And she claimed him, mind and body and soul.
Jemin’s gaze rested on Maray with tingling intensity as she tried to focus on what her council had to say.
“People want to do something about it,” Sara explained. “They want to help.”
She had been spending the days since her coronation—and failure to trap Gan Krai—installing measures for the Allinan public. At least for the part that resided in and around the capital. And it seemed that the coronation—unexpected as its outcome may have been—inspired her people to even consider picking up weapons and going to war for her.
She shuddered, thinking of Nama. The little girl’s gift was tucked visibly into a waterless vase in the center of the table, serving as a reminder of why they were doing this. It wasn’t just her life, her fate that depended on Gan Krai’s demise, but a whole city, a whole realm, and a second world, which would follow suit if Allinan fell under the evil warlock and his demons.
She listened as the men in the council debated why or why not it made sense for people to join the professional forces in case a battle came... But Maray hardly listened. Her mind was made up.
It was only when someone claimed that people weren’t strong enough to fight, not trained and skilled enough, that the one thing she had always believed in, probably fueled by her parents’ upbringing, broke through. “If someone attacks my home, I want to defend it. And if my ruler denies me that, she is basically taking my freedom away—my freedom of choice. To fight or let someone take my home, my family, my life.”
The council stared at her as if she was delusional.
“Oliver and Corey went back to Gan Krai’s spider web for us—for them, for all of Allinan. And we will use whatever information they can get through to us, if they can get anything through, but I won’t rely on them solely. We need numbers. We need every warlock we can find to shield our soldiers from those Shalleyn, and we need those who pick up weapons to protect our warlocks.”
The room went silent, and she saw in their eyes that they could see it too. They couldn’t take chances, and if Gan Krai played dirty, which he probably would, every person counted.
“Train them,” Maray instructed, “Even if it is only the basics, to defend themselves, where to hit for the fastest kill, how to shield each other…” Her voice trailed away for a moment as her gaze swept over the room and got caught by Jemin’s attentive eyes. “Let them fight,” she finished, and from the growing numbers of agreeing nods, she knew that she would have support in giving her people every chance she could.
The doors burst open, Feris panting into the room with a look of utter urgency on his curious features and waving a piece of paper in his hand.
Scott jumped up, meeting the court warlock halfway to the door. “What is it?”
Feris was late for the meeting, but from the look on his face, Maray knew that it had been for good reason.
“He is coming,” he gasped between coughs, watching the blood drain from the faces of the rest in the room. “He is coming. Gan Krai.”
Scott took the paper from Feris’ hand and unfolded it with resolute fingers, and Maray’s heart threatened to gallop out of her chest as a surge of fear overcame her. Beside her, Jemin straightened in his chair, but he didn’t dutifully leap to his feet the way soldier Jemin would have a couple of days ago… before the night… Instead, he reached across the corner of the table to take Maray’s hand into his, offering a reassuring squeeze with gentle fingers.
No one even bothered to take notice. The fact that the inevitable encounter with Gan Krai seemed to be just around the corner, apparently was shifting all their perspectives… on her as a woman in power, on her choice of relationships, on her attire—which was jeans and a tailcoat for a change.
“His army is gathering outside the city,” Scott summed up the note.
“Corey managed to smuggle this note to me through a messenger,” Feris explained, and Maray’s terror increased.
If this was from Corey, it wasn’t an empty threat. This was really happening.
“How long?” was all she asked. And as she met Scott’s gaze, his free hand reached for the hilt of his sword as if he was expecting the warlock to stride through the door any second.
“Four days… maybe five.”
“The forces they scraped off the streets, as Corey and Oliver so nicely described,” Feris added, “are too many to accommodate in the folds between worlds.”
Maray released a breath and reached for her own dagger, a sudden need to feel her weapon under her fingers breaking through her momentary petrification. The blade resonated with power… almost as if it felt it might have work to do very soon.
