We walked through the city together. I saw more of the destruction and pain the queen's actions had wrought. In the chaos, people had started looting. Smashed barrels had been left in the streets. Carriages were overturned, their horses missing and their wheels still spinning. We strolled through the debris and anarchy as one would through a sunlit park, and it passed us by in a blur. Each step seemed to cover a hundred in my waking life. It felt similar to when I had spoken with the king in the dream space.
We arrived in front of the villa. Through the windows, I could see many bodies moving about. The servants were carrying heavy items, preparing to barricade the doors from intruders. A group of soldiers were gathered in the foyer, and I could see more posted at the entrances. They are preparing for attack. We went up the stairs, where Hilliard was pacing about while Damara sat in her chair.
"We should go to look for her," he said.
"Where would we look? The queen's men are threatening to break down our door," Damara returned. Her calm demeanor was unnatural.
"If they have her, then all may be lost! Everything you've worked for, everything you've sacrificed," he said.
"I know Maea, and I trust she will take care of herself."
"How can you be sure this was her choice? The kitchen maid was being paid off by the queen. She confessed, her and three other servants. The queen knows the secret entrances and every other detail she needs to sneak in and take Maea."
"Beau says the princess came for her. We know she is impulsive; I suspect she needed Maea. I do not think she will be harmed." Damara smiled, and Hilliard threw his hands up.
"How can you be so calm? If you are sure, then why did you let Johai chase after her?"
"I have never been able to control Johai." Damara sighed.
I wished I could speak to them and reassure them. I am safe. I wanted to say. Where has Johai gone? Is he looking for me? Dread pooled in my stomach.
"Is this the past or the future?" I asked Elenna.
"The present, we move through it so I can show you what is to happen next."
My heart beat faster. I was not prepared for this.
"Come," Elenna said and called to me with a crook of her finger.
We left the house and travelled the streets. Men were fighting one another. Neighbors battled with blades and broken chair legs. Looters carried swelling sacks of treasures and looked over their shoulders for palace guards or even Danhadine soldiers. We came across two men on foot running down an alleyway. A group of Danhadine soldiers chased after them. The alley ended in a dead end, and the two turned to face their pursuers.
The first man pulled back the hood of his cloak. His hair was changing from ash to white as he raised his hands and spoke an incantation. The words were foreign but familiar. I ran forward to stop him; the vision moved around me like water. When I grabbed at Johai's arm, my fingers slipped through him. I stood beside him instead as he swept his hand and the soldiers toppled over. Beau had his blade drawn but found no foes to face. He motioned for Johai to follow, and they walked around the unconscious soldiers and back down the alleyway. Elenna and I followed them in silence. Our footsteps made not a sound. I heard Johai's breathing and his heartbeat as I walked a few steps behind him. He stumbled and slumped against the wall. Beau, who had been jogging ahead of him, stopped and came back.
"Is it safe to continue on?" Beau asked him. His face gave nothing away, but his hand hovered over his sword.
Johai nodded sharply. "I am able."
Beau did not continue walking. "How much longer before you lose control entirely?"
Johai turned and faced him. "I have already begun to lose control. The magic speeds up the process." He grimaced and then pushed off the wall. "Come, before it is complete."
Beau nodded and continued to jog past him. "We will need to find her soon, then."
They hurried ever closer towards the palace. You are going the wrong way. I am not there! I wanted to scream at him. This is my fault. I should have told him. I should have denied Princess Arlene. They arrived at the palace gates. No less than ten Danhadine soldiers challenged them when they saw Beau and Johai. They came forward to meet them with swords drawn. Johai stopped and held his hands up. The earth beneath the soldier's feet trembled, and the stones on the road came loose and flew through the air. The stones clanged against the soldiers' metal helmets, and they ducked and hid from the pelting of stones. A few ran towards the palace, shouting curses at Johai. Once the path was cleared, Johai and Beau ran across the palace grounds and out of sight.
I tried to follow him further, but I could not get past the palace gate. I turned to look at Elenna. She was solemn as she regarded me. "This is where the vision ends and where your test begins, Maea."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"You must lead Arlene and her army into the palace. Johai has opened the way, and once inside, you will meet for a final time, and there you shall kill him."
I cried and covered my mouth to hold back the sob that had escaped my throat. The time had come, and I was not sure I was prepared for it.
Chapter Twenty Five
TEARS ROLLED DOWN MY cheeks and splashed into the basin, rippling outwards and distorting the lingering image of Johai on the water's surface. Elenna squeezed my shoulder in a comforting gesture and forced me to acknowledge the others in the room. Silence had fallen as the lords of the council awaited my vision. No matter how I tried to convince myself that this was the right path, no matter how many different ways I thought of it, the idea that I had to kill Johai was overwhelming. The time had come. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
Princess Arlene was standing over me. Her hands were on her hips, and she seemed impatient to be doing something other than talking. There was plenty to be done today, to be sure. With Johai's powers unchecked, I would need her assistance to get close enough to kill him. Just the thought twisted my stomach with dread.
"Well?" Princess Arlene asked.
