by D N Meinster
Halstrom was back in the Throne Room, clinging to his chair like someone was going to take it away at any moment. There was no fear evident in his face, but Doren was certain that his father dreaded losing his place in the hierarchy. If Neanthal came back, there was only one kingdom on the horizon. The rest were out of sight and impossible to reach.
Why else would Halstrom keep coming back to this room? He had used it so sparingly before. It could only be because he thought he might lose it.
Hatswick hurried to the King's side right as they entered the room. He whispered in Halstrom's ear before concentrating on Doren and Aros.
Halstrom refused to emote as he studied Doren and his companion. There was no joy in seeing that his son had survived, or elation that they had found the Thalians and those they had kidnapped. He just folded his arms and said, "Report."
Doren could not easily hide what he was feeling. His contempt for the King grew as his nonchalant attitude continued. He wanted to scream, to demand to know what his father had known. But he bit his tongue and let Aros speak first.
"We...we found Leidess," Aros said.
"I'm aware," Halstrom replied.
"They had also kidnapped – "
"Ratch," the King interrupted. "Yes, I know him. A fine blacksmith, though we have not had much use for the trade recently. Any inkling why he was taken?"
"Best to ask him," Aros said. "He's with the healer."
"Since you don't know, then I have no choice but to." The King leaned back and clutched the arms of his throne. "Tell me about the Thalians."
"They were hiding in a cemetery on the outskirts," Aros informed him. "They've been using the sewers for transport when they can't shift. There are five of them, and they are formidable."
"Formidable?" Halstrom eyed Hatswick. "The Grand Mage didn't have a problem rescuing you from them. None of you were ready to take on such a foe."
"We held our own," Aros responded.
"For as long as you could, I suppose," Halstrom dryly stated. "You can go see the healer now."
Aros didn't linger, obviously wanting to go check on Leidess. He bolted out of the room, leaving Doren alone in front of his father.
"Hatswick, please go wait in the High Council chambers," the King requested. "I will join you shortly."
Hatswick responded by shifting out of the room.
Doren wasn't going to let his father start berating him. He would question him first. "Did you know?" he growled.
Halstrom was startled that he didn't get the first slight. "Know what?"
"There are people living in the Outer," Doren told him. "Dirty, desperate, dying people. Did you know?"
The King sighed. "I did."
"You don't deserve to be king."
Halstrom let out a guffaw. "Funny to hear you saying that. Like you can judge."
"I can!" Doren shouted. "I saw them!"
"It is how it has always been. The Outerlings aren't Kytherans. They are an excess that refuses to die out. They keep bearing children, though they know the conditions they'll live in. They are mindless; not worth the effort to save or reintroduce to our society."
Doren burned with fury and wasn't hiding it.
"Every king has learned this. They are beyond our help."
"They are us," Doren said, and he turned his back on his father.
Halstrom hopped out of his throne and seized Doren's shoulder before he could leave the room. "You'd understand if you were ever king."
"I won't be." Doren pushed his father's hand off his shoulder.
"Perhaps it is for the best then," Halstrom said. "If you believe Outerlings are worth your time. If you believe that shields can save you more than swords. Every word I speak is wasted."
Doren turned his head slightly. "The Outerlings told us where to find the Thalians. They could have told you what was happening, if you had cared." Doren left the room, ashamed that this man was his father.
The Healer's Sanctuary took up more than half of the third floor. It had been greatly expanded during the plague and had not been reduced since. There were hundreds of empty beds, with pristine white sheets and unused pillows. Sunlight beamed in through the windows, but the room stayed chilly and dank.
Three beds near the entrance were occupied. Leidess was lying in one, still in a deep sleep that she could not wake from. Ratch was in another, bandages wrapped around his wounds, with blood seeping through them onto the sheets. Rikki was sitting up in her bed, feeling anxious as Healer Eruc examined her.
