Azurite (Daughter of the Mountain Book 1)

by Megan Dent Nagle

  Sorrow overcame the Queen as she observed the forsaken city below her. To her it felt like Samaria’s glory had died with King Edgar himself. His untimely death came barely two nights after his wife’s gruesome passing, both due to consumption. Thinking back, Evangeline always believed a part of her died that horrible day as well, and she did everything possible to repress that part of her memory. The morning following Edgar’s death, Evangeline and the people of Samaria laid their beloved rulers to rest, leaving the most desired country in the Realm in a state of limbo. That was the crucial moment everything changed for eleven-year-old Evangeline Winnser who was now forced to trade her childhood for that of political responsibility.

  At the time, the Sovereign Alliance had tried to determine who should lead Samaria during the time before Evangeline was actually crowned as Queen. In such a situation, normally a child ruler is placed in the custodial care of their closet family member until they are of mature age for coronation. For Evangeline, her custodian would have been Cecelia’s eldest brother, Lucious Bancroft. Cecelia had many siblings, but her brother Lucious was the most vile of them all. He especially envied his sister’s marriage into the ruling Winnser line, and Lucious would do anything to take Evangeline’s crown for himself if given the chance.

  Knowing what an evil manipulator Lucious was, Evangeline fought with all her strength to remain free of her Uncle’s grasp, involving all Samaria’s advisors in an appeal to the Sovereign Alliance for her to be allowed to ascend to the throne while placed under the strict guidance of Samaria’s advisors until her ‘actual’ coronation at sixteen. There were loads of people who opposed such a plan: the King and Queen of Brighton, the united tribe leaders of Wayanee, and other monarchs who were unsure that such a decision regarding the wealthy country of Samaria was in the Realm’s best interest. Yet after months of painful deliberation with the Realm’s rulers and the Bancroft family, Lucious’s guardianship duties were revoked, and Evangeline was allowed to take the throne at age twelve.

  Her experiences with the Sovereign Alliance left a bitter taste in Evangeline’s mouth and she’d never been confident in their decision-making abilities since. Anyone who tried to keep Evangeline Winnser from fulfilling King Edgar’s legacy was a life-long enemy, whether they knew it or not. On several occasions the Sovereign Alliance attempted to discredit Evangeline’s competence to lead her country, as both a child and an unmarried mother. No one was aware of how much King Edgar had taught his daughter while he was sick, knowing he wouldn’t live through the winter.

  Beginning the day of her coronation, Evangeline Winnser vowed that she would prove to all who doubted her that she could rule Samaria better than her father. During her reign, she would make it wealthier, more powerful, and independent of ever other country in the Realm. In doing so, she wouldn’t entrust the help of any member of the Sovereign Alliance; she would do it all on her own. So from that day forward, Evangeline shunned those who thought that a young Queen didn’t have the ability to reign successfully. She put every ounce of her human strength into proving that she made Samaria better, refusing to deal with the rulers of other countries who had originally distrusted her capabilities. But somewhere along the way, Evangeline’s determination to prove herself to the Realm overshadowed that of Samaria’s welfare. Her pride became her biggest enemy, and Samaria now faced challenges and adversaries that were beyond her control.

  The Queen just sighed to herself and turned away from the depressing view outside the window. She didn’t want to see anymore of this discouraging token of reality. Once she entered her bedchamber, Evangeline immediately went over the large encircling balcony and pulled close the thick curtains in order to block out the golden sunset that was illuminating her guilt. She tied the curtains securely together so they would not come undone.

  An unexpected rapt at her chamber doors caused Evangeline to jump in her skin. She stood momentarily unmoving, trying to decide whether or not to answer the knock since she was alone. She looked to the portrait of her mother and father above the

  fireplace and then right below it to her father’s sword that constantly occupied the display space on the wall. It was an ancient sword, an heirloom passed on to each generation of the Winnser line beginning with the king who led Samaria through the Sea Dweller war.

