Black Crown

by Sarah Dalton

  “This is too much,” I say. I try to give it back but she pushes my hand away.

  “It will help you. My grandmother knew a craft-born—a Hada-Ya—like you. They were friends. My grandmother asked the Hada-Ya to bless the ring. So she did. That ring will help to keep you safe. It will protect you, and I think you need protecting.”

  My throat goes dry and sore as though I am about to cry. “Thank you, Esther.”

  The woman pats my camel and nods her acknowledgement. “You must be careful not to get lost on this journey. I have told Mushtan that he will struggle to find landmarks where you are going. The desert is almost flat there, with no vegetation whatsoever. That food and water will get you to your destination and back here in just enough time. But if you are lost, there is a chance you could run out of supplies. Be careful and farewell, Mae Waylander, craft-born and future queen.”

  “We will heed your warning, Esther. I thank you and your villagers for your hospitality and fine gifts. I will never forget you.” I work the ring onto my finger using my thumb, as Cas climbs up behind me. As we leave Asher he places his hand over mine.

  *

  Mushtan leads the way again. Even with Mushtan’s expertise, we must be especially careful. Finally, as we put some distance between us and Asher, my heart settles into a steady heartbeat.

  Once we’re back up on the dunes, and away from the shade of the mountains, the sun beats down on us, relentless and exhausting. My stomach growls with hunger. The effects of the wine have left me nauseated. But we cannot stop now. We have too much ground to cover. We left late in the morning and we must press on until late afternoon. I lean back into Cas, and let Adil’s slow strides lull me into a soft slumber. We’re away from Asher, we have provisions, and we have a few more camels. We are safe for now, so I let myself drift.

  But that feeling of safety does not last long. I am jolted awake by a cry, and Cas whispers nonononono by my ear.

  “What is it?” I sit up, blinking through the bright sun.

  And then I smell it. Smoke. Thick, dark, destructive smoke, and it comes from Asher.

  I yank Adil’s reins, turning him around. But Cas has his hand on mine.

  “We can’t go back,” he says.

  “We have to,” I insist.

  “We can’t,” he says. “It could be the king’s soldiers. They will kill us, Mae. There are more of them than there are of us.”

  “Cas… I can’t… I can’t leave them,” I mutter.

  “This is why you got the warning,” he says. “We would have burned with them. Now we have to hurry. We cannot stop. They are too close. I’m sorry, but we will save more lives if we carry on.”

  “I could have stopped them with my power,” I insist. “I still can.”

  “It’s too dangerous,” he replies. “Your task is too important for you to risk your life.”

  I know he’s right, and it hurts my heart. I lean forward, and scream silently into Adil’s shoulder. The camel tosses up his head but, doesn’t make a sound. A few moments later I catch up to Mushtan.

  “We must get out of sight over those dunes,” he says. “Hurry.”

  Our camels quicken. We rush away from the burning village, all the time my stomach clenching. When we’re away from sight, I lean over and vomit onto the sand.

  “Try not to do that, Hada-Ya,” Mushtan warns. “You will be dehydrated.” He turns to the rest of our group. We’ve stopped, but not for long. “Those are the king’s men. I saw their flag as they rode into the village.” He stops and examines my face. “There was nothing we could do. We’re not strong enough to fight them, yet. And now, we must run from them. We must reach the temple and get the stone before them.”

  “Do you think the king was with them?” Cas asks.

  He shakes his head. “I doubt it. But we cannot rule it out.”

  “Lyndon could be there.” A ripple of tension passes through Cas’s body and he grips my hand so hard it hurts.

  “I could have stopped them,” I say. “I could have done it with my powers.”

  “Yes,” Mushtan says. “But at what cost? Tell me, Hada-Ya, which of your powers could take out a fleet of soldiers but keep the village and the villagers safe? We had no idea they were coming, only a vague warning from your Goddess. No, there was nothing we could do, and it would be no use to turn back now. They are lost.”

  I remain quiet.

