Schiss had heard that in the days of old, Marchant Royals had discovered the Magic to control the weather, but he had never seen proof of it up until now. Cautiously, he stuck his head out of the doorway to watch Prince Rainere, but a sharp crack lit up the sky, followed by an earth-trembling rumble, and Schiss cowered back into his shelter with his hands over his delicate ears.
Prince Rainere stood as if transfixed. His arms raised to the sky and a look of intense concentration on his white face. Only his lips moved as he strengthened and re-strengthened the incantation to bring on the wild and terrible storm. The ground shook as another deep rumble thundered through the sky.
Slowly, Rainere came back to his senses and lowered his arms. Looking about, he watched with satisfaction as snowflakes danced in the eddies and gusts about him. A tiny twitch at the side of his mouth almost suggested a smile.
There is no way Adelena can stay out in this storm, he thought. She will have to seek shelter now and my home is the only refuge for miles in all directions. Her Queen’s Guard will have no choice, but to lead her here.
She will be with me again soon.
Chapter Two
“Blood and Bad News”
“Can you see who it is, General?” asked Adele, as she held her hand up to shade her eyes and squinted at the puff of dust in the distance.
“It’s two riders, but I can’t make out their livery just yet,” replied General Ohrig, his pale blue eyes sharp, despite his years.
Adele and the General were both sitting astride their horses in the middle of the road as the five men of the Queen’s Guard and the two nannies, Caitlin and Seraphina, packed up their lunchtime camp in a green field not too far away. The carriage drivers pulled their horses back into their traces in readiness to continue the long march back home to the Golden Palace
Captain Lucky was walking over from the camp with Adele’s little son, Aaron, and her son’s puppy, Hero Boy. The tall Captain was holding Aaron’s hand and leaning his blonde head down to hear better what her son was saying. Of all the Queen’s Guards, Captain Lucky was the most intimidating to Adele’s children and she could see Aaron’s shyness in his slight hunch as they came closer. Though he was very kind to the children, Lucky took his authority as Captain seriously, and was not so playful as the other, younger Queen’s Guards, the red-headed Pepper and handsome Leith. Of course, the two older Queen’s Guards, Bear and Owens, were not playful at all and the children instinctively recognized these two as soldiers and not babysitters. But, despite this, there was a comfortable intimacy that had grown between them all from being on the road together, including their stay in Sandar, for the past ten days, and everyone was close to her three children now.
“Queen Adelena, if I may interrupt, your son would like a word with you,” the young Captain smiled and ruffled the little Prince’s hair encouragingly.
“What is it, sweetheart?” asked Adele, as her son gazed up at her, his hazel eyes serious.
“Hero Boy told me that there is snow coming, isn’t there, Mummy?” Aaron finished every one of his statements with a question. His little-boy earnestness always undermined by his four-year-olds insecurity.
“Snow?” Adele raised her eyebrows in surprise.
“Bit hot for snow, I would think,” said General Ohrig, frowning up at the cloudless blue sky.
“That’s what I said, too, didn’t I? But Hero Boy told me that snow is coming,” insisted Aaron. “Look, it’s making him sad!”
The three adults and Aaron looked down at the large black and tan puppy as the dog cuddled in close to his master’s legs. The puppy did look pretty miserable.
“Don’t worry, sweetheart,” smiled Adele, glancing back up the road as the riders in the distance drew nearer. “We will all be home in two days and we can be safe and warm in the Golden Palace, even if snow does come.”
“Okay, Mummy,” Aaron agreed reluctantly. He pulled the puppy up off its haunches. “Come on, Hero Boy. Mummy said it’s alright, okay?”
The puppy and his little master walked back to the carriages and Adele’s eyes followed them. It wasn’t like Aaron to be so serious. He was normally such a happy little boy.
Absently, she reached into her pocket and touched the letter Ripenzo Shale had left her just that morning. He had spoken of a storm, too. She chewed her bottom lip, anxiety fluttering in her chest.
