by Kate Sander
Intelligence shook her head and returned to the party, which felt strangely like a funeral.
25
Queen Anita
It had been a bad day. One of the worst. Queen Anita was removing her black wedding dress. Usually servants would be helping her but she had dismissed them. She had been holding back tears all day. She needed to protect her family from the monster. How had she been manipulated by that bastard? He had weaseled in and destroyed Solias without her even seeing it coming.
It was still storming and the rain pounded against her window.
She put on her night robe and hung her head in her hands. She hoped Titus and Sol had received her raven and had gone into hiding. She would never see them again, that much was certain. An innate motherly urge told her to leave and join them, but she couldn’t abandon Solias to the hands of their new king.
She didn’t know where this patriotism had come from. Before this everything she had done she had done for family. She didn’t do anything for her city, just her family. But the love of her city had wormed its way in like never before.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
A light knock on the door.
She never knows when to leave, she thought. “Judith, I told you you could go to sleep,” she yelled.
Another knock. Shaking her head, she went to the door to dismiss her handmaiden in person.
Distracted by her thoughts, she unlocked and swung the door open. Armend was standing there, still in his white wedding robes. At least he removed his crown, the Queen thought.
“What are you doing here?” She was still holding the door, ready to slam it at any moment.
“You’re my bride,” Armend said, toying with the top clasp of his robe, “And I expect you to act as such.” He smiled wide and it scared her.
She was terrified, but she swallowed her fear and laughed in his face. “I agreed to marry you. I never agreed to anything else. I will not be told what to do by anyone. We are husband and wife on paper, and that’s where it stays.” She tried to slam the door closed, but Armend caught it.
“You forget yourself.”
Armend smiled again and started pushing the door open with his shoulder. The Queen was trying to push back but he was so much stronger than she was. It seemed inhuman. She was young and strong and he was old. She should be able to overpower him with ease.
“I see you underestimated me,” Armend said and exploded through the door. Anita was pushed backward with the force. He grabbed her by the shoulders and threw her bodily against the vanity. Bottles crashed as she hit it and crumpled to the ground.
It was the shock at the sudden violence that had allowed him to take her by surprise. Her back hurt and she had hit her head. She moaned and started getting to her hands and knees.
“You’re a fighter,” he said, closing the door behind him and cracking his knuckles. He towered over her. “I like that. My last wife was weak and boring. You’ll be harder to break.” He kicked her in the stomach.
The Queen took the blow in the ribs and it knocked all of the wind out of her as she collapsed back to her stomach. She felt a rib crack. She coughed and rolled to her side, bringing her knees up to protect herself. He tried to stomp on her, but this time she blocked it with her elbows. He withdrew his foot, but her arms throbbed with the blow.
“Good!” he laughed, “Good! I have never met a woman who was your equal. I can see why, despite your class, Sol was smitten.”
The Queen’s mind raced. She needed to think, to plan. He was way stronger and she wouldn’t beat him in strength, but she could outsmart him. She coughed again and stayed on her side, knees drawn to her chest.
“Get up,” he said.
The Queen coughed again and groaned. Weaknes… She had to show weakness. Feed his ego. She noticed his large floor length mirror standing by her bed across the room. A plan formed. But she was going to have to take a hell of a beating.
Shakily, she rose to her feet and tried to stand straight up, raising her chin proudly even as she slouched to one side protecting her damaged ribs. She made sure the mirror was directly behind her.
“You have no one,” Armend said. “Both your sons are dead. Your husband is dead. I am the King. The first in the line of King Armend. No one will do anything to stop this.”
She spat in his face. She knew it would enrage him and she was right. He recovered his shock quickly and punched her in the face, knocking her backwards. She fell heavily to her side.
Thunder clapped loudly outside.
“You bitch,” he screamed. “You stupid little bitch.” He kicked her again in the stomach, then raged and paced around.
The Queen took the blow with a grunt, and it allowed her the time to glance at how far away she was from the mirror. She sighed, she still had six feet. She’d have to take another good hit. Her face throbbed and the iron taste of blood filled her mouth.
“It seems to me,” she said getting to her hands and knees as she spat out blood. It was striking, how red it was compared to the white carpet. It didn’t belong there. Crawling to her knees, she stood up slowly to face him, still slouching heavily to her left side. It hurt to breathe, “That you’re the one being the little bitch.”
That did it. His eyes went wide and he yelled something incomprehensible. She didn’t block or sidestep as he charged her. He grabbed her by the waist and threw her backwards hard. She smashed into the mirror and crumpled to the ground. Glass shattered around her and rained over her ruined body. She allowed herself a small smile through the pain that looked like a grimace. The room lit up with lightning from outside.
He was yelling, but she wasn’t listening. She made herself groan again, loud enough so he could hear it. This focused him a bit. “Good,” he said panting, “I think you’re ready to do your wifely duty.”
She stopped the words “Not on your life,” on her lips. She needed to wait. She knew all of this was riding on timing. Keeping her mouth shut, she groaned again, waiting, knowing what was to come.
