by J. Kirsch
I was wracking my brain for what this could mean, and for any bargaining chip I could somehow produce out of thin air.
Then I remembered a fleeting scene from one of my maid's old legends. It was a far-fetched hope, but it was a hope. I had to believe that my maid's stories were based on at least an ounce of truth, didn't I?
"But you have every reason to let me live. I have been poorly treated by the humans in power, by the Knights of Arkor who hate you just as much as they hate me. Haven't you heard how I was unjustly condemned to die, and then sent away in disgrace? I have no more faith in humanity than you do, but some humans are better than others. I am one of them. I promise you, if you'll let me go free, that I will go to your people and make the Black Kingdom your ally. And if my husband has somehow wronged your people, I will make him see the error of his judgments."
I wasn't sure if my little speech worked, but I felt the ogre's grip loosen a fraction more.
"Why would we believe you, Najika? Humans lie all the time. A good human is usually a dead human."
"Because you're smarter than me. You said it yourself; you have two brains to my one. Look into my eyes, great Kahg and Hahg, and tell me if I'm lying. I have no doubt that with me naked and helpless in your grip, not to mention absolutely terrified, that if I were to lie to you right now, you would know it. You would know it. Wouldn't you?"
Here was where I had to pray that my maid's stories were right. Was their arrogance as towering as I hoped it was? As prone to flattery?
Hahg gave me a doubtful look. The left head turned to the ogre's right head. Kahg seemed to be chewing on his bottom lip.
"The human woman does have a point. What exactly is your promise to us, Najika? Say the words, and be precise."
Hope flared in my chest like a fire being fed twigs with gale force winds surrounding it.
"I, Najika, Queen of the Black Kingdom, swear to visit your people within a week's time, to present myself before your leader, and to do everything in my power to prove to you that my husband and the humans of the Black Kingdom are the lesser evil. That we want, if not friendship, then at least an alliance which benefits both sides."
"And will you bring an army with you for these negotiations? Or will you come yourself, with just a few servants from your royal household?" Kahg and Hahg looked at me intently, and I knew this was where I could either screw things up royally or save my butt.
"I will only bring a few trusted advisors and servants. No one else."
Hahg slowly nodded, and Kahg grunted his assent. "Okay, human. We know you are telling the truth."
I could have been lying through my teeth, but it was good to know that my flattery and their arrogant faith in their intelligence made such a good team.
The ogre's hand slowly lowered me to the ground. They'd scared away my horse, and it looked like I would be hoofing it on foot the rest of the way to the castle.
"You will come north to the Cloudpeaks and talk to our people, Queen Najika of the Black Kingdom. We will be expecting you." With that the ogre crashed into the night as the tall, swaying grasses parted for his advance. I sat on the ground, my heart hammering through my chest like an ogre-sized drum being pounded.
My mind tried to make the connections. What could Drake's brothers provide that the ogres would want? Why would the ogres want to jeopardize the unofficial alliance that had existed between them and the Black Knight's household for nearly 250 years?
There would have to be time for answers later. I had a long sprint ahead of me, in bare feet in the dark, and I was definitely not looking forward to it.
Chapter 12
The setting sunlight shaved the horizon with a knife of peach gold brilliance. The sight should have brought poetic thoughts to my mind, if I'd cared much about poetry. Which I didn't. And even if I had, my mood wasn't helping.
Bronwyn, ever-faithful Bronwyn, was a soothing shadow which mirrored my every move. Unfortunately for her, that involved me stalking back and forth in front of the window and wearing a ragged ditch through the carpeting. My abrupt turns made following me difficult, not to mention rife with the possibility of bodily collision.
"I've told him everything, and what has he told me in return? Nothing!" I walked faster, biting my lip and fingering the hilt of my sword. I was wearing a hunting tunic and leggings underneath a leather breastplate and shoulder armor. They gave me a nice, lethal air. I had told the servants to ready my black chainmail, weapons, and warhorse just in case. If the conspiracy went beyond the princes, then who could be trusted?
