War's Ending

by A J Park

  His face was eager, intense, and his blue eyes fixed on her as he waited for her answer. He would be furious when she refused, but she would not break the oath.

  “They kept me blindfolded most of the time,” she said. “It’s not like they took me on a tour of their defenses. There was no chance to count men or horses, or anything like that. I don’t know anything that would help you.”

  He struck her face again. “You still refuse to help us? Anything you saw, anything you know could help us. This is your last chance. I warn you that I will force you, if you refuse to do your duty and help me willingly.”

  “I can’t help you destroy them,” she said.

  “Lady Shalyrie,” he shook his head, “Admired, protected and desired by so many.” He laughed sarcastically. “It’s clear now what you’re really like. You have no honor, no pride, and you care nothing for your own people.”

  Shalyrie stared back at him. His words hurt, even in the midst of everything else that was happening. But nothing that he said was going to make her betray Kalleck.

  “I know you learned to speak to them,” Galenor said. “Don’t bother to deny it. Why don’t you tell them that I will give them their lives if they will help me?”

  Shalyrie took a deep breath and said in Yalkur. “He says he will give you your lives if you tell him the secrets of the Yalkur.”

  “Tell that ice-hearted, black-souled, fish-headed—” Sinnar used a lot of Yalkur words that Shalyrie hadn’t learned yet.

  “Do you need me to translate that?” she asked Galenor. “Why would you ask them to betray their own people?”

  Galenor leaned close and stared coldly at her. “You don’t seem to have a problem betraying your people!”

  “I—I betrayed my people?” Shalyrie exclaimed in disbelief. “You’re one to talk about betrayal! Everything you’ve done has been contrary to the wishes of the king. We don’t enslave people! And you’ve killed countless others for your own profit. You don’t care about anyone, except yourself.”

  “Why would you join them?” Galenor shook his head sadly. “I offered you everything. Is it true, what Calreth said? Have you completely gone over to them? Did they put their mark on you?”

  She looked steadily back at him and didn’t answer.

  Galenor stepped closer. “Show me,” he ordered. “Or would you rather have me find it myself?”

  She still stared back at him silently. He seized her by the neck. “Calreth told me where to look.” He pulled down the collar of her shirt until he could see the mark over her heart.

  “It’s true!” he hissed. “I hoped Calreth was lying.” He grabbed her wrist and stood up, dragging her with him over to the wall. He tied her hands once more and pulled them above her head to secure them again to the ring.

  So much for Galenor’s sympathy.

  “You are a traitor to your people,” he said. “And you will tell me what I want to know.” He nodded to one of his men, who brought forward something hidden under a cloth. “I was afraid this might be necessary. When I saw how frightened you were of them, I decided that it was worth doing a little research. And I’ve found this a great help for questioning.”

  He pulled the cloth off, and Shalyrie gasped and pulled as far away as the ropes allowed. Galenor held a glass bowl containing a brilliant blue sea-star. “Of course, you recognize it,” he said calmly, “But I have learned through my research that, in addition to the excruciating pain, the sea-star venom affects the mind. In the early stages, it makes a person more susceptible to suggestions, more willing to give information. In the later stages, it causes fever, hallucinations and finally death. As you know from experience, the cure has good results when applied to the skin quickly. The further the venom progresses, the less effect the medicine has on it, until it’s too late. It is not a pleasant death.”

  He explained the whole thing calmly as if he were going over a research project. What had he done to gain this knowledge? How many people had he tortured and killed to find out what he knew?

  And he knew she was terrified of sea-stars. He had done all this because she was afraid of them. And years ago, when she’d been exposed to one, it had only been for a little while.

  Galenor shoved her to face the wall and cut through the back of her collar with his knife. He tore her tunic to expose her back and shoulders, and paused for a moment. She felt his fingers touch the place where the arrow had struck her.

  “It left quite a scar,” he whispered. “But it’s nearly healed.”

  “Galenor, please don’t do this,” she pleaded desperately. “Please!”

