Shadow of the Crown

by Amber Morant

  They both walked into the large lobby. Off to the side was a small restaurant where a few people were sitting down, preparing for an early dinner. Tosh leaned from one foot to the other as Anjuu walked up to the front desk to check in. She was talking low with the person at the desk and then held her arm out to be scanned. The clerk handed a small card to Anjuu and smiled.

  "Enjoy your stay and your honeymoon."

  Tosh's ears perked up and looked between the clerk and Anjuu. "Honeymoon? We're not on a—"

  Anjuu wrapped her arm around Tosh and smiled. "Oh, hush honey.” Her voice went a tone higher, with a sing-song accent to it. “I know it's looked down on, but you don't have to deny it here. She is pretty progressive. Let's relax for once and enjoy the night." Anjuu stepped behind Tosh and rested her head on his shoulder. "After all, didn't you say you wanted beautiful babies with me just on our way over here?"

  The clerk blushed and walked away from the desk, pretending she hadn't heard Anjuu. Tosh tried to argue again, but felt a sharp object stabbing him in the back. Anjuu handed him the key and pushed him to the hallway. He looked at the card and read the number 158. His eyes scanned the doors for the room number.

  "You need to watch what you say, scholar. Only reason I got this room for a discount is because of that lie." The sharp object no longer was held up against Tosh's back and he could see Anjuu slide a small knife into her belt. "As long as we are here, you are my husband and we are here celebrating our wedding."

  They stopped at their room and Tosh scanned the card in the small slot where the door knob should have been. The door unlocked and they both walked inside. "Because it's believable with this large mark on my face showing I'm a scholar."

  "Or you're just an elf who likes to live dangerously and marries a femme fatale drow woman. People are lot more idiotic than you think." She fell into the single bed and let out a sigh. "It's been a while since I've enjoyed a bed this nice. Might take a shower too."

  Tosh sat down at the desk, his eyes drifting over to the bag next to Anjuu that still held the egg. "So, Azrael found you?"

  Anjuu looked over at the bag then back to Tosh. "He did. I heard about what happened. Looks like it wasn't as bad as he made it sound. Though I guess if I wasn't dumb and ran away, you probably wouldn't be in this mess now."

  "Yeah..." Tosh's voice trailed away as he looked up at the ceiling. "I should have known it would be you, but it didn't seem obvious. I mean you didn't seem attracted to the egg at all, so I figured you weren't the one."

  "Well here I am. Not exactly what you would call a guardian since it hasn't hatched." She paused and looked over at the door. Tosh strained his ears and heard someone walk up and stop outside their door. "Oh god!" Anjuu shrieked, making Tosh jump. "Harder!" Anjuu started to let out loud gasps. She repeated this a few times and bounced on the bed before the footsteps began again and walked away from their door.

  Anjuu let out a small cough. "Apologies." She laid down on the bed. "That should keep them away unless they're perverts."

  "At least warn me next time, will you?" He shifted in his chair. "Is that a skill you shadows had to learn. To you know..."

  "Fake it? That's just a skill anyone that understands sex will pick up." She laid down on the bed. "Look, I'm sorry, I guess. But with this war now coming I need someone that knows more about scholars than I do. So why not do more than get an egg and fight?"

  Twenty-Six

  Kalio's desk was engulfed in papers and small black stones. She had played most of the stone's messages half a dozen times. Different cities in her kingdom reporting that they were loyal to her and others reporting of another shadow dying because of Anjuu. One message mentioned Anjuu had joined the rebels.

  She shoved her face into her hands. There had been a small sliver of hope that the visions and messages had been wrong, but now Anjuu had been gone for too long and every report pulled more evidence that Anjuu had betrayed her. The one drow that Kalio felt she could trust above all others, who had killed family and friend alike, was now the enemy of her throne.

  It had grown quiet as of late, with only the sound of shadows and guards alike that were now subjected to Mestre's studies. She gave up all pretenses of keeping the experiments away from the castle. If it meant creating more of the poison, then so be it. She’d make sure every traitor died.

