by Drew Wagar
‘Leave her alone!’ Meru yelled.
She sent forth a blast of mental energy. She felt Zoella try to block it but she had been too swift. Meru reeled backwards with a yell, his weapon clattering to the ground. She pummelled at him again, delighting in the screams she heard as he collapsed to the floor, writhing in pain, his hands clutched around his head.
Puny man!
‘Kiri is mine,’ Nerina cried. ‘She has always been mine!’
Zoella hadn’t been affected. She raised her own hand and Nerina felt a crushing strength clasp around her mind, forcing her to stop torturing Meru. She dropped her kai and it clattered on the stone floor.
For a moment they wrestled back and forth.
She is potent still, the last one I must tear! Then all Esurio is mine!
‘So,’ Nerina said, her eyes blazing with zeal. ‘You’re the one with the greatest gift after all. And I thought Kiri was special. It makes no difference. I’ll take your gift too … together the power of the Scallian sisters will ensure none can ever challenge me again.’
‘It will destroy you,’ Zoella replied. ‘Don’t you feel the rage within you? This power corrupts us, turns us … breaks us! Turns women into monsters. It destroyed Elena, it will burn you up and everything else too.’
‘The cry of the pitiful,’ Nerina snarled. ‘The weak and the infirm have no place.’
Zoella’s voice was a calm counterpoint to Nerina’s near-hysterical shriek of anger.
‘You weren’t always like this, Nerina. Once you were a loyal priestess, serving your people in good faith. Give up the power … return to us. I know … I can help you.’
‘Give it up?’ Nerina’s laughter was cruel. ‘You fool. You know nothing of this power or what it can do …’
‘I know all about it,’ Zoella replied, stepping closer, her arms vibrating with the effort of fending off Nerina’s power. ‘What it was for and why it was given to women. We were to be custodians of this world, to prevent war, stop conflict … not bring people to it and bend them to our will.’
But it is! I command. I rule! Me, my will! My world! My empire!
‘This power is mine to do with as I will,’ Nerina replied, her body shaking, her fingers outstretched and claw-like, her voice rising to a frenzy. ‘I will decide what is best, I am empress of all Esurio. I will not be lectured to by an upstart maid who fancies herself queen of a broken down city.’
‘This power is what brought down the Voren Empire,’ Zoella called back. ‘Elena’s misuse of it, she tore too many, her rage was magnified until it was uncontrollable. It’s what started the war all those rounds ago, the destruction of Drem …’
Enough of this! Now I tear you too!
‘And I will finish her work,’ Nerina said, pulling a knife from her belt.
With a scream of rage she lunged at Zoella, the knife held out towards her. She caught Zoella off guard, forcing her to deal with the mental onslaught and the knife attack. Zoella dodged the first attack, but Nerina felt her balance go.
Now to slit your throat!
Nerina swung the knife towards Zoella.
‘No!’
A figure to her right. Bright blue eyes …
Nerina’s arm was wrenched aside. The second blow narrowly missed its mark, the knife point slicing across her cheek instead. Zoella screeched and fell back.
Kiri! How?
A fist … a punch.
Nerina evaded the blow, fending it off and striking hard at Kiri, the knife still clenched in her hand.
She felt it hit home, the knife penetrating clothes, skin and then flesh. She heard Kiri’s scream of pain, short and sharp. The knife was wrenched from her hand, Kiri fell back, staggering away in a blur of blood and darkness.
Pain slammed between Nerina’s eyes. She yelled as her mental defences were shattered as if by a physical blow. She spun only to see Zoella’s outstretched palm.
Not enough, girlish queen!
Nerina still had her strength.
She grabbed Zoella’s hand and twisted it cruelly, turning it further and further around.
She felt Zoella twist in her gasp, trying to escape, but Nerina’s grip was sure and strong. She pulled Zoella closer, until their faces were less than a hands-width apart.
‘I will take your power now, Queen of Scallia!’
Nerina smiled as she felt bones in Zoella’s wrist crack, heard her scream in pain and flail about desperately.
No, there is no escape for you!
