by Tom Hansen
“I couldn’t believe she had kept our surname, and that your father took it for his own. I really thought she would have changed her name a dozen times in order to hide.”
Nora dropped Ynya’s hands to peek around the corner again. Seemingly satisfied, she came back.
“Look, we can catch up later if you really want, but for now, you need to know what the Queen has in store for you.”
Ynya nodded her head. “That’s why I opened the door. Something is going on and I don’t know what to do.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“The first thing you need to know is that the Queen isn’t exactly human,” Nora said.
“You mean her pointed ears? I assume she’s an elf?” Even though elves had been a superstition passed down as stories, the fact that they were real didn’t surprise Ynya.
Nora nodded. “Yes, the race of elves live far to the south. A few hundred years ago, they started fighting among themselves. No one knows exactly why the fighting started, but it ended up turning into a civil war between the Queen and her father, the king of the elves. The Queen’s brother sided with her, and together they started an uprising against her tyrant king.”
Ynya huffed. “So she learned her tyranny from her father?”
Nora let out a small smile, but turned that into a grimace instead. “This is all rumor passed down over the centuries. Remember all we know is what the Queen herself has shared or distant memories from humans who lived through it long ago. I don’t think anyone truly knows what happened, but regardless, there was a huge battle long ago where she killed her own mother, sending the father into grief and turning the tide of the battle.
“But in-doing so, she unwittingly released a huge amount of magic that was ultimately used against her. The king killed his own son, and mortally injured his daughter, then chased her up here into the frozen north where she went into hiding.
“Rather than try to hunt her down, the King erected a huge barrier called the Feond, to keep her locked away. Unfortunately, the barrier also sealed a large number of humans up here with her, cutting us off from trade with the kingdoms to the south.
“Eventually, she recovered, and her power grew, but she was never so powerful as she was before. She lost something in that battle, something that permanently hindered her powers. She thinks that once she takes down the Feond, she’ll be able to regain full-use of her powers to take back the throne from her father.”
Ynya took it all in, trying to read between the lines of ancient history to see how it all fit together with the Queen’s plans for them. “So that’s why she has a standing army out front of the castle? She means to take down the Feond and go to battle against her father?”
Nora pursed her lips and shook her head. “Not exactly. The army consists of magic-wielding soldiers who have been through Reyoarfjell. Not quite Skarmyord, but close. She keeps their magic locked down for the most part, but if you pay close attention while walking through the camp, you can feel it humming in the background. She’s not going to use them for fighting.”
“Then what?” Ynya asked, a bit of worry creeping into her mind at the baited question.
Nora drew in a sharp breath and let it out slowly. Her nostrils flared just like Talia Oblique’s, Ynya dead mother.
“She’s going to kill them all for their power.”
“She’s what?” Ynya’s chest tightened so suddenly, she felt like she couldn’t breathe. Thousands of soldiers all being collected into one area suddenly made sense. If the Queen sacrificed them all for their power, she could use that power to cast a huge spell.
“Then, that’s why she wants us?”
Nora nodded. “Once her entire army is killed, she will still need someone to fight for her.”
“That’s why she holding onto Finny and…” Ynya trailed off as she looked through walls to where the monster formerly known as Firtze sat in his cage.
All the clues Finny had been dropping about her relationship with the monster she called Pain surged through Ynya’s mind. She wasn’t just a friend of this monster, she was in love! She wanted to spend time with him because of the changes the Queen’s scientists had done to her.
“She’s breeding monsters to use for her army?”
Nora nodded. “Until you disrupted and destroyed her operations at Reyoarfjell, yes. Despite your interruption, the Queen has two of those beasts now, so she is hoping to breed them to create an army.”
Ynya stood, stunned at the revelation. “Poor Finny.”
Nora grunted her agreement.
“Wait,” Ynya realized something, “then what about the rest of us?”
Nora ground her teeth for a moment before replying. “Her sacrificing Synol was not something I expected her to do, given Synol’s immense earth powers. I think she took a gamble that your–or maybe, Talia’s–magic was worth the risk. She might be banking on you keeping her alive until she gets what she wants from you, then curing Synol. Or maybe she’ll kill her, I don’t rightly know and there is no way to tell what her ultimate plans are for each of you.
“Remember that book of charts she showed you? She backtracked through it once she learned all your powers, and surmised what magic Talia probably had, but she still needed to test to be sure.”
Ynya stopped breathing for a moment. “So she knew all-along what magic I had?”
Nora nodded, her eyes wistful as she peered through her past memories.
“Your mother was an absolute miracle. No-one is born with time magic but once every five-thousand years. Remember Her Majestie’s book, the one that documents a five-thousand history? The entire cycle is centered around the birth of one with time magic. Your mother knew how much of a value her magic was, so she would have done everything possible to pass it on to someone she trusted. If the Queen knew what your mother was, she knew Talia would have passed it on to either you or Synol. You not expending all of your magic during battles told the Queen that you probably had it.”
