“What is to come…” she repeated. It was not a question, but he understood it as such. In fact, Erella still tried to comprehend the extent of Palius’ connections and his attempted murder of a state official, a lord.
“I thought Dahken Cor to be the greatest danger to the Shining West in centuries. I thought he would bring down Aquis and everything it stood for in his challenge to Garod and the accepted order. I feared for your power and the power of the priests over the people of our nations. I know now I was wrong; your reign is not about power.
“I found Cor too resilient, too difficult to kill. After the failure to assassinate him at Fort Haldon, I sought an ally. Years ago, I uncovered a spy here in the palace who used a device, a mirror to contact his master on Losz.”
“Who?” she asked with trepidation. Erella was shocked, and she found herself growing numb with each confession Palius made.
Palius paused long, his eyes searching her face. He sighed and said, “Sovereign Nadav.”
“The Loszian Emperor!” Erella gasped.
“Yes, my queen. Cor had already gallivanted through his lands and killed one of his lords, so I thought he would be a willing ally. I explained the Dahken’s plans to train his people and invade Losz. I besought him to raise a small army, cross the Spine and attack Fort Haldon to rid us of a common enemy. While Lord Dahken Cor fended off the invaders, a small force of our loyal soldiers would end all of the Dahken once and for all.”
“Palius, I -“
“Please, my queen,” he interrupted. “Let me finish.”
“I can hear no more!” she screamed at him. She stood from his bed and turned away from him, and Palius could hear the soft sound of her crying.
“You must listen!” he said, raising his voice as loud as he could with the rumbling of the phlegm and blood in his throat. “Nadav plans invasion of the Shining West, and he has his own Dahken to lead his armies.”
“Palius,” she said, and her voice was hard as granite. She turned, and he could see the tears that streamed freely down her lined face. “I will pray for your soul. Rest now, and may Garod accept you.”
Queen Erella of Aquis left him then, and as he watched her glide from the room as gracefully as she had come, Palius knew it was the last time he would see her in his life.
26.
“Marya can heal,” Keth explained. “I’m not completely sure how it works, but by pressing her own wound to another’s she can heal both. We’ve tried it a few times after she discovered the power, and we’ve figured out a few things. She must be wounded for it to work, and her blood must mix with the other person’s. It seems to make her weak.
“I didn’t want her to heal me,” he said as he looked over her still form. “I was afraid it would kill her.”
“It didn’t, but she still sleeps,” Cor said. “She saved your life. If she hadn’t done it, you would have died.”
“She may yet die, and I’m not sure I can live with that,” Keth said, lightly touching her cheek.
“I’m sure she’ll be fine,” Cor said. The statement didn’t sound overly confident, but he was fairly certain that if Marya were going to die, she would have already. An idea struck him, but it sounded hollow even to his ears as he voiced it. “If Marya does die, she died to save you. Make her sacrifice worthwhile.”
They had been in the forest for several days before Keth showed signs of improvement. He began to stir and eventually lifted his head and opened his eyes just slightly to try to make out his surroundings. The effort drained him, and his head fell back unmoving for close to another hour before he began asking for water with a parched croak of a voice. Within a few hours he was sitting upright and eating, though he looked exhausted and felt worse.
Later, after Keth seemed more recovered and had taken full stock of their situation, Cor asked, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Keth looked at him uncomprehendingly. “About me and Marya? Or?”
“That she can heal others with her blood,” Cor clarified.
“Oh. Honestly,” Keth said while scratching the back of his head, “it never occurred to me. Perhaps Lord Dahken, if I may be so bold as to say so, you should spend more time with your people instead of looking over drawings and plans.”
Cor’s eyes flashed angrily, and he set his jaw to bite back angry words. He briefly felt the urge to draw steel, an impulse he fought and beat down with consideration of the speaker of the words that had angered him. He saw the look of concern on Keth’s face that perhaps he had gone too far, and Cor used it to soften his own reaction. He held Keth’s gaze for a moment and then dropped his eyes to the ground beneath his feet.