  The sound of pecking at Kalio's windowsill pulled her out of her despair. It was a large crow with another stone in its mouth. Kalio got up from her desk and walked across her office to the window. She pulled it open, feeling the cool breeze brush across her face. The first winter air was coming and she would need to prepare her kingdom for the cold. If the rebels continued their onslaught though, everyone would die out before winter came.

  Kalio looked down at the crow. "So what bad news do you have for me today?"

  The crow titled its head and dropped the stone inside the room. Before Kalio could respond, the Crow spread out its wings, let out a cry, and flew back off into the air.

  The stone was smaller than the other messages. She took it over to the desk and flipped it in her hands. "So, who wants to tell me the world is burning today?"

  She activated the stone to reveal one of the male shadows that had brought Rahani to the castle. "My Queen. We bring news from the farmlands to the east. Many of them have been burned to the ground, leaving no trace of anyone alive. Even the earth was scorched by dragon fire." A hiss from someone out of view pulled the shadows attention for a moment. "Oh, yes, and we also received reports to the north. Wild animals have been invading small villages and killing people."

  He was pushed off to the side, revealing a female shadow wearing a pure white mask with only the slits and no markings. "My Queen, they're saying it's dire animals stalking the wilderness."

  Kalio grumbled and placed her hand over the stone to shut off the message. "Idiot. Send him on a mission to destroy the rebels and instead he acts like a wild beast. Unless..." her mind drifted, wondering if these attacks weren't random.

  The rebellion had grown the last few years, it was only plausible that smaller towns were no longer loyal to her. When she had the poison stock completed, she would remember those towns and infuse the water with a few drops of the poison. Or she would just fly and burn them all.

  "I need to get ready. If the rebellion has grown to fill cities, they'll infest the noble houses soon too."

  Kalio stepped over to one of the book cases lining the wall. Unlike the others, it had different weapons adorning it. At eye level was one specific weapon. A gunblade with a dragon etched into the blade. The hilt was wrapped in a small thin rope that held a small coin underneath.

  She brushed her hand against the rope. It was the same coin that she had made the first time she was in Narishma. Kalio smiled and pulled the gunblade off the shelf. The blade was dull now, but she could find a blacksmith to sharpen it soon enough. For now, she could feel like she was in control while holding her gunblade.

  Kalio walked out of her office, toward the opposite end of the castle. Most of the rooms were quiet inside, an empty shell compared to how it once was. She missed the times she could trust people to not betray her and they filled the castle with ceremonies and parties almost daily to celebrate Narishma and Ombramoor.

  She reached the opposite end of the castle and wrinkled her nose. The smell of body odor wafted up to her from between the cracks of the door. Kalio regretted letting the guards live inside of the castle, but it was the best way to keep them close by if they had no family to go back to.

  Kalio opened the door, blasted with the bad odor. Multiple men were walking around half dressed or only wearing a towel wrapped around their waists. A few of them looked over at Kalio coming in, but most chose to ignore her entrance. She had instilled a fear in them enough that they knew behaving against their soldier discipline would lead to a life in the cells below.

  An older man still dressed in half of his armor and a shirt and pants walked up to Anjuu. He saluted her and
Kalio returned the gesture so he could return to a relaxed posture.

  "My Queen. It is unexpected for you to be in here."

  "I don't exactly want to be, especially with how foul it is here. I needed to speak with you." Kalio turned around and stepped out of the room. "Not in here."

  The general walked out of the living quarters and stroked his fingers across his thick mustache. "Another mission I take it?"

  "No." She looked out the window, her eyes scanning the streets below. "How many men do you have in your battalion."

  "At least a few thousand."

  "Not enough. We need to recruit more men and women. How much reserve do we have on recruitment bonuses?"

