A Kingdom Lost

by Barbara Ann Wright

  Starbride whipped out her Fiend suppression pyramid and held it aloft. Those closest to her shrank back. Freddie stepped to her side. “We need to run,” he said.

  “Those behind us?” she asked.

  “Dead,” Hugo said as he stared into the cavern. “Spirits above.”

  Starbride launched destruction pyramids into the cavern, one after another. Fire blossomed and detonation pyramids cracked and boomed, shaking dust from the ceiling. If any of the Fiends came too close, Starbride focused harder on her suppression pyramid, and those that didn’t leap back fast enough caught one of Freddie’s daggers in its forehead.

  “Shut the damned door!” Freddie cried.

  Starbride tried to look past the Fiends, to see the capstone, but they were as thick as a swarm; there was no way she could reach it. Hugo helped her throw pyramids, but they didn’t have enough, and more Fiends could be coming. She grabbed the door; they’d have to flee, but the locking pyramid grazed her palm, and she was seized by a sudden thought: there was only a lock on the outside of the door. She edged into the room.

  “No!” Freddie said. “Starbride, leave it!”

  She turned her back on the snarling Fiendish mob, their waves of cold surging toward her like a winter storm. “Keep throwing, Hugo!” She reached above the door to wedge one of her pyramids into a crack in the stone while Hugo continued to lob destruction pyramids into the corpse Fiends’ midst. No alarm or trap would stop Roland any longer than they’d stopped her. She’d brought every pyramid she thought she might find useful, and one of those was tunable, a lock like the one she’d just retuned, but it had protected the door from anyone seeking to get in. No one ever thought to protect a door on the way out.

  This lock was already tuned to her; all she had to do was put into it the idea of the door opening and closing. She felt a billow of heat amidst the cold. The nearest corpse Fiends were on fire and writhing on the ground. Hopefully, they’d set their fellows alight, but as Starbride felt the coldness coming closer, she knew it wasn’t so.

  She finished her pyramid and the door began to swing closed. Hugo grabbed her arm and dragged her into the hall. A few corpse Fiends lunged at them, and Starbride focused on her suppression pyramid again, sending them stumbling back. One Fiend reached an arm through the door, and Freddie stabbed it, driving his dagger into the rock wall.

  When the door eased closed, they all collapsed in a heap. Starbride tried to slow her breathing and the rapid tempo of her heart.

  Freddie took his dagger back, dropping the arm to the floor. “What did you do to the door?”

  “I put a lock on the inside.” She drew her own knife and slammed the pommel into the ancient lock, crunching it into lifeless shards. “This door isn’t like the counter-weighted ones in the secret passages. It needs a pyramid to open. Roland can’t retune my new lock because he can’t touch it. Cancelling a lock you can’t see is tricky because they aren’t active until used, but I don’t suppose that will stop Roland for long. But then he’ll have this chunk of stone to break through. That should take a pretty piece of time.”

  “Smart,” Freddie sad.

  Hugo sniffed. “From Miss Starbride, you should expect nothing less.”

  “Easy, there,” Freddie said. “Let’s everyone keep his trousers on.”

  Hugo opened his mouth, but Starbride said, “Enough. Now is when we run.” She took off without waiting, and they caught up to the others on their way to the exit. They’d managed to hit one storeroom before they ran out of time, and their bags bulged around them.

  “How did it go?” Dawnmother asked. “Did you lock it?”

  “Lock what?” Claudius asked. “What is going on?”

  Starbride gave Dawnmother a warning look as they hurried. “Let’s hurry and leave the questions for later.”

  “Best idea I’ve heard all day,” Effie said. She was breathing hard, they all were, all but Averie who seemed half dead. Starbride helped Dawnmother drag her along. The prospect of finally being free of their prison seemed to have given the rest of the former captives a second wind.

  As they hurried, Starbride heard a boom behind them. Someone else had entered the passageways, and it couldn’t be anyone good.

  “Go,” Starbride said. Pennynail swung Averie over his shoulders. Everyone else grabbed a pyradisté as they ran.

