Azurite (Daughter of the Mountain Book 1) (42 page)

“What Master Pennington claims is true,” the soldier said timidly as he rode up closer to the crowd.  He was young, hardly more than a boy, and he was shaking so hard his chain mail rattled.

“Get back in line, boy!” a gruff sounding man yelled out.

“Let’s hear what he has to say!”

“It’s treason!  Put him in the gallows!” 

Shouts full of emotion flew in from the restless multitude of onlookers, and their faces were conflicted and lacking any real judgment for their Queen.  But the young soldier didn’t back down.  Instead he moved forward, then turned around in his saddle and reached for something behind him

.  Evangeline couldn’t help but gasp in horror when he pulled the object around to face the crowd.  It was the bloodied burlap sac that had arrived with Brutus.  The sack that was weighed down with Captain Gerod Kingsley’s severed head, and the one holding it was the soldier she’d asked to take it to the undertaker.  The boy carefully unwrapped the human remains, and the sac fell to the ground.

Gerod Kingsley’s face was stiff with rigor mortis, and his skin was pulled tight over his bones, bluish, and waxy.  His eyes remained open yet sunk into his skull, but still they stared out over the crowd, demanding justice for his death and the deaths of innocent Samarians.

“This is what the Nomans due to those who oppose them,” the soldier explained.  “This is what they will do to all of us if they are allowed into Samaria.  And because of what the Queen has already done, that will surely be our fate.”

The crowd erupted at this piece of new evidence, proof that Evangeline no longer sough to protect them.  The crowd burst with shouts and cries of rage, while others threatened to end the young Queen’s life.  They pushed on the barricades, pounded them with their fists, demanding retribution for those who had fallen.  The sound of the tumultuous crowd was so loud, it stung Evangeline’s ears.  The Queen turned around to look at all three men who dare stand up to her in front of her own people.

“What right do you have to vilify the last ruling Queen of the Winnser bloodline?” she demanded.  “Who are you that you think so highly of yourselves?  Speak!  You worthless imbeciles!”  Evangeline looked as though she was going to strike Arvil who was standing the closest to her.  Leonardo interrupted the confrontation that was about to turn bloody.

“They may not have authority, Queen Evangeline, to indict you of your immoral actions, but I do!”  Leonardo, followed by five of his soldiers, approached the Queen with their hands on their scabbards, ready to fight back if she resisted. 

“I, Leonardo Santini, Chancellor of the Sovereign Alliance, am taking you into custody and formally charging you with treason against the Realm.  According to the decree two hundred and eleven set forth in the Sovereign Alliance, any relations with known tyrants, including that of Olger Guttensen, is herby forbidden and punishable by imprisonment.”

“You can’t do that!” Evangeline spat back.  “I am the ruling bloodline of this country.  Decree also states that the original bloodlines must be protected at all costs…”

“That is why we are setting out to retrieve your daughter, Zora,” Leonardo explained smugly, “to take your place on the throne.” 

The Queen reeled back in surprise, her mouth agape and wordless.  Behind Leonardo and his block of soldiers, the citizens of Samaria were going wild with outrage at the actions of betrayal their Queen had taken against them.  Somewhere amidst the tumult of noise, Zora’s name had weaseled its way into the undertone of the dissonance, and they were chanting it slowly yet steadily until that’s all Evangeline could hear.  The Sovereign Alliance was not technically usurping Evangeline, but removing her from power for actions that were detrimental to the Realm.  Additionally, Zora was of her bloodline, so the Winnser name would continue.

All around Center Market, Samarian citizens were hurling insults at their Queen, calling her every name a traitor is meant to be called.  Evangeline just put her stone face on and watched as Leonardo’s men approached her with chains in their hands, ready to bind her and take her away.  Thunder rolled again, and darkness swept over the land as the storm made contact with the valley.  Rain began to fall, grey and hazy, coating Evangeline’s eyelashes in wet droplets till her eyesight blurred.  Lightning flashed ahead, white-hot and close to the ground, yet no one retreated in doors to take cover, as they were too invested in the outcome of Samaria’s fate.

