Chapter 23: Chapter 23

Though his green tunic was rumpled and spotted with blood, Russal’s smile was rising, his eyes brimming with tears. “What took you so long, Kambry? I’ve been standing here for hours in my bare feet,” he said. “I think they’ve turned blue.”

He was in bare feet! She let the pike fall to the ground and ran straight into his arms, and he whirled her around. Behind his head, she lifted her hand. The ring glowed purple.

“Did you really wait here for me to come back?”

“Hours.” He brushed her lips with his. “I prepared to wait days, weeks, forever.”

Still purple.

“I’d never make you wait that long.”

His gaze looked past her, and his eyes crinkled at the corners. “You brought an army.”

“I thought you might need help.” She clung to him. “Your words have never rung truer.”

“Did you kiss anyone else last night?” she said.

His brow crinkled up tight. “I may have greeted a few friends with a kiss in the receiving line.”

“Did you kiss anyone in the maze, by the fountain?”

“I never went to the maze.” He cocked his head quizzically.

The ring still glowed purple. “Well, just in case you’re worried. I didn’t kiss anyone either in the maze or otherwise.”

His lips quirked, and he said, “We have some things to talk about, don’t we?”

“Uh-huh.” She touched his cheek. “What happened?”

“I fought with that fellow when you ran into the woods.

He was chasing after you. He got away.” “You made Kavin Wood take me in.”

“Kavin Wood took you in because you asked it to. The dance gave you control of the wood. It will always protect

you. It was the one thing I could do to keep you safe. Sybil told me he would steal you away.” His hands pressed gently on the sides of her face. He kissed her, brushing his lips to her mouth, her eyes, her cheeks, then rested his forehead on hers. “I thought if I kept you close it wouldn’t happen. But to be safe, I gave you to Kavin Wood and Kavin Wood to you.”

“Russal, it proved to be a useful gift.” Someone cleared his throat behind Kambry. She’d been clinging to Russal’s collar, her body pressed to his, and she let her hands slide down his chest before stepping back a few inches. She tipped her head to the right. “This is my father.”

“How’s my crown look?” “Crooked.”

“Will you it put straight?”

“Sure.” Her fingertips lingered, then she stepped back. He nodded his thanks and pressed his hand to her cheek for a fleeting moment. She leaned into it before turning to face Dad.

Stepping around her, Russal put out his hand. “Greetings, Brode so Kon of House Kon and Paddlyrun. I’m Prince Russal of Kavin Wood. Welcome to my princedom and my war.”

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he house was silent when she awoke. The curtains billowed out, and from where she lay, the beginnings of the pink dawn played on the windowsill.

A breeze caressed her face and seemed to whisper indiscernible words, imploring her to return. She strained to hear them. Each brush on her cheek, each stirring of the wisps of hair around her face felt like a call to her heart.

She rose from the bed, wrapping the coverlet around her, and stood at the window. The tall white oaks of Kavin rose in the distance. Her ring blazed purple. She had to go back.

At her vanity, she sat down and grimaced at the bent gold net smashed around her tangled curls. She’d forgotten to take it off before she’d fallen asleep. With infinite care, she unsnarled it and smoothed the piece. Two breaks in the jeweled metal made her wince. Perhaps it was repairable. She braided her hair to the side and tied the end swiftly with a strip of leather, green beads knotted in place on the trailing ends.

Dressed in a vest over a short-sleeved shift and blousy trousers, she felt ready to move through the forest easily. Would Kavin take her in? After caressing the gold net with distracted fingers, she placed it on her folded brown and gold gown, which she lay atop the matching shoes inside a linen sack.

In the kitchen, she gathered, with little attention, items to break her fast. The repeating, pleading words of Kavin, take me in filled her mind. At one point, she imagined her mother was standing just inside the hallway, watching her. When she looked, there was no one there, but she could hear the floorboards creak in her parents’ bedroom. She resumed eating. Kavin, take me in.

