“What if we can’t get in—like it’s protected, or something?” I asked anxiously.
Tejus turned to glance over at me with a slightly bemused expression, and shrugged.
“Then we’ll face that problem when we come to it.”
Okay.
I got the feeling that this wasn’t an entirely well-thought-out plan. The ridge was getting closer, a sheer rock face that looked completely impenetrable, and, as far as I could see, showed no evidence of anything built within it.
We started riding single file as the path became narrower, and large, thorny bushes started to appear on either side of us, their spikes catching onto our robes and scratching at any uncovered skin as we passed.
“I can’t see anything,” I called to Tejus. “Are you sure this is the right place?”
“It’s what I’ve been told,” he replied drily.
Could you be more vague?
Tejus’s relaxed demeanor was starting to irritate me. It was as if the rest of us were on a world-saving apocalypse mission, while he was taking a nice stroll through a garden.
“She’s got a point,” Ash observed, looking up at the wall. “Where would the entrance be? There’s nothing here. We should have brought a minister along with us.”
Tejus pulled his horse to a stop; the sudden snort of the animal echoed loudly around the valley, making us all jump.
“We should get off here. I think we’re going to need to walk the rest of the way—it’s too narrow.”
“Rest of the way to where?” Ash insisted. “I can’t see a thing, Tejus, am I missing something?”
Tejus rolled his eyes, and then glared at Ash. “Maybe you want to try using True Sight, your highness?”
“What do you—” Ash started out sounding belligerent, and then fell silent. “Oh,” he replied, a moment later. “I see what you mean.” His eyes rolled back in head as he used his True Sight ability. Clearly, he was seeing something on the other side of the stone wall in front of us.
“Want to fill us in?” I prompted, irritated that I couldn’t see what they clearly could.
“I can see the monastery,” Ash replied sheepishly. “It’s inside the wall of the ridge. Still don’t understand how we’re going to get inside though.”
“There’s got to be an entrance around here somewhere,” replied Tejus, scratching his jaw-line in contemplation.
“We should get closer,” Hazel announced, leading the way forward. She was clearly as frustrated as I was at not being able to see anything, but I suspected her frustration came from her abilities being subdued by Abelle’s potion.
We all followed her, Tejus frowning at her departing back. I could tell he wanted to yank her back so that she wasn’t the one going first, but he managed to reject the impulse. I smiled as I followed my friend, wondering how one of the most independent women I knew managed to get involved with such a protective, over-cautious boyfriend.
“Here!” Hazel shouted out, so close to the wall that her nose was practically pushed against the stone, but her arm pointed sideways, toward the joint where the valley met the wall of the ravine on the left of the path. From a distance, it looked like they were joined together, but up close I could see there was a narrow gap between, just large enough for a sentry to fit through.
“Ash, lead the way,” Tejus insisted, holding Hazel back.
“Seriously?” Hazel hissed at him.
“Seriously,” he repeated, ignoring her answering glare. I stifled a giggle, and watched as Ash slipped between the two rock faces, vanishing into the gloom. After a moment, I followed, running my hands on the rock on each side to guide me. For a few seconds I couldn’t see Ash at all, but then the passage was suddenly flooded with light—pure, white and almost painfully brilliant.
“Ash?” I called out, my voice timid.
I didn’t hear a reply, and I blinked in the bright glare for a few moments, trying to see his figure up ahead.
“Ruby, what’s going on?” Hazel asked, and I felt her hand brush against my back. I turned around, seeing both her and Tejus shading their eyes.
“Ash!” I tried again, moving forward.
“I’m here,” he called back, stepping out in front of the light. “You’ve got to come and see this—it’s incredible!”
I walked further along, finding Ash standing next to an opening in the rock. I stepped through its arch, and gasped.
What the heck?
The view before me was mind-boggling. Rationally, I knew we were inside the rock of the ridge, but it looked as if we’d entered a completely different world. The light was actually sunlight—a huge, perfectly blue expanse of sky appeared over us, seeming to stretch on for miles into the distance. The glare I’d seen from the outside was the sunlight reflecting off the white stone that covered the ground. The only object breaking the endless expanse of the white stone and sky was a large pillared coliseum. Each column was at least seven yards high, circling a large marble basin.
