The Sorcerer's Scourge (32 page)

“All right, but you need to tighten the cinch strap or you’re going to get dumped onto the ground before you are halfway there.”

“I tightened it as hard as I could,” Ellyssa protested.

Peck grabbed the loose end of the strap, ran his fingers lightly along the horse’s stomach, and yanked up on the strap sharply.

“No horse likes a saddle so they puff out their stomach and hold their breath to keep it loose. You have to tickle them to make them let out their breath and retighten it,” Peck instructed her.

“I did not know horses were that smart,” Ellyssa remarked.

“Horses are a lot smarter than people think they are. Just like a lot of people aren’t nearly as clever as they think they are.”

Ellyssa knew that last remark was directed at her but she ignored it, leaned in, and gave Peck a quick kiss on the cheek. She then climbed into the saddle, her white hosiery allowing her to ride normal with her dress bunched up around her thighs. She was still young enough to be forgiven the lack of ladylike propriety should anyone take notice.

With a small wave to the deeply blushing stableboy, Ellyssa headed towards the south wall where she could escape through a little-used postern gate. She tried to approach the gate between sentry rounds, but she failed to notice a stationary guard cloaked in the shadows of a crenellation. He stepped out of the concealing shadows just as she neared the gate.

“Who is there?” he asked authoritatively.

Ellyssa cursed under her breath then called up, “It’s me, Ellyssa. I need to go into North Haven to meet with Miranda at the palace.”

“Then why did you not go with her when she left earlier today?” he challenged.

“Because I didn’t, all right? Just let me through.”

“Sorry. Orders are no students leave, especially after dark,” the guard informed her, not sounding the least bit sorry.

Ellyssa did not have the time or patience to argue. Reaching into a pocket, she pulled out a pinch of sand and cast a spell. The young man on the wall had just enough time to utter a curse before dropping onto the walkway and falling into a deep sleep.

Ellyssa led her horse through the postern door and closed it shut behind her. She walked the horse about a hundred yards before remounting and riding for North Haven. It took only about half an hour to reach the gate where she convinced the guards into letting her pass. It took another thirty minutes to navigate through the town and reach the gates of Mellina’s castle.

The guards there let her pass without challenge. There had been a steady stream of well-dressed people pouring in to see the famed bard for last two hours. They simply assumed Ellyssa was simply a latecomer and the child of one of the many wealthy and influential families in attendance. It was not until she reached the grand castle itself that she ran into trouble.

“Sorry, girl. No one is allowed in without an invitation for the event,” one of a pair of stone-faced guards informed her.

Ellyssa was positively furious now. She had already missed the beginning of Alonzo’s performance and used magic against one of the other students. There was no way she was going to turn back now.

“Do you know who I am?” Ellyssa asked in her most haughty voice. “I am Ellyssa Jensen, apprentice and ward to Azerick Giles who is married to Miranda, daughter of Duchess Mellina and is the next Duke of North Haven! Lady Miranda and the Duchess are expecting me, and I am already late!”

The guard on the left side of the doorway looked to the other. “Maybe I should send for Lady Miranda.”

The guard on the right shook his head. “The show has already started and I don’t want to be the one to interrupt it. Perhaps it’s best if we just let her pass?”

Ellyssa looked at the two guards snootily. “Yes, it
would
be best to let me pass.”

Both men looked like they wanted to put the girl over their knee and give her a well-needed spanking, but wisely chose to open the door instead. Ellyssa passed with a derisive snort and toss of her hair just as she assumed rich, important women did when they felt insulted by an underling.

Ellyssa knew that she was really racking up the punishment, but it was going to be worth it to hear her future husband sing. It was a shame they would have to wait at least six more years to get married—probably seven if she got into any more trouble tonight. Her grounding would probably be at least that long.

The echoing of her shoes as they slapped against the marble floor preceded her down the long hall. She knew the Alonzo was performing in the main banquet hall; she just needed to find it. Ellyssa was able to navigate the labyrinthine halls after making a few inquiries with some of the castle staff.

Wanting to enter as unobtrusively as possible, Ellyssa slipped in through a side door. The banquet hall was absolutely packed with wealthiest and most influential people of the city. The young apprentice had felt almost silly when she put on her finest clothes for this event, but looking at the positively ostentatious garb of the women around her, she felt underdressed.

Alonzo was singing in the middle of the room upon a large, raised platform amidst a multitude of musical instruments. Most she recognized, but there were a few of which were unfamiliar to her. By far the most fascinating was a wooden box on four spindly legs like a dinette table. It sounded akin to a xylophone, but the musician was able to produce the musical notes far more rapidly by pressing the small ivory keys set in the front of it. He called it a harpsichord and it sounded wonderful.

Alonzo himself was a bit of a disappointment. His hair was thinner and his jaw weaker than the stories portrayed him. His teeth did not quite fit together properly either. Nevertheless, even the rumors failed to give proper credit to his magnificent voice, so Ellyssa forgave his cosmetic flaws, as did most women she guessed.

Ellyssa stood to the back of the room so she could see over the heads of most the other attendees while partially hiding herself next to a pillar and a large, potted plant with broad leaves. From this vantage point, she was able to watch Alonzo and Miranda who sat upon one of the two thrones atop the dais adjacent to her mother.