  He turned her around to face him. “That’s all? You simply ask and say ‘please’ and you get everything you want? That must have worked for you all of your life! Well, it won’t work now. Tell me what I want to know, please.” His eyes hardened. He wasn’t going to stop. She could see it plainly now. He was willing to kill her to get what he wanted.

  “Shalyrie, tell me what you know,” he said, almost pleading now. “I don’t want to do it.” His voice sounded sad.

  “I don’t know anything that would help you,” she repeated.

  “So be it!” His voice was hard now. He pulled a heavy glove onto his hand and picked up the blue sea-star.

  Shalyrie’s heart was pounding now, and her breath came quick and shallow in panic. No! Her instinct was to run. She pulled as far away as she could.

  No. No. No.

  No matter how she tried to prepare herself, the pain was still overwhelming. Her jaw clenched, and she tried to wrench herself away. It felt like fire on her skin. There was no room in her mind for thought. Galenor tore her sleeves back from her arms and applied the poison there too.

  She wanted to scream. If she unclenched her jaws, then she would cry out in pain. She didn’t realize that Galenor was no longer next to her until she heard his voice speak from across the room.

  She turned and saw him staring at the others. She gathered her concentration to focus on what he was saying.

  “Two horsemen and one traitor,” he said, pacing back and forth in front of them. He stopped in front of Finn. “I gave very clear orders,” he said. “They went to every last man in our army. We all searched for Lady Shalyrie. And anyone who found her was to bring her directly to me. You failed. They caught you with the horsemen. A traitor. Tell me why!”

  “Why did you do that?” Finn asked. His eyes were on Shalyrie. “We all swore to the king that we would defend her with our lives.”

  Galenor drove his fist into Finn’s stomach. “You dare to question my actions?” he yelled before hitting Finn again.

  Through clenched teeth, Finn said, “I gave my oath to serve the king. I was protecting her.”

  Shalyrie felt tears on her face. It was awful to watch Galenor beat Finn for helping her. It was bad, but it was only going to get worse.

  Galenor stood in front of the two Yalkur. They stared silently back at him from behind their masks.

  “Filthy horsemen,” he said. “I will kill you both and the rest of your friends, but I need two things from you first. I want you to tell me what you know, and then we will make it appear as if the two of you killed Shalyrie.”

  They both stared back silently.

  Galenor gave a short hard laugh. “Why am I talking to you? You don’t understand me. Do you?”

  They both looked at him and gave no sign that they understood.

  Galenor glared at them. “I will kill your people, take your gold and your lands. I will discover your secrets. You don’t have a chance of winning, and you won’t be able to hold out against us for long.”

  Kalleck and Sinnar did not respond.

  Galenor looked at Shalyrie. “They hate having their masks taken. Why?”

  “It’s their tradition,” she gasped through clenched teeth. She couldn’t think of anything else besides the sting
ing pain, and the room swam in and out of focus.

  “But that’s not all of it, is it? Translate. Tell them if they wish to hide their faces, they’d better tell me what I want to know.”

  Shalyrie took a deep breath. It was difficult to form the words, but she repeated what he’d said, in Yalkur. They nodded to show they heard and understood, but they still stared silently back at Galenor.

  “As you wish,” Galenor said, pulling Sinnar’s mask and hood off. Sinnar was angry, and he wasn’t particularly trying to hide it.

  Galenor smiled slowly. “You would kill me if you could,” he said. “But you can’t.”

  Shalyrie felt a shock run through her when she saw Sinnar’s face. She’d never seen him before. But when she saw him, her mind flashed back to this very place, below the fortress, when she had come to help a man they said was insane. He had been tall and had the same mark on his cheekbone. Shalyrie had looked into his face, and he had looked… just like Sinnar. She had not known either of them then or the pain that their loss would cause. Now, there was nothing she could do.

