The Destiny Detour

Walking into a Trap

Rosaliy

"The guards did what?" Rosaliy gaped, incredulous.

"Carted them right off," the worker repeated.

"Both of them?"

Prior to this alarming conversation with three chatty workmen, Rosaliy determined her brother was not wiling away his evening by the horseshoe pit, nor had he talked the merchant manning the vat of bubbling oil out of any sugar dusted fried pastries. Therefore, Cade must not have finished his work for the day. When she arrived at the main gathering area—the brick square adorned with a newly-constructed stage—she found a tense buzz of idle chatter instead of any work taking place.

"I don't know what that Baysellian did, but it must have been terrible. Did you see the guard slug him?"

His fellow workers chimed in their amazement at this odd behavior by a guard on patrol. Poor Drake. Rosaliy knew what her second question for the day was going to be, but she would have to find him to ask it.

With too much time to think on the ride to Kianne Castle, every hoofbeat pounded the resounding blows of failure on her heart. There was no way such a disturbance was above the notice of Daniella and her Kianne arsenal of spy equipment. To be painfully honest, Daniella must have known Rosaliy was in the city the second she crossed the gates. She had probably been the one to have Drake taken prisoner. All their sneaking was for naught and this was all hopeless.

In the midst of her dark thoughts, Rosaliy had to admit she was still free. Unless the former queen was taunting her, perhaps Rosaliy herself had escaped detection. Maybe the magic potion had been just enough.

An obnoxious squeaking interrupted her faint hope. She had been ignoring an intermittent squeaking she could not identify for more than half an hour, pretending the sound was in her head, but once she reined in her horse and dismounted, the actual noise was impossible to ignore. She pulled off billowing robes and scarves, draping them over the horse. A fortune teller sneaking around Kianne would draw much more unwanted attention than Rosaliy sneaking around Kianne.

The squeaking grew louder, less muffled. The sound seemed to be coming from her, but when she pawed through her bag, she found nothing but Drake's knives, some magical odds and ends, and Athena's potion. Nothing had leaked or mixed together during its time in her pockets. She stuck her hands in her pockets and drew out the little book. When had she put it there?

The squealing stopped as soon as she opened the cover.

Go to Taragon, said the book in shiny silver letters. Now.

"What is the purpose of you?" she complained at it. "No."

She dumped the evil squirrel book in her bag. Message conveyed, it thankfully remained silent.

Rosaliy retrieved one of the filmy scarves to tie back her hair and pulled out the map Alexander had drawn for her of the layout of the palace—his childhood home. She could get into Kianne Castle and to Daniella's rooms without having to announce her presence using the well-marked tunnels, but she had no map of the dungeon, assuming the guards had taken Drake and Cade there first. Rosaliy remembered that place with a shudder. The dungeon had been the place where Daniella had dragged Rosaliy and her family to be turned into puppets to fight her war. Awful woman.

She refocused. As soon as she found Daniella, or, even better, the children, she could have the Crystal Palace ally Hale release her brother and Drake. All in all, that plan seemed faster than trying to free them herself, although she did feel badly about temporarily abandoning them.

Rosaliy smoothed out the map with her fingers and compared it to the palace in front of her, plotting out a course. Crystal Palace was a lofty, imposing fortress. Luckily, Alexander's passages took her in through the walls and necessitated only a short trip through the hallways before she had to deal with a magical entrance to a set of secret rooms.