Part 16 (2/2)
As they moved steadily down the road into the depths of the forest, Oliver pondered everything that he had now learned. They could not kill the dark king or his brothers, at least not all of them. One of them would need to remain alive to hold the power in check.
”What are we going to do?” Oliver asked all three of his companions as they slowed again. ”If we can't kill them, and they've broken the lock on the prison, what do we do?”
”We remake the walls of the prison, stronger than before,” Walter Vogel answered.
”But how?” Oliver looked at his horse's mane in despair. ”According to a book Princess Poppy gave me, most of the wizards who made the prison died working the magic! And those who survived have been dead for centuries now anyway.”
”The young are so sure of themselves, aren't they?” The good frau sucked her remaining teeth and rolled her faded eyes. ”Dead for centuries, bah!”
”Indeed, good frau,” Oliver said, his voice strained as he tried to conceal his frustration. ”Wolfram von Aue was imprisoned well over fifteen hundred years ago.”
”Has it really been so long?” Walter studied his own horse's mane for a moment. ”I suppose it has.”
”I don't worry about such things as age or death.” The old woman sniffed. ”I have too much to do yet.”
”Er,” Oliver said.
”He talks even less than the one Lily married,” the crone remarked to Walter. ”Though when the mood strikes him, he asks just as many questions as Galen.”
”I'm sorry,” Oliver said weakly.
The old woman nodded. ”You are forgiven,” she p.r.o.nounced in queenly tones. Her sharp eyes bored into his. ”And that is because once I was a queen.” And with that she spurred her horse to a gallop.
Oliver looked over at Walter, concerned that the woman's mind was as feeble as her body appeared. But Walter was rubbing at the leg that terminated in a polished wooden peg and gazing after the crone with a wistful expression.
”Long ago we were all something else,” was all Walter said, then he too sent his horse forward, leaving Oliver and the bishop to catch up.
They rode in silence the rest of the way to the estate, but just when they could see the stone fence peeking through the trees, bandits surrounded them. Oliver and his companions brought their horses to a sharp halt on the hard road as men in wolf masks stepped out of the trees on all sides. Oliver looked around, nonplussed. They had to have recognized him: he recognized them even with their masks in place. He was about to call out to Karl, who stood directly in their path, when Karl unmasked and spoke.
”All right there, Oliver?”
”I'm well,” Oliver replied. ”Yourself?”
Karl nodded.
”What's the reason for this?” Bishop Schelker looked around. ”Aren't you Lord Oliver's men?”
”Indeed we are,” said Johan, taking off his own mask. ”And that's why we're here. Lady Emily told us that you intend to rescue the princesses. If that's so, then that is the path you must take.” He pointed to a narrow side road, little more than a deer path, that skirted around the back of the estate wall.
”What's down there?” Walter peered through the trees.
”That Russakan prince's hunting lodge,” Karl said with a grunt. ”He took them all there, four days ago. Though not all of them made it.” He looked pained.
”What do you mean?” Oliver's mouth went dry.
”The littlest princess, your Petunia, Oliver,” Karl said. ”She disappeared somewhere along the trail.”
”How should you know such a thing, Karl Schmidt?” The good frau narrowed her pale eyes at him.
”How did you know his name?” Johan glared at the old woman.
”I know a lot of things, Johan Mueller, and most of them would turn your gray hairs snow white,” the crone retorted.
”It's all right,” Karl said, swallowing loudly. ”We've kept a watch on the princesses, good frau. Lady Emily ordered us to do it.”
The old woman looked at Walter. ”Emily? The skinny one with curly hair?”
”Yes,” Walter said. ”She married the Earl of Saxeborg-Rohlstein.”
”And then gave birth to him?” She jerked a thumb at Oliver.
”What do you mean Petunia disappeared?” Oliver demanded, ignoring the good frau. ”Tell me exactly what you saw, Karl!”
”They were taking a picnic to the hunting lodge, so far as we can tell, with six of Grigori's men as escort. We followed, staying in the trees. They were within a few minutes' ride of the lodge when Petun-Princess Petunia-stopped and got down from her horse. She went into the trees and was cutting some flowers. They were roses, yellow roses in full bloom,” said Karl, his voice taking on a hint of wonder. ”The others yelled at her to stop, and she just ... disappeared. They searched for her but there was nothing. Then they continued on to the hunting lodge, but we haven't seen or heard from any of them since.”
”Petunia wouldn't have been able to resist a rose that bloomed in the wintertime,” Walter said quietly.
”We went to have a look, once the others had gone,” Johan put in. ”We found the bush, but it was winter-dead just like everything else. And I will swear to there being yellow roses and green leaves all over it just a moment before.”
”We have to go find her,” Oliver managed. He started to turn his horse.
”No need,” Walter said, his voice kind. ”We know precisely where she is. It's getting her out that's going to be the difficulty.”
”Where are the others?” Bishop Schelker asked. ”Galen? Heinrich? The rest of the princesses?”
”As I said, they're at the hunting lodge,” Karl said, adding a belated, ”Your Grace. Except for the Russakan prince's men. We were about to step in to help, but quick as a blink, those princesses had drawn pistols on the men, had them off their horses and tied to a tree!” He chuckled. ”Now there was a sight!”
”A sight indeed,” Johan said uneasily. ”The men disappeared that night, and not a footprint to be seen.”
”Are you sure?” Oliver couldn't keep the strain from his voice.
”Sure as sure,” Johan said. ”We've had every man available keeping a watch on the forest, and no one's seen them or the old lady.”
”You mean the grand d.u.c.h.ess?” Bishop Schelker raised his eyebrows. ”Did she go with them to the hunting lodge?”
”No, Your Grace,” Johan said. ”She stayed behind at the estate, and we've had a pair of men watching there as well. But they haven't so much as glimpsed her pa.s.sing a window since yesterday. The house has that look about it, you know? As though no one was at home.”
Bishop Schelker looked at Oliver and then Walter. ”I say that we make for the hunting lodge with all possible haste.”
”I'm already there,” Oliver said.
He dug his heels into his horse's flanks and sped down the path. He heard the others call out behind him, but he ignored them. He was sure that Karl and Johan and the others would have searched the rosebush and that entire area carefully enough; there was nothing to learn there. But he wanted to get to the hunting lodge, to find Prince Grigori and punch him in the nose for losing Petunia, and then to make certain that her sisters were all right.
And then he would find Petunia, and he would bring her home.
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