Singer's Sword

by Cassandra Boyson

  He shook his head. “How can you be banished? Surely, it is a misunderstanding.”

  “My crime is having been born of my parents,” she said bitterly.

  “Does he still blame you for what they did all those years ago now?”

  She sighed and shook her head, hands going to her temples. “I’m sorry, Fredrick, but I must rest. Perhaps we can finish this conversation later. I promise not to trespass on your hospitality any longer than necessary.”

  He knelt before her, resting a hand on the arm of the chair. “I meant what I said earlier. It would please me to have you remain as long as you live. Your welcome here is irrevocable.”

  A painful smile worked its way in. “Thank you, Fredrick. I owe you.”

  * * *

  Hazel found it impossible to leave her rooms the following day. As Fredrick was called away, she had no reason to leave. Without asking, both meals and choccum (a Bashtiian teatime) were brought her. Other than that, she was left to her own company.

  She spent hours reliving the last year, reflecting especially on Armond. How could he have gone from the sweet boy he’d been before the catastrophe… to the man who’d actually cast her into the same fate as her parents? He, above all but Dorian, understood what that would mean to her, what a knife to the heart it would be. She fancied it was worse than imprisonment until she cast her eyes about the comfort of her current space and had her midday meal set before her. It was not worse than prison.

  Though the dragon attack had awoken previously unrealized gumption in her, it had burned away the very thing that made Armond so lovable: his heart. True, he wasn’t heartless, per se. But he had acted heartless. She was his fiancé. They were meant to be in love.

  And yet, though she’d spent much of the evening before in tears, she found herself unexpectedly tearless this day. She was broken but… not broken-hearted. She did not love Armond. She wasn’t certain she ever had. All the feeling that was true were the remains of what she’d felt for him in childhood. Not for the foolish king he was now.

  But she could only endure so much of this deliberation before she felt she would burst with sorrow. Therefore, it was with self-gratitude that she went to the shelf where a maid had carefully nestled her books. She selected a volume and when that was finished, she went for another. At last, the day was nearly over and she threw herself upon the bed, exhausted without ever having left her suite.

  The following morning brought the same heaviness as the one before. But this time she pulled herself from bed and was clothed before the maid could arrive to help her. After breakfast, her hair was dressed and, at last, she turned for the door. She would leave the room, though everything in her screamed not to. But really, what could happen? Plenty. It was a wide world. However, from the reclusiveness of her youth, she well knew how easy it would be to fall into the old pattern. She would not allow herself that comfort.

  When she finally stepped outside and closed the door, she deliberated upon how she would spend her day. She had no invitations from Fredrick, which was well enough for her for the time being. A stroll in the garden? Yes, the fresh air would do her good. She started that way when her feet veered in the opposite direction and she found herself entering the library instead. It was a vast one, as she well-remembered. And after all, Kierelia’s had been burned to ashes.

  “Hazel, my dear!” a familiar voice exclaimed.

  Fire burned in her stomach. Her hands clenched into fists. “Prophet.”

  He strode across the room and placed hands upon her shoulders, studying her. “You have grown.”

  She edged away from his grasp. “Really? You look shorter.”

  He continued to look her over with sober admiration. Pride even. “I have heard so many tales about you. I cannot say how glad it has made me to hear them. Why, King Fredrick cannot stop singing your praises… Speaking of, I’ve heard nothing of your voice. Hasn’t it emerged yet?”

  She crossed her arms. “Why should you care?”

  He took a step back and released a sigh. “My dear girl… I am so sorry I had to leave you. I can only imagine how difficult it has been. But you have come through with soaring colors.”

  “Had to leave?”

  Gently, he took her hand as if testing whether she would let him keep it. Then he led her to a set of chairs before a bright window. “Is he gone?” he asked.

  She blinked back. “ Who?”

  “The other one. Er, Latos, the Realm Leader of the Greater Archipelagos.”

  Hazel was taken aback. “Yes… As a matter of fact, he passed away after saving us from the dark dragons.”

  He released a breath. “I supposed as much. I may return then.”

  “Prophet, why were you running from Latos?”

  “My girl, I don’t suppose you’ve ever heard anything about passing through time?”

  “As… a matter of fact, I have done it myself, thanks to you. The cabin in the southern region?”

  “That’s right. Then you’ll understand. You see, Latos has not actually died—contrary to popular belief. He has passed into a time before men tread our world. The sorceress who conjured the dark dragons sent him. And, well… he never died, due to an anointed agelessness bestowed him from having been Realm Leader. Therefore, here he sits before you as a terribly old man.”

  She choked, swallowing several times before, “You’re positively batty.”

  He grinned. “Just so.”

  “You’re trying to claim that you’re him. You look nothing alike.” Though, she knew it was a lie.

  “Very complimentary, my dear. Age does have something of an effect when one has lived so long.”

  “But if it’s true, what does his—your—younger self’s arrival have to do with your disappearance a year ago?”

  “Well, it is common knowledge to most time-jumpers that one simply ought not to exist in the same vicinity with oneself. It produces peculiar effect. I knew the younger me would arrive soon—having lived it myself all that time ago—so it was imperative I retreat. When I sensed he had gone, I returned to the planet to learn what I could.”

