The silence was deafening.

Ladet had no idea what time of night it was. It would have to be close to dawn by now. He had been out along the riverbank for a long time, walking back and forth over the fallen bodies and injured trying to find her. Each time he had come back empty-handed. Fear sat deep within him. He should have stayed closer. He should have been by her side the whole time, but Princess Estina had been a fearless warrior that had left him speechless.

He ran his bloodstained hand through his hair and sighed. They should be rejoicing. They should be celebrating. They had defeated Prince Yernal’s army and sent them running back over the river to the other side, only to be rounded up by Earl Jenric’s men.

He approached another one of Lord Clep’s soldiers who was also helping him in his search. The man’s grave face told him enough. Prince Alain was also out, down on the northern side of the embankment, searching. What would he say to the man?

They still couldn’t find Princess Estina. No one had seen her.

Shoulders down, Ladet walked into the inn that had been turned into a makeshift healing room for the injured. The floor was lined with soldiers who carried a variety of wounds. Moans occasionally filled the space while another victim was snoring in the corner. He was also itching to visit Teal and Jale to see how they fared. If he didn’t find her in the next half hour, he would go and check in with them before resuming the search. He had to find her. Dead or alive.

He walked over towards Menelt. He was sitting on a long wooden bench that ran along a table. His body was hunched over Weldlan who was lying on top of the table, his face ashen white and his body unmoving, apart from the shallow breaths that slowly came. Ladet had never seen the mountain man look so pale and weak.

“How does he fare?” Ladet asked quietly.

Menelt lifted his head and looked over his shoulder. Weary and bloodshot eyes met Ladet’s. “Not good,” Menelt said. “He was impaled with a sword and has lost a lot of blood, but the healer believes his insides have not been damaged too much. The next twenty-four hours will prove life or death.”

Ladet hesitated, but then reached out and placed his hand on Menelt’s shoulder. The mountain men were not open with physical contact, even in grief. “I hope his ancestors don’t want him today,” he said.

“Have you found her?” Menelt asked.

Ladet simply shook his head and Menelt nodded.

“Prince Alain is still out there too,” Ladet said. “We won’t stop until we find her.”

“Ladet,” Menelt said. He turned back to the mountain man.

“Yes?”

“If you find her, don’t waste time. You don’t know how much time you have.”

Ladet couldn’t respond. He didn’t know what to say. He simply nodded again and left.

>>

Fighting, flesh and blood, shouts of anger; it all flickered in front of Princess Estina’s mind’s eye as if she was still there, right in the middle of it. The urgency of the battle thrust consciousness to the forefront, and she awoke with a start. She tried to sit up but gasped loudly as pain jolted through her ribs. Drawing in several deep breaths, she tried to breathe through it.

Confusion, and then panic, surged through her body. She was covered with thick heavy blankets, and frighteningly, she was naked underneath. Large flames in a stone fireplace crackled only a meter away. She tried to see beyond it. A large stone room with simple tables and benches filled the space. The windows on the far side were boarded up. She was on the ground with only a thin itchy straw mat separating her from the stone floor. Wooden shelves lined the walls where dry food was stored. She suspected she was in the back of a small shop or inn

A pair of gentle hands rested on her shoulders and she startled, only to grimace once more. Princess Estina stared up at the person above her.

“Lie back down, My Grace.”

The young woman’s eyes were large and brown, but there was a redness to them as if she had been awake too long. Her hair was pulled back out of sight but strands and wisps of curls framed her face, giving the impression that it had not been attended to for hours.

Princess Estina ignored the young woman instructions and tried to take in more of her surrounding, searching for any signs of threats. Near the door, a man with wild red hair sat. Recognizing him instantly, she lay her head back down.

“You’re safe,” Earl Jenric said. “The man who runs this inn pulled you out of the river about an hour ago. He’s standing guard outside this room. I’ve just arrived. I think I woke you with closing the door.” He took a step but stopped. He didn’t come any closer, and she guessed it was out of respect for her indisposed position. “They haven’t even had time to attend to your wounds. His daughter here, Hannah, undressed you to rid you of your wet clothes.”

