The Cursed Queen

by Sarah Fine

  “Control?” He shakes his head, sweating in his frustration. “Don’t control magic! Be magic!”

  I rub my eyes and laugh. “Be magic,” I say, mimicking his accent. “Thanks. That helps a lot.”

  He tosses the metal splinter into the basin. “Soturi,” he whispers. His lip curls, and he spits on the floor at my feet.

  The Kupari word for warrior. Except . . . I think he’s telling me I’m a coward. I square my shoulders. “Fine, if you want me to scar the rest of you, that’s your choice.” And if I want to have even a chance of regaining Nisse’s confidence, I don’t have a choice at all. “Tomorrow.”

  Sig’s smile is so blood tinged, so brutal, that it suddenly occurs to me he would make an excellent Krigere warrior, unstable or not. “Tomorrow,” he says in that shaky, eager voice of his.

  He gives me a mocking little bow and disappears into the hallway, his footsteps silent on the stone.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  As I hurry back to my own cell, my mind tosses like a ship in a storm. I am fighting so desperately to wield this power, the magic of the Valtia, but if I succeed, am I more of a Krigere . . . or more of a Kupari? If I use this magic to conquer the Kupari, am I loyal, or am I a traitor?

  I know what I have always wanted. But now, I am questioning why I wanted it. You were forced to be Krigere, Thyra said. Do I love the Krigere because I truly had no choice, or is there some spark in them that has always called to me, that fits with who I really am? If I had remained a Kupari, would I have been as out of place among them as Thyra is among the Krigere, even though she was born to rule?

  Apparently I was born to rule too, but not over warriors. Is it better to lead a soft, timid people or serve a fierce, strong tribe?

  These questions burn inside me. I don’t know where I belong. Trying to figure it out is exhausting me.

  I have just made it back to my chamber and dived onto my mattress when I hear footsteps in the hallway. Frantically, I extinguish every candle in the room and lie in the dark, feigning sleep as another cadence of footsteps, this one more rapid than the first, approaches. I let my mouth drop halfway open and breathe deep and slow as a slant of light from the hallway penetrates my eyelids. It’s only there for a moment, though—whoever looked in on me seems satisfied that I’m asleep.

  “Did you deliver the message?” a man asks as soon as the door closes most of the way, leaving only a crack of torchlight. I recognize the accent and the deep timbre of the voice—it’s Efren.

  “I did,” Halina whispers. “The tunnel is narrow, though, hardly big enough for me to get through. It will need widening if we expect all of them to do it. Have you seen the size of some of them?”

  “But it worked.”

  “Yes, it worked. It opens into one of the shelters, and I spoke to the iron-bearded one myself.”

  Iron-bearded one. My blood drains from my face. She must be talking about Preben. Her resistance force hasn’t given up—they’ve dug a tunnel to get to the warriors who have stayed loyal to Thyra, and they’re planning to get them out!

  “What did he say?” asks Efren.

  “He was grateful for Thyra’s message, and they will be ready when the signal is given.”

  Thyra didn’t give up, then. She just gave up on me. But now she has found another way to reach her warriors in exile. I clutch at the mattress beneath me.

  “Good,” Efren says. “They’ll flank the guards and head for the tower. Nisse’s warriors will be completely caught by surprise. But it has to happen before the group of priests and apprentices reaches the gates. We don’t want them interfering.”

  “That’s why it has to be precisely midday. I thought there would be only a few, but it seems nearly a hundred are coming! If they side with Nisse, the battle would be over too quickly.”

  “So if they don’t make it into the city before the signal, do you think the girl chieftain actually stands a chance?” Efren asks.

  Halina grunts. “Of course not. She’s half starved, and so are all her warriors. Old Nisse’s been giving them only subsistence rations, trying to convince them to come out and join him.”

  “But they’re loyal to her. They’ll fight.”

  “Oh, yes. All we have to worry about is the signal tomorrow. After that, we’ll let the Krigere destroy each other.”

  And there it is. The plan laid out, so clear.

