Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
EIRA
Eira knelt next to Myra before the fireplace in the library, the ancient tome placed on the ground before them. She stared at it in fascination as she tried to take in the theory Myra presented.
“It’s a spell book then? Maybe there are spells or enchantments we can use to restore the castle or to defeat Amelia,” Eira asked.
“I don’t think they’re spells like that,” Myra answered and carefully turned the fragile pages.
“See how some pages have words on them and then the following chunk are blank? But when I’ve tried to write on them, the ink vanishes.
I wonder if the words are spells to reveal what the blank pages contain as a sort of protection. ”
“Why do you think its contents would need to be protected?”
Myra shook her head. “A variety of reasons I suppose. Maybe there are secrets the deities don’t wish us to know, or valuable or dangerous knowledge that could harm people if it’s in the wrong hands. But I think I know how to get its contents to reveal themselves.”
Eira’s breath caught. Finally, someone had made progress.
At least she hoped as there were no telling if Malle wanted to assist with breaking the curse or if finding the book was an odd coincidence.
But when it came to the deities, Eira found there rarely was such a thing.
If this book did hold any answers at all, the sooner the curse would be broken and she would no longer be bound to Aytigin or the castle.
She could return home. She swallowed then nodded. “What do we need to do?”
Myra closed the book again and ran her finger along the cover over the words pressed into the worn leather.
“I’ve been working on translating this from Stula’s language, and I think it’s a spell to show what’s inside.
The language of the dead, the shadow language, has always been a bit of a mystery, even to Stula’s most loyal followers, for centuries.
Very few know it, mostly in Stula’s line. ”
“You speak it?” Eira answered.
Myra shook her head. “My mother would speak words here and there and we knew a few sentences and spells, but not much. Thankfully this library has some resources. But then…” she paused and bit her lower lip.
She leaned back in her seat in contemplation, but her eyes never left the book.
“Some of it just came to me. I don’t know how to explain it.
The more I looked over the words and the more I read the other books in the library it was like a veil lifted from my mind revealing words I didn’t know existed.
A whole language. Mother always said Stula gave gifts to her daughters that we may never know of, so maybe the shadow language was one of them? ”
Eira looked at the book. She’d hardly looked at or touched it since Myra and Alvis arrived.
The moment it had gone into Myra’s hands it seemed like it belonged there, and it wasn’t Eira’s place to handle the tome anymore.
It was like a shadow hovered over the book clouding everything over it to anyone other than Myra. “I suppose we’ll have to find out.”
Myra sat straight again and pulled the book closer.
She pointed her finger at the first word on the cover and began to read out loud.
Eira didn’t recognize any of it, but the words flowed like a soft wind on a summer night and she found herself swept away by them.
She didn’t know what the words meant but understood anyway.
It was a deep and ancient magic full of sadness but with hope beneath the darkness.
The words illuminated on the book and it flipped open on its own to a page with a single title on the top.
The Tale of the Cursed Queens. Eira jumped back but Myra continued to speak the shadow language as though in a trance.
A bright light burst forth from the pages and filled the room.
Myra reached out her hand to Eira. She wasn’t sure at first. Who knew what would happen?
But Eira trusted Myra, even though they didn’t know each other well yet, and took her hand.
Light exploded through the library making her blind to everything around her and wind swirled around them.
Then, it all stopped and the light faded.
Eira blinked and opened her eyes. The air was cool and everything was darker than before.
The library shelves and fireplace had vanished, and Eira couldn’t tell where they were now.
The faint smell of campfires filled the air and dust seemed to float about.
In the distance the echoes of metal clanging and soft chatter wafted in the breeze.
It was nighttime, to be sure, but must have been cloudy for Luana’s moon and stars were nowhere to be seen.
They must have been in an encampment of some sort. All of it felt vaguely familiar.
At her side stood Myra, no longer holding her hand, and no longer in a flowing purple dress. Now she was still in purple, but robes instead of a dress and her hair in elaborate braids.
“Queen Isadore, Dusan and his sorcerers are out of control. I don’t know how long we can hold the lines. They seem invincible.”
Eira startled at the sound of Rose’s voice and saw her standing in front.
But she wasn’t Rose. Not really. There was no crutch or wraps to hold her upright, and she wore fighting leathers than Eira had never seen before.
Isadore. She was talking to her — Eira — Isadore.
The first Chosen of Luana. It was the same as when she’d fallen into a cursed sleep after biting into a poisoned apple and had become other women who were Luana’s Chosen.
At that time Eira had even become Luana herself for a moment.
Isadore’s memories and feelings flowed through Eira all at once.
She wasn’t at Luana’s Castle anymore, but in a war zone.
This wasn’t the same war as the one from Eiras first journey into the past when Cresin and Oxare were at odds and Isadore first encountered her future husband.
Now she was allied with other kingdoms in a battle against Dusan and his army of sorcerers who served Colma.
It wasn’t going well. Eira knew this thanks to Isadore’s memories, but even if she didn’t have those she would have known due to how tense and exhausted and anxious the ancient Queen was.
On her other side stood another woman with long dreaded blonde hair and piercing blue eyes heavily lined in kohl. It was Finley. Or was it?
“I know Minister Gyda,” Isadore said. “Which is why I’ve called upon Queen Ozzane of Imare and Queen Naida of the Dravian Islands.” She gestured to the women on either side of her. “Queen Ozzane has told me a way which we can defeat Dusan and his uprising. But it will require the four of us.”
Minister Gyda raised a brow and contemplated th woman standing next to Isadore with a critical eye.
“A descendant of Luana and a follower of Colma — the same god of Dusan — are going to bring us victory? You think I’m going to trust fate of Eral to them?
