DarkSkull Hall

by Lisa Cassidy

  “I thought the Taliath were gone?”

  “There was an accident on ShadowFall Island eleven years ago, a fire that killed all of the Taliath training there. But more should have been born since,” he said in frustration. “Not to mention those that hadn’t been identified and weren’t at ShadowFall during the fire.”

  “The Taliath were guardians of the mage order weren’t they?” Alyx thought back to the stories she’d heard. “Skilled warriors and strategists with special abilities that set them apart from normal soldiers?”

  “Precisely.” Garan nodded.

  Worry clutched at her. “Is there something wrong? Is that why you’ve been looking so worried lately, why you’re trying to rebuild the order?”

  Garan sighed, reaching out to run his hand affectionately over her hair. “It’s late and we’re both tired. Let’s save the questions for tomorrow, all right?”

  “But you’re worried. The king is too. I could tell from your voices.”

  “Yes, we are,” he said, then smiled. “But the king is responsible for a whole country, he’s often worried. You don’t need to be. Come on, I’ll tuck you in.”

  She chuckled. “I’m a little old for that.”

  “You’re always going to be my little girl.” He kissed her forehead as they stopped outside her room. “Don’t forget that.”

  “I won’t.” She smiled. “Night, Papa.”

  “Night, Alyx. Sweet dreams.”

  As he walked away down the hall, Alyx fretted. She loved him so much and hated that she could do nothing to ease his worry. He’d been such a wonderful father to her, she wished sometimes he had someone to look after him the way he did for her.

  That night she dreamed of fires and Taliath potentials, and her father, standing there with that serious look on his face and worry in his eyes.

  Chapter 3

  “Lady Egalion, am I boring you?”

  Alyx snapped her gaze back to the tutor, simultaneously straightening in her seat. Behind her, Lissa and Mira giggled.

  “I apologise, Mister Luden.” She tried to sound sincere. “It’s just such a lovely day outside.”

  The giggles sounded again, and when the tutor shifted his stern glare to the two young ladies behind Alyx, she stifled a grin behind her hand.

  “I would appreciate all of your attention just a little longer,” he said. “After I’m finished explaining how the Zandian currency system works, you’ll all be free to leave.”

  Alyx tried hard to focus, but mostly failed. Luden had recently been teaching them about trade between Rionn and neighbouring kingdoms. The entire subject bored her, but when he started in on how Rionn’s currency valued against the Zandian gold pieces, she became utterly lost.

  At a nudge to the back of her ankle, Alyx discreetly dropped her hand down by her side. A small note was pushed into her fingers. Slowly enough not to draw Luden’s attention, Alyx unfolded and read its contents. Lissa wanted Alyx to join her and Mira at the pools on palace land after lessons. Alyx wrote back a short message—she already had plans for the afternoon, but told Lissa to change her plans to the following afternoon and Alyx would join them then.

  “You know the Zandians execute students for not paying attention in class.”

  Luden was suddenly standing before Alyx’s small table, making her jump. Ruefully, she passed the note into his outstretched hand.

  “That’s not true, sir,” Jaran challenged.

  “No.” Luden glowered. “But there’s a good chance they’d have you whipped.”

  “It’s a good thing we’re in Rionn then, isn’t it, Mister Luden?” Alyx said with a straight face.

  This time almost all the students broke out into giggles. Luden turned on his heel and walked back to the front of the room. “I can see I’m not going to get anything more sensible from you today. Lessons dismissed.”

  The thirteen students—all sons and daughters of Rionn’s upper nobility who made their home in Alistriem—clustered around Alyx as they left the room.

  “Tomorrow afternoon then?” Mira asked.

  “Sure.” Alyx nodded. “Let’s invite everyone, and we’ll try to irritate Luden into letting us out early again.”

  “Sounds like a party.” Jaran appeared, slinging his arm around Lissa. They were an odd-looking match, with Jaran’s gangly form towering over Lissa’s petite prettiness.

