by Frank Morin
“He was one of my battle instructors.”
Student Eighteen looked awed by that.
“Sometimes he challenged me to find him somewhere in the castle grounds before he could close and touch my throat with a wooden sword. I never once beat him. I never knew he was cheating with pumice the entire time.”
His expression turned more serious. “I’m glad you shared the secret with us. I wonder if Harley knows it.”
Student Eighteen said, “She might be the only one besides the queen. I doubt Dreokt would share such a dangerous secret with anyone else.”
“No, she wouldn’t,” Kilian agreed.
“We can use it, though,” Connor said excitedly. “It could give us a huge advantage.”
Student Eighteen said, “With extreme caution. We can’t share this secret beyond those sitting in this room.”
“But . . .” Connor started.
She cut him off. “No, Connor. It’s too dangerous a secret, and could too easily be turned against us. Besides, if we share the secret widely, my people would swear a blood oath against all of us, despite the threat the queen poses.”
“We’ll keep the secret for now,” Kilian assured her. “But after we repel the attack on Merkland, we’ll need to consider how best to treat it in the future.”
She didn’t look pleased by the limited promise, but she accepted it.
Hamish rubbed his hands together near the fire, then said, “Back to the story. When we escaped, we returned to Merkland.”
As he described events in Merkland, Verena exclaimed, “Rory proposed? Oh, I wish I’d been there! I’ve wished those two could be together for so long, but never imagined it was possible.”
Connor laughed as Hamish described the singular engagement party. It sounded like they’d need weeks to repair the damage. He wished Rory and Anika all the luck in the world. They were perfect for each other. He doubted anyone else could survive a courtship with Anika anyway.
Kilian eventually interrupted their happy talk. “We’ll have time to catch up with them in Merkland. It’s getting late and we need to start early tomorrow. Get some sleep and pack for battle. We’ll only have a few days in Faulenrost to gather what supplies we can.”
Verena said, “I can’t wait to get back. It’ll be so good to get home.”
Connor felt happy to think of Faulenrost and New Schwinkendorf his eventual homes. He was committed to Verena, but felt relieved she didn’t consider Altkalen her real home. Living in the same city as Mattias might not be wise.
Kilian ushered them to the door. “I’ll speak with Saskia and Wolfram. We lack time to marshal an army to send to Merkland, but they must prepare Altkalen’s defenses in case the fight goes poorly.
Those sobering words dampened some of Connor’s good humor. Then Verena took his hand as he escorted her back to her room, and he just couldn’t worry. She kissed him tenderly at her doorway and he savored the memory of her soft, minty lips all the way back to his room.
Tonight, all was right with the world.
Tomorrow he’d worry about how to face Harley.
69
Too Many Voices
Aifric waited just inside Kilian’s outer door until the others disappeared from view. She doubted any of them noticed she’d lingered behind. They were far too focused on each other.
Student Eighteen’s mind-voice was disapproving. Sloppy. We’ll have to remind them of the importance to remain aware of their surroundings, even when walking with their beloved.
Later. We have more important things to deal with, Aifric reminded her.
A chorus of agreement sounded from the other ladies.
Kilian glanced at her with a question in his eyes as he held the door open. “Do you need something else, Aifric?”
Cacilia immediately suggested, Ask him what he does for fun, and if he needs company.
Hush, Aifric chided her, thankful Kilian couldn’t hear her words.
She told Kilian, “Yes, actually. I need to speak with you on a matter of grave importance.”
He closed the door and gestured her back to the fire. They took seats across a small table from each other, and he said, “Very well. Since you waited until the others left, may I assume Student Eighteen wishes to discuss old Mhortair further?”
Yes! Student Eighteen cried immediately. She moved to take control, but the other ladies pulled her back. They could discuss Mhortair later. First, they had far more important things to deal with.
“Actually, that will have to wait. After Connor helped bring me back, we’ve been rebuilding my memories.” She tapped the side of her head.
Kilian leaned a little closer, looking intrigued. “So each of you maintains separate memories of events?”
Aifric nodded, ignoring Cacilia’s suggestion that they explain how the best memories were ones where each of them got to experience it in turn while controlling their body. Of course Cacilia urged her to suggest they experiment with a fresh kissing memory. Aifric felt her face begin to flush from the mental images Cacilia was passing around with the other ladies. If Kilian noticed, he made no indication.
She only said, “We do, although each of us often focuses on different aspects of events. The one in control, of course, perceives events most clearly, but each of us ends up with partial memories of most events. That allowed us to rebuild most of my memories.”
“So have you remembered something important?”
“Very. I’ve built a solid memory of the encounter with your mother in Donleavy, including the moments after the queen snuffed out my life.”
“Go on,” Kilian urged when she hesitated. He looked enthralled by the conversation, and his intense gaze really was alluring. He was a handsome man, a mystery unlike any other.
Cacilia, stop whispering, she chided.
I haven’t said anything, Cacilia replied with laughter in her voice. That last was all you. I feel proud of you, Aifric. Finally recognizing a real man when you see one.