The walk through Paddlyrun, dawn still breaking, was nearly silent. Rustles in barns, the creak of a wagon behind a

house, shutters swinging open, and the smell of banked fires: all the signs of the town awakening accompanied her steady stride, but not a soul crossed her path.

Her heart, passive until now, began a steady increase in beat. At the jingling of a horse’s harness around the corner of the millhouse, she broke into a run, the sack with her dress tucked under one arm. Kavin, take me in.

The coolness of the morning air finally jarred her fully awake as she topped the rise to the meadow. In the increasing light of dawn, she could see the remnants of the campsite. The search party had left bits and pieces of their stay: a blanket in a damp pile beside a cooled campfire; someone’s tin cup, still filled with a dark liquid; an old oil lamp fallen over and bespattered with bits of grass and dirt. She had thanked none of the people who’d helped her family search.

The path behind her could take her back to town. She still had time to let them know it had mattered that they had tried hard to find her. The woods pulled at her. She had to return to Kavin Wood. She had to see Russal was safe. The woods were soon before her, the tall white oaks and the clinging proilis vines. They whispered at her, the fragrant vanilla breeze wandering through them seeming to bend the purple blooms toward her.

For a moment, she could not recall the first words of the chant.

I stand.

She straightened her shoulders and tightened her hold of the linen sack.

“Kambry,” a soft voice called from behind her.

She jerked around. Tia rushed across the meadow, her blonde hair pulled back in a severe ponytail that made her blue eyes stand out, pensive.

“Kambry, you mustn’t leave yet.” Tia stopped a few feet away, her hands tucked behind her back, suddenly uncertain looking. “I have to tell you I’m sorry. I knew it wasn’t safe to say the chant. I thought if you didn’t say it, nothing would

happen.” She ground the toe of a shoe into the dirt. “I should have stopped them.”

“You’ve been to Kavin, haven’t you?” asked Kambry, remembering the man in red mentioning Tia.

She nodded.

“Did he lie to you?”

She nodded again. “I thought I was in love with him and he with me, but I was wrong. It was just a way to take over Kavin Wood. Why they thought I had any influence with the prince, I don’t know. He only gave me a place to work in the castle until I healed.”

“What?” So not Russal. Then who lied to her?

“Arnel just wanted to use me to get to the prince.” Her words came out in a rush. “I came very close to doing what he wanted, and then Prince Russal knew somehow and sent me from Kavin. I arrived miles north of Konright more than a year ago, so far from my home. I thought if I walked long enough I would someday get back.”

Kambry tried to recall everyone she’d met. “I don’t remember a person named Arnel.” Had the man who had taken her from the Grand Review been this Arnel? He had insinuated Russal had taken advantage of Tia.

Why did she continue to give credence to anything that man said? “Is Arnel tall and slender, perhaps red-haired with green eyes? A scar here?” She pointed at her eyelid.

Tia shook her head. “Arnel is slender, but his hair is auburn. He has brown eyes. He’s not very tall, but Felip Covey is. He’s horrible, and he has a tiny scar there.”

“Felip is fair-haired?”

“He dyes his hair dark brown, but his eyelashes are light and his eyes greenish. He stays out of sight. I think it’s because the prince would recognize him.” Tia strode forward and took Kambry’s hand. “Kambry, he wants the throne, and he will do anything to get it. You mustn’t go back if Felip thinks he can use you.”

“He’s already tried, but now that I know, I won’t let him hurt Russal.” Just knowing his name could make a difference. And now she knew he was the one lying. She repeated his name several times, “Felip Covey,” and faced the tall trees and their clinging skirts of proilis. She had to get back.

Tia stood beside her, looking out at the trees. “Last night, I told Stahn everything about being in Kavin Wood,” said Tia. She looked away, toward town.

Toward Stahn?