This is it.  This is the end of my reign and of my bloodline,
Evangeline thought with overwhelming despair.
 

She looked up at the sky, waiting for the metal shackles to tighten around her wrists.  As she did so, she thought she saw a bolt of lighting slice through the thick storm clouds and shoot directly towards the group of Rienne soldiers.  The lightening collided with the group like a firework, and several men got thrown to the ground. 

As the storm clouds swirled above them, more lightening pierced the air.  It quickly formed into a spherical shape and blasted directly into the wooden barricades that separated the crowd from the platform.  All the barricades surrounding Evangeline immediately ignited, and the same blue flame that Heath had hurled at her barely one day ago roared with a heat so intense, Evangeline wondered if it was really fire or something more.  The rain poured down in heavy sheets across Alumhy, drenching every person in its wake, yet the fire still burned, hotter and more iridescent than anything Evangeline had ever seen.

The men about to arrest the Queen stood dead in their tracks, looking around scared and dumbfounded as the lightening darted unnaturally across the black sky.  Before she knew what was happening, another sphere of fire shot through the air from the clouds, striking one of Leonardo’s men in the chest.  He buckled to the ground, as silent as a ghost, and his body continued to tremble and convulse as electrocuting energy sizzled along his skin. 

Spheres continued to assault Leonardo’s men, materializing from some unknown origin in the sky, killing those it reached upon impact.  All around Evangeline, the Rienne soldiers crumpled dead to the ground, burned from the inside out by the mysterious magical fire that left them twitching and palsied.  The fireball spheres flew in like a stream of arrows, striking down their targets until the Chancellor was left standing petrified all by himself.

The citizens of Alumhy were screaming in fear as they watched fire and lightening fall from the sky, and between each crackle of thunder, the sounds of stampeding footsteps hitting cobblestone reverberated through the city.  Hordes of citizens were taking this opportunity to flee Center Market, and Evangeline feared that a great multitude of them would try and leave Samaria now that they knew the truth about what she had done. 

Bodies lay convulsing on the ground as Heath’s orbs of energy and fire burned the life right out of them.  Leonardo’s face was full of disbelief and as grey as ash as he watched helplessly while they suffered.  He bent down next to the convulsing men, trying to wake them and bring life back into their eyes, but they were already dead.

“Evangeline,” Leonardo said, his voice now completely striped of the authoritative tone he’d carried only moments earlier.  Evangeline just turned and looked at him with cold, spiteful eyes.

“What have you done?” he whispered, motioning at the men who lay dead at his feet.  His face held something that Evangeline had never seen in him before; fear.  Arvil stood next to him, hugging his arms to himself, looking like a wet cat.

The young Queen drew herself up, squared her shoulder, and lifted her chin before slowly walking over to them.  Her hair was saturated with rainwater and lay flat against her head, yet still she looked like Samarian royalty.  The shouts of Leonardo’s remaining men, mixed in with the clamor of the townspeople, could be heard from the other side of the blue flame barricade that burned as high as the buildings surrounding them. 

“I am going to say this one time and one time only, Leonardo,” Evangeline threatened.  “And I demand that you deliver this message to the rest of the Sovereign Alliance.  I don’t want any complications.”  Thunder roared above them, slowly gaining momentum, and flashes of lightning exploded through the clouds like fireworks, but the determined Queen ignored them.

“This is
my
land,
my
people, and
my
country.  They are ruled by
me
, and I will do with them as I please.  No one, not even the Sovereign Alliance, tells Evangeline Winnser what to do.  So, the next time you trespass on Samarian lands trying to wield authority where you have none, I’ll kill you.  Try and touch me now, and you’ll be so far removed you’ll beg for death before it’s all over with.”  Her voice was as sharp as a knife, and all of the Queen’s men within hearing distance knew she spoke no lies to Leonardo.               