“Your Majesty?” General Ohrig interrupted her train of thought. “The riders are St. Lucidis messengers from what I can see, and they are coming in hard. We should ride up to meet them now, and not wait for the carriages to join us until we know what they want.”
He turned to the Captain. “Captain Lucky, mount up and come with us.”
“General,” nodded Captain Lucky, as he sprinted off to get his horse, Redfire.
Minutes later, the party of three trotted down the road to meet the messengers coming their way. Adele could hear the thundering of the hooves and saw the horses were in distress, flicking their heads, as foam flew from their mouths.
“Do men often ride that hard when they are carrying good news, General?” asked Adele, giving Ohrig a sidelong look.
Ohrig’s mouth tweaked into a grim smile. “Not in my thirty years of experience, Your Majesty. But there is always a first time for everything.”
Adele and her two Queen’s Guards stopped at a distance from the messengers, to give them time to safely slow their mounts and approach. The two men were riding the dappled grey horses from the St. Lucidis stables and both were wearing the Gold Lion crest on their tunics. They were definitely from the Golden Palace.
“Your Majesty, Queen Adelena,” called out one of the men, addressing Adele directly. “I have a message for you from High Wizard Ohren, Your Majesty.”
He thrust a long cylindrical tube at Adele and tried to sit up as straight as his labored breathing would allow him to. Adele noticed his blonde curls were plastered to his forehead and that his collar was dark with sweat.
“Please, Captain Lucky. Help these gentlemen take care of their horses and get them some refreshments. They are obviously exhausted.” Adele couldn’t help but pity the animals more than the men who had been ridden so hard, and come such a long way, to deliver this message to her.
Captain Lucky led the riders back to the carriages further down the road, delivering them into the care of the other four Queen’s Guardsmen, and rejoined his Queen and General.
Adele studied the cylinder in her hands. It was the size of a normal scroll and had a golden lion head at each end, and no apparent opening.
“Generally, these cylinders are locked with a Blood Print Spell, Your Majesty,” said General Ohrig, leaning over from his saddle to examine the cylinder for himself.
Adele looked up. “Then how am I meant to open it? Ohren knows I don’t have any Magic.” Of course, that wasn’t exactly true, but Adele wasn’t in a place to explain that to her General just yet.
“Well, we use these out in the field for transporting sensitive information and normally the tube has had a drop of your blood embedded in the Spell. Another drop of your blood on one of the lion heads should break the spell and open the tube for you.”
“Really?” Adele didn’t bother to hide her incredulous expression. “Has no one ever heard of a combination lock in this world? Why must we use blood for everything?”
She looked down at the tiny dagger that General Ohrig handed her, and scrunched up her nose in distaste. “Can you do it for me, please?” She offered him her finger.
General Ohrig tried to hide his amusement behind a stern frown. “Just take the knife, Your Majesty. You only need a scratch to get a drop of blood.”
Adele took the blade and reluctantly pushed the tip into her left thumb. The keen edge soon glistened with red. Adele wiped her thumb over the lion heads and watched fascinated as they both began to rotate in opposite directions with a little clicking noise before popping out and hanging off the end of the cylinder, suspended on little loose springs.
/> “It’s only a glass cylinder,” mused Adele, as she shook the scroll out. “What’s to stop someone from just smashing it open?”
“Because it’s made of Sticking Glass, Your Majesty. If you just broke it, then the glass would magically stick to you, working its way through your clothes to your skin and then inside you, piercing all your organs and causing internal bleeding. Hence, the Magic demands the blood of the receiver to open it properly.”
Adele gave Ohrig a long look. She didn’t like it when he used that particular lecturing tone with her. It wasn’t her fault everything on this world was still such a mystery. She had only lived in Evendaar for a month. She kept her gaze on the General, until his blue eyes crinkled at the sides and she could tell he was trying not to smile again. “Thank you, General,” she said dryly. “Informative and needlessly graphic, as always.”
