by Simon Archer
“If you knew this boy, Reginald, you would have no doubt that this was a trick, a way to threaten us all,” the Minister said directly to her husband. Then she addressed the room as a whole. “This is a sign that he does not respect us and wishes to overthrow us! How can any of you trust him? Look past the pretty paintings and see the truth for what it is!”
No one else had spoken, and as I looked around the table, I saw why we were all wearing the same shell shocked expressions and looking at the Madame as if she had lost her mind.
“Lord Anthony,” King Atlus interjected, speaking for the first time since Madame Ella had started the commotion. Everyone turned to look at the king, except for Martin, who continued to glare at Madame Ella.
“Martin,” the king said again, this time sharper and using his given name to get his attention.
Martin looked at the king. “Yes, sire?” he said through gritted teeth.
“Thank you for sharing your skill with us,” King Atlus said diplomatically. “I would ask that you please allow the servants to remove the pieces and then return to your seat. We will continue with the last course of the dinner and then make our decisions about the rankings.”
Martin lowered his body and crossed an arm over his chest as he bowed, seeing something in the king’s eyes that had him smirking slightly.
“Yes, Your Highness,” he said with deep respect laced throughout his tone, a jab at Madame Ella, who was still glaring daggers at him. Then Martin made his way back to his seat, where a dazed Maji sat. Martin patted the girl’s hand after he sat down, and Maji clutched at it, grinning widely up at the man.
I retook my seats as well. However, my adrenaline was still rushing through my veins. My heart beat wildly, and a small sweat to break out on my temple. I wiped away at it and felt some warmth on my forehead. I paused, mid-swipe, and tried to calculate the temperature in my head.
The conversation resumed slowly, but surely. At Martin and Maji’s end of the table, it seemed as if all the surrounding nobles wished to speak to Martin about his Merkin. Martin’s smile was bright as he laughed with them, and his arms gesticulated as he described flying, and I wanted to go over and kiss him senseless. I wanted to tell him that what he did was brave, sharing his art with everyone, and that it was a sign of his commitment to all of Insomier.
However, there was no chance to tell him or steal him away for a kiss. We were supposed to remain in our seats, chained to the conversations around us. Though I made no effort to talk to those around me, and they, in turn, did not talk to me.
The longer I sat alone and silent, the more I noticed that my adrenaline still had not calmed. My heart proceeded to race at an alarming rate, and my forehead only got sweatier.
I tapped my fingers on the table, trying to get Alona’s attention. I succeeded when the caretaker looked my way, and her eyes widened.
“Do I look ill?” I mouthed across the table, making sure that no one was watching us.
Alona gave me the slightest of nods. That only made everything speed up in my body. More sweat, more heartbeats, more warmth. I had to get out of here before the pain started, and everyone knew something was wrong. Before Martin knew something was wrong.
But manners dictated that I stay put until the final announcement of the rankings. Even though the plates from the seventh course were being cleared, I did not know if I would be able to last that long.
Surprisingly, there was a tug at my elbow. I looked around to the source of the tug and saw Maji standing next to me. The room had gone silent again, all eyes on the little girl who had dared to leave her seat and talk to the second-in-command of the king’s guard.
I leaned forward and whispered to her, “Maji, you are not supposed to be out of your seat.”
“Lean left,” she replied.
“What?” I asked and turned to face her directly. It was then that I noticed that Maji’s eyes were white. They looked exactly as they had right before she made the prediction on her birthday all those weeks ago.
“Lean left,” the girl repeated in her trance voice.
I nodded and rose to my feet. I bent a little and lowered my arm to Maji so she could take it. “May I escort you back to your seat, my lady?”
With an elegant grace, Maji took my arm, and I led her back to her spot down on the other end of the table. Martin looked from me to Maji, his eyes wide.
“What did she say to you?” Martin whispered when I returned Maji to her chair.
“Nothing,” I lied, then relented a little. “Or nothing that made sense.”
