Tales of Golmeira- The Complete Box Set

by Marianne Ratcliffe

  ‘And if he does?’ Kylen asked.

  ‘Then I’m sure you will mount an appropriate response.’

  Kylen’s eyes glinted.

  ‘Count on it,’ she said.

  Zastra rode through the open gateway, flanked by Myka and Kastara. Myka glanced back as the portcullis clanged down behind them.

  ‘Back straight, Myka,’ Zastra said, as they followed Brutila up the sloping path towards the castle. ‘Show them we are not afraid.’

  ‘But I’m very much afraid,’ Myka muttered.

  Soldiers and black ravens flowed down from the outer ramparts to line their path. Zastra looked as many in the eye as possible, trying to gauge the mood. From those who dared meet her gaze, she sensed curiosity more than aggression. They were halfway to the castle when an elegant figure appeared on the battlements above the main gateway. Rastran. He wore a thick fur cloak whose breast was embroidered with a caralyx. Next to him were Fester and Florian and between them stood Anara. Her mother’s hair had been shorn and she wore nothing but a sleeveless smock. Zastra almost forgot her own instructions as an iron fist gripped her heart and squeezed.

  ‘So, cousin, you are stupid enough to come to Golmer Castle,’ Rastran said, in a loud voice that carried over the crowd.

  ‘I offer you one chance,’ Zastra shouted back. ‘Open the gates and avoid unnecessary bloodshed.’

  ‘But I’ve already won, you stupid, trusting fool!’ Rastran said gleefully. He pointed down at her. ‘Kill her!’ he cried. ‘Kill the traitor!’ A doubtful murmur ran through the crowd that surrounded Zastra and her companions, even as they drew swords and readied their crossbows.

  ‘What is this treachery?’ Brutila exclaimed. Yet no one seemed to want to take the first shot. Zastra made a point of looking unconcerned, resting her hands casually on the pommel of her saddle

  ‘What are you waiting for?’ roared Rastran. ‘Obey your grand marl. Launch the migaradons.’

  ‘He violates parlay,’ Brutila dropped her purple flag to the ground and turned to Zastra. ‘You should go.’

  Zastra did not move.

  ‘Kastara, you know what to do,’ she said quietly. Still the soldiers hesitated. Zastra addressed both the crowd around her and those above the castle gates.

  ‘Fellow Golmeirans, I speak directly to you. No one needs to die today. I give you my word that if you lay down your arms, no harm will come to you.’

  ‘Shoot her!’ Rastran screeched. Zastra continued over the interruption.

  ‘I come to reclaim the throne that is rightfully mine. But more than that, I offer change. In my years of exile, I have lived among you as a poor farmer and as an unwilling conscript. I have seen how you suffer, how little power you have to shape your own lives. I pledge that in future, things will be different.’

  ‘Florian, what are you waiting for? Mindweavers, force them to obey!’ Finally, there was movement. Five vast shapes struggled into the overcast sky. Soldiers turned towards her, their eyes blank and raised their weapons. Zastra forced herself not to flinch as arrows and knives flew towards her. The deadly shower was deflected harmlessly away by Kastara’s shield.

  ‘You cannot harm me,’ she said, as disbelief and awe spread through the castle defenders. ‘The choice you have is clear. Follow Rastran, a man so lacking in honour he would violate parlay, or choose me, your rightful grand marl. I command you to open these gates!’

  Behind her, Findar’s migaradons began to tear a hole in the outer ramparts. The guttural death rattle of ten thousand Kyrgs spilled across the grounds. Around her, swords and crossbows clattered to the ground as the defenders kneeled before her. A few lieutenants tried to urge their soldiers to stand and fight, but they were largely ignored. A wave of vulyx soared overhead, led by Bekka. They headed towards Rastran’s migaradons, crossbows twanging. The vast wooden gates to the main castle rattled furiously against their iron hinges. It sounded like a fight was going on inside. Rastran and the twins disappeared, dragging Anara with them, as the vulyx and their riders dealt swiftly with the migaradons. Zastra waved urgently to Bekka. Urbek’s daughter landed next to her.

  ‘I need to get inside the castle,’ she said. Bekka jumped off Kiri and handed Zastra her crossbow.

  ‘Thank you,’ Zastra said, surprised that Bekka did not protest.

  ‘I’m coming with you,’ Kastara insisted. ‘She’s my mother too.’

