Chapter 3
VALANCE
A sprinkling of snow fell on my head, shaken loose by a bird flapping in the branches. I brushed away the flakes slithering down my forehead, waiting for the yellow-eyed creature to answer me.
“I was stolen from my groves, Your Majesty,” the jinn answered at last. “The thief brought me here to save a family from sickness. A human woman from the south of Winter. She died before she could make her wish, her body some miles to the east. I’m trying to get home.”
I watched the jinn watch me, waiting for more to fall from his tiny mouth.
“Your carriage frightened me, so I ran,” he added. “I thought you were here to do the same, take me somewhere to be your wishing slave.”
What an interesting term. “Our paths have crossed unintentionally. I presumed you were another rebel I had to whip into servitude or death.” I tilted my head to the side. “Clearly, I made a mistake.”
“I want to go home, My King. More than anything.”
“There is no place like home.”
Mine was gone, lost to Florent and Lasair. The Summer Palace, my place of birth. So far away, so beyond my reach. My mother still slept there, unmoving since the death of my sister Jehanne’s death.
Did she still live? Had my enemies put her to the sword?
“You don’t want a wish granted, My King?” he asked.
“I have no desire to bargain with you.”
“I can—”
“Stop,” I cut him off. “There will be none of that talk here.”
A blue tongue poked out of his mouth, licking at his thin lips. “But you do, Your Majesty. I can feel it.”
A shiver passed through me. Could this creature see into my thoughts, my darkest desires?
“Do not question the king,” Orla snapped. “Or I will take your tongue.”
The jinn recoiled, his lips curling into something like a fear-wrapped snarl. “Apologies. I didn’t mean to offend.”
“There is no offense,” I said, placing my hand on Orla’s shoulder. “I want no anger here.” I had enough for all of Faerie. “But do not say anything like that again.”
I granted the jinn some movement, allowing him to bow respectfully.
The king and queen flanked me, waiting to kill. If I gave them the order, they would tear him limb for limb.
“I have another question, if you would permit your king,” I said.
He lifted his head. “I will answer any questions you have, Your Majesty.”
“Can you wish yourself home?” I asked.
The jinn released a soft sigh. “Jinn are unable to benefit from wishes.”
“That’s not true,” Brigid joined in, floating up to my right. “You might not be able to wish for things, but you always come out of your bargains winning.”
“The price of a wish gives us nothing.”
“Don’t lie to me, you—”
I grabbed the old woman by her greasy hair, hauling her upward to face me. She croaked, her eyes bulging. “Be quiet.”
“But—”
“If I hear your voice again tonight without asking to, I’ll hollow you out with my bare hands.”
From the corner of my eye, I saw the jinn recoil.
“Apologies, Your Majesty,” the hag squeaked.
“I’ll let those words pass, seeing as you were groveling.” I released her, letting her float behind me.
Whether she was a head or whole, the darkling was dangerous. I took her counsel, yet I trusted her as much as a cornered viper.
The jinn unnerved me. It may be as weak as twigs, small, but its power was greater than mine. It could change so much or so little, undo everything. Even turn back the hands of time.
With one wish…
“It is best we leave this here,” I said, firmly deciding I wanted nothing to do with this creature.
Which meant Kormac stayed dead and gone.
Forever.
Movement in the trees, the heavy crunching of snow, the breaking of twigs. Approaching noises from every corner, no stealth taken, no care of sneaking in unnoticed. These brutes wanted me to know they were coming now.
And they wanted me dead.
A smile crept to my lips as I drew my sword. I’d play with them, let steel kiss steel until I grew weary of this nonsense and either slayed them or sent them back to Winter Keep to be suitably tortured into bending the knee. Or destroyed.
Silver magic danced through me, awaiting my command.
Not yet…
The first centaur burst from the trees brandishing a spiked maul, its red eyes blazing against his fair, rosy complexion. Its top half was constructed from throbbing muscles, the bottom that of a brown horse. He stank of sweat and shit.
Centaurs. Rebels, the lot of them, along with the elves of the north. They often joined forces, like now, the elves firing arrows at us.
A pity. Back in Summer, I enjoyed the cock of many a male elf.
With my magic, I called to the snow and the wind, summoning a powerful cyclone to enclose us, the elven arrows failing to break through.
“Those dreadful rebels,” I muttered, walking toward the spinning white.
“Your Majesty!” King Eoghan cried.
“Stay where you are,” I returned. “I want you safe, not hurt by some rebel arrow. That would be a distasteful way for you to leave me.”
He froze to the spot, his eyes burning into my back. He’d sworn to protect me, to be by my side in this war against Florent and Lasair. Because I had brought him back, poured life into him and the lands again, he offered me his loyalty, swearing to protect me.
But it was he who required protection, lacking my solid immortality. It would be a pity for him to be felled by an arrow. He wouldn’t die, for my magic would heal him. That didn’t change my not wanting to see him die, albeit temporarily.
There is only one who should be by my side…
The wind and snow parted for me, an icy curtain. I ran through, bringing my blade up to deflect an arrow. I laughed as I ducked three more, cut through another two before they reached me.
A centaur charged at me, hooves surprisingly light on the snow, taking a hefty swing of its heavy weapon. I met it with my sword, the crunching impact rattling my bones.
Again, I laughed.
“False king!” the male centaur spat.