Tia looked down, her voice muffled. “When I came to Paddlyrun, I was ready to give up. I could never make it home again. It was too far. Stahn made me see I could have a life here, so I stayed.” She dropped Kambry’s hand. “He should hate me for causing the Kavin Cut to take you, but he doesn’t. He says he loves me.” Tia took a breath and faced Kambry. “I am sorry. I don’t know what happened to you in Kavin Wood, but I know if Arnel and Felip are still there, then no one is safe inside Kavin Wood and especially inside Kavin Castle.”

“That’s why I have to go back,” said Kambry. “I have to tell Russal who is behind this. He doesn’t know.”

Tia paused a moment. She looked at Kambry intently. “You must know the prince well to call him by his name.” She looked at Kambry as if trying to find the answer to a question she pondered. “Felip will try to stop you. He’ll never give up what he believes Kavin owes him. He hates the prince and anyone who supports him.”

Kambry stared at the trees before her. The rising sun was invading the darkness between the trunks. “It has been hours since I ran away. Anything could have happened.”

Tia hugged her and lay her head on Kambry’s shoulder.

They stood quietly looking at the trees, the leaves stirring. “I have to go back right now.”

They both turned at the sound of scuffing steps.

Stahn, Dad and several of the village people had entered the meadow. They gathered together just a few feet away.

“We’re going with you,” said Stahn. He carried a stout quarterstaff over his broad shoulder.

Dad raised his longbow. “If there’s a battle you’re fighting, then you need help.”

Behind them, other men and women raised a variety of weapons.

Tia smiled. “I had to keep you here until they could unearth their gear. You know how often Paddlyrun has to assemble an army.” Tia went to Stahn, who drew her close, handing her a bow and quiver. “That’s not to say I’m not sorry about the chant and all. I am, but I’m not letting you go back without all of us.”

“I don’t know if Kavin Wood will open for me again,” Kambry said, her voice wistful. The breeze rustled the leaves, and she felt it ripple across her skin. A sense of brightness and belonging thrilled through her. Just as when she had danced with Russal, she imagined the woods welcoming her. She faced the trees, feeling more certain about her return. “I’m ready to go back.”

“We’re ready to come along with you,” Dad said. “Your mother wants you happy. If this is what it takes, we march by your side.”

How different it was this time. She was leading the way. She wasn’t watching from the sidelines, letting events play out as they will. “Stand close, here at the edge of the woods.” She took Tia’s hand, Stahn at Tia’s side, and clutched her linen sack. Her father stood behind her and the others trod close. Their various weapons clanged together.

Russal had asked how big their standing army was. He would see firsthand. A few archers, three swordsmen, several women armed with clubs or quarterstaffs, and one thin scarecrow of a boy with a rather vicious mace she had never seen before crowded close. The blacksmith and his son were there, too, each carrying crossbows, well-filled quivers slung over their shoulders.

She began the chant in a steady voice, and Tia joined her.

I stand before the woods of Kavin I wait to see the Cut

If I am true, if I am strong Kavin will take me in

Stahn added his voice at the second stanza. She stands before the woods of Kavin She waits to see the Cut

You need the true, you need the strong Kavin, take her in.

The rest of the group took up the words. Kambry trembled as the trees’ roots bunched beneath the layers of last fall’s leaves. Their voices rose in chorus, melodic and penetrating.

Standing before the woods of Kavin Waiting to see the Cut

See her true, see her strong Kavin, take her in.

The Cut cleaved the woods, shoving the trees aside as the last words rang out. Kambry stood upon the path as if it had slid beneath her when she blinked. There was a deep breath drawn by the entire company. She heard them shuffle behind her. Tia squeezed her hand.

Her first step seemed to awaken the woods. The trees rustled; leaves flashed their bright undersides as if a wave of air had rushed by announcing their presence. Kambry’s heart raced, and she rushed forward, letting go of Tia’s hand. Whether or not they followed, she had to get to Kavin, to Russal. The soft path beneath her feet drew her forward.

Before she knew it, she was running. She pressed the sack containing her dress to her chest. The winding path switched one way then another way as if to reveal her destination by snatches. Behind her, the sound of drumming feet told her Paddlyrun’s contingent of villagers were keeping up. She ran around a corner in the path and stumbled to a stop.

