PART II Chapter 6

Lingqui woke Ashanta when only the faintest glimmer of light was visible in the east. "Highness, we must be away from here. The king's men may have tracked through the night. I know not, but the further we can travel today the better off we will be."

Ashanta groaned and sat up. The five weeks that she had spent in confinement had done little to improve her fitness level, despite her attempts to follow the directive to walk around her cell as much as possible. It had been impossible to walk hard in the cell without running into the bed or the table or tripping over the bucket that had been provided for her bodily needs. Still, she knew that Lingqui was right, so she rose, putting on stockings and boots, and rolled up her blanket so that it could be once more strapped onto the back of the pony. "Where is Sharra?" she asked Lingqui.

"She will rejoin us here in half an hour or so," he replied. "Sharra thought it wise to lay some false trail for the searchers, and so she has gone off with your prison attire. She will drag it on the ground for some distance from the cave, and then drop it, smearing it with blood from some animal. With luck, they will follow the trail, find the clothing, and conclude that you have fallen prey to wild animals. Then we need not fear being followed any more. Meanwhile, we should eat while we wait for her to return, and load our equipment onto the pony, so that we may be ready to leave as soon as she appears."

It was not long before they saw Sharra cresting the edge of the ridge. "But she is on the other side of  the river," Ashanta exclaimed in puzzlement. "Why did she cross the river?"

"We left the river on the other side yesterday, remember? Sharra made it appear that we continued to travel across the plains on the other side. It is known that there are lions on the plains of Shauvrin, and hopefully they will not even look on this side of the river and so will not find evidence of our being in this cave. We will stay on this side of the river for the day."

By this time Sharra had forded the river, getting resoaked in the process, and the three of them had loaded the pony. Sharra took a handful of jerky strips to eat while they walked, and the three of them set off, well away from the edge of the river so that they would not be visible to searchers on the other side.

The day progressed much like the previous one had, with little talk among the three, the better to save their breath for walking. They stopped for lunch in a copse of trees that had grown up around a hollow, and ate a quick meal. Ashanta had many questions about where they were going, but it didn't seem like the best time to ask them, and in what seemed to be a very short time they were again walking, tramping across the plains toward the east.

There would be no convenient cave here on the plains, Ashanta knew, and she wondered where they would choose to stop for the night. Would they just end up sleeping outside? What about the lions that Lingqui had spoken of that morning? Were they risking their lives by walking across the plains in this way? Finally she could keep still no longer, "Where are we going?" she demanded. "And where are we going to sleep tonight? And how will we make sure that we aren't attacked by lions? Have I escaped from the dungeon only to be  devoured by foul beasts?"

Sharra looked at her compassionately, "I do not believe that you need fear the wild beasts," she said, "for I have some measure of control over them. They will not come near to you so long as I am here. Your time of greatest danger was when I was off laying a side trail for the hunters to follow, and there you had the protection of the cave and the river. To answer your first, and probably more important, question, we are heading to the mountain."

"What mountain?" asked Ashanta, "I see no evidence of a mountain around here."

"The mountain of the dragon," replied Lingqui, "which is far to the east and south of the land. We will travel to the east for two more days, and the turn to the south. There is, about two days travel from here, a house of prayer and the monks that live in that place have a ferry that we can use to travel across the river."

"But will they not tell the king that I have passed through that place?" Ashanta demanded. "Surely he will have a reward for any that can help him in his quest to stop me."

"I think that you need not fear that," said Sharra. "There is no love lost between the king and the monks, and so I think that they would aid us in any case. Also, I think that once your clothing is found, the king will think you dead and will end the search. I do not know that the monks will even know of your pregnancy and escape. Finally, you hardly look like a queen after your weeks of imprisonment and the hard days of travel that we have had and will have before we arrive at the ferry."

Ashanta felt doubtful, but since it seemed to be their best hope, she said nothing but, "How long do you think that it will take us to get to the mountain?" And, if I am no longer recognizable, and the king believes me dead, why are we going so far? but she only thought the latter, she did not say it.

