by M. D. Laird
Damn it.
She’d forgotten about the CRM. They’d increased their frequency with the threats of war against them.
“I should remain here for now,” she said. “I know they have Lord Amarya, but my Cloaking may be of some use. I was going to ask you… I suppose now is as good a time as any. I wanted to offer you the position as my deputy. I want you to stand in my place at the quorum.”
“Your Majesty, I am honoured, though I must ask: you are not preparing me for replacing you so you can abdicate, are you? I am honoured that you think well enough of me to consider me, but I believe in Arkazatinia. I believe it makes choices for a reason and I cannot get in its way.”
“Lord Tharazan, it is precisely this attitude that makes me think you to be so worthy, but no. I am not planning to abdicate. I shall take my place again upon my return.”
“In that case, I graciously accept, Your Majesty. Thank you.”
“Excellent.” She smiled. “I shall send a brief vox message to inform everyone in the interim, but I will make it formal on my return.”
“Very good, Your Majesty. I shall update you on what is discussed tomorrow. Good luck out there, and take care.”
Prince Thomas deposited Jack, the leader of the resistance, unceremoniously onto the deck of Lord Amarya’s ship. Thomas was playing errand boy for his wife and had been sent to fetch the rebel for a strategy meeting before they arrived on the shores of Axandria.
The rebel had complained for the entire journey. It was too windy. It was too cold. Why hadn’t Thomas allowed him to change into warmer clothing?
Hallward seemed to have had less trouble with Hannah, Jack’s second in command, who he set on the deck beside Jack.
“We’ll show you to the war room,” said Hallward.
“Yes,” said Thomas. “They may have a cosy fire to warm you up, and someone can fetch you some cocoa and a teddy bear.”
Thomas smirked as Jack flashed him a glare.
“Even with your heat, it was freezing,” said Jack.
“I flew from Axandria to Arkazatinia with my wife in November, and she did not complain anywhere near as much as you.”
“Let’s just go to the meeting,” said Hannah before Jack could retort.
Hallward led the two to the war room in the quarterdeck of the ship. A few of the captains and commanders were loitering around, but Lord Amarya was nowhere to be seen.
Maol lay beside Rya in their cabin. They had just made love, and Maol held Rya in his arms. He caressed her stomach as he thought about the life residing in there.
“Am I free now, Rya?” he asked.
“You want to leave?”
“Of course not. You know what I mean.” Maol groaned as a knock sounded at the door.
“Lord Rya, the rebel leaders have arrived and are waiting in the war room.”
“Thank you,” she called, getting out of bed and pulling on her uniform.
“Well?” asked Maol.
“I don’t have time to discuss it now, Maol.”
“What is there to discuss? We’re getting married and having a baby. All you need to say is ‘yes, you’re free’ and tear up my papers.”
“It’s not that simple,” she said, hurriedly fastening her boots.
Maol’s mouth fell open. “Why is it not?” he asked, alarmed. “You can’t possibly mean to sell me. I am in your ranks; I will join your brotherhood. The only reason you would need to keep me as a slave would be if you were considering selling me.”
“Quit pestering me, Maol. We’ll discuss it later,” she snapped as she stormed from their cabin.
Maol felt his alarm turn to rage.
She is going to sell me!
Maol thumped the mattress.
I won’t let her. I won’t let her keep me from my baby.
Prince Thomas looked up from the drinks cabinet he was exploring with Nathaniel as Lord Amarya entered the war room.
“Just help yourself, why don’t you,” she said sarcastically to Thomas.
“Thank you very much.” He smiled as he poured himself and Nathaniel a glass of whisky.
Princess Eleanor raised an eyebrow at him. He poured her a drink, and she smirked as he handed it to her.
Lord Amarya shook her head. “Right,” she said. “If everyone is ready we shall start.”
She nodded towards the rebels. “Good afternoon. I am Lord Amarya.”
“Pleased to meet you,” said Jack more politely than the manner he used to address Thomas and even the princess. “I am Jack. I’m the leader of the resistance. This is Hannah, my second.”
With a round of introductions completed, the meeting began.
The meeting lasted much longer than was necessary in Thomas’ opinion, but they had now established a plan.
Jack was confident that the king, whilst aware of the rebels’ existence, was not mindful of the fact that they posed a significant threat. They had kept their activities secure and had accumulated weapons slowly over many years.
“The king doesn’t know we have an army,” said Jack. “We are not at the strength we intended before our strike, but with angel and demon muscle, we should make a sizeable dent in the king’s defences.”
Rya nodded. “The king will try to engage us before we make the shore. He will want to keep us as far from the city’s fortifications as possible. They will try to take down our ships and take us out as we row to shore. They will attack us on two fronts. Queen Genevieve has confirmed that she has heard the ships that were bound for Arkazatinia are to move on us as we make for the shore.
“This is where we now have an advantage. They won’t be expecting an aerial attack. The cannon ships of the red army along with the angels and demons can deal with this fleet. We should be able to stop them from making it to shore. That will leave the brotherhood with the armies on the beach—we will deal with them with support from angels and demons whilst the rebels attack the Guild of the Crown from within the city’s fortifications with angel and demon support.”
