Reign of Darkness

by Michaela Riley Karr

  Who was I kidding? This mission had been a failure from the start.

  I dragged my feet toward the next to last house, Luke a couple of steps behind me. The door was open a crack, and this one had been drenched in ink like someone had dumped an entire pot over it instead of just brushing a bit on the frame. I thought nothing of it and pushed the door open with my hand, just as I had done with all the others.

  Whoosh! A plate suddenly whizzed right past my head and crashed into the edge of the door, sending broken shards raining over me. I gasped and ducked, throwing my hands over my head, as Luke jumped through the door and slashed a second plate with his sword before it could collide with my face.

  I caught a glimpse of a figure hunkered down in the back of the room just as a big, black kettle zinged in our direction. Without time for a single thought, I mustered my magic and blasted the kettle back with a golden flash and a bang.

  As I raised my hands to start on the offensive, the person in the back cried out in a croaking voice, “You’re an Allyen! Don’t fire!”

  “Then stop throwing things at us!” Luke shouted, his blade still raised. He took a few more steps into the room, eyeing its upheaval. But this home’s disarray was different. The table was upended and faced toward the door. The floor was absolutely covered in everything but the kitchen sink, like stepping through a minefield. This home wasn’t just occupied. It was being defended.

  I slowly, hesitantly, lowered my hands. The figure in the back of the room remained crouched where she was, and I inched toward her, the hair standing up on the back of my neck. I asked warily, “Who are you?”

  “Just a poor Rounan woman,” the figure rasped, like air was leaking around every word. “A poor Rounan woman at death’s door.”

  As she said that, a match was struck, and a lantern suddenly illuminated her appearance. I couldn’t stop the look of horror from crossing my face as I beheld this woman’s emaciated frame, every inch of skin marred by the inky lines of the Epidemic. These were the advanced stages. It was a wonder she wasn’t dead yet.

  “Please,” she muttered, “you must help me.”

  I opened my mouth, but no words could even trickle out. I might have been an Allyen, but I certainly wasn’t a miracle-worker. At some point, I whispered, “Why didn’t you go to Stellan with the others?”

  “And be mocked and abused by the Gornish? I don’t think so,” the woman replied, her silver-haired head giving a shudder upon her frail neck. “Besides, I would be a fool to think I could be saved now. It’s the child I request your help for.”

  As if on cue, a tiny girl crept out of the shadows, who couldn’t have been more than five years old. A shock of blonde hair was tied up out of her face, which was peculiar since the rest of her little head was covered in chocolate brown waves. She stared at us fiercely, trying to mask the fear that oozed from her green eyes, while I gazed back in disbelief.

  “Are you Nathia?” I asked, repeating the name that the sick Rounan boy had told me.

  The girl’s brow furrowed, but she nodded.

  I shook my head incredulously. “I don’t understand. How did she recover from the Epidemic with no resources out here?”

  “She never fell ill to begin with,” the Rounan woman responded, her voice becoming weaker. “A lot of power, this one. Her parents were powerful Rounans too, but that didn’t help them. She’s lucky.”

  My eyes drifted to the young girl’s Rounan mark, which lay exposed. Sam had once taught me that the square shape of the mark indicated how much power a person possessed while the diamond shape, which overlay the square, represented how much of that power the Rounan could actually use. Nathia’s mark was one of the largest I’d ever seen; it nearly wrapped around her wrist like a bracelet while the long, angled point nearly touched her elbow. I was about to comment on this when Luke suddenly interrupted.

  “Pardon, but may I ask whom you thought we were? Why you have barricaded yourselves in here?” Luke asked, his voice deceptively calm.

  “Well, what would you do if one of Rhydin’s people arrives every day to make sure any of us who happen to survive or return are dealt with?” the old woman snapped.

  Luke’s knuckles turned white on his hilt. What felt like sharp claws traced my shoulders down to my spine. The sun was close to touching the horizon. We needed to go.