“And you,” she added, looking at Arvil.  “I will not rest until I find out who released you. And they will face a punishment far more treacherous than even you can imagine.  Now get out!”  As if on her command, the blue wall of flame began to die down, contracting inward towards where Leonardo’s men waited on the outside before disappearing entirely.  All those who’d seen the spheres of fire raining down from the heavens stared at Evangeline with looks of astonishment, as if she’d just transformed into some mythical monster overnight.

“This isn’t over, Evangeline,” Leonardo warned. “I will seek revenge for this unnecessary attack on my men.  The Realm and the Sovereign Alliance will not tolerate tyranny!”  He looked to the sky questioningly.  “I will be back, with support from the other rulers.  You can count on that.”  He glared at her through the wall of rain that flew in from all directions.

She watched as the ruler of Rienne stormed off through the muddy puddles now dotting the streets, while a couple of his men gathered their dead.  Arvil Pennington looked on the brink of tears, his chin quivering because he didn’t get the vindication he was looking for.  But the tiny man didn’t stay to support his case now that the Leonardo was unsuccessful at apprehending Evangeline.  He ran after Leonardo and blended in with the ranks of Rienne soldiers exiting the streets.

The Queen turned towards her advisors standing still behind her, their faces bereft of any emotion about what had just occurred.  Center Market was quickly draining itself of Samarians, who now fled to their dwellings.  With the truths now exposed to them, Evangeline knew that any support from the citizens was nonexistent.  She would have to force it from them.  Now that Leonardo expressed opposition to the Queen’s actions, Evangeline feared her people would flee to him for protection.  Especially since they were on the verge of battle. But the Queen wasn’t about to let that happen.  Every citizen in Samaria belonged to her.  They would honor her, work for her, and fight for her, even if she had to make them.

“Brutus!  Vincent!  Come forward!” the Queen demanded.  When her two most trusted military leaders where in front of her, she laid out her instructions for them.

“Vincent, have one of the Captains take this battalion behind me and police the streets of Alumhy.  No one is to leave!  If any citizen is caught trying to flee, arrest them.  I want every able-bodied male removed from their homes and drafted into the Guard, ready to fight.  If they resist, arrest them.”  She looked to Brutus.

“General, make sure that the southwestern border is manned.  I don’t want Leonardo Santini, or anyone else, thinking they can parade in here at their own leisure.  The next time, he may have the entire Sovereign Alliance with him.  If you see anyone trying to enter out border illegally from hereon, you have permission to kill.  Do you understand the tasks I’ve given you?” 

Both men nodded, bringing their fists to their hearts in salute, although Brutus was a bit less enthusiastic.  Evangeline looked over Brutus’s shoulder to Talan who was soaked head to foot in rainwater.

“Don’t you have some work to do, Master Leatherby,” she asked irritably causing Talan to grimace, but he too saluted his Queen before ducking out of sight to return to the mines.  As soon as the words were spoken, Vincent set loose the battalion of armed Samarian Guards who had appeared behind the Queen as royal reinforcements. 

They forced themselves into the homes of Samarian citizens, dragging out men and boys who would fight for their Queen.  The protests and screams of devastated mothers filled the streets of Alumhy as the Guard swarmed through the residences like bees on honey.  Thunder still rocked the black sky, and rain plummeted to the earth like an unending monsoon.  Vincent Lowe walked over to Evangeline who stood listening to the devastation that was enveloping an already devastated city.

It’s for the good of Samaria,
Evangeline thought inwardly, attempting to convince herself that what she was doing would work out better in the end for everyone. 

She felt Vincent’s hand on her shoulder.  “Come, My Queen,” he said softly.  “Let’s get you out of the rain and inside so you don’t catch your death.” 

Evangeline nodded mutely as he led her away from the platform and past the barricades that were erected to protect her from the violent crowd of Samarian citizens.

It’s for the good of Samaria,
she told herself over and over again.

