by Alex Alcasid
“Alright, boy! Have it your way.” The merchant said. He snatched the six coins out of Cassendir’s hand and shoved the notebook into a pocket hidden by his silks. The horse is yours.” The merchant motioned dismissively to a young stallion tied to the horse post, before mounting a different horse and setting off down the Imperial Highway.
“Cassendir!” Loren said. “What did you do? You sold secrets of my kingdom? For a horse?”
The scholar laughed and patted the princess’s shoulder. “Of course not! I can’t do that to you. The man was illiterate, didn’t you see? If he could read, he would have seen that notebook had notes about cold weather plants!”
“Cold weather plants? So that notebook…”
“I have many little books with notes. But I swear, I have nothing on how your kingdom is actually run. I’m far more fascinated by the culture of a place, and it’s flora and fauna. If the merchant decides to bring the notebook to the Royal Archives in Kespia, he will be laughed out of the sandstone halls while we will be far along on our journey. You did say you needed a horse, yes?”
The scholar affectionately stroked the neck of the stallion. The horse whickered in response. “Kae told me you needed one after the king took yours. She also told me all about your plans.”
“She did?” Loren approached and held her hand out to the horse. The stallion sniffed at her hand and brushed her palm with his large lips as the princess chuckled. “What do you think about them, Cassendir?”
“It’s dangerous, Princess Loren.” Cassendir said seriously. “It’s dangerous, and foolhardy, and in my opinion, you should leave something this monstrous to the people in power. With the people who have spies and an army.”
“Which would be my parents?”
“Precisely! The assassination attempt was an act of war, and the reigning royals should deal with that.”
“Cassendir, I am next in line. I have responsibilities as well.”
“Yes and the heir to the throne shouldn’t be so reckless!”
The two stared each other down, looking at each other from opposite sides of the horse. The stallion sensed the tension between them and threw back his head, taking a couple steps back.
“So, when are you returning to Kespia?” Loren eventually asked.
Cassendir readjusted the strap of his bag and looked back at the princess with a mischievous look. “Not until your foolhardy errand is complete, princess! Imagine, a Kespian scholar turning his back on an adventure like this? Giving up on the hills and mountains, plains and seas, to return to sand and not much else? There is still so much to explore, princess!”
Loren blinked, shocked. “You just said it was a foolhardy errand! Why are you coming?”
“I decided I will accompany you and the dog-scented huntress when we first met at this very inn, princess.” Cassendir said with a chuckle. “Now come on, I thought we were in a hurry?”
Cassendir stroked the horse’s neck one last time before hurrying back into the inn, presumably to gather his bags for the journey ahead. Loren watched him go with a confused smile. It was a miracle she managed to find friends who wouldn’t leave her.
Loren prepared for the journey swiftly. She took up the innkeeper’s offer to use their facilities, and met her friends in the main room fully dressed with riding leathers and surcoat over mail. Kae was throwing scraps of meat out the door to Ma’trii, who politely refused to come in. The huntress greeted Loren with a wave, a slice of mutton still in her hand.
“Princess! Finally ready to go?” She asked, smiling. Loren couldn’t help but smile back. “Ma’trii patrolled all the way up to the border of Rhodia. There are more guards patrolling the Plains after King Jorrne’s visit.”
“More guards?” Cassendir looked up from yet another notebook. “Human-Beastman relations must have worsened after the king’s arrival. It might be better to steer clear of the city itself. The grasses can get tall enough to hide even the horses.”
Loren sighed. She slung her pack over one shoulder. “There’s nothing to do about it then. We have to get past the city without notice. If everyone has enough provisions, let’s go. We have to try to reach the Plaguelands by nightfall.”
The three untied the horses from the horse posts, mounted them, and were on their way. They took the same road towards Rhodia that they took before. The tall grass to either side of the road was tamped down now, widening the road ever so slightly. Kae, with her hunter’s tracking sense, said the grass was flattened by heavy wagon wheels and the steel boots of soldiers. The Aldoran escort. Loren heard Kae’s analysis of the marks in the road and fell silent. Without a word, she steered her horse off the path and into the tall grass. Kae and Cassendir had to rush to keep up, with Ma’trii rushing between the three of them to prevent them from getting lost.
