Return to Caer Lon (13 page)

To the truthful hearts only

Open the secret door to the City.

Oh White Lady,

Hear my plea;

If I cry, share my tears,

And guide me through my fears;

If I fall, help me stand,

And in your right take my hand;

My heart is pure; my word is true;

Humble I come to you;

Oh White Lady, hear my plea;

And let me in the High City.

When she finished, his eyes had the same deep blue shade she had found so fascinating in the afternoon when he told her about his family’s history. Light fram
ed
his silhouette, growing brighter and clearer by the second.

Sacha
struggled, unsure if she was strong enough to resist the aura enveloping him
, unsure what would happen to her if she decided to touch it
. She saw the soft glow so clearly, defining his head and his shoulders, gliding around his chest. The light was irresistible. She brushed her palm over the gold dust, unable to stop herself.

The touch astounded them both.
Derek
caught her wrist in midair and her pale cheeks turned the delicate pink of those wild roses she loved so much. He was close enough to whiff it on her skin. The young man released her arm, ill
at
ease.

“We should go back to sleep.”

Sacha
nodded, avoiding staring at him while he moved to his bed and blew the candle. Even in the dark, a fine line of light defined his figure, fading very slowly as sleep claimed her.

oOo

One day earlier...

The door opened silently and the young woman glanced quickly both ways before she tiptoed down the corridor to another door. She knocked furtively, jolted by the sound. The authorization to come in gave her another jolt, even as she was expecting it.

The room was brightly lit, though the fire and the numerous candles failed to bring a joyful atmosphere around the brown-haired woman seated at the hairdresser.

“I did as you ordered,
m
y
l
ady.”

“And are you sure no one suspects the changeling?”

“Yes,
m
y
l
ady. I took out the rest, so it will be the only option.”

“Good.”

The young maid curtseyed and was to exit the chamber when she hesitated.

“My
l
ady? The Lady
Sacha
will be fine, won’t she?”

The woman glanced at the worried girl in the mirror.

“We did what we could to help her Agnes. You did well. Leave me.”

The maid bowed again, and exited the room.

The smile reflecting on the silvery surface vanished. She had done what she could to protect
Sacha
from herself. All depended on
Derek
now. She prayed he was simply strong enough to save them all.

Chapter 13

Derek
concentrated on his tea.
The porridge rested untouched by his elbow.
In daylight, the events of the previous night had faded to become fragments of a strange puzzle he had trouble fitting together.
He had stayed awake a long while after exertion finally caught up with
Sacha
and she fell asleep. This time, no bad dreams came to haunt her
,
and she was granted a peaceful rest. He yawned. His own
sleep
had been really too short for his taste.

“Good morning.”

He pushed on
to
his feet to pull her seat
, the gallantry an automatic gesture
, before he remembered about the benches. He waited until she was seated nonetheless.
Sacha
smiled at him and thanked their host for the tea and
steaming
bowl of boiled oatmeal.

She looked fresh and in a far better mood than he was.
Derek
sat in turn and
glowered at
his breakfast. The beige mixture did nothing to cheer him up. He despised porridge.

“Why don’t you ask for something else?”

The prince glanced up and met stirring green eyes. Her good
mood annoyed him
.
Derek
rumbled stubbornly
,
“I can do with this.”

The soaked oats slithered down his spoon like a colorless slug and fell down into the bowl with a distasteful
thump
. He forced himself and took a mouthful of porridge, swallowing as fast as he could before his tired brain realized what he was putting into his mouth. The texture was abominable.
Sacha
’s smile deepened at his grimace.

She sampled her own food in turn and declared
,
“This is absolutely terrible
!
” before she pu
t her spoon down
. Pu
sh
ing his bowl aside first and then hers, she gestured the tenant for something else to eat. At last,
Sacha
returned her attention to her companion
.

“Are we going back to the library this morning?”

Derek
glanced at his former breakfast, grateful to be spared the torture, and amazed by her behavior. The day before, she could barely talk to him. And now she organized his meals and entertained the morning ritual with a casual composure
of which
their old teachers would have been proud.

Her conduct suggested she did not remember anything of the previous night. He wished he too could forget the disturbing feeling of her hand in his hair
as easily
. Did he conjure up
everything,
the nightmares and the following quarrels? Whatever had put her in such a pleasant mood, he was not going to complain
anyway
. Her expression brightened the space around her.
Derek
sipped his tea without answering.

“
Derek
?”

Sacha
was still staring at him, so
Derek
gurgled some uncommitted “Yes
.
” Then, giv
en
that
she was still looking, he felt obliged to
give
a full answer.

“We need a map. You gave us
a
key
to
translating this
thing
, but we still need to find the door
that
it unlocks.”

Gisela approached with a tray. The waitress smiled at him when
Derek
nodded his thanks, then bowed quickly and left. He helped himself
to
bread and cheese, and finally noticed
Sacha
’s happy grin was gone.
Derek
presented her with the bowl of early berries.

“Do you want some?”

“I am fine.”

He quirked a brow, surprised by her mordant tone. One moment she was joyous,
playing house
and chitchatting agreeably, and the next second she was frowning. How could he hope
that
they work as a team if she made a point to mislead him all the time? She was looking above his shoulder, her lips pursed into a thin line and the food untouched in front of her. Maybe go
ing
on an empty stomach would help taming her character a bit.

Derek
swallowed the last of his share, and pushed on
to
his feet.

“Let’s go then. I want another look at that tax collector’s list.”

