Conquest

by C B Samet

  Natalie said, “Orrick fought three dozen soldiers before they overtook him.”

  The wizard came to my side and lent me a hand to stand. I walked to Minister Tarik, and placing a hand over his heart, felt it still beating.

  I turned to Mal. “Have you got one more healing left in you?”

  “Have you?” he challenged.

  I was bent over, supporting my torso with a hand on my knee. Stars swam before my eyes. “One more,” I agreed, breathlessly.

  The warmth of Mal’s apparition filled me once more as he merged with me. I pulled the scepter from King Artemis. Mal’s magic connected me to the scepter in the stone. Using my senses, I reached for the gentle pulsations of the Healing Stone within the Che stone of the scepter. I placed a hand on Tarik’s drooping head and poured magic into him, stitching and mending, dissolving clots, and reducing swelling.

  Then the room went vertical—or I went horizontal—and felt as though I was floating.

  “Easy, Abigail.” Mal’s voice sounded distant.

  Everything faded to black.

  39

  ABIGAIL

  I woke in a comfortable bed in a room at the castle. For an instant, I felt transported back in time to the battle against Malos, after which I’d awoken in the castle. I didn’t recall this many aches and pains, but I’d been so much younger back then.

  I sat up and swung my feet over the bed. My head swam. I remembered cleaning and putting on a nightgown before falling into a deep, dreamless sleep. Fury crawled across the bed to nudge his nose into my hand. I ran my hands through his thick, black hair.

  Raven was seated by the window. Across from her on the windowsill sat another brownie.

  “Thanks again for coming and bringing help. Who’s your friend?” I asked. I thought it a little presumptuous of her to bring someone I didn’t know into my sleeping chamber.

  “Friend?”

  I watched the brownie in the window. Raven followed my gaze to where he sat, but didn’t have show evidence of seeing him.

  When the little creature floated closer to me, I recognized Snake Eyes—Mal’s friend.

  “Snake Eyes.” I squeezed my eyes shut and rubbed them. “I’m hallucinating.”

  He grinned. “You can see and hear me without Mal inside you. This is great!”

  “Snake Eyes?” Raven arched an eyebrow at me.

  “Where’s Mal?” I asked.

  Raven stood. “How should I know?”

  “He burned himself out helping Orrick heal soldiers. He said he’d be back when he recovered.”

  Snake Eyes seemed eager to let me know Mal’s condition. I decided I liked the idea of Mal having an extended circle of friends.

  “Thank you.”

  Raven threw her hands up in the air. “You’re not making any sense. I’m getting the wizard.” She summoned the wolf and rode out of the room, riding on his back.

  Snake Eyes watched Raven with a dreamy expression.

  I walked behind the wooden dressing room divider and began dressing in a pair of slacks and blouse. “What else can you tell me?”

  “Natalie and Paul are in Natalie’s room next door, letting you rest.”

  “You know my family?” I peeked out from behind the dressing partition.

  He straightened, even as he hovered at eye level. “I know about all of you. I’ve been with you through this whole adventure.”

  “You’ve been helping Mal?”

  “I’m his right-hand brownie.”

  “Well, you helped me find the King quickly as well. Welcome to the family.”

  He beamed.

  Coco entered the room with Raven beside her. “Ah, you’re awake. How do you feel?” Coco asked. She wore her captain’s uniform of blue and silver, with black boots shined spotless. The only sign she’d been in a battle was a bandage on one arm.

  “Like I’ve been trampled by a Muglik. Maybe fifty of them.” I rubbed my neck. “And…”

  “Well, while you were napping, we wrapped up the war. Orrick emerged from the top of the castle and announced the King’s death. In light of the giants turning the tide of the battle, I think the Bellosians were all too happy to lay down their swords.”

  “Thank the Unideit for that. Now what?”