“I’ll go get some of my own,” Hannah said. “They’ll fit you, but you have a lot of injuries. They must be seen to.”

“The fight,” Princess Estina said. “I must get back out there.” She tried to push herself up to a sitting position but couldn’t help and cry out as more pain shot through her chest.

“The battle is over,” Earl Jenric said. Across the distance she saw Earl Jenric’s large smile. “You won! We won! No one’s fighting anymore. Prince Yernal’s soldiers are either dead, have fled, or my men have wound them up. It’s over.”

“Really?” she asked in disbelief.

“Really. You made history today. News will be already spreading across the kingdom of your victory.”

His news was too much to process. Even if they had won, she needed to get up and check on everyone. Finding out who had survived and who was hurt was paramount. She tried to rise once again.

“Stop,” Hannah instructed, a little more firmly. “You may have some broken ribs. Your back on the left is covered in vicious bruises. Your nose may also be broken. I have no idea what you did to your neck but those bruises look old. You also have a deep wound on your leg and a gash on your arm. You need to see a healer.”

“I need to know how everyone fared,” she said, tiredness starting to seep back through her.

“We’ve got a healer coming to see you. Once they give the all clear, we’ll head down to Lord Clep’s Manor House,” Lord Jenric said. “I’ve sent one of my men to send word to Menelt to let him know you’re safe.”

“Thank you,” she croaked.

Earl Jenric gave her a deep bow, an act she found surprising.

“Your Grace,” Hannah said.

Princess Estina gazed back at the young woman and eagerly reached for the ceramic cup in her hand. She was parched. With the young woman’s support, she took several sips. Princess Estina lay back and let herself relax. Tiredness was seeping through her body. She would have a small rest and healer or no healer, she would head back out to find everyone. The heat from the fire started to warm her bones. She rested her head back down and closed her eyes allowing sleep to reach her.

>>

Finding Teal and Jale was easy. They had been placed together in one of the caravans they had travelled in. It stood on the far side of the large courtyard inside of Lord Clep’s Manor House. Ladet had wished someone had continued the journey and taken them further away. Even further than the Lake Tehlea Estate. No one was going to do that. Menelt would never have spared any men while they waited for Princess Estina to arrive. Menelt had, however, placed the caravan under the watchful guard of ten large muscled mountain men who stood a good foot taller than Ladet.

By the time he arrived at the caravan, a faint stream of blood orange was starting to creep into the darkness along the horizon. A healer was dozing on a chair beside the steps of the caravan’s back door, but he awoke with a disgruntled snort when he heard Ladet’s footsteps. He probably hadn’t slept all night either. The mountain men stepped aside and allowed him to enter the caravan.

Ladet tried to keep his emotions in check. He had hoped they would be awake by now. The steps of the caravan creaked softly as the healer climbed inside and stood beside him.

“How are they?” Ladet asked.

The healer, a man in his fifties with white hair, crossed his arms over his chest. “The Lombock, I don’t know. He’s out cold. I can’t wake him, but I can tell you he is underweight and he has several bruises and old injuries that show he has been beaten quite severely.”

Ladet clenched his jaw in anger. He turned to Jale and his worry doubled. The man on the bench was a shadow of his former self and there was a foul odour in the air. Jale had been cleaned since his journey through the human waste chute, but it had not been quick or efficient enough to stop infection from setting in.

“Yes,” the old healer said. “I fear for this gentleman. He is fighting, but his body is weak and the infection deep. I don’t know if his body can survive this.”

Ladet sat heavily on the chair at the end of Jale’s makeshift bed. All this effort and for what? They couldn’t find Princess Estina and now, Jale might not even make it and Weldlan was deathly sick. It wasn’t even clear why Teal hadn’t woken up. It had been several days now. Exhaustion wouldn’t make a person pass out like that for such an extended period of time and any drugs he had been given would have surely worn off by now. He had not eaten for days. How could a person survive that long?

