Deliverance (17 page)

****

The ride in the carriage seemed to take
forever. Every inch of the street was covered in people who saw
Valamar with a lovely new girl. They all whispered to each other
wondering who the girl was, and several envious women gave Crystal
dirty looks as the carriage passed. As she had planned to do, she
used the fan that Valamar gave her to hide her face when too many
people stared at her, but all that did was make people want to look
more, it seemed.

Crystal caught sight of Gavril hiding in an
alleyway. When he saw how well she was dressed, he stared at her
and raised an eyebrow, but stopped and smiled amusingly when she
stared daggers back at him. She then hid her face from Valamar with
her fan and pointed to her neck to show Gavril that her pendant was
gone. Gavril’s face suddenly hardened and he mouthed to her, “Be
careful!”

Crystal nodded and moved her fan before
Valamar noticed. She then saw Gavril turn around and the carriage
moved far enough in time for her to catch a glimpse of Kerali, who
had to take a second look at her to be sure he was looking at the
right girl.

During the ride, she also saw Maryn and
Taryn sneaking around on a rooftop; Taryn of course stopped to
stare at her as well, so Maryn had to grab the collar of his shirt
to shock him back to reality and continued moving. Even Sigurd, who
blended into a crowd by a merchant cart, stopped to take a second
look. Crystal decided then and there that she had never felt more
like eye candy than she cared for in a lifetime that evening.

Valamar must have noticed she was looking
around a lot, because he suddenly said, “Looking for a familiar
face?”

Crystal quickly tried to think of something
to say, and all she could come up with was, “I just . . . I noticed
a bunch of people looking at us.”

Valamar straightened up proudly and replied,
“Yes. I am very well known in this city, specifically to the female
population. Every time I take a lovely lady out to dinner, everyone
starts talking about it. Since no one has ever seen you, they are
probably wondering where I found such a goddess.”

Crystal tried to keep from rolling her eyes
and it seemed to work because Valamar either didn’t notice her
annoyance or he didn’t care. He kept waving and blowing kisses to
everyone as he passed. Girls were swooning and giggling, and
Crystal was glad she hadn’t eaten yet, because she began to feel
like she would vomit. She had never been this humiliated in her
life.

The carriage finally arrived at the
restaurant that Crystal had walked by with Blaze earlier. It was
late at night, so the dinner crowd was beginning to die down. Once
she smelled the aroma of baked chicken and pork roast, Crystal
began to realize how hungry she was. The carriage stopped right in
front of the glass double doors and the driver stepped down, walked
around to Crystal’s side of the carriage, and held out his hand to
help her down. Even though she could have gotten down herself, she
didn’t feel like arguing, so she accepted his hand and he helped
her down.

Valamar had stepped down already and walked
over to Crystal as soon as she stepped down. He held out his arm
for her again, and she groaned silently and took it.

“This is the finest restaurant in Cierith,
darling.” Valamar said, “Once you taste the food, you will never
taste anything better.”

Crystal doubted that, but she couldn’t argue
how great the food smelled. It may have just been because she was
so hungry, but the smell definitely intoxicated her.

Valamar led her to the double doors where
two valets opened the doors for them. They were then led to a
separate area from the restaurant where a lone table sat in the
middle. Crystal was thankful that there were walls around the area
for privacy. The room was much more decorated than the rest of the
place, but once Crystal sat down, she found solace in the fact that
not many people could see her where she sat.

“I am a regular customer, so I have my own
separate room on reserve for when I dine here,” explained
Valamar.

“That’s nice,” Crystal muttered. She was
mostly being sarcastic, but Valamar took it as a compliment.

“Thank you my dear.” he replied with a coy
smile, “Order anything you like.”

Crystal did just that. She ordered a full
plate of pork roast with bread and corn and ate almost every bit of
it. She could see that Valamar was surprised at her appetite, but
she had hoped he would be. Anything to make him less attracted to
her would make this night go much faster.

****

After dinner, Valamar brought Crystal back
to his estate. As she walked through the front door, she turned to
him and said, “All right, now where is the shard?”

Valamar chuckled and replied, “No need to
rush off so quickly! How would you like to join me in my study for
a little while?”

