40. Regent
REGENT
My beast, for the first time in a long time, breathes.
Esther wants and needs nothing from me, yet my beast wants to provide her with all the strength and protection it can offer, unyieldingly. The man in me is skeptical because I’ve already learned once that everything is short-lived.
When we walk out of the cave, she bites her lower lip as I look at the warriors who have fallen into a deep slumber on the ground.
“Oh, I er, might have put them to sleep,” she says guiltily.
I feel the wisps of her magic run over the men, who suddenly begin to stir.
They seem disoriented at first, but it’s not them I care for.
My attention falls to the trees where I can sense the assassin.
The moment we appear, however, he pulls further into the shadows.
My hand tightens around hers. He’s important to her, I understand this logically, but every part of me is screaming to make it clear that she is mine.
“Sir?” one of the warriors repeats himself.
I blink back in their direction, their expressions grim as if they failed me. But it was I who failed them, never thinking that Esther would follow me into the cave, but I should have known better.
“You’re relieved of your duties. Thank you for your assistance.” I nod. “What happened this evening, you speak of to no one.”
“Yes,” they both agree, for their sake and ours. They look Esther up and down, a tendril of fear in their eyes, and I don’t blame them. So easy is the power to make a man yield to her. She might seem apologetic for the act now, but will that always be the case?
Like most, once they get a taste for power, they want only more.
We walk back toward the camp, the early hours of the morning already in chaotic upheaval, more so than usual. I toy with my magic, which slowly begins to fill, always uncomfortable by the three days before and after the full moon, until my strength is restored.
And Esther recognizes that. The Ariagem burns in my pocket.
The dark magic it possesses pulses around my chest. It bothers me that I’ve only been able to explore its potential a few times.
I’ve had a month to play with my limitations, and it takes more from me than I would like to admit; but I also suspect it’s because it’s made out of Felia-blessed material, taking more from one who is born Neina blessed.
“Regent!” Imogine rounds the last tent, out of breath.
“What’s happened?” I ask as warriors run behind her, Talis leading them. He’s the lead warrior of their group with three braids and a roguish beard, also plaited with the gold handcrafted charms to match the engravings on some of Imogine’s bracelets.
“The enemy is growing in numbers and is not moving.”
My stomach sinks, and I look in the direction of Blaze, who walks with his hands in his pockets as he approaches our makeshift circle.
I storm him, grabbing him by the edge of his leather coat. “You said they were targeting the kingdom.”
The edge of a blade juts into my stomach the moment my hands are on him. “That’s what I overheard, but I’m not in charge of their movement,” he sneers.
“Regent.” Esther’s hand shoves me back by the shoulder as she stands between us. “Let go of him. He hasn’t done anything wrong.”
“The wind has changed, and the Fates whisper things,” Sheila says over my shoulder. “There was always a possibility. What’s the update on the boats?”
“We only have four made. It won’t even carry a quarter of us,” Talis says. “If they continue expanding, and growing the camp closer, we’ll be cornered. Will your barrier hold?”
Sheila’s milky-yellow eyes look up into the sky. “Against an army, no. I’m sure there’s one or two greers in that camp sensitive and talented enough to pick up on it. My barriers are not omnipotent.”
“What if I helped?” Esther suggests, hopefully. “If it’s power you need…”
“No.” The word falls from my lips, and everyone looks at me. “We still don’t know what your power looks like. Also, that means we’ll have to bring down the barrier to resurrect it, doesn’t it?”
Sheila grimaces and nods. “It could leave us exposed depending how long it takes to restore.”
“Is there no way around them?” Imogine asks Talis.
His face falls, answer enough. “Not without a distraction. Or we wait it out and hope they move on to seize Ethera City. We can’t take on an army of that size.”
“Where is your lookout posted?” Blaze asks. “If we can get a better understanding of the landscape, there might be other ways to get around them instead of confronting them.”
