Alastar settled down onto some furs in his tent and gestured for Wulfram and Ben to do the same. Wulfram dropped down gracelessly, sitting cross-legged and taking a swig from his bottle. Whatever the odd clear liquor was it burned its way down his throat, bringing with it the relaxation that usually came with a good whiskey. But he couldn’t relax too much, he needed to keep his wits about him, especially now.
“Your spell could be wrong.” Wulfram said. But he had a feeling Alastar wouldn’t believe that, not without actually meeting Dani. Then he would see she was no princess. Or maybe he wouldn’t. Wulfram pulled up an image of Dani in his mind again, spirited and free. Then he tried to picture her in a fancy dress with a crown on her head, imagining the look on her face as she tried to navigate the politics of a court ball. Some how he didn’t think she had the poker face to pull it off.
“It could.” Alastar agreed. The tent flap rustled as Cael stepped in, her grey eyes studying the group before she sat down beside Alastar. “But if it were wrong why would it point to you and your thief?”
“Why would your sister be a thief in Aurum? The site of the attack is nearly five days out from the capital, and that’s riding a horse! You have to ask yourself if a little girl could possibly walk that far on her own. And even if she could, why wouldn’t she have returned to her own people?” Wulfram said. Surely the King had to see this logically!
“Perhaps she was not alone. Perhaps someone took her to your capital city, knowing we would be unable to look for her there.” Alastar shrugged. “Regardless, I will see this woman. There are tests to see if she is my sister. We will head out in the morning.”
“We agreed to head out in the morning,” Ben said carefully, glancing towards Wulfram. “But we cannot agree to submitting Lady Daniella to your tests. What if you get there and she says no?”
“Then we will convince her.” Alastar said firmly. He gestured to Wulfram, specifically to the bracelet around his wrist. “I have seen records of this bracelet.”
“You have?” Wulfram raised an eyebrow. He had to get his head together! This was important, he couldn’t lose his focus. “I have to say our mages are curious about it. But it’s an artifact that’s been passed down in our family for generations. Where would you have seen records of it?”
He had to be bluffing. For all Wulfram knew all of this was one big bluff, but to what end? There was no way that Alastar or his people could know about Dani and the marriage! They had kept that a closely guarded secret.
But there was that spell that pointed right at the bracelet, and the other arrow had pointed towards Aurum. He would have to have Harvick study it, see what he could find out about the spell. He was the closest they had to a blood magic specialist in Aurum, and even then information was scarce.
“Our oldest records are carved in the stones of this land and yours.” Alastar waved a hand in a wide arch, indicating the surrounding mountains. “Once we traveled much further, before we were bound by the imaginary borders of a kingdom. And we still craft magical items of course, although none so fine as what was crafted centuries ago.”
“King Alastar, if you’re implying that your people lived in Cresenvasht, you are going to need more proof than some rumors about a bracelet.” Wulfram set his bottle down, the clear liquid sloshing within it. “And we will not be giving you any of our land. Our negotiations regard Trade Road and the path to Trade City, not land disputes.”
“Our people do not want your land.” Alastar snorted. “We have plenty enough as it is, and it is rich. No, we only want our princess, and free trade along the road. It benefits you as well as us to have free passage between our kingdoms.”
“And leaves all care and maintenance of the road to our people.” Wulfram leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Be reasonable, we have to care for the docks where the goods are brought in from the sea, then the road from there to the border. You only need to care for the road from the border to Trade City!”
“We are reasonable. Or are you forgetting that we also ship goods out that bring trade to your docks?” Alastar sighed and cut his hand through the air. “But this discussion is not why I asked you to speak privately. That bracelet, it reminds me of certain Seagraes artifacts used in wedding rituals. And I have to wonder: did the prince of Cresenvasht wed a thief?”
Wulfram froze for a moment, his heart skipping a beat. He had been right to worry about the magics of Hesiodos, but more he now needed to worry about its history, and how it connected to Cresenvasht. Could the crown have been passed down from the Seagraes people? And could those same people be related to Hesiodos? There were carvings that implied the Seagraes people enjoyed a more intimate relationship with dragons than Cresenvasht ever had, and rumors that the people of Hesiodos also enjoyed the same type of relationship. How much was rumor, and how much was truth?
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“That’s ridiculous.” Wulfram finally managed. “You know as well as I do that a royal marriage is a very political thing. Marrying a thief would have no political benefit.”
“Unless you knew that the thief was not truly a thief.” Alastar leaned forward. “Unless you knew she was a princess.”
Cael’s eyes widened, and she looked from Alastar to Wulfram. Her eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. “My King, are you saying that Cresenvasht has been holding our lost princess all this time?”
“It is a possibility that has crossed my mind.” Alastar said. He rested a hand on Cael’s knee. “But it is not the only possibility.”
