The Empty Crown

by Georgina Makalani

  ‘You don’t know me. I don’t even know how you could recognise me. Where are you from?’

  ‘Sheer Rock,’ she whispered.

  ‘Have you seen an image of me? A painting perhaps?’

  ‘No, but I know you.’

  ‘Are you a witch?’ The word was emphasised cruelly.

  ‘Enough,’ Ende whispered, but the sound flowed through the room like hot steam. The boy sat back down, the farmer and his daughter took a step back and the general smiled.

  ‘Old friend, he came in search of you,’ the general said.

  ‘He needs Ana to survive. She is right, he will die if he does not trust in her.’

  ‘Dray,’ Ana whispered. He turned as she paled and slumped back across the bed.

  ‘Do you want to explain how you came to be separated from your men, captain? Or did you abandon them?’ the general asked, looking at him through suspicious eyes.

  ‘I couldn’t let her die,’ he said. ‘The mage wanted her for the regent.’

  ‘The soldiers on the road,’ the king said.

  Dray nodded. ‘We were in Sheer Rock to discuss tribute with the lord. Or at least the mage was, and then there was Ana.’ He wasn’t sure why he had become so attached so quickly. ‘She saw something in me,’ he said, putting his hand to his cheek.

  ‘The kiss of a pretty maid and you throw away your career?’

  Dray sighed and looked up from the sleeping girl. ‘She saw something that wasn’t there. She had no idea of what the mage wanted with her, or why the lord would so willingly give her away. She would have been yet another innocent to die at the whim of those with power for no reason other than she would not give them what they wanted.’

  ‘And what was that?’ the king asked.

  ‘I don’t know,’ he said honestly. ‘He thought she had a gift, but she saw more than he wanted, and she was scared because she had never seen anything like it before.’

  ‘The Walk,’ Ende murmured.

  ‘She is scared of heights,’ Dray said.

  ‘In Sheer Rock? The whole world is high,’ the general said.

  ‘No matter the reason, we ran. And then she found Ende.’

  ‘I think I found you,’ Ende said. ‘I’m very good at finding those who need to be found.’ He looked at the boy at the table, the strain from travel etched on his young face.

  ‘Let us eat and rest,’ the general said, breaking the growing tension in the room. ‘We can face tomorrow when it arrives.’

  ֍

  Ana woke to the room in near darkness and the sound of several men snoring. She sat up slowly as she adjusted to the light. Dray slept at the foot of the bed, sitting against the wall, his legs across the bed and his hand on his sword. She smiled at his sleeping form and was tempted to curl up against him. The farmer, Phillip, also slept against the wall, yet he sat on the floor, with the general nearby and Ende curled before the fire.

  She stood slowly, being careful not to wake Dray. The boy sat at the table staring at the tabletop. Without a word, she stepped over the bench and sat beside him, her shoulder rubbing against his. He winced.

  ‘What happened?’ she asked, putting her hand on his shoulder.

  He shrugged and then winced again, shaking his head.

  She ran her hand slowly down his arm and slipped her hand into his.

  His fingers curled reflexively, locking their hands together. They sat that way in silence for some time, and Ana noticed the glare of the blonde girl sitting on the floor on the opposite side of the table. Ana smiled at her, but Belle didn’t move.

  ‘What did you see?’ he asked, his voice quiet.

  ‘I saw you hand your crown to the mage, and he in turn handed it to your uncle before you faded from view. But I understand that it was not that simple. That you didn’t physically hand him anything. Other than your trust.’

  He nodded slowly. ‘I didn’t know what to do, and it hurt so much.’

  ‘You should have been able to trust them. What happened when you asked for it back?’

  He turned quickly, as though surprised by the question. ‘I didn’t,’ he stammered.

  ‘Why not?’ she asked sharply, then took a breath to steady herself and glanced about at the same time, ensuring she hadn’t woken anyone.

  ‘What about you, little maid? How did you end up out here with a soldier?’

  ‘Only the day before I met him, I was a maid, being chastised for stepping on my lord’s papers.’

