Chapter Seven: IN CHAINS

Rigel, Primrose perched lightly on his shoulder, was on his way up the stairs when Clairvoyant's mental voice touched his thoughts.

"Meet me under the elm."

The stable boy startled, nearly unseating the cat, who dug her claws into his back to catch herself. "Yow, Prim," he whispered. He turned to retrace his steps, passing Altair on his way to bed.

"Where you going?" the pale twin asked, looking more tired than usual for that time of night.

"Outside for a minute, Altair. I . . . um . . . I forgot to do something." He brushed by in haste, shamed by the disfavor he had earned in his brother's mind.

Rigel sent Clairvoyant the message that he was on the way, and slipped out the door, Primrose still astride. The cat hopped to the ground as her master left the porch, and she scurried across the moonlit clouds.

"Where you going, cat?" the boy called in a muted voice, and sent her a mental command to return. Primrose (proper cat that she was) ignored the empathic touch. She proceeded toward the shadow of an enormous elm tree and the wrought iron bench silhouetted there. The cat sprang lightly to the knees of the figure seated on the bench, and placed her forepaws on its chest. Moonlight filtering through the leaves of the old tree splashed like milk off his midnight blue hair as Clairvoyant leaned forward to bump heads with the dainty feline. Rigel could hear the loud purr that rumbled from his pet as he approached the young wizard and sat beside him.

"What's the news?" he asked quietly, avoiding Clairvoyant's piercing gaze.

"First things first. I'm sorry. I was unfair earlier, Rigel. You scared the living daylights out of all of us."

The tall youngster shrugged and rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm not exactly making anyone comfortable at the moment."

Voy rested a hand on Rigel's arm. "Queen Aleia talked to me. You're only trying to do what's right. I'm the one who was wrong."

An involuntary smile curved Rigel's lips at the thought of his conversation with the elegant Queen of Chimopotamia. "She's the greatest, isn't she?"

Clairvoyant's sober expression brightened in a sheepish grin. "I sort of have a crush on her, too, if you want to know the truth. But boy is she crazy about you."

Black eyes mirrored the moonbeams as the youngster blinked in surprise. "Me? The Queen?"

Voy teased, "Her future son in law, you know."

Rigel's mouth fell open. "Did she say that?" A warm flush crept to his cheeks, and he was thankful for the muted moonlight.

"She didn't have to. She was radiating it the whole time we talked. The thought of you and Aury bonded forever makes the Queen very happy. I got the impression that it's the only pleasant thought that she has to hang onto right now. But that's not really why I'm here. I know you're in touch with Aury, but even she doesn't know a lot of what is going on in the palace. She's been pretty isolated from all this mess."

"They won't leave her alone for a minute, and they won't tell her anything. She's so frustrated right now." Rigel's words reflected the Princess's agitation and Clairvoyant agreed with a nod of his head.

"But you can't blame her father for wanting to protect her. It's all quite necessary. I just wish he'd let you be with her. She'd be much safer that way." Voy stroked the purring cat and sparks flew from her silky, static fur in the darkness.

Rigel shook his head. "What can I do, other than comfort her a little?"

Clairvoyant turned to him, eyes speaking mysteries and clouded over with an aura of prophecy. Rigel felt the magic, like a cool hand, run down his back when the apprentice mage spoke. "You underestimate yourself, Rigel. You've no idea of the power inside you. I wish we could get you into the training sessions with Aury and her sisters. There is so much you could learn . . . and I would love to see just where all that raw power might lead to."

The dark youngster shifted uncomfortably. He had learned many strange things about himself in the past few days, and was not sure he wanted to know any more.

"You and the Princess are the stuff legends are made of," the seer went on, "Centuries from now Chimopotamian school children will be singing ballads about the Princess Auria and her handsome horseman."

Rigel blushed and looked away, lips parted in a sigh of disbelief.

Voy continued, "All that will happen might be avoided if people would only see your bond for what it is."

The old frustrations surged to the surface with Clairvoyant's words, and Rigel's mouth twitched with the effort to hold them back. He reached out to the Princess for comfort. She was in bed, and her sleepy mind welcomed his warmly as they touched.

