Wonderful, formal talk. It didn’t bode well for him. Sighing, he followed her into the book-lined room and stood with his feet braced and hands clasped behind his back. If she wanted formal, she would get it, and he would accept her refusal without flinching.
Kalila closed the door quietly then came to stand in front of him. For a long time, she said nothing then tears welled in her eyes, and she leaned her forehead against his chest. Startled, Loki froze.
“This would be when you put your arms around her and comfort her. She just had to kill her mother,” Merru sent.
Afraid the action might chase her off, he carefully placed his arms around her. She didn’t shy away. Instead, she took a deep, shuddering breath and wept into the front of his cloak. Her crying deepened into heart-wrenching sobs. Loki didn’t move, just waited until she had wrung herself out.
“I can’t believe I just killed my own mother,” she said, her voice thick with tears. “I’m no better than Sadira.”
Loki pushed her gently away and looked into her red, swollen eyes. “You are nothing like Sadira. You did what you had to, not because you enjoyed it. What you did took strength Sadira could never hope to have.”
She wiped at her face and blew her nose on a handkerchief. “Please don’t tell anyone I broke down like this. A ruler is supposed to be strong.”
Loki refrained from mentioning that she was also a young woman with the weight of a nation on her shoulders. A weight she carried well. “I won’t say a word. You know better than that.”
She nodded and stared at the fire crackling in the hearth. “Loki, I know you feel something for me.”
He didn’t deny it, only waited for her to say what she needed to say.
“It isn’t that I don’t also feel something, but I need to put Markene first. Right now, I can’t get caught up in a relationship. I have to stay focused. I’m not saying never. I’m just saying not now. I need space to be queen right now.”
Loki suppressed the hope that blossomed in his chest. She wasn’t refusing him completely at least. “Merru and I will be going to the border for a while.”
Kalila nodded. “Be careful there, please.”
“I will.”
She rose on tiptoes and placed a quick kiss against his lips. When she pulled back, her eyes met his. “Come back to me.”
Stunned into silence, he only nodded. She swept from the room and still he was rooted to the floor.
“I guess that answers your question,” Merru sent. “When do we leave for the border?”
“As soon as I grab my things. She requested space and after that, in order to give it to her, I have to get out of here.”
“Where do you want to go?”
“Shadereen. Vaddoc and Kirynn are there.”
“I will be waiting for you in the inner courtyard.”
Kellinar worked alongside the New Sharrens on the cold, windswept land of the Ash Plains. Enough houses had been raised that everyone had something more substantial than tents to live in, even if sometimes three families were crowded into one dwelling for the time being.
With the help of Sumara and her green, Keta, the city grew each day. The wall surrounding it was more than double the height it had been when he left for Galdrilene in the fall. Several mages from the Tower of Earth and the Tower of Wind and Water also helped with the building. Though the Earth mages couldn’t sculpt the earth the way Sumara could, they were still able to seal blocks of stone together, negating the need for mortar. And the Wind and Water mages, by linking themselves together, could pick up two of the large stones at a time. It made a difference.
Kellinar carefully lowered three blocks into place and reached for another group with his magic while the Earth mages sealed the others. Not far from where he worked on the wall, Sumara slowly raised the outer walls of a house. Her hands pressed to the ground and sweat rolled down her face despite the weather being cold enough to send a few late season snowflakes swirling through the air. Liquid earth flowed in a whirlpool in front of her. As Kellinar watched, it began to ripple like water over rocks. It wouldn’t be long before it solidified into a dwelling.
He glanced over at Nira who placed a healing weave on a man with a strained back, her rich black skin a contrast to the heavy yellow cloak she wore. Her dragon, Saria had mastered Sliding only the week before. Kellinar was glad. With Serena busy in Kanther helping Taela, and Nolan taking over Serena’s duties in Haraban, the border needed a Yellow Rider. She bent to say something to the man, her long black ringlets falling over her shoulder. For a moment, he saw the Yellow Rider who should have been on the border with him but now resided in Maiadar. Then Nira straightened and brushed her hair back, shattering the illusion.
Kellinar rubbed his eyes and looked away, concentrating on locating each of the mages. He would see Anevay again, until then his life still needed to be lived.
His eyes swept the rising buildings and wall. He couldn’t see all of the mages from where he stood; the city had grown too much for that. The people of New Sharren had named the city Salendar, in honor of those who had died in the War of Fire when Old Sharren and its capitol had been reduced to the nothing that gave rise to the name Ash Plains five hundred years before. He focused on locating as many mages as possible to allow the emotions that had welled up in him time to drift into the background.
When Sumara laid her hands on the ground to begin again, Kellinar started toward her. “Sumara, hold!”
She shot him a startled look, confusion in her tilted green eyes as she called, “Is there something wrong?”
He ducked under one of the large square stones being lifted by the Air and Water mages, and climbed over a low, partial wall before reaching her side. “You’ve already raised three houses this morning with little rest between. Take a break.”
“I will take one as soon as I do another. Beneath the soil are the remains of the old buildings that once stood here, and I’m incorporating those into the new.” She placed her hands on the ground again.
