by S. M. Boyce
Victoria tried not to roll her eyes. Thanks to her parents’ inheritance she didn’t need the money, nor did any of her friends. When she had told the queen they were there to help, she had made a desperate statement to save their hides. Truth be told, she wasn’t indebted to these people. They had threatened those she loved most in this world. Invaded their minds and treated them like criminals.
Though Victoria always strove to protect those who needed it and deliver justice where no one else could, she did not like the Queen of Lochrose one bit.
She wasn’t proud to admit it, but part of her wanted to lie or do anything else it took to get the hell out of there without lifting a finger to kill the sphinx.
However, a stronger part of her told her she had to do what was right.
Even if Victoria didn’t like that they had treated her like a criminal, she could understand their point of view. These people had been trapped here for centuries, maybe even millennia, with a deadly monster. Of course they were a little hostile.
She sighed, hating her conscience just a bit in that moment. She already had Fairhaven to save and protect. She didn’t need another city under her care.
“Every time my people try to leave,” the queen said, “the monster chases them down. Our tracking charms show that they always end up in that cursed cavern, and only one has ever come back alive.”
“May we speak to this survivor?” Victoria asked, one finger tapping on her temple as her mind raced.
The queen eyed Victoria. “I’m afraid he will be too terrified to speak to a Rhazdon host, even through this ward.”
Victoria rolled her eyes.
The queen sighed. “Since the monster took over the Lochrose tunnels, more monsters have crept in. No tunnel is safe. We have lost control of our home and are forced to live here, in the heart of the realm. In her heyday Lochrose was composed of miles and miles of tunnels, and many smaller cities. We were truly a force to be reckoned with. Why, we even had smaller kemanas on the outskirts of the city, with crystals of their own.” She gestured upward, no doubt in reference to the magnificent gems embedded in the cavern ceiling far above them.
“But how did this sphinx get in?” Diesel asked.
A sour look passed Queen Angelique’s face, and she glared at Victoria. “My ancestors trusted a traitor, a mistake I do not intend to repeat.”
Victoria settled into her chair, all but scowling at the queen’s unspoken accusation.
Queen Angelique tapped her slender fingers on her chair’s armrest. “We were at war with the Atlanteans.”
From behind Victoria, Audrey hiccupped. It must have been torture for her to hold the shift this long. Victoria would have to speed this up. To keep from giving her friend away or putting her on the spot, Victoria pretended to ignore the noise and prodded the monarch to continue so they could get this over with. “And?”
“And,” the queen said with a hint of indignation, “their entire military invaded. We were tricked. They used portals to infiltrate the farthest reaches of the kemana, and they attacked in droves from all directions. Worse, they carried with them dark magic powerful enough to attract a creature like the sphinx from between the worlds, and those petty bastards opened a portal big enough to let it in. They lost hundreds of soldiers to unstable portals, but they didn’t care if it meant destroying us.”
Victoria lifted one brow in doubt. She didn’t like Atlanteans as a whole, but she was familiar enough with their culture to know without a doubt that they honored each other like family unless one betrayed the many. They would never sacrifice themselves or each other over something petty. They had likely believed Lochrose was a threat and that their lives were worth sacrificing for the good of their fellows.
My, my, my, how history spins lies, she thought to herself.
The queen was lost in her story and didn’t seem to notice Victoria’s hesitation. “They tossed the dark magic into a cavern, which the monster then made its home. It has been warping our wards and spells ever since, trapping us here. None of us can leave so long as that thing remains.”
“What was the dark magic the Atlanteans brought with them?” Victoria asked.
The queen stiffened. “I hardly think that’s relevant.”
Oh, but I do. Victoria had a hunch that she knew what it was, and she glanced at Fyrn to confirm. He nodded once into his drink, almost too subtly to notice.
Diesel set his elbows on the table, hands under his chin as he leaned in with curiosity. “Why don’t you use portals to leave?
The queen pursed her lips in annoyance. “To protect ourselves from invaders, we crafted powerful charms to protect ourselves from any portals opening in our city. We can’t undo those charms unless we perform a certain ritual beneath every crystal dome in the kingdom, and many of those are in the burned and sacked cities the Atlanteans destroyed. In fact, I suspect many of those crystals are broken, leaking our magic and power into the human world above,” she added with a disgusted grimace.
Victoria almost smiled. She wondered if the famous vortexes of Sedona, where there was said to be powerful healing energy, were merely the result of the broken crystals of the vast Lochrose cities.
The queen leaned back in her chair, casting an unexpected glance at the floor. “I do so wish I could send teams to repair each of the crystals and retain our power, but alas…we are trapped.”
Victoria hesitated, wondering if the queen was playing the damsel in distress to get them to do her dirty work for her.
“You know what the dark magic is,” Victoria said bluntly.