"You aren't going to bed yet?" she asked, "Is everything all right?"

"I'm with Voy, starshine. Are you okay?"

Clairvoyant paused at Rigel's sudden silence and waited politely to continue. The eerie mist of magic had passed from his features. He leaned back against the bench, looking worn and tired. "I can't stay long," he said at last, "I have to take a turn with the King so Clarion can get a little rest."

Rigel nodded, searching his friend's haggard expression with concern. "I guess all this has you pretty busy."

"We can't leave King Yrren alone," Voy's hand shook as he brushed back his hair. He looked up into the moon, and it lit his face in pearly highlights, accentuating the high cheekbones and chiseled lines. "Either Clarion or I are going to have to stay with him. We've convinced him that it's for his own safety--that there may be hidden designs on him as well as the Princess. This way we can keep a protective shield around him, so that whatever is trying to control his thoughts can't get a tighter grip on him."

"Have you been able to trace the magic you felt?" Rigel asked, and felt Aury listening intently through her connection to his mind.

Voy shook his head. "Nothing. I've mentally dissected that saddle for hours on end, and although there is a definite magical fingerprint on it, it's been cleverly blocked. I can't break into that power no matter how hard I try. Even Clarion was stumped by it when he tried--and I've never seen him fail before."

"So I guess with you and Clarion so busy, there's not going to be any school for a couple of days, right?" Aury's thoughts came through loudly into both boys' minds, and Clairvoyant responded with a burst of laughter.

"No such luck, Princess. No free vacations for you girls. Classes will go on as scheduled. Clarion has asked me to take over your schooling for now and just do reviews of what we've covered lately."

"Review? Oh no. You mean we're going to be doing the same boring routines over and over?"

"I'm afraid so," the young sorcerer said aloud, and echoed the thoughts through his mind so that Aury could hear them. "As tied up with this mystery as Clarion and I are, the daily routines will have to continue. King Yrren and Clarion have insisted on that, and I have to say I agree. Poseidon has been very helpful in doing mundane tasks that normally take up a lot of our time, and has offered to help out as long as we need him."

"Poseidon?" A suspicious chill made the hairs stand up on the back of Rigel's neck.

Voy nodded. "He came by this morning, and when Clarion told him what was happening, offered to stay on and help. He's been doing record-keeping and stocking herbs and potions-- doing a lot of the leg work for us. None of our routine work would get done at all, if he weren't being so kind. He seems genuinely concerned about the whole situation."

Rigel searched Clairvoyant's face, and could see that he was sincerely comfortable with the fact that Poseidon had taken up a position in the palace. "So I misjudged the guy? You trust him?"

Voy smiled. "He can be annoying. He's somewhat of a `yes man' to Clarion--hangs on every word Master says, and jumps to answer even the slightest request. But it's just out of respect, I think. Clarion trusts him implicitly. And he really has been invaluable today."

Rigel relaxed in the confidence Clairvoyant projected. He trusted the young mage's opinion and had never known Voy to be wrong. He glanced toward the house, and saw that the light in his bedroom window was out.

"Altair must be asleep already," he said, "I think I'd better get inside before my father comes looking for me." The thought of another confrontation with Zale made him wince. Rigel recalled the look that had shadowed the StableMaster's face throughout the day, and pain-filled regrets pulsed through him for the heartache he had caused.

"There's really nothing more to say. I just wanted to keep you in touch with what's going on." Clairvoyant placed the cat in Rigel's arms as he rose from the bench. "Good night, then. See you tomorrow." He was nothing but a shadow in the moonlight before he had finished the phrase.

Rigel turned his tired mind and body toward his bed.


***


Aury's scream hurled Rigel from sleep. Before his eyes were fully open, he had rocketed himself through time and space to her side. The sound of her cries rebounded painfully off his subconscious, and danger assaulted his mind. Forces were pulling at the Princess, struggling to drag her into darkness. Rigel tightened his mental hold on her and showered the room with a bombardment of energy. Power spewed from some deep part of him that he had never known was there. It joined with the surge that burst from Aury's center and flooded the chamber with blinding golden light.

