by Ben Alderson
Christine,
My wee friend with an opposite of a wee heart.
Copyright © BEN ALDERSON 2019
This edition published in 2019 by
O FT O M E SP U B L I S H I N G
U N I T E DK I N G D O M
The right of BEN ALDERSON to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real people, alive or dead, is purely coincidental.
Cover Art by Gwenn Danae Cover design by Eight Little Pages
Interior book design by Red Umbrella Graphic Designs
CHRISTINE, MY WEE FRIEND WITH AN OPPOSITE OF A WEE HEART.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
About the Author
DEATH HAD A smell.
It reminded me of the early autumn days on Fa’s farm when the apple trees dropped their fruits. A vile stench would infect the air as the plush red skin of apples turned black, and its once fresh juices spoiled. It was both sweet and sickly. Even the unignorable taste would stick to the back of my tongue, and no matter how many times I coughed, it would never clear. Water couldn’t wash it away. Only time would rid it. And time was not a luxury I had anymore.
Even pressing a cloth over my nose and mouth was a wasted effort.
I walked through the streets of Lilioira, Gordex ahead of me, Marthil by my side, as a silent prisoner. The streets were lined with Gordex’s army of animated dead. Shadowbeings. Hollow lifeless shells of decomposing bodies used as soldiers by the Druid. But they were not to blame for the strong scent that filled the city.
I blamed the overpowering aroma on Gordex’s newer recruits; civilians of Lilioira who had been killed since Gordex’s took over. It took a few days for their organs to decompose within their animated bodies. The black smoke that controlled them seemed to feed off the rotting. But still they stood tall, life like, even though their eyes were glazed over and empty.
I’d learned not to get too close. Not if I wanted to keep my food down. It was vital I didn’t waste my energy source when it had been rare that Gordex provided me with food over the past weeks. I had to play along, act calm. It was how I’d survived this far, and I was not about to give up.
It’d been over three weeks since my companions got away. Three very long, tempestuous weeks. With every blink, I saw the back of Nyah’s head disappear into the dark tunnels in the prison cells. And Hadrian. He’d gotten out with Gallion; there was no telling if he was alive or not. All my worry and anxiety for my friends was what made eating hard. The dull ache within me had become one of my only constants.
Marthil kicked the back of my leg and urged me forward. I shook my head and carried on, burying my thoughts until I was in the safety of my own room.
We’d made it to the main street of the city. It acted as a vein for the entirety of Lilioira, a place that connected each part of the city with small side alleys and walkways. The very same that Hadrian, Emaline and I had been paraded through before Hadrian lost himself to the Heart Magick. It was the first time I’d been out in days. Since I’d fought back during the first outing with Gordex he kept me locked within my room like a well caged animal. I still had the bruises he and Marthil gifted me even days later.
Instead I’d watched from my balcony as Gordex and Marthil took daily walks around Lilioira, making their presences known amongst the survivors. I thought today would be no different until Marthil came knocking for me and demanded I followed.
“Eyes up and smile,” Marthil demanded next to me.
I raised my stare from my boots and examined the street before me. Besides the rows of shadowbeings, the streets were empty of true life. The surviving civilians in the city never left their homes anymore. Behind shuttered windows, they looked out through the slats with hate. At me, at the Druid. They thought I was to blame. That I had a hand in this.
I suppose it didn’t help that I was the one pulling the chain, the long silver tether that connected my wrist to their Queen.
Queen Kathine stumbled behind us, an obsidian collar wrapped tightly around her delicate throat. Now and then, she would falter and fall. But for her safety as much as mine, I would tug on the chain to keep her moving. I’d learned my lesson as to what happened when I tried to help her stand. She had angry welts across her shoulders and back as proof. They’d healed since Gordex had gifted them to Kathine, but it was obvious no one had helped clean them out since my outburst. If I had just acted calm, she would never have been punished. Gordex never hurt me as punishment, not since the first time. It was always Queen Kathine after that. So, as she stumbled again, I pulled gently and silently urged her to keep up.
This had been our routine for Gordex since he conquered the city. After the first two weeks, time seemed to just bleed together in the city of light. It was more aptly referred to as the city of death by Gordex. My city of death, he would laugh, hands rubbing together greedily.