“What was it?” Martin growled.
“Lean left,” I replied reluctantly.
Martin’s eyebrows furrowed together, and he did not say anything else. I shuffled back to my own seat as if nothing was unusual about the whole situation. There was no little girl with all-white eyes sitting at the end of the royal dining hall. I was simply returning a commoner, unfamiliar with the ways of the court, back to her seat. Nothing to see here.
Once I returned to my seat, King Atlus seemed to take that as his cue to stand. I plopped into my chair, and immediately, a surge of pain struck my stomach. I fought the urge to curl over onto the floor. Instead, I stayed upright and directed my attention to the king, like a good little noble.
“Thank you all again for attending this year’s introduction dinner,” the king said, addressing the room at large. “During this last course, the ministers and I have ranked our inductees accordingly. As many of you know, the inductee in last place will be asked to withdraw from the introduction process and may not be permitted to continue with the third and final task.”
Bile rose in my throat, and I searched for something to keep it down. Unfortunately, all of our plates, glasses, and silverware had been cleared from the table. The only thing remotely close to liquid nearby was in Rebekah’s tankard. I made a rash decision and snagged it from my captain.
“Hey,” she said, not terribly quietly.
I ignored her and sipped from the glass. The hot ale slid down my throat and curdled in my stomach, but it tapered the rising corruption for the time being. I finished the ale off and shoved the empty tankard back into Rebekah’s arms, where she fumbled with it for a moment, before discovering it was empty.
“Bitch,” Rebekah grumbled, hitting me in the shoulder.
Her touch sent ripples of pain throughout my body, and I grimaced upon contact. Still, our exchange went unnoticed as the king announced the rankings.
“First, we award the most valuable skill to Maria Poulis,” King Atlus said.
The room burst into applause. I was slightly confused and a bit irritated that Martin did not win first, but one look at the King’s face, and I understood. He would not put Martin first in an attempt to hold his court’s peace.
Both of Maria’s mothers leaned over to kiss her. Bailey-Sue patted Maria’s hand, but Maria reached over and enveloped Bailey-Sue into a hug which the caretaker willingly accepted.
“Next is Razia Estepil, with her amazing skill for mental mathematics,” the king continued. “I know there are already many departments planning to court you for a job, Lady Razia.”
Razia nodded her head graciously. I, on the other hand, felt my head grow heavier than my neck could carry. I wanted to flop over to one side and fall asleep. Still, I gathered the last of my will and held it upright.
“Then we have Lady Emerald Vyer with her delicious honey,” King Atlus said with a specific smile towards his cousin.
The King then sent a smile down the table towards Martin, “In fourth, we have Lord Martin Anthony with his gorgeous and awe-inspiring paintings.”
My brain was operating slower than Alona’s as she gasped, “Yes!” Before I could register her reaction, Martin was being congratulated by the nobles around him as he thanked them with a simple nod in their direction.
Martin had not been eliminated from the introduction.
“Yes!” I said, louder than Alona, but no one seemed to be paying me any mi
nd. All their attention now turned to Eamon Alabasterous, who was hanging his head low, his sister placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.
Martin stood, looking to be about to argue for Eamon to stay in the inductee process.
I took the opportunity to rise to my own feet. If Martin was going to draw all the attention to him, then I could leave without being noticed and find my bed faster. I, however, did not count on my Captain, who was sitting beside me to fight me. Rebekah gripped my elbow and muttered my name, signaling I should sit down, but I wobbled out of her grip.
I had been noticed, and all attention, including Martin’s, turned to me.
“If you leave before the dinner is finished, Diana, I will be forced to strip you of your title as second-in-command of the king’s guard,” King Atlus said with a sharpness that reached even my clouded mind.
With blurry vision, I looked from the king, who I served, to Martin, who I loved. However, it was not Martin’s eye that I caught. It was Maji’s, now returned to her normal color. Her gaze was full of worry and fear. She shook her head at me, willing me to sit back down.
