by Emily L K
“Where is he, anyway?” Saasha asked, looking around the tent as if she expected him to appear there.
“Gone,” Cori said bluntly. Saasha’s brows knitted and her hands found her hips.
“Gone? What does that mean? Gone where? When will he be back?”
“He’s just gone,” Cori snapped. Orin caught hold of her arm, a warning. She took a deep breath.
“Sorry,” she said. Saasha, with raised eyebrows, glanced between Cori’s face and Orin‘s restraining hand. “Things have been tense the past few weeks, I didn’t mean to snap.”
Saasha opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by someone enquiring from outside the tent. “Karaliene?”
“Coming,” Cori called back. She met Saasha’s eye, pleading with her to understand why she couldn’t say more. Saasha’s mouth closed slowly. Orin’s hand, still on Cori’s arm, remained firm.
“We’ll talk later,” Cori assured her. A fissure bloomed between them; a distance Cori hadn’t experienced since her intake trials. She wanted to tell Saasha everything. Her sister knew there was more, but even though she’d expressed her trust for Orin, there were some things she still wasn‘t ready for him to hear. Orin held the tent flap open for them both and then, as a trio, they returned to the fire. A lot had changed in the past months. Both she and Saasha had transformed since their time in the palace. Their roles had changed. But Cori had left Rowan to return south to find Saasha, so she would make sure she kept herself in check so as not to make things tenser.
The war council was discussing strategy. Maps had been pinned to boards so the Heads of State could stand and peruse them. Occasionally they said something that had an advisor jotting notes or a servant scurrying to fetch items. Cori only spoke when a decision couldn’t be agreed upon and they called upon her to decide. Sometimes she couldn’t be sure if she was choosing correctly, but no one argued with her so she came to the conclusion that there was no real right answer when it came to war.
When they didn’t need her, she thought on the song that Saasha had taught her, but no matter how many times she repeated it in her mind there was always something vital missing.
“And where will the Karaliene be?” It was one of Shaw’s men, leaning over a map with his finger at edge of Lautan. All eyes turned to her, and she opened her mouth.
“The Karaliene will remain here,” Orin said firmly before she could respond. “It’s in our best interest she remains free of the fighting.”
The man who posed the query frowned as if he might argue but Bretton stalled him. “That seems appropriate.” The man from Shaw gave his Head of State a quizzical look, but didn’t push the matter further. The strategising continued. Servants appeared among them, arms ladened with bowls of hearty soup and trays of bread. The maps and notes were put aside in favour of food and music.
“Doesn’t Resso wash their food down with beer?” Bretton tore a piece of bread and dipped it into his soup. Tobin glanced at Cori.
“Yes, bring beer,” she said.
“Bring beer!” Tobin repeated loudly, sending the servants scurrying.
“You’re being generous tonight,” Orin said under his breath as he plucked on the lyre in his lap.
“What can I say, I’m a generous Karaliene,” she responded dryly. He smiled. “In any case, it’s not as if we have to travel early tomorrow.”
The fire became a common area as soldiers came and went, listening to the songs or adding their own musical prowess to the mix. Sometimes the music was regional, with members of one state listening appreciatively as the other played and other times the songs were common, with everyone joining their voices to the beat. Cori only devoted half her attention to the gathering around her. The other half continued to twist frantically about the incomplete song. There must be a way to work it out, Rowan wasn’t one to leave things unfinished.
“Try not to think about it too much,” Saasha suggested. Cori grunted in confusion and Saasha nodded towards Cori’s hand. It was clenched so tightly around her mug of beer that her knuckles were white.
The Hum is a gentle magic.
It was Rowan’s voice, sweet in its memory. Cori closed her eyes briefly and took a deep breath. When she opened them again, she didn’t have a solution to her dilemma, but she was calmer.
“I should have waited before I told you,” Saasha said, her bottom lip caught between her teeth. “I didn’t realise how pressured you were already.”
