Eternal Palace (Sexcraft Chronicles Book 4)

by Edmund Hughes

  He was gutted by the realization. It hurt him on a physical level, his heart twisting into knots over how he’d ever manage to explain what had happened to Laurel.

  Laurel. I haven’t lost everything. I haven’t lost her.

  He thought back to what both Karnas and Tessianna had said about Meldence. The city might have been attacked. He couldn’t be sure that Laurel was safe, but at the same time, he couldn’t let himself believe that she wasn’t. She had to be okay. He wouldn’t have anything left without her.

  Hal was sitting on the grass when Karnas finished moving the bodies. He spotted something as he stood up. The view crystal the elves had brought with them had fallen behind a bush. He picked it up and tucked it into his pocket. He had no more of an idea how to use it than the one that Marnella had given him, the one destroyed by the fire, but he sensed that it might come in handy, eventually.

  “Come on, Karnas,” said Hal. “We need to head north.”

  CHAPTER 6

  Flying on Karnas’s back at night was a very different experience from flying during the day. Hal was virtually blind, the land beneath him a pitch-black canvas, dotted only by the occasional torch or campfire.

  The wind was cold against his face. He hadn’t had time to grab his coat on the way out of the homestead before it had gone up in flames, and his clothes were too thin for both the season and their elevation. Hal’s teeth began chattering a few minutes into the flight, and his hands went numb where they gripped around Karnas’s neck.

  The sensation of the dragon’s muscles beneath him was incredible. Hal could feel each flap of Karnas’s wings, the slight movements in his head as he tracked their path, and the way his shoulders leaned and shifted to angle them into gentle turns. It made him appreciate Karnas’s friendship all the more. How many times had he saved Hal’s life, now? He wasn’t even sure.

  I need to return the favor. I can’t let the Empress find out about him unless it’s absolutely necessary, and I need to keep him out of sight of the city.

  Hal shouted to Karnas midway through the journey, struggling to make him understand over the roar of rushing wind. Slowly, Karnas descended, setting down several miles outside Meldence’s city limits. They’d flown through most of the night, and he could follow the road until the break of dawn.

  “You should go,” said Hal. “Do some hunting if you have to, but keep a low profile, okay?”

  Karnas shook his head, and Hal wondered if he’d picked the gesture up from him, Laurel, or somewhere else.

  “Watch… you,” said Karnas. “Watch… Lolo…”

  “You won’t be able to watch us easily if we’re in the city,” said Hal. “Not without exposing yourself. It’s not like when you were little.”

  He smiled at the memory of hiding Karnas in the lodgings back when he’d first visited Meldence with Laurel.

  “Watch you… both,” said Karnas. He slapped one of his claws down, punctuating his point with the finality of the movement.

  “Fine,” said Hal. “But be careful. Don’t fly directly over the city. You can watch us if you see us leave. Fair enough?”

  “Okay…” said Karnas. He turned in a circle, leaned his head in to nuzzle against Hal affectionately, and then took to the air.

  Hal spent a minute working blood and sensation back into his extremities. It wasn’t a pleasant process, and it brought his attention back to the wounds he’d suffered during the fight. The spot where the glass had stabbed into his back was swelling painfully, and he had a bit of blood caked on his forehead from the wound on his scalp.

  Can’t do much about either, right now. I need to focus on getting to the city.

  Meldence had looked more or less as he remembered it from the sky, save for several large bonfires burning on the city outskirts. Hal didn’t realize what the fires were until he’d been on the road for twenty minutes, and the wind had shifted direction.

  He could smell burning flesh, a rich, putrid scent. The sun was slowly rising in the distance, and it revealed a city in the midst of recovering from a recent attack. Bloodstains littered the sides of the road, even from a distance. There was little foot traffic to speak of, and the few carriages Hal saw were all headed out of the city.

