Chapter 32
NOT THE WAKE-UP CALL I NEEDED
LEELA
“She’s coming to. Good. That’s good.”
Falima hovered over me, her red-rimmed eyes sharp with concern. “Leela? Can you hear me?”
Memory hit me like an avalanche of bricks. The wine. Araz’s words…his awful words. “No!” I sat up fast, and the world tipped, a fist of nausea squeezing my stomach.
“Slowly. You must take it slowly,” Falima said. “Drink this, it will help settle your belly.” She pressed the rim of a wooden cup to my lips, but I pulled away. “It is water and a little lemon. Trust me, rani, it will help neutralize the effects of the unami.”
My stomach rolled again, and I fought a gag.
Dodi appeared on my other side. “Please drink it. You need to drink it to be better so you can stop the bad thing from doing something evil.”
The bad thing…the primordial evil…
I gripped the cup with trembling fingers and sipped the water.
“That’s good,” Falima said. “You will feel better in a moment.”
The nausea did indeed ebb, my stomach settling enough for me to focus on my surroundings. I was on the floor by the table on the platform. “Where is he? Where’s the bastard?” I pulled myself up, gripping the table with one hand and allowing Falima to support me. “Where is everyone?”
“They’re here,” Falima said softly.
I stood slowly and peered down into the room.
The djinn and Asura warriors were indeed here. Sprawled face down across the tables, some with goblets still clutched in their hands. Civilians moved among them like ghosts, working in pairs to move the bodies.
I stumbled down from the platform, my pulse thudding in my throat.
Craven and Walia were side by side, Farid and Sabha on the ground by the table behind them.
The ascended Asura and the djinn that had kept the Authority on their toes for centuries, the army that had lived for truth and justice, was gone.
The devouring force…
The army was dead.
Wiped out by poisoned wine. But he’d left me alive so he could use the bond between us to get into the royal domain.
And the civilians? Either they were no threat to him, or he’d only had enough poison for the troops.
“We woke an hour ago,” Falima said. “I don’t recall falling asleep. It was an unnatural slumber, and it overtook the whole settlement. Dodi was the first to awaken.”
“I saw him,” Dodi said. “Iblees. He was holding a crown made of black stone above his head. It made my stomach hurt because it’s not his crown. It’s yours. You’re meant to hold it. I’ve seen you wearing it. But something has changed.”
Wahida came running into the chamber, her hair wild as if she’d been tugging on it. “Forgive me. I remember. I remember now what I did. It was as if in a dream. I didn’t know. I didn’t know.” She wailed and fell to the ground, beating at her chest as if it was a drum she wished to tear.
Ice crystalized in my veins. “Where is he? Where’s the evil bastard?”
“Gone,” Falima said. “Last night, we believe.”
“Last night…What…How long have I been asleep?”
“We slept the whole night and the whole day. The sun set an hour ago.”
“The coronation…It’s tonight. He’s going to steal the throne…But how? I don’t understand how he could take it. Fuck, where’s C’ael?” My heart sank. “Was he in on this too?”
“I didn’t know…” A soft whisper brushed my ear. “I didn’t see…”
“C’ael?” I turned this way and that, searching for him. “Where are you?”
A strangled sob tore at the air, and C’ael materialized beside me, his expression a mask of torment.
“I…I remember things now. Things I believe he made me forget. Iblees was in the prison, and there was…something else. Something cold, calculating, and hungry, and it…” He pressed his fingers to his temples.
“It got inside. It latched on when we…when Araz freed us.”
“Freed you and Iblees?”
“Yes. I…I believe that when Iblees first called me forth, something else came too. It became a part of us.”
“The primordial evil…” Falima said. “We believed it to be a tale, one woven by the Asura to mask the truth of Iblees, but it’s real, and it has taken over our god.”
Iblees was Araz and Araz Iblees, but the primordial evil was in the driver’s seat.
My mind whirred. The deva had left the throne to Iblees, so it stood to reason that he would have claim to it.
Hence the reason he’d been locked away by the Asura in the first place.
A prison where the throne couldn’t feel his claim, and now…
Now it would accept him, and in doing so, it would accept the primordial evil.
Oh gods. I had to stop him. But what if the throne chose him over me? What if my claim wasn’t strong enough now that the djinn god’s essence was free from the prison, even though it was tainted by a parasite?
I had to try. “I need to get to the royal domain and stop the coronation.”
“There is no way out,” Falima said. “Only the generals and Iblees can open the wards to let anyone in or out.”
Think, Leela, think. “What powers the wards?”
“There is a convergence in the temple, I believe,” Falima said. “I have heard of it but never seen it firsthand.”
“Then take me there. Now. Maybe we can figure out how to drop the wards.”
“Even if you take them down, there is no way you can get to the royal domain in time to stop him now,” Falima said. “It’s hundreds of miles away. It would take too long by carriage. There is no way to get there before high moon, not unless you use transference or fly.”
I smiled thinly. “I can’t fly, but I know a thunderbird that can.”
The temple was a circular chamber with no roof, allowing the night sky to peer down on us through a veil of rainbow colors.
The space was bare, save for four crystal pillars.
One glowed like flame, another a soft azure hue, the third pulsed white, and the final one a deep, earthy red.
A crystal sat on a pedestal between the pillars.
Beams of amber light radiated from it to touch each one.
“The pillars contain the ancestor energy,” Falima said softly from behind me. “They hold what is left of the ancient djinn who walked beside Iblees when he was prince Ilyarien. These ancients were monarchs once, loyal to Iblees and the throne that should have been his.”
