*
Hunter and Natalya had chosen to call it a night after breaking into the prison and hoped to catch Charles when he returned from his business. He still wasn’t home by the time both of them were too exhausted to stay awake any longer, however, so they retired to their rooms and slept.
Hunter woke with the sun and padded out into the hallway, listening for signs that other people were awake. Someone was already rattling pots and pans in the kitchen so he threw on his clothes and descended the stairs.
The events that had occurred in Hardonia were troubling enough, but the more entangled within the intrigues he became, the more worried he grew. It had been his hope when accepting this job from Charles that a greater Treymayne presence in Gelendan would help mend the tense relations – not to mention it being a good excuse for him to be back here – but it seemed that it was the government that was still in need of mending. Queen Layna had done her best to eradicate the snakes within the country, but apparently not well enough.
Charles looked up from the breakfast he was cooking, in quantities that made Hunter’s head spin, and smiled at him. “Morning, Nephew. How was your visit with Amelia yesterday?”
“A bit too exciting,” Hunter responded, taking over the stirring of the porridge in order to free one of Charles’ hands. “She was arrested.”
The egg that Charles had been cracking on the edge of the frying pan spattered all over the place. “What?!”
“We had just arrived when a group of soldiers marched in with Lord Telvani and arrested her for treason on the grounds that she had been caught sneaking into the King and Queen’s chamber supposedly to harm them.”
“That’s nonsense!”
“That’s what we thought too. Luckily, Amelia had hidden us before it happened, so we were able to get out without anyone noticing that we were there at all. Then we went and visited her in prison.”
“You went and visited her…”
“In prison, yes. She told us that she suspected that Lord Telvani had done something to the King and Queen and when she snuck in to see them, they were in some sort of stasis, either magic or drug induced. She recommended that we go see Lady Katrina and at the old Alamanni manor. Do you know where that is?”
Charles was mopping up the spilled egg with his mouth gaping open. He closed it and shuffled the fork around in the eggs, scrambling them. “I do, and she’s right. If there’s anythin’ to know those two’ll know it. Katrina and ‘er husband, Aaron, are good friends of the Queen.” He paused for a moment, staring at the eggs. “Leave it to Layna to have gotten ‘erself into more trouble. That girl attracts crazies.” Then a second later he mumbled, “How do I get myself into these things?”
Natalya joined them at that moment, and the three of them went over the story once again in greater detail and they discussed their options. Natalya was understandably stuck on how to get more information on where her sister was, but Hunter thought the more relevant questions were those pertaining to getting the Queen back into control before more horrible things happened. He would never say it to her, but he had the feeling that her sister may already be dead. Given the type of people who had taken her…
Charles chose not to join them in speaking with Katrina and Aaron, saying that there were other people he needed to bring the news to, but made them promise to tell him everything they learned. After following his directions to get to the manor, they walked up the long pathway in, past two stone lions guarding the towering archway, and knocked on the front door.
It opened to reveal a plain-looking young woman, carrying a babe on her hip. The child watched them through giant blue eyes. It rather unnerved Hunter.
“May I help you?” the woman asked, looking back and forth between them.
Hunter cleared his throat, “Yes, please. We’re looking for Lady Katrina and Lord Aaron?”
The woman cocked her head to the side, “Are they expecting you?”
“No,” he paused and glanced at Natalya who was already fishing around in her pocket for the ring that Amelia had given to them to prove her involvement in their being here. “But we were sent by a woman we believe they know, Amelia. And my uncle is Charles who says he knows you too.”
The woman’s eyes narrowed slightly. “How do you know Amelia?” Natalya had finally found the ring and she held it out in front of her victoriously. The woman’s eyes flicked to the ring and then widened. She opened the door all the way and ushered them inside quickly.
Clicking the door behind them and waving another woman forward to take the baby from her, the first woman turned back to them. “I’m Katrina. Where did you get that?” She took the ring from Natalya’s outstretched hand and examined it closely.
“From Amelia,” Natalya answered in a slightly quizzical tone, as though she thought this should be obvious.
Hunter filled in the rest of the answer for Katrina. “We witnessed her being thrown into jail because of voicing doubts about the King and Queen’s states, doubts that we happen to share. So we got ourselves thrown into prison and went and talked to her.”
“Bloody-” Katrina started to swear, then caught herself. “You got yourselves thrown into prison?” She surprised Hunter by laughing. “How resourceful. Where was Amelia exactly, do you think you could describe the exact cell?”
“Yes,” Hunter said slowly, “But it wouldn’t be easy to get at her, he’s thrown her in the lower levels, in one of the pit cells.”
Katrina’s face fell.
Natalya was looking between them with a confused look and Hunter enlightened her, “It’s where they put prisoners who will never be coming out.”
Natalya’s face formed an ‘o’ and her eyes grew wide. Though he had told her this previously, it apparently was only now hitting home what exactly that meant. “So we just left her in there to be…”
“There was nothing you could do,” Katrina assured the girl, and Hunter was grateful for her understanding. He had been a little worried that she would have been upset by their lack of ability to help her friend escape, but really there had been nothing they’d been able to do without getting caught and all three of them ending up in the one-way cell. Katrina bit her lip, thinking. “We’ll figure out a way to get her out, don’t worry,” she stated decidedly and turned her attention back to the matter at hand. “Is that why she sent you here? For an escape?”