  Cayr appeared, approaching them with a smile. He’d attended classes with them until the previous year, when he’d left to spend the time working with his father on kingdom business instead. The five of them chatted for a while before Alyx and Cayr said their goodbyes and left.

  “You’re still free this afternoon?” Cayr asked after a moment of awkward silence.

  “Of course. Did you speak with Dash?”

  “Yes. He said he’d meet us down at the docks.”

  “Oh.” Alyx smiled, pleased at the thought of having Cayr all to herself for the walk down.

  “Are you...” He cleared his throat. “Last night was wonderful, Alyx.”

  Warmth flooded her from head to toe at his earnest words. “I think so too.”

  “Things feel different all of a sudden, don’t they?”

  “Very,” she said shyly. “But in a good way.”

  “Yeah.” He smiled widely.

  Alyx and Cayr made their way down a steep forest path from the palace towards the port district of Alistriem. It had taken them a little time to give Cayr’s guards the slip—as the only heir to the throne, he had been surrounded from childhood by a contingent of guards, and to a lesser degree, so had Alyx—but now they were free and clear. Cayr’s father was usually tolerant of this behaviour; the kingdom was peaceful, and an assassination attempt had been unheard of for over fifty years.

  The forested hillside was all palace land, and the path they followed was only what Cayr, Alyx and Dashan had worn out in their regular trips down to the city over the years. It ended at the bottom of the hill where the paved king’s highway led away from the docks and warehouses of the port district and south into the city proper.

  It was a bright, sunny mid-morning, the sky a crisp blue above the treetops. The air was warm, with the promise of a hot summer afternoon on the way. Cayr was deep in thought and hadn’t said much since leaving the palace grounds. She wondered if he was re-thinking what had happened between them.

  “Something is weighing in your thoughts. Cayr, if it’s the kiss, if you’re worried about what it means, we can just—”

  “No, it’s not that!” he assured her.

  “Then what’s bothering you? Is it what we overheard?” She related what her father had told her.

  “My father told me essentially the same thing, and it does trouble me. The Taliath were always at the root of peace between Rionn and Shivasa, and between other countries when it comes down to it.”

  “But the Taliath haven’t been around for years. That’s not what is actually bothering you.”

  He smiled. “You know me so well. There’s more they weren’t telling us, something both our fathers knew but weren’t sharing with us or the other lords.”

  “I’m sure it’s nothing. Ruling a country can’t be easy.” She echoed her father’s words from the previous night.

  “You’re right,” he said. “But I do worry about our relationship with Shivasa, you know? They’re so close to us, and such a big country. It plays on my mind.”

  “You worry the peace might be broken?” She squeezed his arm. “You will be a good king, Cayr. I have faith in you.”

  “I won’t be king for a long time, and my father, while a good and fair man, is not overly tolerant when it comes to the Shiven. You can see that from his treatment of Dash.”

  Alyx nodded agreement. Darien had never been entirely happy with his son’s choice of best friend, and relations between the two kingdoms were tense. She knew it stemmed from a long-ago war in which both sides accused each other of heinous crimes. It was ancient history, and Alyx had never bother
ed to pay much attention to learning it.

  “We’ve been in truce with Shivasa since before your grandfather was born,” she pointed out. “I don’t think anything is going to change that now.”

  “The truce hasn’t stopped the border skirmishes in the disputed territory.”

  He was referring to the small patch of territory in the northwest—sandwiched between where Rionn insisted its northern border with Shivasa fell and where the Shiven insisted it did, but Alyx knew little about the skirmishes, so settled for squeezing Cayr’s arm again in an effort to reassure him.

  “Dash told me yesterday that he’s finally gotten his boat seaworthy.” Cayr changed the subject and spoke enthusiastically, likely trying to dispel his bleak mood. “He wants to take us sailing.”

  “If you’re so excited to go sailing, why don’t you just take one of the royal ships?”

  “And be surrounded by heavily armed Bluecoats and soldiers from the navy? That’s not my idea of a good time, and you know it.”

