3. A New Threat #2
Wilouhby had been a part of the Valencia reign since Cahira’s grandfather’s time. In his younger days he would have towered over Kaiden by at least a head taller. Now, his hunched back gave him the appearance of someone in constant pain.
“When you’re ready,” the king’s voice carried across the room, addressing his heir. “We will begin.”
As if a gust of air supported Wilouhby’s feet, he walked as quickly as possible to his seat with Kaiden’s arm for support.
Kaiden settled him in before sitting on their father’s right side with a small nod of acknowledgment.
Cahira took a deep breath, steadying her beating heart as the war council began.
She lost track of how many arguments broke out amongst the elders.
The clock tolled, hiding the rumbling of her stomach.
They had finally agreed on the minor skirmishes within Arkan’s borders.
The ongoing war had just been brought to the table when the doors opened.
She hid her excitement behind the goblet of wine when servants poured in with trays of delicate fruits, cheese, and fresh bread.
Large, blackened salmon made her mouth water as she watched them slice meaty portions for each person seated at the table.
Only after they left did the conversation continue.
“Our forces grow outside of Vidrena’s walls. If we don’t break through, our men will perish when winter comes.” Cahira turned toward the elder who had spoken; Master Masin, the head military elder. “My lieutenant has confirmed a breach in the southern walls.”
Master Masin drummed his thick fingers on the table in front of him.
His hair had gone white two decades ago.
His athletic build had also been tossed to the wind.
A large gut toppled over his buckled pants and he drank deeply from his cup as if it held the power to chase the ghosts of warfare from his very being.
“We’ve certainly exhausted our coffers with this confounded siege,” Master Timons, the royal treasurer huffed, pushing rounded spectacles up the brim of his long nose.
He was a tall, thin man with reedy features.
He only ever spoke when it concerned the precious coins he counted and guarded with his life.
“It is not a futile move but one of expert military strategy. When Vidrena falls we will have conquered the entire east kingdoms of Peraynia. No king has governed over more than two kingdoms since our forefather’s time. With Vidrena we will have three,” Masin declared.
Timons frowned but remained quiet.
Cahira sipped her wine. A ghost of a smile lifted the corner of her lips.
Without any real substance the war meetings turned frightfully boring.
She let her mind wander along with her gaze.
Kaiden had returned with the rebels in tow days ago, yet the bags under his eyes had only grown darker since his return.
His nightmares were no longer kept at bay. Sometimes his screams would reach through to the other side of the secret tunnel connecting their rooms. He would need a powerful sleeping draft before things got worse. As if feeling her gaze he turned, raising a brow in question.
She scrunched her brows. Are you okay?
The barest movement of his head. Yes. He scrunched his brows back at her. Are you?
She tapped her wine glass twice. Yes.
Kaiden turned back to the elder speaking but allowed the corner of his lips to twitch upward in a smirk shared between them. Liar.
Cahira hid her smile behind a gulp of wine. They had come up with a way to communicate years ago when the fear of speaking out resulted in a slap to a face or worse. Now, it was oddly comforting to hold a conversation without saying a word.
“I have heard rumors.” Wilouhby cleared his throat softly.
All heads turned to him. Each elder remained quiet, paying respect.
“There are whispers growing in the dark,” he began.
Cahira swore she felt her father stiffen.
“Eslanda Damali was thought to be the last priestess of the old religion. Her ancestors were responsible for building the Veil and ensuring it lasted for life. They succeeded, or so we thought, and peace was restored to Peraynia, even if for a short time.” Although Wilouhby did not fix the king with a pointed stare, his words did.
“Osiris, Ukoron’s prison, has grown weaker as the years have gone by.
Without a priestess to guard the Veil which keeps the monsters, and the very god who controls them, at bay I fear the depths will be upon us once more.
A dark sacrifice was made to entrap Ukoron, and now if a priestess lives, one must be made again. ”
Cahira had a flashback of endless school days in Wilouhby’s library.
The Order of Qualan had sacrificed one of their own priestesses to weaken Ukoron and destroy his followers.
The kingdoms fought a war which raged throughout Peraynia to imprison Ukoron and complete the Great Rise, a final battle to return the gods back to their realm in Qualan.
Wilouhby’s usually frail voice echoed within the war room, freezing each elder in their place.
His words turned the fish in Cahira’s stomach to ash as dread took hold.
“Eslanda Damali was an evil plague to this realm and was killed eleven years ago,” Master Perring, the Marshall of the Field, said. Perring normally kept to himself. He listened and quickly jotted down all that was said for the history scrolls.
“Yes,” Wilouhby said quietly, glancing at the king, “it is not Eslanda I am concerned with.”
“Every highborn felt the loss of their magic.” Byron Aariv’s voice was a calming balm against Perring’s crackling tone.
An older replica of Fintan, his father held all the youthfulness a man of three and fifty could hold when positioned as the chancellor to the most vile man in the realm.
“Our power was depleted and returned with a hunger for something … more.”
Wilouhby’s gaze traveled around the round table.
He stared at Kaiden, then his gaze landed on hers before finding the king.
A secret alliance to the future King of Arkan had been made years ago between Wilouhby and Kaiden.
Whatever Wilouhby spoke of to the council, Cahira could be sure there was an underlying message for them both.
“What is it you’re trying to say Wilouhby?” Her father’s voice was surprisingly cool, covering the layer of deadly flames he was known for.
Cahira was just as interested to see what Wilouhby was insinuating. Unease oozed across her skin, raising the hair on her arms.