“Princess!” Kae called, kicking her horse forward to catch up with Loren’s. She was getting slightly better at riding. “Are you sure going off the path is a good idea?”
“You heard Cassendir back at the inn, didn’t you?” Loren answered. “The road to Rhodia is heavily guarded. I’ll need yours and Ma’trii’s help to keep up out of the path of patrols, if there are any in the tall grass. We can’t afford to get caught by the Beastmen, or by Aldoran soldiers.” Her voice had a tinge of fear and determination. “Come on, we have to get to the border of the Plaguelands.”
They rode on in silence. Every so often the horse’s ears would perk up and swivel, trying to catch the slightest sound, but there was only the soft wind and the scurrying of small animals hiding in the grass aside from the steady beat of hooves on earth. Kae glanced back at Cassendir, who had let his horse idly follow Loren and Kae’s while he scribbled in his notebooks. Kae looked to Loren, but only saw the princess’ back, rigid and still. Whether the princess was lost in thought or focused intensely, she couldn’t tell.
A soft bark sounded a few feet away from Kae’s horse. She looked over the side of the horse and saw Ma’trii moving aside stalks of the tall golden grass with his nose. The wolf huffed and motioned with his head, then disappeared back into the grass.
“Princess! There is a patrol up ahead.” Kae hissed to Loren, who looked back and slowed her horse.
“Where are they?” Loren whispered.
“Off to the right, closer to Rhodia. Ma’trii can lead up away from them, but we have to change course now.”
Loren nodded, and flicked the reins of the horse. “Lead the way, Kae. Hopefully the ground is muddy enough to mask the sound of the hooves. Did Ma’trii say how many Beastmen were there?”
Kae shook her head. “He didn’t, only that there’s a patrol. It could be two men, it could be ten.” The huntress carefully steered her horse to follow the slight trail her wolf was leaving them. It took a bit of work to calm the horses once Ma’trii’s scent started to fill their nostrils from a downwind breeze. In time, the slight shift in course brought them away from the Beastman patrols, and up farther north than the packed earthen walls of Rhodia. They were farther north than they had gotten before, and tension was in the air. Loren, nodding to her companions, resumed taking the lead once all signs of Beastman patrols were gone. The princess closed her eyes, lightly touched the dragon pendant, and forged on.
Chapter Thirteen
Loren, Kae, Cassendir, and Ma’trii stopped in their tracks. They stood at the very edge of a patch of grass, green, vibrant, and full of life. Behind them were the rolling plains and fields of golden grass that surrounded the Beastman kingdoms. Before them, was a barren expanse of nothing. The grass at their feet stopped suddenly, as if a knife had cut the grass in a clean line. It gave way to dry, cracked earth. Nothing grew, not even weeds. A few dead trees still stood, dried out husks that were long past the stage of rot. Dry animal bones dotted the flat landscape, resting on parched brown earth and slate gray rocks.
“Princess…” Kae started, watching for any signs of life or movement. “I’m starting to think we really should turn back.”
“I ag
ree with Kae.” Cassendir said in a rare moment of agreeing with the huntress. “These are the Plaguelands, the cursed land of the ruined Yureun kingdom. It’s just as haunting as the tales say.”
Loren took a breath, steeling herself. “I know. But it’s the only way through to the North.”
“Maybe we could pass through the Imperial Highway and through the Kilrough mountains. Then up the other side to the North.” Cassendir offered.
“There are more bandits there, not to mention the entire East is ruled by the Red Sisters of Sagna.” Loren said. “Our journey will be stretched to months if we go that route. Come on.” She urged her horse onward, cautiously crossing the invisible barrier into the Plaguelands.
Kae sighed, and was the second to cross into the Plaguelands. Her wolf Ma’trii came next, then Cassendir, grumbling under his breath. The huntress nudged her horse close to Cassendir’s.
