Felitïa shivered in the cold. She really hadn’t thought things through.
Whatever had given her the clarity to cast spells again—whether it was the prayer beads, pure strength of will, a mixture of both, or something else—she should have realised it wouldn’t last.
She also should have realised she wasn’t at full strength. Putting the jailer and guard to sleep, and breaking out of jail was relatively easy. Hiding from a whole palace full of guards, servants, and nobles was another thing altogether. The invisibility spell had been such a strain on her, she’d only been able to keep it up for a couple of minutes, during which time she’d managed to find a nook along the palace’s outer wall to hole up in.
She had been sitting here ever since, a few nearby bushes helping to conceal her. Hours had passed—well, she was pretty sure hours had passed. She didn’t have a good view of the sky from here. And she was freezing. She couldn’t stay here much longer unless she wanted to freeze to death.
It had taken a surprisingly long time for a call to go up about her escape. She had expected someone to notice sooner. However, not long ago now, palace guards, soldiers, and Bloods had begun gathering by the main gates. Not long after that, they had marched out.
That was a bit surprising, too. Not that they’d sent people out into the city to look for her. That part made sense. No, the surprising bit was they didn’t appear to be searching within the palace grounds for her. What made them so certain she’d left?
Not that it mattered. It was to her advantage. They had gathered in such large numbers, there couldn’t be many of them left here. A couple guards still stood at the gate, but there didn’t appear to be any still patrolling the wall. Maybe she could get into the palace now.
There would still be people there, of course—nobles, courtiers, servants, even a few guards—and all of them would recognise her. She couldn’t be sure she had the strength to hide herself from them, but she had to get out of the cold.
Hopefully the prayer beads would help again. She unclasped the necklace and held them in her hand. They had stopped glowing ages ago, but perhaps more meditation would power them up again—if, indeed, that was what was happening with them.
She closed her eyes and began her concentration exercises. When she opened them again a few minutes later, the beads were again glowing and she was feeling a little refreshed. They were not as bright this time—although maybe they had seemed brighter last time because she’d been in a dark cell.
She rose to her feet and brought up the Room in her head, so she could keep track of presences nearby. There were none at the moment, but there would be soon.
She just hoped she had the strength.
She walked out of the nook and made for the entrance.
The guards at the main gates were too far away to show up in the Room or for her to affect them at her current strength, but they were watching outwards rather than inwards. Even if they turned and noticed her, she was confident they wouldn’t recognise her at this distance.
As she’d predicted, several presences appeared in the Room before she reached the doors. However, she waited until she was at the doors before casting the spell and spreading it over them. Opening the doors was going to be a strain, but she was confident she could manage it. She edged them open just wide enough to slip through.
The presences turned out to be a pair of guards and a couple of servants, one heading up the grand stairs, the other crossing the room.
Felitïa made her way forward, adjusting the spell whenever another presence appeared in the Room. She paid extra close attention for the hidden presence of the person who had been meddling with her mind. The strain as she went wasn’t too bad, though it was certainly considerably worse than if she were at full strength. The important thing, though, was she could keep track of it and it wasn’t overpowering yet.
In fact, the magical energy was flowing through her more easily than she would have expected in her current condition—just like when she had broken out of her cell. It had to be the beads. They were helping the energy flow somehow. The feeling wasn’t identical, but there were some similarities to when she had touched Quilla in Ninifin. Perhaps the beads were acting like a catalyst, like Quilla. It was not as large and dramatic an effect as with Quilla, but Felitïa couldn’t complain. It was allowing her to function at all.
She headed first towards Siba’s chambers. With luck, Siba would be there. If not, she’d try Anita. Siba and Anita were the only people she could trust, and she was going to need a location that could be a kind of staging ground to find her mysterious enemy.
There was no guarantee that person was in the palace, but it seemed the most likely. It was the easiest location Felitïa had spent considerable time in for them to easily blend into.
By the time she reached Siba’s chambers, the strain on the spell was increasing and exhaustion was threatening to overtake her again. There might not have been as many guards as usual, but there were still large numbers of people. It was ridiculous just how many servants there were here. Belone’s palace was considerably smaller than the Royal Palace, but it seemed to rival the Royal Palace for number of servants.
Felitïa took stock of the presences in the Room, one of which was Siba’s. She couldn’t be sure Siba was in her chambers and not somewhere else nearby, but it was likely. She removed the spell effect from Siba’s presence, then waited until there was no one else in sight. Felitïa might be invisible to them, but Siba opening the door and speaking to any empty space would draw attention.
When it was clear, she knocked on the door. Siba opened it a moment later. “Felitïa?”
Felitïa put a finger to her lips, and Siba ushered her inside, closing the door behind them.
