Then I realized someone was standing atop the city gate, watching us as we approached. Two someones, in fact. I looked up to see outfits and cloaks of brown and white, a concerned look and an angry one.
Nestor and Elanor.
“Greystone,” called Nestor as we approached. “We need to talk.”
RAVEN
I LEANED BACK AND TOOK another sip from my wine goblet as Sarah, Greystone and the royals babbled on. My fingers idly toyed with the whip hanging on my hip. I couldn’t remember being more bored in my life. Elanor was wrong, we were right. End of story.
“If we cannot compromise with them on even the smallest count, then how can we hope that this war will be anything other than a brutal battle to the death?” said Elanor. “They want a trinket, a tiny nothing that is useless to us. What of it? Will this thing of Adurin’s win the war for us? Will it help us in anyway?”
I held up my hand. “Who’s Adurin?”
Elanor turned her contempt-filled eyes on me. “He was one of the Six,” she said. “The one from whose tomb you removed the ring.”
I nodded. “Never mind, I was right: I don’t care. Carry on.”
Greystone interrupted before Elanor could start talking again. “We know of no inherent worth in the ring,” he said. “But Terrence is set upon gathering the relics of all the Six. It may not win us the war while in our hands, but it may very well win him the war if it reaches his.”
Elanor shrugged. “Conjecture. You know nothing and pretend at wisdom. These are not the ways of a wizard, but a court charlatan who performs for entertainment.”
Nestor tapped on the table. His silver ring clacked loudly on the polished wood. “Keep a civil tongue, my queen,” he said testily. “Lest you invite repercussion.”
“You can’t be serious,” said Elanor, smiling at Greystone smugly. “From him?”
“From me,” said Nestor, his voice concealing an even greater anger.
Elanor looked at him quickly, gauging him.
Sarah, always the diplomat, took the opportunity to lean in and add her two cents. “Regardless of the purpose of the ring itself, I think it’s silly to assume that this isn’t already a fight that Chaos won’t back down from. They’re not interested in diplomacy. They’re interested in conquest. First of Midrealm, and then of True Earth.”
“Oh, really?” simpered Elanor. “Your precious homeland is in danger?” Her smirk turned to a scowl. “What of ours? This war has already cost us many lives and will cost ten times as many before it is through. And for what? An ultimate defeat?”
“Terrence will not defeat us,” Greystone said firmly. “Not while I draw breath.”
“A state of existence that you have already come perilously close to losing,” said Elanor. “Several times, in fact.”
Nestor rubbed his hands across his closed eyelids, sighing as if exhausted. “You say the same things over and over again, my queen. Parley with Terrence. Seek out diplomacy. Do you honestly expect him to return the favor? When have the forces of Chaos ever bandied words with men?”
“When have we ever given them the chance?” Elanor retorted. “Always we have faced hordes of mindless Shadows and other minions of the darkness. Now there is a man leading them, a man who may yet be able to hear logic and reason. Would it not behoove us to at least try, if there is at least a chance that he may come to some peaceful settlement?”
“He won’t.”
I was as surprised as everyone else to hear myself speak up suddenly. Everyone turned to look. Suddenly I was nervous. I took another sip of wine to cover it. “He won’t settle,” I said firmly. “He, or the creatures working for him, have tried to kill us at every turn. Not even once have they tried to talk to us. It’s been attack, attack, attack. The Shadows are mindless. They only want to kill us. Plus they’ve got…things on their side, that seem to have just enough personality to hate our guts.” I shuddered as I remembered the rider in Elladorn. “Now we finally have something that they want. Something that Terrence has been searching for, but we found it first. I can’t see how giving it to him is a good idea.”
“And now that we hold that prize out of his grasp, you think that his attacks will cease, rather than redouble?” Elanor scoffed. “I wish I shared your innocent view of the world.”
