Black Rose Queen: Black Rose Sorceress, Book 3

by Connie Suttle

  Had the enemy thought me alone and helpless? I had thousands to draw from, and the capacity to hold all the power of their life-force, until I chose to unleash it.

  Against them.

  Kyri

  Fire and move. Fire and move. We'd begun our attack against Kaakos' palace, Garkus and I, as puny as those efforts were.

  Let him think we were insufficient—that more than one group was firing at him from different locations, with no results.

  Let him believe that. We fired again, watching the flames bloom against an impenetrable shield—with only two of us working. We weren't combining blasts—we hadn't attempted it.

  We'd see soon enough what the others could do.

  We're being fired upon, Sherra sent to me. They've wakened their war machines and are lobbing bombs. We're in the process of capturing them and sending them back, but it's taking time away from our other efforts. Two of our pods have been destroyed.

  Then come to the palace. Let them hurl bombs at Kaakos' shield and see how he likes it. A few moments passed; I imagined she was having a rushed conversation with Thorn.

  On our way, she replied.

  Our backup is coming, I informed Garkus, who leveled another blast from our current position before I stepped us away.

  Sherra

  What just happened? I sent to Kerok and the others inside our shield.

  The war machines had stopped—almost at once, and we now flew through the eerie quiet that descended upon Kaakos' city.

  No bombs or blasts were fired at us as we raced toward the palace. Were they waiting for us to get there, before opening fire again?

  Has he commanded them to stop firing? Armon asked a question of his own.

  I don't know, Kerok replied.

  Something's wrong, I hissed into Kerok's mind.

  I think you're right, he agreed, his mindspeak revealing deep concern. There was no mistaking the bombardment of ill will hurled at us. Something else lay within it—perhaps it was our nearness to Kaakos, but I couldn't be sure.

  There's the palace—we're almost at the shield line, Caral drew us back to the business at hand.

  Tell the troops to take their positions, Kerok barked. I relayed the message. We intended to form a ring around Kaakos' shield wall, and the first blasts would be released in unison.

  I still couldn't shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong—and it was increasing, rather than decreasing.

  Focus, I reminded myself sternly. We had a job to do, and a tyrant to kill.

  North

  Servants cowered in every dark corner of the lower level. Heavily shielded, they didn't see me as I walked past them, my footsteps muffled with power.

  It wouldn't do for Kaakos to realize I'd come. Let him think I was outside with the others, although he should have known better.

  Perhaps, in his delusional egotism, he didn't think I had enough strength to go against him alone.

  He was right.

  Mostly.

  The steps to the upper levels were before me, now, as the first concerted blasts from Az-ca's army hit Kaakos' outer shield.

  He hadn't expected them to rock the palace, sending loose ceiling ornaments crashing to the polished marble floors.

  Some of the debris bounced off my shield before shattering in a massive, laborious series of clanks—with plaster and stone dust clouding about me.

  Grateful that the servants were likely cowering more than they were before, I began my journey up the first flights of steps, heading toward Kaakos' audience room. No doubt he was orchestrating his counterattack from there, against an enemy he hadn't expected to arrive so soon.

  Keep him occupied, I silently begged the outside forces. I needn't have worried; the second round of blasts knocked even more plaster and stone down, and cracks began threading their way through the walls.

  Kaakos' shields held, but they didn't hold far underground. He'd never expected to get attacked with this much force, and the need for a full bubble shield around the palace, threaded through the rock and soil beneath it, had never crossed his mind.

  The combined blasts hitting his shield now didn't break it, but they were certainly breaking into the earth beneath the palace.

  I was now on the second flight of steps. "Keep him occupied," I breathed aloud. None were on the steps with me—they either cringed from the blows leveled against the palace, or were in the audience room with Kaakos, awaiting his orders.

  No doubt they were terrified—as they should be. They had no way to escape.

  Only Kaakos could do that, and I intended that he stay right where he was, and receive his long-overdue death.

