“They acted all nice and innocent,” recalled the queen. “It was almost a pleasant conversation until they asked about my children. First they insisted that they were Kierans and stuck up for Garl. Then they inquired about my children and claimed that they were related to me. They had this stick with balls attached to it and claimed that it proved that I was their relative. Then one of them had the boldness to directly ask if my daughters would be around their age. I could not stand such audacity. I slapped the insolent whelp. That is when the other one attacked me magically. Why was I not told that they were mages?”
“Our reports indicated that their magical talents were practically nonexistent,” frowned Karaza. “Perhaps they used magic to counteract the truth telling spell I used during the interrogation. I will see that they are moved to the mage cells.”
“I am disappointed in you, Karaza,” frowned the queen. “Those girls could have killed me. You cannot imagine how upset I am over this incident.”
“I can imagine,” frowned Karaza. “Let me help you to your chambers. I will cast a spell of tranquility on you so that you can rest. You will feel much better when you awaken.”
The queen nodded and allowed the Head of the Society of Mages to escort her to her sleeping chamber. Karaza cast a spell over the reclining queen and watched as she fell into a deep sleep. He smiled inwardly as he left the queen’s chambers and summoned the guards.
“The queen is in shock,” Karaza announced. “Your allowing of dangerous visitors into her presence is most disturbing. You should review your procedures to determine where the failure in security occurred.”
“We had no idea that the girls possessed magic,” complained the Head Guard. “It was the queen herself who asked for the foreigners to be brought before her.”
“I am not placing any blame on you,” soothed Karaza. “I am just pointing out that others very well may. The queen was close to death today. Do you not think that will arouse some passions from the citizenry?”
“I understand,” nodded the Head Guard. “We will double our presence immediately.”
“That is not good enough,” Karaza shook his head. “She is to have no visitors until I approve them. I have put her to bed so that she may rest and heal from the effects of the magical attack. I will be by periodically to check on her. Let no one else enter.”
“The palace will be sealed,” promised the Head Guard. “What will happen to the foreigners? I had them taken back to the prison.”
“What should happen to assassins?” retorted Karaza. “I will arrange for their executions immediately. I suppose that there will need to be some hearing among the elders before they are executed, but I think speed is essential here, especially where magic is concerned. I suspect that you and your men may be called to testify before the Council. That may prove to be embarrassing for you. Perhaps it would wiser for you to prepare a statement declaring that the foreigners tried to assassinate the queen. That would alleviate any need for your men to be questioned. I doubt you would want anyone else to know how lax your security was.”
Karaza did not wait for a response from the Head Guard. He swept out of the room and headed for the platform for the trip to ground level.
* * *
Mistake and MistyTrail were shoved brutally into the their small cell. They fell to the floor, scattering their small piles of weapons. The door slammed shut.
“That didn’t turn out well at all,” frowned MistyTrail as she sat up and dusted off her clothes.
“I can’t believe you attacked our mother,” scowled Mistake. “You could have killed her.”
“She was hurting you,” retorted MistyTrail. “No one hurts my sister and expects me to stand by and watch. I would do it again.”
“She hardly hurt me,” sighed Mistake. “My human mother did much worse to me, and I survived. Besides, this is our real mother. I am sure that she would love us if she got to know us. I don’t want to see her hurt.”
“She was about to kick you out of the tree,” countered MistyTrail. “You would have died from the fall.”
“I do not want to see her hurt,” Mistake repeated adamantly.
“I am sorry,” sniffed MistyTrail as she rose and wrapped her arms around Mistake. “I don’t want to see either of you hurt. What are we going to do now?”
“I don’t know,” frowned Mistake as she hugged her sister back. “I think we just destroyed whatever chance we had at winning the queen’s favor. I doubt that she will release us from prison now.”
“Probably not,” agreed MistyTrail as she broke the embrace and gathered her weapons. “I wonder if we will be charged for attacking the queen?”
“If we are,” replied Mistake as she slid her weapons into their proper places, “I will stand with you. What one of us does, we both do.”
“But I am the only one who actually attacked her,” argued MistyTrail. “You should go free.”
“I am not going anywhere without my sister,” Mistake smiled weakly. “We will figure something out.”
A key was inserted into the door and both girls turned and stared as it opened. Karaza walked in, a smile on his face.
“I understand that you saw the queen this morning,” stated the elven mage.
“I did not mean to hurt her,” MistyTrail said quickly. “Please tell her that I am sorry.”
“I am sure she understands,” smiled Karaza. “In fact, she has asked me to make sure that your accommodations in the prison are befitting your station. You both deserve a much larger room with beds to sleep on. Please follow me.”
Mistake and MistyTrail gazed at each other questioningly. They shrugged and followed the mage out of the cell. There were no soldiers in sight in the corridor beyond the cell. Karaza led the way along the corridor and turned into another corridor. Halfway along the new corridor, Karaza stopped and unlocked a large metal door. He opened the door and waved his hand for the girls to walk through. Mistake hesitated at the doorway and peered into the room. Her eyes opened wide in wonderment as she viewed the furnishings.
The room was nicely furnished with a large bed, sitting chairs, standing closet, and a dresser. She walked into the room. Karaza started to close the door behind her, but MistyTrail swiftly slid through the door.
“You each have your own room,” frowned Karaza.
“There is no need for that,” smiled MistyTrail. “We sleep together.”
Karaza shrugged and closed the door and locked it. The girls did not speak for a while to make sure that Karaza was long gone.
“What do you make of this?” asked Mistake as she bounced down on the bed. “Maybe the queen does understand after all.”
“Then why are we still in prison?” frowned MistyTrail. “Did you notice that there were no guards in the corridors? Isn’t that strange?”
“That only shows that they think we are harmless,” shrugged Mistake as she stretched out on the bed.
MistyTrail sat in one of the plush chairs and looked at the scrape on her leg that had occurred when they were thrown into the other cell. She examined the scrape and prepared to cast a healing spell on it. Pain shot through her head and she fell forward to the floor. Mistake bolted from the bed and was at her sister’s side in seconds.
“What happened?” asked Mistake.
“Pain,” panted MistyTrail. “I think I know why we were moved.”
“Why?” asked Mistake.
“This is a mage cell,” answered MistyTrail. “Any use of magic will cause extreme pain. All I tried to do was cast a small healing spell for the scrape on my leg. It hurt real bad, Mistake.”
“So that is why the corridors were empty,” scowled Mistake. “They are treating us like dangerous rogue mages. Only the mage interrogator was allowed to be near us. I bet he had powerful shields surrounding him at all times.”
“They don’t plan on letting us go,” declared MistyTrail. “I have really messed up this time. They think we tried to kill the queen. We are being treated like dangerous magical prisoners. I am so sorry, Mistake.”