CHAPTER 28
The chest showed her where it was, a wagon, as she expected, with several other chests, many stacked on top of her own. Everything was covered with a heavy canvas tarp so it could not show her where she was but by the lack of sound she knew she was outside Haven.
Sherri was about to mind call Quin when she stopped herself, what if her captors were watching for that? She didn't want to give up an advantage of surprise.
Show me who. Sherri ordered.
The chest complied. Sherri found herself standing in a dark room. She sensed other objects stacked around her. Her best guess was a storage room at the Palace. A door opened and the light of a lone lantern crept over the room reveal chests and other mysterious objects draped with clothes. The man set the lantern on top of one chest and opened the chest she stood next to. He tossed the linens into the farthest shadows and lifted the lantern to survey the inside of the box.
The lantern lifted the shadows from his face.
He was the Karsite from the ball.
When he took a knife and stabbed holes in the side of the chest she saw his thoughts. They were colder and harder than anything she had ever witnessed.
His goal was war. He was intent on making Valdemar attack Karse. Thoughts and images of the White Demons and the Hell Horses filled his mind along with the bitter hatred of one steeped in it with no respite. She saw the faces of Heralds he had killed himself. She Saw how he revelled as their hot blood bathed the ground.
He longed for the times before Solaris, when he was ordered by the Son of the Sun himself to rid the world of as many of the White Demons as he could by what ever means necessary. He was no mage, no mages could survive in Valdemar when he started. He was a powerful projective which gave him almost undetectable illusions to hide behind.
Sherri shuddered and looked away but the knowledge kept coming.
He had been posing at court trying to find the ideal victim, someone high ranked and close to the queen. He had finally found her, the Countess of Sorrows was the Queen's cousin and apparently they were quite close. If everything went according to plan the Countesses body, found in Sunhame would shatter this alliance and the White Demons would show their true natures. He would make certain it looked like she had tried to escape a priest.
Sherri broke contact with the chest and took several breaths trying to calm down. The cramped space of the chest kept her from taking too deep of a breath. He was a mind mage, and a powerful one. If she tried sending he would know she was one of the 'White Demons' and she would be found on the side of the road with her throat slashed.
Sherri weighed her options. Obviously he had seen her go outside, but not speak to Quin. That must have been when he fetched the trunk. When he found her in her almost death like trance he must have thought she had fallen asleep wanting for a lover or just admiring the stars.
She touched the side of the prison again. Show me.
She was standing in the same garden she had chosen for her midnight wandering. She saw herself sitting on a bench with her head rolled to the side, obviously asleep. The Karsite traitor believed he was lucky to find his target sleeping in the open. Four more men were behind him. All were Karsite and all were as eager as their leader for the war to resume.
Sherri broke contact again and burrowed her hands in her dress folds. She was very glad for the extra fabric this dress used; a layer cushioned her from the bottom of the chest so that she wasn't forced to endure the trunks images constantly.
She needed help if she was to get out of this alive. She could use magic to reach Kevyn.
Sherri stilled. These men were trying to embroil Valdemar in another war. She was the only one in any position to stop them. Perhaps, if she played along, she could discover the rest of this nest of traitors and expose all of them. She knew everyone would be worried sick about her but she knew Quin would over react if he knew where she was and would come running to her rescue. For the first time since she was Chosen she blocked Quin out.
~ * ~
Quin had been trying desperately to get Sherri to answer him. Nick told him Sherri hadn't been in her bed when Kevyn had checked, long after she should have been sleeping.
Images of his daughter lying in another coma froze his heart.
Kevyn was searching the Palace leaving to him and Nick to search the grounds. Quin was searching the farthest gardens when he found the midnight blue silk shawl on the ground dampened by the dew. It was the one Sherri had been wearing earlier.
:Any luck?: Nick's worried voice asked. It was nearly noon and they had been searching since before dawn.
:I found her shawl.: Quin walked carefully backwards so he could study the scene. There were footprints of perhaps half a dozen men and a rectangular depression in the soft ground from something heavy. :Kevyn, get down here, I need your hands and eyes.:
Kevyn jumped at the unfamiliar voice. Nick spoke to Sherri quite regularly but Quin never had spoken to him. He broke off his search of the empty rooms in the Herald's wing and ran down the stairs and outside. It took him a little while to find Quin in the far flung garden.
"I don't think there was a struggle." Kevyn said as dispassionately as possible. "They must have drugged her, or found her when she was sleeping. But why would she sleep outside?"
:That is what I thought, but how did they get this close to her with out her waking up?: Quin asked.
"I am going to tell the others. This is more than just her wanting to be alone."
~ * ~
Sherri heard the scrape of the chests being moved around and then the lurch as her own prison was hauled off the wagon and the hard landing forced an involuntary moan from her. She had spent the candlemark inside the chest crafting shield Van would be proud of. On the surface their appeared to be no shields at all and there, due to some judicious magic, he would Read only frightened stupidity.
When the lid opened she gave a squeak of simulated terror and tried to with draw as much as she could into the interior of the chest. The Karsite smiled cruelly down at her. "Our little prisoner is awake." He grabbed her bare forearm and pulled her from the chest. Sherri didn't need to feign the fear and revulsion she felt at his touch.
The only word she could think of that described him was evil. The force of his thoughts sucked at her soul like quagmire and she struggled both physically and psychically against him.
"A fighter? That is a surprise." He laughed. Sherri Saw and Felt what he wanted to do to her. With a wrench she freed her arm and staggered backwards. There were five men watching her like hawks on a rabbit.
