The Captive Kingdom

by Jennifer A. Nielsen

  “But why?”

  “I don’t know. Until we figure that out, we must focus on what we can learn from the scope.” Darius looked up at Trea, who pulled the real second lens from her pocket.

  In turn, Imogen reached into her shoulder bag and brought out the satin bag containing the scope and the first lens, which she passed to Darius.

  He withdrew the scope and showed me the markings on top. “This is the Carthyan symbol. I don’t know why it’s there and I don’t know the symbol in the center, but I do know this first symbol.” This one was a circular arrow with a clear beginning, but no end. “In ancient times, it was applied to all royals, so that if one family needed help from any other family, they could use this symbol to prove their identity. The symbol itself expressed hope that one day, we would all unite under one banner of peace.”

  I leaned forward to have a better look at the symbols for myself, and when I did, my face brightened with excitement. I looked around the group and said, “I know the scope’s message!”

  The group gathered even closer around me as I held the scope near candlelight to explain. “The first symbol represents unity. If it were a number —”

  “One,” Imogen said.

  “The second symbol is Mendenwal’s pride, claiming to be superior to all other countries.”

  Tobias smiled. “Greater than all others.”

  “And the last symbol is Carthyan, representing equality among the original rulers.”

  “Among three rulers,” Darius said.

  “One is greater than three.” I smiled. “That’s the message.”

  “Yes, but what does that mean?” Mott asked.

  I shrugged. “Well, I don’t know that … yet. If we had the third lens, it might make more sense.”

  “At least we have two lenses, though I’ve never seen them together.” Darius slipped both lenses into place and handed me the scope. “With some luck, that will lead us to the third.” He aimed it toward the candlelight, and his shoulders fell. “That can’t be right. It’s exactly what the Prozarians thought.”

  He gave me the scope, and when I did the same, I saw what he meant. Where the first lens clearly showed the cave of Belland, the second lens added the position of the sun, falling in the western sky so that its beams would aim directly into the upper opening of the cave.

  I passed the scope to Tobias, who began laughing to himself as he rotated the tube until it was upside down. He continued laughing until Darius finally threatened him.

  A smug grin was still on Tobias’s face when he lowered the scope. Looking around at each of us, he said, “When Jaron was in the cave earlier, I overheard Mercy speaking to one of the vigils. He claimed the markings on this scope indicated there was only a thirty-hour window in which the third lens could be found, then it would close for ten years.” Now he focused on Darius. “The lens that you gave to Captain Strick was missing something, correct? Stars.”

  Something sparked in Darius’s eyes, almost a hint of respect. Then his eyes widened. “A grand moon is in the skies tonight!”

  “I read a book about this last year. Once every ten years, the moon aligns differently with the stars.” Tobias smiled at Darius, and to my amazement, got a smile in return. “As it will tonight, and tomorrow night.”

  Darius took the scope back, then lowered it, clearly frustrated. “The moon is too high now. We’ve missed it for tonight.”

  “Then we will try again tomorrow,” I said, relieved at having some time to recover. As we’d talked, my body had begun to thaw from the cold water. I felt the aches in my leg and my foot, and every part of my body that had taken a hit, a punch, or a scrape over the past few days was complaining just as loudly.

  “You don’t look well.” Trea pointed to a small cot on the other end of the room. “Rest awhile.”

  Imogen helped me limp over to the cot, and I fell asleep before she finished pulling a blanket over me. I might not have even rolled over once before I awoke again. When I did, morning light was coming through the window, but she was exactly where I last remembered her. No one else appeared to be in the hut.

  I sat up on one elbow, stiff and with my eyes still heavy. If I listened carefully, I could hear voices outside, though they were too low to identify who was speaking. I looked around. “Where is everyone?”

  “You slept late. Darius and Trea are outside talking. Mott and Tobias went to continue searching for Fink. How do you feel?”

