The Forgotten World

by Robin D. Mahle

  All I could see of my surroundings was that I was in a plush bedroom, gleaming white walls lending themselves to a towering ceiling. The crimson drapes were pulled shut, and the only other furniture in the room was the armchair upon which the girl sat.

  “Oh! Of course, sorry. Let’s see.” She put the end of her braid in her mouth, gently chewing the end while she appeared to get lost in thought.

  I cleared my throat.

  “Right! Sorry. I’m BeLa, and you’re...I know this might sound crazy, but you’re in Levelia.”

  We had made it? That didn’t seem right. The last thing I remembered was the ship being torn apart, the sheer horror on Locke’s face when he realized there was nothing he could do to protect me, Clark screaming my name, and my choking on a tremendous wave before I could respond.

  Then, nothing.

  “How—” I was cut off by a different voice, this one deeper and commanding.

  “BeLamere, My Dear, I told you to tell me as soon as our guest woke.” The gently chiding tone belonged to a handsome, olive-skinned man I would have placed somewhere in his 30s. There was no trace of gray in his close-cut beard or wavy, onyx hair.

  The dog, JoJo, moved to stand in front of BeLa, lips raised slightly.

  “Apologies, Father, she only just woke.” BeLa inclined her head more formally than I would expect from a daughter to her father, then placed a shaking hand on JoJo’s head.

  Then again, I knew nothing of the customs here, and my relationship with my own father had hardly presented any sort of traditional guidelines. I sat up to prop myself against the pillows, biting back a wince at the stabbing pain that shot through my skull at the movement.

  “It’s quite all right.” But his tone said otherwise. “You may leave us now, Dear.”

  BeLa dipped her head lower and scurried from the room. The older man turned the full force of his deep brown eyes on me then. I met his stare levelly, refusing to squirm under his scrutiny.

  “Interesting,” was all he said after a moment.

  I got the feeling he wanted me to ask what was interesting, but I had a lifetime of playing these games with my father. Fighting back a shiver, either from the cold or the man’s unnerving presence, I stared politely at him, my heiress mask fully in place, until he finally grinned.

  “Very good. I can see this might just work after all.”

  I raised my eyebrows, and he shook his head, rather like a proud parent. But there was something distinctly unpaternal in his lingering gaze.

  He turned in one graceful, fluid motion and strode toward the door.

  “I’m sure I’ll be seeing you soon, Adelaide.” He spoke without turning around, then shut the heavy door before I could gather my thoughts enough to ask how he had known my name.

  I must have drifted off at some point, because BeLa’s entrance startled me. She held a tea tray in her hands, precariously balancing the fine china on the tray with a small plate of unfamiliar-looking food.

  I was surprisingly warm compared to earlier. The bed shifted at my feet, and I realized JoJo was sprawled out across the bottom half of my broad mattress. Somehow, my feet had wound up tucked under his tummy.

  I smiled in spite of myself. He was nothing at all like Shensi, but I found his presence comforting all the same.

  BeLa noticed my looking.

  “I hope you don’t mind. He doesn’t usually take to people like this. Or at least, he didn’t used to.” With that somewhat cryptic comment, she sat the tray down next to me, then moved to open the curtains.

  My jaw dropped.

  Pale skies met clear, sparkling water and pristine white beaches. Black trees with enormous eggplant leaves swayed in a gentle breeze. It looked like paradise.

  “Is this not what your world looks like?” BeLa asked, examining my expression curiously.

  “No. Not at all.” Seeing she wanted more of an answer, and talking was as good a distraction as any, I continued. “My home island is snowy white mountains and icy wharfs. Then, the island I moved to is kind of shaped like a four-tiered cake. It’s one of the bigger islands, with forests and farmland and beaches. But the water is deep blue.” Like Clark’s eyes when he’s angry. Which is always lately. Where is he? Is he safe?

  I realized I had trailed off, so I finished up hurriedly. “The sky is usually overcast. I’ve never seen anything like this,” I added, more to myself.

  She had this unblinking way of staring at me that was mildly unnerving, like she had never heard anything so fascinating.

  Something she said came back to me during our decidedly awkward silence.

  “You said, while I was resting, that two people had come in. You said he,” I prodded. “Did someone else come with me?” I knew it was a long shot, but could Clark be here, too? If so, was he a guest also? And what about the others?

  I still couldn’t figure out why they had me here and not in a dungeon. If a place this beautiful had dungeons.

  “No.” She shook her head forcefully, eyes wide. “You came alone.”

  My heart sank. Where were they? Why hadn’t they come with me? Before I could question her further, the door opened again, this time emitting two wide-eyed women. One held a bundle of fabric in her arms and the other carried a wooden box, nearly too large for her to see over.

  “The—” The woman with the fabric shot a terrified look in my direction, clearly unsure what to call me. Had they ever seen an outsider before? It didn’t seem likely. “Her presence is requested.”

  Oh, is it?

  I fought to keep my expression neutral at being summoned like a servant or a dog. I surveyed my very comfortable surroundings, comparing them to the brig I had been stuck in for weeks. I well knew how much worse things could get for me, and I could not deny a certain curiosity about my clearly well-positioned host. This might be the only way I could get answers about the others.

