A Kingdom Lost

by Barbara Ann Wright

  Starbride let go of Hugo. It wasn’t her decision to make alone. “Many of your brothers and sisters probably have these pyramids now. If we’re going to get them out, we’ll have to do it without using detection pyramids.”

  Master Bernard cleared his throat. “That might cause them to detonate, too.”

  “We could leave them as they are,” Starbride said.

  Scarra bit her lip. “They wouldn’t want to be slaves.”

  Fury nodded. “They won’t care what the risk is. They’d rather go down fighting.”

  “I’m…very sorry about Rage,” Starbride said.

  “He died free,” Scarra said. Her voice had hardened to the woman Starbride recalled from her memory, though she leaned down and closed Rage’s eyes. “If we can give the others the same, let’s do it.”

  “I’ll help any way I can,” Master Bernard said.

  Still staring at the body, Hugo nodded. Dawnmother gripped Starbride’s shoulder and gave her a look that said she’d never have to ask for help.

  “We need to get to Ruin or Blade,” Scarra said, “and free their minds. They’d know the best way to get everyone else.”

  “No one’s seen Blade, though,” Fury said.

  “I think I can get Ruin alone, and then you can hypnotize him like you did us, Princess Consort. Tonight, near the chapterhouse.”

  “If…the Fiend king sent you to find us,” Hugo said, “and you haven’t come back, he’ll know something happened.”

  “So I’ll go back,” Scarra said, “tell Ruin there were too many of you, that you got Rage and Fury.”

  “He won’t just follow you out of the chapterhouse,” Fury said. “He’ll want a full report, and you’re shit at lying.”

  Before they could get in an argument, Starbride said, “Then we go in after him. The Fiend king can’t be everywhere at once. He might not expect us to go breaking into a strength chapterhouse. Not tonight, though,” she added before they could begin to plan. “The person we need the most for this job is currently skulking around Dockland.”

  “I hate waiting,” Scarra muttered.

  “His skills will be helpful,” Hugo said quietly. Starbride could have hugged him. Besides waiting for Pennynail, they had a body to bury, something else they’d have to do in secret.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Katya

  Katya watched the Allusians setting up tents and gathering equipment and provisions outside the walls of Newhope. A number of adsnazi came down from the hills to join them. Seemed many people were taking Da up on his offer to come and see a Fiend for themselves.

  Hawkblade and her fellow nomads camped beside them, mobile towns with families, tents, and horses, all of it able to be packed and traveling within a few hours. Katya cringed at the thought of taking children to war, but she supposed the nomads knew what they were doing. After all, she wasn’t leaving her niece and nephew behind in Allusia.

  Leafclever and Redtrue organized the adsnaziand those who camped near them as well. Katya suggested separating everyone into groups, pairing those with combat experience with those who had none. The nomads taught anyone who had the will.

  Brightstriving arrived at the camp mid-morning. Katya groaned, certain they were in for another confrontation, but Brightstriving only said, “Good morning,” and stuck to Katya’s side. Speaking Allusian and Farradain fluently, she offered advice, echoed Katya’s suggestions, and when she had to, spoke in a quiet, almost deadly voice to those who resisted.

  Sunjoyful helped manage the provisions, sorting food and making lists. He was as much a natural organizer as his wife, only a lot softer about it. At the moment, Katya was glad to have Brightstriving’s volume. “I can’t tell you how grateful I am for your help,” Katya said.

  “I do it for my daughter’s sake, but I accept your thanks. I’m glad you are wise enough to take help when it is offered.”

  “Let’s thank both the spirits of wisdom and Horsestrong for that one.”

  In the afternoon, Katya caught Brutal as he made his own rounds among their slowly growing army. “How are they looking?” she asked.

  He glanced over to where people were training. “Most look like sheep trying to use a pitchfork, but they’ll come around. And, uh, I know you told me to leave it alone, but I couldn’t stand Castelle’s moping any longer.”

  “Did you hit her, too?”

