Oblivion's Queen

by M. H. Johnson

  Josie whimpered at Malek's dire prediction. Duke diOnni closed his eyes, his expression one of tired regret.

  Jess nodded, knowing her beloved brother-in-arms understood the dangers a living Veitsi would have posed, just as well as she. “Please understand, Your Grace, this needed to end here and now, so they can never threaten our Houses or loved ones again. And having slain them in realms of Shadow, they will be forgotten by near everyone with the night's passing, as if all are awaking from the most curious of dreams.”

  Jess's gaze hardened. “We know now that Veitsi was an Agent of the Crown, as well as a corrupt lord as diabolical as any monster. We would be utter fools to leave such a threat at our back, masterminding our downfall, even should the gambit take place a decade from now. This way even his associates, who may not be aware of his vile deeds, but would certainly want to spill the blood of whoever had brought down one of their number, shall forget that their erstwhile comrade had even existed.”

  Malek nodded. "Only in killing them both, here and now, can we breathe easy with one less pair of threats at our back, men who would seek to ambush us days or years in the future, when we are most vulnerable, and least expecting their vengeance."

  Josie shuddered. “By the gods, Jess. I just, I don't know what to say.”

  Raphael hugged Josie tight. “Jess and Malek are absolutely right. Were they not Eloquin's favored protégés, able to fully understand these monsters, able to embrace a level of ruthlessness we can scarce comprehend, you and I would already be dead, my love.”

  Raphael gently kissed Josie's tear-stained cheeks, careful not to streak the runes he knew were all that was keeping he and his lover alive in the depths of Shadow. “For you and I and my father were victims of the most hideous of betrayals, the most ruthless of players. That Jess and Malek are able to embrace methods and outlooks equally savage is all that has kept us from death. We must remember that sometimes the ends truly do justify the means. For were it otherwise, we would be screaming in a demon's maw this very instant.”

  The duke smiled, squeezing his son's shoulder. “Well said, my son.” He then turned to Jess, eyes alight with an admiration and warmth that set Jess's heart aflutter. Save for a distinguished peppering of gray and smiling eyes that hid so much, he was the mirror image of Raphael, who but for Josie, Jess would have pursued in earnest, long ago.

  “Jess.” A gentle paw, solemn sapphire eyes gazing into her own. “We must leave. Shallow a puddle as we step within, your friends are still too frail to endure much longer, imperfectly scribed sigils aside.”

  The duke blinked, gaze overcome with a sudden wonder. “Saints above, you actually exist!”

  Twilight cocked an eyebrow before favoring the duke with a bemused smile. "Indeed. Or perhaps I am but a visualized anthropomorphic manifestation of my mistress's will, as you yourself have conjectured to your son late at night, thinking no one about." He chuckled softly. "There are advantages to being unseen, unheard and not truly believed in." Twilight then flashed a set of wicked looking claws. "Nonetheless, these wonderful tools, excellent for disemboweling maddened swine charging my mistress in her childhood, are also quite effective at slicing through rope of human hair, no matter how sadistically knotted."

  “For which I am eternally grateful, valiant Twilight,” the duke assured, dipping his head solemnly, Josie gazing in awed disbelief even as Raphael held her.

  “Excellent,” Twilight grinned. “Then I have no doubt that you shall consider it a priority to prepare only the most exquisite whitefish entrees whenever my mistress should happen to visit any of your many properties, though yellowfin tuna steaks are a suitable alternative, mind you.”

  “Of course,” the duke nodded deadpan as Jess's familiar purred.

  Twilight flashed a smiling Jess a mischievous grin of his own. "Now that we have all that sorted out, let us make haste for the entrance, my queen. We shall obliterate any and all opposition, and get your friends and these presently naked damsels safely ensconced while we burn the remaining rats out of our host's manor. I would so hate to have the duke die on us, after all, after having come to such a delicious understanding.”

