Keepers of the Crown

by Lydia Redwine

  Silence.

  I laughed.

  Their fear reeked.

  “Welcome,” I said again. “To the Court of Curses. Or the beginning of the new one.” I shifted, my enormous hand in their eyes fluttering out, my lethal nails scraping against the stone enclosure. “You must have so many questions,” I added a smile, a twisted, wicked one. “But you must know first, that you three will be the first members to comprise the Court of Curses and the quest laid out within.”

  I could see the wheels spinning, more in Owen’s eyes than in the other’s. I knew then that he was the most learned. Yes, he had heard of the Court of Curses. The tales that had ridden the wind for centuries. Tales of kings locked in fortresses of stone. Tales of castaway Shadow Bearers crawling in their filth beyond the desert lands.

  “Your first task will be to recruit the others which I have selected.” I sat; theenormityofmythroneflaringoutaroundme. It too was seeping with curling shadows. The Court of Curses will consist of new members much like the seven who will start as humans and will serve in such a way to dehumanize all those who remain in this realm.”

  I smiled again. Coldly. I was sending ice up their spines.

  “And when we have gathered the Court together, we will strike. We do not know when the Savior will be sacrificed. We will no longer seek the Crown. We will go after the humans directly.”

  I turned so that they could see it.

  The crown on my own head, resting on my pointed ears. The crown I had fashion myself of smoke and ash.

  The Crown of Curses, my own instrument of sacrifice.

  Fifty-Nine

  Fiera could not stand the distance between her and Caleb any

  longer. She was grateful, of course, that he had kept his distance at her request, but he hadn’t been with her on the battlefield. He hadn't been hunting with her in...so long.

  She stood in her cavern, staring at the corner where her own bow and quiver of arrows leaned. She had just made new arrows, for the rest had been lost in the chaos that Nazeria had been turned into. She picked up the bow and slid her palm down one side and then the other to feel its smoothness. It was worn from use. She would have to make a new one soon.

  Fiera left her cavern. “I don’t want to be alone.”The shadows on the walls created figures. Figures she gave names to.

  Terra, Mista, Marcus…

  Silva.

  And suddenly the walls of stone around her were too close, the passages too narrow. There wasn’t enough air so far from the surface. Fiera found her gait had picked up and that she was nearly sprinting through the linked corridors of stone. She was running fast enough that she felt that she could outrun the thundering of her heart. Fiera whirled around a corner and halted. She stood, chest heaving as she breathed heavily.

  Caleb’s head whipped towards her and the hand that had been picking at his lower lip as he concentrated on whatever he had been thinking about dropped.

  But Fiera’s eyes fell to his other arm instead, to the spot where his other hand should have been. But this was only for a brief instant before her gaze swept up to meet his.

  “Hi,” he said hesitantly. He quirked a smile.

  Fiera forced a smile of her own to lift her lips. “Hi.”

  Caleb shifted. “Where...uh, were you going so fast?”

  “Um...out.”

  Caleb’s gaze narrowed, a question in his eyes. “Out where?” “Just out. Of here. I-”

  Caleb only nodded slowly. He gestured towards her bow. “Hunting?”

  Fiera nodded. “I made new arrows.”

  “Do...you?” Caleb raked a hand through his now shaggy hair. He needed a haircut. Badly, Fiera thought. “Do you want help?” Fiera smiled but only shrugged. She couldn’t think of what he could help with but she wasn’t about to tell him no. Caleb cast a sideways glance at her for a long moment in which silence passed between them. Finally, he broke the silence with, “Are we on speaking terms again?”

  Fiera returned his gaze, her lips parted to utter a hesitant answer. She cleared her throat at last and gathered the fragments of courage scattered within her. “I need you to know, Caleb, that I am willing to leave your past behind if you are. So much pain is behind us now, and...I want to start over. With you.”

  “With me...as...what?”

  “As…” Fiera hesitated. “As my closest friend and companion. As...whatever it is you wish us to be, Caleb.”

