Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Waiting

The abandoned streets of Modet now held limp streamers lying on the cobblestones. The prince had not yet returned. Darkness had fallen and turned the market tents into strange shapes and shadows in the night. Down in one house a small child was coughing. Candles created a warm glow as Sage called her mother into her bedroom. Ange hustled to her youngest daughter. Delphina and Jenna were asleep in their room, and Sage needed tending to. Stopping in the herb cabinet on the way down the small hallway, she saw they had nothing that would clear Sage’s chest. Entering her room, she saw Sage sitting up with tears streaming down her face. Though young, Sage already had long, black hair. Her green eyes were like whispering grass, and her skin was normally a smooth olive shade, though now pale and splotchy. Sage was only six, Jenna ten, and Delphina twelve. Delphina and Jenna had the same color hair as Sage, the difference being theirs was in curls. They had pretty, delicate faces, similar to china dolls, but much more lifelike, with a slight flush in their cheeks, and dimples that showed when they smiled.

“Hush, sweetie. It’s going to be all right. We’ll get you all better. Go and wake your sisters. Tell them to watch you until I get back from Robin’s,” she said as she fussed over her youngest daughter.

Sage sniffled and nodded as she ran down the hall wrapped in her oversized quilt. After one last look around the room, which contained a small bed, now missing the worn quilt, and a chipping wooden desk tucked in the corner, which was covered in scrap fabric of the prettiest colors that Sage loved to look at, she was off. Picking up a lantern on her way out the door, Ange climbed on her horse and rode down the lane.

Robin had been Ange’s best friend for as long as she could remember. Robin was a healer who lived in the fields around The Castle of Modet. She had cropped brown hair, short so that it wouldn’t get in her way when she tended the gardens. Her chocolate eyes were always bright and full of life. She had a young daughter, May. She looked just like her mother, and acted just like her too. She was even learning her way around the world of plants.

Ange saw that the coltsfoot was not growing by the door as usual. Robin had shown her the plants growing in her garden, and told her what they could do. She had told her to help herself when she needed to, but if none was left, the only other place to go were the palace gardens. She sighed, and remounted her horse, galloping off back into Modet.

Ange’s heart was pounding as she turned the corner towards the castle. Her breath caught in her throat when she felt hands pulling her off her horse. She tried to scream, but her mouth was covered and she was pushed back against the nearest cold, hard wall. She could not see her attacker, but his smelly breath was in her face as he growled,

“Where are you going this time of night? Don’t you have children?”

The moonlight glinted off his chest and she caught a glimpse of the golden manticore on his chest.

“N-no”, she stammered and gulped, trying hard to breathe.

He shoved her away roughly, and she fell onto the ground, whacking her cheek on a stone. She sat up gasping, and gingerly feeling her hurt face as she watched him ride off.

Ange scrambled up and tied her horse to a nearby post. She was right outside the servants entrance to the castle. She had some friends who could help her get cleaned up. Still shaking, she walked in and collapsed into a chair.

“Ange!” Lia shrieked when she saw the red marks on her neck, and the bruise on her cheek. “What happened?”

A young servant girl that Ange had never seen before rushed up with a bag of ice and Ange pressed it gratefully onto her face.

“Sage is sick. I needed coltsfoot from the gardens, and I was attacked by one of the Lion Prince’s men. I don’t know why they’re here. I don’t know how many, I only saw the one.”

All movement in the kitchen stopped, and everyone stared. Lia swore under her breath, and Ange looked confused.

“The prince and princess were supposed to slip back in tonight. We were all preparing for it, but they must have been found out somehow,” Lia explained.

The mood in the kitchen was suddenly frigid, as if even the dishes were on edge. Everyone nervously sat or paced, because all they could do was wait.