by Justin Sloan
And it was done. She turned to them with a smile, and a bit of blood came out of her nose. She stumbled and Donnon caught her, shaking his head.
“See, Dad? No suffering.”
“You forgot about the suffering of my heart. My little girl should never have to do that.”
“And yet they suffered less because of it.”
“She has a point,” Rhona offered. “Ending suffering is a little less bad than killing. It’s kind of a humane thing to do, actually.”
Estair was just staring at Kia, amazed. “The power—”
“We know.” Donnon cut her off. “Everyone should stop encouraging her.”
Rhona bit her lip, not wanting to side against her man. This was a complicated situation, one she imagined most couples didn’t have to deal with even when there was a child involved.
“There!” someone shouted and the group turned to see a man pointing, followed by two arrows being released.
Apparently they hadn’t gotten the whole ambushing army. Rhona made quick work of the archers while Donnon and Estair got the kids out of harm’s way and prepared a defense in case more came.
The attackers were all down and a moment of silence followed, during which they all glanced around, waiting for more.
A battle cry sounded to the south and they cringed, ready for attackers to come over the hill at any moment. When none came, they looked to the south. Apparently some of the ambushers hadn’t gotten the message that the rest were defeated and had charged at the king’s group as it arrived from the southwest. It was magnificent: him with his flying banners, the paladins with their glowing swords, and the Ghostland clans in a bright white that made them nearly invisible in the smoke.
It was almost laughable, seeing what a small force this intended ambush had been and the way they had broken almost immediately once they saw there was no support coming.
As the army in the distance led the charge against the last of the fleeing enemy, Alastar told the others they should be heading on. If Lady Mowain had set this up, she likely had more up her sleeve. They had better end her sooner than later.
Rhona turned to Alastar and waited while he summoned the light fairy. As she fluttered off north so did they, eager to get to the final stage of their mission.
CHAPTER EIGHT
The king watched his men chase the last of the would-be ambushers. There were the flames and smoke to the south, and he was glad they had passed that. Seeing more flames to the northwest, he wondered how such a small force could have caused such chaos.
And what had possibly made them think they would stand a chance against the king and his army? His force wasn’t large, but they had greatly outnumbered the attackers.
Volney stepped up beside him and motioned to the fires northwest of their position. “We had help.”
“Ah.” Now it made sense. “Anyone we know?”
“Your children,” Volney replied.
The king nodded, though it bothered him. Alastar and Rhona should have been farther along by then, especially given the change in direction his group had been required to make to move around the flames.
“They haven’t found any sign of Lady Mowain, I presume?”
The mystic considered, then answered, “No, it does not appear so.”
“Should we try to catch up with them?” Rune asked.
“No,” the king replied. “Let them go on their own. Maybe they will be able to move faster now, while we clean up this mess.”
He turned back to see that his men had almost caught the last of the enemy. A shout sounded and then another small force appeared on the horizon, led by three attackers on horseback.
A knot formed in the king’s gut for a moment as he imagined them riding his people down, but blades flashed and the enemy fell at the hands of the fighters on horseback. Then his group and theirs, who had now been joined by several on foot, greeted each other.
“It appears we have even more people helping us,” the king stated.
“Any idea who they could be?” Rose asked, pulling up at his side.
“Friends,” Volney answering for them, his eyes white. “Lady Leila of Clan Lockmire, to be precise.”
“The term ‘friend’ is a loose one when it comes to me and that woman,” the king replied. “But…on the same side? I can agree with that.”
As Leila rode up, she bowed her head slightly and then leaped from her horse to land in front of the king.
“I see you aren’t hiding in your palace anymore. Good for you.”
“And I see you’ve still not learned to bow to your king.” He scowled at her.
For a moment they both glared, and then she started laughing. “The day I bow to you will be a sad one indeed. You forget that being king of Gulanri, doesn’t make you my king. I live in Roneland, I’ll have you know. Roneland was never, and will never be, part of Gulanri. You can mark my words.”
“Consider them marked,” he replied with a curve of his lip. He wasn’t sure if he found her completely distasteful or somewhat humorous. “The one who got away,” in a sense. He had met her as a young prince when he had traveled the Lost Isles with his father, and had been instantly infatuated. She had rejected his advances, however, and he had left, a scorned man. Of course, when he met the woman who would become his queen and the mother of his two children, all of that had become a distant memory.
But now, standing here after his wife had long passed, all those old emotions began to surge.
She leaned forward, eyes narrowed, and said, “Are we going to defend our land or stand here batting our eyelashes at each other?”
A throat was cleared and the king turned to see Rose to his left and behind him, arms crossed and wearing a look that was somewhere between amused and annoyed.
“What’s going on here?” Rose asked.
Immediately the king pushed his past emotions aside, wanting to kick himself. He was the king, and a man of principle and honor. A man who now had very strong feelings for this woman—Rose.
With a curt nod at Leila he said, “Welcome to the war. Let’s go kill ourselves some evil sorcerers and their minions.”