Armend pounced. He flipped her to her back and straddled her. Both hands closed around her neck and squeezed, crushing her windpipe. She scraped at his hands with the nails of her left hand, probing the ground with her right. She found a large piece of sharp glass and grabbed it. Not yet, she thought, pushing the rising panic down, not yet.
He slammed her head into the ground. It dazed her, but she held on to the piece of glass so tight it cut her hand. He kept his left hand around her neck and held her down with his body weight. He used his right to start tearing at their robes. Not yet, she thought again. Her vision was going blurry.
She watched him. Lightning lit up the room again. He couldn’t figure out the tangle of robes and looked down. She pushed up sharply with her head towards the hand on her neck. This surprised him and sent him a little off balance. She used his momentum and thrust up with her hips and swiftly stabbed him in the knee with the piece of glass with all her strength. The surprise bucked him off her and he screamed in pain, half kneeling on the ground, the glass piece stuck inches into the side of his knee. She scrambled to her feet, grabbed the back of his head and kneed him hard in the face.
He dropped to his side on the ground, groaning. Clutching his left knee, blood poured from between his hands. She kicked him in the groin as hard as she could and he screamed again. Mustering her remaining strength, she kicked him square in the jaw and knocked him out cold.
He fell heavily to the floor. Wanting to be sure, she gave him another hard kick (or two) to the groin. There was no response.
She stepped back panting, trying to return oxygen to her brain. Pain everywhere. She was badly hurt.
The glass on the ground called to her, begging her to slit that assholes throat. Temptation rose in her. It was treason. She’d be hung. But right now it seemed so worth it.
But, if she died now, Solias would enter a chaos they couldn’t handle. They needed a monarch, so she he needed to stay alive as long as possible to try and return her son to dis
place this false king. The storm outside raged.
Sighing, she looked at the big bastard, knowing she needed to get him out of her room. Grabbing him roughly by the collar, she dragged and rolled him out of her room. The pain made it take a while.
Giving him an extra few kicks for good measure, they were finally out of her room and she dropped his head to the floor with a thud.
She knew Sebastian would find him. And if he bled out it wouldn’t be her fault. With one more hard kick to the face (she was sure this one broke his nose), she returned to her room and locked the door.
The room was destroyed, but she would have the handmaiden and servants clean that up tomorrow morning. They wouldn’t ask questions. Being the Queen has its perks, she thought, spitting more blood from her mouth on the ground.
Armend had been pulling his punches not to kill her. If he had, he would be hanged for treason. She felt herself wishing he had. It would solve a lot of problems. She took a hand mirror from the floor that had only cracked and went to her closet, picking out another nightgown.
She took off the bloody and torn nightgown she was wearing and examined her body with the hand mirror. The adrenalin was wearing off and her whole body hurt. She had come out of the experience as good as could be expected. A dark blue bruise was already starting to form over her ribs, painful to the touch. From how hard it was to breathe she knew she had cracked one, maybe two, ribs. Her shoulders hurt to move. Her neck was already starting to show bruising and her lower jaw and mouth were swollen. She felt something loose in her mouth with her tongue and reached in and wrenched out a tooth. She tried to sigh as she put the mirror down, but it hurt too much so she spat out more blood and dropped the tooth to the floor.
She put the new nightgown on slowly and painfully and went to the writing desk in the corner. Judith would sneak the letter to a raven in the morning. On the thick parchment she wrote:
I will not survive long.
I will not ask for a rescue, as it would be suicide and I wouldn’t go anyway. The King is dead and I fear my sons Sol and Titus are in danger. If you can spare the men, send them to find my sons. If they are alive, they will be trying to find you. This is my last request. The attack is coming, I won’t hold it off for long. The new King, King Armend the 1st, is hell-bent on seeing the destruction of your people. Save the Melanthios and save Langundo. I hope we meet in the next life and become friends, I feel like we would have been if given the time.
With Love, Queen Anita
A drop of blood had fallen from her mouth had landed on the paper. She was too tired and hurt to care. Folding the letter slowly, she wrote Prisoner 613 on the outside. The ravens were smart and would find her.
How she missed Elefteria.
The Queen made her way shakily to the bed and lay down. She thought of her sons and fell asleep.
26
Senka
Senka woke in the middle of the night and immediately knew that something was wrong. She reached for Jules and found that he wasn’t there. Lurching upright, she ran to the door, grabbed her cloak, her boots, the quiver and bow the queen had given her and her tantos without the Pulse packs. She wasn’t quite ready for battle with them electrified yet. It took her thirty seconds to get out of bed and out the door.
Strapping her tantos in the middle of her lower back and slinging the bow over her shoulder she stopped just outside her door and listened. The night was still. She steadied her breathing and heard a slight rustle in the trees directly in front of her house on the other side of the clearing. She took off at a sprint, making sure to keep her steps quiet. Stealth was important today. She didn’t know what had happened to Jules, but she had to get him back.
She was supposed to die, not him.