  ‘Were you dancing on her desk?’ he asked, a hint of laughter in his voice.

  She looked up into his shining eyes and smiled. ‘No, they had blown to the floor. Not only did I step on them, I slipped and spilt her tea over the remaining pages. I thought she might push me from the Walk herself in that moment.’

  ‘What was on the papers?’

  Ana opened her mouth and then closed it. Closing her eyes, she tried to remember the day exactly. She shook her head. ‘It isn’t clear. Something about the tributes, perhaps.’

  ‘Is that why the mage was there?’

  ‘I thought so, but then he seemed to only want me.’ She said it slowly, realising that all of this was because the lord had already known she had a gift. One she hadn’t even known herself. ‘How?’ she mused aloud.

  As he looked at her expectantly, she shook her head.

  ‘Tell me of the soldier then. He appears to know how to follow orders.’

  She nodded, glancing at the sleeping man on the end of her bed. ‘Dray has followed orders his whole life, until that moment. I’m still not sure, no matter what he tells me, as to why he did what he did.’

  ‘What did he do that means you trust him so completely?’

  ‘He threw himself across the Walk, miles above the rocky shores and caught me.’

  ‘You would have fallen?’ he asked. Worry edged the question and she wondered at it, given that he didn’t know her at all.

  ‘I had already,’ she said softly, focusing on his hand. She wondered at the trust he had in her that he had taken it so readily. ‘The wind had pulled me over the edge, and he only just reached me.’

  He squeezed her hand without saying anything further. She shivered, still feeling the cold air pull at her, threatening to tear her hand from Dray’s. But he was so strong and held her so firmly, pulling her up and onto the icy-cold stone that jutted out over the gaping nothing beneath.

  ‘We are the same, you and I,’ the boy said softly.

  She looked up then, unsure what he meant, although she doubted he had any such gifts like her own. Not that she quite knew what that meant for her just yet.

  ‘Orphans,’ he added.

  ‘How do you know I’m an orphan?’ she asked gently, not hurt by his assumption.

  ‘Your mother would have made a fuss, and your father would not have allowed you to end up on the Walk.’

  She sighed. They had both stood out there before, not that she had remembered until she had been out there alone. She nodded once for the young man beside her. ‘You have to get it back,’ she whispered.

  He shook his head.

  ‘You need to sleep,’ she said, looking into his dark eyes set in even darker halos. She slowly pulled her hand from his. He leaned forward over the table and rested his head on his arm. She ran her fingers through his hair, wondering at this scraggy boy who was her king. She looked into the shadows and locked eyes with the angry girl. The blue shined like a light in the darkness. ‘You too,’ she whispered, and her eyes slowly closed.

  The room was silent around her but for the crackle of the fire. She climbed back into the bed and watched Dray sleep for a little while before she curled up, using his strong legs as a pillow. As she closed her eyes, he sighed and a heavy hand rested on her shoulder.

  Chapter 14

  ‘Something isn’t right with her,’ the blonde girl whispered too loudly to her father, but she looked at the king as she said it. He squinted at her as through trying to remember something.

  Ana sat at
the table and stared into the bowl of porridge. The captain, sitting beside her, gave her a gentle nudge, but she didn’t look up. Ende tried not to sigh. He had heard her whispered conversation with the king the night before and knew the power she carried, even if she didn’t understand it herself just yet.

  He sat opposite her at the table and smiled. ‘You shall stay with me,’ he said.

  She shook her head, and the soldier rested his hand on her arm as though claiming her for himself. Ende grinned, although he felt nothing like joy at the idea. They both felt the connection too, and that meant far more than he had expected for this girl.

  ‘You must learn what you are.’

  ‘How do you know what she is?’ Drayton asked.

  He breathed out slowly, allowing the room to warm around them. ‘I see far more than you realise, young soldier.’

  Drayton stared him down.

  ‘You know this. You knew this when I found you in the mountain.’