“What about my father?” the princess asked. “We need to capture him, or this will all be for nothing.”
“He will be hiding in the Guild of the Crown. It is the most defensible location within the city.”
“And the most obvious,” said Hannah. “I agree with Elea. We need to be certain of where he is. Perhaps the angels and demons can take him out.”
“That may risk their decree,” said the princess. “The angels and demons can only take out the king if we are certain we can replace them with the Crown.”
“What are you saying,” Thomas asked. “Isn’t that what we’re doing?”
“Yes,” she replied, “but I thought we were supposed to know the Crown. I don’t sense anything.”
“Princess, if we aren’t certain Lord Amarya is the Crown then we cannot help at all.”
“I have kept my Crown hidden with alchemy,” said Amarya. “I can assure you, you are restoring the Crown.”
Thomas did not sense any dishonesty in Lord Amarya, though the princess still looked unconvinced.
Suspicious bloody thorian.
“So can angels and demons take out the king?” asked Jack.
“The decree only mentions angels and demons using the midspace in a ruler’s home, it says nothing about Cloaks,” said Amarya.
Another bloody loophole! If they keep this up, Heaven will revise the decree and we won’t be able to breathe without breaching the damn thing.
Exploiting yet another loophole did not sit comfortably with Thomas. He felt he was straying too close to the line. He wasn’t used to taking risks and he didn’t like it.
Hallward clearly had no issue with it and replied, “They could do it, though the king will most likely be guarded by alchemists. They also have Cloaking abilities like you do, that will make him difficult to find.”
“I will have to take him out myself,” said Amarya. “Unless your queen can do it?”
“Fine, I will do it. I can’t say I won’t be happy to seek revenge on that hateful man.”
“I want to do it,” said the princess. “He is my father. He made my life miserable my entire life, and he butchered my betrothed. If anyone deserves revenge, then it is me.”
Thomas glanced at the angels present in the war room. They were displeased with the talk of revenge, but they said nothing.
“Come with me then,” said Amarya.
The princess smiled. He sensed hunger in her as she imagined killing her father. He preferred her usual smell to this one. Rage and hate had an acrid aroma. He smelt it enough on decree, he didn’t need it in his home life.
“I’m not sure that is such a good idea,” he said. “Revenge is not good for your soul. It won’t keep you from Hell once you fade no matter how strong your motivations. The king should be taken out for the greater good of Axandria—not for vengeance.”
“Prince Thomas is right,” said Myron. “I would be uncomfortable participating in a revolution motivated by vengeance.”
Lord Amarya grunted. “We still need to locate him. We need to capture him or whatever we’re doing as soon as possible. We need to find him before we get to Axandria.”
“You can dethrone him if you capture the guild,” said Jack. “If you are the rightful ruler, then you’ll have a mandate. You don’t need to find him.”
“He is too powerful to be left free,” said Amarya. “He has too many influential people in his employ.”
“People who are loyal to his resources,” said Hannah. “If he has no Crown and no access to the treasury, then his allies will dwindle.”
“Perhaps. I’d rather not take the risk. I believe his allies will prefer the king on the throne to the Crown. They know the Crown will not tolerate the corruption.”
“We can make capturing him a priority,” said Jack, “but it shouldn’t alter our plans if we cannot find him. We can hunt him down later.”
“Fine,” said Amarya. “I will try to locate him. Mr Hallward, have your queen spy on the king’s men to see if she can learn anything more. We should keep our people out of the midspace. If the king discovers he is being watched, then he will take more precautions with alchemy.”
“My father thinks Queen Genevieve is in Arkazatinia preparing for his attack,” said the princess. “If you can make it clear to his men that you are nowhere near the king, then he may relax his defences enough for the queen to get close.”
“That is a good idea,” said Amarya thoughtfully.
“It’s dangerous. The queen is inexperienced,” said Hallward.
“She need not put herself at unnecessary risk,” said Amarya plainly. “She can spy on the king’s men and capture the king if she finds him. She has her guards and her powers, the king and his alchemists will be no match. She will probably leap at the opportunity to redeem herself for her mistake with the adamantine.”
“Fine,” grumbled Hallward. “I will contact her.”
“They are only days away, Your Majesty,” said the Captain of the King’s Guard. “Shall I send the order for your ships to begin moving into position?”
The king browsed his battle plan. His armada had sailed away from Arkazatinia but out of the path of the brotherhood’s fleet. “Yes,” replied the king. “We need eyes on the alchemist as soon as we can. Ideally, I would prefer to take her alive, but if the chance to kill her emerges, then take it. We can search for the power after she is dead. Ensure the general has his best archers ready.”
“Right away, Your Majesty.”
The captain was released from the Cloak by the dark alchemist at the king’s side. The king had several alchemists working around the clock to Cloak him. This one was stuffing his face to keep his energy up, and the king was getting rather tired of watching people eat. The sooner that alchemist was caught or dead the better. Then he just needed to take care of Queen Genevieve.