“Would it be better if I asked to be excused?” My tone was ragged with skepticism and did not hold the normal amount of respect it normally would have when addressing the king, but my clouded mind did not register that.
“One more word out of you, Diana, and you will be forcefully removed from this room,” the king warned.
“Diana, don’t.” Martin’s voice rang through the thudding like a streak of sunlight through the clouds. I looked back over to him and saw his blonde hair. I saw his eyes swirl back at me.
However, his fierce face was the last thing I saw when my vision went black. I could feel my body teeter, and I had just enough coherency to think, lean left, before I collapsed to the ground.
37
When Diana dropped to the floor, the air rushed out of my lungs. I made a mad dash towards her. She collapsed right as I reached her, and I sunk down with her on my lap and stroked her face, searching for signs of life.
“Diana? Diana, wake up. Don’t do this, Diana,” I said, the words coming out in an incoherent flurry.
I tapped at her cheek, ran my hands all along her body, and checked for a temperature. Her skin burned, and her limbs bent awkwardly, completely limp and unresponsive. My head snapped up to the surrounding nobles, some of which had jumped from their chairs and circled around Diana’s body.
“What happened?” I demanded of them. “Did anyone see what happened to her?”
“Nothing happened,” the Minister of External Affairs said. He had been on the other side of Diana and had a good view of the whole situation. “One moment, she was standing, and the next, she fell over.”
My attention snapped to Rebekah, who stood with her back against her chair, looking fearfully down at the body of her comrade. “Did you see anything?”
Rebekah shook her head and didn’t say a word, which was very unlike her. I knew that she had consumed a few drinks, but not enough to make her completely incapacitated or incompetent. This reaction from Rebekah threw me off and created suspicion in the bottom of my chest.
“What’s wrong with her, Rebekah?” I asked, calling out the captain of the guard specifically.
The beautiful lady just shook her head, looking grave, as if Diana was dead already. The defeated gaze didn’t suit the captain, and it struck a weird sort of fear in me that wasn’t there previously.
King Atlus finally approached the group and shoved his way through. He looked down at the scene, me cradling Diana’s upper body on my lap, and turned to call behind him.
“Someone, get the physicians,” the king commanded. “We have to get her to the infirmary.”
“No need,” I said with a low and determined voice.
I snuck my hands out from underneath Diana and called to the light. I willed it forth with a fierce insistence. The light responded and flowed down my fingertips. The instant my hands began to glow, the crowd took two steps back.
Before I was able to lay my hands on Diana’s chest and diagnose her, a hand reached down and grabbed my wrist. It held steady as I tried to yank away, determined to heal my ex-lover. I looked up, ready to yell at the person preventing me from doing my job, and stared into Alona’s steady eyes.
“You cannot, Martin,” Alona warned. She shook her head once. “You are not ready.”
“Ready for what?” I questioned harshly. “What are you talking about?”
“She did not want for you to know,” Alona said, her voice growing lower with each word.
The suspicion that sparked from Rebekah’s weariness grew into a bonfire inside my chest. Pieces clicked together in my mind, and while they made logical sense, I couldn’t believe them to be true.
“No,” I said, finally snatching my hand from Alona. “She can’t be. It’s not possible. Don’t tell me that she’s…” I couldn’t even finish the word, the horror of it snatching my voice.
With one nod, Alona sealed Diana’s fate. It also signaled the king who had also picked up on the situation at hand. Immediately, he straightened his back and raised his voice.
“We need to clear out this room,” King Atlus announced. Despite the urgency, he remained calm. “Please find the nearest door, be it the servants' exits or to the kitchens or the main entrance. We need to leave this hall. Now!”
Like a stampede of elephants, the nobles stomped their way out of the room. They pushed into one another and snapped insults, but successfully left. Alona tried to take Maji with her, but she twirled out of her grip and came to sit next to me.
