The Midnight Queen

by Christopher Keene

  The Paladins were around before my father was alive, and they will last long after he is dead . . . He balled his hands into fists and held back his tears. Please, Goddess, watch over my father’s spirit.

  Chapter 17: The Grim Herald

  After having his mind invaded by the Sorrows possessing the Acathia ruins, Otto wasn’t talking as much as he had been. For this reason, Sapphire turned her attention to Aelyph and began probing his knowledge of the Midnight Tower. With Emerald scouting ahead and Otto trailing behind, she finally got another chance to talk to him alone.

  “What’s it like?” she asked.

  “That’s a pretty vague question,” Aelyph said. “Do you expect me to just reveal everything I know?”

  Sapphire shrugged. “Sure. I’ve never even seen it before. Tell me what it looks like and afterward quiz me to see what I can remember.”

  Aelyph smiled. The expression was warm on a face so dark and cold. “Well, it might help by telling you how it’s changed over the years after it was called the Goddess Tower. Before, the long, graceful arches and columns swept around the central spire. Galleries wound and wrapped around halls and clusters of small chambers. The smaller towers rose from the central structure, crowned by finely carved tiles and adornment.”

  This was hundreds of years ago. How does he know all this?

  “Now, though, all of this has changed. Openings in the Rifts tore the Tower free from the earth, and it rose slowly into the sky as the land below fell away into darkness and horror. Many portions of the Tower that were delicate and built farther from the strong support of the core have since fallen, and some of their ruins can still be found in the Fallen Wood.

  “What remains of the architecture has turned to a sickly, festering haunt of ghosts and spiders. The stone is pitted, slimy, and often crumbles under a light touch. The sinewy arches no longer frame the light but loom over intruders. The great halls are damp, oppressive, and they distort sound—sometimes echoing the smallest noise forever, sometimes deadening even shouts so they do not carry.”

  Is he trying to scare me, or does he think of this as a warning?

  “Light still pours into the inner rooms, but now it is green-tinged and hurts the eyes, casting more shadows than it banishes. Everywhere, intruders can feel the Dark Consul’s spirit pressing against their minds and hearts. Dread builds until even the bravest Heroes jump at shadows. Thoughts wander to old or imagined slights, embarrassing failures, or personal disappointments, and those inside can turn on each other or falter at key moments.”

  “What about monsters?” Sapphire asked.

  “Since the arrival of the Midnight Queen, the creatures that inhabit the Midnight Tower have changed as well. Formerly just aggressive and twisted, they have become more cunning and cooperative, and they have taken on a more venomous character. Where once gargoyles and animate armors stalked the halls, now it is infested with all kinds of spiders, warped Riftlings . . . and the dead. Even most of the gargoyles seem to have poison dripping from their claws.”

  Sapphire shivered. “Yeesh, I really hate spiders.”

  “The constant battering of the Dark Consul’s spirit worsens these dangers. Many Heroes become overcautious to the point of near paranoia regarding the Tower. They touch as little as possible, and eat or drink nothing they find . . . Do you have antivenin?”

  Emerald raised her hand, apparently eavesdropping on them from up ahead. “I have!”

  “Good. The Midnight Queen’s presence has made the Tower more dangerous, given a focus to the evil that always suffused it, and often directed that evil out to the rest of Crystalia. Monsters hunting in the Threshold have gotten more dangerous as many of the creatures now run in packs.”

  Spiders, Riftlings, and the dead. Strange how the one that is the most natural of those to come across is the one I fear the most.

  “Around the Tower, whole sections of the Fae Wood have been systematically cleared of elven villages and shrines to the Goddess by mixed bands of monsters. Invariably, Nether Elves form the core and leadership of these parties, acting with a thoroughness and attention to detail that had never previously characterized their violence. They now protect its outer rim. And then there’s the madness.”

  Sapphire frowned. “Madness? You spoke of this before, but I still don’t understand what you mean.”

