World Devoted

by Emily Albert

  Remy opened his mouth to say something and immediately shut it, looking resigned. Lenna kicked him in the stomach. “Say it! Say what you were going to say! Coward!”

  “No…” He wheezed.

  She kicked him again, harder. “What! Say it!”

  There was a wicked, warm happiness filling Lenna’s body. Her mind buzzed blissfully, but not from her guardian. This was her own delight.

  Remy just coughed.

  Lenna leaned down so her face was inches from his. “What was that? I didn’t quite hear you!”

  There was a small noise in his throat, but otherwise he was silent. His eyes could have been sewn shut.

  Lenna grabbed his throat and thrust his head against the wall. His skin felt filthy and clammy. She would have been disgusted if she hadn’t been thinking about how strong she felt while squeezing his neck. His throat made more desperate noises.

  “What was that?” She screamed into his ear. She heard a few prisoners from the surrounding cells stir. “Do you want to say that so all your friends can hear? You wouldn’t want them to think you’re too weak to stand up to your sister.”

  Remy’s face started to turn blue and she let go of his throat, throwing his head against the stone wall. He gasped and opened his eyes a crack. She bent back down so they were face-to-face. “Do you feel like saying anything yet? Maybe something a little less pitiful?”

  He closed his eyes again and let out a long, shaky breath.

  “I see. Well, I’ll be back… I’ll let you think about that strong, empowering speech. Who knows, maybe it will do some good. Not that… you know, I’ll let you go… but this sad, tortured act… it’s… well, it’s sad.”

  “Isn’t this how you want me?” Remy managed to say shakily. “Weak?”

  “Of course. It’s nice to have you out of the way. I know I’ve defeated you. But whatever you have to say,” she said, putting her hand to her chest mockingly, “I will listen to. I need some form of entertainment, after all.”

  As Lenna walked down the cold, putrid hallway away from Remy’s cell, she heard her guardian say, That’s enough. You’ve had your closure. Still, she whistled.

  Lenna emerged from the dungeon with a wicked smile on her face. Turning the corner, she almost bumped into Ollivan. If she hadn’t been in such good spirits, she would have thought of starting a fight with him. Instead, she ignored him and kept walking until he stopped her.

  “Lenna… Visiting your brother?”

  “Oh, were you going to see Remy? I wouldn’t bother. He’s resting. Preparing a very moving speech, I’d expect.”

  Ollivan glanced back toward the dungeon, then his gaze fell to Lenna’s hands. She looked at them as if seeing them for the first time and noticed old bruises covered with fresh wounds and blood. She didn’t remember how that had happened, but she must have punched the wall or floor or Remy in her frenzy. “Oh, these… I was just going to clean them off. They’re a mess, aren’t they? It’ll be fine though, they’ll heal.”

  Ollivan stammered. “What did you do…”

  “Everything is all right. I just took care of some business. I feel much better now. There should be some ointment for my hands in the infirmary.”

  “Lenna...”

  Lenna smiled at him, nodded, and tried to leave but was stopped again.

  “I’m glad your mother isn’t here to see this,” Ollivan said quietly.

  She turned around for one moment, said, “Yes, she wouldn’t understand. It’s a good thing she’s dead,” and headed back on her way to the abandoned garden.

  The garden felt different. It still felt like her mother, but the comfort, happy memories, and mourning did not affect her. At the same time, the negative connotations that replaced them did not sting. She felt nothing for her family. “I see myself in you” only served to fuel her unfocused anger. She still had momentum from seeing Remy.

  Calm yourself, child. Move on. You wouldn’t want to humiliate yourself again.

  Lenna was dirty, her hands ached, and her feet hurt from walking all the way into the forest, but she was not tired. She had endless energy, all channeled into rage. She stared at the beautiful flowers and stone paths, whose beauty was lost on her.

  “How dare you choose him over me!” she snarled. “You were a failure of a mother. I’m glad you’re gone!” But she didn’t mean it; she didn’t care.

