To Stand Beside Her by B. Kristin McMichael
“Leave her here,” he ordered.
“But, but . . .” the tracker sputtered. “If you just put my captive back in jail she will escape.”
“Don’t worry. She will not be going anywhere. She is not the ghost courier,” Nalick replied as Kay was escorted out of the room.
“Now I’d like to be left alone with this one,” Nalick said, referring to Leila.
“Bring the seer,” he ordered. The men beside him rose and left the room. One of the men from earlier escorted the tracker out. The second man shut the door and stood at the back of the room.
“So everyone out did not include him?” Leila asked. She had no chance of leaving if both men stayed in the room with Nalick and her. One, she could possibly overpower, but two would be foolish to challenge.
Nalick rose and walked over to her. Leila stood her ground and did not move. Nalick circled around her, inspecting her like a wolf getting ready to pounce on its prey. Leila knew what was coming next. She had this same encounter with five other kings before. Though in her opinion, they were all lesser men than the man in front of her. She still did not happily anticipate the next words out of his mouth. Leila stood in silence as he returned to his table and leaned against the table top. Just like all the other kings, he looked at her like she was some trophy. Leila refused to be a trophy to any king. Like any man in power, Nalick had committed acts against innocent people. Intentionally or not, Leila did not approve of hurting innocent people. She had been in several battles over the last four years, and luckily escaped with her life each time, but never once had she killed anyone who attacked her. Even those who would try to kill her did not deserve to die in her opinion.
As she stood there, the door in the back of the room opened and in walked the seer, Gabor, escorted by the man who had just left. Leila stared blankly at Nalick, trying her best to read his expression.
“I really don’t think you understand the word alone,” she commented to Nalick sarcastically, as the door shut and there were now five people in the room.
Gabor walked past her and bowed his head slightly to the king. Nalick nodded his head, and Gabor returned to Leila. Extending his hand, Leila knew what he was planning to do. Trying to stay in control of the situation, Leila gave the old man her hand. Surprised, he stopped, held her hand, and closed his eyes. After a few moments, Gabor returned to the king’s side. Nalick leaned over to the seer and asked him a question too quiet for Leila to hear.
“You don’t need to be hushed about this since you are discussing me,” Leila said before Gabor could respond. Nalick looked up at her. “I am guessing I can answer your questions just as well as he could.”
Nalick smiled. He had become the king when he was fourteen and then everything changed. Almost every person treated him differently, apart from his two good friends that were standing in the room with him now. In his years of being king, Nalick had yet to find a woman that would speak her mind to or at him. Here before him stood the woman who was a legend around the dinner tables he shared with neighboring kings. All told of encountering this lady so beautiful she would take your breath away and yet so cunning none could cage her long enough to make her into a wife. She was truly everything they talked about, and even more. Nalick didn’t need the seer’s opinion to know that this was the woman he wanted to marry.
“Okay,” Nalick responded, taking the bait, “are you the woman that I should marry?”
“Probably, but it is not going to happen,” Leila responded. Leila had reached marriageable age several years ago, but after Erich’s death, marriage held no interest to her.
“And why not?” he inquired.
“Because in order to have a real marriage, both people need to be willing to marry each other.” Leila looked him up and down. He was handsome, but he was also an arrogant jerk. “I am not willing to marry you.”
She turned on her heals and walked back to the two men in the back of the room. She could see the laughter in their eyes. More than likely, Leila thought, Nalick has never been told no before. Well, there is a first time for everything. She smiled nicely at the two men.
“Now if you could graciously escort me back to the jail, it would be appreciated. I have something I need to pick up before I leave Lexia. I would not want to get lost on the way,” she added, winking at the two grinning men.
“I don’t think you understand,” Nalick said harshly, coming up behind her. “As king, I don’t need to ask. And in the position you are in, I don’t think you can exactly refuse.”
“See, that’s the thing about people like you,” Leila turned to explain with disdain in her eyes. She did not back away from the angry man twice her size only feet away from her. “You think you don’t need to ask, when a person in your position, more than anyone else, should be asking, especially a question like marriage.”
Leila walked to the door and opened it herself. The two men quickly followed as she walked out of the room, leaving a stunned Nalick to watch her walk away.
“This way,” one of the men said.
“Where to now?” Leila asked. They were not leading her to the jail.
“The jail is no place for a lady,” the taller of the two men explained. He led her to a staircase and up three flights of stairs. Leila was in a part of the palace she had never seen before. The man walked to a door and unlocked the room. “By the way, I am Theo and this is Macarius,” he indicated to the man next to him. “If you should need anything, knock on the door.”
“Sorry, Miss,” the other man, Macarius, said as he began to wrap a chain around her waist. He almost seemed to blush, wrapping his arms around her. He then locked her wrists to the chain. “The king’s orders,” he apologized.
“So he is not as stupid as I thought,” she responded. Both men smiled. “I suppose if I asked to have these chains removed that would not be part of the anything you could do for me?”