“Why exactly is it called the Plaguelands?” She asked. The air seemed different, hanging still and silent with no breeze. Kae held the reins of her horse just a bit tighter.
Cassendir sensed Kae’s unease, and explained the history of the Plaguelands so that there would be some noise in the eerily quiet air.
What was now known as the Plaguelands was once the kingdom of Yureun. It was the last waypoint before the ruined kingdoms of the North, on the West side of the Kilrough Mountains. A thousand years ago, Yureun was a prosperous kingdom and the cultural center of the land. It was a time before Aldoran was founded, and the legendary warrior Ylfair the Dragonheart had only just been born.
The kingdom of Yureun was bordered to the north by the fallen kingdom of Talonsreach which had been remade into an outpost, to the east by the Kilrough mountains, and to the south by the Beastman plains. The people were content to till the farmland, raise cattle, and trade with nearby kingdoms. Life was simple and good, and people were happy. But the ruling monarch of Yureun was less than pleased. Her name was lost to history, as was her king, but her legacy continued in the barren land of her kingdom.
The queen of Yureun was a jealous woman. She was beautiful — stunningly so — with jet black hair that fell to her waist in an immaculate cascade. She was loved dearly by her people. She ruled fairly enough, imposing just taxes on her people, and keeping peaceful alliances with her neighbors so there would be no need for war. In her heart, she was a lonely, restless woman. Her husband reassured her that he loved her. Her subjects brought her gifts and adored her. She didn’t believe a word of it.
In a fit of madness, the queen began to kill her people. At first, it was the prisoners. She ordered mass executions, emptying the prisons of her city. The streets ran red with blood as soldiers gutted criminals in the streets. The queen walked the path through the city, and saw how her subjects would bow low, hiding her eyes. They would say she was beautiful. She was fair. The queen knew the truth; their words were lies.
She began to curse the fields. The queen was a powerful mage, and wove spells of death and decay into the very earth of her kingdom. Crops withered to dried husks, and seeds died as soon as they touched soil. Still, the people of her kingdom would bow, and say she was beautiful. They told her they loved her. The queen’s heart grew hard with hate, and resolved to further punish these liars.
Curses went into the air, stilling the breeze and magnifying the scorching heat of the sun. Trees had long died, providing no shelter from the sun. No rain fell to quench the parched earth. Finally, the peasants revolted. Men and women alike stormed the castle of Yureun, armed with whatever they could find. They raised pitchforks and axes, swords and picks. Even the king and queen’s own guards turned against them. The people of Yureun burst into the throne room, and found the queen sitting upon her throne. At her feet was a misshapen mass of a man, arms bent at odd angles, barrel chest heaving with ragged breaths. The queen saw them, and laughed.
The queen’s spell fully took hold of the king, transforming into a monster. Rough, coarse fur sprouted from his skin, and his teeth jutted out of his skull, growing long and sharp. He stood, taller than any man and stronger than ten. ‘My love,’ the queen called him, the only one who was true to her for all those years. With a single word from his queen, the maddened king turned on the peasants, slaughtering the crowd with claws as long and sharp as daggers.
The tales of what exactly happened at Yureun were inaccurate at best, as very few were able to escape the kingdom before the plague took over. Even less were capable of retelling the events that transpired in the castle. Some said the queen wove dark magic from the blood of the peasants her husband had killed. Others said the plague she unleashed was what killed the people of her kingdom in the first place. But what scholars from other kingdoms did agree upon, was that the queen unleashed a cursed plague that killed all who lived in her kingdom, and rendered the land dead and barren forever more. But rumors persist that the queen and her king still reside in the castle ruins, haunting the kingdom for a thousand years. Together.
It was several hours after Cassendir finished speaking that Loren decided they should make camp. The four travelled in a more or less straight line since entering the Plaguelands. There were no roads, and only the husks of long dead trees served as landmarks. The dead expanse of dry earth stretched on for miles in every direction; it was easy to wander and get lost, but Loren led them due north.
