Chapter 10
I woke with a start, bolting to a sitting position in the middle of my oversized bed. It was light outside, with the sun still in the east. I remembered the important point that I couldn't remember last night. I sent Talia out to talk to the troops and she hadn't returned. I scrambled out of bed and checked my suite. She wasn't in the Queen's Suite, nor was she in the handmaiden's quarters that adjoined the suite.
I did find breakfast waiting for me, sitting on a table in my drawing room. It consisted of rolls, scrambled eggs, and fresh milk. I was hungry, since I never had a chance to eat dinner last night. Despite my growling stomach, I didn't touch the food, fearing that Ezerra had slipped one of her powders into it.
Draped over the back of a chair was another slave girl outfit for me to wear, identical to the blue one from last night except that it was yellow. I changed into the yellow outfit, not because I wanted to, but because there wasn't anything else for me to put on.
I just finished dressing when someone knocked on my door. I knew it wasn't Trager Selis or Ezerra, neither of them would bother to knock. I thought it might be Talia, but it wasn't. It was one of Selis's guards. One of the two guards that escorted me back to my suite last night. The one that had been on my right.
He wore black riding boots, gray leather breeches, and a green tunic. He wore his sword around his waist, but he wasn't wearing his helmet or breastplate. He was around thirty years old, with hair as black as mine but freshly cut. He was clean shaven with pale gray eyes and a long narrow nose that looked like it had been broken on more than one occasion. He wasn't as handsome as Vomeir, but he wasn't a bad looking fellow.
"I hope you haven't eaten your breakfast," he said, stepping into my suite and closing the door behind him.
"No."
"I was in the kitchen eating breakfast when Ezerra entered and told the cook to fix you a plate. I saw her slip her hand into her robe and sprinkle some powder on the food before ordering me to bring it up to your room." He reached into his tunic and pulled out a loaf of round bread and an unopened bottle of wine. "These are safe to eat."
I took the bread and wine. "I don't even know your name."
"Gustus, Your Highness."
I didn't know if I had won Gustus over with my beauty and sexuality, or with the arguments I made to him and his partner. Not that I cared. I was just glad to have him on my side. "Have you found out if Ezerra is drugging Commander Selis's food?"
"I did. After handing me your plate, with orders to bring it to your suite, Ezerra told the cook to fix a plate for Commander Selis. I lingered in the kitchen just long enough to see her sprinkle one of her powders on the commander's food."
"We have to kill her," I said.
"That won't be easy. Anytime one of us comes close to Ezerra, she slips her hand into her robe, almost like she's afraid that we'll try something."
"I can get close to her. Especially if she thinks I'm still under her influence."
"You don't have a weapon."
I smiled. "Don't be so sure."
"There's one more thing that I think you should know," Gustus said. "There's a man here. He's been staying in the palace for a couple of weeks now. I know nothing about him, other than he's a friend of Ezerra's. Perhaps friend isn't the right word. I believe Ezerra once referred to him as a business associate."
"Does Commander Selis know about this man?"
"When the man first arrived, Commander Selis asked Ezerra who he was and where he came from. Ezerra said that he was a business associate from the Far Lands and that Commander Selis shouldn't concern himself with the man. She put him in the servant's quarters near her room. The man has stayed out of the commander's way and the commander seems to have forgotten about him."
The Far Lands were the name we had given to the countries located west of the Desert of Shifting Sands. Adah had no formal relations with any of the countries located in the Far Lands. What we knew of them came from the Gibean sailors that had sailed to that side of the continent hoping to establish new trade routes. They had succeeded in trading with a land called Standish. I didn't know if any of the Far Lands bought and sold slaves, but if someone had come to see Ezerra on business, it was probably to buy a slave. Most likely me.
It made more sense for Ezerra to sell me to someone in the Far Lands rather than take me back to the Sugar Islands. The King of the Sugar Islands couldn't risk keeping an Adan princess as a slave, even an insignificant princess like myself. Honor would force Bedonna to do something about it, like go to war against the King of the Sugar Islands. Granted, Bedonna would kill me once she had killed him, but that was beside the point.
Selling me to someone from the Far Lands made more sense. The King of the Sugar Islands would make some money and no one in Adah would hear about one of their princesses becoming a slave. Not that I considered the man from the Far Lands to be a problem. Ezerra was my problem. If I killed her, Commander Selis would no longer be under her control.
