by JA Andrews
“Do you really think he could control Keepers? The Shield isn’t going to be duped by someone at court a quarter of his age.”
“He’ll try to control them. He’ll use anyone he thinks will gain Greentree any power.”
Sini glanced at Roan. He was so comfortable outside the palace. “Even you?”
Before the question was out, she regretted it. Of course even Roan. Especially Roan. Why else would the betrothal to Madeleine exist?
“So far, I haven’t used my influence to do anything I regret. I’m not going to change that for him.”
The thought of the burning stone she and Lukas had hidden in Vahe’s money bag came back to her again. The truth of what she’d done sat heavy in her stomach. “Good. Don’t.”
Roan glanced at her with a small smile. “That sounded grim. I can’t imagine you’ve ever used your powers for anything nefarious.”
She ran her finger over her ring, but didn’t answer. At her silence, Roan shifted. “I’m sorry, that was insensitive. If I’d been through what you have in life, I’d…I’m sorry,” he finished lamely.
“I was taken to the Sweep by a wayfarer named Vahe,” she said, still focused on her ring. “He took me from my parents and sold me to Killien.”
She felt the pressure of Roan’s gaze. “How old were you?” he asked quietly.
“Twelve. Vahe left me caged in a small, windowless room at the back of his wagon for the entire trip. He fed me scraps.”
Roan’s hand tightened on the rail and she shook away the memory, continuing without looking at his face. “When I reached the Sweep and met Lukas, I discovered that Vahe had brought him as well, and Rett. And Vahe just kept returning, bringing Killien slaves, all mistreated, some so sick or wounded they never recovered.”
She ran her thumb over the garnet in her ring, feeling the bit of vitalle swirling in it. “And so the third spring I was there, Lukas and I stole a small topaz from Killien’s collection and Lukas turned it into a burning stone that would slowly draw energy from anyone near it. It took a huge amount of energy to complete and he never could have done it without me, but I helped him willingly. And then I sewed it into the lining of the money bag that Killien would pay him with and handed it to Vahe myself.”
Roan stood silently next to her.
“His face was so smug, and so cruel…I gave it to him happily.” Vahe had tied the pouch to his belt, as she’d known he would. “He left that morning, and never returned.”
“Did it kill him?”
Sini shrugged. “I don’t know. If he carried it long enough it would have weakened him gradually. It may have killed him. It may have just weakened him to the point where some other sickness killed him. I don’t know. All we know is that he never returned.”
“Are you still happy you gave it to him?”
She felt the familiar pang of guilt. “I don’t know.”
Roan’s hands were tight on the railing. “I’m happy you did.”
They stood in silence for a few moments, listening to the splatting and sloshing of the water on the side of the boat. Sini turned her face up to the sunfire and let it trickle into her, warming her against the chill of the air and chasing away the dark thoughts.
“If you go to face Lukas,” Roan asked, “will you have to use your powers in a way you might regret again?”
“I don’t know. I think I can destroy his black sword. And I won’t regret doing that.”
“But if you’re pouring energy into the sword, and Lukas is holding the sword, what will that do to him??”
“That depends on how fast the blade transfers the energy out. If it’s slow, like I think it should be, I’ll destroy the sword before it can send the power to Lukas.”
“And if not? Will you just strengthen him?”
She nodded, fear worming its way into her. “Either that or I’ll kill him.”
The trip south was expected to take until morning, and while they were making far faster progress than they could have on horseback, their forced idleness left everyone restless. Sini was sitting by herself again, letting the motion of the boat and the sounds of the river lull her when she felt the wave of Rett’s casting roll through her twice, a pause, then twice more.
He sat in the front corner of the edge of the barge looking sadly into the river. She crossed to him and sat, her shoulder leaning against his. For a few moments neither of them spoke.
“Don’t like the twins falling,” Rett said finally.
Sini reached over and took one of his hands, leaning her head on his shoulder. “Neither do I.”
He paused again before continuing quietly, “The twins were sick.”
“Yes,” she whispered.
His next words came out troubled. “Too sick for Sini?”
She pressed her eyes shut against the tears. “Yes, Rett.”
“The Shield says sometimes people can’t be healed.”
All she could manage was a nod.
He patted her hand, then turned it to see the garnet on her ring. “A burning stone?”
Taking a deep breath, she blinked away the tears. “Yes. Alaric made it for me.” She picked up a sliver of tree bark from next to her on the deck and lit it on fire with her ring.
Rett drew in a sharp breath, his whole body brightening with excitement. “You can light it!”
His enthusiasm brought a smile to her face. “Yes.” She tossed the burning bark into the river.
Rett scooped up more from beside him and offered her another piece. She lit it and he let out a whoop that echoed across the water. She sat with him, lighting small pieces of wood on fire and catching up on things like the growth of Rett’s lamb, until one of the horses got restless and Rett went to calm it.
Sini was perfectly happy to sit alone after that. The sunlight shining off the water was mesmerizing, and she rested against one especially large log and watched the light play. Fall colors dusted everything. The grass along the river was yellowing. The leaves shone gold and red as they fluttered down to bob on the water.
