Gewey sat in dark silence for hours as the carriage plodded along. When the temperature dropped, he figured it was getting close to nightfall. If they stopped, it might give him a chance to get his bearings. Maybe he’d even get a chance to escape. He was sure Lee would come for him. From Gewey’s perspective, a bunch like this wouldn’t stand a chance against a man like Lee Starfinder.
His thoughts were interrupted as he felt the carriage stop and heard the door open.
“Bring him,” he heard Salmitaya order from outside the door.
A guard grabbed Gewey by the front of his robe and pulled him roughly from the carriage. He felt himself falling before landing hard on the ground.
“Careful,” Salmitaya warned. “We don’t want him damaged. Not yet at least.”
The guard lifted Gewey to his feet, then gruffly instructed him to stay put. Gewey did as he was told and waited, listening to the sounds of the people around him. He could make out ten different voices, most likely guards; it sounded like they were setting up camp, but Gewey couldn’t be sure. After half an hour, he was led away from the carriage and through the entrance of a nearby tent. The guard stopped and forced him to the ground. He lay there for a moment, and then struggled to his knees. He could hear a guard breathing heavily nearby.
“Leave us,” Salmitaya ordered.
Gewey felt cold hands on his face as Salmitaya removed his blindfold, and he blinked at the bright lamplight filling the tent. When his eyes adjusted, he saw Salmitaya standing in front of him. She was no longer wearing her robes; instead, she wore a blue silk dress tied at the waist by a thin silver belt. Her braided hair fell neatly down her back, and her ears and neck were adorned with diamonds and gold.
“The clothes suit you,” said Gewey sarcastically. “It’s better than the costume you were wearing when I met you.”
Salmitaya smiled warmly, seemingly unaffected by Gewey jabs. “We were both in disguise, I think,” she said. “Are you hungry?”
“No,” he replied. “I’ve lost my appetite.”
“Don’t be silly,” she chided. “How on earth do you expect to escape if you don’t keep up your strength?”
“You don’t need to worry about my strength,” Gewey said confidently. “I’ll be free long before I starve.”
“Perhaps,” said Salmitaya. “Perhaps you’ll be free this very night.” She walked across the tent and sat in a waiting chair.
“What do you want?” asked Gewey.
Salmitaya laughed playfully. “What makes you think I want something?” she asked, trying to sound innocent.
“I may be young, but I’m not stupid,” said Gewey. “You never get something for nothing.”
“So true,” she said. “And as it turns out, you do have something I want. Give it to me, and I might just forget I ever found you.”
“I have nothing to give you,” said Gewey. “And even if I did, what makes you think I’d give it to you?”
“You’ll give it to me because it’s in your best interests to do so,” she replied. “And it’s such a little thing at that.”
“Get to the point,” he snapped.
“As you wish,” she said. “What I want is information. Why are you so important to the Great Master? Why do I have to risk exposure, traveling to the ends of the bloody earth, just to deliver one farm boy?”
“Like I said,” Gewey responded, “I have nothing to give you. I don’t know the things you want to know.”
“I think you do,” she said sweetly “And one way or another, you will tell me.”
Just then, a guard came in carrying a bowl of stew and a cup of water. He placed the cup and bowl in front of Gewey, and then stood at the tent’s entrance.
“One more thing,” she said, turning to leave. “You will eat, or the guards will beat you until you do so. Your choice.”
Gewey looked at the food. He thought it was likely drugged, but he took it and ate nonetheless. Immediately, he felt the drugs take hold much more strongly than the first time; Salmitaya had apparently learned her lesson well. He concentrated on keeping his wits about him the same way he did with the jawas tea. He felt weak, but he was able to remain conscious. Deciding he might be to able take advantage of this, he fell over and pretended to be in a drug-induced sleep.
A short time later he heard Salmitaya enter the tent and felt her hand brush back his hair.
“What’s your secret?” she wondered aloud.