It was midway through the show when Ellyssa glanced up at the dais and gasped as she locked eyes with Miranda. The wayward apprentice froze like a rabbit that just spotted the shadow of a hawk as it passed overhead. Ellyssa prayed Miranda did was not really looking at her, or at least did not recognize her. Those hopes were dashed when Miranda motioned towards a guard and, given her pantomiming, appeared to be describing Ellyssa.

The guard motioned to two others who began quietly working their way towards her from opposite directions. Ellyssa fought down her rising panic, stepped into the waxy fronds of the plant, and tried to think past her rising panic.

She had been studying and practicing illusions in class all week so that is what she employed. Digging into the small gold purse around her waist, she pulled out a bit of wax and began kneading it between her fingers as she cast her spell.

Two of the guards converged right near where she had been standing while the third spoke to the guard standing watch over the nearby door. Both guards standing next to Ellyssa turned towards the dais and shook their heads. Unable to resist, Ellyssa reached up and tickled the nearest guard’s ear. He slapped absently at the frond of the plant before he and his partner abandoned their search and returned to their posts. It was all Ellyssa could do not to laugh, which certainly would have ruined the effect of the illusion.

She knew she was doomed from the moment she enspelled that bucket-head on the wall back at the school, but she would be damned if she would suffer the humiliation of being dragged away from the show by guards and returned to the school to face her punishment. If she were going to be punished, she would face it in a dignified manner. After she got what she wanted.

Not being fooled as easily as the guards were, Miranda squashed that bit of amusement when she motioned to a wrinkled old crone Ellyssa had not seen standing to the far back of the dais amidst the thick curtains covering the wall. The Duchess had thought it a grand idea to have a wizard of her own after the near-disastrous siege just over a year ago.

The ancient wizard cast a quick spell and began scanning the room with her eyes. When she looked at the two big plants next to the pillar, she had no trouble picking out which was vegetation and which was a troublesome young girl. The wizard, Jennessa, smiled wickedly. Miranda mimicked the expression when the old wizard informed her of the deception except Miranda was able to show far more teeth.

Ellyssa cursed loudly enough and vilely enough to make several women near her blush. Casting off dignity as an expendable casualty of war, she dropped to her hands and knees, pulled a large leaf from the plant, and crawled towards the side door guarded by the solitary guard.

The man looked from the girl crawling rapidly towards him to the guards converging on his position. Taking a visual cue from one of the approaching guards, he stood ready to grab up the girl he assumed to be a party crasher. Ellyssa poured a small bit of magic into the big, waxy leaf in her hand and flung it at the guard’s head where it stuck tenaciously, covering his entire face.

Taken completely by surprise, the guard stumbled backwards, tearing at the leaf that blinded and threatened to suffocate him. Ellyssa used his distraction to crawl through the door, scramble to her feet, and sprint through the hallway. Her shoes made a terrible racket as they clapped repeatedly against the marble, but not nearly as much as the whistles that began blaring down every passageway.

Whistles! I thought only the watch used whistles!
Ellyssa shouted inwardly.

Ellyssa tried to go back the way she came so that she might retrieve the horse she borrowed and race back towards the school, but between the whistles and her own poor sense of direction, she was becoming hopelessly lost. She raced down one corridor only to find a group of guards running at her from the other end. She braked so hard that she hopped on one leg to keep her balance before making a sharp right turn down another passage. In any other situation, it would have appeared highly comical.

Her lungs burned, her heart pounded in her chest, and it felt as if she had been running for miles. Ellyssa began to wonder if she would ever make it out of these halls when she finally emerged outside through a seldom-used side door. She could still hear the whistles blaring shrilly throughout the grounds until well after she left the castle behind her. Going back for the horse now was out of the question.

Not only is Peck going to be angry with me, now I have to walk all the way back to the school in these stupid shoes!
She raged and kicked at a piece of refuse, smudging her stupid, pretty shoes. “Damn it all to the abyss!” she shouted into the night.

Ellyssa kept to the less-used streets, certain that every watchman she saw was on the lookout for her and was just waiting to drag her back to Lady Miranda. Probably in chains too just to humiliate her even more. She wondered if maybe that wouldn’t be better than walking all the way back in the dark. At least she would have a ride. Her pride quickly dismissed that as a viable option. Bruised feet heal much faster than a bruised ego.

Even her ego began having second thoughts after nearly another hour of walking and realizing she was completely lost. She hugged her arms around herself as she became increasingly nervous. The buildings along the streets seemed to loom over her as if ready to pounce and she began seeing threats in every shadow.

 Kane’s artillery had wreaked havoc on dozens of homes and buildings in this area, and several of the street layouts had been changed for tactical purposes making it even more difficult for her to find her way. Ellyssa stepped from a smaller side street to a slightly larger thoroughfare and felt her stomach clench as she found herself accosted by at least three men.

“Well hello there, sweetie. You out for a good time?” one of them called out from a few yards away.

Ellyssa turned sharply to the right and quickened her pace. Two more men stepped out of the shadows and blocked her path.

“Look at that pretty dress,” one of the new men remarked. “Could be we can get more in a ransom than the slave markets in Sumara.”