"Yes, I can." Chihon said.
"I think I recognize the second one. Turn the book a little, so I can match them up." Lorit thought the diagram was the same, but he wanted to be sure.
Chihon rotated the book, and Lorit compared the image with the marks drawn on the floor. They matched. She had found one of the spells and the counter spell.
"Let's try the easy one first." Lorit reached out with his dagger, searching for the first diagram. He found the one he wanted and traced its lines until he located a spot where it wasn't crossing any of the other spells. He used the tip of his dagger to scratch through the markings on the floor.
As he broke through the line, the light coursing around that figure came to a halt. The diagram changed from brilliant green with flashes of gold, to a dim violet, and eventually faded completely, leaving nothing but scratches on the floor.
Lorit looked up to see the distant look in Zhimosom's eyes clear. They came into focus and darted around the room, settling on him where he knelt. He saw the barest of twitches from the old Wizard's mouth, as if he were trying to smile.
"That did it," Lorit said. "How about the next one?"
Carefully, she guided him to the next spell. The one they chose was the one that bound the speech of the victim. Chihon had defeated this one earlier by singing. If Zhimosom could speak, it would make the whole process move along even faster.
Lorit reached for the symbols. It was difficult to find a spot where the spell was not inscribed over or under another one. Lorit pondered his options until he found a spot where the color of the spell was brilliant and distinct. He could not see anything beneath or above it. It looked safe, so he reached the point of his dagger out and sliced the markings, lifting them from the wood of the floor.
"Well ..." Zhimosom's voice came, but he was cut off almost as he began to speak.
Lorit looked at Zhimosom. His lips moved, but no words came out. It looked like he was saying something. Lorit watched his lips.
"He can't breathe!" Lorit cried out. "We need to locate the suffocation spell. I must have nicked the counter spell when I cut the last one. Quick, find that spell back."
He could see Chihon paging through the book. She quickly landed on the diagram for the spell that bound the breath of the victim. She rotated it until it overlaid the glowing pulsing matrix. Lorit looked for a spot where this spell was clear of interference and having located a section that was relatively free, he quickly reached out with his dagger and cut through it. The marking came away from the floor and parted.
The colored bursts that had pulsed through the lines stopped. Lorit heard the old Wizard take a deep breath.
"That was a close one," Zhimosom said.
Under Zhimosom's guidance, they carefully defused spell after spell until finally the Wizard slumped to the floor. He was exhausted and weak.
"Are you alright?" Lorit asked.
"I am better now that I am out of that. Help me up, I need to find his stone."
"His stone?"
"His sorcerer's stone," Zhimosom said. "It will help recharge both of us, and let me travel back to my study. He may be after Rotiaqua. If he's watching her, he'll know that I am free. We don't have much time."
They searched around the clearing and in the forest near the house until Zhimosom called out to Lorit. "I've found it." He stood atop a large flat rock that was partially exposed, nestled between two sturdy trees. Zhimosom looked years younger as the magic of the stone rose up and wrapped itself around him.
Lorit watched as Zhimosom turned to mist and vanished. He stepped on the stone himself, feeling the power within it. He marshaled that power into himself, reached out for the link to Chihon and pulled.
He found himself in the woods beside the fire where Chihon had made camp. He reached out for Zhimosom. The Wizard should have been in his study with Rotiaqua. His vision wavered and the study appeared shrouded in mist. Rotiaqua sat at Zhimosom's table, looking tired.
"Isn't he there?" Lorit asked.
"Zhimosom never appeared. I felt his power surge briefly after you freed him, but he never appeared here, and his power was damped even further almost immediately."
"I freed him," Lorit said. "He said he was going back to his study to protect you."
"He never arrived, Rotiaqua said and laid her head back down on the table.
Castle Veldwaite
Princess Ukina rushed home to castle Veldwaite. She left the monk at the foot of the mountains and continued on alone, arriving just before sundown. The castle gates were closing when she approached, out of breath and exhausted.
