The Wildest Woods

by S. K Munt

  It was clear that everybody was waiting for me to walk into the tunnel, but there was something auspicious about that moment that begged me to pause, so I turned to look behind me and back at the way we had come- and gasped when I realised that were it not for the thick blanket of mist rolling across the sky beneath me, I was now high enough to see all the way to Arcadia in one direction, and the ocean in another.

  ‘Oh my goodness!’ I pulled on my braid as I stepped forward a few more feet, straining to get a better look at the sheet of grey in the far, far distance to my right that I knew to be The Pacific Ocean. I had thought that we had gone northeast, but we’d stayed closer to the coast than that, and I longed for a map so that I could track our course and get my bearings. I’d seen so many maps, of the world and the old, and the mind boggled when I tried to place us now.

  How far have we travelled? Thirty kilometres? More? Amazing! That explains why even my eyelids are aching!

  A sudden wind swirled around me then and although it made me shudder violently, it did not detract from the intensity of that moment for me. In fact, it rather enhanced it. Though the rocky plateau that we were standing on was almost half as wide as the castle in Eden was, I was only able to discern that by judging the distance of the tops of the trees on the mountain’s periphery, because everything that was lower than me was cloaked by a fog that was growing denser as the sky darkened. It was eerie but beautiful, and a lot like how I’d always imagined Heaven would be, only grey instead of golden.

  ‘I feel like I’m walking on the clouds,’ I said as I crept forward, standing as close to the edge of that platform as I dared too and peering down at the fog-covered forest beneath me. ‘Bastien… where are we?’

  ‘At the beginning, I hope…’ Bastien said softly as he came to stand at my side, but before he could elaborate on that, he blinked and began to pat around his pockets. ‘Oh, Larkin I’m so sorry! I have some jerky for you that I was supposed to give you earlier that I completely forgot about until now. Forgive me, please, y-you must be famished-’ but something snarled then, cutting him off, and I almost jumped out of my skin when a blur of grey and white fur came charging from us from a grove of veiled trees to our right.

  ‘Wolf!’ someone screamed as Bastien yanked me back away from the edge of the sloped cliff and out of its path, and my heart leapt into my throat as I began to fall onto my backside and to the hard, gritty ground beneath it heavily enough for the air to be knocked out of my lungs before I could even scream.

  2.

  Eden Palace, City of Arcadia

  Karol Barachiel

  It took an eternity for the assembled leaders to settle down, but much less than that for me to lose my patience with them. There was a gong in the corner of my father’s meeting room, an ancient relic from the time before that had come from China. My father had never had to use it, but I was not the established king and so the men were not paying me the level of respect that my father had received from them, and so I did not hesitate to march over to it, pick up the hammer and strike the disc hard, killing the conversation and my ears with it and causing several of the men to flinch. My palms were sweating from my duress and I could see that the hammer’s handle now had an imprint on my palm on its black lacquered surface, displaying how insecure I felt, but I tossed it dismissively to the floor and then fixed them all with a look of reproach before they could look at it, ordering myself to look as fierce as I had been feeling when I’d called this meeting an hour beforehand.

  You’re a king, and this is your first and only chance to make a royally good impression! I felt that sweat from my palms prickle under my armpits when I met Elbert Yael’s eyes and saw derision there. Remember who you are and where you have come from, because there is nothing that these people would like better than to help everyone forget it so that they can stake a claim on what is yours!

  ‘I do not want to have to do that again, and I am exhausted after a long hard day of damage control and eager to go to bed, so let’s keep this discussion focused, all right?’ I strode down the length of the room and towards my father’s seat at the head of the table as I spoke, praying that my legs would stay strong enough to hold me up despite the wave of doubt that I could feel rolling across the room towards me from the people that had assembled together in order to judge me. I’d been groomed to be a king yes, and this was hardly the first meeting of minds that I’d been an active participant in… but it was the first time that every world leader had been present for one, and the first time I was expected to lead the conversation in my father’s absence. And only hours after he had… after Larkin had…

  My heart seized up painfully. Oh God, father… how could you have abandoned me now, in my very first hour of need? When there’s nothing I’d like to see more, than a nod of encouragement from you?

