Before Merrin could form massive fireballs, the three who'd come fired blasts at all of us.
It took six tries before the raver's shield was broken, but it broke, and he died a fiery death, just as the warrior-priests around him did.
I was the only one left standing, and that didn't last long. My useless leg dropped from under me first, and I hit what remained of the deck—hard.
"Come on," the one built like Garkus snapped, lifting me from the deck and flinging me over his shoulder. "He said to bring your sorry ass, so I'm bringing it."
Kyri
"That's the healer?" Jubal asked in disbelief, after Garkus set him down in our hideout. Jubal's chain had been removed earlier, and dropped into the river not far from the burning remains of the boat.
"Yes, I'm the healer." North approached Jubal, placing an even stronger shield about him than Garkus had. "I've shielded you from detection—that means Kaakos' mindspeak cannot reach you and he cannot use other talents to locate you. He'll assume you perished with the others on the boat. I blasted it and the dock before we left. If any went into the water, they'll likely die in a few days, it's so filthy."
"Thank you for saving me," Jubal's eyes were on the floor.
"Oh, don't thank me. You're a traitor to your people, and I won't hesitate to fry you myself if you don't prove useful, or if you alert the enemy to our location."
"Here is food," I took what I hadn't eaten earlier to Jubal. "Eat. We have clean water, too, but that's all we have to drink."
"Thank you." Jubal wasn't used to saying those words, I could tell.
"I'd prefer to kill you now," Garkus hissed at Jubal, whose head jerked up to meet Garkus' dark gaze. "Filthy spy."
"Calm down, Garkus," North held up a hand. "We need to ask Jubal some questions about Kaakos."
Jubal's mouth worked, but no sound came out. It was obvious he recognized Garkus' name, if not his face.
Sherra
"I don't like this," Kerok grumbled as he paced at the foot of Hunter's bed. I hadn't asked his permission to touch Hunter; whether he said yes or no, I intended to do it anyway.
"She has him shielded," Pottles sniffed at Kerok. He wasn't in her good graces at the moment, either.
"But she's weak," he tossed out a hand.
Weak or not, Hunter was more so. His eyes bore the blankness of someone who failed to recognize his surroundings. I wanted Hunter back. The Hunter I'd known and come to love.
Kerok and I needed to talk, but I was still too angry with him to have that conversation. I had no idea when I'd be calm and rational enough to have it. "Hunter?" I reached out to touch his hand, searching for his power.
I'd connected with him before, to show him how to shield and several other things. I felt it after a few moments had passed, but it was so weak and fragile, it terrified me. It was as if he'd been emptied—more than any drudge or washout had been emptied. This—Hunter's power had been scoured from him, leaving barely a trace of it to tell anyone that he'd ever had it to begin with.
I could attempt to restore his power—when mine was at full strength again. I didn't want to do that unless Hunter regained his mental stability.
Kaakos had sucked the power away from Hunter—I understood that, now, to assist him in his attempt to fight off Adahi and me.
Adahi may have understood that. I didn't until now. I'd shielded Hunter's mind against Kaakos, thinking that's all that was needed. Kaakos had resorted to draining Hunter's power instead.
Bastard.
"I think I'd like to blast the person who came up with the idea of pulling power away from someone else," I said, letting go of Hunter's hand. "Along with the one who came up with the idea of invading another's mind to control them."
"What did you find?" Pottles asked.
"His power is completely drained, and he doesn't recognize any of us right now."
"Fuck." Kerok rubbed the back of his neck.
"Do you think he'll recover?" Pottles looked worried.
"I don't know. When I'm better, I could try to restore his power, but I don't want to do that if he's still having other problems."
"I command that you not restore it until he's whole," Kerok said.
I rose when he spoke, and turned to look at him. "Fuck you," I said and stepped away.
I felt weak as I stood next to Cole on the training ground, watching hand-selected troops form and fly bubble shields. It was a good exercise to get them proficient. After that, they'd work on combining shields and blasts. It was no surprise that Marc and Wend were leading the pack in perfecting what they'd learned.
"You really shouldn't be here today," Cole pointed out. He and I watched and listened as Levi, Misten and Caral shouted instructions to floating troops.
"Probably, but I just said fuck you to the King, so I had to go somewhere."
"Then your exit was the best solution, I'm sure."
"I'm glad you agree with me."
"I do. Will he know to come looking for you?"
"I don't care whether he does or not."
"You love him," he stated flatly. "Don't you?"
"Maybe not today."
"I think he's worried."
"He tried to kill me."
"I know." Cole shook his head. "I think it came from the right place, but we'd all be lost if he'd gone through with it."
"Came from the right place?"
"He didn't want you to suffer. Just as he didn't want Hunter to suffer. Kaakos is an evil, and nobody with a kind heart should be subjected to that."
"I came in contact with a part of that evil," I admitted. "It was horrible."
"And if the King had all of his sense with him, instead of allowing his fear to rule his head right now, he'd be here, telling you everything would be all right."
"I shouldn't be talking about this," I sighed.
"Yes, you should. To someone you trust. I hope I've earned that from you."
"You have. I just hate discussing personal matters."
