Avalyne Series 01: The Queen of Carleon

by Linda Thackeray

  Arianne had never seen him in battle but she doubted that she would forget it. He was magnificent in his fury. He moved far swifter than any warrior, man or elf, a perfect engine of limbs that moved with skill and coordination. He laid waste to Berserkers that came at him with their brutish weapons, stopping their blows with the sword before thrusting the dagger into their bodies to end the threat of them once and for all.

  Another came at him from the right and Dare dropped low enough to avoid the swing that would have taken his head off before turning around and stabbing his dagger deep into the creature’s leg. The Berserkers howled in pain before Dare completed their battle by running him through with his sword. Throwing his fist back, he stopped in its tracks the Berserkers coming at him from behind, causing the creature to stagger slightly before Dare spun around and sliced open the Berserker’s throat with his dagger.

  ‘Finish it!’ Syphia shouted at one of her shape shifter minions, reminding Arianne that the ritual was not ended simply interrupted because Dare had arrived.

  ‘No!’ She wailed, refusing to allow this terrible thing to happen, not when they were so close to salvation.

  The shape shifters resumed their chanting and Arianne felt that same terrible pain coursing through her, cutting short any protestations she might have about the ceremony. She threw her head back and uttered another blood curdling scream of exquisite agony as the invasive spirit entered her body.

  The panic that ripped through Dare when he heard her scream was a sensation like nothing he had ever known. It made him forget everything around him, filled him with a cold rage that made the Berserkers seem inconsequential. Putting everything he had into reaching her, Dare cut a swathe of blood and bone through the obstacles preventing him from reaching his wife.

  ‘Aeron! Help Arianne!’ He shouted at the same time.

  No sooner than he had said those words, an arrow sliced through the air and ended the shape shifter’s chanting just as Arianne’s scream diminished into guttural cries of agony. Blood spurted from the shape shifter’s neck as he landed hard on the floor. Another arrow flew over her head and struck the other shape shifters participating in the ritual. The accuracy and swiftness of the delivery could only be the skill of one person.

  The pain stopped long enough for Arianne to regain some of her senses and as the aftershocks of pain subsided, she craned her neck to see Aeron renewing his assault of arrows upon Syphia’s minions from the other side of the courtyard. At his side was Melia and together they made a formidable team as they killed off the shape shifters conducting Syphia’s ritual one by one.

  ******

  In the midst of all this fighting was Tully Furnsby.

  The imperative for the others had been to save Arianne and while Tully was equal to the task, he had another reason for reaching the Queen. Where Arianne was, he would find Syphia.

  Even after everything Celene had told him about Syphia’s deception, Tully still could not believe that the woman he had shared the past seven years of marriage with was a phantom. He knew that he had to see her for himself for it to become real for him. At present, it felt like a nightmare from which he could not awaken, the same one he had experienced since he returned to the farm all those years ago and found Keira’s broken body after the Disciples were done with her.

  He moved through the melee, ignored by Berserkers and shape shifters, like an unnoticed shadow because that was exactly how he felt. His insides had been scooped out and what was left was hollow and intangible as he moved through the courtyard, beyond the arrows and blades flying, beyond the blood and screams, beyond his friends or the creatures they battled. All he saw was the thing that had pretended to be his wife.

  ‘Keira!’ He called out when he was near enough and her head mounted on that serpentine neck, swung in his direction. He had no idea what he intended to accomplish by this confrontation but he knew he had to see her. Before this all came to a terrible, brutal end, he had to understand why she had done this to him.

  The Queen Primordial stared at him for a moment, as if he were some nuisance she had forgotten and her face revealed something familiar, something he had grown accustomed to seeing these last seven years. Puzzlement. There were times when she had looked at him as if she had no idea what he was on about and Tully had explained away her confusion as the result of the Burrowers on her brain. It was only logical that she experienced some disorientation after the poison her set her mind on fire.

  Now he understood the real reason for it. Her puzzlement was because it was all new to her, because it had all been part of a role she was playing.

