Fallen Prince

by Williams, Tess

  All the same, Lox looked at me with satisfaction. “You’re absolutely right, Cyric,” he said. “If we could have Tarful arrested, the insurrection would be contained. The problem is that I don’t have the evidence we need to accuse him.”

  “What about all the information about the meetings? The letters from your informants?” I didn’t want to face the no evidence problem again; I knew where this led for Lox.

  Lox shook his head. “They are not enough. They don’t tell us exactly what Tarful is planning. I can only assume it’s some sort of massive alliance between himself and the Katellians, but I don’t know where or when they plan to attack. I don’t even know if the Katellian government is involved. Before the council accuses an ally we must have absolute proof. I also fear that since the evidence we have now comes from my informants, that the council will not trust the information. After what happened with Tobias… I’ve come under much suspicion.”

  “That’s wrong,” I said. “Tobias was a traitor.”

  “All the same,” Lox went on. “Without further proof, I can’t accuse Tarful.”

  The room grew quiet. I stood very still, my chest rising and falling against my will. I looked at Veera, who’d been watching me whether I was looking at her or not. She wore the same severe expression she’d adapted since Lox has started talking, but now I also saw something else there. Her brow was narrowed just slightly. There may have been sympathy in her expression—though I could not tell why.

  “So what are you going to do?” I asked Lox. I tried to keep my voice calm. I didn’t want to admit it, but I was afraid of his answer. Even though I questioned how Lox could have them killed—wouldn’t he end up being in just as much trouble with the council?

  “That’s where you come in,” Lox said. “All we need is infallible evidence, right? You’re more skilled than any soldier I know, Cyric. If you can get inside the homes and working places of each of the suspected officers, you might be able to find something to convict them. If they’re truly planning such a massive betrayal, they can’t destroy all traces of it.”

  I took this in slowly. “You want me to spy on them?” I asked.

  Lox nodded. “Listen to their conversations when you can, and find evidence that something is going on between them and Karatel.”

  I almost grew a smile. Killing was obviously not in the picture. I’d been being so dumb. Lox was so much smarter than that. “I’ll do it,” I said.

  Lox smiled. “I thought you would. I can always count on you, Cyric.” He put his hand on my shoulder. Veera had gone on to checking her nails. “With any luck this won’t be the mess it was last time,” he said.

  I shook my head. “I’ll get the information. It won’t be a problem.”

  Lox patted my shoulder, then turned around and picked a paper up off the table. “You’ll need the names of the suspects.”

  I took the list he held out, and started reading. It wasn’t long, but Scanth’s name was on it.

  “Perhaps, if everything works out, you’ll even have the opportunity to advance,” Lox said. Then he narrowed on me. “The sooner the better, alright son?”

  I handed the piece of paper back to him, then nodded.

  *

  ELLIA:

  *

  I plopped my backpack down onto the forest floor.

  The treetops exploded with complaint over the loud and sudden sound. Birds called. Furry mammals rustled the branches overhead, reptiles hissed.

  Estrid and I were in the jungle east of Yanartas, where we had been since early this morning. Today was the day of my trials to become a Warrior. It had begun with Lucian giving me instructions on where I had to travel to face the trials. He’d let me see it on the map of the isle for a moment, then had taken the map away. After informing me I’d have to reach the location by nightfall, he’d sent Estrid and I outside the city. Without food, or water, weapons, a map, nothing. We had nothing.

  It hadn’t taken very long to realize that part of the trial was having to navigate the isle on your own. And not just that, it was up to us to find food that was safe to eat, and clean water. At first Estrid and I had thought we could survive without them, but with all the hiking, climbing, and heat it became quickly obvious we couldn’t.

  When I’d studied the maps of Yanartas, I’d never imagined how perilous the isle could be. The forest was so thick even in daylight it was hard to see. There were cliffs. Sand-traps. Poisonous plants. Animals that wouldn’t think twice about eating you.

