The Beauty of Darkness

by Mary E. Pearson

  “I can’t worry about what others will think. I need to be recognized. What about the tether?”

  She reached into her pocket and handed me a long slitted strip of leather. I already had the bones for it. I had been saving them.

  “I also need to talk to you about Natiya,” she said. “She thinks she’s coming with us.”

  I rubbed my forehead, not wanting to get into another match of wills with Natiya, fearing she would follow behind anyway. “She can come,” I said. “She speaks Vendan. I’ll have a task for her.” I saw the concern in Pauline’s eyes. “I’ll do my best to keep her safe,” I said, though my best hadn’t been good enough yet. I was telling her my plans for Natiya when a loud voice boomed behind us.

  “Well, if it isn’t the smart-mouthed tavern maid and her pretty friend! Looks like I got here at just the right time. They have you servicing the soldiers now?”

  I whirled to see a soldier—a familiar one. It took me a few seconds to place him, but then I remembered. His swagger and arrogant smile hadn’t changed. He was the soldier from the tavern I had soaked with ale and then had threatened with a knife at the festival. It was obvious he hadn’t forgotten me.

  “You claimed that you’d be the one surprising me next time we met,” he said, drawing closer. “I guess it didn’t work out that way.”

  I stepped forward to meet him. “You just arrived last night, soldier?”

  “That’s right,” he said.

  “And you’re not familiar with my role here?”

  “Easy enough to see what you’re good for. And you promised that when we met again that we’d settle things between us once and for all.”

  I smiled. “Yes, I did say that, didn’t I? And I must admit, you did take me by surprise. Good for you, soldier. But I might have a surprise for you.”

  He reached out and grabbed my wrist. “You’re not pulling any knives on me this time.”

  I looked at his fingers gripping my wrist and then back at his leering face. “Oh, I would never do that,” I said sweetly. “Why pull a knife when I have a whole army at my disposal?”

  And before he could blink, Natiya, Pauline, Gwyneth, and Berdi were pressing swords to his back.

  Kaden and Rafe stood a few feet away, taking note of the sudden activity. Their arms folded across their chests.

  “Think we should help them?” Kaden asked.

  Rafe shook his head. “Nah. I think they have it covered.”

  The soldier froze, knowing the feel of steel on his spine.

  I smiled at him again. “Well, look at that. I guess I managed to surprise you after all.”

  He released my wrist, not sure what had just happened.

  My smile vanished. “Now, go join your ranks, soldier, and wait for me to address your company. This will be my very last warning for you to behave as an honorable member of the king’s army. The next time I will be cutting you from your position like a rotten dimple on an apple.”

  “You’re the one who’s addressing the—”

  “Yes.”

  He seemed to notice Walther’s baldrick across my chest for the first time—along with its royal crest.

  “You’re the—”

  “Yes.”

  He paled, blustering with apologies and began to drop to one knee, “Your Highness—”

  I stopped him, pushing him to his feet again by the tip of my sword. “It shouldn’t matter if I am a tavern maid or a princess. When I see you treating others with respect without regard to their station—or anatomy—then your apology will mean something.”

  I turned and walked away as he still blustered, weary that this was a battle I had to fight over and over again.

  * * *

  The trek to Sentinel Valley took two weeks. Two very long weeks with rain, hail, and wind dampening spirits and hampering every mile. We began with fifteen thousand soldiers and picked up additional troops along the way. By the time we camped just outside of the mouth of the valley, we numbered twenty-eight thousand. It was nearly every soldier we had in Morrighan. I’d never seen so many in one place. I couldn’t see the end of our encampment. Our supplies were abundant. Food. Weapons. Raw supplies of lumber to build barricades and defenses. Tents to protect against the weather as our final plans were laid in place. A vast impressive city. But it was still dwarfed by what the Komizar had rolling our way.

  All of these troops were here on my orders, based on something I felt in my gut. The generals had grumbled the entire way.

