by C. K. Rieke
The bottom floor to the palace was an open space the entire width of the pyramid. Hundreds of the elite walked freely within the bright, sun-filled room, only broken up by massive supports that were scattered every four yards or so. All eyes fell on them instantly, especially Veranor. Lilaci wondered what the elite thought of the queen allowing them to not only walk into her kingdom, but into her personal keep as well. She figured Lezeral would be met with at least some sort of contempt by them for such a blasphemous act. Maybe Lezeral doesn’t care at all for what these elites think of her.
Being escorted the entirety of the stay in the pyramid, the guards led them directly to a room that was two floors down from the queen’s throne room, and toward the western side of the palace.
“Wait here,” one of the guards said, with his dark eyes looking menacingly at Lilaci as he strolled back the way they’d come. There were another eight guards still with them, surrounding them.
“I don’t like this,” Burr whispered, scratching his beard.
“It will be fine,” she said, secretly fidgeting her hand in her pocket. “I trust the queen. She wouldn’t be planning a trap. This would be too foolish. She would have just killed us at the entrance to the city. She wouldn’t have gone all the way to invite us to the palace, just to strike us down here.”
“What if the gods are with her?” Burr added, his eye wide open.
“She’d be doing us a service then.” Lilaci winked, then looked down at Kera. “We’ve got the weapon they fear most right here with us. If Kera got one finger on Dânoz, he’d be—”
The lock on the dark, wooden door popped open from the inside just then, and with a long, bellowing creak, the door opened inward. The guard who’d gone off, now appeared on the inside with his dark eyes. “Enter.”
They made their way one by one into the room, Lilaci first, guiding Kera behind her by the hand. Fewn next, who was followed by Burr, then Veranor strode into the room, his face chiseled like a stone statue.
Before them was a throne that had a back of red satin six feet high in the windowless room of dark, clean stone lit by blue torchlight. A dozen guards were already in the room; waiting.
“No queen,” Burr whispered. “See, I told you—”
“Kneel,” the guard said to them in a voice that echoed within in the room. The group all looked to Lilaci and Kera, which Kera approved by nodding to them. They all dropped to a knee, Burr was the last to do so. Lilaci heard a door opening from behind the wall, behind the throne. It wasn’t a loud creaking, but it was loud enough for an assassin’s ears to pick up.
From behind a fake wall to the left, Queen Lezeral walked out, gave Kera a solid look in the eyes, and went over to her throne, sitting elegantly in her long, flowing white dress. She pulled her silky-brown hair out from behind her and let it fall over her right shoulder. “Arise,” she said in a voice that sounded much more like a ruler than the last time Lilaci had heard her speak. Her tone was firm and commanding with no wavering to be heard.
They stood, looking into the queen’s eyes which now looked vibrant.
“Welcome to my kingdom, Dragon’s Breath,” she said, crossing her legs under her dress.
Kera bowed her head. “Thank you for letting us into your walls, I didn’t imagine such a welcome would exist to me, for a long time.”
“You’ve noticed the Ring of Blue Light in this room?” The queen motioned to the hanging torches on the wall, evenly divided between each of the guards. “What we say in this room will be hidden, but the Five know you’re here. We cannot hide that, so let us make this brief... Leave us, guards, all but Erich, you will stay at my side.”
“My queen,” the knight at her side said, with his black hair creeping out from his silver helmet. “This is most dangerous.”
“Leave us,” she said, her voice confident and resonant.
The guards that stood between the torches all left with the sounds of armor clanking and hard-soled boots rustling against the stone floor. The heavy, oak door closed behind them with a hollow thud that echoed within the chamber.
To Lilaci’s side, she could feel Gogenanth’s feet shuffling on the floor.
“Gogenanth,” the queen said. “One of Voru’s long-lost sons has returned home. I welcome you. I hear from my followers you have had a long, and troubled, journey. You may rest your head within my walls once again if you wish.”
He bit his lip, as if trying to decide what his next words would be, his eyes glaring down at the floor between them. Fewn noticed and nudged him with her shoulder. He then looked up at the queen.
“I’ve always blamed Commander Veranor for the loss of my family and being torn from Lilaci as a young man. Now seeing you, I realize you are just as much to blame for their deaths, and my loss.”
Erich at the queen’s side drew his sword and spat, “How dare you speak to the queen with your spiteful tongue. I’d cut it from your miserable—” The queen cut him short with her hand raised before him.
“Erich,” she said, lowering her hand back to her lap. “This strong man standing before me now, I hardly recognized as the boy I watched in Sorock. But now I see the boy’s spirit in you. I feel for your losses. I truly do, we’ve all lost in these lands. But do not be mistaken, you are speaking to a queen now, and you will think carefully before you accuse me of anything.”
Fewn rested her hand on Gogenanth’s forearm, trying to calm him. His gaze dropped again to the floor.
“Queen Lezeral,” Kera said, brushing her hair back behind her ear. “You’ve allowed us within your city, and I thank you for that. Now you wish to speak with us away from the ears of the Five Gods. What do you wish to say?”