  Now on the third level of steps, I heard a crash and groan behind me; the second level of steps I'd just climbed had collapsed, cutting off any who thought to follow.

  Only Kaakos and those closest to him would be on the third level. Another jolt rocked the palace, and I was forced to leap toward the landing at the top of the third-level steps before they crashed into a pile of rubble below.

  So much for the ancient building Kaakos called his palace. It, like many others had before it, would fall soon enough.

  I must hurry, I chastised myself as I ran a lengthy hallway to reach the audience chamber. If the palace fell before I could get near enough, all would be lost.

  Anari

  The outer wall surrounding the palace fell with a deafening roar, and once one part caved, the rest followed, like gaming tiles set on end in rows.

  He didn't make his shields round, Kyal snickered in mindspeak. The ground is caving beneath his palace.

  We'd been firing blasts for what felt like forever, although dawn hadn't arrived in Ny-nes, yet.

  Perhaps a rosy glow in the east indicated it, or maybe it was the glow from a city that burned all around us, now.

  We hadn't been sent away, as Cole said we might, if we appeared tired or the task too much for us.

  We still had energy—the four of us.

  The shield is still holding against our attacks, Cole reminded us. He knew, just as we did, that the enemy inside the crumbling palace could step away, and we'd be back where we started. I was hoping we'd breach it by now; with Az-ca's elite troops all around us, anyone else's shield would have been destroyed already.

  Not this one.

  Fire, Cole commanded. It was our turn, so we fired another blast.

  Sherra

  Lay a shield around the palace, Kerok commanded. One he can't cross, if you can. I don't want the bastard to step away from us.

  I'm ahead of you, I informed him. I laid the shield before we fired the first blasts. It goes below the lowest point of his and forms a bubble, I added. It should block him if he tries to escape.

  Good. Excellent. Do we have anyone asking to pull back? I think dawn is coming.

  None have asked to pull back, I reported. We didn't have a large number of mindspeakers, but we'd devised a signal, if anyone had spent themselves and needed to step away.

  I worried that what Kerok thought of as dawn was only the city burning farther east, but I didn't say that.

  Daylight would be welcome, but I didn't want to give myself false hope. With all the smoke and fire billowing around Kaakos' shield, we couldn't get a good reckoning of the damage to the palace.

  I worried that servants were dead inside, but I shoved that thought away. He'd have killed them anyway, eventually.

  Hold steady, Kerok commanded as our bubble wobbled slightly. He and I stood shoulder-to-shoulder, our power combined with that of Armon, Levi, Caral and Misten. Our pod was powerful, although not a crack had appeared in Kaakos' shield as yet.

  Keep firing, Kerok snapped. I relayed that message to the others.

  Kaakos

  I wasn't ready to step away—not yet. I hadn't fired a single blast against the enemy, and they'd grown confident that they'd kill me inside a crumbling palace.

  They should know better. I wasn't done with them—not by a long way. Gathering power about m
e, I frightened the guards standing in a ring around my body. Some of them ran, while the others backed away.

  Let them know I was powerful. I wanted to laugh at their fear as those remaining backed away faster, before turning to follow the first wave of runners. At any other time, I would have killed them immediately, but the enemy required my attention, now.

  Leveling that first blast against the enemy blew past my outer shield, then unexpectedly ricocheted against another. In a rush, I was forced to absorb rebounding power into myself, to keep the palace from exploding around me.

  As I struggled to assimilate my own blast, I felt the hands about my throat.

  Someone had breached my personal shield.

  North

  I didn't waste time on words, although I'd dreamed often of what I'd say when this moment came.

  Instead, I focused on the ring on my left hand, and pulled power through it—enough power to kill the one whose throat was in my hands.

  The palace shuddered beneath our feet, almost making me fall. I could not—would not—remove my hands, however. Pulling more power through my ring, I tightened my fingers on Kaakos flesh, cutting off the air he fought to draw into his lungs.