"Stop! Don't close the gates," she yelled as she jogged closer. The guards who stood astride the gates took notice of her and stepped into the road to bar the way.
"The castle is closed. No one is allowed in or out between dusk and dawn." The guard dipped his spear menacingly at her.
"You will open the gate and let me in!" She stopped in front of the guard, hands on her hips. The guard towered over her, but she was in no mood to be trifled with. "Don't you know who I am?"
"No, miss, I'm afraid I don't. Should I?" He looked down at her with a smile but didn't move a muscle.
"I'm the Princess Ukina."
"Sure you are, and I'm the Prince Ghall." The first guard laughed and slapped his knee. He leaned down to look straight in her eyes and said, "Sure you are, honey. Sure you are."
He stood straight and tall and spoke once more. "The castle is closed. No one goes in or out from dusk to dawn."
"Why? They never used to bar the gates before. Why now?"
"Haven't you heard? The Princess has been spirited away by them Wizards. The King has the castle on tight security. He don't know who might attack next or what they want."
"I need to see him." The Princess stepped towards the guard who lowered his spear once more.
"I said ..."
"I know what you said, but I must see my father."
"And who would that be?" the guard asked.
"My father, the King!"
"Oh yes, that's right. You're the Princess." He laughed again but stood firm.
"How do you know I'm not the Princess?"
"I told you, the Princess is dead, killed by them Wizards. The King's been secluded in his quarters since she left and won't come out. With all the men he's had out looking for her and having no luck, you expect me to believe that she would just walk up and ask to be let in?"
More folk arrived on the road while she was engaged with the guard. They set up camp off the road and were working at starting a fire. The woman called over to her.
"You're welcome to share our fire and sup with us. They don't open the gates for anyone anymore. Tomorrow, come sun up, we can all go inside. Come on over. Might as well get some food in ya and warm up a bit."
The Princess shot the guard one final look and turned to the camp fire that was just starting to warm the chilly night air. The woman nodded her head to a split log next to the fire and she sat.
"My name's Belsh, and that's Jeem," she said nodding to a boy about twelve summers in age. "Over there's Kimt."
The man nodded in her direction as he prepared the pot for the fire. He cut meat and vegetables into the cast iron pot, and set it on the rocks that surrounded the fire. He sat down on the last split log.
"You look as if you've traveled far," Belsh said. "Where are you from?"
"I've been traveling around a lot. I am behind on the local goings on."
"Such a tragedy," Belsh said. "Prince taken by the Temple, the Princess captured by that Wizard. No wonder the King's ill."
"The King is ill?"
"He's taken with the melancholia, they say. Won't come out of his chambers. Don't see anyone no more. Just sits there all sad, they say."
Princess Ukina jumped up to try to persuade the guard to let her in. If her father were ill, she needed to be by his side.
"They're not going to let you in," Belsh reminded her. "You might just as well sit back down."
"I have to see my father."
"Sit back down. No one will let you in."
She sat and resigned herself to the wait. She shared the meal with the family and learned that they were staying with Belsh's sister who owned an inn called the Running Bull.
"Why are you so concerned about the King?" Belsh asked her as they washed up after the evening meal. "Them royals have their own ways, but they don't affect the likes of us much. Only when they make rules like closing he gates on us, otherwise they don't much matter."
"I told you, I'm the Princess."
Belsh peered at her face. Princess Ukina knew she was dirty and smudged with soot from numerous camp fires along her route, but that should not have masked who she really was. The spells were gone, surely they recognized her.
"I wouldn't know the Princess if I tripped over her." Belsh shook her head. "I've never seen the royals, not up close, not even from a distance. You could be the Princess for all I know. For tonight, though, you're sleeping out here with us. Don't matter much who you are."
They bedded down for the night. The Princess tossed and turned, worried about her father, until she finally fell into a restless sleep.
