Chapter 9
The bright night sky was painted with the storm twirling gales of snow under the bright moon. Talyis stood baffled, watching Novak run through the gardens to the stables. The blanket of snow scattered as he ran. The cool air crackled with tension.
The celebration within the castle halted when the two watchmen came in yelling, "Attention! Stop the music. Attention! Everyone listen! The farms and outer villages are under attack!"
"We will hold them off as long as we can, away from the villages. Go to your homes. Board up your windows and doors. Do not allow anyone into your homes until you hear the royal horn blow." These and other orders were rapidly dispatched by the watchmen.
"How do we know we won't end up trapping ourselves inside to be murdered?" One man objected loudly and villagers around him agreed.
"If you hear the tower bells ring we have lost. Take what you can and scatter," the watchman continued. "Do not worry about your personal belongings, you must scatter, leave your homes and preserve as a people," the second watchman instructed.
"Who is attacking us?" a woman called out.
"Navapa and another foreign army in their ranks; we could not recognize their battle colors or seal."
The crowed erupted with yelling and women began weeping, others murmured loudly to each other, the room was in a crescendo of various levels of fight and flight.
Questions swirled into a tempest as the guests whispered to each other about Calena and how the marriage was meant to provide the Aricin people with a strong ally. People began to exit hurriedly, leaving a trail of white, gold and silver glittery confections in their wake. Talyis joined the crowd that finally moved more with her than against. Suddenly, a strong hand grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the exodus. The fingers dug into her flesh and she tried to yank her arm back.
"Where do you think you are going?" a voice slithered. She turned to her personal guard, swaying unevenly with drink.
"Delia and Gareth, they don't know-" she began.
"The Majesty will know before you can get past the castle gates," the guard slurred.
"Novak's Umma, she is defenseless," Talyis protested.
"The royal attendants are already on their way to old lady Ulie's cottage. Who next princess?" the guard mocked.
"If I were stupid, I would have escaped earlier, months ago, in the middle of the night." She half lied. "I would rather handle the beast in the castle than the wild ones in your forests."
"If that is true, slave then maybe I should leave you to face your fate with them. I know you have something to do with this attack." Accusation glittered in his drunken eyes. "I bet that unknown army is probably vile Onor that care only for themselves than mankind and deserve nothing less than the pain and torture of the underworld."
Her men were outside attacking, coming to her rescue? It had been so long since she had thought about home in a tangible way. Her thoughts of home and family had been so clouded by what had happened since her kidnapping, and the Aricin history.
When she dreamed, she dreamed of her bedchambers and how eerily still, silent it was that night of the raid. The dreams always left her in a cold sweat and confused about why her guards had never come to her aid. Knowledge of the impending battle and the chance her men were outside did not console her. Indeed, the Aricin had brought this upon themselves by capturing the princess of their enemy. The Aricin would be foolish to believe that a crippling attack would not come to them. It was all a vicious cycle of vengeance, hatred and lust for power. If indeed it were her people joined with the Navapa she knew it was going to be a bloody battle. She found no comfort in the prospect that this could possibly be the end of the Aricin.
"Onor wench! He has freed you. Go protect yourself," the guard snapped. "Our concern is not for you but for our survival. We have only wanted to be our own people. I now must keep vigil on the watch tower, to protect what's left of us."
Talyis wasn't conflicted anymore. She wrapped Novak's damp robe closer to her body and his smell enveloped her. The saddle bag still hung from her shoulders, and she slid her hands inside, dragging her fingers along the book's spine, reading its title with her finger tips. She had given this book to her green-eyed friend. She wanted to know where the boy was now and how Novak had acquired the book.
She climbed the stairs to the prince's chambers and curled up into a ball in the bed. She shivered from the cold, but was too emotionally drained to build a fire. Her mind went back to her childhood. She wondered where her father had kept Novak as a boy. Her father had servants from many distant lands. Many allies sent their children to learn in her country, but how was it that a kingdom's heir was not introduced or even snooped out by her precocious curiosity.
Her stomach began to churn.
"Parasite, parasite, parasite," she chanted like a mantra as if to make it true, wishing it to be anything but a growing baby. "Argh!"
Stress pulling her mind in directions and the parasite making her stomach roll, she jumped up and ran to the chamber pot and emptied her stomach. The wind whistled loudly outside and shifted the snow to drift into the room. Now she had no choice but to take time to build a fire to warm the room.
The fire crackled and embers flew up in a dance up before disappearing. Everything was ghostly silent; the blizzard seemed to absorb any noise. But she tried to listen hard, to pick out the cry of a villager or the sound of metal on metal in battle -- she heard nothing. She wrapped another blanket around her tightly and pulled the book from her sack. Her fingers traced her young handwriting:
To boy,
With deepest
£ove
scribbled scribbled crossed out.
