The Ring Keeper, page 26
“Stop!” he commanded. He drew the knife hard against her neck, and she felt the keen blade cut her skin.
She stopped, terrified.
“That’s better,” he said. He dragged her to a chair, where he sat and pulled her onto his lap.
“I know you want me,” he said, caressing her neck. “You liked it before. I could tell.”
“No,” she protested. “Please stop.” But the knife edge bit her neck, and she froze as the blade cut her again.
“If you do what I want, you won’t get hurt,” he said, sliding his hand beneath the lavender silk of her skirt and running it along the inside of her thigh.
“Don’t touch me! Your father will know what you’re doing!” she said in desperation.
Haldreth laughed, and Allia felt a wave of nausea roll over her.
“I can hide my darker intentions from him,” Haldreth said. “Besides, he’s not here. The emperor doesn’t leave the city very often. But once in a while, he rides out to visit the holdings of some of his nobles. By strange coincidence, he’s gone right now.”
Allia wanted to throw up. She was desperate to pull away, but she felt the hard steel against her skin. His hand crept higher, and she couldn’t stay still. Driving her elbow hard into his ribs, she jerked away from him, springing to her feet.
Haldreth rose and faced her. “Don’t do that. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Yes, you do,” she said, her eyes on the blade in his hand. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t be doing any of this.”
“It isn’t about you.”
Why then? “It’s Callonen, isn’t it? Why do you hate your brother?”
“You think just because you love him, everyone does. You don’t see how he enjoys commanding every man in the city, how he craves power. He thinks he is the best thing that ever happened to Sarine. He is convinced he’s—”
“Better than you? He is better than you! In every way. And nothing you do to me will change that. Nothing!”
Lunging forward, he swiped at her with the knife. She dove to the side to avoid his blow and fell onto the grass. Before she could get back up, he dragged her to her feet.
“Never say that again,” he hissed, pulling her hard against him and returning the knife to her throat.
She gasped, trying to get her breath back.
At that moment, something seized Haldreth’s hand, wrenching the knife away from Allia. Callonen. He must have come to find her. But now he was locked in a deadly struggle for control of the weapon.
“What are you doing?” Callonen demanded of his brother.
“What’s wrong?” Haldreth snarled. “Are you jealous? You think she might change her mind? She only wants you for your power.”
“Never touch her again!” Callonen yelled. His eyes blazed, and Allia sensed a fury she had never felt from him before. They twisted and fought back and forth until Haldreth knocked Callonen to the ground and drove his knife to the hilt into his brother’s chest.
“Cal! No!” Allia screamed. She ran to his side, disbelief in his eyes.
“I love you,” he said in a choked whisper.
“I love you too,” she said.
As his breathing became labored, his skin grew ashen, then his eyes closed. She took the hilt of the knife in both hands and wrenched it from his body, throwing it away from them. Blinded by tears, she put her hands on him. Callonen couldn’t die, not like this. He would live. He had to live.
As the green ring glowed, Allia screamed as she felt the pain of a knife in her heart. Then everything went black.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Year of Warding 21, White City, Sarine
Callonen
YELLING IN OUTRAGE, Callonen jumped to his feet and tackled his brother, slamming his fist into Haldreth’s face. Haldreth twisted and bucked, trying to throw him off, then rolled to the side, pulling his brother with him. He was searching for the knife, and Callonen wouldn’t let him find it, knowing if he did, his brother would hurt Allia. He slammed his fist into Haldreth’s jaw. They rolled as they each struggled for control. Finally, Callonen pinned his brother.
At the same moment, he saw a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye. Allia. A man carried her toward the door. “Stop!” Callonen commanded, but his brother’s fist struck him, and for a moment, all he saw was light.
Another blow followed the first, and he realized he was on the ground. They were taking her away, and he had to stop them. He tried to rise and get to her. Pain exploded in his side, and a second later, something struck his head. Then everything fell away.
