by Ryan Kirk
“I didn’t think anyone in your empire knew that.”
Alena realized she and her brother were probably the only two. “Not many do,” she admitted.
“They return, even now, as we speak.”
Alena took another two steps back, as though distancing herself from the representation between them would keep her safe. “You’re certain?”
“I am. Will you soulwalk with me?”
Alena suspected a trap. How could she not? And yet, curiosity pulled her forward, relentless. She protected herself, strengthening her shield even more. “Very well.”
The queen used their existing connection. She took Alena, not pulling her, but guiding her.
For the first time, Alena understood how little distance could mean to a soulwalker. And she understood how hopeless beating the queen in this space was. They traveled from Falar to the land of the queen in less than a heartbeat, then connected to a gate on a different continent. The queen made each act seem as easy as breathing, though Alena would have struggled to complete such tasks.
For a brief moment, Alena felt the presence of others. She expanded her sense, finding a dozen priests, all interconnected in a complex web with the queen and the gate. But the threads binding them weren’t just of connection.
They were also of compulsion.
Before Alena could even consider the implications, her attention was focused by the queen’s interaction with her gate. She learned more in a moment of studying the queen’s soulwalking than she did in a week of learning on her own.
The gate now served as a passage. The queen dove into and through the gate, launching herself untold distances.
Alena could do little but observe, events happening too fast for her to understand.
As usual, distance meant little in the soulwalk, but when they encountered the creatures, all Alena knew was that they were very, very far away. Farther even than some of the stars that lit the night sky. But the strength of the creatures was beyond reckoning. The only comparison Alena could make was that of the source of the gates’ power. And it was possessed by each.
But they were cold.
How did an insect understand the power of a human? The thought was the closest she could come to explaining what she felt, but even that didn’t accurately describe the separation. The queen was nothing but a child compared to these beasts.
They were ancient. Alena’s own life would be nothing but a blink compared to what they’d already lived. They might be mortal, but were so close to eternity the distinction barely mattered.
Her blood froze just contemplating them.
They sensed the queen’s presence.
They sensed Alena.
But they didn’t care.
They approached at speeds faster than Alena believed possible, and yet the distances were so vast they still had a long time to travel. Alena couldn’t judge how long it would be until they arrived, but it was sooner than she wished.
They returned to the rooftops of Landow, to the soulwalk Alena began. This fight suddenly seemed insignificant.
Everything Alena had accomplished seemed insignificant.
She controlled two gates, and those beings would still swat her like a fly.
“I need warriors,” the queen repeated.
Alena nodded. The queen didn’t exactly speak true. She didn’t just need warriors. The whole imperial army wouldn’t do a thing against those beings. She needed individuals with the potential to do more.
In a way, the queen’s request honored her.
“But you need the gates, don’t you?”
The queen nodded. “I do. I need all five.”
Alena gave herself time to think. After encountering those beings, the queen’s desires now had context. What frightened Alena was that the desire to control all five gates didn’t seem unreasonable.
She had so many questions. But one, seemingly inconsequential, wouldn’t let her go. “Why do you compel your own priests?”
“It’s the only way to ensure none rebel. Otherwise, to be that close to such power corrupts the soul. I don’t have time to deal with petty rebellions. You’ve now seen my true purpose.”
Alena shook her head. She thought of Brandt, of the loss he’d suffered due to compulsion. Yes, she now understood the purpose the queen worked toward. But that didn’t make her methods any more palatable.
“There has to be a better way,” Alena said.
The queen growled. “There isn’t. You know what’s at stake. Tell me this better way, knowing what’s coming.”
Alena didn’t have an answer, but she searched for one.
As she failed to find a better way, she began to empathize with the queen. Yes, some of her methods might seem horrible, but they were talking about the fate of all people. What choice did they have?
She nodded.
The queen was right. If Alena gave her the gates, it would give the world the best chance of survival.
Alena frowned.
Something wasn’t right.
She focused, drawing on the power of her gates.
A thin thread, nothing more than a wisp of smoke, connected the two of them.
Alena cut the subtle compulsion with her knife.
The fire in her heart roared to life.
She summoned the single spear once again, throwing it with all her will.
The spear stopped a hair away from the queen’s chest. Alena willed it forward, but it wouldn’t budge.
The queen couldn’t be trusted. An incredible threat approached, but slavery wasn’t the answer. Taking the power of the souls of the dead wasn’t either. Alena believed that with her whole heart.
The spear crawled forward.
Her will against the queen’s. No battle could be more simple.
Alena focused everything on the point of that spear. The queen grimaced, her own will crumbling before Alena’s.
But the queen hadn’t become the ruler of her people through a lack of focus. The spear finally froze. No matter what Alena did, it wouldn’t move.
The queen raised her hand, slowly, and pushed the spear out of the way. She pushed hard, as though wrestling a boulder three times her size.
Bit by bit, she moved the spear. When she was safe, she let go, and the spear blasted past her, cracking the air as it disappeared off into the distance.
A sword appeared in the queen’s hand. She advanced on Alena, fire in her eyes.
