The King's Daughters (7 page)

So after yet another unsuccessful search for Eva, I returned to my bedroom and went straight to bed. Hidden under the cover of several blankets and crushed by despair, I let myself sink into melancholy. As I lay there wallowing in misery, I completely lost track of time. So when Milo ripped the blanket off me, announcing that it was morning, I was shocked to hear that a day had passed—and more so by Milo's bold behavior.

"What? That can't be right!" I said rubbing my eyes. "I just got into bed. How dare you wake me up this way? I'm your master. I can choose never to rise if I wish."

"No. My lord must rise. You must awaken now."

Milo's insistence seemed strange to me. I glanced at the window at the other end of the room. It took me a moment to spot the black glass square amidst the gray stone wall. "It's still dark outside! Why should I rise now?"

"Something has happened in the castle last night. I don't know exactly what, my lord, but I think you should investigate."

I stared at Milo with narrowed eyes. "How do you know this? You're not supposed to go out alone."

Lowering his head, Milo began wringing his hands. There were no clearer signs of guilt, yet I thought it was too early to chastise my servant. I wasn't in the mood for it right now anyway.

"Forget it," I said, "just get me my clothes."

Shortly after, Milo and I were out in the castle's corridors. We didn't question where we should go; we just followed a group of alarmed-looking guards hurrying ahead. They led us to the narrow corridor where I had gotten lost on my first day at the castle. There seemed to be something on the ground ahead of us, I couldn't see it though. All the guards crammed in this narrow space were hindering my sight. Amid the group of guards, I spotted the pock-faced youth that had served us as a guide on our first day here. I waved for him to approach.

"Young man," I said, "can you tell us the cause of this commotion?"

With a proud look at his companions, the young guard explained, "The ghoul got someone again."

"A ghoul?"

"Yes, the castle's ghoul. It's been here for years they say."

"Hmm." I rubbed the short stubble covering my jaw. To my knowledge, ghouls only roamed cemeteries, eating corpses. Normally, they never attacked the living. "Can I have a look at the victim?"

"Sure. I must warn you, though. It's not pretty to look at." Our guide shouldered the other guards out of the way with the rudeness of one unaccustomed to having power.

A path leading to the corpse opened up. The instant I set eyes on the remains I wished I hadn't gotten out of bed. This was one bloody mess. The man sprawled on his back in front of us had been split open, his guts strewn about. As if that wasn't enough, one of his legs was gone. Actually, the bone was still there; it had just been stripped of flesh.

I winced, realizing that some horrible creature had feasted on this poor fellow. I heard Milo gasp beside me . . . or maybe he had gagged, I couldn't tell.

Taking a deep breath, I approached the dead man. "Who was he?"

"Don't really know yet," replied my guide. "We think it's a servant."

Careful not to step in blood, I crouched beside the corpse and inspected the gaping cavity in his chest. His heart and liver were missing. If his half-chewed lungs were an indication, those missing organs had probably been eaten. I directed my attention to the man's face. Still intact, it was twisted in a rictus of terror and pain. Gently brushing my hand over his wide-opened eyes, I closed his eyelids. A wave of tingling ran along my hand. The feeling was as light as butterfly wings—then nothing. It was gone. Magic. Sorcery. Was magic involved in this man's death? Was a ghoul guilty of this crime? I really doubted that. To me, this looked more like the work of a pack of wolves. But wolves roaming inside the castle, that was unlikely.

"You said this wasn't the first time the 'ghoul' got someone. When exactly was the other time?"

My guide shrugged.

"The night after the young princess's kidnapping," answered a tall guard with broad shoulders and thick yellow mustache. Stepping out of the fold, he came to stand in front of me. "I remember it well because I was on duty that night and one of the guards who found the bodies."

"Bodies! How many were there?"

"Three. Two guards and a Tuvelian emissary."

"Can you show me where it happened?"

The guard led us to an area between the narrow corridor and the garden's entrance.

"Which one died here?" I asked, staring at the polished stone floor.

"All three, Your Highness."

"What! Together? You cannot mean together."

"Yes."

"All three!" I found this shocking to say the least. "In what condition were the victims?"

