“Don’t worry, my dear. Your concern for your people earns my respect, but you have my word, they are being cared for. They will be fed, given a comfortable place to play and sleep, checked over for injuries, and healed if need be.”
“Your hospitality is greatly appreciated, Your Majesty.” Ryleigh slid forward and placed a couple of rolls and some kind of purple fruit on her plate.
A woman entered with another tray. Steam rose from the huge bowls of soup she placed in front of each of them. “Will that be all, My Queen?”
“For now, thank you.”
The woman bowed to both Allura and Ryleigh, then turned and left.
Payton nibbled daintily on a roll.
Allura lifted a serving spoon, and her hand shook, belying her nerves. She lowered the spoon back into the bowl and settled on a roll. “Please. Tell me what’s happened in Cymmera. It’s been many centuries since I’ve kept up. How is Elijah? Is he well?”
Ryleigh swallowed the tears. She looked down into her bowl, unable to continue. She couldn’t even think about Elijah yet without losing control. She swirled the spoon around in her soup. The small whirlpool in the center sucked in bits of vegetables. “I’m sorry.”
“Ahh…” Allura leaned across the table and placed a hand over Ryleigh’s. Her expression softened. “I am sorry as well. Elijah was a good man. I had a true fondness for him.” She fell silent a moment while she sipped something red from a glass. “It seems Cymmera has fallen on hard times.”
“Yes. I’m afraid so.” The rich scent of the soup turned Ryleigh’s stomach. She pushed the bowl aside. “King Maynard was killed in battle by a magic arrow. Even our strongest healers weren’t able to save him. Then his oldest son, Jackson, was taken to the dungeons of Argonas and tortured. Thankfully, a couple of our men were able to rescue him. They were on their way out when he found Payton.”
All thanks to Kai and Chayce. Those traitors. The names stuck in the back of her throat, and she took a few sips of water. “And Elijah…Well, Elijah was killed recently. We fled right after that. Apparently, Elijah expected the…um…outcome. He’d been training a new prophet to take his place. That prophet was able to open the portal to your realm.”
Her stomach rumbled. She pressed a hand against it. At least the worst of the story was over.
Allura studied her a moment longer. “Please, eat something.”
Not wanting to appear ungrateful, Ryleigh tasted a spoonful of the soup. She sighed. Delicious. And it soothed the burning in her stomach.
Allura waited patiently while Ryleigh finished eating, even though a million questions must have been tormenting her.
With her stomach full, and the hardest parts of her story told, Ryleigh relaxed a little. There was something comforting about Allura’s presence, a kindness Ryleigh truly liked. Yet, she still exuded strength. She would make a good ally. And a wicked foe.
Ryleigh set her empty plate aside. “Thank you so much. Everything was delicious.”
Payton hadn’t eaten much, but at least she’d taken a few bites. It was better than nothing.
“I’m sure you must have questions.” Ryleigh settled back in the chair, ready to answer what she could.
Allura’s eyes twinkled with a tentative smile. “A few.”
“I’ll do my best to answer whatever I can, but I haven’t been there long, and unfortunately, I’m kind of learning as I go.”
“Well, then, perhaps we can find answers together.” Allura reached across the table and gripped Ryleigh’s arm in one of her ice cold hands; then she sat back and lifted her glass. “So, tell me, the man who killed King Maynard and tortured your mate, was his name Daygan?”
“No. Chayce Maynard.”
“The king’s youngest son?”
“Yes.”
“And he rules Argonas now?”
“Yes. With that creep Thaddeus.”
“Thaddeus. Yes. Now there’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time. But I don’t understand. If Thaddeus pledged his loyalty to Chayce, what happened to Daygan?”
Ryleigh cleared her throat, hesitant to upset any delicate alliance they might be forming. “Dead.”
Payton spoke for the first time. “Queen Ryleigh killed him.”
Allura stared at Ryleigh. “Is that true?”
Ryleigh nodded.
