Unyielding (The Ashborne Trilogy Book 2) (8 page)

I felt a wave of relief wash over me as I opened the satchel and saw a large, smooth roll of carefully cut mane clippings. The color of the hair was slightly lighter than her own, but under the cover of nightfall, no one would be able to tell the difference.

I carefully pulled the hair from the bag and laid it flat atop my vanity. “This is perfect, Penelope. Thank you. Did you also give that message to Gentry?”

By this time, Penelope was laying on her stomach on my bed with a plate of food resting beside her. “Took me a while to find him, but I did.” Her voice deepened as she tried to impersonate him, poorly. “He said, ‘Tell her I’ll be there.’ He seemed pretty relieved after he read whatever you wrote.”

I smiled. “That’s good. You did a great job, Penelope. Thank you.”

She flashed a closed-lipped smile at me, her cheeks now full of food as she let her feet sway back and forth behind her. I immediately sat down at my vanity and got to work. I only had half a day to braid and sow this mane into a likeness of Penelope’s hair, and it could be nothing short of perfect.

“You know, once I told myself that I was just running errands, I stopped being nervous. This spy stuff is pretty easy,” Penelope said.

“
I’m going to have you make a few more trips for me, all right?” I replied without looking away from my work.

“
As long as it’s like what I just did, I’m good to go.”

We sat quietly for a while as I continued working diligently on the hair piece I was constructing. I carefully braided together the ends of small batches of the blonde strands and sewed them to a piece of cloth I had already cut. I sewed the batches in layers across the cloth, and the more I got attached, the more it began to look just like what I had envisioned. The hair flowed freely and naturally, and was a near match to Penelope’s hair length.
This really might work.

As I continued working, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that Penelope was wandering around the room, trying her best to occupy herself without disturbing me.

“Penelope… You’re pacing.”

“
Oh, sorry.” She pulled up a chair and sat quietly beside me. She stared at the glowing fern ring on my finger as my hands continued their delicate and tedious work.

“
You
can
talk, you know?” I reminded her.

“
Oh, I’m just thinking…”

“
About?”

“
I was just wondering what makes Emoren so different from the knights and princes who’ve tried to win your heart before.”

I smiled at her naivety. “They weren’t trying to win their way into my heart, Dear. They were trying to win their way into my bed.”

“Yeah, but how did you know you loved Emoren?”

I had to stop for a minute to think about her simple, yet difficult question. “I don’t know… I guess, from the moment I met him, my heart just knew.”

“He made that for you?” she asked as she admired the ever-glowing ring on my finger.

I held it up and smiled before returning to my work. “He did. When he first brought me to Shadowbark, he placed it upon my finger as I slept… I’ve never taken it off.”

“God, that’s so sweet… I hope I find a boy who does that for me.”

“
As sweet as you are, Penelope, I’m sure you’ll find someone even better.”

“
So you knew you loved him right away?”

“
I think a part of me knew… but when I first met him, I was mostly just scared,” I laughed. “I mean, there I was, helpless and injured, at the mercy of a man I’d never met, but it didn’t take him long at all to win me over. Now, I can’t imagine my life without him.”

“
I’m glad,” she smiled sincerely. “I was worried, that because of who you are, that you might not find someone to love, ya know?”

“
So was I,” I smiled.

We sat together in a comfortable quiet as I turned all my attention back toward my sewing and braiding. The light from the sun let me know that it was already passed mid-day, and it would only be a matter of hours before I walked out of these doors for the last time, never to return. Everything was riding on this disguise, and I had to get it right.

“There…” I said as I held the finished wig up in the air.

“
That’s amazing,” Penelope said. “My hair’s not that straight though.”

“
Don’t worry, we still have a few hours to prepare. Ready to make me look like you?”

Penelope nodded excitedly, and as I began undressing, I realized we had forgotten one of the most important pieces of this disguise.

“Damn… Penelope, I’ll need you to run home and fetch me one of your gowns.”

She jumped to her feet and walked over to my wardrobe. “Oh, don’t worry. I always keep a change of clothes here.”

“Oh,
really
?” I teased as I continued undressing.

She grinned at me as she laid her servant’s gown on the bed. “Let’s see… You’ll have my face, my clothes, and my hair, but what about those?” she said as she pointed at my chest.

I looked down at my breasts, and then, over at Penelope’s; there was an undeniable difference that even a servant’s gown wasn’t going to hide. Despite being nearly the same height, my feminine, soldier-trained frame was quite different from her delicate yet board-like build, and having a raging bust wasn’t going to help my disguise any.

I rummaged through the wooden chest at the foot of my bed, pulled out a few rolls of bandages and handed them to Penelope. “Will you help me wrap them?”