  “We’ll ship the soldiers back to Bellos. We may have won the war, but we’re in no position to invade back. I’m sure Bordo and the other ministers will demand reparations, but I doubt the politics will fall to our financial favor.” She shrugged. “My job will be to prepare for the next invasion. They are quite prejudiced against us. Their defeat will probably inflame their desire for retaliation.” She cocked her head to one side as she regarded me. “You don’t think so?”

  “They despise Crithians to be sure.” I brushed at dirt on my bed. I needed a bath. “But they’ve been stretching themselves thin. The King didn’t have a complete grasp of his own continent before invading ours. When news of the Bellosian defeat, and the death of the King spreads through Bellos, the King’s successor and elite of Victoria may be too busy suppressing uprisings on their own land.”

  Coco tapped her fingers on the hilt of her sword. “The soldiers we have in holding seem to think there are enough of them to assemble another offense.”

  I pushed to my feet, feeling the protest of my muscles. “That I don’t know. I never saw the fullness of their army. When Mal returns, I’ll ask him. In any case, my next step is fixing the scepter so there’ll be no more wars to wage.”

  “I like the sound of that.”

  “If I succeed, I could put you out of a job.” I grinned at her.

  “I like the sound of that, too.” She plucked a towel off a nearby chair and slung it at me. “I’ve sent word to the kitchen that you’re awake. Clean up and you can join your family for breakfast.”

  I enjoyed a breakfast of warm eggs and bacon in one of the smaller castle dining rooms. Paul, Rebecca, Mo, Arturo, and Raven joined me.

  Chef Gray had personally served our meal. His eyes had been moist as he expressed gratitude at my helping liberate the castle. Other waitstaff dropped by to say thank you. Leonard, one of the long-term stewards, came to express thanks and lament the passing of the Queen.

  Paul ate distractedly as he talked about how he’d watched the battle from the high hill. He’d been awed by the large number of soldiers, and even more awed by the combined might and magic of Mal and I. I wasn’t happy he’d seen the violence, but better he witness it than be a part of it.

  When Paul stopped talking long enough to bite a piece of bacon, Natalie asked, "What do you plan to do about getting Rebekah back?"

  "With my star broken, I'm not sure exactly. It wasn't safe for her to be with me on the open ocean.”

  Her expression turned dismal.

  “But I have access to learn magic, and I have a wizard. We’ll find a way.”

  “What about Orrick’s brother?”

  “Mal doesn’t know how to make the star work again, but the spirit of his mother might,” I said. I wondered when Mal would be back.

  “Mal visited Orrick and me one day. He said he’d been cursed. I told him maybe after he helped with the war, we could repay him and find a way to break the curse.”

  I coughed and choked on my tea. Mal and I had plans to solidify the curse, not break it. “That may be difficult.”

  She arched an eyebrow at me. “More difficult than fighting an enormous Bellosian army? I don’t think the Champion shrinks from a challenge.”

  “It’s complicated.” The children knew the premise behind the story of Malos and the siphoning of evil, but they didn’t know that my Mal was Malos.

  Before I had to discuss this complex topic further, Minister Tarik entered the room. He appeared well-recovered from his torture and wore a fine, sky-blue tunic embroidered with silver thread.

  “Splendid Champion," he greeted me with a bow and an insincere smile.

  I blinked. “Tarik.”

  “We're all indebted to you for saving the
country. We’re planning the Queen’s funeral as we speak. It’ll be grand. It’ll be a magnificent testimony to her everlasting service to the country.”

  It was a wonder he wasn't saving his grandiose speech for the funeral. Perhaps this was practice for him.

  "Might we discuss the issue of the scepter?”

  I placed my napkin on my table. My appetite had deserted me the minute Tarik walked into the room. "What about the scepter?”

  “It is of great importance that you return it.”

  “Is it?”

  “Malos’ scepter must be carefully locked away. It cannot be in the hands of mankind,” he sputtered.

  “That's interesting, because it's going to need to be in the hands of womankind if I'm going to fix it."

  He blinked in rapid irritation as he raised his voice. “Where is the scepter, Lady Cross?”

