He remembered something his father had told him long ago—that people who were crazed felt they had nothing to lose. But Ailla, in conjunction with Cian, had much to lose. And much to gain. Much hinged on her doing whatever her plans with Cian demanded she do.
“I am awake,” he said, keeping his voice level. “What can I do for you, Ailla?”
“That’s ‘Your Highness’ to you, Brennan,” she sneered. “You’re not the king anymore.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Really? I was unaware that changing my location removed me from the throne. What a fascinating idea, Ailla.” He couldn’t help the sarcasm that crept out.
“We’ve taken the throne from you. Even now,” She grinned and he saw the madness come out completely on her face, “Those loyal to Cian and I are entering the Goblin Realm. They will be assuming the throne. And why not? The king has abandoned his realm in the time of need!”
“They will never believe such a thing. It appears we have different ideas of loyalty, Ailla.”
“Really?” One corner of her mouth lifted.
Brennan hated the smug look she gave him. “Really.”
“Then why is it that your loyal” She put great emphasis on the word, “Subjects recently tried to kill you, and that human fool you dare to call brother?”
Brennan allowed himself to feel pride at the way he managed his temper as an adult. Ever since the accident with Cian, he’d put great effort into not being angry, not letting anger overshadow his emotions.
“There are people who will make mistakes when they are laboring under misapprehension,” Brennan said, keeping his voice level and calm. “I don’t judge my entire kingdom by a few misguided subject.”
Crazy lady laughed. “You can think that if it makes you feel better,” she said. “But it won’t change the facts, Brennan!”
Brennan forced himself to look around the room as though he were bored. It was difficult, because crazy lady kept moving all over the place. It seemed as though she couldn’t keep herself still. When he made eye contact with her, Brennan was shocked to see the insanity in her eyes.
As she paced, crazy lady wrung her hands in front of her, glancing at him quickly. Her head moved back and forth like a bird. Brennan couldn’t tell if she was looking for the right words to taunt him with, or if she generally was so caught up she couldn’t speak.
Her gown was a bright contrast to the dark stone walls. A feeble sun shone through the small window. Brennan wished again for the thousandth time that the sunlight would actually reach where he was tied to the table.
Crazy lady finally opened her mouth, fixing her eyes on Brennan. They shone with the fire of her feelings. “You thought you had it all together didn’t? You thought marrying me would tie it all up for you. You’d have the Dragon Realm under your thumb, my father and I under your thumb, and life would just be perfect for the Goblin King!”
Brennan could feel the tingling across his skin. It was as though small lightning bolts decided to dance on him. As he looked at crazy lady, he realized she was the source of the lightning bolt tingling. She continued on, speaking to him with great triumph, but he no longer hurt her words.
He had not seen mystery lady since crazy lady had come in. As he had not seen the whole of the room, he didn’t know where she could have hidden. He was afraid that crazy lady could read his mind and so he deliberately shoved the thoughts of his visitor away.
But where had she gone? He’d heard nothing from where she’d stood next to him since the door opened. Crazy lady had said nothing either, and she would not have let that pass unnoticed. Or unremarked on. He felt sure that crazy lady would have done her worst against mystery lady. He was glad she had seemingly escaped, but he really wanted to know that she was safe.
His attention returned to crazy lady, who was still speaking. He allowed himself to focus on her, without hearing anything that she said. He’d already learned that regardless of what crazy lady wanted, brother wouldn’t allow it. He watched crazy lady as she continued to pace, words become more ranting and rambling with each passing moment. In spite of all of the insanity coming from her mouth, she still looks so beautiful.
His thoughts were diverted what he thought about Drake. He was very glad that Drake was not here to see crazy lady. In spite of all of his of statements to the contrary, Brennan knew you didn’t just turn off love. Not even one the one you loved was as insane as could be.
“I hope you’ve been listening, Brennan,” crazy lady sneered with great emphasis on his name. “If you think this is bad, you have no understanding of what true suffering really is.”
Brennan said nothing, only raised an eyebrow. He knew that crazy lady hated to be dismissed. He done this to her before, when they’d been engaged. When he thought she was normal. She had reacted poorly, in a way that seemed very extreme for such a mild infraction.
He felt the tingling rise along his arms and neck once more. It didn’t take much to make her angry. The tingling sensation let him know that he hit his mark, and infuriated her.
A genuine smile broke out across his face. It pleased him to no end to know that she wanted to hurt him badly. But her fear of brother kept her from it. Knowing that he taunted her, and she was powerless to indulge her desires.
“Keep laughing, your Majesty,” she hissed. “It won’t be long before you will never be able to smile again.”
Her words sent a chill across him that could not be dispelled by the sunny day or the warmth of the room. Nevertheless, he kept a smile on his face. He wouldn’t let her see the effect of her words.
If he got angry, she won. She would use it as an excuse to hurt him. And he felt a stubborn sense of satisfaction at denying her the thing she really wanted. If he was going to die, which he had no intention of doing, it wasn’t going to be at the hands of crazy lady.
Crazy lady made a noise that sounded very much between a huff and a shriek. Muttering to herself, she stormed from the room. The door slammed behind her, a testament to how angry she was.
