The Two Kings

by Marian Gray

  I took a few more steps in and stopped. My flesh tingled. Something in this place stirred my powers to life. The feeling was strange—it had been months since I last felt that energizing prick. “What is this place?”

  “The king’s personal hunting grounds.” Astra pulled the bow and arrow from her back as she began to trudge through the foliage. “Are you coming?”

  With a hesitant start, I followed her into the large oasis. My boots left prints in the soft ground, save where smooth stone laid exposed. Despite the flicker of flame underneath my skin, I still didn’t feel at ease. I had a bad feeling about this trip when she first invited me, but now that I was here, bells were going off in my mind. Something wasn’t right.

  Why had she brought me to this distant, remote area?

  “Yes.” My eyes swept across the cracked cave, checking for any oddities.

  “Don’t be so scared,” she said as she strolled beside the running creek. “The grotto is harmless as long as you don’t have an angry boar after you.”

  “It looks rather pristine and void of life, save the plants.” The grip around my glaive tightened. “Why are there no settlements around here? There’s fresh water.” The only other source of fresh water that I knew about in this land was beneath the mountain upon which Essony sat.

  “They’re not allowed. This place has remained untouched ever since Essony was born, save for the hunts.”

  So, the king forbade the people from entering the grotto and, in turn, the ruling house maintained control of the city’s only water supply. “That seems rather advantageous.”

  She shot me a narrow-eyed glance.

  I decided to change the subject. “So, what are we really doing here?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Why me? Does the Keep not have any hunters? Why choose a sister and a… what is your title?”

  “I’m beneath the Keep steward.”

  She was being vague on purpose. “Why did the king’s chef choose a sister and steward’s attendant?”

  Astra hadn’t given me a reason to doubt her intentions, but this excursion was too abnormal for me to ignore. She had led me out of Essony and far away from civilization.

  The crunch of her feet thundered in the cave. “It is not the king’s chef who sends you. It’s the steward.” Her eyebrows lifted. “You don’t know how a royal household functions, do you? That makes things rather interesting.”

  Astra sank in her stance and motioned for me to do the same. Worry consumed her face in a flash. Something had spooked her. My knees bent and fingers met the pale ground. I scoured the land. Every shiver of a bush or call of a bird was magnified.

  “Did you hear that?” Astra whispered.

  I shook my head.

  All I heard was the whistle of the wind as it slipped through the open cave. The soft pump of blood beat with a thump inside my ears, and the air being pulled in and out of my lungs sounded in long, cool draws. Sweat began to peek out from my forehead. The ever-present tingle within my flesh crept to the surface, heating the skin.

  I didn’t know what monsters roamed these foreign lands, and Astra’s reaction only intensified my feelings. What kind of animal was here that would make this woman drop and hide? She had said all we had to fear were the boar we were hunting.

  “What is it?” My voice was barely a flutter.

  Astra pressed her finger to her lips.

  The shuffling of terrain followed by a deep snorting howl slithered into my ears. My eyes grew wide, and I turned to Astra.

  The steward’s pet simply nodded. She had heard it too.

  The animal released another booming snort, and the trudge of its feet stomped closer.

  Astra turned to look at me. Her face was set with determination. She raised her hand with five outstretched fingers. Without any explanation, she lowered them one by one, counting down to something. But what? Were we going to run? Were we going to charge?

  My grip slickened with sweat, and my heart thundered in my chest. A snapping burn radiated out of my chest, up my shoulders, and down to my arms to the very tips of my fingers.

  Astra’s hand closed into a fist. Her legs shot up straight and her fingers nocked an arrow. In a single breath, she tore the string back.

  I rose onto shaking limbs. My grasp tightened around the neck of my glaive. A white spark flicked out of the corner of my eye.

  Brush ripped around wildly as some massive beast tore through the creek. I glimpsed dark fur and heard a squealing roar as it charged toward us.

  Astra released an arrow, sending the point into the stampeding mass of chaos. Her fingers worked fluidly, slapping another arrow onto her bow and shooting.

