Vankara (Book 1) (17 page)

“Where is my
daughter?” I demanded. 

“She’s perfectly
safe,” he said with an inclination of his head, trying his best to assure me
with words of Dena’s well being.  “I promise you I had no intentions to ever
harming her.  I just didn’t see any other way to make this meeting happen.”

“No intention of
harming her?” I asked incredulously.  “What do you call abducting her in front
of hundreds of people and then sending this machine,” I said pointing to the
automaton now standing beside Bellas, “with a message that if I didn’t come I
would never see my daughter again!”

Bellas held his
hands up as if he could deflect my ire with the palm of his hands.  “Please, I
know things look bad but I honestly didn’t know of another way to gain an
audience with you.  I tried to go through the formal channels but it wasn’t
working.  Parliament would never allow you to meet with me, even if you wanted
to.  They consider me a radical extremist.”

“And you don’t
consider kidnapping the next Queen of Vankara an extreme act?” I asked.

A corner of
Bellas’ mouth lifted in a sardonic grin.  “Yes, it was a bit on the extreme
side, I admit.  But, my desperation led me to do what I felt I had to do.  I
hope you can come to understand that in time.”

“Well you have
your audience,” I said irately.  “Let’s get this over with so I can take my
leave of you and take Dena home.”

“Of course,”
Bellas indicated with a hand I should sit on one of the settees set up in front
of the fireplace.  He took a seat on the settee opposite me.

Thomas stood
looking between the two of us and finally decided to sit beside Bellas.  I
shouldn’t have expected anything else.  I was completely on my own. 

“I was informed
you figured out Thomas’ involvement in my plan,” Bellas said to me.  “That’s
why I requested he come with you.”

“It wasn’t very
hard to put the pieces together,” I answered.

Bellas looked at
Thomas.  “I’m sorry, my friend.  I never thought your part in this would be
discovered.”

“There’s no reason
for you to be sorry,” Thomas told him.  “I knew what I was getting into when I
joined the Plague-bringers.  I still feel what we’re trying to do is
important.”

Bellas looked back
to me.  “First I would like to thank you for coming,” he said.  “I realize it
may seem like you had no other choice but you did.  I would have returned Dena
and Emily to you by morning if you had refused to meet with me.  As I’ve said,
I never had any intention of harming either one of them.”

“How gallant of
you,” I couldn’t help but sound sarcastic.

“Yes, well,”
Bellas looked uncomfortable and shifted in his seat before continuing, “I
promise you it’s the truth whether you want to believe me or not.”

“Let’s get on with
this, Mr. Bellas.  I would like to see my daughter as soon as possible.  Say
what it is you have to say so we can be done with this matter.”

Bellas took in a
deep, steadying breath before beginning.  “As you know, my group has been
trying to get you to investigate the Royal College for causing the plagues.”

“And I’ve been
reassured the College has played no part in them.”

“I understand that
but I have it on good authority the plagues are magical in nature.  Only the
Academy has the power to wield that much magic at any one time.”

“And who would
this ‘good authority’ be exactly?”  I asked, skeptical there really was someone
feeding Bellas’ fantasy.

“A mage of the fae
told me,” he answered.

“The fae?”  I
admit I was brought up short by the mention of the other dwellers on Vankara. 
As far as I knew, there was no contact between our two people.  “And just how
do they know what happens on this side of the wall?”

“Don’t you know
what’s going on over there?” Bellas asked.  He seemed a bit confounded that I
wouldn’t know the happenings on the fae side of the wall.  I honestly had no
idea if the Queen was supposed to know the inner workings of fae society or
not.

“Why don’t you
tell me what you believe is happening.”  It was the best retort I could come up
with. 

Bellas edged
further towards me on his seat.  “They’ve lost people just as the rest of the
world has from these plagues.  During the second plague, a group of their mages
found traces of magic in the snow fall which occurs right before people become
sick.  Hasn’t the College done the same?”

“Not that I’m
aware of,” I said, wondering why the College wouldn’t have told the Queen such
an important piece of information.  If what Bellas was saying was true, then
the College was trying to keep the involvement of magic in the plagues a
secret.  Had a spell of theirs gone awry in some way and caused the plagues
just as Bellas was suggesting?