I stood up on shaking legs and leaned on Elenna for support. I looked across the men assembled. Old men, not soldiers, looked back at me. They were men who had grown soft sitting on the council, men of power without the things that made them powerful. How can we do this thing? I looked into their desperate faces awaiting an answer. I would send them to their deaths to stop something I should have finished on that beach in Keisan before Johai became a threat.
"The time has come to strike back at Queen Celeste. A great sorcerer has breached their defenses and laid waste to much of their forces."
"Who is this sorcerer?" someone asked. Whispers bounced off the walls, accusations flying like arrows. They fear him, as they should. What can I do to reassure them? How can I stop him?
I looked in the man's direction. He was middle aged, his face was careworn, and a great drooping mustache framed his mouth, which was downturned.
"His name is Johai." I paused, my emotions were making my voice thick. The time has come to let him go. He is no longer the man you knew. "He has in him the destruction of all things. If we do not strike now, there will be no other chance. He is an even greater threat than Danhad because he will not stop until everything is laid to waste. He will destroy Sanore, and then he will bring devastation to all the lands from here to Keisan."
A few of the men took a step back, and I do not know if they feared me or my warning. As I spoke of Johai, now the specter, I felt a cool detachment. This was how it had to be. Johai was gone. All that remained was a shell housing the specter. Whether they agreed or not, I would journey to the palace and end this once and for all. This was my destiny and no one else's.
"How can we possibly stand against an enemy so formidable?" the man countered.
Arlene stepped in front of me and took control. "How can we stand by without trying? Are you cowards? Would you let your wives and children be slaughtered by this creature? I would rather die with a sword in my hands than huddled together waiting for the end." Her words rang out across the room and seemed to sett
le upon the men gathered there. "Who will join me? Gather up your arms and the men of your houses, and let us take back our kingdom!"
The men shouted in agreement, and the cries reached the high open ceiling of the playhouse. Arlene stepped down from the stage and joined the men issuing commands and organizing their forces to prepare for an assault upon the palace. I hung back, my place in the proceedings completed for now, but I kept an ear open and plotted how I would steal my way into the palace after them to complete the task.
Elenna touched me lightly on the shoulder and, with a bend of her finger, drew me away from the others. We went to a wing of the stage just out of sight from the war proceedings.
"Maea, are you prepared for what happens next?" she asked.
I nodded and said, "I do not know how to reach him."
"Leave that to me. There is a passageway that I discovered that will give us cover and get us inside the palace."
I stared at her in the dim light coming from the lights in the main theatre. The candlelight was behind her and put her face in shadows and haloed her sable hair, shooting red through it. She has done more for me than I can begin to repay, and I do not know why. Everything is so simple; it is as if she has orchestrated this entire thing. Doubt crept in with these thoughts, and I pushed them aside. Now was not the time for uncertainty. I could not show any hesitation in front of the specter. He would use it to his advantage.
"I am in your hands," I replied.
Hours passed before everything was in preparation. Runners were sent back to the council's houses, and men were found. The men at arms were a motley crew dressed in an array of armor. Some wore full suits of metal while more were wearing chainmail over leather, with helms, while a few more had nothing more than leather vests and shields. In all, they could not total more than a few hundred. Will it be enough? The queen had the Danhadine soldiers in addition to the power of the royal army. Let it be enough, I prayed. Before she left, Princess Arlene pulled me aside.
"I have to apologize to you. I did not trust you. I thought you were here by my mother's design to thwart my plans for the throne."
"That is why you threatened me the night of the play?" I asked.
She nodded. "My mother arranged for Sarelle's death. She was in the way of her getting control over my uncle. When you said those things about fair-seeming friends, I thought you were perpetuating the rumor that I had masterminded her demise."
"I only spoke what the vision revealed to me. I did not know."
She touched my shoulder, and I looked down at the contact before she withdrew her hand. "It is good that you did. I spent too long hiding the truth, fearing that someone would think me false. Thank you for that."
I decided to break protocol, and I hugged Princess Arlene. She was stiff beneath the embrace. I stepped back and smiled. "You will be a great queen."
She flushed and looked away.
"We'll be leaving you and Elenna here. You will be safer here," she said. She bowed slightly and went to join her men.
We followed them out the door and watched them mount to battle. The horse Princess Arlene was riding danced beneath her and tossed its head. Fires had darkened the sky, and the animal was afraid of the smell. I could not tell if it was day or night any longer. "We are leaving a small force behind to guard you. Should the worst come, you would do best to flee the city."
"Thank you, Your Highness." I bowed low to the ground as one would to a sovereign. I will stop the specter, and you will win this battle and become a great queen.
She gave me a sharp bob of her head and then turned her mount and cantered down the road. The council members who were joining her rode alongside, while a bulk of the force went on foot. They clanked and rang as they followed the leaders and headed uphill to the palace. I followed the hillside up to the palace, where Johai was waiting for me. The fires burning across the city bathed the palace in orange light, and it seemed to be aflame. The time is now.
