Mist & Whispers

by C. M. Lucas

  ‘Oh, don’t leave. It’s not often you find a woman in the forest in these times, let alone two beautiful young things like yourselves.’

  The voice was perversely silver; the kind of voice that made you want to punch the owner square in the face.

  As Anya turned, one of the figures removed their hood. At first she thought it was Theone; he looked just like him, only his skin was grey and his bloodshot eyes were heavy with years of unrest.

  The other man, his face remaining hidden by the hood of his cloak, instructed Theone’s doppelganger to tie the girls up, which he did with a look of twisted pleasure. He raised his hand and from beneath the mud spouted roots that grew quickly around each of the girls, securing a strong hold on them both.

  All Anya could think about was how to get Steph out of there. What could she do to distract the men whilst Steph ran for cover? Somewhere in the city, Tim needed her.

  The roots were so tight around her that she couldn’t move her arm, meaning her vambrace was out of action. She tried to bide some time by asking questions. The tactic worked so well in the books she’d read, she might as well give it a try now.

  ‘Who are you?’

  ‘You fail to recognise me? I am the King.’ His voice was just like Theone’s too, only he spoke with asperity.

  ‘The King? But Theone is the King!’

  The man’s face contorted, bitterness bubbling beneath the pores on his forehead. ‘No, I am the King. I have rule of the castle, I am the King!’

  ‘Now, now Eleazar. Play nice. An education is all these little fledglings need. I’m sure they’ll be bowing to your greatness in a matter of hours,’ the other man said from beneath his hood before turning to the girls. ‘Gets awfully touchy about people bowing and such.’

  ‘It’s Sire to you, Morcades. I shouldn’t have to keep reminding you. You got the girl and I got the throne – that was always the arrangement. Eighteen years, you should be able to address me correctly in your sleep!’

  ‘Hmm. How absent of me, Sire.’ The corner of Morcades mouth flicked up into a rebellious half-smile.

  Eleazar? Why did that name sound so familiar? ‘Wait,’ she said, her face a mixture of shock and confusion. ‘You’re Theone’s brother! But... you’re dead? He found your medallion on your body in Silver Forest – you were burned alive!’

  Eleazar looked at her, his eyes full of menace and his smile full of audacity. ‘It’s easy to make someone believe a lie when they don’t want to see the truth.’

  Her mind wrestled with his words, trying to put them into place so that everything made sense. Why could he possibly have wanted his brother to think that he was dead? And who was this hooded man standing beside him, and how did he fit in to all of this?

  ‘And you,’ she said, turning to Eleazar’s companion. ‘I know I’ve heard that name before, Morcades?’ She began combing through the tangled strands of her memory for an answer, but so much had happened in such a short time that she still hadn’t quite processed it all, and once again she was left with a blank.

  ‘I should hope so, little birdy, my reputation usually precedes me.’

  Anya glowered at the hooded man. She hated being called names, especially when sour intent was poorly masked with artificial sweetness.

  ‘Allow me to introduce myself properly,’ he held out his hand to her but retracted it after a glance down at the roots that bound her. ‘Ah, yes. Anyway. Morcades, God of the Damned.’

  She tilted her head trying to get a better look at his face.

  ‘A God? I didn’t think Gods really existed,’ Steph spat, uncharacteristically defiant.

  ‘Neither did I once. Quite a humbling experience, being wrong, isn’t it?’

  ‘You weren’t always a God then?’

  ‘Oh souls, no! I was once a mere mortal, merrily going about my business, pursuing the woman of my dreams when I was ruthlessly deceived. The previous God, a God known by many names but who I knew as Sarras, convinced me if I accepted the celestial title as a gift, I’d have the power to win my lady. What the bastard neglected to mention was that I’d be locked in Damnare and left to rot along with all the other miserable corpses. Never trust a God, that’s the lesson in all of this.’

  With both their assailants focused on the girls’ questions, Anya began to wriggle her feet, slowly and one at a time, making only small movements so as not to attract attention. ‘So how did you get out?’

  ‘A business arrangement.’

  ‘With him?’ Anya said, sneering at Eleazar.