61
Brandt’s ascent to the tunnel that led to the gate turned out to be easier than he expected. The battle between Regar and Hanns had driven the Falari away from the square, but most of them had massed in the alleys and streets just beyond.
Brandt led with fire. He didn’t have time to wage honorable combat. If the Falari were close, they were enemies. He sent fire ahead of him down streets and into houses through doors and windows. The screams that echoed in reply barely registered against his consciousness.
After a few levels, his path cleared. The Falari avoided him, thanks to the power he now possessed. Next to that of a full gate, it was nothing, but the gatestone still allowed him to pull more than he ever had before.
He hiked up two more levels before realizing his foolishness. With a gesture, he tore stone away and shaped it to his will, a platform not unlike the one Hanns had made not long ago. He stepped upon it, then lifted it into the air, ascending the levels between him and the tunnel entrance with ease. His memory of his last trip to Faldun guided him.
When he came to the tunnel he found two bodies. They were pale.
Lolani.
It looked like they’d been killed without a fight. Of course, he already knew Alena had reached the gate. Regar’s death was proof enough of that. It didn’t surprise him her war party had to fight to reach it.
Brandt traveled deeper, following the passages he remembered from his trips below. He reached the maze outside the gate without making a wrong turn. But the route through the maze he didn’t remember. And he didn’t have time. So he channel
ed stone once again, tearing the maze asunder and creating a straight path for himself. He stopped when he saw the blue light of the gate ahead.
Brandt ran, sliding to a stop when he entered the room. His attention was first drawn to Alena and the Lolani queen. They stood on opposite sides of the room, their eyes closed. Despite their lack of movement, he could tell they were twin poles of enormous power.
He didn’t understand. Alena was a gifted soulwalker, but not nearly strong enough to stand against the queen. But the evidence was there, right in front of his eyes.
Then he saw the others. Ren, Toren, Jace, Sheren, and Ana were all in various states of pain. Ren appeared unconscious, blood flowing freely from a wound on the back of his head. Likewise, Sheren didn’t look like she’d be moving for a while. Her eyes were closed and one of her legs appeared broken. Toren’s right arm rested at an unnatural angle, but he was sitting up, eyes watering with pain. Jace was on his feet, tending to Ana.
Brandt ran to Ana. She looked dazed but otherwise unharmed. He and Jace lifted her to her feet. “Are you all right?” Brandt asked.
Ana nodded. “I think so. I feel like I got hit by a brick, though.”
They looked at the two women occupying the room with their power. “What happened?” Brandt asked.
Their blank looks were answer enough.
He supposed it didn’t matter. The two women in the center of the room fought on nearly equal terms. That was all he needed to know. For a moment, he felt the now familiar pangs of jealousy. It should have been him fighting.
He also knew the queen was distracted. So he stepped forward, drawing his sword, ready to end it all.
He swung, his cut clean.
But the queen moved. Though her eyes were closed, she sidestepped as he cut. His blade sliced through nothing but empty air.
The queen’s eyes opened, but Brandt had the distinct feeling she wasn’t truly there. She attacked him with a gust of wind, but he heard it building, and using his own gatestone was able to negate the attack. Her eyes focused on him for a single moment. “Brandt.”
Her attack wasn’t as strong as he’d expected. Below, Hanns and Regar had fought with far superior strength. Was it possible she was weaker than they expected in the physical world?
The queen didn’t give him time to answer his question. She carried a sword at her hip, and in a moment it was in her hand and she was attacking him.
Her movements were smooth and precise, and Brandt found himself on the defensive. Her attacks left no openings to exploit. They passed each other twice, neither gaining an advantage. Brandt felt like he had the edge, but she was better than he’d guessed her to be. After so many years relying on her affinity, he’d expected the sword would be little more than decoration.
A small stone suddenly appeared in the air between them. Brandt stared at it, not sure where it had come from. Only the queen’s glance toward Toren helped him understand. She’d stopped an Etari attack while fighting him.
She was as strong as he’d first thought.
The stone dropped, but Brandt saw Toren already had another one spinning.
Then Ana and Jace were at his side, their swords cutting toward the queen.
The queen focused on Jace, somehow finding the focus to blast him off his feet with air. It left just Brandt and Ana.
Brandt almost yelled at Ana to leave. If nothing else, their child needed to survive this. But the queen left them no chance to retreat.
Together, though, he and Ana were too much. They’d fought and trained side by side for over a decade. They knew each other’s moves intimately, stepping into the gaps the other left, always relentless in their assault. Behind them, Toren supported them with well-placed stones that never quite found their mark but distracted the queen anyway.
Brandt drew first blood, a cut across the queen’s thigh that elicited a low hiss.
It was only a matter of time. The queen gave up another step and then another. Soon she’d run out of space to give.
“Enough!” Her shout echoed in the small chamber, repeating again and again.
A wave of force bent the air around them. Though Brandt saw it coming, and heard the power through his affinity, there was nothing he could do. Even with the gatestone, he was helpless before the force. It threw him off his feet and sent him slamming against the wall of the cave. Beside him, Ana fared better, skidding across the floor until she slid to a stop against the wall.
