A Time of Darkness (The Circle of Talia)

by Lister, Dionne

  “Well, my queen, if you understood the tax system, you wouldn’t have to ask me that question.”

  “I don’t have to understand the tax system. I have an advisor. You are the advisor, aren’t you?”

  “Ahem. Yes, and you should just trust I know what I’m talking about.”

  And there was the problem. She didn’t trust him. Gabrielle contemplated how she could make his life more difficult, when two men rushed into the room. They stopped and bowed. Dirt smudged their faces, their clothes were ripped, faces unshaven, and their hair was the consistency of straw. Recognizing the two men, she quickly hid her surprise and didn’t know whether to be happy or sad. One wore a coat that marked him as the captain of Edward’s bodyguard. He spoke. “Forgive us for the intrusion, my Queen. I need to speak to King Edmund. Now.”

  “That’s all right, Pernus. What are you doing back here? Has something happened? Is Leon…?” It was difficult to look concerned rather than excited at the thought the prince might be dead.

  “Not that I know of. I would prefer if we spoke in private, with the king.”

  “Follow me.” Gabrielle took one step forward, and Boy ran into the room, sliding on the tiles and careening into Fendill.

  “Whoa. Careful, young man.”

  “Sorry, sir.” Boy untangled himself from Fendill’s gray robe and looked at the queen. He spoke through quick breaths, “They’ve taken Verity.” The queen froze and felt as if she couldn’t breathe.

  Pernus leant down and grabbed the child’s arm. “Who are they? Answer me. Quickly!”

  “The… they were wearing gray clothes, and their faces were covered. I saw them try and grab the princess, but Brooklyn stepped in. He injured one, but there were four, and one made some kind of magic. They made a lightning bolt come from the sky. They killed Sergeant Brooklyn.”

  “Where did this happen?” Pernus kneeled in front of Boy, keeping hold of his arm.

  “About two miles from the castle. I rode Chalk as fast as I could. I’m sorry.” Boy remembered Verity’s screams. She was the first person who had been truly nice to him. He had betrayed her.

  Pernus dropped his arm and pushed Boy towards Gabrielle. “Take him to your room and make sure he stays safe. He’s our only witness. Come on, Fendill. We need to go. Now.” The men ran out.

  Wading through her shock, the queen spoke to the first-year guard who had run after Pernus when he’d arrived. “Find Captain Gaston and send him to my chambers. Hurry.” She turned to Perculus. “And you. You tell Duke Fortescue he has one month to pay what he owes. If he doesn’t, we will confiscate lands to the value of what he owes us. Is that clear?”

  Perculus pursed his lips and retrieved his sly smile. “Of course, Your Majesty. If there are repercussions, I trust you will tell Edmund they were your fault.”

  Speaking through clenched teeth, Gabrielle growled more than spoke, “Get out before I lose my patience. I would hate to have to explain to my husband how his advisor ended up in the dungeon.” Turning her back on him, she knelt down to Boy. “Did they hurt my daughter?” She held her breath.

  “Not that I could see. She was struggling and screaming. But when they carried her off, she didn’t look hurt. I didn’t hang around in case they grabbed me.”

  “That’s okay. You did the right thing.”

  Tears glazed Boy’s eyes, and she put her arms around him. When Boy’s tears came, the queen couldn’t tell, but they were from guilt. If Leon killed Verity, he would never forgive himself. If he told the queen what he knew, she would never believe him—he’d probably end up in the dungeon, not to mention creepy Perculus would probably kill him. Boy cried on the queen’s shoulder. He didn’t want to tell her the truth—they had knocked Verity unconscious. He remembered her limp body, her head and arms bouncing as one of the gray men carried her away. His tears came faster. What the hell had he done?

  Chapter 5

  Princess Arcese, her pearlescent pink and green scales shining delicately in the candlelight, watched as Bronwyn concentrated. Sweat beaded on the realmist’s forehead as she tried to grasp the warm Talian energy, or as Arcese had called it, natural energy. It coursed through her veins—ancient power born of subterranean lava flows and the pressure of rock on rock that seeped through miniscule fissures in the invisible membrane that held Talia’s lifeblood in its belly.