The silence that he been enjoying prior to her appearance fell across the room again, and Brennan closed his eyes, hoping for a little warmth of the sun to reach the rest of the room.
“Well, you certainly have a death wish.” Mystery woman’s voice said in his ear.
“Does it matter what kind of wish that I have? Brother and crazy lady already decided what was going to happen to me,” said Brennan, trying not to grin. He couldn’t believe how pleased he was that not only was mystery lady safe, she hadn’t left him. “Where did you hide?”
“I ducked under your table here, and then used a cloaking spell.” Mystery lady said. “She was so mad at you, she didn’t pay any attention to anything else in the room.”
Spite of the seriousness of his situation, and the very real fear that he might not make it, Brennan found himself holding in a laugh. “She was pretty angry, wasn’t she? It was all I could do to not make it worse.”
“I think you did a good job making things worse without even trying,” said mystery lady with a dry tone in her voice. “I’d hate see what happened if you really tried to make her angry.”
“Thank you for staying,” Brennan said quietly, all laughter are gone. “It makes it easier to withstand her when I don’t feel so alone.” He felt very vulnerable making such a confession. Prior to meeting Iris he would’ve never said such a thing to anyone, not even Drake. But now, after being strapped to this table for who knows how long he felt pride was a virtue he could not afford to have. Mystery lady had helped him so much already, there was no sense in hiding from her.
“You’re going to take me with you,” she said “you promised, remember? When they come for you, you can’t leave me here.”
Brennan could hear the desperation in her voice. The mocking, calm manner she normally had disappeared when she talked about leaving with him. He felt a concern he hadn’t felt before. Did she expect something more from him? He hoped he had not inadvertently given himself a romantic entang
lement. He chose his next words carefully.
“Iris and I will be happy to give you a home in the Goblin Realm,” Brennan spoke slowly.” I know that she will be forever grateful for all that you’ve done for me. As am I,” he finished.
Mystery woman gave out an extremely unladylike snort. “Whatever are you thinking, Goblin King?” Brennan could hear the laughter in her tone. “That’s all I want from you,” she added. “I need a place to hide away, to make sure that brother and crazy lady never find me again. I don’t want crazy dad to find me again either,” she added.
“Crazy dad? What does crazy dad have to do any of this?” Concern over appearances vanished immediately at the mention of crazy dad.
He felt, rather than saw, mystery lady stand and come closer to him. Unlike most other times he saw her, she stood in his line of vision. The expression on her face was serious and worried. She made sure to make eye contact and then spoke.
“What does crazy dad have to do with this? Are you really that uninformed?”
Brennan opened his mouth to speak when he froze. He could feel the tingling throughout his body again, although not the sort that signaled the danger that crazy lady or brother brought.
“Iris?” He said out loud. He didn’t mean to say her name. He didn’t want her name to be associated with anything about this place. He didn’t want her name anywhere near the likes of brother or crazy lady. But the sensation was so strong that he spoke before he even thought.
“What you talking about?” Asked mystery lady.
Iris
I put my hand over my mouth for what seemed like the hundredth time. The smell in here really could not get any worse. I didn’t even know such a horrible smell existed, but here it was. We were right in the middle of I had to keep my head down anyway, so that I didn’t step in anything completely gross and throw up all over the place.
“Great idea,” I muttered. “This was so fabulous.”
Drake didn’t even turn around, but he’d hurt me. “Sorry your ladyship,” he shot back. “All the other entrances were unavailable.”
As if to punish me for my ill humor, my foot slipped and I had to put a hand out and touch the wall. Slimy doesn’t even begin to describe it. I snatched my hand back but stopped short of wiping my hand on my clothing. My hand hovered, as though belonging to someone else, in front of me.
“Mage do you have something I can—“ I waggled my hand at him even though I knew he couldn’t see me in the dim light.
Again, without turning around, mage handed a piece of cloth over his shoulder. Everybody had to look where they stepped.
“When do you think the last time was that they cleaned this?” I asked.
“Probably never,” Drake said from in front of mage. “This is not a castle that is used all year round, and the staff just isn’t here to keep things clean. Plus, it’s crazy dad. I’m starting to wonder if he does anything in a normal fashion.”
“What?” I stopped, and looked around to see — to see what? There was nothing to see, other than slime and filth and horrible smell that made my nose want to fall off my face.
But — something else was there. “Brennan?” I asked wonderingly.
That made both Drake and mage stop in their tracks. They turned around carefully so as not to fall into the gross nastiness.
“Did you see Brennan?” Drake asked me.
I nodded, although I knew he couldn’t see me in this light. “For a minute there, it was like — I don’t know, like he was right there.”
“Mage?” Drake asked.
“It could be him,” mage responded slowly. “There is a lot of magic at work here. I can feel it, sort of like… An underground river or stream. It’s there, I just can’t see it.”
The tone in his voice told me that he was looking around, with a look of surprise on his face. I knew that look well. I’d seen it plenty of times in his rooms at the Goblin Castle.
“Can you see? Can you feel him?” Impatience laced Drake’s words.