The girl was unstable and easily manipulated. If he wanted her to work with him, then he needed to move quickly. If he waited too long, then all her hominem family would be dead, and he would have lost his leverage. The queen had put guards on some of her family and friends, but she had missed a considerable number. Perhaps she thought the king wouldn’t consider them important enough to target. Ordinarily he wouldn’t, but he knew that the queen would think them important enough to protect if he did threaten them. He could probably even threaten a handful of children she didn’t know and achieve the same effect.
He couldn’t waste his chance. At some point, she would have no choice but to become ruthless and make sacrifices for the greater good and at that point, he would never achieve an alliance with her. No, he had to tread carefully. She had his adamantine. He couldn’t afford to anger her anymore. He couldn’t afford to bully her. He would lose anyway. He hated to admit it, but Arkazatinia was stronger.
His son and heir stretched at his side and gave a heavy yawn. “How long must we wait here, Father?” he asked.
“Until we are sure the alchemist is dealt with.”
“You should let me go after her. I will go with the alchemists and find her. I will make her regret that she ever left.”
“Don’t be so arrogant, Henry.” the king snorted. “She is a far stronger alchemist than any of ours.”
The prince returned his snort. “So is Queen Genevieve but I got to her easily enough.”
The king bristled. He was still angry with his son for the way he had dealt with the queen. She had agreed to marry the prince, and he had jeopardised that with his little stunt. The king wanted the queen to open the bunker, but kidnapping her friend and threatening war on Arkazatinia was not how he planned it. He would have had his son punished had his plan not worked out brilliantly in drawing out the Crown. Still, he needed a way to ally with the queen. He needed to get his adamantine back. He was confident the queen would not use the weapons, and she wouldn’t declare war on Axandria just for revenge, but he still wanted them in his control. “Queen Genevieve is young and naïve, Amarya has had three hundred years to practice.”
“Well she is no match for this,” said the prince, turning in his hand the adamantine dagger he had taken from the bunker the day the queen opened it. “I only need to scratch her, and she is dead.”
“Put that thing away,” snapped the king. “You’ll just as easily scratch yourself. You are going nowhere. You are the heir, and you need to stay hidden.”
The prince sheathed the dagger and folded his arms. “You could at least let me go to Arkazatinia and get the adamantine back from the queen.”
“How do you intend to do that?”
“I will gut her people until she gives in.” He sneered. “It probably won’t take more than a couple of Impærielas kids to turn up with their throats slit to make her see sense.”
“Really? And what makes you think she won’t just declare war on us?”
“You said she wasn’t the warmongering type.”
“I’m sure she will find it in her heart to become the warmongering type if you start butchering children. If she doesn’t, then her people will. It is a reckless idea. You have damaged our relationship with Queen Genevieve enough. I will deal with her myself.”
“Well, as long as I don’t have to marry her, I am happy.”
The king growled. “I would whip your siblings if they behaved as you do.”
The prince grunted. “Speaking of which, Victor hasn’t returned to see Eleanor lately.”
“There hardly seems any point. I was sending him to find evidence the prince had breached his decree, but he is stubbornly sticking to it.”
“So you’re leaving her with the demon?”
“What would you suggest I do with her?”
The prince shrugged. “Nothing, I suppose. She is worthless.”
The king hadn’t seen his daughter since Prince Thomas carried her away bleeding and half dead afte
r Victor had whipped her. He didn’t even know if she had survived the ordeal. He assumed she had as he had not received word to the contrary, though the prince could just not have told him.
Perhaps I should have Victor check on her.
If the princess was dead, he might be able to implicate Prince Thomas somehow. He could use another store of adamantine to increase his armoury for when Queen Genevieve finally allied with him.
“Have Victor pay Eleanor a visit,” said the king. “He can at least check that she’s still alive.”
“It would be better for us if she wasn’t.” Henry sneered. “If that whipping killed her, you could blame it on Prince Thomas for not administering remedial care properly.”
The king found it disturbing to hear Prince Henry speak so callously about his sister. Or perhaps it disturbed him to hear his thoughts echoed back at him. He didn’t realise how cruel his own schemes were until they were spoken from his son’s lips. He suddenly felt a chill of remorse for the girl who he had sent to a demon’s bed and had whipped within inches of her life. If she had survived, she would be horrendously scarred.
“She is still my daughter, Henry. I don’t wish her dead,”
“Weren’t you planning to execute her anyway?”
“I was angry with her.”
“You’d be better off executing her because if she ever gets close to you, she will kill you. She hates you.”
She did hate him. He had seen it on her face when his guards had captured her. He didn’t blame her for that. He had let his actions get out of hand in his desperation to get his hands on Prince Thomas’ adamantine and secure an alliance with Queen Genevieve before anyone else. He had known of her affair with the farm boy for a month before he married her to the prince. He had been enraged and wanted her executed, but he soon became consumed with how he could use the situation to his advantage.
Now he had alienated her completely. He had tormented, tortured and almost killed his own daughter. She would probably never speak to him again. Despite his guilt, he began to regret his haste in abandoning Eleanor to the demon. She was as close to Prince Thomas as she could possibly be and he had lost his advantage. She could conceive a child any day now, and he would not know as he had withdrawn his monitoring. He was a fool.
