Shadow of the Crown

by Amber Morant

  His stomach sunk. There on the screen was a photo of him before the abuse and the branding was placed on his cheek. He was bright-eyed, and still excited for his new position as a scholar, if he remembered that exact photo correctly. Underneath the photo were the words “Warning: Escaped Convict” scrolling across the screen with smaller text below it describing his crimes in detail.

  Tosh let out a gulp and stood up. "So much for a peaceful meal. Guess I'm taking it to go." He gathered the food back into the bag and crumpled it up to make it easier to hold. The other customers inside the restaurant were now all staring at him in fear. Some were recording him to show that he was here. He cursed under his breath. He didn't know if guards were on their way, so he needed to get out of there quickly.

  He pushed his way through the crowd of people. Most stepped away from him before he was even close to them, as if he was contagious. Tosh got outside and could already see other screens displaying his face. Amongst one of the crowds looking at his wanted sign were two guards. Both were investigating the people in the crowd to make sure none of them were him.

  Hartiel tugged at Tosh's arm and pointed at a store down the street, opposite the crowd. From a distance, Tosh couldn't see what the sign said, as it was written in a thin script, but behind the text was a large willow tree. The street was deserted in front of it, with no one seeming to be interested in the shop.

  "Hey, you there! Stop! Who are you?" one of the guards shouted.

  Tosh didn't wait for the guard to get close and see who he was. Instead, he bolted for the small shop. He could hear the footsteps of the guards chasing him down. They were far more athletic than he could be. If it wasn't for his head start and the proximity of the shop, he knew the guards would have caught up to him in an instant.

  As Tosh got closer to the shop, he could see someone looking back out at him. He prayed the person was at least somewhat generous and let him come inside. Tosh looked at the sign above the door 'Devata Homeotherapy." He didn't know how Devata and homeotherapy played a part together, but hoped it was a sign that this place was safe.

  "Open the door, please! I need safety! I'm on a mission for Devata!" Tosh yelled out, hoping the person would hear him and help him.

  The face in the window disappeared. Tosh could hear the guards catching up to him. Tosh didn't care at this point. If the person didn't open the door then he would barge into the store and find his own way to escape.

  The shop door opened, revealing a room filled with shelves and bottles. Tosh ran through, refusing to stop until he got to the other side of the room. He didn't stop to even look at the actual shop he was in. Tosh could no longer hear the guards behind him; however, and so he turned around to see what had happened.

  The two guards were outside the window of the shop, but both were blank eyed as if in a trance. No one around them seemed to have noticed the chase had ended so quickly. If anything, whenever someone looked at the store front or guards their eyes also glazed over before they turned their heads and continued their walk.

  "The hell is going on?" Tosh snapped, his voice choppy as he gasped for air.

  The shopkeeper walked around the corner. He was completely covered in a large cloak with cowl. "You asked for help and called Devata's name in my presence." The shopkeeper pulled down his cowl to reveal that he was an elf and had the same mark on his cheek as Tosh did. "Since escaping, Devata gifted me the ability to know the truth of others and to protect myself from those I do not trust."

  "Would have been nice if he had given me that gift."

  The shopkeeper shrugged. "Perhaps you are given a different gift you don't know about..." his eyes seemed to drift up to where Hartiel was floating. "Or perhaps you were given a gift and you just haven't accepted it yet as a gift."

  Hartiel puffed up and flew into the shopkeeper's face. "I wasn't given to Tosh as a gift. I'm here on my own free will!"

  The shopkeeper shrugged. "Get upset all you want, I've never seen a sprite willingly follow someone like you and show that kind of connection to a scholar. Even some of the heads of the college don't have as close a connection as you do with him."

  Tosh held up a hand. "Hold on, you can hear and see them? Who even are you and why can I get into this shop and they," he pointed to the guards still staring blankly forward, "can't even figure out what to do about this place?"