  “We have to leave,” Mushtan says. “Last night, after your union, I sent word out about your marriage. I sent word to the tribes, and word back to Jakani. The war is beginning now. Fighting will break out. You’ve shown your allegiance, and the king will retaliate.”

  We kick on our camels, but my mind is elsewhere. I am thinking only of the people we left behind. And then, as I think and I concentrate and I work, it begins to rain.

  Chapter Twenty-One – The Followers

  I tilt my head to the dark, knitted clouds above in complete shock. It’s the first time I’ve been able to change the weather so drastically. As we hurry through the desert, and away from the fires, our group holds their hands up to the sky in disbelief.

  I made it rain in the desert.

  The rain comes down fast, soaking us to the skin. I hope it puts out the fires in the village. I hope it helps them rebuild. I hope. I hope.

  Cas wraps his arms around my waist, and his sodden, warm body presses against mine. Adil plods along, unimpressed with the weather, his feet losing purchase on the unsteady, wet ground.

  “You must stop it now,” Mushtan says, pointing up to the sky.

  The clouds are still thickening. A rumble of thunder passes overhead. I’ve not just made it rain, I’ve created a thunder storm. Mushtan’s men stop gawping at the sky and pull their cloaks over their heads, huddling down on their camels. We make our descent down a sand dune, pushed along by the unstable sludge under our feet.

  Mushtan turns back to me. “Make it stop or there will be floods!”

  Panic rises from my gut like a hard stone pushing up to my chest. My hands tremble as I think of fire—anything to stop the rain pelting down. I close my eyes, letting Adil and Cas lead the way. Adil slips and slides on the wet ground. There’s a cry to my right, and I open my eyes to see one of the Borgan’s camels falling to its knees.

  “Mae, concentrate,” Cas says.

  Sasha’s camel charges past us, sliding on its hind legs. Sasha grips on for her life.

  I concentrate. I try to calm my breathing, and steady my heart. The thunder cracks overhead, and there’s a collective gasp when a bolt of lightning rips through the sky. This is not what I had in mind when I asked for rain. Avery, why can’t you help me now, when I really need it?

  There’s a cry from the back of our group. When I turn back, searching over Cas’s shoulder, that’s when I see it, the swell of the flood coming towards us. The camels dash forward. One of the Borgans is unseated. Even Adil races forward, with his hooves struggling to find purchase in the boggy ground. The blood drains from my face as I glance at Cas over my shoulder. We are in trouble.

  When the water hits, we’re washed forward. Adil goes over. I fall into water and mud, rolling down a sodden dune with my mouth filling with the foul tasting liquid. Cas is separated from me. One of the camels knocks into my side, its rider flailing behind. Our entire party is sent into one long slide down the sloping desert. Our steeds have fallen. Still the rain pounds down in relentless torrents. All of us are soaked to our very core. As the landslide pushes me along, I hold out my arms desperately searching for Cas. My metal hand fills with water, making it heavy and uncomfortable. Something large and heavy knocks into me, forcing my head under the water. The mud covers me, water gushes over me.

  I can’t breathe.

  My lungs burn, and my mouth fills with grainy, muddy water. I reach out with my right arm, and jam my metal hand into the sand, somehow managing to pull myself up and spit out the dirty water. There are hands around me, pulling me up and out of the landslide. Cas lays wit
h me on the muddy sand.

  “You have to control this,” he shouts over the rain. “If you don’t, we’re all going to drown. Mae, remember when the king hurt Anta? Remember how you focussed your powers and got away? You have to do that again. You have to focus so that you can save us.”

  The ground starts to move beneath us, and I know I have little time. Cas is right. I can do this. I can focus, and stop this storm. All I need to do is think about how much we need this. Clarity comes in moments of crisis. There’s a sharp pain in my mind, but it is a good pain, a searing flash that puts everything into perspective. I tilt my head to the dark clouds, and finally I see a peek of sun coming through the grey. The rain calms from a torrent into a drizzle, and Cas wraps his arms around me.

  “Come on,” he says. “Let’s find the others.”