Callonen felt something cold on his forehead. Water? He blinked. “Allia! Where is Allia?” He opened bleary eyes and saw Talon. “He took her! We have to stop him!” Callonen struggled to sit up, and Talon helped him. His head felt like it was splitting apart. Now upright, the world spun wildly around him.
“Stay still,” Talon advised. “You need the healers.”
“You don’t understand,” Callonen exclaimed. “He took Allia. We have to go to the gates. Now!”
Talon didn’t argue further. He helped Callonen to his feet, and they headed for the palace gates.
Soon, Talon had them mounted. It was better than trying to walk, certainly faster, but Callonen’s head throbbed wildly at the pounding of the horse’s hooves. They rode straight to the city gates. A group of guards were stationed there.
“Your command, Prince Haldreth?” their leader asked, saluting him. “Prince Callonen was just here. He said that Lady Allia was ill, and he was carrying her to a healer outside the city.”
“I’m Callonen! That was Haldreth, and he’s abducting her. We have to stop him!”
Several of the guards mounted their horses and followed Callonen and Talon.
Just outside the city, a detachment of the Emperor’s Guard in their white uniforms approached. Callonen recognized his father among them. They all reined in, and Emperor Caldoreth came forward.
“Callonen!” his eyes seemed desperate. “He tried to murder you! For a moment, I thought he had succeeded. This is my fault! You tried to warn me. I was a fool.” His gaze locked on the blood-soaked front of Callonen’s shirt.
“There’s no time for that now. We have to help Allia!” Callonen said.
Without further discussion, Callonen raced off, and everyone rode after him.
Callonen and his father rode with all speed toward the edge of the Warding, followed by the rest of their men. The emperor knew exactly where Haldreth had gone. After half a day’s ride, they realized Haldreth must have planned this day well in advance, for he had fresh horses waiting along the way.
Their own horses grew tired and slowed as the day wore on. At the next outpost, they found new mounts as quickly as they could and continued their pursuit.
“He’s getting away from us,” Emperor Caldoreth said to Callonen, his voice agonized. “I’m so sorry. The Warding is mine. He should not have been able to deceive me. When you wanted to lock him up, I should have listened to you. I can’t believe he’s done this.”
Callonen and his company did not stop at nightfall, but continued in pursuit of Haldreth. At dawn, the emperor bowed his head in despair and reined in his horse.
“Don’t stop,” Callonen said, pulling up beside his father. “We have to be getting close.”
“He’s gone,” Emperor Caldoreth said. “He’s outside the Warding now, and I couldn’t tell where he’s going.”
“We can’t give up!” Callonen protested. He dreaded what Haldreth would do to Allia. After what he had seen in the garden, he realized his brother was capable of anything.
Callonen urged his horse on, heading toward the Warding with the others still following him. The pounding of its hooves failed to clear away the images of Allia from his head.
She was young, ten years younger than Callonen, so pure and innocent. And she had trusted him completely. Yet he had failed to protect her from his brother. Callonen’s hands clenched into fists around the reins. They needed more speed.
Allia had known. She had been terrified of Haldreth and suspected what he would do.
If only Callonen had done more to protect her. He could have assigned guards to follow her every moment, or he could have stayed himself, never left her side. Now, it was too late. He urged his horse to greater speed.
Allia
ALLIA OPENED HER EYES and saw Callonen’s face above her. He was holding her, and they were moving. It felt like they were on horseback.
“You’re alive. You’re safe,” she whispered weakly.
He glanced down at her when she spoke, and she realized in dismay that he wasn’t Callonen at all, but Haldreth. She could feel his usual undercurrent of anger.
“No!”
“What’s wrong?” he asked sarcastically.
“No. Please let me go!” She wanted to push him away, to run from him, but she could barely move. “Where’s Callonen? Is he all right?”
“You should have let him die,” Haldreth said. “Now he will live knowing I have taken what he wanted most in the world.”