  "I was a scholar like you once. I had escaped long ago when the queen had first enslaved us. In fact, I was with the queen in her servitude when I received my gift. Because of it, I was able to leave the castle one day and open a pseudo shop here. Those who I can trust come in and seek refuge and even trade with me. As for how I can see the sprite, I think it was part of being blue to see the truth."

  "Glad I'm not too crazy then if you can see him."

  Hartiel floated back onto Tosh's shoulder. "Look, it's awesome that you can find safety here. But we need to get to the dragons. Your mission from Devata might have been to just stay in his corner and live in solitude, but that's not ours. So, do you have a way we can get out of here without hijacking a car or walking the entire way?"

  "Of course, let me grab it real fast for you." The shopkeeper scurried out of sight. Tosh could hear some rummaging before he returned to their corner. In his hand was a small card with an image of a cartoonish train on it. "Take it. A ticket for the trains. It should take you at least to the base of the mountains. Someone gave it to me in exchange for hospice a while back. Though I don't have much use for it now."

  The shopkeeper handed the card to Tosh.

  "What's the price?"

  The shopkeeper shook his head. "No cost for you. You have been sent by Devata himself. It would be wrong of me to take anything from you. Here," the shopkeeper took off his cloak and handed it to Tosh as well. "This will be of more use to you as well for hiding your brand." He shoved the cloak into Tosh's hands, not waiting for him to respond. "I don't know why the gods want you on your journey, but I do hope it is the final key in our rescue from the queen."

  "Thank you..." Tosh began taking off his old coat and put the cloak on but stopped. "I don't even know your name."

  "Sivilor. Don't worry though. I doubt our path's will cross again anytime soon. However, if you ever come across my family in Springhollow, let them know I am safe and once we are free again, I will return to them once more."

  Tosh nodded. "I promise I will tell them and anything I can provide for them I will do my best." He finished putting the cloak on. "By the way, Sivilor, if you do see a drow woman, maybe even a shadow that seems blessed by Devata, let her know I am looking for her on my mission."

  The two clasped hands, and for once Tosh felt that there was someone he could trust. Even his friend in the quarry had refused to escape with him. But the man in front of him was giving him anything he wanted without question and would be willing to help him again if he ever came back to this city.

  Fourteen

  Azrael curled into a ball on the large bed. He remembered climbing into the bed as a child, terrified of the rumblings the ground created. To a five-year-old, it was a monster devouring the entire city and the bed was the castle that would protect him. Now it was simply an oversized mattress in an oversized room in a tower that should belong to him.

  Despite it being the middle of the night, the lights from advertisements still lit up the entire cavern as if mid-day. His sister slept in the room across the hall from him. After having the lights so bright, he imagined she was used to it by now. Though not moving to the chieftain's room perplexed him still. He remembered as a child her room was one of the smaller bedrooms on the floor because she was the youngest. Perhaps it was just out of habit that she had chosen to stay there, he wasn't sure.

  Azrael stood up and walked over to the window. "Stupid commercialism. We don't need it to be daylight the entire fucking night."

  He could see vehicles still driving through the roads far below. It was a city that never seemed to sleep. Even his dragon was still restless, cl
imbing around the outer walls. He knew his dragon was looking for a dark cave to wander into, but the light just seemed to dive into every corner. Once they got out of here, he was going to have to spoil the beast after the hell of no sleep they both had suffered.

  He turned to the bed, still grumbling about the lights. Thankfully the curtains dimmed it slightly. If he did ever return here or stayed longer, he would need to invest in light-cancelling curtains. He shook his head, there was no need for him to think about that. He would be here for just one more night and then he would return to the castle. After tossing and turning for another two hours, sleep finally overtook him.

  Azrael's dreams found him back into the crypts of the past chieftains. His vision was blurry, unable to focus on anything but his own parent's crypt. In front of it was a man that looked like Azrael and wore a white dashiki. The cait shidhe turned around, revealing the front of the material to have an intricate pattern of diamonds flowing down from the collar to his father’s midriff.