  Did she want me to hear it? Or are these Vasterutians stupid enough to speak outside my door with no thought for who’s listening? They were speaking Krigere—was that deviousness or because they have been punished for speaking Vasterutian within the fortress walls?

  I’m not sure it matters. One way or another, they are guilty of treachery.

  Any trust or affection I ever had for Halina is gone. If what she said is true, she’s crafted a brilliant plan, using Thyra’s stubbornness and our warriors’ loyalty as a weapon against Nisse, never mind that it will result in hundreds of warrior deaths. My anger is a fire, and I wince as I feel my skin grow feverish. If I don’t control this rage, it will devour me before I can save even one life. So for once, I’ll follow Thyra’s path and not let my fury guide me.

  Halina comes through the door a moment later. She has fresh bandages folded over one arm and carries a pitcher of water. She lights a candle with the one she brought from the corridor, and I make a show of sitting up and yawning. “Did you find out about my cloak?” I ask, hoping she pays more attention to my light tone than the searing heat of my breath.

  “Cloak—oh! Oh, yes. Yes, it will be ready by tomorrow afternoon,” she says, smiling broadly, all innocence.

  I wonder if she hopes for all of us to be dead by then. “Are you all right?” I ask, noticing the flush on her round cheeks and the wild spray of her hair, even more wild than usual. I glance down at the hem of her dress. It’s edged with mud, just as I would expect. “You’ve been out in the city.”

  “Just needed to see my boy,” she says, but the quaver in her voice betrays her.

  “And did you see anyone else?” I meant to stay calm, but my voice has grown sharp.

  She sets down the bandages and pitcher and blinks at me in surprise. “No. Who on earth would I see, little red?”

  I lean back against my mattress, seething yet smiling. “No idea, Halina. No idea. I hope you enjoyed the visit, though.”

  Her hands still for a moment, but then she jumps back into motion immediately, peeling back my sleeves to look for new blistered patches. Oddly, though, there is nothing, despite my little meeting with Sig. “It was nice to be out in the city,” she says quietly as she tugs my sleeves back down to my wrists. “I’ve spent so much time in this tower that I feel like my skin has faded to the color of the stones.”

  “Then maybe the journey to Kupari won’t be so bad after all,” I say, watching her face. “You’ll be out in the open air.”

  She pauses to look at me, and in her eyes I see a million questions. “As you say, little red,” she says softly.

  Does she suspect I overheard? If she does, she could arrange for the signal time to be changed, which would render my knowledge useless. “Thank you for taking such good care of me,” I tell her. “I want you to know—when we’re in Kupari, I’ll protect you.”

  She tilts her head, then gives me a warm smile. “Much appreciated, little red. I’d do the same for you if our positions were reversed. I mean it. We might be from different tribes, as you call them, but I see you struggling to make it to the light. I think you will, one day.”

  I feel the hurt of her betrayal in my chest, though I know it’s not really fair to expect her to tell me the truth and be on my side. I just . . . wish she were, that’s all. I like her. I admire her. She would make an excellent Krigere.

  Or perhaps she is simply an excellent Vasterutian.

  “I’m trying,” I whisper. “Good night.” I turn over and close my eyes as she pulls a blanket up over my shoulders, making my throat constrict with the truth of what I must do.
r />   When tomorrow dawns, we will be enemies.

  * * *

  I lie awake all night, trying to figure out what to do. If Halina and Efren meant me to hear, should I keep what they said to myself, for fear of playing a part in their deception? But if they didn’t want me to hear, then I must tell, or the Vasterutians’ plan will cause the deaths of everyone I care about. The Vasterutians are trying to get us to turn on each other. Instead of raising a resistance, they simply want us to kill our own and take care of the problem for them.

  I hate how clever it is.

  Thyra has no idea. She wanted to be their allies, but instead they’re setting her up—she has no way of getting information from the city or the warriors, except through them. They could have told her anything, promised an alliance that will dissolve as soon as Nisse’s warriors close in to seal our tribe’s doom. Why can’t she see it? Or is she fully aware that this is a disaster in the making? After all that talk of protecting our warriors from yet another rout, why would she ask this of them?

