Dark hair. Tall. Slender. Dressed in a dark uniform. She held up a hand. The fireball fizzled in my hands and died.
I built another, only to watch it die, too.
She came closer. I could see the fire in her eyes. The anger in her expression. No-it was fury.
Putting up a shield, I waited for her approach. No woman was going to threaten me. No woman had been born who was stronger than I, and I'd show her my strength the moment she came close enough.
Her screams would please me before she died.
"Good afternoon, Wulf Tadson Ruarke Rex," she hissed.
"So you know," I shrugged off her knowledge. "You won't live long enough to tell anyone else."
"You think so?"
"Who are you?" I demanded while setting up additional layers of shielding and strengthening them.
"You can call me the Black Rose."
"An escort? That's laughable," I crowed.
"I have never been an escort," she said. "I was always more than that. Delude yourself if you want, but before you go, I have a message for the one who holds your leash."
"Nobody holds my leash," I hissed and began forming another fireblast.
"He's listening through you right now-haven't you figured that out, yet? You're pathetic," she dismissed me with a wave of her hand.
What's the message? Kaakos' mindspeak made me shiver.
How had I not known? How?
"Kaakos, the dreamwalker is coming," the woman announced. "That one will see you dead."
"The dreamwalker is already dead," I couldn't keep Kaakos' words from spilling out of my mouth. "His body lies in my palace, rotting away."
Beads of sweat dripped inside my collar, landing on bare skin as I fought to take control of myself.
I couldn't. Kaakos held me, like a hare in a trap.
"You see now what he can do to you?" The woman spoke again.
"See what I can do to you," Kaakos' words screamed from my mouth.
Chapter 19
Adahi
I held myself invisible until the last, but remained close enough to do what needed to be done. Ruarke's shields would never have held Kaakos' power back.
Mine, combined with Sherra's?
That became a far different story. Kaakos released his blast through Ruarke, aimed directly for Sherra's dreamwalker.
The blast ended at the inside of our combined shields, and the resulting explosion and fireball was so fierce and intense that Ruarke didn't have time to scream or whimper as he was reduced to ash.
Before I could stop her, however, Sherra's dreamwalker disappeared. I had no idea where she went, because I stepped back to the bubble shield that held her body. It now floated on the sea, far away from land. The current carried it farther away with every passing moment.
I transported the bubble shield to the King's City, but Sherra remained unconscious inside it.
That worried me greatly.
There is one rule that applies to every dreamwalker, however.
Never wake them.
* * *
Battlefront
Kerok
Commander, we're about to initiate an attack from the rear, Armon informed me. We're aiming at the center of the convoy, so there'll be no stray blasts coming your way. I will warn you, however, that there's a rather large concentration of bombs and rockets in that area. Fireblasts may cause an explosion.
Wait, I said. Give me the location you're firing at.
Our target is passing the triangle outcroppings now, Armon replied.
All right. We'll focus on that location, too. Wait and fire on my command.
It will be done.
"He wants to target the same area, doesn't he?" Cole spoke beside me.
"Yes."
"A very good idea," Cole agreed. "A coordinated effort-I like it very much."
* * *
Ny-nes
Kaakos
My study was destroyed, as were the two guards who'd stood outside it, after Ruarke was burned to death inside a shield I hadn't known about. There at the last, though, I'd seen the one posing as Adahi-he'd made himself visible to me. All along, it had been him, instead of the woman, who presented the larger threat.
My newest mission was to learn who this imposter was, and how dangerous he could possibly be. The reason I'd destroyed Adahi to begin with was the ill-gotten prophecy he'd spouted.
That the dreamwalker would see my death.
I'd wanted to keep him alive-to torture throughout the years, of course-until he said that.
It angered me so much I'd killed him for it.
I had no idea he'd been distracting me all that time, so she could escape. That's when I'd devised my barrier; to keep her from entering Ny-nes again. If she did, she'd die in the attempt.
