Having kept watch, when Erika saw the soldiers carrying a body, she ordered the guards to open the ingress, and the castle soon thundered with activity. Soldiers met the sentries with a stretcher, and they carried the unconscious prince into the castle, through the dark hall, and up the spiral stairwell to Barin’s room. Following them were chamberlains and physickers. Criers raced to Olinda, and Rhea’s rooms to announce the prince. A page summoned Kairos. Servants rushed to bring linen, water, and food.

Get my father from the keep,” Erika ordered two guards as she passed them. Breathless from the excitement, she hurried behind her soldiers carrying her brother.

“Bring Father to Barin’s room.” She stopped the chamberlain. “We need another bed made up. One for my father. Hurry.”

“Do you think that wise? To have your father in the same room with the prince in the state he’s in?” Kairos asked as he trotted down the stairs and caught up to her.

“You’re going to put him to sleep, are you not? Isn’t that what you said?”

“I did.”

“Then he’ll be fine. Father will watch over him. He’ll be ecstatic. He’s been despondent over Barin, and he wants out of that dark prison of a tower, anyway.”

Erika and Kairos hurried to Barin’s room and arrived just as the sentries lay the prince on his bed. Erika immediately unstrapped Barin’s weapons and handed them to a page.

“Take these to my room,” she ordered. “Oh, my heavens, look at him!”

The bruise on Barin’s head had blackened and soot covered his topaz hair.

“How we missed you, Barin!” she whispered and kissed his cheek. “What do you need, Kairos? What kind of potion? Do you have everything?”

“Yes. It’s right here in my vial,” he patted his robe. “We don’t want him to wake up.”

She felt the bruises on Barin’s face. “I told them not to hurt him.” She looked up at the soldiers who had carried him to the castle.

“Commander Neal hit him. I don’t think there’d been any other way. If it hadn’t been for the commander, we’d be dead men.”

“They caught you?”

“We were hiding, waiting for him to step off alone when he saw us. It didn’t take long before he had us tied and bound with the rope were going to use on him. Next thing you know he had his men start a bonfire and…” the other man nudged him. “He was going to punish us.”

Erika shuddered. That her brother would turn on his own men made her stomach upset. It was up to her to convince the soldiers that Barin was as much a victim as they were.

“Commander Neal saved you? He’s a good man. My brother has been under a spell. He’s disoriented, confused. Please don’t hold it against him, no matter how much he’s threatened you. He’s a good man too.”

“Yes, Fairest. We respect the Prince and have fought for him through many battles. He hasn’t been himself, and it’s because of his imprisonment. We’re all worried for him. It grieves us he’s in such a state as this.”

“We’re glad you have him, now,” the other sentry said.

“Well, he’s going to get better now.” Erika took a rag from the basin a servant brought her, and sponged Barin’s face, picking charcoal and ash out of his hair. “Neal can certainly throw a punch, can’t he?” she whispered. For a moment, Barin’s eyes opened, and he blinked. “Erika?”

“Shh,”

“Get me up!” Barin tried to sit.

“Quick, Kairos!”

Kairos rummaged through the pockets of his cloak for his vial as he held the prince against the bed. Barin would have sprung forth if Erika hadn’t stepped away and let the soldiers hold him down. The more forceful his restraint, the harder Barin fought. Like a rabid dog he drooled, and his pupils had a faint red tint to them as if his soul were on fire.

“Where is my sword? You! What have you done with my sister?” Barin’s eyes were wild as he tried to lunge at Erika.

“What did they do to him?” Erika cried as she stepped back.

“You killed her, you deceiver!” Barin choked as Kairos poured the contents of his vial down his throat. Barin swallowed. Within moments, the prince relaxed and fell against the pillows with his eyes closed.

“Poor, Barin,” Erika whispered as she wiped the drool from his mouth. “My poor brother.” She threw the rag into the wash pan and buried her head in her hands.

“I will fight this, Kairos,” she whispered to the wizard. “No matter the cost I will fight Skotádi.” She looked Kairos in the eye. The wizard nodded.

“Give this tincture to him every morning. He needs to be awake in order to eat. Perhaps we should strap him down.” Kairos looked up at Erika. “Someone strong will have to feed him. One of your sentries, I would think.”

Erika nodded, still shaking. “Guards, bring in restrainers and keep him in them until I give the word to release him.”

The men left and her sisters flowed into the room gracefully, bringing food and a kettle.

“Barin’s not eating right now.”

“This is for Father.”

“Father can’t stay here.” Erika stood, preventing the men from bringing in the king. “Take him to his own chambers.”

“Let me see him!” King Tobias demanded.

“Father, you can’t stay here.”

“Just let me see him.”

Erika nodded to the men who bore her father, and they brought the king by Barin’s bed. The room fell silent as King Tobias gazed on his sleeping son. Erika could not decipher her father’s thoughts, but he had a sorrowful expression, and his shoulders sank. He merely nodded.

“Very well,” he breathed. “He’s home now. That’s good.”

The men took King Tobias out of the room with Olinda and Rhea hurrying behind

Erika went to Rory’s room before she retired for the night. He deserved to know what had happened. He had risked his life for Barin’s sake. Worse, he had been treated as a criminal ever since he came back from Cho Nisi, and she blamed herself for that.

Rory had been sleeping when she opened the door, but he raised his head as soon as she stepped inside.

“I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“I’ve been restin’, Fairest.”

She regarded the small room, one bed and a bone lit window. “It’s more like a prison, isn’t it?” she asked. “I’m sorry. We should get you into someplace better come morning.”

“I don’t much care.”

“I do.” She sat on the foot of his bed and felt his head for fever. Warm, but not hot.

“We have Barin,” she said.

“Good!” he answered and then frowned. “What do you mean you ‘have’ him?”

“We’ve taken him into the castle, away from the troops. So, there will not be any siege by our own men. No one’s going to get killed.”

Rory sighed in relief. “Oh, Fairest, that warms my heart. We didn’t want to see the prince carry through with the dark lord’s plans.”

She nodded and folded her hands. “He’s ill. Kairos can’t cure him, you know. But the wizard has a tonic that puts him to sleep and aside from having to strap him down to feed him, he’ll be sleeping until we find a way to get the curse out of him.”

Rory frowned. “You’ll find a way.”

“I think we will. We love him too much to let him stay in Skotádi’s hands.”

She patted his leg and then stood. “I mean what I said about getting you someplace nicer than this. I want you to get well and no one can heal in a cell.”

“I won’t be arguin’ with you.”

“There’s a guest room upstairs with a terrace and curtains and all the niceties. I’m reserving that for you. I’ll send for someone tonight to take you there.”

“You’re special, fairest princess.”

“No. You are.”