A Queen To Come

by Frances Ellen

  Sky relaxed his shoulders and gave a very self-satisfied grin. “I do… Ow!”

  Sophie had slapped him on the shoulder this time.

  Another shush came from somewhere in the library.

  Sky glared at Sophie, but her eyes said everything: she had made up her mind and there was no changing it.

  “Fine. Not Nathan. What about Lian? He’d join in a heartbeat to save them,” Sky said.

  Sophie thought about this for a moment. Sky couldn’t think why she would have to think so hard. They had both heard the edge in Lian’s voice back in the Board Room. Ever since his parents had died in that house fire Lian could not stand an order of backing down when someone was out there suffering. Lian wouldn’t be hard to convince to come along, even if it was a suicide mission. It would be his own choice, whereas Nathan would have to overcome his own conscience to help them.

  Then Sophie nodded slowly, once. “Lian would want to. Matu wouldn’t, though.”

  “Of course Matu wouldn’t. I wasn’t going to try him,” Sky said quickly. Matu would be the last person they should tell about their secret plan to storm the African Underworld.

  “Well, you did say you wanted the “others”,” Sophie pointed out.

  “I didn’t mean Matu!”

  “Who didn’t mean Matu?”

  Sky and Sophie seemed to freeze at the same time. They had spent so much time hissing at each other that they hadn’t noticed Matu come up in between the rows of bookcases.

  “What are you guys doing?” Matu asked, as he approached the table Sky had been working at. Neither Sky nor Sophie said anything as Matu took one look at the books on the table and immediately looked up at them furiously. “Are you out of your mind?”

  “You sound just like Sophie,” Sky replied, attempting to deflect Matu’s anger.

  Sophie narrowed her eyes at Sky and pushed the book she had been holding into his chest. “It was his idea.”

  Sky glared at Sophie, but it was obvious she hadn’t expected Matu to appear any more than he had. What Matu had been doing in the library was anybody’s guess.

  “But you were going to go with him?” Matu said accusingly to Sophie.

  Sophie placed her hands on her hips again. Matu was even taller than Sky was, and a lot wider, with all that muscle on his arms and chest. It made no difference to Sophie. Nothing any of the boys did ever intimidated her. She always held her own without any problem.

  “I didn’t want him to get killed,” Sophie snapped.

  “That’s no excuse. You’re defying direct orders!”

  Another, louder shush came from behind the shelves.

  “You could come with us,” Sky offered. Sophie rolled her eyes and threw her hands up in exasperation.

  “Excuse me?” Matu asked, with deceptive calm.

  “We want to find Reth and Yaro before the Disciples find out Reth doesn’t know Gayle Mendosa’s location. We know you do, too. You know they’ll kill both of them once they find out.” Sky knew it was a cheap shot but it was the only card he could play. Reth was like a second father to Matu. If there was anything that could lead Matu to break the rules, then this would be it.

  Fury was written all over Matu’s features. “You know I want to save them as much as you do. More even. But that doesn’t mean we go off by ourselves on a whim to see if we magically stumble upon them when we have no idea where they are! We don’t even know if they’re in Africa!”

  “Of course they’re in Africa! What King is powerful and daring enough to attack on another King’s continent?” Sky countered.

  Matu threw his hands up in the air and muttered something in Swahili. He always turned to his native Kenyan language when he had trouble controlling his emotions, usually when he was frustrated or angry. Lian did the same in Japanese in similar situations.

  When Matu finished his short string of Swahili words he narrowed his eyes to Sky and said slowly, as if talking to a dimwit, “Axel has a plan for a reason.”

  “Oh come on! Waiting for another family to get attacked and hoping we’re not too late this time, is not a plan!” Sky exclaimed.

  “The Small Council gives us orders, and we follow,” Matu growled.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me. You know you’re such a—” But whatever Sky was going to say was cut short. Because at that moment the chip in his upper right arm started twitching frantically. In his surprise Sky stumbled a step backwards. The chip had never twitched like that before and Sky knew that something was very, very wrong. He looked at Matu and Sophie and he guessed he had the same expression on his face as they did.

