Stormfront

by John Goode

  Now I knew my face showed my shock.

  “What kind of law is that?”

  “A perfect kind if you are strong,” Adamas said, overhearing our conversation. “If you are weak? It is a living nightmare, I assume.”

  And my mother was being held prisoner by these monstrous creatures? Speaking quickly, distracting me, Olim continued.

  “The people who live here are accustomed to it,” she informed me sadly. “If a prince sees you at a dance and wants you to marry him? Either run or find an opportunity to kill him, because unless you are stronger than he is, there is no other way out. It sounds barbaric and, trust me, it is. However, to these people it is their way of life. The Wolflands consist of isolated pockets of its citizenry, and the major fight is for survival, so no, they don’t think much beyond survival. You’d be surprised what people can get used to after a while.”

  No one wanted to speak after that proclamation.

  A few minutes later, the opal spy returned to us. “There is a large structure ahead I assume is the capitol city. It is heavily guarded by men and magic. I couldn’t approach and maintain invisibility.”

  “So he is expecting us,” Caerus said, musing the problem over.

  “My father no doubt warned the Wolf King before he left, which means the element of surprise is lost,” I added.

  The sapphire seemed defeated. “And with that our best chance of success.”

  “Which means the battle will be glorious,” Adamas said, his voice boisterous and out of place.

  Both Caerus and Olim looked at him as if he was insane, but it was my mouth that responded before I could think of something to say.

  “No battle is glorious if it ends in death,” I snarled at him.

  “All battle ends in death,” he countered.

  “That’s only true if you are a fool. A battle fought when there is no chance of success is called suicide. I would expect one as old as you to know that.”

  “I know more than you know, boy.” A glow built inside him, and I knew he was getting angry.

  Good.

  “You may be ready to shuffle off this mortal coil, but my mother is in there, and throwing ourselves against an unbeatable force will not save her.”

  “Then what do you suggest?”

  When I opened my mouth, I had no idea what to do. Just like that an idea came to me. I knew where it had come from and smiled to myself.

  Though he was worlds away, Kane was still with me in my soul. I was no longer the same person I had been when I met him. Before Kane, I would have never even considered a tactic like the one I was about to use. And I certainly would never have explained it out loud.

  Needless to say, twenty minutes later, I was walking up the main city street, weaponless, with a guard on either side of me, and with my hands in the air.

  You know, since I’d walked up to the castle gate and allowed myself to be captured and brought before the Wolf King.

  The city behind the walls was like no place I had ever seen before. I had thought Arcadia was the height of decadence, but this put my mother’s excesses to shame. A hedge maze constructed using individual strands of woven metal made to look like actual holly bushes was laid out as a formal garden in front of a castle similarly constructed of metal cast in clever imitation of stone. The effect was dazzling, but the time and effort put out into a luxury had to be staggering. Again I could hear Kane in my head asking how many people could have been fed with the cost of this monstrosity.

  The guards led me into the castle, and with every step, I felt more alone than I ever had in my life.

  The first thing I noticed was the abundance of animals wearing clothes. At first glance they looked much like the animals in Olim’s palace. However, before I had been led very far, I noticed the difference, and not in a good way. Olim’s animals were refugees from other places in her lands. The animals in the Wolflands were predators. Obviously I don’t mean actual predators, but they stared at me in a most predatory way. They were hungry, bitter, and every single one of them was looking for a moment to push the others down and raise themselves up.

  Of course I am assuming all of that because that was what those same looks meant when I saw them on the faces of the idiots in my mother’s court.

  Yet the royal idiots in my mother’s court were far too sophisticated to kill someone outright; better to let words and intrigue do the deed instead of murdering a person with your own two hands.

  The animals here seemed ready to murder with whatever appendage served as their hands. I could see what Adamas had meant. This was the only set of laws they had ever known, so no one rebelled against it. The physically weak became crafty, and the strong oppressed others and waited for the day someone stronger came along.

  What an utterly depressing world to live in.

  There were other humanoids as well. Beautiful women with bright eyes and wide smiles that hid their seething hatred of the people who refused them rights. Handsome men with impressive physiques who knew that if they were not perfect they would be dead. Again I am assuming, but the whole place was everything Faerth was but amplified by a thousand. Kane’s voice in my head added, “Or it could be you’re looking at the behavior for what it actually is for the first time.”

  I did not like that thought at all.

  As I was led into the throne room, I could feel the weight of everyone in the room looking at me. Twenty or so people were waiting for my arrival; the men were armed, and the women looked amused. A few of them raised an eyebrow at me approvingly as I walked by. I was used to being found attractive; I was not used to that attraction being shown so aggressively.

  In the center of the room stood a throne of black glass, and on it sat the largest werewolf I had ever seen.

  I assume he was a werewolf since his proportions were those of a man, but his features were those of a wolf. He wore a set of fine clothes that looked out of place on his dark fur. I noticed, surprised, the blue of his coat matched his eyes perfectly. His mouth moved into what looked like a snarl, but it took me a moment to realize he was smiling.

  His voice consisted of different-sounding growls that resembled words. “You stink of fear.”

