Electra took the crystal ball from Serafina and set it next to her as she sat on the cot. "It seems my rejection of this marriage proposal could influence Helsop’s future."
"You are King Geoffrey’s daughter. Surely you see the significance of that."
"But King Geoffrey doesn’t even know me. How could I affect the relationship between Helsop and Fernland?"
"Only know that it is so," Serafina said. "How came Dagon upon your royal identity?"
"He says he knew all along and loved me from first he saw me."
"He is lying," Serafina said.
"How do you know?" Electra asked.
"The same way you know," Serafina chided. "He probably does love you. How could he not? Whether he knows it yet or not matters little. He seeks to save Helsop by any means necessary. But Helsop’s fate need not be your concern."
"Please do not tell me again that power alone matters. Look at how these people are forced to live," Electra said.
"They choose to stay and live as they do," Serafina said.
"This is their home," Electra argued.
"They have the choice to leave just as you do." She paused for a moment, then said quietly, "And what will that choice be?"
Electra sighed. She didn’t want to choose, nor did she want to champion Helsop’s needs. Most of all she wanted Serafina’s help in deciding where she would go. "You do not seem entirely opposed to the idea of a marriage to Dagon," Electra noted.
"I have been looking into the future. Your future. I believe you have three choices. One, go to Geoffrey and Delphinia where you will be closely watched and smothered with well-meant attention until Geoffrey sees an advantage in marrying you off to a powerful family to gain an advantageous alliance. Two, stay with me under Blackwell’s protection until he ransoms you off to Geoffrey. Three, stay with Dagon, where you can wield influence over Blackwell through me and over Geoffrey by virtue of his filial duty to you."
"You are staying with Blackwell, then?" Electra asked, surprised.
"I am content for now being with the enemy of my enemy. Blackwell is more under my spell than he knows and will soon ask for my hand in marriage."
"You? Married? I cannot imagine it. Do you love him?"
"I would have married Geoffrey for love. I see now what a burden that would have been. No, I do not love Blackwell but I find him a capable man and I respect him."
"You see no fourth possibility of us leaving together to recreate our old life?" Electra asked.
"We would be hounded by Geoffrey’s spies. You are a young woman now. Would you marry a village youth or stay unmarried and watch me grow old while your own chance for a family slips away?"
"I had not considered such a future," Electra said, unable to imagine her mother growing old.
"Even now Prince Blackwell sits lusting after the advantage he would have over Geoffrey if you were in his custody. You are much sought after."
"I do not love Dagon. At least not yet, although he is putting great effort into courting me. He took me to see Helsop’s glacier." Electra smiled, remembering.
"I know," Serafina said, "Blackwell’s scouts were there as well."
Electra turned a little pale. "Were they sent to abduct me?" she asked.
"Very likely," Serafina said. "I was able to mislead them, but more will come."
"How can one make any decisions with such pressures on all sides? Perhaps I should slip into the night and disappear," Electra said.
"I overheard Dagon say he did not expect an answer anytime soon. If you tell him that Blackwell knows you are the Princess Electra, he will at least protect you from being taken by Blackwell’s soldiers. That should offer you some time. I would caution you against slipping into a night that holds so many spies and snares. You are surrounded even now by Dagon’s men, but I do not know what orders they have been given concerning you."
"I am still under guard?" Electra asked.
"More than ever, now," Serafina said.
Electra kicked the floor with her heel. "I feel such a pawn in all this."
"Do I sense the beginning of a desire for power?" Serafina smiled broadly.
Electra laughed at herself. "Perhaps," she said softly.
"I must go. Remember, Blackwell’s soldiers will come looking as soon as I return without you. Protect yourself." Electra jumped up to hug Serafina. "Must you go so soon?"
Serafina looked out into the night from the open doorway and said, "I know now you will decide well." Then she was gone.
Electra sat back on her cot and picked up the crystal ball. She bounced it up and down in her hand, feeling the smoothness of the glass, looking at the crack that continued deep inside.
