The Dark Kingdom (Sage Trilogy, Book 2)

by St. Clair, Julius

  “These five stones…what are the odds we’ll actually succeed in retrieving them?”

  “Honestly, very slim. Prattle and Languor will be tricky, but manageable according to our research. Zen-echelon is so mysterious that we don’t know what to expect, and Quietus…that’s the one no one is looking forward to.”

  “The ones that left Allay practically in ruins, right? The ones who killed all the Sages?”

  “The same.”

  “Okay, I remember the story. About how they’ll never attack Allay again because they promised not to, but…what happens when we invade them? The pact will be broken.”

  “I know,” Catherine said, her throat becoming suddenly parched. “I’m even betting that they’ll come for Allay as soon as they confirm our presence.”

  “So in the end, Allay will be destroyed...”

  “What are you saying?”

  “Look, Catherine,” James said, sitting forward. “You’re in charge of Allay. Your duty is to keep it safe and protected. Now, when we go on this journey…to restore salvation for all by getting rid of the green ether in the sky…we’ll be leaving Allay defenseless. I understand why. We’re doing it for the greater good, even if the other Kingdoms want nothing to do with us. But, my gripe with the plan is…is it right to save everyone else while condemning our own? From what you’ve told me, if the Quietus wants to destroy us at any time, they can. And soon enough, we’ll practically be inviting them.”

  “Which is why we’ll have to be very covert, James,” she said. “Once we leave Allay, we are making no announcements. We’re to infiltrate each Kingdom and get their stone of power. That’s all. Alerting any Kingdom of our mission or presence could cause Allay’s downfall, but it’s a risk we must take. Would you rather sit back and do nothing? Watch the ether eventually overtake Allay? Whether we sit or we act, Allay will be in danger. At least with our mission, we have a chance of not just saving our citizens, but everyone else as well. The world can continue on.”

  “Maybe it’s not worth continuing,” James sighed, turning back to the window.

  “You of all people shouldn’t say such things,” Catherine replied. “You who once had no direction or purpose in life. Yet you persevered, and now you are of the elite of our Kingdom. If you can accomplish such wonders, then others can too. Who knows? Our mission may very well usher in a new era of peace and understanding. For so long the five Kingdoms have been isolated and wary of one another. But if we only talked of our differences and worked out our problems, perhaps we’ll realize that we are in control of our world. That together, we can stop this self-fulfilling destiny of destruction and achieve things no other generation has before us.”

  “Did your mother and father have the same dream for our world?”

  “They lived off of fear and therefore they acted little on the ideals they professed. Because while fear is daunting and burdensome, it is also reliable and static. Fear does not change. And they became accustomed to it. See, with taking risks…there’s so many variables that one can’t account for, it ends up being scarier than doing nothing. Yet risk is the only way to reap rewards on par with miracles.”

  “Well, one thing is for sure,” James said, facing the Princess. “We’re going to need a miracle in a couple weeks.”

  “Couldn’t have said it better myself.”

  “WE’RE HERE!” Scarlet yelled from outside as the stagecoach came to a halt. Catherine and James got out warily and gave her a suspicious glance. How could they have arrived so soon?

  Scarlet scowled and waved them on toward the eastern wall.

  “What? I drive fast. You wanted to see the village today, didn’t you?”

  “Thank you, Cousin,” Catherine laughed. “We did.”

  “And be careful. If the villagers are anything like James, you could get attacked…with bad hygiene.”

  “Ha. Ha,” James replied. “We’ll see who will be gagging when I have to give you that massage.”

  Scarlet took off with a scowl as Catherine began putting on her cloak, fastening it tightly around her neck.

  “At least the two of you seem to be hitting it off,” Catherine chuckled. James rolled his eyes.

  “I guess we have to if we’re going to be fighting side by side.”

  “So, where to, first?” Catherine said as she donned her hood, shadowing nearly half of her face. “I can’t wait to see what you have planned.”

  “Just follow me,” James said as he pushed on the steel, eastern wall doors. He was so excited, he didn’t even see a figure watching them from the shadows up above.

  “We’re going to my house first,” James said as he gave the doors enough momentum to open on their own now. “We’ll set up and make sure my father isn’t in a bad mood. Then I’ll introduce you to my friends. Not as the Princess, of course. I’ll call you Sally or something. Just in case.”

  “I’m so excited,” Catherine said as the smells of the village wafted towards her. She had never experienced anything like it. To most people, it would stink. The manure, the hay, the abundance of mud and dirt and the lack of well-groomed, clean people, but to her it was far more preferable than the luxuries of the castle. The smell was rustic and natural. It had an earthy aroma to it that proclaimed good old-fashioned hard labor and living.

  And as she stepped onto the cobblestone pavement, she delighted at the people passing by, laughing while they worked, chuckling at inside jokes and slapping each other on the shoulder. Their faces were matted with dirt; their beards were untrimmed and ghastly. Their clothes were so brown that she wasn’t sure if it was because of work or if it was simply the natural color. But it didn’t matter. This was where she belonged.