  “Move!” Astra shouted just before the beast broke through the brush and onto us.

  I turned and my feet beat against the ground, full force. But I had seen the monster’s tremendous speed. I couldn’t outrun it.

  Even with my legs swinging in full motion, Astra reached over her shoulder with bow loaded and fired at our thundering pursuer. It sank into the black beast’s chest but didn’t take the animal down.

  Astra had two more arrows left. It wasn’t enough to halt the snorting creature. I had to act.

  My boots struck the ground and my body slid into a twisting stop. The tusked animal charged me with a furious cry. I had seconds to place the metal point of my glaive before impact. My precision had to be on target. Missing wasn’t an option.

  Seconds before the dark animal crashed into my spear, a surge of energy flew down my arms. It passed along the glaive like bright lightning lace before shooting out the end and striking the beast. A white-hot fire consumed the animal as my pole arm sank into its flesh. An ear-piercing cry shattered my ears, and the boar’s tremendous momentum forced the weapon’s neck out of my grip. As soon as I felt the insurmountable push, I released my grip. My hands would have been mangled otherwise. With a great jump, I lunged to the side.

  The creature’s head tossed back and forth in a flaming frenzy while its hooves pumped onward. One dark leg caught on a stone. Its hind end rose up and crashed forward. But it continued to fight through its blind rage, kicking up with ragged squeals. Its hoofed toes stomped the ground, and the monster sprinted forward like a fireball. With an abrupt tumble, its body flipped down a large crevice. Loose dirt and pebbles streamed down the edge in its wake. An unnerving crack scattered into the air as the carcass hit the hard ground below.

  My heart seized in my chest. I blinked, struggling to process the event and its consequences. There was no way Astra hadn’t witnessed everything that just transpired.

  “My dear Sister Derethe, you haven’t been very honest with us, have you?” Her voice cut with a sharp tone. “What other secrets are lingering behind that meek front?”

  XXVIII

  Motivations

  The sun spilled through the windows and fell over my entire frame. The rays were bright as ever, and the glowing orb hung high in the sky. I sat in the chair, quiet and still. My wrists were bound and connected with a black metal chain.

  At the door stood Brother Thalos. He was the tallest and thickest brother that served under Patriarch Menaries. Before he submitted to the Mont, he was a mercenary that traveled the dry planes. At least that was the rumor. He had yet to deny the tale, and the deep scar down his jaw was enough evidence for most. The skin along his face had begun to adopt a leathery texture, and his prominent forward was curtained with dark bushy eyebrows. His eyes stared straight ahead, not acknowledging me.

  If I could feel it again, if the fire would burn within my flesh once more, I could blast my way out of here and storm the Keep. Brother Thalos would be a singed carcass like that boar.

  But the flame wasn’t there. What element was in the grotto that boosted my powers? I shook my head. Maybe that wasn’t the right question. Maybe it wasn’t that something encouraged my powers in the grotto, but rather that an element here in Essony was inhibiting them.

  I leaned against my wooden chair
with a heavy sigh. Did any of this still matter? I knew I was waiting here for the patriarch, and then a short interrogation followed by a sentencing. Astra was an eyewitness. It didn’t matter what I said, because they’d believe her over me. My concern was no longer about denying what happened but trying to mitigate my punishment.

  Similar to my homeland, Essony wasn’t a place for powerful women. I could only hope that I’d walk away from this with my spirit still intact.

  If only I had acted sooner. I had spent four months in this forsaken land already and hadn’t even gotten close to the king. I was a coward. I should’ve been fearless and aggressive. Instead of waiting for the opportunity, I needed to make it—like Iver always seemed to do.

  He never waited for fate to drop fortune in his lap. He didn’t hang his hopes on luck.

  So why did I?

  A loud knock drew me away from my thoughts. Someone was coming. I checked in the polished metal to make sure my white scarf was well-positioned on my head and covered my hair. Brother Thalos stepped to the side and the large wooden door swung open. Brother Roneos entered first, leading the procession with his head bowed. Then, Astra appeared. She still wore her hunting leathers, and her quiver remained on her back. After her, three guards with tall spears and heavy leather armor proceeded inside with Patriarch Menaries behind them.