  With the last of her energy, the woman seemed to sense the change in the atmosphere and drew little Nathia to her, instructing her to go with us and not to be afraid. Of course, she also promised that she would be fine, which Luke and I both knew was a lie. This woman had hours left, if not minutes. It was a wonder she could even use her magic to keep us from entering. But, we said nothing.

  Nathia was gathering a small rucksack of possessions more akin to child’s toys than actual necessities when the claws along my back deepened. Fear spread through my system, although it wasn’t because I could sense one of Rhydin’s Followers now that we’d been warned. It was because the Follower I sensed was a man I’d previously hoped I’d never see again.

  The man whose blood, and nothing more, declared him my father.

  Luke shut the door and groaned only loud enough for me to hear, “Great. And of course, there’s two of you now so I can’t just transport us back to Stellan.”

  “Just take Nathia to Stellan first. Leave her with that boy I was talking to. He’s recovering and can find her a home with her people,” I said quietly, my words as on edge as I felt. “Then you can transport back, grab me, and take me back to camp.”

  “That would require leaving you alone in between,” Luke replied, grimacing.

  I huffed, “It’ll be fine. He won’t hurt me. Just hurry.”

  My Ranguvariian protector nodded hesitantly, his eyes threatening to flash colors before he reined himself in. He held his rock-hard hand out to Nathia, who stared at him uncertainly before taking it slowly. I studied her closely before Luke ushered her out the door to transport. Somehow, I had a feeling that this wouldn’t be the last I’d see of young Nathia, such a powerful young Rounan, whether in the near future or the far.

  With a flash, Luke and Nathia were gone, and I faced the door. Before I could leave, my mind already focused on what was ahead of me, the old Rounan woman reminded me of her presence. She surprised me when she said, “It’s been an honor, Madam Allyen. I have the highest of hopes that you will save us all.”

  I nodded at her, feeling too emotional to adequately put my appreciation into words, and I strode out the door to face my father while perhaps the one Rounan who didn’t hate me drew her final breath.

  Chapter Fourteen

  T he sun had fully disappeared when I exited the house, and the Lunakan air was rapidly becoming still and stifling. I knew I only had a few minutes before Luke would return, so I walked quickly, hoping to take advantage of the situation. After all, I had a Ranguvariian feather and Robert did not. I knew where he was, but he had no idea I was even here.

  It didn’t take long to find him. He was wandering along a worn path through the center of the compound, not really looking at anything in particular. I wondered how many times he’d had to walk this route and how many times he’d actually found a Rounan. I could only imagine what he’d done with them, but it couldn’t be pretty judging by that woman’s dogged protection of Nathia.

  I watched him for a few seconds, taking the time to actually absorb the reality of his presence and characteristics. Robert’s face was gaunter since the last time I’d seen him during the destruction of our compound. Shadows clung to the hollows beneath his eyes and cheekbones, exacerbated by his unshaven jaw.

  However, there was no denying that his stride mirrored Evan’s. A quick one with short paces, his head hardly bobbing up and down. It was truly like looking at an older version of my twin brother. No use in still trying to convince myself that he was lying. It hurt nonetheless.

  Balling my sash up into my hand to be ready with my sword at any moment, I departed from the protected covering o
f one of the houses and walked into his line of sight. Robert’s eyes widened a bit upon seeing me, waking him up from the doldrum of the same old path. But, no malice ever entered his expression, unlike the other times I’d seen him at our compound, the Archimage Palace, and the prison tower.

  He asked slowly, quietly, “Linaria? How are you here?”

  His calmness and clarity were throwing me off. I’d expected another heated confrontation filled with yelling. “I…” I stuttered, unsure of how to proceed, my anger dampened, “I…I’m here to stop you. Leave this place and its inhabitants, and never return!”

  Robert blinked his Allyen eyes at me a few times. Something had changed. The fire was gone from this man. I hadn’t feared being alone with him when Luke left, but now, all of a sudden, I did. He repeated, as if in disbelief, “You’re here.”

  I stared in silence, my entire train of thought thrown off course.

