Reign of Darkness

by Michaela Riley Karr

  “Then what would they do when this happened in the past? When the king dies, his father is gone, and he has no heir?” I grumbled, wondering how the Auklians could be so foolish.

  Frederick shrugged. “I don’t know. If Duunzer hadn’t disrupted the order of things, we would have Daniel’s son at least.”

  “The point is,” Rachel interjected, regaining control of the room, “Auklia is a hotbed for Rhydin’s supporters with their lack of a ruler. To them, the only possible future is Rhydin. We cannot allow this to continue, and the Ranguvariians have…failed in their investigation. We need help.”

  I gaped at Rachel. I had never heard her admit that the Ranguvariians had at failed anything before.

  Frederick’s next words flowed soothingly over the room. “Well, anyone who knows they are remotely related to the Auklian Royals will be in hiding as well. Cornflower and I will start moving around the mountains and foothills to see if there are others who could possibly be connected to Auklia in any way.”

  “Xavier and I will do the same in the Great Desert,” Mira’s voice chimed. “Both locations share a border with Auklia. It may be our only hope.”

  “If any of you come across others in hiding, you should start talking to them about Rhydin,” I spoke tersely, allowing my teeth to unlock. Rayna stared up at me with her Allyen eyes, unused to my hard tone. “We’re not going to kick Rhydin out of power by hiding from the world. We need to grow the number of people who realize Rhydin is evil and needs to be stopped if we have any hope of succeeding.”

  In the silence that followed, Frederick and Mira glanced at each other, perhaps realizing for the first time that we couldn’t wait for the people to come to that conclusion by themselves anymore. Cornflower eyed them both, appearing confused.

  Rachel took a deep breath, and then sighed, facing me for the first time during the whole conversation, “It’s not that I don’t agree with you, Lina. We just need to get you and your children to safety and find an Auklian heir, or we’re doomed regardless.”

  I gritted my teeth and crossed my arms. She had a point about the Auklian heir, but I couldn’t stand by and do nothing!

  “If that is all,” Rachel said, scanning the room briefly for anyone else to speak, “then we will plan on beginning our journey to Caark in the morning while the Royals search their respective locations for someone who could be a distant Auklian Royal. Meeting adjourned.”

  Sam was up from the table in a heartbeat while most everyone else filtered out like gravy. I rose to follow him, wondering if I needed to make sure he was okay, and I made it to the hallway before I heard a call behind me.

  Frederick entered the hallway as the others dispersed, his expression weary as he balanced Dominick on his hip. The shadow of a smile crept at the edges of his lips, but the effort seemed exhausting. He mumbled, “You never responded to my last letter.”

  Heat flooded my face. Ah. His last letter where he had flippantly disregarded my life’s work as a farmer. I stammered, “Uh…sorry. I got busy.”

  The Lunakan prince paused, his eyes measuring my expression carefully. He had always been the most observant of the Royals, which played well with his usual role as mediator. While I tried my best to make my face slack, I knew it wasn’t good enough. Frederick looked down as he whispered, “You know, I always appreciated being able to write to you. You can imagine that I do not have many friends, and having someone to write to while isolated in the mountains with no one but Dominick and my little sister…it’s kept me more sane than I might be otherwise.”

  “Frederick,” I groaned, dashing my fingers through my bangs, “I truly meant to write you back, I promise. I just…needed time to decide how I wanted to write back, that’s all.”

  Frederick’s lightening brow quirked. “What do you mean?”

  “Let’s just say that sometimes I think you forget that you and I come from very different spheres of life, Frederick,” I grumbled, letting my frustration vent. I began to turn to go find my husband, who was probably just as mad as I was about being forced to leave the continent, but a hand snagged my sleeve.

  “Wait, Lina,” Frederick said softly, his eyes begging. He eyed Rayna in my arms uncomfortably. “I apologize if something I said was callous to you. It certainly was not intentional. May I still write to you?”

