ROAD TO CORDIA (33 page)

     “But Lord Raptor?  Is Cancordia to be at the mercy of a traitor who gives false reports to his Queen? To be at the mercy of a traitor who dispatches the militia on a wild gundi chase so he can move in his own private army.” Her voice had risen; her fists were clenched. “To be at the mercy of a traitor who murdered his Queen?”

     Now everybody was talking at once. The volume rose as each tried to make himself heard. The Council members sat frozen as if struck by glacier light.

     The sound of the gong was heard at the same time as Lord Raptor bellowed, “Silence!”    Whether responding to the gong or Lord Raptor, people stopped talking. Princess Lil’Li was still standing, but Lord Raptor took possession of the limelight.

     He began by applauding the Princess with slow deliberation. Then he bowed low and mockingly to her. Finally, he turned to the crowd.

     “Once again, we are presented with the Princess’s hysterical, impulsive and I regret to say, dishonest behavior that we are all familiar with. The child will say anything to get her way. Wild accusations are simply… wild accusations. Where is her proof? There is none, of course, because none of this is true. Imagine being ruled by a Queen who does not hesitate to accuse me, one of Cancordia’s leading nobles, of treason. Who among you will be safe?”

     There was an agreeing mumer among the crowd.

     Lord Raptor listened to the crowds’ tone and nodded to himself. He was on a roll and he knew it.

     Why doesn’t the Princess offer some proof, thought Ja’Nil?

     The councilman on Princess Lil’Li’s right stood up and spoke in a cold, angry voice to Lord Raptor. “You imprisoned Her Royal Higness, Princess Lil’Li, the Queen Presumptive; an act of treason.”

     “Did I? Who says so? The Princess? Anyone else? Why not ask her companion, Lady Bel’Dor? And if the princess was imprisoned, how did she manage to issue orders to Capt. Y’Nota? How in fact, did she get here? Where are her chains, her guards? Please tell us, your highness, how did you escape from your supposéd cell?”

     The Princess glared at him as the skin on her cheekbones darkened with anger and embarrassment. He waited a moment for her to respond and when she said nothing, he continued. “I am accused of treason and murder. How am I to prove my innocence against these wild accusations? Anyone can accuse anyone of anything. What if I were to say Queen Ten’Aj died at the hands of (he looked deliberately at the princess) … well it could be anyone, couldn’t it?

     Princess Lil’Li stood up. “You wish proof?” she asked.

     “What I wish is to prove myself innocent,” he replied. “But one cannot prove a negative.”

     To Ja’Nil’s amazement, Princess Lil’Li started to wring her hands. “If only Lady

Fayre--”

     Lord Raptor cut her off. “I agree, if only Lady Fayre with her Thread of Truth were here,” he said to the whole room. “I would eagerly submit myself to her judgment and prove my innocence.”

     So that’s why Lord Raptor crumbled Lady Fayre’s ring, Ja’Nil realized. He wasn’t looking for a message. He was looking for the wire that shaped the ring.

     That big, ugly parch½ ring, casually handed over at the last minute, had been the whole point of Lady Fayre sending Ja’Nil to Cordia. For a moment she felt anger at the Lady for using her so callously.

    
What would have happened if I lied while wearing the ring?

      
But her anger was quickly replaced by worry. Is the wire still viable? It had gotten wet, something Lady Fayre had warned her against.

     Hesitantly, Ja’Nil raised her hand. No one seemed to notice.

     “Ahh,” said Ja’Nil. No one seemed to notice.

     “Therefore,” continued Lord Raptor, “I propose --.”

     “I have The Thread of Truth,” said Ja’Nil, in a very small voice. Again, most people did not seem to notice…but some did.

     “What did you say?” asked a man standing near her.

     “I have The Thread of Truth,” said Ja’Nil, still in a small voice. “Lady Fayre gave it to me to deliver to the Queen.” Her voice was growing stronger. All around her, people were quieting down to listen to what she was saying.

     “Why would she do that?” someone asked.

     “The Lady knew there was a traitor here in Cordia,” said Ja’Nil.

     “And that’s why he killed my mother,” Princess Lil’Li cut in. “To prevent being exposed,” said Princess Lil’Li.

     “Another liar,” said Lord Raptor, pointing to Ja’Nil. “She no more has The Thread of Truth than–“

     “Then I can fly?” Ja’Nil asked. To her amazement, he actually looked frightened. Did he really believe she could fly!