  The trick, which was proving hard for Bronwyn and Blayke, was to separate the power vibrating through their blood and find an outlet for it. One could only hold a small amount of natural energy in their blood before it became dangerous. Experienced dragons, for no other humans had been taught to use this magic, were able to draw power while simultaneously channeling it to whatever use they chose. The advantage to natural power was that you could store a small amount to use later, but the feeling of the power thrumming in your veins was distracting and increased body temperature, which, for humans, could prove fatal if kept up for too long.

  “Okay, Bronwyn. Stop concentrating for a minute. Focus on what you want to do with that energy.”

  Bronwyn looked at Arcese, marvelling at the light, soothing notes of her voice, and drank in her iridescent beauty. “Can I make myself look like you?”

  “Like a dragon? No, that’s beyond your capabilities.”

  “No, not my whole body—just the color.”

  “Hmm, yes, I think you could. There’s two ways you could do it. They would both have slightly different effects. The first way would be to create colored light between the layers of your skin. That would probably create pulsing, muted colour. The other way would be to create invisible scales with the right properties to refract the light to the color you wanted.”

  “The second way sounds a lot more complicated.”

  “More complicated but more effective, although I think you should try the easier option today.” Arcese smiled, and Bronwyn shivered—she knew not to be afraid, but there was something about looking at so many sharp teeth.

  Blayke, Arie, Fang, and Sinjenasta watched as Bronwyn shut her eyes. Bronwyn imagined the color of the princess’s scales and the pearlescent pink and green embedded in her skin. The vibration and heat in her blood rose to the surface of her skin until she felt a swelling pressure. Blayke and Arie gasped. Bronwyn opened her eyes.

  “Oh, gods!” Mouth open, Bronwyn stared at her arms, not believing the hue glowing underneath her now-translucent skin. She spoke in a mind voice only Sinjenasta could hear. You never taught me how to do this with the natural magic.

  “Wow, you look like some kind of weird candle.” Arie stepped forward and touched Bronwyn’s arm. “You feel like a toasty fire. Has anyone got something they want to roast?”

  “Ha, ha. Very funny. I’m not that hot. Arcese, is that the energy coming out of me?”

  “Yes, Bronwyn, and now it’s fading. The power you were holding is now used. Eventually you’ll learn to draw and dissipate the power simultaneously.”

  Everyone watched as Bronwyn ceased being a human lantern, the radiance evaporating until nothing remained. Arcese turned to Blayke and Arie, “Okay, you two. I think it’s your turn.”

  Arie and Blayke looked at each other, grinning. “Princess?”

  “Yes, Arie.”

  “I want to try the more complicated way, but I don’t think I’d be able to do it all over my body. Can I try it just on my hand? I think I need some of the energy I’m holding to examine your scales and see what they really look like—you know, the miniscule bits that make them refract light in a certain direction.”

  “Yes, Arie, you could.” Arcese watched, bemused; she doubted a young human would have the intelligence to successfully perform what he was attempting.

  “Let me do mine first, Arie. I want to watch when you fail.” Blayke laughed and lightly punched his friend in the arm.

  “Ouch.” Arie feigned pain and rubbed his arm while grinning.

  Blayke drew a deep breath, closing his eyes and letting the air flow out of him as he pictured dirt and rocks
. He opened his eyes to the sounds of “Ooh,” from Bronwyn and Arie.

  Bronwyn spoke, “You look like a kind of rock man. You even look like you have a rough texture.” It was Bronwyn’s turn to touch Blayke’s arm. “I can still see it’s you, but if you were standing in the caves below us, I don’t think anyone would be able to see you.” As soon as she mentioned the caves—the place she had murdered Symbothial—she cringed. Arcese looked at her, although Bronwyn couldn’t guess what she was thinking.

  “That’s what I was going for. Remember when that bird and snake tried to eat us, Fang?”

  Don’t remind me!

  Bronwyn smiled when she realized the rat had spoken in her mind. When she looked at Arie, he nodded, indicating he, too, had heard. Bronwyn spoke. “You guys were almost eaten? That must have been a big bird and big snake.”