Eruc was wearing the same attire Rikki had always seen him in: blood red scrubs and white gloves. She had been a frequent patient of the healer during her younger years, when she did not have much control over her magical abilities. Sometimes she would accidently fling herself across a room or set her hand on fire. As the castle's healer, Eruc was always around to treat her injuries. She enjoyed her visits to see him, not because of his kindness, which was enduring no matter what horrors he saw, but his outfit. She loved the shade of red that adorned his gangly frame. It was intentionally the same shade as blood, so that the obscene amounts that spilled onto him would blend in, preventing other patients from getting upset. Though it didn't quite match her hair, Rikki would have draped herself in the color, if it was not reserved specifically for healers.
Eruc's intermingled brown and green hair brushed up against her face as he traced the bump on the side of her head with his hand and studied the dark circles around her eyes. "Over exhaustion. Mild head trauma. What exactly have you been up to?"
"You don't know?" Rikki asked.
"I'm not usually involved in the castle's affairs. I only treat its occupant's ailments." Eruc strolled over to a cupboard and pulled out several bottles as he searched for the right one.
"We've been chasing Thalians," she told him.
"Thalians?" he repeated, more interested in the labels on each glass container.
"The ones that interrupted the Celebration," Rikki informed.
"Oh. Them." Eruc tore the top off a bottle and walked it over to Rikki. "Why exactly are you involved in that?"
"It was Doren's idea," she said meekly.
Eruc scooped up a white paste from the bottle and rubbed it into the bump on Rikki's head. "And I thought you wouldn't need anyone to help get you into trouble."
"Is that what you think of me, Eruc?" Rikki gave him a weak smile. "I wasn't ready for this."
"Clearly," he said, satisfied with the amount of white paste on her contusion. "This will help with the swelling. As for overextending yourself, I believe some sleep will cure that." He went back over to the cupboard. "There's a drink here that can help." He grabbed a bottle of purple liquid and brought it to her.
"What does that taste like?"
He swirled it around before opening it. "Haven't the faintest."
"Tastes like a diseased mouse!" Ratch growled from his bed.
Rikki shot a glance at him. "Have you had it before?"
"When I lost my ear," Ratch replied. "I'd have rather been conscious."
She frowned at the purple liquid. "Maybe I'll try to fall asleep naturally."
"Very well," Eruc said. "But I think he's exaggerating."
"Am not!" Ratch shouted.
Rikki watched Eruc return the potion back to his closet. She was fairly certain she wouldn't have needed the drink even if she hadn't been warned about its flavor. She could feel sleep coming. Her eyelids were getting heavier, and her surroundings began to blur. But she shook her head and rubbed at her tired eyes as she recalled important questions she had for the healer.
"Eruc," she said, holding back a yawn. "Did you treat Milo?"
Eruc looked at her with an immense amount of pity. "I never saw him. He was gone before they could bring him to me."
"Did you see his body?" she asked.
"I don't go seeking out the bodies of children," Eruc tartly stated. "Wouldn't want to see it. Such a shame, to lose him so young. I never got to know him, as well as I did you, of cour
se. But that only speaks to his talent."
"So you don't know what killed him, then?"
"I do not." Eruc walked over to her. "Stop busying your mind with so many questions. You need to get some sleep."
"But no one will say a word about it!" she cried.
"Sounds like a cover up," Ratch grumbled.
"Nonsense," Eruc said. "People die every day. Unfortunately, that sometimes includes children."
"They would try to hide it if it was the Palmarose Plague, " Rikki blurted out.
Eruc rolled his eyes. "You definitely need to rest. You'll be able to think more clearly when you wake."
"But I smelled it," Rikki recalled. "The casket was closed, but I knew that scent. I couldn't place it at first, but I remember now. It was all around the castle not too long ago."
"Rikki, the Palmarose Plague is the most contagious disease in Kytheran history. If Milo had it, then these beds would have been filled decks ago."
"He's gotta point," Ratch said. "I remember the plague. So many bodies in the streets. Bad for business."
"Then why did I smell it?" she yelled. "Why is his death a secret?" Tears dripped down from her bloodshot eyes.
