An Empire of Stones

by Bella Forrest

  “You know, I find you and your companions so very fascinating.” Queen Trina turned to me, her intense gaze seeking out mine.

  “Do you?” I smiled weakly.

  “You and Hazel in particular. Both of you seem to be very drawn to sentry men…a rather unusual development, is it not?”

  “I guess I haven’t really thought about it much.”

  This was awkward. I really wasn’t up for a gossipy relationship chat with Queen Trina, but that was what it sounded like she was angling for.

  “Ah. Perhaps it seems normal to you then?”

  “Um, yes—I guess so.”

  She nodded slowly.

  “But of course, as soon as the Nevertide border opens, you’ll be wanting to get back home—back to your normal, rather ordinary lives, I suspect?” She smirked and I wanted to punch her for the thinly veiled insult.

  “Yes, very much so. Back to my ordinary, boring life.” I smiled brightly.

  If the queen wanted to play a game of passive-aggressive, then she had picked the wrong opponent. She covered up a disgruntled frown, and I smiled all the more radiantly.

  “Though of course, Ash will be devastated,” she continued. “Apparently you have quite the powerful mental agility—you and Hazel both.”

  “Thank you, that’s very kind of you to say.”

  “I must confess, I’ve been so desperate to experience it for myself. Every mind has a flavor of its own, and I imagine yours is simply delightful.”

  I wanted to get out of the carriage. Queen Trina’s expression had gone from mock-pleasant to something far more sinister. She looked…hungry.

  “Um, well…I don’t think it’s anything particularly s-special,” I stuttered.

  “Hmm, don’t you?”

  “No, Ash never thought so,” I lied.

  She smiled, reminding me of a wolf—the slow smirk of a predator that was toying with its prey.

  She cocked her head to one side, and I screamed.

  An intense burst of pain shot through my frontal lobes, like someone was dragging a blade though the inside of my skull and squeezing my brain matter till I thought my head would explode. Grey dots started to dance in front of my eyes. Queen Trina’s smiling, smug face drew closer toward me, her eyes becoming larger till the deep caverns of her pupils were all that I could see. The blackness of them consumed me, swallowing my entire being until I was floating in a huge abyss, and then finally even that started to fade from view.

  I woke up in darkness. As my eyes adjusted to the dim light, I shuffled backward. The gloating figure of Queen Trina stood behind bars.

  “I’m glad you’re awake for this,” she announced. “It’s so boring making someone suffer but not being able to see their pain for yourself. Sadly, as queen, that is so often the way. One must keep up appearances, you see—and so often I have to send other, more lowly beings to do my work.”

  “Where am I?” I rasped, my mind still reeling from the pain that she’d inflicted on it—and I still couldn’t quite understand my surroundings, other than everything felt damp and cold.

  “You’re where you wanted to be—in my palace. You’re just not in the more lavish of my guest suites.” She laughed at her own joke, and I glanced around again, fighting off an intense nausea. The ground beneath me was hard stone, and as my eyes grew accustomed to the gloom, I could make out how small the room was.

  Idiot—it’s not a room, it’s a cell.

  The bars in front of the queen…the dampness… she had locked me up in a dungeon somewhere. I started to scream Ash’s name.

  “Now, now,” she cajoled, “he won’t be able to hear you when you’re down here. I’ve also put a border up, so there will be no reaching out with your mind…and might I add, what a truly delicious mind it was. Ash is no fool, is he?”

  “What do you want?” I asked dully. Shouting had been a bad idea—my head was now thumping painfully.

  “Various things. Wonderful things… but from you? Absolutely nothing. I just want you out of my way. You know, you really shouldn’t have come back here. I was actually willing to let you go. But honestly, I can’t have someone snooping about my castle, enquiring about nymphs and the way I conduct my business. It’s so very tedious. And I do need Ash to help me with the trials. After that, who knows?”

  “What are you going to do with him?”

  Oh, please don’t hurt him. Please.

