The Soulstoy Inheritance (11 page)

“My Lady Queen. General.” He ignored the other three men completely. “The holster is ready.”

“Good. Lady Beatrice, this is Jad, our best Blacksmith.”

Jad hurried off, and reappeared a moment later, holding a leather sheath out to me, along with a handful of different lengths of belt. I took it, confused, and then Jad produced a knife, and the realisation sank in. The knife hadn’t been cleaned, it was still stained with my father’s blood.

“I hope you don’t mind that I borrowed it,” Grenlow said, his voice uncharacteristically soft. “I thought you should be able to have it on you at all times.”

I reached for the hilt, my hands shaking, completely unable to speak as I stared at it. Grenlow, synfee, monster… whatever else he was, he understood.

“Thank you,” I croaked.

“Shall I show you how to secure it, Lady Queen?” Jad asked, apparently uncomfortable with the sudden emotion in my voice.

“Yes, please.”

He lifted my arms and deftly secured the first belt around my ribcage. The second was attached to the first, and crossed along my chest, over one shoulder to buckle up beneath my opposite shoulder. The holster lay diagonally across my upper back; the hilt was within easy reaching distance of my right hand. When I slid it home, the carved words faced the outside.

You should have killed me
.

“Next time,” I said aloud. “Next time, I will kill them.”

Grenlow smiled, and I wondered how he understood this situation so well. Who had he lost, and did he ever end up getting his revenge? If he did… did it help?

I thanked Jad profusely, and then he moved off—embarrassed—to begin fitting Teddy, Sweet and Quick with new armour. Grenlow cited something that needed doing and left also, so that I remained to wander around the front of the blacksmith’s shop alone. I had just picked up a half-finished sword when a voice sounded behind me.

“That’s much too big for you, Lady Queen.”

I let the sword tip fall, and then propped it carefully back where I had found it, turning to face Ashen.

“You look like a pirate,” I remarked, eyeing his own swords, and the shocking violet of his hair swept over each of his shoulders in two, thick braids. “And you have no synfee gold in your appearance whatsoever.”

“You’re wearing a knife holster and a court dress all at once, I’m impressed.”

“You’re the King’s brother,” I said, feeling absurd. “Why the hell aren’t you King?”

“The Hereditary Scroll chose you, and I much prefer the job I have now.”

“Pirating?”

He laughed. “I’m no pirate, girl. Now
Dain
, that’s a whole new story. If you’ve ever wondered how he amasses so much gold for the treasury, just stop. It never does any good.”

“What about Leif? What’s his deal?”

Instead of answering, Ashen’s violet eyes shifted to look over my shoulder. I glanced that way and almost jumped out of my skin. Leif was leaning against the wall right behind me, where I had placed the sword only moments before. His face wasn’t fully covered by his hood, but he wore a thin leather mask which otherwise hid his features. His eyes glittered out at me darkly, I couldn’t even tell what colour they were.

“I have no deal, Lady Queen.” His voice was rough, like sandpaper brushing across my skin.

I took several hurried steps away from him, my hand pressed to my throat.

“Whoa,” I muttered, trying to force down my unreasonable fear. “You scared the hell out of me.”

“He’s been known to do that.” Ashen said with a grin. “I’m actually surprised he spoke to you at all. Nareon used to try and get him to talk all the time.” He tilted his head at Leif. “Is it because she’s prettier?”

Leif didn’t reply. He didn’t even give any sign that he had heard the question, but Ashen only chuckled delightedly.

“You are like your brother,” I decided, narrowing my eyes at Ashen.

“You’d know, girl. You fed from him.”

“I didn’t know anything at the time.”

“Do you know better now?”

“I suspect I will never know enough. I am a child in this world, and a weak one at that.”

“You’re neither of those things, and the sooner you understand that, the less lost you’ll feel.”

“
Lost again!
” I couldn’t help throwing my hands up. “Now I’m
lost
again!”

If he was surprised at my outburst, he didn’t let on.

“What about Ayleth? Isolde?” I pressed.

“Ayleth was Nareon’s main plaything, in addition to being one of his advisors.  She doesn’t like you for obvious reasons. Isolde is the wisest of us all. You’d do well to keep an eye on her.”

