CANDY

Chapter Ten

It is impossible to say how long it took me to reach the bottom of the ladder, but I was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to lie down on the spot. Of course that's not what I did; I wandered about, turned back from numerous dead ends, some man-made and some natural corridors, until, at last, I reached the mouth of the cave in which I'd been wandering. It was night again. The marshes being, well, marshy, I stayed inside and lay down against a wall. Although I'd only intended to rest, it was bright morning by the time I awoke, sore all over and terribly thirsty, but no longer weary.

The first thing I noticed in the daylight that flooded the cave was that three jon boats were stored near the mouth. I smiled; one of these would be suitable for navigating marshland. Then I thought, wait, a jon boat won't go on the ocean unless it's perfectly calm. We haven't had 24 hours of calm weather since we landed on Shellaran. There must be a sturdier boat or ship at the shore. All I have to do is find it. And then what? If there is a ship at the shore it means there are people on this side of the sea, possibly – even likely - the people who have kidnapped the prince. It could mean that even discounting the grignas I am not alone in the cave. If there's no ship at the shore, it could mean that the prince has been transported across the sea and I have no means of following him, even if that was a good idea, which in itself is by no means certain.

There was only one way to find out (two if I counted sitting around waiting to be found). I grabbed one of the boats, made sure it had oars in it, placed it in the marsh outside the cave and got in.

Before I set off for the sea, I dipped my hand in the marsh and tasted it. Salty. And even a bit brackish. Disappointed and increasingly thirsty, I picked up the oars.

It couldn't have been a whole hour before the marshland became sand flats, then the tiniest bit of beach. I beached the boat and looked to my left, having seen, as I rowed, something in the distance. I hadn't seen any people but the something was sufficiently distant to be devoid of detail; there could have been a barbershop quartet out there and I would neither have seen them nor, for that matter, have heard them, as there was a strong wind coming in from the right.

My shiny black shoes were hardly shiny any longer and were starting to pinch. They were certainly unsuitable for beach wear. I removed them and put each in a different pocket. After two steps I removed my socks as well. The sand actually felt good on my bare feet and in reaching into my pockets I had found that extra apple. I munched as I marched first on the sand and then in the litoral, which was easier going. As I approached I could determine that the something I'd seen was, in fact, a small ship, half on the sand, and as I watched, four people emerged from the ship and started walking toward the sand flats, where now I could see a jon boat awaited them. They proceeded obliquely toward the cave.

Of course I was totally exposed, with not so much as a clump of seaweed for cover. It wasn't long before they spotted me and since there was nowhere for me to go, I stood and waited for them to reach me, which they shortly did. By then I could see they were all men, all adult, all pretty muscular, all in fact wearing black muscle shirts, black trousers and tall black boots. One of them got out and requisitioned the jon boat I'd borrowed and the other three requisitioned me, throwing me roughly into the boat they'd been using, jumping in after me and pushing me down onto my back as one of them took the oars and began to row us back to the cave.

"Am I trespassing again?" I asked. They ignored me and rowed in silence.

I wanted to see their faces but I thought it more prudent to close my eyes and pretend to have drifted off, on the off chance they'd feel free to speak; perhaps they'd mention the prince. However, our journey progressed with only the wind making any significant noise until we reached the cave, whereupon I was hauled back out of the jon boat, into the cave and down a corridor I hadn't explored; the fourth man had arrived ahead of us so if there had been the slightest chance I could break free from my captors, it was now nil.

Maybe they'd take me to where they'd hidden the prince, if he was still this side of the sea. Surely if they were keeping him here, he was still alive – hopefully with all his fingers and both ears. Don't go there, I thought. He's alive, he's whole, we'll get out of this. Go on, call me an optimist. At my age, it's the only way to survive. It's the only way to want to survive.

Our corridor led not to a ladder but to a real staircase, and I didn't need to be told twice to precede the four of them. I was eager to see if they were taking me to the prince even if he was imprisoned in some horrid hole and I was to join him in his misery. If they were not… well, what in Shellaran could this be all about? No, this had to be about the prince. Perhaps these men knew who I was and what I was after. I wasn't especially fearful on my own behalf; if they'd meant to kill me they could have drowned me without breaking a sweat.

The prince was not in the room into which the four men shoved me; the clatter of the lock resounded in my ears. It was a bare room and it made the leaky shack seem positively luxurious by comparison. Now I wondered if I shouldn't have attempted to escape while there was still room to run. No, four against one, and all that brawn… no.

