Crossing Over - Anna Kendall [122]
Her head rose from the straw, eyes bleary, silky curls tousled on her forehead. “Day?”
“Yes! What day? How long have I been in this apple cellar?”
She looked bewildered, then affronted. “Why?”
“How long?”
“A fortnight. Mother Chilton gave you drugs, and I fed you while you raved. All nonsense syllables but it was terrible to listen to. A horrible song: ‘Die, my baby. Die, die, my little one—’”
A fortnight. And I had brought the Blues back over in mid-morning. So now—
“Why was she allowed to live so long?” All those enraged soldiers I had brought back from death, eager for Her Grace’s blood—
Maggie’s lip curled. “The captain held her alive. He tried to force her to bring the old queen back from Witchland. But she would not, or so I was told. And then—”
“Get dressed. Right away. And help me!” I was fumbling at my tunic, my trousers. With every motion, pain throbbed in the stump of my severed wrist. My face must have frightened Maggie.
“Why? Roger—what is it?”
“Something is going to happen. Listen to me—those Greens who have rejoined the Blue army, are some of them secretly still loyal to the queen?”
Her lip curled. “Of course. Not all men are for sale, bend as they will to temporary power.”
“We have to leave the palace. Leave Glory entirely, right now! ”
“But . . . but why? You aren’t strong enough to leave anything!”
That seemed true. The lovemaking, on top of amputation and drugs, had weakened me. It was difficult to even tug on my trousers with my good hand. But I did it.
Maggie said, “Nobody knows you’re here. The fighting is over. Later, when you’re stronger and the queen is dead, Joan and I can—”
“The fighting is not over! ”
She stared at me, half dressed and, for Maggie, unusually slow of wits. Perhaps our love-making had affected her, too.
“The fighting is not over,” I repeated. “We have only a few hours to escape. When the Greens take back the throne, they will tear down every stone in the palace looking for me, who led the army that killed their queen.”
“Greens take back the throne? Very soon the queen will be dead—”
“But Princess Stephanie will not. The Greens will seek to put her on the throne and rule through her. They—”
“Roger, the Greens left alive are not enough to defeat the Blues you brought back over!”
“I don’t have time to explain—help me, Maggie! Get dressed! We must leave now, while everyone will be watching the queen’s death.”
“You’re not making sense! The Blue army can’t be defeated, can’t be . . . they’re . . . if what you told me ...”
I stood shakily, my good hand braced against the wall. The ceiling of the apple cellar was so low that I had to duck my head, although Maggie, shorter than I, could stand upright. “Believe me about this, Maggie! Where in the palace are we? Below the kitchens?”
For a long moment she chewed her bottom lip, and then gave way. “We’re not below the kitchens. The river comes too close there to dig underground storage rooms. We’re farther inside the palace, under liveried servants’ quarters. There’s a passage with a door into the couriers’ quarters.”
One of the thrilling secret passages I had never found, except that it was not secret, and now I felt not thrills but fear. If we were caught . . .
If we were caught by Greens, torture to a slow death would surely follow. The Blues merely wanted to be rid of me, but the Greens . . . I imagined what could lie ahead for us, and a shudder convulsed my entire body. If it came to that, would I be able to escape the horrible pain by taking Maggie with me to the country of the Dead, as I had taken Cecilia out of it? But the price that Cecilia had paid . . .
We moved out of the apple cellar and along the passage. It was faced with rough-hewn stone, although the smell was of damp earth. The ceiling was even lower than the apple bin, so that I had to walk at a half crouch, and the passage was so narrow we went single file, Maggie in the lead with her lantern. I felt dizzy and my hand ached. Every few yards I leaned briefly against the damp stone to rest. Then I forced myself on.
Other doors, all closed, lined