The Dawn of the End

by Kristen Ashley

Sadly, doing this took her down a close.

  And at the dead end of it, she knew she’d have to turn, stand and fight.

  This she did.

  Doing a whirl with her arm and fist in position, she caught him in his starkly protruding jaw.

  She did not know if he felt pain, though his head snapped around.

  She did know she felt pain, as his jaw felt like it was made of iron.

  She ignored that and landed another blow to his jaw, but he was ready for it this time and shook it off instantly.

  Serena then switched tactics, pivoted to her side, putting her weight in her left leg, and kicking out with her right, into his stomach.

  He did not even expel air at her strike, and when she adjusted her aim to kick him in the groin, he caught her ankle and twisted it viciously.

  In order for him not to break it, she flung her body in the direction her ankle was going, which meant she hit the ground on her shoulder with a body-wracking thud.

  But she immediately swung about with her left leg, landing a whack to his temple.

  He grunted at that.

  She was heartened by that.

  Thus, she drew back her left leg and caught him full in the nose with her heel.

  He fell back, still with a hold on her ankle, so she was dragged back when he went.

  She engaged her stomach muscles to reach to her left boot for her dagger when he made it plain that he’d had enough.

  She knew this when he used her ankle to shake her bodily, his strength such she lost control of her frame and her head cracked on the cobbles.

  As she blinked away stars, he let go of her ankle to grasp onto her hips and tow her to him.

  She was up.

  He was up.

  And then she was slammed to the wall at the end of the close so hard, her breath left her.

  Holding her there with his body, he was clawing at her skirts, thin streams of saliva dribbling through his fangs.

  Well then.

  Apparently, he’d picked now to have some fun.

  However, that would not be happening.

  She landed as many blows as she could as powerfully as she could in this position, at his jaw, temple, cheekbone, neck and throat.

  He grew impatient with her endeavors and shared this when he snapped at her with his teeth, bursts of slobber slapping her in the face.

  Her legs were astride his hips, she yanked up her left knee, reaching for her dagger, and screaming in his face, “Bloody no!”

  And then something else splattered her face so violently, she blinked against it.

  When she opened her eyes, the body that had her pinned to the wall started listing.

  This was because it had no head.

  She fell to her feet as it thudded to the ground and that was when she saw Tor in the alley, two of True’s guard behind him.

  Both Tor’s hands were wound about the hilt of his broadsword.

  Through the blood and drool streaming down her face, she looked down at the body of the troll, its head resting, mouth still in full sneer, some four feet away.

  She lifted her hands, swiped the wet from about her eyes, and looked back to Tor.

  “Well, that was expedient,” she drawled.

  “We don’t have such creatures in my land,” he told her. “And I did not fancy figuring out what it would take to subdue him.”

  She studied the Valerian king, and at what she saw, she said quietly, “He does not leave behind a wife and children who depend on him, Tor.”

  It took him a moment before he jerked up his chin, took out a handkerchief and offered the snowy cloth to her.

  She shook her head, bent double and used her tatty skirts to clear her face.

  As she straightened, she saw Tor wipe the blood from his blade before scabbarded it, dropping the cloth to the cobbles and looking to her.

  “Right,” he stated shortly. “Do you wish to see what a very large stash of coin looks like?”

  “It’s there?” she whispered.

  He nodded. “It’s there.”

  She could not stop it. Suddenly it was affixed to her face.

  A large smile.

  Tor’s eyes flashed with humor as his lips twitched then he tipped his head toward the alley behind him.

  They made haste back to the building where that troll had spent much of his time, perhaps unwittingly (though it mattered not now if it was willful or other) a conspirator in treason.

  The closed door was now guarded by two of True’s soldiers, two more patrolled the alley (that she could see) and one had his bow at the ready on the roof.

  She and Tor walked directly to the door.

  Serena opened it and stepped inside.

  There were several lanterns lit, but they didn’t do much to dispel the dim of the place.

  Regardless, there were small and large trunks scattered everywhere, some of their lids opened, these exposing the contents within, and on the edge of one, Brix sat, flipping and catching a coin in one hand.

  “We were remiss in not asking True if there was a reward,” he joked.

  “I need no money,” Gal stated, strolling to the chest on which Brix sat, leaning against it and crossing his feet at the ankle. “I will simply gorge on the heaps of gnomish fanny that is going to be thrown at me as the Great Gnome Hero who saved the realm’s treasury.”

  “Oh right, there is that,” Brix muttered.

  “What’s mixed with the blood all over your face?” Gal asked her.

  Apparently, she hadn’t been thorough with her skirts.

  “Slobber,” Serena answered.

  “Blimey,” Gal muttered, making a face.

  “It appears our jobs were much more fun,” Brix remarked, then he flipped the gold coin he was tossing across the space her way.

  She flashed out a hand and caught it.

  Serena then looked to her crew, her boys…

  Her friends.

  And she burst out laughing.

  The first thing she wanted to do when she entered Birchlire Castle was go direct to a bath.

