She sat with her back to the kitchen, facing the Great Hall’s entrance. Ever since Marion’s abduction, Zykeiah never took her eyes off the entrance. Some of the servants still refused to work in the hall, and that had been years ago. She squelched a chill at the horrifying memory and took a nippy sip of water. The coolness felt refreshing as it slid down her throat, forcing the lump that had lodged there back into her stomach.
“Here you are, minister.” Katya set down three wooden bowls.
“That was quick.” Zykeiah lifted a grilled, slippery piece of hencken to her mouth.
“I aim to please.” Katya smiled.
Zykeiah swallowed a bit of hencken and then said, “You seem really happy. You always like this?”
Katya shrugged. “No point in carrying around sadness or pain. Whatever has happened has been done. The sun rises in the morn.”
Zykeiah reached for her mug to hide her disbelief. “That’s a mature attitude.”
“Aye, a positive one. Life’s too brief.” Katya shrugged. “Is that so hard to believe?”
Zykeiah lifted a portion of hencken to her mouth. Katya had wisdom that some much older people lacked. It surprised her. Zykeiah chewed, swallowed, and sipped. “Well, yes, but refreshing.”
Katya laughed as she headed off toward the kitchen.
As Zykeiah ate several forkfuls of greens, she reflected on the young servant’s comments. Could the queen and Octiva know something about Akub she didn’t? It had been many years since she’d been in contact with the Devourer, so perhaps the woman had changed. Was it possible?
Minutes ticked by and Katya passed the table on several runs to the kitchen with a look of contentment on her face. Finally, finished with her meal, Zykeiah swore silently and got up from the table.
Zykeiah never paid much attention to the servants, but now, seated alone in the Great Hall, Zykeiah wondered if she was missing out on something. A companion. She’d fought so hard to keep others at bay, to stop them from hurting her. As she watched the seductive sway of Katya’s full hips and athletic legs in her fitted pants, she could see that the young woman had blossomed into a pretty woman herself.
Goddess, she thought. Now, I’m turning to the help.
9
A Sprout in the Snow
While Zykeiah ate her evening meals, Akub tugged her cloak tighter around her aching shoulders. The late afternoon sun hid behind dense, gray clouds as it drifted toward dusk. She could not see the moons, but she didn’t need it. Octiva walked alongside her, graceful despite her age. Akub didn’t ask, but she got the strong impression the elder was ancient. She took in a deep breath and blew it out in a stream of smoke.
“Even our breath freezes on this planet,” Akub said with a shake of her head. The wind sliced through her cloak, forcing her eyes to water.
Octiva nodded in agreement, but said nothing.
Akub sidestepped a discarded plate as she quickened her pace. The faster she walked, the sooner she could get to Kanton’s cottage. In a few more feet, they reached the cluster of homely cottages and shops that comprised the village. The first row of homes was laid out in a circular pattern around a statue of Brahana, a loyal servant of lore to which Kanton said he could trace his lineage. The stone plaza spread out like a metal fan from it.
The newer cottages lay in the same circular pattern slightly off from the first row, fanning out, row after row in a spattering of homes. The snow crunched under her feet, and Akub could smell the approaching storm. Her thoughts turned, as they did most of the time now, to Zykeiah. As expected, the minister didn’t like the queen’s judgment.
When they finally made it to Kanton’s cottage, Octiva entered without hesitation, and she didn’t call out for the young stable page. She smiled and stepped back to allow Akub room enough to enter. While she settled in, Octiva went about starting a fire in the front room’s tiny fireplace.
“Where’s Kanton this evening?” Akub asked, walking around to keep herself warm.
“Escorting the last of the visitors from the Circle.” Octiva looked at her. “Are you worried about him?”
“No, I just, I mean, this is his house.” Akub shrugged and inched closer to the growing blaze in the fireplace. “It’s freezing in here, you know.”
Octiva smiled and with an upturned palm and wave of her hand levitated above the straw-covered floor. “Yes, give to patience.”