  Slowly, a smileformed on Caleb’s lips, and his right hand slipped to brush Fiera’s. She laced her fingers with his. His lips parted as if he were intent on replying, but Fiera placed a finger to his mouth. “As for the speaking terms...I say, no, we are not. Not at this moment at least.” She grinned as his hand came to sweep around her waist. Caleb was still smiling when he lowered his lips to hers and kissed her tenderly.

  Only when his tongue brushed hers did she jerk back in surprise. His laughter rumbled through her, and she kissed him deeper, opening her mouth to his. Fiera shoved him into the damp, stone wall behind them.

  “Well, well,” said a voice. Fiera jerkedaway from Caleb to peer at the figure who was interrupting. Saffira stood leaning against the wall with her arms folded over her chest. She was grinning nearly as widely as Caleb was.

  Fiera scratched her head, but Caleb remained still and calm. “What is it?” Fiera asked.

  “Joel has an idea,” Saffira replied. “Something to do for Cam.”

  “This is...disgusting,” Joel said as he withdrew his finger from

  the batter. It was dripping with the still wet dough.

  “That’s becauseCaleb didn’t put enough flour in it,” Fiera

  hissed. She scowled as she barred her arms across her chest. Caleb was throwing his hands up in defense. “It wasn’t

  me! I am a great baker. It couldn't have possibly-”

  “I think someone put too much egg in. And milk,” Adria

  mused as she scanned the contents of a piece of parchment. Fiera

  snatched the paper from Adria’s hands. “Where did you find the

  goat anyway?” Adria’s voice was light and airy as she returned

  her gaze to the bowl in which the disaster of a cake had been

  “assembled.”

  “Well,” Caleb began. “We were up in the mountain, and

  Fiera was tracking a deer. She wasn’t doing a very good job of it,

  because low and behold a glorious little goat crosses our path and

  she’s instantly more interested in that instead of the giant deer

  we had seen just across the stream”

  “Stop talking, everyone! I can’t hear myself think!” Joel

  exclaimed. Caleb opened his mouth as if he was going to

  continue but thought against it, and clamped his mouth shut.

  Joel had the heels of his hands pressed into his temples midst his

  concentration. Finally, his arms fell to his sides. “I guess we’ll

  have to start over again. And this time...Caleb won’t touch

  anything.”

  Caleb sighed dramatically. “Fine. I’ll rub your shoulders,

  Joel, to help ease the tension building there. Did I ever tell you

  that you have fine shoulders?”

  Fiera huffed. “Where was all that courteousness when I

  needed a shoulder rub?”

  Caleb’s mouth twisted into a crooked grin. “At least I

  don’t kiss Joel.”

  “Would you all shut up?” the bronze-haired young man

  hissed. “Do we want Cam to know we’re making a disaster out of

  this?”

  Fiera shook her head. “You’re right. I don’t want my

  sister walking in on Caleb flirting with Joel. It might alarm her

  too much.”

  A laugh bubbled into the air. Adria’s eyes were bright as

  the two boys and her older sister turned to her. “I’ll read the

  directions,” she said. “And y
ou can do the work. But not Caleb.” Caleb muttered something under his breath that no one

  could hear. Something that started with and ended with, “fine.”

  Fiera was smiling as she reached out to grab his hand and tug

  him towards her.

  Joel groaned. “Not again.”

  Adria was at his side in a second, her hands covering his

  eyes. “I can still hear them.” Adria’s laugh was light and cheery.

  “Sing a song over them.”

  “You’re just jealous, Joel,” Caleb said.

  Joel’s mouth opened and words put to tune poured forth

  in a voice that was indeed too loud. Adria’s hand clamped over

  his mouth. “Cam, remember!” she hissed.

  “What are you singing anyway?” Fiera asked, not

  recognizing the words.

  Joel lifted his gaze from the bowl brimming with their

  disaster. “It’s a Ferox song for birth remembrance day. It’s the

  only birthday song I know.”

  Fiera and Adria laughed at thesame time. “We neverhad

  songs for birthdays in Medulla. Just lots of waltzing to other

  songs.”

