Chapter 6
Henrietta led Alex to the guest room closest to her own chambers. In the letter that she had sent off after summoning Alex, she had specified that it was this room in particular that was to be made ready for him upon their arrival. She wanted to make sure that Alex would always be nearby in case she wanted to talk to him, and just that thought alone filled her with immeasurable delight. She was practically giddy with the idea that here at last she had someone she could confide in, sharing with him her hopes, dreams, and especially all her complaints. She had Louise Francoise as well, of course, but it was rare to see her in person these days, and she dared not risk putting her deepest thoughts to paper.
She was also eager to learn more about Alex. So much of what he had to say had left her flabbergasted. Another world. The sheer magnitude of those two words alone left her bewildered. It made it so that it was nearly impossible for her to grasp the full scope of Alex's story. The rational reaction here would have been to decry the tale a wild fantasy.
And yet, she believed.
Where others would have dismissed Alex's tale, she believed him. She believed, even if she did not completely understand, because she had already chosen to trust him. They would have called her a gullible fool for that, but what did they know of the trust between a mage and familiar? The more Henrietta thought about it, the more she decided she had been blessed to be given Alex. Where others' familiars were often times little more than glorified pets, she had received a friend. The trust she had for him was already far beyond what any other mage would ever have for their own familiar.
She only hoped that Alex would come to regard her in the same light soon.
Henrietta could sense that Alex was still uncertain of her. She did not blame him. Like a newborn babe, he was still trying to figure out the world around him and the people in it, and he had not yet seen enough to leave behind his hesitancy. But no matter. It had been ten years since Louise Francoise had last come to the palace as her play date, and she had waited ten years since then to make another friend. What was a few more days or weeks or even months compared to that?
They arrived at Alex's new chambers, and Henrietta was pleased to find that it had been furnished in a way that would have satisfied even a visiting member of another royal family.
"Here it is," she said to him. "Your new room. My own quarters are down the hall, over that way."
"Hngh," Alex grunted. He stepped inside and looked around.
"What do you think?" Henrietta said. "Do you like it?"
"You didn't need to do all this for me," Alex said, turning back to look at her. "Guess I should have told you earlier, but I don't need sleep."
"But you slept when I summoned you."
"I was unconscious. That's completely different."
"I see." Henrietta frowned. "The nights must be terribly lonely for you, then."
Alex didn't answer her as he headed for the window. He opened it and stuck his head outside, taking in the moonlit view. Henrietta went to join him at his side, gazing out at the vast lake that sparkled silver behind the palace, listening to the gentle waves being formed by a quiet breeze.
"Regardless of whether you need to sleep or not," Henrietta said after their silence had stretched on for nearly five minutes, "you need a room to make a place your home."
"I'm not into the idea of making a cage my home, no matter how nice it is."
"You and I both," Henrietta said with a touch of sadness in her voice. "Does this mean that you want to leave?"
"What I want right now is to go into the city, get a chance to explore a bit." Alex gave her a sidelong glance. "Do you want to come with me?"
"How?" Henrietta said bemusedly. "The gates are guarded. They wouldn't let us out even if I ordered them to."
"I can get us past them," Alex said. "But you'll need to change into something less conspicuous, if you want to go."
Henrietta did not need to be asked twice. Her heart was already pounding loudly with excitement in her ears. "I'll be right back," she said before quickly heading off to her own room, where she stripped off her dress and threw it aside on the bed. She opened her large closet and searched for something appropriate. She pursed her lips tightly. It was a shame, but as a princess none of her clothes were exactly the inconspicuous type. The best she could manage was one of her spare riding habits, a darkly colored dress with the least amount of frills among her outfits. She put it on quickly, wrapped a dark brown cloak around herself, and headed back to Alex's room, where she found him still waiting by the window, leaning against the wall.
"I'm ready," Henrietta said breathlessly.
But Alex frowned when he saw her. "The dress is going to get in the way. Don't you have any pants?"
"Pants?" Henrietta looked at him in bewilderment. "Do women typically wear pants in your world?"
