The day had turned to evening as the sunset ruled the sky. From Delrik's office window he could see in the far distance the lights from the festival. It was in full swing now.
Felux noticed the way Delrik had been distracted all day. It had resulted in some annoying spelling errors that Felux had to correct. They weren't small corrections either. He had had to rewrite entire documents.
Felux crept up behind Delrik and asked, "There somewhere else you'd rather be?"
Delrik turned away from the window and marched to his desk, saying, "Not at all."
Felux glanced out the window. "There's still time to join her at the festival."
"That would be..." Delrik stopped speaking. He was at a loss for words.
Felux asked, "Would be what?"
Delrik tried speaking again, "Perhaps..."
Felux asked, "Perhaps what?"
Delrik said, "Stop." He realized that Felux was leading him into a trap.
Felux asked, "Stop what?"
Delrik glared as Felux smiled. By acknowledging what Felux had said, Delrik had already admitted his desire to go. Felux knew it, Delrik knew it, and it was useless to try and back out now.
Delrik grumbled, "Let's go."
Felux celebrated his win by posing in a triumphant stance. Delrik pushed him over when he walked by.
༻✧༺
Morc was one of the top Arquix Knights. There were even rumors of him being promoted soon. Having been given free time to enjoy the festival, he gladly took advantage to celebrate. The Spring Festival was one of his favorites and he was currently surrounded by beautiful village girls, listening in rapture at his tales of heroic battles. They were just as excited to meet the well-known knight as he was to be admired by them. For Morc, life was good.
"Morc."
The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. That voice sounded like Lord Delrik. His blood turned to ice as he turned to see the Duke and the Knight Commander glaring down upon him.
Morc jumped up, snapping to attention as he said, "My Lord!"
The village girls all gasped and straightened.
Delrik bore into Morc's eyes, asking, "Where is Cossaria?"
"I don't know," Morc said, "I saw her and her maid earlier." He had seen them petting the rabbits earlier that day. They looked like they were having a good time.
Delrik said, "I assigned you to be her guard tonight."
Morc swallowed. The situation looked bad. If Delrik thought Morc was in charge of the Lady and instead found him lollygagging with some village ladies, he could have him imprisoned for dereliction of duty, maybe worse.
Morc said, "I was told you assigned her two new guards."
"What?" Delrik said, "Who told you that?" It wasn't true.
Morc said, "That's just what they said when they arrived to take the spot."
Felux and Delrik exchanged a look. It wasn't uncommon for Delrik or Felux to personally give Knight's orders to switch out. In this case however, it was not so.
Felux nodded in agreement at Delrik's concern, saying, "Somethin's off."
While some might consider Delrik and Felux to be paranoid, they had both lived through enough assassination attempts not to take chances. If something seemed off in the Arquix dutchy, it probably was.
Delrik said, "Let's not risk it, Morc, get the tracking dogs. NOW!"
Startled, Morc scurried off, grateful he wasn't sentenced to life in prison for his unfortunate blunder.
༻✧༺
Felux held the dog's leashes as Delrik waited on his horse. The dogs had sniffed out Cosaria's trail through the town, but once they reached this area on the road, they stopped. They had been sniffing, sniffing, sniffing, finding nothing.
Delrik was losing patience as he said, "What are the dogs doing? They've been going around in circles for ten minutes."
Felux continued searching, "There has to be somethin."
The dogs circled around again.
Delrik said, "They've lost the scent. Go back to the castle and send Knights to scour the neighboring villages. They couldn't have gone far."
Felux grinded his teeth, frustrated by the situation. He said, "That'd take too long."
He led the dogs back a few paces when something on the ground caught his eye.
Felux said, "Wait."
Felux picked up a small wooden bead with a painted butterfly on it. It had been hard to see in the fading light as the brown bead matched the dirt.
"This's..."
Felux held the bead to the dogs as they sniffed. The dogs lurched forwards and barked. At the gesturing of the dogs, Felux picked up another bead. It was off to the side of the road, leading into the forest.
Delrik got off his horse as Felux showed him the bead.
Felux was both elated and worried as he said, "Tilda..."
Delrik said, "Who?"
"The maid. She left a trail."
"I see."
The dogs led as Delrik and Felux followed.
༻✧༺
As the early morning light broke through the trees, Tilda stopped for just a moment and waited till the palanquin was out of sight. She had been tiredly trudging along the entire night. She was physically, emotionally, and mentally drained.
She lifted the bead in her hand and whispered, "Last one."
She kissed it, trying to imbue it with all the hope she could muster.
"Please," She said.