  What she did not want to do (until perhaps later), was be summoned to the king’s informal study to receive True’s gratitude for recovering what was left of Wodell’s treasury that Carrington had stolen (and it was not all that had been stolen, obviously, but it was quite a lot and came with large tomes in which an accounting of the expenditures had been made, with coded notes, which, decoded, could lead to evidence of treason and more arrests).

  But this, it would seem, was what she had no choice but to do when she, Gal, Brix and Tor arrived at the castle after half a battalion had appeared in the Shanty to transport the coin back where it belonged.

  They had not only been summoned.

  They were told to attend him immediately.

  Thus, Serena revised her plans.

  She would hear True’s words, these words likely of gratitude, however, the moment he got a whiff of her, she had no doubt he’d make them short. She would then have a very long bath. After, she would put on her tunic and casings. Then she would find Gal and Brix.

  And they would go out and get extremely drunk.

  While doing so, she would hope there were gnome wenches they could find with whom her boys could celebrate properly.

  And maybe, she would be drunk enough to drown her memories of Chu in the taking of another man’s cock.

  She did not hold hope for that last.

  Once she sobered and had a good meal, she would pack and journey to meet up with Heloise, Genia and Darma, grab her squad in The Enchantments then ride out to assist her mother.

  And, finally…

  Even though she would not want it, Serena would give it…

  Do what she could to make Airen safe for her sister.

  These were her plans. These were the only thoughts on her mind.

  That was, these were the only thoughts on her mind until she walked through the door to True’s study, saw True resting his arse at the front of his desk, arms
crossed on his chest, gaze on Farah who sat before him at the edge of a chair, leaned forward, her hand curled around his forearm.

  The moment they entered, however, True’s gaze jumped to her, and Farah rose from the chair, turning toward the newcomers.

  But her eyes were only for Serena.

  And at seeing what was in them, an arrow pierced her heart.

  “Serena—” True began.

  “Is she dead?” Serena croaked.

  “Not yet,” he said gently. “Not that we know. We just received the bird but an hour ago.”

  “I must go,” she stated.

  “What’s happening?” Tor asked.

  “Queen Ophelia. She has been ill,” Farah said quietly. “And she is…” She clearly could not say the words, so she finished, “Now much more ill.”

  “We go with you.”

  These words came from around her thighs.

  She looked down to Galdor and Welbrix standing in front of her.

  “I ride alone.”

  “We go with you,” Brix declared firmly.

  She opened her mouth, but she did not have time to speak.

  “You do not ride alone. I send you with a troop, Serena,” True decreed. “You would not be safe on your own. But I will see to it that you’re safe on your journey to Ophelia. You will ride under the Dellish standard. If things are as we think in Airen, they would attack a Nadirii riding on her own. They would think twice about engaging a Dellish guard.”

  “And we will ride with them,” Gal added.

  “That is your choice,” True said.

  “I do not think—” Serena began.

  “Get a bath,” Gal ordered. “We will have a meal ready when you are bathed, dressed and packed. We will eat well, but swiftly. And once we do, we will go.”

  “Can you have her guard prepared by then?” Brix asked True.

  “They are already prepared to ride when you are,” True replied.

  That was True…

  Always so….

  True.

  At a thought in her head, another arrow pierced her heart.

  “Does Elena know?” she queried.

  True shook his head but said, “I do not know, but I assume she received the same message we did.”

  Serena drew in a deep breath.

  “Go,” True urged. “Tell your mother when you see her that she is in our thoughts and it is an honor to know her.”

  “Thank you,” Serena whispered.

  She meant the guard. She meant his care in sharing this information.

  And she meant him referring to her mother in present tense.

  True quickly masked the surprise these words coming from Serena caused before he replied, “It is I who should be thanking you.”

  “Thank you,” she repeated.

  He let that go and inclined his head.

  Then he urged softly, “Go, Serena.”

  She nodded.

  She looked to Farah, who actually blew her a kiss with tears trembling in her eyes, to Tor, who looked down at her with such a gentle expression, she had to tip her chin to him quickly before the witnessing of it unraveled her…

  And finally, down to Gal and Brix.

  “Let’s go,” she said.

  They nodded.

  She walked out of the room and her friends followed.

  She bathed.

  Quickly packed.

  Wolfed down some food.

  And with her crew of gnomes on horses on either side of her, a troop of Dellish soldiers at her back, Princess Serena, a Dellish hero, bolted down the lane that led away from Birchlire Castle, and then she raced over the cobbles of Notting Thicket on her way to her mother.

  On her way home.

  111

  The Holiday

  King Mars

  Bedchamber of the King, Catrame Palace, Fire City

  FIRENZE

  Mars licked his way up his queen’s belly, between her breasts, along her throat, over her chin to her mouth, where he said, “I will pierce you tonight while our company stumbles from cock to cunt in the garden celebrating Miet.”

  Silence giggled.

  Then she grasped his cock and tried to guide it to her sex.

  “This sound fine, but I would wish to watch,” she murmured.

  “The piercing?” he asked.

  “The celebrations,” she said on a tug of his shaft that earned her a grunt and a stroke through her hand, this bringing him nearly inside her, but his body stilled when a heavy knock sounded at the door.

