Chapter 38
Elara
I bit the inside of my cheek as I stared out of the council-room window. Where the hell was Cai? Alastor had said this was urgent.
He’d been spending the past week or two arranging scouting groups for the surrounding area and towns, as well as finding more loyalists to join the cause.
The Norrandish army was slowly growing but it wasn’t enough to defeat Aries yet.
I’d sent word to Everness, reporting our success at Mistwood to the council and requesting they send any men that we could spare to march to Norrandale.
A few minutes ago, Alastor had arrived back at the palace, out of breath and with the look of death in his eyes. Whatever he had to tell me and Cai, it couldn’t be good.
The door to the council room opened and Cai rushed in, his face white as a sheet. “You called for me?”
“Yes, Your Majesties.” Alastor cleared his throat. “I rode through the night to get here. I thought it best you both hear this as soon as possible.”
Cai and I made eye contact. I hated when there was tension between us. We’d been through a lot in these past few months and we needed each other now more than ever.
I braced myself for what was to come.
“Aries is coming. His army has arrived.”
It was always coming, and we knew it. But for some reason that didn’t lessen the blow.
“So, he’s decided to stop searching for the Myrgonite stones.” It was more of a statement than a question.
“With Thatcher no longer giving him free rein to do what he pleases, he knows we’re going to oppose him. He also knows it’s better to strike now while he has the upper hand,” Cai responded, before looking to Alastor. “How far away is he?”
“His soldiers are still raiding farms and villages as they move, so he’s not going to need supplies for a while. If the weather holds up like this, I’d probably say two weeks, maybe a month given they have to travel through the mountains.”
That was not enough time for all of Norrandale’s army to get here, never mind Everness’s. I could tell Cai and Alastor were thinking the same thing. Travel during the winter was hard enough as it was, and armies moved slowly.
“It would take a blizzard to hold them back now,” I said, while knowing better than to trust my fate to the weather.
I would never be able to put into words the amount of fear written on Cai’s face. It was as if he could see everything and everyone he cared about disappearing before his eyes, taken from him in the most horrid of ways. This was a nightmare. And none of us could wake up and make it stop.
“If Aries is coming, we need to do everything in our power to stop him,” Cai said as calmly as possible. “We’ll need to gather a lot in a very short amount of time.”
He pulled a map from one of the shelves and rolled it open on the table.
“Alastor, I want you to send messengers in every direction.” He pointed to all the major cities that surrounded Mistwood.
“I’ll write letters, stamped with my seal.
We’ll make the threat known to our people and call on all the loyalists to start marching.
If Aries wants to catch us off guard, we need to be a step ahead of him.
I don’t want him to reach Mistwood at all.
So, we’re going to have to meet him in the field. ”
Cai placed his finger where all the mountains were drawn. “There’s a valley here, close to the old mines. We can find a way to ambush his army there while keeping the high ground.”
“I agree, Your Majesty,” Alastor said. “We should use the terrain to our advantage. I’ll make sure the reinforcements march in that direction.”
“I’ll send word to Everness,” I added. “To try and gather any forces I can. But at this rate, they’ll never make it on time.”
“I suppose it’s worth a try, though. Every sword is going to count now.” Cai didn’t look at me as he said it, his eyes boring into the map as he contemplated the possibility of losing his kingdom.
“Alastor, I want you to alert everyone in the palace. Let them know we are preparing for battle. I’ll get you those letters by the end of the day.”
Alastor bowed and left to fulfil his duties. As soon as the door was shut behind him, Cai fell into the nearest chair, full of dismay. My heart ached to see him in such a state. But it was clouded by my own worry for what we would have to face, combined with our unresolved argument.
“It’s going to be all right.” It was the only thing I could think to say.
“Is it?” He ran a hand through his golden hair.
Probably not. We were all likely to die before this was over and if it wasn’t at the hands of Aries, it would be from those damned stones that started this whole thing.