“You know,
some
people would love to have this problem,” she joked as she took the bandages and began wrapping my chest. “Would be kind of funny if you got caught because your bosom was too big though,”

“
Penelope! Don’t make me laugh, this is serious,” I chuckled.

As soon as she finished, I slipped on her spare servant’s gown and sat down to fix my face. As I reached for her powder, Penelope stopped me in my tracks.

“Wait, let me do that. No one can make you look like me better than I can.”

I smiled gratefully as Penelope sat beside me and began working the magic she did so well. After all, she was always the one that prepared me for royal feasts and such. Making me look perfect was one of her many talents, and this would be no different. A flurry of powdering, drawing and outlining ensued, and I stared in amazement as she transformed my exposed, almond-colored skin into that of hers. She even managed to darken and slightly crimp the horse hair to nearly match that of her own.

“All right. Let’s see what it looks like,” she said as she handed me the wig and shawl.

I carefully and tightly put my hair up, placed the wig atop my head, followed by the shawl I had lent her. We added a few finishing touches, stood side by side, and stared into the mirror.

“I always knew you were my long-lost twin!” Penelope exclaimed.

I wasn’t quite as enthusiastic about it as she was. Even though she managed to lighten my skin-tone to match her own, my over-stressed mind made me focus on every tiny discrepancy between us. My hair was slightly off color, my face, of course, was different, and I stood a half an inch taller than she. But, I had to remind myself that the premise of this whole disguise was based on the fact that no one payed attention to the servants of Ashborne. It was everyone’s self-centered aloofness that I was counting on.

I looked out toward the window to gauge the sun’s position. We only had about two hours left before the guards posted at my door would be changing shifts. Whether I was Penelope’s identical twin or not, this was going to have to work.

I took the shawl off and handed it back to her. “It’s time, Penelope.”

What to her was a fun afternoon of dressing up the princess, immediately turned back into the cunning, dangerous plan it truly was. I watched as the stress of it all washed over her expression like a fast-moving storm.

“
Don’t worry,” I reassured her. “You’re just going to bring Emoren his meal, and then bring my own. After that, you’re done.”

“
Sorry. I guess it just still hasn’t all set in on me yet,” she replied.

I smiled sympathetically. “I know it hasn’t. I’m sorry that I’ve placed this burden upon you and your family’s shoulders. I guess I didn’t even think about how hard it might be for you to leave Ashborne. I’ll never be able to repay you for this, Penelope.”

“Ah, no, it’s not that. My father’s always said ‘If you weren’t handmaiden to the princess, we’d be getting some land up north!’ At least now, with what you’ve given me, he’ll have the money to do that. It’s just… we’ve always been together, ya know?”

I looked into her saddened eyes and realized that my situation was much different from her own. While I was being forced to leave Ashborne in order to save myself from a living hell, she wasn’t. To her, this was a sudden, unfair forcing of her hand that was causing her to leave the person and home her life had always revolved around.

I took the shawl from her hands and began placing it on her head. “I’m going to miss you too, Penelope. I can’t thank you enough for everything you’ve done for me.”

Penelope flashed a half-smile as I began preparing the wine I had saved from our meal the night before. I began carefully letting drops of the apothecary’s sleeping drug fall into the vase of black-cherry colored liquid.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

I placed the wine on one of the two left over food trays we had and handed it to Penelope. “I want you to take this wine with you when you bring Emoren’s meal, but remember to bring him water as well.”

“Is it really a good idea for Emoren to get drunk before the escape?”

I smiled. “If there’s one thing I know, it’s that soldiers love their alcohol,” I said. “When they see you bringing this to Emoren, there’s not a chance in hell that they’ll let him have it. I’m counting on them stealing this and drinking it themselves. If any of the guards other than the two at his cell try and take the wine, make it look like an accident and let the vase fall to the ground. Do you understand?”

Penelope nodded faithfully.

“
Once you’ve done that, simply bring my supper as you normally would.”

I could see her nerves beginning to set in again. I placed my hand on her shoulder and crouched down a little so I could look into the eyes she was staring at the floor with. “Hey… You’re just going to bring two people their supper. It’s just like any other time you’ve done this. I’ll be here when you get back. All right?”

“Yeah, you’re right. Guess I should get goin’, huh? I’ll be back soon then.” She smiled before turning and heading for the door.

“
Please, be careful,” I said as I opened the door for her and hid behind it. She glanced at the guards outside and then back at me. Seeing the two soldiers must have reminded her what of was truly at stake for me, because she flashed one more understanding, Penelope-esque smile before confidently heading off on her mission.

# # #

Penelope returned much quicker than I expected. She knocked on the door, and I hid behind it before opening it. She walked in carrying the tray of early supper I had requested.

“
You’re back already? What’s wrong?” I asked.

“
Oh, nothing,” she smiled. “Everything went exactly as you said it would. Emoren’s guards took the whole tray from me.”