“That’s the speech of a true king,” she called after him as he strode off hand in hand with Rose. “I’m glad to see you’ve grown into one!”
He made a crude hand gesture without looking back. That temporary lapse would never happen again, but he was glad to have the extra troops, even if they weren’t many in number.
“Do I need to ask who she is?” Rose inquired as the two waited for the soldiers to regroup and move out.
He glanced at Leila, who was catching up with some of the paladins, then back at Rose. “As far as I’m concerned now, she’s another warrior to help us in our cause.”
“And as far as you used to be concerned?”
“Let’s just say I had a crush,” he admitted.
“But no more?”
“No more.”
She smiled and shrugged. “It’s none of my business anyway.”
That didn’t sound right. “Excuse me?”
“I mean, when this is all over, naturally I’ll have to go my separate way. You are the king, after all.”
“How does that affect us? I mean, I get that it’s a lot of responsibility, a life you might not have wanted, but there’s duty involved. There’s—”
“It’s not my life,” she interrupted. “It’s not what the stars have in store for me. I want to travel the world, experience adventures in new lands.” She turned to Volney, who was meditating nearby, his eyes white. “Volney, tell us about Arcadia and the other lands out there.”
Volney’s eyes cleared and he turned to her slowly. “You people are the craziest, if that was what you were wondering.”
She laughed. “When you go back or on to the next land you plan on visiting, you know I’m going with you, right?”
The king was furious. “You choose him over me?”
“What? No, I choose to let you be king while I am mysel
f. Nothing more.”
“And if I wanted to go with you? If I too wanted adventure?”
She cocked her head, eyes wide. “Is this…something you could do?”
He lifted her hand to his lips, pressing them gently against her smooth skin. “Let’s just say I’m keeping an open mind about my options.”
“I wouldn’t be able to ask that of you. To give up so much.”
“It wouldn’t be for you. It would be for me.” He turned to address the mystic but he was gone. He spotted him walking among the soldiers, head low as if trying to hide. With a laugh, the king added, “As long as we don’t scare off our friend there.”
Rose hit him in the arm. “Don’t you dare scare him off.”
The king beamed. “So now that I’m talking about maybe going with you, are you a little jealous?”
“Of that Leila woman?” She shook her head. “I’ve seen myself in a mirror lately. I’m not worried.”
The king laughed. “Rightly so, rightly so.”
“Sire,” Rune shouted, jogging over. “Another party approaches from the northwest.”
“Enemies?”
Rune shook his head. “They wear the light blue plaid.”
“Is that so?” Leila asked with curiosity. She was walking over and had apparently heard. “Looks like my little army is about to expand.”
“You think you might know them?” the king asked.
“If they’re wearing the light blue and coming from that direction, they’re either in disguise or a team of allies led by two generals and close friends of mine.
The king nodded and said, “Come then, let us meet them. It seems we have ourselves a growing army!”
His soldiers cheered, and he left with Rose, followed by Leila and her two horsemen. As they rode, Rose glanced at Leila and said, “So I hear my lover here once had a crush on you?”
The king lowered his head, shaking it. “Lover?”
Leila laughed. “I have to tell her.”
“No, you don’t!”
“At this point,” Rose interjected, “I think she does.”
Leila pulled her horse into a trot alongside theirs. “His little crush… Let’s just say he had a weird way of showing it. Without so much as an announcement of his feelings, he decided it would be fun to wait for me in my bedroom…stark naked.”
“He didn’t!” Rose laughed, pinching the king hard enough to make him yelp.
“Imagine my surprise when I walked in with my secret lover to have our fun and found this prince, spread-legged and hard as the bed post, waiting for me. I still haven’t heard the end of that day, even after breaking up with the man a few years later.”
“He didn’t leave you right away though, did he?” the king said, knowing it was coming anyway. He might as well help it along.
“That was the best part,” Leila said, winking at him. “The man I was with apparently had another side to him and thought this was my way of showing him I both knew and was okay with it. Neither was true.”
Rose turned back to the king behind her. “Wait, so he…”
“He began stripping, giggling like a child and talking about how it was the best birthday present ever.” The king groaned. “Of course, I was humiliated. Mortified.”
“You!” Leila clucked her tongue. “I didn’t even know it was his birthday! Imagine the explaining I had to do after that.”
“I feel a bit let down now,” Rose admitted, facing forward again. “All I’ve seen so far is a perfect gentleman. When will the freak come out for me?”
“Can we stop talking about this now?” the king asked. “I was young, and a different man.”
“So you’re not going to unleash the freak?” Rose asked, turning slightly back toward him.
“Um, you…want me to?”
She shrugged. “It’s up to you, but I’d think that if you are into me as much as you were into her, you’d find something equally potentially embarrassing to do for me.”
“This isn’t a contest I can win,” the king said with a sigh. “Ladies, can we just move on? No more stories?”
