The Golden Queen - Book 1 of the Golden Queen Series

by David Farland

  Everynne stood watching after him a moment.

  Veriasse said, "He'll be okay. Male bears get used to being sent away by females." He did not say it to be unkind, merely stated the fact. Young cubs never left their mother voluntarily. Instead, she chased them off. And later, when a male mated, he would usually run with the female until she chased him away.

  Everynne nodded wistfully while still watching after Orick.

  Grandmother glanced at Everynne. "Do not feel bad. You've given him the thing he most wants: your love. It is something I could not give him, and he will treasure it always."

  "Can you give him something more?" Everynne asked. "Will you make him a locket with my image inside? Something to remember me by."

  "Of course," Grandmother answered.

  Everynne and the others prepared to leave. Veriasse began teaching Gallen the basics of riding an airbike. Maggie found it odd that Gallen didn't know how to ride the thing. She realized that the mantle she wore must have been teaching her in her sleep, for Maggie understood the most intimate workings of the bike, and as she listened to Gallen rev the thrusters, she heard them whine just a bit, suggesting that a turbine wasn't properly lubricated. She considered pulling out the toolkit stored under the airbike's seat, just to tinker.

  Everynne went to get her pack, and Maggie went to get Gallen's. Orick, was lying at the foot of the bed. Maggie rummaged through Gallen's pack until she found Gallen's defective key to the Maze of Worlds. He'd placed it in his old black leather money purse, drawing the string tight. Maggie removed the key, glanced around the room, looking for something of similar size to put in the key's place. In one corner was a potted plant with purpling flowers. She removed a flat stone from the plant's container, placed it in the purse, and returned the purse to the pack.

  Orick watched the whole affair, then said, "What are you doing?"

  "You want to go with Everynne, and I want to go with Gallen. All we need to follow them is a key."

  "Do you know where they are going?"

  "Veriasse was looking over his travel plans last night at the campfire. I watched over his shoulder. My mantle has stored the coordinates of all the gates but the last. We should be able to find them easily."

  "But Veriasse said that using a defective key is risky," Orick warned, shaking his head.

  "Everything we've done has been risky," Maggie shot back. "I'm not going to let that stop me now." Her mantle could not tell her specifically how the key worked, but obviously an electronic signal unlocked the gate and gave it the coded information on how to make a jump. True, the key was defective, but they hadn't been hurt in that first jump. Maggie decided that the key time/location send coordinates were probably out of synch with the gate destination decoder. The gate key would simply perform as it had before—sending them back in time as they traveled.

  She looked at Orick sharply. "We both know that Gallen and Veriasse think we've been as helpful as a pair of mallards on this trip, but even they might need our talents. Are you coming with me, or are you just going to let the woman you love walk out of your life forever?"

  "I'm with you," Orick answered.

  "Good," Maggie said. "Now do me a favor and get out of here. Gallen is going to be coming in for his pack in a minute, and I want some time alone with him."

  "Always being nagged by women," Orick grumbled as he left the room. "Doesn't matter if they are human or bears, they're all the same."

  Maggie stood by the foot of the bed, waited for Gallen to come in. She found her heart pounding, tried to compose something to say, but nothing came to mind. All too soon, he stood in the doorway, a circle of morning light silhouetting him. In his black robes, weapons at hand, the mantle of a Lord Protector on his head, he looked somehow different, strange. No one on Tihrglas had ever worn such clothing, and Gallen seemed to stand taller in his costume, walk in more of a rolling gait. This trip was changing him, leaving an indelible mark, just as it was changing her.

  "I'm surprised that you, too, didn't ask to come with us," Gallen said after a long moment.

  "You wouldn't have let me," Maggie said.

  "How do you know?"

  "You protect people for a living. You're always watching out for others. You must know that the best way to protect me is to leave me out of harm's way."

  Gallen smiled weakly. "I'm glad you understand." He walked over to her, took her by the shoulders and kissed her firmly, passionately. "Everynne told me that you know what happened last night. Can you ever forgive me?"

