A Kingdom Lost

by Barbara Ann Wright

  Newhope’s bright buildings didn’t end with those facing the water. Most were painted bright white, contrasting with the red clay of the streets. Smaller houses jostled with larger shops and warehouses, the configuration with no rhyme or reason Katya could discern. Dark wooden accents adorned most of the buildings, either as porch pillars or overhanging the roofs. Some long poles of wood poked from the sides of the buildings, as if the ceiling beams inside were too long, and the builders had just extended them through the wall and then packed the clay of the walls around them. Brightly colored pots and wall hangings interrupted the flood of white like clouds of colorful butterflies. Maybe the Allusians used them to navigate the city.

  Katya braced herself for the sight of Newhope’s people, hoping she wouldn’t see Starbride in every face. She wondered if Starbride had felt the same when she’d first come to Marienne, if everyone had looked alike. The features and figures were different, though. Still, every time Katya spied a red-clad figure, she half expected to see Starbride waiting for her.

  “Stop it,” she muttered to herself. She counted to twenty, a self-control technique she hadn’t had to use in years.

  Many stared at Katya and her father as they started up the hill toward the center of the city. Most seemed curious, a few disapproving. The few pale faces in the crowd smiled openly, though many of the Allusians did the same. One Allusian lady on her porch winked at Da. He sputtered a laugh and gave her a little half-bow.

  Katya poked him in the arm. “I’ll tell Ma on you.”

  “It’s been a long time since anyone winked at me.”

  She understood his surprised happiness. When she’d first met Starbride, she’d had the opportunity to be anonymous for a little while. It had been nice to be a face in the crowd instead of royalty. “How will the governor know you?”

  “I’ve met the fellow.”

  “You’ve been to Allusia?”

  “No, he came to Marienne ages ago, but I dare say we’ll still know each other.”

  “Why did he come to Marienne?”

  Da was quiet for a moment. “To ask what I intended toward his people. My father had just died, and I’d taken the throne. We were both young. Dayscout has such presence, Katya. He became exactly what his family wanted to him to be, a guide for his people.” Da chuckled softly. “Spirits, but we hated each other at first sight.”

  “And that’s something to smile about?”

  “He called me arrogant, and I called him bumptious. He called me a tyrant, and I called him an oily little tick.”

  “So, you wound up friends, I’m guessing?”

  “Oh yes. We were honest with each other after everyone else had been sucking up to us our entire lives. We’ve written each other through the years. I talked him out of marrying a woman who only wanted him for his power, and he talked me through my first year of fatherhood.”

  “Then why didn’t he talk to you about the trading problems in Newhope?”

  Da shrugged. “We agreed not to talk policy, not unless we really needed each other’s help. I don’t even know which trading problems you’re referring to. It’s probably something he thought he could handle on his own.”

  Katya smiled. “Because he had people like Starbride working for him.”

  “Probably so.” He touched her lightly on the shoulder. “We’ll find her, my girl.”

  Katya nodded, all she could do without losing the calm she’d forced on herself.

  The governor’s house wasn’t the largest structure in Newhope, but it sat dead center in the city, at the top of the hill, offset from all the other buildings. The road curved around it so that it didn’t touch any other structure. Katya had to wonder if Dayscout ever felt he was operating out of a fishbowl.

  Their guards waited while Katya and her father approached the front door. The man who answered their knock was clad in simple trousers and tunic that reminded Katya of Dawnmother. Like her, he also had a braid of long black hair hanging down his back. Before Katya had a chance to speak, he smiled at Da and bowed. “Majesty,” he said in Farradain, as easily as if kings came to his door every day. “Please, come in.”

  Katya followed her father into a sitting room crammed with furniture: bright cushions, divans, and large chairs. “Claytrue,” Da said, “how have you been?”

  “Well enough, thank you, Majesty. I will fetch my master for you.”

  “Looks like one of them remembers you, at least,” Katya muttered.

  “You’ll like Dayscout, Katya. He’s very…excitable.”