First though, I needed to find out what happened to Talia. I figured the best way to do that was by using my abilities as a seer. I used them to find Sardis when his horse broke a leg, and I used them to find General Dacus when we wondered what had happened to him. Maybe I could use them to find Talia.
I waited for Gustus to leave then sat in one of the chairs in the drawing room. I closed my eyes and concentrated on Talia, picturing her in her brown leather breeches, brown leather jerkin, and white wool shirt. I pictured her with her close cropped hair and the mischievous gleam in her eyes. A second later, I saw her, sitting in a cell across from a dirty and bearded General Dacus. There was nothing in her cell except for a slop bucket and some straw piled into one corner.
Talia was sitting on the straw, her eyes closed, her back resting against the stone wall. The only light in the place was from oil lamps hanging between the cells. She opened her eyes, looked in my direction, and jumped, almost as if I had startled her.
"The gods protect us!" Talia said. "Either I'm seeing things, or they've killed Princess Lila."
"What in blazes are you talking about girl?" That came from General Dacus, who was lying on the straw pile in the cell across from Talia. There were men in the cells next to them, most likely my mother's messengers and the other division commanders.
"Princess Lila is in my cell," Talia said, staring right at me. "Except she's a ghost. I can see right through her."
What was she talking about? She could see me. No one had said that before, although Iderra said that she could sense my presence. That made me wonder. Were my powers growing? Could I control what Talia saw? I kept my concentration on Talia, but willed myself to become invisible.
"I don't see anything," General Dacus said. He was standing with his hands on the iron bars of his cell, staring into Talia's cell.
"She was here a second ago. Then she just faded away. I think they've killed her."
"If that's true then our only chance to get out of here is gone."
I pictured myself becoming visible, like the ghost image Talia mentioned.
"She's back," Talia cried. "Or her ghost is."
"So she is," General Dacus said.
Talia leapt to her feet and approached me, slowly, carefully. "Are you dead, Princess?"
I pictured my ghost image shaking its head no.
"She's shaking her head no," General Dacus said.
"No you ain't dead?" Talia said.
I pictured my image nodding yes.
"She's shaking her head yes," General Dacus said. "That means she's still alive."
"You're still alive?" Talia said.
I pictured my image nodding yes, more vigorously than before.
"Definitely alive," General Dacus said.
"Are you still in the palace?" Talia said.
My image nodded yes one more time.
"They caught me sneaking out of the palace. Some ugly old crone told them to lock me up down here. I guess I ain't as good a thief as my mother." My image gave Ta
lia a sympathetic smile. She smiled back. "Thanks."
"Ask her if she's met Ezerra?" General Dacus said.
My image nodded yes.
"She says yes."
"She's taken over the Army of the West," General Dacus said. "Commander Selis is under her control and the men are afraid to make a move against her. You're going to have to find a way to kill her."
My image nodded yes then faded away.
"She knows," Talia said. "And she's gone again."
I opened my eyes to find myself back in the drawing room of my suite. If I could do this whenever I wanted, I could communicate with anybody, spy on anybody, wherever they were. Well, as long as I knew what they looked like and could picture them in my mind.
I thought about spying on Ezerra, but before I did that, I figured I should practice a little. I wondered who I could practice on, then thought about Vomeir. He was probably worried sick right now. Maybe I could practice my skills on him, let him know I was still alive.
I closed my eyes and pictured Vomeir in my mind. His closely trimmed beard, his broad shoulders, his silver, gray, and green uniform. A second later I saw him, sitting around a dying campfire eating breakfast with Patera and his men. They had taken my tent down, but everything else looked the same.
"Holy crap!" Sardis said, leaping to his feet. He was sitting on a rock directly across from Vomeir. "Did you see that?"
"See what?" a bored Vomeir said.
"I thought I just saw Princess Lila."
"Where?" Patera said.
"Sitting next to the captain."
I had imagined myself sitting next to Vomeir, then imagined my image fading away. Apparently it had worked. I concentrated on my image again, picturing it sitting next to Vomeir. Instead of picturing myself in the outfit I was currently wearing, I pictured myself in the gown I was wearing when I left them.
"She's back!" Sardis cried.