  Queen Trina shrugged gracefully. “Well, like I said—nothing while the imperial trials are taking place. He is rather a valuable resource. But he is a rather simple creature in certain respects, rather too puritan for my tastes…I can’t imagine him faring well in my domain on a permanent basis.”

  I thought how ironic it was that both the queen and I wanted Ash’s stay to be short-lived.

  “And me? What are you going to do to me?” I dared ask.

  “Good question. Unfortunately, I am unable to use you for the trials—it’s forbidden to have human help, and sadly the Impartial Ministers are watching me quite closely. However, a short little syphon here and there won’t be noticed. No doubt Tejus will be doing the same thing with Hazel. So you can look forward to that over the next few days, and after that, I suppose I’ll just let you starve.”

  I wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of seeing my fear. I nodded slowly, and then turned my eyes away from her to look at the floor. If Trina was the type who took pleasure in pain, and clearly she was, then the more resigned and indifferent I could appear, the more frustrated she would get. That would have to suffice as my revenge for the moment, before I could come up with a better plan.

  She laughed again, unbothered by my attitude for now. But it wouldn’t last—she would get angry soon, and angry people made errors. I would just have to be patient, and try somehow to bear the pain of her syphoning as best as I could.

  I heard her footsteps retreating, and finally looked up and around at my cell. It was impossibly small, with a hole in the ground for waste, but no water or bedding.

  Great.

  It was like being back in Jenus’ cellar. I had to remind myself that we’d gotten out of that mess, and so the same could be done here.

  My best, and possibly only, chance rested in either Hazel or Commander Varga communicating with Ash. Once they all realized that I was missing, it wouldn’t take Commander Varga long to work out what had happened to me—he seemed to be the only one, possibly with the exception of Hazel, who was willing to recognize the true nature of Queen Trina. They would find me eventually. Hopefully it would come sooner rather than later. Each day that passed, Ash would be in greater and greater danger as the sell-by date of his usefulness to the queen drew closer.

  Hazel

  Night had fallen, and we were waiting by the passageway for Benedict to emerge once again. This time we weren’t taking any chances: Tejus had doubled the guards, and we had five ministers with us as well, all ready to prevent Benedict from leaving the castle once he’d entered.

  The hallway was crowded, and I moved away from the entrance temporarily to get some breathing space. I was still irritated with Tejus; when Benedict had mentioned that Queen Trina was the one who had encouraged him to continue listening to the entity, I had gotten angry. I had known all along that she was bad news, but Tejus had let her off the hook time and time again. Was it because he still had feelings for the woman? I wasn’t sure. When I’d overheard them talking in the castle gardens, it seemed like any romantic involvement was in the past—but not exposing her as my kidnapper, and allowing her to continue vocally supporting Ash in the trials and then not saying anything when she participated in the imperial trials, suggested that he was still loyal to her, at least to some extent.

  Yelena and Jenney stepped out from one of the doorways in the hallway. They glanced at the group of guards and ministers around the passageway warily, but when Yelena’s eyes lighted on me, they approached.

  “What are you doing? You should still be in bed,” I said to Yelena. I didn
’t want her here to see this—she shouldn’t be exposed to my brother under possession again. The entity clearly saw her as some kind of energy bag, and I didn’t want her getting hurt.

  “I’m going back in a minute. I just wanted to see if you needed anything,” she replied.

  “No, it’s okay. I spoke to Benedict today, in the Viking graveyard. He’s trapped in a temple there. But he was him, and it was…difficult. He doesn’t remember what he did to you. I think that’s probably best for now.”

  Yelena nodded. “Of course. I don’t think I ever want him to know what happened. It wasn’t his fault anyway.”

  I smiled gratefully at her.

  “Have you heard from Ash or Ruby?” I asked Jenney.

  “No. I think they’re still at the Seraq palace.”

  I had thought that as soon as Ruby heard that Benedict was in trouble she would return, and if I was perfectly honest, I felt slightly abandoned by her. I also wanted her away from that kingdom… I couldn’t help feeling that Ruby was in the clutches of the enemy, and I didn’t like it.