An electric crackle echoed off the walls of the chamber as the evil grasp was severed.

"Something grabbed me!" Aury cried aloud. "Rigel, something tried to pull me from my room. It almost had me. If you hadn't come. . . . " Huge tears streaked down her face as her words faltered and were replaced by hysterical sobs.

"Shh, starshine, you're okay." Rigel perched on the edge of Aury's bed and wrapped protective arms around her. His spirit was still woven magically into hers. The echo of that massive burst of defensive power tingled along his nerves, and he pulled the Princess in to the deep parts of his soul to comfort her. She leaned into him and buried her face in his shoulder, soaking his nightclothes with frightened tears. "I'm here. Nothing will happen to you, Aury. No one can take you away."

Rigel surveyed the room. He had just spotted the unconscious guard in the corner when Clairvoyant appeared in a flash of blue light.

"What the heck is going . . . Stars!" Voy raced to aid the prostrate guardsman as Clarion and the Queen materialized at the foot of Auria's bed.

"Aury!" Aleia cried out, her face chalk-white with terror, and ran to her daughter's side. Clarion joined Clairvoyant's attempts to rouse the guard, who began to mutter incoherent phrases as he came slowly to the surface of conscious thought.

"Momma, Momma, something had hold of me. It was going to 'port me from my room. Rigel came to help me--he saved me." Aury clung, sobbing, to her bond-friend as her mother caressed her trembling back and shoulders.

"I know, honey. I know. I felt it all." She raised her eyes to Rigel's in gratitude. "Where would we be without your Rigel?"

The boy's heart ached--the tender, grateful tones of the Queen of Chimopotamia swelled within it until he thought it would burst. He held his emotions in check with difficulty as Auria trembled against him.

King Yrren appeared, fury flaring around him. He scanned the scene in the room, and his attention landed on the sight of his daughter in the arms of the stable boy. His handsome face contorted with emotions that looked to be far more than anger.

"What is he doing here!?" He took a step toward the youngsters, his clenched fists trembling.

Aleia stood to block his path. "Very probably saving your daughter's life." Her voice was stern and filled with magical convictions. The Queen was ready to do whatever it took to defend the boy who had just rescued her child from the clutches of an abductor.

Clarion and his apprentice helped the groggy guard to a chair, and turned their attentions to the frightening conflict arising between the King and Queen.

"Dorsan says that something attacked him from the darkness," Clarion said, stepping between the two angry monarchs. "He felt a cold touch on his mind, like the grip of an icy hand, and then all went black."

A soft buzz of protective power began to grow around Aury and Rigel, and the boy realized the wizards were constructing a magical shield. The barrier sparkled in the stable boy's peripheral vision as he kept his nervous stare locked on the dangerous scene before him.

Clairvoyant moved cautiously to stand beside the youngsters on the bed, his dark eyes alert with defensive powers and trained on the form of the enraged King.

"I thought I said that this boy was to come no where near my daughters." The King's glare darted from Aleia to Clarion. He had heard neither his Queen's defense of the boy nor Clarion's attempt to distract him. His furious gaze speared Rigel, and the boy tightened his grip on the child in his arms. "How dare you defy my orders?"

Rigel said nothing. He did not move as the King took another step forward. Queen Aleia and Clarion edged closer together to block Yrren's progress.

"What did you do to the guard!?"

Prideful anger tossed caution aside. He ignored Clairvoyant's mental, "Oh, Rigel, no . . . not again!"

"Me?! What did I do to the guard?" Rigel was shaking with fury as he shouted back at the maddened ruler. "I didn't do anything to the guard. All I did was keep your daughter from being pulled off into the night."

Yrren lifted his lip in a snarl. "I told you to come no where near her."

Rigel held possessively to the Princess as he replied, "If I had obeyed you, Aury would be gone right now. Who knows where she'd be? She might even be dead."

"How dare you defy me, you insolent mongrel." Yrren strode forward. Anger surged around him like a building tempest. He shoved the Queen and Clarion aside with the thrust of a muscular arm. Aleia, staggered by the blow, grabbed for the bed-post to break her fall.