"It seems the time has come for me to put the crystal ball aside, and ask myself what direction my life will take," she said quietly.
Chapter 45
Village of Helsop
Electra was awakened before dawn the next morning by Dagon’s knock on her door. He had agreed to allow Electra a private meeting with her brother. Dagon had cautioned her that Avor’s yellow hair and tattered conscript’s tunic were none of his soldiers’ doing. Electra couldn’t imagine how Avor could have been taken prisoner as one of Geoffrey’s conscripts. She hoped that their prisoner turned out to be only some soldier who resembled Avor.
"I did not expect you so early," Electra said, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she opened the door.
"My apologies for waking you so early. Two of Blackwell’s men are watching the entrance to the clinic. They feel their status as allies allows them the impertinence. I fear others will follow. I’ll take you to your brother but your visit must be brief. We need to find a safer place for you to stay."
They walked through the village as the sun rose over the forest. A spirit of enterprise seemed to have invaded the community. Soldiers were busy pounding the boards they had used as battering rams back onto the framework of their houses. Children played tag in the streets, and women stitched together found scraps of cloth to make new clothes for their families. The hollow eyes and vacant expressions were gone.
Electra and Dagon continued past the tents of the outpost and the prisoner’s holding area to a small but heavily guarded tent on the outskirts of the village.
Dagon spoke to one of the guards who opened the flap of the tent and called out, "Here’s a visitor come ta’ see ya’, Lad."
Electra stared into the shaded interior of the tent at the dirty, yellow-haired prisoner who stood with his back to her. "Avor?" she asked.
The prisoner remained facing the far corner of the tent.
"Avor, is it really you?"
The boy turned around slowly. Tears sprang into his eyes as he faced Electra. "Do they know who you are?" he whispered.
"Yes, I am afraid they do," Electra said gently, walking toward him.
"Then our father is ruined and Fernland as well," Avor said, hanging his head and dropping to his knees.
Electra’s heart went out to her defeated younger brother. She put her hand on his shoulder. "Nonsense," she whispered, "we will find a way to make this right."
"It is my fault. I disguised myself as a conscript. I disregarded Father’s orders and came in secret. He did not know I was with the army."
"Listen to me. It is all right," she whispered, pulling him up to a standing position. "I am not a prisoner here. Quite the opposite, in fact."
"What?" he whispered, blinking back tears.
"You are correct in assuming they will hold you for ransom, but I am not a hostage," Electra continued speaking directly into his ear. "Dagon has professed his love for me. He seeks my hand in marriage."
Avor stared at her. "Marriage?" he shrilled, trying to keep his voice down. "But this is worse than being a hostage. Do you not see that he is trying to use you against our father?"
Electra stiffened a little and smiled. "Is it so unbelievable that he might love me?"
Avor looked puzzled, in no mood for jokes. "He is unworthy, an outlaw."
>
Electra saw that he was too overwrought for jests. She held up her hand to stave off further protests. "I know he plays at loving me. It doesn’t matter. Besides," she said, suddenly inspired with a new idea, "two can play at that game. I believe we have an opportunity here."
"What kind of opportunity?" Avor asked. His face clouded with apprehension. "To do what?"
"Suppose I agree to his proposal, even better, suppose I profess my love for him. Dagon and I could then go to King Geoffrey with our engagement. Perhaps I could suggest we try for an alliance, based on the engagement."
"This sounds a dangerous game. What if he does agree to take you to Fernland and you find a way to escape into our father’s protection? He would still have me held hostage to unreasonable demands."
"You will grant me no credit for devising strategies? You must look at the possibilities."
"You see where my own foolish strategies have landed me," Avor said, "but if yours take you anywhere close to home, please promise me that you will be content to escape into father’s protection. I could not bear that our mother lose you again."
"No one will be lost, including you. I am not without resources. Remember, I was raised by a sorceress." She smiled again and was rewarded with a look that was part hope and part fear. "I must go now," she said. "I do not want Dagon to think we are hatching a plot against him." She squeezed his arm and left quickly.