He laughed coldly, and Allia shivered. She could sense his triumph and how much he hated his brother. Her body ached with the exhaustion that followed a healing, and her heart broke for Callonen. And for herself.
There had to be some way to escape Haldreth. But how? It would be days before she could even walk again. Even now, without him holding her, she would have fallen off the horse. She closed her eyes and tears slipped from beneath her eyelids.
Allia and Haldreth had been riding for several days. Two dozen men had joined them. They never spoke to Allia, and she could sense their disdain for her and their loyalty to Haldreth. Asking any of them for help would be useless.
The weather had grown cold. Only the last few golden leaves still clung to the trees. Gradually, Allia’s strength had returned, but Haldreth guarded her relentlessly, forcing her to ride double with him even when she was well enough to ride by herself. At night, he tied her hands and feet.
One day, the faint path they had been following joined a larger road that brought them to the edge of a canyon, which was narrow, deep and sheer. Allia gasped when she looked down into it. A slender bridge spanned the chasm, leading to a dark stone fortress on the other side.
Armed men streamed across the bridge toward them, but they didn’t attack Haldreth. Instead, they cheered in greeting and then bowed respectfully.
Allia stared straight ahead, not daring to look down as they crossed the bridge.
More soldiers surrounded the gate. They wore dirty, ragged, royalblue uniforms and black armor.
“Welcome to Hakvere, the most powerful fortress in Ara,” Haldreth whispered in Allia’s ear.
In the courtyard, he dismounted and pulled her down with him. Haldreth seized her arm and led her through halls and up the stairs. He took Allia into a room and shut the door behind them.
“I apologize for the roughness of your accommodations, my lady.” He gestured around the dirty room, furnished with a moth-eaten bed and a few rickety chairs. A single window, bare of glass or any drapery, opened to the outside. “You will learn to appreciate what I choose to give you,” he said.
Allia stared at him silently.
“So, how do you like Ara?” he asked. “Our new friends have been waiting to make you comfortable. I know Hakvere doesn’t look like much yet, but it will. I will make it great. For now, I have the support of the king of Ara. But he won’t last long. I will take all of Ara and then conquer Sarine with it. And you…” He stepped near her, and she backed away until she was pressed against the wall. “You will help me.”
He caressed her cheek with his fingertips, and Allia shrank from his touch. “You would be wise to submit to me willingly,” he said. “It will save you much pain.”
“Leave me alone!”
He gazed down at her. “I can see why my brother fell for you,” he said, putting his arms around her and kissing her roughly as she struggled against him. “I’ll be back soon.” Haldreth released her and left, locking the door behind him.
Callonen
AS CALLONEN AND TALON PURSUED HALDRETH, the tracks indicated that many more men had joined him as he rode. If they caught up now, their little group of ten guardsmen would be terribly outnumbered.
Emperor Caldoreth and the rest of the company had turned back at the edge of the Warding. But Callonen couldn’t give up and go home. He and Talon had followed the tracks, crossing the river above Iron Bridge. The outpost there housed the last of Sarine’s soldiers.
Now the trail left the North Road and headed straight toward the border of Ara. Sarine had yet to establish friendly relations with them.
Warily, Talon and Callonen followed the trail through bare, rocky lands to a river that ran through a deep canyon. The fortress of Hakvere guarded a bridge spanning the precipice. They considered their options.
“From the tracks, Haldreth and his men went over the bridge. But we can’t cross it,” Talon said, shaking his head. “If we try, they can take us any time they want. None of us would make it to the other side.”
They could see several guards at the far end.
“But we have to do something!” Callonen protested. “We can’t just leave her in Haldreth’s hands.”
“I agree,” Talon said. “But we need a plan and a lot more men to get into Hakvere.”