It started with a morning feast accompanied by Gordex and Marthil, where they would bask in their destruction. A feast that I would usually sit and watch. Food was never brought out to me when I was with them both. Only scraps would be left in my room at the end of the day. What would follow their morning feast was the parade through the city of Lilioira. A reminder to those civilians who hid in their houses that the Druid had won, using Queen Kathine as a means of getting his message across.
Then Marthil would leave for the gates. Gordex would retreat into the libraries, and I would hide myself in my room, hoping, wishing, to hear something from my friends. But with each day that passed, that hope dwindled down to a dim glow.
I did wonder what Gordex was looking for. Something to combat the looming threats from the shores of Thessolina and Morgatis, perhaps? There was tension brewing beyond the city. I could tell in the constant pinch of Gordex’s brows when we spoke of what his scouts saw during breakfast. He always kept his words brief around me, but there was an u
nspoken look between Marthil and him when I would leave the room. A look that suggested there was more story to tell.
“Out my way!” Marthil hissed. I’d stood on the back of her foot and almost tripped to the floor over my own weak, clumsy legs.
I cocked my gaze away from Marthil’s intense glare and took steps back, mumbling my apology.
Our parade had come to a stop. Strange, it never happened around this part of the city. We were standing beside the remains of the water fountain. It’d been destroyed during Marthil’s free reign of destruction during the first days. When the city was her playground. The stone woman no longer had a head. Instead, it lay at her cracked feet in two pieces, each eye looking in a different direction than the other.
“Well, this is a surprise. Pray tell, what brings you out of your watch holes today?” Gordex’s voice was steady, unlike my hands that shook fiercely at the thick tension in the air. My air.
There was some commotion ahead. No more than muffled words that lacked confidence as they were tossed towards Gordex. I peered over Marthil’s shoulder to get a better look and spotted a small group of civilians standing in the Druid’s way. I counted five.
“It is-is time you leave,” a younger Elven boy called, stumbling over his words. He stood at the front of the group, hands held behind his back. His chest was pushed forward, his chin held high. For such a youngling there was nothing but bravery in his stance, but his tone seemed to lack it.
“Very brave you are to stand forward and command me within my own city,” Gordex said, taking steps towards the line of five. Two shadowbeings went to follow him, but he raised a hand, and they stopped. “Each day I have walked this city, and each time you stay in the shadows of your homes. May I inquire why it is today you have decided to greet me at last?”
“Don’t answer him,” a blonde elven girl called from the group. Her face was dusted with black smudges, her clothes dirtied and ripped from her bodice to skirt. “Just do it.”
“Yes, just do it and see where it gets you.” Marthil’s shoulders raised and neck leaned forward. Nothing but aggression was evident in her stance.
Gordex peered to his second, back now faced to the group. “Now, now, dear girl, let us show our friends kindness.”
“Enough, demon. This ends today,” one of the five said, a tall woman with ivory skin and midnight hair. She, like the other four, looked tired, dirty and thin. The long while she’d survived within locked houses with minimal food and supplies was clear across every inch of her frame and expression.
“Ends?” Gordex laughed. “I am afraid it has only just begun.”
His calm reply scared me more than knowing what was coming next. No one had dared go against him. They knew what would happen. He would kill them, resurrect them for his army of death. I wanted to shout. To tell them to back down and return to their locked homes. But the burning hate in the groups’ tired eyes told me she’d never back down. This truly was the end. But not for the Druid, no, for them.
“We have sat back and watched you display your creatures through our city. You take our Queen, cause her pain and suffering. You steal our family, our friends for your twisted, demonic rituals. So yes, Druid, this is the end. For our Queen, we will not backdown.” The elder woman of the group gathered spit in her mouth and hacked a gob at Gordex’s feet.
Gordex knelt slowly and put his thumb and forefinger into the mucus by his feet. Standing, he rubbed it between his digits as if it was nothing more than ointment. “The admiration you hold for your Queen is beautiful. Truly. My only displeasure is that you do not hold it for me.” Gordex looked truly disappointed.
“I have something for you.” The young boy revealed why he had his hands behind his back by pulling them forward and pointing a rusted sword towards the Druid. Not even the day light flashed across the red and brown coated steel. It only shook ever so slightly in his small hands.
“This is no place for toys,” Gordex said quietly, raising both hands beside him to show he was not threatened. “All actions have consequences, young boy, are you prepared to find out what it will be for pointing that play-thing at me?”