  “Not now!” he bellowed.

  “My king! Urgent news from Wodell and the Nadirii.”

  Gods dammit.

  When Mars did not move, his wife’s hand left his shaft to alight on his cheek.

  “You must go,” she said.

  “We must go,” he returned. “I’ll put on your chain, you shall link mine, and then you don something accessible. After I hear this news, I’ll finish fucking you on my desk.”

  Her eyes went molten and her cheeks turned pink.

  Thus, he kept his eyes open as he kissed her so he could enjoy both.

  When he was done, he dragged her up the bed onto his lap, reached for his wedding chain on his night table and handed it to her.

  She threaded it through his hoops and linked it, kissing the hoop by his lip when her task was complete. She then reached for hers and he did the same.

  After his kiss, which was full on her lips, they left the bed.

  They met again outside their dressing rooms.

  And holding her hand, he led his queen to his study.

  Mars sat behind his desk, Silence sat on his side atop it, but at an angle and twisted at the waist, so she could regard Chu as he sat in the chair opposite them, his face perfectly composed.

  Nyx sat in the chair next to him.

  Her face was not perfectly composed.

  Lorenz, agitated as he had been for some days now, was pacing beside his desk.

  “This is your choice,” Mars said to Chu. “Basil oversees the removal of the Go’Doan. Those priests having been arrested can be interrogated by Lorenz, Guard, Kyril and I. You do not have to be present when they’re executed. Thus, you are free to ride.”

  “And the recovery of this asset that the priest G’Fenn took direct from one of our own homes?” Chu asked, an edge to his deep voice that belied the utter unconcern on his face.

  “He is not an asset, he is my friend,” Lorenz bit out.

  Chu turned coolly to his captain. “I refer to him as such in order not to make rise emotion that is already skating the surface, my brother.”

  “There is no chance of that,” Nyx spat. “For this emotion is not buried in the slightest. In either of us.”

  “We will get to you both in a moment,” Mars murmured.

  Nyx sat back and drummed her fingers on the arm of her chair, shooting daggers from her gaze wherever it landed, indicating she was not angry at any of them, just angry in general.

  She had a right, with what had befallen her, and what was now lost that they all hoped would be found.

  Indeed, the black was still under her eye, and Mars could not look at it for very long, or the emotion he was burying at the sight of it would rise in him as well and that would help nobody.

  Mars sighed and turned back to Chu.

  “I know how it started. I also know that since you left Serena behind, you have not been yourself. You have been removed to the point you’ve been withdrawn. And I know that since you left her, Princess Serena has acted honorably. We have all worked in our ways to put an end to this uprising. But outside the agent Tedrey, she is the one amongst our inner circle who has been the most in danger.”

  Mars allowed Chu a moment to experience the emotion he did not hide flashing in his eyes.

  Then he went on.

  “She did not have to do what she did, Chu. She did not do it for peace amongst realms or diplomatic relations. She did it because she could, and it was the right thing to do. I d
on’t know what passed between you when you were together. But I do know what the two of you had changed from what it was when you started. And Serena having it, it changed who she was. Therefore, I encourage you,” he glanced at Silence before he moved his attention back to Chu, “strongly to consider going after her and healing this rift so you can attend her as she loses her mother.”

  “This is a critical juncture with The Rising,” Chu replied.

  “They have no coin, fifty-seven key operatives in two different realms have been or will soon be put out of commission, and within weeks, they will be entirely removed from Firenz soil,” Mars returned. “You can go.”

  Chu said nothing.

  “Chu, what I am trying to express is that you not only have my permission, you have my blessing,” Mars encouraged. “You can go.”

  “And you should go,” Silence said quietly. She then twisted more fully to his Trusted. “Her mother is dying, Chu. When that happens, she will need you.”

  Chu stared at Silence for but a second.

  Then he rose and strode from the room.

  As the door latched behind him, Silence asked, “Does that mean he’s going?”

  “That means he’s going,” Mars answered.

  He looked from the door to her and grinned.

  She grinned back.

  “My brother,” Lorenz growled.

  Mars gave his attention to Lorenz.

  “Faunus has a team—” he began to remind his captain.

  “I wish to catch up and ride with them.”

  “Your emotion is too deeply stirred,” Mars said.

  “And Faunus’s isn’t?” Nyx demanded.

  “Faunus is searching for his lover, and as such, his determination will be resolute,” Mars said to Nyx. “Lorenz would be hunting the man who took his friend from his home, a home this man invaded after the guard assigned to it was assassinated, in it a servant with Lorenz’s protection was murdered, also in it the wife who is his life was struck repeatedly and her life threatened. His emotion…is too deeply…stirred.”

  Nyx could not argue that and didn’t.

  Lorenz, however, changed tactics.

  “Faunus is too young to lead such a—”

  “Faunus is skilled, clever and determined,” Mars interrupted Lorenz to say. “He will bring the villain back here with your friend,” Mars promised quietly. “And when he does, that villain will be given to you to do with as you will.”