The Fireblade Array: 4-Book Bundle

by H. O. Charles

  “Your king doesn’t seem to like sleeping much, but guilt tends to have that effect,” Tallyn said bluntly.

  Morghiad did not move his eyes from her, or react visibly to the other man’s words.

  “Tal, thank you for staying with me. But I must speak to him alone.”

  “You should eat first, then have your lover’s discussion.”

  “Tal.”

  The Kusuru leaned towards Morghiad. “Make sure she eats while you bash out your apology speech. I don’t want those to be the last words she has to hear.” He turned gracefully and left in silence.

  “You need to regain your strength,” Morghiad said quietly.

  Artemi pulled her lips tight. As if she didn’t already know how this went! At least she was alive; that was good. She would be ready when Mirel returned. Her frown turned to a grin and she threw her arms about Morghiad’s neck to embrace him as tightly as she could. His arms around her were far too

  tentative though, as if he were afraid of breaking her. She released him. “Alright. Say what you must say, then.” She took a meatladen rib from the plate to her left and started eating.

  “Artemi, this is... I very nearly killed you.”

  “But you didn’t. And you thought you were doing the right thing,” she said between mouthfuls.

  “How canI ever forgive myself for this? You, Artemi, for whom I’d have shot every man, woman and child in this country.”

  He wouldn’t have done such a thing. Artemi shook her head.

  “I would do it,” he said firmly. His eyes said he spoke the truth.

  Would she do the same? Burn away

  another four-thousand soldiers if it meant he could live? She probably would have done it for him. “I understand.”

  “If you choose to leave here I will not stop you-”

  “I’m not leaving.”

  He nodded but did not smile. “This castle is still very fond of you. That’s why, whenI step down, it will go to you. And the rest.”

  Artemi dropped her food and stared at him. “I came back to protect my king, not take his title!”

  “I must face trial, and I cannot rule while I am in prison – though you seem to have managed it to some degree.”

  Stupid, obstinate man! “Kings are not trialled unless they’ve needlessly executed their own people! You haven’t done that and I am not dead.”

  “I have committed other crimes by any law. I still haven’t paid the price for Acher. I must do it.”

  She felt like giving him a slap as Selieni had so frequently recommended, or maybe beating him round the head with his bloody honour! “IfI beg, will you not do it?”

  “I must go.”

  “Blazes, do I have to seduce you to keep you from doing this moth-brained thing?”

  A smile very nearly touched his lips then. “I’d enjoy it, assumingI lived, and then

  chewed through another leg of meat as she thought through the problem. “Fine. I’ll do what I can while you undergo trial. But the minute it’s finished, you can take your bloody kingship back. Besides, I can’t imagine anyone would want another woman like me in charge after Mirel.”

  “Silar will see to that, if he hasn’t already.”

  Artemi grunted. She’d never especially liked being a queen. It was lonely, full of dull meetings, heavy responsibilities and no one ever said thank you. At least as a warrior someone would usually say thank you. “You are a very great king.”

  He frowned at her in confusion.

  Artemi grinned and took his hand. “I know it. I’ve seen it. No one else should rule here but you.”

  Even that didn’t provoke a smile from

  him, but he reached around her and held her tighter this time. It felt very good indeed. He stayed with her for perhaps another hour, before kissing her on the forehead and bidding his goodbyes. She could hear the guards marching him away as he left, not escorting. That was a terrible sound.

  Silar was in her room with unfeasible speed after that, and a huge pile of documents for her to sign. “We have a country to look after, and it’s not going to wait while you sleep,” he said jovially. He seemed far too upbeat about the whole arrangement. “Now, Morghiad’s left the place in pretty good order but we need to audit the treasury before next month. And there’s a problem with some of the nobles on the Hirrahan borders. Actually, there’s an issue with that whole area. But we’ll

  come to that shortly.” He raked a hand through his mess of blond hair. “There’s also the issue of the prisoners from the rebellion we had a few years ago. You remember that, I hope?”

  Artemi nodded slowly. What she really wanted to do now was have a good fight. How long had it been since she’d sparred with Tallyn or Vestuna or Romarr? Far, far too long.

  “Good,” Silar continued, “And if you’re thinking of sword fighting right now, forget it.”

  “I...

  wasn-”

  He raised an eyebrow at her. Irritating man. “We have a council meeting in two days. They’ll want to bore you silly with hours’ worth of this stuff. So you’d better start paying attention and regain your strength in time for it.”

  “I know what’s involved with ruling. Doesn’t meanI have to enjoy it when the manI am supposed to marry has now replaced me in prison and I am as feeble as a new foal!”

  “Marry?” Silar smirked in his irksome, knowing way.

  “Oh, shut up and continue with the agenda.”

  He grinned. “Well, my Lady Jade’an, the next item we need to address is the trial itself. Now, we have to find a man of law from outside the castle according to the legalities of investigating royalty. My father has a very good accord with a judge in The Southern Falls. MightI recommend him to my lady?”