  “I’m actually quite sorry to say, I don't know where it is.” I stood and walked toward Tarik. “But you can be certain that if it were in my possession, I wouldn’t turn it back over to you.”

  The children fell quiet.

  I grabbed Tarik by the elbow and escorted him out of the room. I pulled the room door firmly shut behind us as we walked into the hall.

  “What’s gotten into you?”

  I snatched the neckline of his shirt into a ball, lifted him off the ground and backed him into the wall.

  He released a startled grunt and then grabbed my arm. “Put me…”

  “I’m interested to know, Tarik, how Artemis knew about Natalie—about my daughter,” I snarled. “Who could have told him her significance to me? Who could have led him to where she was hiding? How would he have known to use her as a shield to stop me?”

  Tarik’s face paled. “I was tortured. I had no choice.”

  “Didn’t you?” I asked through clenched teeth. “You’ve had a choice over the years before King Artemis invaded. Minister of Foreign Affairs? I’ve been to Bellos. You couldn’t have spent time there and not have known what they were scheming. Did you tell him the scepter was in the vault?”

  “No. No,” he stammered. “The King thought it was on Mulan. That’s why he sent the Prince there. Emerald later suggested the vault. I merely confirmed it once we were already captive.”

  I tightened my grip on him.

  “It didn’t matter once we were overthrown,” he squealed.

  “Do you know what I think?”

  With wide eyes, he shook his head in small, jerking motions.

  “I think you wanted an invasion. Welcomed it. I think you saw it as your opportunity to rise in rank from the sniveling bottom-feeder you currently are. But your backhanded strategy failed when the King decided you’d give up more information forcibly than peaceably.”

  Tarik’s throat bobbed in a swallow, and for once he had an honest look of regret on his face. I wondered if he’d realized his mistake when the invasion happened, or not until he was turned into a tenderized slab of Crithian meat.

  “If your actions ever jeopardize the safety of my family again, I will hunt you down. Sticking the scepter back into the vault will be the least of your problems.”

  Beside me, a woman cleared her throat. Coco watched us with arms crossed.

  I set Tarik down on his feet, but didn’t let go of his shirt. “We were just discussing how Minister Tarik has found renewed vitality in a deep sense of patriotism, and he’s going to harness that enthusiasm to rebuild Crithos from Waterton to Marrington.”

  When I released his shirt, he straightened the collar and regained his composure. He gave me a slight bow. “Lady Cross.”

  I watched him walk away as I took slow, deep breaths to calm my temper.

  Coco shifted her weight. “When I heard about the standoff between you and the King, with Natalie in danger, I wondered how he’d discovered her. Even if soldiers had found her hiding spot, the King had no way of knowing Natalie was your daughter. He could have guessed she was someone important, since she was guarded by a wizard, but the use of Natalie that way suggested King Artemis knew of a personal connection.”

  I rubbed my temples. “I followed a hunch. By his expression, I wasn’t wrong. Besides, I spent half a day in Bellos and the anti-Crithian sentiment was palpable. Tarik couldn’t have traveled there and not known they wanted to colonize us.”

  “If anyone’s threats could reform Tarik, yours will.”

  “I’ve got to fix the scepter, or the fighting will never end.”

  “First, take a breath. Rest. Recover. We’ve a funeral to attend. The scepter can wait a week or two. No one is threatening war any time soon.”

  I nodded. Stalling, and spending more time with my family and Mal, was something I could do. I needed to take care that I didn’t delay too long for my own personal desires to have Mal linger longer with me.

  Coco handed me a purple velvet pouch. “The Queen said to give this to you if anything happened to her.”

  My heart quickened. No more surprises. I hoped she wasn’t sending me on another quest from her grave. Slowly, I took it, opened the bag, and emptied the content into my hand. A large, amethyst stone squatted on my palm. I held my breath, but the stone didn’t activate in my possession.

  “The Leadership Stone,” I said on an exhale.

  “Perhaps she thought you knew who the next owner would be,” Coco said.

  Natalie opened the door and poked her head out of the dining room. “We’re done eating.”

