Blades of Fate

by Alledria Hurt

  "How can you eat that mess?" he asked.

  "If you needed your strength by morning, you would eat as well," she said with the spoon suspended below her lip. She dropped the spoon back in the stew and shook her head. "Tomorrow will come quickly. You should act like it."

  "I'm not the one going into combat on tomorrow."

  "If you think you will leave here without a fight, then you are stupid."

  Warden turned away. Kendrick wanted them dead. Would he get out of the capital without a fight? The chances seemed slim. Of course, he could perhaps pick the lock and be on his way long before morning, but what good would it do him? Fate bound them together. He stole a glance at her. She had gone back to eating. With one hand, he picked up the bowl. There was no way of knowing when he would be fed again. Best take what chances he could.

  "Do you think they would poison us?"

  "Kendrick has declared there would be a trial by combat in front of witnesses. He will not go back on that."

  She left her bowl in front of her cage door and moved back into the shadows. Warden strained to see her and could only make out her outline.

  "You trust him, even after what he has done?"

  "I trust that he will not disgrace the office in front of witnesses. That much I know without a doubt. If he were going to kill us, he would have done so already."

  A jailer returned for their bowls a while later. The torches guttered in their rings as the pair waited for morning to come. Late in the night, footsteps hurried through the corridor. It stopped between the cells of Warden and Leviana. Keys jangled as they were held in space. A slender hand fitted a key into the lock of Leviana's cell.

  "Come, Immortal," Versa said as she stood in the doorway. "We must hurry."

  Leviana stood up and cocked her head to one side.

  "Why have you come?"

  "I am only steps ahead of an assassin which will take your life while you wait in your cell. Kendrick has played you false," she said gesturing at the door to Warden's cell. "I will release your fellow as well. You both must take your chances outside of the city walls. Gather an army and take it back by force."

  Versa moved to Warden's cell and fitted another key in the lock releasing him. The three stood in the hall, Warden and Leviana against Versa.

  "You betrayed me," Leviana said. Versa ducked her head.

  "I am guilty of that, but I do this now knowing I can never earn your goodwill again."

  "We should be going," Warden said. He turned toward the door and asked,

  "What of the guards?"

  "They have been bought off for a time to keep them from being unwitting witnesses to the assassin to come," Versa said. "He will be here any minute. We must go."

  Versa walked ahead of them and opened the door leading into the guard alcove. No one sat inside. Then she went to the stairs and peered up them as if she could see around the curve.

  "Immortal, you must know that I never intended for you to die."

  "Then you are more of a child than I thought because the only way I will lose my kingdom is through death."

  "Perhaps I am."

  Warden went up a few stairs and looked around the turn to see if anyone waited above them. "We're free. Let's go. Leviana, you can berate her later."

  "Do not think to order me," Leviana said.

  "She's helping us."

  "She's helping herself."

  Up the stairs, they went together with Warden in the lead. He got to the top of the stairs and immediately slid to the side.

  "Leviana, run!"

  A troupe of soldiers awaited them at the top of the stairs with their weapons at the ready. Kendrick stood with them wearing strange robes. Versa ushered Leviana into their midst and stepped to one side.

  "I have brought her as you asked," she said. With a turn, Leviana went after Versa, snatching the long dagger from her side. Reversing her grip, she brought it across Versa's torso, but it was not sharp enough to do more than split the skin. Versa fell back, clutching at her wounded abdomen. Flinging the blood on the dagger, Leviana turned and started toward Kendrick. The men with him took a reflexive step back in spite of their numbers. Kendrick brought his hands together in front of his chest and chanted in a strange language. Warden dashed across the space between them, hoping to bring the man to a stop.

  As he reached him, Kendrick's hands glowed with fire like sapphires, a deeper color than the power Leviana often wielded.

  "No more," Kendrick said as he put his hands out to Warden. On contact, Warden screamed. Visions flashed before his eyes and he collapsed to one side.

  In the final moment before darkness claimed him, he heard Leviana's voice rise as well.

  Captive Souls

  Daylight crept into the halls of the palace at Arathum leaving behind golden footprints. Kendrick stood at the window as the first of the warmth bathed his face. Beside him, Versa waited with her arms wrapped around herself.

  "It is over?" she asked.

  "Yes."

  "How can you be certain?"

  He turned from the window and stalked to the table in the center of the room. Sitting there were a book and a corked vial full of a pair of swirling lights. One bore the countenance of darkness while the other shone blue.

  "This." He shoved the vial toward her. "Locked inside are the souls of the Black King and his consort, the Immortal Queen." A smile broke over his face. "Without them, they have no power. The trial by combat will come and they will both die."

  Versa took the vial from his hands and held it before her eyes.

  "Can we take them for ourselves?"

  "No," he snatched the vial back from her. "If it is opened, they will return to the bodies they left. The body and soul are linked. Such power cannot be severed save by death."

  "And if they die, will the souls die as well?"

  "No, I believe they will return to the power from which they came. However, that is far from here." With quick hands, he returned the vial to the table.

  "You should prepare, Versa. You will stand against her in combat and that may not be as easy as you would like to believe."

  The Trusted flicked her eyes to him and said nothing before crossing the room to the door.

  "You will summon the council?"

  "The sun rises. I will send the messengers when it has risen a little higher and they will gather in time for the midday meal to be offered to Ancel who will oversee the proceedings." Kendrick raised his hand in a salute to her. "It will be up to you to complete the power of the kingdoms. Then we will be free of her. With that done, we can do what I came here to do."

  She opened the door and slipped out into the hallway. Kendrick watched her go and then looked once more at the vial so close at hand.

  "Such power was never meant for man. It is good that it will be returned from whence it came."

  On the wall of the room hung the map of the conquered kingdoms, many of them coming from the time of the Black King over three hundred years prior.

  "We have stretched forth our hand and will return things to as they once were," Kendrick said. "A multitude of free peoples."

  The time to summon the council would come soon. He needed to be prepared and in the vestments of his office by then. Versa would join him again soon enough, once she was prepared to take on the woman the Immortal had once been in combat. Who she had been was known only by a name: Jalcina of Sartol. The mountain kingdom did not breed fighters, so he had to wonder if there would be much of a fight when the woman was no longer overshadowed by the soul of the Immortal. He spread his hands to the map.

  Perhaps he need not worry over victory. Versa was trained by the Immortal herself. Her abilities were without question. She would bring him the head of the woman without fail and things would proceed according to his Father's plan. The only hitch was the seal. He still didn't have it. With each successive impostor, he pushed for the Council to accord him power. After seeing her fail the trial by combat, he would try again. He had already prepa
red the spell to sway them and had a likeness of the seal created. It would be enough.

  Then he could take Versa and return home. Only once he had brought the conquest to an end.

  THE END

  Dear Reader,

  Thanks for your time and attention. Hope you enjoyed the book. If you did, please REVIEW it! Nothing shows love to an author like a few stars and a kind word.

  I know things ended right as they were getting good, again. Book three, Cities in Time, is already being written, so hopefully it won’t be two years before you get it. Sign up for my newsletter to make sure you don’t miss out on the release date and let me know if you’re interested in perhaps getting an early copy and being the envy of all your friends in knowing how it ends before it even hits the shelves.

  Love,

  Alle.

  P.S.: Have you left your review yet? I want to know what you think.