Chapter 25

              Vincent Lowe led Evangeline quickly to her carriage, removing his heavy cloak and wrapping it around her to ward off the unceasing rain.  As soon as she stepped inside the compact vehicle, a muscular arm grabbed her around the waist, while a hand cupped over her mouth to muffle her screams.  Panicking, Evangeline bit down on the hand as hard as she could till she tasted the tang of blood in her mouth.

              “Hey!  Ooow!” a voice cried, and Evangeline’s alarm immediately extinguished.  Heath’s hand recoiled from its position on her face as he brought the wound to his mouth.

“You should really learn not to be so aggressive all the time!  It really wears down a person’s nerves you know!”  He thrust his hand at her so she could see two rows of teeth marks indented into it.  Evangeline threw back the wet hood of Vincent’s cloak as she tried to stand in front of him, stooped over in the small carriage.

“Really? 
Really
!” she argued.  “I’m not the one trapping people inside of trees, almost killing them with fire, and then attacking them in their carriages!  Maybe
you
should learn to act like a normal person!” 

They both glowered at each other as Evangeline took a seat on the carriage bench.  Perhaps it was the stress of the day, or Heath’s distasteful surprise, but suddenly Evangeline was laughing.  Her chuckles filled the small carriage, and she laughed until her sides hurt while Heath just looked at her like she had gone mad.  She leaned back into her seat as her mirth subsided and looked at her guest with affectionate eyes.

“Why did you do it?” she asked softly.  “Why did you frighten off Leonardo and kill his men.  I didn’t ask you to do that.  And I sure haven’t done anything to earn your support.”  Heath just heaved a deep sigh in return.

“Look, Evangeline,” the emissary began.  “I’ll be honest with you.  My Master has a lot invested in this azurite crystal of yours.  So much so that he sent me a long way just to ensure a deal was made between us.  I cannot go home with news that his shipments have stopped because of senseless ‘Commoner’ complications.”

Evangeline’s face fell, but only for a second before turning taut again.  “So you helped me because you had to?” Evangeline probed. 

“I helped you because I have an indirect interest in Samaria,” Heath replied.  He stood up to come sit next to her, but a sudden lurch of the carriage as it moved into motion caused him to fall into Evangeline’s lap.  Heath scrambled off of the Queen as she yelped in surprise, his fair skin flushed scarlet with embarrassment.  A couple of awkward moments passed as the cab bumped along the cobblestone streets, and Heath cleared his throat before speaking again.

“Evangeline, let me help you win this war,” the emissary encouraged.  “You’ve seen what I can do, and you know together we can defeat Olger Guttensen.”

“How do I know I can trust you?” Evangeline asked.  “Considering your…how do I put it…unnatural abilities.”

  “My Master’s interest in Samarian azurite is completely independent of anything else this country has to offer.  Nothing we do will negatively affect you.  That I can promise.” 

Evangeline remained silent, thinking and studying the man sitting next to her.  She took in the pleading look on his face, the dirty-blonde hair matted to his forehead, and his hazel eyes that were a smooth as molten bronze.

Again he was offering to help her win the war against Olger so that countless amounts of Samarian lives and resources would be saved.  If she could keep war from coming inside Samaria’s borders, she would be hailed as a powerful and diplomatic Queen, and her people would forgive all of her previous infractions.  She could start anew.  But despite all this, a warning still rang out clearly in her mind, a warning that stemmed from all she knew about
Slythos
and everything the legends said about them.

Don’t make the same mistake twice,
Evangeline counseled herself. 
You took the prideful route once already and look what’s happened.  Now a
Slythos
is offering to help you defeat the Nomans in return for worthless crystals.

A
foreboding feeling weighed down on the Queen as she contemplated her limited options.  She’d seen Olger Guttensen’s armies and knew that Samaria had a small chance of surviving a war with them, if at all.

“I want to know what you’re using the azurite for,” Evangeline demanded.    Heath just gave her a blank look, as if the possibility of her asking him that question had never occurred to him.  He bit his lip, hard, till it turned white.

