The Pearl Savage (30 page)

“My Queen,” the guard dropped to
his knee before her.

She rolled her eyes. “Stand.”

He stood, his guarded eyes assessing
her mood and finding it foul, as usual.

“You will be in charge of these
documents,” flinging her hand in Ernest’s direction.

“
Yes,
my Queen,” he said with gravity. What he really knew, looking at
Ernest, who nodded with a bob of his head, was
he
would pay with his life if they left his sight or he guided them
wrong. Or, if the Princess was not recovered.

He had a dim hope that something
good would come of this. But like the other guards, he knew that
without the princess’ involvement in the kingdom, they were utterly
lost. The Queen wished to drink from the cup and the Prince of
Kentucky was a tyrant bent on reigning through fear, threats and
abuse. How he wished for the days under Kind Raymond. Henry hoped
that they could recover the Princess and put her where she belonged.
Selfishly, he knew that the Prince was the very worst match for her.
From what he had heard from the guards who were on shift the prior
eve, the prince was a danger to the Princess as well.

There was no easy solution.

The
Queen observed the machinations of Henry and did not care for a guard
that thought overly much. She preferred her guards simpler. Ada had
been fortunate not to have Henry or other guards like him that night
when Clara had needed discipline
.

“Leave us,” the Queen said,
dismissing Ernest by turning her back on him.

He glanced nervously at her back
then at Henry. Finally he shuffled to Henry, keeping a wide berth
around the queen and handing the maps off to him. Henry nodded to
Ernest as his departure kicked up dust from the floor of the tunnel.

Henry called over the guard who had
the salt solution then turned to the Queen. “The sphere’s wall is
but a vapor now, my Queen. May I restate my earlier opinion that
a…” he began.

She cut him off with an impatient
wave of her hand, “Your opinions have been duly noted and I care
not. Obviously, our need for protection from the Outside air has been
greatly exaggerated. Mayhap the Guardians were not so benign after
all.”

Henry sucked in his breath, she had
overstepped herself. Such blasphemy was inexcusable.

She smiled slyly at him. “Fear
not, the Guardians have not been a presence these one hundred forty
years past. I do not quibble with things that are no longer real.”

Henry felt they were very real
considering the advancements that kept their sphere and the other
nineteen running seamlessly. The spheres themselves were also a
marvel. Could she not see the importance of it all? He loathed her
for her purposeful ignorance.

“We will traverse this wall, we
will follow the trail of my disobedient daughter and her cohort. Do
you wish to contradict me in this, guard?” she stepped into his
personal space, so close that their chests were almost touching.

He stood his ground, keeping his
gaze respectful with an effort. She took the challenge of civility
seriously.

“I thought not,” she said
triumphantly.

He wished to strike her.

Her thoughtlessness for the people
of the sphere a palpable disregard.

She smiled at him, some of what he
felt must leak out of the pores of his skin, he could not contain it
all. His allegiance to the kingdom lay firmly with the dead monarch,
not the living one. And in the future it would most certainly be with
Princess Clara; that was his fervent wish.

The guard who Henry had called stood
before him and he nodded. The Queen watched from his side as a large
glass canister was emptied of its contents in one smooth movement and
flick of the wrist.

It splattered across the surface of
the tunnel wall, now thrice compromised, a thing of terrible beauty
damaged forever. It no longer hissed but began to evaporate at a
maddening pace. The once opaque iridescence dissolving to the
Outside. The wind and smell of a million different things in a nature
Henry had never experienced, assaulted his senses.

It was overwhelming.

He looked over at the Queen and saw
that she was similarly stunned. The other guards shifted around
nervously. Finally, after a few long minutes, the Queen’s royal guard
led their stout horses through the portal into the Outside, the
sunlight streaming down upon them.

The heat from the orb lit upon their
skin with a vibrant warmth that instantly cheered Henry, his very
marrow awakening. He thought regardless of circumstance that he would
like the experience. Very much. The smells of the Outside were like
tasting food in his nose. Impossibly rich.

Henry
immediately surveyed his surroundings, looking for the clues of other
humans and found many. His frown deepened. The meadow grass had many
imprints, but of varying size, depth and type
.

He
knew the footprints of the
savages
by
sheer size alone. The leathers that they wore were distinctive as
well. An odd configuration possibly meant for traction graced the
soil in the soft earth. Henry was internally relieved that no rain
had fallen since Clara was taken. That would have ruined the trail.
He placed his shoe next to indentations of the
savages’
prints
and saw theirs were thirty percent longer and half that more wide.
They were formidable in size, the
savages.

He
looked up at Queen Ada from his crouch and he could see that she
understood his advice for the entire
guard
had
not been unfounded.

They looked at each other for a
swollen moment. Henry stood, looking at the guards on their mounts.
He gave the signal with his finger that they needed to spread out,
twirling it once, twice. One guard stayed behind, the Queen pulled
behind his horse in a contraption most odd. But it saved her
sensibilities and her wine was within reach as well.

She spoke to him almost on a level
equal with he, lifting her flask, she used it to gesture at him.
“What say you? How much longer?”

Henry
held a neutral expression as she took a very un-royal like pull from
the flask. “I do not know. However, they would have
had
to seek shelter somewhere nearby. They sought a place with cover,
water… seclusion.” he shrugged. “Mayhap, it will be eight hours
hence to reach such a place.”

Henry unrolled one of the scrolled
maps looking at it intently. One such water source could be clearly
seen. Perhaps it was the source of the Great Lake that the pearls
were harvested from. He shoved that thought away for future
reflection. He had not time to think on speculations.

