Sunset of Lantonne (82 page)

With a furious roar, Raeln scrambled to his feet and tore the door off its frame, throwing it halfway across the room. He staggered out of the room, keeping a hand to his head the whole way. Seconds later, Ilarra heard the outer door of the building slam and several people shout at Raeln.

“You’ll have your distraction, no doubt about that,” Greth told her, getting up and going to where his weapons lay. He gathered them, adding, “When I asked you to give him his freedom, this isn’t what I meant. You know that, right?”

“I know.” Ilarra forced herself to stand though her legs shook and her lungs and heart ached. “If I go into the keep today, I don’t know if there would be another time to do it. I couldn’t count on him to let me try, so I had to hurry before he tried to stop me.”

Holding all of his and Raeln’s weapons, Greth came up to her, helping her to steady herself. Leaning close, he whispered, “Thank you, Ilarra. I might not ever get to tell him what I really feel, but this means more to me than I can say. He’s free…that’s enough for me. You’ve done more for us than any furless I’ve ever known.”

“Keep him safe, Greth,” she told him. “If I can’t, I need to know he’s okay. Stay with him no matter what.”

“Do you even need to ask if I would?” asked Greth in reply, grinning as he headed out into the hallway.

*

Ilarra waited across the street from where the six guards stood near the entrance to the keep. They had not yet taken notice of her, but then again, she had to remind herself, despite the power at her disposal, she still appeared to others as a thin young elven girl. At best, they would probably only notice her out of interest as men, not as soldiers.

Whispers nagged at the edge of her awareness, making her flinch occasionally when they got too forceful. She had struggled with subtle pushes from the Turessians for so many months that she had gotten used to it without realizing. Now, those pushes had the feel of being dragged behind horses for all the use her struggles were doing her. She could only imagine what things would have been like without Nenophar—helpless before the demands of Dorralt and the other Turessians, like her father had been.

Ilarra’s muscles twitched, another side effect of fighting Dorralt’s control. The flow of magic might not have fully returned to her, but she was quickly losing ground. She knew she had to hurry and find the staff or pray Nenophar returned sooner than he expected. A day or more was likely, and she had no idea if she could last that long without him actively trying to help her.

Throughout the morning, Ilarra had bided her time, watching group after group of keep workers or their families come and go from the gate. Few of them wore anything special to indicate who they were, but the guards seemed to recognize who did or did not belong. It gave Ilarra some hope that, with the right distraction, she might be able to slip in with one of those groups so long as she did not appear out of place.

Distant shouts began spreading through the western road out toward the walls. Ilarra could hear none of the details, but she smiled to herself, silently thanking Raeln and Greth for whatever they had done. It was effective, as crowds were running in all directions down the street, soon joined by soldiers running from the barracks to calm the citizens.

As the panic spread, anyone who lived within the keep hurried toward the gates in a large mass, most as unaware of the actual reason as Ilarra. Her hopes played out as about thirty men and women rushed the gates, trying to get back inside as a group.

Stepping quickly from her waiting place, Ilarra joined the group, slipping toward the middle. They were shuffled past the guards more swiftly than usual, getting only a cursory check. In their hurry, the guards missed Ilarra, and she ran with the others down the keep halls. Seconds later the guards slammed the outer doors and gate shut, sealing everyone inside.

Ilarra stopped to let the group get ahead of her as she stared back at the closed doors and the two guards stationed on the inside. As she watched, several more guards came down the far halls, completely blocking the doors. “No going back now,” she whispered, looking around until she found the main staircases up to the next floor. “Here’s hoping Therec’s where I expect him to be.”

Ilarra ran up the stairs and made her way from one floor to the next, happy she still remembered the keep’s layout after being gone for so long. She had expected it would take her well into the evening to get up to the fifth floor or above, where Therec tended to spend most of his time. However, whatever was going on outside the keep kept nearly everyone she passed distracted. That, in turn, allowed her to go much faster than she could have hoped.

By early afternoon, Ilarra had not only gotten to the fifth floor, but also checked all of the king’s libraries on that floor for Therec. Only once did anyone confront her about being there, and she had gotten away easily by claiming to be a new serving girl, looking for her master.

Frustrated after finding the last wing of the library was vacant, Ilarra made her way back to the central stairs. She stared up the long winding staircase, wondering how many of those floors she might have to go through to find Therec. If he were far enough up, it could take her days to find him, assuming she was not found out in the meantime.

She climbed the stairs, looking as relaxed as she could manage in case there were people there. Ilarra mentally patted herself on the back for her decision as she rounded the last curve and found a group of the keep’s serving staff at the far end of a hall near a row of slitted windows.

Ilarra found herself with a new problem as she stood at the entrance to the floor. She had never been on any of the floors between the one she was on and the floor where she had been held the last time she was in the keep. That meant looking overly conspicuous as she searched three or four more floors. Even more so on the floors above that, where no one but the magisters, Therec, or the king belonged.

As she tried to decide what to do, Ilarra’s attention went back to the gathered servants. She had been lucky on previous floors, so there was no reason to think these servants might be wiser about whether she belonged. Approaching the group that did not even seem to notice her, Ilarra snagged one of the women by the sleeve. “Do you know where the regent is? I need to deliver a message.”