“I’ll take you,” Talis says. I doubt much has changed since the last time we inspected the trickling invasion. If it remains the same, we still won’t be able to get around them.
“What if they’re not here to take the kingdom? What if they’re here for her?” Imogine says, jutting her chin in Esther’s direction. I step in front of Esther, protecting her from the accusation.
“Or they could also be here for me,” I remind her. “And though we could most likely leave, do you really want to turn us away now when we might be an asset to help everyone out of this situation?”
Imogine’s jaw grinds as she looks to her mother. Lovealots comes to sit beside the old woman, nudging her paw against the matriarch. Sheila leans heavier on the cane and sighs.
“The Fates play games again. Looks like you might be due to speak to the Fates sooner than you would like, omni. There is more to play than simply where we’ve been isolated to in camp. You’ve all been brought here for a reason, and we must uncover why,” Sheila says.
My jaw grinds at the thought of Esther going under in any ceremony that relies on spirit greers. I trust the matriarch, but I do not trust the gods. “It will leave her exposed.”
“And your blindness for your weak spot is making you exposed,” Imogine reprimands me with a burning glare.
“Your faith is what blinds you,” I bark.
“Regent.” Esther pulls me back by the shoulder, her expression tormenting me. “We need to help them and thank them for their hospitality appropriately. If this is what is required of me to help, I will do it.”
Grimace’s bright orange eyes look at me, his head tilting to the side.
“Put all efforts into the boats and take us to the lookout. If we do not need to depend on the flippancy of the gods, we will pave our own way.” I make a point to look at the assassin.
“How do we still know he’s not under Dahlia’s influence and working for her even here?
” I still don’t trust the timing of things since their camp appeared only days after we first arrived here.
A settlement which the Tahil clan have claimed for years.
“Do you distrust my abilities that much?” Imogine accuses.
“No, I simply do not trust someone who has attacked me once before.”
“Rich, considering how many times I tried to take your life,” Esther berates. “If you trust me, you will trust him. Blaze has experience, and he’s familiar with Caldom Kingdom’s army. If Barbados is there, perhaps we can communicate with him or—”
“No communication,” I quickly say. “We need to assume that all of them are under the same enchantment as the one we found him under.” I pointedly look to Blaze.
“It’s unlikely, but we cannot trust anyone in that camp.
I understand this is the kingdom you came from, Esther, but it has fallen and is no longer run under the king you admired.
Stay here while I assess the situation, but no ceremonies are to be conducted while I’m gone.
” My gaze slides to Sheila and Imogine. “I mean it. Her life is not to be risked for something as trivial as your faith.”
“Regent.” Esther grabs my hand, but I pull away from her, calling for my mare. “I mean it, Esther. I will not lose you to a whim.”
We stand on top of a hill, hidden among the trees, as we look upon the campsite built on top of the ruins of an old Felia temple.
It was constructed and cursed before my time, the lingering of any curse long forgotten or no longer feared.
As happens to most temples if they are no longer revered to the god in question.
The demigod once born to watch over the temple is shunned by their maker, sometimes trapped or cursed.
I find it only fitting that Dahlia would have her men come to shore, considering how abandoned this land has become. Precisely why the Tahil clan decided to set up here.
I peer into the magically refined piece of glass that helps me look into the camp.
I bare my teeth at the amount of dark beasts flooding through the camp, various markings visible on some soldiers, hidden on others—or non-existent.
A sickening feeling twists in my stomach.
Or are they being controlled in some other way?
The beasts are always discardable in the face of war.
“I wonder how many of them are contracted,” Talis says. “If we go for the beasts, then it leaves her men exposed, but it’s volatile to attack them because of their master’s orders.”
We share the same sentiment. Beasts are used as weapons and shields.
Not as equals. They have no choice but to follow their master’s bidding.
But if they’re being controlled in another way, then it’s dangerous.
Their lives will amount to even less if there is no consequence on a greer who has contracted them.