  “Linaria, please,” Robert nearly whispered as he reached toward me with an open hand. Desperation was written all over his face, and I wasn’t sure how to feel about it. “Join me. Master Rhydin promised not to harm you or your brother if you join our cause.”

  Bile rose up in my throat. I responded loudly, “I can’t believe that for a second. Besides, I would never join Rhydin after all he’s done. Just look around you, Robert!”

  For someone whom Rhydin had declared his right-hand man, Robert glanced around him with more of a look of sheepishness rather than that of a proud comrade. It was all too strange.

  I leered at him. “Not so pleased with your Liberator now, are you? What changed your mind, Robert? The murders or the ruination of people’s livelihoods?”

  A switch flipped. Fury filled Robert’s expression as he bellowed, “My master knows what he’s doing! He will always have my full support, just as he should have yours! And I am your father, Linaria, and you will refer to me as such!”

  Whatever softening that may have occurred in my heart toward this sad man immediately hardened once again. I barely noticed the burst of light behind me and the abrupt, hard grip on my arm as I declared, “Never.”

  Robert and the rest of the prairie scenery melted away in front of me, the colors swirling out of existence into a world of white before rapidly reconvening into the small, darkened woods where our camp was situated. I didn’t have to see Luke’s scarlet eyes to know that he was furious, even before he shouted, “Do you have a death wish or something??”

  “I only wanted to see him! I knew he wouldn’t hurt me. The man’s my father after all,” I shrieked defensively. “I knew you’d be there any minute, and I was ready in case he tried anything.”

  “I swear, Lina,” Luke grumbled, throwing his hands above his head, “it’s a wonder you never gave my sister any gray hairs because I’m going to have a full head of them by the time we’re through!”

  I opened my mouth to retaliate, but suddenly James was upon us, running from the direction of our camp and yelling louder than us both, “Thank goodness, you’re back! We have an emergency!”

  Luke was instantly on high alert again. “What, what is it? Did they find Prince Frederick and his family?”

  James blanched even paler than he was before and gulped, “Yeah…as well as Prince Xavier, Princess Mira…even Queen Gloria. It appears that all of the Royals are in Rhydin’s dungeons although we can’t tell for sure. They’re all going to be executed in the morning!”

  “Executed?” Luke and I shouted in unison.

  “At dawn,” James warbled, like his throat was constricted, “Rhydin wants to eliminate any other claims to any of the thrones to preserve his reign. What do we do?”

  “Uh, we save them, that’s what we do!” I replied incredulously, planting my fists on my hips.

  “But Rhydin’s dungeons are totally impregnable! Trust me, if was possible to get in there, we’d have broken them out by now,” James huffed, his pale face flushed.

  “Yeah,” Luke sighed, scratching the back of his neck anxiously, “those things are protected by literally every spell and charm Rhydin knows. Some of them outdate even Grandpa Arii.”

  I stared hard at one brother, then at the next, disappointed in their negativity. “Then we save them when they exit the dungeons!” I declared.

  “They won’t leave the dungeons until just minutes before the execution, and even then, they’ll be on a public platform Rhydin’s Followers are constructing as we speak,” Luke replied skeptically. “James said we’re not even sure who all is in there!”

  A few seconds went by as I thought hard, the gears in my mind turning. Then, I asked the first question of the only plan I could remotely think of, “Are there any more Ranguvariians we can call upon to help us? We don’t have long before dawn, and we’re only going to have seconds for this plan to work.”

  Rhydin stood proudly on the elevated platform across from the gallows where the Nerahdian Royals would all meet their end, his pale hands splayed along the railing and his shoulders tossed back to emphasize the regality of his imperial armor and fur cape. He held his chin high as commoners from near and far trickled into the area around the gallows in the pink light of morning. They drew close first at a snail’s pace, then like floodwaters as the hour neared when the sun would make its official debut for the day.

  All for him, he thought arrogantly. They were all here to see him finish what he had started and cement his claim to all three thrones.

  The wind began to pick up, and Rhydin knew the moment was drawing near. His Followers had constructed this arena of sorts barely within the borders of Lunaka in the shadows of his sparkling new, imperial palace. He wanted his power and leadership on full display today.

