A Poisoned Land (Book 1: Faith, Lies and Blue Eyes)

by Craig P Roberts

  Her tranquil start to the day vanished and she dashed across the bed to get a silk robe that was lying on the floor, pulling it around her naked body. As she opened the door, the voices hit her: “He can’t have gotten outside of the city walls, he will be somewhere on the streets,” H’Gon said, turning to Queen Londenia. “My lady.” He bowed.

  “What happened?” she asked, as guards ran from room to room, panicked.

  “It’s Taigo…he’s gone,” H’Gon said, with a lowered head.

  “It is not as if he is some kind of prisoner,” Londenia warned. “What do you plan to do to find him? He was upset and I am worried for his safety. He killed King Anthony’s father. That will not have been forgotten. Anthony’s men infiltrated the Watch Kingdom and the Bay Kingdom—who’s to say they could not place assassins in the Still Cities?”

  Searches went on all morning and past midday. There was no sign of the boy. Londenia led the search on the streets, asking strangers if they saw a tanned-skinned, blue-sighted boy. He would have stood out in any part of the Still Cities. Most mortals in the cities had a paler complexion than his and people with blue-sight were few and far between.

  Every scenario ran through her mind and none seemed to be good. Perhaps he took his own life, but then there would have been some sign of a body. Perhaps King Anthony managed to somehow penetrate Nethren’s defenses, but surely his men couldn’t have gotten past the watch posts and then scaled the city walls unnoticed. The most likely explanation in her mind was that Taigo had decided to follow his hatred and left to take revenge on those who had wronged him, but Londenia hoped she was wrong.

  Her role in the search had to be cut short with the arrival of their escorts from Mor. She warned her men and the Nethrenese guards not to let Taigo leave the city. “I fear he is on some kind of crusade to take revenge on King Anthony. I do not want him risking his life in such folly.”

  After giving strict commands to bring Taigo to her as soon as they were successful in finding him, she went with Magister Polthen to the main gate to meet their escorts. The twenty guards of Nethren marched out before them. Their long shadows from the late afternoon sun stretched far into the grass surrounding the city. As the guards passed the marble onto grass, they knelt. Londenia saw two figures standing opposite them. Both wore dark featureless masks, covering their faces. Even their eyes were obscured by a dot of blue light piercing out of each hole. One was dressed entirely in black from foot to hooded cape. The other’s arms were bare. His cape was lined with a gold colored trim.

  As Londenia walked closer, behind the line of kneeling guards and drew near to the two masked figures from Mor, she saw they carried long-staffs much like the Nethrenese guards’ ones; they glowed blue at each end and were carried diagonally across the men’s backs. The two lowered their hoods. Their hair was shaved to gray-black stubble. Tight clothing hugged their trained bodies under flapping capes that were blowing in the gentle breeze. When she was less than ten footfalls from where they stood, they lifted their masks. Brown eyes stared back at her. They began to bow.

  A shout from a Nethrenese guard made them replace their masks and draw their staffs in a violent spin which stopped sharply behind their arms. They crouched. “Get down!” one of masked figures urged Londenia.

  She dove flat, face-first into the grass and peered back. Twenty Nethrenese guards chased a small figure running for the hills away from the city wall. One of the masked men from Mor moved towards Londenia. The other took up a defensive position around her. Feeling safer, she raised her head and tried to see between her two protectors. As her eyes focused, she saw Taigo running from the Nethrenese. He had a staff of his own and a pack on his back. One of the guards drew near him and swung a glowing blue staff. Taigo ducked and spun his own staff overhead to parry the blow. Stopping his weapon sharply behind his arm, he reversed its direction and struck the guard in the side. As the man fell, Taigo took off again.

  It was in that moment Londenia realized that she had no right to stop Taigo in his plans. They only stop him because I commanded them to find him and bring him to me to make sure he was safe. The boy is capable of a great many things. I gave him my word that he would have his revenge. If he wants this, then who am I to stop him?