  Joel shrugged. “If we don’t get a proper cake made, a

  song will be something that does work.”

  “You can’t have a song without the cake,” Caleb mused as

  he stuck his finger into the batter they had previously made. He

  put the finger in his mouth and had it there for a second before

  he was spitting the batter all over the slab of stone they had been

  using as a table.

  Adria laughed, Joel closed his eyes and shook his head,

  and Fiera simply patted Caleb’s back. “Teach us the song, then,”

  she said.

  Cam screamed and then slammed into the stone wall.

  Laughter chorused through the cavern. A bright light shone before her. Torches that lined the walls and the small flickering flame in the center of… “What is that? And what the hell were you thinking scaring me like that?”

  Thefaces cameintoview. Fiera’s first,her eyesbrightand smile wide. She was...happy. So full of joy. Cam didn’t think she had ever seen her sister that happy. Adria was smiling too as was Saffira. Lia was grinning but silent. Caleb was howling with laughter, his head tossed back and blooming red with merriment.

  Joel was smiling sweetly, the unnamed object held before him.

  “Happy birthday, Cam!” Adria shouted gleefully.

  Cam’s jaw dropped. She had forgotten.

  Had it truly been a year since she had last been darting in the woods with her sisters? She remembered the buck she had seen and then the excitement of her ball following their evening meal. She recalled dancing with Grandfather and nearly crashing into Terra. Owen had been her best friend then. She hadn't met Peter, or Lia, or Saffira or her father yet. She had lived in blissful ignorance.

  “Part of me wishes I had it back,” she thought.

  “And this...is your disaster of a birthday cake,” Joel said ruefully.

  “The fourth disaster ofa birthday caketo beexact,” Caleb added.

  Cam bubbled with laughter as Joel slid the cake into her hands.

  “It doesn’t taste all that bad,” he said.

  “It looks like it was baked too long,” she replied.

  “Well, that’s an improvement, then!” Caleb claimed. “Because the last one was undercooked.”

  Tears of utter joy slipped from Cam’s eyes. “You remembered,” she breathed.

  “Ofcourse I remembered,” Fiera said. “Somebeggar man off the streets told us your birthday, insisting on the exact day.”

  Cam laughed again. Of course, Cole had done such a thing.

  “Make a wish,” Adria whispered.

  Cam smiled down at the wedge of wax that was serving as a candle. Serving fast, for the wax was dripping onto the cake. Cam closed her eyes and wished. Then blew out the flame.

  Voices filled the room in song. Cam did not know the words, but all of her friends did. They sang in harmony, their voices mixing. Some of them were good and some of them were awful. Caleb’s was awful on purpose.

  Cam cried. “I love you all,” she whispered as she pushed herself into their arms when they had finished singing. “I love you all very much.”

  Cam heard footsteps in the passage outside of her cavern

  followed by the flickering of light. She set the book in her lap down and listened. The steps were quiet, hesitant. And coming closer. The figure appeared.

  Joel. His hair and clothes were rumpled. “Cam,” he said softly. She rose from the pallet of straw and animal skins that had been assembled as her bed. Her bare feet pattered across the cool stone before she reached him. She scanned his appearance. A sack was slung across his shoulders. “You’re leaving.”

  Joel nodded. “I’ve stayed too long.” “Why?” The question had been burning for weeks now, but she had not uttered it. She had simply waited, watching him.

  Joel’s fingers curled tightly around the strap of his sack. “Because Elyon told me to stay. He was telling me to leave when we were approaching the valley, to stay far away from Mingroth, but when we left, it was always light before me. To Mirabelle. To Nazeria. But not here. The light has faded here.”

  His visions. They hadn’t spoken about them since Mingroth.

  Cam only nodded. So he was going home now. And who was to know when she would see him again. She didn’t know what to say. “Goodbye” didn’t seem fitting.

  “Cam, I-I haven’t exactly been quite honest with you regarding my intentions,” Joel murmured after a long passing of silence.

  Cam’s brows rose slightly as her face reddened.

  Joel did not look at her, but his face was blooming red in the firelight of his torch. “I knew that at some point we would come near Mingroth.”

