Several more people had come down with it, and in an attempt to stave off further infection, Gryffon had set up a temporary infirmary in the great hall to house the infirm. Amelia seemed to be one of the worst cases, and she still hadn’t broken her fever. Layna was beginning to worry. They, of course, had the healers working to find a cure to this problem as well, but the bulk of their efforts had to be directed towards determining how to break the enchantment that had been placed on Phoenix.
Neither she nor Gryffon were eager to have the fact that it was Phoenix spreading this curse get out, and so had the added stress of trying to make sure that those who worked on her were trustworthy so as to maintain this secret. Layna’s nerves were wearing thin. She wanted nothing more than to be at Phoenix’s side day and night.
Unfortunately, as a Queen, she was forced to put all this aside and act like one in times of need. And right now, she needed to speak with the Gelendan Council and the Ieldran of Treymayne. They were still in negotiations about the possible merger of the two countries, but ever since the Council had suggested that they tell Treymayne about their current situation, and the particularly unpleasant meeting that had followed, the talks were getting more heated. They did not mention the original means for spreading the curse, but did explain that it was transmitted person to person and that if it was to breach the city limits, it would eventually affect Treymayne as well. The Ieldran understandably was not happy. Especially not so as one of their envoys – Lady Aria – had been in the city the last few weeks and was therefore detained within the containment bubble.
Gryffon squeezed Layna’s hand in support as the two of them went to stand in front of the mirror they used to communicate with the Ieldran. Layna let go of Gryffon’s hand reluctantly as the image shifted and cleared to show the Treymayne council members, the Ieldran. Their own Council, and Lady Aria, sat around the table with them and for a few tense moments all the people on either side of the mirror looked around at one another.
They were supposed to be discussing the details of how Gelendan and Treymayne would unify once more as one big country, and working out the disagreement on both sides. But it seemed that every time they began such a discussion, it would turn into Layna and Gryffon fending off accusations concerning all the things that had been going wrong under their watch. The Treymayne people seemed to suddenly be blinded to how the union would benefit them, all they could see were the problems that they would then be obligated to help with.
Lady Aria broke the silence. “Good morning, fellow councilors, first on the agenda today, I believe we have…” she looked down at a sheet of paper before her, “the proposed reinstatement of the temples throughout Gelendan.” Lady Aria and was their best ally within the Ieldran, and the fact that she was stuck here was straining her abilities to persuade the rest of the Ieldran of her ideals.
Layna nodded to her in thanks for leading the talks in an appropriate direction, and was met with a fleeting smile. They had a colored past since Lady Aria had unwittingly played a central role in an assassination attempt against Layna’s life. Not to mention the fact that she had previously been engaged to Gryffon…but she had a good heart and was one of the few who did see the positives for the Treymayne people, and had not let this latest crisis color her feelings towards the idea – despite her current predicament.
“We are tentatively in agreement,” Gryffon stated, “but there are a few conditions we’d like to see met…” and he immediately dove into the matters at hand. As hard as he tried to get the council members to stick to the agenda, the conversation soon turned once again to the topic of their problems.
“So you basically want us to run your country while you try to fend off yet another disaster?” said one of the council members, a man who had been identified as Heinrich.
“You may remember,” Layna reminded him gently, “that it was you who first suggested this alliance. We are by no means looking to use you while we gain control of yet another situation as you claim. We would welcome any help you have to offer while we clean up the mess that was left to us by King Nathair and his spread of the evil of blood-magic to our land, of course. But our goals for this merger are for the future, making sure that once the mess is cleaned up, that both our countries will benefit. I won’t lie to you and tell you that it is going to be an easy task for either of us, but it would be rather fitting to have the reuniting our two fine countries follow in the wake of our cleaning up the last of the mess caused by the Bloodstone whose influence is what separated us in the first place.”
“I feel that we are getting the short end of the deal here,” the man mumbled.
“Not so. We have much to offer you as well,” Gryffon pointed out, adding somewhat scathingly, “As I’m sure you all must have discussed before offering the idea to us.” He paused a moment and several of the Ieldran looked embarrassed. Gryffon continued, “Because we are currently dealing with a situation is no reason to forget these. Just the number of people will practically eliminate any threat against either of our countries if we are banded together. We can work to completely stop the raids of the untamed lands around us by the bandits and other undesirables that prowl there. We can put together expeditions to cleanse the chaotic magic in the Ferryn Plains and beyond. We have resources in our landscapes that aren’t available to you, knowledge in our histories and libraries that combined with yours could catapult us into a new era of enlightenment, and so much more.”
“And this ‘situation’ you are currently dealing with?” Heinrich asked snidely, “How is that going for you?”
Gryffon’s temples bulged as he ground his teeth together and Layna laid a hand on his, answering before he had a chance to say something he might regret. “The unfortunate situation has been contained,” she reiterated to the man. “We have erected the barrier around the entire city and its surrounding area in order to eliminate the threat of it spreading, and we currently have our best people working to reverse the spell. We are making progress and feel we are close to finding its weakness.” Though they still had no idea how to break it, she and Gryffon had decided that Treymayne didn’t need to know that little detail just yet.
