Black Rose Queen: Black Rose Sorceress, Book 3

by Connie Suttle

"And powerful," Levi added. "Like taking down the enemy's palace powerful."

  "Let's not get ahead of ourselves," I warned. "We have to see how well this works, first."

  "I really want this to work," Caral breathed.

  "Me, too."

  Anari

  "They're here," Kyal said, bouncing on his heels as Sherra, Caral and the others walked toward us. Our instructor, Liri, had been testing our shield-making all morning. I was hoping to learn something new when Sherra and the others came.

  I wanted to hug Sherra and Caral, but was afraid that wouldn't be allowed. Sometimes, I forgot that Sherra was the Queen and Caral was a Captain in the King's army.

  It didn't matter, I guess. Everyone got hugs from Sherra and Caral when they got close enough. Laren was grinning like an idiot when Sherra hugged him. I thought about digging him in the ribs with an elbow, but held back.

  "We're going to try something new, today," Cole announced. Laren turned to me with a huge grin—he and Kyal wanted it just as much as I did.

  "What is it?" Kyal asked.

  "We're going to ask you to combine your power—to build a shield, first, and then to form blasts."

  "That—would be excellent," Kyal saw the possibilities while Laren and I were still thinking about them.

  "How?" Laren asked.

  "Well, I'm going to touch all three of you at the same time," Sherra said. "So you can feel the others' power, along with your own. Once we do that, then we'll work on putting all of it together."

  I wasn't sure how that would happen, but I was willing to try. "Kyal, take Ani's hand. Laren, take her other hand. I'll take Laren's and Kyal's hands, to form a circle, all right?"

  We joined hands as requested. Once our circle was formed, she asked us to close our eyes. Kyal gasped when the vision of our power appeared in our minds—I had no idea Sherra could do this.

  Now, she instructed us in mindspeak, see the others' power.

  I drew in a breath; Kyal's and Laren's power were white lights, like mine, but Sherra's was such a bright blue, it was nearly blinding.

  Ani, push your light toward Laren's. Kyal, once those two are joined, add yours to theirs. Don't touch mine—I'll disengage once the three of you are joined.

  It was so easy, I couldn't believe we hadn't tried it before. Kyal's slipped in right behind Laren's and mine, before it became a part of the whole.

  That's right, Sherra encouraged. Now, I'm going to pull away. Don't let anyone go—keep all three together. When I tell you in mindspeak, form a shield with the combined power.

  We watched as the blue light disappeared, leaving the combined white lights behind. It couldn't be my imagination; together, the white lights shone much brighter. Stronger, too.

  Form a shield, Sherra said.

  For a moment it was disorienting, as if Kyal, Laren and I had to make a slight adjustment before combining in reality to form a shield.

  Very good, Sherra's voice breathed in our minds. Open your eyes and see.

  We opened our eyes to find Captain Levi firing blasts at our combined shield. We hadn't even felt them hit, the shield was so strong.

  "Can you feel that?" Sherra shouted as Levi's blasts became stronger.

  We can't feel anything, I sent mindspeak. I didn't know how well my voice would carry over the noise of fireblasts cracking against our outer shield.

  I'll ask Levi to do his worst, but gauge his blast so it won't hit any of you if the shield breaks. Strengthen it if you can, Sherra sent.

  Laren? Kyal? I sent.

  We're ready, Kyal grinned. He was excited about this.

  Levi hurled a blast at us, so hard and so big, the fireball was all we could see for several seconds before it burned away to nothing. We barely felt it as it burst against our shield.

  The combined shield had held. Dimly, I could hear Cole, Caral and Sherra whooping and hugging one another. The experiment had worked, and the three of us—just trainees, after all, had held our shield against a seasoned warrior's fireblasts.

  Sherra

  "That's right, don't worry about destroying it; concentrate on making your blasts stronger," I told Anari.

  Cole had set up a lean-to on a beach far below his village, where sparks and stray flames from fireblasts would be washed away by an encroaching tide.

