He rode with her to join Leogane where the king would have her explain her role more clearly.

  "You are good with the crossbow," she finally said, riding the dark arts knight's mount.

  "You are good with a sword. Did you come on foot?" He couldn't imagine how she could have come from the castle and kept up with them. But maybe that was another of her special talents. A fast and quiet runner.

  "My horse is off that way. I had him leave me so he wouldn't be injured by the dark arts knights."

  "He is not trained for combat then?"

  "He is. But he is indispensable. I would not risk his life when I am fighting for my own."

  He pondered that for a moment, thinking that a knight without a horse would be at a disadvantage in battle. But she wasn't a knight. "Do all warriors like yourself protect their mounts as you do?"

  "I would hope so. They are excellent transportation and great companionship."

  "Because you go it alone." That's what Artur had heard about them, anyway.

  "When it takes only one warrior to get the job done? Aye." She frowned at him. "Why are you out here alone?"

  "I came to investigate the sword fight I thought I'd heard. Leogane and the others are on their way to the healer's hut."

  "Have some of your people been wounded?"

  "Nay, but the princess was looking unwell and he was taking her there. If you"—he paused, thinking to ask her why she hadn't been at the castle, but maybe she had come from another direction and had just learned the princess was no longer there—"weren't at the castle, how did you come to be here? And who hired you to protect the princess? Her uncle, the king? Someone else?" He couldn't imagine it would be the count, if the dark arts knights had been sent by him.

  "Sometimes we are hired. Sometimes we hear rumors about situations that are wrong that need to be righted. In this case, I'd heard tales about a princess locked in a tower. Against her will? I had to investigate."

  "And you found?"

  "She was. She claims her uncle murdered her father."

  Artur considered Rina's words. Leogane had said nothing to him or his advisor about this, and he hadn't heard anything about it either through courtiers' gossip. He wondered if the warrior was wrong—or if she was correct. He wondered, if Leogane already knew, or if not, and the story was true, what he would do. He was a fair sort of man, but he could be ruthless when he needed to be.

  "You didn't know?" Rina asked, as if she knew for sure that the deed had been done, when she'd just said she'd come here to see for herself if any of this was true.

  The princess's uncle had told Leogane to watch out for the princess's lies. That she could be very convincing. Leogane had warned his men about it, so they wouldn't be taken in by the princess's mistruths.

  "Her uncle says she lies."

  "Her uncle would."

  Artur realized the warrior could be right. If the uncle had murdered Mirabella's father, and she had witnessed it, the easiest way to silence her was to lock her in a tower and tell everyone of import that the princess did not speak the truth. Who would believe the princess over the king?

  "Do you believe her then?" Artur asked.

  "I believe that she should be heard and not locked in a tower to keep her from voicing her concerns. I didn't have time to speak with her for very long before Leogane took her on this journey."

  "So you were there when we first arrived?" Now that surprised Artur, having thought Rina had missed seeing the princess at the castle and had met up with them on the road. So where had she been? And why hadn't she been with the princess the whole time—if she was supposed to protect her. None of it made any sense.

  "I had been there, but I couldn't reach the princess after that. Once I had my horse, I hurried to catch up to the party, heard the fighting on the road, but before I could help, I was attacked in the woods."

  "You were not traveling on the road? It would have taken less time. You would have caught up with us sooner." That didn't make any sense either.

  "It is a warrior's way. Do you know how many times travelers are waylaid by robbers on a road?"

  "Often. But we are heavily armed knights."

  "But I wasn't with you at the time. I was trying to catch up to you. So I would have been on the road alone."

  He glanced back in the direction where she had successfully beaten the dark arts knights.

  She nodded. "I avoid the roads and eliminate them, if necessary, out in the woods where they are hiding, ready to attack the unsuspecting traveler. I don't wear the heavy armor that knights wear. I have to protect myself in the best way I can."

  ‘Twas true Mirabella had never been outside her chamber before, except when she’d managed to escape, but only to be caught on the first floor of the castle, and ‘twas true she wasn’t used to all the strange sounds of the forest, but there was something more to Mirabella’s distress than that. She’d heard whispered words when no one else had seemed to hear them. She heard the men scouting up ahead speaking to each other from time to time, joking with each other about her unsuitability to their lord, betting whether he would wed her or his advisor’s daughter.

  Her stomach grew cold with the notion. For too many years she’d lived in veritable isolation, but being with people now did not improve her life. She’d wanted to escape her captivity, but most of all, she wanted to right a wrong, to punish her uncle for murdering her father and stealing the crown, to rule the kingdom herself, not like the tyrant he was, but as a good ruler like she’d overheard their people say her father had been.

  It seemed an impossibility. She hadn’t wanted the aggressors to slay her escort, yet she had not wanted the “enemy” killed either. She’d sworn that the count had whispered her name, saying he wanted her and desired to bring her home to her mother’s people.

  Glancing at Leogane, she found him watching her. He seemed concerned for her welfare, which dissolved some of her animosity for him.

