The Fairhaven Chronicles Boxed Set: The Revelations of Oriceran

by S. M. Boyce

  Everyone’s smile fell, and Victoria set her hands on her hips. “He’s right. How do we kill Luak?”

  “We don’t,” Lady Spry said.

  The room went silent, and every head in the room turned toward her. She, however, looked only at Victoria.

  “You do,” the regal woman finished.

  “Laying it on a little thick there, huh?” Audrey asked with a raised eyebrow.

  Victoria nudged her friend in the gut. “Audrey, come on.”

  “Well, she did.”

  Lady Spry frowned. “I apologize if my methods are dramatic, but I cannot stress this enough. Each of us hates Luak with a passion. He has stolen something dear from us all, robbed us of something beautiful, treasured, and irreplaceable. Each of us would like to be the one to deliver the fatal blow—whether via a sword to the gut or a spell to the head—but we can’t. None of us are strong enough. Only you are, Victoria.”

  Victoria hesitated, her gaze drifting to the floor. She didn’t bother looking at Fyrn, even though she could feel the heat of his gaze on the back of her neck.

  Maybe she wasn’t.

  “We need allies,” the senator continued, scanning the faces around her. “More fighters. More soldiers. More denni to buy weapons and armor. More potions. We need friends with deep purses.”

  “I’ll give what I can,” Victoria said.

  “As will I,” Fyrn added.

  “We all will,” Diesel interjected, apparently not wanting to be one-upped by his adversary.

  “However,” Victoria said sharply, “we will not buy mercenaries.”

  Low murmurs erupted in the small room, but Victoria held her ground. Beside her, Audrey crossed her arms and squared her shoulders, backing Victoria up without a word.

  “But Victoria, please—” Lady Spry began.

  “No ‘buts.’ No mercenaries. Luak will just offer them more money, and there’s a high chance they’ll betray us.”

  “She’s right,” Eldrin said.

  The room hushed, and Lady Spry stared blankly at the map. “But we need soldiers.”

  “I have a few ideas.” Victoria rested her knuckles on the table, eyes roaming the map.

  “The Berserk teams?” Audrey asked.

  Victoria nodded. “All of them are fierce, ready to fight, and used to pain. They’ll be valuable.”

  Lady Spry gestured to the curtain behind Victoria. “Most are here, but I’ve heard rumors of a few isolated pockets of rebels who haven’t found this place yet. I will reach out to them.”

  “Good.” Victoria tapped a familiar district near the outskirts of Fairhaven. “Out here, I have an old…friend, I guess you could call him. He may be useful.”

  Drefus, the Fairhaven crime boss she still owed a favor to. It was a risk, one she would have to discuss further with Fyrn. He knew the gremlin better than she did.

  “No promises,” she added.

  “That’s not enough,” Eldrin said, resting his hands against the table.

  Victoria smirked. She had saved the best for last. “I also have a friend in Lochrose. I believe the queen will join us.”

  The room went silent, every eye wide as they stared at her.

  Lady Spry was breathless. “We heard you freed Lochrose, but to think they would help us after so long underground…”

  “I can’t promise anything, of course, but I may as well ask.”

  The senator’s shoulders relaxed. “In that case, I believe we may stand a chance.”

  “I’m not convinced,” Eldrin said, pointing to the various entrances to the castle. “Each of these doors is wide enough for five ogres to walk side by side, and the moment we attack we’ll be swarmed.

  “Then we let the castle protect itself,” Lady Spry said.

  “What?” Victoria stared at the woman, wondering what the hell that was supposed to mean.

  “The castle’s defenses are still active?” Fyrn asked incredulously.

  Lady Spry shook her head. “Victoria, the castle itself is enchanted. It has a personality of its own, and it chooses its monarch. If its monarch is in trouble, it can cause a great deal of mayhem to whoever is trying to infiltrate its walls.”

  “If by ‘trouble’ you mean ‘death,’” Fyrn muttered.

  “How did I not know about this?” Diesel nearly shouted.

  Fyrn chuckled. “I suppose the king didn’t trust you with everything, hmm?”

  Diesel frowned and crossed his arms, pouting.

  Victoria chuckled. A grown man pouting. How attractive!

  Lady Spry pursed her lips at the bickering wizards but pressed on. “The king was bound against speaking to anyone about it, Diesel. I maintain it, as did Fyrn for a time before, well...”

  She glanced nervously at him, and the room went silent. Apparently Fyrn’s banishment from the Order of the Silver Griffins was still a tense topic.

  Lady Spry cleared her throat and continued, “We’re part of a select few who knew about it before even King Bornt. Luak not only discovered it, but he also found a means of draining the castle’s power to keep it obedient. It has been severely weakened, but I believe I can restore its strength. If not all of it, at least most.”

  “If you’re capable of doing this, why didn’t you do it sooner?” Fyrn asked.

