Chapter 5

Hélène stared out the window and repressed the urge to yawn. She had no idea why the king had summoned her at this early hour, but she knew it was important. Yurick never summoned anyone without reason.

She glanced at her reflection in the mirror across the room. She was quite disheveled, her long blonde hair tied back in a loose braid and her stays loosely tied. She had come quickly, but apparently this was no emergency, as her father-in-law had yet to arrive.

The door opened, and Hélène started, but it was only her husband. He looked as worried as she felt.

"What's going on?" he asked tersely.

"I don't know," she replied. "I was summoned from my bed for an immediate audience with the king in his drawing room. Yet here we are, and here Yurick is not."

Frederich nodded. "It's urgent, or else Father's lost his mind. He never acts like this."

"Good to know," a voice said from behind them. Both whirled around to see the king, in his dressing gown, no less, standing by the door.

"What's this about, Father?" Frederich asked.

"Isabella's run off," Yurick replied, as if it were only natural that their daughter should be gone.

"What?" Hélène gasped. She leaned weakly on the back of a chair.

"Isabella? Gone?" Frederich repeated dumbly.

"My servants informed me barely an hour ago. Her maid went into her room to stoke her fire, since the night was so cold, and the girl wasn't in her bed. She ran screaming back to her quarters, and someone who got a coherent sentence out of her came to me."

"But where? Why?" Frederich asked.

"Chances are, she's run off because of that Gavin boy," Yurick said. "She fancies herself in love, and she's run off with him."

"My daughter would never do such a thing!" Hélène cried, although she felt in her heart that this wasn't true. Isabella had always been impulsive.

"Well, she has," Yurick told her. "As soon as I heard she was gone, I sent a servant to the soldiers' quarters. Gavin's gone as well."

"Does Edouard know?" Frederich asked.

"I thought it best not to tell him. He'll find out soon enough."

"He can't find out from rumor! What will he think? He and Isabella were always so close," Hélène said. Her eyes sparkled with tears.

"Hélène's right. Fetch my son," Frederich told a man by the door. The servant hesitated, waiting for orders from the king. Yurick nodded, and the man slipped out the door.

"What do you plan to do?" Frederich asked his father.

Yurick smiled. "For now, nothing," he said complacently.

"What do you mean, nothing? Send out the god-damned army!"

"Watch your language. There's a lady present."

"I'll say what I want to say! How can you sit there and do nothing when my daughter, your granddaughter, is missing? Who knows where she is? She may well be wedded and bedded by now, and then what will we do? We cannot permit this!"

"I have an idea, my son," Yurick said patiently. "I'll send Teren Thundergrad after her. He can move more quickly and more subtly than a troop of men, and Isabella's more likely to trust him."

"Are you still trying to get her to marry that man? She never will if she has a say in the matter. Your conniving is worthless, and my daughter is gone!"

"My baby," Hélène moaned softly. "My poor baby girl."

At that precise moment, the door opened again and Edouard entered. "What's happened?" he asked, seeing his weeping mother and fuming father. He glanced frantically around the room, his face registering relief when he saw his grandfather. "Where's Isabella?"

"Your sister's gone," Yurick said calmly.

"Gone? What do you mean, gone?"

"She's run off with that fool knight Gavin," Frederich answered.

"They can't have been gone long. Have you sent anyone after them?"

"Your grandfather refuses to."

"On the contrary, I plan to send Teren Thundergrad, as soon as he arrives," Yurick said.

"How can you be so calm about this? Your granddaughter is in danger!" Frederich cried.

"She's hardly in danger. While Isabella is rash enough to run away with the one she fancies, she'd never wed him. I'm not at all worried about her virtue."

"I'll go with him," Eduoard said. "He'll need my help, and I know Isabella better."

"You can't. We need you here, Eduoard. You are your father's only heir," Yurick said.

"I can't lose another child," Hélène added, her voice thick with tears. "Not another one."