  Bekka put her fingers in her mouth and whistled. Another vulyx landed. Zastra and Kastara mounted the large birds and launched themselves into the sky as Kyrgs and Sendorans poured through the gap the migaradons had torn in the outer ramparts. Those few remaining defenders who had not surrendered turned and fled.

  Zastra’s stomach lurched as Kiri soared up and over the castle walls. She scanned the courtyard below, just in time to see Rastran and the twins disappear through the door at the northeast corner, dragging Anara behind them. Kiri squawked in alarm as a migaradon swept alongside. Zastra raised her crossbow, but the rider waved furiously. It was Findar. Together they dived down onto the courtyard and alighted.

  ‘Follow me,’ said Zastra.

  Chapter Sixty-nine

  They entered the northeast door only to find the corridor empty.

  ‘This way.’ Findar led them towards one of the side doors into the great hall. ‘I can sense four minds inside.’

  ‘Wait!’ cried Kastara, as Findar laid his hand on the door handle. ‘Why isn’t Rastran screening?’

  ‘He wants us to follow,’ Zastra said, pulling to a stop. The sound of cries and clattering of swords and scythals from the courtyard told them the gates had been breached and that some of the defenders had chosen to stand and fight. Or perhaps they were being forced to fight by mindweaving. A grey-haired figure ran down the corridor towards them. Zastra aimed the crossbow that Bekka had given her at Brutila’s chest.

  ‘It’s a trap,’ Brutila gasped.

  ‘We figured that out already.’ Zastra did not lower the bow.

  ‘Let me help.’

  ‘Why should I believe you want to help? After everything you’ve done?’

  ‘No one could spend time with your mother and not learn… to love her.’

  ‘You can’t expect us to trust you.’

  Brutila gave a dry laugh. ‘I suppose not. We’re wasting time.’ Before Zastra could react, she had plunged through the door. Zastra took a step after her.

  ‘Zastra, wait,’ Kastara pleaded. ‘Let me go. Rastran will snap your neck as soon as you go in. I can protect myself and it will be easier if I don’t have to worry about you.’

  ‘She’s right,’ said Findar. ‘Hate to say it, but she’s right.’

  Zastra placed a hand on Kastara’s shoulder.

  ‘When did you get to be so smart?’

  ‘It’s about time you realised,’ Kastara said, with only the smallest hint of a pout.

  ‘Be careful, Kastara. I lost you for all those years. I couldn’t bear to lose you again.’

  Kastara eased herself through the door. She remembered the great hall well from her time as an unproven. At the far end, illuminated by a square column of light that filtered in from one of the skylights in the high ceiling, Rastran sat on an elaborate throne, one leg thrown negligently over the other. At first, she thought it was ivory, but when she drew closer and realised what it was, she pulled up in horror. The throne was made entirely of human bones, with femurs for arms and empty hip sockets making a macabre scrollwork. A row of skulls leered at her from behind Rastran’s head. Rastran held one end of a rope, the other was wrapped around Anara’s wrists. Brutila had almost reached them. The door behind Kastara slammed shut. The iron key turned in the lock and then flew into Rastran’s hand. There was no sign of Florian but the metalmoving suggested he must be close by. Fester too, no doubt. She set her protective bubble, wishing she knew how to shape it into something other than a simple wall or dome. As it was, if she tried to extend it around Anara, Brutila and Rastran would be inside it as well.

/>   ‘Why, it’s the little girl from the bakery,’ Rastran said with a sneer. ‘Begone little girl. Fetch your sister. It’s her I want to speak to.’

  ‘You can deal with me,’ Kastara said, trying to keep her voice steady.

  Rastran licked his lips. ‘With pleasure.’ He narrowed his eyes. Kastara flinched, half expecting her bones to snap. Nothing happened and Rastran raised an eyebrow.

  ‘It seems you are more powerful than you look.’

  ‘Little girls often are,’ she returned.

  Rastran seemed unconcerned by this setback and Kastara was painfully aware that her mother was still exposed. Fortunately, Rastran had other things on his mind.

  ‘Where’s Zastra?’

  ‘She’s not coming.’ Kastara walked towards him. She needed to get between him and Anara. Brutila drew her sword. Whose side was she on? Rastran opened his mouth and addressed the balcony.

  ‘Zastra!’ he roared. ‘I know you’re here.’

