Descent (35 page)

Fern had taken the second unicorn, leaving Altor to climb onto Jane’s mount behind her. Altor’s eyes had been dark as he’d done so, casting a wary glance at Fern before moving his arms around Jane’s waist. She felt his grip on her tighten through the journey, and his breathing against the back of her neck was warm, but neither of them said anything. Even now, wracked by catastrophe as they were, Jane could still think back all those years ago, and imagine what the contact would have done to Altor in the beginning. She wasn’t sure if it would be the same now. He gave no indication that he felt strangely about holding her like this in front of Fern, so maybe she was just imagining things. She was glad, not for the first time, that neither of them could remember.

Together the three of them circled down over the palace in Amalia, finally arriving just after sunset. But something was clearly visible from their view in the sky, making her steer away from the roof and instead land on the grass within the palace grounds.

There was a giant hole in the ground, as if it had been hit by a meteor. Within the hole there lay a dragon, with a tiny girl draped over it.

‘Anna!’ Jane yelled, leaping off the unicorn. Fern landed swiftly behind her and three of them raced to the side of the chasm.

‘Anna!’ she called again, a sense of dread in her stomach. Just as she was about to climb down into the hole, Anna’s head lifted to look at them and Jane nearly collapsed with relief.

There were tears streaming down Anna’s cheeks, making tracks in the dirt that covered her skin, and her face was twisted into a horrible grimace of pain.

‘Oh, god,’ Jane gasped, sliding down into the hole. ‘Are you okay?’

‘He’s dead,’ Anna sobbed, burying her face in the dragon’s scales. ‘He’s dead and it’s my fault. He was trying to protect me.’

Tears welled in Jane’s eyes, realising what must have happened. She didn’t know what to do. There was too much grief, plain in the heartbroken face of her friend.

‘Just leave me alone,’ Anna cried, closing her eyes.

‘Don’t you want to come inside—?’

‘NO! Leave me alone!’ Suddenly Anna’s voice was a shriek. ‘Get away from me! I want to be alone with him.
Leave!
’

Biting her lip, Jane reluctantly did as she was told. Fern was there to help her climb out of the chasm and with a last, sorrowful look at Anna, the three of them went into the palace.

They were met with complete disarray. People were running everywhere—palace servants, soldiers, members of the guard, El~araih—it was chaos. They stood at the door, trying to make sense of it.

‘Jane!’ a voice screamed, and she looked up to see Harry sprinting across the hall. ‘Thank god you’re here!’ he breathed, his eyes wide and panicked. Harry grabbed Jane and hugged her so tight she thought her ribs might break. At the same time, she didn’t want to let him go.

‘It’s so good to see you!’ she said.

‘Tell me about it,’ Harry agreed vehemently, finally pulling away. ‘He hasn’t done it yet, but he’s arranging for at least fifty soldiers to take them down in the morning.’

‘And they’re agreeing to this!’

‘They don’t know what the purpose of it is—no one would ever believe that their king is going out of his way to harm everyone. Plus, they’re too terrified of the El~araih to question his motives.’

‘Where is my sister?’ Fern asked quickly.

‘I’ll take you to her,’ Harry said, turning to push through the current of people. Jane had never seen the palace so full. Her head was spinning.

She looked at Altor, realising that he hadn’t followed them. ‘Are you coming?’

He frowned, cracking his knuckles. ‘I need to check something,’ was all he said as he disappeared in the other direction. Jane ran to catch up with Fern and Harry, rounding several corners to get to Accolon’s study.

The sight that met them was extraordinary. Accolon stood behind his desk, but surrounding him was what had to be close to every member of the El~araih guard, their swords raised. Satine and Elixia were facing him.

‘This is wrong!’ they were in time to hear Elixia cry. The ancient soldiers rearranged their positions flawlessly as the newcomers entered.

The three of them stopped and stared at the frightening guards. ‘What are you doing, Accolon?’ Fern asked softly, his voice strained.

