The Wise Women

Chapter 27

I have to get that Shade Bottle off Alaric! I have to find a way!

Spreadeagled like a starfish, Nesta lay on the red damask counterpane and stared at the embroidered canopy above her.

But while he's wearing it around his neck, it's not going to be easy. Maybe I can ambush him in a corridor and wrestle it from him? No, that won't work. As Empress, there's someone following me all the time and even if there wasn't, that dog would savage me before I even got close. Maybe Ada could Shift into a rat, sneak into his room and gnaw through the leather cord while he sleeps?

In her mind's eye she saw an image of Alaric's hound, Barghest, leaping on rat-Ada and shaking her in his teeth.

No, that won't work either. With the entire court in thrall to the malign influence of Alaric's Shade, she knew she didn't stand a chance of negotiating for peace tomorrow.

What to do? What to do? She screwed up her face, racking her brains. There has to be a way. There has to be a solution. O Goddess, help me!

Her whole body ached. She was exhausted in every part of her being but her mind raced, frantically envisaging different solutions. None of them were workable. She was imagining herself dangling upside down from a chandelier in the dining hall, trying to hook the chord around Alaric's neck with a fishing rod, when exhaustion finally overcame her, and she sank into unconsciousness.

*****

Knock, Knock.

Tess, are you there?

Nesta's unconscious mind reached out to her friend before she was even properly awake. As usual, there was no answer. Suddenly an idea struck her like lightning She sat bolt upright in the Empress's giant bed.

'That's it!' she said aloud.

Electrified, she yanked aside the red damask curtains and ran to the dressing table. The sun had just risen above the vast forest; it shone through the arched window – watery, in a cloudy sky. Nesta pulled open the dressing table drawers one by one. She rifled through the contents — pearl-handled combs and hand mirrors, phials of perfumes and unguents — until she found a block of writing paper, monogrammed with the letter S, a peacock feather quill and a bottle of royal blue ink. Tucking a lock of brown hair behind her ears, she sat down on the red velvet upholstered chair, uncorked the ink bottle and began to write.

*****

Several minutes later, she blew on the paper to dry the ink, then folded it up small and rolled it into a scroll.

'Caw!' The sound came from the balcony outside. She raised her head. A familiar black raven was perched on the marble balustrade, it's feathers gleaming blue in the dawn light. Nesta jolted out of her seat and flung open the balcony door.

'Come in, Ada! I've got it! I've got a plan!' The raven spread its wings and fluttered inside, landing on the dressing table with a scratch of claws.

'Hold still,' Nesta leant in close. 'I need you to need to carry this message to the Village . . .' Frowning, she tied the scroll to the raven's scaly left leg with one of Sapphira's blue silk hair ribbons. '. . . and give it to the Burned One.' The raven ruffled its feathers.

Nesta sat back down and stared deeply into Ada's beady black eyes. 'Now listen carefully. This is what you're going to do.'

She proceeded to explain her plan in detail, gesturing with her hands to illustrate the finer points.

'Well?' she leant back in the chair when she had finished, eyebrows raised expectantly.

Raven-Ada swivelled her head to the side, fixed Nesta with one onyx-black eye and blinked. Then turned to face her again and opened her curved beak. 'Caw!'