Thankfully, Fyrn didn’t bother with a spit-take this time. He had likely prepared himself for this question, and it needed to be asked.
The queen glared at her. “Perhaps. Do you?”
Victoria nodded. “It’s a Rhazdon Artifact.”
“One you are no doubt here to find,” the queen snapped.
Victoria hesitated, wondering how she should play this. Finally, she opted for the truth. “Yes, I am. You need to be rid of a monster, and I need the treasure the monster protects. It seems we have a mutually beneficial arrangement.”
The queen tilted her chin upward. “A Rhazdon host seeking another Rhazdon Artifact. I was warned about people like you. What you crave is endless power, and you will hunt it to the ends of the Earth. It seems I was right about you after all. You’re a monster just like the sphinx.”
Victoria slammed her fist on the table and stood, knocking over her chair in the process. Both Fyrn and Diesel flinched, but the queen’s cold stare never faltered. Victoria did her best to maintain her composure, but she’d had enough. “You have some nerve, woman. You don’t know anything about me. You don’t know about the murderer trying to take over my home. You don’t know about the dozens, maybe hundreds he’s killed to take power. You don’t know about the mercenaries who are kidnapping and killing people in the streets. You don’t know about the fear my fellow citizens live in every fucking day while they wait for someone to save them. You don’t know how desperately I want to intervene, and yet I can’t. I’m not… I’m not…”
Victoria leaned her hands on the table, eyeing the porcelain dinner plates with their golden trim. She fought back a tear and managed to push down the ball in her throat. When she finally did finish her tirade, it was barely a whisper. “I’m not strong enough.”
For a moment, Victoria didn’t want to lift her head. She didn’t want to know what her friends thought of her outburst, much less the queen. But when she forced herself to look at the monarch, the regal woman’s expression had softened. She still sat with her ankles crossed and tucked beneath the chair, both arms draped over the armrests like a goddess in a temple. But her shoulders had relaxed, and she watched Victoria with slightly tilted eyebrows, as though she understood the sentiment all too well.
Maybe she did.
“Your payment will be the Rhazdon Artifact,” the queen said softly.
Victoria nodded. “It’s more than enough.”
“And we will help you,” the queen added. She snapped her finger at the soldiers surrounding her, though Victoria had almost forgotten they were there, and all three dozen stiffened to attention.
“That’s not necessary,” Victoria said with the barest glance toward the ever-paling Audrey. “All we need is information.”
Diesel watched Victoria warily, as if he didn’t quite agree, but he knew he had little choice in the matter.
“Of course,” the queen said. She waved her hand at the guards, and they marched in unison out of the throne room. The queen, however, didn’t stand, and Victoria had the feeling their conversation wasn’t yet done.
“Yes?” Victoria asked when the last guard had left.
The queen took a deep and steadying breath. “Whatever you need, short of people, we will provide. You will not speak to my citizens, only to the soldiers. I do not trust you, Host, but I see that we need each other.”
Victoria nodded, assuming that was the end of it, but the regal woman stood. She was taller than Victoria by a few inches, and yet she stared down at her as though she were still on the balcony. “And, human girl, if you betray me once you have the Rhazdon Artifact, I will destroy my city if that’s what it takes to end your life.”
Victoria quirked one eyebrow, unfazed by the threat. “That’s not a very strategic survival method,” she said curtly.
With that she marched out of the room and into the street with her friends and the pixie close behind her.
Diesel leaned in, and Victoria tensed for bad news. Maybe the guards had circled back. Maybe this was a trap. Maybe—
“I’ve fallen in love with you all over again,” the obnoxious wizard said in her ear.
She groaned, but couldn’t suppress the smile that tugged at her lips. If he could be an idiot again, the danger had truly passed.
Thank-freaking-goodness.
CHAPTER 17
When they reached the tunnels and left the Lochrosian guards at the entrance to the city, Audrey all but collapsed with relief and exhaustion.
To be honest, she hadn’t listened to most of what Victoria and the queen had been talking about. The entire time, she had silently begged for it to be over. Holding a shift was hard enough, but to do so under the pressure of death and with no idea for how long… She had nearly passed out. Only her koi had kept her rooted and focused, and it had come at the expense of all other things, like talking, focusing, and sometimes breathing.
“Jesus, monologue much?” she snapped at Victoria once she had her breath back.
Victoria set her hands on her hips as Styx snuggled into her hair. “’Thank you for saving my life, Victoria. You’re the greatest, Victoria. You’re so pretty and I like your hair, Victoria.’”
“Thank you,” Audrey spat impatiently, struggling not to pass out. White and black dots threatened the corners of her vision with every gasping breath. She sucked in air, cleared her head, and calmed her selfish Atlantean blood long enough to say it genuinely. “Really, Victoria. Thank you. They would have killed me.”
