“Well that went well,” he muttered to the empty room.
Chapter Twelve
The rain continued for another two days, and Daarik spent most of them trying to get his wife to stand still for a moment. She had at least started speaking to him again, though in a stiff, emotionless way that made him want to punch something. She had remained as far away from him in bed as she could get, and every time she smiled at Laird or Renn or any of the other males at Ashwall, it took everything in him not to stalk away like a pouting child.
So he did what he could. He helped shore up the defenses at Ashwall in case the Sarlene attacked again, and he made sure the tunnels below the fort were as clear as possible. He’d peeked into the dungeon and gotten a look at a surly Edwell and his sleazy secretary, Harledon, sitting in cells as far apart as Renn’s men had been able to place them. In another corner was one of the Maarlai that had left Darathar with Jarvik.
After he was finished working with Renn’s men, he made his way back down to the dungeon and ordered the guard to open the Maarlai’s cell. Daarik stepped into the damp cell and closed the door behind him. The Maarlai, Verek, looked at him with hatred in his eyes.
“Where is Jarvik?” Daarik asked in Maarlai. Derek merely glared at him. “I’m not in the most pleasant mood, so speaking now would be a good idea,” Daarik added, and Verek clamped his mouth shut.
“Very well.” It was sick, but he was relieved to have something to hit. Daarik drew his fist back and hit Verek, hard, in the face. He felt the other Maarlai’s nose crunch under the impact, and blood poured down his face.
“Where is Jarvik?”
“You think I’ll give him up to you and that human whore you married?” Verek said with a bitter laugh. Daarik drew back and hit him again.
“Last chance,” Daarik growled.
“What are you going to do? Kill me? You’re not a killer, boy.”
Daarik swung the ax off of his back. “I thought you knew me better than that, Verek. A killer is exactly what I was trained to be.”
It took a second, hardly any effort at all, and Verek’s head fell to the floor. Daarik barely gave it a glance before calling for the guard to open the cell.
“We’ll burn the body, Your Highness,” the guard said. Though he had visibly paled at the sight of Verek’s body, his voice remained steady. Daarik nodded and made his way out of the dungeon.
“You killed him?”
Daarik groaned. It was just his luck that Janara was lying in wait for him.
“There was no point in keeping him around. I am done sparing those who would harm us.”
“I agree, but… Daarik, that was very unlike you. You prefer an actual fight.”
“Not today.”
“You know, taking your frustration out on everyone else is not going to fix things with your wife.”
Daarik glared at her and kept walking.
“You let her down,” Janara said quietly, and Daarik froze.
“What?”
“She believed in you. She thought you were the one being on this planet who understood her and respected her ambition. She thought you appreciated having an equal, and it turns out that you seem to want the one thing she swore she would never be: a doormat.”
It was like a slap in the face, and Janara delivered it all without even once raising her voice. “And as her friend, I kind of want to stab you right now for that.”
Daarik’s mouth dropped open in surprise. “You’re my cousin.”
“It matters not. She has put up with so much nonsense in this journey, being questioned and doubted at every single turn, having to soothe egos while still maintaining her authority. She has been underestimated, challenged, ridiculed, and she has taken it with more poise and stubbornness than I’ve ever seen. She has made believers of her enemies. And what do you do? You march in here and basically tell her ‘nice job delivering Edwell’s people to me, now step aside.’”
“That was not how I meant it,” he argued. “And I did basically say that, but I explained that I was still trying to find my own way—”
“And then you accused her of ambition, as if that is such a terrible thing.”
“Faerlah—”
“Faerlah is a very old female who is unwilling to change. I love our grandmother, but she still acts as if nothing has changed. This world is different, and it has changed us, for better or for worse. Shannen is just one more change, and as far as I am concerned, she’s a welcome one. You need to fix this. She thought she was finally being united with her partner, her most devoted ally. Instead, she got yet more doubt. You are kind of an idiot,” she added, and then she stalked up the stairs, going back to the main level of the fort. Daarik blew out a breath.
All right. He had made a mess of this. He could admit that. He would find her and convince her to finally talk to him. They would work it out. He’d have his wife back, and he’d be the partner she deserved.
He could do this.
He ran up the stairs and looked through the public areas of the fort. He was making his way to the central staircase that would take him up to their quarters when he heard a familiar buzzing sound. The sound was met with screams and cries.
“Down to the tunnels,” he shouted. “Go!” Those nearby ran for the tunnel entrance, and others went to help get the children into the tunnels. “Where is the queen?” he asked one of the fighters Shannen had recruited on her way to Tanris.
“Last I saw, she was in the kitchens,” he said. “I’ll find her.”
At that moment, Janara and Camille appeared, Shannen between them as they rushed her to the tunnels.
“Come on,” Shannen called to him.
“They’ve landed,” Renn shouted.
“Three ships,” another of his men said, and the guards and other soldiers, both human and Maarlai, started gathering weapons. If they were afraid, they did not show it.
Daarik shot a look at Shannen. “Go,” he said.
“No!”