“And how many times have you fought Chaos?” I said, my temper finally snapping. I stared right at her over the rim of my cup as I took another sip of wine, slurping it and swallowing loudly.
Elanor’s nostrils flared, and she began to quiver with anger. Her hand rose to clutch the amber amulet at her throat. From the corner of my eye I saw Tess shift uncomfortably. “You sit here and lecture me about my own world,” she said, her voice almost a whisper. “My world has defended yours for millennia and received no thanks. What has True Earth ever done for us? Nothing. Nothing but send us the Realm Keepers, six children who can barely lift a sword.”
“I saved Elladorn last month,” I remarked casually. I slowly ran the tip of my forefinger around the lip of my goblet, staring into Elanor’s eyes. “How many towns did you save?”
“Enough,” said Greystone, cutting us both off. “This is all pointless prattle. The very topic of our debate is moot. We are within the barrier. Chaos is without. With the defenses we have crafted upon it, the barrier gate may hold against an army ten times greater than that at the Battle of the Circle. That is the truth of it, and while it remains so, any talk of surrender or compromise is ludicrous.”
He stood suddenly from the table. “Your Highness,” he said, looking carefully at Nestor — not at Elanor — and bowing. “With your permission, we have much to do in the way of preparations. We have yet to find the other tombs — ” Greystone stopped suddenly and looked furtively at the guards standing at each door of the room.
“They can be trusted to remain silent,” Nestor reassured him. “They are all hand-selected. No word leaves them without my permission.”
Greystone seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. “Thank you, my king. If words of our plans were to fall into the wrong hands…”
Nestor nodded. “Of course. You need not fear on that account, my friend. And we will hold the kingdom in good stead when you and the others are gone.”
I noticed Elanor’s eyes dart to the king when he called Greystone “friend.” It unnerved me. Every instinct of mine told me that Elanor was bad news, but there was nothing we could do about it. She was married to the king. That’s just how stuff goes sometimes.
“You are all of you making a terrible mistake,” Elanor said, her voice frosty once again. “I will not say ‘we,’ for I take no part in this. You are a group of fear-mongering young boys. Even the girls among you.” She gave me a pointed look and turned to stalk off, slipping through a back door and out of sight.
Calvin looked over at Sarah. “I do believe that was supposed to be an insult. How sexist.”
Sarah sighed and joined Greystone on his feet. “Whatever, guys. Let’s just get going. It’s about time we were heading home, anyways. Remember: two more days until we’re out of here.”
Greystone led the way, and Sarah followed just behind him. Once we were walking through the hallways and safely out of earshot, I heard Greystone murmur, “That was well done,” to Sarah beside him. She responded with the barest of nods.
I rolled my eyes. Always making secret plans, those two. It would have driven me nuts if I allowed it to bother me.
I woke up like I always did now, letting the disorientation pass before sliding out of bed and heading to the bathroom to take a shower. We were working a longer schedule in Midrealm these days, but this time we’d gotten back almost twenty minutes earlier than we normally did. I used the extra time to soak my muscles in the scalding hot shower water, letting it ease the tension out of me.
I knew the tension was mostly mental. My body had just spent ten hours in bed sleeping, not climbing a mountain or something. But still, we were gearing up for something. Something big. An actual strategy, not
the little knee-jerk reactionary fights we’d been having ever since we first went there. And the thought of that, the knowledge of what was coming, made me irritable and agitated even in my life on True Earth, where things were relatively chill.
I got dressed and did my makeup. Though I’d grown totally used to going without my goth look in Midrealm, it was still a relief to put it on every day on Earth. It was probably because here, even though I wasn’t fighting for my life all the time, there were some things that were even worse than in Midrealm.
I entered the kitchen to find breakfast already made, and was greeted by Emery’s happy little, “Estow!” His words were getting better and better. He’d started going to a play group a few weeks ago, and it was really improving his social skills. I’d even taken him once or twice, back before things in Midrealm started heating up. It had been kind of funny watching the parents and other older siblings stare, not quite knowing what to make of me. One of them had asked if I was Emery’s mother, and I’d let them believe it.