Frederich put his arm around her comfortingly. "Take my wife back to her rooms," he instructed a servant, and Hélène, still quietly weeping, was led out.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Frederich asked as soon as the door closed behind his wife. "Teren's untested. He never trained as a knight, and I doubt he knows the country well enough to find Isabella."

"I'm positive. The boy may not have formal training, but he does have experience with common folk. He'll know how to get information out of them."

Frederich sighed. "Find my daughter," he said finally. Then he and Eduoard left, leaving Yurick to stare into the fire.

"Still," the old king muttered to himself, "it's well this happened now, and not after she was married."

Isabella pulled herself close to Gavin. Why was it so cold? How did the animals stand it?

She and Gavin were spending the night in a barn outside the city. They hadn't gone very far, mostly because Isabella's feet had blistered so in her shoes. Gavin had promised to wake her early the next morning so they could begin their journey again.

Despite his protestations of love, Gavin had been reluctant to leave. When Isabella had proposed the idea the morning after her parents had forbidden them from marrying, he had dismissed the idea as a passing fancy. Even now, he seemed to think they would be home within a few days' time.

A piece of hay poked Isabella in the back. When she shifted her weight, four more prodded her in various places. And now she was cold. She rolled close to Gavin again.

"For the love of god, take my cloak and wrap yourself in it!" he said irritably. "Can you let me sleep please?"

Isabella pulled away and reached for Gavin's cloak. She wrapped herself up tightly and fell asleep within moments.

The next morning dawned sunny and cold. Gavin shook her roughly awake.

"Come on," he said. "We've got to leave before the farmers come."

"What?" Isabella asked sleepily. She wasn't entirely sure where she was.

"I said let's go," Gavin said, a little more urgently. When she still didn't move, he grabbed her arm and pulled her up. He dragged her down the ladder and out of the barn.

When they were a safe distance away, he stopped and let her rest. She was breathing heavily, and the blisters in her feet seemed to have popped.

"Are you all right?" Gavin asked, seeing her expression.

"Why did we have to run?" Isabella asked breathlessly.

"We were in someone else's barn. If they'd discovered us there, we'd have been done for. Can you keep walking?"

Isabella pulled off her shoes with a wince. Her feet were red and throbbing.

"Did you bring any other shoes?"

"No. Why would I? All my shoes are like this," Isabella replied.

"What else didn't you bring, money? How do you plan to survive this if you're not prepared?" Gavin asked angrily.

"I'm with you, Gavin. Isn't that all that matters?"

He let out a sigh. "If you've got money, we can buy you what you need at the next town."

Isabella smiled at him and took his hand as they walked slowly onward.

"My lord king," Teren Thundergrad said with a low bow. "You summoned me?"

"I'm afraid I have bad news, son," Yurick said. "Isabella's run off."

It was the morning after the princess's disappearance. Yurick, now dressed and presentable, was holding an audience with his chosen rescuer.

"When? Where? With whom?" Teren asked.

"We discovered her gone in the middle of the night. I've chosen you to go after her."

"Why didn't you send for me immediately?"

"At the time it was a family matter. Now I need you."

Teren frowned. "Did she go alone?" he asked.

"She took that Gavin she was so infatuated with. I believe they plan to elope," Yurick replied.

Teren was amazed at the old man's calmness. He himself was struggling not to scream.

"Then, Your Majesty, I cannot go after her. If she has run away for love, I won't deter her," he said slowly. Every word hurt.

Yurick surprised him by laughing. "Like hell you won't," he said, wheezing. "You love her, and I'm willing to bet she loves you. She just doesn't know it. What she needs is to see you somewhere she's not being forced to marry you."

Teren smiled grimly. "Then I'll go," he said.

"Not quite, boy," Yurick said. He waved at a servant, who produced a sword wrapped in green silk. The king lifted it easily.

"This is for you," he said, holding it out to Teren.

"Your Majesty, I can't accept this."

"You can and you will. It will help you on your search. It was the sword of Ivon the Conqueror, the sword with which he conquered nations. If it could battle half the world, it can surely find a lost princess."