  I knew that I had most of what it took to rule, but my father had always warned me that my natural desire to win people over was my Achilles that would make them think me easily manipulated and weak. I knew that he’d probably been right and that I should take his advice and act like a heavy-handed monarch with the other leaders… but I was saddened by the idea that they might suddenly stop liking me after years of them looking forward to my reign because of my famous charm.

  They’ll wish for a swift end to your reign if they think you’re a marshmallow too though, so man up, Barachiel! God left the world in your bloodline’s care- remind them why, and quickly! Kings are not made until their fathers have passed, so stop feeling sorry for yourself, and understand that there’s no one for you to turn to, because you are the one that they all must turn to now!

  ‘This has been the blackest day in modern history, not just for Arcadia, but for Calliel, and every kingdom that belongs to the sovereign,’ I began, ‘there is much we’d like to say and accuse one another of- many fears we’d like to voice, and much blame, I’m sure, to lay upon one another…’ I sighed, seeing Yael’s eyes narrow at me, ‘mainly at me, I know... But before any of that happens, I must establish a fact: God’s people have been attacked this day- all of us- and we must not help a fallen angel in her quest to ruin this holy kingdom, by attacking one another in her stead.’

  ‘So has it been confirmed that Larkin of Eden truly is a dark Nephilim?’ Hamlet McPhee asked, looking doubtful. ‘I’ve heard it said that her wings were merely a prop, and that The Banished staged this entire attack to make her look more powerful than she is.’

  It was hard not to roll my eyes. I’d spent the entire day trying to put out fires, getting my brothers under control, insuring that everybody that had been in the castle was interrogated concerning any possible crimes that they’d witnessed before leaving AND making arrangements for my parents’ burials... and of course while I’d been doing all of that without pausing to rest, the other world leaders had been holed up in their lavish guest quarters under my roof, exchanging gossip for speculation at my family’s expense and complaining about the fact that I’d yet to make a public or private address yet that would prove their gossip wrong. Unbelievable!

  Still, it was better they believe idle gossip than discover the truth in its entirety...

  ‘Though I wish that were the case, I must insist that her wings were authentic, and that the fire that came out of her hands was real enough to give me third degree burns.’ I glanced out the rear window, seeing the smoke that was still rising from within the ashes of the harem. We had put the fire out by dawn, but we had not saved it and twelve hours later, the ruins were still smouldering. ‘She’s a Nephilim all right, and her soul is blacker than even I had ever imagined a soul could be.’ I slid into my father’s seat and my heart twisted to know that soon the cushion beneath me would change to fit my backside instead of his, and that by sitting in his chair, I was acknowledging the fact that he would never sit in it again.

  Breathe! I commanded myself, feeling my lungs constrict with grief and making sure that I did not look my poor uncle’s way. You are a king, and Kings do not break do
wn over their fallen fathers in front of other kings!

  ‘Because she didn’t want to marry you?’ President Camden of Rabia asked sharply, and I cringed inwardly when I saw the flash of anger in his eyes. ‘Or because she didn’t want to go from being one prince’s paid whore, to another’s unpaid one?’

  There was muted laughter and I tensed up, wanting to lash out at him but knowing that I had no right. He’d expected me to marry his daughter for weeks and instead I’d begged them all to help me marry a prostitute at the last minute by bending the rules- a prostitute that had come close to crippling our nation by trying to wipe out the line of succession from the bottom up. Of course Connor Camden despised me now, and I suspected the only reason why he hadn’t already left our country with his nose in the air was because Ora had probably begged him to stay long enough to hear me out. That, and because despite his anger, I knew that he was actually a kind, level-headed man, unlike Yael, who was probably thrilled with the way that the evening had unfolded and delighted in how I had helped it come to pass in such a horrid fashion, by daring to want to marry an evil whore.