“Take her below. Keep her there,” he said to Janara, knowing Shannen would hate him for it. She could hate him all she wanted, as long as she stayed alive and well. He heard her shouting, screaming his name, and he turned away.
Renn picked up one of the weapons they had looted from the group of Sarlene Shannen and her army had taken down before getting to Ashwall, and threw another to Daarik. He had practiced with them in all of the time they’d had to kill thanks to the rain, and he was a fairly decent shot.
“Probably at least fifteen of the bastards, if the crews are similar to the ship Shannen and her people destroyed,” Renn muttered to him.
“Twice that many of us,” Daarik said.
“But only five of the good weapons,” Renn said, hefting his own.
Daarik glanced toward the doors that led down to the tunnels. They were secured, and he knew his wife was safe below.
“I don’t like that they’ve landed,” Renn said, and the fighters nearby nodded. Those who had fought alongside Shannen, who had seen and lived through the destruction of Tanris, carried themselves like men who knew they were about to die.
“I don’t like it either, but I’ll take it,” Daarik said. “As long as they’re not in those damned ships, they can’t level Ashwall. We need to destroy them before they get back up into the sky or get any closer to the fortress.”
“You should go back,” Renn said, glancing at him. “Your Highness.”
“Protect the queen. That’s all that matters right now,” he said, meeting Renn’s eyes.
After a pause, Renn gave him a stiff nod and they turned back to where the ships had landed.
Hatches on all three opened, and Daarik could see bright light spilling out of them.
“Come on,” he said, and he charged forward with Renn and a small army of human and Maarlai warriors. One word spurred every step he took, every blast he shot at their enemy: Shannen.
“Let me out. That’s a gods-damned order,” Shannen shouted, shoving at Janara, and the
n at Camille.
“Your Highness, I will knock you out if I have to,” Janara said.
“We can’t just sit here. He— they — need us,” Shannen said, trying to squeeze past.
“Our best fighters are all up there,” Janara said, taking her hand and trying to soothe her. “They are doing what they do best.” She leaned closer to Shannen. “Your people are terrified. My people are terrified. They are all your people right now. And they need their Queen to be strong. I know you don’t feel strong. But I also know you can pretend. Do it for them. Do it for Daarik, who would want you to be calm.”
Shannen forced herself to take several deep, gulping breaths.
“Easy, my Queen. Easy,” Camille said, taking her other hand. Faerlah made her way over to them and stepped in front of Shannen.
“Have a little faith, my Queen,” the elderly Maarlai said, loudly enough for everyone else crammed into their tunnel to hear her. Shannen understood what she was doing, and she didn’t like it. She was being subtly told that if Daarik didn’t make it, she was expected to rule on her own.
And now the argument they had been having for the past three days felt so stupid, so pointless. She blinked hard, willing the tears back.
It felt like an eternity. Several of the smaller children started crying, and between that and how far they were beneath the earth, it was impossible to hear anything that was happening above.
Shannen felt as if she would lose her mind if she had to wait in the dark much longer, crammed in so closely with every else, wondering what was happening to her people, her friends, and her husband. Nearby, several of the women from Tanris had formed a circle and joined hands, murmuring the traditional prayers. Three nearby Maarlai females joined them, holding hands with the humans even though they worshipped different gods. They all waited, side by side, pressed together, all united in the fear of the unknown, afraid of what would greet them the next time the door opened.
“How long do you think it has been?” she asked Janara after a long time of standing there in tense silence.
“At least a couple of hours,” her friend answered. Her voice shook, just a little, and Shannen squeezed her hand.
After what felt like a few lifetimes later, there was a loud knock at the door.
“It’s me. Come on out. It’s okay,” Shannen heard Renn call.
Janara held her hand out, motioning for Shannen to stay, and Camille held her hand firmly. Janara opened the small peephole in the door, and, after a moment, she opened it and waved them through. Shannen ran through and up the stairs. Renn was just in front of her. His armor was covered in dark liquid that she knew had to be blood.
“Renn?” she asked, and his shoulders slumped. After a moment, he turned to her. “What happened? We won, obviously…”
“We beat them back. There wee twenty-two of them. They seemed intent on going after Daarik. I think that was likely why they landed.” Shannen remembered her own words, her half-cocked plan to lure the Sarlene by using herself as bait.
“Where is he?” she asked, her voice rising a few octaves.
“We beat them back. Killed ‘em all,” Renn said. He looked as if he had aged years in the few hours he had been fighting.
“Where is my husband, Renn?” she asked, on the verge of screaming.
“We had them beaten. Daarik was hurt. We were gathering the injured and bringing them inside, and Daarik insisted that we take the others first.”
“Where is he?” she screamed.
“This group of Maarlai came… they took him while we wee getting the others inside. We came back out to see them charging off on horses. Daarik was slung over one of the horses’ backs. We gave chase, but we lost them… I still have men out looking, both human and Maarlai. I’m sorry,” he said.
“Jarvik,” Janara snarled behind Shannen. Shannen was numb, in shock, and she tried her hardest to shake herself out of it. Her chest ached and her stomach twisted.
“Which direction were they traveling?” she asked Renn.
