| |
Queen Lobelia’s smile faded.
“You’re a liar,” she hissed. She pointed to the guards menacingly. “Even they can see that the jewels are aglow and they bow before their true queen.”
The guards shifted, giving each other nervous looks. Lobelia noticed, whipping her head towards them and Dusk smiled. Her face twisted into a grimace as she stomped her way across the room, her cheeks growing redder with every step. Grabbing one of them by the breastplate she hefted him up so that he was face to face with her, the veins in her neck bulging.
“Tell me!” she yelled inches away from him. “Are the sapphires glowing?!”
“I-I... uh... th-they... “ the guard stuttered.
Lobelia threw him to the ground with more strength than Dusk thought possible from her lithe form. She whipped around, staring at him, her brows knit tightly together and her cheeks ablaze with anger. He stared back at her, a quiet and contented grin on his face. Tearing herself away she began to throw treasures aside, digging through the piles, madly searching for something. At last she found a highly polished silver plate and lifted, staring at herself in the reflection. A moment passed in silence as she turned the disk from side to side, checking the crown from all angles.
With a deafening scream of frustration, Lobelia hurled the plate across the cavern. I barrel rolled through the air until it finally crashed into the dragon skeleton, chipping a piece off one of the raised wings with a vibrating clang. She continued to growl and cry out, like a wounded animal, scooping up any treasure she could find and chucking it across the chamber. Finally she ripped the crown off her head, spun on her heel, and threw it. Soaring through the air it slammed into the stone doors and clattered to the floor, rolling to Dusk’s feet. He bent down and picked it up as Lobelia continued to throw a tantrum. Turning it over in his hands he was surprised to see it remained undamaged with not even a scratch on its surface.
The noise faded away as he remembered Tiernan’s words, that he was part of the bloodline of Alamondian kings. Even Tephyss had confirmed it. But somewhere deep in his mind, he wasn’t totally convinced. He didn’t want to be a king, but curiosity got the better of him. Besides, there was one way to find out for sure. Unaware of what was going on around him, Dusk slowly lifted the crown and gently placed it on his head. As he pulled his hands down, he stopped, a blue light gently glowing across his palms. His heart sank. In some small way, he’d hoped that the others had been wrong, but now there was no way to deny it. Tiernan had been telling the truth and that caused him more concern than anything.
Dusk suddenly realized he was surrounded by silence. He lifted his gaze to see the two guards staring at him, their eyes wide. To their left was Lobelia, standing with her hair sticking out all over and her fists clenched at her sides. Even at her distance Dusk could see the muscle knotting as she clenched her teeth, her face beet red. She looked as if she was about to explode. The birthright she’d wanted to prove for so long had been taken away from her and replaced by a man who didn’t even want it in a matter of moments. Dusk stared at her, doing his best to put on a cocky grin despite the fear welling up in his chest.
“Kill... him...” she hissed with every drop of venom she could muster, pointing a finger at him. “Make sure his body never leaves this cave.” She looked to the guards, flames of fury burning in her eyes. “Kill him!”
The guards drew their swords and looked at Dusk, then at one another, but they didn’t advance.
“KILL HIM!” Lobelia roared. “Your queen commands it!”
Dusk watched their gazes drift to the glowing crown and he realized why they hesitated.
“Seize her,” he said nonchalantly, gesturing at her lazily. “This crown proves that I’m the true king of Inahan. This woman is an imposter.”
The swords drooped an inch or two, but neither of the soldiers moved.
“Aren’t you tired of living under a false tyrant? I’ve seen how she treats all of you.” Dusk stared at them, keeping his voice gentle and his expression friendly. “It’s time she paid for her crimes and relinquished the throne to the real king.”
Dusk glanced at Lobelia just in time to see her draw her sword and come running across the coin-strewn floor, howling with rage. Without thinking he threw his arms up to shield his face. He heard the sword swoosh through the air and flinched, waiting for the pain. But instead of searing pain he heard a metallic clang and opened his eyes. There, in front of him, were the two guards, both holding their swords out to block Lobelia’s attack. Dusk took a few steps back.
“You fools!” Lobelia screamed. “He’s a magician! He’s tricking you! You both saw what he did with the door!”
