The Warrior's Curse

by Jennifer A. Nielsen

  Joth turned to me. “Reconnect with me. We are stronger when we are together.”

  “I have no magic,” I said. “There is nothing to connect.”

  But he held out his hands, inviting me again to repeat with him the process of connecting. The thought of what this might mean made my stomach roll, but I had to do it. Taking his hand in mine might provide the very opportunity I needed to switch the black disk in my hand with the magic disk in my satchel. But I feared it would come at a terrible price.

  I placed the disk bow over my shoulder and the black disk from Amala into the satchel, then forced a smile to my face and walked to him. He was only a few steps away, but I worked for every single one.

  Joth took my hands in his and pulled me close. He studied my face, seeking any possible sign of my disloyalty. Here I was, on an errand to kill him. Disloyalty was the least of the crimes he might find in me.

  He pushed his fingers through my hair, then let one hand slide from the back of my head down to my neck. “This was a place of power for Lord Endrick, was it not?”

  I tried to keep my breaths even, tried to hide the shaking of my legs, the tremor in my voice. “For his enemies, it was.”

  “And are you my enemy?” He brought me even closer to him, and in his eyes, I saw anger and a thirst for revenge. “Let down your defenses. Let me into your heart, into your mind.”

  At first, the magic coming from him had merely pressed in on me, but within seconds, it began to crush me and I had no defense against it. His magic took hold of my heart, not to control it but to dissect the emotions I was guarding most carefully there. Then he found what he was looking for, what I had been terrified he would find.

  “Ah, I see that your feelings for Simon are more than simply caring. You love him.”

  “Please don’t harm him.” A tear fell from one eye. “Please, Joth.”

  “I think that I must.” Joth cupped the side of my face. I wanted to push away, but feared if I did, his hand would go to my neck again. He added, “Otherwise, I think it quite likely that your love for one king will interfere with loyalty to another. The black disk must be saved for him.”

  “I will connect with you right now,” I said. “Then you know you will have my loyalty. Let that be enough.”

  I hoped that would be enough. If I was the only sacrifice today, I could live with that.

  Indeed, Joth smiled at me, and I felt the tendrils of his magic reaching for me again, but then his smile faded into a thin, cold line. “That is not nearly enough, my dear.”

  I shuddered. My dear was the term Endrick had used on me. Hearing it echoed once more, in this room, sent waves of fear through me.

  Joth released me and added, “Do you still have the black disk I gave you?” I nodded, and he said, “Good, because your banished king has arrived.”

  At that very moment, Rawk flew into the throne room, his full wingspan easily fitting within the wall that had once been all windows. Joth and I each backed up to avoid his fiery breath, though in this dampened room, it quickly extinguished. As Joth’s attention shifted to Simon, Darrow ran forward to pull me away from Joth.

  Still on the dragon, Simon held up his sword and said, “We never finished our duel. Little surprise from a coward, a false king. You are an embarrassment to your people. Or all people, for that matter.”

  Simon stopped there, clutching his chest as Joth squeezed on his heart, but put his eyes on me. I quietly pulled the disk bow off my shoulder. This was my chance.

  “How dare you?” Joth shouted. “Kneel to me!”

  “Finish our duel,” Simon said through clenched teeth. “The loser will kneel … to me.”

  I reached into the satchel to find the disk I would need to complete my task. I had placed the black disk from Joth in front. The one I had brought was behind it. I withdrew the one I wanted and placed it in the pocket of the bow. My heart pounded. If this went badly, all was lost.

  “I will gladly finish our duel,” Joth said, still watching Simon. “But I will use all of my magic, for it is as much a part of me now as your skills with a sword are to you.”

  Simon dismounted, keeping his sword ready. “I suppose that’s all you can do. Obviously, before you had Endrick’s magic, you were rather insignificant.”

  Joth straightened up taller, and I quietly took aim as he said, “I have always had magic. What I have now is simply more.”

  “You have borrowed magic. You are an actor who seeks respect simply for dressing in the costume of a king.” Simon raised his sword, but his eyes flicked over to me. “I do not fear you, Joth.”