  Sky pointed a finger at Matu. “Not a word about this to Axel,” he warned.

  Matu only glared at Sky more.

  Sky threw the book he was holding down onto the table and reached forward and grabbed one of their hands. Knowing someone else would now have to clean up his mess of books in the library, Sky shimmered the three of them to the Board Room, dreading what news the Small Council would have for him and his fellow Asters.

  Chapter 8

  When Nathan dashed into the Board Room, only Lian wasn’t there yet. Sophie, Sky and Matu were standing near the oak table and the members of the Small Council were dispersed around the room. Nathan noticed Matu and Sky glaring at each other with angry expressions on their faces, and there was tension in their stances. Nathan caught Sophie’s eye and looked at her questioningly, but she just shook her head.

  Less than half a minute passed before blue light appeared and Lian shimmered in. None of them knew where Lian had been moments before, but it must’ve been far enough away that he thought channelling Sky’s magic would be necessary to get to the Board Room in time.

  Nicholas Nelson was in the desk chair again and was typing furiously on the keyboard behind the computer. Felix Hauser was leaning over the Emissary’s shoulder. The Spymaster had a phone to his ear and was whispering softly to Nicholas as he waited for whoever was on the other end of the line to pick up the phone.

  Nathan paid little attention to the Spymaster and Emissary. He and the other Asters went straight for the weapons and other mission-ready kit lying on the round oak table in the middle of the room. As they hurriedly strapped and slipped their various weapons to their belts and into their sheaths, and stowed vials of each other’s blood in various pockets, Axel told them what was going on.

  “We’re going through all the signals as we speak. No word yet from the Brown family down in Perth. Felix can’t get into contact with either of the Watchers he’d sent to keep an eye on the house. Hauser—” Axel turned to the Spymaster, who lifted his head from the computer screen, “—any luck with Soto or Benanti?”

  “Soto and Benanti were watching the house?” Sophie asked while she strapped the miniature crossbow to her left wrist. Axel didn’t answer her. It didn’t surprise Nathan that Sophie would recognise the names of Felix’s Watchers. She no doubt also knew the spies’ skills, and the surprise in her voice told him enough about the wrongness of the situation.

  “This is where you need to be,” Axel said. He pointed the remote control at the television hanging above the corner desk. A map appeared on the screen, and started zooming in to Australia, then to the west coast, closing in on Perth, and then a specific street. Sky was watching the screen intently. “Keep your phones open for if we need to contact you. The Brown family might not be the only ones in need in this time zone. Go now.”

  All five Asters came together on one side of the table and held each other’s hands. Blue light filled Nathan’s vision and for a split second he felt the ground under his feet disappear. When there was ground under his feet again, it wasn’t the wood of the Board Room; it was asphalt.

  The blue light vanished from Nathan’s eyes and they found themselves on a dark street. In front of them was a large townhouse, with three floors, two balconies, great windows from floors to ceilings and a large garden and fence spanning around the property. The fact that the gate was hanging off its hinges wasn�
�t a good sign.

  Nathan felt the cold calm come over him as the five of them hurried across the street and through the gate. Night had already fallen and it was only thanks to the bright street lighting that Nathan saw anything in the cloudy night. He pulled out the pocket torch from his belt and almost crashed into Matu’s back, not realizing that his brother had stopped still, right in front of him.

  Nathan stepped around Matu to see why he had stopped.

  Sophie was already on her knees, her fingers on the throat of the body lying in front of her.

  “Dead,” Sophie said matter-of-factly. “Body’s still very warm. This can’t have happened more than an hour ago.”

  They’d barely missed the person responsible.

  Nathan saw Lian drop his head in disappointment. Nathan didn’t feel the same. He didn’t feel much when they were on missions. They had their orders. They were to find out what had happened, and if anyone had survived. They were not meant to have feelings right now. Nathan didn’t need to look at Sky, for instance, to know that his brother would not be able to hide his fury at being too late, again.

