The Greater Challenge Beyond (The Southern Continent Series Book 3) (12 page)

“No, I’ve got a safe place secured for him.  Just explain to me why I found you in his bed across the hall, and him in your bed in here?” Jenniline asked.

“Look at him lying on his back,” Merched nearly snorted before she spoke.  “He was snoring so loud I had to leave to sleep.  And then you came in cooing sweet nothings in my ear.  I’ll be glad to be rid of him just so I can spend the rest of the night sleeping in my own bed.”

“Grange, can you walk?” Jenniline asked him.

He opened his eyes and looked up.  There was no illumination in the room, only the lighter shades of darkness where the two women stood over him.

“Hello, princess,” he said.

“Princess?” Merched asked sharply.

“It’s just a term of affection,” Jenniline said quickly.  “I am not taking him to the palace.  You don’t really think a princess would be out in the middle of the night slumming around looking after this sorry piece of dung, do you?”

Merched said nothing.

“Let’s get you moving,” Jenniline placed her arms under Grange and raised him to an upright position,  then pulling him up to his feet.

“Very good, now let’s go,” she said. 

Grange hobbled forward in response.  Jenniline turned, and circled around the bed to head towards the door of the room, and to the staircase beyond.

“Thank you Merched,” Grange stopped and faced the unlit form of the woman who had rescued him.

“You were my good deed for this year,” she laughed gently.  She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.  “Good luck to you; I hope you heal up and stay safe.  Come back and visit me someday, if your princess will allow you to.”

Grange moved on with Jenniline, and they quietly, slowly descended the stairs.

“You most certainly will not,” Jenniline said when they reached the dark, empty tavern space below.

“Will not what?” Grange asked.

“You will not go back and visit that woman,” Jenniline hissed.  “Here – take this and cover your head,” she handed him the hooded cape that she had worn.

“Where are we going?” Grange asked.

“To the home of one of Hope’s suitors,” Jenniline answered.  “The man is besotted with the girl, so she can get his servants to agree to anything she wants when she visits,” Jenniline laughed softly.  “And Hope let the servants believe that he would get to see her frequently as a result of your residence at his home.”

They exited from the tavern, and Jenniline took Grange to an alley, where a horse was tied.  “Up you go,” she said, helping him climb into the saddle, before she untied the horse and climbed up in front of him.

“Hold on, but watch where you put your hands,” she told him, then set the animal in motion.

“There were palace guards that came up to that room, looking for me,” Grange said to Jenniline as they rode through the empty street.  “Merched took me into her room and hid me there.”

“How did they know where to find you?” Jenniline asked.  “Elred wouldn’t have helped us get you out of the palace, then turn around and reveal you.  Someone must have been following him.”

Grange was silent, unable to offer any answer.

“Hey!” Jenniline pulled on the reigns and stopped the horse.  Grange felt her body grow rigid.

“How is it that you now understand what we’re saying?” she asked.  “You said out in the wilderness that you didn’t understand.  Hope said you peddled the same story to her.  But here we’ve been talking in the woman’s room and on the horse, just like normal people.

“What are you up to?” she growled the words.

“I seem to have remembered.  I just realized it myself after you rescued me,” he said nervously.

“You know you found me at Yellow Spring, and you’re the one who told me that it erased memories – but the memories would come back slowly.  This is a memory that came back,” he explained.

She sat, silent and tense, considering his story.

“It could be, I suppose,” she muttered.  She twitched the reins, and the horse began clip-clopping through the empty streets once again, though Grange felt her body remain stiff.

Several minutes later they stopped in front of a large chalet in the city.  Jenniline slid down out of the saddle, and led the horse to a gate on the side.  She reached over the top of the gate, fumbled with the latch, and opened it.  When they reached the stables a minute later she helped Grange down and placed the horse in a stall.

“The back door is supposed to be unlocked,” she commented to Grange, then helped him walk with her to the kitchen door.  She opened the latch and the two of them entered a small antechamber where a lantern offered slight illumination, revealing a boy sleeping on a makeshift pallet on the floor.

“Wake up; we’re here,” Jenniline said loudly.

