The Keeper's Flame (A Pandoran Novel, #2) (8 page)

“I need you to get us out of the castle walls.”

The piece of grass almost fell from his lips and, once he regained himself, he grabbed Fleck and me by the arms and pulled us out of the crowd and into a mostly empty alley.

“Denn knock the sense out of you?” The spark was gone.

“No,” I said, slightly offended.

“Do you have any idea what would happen if you’re caught?”

“Why do you think I’m asking
you
?”

He held my gaze and the seriousness slowly melted into excitement. He folded his arms and leaned back against the wall with a sigh. “All right, if I help, you need to tell me what’s going on with Half-Pint.”

I hesitated and looked at Fleck. Even though I trusted Thad, I didn’t feel comfortable talking about what had happened with Fleck. I didn’t want anyone knowing until I’d spoken with Master Antoni, but Thad was our only key out of the castle—well, the only key that wouldn’t tell the king.

I crouched beside Fleck. “Can I tell him?” I whispered.

Fleck pushed his hood back and the little silver flecks in his eyes sparkled. “It’s”—his hood fell back down—“okay.”

“You sure?”

He nodded in his hood; all I could see was his chin bobbing.

Thad watched us, silent and waiting, and from the looks of things, impatiently.

I recounted the morning’s events—leaving out the part about what, exactly, I’d seen in the attic—but it was enough for Thad.

“So the Half-Pint’s finally coming into his powers,” he whispered.

“So…?” I asked.

Thad smiled at me a long, silent moment. “You know, for a friend you’re a major liability, right?”

I rolled my eyes. “Are you gonna help or not?”

He pushed himself from the wall and dusted his hands. “I can’t think of any greater peril at the moment, so…” He looked at me with that mischievous spark. “Absolutely.”

Chapter 6

Escape

“W
ait here,” Thad said.

He dodged around the corner before I could say another word.

“Lady, where’s he going?” Fleck asked.

“Who knows?” I searched the crowd. “But if he’s not back in ten minutes, we’ll find someone else.”

I didn’t know who, exactly, and I highly doubted there was anyone else who could help us sneak out of the castle walls, but I wasn’t about to linger here much longer, not with Fleck.

We stood against the wall, keeping to the shadows, watching the crowd for any signs of Thad.

Two brown horses trotted past towing a wagon filled with hay. The driver, hidden in gobs of wool, yanked the reins, pulling the wagon to a stop right before our alleyway.

I pushed Fleck behind me and held my breath.

The driver turned in his seat and faced us, slowly lifting his hood until I saw a familiar smirk with a piece of grass hanging from his mouth.

Thad.

He pointed with his thumb to the back of the wagon.

So, he was going to sneak us out the main gate. I wasn’t sure I liked that idea, but it was better than anything I’d come up with, which was nothing.

I grabbed Fleck and the two of us slipped into the back, between the bales of hay. Once we were hidden, I slid another bale on top of us, and the wagon started moving again.

It jerked and bumped and creaked as the horses’ hooves
click-clacked
,
click-clacked
over the cobblestones.

“You okay?” I whispered to Fleck.

Fleck smiled and then sneezed.

Voices passed, horses whinnied, but Thad kept a steady pace.

It wasn’t long before we stopped.

The horses snorted as armor clanked beside us, and I held my breath as I squeezed Fleck’s trembling hand.

“Where to?” barked a voice.

“High Road to Rex Cross,” Thad slurred in a voice that suggested he’d had way too much to drink.

I watched Fleck.

Please, don’t sneeze.

“You fit to drive, sir?” barked the voice again.

Thad snorted and made a gurgling sound. “The harses know the way if I don’t.”

So help me, Thad, if you get us caught…

“Move along!”

The wagon jolted forward as the
click-clack
,
click-clack
resounded.

I exhaled slowly, relieved.

The jolting lessened as we exited the main gate and stepped out onto the dirt road. A few minutes passed before Thad ask in a low voice, “You two alive back there?”

Fleck sneezed.

“Are you okay?” I whispered.

He nodded and sneezed again.

“Rook?” Thad asked.

“I’m here. Can we come out?”