  I released the disk. It flew straight and direct, but Joth rotated at the exact moment the disk should have hit him, and caught it in his hand. He turned to me, and his eyes blazed with anger. “That is hardly the loyalty I had hoped for, my dear.” Then he crushed it to pieces, black dust falling from his hand.

  Simon looked equally crushed. He had only talked with such bold language in hopes of distracting Joth. But now he would have to pay for those words.

  As I would have to pay for my actions.

  I just wasn’t sure which of us Joth would punish first.

  Kestra’s attempt had failed. That black disk had been my last hope for Joth’s death. If he intended to use the whole of his magic against me, nothing I could do would offer more than a few seconds of defense. But I raised my sword anyway.

  “This is your last chance!” Harlyn yelled as she burst through the doors of the throne room. Joth’s attention shifted to her, and I sent an order to Rawk, who immediately laid a line of fire directly at Joth, though he raised a shield to protect himself.

  Harlyn shouted, “You may have the power to harm us separately, but you will never get us all, not before one of us gets you!”

  “The five of you and a young silver bird with smoke?” Joth widened his arms with mock concern. “Where do I begin?”

  Harlyn grinned. “Begin with any of our hundreds!”

  Instantly, both doors into the throne room opened, and Alliance soldiers poured inside, all of them running directly toward Joth. Caught off guard, he backed onto the steps leading to the Scarlet Throne. His hands were busy defending himself or attacking wherever he could, but he couldn’t see everywhere at once, and with little experience in actual battle, he remained vulnerable, something we were all too happy to exploit.

  He created shields in front of him, forgetting the soldiers who advanced behind him. Desperate to protect himself, he threw one soldier against a wall on the right without noticing how close Commander Reese was at his left. He raised one hand to squeeze on a heart but needed the same hand to mount a defense. He couldn’t stop us all, and he was clearly weakening.

  Finally, he had backed all the way to the top of the stairs, at nearly the same time as Harlyn approached from behind. He grabbed her arm and forced her down directly in front of the throne, then shouted, “Everyone go to your knees, or I will make her suffer.”

  To emphasize his point, he pressed the back of her neck, and Harlyn screamed with pain.

  Kestra and I were on opposite sides of the throne, but we immediately locked eyes. Endrick had given Kestra a similar punishment once, though with only a small portion of his power. Based on Harlyn’s cry, what she was receiving must have been worse.

  Immediately, most of the Alliance soldiers went to their knees, Gabe among them. The Brill knelt, and once I went to my knees, so did the members of my cavalry.

  In fact, only one person still refused to kneel: Kestra.

  Crossing directly in front of the Scarlet Throne, she lifted the disk bow with another black disk in the pocket. My heart both lifted and fell in the same moment.

  Obviously, she had used the wrong disk before, perhaps testing the extent of his powers, or knowing that he would detect her attack. But if she had the real disk this time, the one containing Endrick’s ability to destroy a person’s magic with their death, then how could she hope to succeed where the other attack had failed?


  Distracted by Kestra, Joth’s attack on Harlyn paused, and she slumped forward at his feet. Joth walked down three steps before folding his arms and laughing. “So a magic disk was indeed made,” he said. “And you expect to kill me with it now?”

  “Surrender to us,” Kestra said. “Joth, I beg you to surrender before it’s too late.”

  “Oh, it’s already too late.” He raised his hand, palm up, and closed his fingers in. Kestra cried out, and I knew he was attacking her. When her hand flew to her chest, the disk bow automatically fired, though her erratic movement threw off the aim. Joth broke off the attack on Kestra so that, as before, he could catch the disk in his hands.

  She fell to the ground, and I rushed toward her, which put me directly in his line of sight. “King of the Banished,” he said. “Now is the time when you tell your Alliance to surrender. Do it now and all those who prove themselves to be my servants may live.”

  I straightened up. “It is not in us to surrender. No, Joth, for as long as you reign, we will strike again and again and again, never stopping until you are nothing more than a bad memory.”

