The Caged Kingdom

by M A Price

  The arrow only hitting his arm made her scream in fury.

  She had battled her way from the stables. The enemy was everywhere, with far too few allies. She fought alongside the few she did find and ended as many of The King's Men as she could. An Unforgiven had found her as she trailed her way through the tents, pausing at any Guild member she found to check for a pulse. Scarcely any remained.

  She was a woman, taller than her. Her face eerily like Elex’s. They had thrown fire at each other. Gusts of air. Phantom knives. It had been the trick Katanya taught Mara with the arrows that helped her win. Crushing bones was harder, but just as effective. A uniform and a mess was all that remained.

  The bow was a few footsteps after that. Then listening to Mara and Xave. Watching Yenna squirm; fear written all over her face.

  She’d wanted that arrow to go through his brain. A kinder death than he deserved for what he’d done to Kyllian, to Mara, and to Becca, but a death all the same.

  It was the trees on the far side of camp moving that had thrown her.. Arrows had been flying out from that direction when she first snuck across the camp, but they had ceased after Xave’s little anti-wielder trick.

  More King’s Men would mean it was all over.

  Her protection orb around Reyn, Fendir, and the children would fail with her.

  She let herself take a breath. All the things she could have done or accomplished, the time she had wasted away from the people she loved, and it would end like this...

  Only it wasn’t the red and black she expected to see hurtling from the trees.

  It was warriors wrapped in fur and gleaming robes of every colour.

  Weapons of a quality so rarely seen, battle horns blasting.

  The charge led by her father.

  Ivloch was there, surrounded by Black Landers, storming for the pavilion. For Xave and his men.

  It was only as she looked back at the pavilion that she realised they would arrive too late.

  She began to run, as fast as she could. Her power sent jets of fury and flame before her, but it wasn’t enough.

  She wasn’t going to make it either…

  Sixty-Six - Mara

  Xave roared at the arrow and pulled it from his flesh with his bare hands.

  Yenna had managed to get away in the confusion and she stormed to Camrin’s side. He gripped her hand quickly.

  Mara had no idea where the arrow had come from or who had launched it, she couldn’t see who was rushing from the forest. Only a new roaring battle cry, war horns ruining the silence.

  “The ruddy Black Lands! Ivloch!” It was Jengen whooping beside her that first told her it was good news. Not another part of Xave’s army here to annihilate them.

  There was no time for celebration as the Wielders surrounding him lunged. Four went for Camrin and Yenna. Two for Jengen. Only the gloved Everett and Xave stayed where they were. Battle resumed. More screams. More death. Blood lashed across her face but she didn't know whose.

  The Black Landers were getting closer. She thought she saw the faintest trace of fury and then worry cross Xave’s strong face.

  “Last chance Mara?” he bellowed. He made no move towards her, nor she him. Idyn was still behind her. An unbreakable wall of love to lean on.

  “Never.”

  “Don’t say I didn’t warn you. I never did enjoy sharing my belongings.”

  She hadn’t noticed the shuriken in his hand. He looked like a madman as he raised his arm and threw. His aim directly above her heart.

  She had never seen Xave miss a target.

  Her will was lost as power hurtled her body to the wet hard floor. She had no chance to get back up or to use her gifts as the weapon found its target.

  The missile had never been meant for her. Xave had moved her so it would course directly into Idyn's heart.

  He screamed as he fell, blood pooling at his mouth. She shrieked with him, her magic reaching for a way to reverse time, to rip the world apart, to do anything possible to bring him back.

  There was nothing. He was gone.

  Lightning forked from her palms. A power she had never used before. It arced towards Xave. He raised a shield and she watched it shatter to the floor.

  "The connection is there Mara. He is gone, but I will always remain."

  "I will kill you Xave. I will watch you bleed."

  The Black Landers appeared all around them. Xave and his men began retreating. The faint sounds of him ordering some to remain and cover his withdrawal.

  She paid no attention as the battle pressed on.

  She knelt down in the dirt, pulling Idyn on to her lap. He was already dead.

  No Healer, Wielder, or otherwise would be able to return him.

  She wished it was her. Anyone but him.

  “Mara…” Katanya was standing over her. She must be dreaming, Katanya wasn’t even here.

  That was it, this was all another bad Xave dream about him arriving and ruining everything. She would wake up and be in Idyn’s arms. He would hold her close and kiss her, and everything would be fine. Another day to train and spend the night hearing about all the odd little things from Earth he found fascinating.

  The sounds of steel clashing slowly stopped reaching her ears.

  Katanya stroked her hair, whimpering her name over and over again. Ivloch was there too, tears in his eyes, dressed in furs, not armour. Camrin on her other side, holding her hand.

  It was all so wrong. It was a dream. A nasty dream.

  “You’re in shock Mara, everything is over now. You need to come with me.” Katanya was saying the words but they seemed so far away. There was blood on her hands, it might be hers, not Idyn’s.

  It can’t be Idyn’s. Idyn wasn't dead. He would have to be dead for his blood to be all over her. Idyn wasn’t meant to die. Idyn loved her.

  Camrin pulled her away, her legs kicked out, her arms reached for the man that wasn’t Idyn.