As the other ladies giggled and threatened to make her really start blushing, Aifric focused on her tale, but tried not to get too distracted by Kilian’s eyes. A spark of fire had ignited inside his left eye, like a will-o-the-wisp trying to draw her in again.
“It was challenging because all of the other ladies were in shock from my death, and our system was very chaotic in those moments, but we pieced together enough that I feel confident the account is accurate. You need to understand what she did to Connor and to Ivor.”
“What did she do?” Kilian asked, his tone grave. Crimson flames boiled in his left eye, while tiny waves crashed in his right. Aifric could watch those eyes for hours.
Instead, she told him about those terrifying moments when it appeared Queen Dreokt would kill both Ivor or Connor, or at minimum wipe their minds and make them empty puppets to her will.
The truth was even worse.
Kilian hissed a sharp breath when she related the queen’s command to spy on him through the winter, then murder all the Builders at the first Spring thaw.
“You’re sure?” was all he asked when she finished.
“Certain.”
Kilian mouthed a near-silent curse. Student Eighteen took control long enough to tap serpentinite and snatch the faint words across to their ears. It seemed a heartfelt curse, but was one she’d never heard before.
Aifric took control again. They could swap places in the blink of an eye. She doubted any of their friends understood just how fast they could exchange. It was one of the secrets they still kept to themselves.
“I believe you,” Kilian said. “It’s just like my mother to do something so vile. Worse, she removed the memory of what she instructed them from their minds, so they don’t know they are soon to commit mass murder and betray their closest friends.”
Aifric nodded. “That’s why I came to you. What are we going to do? How do we break it?”
“Do you have the ability to enter his mind like he did to yours? Can you find that memory, that direct
ive, and remove it?” Kilian asked.
Student Eighteen slid into the control position to answer. “I cannot. I haven’t ascended, and I doubt anyone below the third threshold could countermand an order delivered like that.”
“That’s what I feared,” Kilian said, leaning back in his chair and drumming his fingers on the arm of his chair. Little figures made out of flames began appearing above his knuckles, like men and horses galloping in a circle. He did not even seem to notice.
Student Eighteen said, “There may be hope, however. Connor himself might be able to resist the order with my assistance. He has ascended the second threshold. He’ll naturally want to resist, but would need to recognize the danger. That means we can’t intervene until the order is triggered.”
“So if it triggers before we’re ready to intervene, it is likely he would be unable to resist the order.”
She nodded, hating the horrid queen for inflicting such a torture upon him. “He would murder Hamish and Verena and the other Builders.”
Kilian considered that for a moment. “If we timed our intervention properly, we might have a chance. Every fiber of his being will fight the impulse to kill them.”
She nodded again. “That’s my hope. If I can help him recognize the foreign nature of that impulse, link to his inner horror at such a thought, and tap into his love for those two in particular, we may be able to break the queen’s hold.”
“Ivor would prove more difficult. He lacks the same level of motivation with Verena and Hamish.”
She considered that for a moment, holding a quick conference among all of the ladies living in her head. They reached consensus and she reported, “We’d have to leverage his anger at Dreokt over the mind-wipe of Alyth. With that powerful motivation, once Connor is free, together he and I may be able to break Ivor from the queen’s control.”
“How confident are you in that assessment?” he asked, holding her with his incredible gaze again. “If you fail to free him, Ivor’s life would be forfeit.”
“If we fail to intervene, many lives would be forfeit,” she pointed out. “I believe we can do it. I really do.”
“Good. Keep this information secret between the two of us. After we complete our business in Merkland we’ll have time to formulate a plan of intervention.”
“I’ve considered trying to warn them,” she admitted.
“Don’t. It is possible my mother included other commands you did not hear. She has done so before. If they learn of her secret directives, she may have implanted other back-up measures that would then trigger. We would not be prepared to respond to those.”
“I could try to ferret them out,” she suggested.
He considered the idea before shaking his head again. “No. There are too many unknowns. My mother is the master of mind manipulation. If we allow these directives to trigger without tampering, any peripheral directives would vanish.”
“What if we both fall in the battle? No one would know the danger.”
Kilian shrugged. “If we both die, chances are good the revolution is broken and nothing could stop my mother from winning. The Builders would be executed before spring thaw in that case.”
She shuddered to think what might become of everyone she loved if that worst possible future transpired. “Let’s not die, then.”
They both rose and Kilian took her hand. His skin was warm. “Thank you for telling me. You’re a remarkable young woman.”
She wasn’t able to do more than mutter her thanks as he led her to the door. Cacilia was clamoring for control, begging her to reply with an invitation to get to know her better. Student Eighteen was arguing just as strenuously against closer involvement with the son of the Matron of Evil. The rest of the ladies got sucked into the argument, taking different sides and filling Aifric’s head with a cacophony of noise that made it impossible to know how to act.
She fled his rooms, grateful for the cool air of the corridor. She glanced back once, and he stood in his doorway, watching her with an unreadable expression on his face.
“Oh, my,” she muttered.