  After Claytrue had been gone a few moments, a cry of surprise echoed down the stairs, and a short, pot-bellied Allusian man rushed down, his arms thrown wide. “Einrich! What in Horsestrong’s name are you doing here? No!” He took a deep breath. “Don’t answer that. Refreshment first. Sit, sit, sit, both of you! Claytrue, tea, coffee, cakes, sandwiches! Just bring everything!”

  He caught Da by the elbows and guided him to a divan. He looked at Katya expectantly. “Won’t you sit, too, Miss…?”

  “She’s my daughter,” Da said. “Katyarianna.”

  Katya was caught with her mouth open, used to introducing herself as Da’s guard. But she supposed if they were going to ask the governor for help, they wouldn’t be served well by lying from the start.

  “Ah!” Dayscout grabbed her hand and shook it over and over, peppering his shakes with little bows. “So happy to meet you, Katyarianna! Einrich and I have been threatening to introduce our families for a long time! Did you bring your wife, too, Einrich?”

  Katya had to frown in amused bewilderment. So much in Marienne stood on protocol. This man acted as if they were all one big family. “It’s nice to meet you, too,” she managed.

  He gave her a kindly smile and then sank down on a divan across from them. Katya glanced at her father, wondering if they should start their pleas for help, but he shook his head slightly, and she followed his lead.

  Claytrue brought in refreshment and then retired to the corner, just as Dawnmother might have done. When he dug into a small basket and removed a pile of socks to be mended, she nearly laughed and cried at the same time.

  “I’m dying of curiosity,” Dayscout said after they’d all had a bite to eat. “It’s beyond wonderful to see you, but I have to ask…”

  Da told their story. He held back the Umbriel Fiends and the fact that Roland was his brother, but everything else he laid out for Dayscout, who absorbed it while he stared into space over steepled fingers.

  “And you want our help?” he asked after Da had finished. “Allusian help to take back your kingdom?”

  “We need troops, weapons, and a place to rally the Farradain people.”

  “And I suppose this Fiendish usurper will turn his eyes on Allusia once he’s done with Farraday?”

  “He’s a pyradisté. He’ll be after the crystal in your northern mountains, if nothing else.”

  Dayscout smiled slyly. “Like any Farradain.”

  “Fair point.”

  “Well…I do care about you, Einrich, you know that, and if it were just me helping just you, I would do it immediately, but I can’t make this…huge…decision alone. I’ll need to speak to our council and my advisors, and we’d be wise to have the opinion of the adsnazi as well.” His bright smile reappeared. “Come, fetch your wife and grandchildren. You dine with my family tonight.”

  Lord Vincent wouldn’t like it, but Katya supposed they’d have to start trusting someone if they were going to get anywhere with their plans. Da seemed to trust this man already. Katya supposed that if Dayscout decided to take them hostage and sell them to Roland they’d just have to find a way out. Either way, they couldn’t keep running. Sooner or later, they had to put their feet back on the soil.

  After another round of vigorous hand shaking, they turned to go. Claytrue met them at the door with a large basket. “I notice your servants didn’t come in, Majesty,” he said, “so I packed a snack for them.”

  Katya smiled broadly. Even thoug
h Brutal and Castelle weren’t servants, it warmed her to be reminded of Dawnmother’s charity again. “Thank you,” she said.

  He bowed deeply. She took the basket, and after Da thanked Dayscout again for his hospitality, they were off.

  Brutal, Castelle, and her friends appreciated the snacks, though they waited until they were on the Spirits Endeavor to dig into them. Katya left them to it and went below with her father to meet with Lord Vincent.

  He did have a lot to say about venturing into Newhope, precautions mostly. Katya agreed with him for the most part. Everyone except the children would go armed, even if with just a knife, and the children wouldn’t leave Vincent’s sight. If Allusian custom required them to eat or play in a different room than the adults, he would accompany them. Katya had a sudden vision of Vincent hunched over the children’s table and couldn’t contain a laugh.

