Chapter 17 #2
My stomach sinks. Can it sink, when I’m upside down?
Maybe it floats. If he doesn’t understand the reason I chose him and retaliates, I’ll be the one to be dropped from this height.
I don’t know if there’s a way to slow my fall, and don’t know if his water magic could save me—if he even wants to save me.
Perhaps I’m delusional and don’t realize that everyone hates me.
“Her,” he says.
I think I’m about to puke, but then I realize he’s pointing at Mirella.
Right. He’s evening out the votes. It makes sense, and perhaps even explains what Renel did, but he could still have voted for Mirella, couldn’t he?
I can’t even understand why I can feel sad and hurt when my life is held by a thin rope.
One would think that my fear of dying would supersede my fragile heart fracture, but apparently it doesn’t. Now it’s both broken and beating fast.
The queen stares at us all. “Well, well, what a predicament. Apparently, you lot can’t make up your mind. What am I going to do now?”
“A deal,” Renel says.
“Will you kiss my feet and suck my toes?” she asks.
“In exchange for bringing us up safely and no longer harming us?”
She crouches. “No. Because you want to. But you know what? It’s your brother who needs to do that.”
“We can make a deal that I’ll beg him to come and kiss your feet, Queen Berta. And ask him to apologize.”
She pouts again. “I need guarantees. I’m no longer letting people come in here and humiliate me. Oh, no. He’ll pay for what he’s done. He’ll pay.”
“If it helps, when he came here we weren’t even allies,” Renel says.
“I don’t care!” she roars.
A crazy idea comes to my mind. It might work, and it might not, but at this point it might be worth a try.
“Do you care for the safety of your court?” I ask.
She turns to me, her eyes piercing, but since she doesn’t say anything, I continue, “The Witch King is alive again, and we want to kill him for good this time, or at least defeat him. We’d rather be learning how to fight him than hanging here.
It’s a fight for all of us, against dangers that might eventually come to your court.
You want us to beg, I’m begging. Please let us find out more about this threat. ”
Her eyes narrow. “Likely tale.”
“It’s true,” Renel says.
She chuckles, but without her previous haughtiness. “And nobody noticed?”
“The giants did,” he says. “They asked Marlak to stop something that was about to come out from the underground. They noticed something was amiss. Marlak can kill the Witch King, at least in theory, but there’s… more. There’s more that needs to be done to ensure the old villain doesn’t return.”
The queen raises an eyebrow. “Let me guess: you’re hoping my library will have the answer.”
“Yes,” Renel rasps as he exhales. I’m not sure if he’s defeated or relieved, and I don’t know what to expect from this queen.
“Guards!” the queen yells.
I think I might pass out.
“Pull them,” she adds, then turns to us. “Don’t make me regret it.”
I feel my feet being yanked up fast, and my chest deflates like a punctured waterskin as relief washes over me. I can barely believe I’m not about to be thrown down a cliff.
The guards pull us back to that strange stall and untie us, then ask us to follow them up the stairs.
I barely have time to recollect myself, and the ground spins as I stand, my body trembling with the aftershock of panic.
I feel strong hands on my shoulder and I’m about to snap them, thinking it’s Renel, but he’s in front of me, staring at me with wide eyes.
Ziven’s the one who held me, and for some inane reason, I’m disappointed.
Why did I still hope it was Renel, after what he did?
“Are you all right?” Ziven asks.
I turn to him and grimace. “Are you?”
He chuckles. “Much better than a minute ago.”
“Move.” The guards push us, and I’m forced to walk.
My eye meets Renel’s and all I see there is coldness. So maybe he meant it when he picked my name to be dropped—but it doesn’t even make sense! He came to rescue me.
I climb the steps in a mix of confusion and expectation, wondering what other tricks this queen has for us and if we’ll get to see her library.
As if I could fool myself. Yes, I am wary of this queen, and I’m wondering if she’ll let us get anywhere close to her books, but what’s really occupying my mind is a pointless wondering, trying to understand what happened for Renel to hate me, wondering if I did something wrong, wondering…
Odd, painful wondering with no answers.
ASTRA
Consciousness comes in and out, but I know he’s holding me. He’s alive. I’m alive.
Something touches my lips, something wet.
“Drink,” Marlak says.
Water. Pure, clean, fresh water. I open my eyes and find myself resting on his lap, Nelsin crouched in front of me.
The cat-eared fae then passes me a metal cup with more water, and I drink it greedily. It’s when I notice the bars around me, and that we’re in a forest, dim orangish sunset light coming through the trees.
“Where are we?”
“Alksamira,” Nelsin says. “The giant’s third biggest city.”
“But why…”
The fae looks down. “I’ll explain, but I need to tend to your wounds. I brought medicine—and food.” He smiles, then points at my shoulder. “Can I…”
I lower my dress and feel my skin burning as he applies another wet cloth on it.
Marlak holds my hand tight and whispers, “The giants changed their minds, I think. We’re prisoners. But they saved us from the Shadow Lands.”
“They’re afraid,” Nelsin says. “Fearful people—and creatures—can be dangerous.”
“But you were the one who suggested—”
“I know.” He pauses the movement on my shoulder. “What I can say is that I had a deal with the previous king, but he was deposed. They think there might be no way to stop the Witch King. In this case, they’d rather have something to offer him as a gift.”
The idea sounds horrid. “Us?”
Nelsin nods.
I can’t believe he’s so resigned and hiss, “And you’re just going to let it happen?”
