Those Who Fear the Darkness (BloodRunes: Book 2) (28 page)

Of course, it hadn’t happened exactly as
planned since the wench had refused to simply die - no thanks to
that suspicious woman who had shown up just in the nick of time
with amazing healing abilities. But no matter, they were out of her
hair now. They had convinced themselves that the Three had spoken
to them and that they had to bring the comatose body up the river
and she would miraculously be healed. Jezebel would love to be
there when they arrived and put the body in the river only to
discover that nothing happened and they had wasted the trip.
Obviously false gods don’t deliver miracles.

She rounded the corner and saw several guards
making their way swiftly down the hallway. Her heart fluttered at
the possibility of some excitement finally. She wondered what could
be going on to get them so agitated. She moved aside to let them
pass, planning on following them to whatever destination and crisis
they were headed to when they slowed and turned towards her.

“Emissary Jezebel,” one addressed her coldly,
“You are under arrest.” Several hands grabbed her roughly and she
was forced to march down the hallway with her elbows pinched by
strong hands.

“What is the meaning of this?” she demanded,
trying to break free of their grasp unsuccessfully.

“The council will apprise you of the
situation,” the one who had spoken to her answered, but gave no
other explanation.

Jezebel ran down through the things they
could possibly have found out and be bringing her to judgment for.
And just as quickly came up with a perfectly reasonable explanation
for each.

As they reached the council’s chamber, the
guards at the entrance opened it, the huge wooden doors creaking
ominously. Inside, Jezebel saw that every seat was taken up and
there was a vast mixture of emotions in the room written plainly on
people’s faces, obviously too upset to bother masking them. And all
were serious. Whatever this was, it was important. Could they have
found out something from her past that she didn’t even know about
yet? She needed that man - Devon.

No sooner had she had this thought than she
saw him, brought up behind her by another group of guards. The
doors slammed shut behind them and the speaker of the council
rose.

“Extremely disturbing intelligence has
recently come to our attention about the man in power in Gelendan.”
He paused and his eyes searched her face, perhaps trying to gauge
her reaction. But seeing as how she had no idea where he was going
with it yet, he could see nothing but confusion she was sure. And
she added an obviously annoyed scowl for his benefit. He continued.
“What say you about the fact that your King has apparently declared
himself a god and to prove this fact has just this morning rounded
up and
eaten
all of the former members of the council as
well as a hefty list of other prominent people?”

Jezebel stared at him blankly.
Eaten?
What on earth is he talking about?
Her confused look must
have been easy to comprehend because the man elaborated for her.
“He has somehow found a way to transform himself into a - a,” he
seemed unable to make himself say the word, but finally spit it
out, “a dragon.”

Jezebel’s jaw dropped. He had managed to
manifest himself as the true form of the Sleeping God? And he
hadn’t included her in it? She felt familiar anger welling up
inside her.
That selfish, no-good, -
her inner rant was
interrupted as the speaker once again demanded an answer from
her.

“If I may interject,” Devon’s voice cut
through the watery thoughts of her boiling rage and she felt
another surge of affection for the man. “It seems as though we were
lucky to have escaped his crazed state. Obviously he is not of sane
mind anymore to have declared that he is a god when we know he is
only mortal, and if he is killing off his council, which the lady
here is part of…” he let the council members follow this train of
thought themselves. This of course would lead them to think that
she was a victim here. Unable to go home or face being eaten - as
strange a thought as that was - and therefore stuck in a strange
land while her home was being ruled by a madman. She put on her
best helpless face to further this story, tickled by Devon’s
ingenious thinking.

The council seemed inclined to believe this.
They whispered amongst themselves for a few moments, and Jezebel
smugly shrugged off the confining hands of the guards. They allowed
themselves to be brushed off, but did not move away. She glared at
one of them. His expression didn’t change.

Finally the council spoke again. “Your
surprise at the news and probable truth to your manservant’s words
may allow us to not press any charges against you. However, we
hereby relinquish your rights as emissary as your King’s actions
have clearly violated honorable conduct and until we can further
investigate the matter you will have to be placed under
supervision.” The guards took hold of her once more. “Seeing as
your current suites are much too difficult to properly contain you
given the fact that we need to presently employ our resources
elsewhere, I regret to inform you that for the duration of the
investigation you will have to spend in the dungeons.”

“What?!” she fairly shrieked, the pitch of
her voice grating even her own ears.

The man winced, but whether it was because he
was embarrassed at treating her so disrespectfully or simply
because of her tone, she couldn’t tell. “Rest assured, you will not
be treated like a common criminal mind you, but the seriousness of
the crimes that your King has committed with you here as his
representative…” he pursed his lips and held his hands out in a
futile gesture before interlacing them before him.

Jezebel sputtered, “How dare you!” She felt
herself reaching for the channels of power that she knew weren’t
there and only got more inflamed upon not finding them. “How dare
you presume to lock ME up in a dirty prison cell! You had better
not or I’ll, I’ll-“

She felt a hand on her arm and she turned to
give the newest guard a piece of her mind only to find that it was
Devon. She stopped her tirade short and watched him as he slightly
turned his head from side to side, obviously telling her not to
lose it here. His touch was strangely calming and she took a few
deep breaths. It would do no good to let them see her rage until
she was in a position to use it.

She nodded shortly to him and jutted her chin
out to turn back to the councilmen. “My apologies,” she forced out
through clenched teeth, “but you must understand my reaction as I
have had no contact with my country for some time and therefore
have no idea what is going on there. For all I know, you have cut
off my communications and are making this story up!” She saw Devon
shake his head again out of the corner of her eye and chose not to
pursue this particular train of thought though the idea was
tempting. She gave a small curtsy. “I will of course subject myself
to this outrage so that you can convince yourselves of my innocence
in this matter.”