  You loved your mother once, remember? You came here to mourn her.

  It went against anything she expected her guardian to say, making it hard to cling onto.

  The whole forest seemed still, and her words flew into a void, just how they had with Remy. This only irritated her more.

  “Hey! I know you’re out there!”

  Silence.

  Lenna ran into the garden screaming. “Good! I don’t want to hear you anyway! You don’t deserve to have a voice!”

  She started to tear out all the flowers, even the established ones that were hard to remove. As she went, she cried out into the quiet trees. “How could you! He was no better than me! How could you love him more? I wish you had left earlier, just like my father!”

  There were countless flowers—vibrant reds, whites, and purples—all flying out of the ground, becoming litter instead of decoration. When they were all pulled out and the paths were covered with dirt and ripped-up petals, the garden looked as chaotic as Lenna felt.

  After a final kick at the dirt, she exhausted herself. She sat in the midst of the mayhem, breathing hard. “I’m going to have all the power, and you, Remy, and my father will always be nothing!” she screamed so loudly that the sound must have traveled outside the forest.

  She relaxed into her love for her guardian, wanting it to understand that her anger made her feel powerful. She tried to summon its approval, and it did not give it to her. It only said, This is not the power you want. You are impulsive, and it is leading you down a dangerous road. This is what destroyed your father. You destroy a garden now, you destroy your brother, but next you could destroy your kingdom. You have humiliated yourself and disappointed me, just like I warned you not to.

  Her breath caught in her throat. All her satisfaction dissolved with the harsh voice. She wanted to bring her kind, comforting guardian back. “I’ll… I’ll do better.” She had to if she wanted her kingdom, for herself and her guardian.

  Twenty-Six

  It was time to focus on getting her power, on making herself and her guardian proud. To ensure that, she had to get Ollivan out of the way. She couldn’t yet be certain that he was not a threat, and she had to find that certainty. To understand what went through his mind, she needed more information about his past.

  Coira was the only one who had been willing to tell Lenna about her father, so it made sense for her to go back to her for more information. Though she dragged her feet at the thought of asking a commoner to help her with royal things she should already know, she knew she was the only one who would ever give her the full, unfiltered truth.

  Coira was predictable. She was in the exact same spot in town, spouting the exact same lines: “Get your fortune told here! I can tell you everythin’ you need to know about your future!” And to the occasional individual, “Come on… I can tell you have success in your future! Let me tell you about it!”

  “Can you tell me about the past instead?” Lenna asked as she walked up to her.

  Coira looked startled, like she might attack Lenna until she saw who it was. Her terrified expression was replaced with a comically huge smile. She called out into the street, “Shop is closin’ up for now, sorry! You can all come back tomorrow!” then muttered to Lenna, “They don’t know what they’re missin’…”

  “Oh, I think they know exactly what they’re missing.”

  Coira ignored her. “You’re a much more important customer anyway, your Majesty. Free of charge, of course. What can I help you with?”

  “You seemed to know a lot about my father.”

  She jumped up and down and her wide s
mile returned. “Ooh, ooh! I heard he came back! Was it a happy reunion?”

  Lenna scowled. “Not exactly. I’m glad to hear every detail doesn’t find its way out here.”

  Coira shrugged. “We hear enough. What happened?”

  “Don’t worry about it. I just need some more information on him. I need to know what it was like when he went mad. How he acted and how it happened, if anyone knows. And you told me about his father before. What was he like? And their relationship, things like that. I need to know what I’m up against.”

  Coira raised an eyebrow at her.

  “Don’t look at me like that. Just tell me what I asked.”

  “Sorry, Majesty. Those are pretty broad questions. You’re askin’ me to tell you the whole story of your father, but I only know what I’ve heard from people here in town. I’m not old enough to have seen it firsthand, though it may be hard to believe with my ancient wisdom and all.” Coira winked and Lenna rolled her eyes. “I was only alive for a few years of his reign. I don’t remember much. I told you pretty much all I know. I could tell you what I imagine happened…”

  “No, stop. You’re useless. I can’t believe I came all the way out here for nothing.” Lenna started to stomp back to her horse and guard.

