The Final Redemption Michael Manning (best motivational books of all time .TXT) 📖

danger is past.Arm yourself and stand with me.” As she spoke she could almost seeher father’s commanding figure, proud and tall. He definitely would have said that, she thought.

Changing tabards was quick and easy,but getting Gerold into unfamiliar armor took longer than Ariadnewas comfortable with. Time dragged on, and with each passing secondshe feared one of the previous set of enemies would return. When atlast they were ready, she was fairly chomping at the bit. “Let’sgo,” she commanded, and without waiting she started toward thestairs.

The three men looked at each othersilently behind her back, unspoken words passing between theireyes. “Just like her father,” said Alan, voicing the thought on alltheir minds. They hurried to catch up.

Alan and Evan positioned themselves oneither side of her, while she urged Gerold to take the lead. “Takemy arms,” she said, looking at her two guards. “If we encountermore of them, our story is that you’ve taken meprisoner.”

They nodded and held her arms, thoughit made them uncomfortable to take such liberties. Neither of themremembered having done the same only minutes before. Adrenaline haddone the thinking for them at the time.

On the stairs they found five deadmen, two wearing the King’s colors and three in Hightower’s.Ariadne was still struggling to understand what was happening, butshe strongly suspected that the men wearing Lord Hightower’s liverywere anything but ‘his men’.

They stopped at the first landing. Thedoor there lead to the ground floor of the palace. “Are you sure weshould exit here, Your Highness?” Alan asked her.

“If we go higher, we could betrapped,” she told him.

“There aren’t really a lot of easyways in or out here either,” he countered, “the main gate and thetwo side gates are probably guarded by the enemy if they’ve comethis far.”

She nodded, “We need to discover whocontrols the gates. That will tell us much about the state of thepalace interior, and provide our only route to escape if it shouldprove necessary.”

“Shouldn’t we try to get to the King?”asked Evan anxiously. “The meeting chamber is two floors aboveus.”

Ariadne flinched inwardlyat the thought. If the palace were under enemy control, she and herthree companions might be the only ones capable of rescuing herfather, while on the other hand if her father still retained somecontrol reaching him might be the safest place she couldfind. Either he’s secure and trying toregain the palace, or he’s been captured, in which case that’s thelast place I should go. There were toomany uncertainties.

“We don’t know enough, but I doubtanyone would go this far without making sure they had the necessaryresources to complete the job. To do otherwise is to sign your owndeath warrant. Therefore we’ll operate on the assumption that ourbest hope is to escape. We’ll know a lot more after we open thisdoor,” she said firmly.

Gerold opened the door while her two‘captors’ led her out into the long hall that was one of the mostheavily trafficked on that side of the palace. It led to the innergardens at one end and the formal throne room at the other. Inbetween it met numerous cross corridors that led to servants’areas, the kitchens, the laundry, and a miscellany of other roomsthat kept the palace functioning. The barracks connected to thepalace on the opposite side of the palace complex.

“Which way?” asked Alan quietly oncethey emerged. The hall was empty at the moment, but it probablywouldn’t be for long.

“Head toward the center, we can turnthere and make for the kitchens. We might be able to get outside tothe small garden,” she suggested. The small garden was the commonname for the vegetable garden that the palace cook maintained.Unlike the decorative inner courtyard gardens, it actuallyconnected to the outer ward, the area between the palace proper andthe protective walls. It seemed like the most probable means forreaching the outer walls without attracting a lot of notice. Theusual path around the throne room and through the great hall wasalmost certainly guarded.

They reached the wide common door tothe kitchens easily, but once they entered they found a sea ofstaring eyes and silent fear. The cook, his assistants, thescullery boys, and most of the palace staff were gathered in thecenter of the huge room. There were two other doors leading intothe kitchen, besides the one they had just used, and each wasguarded by a pair of sullen faced men in Hightower’slivery.

The two guards at the door they hadjust passed through looked at them with interest. “You found her?Why’d you bring her up then? His Lordship said to kill her straightaway,” questioned one of them.

A variety of things passedthrough Ariadne’s mind in an instant. The revelation that theymeant to kill, rather than capture her, indicated that someonewanted to rid the kingdom of Lancaster heirs. That meant they wouldalso be trying to kill her parents, and Roland. If they haven’t already.

Alan and Evan had gone utterly still,eyes on her as they tried to figure out whether she meant to keepup the fiction of her capture or try to run for it. The kitchenstaff and other servants were also staring at her, unsure of whather presence portended.

Ariadne pulled her arms loose fromAlan’s grasp, jerked the long knife from Evan’s belt and drove itthrough the thick leather of the enemy guard’s chest with bothhands. Surprised, the man staggered back, too shocked even to cryout as he slumped to the floor, dying. Alan and Evan were quick torespond, and drawing their swords they dispatched the second guardbefore the man realized they were his foes.

That left four invaders, two at eachof the other doors. They were drawing their weapons now, shoutingfor the staff to stay still while they advanced toward the princessand her three guardians from two directions.

They had taken no more than a coupleof steps when her voice rose above the confusion, “They’re here tokill the King! Take up arms and drive them out!

No one moved. Frozen by fear, thekitchen staff and maids watched as the swordsmen closed on theirprincess and her three protectors. Gerold was visibly ill at easewith his weapon, and being outnumbered, it was likely that Evan andAlan would be overwhelmed quickly.