“I would rather not.” Crystal replied
sharply, “I need to get to bed so I can leave tomorrow morning. Can
you please give me the shard?”

“I will give you the shard if you come to my
study,” Valamar responded.

Crystal sighed and muttered, “Very well,
then.”

She then followed Valamar to his study and
as he stopped to open the door, Crystal caught a glimpse of Blaze
peeking around the corner of the corridor. Before Valamar saw, she
gestured for him to get back behind the corner, and luckily, he
moved back in time to avoid being seen.

“This way, my dear,” Valamar said after
getting the door open. He held a hand gesturing for her to enter
first, and even though his oddly calm demeanor made her nervous,
she stepped inside.

Valamar then closed the door behind them.
“Please, love, make yourself at home,” he said with a smile.

Crystal saw a lit fireplace and sat in a
small chair near it and sat down. She was getting more and more
annoyed with the fact that every time she sat down, the bottom of
her dress would puff up and she would have to keep flattening the
fabric to get comfortable.

Valamar strolled over to a counter in front
of a glass canister and pulled a bottle of wine out of an ice
bucket. As he set two glasses on the table, Crystal said, “I don’t
drink. I’ll just take a glass of water.”

Valamar stopped what he was doing and asked,
“Are you sure? It is the best wine you will taste by far!”

“I’m positive. Just water, please,” she
quickly responded.

Valamar mumbled under his breath and poured
her a glass of water. Crystal didn’t really care if he got mad; she
wanted the night to be over with anyway.

Valamar returned with his own glass of wine
and Crystal’s glass of water. After handing her the drink, he took
a seat in the chair next to hers. For what seemed like ages, they
sat in uncomfortable silence and tended to their drinks. Crystal
drank her entire glass in one gulp, which amused Valamar.

“I must say, Crystal,” he said smoothly,
“you are unlike any other woman I have encountered.”

Crystal didn’t know whether he meant that as
a compliment or if he had lost interest in her. She prayed to Caris
that it was the latter before muttering, “I don’t believe in
conforming to the ‘ideal woman’ that most men want.”

Valamar smiled, which made Crystal feel on
edge. He then said to her, “I have taken many women to dinner and
have taken quite a few to my bedroom as well,” At this point,
Crystal felt sick to her stomach again.

Then Valamar continued, “However, you are
without a doubt the most beautiful and unique woman I have had the
pleasure of meeting, and I cannot help but want to pursue you more.
Every other woman I have courted considered themselves the luckiest
girl alive to be seen on my arm, but you have refused all of my
advances tonight. I showered you with riches and no matter what I
did, you remained completely uninterested. It drives me mad that
you are playing so hard-to-get!”

Crystal’s heart was pounding in her ears.
She didn’t know what to say. She was even more uneasy when Valamar
got up from his chair and leaned over hers with each of her hands
resting on the armrests of her chair.

“What are you doing?” she asked, sinking
into the chair cushions.

Valamar then moved closer to where he was
inches from her face and whispered seductively, “Marry me,
Crystal.”

“NO!” Crystal yelled. She then pushed him
away from her chair and marched toward the door. Without looking
back at him, she angrily asked, “Where is the shard? I will be
leaving after you give it to me!”

Suddenly, Crystal was pushed to the floor
and Valamar landed on top of her, pinning her to the ground. He
turned her around so that she faced him and he tried to push his
lips onto hers, but she moved her face away in time. She then tried
to bring her arms up to slap him, but he grabbed both of her wrists
and held them in place. He would not let her move an inch as he
then tried to force her legs open with his.

“GET OFF OF ME!! HELP!!!” She screamed as
loud as she could.

Valamar laughed aloud and then mockingly
asked, “Who do you think can hear y—”

Just then, before Valamar could finish the
question, it was answered for him. Upon hearing her screams, Blaze
rushed into the room, pulled Valamar off of her, and threw his
hardest punch into the wealthy man’s face, knocking him out cold.
She sat up and tried to get up, but Blaze had to help her. He then
turned to Valamar, who now lay unconscious and sprawled out on the
floor, and spit on his coat.

“Son of a bitch!” he then yelled.

