“That wasn’t funny.” Her father reprimanded her. “It almost stopped my heart.” The glowing Krathaa ball in his hand allowed them to easily climb the stairs.
“I thought it was funny.” Isabela murmured, straightening her hair.
“You would.” Diego replied.
“All right, children. I think that we should do what we came here to do, and not argue.” Jineva commented primly. Bel let out a little snicker. Diego sighed.
The view from the top of the lighthouse was magnificent. The lights of Soledad and the harbor shone below them, while the torches of the castle seemed to light the entire hilltop. The lenses and all the delicate mechanisms of the lighthouse had been stripped, leaving the lantern room empty and bare, so it was there that they stood, all three holding hands.
Jineva took a deep breath. “Concentrate on your K’ Dreex. Let him or her guide you into a deeper communion with the other K’ Dreex, and then they will bring their humans into the group too.” She was so close to Meara by now, that she couldn’t tell where her spirit left off and Meara’s began. As close as her own left and right arms, she felt her father and her aunt merge with her. “All right.” She spoke aloud to maintain her own concentration. “Picture what I saw during my reconnaissance, and what we all saw again in the conference room. The dark tunnel, with the boiling water bubbling out of cracks in the walls.” She focused her vision on the dark water of the harbor, at the base of the castle. “I was right down there. Picture it...Feel it...Touch it... I can.” She seemed to be flying over the dark water, diving into it. Passing through the seaweed, she/they were into the tunnels. “There! Up ahead.” She could almost feel the heat on her face. “This is the place.”
“What now?” a voice in her mind asked. She wasn’t sure if it was Diego or Isabela, or one of their K’ Dreex.
She stretched her mental arms wide. “I want you to fracture this wall, like you would break an eggshell. I’ll take the center, Aunt Isabela take the right, Father, take the left. I’ll tell you when to push, but right now just reach out with your minds, feel the cracks, and feel the power flowing into us.” Jineva actually felt power flowing into them, not just from each other, but from the entire universe. The feeling was exhilarating, terrifying. “Now take all that power that is welling up inside of you and fit it into the cracks you see in front of you.” Jineva took a deep breath, drawing in as much of the power as she could possibly hold without burning up. “PUSH!” In her mind’s eye she saw the entire wall not only crumble, but turn to dust. A two hundred foot wide bar of ice cold sea water dropped into the center of a vast pool of boiling magma. The result was cataclysmic. Jineva jerked her mind way just as the lighthouse began to shake. “The Krathaa!” She shouted to the air. Everything flickered.
They stood wavering before the conference table. As if they were viewing it from miles in the air, they looked down on a three dimensional image of western Isla Rivero. The night was dark and quiet, and then the entire castle seemed to lift. Red cracks appeared under it, and then the top of the magma dome, including the massive castle, disappeared in a blinding flash. Jineva blinked, looking away. A moment later when she looked back, a black mushroom shaped cloud, hundreds of feet tall and laced with red fire and white lightning was billowing up, already hundreds of feet tall while a lower cloud was racing away from the site of the former castle on all sides, covering both city and harbor. The castle and magma dome were gone as if they had never been. In their place was a smoking, lava-filled hole.
“That is a pyroclastic cloud.” Thallia’s voice murmured in an emotionless monotone. “It’s traveling about four hundred and fifty miles an hour and has a temperature of one thousand degrees.” They watched in horror as the cloud consumed the city of Soledad, the harbor, the ships at anchor and a vast stretch of jungle around the city. Finally it stopped. “I estimate that thirty five hundred non-combatants died in the explosion, both those in the castle and those in the city too stubborn to flee into the hills. About ten thousand soldiers died in the castle, along with another four thousand sailors on Carlos’ ships. Carlos would have lost half his forces fighting the Krathaa and the rest of the archipelago, but in the end he would have won, taking seventy to eighty thousand innocents with him. Remember that when you question your actions and their results. The force you used to explode the mountain was a little excessive, but you are all young yet, and have much to learn. Welcome to the post of Planetary Administrator. Three at once.” Thallia mused under her breath. “That has to be some sort of a record.”
“I need a vacation.” Diego grumbled.
“It is allowed.” Thallia said smoothly. “After you have finished cleaning up the mess you created. The archipelago has to be unified, and right away. Things will begin to fly apart almost immediately if a firm hand isn’t used.”