The fate of the entire realm? I think not.
It was risky enough to join with the kingdom of Oxare when you married their king.
It’s fortunate the fae haven’t turned their back on me for remaining your ally after all Oxare has done to us. ”
“And what makes you think we want to partner with you?” Queen Naida, the blonde woman, asked back.
She crossed her arms over her chest. “It’s terribly arrogant of you to assume that because I follow the same deity as Dusan that I automatically can’t be trusted.
I have fleets of ships and partnerships with the merfolk.
I’d think you would want my assistance.”
Queen Ozzane sighed and tossed one of her braids over her shoulder. “You should get used to it now, your majesty. Prejudices and fear of what they don’t understand run deep and any follower of Stula can tell you such. But we still have a duty to serve.”
“And look how our partnership with Oxare has made us stronger.” Isadore outstretched her arms to encompass all the troops and soldiers camped around them.
“We have had years of peace until Dusan decided to raise an army of sorcerers. Minister Gyda, in your short time in Eral you have been amazing, but it still has been a short time. I’ve gone through battle before and we need as much assistance as we can get, even if it comes from unexpected places.
Do you think I was thrilled to team with ogres at first? ”
Minister Gyda didn’t have a response for that and looked about the camp. Her lips tightened into a thin line, and she gripped the strap of her bow slung across her chest then turned her focus on Ozzane. “And what do you suggest, your majesty?”
The queen of Imare wasn’t fazed by Gyda’s doubts and objections.
It was unusual for a follower of Stula — let alone one of her descendants — to take the throne.
She’d come across opposition from her own people about having someone with Stula’s death magic ruling their kingdom.
People had always feared what they don’t understand and always would.
“It’ll take more than one type of magic to defeat Dusan. Including my own,” Ozzane said and fingered the pendant around her neck. “Although mine will help.”
“But can’t you kill people with your magic?” Naida asked. “Isn’t that the whole point?”
“Dusan isn’t people,” Ozzane answered with a snap.
“We are all powerful rulers each in our own way, the four of us. Rulers of the forest, ocean, and kingdoms. I’ve heard about the strength of all three of you, and we’re the strongest women to rule in the realm in recorded history.
We just need weapons just a strong and powerful.
” She lifted the pendant off and held it out.
She let go and the necklace floated in the air hovering over the ground in the center of them all.
“With my necklace, handed down from woman to woman from Stula’s line, I can give weapons of our choosing magic to defeat him.
Not only him, but other curses as well. When used together they’ll be unstoppable. ”
Isadore was entranced by the floating piece of jewelry and felt like it was calling to her.
The knife tucked into the pocket at her side hummed as though it sensed the magic too.
Judging by the intrigue on the others’ faces, they were experiencing the same calling.
“What’s the catch?” she asked. “If it was so easy, why haven’t you mentioned it before now? ”
“Because magic that powerful comes at a price.” Ozzane moved her hand in a circular motion, and the necklace turned with it, its purple light radiating over them and growing so dark it almost was black.
“Along with the spell we will bring curses upon ourselves and our lines. Cursed to love people they shouldn’t, to be betrayed by their people, spells, injuries, the list could go on and on. ”
“They sound like troubles all people go through,” Naida said. “We curse them to the way life works? It’s no question to me if it’ll actually work. You can use my sword.” She unsheathed it from her hip and outstretched it to the center toward the necklace.
“Agreed. You have my arrows,” Gyda added and placed her bow and arrows on the ground.
The three of them looked to Isadore expectantly.
On the surface she couldn’t help but agree with them.
People experienced heartbreak, injury, and betrayal everyday.
But her stomach still turned with doubt.
Maybe there was more to it than Ozzane was sharing.
At the same time, people could live with curses.
They wouldn’t have a chance with Dusan running rampant.
She grasped her knife — it had been a wedding gift — and pulled it out to join the others. “You have my knife.”
Ozzane’s jaw was tight but she gave a nod. “Very well.”
She raised her arms and the necklace began to spin and the weapons all rose from the ground to float before them. Its light grew brighter until nothing could be seen anymore.
Then the light faded and the library of Luana’s Castle formed once again.
Eira was herself once more back in the place she’d been calling home.
At her side, Myra sat blinking in shock.
Her brows dragged together as she stared at the book that was now blank like it had been before.
She ran her fingers through her hair and patted her dress. “Was I… and were you…?”
Eira couldn’t help but need to assess herself too and be sure she was Eira again and not a long-gone queen. “We were. It’s something the deities like to do, I’ve learned.”
Myra stopped her examination and gawked. “This happened to you before?”
“It’s a long story I can tell at another time. Right now, it’s not important.”
Myra nodded. “Right. Weapons.”
“The Shadow Slayers, which aren’t here anymore but with Finley because she stole them from Rose.” Eira sank in her seat.
“Not ideal but not impossible,” Myra said with a shrug.
“You know Finley is making her way here to get the Chalice. Unless she’s found some other way to cure her curse by now, getting to the Chalice is her only goal.
It’s the perfect bargaining chip. She’s with Amelia and will bring her, we get Rose here, we use the Shadow Slayers, and she’s defeated. ”
Eira strummed the armrest of her chair and contemplated all of it. “It feels too easy. There has to be a catch. What about the curses? Are we all four their descendants? Are we cursed? Will we bring curses on our future lines?”
Their glimpse into the first time Dusan walked the earth had given them so many answers, but as it was with the deities, there were even more questions to go along with it.
“And can we even trust Finley?” Eira asked. “I know you think she’s your friend, but how well do you really know her?”
Myra grimaced. “We don’t know the whole story. I’m sure there’s more behind her being with Amelia than we realize.”
“For the sake of the kingdom I hope you’re right.”