by Ben Wolf
The first couple of times, Calum didn’t mimic the King’s action, but the third time, when they stopped to look at a robust leafy green plant with orbs of blue flowers atop, Calum leaned toward it as well.
“That is a hydrangea.” The King nodded toward it. “It is technically considered to be a shrubbery, and it blooms in the spring and summer. Its flowers only rarely give off an aroma, and we have bred this one specifically to do so. If you care to smell it, you will find it quite fragrant.”
The King of all Kanarah was asking Calum… to smell some flowers in his garden?
It was a weird juxtaposition against everything Calum had once believed about the King, and many more things he was still uncertain about, but most importantly, the offer stood stark against the impending war that would be waged between them.
But regardless of how all that turned out, Calum had to admit it was a pretty incredible offer. Who else in Kanarah could say the King had personally invited them for a walk in his private garden and allowed them to smell the flowers?
Calum leaned forward even more, but he hesitated. Last time he’d inhaled too near a plant in the King’s garden, it had knocked him out cold. He glanced up at the King.
“It is harmless,” he assured.
Calum had no choice but to trust him or not, and he decided to take the leap. He sniffed the flowers, and their sweet scent, unique compared to anything else he’d smelled before, filled his nostrils.
“I like it,” he said.
“Thought you would.” The King motioned with his head again, and they continued walking.
Several more times, the King stopped and pointed out various plants to Calum. He’d never been all that into plants, per se, but the King seemed to be enjoying himself, so Calum went along with it.
When they reached the bed of roses, the King stopped again. He crouched down and touched the crimson petals of one of them with his fingers.
“I assume you already know what these are,” the King said.
Calum crouched down next to him and nodded. “Red roses. Really pretty flowers.”
“If you wish, you may collect a bouquet to take to the Premieress once we have concluded our conversation,” the King offered.
Calum didn’t know how to respond to that. He would’ve loved to, and he’d briefly considered snagging one anyway for exactly that purpose, but the King would probably have noticed, so he hadn’t done it. And now the King was offering them to him freely?
“Uh… thank you, Your Majesty,” Calum managed to say. Then Calum realized something else. “How do you know about Lilly and me?”
The King tilted his head and studied Calum. “It is written all over your face, evident through your mannerisms, through every delighted glance you cast her way. And if that were not enough, I can see it etched into the very fabric of your being. Your love for her is as unmistakable as the sun burning in the sky, and I dare say it burns just as brightly.”
Calum gulped back the lump in his throat, embarrassed. He rubbed the back of his head. “It’s that obvious?”
For the first time since Calum had met him, a small grin curled the corners of the King’s mouth. “That would be putting it mildly.”
Calum knew he was blushing now, and it only embarrassed him all the more. Once again, words escaped him.
Finally, he realized something else. “You and Valerie and Matthios seem to know a lot about the three of us. How is that possible? I mean, I suppose Lilly’s life has been unusual since she was the Premier’s daughter, but Axel and I were nobodies. We still are. So how do you know so much about us?”
The King’s attention remained fixed on his roses. He delicately stroked a small bud that had yet to bloom, and before Calum’s eyes, it began to grow, expand, and blossom to match the size of several of the other roses all around it. Then it grew even larger.
“I share a connection with this world unlike anyone else. It is a gift from the Overlord Himself.” The King’s rose continued to swell and expand until it was twice as large as any flower in the vicinity. “I can feel every blade of grass in the wind, every stone in the ground, every rolling wave of the Tri-Lakes. Kanarah and I are one.”
When the King finally stopped influencing the flower, Calum couldn’t believe his eyes. The rose was almost as large as his head, to the point where its abnormal size actually unnerved him. He recalled the rose golems that had defended Kanarah City and now understood how they’d been so effective—at least for a time—in defending the city.
The King himself may have very well been defending the city through them.
In one quick motion, the King plucked the flower cleanly from the base of its stem and extended it toward Calum.
“Use this as the bouquet’s centerpiece,” he said. “And mind the thorns. Even a beautiful flower may well defend itself should the need arise. But I suspect you already know that.”
Calum accepted the rose and carefully held it with two fingers between its thorns. Up close, it was even wilder to look at. Its petals were the traditional blood-red color, but it had opened so wide that it revealed its center. Calum had expected to see seeds inside, but instead, sunlight glinted off something silvery, almost like mercury, inside.
He couldn’t explain it, but he’d never seen a rose like it in his life. It was truly a marvel, something natural yet supernatural at the same time.
“I don’t believe it,” Calum said. “This is—you really are connected to all of Kanarah…”
As the words left Calum’s mouth, the complete understanding of their ramifications hit him, and his excitement sobered. He’d believed every word, and he realized he believed the truth behind what the King was saying.
But more than that, he could feel it was true. He could sense it—a shaky but present connection to the King himself. Calum didn’t understand it, but he had to acknowledge it.
In that moment, the truth changed everything for Calum.
“If you’re connected to all of Kanarah,” Calum started, “then if you die…”
The King finished the thought for him. “So will Kanarah.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
An hour later, Calum sat in his chambers alone, struggling with what he’d just learned. When Axel and Lilly had finally returned from their respective excursions with Matthios and Valerie, they’d sought him out, eager to share their experiences with him—or in Axel’s case, to brag about how he’d beaten almost everyone in sparring, and all in quick succession, too.
