[2018] Reign of Queens

by Melissa Wright

  Ruby and Steed bolted to their feet as someone came in, but it was only Grey. “What is it?” Chevelle said, still kneeling over me.

  Grey hesitated, rubbed a palm awkwardly over the woven material of his shirt. “A horse is at the door.”

  Chevelle glanced at me, I hoped he didn’t see my smile. I knew it was my Steed.

  Grey waited. “Well, should I let him in?”

  Chevelle nodded once and Grey left as quickly as he’d entered.

  And then I realized he’d walked through a door. I glanced around, confused about where I was. Gray stone walls surrounded us, but I’d been staring at an open sky, nothing but the cloak between my prone form and the cold earth. “Where are we?”

  “Fort Stone,” Steed answered.

  I snickered and Chevelle’s irritation resurfaced. I didn’t know if it was for me or Steed. “Fort Stone?” I asked anyway.

  “Named for Lord Stone,” Steed explained. Chevelle’s gaze caught the other man, leaving no question as to the source of his crossness.

  “A lord?” I tried not to sound too impressed as I took another look around, reassessing the walls. I wondered how old it was.

  Chevelle stood, directing Ruby to stay with me until he returned. Steed followed him without another word.

  Ruby must have known I was curious. Or she just wanted to talk. It was hard to tell with Ruby. “It’s been abandoned for centuries,” she offered, making me a bed as she recounted ancient stories.

  She helped me move onto the blankets, the dizziness improved but my muscles weak and drained. I asked, “Why are we here?”

  She twisted her mouth to the side, considering her answer. “We were in need of shelter after your… episode. It was close enough to work. Are you cold?” she asked, tucking me under a blanket.

  “I’ll get it,” I said, waving my hand to form a fire beside us.

  Nothing happened.

  The vertigo was almost gone now; I was feeling close to normal, just a bit fuzzy. I tried once more, but it would not light. I pressed down the panic as I concentrated on pulling the burn together.

  But nothing happened.

  I sat up, holding both hands in front of me, palms up, as I focused on lighting a flame, any flame.

  Nothing.

  I reached out to move a rock from the floor. It didn’t budge. I concentrated on a pebble beside me. It didn’t shift in the least.

  “Ruby? It doesn’t work.” I held my hands in front of me, helpless.

  Panic was taking me when she laid a hand on my shoulder and leaned forward. I expected her to calm me, explain it would come back, it would all be okay. Glitter was in the air before I could stop her.

  By the time Chevelle returned, I was loopy with it. He and Ruby sat facing me. She must have filled him in on my problem.

  I resisted the urge to touch him. I always wanted to touch him.

  “Frey,” Chevelle began in a measured tone.

  I cut him off, trying to sound calm. “What happened?”

  “It would seem the council has attacked us.”

  I was too numb to draw in the quick breath I expected. My cheeks tingled. I didn’t think I could feel my hands.

  “Attacked you,” he clarified.

  Something came out of my chest that sounded like a moan. I blinked, too slow. “Attacked?”

  “They must have tried to strengthen your bonds.”

  I knew I should have been shocked but I couldn’t produce the feeling. “They succeeded,” I complained.

  He nodded. “It seems it may have taken your magic completely this time.”

  This time. I concentrated on keeping my head straight, to look like I was listening properly, acting properly. My attempt at concentration must have come across as anxiety.

  “You found a way to break their bonds before. You will again.”

  I nodded. My nose was itchy. I wiggled it.

  “Rest now,” he said. “We have time.”

  I reached forward, ready to ask him to stay, but he wasn’t leaving. He only settled in. Both he and Ruby were staying with me. I was happy… downright blissful. Stupid dust.

  I watched Chevelle’s face as my eyes fluttered shut, exhausted. My dreams brought him close, a much-too-vivid kiss on the cheek that burned like fire. My skin was blistering, I could feel the color. It swirled around me and shocked me awake again.

  I lay on the floor, eyes wide, body unmoving. I was weak, tired, still under the influence, but I heard voices. I didn’t move as I listened to discern if they were real.