  Maggie was confused, unsure how to answer. She thought—or at least she wanted to believe—that he really did love her. Some things pointed to it—his protectiveness, his tenderness to her now. Yet she couldn't accept that he would sleep with Everynne one night, then come to her in the morning and try to pretend that nothing had changed. She slapped his face, hard, and it barely moved him, so she punched him in the stomach. "Don't you ever do that to me again!" she hissed. "Do you understand me? Don't you ever put me in second place again!"

  Gallen nodded, the lines of his face set in hard angles. She couldn't read what he was thinking. "I know that an explanation will just sound like an excuse, but in all likelihood, by tomorrow night Everynne will either be dead or else so . . . changed that she will be at least as good as dead to me. She wanted something last night that only I could give. I cannot be sorry for what we did though it pains me terribly to know how it must hurt you. What Everynne and I did last night-that was just saying good-bye." He considered for a moment, then said, "I will never put you in second place again."

  Maggie studied his face. When Gallen O'Day took an oath, he'd keep it or die trying. She knew that much about him.

  "Just promise to come back to me," she said. Gallen reached out to her, stroked her jaw with one gloved hand. He made no further promises. She fell against his chest and began weeping. Gallen wrapped his arms around her and hugged her until it was time to go.

  Orick spent much of the day sleeping, worrying about Everynne. He wanted to leave immediately, but Maggie insisted that they wait until dark to sneak away. Maggie and Orick were both exhausted, so he tried to rest.

  In spite of his nervousness, he enjoyed the hospitality of the Cyannesse that day. Once again, the day ended clear and beautiful. He and Maggie ate a sumptuous dinner, and Grandmother announced afterward that an actor wanted them to watch a play he had written in their honor.

  So when the campfires had burned low, they watched the actor perform the story of an old man who became lost in a magical wood filled with wise beasts.

  The old man worked for a long time, searching for a path home, but by the time the beasts helped him discover that path, he desired only to stay in the forest forever. The old man was tremendously funny, and Orick enjoyed his performance, but the thing that impressed him most was the scenery. The play was set in an open amphitheater, and when a scene changed, an entire forest would grow up as needed, or a moon would rise and shine down on a glen, or a pool of water would begin lapping where only a moment before there was solid ground. The animals, too—the gossiping deer, the overbearing badger-would appear or disappear as needed.

  When the play finished, Orick thought longingly of the woods at home, the sweet mountain grasses, the trout-filled streams. Yet when they got back to their room, Maggie asked Orick, "Did you enjoy the play?"

  "Och, it was a grand play," Orick said honestly. "My favorite character was the fox, most amusing."

  "But what of the message of the play? What did you think of it?"

  "There was a message?" Orick asked, perplexed.

  "Of course there was a message. The actor was asking us to stay. We are the people lost in their magic woods."

  "Oh," Orick said. "Are you sure? It only made me homesick, thinking of the woods."

  But Maggie seemed sure. She sat on her bed, looking at the box of nanodocs that Gallen had given her, as if wondering whether or not to pack them. Orick asked, "Are you going to eat those?

  ”
Not yet," she said firmly.

  "Why not?"

  "Gallen might need them still."

  Orick studied her. She seemed deeply occupied. "If he died, would you take them?"

  "No. I don't think so." She shoved them into her pack. "You had better get some rest. When the others are asleep, we can go borrow an airbike. There's got to be one somewhere in town."

  "That would be stealing," Orick said.

  "We'll bring it back, if there's any way we can."

  Orick grunted, sniffed the floor, and lay down. He envied Gallen. Not every woman would choose to die if her lover died. No bear would ever do such a thing. The sense of romance behind it overwhelmed him until he almost wanted to laugh with glee. Instead, he lay down and rested.

  Half an hour later, Maggie grabbed her pack and whispered, "It's time to go." She led him out into the night, under the red moon.

  Grandmother sat outside the door, in the moonlight, wearing a deep robe to keep out the night air. "So, you are leaving us so soon?"

  "I—" Maggie started. "Please don't try to stop us."