  “As I said in the prison, if you get too close to the Deeproot Tree, the magic can make you go insane. The same is true of the Midnight Tower. The Oubliette is not exempt from this. In fact, I would say that’s where the maddening influence is the worst.”

  “And you spent two years in there?”

  Aelyph nodded.

  From where she was still in the lead, Emerald cocked her head. “Wow, poor you.”

  Aelyph looked down. “When you’ve lived as long as I have, two years is a small blip on my life; but in that place, it seemed like an eternity. I’m just happy I got out alive.”

  “Hey, sorry to interrupt your lamenting, Aelyph, but look!” Emerald called, pointing ahead of them. “Can you guys see that light up ahead?”

  It wasn’t until a few seconds had passed that Sapphire saw it. Ahead of them was a bright light between the trees, an effect that was either caused by a clearing or the end of the forest. Sapphire grinned at Aelyph and ran toward it with Emerald. Together they burst out of the trees and gazed in awe at the vast, crumbling plains leading down into the valley and farther out toward the Scalding Sea.

  When Aelyph and Otto caught up with them, they stood together, watching the sun descend in the bright afternoon sky. It was an encouraging view . . . until the sun fell behind a giant monolith in the middle of the distant sea, seeming to make the entire sky go dark. That’s when they first saw it: the Midnight Tower.

  “Ooh, ominous,” Emerald said with an excitement that nobody else seemed to share.

  Sapphire’s jaw clenched. “There’s still light in the day; we should see if we can get to the bay before nightfall.”

  “No . . .” Aelyph said, his voice lowering.

  Sapphire turned to him. “Why not?”

  Emerald sighed. “You can’t see it now, but behind that valley . . . that’s where the front lines of the battle against the Dark Consul are being waged. It spreads west all the way to the Fallen Wood.”

  “Which is where we’ll have to go,” Aelyph said.

  “Why?” Otto asked.

  Sapphire met the Riftling’s gaze. “That doesn’t sound promising.”

  Aelyph shook his head. “You won’t believe me until I show you. Come on. As Princess Emerald said, we should be able to spot it right over that ridge.”

  Emerald strode ahead, leading them down the hill into the valley. The sun was descending, and the grass was soft beneath their feet. Having seen the Midnight Tower, Sapphire could finally see that their goal was within reach. She could see the same realization occurring to Otto, his sorrow becoming a grim determination.

  She slowed down to talk to him. “Listen, Otto, I’m sorry about your father, and I can only assume what thoughts the Sorrows put in your head.”

  “It said that I would be the last.”

  “The last what?”

  Otto ground his teeth and sped up. “It said that without my father to lead them, the Paladins would fall apart. Divided they would be weak . . . and that by the time I got back from this journey I would be the last one.”

  “Aelyph said it was only telling you your own insecurities.” Sapphire made her voice soft. “Are you so afraid of being the last Paladin?”

  “The Paladins stand for something.” Otto’s eyes drifted down. “They aren’t just a force for good in the kingdom, they’re an ideal; and if I’m the last one, then it’s up to me to carry that ideal and make sure it lives on. That’s too much to live up to!”

  “Just because that’s what the Sorrow said doesn’t mean it will come true. Besides . . .” Sapphire put a hand on his shoulder. “Even if you d
o become the only one pushing forward their ideas, maybe you can trim down their prejudice against the Riftlings a bit. You yourself have only just recently learned that some of them can be good.”

  “Is that my purpose?” He looked up as they approached the upward slope. “When the Cult of the Dark Consul began its rise, even some of the Paladins were persuaded to join the forces of evil. My father fixed that and from then on led an even stronger legion. Am I to do what he did? Am I to reform the Paladins and redirect their hatred of the Riftlings toward our true enemy?”

  Sapphire stared down at the long grass. “Who is our true enemy?”

  “The Midnight Queen,” he said, as though it were obvious.

  She rolled her eyes. “Of course.”

  “You don’t think so?”

  “No, I do . . . But like the Riftlings, I think she’s a little more complicated than being just pure evil. I try not to think in terms of black and white, you know?”