  “Every attempt will end the way this pathetic disk did. I will always see the attack coming.”

  “Not this time!” From behind, Harlyn leapt to her feet with a black disk in her hand and slammed it down on Joth’s shoulder. He straightened up and cried out, clutching wildly at the disk, but the damage was done. He thrashed about, knocking Harlyn over the back side of the steps. The black disk grew white-hot as it pulled magic from Joth’s body, even as the injury drained him of life.

  He slumped to his knees, and for the first time, I saw the boy who had recorded a simple journal in All Spirits Forest. The prince of Navan who had spent his entire life caring for his people in their cursed state.

  “I’m so sorry,” he mumbled; then his body collapsed and rolled down the stairs. By the time he was on the floor at my feet, he was dead.

  The eerie silence that had fallen in the throne room lasted only a few seconds. It broke into utter despair when Loelle cried, “My son!” and ran toward Joth’s body, kneeling before him. I’d stepped aside to give her space, and from this new angle, I realized the black disk wasn’t lodged in his shoulder nearly as deep as I’d imagined. Which meant the disk had done exactly what Kestra had hoped. It had used Endrick’s power to pull all the magic from Joth, killing him.

  While Loelle cried for Joth, I hurried toward Kestra, who finally straightened up, though one hand remained at her chest. She began anxiously looking around the room, but I said, “It’s safe; he’s gone.”

  “Yes, but where’s Harlyn?”

  I followed her around to the back of the throne platform, where we found Harlyn crumpled at the bottom of the stairs. Maybe unconscious. Maybe worse, a thought I couldn’t bear to consider. She had slammed the disk into Joth’s shoulder with her bare hands. Had the disk’s instinct to take life affected her too?

  Gabe ran around the platform from the opposite direction and froze when he saw Harlyn. Kestra knelt at Harlyn’s side and gently rolled her onto her back. After a brief inspection, Kestra shook her head, and I immediately feared for the worst. Wordlessly, Gabe knelt across from Kestra and took Harlyn into his arms and ran one hand through her hair. He appeared on the verge of collapse too.

  “I wasn’t the Infidante,” Kestra said, still kneeling on the floor. “I could hold the disk because I had created it, but Harlyn always was meant to do this job. We figured it out when Amala drove us here in the wagon. Harlyn opened my satchel to be sure I had enough disks, then picked up the disk containing the magic. It flashed with light, but she closed the satchel before Amala noticed. Then she took the disk for herself, waiting for the right moment.”

  “And sacrificed her life for it.” Gabe pulled Harlyn closer to him.

  “Not if we can still help.” Kestra looked over at her father. As if he understood what she wanted, he walked away only to return a moment later with a large piece of the shattered white disk. The piece was no longer than his thumb, but Kestra seemed satisfied with it.

  I knew right away what that disk was—it must have been the same one that restored life to Kestra. She was offering its use to Harlyn.

  But just as Kestra took it, Harlyn coughed and moved one hand. Gabe pressed her fingers to his lips, tears streaming down his cheeks. He nodded at Kestra with something that looked like true respect, then picked up Harlyn and began to carry her from the throne room.

  He paused when he passed me and said, “I was wrong about Kestra. She has a warrior’s heart, but a soul within her that you may take a lifetime to deserve.”

  “I know that.” I nodded at him. “Harlyn may need a day or two to recover, but I think she’ll be fine. Rawk will take you both back to Woodcourt if you want.”

  Gabe chuckled. “We’ll take the normal way to Woodcourt. You and Kestra can use that fire-breathing bird for a victory flight over all of Antora.”

  “Maybe we will.” Though this certainly didn’t feel like a victory. I smiled over at Kestra. She couldn’t possibly know everything I was thinking, but she smiled back. Even so, a sadness remained in her eyes. I wondered if that would ever leave.

  Gabe left, gradually accompanied by most of those who had fought in here. Basil walked up beside me, staring down at Joth’s body. “I can’t believe it’s over,” he mumbled.

  “We couldn’t have done it without you and your soldiers,” I replied.

