The Phoenix People

Chapter Twenty

Dinner was eaten among the trees - I assumed this was so that everyone could easily hide if needed.

Everyone sat in small clusters situated across the longest and strongest bridge, which I had gathered was jokingly referred to as "Main Street."

I sat with Annamarie, Theo, Griffin, and Melody. At first, I was touched that Melody had chosen to sit with us rather than her older friends, but soon realized that she was only here to discuss plans with the two men.

"How was your day?" I asked Annamarie politely as Griffin and Melody entered into a heated yet good-natured discussion about the superiority of different types of swords.

The child's eyes lit up. "It was amazing. Father's been here plenty of times, but without me. I think he lived here with Mother before I was born. Of course, he isn't allowed to tell me much about that time."

"Why not?"

"It's standard protocol. Nobody knows everything except the council. In case one of us gets captured and tortured for information." Anna stopped talking abruptly and stared into her soup as I thought of Glimmer. What information had the broken woman given away?

"Glimmer," Theo said gently, startling me so that I fumbled with my soup - it felt as though he had read my thoughts - "knew a lot more than most. But she held on. She held onto all that information until her mind was broken and she was useless. We...we think that she did that on purpose. Let them break her so that we could be safe."

"That was extremely noble of her," I murmured. I couldn't imagine caring about anything enough to sacrifice my sanity for it - perhaps my sister, but nobody and nothing else.

"She was extremely noble. She still is. Actually, she reminds me of you, Princess."

From his kind tone and smile, I knew it was meant to be a compliment, but for some reason, being compared to a woman tortured beyond sanity was less than comforting.

*

No matter how often I chanted it will do about my sleeping mat over and over in my head, the floor grew no less close to my weary bones, my blanket grew no less thin, and the night air grew no less chilling.

I twisted and turned until I was forced to sacrifice the safety of my arm for the comfort of my head. With cramping joints and a slowly numbing arm, I stared out of the small window and wished that I had never found Melody - once Handmaiden-For-Princess - writing that cursed letter. I would have given anything to be comfortably curled in my palace bed, reading late into the night and then drifting easily to sleep...

In the end, that was what helped me into the land of dreams - that daydream of a time before my parents died, before my brother had become king, before Alia had left me...before my life had fallen to ruin.

*

Melody woke me just as the sun was just clawing its way over the horizon. I had barely slept at all and glared up at her through a yawn.

"It's time to go," she whispered, but still it took me a moment to remember why she was waking me and where we were going.

I stood hurriedly and immediately clutched my head as the room dipped. My body ached, my dress was dirty and rumpled, and I was exhausted - not the best way to begin a mission.

Melody tossed me a bundle of clothing as I took in what she was wearing with shock.

Men's clothing?

"Dresses don't work for the kind of horseback riding we'll need to do," Melody explained in response to my expression. "It also allows for more movement."