  "A capital idea," the duke allowed, even as Jess nodded, gazing at the three girls presently crying with relief even as Raphael hastily donned them in the three fallen lord's cloaks, all ignoring the blood and ash. Jess then put the sobbing, exhausted girls into Josie's care before hurrying them all to the strangely elongated staircase where Jera and Alex waited, almost apologetic expressions upon their faces as they continued their way out of that pocket realm of horror and nightmare.

  “Alex, Jera! Believe me, my friends, I cannot tell you how good it is to see your faces!” Raphael gushed, even as they begun to race up the steps in concert. Josie, flushed prettily with running up the vast, winding stairs, calmly assured a tearful Jera that all was well, even as her own hand was desperately clutched by one of the victims they had saved, and somehow Jess had taken the duke's hand in their mad flight up the staircase, the smiling man not seeming to object at all.

  “If only I could hold hands so dear to me in gentler circumstances. Though fear not, I am not completely hopeless. My blade stands ready to be drawn in our cause as well,” he assured, having rather practically claimed the fallen Lord Soldner's blade, fine tool that it was, in a grip that seemed at least modestly competent, for one not training with a Squire's fanaticism.

  Jess smiled and nodded.

  “Gods above, Jess, I am sorry beyond words I didn't have your back,” Alex was the first to say as they all rested a moment, catching their breath at the top of the stairs, for all that Jess felt nothing short of invigorated, Malek's quiet chuckle making it clear he felt the same.

  Alex's voice, however was an odd mixture of regret and relief.

  Jess smiled. “No fears, my friend. For this basement stretched in directions odd and dangerous to those without the Delver's gift.” She gave her friend a considering smile. “Though considering how deep you came with absolutely no trouble as all, you just might have some potential in that department. Were things not so dire, were you willing to dance the mad dance Malek and I take to so fiercely, I would have coaxed you past the steps, all the way into the heart of that realm of Shadow, my Alex, and let fate and your own fierce will decide if gifted Delver capable of wielding spells out of the storybooks you might be.”

  Alex chuckled, taking Jess's words lightly, and Jess was surprised to have even said the thought aloud, knowing that there were grave risks as well.

  “Sure,” Jera said, “assuming it didn't kill him, Jess, and I, for one, do not wish to lose my betrothed to endless nightmare, to forget my Alex had ever lived.”

  Jess had the grace to bow her head. "You're right. Speaking in jest or no, I shouldn't have said a word."

  Alex squeezed her shoulder. “Bloody hells, Jess. Don't you dare apologize! I was halfway tempted to, believe me! Forbidden knowledge and unspeakable power are tempting fruits, even for me. I mean, look at how gifted you now are, and the worst student I ever did see, in all subjects save plants and battlecraft,” he teased, coaxing Jess to smile.

  "But we both read the accounts of would-be Delvers perishing for attempting to grasp that which was hopelessly beyond them. Jera and I could step only so far without gamble. Farther than most mortals, and we may already be altered for daring so much. I can sense that, and I know that says something about the pair of us that I'd rather not dwell upon, for the nonce. For all that, did I not fear for my beloved, I would have risked all to be by your side while we saved our friends, because in truth, Jess, I think I can almost hear the Delver's call singing in my veins," he confided, sharing a fierce hug with Raphael and Josie both, and a smiling nod of deepest respect for the duke.

  "You are a true companion of my son," Duke diOnni declared. "A wise man knows his limits, a virtuous man risks his own comfort for the sake of others, and you young sir, have done both. Grateful I am that we have two battle-trained mages in reserve and g
uarding our retreat, so to speak."

  Duke diOnni possessed a natural charisma, Jess could tell, effortlessly taking command of their operation, perhaps not even aware of it even as he did so. “Jess, Malek, your skills with blade are unparalleled, and don't think I missed how effectively you countered the rather vile spells that the former Lord Fal's henchmen had been casting, Jess, for though I could not see the enchantments, their cries of dismay and disbelief as your blade slashed through the air in showers of sparks is more than enough evidence of your gifts for my eyes.”

  The girls cried out at even this memory of the horrific ordeals they had just survived, and Malek's fist clenched tightly against the pommel of his sword. “Bloody bastards, using foul infernal arts to do such things to these poor waifs. Glad I am that those fools are dead. Gladder still that it was by our blades, Jess."