  Otto smirked. His first smile in a while was a bitter one. “Careful. You might start saying the same of the Dark Consul.”

  After traveling all day, Sapphire could hear the exhaustion in the Paladin’s voice. “You’re wrong. I know the Dark Consul is the darkness—the real enemy—but even he can be understood. Behind every villain is a tragedy.”

  Emerald ran ahead and came to the crest of the hill. She raised her hand to prevent the glare of the setting sun from getting in her eyes, and then screamed.

  “Wh-what is that?”

  Otto and Sapphire caught up with her

  “By the Goddess!” Otto gasped.

  Sapphire finally spotted what they were gaping at. The base of the massive valley below them was filled with men, elves, and many other races all in full armor—an entire camp of Heroes and warriors. Not too far from them was yet another camp, closer to the coast and darker than the other camp, as dark as the deep purple of the Midnight Tower.

  As a warrior herself, Sapphire knew the Dark Consul’s camp was in the worse position, having been pushed up against the sea. Except they had a colossal wall of a monster pushing onward from the rear, seeming to beat the land behind it into the Scalding Sea and down into the Nether Rifts.

  “Is that . . . ?”

  Aelyph nodded. “A Grim Herald, the Midnight Queen’s key defense and offense against her enemies. To get to the Midnight Tower, one would either need to destroy the Herald and sail to the Tower’s base or fly straight over.”

  “Well, there’s no way we can get through that thing”—Sapphire gawked at how massive it was, even from a distance—”let alone get through the Midnight Queen’s front line . . . not without an army behind us.”

  Otto shook his head. “Even with the Paladins, it would be hard to break through. And then we would have to find a boat that would give us passage across the Scalding Sea, but with the Grim Herald there . . .”

  “That’s why we’re going to be heading west to the Fallen Wood,” Aelyph cut in. “Before it was called the Midnight Tower—when it was known as the Goddess Tower—its base was much larger and even had settlements surrounding it. The place had fresh soil that any crop could grow in, and a forest took root.”

  Otto’s brow furrowed. “We know this, but why head there?”

  Aelyph turned west and squinted into the distance as the wind caught his white hair. “When darkness took over the Tower and the Grim Heralds emerged from the Nether to begin tearing apart that land, ruins of the Tower fell into the forest. That’s the Fallen Wood, where I appeared after my first time in the Nether, and where I found an old, magic gateway from the Goddess Tower . . . it can lead right to the outer rim of the Midnight Tower.”

  “A secret entrance?” Emerald’s grin stretched over her face. “Can it really take us right to the Tower?”

  Aelyph nodded.

  Sapphire rubbed her chin. “We could pass right through their main line and the nearest Grim Herald. We wouldn’t even need a boat to cross the Scalding Sea.”

  Otto, the only one not smiling, stared pointedly at Aelyph. “Show us where it is.”

  Chapter 18: The Nether Rifts Coast

  The next day, they made for the Fallen Wood.

  Despite their distance from the Midnight Tower, it struck a dark presence into their souls. The corruption of the land didn’t end at the crumbling spires or large Nether Rifts below it. With the armies in the barren land, the black sand of the bay, and chunks of falling earth being torn away by the Grim Herald, the Dark Consul’s influence over Crystalia was a stark contrast to the noble grandeur of Crystalia Castle.

  The sea behind the Midnight Queen’s army roiled and churned, the Rifts in the center acting like the core of a fierce whirlpool. The waves crashed upon the rocks, extending from the Rifts with the Dark Consul’s presence. Its oppressive influence over the minds of Otto and the others grew as they descended, skirting around the ally’s army camp.

  These men here are under this influence all day and night . . . How can they stand it? No wonder some of the elves go mad.

  They eventually came to the beach of black sand where the boiling water seemed to chip away at the land. Otto looked down at the water, wondering if it was drinkable. He was about to put his finger in to see how hot the water really was when he felt a hand on his shoulder, pulling him back.

