The dark soldiers came out from hiding. She gripped the collar of her hood, readying herself to summon Terachiro if the need arose. Yet the men were not drawing their swords.
“What do you want?” she asked.
“Summoner?” they asked, and although she could not see their lips move under their helmets, she got the impression that they had all said this at the exact same time.
She nodded.
“You must come with us to the castle,” the soldiers again said in unison. “The king has requested your company.”
It was strange to hear them all talk at once, like their speech and replies all came from one mouth.
“And if I refuse?” It didn’t seem like even light could escape the tight circle they had created around her.
Suddenly the tightly knit circle opened, the only opening pointing straight to the castle. “Your choice is yours to make.”
She breathed out with a smile, seeing she had no choice in the matter, but decided it was of little concern. She would’ve had to go to the castle to find the key anyhow.
“To go to the castle is my own choice then,” she said.
In unison, they said, “Indeed.”
She started toward the castle, and they followed her up the path on either side of her to make sure she did not turn from their intended destination. They walked through the city streets in the overcast day, the castle looming over them. Laine raised her hood to keep her anonymity. She moved with the soldiers under the stone archway into the courtyard, suddenly feeling like she was being drafted into the war that was being reinitiated.
She gazed around in wonder as they climbed the stairs to the giant doorways of the castle entrance. The men on either side of her opened them up to reveal the red drapes that hung up around the torch-lit hallway. She lowered her head, feeling that the kingdoms could never be rejoined; they were like red and green: so far apart from each other in the spectrum that they could never go together. There was too much power for those in control, too much corruption, and that’s why she knew Kissick’s plan was unachievable.
They continued through the castle, her eyes shifting to all the gaps in the soldiers around her. She was sure that what she was looking for was here, or at least had been here before.
The hall was long and branched off down many different corridors, with stairs leading higher up into the castle tower. At the very center of the castle’s base, which all of the corridors circled, was an opening: a second courtyard which led into the throne room. They made their way past the breathtaking gardens comprised of roses and other flowers of various colors.
Passing through another set of doors, they came into the throne room: a large hall full of red load-bearing beams. The sunlight appeared to invade the shadowed room, and the throne itself was empty. Strangely, it also looked like it had recently had a section of it carved away.
A young but large man with long blond hair stood alone high up on a platform next to the sun-streaked window. They came to a stop before the throne on the red throw rug, and the young king turned to them.
“Has my guest arrived?” his deep voice inquired.
“Yes, Your Majesty,” the soldiers replied in sync. “As you said, the girl was a summoner.”
Laine was confused by why they kept using that term. Summoner was such an old word used back in the times of the War of the Two Kings. Unless of the highest rank, the word used now was caller, but maybe Terratheist stuck to the old titles.
“I am Princess Laine Armalon of Avatasc, and yes, I am a summoner, as you put it. Why have you called me to your presence?”
She was determined not to be patronized as she had been by King Kissick. Pursing her lips, she studied the new king skeptically. He was a handsome young man and clearly new to the position, and Laine couldn’t help but draw a connection between his appearance and the current state of the city. However, that also meant he might be persuadable.
“You look weary, Princess. Can I offer you something to wash the road dust from your throat?” the young king enquired graciously.
“Cider, if you have it, and water if you don’t.” Laine was hesitant to accept anything stronger that would cloud her mind.
“Bring us water.”
One of the guards moved off to get the drinks.
The handsome young king, who was fully armored for some prophetic reason, turned slowly and walked down from the platform when the drinks arrived. The guard handed them both goblets and silently returned to the shadowed recess.
“What brings you to Terratheist, Your Highness?” the king asked in a conversational tone. “Searching for something, or perhaps someone?”
Laine’s brow furrowed. Not being the king’s trueborn daughter, she was not used to the title, and it put her off guard. “H-how did you know that?” she asked more brusquely than she had intended.
“A guess. As the king, there’s a good chance I know the person you are looking for.” The king’s eyes fell to the floor. “But I’m afraid you may have arrived too late to catch him.”
“What do you mean?” Laine demanded. “Where have they gone?”
The young king took a sip from his goblet. “Avatasc, Your Highness.”
Laine paused and shook her head. “That can’t be . . . Why? Will he be returning soon?”
“I believe the Snake King has taken him prisoner, either that or he has turned him against us.” The king walked toward her, his abnormally red eyes staring into hers. “You may not be so surprised when learning that this person was sent to Avatasc on the exact same quest as you.”
Laine remembered the boy and the man they had run into in the forest, but shook her head again. “No, it couldn’t be . . . but then, you think that the Snake King has taken him in? This doesn’t make any . . .” She sighed in frustration, her drink forgotten.
“If your quest in coming here was to see him, I’m sorry to say, Your Highness, that your journey may have been in vain from the very beginning.” The king shook his head sorrowfully.