Several of the men sitting next to him leapt to their feet and pointed at me. Vomeir turned his head and looked at me over his shoulder. Without batting an eyelash, he said, "So, you're still alive."
My ghost image nodded yes.
"I take that to mean you can hear me but can't talk to me."
My image nodded yes. Again.
Patera looked at me from where he was sitting. "You've reached the Western Palace?"
My image nodded yes.
"Commander Selis hasn't tried to kill you?"
My image shook its head no.
"You're safe then?" Vomeir asked.
My image shrugged its shoulders.
"What does that mean?" Vomeir shrugged his shoulders, imitating me.
How did I let them know about Ezerra? Instead of picturing myself sitting there in one of my gowns, I pictured Ezerra sitting there in her black robe. It must've worked because everyone that was standing backed up a couple more steps. I quickly changed the image back to myself.
"Who the hell was that?" Sardis asked.
"Someone's there," Patera said. "Someone has taken control of Commander Selis and the Army of the West."
My image nodded yes.
"Can you handle her by yourself?" Vomeir asked.
My image nodded yes. In truth, I wasn't sure if I could handle Ezerra by myself, but I didn't want Vomeir to worry. I certainly didn't want him to do something foolish, like ride up to the Western Palace and get himself shot. Besides, I was no longer working alone. At the very least, I had Gustus on my side.
"You better get back," Vomeir said. "I've seen how vulnerable your body is when you do this stuff."
I pictured myself blowing Vomeir a kiss, then let my image fade away. I didn't leave though, I hung around unseen, to see what they would say.
"She's gone," Sardis said. "Damnedest thing I ever did see."
"She's growing up quickly," Patera said. "And her powers are growing just as quickly."
"Something's not right," Vomeir said. "I don't think things are going as well as she wants us to believe."
"Even if they aren't," Patera said. "There's not much we can do. If we ride up to the gates of the Western Palace while that old hag is controlling Commander Selis, we risk getting ourselves killed. Besides, that old hag won't kill Lila."
"How can you be sure?" Vomeir said.
"After founding Adah, Morcesha, its first and greatest queen, asked her favorite prophet how long the nation would last. He said twenty-eight generations."
"That doesn't mean Lila's safe," Vomeir said. "Bedonna could become queen and find a man that's willing to bed her."
"A drunken blind man," Sardis mumbled.
"Morcesha asked her prophet another question," Patera said. "She asked him if she would be remembered as Adah's greatest queen."
"And?"
"The prophet said that she would be remembered as Adah's second greatest queen. He said that one day a queen would come along whose rule would span the entire continent. A queen whose influence would be felt by every generation that followed her. Morcesha asked the prophet to tell her about this queen. What was her name? What would she look like? Why would she be so influential? The prophet said only one thing. He said that she would have extraordinary powers."
I opened my eyes and found myself back in the Western Palace. Being able to see the future had its advantages, as did being able to see what others were doing in the present. But Vomeir was right. It left me vulnerable. Ezerra could walk in, cut my throat, and turn me into a permanent ghost. When I spied on others, I had to learn not to linger. Get in, get the information I needed, and get out. Like a thief in the night.
I realized I was hungry, so I broke off a piece from the loaf of bread that Gustus brought me. It would've been nice to have some butter and honey to put on the bread, but I was in no position to be choosy. As I ate, I tried to decide how to move against Ezerra.
I could use my new found powers to spy on her, maybe try to scare her. I could wait for her to come to me, pretend to be under the influence of the powder she slipped into my food, then jump on her and use the choking device in my hair. I could also sneak out of the palace and try to gather the support of the soldiers that were too afraid to do anything on their own.
The easiest thing to do would be to spy on Ezerra, see what she was up to. I finished my bread, downed it with a couple of swigs of red wine, then closed my eyes and thought about Ezerra. I pictured her in my mind. Her long skinny body. Her cold dark eyes. Her long narrow nose. Her gray hair. Her heavy ankle length black wool robe.
I found her in the dining hall, eating breakfast with a man I didn't know. The man was short and chubby. His hair was gray and cut short. He was bald on top, and had a neatly trimmed gray beard. His eyes were pale blue and contained none of the malice I saw in Ezerra's dark eyes. He wore black riding boots, black cotton breeches, a white silk shirt that laced up the front, and a black cotton waistcoat.