“There’s much to discuss, Dragon’s Breath,” the queen said after a moment of thought. She ran her fingers through her shining brown hair rolling down her chest. “And we should get straight to the meat of it. Lilaci?”
Lilaci looked up at the queen as she rubbed her fingers together. “Yes?”
The queen’s foot bobbed up and down from under her long dress. “I thank you for finding Kera out on the sands... And protecting her.”
The group seemed to be in a state of awe then, especially from Veranor, whose lips separated.
“You what?” Kera asked with an eyebrow lifted.
“While you were away, and after you did away with the Witch Queen, I met with the other rulers of the Great Oasi, and we had a meeting—just like this one—where we decided to take the side of the Dragon’s Breath against the gods.” Her eyes glared heavily at Lilaci. “Do you know the risk of that decision for us?”
Lilaci nodded.
Burr scoffed. “Lies.”
“Guards,” the queen shouted, and the battalion of guards flooded the room. “Take this man from my castle. He can wait outside.”
Burr went to take a defensive stance and to pull his sword, but Veranor cupped the top of his hand, and shook his head. “You’ll die before you draw your sword,” the commander said. Lilaci saw that all the guards had their weapons fully fixed on the Knight of the Whiteblade.
“Burr, just go outside and wait for us,” Kera said.
He sighed, and the metal of his sword slunk back into the leather scabbard. He gave a wicked glare with his one eye up at the queen, and then was escorted from the chamber. All of the guards except Erich left behind him.
“Some wounds take longer than others to heal,” Fewn said, shrugging.
Lilaci crossed her arms. “King Garrond and King Borr agreed to help us?” The queen nodded, her face void of expression. “Why?”
“We have our reasons,” the queen responded. “Not the least of which was freedom from the god’s tyranny.” She leaned forward in her throne, her hair dropping to her knees. “You’re not the only ones who saw their wrath. I lost my husband.”
“I beg your pardon,” Veranor interjected, his voice strong. “You’re not the type to go to all-out war with the gods, just for revenge. There must be another reason.”
The
queen sat back in long contemplation, looking up at the ceiling. “There is one thing. We will aid you in your quest to fight the gods. And know that will be a path riddled with pain and death. The gods have left the cities and gone back to Firen-ar for protection. But they will unleash a storm unlike anything these lands have seen in centuries, know that!”
“What is the one thing?” Kera asked.
“In exchange for our aid,” the queen said, her eyes sparkling in the blue firelight. “You will give us the stones...”
Kera’s hands lifted to feel the Stones of Geminos hanging from the necklace under her shirt.
Lilaci saw her do this. She nodded to the queen. “Once our war is won, you can have the Stones of Geminos.”
Lezeral scoffed with a wave of her hand. “Not those. The red stones.”
“Red stones?” Lilaci asked, her brow furrowed.
“Did you...” Lezeral leaned forward once again. “Find a red stone when Gorlen passed?”
Lilaci and Kera looked at each other with confused expressions, then they looked at Fewn and Gogenanth who looked bewildered. Veranor held no expression. The queen’s eyes shot to him with a burning curiosity.
“Veranor?” she asked.
“No,” he said. “I saw no red stone where the Witch Queen lies.”
She scanned him. “If you are lying to me...”
“I swear I saw no such thing,” he said. “What does it look like? Why do you want it so?”
She glared at him a few seconds more, then sat back, brushing her hair back behind her. “The stone is small, it would fit in the palm of your hand easily, no bigger than the thorax of a desert scarab. It would be a well-cut stone with many sides, and it would shimmer like a diamond—a red diamond. As for what I want it... That’s not part of this discussion. The help of the cities of the Arr in exchange for any of the red stones you find on your journey. That is the deal. There will be no barter. What say you?”
“How long do we have to decide?” Kera asked.
“Let’s say,” she said, caressing her chin. “Sundown on the next day. You only need to place a colored banner where you are. White for yes, any other color for no.”
“What if we refuse?” Gogenanth asked, his strong hands hanging heavily at his sides.
“I hope you make the right decision. But know this. If you refuse, you will have that night, and that night only to leave my city to return to the desert where our armies will head the call of the gods. We will be enemies, if that is your decision.”
“White for yes, color for no,” Kera said. “We understand. You will have your decision then.”
“You may leave,” the queen said, letting her hands fall onto the armrests of the throne. They turned to leave. “Commander, you stay another moment, alone.”
Lilaci looked at him, who looked vaguely worried with his eyes slightly opened wide in surprise. He turned and faced the queen. He stood in place.
Lilaci didn’t want to leave him alone to speak with the queen. She wanted to know what they were going to discuss. She didn’t feel good letting them have a discussion in private. And as the oak door closed with its thud behind her, she couldn’t help but think of what the Garen Pixie told her back on the sands, ‘All is not as it appears. There are some that appear to walk in the light of the sun yet prefer the shadow. While there are those that are stuck in the darkness but will someday walk under the sun’s warm rays. All things are not as they seem. Through time, you will see. Keep your eyes open, and your heart guarded. You will see.’