“No, I can’t. I just… I just know he’s here.” I wish I could be sure but there was really no way to describe it. It was just a feeling, knowing that Brennan was here and close by. I focused hard the feeling trying to pinpoint it or find some further detail from it.
Quote he’s… He’s not in pain,” I said squinting even though I saw nothing.” He’s having a lot of emotion, or feelings?”
Drake snorted. “And thus ends another good man,” he said dramatically. “Let them get married and it’s all downhill from there.”
He’s close enough to me that I’m able to reach him when I take a swat at him. “Thanks a lot jerk,” I hissed. “See if I try to help you again!”
Amazingly in the middle of that dark, stinky, tunnel, we all started to laugh. It was the first time we laughed in — I couldn’t remember how long. It’d been a while.
Mage leaned closer to me and patted me on the arm. “Going to find him, Iris. I have a very good feeling about this.”
“No one bets against mage!” Drake said, striding ahead of us all. “Anyone who does usually loses,” he finished with a laugh.
We started moving forward again, and I noted that the tunnel seem to be angling slightly uphill. It meant that I had to step more carefully, so as not to slip in the piles of disgusting whatever under my feet. I was still thinking about what I had felt when I felt Brennan when mage stopped in front of me. I noticed that he stopped because I ran right into the back of him.
“Hey!”
It was Drake who answered. “Shhh,” he whispered. “Look up there,” he pointed.
I had to appear between him and mage to see what he was talking about. A thin line of lay up ahead, horizontally and below eye level. Finally reached the door.
“Well, what are we waiting for?” I started to push between the two of them not bothering to hold my voice. “Let’s go! Let’s not waste any more time!”
Drake stopped me as I attempted to pass by him. “No, wait, Iris! We don’t want to just burst through the door—remember the Troll Realm?”
That stopped me. “You had to bring that up, didn’t you?” I grumbled. But I stopped my forward movement. “So what do you suggest, oh mighty one?”
“Let’s take a minute. I’ll open the door, and scout the corridor, or wherever this leads to.”
I heard the swish of his sword coming out of its scabbard. That slow, deliberate sound sent a chill through me that started at my feet and quickly traveled to my head. It scared me. A lot. Because this made things real.
We wouldn’t be able to go back from here.
Drake moved closer to the door, and I could see him go into a crouch, a fighter’s stance. The thrill of fear that I’d felt dissipated a little. Drake knew his business.
“Mage, can you open this? Quietly?” Drake whispered as we all stood about a foot from the door.
Taranath moved closer and I saw a cool blue light flare up, illuminating him briefly. The fear eased even more as I watched him work calmly. He was a steady force in our group.
The lock on the door clicked. It echoed through the tunnel with the sound of an oncoming freight train—or so it seemed.
I let out a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding.
“All right, stand back,” Drake said. “Let me see what’s on the other side.”
“Trolls,” I muttered.
He shot me a look over his shoulder. “We probably would have smelled them by now.”
He had a point.
Taranath stood shoulder to shoulder with me as Drake carefully pried the door open. After opening it enough to squeeze through, he stood back, and waited.
It felt as though the entire castle did, too.
After an eternity of a minute, he slid along the wall—eww. That was going to leave a really stinky mark. He crouched again, and slipped through the opening.
I waited for the screams, or sounds of fighting or something.
None came.
His head reappeared
in the doorway. “There’s no one here. We’re lucky. Have your stones ready,” He said to me.
I pulled several from my pocket with fumbling fingers when he said, “Wait.”
“What?” I couldn’t get my voice to rise above a whisper. Until that moment, I didn’t realize how truly frightened I was.
“Where’s your mirror?”
“In my pocket.”
“Let me have it, since you gave mine away.” He held out his hand, not expecting any resistence.
I didn’t offer any, even though I really, really didn’t want to give up my mirror. It was the one link I had to Brennan—who we’re going to see shortly, I reminded myself.
I couldn’t think of anything beyond that.
I handed it to him and he disappeared through the door.
“Iris, you go next. I want to be able to protect you if need be,” Taranath said.
“But—”
“No buts,” he interrupted. “You are the queen, in spite of how informal we’ve become on this journey. I am sworn to protect you. Not to mention what the King would say.”
There was enough light that I could see the faint smile on his face.
“We will get him back, Iris,” He patted my hand. “Now—”
“Are we having a party before we make any sort of move?” Drake’s head and voice poked through the door. “Or do you need some sort of special invitation to follow me while we have no obstacles?”
“Keep your hair on,” I grumbled. I followed the head, which now wore an annoyed expression.
“It’s a bloody gift that no one has spotted us, what with our rather lackadaisical approach to sneaking into the enemy stronghold,” Drake said. “Would you please hurry up, ladyship?”
I quickened my steps to fall in behind him. It wasn’t easy. He was taller and when in high emotion, like he was now, took really long strides. I had to almost run to keep up. God, he could be such a jerk sometimes.
Who would die for me, or Bren.
The thought struck me and I slowed my pace, lurching forward when Taranath got close behind me. The walls seemed like they closed in—the warm brown of the stone no longer felt welcoming, but menacing. Our feet rang out as we hurried forward.
Realms of the Goblin King (The Realm Trilogy Book 3) Page 11