  Was it Starbride’s imagination, or did a wave of cold filter down the hallway? When they reached the hallway that led to the secret door, Starbride put out her light pyramid, not wanting the glow to give them away.

  Effie gasped, but Starbride whispered, “Keep straight.” When they reached the door, they all smacked into one another. Starbride and Effie stumbled back, and then the complete blackness was interrupted as the door swung open. They hurried through and shut the door behind them. If it was Darren or Maia following, they’d be stopped by the pyramid. If it was Roland, he’d retune or destroy the pyramid in a moment. Starbride cursed the fact that she’d only brought one lock with her. Now that she knew a clever way to use them, she promised herself she’d take them everywhere.

  The captives were too weak to climb the wall, but they were light enough to be hauled up, pushed from below, and pulled from above to be dropped over the side. Starbride hoped they wouldn’t break anything. She heard scratching behind them, as if someone was trying to claw his way through the wall. Not Roland then. Starbride could have shouted in glee.

  When they were up and over, Starbride heard a howl from the palace, the booming, grating sound that could only come from a Fiendish throat. Their thievery had been discovered. She helped to pick up the captives and tug them along, sending the watcher who’d been waiting for their return to collect the others and take a roundabout way back to their hideout. The warehouse district had never seemed so far away, and Starbride knew that whoever had howled in rage wouldn’t be far behind them.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Katya

  Katya kept herself from fidgeting, just. She studied the furniture crammed into Redtrue’s little adobe house. A couple chairs and a table stood off to the side, all of it made from very pale wood. In the sitting room, two chairs with wide seats and padded cushions faced each other. Redtrue perched, cross-legged, on one, and Katya sat across from her. Paintings covered the wall, color-splashed canvas stretched in frames made from that same pale wood.

  Most of the paintings were vague shapes Katya couldn’t make out, but if she squinted at the one behind Redtrue, it looked like a rolling valley leading to a river. A large, intricate pot sat in one corner and held what looked like a tree, very bizarre. A stand in another corner held a wash basin and pitcher. Maybe Redtrue preferred to wash in her sitting room instead of in her bedroom.

  Katya leaned back in her chair, trying to look through the half-closed door to her right. In the flickering candlelight, she saw the edge of a thick pad on the floor. She didn’t know if most Allusians outside of Newhope slept on the ground, if it was an adsnazi adoption, or if Redtrue was afraid of falling out of bed.

  Redtrue sat still, eyes closed, face serene, with a pyramid sitting in her lap. The pyramid seemed delicate, almost fragile, much thinner than Katya had ever seen. Some of Crowe’s and Starbride’s pyramids were beautiful, but they had a sturdiness to them. Redtrue’s seemed to be made of air.

  Katya had promised to be quiet, but meditation had never been her strong suit. She squinted at the river picture again. Would Redtrue notice if she got up and wandered around? Her left leg gave a warning twinge, as if it might cramp. Katya lifted up on her arms, wincing as the chair creaked, and then lowered her feet to the floor. The chair was too deep for her to sit up without slouching, so she scooted to the front, trying not to make a sound. Redtrue wasn’t exactly asleep, but she’d insisted that dream magic took intense concentration.

  Katya chastised herself for fidgeting. Starbride was worth a little sitting still. She should have stayed outside like Redtrue suggested. Out there, she could have paced and complained to Brutal
. What she wouldn’t give to pace at that moment…

  When Redtrue opened her eyes, it took Katya a moment to process the fact that something had changed. Redtrue didn’t blink or speak, and Katya thought she might still be in a trance. Katya didn’t move, afraid to wake her before it was time.

  “Yah!” Redtrue cried, thrusting her arms forward.

  Katya leapt up, knocking her chair backward, and reached for her rapier. Redtrue laughed long and loud.

  Katya’s heart hammered in her ears. “What…what are you…”

  “I’m sorry. You were so intense. I couldn’t help it.”

  Katya rammed her half-drawn rapier back into its sheath. “Very funny.”

  “It was, yes.”

  Katya picked her chair up and thumped it upright. “Tell me what you found before I strangle you.”