Akub looked around and noted the folded blankets in the corner. Kanton had been sleeping on the floor and working both duties as stable page and escort. The boy didn’t lack ambition or work ethic—and in this wretched weather.
“You think it’s wise for me to leave?” Akub asked, her heart hammering at the idea of returning to Saturn Four with the oracle’s vision of death and destruction looming. “The oracle’s vision…”
Octiva pursed her lips. Her gaze tightened into an icy glare. “It is not for me to tell you what your actions should be, Akub. The goddess delivered those visions to you alone. You must follow her directions.”
The pricks of warmth caused Akub’s fingers to ache. Zykeiah had even tried to kill her, and she decided not to discuss the matter with the elder, who by all appearances had nodded off to sleep in front of the fire.
They’d taken meals in the East Wing Hall again, where the majority of the servants ate. Overall, she enjoyed Veloris, the weather notwithstanding, and she would like to remain. It wasn’t a polished metropolis like Saturn Four, or other kingdoms with scores of residents and issues of great poverty and violence. Due to its smaller populace, Veloris’s community was close. The celebration she witnessed a few rotations before confirmed it.
And Zykeiah was a part of that community.
Akub thought back to the heartache and pain evident in Zykeiah’s voice, face, and posture when she placed her in the holding cells. The minister wouldn’t forgive her, but she wanted it. Maybe Octiva had been wise in her summation that she hadn’t forgiven herself.
Restless, Akub had stood and continued to pace around the front room when strong knocks interrupted her musings. Octiva woke and, still levitating, rotated toward the door. She closed her eyes, reached out toward it, and mumbled. Suddenly, she whirled back around toward the fire, smiled, and whispered, “You should answer.”
Akub frowned but did as instructed.
Zykeiah stood in front of her, a light dusting of snow across her scarlet cloak. Her eyes glowed, like candlelight in the fog, beneath her hood.
“Good evening, Akub.” She didn’t wear her daggers around her thigh. “I know it’s late.”
“You still want to kill me.” Akub’s breath caught. Of all that she expected to have happen, this took her by surprise.
“Not tonight. Perhaps tomorrow.” Zykeiah offered a smile, winced, and gave up. “Come inside?”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
Zykeiah met her gaze, and the fierce expression she normally found on the knight’s face had softened.
“I…Akub…you’re right.” Zykeiah swore.
“Oh, Zykeiah! Come on in to the warmth before you make the trek back to the castle.” Octiva appeared beside Akub.
Akub suppressed the disbelief and went back into the tiny front room. She saw what the elder’s interference was meant to do, but she didn’t want manipulation. At soon as she thought this, she disregarded it. For what was Fate but the fickle goddess’s manipulation of lives and destiny?
“What brings you to the village at this late hour?” Octiva smiled.
Zykeiah dusted off her cloak, groaning as she rotated her left arm in slow arcs. She squatted down beside the fire, added another log, and stoked it with the poker. “It’s freezing in here.”
“The cottages aren’t well insulated.” Akub went to stand in the tiny alcove where Kanton kept his provisions, which were as thin as the walls and the young man’s clothes.
“Good evening. Akub, be ready in the early morn.” Octiva waved as she exited and closed the door behind her.
&n
bsp; Alone. The elder had abandoned her to the one person still ready to slice her throat. Akub flexed her fingers and felt the warmth of magick pour into them. She’d be ready when Zykeiah attacked. Earlier, she’d been too stunned to react, and with so many people in such a tight space, she may not have been successful in the fight. So, she had done nothing.
“I brought you some soup. I didn’t know if you had already eaten or not.” Zykeiah offered a wooden bowl.
Akub still couldn’t get warm, and she had to risk going closer to Zykeiah. She went to stand by the fire and accepted the bowl. It smelled delicious.
“You know I always enjoy delicious food.” Akub offered a short laugh. “What is it?”
“Guess it’s potatoes. Again. I’m sick of potatoes. They reminded me of home.” Zykeiah tried to smile again. “Too late for fresh greens tossed in hota fruit juice because the kitchens have closed.”