“And you still don’t know where it started?”
“We know that it started when their kidnapping of the Princess Phoenix was thwarted,” she told him, cringing inwardly at the necessity of this lie. There was no way that they were about to implicate their daughter, however. Phoenix needed to stay the inspiration and hope of a better time for the people. Knowing that she was the source of the curse would be an irony the country may not survive. “We know that the people to the north who call themselves the Forgotten were behind the attack, and believe that this is their next attempt. Though our mages did not detect the curse until it had spread throughout the palace, we believe that it had not yet reached further than the scope of the erected barrier, so all those outside should still be safe.”
“You should get some better mages it sounds like,” Heinrich interposed once more, and Layna was glad it was only his countenance in front of them in a mirror. Had he been physically in front of her she may have reached out and slapped him.
“King Gryffon and I also failed to notice anything untoward. The mages of the tribes are quite talented. It is not surprising that the royal mages, whose talent was previously suppressed under our old laws, would not have recognized the threat. They are not at fault.” Luckily, her and Gryffon’s exploits at the palace in Treymayne had earned them some degree of respect, at least as far as talent was concerned, and he didn’t further comment.
“I would remind you as well,” Gryffon put in sternly, “That it is not just Gelendan that the Forgotten had targeted with this curse; it is a large portion of both our countries that would be affected. The fact that it happened to start here would not change the fact that it would have sterilized eighty-five percent of both our populations had we not detected it when we did and acted so quickly to contain it.”
“And who knows if the Fo
rgotten will try again,” Layna added, “perhaps this time they will target you because you seem disinclined to do anything about it. We already have people stationed near the tribes to find out how they could unleash such a curse on us. If and when they attack you, would it not be beneficial to have access to all the knowledge we have already gained?” She cringed as the words came out of her mouth. He had goaded her into a rather threatening stance, and she hoped the rest of the Ieldran wouldn’t take it that way. Being politically correct in all situations was still a part of the job she was getting used to.
The man looked disgruntled, and simply grunted in reply.
“Can we please get back to the matters that we were supposed to be discussing?” Lady Aria put in gently, and several other members burst into conversation about the integration of taxation. Layna sent her a grateful look.
After the meeting was over, and they were alone once more, Layna buried her head in Gryffon’s shoulder for a long moment, drawing comfort from the embrace. He rubbed his hand over the small of her back, sending shivers down her spine.
“That went well,” he commented with a hint of sarcasm as she released him.
“Heinrich certainly has it out for us, doesn’t he?”
Gryffon sighed. “He’s just worried,” he said, “they all are. These are extremely unpleasant events, and while we’ve been swept along with them for some time now, we have to remember not to place blame on those who are hesitant to join the whirlwind voluntarily.”
“I suppose…” she answered thoughtfully, intertwining her fingers through his, “but I don’t have to like it.”
He chuckled. “No, me neither.”
*
Katya took out the Dragonstone – formerly the Bloodstone that had held Nuko’s essence before the Dena’ina had cleansed it for her – and peered into it. It was strange, but ever since Layna and Gryffon had performed the spell to create a dome around the capital city with it, she had sworn she’d been able to see a tiny representation of Naoham within its depths. Though she had healed enough that she would have been fine with it being left in the palace if the spell required it, she had been happily surprised that Layna had returned it to her after performing it.
She rubbed it in her hands a moment, drawing strength from the memories and caught Hunter staring at her. She held up the stone in one hand apologetically before shoving it back into her pocket. “Sorry, old habits die hard.”
“No need to apologize,” Hunter shrugged, but Katya felt the need anyway. She felt as though she was flaunting another man in front of him. Though Nathair was long dead and should never have captured her heart in the first place, she still had loved him. No one could tell her heart what to do.
She fell silent, watching the parade of people in front of them. The leader of the Dena’ina tribe walked ahead, surrounded by ten of his tribesmen. She had been slightly surprised that he had chosen to approach them. She and Hunter had been with the Knights stationed in the forest when the Dena’ina had shown up. She’d known that it was their plan to send a party to confront the Myaamia, but had not expected that they would have invited their group of ‘Lost Ones’ to be included in this. Seeing as how the Knights had been stationed there in order to find information about the tribes, they saw this as a unique opportunity.
Katya was rather unconvinced that the Elders of the Myaamia tribe would part with any information simply by asking, but was willing to give it a try. Perhaps having another of the tribes tell the people of the Myaamia that what their Elders were doing was wrong would go over better than having a stranger say so. She wasn’t particularly looking forward to returning to the place she had twice now escaped, but the Dena’ina leader assured her that under tribal customs, as his guest, they would be unable to touch her. But that’s only if they respect that custom, Katya thought. So far, she hadn’t been impressed by their moral standards.
The section of forest came up on them quickly and their group tightened unconsciously as they entered the realm of the Myaamia. A member of the Forest Guard intercepted them and, surprisingly, escorted them to the city. Katya had more expected a fight. Perhaps the influence of the Dena’ina would make the difference, after all. The inner circle of Elders had only spread the vague rumor that the Dena’ina were on the outs with the other tribes to the majority of the people, with only a select few having been told the false story that they had willingly murdered other tribesmen. As they walked into the clearing that marked the Myaamia village, with the statue of their founder in the center, they were greeted by shouting voices.
