The Zoya Chronicles Boxed Set

by Kate Sander

  "Good," Senka said. "I'm here to kill them. I'm tired of hunting, it's time for this shit to go down, one way or another."

  "So you’re condemning us to die because you're tired?"

  "Do you know what the Ampulex can do?" White hot anger was rising in her chest.

  "They take slaves," Vick said, avoiding her gaze.

  "They take over people's minds," Senka said. "They twist them, manipulate them, until people are less than human."

  Vick went white.

  "All they want is to kill and to fuck, every resemblance of humanity lost. That's not all. They can make anyone do anything," she was talking slowly, trying to scare him. "My best friend tried to kill me. Nothing I could say or do would stop her. Nothing. She wanted me dead more than anything. Those kids will kill their parents, if you're lucky," she said. "If you're not, you'll watch parents kill their kids. You'll watch people that you love turn to animals. Until I kill those two fuckers, no where you will go can make you safe ever again."

  Vick was staring at her from across the fire, motionless.

  "She's not lying," Ujarak said. Everyone around the fire jumped and looked at him. He hadn't spoken the entire day. "Her friend wanted her dead. Senka tried everything to snap her out of it. Nothing worked. I think she would have attacked until exhaustion took her."

  "They took my boy," Hans said suddenly. "They took him. I'm not going to let them do that to him. Not my Stillman."

  "They have the Prince," Tory pleaded. "We have to try."

  Vick rubbed his face. "Alright. But it needs to be voluntary. I'll send the sick and the elderly to the trees. The remaining Melanthios elders will take care of them. I'll talk to everyone in the morning." He rose from the fire and, speaking directly to Senka, said, "I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing this for Titus and for Solias. I think you're just as bad as they are." He spat on the ground. "Fucking Zoya." Turning, he strode away into the dark.

  "That was fun," Senka said lightly.

  "You need to work on your people skills," Tory said.

  "No, I don't. I need to kill a couple fuckers before they kill me and destroy the rest of this country."

  They stared at the fire a while, all lost in their own thoughts of what the morning would bring.

  War. Finally war. Then all this would be over.

  Kai, Eris and Akira walked up to them carrying a vat of soup and small bowls for each of them.

  "How much of that did you guys listen to?" Tory asked.

  "None," Eris said, drowning out Akira who said, "All."

  "Stop lying," Senka said softly to the fire. "It doesn't do you any good."

  "All," Eris said, not meeting Senka's eye. "Sorry, comes naturally."

  "What do you guys think?" Tory asked, taking a bowl of soup out of the pot being passed around.

  Akira shrugged, "'Bout time if you ask me." She slurped her soup loudly, making Senka smile. "I didn't come all this way for campfires."

  "Why does the ten-year-old have more balls than the war Captain?"

  "It's not about balls," Hans said softly. "It's about putting other people's lives on the line. It's a mark of maturity to want peace instead of war. Jules knew this."

  Chastised, Senka looked at the fire.

  Hans was right, of course. Jules did know that.

  "Jules was a better person than all of us," Ujarak mumbled.

  No one could disagree. Their small tribe slurped soup and stayed silent, thinking of what was to come.

  Kai perked his head up from Akira's lap, giving Senka a second’s notice that someone was running up to their fire.

  "Vick sent me," the young Melanthios man said. "You guys are going to want to come and see this." He ran away, delivering the same message to different fires.

  People were running towards the east, talking excitedly to each other.

  The group stood and jogged to the crowd of people, who separated and allowed them to the front. Fear of Zoya still came in handy sometimes.

  An army, dressed in black leather and riding horses, was trickling towards camp. A man at the front of the army dismounted his horse and removed his helmet.

  Vick gasped and fell to one knee. The crowd whispered and looked at each other awkwardly.

  "Rise please, Captain," the young man said to Vick.

  "My King," Vick gasped, still kneeling.

  Gasps echoed and the people of Solias dropped to their knees. Only Senka's group and the Melanthios were left standing awkwardly.

  "Rise, please," the man said loudly. "I am not your king. Not yet."

