A Rock and a Heart Place (gxg)

Chapter 23

As much as Inez wanted to ride as fast as possible throughout the night, it just wasn't to be. The horses were tired, as were the guards, and the food that they'd cooked needed to be eaten while they rode. But they didn't stop, and continued their travels, albeit slower than what she had hoped. As such, the sun was already above the horizon behind them when they finally rode through the town surrounding the castle and approached the large iron gates. Inez looked around the town, sorrow on her face as she saw almost no residents and many of the buildings boarded up. She did notice one open building with the wagon wheel and sword symbol and made a note to visit them when their business was done with the king.

Prince Joppa and his five men had finally caught up to them when they reached there, though he was out of breath as they'd taken time to get on the road with the sudden leaving of Inez's group. Nahmia noticed the missing man instantly, though his horse could have thrown a shoe or something she realized.

"Why are we here now princess?" he cried out, slightly out of breath from the hard ride, as they entered the gates. With the prince among the group, nobody even bothered to question them.

"I decided to have breakfast with your father," she answered simply. "Then we can discuss the future of the kingdom."

"Do you have a plan for when we go inside?" he asked.

Inez looked over at him, her eyes flat and devoid of emotion. "Prince Joppa, this is not a good time to talk to me, at all. Perhaps when we get inside, we can talk a bit, but other than killing your father I have no plans, just some ideas.

Joppa shivered under her gaze and just nodded, wondering if all the plans they'd worked through were about to fall apart just when they had been looking up. He wished Kaspar had stayed with him last night instead of riding off with that Kittani girl, but he knew that she could be a valuable hostage. Still, his input might have helped steady his nerves at least.

In the courtyard of the castle, Inez and the rest dismounted, and tied their horses off on the hitching posts nearby. Inez stomped up the familiar stone stairs to the main hall, ignoring the two guards flanking the massive oak door as they stammered at the group of heavily armed women. They seemed to calm a bit when the prince followed, and neither seemed inclined to get in their way.

The main hall leads straight to the throne room, with multiple other meeting rooms off to the sides and banquet rooms as needed. The inside of the castle was different than she had remembered as well. All the colorful and expensive tapestries were gone, and none had been replaced. Most of the paintings and statues had been removed as well, though not all. Evidently those were harder to sell than the tapestries.

When they passed one of the small meeting rooms, she turned into it, dragging Prince Joppa with her. She snorted when she noticed the room was bare of all the wooden furniture. Before he understood what was happening, Joppa and all his men had swords at their throats.

"Prince Joppa, it is time to answer some questions. I will ask, and you will answer. Your answers will determine how the rest of your life goes. You may, for instance, discover that you're suddenly much shorter than you currently are. Do you understand?" Inez growled.

The prince merely nodded, fear evident in his eyes.

"First. Where is Medya, my Kittani?"

"I haven't seen her since last night," Joppa replied quietly.

"Interesting. How about this one. Where would your father be at this time of the morning?" she asked.

"He should be in the council room taking requests from the citizens," Joppa told her.

"But you haven't seen him in quite a while if you were hunting me down, yet you know where he should be. But not where Medya is. Who told you about the truthstone?" Inez growled out the question.