The Prince, the Thief & the Artifact

Chapter 19: Victor

Leon almost smiled. If he'd thought he would find her curled up in a corner in despair, he would have been sorely disappointed. She was stronger than that.

Al and Leon walked out of the cell first with the girls following.

The guard whispered to Ida, "she's captain Holloway's prisoner. What am I supposed to tell him?"

Leon turned. The guard's face paled. His back went ramrod straight.

"Tell him to come see me if he has any objections," Leon said.

The guard bowed. Summer gave him a weirded out look. They left the guard behind and descended the dark staircase. Every step felt like a stab in his side. Summer must be feeling worse.

"Find out who beat her up and who was on duty," Leon told Al.

"Got it." Al said. "Leon-"

"Not now Al."

Al looked straight ahead. At least he had the decency to look ashamed.

"Who gave you that bruise?" Leon asked. The bruise looks worse under the dim lights of the sporadic lanterns suspended along the wall.

Al rubbed his jaw with a wince and glanced behind them at the two girls. "Ida."

"She should've punched the other side since one wasn't enough to smarten you up."

Once in the courtyard below, it seemed like the number of people had doubled in the short time they were inside.

"You're with me," Leon said when Summer headed to Ida's horse.

Summer stared at the tall black stallion and winced.

"A hand?" he asked. She pursed her lips and nodded.

Leon picked her up by the waist and helped her onto his horse. She was so light that he almost dropped her on the other side of the horse. He climbed behind her.

He spurred his horse forward. Summer's head barely cleared his chin.

"You smell awful," he told her.

Summer chuckled then gasped, clutching her side. "Don't make me laugh. So where are we going?"

He considered how to better answer that. "To your temporary residence."

"Hmm, hopefully they have better food. I'm not partial to cold gruel."

She spoke absentmindedly, her head swinging this way and that, gaze drinking in the new scenery around her. The sun had disappeared below the horizon, and the pale gray of the castle walls looked almost white under the twilit sky.

"Are we in a castle?" she asked when they cleared the tall walls of the third perimeter and approached the main keep perched on the hill.

"No one told you?"

"No. Ida said we're in the capital. I assumed it was in the city."

Leon helped her down the horse. Her one good eye was wide open. "This is really a castle."

"No, this is the castle," Ida said with a smile.

Summer's eye widened even more. She whispered, "You mean this is where the king lives?"

"Yes, the king, the queen, the prince," Ida said. "Every monarch we have."

"Damn." Summer craned her neck to look at the sprawling structure, then looked back at Ida. "I'm not going to meet them, right?"

"I don't know." Ida smiled, satisfied with herself. "What do you think, Leon?"

Leon rubbed his forehead. "I think I need food."