by Noah Layton
‘Seriously? You’ve never heard of jealousy before? It’s like… Wanting something that somebody else has.’
‘Oh… I suppose you could say that we feel this jealousy that you speak of in terms of warfare. It’s the reason that the wars raged across the archipelago in the first place. But over you? Not at all.’
‘Wow,’ I laughed, ‘way to make a guy feel like garbage.’
‘Oh, no, it wasn’t intended as an insult. I have told you this already. We do not commit ourselves to one person. We have no inhibitions or weariness over sex.’
I wasn’t going to question it again. It was just something I was going to need to wrap my head around.
We emerged into the grand hall, and almost all of the heads turned in my direction. Faces were much more pleasant versions of the ones I had seen when leaving for battle, giggling, smiling and pointing in my direction.
Having gotten a little used to the attention, I surveyed the room. The throne and the steps leading to it remained, but a large, raised table was now stretched before it, looking out on dozens of circular tables that had been scattered about the main section of the hall, at which sat the harpies of the citadel. The entire population of around 200 was here, all of them under the watchful eyes of the statues of ancient marble heroes that looked down upon the hall from both sides.
In the centre of the long table before the throne sat Queen Athina, and to her right was Princess Evelina. On either side of them were the three harpies that had joined us in battle that day.
I took a seat next to Ariadne and got comfortable as most of the harpies returned to their meals. Admiring the spread before me, I took slices of gammon, adorned with eggs and pineapple, and topped off with a glass of wine. I realised that I felt hungrier than I ever had in my life, likely a product of the changes that my body had undergone ever since picking up the Harpy Core.
‘So does this happen every time the harpies win a battle?’ I whispered to Ariadne, tucking into my food.
‘Indeed it does. We don’t often have much cause for celebration in these dark times, so we have to take what we can get.’
I felt closer to Ariadne than I did to anybody else in this strange world; her advice, her training and her affection since my arrival had literally saved my life, and were I back on Earth I would be falling for her like a real dumbass. She was the cool, hot girl, the one who could kick ass just as well as she could blow my mind in the bedroom.
But I remembered to keep my mind in check. That wasn’t how the harpies thought. I couldn’t get attached,
Still, though, there was a pressing question that I had to ask.
‘Say, I need to ask you something. Quietly.’
‘Go ahead.’
‘Princess Evelina… What’s she like?’
‘Like?’
‘I mean as a person. Is she well-liked by the other harpies? Do they have faith in her?’
‘As much faith as our people could have in any prospective leader. After the death of the original heir, she was chosen from all of us, not just because of her bravery but because of her fair treatment of the people.’
‘Right… Wait, when she was chosen? What do you mean by that?’
‘Like I said, when the original heir was killed in battle with some of the other men, a new one had to be picked. And Queen Athina chose her.’
‘So they really aren’t related?’
‘Not at all. If there are no remaining heirs, one must be chosen based on merit, and she was picked from all of us. She is tough.’
I paused, thinking it over.
‘So Queen Athina’s son was killed in battle?’
‘Yes. It was a sad day, but one that we had to face. All harpies have a duty to fight, regardless of their place, and Prince Aurelius was no exception. He was a formidable foe in battle to say the least, and in the wake of his death our citadel truly began its descent into mourning. The queen was distraught. All they could recover in the wake of the battle was an arm and part of a wing. Both had been cleaved off completely…’
I gulped hard, setting my knife and fork down for a moment. I had carried out the same acts, sure, but they were against murderous monsters. To have one of the harpies die in such a way…
‘Now I see why Queen Athina is so protective over these lands.’
‘Indeed. Anyway, let’s eat. I’m still feeling the effects of yesterday, and every warrior deserves a good meal in the wake of a glorious victory such as the one you achieved for us.’
I nodded and smiled wordlessly, returning to my food. The evening stretched on, the sun having set hours ago as we dined together. I took as much as I could, and I was about to return to Ariadne when several of the harpies stood from their seats in the grand hall and began making their way towards us.
‘This is the procession,’ Ariadne spoke into my ear, as I watched the seven harpies move in a steady line to the table, before the spot where Queen Athina sat in the centre of the table. ‘At the end of each battle, some harpies wish to give kind words to the queen or provide offerings. It’s entirely voluntary, but common in our culture to do. Many consider it an honor to speak with Queen Athina.’
I surveyed the seven harpies, all queuing up and waiting to see the queen. They were each as beautiful as the last, some bearing gifts, others simply wishing to speak to the queen with kind words.
Still, the party continued.
I looked to the open doors on the other side of the hall, where three armed guards stood facing out onto the darkness of the plaza. At times of celebration almost all people let their guard down. It would have been the perfect time to attack.
But there was no rest when you were clinging on to a crumbling empire.
The procession moved forward. Another girl stepped up, offering one of the most beautiful bouqets of displayed flowers I had ever seen, fading from red to purple in a perfect spectrum from one side to the other. The queen gladly took them, inhaling their scents with fervour. I had to give it to her – she loved her land and she loved her people.