Instead, they found him seated on his sofa in a melancholy state, staring off into nothing, sitting next to the bouquet of roses wrapped in white linen the King had sent with him. He was still aware enough that they’d entered to glance up at them, but otherwise, he didn’t acknowledge their entry into his chambers.
Lilly rushed to his side. “Calum? Are you alright?”
What a question. Calum started to nod at first, but then he stopped. “I don’t know.”
“Are you hurt?” Lilly asked. “Did the King do something to you?”
Calum blinked at her. Then he reached for the bouquet of roses and handed it to her. The single rose in the center still glistened with silver in its center. “These are for you.”
Lilly’s brow furrowed as she accepted them, and then she smiled. It helped Calum feel a bit better, knowing he’d made her happy.
“They’re beautiful.” Now Lilly was beaming.
Axel just scoffed and shook his head.
Lilly set the flowers aside. “But I’m concerned about you. What happened?”
Calum shook his head. How could he even possibly begin to explain what he’d experienced? What he’d come to understand about the King and all of Kanarah?
Yet he knew he had to. Everything was at stake.
“I don’t think we can kill the King,” Calum said.
“Of course we can.” Axel shut the door to Calum’s chambers, which was a good idea, given the nature of their conversation.
Then again, did it matter
anyway? If the King was who he said he was, wouldn’t he be able to hear them regardless?
“It won’t be easy, and it’ll probably have to be Lumen actually doing the job, but there’s gotta be a way,” Axel continued.
“No. That’s not what I mean,” Calum said.
The two of them looked at him.
“I mean… I don’t think we should.”
They met his words with silence and confused looks.
“The King is part of Kanarah. That’s why he’s the King,” Calum explained. “He can sense and control nature itself, which we had already figured out. But then I saw what he could do firsthand, with my own eyes. I felt it. He’s more than just a powerful figure. He’s connected to Kanarah itself. He is Kanarah. So if we kill him—”
“That’s a load of horse chips if I ever heard it,” Axel interjected. “He’s no more a ‘part’ of Kanarah or ‘connected’ to it than you or me.”
Calum shook his head. “No, you don’t understand. It’s like…”
Calum hesitated. How could he possibly explain this revelation to anyone else? To someone who hadn’t been there to experience it like he had? To feel what he’d felt?
Lilly took his hand. “Go on.”
Reassured, Calum said, “It’s like he’s the soul of Kanarah. And if the soul dies, so does the body.”
“If we kill the King, Kanarah dies,” Lilly stated.
Calum nodded.
Axel scoffed. “He’s got you wrapped up in some witchcraft or something. Fooled with your head. How could that even work, Calum? What would even happen? It’s absurd.”
“I don’t know,” Calum replied. “But I know what I saw. I know what I felt.”
“So we’re going based off of your feelings, now?”
“Axel,” Lilly warned.
“Don’t ‘Axel’ me,” he countered, mocking her higher-pitched voice. “We came here to do a job, and we’re gonna see it through to the end.”
“We came here because we were captured, tried, and absolved of our wrongdoing,” Lilly fired back. “They could’ve killed us, but—”
“Yeah, yeah. I get all that,” Axel interrupted. “It just goes to show how naïve and incompetent the King and his goons are. They’ll wish they’d killed us by the time we’re done with ’em.”
Calum stared at him in disbelief. “You’re delusional. Absolutely delusional.”
“What did you say to me?” Axel matched his stare with narrowed eyes.
“If you’re starving and someone offers you bread, do you slap their hand away?” Calum asked. “If you’re cold, and someone offers you a blanket or shelter, do you refuse them?”
“Obviously not.”
“That’s what you’re doing here, Axel,” Calum said.
Axel shook his head. “Accepting charity from my enemies is different. Totally different.”
“Have you ever once considered that maybe these people aren’t your enemies?” Lilly suggested.
Calum and Axel both turned toward her. Calum had just been ready to say the same thing, but he hadn’t. Did Lilly understand what he was saying? Or had she had some revelation of her own somewhere along the way as well?
“You’ve gotta be kidding me.” Axel scoffed again. “They’ve bewitched you, too?”
“I’m not bewitched,” Lilly insisted. “I’m considering our options based on the information we’ve received since arriving here. Nothing is for certain anymore.”
“Sounds like you’re both pretty certain about this,” Axel countered. “And you’re wrong, by the way.”
Axel’s attitude grated on Calum, but he chose to ignore it. “I really don’t think I am, Axel.”
“That’s the problem, Calum. You’re not thinking at all.” Axel tapped his own forehead. “The condition of an entire world doesn’t rest on the wellbeing of one man. That’s just stupid. The world won’t die without the King. It’s not possible. But you know what is? That he lied to you.”
Calum had considered that. It had been his most pressing objection to this whole line of thinking. The King had every reason to lie to him, but… Calum just didn’t feel that he had.