  It was silver and bright, forged out of an iron and carbon alloy, all mined from the Anions themselves. The pommel was a faceted blue sapphire the size of a plum, the guard was designed in a traditional T shape made with small circles of iron. The grip was pure platinum and engraved on two sides with ancient Samarian runes. Although Evangeline wasn’t very proficient in reading or writing the ancient language, she knew from her father what the message read: Life cannot not exist without freedom. Obtain liberty or die trying.

  After the third persistent knock, Evangeline gingerly removed the sword from the wall and positioned it behind her back. She unbarred the large wooden door, and it slowly swung inward to reveal the caller. Evangeline carefully kept the right side of her body out of sight in case she needed to defend herself with the sword.

  She recognized the unwelcome visitor by his uniform, and he was covered head to foot in a dark brown riding cloak. Evangeline just sighed heavily out of annoyance. With everything going on, attending to the demanding requests of her anonymous benefactor and his insufferable know-it-all emissary was something she did not want to deal with. She stepped out from inside the door and leaned against the door jam letting her father’s sword hang heavily at her side. The emissary’s timeless eyes ran down the length of her arm and to the weapon attached to it, not even attempting to suppress the amusement that lite up his eyes and tugged at his lips.

  “Do you even know how to use that thing?” he asked half seriously. Evangeline cocked her head to one side and narrowed her eyes at him. She grasped the hilt in both of her hands and lifted the blade up so that the point was angled underneath his diaphragm.

  “I’m not sure…we can find out if you like,” she taunted coolly. The emissary put his hands out defensively.

  “Whoa!” he said stepping back. “I just came here to chat.”

  “I don’t believe that.”

  “Well, it’s the truth. Are you going to let me in or what?”

  The Queen lowered her blade slowly. “Did anyone see you?” The emissary gave her another one of his amused smiles.

  “I’m pretty good about staying hidden.”

  Evangeline just scoffed as she let him inside her chambers, closed the door, and barred it securely. The messenger peered around her room curiously and watched as Evangeline placed the sword carefully back over the hearth. The emissary took it upon himself to walk the entire length of the room, examining a handful of her personal belongings in the process, although touching nothing. He stopped at the portrait of King Edgar and Queen Cecelia and stared at for a while as if committing the details of their faces to memory.

  “Northerners have such eccentric taste,” the emissary remarked as he ran his hands over the smooth surface of a polished and richly designed cherry wood chair. “But I like it,” he added before plopping down. Evangeline just crossed her arms in front of her breasts and glared at him.

  “What is it I can help you with Master…?” Her voice ended abruptly. “You know,” she added, “I don’t even have a name for you. What is it you go by anyway?” The emissary regarded this half seriously for a moment as he drummed his fingers on the armrest.

  “I think I’ll go by Heath,” he stated, initiating a roll of the Queen’s eyes.

  “But that’s not your name,” she presumed. This time Heath just frowned at her. He couldn’t tell if that was a question or a statement.

  “For all intensive purposes, my name is Heath,” the messenger repeated.

  “So, we’re still playing the game of secrets then?” She shifted her weight from one foot to the other as if becoming impatient with Heath’s unwillingness to be honest with her. “Well, Master Heath…what is it I can do for yo
u today?”

  Heath didn’t answer immediately, intent to annoy her further with his lack of candidness. He reached over to the table next to him and poured a cup of tea. Once a wedge of lemon was floating happily in the warm liquid, Heath answered Evangeline’s question.

  “Well is appears as though the prediction I made regarding an invasion by the Overlord of Nomanestan has already been set in motion. His troops are on the move as we speak. The masses have already advanced past the grasslands and into the hills. His battalions number in the thousands.” As he blew the steam off of his tea, Heath watched as Evangeline’s fair face twisted into a scowl.

  “You came all this way just to say I told you so!” she demanded.

