Seize the Crown

by Gemma Perfect

  “Not Will, though I thank you for keeping him safe.”

  “What then, sister?” Millard is starting to look nervous. He’s not focussing solely on Everleigh; his eyes are darting around the crowd and I can tell that he’s unhappy with what he sees. We have hurt Wolf, so does that mean the other men haven’t had any orders? I can see some of them on the outskirts of the crowd, but none are close, none are near enough to be of any use, I don’t think.

  “What’s he playing at...” Ceryn mutters the words but they’re not really a question.

  Everleigh takes a step towards her brother. “My crown. I want my crown.”

  He laughs then, a strange sound and the crowd join in. They don’t understand this power play and are waiting to see what will happen.

  “You will never be Queen.”

  Everleigh ignores him and looks up at the sky – blue and clear, some wispy white clouds. I can see her lips moving and I feel the air turn thick; she’s summoning a storm. She’s going to bamboozle him with her powers.

  “You two get in position and when he’s distracted, grab him.”

  Weaver shakes his head. “If we do, his men will attack us. We need to wait and see what happens...”

  I nod, unhappy but accepting that both him and Ceryn know how to fight better than I ever will.

  “Sister, what are you doing?”

  “Brother. I am doing something you can’t.”

  Millard doesn’t answer her, just humphs, watching the sky.

  “I am controlling the Realm, not just the people within it.”

  With those words, she flings her arms into the air and the rain lashes down on her upturned face. I grin at the drama; she’s getting the hang of this.

  Millard shrugs. “So, it’s raining.”

  Everleigh lifts her face to the rain again and says something out loud, the weather stealing the sounds as she speaks them.

  Lightning bolts split the sky, causing the crowd to call out and many of them to back away. Everleigh is still muttering as thunder cracks overhead.

  I am so proud of her at this moment that I forget about any connection Millard has tried to forge with me and I am almost jumping and clapping my hands for her. Will is the same. “He doesn’t know what to do!”

  Everleigh calls more lightning and almost as though her hand is controlling the charge, and maybe it is, she points at the wooden platform that Millard stands on and the lightning strikes – she aims to the left of him, to the wooden tower, and the fire sparks up immediately.

  She moves closer, whispering and gesturing as the flames take hold, despite the rain, impossible but true. The fire erupts and Millard shrieks and jumps down, batting at an errant flame on his arm.

  “Witch.”

  “Queen.”

  “Seize her!”

  29

  AT MILLARD’S WORDS his men rush forward at Everleigh, but the roar of the fire or the change in the weather or the fact that these people love their Kingmaker turns the crowd even more hostile. As Millard’s men charge, the horde turns and suddenly the village men are fighting the King’s men and fists are flying, swords are reached for and Everleigh ducks under arms and around battling bodies to jump on the platform, the fire blazing behind her.

  Seeing that Everleigh is safe, for now, Ceryn and Weaver raise their swords and join the fray, helping the villagers to protect their Kingmaker and future Queen, keeping the King’s men away from the flaming platform.

  “Come on brother. Come on King!” Everleigh screams at him and he turns to look at her. “If you want to keep your crown so badly, come and fight me for it.”

  Millard pauses, looking from his sister, to his singed skin to the men fighting around them. “I’ve got the crown. You cannot win this, not through fighting or bad weather or anything else. Brett!”

  Brett turns to look at the King and gets punched clean in the side of the nose. He turns to his assailant and punches him back before running to Millard’s side, wiping his bloody nose on his sleeve.

  Millard looks at Everleigh. Will has joined her. “String him up and take her to the tower. I’ll deal with her once Ginata’s fixed my arm.”

  Millard walks away as though fighting Everleigh and battling for his crown, is beneath him.

  Will takes Everleigh’s hand and they leap through the smoke. They cannot wait for Brett or anyone else to catch them. Once again, their plan has gone awry, and damn Millard still wears the crown.

