Yavenna
Yavenna was awake. Her eyelids felt like they were made of lead, but she'd been tossing and turning for at least a couple hours. Nightmare images of birds' skulls, the King's filthy doublet and the mage's eyes had splintered her sleep and left her heart racing. She sat up and grabbed her pillow, hugging it. Goodness, this castle was so shockingly dreadful. She'd never even dreamt that anywhere like this could exist.
A beam of moonlight shone through the heavy drapes onto a table where she'd left a quill pen and a sheet of paper, ready to write a letter to her father. Before she fell asleep she'd been trying to mentally compose a letter to him, confessing her involvement with the slaves, and throwing herself on his mercy. But about an hour ago, she had the shattering realization that it would be a waste of time to write it. Who would take the letter? The soldiers from Tarhasta that had accompanied her to Arvad had all been sent back to Tarhasta, except for Torrehon, Sharva's fiancé, who had been taken on as a guard by the King. She couldn't send him, she didn't like him very much; she didn't trust him, despite how Sharva felt about him, and it would cause too many questions. What if Ulric wanted to know what the letter was about? Biting off her one remaining nail, Yavenna faced the awful truth. There was no one who could take a letter to her father. She was stuck here.
Yavenna squinted at the grandmother clock that stood by the door. Three o'clock. Well, she definitely couldn't sleep. She may as well have a look around the castle to see if she could find out anything useful. She could have another look for Mal's dog – perhaps he was in a bedroom instead of a dungeon. Slipping on a gray silk bed robe, she pulled her hair out from the collar of it, and pushed her feet into the matching soft velvet slippers. At least they wouldn't make a noise on the stone floors. She picked up a candle from on top of a bookcase, then put it down again. She couldn't risk lighting it. Pulling the chair away from door, Yavenna opened the lock. But as she walked in to the next room she twisted round and grabbed the dagger she'd left on the bed. It might be useful - goodness knows, there were enough strange creatures in this castle.
In the corridor, Yavenna listened. A breeze blew down from an open window in one of the upper storeys. There was the sound of distant snoring. She stood for a few minutes just listening, her fingers rubbing the handle of the dagger. Was this a good idea? Nothing in this castle was a good idea. Well, so long as she didn't meet the King, she might be alright.
She walked to the stairs and tiptoed down them. There was no sound of snoring on this floor. She tried a handle and opened a door. It was a bedroom, but there was no one in it, and hardly any furniture. Definitely no dogs. The next room was a small library. She walked in and looked around. There were only bookshelves, not even a cupboard. Once back in the corridor, Yavenna stopped and listened. There was a funny, musty smell, but no noises. She opened the next door. A sickly smell wafted out into the corridor.
(This bit shouldn't be in bold - sorry not able to change it!)
Instead of following the stairs to the next floor where her suite was located, Yavenna turned and faced the corridor she'd hidden in yesterday when she eavesdropped on the King. There were no guards to be seen. She tiptoed along the corridor till she reached Ulric's study and pressed her ear against the door. She couldn't hear a single sound from inside. Taking a deep breath, she twisted the handle and slithered in through the opening before she changed her mind.
Her heart beating like a sewing-machine treadle, Yavenna scanned the room. It was a large study, dominated by a huge desk in the middle. But there was a lot of room around it, and various mirrors and enormous cupboards covered the walls. There was a large painting of the King wearing an ornate crown and his mask and an ermine trimmed robe. He looked significantly younger and thinner, and had no beard, but the picture of him still made her shudder. A plate and goblet stood on a tray at one end of the desk and the room reeked of his horrible minty smell.
Yavenna darted to a chest of drawers near the window. What was she looking for? She didn't even really know. She simply wanted to find something, anything that would tell her why the King was interested in Tarhasta, and why there were so many slaves digging in Arvad. Perhaps she might even find something that could help her set the slaves free.
Oh! The unexpected thought was like a punch to the belly. She leant against the window for a moment, puffing out air. Set the slaves free? Where did that come from? She grabbed hold of her hair with one hand and twisted it into a bun. She pulled it out of the bun and twisted it again. Whatever was she thinking of? There was no way she could set the slaves free? However many of them were there? She wasn't even free herself. That was all she needed to think of. The best way to get herself free.
Yavenna let go of her hair and bent down to pull open a drawer. Inside were several pairs of leather gloves. Nothing else. She slid it shut, and pulled open the drawer underneath. There was a collar attached to a chain. Urgh, it was probably for the scary sandwyrm creature. She slammed it shut. The drawer below contained a folded map of Arvad. She didn't need that, she had one the same upstairs. Stepping over to one of the wardrobes, she opened it and perused the contents. There were several robes and jackets hanging inside, even a woman's dress. In fact, it was a tall woman's dress, and very beautifully embroidered. She had a good idea who that belonged to. But there was nothing interesting. Every cupboard she looked in was only full of boring ordinary items.
It had been a warm day, but Yavenna felt suddenly cold.