  “Like a brick.” I forced myself to a seated position. “What did you think of Darius?”

  “He seems to have a good heart, though in all other ways he’s very different from you.” I waited for more, and finally she said, “You want so much to have him back as your brother. Have you considered whether Carthya should have him as its king?”

  “That’s not my decision.”

  “But it must be. Today, you are Carthya’s king. Will your people do better tomorrow with Darius?” Several beats of silence passed, then she added, “Can you be sure that Darius’s throne will not soon become the Prozarian throne?”

  My jaw clenched. In truth, I could not be sure of anything regarding how Darius would rule. But I was not so arrogant as to believe I was doing any better.

  Imogen touched my arm, drawing my attention back to her. “I know you love Darius and that in your memories, he’s become almost perfect, but he’s not.”

  “Nor am I!” I didn’t want this to turn into a fight, but Darius was my brother, and I would defend him. “When he’s king, I’ll do everything I can to stop him from making any other agreements with the Prozarians, but he will be king.”

  “When will you convince him to change? Before or after the Prozarians execute you? Because that is still their plan!”

  “I’ve come this close to death before, and I’ve found a way out of it.”

  “That’s because you fought it before. Why aren’t you fighting now?”

  “You think I’m not?” My muscles began to tighten. “How many more bruises are necessary before you’ll accept that I am fighting?”

  “There are other fights, Jaron, those that come from a strong heart and a will that cannot be broken. I know it’s in you because I’ve seen it over and over again. Why aren’t you fighting for the throne?”

  “What more would you have me do? My mind is full; my heart is broken. But no matter what I do, this story ends the very same way — Darius has claim to the throne! Would you have me keep it by destroying my brother? Or should I be the reason for civil war in Carthya?”

  For the first time, Imogen raised her voice. “I would have you live, Jaron. I would have you fight for your title, for your life, not hand it over to your brother and his controllers!”

  “But it is my life, Imogen! My life, my decisions! No one else’s.”

  Her expression stiffened. “I thought it was our lives now.” Her voice was nearly a whisper, which hit me hardest of all.

  I looked away. My mind was racing for what I could say to fix this. I’d immediately regretted my words, but it was too late — they still hung heavy in the air, and I could not pull them back.

  Imogen stood and brushed her hands against her skirts. “Do what you will, Jaron, as you always do. Maybe I cannot stop you, but I do not have to be here to watch it. I urge you to consider this one last thought: If your brother requires your life so that he can take the throne, is he really your brother? Or is he simply another name on your list of enemies?”

  Before I could answer, she walked out of the room.

  And just like that, the inevitable happened. Imogen had finally given up on me.

  As sore as I was, and with a swollen foot, it took me twice as long as it should have to follow Imogen out of the hut. By the time I did, she was nowhere to be seen. I called her name, but received no answer.

  “She said not to follow her.” Darius pointed to a basket of dried biscuits. “Hungry?”

  I ignored the food. “She shouldn’t be out there on her own.”

 
; “She’s not alone. Trea is with her. They’ll be safe.”

  I stared off in the direction in which Imogen had gone, or in which I thought she had gone, then finally limped over to a rock to rest.

  Darius was staring at me from behind; I felt the weight of his eyes, the intensity of his gaze. Finally, he said, “Is there any place on your body that hasn’t been injured since coming here?”

  “I’ve had worse.”

  “Once I’m king, you won’t have to fight these battles anymore. We won’t have to fight them at all.”

  I turned to him, curious. And worried. Imogen’s warnings still rang in my ears.

  Darius crossed so that he stood in front of me. “Every instinct you have is to fight. That’s the trait of a great warrior, and you shall be great, as captain of my guard. But the mark of a great leader is refusing to fight. During all of Father’s reign, he never had to fight a single war. Better than any of the kings before him, Father knew how to keep the peace.”

  I disagreed. “During Father’s reign, Carthya was being sectioned away like slices of a pie. Father ruled in a permanent state of surrender.”