She bit the inside of her cheek. Her instincts had told her that something had been off about those two, and the younger one had been a caller. It only made sense that the person who had the other key-half would be a caller like herself. Yet his naive friendliness had gotten the best of her, all while tricking her to let them pass.
She whirled to face the open window.
I’m such a fool!
“No, my mission was to get here, and as long as I’m here, my quest is still achievable.”
“Your Highness?” The king turned. “What is your true reason for coming here?”
Laine breathed out heavily. “A power shift. My stepfather must be overthrown or Avatasc . . . the land in general . . . will never get better as long as someone like him is in power. I must defeat him!”
“Power shift, overthrow, conquest . . .” The young man’s smile widened. “We have the same goals, you and I. If you fight for me, Your Highness, I will put my entire army behind you and give you this power shift you desire. I do not wish to control the lands. Far from it. But you are a princess. You deserve, by right, to take his kingdom.” His red eyes appeared to glow slightly.
Laine met his gaze. “And you can promise this to me?”
The king bowed. “I can promise you this, Your Highness. But you must fight for me against all who oppose me. You must make that one vow in return. If you keep that vow, you will end up destroying what you hate, and in turn, fixing what you love.”
What this young king doesn’t realize is that if he picks a fight with Avatasc, he will surely lose.
“How do I know you can keep this promise?” She raised an eyebrow. “From what I have seen of this city, you don’t have the numbers to come out as the victor.”
The king nodded as she said this, waiting for her to finish. “First, Your Highness, show me what you can do.”
Laine took off her hood and threw it up, summoning Terachiro from it in an instant. T
he large bat Melkai landed and stepped forward, grunting on the red throw rug.
From the king’s grin, he appeared impressed by the size of her second-circle Melkai.
Laine then raised the edge of her hand, which began to glow bright blue from her blade spell.
He clapped. “Very good, very good.”
“How impressed you are means little to me,” she snapped. “I could command Terachiro to rip your head off right now if I wanted to. Any reason I shouldn’t?”
The king walked around her, his smile respectful. “Our Master of Pacts has grown old and senile of late. I need fresh blood to invigorate those under him. How would you like to take his place and command the callers who remain here during the war? Surely, someone of Your Highness’s experience could make good use of such power.”
Laine took a sip of her water to give herself time to mull the idea over. After all, if the barrier did fall, the callers would be the most powerful force in the land to oppose the oncoming threat. “Why would they follow me? A stranger from an enemy kingdom.”
“They will do as I command, and beyond that, you are one of rare talent here.” He spread his hands. “I’m sure they would jump at the chance.”
Laine smiled at the prospect of having others under her influence, but tried to hide it behind her goblet. Unlike his predecessor, this king seemed to have similar goals to her own. He was planning to go to war with her uncle and wanted her help in the battles to come. However, Kissick was more than ready to defend himself against and destroy any opposition. He had lavished his army with every resource they could need in preparation for such an event.
None of this will matter if we can’t defeat him.
“Alright then, what are your plans for striking Avatasc? I need to know your army’s strength and the strength of your court callers if I am to be of any assistance. I want to see your power and that of your own Melkai,” Laine asked. She wondered what Melkai the king could control, if it was as grand as Kissick’s Melkai, Serraba.
The young king began to walk back up onto the platform. “I don’t have a Melkai to be summoned for proof. I do, however, have something else which may topple the power of any Melkai you bring before me. If you would be so kind as to join me at the window?”
Laine quickly followed the king up onto the platform, Terachiro flying up the red stairs.
“As you can see, my army is ready to march as we speak. You may ask any questions you have of their numbers or their strength of me, and as for my callers, you may ask them yourself.”
Sprawled out across the fields of the Solvena Plains were at least ten to twenty thousand men, all in the same black armor.
How did I not see them upon my arrival? Were they hiding behind the walls? And how did they organize themselves there so quickly?
Not just men, but somehow Melkai also. Dozens of beasts and flying monsters protruded from the rows of their ranks, each one either standing by their caller or carrying them, both on the field and in the air.
The darkness of them swallowed the green of the fields, and with the shock of the sight, Laine turned to the king who had inclined his head in anticipation of her answer.
“I believe your silence tells me you have no further questions. Very well then, good to have you with us,” the king murmured.
Although she wished to reply, she could not. For the first time in years, a man had silenced her.
I . . . I think this could work. With my knowledge of calling and his army, we could be unstoppable. I can finally stand on even footing with King Kissick.
With an unheard order, the army turned. Sounding a war horn, they began to march, making their way over the Solvena Plains. When only the tail of the army could be seen, the king descended the stairs.
“Come. Let me show you something else.”
Laine followed the king down a long corridor to his war room where maps were laid out over long wooden tables. “Garland and Kydia . . .” he said, waving to the northern borders. “They’ll need to be cowed or subdued before Avatasc can be taken successfully. However, once we make our preemptive strike on Avatasc, we will be vulnerable to a rear attack by the Senadonians.” He jabbed his finger at a marked fortress over the Jile Mountains. “We cannot afford a war on two fronts; therefore, our first target will be New Senadon.”