The council was already beginning to discuss the matter among themselves when Maray eyed her military advisor, an idea forming in her mind.
“We don’t wait until he comes to us,” she said over the murmuring and rose to her feet as if she was going to leave right now. Scott’s eyes lit up, and he inclined his head an inch to express his agreement. “We seek him out, challenge him before he marches on the city and on the palace.”
The murmurs grew louder, objecting partly and partly agreeing.
“We challenge him on our own terms, in a location we pick,” she glanced at Sara, whose eyes were determined. “And then, we take him down.”
“An open battle…” someone noted the meaning of her words.
Maray didn’t care to nod but turned for Scott once more. “Find us a map. Mark all potential battlefields between the city and where Gan Krai’s troops are camping out.”
Scott bowed and left the room.
And to Feris, Maray said, “Gather your students, your warlock friends… anyone who can help. Every tiny piece of magic will be needed.”
Feris, who had just begun to breathe normally again, ran out the door the same way he’d entered, uttering who he was going to approach first.
To the council, Maray simply said, “Remember what I’ve told you.” She gave each and every one of them a long, measuring look. “Every person counts. Every sword, every warlock, every heart that beats for a free Allinan.”
And with those words, she turned on her heels and marched for her chambers. It was time to change her casual clothes for armor and gear up for battle.
Jemin followed suit, his face pensive as he shut the door behind them in her room.
“Do you think Corey and Oliver managed to turn the devil-children over?” he asked, his arms wrapping around her shoulders as if that was the most natural thing to do and wouldn’t bring back the memory of every single butterfly that had taken flight inside her stomach the other night. She blushed and leaned her face into his chest, inhaling deeply the scent of her partner, her mate.
“I hope so.”
He let her rest there for a while, stroking her hair down her back and encircling her more tightly as she released a sigh.
“For if they don’t manage, I truly fear Gan Krai will butcher us all.”
A growl of defiance rumbled in Jemin’s chest, and Maray lifted her head to stare into his eyes for a moment. The blue was not fiery today but the muddy waters of an ocean with a deadly current running under a calm surface. He leaned down to kiss her gently.
“We will fight for Allinan—a free Allinan,” he promised. “And I won’t let Gan Krai harm a hair on you.”
Maybe it was that she needed some peace of mind, some comfort, that she allowed herself to believe him. Maybe it was the simple fact that he was the best and fiercest soldier Allinan had ever seen—with the strength of a shifter—and if he couldn’t protect her, then who could?
A knock on the door made them both jump.
Scott rushed into the room with an assortment of maps, Sara and some others at his heels.
“Excuse the intrusion.” He ran his gaze over Jemin and Maray as they stepped apart, not awkward but rather in need of space so they could examine the geography of the territory for a pending battle. “We’ve found the perfect spot.”
He
dropped the maps on Maray’s coffee table and rolled out one of them, pinning it down with his index finger on a specific point, as if he was sticking a needle into it. “There,” he said, full of determination. “Open field, some trees at the edges to seek cover if needed, not too far for us to get there, far away enough from city life…”
As he described it, Maray could see it unfold before her. How they’d march in, draw out Gan Krai, let him come to them, and then… Maray felt her lips twitch into a cruel smile…
Puffs of smoke rose from Pen’s nostrils. Not the toxic type but the comparatively harmless version he exuded as a sign of stress.
And it would have been easier to continue watching the mist evaporate than to face what lay ahead of her—of them. They were all beside her, aligned in their endeavor to rid Allinan from the evil Gan Krai was. Her father, Jemin, Pia, Heck, Wil, Commander Scott, Neelis and his pack… And behind them, an assembly of the best of the best of soldiers. And behind those, lines of Allinans who had chosen to pick up whatever weapon they could get a hold of and join.