  The balcony made no answer.

  ‘By refusing to confront me, cousin, you condemn your mother to death!’ Rastran cried. ‘Now, Florian!’

  Something heavy sailed over Kastara’s head. A ballista spear. It was past her before she could react.

  ‘No!’ she screamed. Brutila whirled round and stepped in front of Anara, taking the heavy spear full into her chest.

  ‘Brutila!’ Anara cried, clutching the grey-haired woman as she sank to her knees, blood bubbling from her mouth. Oddly, she was smiling, her scar extending the look of surprised delight across her whole face.

  ‘I feel it at last,’ she whispered, looking up at Anara. ‘Joy…’

  As soon as the door slammed shut, Zastra regretted her decision to let Kastara go. She ran towards the narrow passages of the outer liden. Findar hurried after her.

  ‘Where are we going?’

  ‘The liden accesses all floors of the castle. If we can get up onto the balcony, we may be able to see what’s going on. If there’s a way to help Kastara, we must try, broken necks or otherwise.’

  Findar rubbed the back of his neck ruefully. ‘Otherwise, I hope,’ he said, but followed her anyway.

  The liden was a series of narrow passages and ladders that lay between the outer wall of the castle and the rooms inside. Zastra felt a familiar sense of panic as she entered the darkness, but she pushed through the feeling with grim determination. She found a wooden ladder to the floor above. A large metal canister blocked the exit from the liden but she pushed it to one side impatiently and broke out onto the balcony in time to hear Rastran’s chilling threat and Kastara’s scream, followed by the awful thud of spear hitting flesh. Rushing to the edge of the balcony she saw Brutila slumped in Anara’s arms. Kastara was halfway across the hall. She looked small and helpless, but Zastra knew she was far from that. A hail of metal arrowheads whipped towards her, driven from the opposite balcony. She grabbed Findar and ducked behind the wooden panels that stood beneath the balcony rail. The panel juddered as the arrowheads tore into the wood.

  ‘You all right?’ she asked. Findar nodded. A stray splinter had drawn blood on his cheek, but he was otherwise unharmed. Zastra lifted her crossbow and fired blindly over the balcony rail, towards the origin of the arrowheads. There was a cry and she risked peeping above the wooden panel. Florian was tugging at a shaft that stuck out of his shoulder. She set another bolt and fired. Florian put out his hand as if to divert her bolt, but her aim was true. The mindweaver’s eyes widened in surprise as it plunged between his ribs.

  ‘I guess metalmoving doesn’t work on migaradon scales,’ she said grimly.

  ‘Get down, Zastra!’ Kastara cried. ‘Rastran can’t hurt you if he can’t see you.’

  Even before she finished her warning, Findar had pulled Zastra back down behind the panels.

  ‘Murderer!’ came a cry from the far end of their balcony. In the shadows, Fester tugged at a pair of snarling caralyx as they strained against leather leashes.

  ‘Two caralyx, and you only have one bolt left, Zastra,’ Rastran exulted. ‘Release the girls, Fester.’

  Fester let go of the leashes. Eight sets of claws scrabbled for purchase on the polished wooden floor. Lips drew back from teeth as the powerful animals bounded towards Zastra and Findar. Zastra sighted along her crossbow, knowing that Rastran was right. She couldn’t kill them both.

  ‘Don’t shoot,’ Findar said, stepping calmly between her and the caralyx. The beasts skidded onto their haunches and came to a stop, nuzzling against Findar’s opened palms.

  ‘No!’ raged Fester. ‘Do as I command, you stupid beasts. Tear them apart.’

  But the caralyx continued to lick Findar’s hands.

  ‘That’s the trouble with bullies, isn’t it, you beautiful creatures?’ he said tenderly. ‘They never learned how to ask nicely.’

  Kastara used the diversion to position herself between Rastran and her mother. Anara sawed through her bonds using the edge of Brutila’s sword, and grabbed Kastara’s hand.

  Rastran sighed theatrically. ‘I suppose I’ll just have to do everything myself.’ His chair of bones lifted off the floor and he rose towards the balcony. He’s mindmoving the throne, Kastara realised. Once he got above the railing, he would have a direct line of sight to Zastra and Findar. She pulled Anara backwards, so they stood directly beneath Zastra and Findar and changed her bubble into a wall. She hoped it would be high enough to protect them all.

