The Palace (Bell Mountain Series #6) Read Online Free PDF

out in all directions—and he was alone.
     
    “Herger, what’s happened?” Vannett cried.
     
    “The baron—I have to see the baron, ma’am—right away!”
     
    She led him into the parlor, where Roshay Bault had already risen from his chair. Ellayne remained huddled in a corner of the couch, suddenly queasy. Where were Jack and Martis? Why had Herger come alone?
     
    “What are you doing here, man?” the baron said. “Where’s Jack? Where’s Martis?”
     
    “I don’t know, my lord!” Herger panted. He had trouble catching his breath, but his news wouldn’t wait. “We were set upon, the first night out, just as we were about to make camp. A gang of men with clubs and knives—they came at us from out of the woods. We never had a chance. I don’t know what they did to Martis, nor Jack. I don’t know!”
     
    “But you escaped.”
     
    “Had to, sir! There were too many of them, and they took us by surprise. All I could do was to dive out of the boat and swim for it.”
     
    “You coward!” Ellayne thought. But her father said, “Well done, Herger. Otherwise we wouldn’t have known.”
     
    “I came straight back to you, my lord. It seemed the only thing to do.”
     
    Roshay nodded. “Could you find the place again?” he asked. “And lead militia to it?”
     
    “Oh, aye, sir—I know it well.”
     
    “Sit down, Herger. We’ll get some food into you and some good, strong drink.”
     
    “I’m ready to go right back there now, my lord.”
     
    “Let me get you something to eat first,” Vannett said, and hurried off to the kitchen.
     
    “Ellayne, fetch me Dorek—now. Hurry!”
     
    This was no time to ask questions. Ellayne, grateful for something to do, rushed out to the stables and came back with Dorek, the groom. Roshay hardly looked at him.
     
    “Dorek, bring the sergeant here right away. Tell him I need a patrol, a dozen men. Will a dozen be enough?” He threw a glance at Herger, who nodded. “Go, Dorek!” And Dorek went.
     
    Vannett came back with a heel of fresh-baked bread and a serving of the baron’s best ale. There was nothing to do, for the moment, but wait for the sergeant to organize a patrol. Roshay Bault paced the floor.
     
    But, no, there was certainly one more thing that could be done.
     
    “Father!”
     
    “Yes, Ellayne.”
     
    “Let me go with the patrol!” she said. “Me and Wytt, I mean. Wherever those men went, Wytt will find them. He’s better than a dog.”
     
    “No!” Vannett cried. “I mean—” she didn’t finish. Once upon a time, she would have.
     
    “I suppose that little beggar is better than a dog,” Roshay mused. And to his wife, “And I suppose Ellayne will be safe with twelve armed men around her—provided she obeys me. And obeys the sergeant!” He turned to Ellayne. “Pack your things and be quick about it.”
     
    Still sick to her stomach, but already feeling better, Ellayne hurried to her room. She understood, instantly, what it meant to her mother and father to risk a daughter for the sake of a son. Truly Jack had become a son to them: they weren’t taking care of him just to please her.
     
    She lifted a floorboard to retrieve a certain item that no one but Jack and Martis knew she had, and stuffed it into the bottom of her sack. Then she raced back to the parlor.
     
    “She’s not just an ordinary girl, is she?” Ellayne heard her mother say.
     
    “No, my dear—that she is not. But it still takes some getting used to.”
     
    “I’m ready,” Ellayne said. The sergeant had not yet arrived.
     
    “No matter what,” Roshay said, “you are to stay with the patrol. I mean that, Ellayne. And you are to obey the sergeant, whatever he tells you to do.”
     
    “And bring that boy back to us,” Vannett added.
     
    “I will,” said Ellayne. “Don’t worry. Wherever Jack is, Wytt will find him.”
     
    “Poor Martis!” said Vannett, under her breath so you could barely hear her. Ellayne noticed a tear