  “Oh,” Cam thought, her interest suddenly piquing.

  “I had no inclination that the company of Mirabelle would enter it. But I knew I would. Always, I would go there and pay justice for what was done.” His tone was hard, cold. He sighed once more. This time, his breath was shaky. “I fell to vengeance instead.”

  “What?” Cam stuttered out, her voice breathy. She reached for him.

  Joel’s breath was shaky as he began to explain. “When Enboria was attacked, my grandfather was killed. My father had been fond of him, despite the fact that one believed in Elyon and one believed in a shadow that could help him if he cried out loudly enough. And well, you could say I slipped into darkness I could not escape for years. I wouldn't eat, barely slept. Didn’t care for the sun or for fishing or for reading much.” He paused, his own thoughts hanging thick between them. “Andthat’s when the visions began. I saw shadows. Corpses of those I loved hanging on trees. Storms by the sea. A forest and then a lake, both of them swallowing me alive.” He paused to release a shuddering breath. “I thought I was going insane.”

  Joel was still looking at his fidgeting hands when Cam reached for his arm.. “Were you ever able to tell anyone?”

  Joel noddedonce more. “I toldoneperson. A friendIhad among the Ferox. But I haven't seen her in a long time.”

  Cam’s eyes widened. “Was she there when we were?”

  Joel shook his head. “No. She vanished some time ago.”

  Cam heard the intake of his breath, then the shuddering as he tried to suppress a sob.

  He continued. “I was fourteen. A young man, a servant of King Andel, came into our territory. I recognized his allegiance. He bore the colors of the king that had laid waste to my homeland. I gave him no time to explain himself. I drove a dagger through his throat. And...I-I never told anyone. Until now.”

  Cam drew in a breath, her hand snapping to her mouth.

  So...Joel was a murderer.

  Cam would have never labeled him as such. He did not seem dangerous, but she supposed that revenge made them all dangero
us.

  Tears welled up in his eyes. “I never repented from it, Cam. I’ve been on this quest of revenge ever since. I vowed to go into thehouse ofthat king andkill his entire family.”He reached into his pocket and withdrew a small band of silver. Cam recognized it. It was the ring he had held and then hidden from her after they had met Ilea.

  “The nightmares in Mingroth...I saw him. That boy over and over again,” he said in a voice Cam could barely hear.

  “But only Silva was left, and she’s gone now,” Cam said as she reached a comforting hand to squeeze his arm.

  Joel’s expression hardened and froze, pinning to Cam’s. “Exactly.”

  Cam stumbled back, her gasp stifled against the hand she clasped over her own mouth. “Y-you…” Her fingers began to tremble. Why hadn’t he said anything when Owen had accused her? “You killed Silva.” It wasn’t a question, and Joeldidn’t have to respond. He only stared.

  “Andnow...I only feel...emptiness. A small sense of relief, yes, but not the victory I thought I would feel.” Joel’s expression softened, a pleading sort of gaze coming into his eyes.

  Cam stepped forward, slowly, and wiped a tear from his cheek. His glassy gaze held hers. “I feel only worse. You were right. Revenge contorts human souls. It distorts good’s common goal. Vengeance isn’t mine to enact.” Joel squeezed his eyes shut against fresh tears.

  Cam pulled in her own shaky breath. She could barely think through the heaviness between them. The darkness ebbing as shadows around him.

  “Elyon punished me for it,” Joel whispered. He looked down at his two shaking hands. “I couldn’t use my hands for a long time. A very long time. I can’t remember the number of days. My mother and father believed it to be a sickness, part of the darkness I had slipped into after my grandfather’s passing.” He kept staring at his hands. Cam was staring now too. “They just...trembled…” Joel pulled in a shuddering sob. “I used my hands to end a life, and so my hands became a hindrance in my own.”

  Cam pulled him into her arms. “Thank you,” she whispered. Joel had saved her from herself, from her own revenge, at his own cost. His own sacrifice. “Go home,” she said softly as she pulled far enough away to look at him. “Go home and heal.”