  "Sadly, all we have left is enough for the soldier’s monthly pay. I don't think—"

  "I didn't ask you to think, general. Starting tomorrow, any able-bodied man or woman will be sent a call to arms. We are going to war and anyone that chooses to disobey me will be executed."

  The general took a step toward Kalio. "My Queen, we need those people to maintain the peace by providing services in other ways. Farmers, blacksmiths, business owners."

  "If they are life essential, fine. If not, I don't care if you must burn their homes down to get them to enlist. Burn the entire city down if you must. I want my army ready to fight the rebellion and maintain order." She straightened her back and looked at her general. "Do you understand me?"

  He jumped and fidgeted for a second before saluting Kalio. "As you wish, My Queen. We will double our numbers immediately."

  Twenty-Seven

  Pain surged through Azrael's head, waking him up. He remembered training with Anjuu, then pain through his entire body, and it went dark after that.

  Azrael opened his eyes. The room was dark except for a small wood-burning stove next to him. His body was cold, and the fire did nothing to help him. Even his fur, which could keep him safe even in the winter, was useless right now. The cold reached down to his bones and held tight.

  He felt for his surroundings. He was sitting and his hands and legs were tied by rope. Azrael tapped a toe and heard a soft thud, meaning it was some sort of tile underneath him. He didn't recognize the room from the little information he had, but he was glad he at least could comprehend his own predicament.

  "Good, you're awake," a voice said from the darkness.

  Azrael's eyes widened. He recognized that voice. Mestre. "What am I doing here? Where am I? Mestre, get me out of this!"

  "Don't bother. No one can hear you down here." She stepped toward Azrael so he could see her sharp features under the light of the fire. She walked behind Azrael and pulled out a knife. "You've lost a lot of blood." He felt a tug on his arms and then they were free to move again. Mestre walked around in front of him and cut the ropes binding his legs together.

  Mestre stood back up and turned the knife and held it out for Azrael. "Take it."

  Azrael looked up into Mestre's face. He recognized her mocking smile every time she proved him wrong in front of the queen. He went to lift his hand to grab the knife, but his arm couldn't move.

  "What did you do to me?"

  Mestre shrugged. "I just removed some of your blood. Boiled it away technically."

  "Boiled it?"

  Mestre turned around and snapped her fingers. A dim light filled the room. It looked more like a hospital than a prison. He knew better. All her experiments were done near the dungeon cells, so she had free bodies to use as she pleased. This was just a renovation she came up with.

  "Like it? First time you've been down here." She placed the knife onto a small table and picked up different tools, examining them, and then putting it back down. "Missed my time in the hospital. Too bad they're in the business of saving lives. Much more into death myself. It's why the shadows still exist." Mestre picked up a large needle, nodded, and walked back over to Azrael.

  "You can kill me if you want. Anjuu already has possession of a dragon. She'll become a guardian and put a stop to all of this injustice."

  "Injustice you call it? Last I heard, you didn't give a shit about anyone but yourself? Did the almighty Azrael go soft?"

  "I didn't get soft. If you weren't so insane you would see what you are doing to these people!"

  "I know what I'm doing. That's what makes me sane. Did you know what you were doing?"

  Mestre held the needle up to Azrael's neck and punctured his skin. He could feel a cold liquid surging through his veins. His energy was completely removed and just talking to Mestre took everything out of him, let alone trying to pull away from her.

  He sent out a silent prayer to Devata. If Anjuu could hatch the egg and become a guardian quickly, there was hope of him surviving. As he sat here, there was no telling how long Mestre would play with him until she grew bored and killed him.

  Mestre pulled out the needle. "There. That should be enough for now. Shadows created an interesting poison. Did you know? It lets the receiver see images of fear while they sit immobile. Now then, let me turn off the lights and see how you react to my own version of this."

  She walked to the wood burning stove and closed the front so only a small light of the wood peaked through. She clapped her hands, and the lights turned off, leaving Azrael in almost complete darkness.

