Temptations of Pleasure Island (12 page)

Cosima reached into the side of her robe and drew out a small leather bag. “There,” she said, handing it to Abbey. “There are some gold pieces in there. It’s not what he would have gotten had he won, but it will buy food for a long time. See that his family gets it.”

“Oh, that’s kind of you, Cosima!”

At once Abbey ran after Sarah and stopped her.
“Sarah! Look—the princess is giving this bag of gold to the family of the man who lost the race.”

Sarah gazed at the bag for a long time. Then she reached out and took it. She said only, “I’ll see that they get it.”

“Wasn’t that kind of the princess?”

“This gold doesn’t cost her anything,” Sarah said shortly. “Don’t you see? She was involved in enslaving that man. Now she’s trying to buy off her conscience by giving money.”

“What are you talking about? She didn’t enslave him!”

“Everyone who takes part in this betting system is guilty of enslaving him. The
spectators
are guilty. If they weren’t here, it wouldn’t take place. Don’t you see that, Abbey?”

It was as though Abbey Roberts was hearing a voice from far away. She suddenly felt a weight of shame, and she dropped her head. She found she could barely speak. “I’m—I’m sorry, Sarah. I truly am.”

“I know you are, Abbey. But you’ve got to get off this terrible drug, and we’ve got to get Dave off of it. There could be an awful time coming. We might be out in the arena ourselves someday.”

“That would never happen!”

“Do you think Lady Maeve would stop at anything?”

Abigail could not answer. She shook her head and whispered again, “I’m sorry.”

Suddenly Sarah said, “Come along, Abbey. I want you to meet the family of this man.”

“No! I don’t want to.”

“I know you don’t want to, but you need to.”

The next few moments were as difficult for Abbey
as anything she had ever known. She could hardly bear to see the woman embracing her badly injured husband and their children standing about weeping. Then Lady Maeve’s henchmen came to cart Feanor back to the mines. Abbey watched Sarah take the woman in her arms and whisper to her. She did not know what Sarah was saying, but the man’s wife held onto Sarah tightly.

Abbey watched Sarah speak to each of the children and comfort them, and at that moment Abbey Roberts knew for certain that she had taken the wrong way.

As the two girls left, she said, “I need help, Sarah. And I know that I can’t help myself.”

“You’ve got friends, Abbey. We all love you. And where there’s love, there’s a way.”

W
hat do you think about these shoes, Abbey?” Abbey looked over at Princess Cosima, who was trying on a pair of pink slippers. They were pretty enough, but Abbey’s mind was somewhere else. “Very nice,” she said listlessly.

Cosima looked up, surprised. Obviously she was expecting Abbey to show her usual excitement about shoes. “What’s the matter with you today?” she asked. “Don’t you realize we’ve got to get something to wear for tonight?”

“I suppose so,” Abbey said. “But I already have at least twenty pairs of shoes.”

“Twenty! That’s nothing! Why, I have hundreds.”

Abbey had been feeling somewhat guilty ever since the defeat of Feanor in the arena. The princess had put the chariot race out of her mind. She was sure of that. The princess thought that the money she’d given had solved the problem.

But Abbey had been unable to forget. She had also skipped her dose of Soma yesterday and today, so perhaps she was thinking somewhat more clearly for that reason. In a way, thinking about Feanor and his family was very unpleasant, and she had been tempted to take the drug. Soma helped to blot out unpleasantness.

“I’ve been thinking about the family of that poor man that was beaten in the chariot race.”

Princess Cosima looked up with surprise in her
eyes. “But don’t you remember? I gave them enough gold to buy food for a long time.”

Suddenly Abbey felt a wave of impatience with the princess. “That bag of gold won’t buy the woman’s husband out of the mines. And the children still won’t have a father in the home.”

Cosima blinked. “You’re beginning to sound just like Derek,” she said crossly. “You can’t let yourself think of these things, Abbey.”

