Zandrue laid her head down on the table in the room aptly named the Flower Cabinet—not because there were any actual flowers in it, but because the walls and ceiling were decorated with colourful flower patterns. She’d chosen this room because it was small (as the Palace rooms went) and unoccupied. She needed to think, but the rain pouring against the windows was not doing much for her concentration at the moment. Neither were the periodic rumbles of thunder.

There had been no sign of the boy.

Marna had taken her to one of the servants’ lounges to speak to one of the head servants where they’d learnt that the boy who’d delivered the letter had been dismissed a week ago. He had knocked over a vase in Princess Annai’s presence.

“It wasn’t the first time his clumsiness got him in trouble,” the head servant had said. “Princess Annai dismissed him on the spot. I escorted him off the premises myself.”

“But...I saw him just a few minutes ago,” Marna had gaped.

“Not possible.”

“I assure you it is possible,” Zandrue said.

The servant sighed, then nodded. “Very well. He must have snuck back in somehow. I’ll alert the guards. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.”

That was yesterday. Zandrue had checked in with the guards at several locations today to see if there were any updates, but no one had seen the boy.

Somebody in the Palace had to be providing some sort of sanctuary to Dyle and anyone working with him. A place where they could stay and not be seen by guards or others who might be looking for them. Even so, somebody would have to notice them coming and going from that spot. Many of them could be servants and guards themselves, but that didn’t explain Dyle himself.

“You!”

Princess Annai was standing in the doorway. Zandrue sprang to her feet and curtsied.

“Where is she?”

“Sorry, your Highness? Where is who?”

Annai stormed over to her. She was the same height as Zandrue, but of larger build, especially in her wide-skirted gown. “My sister, Sinitïa. Who else? She snuck away again.”

“I’m sorry, your Highness. I haven’t seen her.”

“Somehow, I doubt that. Every time she sneaks away, it’s to join you lot. Felitïa and that Eloorin have thoroughly corrupted her.”

“I swear to you, your Highness. I haven’t seen her.” Sinitïa sneaking off was a good thing and a bad thing. Zandrue still needed to talk to her, but she also didn’t need Annai’s anger right now.

Annai glared at her for a moment, then turned away.

Though perhaps this was a way to get in good with Annai? “Maybe she’s with Quilla.”

Annai shook her head. “I’ve already tried there. Thilin hasn’t seen her either. Mother’s going to kill me if I don’t find her. What about that big man with you?”

Zandrue couldn’t imagine Sinitïa going to Rudiger, but she could play it up. Anything was possible. “Rudiger? She hadn’t when I left him, but it’s possible. I could take you to him if you want.”

Annai glared at her again. “Very well.”

Shit, did Annai know Zandrue and Rudiger were staying in Felitïa’s apartments? If not, how would she react? Rudiger probably wasn’t there anyway. “He might be in the stables with his horse.”

Annai curled her lips. “That stables? You’re taking me to the stables?”

“Yes, your Highness. Rudiger’s frequently in the stables.” In truth, Rudiger could be anywhere. She’d told him to try hobnobbing with the princes, but he hadn’t had much luck. Apparently, Hang Merrin was going to help. Whatever the case, the stables were worth a shot.

“But it’s pouring down with rain out there!” As if to emphasise Annai’s statement, thunder crackled loudly.

Zandrue tried to look sympathetic. “I know, your Highness. But if I know Rudiger, he probably got stuck there when the storm started. If Sinitïa went to him, she’ll be there too.”

Annai paced back and forth. “What if she didn’t go?”

“That’s possible, your Highness. As I said, I don’t know where she is. You asked about Rudiger. If you’d like, I could go check. If she’s there, I’ll bring her back. If not, I’ll come back and tell you.” This could be the perfect opportunity to talk to Sinitïa privately—if she was there.

Annai stopped pacing and scowled. “No, we’ll go together.”

Zandrue curtsied. “As you wish, your Highness.” Oh well, Sinitïa probably wasn’t there anyway.

Annai motioned to a servant just outside the door. “You. Fetch a shawl for the rain and have it waiting for me by the north door.”

The servant curtsied, put down the tray of wine she was holding, and ran off.

Annai turned back to Zandrue. “You. Lead on.”

Zandrue curtsied again and took the lead as thunder rumbled overhead. They were on the far side of the Palace from the stables, so it would take a few minutes to get there. A chance to engage Annai in conversation, maybe? Perhaps the Princess’s agitated state might make her more open to discussion.

“If you don’t mind my saying, your Highness, I think it’s a good thing you do looking after your sister the way you do. I know she must be very trying at times, but—”

“She is.”

“But I admire the way you look out for her anyway.”

“I just want what’s best for her.”

“Of course you do.”