  “Very well,” I replied, as though I had any real choice in the matter.

  BeLa smiled at the women, directing them to leave the clothing and dismissing them kindly. They rushed from the room like they were running from the plague itself.

  I must have looked affronted, because she smiled apologetically at me. “Though the new king has spoken of branching out, most Levelians were raised on fear of the outside world. It will be an adjustment—” She stopped short, as though realizing she had said something she shouldn’t. “Anyway, they don’t mean any harm. Let’s get you to your bath.”

  She led me to an enormous bronze tub, showing me how to work everything in the room before leaving me to my privacy.

  I felt guilty enjoying anything when the others were missing, but the tub was heated by a system that kept it warm the entire time I was in it. It did wonders for my aching muscles and my throbbing head.

  I had thought I couldn’t do much with my wavy, asymmetrical bob, but BeLa wove it into a diagonal braid, chattering all the while. I didn’t know where she stood in this whole mess, but it was hard to dislike her when she was being so open and kind.

  In small ways, she reminded me of Amelie. My sister had been quiet, but she had possessed an analytical mind, and she, too, had been a people pleaser.

  But that was emotion I could ill afford right now, so I pushed it away.

  “My father had the seamstresses alter a few things to fit you. There was nothing in your size fitting for an adult to wear to dinner.” BeLa blushed apologetically, handing me a bundle of gauzy fabric.

  I didn’t have a smile in me, but I tried to let her know I wasn’t offended.

  “It’s all right. I’m used to Nell dwarfing me with her height.” I turned the fabric around in front of me, trying to figure out how to put it on.

  BeLa’s wide eyes looked intrigued.

  “We don’t have time now,” she said, taking the garment from me to show me how it went on. “But do you think you could tell me about her? How she’s doing?”

  Maybe she was using me for information, or playing me to get close to me. But som
ething told me that wasn’t true.

  “Of course.”

  She smiled, then turned me around to face the mirror while she tied the garment in the back. It was one piece, long sleeved and high necked with flowing pants that connected in the middle with a thick scarf-like X, showing the barest hints of my midriff.

  I glanced suspiciously at her own garb, which was similar but showed none of her stomach. But I didn’t know enough about what was going on to balk at showing a little skin, so I said nothing.

  At last, I was led through gilded hallways lit with glowing purple orbs to an enormous set of shining silver doors. The guard leading me flipped a lever on the wall, and the doors opened soundlessly.

  I stepped into a room more opulent than any I had ever seen, but before I had time to take it all in, my eyes snagged on what sat in the middle. A throne, ancient silver and blue, commanding the attention of the entire room. And on top of it, wearing a crown made of the same glimmering material, sat the man who had come to my room earlier.

  But that wasn’t what stopped my heart.

  Because sitting in a high chair to his left, leaning close enough to talk quietly into his ear, was General Noble.

  The Analyst

  BeLa fought to remain upright, seated on the small throne next to the king. If she had been sickly as a child, it was nothing compared to the toll the past few months had taken on her body.

  Grief, it turned out, was a disease unto itself, one that destroyed a person from the inside out. And BeLa had no one to fight for these days. The small hope that her mother was still alive somewhere out there was dwindling more and more with each passing day.

  She came to dinner each night, because she had quite literally no choice. Even the daughter of the king was not immune to his will, and she would not be dragged to dinner. Not again.

  The only thing she did of her own accord was practicing her throwing stars, in honor of her mother. And, if she was being completely honest, out of spite for her father.

  The servants used to talk to her, but that stopped when several had been beheaded for sedition and attempted rebellion.

  And then there was the man who had dared to look at her face while serving her tea in the ballroom. She shuddered at the memory. Beheading would have been a mercy for him.

  But even her now exclusively female servant staff steered clear of her.

  When the tiresome affair was finally over, BeLa was allowed to escape the oppressive fear that always permeated the ballroom and return to her rooms, where only her puppy awaited her.

  BeLa sighed and pulled JoJo close to her, wrapping her arms around his thick neck. Sometimes, hugging the giant hound made her feel as if her mother was still with her.

  Captain SuEllen had spent her entire life protecting others, her daughter included. BeLa wondered sometimes if her mother had known the day she brought JoJo how he would save her daughter’s life, time and time again.

  Because on days like today, it was hard to hold on to any sliver of hope. Was it not for him, BeLa wasn’t sure she would have had the strength to go on living at all.

  Chapter Eight

  Clark

  We didn’t find her. We didn’t find anyone, in fact, for three solid days.

  Three days of tending to the wounded and foraging for food in this vast forest and bickering about what to do next. Three days to think of every single terrible possibility of what could be happening to Addie, and to reflect on what an impossible ass I had been.

  I had already lost my brother. Now, I had likely lost my wife as well, not that I had been treating her like one. I squeezed my eyes shut, feeling the burn of the past few nights without sleep.

  Nell and SuEllen had gone out scouting every day, coming back with reports of empty villages and abandoned towns.

  Meoooow.