Rage rocked the stable boy's spirit. "Leave her alone!" He leapt from the bed, dragging Aury with him, and the wizards' protective shield shattered as he broke through it. His face was flushed with anger as he stepped within the maddened ruler's reach.

The King snatched the Princess from the stable boy's grasp, shoving her at his wife. Aleia's hands darted out to catch her daughter and pulled her into a protective embrace. Aury's slender frame was wracked with hysterical sobs.

"Father, no, please. He saved me. Rigel didn't do anything! He saved me!" The child struggled to break free from her mother's arms, hands clawing the air in her angry sire's direction.

"Yrren, please. Please listen," Aleia pleaded.

The King was deaf to reason, his mind blinded by the evil that influenced it.

Rigel dashed forward to break past the Ruler and reach his bonded friend. Yrren struck the teen hard across the face. The slap sent Rigel reeling.

"Stay away from my daughter!"

Rigel face contorted, all fear swept away by fury. He caught his balance and launched himself at the King of Chimopotamia. His shoulder rammed the monarch's chest with a blow that knocked the breath out of Yrren and forced him to stumble backward.

The shocked surprise that flashed across the King's face swiftly twisted to insane rage. He recovered, braced himself, and lunged toward the youngster. He grabbed Rigel's shoulders and threw him to the floor. The boy's body hit the hardwood with an impact that rattled the paintings on the walls.

Aury broke from her mother's grasp and rushed to Rigel's side. She threw her arms around him, her tear-streaked face white with fear.

"Put this mongrel in restraints. Put it in restraints now or you'll all have to answer to me!" the King screamed.

"Yrren, no!" Aleia cried in horror, tugging frantically at the sleeve of his dressing robe. "No, you can't do that to a child."

Clarion dared to argue. "Restraints could damage him to who knows what extent. They could stunt his development dangerously."

"How dare you defy me, old man? I say now--and you will obey!" The King turned on the wizard and grabbed the collar of his velvet robe with white-knuckled hands.

"Sire!" Clairvoyant shouted, and stepped bravely between his mentor and the King. Yrren's fingers flew open, releasing the mage.

Insane violet eyes turned from Clarion to Clairvoyant and back, spearing them with deadly threats. The power that emanated from the King was riddled with dangerous intent; the look upon his enraged face made clear the folly of continuing the argument. "Restraints. I will not have a traitorous upstart defying my orders again. Now." His voice fell upon them like a smooth shroud of black velvet.

Clarion tried to swallow the dry fear that filled his throat. His shaking hands materialized a pair of crystal rings that glowed with an eerie inner light. With sad regret etched upon his ancient features, he approached Rigel.

The boy extracted himself gently from Aury's terrified embrace and pressed her trembling palm to his cheek. "Try to be brave, starshine." He released her hand and rose from the floor. Rigel wiped a trickle of blood from the corner of his bruised lip.

Auria rushed, sobbing, into her mother's arms. "Momma, make him stop!" The Queen clutched the child to her breast, her shoulders shaking as her tears joined Aury's.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," the age-old sorcerer whispered as he held the rings out toward the boy.

Rigel stood still, his face clouded with hopeless resignation, and met Clarion's worried gaze. He held forth his hands, and all present noted that they did not tremble when the Palace Mage touched the rings to his wrists. With an electric crackle, the crystal restraints moved of their own accord. They encircled Rigel's arms and snapped to a tight fit. Pain coursed to the youngster's shoulders. His dark eyes sparked momentarily, yet his body did not flinch.

The guard, fully conscious once again, walked to Rigel's side and touched a hand to his elbow. "I'm sorry, son," the man whispered and led the teen from the room.

As Rigel passed his Princess, his entire being reached out for her.

"Oh, Rigel. How can he do this?" Her mind wrapped itself around his, clinging to his spirit with passionate fear.

"He can't take this from us, starshine." He held her thoughts with possessive fervor, demonstrating the strength of their bond with his psychic embrace. "These restraints might hurt my physical powers, but they can't touch my mind. I won't let go of you, Aury. I promise."