“It is the corruption, isn’t it?” the young girl asked with a stoic expression. I admired her bravery at being the first one to voice the actuality of the situation.
“I don’t see how,” I responded truthfully. “Hennar swore that he wouldn’t infect anyone until the first snowfall.”
“Perhaps he lied,” King Atlus said. I was surprised that he was still there. I thought for sure he had run out of the room with the other nobles.
“Sire,” Rebekah said, gripping at the king’s elbow. “I must insist that you leave.”
“You are not in charge of me, Rebekah,” the king retorted. “I believe it is the other way around.”
“I am in charge of your safety, sire,” the captain replied, polite but insistent. “According to our knowledge of this disease, if Diana perishes, then the corruption will spread throughout this room. We cannot risk you getting infected.”
King Atlus met my eye, and I nodded at him, permitting him to go. However, the king didn’t leave right away. Instead, he leaned forward and spoke directly to me, as if we were the only two in this room.
“You heal her at all costs,” the king commanded. “Do not let this corruption bleed into this court. Do you understand?”
“I will do what I can, I swear it,” I said, more to myself than to the king. Nevertheless, Atlus took me at my word and finally let Rebekah escort him out.
She threw one last glance behind her, worry glowing in her eyes at me. I nodded towards her, indicating that it was alright that she left. I knew she didn’t want to leave, but she was the captain of the guard, and as she stated, she was in charge of the king’s protection.
That left Maji, Alona, and me hovering over Diana’s body. I checked her neck for a pulse and, thankfully, felt one. It was faint but still there, thudding like a far-away drum.
“Martin…” Alona said cautiously, but I stopped her before she could continue.
“Don’t even think about telling me to leave her here,” I snarled. “I don’t care if I have to play chess for hours or knock out Hennar’s teeth, he won’t take Diana. He won’t!”
“Martin,” Alona said again in the same tone as before, “she is too far gone. I do not believe there is anything we can do for her now.”
“That’s not possible,” I argued fitfully. “She can’t be that ill unless she’s had it for…”
“She has been hiding it fro
m you,” Maji answered, completing my thought before it fully formed. “She did not want you to know.”
Suddenly so many things made sense. That afternoon when she was locked in her room. Her telling me she couldn’t do this anymore. When she dashed out of the tournament stands. Diana had been sicker for way longer than she had let on, and she didn’t want me near him so I wouldn’t find out.
A surge of anger burst behind my heart and blazed through my arms. I raised them up and, in a tantrum, threw them back on Diana’s chest.
“You absolute fool!” I screamed as I did so.
The action was out of pure rage and hurt at one of the dearest people in my life, choosing to lie to me, choosing to stay sick when she knew I could heal her. I didn’t understand why, but knowing Diana, it was some stupid protection reason. What an idiot! I told her so with another smack to her chest.
“You idiot!”
This time, however, I left my hands on Diana’s body and forgot that they were still glowing, that the light was still alive. It pulsed and vibrated beneath my fingers. It heaved forward and wove throughout her upper body until it culminated in a point at the center of her forehead. That singular point grew until it looked like a black hole of light.
Immediately, I knew where that hole was taking me. I closed my eyes, trying to fight against the pull, but it was like trying to fall upwards against gravity. Once I opened them again, I was standing in the white space. As per usual, there was a table for two in front of me with a chess set in starting position, and two chairs on either side. Across the way was Hennar, standing with his hands on his hips, looking rather annoyed.
“Well, I have to say, I didn’t expect us to meet again so soon,” the false king said with pursed lips. “I don’t exactly appreciate being dragged back here before I was ready. But if you insist…?” He held out his hand, inviting me to sit at the table.
The anger, once directed at Diana, now turned violently towards the dragon slayer. I let the light crackle and stir beneath my fingertips. Hennar noticed the surge of power and acknowledged it with only a slight raise of his eyebrows.