  The crowd rose with whoops and cheers.

  "You've saved us!" a woman called.

  "My prince."

  "We thought you were dead."

  "I'm so proud you're here."

  The calls carried in the quiet night as people cheered and clapped for their returned prince.

  "Is there somewhere we can talk?" Sol asked Vick quietly.

  "Yes," Vick said. He nodded towards Senka. "They need to come too."

  Sol nodded.

  Vick commanded his troops to help the Carabesh army stable and feed their horses.

  "Come with me," he said.

  "Stay here," Senka told Eris and Akira. "No spying."

  Akira sighed and Eris frowned, but Kai growled his agreement. He'd keep an eye on them.

  Senka, Ujarak, Tory and Hans strode after Vick and Prince Sol. They went to a fire away from the rest of the camp, where they could speak in private.

  "I recognize you," Sol said to Ujarak. "You're the man who attacked me in front of City Hall?"

  Ujarak nodded.

  Sol smiled, "I thought it was too easy to take you out," he said. "That was pretty good acting. I thought you were sentenced to death? How did you escape prison?"

  "That is a story for another time," Ujarak grunted.

  Sol nodded, "I'm sorry, I'm distracted. It's nice to be in my home country again."

  "What took you so long?" Senka snapped.

  Sol took a seat on a log as Tory smacked Senka in the side.

  "No, I'm serious," Senka said. "What took him so long? It's been utter fucking chaos here for years. Thousands of people have died. And this guy was just too busy in Carabesh to come and help his own country?"

  "I'm not going to disagree with you," Sol said softly. "It took me longer than anticipated to be able to come back to Langundo with an army."

  "You didn't need an army," Ujarak said softly. "I set you up for the President to owe you. Two full months ago. And yet, you took this long to come?"

  Sol faced the fire, "I have nothing else to say on the matter. I'm here now, with an army of one thousand on horses. I will take my throne back whether you help me or not."

  Ujarak sighed and sat heavily on a tree stump away from the Prince. Senka joined him and they glared while the others settled in around the fire.

  "I don't want to talk about the past," the Prince said. "I want to talk about the future. We need to attack, and soon."

  "No shit," Senka said. "Didn't need some punk ass kid coming in here to tell me that we need to attack the enemy."

  "What did you just call me?" Sol snapped.

  "Oh, I think you fucking heard me," Senka spat.

  "ENOUGH!" Tory yelled. "Both of you."

  "I am your King," Sol stammered.

  "No, you're not," Tory said firmly. "I'm a Melanthios. You're no King of mine."

  "What will you give the Melanthios," Ujarak asked, "if we help return you to the throne?"

  "My parents wanted peace," Sol said, glaring at Senka, who was busy examining her nails. "I am willing to offer the same. No wars with the Melanthios, as long as my bloodline is on the throne."

  "How can we trust you?" Senka asked. "The Melanthios have been burned by the Sols before."

  Sol shrugged, "I'm not my father. You're just going to have to believe me."

  They didn't have much more to argue.

  "So, what’s your plan?" Sol asked hesitantly.

&nb
sp; "Well, I'm not sure what you know about the Ampulex, but they are mainly comprised of Zoya and slaves. We're," Senka gestured to Ujarak, Tory and Hans, "going to go after their leaders. Once they're dead, then the slaves should snap out of it, giving us an advantage to take out the rest of the Generals."

  Sol nodded, "I will take the Carabesh in right down the middle, draw the slaves and the Generals. You will then be able to sneak around to the castle. I'm going to assume they are holed up in there."

  "There are still civilians in there," Vick said. "I couldn't get them all out."

  "And try not to kill the slaves," Senka said. "It will be hard to do, as they attack until they're dead. But we're hoping that once those two assholes are dead, they will come back to us."

  "So, they have no control?" Sol said.

  "None. It's terrible," Hans said. "Prince, I have something to tell you."

  Sol waited expectantly.

  "Your brother... He was staying with my wife and me, hiding from the false king."

  Senka examined her nails closer, refusing to think about Jules' cold, dead face peaking up from the rubble.