“And the crystal?”
She smiled up at me. “That is the essence of King Raknara…Queen Vayelle’s father. The Raknara were mediators, strong in spirit and able to procreate with the djinn kind. Many djinn bloodlines contain Raknara blood. But the royals were wiped out by the Asura once they took the throne.”
“Wait…the Asura killed the whole bloodline?”
She nodded. “Yes. But your souls go on. You are here, blood of Vijayroodra but soul of Raknara. An irony and a justice, don’t you think?”
I stepped through the beams of light and stood by the crystal.
I wasn’t sure what I expected to feel. Some kind of connection maybe?
A kinship. But there was nothing but the churning in my belly that warned that I was running out of time to stop the primordial evil.
“This crystal helps power the wards, doesn’t it? ”
“I believe so. It is the lynch pin.”
“And if I remove it from the pedestal?”
“It will still be connected to the pillars.”
My heart sank. “I have to destroy it, don’t I?”
“If you do that, you’ll be destroying the last remnant of an ancient bloodline.”
But would I? “Can energy ever be destroyed?”
Falima’s mouth parted in comprehension. “No. It cannot. And…what rests in the crystal is not the last of the bloodline…” Her eyes glittered. “The last stands before me.”
The tightness in my belly softened as I plucked the gem from the carefully crafted nook it was nestled in.
“I think it’s time for all this energy to be freed.
” I looked around at the pillars. “But that isn’t my call.
That’s a decision for the descendants of these bloodlines.
I’m sure they’re out there somewhere, and I’ll do my best to find them, but for now…
” I raised the crystal high in the air. “I make the call for the Raknara.” I threw the crystal to the ground as hard as I could.
It hit stone with a thunk, and a splintering noise echoed around us, then crack.
A gust of air slammed into me, lifting my hair and making my eyes stream. My ears popped, and a silvery ringing filled my head for several beats.
“You did it,” C’ael said from the doorway. “The ward is gone. And now…you’ll be going too…” He took a step forward. “Let me come with you. I can help.”
His eyes were dark, mouth turned down. He’d been abandoned, used, and betrayed too, but I didn’t have time to console him right now, and taking him with me was out of the question.
I had no idea what he truly was or how much control the primordial evil could assert on him.
He was a liability, and frankly I wasn’t even sure I could trust him, but right now, he needed direction.
He needed purpose, and maybe giving him my trust was the first step to handing him true choice.
I crossed to him and placed my hand on his cheek. “I can’t take you with me, C’ael. The primordial evil controlled you once, and he could do so again. He left you behind, and that means he no longer has use for you. Take it as a blessing.”
He gripped my wrist gently. “I want to help, Leela. I can’t just sit here and do nothing.”
“You won’t be doing nothing. These people need someone to lead them through this loss. I need you to be that person. I’m leaving you in charge in my absence.”
He sucked in a breath and straightened. “Yes. They need someone. We need to burn the dead, and we…You’re right. I won’t let you down.”
I nodded and stepped back. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” I traced the calling sigil for Pakshiraj in the air, my pulse throbbing in my throat. What if it didn’t work? What if I’d misremembered?
Long seconds passed, and the claws of doubt dug into my chest. I could feel Falima’s and C’ael’s eyes on me, but I kept my attention on the sky, on the stars winking down at me.
Come on, Pakshiraj. Please.
How much time did we have before it was too late?
A fist squeezed my lungs.
Please…
A flash of blue lit up the sky, and a winged shadow blocked out the stars.
My heart leapt. “I’m here!” I jumped up and down, waving my arms, and the shadow dipped and flew out of view.
I ran forward, scanning the starlit heavens. Where was he? It had been him, right? It had to have been.
A gust of wind hit me in the chest, and the chamber shook as Pakshiraj landed on the rocks above us.
He peered down at me then extended his wing so that the tip touched the floor of the chamber.
I ran and leapt onto it, clinging as he retracted the appendage, bringing me close enough to his body for me to clamber up.
Is the primordial evil here, Leela?
I settled on his back. No. He’s gone to the royal domain. He plans to take the throne.
Then we have no time to waste.
My stomach dipped as we rocketed up into the air. I lay flat against his body, holding on for dear life as we gained altitude.
How long do we have till the coronation?
An hour, he said.
My stomach tightened. Will we make it in time?
I will fly like the wind. All you need do is hold tight and tell me everything that happened to you. Leave the rest to me.
It wasn’t a yes. It was an I’ll do my damn best, but I’d take it.
We approached the royal domain, and two other thunderbirds joined us, flying parallel.
They say they have not sensed any disturbance or seen anything out of the ordinary, Pakshiraj said.
They wouldn’t have sensed him. He has permission. He’s riding my signature. But he’s here. I know he is.
The ceremony will begin soon if it has not done so already. You must hurry and warn them. The crown must be secured. If this entity that you speak of claims it, then we are all doomed. A soft growl filled my head. I cannot believe that they altered history. That my memories are false.
I promise I will find a way to fix it.
I believe you, child.
The sentinels fell away, dipping out of sight, and Pakshiraj veered left. The crowning is taking place in the auditorium where the public throne room resides. There, below, do you see it? The gleaming white and gold building with the tower.
I see it.
There is nowhere for me to land, but I can get you close to the majestic oak behind the Auditorium.
I spotted the tree a moment later. I see it. Take me down.
Leela, if he is there already and has the crown…If he gets his hands on it before you can, then—
I’ll run. I swear it.
And I will be waiting to scoop you up. Be safe, my queen.
He swooped toward the tree. Now get ready to jump.