  He really had planned ahead. “You think he will be more lenient because he knows Lord Forllan?”

  “More lenient than the rest. Well, he’s already on his way so we should probably put

  him up, in any case.”

  “Does Morghiad tolerate you making all these decisions for him?”

  “He does when he’s pining over his sick wife. Ow!”

  Artemi may have been weak, but she knew exactly where to pinch an impudent man. “You deserved that. Now tell me the particulars of this trial. Where will it be held, how many sessions and who else must attend?”

  “Good to see you’re showing an interest. It has to be somewhere the public can reach. We’ll probably set up something in the castle courtyard. There’s no limit on the sessions – it’ll take as long as it has to. A select group of nobles will act as the jury if the judge demands it. You will be called as a witness, of course. But, as the current ruler, you must have no role in the sentencing... which is slightly less customary for the victim than usual. And you must not visit him while it runs.”

  “No role? If I didn’t know better I’d think he’d engineered that. There was none of this for Febain Reduvi.”

  “Treason is different. Morghiad got to be his trialer and... executioner.”

  “Where is Febain now?”

  “Garntahn’amo.”

  Artemi took a very long breath. “You still haven’t told Morghiad, have you?”

  “The time has never been right for that sort of revelation.”

  She would have to be the one to tell him, was what Silar meant. “There’s something else we have to deal with, thoughI imagine you’ve already seen to this as well.”

  “Hmm?” A smug grin spread over his features.

  “When the population find out who is in charge... another wielder, another Kusuru...”

  Silar’s grin spread further, if that was possible. “Easily fixed, my lady. You are, after all, the legendary Fireblade who waded into the city not ten months ago, razed the evil Mirel from the earth’s surface and freed their beloved king. Your subsequent imprisonment has been hinted at, but it will all come out in the trial, I imagine.”

  “And they believe this propagandised version?”

  “It is th
e truth!”

  Artemi frowned at him. “It is a truth.”

  Another hour passed before they’d finished their planning, though she felt as if

  she’d done little more than write her name on several sheets of paper. Silar seemed to have attended to everything days in advance. Artemi was permitted only another day to rest and recover, during which time she paced her room, ate and thought through her options. The following morning, she was awoken by Caala’s round face, all full of grins and good-natured admonishments for her hungry appearance. But little time was available for chatting, as she was rapidly bathed and wrestled into a surprisingly tight dress. Though it was full of cascades of smoke-thin silk, the damn thing was nearly impossible to breathe in. “Caala, any chance you could loosen that a bit?” she wheezed.

  “I don’t want you getting all relaxed in it and thinking you can pick fights, young lady! Vanha-sielu or not, I know your character.”

  Caala placed her fists on her broad hips.

  “Please, Caala. I have no intention of lifting a sword today.” Artemi was beginning to feel quite dizzy.

  “Oh, alright then.” The woman bustled over and loosened her ribbons by a slight fraction, but it was enough to permit Artemi to breathe once more. Her hair was rapidly raked into position, and soon she was ready to step back into the castle - a free woman supposedly in charge. Her peculiar guard had already assembled themselves outside her door, consisting of Kusurus, Sunidarans and Calidellian lieutenants. All men wore the dark green tunics of the army in a show of solidarity. It was a rather pleasant sight, though she still felt exposed without Morghiad’s protection. Blazes, she’d been without that for a number of years now, and at least ten thousand years before. She had to remember that.

  “Let’s go, boys.”

  The men fell in around her, with the Calidellians at the front, Kusurus to her side and Sunidarans to her rear. It was a shame Khasha was absent, but he’d been irretrievable. He was also the only one who could have been responsible for revealing the Sky Bridges to this generation. They would have words about that when she next saw him.

  The heavily armed procession padded their way towards the hall, through the weighty and dark corridors, up the hard-cut steps. She wondered where her father was, when he’d receive the call to return and if he was safe. And what to do with the infant Mirel? Her mind tumbled with the possibilities of that particular

  dilemma. It was then that an eager set of footsteps came hurtling through the hallway, far too noisy to be a soldier and too solid to belong to anyone in a dress. Her guard parted before her, revealing a pale-haired, slender boy in his teenage years. “Si!” Artemi moved quickly to embrace him, and he grinned at her before sweeping her into his gangly arms.

  “Sidav,” he corrected. “You’re shorter thanI remember,” he said in his markedly deeper voice.

  “And you are just as rude.” She took him by the arm to continue walking. He was taller than she, now, quite easily taller than their father. The elder Silar could easily have been mistaken for his true father. “How is our sister?”

  “She misses her father, but otherwise

  well. Mother says she is less inclined to roll in the mud than you were, but still just as stubborn.”

  Artemi tried not to cringe with embarrassment before her men. The Kusurus had known her as a child often enough, but not the Sunidarans... and only very few of the Calidellians.