“You weren’t to know,” Cori said, though she avoided Saasha’s contemplation of her by staring down at the froth swirling atop her beer. She didn’t want Saasha to be concerned, or worse, pity her. She’d had enough of those reactions to last a lifetime.
Across the fire a man with a drum and a woman with a guitar sang a bawdy song that many of the others joined. Beside her Orin continued to pluck at his Lyre, a gentler song than was being played by the others. Cori watched his fingers move with practised fluidity and she drummed her fingers on her knee in tune. Then it hit her.
“Oh!” she said, jumping to her feet and looking around wildly, “Oh! Oh!”
“Lost something, Karaliene?” someone called out. Some laughed - mostly those from Shaw - while others hushed the speaker urgently. They hadn’t forgotten her spectacular execution of the man high on grybas.
“Nothing,” Cori said to them all, dropping back to her knees, but her heart was thundering with excitement. Of course he’d taught her the song. Of course!
“You’ve worked it out, haven’t you?” Saasha hissed, eyes wide.
“Maybe,” she replied. She didn’t want to get her hopes up, but she pivoted to Orin who watched her with a bemused expression. She put her hand on his back and tapped with her fingers. The tune was slow and deliberate; one she’d seen many times but hadn’t been curious enough to ask about more than once about.
“Can you play it?” she asked. Orin closed his eyes as she continued to tap the beat against him. After a few moments, and without opening his eyes, he plucked at the Lyre.
He took a few attempts but eventually he got it and he played it with more confidence. Cori sat back and closed her own eyes. She found her Hum, bruised and weakened by its earlier misuse, and wove the song Saasha had shown her. It built up in her mind and she opened her Hum further, letting the notes that Orin played meld with the ones she already had in place. The song rejoiced at its completion and she with it. Tears pricked her eyes, hot beneath their lids. Of course Rowan had taught her the song. He‘d done it in his usual cryptic way and once again she hadn’t guessed at the start. But this time she had worked it out on her own. She laughed. It emerged as a sob.
“I can feel you,” Saasha said excitedly, her voice distant. “Take what you need, Cori, take it!” Saasha’s presence, previously indistinguishably human, flared like a white light in Cori’s mind. Energy suffused her body, and she embraced it, letting it fill her, letting it heal her tortured mind.
Eventually Saasha drew away, and the song faded. Cori opened her eyes to first see Orin. His own eyes widened and his face broke into a grin.
“Show me!” Saasha said, grasping Cori’s face roughly by the chin and turning it towards her so she could see her sister’s eyes. They stared at each other for a long moment then Saasha laughed, giving Cori’s face a little shake. “It worked!” She cheered. “It worked! But you need more; they aren’t as bright as they were.”
“What’s going on over there?” Tobin called from across the fire. Cori, Saasha and Orin looked up as one. The head of Resso narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
“Cori worked out how to get her magic back!” Orin announced, his grin wide.
“She needs more, though,” Saasha piped up. “We need more humans!”
Cori sat between them, eyes wide. The whole situation was surreal. Her Hum thrummed with its renewed energy and she hadn’t appreciated just how close to burnout she’d been until now. The newly learned song was still weaving in the back of her mind and when Bretton stood and said, “she c
an have mine,” she felt another bright spark flare up.
“And mine,” said Enya and her presence flared in Cori’s mind as well. A few more people called out; mostly from Shaw but a few humans from Resso as well. Their combined energy blinded Cori.
“Stop, stop!” Orin called out, and the presences faded back to their natural states as each contributor withdrew their energy. Cori blinked. The fire and its occupants returned to her vision, darkened after the white energy that had just surrounded her.
“How do you feel?” Orin leaned forward to look at her eyes. Saasha mimicked him though she couldn’t wipe the smile from her face. Cori grinned back, impossibly wide. Energy pulsed through her entire body, surging like lightning from her mind to her fingertips and filling her with power. She felt alive.