  If I had helped her instead of turning my back, if I had been the one to make contact with our warriors, would all of this have happened differently? Could I have saved the tribe?

  Can I save them now?

  By the time Halina arrives with my breakfast, I am bleary-eyed and jumpy, my head pounding and my stomach sour.

  “I’m not hungry,” I tell her as she sets the bowl of porridge in front of me.

  “Sweetened it with honey. I know you like that,” she says, backing away.

  “Did you hear me?”

  “Little red,” she says, slowly, like she’s considering each word. “I think you best eat up. You’ll need your strength. Priests will arrive today from the Loputon. Our scouts found them in the woods and are bringing them here. Should arrive after noonmeal.”

  “And I have you to thank for that,” I say in a flat voice.

  “Nothing but good. More magic, less pressure on you to deliver a victory.”

  I close my eyes and rub my hands over my face, trying to summon some energy. I don’t know how to explain to her how badly I needed to be the one, how the wish has grown huge inside me these past weeks, as isolation sank its teeth into my marrow. “I wanted to deliver victory,” I whisper. I wanted to be accepted within my tribe again, to know who I am without question. I wish Thyra hadn’t made me think about the cost.

  “Maybe you will,” she says, pushing the wooden tray closer to me. “Still a chance.”

  My hands fall away from my face and I look up at her. Her brown eyes make me ache, and the words I wish I could say make my tongue feel hard and twitchy. What will I do as our warriors face off against each other in this betrayal she’s arranged? Which side will I take?

  If I don’t try to stop the coming catastrophe, then I don’t deserve either tribe. “I need to see Nisse.”

  Her eyebrows shoot up. “Why?”

  “Is it any of your business at all? I need to see him. Make it happen.”

  She scoots away from the edge in my voice and turns for the door. “Of course.”

  She goes and comes as quick as a hare, and by the time I’ve swallowed the last bite of my porridge—she was right, I can’t go into today starving and weak—she’s back with a few guards from Nisse’s personal entourage. She pulls open the door with her head down, the meek Halina she presents to all Krigere except me, it seems. The warriors lead me up the stairs to Nisse’s war chamber. My heart beats out a fierce rhythm as I try to puzzle out the best words, the way to stop this clash between those loyal to Thyra and those who belong to Nisse.

  I step into Nisse’s chamber, sweating and shivering as my trapped magic squirms just beneath my skin, awakened by my desperation. The memory of my temporary triumph and control last night is just that. I’ve run out of time. I would beg for more if I thought it would matter, but now there is something so much more important to think about.

  “Ansa!” Nisse calls from over by the massive fireplace. I turn to see him set a goblet on the mantel. “I heard you wanted to speak with me, but I would have summoned you this morning anyway. How’s the magic?”

  “Better,” I say. “Perhaps in another few weeks—”

  “Ah,” he replies, clasping his hands in front of him. “That is time we don’t have. They may not have had an army a few months ago, but with every day that passes, the impostor queen is gathering more power and preparing her people for our attack.”

  I look down at my hands. How I wish I could be in the same room with that fraud, if only for a few minutes. Yes, it might destroy me, but I think killing the impostor queen might be worth it. After all—that is a throne that is rightfully mine.

  I blink as the thought hits my consciousness and look up to find Nisse with his head tilted, regarding me closely. I am thankful he can’t read my mind. “You have decided to march soon, then?”

  He nods. “In two days’ time, once we’re armed, packed, and ready. I received excellent news this morning. The refugee priests who escaped from the ambush at the temple were found by Vasterutian scouts two days ago. I sent two warriors to meet them, along with a host of horses so they could reach us quickly. They will arrive this afternoon.”

  Just as Halina said. “I am ready to go with you,” I tell him.

  He smiles. “I will welcome you at my side, Ansa.”

