The Pearl Savage (16 page)

****

King Otto and Prince Frederic had
left and were well on their way to the Kingdom of Kentucky. Clara had
not realized how encumbered she was with his presence until she knew
that he was gone. It lifted a weight from her shoulders and dusted
the cobwebs from inside her head for the upcoming conversation with
the Queen.

She entered Ada’s chamber and was
struck by the mess. Even with Elvira’s constant cleaning, Ada was a
continual job.

Clara faced the Queen’s back and she
stiffened, just knowing Clara was present brought about the reaction.

Turning, she looked at Clara
critically, then finally nodded. “You look as you should for once.”

Clara nodded. “I came to say
goodbye for one day and night of trading…”

Ada threw her palm up, silencing
Clara. “I have been made aware. And that is acceptable, especially
as you have taken pains to appear royal and not embarrass me with
your typical, foolish dress.”

Clara said nothing.

“Elvira,” Ada barked.

“Yes, my queen,” she said in her
cowed way.

“Do you have the list of parcels
for the Princess?”

Elvira nodded, her hair bouncing
about her shoulders, having come undone from its confines with all
the straightening.

“Fetch it then, servant.”

“Yes, my Queen.”

Clara loathed her mother.

Elvira
brought the list to Clara, and while looking it over noticed a
different thing. “What is this, spirits?”
Clara
looked up sharply, her suspicions confirmed.

“It was Frederic’s suggestion…”
Ada remarked casually.

He wishes to have her drunk with
something stronger than grapes; this would aid his plan of power.

“Are the grapes not enough?”
Clara asked with transparent disdain.

“Watch your tone, Princess.”

Clara waited.

“I tire of wine, methinks spirits
a refreshing distraction.”

Liar,
Clara
thought.

Well, she would not be getting any
spirits on this journey. That thought appeared the happiest of the
day.

Olive entered the Queen’s chamber.
After a low curtsey, she turned to Clara. “Princess, Sarah has
requested your presence.”

“Really?” Ada’s eyes narrowed
and Clara rushed to explain.

“I was compelled to cut our visit
short one night past.”

“That is not what I heard. I was
told that you arrived back at the Royal Manse, half past one this
morn.”

Clara was speechless for a
heartbeat. “We had much to discuss.”

The Queen approached Clara, all
subdued violence-in-motion, her hand moving restlessly over the
strand of pearls she always wore about her neck.

“Do not let your discussions stray
to royal tales, Clara.”

“I will not.”

“
Will
not,
what
?”

“
I
will not,
my
Queen
.”

Ada smiled cruelly, and turned on
her heel, giving a dismissive wave to Clara.

Clara was almost to the door when
she spoke again, never turning, “What will you tell others when
they see your face?”

“That I fell, Queen Ada.”

“Very well.”

And Clara walked out, eternally
grateful to leave the space the Queen occupied.

CHAPTER 18

President Bowen was as distressed as
Bracus over the Princess’s state, but was equally interested as to
why Bracus would have been in close enough proximity to know that the
Princess had been thus abused.

“I do not have a plausible
explanation but I had a feeling of foreboding…”

“One day past?” President Bowen
asked.

Bracus nodded.

Bowen palmed his chin thoughtfully,
bringing it over the front of his face, rubbing back and forth in
irritation while Bracus waited.

“
I
cannot dismiss the relevance of that. I remember very well your
intuition saving us during the
fragment
conflict.”

Still Bracus waited and the silence
drew out.

Finally, Bowen said, “Take half
the Band and extract her.”

Bracus swung around to leave.
“Goodman,” Bowen called after him.

Bracus turned, his body illuminated
by the early morning light that filtered in through the cave’s
entrance.

“Keep the casualties at zero, if
you can.”

“Yes, President Bowen,” his chin
brushing his sternum in a formal nod.

Bracus jogged outside the cave where
Matthew waited, saddled upon his mount, his eyebrows raised in
question.

“He agrees.”

Matthew’s shoulders settled into a
relieved posture.

“We must retrieve four members and
acquire the Princess.”

“Including us?”

Bracus
nodded, “Yes, we must keep a contingent here in our absence. There
have been sightings of the
fragment.”

Bracus
knew that the
fragment
lurked around the perimeters of the clans, searching for the lone
female as easy pickings. Not during his time. It would not happen,
had not happened. He was ever vigilant in securing his clan’s
safety.

Matthew brought him back from his
thoughts. “Let us take our leave and alert the others.”

Bracus mounted his horse, and turned
her, at the same time stroking the animal’s side. Briar Rose was a
fast ride, well trusted. He felt as if they were of one body when he
rode upon her.

****

Bracus made careful selection
amongst the Band. Philip would accompany him, of course and Jack
would stay with Lillian as he would be too much in his head to fight
if it were needed.

He looked at each of the male’s
faces and called out, “Philip, Stephen, Matthew, and Joseph.”

Matthew gave Bracus a hard look.
“Captain Goodman, do you think only five is wise? Did the President
not say…”

“He did. But,” and Bracus held
up a finger, Briar Rose shifting under his weight, “I am not
comfortable leaving the clan with only two of the Band.”

Philip looked sharply at him, his
hand shielding the sunlight from his eyes. “Do you have… a…”

“
Yes.
I am disquieted on both fronts. We need to rescue the Princess and
defend
the clan while the majority of the Band is not here,” Bracus said,
looking at each Band member’s upturned face, except for Matthew, who
was mounted as he.

“We mustn’t return to a
compromised security. This is the only way I can leave and have my
heart stay within my breastbone.”

The Band laid their fists over their
heart and Bracus was moved by their loyalty.

