A Crown of Echoes

by Brindi Quinn

  I was worth more than that.

  My soul set ablaze. You might call it wrath.

  “Are you freaking kidding me!? Beau is out there somewhere! We were so close! We don’t have time for me to be slumbering in some shack!”

  “I understand your frustration, My Queen. It wasn’t an easy call to make, but it was best for you. You should never have seen…” But Albie’s voice trailed, for it was an unspeakable thing we had witnessed.

  “You had no right!” I scathed. “None of you! Pray tell, what has happened in the days while I was held captive in my own body?”

  Windley shifted uncomfortably but didn’t dare meet my lion’s gaze. Rafe grimaced and continued to rub at his chest. Albie bowed in reverence.

  “We found Giant’s Necropolis,” he said, “but it’s not as easy to access as we might have hoped. The rest of the cavalry is camped out by the entrance, devising a way to get through.”

  “Wait… rest of the cavalry?” My heated blood cooled just a little. “There are survivors?”

  Albie nodded. “A dozen yet remain, not present during the time of the…” He couldn’t bring himself to finish. “They were those off scouting at the time. They don’t know what did that to the others. We haven’t found evidence of what type of beast…”

  Again, Albie couldn’t bring himself to say it. Instead, he straightened out of his bow and carefully set his hand on my shoulder as though afraid I might bite him.

  The fear was justified.

  “There’s one more thing, My Queen, but you should brace yourself.” Albie took a deep, grizzled breath. “We’re sure Queen Beau is somewhere within. The scouts found her namesake ring. She seems to have left it behind intentionally.”

  Her namesake ring—just as I had an emerald ring to prove my identity, Beau had a garnet one.

  Albie continued, “Evidently, she tore off pieces of clothing as she traveled, leaving a path for them to follow. The ring was the last clue she left, just outside the Necropolis.”

  Clever Beau. Brilliant, resourceful, clever Beau. Of course she had done something like that, and if she had left a clue outside of Giant’s Necropolis, it meant she was alive when she entered it.

  “That’s excellent news, Albie! Why are we here? We must proceed to the front lines at once and assist the cavalry in rescuing her!”

  Albie retracted his hand from me. It was a wise move, for what he said next made me want to bite him for real.

  “No, My Queen. I am bringing you back to the Crag. Now that Queen Beau’s location has been confirmed, there’s no need for you to be here.”

  I laughed at him.

  But Albie wasn’t joking. “You came for the birds, yes?”

  “I came for Beau.”

  “There’s a creature capable of wiping out an army in these lands. This is no place for you,” he said. “I won’t allow it.”

  “Albie, if you think I’m going to turn tail and run home with Beau in danger, then you don’t know me at all.” I appealed to the two cowards behind him. “Are you guys hearing this?”

  Neither of them moved. Neither of them met my stare, terrible and dark as it may be.

  Sorrow crossed Albie’s brow. “No, My Queen. I’m afraid I do know you that well. I reckoned I’d have to take you by force.” He motioned behind him. “Now, lads.”

  And they had the audacity to obey him.

  “Windley? Rafe? What are you doing? I command you to stop!”

  Neither met my eyes.

  “Windley? So help me—!”

  I backed away from them, but the guards were fast and strong. In an instant, Rafe was behind me, restraining my shoulders. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty,” he whispered. “Please know that I will stay and find her in your stead.”

  Like that was supposed to make me feel better! I struggled against him, writhing and kicking, trying to butt him with the back of my head, but his grip was stronger than my fury.

  “Be careful of her,” Rafe told Windley, who stood before me, head hung low.

  “Of her?” Albie said, puzzled.

  Yes, because unbeknownst to him, I held a secret weapon. They who were with me today and yesterday. They who had aided me before and made me stronger than any magician or Spirite or knight.

  How kind of Rafe to remind me so.

  Rage-filled, I closed my eyes and let the echoes slither over me.

  “We will kill them all! We will rip them asunder!”

  “No!” That isn’t what I wanted. Was there a less extreme option? Something between ‘go willingly’ and ‘rip asunder’?