My power had only grown in the face of her challenges; I hoped she understood that. If she didn't, then I'd be happy to kill her on Ny-nes' soil. She was behind the occasional disappearances of children-I had no doubt she was calling them away to train them. Her efforts were useless; their ability was nothing compared to what I'd become.
Eventually they'd die, just as Az-ca would. Yes, my army was under attack, but the weapons we'd built for this war were much more powerful than anything we'd sent against Az-ca in the past.
I cursed Ruarke again, as I realized my eyes and ears on the battlefield were nothing more than black ash outside the King's City in Az-ca.
* * *
King's Palace
Hunter
I sat at Thorn's desk, writing, when Adahi appeared before me. Lifting my head, I blinked at him in surprise.
He always came to Thorn.
Always.
"Sherra's sleeping body is inside her suite-do not wake her," Adahi's low voice commanded.
Carefully I set down the pen I'd been using, while struggling to draw in a breath. "Thorn?" I asked.
"Is doing well for the moment," Adahi shrugged. "I came to tell you important information. As you're already writing, I determined it a good time to give you the news."
"What news?"
"Ruarke is dead. I will give you the images now," he told me. I almost cried out in surprise when the images and sounds entered my mind.
* * *
Ny-nes, Southern Boundary
Kyri
The spell was finished. All I had to do was walk through the boundary, now.
Why was I hesitating? Sudden fear made me shiver. Was this a mistake? Adahi thought it was, as did Doret.
Somewhere, near Az-ca's border, a battle raged between two armies. I hadn't done divination to see which might survive. I had one goal-one purpose for being where I was.
Kaakos.
Adahi had given up his human life to save mine, centuries ago. I owed him a death in return.
Clenching Kaakos' coin in my fist, I took a step forward, only to be flung back so hard I hit the ground and rolled.
When I got my senses back, I found Sherra standing over me.
Except I could see the late afternoon sun shining through her.
Sherra's dreamwalker had come.
"That is your death," she hissed, pointing toward Kaakos' boundary.
"You can't stop me," I said, before rising awkwardly and brushing damp dirt off my trousers. They'd carry a stain, now, but it would blend in with the rest of Ny-nes, once I got inside the barrier.
"No, the barrier is your death," she said. "You can't get through it using what you learned from me earlier."
"Then what do I need?" I snapped at her. "I intend to kill Kaakos and Ruarke, both."
"Ruarke?" She laughed. "He's dead."
"You killed him?" My voice squeaked in an embarrassing manner.
"Adahi and I," she said.
"Then I only have one target," I said and walked toward my duffle, which lay where I'd dropped it after Sherra's dreamwalker flung me away from the barrier.
"Come back with me now; your people need you."
"I'm not going back. Not until Kaakos is
dead-or I am. Doret and Cole can deal with those things."
Sherra's dreamwalker stiffened, and I knew, without a doubt, that something had happened at the battlefront.
Had I imagined her initial treatment rough as she'd flung me back? When I was flung forward, sailing through the boundary while shielded with power, I landed with a jolt that should have broken bones while Sherra's dreamwalker disappeared.
* * *
Battlefront
The Black Rose
The bomb that destroyed the enemy army the year before, had created numerous cracks and fissures beneath the surface. Combined with Sherra's tunneling beneath the land bridge, the entire area had become unstable.
When Armon and Cole's troops targeted the center of the convoy on the northern end, while Thorn and his troops did the same from the south, a disaster was bound to occur.
At the same moment, the enemy prepared to fire a volley of powerful rockets-fifty-nine of them-at once.
The escorts' shields would never hold.
Twenty miles of land, between the land bridge and the bomb crater, was crumbling and ready to fall. The force of three massive blasts, occurring within a blink of one another, was deafening.
I heard the screams for help as bodies, vehicles, and everything else strung along a twenty-mile stretch began to collapse and slide downward. The powerful rockets aimed at Az-ca's army broke through many shields, bringing death as the ground crumbled beneath their feet.