"It should take us about a week if we travel during the day and rest at night," replied Sharra. "I hope that we have enough food to take us so far, but perhaps we will be able to replenish our supplies somewhat from the monks that run the ferry across the river. We are traveling to the mountain because, according to legend, it is the home of the dragon king, and because it is to that place that I believe the dragon brought you in your dream. I believe that you will enjoy especial protection there, in the presence of the dragon king."

Ashanta said nothing. What was there to say? Clearly Sharra and Lingqui had made up their minds about what was best for her. Equally clearly, though she might still be queen in some sense of the word, and though they might still address her as 'Highness,' she was no longer the person in control here. They were making decisions and she was expected to abide by them. To do as they arranged, and to be happy about it. She thought about complaining, but realized that she probably owed her life to their planning, and that Sharra and Lingqui had risked their lives, and given up positions of importance and power at the castle, in order to flee with her and protect her on her mission.

"Lingqui," she asked, "why did you and Sharra come with me? I asked at the time of my escape from the cell, but you said that it was not the right time to answer that question. The last two days have been stressful, and it seemed a bad time to bring it up, but could you now explain it to me? Perhaps you can tell me while we are walking, after we have climbed out of the river valley and eaten our breakfast on the way."

Soon thereafter, the plain above the river having been gained and their breakfast eaten, Lingqui turned to Ashanta and said to her, "You asked, Highness, for an explanation of why Sharra and I have joined you on this journey. I will not speak for Sharra, for she has her own story, and will, perhaps, be willing to share it with you in time. I share only my own story with you now, for it is much intertwined with your own.

"When King Rafe returned from his travel and found that you were with child, just as you had said, his mind became filled with jealousy and suspicion. He did not believe that a child could be conceived in a dream or of a dragon, and so he began to search among the people of the castle for the father of the child in your womb. And he called before him all of the men and women of the castle, one by one, and he demanded of them to speak of your behavior in his absence. Those who would not speak were dismissed from their positions or beaten, and in this way he began to build a case.

"Firth and his men testified, together with Thara and Misha, that you had been seen regularly in the company of the jester, that you had been kept under close guard for the last months of his absence, and that you used trickery and magic to escape from the guards that you might meet with the jester under cover of darkness. Sharra they did not mention.  Therefore, the king called me to him and demanded that I confess to him that I had seduced his queen in an attempt to put my own offspring on the throne of the Shauvrin. Since the accusation was false, I denied it, and the king had me beaten and thrown into the dungeon for some days.

"When he let me out, it was only to demand that I confess that the child you bore was mine, so that he might be justified in ordering my execution. Again I denied it, and again was thrown into the dungeon. Once more I was taken out of the dungeon and the same demand was made of me, and I judged that it was wise that I confess that the child was mine, and so I did so. The king ordered me whipped and tied to a post outside where all passersby could abuse me and mock me. After three days I was unbound, and permitted to return to my chambers, but I was denied contact with any other person.

"In desperation, for it seemed likely that once the child was born, I would lose my life alongside yours, Highness, I threw from my window, which overlooks the oak grove in the back of the castle, a scrap of parchment, and pleaded with Sharra to intercede to save our lives. To my great joy, I soon received a reply, in the form of a small yellow bird carrying a scrap of parchment in his beak, which read simply, 'tomorrow evening.' I replied with my own message, indicating that I believed that I had found the solution to the mystery of the secret passage, and including the syllables on the parchment, and begging the priestess to ensure that you received the message.

"The following evening, I was alerted by the rattle of stone thrown at my window, and opened it to find that Sharra was outside, leading a pony which she had laden with supplies and blankets. She said to me that the castle slept, thanks to the powder that she had introduced into the pitchers of wine that had been served at dinner, and to the guards at their posts, and that I should go quickly and release you from your prison. And that we should flee through the secret tunnel and she would meet us at the exit from the tunnel, which I had found marked on one of the oldest maps in the castle library.

