ROAD TO CORDIA (34 page)

     The healer finished his work and stood up. "I'm finished here," he said to the bored guards. "I’ve given the prisoner something for the pain. He'll probably sleep the next few hours."

     As one of the guards opened the cell door to let the healer out, he said, "I've been getting this rash lately."

     The healer smiled, reached into his bag, and handed over a small jar of ointment. "Put this on the rash at least twice a day."

     "Well, thinkee, I'll do that."

     The healer closed his bag and left without a backward look. Lord Raptor watched him go, and then lay down on the bunk and became very quiet.

***

     Two hours later, a man dressed in a blue guard's uniform entered the cellblock. He stopped in front of the guards, who were playing a desultory game of cards. One of the card players looked up in surprise.

     "We ain't due for relief for another two – who the hell are you?"

     The newcomer leaned forward, and with one quick swipe, cut the guard's throat. The other guard leaped to his feet, while at the same time reaching for his sword. But he'd made the mistake of sitting with his sword arm against the wall. As he stood, his chair fell over, he tried backing up to give himself room to draw, but the fallen chair impeded his movements. He was much too slow.

     The assassin had plenty of time to thrust his own sword deep into the man’s chest. For a moment, killer and killed looked into each other's eyes. The killer smiled, and withdrew his sword as his victim slid to the floor, lifeblood dribbling out of his mouth.

     The killer carefully wiped both his sword and his knife on the tunics of his victims.

     Lord Raptor was standing at the cell door, both hands gripping the bars. "Good," he said. “Good. Scum, that's what they are."

     "Were," said the killer, as he bent over one of the guards and lifted the keys attached the dead man's belt.

     Lord Raptor watched the man warily as he unlocked the cell door. But the killer made no attempt to enter the cell or threaten him.

     "Travel gate," said the assassin reassuringly. Then, "Come with me," and started down the hallway without even a glance at Lord Raptor.

     "Where are we going?"

     The man didn't answer.

     Lord Raptor stopped. "I said where are we going?"

     The killer stopped and walked back.

     "You have an admirer," he said.

     "I have many admirers," replied Lord Raptor.

     "Yes? Well, this is helping you escape."

     "Who?"

     "He'll meet you at the gate. He's hoping to be able to work with you."

     Lord Raptor hesitated for a moment, but really, what choice did he have? As long as he was in the palace, it was only a matter of time until he was recaptured. If he could get to Raptors’ Keep, the power would be his. And maybe he could use this admirer of his. Lord Raptor had a pretty good idea who the man was. Together they would be unstoppable.

     "Lead on," he told the killer.

***

     The man led Lord Raptor, down hallways, up stairways, into tunnels and through deserted gardens, that Lord Raptor, with all his familiarity with the Palace, had never known existed. They met no one until they arrived at the Queens' Audience Gate.

     Lord Raptor’s admirer was waiting at the gate. Instinctively, Raptor stopped at the sight of the hooded shape. Then he realized who it was, and smiled confidently.

     "I thought it would be you," Lord Raptor said to the shrouded figure.

     "Did you, my Lord?"

     "I am in your debt," said Lord Raptor, giving a the person a short jerky bow. "I will not forget this when once I claim the throne."

     "That is still your plan?"

     "Absolutely."

     “I admire your determination.”          

     Lord Rapter’s savior turned to the assassin. "Thank you, Le' Rod. As usual, you performed with great competence." The assassin just grunted. "I assume transportation is awaiting Lord Raptor?" The voice was light, pleasant, almost musical.

     The assassin nodded and turned to Lord Raptor. "You go through the gate into the square," he instructed. "To the left is Rocking Lane. The stable is halfway down, on the right. A blood horse and five outriders are waiting for you."

     "I can’t appear in the square dressed in prisoners’ clothes," Lord Raptor protested.

     "Of course not." He handed Lord Raptor a hooded robe.

      "Good luck, my friend," said the hooded figure.

     "Thank you, L –."

     "Ahh, No names." The figure held up a warning hand.

     Lord Raptor smiled. "I will expect you to join me at Raptors’ Keep," he said. "We have plans to make."

     "I will be there before the next full moonrise."