But I hadn’t had much time for that in the last couple of weeks, and what little extra time I did have on True Earth was taken up by other stuff.
“Are you all set for the big weekend?” my mom asked, her smile too bright.
“I already told you I don’t want to go,” I said irritably.
The too-bright smile faltered. “Ester, you know how important this is to your father,” she said carefully.
I took a bite of toast. “And what about what’s important to me?” I asked, speaking around my full mouth. “If it’s so important to him, why isn’t he here telling me about it?”
The smile disappeared entirely. “All right, that’s not fair,” she said, her voice drifting toward stern. “You know exactly why. And he doesn’t bring it up on his days because he knows it upsets you.”
“But you still do bring it up to me, because…?” I left my hand hanging along with the question in the air.
She frowned, her eyes darting to Emery. In a weird, sick way, I kind of liked having these discussions with him around. My mom wasn’t a big yeller or anything, but she had no problem getting angry with me when we argued. But she didn’t let herself do that in front of Emery. It meant she had to either convince me with logic, or give me a mandate.
“You’re coming,” she said with finality. “That’s it. Or you’re grounded for a month.”
A mandate. Great. “Oh, because I do sooo much stuff outside the house after school,” I said. But I didn’t do well cooped up, and she knew it. “Fine. I’ll go.”
She nodded, not happy, but satisfied. “Good. Everyone’s looking forward to seeing you. Especially — ”
“Don’t,” I said, holding up a finger. “Just don’t.”
She let it go, and I finished the last few bites of my meal. I headed outside and waited for the bus. As I tapped on my phone, trying to find a song I liked that I hadn’t already heard ten thousand times, Ember showed up.
“Hey,” I said, walking over and giving her a hug.
“Morning,” she said. She didn’t return the hug.
I backed off a step, giving her a look. “What’s up?”
She shrugged, not looking at me. “I don’t know. Just didn’t know you still wanted to hang out any more.”
My brow furrowed. “What are you talking about?” I asked. “Are you mental? Why wouldn’t I want to hang out?”
“When was the last time we hung out, Raven?” she said. “Do you even remember?”
I paused. I thought back to my last day at school. I’d missed Ember and Ivory when I arrived in the morning. Then at lunch I’d eaten with the others. And I hadn’t seen them after school, either.
I shrugged. “Okay, so I missed you guys yesterday. What’s the big deal?”
She shook her head. “Uh-uh,” she said. “Yesterday. The day before. And the day before that. But every one of those days, you’ve had the time to sit down with those other friends of yours, those total normals, and have lunch with them. So I guess I’m just thinking you don’t want to hang out any more.”
I frowned. “That’s ridiculous, Ember. I’ve just been busy. They’re…they’re the other people from the detention thing. We’re, like, a mini-support group for each other. That’s all.”
“Well, I guess you should just keep hanging out with them, then,” she said. “Because I thought we were here to help each other, but if that’s changed…”
I gave an exasperated groan. “Ugh! You’re being such a tool!”
“Hey, Raven!”
I groaned and turned around to see Calvin approaching, waving and smiling brightly.
“There’s your support group,” Ember said, turning away. “Guess I’ll be seeing you around, Ester.” She walked away.
Calvin came up to stand beside me, watching her retreating back. “What’s up with her?”
I turned away from her, willing the bus to arrive faster. “Nothing.”
It was a long day.
I woke in Midrealm to the sound of bells ringing.
Immediately I leapt out of my bed, flying to the dresser and snatching up my robes. I threw them on hurriedly, my fingers flying as they tied my belt.
A heavy fist pounded on my door. “Lady Raven!” Barius’ booming voice echoed through the wood. “Are you awake?”
“Give me ten seconds!” I shouted back. I finished pulling on my boots and flew into the hallway.