“But she doesn’t understand. She has the mind of a child. There are so many things she doesn’t understand—can’t understand. Without me looking out for her, I don’t know what she’d do.”

“You must have the most remarkable patience.”

“You don’t know that half of it. Even before Felitïa and that Eloorin came into her life, she was prone to the most ridiculous things. Take her painting. It’s good that she perfect a craft, but why does it have to be painting? She gets herself covered in those paints. Her good clothes! Expensive clothes! Why couldn’t she take up something less messy like needlework? Why does it have to be painting?”

Zandrue shook her head. “I don’t think I could do what you do.” She hoped she wasn’t overdoing the flattery. There was a fine line with people like Annai. Too much or too little would go nowhere. It had to be just right.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Annai scoffed. “Very few people could do it. Sometimes, I don’t think even I can do it anymore.”

“You have my sympathies, your Highness.”

“Never repeat that to anyone else!”

“Of course not, your Highness. I would never repeat anything I heard from you in confidence.”

Annai was silent after that, but that was a strong breakthrough. It was going to take awhile to gain Annai’s trust, but that little slip meant Zandrue was getting somewhere.

An out-of-breath servant waited with a shawl at the north doors. Annai snatched it out of the servant’s hands without acknowledgement and draped it over her head and shoulders, while the servant scurried out of the Princess’s path. Annai snapped her fingers towards a couple nearby guards, who fell in step behind her and Zandrue. A pair of servants opened the doors, and Zandrue and Annai stepped into the pouring rain, where they and the two guards hurried down the steps into the courtyard.

This was the first time Zandrue had been in the Palace’s north courtyard, and she did her best to act like she knew where she was going—she’d studied maps of the grounds, so she was confident she could lead Annai the right way. The north courtyard was less impressive than the south, though perhaps the rain was obscuring some of its majesty. A wall of columned archways surrounded the courtyard on three sides, providing access to other areas of the complex. Two pools dominated the courtyard, one on each side, a fountain in the centre of each. The fountain in the western pool, which they neared as they hurried through the courtyard contained a statue of the goddess Nature lying over a rock, her arms reaching into the water, where she played with a school of fish.

A larger, wider archway opened up just before the western pool. It was dark blue instead of the cream of the rest of the wall. In the rain, it looked a shiny black. Zandrue figured that was the one they needed, so she led the way through.

The servants’ building was just a few yards farther. Servants on the doors there opened them as Zandrue and Annai came close so there was no pausing in their movement. Zandrue did her best to recall the layout of this building. Again, she’d studied the maps, but hadn’t actually been inside. She really needed to find the time to wander the entire Palace complex and grounds to get a better feel for where she was going.

As they passed through the hallways and then the mess hall, servants and off-duty guards scrambled to attention, and bowed or curtsied at the Princess’s passing. Others rushed to doors to make certain they were opened the moment Annai reached them, and then closed as soon as the guards had passed through. Zandrue couldn’t help feel bad for them, unprepared as they had to be for the Princess’s surprise visit.

The next building was the kennels. Princes Malef and Pastrin’s hunting dogs growled and barked as the group passed. Some leapt at the doors of their cages, clawing and biting, trying to escape, their gazes narrowed on Zandrue.

“Horrid beasts,” Annai said. “What’s gotten into them?”

Zandrue shivered. “Must be the storm.” Animals hated her, but on their own, they were generally manageable. Dogs in a pack though—particularly hunting dogs… Their reactions all just fed off each other. If they managed to get out of their cages, they wouldn’t stop until she was dead. She was glad when she stepped back out into the rain again and crossed the open space to the stables. Ice-cold pouring rain was preferable to a pack of angry dogs any day.

The horses in the stables whinnied and shuffled about at her passage, but luckily horses didn’t have the same pack mentality as dogs. They weren’t likely to gang up to kill her. Their reactions were enough, however, to send stablehands running to calm them.

“Here too?” Annai said. “It really must be the storm. I’ve never really understood animals. You?”

“Alas, no, your Highness.”

“Any sign of your friend.”

Zandrue peered down the rows of stalls as they passed, looking for Borisin or Rudiger, on the off chance he was actually there. Gods, how many horses did the Palace need?

Finally, she saw a large, roan head sticking out of one of the stalls down a row to their right. The horse was looking straight at her. “There’s his horse, your Highness.” She pointed and led the way.

Borisin backed away from the edge of the stall as they approached.

“That is the biggest horse I’ve ever seen,” Annai said.

“Well, Rudiger is a big man, your Highness.”

“I love his mane, though. So luxurious.” Annai stepped up to the stall door and peered over it, reached a hand out.

Borisin snapped. Not close enough to do any harm, but enough to make Annai cry out. She stepped back.