She didn’t answer Orin, instead she looked across the fire to the Shaw man who’d enquired about her place in the war earlier. He looked as dumb-founded as the rest and when he found himself under her scrutiny, he shrank back. Cori addressed him directly. “You want to know where I’ll be? I’ll be on the front line and you can keep your siege machines, I’ll tear that bloody gate down myself.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
They were curled together under a blanket on the floor of Cori’s tent, the cot not being big enough for them both. The fire had died down hours ago and its occupants had drifted away to bed. Cori and Saasha had retired together, the way they had as children, but sleep was far away for both of them so they stayed awake and talked.
Saasha had told Cori what had transpired after Rowan had spirited her away. She and a number of other servants had fled the palace and made their way south into Shaw. She spoke about the servants that had died along with their mother and Cori felt a wrenching in her heart at each name that she recognised. Tarp had been killed, along with Daily, Dahl’s sister. Dlores had escaped the fighting in the kitchen, only to succumb to her wounds on the road.
Dahl was still alive, however, as was Annie. Both of them were at Shaw’s army base along with Antoni and a number of other Hiram students who had also fled after the fight.
Cori then told Saasha her own story, starting with Quart’s betrayal and leading onto their journey north of Resso. She tried to remain factual, leaving her thoughts and emotions out of the story, but when she got to the part about Rowan and the dragon her voice wavered and she had to stop to compose herself.
“It was my fault,” she whispered once the story was told. “I made him kill the dragon and now he’s gone.”
“But you said he was still alive,” Saasha clutched Cori’s hand under the blanket. “He might still come back, Cori.”
She let Saasha embrace her and she’d finally let her bottled up fear and guilt flow free. She wanted so badly to believe her sister but it was hard. The longer she went without Rowan, the more his features faded in her dreams, the less she believed in his survival.
Once her tears were spent though, she found it easier to talk about Rowan and she was curious - and jealous - to know about his and Saasha’s secret relationship.
“Did you talk to him often?” Cori asked Saasha in the quiet darkness of the tent.
“No, not really.” Saasha twined her fingers through Cori’s. “I was tasked with taking his breakfast tray to his rooms once you were made heir, as you know,” Saasha continued her explanation. “He wasn’t often there but when he was, he would sometimes say hello and asked how I was.” She shrugged, and the blankets shifted about them. “It was the day before the riot and when I went into his rooms he was waiting for me. Well, he was pacing but when I closed the door he came and took the tray and told me to sit down.”
Cori could see the scene in her mind; Rowan had become increasingly agitated in the days leading up to their abrupt departure. She could imagine him agonising over what to tell Saasha; he hadn’t liked to burden people with his own troubles. Except her.
Be my strength.
“He said that something was going to happen soon, something that meant he might have to take you away,” Saasha continued. “He told me that when you returned, he might not be with you.”
Cori’s stomach clenched and bile rose in her throat. He‘d gone north expecting to die. Worse, he‘d always intended for her to outlive him and come back. He’d told Saasha, but he hadn’t told her.
“He taught me the song after that,” Saasha said, oblivious of Cori’s inner torment, “said he didn’t have time to teach me all of it because it was too complicated, but that he would ensure you knew the rest.
“He made me promise not to tell you, Cori,” Saasha added softly, “and I didn’t realise he would take you the very next day.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Cori responded, surprised at how steady her voice was, “he always had a reason for why he did things the way he did.”
“Has,” Saasha corrected her. “Don’t lose faith, Cori.”
THE SUN WAS BRIGHT but its warmth was diminished by the autumn wind that blew off the ocean. Cori stood at the head of the combined Shaw and Resso armies, dressed in her battle leathers with a short sword strapped to her side.
Orin stood to her left, his hand resting on the pommel of Rowan’s dragon head sword. Aware of her lack of strength with the longer blade, she had asked Orin to carry it into battle for her, a testament to its previous bearer.