  ‘Not quite. Both myself and Eleazar had much to gain from the arrangement; we’d have been fools not to take the opportunity when it was presented to us.’

  ‘Presented by who?’

  ‘He didn’t reveal his name.’

  ‘And what did he get out of it? He had to have got something, otherwise why would he have bothered?’

  ‘Well, why is any man driven to madness? A woman, of course. He had a particular interest in the Queen.’

  ‘Morcades, I think it’s about time you stunt that tongue of yours. Let’s get these two back to the castle. The Princess will be waiting for you.’

  One of Anya’s feet was almost free when the mention of Theone’s sister – the woman who had the jewel they needed to find their way home – rendered her too shocked to move. ‘What, Princess Abeytu is in on this?’

  ‘Ha! How laughable!’ Morcades snickered. ‘The Princess of purity conspiring with dark minds! Of course she isn’t, otherwise I wouldn’t have had half the difficulty in convincing her to be my queen.’

  Anya’s sneer at the Self-Proclaimed King turned to pure detest. ‘You sold out your sister and your brother’s wife for some stupid castle? You’re sick!’

  ‘I’ve been called worse, your opinions mean nothing to me,’ he said, seeming to brush off the comment without a care, though the roots tightened around her chest at her outburst.

  ‘But if you’re the God of the Damned,’ Steph said, ‘why don’t you just kill her? Then she’d be with you in the hell or Damnare or whatever you call it.’

  Anya twisted in her binds, trying to give Steph a little nudge with her elbow. ‘Don’t give them ideas!’ She narrowed her eyes at her friend, seizing another opportunity to keep Eleazar and Morcades looking in one direction whilst in the other, she shook off the last few roots, completely freeing her feet.

  ‘Ha! You really are funny, little birdy. As if that hadn’t occurred to me. All fluff and no brains,’ he said, patting her on the head. ‘If I were to take her life, her innocent soul would go to the other place, and I’d lose her forever. Besides, I don’t want to just take her. I want her to give herself to me, willingly. Then I really shall have won.’

  ‘Morcades!’ a frustrated Eleazar shouted.

  ‘Yes, yes, don’t get your wings in a flutter, Sire. Well, girls, it appears we shall have to continue this back at the castle.’ He approached the girls, lingering over them and breathing in their presence. ‘Do... Do I detect magic?’

  Anya remembered the mageium on her vambrace and bit her lip. Even if she did manage to break free, if they took her vambrace she’d be left powerless and unable to defend herself.

  ‘Wait here,’ he said to Eleazar. ‘I shall return with the Dark Blood in a moment.’ Morcades shimmered into nothingness, and Anya decided now was the only chance she had. With her feet unbound, she kicked through the roots connecting her to the ground and threw herself at Eleazar, both of them tumbling across the forest floor. The roots around her upper body loosened, and she managed to wriggle free enough to turn. ‘STEPH, RUN!’

  Steph tried fighting against the roots, kicking repeatedly, but her strength was no match for Anya’s.

  Eleazar’s clammy and callous hands seized Anya, but he struggled to keep a good hold on her. Her elbow connected with his groin and he bawled, relinquishing his grip on her and clutching the spot where she’d delivered the pain.

  She used the seconds it gave her to roll away to Steph’s
aid, but as she pulled at the botanical chains, more roots slithered towards them. From every possible angle, they were cornered.

  ‘ANYA, JUST GO!’

  ‘No, I won’t leave you!’

  The new roots were already replacing the ones Anya had pulled off Steph before she’d even finished breaking the originals.

  ‘It’s no use, get out of here while you still can, you can get help!’

  Steph’s plea went unheard. Eleazar was on his feet, and he roared – a roar that sounded as if it came from the depths of Damnare itself. A force followed; an almighty power that knocked Anya off her feet and flew her through the air like shrapnel after an explosion.

  She smashed through the forest, the trees bowling over in her wake. She felt herself descending, and she could hear Eleazar’s frustrated screams die with the distance as she hit the ground. But she didn’t stop there. As she crashed, she began to tumble, down, down, down, hitting bushes and tree branches as she coursed down a steep brake in the land.