“Halt!” commanded Slade, looking back and forth from Katya and Hunter to the Dena’ina tribesmen. “How dare you come back here,” he growled to the former, finally deciding to give them his attention first.
Katya smiled at him mockingly. “We were told that if I delivered the stone, we’d be forgiven our crimes and set free.”
Before he could answer, the Dena’ina leader held up his hand, “They are honored guests of the Dena’ina and will be treated according to our customs.”
This custom had apparently also been how the colony of the marked within the Dena’ina tribe had started; their Elders had agreed that the practice of exiling any with the mark was outdated and incorrect. They believed the mark was not a symbol of the Dark King’s purpose, only his bloodline. And this bloodline also contained improvements which would only benefit the human race as a whole. By offering any of the marked who were exiled from the other tribes honorary guest status, they were to be protected by tribal law.
Unfortunately, the other tribes – and the Myaamia in particular – did not take kindly to this sanctuary. A small group of the Myaamia Elders had responded by sending in assassins to take care of the matter. This had resulted in what the Myaamia called the ‘incident’. Regrettably, the assassins had met their end while attempting to kill the marked, but not until after succeeding in killing several beforehand. Those who knew of the event at all in the Myaamia tribe thought that the Dena’ina had viciously murdered their tribesmen, having no idea that they had been the ones sent on a murderous mission.
Another voice suddenly cut through the clamor that their arrival had caused, and Katya saw a familiar face in the crowd. Her friend, Lorcan, was rushing forward towards them, and she smiled. Her expression soon wavered, however, as she saw the look in his eyes. He was out for blood, and he wasn’t focused on her. He was glaring at the leader of the Dena’ina.
“You killed my parents!” he yelled hoarsely as he leapt through the air. A gleam of metal caught Katya’s eye and she belatedly realized he was holding a blade out in front of himself. With no time to knock the knife from his hands or intercept it, Katya threw herself in front of the man.
Lorcan’s body collided roughly with hers, and the blade slid in through her ribs, slicing through skin and flesh. She choked on her breath and collapsed into a heap, panting laboriously.
Several people rushed to her aid immediately from the Dena’ina party, and before she knew it, she had been whisked away and into a small dwelling on the ground. Someone needs to tell Lorcan the truth, she thought absently as her mind shut down to shut out the pain. Marak was busily injecting her with painkillers and he wound around her body worriedly, tensing as other hands touched her.
She felt magic being used on her and could sense the wrongness of her wound slowly being righted. She drifted in and out of consciousness as the mages healed her flesh. She should have seen that coming, should have realized that if Lorcan had been told the same lies that Kali had spread he might try something. But she hadn’t anticipated such a violent response from her young friend. Her thoughts faded into nothingness.
Some time later, she blinked open her eyes. Lorcan stood before her looking contrite. “Are you alright?” he asked hurriedly as soon as he saw the fluttering of her eyelids.
“I’m fine,” she waved off his concern, “but what in the Gods names did you think you were doing?”
His expression of shame deepened, but
it was still tinged with anger. “Slade told me that our parents were killed in the incident with the Dena’ina; that they killed them…” he trailed off.
“That’s not what happened,” she whispered softly to him.
“That’s what they were just saying,” he agreed, but did not look convinced. Katya understood the mixture of emotion now. He must have had weeks to build up the rage towards the ones who were responsible for his parents’ deaths, and to have someone now tell you that the anger was misplaced – and worse yet that it was your parents who were responsible for others’ deaths and indirectly their own – she couldn’t imagine the turmoil he was going through.
She relaxed. “Well,” she told him, “lucky for you, they seem to have patched me back up good as new, so we can forget the whole thing happened.” She paused a moment awkwardly, never having been one for understanding her own emotions, much less someone else’s. “Do you want to talk about it?”
He squirmed uncomfortably. “I don’t know what to think anymore,” he confessed, “I think I just need to let it all sink in.”
Katya nodded, relieved. “What’s going on out there?”
“The Dena’ina have told their story about the events that have gone on between the tribes, including the incident.” He paused and looked closely at her. “Are you really Gareth’s daughter?”
She glanced quizzically at him. “I had just found out before you helped me escape and he got shot by an arrow. I had thought he had died, or else I would have come back for him…”
“He would not have blamed you,” Lorcan said.
“When Hunter told me…” she trailed off, unsure of her voice. Lorcan seemed to understand and remained silent. “Yes,” she said finally, “he was my father. My memory came back in pieces, more when I recovered a memory stone Gareth had left for me, and then as a flood when I found Hunter – who was my childhood friend. I remember growing up here, and Gareth, and my mother. I was a Myaamia once.” She felt a tear forming in the corner of her eye and brushed it away, annoyed. It was one thing she definitely did not care for that came along with all these emotions. She seemed to cry at the most inopportune times.
Light the Reign (The Forgotten: Book 3) Page 2