“Evangeline, that’s not your concern…”

“I want to know,” she repeated.  “Tell me, or I won’t even consider mining anymore crystal for you.” 

This resulted in a frustrated groan from the emissary.  He pushed back his damp hair so it stuck up vertical on his head and looked outside the window.  The carriage was bumping along the stone streets, jolting uneasily back and forth as it wound its way through the hilly terrain.  It seemed like an eternity passed before Heath said anything, and the only sound between them was the grinding noise of the wheels and the rain hitting the roof of the carriage.

“I’ll tell you,” he finally said in a voice barely above a whisper. “But you have to be willing to open up your mind.  Forget everything you’ve ever been taught and understand that there are forces in this world far more powerful than anything we, as humans, can comprehend.” 

Evangeline could only nod as she thought back to that night in her chamber, remembering all the wonders that Heath had performed for her; beautiful, terrifying, and deadly acts. 

“Have you ever heard of the Elixir of Life?” he asked.  Evangeline scrunched up her face.  That’s not what she was expecting him to ask.

“Yes,” she answered with a small nod.  “Everyone has.”

“Tell me what you know about it,” Heath cajoled gently.  Evangeline furrowed her brow as she tried to recall the details of the fables she’d learned as a child.

“From what I remember, it’s a combination of substances.  A potion of sorts that’s rumored to promote immortal life and eternal youth if drank.”  Evangeline looked at him hopefully.

“Okay.  What else?” the man encouraged.  Again, Evangeline thought.

“Something to do with a stone,” she added.  “The Living Stone I think it’s called, although that name might be metaphorical, for it may not be a stone at all but some other substance.  Regardless, it is the essential element of the elixir itself; the quintessence that is responsible for immortal abilities.  Apparently, it’s something so common that most people overlook what it is capable of becoming.”  Evangeline stopped herself right there.  “Of course, that’s all fairytales and folklore!”  She laughed nervously.

“Is it?” Heath asked seriously, causing Evangeline’s smile to fade.

“It’s just a story, Heath,” Evangeline said with a frown.  “Told by parents to put children to bed.”

“Hmmm,” Heath breathed, nodding slowly.  “Just stories.  Like
Slythos
are just stories, yet here I am.  Do not discredit legends, Queen Evangeline.  Remember?  For their content is based on some truth.”  Evangeline tightened her mouth as Heath lectured her, reminding her of her father.

“You can’t honestly expect me to believe that you, and whoever you are working for, presume to find the Living Stone, the essence of the Elixir of Life, among thousands of useless azurite crystals?  That’s the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard!”

“You don’t seem to understand,” Heath said shaking his head.  There was a sharp edge to his voice.  “We’re not looking anymore, Evangeline.  We’ve already found it, and you’ve been mining it for us.”

Evangeline just looked at him with a vacant countenance.  His explanation didn’t make any sense, but from her experience, nothing Heath said or did had any viable explanation to it.  All the things she’d recently witnessed with the
Slythos
was causing her to view the legends her father had told her in a new light. The notion was terrible to conceive, but maybe all the things that Samarians, and others in the Realm, believed were fiction were, in fact, entirely plausible.

Suddenly, the Queen found it very difficult to breath.  The air inside the rolling carriage felt thick and heavy, and it plagued her lungs so she couldn’t inhale.  Evangeline grabbed the edge of her seat as her hyperventilation took over, constricting her lungs.  Between the overwhelming pounding in her head and the rapid wheezing that came out of her mouth, Evangeline could hear Heath’s concerned voice asking if she was ok. 

When his gentle hand went to reach for her, she swatted it angrily away and felt the carriage come to an abrupt stop.  Without waiting for any more explanations, Evangeline threw open the cab door and stumbled out onto the wet ground in front of the bridge leading into Mizra.  Misty rain surrounded her, cooling her burning skin.  She ran away from Heath as fast as she could, away from the carriage, and away from the truth of what she was truly involved in.  As soon as she was inside Mizra, Evangeline fell to the ground.  She lay on her stomach and pressed her febrile face to the cool floor as sweat pebbled her forehead.  Then, everything turned dark.

