A Sorrow Fierce and Falling (Kingdom on Fire, Book Three)

by Jessica Cluess

He wasn’t going to answer the unspoken question. “What exactly are we summoning? And what do you want to happen?”

  “I’m summoning a famous figure in magical history,” he replied. “Hopefully, he’ll have some useful information. As for what I’d like to have happen: If a terrifying creature lands in the circle, we’re fine. If a terrifying creature lands outside the circle, we’re dead.”

  Magnus and I took a step away from him.

  Mickelmas picked a dagger from a pocket, then sliced his hand in one swift movement. He flung the droplets of dark blood to stain the snow, and waited.

  The ground hissed. It was much like what had happened in the vision he’d shown me, of when he and Charles Blackwood and my father had ripped open that hole into another world. My stomach tightened in fear, and I grabbed Magnus’s arm. He twined his fingers through mine, as the sky above the circle swirled like a whirlpool of water.

  “No, it’s going to crack open!” I cried, but stopped when the “spout” of the whirling air touched down in the snow. With a wet, popping sound, a creature appeared before us. The thing was the vibrant blue of a summer sky. Bright, shining wings much like a dragonfly’s sprouted from its back. The mouth was human-shaped, but the eyes were bulbous and glittering as an insect’s.

  I realized that I had seen this creature’s image hanging upon Ralph Strangewayes’s walls. This was…what was the demon’s name? Azrael, Azureus. Yes, Azureus: Latin for “blue.” He had been Strangewayes’s pet, famous enough to have his portrait painted by the great artist Holbein.

  The thing opened a mouth full of needle teeth and spoke in a low, guttural tongue. It was impossible to decipher the words. Azureus spoke again, this time in a dialect that sounded like a pocketful of jingling coins.

  At last, he said, “Are you from the summer isle? Is this the land of the thin-cheeked queen?”

  Perfect English.

  “There is a queen, though not, I think, the one you recall,” Mickelmas said to the being. “Thank you for answering my summons.”

  “A request one cannot refuse is not quite an answer,” Azureus snapped, crawling up to the edge of the circle. The voice was disconcerting; it sounded rather like the thin space between two voices speaking in unison. “It is an imprisonment. You, magician—I smell the bastard Strangewayes’s taint within your blood—are no better than he was.”

  Apparently Azureus had not cared for Strangewayes. I recalled that cage back in Cornwall with the mutilated metal bars, and Strangewayes’s skeletal body sprawled across the floor. I wondered if Azureus had been the entity to finish the father of magicians off. His tail—for he did indeed have a lizard-like tail—whipped back and forth across the snow.

  “What are these children doing here?” he asked.

  Magnus and I were far off to the side. But then again, the creature had insect eyes. He could likely see in every direction at once.

  “We’re in a great deal of trouble,” I told Azureus, approaching cautiously. Then I gave a small curtsy. “Sir.”

  “The females of your species are more polite than the males. Perhaps she might kindly wipe away the barrier’s divide and release me.”

  Again, I imagined Strangewayes’s skeleton. “No, I believe that wouldn’t be comfortable,” I said. The creature snickered, a buzz like a plague of locusts.

  “Azureus, if you were to assist us, I’d be happy to tear this document.” Strangewayes held up the paper with Azureus’s summoning runes written upon it. The creature fluttered his wings; clearly, he was interested. “What say you?”

  “I would not be trapped in a circle ever again?” Azureus muttered darkly.

  “How long did Ralph Strangewayes hold you?” I asked.

  “Many years. The bastard chained me.” Azureus crawled back to the edge of the rune circle.

  “Answer my questions, and you will be forever free. I give you my word,” Mickelmas said. Azureus clawed at the snow, leaving deep furrows. Then he sat back on his haunches, his tail curled around his leg.

  “Ask.”

  “Do you know of a man from our world who arrived in yours? A man called R’hlem?” Mickelmas asked. I shivered.