“You are right, Dahken Keth,” he said softly with a sigh. “We will wait here through tomorrow. If Marya is not up and about by the next day, we will have to find a way to hold her on horseback. It may be slow going, but we must start moving again soon. I feel an itch to get back to Fort Haldon as soon as possible.”
“If she still sleeps, she will ride with me,” Keth said. “I’ll hold onto her. We’ll switch out our horse every couple of hours to not be too hard on the beasts.”
It was the last night they slept in the ancient forest. Keth stayed near Marya into the evening hours, eventually arranging his bedroll and moving Marya into it before sliding in next to her. When Cor awoke, he saw their two forms intertwined and snoring loudly. Keth was slow to rise, waking only when the sun was well into the morning sky, and Marya crawled from the bedroll shortly after he. She felt exhausted and weak, hungry and thirsty, but she was overall well and able to travel. It was midday before they emerged from the trees and crossed the disused and overgrown field to again travel the road to Byrverus.
* * *
“Lord Dahken Cor, Her Majesty was most concerned for your well being,” the armored man said. He wore gleaming steel plate from head to toe, shining mirror like in the sunlight and marked with the seals of the queen. “She expected you some days ago. Upon hearing of your arrival, Her Majesty has cleared the court to receive you immediately. I’ve been instructed to bring you to the palace directly.”
“We need no escort to the palace; I know precisely where it is,” Cor responded. It was unfortunate that this man would feel his ire, followed by that of the queen, but Cor was done with having demands placed upon him. “Inform Queen Erella that tonight I will sleep in a bed of my own choosing, and that tomorrow I will come to meet with her.”
“Sir, Her Majesty is unaccustomed to being disobeyed by anyone, especially one of her loyal subjects, peasant or lord.”
“Then inform her that I am unfortunately becoming accustomed to attempts on my life and those I love. Even still, I will not simply walk right into another such trap. I will come at my convenience tomorrow.”
The visor on the man’s plate helm was up, and his face showed a range of emotions that turned from shock to outrage to anger. The four stood before him with wide stances and arms crossed in defiance, and not one of them budged or said another word as they stood and stared him down. Finally, he sighed heavily and his face took on a look of sullen disbelief. He turned and marched back the way he had come.
“Was that wise Lord Dahken?” Keth asked.
“I don’t really care. If the queen or someone in her court is behind the attempts to kill us, marching right into her hands at a time she expects us is the worst thing we can do,” Cor reasoned.
“Wouldn’t they simply hold springing the trap until we arrive tomorrow?”
“Probably,” Cor said, and he turned to show his companions a mischievous smile, “but at least this way we spring the trap when we choose.”
* * *
Queen Erella hurled a vase across her office in unrestrained fury. A host of vile oaths came to her mind, and she desired to say at least one if not all of them. Unused to such language, she hesitated, unsure as to which curse would be the most appropriate under the circumstances. She had to take what satisfaction she could from the frightful crash as the crystal shattered again
st a granite wall, spilling water and flowers across her plush carpet.
This man, this Dahken was the source of so much chaos. She had ruled for a hundred years without so much as a hint of disruption in Aquis and the Shining West, and yet Cor had caused a near total loss of control since the day he was born. He defied her at every turn, yet he had such lofty morals and goals for his people. His very existence and the lack of order it implied had led her greatest and oldest advisor and friend to betray her. It was too much; the Dahken must fall in line with her rule at any cost.
She closed her eyes and lowered her head, breathing deeply over and over in the hopes that Garod may help her find peace. When her heart no longer thudded, and she no longer felt the need to throw breakable objects, Queen Erella of Aquis opened her eyes to behold the two men in front of her. Lord Aidan sat red faced in his chair, outraged, and he looked as if he may burst at any moment. The guard she had dispatched to bring Lord Dahken Cor to the palace stood at attention, though he looked like a puppy that was afraid of being kicked by its master.