Leila shrugged and rode ahead.
“Fine,” Rose finally said when the woman was out of earshot. “But I at least expect no less than what you tried to give her. Got it?”
He wrapped his arms around her and nuzzled her hair away to kiss her neck. “I promise.”
A shout of excitement sounded from ahead and they both turned their attention that way. Leila dismounted and ran to embrace a tall woman with flowing gray hair. Behind this newcomer was a small army of soldiers. They wore the light blue plaid part of their military garb, and had a very regimented look to them.
The king would’ve been even more pleased to see them if it weren’t for the fact that staring up at him from the gray-haired woman’s side with curiosity was the man he had mostly blocked from his memory until a few minutes before.
The man from Leila’s story.
What had his name been? Taland? No… Triston?
“General Tarstan,” Leila introduced him, motioning to the king, “You remember His Royal Highness?”
To the king’s relief, Tarstan shrugged and said, “Vaguely,” before moving on to introduce himself to the rest of them.
“You’re going to let him greet you like that?” Rose asked. “You’re a king.”
“We knew each other, briefly.”
He tried not to look into her eyes, but she saw it from a mile away.
“No.” She laughed. “No way is that… It’s him!”
The king just nodded and rolled his eyes, noticing the general’s eyes moving back toward him, then down to his hips. Apparently ‘briefly’ had been long enough to leave an impression. He did his best to avoid the general’s playful smile.
“Our army is close behind, and we’re ready to move north on the enemy,” the king proclaimed. “I trust we can put our past behind us and focus on the mission at hand.”
The soldiers all seemed to assume he meant the tension that had existed between the clans and his followers so they heartily agreed, while the general put an arm around a woman at his side and nodded.
“The enemy’s magic is unlike any most of us have ever seen,” the king continued. “Magic that can be called from thin air, without the need of an element nearby. We must be smart here, but right now we have them on the run. I am pleased to fight at your side, and hope that you can say the same. Will you join us in this war?”
“We’re with you,” General Tarstan proclaimed. As they moved to rejoin the army the general introduced the gray-haired woman as General Simone, and they told the king about their brief encounter with Alastar and Rhona’s group. That confirmed the king’s suspicion that friends had been involved in routing the ambush.
“If you helped them, then you are truly friends,” the king replied.
“We’ll fight alongside you,” General Tarstan stated, “but don’t get any ideas. If I find you waiting in my room…”
He and Leila burst into laughter, Rose joining in a moment later. The king kept his head high, ignoring the burning of his cheeks and praying they weren’t as red as he imagined they were.
He could only hope that his prowess on the battlefield would help them to forget this little joke…and that the story didn’t spread.
CHAPTER NINE
Lady Mowain had just slaughtered the Laird of Clan McCantire and was retiring to the guest room with her five new men when a scout arrived, calling for her.
“An army spotted south,” the scout said. “What will you have us do?”
She considered the man, then the others at her side. As with the last time they were bloodied, as she liked it.
“Prepare the armies to march south and meet them—all but my inner circle. They will come with me to the island.”
The scout nodded. “When shall I tell them we depart, my goddess?”
She looked at the young man at her side. To her surprise, he offered a smile back. His confidence was increasing
then, meaning he might provide more of a thrill this time around.
“Give us an hour,” she stated, then walked off, already beginning to remove the clasp on her gown.
Sounds of men preparing, discussing battle, and settling their armor came from outside as she moved to the young man, running her hands across his bare chest.
The other four waited on the bed already, the sight of them giving her a chill.
“Do you understand what I’m building here?” she asked the young man in front of her as her fingers traced his abs. “Does that tiny brain of yours comprehend?”
He nodded. “An empire.”
“Maybe it’s not so tiny after all.” Her hand moved south and she smiled.
A shadow moved. Her senses pulled her away from the moment and she cursed. More shadows, and then the man before her was shaking his head, mouthing “No” to one of them on the bed—or maybe all of them. She turned as one slit the throat of the man at his right, then the other three pulled blades from concealed cloths and they were up and leaping for her, even as the door burst open and more armed would-be assassins charged in to get her.
She shoved her man out of the way, knowing he would be of little use at a time like this. Not an ounce of worry rose in her. What did rise was anger. Fury.
These men had lain with her and were now betraying the sacred bond that doing so formed. They would turn against their lover? Their goddess?
She thought it would be fun to watch them stumble, so with a blast of light she blinded them, then moved behind them with the shadows . She kicked one of her boy toys on his exposed ass and laughed as they toppled into each other, one of them landing with his knife in another’s thigh. The new arrivals were still trying to regain their sight, but turned her way at the sound of her laughter.
One let a crossbow bolt fly, but she brushed it aside with a wave of her shadow magic.
“You fools, did you really think you could take on a goddess in her prime?” She flashed out of sight again, letting the shadows carry her to the spot where the man with the crossbow was and appearing behind him with her hands pressed to the back of his head. “Did you really hope to stand a chance?”
