A Queen To Come

by Frances Ellen

  Nicholas cleared his throat. “There is no way to know for certain. What we do know is that they won’t stop with Reth when they do find out.”

  Sky grunted in acknowledgment of the truth of these words and stepped away from his siblings. He moved to the window and leaned on the chest of drawers standing underneath it. He remained silent as he stared out into the darkness beyond, his frustration clearly visible in his body language.

  “So literally every Affinite on the Surface is in danger?” Sophie asked sharply.

  There was a knock on the door. It opened and Felix Hauser stepped inside. Axel nodded to the Spymaster and turned back to Sophie. “Not all of them. Kings and Disciples have information on us just like we have information on them. They will know which Affinites have the largest chance of having information on Gayle Mendosa. It looks like the attack on the Okoths was the first move in this strategy.”

  While Axel spoke Felix walked over to where Nicholas was sitting, and leaned against the desk.

  “But none of them know!” Sophie exclaimed. “How are we supposed to protect all of them until Gayle gets here?”

  “By not having to do it alone.” Axel nodded towards Felix and continued. “All Watchers on the Surface will be re-directed to cover the houses of Affinites who are at highest risk. We were lucky with Eidi Okoth. If the Disciples hadn’t made the mistake of leaving her alive she wouldn’t have been able to sound the alarm.”

  Matu looked up at this. “Eidi did that? How could she have done anything to notify the Small Council in the state she was in?”

  “There was an alarm button on the underside of the dining table. It works on an independent battery, so it still worked when the wires were cut. She must have pressed it after Yaro and Reth were taken. The Disciples were smart: they attacked in such a way that neither Reth nor Eidi had the time to press the emergency button behind the headboard of their bed. If they hadn’t left her alive it would have taken longer for us to find her, and to work out what happened,” Axel explained. “We were lucky.”

  Four of the Asters were momentarily speechless as they registered the bravery and strength it had taken Eidi to do what she had done. Under other circumstances Sky might also have given thought to this, but not right now. Now he was still too wound up with frustration.

  “You can’t use the word lucky when two Affinites, including a kid, are being tortured as we speak,” Sky growled from the window.

  Axel ignored him. “If Disciples attack other important Affinite families, which we’re expecting they will, those families might not be able to send us a signal during or after the attack like Eidi Okoth did. Hence, Felix’s Watchers. They will watch, but they will not engage. They will call on us, and we will call on you. The Watchers will only engage if they think the Affinites are in real danger of being taken away and down into the Underworld. Until then, they are to observe only, and pick up whatever they can about the Disciples and from which Underworld territory they came from.”

  “Won’t they just be from Africa?” Lian asked. “What are the odds that they came from anywhere else?”

  Axel turned to look at him. “That mistake has been made by Ambassadors before me. I will not be making the same mistake.”

  Lian curled his lip, but before he could say anything more, Sky had turned around from the window. “Okay, fine. Say they’re not from the African Underworld. What if there is another attack and those Watchers don’t learn where they come from?”

  Felix Hauser narrowed his eyes at Sky’s pronunciation of Watchers. His Austrian-German accent was thick through his English as he spoke. “They will. You know that Disciples can be recognised by the distinctive clothing or weaponry of the King they serve. But there are other signs. My men and women have been trained to recognise even the smallest tells. They will know which King is initiating these attacks, and from there, you will know from where to rescue Reth and Yaro.”

  Sky narrowed his eyes as well. “If they’re still alive to be rescued.”

  “What about the other Affinites?” Sophie interjected, before any other words could be exchanged between the already livid Sky and the Spymaster. “Surely you don’t have enough Watchers to cover every single important Affinite house. Many families have ties with the Small Council. I’m sure the Disciples’ intel won’t be so precise as to know which family could know what, exactly.”

  Her knowledge was shining through. Matu waited for Felix’s answer as Sophie’s Band pulsed golden. From where he was standing, Matu could see the symbol on her wrist that made her magic different to his or that of any other Aster: the staff of Caduceus, the healing staff, representing her magic of Health and Knowledge.

  She was using her magic of knowledge now, her memory and her brilliance working side by side, calculating exactly what risks there were to keeping the Affinites out in the world instead of safely behind the Curtain of either one of the three undetectable islands. She knew as well as Matu did that they couldn’t call for a world-wide evacuation of the Surface; not after just a single attack.

  But she also knew that what had happened to the Okoth family would most certainly happen again, because Reth didn’t have the information the Disciples sought. Matu didn’t blame Sky for not trusting Felix’s Watchers to protect an Affinite family during an attack until the Asters arrived. They were spies and not soldiers for a reason. And from the looks of Eidi, and the remaining blood that had been on the floor in the Okoth living room, these Disciples knew a thing or two about violence and fighting.

  Felix looked over to Axel. The Asters turned to the Ambassador, too, and waited for him to speak, but it was Nicholas, the Emissary, who spoke first.

  “We’re sending out a protocol. Every Affinite family on the Surface, even those under the protection of Felix’s Watchers, will send in a signal every evening at ten o’clock, their time, to let us know that they are alright and untouched. Our technology will be able to tell us from which families we should hear something at what time. This way we can keep tabs on each and every Affinite family and their well-being.”

