Once Upon a Castle - Jill Gregory [134]
Once more Rill wove a pattern through the air and addressed the captive princess. “Tell me where I may find this hiding place.”
Again she struggled mightily. The crystal that Cador had given her warmed against her skin. It seemed to fill her whole body with heat and light. “There are many…places where it might be. Perhaps…two dozen or more. Someare difficult to explain…. I must show you…”
Lector cursed. “Two dozen! We cannot spare the time to search out the Andun Stone now!”
“There is no need.” Rill leaned closer and lowered his voice. “Remember the duplicate I had made. No one will be able to tell the difference. Shall I bring it to the great hall?”
“Yes.” Lector relaxed, and the anger oozed out of him. “I was forgetting your wise precautions. You shall be rewarded handsomely for your services, Rill.”
The sorcerer hid his smile. He had his own ideas as to what constituted a suitable reward, and he was sure it was far greater than Lector imagined. He stepped toward the door and almost tripped over a rolled-up rug. Giving it a kick, he nodded, and the soldiers opened the door.
Niniane and Illusius rolled over as the rug hit the wall, pink-clawed feet waving futilely in the air. “It’s our tails,” the young wizard told the sorceress. “We’re just not used to them.”
After a few false starts they got the hang of curling their tails exactly right and flipped back on their feet. “The princess! We must follow her!” They shot out of the rug and into the corridor, where they vanished into the shadows just before the door shut behind them.
Lector and Rill led Tressalara away from the royal apartments. The soldiers followed. There was no need for them to restrain her now that she was under the spell: Anyone seeing her walking docilely between them would imagine that the princess was there of her own free will.
Cador waited impatiently for the signal from the east tower. A cool wind sprang up, and the crescent moon flirted from behind veils of cloud. It was long past time.
According to the plan, those infiltrating the feast were to make sure that Lector and Rill were cut off from escape, while Tressalara was hidden safely away in the minstrel’s gallery until after the melee. If the guests inside were still loyal to the house of Varro, they would raise their swords in the rebel’s cause. But those in stolen uniforms should have overcome the gate guards and raised the portcullis by now. He should have never let Tressalara place herself in such danger! His trust in her abilities had affected his judgment.
“Something is wrong,” he said to his second-in-command. “We should have been inside an hour ago.”
Before the other man could reply, the side door of the massive gatehouse opened and a lone figure stole out. Cador recognized him by his way of moving.
Using the shadows, the man vanished from view for several minutes, only to reappear nearby.
“What news?” Cador demanded. “Have all your comrades been seized?”
“Nay,” the soldier said, heaving a great sigh. “Only the princess.”
A terrible pain ripped through Cador, and a black rage came over him. “I swear by all that is holy, I will free Tressalara or die!”
When he fell, it would be with her name on his lips and her beloved face engraved upon his heart.
11
For the first time in many weeks, Tressalara mounted the steps to her tower chamber. Lector ordered the door unbarred, and she started to pass through. He took her arm and entered with her.
“I do not put all my faith in Rill’s spells, Tressalara. You escaped me once. You shall not do so again.”
She looked up at him with her wide, amethyst eyes. “As you will, my lord.”
Elani gasped when she recognized her princess and got up from the divan, where she and Lady Grette had been sitting over a game board. “Your highness!” She started toward Tressalara, then stopped at the blank expression on the princess’s face and turned to Lector fearfully. “She is spellbound! Oh, what have you done to her?”
“Watch your tongue, wench! I