  Anari was getting her first lessons on fireblasts. The boys, who'd already done preliminary training for it, stood on the sidelines with Caral and me, shouting encouragement to Anari.

  Levi stood nearby, arms crossed over his chest and beaming, as if these were his children who were doing so well.

  Once Ani was at a level with the boys on fireblasts, we could do the same experiment. Their shield had performed above expectations. Those three could hold off a powerful warrior—perhaps two warriors. Caral's eyes were shining; she couldn't wait for us to try this together. She and Levi would carry good news back to Armon tonight, at the very least.

  I waited to see how it went with fireblasts before mentioning anything to Kerok. Fireblast lessons would take another two training days with Anari, even though she was learning quickly.

  Then, the adults would try it. If it weren't so late in the day, we'd try it now, but the sun was falling toward the horizon, and Kerok would be waiting.

  "Well done, Anari," Cole said, calling a halt after she blasted the lean-to to kindling. "Time to wash up for dinner."

  Kyal shouted his approval and ran toward the narrow trail leading to the village above, with Laren close behind.

  Anari came to me, first, before following those two.

  "You did so well," I hugged her against me. "I couldn't have asked for better."

  "It was fun," she looked up at me with a smile. "I'm really hungry, though."

  "I'll step you back," I said, squeezing her shoulders. "You may even get there before the others."

  Kerok

  Sherra's hair was still damp when she arrived in the small dining room, where Barth, Hunter and I waited. With a nod, Hunter let the servants know to set out food.

  "What's the word on the servant who ah," I began after the servants left the dining room.

  "A newer hire," Barth said. "His name was Alun. Came from a village not far from Balsom, which is no real surprise, given other events surrounding that area."

  "What about the divination on the others?" Hunter asked.

  "Nothing. I did a divination on Alun's personal items, and there was evidence that he'd sold himself to the enemy for a bit of gold." Barth's mouth straightened into a grim line; he hated that this one had been so close to us, without our knowing.

  "I'm concerned about the raver," Sherra frowned while helping herself to rolls and butter. She'd spoken with Doret; that was obvious.

  "So are we," I conceded. "Merrin, with Kaakos' power behind him? That's terrifying."

  "Pottles says he has no mind left, other than Kaakos'. It makes me shudder to think that can happen."

  "She told us it takes a great deal of power to make a raver," Barth observed.

  "She said that to me, too. Still, it's horrible that it can be done in the first place. How crazy has Ny-nes been all this time?"

  "Who knows. It's disheartening to hear that they've had power among the elite all along, and unwilling to let it manifest in the common people," I said.

  "Power often corrupts those who possess it," Hunter sighed. "The laws must be observed, to hold it in check."

  "The laws must be fair in the beginning," Sherra said, pointing her fork at Hunter.

  "Yes. I agree," he acknowledged. "We're working on that. Thorn signed the law you wrote with Cole and Caral." He smiled when he said that.

  "Thank you—for straightening out the language and making it workable," Sherra told him. "I don't say that to you enough, Hunter."

  I'm not sure I'd ever seen Hunter nonplussed before. Honestly, I couldn't recall the last time I'd paid him a compliment for his work, which was exceptional. Always.

  "Here's to the keeper of the laws," I
raised my glass to him. "And to the changer as well," I gave a sly wink to Sherra.

  "To King Thorn," Barth raised his glass, "Who recognizes the need for both those things."

  I love you, Sherra sent to me, her eyes catching mine over the rim of her wineglass. I shamelessly winked at her again.

  Ny-nes

  Kaakos

  I wasn't stupid enough to rely solely on reports sent to me by Vengeance and the warrior-priests. Beels, a trusted spy among the warrior-priests, was one of the six I'd sent with him. He had orders to kill my raver, should he show signs of unraveling my spells.

  It hadn't happened with any of mine before, but there were records in my personal library, telling of the few times it had happened to others in the past.

  Weaklings, with weak skills, in my opinion. None of them had a proper education, as far as their power and talent went.