  “Oh, I remember a man who fell into the realm of the Kindly One. At first, he bleated like a wounded animal. Send him home, he begged, even though he would be leaving behind the mountains of cloud, the boiling rivers, the great deserts that spanned to the edge of reason, the palaces of incredible size that could fit within a child’s pocket. He would have left all that behind for some mewling woman. To the children beyond time, his sobs were insults. In fact, he was lucky to have met me. Having been transported to this cold, lifeless world for so long, I was the only one that understood his pitiful tongue.”

  “You knew R’hlem?” I whispered. Now I crouched next to the circle, despite Magnus’s warnings. “How did he become what he is?”

  “You mean, how did he lose his outer shell?” Azureus’s nostrils, formed much like an ape’s, sniffed at me. He was mere inches from my face. “You smell like him. You must be the child he kept weeping about.”

  Even after everything R’hlem had done, my heart broke to think of that.

  “To hide from the Kindly Emperor, the man lived on the edge of the river lands. He could not drink the liquid within those rivers, as the water would melt the flesh off any living creature. I took pity on him. Yes, I, I who hated magicians with such a passion. I brought him to my cavern, the one with walls of glittering eyes. I taught him that his power as a magician, whatever little ability he possessed, came from my race.

  “You magicians are descendants of my kind, the most potent realization of our brilliance in this colorless world you inhabit. However, all your so-called magic comes from the world beyond time. Witch, sorcerer, magician: you all belong to us. We are always with you, moving alongside you, the tissue and blood beneath the thin layer of skin.” Azureus smiled at me. “Your father learned the importance of unbuttoning that skin, child.”

  I fought to keep myself calm. “We found a stone circle in Sorrow-Fell. There were twelve stones with runes written upon them.”

  “Mmm. The first portal. The oldest, most powerful doorway of them all.”

  “We know that Ralph Strangewayes used it to send Ancients—er, to send your people home. We know he used one member of each magical race to do it. How do we make it work? Do you know?”

  “Millennia ago, explorers from my own world entered yours. They taught your people magic and even mated with some of them. Their offspring are the creatures you call Fae.” Azureus grinned, a dreadful sight. “Your people worshipped my people as gods; how times do change. The explorers could not stay, but in their misguided love for you common and insignificant creatures, they created that portal. It was meant to be a doorway that opened a mere crack. Only so much that it would allow the air of our world to touch yours. In this way, magic flooded the world. It enriched the people around you. Pull the circle down, and you would end magic in your realm forever.”

  A world without magic did not seem possible.

  “R’hlem’s going to abuse that circle to destroy this world.” I leaned as close as I dared. “How can we stop him?”

  “That portal could ruin this country, but it is also the only true means of saving it.” Azureus rose up on his hind legs, which were bent rather like a dog’s. “You will need one of every magical race to control the circle.”

  “Yes. How would we go about that?” Mickelmas sounded calm, but I detected tension in his voice.

  Now Azureus smiled. “I might keep that little tidbit to myself.”

  “You damn, stupid—” Mickelmas stopped himself, and I tried once more, my heart pounding.

  “Please, sir. So that we may release you more quickly.”

  “You speak as though it’s my fault you’re holding me,” Azureus sneered, his tail swishing. “Bec
ause your female asks sweetly, I will comply. When the sun is at its height on the equinox, splash blood upon the runes to open the portal. With three of you standing by, one from each race, you will be able to control the opening. Summon my brethren to you, have them enter into the circle, and then send them home.” Azureus picked at his needle teeth. “Does that satisfy your curiosity?”

  “But how should we summon the Ancients to the circle in the first place?” Magnus crossed his arms.

  “By the teeth of the Emperor himself, how should I know?”

  “Sir,” I said, and the creature’s wings fluttered. “Thank you for the gift of this knowledge.”

  “True, I have given you much. I am far kinder than Strangewayes ever was, with his endless raids upon my world. He murdered us, stuffed and hung us upon his walls. The bastard. The fiend!”

  “Is that why you helped my father?” I asked. “To prepare a weapon against this world?”

  “No, sweet and stupid child. I wanted to torture your father,” the creature replied with ease. “I stripped the skin from his bones to massage greater magic into his muscles. I hung him by his wrists and ankles in a crystal cave, filled with the preserved screams of the damned. His cries solidified into fat, glistening stalactites. He begged me to stop. No, I told him, I’m making you better. Stronger. You will see farther than others, infiltrate minds as gracefully as stepping through a door. You will be a king of the beasts. Keeping a flayed man alive is a difficult trick. You’ve never heard anyone weep so profoundly.”