"My Lady, I'm sure that the Black Knight will tell you everything once he has something he can verify. You must give him time to make contact with his sources. You know of his special gift—to see through the eyes of the spies he trusts who are spread all across the Kingdoms of Arkor."
When I sighed and fisted my hands in frustration, Bronwyn barreled on. "You know that he has taken the information you gave him and is using it well. Why are you so angry?"
I rounded on Bronwyn, and if words could blister mine certainly would have.
"What about Drake's interrogation of the assassins in private? There was no reason I could not have been there for the questioning! We are supposed to be in this together, Bronwyn. I am his Queen, not a wide-eyed girlfriend!"
I quietly wondered what Drake's methods with the assassins had been. Had he tortured them in the dungeons? It seemed likely. Regardless, I should have had input. I would have declared a resounding 'No!' to torture. Was that why he'd kept me out?
We'd barely been married a day, but I was already furious with Drake.
The double doors of the Black Knight's private conference chamber opened wide with a grand sweep. Sir Drake stepped out with several advisors flanking him like fawning little imps. I tried to remember their names, but couldn't. It wasn't very fair of me. They were good men. But right now I was in no mood to deal with them, and their braided white beards made me want to make bird's nests out of all their faces.
"Naji, please. Come." Drake gestured me into the conference chamber I'd seen only a handful of times.
When we stepped through I tried to ignore the feeling of awe that spread through my soul as I looked up. Above loomed a sky of ceiling tapestries depicting giant dragons spewing emerald fire at one-eyed monsters whose talons were longer than mountaintops.
Slowly my gaze came back to eye level and narrowed on him.
"I can see that you are angry with me, Naji."
"Lovely. It's refreshing to know that your amazing intellect can detect at least that much," I shot back with plenty of acid. "But to earn the true prize why don't you tell me why I'm angry, husband of mine."
Dressed in his court finery, a tight-fitting black doublet and hose with ebony-fringed boots, Drake cut an impressive figure. Yet the look he gave me was one of a child found with his hand in the cookie jar.
"Forgive me, Naji. I was trying to protect you from this…"
"I don't need that kind of protecting, Drake. It's your duty to stand by me, and to let me stand by you. I thought that's what this entire marriage, Knight-and-his-Queen thing was about." I gave him a gaze of steel that said if it was about anything else, he was going to lose a significant piece of his anatomy.
Drake put his hands up. "Okay, okay. This is the truth. The truth is that one of the assassins was cooperative. He'd been forced to take up the mission against his will, with his family held as collateral for the job. He doesn't trust them, though, and he decided he would rather betray his domineering masters and at least get some vengeance for the loss of his wife and children."
I quirked an eyebrow, suppressing a shudder. "He sounds like either a ruthless man or a snake willing to do anything to save his own skin. How do you know we can trust what he says?"
"Because what he says checks out with what I've been able to see through the eyes of my spies. And from what little I've been able to get out of my brothers."
My face softened at Drake's mention of his brother
s. I saw the pain zigzag across his face as he referred to a betrayal that couldn't get more personal. Then I thought of my own family. Of my father, who'd torn open my heart the day I found out he would not try to defend me in front of the Conclave. Or the day I stood there as he let me nearly be condemned to die and then banished without a single protest.
"I'm sorry this has happened, Drake. Sweet mercy, I know there's nothing I can say." I crossed the room to him, cupping his tortured face between my hands and giving him a proper kiss.
As we drew apart, though, I sensed a reluctance in him. Whatever he was about to reveal, the idea of walking barefoot over a bed of needles seemed far more attractive to my husband.
"What is it? What did the assassin confess?"
"You want the short version or the long version?"
"Give me the short version and add in the really juicy parts," I said, trying to lighten up an awful situation.