  The girls stayed and waited with me for a bit, giving me updates on how the rest of the kids were getting on. I couldn’t concentrate on a word either of them were saying, but I appreciated the attempt to distract me. Worrying about Benedict was driving me insane, and I hoped he’d hurry up and come through the passageway so that we could end this once and for all.

  I heard the shuffling of ministers and guards behind me and turned around to see Tejus making his way to where we stood. As angry as I was with him, his tall, imposing figure and implacable expression made me feel comforted despite the circumstances. If there was anyone in this forsaken dimension who was going to be able to help me get my brother back, it was him.

  “We should all try our best to remain out of sight when Benedict comes through the passage. We don’t know how lucid or fully aware he or the entity is; if we stay out of sight we may be able to follow him,” Tejus remarked, looking down at me with a watchful gaze like he expected me to explode any minute.

  “You shouldn’t do that,” Yelena whispered. “You shouldn’t follow him.”

  “I have a feeling that if Benedict is coming into the castle, then there’s another set of stones somewhere else, or the entity wouldn’t bother,” Tejus replied.

  “You don’t think he’s doing it just to suck energy then?” I asked.

  “I don’t know—perhaps. But if there is another lock, then this is the only way we’re going to find it in time.”

  “Okay,” I agreed. “We’ll follow him. But as soon as he looks like he’s heading back, we need to restrain him.”

  Tejus nodded, and then headed back to the ministers.

  “You two need to go and lock yourselves in the human quarters. Tejus is putting more guards on watch, but stay awake—don’t fall asleep.”

  “We won’t,” Jenney promised. “We’ve also got some of the kitchen staff staying with us. That should provide extra protection.”

  “Good thinking.” I smiled at Jenney. I was grateful she and Yelena were so resourceful—without Ruby or Julian here I felt wholly responsible for the welfare of those kids, and I was also very aware that so far I hadn’t been doing a very good job of it.

  They both left, and I turned my attention back to the sentries gathered in the hallway. Tejus had arranged them all so they were standing further along the corridor, back from the passage. If Benedict was to turn right when he entered the castle, he would see them all waiting, but I hoped that the entity had a one-track mind and would lead Benedict further into the castle—not toward the dead end of the hallway.

  “Do you think this is going to work?’ I asked Tejus as I made my way to the front of the group.

  “I hope so. I’m hoping that even if he does see them, the entity is arrogant enough to ignore them. It’s not like it’s felt threatened by them in the past—it’ll either just syphon energy off them and leave them sleeping, or just carry on about its business regardless.”

  I agreed with him. After the night when Benedict had been sucked back down the passage, the entity would have known that we were on to it—but it hadn’t changed its behavior, it obviously didn’t believe that we were a threat to it in anyway. The confidence of the creature unnerved me, but I also recognized that its arrogance might be the one weak spot that we could work to our advantage.

  “He’s coming!” one of the ministers announced. The group fell silent. I looked up at Tejus. He squeezed my shoulder in a gesture of reassurance, and then we moved to stand back from the passage.

  I heard the grating of the stone block coming from within the passage as it swung shut, and then the methodical shuffle of Benedict’s footsteps as he approached the hallway. I could hear the acceleration of my heartbeat as I held my breath, not daring to make a sound until he was through the door and standing in the hallway.

  A few moments later, Benedict stepped out from the passage, his eyes fixed ahead on the wall opposite. I couldn’t see his eyes from where I stood, but his strange upright posture and solemn, fixed expression told me that my brother wasn’t present.

  Nobody made a sound while Benedict stood there, still staring at the wall. As I watched, a small smile curved up at the corners of his mouth. My blood ran cold.

  He knows we’re here.

  A few more seconds passed, and then Benedict turned away from the wall, heading toward the opposite end of the hallway from where we all stood. His steps were slow but sure, as if he knew exactly where he was headed, but was in no real hurry to get there.