  As soon as the sun barely peeked its golden face over the far horizon, Robert ascended the stairs on the backside of the platform and took his place next to Rhydin, on his right but two steps behind. Rhydin wanted no one questioning whether their new emperor was independent.

  “On your command, my lord,” Robert whispered, trying to conceal the shakiness of his voice. He failed, and Rhydin’s amethyst eyes narrowed. If Robert couldn’t come to terms with the positive change Rhydin was implementing, he would be the gallows’ next victim.

  “No use putting off the inevitable. Give the people what they came for.” Rhydin smirked.

  The older Allyen bobbed his head and trotted back down the stairs of Rhydin’s platform, and the emperor turned to face the massive crowd that had collected around the gallows. Rhydin’s Followers had distributed flyers throughout Nerahdis, calling for supporters of the Liberator-turned-Emperor to come to this place for a very special display to ensure the end of all wars. Rhydin knew that terminology would bring hundreds out, if not thousands, and he brimmed with dark excitement as he subtly cast a spell on his voice to project it for all to hear.

  “Greetings, people of Nerahdis! Thank you for joining us here today for this momentous occasion!” Rhydin announced, his lips spread wide in the best smile he could maintain. “As I told you, in a few short moments, I will have single-handedly ensured that Nerahdis will never be abused by the Royals or embroiled in any war ever again!”

  Thunderous applause. Hundreds of thrilled faces of every age, gender, and nationality.

  “I assure you,” Rhydin continued proudly, “you will remain under my fair and devoted rule for the foreseeable future!”

  More applause and cheering. Nerahdis was an ocean of relief and happiness in front of Rhydin’s platform, and he basked in it. This was why he had worked so hard for hundreds of years. This was why he would continue to remind the people of their need for him. They didn’t need to know that the foreseeable future was actually the rest of time.

  Of course, they could also never find out about his magical powers, his lack of aging, or his hand in their economic distress and the resurgence of the Epidemic. But, what did that matter when they all adored him? If there were any nerves among the crowd as they eyed the gallows and what it signified, Rhydin never saw them.

&
nbsp; “Now, without further ado,” Rhydin said as he gestured to the small door directly beneath him that led inside the lower level of the platform upon which he stood. “Your former rulers and abusers!”

  Robert flung open the door beneath him and began leading out the former Royals. Nine rope necklaces hung from the gallows ahead of them as nine people entered the daylight in chains. The people roared with glee upon sight of the former King Adam of Lunaka first in line, a thoughtful strategy on Rhydin’s part, seeing as he was likely the most hated of them all. Adam looked around at the enormous crowd, bewildered by the brightness and loudness, his crown stripped from him. When his harsh eyes landed on Rhydin, they burned like wildfire.

  Rhydin kept his face relaxed as he met the gaze of the man who had pledged his loyalty to him, helped him acquire his empire even while believing it would allow him to keep his throne rather than pass it to his son. Rhydin had never once intended on fulfilling that promise. By the red hot look on Adam’s face, Rhydin also patted himself on the back for thinking to gag the man magically beforehand.

  Next in line drew an equal amount of cheers from the green-clad Mineraltins in the audience. The former Queen Jasmine had her shoulders hunched forward under a mountain of unruly, unkempt black hair as she marched forward slowly behind Adam. She never once looked up, her eyes still containing an ounce of shock as she bored holes into the ground in front of her. Alas, Rhydin had never intended to keep his promise of sharing his eternal youth with her either. He only needed his Royal Followers temporarily, and that time had expired at last.

  Princess Ren came trampling after her mother, her elaborate pink dress soiled from the dungeons, and Rhydin briefly wondered if he should have gagged her as well. She kicked and screamed something or other about how unfair everything was, but as people tossed their hands and murmured in agreement that she deserved her ill treatment after her past behavior, Rhydin decided it was fine. However, as the audience suddenly grew eerily silent, he found himself taking a step forward to see who had walked through the door next.