“How are the Krathaa?” Jineva interrupted.
“Just fine. I let them know when you had started, and they went to deep water. Where do you all want to go now?”
“Send me back to Mateo’s schooner.” Jineva said dully, crying tears of grief over the dead thousands. “I’ll pick him up from the fleet on the way back to Isla Lemuy.”
“Send me right back to the flagship.” Diego sounded tired. “I’ll start the rescue effort, and we’ll send out fast couriers to the other islands.”
“I’ll go back to Isla Lemuy.” Isabela also sounded worn. “Both Richardo and Camila need to be briefed, and I need to start things moving on the Ruby Slipper.” She glanced down at the ruin that had been Soledad. “The Silver Garter was a profitable business and comfortable home, for a while. I suppose I’ll just have to relocate my girls and my spies to Isla Lemuy now, and start all over. That’s the fun part, anyway.” Her dark eyes held an eager light.
~~~
Jineva looked down at the long white dress she was wearing. She didn’t want to get married, she had not wanted to meet Jose and Sofia Vergara, Mateo’s adopted parents, and she certainly and most definitely did not want Mateo as her husband. Period. What she wanted, however, was not taken into consideration. She had a role to play and a job to do.
Mateo looked splendid in his dove-gray doublet and hose, every bit a king. Jineva wanted to sit down with a cask of mead and drink until she passed out. That also, was on the not-to-be list, despite her recurring nightmares of the destruction of Soledad. She curtsied gracefully to a minor court official, then turned to look out over the high walls of Casa Vergara, on Isla del Gato. Huge frothing waves from the open ocean pounded the cliffs far below.
Thallia had taken care of all the small details, when it came to Mateo. The boy was now firmly convinced that he had spearheaded the attack that destroyed what had been Casa Barillo, and the city of Soledad. It didn’t matter that he couldn’t explain the details. He could also remember no details of Isla Lemuy, other than it was a wet, swampy and inhospitable place, unfit for decent people to live. Jineva planned to mothball her fleet of aging triremes, just as soon as rescue operations on Isla Rivero were well under way, and the crews of the ships put to work constructing the city of Dobella, on Lake Chia in central Isla Lemuy. There was talk of creating a canal from Dobella to Prosperidad to allow trade and Richardo, now governor, was thrilled. Although he was a frequent patron, the former seneschal was slightly less thrilled, when a certain establishment named the Ruby Slipper opened. The political connections of the owner, he was informed bluntly, made it tax free.
A hand touched her shoulder, and Jineva turned, and then curtsied deeply to the white-robed priestess who stood before her. It was Mateo’s one acquiescence; letting them be married by a Priestess of Selene.
She took Jineva’s hand. “It has been a long time since the schooner Azzktullua, and much has happened.”
“And not much of it good.” Jineva replied bitterly. “Is that you Lorena?” The white-robed woman nodded microscopically. “Well, well. Selene let you off the leash?”
“You might say that.” Lorena gave Jineva a questioning look. “N
obody has seen much of Selene lately, and rumor has it that Thallia is actively looking for a replacement for her.”
“I wish you the best of luck in your new job.” Jineva gave the priestess an impudent grin.
“I wouldn’t laugh too loudly, young lady. You know what they say the reward is for doing good work.”
Jineva frowned. “More work.”
Lorena smiled. “We should go. I believe the marriage ceremony is waiting on us.”
“You’re just a bundle of laughs.”
Five thousand nobles and their families rose to their feet as the two women entered, making their slow stately way to the massive crystal altar. Mateo’s possessive smile as she turned to stand beside him made her want to step on his toe.
After a time the ceremony was finally over, and Jineva found that she wanted a mug of mead more than ever, but realized that the party, wasn’t over quite yet. Holding her elbow firmly, Mateo escorted her to a raised and festively decorated stage, overlooking the crowds that had formed below to see King Mateo and his new wife, Queen Jineva. A small railing on the right of the platform prevented anyone from accidentally falling over the edge hundreds of feet down into the cold ocean below.
Mateo made a saccharine speech all about heroism and sacrifice, presenting his new wife like some sort of a trophy awarded to him for his hard work, and the crowd cheered appreciatively, while waiting for the free meal. Jineva moved closer to front of the stage, overlooking the press of people, straightening her back.
