For Want of a Fiend

by Barbara Ann Wright

  Katya breathed a sigh of relief, but then stiffened as she lifted her lantern. Castelle had only her own friends with her. “Where’s Starbride?”

  “Right behind us, making her way toward the palace. Come on, we’ve got horses. We should be able to pick her up on our way out.”

  Da had to leave the pyramids behind. With so many non-royals among them, there was too great a risk of them going off. Katya looked over her shoulder at the palace that had been her home, now in the grip of a monster and the tomb of so many friends. Still, sadness couldn’t defeat her. Her family had escaped, and soon, Starbride would be in her arms again.

  Averie would want that.

  Chapter Forty-four: Starbride

  Starbride could see the palace down the street, and it broke her heart. Almost all of the first floor windows had been smashed. Several statues in the front walk lay broken on the ground, and one of the ancient oak doors was pitted and scarred as if someone had tried to light it on fire and failed. One of the Umbriel banners was missing and the other had been torn in half.

  “Castelle said to go to the servants’ stables in the back,” she whispered. “We have to keep going.” She and Dawnmother had Hugo dangling between them. The Umbriels usually took an hour to wake, but they didn’t have Dawnmother splashing them with water and slapping them. Still, he was only half-conscious, and he stumbled as if drunk, but he became more awake with each footfall.

  She only wished he didn’t put such terrible pressure on her wounds. Several times, an evil little voice originating from her torn shoulders and aching back suggested she dump him in an alley and be done with him.

  Pennynail led the way around the palace. Starbride craned her neck and hoped to see Castelle leading Katya around the corner, safe and sound.

  A cry sounded behind them, a wordless shout that was taken up by many voices. Starbride turned just as Dawnmother shouted, “Run!”

  A group of torch-bearing people charged up the street, setting fires as they came. Many waved sticks or blades or iron bars. They struck at their surroundings indiscriminately, as if they didn’t care what they destroyed as long as they hit something. In front of them, shouting them on, ran Maia and Darren, both fully healed. Their eyes seemed to glitter in the rising light.

  Captain Ursula didn’t even try to stand up to the crowd. They had her remaining officers outnumbered three or four to one. They all lifted Hugo and took off down a side street, running like mad.

  The cries of the mob changed to words, nonsense mostly, but Starbride could pick out something about “fat cats,” whatever they were. What she understood most clearly was, “Kill them!” Her injuries screamed, her back burned, and her very lungs ached. They were all wounded, struggling and pulling on one another in their haste. Even Hugo seemed to awaken more and tried to run under his own power.

  They zigzagged down alleys and hoped their pursuers would give up, but the shouts seemed always at their backs. They came out of the city beside the palace, opposite the royal stables.

  A mounted party stood in the small courtyard. As one more of their member swung onto a horse, a voice called, “Starbride?”

  Starbride rushed toward anyone who knew her name and wasn’t yelling to kill her. In the dim light of dawn, she spied Countess Nadia and Viscount Lenvis.

  “My child,” Countess Nadia said, “they attacked you!”

  Starbride waved toward the sounds of the mob. “They’ll kill us.”

  Shouts echoed behind them. They were almost caught.

  “Hide!” Countess Nadia said.

  Pennynail dragged Starbride to the side, and she and her friends climbed into a shallow ditch behind a stack of crates. Even Ursula let herself be pulled by Sergeant Rhys.

  “Come now, you sons of whores!” Countess Nadia called. “You want some fat cats?” To Starbride’s surprise, she drew a sword from her belt. “Come catch your death!” Contrary to her bravado, she sped away into the early light, her friends with her. “Ride, Princess Consort!” she called to one of her hooded companions. “Ride! We go to fetch the king!”

  The mob screamed and gave chase. Up the street, Countess Nadia and Viscount Lenvis slowed their horses enough for the mob to almost reach them and then sped up again. Maia and Darren went with them, but a few hung back, too tired to keep up, or maybe their energy deserted them. Either way, Starbride knew she was stuck in her hiding place for some time.

  She closed her eyes and hoped that Katya had gotten out of the palace and away, that Countess Nadia got away, too, and that the Umbriels were safe. Even if they were stuck inside the palace, Starbride wouldn’t stop until she found them, until she found Katya.