  She landed flat on her chest when she finally reached level ground, the wind escaping her body and disorientating her.

  Gasping and spluttering, she slowly rose to her knees, hand to chest, the fire inside burning intensely, and she looked back in the direction from which she came.

  She had to get back to Steph. She couldn’t leave her behind.

  Then time stopped, and the words Lysippe had not long spoken returned to her. “A moment is coming soon where you need to go against your instincts. I need you to remember that sometimes you must leave things behind to move forward.”

  Really? Anya thought. This soon?

  Against every moral fibre knitted into her soul, she turned and ran into the darkest part of the forest.

  As she ran, the magnitude of everything that was happening finally dawned on her.

  This place, and every living person in it, was counting on her for salvation, and here she was, too weak to free one single person.

  She hadn’t realised how much she’d banked on the prophecy. It had been a safety net this whole time, her self-belief completely invested in a lie. If Lysippe was right, there was no guarantee she could save this land. There never was.

  And the Totem... if the animal spirit guides really could see things, they must have known that this would happen. How could they lead them into that? And now Steph was alone with Theone’s treacherous brother and the God of the Damned.

  Questions boiled over in her brain until her head felt like it was going to explode. Her feet were racing so fast, the trees were reduced to a blur, undefined streaks of white warped in a world of chaos and obscurity.

  Muffled voices started to break through her haze and for a breath she pushed them away, believing them to be the whispers of the maddening Darkness.

  It wasn’t until her heart became an inferno that she stopped, though instead of the sudden increase of heat causing pain, the burn only made her feel warm, and safe. Now the voices were clear, and her vision was back in focus. She turned, and through the trees she saw a welcomed face.

  King Theone. And he wasn’t alone.

  Lorcan was by his side.

  THE PAIRING WAS so unlikely, it took Anya by surprise. ‘What are you two doing here? And together?’

  ‘He finally listened to me.’

  The King shot Lorcan a tart look and began talking over him. ‘After the Potentilla and the trip to Silver Forest, I wasn’t going to let you leave again without being close behind. I knew he would be able to sense if you were in danger, so I decided to keep him close. Just as well, by the look of it.’

  ‘You’ve been following us this whole time?’

  ‘Well, we were a half day behind, but yes, and it proved my instincts right. This was too dangerous for you. I never should have allowed this journey. It was too soon and you haven’t had enough training.’

  ‘Are you okay? You look hurt.’ This was Lorcan. He stepped closer, assessing the wounds she’d collected from her flight through the forest.

  ‘Harrion told me what happened, both in Toldess Pass and in the city,’ Theone continued, pushing Lorcan aside and taking a look at her cuts and bruises for himself. ‘Sit. Let me heal this.’

  ‘I’m not worried about these,’ Anya said, politely taking her arm back and covering the gash on her shoulder with her little capped sleeve. ‘All I care about is saving Steph.’ Leaving Steph behind was still sitting wrong in her stomach, and without stopping for air, she vomited everything that had happened with Eleazar and Morcades, bringing up almost every detail – how the King’s family were still alive, how the castle must still be there considering Eleazar and Morcades said they were going to take her and Steph back to it, and how Eleazar had made a deal with some man, giving him the dark rule of the Kingdom in exchange for Lynessa, Theone’s wife.

  Something stopped her mentioning Lysippe and the revelation that the prophecy wasn’t actually real. Now wasn’t the time for lost hope.

  ‘So, somewhere between you sending your sister and your wife into Silver forest with your brother, and Lorcan finding the village burning to the ground, Eleazar paid off this guy by handing Lynessa over to him, and set the whole thing up so that it looked like an ambush, leaving Lorcan to take the blame.’

  ‘To assure we didn’t go after him, no doubt. He always was so calculating, my brother – NO! No, not my brother. He is no longer my brother.’ Theone’s eyes burned with pure hatred as he ripped the medallion from his neck and threw it amongst the dead leaves on the forest floor.

  Lorcan and Anya watched, waiting for him to say something else, to give instruction, but the silence only grew thicker. Then something seemed to break inside him, and the chivalry that had been holding him together broke He unsheathed his sword and he took out his anger on the trees beside him, slashing chunks of bark and dead wood as if it would somehow work like a voodoo doll, passing on the inflicted injuries to his betrayer.