“No,” he said, “not yet. But there’s so much traffic in and out of the castle for the festival”—
bump—
“I figured we’d blend right in. Besides, I didn’t exactly feel like walking all the way to the guild.”

“Is it far?” I hated not being able to see anything.

“Eh”—pot hole—“not too far, but…” Thad stopped talking and I felt his unease—not an emotion I was used to feeling from Thad.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Don’t say another word till I say.” His voice was barely audible.

The wagon stopped again.

“Good afternoon, sir,” said a very matter-of-fact voice. “Name and destination.”

“Just gave them that back there,” Thad said. He’d lost the drunken stupor.

“Name and destination, sir,” repeated the voice.

“Rodi. I’m headed to see Otis and I’m kind of in a hurry…”

“What’s your cargo?”

Thad’s frustration spiked. “Uh, kinda obvious, isn’t it?”

Silence.

“Hay,” Thad said at last. “You want me to count each piece of grass, too?”

“Sorry, sir, but we’ve been ordered to check every cargo that comes in and out of the castle. King’s orders.”

My heart pounded in my chest and my palms started sweating.

“Go ahead, then, check.” Thad didn’t hide his irritation.

I held Fleck’s frightened gaze, pressing my finger to my lips. Fleck bit his bottom lip and squeezed my hand so hard it cut off the circulation.

The bales at the end of the wagon shifted as they were pushed and poked.

I told you this was a stupid idea. You never should’ve come down here. The king will find out, and…

Conscience, now is not the time.

They were getting closer, haphazardly poking and lifting the bales, and right as the one over my head began to rise, the wagon shifted.

The horses whinnied, jerking the wagon back and forth, and Thad said, “Whoa, boy! Sorry about that. The horses have been acting a bit skittish lately.”

“They’re not the first,” said the voice, farther up the wagon.

I let out a quiet breath. At least he’d stopped searching.

“The animals sense something,” continued the guard, “and I think it has to do with”—his voice dropped—“the dark rider.”

“You’ve seen him?” Thad asked.

“No, but others have. They say they’ve seen him here, in Valdon, and I don’t like it. Not one bit.”

Thad was quiet a moment. “I’ll be sure to keep watch, then. Thanks for the warning.”

The wagon creaked and moved forward.

I breathed a sigh of relief right as Fleck sneezed loudly.

Oh, no.

“Hellfire,” Thad cursed under his breath.

“You there!” shouted a different voice this time.

The wagon stopped.

Footsteps thudded on the ground and I heard a knife scraping against its sheath. The bale of hay over my head was ripped free and a man’s round face appeared, angry and satisfied.

“Well, well, well, what have we here?” sneered the man. “A princess and—” he ripped Fleck’s hood off “—the Daloren child.” His ugly sneer looked familiar, somehow. “Off to see Otis, were you?” His eyes turned hard. “Get. Out.”

I climbed out of the wagon and turned to help Fleck, but the man shoved me back and grabbed Fleck by the cloak.

“Get your hands off him!” My fists clenched at my sides.

He tossed Fleck to the ground and pointed his sword at Thad. “Name,” he spat.

Thad flashed me a silent apology and leapt from the wagon. He stood tall and faced the man with a proud grin on his face. “Come on, Lorimer, don’t you recognize me?

The man’s eyes narrowed. “You.”

“Actually, it’s Thad. I reserve ‘you’ for special occasions.” Thad smirked. How could he think this was funny? “Say, how’s Denn doing?”

The man’s fury seared. “If you ever pull that kind of stunt on my son again…”

Denn Faris, the bully, the one who’d humiliated me in the forest, was this man’s son?

My heart dropped.

As if this could get any worse.

“Oh, you don’t need to worry about that,” Thad continued. “The stunt I pulled was good enough to last him the rest of his life.”

Lorimer stared at Thad, and for a long terrible moment, I thought he was going to kill him.

“What should I do with them?” The man with the matter-of-fact voice stepped forward.

Without taking his eyes off Thad, Lorimer said, “I’ll take the princess and the Daloren back to the castle.”

“Right, then,” Thad said, walking toward Fleck and me.

“You,” Lorimer continued, glaring at Thad, “will stay here and help Grag monitor the roads in my absence.”