“You have no fault in this Captain,” she said to him, and while he still stood straight, relief was apparent in his being. “I will not see Lord Dahken Cor tomorrow as he intends. When he arrives at his convenience, you will show him to the suite we have prepared for him. Make sure another suite is available for the other two. They will sleep there tomorrow night, and I will meet him at a time of my choosing the following morning. You are dismissed.
“Lord Aidan,” she said as the armored man clinked away, “you will now be of the greatest service to Aquis.”
“How may I serve Majesty?” he asked as he lifted his ponderous bulk. The redness of his face had begun to fade, leaving red splotches.
“You will now be in control of Fort Haldon. Lord Dahken Cor is nominally its lord; however, he will answer to you. I will dispatch you to Fort Haldon with the Lord Dahken and several hundred loyal soldiers. You will carry with you a royal edict that will fully explain the situation to Commander Thom once you arrive. Lord Dahken Cor and his people will learn fealty to the crown and Garod, even if it takes years.”
“Yes Majesty,” Aidan said quietly, with a mix of satisfaction and resignation. He stood quietly as she wrote out her commands, and when she was finished, he took them and left her with a bow. Once outside of her chambers, Lord Aidan of Byrverus groaned forlornly.
27.
It was all Palius could do to lie in his plush bed, propped up by many soft pillows, awaiting death. He knew his time was short now; the rumbling wheeze in his chest grew louder and deeper with each breath, and he could scarcely move. He owed one more apology, one more recantation of his sins before his death so that he may meet Garod with a clear conscience. Rasping for breath with every few words, he could not call forth one of the guards outside his chambers and instead rang the small bronze bell. Palius besought the guard to find Lord Dahken Cor with all haste, for he did not know if he could wait any longer.
The dying old man waited, and every minute felt like hours as he watched the sands slip from the top half of his glass to the bottom. The glass held sand enough for twelve hours, and after having watched it spill time for so many years, Palius knew it would again need to be turned in about two hours. He doubted he would have the strength to turn it again when the time came. Palius felt as if he watched his own life slip through the tiny eye in the middle of the glass, and his time would be done once the last grain of sand finally fell.
His outer door opened, pushed in from the outside, and Palius looked that direction, moving only his eyes and not his head, as that would require what felt like massive effort. He expected the gleaming, black armored countenance of Cor, Lord of the Dahken, but instead found the golden haired Thyss of Dulkur entering his chambers. Palius watched her cross the room, sauntering with her arrogant gait toward him to stand several feet from the left side of his bed, arms crossed before her and feet set wide apart defiantly. She was as beautifully dangerous as ever, and he found himself staring at the slight bulge in her abdomen.
“Yes, I am with Cor’s child,” she said, her voice breaking him from his reverie. “What do you want?”
“I called for the Lord Dahken,” Palius rasped, and he had to pause every few words for breath. “Why did he send you?”
“Cor meets with your beloved Queen, and the guard you sent said it was most urgent. I thought it better to come myself,” she replied.
“Very well. Then I must ask you to pass this on to him, for I am afraid I am at my end.”
And as such, Palius told her everything. He explained how he had arranged their attempted murder when they first reached Fort Haldon, as well as the attack upon them as they came back to Byrverus. He told her of his duplicity in colluding with the Loszian Emperor and that several hundred of the men at Fort Haldon were prepared to turn on them when battle was joined against the Loszians. As he spoke, Palius watched her beautiful, bronzed face change from surprise to anger and then seething hatred. He didn’t care if she hated him, or if they all did, so long as she listened.
“But there is one more thing you must know, one more thing you must tell Lord Dahken Cor.”
“I need not hear any more, old man!” Thyss screamed at him. “I will sacrifice you with fire to Hykan, and you may repent to Him in eternal flame!”
