The Queen Maker

by Kristen Gupton

  The vampire tipped his head back and tried to pick up any telltale scents in the air, but the direction of the wind was completely wrong. All he got was smoke from his own campfire.

  He moved past the horse and toward the specific tree he’d heard someone behind. With his left hand and rapier held slightly before him, he stepped around the tree. He quickly brought the tip of his blade up to the throat of the man standing there.

  It wasn’t Danier.

  Keiran frowned and looked the man over, seeing he was gagged with a bit of rope tied around his head, with his hands and feet similarly bound. He was sweating profusely, shaking in his fear.

  “Damn it,” Keiran growled to himself, realizing this was simply a traveler Danier had hijacked and planted. “Hold still.”

  The man gave an over exaggerated nod of agreement, hoping this stranger wouldn’t hurt him. He didn’t move at all as Keiran slipped the end of his rapier between his hands and pulled it upward to cut the rope. The vampire turned away and started sprinting toward the camp, figuring the man could untie his other bindings.

  ***

  After setting up his decoy in the trees, Danier had led his horse into the road before walking off. His hope was to get the men to leave the woman unattended long enough for him to kill her. He’d moved around their camp slowly and tried to keep downwind from them at all times.

  This wasn’t due to him having any particular awareness of Keiran’s heightened sense of smell. The truth was far worse. Over the course of the day, his untreated arm had succumbed to infection. He’d tried to wrap it in some fabric he’d torn from his shirt, but the bandage was soaked through with reeking, serous fluid. The stench it emitted was nauseatingly strong.

  His festering wrist had thrown the rest of his body into a severe fever, making his already furious mind descend into complete madness. On multiple occasions, he started ranting to himself under his breath, unaware he was doing so.

  Danier found cover close to their camp, lying on his stomach in the dirt behind a low outcropping of granite. His head emerged from beside his hiding place every once in a great while, wondering how long it would take the Tordanians to see his horse.

  When Keiran finally left the camp, the Sadori was enraged his guard didn’t go along with him. It upset him enough that his mumbling grew louder, and he struggled to get to his feet, body wracked with chills from fever.

  Jerris couldn’t see where Keiran had gone once past the horse. He turned and raised his sword, hearing the general raving angrily nearby. Not knowing if Danier was alone, or if Keiran was already engaged with someone else behind the horse, he sharply called down to Thana.

  “Get up, Danier has found us!”

  However, Thana barely moved. After drinking half a bottle of wine, she’d passed out and wasn’t capable of any real response.

  Jerris sighed and held his position, knowing he was at least between Danier and Thana. His eyes finally caught sight of the general as he staggered up and moved around the rocks.

  “You just can’t get enough of us, can you?” Jerris asked.

  Danier’s short sword was held before him in his untrained left hand, shaking visibly. His clothing and hair were both soaked down with sweat. He moved close enough for Jerris to be enveloped with the sickening stench engulfing the general.

  “You and your damned friends cost me everything!” he screamed back, his eyes glazed over and sunk into his head. His previously neat appearance was utterly destroyed, his long hair hanging loose around his shoulders, braid completely undone.

  Jerris kept his outward calm, spotting Danier’s abruptly terminated right arm. He realized the general had suffered the same fate as Thana, though he was clearly afflicted with infection. With as ill as Danier looked, the redhead didn’t foresee any great trouble in keeping him at bay.

  The general was deranged beyond fearing for his own well being, however. He already knew he was going to die from his amputation, or at least, he’d been consciously aware of it before his brain was stewed by fever. With another maddened scream, Danier charged forward toward Jerris.

  Keiran heard the first scream from Danier and started running back toward their camp. By the time Danier was charging Jerris, he was close enough to see.

  The redhead hadn’t expected the general to come barreling toward him as he did. Jerris dodged one step to the right, his reactions somewhat slowed from alcohol. He slashed Danier’s side with his rapier as he went reeling by. This didn’t stop the crazed attack, though, and Danier managed to reach out and grasp Jerris by the shoulder, pivoting around him.