Elenna and I adjourned inside along with the remaining council members. They were arranged around the amphitheater, talking and some praying. The fate of Neaux lay in Princess Arlene's hands. We lingered for a few moments. Elenna went about speaking a kind word to the men, encouraging them and giving them a smile and offering them comforts of wine and ale. While Elenna did that, I slipped out the side door to the alleyway. The cart was in the stable out back. The stable boys were gone, and only one cart horse remained. I did not know anything about preparing a horse for the cart, but I managed to roll the cart into position and found what I thought would be needed.
Elenna entered the stable. She wore a simple gown of rough-spun wool. "We won't need the cart. It will be too cumbersome." She saw the one remaining horse. "We'll have to double up."
Elenna coaxed the horse from his stall with sweet words, and he came to her without a bridle. She did not saddle the horse but instead cupped her hands and motioned with her head for me to climb onto the horse. I climbed up without much grace, and then Elenna jumped up behind me. We set out into the night. Fires burned on nearby homes, and smoke continued to fill the air. My eyes burned from the smoke, and I rubbed the tears that came to my eyes with the back of my hand. We kept to back streets and alleys. Shouts rang out in the distance followed by hurried feet; all the while I felt an urgent drumming filling my ears.
We reached the palace gates, and they were ripped asunder just as I had seen in my vision. Bodies lay on the ground in congealing pools of blood. Arlene and her party had been through this way already. Once within the palace gates, we turned left before reaching the entryway and down a sloping path that led to the garden. The horse picked through the twisted pine trail, and we listened for the sound of soldiers. But the wooded garden gave us sufficient cover, and we were not spotted.
We arrived in a clearing that backed against the palace walls. Elenna slid down gracefully from her mount and walked over to a wooden door that was in the middle of the granite wall. I joined her, and the horse did not wander but bent its head to nibble upon the grass.
"We shall take this pathway up and look for Johai. But be vigilant, the queen's allies and our own will be everywhere." She grabbed a dagger from her belt and handed it to me by the hilt. "Keep this close, and I hope you will not need use of it before the end."
I took it solemnly. The blade glimmered in the pale light that broke through the smoke overhead. My blurred reflection stared up at me from its surface, one round violet eye. Rain drops pattered on the knife and streaked the surface. I looked up to see the rain as it began to fall. The storm had broken at last. I tucked the dagger into a cord at my waist. Elenna eased open the door, and we slid inside out of the rain. Once the door shut behind us, we were left in a poorly lit hallway. Torches lined the walls every few feet or so. They had burned down and gave off a weak light. I figured it was a servants' pathway, mayhap the gardeners since it let out into the garden.
We took the stairs as quickly as we could, all the while listening for approaching footsteps. The incline ended at a long hallway lined with doors. A few doors were opened, and I saw a body half out one door, the hand lying in the walkway. I swallowed my fear and stepped around the corpses. The shouting and clanging of metal reached us through the door at the end of the hallway. Elenna eased open the door and looked out beyond. She waved for me to follow, and we emerged into a corridor. It was empty but for the echo of fighting in the distance and a broken vase smashed upon the ground.
The drumming picked up its urgent pace, and I felt a pull in the opposite direction of the fighting. He is here; come this way, a voice called to me. It was the same one that had convinced me to go with Arlene. It was my mother, guiding me.
I ran down the hall in the direction she led me. I did not wait for Elenna or tell her where I was going. This was my destiny. My feet flew beneath me, as if I were on air. I did not know where I was going, only that I had to stop him. I let my mother lead. She whispered directions in my ear: Right, left, right again, and then up a flight of stai
rs. I came crashing outside on a long widow's walk. At the far end was a watchtower where one could look out into the distance. The drumming filled my ears as I approached. He was here. I could feel it as if he were part of me.
A body lay on the ground. I approached it and kneeled down beside him. Beau lay unconscious. His sword had fallen and was a few feet from him. I touched his pulse, and his heartbeat was steady. There were no visible wounds to be seen. It was one small mercy.
I looked up, and Johai was standing on the wall overlooking the burning city below. The wind whipped his white hair around, and his cloak billowed about him. I reached for my dagger. I got back up on shaking legs. My breathing was ragged and painful from my flight. My palms were slick with sweat, and I stopped to wipe them on the front of my gown to get a better grip upon the dagger.
"You've come to kill me, diviner?" The voice was Johai's, but the tone was not his, the specter was speaking to me using Johai.
"Yes," I snarled and put all of my fury and authority into that one single word.
He turned to face me, and he smiled with a cruel turn of his mouth. It did not fit Johai's face at all. "You are arrogant, as your predecessors were and as your descendants will be."
I took a few tentative steps forward. My feet were leaden, and my arms were pinned to my sides, and my right hand clung to the dagger like a lifeline.
He spread out his arms as if he would take flight. "You know what must be done," he said. His tone and the irony of his words made me think Johai was back to himself once more, begging me to kill him.
I shifted the dagger from one hand to the other and back again. I will kill him. I must. He kept smiling and watching me. I took a step back. He was trying to trick me. I saw you falling from this spot. King Reginald had said to me. I dared not move any closer to the edge lest the specter fling me from the wall.
I stalled instead in an attempt to draw him away and bring him within striking distance. "You are saying that my ancestors and you have met before?"
[fan] diviners saga 02 - diviners curse Page 30
