by Candy Crum
"Fine," she said, placing a kiss on his bare chest. "You win."
"Oh, my. I didn't think I'd ever hear those words come out of your mouth," he said, moving to climb out of bed.
"Yeah, and I doubt you will again. After all, you're a child half the time, so enjoy it."
Arryn quickly climbed out of bed, grabbing clothes as she stumbled across the room in the near-darkness. The queen had given her a new casual wardrobe, made of the softest, most breathable material she'd ever worn. The fabric felt almost like wearing nothing. Weightless and airy, she didn't have to worry about heat. She had also been gifted proper attire for when they were ready to go to battle, but she planned to save that for later—no need to wear it just yet.
"So, what did Echo see?" she asked.
"I'll tell you when we get to the queen's chambers. I hate to wake her, but waiting would be a mistake in this case."
"Oooh, so mysterious." She joked because she was worried about what might happen. She needed to find time to meditate. For the first time since she'd initially been told about it, she felt it might be necessary and help her.
After lacing up her sandals, she pulled the robes down and stood, admiring herself in the moonlight. It was strange to wear something dresslike, but it was incredibly comfortable for Kemet with its hot climate.
They quickly left their room, knocking on doors as they made their way down the hall—Bast's, Cleo's, Samuel's, and then Amon's, though they avoided Corrine's and Amara's. Not that it mattered.
Amara opened her door, fully dressed. "Is it time? Is it happening?"
Arryn was shocked by the determination on the young girl's face. "No. Not time yet. We got news from Echo, and we're going to talk to the queen. You should go back to bed."
"With all due respect, no."
Arryn's brows lifted. She was taken aback by the fierceness behind the simple statement. "No?"
"No. I plan to see this to the end. That bastard killed my parents. I'm going to kill him." Amara took a step toward the door to emphasize her words.
Arryn inhaled, prepared to give her a speech, but she couldn't find the words. Instead, she said, "You understand how dangerous that will be, right? That you might not survive?"
"What do I have to live for? If I survive, I'll have all the time in the world to figure that out. If I die, then I died fighting for my family. You're here from half a world away. Something tells me you understand me better than you'd like to admit."
"She does," Corrine said from behind them. Arryn turned to see the young girl rub her eyes as she walked into the hall. "I love you, but you'd be a hypocrite if you told her no. She's thirteen and an orphan, just like you thought you were. How mad did you get when the Founder showed up in the Dark Forest and took Laurel instead of you? How mad were you when you weren't taken seriously?"
Arryn growled for a third time that morning. "That isn't fair, Corrine. You know that. I was young, and I didn't know any better. I do now."
"I don't mean to butt in," Cleo said. A smile spread across her face. "Never mind. Yes, I do. You train fighters from the time they're eight and let them get the shit kicked out of them when they're twelve by adults! This girl is old enough that she would have been in advanced training for over a year by now. I feel like the Arryn I met a few months ago would have said, 'Hell, yes!'"
Cleo wasn't wrong. Training in the Dark Forest was rough, but it wasn't war. Then again, when war came to them, young teenagers went into the trees to help defend the Forest while the younger children went with the elderly to be by the river.
Arryn nodded. "Fine." To the thirteen-year-old girl who was only a couple of inches shorter than she was, she said, "Where we come from, there are trials. If you can kick the ass of a fighter of my choosing, you can go."
"The versuch," Corrine told Amara. "You remember me telling you about that?"
Amara nodded. "Fine. Agreed. And if I win, I get to go? No tricks?"
Arryn shook her head. "No tricks. If there's one thing I'm good at, it's keeping promises."
With a single curt nod, Amara closed her door and fell in line behind Arryn, close to Corrine. Everyone was silent on the walk to the queen's room before Cathillian said something.
"Do you really think that's a good idea? The versuch? She won't be able to pass that. As far as we know, she has no fighting skills."
"Then she won't be able to go," Arryn replied.
