[Vankara Saga 03.0] War of Atonement

by SJ West

  I saw Karis’ mouth twist into a sneer at my derogatory remark. It was all part of my plan. I needed him to be careless, and the best way to make someone reckless is to make him so angry he forgets to watch his back. I needed him closer. Dracen was very adamant that Karis needed to be no more than five feet away from me when I cast my spell. If I cast it too soon, it would fall short of my target, and I would lose the element of surprise.

  “She has your palace now,” Karis said smugly. “She may hate Vankarans, but she seems to like your side of the island better. I think it’s the fact that she made you run away like a scolded child that makes her so happy there.”

  I guess turnabout was fair play. The more Karis stoked my own anger, the stronger my spell would be. I learned early on that my magic was fueled best by controlled rage. Karis may have thought he was testing my limits, but I welcomed his taunts. The more he made me hate him the better. It would make killing him a lot easier.

  Karis rose from his wooden throne and began walking down the stairs towards me. I knew my chance to kill him would come soon, and I knew I was ready to do it. Just as he was about to come into my range, Gabriel spoke.

  “You should stop there,” he told Karis. “She can’t reach you with her spell if you don’t go any farther.”

  I felt like the ground beneath my feet had just given way. Had Gabriel just betrayed me? My mind refused to believe it, yet his words confirmed it.

  I looked away from Gabriel, who still stood with his head bowed in Karis’ direction. When I looked up at Karis, I saw him smiling down at me.

  “Oh yes, Gabriel was kind enough to tell me why you actually came here today,” he confirmed with a nod of his head. “Why do you think I allowed you to come inside? I wanted to see that look on your face when you realized one of your best friends and confidants has betrayed you. Does it make you sad? Mad? Disillusioned? All of the above, I hope. What do you think your people will say when I tell them that you’re a shifter? I sincerely doubt they’ll want to keep you as their queen any longer, even if you are able to regain your throne somehow.”

  I remained silent. I wasn’t about to give Karis any more satisfaction than he was already getting from my dilemma. What was I supposed to do? The war hinged on me killing Karis. How was I supposed to do that now?

  “Use your gift, Sarah,” Aurora urged me. “Tear him to shreds with your magic.”

  I could do it. I could shatter every bone in Karis’ body with just a thought and reduce him to a puddle of blood and bones in a matter of seconds. It wouldn’t be an elegant death, but dead was dead. Karis had to be taken out or the war would be lost. Everyone was counting on me to do my duty as their queen, their leader. How could I ask them to fight for me if I wasn’t willing to kill too?

  “Gabriel,” Karis said, “you kept your end of the bargain, and I shall keep mine. Come closer.”

  Gabriel finally lifted his head to look at Karis. Hesitantly, he walked up the steps towards him.

  “I can’t guarantee that the spell will work,” Karis told Gabriel, “but I will try.”

  “What could you want so badly that would justify you betraying me?” I asked Gabriel, hoping to make sense of his treachery.

  Gabriel turned to look at me. I didn’t think it was possible, but he looked even worse now than he did earlier in the day.

  “He may be able to break my link to Tyr,” Gabriel said, sounding on the verge of tears. “I can’t stand him being inside my mind anymore. I’m so sorry.”

  I tried to hate Gabriel for what he was doing, but a part of me hoped Karis’ spell worked. I didn’t agree with Gabriel’s methods of finding a cure for himself, but seeing him in so much pain made my heart cry out for him. Was his rationale any different from Kira’s? She had taken drastic measures to relieve her pain, even though it cost Dracen dearly and forever left Gabriel thinking he had been partly responsible for his wife’s death. Maybe this was karma’s way of paying me back for finding happiness in my new life.

  Karis reached out a hand and covered Gabriel’s heart. I watched as he closed his eyes and began to mumble the words of a spell.

  I waited to see what the outcome would be. I couldn’t kill the one person who could possibly break the connection for Gabriel and free him of Tyr.