  Rafe had sent Jeb and Orrin with a contingent of soldiers to intercept Dalbretch troops who might be coming and direct them to Sentinel Valley. Might be coming. The words weighed heavily on me. With Draeger recalling thousands of soldiers to Dalbreck, it seemed unlikely that we would get any assistance at all.

  Tavish explained that the general had recalled the troops long before he got Rafe’s message. “They may still come.”

  May. Might. My anxiety grew. Each day passed like a low beating drum vibrating through me, marking time. Rafe promised that the Marabella forces would show, but we’d had no sign of them either. It could be that Rafe had already lost his grip on his realm.

  The weather at least had finally become agreeable. Rafe, Kaden, and I left alone to scout the valley. I didn’t want to hear the grumbles of generals, the pounding of tent stakes, or the calls of soldiers. A quiet voice had drawn me here. I needed quiet as I explored it and listened for any more secrets it might hold for me.

  The opening into the valley was narrow, just as Reunaud had described it.

  We rode in and dismounted. I sensed it immediately. Even Rafe and Kaden felt it. I saw it in their faces, and in the reverence of their steps. The air held the presence of something timeless, something that could be either crushing or liberating. Something that didn’t care about us, only what was coming. It knew. We looked at the tall green cliffs and the ruins that towered over us. The weight of the centuries pressed in.

  We walked together for a time. Rafe looking up at the cliffs, first at one side, then the other, Kaden turning, imagining, studying.

  The grass of the valley brushed the tops of our boots.

  I looked around in wonder. So this was the last valley Morrighan had led the Remnant through before they reached their new beginning.

  “I’m going up top to see what’s there,” Rafe said, pointing at the ruins that looked down on us.

  “I’ll check out the other side,” Kaden said, and both left on their horses, searching for trails that led to the summits. I walked ahead, deeper into the valley, listening to the quiet, the breeze, and then a whisper shivered through the grass, rushing toward me, its cool fingers brushing my face, my hands.

  It circled my throat, lifted my hair.

  This world breathes you in … shares you.

  The wind, time, it circles, repeats.…

  I felt the breath that was held, and then the slow exhale. I kept walking. The valley grew wider, little by little, like welcoming arms opening up to whatever lay at the other end. I studied the low hills, the rocky crags, the outcrops of boulders, the soft grassy ridges, the face of a valley that studied me too, its eyes turning, its heart beating. Why are you here? My gaze traveled to the valley’s crown—the ruins. I heard Gaudrel speak, as if she walked by my side.

  In an age before monsters and demons roamed the earth …

  There were cities, large and beautiful, with sparkling towers that touched the sky …

  They were spun of magic and light and the dreams of gods …

  I felt those dreams now, hovering, waiting, hoping, as if their world could be wakened again. The universe has a long memory. I kept walking and as Captain Reunaud had said, the ruins watched me as I passed. Ten miles of immense valley. Ten miles of towering wreckage. Breathtaking. Powerful. Frightening.

  Rafe’s warning hummed in my ears.

  Their army will stretch for miles. You can’t speak to them all.

  I kept walking.

  I would find a way.r />
  Some of the ruins had tumbled to the valley floor. I passed giant blocks of stone taller than a man, now covered with moss and vine, the earth still trying to erase the fury of a star. Or was it many stars? What had truly happened? Would we ever really know?

  But I knew the power and greatness of the Ancients had been unlocked by the Komizar. He would use it against us in a matter of days. We had little chance even with Rafe’s troops. Without them, we had none. My heart beat faster. Had I brought everyone here to die in a distant forgotten valley? The cries of the Ancients whistled past on the wind, and the Holy Text whispered back to me.

  A terrible greatness

  Rolled across the land …

  Devouring man and beast,

  Field and flower.

  Time circles. Repeats. Ready to tell the story again. And again.

  The drum beat louder. The days were slipping by, and the Komizar was getting closer. Keep going, I told myself. Keep walking.

  The scent of the crushed grass beneath my boots wafted up to meet me. I thought of Dihara and another meadow. It was a lifetime ago, but I saw her again. She spun at her wheel. Her head angled to the side.

