The Lost Princess of Aevilen

by D. C. Payson

  “The People’s Party, threaten the world?” Sinox sneered. “Theirs is the army you fear? Ha! Aside from the small elite corps that everyone calls the ‘Night Reapers,’ the People’s Army is an ill-fed, ill-equipped, ragtag outfit. You are right to say that they have done a great deal of harm here in Aevilen, but a great campaign on the lower continent? Impossible!”

  “You are wrong, young Sinox,” said Balyssa. “Their Army grows by the day. Have you ever seen the killing fields northeast of Riverstride? The great Pit where they have amassed the bodies of prisoners and victims of the Purges?”

  “Of course,” Sinox replied. “A vile monument to the depredations of the Party.”

  “That is where the Army grows. The Still Lord does not fight with mortal men. His agents raise armies from the dead.”

  Sinox grit his teeth. “Absurd.”

  Balyssa lurched forward, her eyes crackling with electric energy. “You know nothing. I have seen it! I watched his Champion raise the dead to fight against Queen Maruana’s soldiers!”

  A heavy silence gripped the room. Julia and the Guardians traded glances.

  Balyssa sat back in her chair, her eyes still pulsing. “After the battle, I followed the Prelate as they fled. Here in Aevilen, I managed to report their presence to the Vorraver Queen Fel. She, like you, was skeptical. Still, she took precautions. When the Eastern Uprising came, her army was ready, and they easily prevailed. I lost track of the Prelate at the end of the Uprising, but I tried to remain watchful because I knew that they would return.

  “I beg forgiveness from my beautiful Dancer for my failure, because the Prelate did not go far! Indeed, they have been hiding in plain sight, using politics as a disguise. The Prelate became the People’s Party, I am certain of it now! What they called a “Revolution” and “Purges” were just great reapings, opportunities to build their army. Where people resisted the Party’s control, the Revolution’s false ideology provided a useful pretense for murder. As I said before, we are nearing the end stage of their plan. Their body harvest is nearly complete.”

  “Nearly complete?” Lothic repeated. “Then what comes next?”

  “The return of their Champion, the Demon-Lich Kaal, and the raising of a great army of the dead.”

  “You speak with great conviction,” said Alana, shifting uneasily in her chair. “But this seems beyond imagination.”

  Julia took a deep breath and spoke up. “I believe her.”

  All the heads at the table turned, five sets of eyes fixing firmly on her.

  “Why?” asked Alana.

  Julia placed a hand against her necklace. “I heard a warning when I connected with Scylld.”

  “What do you mean?” Alana asked.

  “My necklace gives me certain powers. It activates when I really need it. That’s how I became aware of the Sylvan watching me in the forest. That’s also how I came to learn your language even though I’d never heard it before. When I connected with Scylld, this amazing voice came through him, and it told me that a darkness was threatening Aevilen. I didn’t know what to think at the time, but it didn’t feel like a dream. And now, hearing Balyssa, I realized that she was probably talking about the same evil.”

  “Scylld is the Ogar who travels with Eodan?” Balyssa asked.

  Julia nodded.

  “Interesting,” said Balyssa. “So that voice you heard … ” She fell silent, offering Julia a knowing smile.

  “Your necklace is more powerful than I realized,” said Alana. “May we see it again?”

  Julia removed her hand, revealing the pendant. A twinkling, blue light filled the room.

  “Remarkable,” said Lothic.

  “That necklace is why you were summoned,” said Balyssa. “It is part of a key that we need to assemble.”

  “The divided key,” Julia said under her breath, again recalling the mysterious voice.

  “Yes!” cried Balyssa. “The key that will allow us to summon the Shaper’s Champion and destroy the cult forever!”

  “Wait,” said Julia, refocusing. “If all you need is my necklace so you can make the divided key, what if I just gave it to you? Couldn’t you send me home?”

  “No,” said Balyssa. “That would not work, unfortunately. I believe that only a Vorraver king or queen can recombine the pieces of the key. Until we know for certain, you will have to stay in Aevilen.”