  One of the guards stepped aside, and his voice filled the room. “Vasil Audrios arpo Essony.”

  My eyes widened from hearing the words: King Audrios of Essony. A second later, my target strode in—the king. His hair spilled over his ears in dark, thick waves. A gleaming smile graced his strong jaw and spread a pair of wide lips.

  I rose to my feet and bowed my head. The weight of my chains pulled on my shoulders. But the pressure was overridden by the beat in my heart.

  “So, you are Derethe,” King Audrios said. His fingers slid across the surface of the patriarch’s examination table as he passed it. A chill crawled up my back. It had only been a few days since I last laid there, naked.

  Patriarch Menaries stood before the cushioned couch that faced me. His hands hid inside his long white sleeves, and his mouth remained closed. It was the first time I had ever seen him behave so submissively.

  The king’s feet stopped before the more decorated chair. It was fitted with gold suns, and a plush, pale blue pillow laid in the seat. The religious symbolic throne belonged to the patriarch no doubt, but King Audrios claimed it for himself. “Astra, would you mind sitting with us. We may need a translator.”

  “Yes, King Audrios,” Astra strode from her posted position beside Brother Roneos and Brother Thalos. She stood at the king’s side with her head bowed and arms resting at her side.

  The king leaned back in his chair, running his eyes along my frame for several long seconds before he spoke. “Please, sit.”

  I lowered myself into my chair, placing as little weight on the frame as possible. The dress confined my figure. I had been ordered to change into my religious garb upon our arrival. But after being in comfortable hunting gear, my assigned dress felt as though it were squeezing me. Sweat began to break across my lower back, as I waited to find out what this charade was about.

  “How have you enjoyed your time in the Mont so far?”

  The question made my chest tighten. I glanced at the patriarch, who sat thin-lipped with his eyebrows raised. My eyes returned to King Audrios. His arms folded. They were covered by a purple tunic that laid atop his boastful chest. Gemstone necklaces and jeweled fingers glittered under the sun’s bright light.

  “I have enjoyed it very much.” The words managed to make it off of my tongue.

  “Good.” He nodded. “Look at me.”

  My gaze lifted to meet two hazel eyes. He seemed so young. They had called him a new king in Rekkesov. He couldn’t have been more than twenty-five.

  “Is it true what my subject, Astra, says? Did light come out of your fingers and burn that boar?”

  So, she had told him everything, as I expected her to. “Yes.”

  “Where does this power come from?”

  “I do not know.”

  “Have you always had it?”

  “No.”

  “When did it first appear?”

  The boat from Sairasee to Varund. The light had slipped from my fingers like a raindrop off a leaf. “Almost a year ago.”

  Had it really been that long? The ever-present sun here had affected my sense of time. Farther north, we measured the passage of time with seasons, but here, there was only wet and dry. Arid and humid. I wanted to be out of here before the rains came.

  “And what did you do to birth it?”

  I shook my head. “Nothing. I left my country, traveling eastward.”

  “If I may,” Patriarch Menaries started. King Audrios extended an open hand, permitting him to continue. “Derethe came to us as a runaway. The Varundians captured her from the far west, enslaving her. They are cultural cousins of the Rekke. My point is, she has been through a lot of trauma. As it says in the sacred writ, ‘All those who suffer before Him, will be touched by his light.’ Maybe it is our Lord the Sun that has led her on this path and gifted her the fire of the sun.”

  It wasn’t fire that I had though. Kona possessed fire. I couldn’t. Each spade controlled her own unique element.

  King Audrios rubbed his fingers around his lips, thinking. “You see the Sun God in it because you are taught to see the sun in everything.” His head turned to Astra. “What do you know of Rekkesov and her people?”

  “Only what I remember from my early youth,” Astra answered.

  “Do they have magic-wielders such as this up there? Are they able to train individuals to possess powers that are beyond our imagination?”

