But he wasn’t the only reason she needed to compose herself. In fact, he wasn’t even the main one.
The grief, pain, and rage she had deeply suppressed was building like a reservoir ready to burst its dam within her. If she allowed even one small crack, she wouldn’t be able to keep any of it in. She didn’t know what would happen, but she instinctively knew it couldn’t result in anything good. It would also ruin any chance she had of being seen and respected as a strong leader. She needed to take her mind off the shattering loss she felt. She wondered if perhaps it would be better to focus on her anger.
The last time she had been to the village, her powers had knocked out a large number of Photak warriors while Toler screamed in tortured pain. She had stood over Elder Malek, ready to slit his throat with the same passion with which he had just mercilessly murdered her Tribe mother. She had chosen saving Toler’s life over avenging her mother’s punishment for her “crime” of simply loving Yara. Both of her parents had suffered the fate of death for her life, and all she had imagined any time it came back to mind was how good it would feel to plunge her blades slowly and deeply into Malek.
STOP CRYING!
Yara’s left cheek became the proud recipient of an even deeper scratch. This time, the tears were fueled instead by rage and had escaped her eyes with a fuming heat.
This isn’t working! I can’t be so weak. What is wrong with you, Yara?! You know you can’t do this right now! GET. IT. TOGETHER!
She severely reprimanded herself, unable to afford the consequences of this showing of feebleness. She sprinted as hard as she could from her thoughts and began observing everything around her.
The shadowed Greens seemed more alive than she remembered. Saptrees glistened with a new soft glow that was almost indistinguishable, had it not been for the surrounding darkness. The Eld had told her that by the time the first night came, the Greens would be alive with glowing plants. She was looking forward to seeing it for herself.
It had been two days since Yara frustrated the Eld plan to annihilate the Photaks. Instead of the Eld wielding the dangerous lights of the first night against the Tribe, they were to educate the Photaks on withstanding those same dangers. Yara had established that, by principle, the Eld should treat them as fairly as they had the Skotads, and that the Elders should be given the opportunity to answer for their crimes.
Secretly, Yara couldn’t wait to see the look on Elder Malek, Kristos, and Pekone’s faces when they saw her leading the army of the Eld. The Eld also seemed quite enthused to confront the Elders, but for a different reason. They wanted an explanation for why the Photaks had not sounded the alarm four thousand years ago, when the planet was being attacked. Should the reason prove honorable, assuming that the Photaks still had these records, the Elders could be granted mercy.
Yara wasn’t certain how she felt about this compromise. Many questions plagued her mind all at once, resulting in mass confusion. How could the Photak Elders know why their ancestors made the decisions they did about the Eld? Was it fair for the actions of the ancient Photaks to be attributed to and paid for by Photaks living so many generations later?
While she believed it to be highly unreasonable, another part of her wondered if there was something she hadn’t considered.
What if, perhaps, this was fair? Why did each generation of the Photak Elders stick to the decisions of their ancestors? And why had they all kept the knowledge of the Eld and the goodness of the Skotads to themselves? Were the ancient Elders evil? Was evil an inherited trait? Were the Elders covering up generations of evil choices, or worse, disguising the vicious evil that still existed within their hearts? Was this why the evil Elder Malek tried to kill her? Why he killed the only parents she had ever known?!
Yara’s runaway thoughts evoked a watery rage in her eyes once again as her mind plunged right back into an impassable state of chaos. This time, though, she wasn’t even conscious when one tear escaped her eye. She mused deeply, finding the responsibilities of a Queen to be much heavier each day. Being able to see the many sides of the situation was one thing; being able to consider them all and then make a decision was another thing entirely.
But despite her hate for Malek and the growing rage consuming her, Yara felt that the mercy she had chosen to show was ultimately the best choice. Her order stopped the Eld from enacting mass judgment upon the Tribe. It was, however, a conditional agreement—should the Photaks attack a peaceable approach, the Eld must treat them as hostile. There would be nothing that even Yara could do to stop their destruction.