  Galenor pulled off Kalleck’s mask and hood next, and Shalyrie saw him. All this time, and she had never seen his face. He hadn’t shown it to anyone outside the oath before, not even her. He didn’t look toward her, but instead stared straight ahead, unmoving.

  He had a strong jaw covered with a few days’ growth of stubble. His hair was wavy and very dark. There were black lines drawn on the left side of his face from his forehead down to his jaw. They made a beautiful pattern around a symbol that looked a little like an eye. No, not an eye. It was the water flowing from the Sacred Spring. It was a physical symbol of his oath. Galenor looked at it intently.

  “It means something,” he said. “Tell me what it means.”

  Kalleck kept his face impassive, expressionless. He did not make any response. He just stared back at Galenor.

  She couldn’t look away from him, but Kalleck didn’t turn and meet her eyes. If he had, Galenor would have seen how he felt, and he mustn’t know. That was the only thing that would make this worse—if Galenor realized how they felt about each other. But Shalyrie couldn’t look away. Seeing Kalleck was better than she had imagined. He was handsome and perfect, and Galenor was going to kill him.

  Galenor turned back to Shalyrie. “What do the markings mean?”

  “It means they are horsemen,” she said.

  “What does the symbol mean?” he asked.

  “I don’t know! They didn’t tell me that.”

  Galenor nodded to two of his men. They took out knives and converged on Kalleck. Shalyrie almost screamed, terrified that they would kill him in that instant. But instead, they cut his shirt and pulled it open. Sinnar and Finn were next. Galenor wasn’t going to kill them yet. He would make sure they suffered first.

  Galenor carefully picked up the sea-star and brushed it against the skin of Kalleck’s side. Shalyrie could see him stiffen, but he made no cry. And she could see the red welt rising where the sea-star had touched him.

  “Tell him I want to know everything. Where’s their gold? What are they hiding in that valley?” Galenor ordered Shalyrie.

  “No!”

  “Tell him,” Galenor repeated, dragging the sea-star over Kalleck’s chest.

  Shalyrie saw the muscles of Kalleck’s jaw clench. She spoke in Yalkur, “He demands that we tell him about the Hidden City.”

  Galenor stared at Kalleck. “There. You know what I want now, and I will make you talk.”

  Kalleck stared back at him silently.

  “Still nothing to say? Maybe the other?”

  Galenor stood in front of Sinnar, mocking the horseman as he pulled against his bonds. “I’m sorry you and I don’t have more time together.” He dragged the sea-star across Sinnar’s chest, and Sinnar spat in his face. Galenor struck him viciously, then applied an extra dose of the poison.

  Finn was next. “Please,” Finn said, “give Shalyrie the medicine. None of this is her fault. Please give her the medicine so it will stop hurting. Don’t hurt her anymore.”

  “Your loyalty is touching,” Galenor said. “Too bad you weren’t loyal to your people, only pathetically attached to her.”

  He made sure Finn was well-covered with the stinging venom.

  When he was finished, he walked back to Shalyrie. She saw that now he held a small jar in his hand. “This is it.” He held it up. “The cure. All you have to do is help me and it’s yours. The pain will be gone. Why are you so stubborn?”

  Her skin was burning out of control. She needed the pain to stop. And there in his hand was the cure. She leaned toward the jar, but she couldn’t help Galenor. Slowly, with an effort, she pulled herself back.

  “You wouldn’t let me go even if I helped you,” she said.

  “I didn’t say I would let you go. I never said that.” Galenor smiled coldly. “I only said you could have the medicine.”

  She stared at him in sudden realization. “It was you, all along,” she said. “You never cared anything about me. You were using me to make the others want to fight. It was you who sent that man to kill me.”

  “You’re smarter than I thought,” Galenor sneered. “I didn’t think you’d figure even that much out.”

  “You can’t do this!” she protested. Her voice was shaking and she couldn’t control it. “When the king gets here, he will stop you.”

  Galenor laughed. “The king is arriving now. But he isn’t going to stop me. When he sees what the horsemen have done to you, his most beloved, he will personally lead our men into that valley and wipe them out.”