  They seemed to be close, but muffled—maybe in the next room or down a corridor—as they echoed off the stones. I thought I’d picked out Anvil’s deep voice. “Trapped here like rats… cowards…” He was outraged.

  Someone else, Grey maybe, worry coloring his tone. “We can’t just leave them out there.”

  I knew Chevelle’s voice, interlaced between the other comments. “She’s not ready… we can’t… too soon.”

  And a voice I couldn’t place. “… another setback…”

  They seemed to be in disagreement but I couldn’t find the interest to stay with them. I faded back into sleep.

  These dreams took me farther. My sight was off, not as clear, distorted. But as I lingered there, I knew the cause. I was seeing from a horse.

  We were outside the stone walls of the fortress finding sparse greens to eat, which bored me even in a dream. I encouraged the horse to run and he responded immediately, taking flight down the mountainside. The rocks streaked past us as we ran faster and faster, the wind whipping his mane. A great bird perched on the dead limb of an ironwood tree and I jumped to it just as it dropped from the branch and flared its wings out to catch the wind. We flew still farther as I watched the mountain pass below. There was a scrubby patch of trees ahead and I could see movement there, inside. I tried to focus on it… familiar silver and white.

  Commotion brought me back and I sat up, startled. My head spun. Ruby caught my arm to steady me. Her smile was strained as she handed me a drink of water.

  Chevelle was near the entrance of the stone room with Anvil and Grey. They appeared to be preparing to leave. “What’s going on?” I asked.

  “Nothing to worry about,” Ruby assured me. “Just a hunting trip.”

  I was still muddled, but I knew it wouldn’t take three of them to hunt. And then I remembered the bits of conversation I’d heard when I woke. “Someone’s missing?” I took stock. I’d seen everyone but Rhys and Rider now. And the wolves. The silver and white wolves. “The wolves are out there.”

  Each person in the room turned to me. Ruby finally spoke. “What do you know about the wolves, Frey?”

  “Are they hurt?”

  “We don’t know. They did not return.”

  “Rhys and Rider?”

  “They are attempting to locate them. They will not rejoin us until they do.”

  I started to draw a map for them with magic and then cursed when I realized I was no longer able. Bound. Ruby had been right to drug me; I didn’t think I could have handled it otherwise. They were watching me, unsure what I was doing as I sat helpless and swearing. “I need something to draw with.”

  Ruby pulled a piece of charcoal and scrap of paper from her bags. I rushed to sketch the path I remembered from my dream, focusing on the ring of trees with the most detail. “They are there.”

  The men stood, motionless and staring until Anvil crossed the room to retrieve the map. He bowed a little as he took the paper from my hands and then hurried out, Grey following. Chevelle stayed.

  Ruby turned to him and breathed a deep sigh but he didn’t respond.

  My head throbbed and I groaned as I pressed the bridge of my nose. He was beside me in a flash, unspeaking. Ruby handed me another drink.

  It helped, but I was still irritated about the binding. “Does this mean we’ll have to train again?”

  Ruby snickered.

  Chevelle answered slowly, “There has to be a way. You broke them b
efore.”

  I tried to remember how. The first magic I could recall was the thistle in the back room at Junnie’s. It seemed so far away now.

  Ruby was speaking to him. “Maybe it was just the length of time…”

  What did she know about how long I was bound?

  “If we can find a way to test without endangering—” He stopped. “Don’t worry about it, Frey.” I wondered if I’d looked frightened. “We will figure it out.”

  How reassuring. I meant to smile at him, but only succeeded in pressing my lips into a flat line.

  “Rest now. There is plenty of time for tr—” He thought better of saying training again, finishing, “To test the bindings.” He smiled at me and, once again, I thought for a heartbeat he might reach out to me. But he did not. He simply stood and walked from the room.

  Ruby saw me watching. “He’s right, Freya. Rest now. Plenty of time to get you straightened back out.” She stood and walked to the front wall. I hadn’t noticed the narrow window before, no wider than the flat of a hand. Ruby positioned herself in front of it, watching whatever was outside.