Yara was afraid that this would be unavoidable, given the rash, brazen ways of the Tribe with which she had spent her first sixteen years. By now, if her memory was correct, the warriors assigned to guard the Greens would have spotted them and gone back to warn the Photak Tribe. The alarm would be sounded and while the villagers would be praying in fear to Sunstar, the warriors would be preparing for their first all-out war. She didn’t think they would stop for conversation when the Eld arrived. The Photaks viewed themselves as above all others on Mira. She knew their views were simply too narrow, their judgments too swift.
There were Photaks, however, that Yara didn’t want caught in the crossfire. She had just one loophole, and she had exercised it inelegantly, but successfully. Through the guidance of Grandam, Yara declared that there must be prisoners of war, and that she reserved the right to choose who those prisoners should be. She needed to save those whose hearts were good. And there was one Photak, above all others, worthy of so much more than just saving.
I’m coming, Mila…I’m coming to get you. Please don’t be scared…I won’t let anything happen to you!
***
As they finally approached the Greens’ borders, Yara felt a sense of calmness float into her. The thought of Mila had anchored her to the greater purpose of this mission—to save those Photaks who were worthy of saving. It stood in direct opposition to the rage she felt, and had somehow encapsulated it.
As the borders became clearer a short distance ahead, the Greens grew quieter. As a few places began to look vaguely familiar, memories etched at her again. This time, she thought of the first time she had gone into the shadowed Greens, right after Kristos had kissed her. Her le-feer pulsed slowly, almost in an empathic response to the sad memory that followed. Kristos had been the one to trick and imprison her in the Photaks’ main keep. Her Guidestar had rudely interrupted the kiss back then, and she was retrospectively grateful.
A bitter pang hit Yara in her stomach at the thought of how much she loved him and what he did to her despite it. She also felt a separate note of confusion.
Guidestar, you’ve been so silent…
Yara hadn’t gotten a response since she found out that her vocal relationship with Guidestar was unique to her as the Ka-Eld. She was frustrated with Guidestar’s decision to stay silent as it left her even more alone. She felt neglected, upset by the one-sided nature of the connection.
While Yara had spent some time trying to figure out the true meaning of the prophecy of the Ka-Eld so she could understand her Guidestar, there hadn’t been any developments since its discovery. As a result, Grandam and Toler focused instead on training her to be a more competent Eld Queen—rightfully, it was the greater priority for them all.
“My Queen, we are about to break through to the village clearing,” Master Nox interrupted her thoughts, riding his Urse on the left of her carriage. Master Lucerne had also neared, with Atlase close behind him.
Yara’s eyes locked with Atlase’s, and a flush rose from her neck into her cheeks. She quickly looked away before her le-feer could start its coordinated mischief. Atlase’s pull on her was a maddening frustration to her soul.
Focus, Yara, focus!!!
This strange connection had no place here. In fact, nothing else mattered right now than the mission. Not when they were likely about to go to war. Yara took a deep breath and braced herself for what they were about to face. But nothing could have prepared
her for what she saw when they finally broke into the clearing.
As the direct light of Sunstar’s rays shone upon the emerging Urses, Masters and Eld, Yara gasped in disbelief. There, stretched back as far as the eye could see, was the entire Tribe of the Photaks. Not just the army, but the Elders and the food gatherers, the makers and the teachers, the musicians and the village folk. Even the toddlers and little babies. And they were all on their knees, bowing, without a single weapon in sight, in complete, reverential silence.
Yara turned to the Masters, shock frozen on her face, but they seemed unmoved and unimpressed. In fact, they seemed to be disappointed. They had come for Photak blood, but this act of submission meant the complete opposite—there would be no war today.
As they grew closer, Yara could see the most savage Photak warriors, whom she had once looked up to, quivering in fear. She could hear the sobs of frightened Photak children. She scanned the kneeling crowd for Mila, but at this angle, most of the girls looked the same. She could not see Mila’s little tuft of red hair.
Exasperated, she turned again to Master Nox who looked back at her with an annoyingly calm expression. Yara didn’t care—there was no point protecting her pride or hiding her inexperience when she had absolutely no idea what to do next.