  I looked up at Tejus and he nodded. We followed him. Along the hallway we walked a few feet behind him, matching him step for step. The progress was slow, and I could feel my entire body trembling from the effort of holding myself back—not running and grabbing him, holding on to him till the entity left his form and my brother was once again at peace.

  Without taking his eyes off my brother, Tejus reached down and took my hand in his. The grip was firm. It kept me from breaking.

  Benedict walked on past empty rooms and the deserted hallways and corridors. Eventually we reached a part of the castle that I’d never been to before. The walls were barely lit by torchlight. A few dotted about kept it from complete darkness, but overall it felt unused and abandoned—the stone crumbling and the walls without any of the tapestries of vulture heads that adorned the main, habitable areas.

  He started to climb a steep staircase, not dissimilar to the one that led to Tejus’s quarters. I realized that we were entering one of the other towers, but I’d lost my sense of perspective along the walk and couldn’t gauge which one it was.

  He entered a room. It was in complete darkness except for the moonlight that flooded though the windows. It was well-kept, furnished with the same velvet sofas and carpets of Tejus’s living room. Benedict stopped for a few moments, as if waiting for something. Then, slowly, he bent down and moved aside part of the carpet. On the floor was a wooden door, flush with the stone floor. It had an iron ring in it, and Benedict pulled the door up toward him.

  Tejus and I blinked as bright lights filled the room.

  Another lock.

  The stones danced in the strange formation that I’d seen in the passageway, looking as if they were almost alive and breathing—organisms in their own right. I watched in horror as Benedict ran his hand over the stones, then extracted one, taking it easily from its socket. As soon as he did so, he stood again, replacing the trap door.

  Then he turned to face us.

  Adrenaline and fear pumped around my body. My brother’s eyes were completely blank, unseeing and dead. But he smiled again, slow and mocking.

  Tejus pushed me behind him, and I grabbed hold of his robe to stop myself from falling. I watched in horror as Benedict lifted the stone in Tejus’s direction, clasping it in his small fist. Tejus groaned, and I felt his mind enter mine, swiftly and desperately. As soon as the link was made, I could feel that Benedict was trying to drain Tejus of his energy.r />
  “Benedict, no!” I cried out, trying to rush forward, but Tejus held me back, syphoning me harder as he tried to repel the power of the stone. I felt Tejus’s pain through our connection. His mind was screaming—it felt like it was being ripped apart from within, his entire skull throbbing with intense, unrelenting waves of agony. I tried to open my mind, to push all my energy toward Tejus, but I could feel the grey, swirling gloom of exhaustion washing over me.

  “Please, please, STOP!” I yelled, holding on to Tejus so that I wouldn’t fall to the ground.

  As Tejus’s pain continued, I fought against the limits of my body and tried to stay conscious. My gaze was fixed on my brother—watching, disbelieving as he kept the stone held aloft, his face still contorted in a mocking smile.

  Not knowing if it was my imagination or not, I started to hear strange whispers echo across the room. The voices seemed to slither and merge in a discordant harmony, hissing and spitting, coming from everywhere at once.

  Then I heard a voice. It wasn’t coming from within the room, but through the connection I held with Tejus. It had the same quality as the whispers, sounding just as inhuman, but I could just make out words being formed.

  “Dost thou think thou art more powerful than I?” it hissed, curling its vowels around Tejus’s mind like dank mist. “False king, thou knowest nothing of my magic, nothing of my power! Kneel, kneel, false king, kneel down to your creator!”

  “NO!” Tejus burst out, the cry tearing from his chest as he fought to repel the poison of the whispered voice.

  He staggered back. Before I knew what was happening a huge blast of energy threw Tejus and I backward into the hallway. I slammed into the back of the wall, feeling as if I’d just been hit by a freight train.

  Blearily I watched Benedict run past us, still holding his fist aloft.

  The whispering ceased, as did the entity’s power. Tejus and I fell to the floor, my back and head pounding where they had been knocked.