  “Mara, you are in shock. You have to come with me.”

  “You hate me Camrin... I think I need to wake up now and find Idyn. This is all wrong.”

  Then she was falling, only Camrin’s arms holding her up.

  Falling so she could wake up.

  Sixty-Seven - Katanya

  They laid Mara down to rest for a while.

  She would need it.

  Then came seeing to the wounded and trying to form a new perimeter line.

  Xave wouldn’t return this moon but they had to leave camp soon. The notion that he told the truth about the connection between him and Mara was too terrible to contemplate.

  Things were worse than they had thought. Their numbers dwindled.

  The men and women of the Black Lands helped but kept to themselves. Their arrival would be quite the talking point if anyone ever recovered from the battle or the loss of their friends.

  Ivloch hugged her and told her that his story was for later, hers too. They both cried for Idyn. Camrin worse of all. A primal scream of anguish was all he could muster. He'd promised to keep everyone safe and failed. A failure that had cost him his best friend and brother. She held him as much as she could.

  Ivloch said it wasn’t his fault but that did nothing to release Camrin from his self-imposed guilt. She hadn't missed the slightest hesitation Ivloch made before he said the words.

  Yenna fetched Fendir, Reyn, and the children. The Prince was now a folk hero among them. She was relieved to see him alive and well, allowing herself the slightest embrace to say thank you. Mainly she just wanted someone to hold her as she was doing for the others. She told herself the fact she had chosen him meant nothing. Reyn was the only one not grieving.

  She vowed never to mention what could have been different if her arrow had flown true.

  To herself or anyone else.

  Weariness took her eventually.

  A fit-full sleep in Ivloch’s pavilion.

  One she already dreaded waking from.

  Sixty-Eight - Mara

  She was sitting by t
he river when Katanya found her.

  Part of her was aware she should be helping the others; helping them pack and deal with the dead, but she hadn’t been able to.

  After Camrin had pulled her away from Idyn’s body, something inside had broken and it couldn’t face the idea of working again. Or pretending he wasn’t gone.

  She was almost glad she had collapsed. The idea of what her addled mind may have attempted otherwise scared her. She had been so convinced it was a dream.

  He had died because he dared to love her.

  Idyn hadn't known what was coming. The last thing he would have heard was Xave taunting her; claiming she belonged to him.

  She thought she would cry; like the day she had woken up here, but tears hadn't come. It was the pit of anger and rage in her stomach that seemed to be leading her.

  A hollow hole in her heart to match the one in Idyn.

  She recognised Katanya’s footfalls as she came near. She considered moving or running away but avoiding her seemed somehow worse than hearing whatever she had to say.

  Her long hair had half fallen out of its ever-present braid. The side of her beautiful face was covered in blood. It didn’t look like her own, but a thick coating which fell onto her chest, was there all the same.

  Her sword wasn’t across her back, but steady in her hand. The other carried a water canteen that she thrust towards Mara. She reluctantly accepted, the water half missing her mouth and falling onto her still bloody clothes.

  Mara’s hands hadn't stopped shaking.

  Katanya took a deep breath, taking one last look around her before her whole body deflated to the floor. Her long legs kicked out and she balanced her sword on them. Her hand reached up and pulled the crude twine from her hair before she shook it like a wild animal. The slight curls fell around her still armoured shoulders and into the mess which covered her.

  “It needs washing anyway,” she huffed, flicking the twine into the slowly coursing water before them.

  Mara turned her head slightly to look at her, the course of the river the only noise for a moment. Katanya's eyes were glued to it.

  “Are you here to tell me how sorry you are or that I should go get cleaned up?” Mara finally asked, abandoning the canteen beside her.

  “Kara no,” came the response. “I might be a little impressed with the sass you’re giving me though, I’ll take it as a sign you missed me, seem fair?” She cocked her head, a slight smile pulling at one side of her red lips. “I might also suggest that coming out here alone without a weapon after an attack was a ridiculous idea, especially when you knew nobody could get away to protect you... and I’m sure you can protect yourself but then again you might want to get hurt right now. Maybe that destructive instinct is taking over and that won’t do you any favours.” The smile had gone. “As for getting cleaned up, well you’re in the correct place for that so I couldn’t really tell you to go anywhere else, could I?”

  “He is dead Katanya.”

  “I know,” a sadness in her voice, so rarely there, “…and he was the best of us.”

  It sounded so simple and so much more real when the words were given a voice.

  Idyn was dead.

  “You’re not going to be alright Mara, not for a long time. If ever. Believe me, if you truly cared about him, then part of you will never be fine again. They say time heals and well…it does in a way. You learn to cope, and you get a new routine and as horrible as it sounds, you adapt. Other days? You will smell something... Think of a memory or have a moment where you miss them more than you ever believed you could miss or care about anything. It won’t go away and nothing will make it better. That’s the risk we take when we care about people; we love them, and we lose them. It will never be easy, and it shouldn’t be. If you can stop caring for someone, then did you truly care for them in the first place?”

  Mara met her friend’s eyes; she had missed her. She had wanted to tell her about things with Idyn. Show her some of the things she had practised whilst she was gone. Hear about how her mission was going and learn of the palace.