  I sighed. Plenty of time. I fiddled with the blankets for a few minutes, tried a couple of times—futilely—to move tiny specks of loose rock on the floor, and then gave up and decided to read the journal again. I rolled away from Ruby and pulled my pack into the curve of my body, settling the book open but able to be quickly hidden away.

  This morning, I extended my spell, giving Rune an extra day of sleep. It was a good thing, too. I found the camp right off and followed the tracks easily. The occupants must have run in panic initially, but then gathered back together and walked in a line, some two by two, some dragging sleds. They made temporary shelter in a cave, likely for just one night, and continued again. They must have moved slowly, and I could see they stopped often to rest. It didn’t take long before I’d found their new camp. I slipped into a tall tree to watch them.

  To my shock, I found something I had never seen before. I watched for hours before I was sure, too stunned to believe it possible. I had heard stories, the fairies were always puffing dust about it, but I’d never believed it. Was I really watching humans?

  I was pulled from reading, confused. Humans weren’t real. What kind of book was this? She had mentioned fairies’ stories. I wondered if this was fiction, a fairy ruse, given to Chevelle by Ruby. Or maybe the dust was still playing havoc on me. I glanced over my shoulder at Ruby where she watched anxiously out the front window. I shook my head, finding the line again…

  But I couldn’t deny it. Their size was about that of an elf, but all were different. The men were thicker. Not necessarily with muscle, some more bulbous. The women were varied as well, some thin and wiry, some stout like the males. Their hair was in all shades—light blond like the sun, brown as the trees, one even had rusty red, his plump cheeks peppered with light brown spots. And there were so many children! They were loud and ran round the camp all afternoon. And they were just as varied as the adults. I examined their wide noses, rounded ears, and stubby fingers. Those who wore no shoes had short, thick toes like trolls. The men had patches of hair curled on their chests and forearms and some even grew it around their chins like goats. Their clothes were tattered and ill-fitting rags.

  They moved about the camp slowly. Clearly they had no magic, and they definitely were the owners of the crude tools we had found. They spoke to each other often, their voices like the protest of an old hound. I watched until nightfall, when they settled into tents and lean-tos. They seemed to assign a watchman, wielding only a torch lit from the central fire. I slipped down from the tree and returned to the castle. I am dying to see what I can find of them in the books of Father’s study.

  Laughter broke my concentration. Anvil and Grey were back. I looked to the front wall, but Ruby was gone, moved to the entrance of our room. She seemed to be waiting there excitedly for something. I slid the book into the pack and sat up to watch.

  Chevelle came in and Ruby greeted him. “It’s fantastic,” she breathed. He smiled at her.

  Steed was following. “Almost unbelievable,” he added, shooting me a look.

  They turned to me as Rhys and Rider entered. They didn’t approach but stopped just inside the room and dipped into a bow. “Our gratitude, Elfreda.”

  I blushed. I had forgotten the wolves. They must have found them. “Were they hurt?”

  “No. And our thanks to you for that as well.”

  I wasn’t exactly sure how that was due to me, but I smiled, glad they had found them and everyone was safe. They turned to leave and Grey entered with two spits of meat and wine. It almost seemed like a celebration. Almost. Their high spirits hadn’t quite returned from before.

  I wondered how long I had been out. I wondered where the councilmen who’d attacked us were now.

  The wine flowed. Steed took some food to Anvil, Grey and Ruby made their way to the front window, and I found myself sitting alone with Chevelle.

  “How do you feel?” he asked.

  “Better. And worse.” Better because the dust was clearing. Worse because I was fuzzy again, bound.

  He nodded. He was closer now, sitting opposite me, and I had the disconcerting feeling that I’d lost the bit of time when he’d moved there. He reached out and took my hand in his, his fingers gentle as he turned it palm up to place a pebble there. “Can you do anything with this?”

  “No.” Frustration was clear in my voice. I had already tried.

  “And no fire?”

  “No.”

  “So nothing works?” The implication was there, but I didn’t know what it meant right away. And then it occurred to me. The horse. I had thought he had shown up because I’d impressed upon him to follow before I blacked out, but I had already been bound again at that point. Should I tell Chevelle? I didn’t know why I felt so protective of this secret.