  Alex shook his head and smiled. “Glad I am to have a pair of Delvers on our side. And I would suggest you recast your wards, Malek. Even I can see you got singed.”

  Smiling sheepishly, Malek nodded, concentrated, and did just that, his shimmering crimson orbs still lazily circling about his head.

  Raphael gazed raptly at them. “Fascinating,” he whispered, not wanting to distract Malek's concentration, even as Jess saw her friend carefully reknit his bloodward, nodding in approval as it shimmered with power, as if Malek fed upon Shadow itself, aiding his magics when cast in this dark place.

  Duke diOnni nodded in approval. "Wise council. Those of you able to cast magics of whatever sort, now is an excellent time to bolster your defenses, such as you may. The next order of business should be how best to make our exit, and assure a safe retreat."

  Jess nodded. “We know that for the nonce, your House is compromised, Your Grace. Alex, if you will permit me, I would like to suggest we make our way for your own family's manor. Your brother and cousin are also in residence, Jera had mentioned, and your brother a royal battlemage himself, if I recall, and so long as he can be discrete, that might be our best option.

  Alex nodded. "Christoff will be happy to help protect the duke. He would consider it his duty, and would be quite happy to leave all political considerations aside. Frankly, Jess, he hates Council intrigue as much as you, and would ask no questions. Besides," he smiled, "Father would be more than honored to host such an esteemed personage as His Grace, and provide shelter for these girls as well." Alex's gaze turned thoughtful. "These three girls, and the rest of us save Jess and Malek, have never dipped our toes in Shadow before. Though I know you may be reluctant to, Your Grace, we might want to seek Guild counsel on how best to brace ourselves, so that this first night's sleep is not our last."

  Duke diOnni's expression turned grim. Yet gazing thoughtfully at his fellow survivors, he sighed and nodded. "A necessary concession, I fear. I only pray certain matters can be kept extremely... discrete."

  Malek nodded solemnly. "You have no need to worry on our account, Your Grace. And these three girls, well, I suspect that all they wish to do is forget. I would imagine that the last thing they had on their minds were conversations between nobles, as they recovered from direst circumstances."

  "Please, Your Grace, we will tell them nothing, we swear it!" Sobbed one of the three girls saved from the direst of fates, utterly unmarked save easily removed sigils and a horror in her gaze that Jess feared would never completely leave her.

  Her fellows nodded in accord. “We will say nothing you don't want us to, Your Grace. We wish only to live! We don't know why that monster did such things to us, after having promised us only sweetness!” Sobbed another.

  "Of course you are right, my young friends. And you have no need to fear, children, for it is my solemn vow to see all three of you safely returned to your homes, if such is at all possible," he soothed to sobs of gratitude the three girls immediately gave, falling to their knees as one and swearing undying loyalty to a suddenly nonplussed duke.

  Jess couldn't help but flash the poor man a grin before turning to Alex.

  “So, Alex, your father will not mind putting us up for a bit?”

  Alex chuckled softly. “He would delight in the adventure of it. Fear not, Jess.” He then turned and solemnly bowed to the duke. “My House is honored to be at your service, Your Grace.”

  “I am thankful to hear it, young Alex. And if you ever need a favor in turn, I pray you will never hesitate to ask. You have all earned that right. More than earned it.”

  "Thank you, my duke," Jess said, suddenly acutely conscious that she held his hand still. "And may I suggest that after we have you and Raphael safely ensconced, we see about freeing your own House of all vermin?"

  “Indeed, Lady Jess. A capital idea. And one that shall require considerable planning and a great deal of work,” he sighed. “But now on to more immediate matters. We approach the foot of the staircase, and beyond is Lord Fal's manor and all his treacherous hirelings. We have a number of noncombatants with us now, and must needs devise a way to safely flee the property, even as we make our way to young Alex's home.”

  Jess and Malek exchanged cold grins.