  The savage fighting hadn’t bothered her as much as the whispered words that had filled her head, or the strange fact that her hearing seemed to be growing more sensitive by the day. It made her think she was losing her mind.

  Closing her eyes, she listened to a mammal lapping at a stream nearby, and heard a bird of prey whoosh down to the forest floor, snatching a squeaking mouse in its wicked talons. When she opened her eyes, she expected to see the mammal and the bird, but neither were anywhere in sight. She had never had this acute sense of hearing before either, not until a few nights ago.

  At first, she had ignored it, or tried to.

  But when she’d stood at her window back at Mayden Castle, she’d even begun to hear the soldiers complain about how boring their jobs were while they surveyed the surrounding land from the wall walk encircling the inner bailey. Even on still days when there was no breeze to carry their voices. Even on windy days when the air circulated well away from the castle. Was it a magic user’s gift? Was it because she was nearly twenty?

  She heard no more whispers in the woods, other than the low talking of some of their escort, some fearing the enemy were magic users. A ripple of chills cascaded down her arms and she pulled her black cloak tighter.

  The last time she’d ridden a horse she had been seven. Riding the horse seemed easy enough, and the four-legged beast seemed to take to her at once. The first critter she’d ever had the chance to befriend. She’d never even been allowed to pet the dogs in the great hall. She wondered if she might be able to win Justina over now that the girl was no longer under Phiri’s or the guards’ influence. She needed an ally, no matter who the person was. She’d heard fighting off in the woods and thought it possibly was Rina and her force of warriors. She prayed if it was, they were uninjured during the battle.

  Once they stopped at the healer’s hut—as it seemed the king intended for Mirabella to ride at his side until that time—she would speak to the girl and find out all she could about her uncle’s court and attempt to make friends with her.

  She glanced at the king and observed him further. Despite the scar that ran across his cheek, she found him to be a handsome man, though he was far too irritating to be her husband. Not only that, she would never agree to be any man’s wife who was devoted to serving her uncle. The king turned to look at her, and she quickly looked away, her cheeks heating.

  He scoffed. “It seems your cheeks are no longer a sickly gray, but have a rosy color to them now, my lady.”

  “’Tis the chill in the air, Your Grace.”

  “Ah. You have not told me why you remained in your chamber.”

  Glaring at him, she said, “You are the king’s loyal vassal. You serve him whether he has done wrong or not. Would it matter to you what he has done to me? To my father? You will agree that he had just cause, or not believe me at all.”

  Leogane stared at her in surprise, but for several minutes didn’t respond. Was it because he was a king himself and didn’t like to hear her say what she truly thought of him? Or he was being careful to choose the proper words in response? Either that or he thought she was a liar. Then her heart sank. Her uncle would say as much about her, because once she was released from her prison, she would tell the world about her mistreatment. He couldn’t afford to have a vassal lord suddenly turn on him to seek vengeance for his wife’s abuse and her father’s murder.

  “No matter what I say, you will not believe me.”

  For a moment, he didn’t reply. Then finally, he nodded and looked away.

  That hurt worse than the time her uncle took a handful of rushes to her back, angered because she’d called him a murderer, whipping her until she had passed out. She would never submit to her uncle. Never apologize for what she knew in her heart was true.

  She longed for someone to care about her, to avenge her father’s death, but Leogane would never be that man.

  I care, the wind whispered, the sound darkly seductive, strangely close, yet far away. She whipped her head around and saw nothing. She knew then she was losing her mind. Unless it was the warrior elf who had come to her tower room to aid her.

  7

  As Rina and Artur rode their horses to see King Leogane, she knew she had to help the princess so that she could make her own choices in life. She just hoped there wasn't a whole lot of bloodshed over this. She was all about helping those who needed help, obtaining peace without bloodshed if she could, but she knew a dark wind had been blowing this day and something evil was in the works.

  She thought it didn't have anything to do with King Leogane, but with the other—the one who wanted Mirabella but would send his men to kill King Leogane and his knights. Someone in the shadows, striking at the heart of the princess's escort. Rina had to side with someone, beyond just the princess, if they were to win this battle.

  And Rina was staking her life on Leogane.

  Rina heard the men on horseback approaching Leogane's men and she needed to take a stand—again. Artur, who was riding nearby her, shouted to the king and his men in the distance, “They are coming!”

  She was afraid that these new knights might win against Leogane’s one of these times, and she wouldn't be able to rescue the princess. She moved in quickly to kill the first of the men. She was certain they were created by a dark arts druid. To kill them, they had to remove their heads or pierce their hearts. Doing anything less to them would be fruitless. She leapt to a tree branch onto the back of one of the aggressor's horses and removed the knight’s head before he could cry out. Then she rode after another as she heard Leogane's men call out, repeating what Artur had already said, that more of the enemy was coming.

  She swung her sword at the next of the men as she quickly rode up on him, the rest of the dark arts knights believing the riderless horse was just running with them. She had to use renegade tactics against such a force and it certainly worked for her. She beheaded him and rode toward the next one maneuvering around the branches of a tree and did the same to him, lopping his head off and he fell to the ground. His helmet rolled away from his head and all that was left of his head was dust.