  Sherra

  I hadn't noticed his distress—until the drain on Kerok's power became a drain on my own, causing me to shriek in pain and rage. My connection to Armon and the others ensured that they felt the drain too, and that only served to terrify me. Their connection was severed first—by Armon.

  "Disconnect from Thorn," Armon shouted at me, then, his words ringing dimly in my ears, as if they were encased in cotton wool.

  Kaakos had found a way to tap us—through Kerok. I screamed as more power was sucked away, before I was forced by the others to disconnect from Kerok. Once my power was no longer being leeched away, Kerok dropped to the floor of our bubble, unconscious.

  "He's dying," I wept as I dropped beside him and held Kerok's limp body against mine. "My shield has been destroyed," I wailed.

  "Sherra," Armon shouted, "Focus." When I continued to weep, Caral slapped me hard across the face.

  That forced me back to the battle, whether I wanted it or not.

  What's happening? Cole's voice sounded in my head.

  I think Kaakos has taken Kerok, I sobbed, attempting to reset my shield.

  Kyri

  Kaakos' shield wavered. I'd explored it often enough since my arrival in Ny-nes to recognize that fact.

  Let's go, I snapped at Garkus, and waiting for the next weakening of Kaakos' shield, I stepped to his audience chamber.

  The sight that met my eyes I will never forget.

  Kaakos

  I couldn't breathe. Every time I flung power against my attacker, it was absorbed or deflected.

  How was that possible?

  My vision began to darken, and the grip on my throat never lessened.

  I only had one last attempt to make, and it wouldn't be enough to get past the shield surrounding mine.

  Until I felt it fall.

  With the last bit of strength I held, I drew power from every servant still wearing my chains.

  My blood had been used to create the spells within the chains, and those who wore them were a final source of energy for a desperate attempt at escape.

  Sucking their power into myself, I stepped.

  Before I left my palace behind, I leveled a blast against the area where fire still rained upon the building.

  My joy at seeing enemy bodies hurled through the air, I'd recall and savor later. I stepped farther away, to save myself. Perhaps there was a roar of anger behind me—it no longer mattered.

  I was free.

  Armon

  Thorn was unconscious and barely alive as dawn revealed the still-burning, smoking ruin of a city.

  The only thing that hadn't burned was the palace, and it would have if Kyri hadn't sent mindspeak to anyone who could hear to stand down.

  Kaakos had escaped, and he shouldn't have. In all, we'd lost twelve pods—most of those at the last, as Kaakos fired at them before escaping.

  Had Sherra's attention and some of her power not been diverted, he'd have died at our hands.

  Kyri told us to wait, and to bring Sherra with us to the wing that held Kaakos' audience chamber.

  As far as we knew, Kaakos had found a way to extract power from Thorn—even through the bubble shield and the other layers of shields around our pod. How he'd managed that, I still couldn't fathom.

  I hoped Kyri had answers, because I had plenty of questions.

  Sherra sat on the ground not far away, with Thorn's head in her lap. She'd cried herself out, I think, at the empty husk in her arms.

  It was bad enough that this had happened to Hunter.

  Now, we were forced to deal with the same malady in our King.

  I'd sent most of our remaining troops back to Az-ca, Cole and the young ones included, for food and much-needed rest.

  In the city and across the river, not a single troop nor warrior-priest still lived. Kaakos had somehow emptied all of them, before grasping at Thorn's power.

  I wanted to curse, and found myself too weary and disheartened to do it.

  Come now, Kyri sent. I want to explain what I know.

  Sherra

  Armon offered to carry Kerok in his arms. Instead, I used power to form a bubble about Kerok's unconscious body, and, unwilling to let it out of my sight, stepped it with me to the audience chamber, where Kyri waited for us.

  She and Garkus stood next to the high seat that had been Kaakos' throne.

  Upon that seat, and in Kaakos' place, another man sat, his head bowed, shaggy, dark hair falling about his face. With Kerok's bubble floating beside me, I approached Kyri, and the one I assumed was North.

