by Fire
“Only from a distance. I saw what he did to eight knights and to Sendarus.”
“Demon or not, he has gone.”
“For now, your Highness, but do you think for a moment that he will not be back?”
The Chetts had recovered most of their dead. When night fell, they laid them out with their weapons in a shallow pit they had dug. Jenrosa had counted over fifteen hundred of them, nearly a third of them lancers. In the middle of the line lay Kumul. She stood before him, watching his face. He looked remarkably peaceful there, surrounded by his fellow warriors, his sword set lengthwise along his body.
“Kumul Alarn,” she said. “Constable of Grenda Lear. Captain of the Red Shields. The General’s Giant. Father to Lynan Rosetheme.” Her throat constricted, and tears came when she thought she had no more tears go give. “And beloved of Jenrosa Alucar, apprentice magicker from the Theurgia of Stars.”
He was the last and the greatest to be named. She stepped back into the arms of Ager and Lynan.
“It is done,” she said, and a thousand Chetts moved forward to finish burying their dead.
Areava lay in her bed. Maids and servants silently stood to one side. Hansen Beresard stood at the foot of her bed, and Orkid Gravespear near the head. Doctor Trion finished examining the queen and stepped away. He signaled to Orkid.
“She is physically fine. I cannot speak for her mind. She has not spoken since ... since the birth.”
Orkid went back to the queen. He picked up her right hand. “Your Majesty, your people grieve with you for your loss.”
Areava gave no sign she heard him.
“Is there anything, anything at all, that we can do to help—”
“Where is Olio?” she said suddenly. A few of the maids and servants jumped, but she had spoken quietly, even gently. She looked at Orkid. “My brother, Chancellor? Have you seen him?”
Orkid turned to Trion, who hurriedly came forward.
“He is ... unwell... your Majesty,” Trion said. “He is in my care.”
“Bring him to me, please, Doctor.”
“I do not know—”
“Bring him,” Orkid said, and Trion knew by the chancellor’s tone that it was an order he dared not refuse. Trion left.
“Is there anything you need, your Majesty?”
Areava sighed. “He is dead, you know.”
Orkid assumed she was talking about the baby. “Your daughter. Yes, she is in the royal chapel...”
“Oh, I know she is dead. Her name was Usharna. Did I tell you that? Usharna is dead. That is how I know Sendarus is dead, too.”
Orkid blinked. “I don’t understand, your Majesty.”
“He was stabbed in the throat and then he was stabbed in the heart. The second time the sword went clean through him. He died quickly at least. It was Lynan who killed him. I saw it in my mind. The Key of the Scepter let me see everything.”
As soon as Areava had said the words, Orkid knew it was true. He did not know what to say. A thousand thoughts and feelings flooded his mind, including grief for his nephew. And what of the army he led? Was it destroyed? Had Salokan succeeded in taking Daavis?
But she had said Sendarus was killed by Lynan. How was that possible, unless the prince really had been serving Haxus?
Trion returned, holding Prince Olio’s hand. Orkid gasped. He had not seen Olio for two days, and the person who stood before him now was not the same man.
“Your Majesty,” Trion said. “Prince Olio is here. But I must warn you—”
“Bring him closer,” Areava said.
Trion led Olio to his sister’s bed. Areava reached out and took his hand from Trion. She studied her brother’s face for a moment, and then with some effort sat up. She groaned with sudden pain.
“Your Majesty!” Trion cried and came forward.
“Stay, Doctor,” she ordered, then leaned over and took the Key of the Heart from around her brother’s head and placed it around her own. It chinked when it rested against the Key of the Scepter.
“Dear Olio, you will not be needing this anymore,” she told him, her voice still gentle. “You have failed me for the last time.”
Chapter 31
Areava started walking two days after the loss of Usharna. She had still been in bed when a carrier bird had brought a message from Daavis. Qrkid had brought it to her immediately. She had said nothing since taking Olio’s Key, and the chancellor hoped the news would elicit some response.
“This is from Queen Charion, your Majesty,” he told her. She turned her head to look at him, which he took as a good sign.
“ ‘I regret to inform you,’ ” he read, “ ‘that your husband, Prince Sendarus, was yesterday slain in battle. He was murdered by your outlaw brother Prince Lynan who was in command of an army of Chetts invading Hume. Before his death, Prince Sendarus guaranteed victory for your army over the Chetts, and in the days before that battle had saved Daavis by forcing King Salokan of Haxus to flee back to his own territory.
“ ‘I know that this must be a grievous burden for you to bear, but take comfort in the knowledge that he sacrificed his life in your service, and in service of the kingdom of Grenda Lear, and in so doing protected those he loved most in this world.’”
“Is that all?” Areava asked.
“That is all, your Majesty.”
She put out her hand and Orkid gave her the note. She read it quickly, and then again, more slowly.
“So it was not a nightmare,” she said at last.
“No, your Majesty.”
“I have lost a husband, a daughter, a third of my capital and, I think, a brother, all in one day. Do you think any ruler of Grenda Lear has ever managed so much?”
“It was for a cause, your Majesty. Your husband—my nephew—died to protect the kingdom. I have been told by Edaytor Fanhow that your brother sacrificed his sanity to save many of the victims of the fire.”
“And what cause was served by the death of my daughter and the deaths of so many of my citizens in the old quarter?”
“I cannot read the mind of God, your Majesty.”