The guard's face paled. I watched his Adam's apple go up and down several times, apparently recalling the scene wasn't a pleasant task. Lowering his gaze to the floor, the guard said in a grim tone, "The thing . . . the thing that killed them . . . was very hungry that night."

I didn't ask the man for more details. His answer was clear enough. "Thank you," I said, and left.

* * *

"My lord . . . my lord, where are you going?" Milo asked, while trotting behind me.

"To my room, Milo."

"But . . . I thought you were going to solve this mystery, like you did in Telfar with your brothers?"

I stopped walking, folded my arms, and faced Milo. "Oh, I am! I'm going to try my best to sort this out. Who knows, maybe ridding the castle of its ghoul will earn me the king's gratitude and Eva's hand."

A wide grin split Milo's face. "My lord will succeed, I'm sure of it."

I sighed. "I wish I could be as optimistic as you are, Milo. Honestly, I'm scared to fail and ridicule myself even more than I already have. Since I arrived here, I've been unable to do anything right. It's like I'm cursed. At this point, Milo, I'm not even sure Eva wants me anymore. She's ignoring me, leaving me all by myself, as if I didn't matter to her." I stopped talking, fearing my voice would break if I continued.

"My lord, with her mother gravely ill and her sister's recent kidnapping, perhaps she needs to spend some time alone with her family."

Milo's words made so much sense that I felt my mood lift and hope returned to my heart. "You're right. I am inconsiderate. I should not jump to conclusions like that. Eva probably has good reasons to—" My eyes had just fallen on a dark spot on Milo's kaftan, right on his shoulder. "Is that blood on your shoulder? Has someone struck you again?"

Milo stared at the stain with surprise. "No!" he said, rubbing his finger on the spot. "It's fresh!"

"You've picked it up somewhere," I said.

We retraced our steps to a fork near the narrow corridor. Specks of blood marred the dark gray stones of the wall. We followed the blood tracks. They led us halfway down a long passage we hadn't visited before, where the tracks abruptly ended. I looked around. I could see that this passage had only one door at its very end, so we pushed on.

Moments later, we both stood in front of a large metal door, staring at it in silence.

I gripped the handle and pulled the lever down. "It's unlocked."

With a nod to Milo, I opened the door. What I discovered on the other side couldn't be more unexpected. "Whooo, what is this place?" I said.

"I don't know, but I love it," breathed Milo.

For a brief instant, we both remained in the doorway, gazing in wonderment at what lay ahead. A lush jungle occupied the space in front of us. I could see palm trees and hibiscus bushes. The entire space was bathed in warm sunlight, and songbirds could be heard singing in every corner. Although I knew this was nothing more than a giant conservatory, for me this felt like paradise, like an oasis amid the frigid gloom of this castle.

"Oh, my lord," Milo said, entering the conservatory. "Can you feel this blissful heat? Can you feel it?"

"Yes, Milo. Yes, I can feel it. Quick, close the door before it escapes."

I strolled along the gravel pathway winding through the conservatory, admiring the plant specimens it housed. I was impressed by its broad selection. Most of all, I was surprised by its existence. From what I had gathered so far, Sorvinkians weren't exactly the most sophisticated of people, and a conservatory like this one had to be a complicated and delicate operation to run. I stopped in front of a small iron stove, the third I had seen so far. I assumed that there were more of these stoves placed throughout the conservatory. On sunless days and cold winter nights, these kept the conservatory warm enough for the plants to survive. A rustling of leaves on my left made me look in that direction. "Milo?"

"Yes, my lord," Milo answered from my right.

I turned left, where the sound came from. For a second I thought I saw a woman staring at me. But when I looked closer I saw nothing there but foliage. Still I could swear I'd caught a glimpse of someone: a pale-faced girl with mousy brown hair, rather plain looking despite her striking green eyes.

