To Stand Beside Her (4 page)

“I am not going anywhere,”
Leila
commented to the two men. Neither
of the men
replied.

“Is everyone in your city so serious?” she asked the guard leading the way.

“Yes,”
the guard
replied. He began
anxiously
wringing his hands.

Great, a city filled with serious
,
nervous people,
Leila observed
,
a bit disappointedly.

Leila
remained silent and watched her surroundings hoping that they would give her an idea how to get Kay out. In her mind, she traced her steps through the palace on a map in her head she had memorized years ago.

“This is not the way to the jail,”
Leila commented
. “Since I came back on my own, couldn’t you just put me back in the jail? I promise to behave,” she lied to the men escorting her but none of the men flinched or changed their course
on t
he path led to the judgment chamber of the king.
Leila was not in the mood to deal with yet another king.

“If I had known that I was to have a date with the king, I think I would have just let myself back in,” she remarked not seeing the smiles on the faces of the men behind her.

“I wish you would have,” the gate guard said under his breath.

They passed a line of people that had exited the judgment chamber throughout the day. Each person who departed was either in tears or pale as a ghost. King Nalick was not one for soft punishments. The only people who did not seem to fear Nalick were walking behind her.

The doors opened as
Leila
approached the end of the hall. Down the long pathway, inside the ornately decorated room, sat Kay with her captor directly beside her. In front of Kay was a large table that Nalick sat behind with two recorders on each side of him. Nalick was a large man, much more muscular and taller than the men of Lexia. His size reminded her of the
mountain
men of where she was from. Around Lexia, Leila stood a head taller than all the women and eye
-
to
-
eye with more than half the men. It was a different case at home where she was average size in her community and all the men were taller than her. The only distinction that made Nalick different than the people of Leila’s home was his coloring. He had the same olive skin tone, black hair, and dark eyes of the people of Lexia.
P
hysically
he was
the formidable warrior that everyone claimed.
I wonder if I could beat him in a one
-
on
-
one battle
, she mused to herself.
The last time
Leila
met him, she had been tempted to find out.
She had yet to find a man
who
could be
at
her in both weapon
s
and hand
-
to
-
hand combat.

“Wait here,” one of the m
en behind her directed the gate
keeper.

“You, to the front,” the
same
man said to her.

“You could at least ask politely,”
Leila
responded.
“There is
no reason to be impolite.
I
kindly waited over an hour for them to let
me
back
in.
”
He
remained silent
and
smiled at her remark.

Leila walked down the pathway between the empty rows of seats.
Th
e
room was used
once a week
for
King
Nalick to hand out punishments to those breaking laws within the palace.
After her miraculous escape, he demanded that once she was caught to be brought to him.
King
Nalick gazed at the woman in front of him.
Though she had different color hair and
dress
, he was sure this was the woman he met over
a year
ago when he was in Dria visiting his father.
Leila stood in front of the table as the king just stared at her.
She waited patiently for him to begin the conversation, for
,
like hand-to-hand combat, talking to a king
was a dueling
to her
.
Over the last four years,
Leila
had met eight kings
,
and they did not appreciate when she talked first.
So
,
she stood and waited.

“My
L
ord,” the tracker that
sat next to
Kay spoke
,
interrupting the silence.
“Can we finish the matter of the ghost courier that I caught?”
h
e asked impatiently.
The new tracker obviously wanted to be congratulated for his catch and was looking for the king’s approval.

“We would be finished
ex
cept you didn’t catch the ghost courier,” Nalick
corrected
the man.
“For I believe if you ask the woman standing before us now, she might have something to say.”

“Nope,” Leila responded. “I am fine.”

Your turn,
she thought.

“Well then,” he smiled at Leila.
“If this woman here is the ghost courier, then she need
s
to be punished.
”

Good counter
.
“For what crimes?” Leila asked innocently.

“Crimes against the city of
Lexia
,” the tracker demanded.

“I think
our new guest
was asking about specifics,” the king responded to his
overzealous
tracker.
“I have been told the ghost courier is responsible for several items that are missing from nobles here in the palace
and possibly an item or two from my own treasury
.”