The stone causeway, leading to Kavin Castle just touched by the rays of the sun on one side, lay before her, window glass reflecting golden patches. Weapons clanged in distant hollow sounds. The great hall windows appeared blackened on the side facing the causeway.

No one awaited her.

Her heartbeat loud in her ears. Kavin Castle needed her.

Dad’s voice sounded determined just behind her. “What do you need us to do?”

Stahn stood to her left. “We’re few, but strategically based, we could offer a powerful distraction. What’s the layout of the castle?”

Kambry strode to the soft dirt to the side of the cobbled entry of the road to the castle and crouched. She took up a stick and drew out sections of the castle. “Here’s the guardhouse and its environs. The main entry is here, the gate here.” She continued sketching and naming entry points, dark corners and likely holds for defenders.

“We can put archers here and here,” said Dad.

“I can lead a small group up this way,” suggested Stahn. With a nod from both Dad and Kambry, the two groups separated, whispered plans filling the air.

“We need to know who the enemy is and whose side we’re on,” said Dad. “Are they in uniforms?”

Kambry set back on her heels. This could prove difficult. If some of Russal’s guests were actually supporting Felip, there would be no differences to separate the groups. They would have to focus on the leaders. Staring ahead at Kavin Castle, she tried to feel Kavin Wood as one would sense someone close. A breeze caressed her arm and ruffled the loose hairs around her face. Tia leaned near her and her blonde hair hung unmoved over her shoulder.

Please be a sign. Closing her eyes, she thought about how Russal said he had chosen her. Out of the small group that danced around her, he had selected her. Did that mean he could see her? Would Kavin show her Russal?

Let me see Prince Russal.

At first there was just a cloudy impression. Then a sight appeared to her as if the air itself had been cleaved open, and what lay in the distance was there before her. Russal raised his sword, battling with a man she could only see from behind. A reddened bruise marred Russal’s temple and cheek. A stained rag bound his sword hand. He was calling to those near him, rallying them closer. All of it was in silence, but the backdrop of the resounding battle came to her, muted on the light breeze circling them. He wore the same clothes as the night before, his crown askew on his head,

She recognized the marshal’s office past his shoulder. They were in the outer bailey. Perhaps they had already beaten the attackers back from the hall.

She pointed with the stick. “The prince fights here with little support.” She drew a line from the causeway through the gate. “Look for a man, early twenties with a gold circlet around his head, a light-green doublet over dark-green trousers and brown boots. That’s Prince Russal, and it is he we are fighting for. Identify enemies according to who’s fighting him. Most of his supporters will wear black uniforms with red piping.”

Tia touched her shoulder. “I’ll show them.”

The archers, Tia with them, rushed on to the causeway sent on their way by Dad. Stahn took his group forward.

She blocked out the sound and the view before her and whispered to Kavin Wood again. Show me the causeway gate. The vision broke in the air before her. Burty struggled under a vicious onslaught of attackers on the road to Kavinton. At his back, Cole fought, the two men struggling to hold the gate. She couldn’t tell if they were fighting to get in or keep others out. A slender, dark-haired man crept along the wall by the gate behind them. Felip! Cole grasped Burty’s shoulder for an instant and charged forward to confront the traitor. Burty faltered, and the image ended abruptly.

Kambry grabbed her father’s arm.

“Dad, send fighters to the town road. This path will lead your there. Two guardsmen in black with red accents are battling to hold the gate against attackers. They need support. There may be guards within or without as well as in uniform.”

“We’ll go, so Kon,” said the blacksmith. He pointed at five of the villagers and his son. All nodded and ran down the path to the causeway.

Kambry took stock of who remained. Dad, two women holding clubs, and the boy with his rusty mace waited. They all expected her direction. She wanted more than anything to go to Russal, but perhaps there was a better place for them to help gain control. She stared down at her drawing.