Eruc took her in his embrace, and then slowly positioned Rikki back down on the mattress. "You lost a friend, and it's hard to accept. I can't heal that pain you feel inside. But I can make you physically better, and that will require rest."
Rikki no longer desired sleep. She had to go see Milo's body. How else was she going to get answers? Eruc didn't want to help, and he didn't even seem curious. She'd have to see the remains to know if it was the plague, or something else. The healer had a point about the contagion, but then, what else could Milo have died from? She still wanted it to make sense. Children did not die without reason.
Rikki stuck her arm out from the bed and her staff flew into it. Before Eruc even noticed, she was up and leaning on her staff.
"What are you doing?" the healer asked her as she trudged to the exit.
"I'm gonna find out why Milo died." She may have gotten her answers if she had made it out the room, but Aros arrived and blocked the doorway long enough for Eruc to drag her back to bed. She would have used her magic to stop him, but she was just too tired.
Aros gawked at Rikki as the healer ripped the staff from her hands and tucked her in beneath the bed sheets. "What did I miss?"
"Rikki's being her usual self," the healer answered him. "Difficult."
Aros didn't know Rikki well enough to form a response. Difficult was not a word he would have used to describe her, given what he had learned about her over the previous few days. He looked over at Rikki, who had already fallen asleep since he entered the room. Tilting his head a bit more, he spotted Leidess. Aros gasped and ran past the healer, right to her bedside. He scooped her hand up in his and held onto it. "What's wrong with her?"
The healer came up to his side. "She is deep in a sleep from which she cannot be roused. I would like to tell you it's an illness, but I can't. It is more likely magic or a potion that keeps her in this state."
"You have nothing to wake her?"
"Yuh got a cabinet full o' crud," Ratch barked nearby.
"I'm going to have the Grand Mage look at her shortly," the healer said. "If this is magic, he may be able to undo it."
Aros stared down at Leidess' face. He wanted her eyes to be open, to see her smiling back at him. Instead, he saw a peaceful, unattached expression, so obviously unaware that he was right there, holding her hand. Was she dreaming? If she was, he knew they weren't nightmares. Leidess would've thrashed about if she was having bad dreams.
He silently begged the Goddess to let her wake, to bring her back to him. He had so many questions to ask her, and he wanted to tell her all about his quest to find her. It was painful being unable to speak with her, especially since he had heard her voice every day since he was nine. She was right there, yet he missed her terribly.
"Ratch," the voice whispered in Aros' ear.
"Ratch?" Aros repeated aloud, confused why it would call for him.
"She'll wake up, Aros," Ratch tried to reassure him.
Aros gazed at his mentor, who met his eyes. He looked to be in the worst shape of anyone in the room. "Are you going to be – "
"Only a few scrapes," Ratch cut him off. "Don' worry about me."
"His wounds are superficial," the healer chimed in. "Though he should remain here, so I can ensure they do not get infected."
"No worse than losin' an ear," Ratch assured him.
"Why did they take you?" Aros asked, suppressing the guilt he felt over his ignorance. He should have known Ratch had been taken. How had he missed that?
"The smoke thief," Ratch stated hesitantly. "One that you saw. Was a Thalian."
"I figured that out," Aros said, having seen Ale transform before his eyes.
"They stole my stuff but had no idea what to do with it. Don' think a one of 'em is a blacksmith. Idiots." Ratch snorted.
"So you know why the thief robbed you?" Aros asked.
"Oh, I know. 'Cause they had me do it for 'em. Didn' wanna though. So they had to convince me." Ratch's eyes started to water. "I tried to resist. Didn' wanna help. But they sliced me here and burned me there. And they did it over and over and over and over." Ratch choked up just thinking of his torture. "I'm no Thalian. Don' wanna help them!"
"Please," Eruc hushed him. "You'll wake Rikki."
Aros looked over at his companion, who was still fast asleep. He doubted anything they did would wake the two women in the room.
"Sorry," Ratch mumbled before continuing. "Lost so much blood. Was in so much agony. Just wanted it to stop."
"What did they make you do?" Aros asked.
