Chapter Four #2
‘Yes, but not after…’ The librarian paused. ‘Not after you sent her away in a damn rowboat with an old Warsword.’
‘He was ordered to leave her on the Broken Isles.’
‘To die.’
‘She was the Daughter of Darkness, Audra. What else was I supposed to do?’
Audra simply shook her head in disgust.
The tension was becoming too much.
‘Where?’ Torj interjected, trying to keep the peace as always. ‘Where is she building this supposed army?’
‘Naarva,’ Osiris replied, tearing his eyes away from Audra. ‘Where else? It’s far enough away from the remaining kingdoms that she can do so in relative secrecy and without interference. The fallen kingdom is shrouded in shadow and mist.’
‘And the forces?’ Torj pressed. ‘Who fills her ranks?’
‘Men who sympathise with her cause, from all over the midrealms and beyond. Some cursed, some just stupid – or vulnerable and downtrodden,’ the Guild Master said, his disdain clear. ‘Those who would prefer to see the midrealms fall to chaos. And half-wraiths, or so my sources tell me.’
Wilder forced himself into the conversation. ‘Do we have numbers?’
‘None as yet. She keeps things well hidden,’ Osiris told them.
Wilder glanced at Audra, who stiffened when Osiris next spoke.
‘There are also tales of this supposed Daughter of Darkness rallying another force against the midrealms…’ he said slowly.
Audra made a noise at the back of her throat. ‘Now I see the true reason why the invitation to this meeting was extended to me.’
Wilder shifted in his seat as he looked between the stern-faced woman and the Guild Master, locked in a staring contest. ‘Can someone fill the rest of us in, then?’
Audra’s eyes narrowed before she turned to Wilder. ‘What Osiris is implying is that this alleged Daughter of Darkness has been rallying the former women warriors of Thezmarr to her cause.’
Torj barked a laugh. ‘What?’
‘Our dear Guild Master is also implying that I know something about it, which, of course, I do not. I cut ties with all those Thezmarr spat out twenty years ago. I was given no choice.’
‘Audra, please,’ Osiris snapped. ‘You’re honestly telling me that you have no idea where they went after that day?’
Audra stared at him and said flatly, ‘No idea.’
‘I find that hard to believe.’
‘And I find it hard to believe that former members of this guild would ever take up with an evil oppressor,’ Audra bit back. ‘No matter how badly they were treated here.’
‘Audra —’
But it was Vernich who interrupted, getting to his feet with a frustrated grunt. ‘It is not the former women warriors of this fortress you need concern yourself with, Guild Master. The Daughter of Darkness seeks far more powerful alliances than that.’
Audra coughed pointedly, making her feelings about the backhanded defence of Thezmarr’s former warriors clear.
Osiris’ eyes narrowed. ‘Go on…’
‘The Daughter of Darkness seeks strength, power… She seeks magic unlike the world has seen for many years. She seeks the lost heirs of the midrealms.’
Wilder’s stomach bottomed out. Only decades of training kept him in place.
And despite her mask of calm, Audra paled.
Osiris answered with a dark laugh before putting his head in his hands. ‘You can’t be serious.’
But Vernich’s face was sombre. ‘Who better to ally with than magic wielders born of lines who sought to spread their own darkness at one time or another?’
‘There are no heirs,’ Osiris argued. ‘Delmira fell before an heir was born to King Soren and Queen Brigh. And the Naarvian royals fled, right into a swarm of wraiths. They’re all dead.’
Vernich shrugged. ‘They can’t be. Not if she has made her intentions known to those who matter.
Several of my sources have reported to me that she wants the heirs.
So much so that she has spread word that she’ll spare the kingdom who hands them over, whoever they are.
’ He sat down again and started to clean the dirt from beneath his fingernails with his dagger.
‘Gods…’ Osiris muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose.
‘The kingdoms have a duty to any heirs,’ Audra ventured.
‘By law, yes, they do,’ the Guild Master replied, seeming to mull this over before he faced the Warswords again. ‘Do any of you have an idea of when the Great Rite will next open? Will your apprentices be ready for it?’
‘Come now, Osiris,’ Torj replied. ‘It’s only been three weeks. That’s far too soon to tell.’
‘The Great Rite opens of its own accord,’ Wilder added, his skin crawling. ‘There’s no knowing when that might happen next.’
Osiris ran a hand over his closely shaved head, sighing heavily. ‘We need more Warswords.’
Audra had watched their exchange unfold without a flicker of emotion on her face. But now, she clasped her hands together in front of her on the table. ‘What you need is more warriors,’ she said. ‘What you need is more Naarvian steel. I have been telling you that for two damn decades.’
‘What’s more Naarvian steel without Warswords to wield it?’ Vernich snapped.
‘I think we’ve proved well enough that a Warsword isn’t the only one —’
‘Furies save us, woman. Not this again.’
Wilder saw a muscle twitch in Audra’s jaw, but she fell silent. He frowned. That was also unlike her…
It was Torj who spoke next. ‘What are our orders, Osiris?’
The Guild Master stood, bracing his knuckles on the table, his gaze falling to each Warsword in turn. ‘If there are heirs to be found, I want you to be the ones to find them. Use all the resources in your power. Scour the midrealms for them. Uncover who they are. And when you do… bring them to me.’
With that, the meeting was over. Wilder’s hands were numb as he gathered his swords and made for the door. The world was slipping out from underneath him —
‘Keep walking, Warsword,’ Audra’s voice sounded behind him. ‘Keep walking.’
He did as he was told, moving one foot in front of the other until the council room was behind him and he was on his way to the Great Hall, the librarian at his side.
‘You were quiet…’ he managed.
‘I have learnt to hold my words until they are most effective,’ she replied, surveying him with an amused look. ‘They’re the sharpest weapons that way.’
Wilder glanced around the deserted corridor. ‘We can’t tell her. Them .’
Audra raised a brow, resting her hands on her ceremonial daggers. ‘Which part, exactly? That there is a tyrannical heir hunter after them, or that it’s also your sworn duty to hand them over?’
‘Both. Everything.’ Wilder rubbed the back of his neck and then stopped himself. It was something Talemir always used to do when he was under pressure. ‘She’s already struggling. She already has the fate stone to deal with. One more thing might push her over the edge.’
‘Perhaps she needs to go over the edge.’
‘Not yet,’ Wilder replied. ‘We need to keep her safe.’
‘The safest place for her is here. Right beneath their noses. Her and Elwren both,’ Audra whispered. ‘They do not leave the grounds. Not for anything.’
‘Agreed.’
‘You must prepare her for the horrors ahead,’ the librarian warned.
‘What do you think I’ve been doing, Audra?’
But she gave him a knowing look, as though she could see right through him. ‘You must train her, hard. Even it means becoming her enemy. Even if it means she never looks at you the same way again.’
His fought the urge to rub the ache at his chest. ‘I know,’ he murmured.
‘Do you?’ Audra challenged, an edge to her words. ‘This is your duty – to her, to the midrealms. Althea has the power to change the fates of us all.’