She knew Russal needed aid, but few could reach him if caught behind the attackers. Inspired, she decided. That’s where we’ll go. “Follow me.” She ran down the cobbled roadway, the rising sun driving away the gloom that blurred the mortared lines. The others raced with her.

The causeway gate was open and without guard. Kambry crept close and peered in. The fighting had moved to the gate of the inner bailey and made it impossible to see Russal and who fought by his side. Several of the market stalls burned, tendrils of smoke still rising from the charred wood and canvas. She skirted along the high wall surrounding the courtyard, keeping to the thinning shadows. The garden gate hung crooked on its hinges some thirty paces away.

A torch mounted in a stone column that jutted from the wall was unlit, and she grabbed it as they passed. Hoping that no one noticed them, she led her group to the garden entrance.

They dodged through the broken gate, only to run smack into a sword-wielding ruffian. He was no one Kambry knew, and she questioned his likelihood of belonging to the staff or the prince’s guard. Gap-toothed and grimy, he raised his sword and took a fighter’s stance. One of the townspeople come to assist the guard?

“Who’re you?” he said.

“Just come for the gardens,” Dad said.

Kambry kept her gaze forward, though she wanted to turn and see if Dad was grinning. His voice had been affable. The fellow looked momentarily uncertain. He shook his head and pointed his sword. “Back you go.”

“Nah, we’ve waited so long,” Dad said, still keeping his voice friendly. “We can’t miss the gardens when we’re so close.”

“You from town? Don’t you know there’s a war on?”

“We’re not in the way,” said Kambry. Might as well join this silly conversation.

He harrumphed and waved his sword. “Aw, back with you meddling folk. You’ve no sense at all.” His eyes narrowed.

Kambry followed his gaze. Dad had an arrow nocked on his longbow. The other weapons must have drawn his attention, too.

The ruffian charged. “You’re with the usurper!”

Two clubs raised on Kambry’s right, but it was the mace that felled the man. They stood together, shocked and staring at the man at their feet bleeding. He gave them a reproachful look before his eyes went still, his mouth slack.

“I just wanted to knock him aside,” said the thin boy.

Dad gripped his shoulder and drew him close. “You’ve done fine. Kambry, lead us on.”

They stepped gingerly around the man, and she hurried through the garden. Every dozen strides, she glanced up at the windows of the great hall. If she could line up with them where she remembered coming out of the passage beneath the wall and the original castle, she might find the entry and get them all inside without running into any of the infiltrating attackers. From there they could arrive at the gate and assist Russal.

Dad glanced at the garden, consternation on his face. “What’s your plan, Kambry?”

“There’s a hidden passage that will get us inside without running into defenders we’d have to explain ourselves too or

attackers we’d have to fight. If I can find it, I could lead us through.”

“You’re uncertain of its location?” asked Dad.

“I traversed it in the dark. But I grabbed a torch, and we may follow the footprints we left behind.”

“Or you could get lost,” said one of the two women.

“I’ve a few tricks I plan to try if it’s more difficult than I expect.” She thought Kavin Wood might provide a vision or two if needed and brought the group to a stop. “Here. Everyone search along that wall for an entry. The door height is of the usual size but narrow.”

They fanned out, each running their hands over the stone of the wall. Dad stood at their backs, his bow up and shifting as he scrutinized the garden for enemies. The park was silent, save for the breeze that rustled the trees, bird calls and the occasional squirrel chittering.

“Hey, watch that thing,” one woman said, her hand grabbing the mace by its shaft. “Featherstone, that thing’s heavier than you are.”

The gangly boy giggled. “Helps me run when I let it fall forward.”

“It’ll drag you down a hill if you’re not careful.”

“Kambry?” asked the other woman. “This what we’re looking for?”

Kambry joined her at the stone wall where a crack in the masonry looked straighter than the rest. She ran her hand along it until she felt a raised edge. Picking at it, she prodded a small stone up and the door clicked open, showing a thin veneer of rock covered it. “Oh, Vannie, you’ve found it.” She raised the torch. “We need to light this.”