  A white-hot flash of hatred went through me.

  “Henrietta, no!” Mickelmas cried. Magnus grabbed me, but not before I’d fired at Azureus. The monster dodged the fireball.

  “You’re the reason for all of this!” I shouted.

  “I’m the reason your father has the power he does, but I am not the reason he went to my world. Your Lord Blackwood, whom he told me about, is the reason. Your mother, and you, the reason R’hlem chose to traffic in such dangerous magic to begin with. Your kings and queens, the reason magicians are so downtrodden. Ralph Strangewayes, the reason your kind exist at all. The reason I hate you so. There are as many reasons for things as there are stars in your cold, lifeless sky. Move past reasons, if you want my advice, R’hlem’s daughter. Only seek truth.”

  It occurred to me then that the bone whistle might play the monster into submission. I took it with fumbling hands and blew, my fingers moving up and down the holes along its length. Azureus cocked his head to listen.

  But as I played, he said, “My own magic has no effect upon me. Look, child.” He turned around, and I noticed that bony spines protruded along his back, much like a porcupine’s quills. I realized that one spine was missing, and stopped playing.

  God, I’d been putting something of this creature’s body into my mouth. I nearly spit into the snow.

  “So you see, that magic will work upon most any other creature. That, and the soul sieve.” He licked his sharp teeth. “The lantern. Do you have it?”

  I did not, but Blackwood had. “Why?”

  “The lantern was Strangewayes’s greatest gift from my world. The light within it is a creature itself. Did you realize?” Azureus fluttered his wings, as if to punctuate the revelation.

  “The optiaethis?” I asked.

  “So. You know its name.” That appeared to please the creature. “Strangewayes called it a ‘soul-sucker.’ An apt description, I think. The optiaethis grants its user enormous power. Open the cage, and it will beacon every single creature—or Ancient, as you call them—within one thousand miles. But that power comes at a terrible price, child. The optiaethis drains the very soul out of whosoever wields it. Take my advice: if you can accomplish your mission without that artifact, do so.”

  “You’re very kind,” I murmured, lost in thought. If Blackwood was still alive, I prayed he hadn’t used the lantern.

  “This is not the first time I sold out my own brethren to help a magician.” The creature snarled. “Killing that bastard Strangewayes was the greatest thrill of my life. There. Is that all?”

  “One last question, if I may. I’m curious. What exactly is the Kindly Emperor?” Mickelmas asked. Azureus fell silent.

  “If you are fortunate, you will never witness his smile.” Azureus looked to me; he’d given up talking to Mickelmas. “I have kept my bargain. I have given you answers. Will you keep your bargain, child? Or will you imprison me as Strangewayes did?”

  “We might keep him about, just in case,” Mickelmas muttered. Azureus’s shoulders hunched, and I saw then that he had expected this. He had expected to be lied to. I would not affirm his low opinion of humanity.

  “If we have nothing left to ask, we will release him,” I said. With a sigh, Mickelmas nodded.

  “That is kindness, R’hlem’s daughter.” Azureus clicked his teeth. “I know you are angry for what became of your father, but I gave him the power that he craved. I did not string him up in that cavern against his wishes. When I plucked out his human eyes to grant him an all-seeing one, it was at his request. He is not innocent.”

  None of us were, but that did not mean we should be tortured for it. I took the paper from Mickelmas. As Azureus watched, I set it alight in my hand.

  “Never return to this place,” I said.

  “With pleasure,” Azureus replied. Mickelmas stepped on a rune, and the creature vanished like snuffing out a candle flame. Magnus rested his hand on my shoulder.

  “What’s the next step?” he asked Mickelmas.

  “We’ve three representatives, if Maria counts as a witch. However, our knowledge does no good without an army. You said there were rumors of a coven nearby. Find them, and bring them into the fold. In the meantime, I’ll summon the magicians,” Mickelmas said.