Felitïa looked around. “Is anyone else here?” This room was empty, but there were still three other presences in her head. “Don’t worry. They can’t see me, but I can’t keep it up for much longer.”
“Just my handmaid,” Siba whispered. “I’ll send her on an errand. One moment.”
As Siba hurried into an adjoining room, Felitïa stumbled and reached out to the wall for support. Only the largest of the prayer beads was still glowing and it only faintly. There was a pounding in her head, and her concentration was slipping. The spell began to pull back from the presences in her head. She shut her eyes and clenched her fists, pulled at the spell. She kept it over two of the three presences, but it only barely touched the third. That person might be able to see her.
Siba came back into the room followed by her handmaid. They headed straight to the door. The handmaid stood right beside Felitïa, but did not notice her, thankfully not the partially draped presence.
The handmaid curtsied. “I will be as quick as I can, my Lady.”
Siba waved her hand. “No need to rush. Take your time. I’ll be fine.”
The handmaid curtsied again, then headed out into the corridor.
As soon as the door was closed, Felitïa let go of the spell and fell against the wall.
Siba rushed over to her. “Are you all right?”
“Yes, just exhausted.” Felitïa let Siba take her arm and lead her over to a chair.
Pullin up another chair beside her, Siba took out a handkerchief and dabbed it to Felitïa’s forehead. “You’re so flushed and sweaty.”
“I haven’t cast any spells in weeks, and suddenly I’ve cast several. It’s taken a lot out of me.”
“The prayer beads worked then?”
Felitïa looked down at the necklace around her neck. Even the large bead had stopped glowing now. “Yes, a lot better than I expected. I figured it was just a psychological thing, just tangible objects to provide points of focus, but they seem to have real power. I’ll need to get Agernon to look at them.”
Siba finished dabbing at Felitïa’s forehead and pressed the handkerchief into Felitïa’s hand. She stood up. “They’ll notice you’ve escaped soon. We need to figure out how to hide you. This will probably be one of the first places they search. Maybe Anita—”
Felitïa held out her hand. “Wait, wait. They don’t know already? I escaped hours ago.”
“You did?”
“Yes, this morning, not long after you brought me the beads.”
“But that doesn’t make sense.”
“I saw a large group of soldiers head out into the city earlier,” Felitïa said. “I assumed they were looking for me.”
Siba sat down and shook her head. “There was a disturbance at the docks this morning. A group of Isyar arrived in the city and refused to submit to interrogation by the Red Knights, or something like that. I don’t trust the Knights to give accurate reports of their activities. Danel’s convinced the Isyar have gone to the Hall of Knowledge to join the wizards there in some sort of revolution. The soldiers were sent to end the revolution before it starts.”
A group of Isyar! “It must be Jorvan,” Felitïa muttered.
“Who?”
“A friend of mine. He went to Isyaria to find someone to help me with my abilities. They must have just got here. Unfortunately, Danel’s right. They’ve probably gone to the Hall of Knowledge.”
Siba frowned. “I’m sorry, Felitïa, but the soldiers and Red Knights have orders to kill everyone in the Hall of Knowledge, even the Isyar.”
“How many Isyar?”
“Four, I think.”
Felitïa forced a smile. “I’m not sure I saw enough soldiers to handle four Isyar.”
“Mitchal Plavin seems to think they won’t be a problem. I’ve heard him brag about killing two Isyar himself. Not at the same time, though, I don’t think.”
“What about Plavistalorik? Did she go with them?”
Siba shrugged. “I don’t know. I haven’t seen her, so it’s possible.” She peered at Felitïa for a moment. “Would you like to lie down and rest a bit? I can offer you a soft bed, and I have one of Feo’s sleeping draughts left. You could use that.”
Felitïa rubbed her forehead. She was getting quite a headache. She wanted nothing more than to lie down and sleep, but what if they came for her while she slept? Why hadn’t an alarm gone up already about her escape? Was it just because everyone was too distracted with attacking the Hall of Knowledge?
She hoped Jorvan and Meleng would be all right. And Nin-Akna, Corvinian, and Agernon. And everyone else. She wished she could help them, but there was no way she could even get to them in her current state, and even if she could, she’d be of no help. No, she had to stick with her plan here.
“Felitïa?” Siba said.
Felitïa blinked several times. “Sorry. I lost focus for a moment.”
Siba leaned forward and looked her in the eye. “You need to rest.”
“But they might notice I’ve escaped and—”
“We’ll deal with that when you’ve slept a little. You can’t do anything in your current state. You said so yourself.”
Felitïa nodded. Sleep would be wonderful. “You’re right. Just promise you’ll wake me if anything happens.”
Siba nodded and smiled gently. “You have my word.”