  “mErrIN?”

  But before I could figure it out, I heard Windley speak for the first time since my waking, though his words brought no comfort.

  “Turn around, Sir Albie. You aren’t going to like what you see.”

  What was that supposed to mean?!

  I threw open my eyes to force myself back into the physical realm, and found that Windley finally had the nerve to look at me properly, but he did so with an expression that was hard to read. He didn’t even look sorry, really.

  “Windley! Don’t do this!”

  He said nothing and brought his hand under my shirt and against my abdomen.

  Windley’s touch hadn’t always been courteous. He was a pesterer, a poker, a tugger. But I had always welcomed the feeling of his skin on mine.

  Always before, but not now.

  With Windley’s hand against my softest parts of flesh, waves of warmth began to penetrate through my belly button, where he so shamelessly groped. With his fingers spread against me, he chewed his lip as if concentrating hard. I contested, desperately trying to wiggle out from under him, but Rafe’s hold was steadfast.

  Though I was a queen, I felt powerless, and I hated them for it.

  “I’m never going to fucking forgive you if you do this! Either of you!”

  Windley dropped to his knees and hooked his arm around my waist to hold me steady as I struggled and kicked. Then, he slid his hand aside to lift my shirt and brought his face underneath, kissing me just above the belly button, numbing me as he stole my energy. Though in a more sensual location, it felt nothing like the other times he had grazed his lips against me. My heart pounded but out of ire. My veins writhed but out of frustration. My skin pricked but out of disgust.

  Then, slowly, the will began to drain from me, replaced by shivers through my bloodstream. When Windley stood again, his eyes were mesmerizing, beguiling, seductive emerald green. My body fell calm, entranced by the way those emeralds glittered and gleamed with forbidden power.

  Windley was the real spider, not Sestilia. And I was a fly, paralyzed by his poison.

  The feelings that had seeded long ago and flourished under our days together were reduced to a mere flicker, broken by the truth that he would do this to me.

  I didn’t know him at all. Maybe I had been a plaything to him all along. Maybe he just wanted to see how close he could get to a queen.

  Inside, I wanted to shout at him. At them all, and spit at them with malicious words. I wanted to send the wrath of a thousand dark hands at them, but it was too late for that. My body was no longer my own.

  He had done this to me, for days, at Albie’s behest, thinking nothing of what I wanted. Thinking of me as weak and a burden and something that could be controlled by men.

  The last thing I felt before slumping into darkness was Windley’s mouth against my sweaty forehead, kissing me just as tenderly as he ever had.

  …

  …

  …

  A voice spoke into my ear.

  “Merr?”

  …

  …

  …

  Something was shaking me out from the depths of forced sleep.

  “Merrin?”

  …

  …

  …

  “You should be able to open your eyes. I didn’t give you that much.”

  I knew that voice, just as I knew that mossy, homesick smell. A fores
t? I swam through the darkness, closer to the voice and scent, opening my eyes to see two dazzling emeralds staring back.

  “Wind…ley?”

  He wore a multifaceted mask of relief, pain, guilt and… affection.

  I forced my heavy body into a sitting position. We were in the thinner parts of a forest, settled on a patch of soft moss that glowed brightly beneath me. Overhead, the star-dotted sky shone through the treetops like little winking imps. Windley lowered the hood of his scarlet cloak, allowing his peach hair to breathe in the enchanted night air.

  His cheeks were dirty, his hairline moist. He placed his hands on my shoulders and searched my brow. “Are you okay? I told you I’d never harm you, but I’m a goddess-damned liar. Is there a better word than ‘sorry’? ‘Sorry’ feels too piddly. Tell me the word and I’ll say it.”

  But it was hard to breathe with his hypnotic eyes boring into me that way.

  He noticed. “Oops. Hold on.” He held his hand over his eyes a helping of seconds, and when he removed it, they were returned to their dulled state. “Is that better?”

  I nodded and cleared my throat to clear out the layers of sleep. “What’s going on, Windley? Why are we in the forest? Where are the others?”

