Tyrant Trouble (Mudflat Magic) (19 page)

Something
warned me, maybe some odd sound or maybe that sixth sense thing, but I reached
out and pressed my fingertips against Tarvik's mouth to silence him and nodded
toward the door. For all the door's thickness, its rough grain was no barrier
to sound.

From
the corridor we heard a woman ask, “Is the templekeeper still in my lord
Tarvik's chamber?”

We
heard Lor's mumbled admission.

“Is
it his cousin or the other one?”

“The
other.”

“You
will return to your stable. My guards will escort her back to the temple.”

In
the silence I could imagine Lor's strong, wrinkled hands clenching. He would
not want to leave me. But he could not argue. Then I heard his slow shuffle
down the corridor, his sandals slapping loudly on the hard floor, and I knew he
meant for me to hear him and figure out what to do.

“Which
voice is that?” I whispered.

“Ober.
She can send Lor away, but Artur will remain at my door.”

I
beckoned him to the far corner away from the door. “That's what I need to warn
you about. She plots against you.”

“How
can Ober be of danger to me? And why should she?”

“I
have no answer to that, Tarvik, but your father asked me to warn you and now I
have.”

“Why
should I believe you?”

“No
reason at all.”

“If
you think Ober is dangerous, you have put yourself in danger by coming here to
warn me.” A thought wrinkled his forehead and deepened his scowl because his
thoughts always showed all over him. I didn't bother to look to see if his
fists were clenched. I kept my mouth shut and waited for him to make his own
decision.

Finally
he said, “Stargazer, do you warn me out of loyalty to Kovat?”

“No.
I owe him nothing.”

“Then
you came because you fear for me.”

“Fair's
fair. You've tried to help me. And I think if you want me to stay alive, you
better send your own guards to escort me back to the temple. I don't trust
Ober's guards.”

He
hesitated, glanced at the door, then caught my hand and led me behind one of
the heavy wall rugs. Musty darkness made me sneeze, probably the musty more
than the dark. Tarvik's grip tightened. I bumped against the wall, then moved
through an archway concealed by the rug.

“Secret
passages? Wow.”

“Between
the walls,” he whispered. “Here, this place is always cold.” In the darkness he
reached around my shoulders to wrap me in my cloak that he still held. His
fingers touched my throat and his hands fumbled with the clasp. I couldn't see
a thing in the dark but I could feel his touch, hear his breathing.

And
it was back to hand-holding, sword-carrying barbarian time. Was he carrying a
sword? I hadn't noticed and I didn't suppose it was a normal piece of indoor
apparel. But the hand-holding thing continued, his warm strong fingers wrapped
around mine. In a strange, cold, dark, spooky secret passage, it was kind of
nice to be able to feel his body heat and hear his footsteps and hang on to his
hand.

Although
I had no reason to memorize the path, I did, trying to place the directions
firmly in my mind. We turned corners and stumbled up and down occasional steps.
At one turning I heard a woman's voice, her tone too low for me to understand
her words.

The
passage had no lights, no windows, and I couldn't see a thing. I held my breath
and reached out my free hand hoping Tarvik, who stalked rapidly in front of me
dragging me by my other hand, would not feel my body turn. My fingers brushed
the backing of a rug. So the passage opened to other rooms.

We
ended at a blank wall that appeared to be a single stone set firmly in place. I
could see Tarvik now, a shadow shape in the darkness. Either my eyes were
adjusting to the darkness or light entered this inner passage at this point. I
couldn't locate the source.

Tarvik
reached up and touched a spot on the wall just above his head height. A stone
door opened into the night air. He pulled me outside and turned me so that I
saw the outline of the hill and the distant temple in the starlight.

“I
will take you back myself,” he said.

There
was a reason why I didn't want him to do that. “Tarvik, I think you should
return to your chamber and perhaps move around and talk loudly so Ober hears
you.”

“I
cannot let you wander the hill alone.”

“Lor
is waiting nearby.”

“Why
not let me walk with you?”