“Zykeiah.” Akub sniffed it. “Poison?”
Zykeiah looked surprised. “Of course not. I’d rather slice your throat. Poison is for cowards.”
“Peace offering then?” Akub tried to prod the conversation into safer waters. She sat down on the straw-covered floor.
“Look, I’m sure I made a mistake coming here.” Zykeiah shook her head as she headed for the door.
“I’m sorry!” Akub slammed the bowl onto the floor and got to her feet. “Zy, please.”
The minister halted, hung her head, and then returned to the spot closest to the flames. She threw back her hood and crossed her arms.
“Sometimes an apology isn’t enough. You have to actually change.”
“I have! You have my thanks for not killing me.” Akub sat back down, picked up her bowl. Unable to eat, she sat it on the space in front of her, leaned back onto her hands, and gazed over at Zykeiah.
After a few minutes of quiet, Akub watched Zykeiah out of the corner of her eye. Zy needed time to cool off. She didn't want to engage her in an argument or encourage her to slay her. Yes, the anger still burned deep within Zykeiah’s being. Almost as if she could physically feel it, Zykeiah cut a glance to Akub, and then down at the bowl.
“Please do not allow my actions to cause you to hate. It can be an all-consuming fire that leaves only ashes in the end.” Akub fell quiet. What more could she ask of Zykeiah? Forgiveness? Her words fell on a hardened heart, no doubt frozen over like the lakes on the ice planet.
“I had it all together before you came here,” Zykeiah said at last. Unlike the wretched agony of before, her tone bordered on calm, but it was forced. Her voice trembled slightly as if she struggled to maintain that hold. She avoided meeting Akub’s gaze as if to do so would rip that delicate hold asunder.
Akub watched her, eating very little of the soup. Any moment Marion and Kalah or Sarah could come into the room and take her away to the holding cells, to the noose, or to the sword for beheading because the queen has suddenly changed her mind. So many emotions churned inside her, she found it difficult to do anything despite her late evening hunger.
“I never meant to disrupt your life. I came here to make sure you kept breathing and that your situation remained unchanged.” Akub had given that explanation multiple times over the last three rotations, and even now it sounded worn. Maybe Zykeiah would hear her words.
“You’re not lying about the oracle vision, are you?” Zykeiah scratched her elbow.
“You’re not the only one who had a life. I left a comfortable existence on Saturn Four, a home where people weren’t trying to kill me, and where they call me Akub, not Devourer.”
“A lover?” Zykeiah interrupted, turning to her at last.
Akub shifted uncomfortably. “I didn’t ask for those visions, Zy.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“No, no lover. I wanted to spend time reconnecting with myself before I tried to engage with another. After what I did to you, I…”
Zykeiah stood up, dusted off her legs, and yanked up her hood. “I should go.”
“Stay, please. I’m going off world tomorrow, and then you’ll be rid of me.” Akub stood up, too. She reached for Zykeiah’s hand. The minister stiffened but didn’t pull away.
They remained like that for what felt like forever, before Zykeiah pulled away. “I’m not sure why I came here.”
“I’m not sure either, but I’m glad you did,” Akub whispered, following Zykeiah to the door.
When Zykeiah turned to her, Akub closed the distance between them. She longed to hold her, to kiss her, and confess her enduring love, but the pain in the minister’s eyes sapped her bravery from its sticking place.
Instead she cupped her cheek. Zykeiah flinched, but then placed her hand over hers. “I’m not sure about any of this.”
“Me either.”
One thing Akub knew for certain, she wouldn’t be able to sleep this night.
10
Manola Returns
After a morn of cleaning Kanton’s cottage, Akub found herself dressed and seated in the East Wing Hall for mid-day meals. After consuming a bowl of hot gosha, she and Octiva sat sipping tea, another Saturn Four product.
“I thought I’d find you here,” Zykeiah said as she sat down beside Akub. She looked refreshed. Her reflective glasses rested on the top of her head, and dressed in full minister gear, she appeared ready for the ride out to the Allerton Circle.