  Lady Spry sighed. “I debated it, but I don’t think freeing the castle will be enough on its own. There are too many mercenaries, too much of the castle Luak still controls. I didn’t discover his plot in time to help the castle keep him out. As much as I hate to admit it, Luak is painfully clever.”

  “But coupled with an attack on the castle, reactivating its defenses might be enough?” Victoria asked.

  The senator shrugged. “Perhaps.”

  Victoria didn’t like it. True, a castle coming alive could cause mayhem that would help in her attack on Luak’s army, but she needed more. She needed something indestructible, something to draw Luak’s attention without putting many—if any—lives at risk.

  If only she had a secret weapon.

  She tilted her head ever so slightly until she could see Fyrn out of the corner of her eye. He frowned, stiffening under her subtle scrutiny, and very slowly shook his head.

  “Let’s take a breather,” Eldrin offered.

  Diesel nodded. “Everyone, keep thinking about this. See if you have any other ideas.”

  One by one the attendees trickled out into the cavern, but Victoria gestured for Fyrn to stay. He walked over to the map, pretending to be consumed by it as everyone left.

  In a moment only she, Audrey, and Fyrn remained.

  “We have to, Fyrn,” Victoria said, trying her best not to refer to the golems out loud.

  He had sworn her to secrecy, after all.

  “They aren’t ready,” he said softly.

  Audrey laughed. “What? Do they need paint? This is an emergency!”

  Fyrn frowned. “If I turned them on, they would be mindless killing machines with no master. I can power them and give them life, but I cannot make them obey. They are hardwired by magic to destroy anything in their path, and only a connection to something profound can direct their rage.”

  Victoria perked up. “Something profound? Like what?”

  Fyrn sighed. “I don’t know, that’s the problem. The spell book says, ‘Only a connection to something of profound power and will may control the minds of these granite assassins.’ I’ve never found any more detail on what that could possibly mean.”

  Victoria groaned. Great, back to Square One.

  CHAPTER 12

  Victoria once again stood in Drefus’ lavish office. It hadn’t changed a bit since she had come to him seeking the map to Atlantis, and if she were being honest, she hated the fact that she owed him a favor for traveling to a kingdom that had tried to kill her.

  Assholes.

  The elaborate room contrasted starkly with the drug den out front. A mahogany desk sat in the middle with a luxurious red carpet, and a fireplace roared behind it. Despite the
fire, the room seemed cool and comfortable, as though the heat couldn’t reach them.

  As he always did, the short creature sat in his enormous chair, his seat raised so high that Victoria could see the leather cushion. Drefus was dressed in a suit, and his ears poked out on either side of the throne.

  And, as always, he sneered. “What a pleasure to see you again, Victoria.”

  She suppressed a sarcastic huff as Fyrn closed the door behind them. He had volunteered to join her in this endeavor, although he assumed it would fail.

  To be honest, so did she. But she had to try.

  “What can I do for you?” Drefus asked.

  Victoria had toyed with her request the whole way here, but there simply wasn’t a smooth way to word it. “We’re going to kill Luak, and we want your soldiers.”

  The gremlin laughed and banged his tiny fist against the desk, apparently relishing the ridiculous request. He nodded to Fyrn. “She’s straight to the point, isn’t she?”

  “I’m serious,” Victoria snapped.

  “I know you are,” the gremlin said, sobering. “That’s what makes it so damn funny.”

  She tried to hide her nerves with a defiant tilt of her chin. Time to bluff him into compliance. “Luak is stifling trade. There are fewer drug addicts in your den, Drefus, because there are fewer people in Fairhaven. The citizens are scared. They’re leaving, or going underground. Your clientele is running away from you, and with them goes all your money. You’re going to go broke, and it’s Luak’s fault. He’ll squeeze every last penny from you and then leave you to rot.”

  “Will he, now?” The gremlin pressed his fingers together, grinning with a little too much glee. His eyes narrowed, and Victoria had a gut feeling that Drefus had had the privilege of speaking to Luak personally.

  Damn it, he’d called her bluff.

  The gremlin leaned on his elbows. “Victoria, the only reason I haven’t called Luak to tell him you’re here is because you still owe me a favor, and the potential gain from that favor outweighs the benefits of turning you in. If Fyrn had come alone, he wouldn’t have even made it to this room before he was captured.”

  Fyrn grunted in annoyance. Victoria, however, scowled with all the fury and hatred she could fit into one expression.

  No one touched her friends.

  “It’s just business,” the gremlin said with a shrug.

  Victoria grimaced. “So that’s it? You’ll let him destroy Fairhaven?”

  “Young lady, I benefit regardless of what happens to Fairhaven. This war is not my concern. Even if you win, you can’t touch me.” He opened a drawer and produced the coin that represented her favor to him.

  She frowned. “Sorry I wasted your time.”