  Meldence’s wall had been fortified, both with soldiers and large arbalests mounted to steel pivots. The buildings outside the main wall had, for the most part, been abandoned. Some of them were boarded up with wooden planks, while others were the exact opposite, stripped of their doors and windows, and anything else of value that could be moved and sold.

  The early morning light revealed the state of Lake Krestia, behind the city. Hal saw more boats out on the water than he ever had before, almost completely covering the portion of the lake nearest to the city. It made sense, given how large the lake was, and how many different places people could flee to across it. The Matron’s Tower, on the island deep in the lake’s center, would probably be a popular destination for refugees.

  Hal forced himself to take a closer look at the bodies as he passed by one of the large bonfires. Within it, he saw humans, commoners and nobles alike. He saw husks, the grotesque undead creatures that had attacked the city before, pouring out of the catacombs in seemingly endless numbers. He’d been expecting those.

  There were also a few smaller bodies mixed in, with pointed ears that gave away their lineage. It was a bad sign for elves to be attacking Meldence directly. It suggested that they weren’t only coming down to the surface to harass with raiding parties anymore.

  No… An attack this size could have only been a declaration of war.

  The idea made Hal’s blood run cold. The elves would win in a war against the surface. Or, at the very least, they wouldn’t lose. With the Upper Realm out of reach, and with dragons and cloud catches to fly or float their armies into position, they could attack from anywhere, at any time, on their terms. The situation was bad, even discounting the advantage the elves had with their crystal weapons.

  He headed for Meldence’s front gate, which was heavily guarded. Several carriages were leaving as Hal approached. The guards, two crossbowmen on the wall, and two spearmen on either side of the gate, all leveled their weapons at him as he came in close.

  “The city is not accepting any more refugees!” snapped one of the spearmen. “If you’re looking for protection, head west toward Ostreach or Driftwood Castle.”

  “I’m not a refugee,” said Hal. He winced, realizing that his disheveled appearance and lack of possessions must have told a different story. “When did the attack happen?”

  “Yesterday afternoon,” said the spearman. “Elves, if you can believe it. Leading an army of husks, with dragons supporting them in the air. Word reached us that West Haven had been hit, but we didn’t realize…”

  The spearman looked tired, but he kept his spear raised.

  “I’m here to help,” said Hal. “My name is Halrin Kentar. I’m…”

  He trailed off, realizing that he had no idea how to present himself. He had no fixed role in the social structure of Krestia’s Cradle. He’d been Laurel’s bodyguard on his last visit to Meldence, but that was nothing that commanded enough respect to garner trust from the guards.

  “I recognize him,” said one of the crossbowmen, above. “He was in the tournament. And he joined in with the raid a few months ago. Let him through.”

  The spearman looked Hal over once more, and then nodded toward the open gate. Hal made his way through and into the city, slowing as he took in the destruction that had been wrought upon the streets.

  Every other building had suffered some kind of damage, broken windows, burned roofs, or doors knocked loose from hinges. Few people were outside, and those who seemed willing to risk it were all carrying weapons, their expressions tense and uneasy.

  The streets were dirty, covered in broken glass, congealed blood, and scraps of paper. Bodies were still being carried out to the funeral pyres, with dozens stacked in side alleys in the meantime. It was a cold morning, b
ut not cold enough to hold in their smell, and Hal grimaced as he passed by.

  The city was in worse straits than it had been in after the husk attacks a few months earlier. Nobody was pretending to go about their lives normally. The few shops Hal saw that were open were the essentials; smiths, apothecaries, taverns, and surprisingly, the brothels as well.

  He kept a hand on the handle of his pistol as he walked, more out of habit than a sense of danger. The people were desperate, but most were past the point of pretending that there was any point to looting or trying to take advantage of the chaos.

  There were few guards patrolling within the city, but there were gem mages about, easily recognizable from their white robes. Hal’s last encounter with the Keeper had left him in a somewhat adversarial relationship with the Temple of Lyris’s enforcers. None of them seemed to pay him any extra attention, which he appreciated.