I
think he did not completely believe he was in danger. “If Ober guesses we are
gone, she will search your room until she finds the passage.”

“She
would not dare enter my room!”

“Can
you be certain of that? She came to the temple today to ask me why your father
stopped to speak with me this morning.”

“How
did she know about that when I did not?”

“Exactly.
Be careful, Tarvik. Wait. There, I see Lor in the shadow of those trees. Go
back. It will be safer for us both.”

“Is
he there? Yes. Then I suppose - Stargazer, if you seek me again, come this way.
Here, let me show you. Press upon the outer wall to open the door. Do you feel
it?” He caught my hand and guided it up the wall, then spread my fingers
against the latch stone.

“Yes.”

“Stargazer?”

“What?”

To
my surprise, or perhaps not, he tightened his hand around mine, circled me with
his other arm, pressed his face against my ear and whispered, “I have trusted
you. I have shown you the secret entrance to the castle, known to none but me.
My father knows nothing of this passageway and I have never shown it to Artur.
If I trust you, will you trust me?”

For
a moment I could barely breathe, unsure what he would do if I pushed him away.
Standing very still, held captive, feeling the heat of his cheek against mine,
I tried not to panic. “I constantly trust you with my life. Now hurry, before Ober
sends out a search party for you.”

He
hesitated, his hand still clinging to mine, then let go, stepped away from me
and went back inside the passage. The door closed behind him. It perfectly
matched the wall.

I
knew Lor could hear us enough to know we were near, but couldn't see me in the
shadow of the wall. I didn't need to explain to him what I planned to do. He
would wait all night for me. He'd suspect, as I did, that Ober's guards had
instructions to do something other than return me to the temple.

To
wait in darkness with Lor nearby didn't take courage. The old man would protect
me with his life for Nance's sake. To turn and touch the latch stone was
another matter. I do not like dark, narrow, enclosed places. But I did it,
turned, ran my fingers lightly across the outer wall until I found that small
chipped spot on the stones. I knew I had to return to where I'd heard the woman
speaking.

Once
inside I closed the door, entombing myself. I thought I knew where the inner
release must be, but I wasn't sure. If I searched for it now and did not find
it, I was going to give in to noisy hysterics. I could see almost nothing, a
few gray shadows in the black. Feeling my way along the wall and counting
turns, my shaking fingertips scraped stone until I touched rug backing. No
sound.

Tracing
the wall opening with my hands, I found it to be barely large enough to squeeze
a person through, a large stone missing, nothing more. I felt my way along the
passage until I found the square piece of stone, bumped my toes on it, bent
down in the dark and measured its size with my hands. Who had removed it and
left it here against the wall?

Ober?
No. If she knew about the passageway she wouldn't bother to wait outside
Tarvik's door. She would have stood behind Tarvik's room and eavesdropped.

Tarvik?
If so, then he must already suspect whoever occupied this room and that didn't
seem likely.

Perhaps
the stone had been removed long ago by someone else. If so, the answer lay with
Tarvik. Who had first told him about the passage? I could imagine he had
accidentally found the doorway to his own room, but had he also discovered the
latch stones at the end of the corridor? That was harder to believe. Over the
years he had spent a lot of alone time in the castle. But not really alone, not
without a guard. And he said Artur didn't know about the passage.

“Is
she still in his chamber?”

The
voice startled me out of my thoughts.

“We
will be told when she leaves.” That was Ober’s voice so the first voice had to
be Alakar.

What
did I hope to gain by standing in the space between the walls? With so many
missing planets in their horoscopes, I hoped I could fill in information from
elsewhere. If ever a place was elsewhere, this was it, a dark passageway with a
concealed opening into their room.

“Why
did he send for her?” Alakar asked.

“I
will learn that when I have her in my power,” Ober said.

“Does
she matter to us? She is nothing, merely a templekeeper, and so dark and tall
and her bones stick out. Can we not have her killed now?”

CHAPTER
11

I
bit my tongue and continued to listen. Never had liked the looks of that girl,
way too smarmy.