  Grandmother smiled, her face wrinkling in the dim light. "I was once young and deeply in love," she said. "And I could never have left the man under these circumstances. Gallen gave me this before he departed." She handed Maggie the black coin purse. "He said there was a gate key in it, so that you could go home, but I found only a rock. It was not hard to guess who had taken the real key."

  "What are you going to do about it?" Orick asked.

  "Veriasse made a map, telling you how to get home, but I am a Tharrin. I cannot stop you from going where you will, so I shall give you your gifts now," Grandmother answered. She waved toward the shadows of a nearby home. An airbike sat beside the wall, and Grandmother escorted them both across the plaza.

  Grandmother hugged Maggie, gave her a piece of bent metal. "I don't have much in the way of weapons," she said. "You are going into dangerous territory, and though I abhor violence, this gun might come in handy. Keep it hidden. Also, I have packed some meals for you to eat on the road. They're in the container under the seat of the airbike."

  Maggie stifled her tears, thanked Grandmother graciously.

  The old woman reached into the pocket of her robe and pulled out a large golden disk, perhaps a foot long. "And this is for you, Orick," she said. She pushed on a latch. The disk opened, and Orick felt as if he were gazing into another world. Everynne stared out at him, and she smiled and said, "Remember, I'll always love you." Behind her, the oceans of Cyannesse lapped in early morning amber light. Orick could see Everynne perfectly, smell her. He reached up his paw, touching the image, but some soft gel would not let his paw through.

  "Everynne had us record this just before she left," Grandmother said. "This memento has captured her voice, her image, her scent. It will stay good for many centuries, and I hope that when you look at it, you will not only be reminded of Everynne, but of all of us here on Cyannesse."

  Grandmother closed the disk, and handed it to him. It was slippery in Orick's paws, but he wanted to hold it for awhile. Grandmother hugged him and Maggie goodbye.

  Maggie got on the airbike, asked Orick to straddle it. The airbike was obviously not designed for a bear. His legs were too short to reach the foot pads and his tail was crushed at a very uncomfortable angle. Still, he managed to get on, rest his front paws against Maggie's shoulders. But he had to have Maggie put the huge locket in her pack.

  Maggie pushed some buttons, and the thrusters roared to life behind his feet. He could feel the heat of the engines, and he feared that his fur would catch fire, but Maggie pressed a throttle and the airbike bucked under their combined weight, then lifted with a kick.

  Orick looked back one last time at Grandmother, who stood straight in the darkness and waved good-bye. Maggie applied full acceleration. The airbike whizzed into the night, along the streets of Cyannesse until they reached the winding stair that led down to the beach, then she slowed. Still, the bike seemed to slide down, going faster and faster until they hit the sandy beach, bounced once, and then were off.

  They drove straight through the night mists, out over a wide sea. The wind whipped in Orick's face, and lantern fish with their luminous backs lit the water. In some places, it seemed that Maggie and Orick whisked over a road of green light. Tiny silver fish sometimes jumped toward the headlamps of the bike.

  After a while, Maggie relaxed, and the machine carried them on until they reached land near dawn. There, Maggie stopped and they ate a short meal, stretched their legs, then rode the airbike up onto a large island, through some rough terrain.

  Soon they spotted a gate gleaming gold in the morning. Maggie pulled out the key, thumbed some buttons. Orick was amazed that she could learn how to work such a thing, but ahead of them the gate began glowing white between the arches.

  "Where are we going?" Orick asked.

  "The planet Bregnel," Maggie shouted. She slowed the airbike until they hit the light wall and were swallowed in the mists.

  The airbike skated into profound darkness, into a world where the very air burned Orick's lungs, then lay in them like a clot. The ground was thick with ash, and dead trees raised tortured black branches to claw the sky. Buildings towered above them on every side, like squatting giants, and the buildings too were blackened over every wall.

  Maggie coughed, hit the throttle, and the airbike whipped through the night, raising a cloud of ashes as it roared down the empty streets. Here and there on the ground, Orick could see blackened skeletons of small gnome-like humans among the ash, many still wearing their mantles, some holding weapons. It looked as if they had been caught and burned in the midst of a battle. There was no clothing left on the skeletons, no flesh on the ebony bones.