  "He's alive?" Sol breathed.

  "We're not sure. The Ampulex came through our village while a group of us was fishing. They killed a lot, but your brother was not among the dead. He's most likely alive."

  "So then he's most likely a slave," Sol said. "I'll find him tomorrow. We will capture, not kill."

  "Kill the generals," Senka said. "Leave those other assholes to me."

  20

  Senka

  Sleep eluded her, but the night went fast.

  Before she knew it, she was on a horse at the head of a bedraggled army marching towards a walled city.

  Vick hadn't been wrong. It was less than a thousand.

  So, two thousand versus ten thousand.

  Shit, she'd had worse odds.

  But you've never had so much on the line.

  Thinking of the heart that must be beating and the little life she was carrying, nerves flooded through her like never before.

  Wanting to run and never look back, hide in the forest, raise her child and forget about the rest of the world.

  There are a few things wrong with that plan, she thought, still leading the march. The castle would be coming into view any minute, and she needed to get emotionally prepared for the battle, not thinking about running away. First off, the annoying voice in her head chirped, you ain't no pussy. And running right now would make you the world's biggest...

  "Pussy," she mumbled out loud. Tory shot her a look from beside her but kept silent.

  Senka, Ujarak, Tory, Sol, Eris, Akira and Vick were all riding on the last of the horses at the front of the measly army. The Carabesh looked regal enough, with their black leather armour and black horses, but the rest of them looked like...

  Shit.

  Indeed.

  Secondly, her voice piped back up, you wouldn't get far. You know it, too, don't you? If you don't do this everyone will die. There's no where you can go that they won't find you. What kind of a life is that for her?

  That's really the only argument she needed. Give this kid the best life possible. If she died trying then...

  Then the kid dies with you.

  On that terrifying thought, the castle rose out of the ground in front of them. Nestled behind a hill on the prairies, it sat as a shell of what it once was. Walls had crumbled into gaping holes, showing decrepit and run-down houses inside. Turrets were left unarmed, the castle itself was dirty in the background, tainted with the smoke of the city around it when it had burned.

  "There," Senka said softly, pointing to a small copse of trees a few hundred feet away.

  "That's the place?" Sol asked. "Are you sure?"

  "Yes," Senka said simply. Jumping off her horse in a deft dismount she said, "Make sure you're not late."

  Ujarak dismounted awkwardly, followed by Tory, Akira and Eris.

  "The longer you take, the more of us die," Sol said, looking down on them.

  "Awesome pep talk," Senka said, giving him a thumbs up. "Love it. Can't wait until you're king."

  Turning with a whistle to Kai, she jogged towards the only trees they could see on the plain.

  "Be careful," Sol called to her back.

  "She likes you," Ujarak mumbled. Sighing, he hoisted his warhammer and trudged along behind Senka and her cat, with Tory, Akira and Eris following.

  It didn't take them long to reach the shadow in the field. A small ten foot in diameter forest, remnants of what was on the plains before farmland. The sounds of the calvary behind them rattled, muffled from the distance.

  Sol's one thousand Carabesh calvary would help.

  But Senka knew it wouldn't be enough. Not against the Ampulex. This whole plan was a long shot.

  "But we have to try," Tory said from behind her, reading her mind.

  "I know," Senka answered, waiting for Ujarak and the girls to catch up.

  "You remember where this door is?"

  Senka looked at the wall crumbling a few hundred yards away. "It's somewhere near here," she said, looking closely at the ground. "It's been years, I'm sure it's grown over."

  "Well, best be looking then," Tory said, crouching down.

  Ujarak, Eris and Akira joined them and all five got to work trying to track down a grown over trap door in the middle of a bunch of trees and shrubs.

  Senka hadn't thought that this would be the hard part of the day. Shit, they were going to war. A few years ago she'd taken this hidden underground tunnel out of the city and escaped the Solias dungeon to freedom.

  Senka remembered that day.

