The Pearl Savage (17 page)

The liquid gleamed inside the vial,
Charles also extracted a decanter with something in it.

Clarence raised his brows.

“Wine. We ‘shared’ a glass before
you saw us through the first milepost.”

“Clever.”

“I thought so.”

“Oh! You two, you make me nervous,
get on with it.”

They looked at her, her hands white
from clenched tension, their self-congratulation lost in the brevity
of the circumstance.

Humor disappearing, Charles solemnly
poured a small amount in the wine decanter. Handing it to Clarence,
who took it and brought it to his lips, downing the entire flask.

Giving it back to Charles he asked,
“How long?”

“I do not know, but soon.”

Clarence nodded and sat upon the
chair pulled up closely to the small table that was high and narrow.
Upon it was the ledger of the comings and goings of all who passed to
and fro the Kingdom of Ohio.

Clara and Charles stared at
Clarence, his eyelids heavy. Finally, they drooped closed, and
Charles approached him, catching him as he slipped from the chair.
“Clarence, Clarence, wake up!”

The twilight drug had worked. Now
Clarence was safe from prosecution, the blame placed squarely on
their shoulders.

****

They moved quickly through the
tunnel, making haste. There would be a rest station only a mile ahead
but Charles wished for distance. They needed to arrive at the
least-heavily trafficked part of the tunnel, then use the salt
mixture to penetrate the sphere wall.

Clara was literally gasping for
breath, the clothes she wore a hindrance, the corset constricting her
breathing. The crown gleamed like a living thing atop her head.

Charles had stopped to allow a brief
rest with water; Clara and he guzzling the lot of it like thieves in
the desert.

“I am so tired,” Clara said,
dangerously close to complaining.

“It is not much further, Clara,”
Charles replied in a calmer voice than he felt.

He drew her body into the circle of
his arms and she gradually stilled, wrapping her arms around his
waist, resting her head on his breastbone. “Thank you for coming
with me. I feel safer with you. And thank you for not hating me.”

Charles pulled back, looking down
into her injured face. “I could never hate you. Do not say such.
You cannot help who you were born to any more than anyone. We are
righting an injustice.”

Charles was not entirely convinced
that she believed him.

They replaced the glass bottles of
water in the knapsacks. Charles checked his timepiece, thinking that
Clarence’s replacement would arrive at three o’clock and they needed
to breach the sphere at the same time.

Ten minutes hence.

He grabbed Clara’s hand and they
hurried on.

****

Bracus rode hard, the Band flanking
him, Briar Rose a sleek machine beneath him, her breath labored but
steady. As the trees thinned on either side and the path narrowed,
Bracus slowed, pressing his thighs into her sides, gently squeezing.
Briar Rose slowed to a trot, then a walk, stopping as the crest of
the hill came into view.

The Band dismounted, leading the
horses to a small stream which flowed along the interior forest
border. They drank greedy gulps, their sides heaving from the fifteen
mile ride.

Philip came to stand beside Bracus,
putting one hand up to shield his eyes as he looked upon the sun,
ascertaining its position in the sky. “Mayhap two hours past noon.”

“No, I say near three.” Philip
leveled a look at Bracus.

Stephen sighed. “We do not have
time for sibling rivalry about the time Captain.”

Bracus did not need to be reminded
of his duties and turned his penetrating stare to Stephen who threw
up his hands, stalking away.

Tempers were short.

Bracus knew that much depended on
the success of this mission. He sighed, turning to Philip. “We let
the horses have their fill and tether them here.” Bracus indicated
the pole they had fashioned for their exploration outside the forest
perimeter.

Philip grinned, giving Bracus’
shoulder a hard clap.

Matthew approached the pair, his
solemn expression unchanged as always. “What is next?”

Bracus outlined the strategy to
Joseph, Philip, Matthew and Stephen. Matthew asked thoughtful
questions, but it was Joseph who asked the most intelligent, “What
if she is guarded?”