  As she brought her head within inches of his, he saw her lips pull back into a cruel smile once her surprised had withered. His stomach clenched in disgust at the sight of her, at the lovely face he’d looked into, now cut with serrated teeth and eyes that were more insect than human staring back at him. Her hair swam about her like eels swirling about in dark water and he recoiled when strands of it, caressed his shoulder.

  ‘My husband,’ she said the word like a taunt, ‘how nice to see you.’

  ‘Where is my wife’s body?’ Tully demanded, ignoring her words. He had trouble looking into her face but forced himself to do so because he needed his answers. ‘Where did you leave her?’

  ‘Is that really so important?’ She asked, amused by the request.

  ‘It is to me,’ he bit back. ‘I want my wife to at least have a burial. She deserves that after what you took from her.’

  ‘What I took from her?’ Syphia snorted, staring at him with narrowed eyes. ‘I did not kill her and I certainly did not put her at risk to be killed by Balfure’s servants. You did that.’ She pointed out, drawing blood by the accusation.

  Tully blinked, trying to force away the anguish at knowing she was right. He had been the reason for Keira’s torture and now it seemed; her death. ‘That may be so,’ he said quietly, refusing to give this beast any more amusement then she already had at his expense. ‘But I want to know where you left her so that she can be mourned at least.’

  ‘Then you shall be disappointed,’ she replied, her smile widening with cruelty. ‘I tossed her bloodied carcass somewhere in the wood. I buried her in the Green but I could not be certain if I had put her into the ground deep enough. There was so much blood and any animal with a nose for meat, could have found her.’

  Tully swallowed thickly and his eyes moistened in grief. His poor Keira. How he had failed her. ‘Was all of it a game to you?’ He whispered softly, uncertain that she would have heard him over the sound of clanging weapons.

  ‘It was not all terrible,’ the serpent hair stroked his cheek and he tried not to flinch. ‘I must admit that there were moments when I rather enjoyed playing the housewife. You certainly saw no difference in the bedroom. You know,’ she said with smile and her face seemed to shift, her features taking on Keira’s with more detail once more. ‘You can have her back.’

  Tully’s eyes flew open and he stared at her. ‘What do you mean?’

  Even as he asked, he knew. He supposed he should have expected this particular carrot to be dangled before his face. Why not? She had violated every other part of him. Why not this too?

  ‘Swear allegiance to me and you can have her back again,’ Syphia explained, her hair drawing her closer to him, like arms embracing him. ‘I can be her again. I can take on any shape that I please and if it pleases you, I can be Keira. We can even live in the Green. You and I can raise our baby,’ she gestured to Arianne who was struggling against the ropes that held her tied to the altar, fighting the shape shifters restraining her. ‘Wouldn’t you like that Tully, I can give you so many children that we’d be the envy of everyone in the Green.’

  ‘And what would I have to do?’ Tully asked, his tone flat and lifeless. ‘What would I have to do to make all this happen?’

  ‘Kill him,’ she gestured to Dare who was fighting his way through the Berserkers. ‘Kill him and watch him die as you should have done when he t
urned up on your doorstep seven years ago. Give him to his fate, the one you thwarted by giving him refuge. You exchanged his life for Keira’s. Why do you give him your allegiance when he was the one who brought the Disciples down on Keira?’

  More tears ran down his cheeks because he would have done so many thing differently that night if he had known the price he would have to pay for his act of charity. He wiped his eyes with his sleeve and stared into her face. ‘Because he is my friend and he didn’t kill Keira. I did.’

  Without another word, Tully pulled out the blade hidden in his sleeve and slashed Syphia across the face.

  The Queen Primordial uttered a scream of pain as she reeled back, her cheek marred by a deep cut that spilled dark blood over her chin. When she lunged down at him again, her eyes were blazing with red fury and her mouth had widened like the maw of a gaping abyss. The teeth had come into view again, sharp and jagged.

  Tully closed his eyes and let the end come.