"You know I love you, right?" Cathillian said. She eyed him suspiciously as she nodded. "Good, then you won't kill me when I tell you I think you're being overprotective. You've been different since we arrived in Kemet, and I think it's because you got worried you'd lose Corrine—or yourself, and then Corrine would lose you. You're pushing your emotions off on the girl."
"I'm trying to protect her, not suffocate her."
"I know she's thirteen, but where you come from and where I—" Arryn shot him a dirty look, and he held up his hands. "We. Where we come from, thirteen means something completely different. In Arcadia, everyone around you was busy buying the best and most expensive gown and pins to put all over it. They were worried about school and what boy they liked. In the Dark Forest, we trained for war. You know that."
"Here it’s no different," Bast whispered as they strode down the halls. "We trained from a young age, even though our grandfather wasn't happy about it. Our mother wasn't either at first, but we won in the end. The boys begin to train young, and now the girls do, too. Kemet is full of remnant, so it's important everyone knows how to protect themselves. They also need to know how to build and sustain themselves.
"This is a matter of honor for her, not just 'my mommy and daddy are gone, and I want to punch the big bad man who did it.' Think of what she went through to escape. Think of how she escaped. She's much stronger than you're giving her credit for."
Arryn sighed. It had become abundantly clear that she was in the minority, and she understood why. She'd never allowed Corrine to run headfirst into battle, but over time, after she'd proven herself time and again, Arryn had loosened the reins. Corrine was incredibly strong, and she was a damn good fighter. Perhaps everyone was right, and she'd lost more of her edge than she thought.
Samuel's story came back to her, and she thought about how he was today. Fearless. Strong. That could have been because he no longer had a living child, but she didn't believe that. He had plenty to live for.
"Fine. The versuch will take place, but it'll be a test. I need to know where she stands in battle. I need to know if she can handle herself or if she needs to be next to one of us."
If that grumpy old fart can get his shit together, so can I.
Six hours wasn't long to sleep when war was coming and magic depended on rest above all else, but Arryn was grateful the queen managed to take it in stride. Waking her in the middle of the night wasn’t their first choice, but since everything had become so time-sensitive, there was no other option.
"Well, good morning," she said, inviting everyone into her chambers. "Please leave the lights off. Find a place to sit. Forgive me for such unqueenlike behavior, but I'm going to lay my ass down because it's the middle of the night. Talk away."
Arryn looked around as everyone piled in, and she couldn't help but stare. The four-poster bed had gauzy white material looped and strung all over the upper rails, and the bedding looked far more intricate than anything she'd seen in Arcadia. The room was full of stone furniture with red and gold silk pillows. On the shelves and tables were vases filled with beautiful, vibrant flowers, and some of the decorations looked ancient.
She badly wanted to inquire about the gold artifacts all over the room, but she kept her mouth shut. While she'd walked by the queen's chambers before with the twins, they hadn't shown her the room. It was everything she imagined royalty would have.
"Forgive the intrusion," Cathillian said, his voice stoic. Arryn found his serious battle-ready side just as attractive as his sense of humor. "Echo returned with news, and I don’t believe it can wait u
ntil morning."
"Thank you for coming," the queen said. "If it weren't for this damned headache, I'd be far more energetic. I apologize if I seem cranky. Please continue."
Corrine's eyes glowed neon-green in the semi-darkness as her hand moved at her side. The queen gasped, and Arryn knew it was because of the heat flowing through her, even from across the room. Within seconds, Corrine's eyes faded to their normal color.
Asim cleared her throat. "Wow. So that's what that feels like." She sat up in bed. "You can turn on the lights now."
Samuel moved to turn on the magitech lights, and Cathillian continued, "From what I can tell from Echo's memories, Zuri's army is a hundred or more miles to the south. It looks like the report of a thousand or more men is closer to accurate than a few hundred. If I had to guess, that little trick he pulled down south with the captured beast earned him a lot of friends. Unfortunately, it came at a cost to the country.