When Blaze turned to face Crystal, she
embraced him and buried her face into his shirt, and cried, “Thank
you!”

Blaze, a bit surprised by her reaction,
didn’t hug her back, but muttered, “You’re welcome.”

Crystal let go and looked up at him, trying
to control her flow of tears and whispered, “Let’s go find the
shard before he wakes up.”

“Good idea. I’ve got your things in a bag
outside, but I think you may want to put this on now,” he replied.
He dangled her pendant in front of her face, which she grabbed and
hurriedly put on.

Just then, a few guards ran into the room,
but before they could blink, Crystal sprayed a mist at them and put
them to sleep.

“Leave one awake next time. We can make him
bring us to the shard,” said Blaze.

“All right,” replied Crystal.

Eventually, Blaze grabbed a guard and, while
holding the knife from his boot to the petrified man’s throat, made
the guard bring them to the art collection room where the shard was
kept on a shelf. Once Blaze grabbed the shard, Crystal cast the
sleeping spell on the guard. Before leaving, however, Crystal snuck
into one of the spare bedrooms and changed out of the dress and
into her robe.

“That’s . . . a nice dress, by the way,”
Blaze muttered, before Crystal went into the room.

She stopped, looked at him in disbelief, and
asked, “Are you actually giving me a compliment, Blaze?”

Maybe Blaze could be a nice person after
all.

Blaze then looked at her stone faced and
blurted out, “I said the dress was nice. I didn’t say you looked
good in it.”

Apparently not.

Crystal glared at him and disappeared into
the bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

****

“If anyone utters a WORD about the dress, I
will turn them into a toad!” yelled Crystal, walking past her
friends with her face pointed towards the ground and her hair
dangling in front of it.

“Dress?” Gavril responded in disbelief,
“Valamar tried to force himself onto you and you’re worried about
us making fun of the dress?”

“I’m fine! I don’t want to hear another word
about it!” she replied. As she marched forward, she kept her head
facing downward and walked toward the front gate of the city.

“Why is she hiding her face?” asked
Maryn.

“She still has the makeup on,” Blaze
said.

They then saw Crystal stop by a fountain,
scoop up some water, and furiously scrub her face. Gavril then took
a step closer to Blaze.

Gavril then took a step closer to Blaze.
“Did you get the shard?”

Blaze reached into his jacket and once
Gavril saw part of the red gem, he whispered urgently, “Wait, don’t
leave it visible.”

Gavril held a cloth up to Blaze who grabbed
it with his free hand and covered the shard with it. Gavril then
held out his hand and Blaze placed the cloth-covered shard into his
hand. Gavril then placed the shard in a supply bag that Sigurd
carefully guarded.

“You did well,” was all Gavril said to
Blaze.

Blaze looked back at the general and
muttered, “Uh . . . thanks.”

CHAPTER 11

Ever since their encounter with Valamar,
Blaze felt increasingly angry on a regular basis. Every little
thing seemed to set him off and put him in a foul mood, and so he
mostly kept to himself. Despite this, however, he still had a few
run-ins with Gavril, which fueled his temper even more. Blaze knew
that the old man had some kind of grudge against him, and even
though everyone assured him that Gavril was almost always calm and
kind, the former general seemed to have no patience whatsoever with
him.

Crystal, on the other hand, was another
story. It did not matter how angry Blaze was, or even if he had
just fought with Gavril, he felt calmer whenever she was around. He
didn’t understand it and it seemed like as soon as she wasn’t
around him, he went back to being as angry as he was before.

A month went by with no news on a shard.
Crystal, however, pointed out that the rebels were in possession of
one, and so as long as they had it, Bogdan could not use the Eye of
Gaull. Therefore, the rebels were not as agitated that they could
not find any others. Even though he still thought Crystal was too
optimistic about the whole situation, he couldn’t help but feel
comforted by the things she said. Blaze knew that his father, who
he now got used to referring to as “Bogdan” rather than “Father,”
would cover every inch of the land looking for that shard, but even
he had to admit that Crystal was right. Not to mention, after
everything that has happened, Blaze didn’t think Bogdan would have
an easy time getting the shard or if he would get his hands on it
at all.