  “How?” Magnus frowned.

  “I’ve Alice on my side. If she doesn’t mind flying halfway around the country, I can tell her where to go and who to look for.” He walked down the hill, whistling as he went.

  “You need to sit down,” Magnus whispered, ushering me in the direction of the tents. “You’re pale.”

  “I’m fine.” I touched my cheek and discovered that I had been crying. Well, perhaps I was less fine than I thought.

  Inside the captain’s tent, other soldiers waited for Magnus. He sat me by the fire and quickly dispatched his orders. I barely heard what was said; my mind wandered as I gazed into the flame. When the men had gone, Magnus gave me a mug of tea and sat down. The tea warmed me, though at my core I still felt frozen.

  “I can’t imagine what’s in your mind,” he said.

  “What I think doesn’t matter.” I forced myself back under control. “Only what I have to do.”

  “You’re not alone, though. Remember that.”

  I looked into his eyes. He gave a playful wink, but there was nothing boastful about him. Not anymore.

  “I’ve learned to enjoy poetry,” I blurted out. Magnus looked puzzled. “When we first met, I said I didn’t think it was useful.”

  “I remember. That was our first breakfast together, wasn’t it?” He chuckled and stretched his hands to warm by the fire. “Seems like a lifetime ago.”

  “Yes.” I didn’t know what possessed me, but I kept going. “The war’s shown me how wrong I was. About poetry, I mean. I see now how necessary it can be. Art is strange, really. It envelops you in lies, but it also confronts you with such vivid reality.”

  “See? I knew you’d realize how right I was.” Magnus laughed. I recalled, with a smile, how he’d brought me Henry V when I was feeling low. We’d spent an afternoon going through the play together.

  “ ‘Fair Katharine and most fair, will you vouchsafe to teach a soldier terms such as will enter at a lady’s ear and plead his love-suit to her gentle heart?’ ” I quoted that particular scene. To my surprise, Magnus appeared blankly am
used.

  “I didn’t know you’d read Shakespeare’s histories. What about his dramas? That’s the true meat of his work.”

  “Don’t you remember giving me that play?” He continued to look as though I’d lost my mind. “We sat together in Agrippa’s parlor for a solid hour. You made fun of my terrible French accent.”

  “Well, sounds like something I’d do. Pity, I’m sure it’s a memory I would have relished—”

  His smile vanished. I remembered when we had been under the ground in Mab’s Faerie kingdom. Magnus had paid the toll for access to the Faerie roads: one memory. One memory of what he most loved.

  I could not think of what to say.

  Magnus stood.

  “I’m sure it was good fun,” he murmured, and left without another word.

  Time was slipping further away, and every day that passed made me more and more worried for Rook and Blackwood, for the magicians and the witches we’d yet to find. I would start awake several hours before dawn and lie in the quiet of my bunk, listening to the wind as it moaned over the snowy fields. I would half wonder, half pray that the surge of shadow in a corner was Rook. But the throbbing pain in my shoulder never abated; it was not he.

  When the sun rose, we had to be all business. We agreed that we would have to find some of these highland witch covens, which meant a journey deeper into the wilderness.

  Maria, Magnus, and I formed this particular hunting party. I’d been surprised to find Magnus leading his horse up alongside us, tightening his saddlebags and checking provisions. It had seemed ridiculous that he, the captain of the whole bloody enterprise, should accompany us. But he wouldn’t be deterred.

  “I’ve left my best lieutenant in charge. Besides, can’t allow you ladies to have all the glory,” he’d said, giving me a casual wink. Our moment in the tent was forgotten, it seemed. Which was good, because I needed to devote all my energy to staying on my horse.

  I had never ridden before, in any capacity. Though Rook had loved horses, neither he nor I had the first clue about riding them. At first, I’d no idea how to mount the poor creature. It had taken a helpful young man to instruct me, and now I perched in the saddle, feeling entirely too high off the ground. Even though I’d flown to tremendous heights before, this felt somehow more frightening. I clutched the horse’s mane, praying the wild beast did not buck me off and rampage down the road, snorting embers and kicking up sparks with its steely hooves.