“Eslanda’s daughter was never found.” Wilouhby’s voice rose above the hushed whispers and mutters of disbelief. “Her power. The pure power of a priestess is the only explanation for the surge we all felt. Which means —”
“She is very much alive,” Kaiden said with what one could misjudge as awe in his voice.
The very air stilled around the room as the king's mood darkened.
“When was the last time the girl was seen?” The king asked.
“Shadowood.” Perring flipped through pages of scrolls. “She would have been a tender age then, perhaps eleven or ten.”
“By now the girl would be around two and twenty,” Elder Orlette, Master of Magic, spoke up. Her round face was full of well-earned wrinkles and withered by time and age.
“How can she be this powerful and stay hidden all these years?” Fintan asked.
“Ancestral power passed down and no longer shared has nowhere to go but into one person.” Wilouhby pointed between Cahira and Kaiden.
“You two share the magic of the gods, the power of Valencia blood flows through the both of you. Eslanda’s daughter is the last priestess.
There is no one left to share, so she has absorbed generations of magic over time. ”
“All that power,” Cahira said softly. “I imagine it to be a bit overbearing.”
“When released after years of being shielded, it’s a wonder it didn’t kill her.” Kaiden added.
“The real question is why now?” Cahira finished her brother’s thought.
“And what triggered it,” Wilouhby said.
“Or who?” The king’s voice held enough venom to paralyze his strongest man.
Cahira glanced at Kaiden.
His face had lost the stoic expression it usually held when in the war room. His blond brows were furrowed above eyes cold as ice. A muscle in his jaw ticked. Her gaze scanned the room at the others, checking to see if any of the elders were also understanding Wilouhby’s tale.
Kaiden cleared his throat lightly and her gaze snapped to him.
Are you thinking what I’m thinking? He raised his eyebrow over the rim of his cup.
Cahira lifted her glass, tapping on it twice. Yes.
The Damali line could be the greatest threat to the Valencias.
Cahira twirled her potent ring and chewed on the bottom of her lip. She looked at Kaiden, who stared back.
She squinted. Is she the key?
Kaiden scratched his nose twice. I don’t know.
Cahira held in her sigh of frustration.
The elders sat quietly, staring at their plates while a few glanced nervously at each other.
“Thank you Wilouhby for bringing the topic to the table.” The king placed his goblet down with a resounding thud.
“If the Veil is thinning and the Gates of Osiris open, then it won’t be long before our realm is encompassed with creatures of the dark.
Already there have been incidents with the farmers who live on the outskirts of the city.
” The king made eye contact with each individual seated.
“Families have been found dead in their homes, livestock slaughtered, and properties in shambles. It’s the way the people died which confirms it. ”
“Confirms what?” Fintan asked.
“Ukoron’s monsters have returned to our realm.
” The king’s words were as heavy as the catacombs below the palace.
“Bodies are mutilated and missing organs. Their skulls and spines were crushed upon impact. Reports say they were found strewn about around their lands like they had been running to escape. Whichever beasts have escaped, enjoy a good chase.”
“Were there any survivors?” Cahira winced.
“All were completely shredded beyond recognition,” the king said.
They shared in his disgust, offering a moment of silence for the dead.
“It sounds like harvesters or perhaps skaraks,” Fintan said.
“I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say we were all under the impression those atrocities were destroyed,” Master Masin said with a gruff glance between Fintan, Kaiden and Cahira.
“If that is what has transpired then evidently all of them are not dead,” Byron gritted out, stopping Fintan’s snarky answer. “But they have come through the Veil for a reason.”
“A task I clearly remember giving to you,” the king’s voice was quiet as he turned to Kaiden.
His tone did nothing to hide his annoyance at, yet again, another of Kaiden’s failures in his eyes. Kaiden clenched his jaw but said nothing.
“Regardless. It is not a coincidence Eslanda’s daughter has somehow survived the Threshing and been living incognito for over a decade, and now monsters are creeping back into our lands. Any rumor against our realm is a threat. And we will eradicate all threats.” The king stood slowly.
Wilouhby’s rattled sigh was heard at the end of the table. The king’s reaction was not what he had wanted, but had certainly expected.
“We cannot simply kill the girl. If her duty is to mend and protect the Veil then that is what she must do. For all of our sakes, we cannot let Ukoron escape back into this realm.” Wilouhby leaned heavily on his cane as he stood.
The king crossed his arms behind him. A carefree move but his body radiated heat boiling from a temper barely contained.
“And what, pray tell, would you advise?”
“The priestess must be at least brought back to us,” Byron said. “I do second what Wilouhby says, sire. However, many will use her power for their own gain. Every highborn or royal will have sent every mercenary, spy or assassin after her.”
“Then we must get to her first,” Orlette said.
“We shall send our own for her,” the king said.
Cahira stiffened at the insinuation.
“What if she doesn’t come willingly?” Master Perring spoke quietly.
The silence in the room was answer enough. Even Wilouhby did not dare to speak.
“All in favor of killing the girl?” the King asked, raising his own hand.
Masin, Orlette, Timons, and Perring all raised their hands.
“All in favor of bringing the girl back alive?” the king’s voice edged with annoyance.
Wilouhby, Byron, Fintan, and Kaiden raised their hands. Cahira swallowed but raised her hand as well.
“An even split, how predictable.” He snapped his fingers and the scrolls of the elders' concerns and decrees vanished. “Fintan, you will accompany the prince and rid us of the monsters returning. Cahira,” he turned with a gaze that froze her in the chair. “Bring me Eslanda Damali’s daughter.”
The threat was clear in his eyes.
Dead or alive.