Someone is going to betray me.
Part II
The Queen and the Beast
Chapter Seven
As they left the front entrance to the palace, a gust of unsettling wind shot in from the northeast. Lilaci had to hold her hood back from covering her face as her long black and gray hairs rushed out from under the hood. Kera clasped onto Lilaci’s pant leg.
Burr, who’d been sitting cross-legged a dozen yards outside of the palace next to one of the many fountains of crisp, clear water stood. He looked eager for a response as he walked over, leaning toward them with his palms out. Another wind rushed in.
Veranor looked up to the sky in that direction but said nothing.
“What did she say?” Burr asked, holding his hood up from being swept back off his gray hair.
“She wants to make a deal with us,” Lilaci said, scratching her cheek.
“Did you make it?” Burr asked. “I hope not, the Knights of the Whiteblade are the only army we need. They will fight to the bitter end for our chance for redemption!”
“It’s not that simple,” Lilaci said.
“One army may not be enough,” Kera said, brushing her hair back from in front of her silver eyes. “If we don’t make the pact, then even with the Knights of the Whiteblade at our back, we would still have to go through the armies of the three cities. Not only would we be vastly outnumbered, but this war would take months, to get past them to the Barrakka Sea, and then we’d still have to cross that to get to Arralyn. She told us the gods have retreated to their stronghold. If we accept her invitation, we would possibly find safe passage all of the way to the sea.”
He grunted in his low voice, “I don’t like it.”
“That’s not all,” Fewn said. “You haven’t asked what she wants in return yet.”
“Well... what is it?” Burr asked.
“We don’t really know,” Kera said. “She was vague, but said it was a red stone. That’s all she wanted. We don’t know what it is, or why it’s so valuable.”
There was a pause for a brief few seconds, and then Lilaci noticed Gogenanth fidgeting with his feet in the sand, and he took a deep breath. “Gogenanth?” she asked.
“I know what the stone is... and why it's so valuable to her.” He rubbed his brow. “That stone is probably the most valuable thing in all these lands.”
“Well, what is it?” Fewn asked impatiently with her hands out.
Lilaci leaned in, and she noticed Veranor’s ears were perked up.
Gogenanth looked around at the soldiers behind them, and at the people that brushed by, walking in and out of the castle. “Perhaps we should find a place with fewer eyes and ears.”
They walked back down the long market road toward where they’d rested earlier in the day—their little pocket of Voru. That was also where Ezmerelda would know to join them, although if she needed to find them, she could just follow the sounds of fighting and yelling on the roads with the mere presence of the visitors. Making their way to the tail of Horiim Borstrait they curved around a couple of corners, and few more roads and they found their way into the secluded alley. None sat though.
“So?” Fewn asked, “You going to leave us in suspense like that and stand there silent like that? What is the stone?”
Gogenanth looked around, and up at the high walls on the three sides of them. Veranor did the same. Then Gogenanth leaned in. He whispered, “The red stones where I come from are called the Adÿthyst stones. One of my friends found one deep in a cavern called the Black Cave years ago. He was almost killed many times for it. They are the rarest of stones. More valuable than you could possibly imagine.”
“You mean there are more than one?” Kera asked, with her eyes wide.
Gogenanth nodded. “In my lands yes, and I’m guessing here as well.”
“I can imagine a lot,” Fewn said, scratching her brow. “So, they are valuable because they are rare?”
“Fewn,” Lilaci interjected. “Let him speak.”
“I’ve never heard of these stones,” Veranor said, rubbing his chin. “There’s nothing written about them. I find that unsettling to be honest.”
“Probably because your gods didn’t want any to know of them, and their power.” Gogenanth rubbed his head, almost as if nervous.
“Power?” Kera asked, wide-eyed.
“The stones...” he said, leaning in further, and Lilaci found herself doing the same until they were all huddled together in
anticipation of the revelation. Gogenanth stood back then suddenly, he looked nervous again. “This information may be for Kera to decide if it should be shared or not.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Fewn said, stomping her boot into the dirt.
Kera looked up at the tall man with broad shoulders, and she nodded. He urged her to leave the alley with him so that he may whisper it into her ear. “I want Lilaci to come too,” she said.
Burr grunted and went and put his back to one of the stone walls in the alley, crossing his arms. Fewn sat cross-legged where she’d been standing. Veranor watched the three of them walk back down the alley and disappear around the corner.
Lilaci peered around the road they were on, with a dozen commuters and a woman and a small boy hanging linens to dry from a short line of twine that hung across their awning of clay. She walked down the stretch of road, and eying another break to the right she walked over and peered in—another alley. She motioned for them to follow, and they were quickly in another huddle.
“What power does the stone possess?” Kera asked. “What power could such a stone wield that the kings and queens of the Arr would be willing to go to war with the gods themselves?”
Gogenanth’s green eyes widened. “The stone has the power to turn ordinary mortals into gods and giving them the power of the gods. Not the least of them is immortality!”
“Good God!” Lilaci leaned back, realizing her voice had raised, then put her hand over her mouth.