Halls of Power (Ancient Dreams Book 3)

by Benjamin Medrano

  “Yes, My Goddess,” Elissa acknowledged, bowing her head, then rising to her feet in relief.

  A faint part of her was simply thrilled that, unlike Ulvian, she’d at least gotten what she’d always wanted.

  “This is one hell of a lot better than sitting on the castle walls waiting for the next attack,” Vendis commented, trotting along the trail with a smile.

  “Yep.” Slaid’s reply was oddly short, and Vendis gave him a sidelong look.

  “What, you don’t think hunting down orcs is a good plan?” she asked skeptically. “They raid everything in the neighborhood!”

  “Oh, sorry! I was just thinking about something else,” Slaid quickly replied, shaking his head and smiling at her. “I definitely agree with you! I’m just thinking about the invasion of Kelvanis, and a few other things.”

  “What sort of other things?” Vendis asked, smirking.

  “Simple things. What do I do if I actually managed to take the throne? What about the succession?” Slaid explained. Then he asked, quite bluntly, “Captain Vendis Cascade, would you marry me?”

  “Those are good… wait, what?” Vendis asked, her eyes wide as he smiled at her. For a long moment she stared and then spoke incredulously. “You asked like that?”

  “Yep!” He grinned and shrugged. “I thought about something more complicated, but it didn’t feel right. What do you think?”

  “Of course I will! But you’d better do it properly in town,” Vendis told him, blushing deeply and shaking her head. “That was just…”

  When the man started chuckling, Vendis grabbed a few rocks and tossed them at him, leading to even more laughter.

  “Your Majesty, I request leave to join your army.” Isana Dayrest’s voice was soft, and her eyes were oddly dead, with little of the liveliness that Phynis had grown to expect from the otherwise icy woman.

  “May I ask why? You seemed content enough as the majordomo,” Phynis asked, sitting forward in her throne. Sistina was actually paying attention, which caused a bit more worry, but not too much. The dryad seemed a little more aware since she’d recreated her body again, and Phynis suspected it was the divine power she’d used to remake it.

  “Of course, Your Majesty. The reason is simple enough… I want to exact what vengeance I can on Kelvanis,” Isana replied courteously. “I have lost too many friends and loved ones to their hands. My father died during their invasion, and most of those who lived in Dayrest are dead or slaves, or former slaves. I don’t believe you were aware, but Desa and I had also grown close, and she…”

  Isana’s voice began to trail off, and Phynis blinked in surprise. Desa and Isana? She hadn’t noticed anything of the sort! But now that she thought about it, it did rather explain how much she’d found the two of them in the same rooms over the past few weeks, before Desa had gone on her ill-fated trip.

  “I… I hadn’t realized. You have my sympathies, Isana. I wish that I could say she was well, but I have not heard anything about her since she was transported to Kelvanath. I—” Phynis blinked away unshed tears, but in mid-word another voice spoke.

  “If that wasn’t a cue, I don’t know what is!” A woman’s voice, eerily similar to Phynis’ own, rang out in the room, and a portion of the air took on a mirror sheen. The woman who stepped out of the mirror looked identical to Phynis, save that her coloration was reversed, and her hair was blue instead of pink. The woman smiled, gesturing behind her as she spoke. “Come along, ladies. I told you I’d bring you back.”

  Three women followed the first, and as they did, Phynis stood up in disbelief. Desa was there, wearing a dress for the first time in Phynis’ memory and with her cheeks flushed in embarrassment. Behind her was Alissa, also in a dress and seeming much more poised. Last was Wenris, of all people, though she was grinning broadly and actually wearing what Phynis could think of as clothing this time. The portal closed behind them, and Phynis tried not to gape.

  “Desa!” Isana cried out, clambering to her feet and almost tackling the other woman. “What happened to you? How did you get here?”

  “Easy, Isana, not so tight,” Desa replied, hugging her and looking at Phynis as she blushed more deeply. “As to that… we were going to die. The Archon was going to have Alissa torture me to death, but just before that happened we were rescued by our host. I’m told you know of Emonael?”

  “You’re Emonael?” Phynis asked, suppressing her shock and looking more closely at her mirror, who grinned in return.

  “I am, Queen Phynis. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Emonael told her brightly.