General Ohrig nodded, accepting the remark as a compliment, then looked pointedly at the curled-up scroll in Adele’s hand. Adele looked down at it, too. A jolt of dread mixed unpleasantly with the cold chicken pie she’d had for lunch. Slowly, she uncurled the letter, not at all eager to find out why the High Wizard had almost killed two horses to get this message to her.
To Our Queen Adelena,
Please do not be overly alarmed by this missive I send you now, but it is imperative that you do not return to the Golden Palace at this time. Instead, you should head directly to the Belvoir Estate.
General Ohrig can be trusted to guide you along the safe roads.
Prince Bertrand II of Belvoir has been informed of your arrival and will expect you to stay at the Estate for the duration of the Horse Carnival. I will have your luggage, staff, and amenities sent directly to the Estate for your convenience.
Please know this letter contains my sincere wishes for your health and my hopes that you had success in Sandar.
Please give my fond regards to the children.
Yours in service to the Kingdom,
H.W. Ohren St. Lucidis
Thoroughly confused, Adele handed the letter to General Ohrig and looked back at the carriages. Her three children played happily, yelling and laughing as they were chased by the youngest QG, Pepper. The nannies, Seraphina and Caitlin, had finished packing the carriages and watched the children, giggling behind their hands. QG Leith held the three over-excited puppies at bay on leads as the children ran about. Meanwhile, QGs Owens and Bear were off to the side, smoking cigarettes and ignoring the game. And here Adele had hoped it would be uneventful day.
“What in the name of the Goddess?” muttered Ohrig, as he read and re-read the letter, checking the back for more instructions. There were none.
“Well, at least there is no need for alarm, General. Ohren says that right at the start, before he warns me not to return to our home,” Adele was trying to be sarcastic, but her nerves betrayed her and when she took the letter back from Ohrig, her hands were shaking.
“Why would he say ‘imperative’ if he didn’t want me to be alarmed?” she asked, scanning the letter again.
“I assume we need to change direction immediately,” frowned Ohrig. “But, if my memory serves me correctly, the safest road we can take to the Belvoir Estate is at least another day’s ride from this point here. Then we would need to travel across country for half a day or so, maybe more. Belvoir is closer to us than the Golden Palace at any rate, so that is good news. But, if time is more critical, then we can turn off the highway soon and travel the back roads through the Dark Forest. It’ll be slow, but the distance is almost half and we will get there quicker in the long run.”
“Yes, alright,” nodded Adele, as her mind spun off in a hundred different directions. What could have happened to spur Ohren to write her this letter? Had he heard what had happened in Sandar? Had they already discovered that the Sandarian Mage was missing?
Her left thumb smarted and not thinking, she sucked the blood off. It tasted like copper and dust.
“Which choice, Your Majesty?” asked Ohrig, looking over at his pale Queen, his expression just as worried as hers. “Should we take the back roads or stay on the public highway?’
“Just give me a minute, Ohrig,” muttered Adele as she examined the letter once more. She chewed her bottom lip and thought hard but it was so difficult to know what to do when she had no clue why their plans had changed. Damn Ohren and his mysterious Wizard ways!
“What’s this Carnival Ohren mentions here?” she asked.
“It’s a horse racing carnival,” Ohrig replied. “It’s the most famous in Unisia, if not Evendaar. All the Royal Families of the Kingdom gather at Belvoir Estate to race their fastest horses, sell the studs and mares, and drink far too much. It’s more of a weeklong party than a proper horse market. I’m guessing the Carnival was originally meant to coincide with the end of your Royal Procession around the Kingdom.”
“But, instead, I had to spend almost two weeks traveling back and forth to Sandar for emergency trade negotiations.” Adele patted the top pocket of her travelling cloak, where she kept the little box of Fire Orchid stamens. “Thank goodness, it was worth it!”
Adele looked at the General of her Queen’s Guard. Over the intensity of the past two weeks, she had come to value General Ohrig’s sensible advice. He was a man whom she felt had earned her trust, or at least enough of her trust. Though his deep-set, pale blue eyes were often shadowed by worries she brought him, Adele knew that General Ohrig never backed down from a challenge, and he did not encourage her to, either.