  Julia shook her head. “Okay, but what if we did something else? Why don’t you send me home, and I tell the world about what I’ve seen? My uncle works for—”

  Balyssa laughed ominously. “I am surprised you haven’t realized it yet, but this world and the world you came from are not the same. There is no way for you to summon help. There is no

  army you can bring, no weapons you can transport, to help in the fight ahead. You, young Vorraver, are the only one who can save Aevilen now.”

  Julia felt light-headed. Not the same world? All of her options had disappeared in an instant. She was at Balyssa’s mercy. Trapped. “B-but I am not a Vorraver queen. I said I believe you, and I do! But the things you mentioned? I don’t know anything about that! I’m not from here, even if my grandmother was! Let me give you the necklace, and maybe you can figure out a way to use it. You brought me here, why can’t you send me home?”

  “She’s right,” said Thezdan. “This is not her land, and this should not be her fight.”

  Balyssa locked onto Julia with a penetrating, supernatural stare, arcs of electricity flashing in her eyes. “I am too weak to send you home, but do you feel nothing for these people? Would you allow them to die without having tried to save them? Would you abandon the ancient heritage of your family and deny the gods they served?”

  “I-I can’t do anything!” Julia said, recoiling.

  “I refuse to hear this any longer!” Sinox exclaimed. “Our visitor is clearly no ordinary woman, and perhaps she is as old as her story implies. But the dead rising? Hidden cults? Enough! We all know Grimmel leads the Party. He is a vile man, a rotten and malicious schemer, but he has meager talents. He is not in league with a god! Even if the Party were, in fact, a cult, what would you have us do? We are hollowed out. Two generations worth of our warriors lost their lives not even a decade ago. One day, we may be able to influence events on the plains, but that time is not now. There is only one thing we can do: nothing. With the Sylvan protecting us, the Party leaves us alone in the forest. Let us stay in the forest. We will protect the girl until you are strong enough to send her home, and we will leave the outside world to its fate. We have enough to eat, and we are safe. We can continue to monitor the rest of Aevilen. Perhaps when I am an old man and our Clan has been rebuilt, we can discuss involving ourselves in matters like this. For now, to even consider it would be foolish beyond words!”

  “You cannot hide from what’s coming,” Balyssa scorned. “If their Champion is reborn with an army behind him, these forests won’t protect you. Your inaction will seal your fate!”

  “What would have us do?” asked Lothic, gesturing for Sinox to hold his tongue.

  “We must gather the other piece of the key, the one held by the Rokkin,” said Balyssa. “They will not be as skeptical as you have been. Some Rokkin are only a generation removed from the last time Aevilen’s Champion was summoned.”

  Lothic sat back in his seat, crossing his arms in front of him. “You came to see us; why don’t you go see them yourself?”

  “That is not possible. The Rokkin would not welcome me as a stranger. They are hostile to magic. In my present condition, I would not last long in Rokkin lands. It is one thing to turn away an arrow; it is entirely another to turn away a Rokkin’s hammer.”

  “Then what?” Lothic pressed. “You expect us to dispatch some of our people to knock on the gates of Ymreddan? Our men would be strangers to the Rokkin, too, and we would be no more welcome than you.”

  “But you are not a stranger to them,” said Balyssa.

 
“That’s true,” said Lothic, his anger rising. “I am worse than a stranger; I am a criminal!”

  Sinox slammed his hands down and abruptly stood up. “We will not dispatch Lothic—or anyone else, for that matter—on these fool’s errands! Even my contacts have no idea what happens inside the Rokkin keeps. What you propose is pointlessly risky. Alana, I hope you offer our guest a warm bed for the night and a full belly to travel on in the morning. There is no further purpose to her visit here!” Sinox’s face hardened. He bowed in the direction of their visitor, then he repeated the gesture to his mother.

  Alana reached out and placed a hand on his arm. “Stay, Sinox. I do not think we are finished.”