“What’s going on?” I asked, running for the staircase.
“I don’t know!” he replied. “The bells began fifteen minutes ago. It’s been silent up here. No messengers have arrived yet.”
“Great,” I growled.
The door to my left flew open. I barely avoided slamming into it headfirst, but my hasty sidestep knocked me off-balance and I went crashing to the ground. A pair of running legs tangled up in my arms, and a body came down on top of mine. Hard.
“Ow!” I cried, trying to shove the person off me.
“Hold still for a sec, jeez!” It was Blade. He freed himself from our tangle of limbs and stood, flushed and angry. “Can you try watching where you’re going?”
“Look who’s talking.” I reached up. Blade grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet. I looked at Samuel behind him. “Any idea what’s going on?”
Samuel shook his head. “We’re as clueless as you. I thought about seeking word when the bells began, but…”
I nodded. They couldn’t leave our sides when they were on watch, and they were on watch for about half the time we were sleeping. “Okay, let’s get downstairs quick. Are any of the others here?”
“Lord Calvin arrived a few minutes ago,” Barius said. “Maybe ten.”
“Of course he did,” I said, rolling my eyes. Calvin was almost always the first one here. “Come on!”
We hit the stairwell at a dead run, pounding straight through the great hall and to the stables. But rather than run in the front door with the others, I looked up and gave a shrill whistle.
Tseeer!
Ella swooped down out of the sky. She landed easily a dozen feet away, the backdraft from her wings blowing my hair back. I put a foot in the stirrup and leapt effortlessly into the saddle on her back.
“Barius!” I cried. He ran over and began helping me lace my legs tight using the saddle straps on either side. They’d keep me in the seat in case Ella made a turn too sharply, or if for some reason I was knocked unconscious.
As he leaned over, tugging at the straps, I saw a silver chain slip out from under his breastplate. There was a simple golden ring hanging from it that I’d never noticed before.
“Please try not to get into too much trouble until I can get there,” Barius said. I was surprised to hear genuine concern in his voice. With an impish grin I reached down and patted his head.
“Aw, that’s sweet, old man,” I said. “But you know me. I’ve been in trouble since the moment I got here.”
I gently nudged Ella with my heels, and she launched herself into the sky. The
sudden vertigo of the climb still hadn’t gone away after all these weeks of riding her, but along with the lurching stomach I now got an adrenaline rush of pure excitement. I cried out with joy as we flew above the top of the Runehold and wheeled toward the barrier gate miles away.
Ella flapped a couple of times to get herself moving in the right direction, but Morrowdust was at a much higher elevation than the gate. After a few strong pumps of her wings, she tucked them closer and dove. The air went streaming into my eyes, my hair whipping back and forth across my face. It felt like the stinging of a thousand needles.
“Crud,” I muttered. I took a leather tie from my belt and pulled my hair back into a tail as best I could. It was still too short to do anything proper with, but anything was better than letting it flow freely when Ella really got up to speed. Quickly wrapping the reins around the saddle horn, I pulled the leather tie around the tail and tied it off. The stinging eased off, and I snatched the reins up again, leaning forward to urge Ella to even greater speed.
We sped over the grassy miles between the Morrowdust walls and the barrier gate. Below us, halfway between the two, I saw a figure in dark blue clothes on a horse. Beside him rode a figure in silver armor with red trim. That had to be Calvin and Darren. Ahead of them, closer to the barrier gate, was an army of soldiers. I recognized them as the army of Morrowdust by the white and brown tabards they wore.
I looked past the barrier gate, and my heart leapt into my throat.
An ocean of blackness was spread out before the gate, a roiling mass of creatures that spilled into the lands on either side, pressing up against the barrier with their weapons held high in the air. Hundreds or thousands of black faces with glowing eyes and sharp, rotting teeth screamed, and even muffled by the properties of the barrier, I could hear the dull moaning hatred in their voices.
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