Gewey cracked open his eyes and watched Salmitaya as she left the tent. A guard stood just inside the entrance, watching him intently. He scanned the area as well as he could from his position, but the tent was bare and contained nothing he could use to his advantage. He could do little under the guard’s watchful gaze, so he decided to bide his time. If he was going to escape, he would first have to do something about the guard; how he would manage this in shackles, he had no idea.
A couple of hours later, an opportunity presented itself. The guard briefly stepped out and returned with a small stool. The man promptly sat down, and it wasn’t long before Gewey heard him snoring.
Gewey tested his movements, but the rattle of the chains caused the guard to stir.
He was just about to try again when a hooded woman in novice robes walked into the tent. She looked at the sleeping guard and drew something from her sleeve. In a flash, her hand shot out and struck the guard’s neck. The man woke suddenly, clutching at the point of impact, then abruptly fell from the stool.
“We don’t have much time,” the woman said as she ran over to Gewey.
He instantly recognized the voice of Celandine, the novice from the temple in Kaltinor. “What are you doing here?”
“Saving your life,” she answered as she knelt down and began unshackling him. “Luckily, the governor didn’t send his best men along; I thought it would take longer to find a way to get you out.”
“Why are you helping me?” Gewey asked.
“Do you really think this the time for questions?” Celandine replied curtly. “We have a clear path to the woods behind the camp…”
She ran back over to the guard and took his knife and sword. “I hope you know how to use this,” she said, tossing the sword to Gewey.
Celandine used the knife to cut a hole in the back of the tent, and then motioned for Gewey to follow as she stepped into the night.
It was dark, but Gewey could make out the tree line twenty yards away. The camp was quiet, aside for the sound of sleeping men. Celandine led Gewey across the field, and they vanished into the trees.
They ran for about fifteen minutes before they stopped.
“Wait,” said Celandine. She took off her robe, revealing a plain shirt tucked into light tan pants. Her honey blond hair was wrapped tightly in a black scarf, and even in the dark Gewey could tell she was beautiful; he wondered how he’d failed to notice at the temple.
“I left some supplies under that bush,” she said, pointing to a nearby huckleberry bush and tossing her robe at Gewey. “Get the packs and put this inside.”
Gewey obeyed. Just as she said, there were two journey packs hidden under the bush. He picked them up and stuffed the robe inside as Celandine fastened the knife she had stolen to her belt.
“I’d guess we have about an hour before they discover you’re gone,” she said. “We need to move.”
They ran west until they reached a small stream, and then turned south. They followed the stream for an hour, crossing it several times to throw off pursuit. Gewey was impressed by her endurance.
“Are you able to go on?” Celandine asked as they ran.
“Yes,” said Gewey. “I can go on for quite a while.”
“Good. We don’t stop till dawn.”
True to her word, they ran south until the morning light shone through the trees. They stopped at the foot of a small hill and sat on the forest floor.
“You see well at night,” Gewey said, catching his breath. “You didn’t fall once.”
Celandine smiled faintly. “That comes from my mother’s side.”
They sat in awkward silence for a few minutes.
“You need to tell me what’s going on here,” said Gewey, when he could take the silence no longer.
“What’s going on is that Salmitaya is not the only one on a mission to deliver you,” she replied.
Gewey jumped to his feet. “What are you saying?”
“Calm yourself,” she said. “I have the same goals as your companions.”
“How would you know about our goals?” Gewey asked. “Who are you?”
“I’m one of the good guys,” she said. “I’m here to help you.”
“I’ve heard that before,” he noted. “Do you have proof?”
“You mean other than the fact that I stopped you from being taken to Angraal in chains?” she said sarcastically. “No, not really.”
Gewey was taken aback. “You know where they were taking me? How?”
“Unlike dear, trusting Maybell, I’ve been suspicious of Salmitaya for a while,” she answered. “Over time, I made a habit of secretly reading all the letters she received. It didn’t take long to figure out who the ‘High Priestess’ really serves.”
“But who do you serve?” asked Gewey. “You don’t seem like a novice.”