  “He was a great king, Jaron!”

  “He was a great man, in many ways. I loved him too. But he was not a great king.”

  Darius drew back, folding his arms. “And you think you were?”

  “I’ve never claimed to be anything great.” I stood again to look for Imogen. I wasn’t even sure that I was a particularly good person. If I were, I’d never have said the things to her that I did.

  Seeing my concern for Imogen, Darius’s tone softened. “You were never trained to become a king, not like I was. So it is understandable that you are feeling your way blindly through the many responsibilities you have. But they are my responsibilities now.”

  I finally took a biscuit, though I had little appetite for it. “If you become king, I cannot be your captain of the guard.”

  “Why not? You’re the most logical choice.”

  “Only in theory. In life, we are too different. Even if we both wanted the same thing, I would make choices as your captain that you would disagree with. I fear you would never trust me to —” I stopped, choking on my own words. Suddenly, everything that Roden had been trying to tell me for the past few days, even for the past several weeks, made perfect sense. “You would never trust me to do the job the way I would want to do it. And without that trust, I am nothing but your puppet.”

  Darius nodded, though I doubted he understood the full meaning of my words. But I understood now. I owed Roden better than he had received from me thus far.

  Something must have caught Darius’s eye because he walked to a different overlook. Though we were quite far away, the spot offered a good view of the village below and a corner of the beach. Rows of Bellanders, pirates, and Prozarians were working together to carry heavy crates off the Shadow Tide and toward the five other Prozarian ships in the harbor.

  “What are they doing?” he asked.

  I followed him over and drew in a deep sigh. This was hardly the first time I’d had to offer a difficult, and usually humiliating, explanation to my brother. However, this sank to an entirely new level.

  I scratched my head with one hand and gestured with the other. “Well, you see, those weapons were intended for Carthya. It appears they are currently being transferred to the Prozarians.”

  Darius turned to me, dumbfounded. “Our weapons are in the hands of the enemy? Those five crates probably represent the bulk of —”

  “Of the weapons supplies we desperately need, yes. I agree, this looks bad.”

  “It is bad, Jaron! You accuse me of weakness, of giving in to Prozarian demands, and then you let this happen! No wonder you cannot claim to have been a good king — this is beyond your usual level of foolishness.”

  “We didn’t give them the weapons. They were taken when our ship was captured.”

  “How did you guard and protect these weapons at sea?”

  “There was no guard. We were on an Avenian pirate ship.”

  “Which made it easy to attack you!” He threw out his hands. “Since when does the king of Carthya travel in the company of pirates?”

  I sighed. “Since he became a pirate.” I pulled up my right sleeve, revealing the branding they’d given me months ago. “Roden is too. He’s been my captain.”

  “Roden, who is now in service to our enemy?”

  “No more than you’ve been in their service.”

  Darius’s face continued to redden. “The two of you, the two most powerful people in the kingdom, belong to the pirates, also our enemies. This is treason, Jaron.”

  “Things have changed since you were home. The pirates are only our enemies sometimes.”

  Darius pushed his hand through his hair, all the while shaking his head in disbelief. “This is why Father sent you away so many years ago. You act without thinking, and the way you think makes no sense. This was bad enough when you were a prince, but you are not fit to be a king.”

  “I know I’ve made mistakes, but —”

  “These are not mistakes, these are disasters! Nothing has changed since the day Father sent you away, and it’s all too clear why he did. You are an embarrassment to the throne!”

  A horrible silence followed, one in which I could not speak. His words hit me harder than the worst of any punishment I’d ever taken, and I felt it nearly the same, as if the words stripped me of my last breath.

  I looked down and bit my lip, and after a moment, more gently, Darius said, “I’m sorry, Jaron. I didn’t mean that.”

  I nodded, but said nothing. I knew that Darius hadn’t intended to be unkind, but he had opened a wound that still ached inside, confirming every doubt about myself that I’d ever had.