Both of the guards looked at one another. They pulled their swords away and turned back to Dusk, their minds racing behind their eyes. After a short moment they both nodded to one another and lifted their weapons again, but this time they turned their sights on Dusk. He was unarmed and there was no way out.
Without warning a deep rumbling sounded above and the ground vibrated under their feet. Coins shook and items fell off pedestals, ringing as they bounced across the floor. The portrait next to the door shifted slightly to the side. All four of them turned their heads upward to the ceiling. There were a few small cracks and chunks of stone rained down on them. Both Lobelia and the guards lifted their arms over their heads to shield themselves, but Dusk saw his chance.
While they were distracted he dashed the last few steps out of the room, grabbing the silver door handle behind him. The massive door moved with ease and slammed shut in front of him. He knew it wasn’t enough and lifted his hand, placing it once more in the silver arcane circle.
“Lock lock lock!” he shouted, grinding his palm into the door.
To his surprise there was another loud crack and a jolt through his fingertips. In the time it took to blink the seam in the door sealed itself over and the bright glow left the silver filigree, leaving nothing but a tarnished solid wall standing in front of him. He stood in silence for a moment, wondering what he’d do next. From the other side of the stone a rhythmic pounding began with a series of telltale metal clangs. There were muffled yells and shouts from the other side, most likely Lobelia giving orders. He thought about the dragon and the arcane books on the shelves. They weren’t going to be in there for long once Lobelia started working on the door. She’d already been trying to open it for years from the outside, but now she had unlimited resources at her disposal.
Backing away, Dusk withdrew the glowing stone from his pocket once more and turned back towards the tunnel. Another deep rumbling explosion sounded far above, echoing through the ground and the soles of his feet. He wondered what could be going on topside to cause such a ruckus. Whatever it was, he hoped it would pull the guards away who were guarding the trapdoor to the treasury stairs. He pressed on, winding his way back through the tunnel until he found the stairs. Taking a deep breath he began to make his way upwards, the light of the stone the only beacon in the pitch darkness.
He plodded up the stairs as fast as he could, knowing that whatever distraction was going on wouldn’t last forever. With a stitch in his side and burning lungs, he finally spotted the light of the open trapdoor a few minutes later. His legs were burning and his breath came in gasps, but he knew he couldn’t stop. Instead he gritted his teeth and ran up the last of the stairs, jumping out into the room and spinning on the spot, holding his hand out ready to cast the first thing that came to his mind to protect himself.
But there was nobody there.
Dusk found himself standing alone in the small empty room with the door standing wide open on the other side. Another explosion rocked the ground under his feet and the trapdoor swung shut, slamming with a loud hollow bang. Outside in the corridor he heard the shouting voices and clanking footsteps of guards as they ran by.
“Seal the gate! Don’t let them escape!” a commanding voice cried. “Protect the queen at all costs!”
No reason to worry about her, Dusk thought. She’s nice and cozy where she is.
He crept up to the door after the footsteps had died away. Carefully he peered into the hallway, but it was deserted. Stepping out he looked around. The castle seemed to look the same no matter where he went, but he was fairly certain what direction they had come from. Following the hallway, he began to jog through multiple sets of wooden doors, turning whenever it seemed appropriate or there was no other choice. More than once he had to duck behind a statue or into a side room to avoid guards going by. He always adjusted his course to follow them after they'd passed. Anyone who was attacking would probably be doing it from the outside, so it stood to reason that following the guards would take him to the gates. At least that was his hope.
At long last he came to a set of familiar doors that he’d been through multiple times. They led into the main entryway that connected everything together, including the throne room. He stopped at the partially ajar door hearing the shouts from the other side. There was the clattering of steel, orders being cried out, and even the final death cries of a few people before they fell to the ground. Peering through the gap he saw guards fighting what looked like ordinary people armed with anything they could find. Some of them were even carrying farming tools and old splitting axes from their homes.
An arrow struck the door suddenly, inches away from where Dusk’s eye had been looking through. He fell to the floor, landing on the hard stone. A metallic clinking filled his ears as he looked to see the silver crown studded with sapphires rolling across the ground. He’d forgotten he had it on. Rubbing his elbow he’d bruised, he pushed himself to his feet. He stared down at the crown, wondering if he should just leave it. But then he thought of Lobelia and her inevitable escape from the treasury. She’d use it to continue her tyranny, he knew that. And with the dragon available to her, she might be able to make it glow and fool everyone. After all his time on the road, he was tired of people that always took advantage of others. He bent down and scooped it up, jamming it back on his head for safe keeping. No matter what happened, he’d make sure she never saw that crown ever again.