“What do you think we should we do, Master Nox?”
He raised an overly dramatic eyebrow at her, a small smirk tugging on the corners of his lips.
“This is your plan, Queen Yara. You did not reveal the fullness of your intentions to us, so we can do nothing but await your instructions.”
Yara felt the eyes of the Masters digging into her as they waited on her to respond.
She gritted her teeth.
So, this is a test…another challenge. Okay. I can’t fail. I won’t…
Taking a deep breath, Yara thought about Queen Roma’s journaled words on how she handled Master Nox’s kind. They were Agarbs who felt like each one was more connected to Sunstar than any other. Roma usually took complete control of such situations, and trusted the pulsing of her royal le-feer to guide her.
Yara had also learned that the le-feer was able to wield powers that normally lay dormant within the Eld. These powers had different, natural intensities in each House. Wielding the le-feer, though, could only happen with dedicated training or in situations of instinctual panic. It had been identified as the source of Yara’s powers in escaping the Photaks when she was last there, and in protecting Toler and her from Skotad arrows mistakenly shot at them.
Yara hadn’t yet learned to tune in to its pulses, or how to interpret them, but she read that a steady, calm rhythm usually meant that she was aligned to Sunstar’s will. And right now, her le-feer was completely at peace, babbling in warming vibrations. The more she attuned herself to its energy, the more she felt its calm spreading through her body and soothing her mind.
To Master Nox’s surprise, Yara smiled amiably at them all. She then raised her reins so that her Urses would pull her slightly ahead of the line of Masters as they proceeded toward the Photaks. She needed to remind them that she was leading, and they were following.
Yara put enough distance between them, ensuring that she couldn’t see anyone at her sides. Now, with only the Photaks ahead of her, the full recollection of her time with the Tribe began to envelop her mind. Ultimately, this was between her and the Photaks. They had mistreated her for her entire life, and it was time for everything to change. She was ready to announce herself, and to see the looks on their faces as they filled with recognition.
Reaching a short distance from the Photak line of Elders, Yara pulled her Urses to an abrupt halt. The entire Eld army stopped in unison. She stood in her royal carriage, Sunstar’s symbols carved upon it in a golden hue, and gazed upon the bowing Tribe. A gentle wind raised her brilliantly blue hair from the back of her neck and cooled the heat from Sunstar’s rays – a heat Yara hadn’t felt in weeks. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, allowing herself to fully absorb the moment.
Opening her eyes slowly, she looked directly at Elder Malek’s kneeling body. She noted his hands were shaking and felt a smug sense of triumph.
But she also felt something else…something dark. It was rising up within her le-feer, creeping from a cloaked place within her. A small amount of current rippled over her skin as every pore responded to it.
Yara kept her eyes piercing into Malek. She couldn’t avert her stare even if she tried. She was caught in a magnetically violent pull toward his form, driven by a need to see the look on his face as she uttered her first words to the Tribe, and to him, as the Queen of the Eld.
Yara narrowed her eyes in full concentration, then lifted her voice.
“Rise, Photaks! RISE, AND FACE YOUR QUEEN!”
Chapter Seven
The entire Tribe rose in a slow, terrified wave. Their eyes slowly crept up from the ground to the Urses, to the royal carriage, and finally to the majestic Queen of the Eld who stood powerfully above them. The gasp that echoed throughout the Photaks was not remotely as satisfying as the look of pure horror that eclipsed the face of Elder Malek.
It was in this moment that all of Yara’s suffering had found its meaning. To see the only creature she unequivocally hated experiencing the painful convulsions of clearly conflicting emotions…to see his face become as pale as the sunless skins of Skotads, and from his eyes defeated, tortured tears springing…
Yara stared at him, and only him. Her eyes bled with rage until her le-feer pulsed in a reactive frenzy. She didn’t even see Kristos and Pekone shuddering near to him. She didn’t notice that their Chief, Lamad, was not standing among the Elders who were frozen in fear. Instead, she felt only the full force of her power rising within her, lashing out of her soul in uncontrolled waves and seeping heavily through her pores. The air around her began to crackle and vibrate as her pain plunged into the atmosphere. It whirled around in a chaotic dance before it froze, forcefully fused with a piercing crack, and began invisibly making its way toward Malek. It pounded into him with merciless force, paralyzing him in place while ripping into his skin.