She stopped at the edge of the forest and listened again, quickly steadying her breathing. Rustling… deep in the woods. She took off jogging again, stopping every now and then to listen. Stooping low, she found tracks in the forest. Two sets. And fresh. It didn’t look like anyone was being dragged or attacked, but Jules could be held at knife point. He was getting better with his sword, but Senka wasn’t sure he would be able to stave off a surprise attack.
She stopped abruptly when she heard a conversation. Looking around, she saw a tree, one which Eli would say had “Excellent climbing lines.” It didn’t take her long to climb to the top and make her way across a large branch. Crouching low, she listened and waited.
“Well, did you get it?” Jules said from below her.
“I did. It wasn’t easy,” came a gruff reply. She didn’t know the voice, but even in the dark she recognized the style of cloak. That man was a Sun God
“Well, give it up,” Jules said, holding out his hand. The Sun God handed something to him. Jules looked it over, put it in his pocket, and then passed the man a bag of Kritz.
A jumble of thoughts ran through her head. Her hands shook violently. Why was Jules talking to a Sun God? Only one thing made sense. She shook her head, over and over. She didn’t want to believe it.
“Get out of here before someone sees you,” Jules said gruffly. She had never heard that tone of voice out of him before. They both watched as the Sun God turned and left. She, in her tree, Jules on the ground.
When he was sure the man was gone, Jules turned to leave. Senka leapt from the trees and landed in front of him.
Jules immediately put his hands up. Whatever he had traded for was somewhere deep in his robes.
She stared at him.
“I… I…I can explain,” he said. “Don’t jump to conclusions. Senka. It’s not what it looks like.”
“Explain then.”
She was standing in front of him, head held high. Jules’ heart broke when he saw a single tear drip from her eye. It broke even more when he saw that she didn’t wipe it away. His mind flashed to the first time he saw her in the prison, she had the same look on her face. All he had seen then was the horribly scarred woman. Now he saw a single tear. Her face didn’t even phase him anymore. She was beautiful.
“I needed something from the city. Vick was just bringing it to me. He’s an old buddy from the Sun God days,” he stuttered, trying to find the right words.
She didn’t say anything. He wasn’t telling her the whole truth. They both knew it.
“Seriously, Senka. It’s not anything. I just got him to get me something. That’s it. I met him outside the village so he didn’t see where it was.”
“You’re an idiot.” She signed. He tried to smile, but another tear fell. “I don’t care if you trust him, he knows we’re here. He knows we’re alive. He could bring the entire army here. This could kill us all.”
He shook his head, hands still held in front of him. “Vick’s cool, he won’t. I wouldn’t betray you again.” He felt the words leave him and instantly wanted them back. But he couldn’t take them back. The word “again” hung in the air between them. He saw the shock in her eyes turn to hurt then turn to anger. Senka slowly drew a tanto out of its sheath. It rang in the silence.
“Woah. I didn’t mean again. I meant I wouldn’t betray you.”
“Don’t lie. You’ve done enough. Tell me. Now.”
He stared at her. She stared back. There was a silver sword between them, pointed directly at his heart.
“I was sent, all right. But I changed my mind!”
“Who sent you?” She was shaking so bad it was hard to see her hands.
“The Head of Peace. The Head of Intelligence set me up for a meeting with him.” He was talking fast, rambling. She needed to understand. He was desperate for her to understand. “I was in it for the money. He promised me so much money. More than I would ever see in my life. All I had to do was join the prison break and send him a raven with our location every now and then.”
She wept. Standing tall, head held high, sword pointed at his heart, with tears falling freely.
“I only sent one raven. Right when we got out of the prison. But then.” He paused, struggling to find the words, �
�I fell for you. I didn’t send another raven I swear. I even freed Atticus, the raven I’ve had since I was little.”
“Coward,” she signed and spat on the ground. Jules would have rather she stick the knife through his heart.
“You let me kill an innocent man. Vigo was scared and running. I shot a man in the back.”
“I… I had to.”
“Coward,” she said again. “Tell me why.”
“I had gambling debts. Lots of them. The people I owed money to were threatening me. They said they were going to break every bone in my body, but would keep me alive until I paid them back. I needed a fast way to money and the Head of Peace offered it.”
“You put yourself first. You let me shoot a man. In the back. As he was running away. You allowed me to be a monster. And he was innocent,” she spat again.
Jules started crying too, “I didn’t want to die. You would have killed me if I had told you. I didn’t want to die.”
“Run,” she signed. “Get out of here. I should kill you. I’m letting you run. I won’t tell the others what happened, they will just think you ran.” She kept the sword held high.
Jules backed up and said, “I’m sorry. I regret it every day. I’m so sorry.” He turned and ran. He gave one look back, and saw Senka standing in the moonlight.
“I loved you,” she signed. Jules felt his heart break. He wept and ran, not paying any attention to where he was going.
Senka watched him go. A crushing sensation entered her chest and she couldn’t breathe. Stumbling, she walked slowly to back to the village. Dawn was starting to break and Tory, Eli and Ujarak were heading towards her.
Eli went to wave, then saw her face and stopped himself. They looked at her confused.
“He left,” was all she signed to them. She went into her house and closed the door.