  "It has been some time, son."

  "Dad?" Azrael reached out but pulled himself away quickly. "You're dead. This is just a dream, I know it is."

  "Perhaps, but it's also still me. I assume your sister had you sleep in my bed and that I am already dead if you are seeing me. I had an apothecary and scholar concoct this after you left to be with the queen." He paused, looking at his own crypt once again. "How long has it been since you've come home? Was it because of my death you returned?"

  "No, your daughter stopped retribution's to Kalio. I was here to make sure you…or she did."

  "I see...Azrael it has been a long time since I've seen you. I had hoped by providing you as a ward it would provide you a better future. But looking at you now, I would say it may have been better to have had you at our side."

  Azrael narrowed his eyes. "I doubt you even wanted me with you. You never contacted me when I was her ward."

  "No, I did try and reach you. She wouldn't let me. Here, it is best to show you." His father embraced him in a large hug. Azrael tried to fight back but was pulled away from his body and could now see visions of his parents before him.

  He saw them standing in front of a mirror, begging Kalio to let them speak to their son. Then it changed to a vision of guards from the capital dragging women and children from their homes and destroying their property. He could see them being placed into large vehicles and taken to an unknown location. The vision once again changed and revealed his parents dying. The queen in the mirror held a vial of medicine with a smile on her face while watching his parents on their death bed. She was mocking them the entire time.

  Azrael's father released him and brought him back into the crypts. "You see, we never forgot about you and wanted you to return. So much you didn't see while as a ward. She hid so much and lied to you too often. You were denied a true childhood."

  Azrael's arms shook and he bit his bottom lip. He tried to focus on the small pebble at his feet. If he deterred from it, he was going to punch the wall from the rage that now built into his body. "I need to avenge you, father. Her lies of you denying me and wanting nothing to do with me. You selling me to her to keep our people safe. She still treated our people so horrid, yet I didn't know any of it. I'm sorry I was such a fool to believe her."

  His father placed a hand on Azrael's shoulder, making Azrael look up at him. "I forgave you as soon as we let you go there. It was our fault for doing it to you." His father turned around and plucked the orb from the lion's mouth and handed it to Azrael. "If you can forgive an old man for something so wrong, I have a request."

  Azrael looked down at the orb. It morphed from the clear orb to a large milk white stone. Despite the dream, it felt warm to the touch and it vibrated. "What's this?"

  "The path to bringing peace for everyone. Devata had given me the vision, but I was too sick to see the meaning behind it. Now that you are back, I do see it. You are here to help bring the key to the one who can unlock the door." The stone morphed back into the orb and his father swiped his hand across it. Instead of showing his parents, the orb reflected an elf inside of it. "He is also part of the plan now it seems."

  Azrael looked closer and immediately recognized the elf from the quarry. His anger bubbled up again but took a deep breath. "There's no way he's here to help me. That damn elf made a fool of me already. I don't out need him ruining this too." He took a closer look into the orb and saw Tosh was holding the stone in his hands. "Fuck it! He's already gotten ahold of the stone and will probably just hand it over to the damn queen or destroy it himself."

  He looked back up at his father. "I promise you, I will avenge your deaths and make sure the key is properly used to destroy the queen. But," he looked down at the orb before looking up at his father again, "how am I supposed to use it? I doubt just chucking a rock will work in stopping her. Maybe a concussion, sure, but not really much else, and that's if I throw well enough."

  "You will know when the time comes." His father squeezed Azrael's shoulder before fading away.

  The crypt grew bright white. Azrael tried to cover his eyes from the light, but it went through his hands. The light seemed inescapable and soon it was followed by the sound of someone announcing something in the background. Catnip? No, it was some kind of wine. A catnip infused wine. But why was he hearing this in the crypts. Azrael opened his eyes once more against the light, this time greeted no longer by the crypts but by his parent's room once again.