  “I have said what I needed to say,” Sinox said, gently brushing Alana’s hand aside. “I have no more to contribute.”

  The table watched as Sinox strode over to the door and exited into the night.

  “I am sorry for my son’s outburst,” said Alana after the door had swung closed. “As Prime, he feels responsible for protecting our Clan. I fear that he may be too cautious at times, too risk-averse.”

  Balyssa smiled. “You are wise, Alana, a deserving Guardian Administrator. You see that not to act could be the gravest risk of all. Who will you send to meet the Rokkin to retrieve their piece of the key?”

  “I think you misunderstand me,” Alana replied. “I am not yet convinced of your plan, either. Rushing in headlong without knowing the threat that we face would be worse than hiding in the forests. No, we will do what we had planned to do even before you arrived: we will gather information. Eodan, Lothic, you will still go find Domin. You will have much to talk about with him following tonight’s conversation. Perhaps he will know why the Rokkin have withdrawn farther into their mountains, and he might be old enough to know something about our guest’s story.”

  “Yes, Alana,” Lothic replied. “Eodan?” Alana asked.

  Thezdan looked over at Julia briefly and nodded.

  “Very good,” said Alana. “As before, you may leave in the morning.”

  “So, I am still going to stay with you?” Julia asked.

  “For now, yes,” said Alana. “I will ensure that you are safe and well taken care of until Eodan returns.”

  “If you will permit me,” Balyssa interjected, “I would like to work with the young Vorraver.”

  Julia shuddered. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Thezdan trying to gauge her response, but she remained still and tried to suppress her emotions.

  “Work with her?” asked Alana. “I’m not sure I understand. What do you need her to do?”

  “As you know, she is not the Vorraver I thought I would find here, though I accept her as an heir to the bloodline. I don’t know how much Princess Elleina shared with her about her heritage or Aevilen itself, but I suspect that there is a great deal for her to learn. I can teach her. Perhaps once she understands her history, she will embrace her duty.”

  “What makes you believe that you know more about Aevilen than we do?” asked Alana. “Or about the Vorravers, for that matter?”

  “This conversation has shown me that much about Aevilen’s past has faded into legend,” said Balyssa. “Fifty years of Party rule has wiped out so much of your history, and we have frighteningly little time to rediscover it all. I wish to take Julia back to the monastery. I believe that the Champion’s Gate may reside there, though I have not been able to find it myself. It may be hidden in an area meant to be accessed by the Vorravers alone.”

  “If you need someone to accompany you to the monastary, I will go in Julia’s stead when I return,” said Thezdan.

  “No,” said Balyssa, her tone cool and unwavering. “It must be a Vorraver, and it must be now. I fear it is already too late for us to stop the Still Lord from claiming Aevilen as his own, but we must try.”

  Thezdan leaned forward, placing a clenched fist on the table. “It is not your choice.”

  “It’s alright, Thezdan,” said Julia, covering his fist with her hand. “Maybe this is my ticket home. The voice I heard when I connected to Scylld also said something about fulfilling the promises of my ancestors. If we went with a Guardian guide, we should be able to get through the forest to the monastery and back in a day, maybe two, right? You said yourself that the forest is safe, so I don’t see why I shouldn’t go. If I help Balyssa find the gate, maybe the Champion really can help free you all, and I can be sent home.”

  “Are you sure?” Thezdan asked. He turned to Alana. “Who would you send as her guide and protector, Mother?”

  “Endi and Entaurion. Of all our young warriors, these are our finest eyes. They will watch her and keep her safe.”

  “Not a single strong arm among them,” Thezdan grumbled.

  “I will give Engar over to the protection team,” said Lothic. “His arm is plenty strong.”

  Thezdan’s relief was clear. “I’m sure he’ll appreciate the time away from the forge. Thank you, Lothic.”

  Balyssa smiled. “We will not need warriors, but I accept your supervision.”

  Alana turned toward Julia. “Are you sure that you’re up for this?”

  “Yes,” Julia said.