Thad folded his arms. “Hey, now, I don’t see why I can’t go back to the castle with them—”

Lorimer held the point of his sword against Thad’s throat, and Thad’s lips twitched into a smile.

“Do not push me, Thaddeus,” Lorimer growled. “Don’t think that because you are an Aegis of Valdon that you are exempt from common law. The king will hear of this and I’ll make sure you are punished accordingly.”

Thad looked at Lorimer like that was the dumbest thing he’d ever heard. “Uh, why not just let him punish me now?”

Lorimer pushed the sword closer, and Thad held up his hands. “All right, all right,” Thad said, “I’ll stay.”

Lorimer held his sword there for a moment and, at last, shoved it in its sheath. Thad rubbed his neck looking quite annoyed, and glancing back at me, mouthed, “I’ll find you later,” nodding at the castle.

Lorimer wrapped a thick hand around my arm and squeezed so hard I cried out.

He glared at me, but he didn’t loosen his grip. “I’d grab the boy if I were you.”

I grabbed Fleck’s trembling hand and squeezed gently as Lorimer escorted us away from Thad, back to the castle.

“And just where did you think you were going?” Lorimer growled.

“That’s none of your—”

Lorimer turned on me so fast I almost fell. His eyes were dark with contempt. “I don’t care that King Darius is your grandfather. I don’t care that you claim to have no magic.” The smell of tobacco was heavy on his breath. “You are a liar and a thief, and I will do
everything
in my power to ensure Gaia knows that.” He nodded towards Fleck. “Do we understand each other?”

I set my mouth and held his gaze.

“Good,” he said, and kept walking.

He didn’t say another word as he escorted us through the marketplace—people turned to stare and whisper—back up the hill to the castle, all the way to the king’s private study.

The guards took one look at us and pushed the doors in.

I’d never been in the king’s study before, although I’d walked past it countless times. It was the king’s
private
study, which meant if the room was occupied at all, it would be with the king, and I didn’t particularly enjoy his company.

The room was tall and perfectly round, and all along the walls were tapestries—beautiful, intricately woven tapestries. Landscapes and cathedrals and forests and sunsets. If these were what that man at the marketplace had been trying to sell, his were a poor imitation. There was a sort of energy pulsing through them, through each knot, each thread, as if the power of each and every fiber had been strengthened by the one beside it.

The floor was made of marble but patterned and, as I studied it, I realized it wasn’t just any pattern. It was a large map of the world, a giant mosaic of Gaia. Small, silver tiles represented the borders between territories, while smaller, colored tiles depicted trees and rivers and lakes. There were even small mosaic flags embedded within each territory, similar to the flags I’d seen at the marketplace.

And what at first glance appeared to be simple wooden sculptures were actually figures of horses, standing on hind legs with knights poised on their backs. Exactly like the knight on a chessboard. At the end of the room was the king, my grandfather.

His white hair hid his face as he sat, leaning over a small table, deep in thought. Sensing us, he glanced up. His pale eyes were blank at first, and he observed Fleck coolly, but then his eyes moved to me and his anger bubbled inside of him.

He already knew.

He stood and clasped his hands before him, his black robes cascading over his withered, yet able frame and pooling on the marble floor. “Lorimer.” The one word filled the room. “What brings you
behind
the wall?”

“Sire,” Lorimer bowed. “I found these two trying to escape.”

The king was silent. His eyes were cold and empty, but his fury was like an inferno blazing inside of him, burning everything in sight. The candles in the room flickered and burned hotter as his gaze fixed on me. His voice was dangerously calm. “And just where were you headed with my Daloren, child?”

“He’s not
your
Daloren,” I said through clenched teeth.

A shadow passed over the king’s face until, at last, he moved his gaze to Lorimer. “Thank you, Lorimer; you may return to your station,” the king said.

“But sire,” Lorimer continued, “I thought you might want to know Thaddeus—”

“That will be enough, Lorimer.” The king sounded like he might breathe fire.

Lorimer looked away and nodded. I felt his fury as he glanced back at me, and then he left through the door.

When I turned back, the king was walking slowly towards us. How a man so cruel and so arrogant could give birth to such a loving man like my father, I would never understand. It was as though my father was his antithesis and Gaia’s apology for creating the monster before me.