Kellinar reached down and grabbed her arm, pulling her hands away. “Take a break, now.”
Sumara stood, propped her hands on her hips, and leveled a look at him. “Who are you to boss me around? Are we not both full-fledged Guardians?”
“We are. However, I’m the senior rider here, and you are pushing yourself too hard. It won’t do anyone any good if you lose control of a weave due to exhaustion. Take a break before I have Shryden sit on you. He’s bigger than Keta; she would have a fine time trying to move him.”
She stared at him for a long moment before crossing her arms. “Fine.”
When she didn’t move, he motioned toward the large tents still set up for resting workers and raised an eyebrow. With a disgusted sigh, Sumara stalked past him, her face set. She could be irritated with him all she wanted, he wasn’t about to have an exploding weave wipe out structures and people nor let any of the riders or mages in New Sharren come to harm. Magic was a great tool, but it took a lot of energy to use. A rider or mage could kill themselves by overloading their system and draining their body’s energy too far. Maleena had come close to doing that when she pulled Rylin from Spirit Lake.
Clarene shuffled over to his side and offered a cup filled with steaming coffee. He accepted it gratefully and took a sip of the strong brew, thankful for the dragons’ ability to Slide that made small things like coffee in New Sharren possible. “How are things around the city, Clarene?” Without a Silver or a Spirit mage present at the moment, she was the best gauge of the general feelings within New Sharren.
The old woman smacked her gums and looked at the rising buildings crawling with people busy at whatever best suited their skills. “Things are good, young man. Winter were a bit difficult with so many crammed in each home, but all in all, the mood is good. With the nice weather you say is coming, people will be able to go outside more and homes will be built faster. That’ll make things easier. Not healthy for so many to be cooped up together close like that. Those Heal
ing mages, though, they did a fine job with those herbs of theirs and soon this first winter will be past us.”
“A new season for the people here.”
Clarene nodded. “A new season for the people, a last for me.”
Startled, he searched her face. “How do you know this will be your last?”
She looked away, a troubled expression on her face as she looked at her new home. “I’ve dreamed it, several times. I think it’s something to do with what little power I have. These dreams, they show Shadow Dragons and Dragon Riders. Fire and death.” Clarene turned her pale blue eyes on him, and the sadness in them struck something deep inside him. “I see’d New Sharren deserted. This home the people work so hard for, it won’t stand against the battles that come. I see’d my own death in those dreams, over and over again, always the same.”
Kellinar glanced at the city again and the industrious work going on around them as fear coiled deep in his gut. “Even if we are attacked, it doesn’t mean you will die, Clarene or that we will be overrun.”
“When dreams come like that to me, they have always come true. I dreamed of the Mallay, burnt to the ground many times for months before you showed back up. It will come.”
His mind wandered to Anevay’s weave, but he quickly cast it aside. Not even New Sharren and its people were worth that price. “New Sharren will be defended, you may rest easy.”
Clarene nodded. “As you say, Di’shan.” She motioned to his coffee. “Better drink that before it grows cold. I have duties of my own to be about.”
Without a backward glance, she shuffled away, her shoulders appearing more slumped than before. Kellinar stood rooted to the spot, his desire for the hot drink in his hand gone. As much as he wanted to deny her dreams, he knew only too well how Spirit magic worked. What Clarene saw would come to pass. All he could hope for was that the people had a few years to live in their new home before it happened. A fruitless hope. Clarene saw it happening during the warm season. How many times could the New Sharrens suffer the loss of their home and the heavy loss of life that went with it?
Sumara brushed past him. “There, I have taken both food and drink and feel plenty rested. Do you still have an objection to me working?”
He glanced at her. “No. Just be careful.”
Huffing, she turned away and knelt to place her hands on the ground again. He stared, lost in thought as the earth began to liquefy and pool beneath her palms. What was the point in continuing if it was assured it was a lost cause?
“Hope, my rider. Hope. It will sustain a being of any species long past anything else,” Shryden sent.
“What hope will they have when they lose everything again?”
“When the time comes, you must keep them looking forward into the future. Keep them planning on how they will resurrect their city once it is all over.”
“And what if, once it is all over, the Guardians have failed?”
“Then we will have done all we possibly could. However, the Guardians won’t fail. Maleena will never let that happen.”
A flush of anger washed through Kellinar. “And you are all right with that? Is the price that will have to be paid truly worth it?”
“Yes. Two lives lost in place of thousands? It is worth the price, no matter how hard it is to pay.”
With a sigh, Kellinar turned and walked away from the work. He picked his way past the construction until he was free of the city. The open Ash Plains spread out. Brown, waist-high grass waved in the wind like the sea. He rubbed his hands over his face and found a place on a broken stone to sit while he watched the makeshift army of Calladarans, Shaderians, and the few Ke’han who had agreed to stay near New Sharren, train new recruits.
Several women were among the trainees. He watched them for quite a while then looked back at the city wall. Even if New Sharren fell, these people had learned how to live. They had come such a long way. Perhaps they had strength to go farther, even in the face of what the future brought.
“They are stronger than you give them credit for,” Shryden sent.