  Caught by surprise at the maneuver, Jerris soon felt Danier’s weight hanging from his back. The man’s handless arm came around and clamped across his throat in a chokehold. Jerris let go of his sword and brought both hands up, trying to get the pressure off of his throat. Each beat of his heart made his head feel like it would explode.

  Danier was hanging on for all he was worth, screaming unintelligible words throughout. He intended to squeeze the life out of the guard, not deterred at all by the significant wound to his side.

  Keiran ran up behind them, letting his sword fall to the ground. There was no way he was going to try and run Danier through while he was attached to Jerris. Instead, he grabbed Danier by the hair and shirt, intending to tear him away from his friend’s back.

  Danier wasn’t letting go without a fight. When his hair was pulled, he reacted by anchoring himself further to his victim, sinking his teeth into the union of Jerris’ shoulder and neck.

  Feeling the bite, Jerris shrieked. His hands clawed at Danier’s arm, desperately trying to get him to let go. He found the belt Danier had wrapped around his wrist the day before, and without any conscious thought given to it, ripped it away.

  The sudden pain of blood returning to his necrosed forearm caused Danier to release his bite as he screamed in outright agony. This finally gave Keiran the ability to get the general off of Jerris.

  Danier’s arms and legs flailed as he was tossed to the side, hitting the ground hard. Jerris bent forward, pressing his hands to the injury the general had torn open on the left side of his neck, and he let go with a string of curses.

  Keiran dismissed it, however, walking in long strides to where Danier was struggling to stand up. His fangs glinted in the firelight, his eyes narrowed in his rage. He’d submitted to his anger-fueled instincts and kicked Danier’s legs out from under him, sending the Sadori onto his back.

  Danier spat up at Keiran, but the vampire wasn’t fazed by it. Keiran swooped down, straddling the general’s chest, his knees pinning down each of the man’s arms.

  “Get off of me, you mongrel!” Danier shouted as he writhed.

  Keiran just stared down at him for several seconds, struggling up to some level of conscious control again. He could feel Danier losing strength from both the infection and his bleeding arm and side.

  Without thinking, he spoke in a low voice. “I don’t like that you bit Jerris very much.”

  Danier shrieked, now able to see Keiran’s fangs up close. His legs kicked ineffectively against the ground, and had his mouth not gone dry in his fear, he would have spat again.

  The vampire leaned down closer, drawing a long breath close to Danier’s neck. While he could tell the man’s blood wasn’t ideal, given the infection he suffered, there was something he most certainly wasn’t picking up from the Sadori.

  Danier hadn’t eaten since several hours before Emperor Betram had ordered his imprisonment. Over two days had passed since any garlic had entered his system, and the smell from it Keiran found so noxious was absent.

  Ailing or not, Danier’s blood would be suitable enough for his needs. The vampire gave a wide smile, reaching down and pushing the Sadori’s head sideways against the ground.

  The general watched, his eyes wide in terror as Keiran lowered in and drove his fangs into the side of his neck. Already weakened, Danier’s ears quickly started to ring as a cold tingle ran over his skin. His m
ovements quickly ceased.

  Keiran remained where he was, drinking enough to satiate his needs. He pushed himself up and looked at Danier, seeing the man’s face going blank. Blood flowed from the side of his neck in ever-weakening torrents.

  The vampire closed his eyes and sighed, physically improving at once. He knew killing Danier was the only way to stop him, but it wasn’t something he regaled in doing. Satisfied the general was dead, he stood up and turned to see Jerris standing a short distance away.

  The front of Jerris’ shirt was stained with blood, both Danier’s and his own from the bite he’d received. His right hand was up, pressing against the injury the Sadori had inflicted. He’d come over to help Keiran but stopped and froze up once he realized Keiran was going to dispatch the general with a bite.

  Keiran could see Jerris’ complexion was pale, and he didn’t know if it was from the attack he’d suffered or from watching him feed. “I’m sorry if you saw that. Are you and Thana all right?”