  ‘Please, show some respect,’ Atticus Hartley said quietly from his position beside me. ‘Do not forget that this is our new king’s birthday and that he has been orphaned on it. I understand that we’re all on edge, but there is no need to hurl stones at a man that has already fallen from a tower.’

  ‘Your survival was certainly a miracle,’ Shepherd Choir said softly, reaching over to squeeze my hand before he looked at the others, ‘to belittle him now is to belittle someone that has been spared by god for what ultimately must be some great purpose.’

  ‘Thank you, Prime Minister Hartley, and you Shepherd Choir, for your kind words,’ I said somewhat gruffly as I took my hand from the Shep’s so I could wipe my sweaty palms on my pants under the table. ‘But my parents died before midnight last night, so my birthday will not be regarded as the anniversary of their passing, even if this entire weekend does seem like one long, endless day to us right now, all right?’ I cleared my throat as they nodded sombrely. I didn’t want to seem ungrateful for their help and I was glad that they both still seemed to be on my side, but I didn’t want either of them throwing a pity party for me, because that would only make me look weaker to the others and I couldn’t have that- nor did I want Larkin’s actions to render the day of my birth a day of mourning forevermore. I wouldn’t give the twisted bitch the satisfaction!

  I turned in my seat. ‘In response to your question, President Camden, Larkin of Eden did not get the chance to turn down my proposal because I never got the chance to offer her my hand in the first place,’ I paused, allowing the men a moment to digest that. My life was already shitty enough without people finding out that I’d been rebuffed by a whore too! ‘Perhaps the evening would have gone better if I had- I’ll never know for sure, but she broke into my chamber in a state of flux, looking for her contract, and I was lucky to get two words in before she thoughtlessly announced that my father was dead, she was leaving, I was the new king and that if I wanted to live long enough to have a reign, then I had to step aside and let her by.’ I cleared my throat, feeling my blood heat as I remembered that moment, and how dark and uncaring Larkin’s eyes had been when she’d told me about my father. Perhaps it was dishonest for me to omit the fact that I’d kissed her and had been thus spurned in my retelling, but as far as I was concerned, that had little to nothing to do with the point: that Larkin was unstable, dark, and a danger to us all.

  Even if her lips had felt like a symphony of perfection against mine. Even if I’d never felt more complete then when she’d kissed me back, melting against me like…

  ENOUGH! This isn’t infatuation, it’s demonic possession!

  I snapped out of it, scratching at my lower lip to scratch away the memory of hers parting against it. It had been a kiss of death granted by an evil temptress and nothing more, and I had to keep that in the forefront of my mind every time the urge to replay the memory reared its ugly head. ‘After that I was in such a state of shock and horror that I could barely speak, but she rambled on like a psychopath. She accused my brothers and parents of doing terrible things and tried to absolve herself of all blame for the terrible things that had happened to others, and when I tried to grab her and hold her still- to get to the bottom of the ghastly story that she was telling me- she screamed, set me on fire and then I was falling out of the window-’

  ‘What did she accuse your brothers of, and what proof have you that they are innocent of her claims?’ Elliot Bronx of Janiel demanded, and I shot him a dark look but answered his question with an even tone:

  ‘She accused them of attempting to rape her, your grace,’ I said quickly, ‘she also accused them of murdering our mother, but mother’s body was found under a collapsed pole-’ my voice caught and to my relief, everyone drew back respectfully, averting their eyes from mine as though giving me a moment of privacy that I did not deserve because the truth was that my mother wasn’t dead- she was in a coma and chained up in the basement, and I had no proof to say that she belonged there except for Kohl’s word: something I had been doubting the integrity of all day but clinging blindly to for lack of a second opinion. These people could not know that my mother was still alive but suspected of being a black Nephilim and they could never find out, especially not my uncle Ewan who I had always suspected was in love with her, and who I also suspected might lose his damned mind if he learned that we were locking her away like a rabid animal.