  She was glad she was here. Of all the people to have to share this moment with...

  Katanya had told her about Kyllian and how she had lost him.

  “Do you…” Mara began.

  “You’re going to ask about Kyll, aren’t you? You can, you know?” Another look that Mara couldn’t quite decipher mixed with the sadness on Katanya’s face.

  “Do you still miss him? Do you remember him? Is it…would you change it?” A singular tear was escaping Mara’s eye and part of her felt relieved to let some of her emotions out. She wanted the answers so badly.

  “I miss him every day, in the smaller moments sometimes, more than the bigger ones. Then I get guilty…I know, a feeling you didn’t think I could experience.” A mirthless laugh erupted from her lips. A hand awkwardly reached up to play with her tumbled hair. “I miss him all the time and I remember him…the things he did, the things we did and the things he helped me do to be better. I try to honour that, not in the way someone usually might but in the way we had; and yes Mara... it was all worth it. Every second.

  “Even every moment of pain since he was taken from me. Whatever happens to me, whatever I do, whoever I love and however I die one day. He will always be worth it, and he will always be part of me. Just as Idyn will be for you too. Like Becca will be for Ivloch.”

  Katanya shuffled towards her and pulled her head onto her shoulder. Instead of stroking her own hair her hand reached for Mara’s.

  “You’re the Queen of stories, but not every story has a happy ending. That doesn’t mean it mattered any less. The good stories, the ones that truly change us, make us happy or sad…the ones that make us feel alive, they are the ones that stick with us, even when we don’t want to stick with ourselves.”.

  A sob escaped Mara; before she even knew it was coming. Shakes she couldn’t stop. Katanya held her tighter.

  “It’s okay Lars, I’m not going anywhere.”

  ***

  Mara stayed in her arms until the light around them began to fade and she could tell the chill in the air was making her friend cold.

  Katanya uttered no words of discomfort or even suggestion of it, but she knew from the slight shake of her leg.

  It was time to face life again.

  Facing it didn’t mean she wasn’t going to mourn Idyn; but not facing it wouldn’t be honouring the man he was or the person he had been helping her become.

  “We should go back…we’ll be moving out soon and Idyn...” They would have to bury him before they left.

  Katanya pulled herself upright. “There is to be a war council first; the final plan needs to be made.”

  “We shouldn’t miss it. Xave did this. I want him to pay, I want him gone more than The Unforgiven, more than I care about any of it.”

  Katanya didn’t look away, merely lifted her head in ascent, the full power of her ocean blue eyes transfixed on her.

  “When the time comes, the kill is yours.”

  “Thank you,” she paused, running things through her head. There was no hesitation where Xave was concerned; she had seen who he was today. The man she had known had never really existed. He was a monster and a liar who took the good things away.

  “What about Camrin, he will…” she left the last words of ‘want to kill him’ unsaid. Katanya knew.

  “When the time comes, when we get the chance, I’ll make Camrin understand, don’t worry about him.”

  “What about what he did to Kyllian?”

  “It’s yours Mara.” Katanya’s steely determination told her there would be no argument.

  It was Mara’s turn to nod her agreement.

  Sixty-Nine - Katanya

  By the time they reached the remains of the pavilion most of the bodies had been moved. Katanya didn’t ask where and she didn’t comment on it to Mara, but she could see the girls relief.

  She felt it herself; the dead had been everywhere. Their men and
The Unforgiven's.

  The grass in front of the entrance where Idyn had died still held his blood, someone, she wondered who, had tried to wash it away but the stark dark redness wouldn’t be gleaned from the earth.

  She pushed Mara away from the puddle as they walked towards the flap, the guard on duty who she didn’t recognise tilted her head slightly and ushered them in.

  The table still stood but everything else had been upended. Even the desk and the bed where Ivloch, and once Becca, had slept lay in ruins; feathers from the pillows scattered across the floor and walked into the dirt and blood.

  She thought briefly of her words to Mara. Promising her Xave. For years she had wanted to be the one to end him. It was the least she owed Mara or Idyn for missing her shot.

  The guilt would last until the end of her days.

  It somehow brought home everything that had happened. She should have been here, rode faster, left earlier, abandoned Reyn if it was necessary-

  He was stood next to Ivloch, a delicate and thorny conversation passing between them. The Princes eyes managed to meet hers as she entered but she looked away quickly; there was worry evident in them, but it wasn’t the time. She certainly didn’t want anyone here to know that part of her did care for this ridiculous arrogant son of their enemy; not on a moon when that enemy had killed so many of their friends.

  He might well be one of their only hopes left, if he was the good man he claimed to be. But that all remained to be seen.

  “I’ve told Ivloch what we know about the serum.” The words seemed almost casual, but their meaning was far from it. She understood immediately he had mentioned nothing else, not Jaxon or Becca. He was leaving that for later; perhaps for her. He might not trust the others in the room or maybe he just thought it should be her news to give. Regardless of the reason, she was grateful.

  Camrin was bandaging up a half-conscious Dexter on the other side of the table, his head hanging low and hair matted. She walked towards them, the dark puddle at their feet worrying her.