  He lifted his head, causing me to gasp.

  Kerok hadn't looked much like his father, but Drenn did.

  This one—I wouldn't have been surprised if he'd been Kerok's father, they looked so much alike.

  My eyes fell to his hands, which gripped the arms of the chair so tightly, his knuckles were white.

  There, I saw it—on his left hand. An identical ring to the one Kerok wore—the one he'd said had come from his namesake ancestor.

  Kaakos hadn't emptied Kerok of power.

  This one had.

  With a scream of anger, I launched myself at him.

  Chapter 23

  Kyri

  "I wish it were otherwise," I told Sherra. "If you kill him, you kill your Thorn, too. They're connected, now. One fate is tied to the other."

  "If they're connected, then why is Kerok emptied of power?" she demanded. She was angry, now. Later, she'd empty herself with weeping again. I knew that cycle all too well.

  "I don't have a good answer," I replied. "I only know their lives are intertwined. "North says that ah, if you attempt to restore Thorn's power with your own, that the power will only drain through the ring your Thorn wears, and come to him. It's the spell he created, and once it's activated, it only goes one way."

  "Fuck him. Fuck you. Fuck everybody for not telling me this," she hissed. Her power was returning—Garkus had found food in the kitchen and made sure everyone ate.

  Except Sherra's Thorn.

  Thorn the First, who'd called himself North to hide himself from Kaakos and anyone else who might recognize that name, was busy pacing and blaming himself for letting Kaakos get away.

  Who knew where the bastard was, now?

  That was another tale that Sherra would have to be told, and North and I had to take that blame, too.

  As for Ny-nes, someone needed to rebuild it, and teach the people to govern themselves. I didn't know whether North would take that task, or find a quiet place somewhere to begin looking for Kaakos again.

  I'd sent mindspeak to Doret, so she and Barth knew of Thorn's condition, and that Sherra would be in charge upon her return, until Thorn recovered.

  If he recovered.

  North was also nursing a broken nose, after Sherra pu
nched him in the face. I decided not to help with that. Let him feel pain for what he'd inadvertently done. Kaakos wouldn't be surprised again; I'd lay the entire resources of Ny-nes and Az-ca on it.

  "He's Kaakos' father, isn't he?" Sherra demanded. "North. I refuse to call him Thorn. Kerok is a thousand times the man he could ever be."

  "He isn't the only one to blame in all this mess," I confessed.

  "Oh, I know you attempted to train Kaakos when he was young. I saw it. At the time, I thought you'd rescued him from Ny-nes, and he'd gone back after you'd failed with him. That's how I got through his shield, you know—I saw him in your past and got a feel for his power. But for anyone else to get through, they have to be tied to his blood in some way, don't they?"

  Sherra's assessment was more than shrewd.

  "Yes." It was how North had gotten close enough to put his hands on Kaakos.

  "I'm going home, and the others are coming with me," Sherra snapped. "I don't give a fuck what happens to you from now on."

  Her words were like blows and made me cringe. "What about North?" My voice wasn't steady.

  "I wish I could say the same to him, but his life means Kerok's life, now. Try not to let him die, or I'll blame you for that, too."

  I wanted to apologize. To say how sorry I was that my past mistakes had harmed her so much. She was gone before I could open my mouth.

  King's Palace, Az-ca

  Sherra

  "Lay him down carefully," I said, as Levi and Armon lowered Kerok's body onto our bed.

  A moan escaped Kerok's lips. It was the first sound he'd made since his power had been drained away by the filth who was once King of Az-ca.

  "I'll get broth," Briar whispered. She'd followed us inside the suite, her eyes wide with fear.

  "I hope he wakes enough to swallow," I sighed.

  "Sherra," Barth walked into the room.

  "Barth?" I turned toward him. He looked gray, and the lines in his face told a tale of no sleep. Pottles peered around his wide shoulders. She was afraid to say anything, I'm sure, lest I accuse her, just as I'd accused Kyri.