Chapter 48
She was exhausted to the bone, but it didn't matter – she was trained to be in situations like this and yet another one would only add up to the many other occasions she had been exhausted. She had sneaked away from everyone to have a quiet moment to herself and to make sure that she wouldn't pass out when Jonathan really needed her.
She hadn't seen her king yet after she had talked with him through the speaking spell, but she was sure that when she did see him – he would know that Numair and her was in deep trouble. She already knew what had taken place in the palace and had, for only a brief moment, allowed herself to sneak a peek into the room where Duke Baird watched over the sleeping crown prince. She had, with her, Liam and his wife and had explained the delicate situation to an astonished Duke Baird, whose fingers itched to examine the woman himself – Alanna had just barely caught his hand inches from the woman's skin. It would be extremely bad if one of the palace's best healers ended up in an endless sleep.
Leaving behind the healers wing Alanna had waited for Raoul to come back from Numair's chambers, where he had deposited the mage to the skilled hands of Stel. Alanna had waited for Raoul beside the horse who still held the unconscious body of the assassin. She hadn't cared a thing for hiding him as she knew that Jonathan eventually would discover the truth. As the Commander had come back, she had with few selected words told him where they were going and Raoul had with a grim expression pulled the assassin over his shoulder, carrying the young man as if he had been a large bag of potatoes.
It wasn't that Raoul had been overly excited about discovering the tunnels, and he had, while opening the door to the now occupied cell, very explicitly told his friend what he thought of the whole situation with disguising his annoyance.
Alanna had listened, or pretended to do so as she instead had scanned the floor for newly-made prints of several large male boots in the soil that shouldn't have been visible in the supposed-to-be unused tunnel.
With the assassin deposited on the cold floor, Raoul had stopped to give Alanna one final disapprovingly look. Alanna had just looked back at her old friend, with her eyebrows raised in an non verbal challenge. For a few seconds it looked like Raoul considered saying something, but seemed to think better of it and with a disappointed shake of his head, he had walked away growling to himself. Both of them knew that there wasn't any point in beginning an argument that wouldn't stop until all of this was over.
Ignoring Raoul's low muttering that echoed through the tunnels as he maneuvered through them, Alanna had stayed behind. Her eyes had moved over to two brand new shackles which hang from the wall. Alanna had paused, frowning over the fact that when she had been preparing the cell the day before, she had left a single shackle that had been attached to the bottom wall so the assassin could either sit or lie as he pleased. Now the cell contained two! She had then moved her eyes over to the opposite wall where she had left a bucket that served as the privy - that was still there, but the other bucket with freshly filled water was gone.
Not many knew of these tunnels and it bothered Alanna that someone other than her and Raoul had used the tunnels recently, and furthermore used the one cell that was still intact. After the catastrophic earthquake caused by Roger during Jonathan's coronation, the roof in almost every cell, except one, had come down. It was why Alanna had chosen this location to store the assassin instead of where normal criminals was taken.
After she had checked that the assassin was still asleep, she had left the tunnels to fetch a thin mattress, a pile of blankets along with a tray of food. It wouldn't be many hours before the assassin would wake and when he did, Alanna wanted to make sure he had a place he could sleep and get some warmth. She even left several lit candles to provide light for him to see.
Coming back to her chambers, she had bid her children goodnight nodding to Zofia's new charge. Her children had already renamed the young woman, and had gladly bounced up and down telling Alanna overexcited that Kahlanwas more awesome than Maude, only to stop and apologize to the older woman when Kahlan had very firmly reminded them of their manners.
Now she was in the process of emptying a cup of one of her herbal tea she had made from a kettle with hot water one of the servants had left on a tray. She was still pondering about the tunnels, when the door behind her was opened. She knew right away who the person was as arms carefully sneaked around her frame, and turned her around. Looking up into warm green hazel eyes, she also knew that she was about to be kissed. Giving in, and allowing herself a moment of love, she kissed her husband back.
As George pulled back, his eyes was both serious and caring. "You, my dear wife, are in a lot of trouble," he said, looking her up and down, taking notice of every little wrinkled detail in her clothes.
"Where is the news in that?" Alanna replied back, not hiding the smile that always accompanied her being kissed. Her husband looked at her, still serious. Alanna sighed low. "How much do you know?
"Everything, and more," George replied calmly, but began to smile as Alanna pouted. He carefully leaned forth, lifting her chin again, "but first another kiss...before I tell you about the conversation I had with the new Mithran Priest, who was supposed to teach all of our children... "
Alanna's slightly mixed expression held both surprise and anger, but it quickly changed to a shy smile. She fought her feeling of butterflies with everything she had, when George's lips neared hers. It was an unfair impact the man had on her, but she should be used to it by now. George carefully caressed his way down from her lips to her neck and Alanna sighed low. She loved this man so much!
