by Becky James
“I would be careful with statements such as that.”
My insides turned to ice. The door to my cell unlocked with a clunk of keys and in came Prince Torgund, Ambassador to Daron. Half Daronian himself, he lived there, and I had hardly ever seen him except to recognise him on sight. Gavain stood at a perfect attention stance in the doorway, eyes wide and hand on the pommel of his sword.
“Your Excellency.” I attempted to stand, but I could barely get to my feet. The chains were heavy, dragging my wrists down. Straightening my screaming back, I tried to stop my arms and legs shaking.
“In these dark and turbulent times, you find yourself addressing the new king of Oberrot,” the prince said. “‘Your Majesty’ is the correct term.” I startled with shock. Prince – no, King Torgund’s lip curled, and he looked me up and down. “Where have you been, boy? A slaver’s barge?”
“No, sir. A mission, sir. If I may. How did… That is, what happened here?”
“I ask the questions. My friend over there extracts answers.” I heard a muffled noise behind me and jerked my head over my shoulder.
Evyn had backed herself against the bars. Facing her in her cell stood a man with a black mask over his face.
My heartrate accelerated, thumping in my head. “Your Majesty, please. No, wait—”
“Now, where were you?” His harsh eyes studied mine.
“A mission, escorting the king’s soul, Rose.” His eyes narrowed. “I mean—”
“I have another question. Is insolence and disobedience some kind of core belief in Special Forces?”
“No, Your High – Majesty, they are not core tenets.”
His nostrils flared at being corrected. “What you see here” – he waved at the window and the stark view in front of me – “was insolence and disobedience. My brother, his wife, the queen, and their souls were lost while on a riverboat. I was a witness, along with countless others. As Prince Rogan has not yet reached his majority, I must sadly and with a heavy heart step into the role of monarch.
“I completed the time-honoured tradition of approaching the layline doors and was granted entry, but there was one who questioned the proceedings. He made an unwise accusation. He committed treason. And he paid the price.”
I couldn’t catch my breath. Gough had perished? Shard would have wanted to know how and when and why. He would have wanted to get to the truth.
“The rest of your family has gone into hiding. And here you are, bold as you like, strolling through the castle as if nothing were amiss.”
“Your Majesty, my father would never—”
Torgund stepped toward me, forcing me to lower my head to my chest to meet his searching eyes. His jaw worked. “Be careful what you say. I am assured by your peers that you are an unparalleled fighter with undying loyalty to the crown. Which crown, I wonder.”
“The crown. The crown of Oberrot. I live to obey, I obey to live.” The words flowed naturally from my mouth; I had been saying them since I was five turns old.
The army obeyed the ruler of Oberrot and Torgund had a claim to the throne, one he was clearly exercising and had proved. Several doors rested on laylines in the country, keyed to the current ruler. Only a descendant of royal blood could make them respond, and it was said they wouldn’t even open to anyone else. These doors acted as proof of lineage and of a legitimate claim to the throne.
Once proof had been made, Special Forces had had no choice but to obey. I swallowed hard.
Torgund sneered. “We wonder. Your loyalty must be tested. I am told you are not yet a full member of Special Forces, that there is an assignment that must be completed?” I nodded, my neck stabbing with pain. “Then your loyalty will be tested at that time. Otherwise, I will have to find another gibbet maker.”
Evyn gasped. I spun around again to see her, but she remained unharmed.
“Good,” Torgund murmured. He left.
The door slammed shut, and the locks snapped closed to both our doors. My wobbly legs collapsed and I fell to a heap on the floor, smashing my jaw on the way down.
“Thorrn!” cried Evyn. I curled into myself, trying to gather the pain to put edges and definitions on it. Everything hurt, physically and emotionally. “Thorrn, say something.”
“Something.” I rolled onto my back. Movement helped my shoulders come back to life in increments. “That man, did he touch you?”
“No, it was mainly for show for you, I think. Didn’t half scare me silly.” My ears popped and suddenly Evyn crouched down next to me, kneading my shoulders.
