The Black King (Book 7)

by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

  —Gift grabbed a Fey woman who looked like Arianna’s mother, thrusting her behind his back, and holding a sword to Rugad’s belly. Rugad looked like himself, only younger—

  —Gift grabbed a different Fey woman, the one from the boat, and shoved her behind his back. He thrust a sword against Rugad’s belly and said—

  —” We’re drowning. Ari, please!” Gift was floundering in water. Sea water. Rugad was in the boat, extending an oar, trying to save Gift. Rugad? Or someone who looked like him? Were any of them Rugad? She couldn’t tell. It was as if—

  —Coulter was holding her, telling her he’d love her no matter what. Even if she was stuck in this body forever, he would always be beside her—

  —And Matt laughed. He was handsome, unlike his father, but she saw bits of his father’s craziness in his eyes. He was wearing the robes of the Rocaan. He came closer, holding a vial of holy water. “You should be careful who you trust,” he said. “I’m not Matt. I’m his brother, Alex”—

  —A beautiful map spread across the table before her, showing the Fey Empire and beyond. She couldn’t read the language that dotted it, but the symbol at the top unnerved her: a single heart resting on top of a single sword with a crown floating on top—

  —And a man she didn’t recognize walked behind the fountain in the Roca’s Cave. “If I stand here,” he said, “one of my people will sense me, and we will find the third cave. The third place of power. And we will own the Triangle”—

  She coughed. She was lying on the path, dirt pressing into her face. Her body didn’t hurt, but it ached, as if her landing had knocked the wind out of her. As if it would have felt if she had a real body, not this thing made of stone.

  Someone was crouched beside her. “Ari?”

  Sebastian. His voice was dear. She closed her eyes and clung to it, letting the strangeness of the Visions wash through her.

  She had had one or two Visions since she left her own body, but nothing like this. Something had happened. Something had changed.

  “Ari?” He sounded panicked.

  “I’m all right, Sebastian.” At least she didn’t talk like he did, so slowly and carefully. Seger said that was because Arianna couldn’t imagine herself talking like that so she taught the Golem body to speak rapidly. Sebastian never did.

  “I...sent...for...Coul-ter...and...Se-ger.”

  “You sent whom?” Arianna didn’t want anyone to see her like this, sprawled like a child in the dirt.

  “Sca-ven-ger.”

  She shuddered. Scavenger had been a friend of Gift’s and Coulter’s. In fact, he had saved Coulter’s life more than once. But he had never been kind to Arianna. Not even when they were all living in the Roca’s Cave, trying to figure out a way to fight Rugad.

  “He was with you?”

  “He...saw...you...fall.”

  Arianna opened her eyes. The dirt in front of her was cross-hatched with footprints. “How long was I out?”

  “Long...e-nough,” Sebastian said. “Was...it...a...Vi-sion?”

  “Yes,” she said. “Help me up.”

  He slid his hands beneath her shoulders and steadied her. She supported herself with her arms and carefully, with Sebastian’s help, sat up.

  “Am I all right?”

  He kept one hand on her back and brushed some dirt away with his free hand. “You...are...not...cracked.”

  Leave it to Sebastian to put everything in perspective. He had literally shattered three times that Arianna knew of. Until this last time, when Seger had used some clay to repair him, he had born the marks of the shatterings in cracks that ran through his features. Now he looked like a gray version of Gift. A slower, steadier version.

  A door slammed in the distance. Arianna ran a hand through her hair. A shower of dirt fell on her shoulders.

  Within moments, Coulter was beside her. Seger wasn’t far behind. Matt ran behind them, looking worried. Scavenger was walking down the path, his short squat body powerful.

  Coulter knelt beside her. “Are you all right?”

  “It...was...a...Vi-sion,” Sebastian said.

  “I thought so.” Seger sat down. The strain of the last few months showed on her face. There were lines near her eyes where there had never been any before.

  “It was several Visions,” Arianna said. “Something’s changed.”

  The fear that she was beginning to recognize filled Coulter’s eyes. “Do you know what?”

  Matt arrived. He looked panicked. The boy had become taken with her. He loved to sit beside her and listen to her tell stories about Jahn.