“Well, then, my dear, it seems you have done me more than one service.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Daygan was an old enemy. Many centuries ago, he invaded our realm, killed or enslaved all of our men and kidnapped the princess.”
Ryleigh would never get used to the shock of people having lived for centuries. This woman didn’t appear much older than Ryleigh. Definitely not old enough to have a daughter Payton’s age. Yet her maturity showed in the dignified way she carried herself. And the intense pain sometimes reflected in her eyes.
Allura turned to Payton. “I sense your discomfort, and I’ve tried to be patient, but please tell me what happened to you. Last I saw you, you were fighting alongside Luna. Then you were gone.”
Payton shrugged and looked at Ryleigh.
Allura gritted her teeth but let the matter drop. “Can you answer my questions, Queen Ryleigh?”
She’d do her best, but she didn’t have the answers Allura sought. “You know, it’s weird, but Payton’s story has never seemed right to me.”
Payton jumped to her feet. “I’ve told you the truth, Queen Ryleigh.”
“I don’t doubt that.” And she didn’t anymore. But something was still off. Her story was too rehearsed, too exact. The telling never varied, at all. “The whole thing just never seemed… I don’t know… It’s just too contrived.”
Payton bristled. “I didn’t make it up.”
“I believe you.” She squeezed Payton’s hand. “Sit. Let’s see if we can figure out what’s going on. Who knows? Maybe it will help us figure out what Chayce is up to, other than trying to take over the world.”
Payton nodded and resumed her seat on the edge of her chair.
“Tell me, please.” Allura propped her elbows on the table and clasped her hands.
Payton shrugged. “Fine. One day I was walking from my dormitory to my last class of the day, running late, as usual. Then everything was gone. Just like that.” She snapped her fingers. “I woke up in a luxurious bedroom with Daygan and Thaddeus standing over me.”
Allura frowned. “What did they tell you?”
“They said I was Daygan’s wife and that he’d taken me to another realm, and I couldn’t ever go home. They said I was no longer human.” Payton squirmed back into the chair, pulled her knees to her chest, and wrapped her arms around them. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”
“Just one more question. Okay?”
Payton played with the edge of her sleeve.
Allura rounded the table, leaned close, and pressed her mouth against Payton’s ear. She whispered something.
Payton nodded.
A scream of pure primal rage ripped from Allura’s lungs. She turned away from Payton and slammed her fists onto the table, spilling over several dishes and cups. She stared hard at Ryleigh. “And you killed him?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Then I am forever in your debt.” She lowered herself to her knee and bowed before Ryleigh, then stood and returned her attention to Payton. “Chayce Maynard. He continued the torture?”
Payton nodded. Tears soaked her cheeks.
“Why did you think you were human?”
“I don’t know. I guess because that’s what they said.” She wiped her tears with her sleeve. “But I also kind of remember it.”
“What exactly do you remember? Tell me everything you remember about being human.”
Payton closed her eyes. She might even have appeared relaxed if not for how tightly her hands clutched the arms of the chair. “I remember walking on a hard black path.”
“Black?” Allura reached out toward Payton but stopped herself and pulled her hand back.
“I don’t know. It’s hard and kind of bumpy.”
“Blacktop? Was it a street?” Ryleigh asked.
“I just don’t know. I’m not familiar with the substance. But I was definitely walking on it from my dorm to my class.”
Payton was not what she obviously believed. Any human would recognize blacktop.
“There were trees, but I’m not sure what kind.”
“What about buildings? Can you recall the building you left, the one you were headed toward?”
She slowly shook her head. “A vaguely square outline in the distance. That’s it. I’m sorry.”
Payton shoved to her feet almost knocking Allura over. She circled the platform.
With her gaze riveted on Payton, Allura pitched her voice low. “Faeries live in harmony with nature. We don’t destroy it to build our homes. Or anything else. Payton, what—”
“I don’t understand.” Ryleigh tried to give Payton a chance to compose herself. “Why does she remember being in the human realm and going to classes if it’s not true?”