70
Hard Choices
Verena loved the Hawk.
Although the loss of her precious Swift left a constant ache in her heart, the Hawk fulfilled her deep-seated need to take to the skies. She exulted in the unrivaled freedom of the high places, and once she ascended above the highest peak around Altkalen, she felt truly whole.
Maybe once her family experienced the joy of flight they would finally start to understand her. Unfortunately, that would have to wait. Securing aid for Merkland superseded every other need.
If anyone had suggested she might be willing to risk her life, Connor’s life, and the lives of so many other people she loved defending High Lord Dougal’s home, she probably would’ve punched them in the throat. Twice.
“You do realize that I’m the main pilot for the Hawk?” Hamish asked from his seat beside her, his feet up on the front rail.
“I love it, but I’m still planning to build a new Swift.” She couldn’t imagine not rebuilding it. Her memories of flight were so intimately connected with it that the Hawk, despite its amazing enhancements, simply couldn’t compare.
“You’ll have to include some of these new enhancements,” Connor echoed her thoughts from where he sat on her other side. Kilian and Aifric sat in the second row, with the rear of the craft stuffed to overflowing with supplies and a remarkable amount of food.
“I’m amazed by how much they’ve done. Jean isn’t even a Builder, but she’s taken so many of our ideas and improved them and pushed them to the next level.” Verena couldn’t wait to return and see all their accomplishments first-hand. She felt deeply grateful to hear all that Jean had accomplished.
The Hawk was a marvel. It powered through the clear winter sky nearly as fast as the Storm, but consumed only a fraction of the power stone. It handled far more nimbly too. Not nearly as responsive as the Swift, but for such a large vehicle, it amazed her how connected she felt with the air.
The shielded windows built upon the work that she and Hamish had done and made the trip far more pleasant, as did the little marble heaters. She wondered what the next generation of flying craft might accomplish, and looked forward to diving back into her research to figure it out.
When they eventually soared over the last row of hills blocking their view of Schwinkendorf valley, the land opened up into the beautiful expanse that she knew so well. Even though it was covered in snow, she grinned with delight to see her home again.
Hamish was right. Construction had progressed incredibly fast. As they swept over the valley, she descended and slowed, studying the orderly layout of the streets.
Hamish pointed at the huge building that was already complete. “That will be the central hall, and it’ll include four different kitchens and dining halls. It’s going to be amazing.”
“I’m sure the inaugural feast will surpass even your dreams,” she assured him with a smile.
He grinned. “I hope so.”
She banked the Hawk and headed for Faulenrost, nestled in the hills on the east side of the valley. The town looked bigger, with several large new barns on the outskirts and two entirely new streets on the south side of town with homes packed around them. Several huge, earthen buildings butted up against those new streets.
A crowd was already gathered, waiting for them to land in the windrider parking field on the outskirts of town. Hamish had called ahead via the speakstone. Jean, Gisela, and Dierk stood at the forefront of the enthusiastic crowd.
Verena jumped from the Hawk as soon as it touched down, her heart nearly overflowing as she waved to all the enthusiastic, smiling faces of so many people she knew so well. They surrounded her in a happy throng, calling out greetings and pushing for a chance to hug her and welcomed her back.
It took several minutes for everyone to greet her, and she loved every second of it. She wanted to speak with all of them, hear about their ordeals, their struggles, a
nd their triumphs. Many of them mentioned with great pride their current projects.
Most were things she knew nothing about. It was a strange feeling. As the lead researcher, Verena had always known all about every project, had helped her people make critical breakthroughs, and was usually there to celebrate every success. Now she felt a twinge of sadness as she realized she had missed so much, She promised to make it up to them.
Finally Kilian and Hamish broke up the crowd, assuring them that Verena would get to speak with them more as she toured their workrooms. Connor stayed close, hovering as if worried she might suddenly disappear.
She squeezed his hand, relieved to have him by her side, united again in purpose and love. Their arguments had threatened the foundation of their relationship and wounded them both far too deeply.
Now that she thought back, she could see how they had both acted foolishly, with too much pride, too much judgment, and not nearly enough forgiveness or understanding. She felt hopeful they’d keep their mutual promise to listen more and judge less.
Of course, the fact that he had told Shona to her face that he wanted nothing else to do with her and had broken his promise to kiss that vile woman again helped a ton. It seemed that Connor had finally recognized his priorities. She dared hope they’d escaped the last of Shona’s manipulations.
Jean pushed through the thinning crowd and gave Verena another hug. “I’m so happy you’re awake and feeling so well. We missed you, and we really need your leadership.”
“I doubt that. From everything I see, you’re a gifted administrator. You’ve done miraculous work here, Jean. Thank you for taking such good care of everyone.”
Connor asked, “Jean, did you get my deliveries?”
She nodded excitedly. “That rock that Stuart discovered is the anti-obsidian stone!”
Verena gasped and shared a surprised look with Connor. He said, “That’s wonderful. I’m still trying to figure out how he sensed there was something special about it.”
That caught Verena’s attention. “What do you mean?”