  She reached toward him. He grabbed her hand and squeezed, then let go.

  “The Visions were about Gift.” She turned to Sebastian. “Is Gift on Blue Isle?”

  Sebastian shrugged, a single movement of the shoulders. “We...have...nev-er...o-pened...our...Link.”

  As he spoke, Seger looked away. Arianna caught the movement. So did Coulter.

  “You know something,” he said to Seger.

  Seger raised her chin slightly. “I sent for Gift when Arianna was fighting Rugad, before you arrived.”

  “And you didn’t see fit to tell us?” Coulter asked.

  Arianna looked at him. Once Coulter and Gift had been very close. What could Coulter object to now?

  “In all that happened,” Seger was saying, “I forgot.”

  Matt was watching with wide eyes. He clearly didn’t understand any of this.

  “Gift can handle himself,” Arianna said.

  “Gift...will...go...to...the...pa-lace, look-ing...for...us.”

  Coulter nodded. “And he’ll find Rugad in place of Arianna.”

  “But will he recognize Rugad or will he think Arianna has changed?” Seger asked.

  Arianna thought about her Visions, and the Blood, flowing behind everything. “Gift knows me.”

  “He also knows Rugad,” Coulter said.

  “They’ve never met,” Seger said. “Have they?”

  “Rugad tried to invade Gift’s mind before he left part of himself in Arianna’s.” Coulter looked older than he ever had before. “That alone might make Gift recognize him.”

  “It might make him vulnerable to Rugad too,” Seger said.

  “May-be...we...should...o-pen...my...Link...to...Gift.”

  “So that Rugad came come through it here? And learn all of our plans?” Coulter asked.

  Matt looked at Coulter, as if he were startled by Coulter’s reluctance to take a risk.

  “We have plans?” In Seger’s voice, Arianna heard the frustration she’d been feeling.

  “Now we do,” Arianna said.

  “Did you get them from the Visions?” Seger asked.

  Arianna started to shake her head, but before she could complete the movement, Coulter said, “We made the plans several hours ago. At the river.”

  “Maybe that’s what caused the Visions.” The voice belonged to Scavenger. He was standing behind Seger. He was staring at Arianna as if she had done something to offend him.

  “Maybe,” Seger said.

  “It didn’t feel that way,” Arianna said. “It felt as if the Visions were triggered by something else.”

  “Maybe Gift is on Blue Isle,” Seger said.

  Arianna flashed on the Vision of the ship in Jahn harbor. It wasn’t a Nyeian ship or anything she recognized. But there had been blood on the deck. Dried blood. And Gift looked weary, like he had when he had arrived at the Roca’s Cave all those years ago.

  “What is it, child?” Seger asked.

  Arianna nodded. “I think you’re right. I think he is here, on a ship that isn’t from Nye, with a woman I’ve never seen before. And she’s frightened for him.”

  “If he’s already in Jahn, we can’t do anything to help him,” Scavenger said. “He’s going to face Rugad without us.”

  “Let’s hope he’ll treat Rugad like he would treat me,” Arianna said.

  “He’ll think you’ve gone mad,” Coulter said.


  “From his perspective,” Arianna said, “I will have.”

  “Is...there...a...Fey...way...to...deal...with...mad-ness?” Sebastian asked.

  Seger shook her head. “It’s one thing magick cannot cure and often causes. We suffered through our insane Black rulers, and hoped they did no damage.”

  Matt looked away. His father had gone insane. Arianna tightened her grip on his hand.

  “Is there an Islander way to deal with it?” Scavenger asked.

  Arianna frowned, careful not to meet Matt’s gaze. She remembered hearing stories of insanity in the history, but she had never paid attention to her lessons. Then her father had tried to tell her, and she hadn’t listened to that either.

  “As far back as I can remember,” she said slowly, “we have had sane rulers.”

  “So Gift is on his own,” Seger said.

  “Let’s hope he remembers he has friends,” Coulter said.

  “Maybe we should try to find him.” Arianna looked at Coulter.

  His blue eyes were haunted. “If he’s already in Jahn, things have started without us.”

  “How did Gift get to the city?” Scavenger asked.