Satine stared at him, stunned. ‘But you’re dead!’ she whispered.

‘Elixia brought me back,’ Fern said impatiently, his eyes never leaving Accolon’s face. ‘I’ll ask it again—what are you doing, Accolon?’

‘What’s best for this country,’ the king replied flatly,
giving no indication that he noticed or cared that Fern was alive. His face was expressionless, his eyes dead as he gazed back at them. Looking at him Jane realised that there was to be no convincing him. He wasn’t the man she remembered—he seemed truly insane.

‘Why?’ Fern pressed. ‘Who’s making you believe that this is right?’

With that question the atmosphere changed. Elixia and Satine both looked at Fern, realising that they’d overlooked the most important aspect of this madness. Accolon, for his part, looked outraged.

‘No one!’ he hissed. ‘No one tells me what to do! This war is costing far too much. It’s draining the economy and sending the government broke.’

‘But it’s not a war that you can just choose to stop fighting,’ Fern said calmly. ‘If you stop defending, Accolon, your people will die. This is bigger than money.’

Accolon shook his head. ‘Are you speaking against me?’ he asked very softly.

Elixia shook her head desperately, but Fern didn’t heed her. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘If I must, then I will.’

‘As will I,’ Jane said. If the High King felt any surprise at seeing her returned to the world, then he did a very good job of hiding it.

‘Very well,’ he said. ‘You have both spoken treason and as a consequence shall be sentenced to the dungeons until your death sentences can be carried out.’

‘What?’ Elixia screamed. ‘
No!
’

Fern was about to draw his sword as the advancing El~araih surrounded the two of them, but Jane quickly hissed at him to stop. Casting a glance at her, he raised his hands helplessly, allowing them both to be taken hold of and thrown into a cell far below in the dungeons.

Altor had spent a lot of time expecting the worst. From people, from life, from himself. Maybe that’s why the thought came to him first, before it came to anyone else. Something raced around and around in his head, and if it happened to be true, then he knew they were all doomed.

He ran through the hallways and down several sets of steps, asking people as he went for directions.

Finally Altor made it to the big library, full to bursting with dusty books and scrolls. True to their nature, the librarians had taken no notice of the commotion in the palace, but were still hunched over their scrolls.

‘I need help,’ Altor snapped. They all looked up to see who had disturbed the quiet.

‘What sort of help, son?’ one of the old men asked cheerfully.

‘Forbidden lore,’ Altor said perfunctorily. The faces of the librarians changed in an instant. They all stared at him with suspicion.

‘My lord, I don’t know who you are, but we certainly don’t hold forbidden lore in this library!’

‘Have done with the lies,’ Altor said flatly. ‘My name is Prince Altor of Lapis Matyr and I don’t care what rules have been in place up until now. I need you to tell me everything you know about the ruler of the El~araih and how they are bound to the kings of Paragor.’

‘Fern!’ Elixia exclaimed as she, Satine and Harry arrived at the dungeons. He and Jane were sitting in separate cells, steel bars between them, dark expressions on both their faces.

‘We’re all right,’ Fern said quickly.

‘I can’t believe he’s done this!’ she fumed, shaking her head. ‘What are we going to do? None of us have the keys!’

‘It’s okay,’ Jane said. ‘Don’t focus on us—do what you can to stop Accolon.’

Satine rested her forehead on the bars. ‘But we don’t know how!’

‘What did you mean, Fern, when you asked him who was making him do this?’ Harry said carefully.

Fern spread his hands wide. ‘I don’t know, Harry. It was a guess. But it just seems to me that the only way he could have fallen so far from who he used to be is with the help of some other force.’

‘It may be the Valkyries,’ Satine added. ‘It’s clear that he’s being attacked in his sleep. Maybe this is what they sought all along—to gain control of our king.’

‘Harry,’ Jane said suddenly, ‘You need to go and check on Anna. Locktar was attacked as they flew back here. The dragon’s dead.’