  Sophie turned the body onto its side so she could see the face. It was a woman, with short black hair tied into a tiny ponytail, and light skin. Her face was bruised and bloody. Nathan recognised the clothing; this woman was an Affinite. As Sophie turned the woman around completely, Nathan noticed the blood stain just underneath her ribs. That stab wound had been her death.

  Nathan didn’t recognise the woman. He knew the Brown family, had seen Logan, Orla and their son Eli on special gatherings on Saluverus before. This woman wasn’t Orla Brown.

  “Fiorella Soto,” Sophie announced. She dropped the woman’s shoulder and got up. “Let’s go.”

  There was nothing more that they could do for the dead Watcher. Sky hung back for a moment before following the other Asters towards the house. Nathan looked over his shoulder and caught the few blue sparks that remained of a shimmer. Sky had used his magic to shimmer the body to the morgue in the castle back on Saluverus. Only once they had a moment to spare would Axel be informed of what had happened and that the body was where it needed to be for an autopsy.

  When Sky had caught up with them, Nathan looked over to Sophie. “Who was she?”

  As they pushed through the door and into the dark and silent house, Sophie answered, “Peruvian Affinite. Been working with the Italian Lorenzo Benanti as a Watcher duo for the past year. Their work was flawless.” Until now. The unspoken words hung heavily in the air.

  Matu tried the light switches near the door. The hallway remained dark.

  “What a surprise,” Sky muttered sarcastically.

  Matu ignored him. “Lian, Sophie, you take the bottom floor,” he commanded. Lian and Sophie nodded and headed down the hallway, the lights from their torches bouncing off the walls. “Sky take the top floor; Nate and I have the middle.”

  There was a blue flash, flooding the darkened hallway in light momentarily, and Sky had shimmered. Nathan followed Matu up the winding staircase to the middle floor. He had expected to find a hallway with doors leading to separate bedrooms, but instead the staircase led to a completely open space. If Nathan had visited before the place had been ransacked, a large dining room table would have been standing directly opposite him. That same table, however, was now tipped onto its side. Behind the table against the wall stood a large bookcase. The dark oak looked extremely old and very heavy, which could explain why it was still standing. There were a few books left on the shelves. The rest of them were strewn across the floor. It was as if the Disciples thought the Affinites might have written down Gayle Mendosa’s location and hidden it between the pages of one of their books.

  Nathan scanned the state of the place, the light from his torch gliding over the furniture. To his right was a large white kitchen which looked out across the garden at the back. In the kitchen all the cupboards had been pulled open and their contents spilled out over the counters and floor. The chairs of the breakfast bar had all been flipped over and even the door of the oven was wrenched off.

  “Over here.”

  Nathan turned his attention to his left. The living room must have been beautifully decorated once. One large midnight blue U-shaped sofa spanned the entire width of the floor-to-ceiling windows. On the wall to Nathan’s left hung a large plasma television. But none of the likely very expensive furniture or paintings were what drew Nathan’s attention.

  Within the U of the large sofa were two chairs. One of the two was still standing, and a man was sitting on it; or rather was tied to it. The other chair had fallen onto its back, and there was another man strapped to it as well. There was blood pooling underneath both chairs.

  “Over here!” Matu shouted again, but louder now so that the other three Asters could hear.

  Nathan hurried quickly towards the two chairs and the men tied to them. The head of the man in the chair that was still upright was hanging forward. Nathan hoped the man was merely unconscious, but a roiling in his gut told him that hope was foolish. There was too much blood underneath the chair. The man was wearing striped pyjamas and Nathan didn’t need to see the man’s face to know that this was Logan Brown. The man on the floor was all in black. He was wearing a weapons belt, but there were no weapons attached anymore.

  Nathan stepped towards Logan Brown while Matu examined the Italian Watcher on the floor. Nathan angled his torch towards the Australian Affinite. With cold precision he examined the extent of Logan Brown’s torture and injuries. The man’s white and blue striped pyjamas were stained in blood. Before doing anything else, Nathan brought his two fingers to right under Logan Brown’s throat and waited.