Only Alena stood against the force. Brandt didn’t understand how, but she remained unmoved. As he watched, she opened her eyes and he realized that she, too, had that same distant look the queen had. She was both here and not here.
And then Brandt felt true despair.
The queen had been fighting both he and Ana, blocking Toren’s attacks, and fending off Alena in the soulwalk the entire time.
They had no chance against her. No chance at all.
But he was the first to his feet. Chance or no, he’d never understood surrender. He’d fight until he couldn’t. He flexed his grip on his sword and stepped forward to attack again.
“Stop,” the queen said.
She didn’t shout, but the power in her voice caused him to pause. The queen sheathed her sword. “There is no need for you all to die. I came here for the gate, and it is now mine.” The queen glanced to Alena, as if in challenge. Brandt wondered what had passed between the two women. But Alena said nothing.
The queen looked down at her cut leg, blood trickling down to her calf. Then she looked to Brandt. “I offer you a truce.”
Brandt’s eyes narrowed in suspicion.
“Come with me,” the queen told Brandt. “Study under me, and I will teach you all that I know. You have my word. Any question you have, I will answer to the best of my knowledge and ability.”
“Never!” said Ana behind him.
“Why?” Brandt asked.
“There is a threat coming, more dangerous than you could understand. Ask your friend, Alena.”
Brandt glanced at Alena. “She speaks true,” the soulwalker said.
The queen gestured to her injured leg. “I need warriors strong enough for the fight that is coming. I’ve already won the gate. I plan to return to my own land soon. I gain nothing by killing a man who may someday have the strength to save not just his empire, but his world.”
Brandt stared into the queen’s crystal-clear blue eyes. He saw no lie within them. He was tempted. Just like that, all his questions could be answered. The strength he needed to protect his family could be his.
But if something was too good to be true, it often was. “And if I gain enough strength to kill you?”
The queen smiled at that. “Then you are better able to defend this world than I. The Lolani don’t shy away from strength,” she cast a pointed glance at Alena, “no matter the risk.”
Brandt knew then the queen understood him in a way his imperial friends and family did not. This was a woman who knew the sacrifices sometimes required for the protection of others.
“Stop compelling him!” Ana shouted.
Brandt didn’t feel compelled, though. These thoughts were completely his own. It didn’t feel at all like it did before, when Kye had used the technique.
Alena confirmed his guess. “She’s not.”
The queen finished her offer. “All I ask is for one year. I shall protect you from all harm and teach you all you desire. In exchange, so long as Alena doesn’t interfere with my control of the Falari gate, I promise not to attack the continent.”
“And then?” Brandt asked.
“Then we all have choices to make. I will need the gates to defend this world. If you so choose, I will send you back here after one year, even if that means you’ll oppose me. Alena, too, will need to decide what course to take. I can spare one year, but no more.”
Ana came up behind Brandt, her hands around his upper arm. “She’s scared, Brandt. I can hear it in her voice. All of us together, we can defeat her. She knows it.”
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The queen said nothing in response.
Perhaps there was some truth to Ana’s suggestion. They’d already cut the queen, and behind them, Ren had finally woken up, and Jace was on his feet and looking ready to attack again. If they fought again, she’d have to avoid four swords.
But he wasn’t sure. Whatever her motivations, he believed the queen spoke the truth. And if they fought, he was far from sure that they would win. The queen now had two gates. That type of power couldn’t be underestimated.
He turned to look into Ana’s eyes. If he left for a year he would miss the birth of his child. He would miss a year of being with Ana.
Brandt didn’t know how to answer the demands of both duty and love.
He thought of the empire, filled with over a million lives, all helpless before this unnamed threat that even the queen feared.
He remembered quiet nights with Ana in the mountains above Highkeep. The perfect contentment he’d felt in those moments.
Perhaps he didn’t need to save the world.
Perhaps he only needed to save his family.
Brandt pulled gently away from Ana. He turned to her. “I love you,” he said.
Her eyes were filled with doubt. But she nodded. “I love you, too.”
Brandt stepped forward, his sword held in front of him. He sensed, rather than saw, Ana prepare for a fight. He could imagine her settling into her favorite stance. But he didn’t dare risk a backward glance.
He took another step.
It was time to end this war inside of him.
Brandt kneeled before the queen.
“I accept.”
The queen smiled. There was a flash of light and a force that lifted him through the gate.
And he was gone.
Epilogue
Alena and Jace sat together on an overlook across the valley from Faldun. In the valley below, several camps had appeared as if grown from the fertile ground.
The queen might be gone, but she had left their world a mess.
Between the camps and Faldun, a large tent had been pitched. Within that tent, the future of the Falari was being determined. After their assault on Faldun, and particularly in the moments after Hanns and Brandt had dropped into the square, hundreds of mountain warriors had died or been injured. As a result, those who wished for endless war against the empire now numbered significantly fewer than those who wished for peace.
