Laela raised her head. “I’ve got the King!” she shouted back. “I found him!”
After that, it was as if the entire world went mad. The guards came running, saw the King’s face, and went white. One of them sprinted back through the gate to alert the rest of the Eyrie, while the other stayed with Laela and asked a rapid succession of angry questions.
“Where did ye find him? What happened to him? Why is he all wet? Is he hurt?”
Laela did her best to keep up. “Found him in the canal. Someone tied him up an’ threw him in. That’s why he’s all wet. Yeah, he’s hurt, but I dunno how bad.”
“What d’ye mean, someone threw him in the canal?” the guard growled. “Who? How did ye find-”
Laela didn’t have to answer that because people were already running out of the gates toward her. She braced herself and opened her mouth to begin her explanation, but nobody was interested in hearing it. The King was torn out of her grasp so fast and eagerly it almost knocked her over, and before she knew what was happening, someone had taken her by the arm and pulled her through the gate and back to the Eyrie.
There was no point in trying to argue. She did her best to keep up and stood as tall as she could, trying to see where the King had gone. She caught a brief glimpse of him being lifted onto a stretcher and rushed inside, and then he was gone, and she had her own predicament to deal with.
The guard who had seized her seemed at a loss as to what to do with her, but an authoritative-looking middle-aged burly man Laela didn’t recognise stepped in and said, “I’ll take her. Come with me, girl.”
She followed him, grateful that at least he didn’t decide to drag her after him. He took her into what looked like a storeroom, which was at least out of the way of the crowd.
“Right,” he said. “Who are yer?”
“Laela Redguard,” said Laela. “I’m the King’s companion.”
“The half-breed who was thrown out of the Eyrie on suspicion of havin’ somethin’ t’do with the King’s disappearance,” he summarised.
“Yeah,” Laela gritted out. “That’d be me.”
“An’ now yer come back with him, badly hurt.”
“Yeah.” Laela paused. “Who are yeh, an’ why should I tell yeh anything anyway?”
“I’d be Garnoc, Commander of the City Guard,” he said. “An’ you’ll tell me the truth, or I’ll make the world a painful place for yer.”
“Then listen,” said Laela. “I didn’t have nothin’ to do with the King vanishin’, got that? He was a good friend to me. Saved my life, gave me a home-he was kinder to me than I deserved. Then he vanishes an’ everyone’s sayin’ I did it. Well, I ain’t done nothin’ wrong. They threw me out, so I went lookin’ for him myself, an’ found him. Then I brought him back here where he’d be safe.”
“Right,” said Garnoc. “So how did yer find him, when my men’ve been lookin’ for two gods-damned days and found nothin’?”
Laela thought quickly. “’Cause I knew where he’d have gone, that’s why.”
“
Laela explained.
Garnoc’s eyes were narrow. “I see.”
“Look,” Laela added in desperation, “if I did that to him, why in the gods’ names would I have brought him back here where there’s all these guards what hate my guts an’ think I did it? I ain’t as stupid as I look.”
He looked at her for another long moment. “We’ll get to the bottom of this later. Go back up to yer room an’ stay there. I’ll send someone up with yer t’make sure yer don’t go anywhere.”
She nodded resignedly. “Fine.”
Garnoc summoned a guard, who took her back up to her old quarters. They hadn’t changed in her absence. The guard ushered her inside and locked the door behind her.
Laela didn’t particularly care about being locked in. It was still better than being in the dungeons, and she needed her bed, and badly.
She stripped off her wet clothes and hung them in front of the fire, dried herself off with a handy towel, and climbed under the blankets very gratefully indeed. In virtually no time at all, she had slid away into peaceful, dreamless sleep.
She slept for a long time, and when she woke up she found a tray of food waiting for her. She put on a clean set of clothes, and then ate everything on the tray. It tasted delicious.
Outside, the sun was beginning to sink. She’d slept most of the day. Everything that had happened that morning felt hazy and unreal.
She found a comb and sat down to try and do something about her hair, which was full of dried mud and other bits and pieces it’d picked up in the canal.
As she was untangling a particularly stubborn knot, she heard the door open and looked up to see a young woman peering in at her.
“Laela?”
She stood up hastily. “What’s goin’ on?”
The woman coughed. “The King is awake and asking for you.”
Laela threw the comb aside. “I’m comin’.”
The guard was still outside, but he let them pass without comment. Laela walked beside her new companion. “How is he?”
“Better,” the woman said shortly.
She was walking too fast. Laela sped up. “Don’t think I’ve seen yeh before-what’s yer name?”
The woman glanced at her. “Arddryn Taranisaii.”
“Taranisaii?” Laela repeated, unable to hide her surprise. “Related to the King, are yeh?”
“His cousin Lady Saeddryn is my mother,” said Arddryn.
Laela scratched her head. “Didn’t know she had children. Are yeh the heir to the throne, then?”
Arddryn’s lips pursed. “My brother Caedmon should be the next in line.”
Arenadd was in a different tower, in a part of the Eyrie Yorath had shown her and said was the infirmary. There were several different rooms in it, and Arddryn led her into the largest. There were guards stationed outside, both grim-faced.
As Arddryn opened the door, Laela caught a snatch of conversation from within.
“-getting too damned over-confident by half.” The King’s voice.
“I had a duty t’do somethin’-what would ye have
“Not throwing an innocent girl into prison would have been an excellent place to start!”
“All the evidence-”
Arddryn coughed politely, and the voices stopped. A moment later, Laela heard a muffled curse, and she and Arddryn had to stand aside as a very-angry-looking Saeddryn strode out of the room. Laela watched her leave the infirmary and felt very slightly smug.
“Laela?” Arddryn was beckoning to her. “Go on, go in.”
Laela walked past her and into the room, and heard the King’s voice call her name.
He was tucked up in bed, looking pale and tired, but alert. “Laela,” he said again.
She went to his side and tried to smile. “Hullo, Sire.”
He frowned. “Call me Arenadd. I think you’ve earned the right by now. Please, sit down.”
There was a chair by the bed. She took it. “How are yeh feelin’, Arenadd?”
“Better. And you?”
“Pretty tired,” Laela admitted. “It’s been a long day.”
“You can say that again.” He smiled at her with his eyes.
“I thought yeh were dead,” said Laela.
“A common mistake. I’ve survived worse, trust me.”
She thought of the scars. “I believe yeh. Arenadd. .”
“Yes?”
“It’s all right about Amoran. I mean, I’ll go with yeh. If yeh want me to.”