  Millard calls to Ginata and she hesitates; she wants to follow Everleigh, be part of the squad that saves their Queen but Millard calls for her again and duty trumps desire. “Ginata, please, help me get out of here.”

  It’s typical that he doesn’t stay to take part in a fight that he started, but wants to duck out of the way to safety, letting his men take the fall, and sending someone else to take Everleigh prisoner.

  The throng of fighters are screaming, yelling, shouting, the observers making a run for it and part of Ginata is glad to be out of it, she just wishes their plan had worked.

  As she follows Millard she can see that he’s injured. “I’m burnt.”

  She can see the singed edge of his clothes where the skin has bubbled.

  “She tried to set me on fire. She tried to kill me.”

  “I’ll fix you.”

  “She will die. When I get my hands on her she will die. Where the hell is Wolf?”

  EVERLEIGH AND WILL run, the rain impeding their vision, the fighting expanded beyond just the courtyard, the sound of thumps and punches masked by the rain but the yelling and crying out loud enough to be heard, the throng of battling bodies getting in their way.

  They know Brett is on their heels, maybe even more of the King’s men. They can’t stop. They weave through the courtyard and then jump over a wall. Will risks a quick look backwards. “He’s not there.”

  They tuck their backs against the wall, catching their breath, composing themselves for a minute.

  “He’s done it again. Damn him Will.”

  “It’s fine. We’ll try again, and again, and again until we get that crown on your head.”

  “Is it worth it? What if I just surrender? No more death, no more battling. Just let him win.”

  Will takes Everleigh’s face in his hands. “Everleigh. You have to be Queen. Your brother killed his own brother to get the throne. If you weren’t fighting to win the crown, if he was left to his own devices, what do you think he’d do?”

  “Kill anyone who disagreed with him. Kill anyone he took a disliking to. But it’s so hard. I can’t do it...”

  “You can and you will. The prophecy says you will reign. Who knows why? Maybe this fight with your brother is just the beginning, maybe in the future we will need a powerful Queen more than we do now, who knows...but you cannot let him win.”

  “But I don’t know what to do.”

  “We’ll go now, we’ll reconvene, make a plan.”

  “Our plans don’t work. I’ve tried killing him in his sleep and asking him to fight. I just want that damn crown. What am I missing?”

  “Something, but now’s not the time to worry. Come on.”

  They stand up to run to the safety of the cottage and Brett cracks Will over the head, and he drops. Brett looks at Everleigh who is paralysed with fear, remembering their previous meetings.

  He mouths the word, sorry, then throws a black hood over her face, before bundling her, kicking and screaming, over his shoulder.

  He checks that no one is looking and runs into the woods, leaving Will on the floor, alive, but unconscious.

  GINATA TAKES MILLARD’S hand as she leads him through to her rooms. Burns are nasty and the sooner she gets to work on him, the more chance there is of a scar, if any, being smaller and less angry looking.

  “Why is she doing this, Ginata? Why is she so eager to get the crown?”

  “She thinks it’s hers.” Ginata’s voice is dull, all of a sudden, she cannot stand this battle for power, this dance between the two o
f them. This feeling of being on the other side, the outsider.

  “What do you think I should do?”

  “Maybe stop chasing her. Stop attacking her. Stop threatening her. Maybe she’ll leave you alone...”

  Millard shakes his head. “She tried to kill me today. Burn me to death. Imagine how much that would have hurt?”

  “I can only imagine, my King.” She gathers the things she needs to attend to his wound. The burn is nasty, some of the material of his clothes burnt into his skin where the fire has melded the two together.

  “I will have to kill her. I know she’s beloved and the people love their Kingmaker and she thinks she should be Queen, but really, people have no idea what it’s like to be me, to be King, to be in charge. I took huge risks to get this throne. I killed my brother, that wasn’t easy. I loved him, but I needed the power more. I killed Halfreda, she’d looked after me since I was tiny. Such sacrifices...”

  Ginata has her back to Millard sorting out her lotions, and while he prattles on she tunes out. Everleigh needs to be Queen, but their plan has been thwarted again. This raving King thinks he’s hard done by but what can she do? She is torn between wanting to knock him out and kiss him until he’s quiet.