“I’m doing what I can to help, my lady. Your wound would have gotten infected, if I hadn’t brought this. I brought you a potion to wake you up. You have food to keep your strength. Everything in its own time.”
I grimace. “Am I supposed to thank you?”
Marlak runs a hand through my hair. “We’ll figure it out. It’s true that first we need to survive.”
Did I hear what I just heard? “You’re agreeing with him?”
He kisses the top of my head. “I’m glad to see you awake, azalee, that’s all.”
I exhale. Maybe they’re right that there isn’t much we can do now. Maybe we have no reason to panic. “Is the Witch King dead?”
“No.” Nelsin’s the one who replies. “At least according to the giants. Their magic is still being pulled. They sense it.”
“But I burned him. With Marlak’s magic. I burned him.”
My husband sighs. “And what happened?”
“He disappeared. Burned in one second. Puff. The flames caught him, but he burned like a thin piece of paper.”
Marlak’s eyes are clouded with worry. “Perhaps he transcended away from the fire.”
Cold dread takes over my stomach. “If he can do that, then how can he be killed?”
My husband looks down. “I do not know.”
Nelsin is now applying a poultice on my shoulder and says, “And that’s why we need to survive and plan a little better.”
“A lot better,” Marlak says, then looks at me. “I’m sorry. So sorry I failed.”
“You didn’t fail. What happened when you came to the Witch King’s cave?”
He closes his eyes. “Crisine was there.”
I’m stunned. “The Spider Court princess herself? Your former…” I don’t know why I don’t want to say lover.
Marlak nods. “I also found it strange, then I thought it was a glamour, that she was the Witch King. I burned her, not enough to kill her, at least I don’t think so, and yet she died.
But that moment…” He closes his eyes. “Distracted me. The next thing I knew, the Witch King had his hand on my head and was pulling my magic, and then it was too late.”
“Why was she there?”
“She said she wanted to be his queen. Now, how she got there… She was a great transcender. Not as strong as Azur, but stronger than any transcender I knew. Perhaps, like him, she was pulled to his prison. Another possibility is that she transcended there out of her own will.”
“If she’s a powerful transcender, and if he got her magic…” The thought makes me shudder. “Maybe that’s what he did; he transcended away. The question is if he can leave that cave.”
I feel Marlak’s chest rising and falling slowly as he sighs, then says, “A big question.”
“And we’re here, sitting like ducks. If he comes this way…” A cold shiver runs up my spine.
“Night’s falling,” Marlak says. “Ghouls can’t come to the giant cities, so we’ll be safe for now—unless the Witch King comes, of course, but he’s still far north.
He wouldn’t make it here that fast. If he can transcend away from his prison, which I hope he can’t, why would he come here?
There isn’t much we can do for now, rather than hope. ”
He’s too calm. Too calm, and then I realize it’s probably because he’s hiding something from Nelsin, so I’ll need to wait for the blond fae to leave to ask what Marlak’s really thinking.
Nelsin smiles. “And eat. I brought you food, and I’ll leave you two alone.” He points at a bucket. “I’ll come later to collect that and the plates, to see if you need anything else, and to change your poultice.”
He gets up, opens the door with a large key, locks it, and leaves.
I look at Marlak. “How are you?”
“Disappointed at myself.”
That doesn’t make any sense. “If you had burned him, the same thing would have happened.”
He lets out a bitter chuckle. “Yes. But you would still be safe back home. So much would have been different.”
“The biggest problem would still be the same; the fact he didn’t burn.”
“I suppose.” He takes the tray and brings it close to me. “Interested in some dinner?”
There are gigantic pieces of bread and cooked meat that was thinly cut, probably by Nelsin. I take some of it and make a sandwich.
“I was hungry.” I take a bite, and notice that the bread is rubbery and the meat over-salted, but I suppose it’s better than no food.
Marlak also takes some bread and meat, then lets out a relaxed chuckle. “Giants and their lack of vegetables.” He then looks me in the eye. “The bars in this cell, they are meant to block the prisoner’s magic.”
“I see. So you can’t…”
He shakes his head subtly. “The Witch King took my magic.” He then lowers his voice to an almost inaudible whisper. “But I feel it returning. This cage dulls it, but not enough.”
That explains why he’s so calm. Still, if he were to break this cage, we’d have to face who knows how many giants, and then we’d still be in the Shadow Lands.
I’m trying to understand what he’s planning, and ask, “So in the morning…”
“Nelsin’s saying he’ll try to negotiate our release.”
“Do you think he can manage it?”
“No idea. And I don’t know where Ferer is, if he’s a prisoner too, and if we can trust Nelsin.
I mean, I don’t think he’d want us dead, and I’m sure whatever poultice and potions he gave you are good, but I don’t know what to expect from him.
But we’ll see. Right now, we’re at the safest place we could be in the Shadow Lands, so we might as well rest.”
“And eat, I suppose.” I take a bite of my dreadful sandwich.
He puts down his bread and caresses my hair. “Trust me that I’ll keep you safe. We need to survive first, and then…” He closes his eyes.
“We’ll find a solution.”
Marlak nods, his eyes distant, thinking.
I’m here wondering if the Witch King transcended, or maybe if the fire didn’t work because I wielded it instead of Marlak.
I’m wondering if there’s a way to kill my sinister ancestor, and hoping he doesn’t decide to come here tonight.
And then, I’m also wondering how we can hope to escape this place in the morning.
There won’t be any ghouls, but this is the giant’s territory.
Marlak is powerful, but can he fight dozens of giants?