  He sunk the sword deep into the heart of the ravaged oak and fell to his knees, his hands shaking but not leaving the hilt.

  It was the first time she’d ever heard a man weep with such despair.

  ‘We need to take back the castle,’ he said, rising and wiping the grief from his face. ‘Is he still in the forest?’

  ‘Yes, but –’

  ‘Lorcan. Take Anya back to the camp. I’m taking back my Kingdom.’ The gentle King Anya knew was gone. His eyes, white with fury, his voice, the venom... this side of him was unnerving.

  ‘Theone, wait.’ She was gentle but firm, a hand placed on his arm the only force she used to stop him. Theone was usually the epicentre of calm and wisdom; they’d never take back the castle if he lost it. This had to be done right.

  ‘I know the urge to rip his throat out is really strong right now, believe me, I know. He has Steph! But losing our heads and storming into something without thinking sounds like suicide to me.’ Theone closed his eyes and took a long breath. ‘And I’m sure if this was the other way around, you’d be saying the same thing to me.’

  Another breath and he opened his eyes. One more and he turned back to face Anya. ‘Harrion said he saw the castle. I was foolish, I should have worked it out. I should have listened to my son – ’

  ‘You should have listened to a lot of people,’ Lorcan said, sullen and brash.

  Anya couldn’t chide him for it. Sure, the King’s life had been ripped apart by his own brother, but after what Theone’s men had done to Lorcan throughout his years of captivity, on his orders... it was a wonder that Lorcan hadn’t incinerated him.

  Theone sighed. ‘I deserved that. I’m sorry. I should have listened to you too.’

  Lorcan nodded, cold but without another word.

  ‘My guess is that Eleazar would have used an enchantment to make the castle unseen and unobtainable to onlookers, so no one would challenge the throne once he got his hands on it.’

  ‘How did Harrion see it then?’ Anya said.

  ‘Probably by poor casting on Eleazar’s part
. Protective enchantments such as that require great skill. If you do not separate yourself from the magic whilst you cast it, you yourself will become an ingredient in the charm. Remove yourself from the area you are protecting, the enchantments weaken until you return.’

  ‘So, there is still time, if we move quickly, we could take the castle whilst he’s not in there?’

  ‘No. We have no idea of Eleazar’s numbers but I assume he must have a great deal, otherwise who would he have to rule over? We can’t round up enough men in time for a siege. When I learned what had happened at Toldess Pass, I connected with Linos and told him to deploy the Crown Guard. They’ll have barely made it half way. It’ll be another day at least before they reach us here.’

  ‘Another day? We can’t leave Steph with them for a whole day. You didn’t see the way he looked at us. We need to get her out of there before he really hurts her.’ She shuddered at the thought.

  ‘Hey,’ Lorcan assured her, his thumb gracing the strip freckles along the curve of her cheek as their eyes met. ‘We’ll think of something. We’ll find a way to get her back.’

  ‘We need to get into the castle,’ Theone said. Anya could almost see the mechanisms of his mind whirring around, trying to figure out a way to make it possible. ‘My sister is still in there, and with any luck, more of my people. If only there was a way of taking down the enchantments.’

  ‘Can’t you do that? Go to the banks of Castle Lake and use your magic?’

  ‘No. Enchantments like that need to be taken down from within. I need to get past the enchantment and inside somehow.’

  ‘I could get in. They’re probably looking for me now, if I go back and let myself get caught, that’s where they’ll take me. I can’t do magic but I could try and find the Princess – ’

  ‘No, that won’t work. If the legends are true and they are feeding her Dark Blood, she’ll be stripped of her abilities until it wears off. I suspect, as she hasn’t ever got away, they are keeping her topped up with it.’ Theone rubbed at his forehead, his eyes closed, searching through all the possibilities. Then he looked at Anya, in that way someone looks at you when they know something you don’t. ‘I have an idea. It’s dangerous, not to mention immoral. You don’t have to say yes, but it’s the only way in I can see.’