  “That still would have us acting after something has already happened,” Lian pointed out. Again his body language revealed nothing but calm energy, but there was a slight sharpness to his voice.

  “At the moment there is nothing more we can do,” Axel replied.

  “Yeah, right,” Sky breathed softly, turning back to look outside.

  Axel glared at the boy at the window, but Sky didn’t meet Axel’s frown. He continued to stare out into the darkness.

  “We will warn the families and allow them to come to one of the three islands if they wish. We will explain the situation and how large the chance is that what happened to the Okoth family will happen to them. If they choose to remain where they are, the protocols of the ten o’clock signal, and Felix’s Watchers, will be what we go by,” Axel said clearly.

  The Ambassador looked around the room, his eyes resting on each and every Aster before continuing. “Thank you for responding so quickly.”

  “Not quickly enough,” Sky muttered.

  “ENOUGH!” Axel thundered through the room. Even Sky recoiled at the outburst. He didn’t apologise, however.

  Matu watched as his brother and the Ambassador glared at each other. Their anger came from the same place: they hated being too late, and not being able to do any more than they had already done. You would think they could work together very well, considering their shared desires. However, they always seemed to have different ideas when it came to the protection of the Affinites and of keeping the Kings from reclaiming the Surface of the earth. Matu had lost track of how many meetings had ended with Sky muttering his disagreement to himself and Axel shouting to shut him up.

  Axel’s eyes were still on Sky as he spoke with such a dangerous calm that the hairs on Matu’s arms stood up. You could cut the tension in the room with a knife.

  “You have done all that you could tonight. Every hour it is ten p.m. somewhere else in the world, and if we
get no word, you will be sent to investigate. Get some sleep while you can. You’re all dismissed.”

  Sky was still tightly wound as he and the other Asters walked through the castle. He rolled his shoulders in an attempt to relieve some of the tension, and very slowly the muscles in his neck and back started to relax.

  Beside him, Sophie had started yawning. Sky looked around him and saw the fatigue in all his siblings’ eyes. The cold, strong demeanour Nathan always had during training and missions had also left him when they had stepped out of the Board Room, and he now, too, walked with his shoulders hunched and his head down. Sky himself, however, couldn’t be more awake. Sure, Axel said there was nothing more they could do.

  He was wrong.

  There was.

  There was always something they could do.

  For starters they could bring Gayle Mendosa to the island early. The Disciples weren’t going to stop going after Affinites who might have the information of their future Queen’s location. Once word got out that Gayle was safely on Saluverus, the attacks on the important Affinite families would stop; that much seemed to be inevitable.

  But that still left Reth and Yaro somewhere in the Underworld, and they would die the second word got out that Gayle was safely behind Saluverus’ Curtain. Sky had refrained from asking Axel what they were to do about the captured father and son. The way the Ambassador had told them they were dismissed had made it clear, even to Sky, that pushing for more information would only lead to more shouting and no further clarification. So Sky had left it at that, and let his mind whirl about the possibilities instead.

  They needed to get the two Kenyans out of the Underworld before bringing Gayle to Saluverus. That much was clear. But how to find them… The Underworld was made up of seven separate underground empires, each consisting of hundreds of smaller districts, interconnected by a vast network of tunnels. Each territory was directly beneath each of the continents of the earth, but not always matching in size. For example, the European Underworld only covered a third of the European countries. Countries like Spain, the United Kingdom and a lot of south eastern Europe didn’t have the Underworld underneath them at all. Scandinavia didn’t either.

  The different territories in the Underworld might be smaller than the continents above ground, but the areas were still enormous. Even if they knew which King had ordered the kidnapping and torture of the Okoth family, it was still like looking for a needle in a haystack. But at least it would be a smaller haystack.

  Sky was itching to do something. Anything. His hands clenched and unclenched into fists at his side. His brothers and sister were too tired to either notice or care about the energy rolling through him. He knew how they described him: rash and impulsive. He preferred to think of himself as unpredictable. His methods had never failed him before. Even if they had got them into danger every now and again, it had also brought them great success and victory in the Underworld.

  He had just about enough restraint not to shimmer to the African Underworld on the spot. That territory seemed like the best place to start. Disciples didn’t have magic of their own. They had affinities for certain skills like Affinites did. Only the Kings had magic, so Sky would bet that even if Reth and Yaro’s kidnapping had been ordered by a King whose territory wasn’t underneath Africa, the two of them would still be there for now.

  So Sky would start tomorrow. And he’d start with Africa’s Underworld.

  He wouldn’t go there immediately; not just yet. He needed to refresh his memory of the African Underworld. He almost laughed out loud at the thought of first going into the library. It was more like him to shimmer from Saluverus there and then. His siblings would laugh at him in amazement for doing some research; he couldn’t even remember the last time he’d opened a book.

  But this wasn’t just any impulsive rescue mission. This mission involved Gayle Mendosa, their future Queen. Even Sky was just about sensible enough to know that, this time, he had to prepare before making a move. The fact that he couldn’t even remember the name of the African King said enough about him needing a book before rushing down into that specific Underworld territory.