Just then, Dusk heard a familiar voice call out from the other side of the door, “They’re faltering! Press forward! Take the throne room!”
It was Mirinda.
Without a thought he turned around and threw the doors open. There were peasants pouring into the entryway from the outside, toppling anything that got in their way. How they’d gotten there, Dusk had no idea, but he was thankful for them. The remaining guards had been pressed back against the massive throne room doors. There weren’t many of them left although he suspected a few more waited inside the room itself. On the floor in front of him were many bodies from either side and not all dead, but many wounded. He pushed his way through the carnage, trying to avoid stepping on anyone alive or dead. He’d never been in the middle of a battle before. It was such an alien scene to him that the severity of it was lost on him in the moment.
“Mirinda!” Dusk cried out, waving his arms. “Mirinda!”
She couldn't hear him over the cacophony of battle. Instead she continued to shout orders until the rebels had completely surrounded the throne room doors. They disarmed those guards that they could, killing the others that refused to surrender. Dusk was unable to penetrate the crowd of people to get closer to Mirinda. Instead he forced his way off to the side, crawling up one of the statues to get a better vantage point. As the rebels surrounded the throne room door there was a hush called over everyone. Mirinda was allowed through to the front. She casually strolled up and knocked on the door, blood covering her sword and hand on one side.
“Open up Lobelia! You’re done for!” She paused for a moment. “We’ll break the door down either way so you might as well surrender and live.”
There was a long silence as everyone in the room held their breaths, waiting for a reply. When none came, Mirinda turned away from the door, but just as she did so there was a definite sound of grinding wood and a crack appeared in the center of the doors. She turned around as they were pulled wide, slowly revealing Rafael and at least a dozen of his Sapphire Knights. They were all holding their weapons at the ready, dressed in full armor, as if they were about to take on the entire insurrection. Mirinda began to laugh.
“You can’t be serious Raf,” she chuckled.
“Protect the castle at all costs!” he called back to his men. They, however, were silent.
“Raf, give up,” Mirinda said loud enough so everyone could hear. “There are over a hundred people here and more on the way. You’re stretched thin as it is. Besides, nobody else needs to die for that bitch.”
The last word was full of venom, but Rafael just stared back at Mirinda, his sword held ready. Knowing she wasn’t getting through to him, she turned to address his men.
“Sapphire Knights!” she called. “You’re commander deems it wise to commit suicide on this day for a false queen of all things. If you wish to live, just put down your weapons and step aside. All of you that surrender will be pardoned and given similar positions in the newly free country of Inahan.”
A few of the knights glanced at one another. Rafael noticed their convictions wavering.
“Don’t listen to her!” he cried. “She speaks only lies!”
Mirinda sighed, her shoulders drooping. “Nobody else needs to die, Raf. Especially not you. Let go of all those years of poison she’s been putting in your mind.”
Dusk watched as one by one, the knights began to lower their weapons, some of them tossing them to the side completely before stepping out of the way. After only a moment, the only one left standing was Rafael, still staring at Mirinda with fury in his eyes.
“I’ll never betray my queen!” he shouted. “Not like you and your father!”
“I was hoping we could be friends again, like we used to be,” Mirinda sighed.
The hall was still dead silent and Dusk could hear every word. Mirinda turned her back on Rafael and began to walk away. With an angry roar he lunged for her, swinging his sword down in a slashing arc that looked as if it would cut her in half. But she was prepared. As fast as lightning she dodged the blade, thrusting her own up between his plates of armor and through his ribs. The sword went clean through him, shining with fresh bright red blood on the other side where it stuck out of his back. His own fell to the ground with a clatter as she stepped forward. She leaned in and spoke something only he could hear, but Dusk could see the pain in her eyes even from his vantage point. As Rafael sank to his knees Mirinda pulled the blade from his body. It was only a moment before the last of his breath left his body and he fell back into a pool of his own blood.
A heavy silence hung in the hall for a few moments before Mirinda turned back around and lifted her bloodied sword in the air. Suddenly the entire castle erupted into cheers. The rebellion had been won.