"Depends on which country you go to, but for the most part." Alex went over to the closet in his room and dug through it. He extracted a pair of pants and shirt that were closest to Henrietta's size and handed it to her, along with a belt. "Here, wear that," he said as he turned around to give her privacy.
Henrietta accepted the new clothes and took off her dress and cloak again. It took her a minute of fumbling around to put on the unfamiliar clothes, but once she was fully dressed Henrietta decided she rather liked the feel of it. It was both liberating and forbidden, and that made it twice as sweet.
"You done?" Alex glanced over his shoulder as she put on her cloak again. "Good. Here, get on." He bent down for her so that she could climb up onto his back. She did so, and as soon as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, she let out a little cry of surprise as she felt something warm and fleshy tighten around her waist and thighs. She looked down and noticed the tendrils of flesh that had grown out of Alex's body to secure her to him like a safety harness. "You need to be quiet now, or else we'll get caught."
Instead of answering, Henrietta nodded silently. Satisfied, Alex put his foot on the windowsill and heaved them up and out, turning on the ball of his foot so that they were facing the palace itself. He reared one arm back and slammed it hard against the stone wall, smashing open a small handhold for him to secure his weight with. He did the same with the other arm, and soon they were climbing up to the peak of the castle, one handhold at a time.
Halfway up, Henrietta chanced a look down. They were dizzyingly high. It was strange. She had flown on the back of a dragon before, but there was a different quality to the height now compared to then. How to put it...? It, for some reason, felt like a more precarious position to be climbing up a high wall than it was to fly over it. Henrietta could not explain why, so instead she tightened her hold on Alex.
Once they reached the peak of the tallest spire of the castle, Henrietta was afforded an amazing view. It was still terrifying, but that made the sight all the more thrilling, a sense of danger that made her blood run high. From this far up, she could see the entire city, alive with the glow of enchanted streetlights, and the dark silhouettes of the mountains, forests, and fields much farther beyond.
"It's beautiful," Henrietta whispered.
"Make sure to keep quiet," Alex warned her again. "Especially here. If you open your mouth, you'll bite your tongue."
"What are you going to do?" Henrietta couldn't help but ask. She was trusting Alex to get them out of the palace, but she still wanted to know.
"I'm going to jump," Alex told her.
"You're going to whaaaaa–!?"
Henrietta barely managed to avoid screaming as Alex suddenly kicked off the spire, launching them hundreds of feet still higher into the air. Henrietta thought she heard the sound of stone cracking as they leapt off the roof, but that was quickly drowned out by the rush of wind.
As they reached the apex of their jump, Henrietta had to close her eyes and bury her face against Alex's back. She felt like she had made a terrible mistake, a sinking feeling in her heart that coincided with the sinking feeling that came from the beginning of their descent. There was no way they would survive a fall from this high up. Could... could it be that Alex meant to kill them both?
No! Henrietta vehemently rejected the idea. Alex was confident that he could get them out of the palace, and she had no reason to doubt him or his motives. With that thought in mind, Henrietta forced her eyes to open, just in time to see Alex flatten his body so that they were parallel to the earth and spread his limbs out. A thin membrane formed underneath his arms and between his legs, catching air and slowing their fall to a controlled glide. Far below them, the nightwatch patrolled the grounds. Without the sound of beating wings to give them away, none of the guards thought to look above their heads. Even if they did, on a dark night like this, and with their relatively small size and the dark color of their clothes, Henrietta was sure they wouldn't have been noticed.
As they passed over the palace's inner walls, Henrietta began to feel concerned. At the rate they were descending, they would fall just short of the outer walls. But Alex had an answer for this too, as it turned out. Henrietta felt a sudden wind shoot out of Alex's pores, giving them a burst of movement and speed, just enough to make it over the walls and land outside of the guards' field of vision.
"That was amazing!" Henrietta gushed as soon as their feet touched earth and she climbed off Alex's back. "I can't believe you can fly!"
"I can't," Alex said, bemused. "I glide."