  Suddenly, it felt like my anger was bubbling over. I yanked my sleeve out of his hand and responded bitterly, “Yes, Frederick, you can always write to me, but you shouldn’t be sitting around, living in isolation, and twiddling your thumbs! I know Evan and I are the Allyens, but we can’t do everything in the fight against Rhydin if we want to succeed.”

  The prince tilted his head, and I felt so angry I could have slapped him.

  Peasant girl slap a crown prince. That would have landed me in the gallows once upon a time.

  “Think about it, Frederick. The Three Kings have never gotten along or worked together in nearly all of history. Just look at your father and the other rulers, and realize how easy it was for Rhydin to split them apart,” I said, my words turning from anger to pleading, “The new kings need to get it together, Frederick, not just go into hiding and stay separated and isolated from their people. You and Xavier need to put this stupid feud behind you and search for an heir to Auklia or that kingdom will be lost forever.”

  “But, Rachel-…” Frederick tried to interrupt.

  “I know, I know, by all means, we have to keep our children safe or there really is no future,” I conceded slightly as my eyes dropped to little Dominick. “If anything happens to your son, then Lunaka will be in the same position as Auklia is now. Trust me, I get it. But, don’t sit on your hands either. Search the mountains for an heir as you promised, but talk to people about Rhydin too. Sow the seeds of discontent, and hope they spread like dandelion seeds on the wind. People talk, Frederick. You don’t have to travel the whole world to reach them all.”

  Frederick gaped at me for a few seconds, my words visibly washing over him slowly like the ocean’s tide. After those moments of silence, he nodded and said, “You’re right. I will. Are you going to do the same in Caark when you get there?”

  “Yes,” I answered slowly, pausing. I’d never been to Caark. I didn’t know how much it chose to associate itself with the rest of Nerahdis. Of course, I would try, but there was no escaping the burgeoning thought in my mind that it was the people of the mainland that could help us the most. If I couldn’t help from Caark…that wasn’t the place for me. I would have to think on that a little more. As I turned to finally follow Sam, I looked back and added, “Yes, I will do the same in Caark. I have to try. I need to find Sam, so I’ll see you at lunch.”

  Frederick nodded a few times, looking like he was still absorbing everything I was saying, and I broke into a brisk walk down the hall back toward the staircase. The brick-like book in my cloak pocket bounced awkwardly, so I put my hand against it to stop it from moving and being noticeable. For whatever reason, I still felt like a kid who had swiped some candy from the mercantile for taking the book. I was anxious to look through it and discover its importance, but now wasn’t the time.

  I took two steps at a time up the gargantuan, marble staircase back to the second floor, the Mineraltin one we had slept on last night, and trotted down the hallway once more. Sam’s presence, smelling of Lunakan earth, wafted down the hall, undetectable to anyone but me because he was a Rounan and I was his wife, so I knew I was in the right place.

  The door to our room was standing open, and when I entered, I found Sam silently staring out the window at the great expanse of water, Kylar in his arms. He seemed strangely still, and he didn’t turn when I entered. I neared him slowly, in an effort not to scare him. “Hey.”

  Sam barely turned his head enough to see me through the corner of his eye, and then he turned back to the ocean. “Hey,” he repeated, his voice gravelly.

  “You okay?” I asked cautiously, my fingers reaching the rough threads of his sleeve as I set Rayna on th
e floor.

  My husband took a deep breath and then placed Kylar by his sister where the two began to play with some wooden blocks that Bartholomiiu must have brought them. Sam levelled his gaze at me finally. “I’m not going to Caark.”

  My heart sank, wondering if I was really hearing him correctly. “What? You said you were coming with me just yesterday!”

  “I know.” Sam grimaced, his hand reaching out for mine and gripping it tightly. “That was before the compound was destroyed and my people were scattered. I need to know how many of them made it to safety. I can’t leave not knowing and without establishing some sort of communication-…”

  “No,” I interrupted. Sam stared at me. No matter how often we disagreed about things, I didn’t often cut him off entirely. “I can’t leave without you. I need you to be safe too.”

  “Lina-…” he tried to begin again, frustration mounting.

