Chapter Text
Orthallen huffed over to where Selenay, Kyril, and Elcarth were huddled together, "I just heard," he puffed, "What an outrage. A child snatched from the collegium. If the parents of our students find out, they'll pull their children out, and what will happen to the companions of the trainees if they are sent home?"
"They aren't going to be sent home," Selenay insisted, "I've instructed the guards to add the collegium and the dorms to their rounds. Not that I think it will be needed. Whoever was behind this obviously doesn't want Talia to become Queen's Own."
"That won't matter once they learned that their daughters were injured because your guards couldn't stop an intruder," Orthallen pointed out, "You need to reassure them. Make them know that nothing bad will happen to their children."
"My Lord," Kyril offered gently, "I assure you that The Circle and the Council are both doing everything that they can to bring Talia back safely. Keren and her brother are already out searching the city, and those responsible will face the worse punishment allowed by the law. That will be enough to discourage this stunt to be played anytime soon."
"I'm sure that you have everything under control. I just hope that Teren and Keren haven't bitten off more than they can handle. I was under the impression that one of the students that was badly injured was one of Alberich's star students. She failed with backup. Keren and Teren have no one," Orthallen pointed out, "I suggest that some guards join them just in case. We can't afford to lose more Heralds then we already have."
...
Talia groaned, her head throbbing as she slowly came too. She was being jostled about on a wooden floor, hitting up against something that almost felt padded. She tried to steady herself by bracing herself with her arms, but she quickly discovered that her arms were tied behind her back.
Memories of the attack in her room came rushing back, waking up, Destria arriving to help, hiding underneath the bed. There has been shouting, Sheri was in the doorway as she was pulled out from under the bed. The sickening sound as Destria was thrown into the fireplace mantle. The overly sweet scent of the rag over her nose, and then... Nothing. She didn't even know if Destria was alive. Had she inadvertently killed Destria, her friend that welcomed her in and taught her what it meant to be a teenaged girl.
What about Jeri? She hadn't seen the girl but she had heard her shouting, heard her cry out in pain. Was she dead? Had she killed the girl who taught her how to apply face paint and how to tie her hair up so it wasn't in her eyes during weapons class?
What about Sheri? She took her under her wing and taught her how to navigate life at the collegium. The one who has endless patience as she tried to figure out what to her had been a completely foreign way of life. She had been there. Was she gone too?
What about Nessa? Always good at getting her to questions beliefs she had hold her whole life, and almost always knows just how to make her laugh. Had she been hurt?
What about Rolan? Mama? Uncle Teren? What about the guards that were supposed to keep intruders out of the Palace Complex? Had they been injured?
A loud unappealing screech of an unoiled hinge snapped Talia out of her panic concern over her family and friends. Rough, calloused hands grabbed her, pulling her up to her wobbly feet. Light suddenly flared as a lamp flared to life revealing the inside of what Talia assumed was a travel wagon, used by the wealthy to travel from place to place in comfort, without worry about there being an inn available. Jeri had told her about them once, but she never thought she'll see the inside of one, or see the man towering over her again.
Sen snarled at her, shoving onto the padded bench that made up one end of the wagon, "You honestly thought you could raise above your God appointed role, girl?" He demanded, removing his belt, "I'll teach you to think that you can do as you please!"
There was a hiss as the belt was sent through the air and then with a loud crack landed on Talia.
...
Keren slipped back through the door of the inn, shaking her head, her eyes burning, "The innskeep will keep an eye out for a girl matching Talia's description," she yawned, rubbing a hand over her face, "But I doubt that they're still in the city."
Teren didn't want to admit it, it would only crush his sister, but she had a point, the kidnappers had gotten past the guards once, they could easily get past them a second time. And Valdemar was a large kingdom, who knew where they took her.
"I don't know if there is anything else that we can do at the moment," Teren confessed, "The sun will be up in a couple of hours, and messengers have been sent out to the road guard. Kyril and Rolan sent out calls. Every Herald and companion inside Valdemar know to keep an eye out. Kris and the other Far Sights are looking and Alberich and some of the other Foresights are trying to See her future. We will find her."
Keren took a deep breath glancing at the light of false dawn, "I bet Sen was involved. It makes sense. He arrives here trying to pull Talia out of the collegium, and after that failed, after he lost parental rights, Talia is kidnapped."