  “I’d die happy. I stretched further than I ever have before, and I sensed many minds that can touch the adsna. It has to be your Marienne. Though”―she tossed her long braid over her shoulder―“there weren’t as many as I thought there might be.”

  Katya’s stomach dropped. “Roland’s killing the pyradistés.”

  “Or they fled.”

  “Were you able to…”

  “Knock at any mind doors?” Redtrue smiled. “I approached a few minds, but none had the strength to know me from a dream.”

  Katya’s shoulders slumped, and she was more tired than she’d ever been.

  “Oh, don’t sulk,” Redtrue said. “One try and you’re ready to give up? All we have to do is find a very strong mind, someone used to lucid dreams, perhaps, who knows how to take control of his or her mind while asleep.”

  “You’re rude, but you’re right.”

  “No one here will indulge your self-pity. Well, some of those in Newhope might, some who like to pretend they’re Farradain.” Before Katya could respond, Redtrue stood and stretched. “Are you going to your tent now, or do you intend to try to sleep in my house, like your friend?”

  “Oh no, that’s between you and her. Good night, Redtrue, and thank you.” She hurried out, not missing the shadow that approached the house as she left, no doubt Castelle trying to get back in that bed. She’d never met someone she couldn’t charm before. Maybe she thought of Redtrue as an interesting challenge.

  “Good luck, Cass,” Katya whispered. She climbed inside the tent she shared with her father and Brutal. It was dark and quiet as she sat inside the flap and took off her boots before crawling into her own nest of blankets beside Da.

  “Any luck?” he asked.

  “I thought you’d be asleep by now.”

  “How could I when you were close to finding Starbride?”

  Katya smiled, oddly touched by the fact that he was anxious for her.

  “Besides,” he added, “who can sleep well on these rocks? I’m too old for camping.”

  “Thanks anyway. No luck, but Redtrue was hopeful enough to want to try again tomorrow.”

  “Good news.”

  “And Leafclever? Any luck there?”

  “Your impassioned speech swayed him quite a bit, but he’s a tough old bird. I think he’s been getting some coaching from Dayscout. The Allusians want a say in how they’re governed, and frankly, I don’t blame them.”

  “You’ll grant them noble titles?”

  He clucked his tongue. “Fancy titles aren’t going to sway Dayscout and Leafclever. They want their people to be able to have a say. As misled as Magistrate Anthony was, it looks like his parliament idea might come to be.”

  “It would be harder for someone like Roland to stir the people up if they were part of the very thing they were trying to overturn.”

  “My thoughts exactly.”

  A parliament…the idea was intriguing, though her father, with assistance from her mother, usually took care of the politics. She’d always expected her brother to one day take charge in Marienne, aided by his steadfast wife.

  Now Reinholt’s treacherous wife was dead, Reinholt himself was missing, and Katya would inherit the throne upon her father’s death, at least until her niece was old enough to be queen. Even then, little Vierdrin would have to lean on whatever family she had left. And Katya fully planned to be alive for Vierdrin to lean on. Hopefully, Da would still be in charge until Vierdrin was old enough to learn from the master.

  Of course, all that was dependent on getting the kingdom back. In the face of that, a parliament seemed a small thing, never mind that it would change the face of politics in Farraday forever. The nobles might have a harder time fighting for the kingdom if they knew they’d have to share it with the common people, but the commoners might fight harder.

  But how would any of them react when they found Allusians among their army? The commoners might resent them, but the nobles would be happy to use them. When everyone discovered that the Allusians had helped shape a new parliament, the tables would turn: the nobles would loathe it, and the commoners might laud it if it helped get them the government they wanted.

  Katya rubbed her temples before she felt her father’s touch on her shoulder. “Easy, my girl. You’re grinding your teeth. Remember what I once told you? Never worry about politics unless you have to, and right now, you don’t have to.”

  “But you have to, Da. As the heir—”

  He chuckled. “You can’t take the whole kingdom on your shoulders. Even if I should blow away as dust tomorrow, you won’t have to worry about the parliament problem for a long time, even if you have to promise the Allusians a seat to get them to help you.”