“We assumed until most recently,
that she would be under heavy guard because of her stature in the
hierarchy of the kingdom. Now, we are not sure what is happening,”
Bracus shrugged.

Philip said, “It is best for
preparedness. Let us assume that she will be under heavy guard.”

“Our females would be!” Stephen
scoffed.

“
That
is our way, our necessity, but
sphere-dwellers
…”
Joseph trailed off with disdain.

“We will have answers soon enough.
Let us keep our speculations and curiosities in the back of our
minds. We do not need to be inside our heads this day, but cognizant
of the dangers,” Bracus said.

Their heads almost touching, leaning
over the mock dirt map of approach that Bracus had outlined, they
stood, straightening their posture. Philip rotated his massive neck,
the muscles bunching and releasing with the movement. Joseph placed
one of his hands on the opposite elbow, stretching the arm behind his
head, then doing the same for the opposing side.

The Band was restless.

They were ready.

CHAPTER 20

Clara could see the rest stop just
ahead, nothing more than a distended crescent along the wall of the
sphere. It afforded a bench, towel and a spigot which stood three
feet above ground, fed by the underwater copper piping that had been
laid by the Guardians over a hundred years past.

As Charles and she approached, she
was grateful for the sight of the slender, copper pipe, its goose
neck posture a welcome view.

“It will be divine to have another
spot of water,” Clara said gratefully. Her sides were burning and
her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth.

Charles nodded, gaining his bearings
as he looked Outside; everything looked as it always did, the Great
Forest Outside a familiar flag post. Turning, he dug for the water
bottles again, and filling them, he saw that the cleanse had been
most recent as the water from the spigot was still chilled.

Clara accepted her water with a
smile, and careful not to gulp, consumed about half. The glorious
water slid down her throat like a salve.

Vaguely, Clara became aware of
approaching footsteps, but was unconcerned, they came from the
neighboring kingdom. It would be at least another hour before
additional guards were sent to see why Clarence was in a sleep from
which he could not wake. And what of it? Charles and she would be
well and away Outside.

Clara felt the first stirring of
excitement swell inside her. Even as the circumstances were dire, it
would still fulfill her fondest wish: to see the Outside.

Charles set his water down, concern
riding his face. “I do not like this.”

“It is fine, just neighboring
people traveling on trade day.”

“But we must concoct a deception
and dispatch them immediately. We cannot afford to appear…”

“We will not, do not worry.”

Charles looked down at her face and
she squeezed his arm, the brushed cotton of his blouse a familiar
texture beneath her palm.

The group rounded the corner and
Clara’s heart fell to her feet: it was Prince Frederic and his royal
guard.

****

Bracus and the others lined up at
the swell of the hill where the forest met the open valley below,
quivers filled and riding high on their muscular backs, the bows
strung to their sides.

It was some distance but he thought
he could make out the tunnel which led from the main sphere. The
place that the
sphere-dwellers
used to trade goods with one
another and travel.

Philip turned to him. “Why do we
go here? Should we not acquire her at her chamber? That is where you
have seen her before.” he said, his face set in puzzled hard
angles.

Bracus shook his head. “No, we
enter at the place that has the least of them.” He pointed to a
point one-third from where the main body of the sphere met the travel
tunnel, steam escaping in lazy spirals. “We will infiltrate here,”
he unsheathed an arrow, pointing to a place that bowed out slightly
from the tunnel.

Matthew summarized the plan, “We
will enter there, retrace our steps, overtake their lone guard and
enter the main body.”

Bracus nodded.

Stephen said, “We may meet
resistance on our approach.”

“Yes,” Joseph said. “But,
Bracus has said we will escape from her chamber, and they would be
reluctant to follow; too busy with filling the hole we have created.”
He held up his flask with the salt mixture that each Band member had.
Things may occur out of the scope of their expectations, better to be
prepared.

Joseph was of sound mind. They all
were.

Bracus nodded, time to be about it.
The Band carefully looked about them and Bracus gave the special
call. The war call.