"Farther south, by my estimation four or five days' ride from here, the beasts are getting braver. Echo covered several miles and spotted at least ten. We know nothing about those things other than they're bloodthirsty and destructive. Based on that alone, I hate to use the G-word again, but I'd guess when Zuri and his men killed the larger one right in front of the portal, the others smelled the blood and came through. It was an act of war."
"Makes sense ta me," Samuel said. "After all, if ye chum the water, the sharks'll come."
"How do you know anything about sharks, rearick?" Arryn asked with a smile.
He shrugged. "I learned a thing 'r two from the water dwellers on the beach."
She nodded. "I see. Well, he's not wrong. I'm not sure if they have a sense of loyalty to one another. It might not be that—an act of war, I mean. It might, however, just be that they've been searching for a fight, testing the area, but they found nothing. When Zuri attacked, they realized there's a fight on the other side. Or, they could just be testing the waters for something even bigger. We don't have a clue."
"I agree," Bast said. "We can sit around and guess all day, but it won't do us any good. We don't need to know why. We just need to know where and when. Our most immediate issue is Zuri."
"Hmm..." Arryn mumbled, shaking her head. "I hate to say it, but I think we have a bigger issue than that."
"What do you mean?" Asim asked.
"Everything we know says that Zuri's been lying to people and luring them into his ranks, right? Basically, you're the queen from hell. You abandoned your people and locked them out, and you're fine with sacrificing them to the big bad demons to the south while you sit in your cozy walled-in city. Does that sum it up?"
The queen nodded. "More or less. Not all of them are innocent. I've received reports of an increase in thefts down south. That was one more reason why I decided to close off the city. If one of those thieving bastards found out about our plans and possessed the same type of magic we use, they could sack the city in minutes without running into a single guard."
Arryn nodded. "Okay. So, some of the people in Zuri's army have been led astray, and we have no idea who is who. If we go out there with our magic and magitech blazing, we're bound to kill innocents. Farmers. Clothiers. Fishermen. Mothers. Fathers. People who believe their queen turned her back on them and have resorted to joining an army they normally wouldn't have to save their families from monsters Zuri has convinced them are coming to kill everyone."
Asim sighed as the weight of that knowledge settled on her shoulders. "This makes things much harder. A direct attack is impossible."
"We've run into this issue before," Cleo said. "In Arcadia."
"We did, but it was different. All of them were innocent. Scarlett had everyone under her spell. It was easy because we didn't have to pick and choose. We didn't have to play judge and jury to every single person we attacked. We went in knowing we had to use minimal force. Knock them out. This..." Arryn paused. "This will be so much harder. Some of those men are awful, like Zuri. Others are good."
"What about picking their images out of Zuri's guys' minds?" Amara asked. "You did that with me. Can you do that with them?"
"We can, but it will only give us a few," Amon said, his deep, calm voice washing over the room. "Zuri's men were captured or fled here before his army became what it is now. There are many they wouldn't know."
"Do you have messenger birds?" Cathillian asked.
The queen nodded. "We do. We have close to one hundred of them."
"Good," he said. "It might not help, but at least anyone who can be saved will be saved. Echo can carry a large bag with many letters, and she can fly much farther and much faster than any other bird. We'll send her farther south to drop off as many as she can to villages and single houses. Since she was down there today, she'll know where to drop them."
The queen looked more hopeful. "Yes! We can tell them it's too dangerous to stay south of Jadid and to seek refuge in the north. We can find more housing for them. If word spreads that I haven't put the city on hard lockdown, maybe some of those who Zuri turned will get out while they can."
Asim quickly wrote a letter on parchment before calling for Faraj. He came into the room, and she instructed him to have the soldiers work on them. They were all to say what was on that note.
As Faraj turned to leave, Cathillian stopped him. "Can you show me where the aviary is? I can tell the messenger birds where to fly based on what I’ve seen through Echo’s eyes."