“If we don’t make it out of this alive,” I started, “then we need to make sure Aries never gets his hands on any of the Myrgonite objects. And the only way to truly ensure that is if we find another way to destroy them or hide them somewhere they can never be found.”
“Is it even possible to do that?”
“I honestly don’t know.”
“So Rhen hasn’t found anything in the diary yet?” he asked.
“I don’t think so. We haven’t spoken much in the last few days.
I’m sure if he’s found something he would tell me immediately.
And even if he doesn’t,” I stepped a little closer to Cai, “I’m not going to stop looking until it’s found.
” It was a promise I would make to myself, to him and to our kingdoms.
“We should probably get to work, then.” He didn’t say it hopefully but at least he was willing to fight, and I would take that any day over the state he was in when he was in exile.
“I’ll see you at dinner then.”
As I made my way towards my rooms, I spotted Rhen coming down the hall.
“I’ve been looking for you. But first, we have guests, Your Majesty.”
“Guests?” I frowned. “Who?”
“Come and see for yourself.” I relied on the fact that Rhen appeared quite calm to reassure myself that these were not unwanted guests at least.
I followed him towards the courtyard and spotted a familiar carriage from the window.
“Gwen,” I cried out happily as I rushed to the door.
She climbed out of the carriage, looking tired and a little weary, but as her eyes fell on me, she looked happy to see me.
I pulled her into a hug, comforted by her familiar face. “We’ve all missed you. How was your journey?”
“I won’t lie, I’m quite tired from travelling.”
“We’d best get you inside where it’s much warmer.” I was about to link my elbow with hers to lead her inside when another figure emerged from the carriage.
Lance was dressed in some of his finest clothing, with his hair neat and his face shaved. He didn’t look like he’d been travelling at all. This must have been what Rhen meant when he said “guests”, as in more than one.
“What are you doing here?” I asked in surprise. If anything, I would have believed Lance would stay as far away from the fighting as possible. My eyes slowly travelled to Gwen and then back to him.
“Well,” he said, removing his gloves. “I wasn’t going to let you have all the fun without me.”
I wasn’t sure what to make of it but I couldn’t let the thought linger for too long. We had too many other important things to worry about.
“It’s good to see you,” I said to Gwen, taking her arm.
“But Aries’ armies are now marching this way.
We are readying ourselves for battle. It would have been safer if you’d stayed in Everness.
” Cai would also worry about Gwen being here and how we would keep her protected when none of us knew if we were making it out of this alive.
We stepped into the palace where people were already starting to bustle about in preparation.
“Have all the men arrived?” Her face was full of concern, her eyes scanning the inside of the palace, like she was looking for something. Someone? How were we going to tell her?
“Not yet. And the Evernean army probably won’t reach us in time either.”
“What about Everness itself?” Lance asked, trailing behind us.
“Should things go bad here in Norrandale, we are going to need all our forces in Everness, because it will become a refuge for the people of Norrandale as well as all of us.” Everness was the fall-back plan.
But we needed those men. My heart sank. The cause seemed lost either way.
I gave him a nod. Eloisa was gone but Lance didn’t even appear to be in mourning. I wanted to say I was sorry for his loss, or was it our loss? She was still family after all. This was too complicated.
“What of my brother?” Gwen asked suddenly and I swallowed hard, meeting Rhen’s eyes over her shoulder. He slowly shook his head. Now was not the time.
“You should talk to Cai. I’m sure he’s been told of your arrival. First, let’s get you to your rooms.”
Rhen offered to take her as I called for a servant to bring her luggage.
Lance fell into step beside me. “He’s dead, isn’t he? And based on the look on your face, it was probably Cai who killed him.”
“Not a word,” I said under my breath.
* * *
“You said you wanted to speak to me?” I asked Rhen once Gwen and Lance had been settled.
“Yes, I do, but we should probably go somewhere more private.” Rhen looked over his shoulder as if someone might be listening to us.
“Is it about the diary?” I asked in a hushed tone, and he nodded.
“All right, let’s find somewhere we can talk without interruption.
” We walked side by side in silence, heading towards the nearest study.