“How is it that
you have a contact within the fae?” I asked.

Bellas grinned as
he looked at me, almost like he wanted to share a secret but couldn’t because
the timing wasn’t quite right.  “I’m sorry your majesty but I’m not at liberty
to say much about my informant.”

I sighed in
irritation which just seemed to make Bellas’ grin grow wider. 

“Do you have
anything else you want to discuss with me or will you allow me to see my
daughter now?”

“Will you at least
look into the possibility of the College’s involvement with the plagues? 
That’s all my group wants: the reassurance that our sovereign is doing
everything within her power to stop the deaths of so many of her people.”

“I will do what I
can to find the cause of these plagues, Mr. Bellas.  We have all lost loved
ones because of them.  I promise you if the College is responsible in some way
they will be brought to justice.”

Bellas nodded his
head and seemed satisfied with my answer.

“Please,” Bellas
stood up along with Thomas, “follow me.  Your daughter and her nanny are in the
kitchen baking cookies.”

We walked to the
back of the brownstone where most kitchens were built.  When we walked through
the swinging door, I heard Dena’s infectious laughter and Emily begging her to
please not throw any more flour at her.

Dena’s purple
dress was now covered with so much flour it almost looked white.  Her miniature
crown was dangling loosely at the side of her head only staying attached by a
few strands of hair and a certain miracle.  She was elbow deep in a bag of
flour when she looked up and saw me.

“Mummy!”  She
yelled flinging her arms out of the flour bag, showering herself and Emily in a
new powdery layer of white.  She climbed down the steps she was on and ran
straight at me.  I knelt down and held my arms out wide to her.  When she
entered the circle of my embrace I felt the ragged edges of my heart begin to
heal as it was made whole.  I held her tightly to me, never wanting to let her
out of my sight again.  Her little arms tighten, holding me close, loving me as
her mother.  I felt her small hands pat my back in a reassuring manner before
wiggling out of my embrace and taking one of my hands into her own.

“Come, Mummy,” she
ordered, pulling at my hand with all her strength towards Emily.  “Emi making
cookies!”

I looked up at a
haggard Emily.  Her hair was in as much disarray as Dena’s.

“Mr. Bellas
thought it would be a good way to keep her mind off of things,” Emily explained
setting aside a bowl filled with ingredients to make more shortbread cookies. 
I could see pans of them already scattered about the kitchen cooling off.

“Kids always like
sweets,” Bellas said striding toward a plate full of cookies on the kitchen
counter and picking one up.

I quickly lifted
Dena up into my arms as Emily came to stand beside us.  I put a hand into the
pocket of my dress and found the silver coin Isabelle had given me.  Bellas
wasn’t as dastardly as I had initially thought but he was still a kidnapper and
needed to be brought to justice.  I held the coin in the palm of my hand and whispered,
“Invado amicus.”

I held Dena close
to me incase Isabelle’s proximity spell didn’t work and we were shoved around
by the sudden appearance of the palace guards.  I had expected them to come as
soon as I said the words but no one came.

Bellas turned to
face me when he heard me speak and leaned his back against the kitchen counter
taking a bite out of his cookie, watching me with a hint of amusement.

“I’m guessing that
was some sort of teleportation spell?”  Bellas asked.  “ ‘Enter friends’ if I
am not mistaken?”

I felt my heart
drop into my stomach with his questions.  Something was wrong.  Bellas was far
too at ease considering my plan was meant to lead him straight to Gromstrand
prison.

“What have you
done?” I asked.

Bellas shrugged
nonchalantly.  “I sort of assumed you might try something like that so I made
sure we were in a place no one could find us.”

The hair on the
back of my neck bristled.

“What do you
mean?” 

Bellas popped the
rest of the cookie in his mouth and finished eating it before answering.

“It’s probably
going to be hard for you to believe but we’re in a slightly different Iron City than you’re used to.”

“Different,” I
didn’t have a clue as to what he was talking about.  “In what way?”