Harry looked horrified. ‘Christ,’ he groaned. ‘She’ll be devastated. What more could possibly go wrong?’ He disappeared up the steps in an instant.

Jane noticed that Elixia was staring worriedly at Fern.

‘Are you all right?’ Elixia asked her brother. He nodded mutely, not bothering to reply. Jane looked at him too—his eyes were so hollow and exhausted that he looked like a walking corpse.

‘Have you been sleeping?’ Elixia pressed.

‘Of course,’ he snapped.

‘Okay,’ she said slowly, still unable to look away.

Jane motioned for Elixia to come closer. ‘Athena was killed by the Valkyries,’ she whispered.

Elixia looked stunned. She turned to her brother, her eyes filling with tears. ‘Oh, gods,’ she whispered, her hand over her mouth. ‘How much more can he take?’

Jane looked at Fern and felt her heart ache. ‘I really don’t know.’
Anna waited until Jane had gone into the palace before she sat up and lifted the dragon’s head into her lap. She wasn’t ready to lose him. Not when she was supposed to be the one to die.

‘Locktar,’ she whispered, her voice very calm. ‘I need you to live. I need you to wake up. I know you’re hurt, sweetheart, but you have to do whatever it takes to come back to me.’

She waited, and she willed, and wished and prayed and begged, and when she’d done all of those things, she sat still, staring at him.

‘
Wake up!
’ she yelled, shaking him desperately.

After what seemed like an age, Locktar moved.

His eyelid twitched. So did his nostril. A warm gust of breath shot out of his nose, and slowly he opened his eyes. Her cry of ecstasy died on her lips, however, when she saw him begin to pant and heave, trying to draw breath.

‘Locktar, what—?’

The beast let out a horrendous shriek of pain and fury. Anna crawled back, eyes wide with terror. The dragon lifted himself wearily to his feet, his body sagging from the effort. Suddenly he reared back on his legs and his chest bulged unnaturally. His red eyes glowed.

Just as Anna was about to run for help, he gave a final, appalling scream, and began to shrink. Red tears poured from his eyes and fell, sizzling in the dirt.

Anna could not have described it, given the chance. The closest thing she could think of was a mouse being consumed by a snake, the body writhing inside its predator’s stomach. Parts of Locktar’s insides pushed against his scales, changing shape, changing texture. The leathery scales smoothed and somehow morphed into white skin. His claws and teeth retracted into his body, as did his wings, and his back bulged with the
effort of containing them. Anna whimpered in distress.

Finally the form of Locktar somehow disappeared, and instead, huddling and shaking in the dirt, there lay a fully grown, male, human body.

Anna gasped, frozen at the sight.

‘Locktar?’ she whispered. The man looked up at her with blood-red eyes that glowed fiercely, and she gasped again, for there was no doubt in her mind that it was still him. Slowly, unsteadily he stood and faced her.

‘Locktar?’ she said again, and he nodded. ‘How did this happen?’

‘You asked me,’ he said softly, his voice deep and rich and rough all at once, ‘to live. To come back to you. This was the only way.’

‘Oh my god,’ she breathed, staring at him.

He returned the gaze steadily, and Anna started to cry with relief and joy. And that’s when he moved towards her, his movements instinctively animal, deeply wild, to put his human arms around her for the first time.

‘I love you too,’ Locktar said.

It had been hard that evening for Mia to call her head servant. She didn’t know how to deal with the grief of not remembering him, didn’t know how to behave in the face of his loss. Tonight was different though. Tonight was full of foreboding, and the truth of the matter was, she needed him.

Tye entered her room without knocking. ‘Any news from your friends?’ he asked immediately. Despite everything, Mia felt relief at just having him with her.

‘I can’t contact them. It’s like they’re too busy to notice that I’m even trying to reach them. Something weird is going on, Tye. I feel so isolated out here.’ She couldn’t explain how she knew that something was wrong, but there was a kind of urgent terror inside her. Her friends were in danger, she just knew it.