Tate arrived with a cauldron of stew. She placed it on the table with a huge ladle. Its liquid contents bubbled and infused the area with the aroma of delicious grilled henckens and roasted potatoes. Akub could recognize that mouth-warming aroma.
“I’m being escorted down to the Circle soon as Kanton returns.” Akub signaled to Katya for a bowl. “Delicious potatoes with hencken stew.”
“You haven’t eaten?” Zykeiah ladled some into an empty bowl.
“Of course I have.” Akub offered a small smile as she accepted a bowl from Zykeiah. Her stomach growled in anticipation.
“I’ll be going with you,” Zykeiah explained between bites of food. “To make sure you enter the Circle.”
Akub forced the food down without chewing. “Oh?”
“Don’t look so excited.” Zykeiah chuckled.
Octiva sipped her tea and watched them.
“This looks nothing like the Great Hall,” Marion chided as he strolled in with Sarah and Kalah. When they reached the table, they remained standing.
“Can I get you something, ministers?” Tate asked as she suddenly appeared at the head of the table.
The three new arrivals declined. Akub stopped eating. The ministers have always eaten in the Great Hall. If they hadn’t come to eat, why had they come? To dissolve the queen’s judgment?
Zykeiah spoke first. “Why are you here?”
Marion glanced at Sarah before answering. “We’re escorting Akub to the Circle.”
“All of you?” Zykeiah frowned. “There’s no need. I’m accompanying her along with a few guards.”
Marion looked uncomfortable. “Yes, we want to go along.”
“To make sure that Zy’s history with me doesn’t compromise her. Yes?” Akub put down her bowl and slowly got to her feet. “Do you know how loyal she is to you, to the queen, to Veloris? How dare you question her integrity?”
“It’s not an issue of her integrity, but of your sneak attacks! The more watchful eyes, the better,” Kalah shouted, drowning out her voice.
Footsteps interrupted them as Kanton bowled into the hall. Lightly dusted in snow, his chest heaving, he looked terrified.
“Minister! Marion! Help!” He coughed, stumbled to the table, and fell at Marion’s feet. Snow covered him, and his knees had dark mud-stains.
Marion hoisted him up. “Kanton! What’s happened?”
“The stables…”
“What?” Marion steadied his face by holding his chin.
“There’s been an attack,” he managed to cough out.
Dread piled into her stomach. Akub backed away from the table. “Don’t lo
ok at me. Octiva has been with me all the rotation.”
“You knew this would happen,” Zykeiah whispered, eyes narrowed with disbelief.
“How could I?” Akub retorted.
Zykeiah sighed. “Right.”
The ministers exited the hall. Marion had started down the hallway from which Kanton had come from the stables. Kalah followed, and Kanton scrambled to his feet to join them. He tried to move faster, but he moved with agony and pain.
Octiva watched them go. “I felt the presence of evil the moment she stepped foot through the Allerton Circle.”
The voice within Akub whispered from the depths of her darkened fears. The queasiness rolling in her belly served as confirmation that Manola had arrived on Veloris. A wretched time for an attack.
She’d seen the pinch of fear in Zykeiah’s eyes and the manner in which her shoulders folded in when Kanton announced an intruder, a threat, a danger.
Only one person conjured such terror in one as fierce as Zykeiah.
Manola.
11
Old Wounds Still Bleed
Akub’s heart raced, and she swept her hair from her face. “It’s Manola.”
With a solemn nod, Octiva answered. “Yes.”
An icy chill raced down her spine just before a prickling spread over her. The oracle’s vision flashed again. The goddess’s words echoed in her mind. She hadn’t stopped the foretold events from unfurrowing.
“They cannot stop her. She’s here for the queen’s soul.” Akub started toward the hall’s exit.
The clashes of metal and shouts of battle greeted her as she entered the hallway. Cries and yells mixed among the clang of swords and shields. The fight had come indoors from the stables in almost no time at all. She had to act fast before someone died.
Devourer: A Minister Knight Novel (The Minister Knights Series Book 2) Page 8