by Alex Alcasid
“Loren?” Cassendir’s voice was hoarse and dry.
“Shh.” The princess answered. She drew her sword and signaled Cassendir to follow her.
The path from the castle wall was paved with cracked stones. The castle proper loomed above them, with their dark spires reaching up to the sky. The towers cast a cool shadow over Loren and Cassendir, and they stuck to it as they approached. Loren angled her sword at the ready and, despite not believing it was needed, Cassendir’s mage markings flashed and created a sword of blue flame in his hand.
“There’s something wrong about this place.” Loren whispered, picking her way over the fallen stones around the castle’s front doors.
“My lady, there’s nothing here.” Cassendir’s tone was reassuring, and frustrated. He was tired, and wanted nothing more than to make camp inside the castle and sleep somewhere cool. “There has been nothing in all these lands for a thousand years.”
“No, there’s something here. I can feel it.” Loren touched a hand to her chest, where her silver dragon pendant rested. It was slightly warm, but she dismissed it as her body heat heightened from walking all day under the sun. She entered a vast room held closed by ash-covered doors. A single tap from her sword caused the once proud wooden doors to crumble into dust. Her footsteps echoed in the stone hall, and she heard a faint sound. “Did you hear that? Laughter.”
“My lady…Are you alright?” Cassendir asked, concerned. “I didn’t hear anything. Maybe you’re tired. Come, lets set up camp in here, out of the sun.”
Loren heard the sound again, and whirled, her grip tightening on her sword. She scanned the empty hall rapidly, looking for the source. A single stone chair stood at the back wall of the room. A throne. “There is something here, Cassendir!”
The scholar extinguished his sword, and shook his head. He was exhausted and disappointed in himself. The princess was obviously insane, possibly driven mad by the heat but she had been foolhardy and rash to begin with, and he was an idiot for having believed her for so long. Now she led them for a week into the middle of nowhere, where he may die of thirst and starvation too far from home. Without a word, Cassendir turned to leave. He muttered to himself about taking the rest of the provisions for himself and walking back towards the Beastman Plains, when a soft movement caught his eye. Behind him, Loren saw it too. She raised her sword, every sense alert.
A soft laugh echoed through the ruined throne room. A light rasp, the sound of decayed fabric brushing down long rotted wood sounded, as a tall and pale figure descended a set of stairs that were collapsed halfway up, a skeletal hand on the balustrade.
“What is this?” The figure said with a teasing, light tone. The queen of Yureun crossed the room and took her place at her throne, the hem of her tattered black gown flowing in a false wind. Her face was gaunt, paper white skin stretched across her lithe skull. Loren suspected she was beautiful once, in life perhaps, as this specter could not possibly still be alive. “Visitors to my kingdom? My, I have not had visitors in so long.” She continued.
Loren stayed in a cautious, alert stance, keeping her sword angled towards the queen. “My queen. We merely wish to pass through.” She said.
The queen’s pout looked ghastly on her cadaverous face. Her eyes were sunken in, but they held a sly smile. “Simply passing through? What a shame. Surely you are tired from your journey? Come, stay a while, my dear. Rest.”
With a wave of her hand, the throne room changed. The castle was restored, with not a stone out of place. Warm sunlight streamed in through pristine glass windows. A long table stretched nearly the length of the throne room, laden with plates piled high with food. Roasted pig dripping with a berry sauce, beef stews, stuffed chickens, fresh fruits and vegetables sat upon the table, filling the room with an enticing scent. Loren took a step back, but Cassendir rushed for the table, greedily grabbing a flagon of wine. Before Loren could say anything, Kae and Ma’trii ran into the throne room as well, mad and delirious with hunger. Her companions gorged themselves on the food and drink provided by the queen of Yureun, but Loren could not bring herself to join them.
She looked back towards the head of the table, where the queen sat, and was taken aback. What was once a walking skeleton was now a beautiful woman. The queen’s long, dark hair was kept back in a braid, and her skin, while fair, had a lovely glow. Her previous cadaverous frame was filled out and healthy, and Loren could not help but think the queen was truly beautiful. The queen beckoned to Loren, smiling kindly, and the princess was reminded of her own mother.
