Ineni’s smile never changed, though her eyes glowed a little brighter at the distressed sound Ildiko made. “We’re glad you’re here. Her Majesty has missed you.”
CHAPTER THREE
Agathering of thirty Kai congregated a league outside of Saggara where the main crossroad lay, one path leading to Gaur, one toward High Salure’s southern border, and the final two into the heart of Bast-Haradis. A day and part of a night had passed since Brishen discovered Ildiko and Tarawin missing—hours that had seemed to crawl or race by in turn as the alarm went out throughout the redoubt, and he marshaled a force of trackers and support teams to hunt down the bastards who’d taken those most precious to him.
Nearly sick with fear, he held onto his outward calm with an iron grip and issued instructions. “You all have your assigned paths. If you find any spoor related to the queen or the hercegesé or both together, send a runner to the team closest to you for help. Be cautious and do what you must in order to avoid putting either in danger if you locate them and their captors. If you find yourself engaged in combat, no mercy. Understood?”
They replied in unison with a chorus of “Aye, Herceges,” before sending their mounts in various directions, creating a net that, if the gods were kind, would catch their quarry in short order and deliver Ildiko and the queen regnant safely into Brishen’s arms.
He turned to his own companion, the grim-faced Dendarah. “Are you ready?”
She nodded, mouth set and hard. She still avoided his gaze even after he’d reassured her she hadn’t failed in her duty to protect Tarawin. Someone with a sound knowledge of poisons had planned carefully, received help from cohorts, and used cunning over brute force to get past not only the door sentries but the royal guard as well. Their actions spoke of patience, strategy, and learning the routines of his household. Dendarah hadn’t failed in her role; she’d been outsmarted. As had they all.
Made speechless by his request that she be his tracker, her mouth had opened and closed a few times as she struggled with a reply. He’d saved her the effort. “You were an elite ranger before you became a royal guard, and you saw the person who delivered the tea and have some memory of those who entered the nursery. If we come across them again, you’d recognize them. I wouldn’t.”
He’d scowled when she fell to her knees. “I would be honored, Herceges.” She rose just as quickly when he snapped at her to stand.
“Gather what you need and meet me in the bailey near the stables at twilight,” he told her.
In those desperate hours when Saggara erupted into battle mode, Mertok shone as Brishen’s sha, summoning every tracker in the redoubt and from the surrounding area. On Brishen’s orders he’d also sent for the queen regnant’s previous nursemaid and the royal guard who’d escaped Haradis during the galla’s attack on the city. Brishen himself spent the time questioning the still-groggy guards and the two nurses who could offer nothing more useful than what Dendarah had already told him.
He’d stood in the bailey, exhibiting a calm he didn’t feel as all of the sejm participants left Saggara for their estates, stunned by news of the abduction, some offering to stay to help. Brishen haddeclined. “You’re more useful to me on your estates,” he’d said. “If you notice anything unusual, send a messenger to Saggara immediately.” Somewhere in the sejm’s midst, a traitor watched. The last thing Brishen needed was to shelter a viper at his breast while trying to rescue his wife and daughter.
Mertok had stood beside him watching as the vicegerents and justiciars rode out the gates. “Give the command, and I’ll bring every one of them back in shackles until the hercegesé and the queen are returned.”
It was tempting, so very tempting. Brishen’s fury equaled his fear, and for the first time in his life, he’d considered the merits of his mother’s methods for extracting information. “Not yet. Whoever was responsible will expect it and has no doubt planned accordingly. But I want your best shadows assigned to each Kai who attended the sejm, and alert any shadow we’ve embedded in the various households to be even more vigilant.”
“Madam Senemset will cry foul the loudest if you move against her.”
Brishen snorted. He couldn’t care less about Vesetshen’s potential outrage. “If there’s a sliver of proof she’s behind this, I want her brought in, even if you have to drag her behind a horse. No one is to have access to my chamber or the nursery except for Kirgipa and Necos. I doubt anyone will question why we’ve isolated the queen since we’ve made it known the hercegesé has been taken. They’ll assume it’s a necessary precaution.” He wondered how many more lies he’d have to tell during his unofficial reign over Bast-Haradis.