A knock sounded on the door seconds after George had pulled himself back. Glancing up, Alanna almost scowled over the satisfied expression her husband held. Instead she turned to see Zofia's dark features lingering in the opening of the door.
Alanna had known her primary lady-in-waiting for fifteen years after Raoul had dragged Zofia away from the Sandrunners, insisting that the Bazhir-woman could be a perfect lady-in-waiting for the Lioness as they shared almost the same persona and would be a perfect spy for George.
Now Alanna waited for Zofia to say something. It was late – darkness was already creeping in everywhere as night advanced. Alanna already knew that Zofia's new charge was taking care of the kids, tucking them in while singing a strange song that got Alanna's hair in the neck to raise. She could hear the twins, Aly and Alan calming down, leaving their disagreement over something and listening to the song. She could even imagine how Aly, her only daughter was sitting with a dreaming look in her hazel green eyes and playing with a tuft of hair.
Alanna almost smiled, but kept her expression blank. Zofia's expression, however, was one of seriousness as she quickly looked behind herself, checking the corridor for any listeners. This intrigued Alanna, giving her lacking energy another boost. When Zofia seemed satisfied, she came inside the chamber, closing the door behind her.
"Shall I?" Zofia asked, looking directly at her mistress who only nodded. Being tired and over-exhausted had left Alanna with only a small amount of her gift.
As Zofia produced four bluish-colored balls filled with nightshade and tossed them towards each corner of the chamber, Alanna allowed herself to slip down into a chair. For a few seconds the air was filled with blue-purplish glow until it vanished. Zofia didn't just have the gift. She worked with everything that came from nature and inside her.
George looked at his tired wife and waited to say anything until the room was warded. Once it was done he spoke, "We have a really delicate situation..."
Alanna almost snorted. That was one way to put it, she thought, as she looked down at her right hand where she still held the empty cup. "The situation is worse than that, George," she said, as she turned her attention to where Zofia stood, "we have a mole among us."
When Zofia didn't look surprised Alanna's eyebrows rose, "And you already know who it is?" She said, trying to rise from the chair, only to have a warm palm of a hand press her down.
"Sit down my dear," George demanded, as the muscles in Alanna's thighs gave away. Alanna was about to protest, when George continued. "We. Zofia and I know who it is."
Alanna looked up at her husband, bending her neck so much that it was hurting. "You do? How...I mean…already? But I haven't even begun to tell…"
George's hand around her neck, massaging it stopped her words. Alanna closed her eyes briefly as she listened to the soft voice of her husband. "Zofia, I'm sure your mission was successful?" He asked and looked at Zofia, who smiled roughly.
Alanna opened her eyes in time to see Zofia's rough smile vanish. For a moment she took in Zofia's dark complection. The Bazhir-woman looked worried and pale underneath her brown skin, which Alanna found odd. It was the only thing that seemed strange, everything else about the bazhir-woman was as it used to be. Normally a woman from the Bazhir would wear a veil to cover her face, but nothing about Zofia was normal. The woman had instead of honoring the tradition by pinning the veil to her hair, with sharp picks that not only served as weapons, but also tools to pick a lock.
"Here," Zofia walked over to the small table. Pulling the candle closer to herself, she pulled lifted up small bag that had been hidden underneath the neckline of her tunic. She took the string over her head and opened the bag over the table. Turning it upside down, three small pieces fell out.
Alanna pressed her lips together and picked something that looked like carved wood. "What is this?" she asked and turned the bright wood between her fingers.
"It's the Queen from a chess game," Zofia explained and handed Alanna the other piece, so Alanna could fuse the two things together. "I found it in Farmin Bivins' room or more precisely in a chest he had left behind" she paused and looked up at George, before she continued, "the room had been striped clean. Fermin Bivins is no longer living at the palace. Where he is I don't know, but I think that he has left the palace for good. Properly on a task for Lord Grayer."
George reached forth and picked up the parchment. "And this?"
Zofia shook her head. "Not completely sure. I did some minor magic," she ignored Alanna's raised eyebrows at her choice of words. There was nothing minor about her abilities and Alanna knew that, as it had been her who had trained the young Bazhir woman many years ago. Zofia continued. "I found the original in the hilt of a heavily jeweled dagger, hidden inside a cabinet filled with old dusty Yamani books. This is the copy."
"How heavily jeweled?" Alanna asked as she fitted the two pieces from the chess pieces together once again and began to inspect the Queen.