  “You know that I never wanted you to leave the castle. And after the pirate attack, once you were found, I begged Father to let you come home again.”

  “Did you ever see me?” I asked. “When you and our parents would ride through the streets, did you ever see me standing there?”

  A horrible pause followed before he answered, “Every time.” A corner of his mouth turned up. “It was impossible not to see you — everyone else bowed.” Then he became somber again. “Father’s instructions were clear, that if we saw you, we should distract Mother. She never knew you were still alive, though I almost told her several times.”

  I hardly dared to ask the next question. “Did Mother ever … talk about me?”

  “Your highnesses?”

  We turned to see Roden behind us, flanked by two Prozarian vigils. He looked unnaturally stiff, and his eyes darted between me and Darius, as if he wasn’t sure who was in charge here. I wasn’t sure of that either.

  Yet I was still reeling from what Darius had said, so he was the first to respond. “What do you want?”

  “The Monarch would like to speak with you … both of you.” Roden shifted his weight. “Immediately.”

  “Why?”

  “Last night, the Monarch said she would take out her revenge on the people of Belland. It’s already begun. That’s how we knew where you were — she forced them to tell her about this place. She has already arrested several Bellanders suspected of violating their oaths of loyalty. She intends to burn their homes and destroy the resources of this land. When she finishes, nothing will remain of Belland.”

  “The people here have nothing to do with this!” Darius snarled. “They are innocent!”

  Roden’s face betrayed his worried emotions, though he was trying not to let the vigils see. “That is why the Monarch chose them.”

  “Give us a moment to talk,” I said. Roden dipped his head and stepped back while Darius and I reentered the hut.

  Once we were inside, I turned to Darius and whispered, “I have a plan, but it’s not ready yet. For now, we must stay here.”

  He pushed his hand through his hair. “Your plan to save these people is to wait here while they take the punishment that should have been yours
. And after that?”

  “When Imogen comes back …”

  “She won’t. Not after the way she stormed out of here. Even if she does, we need to help the people now. You made promises to the Bellanders! You cannot give them hope and then abandon them. Why did you promise them freedom anyway? If anyone were to make that promise, it should have been me.”

  He stopped there, almost reeling back at his own words. “It should have been me,” he mumbled again, this time to himself.

  Darius looked up again. “Back home, I was separated from the people by castle walls, or I waved at them from a carriage as they stood at the sides of the road. But here, I work with these people, take meals with them, and learn from them every day, so much more than I ever learned from the castle tutors. These are my people, more than Carthyans have ever been.” He turned to me. “You gave them hope, Jaron. We must help them now.”

  He was right. But to do so meant separating myself from a plan Imogen and I had discussed while on the fishing boat. If that plan failed, all else here was lost.

  Darius grabbed his sword and sheathed it at his waist. “Will you join me or not?” I hesitated and he added, “Your king orders you to join him.”

  “That is a trap down there. Trust me, I’ve walked into enough traps, I can usually recognize them.”

  “That’s why I need you with me.” He grinned. “Protect the king.”

  “With what? I have no sword.”

  Now his smile vanished. “Where is it?”

  “I dropped it into the sea.”

  Darius closed his eyes and whispered something under his breath. I only caught the words “devils” and “cursed.” Whenever I heard those words together, they were almost always about me.

  Finally, he said, “Well, I have mine. We’ll start with that.”

  “Let me go alone. We shouldn’t approach Wilta together.”

  “I’m not afraid of her.” He put his hand on my shoulder. “Jaron, I know now that you were right about this, about them. I was weak, and I was wrong. For the last month, I’ve given these invaders everything they wanted, watched dozens of my people go to their deaths because I failed to defend them. They have looked to me for answers and I’ve turned away. How many times did I protect you when we were younger? I am going down there. Please come, and not because I’m your king, but because we are brothers again.”