“Dahlia doesn’t care for her men or the beasts,” Blaze speaks up.
“It’s only numbers and force she cares about.
As the army stands now, she likely doesn’t have enough to take on the kingdom’s defenses.
I suspect she’s waiting for more troops,” Blaze suggests.
I side-eye him, still concerned by the advantage they hold.
If they don’t move forward toward Ethera City, we’re in trouble.
And the fact that a few of them have been coming closer to the lookout spots is also problematic, especially if a greer detects the barrier.
“Do you have lookouts on the east by the shore?” I ask Talis.
“Yes, but besides a few more boats arriving over the week, nothing out of the ordinary.”
I absorb his information as I search for the main tent, finally spotting it in the most obvious place, central to the ruins, half covered by moss-slathered brick walls.
The ruins are moss-heavy due to the black water that threads through the old temple like veins.
Tents are pitched around the main ruins, close to the larger pools of still water.
It was once said that those who stumbled upon the temple were called in by a voice, dragged into the depths of the water by a fallen demigod.
That, however, seems of no concern to the men, or more specifically, the leader who put them there.
We have an advantage from the cliff if we want to catapult magic and weapons, but the moment we engage, it’s only a matter of time before they scale the cliff walls.
Even if we make our way down the narrow pathway along the east, closest to the sea, it’ll act as a bottleneck for those who come up on foot, but also means not many of us can pass through.
Most importantly, although warriors, the Tahil clan are far from prepared to take on an entire army.
“There.” Blaze points into the sky. I turn the magical refined glass, zooming into the sky.
Circling in the air is a flying beast. Its black wings are wide as it circles and drops, swooping as it catches a rodent rummaging through the forest edge.
The valther. “Dahlia’s beast is to be monitored.
It allows her to see through its eyes. It gives her aerial vision, and it’s how she monitored me. ”
“I’ve seen that beast before,” I admit. Thrice. Which means, as I suspected, she’s been watching Esther this entire time. The only question is, does she know that Esther is positioned behind her and within arm’s reach?
“The most obvious choice is to sneak in the dead of night and kill their leader,” I say, considering my advantage, conscious of my Ariagem.
My concern being how long it’ll take for my magic to restore until I can make the jump.
I wouldn’t make it now; the Ariagem would rip me apart, taking more than I had to offer in bargain.
The thought of waiting three days until my magic is fully restored makes me uneasy. A lot can happen in three days.
“It’s impossible to sneak up on her. Besides, we still haven’t seen her.
For all we know, she’s not even in this camp.
I don’t know if you can sense magic like Esther does, but even if you can, there’s so many fire greers.
How do you pinpoint her without physically spotting her?
All we can do is look through her ranks right now.
See the patches on the shoulders of some; they identify their hierarchy.
Those who have patches are fire greers. Those who do not are nothing more than foot soldiers. ”
I side-eye the assassin again, irritated by how intimately he speaks of Esther’s magic. For him to know how it feels to her grates on my nerves because it’s information that can be used against her.
“You seem to know a lot about the battlefield for someone who was trained to hide in the shadows for the dirty jobs.”
“And for a bandit who’s only in it for trinkets and gold, you seem invested in fighting an army.”
The edges of my lips turn up as I show teeth. “I keep a close eye on my possessions to make sure no one else gets their hands on them.”
“You’re a fool to think anything stolen is yours in the first place.” His ice blue gaze lands on me. “She might let you lie with her, but let me assure you, when Esther sees you for who you really are, she will come to her senses. You are a novelty and not worthy of her.”
“Then tell me, boy, what am I?” I snarl, my knuckles turning white as the magically refined glass slices my hand because of how tightly I hold it.
Talis remains silent as he watches us.
“Selfish,” Blaze says before pulling back on the reins of his horse.
“Don’t,” Talis says as I go to follow him. I crack my neck, restraint never being an ally of mine as I look back over the camp.
Selfish.