  “Only a fool refuses to acknowledge his situation,” I answered as confidently as I could.

  “No. Only a fool walks into my castle unarmed.” He stood up, and I refused to gape at his size. He was well over eight feet tall. His legs were human until you got past the knees where there were paws—huge paws, massive things really. He stood on the toes, making him even taller, and looked down at me.

  “Then if I am to be a fool, I’ll be the second kind.”

  He roared at me, and my mind seized up in response. I had to close my eyes as his hot, rancid breath washed over my face. Drops of spittle hit my cheek, but I refused to react. I just stood there, eyes closed and waited for him to stop.

  The noise ceased after what seemed an inhuman amount of time. “Most humans soil themselves.”

  I opened my eyes again, and he was right next to my face. “I am not a human,” I said, matching his gaze.

  “Fairy, human,” he scoffed. “All words that mean ‘not me,’ which means lesser.” He walked around me. I continued to look forward. “Though I will admit you are easier on the eyes than most.” A hand poke at my rear, and I snapped.

  I spun around, slapping his hand away as I got in his face. “Touch me again and you will pull back a stump.”

  Everyone in the throne room froze; the gasp from the assembled crowd was audible.

  The wolf started to laugh, a sound devoid of everything that made a laugh humorous. There was no mirth nor joy, only malice and sarcasm as he ridiculed my threat. “You are a fool,” he said finally.

  “And you will be the greatest one-armed ruler in all the land.”

  His laughter stopped.

  My head slammed to the floor before I was even aware he pounced on me. I scrambled to move, but it was far too late. He was on top of me, one paw on my
chest, the other on my face. “You need some manners,” he growled, his lip quivering as his fangs dripped saliva.

  I said nothing.

  “No snappy comeback?” he mocked. “I was going to kill you, but you, my little prince, have earned much more than that.” He leaned in and I tried to turn my head away. “In the wild my kind will mount another male and take them forcefully.” His tongue rolled out, and I felt the sandpaper touch on my cheek. “It’s not sexual, it’s a dominance thing. Tell me, fairy, have you ever been mounted?”

  I looked up at him and sneered, “Your Majesty, are you flirting with me?”

  He opened his mouth to roar again, and I knew it was time.

  Summoning Truheart, I plunged it up, straight through his gut. I could see his shock when he felt the blade dig into him. His eyes widened when I pushed the blade farther forward. “Learn these words,” I growled, gritting my teeth, “Never. Without. My. Permission!” and shoved the sword up one more time.

  Warm blood splashed on my face from his mouth as I wrestled him off me. I pulled Truheart free of him and dismissed him from my memories. Standing up, I looked around, making sure the shocked crowd could see my sword. “Now, you will bring my mother to me, or I will start killing people one by one.”

  It was a hollow threat, but the only one these people would respond to.

  When no one moved, I pointed the sword at a random person. “My mother or you die.”

  It took me a second to realize he was looking past me.

  Realization came half a second too late.

  I had barely moved when a blow hit me in the back of the head. The world spun as I sailed across the throne room, Truheart clattered to the ground and the world faded for a moment.

  “WHAT I suggest is walking in the front door,” I said to Adamas.

  “I thought we weren’t speaking of suicide,” he replied.

  “If I am unarmed, they would let me in, at the very least to have the king kill me himself.” I turned to Olim. “Right?”

  She nodded slowly. “But what chance do you have unarmed against the Wolf King?”

  “I am never unarmed. Truheart is bound to my soul. Where I am, it will come.”

  “Fine, you can get into the throne room with your weapon. What next?”

  “You said they crave power,” I asked Olim. “Any Power?” She nodded. “Would they steal?” Another nod. “So if I walked in with something valuable, the guards would steal it instead of turning it over?”

  “Yes, but what difference would that make?”

  “YOU THINK you can kill me?”

  The world came back instantly.

  “You think it’s that easy?”

  “Seemed a possibility,” I muttered, rolling onto my back.

  “You are going to beg me to kill you when I am done,” he said, raging over me. I could see the blood dripping down his abdomen, the wound itself closing up in front of my eyes. “Death will be a blessing from the pain I am about to inflict on you.”

  “I did think it was that easy,” I said, ignoring his rant.

  He paused, his head cocking in confusion. “What?”

  “You asked. I did think it would be that easy killing you. After all, your guards let me in armed with a weapon. I simply assumed any king with such lazy security would be easy to dispatch.”

  “Gaston!”

  The crowd parted as a bull of a man stepped forth. He was captain of the guard and the man who had searched me when I was led in. Rather vigorously, if I am being honest, but I am beginning to see that this behavior isn’t sexual in nature but a display of dominance, just as the Wolf King had said. If I was what Kane referred to as a straight guy, I suppose such groping would disturb me, but honestly, I was too concerned with other things to worry about a stray hand or two.

  Gaston snapped to attention. “Sire?”

  “I ordered this whelp to be searched thoroughly before he was brought to me.”

  Whelp?

  “We did, my lord. He had nothing on him.”