  As they reached the bottom of the path and the edge of the wide, paved highway, Cayr reached out to take her hand. His palm felt warm and dry, and Alyx was struck by sudden nerves.

  “Cayr, wait.” She let go of his hand. “Last night was wonderful, but we can’t just start walking around hand in hand. That will mean something to our fathers, to the court.”

  “You’re right.” He ran a hand through his hair. “It feels natural to take your hand, though. I want to be close to you.”

  She felt herself flushing. “Me too.”

  “We’ll work it out, Alyx, I promise. Soon I’ll be able to go to my father and request permission to court you.”

  “And what if he says no? What if my father does?”

  “Your father won’t say no to his daughter courting the prince of Rionn, Alyx. As for my father, you are the daughter of his best friend and most senior lord.” Cayr leaned down to kiss her cheek. “It will be fine, you’ll see. In the meantime, we’ll just have to refrain from holding hands in public.”

  “Or kissing in public,” she added cheekily.

  “That too.” He sighed.

  Dressed deliberately in modest clothing, the two of them strolled unrecognised through the bustling port district. The scents of fish and seaweed mixed with the salty tang of the air and the delicious smell of roasted chestnuts from one of the street vendors. Eventually they came to the end of the wide avenue of the shopping and business area and walked out into the long, chaotic rambling of wooden jetties.

  A small sailing boat was moored at the end of one of the most rundown jetties, Dashan’s tall figure balanced on the prow and waving in greeting.

  The damaged shell of the boat had washed up after a storm the previous winter, and Dashan had claimed it, working in every spare hour to rebuild and paint the sailboat until it could be used again. Alyx could tell from the care and effort he’d put into the work that he loved it very much.

  “All aboard!” he called out now, giving them a hand to climb up. “Ready to set sail?”

  “Let’s get out of here!” Cayr grinned.

  Dashan nodded and busied himself untying the mooring ropes. Alyx settled herself in the prow as the boat began moving away from the jetty and out into open water. Within minutes a stiff breeze had filled the sails, and they were making good speed out into the open water.

  “I hear we have a new lord-mage?” Dashan shouted over the wind flapping the sails.

  “Yes, Lord Casovar,” Cayr returned. “He’s new to Rionn and the court but he seems nice enough.”

  “Really? I hope he’s strong enough to defend us from the ravening hordes of Shiven massing on the border of the disputed area.”

  Alyx rolled her eyes at the mocking sarcasm in Dashan’s voice. “I don’t know why anyone cares about that area. Isn’t it all mountains and rock and thick forest, the ground too hard to grow anything or sustain a town?”

  “It has strategic importance, Alyx. Port Rantarin sits on the western coast of the disputed area, and it’s the deepest and most accessible port in the area. It’s fallen into disuse though because neither Shivasa nor Rionn will let the other one have it.”

  She sighed, bored by the topic. “You sound like Luden.”

  “The horror!” Dashan laughed.

  She laughed with him until catching the look of concern on Cayr’s face. “What is it?”

  “You’ve heard about the recent incidents?” Dashan guessed.

  “Yes, my father mentioned it.”

  “What incidents?” Alyx demanded.

  “There’s an agreement in place that allows both kingdoms to conduct a certain number of patrols through the disputed area each year,” Cayr said. “Yet if either side goes too close to Port Rantarin, it ends in violence. The skirmishes have never been major enough to cause a serious diplomatic incident or threaten outright war, though.”

  “Then why are you worried about it?” Alyx’s attention was wavering, but she tried to sound interested for Cayr’s sake.

  “Because the frequency of incidents has risen sharply in the past two years,” Dashan shot a look at Cayr. “Largely because of the increasing number of Shiven soldiers and scouts operating in the area.”

  “Yes,” Cayr said. “That’s why my father wanted to appoint a stronger lord-mage when Astor asked to retire.”

  “And presumably why our fathers have been trying to rebuild the Taliath? To help calm things in the disputed area,” she said.

  “It makes sense,” Cayr said, before quickly filling in Dashan on what they’d overheard.