* * * * *
The jailer sat at his desk, a smile plastered on his face, staring at the door. He blinked maybe once a minute and his chest moved slightly from his breathing, but he made no other movement of any kind. He’d been like that for a couple hours now, and every time Zandrue looked over at him, he creeped her out just a little more, and the stench from him having soiled himself was getting worse.
Hedromornasta had made him like that.
They’d found him and a guard locked in one of the cells screaming that Princess Felitïa had escaped. No one had heard their screaming though and their relief had never shown up, possibly because of all the soldiers heading to the Hall of Knowledge. Hedromornasta quieted their yells about intruders. Then they’d found keys, released the jailer from the cell, and put him at his desk. Zandrue would have liked to question him, but Hedromornasta put him in his current state, and he was completely unresponsive. The guard, still in the cell, was in the same state.
Communicating with Hedromornasta was not simple. He spoke almost no Arnorgue, apart from very simple words like hello and goodbye, and Zandrue’s Isyarian was almost as bad. Try as she might, Zandrue had not been able to get Hedromornasta to understand that she wanted to talk to the jailer. Actually, she suspected he did know what she wanted, but was unwilling to do it for some reason. He did not seem happy to be on this mission.
She went over to the window, drew back the curtains just a little, and looked out. The sun was behind the palace now. It would soon be dark. She drew the curtain back again and went back over to Ezmelda, who was sitting against the wall near the door. If anyone entered, they were trusting Hedromornasta to hide them. Zandrue was beginning to have concerns about that.
“He is going to release the jailer and guard when we leave, right?” Ezmelda said.
Zandrue slid down beside her. “No idea, but the magic can’t be sustained forever, right? If I’ve picked up anything from Felitïa over the years, it’s that.”
Ezmelda looked over at Hedromornasta, who was seated in front of the desk, his head raised, deep in meditation. “If he were human, I’d agree, but with him, I’m not so sure. Mentalists make very subtle gestures when casting spells. You’ve seen Felitïa cast spells. You must have noticed how little she moves.”
Zandrue nodded.
“But she still moves. You can still notice it.” Ezmelda nodded to Hedromornasta. “But he doesn’t, not that I can see. I mean, he must, but those movements are so subtle, I can’t see them. Many spells—not all, but many—also require words. With mentalism, they’re spoken quietly, but they’re still spoken. I haven’t seen him speak anything. It’s possible the spells he’s used don’t need words, but that doesn’t explain the lack of movement. That kind of skill is unbelievable. And what is he, fourteen? Fifteen?”
“More like eighteen or nineteen,” Zandrue said. “Isyar mature a little slower than humans, but yeah, he’s basically the equivalent of a young teenager.”
“Even at eighteen, that’s incredible. It terrifies me to think what his mother might be capable of.”
“Good thing they’re on our side.” Zandrue grinned.
Ezmelda looked back over at the young Isyar. “Yes, good thing.” She was pointedly not smiling.
“We should be able to move soon,” Zandrue said. “It’s almost sunset.”
They had decided to wait until dark before doing anything—well, Zandrue and Ezmelda had. Who knew what Hedromornasta thought they were doing?
They were going to start with searching the palace. Truth be told, they weren’t really sure what they should be doing at this point. Discovering the person they had come to rescue had escaped on her own had thrown a wrench into their plans. No longer were they just grabbing Felitïa and returning to the Hall of Knowledge. Now they had to find her again.
They couldn’t have missed her by much either. Maybe an hour at most.
Zandrue smiled. It was good to know Felitïa’s abilities were not as impaired as they’d believed.
They waited another hour. It wasn’t completely dark, but it was dark enough.
Ezmelda held up the brightly glowing crystal. “Still pointing at the palace.”
Zandrue had given Ezmelda the crystal when it had started to become too hot for Zandrue to hold. She could even feel its heat through her clothes, yet Ezmelda didn’t feel any heat from it at all.
Zandrue approached Hedromornasta, who was still meditating. She cleared her throat. “Hedromornasta?”
He didn’t respond.
Ezmelda came up beside her. “Hedromornasta?”
He lowered his head and glared at Ezmelda.
She pointed sternly at the door. “We go.”
Hedromornasta sighed loudly and stood up. He walked to the door and opened it, then waited.
“I assume he’s hidden us already?” Zandrue said.
Ezmelda just shrugged and walked out the door.
Zandrue stopped beside the Isyar. “Uh, Hedromornasta…” She pointed to the jailer, who then slumped over, his head hitting the top of his desk. He lay still.
Zandrue rushed over to him and checked his vitals. Just sleeping.
She walked back over to Hedromornasta and looked him in the eye. There was a twinge at the back of her head. Had he done that? Probably not. It was just one of those things that sometimes happened. Might even have been her imagination. She was letting this kid creep her out too much.
“Thanks,” she said to him, then turned and followed Ezmelda.