  “No!” She cried. “I’ll never help you!”

  “That’s the beauty of it,” Galenor said calmly. “You will help me, even if you’re dead.” The calm expression left his face, replaced by rage. “You should have given me what I asked for when you had the chance,” he yelled, driving his fist into her ribs. For a moment, it hurt worse than her burning skin.

  After a time, she noticed that her wrists hurt. Eventually she realized that she was hanging, not standing. She tried to get her feet underneath her to relieve the pressure.

  She fought to lift up her head and make her eyes focus.

  Now Galenor was standing in front of Kalleck. “You see what you did to her?” he said. “This is all your fault. You did something to her mind, somehow convinced her to be loyal to you. I can only imagine how you must have tortured her. Now you’re going to pay for taking her. Filthy savages!” He struck Kalleck, knocking him backward in his chains.

  Dimly, Shalyrie heard the sound of footsteps. A group of soldiers came into the room. One of them was Captain Calreth. Galenor stepped away and turned to face him.

  “The king’s ship is almost ready to dock,” Calreth said.

  “Good,” Galenor said. “Everything is moving exactly as we planned. You know what to do.”

  “As you command,” Calreth said. “I wish there was more time for us to entertain them here, but we have to get them out of the city. I’ll let them down.”

  He went to Sinnar and took out his sword. “You especially,” he said. A quick slash of Calreth’s blade left a long shallow cut across Sinnar’s chest. Calreth hit Sinnar’s head with the hilt of his sword, and he slumped, hanging from his wrists. Calreth cut the ropes and he collapsed to the floor. “Take him,” he said, nodding to his men.

  He stared at Kalleck. “And you? More intelligent than your friend? Maybe more dangerous? Maybe not.” He drew his blade along Kalleck’s side repeatedly, leaving several parallel cuts. Shalyrie stared in horror at the red blood running down Kalleck’s skin.

  No. No. They couldn’t do this to Kalleck. There had to be some way to stop them. Please. Stop them.

  Calreth hit Kalleck’s head with the sword hilt, and he slumped like Sinnar.

  Shalyrie was already shaking before Calreth came f
or her.

  “You should have helped me the first time I asked,” he said.

  She stared back at him in terror. He still had his sword in his hand.

  He grabbed her by the throat, cutting off her wind. “Too late to change your mind now.” And he laughed. The horrible sound was the last thing she remembered for a long time.

  CHAPTER 27

  Lorelei, Lady Shalyrie’s Lady-in-Waiting

  Lorelei woke to the sound of urgent knocking at her door. “Please, my lady! Wake up!” It was Karrah, and she sounded frantic.

  Lorelei threw on a dressing gown and opened the door. “What is it? What’s wrong? Is there news of Lady Shalyrie?”

  “Yes,” Karrah said urgently. “A man said she was here.”

  “Here? What are you talking about? The king just left searching for the horsemen who took her. What man said she was here?”

  “Come. I’ll take you to him.”

  The two women slipped quietly through the halls. It was not yet dawn, and they saw no one. Karrah led Lorelei down the stairs, far from any part of the fortress she had seen so far. They came to a door at the end of a long hall, and Karrah withdrew a key and opened it. Lorelei followed her in.

  She almost vomited when she saw a man hanging from his hands that were tied above his head. He looked dead. He was bloody and injured, and when she thought about what had been done to him, her stomach turned over again. Karrah went to him and took out a knife. “Help me,” she said.

  Lorelei didn’t want to touch him, but she helped Karrah cut him free and eased him down to the floor. There was a bucket of water near the door, and Karrah moistened a cloth and began to bathe his face. Could he possibly be alive? She leaned close to him. He was breathing. And his eyelids fluttered as Karrah applied cool water to his face. He was one of the soldiers. The longer she looked at him, the more familiar he was. It was Finn, the man who had been trying so hard to capture Shalyrie’s attention soon after their arrival, so long ago.