     Lord Raptor donned the hooded robe in a jaunty manner and started down the travel gate. It was set at the quarter mark, so he hadn't far to go. About halfway to the exit, it occurred to him that his co-conspirator had not said which moonrise. He had half turned, when he felt it; a strange pulling sensation, as if half of him wanted to go one way and half the other. The feeling grew stronger.

     "What the Seven Hells?"

     Someone was changing the gate’s settings! Didn’t they realize he was still in the gate? He looked back and could clearly see the two people watching him. He looked forward; the exit was just as far away.

     The feeling had become pain.

     "No!" He shouted.

     Which way to go? Were they doing it on purpose? He started to run. His muscles were like rubber bands, stretched to the snapping point. He was being pulled in half. He screamed and screamed, but no sound came out of his tortured throat.

     His mind, of course, was the last part of him to die.

CHAPTER 35

     It was the next day. All that remained of Ja’Nil’s wound was a thin white scar on her right cheek. “Your badge of courage,” Princess Lil’Li had called it.

     Ee’Rick and Ja’Nil were waiting for the Princess in her private office, much smaller and more business-like than yesterday’s Council Chamber. The Princess, dressed in subdued shades of white, in mourning for her mother, entered. Two council members, the Cloud Person who had sat at her right hand side yesterday, and the Earth Person of military carriage and piercing eyes, accompanied her; Ja’Nil and Ee’Rick bowed.

     “I make known to you my two Regents,” she said to them. “Xi’Lef, she indicated the older man, the Cloud Person, and Ei’Luj,” pointing to the woman, the Earth Person.

     The Regents both nodded to them.

     The Princess seated herself behind her desk and indicated the others should also sit.          “Obilon Ee’Rick,” she said, “We are anxious to resume diplomatic relations with your people.”

     Ee’Rick smiled politely. “I’m willing to talk, your Highness, but all final decisions rest with my father and his council.”

     “We are aware of that. Shall we meet tomorrow to begin our talks?”

     “Agreed.”

     The Princess then grinned, which made her look a lot less daunting, and turned her attention to Ja’Nil. “Tell me, Ja’Nil of the Fisherfolk. Was that really The Thread of Truth?”

     Ja’Nil shrugged. “It came from Lady Fayre’s ring. She said she was wiring your mother the truth.”

     “Pity Lord Raptor was too scared to lie,” said Ei’Luj, the Earth Person. “I would have liked to see his head severed from his neck.”

      Ja’Nil decided not to mention that the wire had gotten wet and there was a good chance it wouldn’t have worked.

     “I am especially in your debt, Ja’Nil,” said the princess. “Please tell me how I can reward your services to Cancordia and to me.”

     About to deny any need for a reward, Ja’Nil stopped and thought about it. There really were two things she wanted. “A Healer for my village,” she said.

     “You will return to your village? I thought to offer you a place here at court. Cancordia needs advisors who are brave and intelligent, and who I know have the best interests of Cancordia in their heart. You will always be welcome here,”

     “I’m due for my adult ritual,” said Ja’Nil, very conscious that Ee’Rick was watching her.

     “I would be pleased to sponsor you here in the palace,” offered the princess.

     Ja’Nil hesitated. She wasn’t even sure that the merchandice in her aunt’s cottage was enough to pay the priests for her ritual, and here the Princess --soon to be Queen-- of Cancordia, was offering to sponsor her. How could she refuse?

     So she listened in some disbelief as her own mouth opened and her own voice said, “Thank you, but I am of the Fisherfolk. I want to celebrate the ritual in my own village.”

     And it felt so right.

     “Then you shall have your Healer by tomorrow.”

      “Thank you. There is one other thing, your Highness. The other reason I came to Cordia was to find the father of three children that are staying at Redbird Keep.”

     The princess looked at Ei’Luj.

     “Give me his name and any other information you have,” said the Earth Person. “He will be found.”

     “Huge,” said Ja’Nil happily.
Now all I have to do is find my way home.

     There was the sound of chimes and Captain Y’Nota entered. He bowed politely to the

Princess and her Regents and nodded to Ja’Nil and Ee’Rick, giving Ee’Rick a long, thoughtful

look.

