As news of the army of demons spread, I tried to prevent mass panic. There was chaos, of course, but I placed people carefully to keep it organized.
“Your Majesty, we’ve had many volunteers join our army,” Councilman Amos said. “But we haven’t met the quota yet. I suggest implementing a true draft to round up the stragglers.”
I subtly looked behind him at the line of people that stretched out the meeting room door. Everybody hustled about and there wasn’t time to call a formal meeting. Unfortunately, there were endless questions and problems I needed to solve. I was parked at the head of the table and people filed in looking for me.
I had been here all morning and still couldn’t see the end of the line.
“We’ve had a great turn out then, Amos,” I said. “Let’s give it until sunset and if the numbers aren’t there, we’ll start the draft immediately.”
He pursed his lips. “You’re wasting time, My Queen.”
“I don’t think giving our people a chance to process this challenging situation is a waste of time, Amos. I would rather have soldiers in my army that want to be there than are forced to be.”
He opened his mouth, but thought better of it. He bowed low and left.
Next.
Marshal Hale stepped forward. Dark circles lined her eyes and her armor sagged as though she hadn’t taken the time to buckle it properly. She bowed.
“Marshal, I am sorry you had to wait,” I told her.
“I understand the demand for your time, My Queen.”
“Is there news from the scouts?”
She shook her head. “It’s the same from last night. The army continued their eastern march. It appears that the demons’ fleshly bodies must eat and rest. They move barely faster than our own forces would.”
That was good news. It would buy us some more time.
“What do you need?” I asked.
“I would like to pull some of the new recruits with an affinity for transportation magic to join our scout teams. Our charms supply is dwindling and they’re not the most reliable form of magic anyway. If we had a transport witch on every scout team, we would have immediate updates,” Marshal Hale said.
I tapped my chin. “We might already have some soldiers with transport skills. Check with Marshal Curtis from Supply and see who he can spare. The new recruits won’t be battle-trained yet. They’d be in your scouts’ way if anything happened.”
“My scouts are well trained in defense, Your Majesty. I’m confident they could protect or evacuate any untrained personnel quickly and efficiently.”
“Check with Marshal Curtis and if you need more people, pull from the recruits,” I said.
“Thank you, My Queen.”
“Stop by the kitchens on your way and grab something to eat,” I told her. “We all need to keep up our strength.”
She smiled, bowed, and left.
Next.
An elderly man scooted to the front of the line. His white, long-sleeve and overalls were peppered with dirt and a well-used leather tool belt cinched his waist. Although lean, dense muscles along his arms suggested years of manual labor. He bowed and was a little slow to straighten up.
“How can I help you, mister…?”
“Patrick.” His voice was gravely, as though he smoked a pipe. “Patrick McGee, Your Majesty.”
I smiled. He wasn’t in the army or part of Kadence’s team, here to bother me. He was a civilian with a civilian request. One of my first.
“Mr. McGee, how can I help you?”
He pulled on his fingers and glanced around the room from the side of his eyes. Most civilians didn’t venture this far into the castle.
“Your Majesty, with the demons and the war and such, I’m sure this project is the last thing on your mind, but all of my workers joined the army. I don’t think I can finish his build as soon as the king wanted.” He scratched the back of his neck and grimaced.
I smoothed my face. What project? What build? Years of training made me bite my tongue. If you don’t know what’s going on, my mother’s voice whispered, just pretend that you do.
“What timeline did the king suggest?” I asked.
“Well, Your Majesty, he wanted it finished in about six months. He said the barracks would be done soon, and more workers would come help after that, but I’m sure the barracks people are in the army now too.” He licked his lips.
The barracks project had been put on hold. We wouldn’t need to house extra troops if we were all dead.
“Look,” Mr. McGee continued, “I myself would cut the project. We don’t need to use supplies and people for building when there’s a war coming.” His face turned white and he backpedaled. “Um, Your Majesty, I mean, Queen Salvatore, since it was the king himself that ordered the project, I felt I needed to ask before stopping.”
Kadence had found this contractor and ordered something to be built. I had to know what it was.
“I’m going to need to see the site in person to decide.” I motioned to the guard beside me and he leaned in. “Send for Zavier, he can take over here.”
Patrick McGee met me on the edge of the kingdom on a plot of land pushed up against the border wall. The ride from the castle had been pleasant in the cool afternoon. The trees dropped their leaves and the promise of winter hung in the air. A knit shawl settled over my thin cotton dress and fought the chill of the breeze. It was a relief to step outside and breathe fresh air, teemed with a hint of evergreen.
“There isn't much to see yet, Your Majesty. We only broke ground two days ago,” Mr. McGee said, gesturing to the field in front of us. It had been tilled to rip up the grass and the ground was in the process of being leveled. A skeleton crew of older men shoveled dirt here and there and stomped down the piles.
The field was quite a far ride from the castle. It wasn’t close to a water source, so it wouldn’t be suitable farming. A landfill didn’t require the ground to be cleared and level. What was Kadence doing?
“Can I see the blueprints?” I asked.
Mr. McGee’s face twisted. “Didn’t the king show them to you?”
“Of course,” I lied with a smile. “But I’m having trouble visualizing it now that I’m here.”
The old man squinted at me, but turned toward a tent propped up at the edge of the site. A little square table covered with papers and tools squatted in the shade of the structure.