“How did you do that?” I said.
“Jumped through two portals, in and out of the worlds. I can jump us out of here too.”
I shook my head and winced. “If I escape now, I’ll be a criminal.”
“In this world, sure. We’d go back to Earth.”
I looked up sharply. “But what about your mother?”
Evyn nodded. “I can pop in and out and find her. She would come back if she could, she might already be there…” Evyn bit her lip. “It’s been less than a day since she left. She can’t have gone on a boat trip and died in that time. No, she can ping back to Earth like it’s nothing.” She snapped her fingers. “I bet that’s where she is. She and Gough and Elley and Gadamere popped onto Earth.”
“And they are sundered there now? While my father was hanged like a criminal?” I shook my head. “Gough would never leave the kingdom if he suspected foul play. Which my father obviously did.” I put my hand over my eyes.
“Why are Special Forces falling over themselves for this guy? Why aren’t they out there looking for Mum and Gough?”
“Because he’s the king now. He must have ordered them not to.”
“What, just like that? And they listened? What about Gough?”
I closed my eyes, trying to find the words to explain. “The army is made up of Special Forces, the Regulars and the Castle Guard, the latter little more than Upholders. We all of us swore to obey whosoever sat on the throne, so long as they were a descendant of the crown. We obey not the individual but the lineage. It’s part of our core tenets, one of the very first ones we adhere to. It is unquestionable and incontrovertible. Questioning an order from the true heir, once that has been proved, is a violation of our core purpose and our founding principle. It’s… punishable by the ultimate forfeit.” I hung my head, unable to get the image of the gallows and gibbet out of my mind.
“And the prince? Rogan? What about him?”
“He is the next in line, but he hasn’t reached his majority of a score and one turns. He’s two turns short. He could rule but with a steward to help him. Prince – King Torgund will rule until he comes of age.”
“You think he’ll be allowed to get that far?” Evyn asked darkly.
I shook my head. “I can’t believe I’m saying this but… no. But I don’t have a choice. I must serve this king. We all do.”
“You always have a choice.”
“Mm.” I nodded toward the window. “Not a particularly good one.”
“Your father was right, though. Torgund must have done something to Gough.”
“Whether he did or not… he’s the king now.”
“Not if Gough is still alive, right?”
“I…” My heart warred against the first tenet. My heart won. “Yes. If we could find out what happened to King Gough, if he was still alive… Yes. We would revert to obeying him without question rather than Torgund.”
Evyn nodded. “Righty oh.” She helped me sit up and arrange my chains. My broken arm was even worse now for having been pulled around by the weighty manacles. “Must have been a couple of hours since you went berserk. Uh, two turns of the glass I think you say.”
“Berserk?”
“Yeah. You suddenly got really angry and tried to get to me. Gavain said you’re a berserker. You don’t remember that?”
“I am, but I usually have it under control.” Staring at my lap, I forced my fingers to obey my commands to open and close.
Losing control of my body was terrifying, and I hated it every time it happened. It had been turns since I had last lost myself in a fiery rage, and it made me feel sick every time afterwards, not knowing who I had hurt with my indiscriminate fury. “I don’t remember it, I never do. The last thing I recall is asking where… where my father was.”
“I’m sorry. That must be hard.”
“What did I do?” Who had I hurt? Gavain had looked unharmed at least, but he was on the alert against me, protecting the new king.
“You started tossing everyone around, but you didn’t manage to land anything.” Evyn moved the chain links so they didn’t pinch my skin. “I worried they were going to hurt you. Gavain called the soldiers back but you were going to spike yourself on their spears trying to get at them. Then he shoved me forward, told me to deal with you. I didn’t know what to do except that I knew you wouldn’t hurt me. You let me approach and when I touched you, you passed out.” She stood up. “Let’s go. Let’s get out of here.”
A certainty settled in my stomach. “I can’t leave this behind. I have to find my mother and my sister. My father’s soul companion, my soul-aunt and her family.” I shored up my resolve, straightening my spine even though it ached. “I have to get to the truth. For my father. I have to find out what happened to Gough and what happened to your mother.”