  The houses were very small but she was sure they became quite cozy at night. Most were only a story high and looked more like a hut than anything else. Often a kiosk, cart or makeshift table was next to it outside, where the people would set up shop in the morning for their various wares. With it still being the mid-day, the village was bustling, trying to secure their last sales before turning in for the night.

  Catherine clutched her hood tight as James dug into the Princess’ bag for his own covering.

  “What are you doing?” she asked as he rummaged around.

  “Trying to get a cloak too.”

  “You could have asked! What happened to privacy?! And what do you need a cloak for anyway?”

  “I don’t want the townspeople to see me. I’ll be recognized.”

  “What are you a celebrity around here?”

  “No, but no one’s supposed to come back from the Academy. I would rather them think I’m still off fighting in a foreign land. If I reveal myself now, they’ll just think I failed.”

  “It doesn’t matter what they think. The fact is you’re a valuable member of our team.”

  “Yeah, well they wouldn’t believe it coming from me. And we’re not going to expose you just so you can make them understand.”

  “Of course not.”

  “So then keep you head down and follow me,” James said firmly.

  “I love it when you get all masculine and forceful,” Catherine said sarcastically as James threw the extra cloak over his shoulders and the hood over his head. Even though no one in the village wore cloaks, everyone would be too busy working to inquire about them. And besides, most would absolutely terrified if a stranger entered their Kingdom. No one would ask questions.

  Still, to make sure they didn’t put the village in a panic, it was good they were only staying one night. By the next morning, news of their arrival would have spread to all four corners of Allay and fear would begin to grip their hearts.

  James and Catherine navigated the streets like specters, their cloaks flowing behind them and their visage shrouded by the hood’s darkness. The villagers would glance up or whisper to one another, but no one made an advance towards them. Thankfully, James’ house was separated from the village itself. They would have their privacy there.

  James si
ghed as the familiar sight came into the view. The untilled soil. The withering crops. The large but unkempt house. When he left for the Academy, he swore to never see that place or his father again. But ultimately he changed his mind. There was business to attend to. This wasn’t just a sightseeing trip for the Princess.

  “Allow me to go in first,” he said as he clutched the knob to their back door. But before he could gather the courage to enter, the door slammed wide open and a shotgun was thrust into his face. His father held it firmly against his left shoulder. James left nothing to chance. His arm had long taken over instinctively.

  A flash of light erupted from his body, piercing his father’s eyes and overcoming him with blindness. But James could see through it. And with a simple gesture, he reached forward, grabbed the shotgun by the muzzle, and snatched it out of his father’s hands. The entire flash only lasted a couple seconds, but when the light subsided, the gun was now in James’ hands. His father rubbed his eyes and groaned under the loss of his gun, beginning to back away.

  James could understand why.

  In the second it took James to retrieve the weapon, he could sense the alarm in his father’s body, the nervous twitch of his fingers and the sweat that broke from his pores. The man was embarrassed that someone had just come upon his property and stole his weapon right out of his hands.

  Humiliated and nervous, he was not ready to face the intruder.

  But as his father’s vision cleared, and he suddenly recognized the face under the intruder’s hood, James didn’t need his Sage abilities to discern what his father was feeling now.

  It was fear.

  At seeing the son he despised for years, pointing his own gun into his face.

  The old James would have relished in the moment, but this was not the point of his visit. James let the shotgun down and handed it over to his surprised father. His father blinked rapidly and continued to stare into the eyes of his son.

  “You came home,” he said, throwing the shotgun to the floor behind him. And with those words leaving his lips, he suddenly embraced his son. James didn’t reciprocate, but simply accepted it and allowed his father to hug him for as long as he wished. When he let go, James was absolutely shocked to see tears in the old man’s eyes.

  “It’s good to see you, son,” he wept as he brushed his sleeve under his nose.

  “You too, Dad,” James smiled. “Though it hasn’t been that long.”

  “I’m sorry for sending you to that awful place. When you left, I didn’t think I’d see you again.”

  “I forgive you…and, believe it or not, it ended up being the best thing that ever happened to me. You wouldn’t believe how much I’ve grown.”

  “I can see it!” he laughed, waving his hands up and down in front of his son. “You’ve gotten bigger, and your eyes…they’ve lost that child-like wonder…and who is your friend?”

  “Her name is Catherine.”

  Catherine took her hood off and extended a hand for him to shake. As soon as she did, however, his father’s face turned pale.

  “You brought the Princess here?”

  “How could you possibly know she’s the Princess?” James asked in shock.

  “I’m old, remember? It’s not that hard to figure out. What are you doing taking her outside the castle?”

  “She’s not a pet, Dad. She can do as she pleases.”

  “This is no place for her.”

  “I know all about the siege that happened years ago, but you don’t have to worry. She’s protected.”

  “By who? Just you?”

  “I’m more than capable.”

  “That’s hard to believe.”

  “Is this really the conversation we’re going to have right now?”

  “Why are you really here? You need money?”

  “NO!” James shouted at him. “We just need a place to stay for the night.”

  “And what if someone comes looking for her? What am I going to do?”

  “No one’s coming. She doesn’t have a bounty on her head! We’re just trying to have one night of peace in the village!”