  “Why? Why would you be interfering in all of… this?” Phynis asked her, frowning.

  “I owed a debt to Kathyria, which I never had a chance to repay, as well as one to your Sistina, who I knew as Marin. I also wished to see Irethiel fail,” Emonael replied with a smile, glancing over at Sistina. “I got to see all of them occur, so I am quite happy with how things have progressed.”

  “You are not Emonael. You are a projection,” Sistina said calmly, smiling slightly as she tilted her head. “Why?”

  Emonael’s form flickered and flowed, and in moments she looked like an elf with chestnut hair down to her buttocks and tanned skin, her brown eyes glittering warmly as she took a step toward Sistina. To Phynis’ surprise, the woman then curtsied deeply.

  “Hello, teacher. Though you have taken a new name, you are still one of those who I’ve looked up to for longer than I care to think about,” Emonael said respectfully, then rose and continued. “As to that, I’ve ascended to full godhood. I cannot enter the mortal world any longer. I believe that to be a credit to you, teacher, and have come to give a final gift to you, not just to deliver your wayward guards.”

  Extending her hand, the goddess smiled and a spindle of lights appeared above her hand as she explained. “Your work was the underpinnings of many of my greatest achievements, the theory upon which it was based. This is an even greater piece of my work. My teacher, I gift you a spell which I developed to unravel the slave brands which Kathyria and Irethiel wove. While I dare not unleash your tenth volume on the world, it is only right that you wield a piece of it.”

  “You are not my student. This… is a spell which is beyond me,” Sistina murmured, extending her hand and allowing the lights to float and swirl over it. She smiled, then nodded. “Thank you, Emonael. There are many who should be freed.”

  “It will not work on Tyria. The chain which she forged can only be broken by her,” Emonael warned. “Things have not worked out exactly as I’d hoped, but they are close enough. Now, since I’m done I’ll leave all of you alone. Fate is unhappy enough with me as it is.”

  With a jaunty wave, Emonael vanished, leaving behind the others. Blinking in surprise, Phynis asked after a moment, “And you, Wenris?”

  “Me? Oh, I’m just here to have a brief conversation with Diane,” the succubus told her happily. “I have far too much going on at the moment to take her with me, so rest assured that isn’t going to happen. I intend to speak with her and leave immediately afterward. Is that permissible?”

  “It is, if that’s all you intend,” Phynis replied, frowning slightly.

  “Excellent! I will go speak with her and be on my way,” Wenris replied, grinning as she left the room. Watching her go, Phynis took a deep breath and nodded at a guard, who quickly followed the succubus.

  Once the man was gone, Phynis turned her attention to the women and smiled at Alissa. “Welcome back, Alissa. And you as well, Desa. I thought I’d lost you.”

  “I wish we could have told you that we were fine, but Emonael wouldn’t let us. She said it could mess everything up,” Alissa replied with a small smile in return, looking at the floor and holding her hands in front of her, blinking back the tears welling up in her eyes, her voice growing unsteady. “I… I’m so happy to be back!”

  “As am I. Though if Isana would let go of me so I could breathe, I’d be very happy,” Desa added, gasping for breath as Isana giggled and let go. />
  “Are you still wanting to join the army, Isana?” Phynis asked with a smile.

  “No, not anymore,” Isana replied, smiling radiantly, then blushing and putting on her icy mask once more. “I mean, if that is acceptable, Your Majesty?”

  “Of course it is. I’m glad you’re staying, Isana,” the Queen told her, and reached out to squeeze Sistina’s fingers gently.

  “Hello, Diane!” Wenris’ voice was unexpected, and Diane let out a yelp as the succubus suddenly embraced her from behind.

  “Wenris, unhand my mother!” Jaine spoke crossly, prompting a laugh from the succubus.

  “Don’t worry about it, Jaine,” Diane hastily interjected, looking away from the garden to meet the demon’s eyes. Something about Wenris felt different, but she ignored it as she asked, “S-so… did you finish your business?”

  “Indeed! I went where Emonael told me to go, and was pleasantly surprised by the result,” Wenris replied happily, her tail lashing like a cat’s. “I’m just back to have a quick chat with you before I go off to deal with a few fires.”

  “Oh?” Diane asked, blinking at Wenris’ odd tone, and the succubus gave her a quick kiss.

