The General strode to the entrance and swept aside the flap. “What is it?
“A messenger arrived, a man outside said. “With a scroll from Emperor Cobalt.
“Bring it in, Yargazon said, moving aside.
The man who entered wore black armor and a heavy sword across his back. He handed Yargazon a scroll and stood waiting while the General read it.
“So. After rolling up the scroll, Yargazon tapped it against his fingers. “It looks like no one is sleeping tonight. He walked over to Allegra and looked down at her. “Cobalt is willing to trade Markus for you and Drummer. How absurd, to think I would send back the wife of the prince regent.
Die, she thought. Have a terrible convulsion and die in agony. She knew too little about Jazid to know whether Yargazon had overstepped himself, but she couldnt imagine he could do this to the prince regents wife. He was betting on his irreplaceable value to control Markuss anger.
You cant control him, she thought. Yargazon had misjudged Markus this time. Maybe he couldnt understand the prince, for Markus acted differently with him than with other people. He didnt want to appear weak to the General. But Markus wasnt Ozar Onyx.
Yargazon turned to the other man. “Is the messenger from the emperor still here?
“Yes, sir.
“Good. I will speak to him. Yargazon sheathed his dagger on his belt and fastened the belt around his waist, once again the General in perfect array. He crossed the tent to his shadowed wall of time and set the second hourglass on its side, stopping the flow of sand. Glancing at Allegra, he said, “Well finish when I return.
With that, he strode from the tent.
Allegra sagged against the pole, so relieved that she wanted to laugh, then cry. Then she wanted to rage. She yanked on the cords binding her wrists
And they slipped.
Allegra froze. She looked up at the knot, the one Zeik had tightened before he left. At least she thought he had tightened it. Yet now it was coming apart.
Her pulse jumped. She yanked on the bonds over and over, and with each pull, the knot slipped a little more. When it finally unraveled, her arms fell into her lap. Her muscles hurt from being held in one position for so long, but she ignored the ache as she attacked the restraints on her ankles. They were tighter than the ones on her wrists, but Zeik hadnt pulled them as secure as possible, either. Thank you, she thought to his image in her mind. Thank you, forever.
As soon as her feet were free, she grabbed the dodecahedron out of her tunic pocket. But the wretched gag silenced her. Metal clasps were embedded in the ball of leather, with straps that pulled around her head, under her hair and locked in the back. She couldnt pull the leather out of her mouth or the strap over her head, and without her voice, she had no spell.
Allegra ran to the nearest chest and opened the top. Scrolls filled it. She kept searching, fast and furious, knowing Yargazon could return any moment. She found a chest with his uniforms and put on one of his shirts, hiding the dodecahedron in its pocket. She went through more chests, throwing out contents, until she found a shaving blade. Clenching the hilt, she ran to the back of the tent and hacked a hole, then pushed through it, out into the night.
She ran past dark tents, trying to ignore the pain from the welts on her body and lacerations on her feet. She found a row of supply carts and crouched behind them, straining to breathe. Then she went to work on the gag. The lock mechanism wouldnt release. The strap consisted of metal strips, so it couldnt stretch over her head, and the knife wouldnt cut it. She used the tip of the blade to dig through the strap that held the ball in her mouth, gouging the place where a stud held the leather in place. She hacked at it, striving to shred the gag without hurting herself.
Finally! The stud fell out of the leather. With a gasp, she yanked the gag out of her mouth and threw it on the ground. She gulped in air, nearly choking with her need to breathe.
Calm down. She took a steadying breath, then pulled out the dodecahedron and clenched it as she marshaled her thoughts. What spell to use? She couldnt put everyone here to sleep. They probably had precautions in place now, too. It was easy to counter her spells; they had only to shut out her voice. The last time, she had needed to affect a few people, walk a short distance while putting people around her to sleep and sing in the desert. Even that had drained her. She still hadnt fully recovered. Now she didnt know who to put to sleep, and she had only one chance. If her spell didnt succeed, she would do no more than warn Yargazon about her escape.
Allegra rested her forehead against the big wheel of the cart. In an act of mercy Zeik probably considered weakness, he had given her a hope of escape. But she had no resources. She could barely walk. She needed water and sleep. She was deep in a camp with many sentries. Tomorrow they would resume fighting the Taka Mal army, which hulked somewhere out in the basin. She had nowhere to go, no place to turn, and if Yargazon caught herNo! She couldnt go back to that nightmare.
Ozarson was here somewhere. Could he protect her? Allegra hesitated. She had kidnapped him. He later came willingly, but this army was the closest he had to a home. He would be horrified if he knew what Yargazon was doing to her, but despite his title, she doubted he could stop the General. Too many complications existed in Ozis life, as the atajazid and now, saints forbid, as the conquering sovereign in Taka Mal. He was vulnerable. Brave, yes, and intelligent. But he was only nine. If she sought him out, the General would retaliate against her, possibly even in subtle ways against Ozarson.
Drummer was here, too. Bile rose in her throat as she recalled the blood in Yargazons tent. She couldnt heal Drummer; she wasnt a blue mage. But she could ease his pain and help him escape. If he could walk. It was probably a stupid idea; she couldnt even escape herself. But she needed to do something.
Demoralized, Allegra closed her eyes. Then she took a breath and sang, her voice soft, a ballad about green hills and sunlight. She wove a gold spell to keep anyone nearby asleep so they wouldnt catch her, and a green so she could search for Ozarson and Drummer. King Jarid had called his wife using a green spell, so it had to be possible to find a person that way, though she had no idea how.
Her spells wavered. The dodecahedron had too many sides, and she couldnt grasp its power. She lost her grip and the spells faded. She hurt so very, very much, and Yargazon had barely started with her. He wouldnt let her die, but that only meant hour after hour of pain. Nor did she know how far he would go. The marriage contract had gone on at great length about how Markus could kill any man who slept with her. But Yargazon had an army at his disposal, and he had spent decades building his power base. If he wanted the prince regents wife, she wasnt certain even Markus could stop him.
“Please, she whispered. “Help me. But no one was here to answer. She had only herself.
Focus! She concentrated on her spells and her power swirled, more than she had ever wielded. But she couldnt quite grasp it. Nothing was distinct. It was as if she stood on the shore of a lake and tried to hold the water. The spells ran through her fingers.
A sense of someones pain trickled past her, but without a warriors hard edge. This was a gentler mind. Vulnerable. Then she knew. Like recognized like. She had touched another Aronsdale mage.
Allegra climbed to her feet, hanging on to the cart. The surge of energy that had driven her escape from Yargazons tent was gone, leaving exhaustion. She leaned over the cart while her head swam. Then she took a step toward that faint sense of recognition. Pain stabbed her feet, and she crumpled against the wheel. Gritting her teeth, she pushed away from the cart and hobbled behind a line of tents. Cold wind ruffled her black shirt, and silver braid on the shoulders and cuffs glinted in the starlight. The shirt came to midthigh, with the sleeves dangling past her hands. She heard the clank of a sentry on patrol and barely ducked down behind a barrel of water before he walked past. Then she went on, searching for Drummer.