  “Thank you for your trust,” said Balyssa. “Do not worry; I too wish to see you safe and well-protected.”

  “It seems we’ve set our course,” said Alana, standing up from her chair. “Eodan and Lothic will search for the Rokkin Domin. Julia will travel to the monastery with Balyssa under our protection. Do any of you have anything further to say?”

  The room was quiet.

  “It is a shame that our celebrations were so short. Try to sleep well. If Balyssa is right, there may not be many restful nights for us in the days ahead.”

  Grimmel fixed his eyes on the heavy wooden door in front of him.

  I cannot wait. I must tell him …

  He pulled a kerchief from his pocket and wiped his face clean, then he bowed his head and pushed the door open. The candle flames inside the darkened chamber danced as the air from the hallway rushed in.

  “Master, I have news.”

  “Come in, Grimmel,” a voice calmly called from the room. “I know you would not disturb me if it were not important.”

  Grimmel looked up. Amid the darkness, he could see the outline of the Master’s robe.

  “So,” said the voice. “What news do you bring?”

  “There was an incident in Breslin,” said Grimmel. “The crossroads village to the West.”

  “I know the one. Go on.”

  “Someone came to the village wearing an unusual artifact around her neck. I believe that it may be the one you had me look for early in the Revolution, the Vorraver one.”

  “What makes you believe this?” asked the voice in a controlled monotone. “It is not possible, Grimmel.”

  “It glowed a blue light, and the beggar who saw it described a shape that matched the royal symbol. There’s more, Master; she was accompanied by a Guardian, the son of Eobax.”

  “I see … this is becoming more interesting. Go on.”

  “The local smith was trading materials with the young Guardian.”

  “And the girl with the necklace? Who is she?”

  “We do not know yet,” said Grimmel.

  “Why did the local forces fail to capture them?”

  “The one chariot that was at the ready was destroyed, its rider killed. We believe that they escaped to the forest.”

  Grimmel looked downward and awaited a terrible response, but there was only silence. He looked up again just in time to see one of the candles tip over into a channel of flammable liquid. The flame spread quickly along the channel and into a great, stone basin at the middle of the room, erupting into a ball of red fire. The room came into full view, its vaulted ceiling and rough walls taking on the sinister red-black hue of the firelight. The robed figure now loomed large behind the fire, his nearly skeletal face and pale, deeply wrinkled skin projecting the infirmity of v
ery old age. But as he moved toward Grimmel, his measured, powerful strides belied the seeming fragility of his body.

  “Master, please!” Grimmel whimpered.

  “I am not upset, Grimmel,” the Master replied. He stopped and stood beside the basin. “I do not need to remind you how important these next few weeks might be, do I?”

  “No, no! Whatever you would have me do, it will be done!”

  The Master unhooked a pair of long scissor tongs hanging on the side of the basin, then he reached into the fire and withdrew a glowing, red stone. Once the stone was clear of the flames, he grabbed it with his free hand.

  “Good, Grimmel. Good. I need you to send word to Redyar that he will have to step up his pace. Use this lifestone to convince him.”

  A long, emaciated hand offered up the red crystal, which Grimmel carefully received.

  “Then, I need you to find that girl. She is likely harmless to us, but there is always the chance … ”

  “The chance of what, Master?”

  The Master stared into the fire. A moment later, he reached for the tongs and withdrew another crystal. “It is nothing, Grimmel. But, just to be certain, I need you to bring me the great wolf you keep.”

  Grimmel bowed deeply, his words echoing off the floor as he spoke. “I will do as you command.”

  “And Grimmel, please share any further news on this matter as it arises, even if you think it trivial. I wish to give this my personal attention.”

  Dawn was just breaking, the earliest traces of morning light slowly appearing through the treetops.

  Thezdan turned toward his mother with downcast eyes, his arms folded in front of him. “She is going to wake up in a strange place with her only known acquaintance gone.”

  “Eodan, do not worry,” said Alana, smiling. “Julia will be safe here, and I will make sure that she feels comfortable. Besides, she needs to rest.”