  So as much as I detested lying to anyone, I had to keep up the charade of being grief-stricken over her ‘passing’ until I knew whether or not she truly did deserve to die- and if I could be the one to order her death for the sake of the nation. Terrified that I would choke on my guilt and uncertainty, I cleared my throat and tried again:

  ‘That kind of death does not correlate with either of my brothers’ powers, does it? Only Larkin’s. She almost burned Kohl and Kohén to death, and there are enough eye-witnesses to attest to the fact that their worst injuries were indeed inflicted by fire, so I think it’s safe to assume that she accidentally killed my mother when she started burning that harem to the ground, but was blaming the twins for it in her hysteria because her flames resulted as a result of her fear and paranoia towards them. Maybe in her eyes, they got their mother killed by scaring her and triggering her fiery reflexes-’

  ‘And how did they scare her?’ Atticus asked. ‘What happened to set her off in the first place, do you know?’

  ‘My father wanted her branded, apparently,’ I said dully, trying to hide the fact that I hated this part of the story as much as Larkin evidently had, and knowing that the next part was going to be tricky to tell without revealing the fact that my mother was supposed to be a dark Nephilim too- a fact that would surely see me lose the throne that I had dedicated almost every second of my life to preserving thus far. ‘As Kohén’s favourite, in gold, to prevent either Kohl or I from trying to steal her away. My mother tried to stop Kohén and he pushed her out of the way so she wouldn’t get burned by accident, and that caused Larkin to fly into a rage- accusing him of attacking his own mother. Kohén was eventually successful in branding her, but Larkin spontaneously combusted and attacked the twins in response, revealing her true self to them for the first time. Kohl tried to put her flames out with his water and that was when she turned her fire onto the chandelier in the ceiling, dropping it on one prince and leaving the other to get him free while she fled. Whatever concerns she must have had for my mother’s well-being up until that point must have been forgotten in her rage because she left her there to die-’

  ‘And your father? Is it true that he was killed with a sword?’ Emmanuel Gutierrez asked quickly, and I was flabbergasted by how unmoved these men were by this awful story that would creep along behind me like a penumbra for the rest of my life, and of how callously they were butting in to pick holes in it. ‘And if so, do you have any proof that this Larkin creature committed that unspe
akable act as well?’

  ‘Yes, it seems strange to me that someone who can apparently breathe fire would resort to using such a generic weapon while in such a hysterical rage…’ King Lachlan Gabriel of New Rome said in his thick accent, earning himself a round of nodding from the majority of the other men at the table. I shivered with offence, but I tried to look as unaffected and objective as possible.

  ‘I can understand why you would think that but please don’t forget that Nephilim- even fire-breathing ones- can be exhausted quickly,’ I said as coolly as possible. ‘Amelia-Rose Choir swears that Larkin struck her and took the sword, causing her to run from the location in fear, but not before she saw Larkin launch herself at my father. Amelia-Rose also said that the murderer got herself covered in my father’s…’ my voice started to go again but I swallowed hard and sat up straighter. ‘Excuse me. What I was trying to say is that Larkin’s dress did indeed, have blood splattered all over it by the time my path crossed hers. Perhaps there’s an explanation for that too despite the fact that no one else was stabbed around her before she came to my room…’ I gave them a moment to ponder that glaring fact, ‘but I’m sure that once we fingerprint the sword, we will have concrete evidence that Larkin was the one wielding it.’

  ‘I’ll feel better when you have concrete evidence,’ Connor Camden said quickly. ‘I mean no disrespect, your highness, but it cannot have escaped your notice that this palace of yours has been rife with speculation regarding your twin brothers’ joint obsessions over that girl this week, and worried about what affect it would have on her psyche. Half of us, including my daughter, were already somewhat convinced that Prince Kohén had forced himself upon Larkin Whittaker at least once this week and possibly countless times since he locked her away, so I refuse to believe that these claims that she made were completely unfounded until I see hard evidence to the contrary.’