‘Maybe you could try again now.’

Mia nodded and, sinking into a chair, closed her eyes. First she tried Jane, but there was no response. Then Harry and Anna, but the same again with them. She couldn’t even find Luca’s mind-voice and this made her feel sick with worry. Finally, dreading it but knowing she needed to find out what was going on, she reached out into the night for Jack.

She found him eventually—he seemed to be a very long way away—and she realised that he was asleep. She tried to wake him gently, but before he roused, she had a clear, terrifying glimpse into his dream.
His nightmare. Great flying beasts made of fire surrounded him, engulfed him, and the fear he felt was transferred to Mia as though it was her own nightmare. Then he woke, slamming back into consciousness with a shudder, and everything went black.

Mia?
he asked, his mind-voice trembling.

Yes, it’s me,
she replied, just as shakily.
Are you okay? You were having a nightmare!

She could feel his hesitation, his embarrassment. Could feel him putting up a wall.
I must have been,
he replied eventually.
I hardly remember it.

Jack, that was terrifying! Have you had dreams like that before? What made that happen?

Nothing. I’m fine. Are you okay?

Yeah, I’m fine too.

There was an awkward pause.
I heard you’re ... you’re the queen of some city,
he said, deflated.

Yeah.
She tried to laugh.
Crazy, huh?

That’s one word for it,
he muttered.

Suddenly she was irritated.
Jack, I need to know what’s going on. Are you still in Amalia? Where are all the others? Why can’t I contact them? There’s something wrong, isn’t there?

He hesitated.
I don’t know,
he said finally.

What do you mean? Where are you?

Mia, I have to go. I’m sorry for everything that I’ve done, I’m sorry for hurting you, and for making you feel like I didn’t believe in you. I always have. And I’m going to prove it.
He paused, something growing heavier with his next words.
I want you to know that I love you. I always will. Don’t try to contact me anymore.

Then he was gone.

And Mia had a crystallising moment of terror, because it had sounded suspiciously like a goodbye.
There was something Satine had to do. It was becoming clear, once again, that more was needed from her. More acting. More deceit. It seemed to be her lot in life.

She left the dungeon and made her way up the curved stairs. Footsteps came pounding through the darkness from above her, and then her son was standing before her, surprise evident on his face.

‘Altor!’ Satine gasped, flinging herself on him and hugging him tightly.

‘Mother, what are you doing here?’ he asked, returning the embrace.

‘I came on the same boat as Accolon to try and stop him.’

‘Just like everyone else,’ he muttered grimly.

‘I need to talk to you,’ she said. ‘Right now.’

‘Mother, I need to see Jane and Fern, there’s something—’

‘No,
now,
Altor. I need to talk to you now.’

He caught the look in her eyes and nodded.

‘It is about ... your father.’

Altor stiffened. ‘You want to do this here? On the stairs to the dungeon?’

Satine sighed and quickly led him up to the hallway. Taking a deep breath, looking into his eyes, Satine said, ‘Accolon is your father.’

Altor stared at her. ‘Excuse me?’

Satine pushed her hair back from her face, her hand shaking. ‘I ... I know you thought Leostrial was your father, but that was a lie. Your father is Accolon.’

Altor didn’t say anything for a long time. And then he laughed, a harsh, angry laugh. ‘Well, I’ve gone from being spawn of one evil ruler to the next.’

‘You aren’t ...
spawn,
Altor. And neither of them are evil.’

‘Whatever. I suppose I should be happy, right?’
There was a steely edge to his voice. ‘And it doesn’t even matter that you’ve been lying to me my whole life, and that you let me think my father was the most evil man in Paragor, instead of one of the ones who saved it, because now it turns out that my real father is just as crazy.’

