The Captive Kingdom
Page 28
Darius stood to even more enthusiastic applause than before. He smiled and waved to his people as they fell to their knees. Then he lifted his arms, inviting them to stand again and to be silent.
I stepped back. These would be his first words to Belland as their king, and I had no interest in being in his way. So I lowered my head, as he had done before, and stepped to the far corner of the platform as he spoke.
“We have just come through a difficult time,” he said. “And perhaps other hard times will come, but we will greet them with new eyes. For we have learned so much …” His voice seemed to choke. “… I have learned so much in these past few days. If we have any hope for a future, if there is a tomorrow and we greet it as a free people, then it is only for one reason. My people, I am your king, but today, I ask you to kneel to my brother, my hero, and to my king. Hail Jaron Artolius Eckbert, the Ascendant King of Carthya. Hail his new title in our lands, Giver of Freedom.”
Darius turned back to me with his hand outstretched, inviting me forward. I shook my head at him, but he gestured again for me to join him at the front of the platform.
As I did, he went to one knee, something I barely could comprehend. One by one, each row of onlookers followed his lead. Their heads were not bowed, as they had been for Darius. Instead, they looked up at me with smiling faces, hopeful faces. From somewhere in the crowd, someone began to sing. Soon, every person as far as I could see was singing.
Darius stood again and slung an arm over my shoulder. “You know this song.”
I did. Carthya’s anthem had not been sung since our parents were alive. In their absence, I had never wanted to hear it. But I did now. I’d forgotten how beautiful the song was.
I turned to Darius with a broad smile. “It’s time for me to go home.”
He embraced me and whispered into my ear. “If you should ever need me —”
“I always will need you,” I replied.
He pulled back, his entire face lit with happiness. “Then I will come.”
“And I will never be far away.”
I gave him one last embrace and offered a final wave to the people. With Imogen at my side, we boarded the Shadow Tide, the last ship in the harbor.
Teagut was waiting for me on the main deck. I shook his hand, and he gestured toward the captain’s office. “The pirate king should get that room.”
With a mischievous grin, Roden tried to push past me. “Hear that? I’m taking the captain’s quarters.”
I raised my new sword, blocking the doorway long enough to glance back at him. “Not a chance. Let me know when we’re home. Until then, I’ll be asleep.”
Yet, even as exhausted as I was, I barely slept that night. I could not sleep, not for the emotions swirling within me. Finally, I had no choice but to get up and return to the captain’s desk. I opened the lower drawer and pulled out a black satin bag, then set it on the desktop.
I stared at it for several minutes before finally withdrawing the Devil’s Scope. The last time Roden had seen it was on the beach when Darius sacrificed it for Amarinda’s life. But Wilta had still had it in a pocket of her long coat after I returned to the overlook with the pirates. When I tried to stop her from lowering her arm, my other hand easily transferred the scope from her pocket into mine. She must have forgotten it was there after I began exploding her ships.
The first two lenses were still in their slots, but without the third lens, the scope was useless.
I reached behind me to my belt, where the metal pin used to be. The third lens had easily fit into that gap, though it had nearly gotten me killed to put it in there rather than try to swim away from the rock walls of the lava tube. I still wondered if it was a mistake to have saved it.
By now, surely Wilta and her mother had realized the Devil’s Scope was gone. If they were coming back to look for it, we’d have seen them already.
But they hadn’t come back.
They would go forward, likely for revenge. For utter destruction.
They were on their way to Carthya.
With that in mind, I inserted the third lens into its slot, raised it to my eye, and aimed it toward the candlelight.
And couldn’t help but smile.
Don’t miss the next book in the Ascendance Series!
Turn the page for a sneak peek.
On the front of the castle, between the second and third floors, was a small ledge that overlooked everything up to the castle gates and even provided a good view of Drylliad beyond our walls. It was accessible by climbing from a balcony on the second floor. Nobody knew I was out here, except perhaps the passing sentry below, his head cloaked. I’d have to speak to Roden about that. Even on cold nights, sentries were never to be cloaked.
At least he wouldn’t notice me. I didn’t want his attention, or anyone else’s. I wasn’t sure why I’d climbed to this ledge. Maybe I’d felt a faint hope that Imogen would realize this was all a mistake and any minute now she’d return.
Except it wasn’t a mistake, and both Imogen and I knew it. Regardless of my reasons, I had deliberately kept the truth from her when I failed to tell her I had the Devil’s Scope.
I wished Mott were here, and Darius. I could’ve used Mott’s practicality and Darius’s faith in love. Truly, I would have liked anyone to talk to right now. Tobias and Amarinda hadn’t been married for long; they barely noticed when anyone else was in the room. My adopted younger brother, Fink, wouldn’t understand, and Roden would only say I’d gotten what I deserved. He’d be equally mad that I hadn’t told him about the Scope.