  "You need not fear on that account," Malek assured with a satisfied nod, shimmering crimson wards now firmly in place once more, Jess could sense. "This is what we students of Highrock trained for."

  Alex nodded. “Malek and Jess will serve as point. Any foe that crosses us, Jera and I will teach them what the Elemental Arts are truly capable of.”

  Jess nodded. "Fortunately, the former Lord Fal favored wide corridors. Malek and I shall lead, Alex and Jera to our right and left. We shall roar out we are freeing the duke from capture, and that no man shall be penalized if he vacates the premises immediately. At that point, any man who stands in opposition paints himself as an enemy, and as one we shall strike without hesitation, using as much force as is necessary to make our escape, even if it means tearing down the manor entire. Jera can strike foes with lightning, Alex is a master of wind and fire both. With your permission, Commander, we shall proceed with those tactics, adapting others as needed."

  The duke smiled and nodded. “Very good, Squire. You know our objective, I shall leave all tactical implementation to you.”

  Jess turned to her friends. “I think we all know our roles here. Malek and I are shield and blade. You, Jera, are lightning, and you, Alex, are wind, giving our foes only a few seconds to scurry before forging your windwall. Are you all ready?”

  Alex smiled, and Jess could sense him gathering his will and power, even here, on the edge of Shadow. Jera nodded grimly, withdrawing her plain-hilted straight sword and wooden buckler, sprouting more than a few leaves.

  “It's your fault, Jess, but it's my lucky buckler, and I have no desire to plant it just yet.”

  Jess nodded solemnly. “I quite agree, and sprouting or no, I promise you that wood is stronger than any shield you've held before.” Her gaze turned serious. “Are you ready for this, Jera?”

  Jera allowed herself a shaky nod. “Yes. Alex and I already discussed this upon the foot of the staircase. He will cast his windward if any foe raises blades to us, and if it destroys the house, well, it's their own damned fault.”

  “Literally,” Malek smiled grimly.

  Blades drawn, Jess and Malek shared a cold smile as they stepped out of the shallows of living dream and back into the domain of mundus and the House of Lord Fal.

  14

  Surrender or perish, intruders!”

  With a shuddering gasp, Jess found herself back in mundus, blade instantly at the ready with Malek by her side, even as her friends stumbled through. Whether via dark sigils or an inherent gift, her friends were all able to push through the barrier between realms, thin as it was there.

  Instantly and utterly, her focus returned to the battle at hand. Before her were no less than five armsmen ready to strike at what would in normal circumstances be deadly formation, three with halberds and two other men with spears just behind.

  Good. They were taking the threat seriously, polearms i
n play.

  Jess smiled, even as Malek laughed evilly.

  “By the gods,” an exhausted duke could be heard whispering, before gathering himself and engaging their opponents.

  "Servants of Lord Fal. Know that your lord was engaged in darkest acts of treachery, kidnapping, and attempting to extort a named lord of highest rank." The duke allowed his words to sink in for several moments, their opponents gazing at them with rigid discipline. "I have no doubt that upon close examination, at least one of your number should recognize my countenance. And of course, you all should know that such an act of holding any lord against his will, let alone a duke in the king's own city, is nothing short of treasonous." Duke diOnni coolly gazed at the armsmen facing them. "It is death by flame, for any freeman found to be involved in the extortion or murder of a named lord." More than a few of the house guard facing them flinched and looked away, Jess noted. Good. It did not appear they particularly liked their situation, for all that some gazed bitterly back, perhaps feeling trapped into their present role.

  The duke then gave a strangely satisfied nod and continued. “Nonetheless, I understand that most, if not all of you, were largely innocent and unaware of your former master's doings. To those of you wondering why my countenance looks familiar, allow me to clarify. I am Duke diOnni, the so-called merchant prince of Krona, and close friends with the royal family. So, now being educated as to the situation, the next move is yours. Before you, ready to fight on my behalf, are both wizards and warriors of the esteemed institution of Highrock, well-versed in the arts of killing, and though spears are mightily effective against swords, they shall avail you little against wind, lightning, and fire."