  “Wait, wait, your Majesty! Please wait.”

  Lenna turned back around with a sigh. “What do you want?”

  “I might know someone who can help.”

  “Who?”

  “Livin’ like this, I’ve met all kinds of people. This man is older, and he would probably remember more. He was big on politics. But he might be hard to get to.”

  “Why? Where is he?”

  “Well, I think you’re just gonna have to trust me.”

  “I’ve been hearing that a lot lately. I don’t have any reason to trust you.”

  “You don’t have any reason not to,” she said, lifting her eyebrows.

  Lenna looked at her suspiciously and sighed. She was right. What could this sad, pathetic woman possibly do to her? Coira had no reason to hurt her. Somehow, she found herself trusting her more than anyone else. “At least tell me where we’re going before we leave.”

  Coira hesitated. “He’s in the asylum. I usually break in, but with you here we can walk right through the front door.”

  “What! Are you insane? I’m not going to associate with those people. They’re crazy!”

  “Hey, you said you needed the information. This is how you can get it.”

  Lenna glared at her for a long time before saying, “Fine. But you’re going in there for me. I’ll wait outside.”

  “I don’t think so. My memory hasn’t been so good.” She tapped her head. “You’ve gotta be there with me to ask the questions.”

  “Fine. As long as we can break in without getting caught.”

  “Yeah, I can get us in.”

  “Okay, let’s go then.”

  It wasn’t a long walk to the asylum. Although it was in a remote area, it was close to the slum where Coira camped out. It was huge—much larger than Lenna had expected. She had assumed there couldn’t be too many insane people in the kingdom, or she had hoped. But it seemed she didn’t know as much about the population of her people as she had thought.

  The stark stone building stood four stories high with barred windows and vines growing on the crumbling walls. Wrapping around it were tall walls of similar stone and wear. The perimeter was sprinkled with guards, mostly facing out. It seemed they were there more to keep people in than to keep them out.

  “Okay,” Coira said, sounding dramatically casual. “See that spot with no guards around? There’s always spots like that—the guards hired for this job aren’t too sharp. Anyway, we’re lucky ‘cause the wall right there is broken with lots of holes. Sometimes the open spot doesn’t have climbin’ holes and you gotta find a tree or something nearby to jump from. But we’ll be fine. I’ll lift you up and you’ll climb over, then I’ll go up after you.”

  “I can climb up by myself.”

  “I’ve been doin’ this for years to visit some of these people. It’s harder than it looks, especially for people so used to sittin’ and tellin’ people what to do… Sorry, Majesty… But I’m what you’d scrappy, so this is in my blood.”

  “Fine.”

  They walked nonchalantly along the line of trees next to the wall until they got to the open area. Coira put her hands out for Lenna to climb on, and with a sigh, she did. She got a few holes up when she heard a guard’s voice.

  “Hey! Get down from there, you scoundrel!”

  Lenna jumped down and turned toward him. Coira stepped back; she was the only one that could get punished here.

  He froze and turned red. “Your Highness… I’m so sorry… What business do you have with the asylum?”

  “This one escaped.” She pointed her thumb at Coira. “I’d bring her back to you the proper way, but… It’s personal. We have history. She tried to attack me. I want to escort her myself.”

  “Sure thing, your Highness. Why not the door? I can take you—”

  “No, we’re okay. Don’t worry about it.”

  His face twisted, obviously trying to figure out what was happening. “But—”

  Lenna saw Coira twitch. Her clear blue eyes were deranged, fixed on the guard. Lenna was surprised her mouth wasn’t foaming. Coira laughed ghoulishly, slowly at first, then wildly. “Do you want me to get at him, too, your Highness? Would that make up for what I did to you?” She laughed again.

  “Your-your Highness… we can take her, no problem. W-wouldn’t want you getting hurt.”