  “I’ll find you,” she whispered.

  Chapter Forty-five: Katya

  Katya heard a roar that sounded nearly on the other side of the palace. She rose up in her stirrups and tried to peer into the dim light; she wished she could see through stone.

  “Katya,” Castelle said. “Careful.”

  “You said she’d be on our way.”

  “Something must have turned her path.”

  “Like that bloody great roar.” A thousand nasty images came to Katya’s mind. “I’ve got to find her.”

  “All suicide is stupid,” Castelle said, “but unintentional suicide is the stupidest.”

  Katya rounded on her. “I love her.”

  In the almost dim light, she couldn’t make out Castelle’s face. “I know you do.”

  Da sighed. The three of them were the only ones in their party who weren’t sitting two to a saddle. If it came to a chase, they had no chance. “I’m tempted to tell you to ride off and find her, no matter what,” Da said. “It’s the kind of thing I’ve always wished I could do.”

  “But?”

  “But you’re my daughter, and I don’t want you torn apart.”

  Katya tried to shake the image of Starbride’s blood-soaked body from her mind. She wouldn’t even let Averie come near her thoughts.

  “Starbride is resourceful,” Castelle said. “I don’t say this about many people, but she can take care of herself. And she doesn’t even have to. She has your sneaky man, the young lord, her wise maid, and a contingent of the Watch headed by a level-headed and very attractive captain.”

  Katya almost barked a laugh, but the situation wouldn’t let her. “I can’t leave her here, not while I run away.” She’d already left one dear friend behind that day.

  “Can’t leave her while you protect your family, you mean?” Da asked.

  “Not while you do your duty?” Castelle added.

  Katya ground her teeth. “Damn you, Castelle.” She took a deep breath. “I’ll see you to the rendezvous, Da, but then I’m coming back for her.”

  He was silent for a moment. “As you wish.”

  Katya tried to force down the nagging thought that she was abandoning her duty if she left her family in the forest. At least she was seeing them there. Reinholt hadn’t even bothered to stay, to help them with the mess he’d started.

  Katya didn’t want to lose herself in anger, but it helped her focus. The tightening in her gut lessened when they escaped the city and entered the forest to find her family safe and sound. Her parents wrapped each other and their grandchildren in an embrace.

  Brutal patted Katya’s shoulder. “Where’s everyone else?”

  “I’m going back for them.” Katya dismounted and headed for the fresher horses.

  Castelle stepped behind her. “Katya—”

  Katya shook her head. She knew Castelle was going to offer to go with her, and she didn’t know whether to accept or not. “Brutal, can you help Vincent guard my family?”

  “I’d rather come with you, but of course I’ll do it.” He gave her a grim smile. “Bring them back safely.”

  Katya nodded and sent a prayer to the spirits to let Starbride know she was coming. “Da, please.” She needed to hear again that she could slip her duty just this once.

  Da nodded and turned his face away. Katya had
half a second to wonder if that was disappointment in his eyes before something cracked into the back of her skull, and she pitched forward into darkness.

  *

  Katya heard voices echoing around her. She had a sudden thought that she was lying down, but that was all that would come to her. Again, she was waking up not knowing where she was or how she’d gotten there. She hated the feeling.

  “We’re still too close,” Da said by her side. “And we can’t go hitting her over the head for the entire journey.”

  A cool hand touched Katya’s forehead. She tried to keep her eyes open and focus. “Star?”

  “Do it,” Ma said.

  A pudgy man bent into Katya’s vision. He lifted something that sparkled toward her forehead. Katya tried to struggle, but someone held her arms.

  “Katya, please don’t fight.” That was a woman’s voice, but it couldn’t be Starbride. Starbride wouldn’t let them do this to her.

  “Castelle?” Katya slurred. The cool pyramid settled on her forehead, and all was darkness again.

  *

  The wind blew across Katya’s face. Strands of hair tickled her cheeks. She’d fallen asleep outside. Had they been on a picnic, she and Starbride, and fallen asleep in each other’s arms?

  “Star?” she whispered. Her throat ached at trying to speak. She swallowed, but that hardly helped at all.

  A water skin entered her vision. “Drink.” Brutal’s voice. He sat beside her in a wagon.