  Thankfully, Artur was making his own impact on slaying the knights.

  Then there were only two more left, but bolts from Leogane's archers’ crossbows struck the last two aggressors in the heart and they fell.

  "I am with the princess!" Rina shouted, hoping that Leogane's men didn't shoot her on sight. She was riding one of the attacker's horses with the saddle that was just the same as the others. "I killed the others that were coming to attack you!" Well and Artur assisted, but he could make his own claims.

  “She’s with me,” Artur said, surprising her.

  "She's with me," the princess shouted, looking grateful that Rina had arrived to aid her.

  "Who are you?" the king asked, allowing her to join them, but a couple of his men still had swords ready in the event she wasn't who she professed to be.

  "Rina, warrior shadow elf of a long line of warrior elves, cousin to Dracolin, Warrior Chief. I'd learned the princess had been imprisoned at her uncle's castle and had come to free her."

  "It's true, she did," the princess said.

  Artur was beside Rina, not disputing what she said, just listening in.

  "Who do you work for?" the king asked, his eyes narrowed. He didn't believe her, not that she was surprised. She had come in behind two of the enemy knights and hadn't appeared to be with the princess. If she was, why hadn't she been with her from the beginning?

  "No one. When I heard the rumors, I had to learn if it was true. Which I did discover was the truth. Then you came along and messed up my whole plan."

  The king smiled. "You and who else?"

  "No one else. Sometimes it's easier to slip in and slip away with the person you're aiding, rather than bringing a huge show of force."

  "True."

  "She's with us," Artur repeated. "At least she's not against us. She has killed several of these knights already."

  "Aye, and I'm here to protect the princess further. Do you know who these men work for?" Rina asked.

  "Vladek as far as we know. We were attacked en route to pick up the princess. Where had you intended to take her, had you made it out of the tower before we arrived?" the king asked her as they began to ride along the road again.

  "To my home, my village. My family would have helped to protect her until we could right the wrong done to her."

  "And you know this for certain?" Leogane looked like he wasn't sure what to believe.

  "Aye. She was locked in the tower and no one was there to protect her. Do you think that ogre of a woman had been?"

  "No. You're right. She only wanted the position because she thought she could gain by it. But she would never have had a place in my household," the king said.

  Rina eyed the other woman with suspicion, then leaned over close to the king and said low for his ears only, "Do you trust the maid?"

  "I had."

  "I do not. She was someone the princess's uncle hired. No one whom he paid should be trusted."

  "And me?" the king asked, looking amused.

  "I don't know. Are you trustworthy?" Rina did not kowtow to royalty. He could be just as much of a beast as the princess's uncle was. Rina whistled and one of his men raised his sword, looking ready to kill her. "I’m calling to my horse. I left him behind so I could take out the last man in the line of brigands, and ride his horse in. Then my horse was safe and the men in front of him wouldn't hear the sound of a different horse or two instead of just the one."

  "You are a warrior." Leogane acted as though he realized that’s just what she was.

  "Just as I said."

  "Since you have no job, no earnings to take on this mission of protecting the princess, I hereby hire you to do so," Leogane said.

  Rina didn't want to take a bribe from someone who might be just as rotten as the princess's uncle, yet she couldn't turn down honest money, if that's what this truly was. She had to pay the shadow elf King Sar's taxes no matter what she was paid to do. "I accept." She turned in the saddle and smiled to see her horse coming to join them. "That's my horse. You may have this one in case someone's horse is killed in a future battle. It seems as though we will have more of these knights to fight. Did you realize that you would have trouble like this?"

  "No, I hadn't believed so." Leogane turned to speak to Artur. “You are friends with Dracolin. Do you know Rina?”

  Artur glanced at her and looked as though he wished he could say yes, though that could just be her imagination. Being loyal to his king, which was what she would expect of him, Artur shook his head.

  “Which is to be expected,” Rina said. “Dracolin and I don’t get to see each other all that much, what with the jobs we do. And now that he is married to the langolar, even more so. Have you met her, Your Grace? She is unusual, to say the least.”

  The king smiled a little at Rina, and she suspected he thought the same of her because she had one blue eye and one green. Rina was ready to fight anyone who would attempt to ruin her mission to save the princess, but for now, it behooved her to make an alliance of sorts with Leogane until she determined it worked against her plans.

  Mirabella wasn't sure what was going on with Rina and couldn’t believe she’d arrived here all on her own. Maybe her companions were hiding in the woods, waiting for Rina’s order to steal Mirabella away. Everyone had heard of Dracolin, and she had to admire Rina for being related to the great shadow elf Warrior Chief. It seemed Rina had some of his fighting skills also.

  The king looked at the man he’d called Artur, his champion of knights, and he inclined his head in silent agreement. What had just passed between them? Then Mirabella realized Artur was riding next to Rina, who rode ahead of them with more men in front of them. So was Artur watching Rina, ready to strike her down if he thought she was not who she said she was?