"We'll have to move quickly," Ezerra said. She was speaking Gibean, the language of the traders. "The princess has managed to convince Commander Selis that he needs her, that without her by his side, he'll never be viewed as a real king."
"I thought you were drugging him?" the man said in Gibean. "I thought he was under your control?"
"The drug I've been giving him induces delusions of grandeur. It doesn't completely cloud his thinking. He still has lucid moments. I've convinced him that he's destined for greatness, but he still understands that people will be more willing to accept him as a king if he has a real princess by his side."
"What do you suggest?" the man said.
"You move Princess Lila out today. The longer she's around Selis, the more he'll want to keep her."
"I have to meet her. Talk to her. I won't buy sight unseen."
"You can meet her right after breakfast."
"Have you drugged her?"
"I slipped a little something into her food to make her feel good."
The man scowled. "I need to talk to her when she's coherent. Find out if she's suitable."
; "Suitable for what?"
"What I need her for is none of your concern."
"You didn't pay for a suitable princess. You paid for a princess, which I have delivered. If you're smart, you'll take this one and leave. Today."
"And if I don't?" the man said.
"Then I poison her food and you leave empty handed. I can't have her hanging around here. She's too dangerous. The troops are afraid of me, but her presence could change that. Then there's Commander Selis. He likes her, thinks she's cute. Plus she's got big boobs. Your sex is obsessed with big boobs and Commander Selis is no different. He also knows that making her his wife would go a long way toward making him a real king."
"Where's Commander Selis right now?"
"Sleeping," Ezerra said. "I slipped a knockout powder into his breakfast to keep him out of the way until you and Princess Lila leave."
"What will you tell him when he wakes up and discovers she's gone?"
"I'll tell him the truth, that there'll be another one coming along soon."
"How do you know another one will come along?"
"Because there are four of them. And all four of them know the only way they can secure the throne is with manpower."
"And if Commander Selis isn't attracted to the next one?"
Ezerra smiled. "I'll remind him that royal marriages are about power, not love or sex. He'll understand."
The man pushed his chair away from the table and wiped his face with a linen napkin. "I believe I'm ready to see the princess."
Ezerra stood. "Just be aware that she won't be herself."
"Because of the powder you slipped into her food."
"It makes her a bit lightheaded, gives her a feeling of euphoria. She won't be as bright or as coherent as she normally would."
"Is that it?"
"She might seem a bit amorous."
"Another side effect of your powder?" The man scowled, giving me the impression that he didn't like Ezerra or her methods.
I opened my eyes and found myself back in my room. I hid the bread and wine that Gustus brought me. Then I dumped some of the food from the untouched tray into one of the potted palms that sat on the balcony, so it looked like I ate some of the drugged food.
I tried to sort out what I just learned. Ezerra wasn't a seer, that much was obvious. A real seer would know that Salisha was dead, Iderra was heading for Sorea, and Bedonna didn't need the Army of the West to secure the throne.
The man from the Far Lands wanted a suitable princess. If I knew what that meant, I could pretend to be unsuitable, then I wouldn't have to worry about being carted off to the Far Lands. Problem was, I didn't know what a suitable princess was. I would just have to hope that a suitable princess was blond and beautiful like Salisha. Or bright and inquisitive like Iderra. Or strong and brave like Bedonna.
I adjusted the choking device that Talia gave me so I could pull it out of my hair quickly. Ezerra thought I was drugged, which meant her guard would be down. This might be my best chance to kill her, my only chance to kill her. The man from the Far Lands wasn't very tall, plus he was fat and old. Once I had my choker around Ezerra's neck, he wouldn't be able to pull me off her, not before I had rung the life out of the old crone's leathery body.
I was lying on one of the divans in my sitting room when Ezerra and the man from the Far Lands entered. They didn't bother to knock. They just burst in unannounced. My eyes were slits and there was a drunken smile on my face.
Ezerra grinned when she saw me, as well she should. I looked just like I did last night, when she tossed the powder in my face. A glance at my nearly empty breakfast tray led her to believe that I was still under her control. Now all I needed was for her to come closer.
"What have you done to her?" the man from the Far Lands roared when he saw me. He seemed both angry and embarrassed.
"I told you what to expect," Ezerra said.
"I can't learn anything when she's in this condition. I need to talk to her when she's coherent. And what's with that slave collar around her neck. I demand that you remove it at once. I won't have her subjected to that kind of humiliation."