The only ones missing in their rows were Corey and Oliver. Maray swallowed. Then, with a deep breath, she braced herself for what she would see at the other end of the battlefield. The battlefield she had chosen. This time not a trap, but a challenge. And she was ninety-nine percent certain he would take the bait and show up. He meaning Gan Krai—and all his monsters and the innocents Corey had been trying to convince to join in Allinan’s endeavor. Even Pen had come. Neither she nor Jemin had been able to convince the Gurnyak to remain at the cabin and guard the palace when, after today, there was a considerable chance there wouldn’t be a queen to protect…
Maray smoothed her Thaotine armor which clung neatly to her body, the Cornay C decorating each shoulder and the buttons on the collar. Her weapons belt was slung around her waist, holding her mother’s dagger, but where the other soldiers wore gloves to protect their hands in a fight, hers were left bare so she could wield her magic. She glanced to the sides.
Three days had passed. Finally, they had marched to the spot Scott had so well described, and it was exactly as he’d said it would be. They had marched early in the morning, sending scouts ahead to make sure Gan Krai’s troops learned about their approach and to lead them toward the field.
Now, as she surveilled the place where they all would spill blood, expecting to meet at least an envoy of Shalleyn, she found the other end of the field was unnervingly empty…
“Where is he?” Jemin hissed, slow-burning rage enveloping him like an air of darkness. His body was tense, ready to shift and leap at whatever danger threw itself their way.
Maray’s eyes scanned the area but met no sign of Gan Krai. No sign of the devil-children. No sign of—
A deafening scream kicked Maray in the gut, and nausea rose as she turned her head to find Pia hovering mid-air, her hair floating upward like licking flames. Around her, a circle of people who were trying to help had gathered, each of them grabbing a limb while Wil had taken it upon himself to free her sword from her twitching hands. He knew best what it felt like to have one’s body controlled by a Shalleyn.
Maray exchanged a look with Jemin, suppressing the urge to grab his hand and run. They could always run later—now was the time to bulldoze their enemies off the field. If only they could find them.
Neelis had already ordered the pack to shift, and a swarm of Yutu was sniffing intently to figure out what direction the assault was coming from.
“Make sure she doesn’t hurt herself or anyone else,” Maray half-commanded, half-asked, taking a step into the wet grass before them, away from the lines, and shouted into the emptiness before her. “Show yourself!”
The field went silent. So silent Maray wasn’t sure anyone was breathing. But no answer echoed from the surroundings, no betraying noise of rustling branches or metal clinking against trees. The clearing, the size of a football field, was devoid of Gan Krai’s troops.
“Coward!” Maray yelled, her voice climbing as a growing sense of fear settled over the nervous nausea that overcame her when she thought that pretty much everyone she’d ever loved was there behind her in those lines she so desperately wanted to protect, each ready to lay down their lives for her—as she was for them.
A low chuckle crept sideways through the trees, sending icicles through their Thaotine armor.
Maray blinked away the fear. “Show yourself!” she repeated, this time her tone sharp as the dagger pulsing by her side.
A shadow rose from the ground, weaving itself into a figure of smoke.
Behind Maray, gasps filled the air, and Jemin, now in his Yutu form, growled as he stepped to her left.
“Get behind me,” Scott barked as he flanked her together with Yutu-Neelis.
Maray’s fingers trembled as she shook her head and raised her hands, readying herself to destroy the demon. “This needs to be taken care of first.” She had to. The Shalleyn’s smirking face was almost visible in its smoke-form as it twisted its invisible hand and made Pia squeal.
The sound tore through Maray like a blade of solid ice, threatening to drain her of all courage. But Yutu-Jemin’s bright blue gaze lay on her as if he were holding her hand, and she focused enough to summon heat.
Scott tightened the grasp on his sword, standing aside with obvious unease as Maray prepared for the first strike.
“Come out and play,” Maray said, not even loud enough for her own first line to hear. “Or I’ll slay your pet-demons one by one.” Behind her, Pen gave a short screech as if he was seconding her words in a promise to be right there and finish her work in case she couldn’t.