     “You have something to report, Captain?” asked the Princess, causing him to forgo his examination of Ee’Rick.

     “Lord Raptor’s two guards were found dead a few minutes ago; their throats were cut.”

     “What!”

     “And Lord Raptor?” asked the Xi’Lef, the Cloud Person.

     “He escaped for a short time.”

     “You have recaptured him?” Xi’Lef’s tone was sharp.

     “Not exactly. His body was found in the travel gate at the Queen’s Audience Chamber,” said Y’Nota.

     Ei’Luj, the other regent, shuddered. “How did you identify him?” she asked.

     “His head was only slightly misshapen. The rest of him was barely recognizable as human. He must have realized what was happening and tried to run back.”

     “I don’t understand,” said the Princess.

     “He was killed by the gate,” Y’Nota said.

     Ja’Nil swallowed down her nausea.
I knew that thing was a weapon.

     “How could...?”         

      “Someone reoriented the gate while he was in it. A painful death.”

      “Someone? You mean it was done deliberately?” The princess looked very pale.

     “He was killed by whoever started this insidious rebellion,” said Y’Nota bluntly.

     The regent Xi’Lef looked sharply at Y’Nota. “What makes you think there was anyone behind Raptor? He seemed to be acting alone.”

     “For one man acting alone, even someone as influential as Lord Raptor, he managed to do an incredible amount of damage to the running of our country. As far as I’m concerned, his death confirms the certainty of an accomplice.”

     Xi’Lef lifted a disbelieving green eyebrow. “An accomplice?”

     Y’Nota wasn’t cowed. “Perhaps even a superior,” he said.

     There was an uneasy silence then, “The guards were killed too?” said Princess Lil’Li.

     “Aye, they had to be. A witness, even the whisper of a witness, would be too dangerous. This someone is of high rank, your majesty.”

     The princess’s face paled from light green to almost white. “Will this never end?”

CHAPTER 36

     The day was warm and sunny. Both suns were high in the sky. Two shadows dogged everyone’s steps. “A good sign,” said the Healer. She was a Cloud Person in her twenties. Plain and earnest looking, she came with the highest recommendations from her teachers and co-workers. Best of all, she didn’t seem to feel slighted at being assigned to a lowly Fisherfolk village.

     Ee’Rick had come out to say goodbye. “The Princess is sending you off in style.”

     Ja’Nil looked around at the strong red and black horses, at the wagons, heavy with luggage and presents. A teacher had also been assigned and she sat on the high seat of one of the wagons engrossed in a book. Uniformed soldiers would accompany them all the way to her village. The soldiers would make and break camp along the way, Captain Y’Nota had assured Ja’Nil. She need do nothing, but ride her horse in comfort.

     Ja’Nil hadn’t wanted to tell him that she seldom rode and wasn’t at all sure about the comfort part. Y’Nota had saluted her, wished her well, and expressed the desire to visit her village.

     “Really?”

     “To further our acquaintance,” he smiled at her.

     She didn’t remember what she had mumbled, but she knew she had blushed.

     Now here was Ee’Rick, her comfortable travel bud. “It’s going to be strange traveling without you,” she said to him.

     He looked over her caravan and grinned. “I don’t think you’ll be lonely. You’ve been an interesting traveling companion, Ja’Nil.”

     “You also, Obilon Ee’Rick.”

     He looked down at her. “You disapprove?”

     “No, of course not,” she hesitated for a moment. “The truth is I don’t even know what Obilon means.”

     “It means First Born.”

     “And your father is the head of you clan?’

     “He is.”

     “So you are like Head of your Clan Presumptive?”

     He laughed. “It is not automatic with my people. There are tests and trials. I have two brothers.”

     “And sisters?”

     “None.”

     “And will your clan stay with Cancordia?”

     “A more appropriate question might be; will Cancordia honor its treaties?”

     “Then you still don’t trust the Princess?”

     “There was someone behind Lord Raptor.  He’s still out there. Who knows if she can keep the throne?”

     In spite of herself, Ja’Nil shivered.

     Ee’Rick reached out a finger and traced the faint scar on her cheek. “We will meet again, little warrior.”