  So you think you have the gift.

  Who told you that?

  The stories … they travel.

  Her wheel turned, whirred. The valley waited, watched, its heartbeat a murmur on the breeze.

  The truth was here. Somewhere. I walked on.

  The pluck of a string.

  And another.

  Music. I spun, looking back from where I had come. The valley was empty, but I heard the mournful strum of the zitaraes, my mother’s song floating, and then when I looked back to where I’d been heading, I saw something else.

  All ways belong to the world. What is magic but what we don’t yet understand?

  A girl knelt on the rim of a wide bluff above me.

  There.

  The word fluttered in my belly, familiar. A word that had pushed and prodded me toward the maps, and then this valley.

  Her eyes met mine.

  “It was you,” I whispered.

  She nodded but said nothing.

  She kissed her fingers, and I heard the Holy Text braiding with the air.

  And Morrighan raised her voice,

  To the heavens,

  Kissing two fingers,

  One for the lost,

  And one for those yet to come,

  For the winnowing was not over.

  The song that had filled the valley only seconds ago, was now hers, winding, lengthening, beckoning. I stumbled up the steep trail to the bluff, but by the time I got to where she had knelt, she was gone. The bluff jutted out, and the long valley was in my view in both directions, as still and silent as ever—except for her voice. I dropped to the ground, kneeling, feeling the warmth of where she had been, feeling her desperation from centuries ago. Feeling it now. The winnowing was not over.

  Time circles. Repeats.

  And the desperate prayers she had lifted to the gods so long ago became my own.

  * * *

  “Lia,” Rafe called, “what are you doing up there?”

  I turned to see Rafe and Kaden on their horses. They’d brought my horse along too. I got back to my feet and took one last look at the bluff, the hills, and the ruins that towered over me.

  “Preparing,” I answered, and I walked down the trail to meet them.

  When we got back to camp, we sent scouts riding the swiftest horses to lookouts past the valley’s eastern mouth to watch for the approaching army. The rest of us began our work in earnest. Rafe and Kaden had mapped out the terrain and trails that could support charging brigades of soldiers. There were seven on one side of the hills and four on the other. Ruins would hide them from view until we were ready. The entrance to the valley was three miles wide, but it quickly narrowed. The Field Marshal, Howland, Marques, and the other officers would lead the charges when signaled. Our timing had to be perfect.

  One division—mine—would be held out as bait and decoy. Our drumbeats and our battle chants would draw them toward us.

  The high grass of the valley would help hide some of our defenses. Deadly rows of pikes were constructed and hidden. Nets were positioned for launch. Seige crossbows were strategically placed, though that was the greatest unknown—where and when the brezalots would be used—but I was sure his Death Steeds and his child soldiers would be his first line of attack. The Komizar would see my few thousand troops blocking his path at the end of the valley and assume the rest of my army lay behind me. Sending in his charging animals would clear the path quickly.

  We worked without stopping And waited. Waited for the Komizar. Waited for Rafe’s troops. Neither came, and nerves grew raw. I said remembrances morning and night. I spoke to the troops, bolstered them, made promises to them and to myself.

  Berdi, Pauline, and Gwyneth worked with the camp cooks to keep everyone fed and spirits up—at which they excelled. I pulled Natiya aside privately and walked with her into the valley. “Look there,” I said, pointing into the valley. “What do you see?”

  “I see a battleground.”

  I looked into the same valley but I saw a purple carvachi and ribbons twirling in the wind. I saw Dihara spinning at her wheel and Venda singing from a wall. I saw Morrighan praying from a bluff and Aster sitting wide-eyed in a tent listening to a story. A greater story. I saw a world past that didn’t want us to give up. I looked back at Natiya. I didn’t want her to give up on the world she had known either.

