by Drae Box
“Uh, Raneth?” voiced Aldora softly. She nodded towards the doors. “Your hand.”
Raneth frowned and looked. The door was glowing softly around his hand. He snatched it back and rubbed it against his top.
“That magic is far older than two hundred years,” stated Pedibastet as the rest of the door began to glow. “I doubt it will make your magic allergy flare up.”
“Habit,” muttered Raneth, eyeing the door suspiciously. “I know the palace was the first of the Creator’s buildings,” he stated, referring to Giften’s best-known sorcerer and the one who had made the six Weapons of Protection for the original Giften villages, “but I don’t know what exactly it’s capable of other than protecting anybody of Giften royal blood inside its walls, or those who marry into it.”
“Why is it locked up?” asked Aldora. “Without Rikward to let people in?”
“I don’t know,” admitted Raneth. “I don’t think this has ever happened before. Even the kitchen side door is usually unlocked so Pedibastet and Alagar can use it whenever they want.”
The glow was turning the double doors a soft red, and as Raneth, Aldora and the Prince of Giften’s Cats eased back a step, the four locks on the door snicked.
“It just unlocked for you,” murmured Aldora, “because of your blood.”
Raneth rubbed his hand against his top again. “It’s been two hundred years since Bayres married into the royal family. I shouldn’t be counted anymore. That’s such a security risk,” he grumbled, though he tried the door handle anyway. The latch released at his touch and he eased the door slowly open. “Cray?”
“You’re not too distant if you still have a claim, idiot,” stated Pedibastet, rubbing his body against Raneth’s leg as he walked past.
Raneth gently took Aldora’s hand in his and they walked into the throne room. The red strip of carpet that led from the corridor to the three thrones was stained with muddy footprints, which had since dried and clumped on the carpet and its gold thread trim. The white-and-black marble floor looked clean, but it wasn’t shining like it usually did, suggesting that the royal household’s few servants hadn’t washed it today. The tapestries that were normally rolled up and pinned into place by fabric strips above each of the windows to their left were hanging down, revealing scenes of Giften’s past and barely allowing any light around their well-preserved edges, despite the direct sunlight. Raneth carefully inspected King Cray’s throne, but on observing no blood, he stepped past it and peered through the open doorway beyond. Pedibastet joined him.
“I hear absolutely nobody,” stated the cat. “Dare I say it, but it seems the palace has been abandoned.”
“Abandoned?” asked Aldora. “How? No, why would that be, Raneth?”
Raneth glanced at Aldora then shrugged. “I’ve no idea. Something must have happened. It must be related to whatever happened to your village.”
“Do you think the Eastern Barbarians invaded?”
“I don’t think so. They would have had to go through the Newer Kingdom, and we didn’t hear anything about them invading whilst we were there. Whilst I was in my gift-self I didn’t see any invading troops with my griffin eyesight either. Whatever this is, I think it’s a kingdom issue. Something bad enough that Cray, Lemuela and Louise had to leave.”
The royal official stepped into the corridor and tried the blue door on his immediate left. Locked. He peered through the small square window in the door, into Cray’s office. It looked tidy: the shelves of active royal officials’ current records were neatly arranged, and barely any paperwork sat on the table. The one thing that stood out to Raneth in the small room, which was lit only by the soft glow of orange light from a magic dome in the centre of its ceiling, was the coffee cup sitting on the desk. Cray never leaves his cups in there. He’s too afraid of getting spills on the paperwork.
The cat twitched an ear then walked down the corridor with his tail tip slowly flicking. “I said it was empty. Do you doubt my ears?”
Raneth shook his head. “Aldora, you go to the kitchen and grab as many food and water supplies as you can find. Until we know what’s going on, we have to assume something really bad happened, and that we have to rely on ourselves.”
“I don’t like this,” murmured Pedibastet as he poked his head through the kitchen doorway, further down the corridor. He walked back to Raneth and Aldora and rubbed his cheek against Raneth’s shin. “What should I do?”