  All the same, it was only just nearing dusk and we’d already found the cave I was to enter for my trials. It sat inside a cliff-face, but far below the trees, so that all around us was thick branches and foliage. It was in front of this that I had dropped my backpack.

  “Oh, hush you!” Estrid shouted at the complaining animals.

  She wiped her forehead, stained with dirt and sweat. “Just one of the reasons I prefer the ocean,” she said. “The animals there aren’t so noisy.”

  I smiled, mostly because I was so exhausted that I thought everything was kind of funny. Estrid sat herself down on the boulder closest to the cave.

  “Do you really have to go in alone?” she asked.

  I looked that direction with a low brow. The cave was dank. Water dripped from the edges around it, and a thin mist drifted just inside. Strangest of all, it emitted a soft silver glow—like there was light coming from within. “That’s what Lucian told me. The Warrior must face the trial alone.”

  “Well, I don’t quite understand why they send you with a companion then,” she said.

  “Because you’ve already done so much,” I scoffed. “I would have walked right into that cougar’s den if not for you.” I really was thankful I had chosen Estrid who knew so much about Yanartas from training with me. “Besides, who would guard all our food?” I lifted the strap of my backpack, which was filled entirely with edible fruit we’d collected.

  Estrid laughed.

  “Assuming your trial makes you especially hungry,” she said. “Do you know how long it will be?”

  I shook my head.

  We were both watching the cave again. A bird chirped very loudly above.

  “I keep wondering what could be in there,” Estrid said. “That would test so many different types of Warriors and yet survive…. I was thinking that if you run into trouble, you should do that smoke thing you do and just leave.”

  “You mean my disappearing power?” I asked. “But Lucian always yells at me for using that during training.”

  Estrid rolled her eyes. “Lucian isn’t here. You should use anything that will help you.”

  I held Estrid’s gaze. “I’ll see about using it, but I’m not just going to leave. The only thing I’m afraid of is not passing.”

  With a slow nod from her, I walked inside the entrance of the cave.

  “Should you take a stick or something?” Estrid asked.

  “I’ll be fine,” I laughed. I took one careful step onto the rock. The greyness ahead seemed to wrap around me. The sound of dripping water filled the tunnel. “See you in no time,” I said. And then I walked into the cave.

  I heard Estrid’s voice, which already sounded distant, call after me. “If you come back very soon… I’ll be by that waterfall, okay? Just wait for me here.” I assumed she was referring to the pool of Aris. It had been the marker that had let me know we were close to the cave. It had a thin waterfall streaming into it, and flowed out into a stream, but it created a rather large pool in between these. I thought it was strange she was telling me this now.

  “Alright,” I called back.

  A few more steps and I couldn’t hear the sounds of the jungle at all. I glanced back and couldn’t see it either. The way behind me was grey mist. Ahead the cave had gotten darker. Bits of light crossed the ground, though I couldn’t determine at all where they were coming from. The sound of dripping grew quieter, replaced by other things. Like a hiss of fire, or the trampling of steps. The cave branched out into many
directions, but it felt as if there was only path for my feet to take. I saw the shimmer of a black and iridescent body; slippery and ridged. It disappeared behind a tunnel. I heard a soft drumming and the echoes of the song minstrel and I had heard in the Chupacabra’s pass. Come forth this way, towards me. To this place where I now stand. Come forth this way, towards me. To this place where I now stand. I felt something slither up my back and spun around, swatting at it. My sleeves came falling loose, but there was nothing there.

  “So it’s to be a test of fear?” I spoke into the darkness. “I’m not afraid of the dark.”

  I heard a scream. From the pitch I could instantly tell that it was my gnome friend.

  “Minstrel?” I called, shaking clear of the darkness of my surroundings. I ran towards his calls. Light flashed out ahead of me on the rocks. “Don’t worry, I’m coming!” I shouted.

  What was he doing here?

  Suddenly his screaming stopped. I increased my speed all the more. I rounded a corner. The darkness in the wide cave in front of me seemed to shift. I heard hissing, eerily familiar. Then the light darted out in front of me on the form of a giant spider. Its mouth was wide and fanged. It hissed right in my face, and then it ran past me into the darkness.

