Page 36 of Tashama
“Come, come, tell me what you’re thinking.” The prince scowled at his adviser.
“I believe the woman aided the prisoners as she aided her own people to escape.”
“But her clothes…they are unlike anything we have ever seen. She speaks strange sentiments. Are we certain she’s really one of them?”
“She has the same coloration as the Karthlanders, sire, yes.”
“She is not immortal.” The prince reached the seventh floor without missing a breath.
“No, sire, her injuries are very real.”
“And yet she swam when none of our people can do such a thing? Nor can hers, for that matter, and she blocks your thoughts. How can she do this? EvenI, ruler of all Maldovia, cannot block your thoughts, should I wish to.”
The sorcerer shook his head. “I’ve considered she may be a sorceress.”
“A sorceress? Only one per royal house can exist. You know that. Balthazar was the sorcerer of Karthland. Though I’ve heard tell that his whereabouts have been unknown for some years. Valmor has taken his place.”
They reached the tenth floor, and the tower guard jumped to attention. “Sire.” He bowed.
“How could you have allowed the prisoners to escape?” The prince dashed into the room. He studied the hefty weight of the hemp, then leaned out of the window and stared at the dizzying height to the ground. “Show me the room where they entered from down below.” The prince hurried to the door.
While they jogged down to the next floor, the prince said, “Carissian, could she be a sorceress from a different region?”
“They only serve a royal family, sire. If she were a sorceress, she would not have been on her own like she was near the lake in any event.”
The prince rubbed his forehead as they reached the landing three stories down from the prisoner’s tower. “Would she have replaced the Karthlander’s sorcerer then?”
Carissian shook his head. “They don’t believe in using sorceresses any more than we do. The Karthlanders don’t trust a woman’s emotions—too volatile. Valmor is still their sorcerer, so I understand.”
“But she could swim.” The notion bothered him. He walked into the room where the thieves had taken refuge briefly. The husband and wife quickly bowed to the prince. “Tell me what happened here.” He folded his arms across his chest.
“They were like shadows, moving without sound in the dark. Before we knew it, they’d dragged my wife and me out of bed, then covered our mouths with their hands while another hurried to rip our sheets into strips. Within seconds, we were bound like ancient Calathian mummies, then they tied us to the bed. Two ran to the window and motioned to the others. Soon three more followed.
“The biggest one of the lot carried a golden-haired goddess draped over his shoulder. I couldn’t imagine where the men had come from, or where they were bound with the woman. The big man said they had rescued the damsel in distress, then hurried out of the room with her. About half an hour later, the bells sounded. Within minutes, the royal guards barged into our room and found us tied and gagged.”
The prince peered out the window and studied the rope still dangling before it. “I cannot imagine how they could’ve done such an escape without the aid of light.”
“They are thieves, sire.” Carissian joined the prince at the window. “They steal under the cloak of darkness. It is their way.”
“And they intended to carry the woman throughout the palace grounds?” The prince turned back to the man and his wife.
“It appeared so, Your Highness. He didn’t seem to want to give the woman up.”
The prince shook his head. “Then she would have slowed them down. To the sewers, men.”
11
“Do you wish to suspend breakfast, my lord?” Carissian hurried after the prince. The prince glared back at him. Carissian nodded, then motioned for a servant in the hall. “Tell the chief steward, breakfast will not be had this morning.”
“Let it be known that the escape of the Karthlander woman is the reason.” The prince ran down the flight of stairs to the basement.
They approached the sewer grate for the upper sewer levels, and the guard hurried to open the lock. Then the guard climbed down the ladder to the walkway alongside the sewer flow. The prince wrinkled his nose as he climbed down after him. They spied guards searching the corridor ahead of them. One of the men ran toward the prince.
“We’ve found no sign of them, save a couple of skewered rats. They’ve been down this way, but for over an hour, we’ve found no other indication as to which of the tunnels they continued into, sire.”
The prince shook his head as he joined more of his men. They walked for nearly two hours as water dripped perpetually,casting a shiny gloss on the moss-covered walls. Rats squealed out in the tunnels when soldiers ran across the critters along their path, and the smell of sewage and decaying matter permeated the air.
When they arrived at an outlet in the vast countryside, the prince took a deep breath of fresh air. He studied the landscape as one of the guards said, “We’ve investigated the path leading from here. Though it is well-worn, there’s no indication feet have passed this way recently.” He pointed at the blades of grass poking out of the black soil. “Not a blade has been tromped on.” He walked onto the grass, then stepped back. “The grass doesn’t spring back, you see. If a man walked on it, we would see the imprint.”