“She
may seem nothing to you, but I have watched your Tarvik. He looks at her with
great longing which is more than he has ever done with you.”

“You're
mad! Want her when he is promised to me? Why should he?”

“Why
indeed? She requested this audience with him. He did not send for her. What
does she plot?” Ober sounded more as though she was thinking aloud than talking
to her daughter.

“Does
Kovat long for her, too?”

Ober's
low laugh was not pleasant. “Not that way, you stupid girl. Something else. I
remember his obsession with the Daughter because of her magic. I wonder. Could
this one also possess magic?”

“She
cannot be powerful or Kovat would have taken her with him to defeat the
warlords of Thunder.”

To
hear their words was scary enough, but it was nothing compared to waiting in
the dark passage after their voices died away. What were they doing? Had they
turned to stare at the hanging rug that separated us? Did some movement of the
air in the cold passageway stir the hanging? Or had they gone to their warm
beds while I was freezing?

Or
was Ober quietly opening the door to her room and instructing her guards to go
outside the castle to grab me when I stepped out of the secret door?

I
waited for what seemed to me half the night, shivering in the folds of my
cloak. When my patience ran out, I touched the backing of the rug. As it moved
slightly, a dim edge of light framed it.

An
oil lamp burned in their room. Leaning my head through the wall opening so my
ear pressed against the rug, I listened. Somebody was moving around. There. A
footstep. A scrape. Was that a bowl or mug scraping on a tabletop?

How
bright was the room?

Should
I push the rug aside or would they see it move?

If
I hadn't been so positive the lives of Tarvik, myself, and maybe Nance, too,
depended on my knowledge of Ober's plans, I would have felt my way out of the
passage and run back to the temple.

Instead,
I moved the carpet aside the width of a pinch at a time, the wool backing
catching on my fingers, pausing after each move to listen for the sound of an
indrawn breath. While I waited, I almost wished someone would scream. Then I
could let go and take off out of there and forget the whole dumb idea of
playing spy.

Nobody
screamed. My last move brought the edge of the rug a finger width past the edge
of the opening and I blinked at the light. Set for flight, I peered through. In
the lamp glow at the table the two women bent over an assortment of crockery,
their attention fixed on what they did. The wall that separated us was in deep
shadow.

Ober
dropped a pinch of powder into a bowl. After carefully opening a small
container, she let some liquid drip on the powder. It flared. The room filled
with yellow smoke that looked like the smoke created by the magician of
Thunder. That trick hadn't impressed Kovat or Tarvik. How did she intend to use
it?

With
a fingertip she drew a triangle on the tabletop. If she touched it with anything
other than her finger, I couldn't see what she used. A red glowing line
followed her touch. In the center of the triangle she placed a bowl filled with
a dark powder. Making odd hand motions above it, she mumbled a chant. Then she
took a part of the powder and measured it into a shiny object she held in her
palm.

When
she stepped back from the table and reached toward Alakar, I saw what the
object was. Ober had put the powder into a small ornamental locket that hung on
a chain. Slipping the chain over her daughter's head, she arranged it carefully
around her neck. The little locket hung like a jewel, shining against the dark
fabric of Alakar's robe.

“It
is done,” Ober said.

“Are
you sure it will work?” Alakar asked.

“I
know my part well enough if you remember yours.”

“I
wish we were rid of them both now,” Alakar said.

“What
use would that be? Until we receive word of Kovat's death, we cannot proceed.
Time enough then to wed and rule, my girl.”

I
strained so hard to catch their words it was a miracle they didn't feel my
presence and hear my heart banging away. They also didn't continue their
discussion. Instead, the conversation turned to the usual, empty chatter about
jewels and robes. I waited, shivering and silent, until they blew out the lamp,
before I let the rug slide back into place.

Receive
word of Kovat's death?

After
the dim light of the room, the passageway was thick blackness. I felt my way
along the wall until I reached its end.

A
pressure on the spot above the door where Tarvik had touched the rock
accomplished nothing.