She worked the ring off her finger and studied the light swirling in the small garnet. Despite Rett’s enthusiasm, she wasn’t as excited about it as she’d first been. It was glorious, of course, to be able to start fires. But warring thoughts swirled in her own mind, matching the light: the distastefulness of Lukas and his dozens of burning stones, the relief every time the garnet created a path for her, the tight-lipped disapproval both Mikal and Gerone had shown when they saw it. It was nice to have, but compared to the sunlight, the vitalle in the gem was such a feeble little thing. It felt frustratingly like a weak crutch.
She sighed and put it back on, still undecided about whether she liked it or not.
Her mind strayed back to the valley and the dragon. The sunfire had been so bright, so consuming. The warmth of it called to her again, tickling at her skin. The sunlight from above was smooth and calm, the flashes reflected off the water weaker, but playful.
She rubbed her hands together. They had glowed gold. The thought tightened around her chest. The ends of her fingers looked whole, but there had been bits of her floating off, she was sure of it. The fear of how close she’d gotten again took her breath away. If the dragon had stayed any longer, if she’d been able to hold on to him long enough to destroy those last compulsion stones, what would have happened?
Even here, not doing anything, she could feel the draw. Part of her wanted to draw the sunfire in, another part cringed at what she would become if she did.
The daylight finally dwindled, and the night fell. In contrast with her fear of the coming day, the night settled with an eerie peace. She’d watched the skies to the south as though she might see a dragon flying in the distance. But Lukas was probably far ahead of them.
Unless Anguine was too wounded to fly that far. His wings had been tattered, and Douglon and Sora had cut deeply into the gap in the scales behind them. Maybe the dragon hadn’t made it far. Maybe Lukas was stranded somewhere in the desert that lay
at the top of the Marsham Cliffs. The tall rock faces stood like an insurmountable wall to the east, stretching as far as she could see to the north and south. No one traversed the cliffs. There was nothing above them but endless desert. If Lukas was up there, he’d have to walk south almost to the Southern Sea to get back down the cliffs. If he survived that long.
An idea nagged at her about the dragon. I have something he wants more than anything else, Lukas had said. Everyone can be controlled if you know what to offer.
And Anguine had said something similar. He wanted freedom from Lukas for a reason. Unchain me and I will take what is mine! he had roared.
Lukas had something Anguine wanted.
What did a dragon want?
The question nagged at her. The boat was quiet, and whether or not anyone slept any easier than she did, it was a question that could wait until morning. Maybe Alaric or Will would have an idea.
The further south the barge went, the more she realized her plan to stop Lukas was absurd. If she could get close to him, there was a good chance she could destroy the sword. But how was she going to reach him in the middle of a battle? If he was even with the armies?
She must have fallen asleep at some point on the hard deck of the boat. It wasn’t long past a cloudy, dim dawn when the loggers docked along a bend in the river, and pointed the way to toward Rillbourne Hold.
They let the horses graze for a few minutes and Sini shared her questions with Will and Alaric about what Lukas might have that Anguine wanted. Neither had any better guesses than she did. Before they had time to discuss it further, it was time to set out. They took the wide grassy hills at a canter. The entire sky was clouded, but a troubling brownish haze smudged the western sky, as well.
The cloud cover was a little unnerving. Sini reached up through it and found plenty of sunfire, but without the strong sunlight hitting her back, it didn’t warm her the way she wanted it to. And the want she felt for the sunfire unnerved her more.
The darkness in the western sky grew more pronounced as the morning went on. They soon joined a well-traveled road running southwest. It dipped through hills and valleys until it crested one large hill and the world opened up before them.
Rillbourne Hold, a low, stocky walled keep, presided on a hill overlooking the great river that flowed south out of Queensland. The river was wide and spanned by a single bridge directly beneath the hold. But it wasn’t the flurry of activity at the bridge that arrested their attention.
Across the water lay a wide plain surrounded by the barren foothills of the Scale Mountains on the west and south, and the dark slopes of the Black Hills on the north.
Two armies marched forward along the southern edge. The force farther away carried the dark green flags of Napon, and the light blue of Coastal Baylon fluttered above the near one. Rank after rank of enemy soldiers formed up onto the plain, pouring out from the mountains onto the southern edge of Queensland.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Will sent Talen ahead to scout as the rest of them galloped toward a crowd of tents pitched outside the walls of the hold. The attacking armies marched inexorably across the field and over the river as Sini, feeling utterly helpless, raced with the others to the command tents. The entire flatland was easily visible from that vantage point. The area swarmed with generals and battalion commanders. Riders hurried from the command tents, down the wide road that ran to the river and across the bridge to where the troops waited on the field.
While Rillbourne Hold was part of Greentree, the plain where the battle would commence lay across the river in the duchy of Marshwell. The southern side of the plain connected with one of the few valleys that allowed access between Queensland and the countries to the south. Historically, almost every battle between Queensland and her neighbors began here. But despite the countries never being friendly, few armies had bothered to invade because the plain was surrounded on three sides by steep, rocky hills, and on the fourth by the wide and fast-moving Great River. There were only two ways to march further into Queensland: cross the bridge into the duchy of Greentree to gain an unimpeded way north into the heart of the country, or stay in Marshwell and pass through the narrow gap between the river and the edge of the Black Hills.