“Northeast,” he said, and she nodded.
Shannen turned to Janara. “We are going after him.”
Janara nodded. “When?”
“Immediately.”
“Shannen. It’s raining out there. It’s dark. You don’t even know where they are,” Renn argued.
“I am not sitting here while my husband is in danger. You all forced me to do that once, and now look where we are,” she snapped.
Renn was about to argue when a bright light lit up the sky outside the fort. This time, instead of screams, there were sobs. Everyone was exhausted. Afraid.
Shannen looked closely at the craft. It was different from the Sarlene ships. Bright white, almost liquid in form.
“Fucking hell,” Renn muttered.
“Your family?” Shannen asked, and he nodded. “Are you ready to go home?”
“This is home,” he answered.
She gave a terse nod and started storming away. “Be ready to back me up if I need it.”
“What? What the hell are you doing?” Renn asked, panicked.
“Get your royal ass back here, Shannen,” Janara called.
“Be ready,” Shannen repeated, and she stormed up to the ship, aware that the humans and Maarlai, and one very stressed out Kinarian/Maarlai princeling watched her.
A panel on the side of the white ship slid open, and a tall, willowy, blue figure emerged. She supposed it was male.
“Do you speak Common?” she asked it. She already knew the answer to that; Renn had told Daarik that there was no language the Watchers of Kinari-5 did not speak.
“I do,” it answered in an echoey voice.
“Very good. I have had a very long, very stressful day. I have no intention of losing one of my best allies, and I am not in the most patient of moods. So unless you plan on fighting us, I suggest you turn yourself around, get back on your pretty ship, and go back to wherever you came from.”
The Kinarian looked at her, a puzzled expression on its face. “I am here to collect the prince.”
“The prince is not ready to leave, and at any rate, I refuse to allow him to leave. I have use of him.”
“He is forbidden—”
“He is supposed to act as one of us. I am commanding him, as a royal of this planet, to assist me. Does it not go against your own rules to use your status as Watchers to excuse yourselves from living as the others on this planet would?”
“Yes, but—”
“He is here, and he is one of my subjects. I have really, really had enough of aliens coming here and making a mess of things, so I will ask, nicely, one more time: get on your ship, and go home.”
“This is highly irregular,” the Kinarian said, looking less sure of itself, its large, glowing white eyes blinking furiously.
“Yes, well, welcome to my life,” Shannen said. “Make a choice. I have things to do.”
The Kinarian turned and spoke in a strange hissing, clicking language to someone inside the ship. She could practically feel those in Ashwall holding their collective breath.
“We will return to collect him. We have no quarrel with your planet. Next time we come, he must come with us.”
Shannen nodded, and the Kinarian bowed quickly before stepping back onto its ship. A moment later, it flew off, little more than a streak of light in the night sky.
“You are insane,” Renn said, running up to her. “If he’d been in a mood, he could have shot you on sight for approaching like that.”
“Janara said all your kind is allowed to do is watch and try to act like a native of the planet you are visiting. She also said they are sticklers for rules and order. I figured the chances were fairly good that it would listen to reason. And if not, you would have been fighting your people for me as well,” she said, patting his arm as she walked past him. Renn continued to look up at the sky, dumbfounded.
“I am leaving most of them here with you,” Shannen called.
“What?”
“T
he residents of Tanris. Most of the Maarlai. They need your shelter for a while longer.”
“Of course, but I’m not staying.”
“Yes, you are,” Shannen said mildly.
“You need—”
“I need my Maidens by my side. And I need someone I can trust here, watching over my people until I can come back for all of them. I need someone who will keep Edwell and Harledon locked up until they are of use. You’re the only one I trust with any of that.”
“I can’t let anything happen to you,” he said.
“Haven’t you learned by now? I am the only one who decides what will happen to me. I have stood aside. I have taken the counsel offered to me by many since the fall of Tanris. No more. I know what I am capable of. If I am going to lead, I will lead my way. And my way, right this moment, is to find my king and destroy those who took him from me. Can I count on you?”
“Yes, Your Highness,” Renn said, bowing low. He took her hand and pressed his lips to her fingers. “It is an honor to serve you, my old friend,” he said quietly.
“Thank you, Renn,” she said, and he rose.
“I’ll keep them safe. I swear it. And we’ll get a confession out of Edwell if it’s the last thing we do.”
Shannen nodded. She looked behind him, to where her most trusted Maidens stood: Camille, Reena, Gildis, Sula, and Janara.
“Gather whatever you need. We are not coming back until we have him.”
Camille and the other human Maidens nodded and moved off, likely to gather more weapons. Janara stayed with Shannen.
“Do you think you can get us there quickly?” Shannen asked.
“It will not be as quickly as you’d like. I could only transport myself and the horse a few times, and not tremendously far.”
“They likely went to Darathar,” Shannen said. “With the city sitting there empty, Jarvik will move in and claim it as his.” She paused. “Why did he take Daarik alive? I assumed he would try to kill Daarik as he did Elrek. I am grateful he did not, of course, but I don’t understand it.”
Riven (Exile Book 2) Page 14