  She hears a massive thunk and whips around to see Millard slumped in the chair and Ceryn holding a stone bowl, the one she uses for grinding herbs and seeds, above his head, a massive grin on her face.

  “Everleigh and Will got away. One of the King’s men’s chasing them but they had a good head start. Weaver’s fighting off the King’s men and I followed you up. Help me tie him up. Hell, no, I’ll tie you both up, for now, just in case.”

  “What have you done?”

  “Whacked him. He’s not dead. Though...”

  “No, don’t kill him. Everleigh needs to see him.”

  “She’ll be glad if I kill him.”

  Ginata shakes her head. “No. Everleigh has to make that decision, not you, or me.”

  Millard murmurs something unintelligible and turns his head slightly. Before he can come to, Ceryn hits him again, not as hard as the first time, but he collapses back down. “Quick, Ginata, have you got rope?”

  “Yes.” She roots through her drawers and finds a thick coil of rope. “What do we do now?”

  “I’ll tie you both up, fetch Everleigh and we’ll do an exchange. His crown for his freedom.”

  “Ceryn. That might work.”

  “I know and it was great to whack him too!”

  Ceryn moves Millard onto the floor and Ginata sits with her back to him. “Do I really need to stay with him?”

  “If something goes wrong; we still need you on the inside.”

  “But we’ve got him now. I don’t think anyone would look for him here. Get Everleigh quickly.”

  Ceryn ties them up, but leaves Ginata’s wrists slightly loose, not loose enough to cause suspicion if someone finds her, but enough that she’s not in pain.

  “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  Ceryn

  I AM HUMMING AS I WALK; oh, it was satisfying whacking that dirt bag over the head. Twice. I wish I could kill him but I know it’s up to Everleigh to decide.

  Out in the courtyard the fighting has come to an end. There are split lips and broken noses, and a few dead guards. Weaver is doubled over, back against a wall, blood dripping onto the floor.

  “Will you live?”

  He grins as he looks up at me. “Of course.” He spits a gob of blood onto the floor, his nose and his lip are bleeding and there is blood on his sword. “I didn’t kill anyone, but I put a few out of service.”

  I grin at him. A few injured guards are nothing to what I’ve done. “I’ve got Millard.”

  “What? Where?”

  “I whacked him over the head, like you did with Wolf, but I’ve tied him up, with Ginata, in case.” I shrug; he’ll know what I mean.

  “Fantastic. Where?”

  “He’s in Ginata’s rooms, I followed them, he’s injured and she was going to fix him. I whacked him with a stone bowl thing. Twice.”

  “Is he dead.”

  “No. I’m going to go and find Everleigh, come with me.” I shake my head. “No, go to Ginata’s rooms and watch them till I get back. Just in case.”

  “Brilliant idea. Where is it?”

  I give him the best directions I can remember and head through the mass of groaning, bloodied bodies, thinking that if Will and Everleigh had any sense – which they do – they’ll head for the cottages.

  Despite the bloodshed and the plan going wrong I am happy. Della and Addyson are safe. I’ve not seen Finn, but I can imagine he ran back to the cottages when the fighting started, and I don’t blame him. He’s not a fighter.

  We are all safe and well and considering how things played out, that’s not too bad. I wish we’d got Wolf tied up like I tied up Millard, but there was nothing around to do it with. We threw him down a ditch, after I kicked him, and hopefully he’ll stay there for a bit. I don’t think he’d look for Millard in Ginata’s rooms anyway. At least not straight away.

  I still need to be quick though.

  I jump over the wall, heading back to the cottages and land on something. Hell, it’s someone – it’s Will. He’s got a bloody wound on his head but I can see he’s alive from his colour. “Will!” I shake him. There’s no sign of Everleigh and Will is hurt. That means something went wrong.

  “Will!” I shake him harder. “Will! Where’s Everleigh?”

