Hail to the Queen (Sage Trilogy, Book 3) (30 page)

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“We’re almost there,” Catherine sighed as she pushed back a fallen branch. Neither Scarlet nor Kyran said a word as they journeyed forward. “Is there any word of the battle?”

“I can’t sense it from this distance,” Kyran said matter-of-factly. “I’m sorry, Princess.”

“It’s okay,” she sighed as they marched along the pine cones and brush of the forest floor. “No use worrying about it when we still have much business to take care of.”

“We should also be mindful of traps,” Kyran suggested. “Especially with what happened the last –“

“Kyran, what is it?” Catherine asked as they all came to a sudden halt.

“
There are guards surrounding us,” he whispered. “A lot of them.”

“Go invisible like before. I need you in stealth.”

Kyran obeyed as Scarlet snickered.

“And what are your orders for me, Princess?”

“Scarlet, are you really still angry with me?”

“A little.”

A shout interrupted their conversation as several Langoran suddenly appeared in the treetops. A hundred more soldiers came from all directions as they leapt out from hidden doors in the forest floor and from behind large trees.

“STAND DOWN!” one large guard shouted at them as he advanced to the front of the ambush. This Langoran was apparently one of status since he had a full head of red hair, but he was not the Captain they had met earlier in their travels.

“Where is the Captain?” Catherine asked as the guard signaled a couple Langorans to shove them to their knees.

“He’s been demoted. I’m the new Captain,” he replied as he studied their faces. “And there’s no need for you to introduce yourselves. Your faces ar
e quite known around here. The woman with the colorful hair must be the Sage known as Scarlet. The witch who engulfed my children in flames. And you, you must be Princess Catherine, the deceiver. Tell me, what business do you have in Languor? Come to finish the job?”

“Not at all,” Catherine pleaded, as Scarlet eyed the guard behind her. “We just want to talk.”

“The last time you Sages wanted to talk, our King and Queen were murdered, along with a great deal of our citizens.”

“That was a misunderstanding.”

“That’s a pretty ridiculous misunderstanding. I would hate to see your handiwork when you mean it…why do you need to speak with the new King?”

“Zen-echelon is coming to destroy Languor. They’ve already destroyed Prattle.”

“Yes, I’ve heard,” the Captain scoffed. “But how do we know that you’re not the culprits? Didn’t you just come from there?”

“We did, but it was –“

“- to take their stone, correct? That’s a strange coincidence that their Kingdom gets destroyed along with ours as soon as you arrive. Now that I think about it…I heard something about Quietus too.”

“We have no intention of harming anyone,” Catherine said quickly. “And it makes no sense
that we would come back here unless we had a good reason to.”

“All I hear are words, Princess. Just words.”

“Idiot,” Scarlet muttered. “That’s what talking is.” The guard behind her punched her in the back of her head and she grunted under the weight of the blow.

“So, Princess,” the Captain said, leaning in close. “If you’re here in peace, I only have one more question for you…where is the Langoran stone?”

“Kyran, please come out,” Catherine said as he reluctantly shimmered into view. The entire troop cried out in surprise and readied their swords and bows at the sudden arrival.

“WHOA!” the Captain cried out. “Where did he come from?”

“His name is Kyran,” Catherine replied. “He just went invisible to –“

“HE’S THE ONE WHO KILLED THE KING!” a guard shouted from above, and six guards ran behind Kyran and began forcing him to the ground. Kyran growled and began to resist but Catherine intervened.

“No, Kyran!” she pleaded. “Don’t resist! We are at their mercy!”

“Even if it means they kill him here and now?” Scarlet snapped. Catherine
shot her head around to face her cousin.

“We’re the ones who put their Kingdom in turmoil. We’re the ones that murdered their leaders! We are in no place to be making demands! They won’t kill us before they take us before the new King. Not enemies
who are wanted as much as we are! Just mind your mouth and obey my instructions!”

“You’re taking too many chances,” Scarlet said boldly. “There is no guarantee that as soon as we are bound, they won’t just execute us on the spot and present us to the King as a gift. You’re too trusting.”

“No, I haven’t!” Catherine shouted. “And that’s the problem! That’s where we must start! All of us! Our enemy, our real enemy could be on his way right now to destroy us all and the only reason we don’t already have a coalition to meet him in battle is because we’ve denied each other trust. It starts now!”

“Even if it ends in blood?” Scarlet asked through grit teeth as the guard behind her suddenly knocked her out with the hilt of his sword.
The Captain nodded towards the guards behind Kyran to do the same. Kyran looked to Catherine for guidance and the Princess nodded through tear-stained eyes.

Kyran accepted the blow and went limp.

“You will get to address the King,” the Captain whispered to her ominously. “But it will be on our terms. You won’t like them.”

“Whatever it takes,” Catherine declared. “We accept our punishment.”

“Yes…yes you will.”

And then her vision went black…

There was nothing but silence, and yet he couldn’t think. Not about the mission, the Princess, or what to do next. All he could do was sit in the dust and occasionally glance back at the only student he ever considered an equal – lying in a pool of blood, his body shredded and matted with dirt. Arimus took a deep breath and looked up at the ether.