Nora stopped talking for a second. The tension in the small hallway had grown to such a fever pitch that Ynya couldn’t hold her emotions in check any more.
Ynya hadn’t known that her new-found magic was so rare. She was an idiot to not think of it. Stopping time? Was she daft? What magic could possibly be more powerful than being able to stop time? This made what her mother did so much more poignant to Ynya, making her realize just how much her mother planned their births.
In a burst of emotion, Ynya wrapped her arms around Nora and squeezed. “I miss Mama so much. I’m sorry about the way I threw it in your face when we first met.”
Nora, after a few seconds, returned the hug, though Ynya could tell she hadn’t hugged anyone in a very long time with the awkward way she responded. “It’s something I would have done, use my own pain as a weapon. You are I are a lot alike in that aspect. It was something I…respected about you when we first met.”
Nora stepped back, holding Ynya at arm’s length. “But the reality is that Finny will be bred for an army of those…things…while you and Meki will either be drained of your power, or forced to gift your powers to her. Most likely the second for both of you.”
“Gift?”
Nora nodded her head. “Yes, it’s quite painful, and usually leaves you dead at the end, which is why Talia held on for so long until you returned. She must have stopped time for herself until you arrived. Her magic was too powerful to just allow it to go back to the Concordance, but now that the Queen knows you have it and are here, she’s never going to let you go. She will have yours and Meki’s magics. Best case, she will cure Synol and force her to gift her magic just like the rest, or sacrifice her for the same cause.”
“And Finny will not have any sort of free life ever?”
Nora didn’t reply, but the tension in the hall told Ynya everything she needed to know.
Despite the dour conversation, Ynya’s mind was sharp, and focused on the tasks at hand. She shoved her hands in her pocket to feel the three earrings latched
onto the fabric of her dress while the beginnings of a plan began to sprout in her mind. She pondered asking her aunt what the gold earring did, but wanted to talk to her sisters first, just in case Nora was still telling her these things under orders of the Queen.
“That leaves only one question, how do we get out of here?”
Chapter Thirty
Ynya slowly chewed on her fourth roll for breakfast the next morning.
The Queen hadn’t called for anyone to battle yet, which was good, as Ynya hadn’t slept all night.
What she had done was work out a rough plan in her head, and come clean to her sisters about the earrings and the Queen’s plans for them.
Talking so openly in their room was a gamble for sure, but Nora had insisted that the Queen was so confidant in her hold over everyone in the castle, that she didn’t have anyone else but Nora and one other guard watching the room.
Nora supposedly took care of that guard when she and Ynya returned to the sisters’ room.
That allowed Ynya to spend the night with her sisters free of the worry that they were being watched.
It felt amazing being able to talk to each of them in turn the way she wished she had this whole time. Meki in particular turned out to be quite chatty and grateful for all the attention Ynya had given her since she arrived.
They hugged, cried, planned, and schemed.
They knew what they were going to do.
Today was the day, now all Ynya needed to do was wait for the perfect opportunity.
The Queen entered the dining hall, projecting her immense magic to drop the temperature of the room by a couple of degrees before entering.
A stealthy rogue, she was not. She truly was so sure of her magic that there was no doubt where she roamed.
The Queen stopped in the doorway as she took in the room.
“What is she doing here?” The Queen gestured to Synol, now propped up in the chair next to Ynya.
Ynya narrowed her eyes and folded her arms to punctuate her attitude. “Synol is our sister, and if I am forced to maintain my hold on her to keep her from dying, then she will go everywhere with me until that happens.”
The Queen frowned, but stepped over to her chair nonetheless. “We will see about that. As soon as we are done eating, I have something new for you all to try. I’m in my final preparations for unlocking the magic that will allow me to take down the Feond, so I need to begin training you three in your parts.”
Finny coughed, which caught Ynya’s attention. She looked over to see Finny’s eyes wide with alarm. Finny squinted and did the hand gesture for Ynya to pay attention.
Ynya did, feeling out with her magic to sense any changes in the environment. Sure enough, something was different about the hallway; a distinct signature that she hadn’t felt in a while.
Oh no.
The Queen had brought up the beast known as Pain, who sat in the hallway now along with a handful of other guards. His presence meant one thing. There was no more time to prepare, regardless of how much time Ynya thought she had left.
Glancing to Finny again, knowing how she felt about this beast, Ynya noticed the fear on her sister’s face.
Ynya needed a distraction, and a way to begin her plan immediately. It might have already been too late, but she had to try. Ynya would not submit without a fight to the death. “Perhaps Your Majesty would feel like removing the poison from my sister so we can better serve you?”
The Queen stopped eating and, without looking at anyone in particular, smiled. “My, my, you have quite the imagination, young Ynya, quite the imagination indeed. You obviously know that I have something special prepared for you, so you hope to get your sister back before that?”
The Queen dropped the sausage she was about to eat onto her plate, then dusted her hands. “The reality is that I don’t need your sister’s powers. She was never the one I cared about. Earth mages can certainly be useful, and she definitely has an immense amount of power behind her. But you see, earth magic is quite useless when you have goals such as mine. It requires too much of a sacrifice to use and drawing out your time magic was the reason I sacrificed her anyway.”