  Jerris gave a small shrug, immediately regretting the action as it reignited the pain at the base of his neck. “I’ll live, and Thana… Thana can’t handle her liquor. She slept through the whole thing.”

  Keiran nodded and lifted the lower edge of his shirt to wipe his mouth, conscientious about how he must have looked. “How bad did he get you?”

  Jerris carefully tipped his head to the side and pulled at the collar of his shirt, revealing Danier’s bite mark. The area was already dark with bruising, though the external bleeding had slowed. “How is it? He wasn’t… I’m not going to turn into something else now, am I?”

  The vampire offered Jerris a smile and shook his head. “No, he wasn’t anything but a sick man. We’ll use some of the ointment Arin gave Thana on that. Hopefully, it will keep you healthy.”

  The redhead gave a small nod and turned away, shoulders rounded. He moved off to collect Danier’s abandoned horse, intending to put it with their own.

  “Rather sick of being bitten by things. Better than the bear, I suppose,” he mumbled as he walked off.

  Keiran turned his attention back to Danier. He decided leaving him out in the open wasn’t the best idea. He picked up the body and draped it over his shoulder. It was a short walk to the river’s edge, and he tossed Danier into the water, watching for a moment as he floated downstream.

  He returned to the camp, finding Thana sitting up and looking dazed. The commotion and shouting had cut through her blackout but only near the end of the action.

  Confused, she looked up at Keiran and Jerris, seeing they were both a mess. “What happened?”

  Keiran shook his head and slowly sat down beside her, putting an arm around her shoulders. “Nothing, let’s just get to sleep.”

  ***

  For five days, Kanan had sat outside of Lodain doing nothing more than waiting to see if Keiran and his wayward son were going to return. He’d tried not to let the worry over the two young men and Thana get to him, but it had. His sleep had been troubled as he couldn’t quit thinking of what might have become of them.

  The sound of horses approaching around a bend barely got his attention. After being disappointed repeatedly, he simply came to expect it would be more travelers.

  His eyes panned up from the chunk of bread he’d been gnawing on. When he saw the first horse appear, he shook his head and returned to his lunch. His aged vision had spotted a white horse, and he knew the boys hadn’t taken such an animal.

  Once Jerris was around the bend, he spotted his father and urged his horse forward past the others. It was rare for him to be away from Kanan for more than a day or so, and he filled with excitement to see the old man.

  Hearing a horse speed up, Kanan chucked his crust of bread to the side and stood up from the rock he’d been sitting on. He squinted and realized it was Jerris racing toward him, and he tipped his head up to the sky and silently thanked God his son was all right.

  He made out Keiran not far behind on Porter, and Thana was alongside him on the white horse he’d initially seen. “It’s about time you showed up!”

  “Aye,” Jerris said back, sliding from his horse and throwing his arms around his father. “We made it, and we found Thana.”

  Kanan wasn’t accustomed to such a show of affection from his boy but closed his eyes and held on in return for several seconds. The fear he’d been coping with that his son may have been killed evaporated. For only the second time in his adult life, Kanan felt tears in his eyes.

  He stepped back and quickly wiped at his eyes, looking his son over. “Are you all right?”

  Jerris had washed the blood from his shirt as best he could the night before, but the staining was still obvious. He pulled at the neckline of his shirt, showing the bite he’d received from Danier.

  “The general we chased out of the country did this to me,” he said, “but I’m otherwise fine.”

  The old guard inspected the wound, not seeing any obvious signs of infection. “You’ll probably survive that. How about the others?”

  The redhead looked over his shoulder, seeing Keiran and Thana still a short distance off. He shook his head and returned his attention to his father. “Keiran is completely fine, Thana, however…”

  “What did they do to her?” Kanan asked, fearing the worst.

  After her adopted father’s death, Kanan had always felt an obligation to watch over the girl for Quig. He knew the sorts of evil men could do to women, and anger welled up within him.

  Jerris moved to stand shoulder to shoulder with his father, watching as the couple approached. “The Sadoris put a bracer onto her, and when she left the country, it severed one of her hands.”