Evyn smiled. “You never know, Mum might be making them a cup of tea back home.”
“They would not dally in another world, Evyn. They know what Torgund is like,” I whispered. “They are in danger. I know you’re trying to protect me, but this is something I have to do.”
“We have to do, in that case,” she said. “This is just like Teresa, isn’t it? Something we have to do.”
“Yes.” I bowed my head. “The best way of accomplishing that is to be Torgund’s loyal swordsman, for now at least.” I sat against my soul with my chained hands in my lap. Silence settled over us.
When we heard noises outside, Evyn pinged through the bars, but I could not bear to be separated from her. I pressed myself against the bars as if I could push myself through. Thin gruel was delivered to each of us; Evyn tried to feed me hers but I just smiled at her effort and sank back into a bleak solemnity.
A heavy feeling settled in my stomach. “I cannot get out of my mind that the last my father saw of me was that I had rejected you,” I said later. The enormity of the events of the last few turns of the glass weighed on me like my shackles. “He liked you. He said you would be good for me and he was right. But the last time I spoke to him he was incensed with me. He… He went to the gibbet with the knowledge that I had failed you. Failed him.”
Evyn’s eyes shone with tears. “He loved you. He was tough on you because he didn’t want anyone to say he was playing favourites, but I could see it even as a newcomer. He knew what you were really like, Thorrn.”
“Yes. A waste of air.”
“Hey, that’s my line,” Evyn said, a wobbly smile on her face. “Your father loved you. I… I’m so sorry for your loss. I understand a little of what it’s like, if that helps.”
“You do?” Recalling what I had seen of their abode, I asked, “Where is your father?”
She tapped the bars of the cell. “He died. He… He had dark moods and monstrous corners of his mind. One day they won.” She held my hands. “I understand what it’s like to lose your dad. You can carry their love with you. It’s not exactly the same, though, I can’t imagine what it’s like to go through this.”
“You don’t need to imagine. You can see it.” My heart cried out. “I need you.”
“I’m right here.”
I moved onto my side, trying to find the least painful position. Truth be told the feelings were numb apart from the pain of my father’s unjust death and the anger that lit in my heart whenever I thought of Torgund’s face.
“Tell me more about Torgund,” Evyn said, as if she could hear my thoughts.
“Gough’s younger brother. Gough sent him away to Daron, but something big must have happened to have the entire royal family disappear.” I twisted the manacle on my wrist. “I suspect magic.”
“Oh yeah? Would the, what are they called, mages and mancers have done it?”
“In theory, they could, but the magic users are ruled by Master of all Mages and Mancers, MasterMage Waker. She swore fealty to the crown. The king rules the non-magic users. The king and the MasterMage hold the Accords of peace between them. These might be rogue mages or mancers, but they will have their MasterMage to answer to.”
“What keeps them in check?”
“There are more non-magic users than magic users. Like the brute fighters, they cannot stand against us all. The royals try to dress it up in more diplomatic terms than that, though. Of course, there is mutual trade because we’re all just people with needs at the end of it. Magic is very useful in day-to-day life, and I can’t see a mage growing her own food or keeping her own house. We co-exist mostly peacefully. It’s all an agreement for good behaviour on the surface that’s backed up by the threat of force.”
“That’s all it ever is. The public–private partnership,” Evyn murmured. She glanced up at the window and back again. “What do we do now?”
“I’m sorry I’m not very entertaining like this. I’m not at my best.”
“I know that, and I understand.” She gave me a shaky smile when she saw I was joking. “I don’t know how you can be so chipper right now.”
Stomach twisting, I said, “I shouldn’t be chipper. My king is dead and I suspect foul play, and my father was murdered and displayed like a criminal.” I tried to put my head in my hands, but the heavy chains sent pain lancing up my forearm when I moved. Evyn saw, kneeling next to me. “But I have you. I’m sorry you’re in this with me, but I’m glad you’re in this with me.” I smiled at her, a taut and fragile thing.