  My hands nearly rung themselves out in my lap. I was about to be exposed. There’s no way Astra hadn’t heard of spades. They were so ingrained in the religion and culture of the Norrenders. They were consulted before and after battles. They blessed rulers and operated outside of laws. I didn’t doubt Ark Ulfur would have had Kona’s head for the way she spoke to him if she had been anyone else. They didn’t just possess elemental power, they also held a respected position within their realm that afforded them grand amounts of reverence and influence.

  Astra released a cool breath, shaking her head. “No, they do not have these types of people.”

  Shock burst inside my chest. She had just lied to the king and not once did she flinch or waver in tone or body language. The lie came so easily from her.

  The sisters had always said Astra wasn’t to be trusted. She was a woman, but she wasn’t on our side. She was on the men’s side. The phrase ‘as loyal as a dog’ followed her name whenever it left a mouth. Why was she turning on her master in order to save my life?

  “It’s the Lord,” Patriarch Menaries insisted. “This is his work. I can feel his presence inside of her.”

  And why was the patriarch in on it too? Astra had made it very apparent that she didn’t serve Patriarch Menaries and wanted no part in his ascension to greater power. She supported the Keep and the king. Had the pair come together to sway the king? What did they stand to win by keeping me alive?

  Patriarch Menaries’s motivations were a little more plain to me. Power. He thought he owned me. He believed it was he that pulled me out of the ditch and onto my feet. I was a tattered pup that he had found, cleaned, and brought back home. No doubt he planned to use me for personal gain once I had moved to the other side of the tier.

  Astra on the other hand was a conundrum. She knew more about the incident than Patriarch Menaries. She had witnessed my abilities and had at least heard about spades. She probably understood far better than I did about what I was capable of.

  But maybe she didn’t. Maybe she was ignorant of her mother’s culture. Maybe she was telling the truth, as far as she knew it, when she claimed magic-wielders didn’t exist in the north. It was the only explanation that made sense.

  King Audrios stared at me for an u
ncomfortable amount of time before he said, “Show me. I want to see your magic.”

  The patriarch’s face lit up. “I think that’s a splendid idea, King Audrios. Yes, let us have a small demonstration if you will, Sister Derethe.”

  My lips flattened into a thin line as anxiety clutched my stomach. How was I going to explain my way out of this one? “I can’t.” I shook my head. “There’s something about this place that extinguishes my magic.”

  The king’s chin drooped, and his eyes bore into me. It was exactly what he didn’t want to hear.

  “That is not surprising,” Patriarch Menaries said quickly.

  “I agree. We get a lot of your sort that comes through and claims to be able to cast spells and hexes, but as soon as I ask them to show me, they can’t. It’s because they are liars.” There was anger in the king’s voice.

  “King Audrios, I don’t believe that’s what’s happening here. Sister Derethe is not a beggar nor a vagabond. She is a sister here in the Mont, and daughter of our Lord the Sun. Astra witnessed her abilities. I think we can both agree Astra is one of the most trustworthy individuals in this city.” Menaries bit his lip. “No. What I think is happening here is something very simple and understandable. If the Lord has given her the power of the sun, it wouldn’t make sense for him to allow her to attack Essony—his own holy city, would it? The Lord protects his devout flock.”

  King Audrios sighed, sinking into his chair. Perhaps he wasn’t a fool. Perhaps he saw me for what I was. It was wise to question whether or not the Norrender had magic-wielders—you never know what snake your enemies will try to slip into your home. It was smart to ask for a demonstration—why believe someone can perform magic just on another’s word? But at each turn, his subjects derailed his thinking.

  “What do you suggest I do with her then?” King Audrios turned to Menaries. “If she’s really been blessed by the Sun, I can’t just kill her.”

  “You’re right. You can’t.” Menaries nodded. “If I were you, I would find a way to make this… this… sorceress useful to you. The Lord has blessed you by bringing her to your city. Take her and rein her in. Her abilities will make kingdoms crumble.”