Faraj nodded and escorted Cathillian out of the room. The situation was fluid and ever-changing. It kept Arryn wondering what would happen next. Normally, she found that exciting, even though she took battle very seriously. With so much on the line and innocents at risk, she wanted to make sure they did everything they could to save anyone and everyone they could.
Her time was almost up.
She needed to reconnect to her magic and soon. Though she could use it, she’d become almost afraid of it. Afraid of being too weak and failing, and that could end up getting someone killed.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Zuri stood looking out at the unbelievable number of people in his camp. John's messenger had caught up to the women, children, and elderly who fled north toward the city. Instead, he had them go to a town roughly fifteen miles north of them. From there, word quickly spread of what happened, and more people joined the fight.
While a good portion of the people in his army had been loyal to the crown, quite a few had become skeptical since she’d locked down the city. No one knew what her plans were, and to keep them from the safety of the city walls was betrayal in their eyes.
Anyone who might have held out hope and believed the queen had good intentions was blinded by their fear of what had happened in John's small community. That fear overshadowed common sense, and that was more than enough for Zuri. He didn't give a damn if anyone other than his core group was loyal. He just needed their strength to get him into the city and to the queen.
One thing he knew about Asim—the one thing everyone knew about her—was that she wasn't the type to sit on the sidelines during battle. Zuri knew she'd be there, and he was glad about that. He wanted revenge for what her men did to his son. What she'd ordered them to do to his son. His death was on her hands, and since he had no idea who’d swung the sword, he'd have to do the next best thing.
Kill the bitch responsible for ordering it.
"What are we supposed to do?" Asher asked. "We have no experience commanding an army this damn big. We weren't planning for a turnout like this."
Zuri nodded. "Exactly. That means we have options." He stood, looking around at everyone sharpening weapons and inspecting armor. The women were busy patching anything that needed to be fixed, and the children were busy making sure everyone had drinks. "We need to figure out who here has magic and who doesn't. We need to separate magicians from archers from infantry."
"All right," Asher said, pursing his lips. "And then what? Once we get everyone sorted, do we head north? Because I gotta say, the longer we si
t here, the more it feels like a huge risk. We have no idea if that was the only monster that came out of that portal."
"I know, but it's a risk either way. If we stay here, we risk the monsters finding us. The reason a lot of these people fled Jadid in the first place was that they believed living in smaller numbers meant less visibility. Now here we are with nearly two thousand. Those who were already established away from the city, like the farmers, were set, but everyone else has to be getting anxious, just like we are.
"Still, going north too soon could result in a catastrophe. We need to do this right. Think about what this could mean if we do."
"Trust me, I've thought a lot about it," Asher said. "Jadid would be ours."
Zuri nodded. "I know my mind has been scattered since losing my son. I focused on my revenge, and then on getting to safety and away from those red fucks down south, and then back to revenge, and then claiming a city. Regardless of how lost I am without him, my aim is true. That bitch will pay for what she's done, and I will sacrifice damn near anyone to see it happen. Are you with me?"
There was a brief pause before Asher nodded. "To the end. You know that."
"Good," Zuri said. "Let's start breaking everyone up and getting them into position. Once we have done that, we'll move north."
It took several hours, but Asher and a few others from Zuri's core group were able to fan out and break the men into sections. No matter what other talents an individual had, if he was a well-trained magician, he was placed with the magicians. Those with less control over their abilities were sectioned off by other strengths—fighting, archery, stealth.
Zuri's men were able to group seven hundred and fifty well-trained magicians in various schools, though eighty percent or more used Kemetian physical magic. Nearly two hundred and fifty were able to use a bow with moderate to excellent accuracy. The rest of the men were fighters with various levels of expertise. A few dozen were retired soldiers, and a few dozen more were scrappers from the streets of some of the larger towns up north. The rest were mediocre or relatively useful in hand-to-hand combat or with weapons.