  It felt like it was taking forever, but finally Karis lifted his hand from Gabriel’s chest.

  “I’m sorry,” he said to Gabriel, “but I cannot break the bond.”

  Gabriel began to sob like the world was lost to him. I wanted to go to him, but knew I had one task that had to be taken care of first.

  As Karis turned away from Gabriel to walk back to his throne, I dipped down into that part of my soul that held a pool of my anger. It quickly consumed me, lending me its strength to call upon my birthright of magic.

  Just as I was about to cast my spell, I saw Gabriel reach into his coat pocket and pull out something shiny that glinted against the sunlight streaming into the room.

  “You can still help me break the bond,” Gabriel said as he thrust the point of his knife in the back of Karis’ neck.

  Stunned, I simply stood where I was, trying to comprehend what I was watching.

  Gabriel pulled the knife out and viciously struck Karis again and again from behind like a madman until the would-be king’s body fell onto the stairs. Before Karis’ last breath on this earth left his body, Gabriel grabbed one of his arms and held onto it.

  It was only then that the gears in my brain began to shift from disbelief to understanding. Everything finally made sense, and I knew exactly what Gabriel’s plan had been all along.

  He was about to shift into Karis.

  “Gabriel, no!” I begged, finding the strength to move my legs to rush up the stairs to stop what was about to happen, but I was too late.

  Gabriel stifled a cry of pain as Karis died, and he began his transformation.

  Gabriel crumbled onto the stairs, lying on his side as he trembled uncontrollably from the pain. It felt odd to watch Gabriel’s body shift into Karis’ form. I had endured the change three times within my own lifetime, but this was the first time I played the role of spectator.

  I wanted to comfort Gabriel, to help with the pain as he changed, but I knew from my own experiences that it wouldn’t help. In fact, it might hinder the shifting of the bones beneath the skin and cause even more agony. The transformation didn’t take very long. It was a small miracle, but one I was grateful for. Once it was complete, I knelt down beside Gabriel and cupped one side of his face with a hand.

  “Gabriel?” I asked.

  He didn’t respond. His body was completely limp, but at least his breathing was steady.

  “Gabriel, how do you feel?”

  “Free,” he said, as a relieved smile stretched his lips. “Free of Tyr.”

  “Is that why you did this?” I asked, briefly looking over at Karis’ corpse. “To break your bond with Tyr?”

  “And to save you from having to kill Karis,” Gabriel told me, finally opening his eyes to look at me. “I didn’t want your soul haunted by his death. I knew no matter how much you justified killing him, it would eat you up inside until there was nothing left. I couldn’t let you do that to yourself.”

  “Oh, Gabriel,” I said on the verge of tears.

  Would anyone know me as well as Gabriel did? I knew he was right. Karis’ death would have plagued my thoughts every day of my remaining years. I couldn’t deny that he was right.

  “I belong here with the Fae anyway,” Gabriel said as he struggled to sit up on the stairs.

  I placed my hands underneath his arms to help him stand. I knew how tired he must feel. He needed sleep, but I knew he wouldn’t rest until things were settled.

  “Why would you say you belong here?” I asked.

  “I’m part Fae, remember? And if my mother is going to retake her throne, she’ll need someone to watch her back. There may be people here who think they can take advantage of her just because she’s old. I want to make s
ure that doesn’t happen.”

  “I doubt Karis was liked by many of the Fae,” I said. “You may need someone to watch your back too.”

  “I can take care of myself,” Gabriel replied, smiling faintly over my worry. “I can be of more help to you in this form than I could as Gabriel.”

  “I don’t think I can call you Karis. You will always be Gabriel to me, no matter what you look like.”

  “I will probably always think of myself as him too, but you can never call me that while others are around.”

  “I know.”

  I didn’t know what else to say. How do you repay a man who gave up who he was to save you from becoming a murderer? There were no words that could adequately describe how indebted I felt to him.

  I looked back at Karis’ lifeless form. “What are we going to do with the body?”