  “I just reminded her that when she inherited her noble title, she swore an oath to protect the crown at all costs.”

  Katya had to laugh. “They all have to say that, but look how many took it seriously.”

  “Seemed to wake her up a little. And I spoke to Redtrue for you. After a lot of sighing and eye rolling, I got her to promise she won’t give up on contacting Starbride just because we’re on the move.”

  She could have hugged him. “Thank you, Brutal.”

  “Thank me by beating Roland into paste.”

  “As you command.”

  With a lighter heart, Katya returned to her parents’ tent to look over local maps. So far, Ma had taken over the duties of writing flowery letters to the nearest nobles, making the borders ornate, and drawing a crown with the hawk crest of the Umbriels at the top. They’d already gotten a response from Count Mathias of Baelfest, just inside Farraday’s border. Ma sent out invitations to other nobles to meet the royal party there.

  Ma used sparkling pins near her temples and the back of her hair, giving the illusion of a crown where there wasn’t one. She wore fine clothes from Allusia: tight fitting trousers with a loose shirt held under a bodice. Instead of Starbride’s jewel tones, Ma stuck to a pale blue that complimented her fair hair and light blue eyes. They were quite a pair, the king in his Farradain finery and the queen complimenting Allusia. Katya wondered if she should commission an outfit that was half and half.

  “If we were lost in the desert,” Katya said, “you’d make a suit fit for a ball out of mud, Ma.”

  Ma’s mouth turned down. “I suppose that’s a compliment.”

  “On your ingenuity.”

  “To the nobles, power has markers. We have to put on a show, even with everything that’s happening.”

  Katya nodded. She knew the importance of show. She used it all the time. The Allusians loaned them some of their best horses, all with polished tack and saddles. Katya thought they cut a fine figure, maybe not quite as fine as in Marienne, but better than they had in a long time. Even Dayscout seemed impressed as he rode with them.

  Count Mathias met them at the gate to his estate. Together with Brutal, Castelle, her friends, and a band of Newhope’s guard, the royal party was large, but Count Mathias regarded them calmly.

  He wore a dark green coat of fine make, but it wasn’t that or his leather breeches that caught Katya’s eye. An enormous bearskin cloak cascaded down the back of his black horse. The cowl, the bear’s head, was down, revealing dark stubble on Mathias’s nearly bald head.

  He made an awkward bow from his saddle, his dark eyes never leaving Katya’s father. His full black beard was neatly combed, and he didn’t have a spot of mud on him. From the wilderness he might have been, but he knew how to dress for visitors.

  “Majesties, Governor,” Count Mathias said, “welcome to Baelfest.”

  “Thank you for greeting us personally,” Da said with a smile.

  “And for opening your home to other nobles,” Ma said.

  Count Mathias’ eyes shifted to her, and he smiled a trifle nervously. “I have no courtly spouse, Majesty, so I’m afraid my hospitality might be a little rougher than you’re used to.”

  Ma gestured at the forest that had begun shortly after they’d left Allusia. “In nature, one finds all the beauty one desires, Count Mathias, and a welcoming home is never a rough one.”

  “Well said.” Dayscout beamed. “It’s nice to see you again, Count Mathias.”

  “Governor. Shall we ride to the house?”

  He fell in beside Katya’s father. Katya stayed on Da’s right. The ot
her guards fanned out as much as the road would allow. Several of the count’s men walked with them, leading hunting dogs.

  “Do you do a lot of hunting, Count Mathias?” Katya asked.

  “It’s a way of life out here, Highness. We keep very few animals, so hunting provides for my household, the farmers that live on my estate, and many in the village beyond. I have heard that you enjoyed a spot of hunting yourself.”

  Katya didn’t miss the past tense. Count Mathias knew what had happened, and he wasn’t entirely ignorant of court if he’d heard of her persona. He might even think her as silly as the character she’d so carefully crafted.

  “My days of idle hunting are over,” Katya said. “I’ve seen what can be lost and what must be regained.”