“Really
?
”
Leila
said
,
exaggerating her reply
,
“
d
o you know if those items were really property of the nobles in question, or could they just be covering up t
heir own short
comings?
And where is the proof
?
Did you find any of those so called items on this young woman?
”

Nalick chuckled.
The
young
woman that stood before him did not disappoint.
“I am not the one to decide that, but there is the matter this woman was caught trying to sneak into the noble’s quarters.”

“
How do you know that?
Maybe she just lost her way,” Leila suggested.
“Do you punish people for
losing
their way?”

“In that case, should I not be punishing you too,” he asked.
“I have been told you lost your way and found yourself outside the palace
when you should have been locked in the jail
.”

“I just can’t keep my left and right straight,”
Leila
lied.
“I get lost all the time.”

“I’m sure you do,” Nalick smiled at her
.
Nali
ck did not believe her
,
but
he
also did not move to call out her lies in front of the people present.

“My
L
ord, I demand
the ghost courier
be punished.
If we lock her back up, she will just escape again,” the tracker interrupted again
,
trying to get his reward for capturing Kay.

“Take her back to jail
- but this time, not a room with a wi
n
dow,” Nalick ordered.
The guards moved past the protesting tracker and grabbed Kay.
The two men from earlier stood behind Leila.

“And where should we put her, Nalick,” one asked.
Leila was surprised to hear the man address Nalick so casually.

“Leave her here,” he ordered.

“But, but . . .” the tracker sputtered.
“If you just put
my captive
back in jail she will escape.”

“Don’t worry.
She will not be going anywhere.
She is not the ghost courier,” Nalick replied a
s
Kay was escorted out of the room.

“Now I’d like
to be left alone with this one,”
Nalick said
,
referring to Leila.

“Bring the seer
,
”
h
e ordered.
The men beside him rose and left the room.
One of the men from earlier escorted the tracker out.
The second man shut the door and stood at the back of the room.

“So
everyone out
did not include him?” Leila asked.
She had no chance of leaving if both men stayed in the room
with Nalick and her
.
One, she could possibl
y over
power, but two would
be foolish to challenge
.

Nalick rose and walked over to her.
Leila stood her ground and did not move.
Nalick circled around her
,
inspecting her like a wolf getting ready to pounce
on
its prey.
Leila
knew what was com
ing
next.
She had this same encounter with five other kings before.
Though in her opinion, they were all lesser men than the man in front of her.
She still did not happily anticipate the next words out of his mouth.
Leila
stood in silence as he returned to his table and leaned against the table top.
Just like all the other kings, he looked at her like she was some trophy.
Leila refused to be a trophy to any king.
Like any man in power, Nalick had committed acts against innocent people.
Intentionally or not, Leila did not approve of hurting innocent people.
She had been in several battles over the last four years, and luckily escaped with her life each time, but never once had she killed anyone who attacked her.
Even those who would try to kill her did not deserve to die in her opinion.

As she stood there
,
the door in the back of the room opened and in walked the seer
,
Gabor
,
escorted by the man who had just left.
Leila stared blankly at Nalick
,
trying her best to read his expression.

“I really don’t think you understand the word
alone
,” she commented
to Nalick
sarcastically
,
as the door shut and there were now five people in the room.

Gabor walked past her and bowed his head slightly
to the king
.
Nalick nodded his head
,
and Gabor
returned
to Leila.
Extending his hand, Leila knew what he was planning to do.
Trying to stay in control of the situation, Leila gave the old man her hand.
Su
rprised
,
he stopped,
held her
hand, and
closed his eyes.
After a few
moments
, Gabor returned to the
king’s
side.
Nalick leaned over to the seer and asked him a question too quiet for Leila to hear.

“You don’t need to be
hushed
about this since you are discussing me,” Leila said before Gabor could respond.
Nalick looked up at her.
“I am guessing I can answer your questions just as
well
as he could.”

Nalick smiled.
He had become the king when he was
fourteen
and then everything changed.
Almost every person treated him differently
,
ap
art from
his two good friends that were standing in the room with him now.
In his years of being king,
Nalick
had yet to find
a
woman that would speak her mind
to or at him
.
Here before him stood the woman who was a legend around the dinner tables he shared with neighboring kings.
All told of encountering this lady so beautiful she would take your breath away and
yet
so
cunning
none could cage her long enough to make her into
a
wi
fe
. She was truly everything they talked about,
and
even more.
Nalick
didn’t need the seer’s opinion to know
that
this was the woman he wanted to marry.