Dad fumbled inside his pockets until he found a match and scraped it to a blaze against the stone. He lit the torch and then laid his hand on Kambry’s arm. “I’m leaving you to head in. I’m going back and see if I can pick off a few of those attackers. I saw a perch I can use. The prince could use a few

less individuals swinging swords at him.” He hugged her tight. “Take care, Kambry.” He turned to face Featherstone. “No running with that mace in the tunnel.”

“Yes, Master so Kon.”

Dad stared at Kambry for a moment. She could see his desire to stay at her side battling with what he thought would be the best strategy. He gave her a nod and stalked off.

Kambry looked about the garden and hoped Konnelby, the other gardeners and their assistants were safe. “Come inside and close the way off.”

The torch lit the narrow tunnel well, and as she had hoped, her footsteps and Felip’s marred the recent dust on the floor. Twice they had come upon entries that might have been the way back. Someone had used them recently.

Kambry had entered them, leaving the others behind.

One had turned back up into the castle at an angle she did not remember having to negotiate last night. The other dipped down sharply. In both cases, she headed back, and they resumed their progress in the meandering tunnel. Able to travel the stone path quicker by light, she soon came upon where it appeared she had slipped with Felip. A skid in the dust of an incline seemed to match her experience in the dark that night. They couldn’t be far from the exit into the rooms behind the hall. This should be it. She skirted another downward sloping tunnel and climbed a set of four stone steps.

Finding the latch to open the door proved easier than finding the tunnel entrance in the garden. She found herself in a small closet and smacked her head into a wood door as the others crowded in behind her. The mace gouged the stone, making all three women press their fingers to their lips and shush Featherstone.

“Sorry. Where are we?” he whispered.

“Not where I expected to be,” Kambry said. She pulled up the latch that held the simple wooden door shut. Gazing at the familiar furnishings, she said, “This could be so much worse,” and stepped out from the closet and into the room she had

spent her first night in. No wonder there was no mirror in the closet. It would be too dangerous for someone sneaking in or out. Or maybe there had been. She rubbed her forehead. At least, she knew how to get to the front of the castle from here.

“Look at this room,” Featherstone said. His mouth hung open.

Vannie smacked him on the back of the head. “We’re not here to sightsee.” Then she peeked right and left.

Kambry’s lip twitched. She would have enjoyed the adventure if Russal wasn’t fighting for his life at the front of the castle. “Come along.” She dropped her linen sack on the bed and headed for the door and took care turning the knob. She only stepped one foot over the threshold when the door across the hall from her snicked open a couple inches.

An eye gazed between the jamb and the door. “Oh, Miss. Go back inside. We’re being attacked. We’ve been told to hide.”

“Then shut the door,” she snarled back. Waving a hand behind her at the two women and the boy, she headed down the hall. There was a pike around one of these corners, and she had a use for it. When they arrived at the display that had played a part in her first experience with danger, Kambry wrapped her fingers around the shaft and tugged. It remained in place, and she realized someone had secured it since Lessa had leaned it there.

Vannie slipped a small folded knife from her pocket. She snapped it open and cut the leather binding the pike to the wall. “There you go, Kambry. You sure you can handle that?”

Kambry tapped the butt end on the floor and gestured at the sharp tip. “Point this end and shove it forward.”

The woman snorted. “I supposed you have the gist of it.”

They marched through the halls to the main doors which stood open. The inner bailey was empty, Russal and those he fought with gone. Several bodies lay on the ground, gruesomely drenched in blood. She felt ill and forced herself to examine each. Russal wasn’t there. Featherstone wretched

in the corner. Both women hummed lullabies under their breaths.

Dad came running up, three arrows clenched in one hand, his bow in the other. “They routed them, with a little help.” He raised his arrows. “They ran off that way when the few attackers that remained retreated. There’s a lass with them that will give me nightmares, I think. She fought like a wildcat. Short blonde hair under her guard’s cap.”