodded. She wasn't really surprised that Yaffa and Maconahay weren't going to allow her into the kitchen.

"Don't stray far," Maconahay called after Yaffa as she went down the final hallway to the kitchen.

"So, how well do you know the lay of the land?" Cassia asked out of curiosity.

"Just the basics."

"Have you been here before?"

Maconahay shook his head. Yaffa hurried back out carrying a basket.

"Some fruit, bread and cheese," Yaffa hoisted the basket up, "and a jug of wine to wash it down."

"Thank you, Yaffa." She smiled at Yaffa's enthusiasm. She wasn't particularly hungry, but it had seemed a good enough excuse to get out of her chamber. Cassia hesitated. She wasn't ready to go back to her room. "Where are we?"

Yaffa frowned in confusion.

"On the north side against the mountain," Maconahay answered. "Let's go on back up."

Cassia dragged her feet to make the trip back up the flight of stairs and several hallways take as long as possible. She sighed when the Karahan guards came into sight. The three others still hadn't returned.

"I'll be right in, Yaffa," Cassia said, "if you could set up the meal."

"Yes, Your Highness." Yaffa curtsied and ducked back into her chamber.

Cassia waited for the door to close before turning on Maconahay. His easy smile was absent and he watched her warily.

"I want you to tell me everything you know, Captain," she demanded.

Maconahay looked at Nolan and Samson who were staring at them. He cleared his throat and led Cassia deeper into the hallway where a small staircase went up to the roof. She barely glanced at it before turning back to him.

"Well?" she asked.

"Your Highness…" he hesitated.

"Don't 'your highness' me." Cassia stepped up to poke Maconhay in the chest. Since he was over six feet, she had to look way up to glare at him. It was good that he was so large when it came to protecting her, but when it came to trying to intimidate him it put her at a distinct disadvantage.

He sighed. "I'm not involved in the investigation, Princess. My job is to keep you safe. That's what I focus on."

"You know I heard you talking."

Maconahay looked to his men and back to her. "The men talk. Rumors fly, but that's what most of it is, just rumors."

"Then tell me the rumors."

"Rumors aren't going to help." He let out a breath at her mutinous expression. "All right, there are basically two trains of thought. One is Julyan ordered Westleigh to kill your father. The other is King Erich had your father killed."

"But why?" Cassia asked, surprised by his plain talk. He was the first to just lay it out in such a simple and brutal manner.

"They're rumors, Your Highness. There's no logic to them."

"People don't believe something without a reason. Why would either of them want to kill my father?"

"Power? I don't know."

She sighed. "You have to be just as difficult as the advisors."

"You should return to your chambers, Your Highness."

Cassia crossed her arms. "Not until you tell me something useful."

He was silent for a moment. "Julyan and Robet were arguing over the contract for Talent being sent to Karah."

Cassia uncrossed her arms. "No one said anything about that."

"Contracts are always being negotiated. Sometimes the negotiations can become heated."

"I'm aware of that, Captain." She didn't need him to lecture her on castle politics. That she understood very well. What she didn't understand was how a murder investigation was conducted. "Who told you about the problems?"

"I overheard two Talents speaking about it in the courtyard before we left."

"Did you tell Captain Kenrick?"

"Yes, Your Highness. I informed Advisor Eb and Captain Kenrick. They were already aware of the negotiations. His Highness was in stand-still negotiations with both the Guild and Vespera."

"Except he signed the treaty with Vespera just before his death," she said with a frown.

"So, I've heard." Maconahay bowed his head in acknowledgement.

"It doesn't make sense."

Her father had always spoken of the Talent Guild with respect. She tried to think of what she knew about Julyan or the Guild and found it wasn't much.

"Have you met Julyan?" Cassia asked.

"No, Your Highness. Very few have the privilege of meeting him. I hear he rarely leaves the Guild lands."

She felt like she should know something and tried to remember what exactly was bothering her. "Has he been to Karah?"

"I wasn't told if he was," he said with a shrug.

She chewed on her lip. She had the strongest feeling she had met Julyan at some point, but she couldn't call the memory up. She didn't have any idea when it would have occurred let alone where it happened. Yet, this insistence she knew him, knew what he looked like, was there.

"What does he look like?" she asked.

"They say he's tall and dark. He can handle himself with weapons, but as I said, he rarely travels from the Guild."

It wasn't a good description. Cassia sighed. She couldn't even recall what he looked like. She'd have to ask her mother when she'd met Julyan of the Guild. "Is the queen in her quarters?"

Maconahay glanced at the door and back at her. "Her Highness went down to meet with King Erich a short time before you came out."

"Why?" Cassia asked in alarm. She didn't want her mother and King Erich plotting about her.

"I wasn't informed. I dispatched two guards with her when the Vesperan escort came to fetch her."

"Take me to them." She walked swiftly back down the hallway following the route they had taken.

"Your Highness." Maconahay caught up with her. The three missing guards reappeared at that moment having finished their meal. They nodded at Maconahay and bowed quickly to their princess. They had to jump out of her way as she plowed on down the hallway. "Giles and Rutley, you're with me. The rest stay here 'til I get back."

Two of the absent guards spun and followed after Maconhay and Cassia. Cassia continued even though she had no idea where she was going. She had a general idea of where the main stairs were and she figured she would choose from there. The urgency which gripped her didn't make sense, but she was tired of everyone orchestrating her actions.