  I looked ahead, my heart pounding. The cave was lit with a soft blue glow, but only in one place, on a pile of rocks. And lying on top of the pile was Minstrel.

  I called out, running towards him. I dropped immediately to the ground. His skin was pale. His lyre was next him, its strings broken. His eyes were closed, and he had two large pricks on his neck.

  “No,” I cried, touching his forehead. He was cold. His pulse wasn’t beating. “No.”

  “Ellia!” I heard behind me. The voice belonged to Estrid.

  Immediately I rose. This time as soon as I turned she was standing there.

  “Estrid, it’s Minstrel,” I gasped out. “I don’t know how he got here…”

  “No, Ellia. We have to run. They’re coming.”

  “Who?”

  “The goblins.”

  My insides rushed. “It can’t be.”

  “There are too many of them. They won’t stop. We have to run.” She turned and took off down the tunnel.

  “Estrid, wait,” I called.

  I chased after her, but the first fork I came to she was nowhere in sight. “Estrid!”

  I heard a deafening scream. And then silence.

  “Estrid!”

  A flash of purple light shot out of one of the tunnels, but after the cry Estrid made no response. I felt a hand on my arm. I spun and saw Lucian. A yellow glow was all around him. He tightened his grip. “Run, Ellia,” he said. “Run.”

  And then he released my arm to clutch his stomach. He dropped to his knees, and fell sideways to the ground. A figure flashed where he had fallen, large and armored in red and black and wielding a sword.

  I put my hands over my ears and screamed. I yelled as long and as loudly as I could, but I couldn’t close my eyes. Yellow light exploded around me. The round cave brightened to a golden hue. The ceiling was low. The man in red and black stood on the other end, wielding a sword and wearing a hungry smile. It was Lox.

  “I’ll kill you!” I shouted at him.

  Lox clicked his tongue and waved his finger. “If you fight me, there will be nothing left for your real enemies.”

  I screamed and swept the sword from Lucian’s body—but before I could reach Lox, bright lights whispered between us. They flew about the room in circles, then landed around me. They were ghostly figures that slowly formed into faces that I recognized. A copper light transformed into Tobias. My father appeared in turquoise. Minstrel was blue as he had been at his death. Estrid was purple. And Lucian was gold. Even Scholar Padril appeared in shades of silver.

  “These are the ones who will fight you, not I,” Lox said. “The ones you abandoned. The ones you let die.”

  “Look at her standing there,” Estrid said first, “With her sword raised. Where was she when I called?”

  “You watched us safely upon the walls while the goblins attacked. How could you just stand there and do nothing?” my father asked.

  “I wasn’t ready to die,” Tobias said. “Why did you have to betray me?”

  “I didn’t,” I said. “I didn’t mean to.”

  “Your father told you hundreds of times not to trust him,” Scholar Padril said. “You chose the boy anyways.”

  “I waited for you to save me from the spiders,” Minstrel sputtered. “I thought you would save me.”

  “I’ll never know my brother,” Lucian said. “Because of you. You’re the reason he’s dead.”

  “No,” I argued. “No, it wasn’t me. It was him.” I pointed at Lox.

  Lox laughed. “Will you blame me for your failures? You did nothing to stop it. You’re the reason I was there in the first place.”

  “You just stood there and let him kill me,” said Tobias. “You could have fought.”

  “You just watched us die,” my father repeated. “You stood on the wall and let us die.”

  “You’re a coward,” Estrid said. “You’ll let everyone you love die. It’s your fault.”

  “It’s your fault,” Scholar Padril said.

  “It’s all your fault.”

  I dropped my sword and put my head in my hands. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” I cried.

  The figures started racing around me. Their shifting forms sounded like the whisper that came when I used my powers.

  Lox snorted. He spoke louder than anyone. “You’ll never see the Shaundakul of your dreams, daughter of Solidor.”