  Chevelle drew a section of moss from one of the stones on the wall and it replaced the pebble. “Try this. They shouldn’t have bothered binding you from growing.”

  I concentrated on it. Nothing. But I was never good at that anyway. I shook my head.

  He nodded, giving up, but our hands still lay together, connecting us.

  “Where are they?” I asked.

  He’d been looking at our hands, but his eyes returned to my face at the question.

  “Council,” I explained.

  “They have retreated. They were able to briefly incapacitate the wolves, giving Rhys and Rider less warning of their approach before you were attacked.” He hesitated. “When we heard the alert, I turned. Your eyes were closed.” I didn’t comment, so he continued, “I was able to catch you just before your horse dropped. I’ve no idea why they attacked him. They should have been focused on you.”

  I wasn’t sure they had attacked the horse. Maybe it was because I’d been there, in his mind, controlling him. “What happened to Rhys and Rider?”

  “They broke to keep from fighting such a sizeable force alone. They circled back to meet us. In the disorder, they lost track of the wolves.”

  “But the wolves weren’t hurt?”

  “They had been strung up by vine among the trees, but alive.”

  I winced at the idea. “Why?”

  A wry smile crossed his lips and I couldn’t help but focus on them for a moment. “Because the wolves would have fought to the death, and Grand Council does not kill animals with magic.”

  I remembered my mother. “Only elves?”

  His mocking smile widened. “Only elves.”

  They thought killing an animal with magic was evil, dark, but they were hunting us down. To burn us. I considered the alternative—pierced through with arrows, blessed with a prayer—and I laughed.

  His eyes were intense as he reached to gently cup my neck, fingers resting at my spine, thumb grazing the base of my ear. I felt him urge me forward, and my breath caught, heart stuttering into a broken lope.

  And then Ruby was beside us from out of nowhere, h
er words startling me back to the cold, dull room. “They’re coming in.”

  Chevelle leaned back, his fingers brushing my collarbone when he pulled away. I bit my lip at the tingle that ran through me, and the corner of his mouth turned up into a different kind of smile.

  He stood to walk from the room and I stared at the stone entry, struggling to keep my thoughts from spinning out of control. Too much had happened. Too much was wrong. My life had flipped, twisted into some strange reflection of itself, and I couldn’t reconcile the fragments. It caused me physical pain to think about Chevelle’s touch, about council, about what was happening, and I knew it was the bonds.

  When Grey walked out, my trance broke and I noticed Ruby by the front window, wearing an odd smile. I flushed and turned from her, rolling into a ball on my blankets, remembering no more than the feel of his skin on my neck, the quirk of his lips.

  I had to keep distracted, and there was nothing for it but the book.

  I wasn’t able to find much regarding humans in the study’s library. But I had been right. Illustrations and descriptions matched what I had seen.

  I know I took a risk extending Rune’s spell further, but I did not want to get caught, definitely not followed. I wondered if my sister was still at the original camp. Surely she wasn’t bright enough to figure it out. And apparently she wasn’t willing to tell anyone.

  I was returning to the spot I had found the humans the previous day when I ran across one of them alone. I hid myself behind a patch of brush to watch him. He had a lovely complexion with a hint of bronze and cropped dark brown hair with a few tiny streaks of blond just around his face. He looked less like the others I had been watching. He was built like the elves, strong and muscled, but still lean. He wore plain pants and tall boots. His light cloth shirt moved around him as he walked, unlaced at the chest. He carried a small blade in his hand, but I couldn’t imagine what he was doing here unaccompanied.

  There was a rustle from the brush several yards in the opposite direction I was hiding. He rushed toward it and I followed, unsure why he was running. The noise was made by a small boar and the human was chasing it. He ran after it, gasping for air, and I followed close behind, thrilling at the spectacle. The boar approached a ridge of rock and turned, giving the human the advantage. He leaped after it, blade held wide, and landed, slicing into its side and twisting the blade back out. He was leaning over its small motionless body, heaving for breath, covered in blood. I laughed, shocked at myself, but filled with excitement and amusement.