Satine bit her lip to hold back her anguish. ‘Altor, I’m so sorry. I know I shouldn’t have lied. But I wasn’t sure how to tell you—’

‘You just say the words, mother, and it’s done.’ He paused, his face darker than she’d ever seen it. ‘Did it ever occur to you that maybe I
needed
to hate the man who ruined me, but couldn’t do it when I seemed to love him at the same time?’

Satine closed her eyes. ‘Oh, sweetheart,’ she breathed. ‘I had no idea you felt that way. If you had told me—’

‘I shouldn’t have had to, mother.’ Altor shook his head, a horrible smile on his face. ‘No, I’m sorry, forget I said that. It doesn’t matter.’ There was something wrong with his voice, his eyes. As though he couldn’t quite hold the horror back. ‘I suppose he doesn’t know either? Did you want to try and use this to help us? I don’t know how it could work, since having me for a son would be bit of a disappointment.’

‘No! How could you think that?’ Satine said, horrified. ‘I love you so much, Altor. I couldn’t be more proud. Tell me what you’re really feeling.’

‘I don’t know what I feel,’ Altor said flatly, every trace of pretence gone from his voice. ‘I have absolutely no idea what to think. How did it happen?’ he asked, then immediately regretted showing any interest at all.

So Satine told him the whole tale. How Accolon had grown up in Burmia, how they had fallen in love, but he’d been forced to flee before she could tell him she was carrying his child. How she’d finally come to Amalia with Harry, and how Accolon had married someone else.

‘I was distressed,’ Satine said softly. ‘Heartbroken. I didn’t want to live any more. So I offered to go back to Leostrial and spy once again, in the hopes of delaying the war so that Accolon had time to raise a counter-army. Leostrial didn’t kill me. He loved me, and one of the most frightening truths of my life was that I loved him too, despite everything.’ Satine paused and Altor could see she was fighting back tears.

‘I had always loved him, I think, and that was what was so hard for me. What was worse, the worst thing I have endured all my life, was knowing that you were alive, and out there somewhere I could not get to you.’ The tears began to fall then and she looked away. Altor shut his eyes.

‘My mother had always prevented me from finding you, intent on pleasing Leostrial,’ she went on. ‘But one day I had had enough, and I told him, and he sent me to find you. It was ... the best day of my life, Altor. You have to believe me. When he met you, he loved you too. He was your father. Nothing will ever take that away. Nothing will change what you meant to him.’

Altor squeezed his eyes shut harder, and tried not to listen to her sobs. ‘Why are you telling me this? To confuse me more?’

‘No!’

‘I think you were duped, mother. It’s obvious he only pretended to love me so he could use me for his own benefit. How could he have sapped the life from someone he loved?’

‘It wasn’t like that,’ she whispered.

Altor couldn’t digest it all. It was too much. He could leave the palace right now. He could don his cloak and he could disappear into the dark streets, find a tavern, some wine ... he didn’t owe these people anything. The fate of Amalia had nothing to do with him.

His life was a lie. His mother had put him through torture because she couldn’t say a few simple words. His father was alive, and wasn’t responsible for his distortion. He had a sister, and a stepmother. He was the prince of two countries. He was High Prince.

And he was still going to die too soon, only now he had so much more to lose.

‘I’m leaving,’ he said, turning to go, but Satine’s hand on his arm held him there.

‘No,’ she said. ‘Don’t. I need you here.’

‘Why?’

‘Because there’s something the two of us have to do together.’

Altor faced his mother and looked into her blue eyes, now clear of tears. ‘Do you truly want to use this against him?’ he asked very softly.

Just as softly, Satine replied, ‘I wish it didn’t have to be this way. I wish I could teach you something honest. But I’m a spy, Altor. Good at making people believe what I want them to. I know you understand. I know deception is in your heart too. It’s how you walk through life pretending to feel nothing.’

He was starting to feel sick. Why was she saying these things to him?

She didn’t let go of his arm, nor did she break eye contact. ‘I need that side of you now, Altor. I need your help. We can deal with how angry you are with me later, but right now, I need your deception.’