  There was no pulse. Nathan hadn’t expected there to be one, but he didn’t want to copy Sky and wrongly assume the man was dead when in fact he was clinging to life with every ounce of energy he had left.

  At that moment a blue light flashed and Sky appeared in the room.

  “There’s no one upstai—” His words failed him as he took in the scene in front of him.

  Nathan lifted Logan Brown’s torn shirt and revealed the multiple stab wounds underneath. Nathan took a step back, pulled up one sleeve and shone his torchlight on Logan’s arm. He saw that multiple gashes criss-crossed his arm all the way up to his shoulder.

  Finally, Nathan reached and lifted the man’s chin up and shone the torchlight into Logan Brown’s face. No gashes there, as far as Nathan could tell. Only a lot of bruising and… Carefully Nathan dropped Logan’s head back down. There had been a cracking feeling under his fingers as he had raised the head.

  “They broke his jaw.”

  “They didn’t expect him to speak, then,” Matu muttered, looking up from the body of Lorenzo Benanti.

  Sky stepped closer. “Their intelligence is pretty good. Orla Brown is in constant contact with Nelson. She is the sub-Emissary for the continent of Oceania; knows everything about every Affinite in Australia, New Zealand and the other smaller island countries like Fiji and Samoa.”

  “How do you know all this?” Matu asked.

  Sky sucked on a tooth. There was no emotion in his voice as he spoke, but Nathan could practically feel the anger radiating off of him. “My mother is close to Orla.”

  It was unsurprising that Sky knew of Orla Brown. If indeed the woman had been such a prominent figure for the Affinites of this continent, it was to be expected that she would be close to the Aster line originating from here.

  Lian and Sophie emerged from the stairs and beheld the scene. “The study’s been ransacked. We hardly got started when you called,” Lian said. “What’ve you got?”

  “Logan was tortured. Benanti wasn’t; quickly killed by something bigger than a dagger, judging by the amount of blood,” Matu said, getting back up to his feet.

  Sophie moved closer to examine the body of the Watcher for the source of the bleeding. “Not surprising. Watchers are trained to withstand torture, and they naturally have little connection to the people th
ey are ordered to protect. Why else do you think these Australians were protected by Watchers from Peru and Italy? Felix has Australian Watchers, too.” She paused. “What the…”

  “What?” Sky asked.

  “This is no ordinary kill.”

  “Which means what?”

  Sophie was staring thoughtfully at the Watcher’s blood-stained shirt. “Usually when a Disciple has no use for an Affinite, they keep it simple. A stab wound like Soto, or slashing a throat. Clean and quick. Look at this—” She lifted Benanti’s shirt to reveal a horrifying scene in the torchlight. Just under his rib cage there was a massive trauma site. It was almost as if the Italian had been cut in half, only whatever blade had been used hadn’t been wide enough to make a clean cut of it.

  “Only one weapon does that: an axe,” Sophie announced.

  Nathan’s insides turned even colder. He saw how the Watcher had been killed then. Strapped to the fallen chair, Benanti’s chest had been exposed and unprotected when whoever it was had raised the axe and brought it down. The blade hadn’t been wide enough to cut across Benanti’s entire body, but it had cut through everything in its path. From where Nathan was standing, he could see the sliced organs and part of the man’s spine.

  But that wasn’t the most chilling part of Sophie’s announcement. There was one King in particular who specialised in using axes as weapons. Double-bladed axes in particular.

  “That would mean…” Sky started.

  “We don’t know that for sure,” Sophie snapped.

  “Soph, even I know which King has made that weapon his specialty,” Sky pushed.

  “Exactly. Everyone knows that,” Sophie emphasised.

  “What are you saying? Any King could’ve done this to make us go after the wrong King?” Matu asked.

  Sky exaggerated a sigh. “Can’t we just find a clue, draw a conclusion and move on?”

  “If only it were that simple,” Sophie said sharply, unamused by Sky’s flippancy. She looked up from Benanti’s body. “Orla and Eli are still missing?”

  “Seems like it,” Nathan replied coolly.