"It will never leave my mouth," he said. "Your secrets are safe here."
"I'm grateful. I just feel—like I'm adrift on the wind," I said. "That everything that tethers me to those I love has been cut away, and I can't make a connection again. Like they've deserted me, somehow."
"They're afraid," Cole said softly. "For you and of you—for now."
"That's not comforting."
"I know."
"Thank you for speaking the truth," I told him. "Even though it's not the easiest thing for me to hear right now."
"I have news from Kyri," he said, surprising me. "She says that Merrin is now dead and they've captured Jubal. They're holding the spy for questioning. She says they may execute him for his crimes after they learn everything he knows about Kaakos."
"What would he know?" I was puzzled by Cole's words.
"He has been a spy for years—and has mindspoken with the enemy on uncounted occasions. Something useful could have been revealed in that time—or in the time he was taken from here to serve Kaakos directly."
"That sounds logical, I guess. I'm just so angry about his treason against us. Who knows what he's told them over the years? How many deaths he's caused, because he provided information?"
"I feel the same way. Had he known where to find my village, it could also be in peril."
"That's too awful to consider," I said. "Did Kyri say how Merrin died?"
"She says that North, Garkus and she went after him, killing him, the warrior-priests who guarded him, and sinking a boat filled with enemy troops. They snatched Jubal away at the last moment, to make Kaakos believe he perished with the others. He is now so heavily shielded, even mindspeak cannot pass through to him."
"Are they trying to turn Kaakos' attention away from Az-ca?" I asked.
"It could be. Or, perhaps it is in retaliation for Adahi's death. Kyri cared deeply for him, as you know."
"I know. So did I. Did she say that? That she wanted to retaliate? It could place her in danger."
/>
"She said North chose the action, and she and Garkus agreed with it."
"Strange."
"True."
"Sherra. Cole." Barth appeared nearby.
"Barth?" I turned toward him.
"Thorn insisted that I be the one to come looking for you."
"Oh."
"While we are here, outside his presence, I want it known that I disagreed with him the entire time."
"I know. I heard you," I said. "Thank you for that."
"You heard us talking?"
"Yes. I heard it all. Clearly."
"If I were prone to using profanity, I believe now would be a good time for it."
"What does the King want? Other than for you to find me?" I asked.
"He asks that you come and have dinner with him. So you can talk."
"Right now, I don't know that I have any kind words to say."
"I understand. Tell him that."
"You want me to tell him that?"
"Sometimes it helps to speak the truth."
"He's the King, Barth. He holds the power in Az-ca."
"He also listens to reason. When you tell him the truth, make it as reasonable as you can. In other words, instead of calling him a pig, tell him he hurt you. I believe Armon and Levi are also coming, to offer advice."
"That won't be uncomfortable," I said.
"Ah, sarcasm. It makes the world turn, does it not?" Barth dipped his head to me and disappeared.
Armon
I had no idea we'd be walking into a near-standoff between Sherra and Thorn. Yet there she was, sitting on the opposite side of the King, while there were places laid between them for Levi and me.
This would be uncomfortable, I think, for all of us. I wanted to tell Thorn that this was a mistake.
Instead, I nodded to Levi to take his seat, while I pulled mine out and settled on it. "Thank you for coming," Thorn told me. "I think I'd like to talk about our attack against Ny-nes, and whether you think Kaakos now knows that we plan to come against him."
Levi visibly relaxed, then. We could talk about the army's involvement. Neither of us felt comfortable giving relationship advice while both parties glared at one another from opposite ends of the table.
Servants walked in to set plates of food in front of us. Once they were dismissed, Thorn began to speak again. "Earlier today," he said while cutting into the pork on his plate, "Sherra connected with Hunter. His power has been drained, he doesn't recognize anyone, and there's no way to tell whether Kaakos pulled important information away from him before Adahi intervened."
"Even so, Hunter didn't have the date of an attack, because we hadn't made a decision, yet," I said.
"And that gives me some hope," Thorn said. "I worry that he'll find a way to keep us out of Ny-nes when we go—some way to trap or kill us when we attempt to cross the boundary."
"I can get past his boundary—now," Sherra said, refusing to look at Thorn.
"And I worry that he'll change something, to prevent it," he countered. He also refused to look at Sherra, concentrating on spearing green beans with his fork in grim determination.
Your food isn't the enemy, I sent to Thorn. Neither is your Queen.
"I think we should have a conversation with those in Ny-nes—our spies," Levi suggested. "They'll probably know such things before we will."
"I don't have direct contact with any of them," Thorn admitted. "Sherra may have access."
"I can reach them." Her voice was a low grumble—she didn't like being pulled into this conversation, which had turned into a strategy meeting. "Doret would be a better choice to talk with them."
She wasn't pleased with Doret at the moment, either.
"Will you go get her? Tell her the King needs her services," Thorn said.
"Be happy to." Sherra rose and dropped her napkin over the plate of food she hadn't touched, before stalking out of the small dining room.
"She's so mad she could spit," Thorn sighed when enough time had passed. He rolled his shoulders; an indication of how stressful this was. "She heard me telling Kage to destroy her and Hunter," he admitted. "I thought they were suffering and in Kaakos' grip, so I did what I felt I had to. Adahi was the one to shove me aside and do what needed doing."