Ria watched as Bayard helped Luca off the boat. Strong winds and tides in their favour had them arriving at Amalia during the night. It was amazing how far the boats had come in just a few years—they were so fast. A trip from one country to the next could take hours if the winds were right. She glanced up through the dream
protector that had been installed on the boat to see shadows passing through the sky, making her shiver with foreboding. She didn’t understand why they were here, just that there was something very bad happening.

They climbed into a carriage that took the three of them to the palace on the hill. The streets seemed normal. Dark and empty at this time of night. But when they came to the palace, it was clear that nothing was normal at all.

They stood at the door wondering what was going on, and why there were people running around everywhere. Luca winced, cowing back against the door. Bayard put his good arm around the man’s shoulders to comfort him, and Ria felt a tremor in her heart as she looked at how close the two of them had become. Connected, somehow, by what had happened. Luca trusted Bayard more than he seemed to trust anyone.

He held onto the Captain’s arm and Bayard led him forward, all the while telling him it was all right.

‘Where are you going?’ she asked, a note of panic to her voice.

Bayard looked over his shoulder at her. ‘I’m taking him to a quiet room. You need to go and find Fern and Jane. Ask them what the hell is going on. Oh, and Ria?’ he added, giving her a level gaze. ‘If you see the king, be very careful what you say to him.’

Lady Tzenna of Sair happened to be one of the people rushing through the great hall that night. Élan had not come home, so she’d made her way up to the palace, thinking to try and find him while scoping out the layout of the palace a bit more. But instead of making her way silently through the corridors looking for the library where her fiancé would be found, she was met with a cacophony of voices.

There seemed to be much confusion about what was going on, and courtiers were rushing around trying to find someone who could give them answers.

Tzenna was about to race to the royal library when all of a sudden she felt something behind her. Not something that she would ever be able to name or identify, but something that made her turn and gaze at the door where three people had just entered.

Her eyes were drawn straight to one boy, and for the first time in many years, Tzenna felt her heart begin to beat.

He was tall and slender, but just then he was cowering, his shoulders hunched, making him look much smaller than he was. He was very young—probably about the same age as she was. Dark hair, pale skin, eyes as black as ebony and frightened—so frightened.

Tzenna looked at him, and even though it seemed to her that everything inside her was shouting at him to look back at her, he never did. His eyes darted around the hall, his jaw clenched. And then he looked down at his hands. There was so much in that look that Tzenna felt herself start to shake.

The man he was clutching, a big red-haired man, held on to him tightly, and then started to steer him through the room. ‘I’m taking him to a quiet room,’ she heard him say over the many voices, and she knew just then that she had to follow him and find out who this man with the haunted eyes was.

Something frozen inside her was, inexplicably, melting

He wasn’t taken far. Just around a corner until an empty room was spotted. Tzenna walked to the door and peered through the crack as the big man sat him down in a chair, then stroked his hair as if he were a child.

Then he left him there, closing the door behind him.

He looked at Tzenna in surprise.

‘Who is that?’ she asked bluntly, her voice trembling.

The red-haired man frowned. ‘Excuse me?’ He had a great deal of bandaging around his right hand, which was in a sling around his neck.

‘Who ... I’m sorry. I wanted to know who the man in that room is.’

He peered at her closely. ‘Why? Who are you?’

‘Forgive me. I am Lady Tzenna of Sair. One of the queen’s ladies in waiting. I ... I need you to tell me about that man.’

‘But
why?
’

Frustrated beyond measure Tzenna spread her hands wide and considered telling the truth. ‘I mean him no harm,’ she tried.

The man sighed. ‘His name is Luca. He is a friend of mine—and a Bright One.’

‘I see,’ Tzenna whispered. She was still not completely accustomed to the knowledge that other worlds existed. But she’d never heard any rumours that one of the Strangers was touched in the head. ‘He is ... is there something wrong with him?’