“Why not? What’s wrong with thinking about things like this? The woman and her children have to think about it.”

“But, Abbey, you can’t take the burdens of the whole world on your shoulders.”

“No, and I never said I could,” Abbey said slowly. She had been thinking much about her life since coming to Pleasure Island. It had been one continuous round of parties and balls and concerts. She saw that she had been so immersed in them that she had lost her mental balance for a while.

But now that the Soma was wearing off a little, she was beginning to feel terrible. Actually, memory of the grief on the faces of Feanor’s wife and children had kept her awake last night. “I just can’t stop thinking about that family,” she said finally.

“Then we shall just give them more gold, if it’s really bothering you. I can get it from Father.”

Impatiently and rather sharply, Abbey said, “Do you think that will make them happy? Suppose your mother was sent to the mines. Would it make you happy if someone gave you another hundred pairs of shoes?”

Cosima gasped. “Why, I never heard of such a thing! Of course it wouldn’t!”

“Then why do you think it would make that poor
woman happy to give her money? It won’t bring her husband back. It won’t bring the father back to those children.”

Cosima seemed confused.

Abbey had grown very close to the princess during her brief stay on Pleasure Island. The two girls had similar tastes. Both liked excitement. Both liked pretty clothes. Both liked to be going somewhere all the time. She understood that Cosima was uncomfortable.

“I don’t understand you when you talk like this,” the princess said.

“Princess,” Abbey said slowly, “doesn’t it ever occur to you that there’s more to life than having three hundred pairs of shoes?”

“What’s
wrong
with having three hundred pairs of shoes?”

“For one thing, how many of them do you actually wear?” Abbey waited, and when the princess did not answer, she went on. “I can tell you. I’ve watched you. You buy them and put them on shelves, but you have about half a dozen favorites. The rest of them you never put on.”

“That may be true enough, but what does it matter?”

“Have you ever stopped to consider, princess, that you might take the gold that you spend for shoes you never wear and do some good with it? Maybe for some family that is hungry.”

“I don’t know any hungry people.”

“That’s because you are surrounded by luxury. But the palace is not the real world, princess. There are people who are hungry out there and people who are grieving. And just the price of one pair of those shoes would make a poor family happy.”

“All right, then. All right. I’ll give you the money for a pair of shoes, and you go make somebody happy!” the princess snapped. She clearly did not like being rebuked. “And so we’ve settled that!” she said irritably. “I’ll wear these pink slippers tonight. Now we’ll pick out a pair for you …”

While Abbey went shopping for shoes with Princess Cosima, all the other Sleepers except for Dave gathered at the Fletcher house. Jacob himself had asked them to come.

When they were seated about the kitchen table, he said, “I’ve taken the money that the princess gave Feanor’s family, and I’ve bought back the house that he lost gambling.”

At that instant the door burst open, and Prince Derek came into the room. Everyone started to rise, but Derek said at once, “Don’t get up. And what do you mean by ‘the money the princess gave’?”

Before Mr. Fletcher could answer, Josh cried out, “Where have you been, Derek? We’ve looked everywhere for you.”

“I had to get away and think for a while. But I heard about Feanor’s losing the race.” His jaw set, and he turned to his father. “What’s this about my sister?”

Sarah spoke up quickly. “She felt bad about Feanor’s family, so she gave some gold pieces to me to help.”

“She did that?” Obviously Derek was astonished. “That’s the first unselfish thing I’ve known Cosima to do in a long time.”

“I think Abbey’s having second thoughts, too, Derek,” Sarah said. “And maybe she’ll be of some help to your sister.”

The prince looked at Jacob. “You bought their house back?”

“Yes, and now I’ll be able to look after his wife and children. They’re in the house now. I went out and brought them back from the mine workers’ village.” He shook his head. “They were in very poor condition.”

“I know. I visited the mine workers’ village one day,” Derek said.

“The village!
You
went there?” Josh gasped.