  “I Saw a ship, with its deck covered in blood,” Arianna said. “The problem is, I don’t know if the ship is already there, if it will arrive soon or if it won’t arrive at all. It feels right to think that Gift is on Blue Isle, but it could be me, just wishing.”

  “No.” Sebastian bowed his head. “I...have...been...think-ing...of...Gift...late-ly. It...feels...like...he...is...close.”

  “I thought your Link was closed,” Coulter said.

  “You could argue that they are the same person,” Seger said. “Perhaps that’s how Sebastian knows.”

  “You should feel something too,” Scavenger said. “After all, you’re Bound to Gift. Your life and his are intertwined.”

  Coulter shook his head. “I haven’t felt Gift for years.” There was a flatness to his tone that made her look at him closely. A lie? Or a denial that went so deep that even if he felt Gift, he wouldn’t acknowledge it even to himself?

  She suspected the second were true. Gift had hurt Coulter years ago, and Coulter had decided, after Adrian’s death, that he was unworthy of anyone’s affection. Even Gift’s. Especially Gift’s.

  She slipped her hand in Coulter’s. “We have to go to Jahn.”

  “I thought we’d wait a little. Let Matt get settled.”

  Matt started at the mention of his name.

  “You’re sending him to Rugad, aren’t you?” Scavenger asked. “To be Rugad’s Enchanter.”

  “Yes,” Arianna said. “We need someone close to Rugad.”

  “The boy’s magick isn’t going to be what Rugad expects,” Scavenger said.

  “Matt is pure Islander,” Coulter said. “Of course Rugad won’t recognize the magick.”

  “I hope you’ve briefed the boy on all he needs to know,” Scavenger said. “He’s never encountered a mind like Rugad’s before.”

  Matt looked nervously at Coulter.

  “You should help Matt then,” Arianna said to Scavenger.

  “I will.” Scavenger said, but he seemed preoccupied. “You said your Visions were lined with Blood.”

  She nodded.

  “Who causes that Blood?”

  “I don’t know,” Arianna said.

  “Rugad? Gift?” Scavenger’s voice lowered. “You?”

  “I will not kill Rugad,” she said.

  “Then what’s the point?” Scavenger asked. “That’s the only way to be rid of him.”

  “That’s the only thing I can’t do,” Arianna said.

  “He’s not the real Rugad,” Scavenger said.

  Arianna looked at Sebastian. Sebastian, who was formed from bits of Gift’s essence, years ago. “I disagree,” she said softly. “If Sebastian’s real, and he is, then Rugad is real. We have to operate from that premise, much as I wish we didn’t.”

  Sebastian brushed her shoulder, almost as if he were thanking her. Matt looked confused. Seger had her arms wrapped around her legs, her head bowed in thought.

  “There’s one other thing.” Seger’s tone was almost regretful.

  “What’s that?” Coulter asked.

  Arianna was watching Seger’s face. She had a hunch none of them would like what Seger was about to say.

  “Gift might accept Rugad as Arianna—a changed Arianna, but still the Black Queen.”

  Arianna stiffened. He would never do that. He would know her. But Sebastian leaned forward just enough to make her doubt it. Sebastian knew Gift better than all of them, and he was listening to Seger.

  “That means,” Seger continued, “if you go after Rugad, you might have to go after Gift.”

  “But I Saw Gift with a sword against Rugad’s belly,” Arianna said.

  “Are you sure it was Rugad?” Seger said.

  Arianna started to nod, then stopped. “The first time, yes. The second time, it looked like Rugad—like the man—only younger. And the third, I don’t know.”

  “You Saw the same Vision three different ways?” Scavenger asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Then the future isn’t set yet.” Scavenger let out a small sigh. “Arianna is right. Everything is centered on Gift. Be careful of him. If he believes that Rugad is Arianna, he could attack you—and accidentally start the Blood against Blood.”

  “Maybe we should stay here,” Coulter said.

  Scavenger looked at him. “If you chose to stay here, you chose to give the Empire to Rugad. Is that what you want?”

  “No,” Arianna said. “It’s not what I want. We’ve been at peace for fifteen years. We’ve been prosperous.”