  “I’m not here to insult you,” Heath quickly diffused. “But to check in.” He placed his cup of tea back down on the table and turned to face her. “I’m here on my Master’s behalf to ensure that his requests are still being carried out faithfully and that your men are still focused on mining the azurite, regardless of your extenuating circumstances. I know we’ve received two shipments from you already, but we would like to see more. Much more, and as soon as possible.”

  “Excavation is not an overnight process,” Evangeline explained harshly. “I have men working sixteen hours a day in the mines. Talan has been unrelenting with his team concerning the goals I’ve given him, and so far his men have performed as instructed. I will be honest, Heath. There are dozens of shipments of azurite prepared to go out. It’s sitting in holding, just until I have men available to move it through the mountains. But right now, your measly shipment of crystal isn’t what I’m focused on. I have to get my people ready for war!”

  Evangeline stopped talking and sighed heavily. She truly hoped this businessman could understand her predicament.

  “I’m beginning to think that working for…whoever it is I’m working for…is not beneficial at this time. While I am grateful for the opportunity to bring commerce back to Samaria, right now, I have more pressing matters to attend to.” Evangeline pulled a strand of loose chocolate hair behind her ear.

  “Even if you prevail through this war, Samaria will still have limited commerce to speak of,” Heath said. “The mines are still not producing the source of your wealth. Am I correct?” The Queen stiffened up, as if his question had struck a tender nerve in her body.

  Heath quickly continued. “Is the amount of payment we’ve been providing you not sufficient? Because I’m sure I can convince my Master to increase your compensation to two, maybe three times the current amount. With that money you’ll be able to begin reestablishing Samaria to its former glory. You’ll have the funds to support further mining or continue importing from other countries. You’d even be able to focus on initializing a different type of industry better suited to Samaria’s current state of economy. What I’m saying is that mining the azurite will open up more opportunities for you and your country.”

  Clearly, Heath’s explanation of their agreement made the flustered Queen rethink her course of action, because she remained silent for several minutes. She walked over to the burning hearth and placed her hands on the mantle. The elegant portrait of her mother and father adorned in all their regality looked down on her from above with dark painted eyes. She wished they were here to tell her what to do, what decision was the right one to make, so that she did not disgrace the Winnser name any more than she already had. Evangeline was suddenly aware that Heath had left his seat and standing right behind her. She turned around to face his ageless eyes.

  “While I appreciate your offer, I must decline any further agreements with you. You may take the last shipment of azurite we have prepared, but that will be all. It is my duty to reestablish Samaria’s economy and the confidence in my people. I cannot do that when I’m focusing on nothing other than mining azurite for an unknown buyer. I don’t need you or your Master’s charity. But regardless of all that, Samaria is preparing for war. Diverting from that course of action could result in being overtaken by the Nomans, which is not something I’m willing to do.”

  Evangeline looked at up him again. Her softened features and uncertain blue eyes unveiled to Heath the vulnerability hidden beneath the confident Queen’s exterior. The pressure of her current situation, plus her internal turmoil was getting to her, and soon she would break. Heath wasn’t sure what it would be that would break her, but when it happened, he’d be there to take advantage of it. Overall, the emissary admired the Queen’s tenacity, and in the grand scope of things, she’d bode well.

  Suddenly, Heath reached out and grabbed Evangeline gently by the elbows. She tightened her jaw and flinched slightly, reminding Heath that she still thought of him as a Slythos.

  “Look,” Heath said seriously, “I’m going to repeat what I told you several weeks ago. Olger crushes you in shear numbers. I know you plan on detonating the mines, but Olger has enough troops that his losses resulting from the blows won’t even phase them.”

  “How do you know all of this?” she asked, but Heath just shook his head.

  “That’s neither here nor there,” he said. “Now let me extend another offer to you. Continue to mine the azurite as you have been doing, and I will help you win this war. Then you can return to ruling Samaria as you see fit.”

  He stared at the Queen, trying to read the expression on her serious face, but to the emissary’s chagrin, Evangeline just burst out laughing.

