Michael Manning - The Line of Illeniel

“Unless there’s an earthquake or someone shakes the hell out of them… several hours at least,” I judged. We left them there and moved further in. A wooden stair to the left led us to the second floor. No one seemed to have spotted us yet so we kept going. On the landing to the third floor we saw two more men. They took no notice of us for a moment, seemingly involved in their conversation. I put them to sleep just as one looked at me… a question still on his lips as he collapsed.

“I have to admit, this is a lot easier than I thought it would be,” Penny murmured. I had to agree but I thought it was unwise to count ourselves lucky yet. We went on to the fourth floor and seeing no one there continued to the fifth. I was getting distinctly more nervous but I tried not to show it.

The fifth floor seemed to be the final one, so we left the stairs there and started down a wide corridor. The doors on either side looked distinctly more domestic, but I wasn’t sure where to look for Rose. I doubted her father would put her in a cell, so my best guess had been he would confine her somewhere within the family quarters. I paused for a moment, stretching out my senses, trying to feel the layout of the floor and locate whatever people might be nearby.

By pure chance the door next to us opened before I could do anything and a startled nobleman’s face gaped at us. Strangely he had a black eye. “Who the devil are you?” he asked in a loud voice. Before I could do a thing Penelope put her hand on his chest and shoved. He fairly flew backward, landing in a sprawl inside the room he had been about to vacate. She followed him in, moving too quickly for him to evade her.

“Guards!” he yelled. I was left in awe of his magnificent baritone voice. Every able-bodied soldier within the bailey must have heard it.

“Grethak denu keltis taret,” I said quickly. It was a variation of the spell Devon Tremont had once used on me. Unlike his spell I had included an exclusion to let the target breathe. The man went rigid while Penny held him to the floor.

She looked back at me, “You’re really taking all the fun out of this,” she said, and then her eyes went wide. “Look out!”

I felt something moving toward my head but it was far too fast for me to do anything about it. A guardsman who had been standing just inside the doorway hit me with a heavy mace before I could react. My shield saved me from serious injury but I was sent flying sideways across the room. I struck a heavy chair and fell over, stunned.

From my position on the floor I saw her move, though that word hardly does her credit. She fairly flew across the room, the man who had struck me barely moved before she was on him. He managed one swipe at her with his mace and because of her charge she wasn’t able to dodge it. Instead she caught it with her left hand, much as you or I might catch a stick swung by a small boy. Her right hand came up and she slammed the hilt of her sword into his jaw. I thought I saw a look of surprise on his face before he fell back to land heavily on the floor.

I struggled upright and made my way over to her. “Goddammit!” she cursed, nursing her hand. “I think it’s broken.”

“Let me see,” I suggested.

“You’re both going to wind up in the king’s dungeons for this!” said the nearly forgotten nobleman on the floor. Another drawback of my version of the paralysis spell is that it also allows the victim to speak. I ignored him and reached for Penny’s hand.

“Wait,” she said. She shut the door and leaned back against it. “There’s more coming, I can hear them on the stairs. Whatever you do had best be quick.”

I held her hand and closed my eyes, focusing. Two of the bones in her palm had snapped, but fortunately they were clean breaks. Working rapidly I fused the ends back together and as a finishing touch I blocked the sensory nerves at the wrist. Even with what I had done it was badly bruised and would begin swelling rapidly. Hopefully now she wouldn’t have to feel the pain, at least not until later. “How does it feel? Can you move it?” I asked.

She flexed it carefully. “It hurts a bit still, but I can move it.” The door behind her moved slightly as someone tried to open it.

“Lord Hightower! Are you in there?” a man’s voice shouted from the hallway.

Before Hightower could respond Penny answered, “One moment, let me get my clothes back on!” She turned around and put her left hand on the handle.

Beyond the door I could hear them talking, “Was that a woman’s voice?”

Penny opened the door calmly, “Do come in, we were finished anyway.”

Two men stood there, seeming confused for a moment at the sight of a beautiful woman. One seemed downright embarrassed, till he noticed the sword in her hand. Lord Hightower yelled at them from the floor, “You fools! Seize her!”

“Shibal,” I said, and they both slumped to the floor.

“Hey!” Penny snapped at me, “I had that under control!”

“I don’t want to have to fix anymore broken bones. Not to mention it was much kinder, that other fellow probably has a broken jaw,” I replied.

“In case you’ve forgotten, he tried to put your brains on the floor, not to mention what happened to my hand,” she said sarcastically.

“You’ll have worse than broken bones once I’m done with you,” said Lord Hightower from his exalted position… lying on the floor.

I helped Penny drag the two guardsmen fully into the room before shutting the door. Then I addressed our prisoner, “Lord Hightower, I am extremely sorry for this. I hope you understand that in better times I would never have dreamed of insulting you like this.”

“Are you about to surrender? Otherwise you should save your breath,” he answered me. I had to admire his nerve; most men in his position would have been ready to bargain. Being paralyzed was a terrifying sensation, I knew firsthand.

“Quite the contrary, I’m here to release your daughter.”

He snorted, “I thought you looked familiar, you must be Mordecai. I saw you at the hearing a few months back.” He was probably referring to the case put before the Lord High-Justicer.

“I am. Where is your daughter held at?” I didn’t see much reason to waste time chatting.

“Two doors down, the key is in that jewelry case over there… by the desk,” he couldn’t move but he rolled his eyes in the direction he was referring to.

Penny walked over to find the key, “I didn’t figure you for a man who would give up so easily,” she remarked.

“Well, we’re not exactly enemies. I locked her up before the king decided to. Besides, would my men be able to stop you?”

“No,” I replied honestly. “Did you really need to lock her up? She’s your own daughter.”

He laughed ruefully, “You must not know her very well. How do you think I got this?” He winked at me with his black eye. I decided he was right. I couldn’t imagine Rose punching her father in the eye.

“How do you suggest we proceed from here?” I asked him. He had become so reasonable I felt it couldn’t hurt to get his opinion.

“Lock me in her room and walk out with her. I doubt the guards would try to stop you with her ordering them otherwise.” He began scrunching up his face suddenly. “Would you mind scratching my nose… it’s got a terrible itch.”

I laughed and spoke a word, “Keltis.” His body relaxed as soon as the paralysis vanished. Lord Hightower sat up and began scratching. “Are you sure we need to lock you up?” I asked him.

“If you don’t I’ll be accused of helping you. I’m still mad at you for giving me this…,” he pointed at his injured eye. I was confused for a moment till I understood he was referring to his planned cover story. I was beginning to understand where Rose got her keen wits.