  “Miss Wenris! You’re in public!” Lily’s voice was unexpected, and everyone in the area froze as the gardener glared at them from a nearby field, her eyes narrowed. “This is my garden! Behave!”

  Diane’s jaw nearly dropped. She’d never heard such a sharp tone from Lily before, and the way the young woman was glaring at the succubus was different too. Beside Lily was Kitten, and the panther cub gave an almost chiding growl of its own.

  “Whatever do you mean, Lily? I just gave her a kiss,” Wenris asked, seeming startled herself.

  “You’re in my garden, in front of Diane’s daughter, and I’ve heard about succubi from Sistina,” Lily retorted, her cheeks coloring as she looked away, swallowing. “A-and I won’t have anything like that going on in my garden!”

  “Very well, I promise to behave,” Wenris replied, detaching in amusement.

  “Good!” Lily replied, and as her courage seemed to vanish she gave Diane an embarrassed look and vanished behind a hedge.

  “That was unexpected,” Jaine murmured.

  “Quite. The gardener is growing a backbone,” Wenris agreed, smiling. “It’s adorable, really.”

  “Wenris? May I ask what it is you were going to talk to me about?” Diane asked, shifting a little. Lily’s interruption had helped her regain some of her poise.

  “Oh, yes! Right, I’m a demon lord now, and my responsibilities are going to keep me busy enough I’m not going to be able to attend to you with the attention you deserve,” Wenris explained, a wicked smile on her face as Jaine gasped, but she continued. “Because of that, I’m leaving you here. Go where you want, have relations with whomever you want, but every new moon you’re to sleep alone, waiting for me. That’s it, really.”

  “Are… are you serious?” Diane asked, swaying in sudden shock.

  “Very. Unless you would like me to drag you off to my new realm?” Wenris asked, raising an eyebrow skeptically. “It’s in desperate need of housekeeping at the moment, I’m afraid. I’ve only got one maid, and she’s untrained.”

  “No, no! I just… I have a hard time believing it,” Diane told her in a daze.

  “Well, it’s true. Have fun, Diane, I’ll be in touch. Dream of me.” The succubus grinned again as she cut the air open and vanished through her planar portal.

  “Mother? Does… does this mean we can go home?” Jaine asked after a moment, the garden all but empty save for the two of them and their maids.

  A slow smile grew on Diane’s face, and her voice was soft as tears welled up in her eyes, then began to spill down her face. “I think it does.”

  Epilogue

  “Phynis, it’s so good to see you!” Queen Calath exclaimed, stepping forward to embrace her daughter.

  Smiling, Phynis hugged her right back, her voice teasing as she spoke. “Really? I thought you’d be giving me grief about annexing Westgate and the other towns in the area.”

  Most of the summer had passed, and fall was bearing down on Beacon and the other nations around it, Calath reflected, looking out at the trees, the leaves starting to change colors. Much had changed, but after a decade of war, the changes didn’t leave her despairing about the future of Sifaren and her people.

  Kelvanis had descended into a short, brutal civil war as those enslaved had risen up against their owners, at least most of them. The church of Tyria had been a stabilizing influence, but it hadn’t completely helped, as a surprising number of slaves had actually been criminals that even the Crown Loyalists wouldn’t have trusted. Those criminals had broken out of their slave camps and the quarries where they’d been forced to work and had done an enormous amount of damage in their rage.

  Slaid Darkeye, again going by his birth name of Slaid Damrung, had led a group of rebels and Crown Loyalists to quell the rebellion, and in so doing he’d garnered enough support to take control of Kelvanis. His rule was very unsteady for the time being, but one of his first acts had been to sign Fate-bound peace treaties with Sifaren and Yisara, ceding all the territory Kelvanis had taken from the elven nations. He’d also proposed to and married one of Sifaren’s elite scout captains, which had surprised Calath. She didn’t object, though, as Captain Vendis’ life was her own to live. Hopefully they could scale back the army anyway.

  Yisara’s army, led by Queen Beryl herself, had actually managed to capture Timberfall and several other fortresses controlled by Kelvanis. Even better, a large number of the border guards had been enslaved elves, and when the brands had vanished they’d promptly switched sides. After a great deal of discussion back and forth, Yisara had chosen to annex Timberfall and the lands south of it instead of expanding to their former borders. The Queen had come to Beacon as well, and Calath was looking forward to meeting the young monarch in person, as well as seeing Diane again.

