Richard Tuttle - Sapphire of the Fairies

The Sergeant looked surprised at thetwo guards sprawled on the table and asked about the outsideguard.

“These two should not havedrank the wine,” Tedi grinned. “They will wake up in an hour so weneed to be well on our way. The outside guard got his mixturethrough Niki’s ring. He may be out for even less time. Garth toldus about the exit from the Palace that the servants used before theCollapse. He said it is still passable, but it has been unused formany years. I can lead you there. There will be two horses outside.You can use them to get out of the city. Go to the field where theRangers waited to enter the city before King Eugene was unmaskedand Garth will meet you there. I hope you understand, because itmeans nothing to me.”

The General put his hand on Tedi’sshoulder and looked him in the eye. “You will make a fine soldiersomeday,” General Gregor stated. “You have the guts anddetermination already.”

Tedi nodded at the General and smiled.“I already am, Sir,” he replied proudly. “I am an Alcea Ranger.Let’s get out of here.”

The General grinned and shook his headas he followed Tedi out of the dungeon with his Sergeant closebehind. Tedi led them through the corridors of the Royal Palace asif he had spent time there before. If anyone saw them at adistance, it would look like a foreign servant and his two unarmedforeign escorts. It was Tedi’s job to make sure that no one got aclose look.

They made it without incident to thehalf collapsed corridor that led to the old servants’ entrance.Only two servants had seen them at a distance and they paid noparticular interest to the foreign men. The corridor was barelypassable in spots and the going was slow, as they had to climb overportions of crumbled walls. When they reached the end of thecorridor, the door was jammed tight. Tedi almost panicked as he puthis shoulder to the door and it refused to budge.

The Sergeant chuckled politely andtapped the pouch that Tedi held his picks in. “It’s locked,Ranger,” he prompted. “Work some of the skills from your misspentyouth.”

Tedi swore as he extracted his picksand went to work on the door lock. They had already exhausted toomuch time getting out of the dungeon and Fredrik should be donewith his meeting soon. Even if the guards did not wake up for anhour, somebody could discover them at any time. The door unlockedwas still hard to open, but Tedi cracked it enough to peer outside.There was more debris from the Collapse past the door, which hadnever been cleaned up, and Tedi soon realized why Garth chose thisdoorway. They were able to make it easily across the unoccupiedcourtyard to a small gate in the wall. The gate was locked onlywith a beam laid in metal braces, which was easily removed, and thethree escapees stepped into a street where two horses were tied toa tree.

The few passersby looked oddly at themfor using a gateway which had not been used in years, but thetethered horses and foreign uniforms on the men, with the apparentlack of weapons, caused them to go about their business. Tedi sawthe two military men mount their horses and then turned to walk theshort distance to the Palace Shadow.

* * * *

Fredrik led Duke Everich into aprolonged discussion of how the two countries might be of benefitto each other. The Duke seemed to be uninterested in most of theconversation with the exception of the Cidal Mercenary Company, buthe was patient enough to let Fredrik rave about the great nation hewas going to carve out of old Sordoa. The Duke probably thoughtFredrik a young fool, but was trying to find some angle to getcontrol of the mercenaries for his own benefit. Fredrik was surethat the Duke would use the mercenaries in some grand scheme of theContest of Power.

It suddenly dawned on Fredrik why theDuke was being so patient. As long as Lord Wason was tied up in hisstudy, the other players in the Contest could not talk to him. Eventhe length of time spent with Lord Wason would probably be used tosome advantage. Fredrik was mulling over these thoughts when heheard the bump of something against the door. That was Arik’ssignal that the escape was underway. Arik had hidden where he couldobserve Tedi’s group leaving and shadowed behind them to make surethey got off all right. The signal meant it was time toflee.

“Well,” Fredrik began, “Ithink this talk has given me much to think about, Duke Everich. Iwould like to meet with some of the other Council members tomorrowif you can arrange it, but I must be going now. I am afraid that asgood as the Palace Shadow is, I did not sleep as well as I wouldhave in my own bed.”

Duke Everich snapped his head up as ifhe had just heard Fredrik speak for the first time. “I couldarrange for quarters here in the Palace if you wish,” he offered.“The other members of the Council have very busy schedules and Imay not be able to arrange your meetings for a fewdays.”

“That is unfortunate,” LordWason declared. “I must start my journey back home tomorrow at thelatest and the Palace Shadow will do for one more night. Perhapsthere will be time for another meeting with you before I go. We cancontinue our plans by courier if that is not possible.”

“A pity,” grinned the Duke.“Well, I should send a guard down for your man to spare yourbodyguard the trip while I see you out.”

Fredrik showed no sign of panic as hereplied. “That won’t be necessary, Duke Everich. If you don’t mind,I will leave him there overnight. Perhaps he will be moreunderstanding in the morning. I can easily find my own way out ofthe Palace while you check with the other Council members abouttheir schedules for tomorrow.”

The Duke merely nodded, lost inthought, as Fredrik opened the door and stepped into the corridorwhere Arik was waiting. As quickly as they could, without appearingto be in a hurry, Fredrik and Arik made their way out of the Palaceto the Palace Shadow where they met with Tedi and all checked outwith great haste. Within minutes of each other, the three groups ofAlcea Rangers started their journey out of the city towards thefield where General Gregor and Sergeant Trank awaitedthem.

Garth, Kalina, Niki, and Tanya werewaiting for Fredrik, Tedi and Arik a short way from the city andthe group reformed into one. The field where the General waited wasnot far away from the city, but it was between the main roadwestward and the main road northward, which placed it in the forestwhere few would go. The General and the Sergeant were alreadytalking with Mitar Vidson, head of the Targa Rangers, and DavidJaynes, head of the Red Swords of Targa, when the Alcea Rangersarrived.

Garth introduced everybody and sat bythe campfire as the rest of the group joined him. “General,” Garthbegan, “I am sure that your old friends have brought you up to dateon why we are all here. I believe that you have met most of theAlcea Rangers already today. We will be leaving in the morning, butyou four will have much to do before we return.”

“I must not have been toldeverything,” the General prodded. “Why have you formed the AlceaRangers? Where are you going? When and why are you coming back andwhat is it you expect us to do?”

“Many questions,” mused Garth.“Still, you have the right to know what you are getting yourselfinto. First, I must ask a harsh question. Is your Sergeant Tranktrustworthy?”

“I have staked my life on itin the past,” the General declared, “and I have not regretted it.You may speak of anything in his presence that you wish to speak tome about.”

“Very well,” Garth continued.“You four must prepare for the rising of Alcea which will occurwhen next you see us. Targa’s Army is young, weak, and untrainedand, yet, a tremendous army will be coming to crush us. You mustround up the remnants of the Red Swords and the Targa Rangers andget them ready for battle and you must do it covertly. No one is toknow that you are forming this army. Let our enemies believe thatTarga is ill-prepared to fend off their attack.”