There had to be a way. It was just he wasn’t seeing it…if only he had the imagination to see it. But he had given up daydreaming and fanciful notions long ago. Life for him at an early age had just been too painful and trying; forcing him to accept ideals and realities he had no control over and saw little options in personally changing. Even the mission before them had come out of necessity, not of wisdom.

To collect the five stones of power from each of the five Kingdoms.

It sounded so easy. Like one big scavenger hunt. But it had just turned into a bloody mess. Lives were lost, Kingdoms overturned, families disbanded, friends killed...and not a sign of things getting any better. Thorn was getting closer to victory every second and showed no weaknesses so far. When he had his conversation with the King of Zen-echelon, he was taken aback by his confident yet friendly demeanor. It was almost like Thorn pitied them as he literally took their lives and souls. How could anyone become such a man?

Arimus considered running to Languor – meet up with the others…but by the time he would get there, it would all be over, and Dominic would have definitely arrived if he was headed that way. Better to head to Allay actually. At least then he could see how many Sages had in fact been born. Maybe he could rally enough together to form a small militia, go underground before Thorn decimated Allay and…

Well…it was better than nothing.

Arimus brushed the dust off his
cracked armor and stood up, gazing over at James with a dead gaze. He wanted to feel something for him…anything…but he had gotten so used to death and loss that it had become like an old friend coming over for a visit. He hadn’t expected it to arrive so abruptly…but he accepted it with a heavy heart.

“James, I’m sorry I couldn’t do more,” Arimus sa
id. He began to walk away when he suddenly heard a gurgle erupt from the young Sage’s throat. Arimus turned back and dropped to his knees in alarm, examining the boy’s body, trying to convince himself that he had heard it. As if James heard his wish, another gurgle was produced from within his throat.

“I can’t believe it,” Arimus mused as his hands hovered over the fragile body. “
How did you survive…it doesn’t matter…just hold on, James. If there’s ever a time I can do something that matters, it’s now. I’ll protect you.”

Arimus scooped James up into his arms as delicately as he could manage and held the broken Sage close to his chest. Using the little energy he had accumulated since the battle’s end, he called forth a wind to shield them from both view and attack. It circled and protected them like a shell as he contemplated where to go.

It was best to find a secluded, private place nearby so that he could patch up the young Sage without anyone finding them.

Finally, there was hope again…

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“Where are we?” Catherine groaned as she rubbed the welt on the back of her head. Wherever they sat, it was so dark that she could barely see her hand in front of her face. It was cold and damp. Somewhere nearby, there was a continuous stream of water and she could hear the faint sound of talking from beyond the granite walls. She tried to stand up and found it to be no surprise that she was chained loosely at the ankles and wrists.

“We’re in a prison,” Scarlet whispered next to her ear. Catherine jumped and gave out a squeak as she felt goose bumps pop up all over her skin.

“You scared me,” she whispered. “Why are you so close to me anyways?”

“I’m fumbling around trying to find your chains so I can break them.”

“You’re already free?”

“You can be too if you tried. These chains were designed for Langorans, not us. I slipped out rather easy.”

“And Kyran?”

“Oh, you know how skinny he is. Of course he’s free too. Right now he’s busy inspecting the walls for weaknesses. The dark doesn’t bother him at all. He’s used to it.”

“Thank you,” Catherine replied as she heard Scarlet sigh in response.

“Mm-hmm.”

“Scarlet? Please don’t be mad at me.”

“I’m not mad…”
she heard her cousin whisper. Her ankle chains were ripped off right after. “I’m just…I have a lot on my mind right now.”

“Any
way I can help? We may be here for a while.”

“You never answered my question earlier,” Scarlet said, changing her tone. “Were you serious about what you said? About gaining their trust…even if it ends in blood?”

“I was…but I didn’t mean you or Kyran. I meant myself.”

“Well, then you’re dumber than I thought. Why would you sacrifice yourself when
you have Sages at your disposal?”

“You’re not just Sages to me,” Catherine spoke up as her wrist chains were unshackled. She rubbed them absent-mindedly. “You’re human beings, and my friends. I would never ask you to sacrifice your lives for my ideals. Fight for me? Yes. Obey an order? Perhaps. But never sacrifice.”

“The Allayans have done the Langorans wrong for years. And I can’t say I’ve been completely innocent in all of that either. To be honest, I never thought twice. But I understand what a real truce could mean between the Kingdoms. If we do survive this, it would mean a new age. No more being sheltered and scared of the outside world. We could work together towards something new and great. But Catherine, as lovable as you are, you have to understand that not everyone will just fall for you and your compassionate speeches. The Langorans…they will want blood.”

“Then I will give it to them.”

“You don’t even know what you’re saying,” Scarlet scoffed. “And what would that accomplish? You would be throwing your life away for a possibility. No, I won’t allow it. The world needs people like you. There’s not too many of you left.”

“You could become Queen,” Catherine said low, forcing Scarlet to think about it, but only for a second before she grabbed Catherine’s arms in the darkness.

“I don’t want it, cousin. I know it seems like I do, but seriously, I would just burn down the castle in one of my fits, and I’m no good with people. You were right…I still need to grow up.”