When she emerged from the tent, Dagon was gone. Deimos came running toward her. He quickly wrapped her in a blanket and slung her over his shoulder.
"Stay still," he cautioned, "Others may be watching. I am taking you to Dagon."
Chapter 46
Village of Helsop
Electra peeked through the opening of her blanket to see where Deimos was taking her. She could only see the dusty ground of the military encampment. Before long the dusty ground changed to a trail bounded by ferns. As soon as they reached the cover of trees he set her down and looked back to see if they had been followed.
"We have a way to go," he said. "Normally I would insist you wear a blindfold but Dagon said no."
Deimos seemed upset about this breach of security. Electra decided to reassure him.
"I do not know what all this is about, but you should know by now that I am capable of keeping a secret," she said.
Deimos almost grinned at this and relaxed a bit.
They walked through the forest until they came to two horses, saddled and tethered to a tree. Deimos helped Electra up onto her horse and they followed the bank of the river to the edge of Helsop’s plateau. As they neared the rim, the noise of the river increased to a deafening roar. From the plateau’s edge they looked out at a wide waterfall spanning the full width of the river and ending in a broad pool far below. The roar was deafening. The falls spread over an area a quarter of a mile wide, cascading down blue slate cliffs. The mist that rose over the water enveloped them in a white fog.
"Ice Water Falls," Deimos announced with pride in his voice.
Deimos guided his horse along a steep path that curved down and away from the waterfall. Electra’s horse followed as if trained to do so. At the base of the plateau Deimos dismounted. He pushed aside boulders and brush to reveal a sparse trail that wound back toward the base of the falls. He led the horses around a bend where a third horse grazed, hobbled in a lush green meadow. He hobbled their two horses, then returned to roll the boulders back in place, and erase signs of their passing.
"We will go on foot from here," he said.
They followed the thin trail until it turned onto a gravel beach. The western edge of the waterfall came into view. They continued along the gravel beach until they reached the cataract. With one last look behind him, Deimos disappeared behind the drape of water. Electra ran to catch up. She plunged through the edge of the waterfall and found herself walking along a narrow slippery ledge behind the thundering water. She stopped to put her hand in the curtain of water and was almost unbalanced by the force of it. They continued along the treacherous path to the middle section of the falls. Here Deimos removed some moss-covered branches to reveal a small opening in the cliff face from which a soft glow emanated. He waved her through ahead of him. The loud roar of the falls made conversation impossible.
Once through the gap the cave opened into a large cavern lit a dull orange by torchlight. It was cool inside and Electra hugged her blanket close around her. Dagon came forward to meet them.
He smiled at Electra, then looked cautiously at Deimos.
"Any problems?" he asked.
"We were not followed," Deimos said. "But Blackwell’s soldiers have begun a house to house search for the girl."
"It seems your identity is now known to all," Dagon said, watching Electra, "Do you think Serafina revealed it to Blackwell?"
"I suppose that is how she convinced him to come to Helsop’s aid," Electra said.
"My soldiers told me of her visit last night," Dagon said.
Electra nodded.
"But you chose not to leave with her," Dagon said.
Electra smiled and said simply, "No."
Dagon turned to Deimos. "Make some excuse for my absence. Put off any meeting with Blackwell. I will return soon. Electra will be safe here."
Deimos touched his forehead in salute and crawled back through the mouth of the cave.
"This place is quite remarkable," Electra said, turning to take in the massive cavern.
"I told you Helsop held many wonders," Dagon said. "How fares your brother?"
"I believe he still prefers Fernland to Helsop," Electra said, giving up the Amorate charade.
"Dare I take that to mean you have decided in Helsop’s favor?"
"Are there more wonders of this magnitude?" Electra smiled at him.
Dagon was encouraged by her smile. "I believe Helsop holds great promise," he said enthusiastically. "The poverty that grips us is not irreversible." He paused to temper his enthusiasm. "But of course, that is beside the point. It is my affection for you that seeks any argument to win your favor."