Nerina gave her no respite, twisting her broken wrist further round. Zoella yelled out in shock and agony.
I am Empress! There is no other but me!
Nerina felt her words shock through Zoella’s mind, blasting her thoughts aside and shattering her concentration. Nerina felt her growing despair.
Victory is mine!
Zoella screamed. Her arm and wrist were pure agony, her mind collapsing under Nerina’s frenzied attack. She felt her powers ebb away.
No …
A dizzying blast of noise.
The pain lessened.
Zoella’s ears rang, her vision blurred. Blood splattered across her. Nerina’s grip on her wrist faltered. In shock, Zoella could see the flesh of Nerina’s shoulder was torn and ripped. More blood, spraying over Zoella in a plume.
She screamed, the hot liquid splashing across her.
Zoella twisted around to see Meru standing there, blood-stained, swaying, a smoking rifle in his hand. As she watched he dropped it to the floor, staggering to one side.
But Nerina was not finished.
Zoella felt a hand at her throat. Nerina’s gore-stained face was before her, her fingers tightening, crushing.
DIE!
Zoella cried in fury, bringing her own arm back up, fingers outstretched, claw-like. Hot metal burnt up inside her, crackling outwards.
You die!
She unleashed the last of her strength, seeking out the glowing radiance of Nerina’s mind and then crushing down upon it. Pain lanced through her as Nerina resisted, but then …
With final shocking abruptness, Nerina’s presence was gone.
The hand around her throat let go. Nerina’s body slumped to the floor.
Zoella staggered back, sinking to her knees with shock. For long moments she could do nothing but gasp for breath.
‘No …’
Through the pain and confusion Zoella could see Meru was staring past her. Zoella turned to see what he was looking at, trying to get her eyes to focus.
Behind Nerina’s body was Kiri. She was on her knees too.
She wore a dazed expression on her face. Her ragged tunic was marked with a dark red stain; a stain that was growing where a knife protruded from her chest.
Zoella’s eyes widened in shock.
‘Kiri!’
She saw Kiri open her mouth, but no words came. She slumped. Zoella stumbled up and ran to her, catching her before she could topple over backwards. Then Meru was next to her, lowering Kiri down. Zoella looked at the knife, it was embedded up to the hilt, blood was pulsing out around it. She dared not remove it.
Kiri tried to move, her arms spasming for a moment.
‘Lie still!’ Meru said, his voice muffled in Zoella’s hearing. ‘We need to stop the bleeding, it will be alright, just …’
Zoella placed her hands on Kiri. She felt the sensations of Kiri’s body course up through her, sensed the gift join them together. Felt the shock of despair course through her.
She knew.
Oh no …
Meru looked up at Zoella. She gave the tiniest shake of her head, tears dripping down her cheeks.
‘Nerina?’ Kiri whispered. ‘She tore me … my gift … it’s gone.’
‘She’s dead,’ Meru said, looking to Kiri. ‘You stopped her …’
‘Yes,’ Zoella said, her voice catching. ‘You saved us, saved us all.’
Kiri smiled, before coughing. Meru tried to hold her to ease the pain. Blood trickled from the corner of Kiri’
s mouth.
‘Then it’s done,’ Kiri whispered, her eyes rolling up in her head. ‘We won …’
‘Kiri …’ Meru cried.
Kiri looked up at him, trying to raise her arm. Meru caught her hand, pulling it to his face and kissing her palm, holding her hand against his skin, tears dripping down his cheeks.
‘The time we had,’ Kiri said. ‘The marsip, the flower … you and I. The happiest I have ever been … my true love … always … forever …’
‘Kiri … I love you … don’t …’
‘I know,’ Kiri whispered.
Meru was sobbing now, unable to speak.
Kiri looked over to Zoella.
‘I can’t hear you any more,’ she said. ‘Look after him?’
Kiri’s fingers twitched in Meru’s hand. Zoella placed her own hand on Meru’s and Kiri moved her own fingers until her hand was wrapped around theirs. Zoella felt her squeeze them together.
