Page 68 of Tiger's Dream
I nodded and followed her out of the stable. We spent several hours tracking the girl. It was easy enough for me to catch her scent after we backtracked to the window, but once we were inside the palace, her scent was gone. It was like the girl had never once left her room. Finally, we found it only to discover her room was now empty. All of her belongings had been moved.
The sun rose and we used the scarf to disguise ourselves, but Ana was summoned down to the kitchens to work when we passed by the head cook. It took me an hour to get her since she was surrounded by people and we didn’t want to cause alarm by disappearing. By the time she changed from a kitchen worker to a palace servant and found a water jug to carry, I had been called upon to help a group of men lifting a cart to put on a new wheel.
When that task was completed, we wound our way through the palace, checking room after room, getting lost more than once, before I finally caught the girl’s scent again. I followed it to a large room blocked by a guard. He took one look at me and stuck out his hand, denying me entrance, but he opened the door for Ana.
She shrugged and ducked inside. Moving far enough away from the man so he couldn’t see or hear me, but close enough to watch for Ana to exit, I wore a hole in the fine rug with my pacing, but at last, she emerged and we met at the corner of the building. “It was a harem. A rather big one,” she said, her eyes gleaming with intensity.
“So? Was she there?” I asked.
“No. But a lot of her silks were.”
My shoulders fell. “Then we need to keep looking.”
“No, Sohan. I know where she is.”
“Where?” I asked.
“She is being prepared for her wedding. The girls will be leaving soon to dress her.”
I took hold of her shoulders a bit too harshly. “Then we’re too late?”
“No. We’ll follow the women. They’ll lead us right to her.”
We waited but the women never came.
“I’ll check with the guard,” Ana said. When she returned, she said, “They have already gone. They left through a back way. I told him I was to be summoned and he gave me directions. Follow me. We must be quick!”
We hurried through a maze of corridors and finally came upon a bathing chamber. There were a few girls mopping up water. “Are we too late?” Ana asked. “We were to bring a gift for the emperor and his new bride.”
“They’ve already gone ahead,” one girl said indifferently.
“Thank you,” Ana muttered and we sped out the door. To avoid too many interruptions, we phased out of time and finally came upon a grand chamber. The door opened as a servant scurried out. We both ducked inside, passing the two guards before the door closed. I heard a voice shouting and the cry of many people. It sounded like battle or soldiers marching in formation.
We stalked closer. The thick carpet would have muffled any sounds we made even if we hadn’t been cloaked. A man’s voice echoed in the expansive chamber, and we came upon the girl we were seeking and the emperor, her betrothed. They stood on a balcony overlooking what must have been a practice field.
The man said, “I have a wedding present for you, my dear.” He opened a parcel and showed the contents to the girl. She stretched out her fingertips to touch the piece of fabric he held. Tears coursed down her face. The emperor continued with a mocking voice, “An interesting incident occurred last night. It seems a plow horse entered the palace grounds wearing this very scarf. He made enough noise that the guards took him away and locked him in the stables. This morning, to our surprise, we found not a horse but the silk maker in the stall. We asked him what magic he’d used and why he’d come. He won’t speak. He refuses to share his reason for infiltrating my palace in the middle of the night.”
I took a step forward, intending to confront the man openly, but Ana touched my arm and did that soothing thing. She curled her hand around my bicep to hold me in place, and when I turned to question her, I was surprised to see her mouth drawn in a tight line and her face so pale.
As the girl’s shoulders shook, the dastardly man continued, “I can only assume that he came to assassinate me. How fortunate you are that your husband-to-be is safe.”
The girl clenched her fists and cried, “He didn’t come to assassinate you!”
I grimaced. The girl was totally without guile. She couldn’t see that the man was baiting her.
“Didn’t he? Are you sure? You do know him better than anyone else here. Perhaps he came here for a completely different reason. Why do you think he came, my dear?”
Don’t answer, I thought.Just be quiet. Sadly, the girl couldn’t seem to keep her mouth shut. In a way, she and the silk maker were perfect for each other.
The girl fumbled to fashion a story. “I…I’m sure he was only bringing me more thread. Perhaps he was set upon by a warlock and he needed some help.”
This pathetic back-and-forth went on for a while, and I was hoping the guy would finish soon so we could grab the girl and get out and reunite her with her silk maker. But then, he took her to the balcony.Was he going to throw her over?
I heard the snap of a whip and my blood went cold. The emperor shoved the scarf he held into the girl’s face. His own face was purple with rage. “Did you think I wouldn’t recognize your handiwork, my dear?” he said. “You have bestowed your favor on this man.”
The girl begged for the life of the young man but I knew it was futile. I looked over at Ana, who seemed traumatized by the whole spectacle. “Maybe we should go save the boy first,” I said.
She shook her head numbly. I looked up and locked eyes with the emperor. He was a canny one. My voice had been low enough that he shouldn’t have heard me, and yet he scanned the room suspiciously before finally turning back to the girl and humiliating her further by making her deny the young man.