  She looked at Drayton, the plea clear on her pale face. Ende wondered just what this man would do for her, and whether he understood why he would go to such lengths.

  ‘You could come with us,’ the king said.

  ‘She will join you when she is ready,’ Ende said, wondering where this boy thought he was going. He had run all the way to the mountains, after all. Was he that keen to return just because Ana had suggested it?

  ‘No,’ Ana said, looking at him. ‘They need me now.’

  ‘But you are not ready.’

  ‘I saw it,’ she whispered faintly.

  ‘There is little you can do,’ he said firmly, and the hurt flashed across her face. ‘It will not always be as easy as making a tired man sleep.’

  She stared back into her bowl, her cheeks reddening.

  ‘Have you seen what you will become?’ Ende asked, suddenly fearing she might be stronger than he anticipated. Maybe he wasn’t as clear on what she was as he had thought when he’d first found her.

  She shook her head without looking up.

  ‘What have you seen?’ the king asked, moving around to stand at the end of the table. The farmer’s daughter made a strange noise in her throat as he left her side, but he ignored it.

  Ana remained unmoving, and Ende could feel the tension in the room. The boy reached out slowly and sat his hand on her shoulder. She sighed from the weight of it, as though he carried the whole kingdom in that one hand. She would be something greater than Ende had imagined, but would she help or destroy the boy and his kingdom?

  She glanced up at Ende then, her eyes wary, and he sat up straighter. Was she strong enough to read him? She’d gotten glimpses of what he had allowed her to see when she had touched him, but he hadn’t allowed her in since.

  ‘Ende?’ Drayton asked, and he turned to the concerned face of the soldier. ‘What do you think she is?’

  ‘Who?’ he asked as though he hadn’t been part of the ongoing conversation.

  ‘You said I was dangerous,’ Ana murmured.

  He shook his head.

  ‘I heard you,’ she said.

  He opened his mouth and then closed it. Had she read him?

  ‘I did too,’ the boy king muttered, and the soldier nodded. He looked at the two men on either side of the little mage, one holding her arm, the other with a hand on her shoulder. He blinked at the image. Something unnatural and dark filled his heart. For a moment he thought he saw them all before a throne, and then Ana sat down and the boy handed her the crown.

  ‘He won’t do that,’ Ana said in a tone that scared him. ‘I won’t let him do that.’

  ‘You must come with me,’ Ende said, standing from the table. He was pushing at his frame. He needed to stretch his wings.

  The soldier stood and drew his sword, as though Ende was a threat to her. The boy put his hand to his sword but did not draw it.

  As the two released their hold on her, Ana blinked into the light and blew out a long breath.

  ‘You need them,’ he said. Pulling her away from them would not allow him to learn what she could do, but her being with them could be dangerous for more than the three of them. ‘Perhaps you should remain together.’

  ‘You said I had to stay with you,’ she said, the strength he had felt in her now dissipated.

  ‘Why should they stay together?’ the farmer’s daughter asked. ‘If she is a danger, she should stay away from the king.’

  Ana looked down, the frightened child returned. The king moved around to stand at her back, shielding her from the vehemence of the girl.

  ‘You didn’t even like me until you knew I was King,’ he murmured.

  ‘I did too—you helped save my life,’ she snapped. Then she pushed her way out of the small cottage and into the early morning light beyond. Her father took a moment to look over the group before he followed her out.

  Ende could hear him calling after her.

  ‘Others will come looking for you,’ the general said. ‘What is the plan?’

  The king shook his head while Drayton remained staring at Ende.

  ‘We restore the king,’ Ana whispered. ‘It is the only way.’

  Ende took a deep breath and then blew it out slowly, the room warming around him although that wasn’t his intent. ‘How do you propose to do that?’

  She shook her head without looking up.

  ‘But you are sure?’ Drayton asked.

  She patted his hand on her arm. ‘No—I mean yes. I’m sure it is what we should do, but I’m not sure how or whether it should be us that he relies on.’

  ‘Because Ende thinks that you will take my crown?’ the boy asked.