  Her brother continued, “I’m sorryI did not visit you, Temi. Really, I am. I would have come... only I – the farmer – he was so convinced of it, and I half-believed him, too.”

  “I wouldn’t have wanted you to see me in there. There is nothing glamorous or heroic about gaol.” Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Tallyn raising an eyebrow at her. But he kept his silence. “So he still permits you to call him that?”

  Sidav’s grin returned. “That was your fault, sister.”

  “Perhaps. Listen, after all this ceremony nonsense is done with I’d like you to pay a visit to Morghiad. He’ll be lonely, and I am not permitted to see him until the trial is over. Would you talk to him - keep him entertained?”

  Her brother nodded eagerly.

  “And knowing our king, he’s probably chosen the darkest, dankest place to wallow in. Being...” She stopped herselffrom saying the queen’s brother, “...my brother, you may have some influence over his guards. Enough to encourage them to place him somewhere more forgiving.”

  She heard Vestuna grunt quietly to her left, but ignored him.

  Her brother nudged her playfully. “You

  didn’t seem so fond of him last time you were here.”

  Artemi could only pull a face in response. She still felt rather guilty about her attitude towards Morghiad in the previous years. Far too much was owed to Calidell in both apology and duty. Maybe some of her debt could be paid with this ridiculous new role of hers.

  Soon they had reached the grand, curved steps that marked the entrance to the Malachite Hall, and it was time for her to ascend alone. A sudden wave of nervousness shot through her muscles as the massive stone doors opened before her. Nausea began to replace fear. Artemi picked up her left foot to step forwards. It moved as if it were encased in cast iron and filled with lead.

  She gritted her teeth and lifted the next foot, and again, and again, and again until she was kneeling before the throne. Its great, black vines loomed menacingly above her, looking as if they might swallow anyone who dared to sit amongst them. It didn’t matter how many times she had done similar things in lives before, this was a responsibility that terrified her. Swathes of nobles, soldiers and servants filled the hall to watch the spectacle, or to watch her fall flat on her face.

  Silar had taken position on the dais above, his expression unusually serious and the charter in his hand. A series of promises followed pronouncements of Morghiad’s abdication, and the final words were uttered: “Artemi Valkea D’Avrohan, today we bestow upon you the right to rule this Kingdom of

  Calidell as its queen... You must promise to govern its people according to the laws and customs with agreement of your council. Justice must be executed in all your judgements, and you must be merciful in your power. Do you agree to this?”

  Artemi bowed her head. “I do.”

  “Then you are ready.” He turned to one of the officiators, who held a crown made of thousands of intertwined stems of silver, took it, and placed it gently on her head. “Rise Artemi, Queen of Calidell.”

  Artemi rose and stepped up to the great, dark throne of onyx marble. She lowered herself into it, feeling like a child who’d mischievously taken her father’s favourite chair. The hard stone chilled her bare arms where they touched it.

  “My queen,” uttered a hundred hushed noble and military voices as they came to bow before her. She honoured each of them with their title and a nod, before standing to dismiss the assembly. The next part of the ceremony was the part she feared most; she would have to face her public. Would they hate her, heckle her and deride her as yet another Mirel? Or had Silar’s whispering birds built a comfortable nest for her to brood in? Her guard accompanied her out of the hall, down the stone steps and through the dark tunnels. Their damp rock and lamp oil smells were acrid and harsh against her nervous mood. They did nothing to calm her.

  And then the open balcony came nearer. It was a broad window, framed with thick stone and dark fabrics and silver lamp

  stands. It looked out onto the main castle courtyard, where the thunder of a thousand Cadran voices rumbled. She steeled herselffor her reception, and readied her muscles to avoid the inevitable volley of rotten vegetables. Instead, when she stepped out, there were no hecklers. Nor were there excited cries of adulation. The entire courtyard rattled into an abrupt, disciplined silence. Artemi fought the urge to share a questioning look with Silar and her guard, maintaining her gaze upon her new subjects. A ruler could not afford to show uncertainty.

  “We are all fires in a gale: some of us are quickly snuffed out
; others are temporarily fuelled by the torrent of air. As for the restthey are the ones that are blown from one place to another. They are the ones that never go out. All of you who stand here today have survived that gale. Others will come, butI can assure you that I will work endlessly to help you fight the next one, and the one after that, and on – until no gale will dare to touch this country. Calidell’s light will never go out. I owe this country a great deal. I owe your king a great deal, and I will fight for him as I fight for you.” Several cheers rose at that. “Today you do not become my people - rather you are the people whomI serve as I serve your king. The preciousness of freedom has become apparent to all of us in recent times: freedom to roam, freedom to speak, freedom to work and grow and prosper. These freedoms are not mine to grant or deny where they aid the lives of innocents. I assure you thatI am no Mirel and, while we await the king’s return, I will see to it

  that any who dare to take his place or our freedom will be blasted to ashes as she was!”