  ******

  Tamsyn had been fighting along side of Kyou and Dare, using his sword to dispatch the seemingly endless number of Berserkers converging on them when he saw through the sea of fighting bodies, the sight of Tully Furnsby standing before Syphia. The magii had lost track of the young farmer and cursed himself for his distraction. Realising the need to get through quickly, he finally used his magii powers and flung the Berserker coming at him aside. He had not fought a Primordial since the war with Mael and had been reserving his strength to combat Syphia. However, now that he saw the farmer of the Green confronting his wife, he cursed his foolishness at not seeing this eventuality.

  Of course he’d confront her, Tamsyn told himself. After seven years, what else could he do?

  However, his realisation came to late because he saw Syphia open her jaws and Tamsyn knew what was coming even before she expelled a deadly column of green fire from her throat that consumed Tully where he stood. The farmer did not even scream but the jet of heat created a roar that caught everyone’s attention as they saw one of their number disintegrate before their eyes. Flesh, blood and bone vanished in an instant and there was nothing left by the charred remains on the courtyard floor.

  Time seemed to freeze as every member of the Circle stared.

  Dare’s reaction was an anguished cry of rage which he used to swing his blade against the neck of a Berserker, taking its head clean off its shoulder. The head spun in the air twice before hitting the floor with a sickly squelch. Meanwhile Aeron and Melia to renew their attack on the shifters around Arianne, firing arrows and bolts, one after each other to ensure that there was no opportunity to resume the ritual to resurrect Mael. He saw Celene and Ronen making their way cross the floor, trying to reach Arianne as Dare had been while Kyou guarded the king’s back.

  Which left Syphia to him.

  Tamsyn thought of Tully, thought of the young farmer who had stepped outside of his isolated world to give Carleon its king when it was all possible to lose him before he had even the chance to fight Balfure. Tully deserved better than to lose his wife, not just once but twice in a single lifetime. He had deserved better than to become Syphia’s final victim because rest assured after his death, Tamsyn was not allowing another to die at her hands.

  Allowing emotion to guide his actions for the first time in too long, Tamsyn raised his staff and delivered a blast of power at Syphia. The staff glowed with amber light before exploding outward, moving across the air like a fireball and striking her dead centre. The force of it flung her backwards, lifting her off her clawed feet and away from Arianne and the altar upon which the Queen of Carleon was trapped.

  Syphia’s enormous bulk crushed the wall upon which she had landed. The construction groaned at the impact and when the Primordial was able to move again, streams of loosened mortar rained down upon her from the ceiling. Large fragments came away with her body as she pulled herself free and as she shook away her disorientation, she sought out the source of the attack with thunderous rage.

  ‘WHO DARES!’ She screamed, glaring at her opponents and discovering quickly that she faced a magii. She scuttled forward on her six legs, meeting the approaching wizard half way.

  ‘It matters not,’ Tamsyn declared hurling another volley of magic at her. ‘You time is at an end just the same!’

  Syphia reacted by picking up a broken piece of column and hurling it at the oncoming blast. The amber orb of power exploded the thick marble construction, sending chunks of rock and dust in all directions. Her legs bowed slightly and she jumped, closing the distance between herself and the wizard until they were only a few feet apart.

  ‘I suppose not, child of Enphilim,’ she retorted and opened her mouth breathe another jet of greenish flame from her mouth.

  Tamsyn leapt out of the way but the green flame turned to ash the Berserker behind him as completely as Tully had met his end.

  ******

  With the shape shifters restraining her being felled by Aeron and Melia’s arrows and bolts, Arianne had succeeded in working one of her wrists free after her constant struggles. Strapped to the altar, unable to defend herself, she knew that if she did not free herself of this predicament, Dare and the others would die trying to reach her. She needed to remove herself as a liability so that they could ably defend themselves against Syphia and her minions.