How did a woman recover from not only having her son die in battle, but having nothing to mourn over but pieces of his corpse? All of the women would have likely had sons who had been killed in battles long past, but most would have at least been laid to rest… And after all that she had the strength to persist on, knowing that she was alone in this world beyond the love of her people.
I still had a lot to learn about this place, but one thing that I was sure of was that Queen Athina was tougher than anybody I had met in my entire life, and the rest of the harpies weren’t far behind. Even if they didn’t form relationships like humans back on Earth, they had been without the presence of the other half of their kind for decades.
I couldn’t imagine the feeling of emptiness.
‘Your highness…’
The title had been spoken louder than the others that Queen Athina had been met with.
My head spun to look over at the latest harpy in the procession to address the queen. She was wearing an unassuming grey gown and carrying a small box before her, which she opened slowly and reached inside of.
And then all fucking hell broke loose.
The harpy’s hand produced two gleaming pieces of sharpened metal. She moved so quickly in drawing them back and launching them in the queen’s direction that I only briefly noticed the razored edges of them, realising that they were blades.
She hurled them, and both went flying towards the queen – and Princess Evelina.
A guttural groan of pain escaped the queen’s lungs mere yards from me. The princess shrieked out, and in an instant I assumed the worst.
They had been hit.
To the harpies at the table, including Ariadne, the queen and the princess became the only point of focus. They descended onto the pair of them, their wings unfolding as they wrapped themselves around the pair in a protective barrier of thousands of thick white feathers.
To every other harpy in the room, though, the queen’s attacke
r become the only thing that mattered.
Up until now I had seen the harpies as the most graceful, elegant beings that I had ever laid eyes upon. They had leaped from rooftops, some of the most beautiful women I had ever seen crowding around me in the streets of their citadel, making me feel like I was the centre of attention and the focus of all their desires. Even fighting alongside them in battle they had carried themselves with a sense of ferocious grace.
But seeing their queen injured, that image flipped in an instant.
A flurry of screeches so deafening that I had to clasp my hands over my ears echoed through the hall, and in seconds half of the harpies upon the tables had thrown themselves across the room with the pure power of their wings, taking down the attacker and hurling her to the floor.
Their eyes rushed red, every one of them, and from the unseen space where the attacker had fallen to the ground there exploded a wave of screams and agonising shrieks. A spray of blood spattered into the air as if it was being shot from a garden hose, the white, flawless wings suddenly becoming bathed in the life source of the one who had attempted to take the queen’s life.
Chapter Seven
A Perilous Quest
The aftermath was a complete frenzy.
Ariadne, Princess Evelina and the other harpies carried Queen Athina to her chambers, their eyes scanning the space around them as they disappeared from the grand hall amongst shouts of ‘Get the cleric!’
When the other harpies of the kingdom had finally drawn themselves away from the body of the attacker, she was nothing but a pile of torn flesh and broken bones, a smear upon the ground that was left abandoned as the harpies yelled orders to one another and quickly hurried from the grand hall to take up arms.
The echoing silence that remained in that hall was surreal. Moments ago it had been a hive of activity, but madness had descended in an instant.
An attempt had been made on the queen’s life – why the hell had one of her own harpies tried to do such a thing?
And Princess Evelina… Had she been hit to?
I crossed the hall, arcing around the stain that the attacker had become and rushing to the doors.
A moon occupied this world, too, and in its light I saw the winged women of the citadel take flight. Scores occupied the rooftops and the skies, all of them wielding spears or bows and arrows as they called to each other in the night, shouting orders of where to check and what to look out for.
I looked around at the scene of devastation in the grand hall, realising that I was still a pilgrim in these lands.
I couldn’t go to the queen’s chambers – even if I was the royal guest, the guards would likely spear me in the face the moment I approached. Here I was a stranger, and my arrival had coincided with an attempt on the queen’s life.
Shit.
Again, I couldn’t run. The harpies would take me down from the skies, assuming they didn’t rip me to shreds like they had done to one of their own just minutes prior.
There was only one place that I could go.
The bath chamber was empty when I arrived, and after pulling off my robe which had been splashed with dots of blood, I collapsed onto the edge of the bed that I had awoken on earlier that day.
I had felt beyond useless at a lot of points in my life, but this occasion took first prize. There was nothing I could do; the only option at my disposal was to wait.
In the meantime I explored the bath chamber, unable to stay sat down even if it meant just walking in circles around the pool. Eventually I wandered to the back of the bed, noticing a drawer hidden beneath the sheets, and pulled it open.
It was that stiff, even with my new strength, that I could tell it hadn’t been opened in years. After finally wrenching the cabinet open, I found several stoppered bottles, one of which I took up. I held the glass to the light and saw the red liquid within.
The royal wine-stash.
If there had ever been a better time to have a stiff drink, it was now.
I pulled the top free with a pop, checked that I wasn’t going to inhale poison, and took a sip of the sweet liquid. The sourness that came along with it burned my throat a little, but the consequence of its consumption was good enough for me.
After a few minutes of sipping and gathering my thoughts, footsteps once again sounded from the steps and Ariadne appeared. Her face was frantic and exhausted, her wings spattered with red splotches of blood.