  I scanned the moonlit area but saw no one behind him.

  “Oh. Right.” He scratched his jaw nonchalantly. “I captured you.”

  “What?” I said, flat.

  “Queen-napped?”

  “No, I understand the meaning of the word. I meant, what?”

  “Riiiight. I didn’t agree with Sir Albie’s command, so I went ahead and disregarded it. I’ve been arguing with Rafe about it for days. Lovesick that one is. I almost had him on our side, but he was reluctant to do anything that could jeopardize him getting to stay and rescue his damsel. Anyway, Sir Albie’s been buzzing around you like a coddling old fool, so that’s why I…” His gaze fell to his hands as though they were dirty, and his voice softened: “I wouldn’t have done it if I thought there was another way, Merrin.”

  “You subdued me in front of Albie with the intent of stealing me away in the night?”

  He shrugged. “That’s the short of it.”

  “So you agree I should stay and help retrieve Beau?”

  “Oh, no. I think it’s a terrible idea. But I also think it’s your decision to make,” he said. “I couldn’t very well stand by and let others make it for you.”

  Somewhere inside of my chest, a cord was plucked.

  “I was scared as shit you’d call the darkness on me, though. Remember how I said it’s easier to steal energy if the victim is fond of you? Well, I could feel you losing all fondness for me, as if it was slipping through my lecherous fingers. I was worried you wouldn’t ever forgive me. I mean, you said you’d never forgive me.” He paused. “Do you forgive me?”

  Windley had no sworn fealty to me yet he had defied a senior knight for me. He had risked his station, not because he agreed with my decision, but because he believed the decision was mine to make. He hadn’t betrayed me; he had used his power as a ruse to get Albie to let down his guard so that he could rescue me. He was the same defiant son of a bitch as always.

  The plucked heartstring was followed by a hundred more.

  Like the swell of storm clouds rolling in fast on the horizon, the lost fondness returned, forcing itself into me and filling up the spaces between my joints.

  I couldn’t help myself—I threw my body into him and let him embrace me. “I do forgive you.”

  He cupped the back of my head and held me against his chest, breathing into my hair. My pulse was thudding hard enough that I was certain he’d feel it, so I let him hold me only a few fleeting moments before pushing away.

  After, the smirk he bore held a hint of sultriness at the corner. “Be careful, queenie. I’m still a predator at heart.”

  A familiar flutter hit me at the back of the neck.

  I suppose you could call it a swoon.

  “What’s the plan now?” I said.

  “I’ll take you to the Necropolis so that you can see for yourself what we’re up against, but we’ll have to travel through the wood on foot so that they don’t find us. Sir Albie will have it out for my head.”

  “On foot? You didn’t carry me all the way here, did you?”

  He wiped his brow. “Lucky you’re a slight little thing.”

  That was pandering if I ever heard it.

  “Windley! Why didn’t you bring them? It would have been much faster.”

  “Seriously? Because your stag is a defiant dimwit. He would have given us away in no time. And the others rode to the cavalry camp and back today. They’re sleeping. Besides, they won’t do us any good once we reach the Necropolis. You’ll see what I mean.” He tossed a pack at me. “There’s food in there. A change of clothes too. I figured you’d want to wash up before we head out. You are well-rested enough to depart tonight, aren’t you?”

  “Cheeky.” I rolled my eyes at him.

  “There’s a creek over that way,” he continued, fanning. “Try to be quick.”

  “What do we do about these?” I motioned to the glowing footsteps that followed me all the way to the sparkling stream.

  “Ugh, can’t you quit being so magical?” He watched with amusement as I tried, to no avail, to tiptoe out of them. “At night, we’ll keep to the edges where the moss isn’t so thick. We’ll manage it.”

  I washed up, changed into a fresh shirt and trousers, and tied my hair into a large knot atop my head. Easiest for traveling.

  Through all of this, I studied Windley’s back. His spirits were high because we had made it through trials and come out on the other side, but I wanted to be sure he wasn’t forcing them for my sake. The massacre was still fresh in my memory and must be in his, too. If he was aching, he would surely hide it from me.