  “The Ranguvariians can establish a communication line. The mountains are their expertise anyway. But if I leave you here and you’re killed… I would never forgive myself.” My hands turned into fists. “You’re going. Even if it’s just to get the kids to safety and regroup. We can make a new plan when we get there.”

  Before Sam could respond with that temper of his, I spun on my heel and stormed out of the room. He couldn’t say no if I didn’t give him the chance. I managed to get halfway down the hallway before I whirled and kicked one of the ancient suits of Mineraltin armor. It clamored to the floor with the sound of a hundred pots and pans, but it didn’t make me feel any better. How could Sam insist on staying behind? Why couldn’t he just come with me without arguing? Was he Kidek first or my husband?

  I groaned loudly and sunk to the floor against the cold, stone wall, partially hidden by the pile of armor I likely ruined. Everything seemed hopeless. What if we couldn’t kick Rhydin out of power? What if we’d already failed and just didn’t know it yet?

  Suddenly, what felt like a hand brushed along my shoulder. My head bobbed up from where it had fallen against my knees, hoping it was Sam, but I was still alone in the drafty hallway. I reached out with my magic, trying in vain to sense any presences until I stumbled across the same, vague presence from before. I could hardly feel it behind Sam’s much louder presence just a few rooms down. If I hadn’t sensed it before, I probably wouldn’t have even noticed it. My fingers trembled a bit, but the scarce presence didn’t seem threatening. Instead, it reminded me of the book in my pocket.

  I glanced up and down the hallway to ensure no one was coming before I slid the fragile volume from my cloak pocket. The cover was so worn, I wasn’t sure whether it was leather, like Lunakan books, or some other material. It looked like the corners used to be gilded in gold, but they had long lost their shine and color, instead appearing a greenish black. Some characters used to be inscribed on the front, but they were long gone. This book had to be a hundred years old, if not older.

  The pages were in surprisingly good condition once I gingerly opened the cover, trying to support the broken spine. I expected them to be faded or fall apart between my fingers, but instead, the pages were crisp and their print was like new. Magic was the only answer.

  I lifted the book to my nose and breathed its scent down into the lowest recesses of my lungs. It definitely smelled like a moldy castle wall, but underneath that was a similar magic to the strange presence I kept sensing. It had preserved this book over the centuries. It led me to find it. It seemed only right that I try to uncover its secrets. Maybe, it would help me understand this strange presence locked away in the Archimage Palace.

  I thumbed over to the first page, and my heart plummeted. This book was not written for the average commoner whose reading ability was characteristic of the only education a village school could provide between work shifts, which was leagues behind any Royal’s education. I could make out maybe half of the words on the first page, the much smaller ones, but not enough to fully comprehend it without some serious study and likely some help from Frederick.

  As I settled for flipping through the pages to see if there were any pictures, I tried to reassure myself. Years ago, it may have taken me a few weeks, but I was able to slowly teach myself to read the old myths and legends book that included Duunzer during my time hidden away in the Owenses’ livery basement. Therefore, I could definitely learn how to navigate this book, even if it was the last thing I did.

  Just as I was beginning to think that this book didn’t contain illustrations, a full page of colors popped into view. My heart nearly stopped. It was a portrait of two people, and the one on the right was none other than a much younger version of Rhydin, about the same age as his First Archimage portrait upstairs. Again, he looked no more than eighteen, and the expression on his pale face puzzled me. His brow was drawn, and he stood very straight like he was trying to appear older than his years. Ultimately, I could detect a tinge of fear in his amethyst eyes, a feeling I had never remotely seen anywhere near the Rhydin I knew now.

  The person on the left was a much older man dressed in the richest regalia of gold and purple I had ever seen. His long face was heavily lined above a neat, slate gray beard with white streaks through it, and he was far taller than Rhydin even in his old age. He looked like he had seen worlds take their first breath and breathe their last. I glanced at the caption underneath, pausing to sound out the names I hadn’t seen before.

  “Emperor Caden and the new Archimage, Rhydin Caldwell.”