"The difference is hardly important in this case," Henrietta laughed. "That was so exciting. Will we be able to do it again sometime?"
"We'll have to to get back into the palace."
"No, I mean the next time you wish to leave the palace, you simply must take me with you again."
Alex considered this for a moment. "The next time you want to," he finally said, turning away when Henrietta smiled at him. "Come on. I don't know what's where in this city. Gonna need you to show me around."
"Certainly." Henrietta wrapped her arm around Alex's. When he tried to pull his arm free, she kept him tight. "Come now, Alex. It's considered proper manners for a gentleman to lend his arm to a lady."
"I'm not a gentleman," he growled.
"That's not a problem," Henrietta said cheerfully. "Mazarin has often bemoaned that he'll never make a proper lady out of me. But we can both pretend, can't we?"
Alex grumbled wordlessly and shifted uncomfortably, but Henrietta felt his resistance cease soon after. Happily, she led him down into the city.
There wasn't much of a nightlife in the inner districts. Those that lived here were wealthy enough that their idea of a good night was to retire to their mansions to enjoy fine wine in peace, or perhaps with the company of a mistress or two. This was fortunate for Henrietta. She had been to the inner districts before, it being the only part of the city Mazarin allowed her to go to (under heavy guard, of course), and she was bored of it. It felt like it was a mere extension of the palace itself. It was the outer districts that she wanted to see, the place Mazarin had never allowed her to go to, citing that it was too dangerous for the princess. And that was where they went, after Henrietta had given Alex a quick tour of the inner district.
When Henrietta was younger, she had often wondered what it was like to live in the outer districts. It was where the majority of the mercantile and lower class citizens lived. With the naivete of youth and Mazarin's cautionary tales on her side, she had at first imagined the place as the dark criminal underbelly of otherwise beautiful Tristania. She imagined people scurrying back to their homes before the sun fell, lest they fall prey to the thieves and assassins who dominated the streets at night. But as she grew older, she realized the folly of such an image, and she knew that she knew nothing of how the people actually lived.
It was why when they arrived at the beginnings of the outer district, Henrietta was thrilled to find plenty of normal people roaming about. Men and women, and even a few children with their parents, were walking and talking in groups. Most seemed to be gathered around a tavern they found, the smell of alcohol and drunks rich in the air. Although Henrietta was not a much of a drinker, she felt the urge to join them. She wanted the experience. She quickly checked the inner pockets on her cloak, and was disappointed by the fact that she had forgotten to bring any coin with her. No matter. There would always be next time now that she had Alex with her.
They took a turn into another block, where there were rows upon rows of shops lining the cobblestone streets. Nearly all of them were closed, and those that were open were by and large the kind of places a decent woman should never enter, even with company. Especially with company. In the quiet night air, Henrietta could hear the loud moans and other sensual sounds coming from inside, and that caused her to blush a furious red. She hastily pulled an unperturbed Alex back out of the street.
As they explored the city together, Henrietta would point out for Alex what she recognized and wonder aloud what she didn't. It was fun. Henrietta realized halfway into their exploration that she had not had this much fun since her last play date with Louise. For a second time, she wished that she had brought some money with her. It would have been so much better if they could also partake in the nightlife of the city, rather than merely observing.
Next time, Henrietta told herself again. There will be a next time.
It was about an hour after they had left the palace that the both of them suddenly heard a scream.
"Let go of me!" a girl's voice cried out.
Frowning, this time it was Alex's turn to lead the two of them. He pulled Henrietta along towards the source of the voice. Around the bend of an otherwise empty street, they found two men accosting a woman wearing a green dress with very ample cleavage and holding a wicker basket covered with cloth.
"Come on, Jessica," one of the men, a blond with scraggly hair, slurred. He was clearly dead drunk. "If you want money, we can pay. Just once, please?"
"I told you, I'm not for sale," the girl known as Jessica snarled, before swinging her basket into the man's head. There was a bone-crunching thunk, and shards of glass and fruits went flying from underneath the cloth. The man collapsed to one knee, holding the side of his head, then gingerly looked at his now bloodstained hand. Confusion turned to rage, and he rose back to his feet, somewhat unsteadily, but angry enough that it didn't matter. He seized the girl by the collar and pulled her close. "You bitch!"