  “But our magick is based on war,” Scavenger said. “And intermingling with new cultures.”

  “Blue Isle’s magick isn’t based on that,” Arianna said. “We’re part of the Empire now. Things change.”

  “Will Rugad harm the Empire by ruling it?” Scavenger asked.

  “Yes,” Arianna said.

  “How?” Scavenger asked.

  Arianna swallowed. If she didn’t answer this, Scavenger might stand in her way. She might never return to her body, might never rule her people again.

  “He may have all of Rugad’s personality and all of his memory,” she said, “but he’s Blind, Scavenger. Remember what happened the last time the Fey had a Blind leader?”

  “The Blood,” Seger whispered.

  Arianna nodded. “Maybe that was the Blood I was Seeing. Maybe I was Seeing what would happen if we didn’t defeat Rugad.”

  Scavenger stared at her for a long moment. She got the very real sense that he did not like her.

  “Maybe,” he said. “But I would feel better if you knew what was going to cause it.”

  “So would I,” Arianna said softly. “So would I.”

  NINE

  ACE’S WINGS were getting tired, but he didn’t want to stop. He had a feeling that someone would attack the ship here, where the river turned slightly. Bluffs jutted into the water, narrowing the passage even more, and trees bent by time and the wind reached across the divide like parted lovers.

  This was a perfect ambush site.

  Ace slowed and waved a small arm so that the Gull Riders following him would slow as well. He wanted to surprise the ambushers.

  With a flick of his fingers, he indicated to his troop to spread out, fly carefully, and search. Eight Gull Riders could cover a lot of distance. It would be hard to see anyone in the trees, particularly Islanders, camouflaged against the wood. However, the archers would have to be close enough to the edges of those bluffs to see the ship.

  Ace swooped closer to the trees. The bark was black and gray in the places where it had ripped off. Most of the trees were pines, but the undergrowth was dead or in its winter dormancy. That helped a little.

  He saw a tree limb shake, an unnatural movement that had nothing to do with wind. With his right hand, he signaled his troop. He banked above the tr
ee, then circled it, so that the others would know where he went. Then he flew under the branches.

  An Islander, solid with muscle, his blond hair thinning, sat in the fork of a thick branch. He had an excellent view of the water. He leaned forward just enough so that he could grab arrows from his quiver.

  Ace slipped behind him and grabbed the shaft of an arrow in his beak. Then he flew out of the branches, circled, and headed back toward the archer. The archer didn’t turn, apparently not observant enough to notice the Fey man on the bird’s back or the arrow in the bird’s beak.

  Quietly, Ace landed on the branch just behind the fork, right next to the trunk. He reached down and took the arrow out of his beak. The arrow’s shaft was almost too thick to hold in his tiny hand. He’d never tried this maneuver before. He hoped it would work.

  He shifted back into his Fey form. His legs sprouted from the gull’s feet, and his arms grew. With his free hand, he braced himself so that he wouldn’t slip on the branch. The gull’s body absorbed into his stomach.

  The arrow nearly fell as his hand changed size, but he managed to grasp the shaft between his thumb and forefinger. Keeping a solid hold on the arrow was proving the most difficult part.

  The archer didn’t seem to notice. He was leaning farther forward on the branch. In the distance, Ace could barely make out the white sails of the Tashil ship. They looked like white dots on the horizon.

  Ace got a solid grip on the arrow and pushed himself toward the fork. As he moved on the branch, it bounced. The archer turned, and Ace shoved the arrow, point forward, into the man’s eye.

  The archer screamed, and clutched his face. His bow fell, clattering as it hit branches on the way down. Ace grabbed the man’s hands with one of his own, and yanked another arrow out of the quiver.

  “Tell me who you work for or I’ll take out the other eye,” he said in Fey.

  The man was shaking his head and sobbing. He spoke in a language that Ace did not understand.

  Ace cursed, and then repeated himself in Nyeian.

  The man shook his head again. Useless piece of dirt. Ace couldn’t get information from him because the man only spoke the Islander’s language.

  Ace shoved the second arrow into the man’s throat. The man gurgled, his remaining eye clouding over. Then Ace pushed him off the branch into the water below.