I was still barefoot. One of the men had patted me down, back on the beach, and determined I was unarmed. (My pockets have always been bigger on the inside – not that I carry weapons; I did sorely miss my sonic screwdriver.) I spread my damp socks out to dry and placed my shoes next to them. Then I chose a corner and sat down. There was nothing for it but to wait.

My wait was just long enough for my socks to dry; I was putting them on when the door opened, admitting the tallest of the four men. He wasn't as beefy as the others and his hands were full (he was bringing me a tray of what appeared to be a bowl of soup, a slice of toast and a glass of water - I really wanted that water, too!) but I was on the floor with my right knee drawn up, one hand gripping my right foot to steady it against my left thigh and the other holding a sock. There is no martial art that considers this either an offensive or a defensive position. The man put the tray on the floor and took the sock from me, straightened out my leg and drew the sock onto my foot. Then he dressed the other foot and put my shoes on for me too. He helped me to my feet and started to lead me through the door. "Please," I said, pointing to the glass of water. He fetched it for me and I drank it down so fast I choked. He slapped me on the back, put the glass back on the tray and pushed me through the doorway, then led me up another flight of stairs, around a corner and into a room not unlike the one I'd just left, except that the prince lay sleeping on the floor.

I rushed to the prince and felt his pulse, lifted his eyelids, determined he was in a drugged stupor. Lifting my eyes to the man who'd led me there I saw him holding what I hoped was only a stun gun, for if it was real, I'd have to rush him, I'd be dead in an instant and the prince would be dead an instant later. "You have to use this on me," said the man. "I still have work to do. Can you manage? You need to get him out of here."

"Norell?"

Norell looked surprised but nonetheless held the weapon out to me.

"Can't I just hit you with it?"

"As long as you make a convincing cut, bruise or burn. I can't be seen to have aided you." He paused then. "How is she?"

"We think we may have a cure. We'll do our best. She'll recover faster with her son by her side." I took the gun, turned it over uncomfortably in my hands. "How am I supposed to find my way to the ladder, climb it with an unconscious boy in my arms, a long climb as you must know, and then, well, first things first. I don't think Haliford will be waiting for me but I'd be glad to try to walk if I could just get up there. It was torture getting down."

"You didn't use the steps?"

"I never found them."

"No matter. The steps, the ladder, this is all old stuff. We have hoverpacks now." He paused again. "I couldn't get to them. I almost didn't get to you. But I did bring you a map." He dug into a pocket and drew out the key to the room we were in as well as a map of the cave base, showing me where the packs were kept. Since they were on the floor where I myself had been kept, no key was needed to access them; no one expected to be infiltrated that fully, if at all. "Put one on Vandon, put one on yourself, hook the two together." He stood in the doorway and braced himself. "Now shoot me or hit me or somehow escape my evil clutches. Tell Vanessa I'll get away to see her as soon as I can."

I pressed the side of the gun against his neck until it made an impression. "Fall down," I said. He fell down, grinning. I left him with Vandon and went in search of the hoverpacks. I had to go downstairs for them but encountered no one, and when I had found them, I took two, plus some helpful-looking cords, and went back to the room to collect the prince.

"You'll need to go outside," said Norell, from the floor.

"Pretty chatty for a guy I just knocked out," I remarked.

"It's night. Not sure if it's raining. Don't put them on until you're out there, or at least in the mouth of the cave. Hard to do stairs in them."

"I'll be shocked if it's not raining," I said, connecting the two packs and slinging them over one shoulder and the prince halfway over the other; I had to put him down again and catch my breath. "How deeply do your friends sleep? The only way I'm going to make it down there is to throw or kick these down the stairs and carry the prince. Either way it's going to make some noise."

"Oh, all right," grumbled Norell, getting up. "You may have to 'knock me out' again." He took the packs from me and we headed for the stairs. No one appeared to stop us and we made it all the way to the mouth of the cave. He helped me get myself buckled into a pack, helped me get Vandon into the other one, used a cord to tie Vandon to me and another to attach the two packs together. I could barely move. Norell showed me the controls, easy enough to reach, and once we got outside into the inevitable rain, he fiddled with Vandon's controls too.

"Hey," I said, as Norell turned to reenter the cave, "if you're apprehended, just say you were knocked out, came to and came after us, but didn't find us. Don't mention the hoverpacks. Maybe they'll try the ladder. The more lead time we have…."

"Gotcha," said Norell. "Good luck!"