“What worries me is that the High Wizard has said that he’ll send my things to Belvoir Estate, but not that he would meet us there. Didn’t he say that it was crucial to get these flower stamens back to Concordis to make the Influenza tonics immediately?”
Ohrig straightened up in his saddle as Captain Lucky joined them. The carriages were now on the move and were slowly making their way down the road. All the nannies, children, and puppies were aboard and the other four members of the Queen’s Guard were riding beside them.
“My first priority is the safety of the Queen and her children,” Ohrig said firmly. “So I would not advise us to ride into possible danger at the Golden Palace. Instead, we should travel to the Belvoir Estate, even if the High Wizard can’t be trusted, I believe we will still be safe there.”
“Why shouldn’t we trust the High Wizard?” asked Adele quickly, giving Ohrig a curious look. She had a strong feeling that Ohrig knew something about the High Wizard that he wasn’t telling her. But Ohrig just shrugged, his closed expression suggesting that conversation should wait for a more private time, and fell in beside the first carriage as it came up beside them.
“Everything alright, Your Majesty?” Tilburn’s worried face leaned out the window of the first carriage. He had a quill stuck behind his ear and his hands were full of papers.
“Of course, it is,” Adele forced a smile to placate her Majordomo. “We have just received an invitation to join the Carnival at Belvoir Estate. Sounds like it should be a great party, so we are going to head there, instead of back to the Palace.”
“Really?” Tilburn looked doubtful. “I know it was on the list of duties for you, but I hardly think the High Wizard will believe that a horse festival would be more important than taking receipt of the Orchid…”
“Well he does think it’s more important,” interrupted Adele, her own disquiet making her short with Tilburn’s sensible question. “And he told us to go to Belvoir, so we will go to Belvoir.”
Irritated with her response, the ever-sensitive Tilburn shut his mouth with a snap and retreated back into the carriage and Adele immediately wished she hadn’t been so brusque with him. Now he would sulk for hours. Besides, after everything she had been through to get the Orchid Stamens for the High Wizard, it was just so hard to believe he wouldn’t want to take them from her straight away.
I killed a man and ruined the life of another to secure these Fire Orchids for Unisia thought Adele, the memory making her heart drop into a dark p
it of shame. And now Ohren doesn’t even want them?
She shook her head to try and lose these disturbing thoughts. Ohren was one of the good guys. A wizard, true, but a good wizard. What’s done is done, she told herself firmly. Besides, all the Royal Families will be at this Carnival. Hopefully, Rainere will be there, too.
The idea of seeing Prince Rainere again picked up Adele’s flagging spirits. She really needed to talk to him about what had happened in Sandar and what it could mean for the two of them. If she had started a war between Sandar and Unisia, he may very well change his mind about wanting to marry her. On this journey, she had already had too many experiences with Magic to ignore the power that now lived within her. A power she was determined to keep secret until she knew more about it all and she had a feeling that Rainere was the only person who may be able to help her.
She decided to take Ohrig’s advice and follow the Highway to the Belvoir Estate. Out on the open road, Adele felt comfortable enough to ride ahead of their caravan to be alone with her thoughts. It was pleasant enough until a gusty breeze blew up and rattled the branches of the trees that lined the road. A sudden chill bit at her cheeks.
In their carriage, the children shivered and cuddled close to their nannies. Down on the floor, Hero Dog whined and looked up at his tiny master.
“I know, too, don’t I, Hero Boy?” said Aaron quietly. “The snow is coming.”
Chapter Three
“Webs of Deceit”
A strong wind blew in through the broken windows, overturning some tiny glass bottles and rattling the papers that lay strewn across the workbenches in the laboratory. Grotto jumped at the commotion, roused from his maudlin contemplations where he still swept glass on the floor. He shivered as another buffeting gust almost knocked him over. This was an unnatural wind.
The Queen Revealed Page 2