“Were you and Nareon close?”

His smile lost some of its humour. “I am saddened by his death, and not as startled as I suppose I should be at his re-appearance.”

“That makes two of us.”

My new personal guard came clattering back to the front of the shop then, and Jad took one look at Ashen, went white, and turned straight back the way he had come.

“Thank you!” I called out to his back.

“This is your new guard?” Ashen asked, eyebrows arched. “Hell, girl, first you feed from Nareon, and then you choose a few of Leif’s spylings to protect you… do you have a death wish?”

I slipped a hand beneath where my braid rested against my neck, my fingers brushing the death mark.

“I’m not so incompetent,” I shot at him.

His eyes narrowed, so like mine, yet brighter, more obvious. “The games… I
knew
it was a death ability that killed those men. That was
you
?”

I blinked and dropped my hand.
How the hell had he known what I was thinking about
?

“No,” I lied, my eyes sliding to where Leif still stood sentinel, a quiet shadow. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m a Force-user.”

“Did you know,” he moved out of the store, until he stood on the road, “one of the only ways to kill a person stronger than you is with a death ability?”

He didn’t wait for my reply, merely stalked away. I glanced to Leif’s spot, unsurprised to find him also gone, and then finally turned to the others.

“I can’t believe there’s another Nareon,” I snapped. “One was bad enough.”

I could tell Sweet hid a grin, but the others managed to keep their faces expressionless.

“The reason I picked you,” I said as I walked out of the shop, “is because you treated me as an equal, so don’t bother stopping now.”

“Well then you should probably know,” Teddy said, following after me, “that it’s no use lying to Ashen with Leif around. Leif has a mind ability, and those two are as thick as thieves.”

“Not to mention just plain thieves,” added Quick.

I wanted to laugh. “I thought he looked like a pirate.”

“So that’s the only reason you picked us?” asked Quick. “I was sure it was because we’d seen you in your nightclothes.”

I really did laugh then. “If you know what’s good for you, you won’t be repeating that.”

“Oh my, did the little lady queen just make a threat?” Teddy mocked in horror.

“I just realised. Harbringer isn’t here anymore. I have nothing left to threaten people with.”

“Grenlow could teach you how to fight,” Sweet offered. “Or assign someone else to it.”

“I’m going back to the Academy tomorrow. If I’m still allowed to attend Harbringer’s class, that’s exactly what I’ll be learning.”

“Why wouldn’t you be allowed to attend?”

“A few reasons I suppose… but the main one is that we got into this together, so Hazen’s advisors might want to keep us apart.”

“More likely they’ll want to put you together, just to see how you react to each other’s presence.”

I nodded, finally breaking free of the bustle of the city. “That might happen too.”

As we neared the castle walls, Grenlow caught up to me again, looking harassed.

“Tomorrow night,” he said. “It’s all set.”

“What’s set?”

“Your Throne Test. You might not make it back to the Academy after tomorrow, so you should warn whoever could be expecting you.”

“It could take that long?”

“It’s different every time. Isolde is the one to decide which test to put you through, and the rest of the advisors tweak it, add to it, or remove parts as they please. I wish I could tell you more, but I can’t.”

“Would it help to have Nareon there?”

He looked uncomfortable. “They’ve banned you from calling upon him.”

“Uh oh.”

“Good luck.” He managed a semblance of a smile, and then moved off again.

Chapter Eight

Resisting the Resistance

   I awoke the next morning to a tapping sound. When I rolled out of bed, it was to find a mechanical bird flapping at my window. I almost tripped over my sheets to reach the window, and then flung it wide. The bird landed on my bed and I unlatched its tiny scroll case, delicately extracting the roll of parchment. It flew off almost immediately afterward, and I stared down at the note in bewilderment.

The Academy is not safe.

“Nothing is safe,” I muttered, throwing the note to my bed just as Gretal came through the door of my bathing chamber.