“Of course.” She squeezed my hand. “What’s the next thing we have to do? What’s that assignment he was on about?”
“It’s the test to enter Special Forces. I don’t know what it is. It has to be something to do with making a choice between my duty and my soul. After all, I’m supposed to protect the king at all costs. Even at the cost of my life or my soul.” I bit my lip.
Evyn’s face darkened. “I bet it’ll be something nasty too. This world is full of nasty things. It looks very nice, all fancy and polite, but there’s a filthy undercurrent here.”
I wanted to moderate her assertion, but with my father’s body standing outside, I had no words to match against hers.
“Whatever it is, stick it out,” she said. “You’ve seen the souls of Special Forces afterwards, right? They’re not missing limbs or whatnot? Then whatever it is won’t kill us.”
I nodded. Whatever it was, I could survive it with my soul.
“After that we’ll take it day by day,” Evyn continued. “Play it by ear, see the lie of the land, and win trust. With trust will come opportunities to see what went on and what we can do about it.” She nodded with each beat of her plan.
“I think I got most of that, Evyn. We need to modify your language. Someone will suspect you aren’t from here.”
“Everyone knows that, but no one would suspect I’m from another world, right? You didn’t.”
“I’m Special Forces, and I have a singular focus. A more learned person might be aware of how the worlds connect.”
“Okay, I’ll try and pick up the lingo.” I raised an eyebrow. She grinned at me. “Okay, for serious this time.”
The night drew in. At least it was warmer in Oberrot. I persuaded Evyn to stay in her cell even though my heart and hers were crying out to be together. I couldn’t risk what would happen if they found her moved from her cell. She zipped in to move my bedding around, and we slept poorly, holding hands between the bars.
As grey dawn trickled into the cells, Evyn’s door clanked open. She and I startled awake. Standing up, I put my hands through the bars towards her, but they were brought up short by t
he chains.
“It’s time for your test, Thorrn.” Gavain stood outside my cell, his voice a hushed whisper through the door. “Remember, do what he says. He’s close to eliminating you only because of who you are. It took everything from Barlay to persuade him that you are a superior asset and that your skills outweigh the risks of keeping you. Do everything he says, and you’ll be one of us again.”
I’d never heard such a tone in Gavain’s voice. “I’ll try,” I whispered.
The torturer in the black mask entered Evyn’s cell. She scrambled to stand up, holding on tight to the bars. “Thorrn, I’m scared.”
“It will all be fine. I swear no harm will come to you.” To the torturer I said, “There is no reason to harm her. I will do everything Torgund says.” I bit my tongue. “King Torgund. The king. I will do everything asked of me.”
The man gave a dark chuckle. Evyn’s hands were white around the bars, but then she threw back her head and marched up to him. “Fine. Let’s get started.” The torturer led her out, and Evyn winked over her shoulder at me as she left.
Heart hammering in my chest, I licked my lips. “Gavain, are you there? Can you talk to me?”
“For right now, yes. Thorrn, stay calm. Obey him, give him fealty at every turn. Put yourself on your face if you have to.” He drew in a breath. “Prisoner, present!” he barked.
I turned around as the door opened. Gavain came in, Regulars in green behind him in the corridor. As I was led out, Second Barlay nodded to me in the corridor. I spotted Barlay’s epaulette with a jolt. “Captain,” I saluted. Barlay was a good second-in-command to Special Forces. He would be a good captain.
“Thorrn.” Barlay took a deep breath. “Today is a momentous day. Today we assess whether you have the unwavering obedience to duty needed to be part of Special Forces. This elite force exists for the sole protection of the royal family. We put that duty above all else. Above our lives. Above our souls.”
Gavain unlocked my shackles, and they tumbled to the floor.
“If you pass, you will be welcomed and released. If you fail, you will be executed by order of the king,” Barlay went on. Not banished. Executed. Barlay grimaced toward the window. I resisted the urge to turn to my father’s corpse.