  ‘I’ll start with you, boy,’ said Rastran. He focused on Findar and narrowed his eyes. When Findar continued to kneel happily in front of the now tame caralyx, Rastran’s confident grin faded. He closed his eyes, obviously trying even harder. Findar remained unharmed.

  ‘Impossible!’ Rastran raged.

  ‘It’s over,’ said Kastara. ‘I can block everything you can throw at us. Even mindmoving.’

  Rastran’s face contorted into a hateful sneer. To think that she had once thought him attractive.

  ‘Not quite everything.’ He flew towards Fester. ‘Ever wonder why we invaded Aliterra? My father’s scientists found a use for their precious yellowsap. They made it into a powder, and when it is dropped into a solution of… well, I won’t bore you with the details. Let me demonstrate.’

  A large canister, just like the one Zastra had moved from the liden was sited just behind Fester. Rastran concentrated on it. There was a faint popping sound and thick yellow smoke started to billow out of a vent near the top. Fester dropped to the ground, clawing at his throat.

  ‘Please, my lord…’ he pleaded, his eyes streaming. ‘I have served you faithfully.’

  ‘It cannot be helped, Fester. Your sacrifice is appreciated.’

  Fester crashed to the floor, blood seeping from his eyes. In a few moments he was dead.

  ‘The gas is released as soon as the powder hits the acid,’ Rastran explained. ‘All that prevents them touching is a little mesh of scrittal bones. He swept around the hall. Canisters in each corner bloomed with yellow smoke. Without conscious thought, Kastara’s shield shrank into a small bubble around herself and her mother. The yellow smoke billowed around it, making it visible as a clear dome inside the yellow cloud. They were safe for the moment, but how long would their air last?

  ‘Very clever,’ said Rastran. ‘But you can’t save everyone.’ He rose higher and narrowed his eyes. Yellow smoke began to billow out from the liden and onto the balcony, where Zastra and Findar continued to cower behind the splintered panelling. Kastara felt sick. There was nothing she could do. If she tried to expand her bubble, it would only push the poisonous gas towards Zastra and Findar.

  Zastra grabbed Findar, but they were caught between two clouds of smoke and if they put their heads above the panelling even for an instant, Rastran would kill them with his bone-breaking powers. They were trapped.

  ‘There’s only one way out of here,’ Rastran crowed, ‘and I’m the only one who can take it. With you all dead, Golmeira will rally behind me, the last of the royal bloodline.’
/>   ‘You underestimate our people,’ Zastra cried in anger and frustration as smoke rolled towards her and her brother. ‘And our friends.’

  ‘Your friends?’ he snorted. ‘Where are they?’

  The sound of shattering glass cut him off. Kylen burst through one of the skylights, sending shards of glass raining down into the gas cloud below. The soles of her boots connected with Rastran’s face, spinning him backwards and tipping him out of his macabre throne. With a shriek, he plummeted towards the ground. The yellow smoke billowed and cleared as he plunged through it to land with a sickening thud. His screams were choked off as the thick yellow gas closed around him.

  Kylen clung to the end of a rope, grinning at Zastra.

  ‘Need some help?’ she asked.

  A pair of vulyx dropped through the skylight, carrying ropes in their beaks. Zastra and Findar were swiftly hauled to safety by Ithgol and Hylaz. Kastara then expanded her bubble, pushing away the poisonous gas so she and Anara could also be lifted clear.

  ‘I’ve never been so happy to see you,’ Zastra said, hugging Kylen. ‘How did you get up here?’

  ‘I borrowed one of these excellent birds,’ said Kylen. ‘Hylaz and Ithgol ran up one of the towers and across the roof.

  Zastra turned to Anara.

  ‘I’m so sorry,’ she began. Anara opened her arms.

  ‘My own darling, you have nothing to explain to me. Nothing to apologise for.’

  Zastra folded herself into her mother’s embrace, knowing that Anara understood and forgave everything.

  Chapter Seventy

  Until the gas could disperse, the castle was uninhabitable and so Zastra set up a command post in the House of Brandicant, a large mansion that lay within the extensive castle grounds. Mata joined them late in the evening, leading a contingent from Uden’s Teeth. She walked gingerly, as if she had yet to find her land legs.

  ‘It seems we’re too late,’ she said. ‘We ran into a bit of bother outside port Trestra. Some of the fleet still survives and felt obliged to try and stop us.’