To Stand Beside Her (47 page)

“Still a lot of spirit left in you, I see,” Aiolos said
,
mov
ing
his hand to touch her.
In response she kneed
his groin
before her guards could tighten the ropes.
Aiolos tried to conceal his pain as he back away from her and sat down next to Phillip.
Mitchell barked at the men to hold onto to her tighter

“Where I come from, men don’t go around touching women without their permission,”
Leila
replied with a smile.
“And they certainly don’t make advances towards a soon
-
to
-
be
-
married woman.”
She could not help but rub in the fact
that
she had chosen to marry Nalick.

“Why would you want to marry a coward?” Aiolos asked
,
composing himself
.

“My dad’s not a coward,” Phillip yelled
,
getting angry.
He had been sitting with Aiolos for several hours and all Aiolos did was try to tell Phillip what a bad person Nalick was.

Aiolos smiled.
“Seems the child does know how to talk.”

“Phillip
,
be quiet,” Leila scolded
,
and Phillip shut his mouth.

“No, no.
I want to hear more.
Why isn’t Nalick a coward?”
Aiolos
asked
,
but Phillip did not reply.
“See
,
the child probably does not know about how you ran away when Jahangir’s army was approaching Dria.”

Leila tilted her head as though she did not understand.
“I don’t recall running away from anyone.
The last time we were in Dria, we were visiting Nalick’s father, and I thought it was be great to take Nalick to visit my home and
meet
my parents also at the same time,” Leila said.
Aiolos’ eyes grew large.
He was unsure if he could trust she was telling him the truth
,
but he was still surprised that she would even suggest it.
The one secret every courier kept was where their family lived.
Leila stared at the man challenging him to doubt what she said.

“You would never take him home to your family,” Aiolos finally said.

“Why not?
I am marrying him in a few weeks.
He would have to meet them sometime,” Leila replied honestly.
Aiolos stared at her.
The rumors he heard were true.
She was going to willingly marry his rival King Nalick.
Leila could see
,
as he comprehended the truth
,
his anger began to boil.
She quickly looked at Phillip and began to worry.
She should not have upset him so badly with Phillip around.
Aiolos stood and walked to her.
As he neared
,
she felt the ropes tighten that were holding her.

“Too bad the wedding will have to be cancelled,” Aiolos moved near her and began to touch her
face
.
It may h
a
ve been a loving gesture for Aiolos
,
but it made her skin crawl.
“It seems I have made other arrangements for you.”
Leila
replied by
spit
ting
in his face.

“I would not marry you if you were the last person left alive,”
Leila
said
,
her
anger
matching his
.

Rather than the upset reaction she expected, Aiolos began to laugh.
“You will do what I say.
And you know why?
Because if you don’t, I will hurt this kid that means so much to you.
I won’t kill him, but instead I will hand him over to the interrogation squad and let them find ways to make you do what I want.”
Quickly two guards grabbed Phillip.

“Let’s see,” Aiolos said picking up a k
nife from a near
by table.

“Which hand is
it
that is so important to a Lior prince?”
Each guard flattened his hands on the table and Phillip stared at his own hands.
Aiolos looked at Leila.

“Your left would mean his right.”
Aiolos walked over to Phillip
,
and Leila began to struggle with the ropes holding her.

“Don’t you dare hurt him,”
Leila
yelled at Aiolos.
Aiolos smiled to be able to upset her.
Leila glared at him.

“You don’t think I would actually worry about you or the code you follow,”
Aiolos
replied.

“I wouldn’t just worry about me,”
Leila
said
pulling against her ropes
.
“It is not just me that lives by that code but every courier out there.
I think any one of them would be will to repay you for hurting an innocent person.”

“Well, I will have to wait and see,”
Aiolos
replied
taking
the knife and stabbed it into Phillip’s right hand.
Leila struggled to get free but there were too many people holding onto her.
Phillip did not make a sound as the blade pie
r
ced his hand and then was removed.
Leila could see the tears forming in his eyes
, but he did not say a word,
just stared at Leila.
She had told him to be quiet
,
and he was following her orders.

“Take them both away,” Aiolos said with a fling of his hands.
“
That was just a
practice. Next time he might lo
se a finger or two.
That should give you something to think about next time you feel like disrespecting me
.
”

The men pulled her out of the tent before she could respond
and threw her into a tent cage with Phillip
.
Leila was happy to see they were thrown in the same tent
together
.
Once they were
sure
she was secure and could not escape, the men finally let go of their ropes.
Phillip hurried to untie his mother but soon saw he would not be needed.
Leila picked up his bleeding hand.
Quickly she ripped the bottom of her dress and wrapped it around his hand.