  He only nodded.

  Count Mathias’ house was made from logs instead of stone but still had two floors, and judging by the windows, at least five rooms on each floor. A butler answered the door, but he threw it open as if he wasn’t used to providing that service for his lord. Katya wondered if he’d only been given the job that afternoon. Or maybe he was much better versed in helping Count Mathias during the hunt than at the house. He took everyone’s cloaks and hung them up. Count Mathias led them through a foyer to a study. One of the walls was lined with bookshelves, but the others sported weapons of every variety as well as a multitude of animal trophies.

  A fire roared in the huge stone fireplace, and several well-worn but comfortable looking sofas dotted the room. “Please, sit where you like,” Count Mathias said.

  Ma, Da, and Dayscout sat on a sofa near the center of the room, Count Mathias opposite them. Katya sat near a window. Brutal lingered near the corner, and Castelle took a sofa not far from Katya. The rest remained out in the hall.

  Count Mathias glanced at everyone. “There’s no need to have your guard present, I assure you.”

  Da gestured over his shoulder. “Brother Brutal is a childhood friend of my daughter’s and accompanies her everywhere. And Baroness Castelle Burenne deserves to be here according to her rank.”

  Count Mathias nodded slowly. “Well, then welcome, Baroness, Brother Brutal. Shall we come to it? I’d prefer not to wait for the others. And it might do me good to hear it twice.”

  “You know of the troubles facing our kingdom,” Da said.

  Count Mathias chewed his mustache before he called over his shoulder, “Bring it in.”

  Castelle and Katya leapt from their chairs. Da signaled them to wait as two of Count Mathias’ men brought in a corpse. Not just any corpse, Katya saw as she stepped closer. This one had the gray look of someone who’d been dead for days, and the divot in its forehead held a sparkling residue of crystal.

  Dayscout crept to Katya’s side. “Horsestrong preserve us. Is that…”

  “Yes,” Katya answered.

  Once they’d had a good look, Mathias said, “Burn it.” He looked back to Da as his men took the corpse out. “Hardest fight of my life. Took two of my men before we killed it, before I figured out how to kill it. I trust you know already.”

  “To kill this one and worse,” Katya said.

  “Worse?”

  “That’s only a corpse Fiend, a dead person with a bit of Fiendish essence.”

  “Dead people up and walking?” Dayscout asked.

  “We did warn you, Governor,” Katya said. “There are other Fiends who have the essence in them while they still live, and there’s no pyramid in their forehead to aim for.” There were two of them in the room, though not everyone knew it.

  Count Mathias leaned forward. “As I see it, Majesties, you’re telling me I have the chance to defend me and mine, all the folks who depend on me, and hunt the most ferocious creatures I’ve encountered in the whole of my life?”

  Da tilted his head. “I’ve never heard the last bit, but yes.”

  Count Mathias grinned widely. “Tell me where to point my spear.”

  “And he didn’t even need a parliament,” Dayscout whispered in Katya’s ear.

  “I hope the rest of the nobles agree with you, Count Mathias,” Ma said.

  “I fear they will not, Majesty. Some of the nobles who were in Marienne during the trouble are out here now, staying with kin or demanding space from those they outrank. They won’t be eager to reenter the fray or to let you take their guards. If they’ve run afoul of these corpse Fiends, that will make them all the more reluctant to give you their support. The narrow-minded will argue for digging in here and starting afresh.”

  “Abandon Marienne and build a new one, simple as that?” Ma asked.

  Dayscout sat again. “It might seem that simple to those that think houses are built by magic and that the wind delivers the tea.”

  “I’ll bet they’re running low on all the food they were used to,” Ma said. “Perhaps your hospitality could find itself even…rougher, Count Mathias.”

  “That it could, Majesty. I didn’t hear of any dukes among the nobles’ company. Perhaps if they saw the highest of them living low…”

  “Something like that,” Ma said.