All was silent in Yara. She couldn’t hear the worried murmurs of the Eld Masters behind her, not even when Master Nox gently called out to her. She didn’t hear the fear filling his voice when he called her name a little louder. She didn’t see the Photaks start to back away with cries, and then screams, as Malek stood painfully paralyzed within her power. She didn’t see when his eyes and nose and those of the Photaks who stood nearest to him, began to bleed.
All she saw was the reason her life had been torn apart…the creature who had plunged his knife into her Tribe mother’s heartstar and killed her Tribe father without even a hint of remorse. The disgusting creature who had judged her all her life, and had done everything in his power to murder any chance of happiness she ever had. Her hate, rage, and pain focused on one single Photak, and nothing else mattered. Nothing. Else. Mattered.
You die today, Photak SCUM…but you get to die slowly. You get to feel a hundred times the pain of every moment you ever caused me suffering…and you will feel ALLLLLL OF IT before I send you TO HELLL!
The tidal wave that Yara had tried everything to run from had finally hit her soul. But it was also hitting everything, and everyone, around her. The winds picked up and began to roar, sending the trees of the Greens into a crazed dance. Leaves scattered everywhere until it was hard to see beyond the reach of an arm. The Urses began to shake under the tremendous power and the carriage rocked violently. Eld and Photaks alike were pushed back by the force of her uncontrolled power.
A loud voice exploded in Yara’s mind as Guidestar thundered:
“YaraStar… do you know who you are?”
Oh, you’re ready to speak to me again?! Great, well guess what?! I do know who I AM! I am the Queen of the Eld. I am the dispenser of judgment. I am the reason anyone gets to live or die. I am the Queen of ALL of Mira!
“YaraStar…it is not your place to judge. The fate of morta
lity will never belong to mortals. That right is reserved, not for Kings or Queens, but for Sunstar.”
And for Malek too, right?! The CREATURE who Sunstar ALLOWED to judge me for my entire life?!! Who judged my Tribe parents and decided they must die?!!
“Malek will answer for his choices. But this is not who you are, YaraStar. This is not your purpose.”
And WHO ARE YOU to tell ME what my purpose is? Who are you to tell me who I AM?! YOU DON’T GET TO TELL ME WHO I AM!!! You won’t even tell me who you are! You don’t even answer me when I CALL to you. You left me all alone but now you want to dictate what I should and shouldn’t do?! No! NO! This is between Malek and I – this is not YOUR place to judge!
Bitterness fused with the loneliness within Yara’s soul, and darkness overtook her le-feer. Using the full force of her power, she shaped the pulses into a concentrated sweep and obliterated the pull of Guidestar from her mind.
Silence refilled the void, but the darkness was now wildly free. It charged Yara with a sensation she hadn’t felt before—pure, ravishing control. She focused on Malek who was again on his knees, still alive only because of the hold of her power. She tuned herself away from the silence within her until she could finally hear his screams.
A smile tugged at the edge of her lips. She never knew this could feel so satisfying, so…divine. She saw nothing but Malek, knew nothing but his pain, and felt nothing but joy for the extent of his suffering…and for the extent of her power. It was time to show him, and everyone, what she really was.
Yara stepped down from the carriage and walked slowly toward him, smiling so widely that her face contorted with glee.
“Hello again, Malek,” she spat as she stood in front of him, “how kind of you to kneel before your Queen. You look a little uncomfortable… are you in pain?”
Malek’s sobbing screams were interrupted only by his cries to her for mercy. Blood covered his entire face and his eyes were completely reddened. Yara was slowly ripping into every nerve in his body with just her mind, and her le-feer was whipping all around her. She glowed with an icy blue light with odd purple tinges, and the air around her became frigid.
The Eld Queen (The YaraStar Trilogy Book 2) Page 6