There was a flurry of activity at the back of the crowd, and a woman screamed.
“Barillo hussy!” A loud male voice yelled. “We won’t have you as our queen! Remember Prosperidad!” Jineva heard the heavy thunk of a crossbow being fired, and felt a tearing pain in her left shoulder. She spun around, staggered backward and hit the railing overlooking the ocean, which conveniently broke under her weight.
“Mateo!” She cried, throwing her hand out to him in a heart-wrenching and very well-rehearsed gesture as she fell toward the waiting waves.
She hit, and the water closed over her. She hit again as her back slapped down on the cold metal table. Thallia was standing over her in a white jacket, scowling.
“That was a very foolish stunt. There were a thousand things that could have gone wrong.”
“But they didn’t.” Jineva winced as the bolt slid out of her shoulder. “Did the young archer...”
“He’s safe, and having a mug of ale with Diego right now in our local pub. I believe they’re toasting your good health. Silly custom, considering that he has already shot you twice.”
“Could you please plug this hole so that I can go join them? I’m a new bride, give me a break.”
Thallia laughed as she worked. “You weren’t paying too much attention today, were you? When it came to the ‘do you takes,’ Lorena dragged it out so much she skipped right over asking you the key question.” The room turned to blinding white, and then cleared. “Mateo thinks he’s a King, and the country thinks he’s a King. We, however, know different, but we won’t say a thing. Go have your drink. You deserve it. Take some time off with your father. Your aunt has a bit more to do, but she will be along.”
Jineva rubbed her newly repaired shoulder. “Thank you, Thallia. It’s good to finally be home.”
~~~
“Oh, you poor, poor man.” Isabela was wearing a severe black dress that was at least four years out of style. The skillfully applied makeup on her face and the white powder in her hair made her look ancient.
Mateo looked up from his desk. “Do I know you?” It was a month since Jineva’s tragic death, and although the resources of the archipelago had been used, neither Jineva’s body nor her murderer had yet to be found. Mateo’s eyes were red, not from crying, which he did not do, but from reading endless reams of reports. Since the destruction of Soledad and Casa Barillo, Isla del Gato and Casa Vergara had become the center and capital of the Aztlán Archipelago.
“I am Jineva’s Aunt Isabela, from Isla Mocha. Surely she mentioned me?”
Mateo frowned. “I don’t seem to remember...”
“It doesn’t matter, Your Majesty.” Bel simpered. “I would just like to introduce you to my niece, Camila, the Duchess of Erat on Isla Mocha. A passably pretty girl, all she has left is her title and a few hundred acres of farmland.”
“Your Majesty.” Camila’s voice was honey smooth, her curtsey flawless and the neckline of her dress very low. Mateo’s mouth hung open. “I am so very pleased to meet you at last and I am so sorry for your loss.” Her sapphire blue eyes held him pinned, while she skewered him with a thousand volt smile. She rested the tips of her fingers lightly on the back of his hand, a casual and devastating move, and she felt him tremble. Removing her hand, she turned to leave. “I won’t bother Your Majesty any more with the problems of a silly girl. I have met you, and it is enough.”
“Wait.” Mateo managed to gasp out. His eyes were slightly glazed. “Who... what...” He swallowed, trying to organize his scattered thoughts. “Where are you staying?”
Camila turned a coy look to Isabela, who replied crisply. “We are staying at the Queens Arms.” It was a modest inn on the poorer side of town. They had passed it in their carriage on the way to the Vergara manor house.
Mateo looked horrified. “I can’t have you staying there. You have to stay here, in the Casa.”
Isabela and Camila exchanged a long look. “I am afraid that I have business elsewhere, Your Majesty. Are you sure that putting Camila up for a few days will not inconvenience you too greatly?” Camila was looking at the floor, and Mateo was looking at her cleavage.
“What? Oh, no. It would be no problem at all if she stayed as long as she wished.” A hint of a smile touched Camila’s red lips.
Isabela bowed stiffly, her gussets creaking. “You are too gracious, Majesty. I will leave you now. If Camila becomes a burden, please let me know.” Mateo didn’t hear anything she said. Camila had hooked, landed and filleted him, all in under five minutes. The country was again, in good hands.
END
Vale of Tears: A Thalassia novel Page 20