The stone wall of the city’s boundary cut around a looming hill. Geographically, this was an awful location for defensive or offensive structures. A watchtower would only see one direction. A permanent catapult would launch into our own kingdom. Unless Kadence planned to kill a very specific section of our people, this location was useless.
Mr. McGee returned and pressed the thin velum paper into my hands.
I oriented it and studied the drawing.
“It’s a house?” I asked.
The sketched building was divided into two stories and split into subareas. Each area contained four bedrooms circling a large living room, with bathrooms dispersed accordingly. One kitchen ate the majority of the downstairs space. There were twenty bedrooms and five living rooms, a rather large facility.
“Yes, Your Majesty.” Mr. McGee looked at me from the corner of his eyes. “It’s the new orphanage. And here are the drawings of the garden next to it.”
He ruffled through the papers and put a new one on top. Tiny swings and wooden play structures scattered the page. A shallow pool and an intricate playhouse, complete with a real door and running water, nestled at the edge.
I struggled to remember when we dropped the goods from the market at the orphanage. Kadence hadn’t done or said anything that made him sound interested in it.
“Did the king mention why he’s displeased with the old orphanage?” I asked.
“He had the building inspected last month. It passed, of course, it’s in good shape, barely ten years old,” Mr. McGee said.
Then why would Kadence want to build a new one?
“He did say he wanted the children to have more space to run around,” Mr. McGee said, breaking through my thoughts. “There wasn’t room at the current orphanage to add a garden and play area.”
It clicked. Kadence was an orphan. I was sure the vampires hadn’t put their prince in a public orphanage, but he would have been under constant supervision. An image of a young Kadence, one I had never seen, staring out the window and longing to play, broke my heart. His circumstances had hardened him, but he saw our orphanage and decided the kids needed a place to play.
If we survived the next two weeks, I’d make sure this was built.
“The king really wanted to find the perfect spot too,” Mr. McGee continued. “He spent two days dragging me from place to place. This one’s too small, he’d say, or this is too far from town, and they’d need a quick road to get supplies. He was real careful before he decided on this old lot. He said it was a good spot, easy to fortify.”
“This is a good sp—wait,” I said. “How long did the king look at land?”
“It was about two days, I’d say.” Mr. McGee rubbed the white whiskers on his chin. “He also hovered over the architect while the plans were done up. I don’t think Tommy’s ever drawn so fast in his life as with a vampire breathing down his neck. Maybe I ought to hire one of those things, that’d be real handy actually.”
Two days. Cynthia had headed up a search party of hundreds of people, and Kadence was touring plots of land to build a new orphanage. He hadn’t told her. He hadn’t told anyone. Except, that wasn’t true. When I questioned him in my bedroom, Kadence had said he had been building an orphanage. I called him a liar. Guilt shot through me as swiftly and as painfully as an archer’s arrow.
“Mr. McGee,” I said, “unfortunately I won’t be able to provide any more people to this project. The orphanage we have now is in perfect condition and the children are in very good care. This will be a lovely home for them, but I have to prioritize the war. We are short on volunteers for the army and will likely implement a draft tonight. Troop training starts tomorrow, and by the end of the week, we will be transporting thousands of soldiers to prepare for battle.”
Mr. McGee nodded. “I heard all that, Your Majesty. My boy’s thinking about signing up. He’s just turned eighteen though and his mama’s real worried.”
“We could use him,” I said gently. “We need everyone right now. I’m going to be honest with you, Mr. McGee.”
“Call me Pat, Your Majesty.”
“Pat,” I gave him a small smile, then quickly snatched it away, “it doesn’t look good. We have numbers on our side, but what’s marching toward the vampire kingdom aren’t our loved ones anymore. They may wear familiar bodies, but they’re monsters, and if we lose this battle, they won’t stop. Our kingdom will be next. Your son will have to face the demons sooner or later and I want him to do it with the best people supporting him.”
Pat’s head bobbled again.
“I’ll let him know,” he said.
“Please do. As for this project, if there’s anyone left after the draft, then you can try to build. If not, it will be a top priority when we return. I’m afraid I have a lot to handle back at the castle. I wish I could stay longer, Pat. This place has a lot of promise.”
The breeze sang a soft song through the trees and the rock wall danced in color under the autumn sun. Nature stirred something particularly special here. Kadence had chosen well.
Pat caught my hand as I turned away. Warmth filtered from his skin, which felt like worn leather and was calloused from years of work. He gave me a gentle squeeze.
“Your Majesty,” his eyes searched mine as though he was looking for his words in them, “I was worried when I came to see you. People talk and these days it’s not such good things.” He grimaced and shrugged in apology.
“I understand,” I said. I knew what my people thought of me.
“But you’re not what they say.” He reached his other hand to scratch the back of his neck. “You came out here and saw the plans and you…you care about my boy.”
His voice tightened and he looked hard at the ground.
I squeezed his hand.
“Of course I do. I care about all my people. That’s what I’m here for,” I said.
His head wobbled and he shuffled his feet in the dirt. I pretended not to see the tears trailing down his face. “I’ll remember that,” he whispered to our feet.
Pat pulled himself together with a deep breath and flashed me a toothy grin.
“Thank you, Your Majesty. Have a safe ride home.”