Loren took a step towards the table and reached out a hand for a leg of roasted lamb, when a sharp pain bolted through her chest. She reeled back, a hand flying to her pendant. It had sparked — painfully — as if in warning. The princess looked back towards the queen, and saw the same sinister, sly look in her eye.
“Kae, Cassendir, Ma’trii!” Loren said forcefully. “Get away from the food!”
Her friends ignored her completely. She tried again, approaching Kae and grabbing her by the arm, pulling her away. The huntress turned on Loren, eyes wide and mad. Kae shoved Loren back, grabbed a knife from the table, and pounced on her. “Don’t you dare reject this gift from our most generous queen.” Kae hissed, pressing the knife to Loren’s throat.
“Kae!” Loren pleaded, wrapping her hands around Kae’s thin wrists and pulling her knife arm away from her throat. “This isn’t like you!”
“Isn’t like me?” Kae scoffed. “What would you know about that? You don’t know anything about me. Its always about you, Loren the princess. Loren the wise, Loren who should be followed.” The huntress tossed the knife, sending it clattering along the stone floor, and choked Loren instead.
“You don’t know anything about the real world.” Kae continued through gritted teeth. “You don’t know what its like, to sleep on freezing ground night after night. Unloved, unwanted, and alone. You always want us to sleep in inns, because the precious little princess doesn’t want to lay her head on dirt. You boast of your sword fighting and archery lessons with the Warmaster, but you can’t even hunt. And you don’t even know what it feels like to be truly, desperately hungry.”
The grip on Loren’s throat tightened, and the princess gasped for air. Kae’s smile was wide and unhinged. “But my queen knows. She knows what its liked to be alone. She only wants our love and devotion, Loren. That’s all she wants. but you’re too stubborn to see it. You don’t deserve even the air you breathe in her presence.”
“Kae…” Loren gasped, trying to pry Kae’s hands off her throat. Her vision began to blur and darken at the edges. “It’s an illusion. A spell. Fight it, please Kae.”
“A spell? Liar!” Kae snapped, slapping Loren hard across the face.
Cassendir heard every word, and at the mention of the spell, he hesitated. He still held fistfuls of food in both hands, but he tore his gaze away from the banquet, and looked up at the queen. She was smiling fondly at how eagerly Kae turned on the princess, and looked as content as a cat lounging in a sunbeam. The scholar focused as hard as he could on the queen, letting his sense of magic reach out past the temptation of the food. The image of the queen that he saw at the end of the table shimmered and shifted, becoming pale and death-like. The banquet also disappeared, and Cassendir realized he was holding rocks and dust. With a gasp, he dropped them.
The queen took notice. Her gaze snapped towards Cassendir, and she realized immediately that he could see through her illusions. Her sly smile soured into a grimace, and she suddenly stood, pushing her stone chair back with a harsh scraping.
“How dare you interrupt the feast, boy?” Her tone was like poison. She raised a single, bony finger at Cassendir. “You don’t deserve my gifts. You do not truly love me. My love, kill him, let him join all the others.”
Cassendir took a step back, mage markings glowing, and a shining sword leapt into his hand. A roar sounded from elsewhere in the castle, loud and fierce. The queen of Yureun smiled again, and all Cass
endir saw was a blur of glowing red eyes before he found himself bodily thrown into a stone wall.
A beast easily taller than five men slammed its huge paws into the ground, claws scratching gouges into the stone. It roared again, and its long fangs flashed in the light.
The queen of Yureun smiled fondly at the beast as it pounced towards Cassendir again. The scholar just managed to roll out of the way as the beast punched a hole through the crumbling wall. “Oh, my love. How beautiful you are.” She said with a wistful sigh.
Kae still had her hands around Loren’s throat. She ignored the beast completely, and leaned closer to the princess. Her eyes were bloodshot. “You’ll die here, Loren. You’ll die alone, in the Plaguelands, where your family can’t find you. My queen will watch your body rot to ash, and she will laugh.” She hissed.