The boy sat up with a start and rubbed his eyes.  “You’re the one?” he asked.

Jenniline pulled Grange’s hood back.  “He’s the one,” she indicated.  “Take us to our room,” she ordered the young servant.

He picked up the lantern and increased the illumination, then led the way through the kitchen and up the servants’ staircase to the second floor, then up another staircase to a third floor, where he indicated a door just off the landing.

“This is the room we’ve reserved for the gentleman,” he said.

“I’ll stay with him until dawn,” Jenniline informed him.  “You’re free to go now,” she said in a gentler voice, and they watched the boy hand over the lantern, bow, and depart.

“Whose house is this?” Grange asked as the princess opened the door to their room.

“The nobleman’s name is Wilder,” Jenniline replied.  She motioned for Grange to enter ahead of her, then shut the door.

“His title is Protector of the Throne.  He was my father’s closest ally when he overthrew the old king,” she explained.  “He was big and ferocious, a great warrior back then.  Now he’s just a fat old man with a pretty daughter,” she smirked, as they looked at the single bed in the room.

“Your father swore I looked like the old king,” Grange said.  “Will Wilder see the same?” he asked.

“Not if Hope tells him not to; he’s smitten with the girl – hopelessly,” she said.  After a moment’s pause she added, “Pun intended.”

“Oh, oh yes, I see,” Grange smiled wearily.  The effects of the willow bark tea and the ale had worn off.  He stepped over to the bed, and lay down.  ”Besides,” she added, “he probably won’t see you – won’t even know you’re here!”

“You’re spending the night?” he asked, as she pulled her boots off her feet.

Under two conditions,” Jenniline said.  “You’ll not act improperly, and you’ll not snore.”

She had a straight face, but Grange saw the corner of her mouth twitch momentarily.

“I make no promises,” he replied, as he stretched out on the bed.  “But I’ll try.”

She turned the lantern down, then lay down on the opposite side of the bed, and by the time she closed her eyes, Grange was asleep.

Chapter 11

When Grange awoke in the morning, Jenniline was gone, and a basket of freshly cut bread was next to a beaker of juice on the table by the door.  He rose, drank the juice and slowly ate the bread, wondering what he should do next, when there was a knock on the door.

The boy who had led them to the room entered when Grange answered.

“Is there anything I can get for you, my lord?” he asked.

“May I have some willow bark tea?” Grange asked.

“Ah,” the boy drew a crafty expression.  “Did my lord drink too much ale last night?  Is that why you had the woman in your room with you?”

“Just bring me the tea,” Grange cut off the speculation.

“Yes, my lord,” the boy felt satisfied that he was correct.  He left the room, and Grange lay back on the bed.

The boy’s name was Masky, and over the course of the next few days, Grange came to find him amusing and reliable.  He was also the only person from the chalet who ever visited Grange.

“There’s a princess from the palace coming to see Lord Wilder today,” Masky gossiped to Grange as he brought a pot of tea to start one day.  “”His lordship is very excited.  He’s had the barber come to shave him especially well.”

“Have you ever met a princess before?” Masky asked.  “I never have, other than to see this one in the parlor,” he quickly answered for himself, not knowing that he had met a princess in Jenniline.

“I’ll bet she’s going to be wearing jewels and a crown, and we’ll all have to kiss her feet; I won’t like that at all,” the boy went on.

“What makes you think that?” Grange asked with a smile.

“The cook told me.  He’s been here for twenty years and he knows a lot about those kinds of things,” Masky said in a worldly tone.

Grange kept his humor silent, then lay back in his bed and speculated about what the day would bring.

An hour later, he found out.

There was a knock on the door of his tucked away room, and when it opened, Hope popped through the only slightly-open door, which closed immediately behind her.

“So you can speak our language?” she asked archly, standing at the foot of the bed and looking at him with her eyebrows raised.

“I can now,” he answered.  The girl was beautiful, and he took his time to observe her flawless complexion and sparkling eyes.

“What are you looking at?” Hope asked after three seconds of silence.