  “To the… planet?”

  “Yes. It is true I must not be near myself, but really, I ought not to dwell in the same world. It is too great a risk. So, I’ve been realm-hopping. Seen some very interesting places. It was really quite enjoyable.”

  Despite herself, she watched that almost child-like face and believed all he said. “I wish you’d just told me all before you left. You wounded me greatly.”

  “I am very sorry, Hazel. I… didn’t suppose it was the right time to attempt an explanation at time travel. Moreover, well, I was a little miserable, and I suppose quite thoughtless as a result.”

  “I see. But… you had to have known the dragon attack would come! You’d already been there, done all Latos has. Why did you not stop it?”

  “I thought I could, truth be told. In fact, I tried! I made changes from when I’d come as Latos, hoping Kierelia might be better prepared for the attack. It was why I helped the Great One build a castle that could defend itself. But because of Zephuel’s agreement with the witch, things did not go as planned. And, somehow, it all happened earlier than the first time… caused by some change I made in the timeline, I suppose. Time-jumping is sketchy that way. In the end, it caught me off guard and broke my heart all over again. I suppose the Great One willed that I should not be alerted for some purpose of his own, but… well, now you understand how much of the blame rests on me… twice over.”

  She released a long breath. “If the Entity had wished you to stop it, he would have aided you. I suppose the incident was not meant to be wiped from this ‘timeline’ you speak of.”

  He smiled back at her. “There is the understanding girl I know and love. Now! As it is finally safe for me to return to Kierelia, why don’t you come with me? Or have you got business to finish here?”

  “My return to Kierelia would mean certain death I’m afraid.”

  “Death?”<
br />
  She eyed him a moment. “I’m banished.”

  He sat back. “I am so sorry, Hazel… I never thought Armond capable of such cruelty. Why has he done such a thing?”

  “Apparently, my parents have plans for me. He heard of them and thinks we’re in cahoots.”

  “Well, that is dreadfully foolish.”

  “I am aware.”

  “I see you must have friends here, however.”

  “Yes, Fredrick and I have grown in friendship.”

  “I see. Well, he is a good man. Don’t know if you could do better than to have a comrade such as him.”

  Thoughtfully, she nodded. She’d not quite thought of him that way. She didn’t know him as well as she might, but he was quite a unique person and he had been eager to support her in her hour of need. That meant more than her pained heart could fully fathom.

  * * *

  “Well, you look comfortable,” Fredrick said pleasantly when he came upon her swinging in the garden some days later. He sat upon the ground before her.

  “Oh, please, let me make room for you here,” she urged.

  “No, no!” He held up his hands. “When one is that comfortable, one must not adjust one’s skirts to make room for an intruder.”

  She thrust her swing into motion again. “What brings you here?”

  “I was looking for you, actually. Haven’t been able to catch as much time with you as I’d like.”

  “It is all right. I have needed time to think.”

  “Of what, pray tell?”

  “Oh, everything.”

  He opened his mouth as if to say something, then seemed to think better of it as he shifted his gaze to the shrubs behind her.

  “What?” she pressed.

  He lifted his brows. “Oh, nothing, I just… There’s something I’ve been wishing to ask, but I do not think now is the time.”

  “Well, I want to know now.”

  He eyed her a moment. “I have been wondering how two people can go from engaged to one banishing the other.”

  She exhaled.

  “You see, it was not a tactful question. You do not have to answer.”

  “I thought he loved me, thought we loved each other.”

  Fredrick shifted uncomfortably.

  “But I think, when it really came down to it, he only wanted me to help him gain the people’s love. I have to believe he could not think as he does of me now if he’d really cared.”

  “He should have taken your side. After all, the surest proof of love is serving another above oneself.”

  “He fell incredibly short of that ideal.”

  “Are you... are you heartbroken?”

  She raised a brow at his intrusiveness but then thought better of it. “You're asking if I truly loved him. In a word: no. But I was not aware of it until I got here.”

  He froze. “…Here?”

  “Yes, getting to Bashtii gave me room to process.”

  “Oh. I see.”

  “It revealed how sorrowfully shallow my feelings were. Moreover, I had fallen for someone who no longer existed. And I think I felt pressured to appease both him and the people.”

  “And now?”

  “Now... well, I suppose I’m quite free, aren’t I? I have the whole world before me. I can do anything. I just have to work out what that might be.”

  “You've no aspirations?”

  “You would ask that question.” Unfortunately, her former aspirations of building up a kingdom of strength with the value of helping one another had been obliterated with her banishment. “No, my future is an open book.”

  “I suppose being queen is off the table?”

  “Well, of course. I'm not marrying Armond anymore, am I?”

  “Ha! No. But it is a sorrowful thing. You would make a grand leader for any people. You walk in influence most dream of. I, for one, would delight in watching that kingdom flourish.”

  “Heavens, you're not trying to send me back to Armond, are you?”

  “Not on your life.”

  She laughed. “You don’t care much for him, do you?”