The princess called for rest, and they all dismounted and began to set up camp where they were.
The first night’s camp went well. The night air was as still and stale as it was in the day, but no insects bothered them as they laid their bedrolls across the parched earth. Kae was unable to find many sticks that didn’t crumble to dust once she picked them up, so the campfire for the night was a small ball of magic flame that Cassendir conjured to sit in a ring of stones.
“I don’t like this, princess.” Kae said, laying down her bedroll. Ma’trii paced uneasily nearby. “There are no animals, no trees, nothing. Cassendir said everything here’s been dead for a thousand years. What if we run out of food and water? There’s nothing to hunt for miles. There’s not even any shelter. I can barely breathe in this strange air.”
“I understand your concerns, Kae.” Loren said soothingly, sounding more a diplomat than a friend. “Trust me, we have enough provisions. We stocked up enough food and water from the inn to last us a week.”
“Are you sure that will last us until we leave the Plaguelands?” Kae continued, unconvinced. “You don’t know how big the Plaguelands are, admit it. No one goes to Yureun.”
Loren reached over to pay Kae’s arm reassuringly. She smiled, and for once, the huntress didn’t feel at ease with Loren. “We’ll make it, Kae. Trust me.”
The night passed by uneventfully, but the next day proved to be harder. With the strange, still air, the heat of the noon sun felt hotter and more oppressive. Loren and her companions resorted to using Cassendir’s Kespian silks as head wraps to keep their heads covered and their eyes out of the glare of the sun. Kae even wrapped a length of silk over Ma’trii’s head. They walked on, day after day, always in a straight line due north. By the fourth day, Loren began to realize her mistake. They had packed enough food and water to last three humans and one wolf for a period of seven days. She had forgotten about the horses.
Even with halved water rations to help the horses, they dropped dead one by one from thirst and exhaustion. Kae attempted to butcher the dead horses for meat, but once she cut the first horse, it rotted and withered rapidly into dust and joined the ash and dirt that caked the cracked earth of Yureen. With their horses dead, Loren and the others had to carry their own packs, which felt lighter and lighter after every camp. Soon they would run out of provisions, and join the ancient dead of the Plaguelands.
“Princess.” Kae muttered, staring off into the distance with a hand shielding her eyes. “I’m not dreaming, am I?”
“What is it, Kae?” Loren replied wearily, exhausted and dragging her feet. She didn’t bother looking to where Kae was pointin
g so eagerly.
“That’s a castle. Gods above, that is a castle.” Kae’s voice grew stronger and more confident with every word. “Shelter, and maybe water. We have to go there.”
Loren finally looked, and there in the distance, was the outline of a castle on the horizon. Tall black spires reached towards the sky in jagged spikes. The princess could make out the impression of crenellations on the walls, a few rough holes in the profile of it that suggested parts of the walls collapsed. There was even the hint of an old gate. Loren agreed that this castle in the Plaguelands would be their best hope for survival. Cassendir bit his lip and hesitated. The legends of Yureun spoke with such conviction that the queen and king of Yureun still haunted the Plaguelands. This castle may be their home. The scholar was about to protest going to investigate the castle, but Loren and Kae already started off towards it.
The walk towards the castle took several hours under scorching heat. With the horses dead and the packs lighter from the loss of misjudged provisions, Cassendir thought the journey would take less time. But the castle in the distance seemed to shimmer in the heat, drawing farther and farther away from them the more they trudged on. The scholar suggested they turn back, but it was too late to change course now. They walked on, blindly, the heat seeping through their silk covers and addling their minds. Kae panted just as hard as Ma’trii.
Suddenly, Loren looked up. She had been staring at her feet for so long, one boot in front of the other, that she barely noticed when the cracked earth gave way to split stone and crumbling mortar. They had reached the castle, finally. Kae and Ma’trii ran for the shade of the ruined castle wall and collapsed against it, panting and nearly fainting from heat exhaustion. Cassendir immediately approached them to help, but Loren held out her hand to stop him.