  They dressed as finely as they could with what they had on the ship, Ma and Da in the clothes they’d fled from Marienne in, and Katya in an embroidered coat she borrowed from one of the nobles. It was a little loose in the collar and the hips, but it was better, she supposed, than her leather fighting gear or chainmail. Castelle wore the armor, serving as guard, but Katya still wore her borrowed rapier at her hip.

  Little Vierdrin and Bastian beamed as their grandparents dressed them in outfits cobbled together from donated clothing. Katya surveyed her family and thought them the most ragged royalty she’d ever seen. Maybe it was for the best; they’d stand out enough in Newhope as it was.

  Once they set foot on the street, the children tugged and pulled on Vincent’s hands, keeping up a running commentary on everything they saw or heard or smelled. Vincent held them so tightly Katya saw his knuckles whiten. Little Bastian whined, but Vincent only picked him up and carried him, making him pout until Vincent had a strict word in his ear.

  To their credit, Dayscout and his wife greeted everyone with open arms. Bastian and Vierdrin were so happy to see other children that they stopped their protestations. When the two Allusian children invited Vierdrin and Bastian into their playroom, Vincent followed on their heels.

  Dayscout lifted an eyebrow. Two of his four children still lived at home, and one of those was ten, old enough for a servant, but still Vincent went with them. “They’ll be well looked after,” Dayscout said, “if that’s what the lord is worried about.”

  Da chuckled. “To keep Vincent from his duty, we’d have to kill him.”

  “Well, I think we can forgo that this once,” Dayscout said.

  During the meal, they spoke of unimportant things. Katya fought the urge to fidget. Some of the Allusian news was interesting, but none of it interested her as much as whether Dayscout planned to help them. Newhope had its own version of a Watch but no standing army or plans on how to raise one. Since Farraday had helped them put a central government in place, they had adopted the same, we’ll-assemble-it-when-we-need-it approach to an army, but they needed the governor to put out a call to arms.

  When they’d finished dessert, Dayscout laid his napkin aside. “I’ve sent a messenger to the adsnazi. They won’t be coming tonight.”

  Katya’s stomach dropped, and she couldn’t help herself from asking, “Is that a no, then? They won’t help us?” Her mother nudged her under the table.

  Dayscout smiled. “They don’t come into Newhope often, and when they do, they never stay for long, not even for dinner with the governor. But they have invited you to come and stay with them. I won’t lie; support for your cause is little to none.”

  “Because no one believes the trouble will come here,” Da said.

  Dayscout nodded. “For what it’s worth, I believe you, but we Allusians are a headstrong bunch. The council and the adsnazi don’t obey me because I’m the governor. They obey me because we agree on what we should do. If you do recover your kingdom, Einrich, it might behoove you to consider this parliament you told me about. Even though the idea was put forth by an enemy, that doesn’t mean it was entirely bad.”

  “I was considering it,” Da said, “also for what it’s worth. Can I speak to this council?”

  “Of course. Though if you had the support of the adsnazi, it would go a long way toward swaying them.”

  Katya began to form a new plan. The governor couldn’t help on his own, so adsnazi first, then the council, and then they could get some momentum going. They could start to sweep back west, gathering Farradains to their banner.

  “Just so you know,” Dayscout said, “the adsnazi aren’t going to be easy to convince. They don’t take much of an interest in what happens outside their hills. I’m surprised they want to meet with you at all. Maybe it’s the Fiends that intrigue them.”

  Katya didn’t care why, only that they wanted to meet. Starbride had told her that Allusian pyramid users were not as skilled as those in Farraday. They didn’t even test their children for the ability. If all they could do was produce colored lights—as Starbride had said—it was likely they’d be of no strategic importance during the war. Unless they could learn. The one pyradisté who’d escaped with Katya, a man who’d worked for Duchess Julietta, could teach them some tricks. That might be enough to sway them to join the Farradain cause.

  Dayscout’s oldest daughter was visiting relatives in the north, so he offered her house to Katya’s family. Da agreed. They would be as safe in the house as on the ship, and Katya feared for their sanity if they had to stay at sea any longer. Dayscout had several Watch officers posted on the grounds, but Katya set up a roster of watches inside. She sat up first with Berg, an ex-thief, one of Castelle’s friends.