My curiosity piqued yet again; I walked toward the area where I thought I had seen her. Cutting through a thick groundcover of fern, I left this artificial jungle and entered a rose garden. A heady tea scent choked the air; it was so powerful that it was nauseating. I tried taking shallow breaths while gazing at the roses. They came in all colors, varieties, and forms. This was a stunning collection. As I was admiring the shrubs, I noticed that the one growing beside the pathway had a broken, dangling branch. This seemed out of place in this otherwise perfectly manicured garden. Once I got closer to the shrub, I saw a fluff of brown fur stuck in its thorns. I heard a rustling of leaves behind me; I turned and watched Milo emerge from the bushes.

"There you are," he said, joining me by the rose shrubs. "What's that—brown hair?"

"You think it could belong to one of the king's hounds?" I whispered, rolling the fur between my fingers.

Milo kneeled down a short distance from me. "My lord, by the size of these tracks it would have to be a very big hound."

I moved to Milo's side and looked down. "LORD!" I exclaimed upon seeing the imprint; it was twice the size of my foot. "What animal can make such a print?"

"A big nasty one," Milo ventured before inspecting the rest of the area. "My lord, I see another track over there."

We both rushed to it. This new imprint was made in softer soil, therefore it was clearer.

Milo placed his hand beside the print. "Look at those claw marks. They are as long as my fingers. What monster is this?"

"I don't know, but if we follow its tracks we might discover clues about its nature."

A brief search uncovered a third track, then a fourth farther away. However, we failed to find a fifth one.

"My lord, come see this!"

"You found a track, Milo?"

"No, I found a flower garden."

Quickly passing through the bushes where I had been seeking tracks, I joined Milo. In front of us was a neatly arranged little garden. For most people, it probably looked like any common flower garden, but to my expert eyes it was far more than that.

"This is an herbalist's garden," I said, eyes roaming over the vast selection of medicinal herbs growing here: caraway, chamomile, rosemary, and sage, to name a few. This garden contained all the ingredients needed to make cures for a broad variety of ailments. However, some of these herbs were also used to make magical potions and spells. A beautiful stem of mauve flowers captured my attention.
Or to make poison
. I shook my head in disbelief. The king had made such a scene over my almonds, and all this time he had true poison growing inside his keep.

I pointed out the plant to Milo. "See that flower at the back."

"Yes. Pretty."

"Indeed. But also deadly. It's commonly called foxglove. Its true name is digitalis; its essence has a sweet sugary taste that if added to desserts or to sweeten tea is undetectable . . . and mortal."

"Could the flower be grown just for its beauty?" Milo asked.

"In a different garden I could believe that. In this one—no. Whoever planted this garden only chose useful plants. And as far as I know digitalis's only use is to make poison."

"Maybe we should warn someone about this, my. . . . " Milo's words were buried by the flapping sound of a hundred wings, as all the birds in the conservatory took flight at once. When the birds finally settled down a loud BANG rang throughout the conservatory, scaring the birds once more.

"Right in front! That way!" I pointed in the direction where the sound had come from.

BANG. BANG
.

We dashed ahead.

BANG-BANG-BANG
.

I ran through bushes and across flowerbeds.

BANG
.

The sound was louder. As I pushed through a clump of young palm trees, a cold breeze struck me, sending shivers down my spine. When I finally came out from among the palms I saw that the conservatory's exit door was beating in the wind.
BANG
.
BANG-BANG
.

Pulling up next to me, Milo pointed toward the left wall. "There, my lord!"

Through the thick vine partly covering the glass, I saw the shadow of a silhouette running outside. In the blink of an eye, I was out of the conservatory and knee-deep in the snow. I looked around, seeking the fleeting silhouette, but saw no one. I saw tracks however, dozens of tracks, old and fresh all intercrossing one another.

"Where did it go?" Milo asked once he had safely closed the conservatory's door and joined me.

"I don't know." I looked at the tracks again. Some went toward the castle's garden door while others wandered further down the garden and disappeared behind a tall hedge of evergreen. "Milo, follow those tracks to the castle. I'll take these."

Milo obeyed without protest.

Plowing through the snow, I studied the tracks as I advanced. Something huge had come through here a while ago. But what exactly, I couldn't tell. The tracks were too old to be read clearly.

As the tall hedge of evergreen grew nearer, I felt a strange feeling deep inside my gut. It was as though a hand was gently tugging at my entrails. I stopped walking and hastily unsheathed my sword.