  Once her hand was free, she was able to move just a little more and was able to reach at shape shifter who had collapsed on top of her altar after one of Areon’s arrows had killed it. Straining as far as she was able to reach, the Queen of Carleon felt the ropes digging into her wrists, cutting into her wrist and tearing her flesh. Gritting her teeth, she ignored the pain as her fingers extended outward as far as she could manage it, until they finally made contact with the fletching and gripped its feathers as tightly as she could.

  Pulling it free of the body it was imbedded, she ignored the revulsion at the blood that spattered against her cheek when she used the sharp edge of its quiver to cut through the rope binding her other wrist. Arianne worked as quickly as she could, aware that while Tamsyn kept Syphia busy, she had a window of opportunity to escape. Once her wrists were free, she sat up and began working on her feet.

  Realising the most crucial part of her plan was attempting an escape, Syphia shouted at her minions. ‘Capture the queen! Do not let her escape!’

  Arianne freed her feet just as she saw a number of Berserkers running in her direction. She rolled off the table and took refuge beneath the marble altar, hoping to remain hidden long enough to make good her escape. Across the courtyard, she saw Dare who was still battling shape shifters and for a brief second, his eyes drifted to her and he realised she was trapped.

  ‘Arianne is pinned!’ He shouted to anyone who could hear.

  Melia who had taken up position along a partially collapsed staircase at the far end of the courtyard with Aeron, heard the king’s call and her eyes darted immediately to Arianne who was hiding under the altar, surrounded by Berserkers. Everyone else was engaged with opponents of their own and were in no position to reach the queen. Celene, Ronen, Kyou and Dare were cutting down Berserkers and shape shifters while Tamsyn did battle with Syphia herself. If the Berserkers were to reach Arianne, Melia had no doubt that she would be taken from here until Syphia could retrieve her again.

  ‘Arianne!’ Melia called out, hoping that the queen could her through all this noise.

  Arianne’s eyes widened and Melia saw her searching for the source of her name. A few seconds later, their gazes met and Melia knew that Arianne was listening.

  ‘Be prepared to run!’ Melia instructed and raised her crossbow so that Arianne would understand what she intended.

  When Arianne nodded in answer, Melia turned to Aeron and exhaled a deep breath. ‘Are you as good with that thing as they say?’ She asked, knowing full well he was. His reputation as an archer had no equal anywhere in Avalyne.

  ‘I have been known to be proficient,’ Aeron retorted pulling two arrows from his bow and taking
aim at the Berserkers. ‘Are you?’ He cast a sidelong glance at her with a brow raised.

  ‘I did not shoot you, did I?’ Melia replied sweetly and did the same with her crossbow.

  ‘I will take that as a yes,’ he replied.

  ‘Good,’ she almost smiled and then spoke in a more serious tone. ‘We need to clear her a path out of there.’

  ‘Agreed,’ Aeron nodded. ‘You take the left and I will take the right.’

  ‘I follow your lead Prince,’ Melia answered and raised her crossbow to take aim.

  Working in tandem, they rained down a deadly barrage on the Berserkers near the altar, each arrow striking their mark, one after the other. The foul creatures fell to the ground like flies, their corpses joining the already numerous bodies on the ground.

  Suddenly, realising her efforts to secure her prisoner were being compromised by the two archers, Syphia who had blasted another wave of heat at Tamsyn, turned her head in their direction and glared at the two. Aeron saw her jaws widened and guessed a split second before she expelled her deadly breath, what was coming at them.

  ‘Look out!’ He cried out as a blast of flame came rushing at them.

  Melia looked up in time to feel Aeron’ arms around her waist, pulling her off the edge of the staircase as the ball of green fire came surging towards them. They both crashed heavily unto the ground, their fall broken by the dead bodies beneath them. There was little time to recover however from their near escape because Syphia was hurling more flame at them. Once more, Aeron grabbed her and they were running for cover, barely avoiding the cascading waves of burning bile that not only set the ground on fire but with it any Berserkers in the vicinity.

  ‘I think we upset her,’ Melia said breathing hard as they took refuge behind a column.