“No one will stop fighting until you are dead, Druid. Kill us and more will follow.” The rest of her group pulled weapons from concealed places. Dull axes with chipped handles and short swords. Each made from the famous Alorian metals. These, unlike the first sword, were not rusted and old. The cobbled streets danced with reflected light. One even flashed briefly across my face, causing me to shy away.
“I have no doubt. I invite them to join you. It will only benefit me in the end. And you know I am right. I can see it in your eyes. If you want to join my army, all you have to do is ask.”
“Keep looking in these eyes,” the blonde girl called out again. “I want them to be the last thing you see as I snatch the life out of you.”
“No!” Queen Kathine screamed, her voice hoarse. She tugged back on the chain and tried to stand, but her attempt to be heard over the groups battle cry was wasted. Her knees slammed back into the ground, the sound of bone against stone echoing off the tall buildings around us.
Before I could turn to help her, all five of the rebels swarmed Gordex, flashing blades towards him in a rush of shouts and curses.
The world seemed to slow. I watched with bated breath as Gordex dipped in and out of the blade’s paths, his hands clasped behind his back. He moved like billowing wind, twisting and turning away from the incoming attacks. Not a single advance got close to him to draw blood.
A chorus of grunts from the group only intensified as they swung messily at him.
The sharp tug of the chain made me turn away from the battle.
“Zacriah,” Queen Kathine mouthed, “do something.”
I tried to ignore her, but her wish was embedded into me. Even before she pleaded me to act out, my fists were clenched and my magick lurked in the corners of my very being. It was no anger I felt but more intense panic.
“You are the only one,” she whispered, tugging the chain again.
My palms grew sweaty, and my magick begged to fight.
A scream cut through my consciousness, and I watched one of the five tottered to the ground, his own blade protruding through his stomach. He was so young, clear from his perfect face and soft eyes. I’d not seen how it had happened, for Gordex’s hands were empty and still behind him as he dodged the attacks.
My vision blurred, and my body faltered—a sign of Gordex calling upon my power.
A burst of wind echoed in the distance as Gordex raised a hand and called for it. When he used my magick, it caused me great discomfort. Like a splinter in a hand, it was a long, dull ache. One I could ignore but never forget.
With a giant push towards the ground, Gordex barely missed the swing for his head. But it didn’t matter. The wind collided with the ground and spread out all around him. The four still captured in the battle flew from their feet and scattered in the distance as the force of the wind backfired.
As if Gordex used my wind to spread his shout farther than natural, his voice boomed over the city.
“Take this as a lesson. You will fight me, and you will lose. This does not need to happen. I will welcome you all with open arms. Join me, and you will no longer need to hide within rooms that my army could enter with a simple command. I have spared you all long enough.”
The four scrambled from the ground, trying to get away as the winds sang throughout the city. Their hair and ripped clothing bustled around them beneath the force of the unnatural winds. It was so strong I was certain they could be taken adrift at any moment. But the shadowbeings moved forward and ceased them from going anywhere, dead arms wrapped roughly around the remaining four.
“I have shown you all patience, but I see that you do not appreciate my kindness. Too long have I waited for your cooperation and acceptance.” There was a long pause. Gordex scanned his eyes over the four trapped by the shadowbeings, then to the many who watched behind the safety of their homes
. “You have until tomorrow to join me in life. If not, you will in death. My soldiers will go through your homes one by one. Either go with them peacefully, or they shall take you. These are the repercussions that you have forced me to make.”
Besides the wind Gordex controlled, there was no sound. The four that had fought Gordex could not make a noise with the pointed spears pressed at their throats.
“Heed my warning, for you shall not have the luxury of another.”
Gordex flicked his hand, and a collective gasp broke the silence. The shadowbeings thrust forwards, pinning the spear heads through the necks of the four rebels. Their eyes rolled back into their heads, flashing only white. Gold blood bloomed across their necks, spilling down their chests and onto the floor around them. It created one united puddle, which caught the suns light and blinked fiercely.
Queen Kathine screamed with pain, slamming her cut hands to the floor over and over. Her wailing turned my blood to ice. It stabbed right through me, making all the hairs on my arms and neck stand on end. It was a sound that would haunt me for the rest of my days.
You could have stopped him.
“I introduce my new recruits,” Gordex called out.
