A Tale That Dawned [Book 4 of Selvina's Tale series]

Chapter 37: To the Below

As soon as Selvina had slipped out of the lounging room she walked away as quickly as she could down the hall. She had no idea where she would go. Her room would be the first place Rhiannon would look. She thought of heading into the city but there would be too many witnesses there. With the arrival of the Swordenish queen, the castle was astir with activity but, fortunately, all personnel were preoccupied.

She thought of running but that would attract attention. Glancing at every door she passed by, Selvina wondered if she'd be safe anywhere. Her elf-arrow had potentially saved Rhiannon from Queen Svala's outburst but it had also affected the empress as well. She might be running away for no reason but the risk of her elf-arrow being discovered had been too great.

"Are you sure she would have taken it?" Tinkerbelle asked her, perched on Selvina's shoulder.

"I don't know," Selvina replied, glancing about for a new direction to take. "Rhiannon might not care about it, since it was made by the elves and she seems to like elves, but I don't trust Svala. She'd have wanted it for herself."

"I agree. Hey, what about there?"

Selvina stopped walking and eyed a hall to her right. At the end of it was a stone stairway that led down into darkness. It wasn't even guarded.

"I think that's the dungeons," Selvina noted. "Rhiannon said not to go there because it needed cleaning."

"I doubt that's the only reason," voiced Tinkerbelle flatly.

Selvina nodded. "It's as good a place as any." With a glance back, seeing no one looking at her, she raced down the hall. She came to the landing and looked down. The impenetrable darkness reminded her of the dark stairway to Our Lady's dungeons and how filth-ridden they had been. She didn't enjoy the thought of hiding out there but until the mood in the castle calmed down somewhat, it would be the safest place. Hopefully once she came up again the Swordenish queen would be gone and she could explain herself to Rhiannon. With some luck, she'd be understanding of the whole situation...

I probably should have just stayed in the room and played dumb, she thought, glancing down the hall. Maybe I can try to say I had to go to the bathroom or something... Why do I always keep screwing up?

"Selvina!" Tinkerbelle shouted. "What are you doing?"

"I'll just go back, Tink. If I run I look guilty of something and that'll make matters worse. She doesn't know I have an elf-arrow. Maybe she won't figure it out."

"And as soon as you get close to her again she'll find out she can't use her magic. She's Rhiannon, Selvina. She's hundreds of years old! Don't you think that maybe she came across something like an elf-arrow before? She'll know exactly what is going on."

"She's been nice to me, Tink. Me having an elf-arrow as protection shouldn't change things."

"It's not her I'm worried about, Selvina."

Selvina frowned at the fairy. "Queen Svala needs magic to use her powers too. What good is an elf-arrow to her?"

"She's an ambitious queen with too much pride, Selvina. If you give her the one tool that can strip the empress of her power, she'll find a way to use it to her advantage. You said so yourself that you needed Rhiannon to help you in stopping the Writer. If Svala gets her killed, what happens then?"

"They're allies. She wouldn't do something like that. Accolon would send Noyr's armies against Sworden if she betrayed the empress."

"You saw her in that lounging room! She threw a fit and threatened the empress in her own castle! She's high on victory, Selvina, and she thinks no one can stop her. Do you think she really wouldn't try something if she had the elf-arrow?"