  Two long years, tortured, mutilated, destroyed in the Solias dungeons. Captured by the Sun Gods, barely older than Eris. The atrocities she'd seen in that dungeon... Well, she didn't want to be going back. The Queen of Solias had rescued her out of nowhere. Her and Jules. They'd broken her out of the dungeon, helped her flee and escape to form a Melanthios peace.

  Back when Langundo was on the brink of a Civil war.

  Back when a single Zoya had seemed like the hardest enemy ever to be faced.

  Now they were facing potentially hundreds of Zoya and thousands of enemies. And she couldn't find the fucking entrance into the city.

  Kicking out in frustration, she aimed at a rotten log at her feet. Breaking underneath her foot, the log made a wet crunch and her foot fell right through it, making a hollow thump on the ground underneath.

  "What the-"

  A crack sounded under her feet.

  Shit.

  Without another sound, Senka crashed through the rotten trap door into the tunnel. The drop wasn't as far as she remembered and she mistimed her landing, jarring her leg and falling onto the cold dirt in a heap.

  "Senka!" Tory yelled from above her.

  Dust settled around her, revealing the worried faces of her compatriots circled above her.

  "You okay?" Akira called worriedly from above.

  "Yeah," Senka said, doing an internal assessment. No broken bones, nothing really hurting, everything moving okay. Just her pride was damaged. And that, she could live with.

  Kai leapt into the tunnel, landing gracefully, and stood next to her. Grateful, Senka used him to drag herself to her feet.

  That was going to hurt in the morning.

  "Get the torches set up," Senka said. "This is it. It's not that far if you actually fall properly."

  A squeal from down the dark tunnel caught her attention. Kai snapped his head towards the darkness.

  "I heard it too," Senka muttered, straining her eyes to see.

  Nothing. Silence and darkness greeted her from the tunnel. No squeaks. No light.

  Straining her eyes and ears she focused on the black-

  Smash.

  Senka jumped and turned with a snarl from Kai. Eris shot her a wide grin, brandishing a lit torch.

  "It survived the jump," Eris said happily, completely oblivious to the fright she'd given Senka. "Ready
for the rest of us?"

  Senka shielded her eyes from the brightly burning wood.

  "Sure. Let's get this over with."

  Eris whistled. The other three jumped down into the tunnel gracefully. All of them were holding dark torches.

  "Don't light those," Senka told Tory as she walked towards Eris. "The tunnel gets low and it's small. We don't need any more."

  "What if that one blows out?" Akira piped up, a small tremble in her voice betraying her fear.

  "We're all going to keep our left hand on the wall," Senka said. "Never lose touch of the wall, even with the torch lit. Then keep walking forward." The others nodded. Senka held her arm out and Eris begrudgingly handed over the fire. "Let's go."

  Listening to her own advice, she let her finger tips drag over the wall as she strode forward. After a few feet, the tunnel took a hard left and thinned out, forcing them all to go single file.

  "You take the lead," she whispered to Kai.

  A squeal in the distance made his hackles raise.

  "Yeah, I hear it too," she said. "Slowly and safely," she whispered.

  "What's the hold up?" called Eris from behind her.

  A light smack followed as Tory punched her arm.

  "You can always take the lead, kid," Senka snapped. "But don't blame me if you die."

  Eris huffed her disagreement. "I was only joking," she breathed. Then she fell silent.

  Better.

  Senka led them forward at a steady pace, focusing on the four sets of footsteps behind her and leaving Kai to focus on the tunnel ahead.

  The torch allowed them to side step any holes in the ground, but other than that it was pretty useless. Twists and turns blocked the light, and soon they had to stoop at the waist to be able to move. Pretty soon they would be crawling.

  Akira's breath was starting to come in gasps. Senka knew she was afraid of the darkness. Shit, Senka had seen the Queen scrambling around panicked down here. And the Queen had seen some shit beforehand. The kid had not.

  "Let's break here," Senka said at a corner. "Kai will go ahead and clear the way."

  Kai purred and loped away, keen eyes and smell all he needed in the dark.

  They sat, backs against the wall, with Senka on the opposite wall. Tory gave her a quizzical look.