"I know," Teren agreed, shaking his head slowly, "It is too much of a coincidence, but Sen doesn't have the mean to pull this off, someone had to have helped him."
"The same people who killed Grandfather?" Keren asked.
"Probably, they didn't want Grandfather salvaging the Brat. I doubt that they want Talia to salvage The Brat either," Teren pointed out, "And if they had gotten Sen involved then that means that the most likely place for them to take Talia is Sensholding."
"We can catch up to him. Our companions are way faster than any horse they can get."
"True, but you need to remember that these men took out several of the students and some of them, especially Jeri, were good fighters. I don't think we can rescue her by ourselves."
"But taking guards with us will slow us down," Keren protested. "If we leave now, we can have Talia back safe and sound by lunch!"
"If they're heading to Sensholding on the main road. I wouldn't be surprised if they stick to the back roads."
"Sen isn't from around here, he won't know what the back roads are," Keren pointed out.
"True, but he has had help so far. We are going to have to assume that They will help him get back to his holding without detection. I doubt we will be able to get her back without a fight. Remember, Talia will be the one who suffers if we fail in rescuing her."
...
Talia shifted, listening to the sound of Sen's snoring from the bed on the other end of the wagon. Now was as good a time as ever.
Sen had untied her, handed her the blanket and pillow and ordered her to make herself comfortable on the padded bench. He was acting like he hadn't just beat her. He was so use to women who would do anything to avoid a beating. But those women had nowhere to run to. Talia did.
The hinges of the wagon's door squeaked, but Jeri had told her that there were shutters in the side of the wagon.
She pulled herself up to her knees, pressing her hands against the walls of the wagon, until she felt a latch. She tugged on the latch, pushing the shutters open with a low squeak. She glanced at Sen, before slowly climbing out the window and onto the driver's platform. The sky was beginning to lighten in the false dawn of morning.
She looked around her, how in the world had they got so far away from the collegium so fast, she couldn't even see the walls of the city, or any signs of civilization. She glanced at the wagon, figuring that it would tell her which way she needed to go.
Just then there was a loud screech as the door to the wagon flung open.
Talia's eyes widened, she had known that the shutters had squeaked a little when she opened them, but she hadn't thought that it was enough to wake Sen up.
"You aren't going to get away from me, girl," he growled angerly, as he stomped towards her.
Talia spun on her heels and plunged into the undergrowth on the side of the road, Sen hot in pursuit.
She dodged around a tree, glancing over her shoulder to see if she had lost him. At that moment her foot got caught in a hole and she fell, a sharp pain going up her foot, as she did so.
Sen was on top of her before she could do more than extract her foot from the hole. He grabbed her with a vice like grip on her arm and another in her hair, "You are going to pay for this," he growled, lifting her up so that her toes barely touched the ground.
She whimpered in fear, what was she going to do now? She needed to do something. An image of Destria flinging her door open with a sword in her hand filled her mind. She had called out and Destroa had answered. Companions were faster than horses, and they'd been stopped for a while. She couldn't hear the bell like hoofsteps of the companions, but they had better hearing than she did and Keren had shown her the special boots that covered their hooves to allow them to sneak up on people.
Talia took a deep breath in through her nose and opened her mouth, allowing a loud scream to tear out of her throat, "Mama, Rolan, help!" There was no doubt in her mind that if Rolan was nearby, Keren would be with him.
Sen didn't even bother to loosen his grip on her, simply slamming her whole body against the trunk of the nearest tree with his full force.
Rough bark dug into bare skin and there was a crunching noise as her nose started to bleed.
"Shut up," Sen snarled, "You are never going to see that woman again, ever. He shook her hard, "do you understand, do you?"
He slammed her into the tree again, "answer me you worthless animal. Do you understand that you are never going to be a Herald. You are nothing but a drudge, to be bought and sold and used as a woman ought to be used."
As he spoke he marched Talia, still held up slightly so her feet barely touched the ground, back to the wagon.
He had left the door wide open, so now all he had to do was shove Talia. Her shins hit the bottom of the step, driving her to her knees.
Sen snorted, yanking her up by her head, "Get in there," he snarled.
Talia stepped onto the step, her legs shaking as Sen shoved her again, this time making her fall into the wagon. Talia quickly pulled her legs in through the door, as Sen stepped up onto the step.
Talia pressed her back against the far wall, her breath hitching as Sen stepped into the wagon, grabbing the driver's whip in one hand as he shut the door to the wagon with the other.