“Keep Aldora company. Make sure nobody sneaks up on her. I’m going to go and check the other rooms and restock my weapons from my guest room here. Maybe grab some fresh clothes too. I’ll grab some of Lemuela’s for you, A. I don’t think she’ll mind.”
“Thanks,” said Aldora, before following Pedibastet to the kitchen.
Raneth watched them go, then strode to the curling staircase that was tucked to the side of the corridor.
Raneth unlocked his allocated room in the palace, slipped his keys back into his pocket and opened the door. Exactly how I left it, he thought as he stepped through. His bed was in the centre of the square room, made up by the head servant Leal. The dark wooden chest at the bottom of the bed was still firmly in its usual spot; it was exactly the same width as the double bed and its black iron padlock refused anyone entry. To the left, the door to the en suite bathroom was open, so Raneth prowled over and peeked inside. The barest twitch of a smile appeared at the corners of his mouth when he observed that nobody was standing there waiting to stab him with a toothbrush. Turning his back to the bathroom, he went over to the walk-in cupboard on his left and stepped inside; he plucked a navy blue royal official rucksack off the floor. I’ll have to order a new one if I lose this spare. He checked that the inside seams had some of his small, white griffin feathers sewn into them – they would prevent the rucksack from vanishing when he used his family’s blood-gift to form into his griffin-self – and then he slung it onto his back. Fresh clothes next.
As he was rummaging through the chest of drawers by the door for a few pieces of clothing, he spotted a small gold sphere with a matching chain tucked into his underwear drawer. He pulled the Giften device free and held it in his hands. I haven’t used this thing since I was eleven. He lifted the grebunar to eye level, noticing the small swirls in the gold of the sphere. He squeezed the ball in his fist and thought of King Cray. The grebunar vibrated in his hand and Raneth splayed his fingers, but it didn’t lift into the air like it usually would, nor did the swirls across its body turn a soft blue like they should if the magic technology powering it flared up and connected with Cray’s. Cray’s not answering his. I bet he forgot to take it with him. He shoved the grebunar into one of the square pouches flanking his belt buckle.
The royal official quickly changed his underwear and pulled on a fresh uniform, before moving over to the wall opposite the bathroom. He kicked at a piece of skirting that jutted out underneath a painting of his mother. The wall clicked and gave a low hiss, before half of it swung slowly open, away from the corner of the wall, revealing Raneth’s personal stash of weapons. He replenished his weapons belt to have six throwing daggers, a throwing star in each of the square pouches either side of his belt buckle, and a backup dagger in his left boot. He drew his sword from his belt and quickly inspected its length for any blemishes that suggested he should temporarily shelve it and grab one of his others, but he was content enough to slip it back into his belt. The last thing he grabbed was a fresh set of lockpicks, which he tucked into one of the pouches with his throwing stars.
After rummaging through the king’s daughter’s clothes drawers and finding Aldora a few spares she could borrow, Raneth headed back downstairs and into the mission room hidden behind the staircase. He noticed that everything in the room – both the Giften magic technology and the Southern Kingdom electrical technology – was powered down. He eased past the large chair in the centre of the room that was used to mind- or body-meld in missions of the highest danger – missions which the king oversaw instead of letting ro
yal officials work on their own or with a partner. The cupboard Raneth was interested in was in the corner of the room, locked, so he made quick work of it with the lockpicks and pulled it open. A small line of the latest version of grebunars sat nestled on a black velvet cloth on one of the shelves, so he pulled his sleeve to cover his hand and plucked one out.
“Ruddy MIR,” he mumbled, referring to his allergy to younger magic, which was caused by his having two gifts as well as his inherited blood-gift. “At least Aldora can use this if we get separated.”