Silently, she dressed me in dark tights, dark shirt and boots, as I strapped on my knife harness. I sat still long enough for her to braid my hair, examining her all the while. She was somber, her mouth pressed into a tight line, her nostrils flaring with each sharp breath. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that she was biting back a lecture. Seeing her like this, I began to wonder why she never married, never had children. Teddy, Quick and Sweet were already waiting for me in the courtyard as I approached, and I let them walk me over to the border before insisting that I go on alone.

“They will not react well to three synfee soldiers strolling into their kingdom,” I said, taking a step forward and leaving them all behind me, invisible. There was movement in the trees ahead, and I approached the clearing with caution, despite my bold words.

There were ten Black Guardsmen, all of them unfamiliar: the first bad sign. I immediately wanted to turn back and insist my own guard accompany me then, but they were beginning to move. I was hoisted onto a horse behind a man with blond hair and a squashed-looking face, who neither smiled nor scowled at me, and we rode in complete, foreshadowing silence. Approaching the kingdom, I almost expected them to use the exit behind the Black Barracks, but they looped around to the east at the last moment, and we travelled the edges of the Northern Tiered City, until we came to the gates leading into the Market District.

They let us through without a fuss, but by this time, people had begun to notice me.

“Tainted Creature!” a woman screamed, before slamming her shutters closed.

Mostly they just whispered and glared, but as we neared the Academy, a rock struck me in the back of the head. My guards did nothing, and I curved my arm over my head until we were finally on Academy grounds, and then I slid to the ground, tears prickling my eyes.

Five of the men dismounted with me, while the others looked as if they were going to wait at the gate, and I spotted Cale and Rose rushing toward me. Rose reached me first and threw herself at me so hard that it almost knocked me over.

“Bea! Oh you shouldn’t have come, things are bad here.” She smoothed a hand over my hair, kissed both my cheeks, and then I had to hug her again, because I thought I would start crying.

When I finally had myself under control, I raised my face from her neck and hugged Cale too.

“What happened with Harbringer’s trial?” My voice was strained.

“He was acquitted, but they have him under watch. I think they’re waiting for you to make contact with him. Here…” Cale handed me my book bag, and I didn’t even bother asking how he had managed to get it.

“Thanks.” I linked my fingers through Rose’s and she squeezed my hand as I tried to ready myself. “Alright, lets do this.”

My first class was
Domestic Manipulation of Common Specialties,
followed by
Specialised Elven Elementals
and
Bender Physics
. I quickly noticed two things. Hazen no longer attended Academy lessons, and whoever had sent me that note this morning had been right.

The Academy was not safe.

I was cornered more than once on my way between classes, and each time the five Black Guardsmen that walked with me were forced to intervene. Cale and Rose couldn’t walk too close beside me, or else they were in danger of being hit by the rocks that people hurled at me.

“They’re calling themselves the Tainted Resistance,” Rose muttered as I was forced to shield my head once again. “It started up as soon as it was announced that you’d be coming back to the Academy. Master Savar is trying to contain it…”

“But it’s not working,” I finished for her, stepping into the trail that would take us to the Sand Theatre, and my final lesson for the day.

Out of nowhere, there was a flash of movement in the trees to the right of where we moved, and I felt a force slam into the side of my head. I stumbled, sucking in a breath as pain ripped through my skull, and then groaned, clutching my temple.

“God, Bea, let me look.” Cale was pulling my hands away, as the Black Guardsmen stood about the trail impassively. I noticed that there was blood on my palm.

“You’ve got a bit of a cut, but it’s not that bad, I think it’ll bruise worse though. Are you alright?”

“I feel dizzy.”

“We should take you back to the healer.”

“No!” I pushed his hands away, swayed a little, and then continued to push down the path. “It’s just one lesson. One more lesson, and then I’m done.”

We had tried to be early, but by the time we got to the theatre, it was almost packed. I knew that the class wasn’t anywhere near this big, but apparently teachers, students and court-officials alike had come to see how Harbinger would react to my presence. I spotted him on the small stage, but he didn’t look at me until we’d moved past the silent mass of people to the front of the arena. His dark eyes touched upon my head, where I could feel the blood dripping down the side of my face, and for just a moment, I saw the spasm of rage that flashed in his eyes.