  Sky wouldn’t tell his siblings about his plans. They would disapprove, Matu especially. He was always a stickler for rules and protocols and orders. Even if it did involve people Matu was extremely close to. If he got a whiff of Sky’s plans he would go straight to Axel to stop him. The Ambassador probably had a plan of his own to get Reth and Yaro out, but Sky already knew that whatever Axel came up with, he would disagree. So, he’d make his own plan. And he’d follow his own plan.

  Tomorrow.

  He would start tomorrow.

  The Asters had spent most of the walk to their rooms in silence. As they stepped into their common room, they absently bade each other goodnight and vanished behind their bedroom doors. Sky remained in the common room for a while. He stared into the fire crackling in the fireplace.

  Axel’s plan for protecting the other Affinites in the world wasn’t unreasonable. It was the Affinites’ own responsibility if they chose to remain in their homes and at risk of Disciples breaking in and tearing them away from the Surface. Sky had no doubt that a few paranoid families would be arriving on Saluverus tomorrow, which would make the castle just a little bit busier than usual.

  But it was the lack of a plan regarding Reth and Yaro that was nagging at him. Sky moved his head to the side and cracked his neck once, and then did the same to the other side. Then he started his ascent up the stairs to his bedroom. He didn’t want to be thinking about the torture currently being inflicted upon Reth to get him to speak, let alone what they were doing to thirteen-year-old Yaro right now.

  Sky needed a distraction…

  It was a good thing he had one.

  Opening his bedroom door awoke the girl lying in his bed. She stretched her arms and brushed some of her long brown hair out of her face as she took him in.

  “You’re back early,” she said.

  Sky vaguely remembered the girl telling him her name the evening before, as he pulled off his leather jacket and tugged off the shirt underneath.

  So much for getting some sleep, he thought to himself as the girl smiled in anticipation and waited for him to climb into bed.

  Chapter 6

  It was normal for Sophie to be sitting on one of the large velvet sofas in the Asters’ common room, reading a book in the morning. What, to her disgust, had also become normal, was that, while she was sitting there peacefully, Sky’s bedroom door would open up above her but he wouldn’t be the one to emerge.

  This morning wasn’t any different.

  Sophie had only just settled onto the sofa when the bedroom door opened and a girl stepped out onto the balcony. Her hair was still wet, probably from the shower Sky always encouraged the girls to take, and she was wearing the same clothes as she had done the night before. Sophie forced herself to keep her face neutral as the girl – Grace, Sophie believed her name was – red-faced and embarrassed, hurried down the stairs, passed Sophie and left the tower.

  Once the door shut behind Grace, Sophie rolled her eyes. Sky had a reputation, and yet still girls seemed to throw themselves at him, knowing whatever they had wouldn’t last longer than a week at best, a night at worst. Maybe they all thought he could be changed; that the handsome, but emotionally distant and non-committal boy would change for them.

  Sophie shook her head. They were all clueless. Sophie couldn’t remember the last time Sky had taken the time to actually get to know a girl. She doubted whether Sky even knew this girl’s name was Grace.

  Sophie returned to her book. She had almost rid herself of the image in her head when Sky’s bedroom door opened once again and her brother emerged. His blonde hair was wet too, and it was dripping onto the white t-shirt he was wearing. He was holding a black sweatshirt in his hand as he headed down the stairs.

  “You’re reading early. Had breakfast already?”

  Sophie nodded. “Couldn’t sleep well.”<
br />
  “Shame.” Sky grinned. “I slept great.”

  Sophie narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re disgusting.”

  “Don’t be mean.”

  “Don’t take advantage of every girl on the island and maybe I’ll stop.”

  Sky sniffed and came up behind Sophie. He leaned with his arms on the back of the sofa and looked over her shoulder. “What are you reading?” he asked.

  “I doubt it would interest you,” Sophie said slyly.

  “True. I’m off to get some breakfast. I worked up quite an appetite.”

  Sophie felt him grinning behind her. She let go of her book with one hand and threw her arm back, elbow first. She caught him right on his cheekbone.

  “Ow!” Sky exclaimed, stumbling back slightly.

  “Aster of Speed, my arse,” Sophie chuckled.

  “I didn’t exactly expect to be attacked in the common room,” Sky grumbled. Sophie looked over her shoulder and found Sky rubbing his cheek with his hands. There was a sparkle of amusement in his eyes.

  “If you keep saying things like that, you should expect it,” Sophie told him.

  Sky laughed and shook his head. “Later, sis.” He leaned in and kissed her on the cheek.

  Sophie batted his head away. “Don’t kiss me with that mouth!”

  Laughing, Sky headed for the door. “It’s clean! I just showered.”

  “Yeah, with her!” Sophie called after him. Still laughing, he turned in the open doorway, and only just ducked in time to avoid the cushion Sophie had thrown at his head. When he straightened up, he winked at her and closed the door behind him.

  Sophie sighed and stared out in front of her. In moments like these she was very glad that they all had their own bedrooms. And their own bathrooms. Sophie would’ve felt extreme pity for whoever would have to share with Sky in another life where they didn’t have that luxury.