  “I already told you, this one is mine to take back!”

  “Your Highness, I really—”

  Coira barked once and advanced toward the guard, laughing. Lenna pulled her back by the arm.

  “See, if we bicker about this for much longer, she will likely kill you. So we’re just going to go…” She pointed toward the wall.

  “Okay, okay. Whatever you say, Highness.”

  “And don’t tell anyone that I was here, or I swear you’ll regret it.”

  The same confused, thinking look covered his face, but he backed away with his hands up, then went back to his post.

  Coira hoisted Lenna over the wall and she followed. On the inside of the wall was dried grass and ugly stone paths leading from door to door. There were scraps of metal and wood littering the ground. It didn’t appear to be a courtyard as much as a run-down place for the guards to dawdle and talk.

  Coira must have seen disgust on Lenna’s face and said, “What’d you expect? Pretty gardens and the inmates strollin’ around with smiles on their faces?

  “No, I expected something this repulsive. It’s just different when you see it. It’s fitting.”

  Coira sighed. “Wait ‘til you see the inside.”

  The two women crept along the fence line as distracted guards talked or ate or urinated in the corner. Coira led her to a back entrance that was unguarded except for one man lying on the stairs, asleep with his mouth open.

  “He’s always the one on lookout for the emergency exit. And he’s always asleep. It’s a sure bet,” Coira whispered.

  “How many times have you been back here?”

  Coira shrugged.

  As soon as they walked through the door, Lenna coughed and had to hold her nose. The stench of urine, sweat, vomit, and rust penetrated the air all the way from the cells that didn’t seem to be on the first floor. This floor was an extension of the outside area where staff loitered and pretended to work. They were oblivious as Lenna and Coira snuck through the halls. A third of them were asleep on benches, one third talked—Lenna heard snippets of stories about their irritating wives and disobedient children—and the other third hummed and picked at their nails. All the while, distinct wails and screams came from the upper floors.

  “Act natural,” Coira said quietly. “If you make any sudden movements, their brains might turn on and realize somethin’ is wrong. Might. I swear som
etimes I could run through this place and no one would see a thing.”

  Sure enough, they made it safely to the second floor where Coira’s source lived. There was only one guard on the whole floor, and he had cotton stuffed in his ears and was reading a book. Coira sauntered down to the end of the hallway through the ear-piercing screeches, only made worse by their presence. Some of them reached out through the bars to try to grab them, some rocked and covered their ears, and some lay motionless on the floor.

  “Careful. If you’re not crazy goin’ in here, this place could turn you.”

  Lenna stared stoically at the back of Coira’s head. Coira, on the other hand, nodded and smiled at every person. They responded with either manic smiles or vacant blinks.

  “Coira! Coira!” One woman shouted at her.

  Coira shushed her playfully and said, “I’m not here for you today, Miss Lisbet. I’m here for Joran. I’ll be back for you soon.” She touched her outstretched hand and kept walking.

  Joran. Lenna remembered that name. Where had she heard it before? Then she made the connection—Joran, the man with the amulets, in the asylum because she had sent him there. “Wait,” she said. “This is a bad idea. We need to leave.”

  “Are you kiddin’? Why? You haven’t even laid eyes on my friend Joran yet. He’s right down here. He looks old as dirt rottin’ away in here, but I think he’s about your father’s age. Maybe a little older, I’m not sure.”

  “No, let’s go.”

  “If you want your information, it’s right down the hall.” Coira gave her a puzzled look.

  Lenna took a breath and followed her. When they got to the cell, she crossed her arms and looked at the haggard, ancient-looking man with a long, scraggly beard. Lenna noticed he had carved the symbols of all the gods into the wall. But then, no—it was written in blood.

  “Hey, Joran,” Coira said. “You’ve got a special visitor. The Princess herself needs to talk to you.”

  Joran straightened as much as he could manage and stared at Lenna. “Oh, it is an honor, your Highness.” Then, as he looked at Lenna, realization settled on his face. “Oh, I’m—I—”