The Broken Kingdom (19 page)

There was silence for a moment.

it was not always this way.
Riley
heard sorrow in the painfully powerful voice.
my time is
passing, and i have wished for a way to help my kind. the King has
betrayed us. but i lack the power.

‘What about all together?’ Riley asked. ‘If
you all fought him, could you defeat him?’

possibly, though the time when my kin can do
that has long since passed. besides, the King has ever had a strong
hold on us, our belief in his power holds us in check more than his
actual power.

Riley frowned, thinking hard. ‘The only way
to end the fighting is to kill the King.’

you mustn’t forget Andalla. if the King was
gone Andalla would kill us or enslave us. we would be his in some
way.

‘Do you know if Andalla or the King have any
weaknesses?’

no, i know nothing that could defeat
them.

Riley spent the rest of the visit in deep
thought. When she got up to leave a question occurred to her.

‘What do you eat?’ she asked. ‘The other
ehlkrid eat each other.’

i know.
His voice was powerful with
grief, it was hard for Riley to stand.
i know. but i do not eat
my family. the cave mould grows in many places in this land. i may
pale in comparison to the King, but i am the strongest ehlkrid
here. the others will bring me the cave mould out of fear, which i
am too big to reach.

‘So they obey you?’

to an extent, as long as it does not involve
displeasing the King.

‘I see. Thank you, if there is a way, I will
try and help you.’

thank you. but i fear there is no way.

‘I don’t know. If I can, I’ll visit
again.’

Chapter 24

R
iley returned to the
cave. The next day she visited the dragon again.

She was jumping across to the cave when
suddenly she was swept into the air and into someone’s arms. Riley
bit back the urge to yell as she saw who had picked her up, lest
she insult him.

Andalla, golden and handsome, smiled down at
her.

Riley stared, feeling rather weak. She
quickly lowered her gaze as something very cold and hard came over
her. This was the man who had tricked Aerlid into killing his
beloved. He had started all this. That did not excuse what Aerlid
had done to her, but he was also this man’s victim. And she could
not let Andalla see that in her eyes.

‘Put your arms around my neck.’ he said.

‘Hello.’ Riley replied, trying to keep her
unrelenting hatred of this creature from her voice. ‘Where are you
taking me?’

‘Your arms. Around my neck.’ his voice now
had a dangerous edge to it.

Riley quickly obeyed.

‘Excellent.’ he sounded pleased. ‘I am
rescuing you from the King of the Ehlkrid.’

Sharp pain stabbed into her head as Andalla
said ehlkrid.

‘You must be very pleased.’

‘Yes. Of course.’ Riley lied, forcing her
voice into polite obedience. ‘Are you taking me home?’

‘I imagine you’ll want to marry me now that
I’ve rescued you.’ he continued. ‘I’ll allow it. And my home shall
be your home, so yes, I am taking you home.’

‘I-I… I’m surely not worthy of being your
wife!’ Riley choked. They were flying higher and higher.

‘This is true. But then, who is?’

Riley said nothing.

‘Exactly. Whoever I choose, they will not be
worthy of me. As a valkar princess, I suppose you are slightly
better than most. But only by a little bit.’

‘A very small bit.’ Riley barely managed to
speak.

‘Exactly!’

The sky changed from an ugly red to blue.
Riley couldn’t help a cry. This was the sky of her world! But he
kept flying. He flew up, past the clouds. And then the world
changed imperceptibly. It became more cloudy until the world seemed
made of nothing but clouds. A soft golden light suffused
everything.

Slowly, a garden made of cloud appeared
before her. Behind it she saw a huge, spiralling palace.

Andalla dropped her gently onto the clouds.
The clouds supported her as if they were solid ground.

The Andallites, his people, slowly gathered
around them.

‘My kingdom! It’s beauty and magic has
captured the minds of any mortal who has dared tread here. When I
tire of you and send you back to your mortal world, I imagine you
will go quite mad. You likely won’t survive.’ he waited a
moment.

‘Definitely.’ Riley agreed, still keeping
her eyes on the ground.

Pleased, he continued. ‘I see the Ehlkrid
King has treated you poorly. My people shall prepare you, my wife
cannot be dressed like a peasant.’

Riley sighed weakly.

‘My pot!’ Andalla called.

Out of the close crowd of Andallites four
walked forward. Between them they held a large golden cauldron.
Inside liquid the colour of molten gold roiled and swirled.

They placed it on the ground in front of
him.

Andalla stuck his hand into the pot. His
expression was intent. And then he pulled out his hand. In it he
was now holding what looked like a very fluffy dress. He tossed it
to one of the Andallites. Then he pulled something else from the
pot. It was a golden, jewelled crown.

Riley was starting to feel faint.

More things were pulled out of the pot, and
then Andalla ordered his people to take it away.

His attention back on Riley, he said,
‘clothes, befitting my wife! My people will fix you,’ he waved his
hand at her, up and down. ‘You may present yourself to me when you
are not so ugly.’ Andalla turned then and flew off towards the
palace.

