by A. M. Miller
I can’t. Fate has already tied us together, Raven. Into darkness, we will descend.
21
The Heart Queensland
The fire provided a much needed warmth. The air was colder in the south. This close to winter, the wind turned brutal. Lu pulled her cape tighter around her body.
“Are you cold, my queen?” Domicin began to remove his own cape.
Lu shook her head. “No, I’m fine.”
“Want us to put on some more wood,” Yack asked from across the fire.
“You’ll attract white ichions you idiot.” Kovin glared into the fire.
Yack smiled and patted his stomach. “White ichion stew.”
“White ichion is one of the most poisonous snakes you will ever run across. They turn your blood into white paste and brain into mush, and you want to eat one of them?”
“Technically it’s just their venom that is poisonous,” Tomerin spoke up for the first time since they’d settled for camp. Lu glanced over to her left and saw them sitting with their book open. “It’s all in the gland. So in theory, if you were to remove the gland without rupturing it I suppose you could eat white ichion. I have no record of any attempts but it would be an interesting experiment.”
“Tomerin, no experiments on the crew,” Marcella said.
“I didn’t say I would, just that it be interesting.”
Lu continued to watch Tomerin. Their fingertip glided across the paper of the book. She frowned.
“They’re reading,” Tyla said behind Lu.
Lu jumped a little. She glanced back at Tyla. The woman smiled back at her, one eye seemed to glow brighter than the other.
“They changed the words to shapes you can feel when you touch the paper. Tomerin likes to read, but there isn’t always time on our mission. They invented it so they could read in the dark.”
“I didn’t invent it. I repurposed it. There are books like this all over the White Queensland,” Tomerin said without looking up.
“They’ll show you if you want to see, my queen,” Tyla said.
“No, thank you.” Lu turned away. “Perhaps some other time.”
There was too much on Lu’s mind for books. She was keenly aware of the staff strapped to her back.
Doubt begets death, Meshi often told Lu. Pick a path, make a choice, and be sure of it.
Lu’s path had already been chosen. Fear and doubt would do her no good. She looked around the fire. None of them seemed afraid, but this was not new to them. Lu and Domicin were the only ones who’d never been on mission. She glanced at him. He spoke with Marcella in hushed whispers.
Lu studied Domicin. They were only two years apart, but he seemed much older. Was it the loss of his sister or his time in the east that aged him? Lu didn’t know, but she got the feeling that everyone around her was much bigger than her. Lu was just a little girl still playing around in her mother shoes.
“Are you alright, my queen,” Domicin asked. He was looking back at her.
Lu blinked. At some point, she’d been wrapped up in her own thoughts and stopped seeing him.
“Yes, I was just…” Lu looked back at the fire. She didn’t have the words nor did she make the attempt to try to find them.
“Would you like to hear a story about your mother’s first mission?” Marcella asked.
Lu leaned forward to see past Domicin. She did not say anything, but Marcella must have seen something in her eyes because she smiled.
“Your mother was twenty when she became queen. Twenty-one on her first mission. Yack and I are the only ones remaining from that crew. The other two retired and one died in a bar fight. It was also my first mission and I hate to admit, but looking at your mother’s perfect skin and beautiful face, I had my doubts. I remember thinking ‘our queen is too beautiful for this type of work. That’s why they created stone castles to protect girls like her.’ I mean she’d painted her lips and smelled of Lilies.”
Her mother was renowned for her beauty, even Lu knew that. Sometimes she would catch glimpses of her, in the corridors or dining room, and her breath would freeze inside her lungs. She was more than beautiful; there was something in the very essence of her that made poets write sonatas.
Marcella smiled lost in the memory. “But she could fight. I’d never seen someone move the way she did. Our mission was supposed to be a simple one. There was an infection outbreak near the eastern border, one of the children. We were told that the child had been secluded from the rest of the town but when we got there we soon learned that was not the case. The kid had a sister. When she learned that her brother had been locked away, she set out to free him. The people of the village had all been avoiding the area so no one noticed the little girl sneaking over.”
“How old was she?” Lu asked.
Marcella brows crinkled and lips pinched. “Hmm, I believe she was twelve maybe eleven years.”
“She should have known better.”
Marcella lips quirked into a half smile she tried to hide. “Sometimes what we know isn’t so easily put into action. From what I gathered the siblings were very close.”
“Selfish.”
“Perhaps. Either way, we hadn’t planned for it. We got there and your mother knew right away that something was wrong. She tried to warn us but it was too late. They seemed to come at us from every angle. Nearly a quarter of the village had been infected.”
“I still got the scar on my shoulder from the butcher who bit me. Man had a big mouth too. Nearly fit my whole shoulder inside of his mouth,” Yack added.
“We all got scars from that battle.”
“Is that where you got-”
Marcella pointed to her face. ”This? No, that’s another story for a different day.”
Lu nodded and tried not to stare at the scar. She was curious but didn’t want to take the attention off of her mother’s story.
