The Princess of Trelian (14 page)

So she would just have to stop it from coming to that.

She turned around and started back down the hall, still not really seeing anything around her, trusting everyone to get out of her way as she walked faster and faster and then gave in and started running. She reached the kitchen just as Tessel was leaving, no doubt about to get some well-deserved rest. Well, she could wait a few more minutes. Meg grabbed the startled young woman’s arm.

“Princess? What is it?”

“Walk with me,” Meg said, whirling around toward the kitchen entrance and pulling the confused courier along with her. “I’m sorry, I know you’re tired, but I need to ask you a few more things.”

“What — what things?”

“In private,” Meg said firmly. She didn’t say another word until they were through the doors and a good distance away from the castle. She forced herself to slow down. To anyone watching, it would seem they were simply having a stroll in the gardens. It was a nice enough evening for walking; it shouldn’t seem too odd.

“I need to know . . .” Meg began finally. And stopped. She tried to think of how to ask what she needed to without giving herself away. Then she decided it didn’t matter. She would just order Tessel to keep quiet. “All right. Listen. I’m going to Lourin myself to see what I can find out. I need you to go over your information for me once more, everything they showed you, and tell me where exactly to look for the scorch marks and — and the other things they are considering to be evidence. If you can, maybe you could sketch me a little map of the city and show me where to go.”

Tessel was staring at her in horror. “Princess, you can’t go to Lourin!”

“Of course I can,” Meg said calmly. “I just need you to tell me what I need to know, first.”

Tessel was still staring. “You
can’t
— I mean, I can’t . . .” She took a breath and started again. “If something happens to you, because of information I gave you . . . Lourin is not a good place for the heir of Trelian right now. People there are very angry. If they caught you, it would — it would be very bad.”

“They won’t catch me. I’ll have Jakl with me.”

“What? No! Princess!” Tessel struggled visibly to control her words and tone. “You can’t bring your dragon there! That would be —” She floundered for a moment, then seemed to find some inner resolve. “It would be madness. You would only be proving to them what they already think is true!”

“I won’t let Jakl be seen. I’ll have him wait for me somewhere out of sight.”

Tessel crossed her arms. “Then how will he protect you?”

That was a good point. But Meg waved it away. “Don’t worry about that. I’ll figure something out. All I need from you is information.”

Tessel shook her head. “I am sorry, Your Highness, but I can’t let you do this. You can go ahead and report me to the king and queen, if you like, for my disobedience. But somehow I don’t think they would see fit to punish me for not helping you run off and get yourself killed.”

Meg felt an all-too-familiar spark of anger beginning to form inside her.

“Tessel, listen to me. This is something I have to do. I cannot explain all of the reasons to you. But either I go with your information to guide me or I go without that information. Given those two choices, do you think you can bring yourself to do as I ask?”

“Princess,
please.
Be reasonable. You can’t —”

“Either help me or send me off without any help at all. It’s your choice.”

Tessel hesitated, frowning deeply. “There is — there is a third choice, Your Highness.” She took a slow breath, as if to put off her next words for a few more precious seconds. “I could go with you.”

Now it was Meg’s turn to be shocked. “What?”

“At least that way I wouldn’t be sending you into danger alone. Maybe I could help you to not get killed if you are discovered.” Tessel tilted her head back over her shoulder toward the sheath slung across her back. It was empty now, while she was in the castle, of course, but all couriers carried either swords or bows while out on assignments, and all were given basic combat training. They were supposed to be protected by law and custom, but there were plenty of criminals who didn’t care about law and custom. And a lone rider might seem an easy target for robbery, or worse.

“Tessel, I appreciate your offer,” Meg said. “But that is out of the question.”

Tessel drew herself up and looked at Meg straight on. “I’m coming with you, Princess. I don’t want to, believe me. But you’re not leaving me any other choice. If I let you go alone, and something happens . . . Well, at least if I’m there, if something happens, I won’t have to face the king and queen alone after you die.”

Meg started to object again, but Tessel cut her off. “If you refuse, I will start screaming for the guards right now. I bet they’ll be able to stop you before you reach your dragon.”

The spark of anger was growing into a twisty, burning flame. Meg could feel its tendrils working their way up and into her veins, heating her blood. Who was this girl to think she could try to tell her what to do? Yes, she was older, but she was a
courier,
sworn to serve, not someone who should dare to make demands of the princess-heir. Tessel knew it, too; a glimmer of fear was plain despite her resolve.

That fear seemed to grow as Meg watched, and she realized that her own face must also be betraying what she was feeling. She closed her eyes and forced herself to breathe, in and out, slowly, in the way Calen had taught her. She wouldn’t be this angry if it were Calen telling her not to go. A
little
angry, maybe, but Calen had earned the right to at least
try
to boss her around. He was her best friend, and he’d saved her life enough times to be able to tell her anything he chose. This girl, this courier, was no one to her; she had no right to try to, to try to —

To try to stop you from getting yourself killed?

Meg pushed that thought away. She had to go to Lourin. It would be far worse to do nothing and let Jakl become the center of a war between the kingdoms! She knew this was the right course of action. It had to be.

Maybe taking Tessel with her was actually a good idea. She could show Meg exactly where the attacks had occurred, show her this supposed evidence . . . and keeping the courier close would mean she couldn’t betray Meg to her parents.

“All right,” Meg said finally, opening her eyes. “You can come with me. Do you know where my dragon’s paddock is?” She waited for Tessel’s nod. “Meet me there at twelfth bell. Don’t be late, or I’m going without you. And Tessel —” She held the courier’s eyes for a long moment. “Don’t say anything about this to anyone. Swear to me that you won’t.”