  Rhydin knew Emperor Caden. For some reason, I thought the Archimage position wasn’t created until after Emperor Caden’s death. Not only that, but…Rhydin Caldwell. A family name humanized him in a way that I never once considered. I wondered if this book could give me any sort of hint of how Rhydin Caldwell became the Rhydin I knew. Was he just a twisted, power-hungry kid? Or did something else happen?

  I stood to go find Sam again and tell him of my discovery when the mysterious trickle of a presence suddenly washed over me with the feelings of panic and warning. The overwhelming sensation rocked me, causing me to fall forward onto my knees. I looked around frantically, trying to figure out what could have caused such a reaction from a presence that had been nothing but quiet and weak before.

  It was less than a minute before I figured out what the warning was for. My friendly presence dissipated in the wake of a far more powerful one, one that encompassed my magical senses entirely. An ancient, cruel darkness. Rhydin.

  Rhydin was at the Archimage Palace. He was here.

  I stuffed the book back into my pocket and stumbled to my feet once more, throwing myself inside the nearest room facing the south, toward Lunaka instead of the ocean. Below, a huge army had amassed. They were all dressed in black and purple, waving the flag of the new emperor, which combined Rhydin’s old gold and red flame symbol with the purple color of the emperor that hadn’t been seen in centuries. Hundreds of people stood at the foot of the mountain ready to charge the palace, and more were marching forward with every second that passed.

  We were surrounded.

  Fighting the urge to back away, I scanned the regiments closely. I recognized a few of Rhydin’s loyal Followers as commanders, but all of the legions were new faces. People who had pledged their loyalty to Rhydin after he “freed” them from Archimage Dathian’s control as the Liberator. Heat raced through my veins. They were so painfully clueless, and it was my job to get them to see the truth.

  But how?

  I finally noticed Rhydin himself standing near the front of his army. I couldn’t make out his face from this distance, but he looked larger than the others because of all the fancy robes he was wearing. Crossing my arms, I waited for him to make the first move. To fire some sort of magical charge to begin bombarding the palace, or to send up some sort of purple flare to tell his legions to attack.

  But, it never came. Instead, Rhydin signaled with his hand, and his Followers began to lead their respective troops forward, all equipped with plain swords and shields, bows and arrows. I cou
ldn’t sense any magic down there at all.

  It hit me all at once. Rhydin had won the people over by claiming Dathian had abused his magic to control the Royals and create Duunzer. Every soul on Nerahdis was terrified of magic, just as I had been before I was told I was an Allyen.

  Rhydin was hiding his magic so his loyalists would continue to trust him.

  That was how I could expose him as a fraud. Reveal to the masses his magic. And what better timing than to do it right now in front of hundreds of common soldiers who were fresh from the War of the Three Kingdoms? The war they all thought put an end to their oppression by mages.

  I was just about to bound up on top of the balcony railing, my mind brimming forth with different ideas for spells that I could use to force Rhydin to reveal his hand, when the bedroom door banged open behind me. Mere seconds passed between my looking over my shoulder to see Rachel barreling toward me and her long, rock-hard arms colliding with my back.

  Screaming and writhing were no use for her Ranguvariian strength, and my world filled with white as I glanced back at Rhydin in vain. I could have sworn he saw the flash and smirked.

  The instant we landed hard on solid rock, I threw myself from her loosened grip and exploded, “Rachel! What’s wrong with you?”

  Rachel’s red brow furrowed, and she crossed her arms as I realized we had an audience. The others from the Archimage Palace; it appeared I was the last to arrive. She answered firmly, “Uh, I just saved your neck, and you were the one off hiding instead of finding us to evacuate. You’re welcome.”

  I growled in my fury, “I was just about to solve all our problems!! Rhydin is hiding his magic from all his new supporters! I didn’t realize it until today, but it makes total sense! The people of Nerahdis think that Rhydin liberated them all from magical leaders, if we expose him, he’s ruined! I was just about to do that when you took me away without even listening to me!”