Riley looked around at the Andallites, who
were coming closer. As before, she noted they were all men and
eerily silent.

‘Hello.’ Riley began gamely. ‘My name’s
Riley. Do you have names?’

They didn’t reply. Instead they prodded and
poked her and somehow she found herself in a large bathroom. The
room was pale and colourless, everything was the colour of clouds.
The floors were tiled in tiles the colour of clouds. The walls were
also the colour of clouds. The outline of a large, glass paned
window was barely visible. Also cloud coloured. Outside the window,
it was difficult to distinguish anything. It was all too cloud
coloured. The only colour came from the Andallites, with their
golden skin and leaf shaped wings. They were completely silent as
she looked around. They observed her with unblinking, golden
eyes.

But suddenly, all at once, they started
trying to remove her clothes.

‘Stop!’ Riley ordered, swatting hands away.
‘I can wash myself!’

They paused, but said nothing.

‘Leave. I can wash and dress myself. Now
go.’

As one, they turned their backs on her. But
they did not leave.

Riley looked around. Was this the best she
was going to get?

Making a sound of annoyance, Riley undressed
and hopped into the tub. They left her alone as she bathed, but as
she stepped out of the tub and began drying herself on a cloudy
towel one of the Andallites turned around. He took a hold of her
and started trying to wash her hair, which she had already
done.

‘Stop that!’ She spun and punched him in the
face. Startled, he fell back.

‘Can you talk?’ Riley demanded, a towel
wrapped tightly around her.

Another turned around now. ‘Andalla wants
you clean.’ he said in a toneless voice.

‘I am clean. I just cleaned myself.’

‘Andalla wants you to look like a
princess.’

‘And what does that mean?’

‘Dress. Crown. Shoes. Hair. Face.
Hands.’

‘Excuse me?’

‘Fix your hair, polish your nails, paint
your face, wear a dress, put on a crown, don some shoes.’

‘And all this is necessary?’

‘Andalla wants you to look like a
princess.’

Riley paused. Andalla was not going to react
any better than the Ehlkrid King to a perceived slight.

‘Fine.’ she choked. ‘You can help me do all
those… things. But you’re not touching my hair.’

‘Andalla wants you to look like a
princess.’

Riley frowned. ’Valkar don’t ‘fix’ their
hair.’

‘Andalla wants you to look like a
princess.’

Her frown deepened. ‘You can do all the
rest.’ and then her voice hardened. ‘But keep your hands off my
hair.’

They were silent. And then, as if they had
agreed amongst themselves to her demand, they all advanced on her
at once.

‘Stop, stop!’ Riley slapped them away again.
‘Calm down!’ she snarled. ‘Or I’ll do it myself!’

The very idea of that scared them, and when
they came at her again they were noticeably less violent.

Dressed in an ugly dress, hideous, high
shoes, a heavy crown and so much make-up she felt like she was
wearing a mask, Riley was led down a flight of stairs and into the
main hall of the palace. This was not to mention the necklaces and
bracelets and rings piled on her. They at least, had some colour.
On top of that, a dense cloud of perfume had settled around her,
thanks to the Andallites. Riley found it rather overpowering, at
best.

Aside from the crown and jewels, everything
she wore was pale and cloud coloured. The dress was big and boofy
with lots of layers, lace and puffy sleeves. Her nails had been
rather brutally attacked by the Andallites. Trimmed and chopped and
painted, Riley was surprised they were still attached to her
hands.

A great table was set up in the hall on a
dais. It looked out over more tables. Banners and windows decorated
the hall. The tables were covered with silverware and flowers
(cloud coloured, of course), and food. The food at least wasn’t
cloud coloured, it more or less looked like normal food.

Andalla was sitting in a high throne in the
middle of the high table. Riley was brought on a circuitous route
around the other tables so she could be presented to him.

‘Hmm…’ Andalla mused as she bowed before
him. ‘I don’t remember you being quite so ugly. Even the most
beautiful jewels and clothes in all the world cannot improve
you.’

Riley struggled to remain silent.

‘And why is your hair all horrible and
wild?’ he demanded, sudden anger animating him.

‘It is the way valkar wear their hair.’
Riley replied calmly.

‘Ah,’ he settled down. A smile spread across
his face. ‘And you are a valkar. Perhaps it is not your fault I
find you so ugly.’ he began magnanimously, ‘I spend so much time
with myself and my people, and I am perfection. Perhaps I expect
too much from you.’

Riley said nothing.

‘Come! You may dine with me! Perhaps the
food will improve your appearance.’

The Andallites led her up the dais and to
the table. She was placed in a chair next to Andalla.

Andalla chatted away at her as the
Andallites served them. A whirlwind of food that seemed to go for
hours was directed at Andalla, and she was expected to eat the
scraps from his plate. She found she was not hungry. When she did
eat she found the food oddly tasteless and textureless. When it was
time to go she was very relieved.