"I am curious," Electra said, "When did you become aware of this affection you hold for me? I must say you kept your feelings well hid."
Dagon seemed ready with an answer to this question. "I found you admirable in your brother’s protection when first we met—you were so resourceful, so brave. And later when you sought to help the same soldiers who had taken you prisoner, I came to realize what a generous and gifted person you were. All that in addition to being mesmerized by your great beauty. I fear you must find me unworthy but I continue to hope." He lowered his eyes in a manner that seemed slightly contrived.
"Even by torchlight your eyes are that remarkable blue found deep within Helsop’s glacier," Electra said.
Dagon’s eyes snapped fully open as his chin jerked up. "My eyes?" he said, caught off guard.
"Yes," Electra said, "I find them quite remarkable."
Dagon was suddenly at a loss for words and changed the subject quickly.
"I want to be sure Blackwell’s men do not find you. You must know he seeks to hold you for ransom. Even Serafina’s influence could not dissuade him from that. I am sure you will be safe here. This cave is a closely guarded secret. We could make the cave quite comfortable and I could visit often…"
"I have a better idea," Electra said.
"You do?" Dagon asked, once again caught off guard.
"Why not pay a visit to Fernland? Perhaps we could discuss the possibility of an alliance with King Geoffrey."
"An alliance?" he repeated.
"Yes, if in fact we do become engaged, there might be the possibility of an alliance, since I am his daughter," Electra said.
"If we become engaged," Dagon repeated.
"That is your goal, is it not? Our engagement?"
"Yes, of course, of course it is. Then…you begin to be inclined toward the idea?" he asked.
"I am inclined to consider it," she said.
Dagon began to speak several times,
but each time thought better of it. Finally he said, "Please stay here where you will be safe while I return briefly to Helsop. Let me see what new ploys Blackwell has contrived while I consider the feasibility of your idea. I am overwhelmed with hope now I hear what direction your thoughts are taking." He managed one last brief smile before making a hasty exit.
Chapter 47
Village of Helsop
Dagon found Deimos outside the prisoner stockade speaking with a group of guards.
"The prisoners are restless," Deimos said. "I believe they are uneasy about the fate of Prince Avor."
"We must allow no rumor of his captivity to reach Blackwell," Dagon said, "It is enough that Blackwell knows of Electra’s presence here. Do his soldiers continue to search for her?"
"Yes and their insolence grows as they fail to find her. I kept them from searching Avor’s tent by telling them it was an isolation tent for a possible case of plague. Fearful as they were, they still looked inside to be sure there was no girl within. And Blackwell’s envoys continue to request your presence at a strategy meeting."
Dagon frowned as he tried to collect his thoughts. "Are the prisoners for the exchange ready to leave?"
"They are. Will one or both of us be accompanying them?"
Dagon continued to frown. "I think that would be the best course. I want to put off any meet with Blackwell." He hesitated. "But I am not sure what to do about Electra."
Deimos waited, began to speak, and then thought better of it.
"What is it?" Dagon asked.
"I was just wondering, eh… how the marriage proposal went over."
Dagon’s expression changed from a frown to a perplexed look. "I would say, not very well, but for a strange conversation we had just a few minutes ago. In fact that is why I sought you out. I do not know what to make of it."
"What did she say?" Deimos asked.
"She said my eyes were the color of our glacier."
Deimos stared at his friend, confused. "What…, white?"
"No, the blue that lies within," Dagon said.
Deimos looked intently at Dagon’s eyes and then stifled a laugh.
Dagon frowned, irritated by his friend’s attempt not to laugh. "I know it is meant as an endearment," he said, "I just cannot decipher it. Is she pretending to like me? She is suddenly open to the idea of an engagement. Is she afraid that I will change my mind and hold her for ransom? She doesn’t seem to be afraid. Quite the opposite, in fact. She has begun to offer me advice."