  Dashan frowned. “I wonder what Lord-Mage Casovar’s plan is? It sounds like your father didn’t like it at all, Alyx.”

  “Whatever it is, I’m sure everything will be fine. We’ve managed to hold Shivasa to an uneasy truce for generations. My father is a strong king, and he has capable commanders around him. Alyx, we all know your father’s diplomacy has been vital.” Cayr sounded eager to dismiss the subject. “Where are you taking us, Dash?”

  The thoughtful expression on Dashan’s face vanished at the question, eclipsed by a laughing grin. “That is for me to know, and you to find out.”

  They picnicked on the beach, and Alyx spent the afternoon dozing lazily in the sun while Dashan and Cayr tried to catch fish to cook for dinner.

  “You won’t have to go, Dash,” Cayr was saying as the two of them re-joined her, successfully carrying two large fish each. “I’ll speak to my father about it.”

  “Your father doesn’t exactly like me.”

  “What are you talking about?” Alyx interrupted. “Where’s Dashan going?”

  “Don’t look so excited. You won’t be getting rid of me that easily, Egalion.” Dashan scowled at her.

  “He thinks he’s going to be sent to the border.”

  “Everyone in the Blue Guard has to do a rotation up at the border,” Dashan pointed out. “Because of my blood, nobody is going to do me any special favours to allow me to avoid it, like what happens with the spoiled lords’ sons in the guard.”

  Alyx stared at them both. Bluecoats posted to the border were required to participate in the patrols into the disputed area. Both Cayr and her father had told her that soldiers sometimes died in those patrols.

  “Dash can’t go to the border,” she said eventually, breaking into their good-natured banter over who had caught the biggest fish.

  “As if you’d care if a Shiven arrow got me,” he grumped.

  “I would care,” she insisted, then rolled her eyes as he grinned in triumph. “But only because it would upset Cayr if you died.”

  “Admit it, you’d be heartbroken.”

  “Yes, it would break from the huge relief I’d experience at knowing I don’t have to deal with your irritating presence anymore.”

  “I told you, I’ll talk to my father,” Cayr said, interrupting their bickering. “It will be fine.”

  Alyx returned Cayr’s smile of reassurance and tried to ignore the niggle of doubt at the ba
ck of her mind. Cayr had a tendency to dismiss or ignore anything that interfered with his view of how things should be. As with his casual confidence earlier that their eventual courting wouldn’t be a problem, she hoped he was right about this.

  “Sure,” Dashan said, but he didn’t look as if he quite believed it.

  Alyx walked through the front gates of her home as dusk fell that evening, a warm glow around her heart from the lovely day she’d had. Dashan had sailed them back along the coast as sunset fell over the ocean. Afterwards, Cayr had walked her home and kissed her again. The imprint of his touch still sent tingling through her body.

  Flickering torches lined the circular driveway, glinting off the white pebbled surface. The moon hung low in the sky and there was only a very light breeze. Alyx savoured the peacefulness of it, breathing deeply of the warm, sweet-smelling air. Life seemed perfect in this moment; she lived in the most beautiful city in the world, she had wealth and security, and Cayr had just kissed her for the second time in as many days.

  The great entrance foyer was dark and silent when she came in the front door, though light flickered under the closed door of a room down the hall. It was her father’s study, and Alyx headed for it with a smile.

  Garan Egalion sat in a deep armchair before a flickering fire, a half-empty glass of whiskey dangling from his right hand. He had the same pensive, worried look on his face that she’d seen too often recently. This time he didn’t try to hide it as Alyx came in. In fact, the naked concern in his expression made her heart drop. What had happened?

  “Did you have a good day, Aly-girl?”

  “I did.” She paused. “Papa, what’s wrong?”

  “Come and have a seat, Alyx.” He stood to kiss her on the cheek, then pulled his chair across so that he was sitting opposite her.

  “There is something wrong, isn’t there?”

  He rubbed a hand over tired eyes. “I’m going to send you away.”