“He showed you some magic tricks with his plants, and that got you thinking he’s more than he really is. That’s what it boils down to.” Axel started listing points on his fingers. “You gotta remember that this guy has been around for well over a thousand years, so he knows how to manipulate people better than you or I ever will…”
Calum didn’t really have any desire to manipulate anyone or to get better at doing so, but that was beside the point.
“Second, he’s trying to convince you of his worth beyond what it really is as a means of scaring you. Then you’ll take that fear back with you to Lumen’s army, and it’ll spread like a disease, infecting everyone until they’re all too divided to fight. Third, he’s downright evil. You and I have experienced that firsthand multiple times.”
Calum didn’t agree with that last statement, but he had to consider that to Axel, “firsthand” didn’t actually mean “firsthand.” More likely, he meant that they’d suffered at the hands of the King’s men rather than actually suffering harm from the King personally.
“Fourth, he’s been on the throne for too long and done too little while he’s been perched up there,” Axel continued. “I could go on, but really, what’s the point? He’s got you fooled, Calum. And what about Lumen? He was prophesied to return after a thousand years of being locked away, and now he’s free, ready to fulfill the rest of the prophecy.”
Calum had considered that as well. Lumen’s return had been prophesied long before he actually returned, but given what he’d learned about the King and Lumen since, Calum had to wonder if the term of Lumen’s imprisonment was simply just that: a timed sentence, one that was only supposed to last a thousand years.
He kept circling back to his dreams. Lumen had called to him specifically, and because Calum had answered the call, they’d managed to set Lumen free. Calum was no expert in prophecies, but that part of how it had all played out felt very much like a prophecy being fulfilled. And if Calum had just ignored the dreams, would Lumen even be free right now?
But after his last interaction with the King, and believing what he now believed, how could Calum remain on Lumen’s side? Especially if the King was telling the truth about Kanarah dying along with him?
“I saw what I saw,” Calum finally said. “It doesn’t mean I’ve made up my mind.”
“Then what does it mean?” Axel pressed.
“It means we need to continue to be careful,” Lilly said. “It means we need to keep working with the King to find solutions to make Kanarah better, to unify her people.”
“Lumen is gonna handle all of that himself,” Axel insisted. “That’s why we set him free.”
Calum sighed and rubbed his eyes. “I don’t know what to think anymore.”
“You need some rest.” Lilly gave his arm a squeeze. She turned to Axel. “And you need a bath. You smell like sweat.”
“Ladies love a man who works hard.” Axel puffed out his chest and smirked at her.
“Not this one,” she countered. “Go get cleaned up. It’ll be dinner before long, and whether or not you care what the King thinks of your stench, I guarantee Valerie’s opinion matters a whole lot more to you.”
Axel’s confident countenance dissipated. “Did she… did she say something to you? About me?”
“Trust me,” Lilly said. “A woman like her won’t be won by a man who reeks of sweat and grime.”
Axel glanced between Calum and Lilly as if he’d just experienced a grand revelation of his own. “I agree with Lilly. You should get some rest, Calum. I’m gonna leave you to it. Stay strong, and we’ll get through this.”
Axel put up his fist in a show of solidarity, then he opened the chamber door and headed out, leaving Calum and Lilly alone.
Finally.
Calum released another sigh, this one more exasperated, and he flopped down with
his head on Lilly’s lap. To his great relief, she let him do it and even started running her fingers through his hair. He closed his eyes and reveled in her gentle touch.
“What are we gonna do, Lilly?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” she replied. “But we’ll figure it out together.”
Calum grinned. At least he had that as a comfort.
More importantly, he had her.
As Magnus had anticipated, Lumen’s army came within view of the city of Solace just after nightfall. Had Magnus been leading the army, he would’ve taken a less overt approach than Lumen had. The General of Light had led the way, hovering before his army like a blazing star amid the night sky.
Perhaps his strategy was to strike fear in the hearts of the men who would be fighting on the King’s side, but Magnus couldn’t help but think that they might’ve found more success by approaching the city in secret, surrounding it, and then beginning their invasion before the sun even had a chance to rise.
Lumen had insisted they would attack Solace at dawn instead, so that’s what they would do. He’d probably formulated this plan during his millennium of imprisonment, and Magnus doubted anything could dissuade him from pursuing it exactly as he’d envisioned it countless times. For now, at least, it was best to just go along with it.
Once the army finished setting up camp, Lumen’s light finally faded, and sleep settled among the weary soldiers. In only a matter of hours, the attack would begin, and they would need to recover their strength from the journey in order to fight.
That night, as planned, Magnus, Riley, their warriors, and Condor would set out to Valkendell to rescue Calum, Lilly, and Axel from captivity.
An advance scout, a black Wolf with gray paws sent by Riley, had reported seeing the three of them roaming the city streets, accompanied by some dark-haired woman. As of that morning, at least, the three of them were still alive and, by all appearances, unharmed.
Magnus found it strange that the King’s men had allowed his three friends to wander around the city more or less freely. He’d found it stranger still that Lilly hadn’t taken the opportunity to flee and return to Lumen’s camp when she’d had the obvious chance, but he also trusted Calum and Lilly implicitly. There must be a reason, or several, for what the Wolf had seen.