  Her protector with the gold trim crouched next to Londenia. Two blue lights pierced through the slits of the mask. “Queen Londenia, do you know what is happening here?” he asked in a soldier-like manner, his voice slightly muffled through the mask.

  “We must stop their attack on that boy, sir,” Queen Londenia commanded. She had barely finished her sentence before the men in black rushed towards the action. They covered ground faster than even those of blue-sight. Within seconds her new super-fast, brown-eyed protectors stood between the guards of Nethren and Taigo, who was now drawing further and further away. The two squared up to the twenty.

  One of the masked-men dropped into a spinning crouch and whipped his staff through the dust in the sparse grass. Sand repelled away from the glowing end as if each grain fled from its light. It whipped up a cloud in the eyes of the Nethrenese guards. Several of them stumbled back. Two on the outside of the line ran forward in pursuit of Taigo but the two masked-men clashed with them. The buzzing of glowing staffs whipped through the air. A group of Nethrenese guards swarmed around them. The two men in black fought off head-on attacks but at the same time fended off blows from behind. Two of the guards collapsed to the ground after receiving painful looking shocks to the chest from the glowing staffs. Another was sent flying five footfalls backwards into the dry sparse grass. More Nethrenese joined the fight. Still, the masked men fought on.

  “Stand down,” Londenia shouted, running towards them. Her new masked-protectors from Mor immediately laid down their staffs and turned to kneel to her. The Nethrenese halted their staffs mid-strike, looking on with confusion at the sudden stop to the action.

  Fat Magister Polthen scurried along, catching up with his men, out of breath and dripping with sweat. “Do as the queen commands!” The buzz and spinning of glowing staffs zipped through the air for a few seconds before coming to a sharp stop as the weapons were tucked behind twenty arms.

  Londenia approached the two in black, who were kneeling. “Thank you for your assistance.”

  “It was our pleasure, my lady.” As the other from Mor spoke, it was clear that this was a woman. With her short hair, identical clothing to the other and the very flat chest, it had been hard to tell her gender.

  “It was a pleasure to see your fine talents, I can assure you.” Londenia smiled, eying her female protector. “What are your names?”

  The one whose cape was adorned with golden trim removed his mask and spoke. “I am Noth Garrod, my lady.”

  The female followed suit, saying, “Noth Raine, at your service, my lady.”

  “I am Queen Londenia of Last Kingdom and I am sorry to cut our greetings short but I feel we must ready ourselves for this journey. It is imperative we depart within the hour.”

  As her party left Nethren for their final leg of the journey to Mor, she said silent prayers for Taigo, for her father and for Romarus.

  Her small party had a calmer feel ever since they came under the protection of Noth Garrod and Noth Raine. This air of calm was also inspired by the pleasant surroundings of the land of the Still Cities. Londenia, however, could not completely settle her nerves. They followed the banks of the River Ren leading to the mountains. She found herself walking either side by side or ahead of the Noths—never behind. When traveling, they tended to wear their masks on the backs of their heads, something which Londenia found off-putting. Their normal brown-eyed faces stared straight ahead while a lifeless, featureless dark face glared behind them. The glowing blue eye-slits added to their strangeness.

  “May I enquire? Do you have blue-sight in your blood?” Londenia asked Noth Raine on the second morning of their journey to Mor.

  The female Noth laughed. “You are not the first to ask this. Some of us no doubt ha
ve blue-sight somewhere in our lineage but as far as I am aware, I am not one of them. We are a guild that believes with intense training, meditation and learning, we can have the same abilities that equal and, in some cases, far outweigh those of blue-sight.”

  That night, Londenia watched the masked Noth Garrod practice his staff routine by the River Ren, where they had set up camp. He stood with knees bent. The glowing blue eye-slits of his mask locked onto his imaginary opponent. His whole body flowed like water. He spun the staff and swung it around his body as if it were part of him. His movements looked more like that of a dance than those of a fighting man. Although the staff moved sharply at times in precise strikes, his body was loose and flowing. When he finally finished his dance, his breath was still slow and steady.