  “One day you’ll pass through here again, and you will see more,” I promised. “Until then, I have a job for you. It’s more important than anything else we will do, and for it, you will not need a sword.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTY-FIVE

  KADEN

  We sat in the tent, tired, aching, but still planning. Lia rubbed her eyes. Rafe rubbed his knuckles. The Field Marshal sat forward with his chin cradled in his hands. Tomorrow the brigades would be put into place. We had been holding off, hoping Dalbreck’s troops would arrive, but we couldn’t wait any longer. What little we had needed to be positioned. Our divisions would be outnumbered more than four to one.

  With no sign of the Komizar or Dalbreck, Perry suggested we might want to consider retreating to Civica. To Howland’s credit, as much as he grumbled and complained, he backed Lia up, saying this was no time for retreat. We had a miserable chance of victory here and none back in Civica.

  I saw the weight of it in Lia’s eyes. I felt the worry twist in my own gut, and I didn’t like that Pauline was here. She had a baby back at the citadelle. That is exactly why I am here, she had told me.

  Gwyneth breezed in with a frown and a frustrated hand on her hip. “There’s a big ugly brute out there demanding to see Lia.”

  “A soldier?” I asked.

  She shrugged. “He’s outfitted to kill something. Something big.”

  “He’ll have to wait,” Lia said.

  “That’s what I told him, but he’s not giving up. He keeps yammering for Queen Jezelia.”

  Howland’s brows shot up. “Queen Jezelia?”

  “That’s right,” she answered, “and he’s got a frightening little ruffian with him. I wouldn’t—”

  I watched Lia’s face brighten.

  At the same time, Rafe’s darkened.

  “Queen?” Howland said again.

  Lia jumped from her seat and flew from the tent.

  I followed her.

  She was already hugging and kissing them both. Neither Griz nor Eben resisted.

  I walked over and greeted them. “About time,” I said. “What took you so long?”

  “Stubborn physician,” Griz grumbled.

  “He got lost,” Eben explained.

  Griz cuffed him on the back of the head, then grinned sheepishly. “He might be right.”

  “Drazhones,” I said, and embraced them both too, clapping their backs.

  I stepped back, and Lia pelted them with questions. They were only t
wo more soldiers but to have them by her side meant everything to her.

  A small crowd milled around, their curiosity piqued by the commotion—and probably the sight of a scarred giant like Griz and his well-armed sidekick.

  Pauline walked over and stood beside me, eyeing them with interest. “Are they the soldiers I saw you with back in Terravin?” she asked.

  “Yes, but they’re more than just soldiers. They’re family too,” I said. “My family. Blood kin of another kind.”

  She brushed up close, her shoulder touching mine. “I want to meet them.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTY-SIX

  RAFE

  The rest of us filed out of the tent too.

  They all watched Lia embracing Griz and then Eben. I saw the joy on her face. She spoke Vendan with them, reverting to it as naturally as if it were her own language.

  I was glad to see them too, but not in the same way Lia was. Griz was a formidable foe. With every day that passed with no sign of my requested troops, I was reminded that we needed every soldier we could get.

  “Why did he call her queen?” Howland asked.

  I looked at Lia. She wore a jacket made in the Meurasi style, the red scraps of her wedding dress slashing over her shoulder and across the front. The kavah was exposed. Bones swung from her hip.

  Everyone needs hope, Rafe. I have to give it to them.

  “It’s just a Vendan custom,” Tavish told him. He looked at me and shrugged.

  “Yes, only a custom,” I agreed.

  If Lia wanted to explain further, it was up to her.

  I turned to go back in the tent, then stopped mid-step when I spotted Jeb walking toward me. Then Orrin. They both grinned and then I saw the general.

  “Draeger,” I said.

  “That’s right, Your Majesty. Your troops are here, as you ordered.”

  I studied him, still wary. “All of the troops?”

  He nodded. “All. With a load of ballistas—and everything else you asked for.”

  * * *

  The camp was silent. Dark, except for a few torches lit between tents. Sleep would be difficult tonight. Tensions were high, but rest was ordered. Necessary. I walked to the valley entrance where the torchlight didn’t reach. Only the moon weaving between fingers of clouds lit the meadow grass. Lia leaned against the rocky wall, staring into the valley.