“And I do not want to read his mind, Chancellor. I am sure I would hate him for it.” She threw the bed covers back and tried to swing her legs over the side.
“Areava!” he cried. She glared at him. “Your Majesty, forgive me, I was startled, but please do not move! I will get the doctor—”
“You will do no such thing. I am queen, as you have so constantly reminded me, and have my duties to perform. It is time I went back to them.”
“But so soon?”
“I cannot simply grieve, Orkid. I would go as mad as Olio. Give me your hand.”
He helped her to her feet, and for a moment she stood still, getting her balance and getting used to the pain.
“My gown,” she said curtly.
Orkid rushed to get the gown from the end of the bed and helped her into it.
“Now walk with me.”
Step by step, her arm in Orkid’s, she left her chambers. When word got around that she was abroad, maids and servants and courtiers scurried after her, but she shooed them all away until she was alone again with Orkid.
“I am sorry I have not yet offered you my condolences over the death of Sendarus. I know you loved him, too.”
Orkid could not answer right away, but eventually managed to say, “Thank you.”
“Please make sure that his father and Amemun are made aware of what has happened.”
“I will do that today.”
They came to the entrance of the south gallery. Areava saw Olio standing by himself, looking out over the city. He seemed very small to her.
“What is he doing here?” Areava asked.
“He has been here for the last two days. He is taken away for meals, and at night, but he always returns. Shall I have him taken to his chambers?”
Areava shook her head. “I think I have the mastery of this walking business. Would you stay here, please?”
Orkid reluctantly let her go, and sh
e slowly made her way to her brother. Olio turned his head when she stopped beside him.
“Did you know this is the largest city in the whole wide world?” he asked.
“Yes. Yes, I think I knew that.”
“Berayma told me that. He tells me lots of things.” He smiled at Areava. “But not nearly as much as you tell me. You tell me even more things.”
“Your stutter has gone.”
“Silly sister,” Olio said. “I don’t stutter.”
Areava breathed deeply, holding a hand over her heart. “I forgot,” she said, her voice not much more than a whisper.
Olio breathed deeply, too, and then put a hand over his heart. “Do you think we will see Mother today?”
When Areava started crying, he put his arms around her.
When she came to him, he showed her his presents.
“I have two of them now. I killed my sister’s favorite to get this one.”
She smiled sweetly and touched his cheek.
“And when I have finished destroying this world, I will have four of them. I will give them all to you, then.”
“You are the sweetest of lovers.”
“And you are the most beautiful of women,” he said, and reached out for her. She floated away from him.
“You don’t like my presents?”
“Yes, I like your presents.”
“Why do you move away from me?”
“I want to show you something.”
She seemed to disappear into shadows. He tried to follow her, but she was lost to him.
“I cannot see you.”
“I am here,” she said behind him, laughing.
He laughed, too, and turned around, but what he saw made the laughter die in his throat.
“Am I not the most beautiful of women?” she asked, her fetid breath blowing on his face.
“No,” he said pitifully, and stepped back.
She reached out for him, held him by his arms and brought him closer to her. She kissed him, and her long tongue pierced the back of his throat.
Lynan woke in a cold sweat, panting. He got out of his bed and tripped over something in the dark. He fell onto his knees. The tent flap opened and one of the Red Hands came in.
“Your Majesty, are you all right?” she asked.
Lynan looked up, still disoriented. “Yes. Yes, I think so.”
Someone else came into the tent. “I will see to him,” said the second person, and Lynan recognized Korigan’s voice. He heard the strike of a flint, and a lamp blazoned in the darkness. The Red Hand bowed and left.
“Are you sure you are all right?” Korigan asked. She put the lamp down on the floor and helped him back to his cot.
“Yes.” He grabbed a blanket and put it around him.
“You were dreaming of Silona again?”
He looked at her, startled. “This is the second time you’ve known.”
“I told you she has a presence; I can feel when she is near.”
“She never leaves her forest,” Lynan said, his tone dismissive.
“She does not have to, not with her blood in you. And you are closer to her forest now than you have been since being given her blood.”
Lynan groaned. “They are not dreams, really, are they?”
Korigan sat down beside him. “No. But it does not mean that she controls you, if that’s what you’re afraid of.”
Lynan swallowed. “In the battle, when Kumul was killed, I changed.”
“I know. We all saw it. It has happened to you before. When we fought the mercenaries, and when you killed the grass wolf.”
“Does she not control me then?”
“You change to protect or avenge those you love, I think. You have some of her hate and some of her strength, and her invulnerability to normal weapons, but you do not turn on your own, you do not drink the blood of those you kill. You are no vampire, Lynan.”
“Then what am I?”
“You know what you are, I think. Finally, you know what you are. The battle against the Grenda Lear army showed you that. You have a destiny.”
“A destiny for what?” he voiced ruefully. “Killing my own people?”
Korigan shrugged. “I don’t know. But others feel it, too. That is why you are so loved by your companions—Gudon, Jenrosa, Ager...” She hesitated, not wanting to say the name.
“And Kumul,” he said. His eyes brimmed with tears. He turned his face away in shame. “I’m sorry,” he muttered.
Korigan put her arms around him and held him close to her. She could feel his head against her heart, and wondered if he heard it.
“It is all right to cry for those you love,” she said, and after a while the tears came to her eyes as well.
Version History
V1.0—Aug2004—Proofread and formatted from the paperback.