  “Not true,” I said, locking my gaze with Gaston’s. “Lying to your king? Tsk, tsk.”

  The Wolf King looked at me and then back to his captain. “Nothing?”

  Gaston sighed and reached into his pockets. “He had nothing but these gems, which I took as tribute to my greatness.”

  A dozen pieces of amber sat in his gloved hand.

  It took a second for the Wolf King to recognize them for what they were.

  It was his turn to be a half second too late.

  The gems burst off Gaston’s palm, beams strafing the room in an orderly, rapid-fire pattern that had the crowd stampeding in a disordered tangle toward the front exit. Gaston’s right hand made it halfway to his sword before one of the ambers blurred across the room, executed a tight turn, and hurtled back at his wrist. The sound of bone snapping echoed throughout the chamber.

  The Wolf King lunged forward and up, trying to swipe the gemlings out of the air. But they were too small and moving too fast for him to make contact. I could hear a formation of guards approaching down the hall and knew we were running out of time.

  Now for part two.

  “ASSUMING THE Wolf King and whatever his guards are can’t sense my ambers in their rest state, what do you intend to do once you’re in the throne room?” Adamas asked, no longer challenging me but curious.

  “Once I am in the throne room, I would be past the magical defenses surrounding the castle.”

  I again looked to Olim.

  “Oh, that is clever,” she said, walking around the table to me. “Roll your sleeve up.”

  I pulled back my shirtsleeve, revealing my bare arm.

  “Some spells can open a door to a cache dimension. If the rest of the gems wait there….”

  “I am no spellcaster,” I reminded her.

  “Oh trust me, I didn’t assume you were one. But even the most complex spells can be cast by very simple methods, if you know how.”

  NOW, STANDING in the throne room amid chaos, I rolled up my sleeve and exposed the rune Olim had painted on my forearm with a quill. After summoning Truheart to my hand, I rested the blade against one shoulder, grasped it near its point, and began to trace the lines of the sigil, drawing blood as I went.

  The Wolf King’s head turned to me the very moment blood dripped as if he could smell it.

  “Stop him!” he cried out, but there was far too much chaos for anyone to know what he was talking about. He leapt across the room at me as my blade turned and twisted along the lines, finally returning to my starting point. As the connection was made, the blood began to glow. A high-pitched sound coming from my wound filled the room.

  There was an explosion of light, and Adamas and the rest of the Crystal Court were floating above me.

  A beam of pure light lashed out and struck the Wolf King across his snout, knocking him out of the air and across the throne room. “Bad dog,” Adamas said as the other gems moved to secure the room.

  The Wolf King got up, growling as he stared at Adamas. “You dare?”

  “That depends,” Adamas asked, floating above the ruler. “Are you responsible for handing over an efreet to anyone in the past few weeks?”

  It was not the question the Wolf King was expecting. “You’re talking about the one I gave the changeling? Yes, it was mine, why?”

  Several beams of light burst from Adamas, striking down half-a-dozen men where they stood. “Then, in fact, I do dare.”

  The Wolf King let loose his challenge roar, designed to paralyze his foes in their tracks.

  Adamas floated there in silence, allowing the other king to finish completely.

  “Done?” Adamas asked.

  And then he projected the roar, amplified by ten, back at the king.

  I covered my ears, although that did nothing to stop my bones vibrating from the sound. Whereas the Wolf King was limited by his lung capacity, Adamas was not.

  At first the deep, echoing sound seemed to have no effect on the e
vil king. However, as the seconds went on, he cringed away and then stumbled a step backward. My head felt like it was going to explode because the roar was so long. I screamed for Adamas to stop, but there was no way he could hear me over the noise.

  I really thought he had lost his mind for a moment.

  The roar finally stopped, but the ringing in my ears sounded just as loudly, fading slightly after a few seconds. When I looked up, the Wolf King was cowering in one corner, his eyes wide with terror.

  “You’re right,” I said but most likely yelled because I could in no way hear myself. “Your roar does cause people to soil themselves.”

  He looked down and saw the growing wetness in his pants.

  That seemed to snap him out of his shock. He shook his head and then took off out of the room in a blur. He knocked over several of his own people who were trying to escape the ambers’ wrath and fled down the hallway.

  “Get Olim!” I called out to Adamas as I followed the Wolf King. If Adamas had anything to say back, I couldn’t hear since my hearing was still gone.

  No one stopped me when I chased the Wolf King deeper into the castle. People were running around in chaos, some in fear, others in anger. But most, instead of fleeing, took the time to attack each other. A thousand personal arguments had bubbled up into actual fights when the status quo was upset. Instead of trying to stop me or help their king, they were taking the opportunity to dish out their own revenge on whomever had wronged them.

  I realized that this is exactly how the Dark took my mother’s kingdom.

  All Puck had to do was insinuate that the Dark were unhappy and thinking of attacking, and my mother ordered set after set of barbaric rules that only made the Dark resent us more. Instead of hearing their grievances, we oppressed them until it took almost nothing for the changeling to convince them to attack us. I tried to push all these thoughts out of my mind as the wolf leapt over a banister and dove into the lower levels of the castle.