  "Devata damn you, father. Why couldn't you have held out for me until I got home. Our talk was too short lived." Azrael rubbed his eyes and let a smile escape his lips. "It was good seeing you again. I'm sorry I was such an ass."

  Azrael pulled himself out of bed and threw a large robe around him to hide the fact that he was now only wearing a pair of pajama pants and no shirt. The robe smelled like his father's cologne, which brought another smile onto his face. Outside of his room, Azrael could hear different servants scurrying about. Many of them asking in a hushed whisper outside of his room.

  He barged out, startling two women who were deep in conversation and watched as they ran off, their tails flared. He ignored them and looked over to his sister’s room. The door was still closed but he could hear cabinets opening and closing inside.

  He pushed open her door and walked in, ignoring the idea of asking permission. Rahani quickly reminded him as large pillow smacked him across the face. Azrael grasped the pillow with one hand and rubbed his chin with the other. Despite the pillow being so small and soft, Rahani had thrown it hard enough to make it hurt.

  "Do you know how to knock? For Devata's sake, I could have been naked!"

  "I’ve literally taken baths with you as a child. Besides, this is something I didn't want to wait for." Azrael walked over to her bed and tossed the pillow back onto it. "You planned to have me sleep on their bed last night, didn't you?"

  "What's it to you? It was father's last wish for you to at least enjoy the room."

  Azrael laughed. "Well considering he left a piece of him there to talk with me, I'd say it was pretty important of a last wish." His face went somber. "He spoke with me, you know? Father did. He showed me what actually happened after I left."

  The two sat on Rahani's bed. It was quiet now. Neither one reacting. The thought of his father still haunted Azrael. He couldn't get into words the rage and sadness of his people's fate that he had ignored so easily before.

  Rahani refused to speak just yet. What she had seen of her brother before today was almost completely gone. The wall of defense was breaking down and the situation was too fragile for her own words to destroy what was unfolding before her.

  "I'm...sorry for what happened. She had told me everyone had forgotten and abandoned me. I was pretty much sold like a product to the queen for everyone here to maintain their freedom." He took a deep breath. "I'm going to the Dragons. My father detected a new moon dragon guardian."

  Rahani leaned forward so she could look Azrael in the face. "Do you even know who the
guardian is? It's not like you all have a large sign labeling you as a guardian."

  "I have a feeling I might learn who it is soon. But I need to get there before a certain elf gets involved."

  Rahani stood up and turned to face Azrael. She bit her bottom lip and raised her hand as if to smack Azrael. "After all of that talk. After seeing our father, you're just going to go back out there? Your people need you here. Let the drow and elves figure out their own differences. Stay here. I can't believe you want to even be involved with them."

  Azrael looked from Rahani's hand back to her face. "Even if I were to stay here, you really think Kalio would leave you alone? She has access to our city. She has a moon dragon at her side. So, calm down and think logically for one moment. If we can get her off the throne, to hell on who they replace on there as long as the leave us alone."

  She dropped her hand, acknowledging Azrael's point. "I just don't want to lose you again. Not to her."

  "I'm Azrael. One of the keres and a dragon guardian in my own right. I won’t die so easily."

  Azrael felt an electric shock behind his ear. He wondered if it was the guards, the quarry reporting they finally captured the elf and he didn't need to worry about it anymore. “Rahani, wait here."

  He stepped out of the room, leaving his sister still standing in the room by herself. He pressed the communicator and felt the electric shock run through his body as it connected. "Azrael."

  "Where are you?" an all too familiar voice screamed. Azrael cringed, hoping somehow Kalio hadn't just heard everything that had transpired, and this was her reason for calling. "You should have been back at the castle yesterday! I'm flying back right now, and my captain of the guard informed me he hadn't see you yet."

  “Yes, there were some complications and I wanted to verify that all of the operations went smoothly on getting your next payments from the cait shidhe."