Chapter 52

                                    

                                          
It takes Tug and me eighteen days to reach Lyndonia, a week longer than the time it took us to travel from Lyndonia to the Red City. Tug refuses to let me ride more than eight hours a day. He insists we rest in comfortable inns, until the morning he comes to my room and finds me asleep on the balcony in the bright sun. Then we only stop at taverns to eat when we grow tired of cooking, and bathe when there are no streams or rivers along our path.
                          
The season heads swiftly towards the all-night sun. With so much rest I feel my strength returning. I am not sure my foot will ever fully heal, but as well as gold, the Prince sent Tug to find me with a pair of wooden sticks which allow me to hobble about.
                          
Four days into our journey, Tug receives word from Lyndonia that the ragtag army gathered around the fort disbanded as soon as they learned of Strik's death. Not a sword was raised or an arrow shot, though for his protection, Kel had been moved inside the fort when the attack seemed probable. 
                          
Word slowly ripples through Caruca that Lord Strik is dead. Stories circulate of an Uru Ana who entered the Ruby Palace and saved the Queen. A royal decree, declaring the Uru Ana as legal citizens of Caruca, spreads throughout the kingdom. The prejudice against my people will not vanish overnight, but for now, it is enough.
                          
Aside from the news of the kingdom, and news that Brin is alive, and recovering near the Red City, Tug and I are lost in our own worlds, and talk little. 
                          
My thoughts are caught up in many things. I am impatient to see Kel. He knows I am coming back, and that alone fills me with such warmth I sometimes don't know how to contain it. I think often of the Prince and Calmi and how they fare with the Queen. I think about whether I have the Carucan Gods, the Prince's mother, or sheer luck to thank for the fact that I was not poisoned.
                          
On the afternoon of the eighteenth day, the fort of Lyndonia grows visible through the trees. Deep waters glisten around the tall gray walls and towers. 
                          
Nervousness cuts my breath short as we approach. I squeeze on the reins of my mare. Tug sees and smiles at me. Heart battering in my chest, we trot the horses across the jetty to the drawbridge. Soldiers greet us and Tug produces a letter from the Duchess stating we are her honored guests. The guards let us pass. 
                          
As the clop of hooves over the wooden bridge clatters in my ears I send out my mind through the fort, anxious to touch Kel, to tell him I am here. The fort is abuzz with people. I search the old bell tower and the palace but do not find him.
                          
We give our horses to the stable boy, and on the Prince's crutches, I hobble through the courtyards towards the royal quarters. The sound of children laughing rings in my ears, increasing my impatience. 
                          
I wonder how Kel will look when I see him. Will he still be pale, fragile, and bruised? Will the Duchess really have taken proper care of him? 
                          
My crutches are too slow, but Tug puts a hand over mine, telling me without words to take my time, Kel's not going anywhere.
                          
We pass through a stone arch, reaching the large courtyard where the laughter came from. Children in cotton shirts, smelling of sweet melon, play blind man's bluff. I hurry through them, desperation to hold Kel in my arms more than I can bear. 
                          
As we pass three tier steps at one of the houses, I stop. Deadran, the Prince's old tutor, sits on the middle step, smiling to himself. I am about to accost him, pull him up by the collar and demand to know what he's done with Kel, why he isn't looking after him, when a child squeals and Deadran grins.
                          
I turn slowly. A girl dives past me giggling as the boy in the blindfold, arms outstretched moves towards her. The boy's step falters. He reaches for the cloth around his eyes. My left crutch slips from my grip. I fall to one knee, tears welling up over my vision.