He headed back to the kitchen but jerked to a stop in the doorway of the king’s armoury. Directly opposite the door, a large section of the wall was empty. Where in Giften’s soil is the Kingdom’s Shield? Cray’d better not be dead! A relic of Giften’s earliest days, the Kingdom’s Shield was an heirloom of the royal family and they could only surrender or give away the kingdom to another family if they handed it over. If somebody snuck in here and took it... His stomach clenched at the thought. The royal palace only guarded the lives of the royals, not their things. If a thief had somehow snuck in, perhaps through a window, and taken the Shield, they’d own Giften. They’d be the ruler. Raneth shook his head. I can’t do anything about that yet. I’d better check on Aldora and Pedibastet. He went to the kitchen.
“What did you find?” he asked Aldora.
She hesitated, her hands full of small rectangles wrapped in black packaging. Ah, bummer. She found royal official rations.
“RO ration bars and some water bottles,” replied Aldora triumphantly with a smile. “Was there any hint upstairs of what happened?”
Raneth put the new grebunar on the island counter, noticing Aldora had emptied her bag’s contents there so she could easily add her findings. “No, but I didn’t think to look for their journals. If they had left them behind, I doubt they would have had time to write what happened before they left.”
“If they truly fled, they would have taken those with them,” stated Pedibastet, who sat on the island counter. He sniffed at the grebunar as Raneth pulled his old one out and tapped it gently against the new one.
That’s true, noted Raneth, nodding in agreement and returning his grebunar to his belt pouch. “Pass us some of those?” he asked Aldora, holding his hands out for the rations. They divvied up the rations and water bottles between his new bag and her old one from their assignment in the Newer Kingdom.
“So now what do we do?” asked Aldora.
Raneth fiddled with his sword’s positioning on his belt. “The Kingdom’s Shield is gone,” he stated.
“What?” shrieked Pedibastet. “Cray would never surrender Giften! He’s my human! He isn’t stupid!”
“Someone has it,” stated Raneth. He shrugged. “Maybe Cray took it with him to keep it safe.” He hoped that was the case.
Aldora shoved a ration bar into her bag more roughly than she had the others. “That can’t be good news. Even if Cray has it, that suggests somebody wanted to try and take it.”
Raneth nodded. “Next nearest settlement other than yours is Wisner City,” he stated, as he shrugged his bag onto his back and secured the straps. “We should head there and see if we can find out what happened.” He nodded at the grebunar. “That’s for you. Have you heard about grebunars?”
Aldora nodded. “They’re a really old piece of Giften tech that we still make. I heard they cost the same as a house. Is this yours?”
“Technically it belongs to the mission room,” admitted Raneth. “But Cray loans these out to royal officials if he’s overseeing their assignments from there, so the tech can channel through them with an upgrade patch to turn it into a mission grebunar instead of a regular one. I want you to carry this so we can communicate if we get separated. I’ve linked it up to mine.”
“But your MIR…”
“My one’s been in the Bayre family for three or four hundred years. It doesn’t affect me, just like the Dagger and the Shotput don’t because they’re more than two hundred years older than me.” He looked at the Shotput of Power. The silver sphere was nestled against one of Aldora’s top on the counter’s surface. I might need that and Aldora has the Dagger. Technically, he still had to present it to Cray, if they could find him. He slipped the Shotput of Power into his bag. “To use your grebunar, squeeze it in your hand and think of me, then let go. It’ll float near you and show an image of my face and we’ll be able to hear each other.”
Aldora smiled and gently took the grebunar. “This is a good idea,” she stated, slipping it into her trouser pocket and then frowning at Raneth. “You said you were getting me some fresh clothes from Lady Lemuela’s room?”
“Yeah, here...” Raneth dipped a hand into his bag and withdrew his findings from his cousin’s room. “Here you go. I’ll turn my back or you can pick another room to change in if you like.”
“You’ve seen all of my body now, Raneth,” said Aldora with a small laugh. “But whatever’s comfortable for you.”
Raneth turned his back.
Chapter Two
Aldora
They had never walked for this long in silence. Aldora glanced up at Raneth as they continued towards Wisner City; they had passed her village’s ruins a while ago. She was holding onto Raneth’s scarred hand, refusing to let go, though he didn’t seem to mind. The last time the village had come under attack, Wisner had been the first place she had gone after the palace in search of the just-stolen Dagger of Protection. I had just days then to save my dad. Now I don’t know if I have any time to save him, or where he even is. Her family had grown since then too, to include her half-sister, Alika, her partner Drigoe and Alika’s newborn, Nathaniel.