     The Earth Person Councilwoman stood up. “Show us,” she ordered Ja’Nil.

     This could all blow up in her face. Still, it felt good not to be Raptor’s victim. It felt good to be the one doing the stalking.

     Slowly, and rather dramatically, Ja’Nil uncoiled the wire from around her wrist. She unstrung the beads Ee’Rick had given her, and placed them carefully in her tunic pocket. Finally, she straightened out the wire and held it high above her head.

     “The Thread of Truth,” she said in a voice that didn’t tremble at all.

     “You bitch,” yelled Lord Raptor, and to everyone’s surprise, especially Ja’Nil’s, he drew his ceremonial knife and lunged at her.

      Ja’Nil froze. Up close, the knife looked very strong and very sharp, and not the least bit ceremonial. It was aimed straight at her heart.

     It missed.

     It missed, because powerful jaws with large, sharp teeth closed around Lord Raptor’s forearm and snapped it like a twig. He screamed in pain and fell to the floor.

      Instead of going into her heart, the knifepoint slashed the right side of Ja’Nil’s face. Her blood flowed freely down her face, dripping onto the floor.

     All around her, people were screaming in fear, not of Lord Raptor, but of the giant wolf that had appeared out of nowhere, a wolf that had disarmed Lord Raptor, broke his arm, ripped his flesh, muscle and tendons, and now stood snarling over the downed man, saliva dripping from its blood smeared mouth.

     Before anyone could recover and react, the wolf leaped through one of the openings between the pillars and disappeared. It took a while for people to realize the wolf was gone. Captain Y’Nota was the first to recover his wits.

     “Alert security,” he snapped to his orderly. “There’s a dangerous wild animal loose in the park. Evacuate the people and hunt the animal down.”

     “Belay that order,” said Princess Lil’Li calmly.

     The orderly, on his way out, stopped and looked uncertainly from the princess to his captain.

     “That animal is not dangerous to the innocent, Captain,” Princess Lil’Li assured him. For a moment, soldier and princess eyed each other, and then Captain Y’Nota gave a sharp nod to the princess and told his orderly to belay the order.

     A healer stepped out of the crowd and took Ja’Nil by her arm, moving her to one side of the room. He placed an oval shaped stone over the knife wound and held it firmly in place.

     “Ouch!”

     “Stay still,” he ordered. Ja’Nil stood still; the bleeding stopped almost immediately.

    
I’m not leaving without a healer for our village.

     Nobody was paying much attention to Lord Raptor who, was sitting on the floor, clutching his broken arm, cursing and moaning, until Princess Lil’Li came out from behind the Council Table and walked over and looked down at him.

     “I suspect he killed his wife, too,” she announced.

     “She’s insane,” roared Lord Raptor, suddenly sitting up straight and forgetting to moan. “The truth is she killed her own mother. The bitch, excuse me, the Princess Bitch is consumed by ambition and her lust for power.”

     Princess Lil’Li looked around, saw Ja’Nil with the healer at the side of the room, and gestured her forward.

     The Princess grabbed hold of The Thread of Truth that Ja’Nil was still holding in her hand. The Princess held it up so all could see that both her hands were on the wire, and said in a ringing voice, “I swear to the Lord of the Circle and to all the citizens of Cancordia, I have not killed anyone, most especially Queen Ten’Aj, my beloved mother. I also do swear that I will always put my country and its citizens first in my heart. I vow to be the best Ruler and servant of Cancorida I can be.”

     Her hands did not burn down to stumps; there was no change in the wire’s color, no fireworks of any kind. Princess Lil’Li handed the wire back to Ja’Nil and looked at Lord Raptor.

     “Your turn,” she said, and gestured for Ja’Nil to bring The Thread of Truth to Lord Raptor.

     Feeling absolutely no sympathy for the man, Ja’Nil, holding the Thread of Truth in both hands, approached Lord Raptor. He scrambled to his feet carefully, supporting his broken arm with his left hand. He looked around wildly, but he was hemmed in on all sides.

     “Bitch,” he hissed at Ja’Nil, sounding like a Purueean snake. “I’ll get you.”

     Injured, unarmed, and surrounded, Lord Raptor was still terrifying.

     “Put the Thread around his neck,” said Captain Y’Nota.