‘Of course …’ Zoella said, through her own tears. ‘Kiri …’
‘My sister, dear sister …’
Kiri’s breath caught in her throat. She looked at Meru.
‘You’re mine, Meru of …’
Her eyes widened in surprise as if she was seeing something unexpected. A smile touched her lips.
‘Tia?’
Her breath sighed out of her. Then she was still, her eyes open and staring, but sightless. Meru gasped.
‘No … Kiri … no!’
Meru pulled Kiri to him, but she was limp in his grasp, her fingers loosening, her arms dropping away, her body a dead weight. The vitality that had characterised her very essence was gone.
Meru curled over her, shuddering, huge sobs racking him. His grief echoed around the walls, untempered and raw.
Zoella felt tears run down her cheeks, hot and burning. She tried to find words, any words that might provide a shred of comfort, but they were nowhere, there was nothing. She reached up and closed Kiri’s eyes before putting her arms around Meru.
Together, in the carnage of the throne room of Viresia, they wept.
* * *
Fires were still smouldering in the city, great plumes of smoke rising up into the still clear air. Walls and buildings were blackened, the bodies of men, women and dachs scattered through the streets and roads. The lower walls were shattered, and beyond, in the plains surrounding the city, the wreckage of the flying machines lay twisted and broken, themselves surrounded by the broken carcasses of dachs and the crushed bodies of priestesses and soldiers.
Few of the priestesses had survived. They had been urged to fight to the death, borne on by a zealous madness that had gripped their minds and stripped away their sanity.
Until Nerina had fallen.
Then they were bereft of purpose and meaning, their weapons falling to the ground as they stood, bewildered. Many had been slain where they stood, others captured and rounded up. All were shell-shocked, blank and staring, such had been the high priestess’ hold on them.
Crenech limped to the walls, watching the efforts of those to help the injured and wounded. Bells announced that the battle was over. Civilians emerged from hiding, only to find many loved ones slain in the fighting. The city mourned its dead.
Joachim, his clothes rent and his body blackened with soot, blood seeping from many cuts, emerged from the chaos. He staggered over to Crenech, falling into his embrace.
‘Where are they?’ he grated out, his voice raw.
‘Yonder,’ Crenech said, pointing upwards towards the throne room.
Together they painstakingly made their way up the steps, avoiding the remains of the fires and the dead bodies of the priestesses about them. The great doors were ajar and they pushed their way in.
They could see Zoella and Meru crouched on the floor; the body of a priestess, dressed in long flowing robes with a crystal tiara still perched on her head lay before them. Her hair had a streak of white running through it. Her eyes were open, but it was clear she was dead, her shoulder was ripped and torn, blood surrounding her in a dark pool.
‘Nerina …’ Crenech whispered.
‘Zoella!’ Joachim called, running to her.
Crenech stepped up behind them, hearing the sobs. Both Zoella and Meru were kneeling over another body. He saw dark hair, a thin face, eyes closed. His breath caught in his throat.
‘Princess Kiri …’
‘She stopped Nerina,’ Zoella managed to say. ‘Weakened her, hurt her, all to save me. She gave her life …’
The sobs took her again and she fell into Joachim’s arms.
Crenech bowed his head.
* * *
The lords of Scallia were gathered in the palace courtyard. Scant rounds ago Zoella had stood here to mark the crowning of King Ioric of Scallia and his all-too-brief reign. Once more the forecourt had been cleaned and tidied, decorated with ribbons and firelights.
The war was over.
As the sole survivor of the Tiamoi dynasty, Scallia was hers by right.
Sole survivor …
Zoella stared at the closed doors of the throne room. Beyond she could hear the cheering of the crowds.
She was trembling. She tried, but she couldn’t stop it.
‘Zoella?’
She turned her head by an effort of will. Joachim stood alongside her, clean now, but his face bore cuts and bruises from the fighting. Behind him, Zoella could see Gemma. Her arm was broken, it hung in a bandage. Zoella’s wrist was likewise wrapped tight.
Zoella swallowed, trying to find words, but none would come.
‘It is time,’ Joachim whispered to her, taking her hand in his.