She stared at the wall now; built with blocks of sandstone, it had a wide gate that, when open - as it usually was - afforded a view the entire way down Lautan’s main street. Closed, it was an impenetrable wall of timber and steel. Or so those hiding behind it thought. The men and women behind her were silent which meant they could hear Hale’s army waiting in Lautan, captains shouting orders to their troops and boots and weapons scuffing on the pavement.
There had been arguments that morning between Bretton and Tobin and their relevant war councils over whether or siege weapons should remain in Shaw’s camp or be brought up to Resso’s so they could be launched quickly once they were built. Cori had listened to it all in silence. When they finally turned to her to settle the dispute, she told them they would march the following day and would not need the siege weapons to get in.
“I’ll bring the wall down,” she told them. Even Tobin, who had seen her execution methods, had been sceptical. Nonetheless, she hadn’t backed down on this decision and Bretton had sent a few of his men back to his own camp to rouse the army and travel them through the night to meet them. They’d been waiting before the walls at dawn.
Cori turned her head to look down the row to her right. Tobin was immediately beside her, and Cobra beside him. On the flank farther down, Saasha waited with Bretton and a contingent of humans. It was their job, once Cori and her Hiram party had broken through the ranks, to force an evacuation of the townspeople down to the piers.
Everyone had been horrified when she’d suggested a realignment of the army. Typically, the humans and weaker Hiram were placed at the front to bear the brunt of the attack. Cori wanted no such thing and thus one of the biggest disagreements of their entire trip ensued. Eventually it was an immature, “what, are you scared?” from Cori that finally ended the fight and set the matter to rest. She and the Hiram would now take Hale head on. Likely the enemy would still hold their ranks in a traditional form and Cori‘s last-minute change would hopefully take them by surprise.
There was a movement in the sentry tower behind the wall. A man wearing a bright red jacket gained the platform.
“Made himself into a nice target, didn’t he?” Cobra observed.
“The Karalis wishes to offer the invaders treaty,” the man called in a carrying voice, “who will speak for you?”
It had been Cobra’s idea to nominate someone other than Cori or the Heads to speak on behalf of the army, his reasoning being that the armies should not look uneven by allowing one Head to speak for the other and that the Advisor’s forces would expect the true Karalis instead of the girl who currently stood at their front. It was best to keep her identity under wraps as lo
ng as possible.
“Well?” The man called out. Even from a distance Cori could hear the uncertainty in his voice. She reached out and touched his mind; he didn’t like how still and silent they all stood. Good. She turned and looked over her shoulder. Antoni stood behind her and when their eyes met, the redhead nodded and stepped to the fore.
Though she now treated Cori with a smooth deference that the latter disliked, Cori was glad to have Antoni and her cool, logical thinking in the mix of hot-headed men who’d been advising her so far. She was also secretly relieved to have her friend on this side of the wall; she hadn’t liked to imagine what she would have had to do if Antoni had stayed by the Advisor’s side.
Antoni walked forward several paces so the messenger on the sentry platform could see her. Her red hair was in a neat braid and she wore the leather vest of a Hiram soldier. “What does the Advisor intend to treat us with?” She called out. Some in the army behind Cori snickered and she couldn’t help the smile that spread across her own face. The man tugged at the collar of his jacket, looking distinctly uncomfortable.
“The Karalis invites the Heads of Resso and Shaw to withdraw their attack and make peace with him. If they do this, he will allow them to return to their homes and remain the Head of their respective states...” the man’s voice was lost in the raucous laughter of the army.
Antoni waited patiently until there was silence again. She tapped her forefinger against her lips, pondering his words though she did not turn to seek clarification from the army leaders; this war was non-negotiable. Finally she raised her head to look at the sentry tower again and in a strong, clear voice she said, “the Advisor’s treat is a noble one, but unfortunately we must decline him. The throne belongs to the rightful heir, and the Karaliene has come to claim it.”
“The Karaliene?” the man called back in confusion even as Cori’s own advisors muttered around her. Antoni was not supposed to make mention of the Karaliene, but Cori found it fitting. She stepped forward, away from Orin and Tobin, to stand beside Antoni.