“Please, Cor must know!” he pleaded. But she had stepped back to the middle of the room, and Palius didn’t think she could even hear his weak voice. Using the last of his strength, he pushed himself to sit upright and reached his open hand to her in supplication.
Thyss spat phlegm in his direction and raised her arms exultantly, palms open and up toward the ceiling. As she closed her eyes and turned her face upward, she thought she could hear the old man begging for something, his life she assumed. The temperature in the room grew quickly and raw untamed fires burst forth from the bed, igniting Palius’ bed sheets and robe. The entire bed was engulfed in a column of flame, and immensely hot, it burned blue in the center. Despite being near death, Palius experienced pain and suffering unlike anything he’d ever imagined, and it lent him strength to flail his limbs and scream in a most horrific, heart wrenching way.
Mere seconds had passed when the guards threw the doors open to behold Palius barely writhing within the raging inferno. Cries went up of fire within the castle and the need for water, and Thyss merely stood in the center of Palius’ bedroom as he moved no more, feeling the horrible warmth on her body and reveling in the ecstasy of it. She was vaguely aware of people with buckets of water, soldiers and servants alike, attempting futilely to extinguish the flames that now spread to carpets tapestries and drapes.
A set of cold, gauntleted hands grasped Thyss by her upper arms, and the sensation brought her back to consciousness of the here and now. A soldier held her, trying to force her arms down, trying to force her out of the room as it was full of heat, smoke and fire. She jerked away, and the sudden motion broke her free from the metal grip. The guard thought twice about trying to catch her again, and instead he turned and fled toward the open doors.
Thyss held her open palm before her face and blew across it just as she had on the road only a few days ago, but this time a cold wind instead of more fire gusted across the room to extinguish the blaze as easily as if it were a lone candle. The gale left as quickly as it came and with it out the rooms’ open windows went the heat and smoke, leaving a smoking charred ruin where Palius’ massive bed had once been. One could barely make out a blackened fetal form in its center. His hourglass lay shattered on the floor.
With the roar of untamed fire now gone, servants and palace guards slowly filtered into Palius’ chambers to behold the gruesome sight. Over a dozen stared in disgusted awe, silent except for the sounds of their heavy breathing, and many still held buckets of cold water, which they set upon the floor. One, the armored guard who attempted to subdue Thyss and pull her from the room, looked in mixed fear and anger at the golden elementalist. He roughly turned another to f
ace him.
“She did it!” he declared, pointing at Thyss. “Find the queen. Tell her the foreign woman has slain Palius. Go now!”
* * *
Aggravated, Cor sat in a plush chair off to the side in the chamber that served as Queen Erella’s official office. He’d been sitting in the uncomfortably soft seat for over an hour, ever since he arrived for their meeting. When her guards announced him, she made a point of asking him to have a seat while she dealt with any number of seemingly mundane and pointless tasks of state. After a short time, Cor began to fume as he shifted endlessly to find a comfortable way to sit and pass the time. Queen Erella was trying to break him down, weaken him so that she may establish dominance in the fight that was to come. It only angered him.
It seemed that Queen Erella had only one type of clothing in her wardrobe - white robes of the purest and highest silk. Her robes had varying degrees of heraldry, badges of office and symbolism of Garod, Cor supposed depending on the tasks of the day. They always maintained a high degree of dignity and elegance for Aquis ruler. Today she wore the simplest, plain white robes that covered her from foot to neck and a simple single starred tiara as opposed to the unwieldy, golden jeweled crown she wore officially.
Erella had only just called across the room for Cor to come stand before her when a palace guard suddenly burst through her doors with much surprise and shouting from those stationed outside. The man skidded to a halt on her plush carpeting and panted heavily as if he had just run a great distance in his plate and chain armor. Erella’s aged face changed to that of great anger, and Cor could see it flash like lightning in her eyes as she stood from her desk with great strength and presence.
The Cor Chronicles: Volume 02 - Fire and Steel Page 24