"So," Lingqui concluded, "you can see why it was that I chose to flee with you. I believe that the king had already decided that I should not live after the babe was born, and were I to stay in the castle, grave suspicion would fall on me when you escaped. Besides, I have always wanted to travel to the mountain of the dragon, and the desire has only grown since he was seen over the castle."

Ashanta nodded at this tale, "So the guards have been spying on me all along. I was never truly in charge of the castle, for King Rafe did not trust me fully. I must confess that it rankles somewhat to know that he trusted that slimy guard Firth over me."


"Ah," said Sharra, "but it is clear that the Dragon King trusted you above all others; to bear his child, to protect his child, and to choose for yourself others who will help to keep her safe. I do not know what the future holds for King Rafe, for I am a priestess, and no prophet, but is seems to me that if the kingdom is to be threatened by a grave harm in eight years, then his reign cannot last for many more years. I do not know what will happen then, for if he has an heir, the prince would be only a small child at that time."

Ashanta nodded. It was a sobering thought, to realize that the kingdom would come under attack in such a short time, and that her child would have to confront that threat as hardly more than a baby. Somehow, it was going to happen though, she thought. In other circumstances, she would have found it odd to put such faith in a prophecy that had come to her in a dream, but there was the pregnancy, and there was no other explanation for what might have caused it.

They walked on in silence for the remainder of the morning. There was simultaneously too much to talk about, and too little, and a great deal that Ashanta felt that she must turn over in her own mind, searching for the truth behind it. Would she be able to help her daughter save the kingdom? How would they keep her safe? Would anyone take the child seriously? What ought the child be named? The questions seemed ridiculous. How could she even begin to answer them. But there were other, nearer questions. How much further were they going to travel today? How many days would it be before the child was born? Would they make it to the mountain by then? And why were they going to a mountain? Would it not be safer to travel to a village, where there might be other women to assist in the delivery?

"Let's eat lunch." Lingqui's suggestion burst into her consciousness. They must have walked for many miles already, Ashanta realized, for the sun was already past its peak and beginning its descent down the western sky.

"Are we making good progress?" she wondered aloud. "It seems that I have been too occupied with my own thoughts to be aware of what we were doing. I must say that it made the time pass rather more quickly than I might have expected, although, now that we have stopped, I am realizing that my legs and back are more tired than I would have thought possible."

Sharra laughed at that, but gently, "We have come further this morning than I would have thought possible, given your imprisonment and pregnancy. We may, I think, come to the ferry as early as this evening if we are swift, and we can then stay with the monks overnight."

"Well then," Lingqui responded, "we had best get on our way, for I think that reaching the ferry this evening is a fairly ambitious goal, but one that we can perhaps accomplish. It is also true that the sooner we cross over, the less likely it is that the monks will have heard something of your identity. Though I believe that they would help us in any case, I do not know what tale the king will be spreading about your escape, and it seems better not to have to counter act that."

The  sun was setting behind distant mountains when the three friends, for that is how Ashanta now thought of them, reached the ferry station and the monastery on the opposite bank. The flat boat was tied up on the opposite side of the river, and it was only by dint of a great deal of hollering that Sharra and Lingqui were able to attract the attention of the small figure sitting on the dock beside the boat. When it separated itself from the dock to run up to the monastery, they realized that it was a child, and a girl at that. The girl was back shortly, with a taller figure wearing a long robe. The color could not be distinguished in the heavy twilight.

A voice rang out toward them, "I am Brother Bradosh. What seek you?"

Lingqui responded, "We seek passage across the river, and the ear of the Abbot. We have stories that we would tell and advice that we would seek."

"We ferry by day," was the response, "at night the crossing is hazardous to all. Camp there until the morn and we will ferry you across by day."

"We have to camp here tonight?" Ashanta whispered to Lingqui. "Is there no way to get him to change his mind?"

Lingqui shook his head, "I think that we had best not try," he said, "for we need both the advice and the assistance of these men. Better not to anger them, lest we fail to get what we need."

"Tomorrow, then," he shouted back across the river. "We will be ready at sun up for the crossing."