  We slip and slide down the rest of the dune until we get to a large pool of muddy water. Here, Mushtan and his men drag camels out onto the bank of the next uphill climb.

  “What’s the damage?” I ask.

  “One of the camels drowned. We lost some of our supplies. We are all wet, but not hurt,” he says. His eyes flash. “That was clever, Hada-Ya, but also foolish. Had you managed to control it—very impressive—but you could not.”

  I swallow. “I know. I’m sorry.”

  He breaks into a laugh and raises his voice. “At least we made good time. The water has washed us further along our path. We travelled faster than we would on camel. We will make it up this slope and down the next dune by nightfall. That is good.”

  I let out a sigh of relief. The group works together to get as many camels as we can back on their feet, and we hike our way up the steep incline, muddied, wet, and itchy, but still alive and strong.

  *

  As night falls, the group sits by the fire drying our drenched belongings. Mushtan made us walk until we found some dry land between two steep dunes. Here, out of sight from the Red Peak Mountains and Asher, we can get some well-needed respite. Spirits are low after the landslide. Much of our food perished, and despite the rain, we lost some water, too. Mushtan’s men managed to salvage some by wringing out our sodden clothes into containers, but even still, we have less than when we set off from Asher.

  I twist the ring on my finger and pray to Avery that we are close. Our group is tired and in desperate need of good news. That night I sleep a dreamless sleep, and am woken by Cas stirring next to me. He sits up on our bed roll and pushes the palm of his hand into his eye.

  “What is it?” I rub the stump on my right arm. It aches, as it does a lot in the hot climate.

  He shakes his head. “It could be nothing.”

  “Tell me.”

  “I sense darkness. It’s like someone is pouring ice-cold water over my skin.” He shakes his head. “It’s stupid, I know, but my mother said she had some sort of ability to sense people. I believe that I can sense my family. Whether it’s Lyndon or Father, I don’t know, but I’m getting the same cold sensation I get when they walk into a room. One, or both of them, are with the men who set Asher on fire, and I believe they are coming to kill me. Kill us. I feel it deep inside, like the rumble of thunder from your storm. Someone is coming.”

  I touch him lightly on the shoulder, feeling the trembling of his skin.

  We don’t sleep for the rest of the night. Cas sits and balls his hands into fists.

  *

  We are blessed with a cooler sun the next day, which helps us make good time as we follow Mushtan’s maps. Esther’s warning seems far away. The fire and the floods are a distant memory. I’m hopeful again.

  Sasha rides close to me. “About the other morning, when you came into my tent—”

  “I won’t say a word.”

  “A word about what?” Cas asks.

  I jab him in the ribs with my elbow. “Nothing, prince. Nothing that concerns you.”

  Sasha glances at Cas before saying. “Thank you. It means a lot.”

  I let go of Adil and lean over to squeeze her arm. Sasha smiles at me.

  “We’re getting close,” she says. “My amulet feels different, warmer. I think it’s drawn to the hidden temple.”

  There’s a flutter in my stomach. Hope is one thing, but getting closer to an unknown enemy is another.

  “Do you think we’ll succeed?” I say in a quiet voice. “We know nothing about the Sihrans.”

  “We don’t know they’re alive,” Cas points out.

  “If they have the Ember Stone, there’s a good chance they are alive,” Sasha says. “And there’s a good chance that they are immortal and difficult to kill. But if anyone can do it, it’s you.”

  Cas squeezes my waist. “It’s true. You’re the strongest person in this world. You can defeat them.”

  I open my mouth to speak, when a flash of light catches my eye. I slow Adil and watch the landscape.

  “What is it?” Cas asks.

  “I saw something move,” I say. “I’m sure of it.”

  Sasha cups her hand over her eyes. “I can’t see anything.” Then her hand flies to her throat. “My amulet is stone cold.”

  “What does that mean?” I ask.

  She shakes her head. “I don’t know. I think it might be a bad thing.”