My stomach rumbled, not loud enough for anyone to hear but enough to indicate that I was, in fact, quite hungry.
I stopped a servant who passed us, asking if they would bring some food and something warm to drink for me and Rhen.
It wasn’t Cai’s personal study but a much smaller one. Outside the window, I saw the last traces of snow on the palace ground that had yet to melt away. The study was cold and dark with no fire to warm the room. Neither Rhen nor I took a seat.
“So, I think there might be a link between the objects,” Rhen said once he’d closed the door. He hardly wore his uniform these days, spending most of his time in the library or a study, poring over the pages of the old king’s diary. He was desperate for an answer, like the rest of us.
“King Evrin made an entry about the queen’s slow descent into madness and how she grew more hungry for power and violence. The king decided to track down the goldsmith who’d forged the objects in the first place, since he was the only one who knew what kind of magic was used.”
Of course, in all of this no one had really given the goldsmith much thought, even though he was the one who’d made it all possible.
“Turns out the goldsmith hailed from a line of magic wielders who came from the continent. But because of their abilities, they were often persecuted. At this point, there was no one left from their legacy apart from the goldsmith and his family. The magic he’d been taught by his forefathers was so ancient and rare that no one knew it even existed anymore. ”
“So did the king find him?” I rubbed my hands together, trying to create some warmth.
“Well kind of. It took some time to track down the goldsmith, but when they found him, he’d killed himself and his family had disappeared.”
“So, it was just another dead end?”
“Not entirely.” Rhen rubbed his hand over his face, where a little stubble had grown. “The smithy was covered in scribblings, most of it incomprehensible, but the king and his men did find a little information with regards to the stones.”
There was a light knock on the door before the servant girl entered, carrying a tray.
“Thank you,” I told her as she set the tray down on the nearest table. There were two cups of warm cider and a plate of small pies, steaming in the cold room.
The servant girl nodded again, and I caught her looking at Rhen admiringly before leaving the room.
I could hardly blame her. Rhen was a tall man with a strong jawline and deep brown eyes.
It was understandable that girls would find him attractive.
Not to mention that he was a captain of the royal guard.
I grabbed the cup of cider nearest to me, holding it with both hands so I could warm them.
“So, you were saying about the information they found,” I encouraged him to continue, taking a long sip of the cider, revelling in the way it warmed me.
“Yes.” Rhen cleared his throat, trying to remember the last thing he’d said. “Right, so when the smith had placed the magic within the objects, he’d linked them all together.”
I reached for one of the small pies. Biting into it, I found it to be minced meat, the pastry crunchy in my mouth. It might just have been the best thing I’d ever eaten. Either that or I was really starved. Both options seemed likely.
“A link? That’s interesting. What does that mean for us?” The thought gave me the slightest bit of hope that we stood a chance of finding the third object. Especially now, when it mattered more than ever.
“I can’t be a hundred per cent certain. I think even the king was making assumptions at this point. But he believed that one object might be used to find the other. I’m not exactly sure how, but there is a possibility at least,” Rhen said, drinking his cider.
Luckily, we had not just one but two of the other objects, and if what Rhen said was true and we could somehow use them to find the third, this significantly increased our chances.
“This is good news. Thank you for all your trouble. I’m sure Cai will be happy to hear we have a new lead, as well.”
“Speaking of which.” He put the empty cup back on the tray. “Is everything all right between you two?”
The question was too personal for someone who was merely the captain of my guard. But for the most part, I viewed Rhen more like a friend than just somebody who was obligated to protect me with their life.
“Things are fine. Cai is under a lot of stress. I mean, we all are. There is a lot at stake here.” Of all things, I didn’t care to have this particular conversation with Rhen.
Not when there were so many more important things to worry about, especially with his new information about the stones.
Once I’d sent for the armies of Everness, finding the third object would be my top priority.
“You and Cai will make it through this, just like you’ve made it through everything else,” Rhen reassured me.
For both our sakes, I hoped he was right.