“And you are wiser than anyone I know,” Kellinar returned.
He paced the wide width of the anteroom to his personal chambers. Fear coursed through his system as he contemplated the alliance he hoped to make in only a few short moments. One he was wary of and hopeful for at the same time. There was no choice. Kovan was right; setting Shadereen straight without too much destruction was going to take more than one man.
Tonight, the moon would be new again. He was running out of time before Kovan returned.
A sharp knock at the door interrupted his thoughts. Taking a deep breath and composing his features, he raised his voice to be heard through the thick wood, “Enter.”
His manservant opened the door. “Mannoc to see you as requested, sire.”
“Send him in.”
Mannoc strolled through the door, arrogant as always. “Why have you called a private meeting with me? If it has to do with Arlenyi, I can be of no help to you. The Dragon Riders have assured me I have no right or say in the behavior of my wife.”
“It indeed has something to do with that and the fact you have no say.” He turned and studied the books lining one wall. “Do tell me, am I the only one who longs for Shadereen the way it was? Am I the only one who sees the way of our people slowly being destroyed through the peace the Guardians offered us?”
“No, you are not; however, I fail to see how our personal wishes play into anything when the majority of Shadereen and the Council favor the changes.”
He turned back to Mannoc. “Perhaps we were too quick to align ourselves with the Guardians. It is entirely possible that misplaced fear coerced us into accepting a bargain that we should not have. Perhaps we should rethink our alliances.”
Mannoc shifted, a wary look seeping into his golden eyes. “I fear I do not understand the meaning of this conversation.”
This was the moment of truth. If Mannoc would not stand with him, none of them would. “The Shadow Riders have offered their protection of both our way of life and our nation. They have promised to reinstate all of the Shaderian laws cast aside in favor of Dragon Law. They have promised to leave us alone as long as we pay a certain amount from our coffers and allow them to select servants and craftsmen from the common people.”
He held up his hand to stop Mannoc from interrupting him. “Consider the option. No more women learning weapons and running around in men’s clothing. No more common people being considered for positions they have no business holding within the city and the nation. No more wasting time teaching Border Guards and others like them to read. No more nonsense. What need does a servant have of the written word? I am meeting with Kovan in the cistern later this day. I would like to inform him that I have found an ally among the Council.”
Mannoc stared at him in silence. “As appealing as that sounds, the Shadow Riders cannot be trusted. Beyond that, the people of Shadereen have embraced the new laws with more willingness than I would have thought. As a member of the Council, it is my place to do what is best for Shadereen, not myself.”
“I am not wholly convinced the people really know what they want. All of this is a new novelty. How will they feel once the shine has worn off? I approached you, because of all the members of the Council, I thought you would most understand.”
Mannoc shook his head. “I am sorry, my king. As much as I would like Shadereen to be as it was, for my wife to behave like a proper woman again, for the ridiculous freedoms of Dragon Law to be over with, I will not be a party to handing Shadereen over to the Shadow Riders. I would rather see it burn.”
Alrendoc shook his head, disappointment flowing through him, along with regret for what he must now do. “Then burn it shall—the Shadow Rider Kovan has assured me of that.”
“Then we must alert the Guardians.”
“I agree.” Alrendoc strode toward the writing desk at the side of the room and beckoned Mannoc to follow. He bent over it, pulled a sheet of pape
r from a small stack, and dipped a pen in the inkwell. “Will you take this missive to the first one you can locate?”
“Certainly.” Mannoc drew closer, standing at the side of the desk. “I am relieved I was able to talk you out of such treachery.”
“Indeed.” Alrendoc discreetly slid his dagger from its sheath. He straightened and in one smooth movement drove the blade under Mannoc’s ribs then yanked it out with a twist.
Mannoc gasped and clutched weakly at his chest as he sagged away. Blood flowed between his fingers. “Wha…” He dropped to his knees, slumping to the floor.
Alrendoc stepped forward and gazed down. Mannoc’s stunned, golden eyes stared back as blood soaked the front of his shirt and dripped off the hand still clutched to his chest. “You get your wish. Shadereen will burn.”
Azurynn stared at the five black chains hanging on the wall in her chambers. She should destroy them. Once, she wanted nothing more than to see the chain complete Separation. Now, it no longer appealed because it could also separate her from Murynn. Her skin crawled.
No Shadow Rider could be trusted. Would anyone think to place a chain upon her? Did she dare take a chance?
She ran her tongue over her bottom lip and grappled with the best choice—destroy or keep. There were several forward movements planned in the western nations with the warming of the weather. Best to keep them…for now. One never knew what might be needed.
Her chambers faded as fuzzy images swam across her mind. She could almost feel the world shifting as across the land alliances were formed and the attention turned east. She sensed the ache of betrayal, and the cloud of fear that rolled in with the warmer weather.
The room snapped back into place, and she swayed slightly, putting a hand to her forehead. It wasn’t the clearest vision, more of a warning. But of what? A war she already knew was coming, one she was helping to perpetuate? Or of something else? There was more to the shifting allegiances than just what the nations were doing. A sense of change for herself drifted through everything.
Ashes And Spirit (Book 3) Page 20