“A false memory, but only a surface memory with no depth, planted by a very powerful sorcerer.” Allura paced the length of the table. “He erased her memory and replaced it with this nonsense. It probably didn’t ring true to you because it doesn’t hold up under questioning. She only remembers exactly what they planted.”
“Thaddeus.”
“I suspect so. Yes.” She crossed the platform and took Payton’s hand.
This time, Payton didn’t pull away.
“Please, sit down. I only have one more question for you, and then you can rest.”
Payton returned to her seat.
Allura backed away a little, giving Payton some space. “What about your wings?”
“I don’t have…” Her voice hitched. “Wings.”
“Please, Payton. Lift your shirt.”
Payton crossed her arms over her chest and paled.
Ryleigh stepped in front of her. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty, but as of right now, Payton is still one of my citizens and under my protection. If she’s not comfortable—”
Payton placed a delicate hand on Ryleigh’s arm. “It’s okay, Ryleigh.”
Allura squatted, facing Payton. She held both of her hands. “I sent Cyenne to gather the people you came with. On speaking with them, she found a woman who said she’s been working to heal you. Is that true?”
Payton nodded. “Kiara.”
“I’ve sent for her. She and a young girl who claims to be the Cymmeran prophet are waiting outside. Would you be more comfortable if she were present?”
“Yes, please.”
Allura waved in a come ahead gesture.
Cyenne entered with Mia and Kiara behind her.
Ryleigh gripped the armrests and checked the urge to jump up, run, and throw her arms around them. No sense letting these women see her close relationship with either of them when the truce between them was so new.
Allura’s hold on her emotions where Payton was concerned seemed tentative at best. She could probably turn to an enemy very quickly, given the right provocation.
Mia and Kiara both eyed Allura as they approached Ryleigh, dropped to one knee, folded their hands over the other knee, and bowed in the traditional greeting for the queen.
Ryleigh stood. “Mia and Kiara, this is Queen Allura.”
Mia shot Ryleigh a sideways glance.
Ryleigh offered a quick nod.
They both bowed to Queen Allura, then stood.
Kiara stepped forward. “Thank you for your hospitality, Your Majesty.”
“You’re very welcome, my dear. I trust you’ve both eaten?”
Mia nodded. “Yes, thank you. Everything was delicious.”
“Thank you both for coming.” She nodded to each of them in turn, then clasped one of Kiara’s hands in both of hers. “I understand you’ve been working to heal my…Payton. Thank you.”
“Of course, Your Majesty.”
“I have a favor to ask of you now.”
Kiara nodded. Her expression softened at the obvious pain in the queen’s eyes.
“You’ve healed the wounds on Payton’s back, I trust?”
“I did my best. Unfortunately, many of them are beyond my abilities.”
“Magic?”
“Yes.”
Allura sucked in a deep breath and stiffened. “Payton seems to trust you. Would you please help me check for something?”
“Yes, as long as Payton agrees.”
“Very well. Thank you. Turn around, please, Payton.”
Payton pressed her cheek against Kiara’s shoulder. Even standing next to Kiara, who was a small woman, she appeared tiny.
Kiara gripped the hem at the back of Payton’s shirt and lifted it over her shoulders, baring the scars mutilating her back.
Allura gasped and pressed a hand against her mouth. Tears glistened as they fell down her cheeks. “Oh no.”
Kiara had told Ryleigh Payton had scars she hadn’t been able to heal. But the thick, ropy scars stretched haphazardly across her back were shocking.
Allura’s hand trembled violently as she ran her fingers over the scars. “What have they done to you?”
Payton sobbed on Kiara’s shoulder.
“I don’t understand.” Ryleigh stared at the scars. She followed the lines Allura’s hand traced. Two parallel scars, mostly obliterated by the others, but still discernable.
“They removed them.”
“Her wings?”
“Yes.”
“But why would they do that?”
“It’s dark magic that uses faerie wings. Only one purpose I know of. And Thaddeus is strong enough and dark enough to use it.” She lowered Payton’s shirt and turned away.