He dismounted and a lad of about ten
and three years took Briar Rose. Bracus turned, telling the boy,
“Please give her the oats and only one cube of sugar… you will
rot her teeth out of her head, boy!” he said in admonition, but
smiled to soften it. That boy took very good care of his mount, who
looked upon him quietly as if she understood she would receive a
treat.

He slapped her on her hindquarters,
making it a long caress at its end, she neighed softly at him as she
was led away to the stable.

There was much to do and Bracus
wished to make the most of it. He gathered up his weapons and a fresh
change of tunic for the journey, storing a soft, cotton blanket in a
tight weave… what else? Ah! He grabbed his flask, filling it with
the salt. It would not have done to forget that! Which reminded him
to go to Evelyn and see how she fared with the hot water.

Bracus approached the cistern with a
swinging bucket resting atop. Evelyn gave him her charming smile, her
hair tied with a single, blue ribbon of satin.

“Captain,” she curtsied.

“Evelyn… how fare you?”

“Very well this day,” she said,
smiling through platinum hairs which escaped their tether.

He smiled and held up his flask,
which she frowned at and Bracus raised his eyebrows.

“Is it the flask that is lined
with duck?”

He nodded and she sighed with
relief. “Good, this will need to be very hot to dissolve the salt
and…” she mimed twirling the whole lot of it, “needs to be
shaken about like this,” she did it again, “to keep the salt from
settling at the bottom and hardening like the clay beneath our feet.”

Bracus looked down at the dirt floor
of his clan and did agree. It was heavily trod upon and acted almost
like the cobblestone paths and roads he had seen outside of the clan,
where vines grew rampant over everything the eye could see.

He grabbed the flask away from her
and she held on, not letting go until he gave her a good tickle.
Finally, she gave in clutching her ribs and giggling as he captured
his prize. An important one, as it held the key to the penetration of
the sphere.

The
sphere which held the special female,
his
female
his mind whispered. His heart sped in anticipation of rescuing her.
For that was what it now was. It was no simple acquisition mission.
Not that it ever had been simple. He now had her safety to secure as
well. Who preyed upon her? And where were her protectors? Bracus
thought yet again as he said goodbye to Evelyn.

He strode to Briar Rose, the lad
Jonathan, gently holding the bridle, being mindful of her mouth.
Bracus grabbed the reigns, tossing them over her neck with slack, he
stuffed one leather encased foot in the stirrup and heaved his body
on the saddle, settling in comfortably.

The Band looked at Bracus and he
looked at who he left behind. They would be the protectors in their
comrades’ absence. It should be sufficient he told himself. But his
gut churned and his intuition flared to life, whispering to him it
was not a perfect solution.

They nudged their horses’ sides and
the great beasts sprang to life, taking the path that had been trod
so often before. That which led outside the clan gates and into the
forest below.

CHAPTER 19

Clara clutched Sarah in her arms,
both women not wanting to say goodbye. Finally, Sarah pulled away and
looked into Clara’s face. “You are doing what is right, Princess.”

“Do not call me thus, I do not
deserve the title.”

“Clara, our People do not wish for
your death. And that is what this would be, if you stayed,” Sarah
said, a finger tracing first Clara’s lip then the swollen lump which
made her eye a fraction of its normal size.

Clara sighed. “I am glad that you
think so highly of me, it will take some doing for me to share your
esteem.”

“It may not be as long as you
think, once things settle here…”

“Or if they do not?” Clara said,
anger slipping into her tone.

“We will not revisit this
conversation, it is circular as well you know.”

Clara did.

Charles said, “We must go.”

The women looked at him, sighing
then Clara nodded.

Sarah and Charles embraced each
other and she said, “Take care of her, Charles.”

He looked insulted. “You know that
I will.”

“I must say the words.”

Charles laid his hand on her
shoulder, looking down into her earnest face. “I know, we are all
on edge. We will see you sometime.”

“Yes sometime,” Sarah said
sadly.

Clara ran to her again, skirt
pouring behind her, all but flinging herself in Sarah’s arms. “Do
not weep for me, there will not be one day that I do not think of you
and all that you have been to me.”

“And I, you,” Sarah said through
a voice choked by emotion.

Charles separated them and pulled
her out of Sarah’s vestibule, with no definitive time of returning.

****

Clarence
saw Charles’ tall form and that of the Princess in her royal attire
and fought his emotions. He was the main guard at the intersection of
the trade tunnel and their sphere, and felt derelict in his duties.
Yet,
after Charles had explained the Princess’ plight, he felt honor-bound
to assist them.

And as she drew near, the evidence
of the violence divested upon her stood out in stark relief. Her
glorious eyes, usually filled with fire and good humor, were now
tight with anxiety and one of them almost swollen shut. Prince
Frederic should be put out of his misery, Clarence thought, not for
the first time.

“Greetings, Princess,” Clarence
said, bowing low.

“
Please
Clarence,
Clara
is fine. The Queen is not here to notice in any event.”

Clarence contained his expression of
shock as Clara’s face came into view as the light grew brighter at
this junction of the sphere. However, she noticed some of the dismay
he could not contain and self-consciously covered her face in shame,
a small hand in front of the damaged eye.

Charles took her hand away. “It is
I that should be ashamed, as I could not aid you, not you. Never
you.”

“Princess, he is less than a man
for having hurt you,” Clarence added in agreement.

“I could do nothing, and that is
what shames me, not the beating.”

They heard the hissing at the same
moment and looked as the tunnel seams released steam to the Outside.
That happened at the top of each hour. And sure enough, the time
piece that hung, suspended from its copper housing, clanged two
chimes, the gears moving almost soundlessly below the crystal.

“The hour draws near for my
replacement to relieve me.”

Charles was already searching
through his knapsack and finally came out with a small crystal vial
with cork for a cap.