  Beels had power, but I'd suppressed it—except for his mindspeak. He thought it was a gift from the Prophet and kept it secret, as I'd told him such gifts were not meant to be shared with others.

  I, being Supreme Leader, was the voice of the Prophet in Ny-nes. Nobody questioned my authority, lest the Prophet's wrath fall heavy upon them. Every time I recalled that fact, I smiled.

  As for the fools in Az-ca, I considered how to attack them next time. They were still no closer to finding my spies, although my last attack had only killed civilians instead of the powerful.

  Narvin and Willa had somehow been prevented from entering the villages themselves, or I'd instruct Narvin to burn as many of them as he could.

  Time to use a bit of gold to turn more civilians into disposable instruments, perhaps.

  Secondary Camp

  Armon

  Caral and Levi were bursting with news; I asked them to wait on their report until after the evening meal.

  We'd barely walked into Levi's and my cabin, before Caral lifted Misten in her arms and swung her around while laughing.

  "I take it the experiment worked?" I turned to Levi. His grin was worth a pile of gold. "Better than we thought," he pulled my head down for a swift kiss. "We only saw it working with shielding, and with the young ones, but they took to it so fast, it was like a miracle. I threw everything I had at them afterward, and I couldn't crack their combined shield."

  "The young ones did that?" It would take a very strong shield to withstand Levi's blasts, and no youngling trainee had ever stood up to his full blasts until Sherra came along.

  "Yes. I can't wait to try this myself—Sherra says that our group—our four, plus her and Cole, will form a pod and try this together."

  I considered those implications. With six of us working in tandem, if we were successful, we could destroy—I hesitated to say the Supreme Leader's city, but I was certainly thinking it.

  "Please let this work," Misten had pulled away from Caral to bounce on her heels, her hands clasped together in a supplicating gesture.

  I felt the same way—please, let this work.

  Sherra

  Caral and Cole sat in my study the following morning, while Briar set out cups of tea for us. I hadn't announced the day's agenda, yet, because I wanted to surprise Caral with the news. We were about to write up the law to allow escorts to have bonding ceremonies.

  "Is there anything else?" Briar almost smiled when she asked the question.

  "I think this will do us for an hour or two," I told her. "Thank you," I added. She did smile shyly, then, before stepping out the door, empty tray in hand.

  "What are we working on today?" Caral asked.

  "Recently, it came to my attention that it's unfair for the laws to allow bonding ceremonies between men, without having the same concessions available to the women," I said, waving an arm in an off-handed gesture.

  Caral's hands went to her mouth, while tears shone in her eyes.

  "I think she likes this idea," Cole grinned.

  "It's almost a done deal," I told Caral. "When I asked Kerok about it, he told me to get on with it."

  "I can't believe I get to be a part of this," Caral breathed.

  "You get to be a part of it," I told her. I couldn't hold the wide grin back, either.

  Jubal

  I need more servants—to replace those killed recently, the voice demanded. I'd prefer those who enjoy watching things burn.

  I heard a rumor that two youngling trainees recently set the dining hall on fire at their training camp, I replied. Got their power taken away because of it.

  Where are those boys now?

  Not boys, more's the pity, I replied.

  Ah. This—may bear consideration. Find out where they are and tell me the moment you find out. I'll have Narvin and Willa collect them. We'll see how well the enemy responds when they find themselves under attack from the least expected direction.

  I wanted to argue with the voice, to tell him it never paid to put a woman in charge of anything. I didn't.

  You'll receive word the moment I find their location, I sent.

  Good. You will be well-rewarded for this information.

  You're damn right, I thought, although I didn't tell him so.

  Have Narvin and Willa on standby, the voice added. I expect information, if our targets are behind a shield they can't cross. We'll find someone else to do a bit of abduction, if necessary.

  I understand.

  Good.

  Chapter 10

  Anari

  We'd been too excited to sleep right away the night before. Kyal was the one to make the suggestion, but Laren and I fell in with his plans quickly.

