Richard Tuttle - Sapphire of the Fairies

“Alas,” frowned Duke Everich,“King Byron had no known heir. The Council of Advisors rule Targa.I can guess what Cidal has to offer to an alliance, but what doesit wish from Targa, my young Lord?”

“A common border, King’sAdvisor,” Fredrik calmly stated.

A look of shock fell over the Duke’sface. There was an awful lot of territory between Targa and Cidal.If they were to have a common border, quite a few countries orcities would have to fall. The young Lord would have to be either afool or have access to an army larger than a mercenary company.Either way, he would be very useful or very dangerous, perhapsboth.

“I think we should speak moreof this before I present it to the Council,” Duke Everich said.“Perhaps you would accompany me to the Royal Palace?”

“It would be a pleasure, DukeEverich,” Lord Wason replied.

Everyone rose and left the dining room,much to the chagrin of the other nobles waiting to interrogate thenewcomer. The walk from the Palace Shadow to the Royal Palace wasshort. Fredrik was amazed at the sheer size of the Palace and hadtrouble remembering the path so he could retrace his steps ifnecessary.

Duke Everich showed them into a roomthat looked like a study. He again frowned as the two Cidalunderlings followed Fredrik into the room. Fredrik seized theopportunity before it passed.

“Duke Everich,” Fredrikinquired, “I do not particularly want my fellow countrymen involvedin this conversation. I would post my bodyguard outside the door,but not with the servant to look after. I wonder if I might indulgemyself of your good graces and store my servant in your dungeonuntil I am ready to leave?”

“An excellent idea,” laughedthe Duke. “I can arrange for some punishment while he is there ifyou desire.”

“That will not be necessary,”chuckled Lord Wason. “If you could just issue authorization for myman to deposit and collect him, that would besufficient.”

The Duke scribbled an authorization andhanded it to Arik. “I will have one of my men show him the way,”offered the Duke.

Lord Wason leaned close to the Duke’sear and whispered, “Don’t bother. Let him find it on hisown.”

After being dismissed, Arik gentlyshoved Tedi out the door and closed it. Looking at theauthorization, Arik gave a smile and proceeded down the stairs heknew led to the dungeon. Garth had spent some hours trying todetail the inside of the castle to Tedi and himself and Arik feltlike he had been there before.

They reached the dungeon quickly andshowed the authorization to the outside guard. Without a blink heopened the door to the dungeon and let them in. Inside the dungeonwere two more guards seated at a table. They looked up as soon asthe door opened and watched as Tedi and Arik approached. Arikwalked past Tedi to give the authorization to one of the guards andwas reproached for letting his back to a prisoner.

“He is not a prisoner,” Arikstated. “He is just a troublesome servant that needs to be kept outof my hair for a while. You need not even trouble yourself withgetting up. I will shove him in a cell.”

“Nobody goes into the cellblock without one of us,” the guard stated as he rose. “Servant orprisoner, he gets the same from me either way.”

Arik began to fear that Tedi would besearched. Without his tools, this whole charade would be wasted andpossibly worse if they found the lock picks Tedi had on him. Theguard pointed the way and followed them into the cellblock. Arik’sheart dropped when he saw no other prisoners in thecells.

Arik stopped and turned to the guard.“Is there a cell with a neighbor?” Arik asked. “This lout’s snoringwill add some punishment to the culprit’s torment.”

The guard laughed heartily and pointedArik and Tedi towards another cellblock. “You have the makings of aRoyal Tormentor, lad. The way you think makes me warm allover.”

The guard let them walk down thecorridor until they came to a cell next to another prisoner andushered Tedi in and locked the door. The man in the cell next toTedi looked too young to be the General.

The guard turned to Arik. “Now that wehave your friend locked up,” the guard laughed, “you’ll come withme and answer some questions.”

Arik’s stomach turned as he looked atthe massive guard with the wicked grin.

Tedi craned his neck in an attempt tosee into the other cells in the block, but he was unable to seeanyone other than the man in the next cell. Quietly, for a while,he pondered his options. He was supposed to talk with the Generaland arrange his escape, but if the man in the next cell was notSergeant Trank, who was General Gregor’s aide, he would call thejailers called down on him in a moment.

“What is your name?” Tedihesitantly asked.

The man looked at him and pointedlyignored him. Tedi wasn’t sure what the dungeon guards had up theirsleeve with their last comment to Arik, but he didn’t have a lot oftime to deal with his neighbor’s reluctance to talk.

“I had a cousin who looked alot like you,” Tedi probed. “People often told him that he lookedlike General Gregor’s aide. Say, you wouldn’t happen to be SergeantTrank, would you?”

“You wouldn’t even know anyonewho had ever seen a General’s aide,” the neighbor sneered. “Whydon’t you do us both a favor and let me get some rest? Tell DukeEverich he will have to come up with a better scheme than sendingyou in here, so save your breath.”

Tedi was taken back at the man’shostile attitude, but clearly the Duke wanted something from thisman and, just as clearly, this man didn’t want to give it. Tedi wasgoing to get nowhere fast following his coy littleapproach.

“I don’t know if you areSergeant Trank or not,” Tedi gambled, “but my gut instinct tells methat you are. I do not work for the Duke, but I do need to talk tothe General. I was hoping that they would put me in the cell nextto him.”

The man’s hostility seemed abated andTedi bet his life on his next statement. “I was told to tell theGeneral that I was sent by Garth Shado to affect hisrelease.”

The man stared at Tedi for the longestmoment without speaking. After rolling something around in hismind, the man asked, “Who told you to say Garth Shado sentyou?”

“Garth himself,” Tedianswered. “He is a tall man, extremely well-built with long blackhair in a tail. He called General Gregor his cousin and travelswith a woman named Kalina. Does that satisfy you that I am tellingthe truth?”

“Not hardly,” the man laughed.“This friend of his, Kalina, she has a special trick she likes topull on new acquaintances. Surely, if you ever met her you wouldknow of it. What is the trick?

Tedi had no idea what the man wastalking about. Kalina had done nothing that stood out as awelcoming trick. How would he be able to convince the man withoutknowing her trick? In desperation, he threw up hishands.

“How am I supposed to knowanything about her tricks?” Tedi blurted out. “I don’t knowanything about magic and everything a witch does is a trick to me.What trick are you talking about?”

Oddly, the man smiled. “Witch is a veryderogatory term,” the man scolded. “I wouldn’t be surprised ifKalina filled your sleeping bag with worms for that statement. Howdo you plan to get the General out of the Royal Palace? Just waltzhim past the dungeon guards?”

“That is for me to discusswith the General,” stated Tedi. “You still haven’t told me who youare or where they are keeping the General.”

“You are a brave fool,”chuckled the man. “I see no harm in admitting that I am SergeantTrank and that the General is in the last cell down. The Dukedidn’t want me close enough to him to converse. You will have aspoor luck in trying to talk with him as you have of getting him outof here, now that you are stuck being my neighbor.”