“Oh, no!” Jessica put a hand to her mouth. “So you think they dragged her away to the dungeons under the palace or something?” She looked at Tolern. “There are dungeons, aren’t there?”
“Quite extensive ones, in fact,” Tolern said grimly. “As well as hidden rooms where it’s said one can sequester a prisoner so well no one will ever find them again.”
“Gods if she’s been taken down there and hurt or killed…” Valen couldn’t go on. They watched on the viewscreen as one of the palace guards smashed Selena’s violin and then held the small, glittering object up in apparent satisfaction and triumph.
“Look—that’s the same thing he put into her violin earlier,” Jessica exclaimed. “And now he’s pretending he found it in there! They’re framing her!”
“It would seem so,” Tolern murmured grimly. “And now they are taking her away—most probably to the palace dungeons.”
They all watched as the two palace guards grabbed Selena’s arms and started dragging her off-screen.
“We’ll have to see if the Emperor will let us search the dungeons,” Valen said.
But would the Ma’shorkan ruler allow such a thing? There were likely to be many secrets buried there—many of a political nature and not all of them flattering to his Majesty. Would he let a non-Ma’shorkan comb through them to try and find a female whom he considered charming, but ultimately of little consequence? Valen simply wasn’t sure…
At that moment, there was a light tapping on the door. Valen froze the image on the viewscreen and waited expectantly until Pashmeena stuck her head in.
“Forgive me, Master Valen, but—oh!” She was staring at the viewscreen and now she pointed a trembling finger to one of the guards. “That’s him—that’s the one who pushed her!”
“Pushed who?” Valen asked, frowning.
“Why, the guard who pushed Empress the Fourth—at least, that’s what palace gossip says,” Pashmeena explained. “That’s Gonadal and that one’s Yorbus,” she added, pointing them both out. “They’re Empress the Third’s personal favorite guards—they’re utterly loyal to her and obey no one else—not even the Emperor himself.”
“How do you know all this?” Jessica asked, a fascinated look on her face.
“Oh, well, we servants talk to each other, so we do, my lady,” Pashmeena said. “And my first cousin twice removed is actually a ladies’ maid to Empress the Third. A hard job, she’s got,” she added, shaking her head. “She’s called me crying and in fear for her life more than once. Empress the Third is hard on her maids—for all she started out as one herself,” she added, frowning.
“This palace gossip is all fascinating, Pashmeena, but why did you interrupt us?” Valen asked, striving to keep the impatience from his voice.
“Oh, forgive me, Master Valen.” Pashmeena ducked her head subserviently. “I came to say there’s a beggar woman at the door insisting she must speak to you.”
Valen frowned. “Pashmeena, we’re trying to find Lady Selena, who’s been taken, and you interrupt me because of a beggar? Do what we usually do with such people—give her a bit of food and send her on her way!”
“Yes, Master.” Pashmeena started to close the door and Valen began to turn back to the viewscreen when suddenly the Goddess’s words echoed in his ears,
“…one will soon come to your door—a person you would, in other times, turn aside. Let them in.”
“Wait!” he nearly shouted to Pashmeena, who was just in the act of closing the door. “Wait—show her in!”
Pashmeena frowned.
“Into the house or into your office, Master Valen?”
“Here—right here in the office. I must see her at once!” Valen exclaimed.
Pashmeena looked confused—as did Tolern and Jessica—but she only nodded and said,
“At once, Master Valen.”
A moment later, she tapped on the door again and then opened it.
“Go on in,” she said. “The Master himself wishes to talk to you.”
“Well good then, for I’ve a mind to talk to him too,” a cracked, scratchy voice answered. An old female with a hunched back and only one eye hobbled into the office. She stopped short and peered up at him and Tolern both with her single eye. “Well? Which one of you is Master Valen?” she demanded. “I’ve come a long way to talk to him, so I hope one of you is him.”
“I am Valen,” Valen said. “And you are…?” He looked at her questioningly.
“I’m Moll, so I am,” she said shortly. “I know the likes of me don’t belong in a fine place like this, so near the palace and all, but I was paid to bring you a message.”
Valen’s heart jumped in his chest.
“What message? Tell me, please!” he exclaimed. “Is it from Selena? Do you know where she’s at?”
Her single eye widened in surprise.
“Oh, so she wasn’t lying—she does know you.”
“She does and I’m trying to find her. Please—tell me where she is!” Valen begged.
“She’s in the holding cell of the High Court, which is where I work—that’s where she is,” the old female said, frowning. “But she won’t be there for long—she’s scheduled to be on a transport to Hammerdown Prison tomorrow just after noon, to fulfill her sentence. Unless you’ll come and act as her Defender, that is.”