I wasn't sure why it would bother a slave owner to see me like this, but I might be able to use it to my advantage. If the man could talk Ezerra into removing the collar from around my neck, that would get me close enough to ring her neck.
"You're in no position to be giving me orders," Ezerra spat.
"Considering the money your king was paid, I'd say I'm in a perfect position to be giving you orders. I demand that you remove that collar from around her neck. Immediately."
Ezerra scowled, but reached into her black robe and pulled out a key. She turned toward me and smiled. "Why don't you come over here, Little One. I'll remove the pretty gold collar from around your neck, so you can look at it whenever you want. You'd like that wouldn't you?"
I mumbled yes, then pretended to struggle to my feet. Once I was standing, I staggered toward Ezerra, all the while maintaining the same drunken smile that I wore last night. As I moved toward her, I reached behind me, making it look like I was trying to fix the tie that kept my ponytail in place.
I stopped within an arm's reach of Ezerra and kept my hands behind me, holding my hair. Ezerra used the key to unlock and remove the gold collar from around my neck. When she finished, she turned toward the man from the Far Lands. "Satisfied?"
She was within arm's reach and her back was to me. I figured I would never have a better opportunity, so I grabbed the bone handles of Talia's choking device, stretched the silk cord taunt, and whipped it over Ezerra's head and around her neck. I pulled the cord as tight as I could, hopped on the crone's back, and rode her like a wild mustang.
She whipped around, first to the right, then to the left, trying to buck me off. I hung on by digging my knees into her bony hips. When that didn't dislodge me, she tried to pull me off by reaching behind her head and grabbing me by the hair. When she yanked on my hair, I tightened the silk cord around her neck. She released my hair and tried to slip her fingers between the cord and her neck. I responded by pulling the cord even tighter.
Ezerra staggered around the room a few steps, her arms waved wildly in front of her, gurgling sounds bubbled out of her mouth. Finally, she collapsed to the floor, landing flat on her face. I rode her all they way to the floor, then continued to choke her, even as she lay limp.
"I believe she's dead, Your Highness."
It took me a second to realize who was speaking. It was the man from the Far Lands. He was standing by the door, watching me. He didn't seem the least bit bothered by the fact that I had killed Ezerra.
"You were faking," he said, still speaking Gibean, the language of the traders. "You weren't affected by her powder."
"That's because I never ate the food she prepared for me." I climbed off Ezerra and rolled her onto her back. Her mouth was open and her tongue was hanging out. Her eyes were open, but there was no life in them. She was dead. I killed her and I wasn't sorry for it. I felt no remorse whatsoever. The world was a better place without her.
I didn't turn my back on the man from the Far Lands, mostly because I didn't trust him. "So, you came here to buy a princess."
"Did Ezerra tell you that?"
"Ezerra told me nothing."
"Then how did you . . . . "
"That's none of your business," I said, interrupting him. "Is it true? Are you here to buy a princess?"
"I came here to FIND a suitable princess."
"Find or buy. What's the difference?"
"I was told the King of the Sugar Islands could provide me with a princess, for a price. That there was a country in this part of the world that threw princesses away like they were yesterday's garbage."
"What do you consider a suitable princess, Slaver?"
The man looked at me indignantly. "I am not a slaver. I'm the Royal Chancellor to the Queen of Vassa. Sir Edgerton Hooks, at your service." He bowed, a very formal bow.
"Then your queen is a sl
aver."
"My queen is dying. Without an heir."
"You came here to buy an heir?" I was dumbfounded.
"The laws of succession state that a king or queen can adopt an heir so long as that heir is of royal blood. You are of royal blood."
Edgerton reached into his waistcoat, pulled out a palm-sized crossbow, and shot me in the right shoulder. The bolt from the crossbow was no bigger than a dart, and while it stung, it wasn't life threatening by any means.
"You're going to have to do better than that." I pulled the dart out of my shoulder and tossed it on the floor. I snapped the choking device taunt and marched toward him. I had killed once today. I could do it again.
"I'm sorry, Your Highness," Edgerton said. "But I promised my queen I would return with a princess."
A wave of dizziness washed over me and I found myself struggling to stand, struggling to stay awake. I had just enough time to realize that the dart-sized bolt had been drugged. Then I lost consciousness.