She left the desk till last. Just as she was about to open one of the carved drawers she heard a noise outside. In the corridor. She froze and listened. It was footsteps. Who was walking around the castle at this time of night? Footsteps were getting louder. They were slow and heavy. There was someone outside! There was absolutely no way she could let herself get caught in this room. She spun around in a whirl, could she get out of the window? She ran back over to it and jolted the catch. It was as stiff as if it had never been opened. She could break it to force open the window, but how loud would that be? And the room was on the first floor – she'd still have to force it open, and then jump out. But there was no there was sill, so jumping wasn't a possibility. What about the desk? She could certainly fit underneath it, but then if the person came in and walked past the desk they'd see her hiding. The study door handle squeaked. Yavenna looked around, flapping her hands. Really, there was no choice. It would have to be a wardrobe. Heart pounding even faster than before, she opened the wardrobe she'd just looked in and climbed in. She pulled the door shut behind her. In the darkness, she pushed herself to the back of the wardrobe but as she draped the robes in front of her, she realized how loudly she was panting. The study door opened. Yavenna could feel her throat grow dryer as she tried to make herself breathe as slowly as possible. If she was found in here - hiding in the King's study, in the middle of the night...Her imagination started to conjure horrible scenarios...
The door creaked shut again.
Yavenna took a deep breath.
She was safe.
For the moment... But she still had to get back to her room, and, actually, she wasn't quite ready to go yet.
She pushed the robes aside to get up, but then noticed a faint blue light to the right of her. A blue light! Leaning forward through the robes, she poked the wardrobe door slightly open so she could see what she was doing, then bent down towards it. It had to be the same as the stone on the King's pendant! She remembered how it had sparkled before - how lovely it would be to hold it in her hand! The light was coming from the bottom drawer of a small chest of drawers inside the wardrobe. She pulled on the handle, but the drawer was locked. She rattled the handle; tried to pull it open, but it didn't make any difference. She cursed under her breath. She really, really wanted to hold it. Kneeling down on the base of the wardrobe to think, she grasped her pendant, fiddling with it absentmindedly. It was warm! She let go of it, with a start. Not again! What was causing the warmth? This time she was certain she wasn't imagining it.
She sprang up, pushed open the wardrobe doors, and dragged the curtains open. She dashed to one of the huge mirrors. Standing in front of it, she lifted her pendant, and stared. There was just enough moonlight for her to see that skin below was flushed a darker color, in a sort of triangle the same shape as the pendant. It had only started to feel warm when she touched the drawer. Why was the blue light making her pendant heat up? She turned back to the wardrobe and pushed back through the robes. Squinting into the gap immediately above the drawer, she put her hand against it. The air coming from the gap was definitely warmer than the rest of the air in the room. She wiggled the handle, tempted to force it open, but she couldn't do that. He'd know someone had been snooping. What about the other two drawers? She jerked open the top one. A few coins clattered with the movement. A handkerchief was pushed to the back of the drawer. She pushed it shut, then pulled the handle of the drawer below.
Suddenly she remembered where she was. She couldn't spend any more time here, however much she wanted to hold the blue stone. She should hurry up, what if the King walked in and found her searching through his wardrobe! Whisking open the final drawer she gave the contents a cursory glance. If it was unlocked there couldn't be anything very important in there. But wait! There was something interesting in it after all. A scroll, sealed with a red ribbon.
A door banged on the floor below.
Yavenna grabbed the scroll and held it up to the moonlight that shone through the window. She could just make out a sentence of intricate writing that curled along the top of the scroll.
Something clattered – something wooden dropped on the floor. A long staff perhaps?
Yavenna stood up. She had to go. Glancing back at the scroll the letters were suddenly clear. "Urgent - concerning Tarhasta". She gasped; her voice loud in the silence. What did it say? She wanted to take it with her. She closed the drawer, pushed the wardrobe doors shut and ran in velvet steps to the doorway. She would take it.
There was more noise from downstairs. A bird screeched in the gardens. And then made a choking sound.
Yavenna stood with her hand on the doorway, she hardly dared open it. A door closed downstairs. She had to get back to her room. Pulling the door open a few inches, she squeezed through it, the corridor was still dark, but there was a foul smell wafting up from downstairs. Padding as fast as she dared go, she trod to the stairs. It was the mage, it had to be. A spasm of fear suddenly shook her. If he found her walking around the castle in the night, that would be bad enough, but if he found her with the King's scroll. She whirled round and pushed the door back again. This time, it creaked. She ran to the wardrobe and shoved the scroll back in the drawer. In the doorway, she heard footsteps again. She ran to the stairway and began to tiptoe up the stairs. The footsteps climbed the stairs below, quickly. Yavenna reached the top of her stairs and ran to her room. The footsteps were almost running. She unlocked the door of her room, as the footsteps bounded up the stairs. She managed to close the door a few seconds before he reached the landing. As quietly as she could, she closed the door, and heard his tread on the floor. He would have seen the door close. He must have done.
Yavenna slumped down into a soft armchair. She couldn't stand this. She had to get out of here. From now on she was going to do everything she could to think of a way to escape. But first, she wanted to find out what the scroll said. Somehow, she'd find a way to read it.