“I suppose the
easiest way to think of it is a parallel world: much like our own but slightly
different in some ways.”

“Are you insane or
do you simply like confusing people with things which make no sense?”

Bellas chuckled.  “No,
I’m not insane, your majesty, at least not yet.  Nevertheless, if your spell
was meant to bring a rescue party to our location, it won’t work here.  You’re
not in the same dimension as they are.”

I had no idea what
Bellas was talking about but the proof was irrefutable.  There would be no
rescue party and I wouldn’t be able to use the coin to get us back home.

“And just how did
we end up in this parallel world of yours?”  I asked, still trying to wrap my
mind around the strange concept Bellas had introduced to me.

“I’m sure you
noticed the noise the coach made on the way here.  That was when you passed
over into this world.”

“Did you use magic
to bring us here?”

Bellas shrugged. 
“A little magic, a little science.”

“Can you take us
back to where we belong?”

“Of course,”
Bellas pushed away from the counter with his hands.  “I don’t want to stay here
either.  It’s a nice place to visit every once in a while but it’s not home. 
Come, we’ll get you back into the coach and on your way back to your world.”

Thomas opened the
swinging door of the kitchen for us as we all walked to the front of the
house.  Waiting for us by the iron coach was Bellas’ automaton.  He had the
door to the iron box open, ready for us to enter.

Emily stepped in
first and lifted Dena from my arms into the coach.  I turned back around to
Bellas and Thomas.

“I suppose you’ll
be staying here,” I said to Thomas.  There wasn’t anyway I could force Thomas
to come back with me now.  If what Bellas said was true, and I had no idea if I
truly believed such a tall tale, this parallel world would be a better
alternative for Thomas than what was waiting for him back in our own Iron City.

“I’ll take care of
Thomas,” Bellas answered.  “It’s the least I can do for him for his help.”

I turned to step
into the coach when I felt a hand grasp mine.  I looked to see Thomas at my
side to help me one last time.

“I hope you can
forgive me one day,” he said to me.  “I truly meant no harm.”

The earlier anger
I felt over Thomas’ betrayal slowly slipped a notch.  I felt more pity for him
than anything now.  His life and the life of his family as he knew it was
over.  They would have to rebuild their lives in this new world.

“Have a good
life,” was the closest I could come to forgiving Thomas.  True forgiveness was
something I could never bestow upon him.  He had put Dena’s life in unknown
peril.  It was an unforgivable act in my eyes.

“Come along, young
lady,” a familiar condescending female voice said up the street from where I
stood.  “Don’t dawdle like you usually do.  The Evans are expecting us.”

It had been
thirteen years since I last heard that voice but it held the same scathing tone
I remembered from my childhood causing my heart to flutter involuntarily.  I
looked down the street and saw Mr. and Mrs. Pew stepping down the stairs from
their front door.

“I’m coming,
Mother,” a young petite blonde woman said, hastily closing the door behind her.

I watched, stunned
into silence, as the two made their way down the street away from us.  Never
bothering to notice things around them, the Pews didn’t even glance in my
direction.  Only the young woman looked our way as she stepped onto the
sidewalk.  She apparently recognized me as the Queen because she smiled and
made a hasty curtsey.

She was pretty
with a genuine, friendly smile.  Her long blonde hair curled around her small
round face underneath the hood of her dark cloak.  The soft blue of her eyes
said so much to me in those few short seconds.  This was April Pew.  She was
who I would have become if Gabriel hadn’t entered my life and altered my
destiny forever.

“April!  Hurry
up!” The strident voice of Mrs. Pew said, not taking the time to see why her
daughter was falling behind.  April Pew quickly turned from me, running to
catch up to her parents.  I knew she would never tell Mrs. Pew she had fallen
behind because the Queen was on their street.  She would have been beaten for
not telling Mrs. Pew sooner so she could make her own introductions to the Queen.

“Poor girl,”
Bellas said behind me.  “If only someone had changed the path of her life.”

The knowing way he
said these words made me whirl around and stare at him.  His eyes penetrated
through me making my secret feel naked to him.