The abduction of the regent’s consort was one thing: a matter of outrage, of ransom, of personal vendetta. The abduction of the queen was a matter of state with far-reaching consequences.
“Make sure the guards and the nursemaids are kept apart from others for now. They’ve sworn secrecy, but I don’t wantanyone beyond those we’ve told to know that Tarawin is also missing.”
It was effectively imprisonment for Tarawin’s erstwhile protectors, but he had no choice. The Kai of Bast-Haradis might sympathize with him over his wife’s kidnapping, yet the country would continue as before, secure in the knowledge their young sovereign was safe and sound at Saggara. A slip of the tongue by the sentries or nursemaids would incite a chaos he might not be able to control.
Just before he left to join the trackers, he met with Necos and Kirgipa in the empty nursery. It seemed a hollow place now without the lively Tarawin keeping her nurses and adoptive mother busy. The stricken expression on Kirgipa’s face told him she felt as he did.
“Madam Hosanth,” he said, using the title he’d bestowed on her for her service to the crown. “Once again, you’ve been called upon to help the queen regnant as her nurse, though you’ll be minding a child who isn’t here.”
Kirgipa bowed low. “Whatever it takes, Herceges. If I had the skills of a tracker, I’d beg you to let me join the search party. However, you have whatever help I can give you and more. And I’ll pray to the gods you’ll bring the queen and the hercegesé safely home very soon.”
Necos, who’d refused the titles but not the estate Brishen had offered him as reward for getting Kirgipa and Tarawin out of Haradis alive, also bowed. “Your secret is safe with us, Herceges. Rest assured I’ll guard this room and Kirgi—Madam Hosanth with my life. None will know the queen isn’t here.”
Anxious to take to the roads, Brishen hadn’t hesitated, leaving Saggara in Mertok’s capable hands and the lie of Tarawin’s whereabouts in Kirgipa’s and Necos’s. With each tracker team assigned their route, the group split into pairs and trios, fanning out from the four roads. Brishen and Dendarahfollowed a drover path that forked from the main road and ran parallel to a woodland perimeter and the low foothills bordering the eastern horizon.
They traveled through the night, pausing at numerous intervals to dismount so Dendarah could look for any signs or spoor. While a fair tracker himself, Brishen acted as her cover, scanning the area, ready to nock an arrow while she concentrated on the muddy path and hunted for clues. At this part of the road, the space was more open, with the treeline only on one side. That wouldn’t last. He could see up ahead where it stretched deeper into the woods and the trees sprang up on either side. His role as guardian would become infinitely more difficult. A heavily forested landscape was the perfect place for an ambush by a few or a kill shot made by a single archer from the shadows. The risks weren’t unknown to any who participated in the hunt. They were why Brishen had asked for volunteers.
Dendarah rose from the crouch she’d taken, gesturing for him to follow her as she walked a short distance, head down, before stopping. When he caught up to her, she leaned in and spoke in a soft voice. “The track next to my feet is from the wheels of an empty wagon. Were it loaded, they would have sunk deeper into the mud.”
He resisted the urge to glance down. While his instincts didn’t hum with the sense of being observed, there might well be someone in the trees watching as they tracked. Being obvious about what they’d spotted would let any observer know they’d found something of interest. “Anything else?” Like her, Brishen kept his voice to a near-whisper.
She nodded. “Best to walk for now with the horses on our outer flanks. I can show you more.”
Putting the horses on either side of the road acted as both blinder and shield. Brishen didn’t much like the first as he stayed alongside Dendarah while she studied details of various tracks,but the second offered some protection. Ildiko had once said he reminded her of an owl with his yellow eyes. He suspected he looked much like one now with his head swiveling as he kept watch on the landscape behind and in front of them by turns.
Dendarah pointed to more tracks. “It’s a small wagon, meant to be pulled by a single horse as you can see here.” She gestured to the pattern of hoofprints embedded in the mud with smoother wheel tracks behind them. It was indeed one horse.