  There were no lights in any window, no footprints among the ashes. The world was dead, uninhabited, and by the smell of the air, perhaps uninhabitable.

  As bad as the air was, a certain heaviness fell upon Orick as well, as if he weighed more here than he had elsewhere. Upon reflection, he realized that he had felt somehow lighter and stronger upon Cyannesse, but had not noticed it then.

  As they hurried forward, Orick saw a corpse on the ground, half covered with ash. Its arms were curled close to its ribs, as if the person had died protecting some great treasure. Orick almost called for Maggie to stop, but as the airbike rushed over the corpse, scattering ashes, Orick looked back. In its hands, the corpse held the bones of an infant.

  "What happened here?" Orick bawled, the air burning his lungs.

  Maggie shouted back, horror in her voice. "Someone released a Terror on this world."

  "Did you know about this?"

  "Veriasse told me that the people here were fighting the dronon."

  "You mean the dronon killed them?"

  Maggie shrugged.

  The headlights on the air bike cut a grim alley through the darkness, and Maggie soared over winding roads through a maze of stone buildings. Up ahead, the lights shone over a pair of footprints in the ash.

  Someone had lived through this catastrophe. Maggie veered to follow the trail a short way. After two blocks, they came to a dead end in an alley. There, lying in a heap on the ground was the corpse of a small man, his mouth open and gasping. Above him on the wall, he had scratched a message in the ash: "We have won freedom, not for ourselves, but for those who shall follow after."

  Maggie stared at the message a moment, then hit the bike's thrusters and rode away. The airbike raced through the city, left the sprawling wastes. The countryside was no better. Fields and crops had been transformed to blackened ash. On the outskirts of town, they saw a red light up the road ahead, and Orick's heart lifted a little, hoping that someone perhaps had survived this devastation.

  Instead they came upon a vast machine, a walking crablike city with eight legs and hundreds of gun emplacements sprouting from its back and head. In one lonely turret on the head, a red light gleamed like a malevolent eye. The machine reminded Orick of some giant ti
ck, bristling with strange devices, and Orick knew instinctively that the dronon had created the thing—for no human would have built such a monstrosity.

  "What is that?" Orick shouted to be heard above the roar of the airbike, hoping that Maggie's mantle would give them some clue.

  "A dronon walking fortress. They built them on their home world to carry their young during their migrations.”

  "How long must we endure this?" Orick asked. "I can hardly breathe."

  "We'll get out fast," Maggie wheezed.

  "Maggie, can the Terror still hurt us?"

  "If it were going to burn us up," Maggie said, "we'd already be dead by now."

  After that, they did not speak. Maggie revved the thrusters, giving the bike its full throttle, and they plowed ahead. It took a great effort to breathe. Orick began gasping; his lungs starved for fresh air. He felt insufferably hot, and the world began to spin. He feared that he might fall from the bike, so he clung to Maggie. She reached up and patted his paw, comforting him. Orick closed his eyes, concentrated only on breathing. He tried holding his breath to save his lungs from the burning air, but then he would become dizzy and have to gasp all over again.

  It became a slow torture, and he kept wishing that he would faint, fall from the bike and just die in the ashes.

  They crossed a long bridge over a lake, and muddy ash floated on the water, creating a thick black crust. The water bubbled. Dark billowing clouds obscured a pale silver moon, and ahead was a black wall of rain. Orick imagined how the air would be cooler and fresher there in the rain, imagined tasting the water on his tongue. But they hit the wall and found that the sky rained only ash.

  An hour later, they reached another gate, and Maggie got out the key, pressed some buttons until the gate glowed a soft orange, the color of sunset, then she gunned the thrusters and the airbike plunged through the white fog found between worlds.

  At first Orick wondered if it would stay white forever, for the cool fog gave way only to more white mist, but then they were roaring down a snowy mountain trail through the mist, passing between large pillars of black rock.