The serving woman gave Ilarra a confused stare, then shook her head. “Likely outside with the soldiers. They seem to be getting ready, just in case.”

“In case of what?”

The woman gave Ilarra a queer look and hurried off.

Confused and curious, Ilarra looked at the group of servants and how they were jostling one another to get at the arrow slits. She looked back at the far end of the hall where similar windows had been built, but no one stood there. Whatever had the servants so enraptured was only on one side of the keep.

Ilarra inserted herself into the group of servants, slowly making her way toward one of the windows. After few minutes, she managed to squeeze in with several others to peek out the narrow opening.

At first, Ilarra could not see anything that might warrant the behavior she was seeing. The inner city was bustling, people running everywhere, but it looked the same as it always did overall. The walls were definitely covered with more soldiers than normal, but they could have been for any number of reasons. Even the outer city was busy, but she would have expected it to look that way at midday.

Then she noticed the horizon, past the walls and the outer city. There, a black line filled the edge of the plains. Whatever it was, it was too far off for her to make out clearly. “What’s out there?” she asked a man near her. “My eyes aren’t so good.”

“Altisians,” he replied, his hushed tone seemed like he thought they might come get him if he said it too loud. “Big army gathering a little west of town. Regent says they’re no threat with our walls, as there’s only about eight thousand of them, but people are scared for the outer city. Everyone’s trying to crowd into the walled part of town.”

Ilarra let her vision shift again, concentrating on the lines connecting her to the Turessians. Four or five lines overlapped, heading straight toward the group she had been watching. What worried her more were additional beams that went out through the keep walls in all directions, slowly moving away from the Altisian group she could see.

The Turessians were surrounding Lantonne. Even though she could not see anything out the windows in any other direction, the bands of magical energy slowly circling the city left no doubt her “brethren” were closing in on the city. That gave her far less time than she had hoped for. Assuming the other parts of the army were farther out, she had less than a day.

A sudden thought occurred to Ilarra, and she checked out the window, searching the areas near the walls for the majority of the Lantonnian army. She saw plenty of soldiers, but no large force. The army was out looking for the dragon, leaving the city nearly unprotected. If even a portion of the Turessian forces showed up, Ilarra expected the city to fall. Even with every soldier inside the walls, she had her doubts.

Excusing herself from the servants who barely noticed her, Ilarra made her way to one of the nearby halls where she could be alone and think. Time was certainly working against her, and unless she could get the staff out of the city soon, it would no longer matter. Much longer and she would be merely denying the Turessians the staff, rather than trying to divert them. Still, it was something.

Ilarra’s scope of locations she knew in the keep was very limited. During her last visit, Therec had been very sure to only allow her access to places of his choosing, which included her room, several of the magisters’ libraries, the royal dining room, and the halls connecting them all. Out of those, the only place she saw Therec regularly was at the dining hall.

Thinking over her visits to the large dining room, Ilarra realized the place was always locked prior to her arrival with Therec. Even the servants delivering the meal did not enter first. The king’s blood guard was the first through those doors at each mealtime, followed by Therec and any guests he might have. There would be no more than two or three elite guards to deal with between herself and Therec, if she was fast. If she were even faster, she might be able to dash past him and use the element of surprise to take the staff without any argument or bloodshed.

Ilarra made her way down one flight of steps, then headed for the dining hall, which filled much of the floor. She was fairly certain she had less than an hour before the evening meal, but she wanted to be sure she got there before anyone arrived at the locked doors. Thankfully, as she rounded the turn that would take her to the dining hall, she found the area vacant and the hall doors still closed.

Walking up to the heavy ironbound doors, Ilarra checked the handle in case they had been left unlocked. They were still locked, as they had been every time she had come to the hall before.

Touching the lock, Ilarra reached out to the faint flow of magic around her and tugged it toward her to flare through the symbols she drew in her head. The spell should have been relatively simple, but in her still-weakened state it proved more difficult than she would have liked. Even so, after a few seconds, she heard the lock click and the door swung open at her touch.

Ilarra entered the dark room, remembering it well enough. She closed the door behind her, completely cutting off all but a thin sliver of light shining between the double-doors. By feel, she slid the lock’s bolt back into place to wait for someone to come with a proper key.

Ilarra crossed the room slowly, trying not to trip on the slightly uneven floor stones. She knew she must look foolish, one hand reaching ahead of her to find the table as she walked. Finally, her hand hit the polished wood of the large table. She reached out to either side, trying to find a chair, but there were none near her. Vaguely, she thought she remembered the servants having to bring the chairs in from the edges of the room, though she had not paid nearly enough attention at the time.

She climbed onto the table, pulling her legs up under her, then spread her dress around her so her legs were free if she had to move suddenly.

Ilarra slowed her breathing and she sat straight, staring at the thin line of white light ahead of her. An hour or two was not difficult for her to wait through. She only needed to calm herself and let her mind wander. When the door opened, she would have to react quickly, but until then, she could relax. Nenophar had taught her how to use her immortality to let time become insignificant, letting hours or days pass without the need to blink.