  We knew how to combine our shields, now, and I'd figured out how to make a mirror shield on my own. We used that information to get into Kyri's library. Whatever she'd done to allow us into her home to begin with was still in place, or someone could have been alerted.

  As it is, we dropped our shields the moment we were inside her library, and spent an hour picking three books each to read before returning to our bedrooms in Cole's village.

  Then, we'd stayed up longer to read for a while, and that meant we were all yawning at breakfast the next morning.

  "Trouble sleeping?" Cole asked as I covered another yawn on the training ground later.

  "Too excited," Kyal grinned. "We want to do more of what we did yesterday."

  "You'll have to wait for Sherra's return tomorrow," Cole smiled. "Today, we'll practice fireblasts again, so we'll be prepared when she asks you to combine those."

  Laren's eyes were wide as he turned toward me. Yes, his voice breathed into my mind.

  "We really want to try that," I told Cole. "We'll do our best for you today."

  "Very good. First, we'll build another structure—stronger, this time, and then we'll see how long it takes to blast it to bits."

  Kerok

  "We have census papers from Secondary Camp," Hunter walked into my study waving a sheaf of papers in his hand.

  "Good. Have you alerted Barth?"

  "He's going to meet me in his workroom, with two other diviners. I just wanted to put you on notice, because he'll be compiling a list of warriors and escorts to send to the villages with their papers."

  "Good. How long will it take to get this done?"

  "I don't know. A week—maybe two or more. We may have limited manpower to visit the villages, and then it'll take two days at least to hand out papers and get them back."

  "And to make sure they're all handed in," I said. "Tell them to take counts of papers distributed, and make sure it matches the number returned."

  "Already thought of that. I'm putting a list of rules together now."

  "Good. Have the ones you send to the villages file a report every time."

  "To determine if they've been compromised. Good thinking," Hunter nodded.

  "We can't take any chances. To be honest, I see Kaakos behind every rock and cactus, now, and I don't even know what he looks like."

  "Do you think Doret knows?"

  "She does seem to know a lot about him, but t
hat could be through Kyri. Somehow, I'm positive she knows what he looks like."

  "After I drop these off with Barth, I have a few minutes," Hunter said. "Perhaps I'll visit Doret."

  "I want to go, too," I said, rising from my chair.

  "Then let's hand these to Barth and get going."

  "I'm right behind you, my Crown Prince."

  An hour later, we were having tea in Doret's office while we waited for her to join us. The kitchen staff had gone to a great deal of trouble when they learned Hunter and I had come to see Doret.

  We had honey cakes, tea, cheeses and crisp wafers in front of us while we waited.

  "What's this about?" Doret asked. She'd come straight from the training grounds, sweat and all, to glare at Hunter and me.

  "We ah, want to know what Kaakos looks like," I stammered.

  "Oh. I thought you'd ask that question long before now."

  "Do you know?" Hunter pleaded.

  "I can show you," Doret's words were followed by a disdainful snort. "Give me a moment, I have to step to Kyri's home to find it."

  I didn't know why her words made me freeze—she was going to show us? How?

  I watched her disappear in front of us. She was gone perhaps ten minutes before she returned, placing a book in my hand. "They still made images in Ny-nes—when he first came to power there." Her words were gruff. Angry, too.

  I opened the book. It was written in a strange language that I couldn't decipher. On the second page, an image jumped out at me and I almost gasped, it was so clear and realistic.

  "They called them photographs," Doret snapped at my reaction. "Part of a technology that has been lost or fallen away without the proper equipment."

  I stared at the image, taking in the dark hair, green eyes, fair complexion. A small scar marred a full, lower lip, which was bent in a twist of cruelty. Whatever technology had been used to form this image, it had been accurate in its depiction.

  "I can see the evil in him," I told Doret while handing the book to Hunter.

  "He doesn't bother to hide it," she shrugged. "From those who can see. Most people only see the fair image. Some think him handsome. He cultivates and encourages those views. They haven't learned that a fair face is never a worthy exchange for a heart filled with malevolence."