“Gods above, Kae.” Loren rasped out, running out of breath. Her vision was almost black. “You wouldn’t let that happen. I know you.”
Kae hesitated, and Loren went limp under her hands. The princess was merely unconscious, but she had gotten through to Kae. The princess was right, Kae, in her heart, wouldn’t let Loren die in some forsaken land. She wouldn’t let Loren die at all. There were so many things she still wanted to say to her, Loren could not die just yet.
Not like this.
The huntress shook her head, trying to clear her mind. She was still confused and disoriented, but there was a beast in the room and if there was one thing Kae knew how to do, it was hunt. With a whistle, Ma’trii leapt into action, pouncing on the beast’s forearm and clamping down with his powerful jaws. Kae drew her bow, and loosed several arrows that struck deep into the beast’s side.
It howled, hurt and enraged. The beast flung Ma’trii through the air with one powerful movement, but it was distracted enough to let Cassendir get to a safe distance. The scholar whispered a spell, and shining blue daggers coalesced in his hand as his mage markings glowed. He flung the daggers at the beast, and they sparked as they struck, setting fire to its matted dark fur. He and Kae attacked it from both sides, but the beast roared and seemed unaffected.
The queen looked amused with the proceedings, but her smile soured as Loren regained consciousness, standing with her sword drawn, and her eyes turning a shining gold. She fixed the beast in a focused stare, made eerie with dark slit irises. She lightly touched her silver dragon pendant, before rushing headlong towards the beast.
Kae was about to call out to Loren to be careful, as she had just loosed an arrow and Loren was in its path. With barely a glance, Loren ducked and the arrow flew a fraction above her head. She struck out at the beast’s side with her sword, dodging around its blows with a sudden fluid, focused grace. She hacked and slashed at the beast’s arms, chest, and face with inhuman precision, her movements like a dance.
The queen was displeased. “I had heard of Ylfair the Dragonheart, who had the nerve to enter my territory and attempt the challenge of the ebonstone castle.” She said softly, still audible over the roar of the beast. “So strange to see one of her kin. And still, so foolishly entering my kingdom. Finish with them quickly, my love.”
The beast roared, rising to its hind legs, and began to attack with renewed fervor. It singled out Loren, swiping at her with its claws and trying to chase her down as she danced just out of reach. Cassendir’s magic bounced right off its hide, and Kae’s arrows stuck into its flesh with no effect.
“What do we do?” Kae shouted, still loosing arrows, aiming for the beast’s eyes. “Nothing is slowing it down!”
“I don’t know!” Cassendir answered, ducking under the banquet table and coming up the other side. His mage markings glowed as he readied a flaming sword. “Loren!” he called, rushing to help.
Loren said nothing. She focused with such intensity at the beast, that it was if nothing else existed but her and the remnants of the king of Yureun. She hopped out of reach of its claw, tilting her head as it sailed over her. She spared a second to glance at Kae, before turning back to the beast and raising her sword.
Kae looked right into Loren’s unnaturally golden eyes in that one moment, and felt a shiver down her spine. She calmly raised her bow, held her breath, and fired the arrow. Loren sidestepped around the beast, making it follow her and turn, catching the arrow in its eye. The beast roared in pain, and began to thrash about. Instead of dodging away from it as she was doing, Loren stepped further into the beast’s space. Kae and Cassendir called out to Loren at the same time, but the beast fell forward onto her, claws blindly searching.
After a second or two, the beast’s roar died in its throat. Its arms went limp, and the fight left its eyes. The beast fell heavily onto its side, with Loren’s sword through the roof of its mouth and jutting out the top of its head. Loren herself was unscathed, but was bathed in the thick, viscous blood of the beast. She pressed her foot against its chest and pulled her sword free.
The blood curdling scream of the queen forced Ma’trii to flee from the throne room, tail between his legs. The sound carried grief and outrage, and the rail-thin specter of the queen rushed to the beast’s side. There was no trace of the human it used to be, but the queen caressed its bloodied face with the tenderness of a lover. Tears welled in her eyes as she softly stroked the coarse hair of the beast. Loren still said nothing, and raised her bloodied sword again to strike.