  She frowned at him. “What?” He lifted her head and helped her drink a little. “What?” she said again when the ache in her throat eased. “What happened, Brutal?”

  “Give it a minute.”

  Memory hit her like a brick. She raised up as quickly as she could muster. Grassland surrounded them. In the distance, buildings clustered before the great, sparkling expanse of the ocean. Katya breathed deep of the salt air and heard the far off screams of gulls. “Where?”

  “Your parents had us stop at a duchess’s estate in the country,” he said. “The one we visited on our hunt for the bearded man.” He looked at the distant sea and not at her. “They didn’t want to keep knocking you over the head, you see, so they needed her pyradisté to keep you out. They half woke you up several times to eat.”

  Katya stared at him, dimly recalling someone pouring broth down her throat, but it had the haze of a dream. The road was off on her other side, and a man stood several feet away from them, watching the road.

  “The others went to town,” Brutal said. “That’s your father there. Lord Vincent’s hiding nearby. They said that they had to keep you out so you wouldn’t go running back to look for her, and they told me I could either guard you or go back.” Brutal looked at her then, and she almost gaped at the tears standing in his eyes. “I chose you, Katya. Can you forgive me?”

  “To look for her?” Katya whispered. Cold settled in her gut, but her throat tightened. “Where are we, Brutal?”

  “Almost to Lucienne-by-the-Sea.” He shut his eyes. “Where we’ll set sail and get as far from Marienne as we can.”

  Katya curled her hands into her fists and fought the urge to scream. “You left her…” Starbride was many miles away, maybe hurt, maybe dead. “How long?”

  “Too long for you to—”

  “How fucking long!” Her father turned to look at her.

  “A week,” Brutal said.

  A week, but that was pulling a cart and with who knew how many people. If she had a fast horse, she could cover the same distance in half the time. Katya struggled out of the wagon. Brutal didn’t try to stop her. When she gained her feet, though, her father approached her.

  “Da,” Katya said, and she didn’t know whether she wanted to scream at him or be comforted by him.

  “If you’re going to yell, yell at me,” Da said.

  Katya shook her head and tried to fight the frustrated tears in her eyes.

  “I won’t give you speeches about duty because you know them already.” He wore plain brown clothes and looked more like a normal man than a king. “You’ve lived your whole life doing your duty, and now I’m asking you to give up the one person you’ve ever really wanted, at least for the moment. It was too much for your brother. And I’ll tell you now, my girl, that even if it’s too much for you, I will always be your father. I will always love you.”

  Katya’s lip quivered. Even though his face held nothing but honesty, she had to wonder if his words were a ploy. Such suspicion had always been part of her duty.

  “Roland is scouring the countryside for us,” Da said. “And the few rumors we encountered before we got this far didn’t mention Starbride at all. If he’d caught such a big fish, he would have bragged about it, would have tried to draw us in with her as bait.”

  “Da, I can’t just…”

  “I know, my girl, I know. But for a little longer, you’ll have to. We need to stay together, regain our strength, and take the city back.” He sighed deeply. “I need you, Katya. I know she no doubt needs you, too.”

  Her choice, then. She could almost hear Brutal in her head, telling her not to be stupid. What would she do when she got back to Marienne? Stop outside the gates and demand Starbride be released? Sneak into a city that was probably overrun by undead Fiends and whisk Starbride away? If it were that simple, Starbride would have already escaped. She might be on the same track as Katya and her parents.

  Or she might be cold in the ground.

  Katya fell into her father’s arms and sobbed. He held her tightly. After a few shuddering breaths, Katya straightened. “I’ll tear Roland apart with you, Da.”

  He kissed her forehead. “And I’ll help you find her myself.”

  About the Author

  Barbara Ann Wright writes fantasy and science fiction novels in between blogging and caring for her army of pets. She is married, lives in Texas, and is a member of Broad Universe and the Outer Alliance and helped create Writer’s Ink in Houston. Since moving to Austin, she’s also joined too many writing meet-ups to count.

  Her writing career can be boiled down to two points: when her mother bought her a typewriter in the sixth grade and when she took second place in the Isaac Asimov Award for Undergraduate Excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing in 2004. One gave her the means to write and the other gave her the confidence to keep going. Believing in oneself, in her opinion, is the most important thing a person can do.

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