“I won’t,” Tessel said. “I swear it.” She narrowed her eyes. “Unless you go without me, in which case I’ll go right to the king and queen.”

“Just be there,” Meg said. Then she turned and started back toward the castle to get ready for dinner and to pretend she had no other plans for the night.

I
T HAD TAKEN TWO TRIES TO
slip out without alerting Pela. The first time Meg opened her door, Pela immediately peeked out of her own to see what her princess might need, and Meg had to let the girl fetch her a snack from the kitchen before she could try again. At least Pela hadn’t asked any difficult questions about Meg’s unprincess-like attire. Dresses were uncomfortable to ride in and tended to get dirty and torn. Meg kept a supply of breeches and boots and old shirts and jackets to wear for dragon riding, none of which would ever meet Pela’s standards of what her princess should be seen wearing. Meg had tried to keep most of her body hidden behind her door until Pela went back into her own room. Not for the first time, she wished she had that magic spell of Calen’s that made him invisible. The whole way through the castle, from her rooms to the garden entrance, she kept expecting Pela to pop up behind her, demanding to be helpful. She’d never had trouble slipping out past Pela before; Meg wondered if her parents had asked the girl to keep a closer eye on her. Probably.

It was a relief to finally get outside. Meg made her way slowly down past the stables, keeping to the shadows as much as possible. When she reached the end of the little path that led to Jakl’s paddock, Tessel was already waiting. The paddock included a huge, barn-like building, and it opened onto a private field where Jakl could roll around in the tall grass without spooking or crushing any horses or people or decorative three-hundred-year-old heirloom trees. Tessel was standing a few feet back from the fence, watching Jakl warily. Jakl was pretending to be asleep.

As Meg approached, the dragon suddenly leaped to his feet, startling Tessel into stumbling back several more feet. She looked immensely relieved when she noticed Meg. Tessel walked over to meet her, glancing back over her shoulder once or twice at Jakl, who was pacing her along the fence.

The courier must have managed to catch a quick nap; she looked alert and freshly washed, if not especially happy. She’d changed into fresh clothing as well — dark pants and a matching top and jacket — although she still wore her courier sash diagonally across her chest. “I guess we’re, uh . . . flying?” she asked.

Meg nodded. She had considered, briefly, the idea that she and Tessel should sneak out and meet Jakl somewhere else, but decided it would be too difficult trying to get them both past the gate guards. She also didn’t entirely trust Tessel not to get them caught and detained by the guards on purpose. Meg would get in trouble when word got back to her parents that she went out flying at night again, but she didn’t see any other choice. And if she came back with a solution to the trouble with Lourin, surely her parents couldn’t be
too
angry with her.

Meg climbed the fence, and Tessel followed. Jakl sat on his hind legs like a cat, staring down at Tessel as though she were something he might like to eat. Meg tried to suppress a smile.

“Is he —? Can I —?” Tessel had stopped again and was staring up at him. With visible effort, she turned away and looked at Meg. “What should I do?”

“He won’t bite,” Meg said.
You hear me?
she thought at him.
Don’t bite.
“You can walk up and touch him, if you like.”

Tessel did so, walking slowly forward and then reaching out to place a hand on Jakl’s foreleg. “He’s so warm!” she said with some surprise.

“You’ll be glad of that when we’re up in the sky,” Meg said. “It gets cold up there.”

Tessel stepped back from the dragon again and turned to face Meg. “Princess, may I ask what your plan is, exactly?”

“I want to see this evidence that seems to indicate the attacks were made by a dragon. The area where the fires were, anything else that you can show me. I hope to find some clue as to what really attacked Lourin. If King Gerald is convinced the culprit is a dragon, he might not be looking very hard for evidence that suggests anything else.”

Tessel looked a little skeptical, but she only nodded. “I can show you what they showed me,” she said. “What will we do if someone sees us?”

“I don’t think I’ll be recognized, dressed like this. The city of Lourin is large enough that strangers shouldn’t automatically be regarded as suspicious. You should probably take that off, though,” she added, nodding to Tessel’s courier sash.

“Oh . . . yes, of course.” Tessel slipped the sash over her head and tucked it into a pocket.

“I’m hoping it will be late enough that we won’t run into anyone on the streets,” Meg continued. “And if we do . . . we can pretend we’re lost or something. We shouldn’t need to stay too long. I just need to find something to help me figure this out. There
must
be something there.” She realized she was clenching her fist, and made her fingers relax. “I know it wasn’t Jakl, so there must be a sign of something else.”

Tessel looked as though she might want to argue further, but Meg brushed past her and climbed up onto her dragon, settling at the base of his long neck. She reached back to help Tessel up after her. The courier hesitated only a moment before taking Meg’s hand and scrambling up.

“Is there anything I need to know about dragon riding?” Tessel asked once she was seated behind Meg.

“Just hold on to me,” Meg said. “Don’t be shy about holding on tight. I won’t break.”

“All right,” Tessel said. She obediently tightened her arms around Meg’s waist.

Jakl launched upward into the night. Tessel gasped and gripped Meg even tighter. Meg barely felt it; she was half gone already, swept up in the excitement of flying.

Before long, though, she forced herself to draw back and focus on her surroundings. She felt Jakl let her go reluctantly; he liked it best when she was right there with him, when they were flying together with one consciousness, but he understood that passengers required a little more attention on her part. Plus she had to keep an eye on their progress. She’d studied the maps in the library carefully after dinner, fixing the relative locations of Trelian and Lourin firmly in her mind. She thought Jakl was picking up enough of that information through the link to keep them on course, but she felt better watching for landmarks herself, just in case.