Queensland’s forces blocked both of these options. The forces of Marshwell stood with their yellow shields along the shrinking slopes where the Black Hills approached the river. Two battalions of the city guard stood in the gap between the end of the hills and the river, and Greentree’s forces, their verdant tunics showing beneath mail shirts, defended the land at the end of the bridge.
Sini stood at the edge of the command tents with her heart pounding in her throat. The near edge of the river was down a sharp embankment and several hundred paces across a cultivated field. The bridge was easily three hundred paces across, but the soldiers lined up across it with their backs to her, facing the approaching enemy, seemed alarmingly close and so utterly human. She felt a grasping need to protect them, offer some sort of help. The sunfire drizzled through the clouds and she drew in a bit of it, looking for any way to help.
The idea both thrilled and terrified her. She had to help, but the sunfire…She let go what she held, feeling a shiver of fear at how the warmth soothed her. The fact that she couldn’t think of any way to help was both maddening and a relief.
Commanders from the city guard, Greentree, and Marshwell were all crowded into the command tent, bickering over a map. A general in the grey of the city guard shouted over them, but no one paid any heed.
Alaric frowned at the chaos for a moment before stepping up to the table. “Who’s in command?” he demanded.
Sharp looks shot at him from around the table until the general straightened. “I am, Keeper Alaric.”
At his name the others quieted. They glanced at Will and Sini, both in their black robes. No one else spoke.
“Then why is there so much arguing?” Alaric asked. “The enemy is at the doorstep and you’re bickering over details.” He addressed the general. “Is the queen expected to arrive, General Viso?”
“We received word this morning that the queen fell ill,” he answered, “and will be delayed by several days.”
“Better ill in Queenstown than here.” Alaric turned to the map. “With any luck we’ll be done before she arrives. Describe to me the troops we have available. City guard first.”
“Only two of the battalions have reached the field,” General Viso answered. “If we had all five, our numbers would be slightly higher than the enemy, but as it stands, battalions one and two man the gap.”
“Marshwell guards the hillsides to the west of the gap so they cannot flank us,” a man with the yellow tunic of Marshwell under his mail shirt said. “But we’d be better used in the gap. We know the terrain.”
“Greentree has been pushed along the river,” Greentree’s commander added. “The river is running too fast for them to cross. We’re wasted there.”
Arguments again broke out across the map, until Alaric held up his hand for silence. “We all serve the queen and we will work together as one body, or the enemy will roll over us as though we were children.” He pointed at the map. “Tell me about the hills near the gap. Can the enemy get through them?”
The commander from Marshwell began to describe the land.
Sini stepped back from the table, looking across the river at the enemy. Naponese and Baylonian troops were forming into tight, organized files. Queensland’s troops were scattered and clumped.
Next to her, Roan scowled and muttered something. A soldier dressed in the deep green of Greentree passed by. “Where’s my father?” Roan demanded.
The man gave Roan a quick bow. “In the hold, my lord.”
“Doing what?” Roan spun to examine Greentree’s troops lining the far side of the bridge. “Who’s in command on the field?”
“Captain Long, sir.”
“Where’s General Rutter?”
“In the hold as well, sir.” The soldier
fidgeted under Roan’s furious gaze. “I think, sir.”
Roan spun and glared at the hold above them on the slope.
Alaric sent runners sprinting down to Queensland’s troops. From across the river Sini heard echoes of orders being called out, and the disorder of the different armies began to smooth into one line of defense.
Sora stepped up beside Alaric. “Where can I go?”
“You can’t go down there,” Will objected.
She shot him an annoyed look. “You need all the fighters you can get.” She turned back to Alaric. “Which unit?”
Alaric looked between her and Will, at a loss.
“You can join Greentree,” Roan said. “Second unit has two women in it already. I’ll take you down.” Roan sent a runner to the hold for a tunic in Greentree’s colors. “We don’t need them thinking you’re the enemy.”
Will glared at them both, but Talen darted in through the open tent wall and landed on Will’s shoulder. “Talen saw one battalion of city guard coming from the north,” Will told them, focusing on the hawk. “We should be able to see them soon. He didn’t see any others.”
The soldiers glanced at each other uncertainly. But Alaric nodded. “We’ll use them in the gap.”
“We have reports that bridges farther up the river have been damaged,” General Viso said. “I think the final two battalions are stranded north near the Steepdale bridge. Whether they have to find a way to cross the river or follow it along the eastern bank, it could be days before they arrive.” The general tapped the map at Gulfind. “The Roven army is still unaccounted for. We haven’t had any reports on them in over a week.” Douglon stood with Avina on an outcropping a little to the north, watching the distant hills. “Duncave was advised of the impending attack two days ago,” General Viso continued. “It would take that long for them to have come this far south, though. I don’t think we should expect them until tomorrow at the earliest.”
“Douglon assures us they’ll be here,” Alaric said.
If the general was unconvinced, he didn’t say so.