  And then there was that. If it wasn’t bad enough being stuck here without Addie, her damned cat insisted on following me around and biting my ankles, as if Shensi knew it was my fault her owner was missing.

  And it was my fault. If I had been with her, like I should have been, I would have held onto her and made sure we wound up here together.

  They had been gone longer than usual today, so we were already on edge when the muffled sound of footsteps reached our ears. Far more than two sets.

  I leapt to my feet, instantly on alert. My hand went instinctively to my sword hilt. Next to me, Locke’s was already drawn. Someday I would figure out how the man was so damnably fast.

  The other warriors formed a loose circle, and Xavier was at my back. We stood for a silent, tense moment before Nell and SuEllen strode casually through the tree line, making plenty of noise.

  Seven Levelians emerged behind them. The men weren’t easily distinguished from the women at first glance. Every one of them was tall with long, shining black hair and bronze skin. They wore outfits similar to those the women had worn on the ships, flowing linen pants and shirts.

  Upon closer inspection, the women were narrower, curvier, and the men hid broad muscles under their loose-fitting clothes.

  “We’ve found the villagers,” Nell announced unnecessarily.

  The people behind her watched us with expressions ranging from apprehension to curiosity to outright hostility.

  “Strange times,” one of the older women spoke up. “We go hundreds of years without an outsider entering our land, and now so many in such a short time.”

  I got the sense she wasn’t speaking only about us. I shot Nell a questioning look, and she visibly steeled herself before responding. I knew instantly I wasn’t going to like what she said next.

  “Remember that we need allies, Mr. Kensington,” SuEllen prefaced Nell’s words, and I narrowed my eyes.

  I still wasn’t sure if she called me that out of custom or to amuse herself, even in a situation like this one.

  “The villagers are depleted.” Nell said it evenly, but her eyes were blazing. “And while there are those ready to revolt, many are still afraid. My uncle has not been kind. There are men here, trained men, willing to help.”

  There was something she still wasn’t saying.

  “If we can trust them,” a man murmured from behind her.

  She nodded.

  “A fair point, but I’m afraid we may have no choice if we wish to end my uncle’s reign of terror. Or to live, for that matter.” She looked straight at me when she said that last part, and my mind finally put the pieces together.

  “No.” I shook my head. “Absolutely not.”

  “We don’t have a choice,” she repeated. “The Court of Yomi will be here any minute.”

  I cursed, white-hot, blinding rage blurring my vision.

  “They killed my little brother, Nell!” I screamed the words, no longer caring that we were trying not to be found. “They murdered him and you want to work with them now?”

  “I want us to live!” She spoke quietly, but no less fiercely. “I want my people free of the monster who rules them. I am sorry about Gunther. I truly am, Clark.” Her eyes shone and her voice softened. “But he is not the only victim here. My uncle has destroyed lives, burnt down villages, and slaughtered men, women, and children indiscriminately for the better part of a decade now.

  “My kingdom has already been ravaged, and I will not sit by and watch it be razed to the ground for the sake of your vendetta, not when there’s something I can do about it.” She was breathing hard now, and the sun glinting off the silver streak in her hair created a halo effect around her.

  The Levelians behind her and those from the ship alike looked at her with awe, like she was their savior.

  And I had never hated her more.

  I opened my mouth to argue again, but my brother stepped between us.

  “Don’t forget. We still need to find Addie, and we’ll need the support of the locals in order to do that.”

  I fought to force words past the rage burning its way up my throat, still shaking my head.

  “I’m not asking, Clark.�
� Nell’s voice was iron. “This is my land and my decision.”

  “Fine,” I spat. “I will do this for Addie, since being Queen apparently puts you above caring about a single life.”

  Her eyes flashed with fury. She walked closer and spoke so only Xav and I could hear her.

  “Be grateful you will never have to make the decisions I do.” Her catlike eyes widened infinitesimally, almost as if she was pleading with me. “We have the numbers on them, Clark, and the advantage of my home territory. They won’t have a chance to double-cross us.”

  I just shook my head again. She was so, so wrong about that. They were expertly trained and supremely dangerous and led by the greatest general the world had seen in a couple of centuries.

  “They also already have someone inside the palace,” she added.

  A suspicion crept into my gut.

  “Who?”

  “The General.” She said the words quickly, like she could reduce their impact somehow.

  I bit back another expletive. Just when I thought this situation couldn’t get any worse. My father had the ear of the king, and HiLa only knew what kind of tragedy those two monsters could wreak working together.

  The Analyst

  “I told you that I would bring us into a new era,” the king announced to his reluctant people. “And so, I have. Today, I have arranged a marriage for my dear daughter BeLamere that will be advantageous to us all.”

  BeLa tried not to gape from her position at his side, knowing he was likely to punish some poor unsuspecting stranger if she did anything he didn’t approve of, whether it was intentional or not. She shouldn’t still be shocked at her father’s inconsideration, nor his cruelty. But he hadn’t bothered to so much as mention it to her before projecting an image of a man easily three times her age for the room to see.

  A General from the worlds below. A man who had lived his life in violence and was sure to be even more barbarous than the brutal man sitting beside her.