Secrets - part 5

Hi! Thanks for visiting my blog :) This is part five of a little story I'm writing. For anyone who is new here, I would recommend you start at part one and work your way through. Happy reading!

The tunnel seems to go on forever. Not able to see anything in the darkness, I negotiate by feel, as well as the faint sounds of Julun's progress ahead of me. Every now and then, he pauses, as though checking if he is being followed. Each time he does, I freeze, remaining silent until he moves again.
We go for so long that it feels like we have crawled under a whole city three times over. When the tunnel finally begins to rise, it is all I can do to hold in a sigh of relief.
I hang back until Julun has exited, then follow him. We are in a forest I recognise as being a little way out of the city. Julun doesn't hesitate, but strides straight into the thicket of trees.
"I thought we had a deal!" he says loudly, stopping in a small, empty clearing. "You said if I told you who the real queen was, you'd let my wife go. You didn't say anything about killing the queen! It was supposed to be so that you could manipulate traders with your inside knowledge."
Though I see no one, I can hear a woman laughing. "And you believed me, like the fool you are. Honourable men are so easy to manipulate."
As though appearing from thin air, the woman materialises in front of Julun. He starts, but holds his ground. "Where is she?" he growls.
"She's safe, for the time being," the woman says. She has a singsong voice, one that you may mistake for the voice of an innocent girl... if you couldn't see her now. I narrow my eyes, trying to figure out if I recognise her, but her long blonde hair and green eyes are generic. I have no idea why she would want to kill me. Then again, I must have any number of unknown enemies; who doesn't want a shot at the crown for themselves?
"Now, I want you to do one more thing for me," the woman says. "As you know, my attempt on the queen's life failed. You are to do it for me."
"What? You know I could never do that!"
She laughs sweetly. "Well, it's that or watch your wife die before your eyes and not be able to stop it."
"Let - let me see her."
The woman calls back. "Oh Sarah? Why don't you come over here a minute, darling?"
My eyes scan the woods as a dishevelled woman comes staggering forward, her hands bound in front of her. Julun makes to rush to her, but the woman holds out a hand. "One more step and she's dead."
Julun stops in his tracks. "Sarah, I'll get you out of this, I promise."
"Julun," she sobs. I can't hear the rest of what she says over the woman's voice.
"You have until the full moon. Deliver me the queen's head, and your wife shall be free. Go, now, before I lose my patience."
Julun turns and staggers back to the hole. For a second, I get a glimpse of the expression on his face, and it nearly brings me to my knees. I have known Julun for years, even from before I was queen, when he was still protecting my parents. Now, he protects me, and I know I will do anything to protect him.
As I follow him in the tunnel, keeping my distance, I try to think. What is best? Go to Julun and trust he will let me talk before trying to kill me? Lead a squad of guards to rescue Sarah myself? No, surely if that were a possibility he would have done it already? There must be more going on here than what meets the eye.
It is not until we are nearly back at Julun's house that I make my decision. As he opens the door, I find I can't stand him going home to an empty house of despair, battling between loyalty and love with no one to help him.
"Julun."
He jumps as I knock on the door. "Kim. My queen. Please, come in. Here, have a seat, I'll get you some tea."
"Julun, the time for pretending is over," I say seriously. "Sit. Let's talk."
Julun listens as I tell him everything I have seen and heard when following him. He opens his mouth, whether to apologise or to plead with me, I don't know.
"What we need to decide now," I say over him, "is how to rescue Sarah."
Julun's head falls into his hands, a groan of despair making its way out of him. "We can't. That woman, she's a sorceress. She'd know if anyone was coming, and kill Sarah right away."
That explains it. Looking at Julun, though, that same sense that tipped me off yesterday tells me that he is holding something back. "What else?"
"I don't know, Kim. I don't understand half the stuff she says. She said that I couldn't sneak up on her undetected, that nobody but a TruthTeller could. Really, I don't know what she was talking about."
"Well it's your lucky day, Julun," I say softly as comprehension washes over me. TruthTeller. The ability to know if someone is telling the truth. The ability I inherited from my mother. "I think I do."
I sweep out of the room. "Meet me at the wagon where thee tunnel begins at first light tomorrow," I say. "I will rescue your wife.""
I ignore his frantic questions, already in a world of my own. Even if I can sneak up on a sorceress undetected, taking her out will be another story. I have trained with a knife from since I could hold one, but that will be no match for magic. I'll need to take her by surprise if I am to have a chance.
"Kim?"
I whirl around to see Nick standing right behind the door, as white as a ghost.
"Nick! What are you doing here?"
"I was worried, so I went up to the palace to look for you. Lene said you hadn't come in today, and I asked around. People said they had seem you going to Julun's. I heard the last part of the conversation."
Nick simply looks at me, waiting for me to explain.
"Nick... it's complicated."
"Complicated like you going off alone to rescue the wife of the guards' commander?"
I nod.
"Kim, what's going on?"
I close my eyes, praying for strength. I can't tell Nick; my cover protects him as well as me. Yet I may die tomorrow - probably will die tomorrow.
What difference could it make, really? To let Nick know the truth? Whatever difference it will or won't make, I suddenly find that I can't lie anymore. As much as I love Nick and want to protect him, I can't do it.
"Julun's wife was kidnapped," I whisper, my eyes still closed. "The sorceress who did it wanted information, so that she could kill me. I'm the only one who can save Sarah."
"Why would a sorceress want to kill you? Kim?"
I turn my eyes up to look into Nick's face, wondering if he'll ever look at me tenderly after I confess that I have lied for all the time I have been with him. It's just like I imagined saying it, only worse. I didn't imagine the fear, and that makes it a thousand times worse.
"Because Lene isn't the queen, Nick. I am."

To be continued