"I cannot take this. It is too precious."

"You seem to forget, Teren Thundergrad, that you too are a descendant of Ivon the Conqueror. He would have wanted this sword to be used, particularly in a quest to find one of his direct descendants."

Teren took the sword in his hand. It was a two-handed broadsword, and yet he wielded it easily with one hand. He gave a few practice swings.

"What is it made of?" he asked incredulously.

"Dwarven silver, using elfin handicraft. Ivon had it made when he made peace between the two peoples, and he later used it to slaughter them. Its blade will never rust or dull, and to any heir of the conqueror, it is light as air."

"Your Majesty, I will treasure this gift," Teren said with a low bow.

"Do not thank me, boy. The sword chose you."

Pondering these parting words, Teren slipped out of the throne room.

Isabella paused when she heard a bell in the distance.

"Listen, Gavin," she said excitedly. "We're near a town!"

Gavin smiled. "So we are."

"Let's hurry! We can get a room at the inn and spend the night indoors!"

She grabbed Gavin's hand and dragged him down the hill toward the village that was now in sight.

"Maybe," she said dreamily, "we can even find a minister to marry us!"

Gavin stopped and pulled her back. "We can't do that, Isabella. You know that."

"Why not? We're in love, aren't we?"

"We're still too close to the capital. You could be recognized, and then we would both be arrested, and I would probably be executed for treason. You know it is treason to wed a noble without the king's permission."

Isabella frowned. Why wouldn't Gavin agree to marry her? Wasn't that the reason they'd run away together? If this was what she was going to hear, she might as well go back home!

The two of them had been on the road nearly two weeks. Their progress was slow, but steady. With Isabella's money, they had been able to stay at an inn almost every night, and they were far more comfortable and less noticeable in their new peasant clothing. Isabella's new shoes protected her feet from blisters.

And every night, Isabella though irritably, we sit in our room and kiss, and he still won't marry me!

Indeed, Gavin's reluctance to wed chafed at Isabella more than anything else. He loved kissing her, and she him, but she wanted more than kissing. At the same time, she refused to give him anything more until he married her. And he refused to marry her at all.

They had decided, at last, to head for Speroa. Frederich and Ethelaine, Speroa's queen, had been close friends for a long time, but Isabella was confident the romantic, rebellious queen would grant Isabella and Gavin asylum and perhaps even permission to wed.

"My grandfather won't have you executed for treason. He'd have to kill me first, and he'd never do such a thing. Please, Gavin, let's get married," Isabella pleaded.

"Marriage costs money. The closer we get to winter and to the mountains, the more we'll like to stay in inns. We should save our money until spring."

Isabella hissed in frustration. Why was he being so difficult?

They reached the town long after dark and rented a room. They had, by now, perfected their story- Gavin was a blacksmith's apprentice, on his way back home from the big fall market in the capital, and Isabella was his sister. They occasionally got questioning looks, as Isabella's red-blonde hair and fine features contrasted with Gavin's heavier jaw and curling brown hair. If they were questioned, Gavin would simply say that Isabella took after their mother and he after their father. He would point out their matching eyes to convince any doubters.

Once they were safely ensconced in their room, Isabella dozed off while Gavin bathed. When he had finished, he bent over her bed and kissed the back of her neck.

"Stop it, Teren, that tickles," Isabella said drowsily.

"Teren?" Gavin asked. "I'm Gavin. Why are you thinking about Teren?"

Isabella jerked awake. "What?" she asked. "I must have been asleep."

Gavin frowned angrily. "Asleep and dreaming of Teren Thundergrad. Why are we doing this if you're only going to think of him?"

Before Isabella could reply, Gavin blew out the candle and rolled over. She stayed awake for several more hours, watching the moon and wondering why Teren was on her mind.

Sorry about the delay. I've had a minor case of writers' block. But it's all better now!

Thanks again to my lovely beta, Billi, for finding my errors.

Leave a review!

~~Mazzie~~