The Silver Crown

29.

I passed my horse's reins to Cynthia with a curt order to "Stay there." I hurried over to the stall, my excitement rising. I ordered five apple pastries and five meat pasties. Mistress Linde did not give me a second look. I wasn't surprised that she didn't recognize me as the skinny street urchin that occasionally bought pastries from her.

I carried the pastries back to my group. "Before we can eat, follow me," I said. I lead the group a half a block down until the Saban became visible. "I used to sit on this wall almost everyday," I told Cynthia and Arabelle. We each tied our horses up to one of the bars situated by the wall and then they took a seat.

I took out the pastries and began to split them in half. "You have to try both," I instructed the guards, Timid Tima, Cynthia and Arabelle.

Arabelle gave the pastry a skeptical look when I placed it in her hand. "Just try it," I said and bit into my own apple pastry. The cinnamon flavor was thick and sweet, the apples juicy and pastry flaky. It was just as I had remembered it.

Suddenly my enthusiasm faded. Tobin wasn't here to share this with me. I had never eaten one of Mistress Linde's pastries without him before. Now, here I was sharing our special thing with other people while he was in the possession of the One God's priests.

I finished my pastry but not as joyfully. Not even Arabelle's admittance that it was "The best pastry I have ever had," was enough to pull me out of my guilt.

Finally, as everyone finished up eating, I was able to pull myself out of my shame and push the emotions to the back of my mind. I was doing everything I could to save Tobin. I was just waiting for the priest to contact me again.

"Where to next?" Cynthia asked. "I want to see everything!"

"We should really leave the horses," I said.

"Tima and Lael," Arabelle said, naming one of the guards. "Stay here with the horses. We'll want them for our ride back to the palace."

I grimaced, unsure how Cynthia would take this, but forged ahead, "And Cynthia, you should really let one of the guards carry your crown. It's not a good idea to carry it around."

Cynthia immediately removed the golden circlet from her blonde curls, much to my surprise. I had never seen her without it. It made her look younger. More vulnerable.

First I took the group to one of my favorite places. It was a little spot along the Saban where the wall had fallen in. It was easy to climb down the broken pieces of wall and sit on the edge to dangle your feet in the river. I even took off my boots and climbed down to show them. I invited them down with me but both were too scared of climbing down the rocks. One of the guards came down with me though. It was a younger boy, new to the guard. His name was Axius and he was more adventurous than the others, less formal too.

I think he could have sat there all day with his feet in the water but I scrambled back up the rocks when I noticed Cynthia and Arabelle's aversion.

I showed them some of the stalls that I used to steal from. The girls' wide eyes alerted me to the fact that they really hadn't understood what it meant to live on the streets the same way Marek and Daivon seemed to. Axius joked with me though and told me he would have to report me to provost and have me arrested. I was glad he didn't know I was the princess because then he probably would have been too serious to talk to me. I couldn't imagine what he thought of me: spending a day with Princess Cynthia and her cousin when it was obvious from all this talk that I had grown up in the slums of Kings City.

I cut the tour short for the girls' sake and just pointed out some of the attractions the lower city had. It wasn't much and I could tell the Mermaid's Tavern—my favorite tavern—or the Msytic shop near the docks didn't impress them. I told them a few of the tamer stories that went along with the locations. Arabelle laughed once or twice but only Axius laughed every time. I was starting to wish that I were exploring the city with only him. Arabelle and Cynthia hadn't understood what they were getting into when they asked to see my childhood.

We found a small square that was full of pigeons. Some children were feeding them. I hated the stinky birds but Cynthia wanted to join the children. I bought some bread and cheese, the first for the birds and the latter for the children.

We sat in the square for a while we talked to the children and they ate. They fed the birds and when we were done, Cynthia and Arabelle ran through the hordes of pigeons with the children, both parties laughing. I couldn't help but smile. It was like I had dreamed, rich girls feeding and playing with poor children.

But when the light started to fade I knew it was time to leave. People came out at night in the lower city that I didn't want Cynthia and Arabelle to meet.

The girls were a little closer to understanding how my life had been before but I didn't want them to understand everything, and so that required me to get them out before the sun went down.

Two of the guards walked in front of us and the other two took up the rear as we walked down the Diamond Road, the quickest way across the Saban and back to the nicer part of the capital. Unfortunately Kavvy's Tavern—simply The Tavern for the natives—was on the route. It was notorious for it's huge fights, but I was hoping that they wouldn't start until later.

The gods were not on our side though as someone busted down the door of the tavern and a brawl spilled out into the streets. The two guards in front of us didn't heed my warning and stepped forward to try to break up the fight. They were immediately pulled into the fray.

I directed Arabelle and Cynthia to follow me, Axius and the other guard at the rear staying close.

"Shouldn't we help them?" Axius said, gesturing to where the other two guards had disappeared.

"It's too late now. They probably won't die but it will be half an hour before the Evening Watch is able to break that up. We need to get out of here before that." He nodded to signal his understanding and dropped back with the other guard, his hand on his sword hilt.

I lead our little group of five down a side alley and out onto a street parallel to the Diamond Road. It was less well lit and the sun had fallen behind the forest. Cynthia moved closer to me. I could smell the fear coming off of her. I shouldn't have let them stay out this late. If anything happened it would be my fault.

Brinian would berate me until he was blue in the face for this. I should know better.

We made it a ways before I heard a clatter and looked back to see Axius glancing down bewildered. The guard who had been walking next to him was passed out on the ground.

I hurried over and my fears were confirmed: there was a trickle of blood coming from his hairline. He had been hit over the head. This was planned.

"Pick him up," I ordered Axius. The younger guard hoisted his friend up and over his shoulder. I slipped back to the front, passing Arabelle one of my knives on the way.

"Hold it tight," I whispered when she squeaked.

I lead us forward, although more slowly than before and I kept my ears peeled for our attackers. The sounds of the city in the evening met my ears: a baby crying, wood creaking, a man laughing, doors slamming.

There. A footstep.