  I quickly dropped the stone back in the bag. “I’ll walk you back to your room.”

  “I’d like to walk to the inner courtyard,” Natalie said.

  “I can do that.” I turned to Coco. “Thank you. I’ll discuss this with you later.”

  Paul stuck his head out beside Natalie. “Raven and I are going to go visit the hawks and other brownies.”

  “Have fun.”

  Natalie and I began the walk through the halls to the inner courtyard.

  “This was the longest I’ve stayed in the castle. I found the experience enriching and enlightening,” Natalie said.

  I listened carefully, focusing on the steady beat of my heart. I worried I wasn't going to like where the conversation headed. I worried she planned to tell me she wanted to stay permanently here in the castle.

  “I’m glad I had an extended experience here. Though, I do realize I should've left the castle at your first warning. I also realized how much I missed home. I’d like to come back and visit the castle again, perhaps a week or so at a time.”

  I tried to temper my excitement. “It’ll be wonderful to have everyone back together on the farm, perhaps just for a few years longer. And yes, we can make arrangements for you to spend some time in Marrington. They have excellent teachers here. Probably the best when it comes to political science and cultural studies.” Leave it to a mother to find a way to make an experience educational.

  Natalie brightened at the prospect of spending time at the castle. It seemed we’d finally found mutual ground. I hoped I could placate her so that I might have as much time with her as a little girl as possible, before she grew up to become Queen. She needed to enjoy her childhood as long as she could.

  40

  ABIGAIL

  After I toured the courtyard with Natalie, I went to one of the chambers where I’d heard Emerald was under watchful guard. I recognized the room as one of the servant’s quarters.

  I nodded to the guard outside his room. “How are you, Herkle?”

  “Better now that we’re back in control of the castle,” the guard replied

  “No Queen though,” I said.

  “Yeah.” He averted his gaze down at his boot laces. “Did she suffer?”

  “No, but I hate I couldn’t save her.”

  “Knowing you, you did the best you could.”

  “I’m glad you and the soldiers brought Coco out against her will.”

  He chuckled. “We’re lucky she didn’t put us all on stable duty after that. She was so red-faced mad.”


  I laughed. “I would have liked to see that.”

  “Evil hath no fury like a captain who’s been overruled by her soldiers.” He fished his belt for the key. “You want to see the prisoner?”

  “Yes, thanks.”

  Herkle let me inside Emerald’s room. He closed and locked the door behind me.

  “I owe you thanks for the information about the storm,” I told the Blue Gypsy.

  Emerald had stood when I entered, and now bobbed his head. “When I’d heard of this woman called the Champion on Crithos, I knew you were the key to the King’s undoing.”

  “And why would you betray the King who fed and clothed you?”

  He frowned. “You’re right to ask. Our relationship started innocuous enough. I shared my talents for the future in hopes he’d use them to better the country. Together, we made strides in industrialization and advancements no other country has yet achieved. But he always had a darker, ambitious side. In the last seven years or so, that darker side grew and festered like a sickness. He began conquering parts of his own country, those that had been living peaceably under him. The gladiator games began—usually pitting cultures or species he felt to be inferior against each other for the entertainment of Bellosians.

  “I contemplated leaving, despite his threats—but I thought perhaps I could help more by feeding him some misinformation when opportunity presented itself. Then I saw hope. In you. I told him that Crithos’ mascot would accompany the Queen when she came to Victoria. I convinced him to let you live so that he could crush Crithians by seeing your slow demise. I advised against a quick death that would make you a martyr. I knew if you could escape, you could bring him to an end.”

  “Did you tell him I had a daughter in the castle?”

  Emerald’s expression turned puzzled. “I didn’t know you had a daughter in the castle. I don’t see everything, and I don’t always get to choose what I do see.” His gaze turned unfocused for a moment. “Ah, yes. She is beautiful. I’m glad she was unharmed.”

  My hunch about Tarik was right. I rubbed my hands together, catching a glimpse of my star and my moons.