  He was short as well as wide. That, combined with his bald head, reminded Katya of a stump. He leered instead of smiled and laughed at all the wrong times. Katya had taken an instant dislike to him when she’d first met him, but he was loyal to Castelle. She didn’t have to like all the people she worked with, she supposed.

  Their watch passed quietly, but just as Katya started upstairs to bed, someone knocked softly on the door.

  Berg opened it a crack. “What is it?”

  Katya heard a mumbled reply.

  “Wait a minute.” Berg shut the door and turned. “It’s a Watchman, Highness. Someone’s at the gate asking for you, a lady from a, ahem, prominent Newhope family.” He chuckled, and Katya fought the urge to smack him.

  Prominent Newhope family? Katya closed her eyes and prayed to the spirits, but she knew it would be Brightstriving. Fah and Fay had only bad luck for her this evening.

  “I’ll talk to her,” Katya said. “Leave the door open.” She pushed past Berg and tried to make her stride confident across the lawn to the gate, toward four darkened figures waiting next to a Watchman with a lantern.

  Brightstriving wore a gown in Farradain style. The petal-like layers of pastel fabric almost made Katya blanch. The fashion Starbride had hated, that her mother had embraced, made all of Katya’s tender moments with Starbride rush to mind. She managed to reach the gate without falling into a heap. Brightstriving and a man with her bowed. The other two hovered behind, servants likely, meaning that the man was…

  Katya swallowed. Not one parent, but two. She pressed her lips together and returned their bows. “Brightstriving and Sunjoyful.”

  “I’m very happy to meet you, Highness.” Sunjoyful’s Allusian accent came through more than his wife’s or daughter’s, but he managed the words well.

  “Where is our daughter?” Brightstriving asked.

  “Bright,” Sunjoyful said, “you said you wouldn’t make a scene.”

  Brightstriving didn’t take her eyes off Katya.

  Katya took a deep breath. “I don’t know.”

  “Because you sent her away before the real danger started?” Brightstriving asked. “Made her leave Marienne in a carriage, and we can expect her any time?”

  “She was with us when the city fell,” Katya said softly.

  “Then surely,” Sunjoyful said, “she’s coming on another ship?”

  Acid
churned in Katya’s stomach. “She was in the city. My family was in the palace. We were to rendezvous and leave together. She was…delayed. I had to get my family to safety.” She didn’t add that her father had ordered her incapacitated, that she’d intended to go back. She’d chosen to stay with her family before they’d sailed away, and she needed to pay for that.

  Brightstriving’s eyes narrowed to slits. “You left our daughter with those…things? Those Fiends?”

  “I’m trying to hurry back to her as fast as I can.”

  Sunjoyful sagged. “Horsestrong preserve her, oh my little Star…”

  Katya fought the tears that wanted to spring to her eyes. She gripped the gate as hard as she could.

  “So…” No sagging for Brightstriving; her spine was like steel.

  Katya didn’t want to offer excuses about how leaving Starbride was the hardest thing she’d ever done, how her heart ached, how she’d been willing to abandon her family and sneak into a city crawling with Fiends in order to find her beloved.

  But she also didn’t want to hear Brightstriving accuse her of never having cared for Starbride at all.

  “No matter what I have to endure,” Katya said, “or who I have to face, I will find her, and nothing this side of life will stop me.”

  Brightstriving drew herself up taller as if she might retort or accuse, but Sunjoyful gripped her arm. She helped pull him up as he tugged her a little lower.

  “What matters now is getting our daughter back,” Sunjoyful said. “We’re with you.”

  Katya bit her lip hard. “Thank you.”

  Sunjoyful tugged his wife’s arm; Brightstriving’s eyes were still hard and dry. “I will not forget this,” she whispered before she let her husband lead her away.

  Katya could see what Starbride had gotten from both her parents: her heart and her resolve. After this, she knew she wouldn’t sleep. All she could do was walk the house and think of Starbride.