A/N—I would highly recommend to anyone who read the story before I posted this chapter that they reread 14 and 15. I've made some major changes in the flow of the story and redivided the chapters, so it might not make much sense if you just continue on from here. But hey, I posted a new chapter!
16. In Which a Bargain Is Not Struck
It was nearing dawn as I approached the Manor, contemplating possible ways of getting in. I did not want to try my harrowing night's journey in reverse. I suppose I could have tried the front door, but somehow I didn't like the idea of trying to convince the guard to let me in at that unusual hour when I was in such a hurry to bring my news to Morwen and the others.
I found a likely-looking bit of roof only a couple jumps above me. From the ground I could see that a window just beyond it had been left unlatched, and I made my way up to see if I could push my way in. Sure enough, the window swung open when I prodded it with my nose, and I slipped inside, only to find myself in a dark, musty closet full of towels that smelled even to my failing senses as if they had not been disturbed for fifteen or so years.
While I walked over to the door and nudged it to see if I could get out, I heard a solid click behind me. As the window had swung back after I pushed through, its momentum forced it just a bit farther than it had been before. It was locked. And so was the door.
You can imagine my frustration. A frustration that was not relieved by any amount of shouting or pounding on the door (a very difficult task for a cat) as no one saw fit to respond and rescue me, even though I guessed my position to be very near the bedrooms we had been given. They must have been still asleep.
Having resigned myself to waiting until I heard someone wake up and pass by my prison, I settled down on one of the mildewy towels, only to jump back up again at the sound of several voices in the hall outside my closet, the loudest and angriest of which was Daystar's. It seemed they had discovered Shiara's absence.
"Kidnapped? Are you sure?" That was Brandel.
"Well, she's gone, isn't she?" Daystar snapped.
"She couldn't have… left?" Olemer suggested tentatively.
"We found this bit of cloth, and it's not hers," Morwen quickly explained before Daystar could start shouting again. That explained the ripping sound I had heard; the thieves must have accidentally left a bit of their apparel behind. Incompetent bunglers.
You musn't think I had forgotten my own plight through all this, but with the commotion the others were making, I couldn't make myself heard. I was a little miffed that they didn't even notice that I had gone missing just as much as Shiara, though I suppose a cat's tendency to sneak off at odd hours did make my absence a bit less conspicuous.
"I'm going to find her." Daystar declared, but Morwen firmly opposed rash action.
"We don't know enough yet to start searching. Without having some idea who took her and why, there's no knowing which way they went."
"Then where do you suggest we start?" The poor boy's shouting was rapidly deteriorating to a frustrated helplessness. Morwen's reply was cut off by a shout from outside the Manor. I heard a scuffle in the hall as everyone ran to look. Through my own window I could see the Manor guard pointing toward a group of three figures coming up the ravine. Shiara and two other figures I recognized.
"I suggest we start there," Morwen said as they all made their way downstairs. In a minute I could see them stop just below my window, Kazul casting an appraising—and possibly slightly hungry—glance at the two thieves.
The thief on the left waved a white flag, looking apprehensively in Kazul's direction, and the other began to shout.
"Ladies and gents... and… magical creatures! We have a business proposition fore ye to hear!"
"They have some kind of warding spell up," Morwen told the others, speaking just loudly enough that I could pick up her words, but too softly for the thieves to hear.
"So I can't just eat the other two and have done with it?" Kazul asked. Morwen smiled slightly, keeping her eyes on the strangers.
"I'm afraid not." She shouted at them, "Let's hear it, then! And make it quick and to the point!"
"Well, ye see, it's like this. We'd caught some story 'bout a prince or suchlike stayin' 'ere. And we thought, there's a load o' reward for two such enterprisin' men such as ourselves, jes' beggin' to be snatched up. If we was to kidnap a prince we could hold 'im for ransom, like."
"Only, ye see," the other man continued, "after the job was done we found ourselves in possession of the wrong person. So unless the girl has some value on the ransom market, we'd like to make ye a trade; this one for the prince... uh, woss'is name?" he turned to his companion.
"Olemer," the other replied.
"Right, Oly Mare, that's the one."
Olemer's eyes widened and he stepped back a couple paces.
"Give us a minute to discuss this, please," Morwen said, receiving a nervous glance from Olemer. He must have honestly thought they were considering just handing him over.
And he wasn't entirely wrong. As soon as they turned toward each other to discuss the options, Daystar burst out, "I'm rather inclined to accept the offer."
"I second that," Brandel added.
"I'm surprised at you, Daystar," Morwen told him reproachfully. "I've come to expect politeness and common sense from you, and right now you are displaying neither. I understand your concern for Shiara, but now is not the time to lose your head." She stood up her straightest and looked expectantly at Daystar until he said quietly, "I apologize."
"Then what should we do?" Brandel asked impatiently.
"It's all very suspicious. They aren't wizards, but they have a warding spell..."
"And who in their right minds wouldn't notice they'd kidnapped a girl until after they got away?"
"Well, obviously we can't assume those two are in their right minds..." I muttered, bursting with impatience. If only I weren't locked in this dratted cupboard I could explain everything!
"We can't attack them, and we can't accept the exchange. Without Olemer, this whole quest is pointless. I suppose we'll have to rescue Shiara later; tonight would be best."
"I can set a tracker on them so we can find them easily whenever we need to," Brandel offered.
"That would be perfect. And Daystar, you won't do anything stupid, will you?"
He smiled, or possibly grimaced, at Morwen before answering, "I can wait until tonight as long as we're certain they won't do anything to her before then."
"We'll have to let them think we're still considering the exchange... make them come back tomorrow. They can't harm her if there's a possibility she's valuable. But I wonder… how did they know Olemer was here? Someone from the Manor must have spread the news around." Turning back to the thieves, Morwen asked them, "Who told you about Olemer being here?"
They answered simultaneously.
"None o' yore business!" "The fairy, o' course!"
"Fairy?" demanded Kazul.
"You blithering idiot! The wizard said we wasn't to mention anythink—"
"WIZARD?" A blast of flame accompanied Kazul's outburst.
"Now who's mentionin' things?" Both thieves flinched back as the fireball enveloped their warding spell, but the enchantment held.
"Never mind, you've blown it now! Jes' move!" And they dragged Shiara with them back down the ravine.
"Brandel, the tracking spell!" A tiny sphere of fire popped into being above his cupped hands, and he sent it after the retreating figures with a few whispered words.
"Impressive! You're a fire-witch, I presume? And— my goodness, a dragon! This is all quite fascinating, I must say. You'll have to tell me what could possibly have brought you all here." At the sound of another voice they all spun around, and I noticed for the first time that another figure was now standing on the patch of lawn my window overlooked. He was an old man wearing a weather-beaten brown cloak over an outlandish red suit with a quantity of silver buttons and yellow piping. It was a bit much, really, after everything I'd seen that day.
"You may also be interested in the fact that there is a rather distraught cat eavesdropping on us from that window over there. I don't suppose—"
"Aunt Ophelia, what are you doing up there?"
I took Morwen's snappish question as my cue to complain loudly and demand to be rescued at once. I had a great deal of information to be told and a great hole in my belly to be filled.