Jessica headbutted him in the face.
Henrietta was impressed by the ferocity of this girl, her willingness to defend herself rather than meekly following what others said. It reminded her of everything she was not. It reminded her of Louise. But this could not be allowed to go on. For all her fierceness, she was still one girl against two men who were twice her size. The fight ended before it could even begin, as the blond man's companion swung around behind Jessica and seized her by the wrists. When she tried to kick at them instead, the blond man slapped her across the cheek, hard enough that it cut her lip open, and blood trickled out.
"Fuckin' bitch," the blond man breathed heavily. "Should've just kept your mouth shut and legs open. You and your fuckin' weird father already own a whorehouse. What's the big deal?"
"We are not a whorehouse," Jessica spat back.
The blond man laughed. "You're the only ones in the city who says that." A greedy smile spread on his lips as he looked down at the girl's cleavage. His hand reached over and began to pull her dress down. "Well, don't worry. I'm fair. I'll still make sure to pay you."
It was an opening, the only one she had, the only one she would get. Jessica seized the opportunity by swinging one leg up and smashing her knee directly into the man's testicles. He yelped and whined, and collapsed to the ground, hands between his legs.
"Fuckin' bitch..." he moaned. "Kill her!"
The other man's hand snaked down to his side, where a long knife was sheathed at his belt. He pulled it free and raised it high, but Alex cut through the space between them like a jet of liquid darkness. He seized the man's arm with one hand, holding it a few inches below the wrist, just before the blade found flesh
"Let go of her," he growled.
The man did release Jessica, who quickly took a few steps away from them, but that was only to free up his other hand. He dropped the knife from his captured arm and deftly caught it with his free hand. He made to stab Alex, but Alex simply took his thumb and pressed it against the man's forearm until there was a short, audible crack.
The man's mouth opened in silent scream.
Henrietta realized then that the man was not simply quiet. He was mute. As she took in this new information, Alex looked towards her. There was a question in his eyes, one that Henrietta couldn't figure out at first, but understood after a sudden realization.
She blanched.
Founder preserve us, Henrietta thought with cold dread. He's asking me if he can kill them.
Certainly, she had made Alex promise to never harm one of her people without just cause, but wasn't attempted rape and murder cause enough? If they went through the proper legal procedures, it could potentially even warrant the death sentence. But to allow Alex to just kill them, right here out in the streets, in front of her... it was a terrifying idea.
No. No. A thousand times no.
She was not ready to order the death of another man.
She was not willing to order Alex to kill another man.
"Alex," Henrietta said with a shaky voice. "Let them go."
Her familiar frowned, but did as she asked after a moment. But before he let them leave, he grabbed them both by the collars and brought their ears close to his face. He whispered something to them, something that must have terrified them, for their faces turned paler than the twin moons in the sky. As soon as they were released, they turned and bolted.
"Thanks for the help," Jessica said to them after collecting her scattered belongings. She wiped the blood from her mouth with the back of her hand, looked at the crimson stain, and grimaced. "Damn. Dad's gonna be mad."
"I didn't do anything." Henrietta's mouth felt dry. "It was all Alex."
"Still, sorry for ruining your guys' night." Jessica looked at Alex, appraising him from head to toe. "You're a strong man. Weird clothes, but not bad."
"Those men," Alex said. "You know them?"
"They're customers," Jessica explained. "Former customers. You can see why. Oh, yeah, 'fore I forget, I should introduce myself. The name's Jessica. Nice to meet you two."
"My name is Ann," Henrietta replied. "It's a pleasure to meet you as well."
"Look, I want to thank the two of you for helping me out," Jessica said. "Why don't you come back with me and I can give you guys a free drink or somethin'?"
"A drink," Henrietta echoed, and licked her lips with a dry tongue. "Yes, I think that sounds like a good idea right now."