  His gaze is so warm on me that it catches me by surprise—I had expected him to be cold, to discard me as he plans to discard Kauko, assuming he still can. “Thank you.” Now I must tell him what I came here for. Now I have to save warrior lives without wielding magic. “But I did not come here to talk to you about Kupari.”

  He sits down on the bench at the painted table. “Then tell me your purpose.”

  I draw in an unsteady breath. Surely I am doing the right thing. “How do our warriors barricaded in the eastern part of the city fare?”

  “They’re all alive as far as I know. Like I told you, I’ve made sure they have rations.”

  But only enough to keep them alive. “Have they given any indication of when or if they might emerge?”

  “Last I heard, they are refusing unless they hear from Thyra.”

  And they have heard, apparently. “Has she shown any indication of changing her stance?”

  He chuckles, but it’s heavy and low. “Not yet,” he says softly. “I fear for her warriors, and because of that concern I am afraid I have made a very difficult decision. In fact, that is why I was going to summon you this morning, had you not come to me first.”

  My stomach clenches. “Yes?”

  “I’m afraid I’m going to have to use a bit more force when trying to persuade Thyra. We need those warriors to join us, and she’s only leading them to their deaths.”

  Now I feel like vomiting on his boots. “More force?”

  “I have to make her see reason, Ansa. Surely you can understand that. But every attempt at persuasion thus far has only hardened her resolve.” He sighs. “Every body has limits, though.”

  “I overheard something,” I blurt out, as hot and cold splinters poke at my soft spots. Maybe I can protect Thyra from herself. “And that is why I came here.”

  He casually examines his grimy fingernails. “From Halina?”

  I shake my head quickly. “No. Of course not.” Despite her betrayal, I cannot give her up just like that, not after all she has done, not when I know she has that little boy at home, waiting for his mother. Loyalty is hard won, hard lost, she once said, and she is so very right. “From . . . another servant. I heard . . . that the warriors barricaded in the eastern part of the city have grown restless.”

  He arches an eyebrow. “Restless? We’re all restless after a winter spent caged within these walls.”

  I clear my throat. “Yes, but . . . what if they emerged all at once?”

  “To challenge us?”

  I fidget where I stand. “And if they did?”

  His eyes darken like a thundercloud has passed overhead. “It very much depen
ds. If you know something, you should tell me. I know you love many in those ranks, and this is your chance to save their lives.”

  “I know,” I whisper. But at what cost?

  “And otherwise you wouldn’t be here. What’s happening?”

  “I think they have an escape route,” I say. “They’re going to emerge and attack.”

  “And with over a hundred and fifty warriors, they’d be formidable,” Nisse mutters. “Very well. There’s only one solution. When they emerge from their burrow, we must be waiting, with so much force that they cannot consider fighting. They’ve had their andeners and children with them this whole time, and surely they won’t endanger them.”

  “It would take a large force to intimidate them.”

  Nisse nods. “They’re counting on us not being ready, and on most of our warriors being elsewhere in the city when they emerge. But if we’re waiting and can steal the element of surprise, they’ll be so shocked that perhaps they’ll reconsider.” He shoots to his feet and approaches me quickly, taking me by the upper arms. His gaze is so intense, his muted green eyes burning. “Do you know when they’re planning to make this escape attempt?”

  “Noon, I think,” I say. “I believe there’s going to be some sort of signal.”

  He squeezes my arms. “You have saved them all, then. Carina!” His voice is still echoing when the warrior enters. She must have been waiting outside. “Gather every warrior you can find and take them to the eastern part of the city where Thyra’s tribe fled. Have them surround the place. I want every point of egress covered.”

  “And if they come out fighting?” she asks.

  “Overwhelm. Disarm. Intimidate. But do what you can to avoid killing or maiming.”

  I nearly sag with relief. “Thank you.”

  He turns to me and puts his hand on my shoulder. “Every warrior life is precious. Well. Most of them. The loyal ones—as you turned out to be.” He smiles, and a chill runs through me as his voice turns cold. “As for the disloyal ones . . . Bring in the traitors.”