The young woman stood gracefully, abandoning her intact breakfast and moved to climb up the stairs leading to their room without a glance back.
Derek
sighed and walked back to the table to cut a piece of bread, and folded it with a clean cloth before he thrust it inside his belt’s purse. He preferred when she smiled and took care of him
,
of his breakfast that was. They really were too old to act like pouting children.

oOo

Friar Johan bowed deeply in front of
Sacha
, before he led the way to the library once more.

Taken aback by the excess of politeness, she brushed invisible dust from her sleeve before she followed him, and wrenched her neck to
Derek
. His satisfied grin alerted her
. Sacha
asked softly “Did I miss something?”

“Well, it seems that our new friend is impressed to the serve the Duchess of
Pemfro
.”

Surprise and annoyance fought an even match on her regal features.

“You did not…”

“I did. We need more cooperation from Friar Johan
. He
is obviously more than willing to-“

“He was helping!”

Derek
motioned her to speak lower.

“He just brought us books he probably knows by heart. We cannot afford to waste any more time. The Abbot received an official request for a copy of those
c
hronicles yesterday evening and a
nother for
full-time assistance from the librarian; both services will
,
of course
,
be generously acknowledged.”

“What do you mean an
official request
?”

Derek
took out a small object from
inside
his jacket.
Sacha
recognized her personal seal.

“You took it from my bag yesterday!”

So that was why he was searching their bags while she scrambled through the scroll. She glared, holding her hand toward him.

“It is mine, hand it over.”

Derek
took her hand to wrap it around his elbow, as their friend was waving at them from the door of the scriptorium. The seal had disappeared in his pocket again.

“It is too dangerous to let anyone find it.”

She extracted her arm from his, pouting, and lied: “Agnes must have put it here without me knowing.”

He laughed.

“
Sacha
, it was actually a good idea you brought your seal. Now, be your gracious self and explain to your
devoted
admirer
that
we need a map of the kingdoms.”

Sweet memories of the comfort he had offered the previous night dissolved completely. He was absolutely irksome. She was her father’s daughter, and then what? He should at least have had the courtesy to ask for her permission before using the seal, and
to
tell her of his plans! Instead, he took her off guard and… and…

Sacha
snarled internally. She was not some idle girl he had to woo
by
showing off some supposed strategic skills! Damn him!

“My
l
ady?”

Sacha
covered her anger with a radiant smile, looking daggers at her companion from above the bald
head of the monk.
Derek
was obviously very pleased with himself, and laughing up his sleeve at her embarrassment.
Fine!
Last to laugh always laughed harder.

“Friar Johan, I am so grateful for your help… I need your skills, I assure you. He…”
-
she cast another dark look at the amused prince
-
“is still pretending he is right about Caer Lon’s location. Yesterday, I found a list of names with distance to the High City…”

The monk nodded vigorously.

“The tax collector’s diaries, of course, of course….”

“Unfortunately, the names are foreign to
us.
”

She insisted on the ‘us’.
Derek
smirked.
Sacha
did her best to keep her tone even and soft. She wanted to behead him.

“Do you think a map could help
in
locating those places? So we can spot Caer Lon at last, and prove
Derek
wrong.”

“Oh, absolutely. I have one somewhere
,
I think. Please take
a
place
.
I will be with you in a few minutes with the appropriate charts.”

The large table was empty except for the documents they had examined the previous day. In a corner, a skinny monk was copying a thick book she recognized instantly.

Derek
unrolled the list of places and glanced at it quickly before he looked around for some writing material. Curious,
Sacha
forgot she was annoyed with him
and
ask
ed,
“What are you doing?”

“I want to write down the names by distance order. We need to figure those
,
too. One day on horseback is not the same than traveling by cart.”

“A tax collector travels with wheels; doesn’t he?”

“I suppose.”

He was already falling into his task, ignoring her.
Derek
frowned at something on his page and stopped scribbling.
Sacha
sighed.

“Let’s hope he used only one form of transportation.”

“What did you say?”

His distracted tone irritated her again. She repeated impatiently “I hope he used the same transportation mode
,
whatever place he visited.”

The young man rubbed the ridge of his nose, looking back down at the original list. Then he beamed.

“You are brilliant.”

Sacha
felt her cheeks grew burning hot
, all annoyance gone magically
. She wished she
could
read his mind, just this one time, so she would not have to disgrace herself asking
why
he was so pleased with her.
Derek
bent over the table, calling her attention back to the copy he had abandoned, and the original scroll.

“Look. The collection is in chronological order. The first entries are always marked within a day or less off travel. The next ones are farther, two, three days.
Gwel Caer is noted after a five-day travel.”

“So he could have gone on horseback at first, then used a wagon afterward.”

“My thought exactly.”

His broad grin was contagious.
Sacha
’s lips curved
,
matching his winning smile. His eyes flicked down an instant then came back to hers.

Sacha
froze, mesmerized. The sparkles swirling in his stare fired a crown around his head, nearly blinding her. She jolted back in surprise.

“
Sacha
?”

The flames were devouring the air around
Derek
to engulf him completely. She gasped. Darkness now fought the light, nibbling at the glow, slowly, quickly, more and more aggressive. Light was merely a gold
en
circle; darkness was nearly touching him…

“No!”

The young woman fell forward.
Derek
caught her in time before her head hit the hard wood of the tabletop. One knee on his bench, he steadied her at arm
's
length, then carefully helped her back to the seat.

“Sweet Lord!”

Friar Johan dropped his load of maps on the floor and
Sacha
snapped back into reality.