She managed a tiny shake of her head, the tremors in her body increased. She clenched her eyes shut for a moment.
So many died, how can we celebrate anything?
The doors opened, Lacaille’s light streamed in. Zoella looked up at it, her vision blurred by tears. Lacaille blazed above, a perfect sphere once more, just the same as it had always been.
How can it be unchanged? All these people we’ve lost, my sister … Kiri …
She felt herself walking forward as if in a dream, her eyes fixed on some distant point on the horizon.
Just walk, don’t think, just walk …
Now she stood before them all, a sea of faces all about her, many she recognised from before when she had been just a maid, serving in the household. She saw the assembled lords of Scallia, the Amaran folks with Senator Janaid standing before them, the soldiers of Scallia, sadly much depleted in numbers.
Meru stood, his hands dressed with bandages, slightly apart from the others, his expression bereft, but she saw the tiny nod meant only for her.
The crowds grew silent, watching and waiting.
Joachim let go of her hand and stepped back.
Two of the lords approached her, stepping in time with each other. One bore a crown.
‘By the laws of our land and the custom of our people, we call upon you Princess Zoella daughter of Myana. We would have you be our queen. Will you grant our wish?’
Zoella’s throat was dry, she looked at the lord with the crown, her face blank. He looked back.
‘Princess Zoella?’
Zoella swallowed. Kiri’s voice drifted in her mind.
You don’t want to do this, but you will because it’s the right thing to do. That’s what makes all the difference. You’re so good at bringing people together. You’ll be a great queen.
Zoella mouthed her response silently.
‘But what if I get it wrong?’
You won’t.
‘What if I do?’
I’m your sister, I’m telling you … you won’t.
‘Princess Zoella?’ The lord asked again, fidgeting and looking nervous, a mutter of conversation was rising from the crowd.
Zoella bowed her head for a moment before looking up. She straightened, turning to face him.
‘If my service be acceptable, I will so serve.’
The murmurs subsided, replac
ed with silence.
‘It is not only right,’ the lord said, relieved and raising his voice to be heard over the courtyard. ‘It is your duty and joy to serve our people. Will you conduct our affairs with diligence, with honour, compassion and courage?’
Zoella only just kept her voice steady.
‘I will so serve.’
‘Will you uphold our laws, keep our borders safe, defend us against all who would imperil us?’
‘I will so serve,’ Zoella said. ‘But not just those of Scallia. Those of Drem, Taloon and Drayden. I will seek to defend us all.’
A mutter went around those present at her words, breaking as they did with rounds of tradition. But none spoke against her.
‘And will you never forsake your duty, despite age or infirmity until such time as you yourself journey into the after?’
You’ll be a great queen …
Zoella took a deep breath.
‘I will so serve.’
‘Then kneel before your people.’
Zoella did as she was asked. The crown was placed upon her head. It was heavy, pressing down on her with unexpected weight.
‘Then rise, Queen Zoella of Scallia,’ the lord said.
Zoella rose to her feet. The lord looked around and then turned to her.
‘People of Viresia, greet your Queen,’ he called in a loud voice. ‘Queen Zoella of Scallia!’
A cheer went up from all about her, which broke into enthusiastic clapping. She stared, her expression blank, waiting for it to subside.
You’ll be a great queen …
‘Sister,’ she mouthed, her voice silent. ‘Thank you.’
She looked around at Joachim. He smiled and nodded at her. She turned to see the crowds of people below her, finding a strength coursing through her mind, the tremors in her body faded. She blinked, seeing the city around her.
These are my people, this is my city …
‘We have fought hard, we have lost much,’ she found herself saying, surprised at the authority in her voice. ‘All of us have lost friends … and family.’ She pursed her lips before finding the renewed strength to carry on. ‘We must do better. We will do better. We will cherish our gifts, all of them, not exploit them or use them to dominate others. We have learnt that our distant ancestors wished for a simple peaceful life, free from overzealous authority and free from the heavy hand of bureaucracy, where community could flourish and families might grow, living in harmony with this world.’