"My ancestors made the Keys," Ratch revealed. "The ones that locked the Beast away. They knew that. And they took my stuff, and they took me, 'cause they knew." Unable to hold it in, he let out a wail and began weeping. "I forged replicas for 'em bastards. Everything that happens next is my fault, 'cause I was weak and wanted the pain to go away."
Aros contemplated what exactly this meant, but the healer nearby had gone completely white, realizing its meaning before he did. "By the Goddess," he said in horror.
"Five keys that sealed the Door," Aros whispered. Five keys that could also open the Door, if they had not been scattered across the kingdoms before their eternal separation. So why was this so concerning? "Can your replicas open it?"
"Why else would they have me make 'em?" Ratch moaned. "They have magic. That's all they need."
"Is it though?" Aros pondered. "The Door's stayed shut for three hundred years. It can't be as easy as making a copy of the Keys."
"I s'pose if our world ends, then we'll know," Ratch answered him.
Aros felt dread spreading within. The horror of Neanthal was a history lesson, not a prophecy. They weren't meant to serve as a warning of what was to come. He tightened his grip on Leidess' hand.
Leidess! Why did they take Leidess? There was more to this. Just because they had a set of identical keys didn't mean this was over. He reluctantly let go of her hand and made to depart.
"I've got to go tell the King. We've got to go back out there. We have to stop this."
The healer grabbed his arm. "You don't look ready to go back outside. I haven't even examined you yet."
"You heard what he said!"
"The Guardians of Kytheras can handle this. The Grand Mage can handle this. You are a boy."
Aros tore his arm from the healer's grasp. "I won't stay here and wait for them to open it. Wake Rikki up now. She's coming with us."
"Us?" the healer asked.
"Me and the Prince. The three of us will go together." Aros took a longing glance at Leidess. He hoped she was safe here, and that when she finally awoke, there would still be a Door to take her to.
Aros took another step to leave, and then everything went black.
"Aros!"
Aros felt hands on his shoulders, shaking him consiste
ntly.
"Aros!"
He slowly opened his eyes, discovering he was lying with his back on the floor. Doren was in front of his face, continuing to shake him. "Cut it out!"
"Where are they?" Doren asked, his hands still on Aros.
Aros rubbed his head, groggy from whatever had transpired. He felt like he should still be asleep, and he wanted to be.
"Aros!" Doren shook him again when he didn't answer.
"What?" he muttered. What did Doren want? Why exactly was he here?
Doren clasped Aros' sides and lifted him off the floor. He spun him around so he could see what Doren saw.
It was like looking at the room through a fog. Aros rubbed his eyes, trying to gain clarity. He was still in the Healer's Sanctuary, but he didn't see the healer anywhere. He didn't see Rikki or Leidess on their beds either. Ratch was the only occupant, and he was passed out.
"Leidess," Aros said. "Rikki."
"Where are they, Aros?" Doren asked again.
Aros felt like crumpling back to the floor. "They're gone?" he said, unsure of himself. He glanced around the room, looking for any sign of them. But he only spotted the healer, who was sprawled out on the ground. "Oh no."
Aros pushed away from Doren and scrambled throughout the room. He stuck his head under beds, threw back curtains from the windows, but failed to find who he was searching for. He sat down on the nearest bed, on the verge of a complete breakdown. "They're gone!"
Doren was getting paler by the minute, and Aros could only imagine he didn't appear any better. "Do you know who took them?" the Prince asked.
"Last time I was conscious, they were here," Aros told him. "But it's obvious, isn't it?"
Doren nodded.
Somehow, the Thalians had broken into Castle Tornis and taken both Rikki and Leidess.
Aros jumped up, as his conversation with Ratch came rushing back into his mind. "We have to hurry."
Chapter Sixteen
Xander
Aros' hands clung to Doren's torso as Mirabelle galloped beneath them. The city blocks passed by in a blur as Rikki's horse raced by them, leading the pair back to the Outer. They weren't going to bother with the sewers this time, for they knew exactly where they had to go.