  “Cast your spell,” Gabriel said. “Let the earth swallow him up. It’s more than he deserves for the crimes he’s committed.”

  I stretched out my hand and touched the step near Karis’ corpse.

  “Wait,” Gabriel said weakly, reaching for Karis’ body. “Help me get his robe off so I can put it on.”

  Moving a dead body isn’t as easy as it might sound. Eventually, we were able to remove the dark green and black robe Karis was wearing.

  I laid my hand on a stair near his corpse. Pillars of earth shot up from beneath the stone and twisted themselves around Karis’ lifeless body, dragging him down into the dark depths from whence they came. I studied the hole in the stairs my spell caused.

  “How are we going to explain that?”

  “I’m sure the Fae are used to seeing odder things with Karis around,” Gabriel said, slowly standing to his feet and dressing in Karis’ bloody robe.

  “What about the blood?” I asked, looking pointedly at the stains that covered both the front and the back of his new attire.

  “I’ll just say it’s Gabriel’s blood. Karis was a sadist. They won’t think twice about my answer.”

  “Everything is going to change for you now, Gabriel.”

  “It will be a change for the better.” The expression on his face was one of lost opportunities. “You know I wouldn’t have been able to stay in Iron City. I assume you plan to marry Fallon as soon as the war is over. There’s no way I could have made myself stay there and watch the two of you live a life I could only envy.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “I never meant to cause you any pain.”

  Gabriel shook his head. “You didn’t. I caused it myself a long time ago when I abandoned Kira when she needed me the most. The only person to blame for my life is me.”

  “Inara told Thaddeus Irondale that the child I’m carrying is Fallon’s,” I confessed. “She did it so Thaddeus wouldn’t argue against a marriage between John and me.”

  “It’s probably for the best that the boy grows up thinking Fallon is his father,” Gabriel said. “I know the two of you will raise my son to be a better man than I am.”

  “Don’t say that,” I said, grabbing hold of Gabriel’s arms to make sure he kept looking at me. “You are one of the best men I have ever known. You’ve always looked out for me if it was within your abilities to do so. I want to tell your son about you one day. Do you give me permission to do that?”

  “On one condition,” Gabriel said. “Only tell him if you think it will do good. Don’t tell him if you think it will tear his world apart and make him question himself. The best gift you could give me is a son who knows his own mind and follows his heart. If he grows up to do those two things, I’ll at least feel as if my sacrifice in not knowing him will have been worth it.”

  “All right. I promise not to tell him if I think it will only hurt him.”

  “Now,” Gabriel said, looking towards the entrance, “I think we should go out and bring my mother in for the people to see. They need to get reacquainted with their new queen.”

  As we walked down the stairs together, I asked, “Are you sure your bond with Tyr has been severed?”

  “Absolutely sure,” Gabriel answered. “I can’t feel him at all anymore.”

  “Sarah,” Aurora asked in worry. “Do you ever intend to shift again? I don’t think I could bear it if our bond was ever broken.”

  “No worries, my little dragonling. I won’t be shifting again. I have a beautiful life filled with people who love me. I have no reason to want anything to change.”

  I could feel Aurora’s joy. It was a perfect match to my own.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  The scattering of Fae troops who were left behind to guard the city followed Gabriel’s first orders as Karis and laid down their weapons as our troops walked into the city. During the transformation into Karis, Gabriel had apparently inherited his predecessor’s magical abilities as well. The notion didn’t seem odd to me considering the fact that Queen Emma’s unborn child had been transferred to me during my own shift into her form. Gabriel was also able to control the automatons now, and I knew with their help, we were sure to be victorious in whatever Nuala might send our way.

  “You can either stand and fight to protect your new queen,” Gabriel told the Fae guards through Karis’ lips, “or leave here and never return. I can assure you that Nuala will not regain her throne. The Kamoran and Vankaran troops will fight by your sides to make sure that never happens.”