  “It was when we bonded. I turned into a rat. We almost died.” Blayke shuddered. “If we could have camouflaged ourselves, it would have been a lot less dangerous.” The layer of dirt and rock that appeared to coat Blayke dissolved.

  “That was rather clever, young realmist. You have the beginnings of something useful. I would continue practicing. After Arie attempts his little trick, we will draw the same amount of power as before. When you are good at dissipating it quickly, we can practice drawing a larger amount. You need to find your limits, but we must do it carefully. I’d be in trouble if I let one of you cook yourselves.” Arcese wasn’t surprised when no one laughed.

  Arie shut his eyes, mouth barely moving as he spoke near-silent words. He opened his eyes and they all watched as his thumb and index fingers wavered and disappeared. By the time everyone gasped, his fingers had reappeared.

  “Did I just see what I think I saw? Or rather didn’t see?” Blayke moved to Arie to more closely inspect his hand.

  “It appears you did.” Arcese marveled at Arie’s unexpected success. How had he done that? The dragons had never figured it out, although they hadn’t spent a lot of time researching invisibility since they had no real enemies on Talia—up until the first gormon had reappeared, anyway. “You are going to share with us how you did that Arie, but before you do, I must insist that what we’ve just witnessed remains a secret. No one is to tell anyone of this. Am I understood?” She focused dinner-plate size eyes at each realmist in turn. Everyone nodded, and Bronwyn shrunk back. She would be the last person to go against a dragon’s wishes after her recent experiences.

  “So, Arie,” continued Arcese, “how did you do that?”

  Part of Arie wanted to keep it his secret, something only he knew how to do, but the proud part of him wanted everyone to know how clever he was. He shifted from foot to foot. “Um, I’ll tell you on one condition.”

  “And what would that be, young human?” The dragon princess stood up straighter, and even though her gaze had further to go to reach the boy, distance didn’t diminish its desired effect.

  “Ah, um. I’d like the procedure named after me.”

  Bronwyn laughed. “So if we’re going to do it, we say, I’m going to do an Arie?”

  “Yeah, I suppose.” Arie smiled. “If we’re all agreed, I can tell you how I did it.” Everyone nodded. “I used the natural magic as a kind of magnifying glass and looked at how Arcese’s scales linked together. I pushed the power out of me. I don’t know any other way to describe it. It felt like I was pushing them through tiny holes in my skin. When I felt like it was coating my skin I told the energy on each side of my hand to imprint on the other side what would be behind it.”

  “What? Can you speak Verdonese please?” Bronwyn wiped a stray strand of hair off her face.

  “Okay. Um, if I put my hand in front of your face like this,” Arie said and put the back of his hand up to Bronwyn’s face, “I asked the energy to tell the energy on my palm what it saw and for the energy to show that picture on my palm. So I wasn’t really invisible; I just looked very much like the background.”

  “So kind of like my camouflage thing, but way more advanced?” Blayke asked.

  “Yep. But it took heaps of energy, and I don’t know how it would work if you were running. I don’t know if the energy could keep up with the background.”

  Arcese stayed quiet, thinking. This discovery could help them. She wondered if it could be done with Second Realm magic as another way of hiding their symbols, a way that would not take as much energy. Arcon’s near-death episode had shown how long one could shield. There may come a day, very soon, where their ability to hide from the gormons would be the difference between surviving and not. It was clear she would have to stay with the boy and work with him—she didn’t want to risk him overdrawing the power or risk her acquisition of this important knowledge.

  “Okay, everyone, it’s time to draw more of the energy. I want you to draw a handful more than you did last time—and that is an imagined handful.” She made the point to avoid any silly questions on how they were supposed to measure it. Humans could be rather daft at times.

  As Arcese watched, they did as they were told. When Blayke released the power, he imitated his first camouflage. Bronwyn created a ball of light that hovered above her upturned palm, and Arie practiced his invisibility spectacle: this time he managed to “hide” his whole hand.

  “He, he. I'm getting better.” Arie’s wide grin fell. “Oh, no. Something’s happened.”

  “What do you mean? Did the power hurt you?” Bronwyn rushed over to inspect his hand.

  “No. Agmunsten sent me a mind message. We’re all to meet in the king’s reception chambers as soon as possible.”

