“Maybe,” Kendra said. “But I gave him my word. Besides, you might step on a sharp rock or twist an ankle or meet with desert savages who will capture and enslave you. I can always hope.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “Will we meet again?”
“Let’s hope not,” she said.
“You would make me a wonderful wife.” He winked at her.
“I’d bury you in a week,” she said with a sharp smile.
“It might be worth it.” His sneer told his innermost thoughts, but Kendra ignored him. He shrugged and said, “Well, if I’m going to be chasing that damn guard all night, I’d better catch a nap. Tomorrow, I’ll find my slaves and continue on my way—unless you have other plans.”
I said, “Take your nap. We may not be here when you wake, so feel free to leave.”
He closed his eyes, then slowly opened them and glared at me. “We’re about equal in our game. I thought I’d beat you.”
It didn’t seem to matter if he knew how I did it. I said, “When you have a good hand, you can’t control yourself. Your left eye twitches.”
At first, he looked ready to leap to his feet and crush me, then he slowly relaxed. He said, “Thank you. That information is worth more than I’d have sold you for.” His eyes slowly closed and soon he snored. We watched to see if he was faking. When a little drool ran down his chin, we believed him asleep. At least, I did.
Kendra whispered, “Is he out?”
“I think so,” I said. “Nothing but losing at blocks seems to bother him. Take our things and let’s go.”
“What about Flier’s legs? Can he walk that distance?”
Flier said, “I’ll crawl if it takes me away from him,” Flier jutted his chin at the Slave-Master as if he were spitting out a spoiled fruit.
CHAPTER SIX
Princess Elizabeth
As a princess with a dangerous and important mission to accomplish, I needed to take a step back and take a deep breath as I pulled myself together. I needed to be calm despite my excitement. The visitor to my ship’s cabin with the information from his dreams about his brother nearly gagged me at the remembrance of my encounter with her—or it. Whatever the blue image was that we called the Blue Woman. The man behind that blue image was responsible for my father’s illness and would have caused his death if Kendra and Damon hadn’t become involved. The entire royal family and court of Dire owed a debt to my servants, as did the people.
The old man standing in my cabin had no idea of what the words he uttered meant or how they would revolt me. I knew their import he as soon as he spoke of the apparition that we called the Blue Woman, the shimmering image from the mountain pass in Dire that had nearly cost our lives. Only a few knew of her. She was evil beyond belief. That she was a projection created by a young mage who was behind the deaths of several kings tore at my insides. He had intended to kill my father, my brothers, and possibly me, even though I sat five deaths away from the throne.
I hated and feared the Blue Woman in the same way some react to snakes or spiders, but it was not the time to make such admissions to the man facing me. Magic had always been scary to most of us. Perhaps that was why I’d worked with Damon so much as he tried to learn to control his abilities. I envied him and his powers, even though we considered them small. While a true mage might render himself invisible and walk through walls, Damon would adjust his appearance and move within a crowd unnoticed to reach the same destination.
The message from my visitor also answered some of the many questions we had, if it was true information and not another trick. I did not know the man. True, I’d seen him board the Gallant in the Port of Mercia, and in the dining room, and at the rail, but that was not knowing him or his history. Still, I found I trusted him.
When I thought of Kendra and Damon alone in the wilderness desert of Kondor where the Blue Woman might appear to them at any time I felt faint. I didn’t know what she might do or tell them. Hopefully, they didn’t do as she instructed. There was no way to warn them short of turning the ship around and chasing after them—which would place me days behind and do no good at all. My knees gave out, and I slowly started sinking.
He placed an arm around my waist to support me. “Can you stand, Princess? Want to sit down?”
I sat heavily.
“You already know of the woman in blue light? You understand what that message from my brother means, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Then you know more about my message that I do not. I have no desire to know more, but I hope it is of some help to you.” He reached for the door in preparation for leaving.
“Wait, I haven’t thanked you and have more questions. Your brother, can you speak to him in your dreams?”
He hesitated a moment too long for his answer to be the truth. He said, “No, he only speaks to me. Not all the time. They are just dreams, Princess. I should leave.”
I understood his reluctance to admit anything, and how hard it must have been for him to share what he had with me, and to lie as he had. For him, the dreams were more like nightmares. Even the hint of magic tainted a person. He wouldn’t want his friends and neighbors to know of the communication with his brother.
The poor man had probably waited during the entire voyage for the opportunity to catch me alone and pass on the information. I owed him more than just my thanks before he fled from my presence. I said, “Listen. The next time your brother comes to you in the night, I want you to try and relay how much I appreciate what he’s shared with me. Tell him he has a friend in the royal castle at Crestfallen if he ever needs one. All he has to do is ask for me. I know it probably won’t do any good to try and tell him—but promise me you’ll try.”
He gave a single curt nod as he slipped into the passageway as quickly as if I’d threatened him instead of offering friendship.
I stood there in the center of my cabin alone after the door closed. The worst thing was that I had nobody aboard the ship to speak with about his revelations. Nobody to trust. Not on a personal level as I had done with Kendra and Damon for the last ten years. The three of us had never been separated for as much as a single day, until this cursed trip. It made me feel alone and weak. I had to act on my knowledge and instinct—and I feared that was not enough to accomplish the tasks assigned by my father.
Not that there was anything I could change, but I wished that somehow, I could have destroyed the Blue Woman when we first met. Then the thought that she might appear before Kendra and Damon struck me again. I couldn’t think of a way to warn them. I felt lost.
Then realized the Blue Woman might also appear before me at any time or place. In my cabin, for instance. Right where the old man had stood. If she did, I’d flee. My mind made up about that; I felt better.
The feelings of gloom lifted as I considered my two friends who were in danger from the Blue Woman or young mage, or anything else. Damon was clever. Kendra smart. Together, they made a formidable pair that could take care of themselves better than most.
Actually, they were more than a pair. They had managed to befriend and heal a beggar and had found two little girls to travel with them, so there were five of them. Oh, the stories I’d hear when we went home. They would explain it all, from the day I departed from Crestfallen to the end of wherever this adventure took us. They would tell me everything in detail, day by day, exactly what happened, or I’d have their heads. That silly threat made me chuckle but somehow expressed how important they were to me.