Voices reached his ears, and Ladet strained to try to make sense of them. His body was still on alert. He heard the higher pitch of a female’s voice talking with the mountain men and hope surged in his chest. He rose to his feet and went to the caravan door and stopped short. It wasn’t who he thought it was.

It wasn’t Princess Estina. The person before him was the last person he had ever suspected to see. Shock filled his veins and childhood memories of an old stone temple on the sides of an Arina mountain with women in secretive cloaks flashed before his eyes.

It was a Talekan Assassin.

The mountain men were on guard, their weapons drawn before them. The assassin stood calmly, completely unperturbed by their weapons. She lifted her head and her eyes locked with Ladet’s. A smile formed on her face.

“Ladet,” she said, her blue eyes bright and vibrant. “It has been a long time. You were but a child when we rescued you from the Arina Pass.”

Ladet didn’t recognise her personally. All those women’s individual faces had blurred to become one, and most had kept their faces covered anyway. He climbed down the steps of the caravan and the mountain men moved aside.

“I remember the assassins,” he said, “but I don’t mean to be rude, I was young and I don’t remember you.”

“You need not worry,” she said. Her gaze shifted to the caravan behind him. “I helped to heal Jale once before. I’m here to do it again.”

The mountain men looked at the woman sceptically, but hoped surged through Ladet. It only took him a fraction of a second to decide. Jale was not getting any better with the help of Lord Clep’s healer. There was nothing else he could do himself. He could only hope that the assassin’s words were true.

“I would be forever in your debt if you did,” he said.

The assassin gave a nod. “Be careful what you say, Ladet,” she said. “Our debts hold serious consequences, as your late Emperor found out. I do not do this for you but for the future of our known world.”

Ladet frowned. He didn’t know what she meant. The way she mentioned the Emperor made it seem as if the assassins held some responsibility or connection to his death. Had they refused to help or save him? His hands tightened into fists, but then he remembered the sick man behind him who he considered to be his own kin, an uncle almost.

“If you can save him, please,” he said. He motioned to the mountain men and they moved away from the entrance of the caravan. Ladet stepped aside as well as the Talekan assassin walked up to him. She didn’t look back but stepped up the stairs. Ladet turned and followed her.

The assassin pulled off her hood and looked back and forth between Teal and Jale. She was a small woman with brown hair braided down her back.

“You can really help, Jale?” he asked.

“Yes.” From underneath her cloak, she pulled a dark bag that looked full to the brim from its bulging and bumpy shape.

“It will take time for him to completely recover, but I can stop the infection from winning.”

Ladet nodded. “Thank you. Is there any chance you are able to help Teal?”

The assassin opened the bag and started to remove several items and placed them on the chair that Ladet had been sitting on only moments before. They were all foreign to Ladet.

The assassin looked towards Teal. “He is fine. He is being helped by his own kind.”

Ladet paused again, his mouth dropping open. “What?” he asked.

The assassin merely nodded before turning her attention back to Jale. She didn’t say anything further. Ladet gazed at Teal and wondered at what she meant. He was still as if in a deep sleep. Ladet turned to leave but stopped once more.

“I must ask,” he said, uncertain of how this request would come across. “Can you help one other person?”

“And who is that?” she asked, her hands now retrieving small colour bottles from her bag.

“Weldlan. He’s a mountain man.”

The assassin smiled. “Ah, yes, I remember him as well. I was not asked to help him, but as my oath as a healer, I can see to him as well. Go on, Ladet, go. Go search for your beloved Princess.” Ladet paused. She smiled and gave him a friendly wink. “Do not fear. She is safe, although she will need some time to recover from her injuries as well.”

His eyes widened and relief flooded through him. “She’s alive?!”

“Go,” she said. “Go find her.”

Ladet turned to leave, hope surging through his chest again. Maybe everything would work out. He would head back and inform Menelt of the assassin’s likely visit before heading back out to find Princess Estina.