Ada narrowed her eyes on him,
glaring. He understood that she wished to find Clara but he could not
instantly transport them to the proper location. He was as new to
this terrain as she.

“Let us make haste,” she said.

Henry nodded. Finally she would be
silent and let them begin the journey.

He walked over to his guards and
they all took turns looking at the map, discussing the different
routes. They decided on bedding down adjacent to the water source,
which looked to be some kind of stream or small river. Possibly
feeding into the Ohio he decided.

He jogged back to where the Queen
was and conveyed the plan.

“Fine,” she said tersely, taking
another pull from her wine flask. “Fill this, Henry. I become
thirsty and need additional quenching.”

He turned, sighing quietly to
himself… ghastly royal.

Henry
poured the wine from the larger flask into the smaller then added
some spirits. He would get the Queen drunk enough so that she passed
out.
That would be
merciful to the guard,
he
thought, adding a bit more
.

Turning, he handed over the flask
and she tore it out of his grip without acknowledgment.

She reclined in her odd contraption,
equal parts leather and wood. The cage-like creation of hammered
copper with brass fittings held her in a half egg metal cocoon piled
with cushions in the interior. Steam hissed to provide light when it
was needed, hanging off a brass hook which shimmered like gold in the
sunlight.

The steam canister would not last
for more than a fore-night but Henry was grateful for the light it
would provide for their first night Outside.

The horses began to climb the hill
toward the Great Forest, the Queen’s lantern catching the light and
refracting it in a million diamonds across the unknown terrain of the
Outside.

****

Prince Frederic and his guard looked
through convex lenses attached to a heavy contraption that fit snug
on the head. A sight magnifier that swiveled between an upright
position above the forehead and one which covered the eyes. In the
locked position it allowed distance-viewing. In the upright position
your vision was your own.

The Prince had a perfect view of the
Queen and her guard entering the woods.

Exactly what he planned.

He flipped up the lenses, pleased to
see the momentary reflection of himself. He was quite handsome and
knew it.

He turned to Jabez, the First Royal
Guard. “We advance one hour hence. I wish to ambush them after they
have bedded down here.” he pointed to his own map and his lenses
flipped down as his head bent forward. He slapped them impatiently
back in place until he heard them click into the fixed position.

Jabez
looked down at where the Prince was pointing and noted it was
adjacent to a creek or stream. He straightened, nodding. This whole
quest made him uneasy. He was certain that King Otto was also
nervous. If the Queen survived the royal spheres would be at war and
that
the
Kingdom of Kentucky did not desire. Better to place blame on the
savages
then capture both kingdoms. He was not certain that this was the best
way.

Jabez glanced around him, he did not
like the Outside with its strange smells and noises and it was
disturbingly open as well. He also did not like the obsessive
quality his prince had toward Princess Clara. It was not the first
time that he had thought the prince mad and no small amount either.
His sphere did not see a great deal of royal out breeding and most
likely the prince had suffered genetically because of it. Yes, there
was more to the alliance of Princess Clara and Prince Frederic. More
than Queen Ada and Princess Clara ever realized.

Like not having insane royals.

He rolled up the map and retied it
with its leather tether, watching his Prince as he strode about
barking orders self-importantly. The horses that the guard sat upon
shifted their hooves nervously in the soft dirt. They had never been
outside the sphere either; their senses were overwhelmed by the
newness of everything.

Jabez
had counted the Queen’s guard at ten. Why their monarch insisted upon
going, he did not know. A Queen needed to stay in the sphere. With
her daughter likely captured by the
savages,
she
could not have been thinking clearly. Or her advisers were daft. She
may have not listened to her advisers. She struck Jabez as stubborn
and cruel.

Jabez and the guard were mounted and
ready, keeping a discreet distance behind the Queen’s guard.

They were confident in their plan of
attack and eventual acquisition of Princess Clara.

CHAPTER 32

Clara woke gradually to rhythmic
movement, a swaying sensation. She opened her eyes and saw the
underside of a very masculine jaw.

Reality and memories rushed upon her
in a confusing slush. It was Matthew who had taken her from the clan,
from her new women friends. She was a ship without oars being steered
by a male without regard for her welfare.

Her future prospects were bleak.

Matthew became aware of the female’s
change in breathing and knew when she woke. He slowed his running to
something that was not so jarring.

He stopped underneath a deep canopy
of trees, moss springy underneath his leathers. He looked around and
noticed a dry area where the moss seemed less green and took Clara
there, gently lying her down.

Clara looked at him and moved
backward on her hands and legs until she felt her back meet the bark
of the nearest tree, eying him warily. She had never given him great
regard, with the chaos of the past days, just getting proper food and
rest being foremost on her mind. Now she belatedly realized he should
have had her full attention. She looked him over closely. He was as
tall as Bracus, but fiercer of expression. What she had thought of
as anger, when he had gazed at her while she was safely encapsulated
in the sphere, she now understood to be some kind of intense
indifference.

As if he willed himself not to care.

He spoke to her, “Do not try to
run.”

She shrugged. “And where,
dear
sir,
would I go? Where would I go and you not catch me and
assault me further?”

He
took a step nearer to her and she instantly regretted her flippant
comment. He was huge in the way of the other
savages
and
could easily harm her. Slowly, if he so chose.

He
saw her eyes widen in fear and hesitated. Matthew was still unsure of
what to do with her. His plan had been so full, so sure. And now? All
he could see were those swimming aquamarine eyes and feel the heat of
her when she touched his bare skin. He hated her power over him
.
Mayhap
it was not a conscious thing on her part. After all, if she were
select
it would not be something she could help.