I watched the sentry again, noting the gait of his long legs, his posture as he walked. I knew the sentries who patrolled in the daytime but had rarely taken time to observe the night watch.
Something about him seemed familiar. Too familiar. I leaned forward and under my breath mumbled, “Mercy.”
I didn’t know his real name; I’d never cared to ask. But Mercy was Wilta’s top counselor, one of the crueler Prozarians I’d met, and, somehow, still alive. That couldn’t be possible. Back in Belland, I’d seen him fall to his death. But this was him.
I crouched low to warn the others, but at nearly the same moment, Mercy threw back his cloak and raised a hidden crossbow. He fired off two shots with perfect accuracy and killed the other sentries within the gates.
There should have been a response from the towers at the curtain wall. Where were my vigils there? When I looked to the towers, I saw a glint of metal in the moonlight.
I stood, hoping to get a better view, but that might have been a mistake.
A voice called down from the tower, “He’s right there, on the ledge!”
A hiss cut through the air. I jumped off the ledge, barely missing an arrow that hit exactly where I had stood. It bounced off the rock and fell with me to the balcony below.
When fans of the Ascendance series asked whether I’d ever do a fourth book, my answer was, “Yes, if Sage ever returns to my imagination.” Then one day, he did, letting me know, as only Sage could, that he was bored and ready for more trouble. I loved diving back into his world and his mind, and to associate again with the people he loves most.
But that would never have been possible without the incredible support of several people around me. When I presented sample chapters to my agent, Ammi-Joan Paquette, after so many years since the third book of the series, I genuinely had no idea what she would think. Her response was immediate and enthusiastic, greater than I had hoped for.
Scholastic was equally enthusiastic, especially my editor, Lisa Sandell, who has been wonderful beyond measure. I am forever indebted to these two women.
I am always grateful to my family for their love and encouragement, especially my husband and best friend, Jeff. I could not do any of this without them.
And more than with any other book I’ve written, I have the fans to thank. For every letter, email, or personal contact expressing love for the series and a wish for it to continue, you kept Sage fresh in my mind until t
he day he was ready to return. This book exists because of you.
JENNIFER A. NIELSEN is the critically acclaimed author of the New York Times and USA Today bestselling Ascendance Series: The False Prince, The Runaway King, The Shadow Throne, and The Captive Kingdom. She also wrote the New York Times bestseller The Traitor’s Game and its sequels, The Deceiver’s Heart and The Warrior’s Curse; the New York Times bestselling Mark of the Thief trilogy: Mark of the Thief, Rise of the Wolf, and Wrath of the Storm; the stand-alone fantasy The Scourge; and the critically acclaimed historical novels Resistance, Words on Fire, and A Night Divided.
Jennifer collects old books, loves good theater, and thinks that a quiet afternoon in the mountains makes for a nearly perfect moment. She lives in northern Utah with her family. You can visit her online at jennielsen.com or follow her on Twitter at @nielsenwriter.
Text copyright © 2020 by Jennifer A. Nielsen
Map by Kayley LeFaiver, © 2020 Scholastic Inc.
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920. SCHOLASTIC, SCHOLASTIC PRESS, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Nielsen, Jennifer A., author.
Title: The captive kingdom / Jennifer A. Nielsen.
Description: First edition. | New York: Scholastic Press, 2020. | Series: The Ascendance series; 4 | Audience: Ages 8–12. | Audience: Grades 4–6. | Summary: Ascendant King Jaron believes that his kingdom, Carthya, is at peace, so he and his bethrothed, Imogen, are sailing home from a trade mission when their ship is attacked by Prozarians, and Jaron and several of his friends are taken prisoner; the Prozarian captain seems to believe he had something to do with his parents’ deaths and they also know a great deal about Jaron’s long-missing older brother, Darius, the rightful heir to Carthya — who may be alive after all.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019047465 (print) | LCCN 2019047466 (ebook) | ISBN 9781338551082 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781338551105 (ebk)
Subjects: LCSH: Kings and rulers — Juvenile fiction. | Pirates — Juvenile fiction. | Inheritance and succession — Juvenile fiction. | Princes — Juvenile fiction. | Brothers — Juvenile fiction. | Adventure stories. | CYAC: Kings, queens, rulers, etc. — Fiction. | Pirates — Fiction. | Inheritance and succession — Fiction. | Princes — Fiction. | Brothers — Fiction. | Adventure and adventurers — Fiction. | LCGFT: Action and adventure fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.N5672 Cap 2020 (print) | LCC PZ7.N5672 (ebook) | DDC 813.6 [Fic] — dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019047465
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019047466
First edition, October 2020
Cover art © by Carlos Quevedo
Cover design by Christopher Stengel
e-ISBN 978-1-338-55110-5
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.