"My brother Ecthor has secretly resented my place as heir to the Black Kingdom. For over a decade he has let his resentment fester, conjuring plots, until finally the spark came for him to act on it. My marriage to you meant that I might soon have heirs of my own. That his place in the royal succession would become well out of reach."
My hands clenched. That son of a…
"The fact that you were a princess from the White Kingdom we called our enemy made it even easier for Ecthor to delude himself into thinking that his personal ambition was a righteous cause. He convinced himself that I was being misled by a seductive temptress intent on stealing our Kingdom, that you would murder me and give the White Kingdom an opportunity to invade. In accepting you and making you my Queen, I am just as much to blame and just as unforgivable in his mind. Fraey followed Ecthor's lead, as he's always done—ever since we were children."
I took Drake's hand in mine, using touch for comfort. What else could I do?
"What I didn't count on, though, was that he would make contact with other enemies I least expected. The Red Queen and the Green Knight."
Drake must have seen me pale as my jaw clenched and my fingers swirled firmly around my sword hilt. I should have killed that woman. I should have killed the mother of the monster I first married. Lady Egwen.
Drake's hand strayed to my cheek, stroking it calmly as if to make the truth any more palatable. "Ecthor thought he was making a deal with the Red Queen and the Green Knight. The so-called arrangement was that they would send in assassins disguised as royal ambassadors from the other Kingdoms of Arkor. They would help Ecthor kill us and then place him on the throne, supposedly forging a new alliance."
I shook my head. The naïve fool. I almost said the words out loud, but then realized that trashing Drake's brother would only tear a new gaping wound in what were probably already raw emotions.
"I know, and what the Red Queen didn't tell my brother was that the assassins had replaced real ambassadors sent by all the different Kingdoms. By killing them discreetly near the border with the Black Kingdom and then disposing of their bodies, the Red Queen has left us as the primary scapegoat."
I was starting to see how the threads connected. My heart nearly froze.
"If what you're saying is true," I replied, "then the Kingdoms will not believe us when we say that we were not the ones who killed the ambassadors. They will see the slaying of the ambassadors meant to attend my wedding as an act of barbarity. They'll demand revenge."
Drake grimaced. "I'm afraid so. It means that we may see something we haven't seen in over 70 years. A combined army from all the colors, from every Kingdom in Arkor, united and determined on a retaliatory strike against the Black Kingdom."
I tried to sound hopeful. "But the Black Kingdom has weathered such invasions before, hasn't it? Some of the tragic legends I was taught as a girl in the White Kingdom tell of smashed armies on the black crags around the 'Kingdom That Has No Name.'" That was derogatory slang for the Black Kingdom throughout the rest of Arkor.
Drake shook his head sadly. "My grandfather was a young boy the last time we had to fight off such an onslaught, and back then it was different. Then we knew that the ogres would stand by us. But your encounter with Kahg-Hahg tells us that this isn't something we can count on. We need to find out why, and before it's too late. I've been taking their loyalty for granted for too long. The armies of all the other colors are already making the preparations for war. We don't have much time."
I chuckled, but there wasn't any humor in it. "So even if Ecthor had managed to kill both of us, he would've been washed away by the tide of the combined armies of the other Kingdoms at the Red Queen's urging. She would have used him as a scapegoat for the death of all the ambassadors, just as she's using us."
My husband gently took both my hands in his. We stood there, our eyes exchanging flickers of doubt and love, each of us trying to find strength from the other's example.
"I almost admire the old bat. She's a shrewd politician," I admitted, surprised that such words could come out of my mouth.
"I'll assume that doesn't mean you want her any less dead," Drake replied, giving me a dark grin.
I gave him a full kiss on the lips, then drew back with a dark smirk of my own.
Chapter 13
"If we're going to be travelling together for two days, dear, then you may as well make the most of it and talk to me."
This was my mother-in-law's fourth request, just couched in different vocabulary, at getting me to open up. She must not have thought me too bright. Like a merchant trying to sell me an overpriced piece of fruit, she thought that changing the name of 'apple' to 'delicious red thing' would somehow change my mind.