  “Blow away as dust?”

  “Something I picked up from our hosts. I rather like this Horsestrong fellow.”

  Katya smiled softly. If her father promised the Allusians a role in the government, he’d keep his word. If they regained Marienne, he’d give them a place even if he had to make one up. She hoped Leafclever realized that about him. She hoped everyone did. As much as they might not like Farradains, they had to see that her father was the most fair-minded one they’d ever come across.

  Katya turned on her side and tried to make her mind go quiet. There was so much to worry about, but missing sleep wouldn’t do her any good. She tried not to think of Starbride, either, but that thought wasn’t as easy to put aside as politics.

  *

  The next day, Dayscout came to visit them and sequestered himself, Da, and Leafclever away. Katya hoped that was a good sign. The more they spoke with her father, the more they’d see how much he deserved to be king, no matter what pyradistés might do.

  Castelle wasn’t as hopeful. When Katya had gotten up for her watch shift, she’d seen Castelle’s feet sticking out of the tent next door. If Redtrue had let her in, she hadn’t stayed the whole night. When they were all up in the morning, Castelle was moody, barely eating her porridge.

  “Did you have a good night?” Katya asked.

  Castelle gave her a gloomy look as she chewed.

  “She got in late,” Brutal said as he sat.

  Katya smiled slowly. “But she didn’t let you stay.”

  “Before I forget who you are and tell you to shut up,” Castelle said, “I’d appreciate it if you dropped it, Highness.”

  “You can tell me to shut up all you want,” Brutal said.

  “I’d rather spar,” Castelle said.

  “You shouldn’t fight angry,” he said. “If you’re only fighting to escape yourself, you will never reach enlightenment. To begin to understand existence, we must first understand ourselves.”

  “Pass,” Castelle said.

  Katya snorted a laugh. “I’ll spar with you, Castelle. Strikes with the flat of the blade only. If you accidentally wound me, Brutal will kill you.”

  “True,” he said. “If you wound her, make sure you mean to.”

  Castelle smiled slightly. “Then you won’t kill me?”

  “Oh, I’ll still kill you, but at least you’ll die because you meant to.”

  She laughed then; Castelle wouldn’t be kept down f
orever. After they’d eaten, Katya took her coat off despite the biting breeze that morning. She’d be sweating through her shirt soon enough. She stretched to loosen up, and then she and Castelle squared off, both of them armed with rapiers.

  Castelle was as quick as Katya remembered, but she played it safe. Katya could tell by the way she stood that she was holding something in reserve. Katya tried a fake stumble, but Castelle backed off instead of pressing her advantage.

  Katya tried a series of lunges, hoping to put Castelle off balance, but she wouldn’t engage, smoothly giving ground. Katya snarled. “I thought you wanted a fight, not a dance!”

  “I thought you were supposed to be teaching patience, not the one who needs to learn it.”

  Katya leaned back, waiting for Castelle to come to her. Castelle tried a series of feints and lunges, clearly trying to get her measure. Katya went fully defensive, giving her nothing.

  “Boring, isn’t it?” Katya asked.

  Castelle came on hard and fast. That was more like it. Katya parried one strike after another, and then threw one wide, coming in hard after it while Castelle was open. Katya whacked her on the thigh.

  “Touch!” Castelle said. They broke apart slightly, and Castelle put the “injured” leg forward as if she might with a real wound. She needed to keep her strong leg behind her in order to push off. Katya pressed her advantage, but Castelle could defend well with only one strong leg. She feigned a stumble, snaked in from the side, and whacked Katya’s arm.

  “Touch!” Katya called. Luckily, it was her left arm, so she could keep it behind her. She didn’t need to pretend to feel the sting. She’d have a quite a bruise, maybe a welt. So, someone was smarting from her rejection and needed to inflict a little pain.

  Katya knocked Castelle’s next strike wide and stepped inside her reach. Castelle leaned back, but she wasn’t fast enough. Katya rammed her rapier guard toward Castelle’s face, stopping just short of her nose.