Page 25 of Promised To the Orc
Including keeping Alta safe. If we are successful in battening Ritka, his next move will be to kill her in a fit of rage. When he can’t find her, he’ll turn on me. My father has long suspected that I may one day try to overtake him, but I don’t feel he ever believed I would truly do so.
I’ll happily show him how wrong he is.
“First, we must move Alta to safety. And then we wait to see if our messages were delivered.”
“How will we know?”
“Lilygrin will bring one back to me. She’ll deliver it to my hut in the woods. I’ll send someone there to check.”
We slip through the secretive tunnels and a long forgotten inner stairway that takes us to the palace above. Listening for any sound, I open the door and check for guards before entering the hallway. The next two levels are quiet as I listen for any sound of my father. Tomorrow is the Great Feast and he’ll be preparing with his advisors. It’s a celebration of his rule and he’ll demand that everything goes perfectly.
Two of my father’s guards are also spies, and I’ve staged them to be always within earshot of him. I want to know the moment Vol arrives at the palace. Another spy waits inside the walls of my father’s grand room, ready to overhear anything my father says. Sash heads one way and I another. She’s going to gather our allies from the village and inform them to arm themselves and be ready.
I’m going to need them if I must take on my father myself. His guards are loyal and I’m a great fighter, but fending off twenty armed men in full armor might not benefit me. I must protect Alta at all costs and if it takes the manpower of the villagers to do so, then so be it.
Confident that my father is preoccupied, I head towards Alta’s room. I feel guilty that I haven’t sent food to her room. She’s probably starving and wondering what happened to me. Her guards stand dutifully in front of her door, both acknowledging me with the tilt of their head as I approach. I can tell by the look on the tallest guard’s face that something has happened.
“What is it?” Urgency pumps through me. Has something happened to Alta?
“She tried to leave last evening.”
Leave? She knows it’s unsafe to travel back to Ritka alone, especially now with so much at stake.
“Let me in.” I knock on the door and then cracked the handle. “Alta, I’m here.”
I don’t see the blade coming as it slices the air next to my head. Her foot drives into my gut and pushes me backwards out the door. I stumble, catching myself. Alta comes through the doorway swinging the sword, nearly catching the arm of one of her guards as she comes.
“Back off, all of you.”
The sword seems to have a mind of its own in protecting her. Her body moves gracefully with each slice and arc of the blade. Her guards back up, as do I. She holds the blade pointed at my chest, eyeing her guards, and bracing herself for an attack.
“You both said you would protect me with your lives. You liars!”
“We were only trying to keep you safely inside, Alta.”
“Don’t bother. I know you’re working with him.”
My brow furloughs. I don’t know what changed, or what she thinks she knows, but something’s happened. “Alta, talk to me.”
Her eyes flash. “Don’t speak to me, you lying bastard. I know the king sent you to kill us all that night and the ice caves. Your father called me here because he knew you’d play along with this fake marriage so both of you can make an example out of me. You don’t want humans to be free. You want us all dead.”
“Alta,” I say evenly, slowly. “We’re fighting to free you.”
She shakes her head and slowly backs away, pointing the tip of her magical blade between the three of us to keep us in place.
“I regret the day I ever met you.”
The words cut me deeper than her blade ever could. I motioned for the guards to stay still as she backs all the way down the hallway, and then turns and flees. She doesn’t know her way through the palace and it’s unlikely she’ll get far.
“I’ll tail her and keep her safe.”
Racing down the hall, I listen for the sound of her feet to determine her location. Her boots echo on the stone floor. I have to get to her before someone else does. There’s no telling who my father has in his back pocket, or what he’s paying them to do. I lose the sound of her footfalls. Stopping to listen, I hear a faint echo far ahead.
She’s weaving through the hallways, looking for a way out. Or so I thought. The door to the stairwell slams, her boots heavy as she rushes down the steps. I nearly catch up with her when she flies onto the next level, knowing where she’s going. My heart drops when I realize where she’s headed.
“Alta! Don’t!”
She bursts into the throne room, well ahead of me. A guard yells and the heavy doors slam shut. Taking a corner too fast, I slide on the floor. Catching myself, I back up and race in her direction. The guard is on the ground, bleeding beside the doors. Jumping over him, I kick open the doors and rush side. My father is standing in front of his throne, watching her approach. The golden sword gleams above her head and I swear it’s making a low, humming sound. He’s holding his guards back with a hand gesture, his amused grin displaying how much she’s enjoying this.