“The servant who watches me says that the cook says that a princess would come today, wearing jewels and a crown, and we’d all have to kiss her feet,” Grange laughed.  “I don’t see your crown, so I’m hoping that I don’t have to kiss your feet!”

Hope burst out laughing.

“Jenniline would tell you what to kiss!” she said as she blushed.  “You won’t tell her I said that, will you, please?”

“Your secret is safe,” Grange said.  “Would you like to have a seat?” he asked, and moved his feet aside so that she could sit on the bed.

“I can’t stay long.  The others are keeping Wilder occupied while I slipped out to see you; they think I’m here to see a secret lover,” she smiled.

“What others?” Grange asked.

“Some of my sisters.  Paile, Hilto, and Acco came with me,” she explained.

“He’s an admirer, I hear.  He even had the barber come in to shave him, just for your visit,” Grange grinned.

“How charming!” Hope laughed.

“I imagine there are many admirers,” Grange added.  “Unless that foot-kissing test get applied regularly.”

Hope laughed.  “It’s good to see you in such good spirits.   Jenniline said that,” she paused, “they treated you pretty badly in the dungeon.”

“I’m getting better – much better,” he assured her.

“I better get back to the Protector,” she said, and stood up.  “Father’s Protector, not my own,” she smiled.

“What happens next?” Grange asked her.

“Jenniline wants to send you to Acton’s temple, but she’s worried that someone is following Elred,” Hope told him.

“You stay here and heal,” she said.  “I’ll visit again, soon.”  She stepped forward and kissed him on the cheek, then slipped out of the room.

Grange let his fingers touch the spot on his cheek where her lips had touched him, and he smiled.

Later that day Masky was back to see him.  “There were four princesses here!  You should have seen them!  And one of them disappeared for a while.  No one knows where she went.”

“Did you have to kiss their feet?” Grange asked innocently.

“No!” the boy said indignantly.  “Cook was making that story up!”

Grange stayed in his small room, and healed further.  Two days later, he began to covertly leave the room, awakening in the early morning, and walking through the garden to re-accustom his legs to carrying him about.  Two days after that, he had another visitor.

There was a knock on the door in the middle of the day.  Grange was bored with his confinement, as he grew healthier and able to think about his predicament, so that the thought of a visitor was a welcome event.

“Come in,” he said, rising to his feet, anticipating that Hope had finally come back.

A man with a hood over his face stepped into the room, then lowered his hood to reveal Elred, the priest from the temple of Acton.

“The God Acton’s First Acolyte has spoken to me, and told me to bring in the Chosen One, who will be recognized as the God’s partner in the battle to come,” Elred said.  His face was paler than usual, and his voice was strained.

“Is everything alright?” Grange asked.

“The Acolyte came and spoke directly to me; he said that I had kept a secret from him, and that I should repent from my mistake and bring him the champion immediately,” Elred answered.

“There’s a First Acolyte?” Grange asked.  “I thought the god himself spoke to people.  I thought that was why he came to Earth.”

“He did speak to us and walk among us and even make merry with some worshippers when he first arrived, but since the arrival of the First Acolyte, Lord Acton has taken refuge in the hallowed precincts of the temple, where none of us can see him.  The Acolyte tells us what the God wants,” Elred explained.

“Here, I’ve brought you this cape and hood.  We should go immediately,” the priest told Grange.

“I’d be glad to get out of here,” Grange agreed.  “I’ve been in here a long time; I’m ready to get out.

“Will it be safe?” he asked as he wrapped the cape around his back and lifted the hood.

“The patrols won’t expect you to be out in the middle of the city in the middle of the day.  They’ve grown skeptical of the search for you after so many days,” Elred explained.

Grange said farewell to Masky on his way out, then walked cautiously beside his guide as they stuck to a route through side streets and alleys, until they reached a large square in the middle of the city.

“The Temple is where the large spire rises just on the other side of the square,” Elred announced with relief.

“We’re almost there.”

They crossed the square among the traffic and bustle of the people of the city, then climbed the short flight of steps that ran across the front of the temple.  The temple’s own guards were posted at the entrances, and they nodded to the returning priest as he strode up to the door.