Victoria nodded once, her expression relaxing. “I would have never have let that happen, Audrey.”
“I know.” Audrey smiled and relaxed against the wall. She needed to sleep off the fatigue, and even being in the enchanted tunnels didn’t assuage her exhaustion. She closed her eyes and let sleep take her.
***
Victoria watched Audrey as she curled up against the pack the Lochrosians had given her. If she was able to fall asleep that fast, the whole ordeal had been even worse than Victoria had thought. Audrey had to have become incredibly strong, if she had held on for so long.
Styx hummed happily from within Victoria’s locks, his hands weaving her hair like the strands of a willow until he had crafted a place to sleep. Too bad, because she needed to sleep too, and he would have to move or be crushed when she laid down.
Diesel set his newly-filled pack on the ground and rummaged through it. Even though he didn’t need it, he had refused to let go of his staff after it had finally been returned to him, and it swung about as he sifted through the bag’s contents. “They gave us enough food to last a month, and maps of everything they have. Queen Angelique wasn’t kidding when she said we would have everything we needed.”
“Do they know where the Rhazdon Artifact is?” Victoria asked.
Diesel rummaged through a few of the parchments in the bag. “I think so, my love. At least vaguely.”
Victoria shook her head at his pet name. Hopefully she would learn to ignore it in time. He had once said he liked it when she played hard to get, so maybe ignoring him completely would bore him enough to shake off his advances.
Ha, right. When hell freezes over.
It was too much to hope for, but she would try it anyway.
“You did well, Victoria,” Fyrn interrupted. The old wizard leaned against his staff, a small smile on his face.
Victoria hesitated, but ultimately smiled back. “Thank you. But please, Fyrn—don’t gamble with our lives like that again. I won’t trust you any more if you do.”
Fyrn nodded. “I apologize. I had my reasons for what I did, but I didn’t take into account the queen’s power. She is frightening, and yet you faced her as an equal. You should be proud, Victoria.”
Her smile widened and she nodded to him once in thanks. They didn’t need to say anything more. Besides, Fyrn wasn’t the sentimental type. That she had gotten this much from him was truly a gift.
“We should probably begin here,” Diesel said, handing Victoria one of the maps and pointing to a small circle in the top right. He leaned in, most likely in an attempt at an intimate gesture, and Victoria did her best to simply disregard it as he continued. “It’s the suspected inner lair, the space where the cavern no longer shifts—or at least not as much. It won’t change every time we turn our backs like last time.”
“Quite the contrary,” Victoria said with a yawn. “I think we should start with a nap. Fyrn, you promise to not let us get caught this time?”
The old wizard shook his head, grumbling to himself as whatever tender moment they had shared began to fade. “Lazy woman.”
“I heard that,” she said, crossing her ankles as she lounged on the floor. It wasn’t a featherbed, but after everything they had endured thus far she didn’t care.
***
Audrey was starting to get used to the absence of time within the tunnels. It gave her a sense of harmony and immediacy, a feeling that nothing existed outside of the now. She smiled more, despite the oppressive darkness, and found a startling new sensation in her chest. Peace.
It was weird as hell.
She was the feisty one. The jackass. Peace wasn’t exactly her thing, but she went with it.
The tunnels mostly wove on and on in an endless gem-lit stretch, but they were treated every now and then to an alcove or even a small meadow illuminated with otherworldly light. Audrey suspected it was merely a leak from above, but with all the darkness it looked like a slice of heaven was shining through.
She shook her head at the thought. What’s with all this flowery shit?
In her mind, the koi chuckled. I suppose inner peace isn’t for everyone.
Audrey laughed. Nope, definitely not. She couldn’t wait until she had her gym and her sense of time back again.
Victoria, now at the head of the group, lifted her hand to warn them they should be silent. She hid behind a boulder and peered around a bend, and Audrey followed suit. She peered over her friend’s shoulder to find another small meadow illuminated by a few thin rays of golden light that filtered through from overhead. This time the clearing was filled with knee-high deer that had two tube-like ears and a long snout. Their tiny tails flailed back and forth, and they chittered to each other as they maneuvered over the mossy floor and nibbled on it as though it were grass.
“Maybe we should shoot one,” Diesel said.
“We have more than enough food,” Victoria said with a shake of her head.
“Perhaps we do for now, but we could easily be down here for weeks, if not months. We should conserve the rations.”
Victoria shrugged. “Fair point, but with what we’ve seen so far, that could be a special breed of deer whose sole purpose is to poison wizards.”
“Or Atlanteans,” Audrey added, considering her luck thus far with the wizards of Lochrose.
“Right, exactly,” Victoria said with a chuckle. “So you can go ahead and cook it for me if you’re feeling generous.”
“Of course, my love,” Diesel said with a wink. He stood, and she smacked his side until he knelt again.
“I was kidding, obviously,” she snapped.