  “I wouldn’t,” Aelyph said. Otto stood to face him. “The water itself is corrupted by the Nether Rifts.”

  “Really? The water, too? By the Goddess . . .” Otto stood and walked down the beach with the princesses.

  Despite the many battles that had taken place there, walking down the coast with his companions almost felt serene in the silence. Their heavy boots left footprints on the black sand, marking their passage. If they hadn’t gone through the Blackroot Grotto, they would have stayed off the sand to avoid their prints being tracked down by the Rangers.

  I never realized how easy it would be to find an enemy that way until Princess Emerald pointed it out in the Fae Wood.

  Otto felt he had changed much since the beginning of their journey, and he wouldn’t have been surprised if the same went for the others. Behind him, Aelyph was silent, and although the princesses were talking loudly in front of them, the Riftling Warrior’s silence spoke more words than their cheery tones could.

  “Everyone . . .”

  Hearing Aelyph’s cold tone, Otto and the princesses stopped and turned to him.

  “I have a confession to make. After I show you the gateway to the Midnight Tower, I will be parting ways with you. I’m sorry, but I refuse to return to the Midnight Tower.” He looked down, his face troubled. “I hope you can understand.”

  There was silence between them as the scalding waves continued to wash against the black shore.

  “We understand,” Princess Sapphire finally said. “You were trapped in there for two years, and after what you had to do to escape, it only makes sense that you wouldn’t go back. Although we are disappointed that you won’t be with us to guide us through, we do understand.”

  Funny, before I would have been jumping for joy that Aelyph was parting ways with us. Now I’m not so sure.

  “Thank you.” Aelyph started walking again, quickening his pace to get ahead of them.

  Otto could only assume he didn’t want them to see his face. Nevertheless, Princess Sapphire ran to catch up and console him on his decision, leaving Otto with Princess Emerald.

  “Well . . . it’s sure going to be a lot harder . . . without him to show us the way,” Princess Emerald said, her uneven voice revealing her nervousness.

  Otto smirked at her. “I say, aren’t you the one who’s always asking me where my sense of adventure is?”

  “This is different! We’re going to be entering the Midnight Tower—one of the most dangerous, if not the most dangerous, place in Crystalia. It would have been smarter to at least go with a guide.”

  “I’m not disagreeing with you there, but Aelyph is a free Riftling n
ow.” He looked up to see Princess Sapphire and Aelyph walking ahead of them. “Who are we to tell him where to go?”

  Princess Emerald pouted and crossed her arms “I guess so.”

  Still, I don’t think he wants to leave, because he feels it would put us at a disadvantage. He must have his reasons—reasons he must be ashamed of if he doesn’t want to bring them up with us.

  Chapter 19: The Fallen Wood

  “We should be there soon. I can see the trees up ahead,” Aelyph said, his gravelly voice softer than usual.

  “No one blames you for not wanting to return there.” Sapphire’s eyes drifted down. “Although I would be lying if I said I’m not saddened by you leaving.”

  He nodded. “We will meet again.”

  Sapphire smiled. “Maybe you can visit us at Crystalia Castle.”

  “The last time I went to the Castle, I wasn’t given the warmest welcome.”

  Sapphire waved her hands. “Oh no, the Castle has changed a lot since then, I’m sure. Riftlings and other races are a common sight around the capital now, even in the Castle towers. Why, just the other day I was at a meeting with the king where there was a young Riftling, a dwarf, and a Ranger! Why, almost every race in the kingdom was pres—”

  “Okay, I will come.” He grinned at her persistence. “Maybe you and Princess Emerald can give me a tour.”

  “Wow! I’ve never seen this part of the forest before!” Emerald shouted as she caught up with them.

  Sapphire looked up. It seemed as though her desire to make their walk along the beach last longer had resulted in them arriving at the Fallen Wood sooner than she had hoped. The place was just as Aelyph had described it. Unlike the Acathia ruins, where the forest had grown over the preexisting city, it was obvious that these ruins had simply dropped from the sky and stabbed into the earth.