11

Raxthezana

The tableau I spied through the Queen’s chamber doorway gave me pause, even while my search demanded haste.

BoKama held the Queen’s braids away from her face as she coughed violently into the bowl BoKama held. The Queen whispered something, and BoKama rubbed the Queen’s back until the coughs subsided. BoKama’s own shoulders shook from her quieter coughs, and the illness arrested me. How long had she been sick?

Had BoKama contracted the Queen’s illness? I’d been in close quarters with BoKama. Would I fall ill next? For the longest time, the Ikma’s behavior deteriorated in a way that would indicate madness. But now she was frail and sickly, and with the BoKama showing similar illness, I worried.

Shaking myself, I slipped past the doorway and eased through the rest of the long hall. Finding the tower stairs, I raced up until the stairs ended at a narrow room flanked by the tower walk. From the exterior walkway, lined by a rock wall, I found the stairs known as the tower passageway.

The wind, just as the Queen warned, did indeed blow with ferocity and channeled its power and chill down the steps as if it were water pouring.

My steps hastened, and my breaths grew shallow. Not from the vicious cold, but from the tightness I felt in my chest, as if my heart strained from exertion.

Sweat greased my palms within my gloves.

What if I was too late? What if I couldn’t help her?

Grimacing, I descended faster, hurling my unhelpful thoughts out of my head like dirty water.

The tower passageway comprised hundreds of steps leading down the side of the fortress but was hidden behind the massive exterior wall. Constructed to ease the travel of the ruling Queens during times of war, it seldom saw use from what I understood. I wondered who’d traveled it last; it appeared swept and maintained.

I saw the dark doorway ahead, the gaping maw leading to the war room on the left and the bank of dungeon cells on the right. Directly through the section was a second set of stairs leading to the temple.

Running now, I would have explored the cells, but I thought I heard a noise coming from the war room. I stopped and listened.

Nothing.

Facing the great wooden door leading to the cells, I pushed against it when I heard the noise again.

Spinning, I approached the war room. A panel glowed where the Queen’s hand should rest.

“VELMA?” I said, my voice harsh in the still air.

Sounds in my helmet crackled, but the panel flickered, and I pushed against the door. It opened inward, and the image I saw emblazoned itself into my mind with the power of a sun-blade impaling a serpent’s head.