  *

  The first group of nobles arrived in a clump. Their charge was led by a baroness and a viscount who’d infringed upon the hospitality of the first lower ranking noble they’d found out there, Lord Kline. He was a country lord like Count Mathias, with only a large house on the outskirts of a village; he had no property to speak of. Katya was betting the nobles he was sheltering had eaten him out of house and home already. Count Mathias was lucky his rank was too high for them to infringe upon him.

  Lord Kline had a wide-eyed, hollow look, as if explosive pyramids were constantly going off around him. The viscount and the baroness staying with him were both from lands on the other side of the Lavine River, so far from where they were now that it might as well have been on the other side of the world. Except for Lord Kline, all the lords and ladies with them had been at court, most of them having escaped together. They complained long of their journey and almost as long about their current accommodations as they clustered in Count Mathias’s study.

  Those desiring sugar or coffee were put off with an apology. Count Mathias had let his fire burn low, and the room was chilly, even with all its occupants. They drank a local tea that was harshly bitter without something to dilute it. Ma sipped hers with no trace of a grimace on her features, though Katya bet she swore inside.

  “You don’t actually need us to fight, right, Majesty?” one of the lords asked. “I mean, you just need soldiers. There are plenty of people in the villages.” Others nodded, as if the villages were stuffed with disposable people.

  Da shook his head gravely. “We must all ride together. The more of us there are seen supporting the common people, the greater the numbers that will join our banner.”

  “But can’t you just…command them to follow you?” the viscount asked.

  “As I can command you, you mean.” As the viscount blanched, Da looked to the rest of them. “We don’t have the manpower to press people into service.”

  “Besides,” Katya drawled, “that only works well on ships, where you have a captive workforce. On land, they could just run away.”

  “Will you join us,” Da asked Lord Kline, “and ask your people to join us as well?”

  “I…” He cleared his throat. “I’m a farmer.”

  The other lords and ladies laughed, and Lord Kline went scarlet to his ears. Da clapped him on the shoulder. “A farmer the people know and respect, Kline. Don’t worry about rousing speeches; leave those to me. All you need do is stand with me. We’ll leave enough people behind so that those returning from war will have something to eat, but we need as many as can be spared, and those need to be trained. The opponent we face is a fierce one, as Count Mathias can tell you.”

  “But we can stay behind once you have the recruits you need?” one of the ladies asked.

  Katya wanted to shake them and shout, “What if it’s your own skins? Would you fight then?”

  “The cinnamon
shipments will be coming into Marienne soon,” Ma said. “And velvet from upriver, just in time for the Winter Ball.” Every eye in the room turned to her. “You know, I remember last year’s party particularly well. We watched from the balconies of the palace as the candle parade wound through the streets, and the chef made those sumptuous cinnamon twists. We stayed up far too late and drank too much spiced wine.” She sighed, a happy smile on her face that was echoed by many in the room. “When we finally fell into our featherbeds that night, we must have slept until noon the next day and had to have more spiced wine for medicinal purposes. Snug by the fire, I can still feel the warmth of a new robe around my shoulders.” She took a sip of the revolting tea, her eyes fixed on nothing.

  The nobles glanced at their own teacups, at one another, at their surroundings.

  “When do we leave?” the viscount said quietly.

  Da smiled softly. “First light.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Starbride

  While Starbride waited for Pennynail’s return, she decided to speak to Dawnmother about a problem she’d been avoiding too long. “How is Averie?”

  “Getting stronger every day. She should be ready for the pyramid.”

  Starbride grimaced at her matter-of-fact tone. They hadn’t found any new scars on Averie’s body, but that didn’t mean Roland had left her mind alone. They’d needed her to be a little stronger before Starbride could use a mind pyramid on her, and now there was no putting it off. Starbride tried to banish the memory of Rage’s body from her mind.

  She and Dawnmother entered the small space that housed Averie’s cot. Her eyes flicked open as they entered. That was a good sign. When they’d first rescued her, she would hardly wake for anything.