Over the past weeks, Corey had equipped Maray with everything she needed to know about how she’d killed that one Shalleyn. And Maray was ready. Heat boiled under her skin, readying to erupt in a blow of fire. Behind the first lines, all warlocks they had been able to track down were waiting for her signal so they could protect her soldiers, the countless volunteer civilians who had come to help, from rogue magic.
Maray waited, waited, waited. Until her skin threatened to burst. Then, she fixed her gaze on the demon and called, “Shield,” before she released her magic in a burning strike against the smoke before her and watched it scatter into nonexistence.
A smile spread on her face. One demon down. And a warning for Gan Krai what she was capable of.
Behind her, Pia landed in the grass with a thud and scrambled to her feet, mumbling a quick ‘thank you’ as she returned to the lines.
Then, silence took over once more, driving Maray to want to abandon all plans and have her soldiers comb the woods for Gan Krai’s troops. But by now, she knew better than to fall into that trap. Silence never meant anything good in Gan Krai-language. It was the harbinger of destruction. And she needed to brace herself for the answering blow.
She waited. Waited again, Scott’s whispered consultation the only interruption of the ghostly absence of noise.
“We are ready, Your Majesty,” he reassured her. “Patience… Patience…”
As if they had heard him, more shadows emerged from the grass, a looming threat which could grasp any of her own soldiers in their invisible hold any second. From the trees and bushes on the sides, lines of soldiers marched in sync like at a parade, appearing hardly human at the force of every earth-shaking step they took. There were ten… twenty… fifty… one-hundred or more… and they kept coming, kept marching.
Maray’s heart slipped into her knees. She had known there would be soldiers they’d have to fight. Soldiers who likely didn’t even know how they had gotten on the battlefield but were brainwashed by Gan Krai and his demons to do their dirty work. The slaying of Allinans who dared to rise against the dark future Gan Krai had in store for them.
Pen stomped his hooves nearby. His shriek louder this time. A warning…
Still, they kept marching. And marching. Filling the back of the field in geometric formations, not even bothering to pull their swords as they stomped over the softeni
ng soil.
A sideways glance at Scott and Neelis told Maray that her own troops were outnumbered—and Gan Krai hadn’t even brought in his real weapon, which he was probably going to keep for the very end when he was done with his own games. As if summoned by her thoughts, he floated onto the battlefield, coated in ivory, face hidden under a hood, and reflecting from the bi-handed sword he was carrying, his crimson eyes, fiery and icy all at once.
Cold fear settled in Maray’s veins, and Jemin growled lowly as he leaned closer as if his mere presence could save her. But there wouldn’t be saving. Not this time. This time, it would be to the death.
“Last chance, Your Majesty,” Gan Krai called, sending verbal shards of ice her way. “Kneel, and I’ll spare your people.”
Jemin shoved his shoulder in front of Maray, telling her what he had said over and over again. ‘Kneel before no-one. Allinan is yours.’
On her other side, Scott and Neelis stiffened, anticipating the inevitable once Maray denied Gan Krai’s request. Battle. And it was going to be brutal, judging by the sheer force of soldiers—and those weren’t even the ones Maray feared most. It was Corey’s fellow devil-children she cringed from. They had to be somewhere in the trees. Hidden from sight to spare them from harm until his puppets were used up.
“You might have bent my grandmother to your will,” Maray spat, her entire body shaking from tension, “but you will never—never—make me give up on Allinan.”
Gan Krai waited, sword raised at his side, and eyed her in cold dignity. “Another try, Your Majesty.” He took a step closer and another and another. Enough to see his features more clearly over the distance. With a smirk, he added, “I will spare him.” He pointed at Jemin with the tip of his sword. “And you. If you kneel now, I’ll allow the two of you to live.”
A scream tore from Maray’s lungs before she could rein in her fury, and she charged, hardly aware of Jemin’s wince and Scott’s shouts of caution before they followed after her, catching up in a few leaps.
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