Book 3, Chapter 3                                                                                    

            Andrew didn’t return during the night. Alaysa rose from her bed. She had barely slept. She worried about where he had gone. He had seemed so upset about something he had overheard yesterday and she wished she had forced him to tell her. Now, her brother had not come back and he had promised not to ever leave her alone, again.

            Alaysa walked to the bathroom rubbing her eyes with the heel of her left hand. With her right hand she pushed aside the door. Sunlight poured through the window. The tiles glared where the light hit. Alaysa stepped up to the sink, put the stopper in the drain and turned on the hot and cold water taps. Feeling with her hands, she adjusted the temperature until it felt warm enough. She dropped in a bar of pink and white striped soap and reached for her washcloth hanging below the mirror. Glancing up, she caught her reflection. She dropped her washcloth and grabbed her throat.

            “Alaysa, are you awake?” Laurel called from the doorway.

            Alaysa slammed the bathroom door shut and stared at her neck. Then she pulled her nightgown off her left shoulder, then her right.

            “Alaysa, is everything all right?” Laurel called, her voice growing louder as she walked across the bedroom floor toward the bathroom.

            She pushed up her left sleeve, then her right. She felt tears of frustration stinging her eyes.

            “Alaysa?” Laurel stood just outside the door.

            She glanced at the door, then with a shaking hand reached for the knob and turned it. The door opened a few inches. She took a step back. Laurel’s fingers curled around the edge of the door and pushed it open all the way. She stood in the doorway her eyes growing wide with fright. She slowly raised a hand to her mouth.

            Alaysa held out her arms. The daisy’s stems stood out brown and dying against her pale skin. The once green leaves had curled into brittle stems. Red lines on her skin stretched along either side of the swollen stems. Her skin appeared to barely hold in the vine. Laurel’s eyes traveled to Alaysa’s neck and down her other arm.

“Does it hurt?” she whispered.

Alaysa shook her head. “I have to leave. I have to go to her.”

“I know,” Laurel said, “But the emperor…”

“I have to make him understand,” Alaysa said, her voice rising, panic setting in. “She can help me. She said she would help me.”

Laurel seemed to shake her fright away. “Get dressed, Alaysa,” she said, “We’ll go see him right away.”

A few moments later, Alaysa washed and dressed in a long sleeved knit blouse and heavy cotton riding skirt, accompanied Laurel to the main dining hall. She could smell cooked bacon and sausage. She could hear a group of men laughing. As they approached the open doors, Alaysa tugged at the scarf around her neck to make sure it wouldn’t slip, then plunged her hands into the pockets of her skirt.

The tables had been rearranged end to end in two rows. Lexon and Eric sat at one row with a group of her Lightfire Guards. Janek, Kir and Luindad sat at a far end of the other row, their heads bowed over a pile of books. The rest of the Guards sat at their table. Lexon jumped to his feet when they entered.

“I see you found her,” he said, kissing his wife on the cheek and winking at Alaysa, “We thought you would sleep all day.”

“Lex,” Laurel’s serious tone made him frown, “Lex, we have to take her to the forest. We can’t wait any longer.”

The prince, suddenly serious, asked, “What has happened?”

The room became silent. All heads turned toward Alaysa. Janek stood up. Alaysa rolled up one of her sleeves and showed the underside of her arm. Janek jogged across the floor and grabbed her wrist.

“Does it hurt?” he asked, “I feel nothing.”

She shook her head. “It was like this when I woke up.”

Janek sighed, irritably. “It is not good that you carry all of the Lightfire.”

“We need to see my father,” Lexon said, “We have to tell him no more stalling.”

“Has anyone seen Andrew this morning?” Alaysa asked, “He didn’t come back.”

She saw men shaking their heads. Eric rose and ordered the guards into search parties. Her Guards rushed out of the room to cover the rest of the palace and the grounds.

Lexon signaled to one of the few remaining servants. “Do you know where I can find the emperor?”

“He has not come for breakfast yet, Your Highness,” the servant replied.

“He’ll still be in his room,” Lexon said, “Let’s go there.”

Lexon led them to the family wing of the palace. Dust covered the chairs sitting along the walls and the paintings above them. With so few servants left at the palace, no one had had the time to clean furniture. Cooking and tending to the emperor’s needs seemed to be all they had accomplished.

Lexon turned toward a doorway on the right. He knocked and put his ear against the wood panel. “Father?  Father, are you awake?”

He glanced back at Janek then turned the door handle. He pushed open the door. Clothes lay scattered on the floor, on chairs, hanging from the canopy surrounding his bed. The sheets and blankets dragged on the floor as if the emperor had just thrown them aside as he left the bed. The curtains had been drawn. Candles sputtered in the draft caused by the open door.

“Did he sleep here at all last night?” Janek asked.

“It’s hard to tell,” Lexon replied, lifting up a pair of pants from the floor and placing them on a nearby chair.

“He’s not in here,” Eric called from the bathroom.

“He’s missing, too?” Alaysa wondered.

“No, he’s probably just wandering about somewhere,” Lexon said, “Why don’t we split up and look for him?”

“I’ll take Alaysa back to her room and join you,” Janek said, reaching for Alaysa’s arm.

She stepped out of his reach. “I’ll help, too,” she said, “I might also find my brother.”

“All right,” Lexon smirked, “Alaysa, Janek and Laurel. Laurel knows the palace better than I do. I’ll go with Kir and Luindad.”

Eric spoke up, “I’ll go check on the Guards and report back.”  He dashed from the room.