  It was the nearly same words he had spoken to Tobias when he’d killed him. My mind suddenly rushed with the memories of Tobias’s death—and not just his, all of the deaths I’d faced in so little time—and the ones I hadn’t.

  The ones that hadn’t that I still needed to protect.

  I picked my sword up off the ground and looked upwards.

  Lox was laughing, but he stopped.

  I raised my sword and ran at him with a cry. He pulled out his weapon. The moment our blades struck, the room transformed into nothing.

  I saw darkness.

  It seemed as if I fell asleep, then I began to feel softness all around me. I was in a bed, wrapped in heavy feather blankets.

  I thought maybe I was back in Yanartas, but as the room came into view I saw that everything was stone and silver not wood. There were mirrors, ornaments of glass, and tapestries on the walls. The sheets covering me were turquoise silk.

  “Ellia, wake up,” someone said. “Ellie.” I felt the weight of a body press beside me, then the back of a hand on my cheek.

  Though I’d already seen my surroundings, I had to blink my eyes clear to open them. When I looked now, Cyric was smiling down at me. His hair was a few inches long, as it had been before Akadia. His eyes were bright with life, and he wore a silver-blue dress tunic; attire of a lord.

  “You have to wake up,” he said. “We have to hurry.”

  My eyes went wide.

  I pushed myself away so quickly that I bumped into the headboard.

  He laughed. “What are you doing?”

  “You’re not real,” I said.

  He frowned.

  I blinked my eyes and saw a flash of him throwing stones by the pond as a child. I saw other things. The first time he came to a banquet. The night he scaled the wall outside my window to keep me company while I was sick.

  “What’s wrong with you?” he asked. “Did you have another nightmare?” He put his hand on my cheek, and this time I couldn’t bear to move away from him.

  “I thought… What are you doing here?” I asked.

  “What do you mean? Did you forget about the banquet already?” His smile tipped. “I’d think you’d remember the night your father’s going to announce our engagement.”

  “Our engagement?” I repeated. “My father… you mean we’re getting married?” I asked.

  Instea
d of answering, he bent down and kissed me gently. He set my crown on my head in the midst of it. Then he stood up straight and nodded back towards the door. “Come on. We’ll be late.”

  “But I’m not even ready,” I said, gesturing to myself.

  He frowned, then took my hand and pulled me off the bed. He led me to the mirror in the corner. When I saw myself in it, I gasped. I was wearing a full-length gown, made of flowing, silver and blue material that matched Cyric’s tunic. Jewels were draped around my neck, in my ears, and around my wrists. My hair was braided into an elaborate design, interlaced with gems. My skin was pale and clean. My turquoise crown shone bright.

  Cyric held me by the shoulders; he rested his chin beside my neck. “You look ready to me,” he said. Then he kissed my cheek and added. “Come on. We can dance together.” He led me by my hand towards the door, until I stopped him.

  “Wait… You never ask me to dance, Cyric.”

  His brow knit a little. “We’ve danced before.”

  “No. I would have remembered,” I argued. “I waited for you every time.” I was having the hardest time recalling anything before being in this room. I felt almost as if I didn’t want to.

  “I don’t understand what’s going on,” I said. “Something’s wrong.”

  “Nothing’s wrong,” he countered. “Everything’s perfect. We’re finally together.”

  He twined his fingers around mine. For a moment I was lost in his expression. He wore a very small smile; one of his brows was dropped skeptically, and his eyes were full of adoration. I tore my gaze away to look around the room.

  “But there aren’t any windows,” I said. “I feel as if there’s something happening outside.”

  I walked to all edges of the room. I saw a tapestry flapping on its own. I tore it down. Behind it was a hole to the outside. I looked through and saw hordes of goblins racing towards Uldin Keep. All of my people were down there. And not just Shaundakulians, but Yanartians as well. Chimera, the Warriors, and my friends.

  “We have to go down there!” I cried to Cyric. Then I raced for the door.

  He caught me in his arms. “No, we don’t,” he said. “There’s nothing for you out there. If you stay here, you’ll be with me.”