  The last thing I need is to get into a fight with people defending the city.

  Hal headed deeper into the city, brushing his own exhaustion in favor of finding Laurel and confirming that she was safe. The damage to the buildings in the Maxim’s district was less than in the outer regions, which suggested that the defenders had managed to hold their line.

  He didn’t head straight for the massive stone castle, instead weaving through the buildings around it, finding his way toward the guest lodge where he and Laurel had stayed on their first visit to the city. He knocked on the door, expecting either Laurel or Yua, the head servant who’d helped raised Laurel, to answer. The door didn’t open.

  He knocked again, waited around for a few minutes, and then slowly headed for the castle’s main entrance. He wasn’t looking forward to going through another interrogation, and suspected he’d have a much harder time proving who he was if he did, so instead, he hatched a plan.

  “I have a message to deliver,” he said, approaching the guard at the wooden double doors that led to the castle’s main lobby.

  “For who?” asked the guard.

  “Lady Laurel Ancina,” said Hal. “It’s urgent.”

  He expected the guard to refute him, to tell him that Laurel wasn’t in the castle. He feared that the guard might deliver even worse news and point him in the direction of the funeral pyres outside. Instead, the guard gave him a curt nod.

  “Ambassador Ancina is in the counselor’s wing, down the east hallway,” said the guard. “Don’t wander around anywhere else.”

  Ambassador Ancina…?

  Hal kept his reaction in check and headed through the doors as the other guards pulled them open. The castle had a cold, martial quality to it that was only amplified by the city’s current straits. Guards hurried down stone hallways, most of them fully dressed in their weapons and armor.

  He only had a vague sense that he was heading in the right direction. Most of the doors in the castle were identical, and it was hard to keep his bearings, having only visited it a few times before.

  He almost passed by the right door when he found it. It was open, and a woman stood behind a table inside. It took Hal far longer than it should have to recognize her as Laurel.

  She wore her hair in a tight, blonde bun, which tamed her curls and made her appear older and more serious. She had on a fine blue tunic with gold embroidery, brown leather leggings, and a black cloak secured with a brooch that held her brother Willum’s ruby within it. The scar was still there, running down her cheek and across her chin, but if anything, it only added to the air of maturity that her outfit and posture radiated.

  “Laurel…” said Hal, feeling a little unsure of how to announce himself.

  There was a man in the room, as well. He was tall, muscular, and at least a decade older than Laurel. He wore a tight black shirt with a few buttons undone at the top and grey slacks. He looked up first, frowning at Hal and moving as though to place himself between him and Laurel.

  “…Halrin.” Laurel’s crystal blue eyes glimmered with recognition. She smiled broadly, her dimples coming to life on her face, and then hesitated. It was as though her first instinct was to run to him and pull him into a hug, as she’d done so many times in the past. Hal could see her holding back, keeping herself composed.

  Laurel had changed.

  CHAPTER 7

  “Do you know this man, Ambassador?” asked the burly fellow.

  “Yes,” said Laurel. “It’s okay, Busher. He’s a friend.”

  “Ambassador…” repeated Hal. He shook his head slightly, stopping when he realized how she might interpret that. “I… don’t know what to say. Hi, I guess? Is it okay for me to be here?”

  Laurel didn’t answer immediately. She glanced down at the papers in front of her, and then gave a quick nod.

  “Busher,” she said. “Wait outside. Close the door behind you.”

  “Ambassador, I can’t leave you alone with him until I’ve done my vetting,” said Busher.

  Laurel folded her arms. She said nothing, but the look she gave Busher was enough. The man cleared his throat and glanced away.

  “Very well then,” said Busher. “If you need anything, or if he does anything, shout for me.”

  Busher gave Hal a disdainful look over as he left the room, closing the door behind him as ordered. Hal let out a small chuckle and looked back toward Laurel. He’d been expecting some of her demeanor to fade as soon as they were alone, but it didn’t. She still stood with her back straight, her expression pensive and analyzing. Even the small, genuine smile on her face looked slightly clipped.