“Mom, you shouldn’t have come.
They were just using me to get you,” Phillip complained.

Leila hugged the child.
“Who knows what they might have done to you if I didn’t come.
I am just happy to find you in one piece.
I’m so sorry about your hand.
I promise I will have Roger look at it once we get home.”

“I will have you out of here before morning
hopefully even by this afternoon
,”
Leila
said confidently.
Phillip continued to stare at her. “Remember all the stories you have heard about the ghost courier
?
Well, you will get to add one more story, but make sure not to tell the details.”

“We will really be out of here by morning?”
Phillip
asked
,
doubting that anyone could escape from the middle of a camp full of warriors so easily.

“I wouldn’t want to worry your dad, so we better leave by morning at the latest,” she explained.
Phillip did not have the chance to ask her how they were going to leave as they were interrupted by two priests entering the room.
Both men were thin but young.
Leila smiled and greeted the two men in a language Phillip had never heard before.

“We want to get you out of here as soon as possible,”
the younger priest
told
Leila
.
“Tomorrow they plan to pack up and head back to Enea.”

“I’m not leaving until my son is safe getting out of here first,” she replied, and they nodded.
One of the priests studied Phillip intently as they continued to talk.

“Is there someone to meet you?” the priest asked.

“Yes, there is a young man that should be directly outside the east gate.”
Leila removed the ring around her neck.
“
He doesn’t know how I get out of situations like this. You won’t be trusted.
Give him this when you go to tell him your plan
,
and he will believe you.”
The priest accepted the ring and nodded
,
exchanging it for a jar in his hand
.

“We will return after sun down to get your son free.
Will you need us to get you out of here
,
also?” the other priest asked.

“No.
There are holes all over the camp.
It should be easy to get out on my own
,
”
Leila
replied as
they stood and left.
Leila returned to Phillip and unwound the bandage on his hand.
She quickly put the sticky yellow substance from the container the priests gave her on his hand and rewrapped it.

“So are they part of the story I leave out?” Phillip asked.
Leila nodded.

It was hours past sundown by the time the priests returned.
Quietly two men entered
:
a small and a large heavy set man.
Leila thought the face
s
looked familiar from before
,
and once he was close enough
,
she could
see
it was the same man.

“We need to take the child now,”
the taller one
said.
Leila gently shook Phillip
,
and he opened his eyes and stared at the large man.

“It should take us fifteen minutes to have him outside the gate and another ten to reach your friend.”
Leila nodded.
The larger priests turned so his back was towards the entrance to tent.
He pulled his arms within his brown robe and struggled a bit.
With a quiet thud something fell to the ground and the second priest quickly moved it to the bed next to Leila.
Leila could see it was a young child about the age of Phillip.

“What’s wrong with him?” Phillip asked.

“The guards beat him until he was almost dead,” the priest explained to Leila in their language. “The child is from the neighboring village and heard Queen Eia was captive here.
He wanted to free his queen and came here looking for you.
We could not save him as the guards got to him first.
His last dying wish was to help save his queen.”

Leila stopped Phillip from touching the child.

“He is dead,” she told him
,
and Phillip stared at the boy that was his age.

“The guards killed him as they will do with you if we don’t get you out of here.”
Phillip looked at his mom.
The kind, gentle eyes she normally had were gone and they were replaced by eyes that were steady and focused.
“Climb under the priests robes and climb up on him.
He will get you situated and once he starts to move, don’t let go until you hear Anatolio’s voice.
They are going to bring you to him.” Phillip nodded and quickly went under the robe.
Soon the priest looked the same as before
,
and he turned to waddle out of the room.
The se
cond priest handed Leila a long
haired wig that was the same color as her hair.

“I know you said you don’t need help, but it should give you more time,” the man said
,
and he turned and followed the first priest.
None of the kings ever expected that their own holy men were the ones to help Leila out of their jails.

Leila tucked the dead child under the covers and turned his face away from the front of the tent.
She was sad to see such a small child get hurt trying to save her.
She looked at the dark head of hair and could picture the same happening to any of her three kids.
He’s just a child
, she thought.
Leila felt bad that her three kids were now being dragged into the game of catching her.
She had not meant to place them in danger
,
but now she could see that they were.
The changing guards looked in on her, and she pretend to be going to bed.
Leila
waited to be sure Phillip was safe and easily left her makeshift jail
,
proceed
ing
to the east gate.
Scanning the woods
while
mov
ing
,
she followed the nearest trail.
She quietly crept into the woods to view the people she could hear talking
.
Anatolio
was
checking the wound in Phillip’s hand with Nalick watching over
and
talking to
the priests quickly.