  “Windley?” I called softly.

  “Yes, I’m okay. No, I don’t want to talk about it. Yes, you can have a bite of my apple.” He held up said apple to show that a significant portion had already been eaten.

  “Generous of you to offer me the core.” I came up behind him and placed a hand atop his head. “And okay, I’ll respect your wishes. But if you change your mind…”

  “I know,” he said, setting his hand atop mine. “You would be the one I’d go to anyway.”

  Chapter 21

  Necropolis

  Moving through the forest, on our own and free of judgement for the first time ever, was a freeing feeling. Maybe a caged bird doesn’t know it’s a prisoner until it’s released. Something like that. Like a woodland nymph, I hopped back and forth, into the mossier parts to watch my blooming footpath form behind me and then vanish into darkness.

  I was powerful, so I felt no fear of being followed or captured. I wouldn’t allow what had happened last time to happen again. I would act swifter, and with Windley on my side, we would be unstoppable. A myriad of echoes poked and prodded from the beyond, trying to garner my attention, but I would leave them there until I needed them.

  “Soon,” I told them when I closed my eyes. “We’ll unleash all of our rage on the one who took Beau.”

  We traveled on, avoiding the site of the massacre. I knew it was coming because Windley veered deeper into the forest without an explanation, staring straight ahead with chin staunch. If it were me, I would have wanted to be comforted. But Windley wasn’t me, and we had different ways of coping.

  “I have a question.”

  “If you’re announcing so, it must be a good one,” he said, casting a sideways glance.

  “Why haven’t Rafe and Albie caught up with us yet? Stags are much swifter than people.”

  Windley pursed his lips. “Call it luck.”

  “Oh my goddess. Did you seduce them?”

  “I did not! I… took a little of their energy while they slept to ensure they wouldn’t wake anytime soon. Just enough to give us a decent head start.”

  “Using your powers of seduction?” I said.
<
br />   “The Queen of the Crag would do well to behave or she might find herself without a guide to show her the way.”

  I put a hand to my hip. “I mean, it’s just straight that way, isn’t it?”

  “Queens are so tiresome.” Yet he wore the roomiest of grins.

  Good, we had made it past the difficult part.

  “By the way, your hair is peach now,” I said. “It’s rather summery.”

  “Is it?” He plucked at the pastel strands. “Try not to get too excited. I expect you’ll see it turn every color by the time we find your lost queen.”

  My lost queen? His phrasing struck me as peculiar.

  “Nice callback, but the sunset wore it better,” I said.

  Around the time the morning sun was beginning to flood the fields of gold, we heard the distant gallop of a lone stag riding across the plains. It wasn’t coming from the direction of the woodcutter’s cabin; rather, it came from the west. A scarlet clad rider was riding near the tree-line, marking things on a parchment.

  “Bartolomew,” Windley said, crouching in the grass to spy.

  So he did know the names of the cavalry members. Again, I fought my instincts, understanding that if I handled him with care, it would only make him uncomfortable.

  “Going to introduce me?” I said instead.

  “Naw, you wouldn’t like him. He’s too well-mannered.”

  At midday, we stopped to rest and eat, only briefly, for we intended to reach the cavalry’s campsite and subsequent entrance to Giant’s Necropolis by nightfall. As I had been for days, I gave the royal whistle a blow.

  “I still find it disturbing that those things smell your blood or whatever,” Windley sniffed. “For the longest time, I thought they just memorized the routes between the castles.”

  “Have Mother Poppy tell you the tale when we get back. She’s got a good voice for it. Oooh—have her do it by the fire.”

  “I won’t be able to concentrate with those buggy eyes of hers,” he said. Then— “Why are you gaping at me like that?”

  Because I had just remembered something important.

  “I forgot in all of the excitement, but the night you came to the castle, I was actually getting ready to depart for the Clearing. I had been researching Beau’s lost echoes to try to help her regain them. We had nothing in our written archives, but Mother Poppy remembered a fable. How did it go? Something about long ago when the moon was different, and two crowns were lost.”