“No,” Hunter started but Natalya cut him off.
“My sister was taken by one of the Queen’s groups of Knights because she was talented. Lord Morven said that the Queen was collecting all of the talented near her and it was an honor for my sister to have been chosen to join her. But something is wrong with Alina, I can feel it.”
“Where was this?” Katrina asked, her face a mask.
“Hardonia,” Natalya replied and spilled out the rest, finishing with, “I knew that if I could just get to the palace and speak with the Queen, she’d see that Alina belongs at home.”
“Hardonia…” Katrina’s eyes darted to Hunter and he shook his head slightly. The woman obviously had heard of the events that had transpired there. “I know Layna very well,” she said, and by her lack of title for the Queen it must be very well indeed, “and I know she would never authorize the taking of children, talented or otherwise. We’ve been suspicious of Lord Telvani for some time now, Layna had even asked me to look into his dealings back before she and Gryffon seemed to disappear off the face of the planet. She wouldn’t tell me very much, she was too cautious about actually making accusations against him until she had proof, but I could tell she was beginning to wonder if she could really trust him.” She paused and looked at both of them intently. “Please believe me when I assure you that the Queen had absolutely nothing to do with what happened in Hardonia, and there must be something grave indeed to have kept her from rectifying this, and for her to have allowed something like this to happen in her name in the first place.”
&n
bsp; “Amelia seemed to think that some sort of spell had been placed on them, that they were in a sort of stasis, and not communing with Lord Telvani as he’s claiming at all, but rather he’s coming up with things on his own. We spoke with Uncle Charles about it this morning and he seemed to think that it wasn’t necessarily Telvani who had performed the spell. He had some rather unflattering remarks about his lack of ability to perform such a feat, suggesting that he was now simply taking advantage of it.”
Katrina digested this. “We have been getting reports of a strange surge of magic from deep within the Ferryn Plains. At first we attributed it to the natural fluctuations that occur out there, but it has been far too concentrated for simple coincidence. We had been considering the possibility that there is someone out there connected to Princess Phoenix’s kidnapping.”
“Do you think there’s someone up there who could have pulled this off?”
“If these levels of magic are being caused by people…yes.”
“Why haven’t you gone and investigated?”
Katrina sighed. “There are too few that I know well enough to be sure that they are loyal to the Queen and not to Telvani. He infiltrated the palace at the highest level, and though I would wager that most would be loyal to the Queen if they knew the truth, I can’t risk them believing lies that I don’t even know exist that may sway them towards doing something that would help Telvani’s agenda instead. Layna came into power after the people lost faith in their leader, being frightened into submission instead of led by a gentle hand. She’s had a hard road earning the people’s trust.” She pursed her lips. “It is also dangerous to go out into the Plains, especially looking for something that wields that amount of power. For all we know, it could be some sort of magical beast. And besides, Telvani’s been watching us like hawks knowing we are close to the Queen, no doubt he would spring at the opportunity to defame us the moment we stepped foot out of the city. For such an uncertain mission, it carries far too much risk with it.” Her tone was tinged with despair.
Hunter chimed in, “I grew up in Borden, right on the edge of the Plains. My father and I used to venture in all the time to collect plants. I know it well enough to keep out of harm’s way.”
“What are you suggesting?” Katrina asked, hope springing up in her voice.
“Perhaps we could go and investigate for you,” he offered, “It sounds like it is important for you to be here to keep the loyalty of the people and protect the Queen’s name,” he paused and glanced at the woman in the corner who was sitting on the floor playing with the baby, “Not to mention other reasons you may not want to put yourself in harm’s way.”
“Why would you do that?”
“I know firsthand what people might begin thinking about the Queen if we don’t get her back soon,” he admitted, “After seeing what I’ve seen and hearing what I’ve heard, I believe that the monarchs don’t know what’s going on, and now that there is something terrible that is preventing them from knowing anything at all. Queen Layna was doing her best to do right for her people and we need to get her back into a position to be able to do that again before it is too late.”
Natalya was watching him with a broad smile upon her face. All her optimism about the Queen had been correct after all and he had just admitted it. He ignored her.
Katrina’s wheels were already turning. “I know a few of the royal mages, and since they are not part of the group that Telvani assigned to watch over the King and Queen it’s probably a safe bet to assume that they are not ones that he trusts. At least one of them is for sure on the Queen’s side. I can ask him before bringing any others on board.”
“What are the mages for?” Natalya asked.
“To get you to the edge of the Plains,” Katrina answered, “time is not on our side and wasting it traveling there could be disastrous. I have a feeling that everything is going to come to a head soon. Telvani is getting pressure from the Council to see a change with the King and Queen and the people are getting restless. I’m afraid that Telvani will feel pushed into doing something drastic.”
“Like what?” Natalya asked innocently.
“Like killing the King and Queen,” answered Katrina ominously.