“
Did you see him? How did he look?”

She shook her head. “They wouldn’t let me in the room. They stopped me at the door, took the tray, and told me I shouldn’t be there.”

“I see. I guess that’s about the best we could have hoped for.”

“
Now what?” she asked as she began taking off her shawl.

“
No, leave it on. I managed to find another. The guards will be changing shifts soon. Now, it’s time to say goodbye, Penelope.”

A heartbreaking frown came over her face as I finished my sentence. She leaned forward and gave me one final embrace. “No, we’re not saying goodbye. We’re going to see each other again, remember? If we say ‘goodbye,’ I won’t be able to leave without bursting into tears. So this has to be ‘see you later,’ all right?”

I smiled. I certainly would miss the way she thought about things. “All right. I can’t thank you enough, Penelope. When this is all over, I promise I’ll come find you,”

“
You better,” she sniffled.

She clung silently to me for several moments, and I could feel my shoulder become wet with the quiet tears that were streaming down her cheeks. I gently pat the back of her head and silently cursed my father for putting everyone through this. One day, somehow, I would make him pay for hurting the people I cared about. I could feel the emotions starting to well up within me, but I couldn’t start crying, not now, not with the Penelope mask I was wearing and everything riding on it. I stepped back, held Penelope by the shoulders, and looked her in the eyes.

“It’s time to go,” I said softly.

“
I know,” she replied as she smiled, sniffled and used her palm to wipe the tears from her cheeks.

“
After you leave, head straight home. You and your father take what you can carry and leave at once. If I’m caught before you two have gone… Just- Don’t wait, and don’t waste time,” I urged.

“
I promise we will,” she nodded. “Let’s take one last look before I go.”

I put on my extra shawl, and we stood side by side and stared into the mirror. The finishing touches I had put on the disguise, while waiting for Penelope, had helped to ease a bit of my apprehension. Despite the color differences between our shawls, hers being white while mine was beige, it proved to be a pretty miraculous likeness.

“You’re a much prettier Penelope than I am,” she said as she turned and began draping the blonde hair around my face and over my chest.

“
That’s not true. Don’t say that, Penelope.”

“
I know, I’m just… ugh. I better go before I ruin your whole plan by staying too long.”

I walked over, placed some of our dirty dishes on one of the food trays and handed it to her. She forced a fake smile and we began walking slowly toward the door. As I reached for the handle, the sadness I saw in her face was heart-wrenching.

“Penelope…” I paused until she looked over at me. “You’re my sister and I love you. No matter what happens, don’t you ever forget that, all right?”

It was the first time I’d ever told her who she truly was to me, and I meant it. A genuine, loving smile formed between her cheeks. “See you later?” she asked.

“See you later, Penelope,” I smiled as I opened the door and watched her leave for the last time.

I closed the door behind her, placed my back against it and sank to the floor. Watching her go, knowing I would likely never see her again, it was everything I could do to hold back the fit of tears that was trying to escape from me. I just sat there, telling myself over and over, that I would soon be with Emoren and that once this was over, I would make things right again, somehow.

I sat there quietly and listened to the guards outside as I regained my composure. It wouldn’t be long before they would change shifts, and I had to be ready to make move when they did. I waited patiently, letting thoughts of Emoren fill me with resolve, and after about an hour of waiting, I finally heard what I had been waiting for.

“
Is she in there?” I heard a new voice say.

“
Yep. Have a good night, boys. We’re off to the tavern.”

I continued listening to the two new guards posted outside for several hours. Night had already started taking hold of the sky, and it didn’t take long for them to get bored and start walking around and talking amongst themselves. From what I could hear, I knew they weren’t standing on either side of my door, and that was just what I had been waiting for.

I hurried over to the last tray of food Penelope had left and did my best to make it look as if some of it had been eaten. I picked up the tray, walked over to the door, and took a deep breath. My life, my love, my freedom, everything was riding on this moment.

Please, let this work.

I pulled the shawl and blonde hair around my face as much as I could and slowly opened the door. I peered out at the dim, torch-lit walkway outside. The Gods must have heard my prayers, because the two men in front of me were leaning out the corridor window, staring out at the night sky and talking amongst themselves.

With my head lowered, and holding the tray against my hip with one hand and the door with the other, I left my room and quickly turned my back toward them. Hearing the door open, they immediately stopped and glanced over their shoulders at me.

They were watching me silently - waiting to see who was coming out. And before I closed the door and turned to leave, I froze for just a moment. With my side now facing them, I repositioned my grip on the tray I was carrying. I needed to give them time to identify me; to see that I was Penelope and not Amber. And as soon as they saw the blonde hair that was hiding my face and blowing in the evening breeze, they turned back toward the night sky and continued their conversation.

I couldn’t believe it. It was working.
Thank the Gods.