The shrill, ringing tone carried
along atop the light breeze like music on the wind.

CHAPTER 21

“
Well,
well… my little Princess and her
friend
are here, how convenient for me,” Prince Frederic said, a knowing
smile overtaking his face.

Charles pulled Clara behind him with
a firm hand on her wrist.

Clara told herself that they were
doing nothing wrong, that the Prince knew what they were about. That
she had told him they traveled this day for trading with the Kingdom
of West Virginia. But his face… his face told a different tale…
and she knew not what it was.

“Did you think I was so stupid
that I would not check on your plans? Your travel plans with this
fool,” he said in a furious voice that shook with rage, sparing a
glance at Charles, who stiffened.

Clara tried to step around Charles
to address the prince, but Charles said, “Do not.”

“Prince Frederic, you knew of the
Princess’s plans to trade this day, what has provoked your ire?”
Clara bunched her hand in the fabric of Charles’ blouse, the heat of
his body seeping into hands that had grown cold.

“We left a sentry behind,”
Prince Frederic said as explanation.

Clara’s thoughts turned to Clarence.
One of the Prince’s guard must have come upon Clarence…

Clara, once so adept at containing
her expression had allowed some of what she was feeling to show on
her face.

The Prince smiled. “I see by your
expression you understand what I mean. Search them,” waving a
dismissive hand in their direction.

The salt.

Charles thoughts raced,
how could
he extradite them from this now?
Obviously, the sentry had come
upon Clarence and communicated this to the Prince. And although he
may not know exactly their plan, he must assume it did not include
him or the kingdom that Frederic coveted.

Prince Frederic had four guards with
him, all of similar size to Charles, he noted with grim uneasiness.

He must protect Clara at all costs.

Charles gave over the knapsack to
the guard, the hilt of a hidden dirk lay at the small of his back,
the element of surprise may be enough. He had been in training these
many years to eventually be in the royal guard, he would need every
ounce of that training now.

****

Prince Frederic approached Clara
slowly, a shark testing the waters, and she stayed behind Charles,
the guards busy ransacking their things.

One of the guards lifted the flask,
opening it, he gave it a whiff, moving his palm back and forth over
the top, smelling the contents.

He lifted his head. “Salt, Your
Highness.”

Prince Frederic came very near
Charles and Clara, Charles eyes following each step. “Now what,
pray tell, might you want with salt? Diluted salt at that?” he
said, eyes narrowing.

“To breach the sphere is to be
executed, you are aware, Princess.”

He looked her over very carefully,
taking in her royal attire, her crown, the vestiges of which lay
awkwardly upon her.

“Very wise to wear your proper
royal garb. But it will not save you, for I know what you are about.
Your costume did not fool me.”

And with that, he reached his hand
out, wrapping it around Clara’s wrist, moving the bones together
within the steel band of his grip as Charles shouted, “No!” at
the same time releasing her other wrist, Charles smashed the flat of
his palm in the Prince’s face, and blood sprayed in a graceless arc.

He did not hesitate, grabbing the
dirk from the small of his back, slashing in a tight, backhanded arc
toward the neck of the closest guard at the same time the other guard
grabbed his free arm. The first guard lay dying upon the ground, his
mortal wound spilling his lifeblood upon the dirt floor of the
tunnel. While Charles grappled with the guard who lay hold of his
weaponless arm and buried the dirk in his upper chest. Staggering
back, hand on the hilt, the guard gave a surprised, wide-eyed glance
at Charles, who dismissed him. His full attention on the remaining
two guards and now he was without the dirk.

“I think we shall have some sport.
Guards, detain this man and make him watch while I teach my betrothed
the lessons herein.”

Clara struggled in earnest then,
knowing the beating she had suffered would pale in comparison to
what she was afraid he meant.

Frederic shoved Clara down to the
dirt floor, where she landed on her back, the wind whooshing from her
lungs. She struggled to get up, the stays in the corset like
unyielding bones which stymied her progress.