Remnant of Power

Chapter Twenty-seven

Yavenna

"Just give me a moment, Miss Arielle, I'll see if Her Highness is awake." Yavenna woke up the next morning to the sound of Sharva opening the main door to her suite. Was it really time to wake up? She'd hardly slept at all, her mind a simmering pit of fear and revulsion. Time was passing too quickly, she needed to come up with a plan, but so far, she couldn't work out how to leave the castle without being missed.

Yavenna staggered out of bed, and called to Sharva to bring her a gown. Although she'd winced at the thought of getting out of bed, she was keen to find out why Arielle had come to see her again. Apart from Sharva, she was the only person in the castle Yavenna didn't actively dislike. Entering the living room, she was surprised to see Arielle on her own and wearing riding clothes.

"Does your mother know you're here?" asked Yavenna as she walked up to greet the girl.

"Of course not. If she knew I was here she'd be coming along to drag me back home. But I thought it'd be nice to come and see you again, I thought we could go for a ride. Anyway, I'm good at sneaking about." She tossed her mass of flame-coloured hair back behind her shoulders. "You learn to sneak about at an early age when you have a mother like mine. I can honestly say it's my most valuable skill. Let me know if you need me to give you lessons." She lifted her eyes to Yavenna's. "Except I don't think you need me to, do you? Did you find what you were looking for yesterday?"

Yavenna looked at her from under her eyelashes as she lifted a cup of hot chocolate from the breakfast trolley. How much was it safe to tell Arielle? She wanted to trust her, but a nagging doubt in the pit of her stomach cautioned her against it. Yavenna took a big gulp of the chocolate and cleared her throat.

"On the way here from Tarhasta I saw thousands of slaves. They looked very hungry and I was concerned for them. I was wondering what they were digging for. So I thought I'd have a look around."

Arielle helped herself to a pastry from the plate Sharva offered her and bit into it delicately, waiting to finish her mouthful before she replied. "Tut tut, Princess. That's very nosey of you." Then she took a step closer to Yavenna, and scanned the suite, swinging her eye glass between her fingers. "Is it true then, about the slaves? I'd heard rumours that the King had lots of slaves, but of course my mother won't let a word be said against him, and anyone who starts talking about slaves when I'm listening gets told to shut up immediately." She shuddered. "How terrible for them. I don't know why he needs thousands of slaves. There's a lot of farmland near here with normal workers, and there always seems plenty of food in the markets."

"It is true about them," nodded Yavenna. Every evening as she dropped off to sleep she saw the same memory, a mass of skeletal slaves, working in the darkness and being whipped by the overseers. And every morning when she woke up, she promised herself that she wouldn't think about them anymore. What could she do? She had enough to worry about trying to plan her own escape.

"We should go and get the horses quickly, my mother might send someone to look for me, and I'd much rather spend the morning with you than her..." She stood in the doorway watching as Yavenna picked up her backpack and cloak from inside the wardrobe. But the Princess then turned back to Arielle.

"There's only one problem. I don't have any riding boots. I only had two days' notice of the wedding, and I forgot to bring them."

Arielle twisted her mouth to one side. "Alright. Well, we'll have to go and buy some. Just ask one of the guards to get you a carriage ready, I should think you're allowed to, after all you will be the Queen in a few days." She gave Yavenna a sideways glance as they set off down the two flights of stairs to the great hall, the Princess calling a hasty goodbye to Sharva.