  A shock of disgust ran through Kanan, and his eyes went wide. “Dear God, boy! And you have her riding a horse after such a thing?”

  “That woman is tougher than anyone could imagine,” Jerris said, stepping forward and taking the reins of Thana’s horse once she stopped.

  Keiran hopped down from Porter and hurried over, helping Thana out of the saddle. After, he turned and went over to Kanan, giving the old man the same embrace Jerris had.

  “You have no idea how happy I am to see you,” the vampire said.

  Again, Kanan returned the hug before setting Keiran aside and going toward Thana. “Jerris said you were injured.”

  Thana offered up a meek grin, reaching down and pushing up the right sleeve of her top, revealing her truncated arm. “Aye, this, but I’m doing all right with it.”

  Kanan wasn’t sure he wanted to see beneath the light bandage upon her wrist. It was a severe injury, and he knew how bad the odds of survival from such a thing could be.

  “Has it been treated by a physician?” he asked, pulling his gaze from her arm.

  She nodded and looked down at her wrist. “Aye, a very good one, well versed in this sort of injury. I’m going to be fine, Kanan. I do appreciate your concern.”

  There was still a fair amount of worry within Kanan, but at least they were back in Tordania. “And what of General Danier? Obviously, there was some confrontation. You didn’t have that bite mark when you left.”

  Jerris shrugged and pointed toward Keiran. “No. Once Thana was out of the empire, Danier followed us. The crazy bastard bit me in a fight before Keiran killed him.”

  Thana had heard the story that morning and didn’t want to hear it again. She wandered a short distance from the men to sit and rest. They watched her go, all understanding she wanted no part of it.

  Keiran stepped closer to Kanan and lowered his voice. “He attacked us where we were camped last night, that’s when he hurt Jerris. I took care of him after that and then threw his body into the river. He’d gone completely mad, and he wasn’t going to stop until he was dead. I decided to oblige him.”

  Kanan nodded slowly, knowing the two men would have to give him the full version of the story later on. For now, they all looked absolutely exhausted.

  “Well, I’m happy the three of you are back, and Danier only received wha
t he was due. Let’s get your horses put up and get you fed. We’ll start back toward the castle tomorrow,” Kanan said, motioning toward Lodain.

  ***

  Fed and cleaned up, the trio rested most of the day. In the evening, Thana stayed with Jerris and Keiran in the king’s tent. She was miserable enough not to care what anyone thought about it. After a lifetime of Sorna trying to force her away from Keiran, Thana opted to do as she pleased. Nothing more than sleeping occurred as both she and Keiran were still too shy to cross that line. Besides, with Jerris also in the tent, they didn’t have the requisite privacy to do so.

  While the two men managed to fall asleep in short order, she remained restless. Part of it was due to the pain in her wrist, but most of her insomnia stemmed from her experiences over the previous week.

  Not wanting to disturb anyone else, she got up and slipped away from the tent, taking with her a hunting knife and belt she’d asked Kanan for. The days of her ever going around unarmed were over.

  She went to where the horses were kept. Thana had always found solace in the animals, and for the first time in her life, she had one of her own.

  Danier’s beautiful white stallion stood out amongst the dark-colored Tordanian horses. She’d never seen a horse like him in the past. Thana leaned against the fence, letting her mind go pleasantly blank as the horse came directly toward her. During her brief education in Sadori, Sarit had taught her the word for ghost, and Thana had settled on it for the horse’s name, Quinrah.

  She reached out with her left hand, slowly rubbing behind one of the horse’s ears. Thoughts regarding what Keiran had said about the bracer drifted through her mind, though she tried not to get her hopes up. While he may have thought her brief title of Asashi might stand for something with Father Beezle, she wasn’t so sure.

  Then the thought of Farin popped up. Thana grit her teeth and sighed, dreading what the man might do when they returned to the castle. She didn’t yet know he was dead.

  The horse lifted its head out of Thana’s reach and turned to jog several steps away. She got a terrible feeling someone was behind her and turned. Terrorized from her recent ordeal, Thana dreaded seeing Danier approaching, but it wasn’t him.