Step away, I sent to all those still capable of doing so.
For those who didn't have that capability or the presence of mind to do so, and who didn't belong to the enemy army, time was extremely short.
I went roaring after them, struggling to fight time and collapsing earth simultaneously, as everything caved toward a hungry sea.
* * *
King's Palace
Hunter
"I want two guards outside her door. Don't let anyone in," I ordered as we strode toward the suite Sherra chose for herself.
"They're cleaning that floor," one of the guards informed me. "Since the occupants of those suites left unexpectedly."
"Fucking hells," I snapped and stepped toward Sherra's suite.
* * *
Secondary Camp
Kerok
"Take a head count," I shouted at those who stepped onto solid ground around me. I'd never forget the feeling of the earth crumbling beneath my feet moments after we'd launched hundreds of blasts in unison, only to be hit with a volley of rockets so powerful, they destroyed many shields and those beneath them.
To the north, Armon, commanding Cole's troops, had done the same.
The ground had crumbled from the land bridge southward, and from the bomb crater northward. I struggled to get my fears under control before sending mindspeak.
Armon? Sherra? Cole? I couldn't hold back a mental shout at my attempted contact. Armon? I repeated.
"We're missing some-many," Marc yelled at me after doing a swift count of those who'd returned to camp.
"Where's Weren?" I shouted back, craning to see over the heads of troops gathering about me.
"I haven't seen him," someone answered from close by.
"Find him," I said. "Quickly!" Cole? Sherra? I continued my mental communications. So far, there were no replies.
* * *
King's Palace
Hunter
"No," My whisper failed to travel far enough or swiftly enough to stop the maidservant's entrance into Sherra's suite. Her shriek followed quickly, when she found the suite occupied instead of empty; filled with an invisible bubble shield and a woman hanging at the center of it, unconscious. That shriek was both badly-timed and ill-advised.
The maid's scream awakened Sherra, who yelped in terror at the sudden noise. At the time, I had no idea how much misfortune that had caused-or how many deaths were attributed to her sudden waking.
I only learned later that it was many.
* * *
King's Palace
Kerok
More than a third of Az-ca's army died that day, from an attack by the enemy and the untimely actions of a hapless servant.
General Weren was among the casualties; as were so many others. Seasoned warriors and escorts died, who hadn't been prepared for the destruction of the shields over their heads or the ground falling beneath their feet. If they received Sherra's message to step away, it came far too late and Sherra's dreamwalker had been wakened much too soon, or she might have saved some of them.
The only consolation any of us could draw from the tragedies of that battle, were that the enemy army and its cargo of bombs, rockets and planes had also been destroyed.
I'd consider myself a fool if I believed Kaakos was done with us, however. If anything, his anger had ramped up to an unexpected level. He'd find a replacement for Ruarke-I had no misconceptions about that. Perhaps he already had a replacement hidden away, in case Ruarke managed to get himself killed.
As for the first half of Thorn's Book-Adahi brought it to me after locating Ruarke's last camp. Ruarke had woven spells about it, but Adahi managed to unravel those, somehow.
Both parts of the book, stained with Ruarke's blood when he was stabbed by Sherra's dreamwalker, were now locked away in the treasury, inside a special vault that only Hunter and I could access.
I'd received the missing dagger and coronet with the book; all those things had been found with Ruarke's other belongings.
The dagger I kept; the coronet I handed to Hunter, as was proper.
"Here are copies of the pardons," I slid a folder of papers toward General Armon. "These," I slid another folder toward him, "are the citizenship papers for Cole and his people."
"Caral and Misten asked me to extend their gratitude-for these and for changing the laws so quickly," Armon grinned and tapped the folders.
"Thank Hunter-he wrote them out while we were off fighting the enemy," I shrugged. "All I had to do was sign my name."