“We’ll take the north wing and the gardens,” Laurel said, “The emperor sometimes likes to do some pruning.”

“Okay,” Lexon agreed, leading his group out of the room, “We’ll do the south wing, the courtyard and stables. He may have gone riding.”

Outside the dining room, they agreed to meet in one hour when they would decide what further action to take.

Laurel led them down the lower floor of the north wing. They searched all the offices and library and the servants’ quarters. The palace had been built on rock so no basement had been dug out. The servants, instead of sleeping beneath the emperor slept on the same floor, but had their own section of the business end of the wing. Most of the rooms had not been opened for the past few weeks. Their footsteps were the only marks left on the dusty carpets.

On the second floor, they found more parlours. Laurel said that as children they would be allowed to play up in these rooms when there were no guests visiting. They had a lot of fun running from room to room playing hide’n seek. Janek agreed, saying he remembered very little, but did have a few memories. Laurel didn’t seem at all embarrassed at mentioning their childhood even though it meant resurrecting unhappy memories for Janek.

At the end of the hallway, two glass doors opened onto a small balcony that overlooked the garden. They stood in the fresh air, breathing deep to clear the dust from their lungs. The trees had dropped their leaves in the past few weeks, laying a golden carpet across the flower beds and paths. The garden stretched to the back wall. The sun had risen slightly above the tall wall. Sitting in shadow, a black spire jutted up from the wall.

“What’s that building?” Alaysa asked.

“Where?” Laurel asked.

Alaysa shielded her eyes and pointed to the back wall.

Laurel held a hand to her eyes. “I don’t know.  Janek?”

“I don’t remember it,” he muttered, “It looks like a tower.”

“We’d better check it out,” Alaysa said.

A few moments later, they walked across the carpet of leaves, their feet shuffling through the dense cover. A damp, rotting smell rose around them. Mushrooms, fungus and moss grew on the ground and along the edges of the raised flower beds. Alaysa thought it strange these would grow in the cold fall temperatures. Mushrooms especially preferred warm, wet surroundings, not the cold. Janek’s boot struck the side of a mushroom. It’s rounded head broke, falling sideways and spores exploded from its underside, rising nearly as high as he stood. Both Alaysa and Laurel jumped, then giggled at their fear of a mushroom.

The tower, built of stone had several small windows beneath its conical roof, but the bottom held only a wooden door. Janek pushed it open. Stairs curved up and around the inside wall. They began to climb. The tower rose a little higher than the roof of the palace. They didn’t speak, hoping surprise would be on their side.

It was not a difficult or long climb, but Alaysa’s heart pounded loudly in her chest. She rubbed at the back of her neck, something she hadn’t done since last meeting up with Zaren. Janek raised his eyebrows in a question and she could only shrug her shoulders. She didn’t know why the daisies would be trying to warn her.

Laurel stepped onto the upper floor first. Alaysa followed and stepped around to Laurel’s right. Janek followed and stood on the princess’s left. Tables littered with jars of liquid and dried stuffs sat all around the floor.

Alaysa suddenly darted across the floor. She knelt beside a cot and touched the body sleeping on its side. “Andrew?”  She rolled him onto his back. “Andrew!” she shook him. He mumbled some words but didn’t open his eyes.

“He’s been drugged,” Janek said, standing over her.

“Help me get him up,” she said, “We have to get him out of here.”

“My children!” a voice cried out from the stairs, “It is so good to see you.”

They turned as one. The emperor hefted his body from the last step onto the floor. A smaller, hunched person wrapped in a blanket followed him. Alaysa couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman. It scurried over to one of the tables and began to move dishes around. Alaysa thought she heard it muttering with a scratchy voice.

“Why is Andrew drugged?” Alaysa demanded, standing up.

“He needed to sleep,” the emperor said, his eyes sad, “He’s been so worried about you.”

“Worried…” the other person muttered, “yes, worried…”

They all looked at it.

“Ah, I must introduce you, Lady Alaysa, to my physician,” the emperor said, “She has been taking care of me while you’ve been away.”

“Not her real name,” she hissed, turning suddenly and pointing a corner of the blanket at Alaysa.

Alaysa didn’t like not being able to see the woman’s face.

“She has been given a few names,” Janek said, bending slightly trying to peer beneath the blanket.

“The first is not always the right one,” she hissed, spinning back to the table, again.

“Forgive her,” the emperor said, “What she lacks in the way of manners, she has made up for in her knowledge of medicines.”

“Why did Andrew come up here?” Laurel asked, walking around the far side of the table where the doctor worked.

“He wanted to ask a question,” the emperor said.

“The last he is…”

“What did you say?” Alaysa asked, taking a step across the floor.

“The last…” she wheezed, “Ah yes, this’ll do.”  The doctor held up a glass jar with a green liquid.

“What is the Andrew the last of?” Alaysa asked.

“Your caretakers,” she said, then laughed. “They’re all gone. You’re all alone, now.”

Alaysa swayed and sat down heavily on the edge of the cot. She caught only part of the edge and slid to the floor. “Alone?” she whispered, her heart stuck in her throat. She looked up at Janek, wanting him to explain.

“Yes,” the emperor, “You have no more ties to this land, this time. We’ve taken care of that for you…”

“My family?” she said, her voice fading, “Mam?  Pap?”  Her sisters and brothers’ faces flashed before her eyes. “They’re…?  All…?”

The doctor scuttled across the floor and knelt beside Alaysa. She clutched the glass against her chest. “Dead.”