  “For good reason, as is now clear. You worked hand in hand with him to rebuild your kingdom from next to nothing. Then, you agree to marry the swine and he just casts you away like—”

  “I'm working on forgiving him for that, you know. Perhaps the matter should be dropped.”

  “Forgiving him? Why would you do that?”

  “Why... I don't know. The bitterness sits ill upon me. I want to feel free again.”

  He stared back at her, a small smile forming.

  “What?”

  “I just like the way you think.”

  “Well, do you agree with me?”

  He nodded.

  “Then I like the way you think. Moreover, here you speak of all I could have been for Kierelia, but don’t you go thinking I haven't heard stories of all you've been to Bashtii. These people adore you. And they honor you because you honor them. They say you take a deeper interest in their concerns than any king before you.”

  He raised a brow. “Are you saying you're impressed with me, Lady Hazel?”

  Laughingly, she shook her head. “Oh, very well,” she admitted. “I am.”

  “Well, imagine that! Lady Fortune has seen fit to bestow her approval upon the Bashtiian king. We shall be a favored nation now!”

  “Oh, you can drop the nickname, golden king.”

  “Touché! But listen, is it true your title came from magic that sparked from your fingertips as you helped place the stones of the new fortress?”

  “Magic? Imagine!”

  “You're not denying it...”

  She diverted her gaze. “I suppose I did have a peculiar experience.”

  “Like sparks from your fingers?”

  She huffed, not having realized such minute details had spread so far. “Yes,” she admitted.

  “Well, if that isn't the most intriguing... Why do you think it occurred?”

  She shrugged. “All, I know is, is...”

  “Yes?”

  She eyed him, then sat on the ground beside him to lean in conspiratorially. “One evening, I awoke to the most irregular sensation in my chest. Then, before I knew it, out popped this gemstone…” She laid out the story as she knew it and they continued in the leisure of converse until the setting sun summoned them to supper.

  29

  Afortnight later, Fredrick rapped upon her door with an announcement.

  “Er, Hazel… you have a set of visitors.”

  Her brows nearly rose to her hairline. “Who?” Could it be Dorian? She’d written but had not heard back. Often, she’d wondered if Armond had actually managed to turn him against her.

  Fredrick stood in the door some moments before crossing the room to sit beside her. Softly, he said, “They claim to be your parents.”

  She sat upright, unable to move for some moments as her heart pounded in her ears.

  “Do you wish me to send them away?” he asked.

  She blinked at him, her head spinning. “No. No, send them in.”

  “It’ll be a moment. I commanded they remain in my receiving room until I’d sorted it with you.”

  She offered a weak smile. “Thank you, Fredrick.”

  After two weeks of pleasant converse, exploring and sightseeing with Fredrick, she’d awoken that morning with the surprising sensation of happiness. It made sense that they should now come and traipse upon her contentment. She touched her hair to see that it was in place and rearranged her skirts, then chastised herself for hoping for their approval. It felt as if she had not awoken at all. Surely, she must still be dreaming.

  A knock at the door sent her to her feet. She strode across the room but hesitated as her hand reached the doorknob. Part of her wanted to shriek at them to leave her alone with the little peace she had found. But she’d been bred to decorum and baptized in fire. Coolly, she opened the door.

  Sure enough, they were the perfect likeness of the portrai
t she’d found of them before it had been destroyed.

  “Do come in,” she said serenely, holding the door for them.

  They did so and the three were soon seated across from one another.

  Hazel had no idea what to do next—how to begin. The situation was surreal. How could these people she’d dreamed about for so long suddenly turn up in her life like this? It felt as if someone had pulled the rug out from under her.

  “What brings you here?” she asked at last.

  The woman—her mother—smiled. “Oh, Hazel, you must be so stunned to see us after all this time. And I assure you, we are so very pleased to see you. You have grown lovelier than we had imagined. And we have heard so many pleasing things about you. You are all we could have hoped for.”

  Hazel swallowed. “It has been some time, hasn’t it, since last we met? I was… an infant, I suppose.”

  “You were but a year, yes,” her father said. “You are certainly not a little girl anymore.”

  “I am not.”

  Silence commenced far longer than was comfortable for Hazel’s guests. But she had no idea what to say to them. Moreover, she battled between ecstasy and fury… She worked hard to embrace something between both. But that meant pain—aching tenderness straight through her heart. These people had abandoned her, left her behind in a kingdom that would hate her, thanks to their ill deed.

  “We couldn’t believe it when we’d heard you’d been banished from Kierelia by that foolish boy-king,” her father said abruptly. “It was wise of you to come to Bashtii. And it made it possible for us to safely pay this visit.”

  How she could feel defensive of Armond after what he’d done, she did not know. Even so, her eyes narrowed as she asked, “How did you know I was here?”

  “We have a source.”

  Of course they did.

  “Hazel,” her mother said, “may I cut to the chase?”

  “I wish you would.”

  “We’ve come to make up for the time spent without you. Furthermore, we’ve come to see you crowned queen of the new Kierelia by marriage to the unconquerable King Rakutan. You, from all we’ve heard, will make the finest queen Kierelia has ever seen, once our plans have come to fruition.”