“If Dani is your lost princess, we had no idea she was in Aurum!” Wulfram growled, his grip tightening on his bottle. “It tore my mother apart to hear of the caravans fate, to believe all were lost in the attack! High Queen Cerridwen was her friend, your sister was meant to be my wife!”
“And may be still.” Alastar looked down at the bracelet, a smile playing across his lips. “I believe this thief you speak of is my lost sister, my wife has said as much, and she comes from a long line of Seers. We will travel to your city, and see if she is correct.”
“And if she is wrong?” Ben asked.
“Then we will continue our search.” Alastar shrugged. “Until we find her, or proof of her death.”
“We won’t let you wander our kingdom forever.” Wulfram stood up, his knuckles white around the bottle.
“Then hope that we find her quickly. I believe it is time to get some rest.” Alastar wrapped an arm around Cael, pulling her close to him with a smile. “Or not.” He growled playfully to her.
Wulfram stared at the pair for a moment, pushing down his disgust, not allowing it to show on his face. How one man could have two wives and still seek out other women was beyond him. He bowed stiffly. “Good night, King Alastar, Cael.”
“Good night, brother.” King Alastar’s smile grew as Wulfram straightened.
Wulfram bit his tongue at the familiar address, simply turning on his heel and striding out of the tent. Ben hurried after him after giving a short bow to King Alastar, catching up quickly as Wulfram headed back towards the Cresenvasht tents. “Did you tell them about the bracelet?”
“No. No I did not.” Wulfram said coldly. He took another drink of the clear liquid, tempted to throw the damn bottle. “There’s no way he should have known anything about it. And then there’s this nonsense about Dani being Princess Daniella? We need to get word to the palace at once.”
“What will you even tell them? That King Alastar thinks she’s a princess? If the message is intercepted...” Ben trailed off, and Wulfram nodded.
“If the message is intercepted she’ll be in more danger than ever. No, but I want her at the palace before something happens to her. She can’t just wander the city anymore, especially if there’s any truth to this nonsense. I should have made her stay in the palace before I left anyways. The Tangle is no place for a Lady, no matter how common-born she is.” Wulfram paused, thinking of that damn blood compass, pointing right at the bracelet that held a little bit of Dani’s magic within it. “Or how common-born she isn’t.”
Ben nodded. “I’ll get a message sent to the palace, you go get some rest. I have a feeling we’ll be leaving early in the morning.”
“Thank you, Ben.” Not that Wulfram thought he was likely to sleep. But still, he returned to one of the barrack tents and dropped into an empty hammock. The bottle dangled from his hand as he stared up into the darkness. If only that Seer hadn’t opened her mouth! It was unnatural to be able to see things like that, as much a curse as it was any sort of gift. The few Seers that Cresenvasht had tended to stay sequestered away in the temples, which was better than having them wandering around spouting nonsense like a crazy person.
Wulfram took another drink from the bottle, finding it nearly empty. When had he drank so much? He sighed and let the bottle fall to the ground, he’d dispose of it properly in the morning. But for tonight, he just wanted to try and get some sleep.
He didn’t remember falling asleep that night, and the dreams were just odd flashes of people he didn’t know in some type of cellar. What he did remember was waking up to the feel of a hand at his throat.
He cursed, lashing out at the unseen assailant, his hammock set to swinging wildly. It dumped him out onto the ground, where he grabbed the bottle from last night, standing ready to swing.
But there was no one else in the tent. Not in the hammocks, not getting ready for the day. Had he slept in? Shit! He wiped a hand across his face and checked the ground for footprints. But it didn’t look like there were any fresh ones besides his own.
Had it been just a dream?
But it had felt so real, a crushing pressure on his neck that nearly cut off his breath. He touched his neck lightly but couldn’t feel anything there. “What the hell?”
He shook his head and strode from the tent, pausing when the light stabbed his eyes. It was still early, but not dawn. He really had slept in! Worse, they had let him sleep in. Wulfram groaned and shook his head. Well, nothing to be done for it now, he would just skip breakfast so they could get on the road. The sooner they got back to Aurum the sooner they could clear up this whole mess.
And the sooner he could make sure Dani was safe. He looked down at his bracelet, touching the gemstone lightly. He could feel her heartbeat again, rapid with fear. Or was it just his imagination playing games with him?
He had to find out. He strode towards the group already gathering to head back down Trade Road, ignoring Alastar’s faint smirk. Wulfram took the shirt Ben offered him, pulling it on before mounting his horse. “Are we ready to go?”
“Yes, your Highness. We just finished loading up. Do you want to eat something first?” Ben looked over Wulfram with a frown. But mounted his horse anyways.
“No.” Wulfram turned his horse, starting off back down Trade Road, trusting the others to follow him. The sooner they got back to the city, the better.