“Your breath is worse than death,” I countered.
“I’ll rip your head off and shit down your neck.”
Could he do that? Would I simply regrow my head and vomit up his feces?
An interesting thought.
I summoned more snow, commanding it to strike him in the face. The puff of cold white sent him staggering backward. His red eyes closed. He howled, clawing at them, cursing my name.
I shook my head, deflecting another arrow. “To think I have saved these lands. Where is the respect you owe me?”
“No respect for a false king!” a few voices barked.
A second centaur, a female, tried her luck. I spun, light of foot even in the snow, landing on my right knee, the centaur’s maul missing my head. I drove my sword into her guts, pushing until it burst out of her back.
She squealed, blood oozing from between her bared, black teeth.
“How does that feel?” I whispered.
She groaned, her hands trying to gain purchase on my blade.
I summoned snow and wind to form a smaller, violent cocoon around us.
“We’re all alone now,” I said. “I do enjoy privacy parleying with my enemies.” I shook my head. “But this isn’t a parley, is it? This is foolishness on your part. A terrible disrespect.”
“I—”
“What?” I leaned forward, sliding the deadly-sharp blade in a little more. “Tell me?”
“I… I will never…” The vile creature couldn’t finish her sentence.
“Hurts, doesn’t it?” I said.
Another groan, a gargling sound in her throat.
“This is exactly what happens to those who try to defy me,” I said. “To deny my sovereignty. You will learn your lesson today, and others will learn after you until it soaks into those tenacious skulls.”
I began to twist the sword, the screams from the centaur drawing my lips into a wider smile. More blood ran free as her guts were torn, red eyes wide in horror.
“A lesson to be learned for all of Faerie,” I added, finishing the full turn of the blade. “Do you understand?”
The centaur screamed in my face, trying to say something. Instead, she managed a nasty cough, spitting blood in my face.
“Disgusting.” I dragged the sword upward, slowly, making sure she felt every second of her dying moments. The steel carved through flesh and bone, so sharp it was as if the creature was made from the softest of butters.
I reveled in her screams, in the gore, until eventually, I reached her head. With one final, brutal upward push, I cut through her skull. Her two halves parted, falling to the snow as I released our cocoon and charged back into battle.
There would be no return to life here.
“No!” a male centaur cried over his fallen comrade.
More centaurs came from the trees, joined by the tall, arrow-firing elves. I’d enjoyed my fill of violence, ready to continue with my journey south.
“Enough of this,” I said to myself, summoning the moisture from the snow, drawing up an army of floating droplets.
I enchanted them to grow, to become spears of ice. Sharp and deadly, formed by the coldest of hearts.
My heart is empty and cracked.
I am done with my heart.
I deflected more arrows, met the blade of another centaur.
And then the ice flew. The spears struck each target in the eye, no creature standing a chance to defend themselves against such vicious speed. Not a single one of them wore a helmet, and so in went the ice, sending them dead into the snow.
As easy as that.
Fighting Florent and Lasair would not be so simple.
The protective snowy cyclone around my companions dropped as I cleaned my sword of blood in the snow.
“Your Majesty!” the old woman and the two former monarchs seemed to chorus as one.
I sheathed my blade, rolling my shoulders. The silver magic tingled in my bones, licking at my strength. I was nowhere near to being spent yet, thank Danu. That little display hardly broke a sweat.
“Are you all right?” Orla asked, coming to stand before me, her black hair fluttering in the breeze.
“I’m fine,” I responded. “Please don’t worry.”
I saw Eoghan inspecting the bodies with the jinn close to him.
Brigid floated closer, her eyes boring into me.
“Is there a problem?” I demanded.
“I am marveling at your skill,” she responded. “You are a gifted sorcerer.”
“I suppose I am,” I said, eyes finding crimson flowing from the head of a beautiful male elf, staining the snow.
Always blood.
Always death.
Forever violence.
Because that is how things must always be. And I have always been a vessel for death.
“We’re leaving,” I said.
Crunching in the snow, the jinn coming to stand to my left.
I looked down at him. “What is it?”
“What about me, Your Majesty?” Wide, yellow eyes implored me. “Please, may I go home? I’ve been away from the matriarch far too long.”
“Matriarch?”
“We always have a matriarch who takes the throne of our clan. I miss her so much.”
“And I’m sure she misses you,” I answered.
He nodded. “Please, can I leave for home?”
This was it, the time to make a decision. Did I send this jinn on its way or change my mind and make a deal with him?
“You may go,” I said, turning my head to the stars beyond the thick canopy of leaves above.
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
Using my magic again, I summoned the trees to my command, just like the old version of me would. Only, this time my greater power snapped heavy branches, enchanting them to transform and take on a new shape.
The sounds of a carpenter’s workshop filled the forest, and before long, a wooden sleigh rested upon the surface of the snow. Fit for any jinn.
Pouring more magic into it, I placed an enchantment upon it.
“This is yours now,” I explained to the jinn. “Climb aboard and tell it where you want to go.”
“Really, Your Majesty?”
I nodded, sweat now beading on my brow. “Yes. Now go. Be safe.”
“Thank you… Thank you for your generosity, Your Majesty.” He bowed. “I will not forget this.”
I waved him away, gazing upward once more.
I’m sorry I cannot save you from death…
How I wished he would answer me.