She dreamed that she was standing over her father's bed. He was sick with the fever and muttering. He reached out his hand and grasped hers. His bloodshot eyes looked up at her and he smiled. His body was wracked with coughing and he wheezed until it finally subsided. She watched slowly as the life drained out of him.
Just then, the bells started to toll, waking her from her fitful sleep. The sky was a deep dark shade of purple and the last of the stars were fading as she sat up.
"What's happening?"
She ran to the guard who stood in the road before the gates. "What happened?"
The guard tilted his head and listened to the tolling of the bells. "Sounds like someone important died."
"You have to let me in!" she demanded, dropping to her knees. "Please, I beg of you. Let me in. I have to see him."
The guard looked down at her, and then peered towards the brightening horizon. "I suppose I can open a little early today."
He stepped to the gate and pulled at it, straining. Princess Ukina stood close to the gate and, as soon as there was enough room, she squeezed herself through the widening crack.
She sprinted up the stairs to her father's bedchamber. She brushed aside the startled guards and ran to his bed. He lay there, still and silent. No movement from his chest, no sound of his breath. She reached out and touched his wrist.
It was cold and lifeless.
She hung her head and sobbed. "Oh, father. I was just outside the gate. I was too late. I didn't know." She bowed her head over the cold hand and let the tears roll from her face onto that still waxy skin that had been full of warm comfort to her when she was young.
"Ukina!" came a voice from behind her. "We ... We thought you were lost."
She turned to see who was calling her. He was out of focus, rushing towards her. She wiped her eyes on her sleeve and looked again.
Rothen ran to her, arms outstretched. He scooped her up in his arms and held her while she cried. "I was gone so long. I didn't know where I was. I didn't even know who I was. I didn't know he was ill..."
"Quiet down," he said as he held her and gently rocked her.
"What happened?"
"He was sick for a long time. You disappeared and he thought he'd lost you. No one knew where you went. They found the body of Edaro in the woods and decided you'd been captured, but when no ransom demand came, he feared you were dead.
"He sent search parties out for weeks, but nothing turned up. He would not sleep in his bed, but stayed on the throne in case word came back. When they brought news of your brother's predicament, it was just too much to bear. He grew tired and sick. Soon the flux took hold of him and he started coughing. He grew weak even faster after that until he was no longer able to sit on the throne. They moved him to his bed and that is where he remained until he died.
"I'm so relieved that you're here," he said.
She looked at him through her tears. "I should have been here before he died. At least I could have said my goodbyes."
"If you had not shown up, there would have been a fight for the throne. The country is already divided up and starting to take sides. We don't need a war on top of everything else that's happened. You must be crowned Queen, and quickly."
Princess Ukina argued against holding the coronation so close to her father's death. She was more than willing to wait the customary year before the ceremony, and didn't want to look like she was dishonoring her father. Rothen pressed on her the need for urgency to solidify her right to take the throne immediately, before there was too much unrest. The people needed to see the grand show to let them all know she was still alive. There was too much opportunity for some ambitious noble family to try to convince the people of their claim to the throne.
"But father? What about the funeral? Surely we won't hold the coronation before the funeral."
"The arrangements are already in motion," Rothen said. "The crypt is being prepared. You will lay him to his rest this very evening. Everyone will know that you still live when you honor your father. Tomorrow, the coronation will show the whole realm that you are the rightful Queen."
There was a knock on the door. The chamber maid opened the door to one of the guards, who bowed deeply when he saw her.
"Your Grace," he said, "I have found the woman you asked for. She is here."
He stepped aside to reveal Belsh standing there, looking frightened.
"Come in, please," the Princess said.
Belsh entered the room, eyes averted.
"Please look at me. You had no problem looking at me outside the gates."
"My apologies, Your Grace, I did not know it was you. Forgive me." Belsh looked at the floor as she curtsied.
"I didn't bring you here to punish you. I brought you here to reward you. You were kind to me and helped me, even though you had no idea who I was."