The Queen pushed back from the table and stood, licking her lips. “No, dear Ynya, the reality is that Synol was your mother’s first experiment, and she was still learning when she had her. Each of you has more unique and specialized powers than the last one. Synol has raw power, sure, but the rest of you have something else locked within you that I intend to utilize.
Something else locked within us? What did you do, Mama?
“I don’t need her distracting you anymore.” The Queen raised a hand and snapped.
Ynya thrust her magic out in a massive burst to stop time for everyone in the room.
Ynya turned. Sure enough, five large ice spikes materialized in the air above Synol, with the largest less than two inches from Synol’s head.
Fear gripped Ynya’s chest as she realized how casually the Queen had planned to end Synol’s life.
Ynya channeled that fear into rage toward the evil Queen and built up heat in her hands.
In one swift motion, Ynya smashed all of the ice spikes hurtling toward her sister, then dragged Synol’s chair to the wall, ensuring Synol was well out of the zone from getting hurt.
This was it, this was the time for fighting and running.
Ynya had spent the night munching on as much food as she could, knowing that she would need to store up power for today.
But regardless of how much power she had built up, holding onto the time drained her more than any fire she used.
Ynya glanced around the room. Finny and Meki’s mouths both hung open halfway, having only recognized what was going to happen before time stopped.
The Queen wore a dastardly grin on her too-thin face, and Nora stood against the wall with her arms folded, a stoic but grim look on her face.
Ynya reached into her pocket, pulling out the three earrings stored within, and looked at them, trying to determine which one to use against the Queen.
As Ynya herself had demonstrated, the silver one was easily defeated by simply ripping it out of your ear. Gross and painful, but worth getting your magic back. It wouldn’t work on the Queen.
The bronze one exploded if you tried ripping it out, so that might be an effective method of locking down the Queen’s magic.
But Ynya suspected the Queen probably had ways to get that one out.
That left the golden earring. The Warden had tried to convince Ynya to put that on herself, so it clearly did something, but what? I should have asked Nora about the earrings last night! Why hadn’t I asked about them?
It was now or never. Ynya needed to make a decision.
Everything they were doing now was a gamble, so Ynya jabbed the Queen’s ear with the golden earring, and started time up again.
Chapter Thirty-One
As soon as time started, the remaining chunks of ice that Ynya broke slammed into the ground right where Synol’s lifeless body had been.
Ynya hesitated, her gaze never leaving the Queen’s in order to suss out exactly what the earring had done to the Frost Queen of the North.
Ynya readied herself to stop time once again in case the earring didn’t do its job.
The Queen gasped, and both hands went for her ear as she realized what Ynya had also done.
Whew.
Ynya smiled. “I’m sorry, Your Highness, but I don’t think we can take you up on your offer today. In fact, we are going to leave this place right now.”
The Queen’s gaze didn’t leave Ynya’s for what seemed an eternity, but her shocked expression finally softened, and eventually, the Queen’s mouth turned upward into a broad smile.
“Oh, my dear. I thought for a second that you had used the bronze one on me, that would have actually done some damage, but wouldn’t have killed me. This one, however, was made for humans.”
The Queen took a step toward Ynya. “You see, sometimes, when we are torturing you t
o bring out your magics, they come out too fast. Uncontrolled magic is a very dangerous thing, so this golden earring was designed to immediately void all magic in a human. It almost always kills the host, but at least you don’t have to deal with the collateral damage. It can be quite catastrophic when it happens.”
The Queen blinked, and Ynya saw a flash of burned and mangled flesh on the right side of the Queen’s body. The Queen blinked again and it was gone. “I know just how dangerous uncontrolled magic can be, young one, so I made sure that we had a way to contain it.”
The Queen reached up and rubbed a bony finger over the gold earring. “Unfortunately, magic works differently for my kind then it does for you, so this has no effect on me. You can thank my father for that.”
The Queen grabbed the earring, pouring frost magic into it, then twisted.
In a high-pitched ping, the earring shattered into three parts, falling to the floor.
The Queen smiled once again. Her toothy grin terrified Ynya to her core.
Shit!
The Queen whistled, and Pain bounded in from the hallway. His ears were back and bristles on high-alert. His milky eyes took in the scene, landing and lingering on Ynya.
Finny yelled. “Ynya!”
Ynya watched in horror as Finny’s body twisted and contorted in on itself.
Black lines formed over her body, filling in her pale skin as her bones shifted and re-sorted themselves into a creature that stood on all fours.
Instead of red-haired Finny, a beast near-identical to Pain leapt atop the table.
The Queen whistled, and both beasts bounded in one easy jump to stand on either side of their master.
They sniffed and growled at each other.
Ynya looked between the two, not sure how to react. Should she stop time for everyone but her sisters? Should she stop time for everyone and personally carry everyone out? Could she take out the Queen with her fire magic while inside the time bubble?