  A giggle echoed through the room. Childlike. Nothing like Mestre's own laughter. Azrael's eyes darted around, trying to see who was making the noise. Another laugh followed by the smell of blazing fires. If he was closer to the stove, he would have believed he was in the stove itself. Small footsteps echoed around him and then the blast of heat hit his face.

  Flames burst around him. He was no longer in the room. The ground was like ink swirling underneath him and near the fires were small demonic beings; standing only a foot tall with ears that pointed up another five inches. He could see their beady eyes staring at him and a smile that spread across their oversized face filled with rows of razor-sharp teeth.

  The demonic beings laughed again and the four of them picked up a small trident. They inched closer to him, skipping from one foot to the other as if their entire movement were a dance. As they stepped farther from the flames, Azrael could see the thin fur coating their bodies red as blood. Whether it was their natural color or blood coating them, he couldn't say.

  Azrael let out a scream and felt it echo around the room. No one could hear him, he remembered that much from Mestre's speech. But just a small glimpse of hope stayed inside him. Hope that Anjuu could somehow still hear him.

  The demons were all now in front of him. The one directly in front of Azrael let out a loud laugh that sent chills down Azrael's spine. The miniature demon shoved it's trident into Azrael's leg. As soon as he pulled it out, the second demon rammed his trident into Azrael’s other leg. Azrael screamed in pain. They would bleed him to death at the rate they were stabbing him. After a few rounds, one of them climbed onto his lap and found more places to shove it's trident into him.

  Azrael lost vision, blinded from the constant pain. It went on for hours. He never died, his wounds, he realized, quickly healed back up once the trident was pulled out. A never-ending cycle of new stab wounds and recovery. Despite this, the pain still lingered within him. The stabbing finally stopped, and Azrael hung his head down, beginning to feel his body regain its strength from determination. Not enough to escape, but at least he could move his fingers, toes, and head. The world went blank.

  Water poured over his head jolting, Azrael back awake. The water continued, preventing him from breathing. It flowed into his mouth as he attempted to find pockets of air. It flowed into his lungs, drowning him in his seat. Before he blacked out, he heard a laugh from the distance and the water stopped. He recognized it as Mestre but couldn't see her. He turned his head in different directions, but she was nowhere.

  The flames that had surrounded him were now replaced by a cait shidhe kneeling on the ground. A small light shined on her and Azrael could see her perfectly. Rahani. Her fur was coated in blood and all she wore were tatte
red rags covered in grime. Her hands and legs were shaved, and he could see markings of cuffs having constrained her.

  Mestre's voice echoed through the darkness. "You think you're so strong, Azrael. If you had just been a good little cat, this kitten would still be alive."

  Azrael heard a gunshot from behind him and then his sister fell backward. He could see a small spot on her stomach grow red and, in an instant, it spilled out of her. He tried to turn away, but her image dissipated and left him back in the darkness.

  "Don't worry, boy. She's not dead yet. I'll make sure you get to see the live performance. Now, let's pay a visit to my little friends again, shall we?"

  The fires blasted up, closer this time, and the small demons walked out from the fires. There were more of them now and there was nothing he could do to stop them. Nothing he could do to prepare for the hell. The rebels needed to hurry.

  Twenty-Eight

  "You can't just walk into the castle!" Tosh snapped.

  "Why not?" Anjuu took a deep drink of her beer. "I know every single pathway through the castle that even Kalio doesn't know about. Just slip on in and slice her throat while she's asleep."

  "No, I mean then what will you do? You think the guards won't suspect you? You're strong, but you're not an entire army strong." He looked around at the other patrons and dropped his voice. "You're a wanted woman. There are bound to be shadows walking around here and, in the castle, now."

  "None of them know the tunnels. I was the only shadow permitted to explore the castle."

  "You're a dragon guardian now. You can't just go around assassinating people."

  "I'm also a shadow. Being a guardian comes second."

  "And you're a drow. Once the queen is gone, I'm sure the elves will just put your people back to how they were before. That's what I would have done too if—"