‘There you are!’ She exclaimed, hurrying over to me.
‘What’s happened? Is the queen all right? What about Princess Evelina?’
‘The princess is fine, thanks to Queen Athina. When the blades were thrown by their attacker one hit the queen in the shoulder. The other was intended for the princess, but the queen threw her wing out just in time to catch the hit.’
‘She was hit by both? Is she all right?’
‘Not exactly…’ Ariadne sighed, running a hand through her hair before noticing my wine bottle. ‘What’s that?’
I handed it to her and she took a gulp, swirling the wine in her mouth before shrugging and taking three more long protracted gulps and handing the bottle back to me.
‘Come on,’ she panted. ‘The queen’s been asking for you.’
‘For me?’
‘For you, new guy.’
I had time for one more drink before Ariadne took my hand and led me from the chamber and up to the tower. The guard presence outside was beyond intimidating – four harpies hovered in the air over the hundred-foot drop that the open passage gave onto beyond the marble guardrail, while four more were waiting outside the door.
The door itself stood open, and in the frame awaited Princess Evelina, who looked at me with a mix of sorrow and thankfulness. Ariadne nodded to her and entered the room, while Evelina wrapped her arms around me and nuzzled her face into my chest. It was the first time I had seen even a semblance of weakness from her, and it was a big one.
‘Thank you for coming up,’ she whispered. ‘She says that she needs to speak with us.’
‘Us? What about?’
‘I’m not sure.’
I went inside with the princess, joining Ariadne a short distance from her bedside. Another harpy, the cleric that had been shouted for after the fight, knelt by the bed tending to the queen’s wounds. She looked a shade of her previous self, her grey wings spread out and unmoving upon the bed, her head matted with a light layer of moisture, although she seemed relatively lucid.
The cut on her wing had been tended to while the cleric was finishing up with the wound on her shoulder.
‘Thank you, Christina,’ she said, ‘please leave us for the time being.’
‘Yes, your highness.’
The cleric nodded to us and withdrew from the room, closing the door behind her. In the flickering torchlight of the chamber, I, Ariadne and Princess Evelina were left in the presence of the queen.
‘How are you feeling?’ The princess asked, moving closer and giving an indication for me to do the same.
‘Better than I should be.’
I looked between her and the queen in confusion, but the bed-ridden matriarch of the harpies enlightened me.
‘The blades thrown by our attacker may have hit places that wouldn’t usually be fatal, but that was no matter; the cleric has already confirmed my suspicions. They were tainted with Snake’s Breath.’
The harpies to my side lowered their heads, while I remained in the dark.
‘It’s a poison,’ Ariadne followed on. ‘Slow-acting, but that’s no matter. It takes all life that it touches.’
‘Oh, God…’ I muttered quietly. ‘I’m sorry…’
‘It’s quite all right,’ Queen Athina said, sitting up. ‘It is a fate that I reconciled with the moment those blades struck my skin. I am expendable, as long as there is somebody to carry on the line of leaders upon this island.’
‘You can’t speak like that, my queen,’ Princess Evelina said, kneeling by the bed. ‘There must be something that we can do.’
‘You’re too intelligent to believe such things,’ the queen smiled.
‘Who did this to you?’ I asked, shaking my head in confusion. ‘Why would one of your own harpies try to kill both you and the princess?’
‘Your highness,’ Ariadne said quietly, nudging me as a reminder yet again.
‘Please, Ariadne,’ the queen cut in, ‘I think we can dispense with the royal titles for a few minutes considering the situation, can’t we?’
‘Of course, your highness... I mean, just of course.’
‘Indeed,’ she continued, ‘she was torn apart by our own before we had even a brief chance to question her, but that is of little consequence; I doubt such an assassin would have made an attempt to escape anyway. She would know that she was coming here to die, whether she succeeded in her mission or not.’
‘So a suicide mission?’ I exclaimed. ‘Your enemies are that desperate to get to you that they’ll give up their own lives?’
‘You’re asking the wrong question, Kit,’ she replied. ‘But the correct question was hidden somewhere in what you just said.’
She could have made it easy, but that would defeat the point of a leader pushing her own people in their performance. I thought back to what I had said, running the words over in my mind – until I landed right on it.
‘They,’ I repeated, ‘We shouldn’t be looking at why they would risk their lives. We should be looking at who it was in the first place.’
‘Precisely. He’s an intelligent young man, this visitor of ours.’ The queen turned to Princess Evelina. ‘A lucky thing, too. We could have had an imp stumble onto the Harpy Core instead.’
‘I’m still right here,’ I said, waving a hand lightly.
‘Yes,’ she continued, ‘I have been wary of the possibility of an intruder for some time, but I expected a blunt force attack that would occur in the dead of night… Not a harpy from one of the neighbouring islands.’
‘You mean to say there are others out there?’
‘They are not of our kind,’ the princess said, turning to look at me. ‘They can disguise themselves easily enough, but their taloned feet are unmistakable. I’ve little doubt who she was loyal to.’