"So heavily that it could buy food for the whole lower city the next year or so," Zofia replied as she moved over to stand beside George. Alanna whistled impressed. "Can you read what it says?"
George nodded, only to shake his head again as he handed the copy over to Alanna, who took it. "I don't know what it is, but that isn't Yamani."
"Is isn't?" Alanna said, turning the parchment this way and that way. She finally gave up and handed it back to George. "If it isn't Yamani, what is it?"
"My best guess is, that it is an extreme older version of the language," George pointed to one of the the symbols. "This I know. This says 'highborn or wellborn'. It like the title Baron or Duke and can even be used to address a lower prince or princess. That word I have seen often enough from the correspondence sent to Jonathan from Piers. Luckily he sends a Yamani version of his letters to Jonathan to be kept on record. The rest I don't have a clue on."
Zofia sighed frustrated. "Well, that didn't help us at all. Do we know anyone who can tell us what the rest says?"
George was about to shake his head, when Alanna looked up at him, her eyes was ablaze. "Mindelan?"
George immediately shook his head. "No. Sadly enough the lass wouldn't know any of the words." He scanned the parchment again. "I could go through the library, but I'm pretty sure that we doesn't have any books that could help us with the translation." He held up the parchment. "Also this could be coded and some sort of key is needed to decode it."
Alanna looked up at Zofia, who stood with an intriguing expression on her face. Then she suddenly remembered what Zofia had told them about her search through Lord Grayer's rooms. "You said that Lord Grayer had several Yamani books in his cabinet?"
Zofia nodded. "You think that the solution is in one of those books?"
"Yes," George agreed. "Why have old books stuffed away in a cabinet? I assume that the cabinet was protected somehow?"
"Oh, it was."Zofia chuckled. The rain had managed to wash most of the dust off, but some still remained. Normally Zofia was very strict with her appearance, but she now made an exception. In one fluid movement she shook herself and a large cloud of dust floated from her to land on the floor.
Both Alanna and George began to laugh, but it was Alanna who was the first to speak. "The oldest trick in the world, though I'm glad that Thom don't know it yet."
"I could always show it to him," Zofia growled. She could feel the dust itching in places that she had never thought off.
Alanna shook her head as she looked at the now dust-covered floor. "No! Absolutely not. I will not spend every minute on the road being afraid of opening my bags!"
Zofia understood Alanna, but the twelfth year old boy would eventually find a book that contained that spell. She had already removed several spell from his mother's armor. An itching spell wasn't the best thing to be on the Lioness' chain mail or a spell made to transform arrows mid flight to flowers! The boy had even tried to spell his mother sword, but it had both unfortunately and luckily backfired, making the boy grow mushrooms behind his ears if he had forgotten to wash behind them.
After that incident Thom had kept himself to only practice spells his teachers had assigned, leaving his mother's things alone, but he would soon move on to more complicated and dangerous spells. Until that happened Zofia made sure to keep a firm eye on him, not wanting the young lad to end up as his uncle did.
Zofia came back to subject. "Shall I pay a visit to Lord Grayer's chambers in the morning?" She asked and looked at George, who had walked over to his work desk and had begun to pull out spools of thread.
He quickly cut several differently colored thread."No," he answered as he began to tie a handful of knots. "You said that you did extensive magic. He won't at first suspect that his chambers has been searched, but when he realize it, he will do everything to either escape or get rid of any evidence." He handed Zofia the coded message. "I want you to take this to Stefan."
The moment the message touched Zofia's hand, it was gone. Zofia nodded and smiled tiredly as she moved to the door. Once the Bazhir-woman had left and silence descended over the room, Alanna could still hear the soft voice of Zofia's new charge. It seemed that her children was finally asleep and the young woman was enjoying the story-telling with only herself as the receiver.
As time went, Alanna waited for her husband's mind to settle down. Over the many years they had known each other, she knew when to leave him along with his thoughts and vice versa. When George finally sighed low, Alanna knew that it was time to speak. She looked over at her husband, making sure that his attention was solely on her.
"There is something else we need to discuss," Alanna said slowly, "I fear that the hidden tunnels has been used to either kidnap Numair's wife or help her get away, and if that is the case, we need to inform Jon."
George only nodded. He had somewhere always known that it was a matter of time before the existence of the tunnels would be revealed, that it was now, in the middle of a chaotic day, was just unfortunate. Even though he had known Jonathan from when he was just a prince, he now dreaded the upcoming conversation.
King Jonathan was a fair and moderately forgiving king, but would he be as forgiving towards being told the truth about the tunnels underneath his palace as when Alanna revealed her true identity? Well, only time would tell.