"And no, dear girl, I do not think you're stupid. I'm sure you heard me the first three times. I'm only hoping that my persistence will win out. You strike me as a stubborn girl—not that I'm complaining. I was just as stubborn at your age…" Could the woman read minds? I tried to filter out the insistent melody of her voice.
I glanced over at Lady Vaela, envious by what I saw. She wore a loose-fitting blue tunic and trousers which made her look far more martial than her typical ladylike wardrobe allowed. She had this imperious air to her, yet somehow managed to reveal kindness in the pull of her face. She reminded me of a goodhearted chameleon. Someone who could be what those around her needed her to be, in the time they needed it.
"Lady Vaela, look…"
"Please, call me Vae."
I sighed. She was going to make this journey as difficult as possible, wasn't she?
"Look…Vae." It seemed wrong to call my mother-in-law by a nickname. So incredibly wrong.
I swallowed and tried again. "Lady Vaela, I appreciate what you did for me back there. I know Drake is less than happy about the two of us leading this diplomatic mission to solidify the ogres' support."
Lady Vaela gave me a shrewd stare, her lips turning up. "I would call 'less than happy' an understatement, dear girl. Wouldn’t you? I've never seen my son's face turn that shade of red before."
"What choice did we have? The ogres have a matriarchal society. You said it yourself, Lady Vaela. The ogre Queen is more likely to respect my authority than any other human. They dislike humans and human customs, and in making me Drake's co-equal as Queen, we're at least sharing the ogre custom of a powerful female ruler. If this mission matters, then I'm the one who needs to lead it."
Lady Vaela huffed. "You're speaking to the choir, Najika. I must admit, I was impressed by how quickly you grasped the situation. I also happened to overhear of your bravery in defending my son on your wedding night. I completely underestimated you."
The infuriating woman actually graced me with a radiant smile. I wanted to smack her with my gauntleted fist.
I rode horseback in full chainmail in the hot sun, cooking from the inside out. That probably didn't enlarge my patience, and the fact that Lady Vaela had subjected me to an eleven-month-long mother-in-law hazing ritual, treating me with the coldness of ice, didn't make me want to warm up to her.
But aft
er the first eleven months, ever since her son proposed to me, well, she had begun to accept me. To thaw. Maybe that counted for something, and I couldn't forget what she'd done for me on my wedding night.
I scanned left and right, seeing nothing but wildflowers and crops thriving in the fields. This easy, flat part of the journey would last the better part of the day, but after that it was a rough road. The Rotting Hills stood between us and the ogre country in the Cloudpeak Mountains.
Bronwyn rode on the other side of me, wisely keeping quiet. I sensed her desire to disappear, but I think she felt that her presence might make me slightly less irritable, so she stayed and endured what I thought might become the most painful conversation in human history.
Then, as if I'd just jinxed myself by the very thought, it did.
"I will also be the first to admit, Najika, that I am more than a little curious. Did you and my son get a chance to, hmm, how shall we say…enjoy one another's company before being nearly killed?"
My face must have frozen in shock. I just looked at her. What else could I do? I guess, like every stereotypical mother-in-law through the ages, she felt the liberty to let loose whatever was in her priceless head.
"Am I being too forward, Najika?" She laughed, a full-throated sound of glee that made my skin warm.
"Oh, dear goodness. I think you've turned a shade of red I've never seen before either. I have to confess, that's what I was going for."
With a wink at me and a slight touch of the stirrups, Lady Vaela urged her mount forward and left me in sweet, sweet peace.
I stared at her back, open-mouthed, as Bronwyn timidly broke the silence.
"She's quite…different, isn't she?" Bronwyn ventured.
"That's one word for it. I can think of better ones." Uglier ones, too.
"But she does have a point," Bronwyn mused, teasing me with a little grin. "How was he…in bed? Or did you not get a chance to find out?"
I looked at my best friend in horror. "Is this how you speak to your Queen?"