***

When the Queen awoke, her head felt as heavy as a wooden log, and it throbbed in pain.  Sometime during her state of unconsciousness, Evangeline had been taken up to her chambers, undressed, and placed in her bed.  The room was dark, with hardly any light coming off the dying fire.  The Queen could see a swollen ivory moon through her open balcony doors as it flaunted its bright light in the amethyst night sky.  Evangeline felt her forehead for fever, and it was still warm to the touch.  Dried sweat crusted the edge of her hairline, but she didn’t seem to be perspiring any longer.  A movement at the edge of the bed caught her attention.

“My Queen, are you awake?”  Vincent Lowe’s slender form moved around to her side, and he opened the bed curtain just a smidge so he could peak in on her.  His eyes were red around the edges and puffy on the bottom, as if he’d been crying.

“Vincent?” Evangeline croaked.  “What happened?”  She had to force herself to talk through the pounding in her brain.

“We found you unconscious and ransacked with fever,” Vincent explained.  “On the gateway leading into Mizra, yesterday afternoon following the events at Center Market.”  Evangeline’s heart skipped a beat.

“I’ve been unconscious for an entire day?” She wanted to yell, but the throbbing in her temples prevented her from gathering the strength. “What about Olger Guttensen?  And the Samarian Guard?  Where are they?  What’s happened?  Tell me what’s going on!”  Vincent took a seat on the edge of her bed and grabbed her hand that was limp with illness.

“They are fighting as you instructed,” Vincent replied solemnly.  “Unfortunately, Olger’s armies had already moved passed the border by the time Brutus could even gather enough men to try and stop him.  They desecrated the small troops of forces along Windsong Summit leaving none alive.  The fighting has gone throughout the night, My Queen, and the Overlord’s troops are gaining ground closer and closer to the valley.”

“Thousands of Samarian Guards have perished.  More than what we had originally forecasted.  It’s been nothing but devastation for our troops.  There just isn’t enough of them, and even with the recent round of recruitment, there just wasn’t enough time to prepare.” 

Evangeline felt her throat choke up with emotion.  She didn’t know how to react to Vincent’s report; there were no words to describe what she was feeling.  War was a devastating and grisly act, but having never experienced it before, the Queen didn’t know she’d feel so guilty knowing that her men were out there on the front lines being slaughtered because of her.

“Have you received any word from Master Leatherby?” she asked hopefully.  Vincent nodded.

“We received some positive reports that the detonations were successful, but Olger’s armies are just too many.  We can’t keep up with the number of foot soldiers being led through Sugarpine Pass.  When we blow one army up, another takes its place.”

Evangeline brought her hand to her forehead and began massaging the skin there to release the tension of her headache. 

“What about the residents of Alumhy?  How are they faring?” she inquired.

“They are frightened, My Queen.”

“As they should be!”

“It’s not fear of the Nomans that causes them to huddle together in their homes and yell curses at those patrolling the streets,” Vincent explained.  He wrung his hands and stared at them for a long while.  “It’s fear of us.” 

  Again, there was no way for Evangeline to react to what Vincent was telling her.  She’d seen her people’s looks of disbelief when the traitor Arvil Pennington exposed her collusion with the Noman Overlord.  She heard their screams of fear and protest when the Guard forced their way into their homes and dragged their children out onto the street, forcing them to fight a war they never wanted.  She couldn’t deny anything because it was all her doing.

“Vincent, I need you to do one thing for me,” Evangeline said as she sat up straighter in her bed.  The Guard nodded obediently.  “Go over to the wardrobe in the corner and bring me the item folded on the top shelf.”  Vincent didn’t hesitate to do as she asked.  When she had the item in her arms, she dismissed her loyal servant.