Allia
ALLIA SEARCHED EVERY CORNER OF THE ROOM, hoping to find a way out. She tried the solid wooden door, but it was locked. Leaning out the bare window opening, she looked down and saw a rough stone wall. Below it was a bridge spanning a deep canyon. She quickly discarded the idea of using the moth-eaten bed linens to lower herself to the ground. But the stones were set unevenly, allowing for hand and footholds between them. She waited, hoping the darkness would come before Haldreth did. She gathered her skirt and tied it into a knot to keep out of her way.
Eventually, darkness fell and Allia scrambled out the window. She tried not to look at the yawning space below her. The canyon was deep, but she wouldn’t be climbing down there. She hoped to descend the stone blocks of the wall. By her estimation, it was about twenty feet to its base. The spaces between the stones were wide enough to fit her toes. Gripping the windowsill, she lowered herself until her feet found a ledge. Clinging to the top of a stone, she searched for a lower toe-hold.
Working carefully, she made her way down to the narrow ledge between the fortress wall and the sheer edge of the canyon. She could see over the bridge, but it was well-lit and heavily guarded. Allia turned away from it, moving in the opposite direction.
Guards would be patrolling the battlements, and she hoped to stay out of sight along the base of the wall. Allia turned the corner and followed the south edge of the building. From this corner, she could see a village that stood in the fortress’s shadow. A few little lights glowed. Another corner turned her path north again. Hakvere was large, and it felt like it took hours to walk around it. This side of the wall had a gate in it as well. Now it was closed fast, and there were no guards on the outside. She hurried past, continuing north.
Allia saw no lights or sign of guards here. This path would not lead her immediately toward Sarine, but for the moment, any route that led away from Haldreth was a good one. If she made her way north following the river, eventually there would be a place to cross. Once that was done, she could find a way back into Sarine. It would be a long journey, especially with no provisions. Hopefully, she’d be able to find supplies along her way. But anything was better than staying here.
The night was chill, but walking at a brisk pace, Allia wasn’t too cold. The land was barren and rocky for some distance from Hakvere until she came to the edge of the hills. They would provide cover.
Allia walked all night. When the first light of dawn lit the sky, she searched for a place to hide. She found a thick patch of brush with a space beneath it and crawled in. The land was silent around her.
The morning was chilly, and when she stopped moving, she began to shiver. For a little while, she dozed until the distant sound of horses woke her. She huddled a little deeper beneath the brush. They weren’t too close yet. Allia listened, still and silent.
Anxious moments passed, and the horses drew nearer. What could she do? If she stayed here, they would find her. Forced into motion, she slipped out the other side of the thicket and into the rocks. Staying low, she moved away. The pounding of hooves sounded loud and near. She turned and bolted away from it. A shout behind her told her she’d been spotted.
Allia dodged between the rocks, choosing a path too narrow for horses to pass. She slid into a crack between two boulders and stopped there, trying to calm her rapid breathing.
All was quiet for several moments until a shadow fell across her and her breath caught in her throat. One of the blue-uniformed soldiers stood there, staring at her with wide eyes. He seemed young, maybe about her own age, with boyish features. He had brown eyes and curly hair that fell over his forehead. For a long moment, they stared at each other.
She could sense that he felt sorry for her. He didn’t want to hurt her.
“Please,” she whispered. “Don’t tell them you found me.”
He said nothing and disappeared. Allia breathed a sigh of relief.
The respite was short-lived. She heard the sharp crunch of boots on the gravel and a shout. A hand seized her arm and dragged her out of her hiding place. “She’s here,” the man yelled.
Allia struggled, trying to pull her arm from his grasp. He pulled her toward the other horses. She jerked her arm away, escaping his grip, and ran.
After only a few steps, something slammed into her and the weight of his body pinned her against a boulder. He twisted her arm behind her.
“Let me go!” she cried.
He laughed.
Two of his friends came to help him, and they dragged her back to the horses. She twisted and struggled, trying to get away from them.
“Tie her hands.” One of them held her wrists together while another bound them.