“So yeah, everyone got their fair share of scares. Alowa, our leader at the time, lost an entire finger. The only one who didn’t have any scars was your mother, though she got cut up quite a bit. But you should have seen her move. People say the goddess works through her children but you don’t fully understand until you’ve seen a queen in action. Your mother wasn’t a woman or a queen. She was light made flesh and bone, wrath and mercy. She saved the rest of the village and gifted the infected with the peace they so rightfully deserved.”
Lu knew her mother to be a decent fighter. According to Meshi she’d been a studious pupil, but Meshi never went into details. Lu wondered which of them had been the better student. She wasn’t smart like Leo nor cunning like Lecive. All she had was her body and because of her illness, even that was at a disadvantage.
Lu looked into the fire. “So the queen was as the legends say.”
“She was. She proved that to all of us, but she also retched three times.”
Lu’s eyes widened at Marcella’s words.
Marcella’s lips pulled back into a full grin. “Don’t believe me? Ask Yack. If I remember correctly she got a little on him.”
Lu glanced back at Yack.
“Only a little and she was very apologetic,” Yack said.
“Of course we told no one. Our first battle is hard for most of us. No matter how much you train it’s really something you can never be fully prepared for. Your mother was an excellent fighter but she’d never had to send anyone to the goddess before. When all the fighting was done she just doubled over and…”
Yack made a retching sound. Kovin rolled his eyes at the obscene noise.
Marcella shook her head but the smile was still on her face. “Basically, what I’m trying to tell you is, you’re expected to be a bit nervous, my queen. Heck if you manage to make it through this mission and only retch twice you’ll be at a good start.”
Lu couldn’t imagine her mother retching under any circumstance. She seemed too fine of a woman.
“Did the story help at all, my queen,” Marcella asked.
Lu gave a slow nod. “It did�
� I think.”
Domicin placed his hand against her shoulder. She looked at him and saw the soft smile pressed against his lips. Lu gave a small smile back. The story had helped.
“Alright then, let us get some rest before the goddess glow greets us. Tomerin’s first watch, correct.” Marcella looked at Tomerin. They gave a nod and unfolded their legs to stand.
“Can I go with them, captain? Two eyes are better than one,” Tyla said.
“Fine, we’ll work in shifts of two.”
“Captain, if possible can I not be partnered with onions over here?” Kovin pointed at Yack.
“Domicin do you mind taking the next shift with Kovin.”
Domicin nodded. “Though after a day’s riding I can’t be sure I’ll smell much better.”
Marcella looked at Yack. “That means you’re with me.”
“Like old times.” Yack grinned.
“When’s my watch,” Lu asked.
Marcella looked down at her and smiled. “You won’t have a watch, my queen. You will rest. After all, you are the centerpiece of this whole operation.”
Lu wanted to argue but she wasn’t sure if this was the way things were done. As they prepared to lay down for the night Lu felt her anxiety return. She closed her eyes but could not turn her mind off. Shifting against the cape she’d laid down on the forest floor, she tried to get comfortable. Meshi had trained her to sleep in worse places, but still rest did not come to her.
Lu turned over on her back. She opened her eyes and looked up at the night sky. Stars and a moon that was almost smiling.
Goddess, make me the queen they wish me to be.
22
The Heart Queensland
By the time Lu opened her eyes the next morning the crew had almost finished clearing their campsite. The ground had frosted over during the night and her muscles turned stiff. Lu stood, brushing the leaves and dirt off of her cape. She tied it around her shoulders and walked over to the horses.
“You all move quickly,” Lu said when she saw Marcella.
“We all take these mission seriously, my queen. It may not seem like it but they all willingly signed up for the ninth. We want to help these people in any way possible.”
Marcella turned to help Tomerin finish saddling the horses. Lu watched them. Of all the positions in the army, the ninth was by far the most dangerous. There was great glory in the position but everything came with a cost. She wondered what made them agree. Marcella seemed like a natural born leader and being the daughter of nobility she could have easily found success elsewhere.
Domicin walked up next to Lu, strapping a sword securely to his side. “We’re ready when you are, my queen.”
“Ready.” Lu nodded and climbed onto the back of her horse.
Whatever reasons they had for signing up didn’t matter. They all shared a common goal now. They would do what was necessary to protect the people. Together they saddled up and began to move again.
The chill from last night had settled in and seemed prepared to stay. Lu’s clothes kept her body warm but her face was left exposed to the wind. The area around them was quiet. So many of life’s inhabitants prepared for winters slumber.
They’d reached the outskirts of one of Zendal’s neighboring villages when the darkness hit Lu. A wall slammed down around her mind. The force of the hit nearly knocked her off her horse.
A scream ripped through her mind, loud and piercing. Lu covered her ears but the sound was coming from within. She opened her eyes.
The world around Lu changed, filling with shadows and twisted figures. The goddess glow was gone. A heavy fog surrounded them. The bare trees twisted with limbs reaching out for her. The slow drip of blood trailed its way from her nose down to her lip. Pain sent her eyes rolling back and teeth grinding.
Domicin caught Lu as she fell sideways from her horse. She felt his arms wrap around her but when she turned to look at him something was wrong with his face.