  “You have a new bodyguard,” said Hal. It seemed like the easiest thing to start with. He was in no rush to tell her about the homestead.

  “A bodyguard,” said Laurel. “And a friend. Busher has helped me immensely in my new role.”

  “Ah.” There was something about the way she said the man’s name that tugged at Hal’s emotions. “You could have asked me, you know. I would have come to Meldence, if you’d mentioned any of this…”

  There was an unspoken emphasis in his words.

  Why didn’t she tell me about any of this?

  All of Laurel’s messages to him had been simple and vague. It had always been a version of her saying that she was fine, and she needed to stay a while longer. Hal had sent his own letters detailing the finer points of his day to day life. Training with Wind Dash, greeting travelers on their way by, his occasional trips into Lorne.

  It made him feel like the balance between them had shifted, without him realizing it. She knew him, who he was, and how he thought. And Hal wasn’t sure that he knew her in that same way, anymore. It made a part of his heart ache, a part he hadn’t realized was vulnerable.

  “Hal…” said Laurel. “I don’t think you realize what bad shape you were in when you came back. You’ve been through so much, between your family, your time in the Upper Realm, and… Cadrian.”

  Hal had to look away as she listed off each thing he’d endured. There was too much there for him to think about in his exhausted state. He knew he was proving her point with his reaction, but he couldn’t help it.

  “I wanted you to have some time to really rest,” said Laurel. “To have a real recovery, without me pulling you along to the capital again. I wanted you to have a quiet life, at least for a while…”

  “Was that really for you to decide?” he asked.

  Laurel didn’t hesitate. “Yes. At least in terms of me asking you for a favor. That wasn’t the only reason, Hal. I needed to be here alone, too.”

  “Nobody needs to be alone, Laurel,” said Hal.

  She smiled at him, and there was maturity in the expression.

  “That’s not true,” she said. “For the past few months, every time I’ve stumbled or faltered, you’ve been there to catch me. I appreciate that. I love you for that, Hal. But what I needed was to stand on my own two feet. Being here… being the Maxim’s Ambassador… It’s been a formative experience.”

  Hal looked at her again. He really looked at her. She was still Laurel, but at the same t
ime, she was so different from how he remembered her. He smiled, and felt himself accepting the new her, appreciating the change. She’d always reminded him of Lilith, his little sister, and while the similarities were still there, she’d grown into something more. She was a woman, now.

  “I’m happy for you, Laurel,” he said. “Really. I am.”

  She came around to the other side of her desk, crossing her arms and looking at the floor.

  “Thank you, Halrin,” she said. “And I am happy that you’re here, now. More than you can know.”

  Hal scratched the back of his head, not wanting to tell her about the homestead, but not sure how much longer he could put it off for.

  “The city,” he said. “What’s happened here, Laurel? I was expecting to find you holed up in the guest lodge with Yua, but you’re here. In the castle, advising the Maxim…”

  Laurel’s smile faded, and she was silent for a moment.

  “Yua passed,” she said. “Old age, nothing unusual. It happened just after I arrived in Meldence.”

  “Oh, Laurel…” said Hal. “I’m so sorry.”

  He started to give her a hug, but Laurel glanced up before he could, her expression steeled. She didn’t look like she needed or wanted one, at least not then, in the context of being comforted. Hal contented himself by giving her hand a quick squeeze.

  “It’s okay,” said Laurel. “I had a chance to speak with her one last time. Maxim Cedric appointed me Ambassador just before it happened, and I got to tell her about it, and get her advice.”

  “I bet she had a lot to say about that,” said Hal.

  Laurel chuckled and gave a nod.

  “Meldence,” she said, returning to the main question. “We received word that an army had attacked West Haven a few days ago, with conflicting reports about who and what it was composed of. The eyewitness accounts received spoke of husks, dragons, and elves… It was a lot for most people to take in.”