Then she dropped it on the ground. She had been spacing each of the beads at longer and longer distances. Now she officially ran out.
She followed the palanquin and after a few dozen more paces, she began to recognize the sounds of a waking village.
It's a town, She thought.
Soon, and without notice the trees opened up to a back alley. Tilda watched as the entourage pulled the palanquin onto the alleyway and reverted it into its cart form.
She continued to follow from a distance, always watching but, always keeping out of sight.
༻✧༺
Felux and Delrik had been traveling all through the night. By now the trail was easy to follow but they were still too far behind. Felux covered his eyes from the rising sun streaming in from the east. A thought struck him as he pulled out his compass, checked his directions and remembered his geography.
He said, "They're heading to Carneth."
Carneth was known for being a large connecting trade city with dozens of roads leading to dozens of towns. If Delrik and Felux couldn't find Cosaria and Tilda in Carneth, it would be over. There's no telling where they could be taken.
Delrik said, "We'll have to catch them there."
Felux agreed, "Aye."
༻✧༺
Tilda watched as the four big men and Wizen stopped in the middle of an alleyway behind a tavern. Wizen tapped on the wall a few times when suddenly a large door opened and the men pulled the cart inside. Then, the door shut and they were gone.
Tilda panicked. Cosaria was out of sight. She ran to the secret wall door and tried tapping. Nothing. There must have been a secret code of some kind. She hadn't been paying close enough attention to remember what Wizen had done.
If she couldn't enter through the back, she'd have to try the front.
In front of the tavern stood a big imposing bouncer with the face of a pig.
Tilda looked down at her raggy, commoner's appearance. She wasn't wearing her normal maid uniform, since she had originally dressed for the festival, but after the long night's trek, her one nice dress was dirt ridden and the hem had worn a few places where it got caught on shrubs. She gathered her courage and began to stroll towards the entrance. Depending on the type of establishment, she might be able to bluff her way in.
If you look like you belong, people usually think you do, She thought to herself.
Tilda approached the door and took a casual glance inside before the bouncer stuck out his arm to stop her from entering. His nose hairs were visible on his flat nostril-nose. He said, "Invitation only."
Tilda frowned and walked away, trying not to garner attention. Even if she were to have the greatest acting skills of her time, if she didn't look the part, she knew she wouldn't be able to pass it off.
Luckily, she had a small peek inside before she was told off. In her glimpse she had seen aristocrats in masks clutching big purses. It gave off the atmosphere of a black-market auction house. Not that Tilda had ever visited such a place herself, but she had heard the rumors. Her friend Juliet, from the Baxarte estate, used to gossip a lot about the black market slave trade and criminal conspiracies. She was one of those sweet girls that had a secret obsession for dark things.
Tilda guessed by the fact that they kidnapped Cosaria that she was going to be up for sale at the next auction. But why Cosaria? They had to have known she was Duke Arquix's wife, right? Did the kidnappers know what they were doing or were they just ludicrous crazy?
Sighing from an oncoming headache, Tilda backed away from the tavern and made her way to the fountain in the middle of the busy town square. She sat down on the fountain, facing the tavern, and leaned her head in her hand.
What now? I'm so tired, She thought rubbing her eyes. Thinking took a lot of effort, Looks like I'll have to sneak my way in.
"Are you the servant who is missing a rabbit?" said a creaky but happy voice.
Tilda looked up and met eyes with an old woman. She had slouched shoulders, white hair and was wearing priestess attire. Tilda guessed she could have been about eighty years old. Maybe more. Her wrinkles had wrinkles, she was so old.
Tilda asked, "What? Who are you?"
The priestess said, "Who are you?"
Tilda said, "I asked first."
"No, no, no," The priestess said, wobbling her finger in Tilda's face, "I asked first."
"No, you didn't," Tilda said. She didn't have time for these games.
The priestess said, "Are you the servant missing a rabbit? Is that who you are?"
Tilda flicked her hand in a gesture dismissing the old priestess, saying, "You have the wrong person." She was too tired for this crazy woman's nonsense.
The priestess said, "You've been chasing the rabbit all through the night."
Tilda paused, then said, "Excuse me?"
She had been chasing someone all through the night. That much was true.
The priestess said, "You serve the rabbit."
Tilda's mind clicked as she realized that Cosaria was the rabbit, it was a comparison Tilda made often. But how would this woman have known that, let alone know that she'd been chasing after her?
Tilda asked, "Who are you?"
"Ah, finally, now that's a good question. I'm Pamtha, and I'm going to help you get your rabbit back," Pamtha said.