“Wait, that’s where you’re sending your soldiers first?” Laine slammed down her goblet, spilling water onto the oak. “Not Avatasc?”
The king nodded. “New Senadon will fall quickly, you have my word. And Avatasc will soon follow.”
Laine scanned the area between New Senadon and Avatasc. “Needless to say, the success or failure of this expedition will determine the length of my stay here.”
“Then I foresee I will be enjoying your company for some time.” He gestured to two guards who had followed them in. “Follow them and they will lead you to your room in Summoners’ Spire.”
Laine went to follow them, but turned back. “We are both powerful and ambitious people, Your Majesty. Be mindful of that should your ambitions ever begin to hinder my own.”
With that said, she left the war room.
Chapter 18: War Council
Nathan leaned on the railing of the castle balcony, looking out over Avatasc. The bright sunlight shone down on the surrounding fields. It had been a few weeks since he had become king, and Nathan had found that the reordering of the city had been an invigorating task for him, especially when seeing the look on people’s faces when justice had finally been returned to them.
He had the soldiers actually work for their keep now, creating irrigation systems around the kingdom to make the land more arable, while distributing the resources more fairly between them and the common folk.
To his amazement, Kendra’s ideas about the simplicity of keeping a kingdom prosperous were actually closer to the mark than the other methods they had discussed . . . in the short term at least.
When the messenger they sent requesting Laine to come back never returned, he knew something was clearly wrong. Warning of Terratheist’s advance arrived not long after. He couldn’t fathom why Michael’s father, someone he had known since his childhood, was acting so rashly. He sent him letter after desperate letter explaining that he was now the king and the fighting could stop, but the letters were never responded to.
The king may have lost his sanity not hearing a word about his son.
He had to make peace, but if peace was impossible, he had to make sure Avatasc’s defenses were solid before he made his return journey. That meant repairing the walls: the only thing that would protect the people from the Melkai should they fail to reclaim the key.
Aisic’s huge dragon form swooped into view after taking a better view of the structure from above. He lifted another boulder from the pile of rubble into place for it to be melted along with the others he had since hauled in from the mountains to fill in the gaps. Soon the wall would be complete, ahead of schedule thanks to the might and flame of Aisic’s Melkaiic form.
He had assisted with most of the improvements. His fire had burned away the brush to expand the farms alongside the crumbling castle, his claws had cleared away ditches for the new aqueducts for irrigation, and even his large neck could lift stonemasons into place without the use of pulleys.
The last few boulders were mortared in place and set by the heat of Aisic’s blackening fire. Then Aisic flapped his wings and took to the sky. He flew toward the castle, changing into his human form as he landed next to Nathan.
“That should be all for the defenses, Your Majesty.” He turned and raised an eyebrow at him. “So, what’s next?”
Nathan clasped his hands behind his back. “Go get dressed in the armor I’ve had the smithy provide you with. I’ve summoned a war council and need you to look as intimidating as possible.”
Aisic bowed and strode away to don his new armor. After changing, Nathan waited a few minutes to head to the council room. He didn’t wan
t to arrive before Aisic. When he heard Aisic leaving his adjacent room, he stepped into the hallway, running his strategy over in his mind. Like him, Aisic had been geared up in full battle regalia, and Nathan had never seen his protector look more like a warrior than he did now.
Nathan’s king’s armor and garments had been far more elegant than anything he had worn before. He barely recognized himself. The armorers had told him that chainmail was much better for protection than plate armor, but now seeing Aisic in his plate, it didn’t appear that way. Aisic looked much more intimidating in his broad-shouldered armor. He wore it like he was born in it, and it suited him well.
Wearing chainmail allowed Nathan to keep his hood, however. Anonymity, he found, was much better protection against enemies than any armor they could provide for him.
Nathan paused and took a pensive breath as they arrived at the door to the war chamber. There was a lot he had to say, and he knew he couldn’t look weak—not in front of these men.
“Are you ready for this?” Aisic asked.
Nathan nodded. “Yes, I personally summoned these commanders and generals for the sake of this meeting. My mother said they’re sure to listen to my requests.”
Aisic smirked, and Nathan could see he wasn’t so sure of this.
They walked into the green-draped war chamber where they were met by five other men and the queen around a long table. Each of them were commanders and lords, and, although a few of them were fond of him, others weren’t as convinced of his claim to rule as of yet. His mother was smiling at him, but he had requested that she not intervene.
I have to make my own mistakes and learn to be a good king through them.
Despite this fact, he could still see her pursing her lips and wringing her hands to prevent herself from speaking up at his arrival.
One of the five lords of Avatasc was missing from the room, but Nathan decided not to wait for him. He walked toward the massive table with a map spread out along it.
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