“All my life I’ve heard about it, but it’s off on the edge of nowhere. Still, I wanted to see for myself what was going on, and it is indeed terrible!”

The Sleepers all sat listening while the prince told about the dreadful living conditions, the lack of sanitation, and the lack of heat in the mine workers’ shacks. “It’s poverty at its very worst. The only thing worse is the mines of Borea themselves,” he said. “And there’s no sense in that. There’s plenty to be had, and most of those people are decent enough. Their gambling took them there, and now they just need another chance.”

“Are you thinking of doing something about it?” Josh said boldly.

Derek stared at Josh Adams. “I’d like to,” he said. “And I’m going to try, but I don’t have much hope of success.”

“You never can tell until you try,” Josh said.

“Right now, I want you all to go with me,” Derek said suddenly.

“Where are you going?” Sarah sounded alarmed.

“The council meets in thirty minutes. I’m going to go and ask my father to put Lord Denning back on the council. I’m going to ask him to let me help the people at the village and in the mines. And I’m going to ask
him to do something about the gambling fever that is ruining this island.”

Everyone stared at the prince, and Reb said, “Well, ain’t this a pretty come on!” He whistled under his breath. “The king’s got quite a party going—only he just doesn’t know it.”

As usual, the members of the great council had little to say. Lady Maeve so controlled them by her powers that she was sure they would agree to whatever she suggested.

The king and the queen both sat for this meeting, but neither seemed particularly happy.

The meeting was almost over when suddenly the door opened, and a guard announced, “Prince Derek asks admittance to the Great Council, Your Majesty.”

Immediately King Leo straightened up, and his dull eyes brightened. “Well,” he said gruffly, “he’s showing sense at last! He’s come to ask for our pardon. Have him come in.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The attendant disappeared, and the king nodded toward the queen. “I told you the boy would come to his senses.”

Lady Maeve, however, was not so sure. She sat at the council table, her eyes narrowed, as the prince walked in. Then she saw several Seven Sleepers with him, and her mouth twisted.

Josh and the other Sleepers formed a solid rank behind the prince.

“Well, you’ve come to beg for forgiveness, I daresay,” the king said. “Down on your knees, boy!”

“I will bow to Your Majesty. But no, I do not come
to ask for forgiveness,” Derek said boldly. He did bow, then straightened up and said, “Your Majesty and Father, I’ve come to ask you for several favors.”

“You ask favors!” Lady Maeve cried. “This is astonishing! You should be asking for forgiveness.”

“Forgiveness for what?” the prince demanded. He put his eyes on the woman clothed in black, and their glances locked.

For a moment there was a struggle of wills, and Josh saw that it was Lady Maeve who dropped her eyes first.

“You have ruined this court, you have ruined my father, you have destroyed my family!” the prince said loudly. “You are an evil woman, and I will not rest as long as you are in this kingdom!”

“What are you talking about, boy?” the king exclaimed. “She has saved me from my depression.”

“Better to be depressed than to lead a country down a trail of despair,” the prince said.

The king gasped and sputtered but for a moment could not answer. No doubt he had never seen his son like this.

Josh—indeed, none of the Sleepers—had never seen the prince like this. He spoke loudly and clearly and showed no fear whatsoever. Finally he said, “I ask your forgiveness, Father, for nothing, because I have done nothing wrong. It grieves me to say it, but you have put the kingdom into the hands of a woman who has no love and no pity and no mercy.”

“Your Majesty,” Lady Maeve broke in smoothly. “The prince is not himself. He is obviously suffering under some sort of delusion.”

“He’s not under any delusion, Maeve,” Josh said then and stepped forward. “I have seen your kind before. We serve the lord Goél. Who do you serve?”

Silence fell over the meeting room except for the gasp of the council members.

“Who do you serve?” Josh cried again. “You do not have to answer! You serve the Dark Lord! I have seen his mark on people before!”