  “You honestly think that I breeched the terms of contract with one tyrant just to enter into another with an even worse adversary? A Slythos!” She laughed till tears rimmed her blue eyes. “It’s punishable across the Realm to even mention the idea of witchcraft,” she continued, “and you’re asking me to willing employ your demonic sorcery to help me defend Samaria against a Noman invasion. No thank you! I’d rather be the enslaved to Olger himself than collude with a being like you.”

  “What exactly do you think we are?” Heath exploded, catching Evangeline off guard so that her clear melodic laugh abruptly ceased. “Does your asinine kind still believe that we’re nothing more than gifted thugs who wander the night, seeking to destroy the innocent?”

  Heath tightened his hold on her elbows and pulled her into him, shaking her violently with each word. “What do you even know about the Genesis anyway? About why our lands were divided? Because I guarantee it’s the same convoluted, disproportionate story I’ve heard from every single Commoner I’ve ever met!” Heath was yelling in her face now, and his anger was rapidly escalating.

  “Release your hold on me!” Evangeline demanded, and Heath shoved her away from him.

  “I’m not a monster,” he growled. “But I can be one if I want. Just as much as you can.” He walked two steps forward and lifted his arms as if to grab her, but she parried out of his way.

  Evangeline watched as the average sized man appeared to double in breadth, and her initial distrust of him quickly transformed into terrorizing fear. The veins lacing his arms and neck began to throb harder and faster, as if his pumping heart was being forced to push more and more energy through his angered body. His hands were palm up in the air, and he glared at her with fury filled eyes. The Queen staggered several paces and quickly took refuge behind her wingback chair near the balcony.

  “I’m offering my services to you, Queen Evangeline. I can do things beyond what your mind could even imagine. It would be wise if you accepted.”

  While he spoke, the blazing fire kindling in the hearth next to him extinguished completely, as if a great zephyr of wind had rushed through the chamber and sucked out all of the oxygen. The room went still and dark, and Evangeline lifted her head cautiously above the chair’s back to see what Heath was doing.

  To her utter horror, the man was now balancing a ball of fire between his hands, undoubtedly the fire stolen from the hearth itself. The blue luminescence of the heat lite up Heath’s face until nothing but the shadows underneath his eyes and lips could be seen.

  “Watch closely,” he commanded her. Heath
balanced the sphere of blue fire in one hand as its density began to change, expand, and regroup until it was no longer a blazing orb, but a warrior’s mace with a spiked ball attacked to a long chain. Its texture was translucent, like a web, and it was lit up from an unseen source. He cried out and swung it into the ground, digging the spikes into the floor causing a massive shift of stone. He drew back the mace, allowing the ball to swing next to him until it began to change again, but this time into a javelin. He launched it as hard as he could, and the spear sliced through the air and disappeared into nothingness.

  “You’ll need weapons, My Queen,” Heath sneered. “But trust me, I’m all the weapon you’ll need.”

  The blue fire had reappeared hovering like a spirit between them. To Evangeline’s shock, Heath grasped it hard then drew it back like one who is preparing to throw a ball, and hurled it at Evangeline. Or so she thought. The Queen screamed as the white-hot globe passed over her head leaving a trail of blinding light in its wake. It crashed into the linen curtains leading to the balcony and burst into flame. Evangeline gasped and ducked back to the ground, assuming that the fire would quickly spread and devour all the fine things in her chamber. She crawled away from the growing blazes that now howled and crackled in her ears. The heat tingled along her skin, drawing her in as it expanded, but she turned away from it.

  “Are you mad? Make it stop!” Evangeline yelled over the roar of the fire. Smoke was quickly gathering at the pinnacle of her ceiling, hovering over her like a black cloud. Evangeline closed her eyes, expecting the fire to consumer her at any moment, but when her death did not come, she opened one eye and saw Heath studying her intently. As if her torment was complete, Evangeline saw the emissary reach out his hands to call the raging fire back to him, and every that had happened reversed itself until Heath held the sphere of blue flame between his hands. He turned towards the hearth and threw it in where the charred timbers immediately caught fire once more.