“Be careful, your Highness,” Zandrue said. “Remember how agitated they are from the storm, and he’s a trained warhorse.”

Annai fanned herself with her hand and took several deep breaths. Then she straightened her back and cleared her throat. “Your friend isn’t here.”

“No, doesn’t seem to be. It was a long shot, your Highness, though it’s still possible Princess Sinitïa is with him. They’re just some place else. Perhaps we could try—”

Borisin whinnied and came back up tot he stall door, pushing his head past Annai.

The Princess stumbled back a bit. “Oh, is he letting me pet him now?” She ran her hand through the horse’s mane. “Such gorgeous hair.”

Zandrue looked where Borisin was looking. The fact he wasn’t stopping Annai was worrying. “What’s up, big guy?”

Borisin tilted his head slightly, his ears straight up and pointed.

Zandrue sniffed at the air, but that revealed nothing. The scents of the horses and Annai’s perfume were too strong to pick up anything else. She strained to hear anything. There were the whinnies of horses, the rumble of thunder in the distance, the loud clatter of the rain on the roof, and the wind whistling through the stalls.

And barking.

The dogs should have been too far away to hear.

“Oh shit.”

Annai glared at her, and Borisin banged a leg against the stall door.

Zandrue grabbed the rope holding the stall door shut and unhooked it. She opened the stall.

Annai gaped. “What are you—?”

Borisin pushed past Annai, Zandrue, and the startled guards.

“Your Highness, get in the stall please.”

“What? How dare you? I am not getting in that stall!”

Yells and a scream came from elsewhere in the stables. The barking was getting louder.

“Your Highness, please! It’s for you own safety.”

The guards reached for their swords. One said, “Your Highness, I think she may be right. Please get in the stall.”

Down the row of stalls, a hound came around the corner, teeth bared, drool dripping. Behind the dog, another came. And another.

Annai screamed, and Zandrue pushed her into the stall. “Apologies, Highness.”

Borisin charged forward, trampling over the lead dogs. Others leapt at him, teeth biting into his legs and haunches. Borisin kicked, sending several dogs cartwheeling against the sides of stalls. The horses within whinnied and shrieked. Dogs continued to pile on Borisin, but more slipped past him.

“Shit, shit, shit!” Zandrue jumped into the stall as Annai’s guards met the hounds. She pulled the door shut behind her and looped the rope around the hook.

“How dare you lay your hands on me like that!” Annai yelled.

Three dogs grabbed one of the guards by the legs and pulled him to the ground. The other guard stabbed at one of the dogs and then another.

Zandrue drew her sword. “This is not the time for formalities!” She raised her arm, ready to strike at any dog that tried to get over the stall door, but Annai grabbed her wrist.

The Princess’s gaze was on the pommel of the sword and the Bear of Arnor engraved there. “That’s a royal sword! Where did you get it?”

“It’s Felitïa’s.” Zandrue wrenched her arm away. “Now, please, get back. Let me save our lives.”

Several dogs made it past the guards and leapt at the stall door. Zandrue stabbed down at the lead one as its face reached over and its front paws scrabbled at the edge. The sword went right into the hound’s open mouth, through its throat, and out the back of its neck. Zandrue pulled back, trying to free the sword from the dog as others leapt at the stall edge. They snapped at her. One came close enough to tear the sleeve of her kirtle.

Annai screamed and backed up against the far wall of the stall.

The sword came free and Zandrue stabbed again. Another dog fell and then another. She only cut the side of the last one, but that was enough to cause it to cower back, whimpering.

The barking and growling was calming down. Zandrue peered round the corner of the stall. Bodies of dead and injured dogs lay about. One of the two guards thrust his sword through one of the few dogs still standing. The other—the one who had been pulled to the ground—was getting back to his feet. His tabard was torn and several links in his chainmail were stretched or torn. His muddy face had blood dripping from one cheek, but he seemed otherwise fine.

Farther down, Borisin kicked aside a couple straggler dogs. Only one got back up, and that one slunk away, tail between its legs. Blood dripped from numerous places on Borisin’s legs and sides, and even from a couple puncture wounds on his neck, but he was standing tall, ears still alert, tail twitching.

Zandrue shut out the sound of whimpering dogs, and hurried over to Annai. “I think it’s over.”

Annai slid down the side of the wall to the hay-covered floor. “Oh gods.”

Zandrue sat beside her. “I’m sorry I shoved you, your Highness.”

Annai glared at her, but then broke into tears and laid her head on Zandrue’s shoulders. “You saved me. They wanted to kill me and you saved my life.”

They wanted to kill me, not you, Zandrue thought. She put an arm around Annai and held her tight. “It’s all right now. You’re going to be okay.”