Domicin smiled at her. His lips curled back, exposing sharpened teeth. His smile widened. The skin that connected his mouth began to rip, tearing like string cheese. Blood spilled down his face but still he kept smiling. Terror gripped at Lu’s chest. She closed her eyes.
It’s not real. It’s not real.
Lu reached into her mind, pushing past the darkness and screams. They clung to her, sticky tar-like muck. She trembled.
A gentle purr beneath the screams and the tickle of fur against her skin.
Come play with ussss.
The darkness held her tighter the deeper she went. Lu used all her strength to push. With the final push, the darkness shattered. Light burst through her mind silencing the screams into one single voice.
“Can you hear me, my queen?” Domicin asked.
Lu opened her eyes. Domicin still held her. She saw two versions of him staring down at her. One smiling and the other looking down at her with concerned amber eyes. The two versions of reality overlapped, but she could see the difference now.
Lu pushed herself up. They were both on Domicin’s horse making the maneuver awkward. “I’m alright. “
She brushed her hand against her nose and felt the blood smear her skin. That part had at least been real.
Marcella looked at them. “It was the madness, wasn’t it? You can sense it all the way from here.”
Lu nodded. “It’s stronger than I thought it would be. I wasn’t prepared.”
Lu’s first mind merge was nothing like she’d expected. According to Meshi, there was suppose to be some kind of warning before hand that would give her enough time to put her mental walls in place, but there’d been no such warning.
Now that she’d broken madness’s hold, she could see clearer. Her eyes showed her one reality and her third eye saw another. His reality.
“Perhaps we should stop. Give her majesty a moment to rest and adjust. I have something for the bleeding,” Tomerin said.
“No. I’m fine now.” Lu sniffled and wiped her lip again. “We don’t have time to wait. He’s afraid and he knows we’re coming.”
Lu stared down the path. She could sense his fear as though it were her own. Her third eye told her how his mind saw the world. She thought of how long he’d been trapped in that perpetual state of fear. The ideal sickened her.
No one should suffer such a fate.
Lu slid off of Domicin’s horse and walked back over to her own. She wobbled as she tried to climb on. Domicin’s hands were outstretched to catch her but she adjusted herself and grasped the reins.
“I’m ready,” Lu said.
Marcella stared at her for a moment but then nodded. “Alright crew, move out.”
They took off again. Hooves beat against the earthy ground. Cold wind whipped past her face but Lu leaned in and held tight to the reins. The motion of the horse caused the acids in her stomach to rise. For a moment she thought she might vomit but she pinched her lips and willed her stomach still.
The pull towards the town grew stronger. Separating the two realities became harder but Meshi had spent years training Lu’s mind as well as her body. When dark shadows rose from the ground and twisted up toward the sky she rode right through them. She kept her mind focused on what was real.
Zendel was like most villages near the southern border. The proximity to the wall did something to the soil making it almost impossible to farm. Hard earth made even harder people.
Lu hopped off of her horse and looked around. The village appeared like a ghost town. Homes made of scavenged wood and broken parts. No one dared come out when the queen’s mercy was at hand. It was better that way. The last thing Lu needed was more people getting infected.
The others dismounted. There weren’t that many houses inside of the village. The ones that were there were small and in need of repair. There were a few animals rambling around, but otherwise, there was no movement.
Lu focused on the reality her third eye created. Suddenly everything about the village seemed threatening. The faint sounds of
children singing vibrated in the air around them creating an electric buzz. Their melody taking on an eerie tone.
The three will rise, but two will fall
Despite it being mid-day the village appeared dark. Moonlight casted shadows over the shanty houses. Their roofs stretched tall and glared down at Lu. Dark figures seemed to leer around every corner.
madness madness
infects them all
Trails of blood ran from every doorstep connecting in a river of crimson that cut through the middle of the village.
One of the pigs turned to face Lu. The skin on its face had been peeled away and eyes gouged out. She turned away from the sight.
into darkness we all descend
Falling falling
Lu walked through the village using her third eye as a guide. She stepped into the blood river and could almost feel the warm liquid as it rushed past her. The children’s singing grew louder.
down the hole never seen again
Lu had heard the song before when she was younger. It sang of the darker ages when madness had overrun the queensland. Children were forbidden from singing it out loud, which only added to the temptation. The song held the words of oracles and was said to summon orcestrals. Even after the church had rid the land of oracles the songs had remained. Most children saw it as a game. They sang the song when no one was around, tempting the creatures to rise again.
Lu kept walking, following the sound of their singing and laughter. When they reached the darkest corner of the village, She stopped.
“He’s here.” Lu looked towards one of the houses. The members of the ninth moved to surround her. She pulled the staff from her back. With one quick twirl, the staff transformed into a battle-axe. She glanced at Domicin. He gave her a silent nod.
Lu turned to Marcella. Another quick nod.
Lu raised the axe and swung it down on the lock. It fell to the ground with a loud clink. She placed her hand against the wood door and pushed. As soon as Lu opened the door the foul scent of warm urine and feces greeted them. The smell stung her eyes. Stomach churning, Lu stepped into the dark corridor.