"I think your heart was in the right place," Levi said cautiously. "It was a judgment call."
"Which turned out to be the worst sort of judgment," Thorn wiped his face with a hand. "I confess, if I were in the middle of a power battle with that evil filth, and overheard somebody talking about killing me as if they were discussing the weather, well."
"It likely didn't help that it was the one person she loves more than anyone else," I said.
"Yes, although that probably isn't the case any longer."
"You don't know that." Levi tore his roll in half to butter it.
"No. I don't think I know much at all at the moment. What I do know is this; if he'd come for me instead of Hunter, she'd have done the same thing—come tearing in to help me."
"You're the King; you have a position that is larger than any single life, no matter how dear it is," I told him.
"This is where it gets shameful," he admitted. He'd stopped toying with his food and sat there, clenching and unclenching his hands.
"What's that?" I asked.
"I'd have done whatever it took to get Grae back—including fighting Kaakos at the time."
"You weren't King, then."
"I don't feel like a King, now."
"You're saying you'd rather have Grae?" Levi lifted an eyebrow as he leveled his gaze at Thorn.
"I—don't know. I don't know anything anymore. Grae would never shut me out like this."
"Because that made things simpler for you." Levi bit into his bread.
"Grae never had the power or intellect that Sherra does. I'm sorry to say that, because I cared for Grae, too," I said.
"Then what's your advice, Armon?" Thorn sounded bitter.
"If you desire the lightning, you must also prepare for the storm."
Ny-nes
Kaakos
"We do not know how the boat sank—we only saw lightning about it—from this side of the river," the warrior-priest messenger reported. He'd walked through heavy rainfall to reach the palace, and now dripped on the marble floor beneath my high seat.
I already suspected something had happened—I couldn't reach Jubal in mindspeak, and my connection with Vengeance had been broken.
My raver was dead, along with the warrior-priests around him, and an entire boat had been destroyed.
Of all those things, the loss of my raver and the boat made me the angriest. Neither would be easy to replace—if they could be replaced.
"You don't suspect an attack?" I battered the warrior-priest with the force of my question.
"We could not tell from our position across the river." He kept his head bowed before me while his hair continued to drip water on the floor.
"Then go find out," I said. "Send someone in to clean up this mess," I thundered as he turned to leave.
"Supreme Leader?" Someone else had arrived while servants ran around him like rushing water around a rock to clean the floor.
"What is it?" I wasn't pleased that he'd come unannounced, and looked almost as wet as the last one.
"You received another message—like the one before, my Lord."
"What message? Why didn't you bring it to me?" I considered what his brains would look like if they were smeared across the floor. After all, servants were already here, cleaning. They could clean that up, too.
"It's ah, quite bloody," he replied, bowing his head.
"Fuck me." I flung myself off the chair and stomped down the steps to the floor, kicking sharp squeals from a servant or two on the way.
Without another word, the guard led me out of the room, down two flights of steps and out the back door, which led to the gate.
And the message waiting there for me.
A knife, stabbed into one of my warrior-pr
iests, held the paper in place, surprisingly dry in the rain that continued to fall.
Ripping the paper away, it began to absorb raindrops as I read it. Like before, it was written in the language from Az-ca, and only I was able to read that, after Ruarke's death.
Your enemy is at your gate, Kaakos, it read. Too bad you've been looking in another country for it all along.
North.
"Find the healer," I shrieked to anyone listening. "Find him now and bloody kill him. Tear the city apart if you have to. I and the Prophet command it!"
Chapter 19
Sherra
I didn't particularly want to speak with Pottles. I did anyway. Thorn, Armon and Levi waited at the palace, because they wanted a regular channel to Kyri, Garkus and the healer in Ny-nes.
Pottles cut her eyes toward me after I told her what Kerok said. She didn't snap at me, telling me that I could speak with Kyri as well as she could, though, because she still felt guilty. She also knew we weren't back to a comfortable level in our relationship, either.
"May as well come; I haven't eaten yet. I assume Thorn can lay another plate on the table." She gathered a jacket from the back of a chair in her study.
"I'll see to it."
"Fine. Let's go."
I stepped us to the garden, and walked toward the side door of the palace. Guards moved aside to let us in. It had taken longer than I'd thought it would to get back, but I'd taken a detour—to the rock in the small lake outside North Camp.
A part of me wanted to clear the air with Kerok and Pottles. Another part wanted to yell at both of them. The best I could do was set that self-argument aside for later, after it had taken far too long to come to any sort of resolution.
Then, I'd gone to fetch Pottles, holding my anger in check the whole time.
"Thank you for coming, Doret," Kerok said when we walked in. I hadn't expected him to say anything to me—I'd taken too long to come back, after all.
"Briar, will you bring another plate of food?" I asked, after finding her in the room, refilling glasses of beer and wine.
"Of course." She hurried out of the room to bring Pottles' dinner.
"Did Sherra tell you what we need?" Kerok turned to Pottles.
Black Rose Queen: Black Rose Sorceress, Book 3 Page 26