The councilman waved a hand and the guards
holding her and Devon moved them quickly out. Jezebel could hear
the commotion break out at their exit and she stomped along
unhappily. Devon better not make her regret this.

The guards led them through the hallways and
Jezebel held her head high, ignoring the curious looks from the
courtiers. If any dared make eye contact, she glared at them.

She couldn’t wait to take over their puny
little nation.

They were led towards the gatehouse, where
Jezebel was surprised that as they turned a corner they started to
go up a flight of winding stairs. She had expected to be taken
underground to a prison area, not up. They wound around and around,
passing several heavily barred wooden doors on each level. The only
windows were tiny slits in the outside walls, but from the glimpses
of landscape beyond she could see that they were on the very edge
of the palace.

The guards finally stopped at one of the
doors and used a large metal key attached to his belt to open it.
Jezebel held her breath, preparing for the worst. The door swung
open to reveal a tiny windowless room with several doors leading to
what looked to be even smaller rooms beyond. The guards motioned
for both her and Devon to go inside, and Jezebel followed after
Devon with resignation, though the insult to her pride was nearly
incapacitating.

The lock clicked shut behind them and Jezebel
found it impossible to move. She closed her eyes and stood
motionless. After a few minutes, Devon cleared his throat.

Jezebel sighed and opened her eyes. “Yes?”
She inquired sharply.

“I thought you might want to hear the
information that came to me this morning.” He looked crest-fallen a
moment, “I am sorry that I could not get to you in time to warn you
that this might happen, but I determined that gathering all of the
information that I could before we were cut off from any sources
would be a better use of my time. Plus, your sincere reaction of
surprise to the news no doubt played a large part in their
judgment. I hope that I was not incorrect in assuming this?” He
cringed a bit and Jezebel’s temper flared. He had known that this
was going to happen and hadn’t bothered to let her know about it?
She shook her head in disappointment at him and was rewarded by a
miserable look. At least he had the decency to be ashamed of
it.

“Well, what did you learn while you were not
warning me that I was about to be arrested and thrown into
prison?”

Devon looked down. “Well, it wasn’t just a
story that they made up about the King. Apparently he has indeed
found a way to transform himself into dragon form and is claiming
that he is the physical manifestation of the Sleeping God as a
result. Yesterday he rounded up all of the members of the council
and several key political figures - several of whom I know to have
been in the Order - and he performed a public execution of them
all.” He paused. “By transforming into his dragon form and eating
them. From what I gather, it was not at all pleasant - as one might
imagine. Then, it was reported that he took to the skies and was
heading this way, towards Treymayne. Though he made no official
declaration of war, the council is understandably concerned that he
is coming to attack.”

“Why would he do this?” Jezebel asked, “Last
time we spoke he was still concerned with convincing them of the
silly charade that he wanted to be friends. Why would he suddenly
change his mind? And more importantly, how did he learn to change
into a dragon? I don’t know of anyone who can transform into any
kind of beast,” she paused for a moment, “Though I have had my
suspicions that there may be some here who can do it that they are
keeping from me. But even so, a dragon must be an enormous amount
of energy.” She pondered this for a moment and Devon remained
silent, patiently waiting for her to continue. “Might he have a
store of energy that he can somehow be drawing upon, like a dungeon
full of captives that he can drawn upon at will or something?”

“How it happened is a complete mystery, the
King seems to be working on his own, and yet everything he is doing
one would think would require help. My sources report that for
several weeks he was suddenly much more complacent to the council’s
wills than he had been previously and then all of a sudden a dragon
came winging into the courtyard and transformed before the people’s
eyes into the form of the King declaring that he was a god.” Devon
looked thoughtful. “There is the possibility that it is not the
King at all anymore.”

“What do you mean?”
“Well, if something or someone can transform itself into a dragon,
we don’t want assume that they couldn’t also transform into the
form of the King. It is possible and we are not even dealing with
the same man any longer.”

“Who is running the country if he just
executed the council and then flew off on some unknown
adventure?”

“He apparently appointed his personal guards
to that task as he stated that he was no longer in need of any
protection, so it is currently under military control. The people
are so terrified of this new development that he is unlikely to
have any problems even if he is away for several days. I’d say he
planned it quite well. The real mystery is why he is coming
here.”

“Why indeed.” Jezebel did not like being in
the dark. “Perhaps he is coming to bring me back to help rule,” she
said hopefully.

“Or perhaps to finish the job of eradicating
the council…”

*

Marak had been winding around her arm
nervously all day and Katya looked to the sky, unable to shake the
strange feeling that it something in it was menacing. The sun was
shining brightly, however, with not a cloud anywhere in sight to
cause such foreboding thoughts. It was just something in the
air…Katya turned as footsteps approached where she was perched on
the edge of the ship, and she nodded a greeting to Gryffon.

“Feels like a storm despite all the sunshine,
doesn’t it?” he asked her, a worried crease in his forehead.

“It does,” Katya agreed, somewhat surprised
to have him echo her own thoughts, “something doesn’t feel
right.”

Moments after the words left her mouth, the
ship jerked suddenly, nearly throwing Katya off her perch and into
the water below. She grabbed hold of the railing quickly and heaved
herself back on board. Her boots hit the wooden deck roughly and
she held out her arms to keep her balance as it continued to rock
back and forth on unseen waves. She caught Gryffon’s eye and tilted
her head while exhaling.
I guess we were right
.

The deckhands were rushing topside now and
shouting to each other. Some were spewing orders and treating it as
if it was a real storm while others were yelling what seemed to be
either prayers or curses at gods.