  Rallying the Fae to accept Lanai as their new queen didn’t take much prodding. As we suspected, a large majority of them were tired of living in fear of Nuala. After beating down their morale with her strict rule, the Fae welcomed a chance for a new life with the true heir to the throne.

  For the very first time in any of my lifetimes, I saw the population of the capital city emerge from their tree dwellings and fill the section in front of the palace with their numbers. Many of the Fae remembered Lanai from her previous reign and welcomed her back home with open arms. I don’t think Gabriel’s mother expected such a warm reception from a people who had shunned her at one time. It was obvious the Fae who had been alive during Nuala’s coup now understood what a colossal mistake they had made in siding with her.

  “Are the Fae dragons still around?” Nicole asked, looking up at the sky. “I can’t really tell one dragon from the other, I’m afraid.”

  “They left with Tyr,” Gregoire told me. “If I had known my brother’s bond with Gabriel had been broken, I would have chased him down and killed him before he had a chance to escape. I’ve sent out a scouting party, but the odds of us finding Tyr are slim to none. If he wants to remain hidden, he will.”

  “The Fae dragons left with Tyr and Gabriel,” I told Nicole. I decided it was better to let everyone except Lanai and Dracen believe Gabriel chose to live with his dragon companion than tell them the truth. Who knew if they would have believed me anyway? Shifters were things of legend for most people, not everyday life.

  “So how exactly is it that Nuala is supposed to find out she’s lost her kingdom?” Nicole asked.

  “Gregoire has already sent one of his dragons to spread the word of what’s happened here to the ones in Iron City,” I told her. “Nuala will hear it through them.”

  “And we’re sure she’ll send troops back here?” she asked.

  “As sure as we can be,” I said. “I don’t think she has much choice.”

  “We’re also counting on Nuala’s arrogance,” Dracen said. “She believes she’s all-powerful and that we aren’t strong enough to defeat her. Her underestimation of us will be her downfall.”

  “Since we’re basically just waiting to be attacked by whatever she sends back here, can we at least eat something while we wait?” Nicole asked, rubbing her belly with one hand. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m famished.”

  We all went inside the tree palace that was now Lanai’s home once again. The Fae were very hospitable and prepared what amounted to a celebration feast for us. We all ate in the dining room, going over our strategy to protect the city against the assault that
was sure to come.

  The Fae serving us kept a wary distance from Gabriel. In his new role as Karis, I knew he would have to do a lot of work convincing the Fae that he was a changed man under Lanai’s rule. I didn’t envy him such a monumental task. There was no telling what Karis had done during his time as ruler here, but I knew Gabriel would eventually earn the trust of his people. He was just that kind of man.

  It wasn’t until sometime later that I noticed Nicole’s absence from the dining room.

  “Where did Nicole go?” I asked to no one in particular. I didn’t know which one of them would know the answer.

  “She asked for a basket of apples and went down to see Nessa, Queen Emma,” one of the Fae serving woman told me.

  “Who’s Nessa?” I asked the woman.

  “She is Nuala’s dragon companion.”

  “Why would Nicole be interested in her?” Aurora asked.

  “I have a bad feeling I know the answer to that question,” Dracen said, quickly standing from his seat at the table.

  Gabriel and I followed Dracen down into the dungeons of the palace.

  “Do you like these apples?” I heard Nicole say sweetly. “I was told they were your favorite snack.”

  “Oh yes,” I heard Nessa say, even though she had to know Nicole couldn’t hear a word she was saying. “I do love a beautiful red apple. They are so sweet!”

  We followed Nicole’s voice through the labyrinth of tunnels in the dungeon. I had no clue why Nuala needed so many prison cells, but I didn’t dwell on it since most of them were empty. We soon came to a large cell where Nuala kept her dragon companion.

  The dragon looked smaller than most, and I had to wonder if that was because of the size of her cell. The poor thing was crammed into a space that was only as large as a small house. Every adult dragon I had seen so far was as big as a frigate.

  “Here you go,” Nicole said to Nessa as she was just about to throw an apple into Nessa’s cage. “Eat up.”