  Sifaren hadn’t reclaimed much of its lands by comparison, as many of the inhabitants had instead chosen to request annexation by Phynis and her new kingdom of Everium. It had been something of a shock, but in truth Calath was relieved. Trying to rebuild there would have been depressing, and she hadn’t looked forward to it. The nobility had complained, but between the support of the new king of Kelvanis, Yisara, and the support of Tyria, they hadn’t objected too much. Now she was here to attend Phynis’ wedding, and to fulfill the promise she’d made.

  “I’m not going to object to something the majority of the people in the area wanted. No matter what happened, I still love you,” Calath told Phynis, letting go and smiling. “Even if you are marrying… eight women? Isn’t that a bit much?”

  “I’ve come to love them,” Phynis replied with a gentle smile that warmed Calath’s heart, as she led the way into the palace.

  The building was beautiful, and Calath admired it as they went, her happiness infecting her tone. “I’m glad to hear that. I assume we’re going to meet them now?”

  “That’s right.” Phynis nodded, looking a little nervous as she took the handle of a door, then opened it.

  Eight women were waiting for them, and Calath couldn’t help the sense of surprise at the appearance of them. Though she’d been warned about the Jewels, she hadn’t truly believed the claims of what had been done to them until now, with their glittering, jewel-toned hair and eyes. They looked serene for the most part, and the one with fiery orange hair gave a nervous wave.

  Sistina stood in front, and the dryad smiled, nodding. “Queen Calath Constella. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

  “Hello, Sistina. I’ve heard a great deal about you. You are… much more than I ever had been willing to believe,” Calath replied slowly, stepping into the room. The door shut behind her as Phynis stepped inside, and after a moment Calath curtsied, deep and long, as she bowed her head. “I owe you an apology, Sistina. I believed you a foe, when without you I would have lost everything that was important to me. I
’m sorry, and hope you will forgive me.”

  For a long, long moment the room was silent, as Sistina looked on Calath carefully.

  “Your trespass is forgotten.” Sistina’s words seemed to echo in the room, and she smiled gently, shaking her head. “To live is to make mistakes. One simply must be willing to learn from them. I learned much from my namesake. All is forgiven, Queen Calath.”

  Calath rose from her curtsey, blinking in surprise at how calmly and easily Sistina had forgiven her. Her surprise was interrupted as Phynis giggled, taking her hand and dragging her forward, smiling brightly.

  “Here, Mother, let me introduce you to everyone!” Phynis said, grinning as she pulled Calath forward.

  Seeing the gentle smile flicker across Sistina’s face, Calath’s tension vanished utterly, and she laughed as she was pulled forward to meet the other women, the last of her fears finally gone.

  Author’s Note

  This is the end of the Ancient Dreams Trilogy. It has been… an incredible experience so far. Indecision and an utter fear of getting the ending of the trilogy wrong have haunted me for the past two months, often slowing down my writing.

  I hope that the ending is satisfying to everyone. I hope that you enjoyed the series. I’ll admit that I’m not sure what else to say about it, so I’ll move on to what’s coming next.

  The next book I write will be finishing Born a Queen, a superhero universe novel set in an alternate-history version of our own world. A short story set in the same universe is available for free on my website: A Date Gone Awry. Born a Queen will be somewhat focused around the character Lilith Carpenter, a genetically-engineered creation of a supervillain who is left alone, and the heroes who imprisoned her creator. It is largely going to be slice of life in the first novel, but will be quite dark in some aspects.

  After that will be an anthology set in the far past of Ancient Dreams, named Before the Godsrage. There will be three stories within, all regarding characters from this series. First will be ‘Marin’s Codex’, which will explain some of Emonael and Marin’s backstory and history, along with the underpinnings of magic in the universe. After that is ‘Into the Eternal Wood’, a story about the original Sistina Constella, and her meeting with a nymph queen who gave her the seed of the world tree. Then is going to be a story tentatively titled ‘The Falling Shadows’, where Kassandra Sunseeker joins the Everium Academy in the last days of the original kingdom of Everium.