“No,” Theo replied as he opened the door, “your friend should be inside.”
“Thank you,” Leila smiled at the two men. They were just following orders and not to blame for her situation.
Leila prepared to be thrown into a windowless single cell, but the lavish suite was not what she expected. It was ornately decorated in hues of purple and gold. In the middle of the room was a set of couches and chairs covered in silk. Over in the left corner was a table with six chairs. Fresh fruit and baked goods were on the center of the table. On each side of the room there were doors.
The room to the right was a bathing room with, of course, no windows. She walked to the door on the left and it was a bedroom. There, lying curled up on the bed, was Kay in a deep sleep. Leila walked over and pulled the blanket up around Kay. Quietly, she began to rearrange the furniture to pile everything high enough to be able to see out the window. Though the windows would make a good escape, Leila knew that Kay did not have the physical strength to scale the wall and with chains neither could she. She would need another plan to get them out. Leila tested the chains while thinking as she sat up near the window. The fresh air blew in and reminded her that she was now a caged bird. Leila sat her head down on the window sill and gazed at the stars. I will only close my eyes for a brief moment, she thought to herself.
Chapter 3
“Miss,” a voice called to Leila, as she felt a soft tug on her leg.
“Miss!” the voice called again.
Leila slowly opened her eyes. She gazed around. Her head was on a window sill balanced on a chair on top of a table. Gradually, everything came back to her. It wasn’t a dream after all. From the window she could see the whole north section of the city of Lexia. Beyond the city’s gates was home. As Leila looked out the window, she could see the sun was partway up in the sky already. She looked down to see the man, Theo, from the night before staring up at her waiting for her reply. Leila glanced to the bed. Kay was not there. Quickly, Leila hopped down and stood face to face with Theo, startling the young man.
“Where is she?” Leila demanded.
“Why?” Leila asked.
“I don’t know, my lady.” Theo shrugged his shoulders, “Nalick ordered it, and I am generally obliged to follow my king’s orders.”
“I am not,” Leila responded, walking into the next room. Theo followed behind her. “If you would be so kind to send my reply to him,” she smiled at Theo, “it is no. I don’t take too well to be given orders.”
“Um, I am not quite in a position to be telling the king such things,” Theo began to turn red.
“Well, in that case, just send him here to ask me himself. I have no problem telling him no. Maybe if a few more people would tell him no, he would learn to be a nicer person.” Leila walked over to the table and grabbed an apple. Then she realized that her wrists were still locked to her waist. She set the apple back down. “This might a bit of a problem for me,” she said to Theo, indicating to the chains. “Would you be so kind as to unlock these?” she asked sweetly.
“Well, I am not supposed to remove those.” Theo did not want to tell her no either.
“Theo, I am not going anywhere without Kay. So, you really think a few chains would stop me from leaving if I so chose? Please just unlock these so that I can eat and bathe. After that you can lock me back up if you choose. Besides, if you stay here with me, then technically I am not alone,” Leila bartered with him.
“Well,” Theo stared at her closely. “You promise not to run away? You will stay right here in this room?” She nodded her head yes.
Leila waited as Theo knocked on the door to open it. He stepped outside the room momentarily and then returned with a key to unlock her wrists and the chain around her waist. Leila briefly stood and stretched her arms before walking over to the bathing room. Theo looked like he didn’t know if he should follow.
“There are no windows in this room,” Leila reassured him, “But if you still don’t think it is safe to leave me alone, by all means, come on in.”
Leila had never been shy. In her line of work, one would use any way possible to accomplish an assignment, and the female body could be very persuasive. The hint of watching her bathe turned Theo an even darker shade of red.
This poor man, she thought to herself. I hope I don’t get him into too much trouble. Leila walked into the bathing room and started the bath water. She left the door open a crack as she began to undress. She quietly slipped into the warm bath water. After falling asleep, Leila did not have a new plan to leave the palace and the longer she stayed, the harder it would be to get her inexperienced friend free.
Leila had been in the water for only a few minutes before she heard the outside door unlocking. She closed her eyes and smiled. Outside in the main room she could hear Nalick questioning Theo.
Maybe I will be able to at least teach this king some manners before I get out of here, she thought.
“I’m in here,” Leila said loudly while not opening her eyes. “I promised not to run away for the moment,” she replied before Theo could answer Nalick’s next question.
Leila heard the door open a bit more. “Yes?” she asked, turning her head to look at Nalick standing in the doorway. “Contrary to belief, I am not a ghost. I, too, need to bathe and eat regularly. Though I can go about two days before I get hungry.” She smiled at his shocked face to actually find her bathing. Leila dipped back under the water to rinse out the bubbles in her hair. “I will not be leaving your company quite yet, so I thought it would nice if I was able to clean up a bit, but if you need me to come right now.” Leila stood, allowing the bubbles from the bath to cover her body but just barely.
Nalick had no response. He was sure that she was planning her next escape and was stunned to actually find her bathing. Embarrassed, he quickly turned his back to her.