  Basil smiled. “Remember that when we meet again as rulers of neighboring countries.”

  “When we meet again as friends,” I said.

  My attention shifted to Joth; Loelle knelt beside him, holding his hand. For the last few minutes, she had been trying to heal him, but every effort had failed, as I suspected it would. Most of the time, Loelle could keep a person from death, but she could not restore life.

  Loelle appealed to Kestra, who had joined me by then. “Surely there is something of magic left in you, even a whisper.”

  Kestra gently shook her head. “There isn’t, Loelle. I’m so very sorry.”

  Loelle wiped away a tear as she stared down at her son. “He was a good person, the kind of young man a prince should be. He cared deeply for the Navan like a father would, and even the Halderian half-lives as if they were his own. When you connected your powers, it introduced corruption to him in a way he couldn’t possibly have been prepared for. I don’t think he knew how to fight it.”

  “I did that to him,” Kestra replied.

  “But it was me who gave you the magic,” Loelle said. “And it’s because of me that the corruption grew within you so quickly. I didn’t anticipate any of this happening. It’s not your fault, child; it’s mine.”

  Kestra locked eyes with me, but this time there was a purpose to them that I didn’t entirely understand. Then she glanced down at the shattered piece of white disk in her hands, and I knew exactly what she was thinking.

  Kestra limped over to Loelle and held out the shard of broken disk. “You must leave Antora. You and all the Navan, if any remain.”

  From deeper inside the room, Trina said, “Reddengrad might be willing to discuss terms for bringing you into their borders.”

  Basil gave me a wry smile. “Trina and I are still discussing the terms of her coming to Reddengrad and she’s already inviting guests?”

  I chuckled, but ahead of us, Loelle nodded. “We will leave Antora. That is more than fair.”

  Loelle took the disk, and Kestra said, “Place this in the wound at his shoulder, with every intent of bringing him back.”

  Loelle’s mouth opened in disbelief. “After all we’ve done, you’d do this for us?”

  Kestra only smiled. “You’d better hurry.”

  She wiped tears off her cheeks, closed her eyes, and inserted the piece into Joth’s wound. A full minute passed in which nothing happened; then he suddenly cried out, attempting to reach for the disk.

  I knelt across from Loelle, grabbing Joth’s hands unt
il Loelle whispered assurances that he would be all right. He looked at me, and his eyes widened. “You’re here to kill me.”

  “That was already taken care of,” I said. “But you must be still now.”

  Kestra knelt beside me and asked, “Is the corruption gone? Is the magic gone?”

  Joth’s eyes rolled back in his head, and a single tear drew a line down his cheek. “Everything is gone. What have you done?”

  “She saved your life. She saved us both,” Loelle said.

  After a moment, his harsh breathing began to settle as he understood more fully what had happened. When he opened his eyes, they shifted to Kestra. With a most solemn expression, he asked, “Can you possibly forgive me?”

  “I need forgiveness too,” she said. “I cannot ask for it in one breath and refuse it in the next.”

  He reached for her hand and gently pulled her toward him. She leaned in, and he whispered in her ear; then she softly replied. Basil eyed me questioningly, but a moment later, she stood and walked up the dais to the throne.

  She stared at it for what seemed like a very long time, running her finger over the garnets and rubies embedded into its posts. Then she lifted the cushion seat and withdrew the Olden Blade.

  “Not the cleverest hiding place, I admit,” Joth mumbled.

  Kestra held the blade in one hand and, at the bottom of the steps, took my other hand to leave the palace.

  “Did he say anything else?” I asked.

  “He told me that if it were up to him, we would still be connected.” She smiled over at me. “But he and I never were, not really. Not when I already loved someone else.”

  Now it finally felt like a victory.

  A ceremony was held the following night in the courtyard of the palace. My palace, I supposed, for many of those who passed me addressed me as their queen. But I did not feel like a queen. I was no queen.

  The grounds had been cleared of any signs of the fighting that had taken place here over the past several days, though I found it difficult to look in any direction and not think of the terrible price so many had paid for us to be standing here now.