     “Stay away from me,” snarled Lord Raptor.

     Captain Y’Nota signaled, and suddenly soldiers surrounded Raptor. Y’Nota took the wire from Ja’Nil and fastened it around the thrashing Raptor’s throat.

     Ja’Nil, well knowing the Thread had gotten wet, was horrified. What if Raptor took a chance and lied? Would the Thread work? Probably not. Was he going to be vindicated because she had let the ring get wet?

     Princess Lil’Li moved to stand in front of him. “Now tell us, Lord Raptor, did you kill Ten’Aj, Queen of all Cancordia?”

     Raptor tried to twist free of the soldiers holding him. “My arm,” he whined.

     “Answer the question. Did you kill the Queen?” There was a long moment when the princess and the prisoner glared at each other.  “Refusing to answer is the same as a guilty plea.

You’re a lucky man; at least you have a choice as to how you’ll die; hanging or decapitation.”

     Lord Raptor looked around at all the people staring, waiting to see him die.

     “Do something!” he yelled out over the heads of the crowd. Ja’Nil turned to see to whom he was speaking, but of all the people watching the action, no one in particular stood out.

     “Answer the question, scum,” said Y’Nota

     Lord Raptor seemed to go mad. “Yes. Yes. Yes. Of course, I killed that slut of a Queen. Poisoned her, and laughed while she was dying.” He gave a high-pitched laugh. “Killed my wife, too. Kissed her,” he laughed again, “and snapped her neck. Didn’t need her anymore. I rule Cancordia!” He was screaming now. This was the crazy Lord Raptor, Ja’Nil had met in the torture room.

     “You’ll rule only in the Seven Hells,” Captain Y’Nota told him. He gestured to his soldiers who tightened their grip on him.

     “My arm,” he screamed.

     “Don’t worry, Lord Raptor.” said Princess Lil’Li. “A healer will be called before you are hung.”

     Suddenly sane, he looked at her and smiled a terrible smile. “I will live to see you on your knees begging me for death.”

     The soldiers took him away.

CHAPTER 34

     They put him in a cell, and took off all his fancy clothes, cutting away the sleeve that covered his broken arm.

     All the while, he cursed them, and when one of them accidentally knocked into his damaged arm, he accused them of deliberately torturing him.

     "Ah, shut up," said one of the exasperated guards.

     Lord Raptor went back to cursing and threatening them.

     They ignored him.

     "Do you know what’s going to happen to you?” Lord Raptor looked around at the circle of guards, who all stared back at him with stony faces. "You will die for this," he promised them. “All of you.”

     "Right you are, your Lordship. We’ll die, all right. But not before we see you kicking in the wind, hanging from a rope around your throat."

     Lord Raptor grew paler, and was quiet when one of the guards, pretending to have a rope around his own neck, made all sorts of grisly noises, as if he was choking to death. Lord Raptor looked away. The others laughed.

     Just then, a healer, tall and thin, with a shining baldhead, arrived. "I'm to attend his broken arm," he announced.

     The guards stopped laughing and became very professional. The healer was allowed into the cell.

     Lord Raptor, now dressed in a washed-out, orange colored, shapeless robe that barely covered his shins, sat on the bunk, while the healer pulled up a stool near him and began taking objects from his bag.

     "You can leave now," he told the guards.

     "Don't think so, Healer Sir," said the oldest guard. "The prisoner’s to have double guard all the way to the gallows, he is."

     The healer shrugged and applied himself to cleaning and splintering Lord Raptor's wounded arm.

     "Does this hurt?" asked the healer.

     "Yes."

     "What about now?"

     "Of course it hurts."

     "And this?"

     "What?" Lord Raptor leaned closer to see what the healer was doing.

     "I have a message for you," said the healer in a soft voice.

     "What? Ow! That hurt."

     One of the guards chuckled.

     "Keep your voice down," said the healer, busy with the wounded arm.

     "What message?" asked Lord Raptor.

     "A man will come with the password, "travel gate.”

     "And?"

     "He will deal with the guards and unlock your cell. Go with him. He will take you to safety."

     "When? When will he come?"

     "Within hours."

     Lord Raptor leaned back and rested his head against the flaky, white washed wall. He knew it! Of course, he would be rescued. A man such as he was had many supporters. A man such as he, did not die at the hands of scum. And when he returned in triumph… Ah, what he would do when he returned.