  “I don’t feel comfortable about this.”

  “Sir,” Catherine spoke up. “We meant you no discomfort, and it’s easy to see that you’re not going to change your mind. We’ll head back to the Academy.”

  “No, Catherine,” James said to her. “You need this. Just let me talk to him alone for a second.”

  “Okay, James,” she said as his father leaned up against the doorway.

  “You don’t have any proof there’s no bounty,” his father stressed.

  “It doesn’t matter if she does or doesn’t, my job is to protect her.”

  “So you’re her bodyguard now?”

  “I am, and it doesn’t matter if she’s the Princess of the entire world, I promised her a day off from the Academy, so she could see our village and enjoy herself one last time. My original plan was to just sleep under the stars in the meadow, something nice and romantic, but then I thought that maybe, just maybe my father would like to meet the girl of my dreams, and perhaps he would be willing to let us stay in his house one night. So that we could all spend time together like some happy, dysfunctional family. But I guess you couldn’t do it.”

  “I’m supposed to believe you came here on my account?”

  “Whether you believe it or not, it’s true. I graduated from the Academy, and I’m about to be sent out on a long assignment. I won’t sugarcoat this. I’m not coming back. This is the last time you’ll see me and I just thought that maybe we could achieve some kind of reconciliation.”

  “Hmph,” his father scoffed. “That sounds like you. You have a beautiful girl like the Princess on your arm, and you would rather spend the night with a guy.”

  James clenched his jaw and sighed heavily. Without another word, he stepped away from the house. Catherine glanced back at James’ father with concerned eyes as James gently grabbed her arm and led her away. Once they were far enough in the distance, Catherine turned and caressed James’ cheek, looking deeply into his eyes. It was the first time she had ever seen him so hurt.

  “James, was it anything I said?”

  “Absolutely not,” he said. “It’s just before we left for the other Kingdoms, I wanted my father to acknowledge me…just once. He’s never thought of me as a man…I was hoping that maybe today that would change.”

  “You don’t need his approval,” Catherine replied. “All that matters is what you think about yourself. And if it’s any consolation, I think you’ve turned out just fine.”

  “Thanks, Katie,” James whispered through a smirk.

  “So,” she said, turning around and starting to walk away. “Now that we have no place to stay, we should try hurrying back to the Academy before night falls. Does it get really cold here?”

  “Actually, no,” James shouted to her as he caught up. “And I already had a back-up. There’s a meadow, close to the castle as a matter of fact. I was thinking we could sleep under the stars, since we might not see any more in a couple weeks. Then, I’ll shows you around in the morning.”

  “Sounds incredible,” Catherine said. “Lead the way, Captain.”

  James grabbed her hand and led them away, gazing at the setting sun and feeling happier than he ever had in his life. It didn’t matter that he may never gain his father’s respect. He had become a warrior more powerful than his father could ever know, and the very Princess herself was holding his hand. Life could get no better.

  They made it through the village the same way they came, twilight setting into the night sky as the villagers closed up shop. Tired sighs of relief rode the wind and aching bodies turned in for the evening. James and Catherine quietly made their way to the meadow, hand in hand as the crickets began their first song. The shadows of the stars began to peek, and only a light breeze brushed past their skin.

  By the time they arrived, a midnight blue was cast over the land, with a luminescent glow coming from the light of the
moon and the fireflies that hovered above their heads. James had never been in the meadow at night, and once again he could only think of the beauty he had missed by neglecting it. The sky itself shined like water despite the darkness, and James felt his stomach quiver when Catherine removed her cloak.

  Her hair blew into her eyes and she brushed it away tenderly as James threw his cloak into the meadow. Catherine immediately lay down and stretched out onto the soft grass. James smirked and sat down beside her, admiring the way the freckles on her cheeks reflected off the fireflies’ light. When she stared off into the clouds with her green eyes, shining with vibrant life and hope, he wanted to kiss her again. But all he could think about was his surroundings, his father’s words ringing through his head.

  He had no idea how safe Catherine was, even within the confines of the Kingdom. And he had never been at the meadow at night. He had no clue as to what animals or insects came out to hunt then. It didn’t matter how strong he had gotten. He still hadn’t tested his eidolon in battle. Even when he fought Achan, the clash of their blades had sent them both flying backwards into unconsciousness…but there was no use worrying now.

  He had to be alert, and just let Catherine enjoy the night.

  “Have you ever broken into the castle?” Catherine asked suddenly. “It’s so close from here.”

  “No, haven’t had the opportunity,” James said quickly. Catherine closed her eyes and hit him on the leg gently.

  “I’m not interrogating you. I was just asking.”

  “I’ve wanted to see inside,” James said. “But I always chickened out in the end.”

  “We can see it tomorrow if you want.”

  “No. No. This is your day. Your night. You never got to spend time in the village, so that’s what we’re going to do.”

  “You’re very sweet, James,” Catherine said before sitting up to face him. “But tell me what’s really on your mind. You’ve been quiet since we left your father’s house.”

  “I was just thinking about you…” James confessed, clearing his throat. “And…Dominic.”

  “Oh…what about him?”

  “This betrothal…how serious is it?”