  ‘Because I’m just a maid, scared of heights and other than helping you sleep, I don’t know what use I would be.’

  ‘You were stronger before, more confident,’ Dray said. He looked across the table at Ende, who tried not to nod in agreement, although he wasn’t sure they spoke of the same time.

  ‘I knew what I was then,’ Ana murmured, finally pushing the barely touched bowl before her to the centre of the table.

  ‘You may need to remain together to find out,’ Ende said, looking from her to the boy standing at her back.

  ‘But you think I’m dangerous,’ she repeated. ‘Am I?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Ende said, dragging her bowl across and pulling the spoon out of the thick, congealed substance. He tried not to screw his face up and pushed the spoon back in. He could do with chasing something down. ‘I thought I knew what you were, but it is as though you need them to see.’

  ‘Can you see how we might get Ed on the throne, how we might defeat his uncle?’ she asked.

  Ende huffed. ‘A little girl, an old soldier, a farmer and his daughter.’ He reached across the table and took her hands, then glanced at the soldier, who removed his hand from her arm. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He had an idea of her standing out on the Walk, the wind blowing around her, pulling at her dark hair, her brilliant green eyes pleading for someone to save her, and then she was gone. In an instant she was there and then she wasn’t.

  Ende ran forward and leapt over the edge of the narrow platform, dropping towards the water and sharp rocks that pointed up to meet him. His wings held back and his body stretched, but he couldn’t see the falling girl.

  He opened his wings and slowed his descent, spying her on the rocks below. But as he got closer, she was standing amongst them, the waves hitting the rocks around her surrounding her with sea spray that didn’t even wet her hair. She smiled at him, her confidence strong and contagious, and he landed on the narrow rocks before her. He bowed his head.

  Ende pulled his hands back from hers and looked into those same green eyes, although they didn’t appear as confident now. She was the scared girl standing on the end of the stone walk, out over the nothingness beneath.

  ‘I don’t know what you are,’ he admitted. ‘I have moments when I see so much, and then you are something other than what you appear.’

  ‘Can I help him?�
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  He nodded slowly. ‘You are linked to these men, and they you. I cannot fathom at where that will take you. It appears that you must travel the path together.’

  ‘Come with us,’ she pleaded, reaching for his hold, but he pulled his hands out of her reach. A look of disappointment washed over her features. ‘We could use a dragon, and you could help teach me as we go.’

  ‘I am not what I was,’ he whispered. ‘Nor is the world a place for one like me. I am living in the mountains for good reason.’

  ‘What if I hurt them?’ she whispered, looking down again. The soldier’s arm wrapped around her shoulders and pulled her closer.

  ‘There would be nothing I could do to stop you. And it may not be my destiny to try.’

  ‘But you saw us coming. You came to us,’ she insisted, and he was sure that something sparkled in her eye. He blinked several times, unsure of what it was or what it could mean.

  ‘I may not have seen exactly what you were. You are not what I expected.’

  She wrung her hands together, the skin whitening as she pulled on it. ‘Why did he come looking for me?’

  ‘The mage may have seen something like I did. He may have had a glimpse of what you are.’

  ‘Could he find me again?’

  Ende nodded once.

  ‘I won’t let him take you,’ Drayton murmured.

  ‘Is there a plan?’ the general repeated, standing back from the group. ‘Are you to stay or are you to go? The four or five of you can’t take on the kingdom, with a dragon or without. And that is if the farmer and his daughter will follow you.’

  ‘They will,’ Ana whispered.

  ‘You should seek more help then,’ the general offered. ‘Go to the Lord of Edge Mountains. Tell him who you are and what you need, and he may stand with you.’

  ‘He may not,’ the king murmured. ‘My mother sent me to find Ende. She said he would be a friend and help, but…’

  ‘It depends on the help you need,’ Ende said. ‘I have saved you from the cold. I have provided you with those you need to regain your crown. If that is what you truly wish for.’

  Ana looked up at him then, pulling from the soldier’s hold to stand before her king. ‘Do you want to be King?’