Engines & Demons - The Undestined

Chapter 36i

Tahlia woke from a disturbed slumber to find the domineering form of Mistress Oleander bending over her, her normally ferocious eyes holding a look of unfamiliar concern. Tahlia shook her head to free it from the ghostly memory of her dreams.

"What is wrong!"

"It is your brother!" said Mistress Oleander, her normally strident voice almost breaking with disbelief. "Someone has taken him!"

Tahlia leapt out of bed to find that she still had her dress on from the day before, filthy and crusted with dried, dark blood. Her feet were bare and her legs felt weak.

"When!" she said, holding onto a nearby chair to steady herself.

"Last night; we do not know when."

"Where is my mother?"

"She has left the fortress to hunt for your brother."

Mistress Oleander strode over to the open door of the chamber and spoke to someone outside.

"She is safe. Commander Kralaford's orders are that she is to stay in her room under guard."

'Well, that is unlikely to happen.'

Tahlia edged over to the door leading to the balcony as Mistress Oleander went on talking to whoever was outside.

"You two remain here. Allow no one to enter, or to leave."

"Yes, Mistress," said the voice of a man; probably one of the fortress guard.

Tahlia slipped through the door and onto the balcony that encircled the tower of the young lady's quarters, hearing Mistress Oleander's final words as she did so.

"And you had better post guards outside as well."

Tahlia ran around the balcony. The land far below her was still in early morning darkness, the sun only a hint of brightness on the eastern horizon. The chill air caught at her legs and arms, but it did not bother her. She had other concerns because Grifford, her ill-tempered, thick headed brother, had been taken.

Images of the previous day circled in her mind; memories of voices talking of treachery and murder, but she could remember little of what had followed after. The cold morning air refreshed her, and the weakness in her limbs was suddenly gone.

Above her, all the windows of the keep were lit, and peering over the balcony as she ran, she could see myriad twinkling glow-light specks in the fortress' central-courtyard far below. More lights seemed to be spreading out into the barrack-blocks, and over the fortitude-bridge to the access-keep and the bailey, and then out across the fortress hub. As she rounded the tower, she could see more lights gathering around the observation tower and the arena-field. The memory of voices battered at her mind; unfriendly voices that she half recognised.

There's always the river.

She pushed open a door, which led from the balcony into the bedroom of another young lady of the Order.

Throw her in there and she'll be gone in no time.

She slipped through the room, passed the bed from which came the regular fluttering breath of its occupant.

...and by tonight it will not matter. We will have her brother...

She had to find her father.

She pushed open the bedroom door and glanced down the corridor, back towards her own bedroom. There were no guards standing outside, but from the sounds coming from within, Mistress Oleander had noticed her disappearance and had already gone in pursuit. With one quick glance up and down the corridor, she darted out and ran, her bare feet making barely a sound as she rushed along the curving passageway. She leapt down stairs, hardly noticing the thud of pain as her heals hit the hard metal floor. She dashed across the entrance chamber to the tower, and reaching its heavy double door, she dragged it open. Two guards stood outside on the covered bridge that linked the tower to the rest of the keep, and she ran between them without stopping.

"You girl!" shouted one. "Stop!"

"I have to see my father!" she shouted, not looking back.

"I'll go after her," she heard one say. "You stay here."

She heard heavy footfalls following in pursuit, but ignored them. Once through the door, she slid down the banister of the curving stair leading down to the left, ignoring the other stairs, one of which led down to the right and the other upwards into the centre of the keep. She heard the door behind her burst open as the pursuing soldier entered behind her. She also heard his muttered curses as he was faced with the choice of three exit routes.

At the bottom of the stairs, she slid from the banister and hurtled along the corridor beyond. The wide stairs at its end had no banister of sufficient width to slide down, so she simply threw herself down them, three at a time. When she reached the bottom and entered the mid-level embarkation chamber, she skidded on the rugs that covered its floor. She almost collided with the stooped figure of Mistress D'almeria, who had just exited the open lift, leaning heavily on her walking cane.

"Sorry, Mistress," panted Tahlia as she attempted to dodge round the elderly lady.

Mistress D'almeria, despite her aging appearance, was deceptively quick and somehow managed to seize hold of Tahlia's arm with one surprisingly strong bony hand.

"One moment, young lady," she said in her exquisitely polite, cracked voice.

"Sorry, Mistress, but I cannot stop."

"I think that you must, child. I believe it has been ordered that all young ladies be confined to their rooms."

"But, Mistress..."

Mistress D'almeria gestured with her cane at the Junior Engineer who stood at the controls of the lift.

"Carry on, young lady," she said.

The Junior Engineer gave Tahlia an almost apologetic smile, then she pulled on a lever and the lift door slid closed.

"But, Mistress," said Tahlia desperately. "I have to find my father. Grifford has been kidnapped."

"I do not believe that he has," said Mistress D'almeria, as though the very thought was distasteful.

"But he has; Mistress Oleander just told me."

"I think it is unlikely that she told you that, on the grounds that it is not true."

"But she just said..."

"Are you sure that is what she said? You do seem to have a habit of only hearing what you want to hear when you listen to people."

"But she did! She said that my brother has been taken."

"That is true, but it is not Grifford who has been taken."

Just then, the soldier who had chased her from the young-lady's quarters came down the stairs at a run. He almost tripped on one of the rugs that Tahlia's entrance had displaced, as he stopped abruptly at the sight of Tahlia and Mistress D'almeria.

"Mistress," he said humbly, and gave a brief bow.

Mistress D'almeria let go of Tahlia's arm and pushed her gently towards the soldier.

"Are you looking for this child?" she said.

Without waiting to hear his answer, Tahlia ducked away, dodged around the elderly Mistress, and flung herself down the stairs. She heard the soldier give a sharp curse as he came in pursuit.

* * *

In the lift embarkation chamber, Mistress D'almeria tutted loudly.

"Language!" she called after the soldier as he disappeared after Lady Tahlessa's wayward daughter.

The only reply was the sound of fading footfalls.

The elderly Mistress of etiquette and decorum continued to watch the doorway where Tahlia had fled, waiting for a reply from the discourteous soldier. When none came, she tutted again and muttered under her breath.

"You will never catch her anyway. No one ever does."