“When you are done, Theo will take you to the priests,” Nalick stated.
“No,” Leila replied, reaching for a towel.
“What?” Nalick asked as he turned slightly. She was now wrapped in a towel but not much more presentable than she had been only a minute before.
“I don’t think you have a hearing problem.” She raised her eyebrows daring him to counter. “Do you need me to repeat myself? I said no.”
“I wasn’t asking you a question,” Nalick began to get frustrated with Leila, which made her smile.
“See, that was the problem,” Leila explained, coming face to face with him while only in a towel.
“Then let me rephrase that. Would you please accompany Theo to the priests after you are done, my lady?” Nalick asked while giving her a wink and a small bow.
“Sure,” Leila listened to Nalick leaving the room and the door being locked again.
Leila promptly dried off. In the corner of the room stood a closet. She walked over and looked through the clothes in it. Most of the clothes were her size, but nothing she would choose to wear normally. She pulled a random dress out and put it on.
“I am so sorry,” Leila apologized as Kay entered the room only moments later. “I didn’t know that that tracker was waiting for me. I ran into him and another tracker earlier yesterday morning but easily lost them when I came looking for you,” she explained, hugging her friend and checking her over since she last saw her. “I should have been there with you.”
“If I had listened to you, he would not have caught me,” Kay sighed dejectedly and sat down in the living room. “I messed up again. When I got to the end of the tunnel, I didn’t remember which way to turn. I chose wrong. I tried to get out the door, but it was guarded so I went out the window.” Kay shook her head, “I should not be doing this job. I am no good at it.”
“If you just stick to level one and two assignments you will be fine,” Leila reassured her. Kay finally hugged her back. “You have never failed any of those missions,” she reminded her friend.
“Yeah, but the one time I fail, I put your freedom in jeopardy,” Kay appeared like she was about to cry. “I will never forgive myself if you spend the rest of your life caged up in chains like this.” Kay picked up the chains on the table, “I woke up this morning and felt so guilty.”
“So what did the priests say?” Leila asked, changing the subject and picking up an apple.
“Not good.” Kay responded.
“At all?” Leila asked between bites, “Did the priests say they will help us out?”
“Not exactly,” Kay paused, seeing the anger start to boil within Leila. “I didn’t understand much, but they said something about the seer.”
Leila stood and started to pace. She had been thinking that the best way to get Kay out was with the help of the priests, but if they were unwilling to help, it would take much longer to get her out. This time the plan needed to be foolproof. Alone, this was going to be difficult.
“It seems there are certain rituals that have to be done to us. But everything was so confusing. There was all this talk about you and some white aura.” Kay looked across the room at the opening door as she trailed off in thought.
“My lady,” Theo said, entering the room and giving a little bow to Leila, “would you please come with me?”
Leila stood up and turned back to Kay, “stay right here, and I should be back soon.”
Theo walked over to the table and picked up the chains and again wrapped one around Leila’s waist. He tightly locked both her hands to the chain around her waist. Leila did not mind the treatment for she won the battle with getting the chains off while she was in the room. This escape would require that she escort Kay so that she had no chance of forgetting anything and being chain free would be the key.
Theo led the way back down the stairs they had climbed the night before. At the end of the stairway was Macarius who joined Leila and Theo.
“He really doesn’t trust that I can walk to another place in the palace alone?” Leila asked the two men. “I do know my way around.?
“Do you blame him?” Macarius asked.
Leila thought a second, “No, I suppose not,” she paused, and then told the men, “but I am not yet ready with all my plans to leave.” Both men laughed at her last comment. “What? I was telling the truth, which I suppose I don’t do too often.”
“So we have been told,” Macarius added. “Did you really walk out the front door of King Jahangir’s palace?”
“Yes, and why not? It was the way I came in; I thought it would be fitting to leave civilized through the gate.” Both men laughed. “I walked out the palace door right under King Amet’s watch also. He didn’t even recognize me and paid me a small gold piece as I left because he thought I was part of the performing troupe.”
“Really?” Theo asked in amazement. “So when you finally decide to leave us, you will just vanish?”
“That’s how I work,” Leila told the truth. There was no need to lie to these men. They were not the ones holding her against her will.
“I hope you decide to stay,” Theo added. “It is nice to have someone around that doesn’t fear Nalick.”
“I honestly didn’t think there was a woman out there that could handle the man Nalick has turned into over the years,” Macarius explained. “He has been king years now and yet shows no sign of wanting to take a bride until you came along.”
“Miss Lei…” began a young man who walked up beside her. She waved to him to stop before he used her real name. “I am honored to be in your presence. I have heard many tales about you, but none can actually compare to meeting you.” The young priest had a starry gaze in his eyes. Theo and Marcarius stayed behind and the man ushered Leila away into the priest quarters.
“Will you help me and my friend escape?” she whispered, eager to be on her way.
“Escape? But I thought you were brought here so that I could teach you the rituals that need to be followed to marry our King?” the young, confused priest said.
“I do not wish to marry your king,” Leila responded.