“What?” Ryleigh plopped onto her seat. Her head spun.
“He’s opened the Realm of the Dead.”
“Why would he do that?”
“To bring forth an army of phantoms, soulless creatures, to fight blindly for him.” Allura paled as she lowered herself to the nearest seat.
“Are you talking about the savages?”
“No. His savages are nothing compared to these creatures.”
Everything in Ryleigh stilled. She’d fought the savages, more than once. They were definitely something. “If he called forth an army, wouldn’t they have invaded Cymmera instead of the savages?”
Cyenne moved behind Allura and placed a hand on her shoulder.
Allura’s hand trembled violently as she reached up and covered Cyenne’s hand with her own. “Even the most powerful sorcerer in existence would have difficulty commanding the army of the dead. They don’t accept orders lightly or follow blindly as his other armies do. These creatures…” A chill shook her slight frame. “They are intelligent and evil. Pure evil.”
“What do they look like?” Suddenly parched, Ryleigh grabbed a glass of water and lifted it to her mouth.
“Nothing. To humans they appear as spirits or smoke.”
Ryleigh choked, and the water sprayed onto the floor. Tears streamed from her eyes. She heaved in a shaky breath.
Kiara pressed a hand against her back. “Are you all right?”
Ryleigh waved her off as she tried to get her breathing back under control. The memory of the smoke monster who’d invaded her mind when Kai had first taken her hostage brought a wave of nausea. She hadn’t been sure it was real. The feeling of that vile, repulsive creature seeping into her head, searching through her thoughts, slammed through her with incredible force, as if it were happening all over again.
She jumped to her feet, knocking her chair to the floor behind her.
Allura’s eyes narrowed. “Tell me.”
“I think he has one.” Her voice trembled with the effort to speak. “I think he used it on me.”
She grabbed Ry
leigh’s hands. “What did it feel like?”
Warmth seeped into her at Allura’s touch. “Horrible. Disgusting. I wasn’t even sure it was real. I was surrounded by smoke, but I could feel it inside me. Thaddeus asked it if Jackson had followed me. That thing invaded my mind, stole my thoughts. Are you saying there could be more of those things?” No way could she deal with that. “How would we even fight something like that? It’s not…um…solid. There’s nothing substantial there. Like smoke.”
“They can only be fought with magic. If he has truly called them forth, he’ll exhaust all other options first. Any army of physical beings he can assemble will come before an attack from the undead.”
“How can you be sure?”
“Because, my dear, they are too unstable. They swear no allegiance but to the sorcerer who summoned them.”
“Thaddeus.”
“Yes. And from what I know of Thaddeus, he swears allegiance to whomever is most profitable at any given moment. Which is to say he shows no true allegiance to anyone. Chayce would be a fool to trust that man.”
“Well, he’s no fool, but he is a cocky bastard, and he believes all of his followers bow to him, worship him.”
Allura laughed, a shrill, unpleasant sound that pierced Ryleigh’s brain like nails on a chalkboard.
A chill raced through her, and she longed for the warmth of Jackson’s embrace.
“Arrogance has been the downfall of many men. And so it will be with Chayce Maynard. If he is fool enough to call on Thaddeus to unleash the dead, he will perish in the fight. And Thaddeus will finally take control.”
“Thaddeus?”
“Yes. He has always been content to allow others the pretense of leadership. It allows him the freedom to do what he wants but still have unwavering control of his people. And no scrutiny whatsoever.”
“Do you think they’ll just kill each other?” That sure would make Ryleigh’s life easier. Maybe she could just hang out and wait until they did away with each other, then regain control of her land.
“If only things were that simple. The only way to defeat the undead is with magic. Strong magic. Unfortunately, Elijah is the only other sorcerer I know of with the skill, the knowledge, and the tools needed to destroy them and send them back to their realm.”
“What tools?” Mia spoke hesitantly.
Battle for Cymmera Page 15