5. From the Illymium Codex

Guarding the God Gate are the Lex Azarax, beastly relatives of the Thrades in the north. With their thorny, dark armored flesh and black-plumed helmets, they stand in silent sentinel atop the black stone citadel with their crossbows and obsidian-tipped arrows at the ready. The rotting corpses impaled on the wall's iron spikes are grim reminders of anyone who dares to penetrate the sacred Weir.

Chapter 19

As promised, one hundred troops were deployed in four warships from Oran harbor en route to Kadaar to join forces with the remaining Skaards fighting against the Thrades and Nazeer renegades.

Scipio continued with the day-to-day business of ruling Oran while waiting anxiously for news from Nazeera about Starlex's recapture.

After raging at her mother for days had proved fruitless, Tylla remained holed up in her private chamber, refusing meals and only opening her door to Rigel and Jabe.

"We should just ride out to the Weir and steal Carmelle back," Jabe suggested. He and Rigel sat on the foot of Tylla's bed, gazing down at their friend with sympathy as she lay beneath an ivory silk sheet staring at the ceiling with tear-stained eyes.

"As if you could get away from your university for more than a day," Rigel griped.

Jabe bit his tongue. He knew Rigel was unhappy with his decision to move out of the palace to live at the university, four leagues beyond the citadel. But he could no longer tolerate the hostility coming from the Nazeer servants, whose darted looks implored him to join them in their hatred against the Davadas household.

"The Wols are more protected than anyone." Tylla sat up in her bed and rubbed her eyes. "We would never get past the Lex Azarax."

"She's right," Rigel said. "They're the most ruthless killers in all of Ardelym, aside from the Thrades."

Rigel had never seen a Lex Azarax, but he had read about them and saw their frightening illustrations in Flenn's books from the tower room library.

Turning sympathetic eyes to his cousin, Rigel said, "Carmelle is lost, Tylla."

"And so is Starlex." Tylla sprang from her bed, crossed her chamber and padded barefoot onto the balcony.

"I thought Starlex went to the country," Jabe said.

"You don't believe that, do you? Mother lies about everything."

Rigel face flashed with concern. He had bought the story about Starlex visiting Scipio's family in the north, but it was odd for his cousin to leave without saying goodbye.

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Tylla's lips curved into a smirk as she gazed down at the flowering garden blooms. The scent of pink roses bursting with life mingled sweetly with her spicy Mynimium perfume. "You would be surprised at the lies my mother can tell. But I don't think she would harm her own sister, not unless she had good reason to. All I know is I need to get as far away from Mother as possible.”

"How do you plan to do that?" Jade asked.

"Tylla and I could always get married.” Rigel picked up the long, coiling braid from her shoulder and twirled it between two fingers. "We're only distant cousins."

Tylla swatted him away.

"Know any prospects? Besides Rigel, that is." Jabe made a mocking face at his lover.

Tylla turned her back on the garden view and moved thoughtfully through the curtains. "There is someone."

"Who?"

Intrigued, the young men followed her back inside.

"Roland Davadas." She kneeled and pulled a gilded box from beneath her bed.

She sat on the bed with Rigel and Jabe on either side and opened the box, releasing a scent of rich, masculine cologne.

"What's that?"

"Love letters," Tylla said with a sigh. She held up vellum scrolls bound with red ribbons. "All from Roland Davadas. He is the son of Dolceto Davadas, one of my father's men."

"Is he rich?" Jabe picked up one of the scrolls and looked through it like a spyglass.

Tylla snatched the scroll from his hand. "Not royal, but certainly rich. He's been in love with me for years." She stood and moved toward her small writing desk.

"What are you doing?" Rigel asked.

"Writing back to him, of course," Tylla said. She lit the candle on her desk and dipped a sharpened reed into a pot of black ink. "I hope he isn't already promised, but even so, he'll drop whomever it is like a hot coal."

Jabe and Rigel lolled on the bed with arms draped over each other, amused at Tylla's sudden determination.

"But do you really want to marry him, Tylla?" Rigel asked, his nose buried in Jabe's thick auburn hair that still smelled of sweetgrass from his morning ride.

Tylla's brow knitted as she bent over the letter she was composing. "Do I want to marry him? No, of course not. But if I do marry him, I'll be free of Mother."

"If you ask me, you'll be trading one yoke for another," Rigel said, concern etched on his youthful features.

"It appears these are my only options." She paused from writing her letter and turned sad eyes toward her companions. "I used to think I could do what I wanted, that I could live with Carmelle on our own private island. Now I realize what folly that was. I will marry Roland Davadas if he will have me." She ran the wax bar through the candle flame and sealed the letter with the Davadas crest.

The evening bell rang in the outdoor courtyard and echoed through the balcony door.

"Jabe," she held out the scroll to her friend, "will you ride out to the country and deliver this?"

"Of course," he said softly.

"And what can I do?" Rigel hopped off the bed and stretched his lithe limbs toward the ceiling painted with scenes of stars and moons.

Tylla smiled sadly and said, "You can help me plan my wedding."

He extended his hand to her. "We'll discuss it over dinner. I'm starving, and you need your strength."

"What about me?" Jabe said, waving the scroll through the air to dry the sealing wax. "May I deliver your letter after dinner? I need my strength, too."

"Of course," Tylla laughed and stood up from her desk. Threading her hands through both mens' arms, she walked them to do the door. "We all need our strength."

"And so does Starlex," Rigel added sadly. "Wherever she is."

Rigel's concern for his star-kissed cousin had reached a breaking point. Without telling his other companions his plans, he vowed to visit with Flenn Illyminium immediately after dinner. Perhaps the old mage could shed some of his illumination on the mystery of the missing princess.