  Blayke looked stricken. “Is Arcon all right?”

  “I don’t know. He didn’t say why we had to rush—just that we had to.”

  “Follow me.” Arcese led the way, her huge tail swishing from side to side as she hurried along the corridor, a band of worried realmists in her wake.

  Chapter 6

  On entering the king’s reception chambers, Bronwyn hung back, trying to hide behind her friends. Symbothial stayed next to her, although he drew attention rather than helped—it was hard to go unnoticed when you had a giant black head with fangs to match.

  Blayke sighed in relief when he saw Arcon seated at the reflective stone table. Arcon managed a wilted smile. The dragon king sat at the head of the table. Blayke took the seat between Arcon and Agmunsten while Arie sat on the other side of Agmunsten. Bronwyn sat as far away from the king as possible, with Arcese sitting protectively between them. That didn’t stop King Valdorryn casting grave glances at Bronwyn. She suddenly found the colored streaks in the table fascinating.

  Agmunsten cleared his throat. “Okay. We’re all here, so I’ll start.”

  Arie spoke, “But where’s King Edmund, and Zim?”

  “That’s why we’re here. King Edmund has received news from home that his daughter has been kidnapped by Prince Leon.”

  Arcese, Sinjenasta, Blayke, and Arie all started talking at once. Agmunsten held up his hands. “Shhh.” The chattering continued. “I said QUIET!” Silence and chagrined faces surrounded the table. “Now, because of what’s happened, Zim has been generous enough,” he said, nodding at Valdorryn, “to fly King Edmund back to Bayerlon. We have a crisis. Leon has murdered the Inkran king and intends on taking the throne for himself. We’re not sure what his motives are. Before kidnapping Princess Verity, we might have thought he was trying to gain favor with Edmund; however, the more likely scenario is that he will move against his brother.”

  “This has changed our plans considerably. The meeting we wanted to have here won’t be going ahead. The Inkran situation will have to be sorted before we can defeat the gormons. The prophecy we’ve been following for the past five-hundred years specifically states that if, when the gormon hordes on Talia do descend, division exists in the folds of her land, blood will run and thou shalt see, the blood of humans and dragons run free. If, however, there is no divide, the gormon hordes may be turned aside.

  “And we have another problem.�
�� Agmunsten looked at Bronwyn. “Do you have the quartz Avruellen gave you?”

  “Yes.” She fingered the chain around her neck and worked the quartz free so it dangled down the front of her tunic. The stone, with the stain of blood within, appeared unremarkable.

  “Well, we need to finish activating it. Zim will be returning in a couple of days with Blayke’s half, and we’ll have to do the first activation here. As you know from yours, Bronwyn, it’s very dangerous. Because Arcon is recovering, I’ve asked Arcese if she’ll join us, and she’s agreed. We’re aware the gormons breached your activation so we’ll be looking out for that this time.

  “Time is fast approaching when the second part of the activation of both pieces of quartz is to take place. For this, and the final unlocking, we will need the aid of a special tome. This book is not in our possession. We need to find it before the next full moon, which is in nineteen days. I’ve sent your aunt to get it, and she’s been stymied by bad weather. I always thought you needed to be there when she found it, but when you were diverted here, I assumed I’d misinterpreted the prophecy. I might ask her to wait for you.”

  Bronwyn’s eyes lit up, and she sat straighter, forgetting the dragon king for a minute. “Really? We could all go?”

  She could barely stop herself from jumping up and down, but she knew she wasn’t exactly in the good books at the moment and didn’t want to provoke the dragons.

  A small smile curved out from under Agmunsten’s beard. “I’m thinking you and Sinjenasta could go with Blayke and Arcon. You’ll have to wait three days for Zim to return and for Blayke’s piece of quartz to undergo the first unlocking stage. I think Arcon will be strong enough to travel by then.”

  Bronwyn could contain herself no longer: she jumped up and ran to the other side of the table and hugged Agmunsten. “Oh, thank you. Thank you so much.”

  Agmunsten cleared his throat and carefully removed Bronwyn’s arms. “Ahem. Thank you, my dear. Please refrain from such excitement—it’s not becoming for a realmist.”