Sherri forced the panic from her mind but kept her fearful posture. She could deal with them now but she wanted to discover who else was involved.
"Tie her up and start the fire." The one who seemed to be in control ordered, the same man who was posing at court as a Valdemaran lord.
Sherri struggled as little as she could as they tied her up to minimize the contact between her and any of them but she was sweating and shaking by the time they were done and her hands were around a small sturdy tree and her feet bound together. The rope around her wrists and ankles was blessedly new and they hadn't used it for anything before binding her so it was no more than an annoyance.
As dusk gathered, the men efficiently prepared their meal and sat around the small fire. She could see a double vision of them and assumed they had used one on her as well. Should someone stumble upon them they would see only a group of weary hire swords and a wagon full of goods.
A good cover.
"She's a pretty little thing." One Karsite commented, he hadn't taken his eyes off her for several minutes.
Sherri shuddered. She didn't need to see his thoughts to know what he wanted to do to her.
"She was with the White Demon, she is tainted." The leader said firmly. "She will contaminate you if you use her."
Sherri didn't relax until the first man looked away and returned to eating. She tried to think what a pampered lady would do in a situation like this. She was still faking terror so she couldn't ask for some of their food, nor could she sleep.
Thankfully they decided to move on again instead of spending the night. Instead of shoving her in the chest again they made just enough space between the towers of trunks for her lie down in. They left her feet tied and her hands bound.
They didn't plan on feeding her, this did not bode well for their plans.
~ * ~
Myra double checked Abeni's girth.
:You shouldn't go out.: Abeni urged.
"Doesn't matter, I am still going." Myra said simply. "With you or with out you. I will ride Eagle if necessary."
:With me, of course. Where shall we look first?:
"I want to look north. If her uncles have kidnapped her that is the way they would be heading. That keep is self sufficient, we could lay siege for months and all they would have to do is wait until winter and we would be driven away." Myra mounted in one smooth motion.
"Myra, wait." Kevyn called.
It had been less than twelve candlemarks since Sherri absence was discovered and he looked like hell. She hated to think about what he would look like in another day. "I am taking the road north. I am hoping it is Buren or Ethen behind this."
"I don't know what to hope." Kevyn admitted. "I doubt her uncles could keep her unless she wanted to be kept."
Myra agreed. "We know she is alive, remember that."
"Is she? Quin can't find her."
"He only Chose her a month ago, the bond is probably weak. The Bell would ring if she were dead." Myra assured him. "I doubt she is in any danger."
"Liar." Kevyn said succinctly.
Myra sighed. "I better get going. I should be back by dawn. They couldn't have gone any farther than that."
"Don't do anything foolish."
"I won't." Myra urged Abeni out into the gathering darkness.
~ * ~
Quin was pacing the field. If he thought he could still manage it, he would have gone and searched the palace himself. He knew he shouldn't have allowed Sherri to walk around in the night alone. He should have stayed and watched over her.
If it weren't a physical impossibility he would kick himself from one end of the field to other rather than pace it worriedly. Why hadn't she contacted him?
Perhaps being her father was also clouding his judgement. Maybe she was in danger and she thought he would just make things worse.
:You are going to end up wearing a ditch there if you keep it up.: Rolan came up behind him.
:I am waiting for any news.:
:She is a resourceful young lady, she can care for herself.: Rolan soothed.
:I am well aware of that.: Quin snapped. :I am sorry, but I hate not knowing. She is within a day's ride from Haven, she could easily reach me at this distance. Is she drugged, dying, unconscious…:
:I know she didn't leave you.: Rolan cut to the heart of the matter.
:I shouldn't have chosen to come back now. It was selfish. She needs someone with a more detached view.:
:She needs you, otherwise they would never have offered you the Choice.:
:Does she? Before meeting me she couldn't careless that she had a father. She still thinks of me as more of an over protective elder brother. Something akin to her uncles.:
:Maybe she doesn't need you because you are her father.:
~ * ~
Favram saddled the stallion as quickly as he could. Everyone else was searching in and around Haven but he figured they wouldn't stick around long. He believed that whoever had taken Sherri had drugged her and locked her in a trunk. It fit with the rectangular indent at the scene. He had questioned all the guards and one mentioned that a load of luggage was being sent home by a lord, at the time he had thought nothing was amiss and had searched the wagon. Now he was suspicious about a baggage wagon leaving in the middle of the night.
He had shared his findings with the Heralds and he knew they too were checking the gates to find out which way the wagon had gone.
Favram, however, had access to information most Heralds were complete unaware of. He knew there was a Karsite faction working against the Alliance. Kerowyn had asked him to gather information on them several months ago. He had been the one who traced them back to Lord Hiren. The very man they had asked Sherri to observe.
If Hiren had discovered that Sherri was capable of unveiling him he would certainly steal her away. And if her were smart he would do nothing to her so long as he was close to Haven. The farther from Haven, the more likely it was that he would escape.
Hiren's disappearance lent weight to his theory.
If he were Hiren, he would get as far into home territory as possible before doing anything that could bring the wrath of a Herald down on him. Also, the death of a former Countess and Herald Trainee in Karse maybe enough of an excuse for hostilities to break out again.
Once outside the palace grounds, Favram turned Eagle towards the gate and from there to the south.
He prayed he found her in time. Hopefully some Heralds would be following the same path soon.
~ * ~
Quin saw Favram and Sherri's warhorse, Eagle, purposefully cantering out the palace gate. On impulse he followed. Hopefully the former spy would have a source that would lead them to Sherri.