  He moans and groans but doesn’t wake up. “Will! Where’s Everleigh?”

  He can’t answer my questions, so I roll him closer to the wall. I’m no healer but I don’t think he’s in any immediate danger and I have to find Everleigh.

  I can’t; she could be anywhere. I scream out her name in case she’s close by, but there’s no reply. I scream it again. Where the hell is she and who took her? One of Millard’s men, I know that much. Damn Millard. I contemplate going back to the castle, kicking the life out of him, but I don’t think it will help. If someone has taken her then it’s him they’ll bring her back to.

  Maybe she’s already in the King’s rooms. Only I don’t know where they are. The castle is huge and I barely found my way out of Ginata’s rooms to the courtyard.

  I close my eyes for a second, try to think of the best thing to do. Then I start running to the cottages.

  When I burst in Finn, Della and Addyson all jump out of their seats. “I need help.”

  “What’s happened?”

  “I can’t find Everleigh. She was with Will, but Will’s hurt.”

  “Where is she?” Addyson bursts out crying and I want to join her.

  “I don’t know. I don’t know.”

  “Has Millard got her? Is she dead?”

  “No. I’ve got Millard.”

  “What? How?”

  “I followed him and Ginata and cracked him over the head.”

  “Has Wolf got her?”

  “I don’t think so. We cracked him over the head and threw him down a ditch.”

  “But he could have got up?”

  “He could have...let’s just go. I thought if someone took her they might have taken her to Millard’s rooms. But I don’t know where they are.”

  Addyson takes my hand and the four of us rush back to the castle. I tell them everything I know on the way. The way Millard let Will go free. The way Everleigh made it rain and set the wooden hanging tower on fire. How Weaver knocked Wolf out. How I knocked Millard out. And hit him twice. How Will is hurt. There’s too much to say, and we have to be quick.

  Will is where I left him and still breathing and so we abandon him again, and head to Ginata’s rooms first. There are a few stragglers still sitting around the courtyard, groaning and nursing their wounds, but anyone who could get away has gone and there are only two bodies, both Millard’s men.

  Addyson leads the way because I can barely remember. We go through Ginata’s rooms and into her work room and I can see that Millard is sti
ll unconscious. If we could just find Everleigh we would have everything we want.

  Ginata holds her hands up. “Untie me and I’ll get a sleeping draught for Millard. He won’t wake for hours. Where’s Everleigh?”

  “She’s gone?”

  “What? Where?”

  “We don’t know. We found Will, but he’s been knocked out. There was no sign of Everleigh.”

  “We’ve lost her?”

  “Unfortunately.”

  “Now what?”

  We are all silent. I feel sick that we’ve lost Everleigh. She could be dead already.

  “We could put him in the tower...” Addyson suggests, her voice quiet. “It’s what he did to me.”

  “That would be good, but we don’t have a key.” I ruffle her hair and she smiles up at me.

  “We need him somewhere we can leave him without worrying. While we look for Everleigh.”

  “What about the cottage?” This suggestion from Della. “No one would look there.”

  Ginata looks worried. “True, but if he wakes up then he’ll know I’m not on his side.”

  “Is that so terrible?” I ask.

  30

  GINATA DOESN’T ANSWER and Ceryn gives her a strange look. “This is everything we wanted. Millard out of action and Everleigh on the throne.”

  “Yes, but Everleigh’s not here.”

  “Whoever took her, took her for Millard...” Weaver thinks the same way as Ceryn. “So, they’ll bring her back to Millard.”

  “So where do we go, what do we do with him?” Della asks.

  “We go to his rooms.” Ceryn and Weaver grin.

  “We’ll be safe there. No one can sneak up on us.”

  “And then when whoever has her, brings her, we’ll attack them and crown her.”

  “That’s a bloody good idea.”

  “Brilliant.”

  “And if Wolf comes, he’ll never expect us to be there and we can attack him again. Tie him up this time.”

  “No one will expect us to be there.”

  “Do we know who took her? Who chased them?”