  The gremlin shrugged. “Don’t let it happen again.”

  “I was talking to Fyrn,” she said with a smirk.

  As the sneer melted off Drefus’ face, Victoria spun on her heel and stalked into the drug den, fuming.

  Favor or no, she would take that little rat down—criminal empire and all.

  ***

  Regina Spry knocked gently on the secret door that hid the castle’s defense system.

  After several seconds it slid open to reveal two elves, since ogres wouldn’t have fit in this tiny space. They stared at her quizzically.

  “What do you want, woman?” one of them asked crassly.

  She suppressed an annoyed huff at the curt tone. “Hold this for me, won’t you?”

  She lifted one hand and laid it flat to reveal the powder in her palm. She quickly blew it into their faces and, within moments both stared blankly ahead.

  The forgetfulness puff—it worked every time. She would have twenty minutes before the guards woke up, and another ten before they could remember anything.

  Time to get to work.

  She stepped into the small room, pushing the mercenaries against the walls as she climbed into the lone chair. They complied as though they were mannequins, just staring blankly ahead as she nudged them out of the way.

  As she withdrew her wand from her sleeve, she muttered several ancient incantations. The tip of her wand glowed brilliantly green, and sparks of magic burst off the end. A shimmering portal appeared before her, rippling like a pond of molten gold, and the barest outline of a face hovered just out of reach in the puddle.

  Dipping into the oldest spells she knew, she repeated her incantations until she could feel the distant tension of the drains Luak had placed on the castle. It was like pulling on taut ropes, and beads of sweat broke out along her hairline as she fought the powerful magic depleting her beloved palace.

  One by one, the magical tendrils lifted, and with each release the face in the pool became clearer. She struggled, the minutes ticking away as she fought to free the castle, until the last thread finally slipped away.

  The castle would be weak as it slowly regained its power, but with time it would be even stronger than before.

  Hate had that effect, after all.

  A smooth face appeared in the pool, untouched by time or features. No lips, no eyes, no hair. It was more of a mask than a face, really, but it represented the castle all the same.

  “My lovely Lady Spry, you have outdone yourself!” the castle boomed, its deep voice echoing in the tiny chamber.

  She smiled and held a delicate finger to her lips. “We must be silent, Castle. They need to think you’re still trapped.”

  “The indignity! Why would you ask such a thing? I can finally sense that wretched elf. I’ll summon my saws—”

  “No, Castle. You need time to recover. He has leeched much power from you, and he will win if you face him again so soon.”

  The castle huffed. “When do you propose we attack, then? I have no king to give me orders anymore.”

  Regina sighed. “Bornt is dead.”

  The mask in the golden pool nodded. “Indeed. I no longer feel his presence anywhere.”

  Regina sniffled, heart sinking at the loss of her friend. “Aren’t you sad? You knew him his entire life, ever since he was a boy.”

  “My Lady, I am a castle. I feel only victory and rage.”

  Through her loss, she couldn’t help but chuckle. With a glance over her shoulder, she wiped away a tear and tried to focus. “Your new queen will be here soon. We need to make it possible for her to take her rightful place.”

  “And who is this woman? What makes you think she is worthy?”

  Regina smiled warmly. “You’ll see, Castle. She’s perfect.”

  “I will at least meet her, Lady Spry, but only since you seem fond of her. May I remind you that I choose my monarch, not the other way around.”

  “Of course. I’ll call for you soon, but for now I’ll place a false screen over your mask to make them think you’re still being drained. Please, Castle, I beg you not to act until I return.”

  “And if you don’t? If Luak kills you before you can come to me?”

  Lady Spry hesitated, considering their options. “Then Luak is yours to do with as you please. If he kills me, let all hell break loose.”

  “I was right to like you,” the castle said.

  Regina waved her wand, summoning the cloaking spell that would fool Luak’s guards—and hopefully Luak himself. She stood, and slipped out the door with only moments to spare before the guards regained their senses.

  She hurried down the hall to her bedchamber, content with their plan thus far. It contained far too many what-ifs for her liking, but at least the resistance finally had a plan.

  She would do everything in her power to see that Luak failed.

  CHAPTER 13

  “You want me to do what?” Queen Angelique of Lochrose paused mid-bite, a half-eaten croissant dangling from her delicate fingers she stared at Victoria with an utterly baffled expression.

  “I know it’s a lot to ask, Angelique,” Victoria said, glancing around the Lochrose palace. They sat in the same dining hall where Victoria had first met Angelique what felt like years ago, but which
had been mere weeks.

  Just a handful of weeks since she had faced the sphinx, and she was already back to ask for a favor.

  Only the two of them sat at the massive banquet table, a modest array of cheeses and breads set before them to whet their appetites while they discussed politics and war. Styx helped himself to most of the food on Victoria’s plate, mumbling happily as he gorged.