"How's Sherra?" Armon asked, taking on a more solemn expression.
"Worried. Regretful. Feeling guilt she shouldn't feel," I sighed.
"I hear Doret has her hands full, overseeing the training of all the younglings born with power," Armon changed the subject.
"I've been to the training camp-it feels to me as if those children have come alive for the first time in their lives."
"Has Sherra gone to help?"
"Not yet."
Neither of us spoke our worries aloud-that Sherra had been affected more deeply by recent events than anyone thought possible. I just wanted her back-the way we were before Ruarke and bloody, fucking Kaakos intervened.
Armon and I-we waited for Kaakos to make his next move; we'd destroyed his entire army this time, of that I had no doubt.
To lead another army against us, he'd have to send them far out of the way and across poisoned lands to do it. Somehow, I imagined he'd find a way past that obstacle.
Eventually.
"How is it so cool in here? It's baking outside," Armon observed. "The seawater coolers have never worked this well."
"Ah. Well. I've spent some time with Thorn's Book," I replied. "Turns out, there's a cooling spell in it. It's actually quite handy."
* * *
Ny-nes
Kaakos
My anger against Az-ca had reached new levels. If I could, I'd have blasted it apart from where I stood.
I'd have to be closer than this to do it, however.
In the meantime, I had plans to make and soldiers to recruit.
Beginning with the ones I recognized easily-through their contact with Ruarke.
Hello, Merrin, I inserted into his mind. From now on, you will follow my instructions-if you wish to have your power restored.
I watched through his eyes as he scrambled off the cot in his jail cell while shock and terror coursed through his body.
Soon enough, a trial would be held for him, and the ruling body in the King's City would be present.
As woul
d I; waiting inside a few well-chosen subjects before releasing my power against them.
* * *
Epilogue
Sherra
I sat in the King's garden at the outdoor table, while bees drifted among late-summer flowers. A few had bumped into the shield I held around myself, before buzzing away.
"I owe you an apology," Adahi took the chair across from mine.
"Are you required to sit?" I asked.
"It's expected. As is consuming tea or food-or at least pretending to do so. I can still scent those things and find them pleasing, but the physical consumption is not necessary."
"What did you come to apologize for?" I didn't care about an apology-most days I felt numb and couldn't bring myself to care about anything. Neither food nor apologies made a bit of difference to what had happened recently.
"I punched you, to render you unconscious," Adahi moved uncomfortably in his chair. "It was the swiftest method to achieve the necessary result."
"I don't care," I waved a hand.
"You'd care if I did it again," he snorted.
"Maybe."
"Cole asked about you. I just came from Secondary Camp."
"How is he?" A brief stirring of interest came at the mention of Cole's name.
"He is well. He worries about you, as do the rest of your friends. Now, tell me about Kyri. Did she cross into Ny-nes safely?"
"I-well, the Black Rose tossed her through the barrier, after coating her with Kaakos' power."
"Where did that power come from?" Adahi's words and attention became sharper-more focused.
"I saw him-in a vision from long ago, I suppose. I didn't know who he was. The Black Rose did. She took that part of him-the malevolent part, and used it to spin a shield around Kyri. If she dies in Ny-nes, it will be from her own foolishness and not from Kaakos' boundary."
"Damnation," Adahi rubbed his face. I suppose old habits were hard to break-his dreamwalker didn't need any of those gestures.
Neither did mine, if it came to that.
"Tea, my Queen?" A servant approached with a tray. I could smell honey cakes from where I sat. My stomach rumbled a response.
"Yes. Thank you," I said as the woman set the tray on the table. "Adahi, will you join me?" I asked.
"I believe I will," he grinned and accepted a cup of tea.
The End
Sherra and Kerok's adventures will continue in Black Rose Queen, Book 3 in the Black Rose Sorceress series.
Rose and Thorn: Black Rose Sorceress, Book 2 Page 25