  Londenia learned from Garrod that the Noth specialized in the use of the glowing long-staffs that were commonplace in the Still Cities. The Noth called them long-glows. Guards of the Ten Kingdoms were impressive in the way they fought with their regular non-glowing staffs. And the guards of Nethren too, were a delight to watch with their blue staffs as they called them. But the Noths were something to behold. Even their name for their glowing staffs impressed Londenia more and had an air of class to it. Blue staff is such an obvious name for a staff that glows blue. Long-glow has much more grace to it, she thought, mindlessly.

  These witless random thoughts stopped her mind from over thinking and stressing about what news may come when they reached Mor as they drew closer. If only I could be like Romarus in these times: amused by pressing my lips to a sheet of glass or being distracted by a nice pair of tits. She laughed as she remembered what he had said back in Hal Tal about potentially soiling one of the tal’s store cupboards. She felt a lump in her throat and a tear escape from her right eye. Where are you now? I hope you’re safe. Londenia told herself, Romarus is always fine.

  On the third night, they took their leave of the River Ren and began to veer north and west on the path leading to Mor. Londenia received a visit from the two Noths inside the warm skins of her tent. They did her the courtesy of removing their masks before sticking their heads into her tent. The emotionless black canvas and the sharp blue glow from the eye-slits were not a welcome sight when unexpected in the dark of night.

  Noth Garrod spoke. “Queen Londenia, we feel it is time for you to learn of Magister Caline’s thoughts on the current situation. He requested Noths as a means of escort for your party. We knew a request to meet with the kings was sent over three moon-turns ago and when we saw what details he had given in his escort request, we volunteered for the task.”

  “I fear I am not going to like what you are about to say.”

  Garrod nodded with tight lips. “As there are no longer any kings in your party, Magister Caline feels it would be detrimental to discuss the full nature of the threat he speaks of. He is therefore, simply receiving you and Queen Se’Rel now as a gesture of goodwill until one of the kings arrives.”

  Londenia clenched her fists in a cold sweat. “You mean to say we have travelled this distance and risked our lives…and lost lives, for nothing?”

  The two Noths looked at each other. Noth Raine broke her stare first and looked to Londenia. “No, we are simply saying we wish to help you. He will likely come to greet us alone and we are happy to…” She paused. “…lend our services as means of making him tell you what you must know.”

  It seems I am becoming a common user of threats and intimidation, Londenia thought, remembering the look of hatred on Ilar’s face back on the long path where Taigo killed old Rigard. “What do you mean, make him tell us?”

  Noth Raine’s gloved hand reached out and lay on Londenia’s thigh. It felt too high, and lingered too long. Londenia sat up to free her leg from the female Noth’s touch.

  Raine’s cheeks flushed red. She cleared her throat. “Just know that we are ready to support you. The magister feels that neither you nor Queen Se’Rel will be able to carry out the task he expected of the kings. We do not believe anybody has limitations. We are willing to support you when the time comes. We do what we feel is right—not what the magisters say is right. And personally, I believe in you.”

  The sun shrank behind the shining round city wall that met them three days later as they approached Mor. It was almost identical to Nethren’s wall but must have been double its size. Knowing it was Mor on the other side, Londenia should surely feel joy. But the words from the Noths of the resistance they might face from Magister Caline played on her mind.

  No guards came out to greet their party as they had done in Nethren. The main gates ground open and the waning sun’s light shafted through the gap, widening as the gates swung apart. Londenia had to shield her eyes from the glare. A long shadow stepped out, stretching twenty footfalls along the sparse sandy grass surrounding the city. As the robed figure approached, it was clear the dark shadow suggested a far taller and thinner man than the one nearing their party’s position. Noth Raine put a hand on Londenia’s shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze. Again, her hand lingered too long for Londenia’s comfort. She turned and smiled to her female protector, using it as an opportunity to politely draw away from the awkward hand.

  Noth Garrod stepped forward and addressed the approaching figure, announcing, “Magister Caline, may I present to you Queen Londenia of Last Kingdom and Queen Se’Rel of the Bay Kingdom.”