“How dare you.” The queen of Yureun hissed. “I allow you to come into my home. I share with you my food, the bounty of my kingdom. And you strike down my husband. My love…” she bent down and brushed her lips against the beast’s mouth.
Loren’s golden eyes flashed as she saw the opportunity. She swung her sword with all her strength, chopping off the queen of Yuren’s head. Or so was the plan. Her sword passed through the queen as if through air. Her blow was met with a hollow chuckle, like ash falling in the wind.
“You never loved me. You lied to me.” The queen rambled, cradling the beast’s head. “You will die here, child of dragons. You will join all those who came before you.”
The ground began to shake so violently that stone and brick fell from the ruined ceiling of the castle, peppering the throne room with debris. Loren narrowed her eyes, looking more like a displeased serpent than a woman, and rushed to grab Kae’s wrist. She pulled the huntress along until Kae could keep up, dodging fallen rocks and jumping over fallen parts of walls and pillars. Cassendir was close behind, blasting away debris with his magic.
The queen’s hollow laugh seemed to echo in the still air of the Plaguelands, even long after they had left the castle. Breathlessly, they took their packs, and began to run away from the ruined castle and the queen that haunted it.
The sun was about to set when finally Loren called for a halt. After watching her fight the beast without a sound and with strange, golden eyes, neither Kae nor Cassendir decided it was wise to challenge her. Loren slowed to a walk, raised her hand to signal that they will stop for a while, and collapsed on the spot.
“Loren!” Kae was the first to the princess’s side. She caressed the princess’s cheek, and thought that maybe Loren was wounded by the beast but never said anything. “Loren! Loren, wake up.”
The princess opened her eyes just a fraction, groaned, and fell back unconscious. Her eyes were dark, much like her mother’s, and were perfectly normal. Kae breathed a sigh of relief. “I think she’s just exhausted.”
Cassendir crouched beside them, performing his own examinations on the princess. He nodded. “Fatigue. I’m not surprised, considering what she did at the castle.”
“The eyes.” Kae frowned, uneasy. “It happened again.”
“It’s definitely magic, but not one I’ve seen before.” Cassendir shook his head. “I don’t understand it. Loren is no mage, and I don’t understand what circumstances will trigger it.”
Ma’trii nudged Kae’s sighed, offering a light waterskin to her. They were quickly running out of water, but the wolf thought it would be good to give the princess some.
K
ae fondly patted Ma’trii’s head and tried to rouse Loren so she could take a sip of water.
Cassendir busied himself with making camp, still ill at ease after the fight. Now that Kae reminded him about Loren’s unnaturally golden eyes, he was worried. This magic, almost like a possession, was happening more often. Why didn’t she speak this time? As he was laying out the bedrolls, a glint in the distance caught his eye. He stared hard at it for a minute, before startling Kae with a whooping cheer.
“What? What is it?” Kae said, getting to her feet and drawing her bow. She looked around wildly, on edge and on the look out for any more of the Yureun queen’s beasts.
Cassendir grabbed the huntress by the shoulders, and spun her to where she should look. He raised a hand to point and couldn’t contain his excitement. “An outpost! There, a fort. It flies the flags of Aldoran and Rhodia.”
“What? Outpost?”
“We’re less than a day’s journey away from the north, Kae! We’ve made it through the Plaguelands!”
Behind them, lying on a bedroll, Loren’s expression eased. She smiled slightly, watching her friends jump and cheer and spin each other around like children at one of the festivals in Markholme. She sighed and turned over on the roll. Her friends would not die because of her. They would find Kaiten and bring him home. They would find a cure for her mother. Kae would not leave her.
Loren sighed contentedly, smiling as she slipped into a deep, dreamless sleep. It was a good day.
Chapter Fourteen
They woke early the next morning. The stale, still air of the Plaguelands had not changed even after the encounter with the queen. Only the experience of having spent several days walking in the dead air made the trip easier. Bags were packed in silence, their packs now several pounds lighter from their food reserves being almost completely depleted. Only the sight of the outpost gave them any hope.