“Raneth?”
He looked at her with his gorgeous blue eyes and gave her a smile, the previous night’s black stubble still peppering his jawline and chin. “Yeah?” he asked, his voice matching the soft tone of hers. Aldora watched as the cold breeze tussled his short black hair.
“I… Raneth, I’m really grateful that you’re here with me. I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t.”
She spotted as Raneth flushed slightly before he smiled and nodded. “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else but by your side,” he said.
“What about me?” asked Prince Pedibastet, walking by her side.
“You too, Pedi,” she assured him.
The cat rubbed his cheek against the outside of her leg, then paused and stared ahead. “There are people outside Wisner’s city gates, but I don’t recognise their uniforms,” he warned.
“What do you mean?” asked Aldora. “They’re not royal officials or legionaries?”
“No. It’s no Giften or army uniform that I recognise. You’ll see as we draw close. Be careful. I can run faster than you two, but that does not mean I want you two falling behind whilst I escape.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” murmured Raneth, a small smile twitching at the left side of his mouth. “Let’s get closer and see what we can find out.”
Sounds like a plan, decided Aldora as she gave a nod and strode forwards again. A soft pressure from Raneth’s hand told her he was worried too. But is his stomach rolling over like mine? What if this is all my fault? What if whoever attacked the village used it somehow to get Cray to give the kingdom over, and I wasn’t there to stop them? If I’ve gotten my whole village killed, I’ll never be able to live with myself. She squinted as the shapes of four individuals at the city’s gates started to become more visible to her in the day’s light. Black, knee-length jackets? She glanced at Raneth.
“I don’t recognise what they’re wearing either,” he stated.
Aldora eyed the three men and one woman in their black jackets, noticing as she drew close that their buttons were gold, as were the rims of their sleeves and collars. They each wore trousers of different styles and colours, suggesting that only the jacket signified they were together. One of the men pointed at Aldora. Oh-oh. She looked up at Raneth.
“Relax,” he uttered at her look. “It might no
t mean anything just yet.” But he stiffened when he was pointed at next.
Easy to say, not easy to do, she thought, giving his hand a quick squeeze of comfort.
“Hi,” she said to the four outside the large, metal city gates.
“Identify yourselves,” ordered the woman, taking a step closer to Aldora, Raneth and Pedibastet. She had her arms down at her sides, reminding Aldora of Raneth when he was preparing for a fight, especially as her fingers were twitching.
“Aldora Leoma,” she replied as calmly as she could. Her heart was racing as she watched the four come nearer and glare at her, their eyes running up and down her body before looking at Raneth.
“And him?” asked the woman, nodding towards Raneth.
“Royal Official Raneth Bayre,” supplied Raneth with a small smile. “May we enter Wisner, please?”
“Dagger Bearer, it’s a huge honour to meet you,” stated the woman, grabbing Aldora’s hand from Raneth’s and shaking it with both of hers.
“Uh, thanks,” uttered Aldora, feeling her blush warming the sides of her neck and her ears. I really wish I could stop going red every time someone thinks well of me because of the Quest. It’s so embarrassing.
“Did the royal official kidnap you, Miss Leoma?” asked one of the men.
Aldora frowned at Raneth, then back at the four standing between them and Wisner City. “No. He’s my boyfriend.”
“Your boyfriend has been charged with kidnapping you,” stated the woman. “And he’s a known murderer.” The woman looked at the three men flanking her. “Grab him.”
Raneth drew his sword. “Keep back,” he growled. “I never kidnapped Aldora and I only ever kill in self-defence or as part of my duties to the Three Ks. Convicted murderers and the like.”
Aldora stepped between Raneth’s sword and the men. Each of the black jackets hesitated at her move. “Nobody is grabbing Raneth,” she stated firmly. “I confirm everything he’s just said. Who charged him?”