  It was as if Magister Polthen had followed them from Nethren; this too was a rather fat man in a white robe but Magister Caline bumbled less. Are all magisters fat?

  His eyes were fixed on Londenia as he marched towards her group. “Queen Londenia and Queen Se’Rel, I was most disturbed to hear of what has happened of late in the Ten Kingdoms,” he said, then added in a lowered unconvincing tone, “May the Ten guide the souls of the ones you have lost to the next world.”

  Nice try, Londenia thought at the magister’s attempt at appealing to her faith.

  Queen Se’Rel raised a gray eyebrow. “Thank you for your blessings, Magister. We have come a long way to hear of this threat you spoke of and I wish not to linger on this matter.”

  “I am afraid we will have to linger, my lady. For you see, we were expecting kings.” His eyes scanned Londenia and Se’Rel. “We required the kings to take our warnings directly to the High Council of the Ten Kingdoms. Your avatars on the Beast’s Eye will not receive queens. In fact, it is unlikely they will let you step onto the inland island on account of…” His eyes dropped to their breasts.

  Queen Se’Rel adjusted herself and stepped towards the fat Morian. “We know of the policies of our High Council. However, as you are quite aware, my king is dead, Queen Londenia’s king is off on some crusade to find a lost prince, the Watch King was massacred along with his entire keep, and ten-gods-knows where the others are. Oh yes, and one is a cold-blooded murderer now, in case you needed reminding.”

  Magister Caline cleared his throat. “Yes, we are quite aware of King Anthony’s deeds. In fact, we have been aware of his plans for some time now as we intercepted—”

  Queen Se’Rel was a raging storm as she rushed and grabbed the blubbery magister’s robes around his neck and pulled him in close. The old queen stared him in the eye. “You mean to say you knew about all of that and failed to warn us?”

  “W-we had no way of getting the message to you in time.” Little droplets of sweat began to bead on the magister’s upper lip. “Y-you don’t have the same technologies that we possess in—”

  “You could have sent a rider,” the aging queen shouted as Magister Caline looked helplessly at the two Noths who flanked Londenia. They stood their ground, with emotionless masks staring blankly. Queen Se’Rel loosened her grip and pushed the Morian leader back, then stormed away with her old fists clenched.

  Londenia took a breath. “Magister.” She forced a smile. “I agree that we would likely not be received on the Beast’s Eye, if that was part of your need from us, but we deserve to know what it is that you wished to tell the kings.”


  The magister brushed off his robes and shook his head, making his two chins wobble. “No, we have sent word to King Kalon. Our rider will likely have found his party by now. He is our last hope.”

  Londenia nodded to her masked Noths. Their glowing blue eye-slits locked onto the fat Morian. They seized him, each taking an arm. He gave little resistance and only let out blurting, bumbling noises. Now you look even more like Magister Polthen, Londenia thought, putting on her best diplomatic smile. “King Kalon is the kingdoms’ last hope. He sent me to finish the task that the kings were first asked to do. You will tell us of this threat you spoke of and what you would be asking of the kings. I can assure you, Magister, that after what I and my party have overcome in the last two moon-turns, we will make it happen if it means saving what remains of our people.”

  The magister’s eyes darted to both of his Noths, who were now taking commands from Londenia. His nose twitched. “Very well. We must gain entry…erm…access…f-full access…to certain…p-parts…of the Ten Kingdoms, without threat of attack, if the Known World is to continue as we know it today.” Caline’s stale breath puffed at her as he blurted his words. “You are aware of the protecting barrier surrounding all of our lands, yes?” He emphasized every word.

  Londenia knew what the Morian leader spoke of. However, she had only heard it being referred to by its proper title of Beverine’s Shield, named after the goddess of protection who wrapped all the land in Her invisible defensive cocoon. “I have…”

  “It-it is failing.”

  She walked up face-to-face with the seized man. “Magister, if it is the work of the gods it cannot…fail.”

  The magister looked away and cleared his throat. “We have differing views on the origin of th-the…shield, as you call it.”

  Londenia put on her best diplomatic smile. “What is it, if it is not a shield?”