“Actually, I am a novice-just not the kind you would have heard of,” she replied. “My order isn’t widely known, but it’s very old. We once protected Heaven itself, and we still battle the darkness to this day. I came to Kaltinor two years ago, to investigate the failure of temples throughout the city.”
“When you found out about the temples, why didn’t you do something?” Gewey asked accusingly. “It doesn’t look like you’ve done anything to help.”
“We’ve done more than you could know,” she shot back. “But there are more important things than rescuing a few temples.”
“Like what? What could be more important than that?”
“Like finding you and making sure you’re delivered safely,” she replied.
“Why should I be important?” he asked suspiciously.
“I don’t know,” said Celandine. “But, if the Dark One wants you captured, then it’s obvious that you are.”
“I’m not going anywhere unless you tell me where we’re going, and who exactly it is that wants me,” Gewey said stubbornly. “So you can save us both some time and just tell me.”
“West,” she said. “We’re going west. Beyond that, I really don’t know. There’s a temple where you’ll be safe, but I don’t know exactly where it is.”
Gewey laughed. “So we just head west and hope we find this so-called temple? Sounds like a great plan.”
Celandine’s eyes narrowed. “I said I don’t know where it is-not that I couldn’t find it. The location is kept secret, only a few of us know it. I know where to make contact, and from there we’ll be taken to the temple.”
“What about my friends?” Gewey asked. “How will they know where to find me?”
“If they still live, they’re on their own,” she said bluntly. “We can’t risk going back to find them. If you’re captured again, your enemies won’t be so careless twice.”
“I’m not abandoning my friends,” Gewey protested. “They are alive, and they wouldn’t leave me behind.”
“I think they probably are alive,” she agreed. “I doubt the buffoons Salmitaya sent to kill them succeeded. But I’m no warrior, and neither are you. If we go after them, we will be caught, and then your friends will have risked their lives for nothing. Salmitaya is arrogant, but not stupid. If she gets her hands on you again, it will take an army to free you.”
“How did you know about Salmitaya’s plans in the first place?” Gewey asked. “How did you know to follow her?”
“She sent me away after dinner to spend the night at another temple,” she answered “A habit of hers when she wants to do things unseen. She tells us that one of the other temples wants to ensure a blessing by having a follower of Ayliazarah under their roof. Maybell believed her, but that woman would believe anything. I, on the other hand, packed what I needed and hid outside the temple until morning. I saw the guards arrive, then later drag you out and put you in the carriage. I knew they had left some men behind to deal with your friends, but unfortunately, I had neither the time nor the means to help them. Instead, I followed Salmitaya, hoping for a chance to free you.”
Gewey was unsure. “Assuming I believe you, what should we do now?”
“We head west to Althetas,” she replied. “We need to find a way to get there unnoticed, and unfortunately I don’t have much in the way of supplies or money, so we’ll have to improvise.”
“Do you know where we are now?” he asked.
“We’re north of the Spirit Hills,” answered Celandine. “We have enough food to pass through, and there’s a town on the southwestern slopes where we should be able to re-supply. From there, we can hopefully find a way further west.”
“I still don’t feel right about leaving my friends,” Gewey said.
“We’ll try to send word to them when we can,” she replied. “But we have to keep moving. I doubt the guards will be able to keep up with us, but Salmitaya won’t give up easily. She’ll send trackers.”
Celandine got to her feet and held out her hand. Gewey thought for a moment, then pursed his lips.
“I’ll go with you,” he said, taking her hand. “But don’t think that means I’ve given up on finding my friends. As soon as we’re safe, you must promise to find them.”
“You have my word,” she said, pulling Gewey to his feet.
“Then let’s go,” he said as they set off.
They crossed the stream, and headed south toward the hills.
Gewey still wanted to turn back and find Lee, but he knew Celandine was probably right. And if even she wasn’t, there was no other choice.
To turn back would deliver him straight into the clutches of Salmitaya.