  There’s a sound that reminds me of knives scraping together. Frowning, I turn Adil in the direction of the sound to see what it could be. The camel groans, but I urge him forward, determined to investigate. Cas places a hand on the hilt of his sword. He is tense behind me. His muscles are hard against my back. The sound is gone, and I am about to give up, when the glint of a gold object—barely visible on the sand—comes charging towards us.

  I leap from Adil’s back, and Cas lands next to me on the desert floor. In an instant I have wind stirring up the sand towards the creature.

  “It’s one of the spider automatons that Beardsley made,” I shout. “They attacked us in the Red Palace. Aim for their eyes.”

  The brass spider is as large as a camel. It has jewelled eyes and legs as sharp as razors.

  “Get back,” I call out to Mushtan and the others. “Get away.”

  “Mae,” Sasha turns to me with wide eyes, she has one fist over her amulet and her face is as pale as a ghost. The spider slashes out with its legs. I use my power to shift the sand, creating a huge wave.

  The spider scuttles back, almost tipping onto its side with the force of the sand.

  “Can you trap it like you did the worm?” Cas asks.

  “I don’t know. It has more legs than the worm.” I force a gust of wind towards the spider, forcing it to slow down.

  “Mae, hold my hand,” Sasha says. When I fix her with a confused expression, she rolls her eyes. “Just do it. Something is happening with my amulet.”

  I reach across with my left hand and grip hers. Cas remains on my right, his sword held aloft, his body in a crouch. The spider finds its balance and begins to charge us again, but then something happens. There’s a flow of power emanating from Sasha’s amulet. We turn to each other, both feeling it.

  “Mae…,” Cas warns. The spider is coming fast.

  But as it approaches, a burst of bright blue explodes from Sasha’s amulet, like a stream of lightning. It hits the spider squarely in one of its eyes, and the spider falls back away from us.

  “What was that?” I breathe.

  “It looked like lightning,” Sasha replies.

  Despite our best efforts, the spider is still alive, and it only takes a few moments to get back on its legs. But after Sasha’s hit from her amulet, it is slower. Cas lifts his sword, and throws it as hard as he can, stabbing through the spider’s eye, and into its mechanism behind. The spider drops back into the sand. Its legs close into itself.

  “You killed it.” I stare at Cas with wide eyes. “Where did you learn to do that?”

  He shrugs. “I could never beat Lyndon in one-to-one combat, so I learned how to throw.”

  “Why haven’t you ever done that before?” Sasha says.

  �
��I’ve never had the opportunity before,” Cas says with a grin.

  I nudge him with my shoulder. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome,” he replies.

  While I’m staring at my new husband, Musthan approaches from behind. “I have never seen such a beast. It is magical, no?”

  “The designer harnessed the power of the craft,” I admit. “It is one of the king’s creatures; something to fight us without using men.”

  Mushtan shakes his head. “A man should look another man in the eye before he kills him. This is the coward’s way.”

  “Maybe there is something we can salvage from it,” Cas says, striding towards the broken spider.

  For a moment my heart skips a beat, remembering how the Nix played dead before biting off my hand. “Cas wait!”

  He turns back to me. “What is it?”

  I rush to his side and check the spider myself.

  “It’s a heap of junk now, look,” Cas says. He reaches forward and pulls the sword from its eye. Metal scrapes against metal and I cringe.

  Soon the men surround the spider, pulling away bits of brass and jewels. I reach into the middle, and pull out the black diamond from where its brain should be.

  “The king makes these in his palace,” I tell them. “He borrows money from the Haedalands, starves his own people, and makes these to try and create his own Ember Stone. He’s so desperate to never die that he’s willing to take the lives of all those thousands starving across the land.”

  “He’s unhinged,” Sasha says. She still holds her amulet. When she notices me watching, she says, “I had no idea it would do that. Something told me to take your hand.”

  “The craft flowed into your amulet,” I reply. “It was a powerful thing. Our gifts are expanding.” I wonder what else is possible.

  “Do you think the spider was tracking us?” Cas asks. “How else would it find us? It can’t possibly have been a coincidence. The Anadi Sands stretch for hundreds of miles. It had to know how to find us.”