We all looked at each other, our expressions stunned.
“What is this place?” Hazel whispered eventually, looking to Tejus for answers.
“I have no idea,” he murmured. “I’ve never seen anything like this in my life…”
“Should we call out or something?” I asked.
“Hello?” Ash called. “Anybody out there?”
His call was unanswered—there wasn’t a soul here. We waited for a few moments, standing awkwardly by the entrance, not entirely sure if we should venture forward or leave.
“We’ve come this far, let’s look around,” Tejus instructed, looking warily toward the coliseum. Together we approached the building, our footsteps echoing across the floor.
As we moved closer, I could see that the basin was filled with water, motionless and almost glowing, like there was a white light coming from within it.
“Well, looks like we found the ministers,” Ash commented. He was the first to reach the edge, and was looking down into the basin. I hurried forward, wondering what he meant.
As I looked down, I saw five of the Impartial Ministers lying, completely submerged, in the water. Their long gray beards and hair floated like seaweed around them, their robes undulating as if being rocked by a current that wasn’t visible from the surface.
“I don’t understand,” I whispered.
“That makes two of us,” Ash replied in wonderment.
Julian
“Look what I found.” Benedict stalked into the room, brandishing a crossbow in his arms, the bolts in a quiver slung across his back.
“That’s cool.” I grinned. “Where did you find it?”
“In those towers. They’ve got a bunch of old blankets and paintings in them, but there’s a couple of old swords too. What shall we shoot?” he asked eagerly.
I jumped up, looking out of the window into the garden for a suitable target.
“The shed?” I suggested, looking at the remaining three walls of the grain house where Queen Trina had escaped. Maybe after we’d used it as target practice we could set the whole thing on fire—I hated looking at it, knowing that she’d sat in there, her smug smile and twisted mind plotting against us all.
“Perfect.” Benedict nodded. “Let’s go out now before Jenney sees us. She’s in the kitchen with the kids, we can go out the front.”
“Okay,” I agreed.
We left the room and peered over the mezzanine, making sure that the coast was clear. A couple of guards were pacing up and down by the door, but I doubted they would stop us—most of them were still terrified of Benedict and tended to keep out of his way.
“Let’s go,” I hissed.
We raced down the stairs, but stopped midway as the guards swung the front doors open. Shouts and jeers came from outside. I looked at Benedict, puzzled—were the villagers making that noise? We both hurried down the stairs, the crossbow cradled in Benedict’s arms.
As we stepped onto the marble entrance hall, ministers and villagers started to emerge be
hind us, all looking equally baffled by the source of the noise. When I stepped outside through the main entrance, I froze.
“We’re in deep trouble.”
Behind the barriers, fighting to get through, stood a horde of very angry sentries—villagers mostly, with some ministers and guards. They created a sea of bodies as far back as I could see, all chanting Ash and Tejus’s names, spitting, throwing rocks and battering their fists on the barrier.
“What do we do?” Benedict breathed, his eyes wide as he took in the crowd.
“Stand back,” a guard commanded, shoving us back toward the door.
“Who are they?” I yelled, shoving him back.
“They’re from the other kingdoms—they’re not our lot,” the guard replied. “Go and get the lieutenant—”
“I’m here.” Lieutenant Ragnhild appeared behind me. “Go and get all the ministers we have. I don’t know how long that barrier’s going to hold.”
He was right. The villagers started to part, letting their own ministers move through to the front of the crowd, ready to tear down the only thing standing between them and us.
I stood aside as Hellswan ministers started to pour out of the front door. There weren’t enough—we had about fifteen in total, and on the other side of the barrier there were hundreds.
“Oh, man,” Benedict whispered. “This isn’t going to go well.”
He started to load up the crossbow.
“What are you doing?” I hissed. “Get back indoors!”
“You get back indoors,” he argued. “At least I’m armed.”
I ignored his objection and moved to stand in front of him. The other ministers were starting to work on the barrier. I could see the slight blue tint of the wall starting to ripple and stretch; it wouldn’t be long till it collapsed.
“What are they doing?” Jenney gasped. She had run outside, a knife and chopping board still clutched in her hands.
“Getting revenge?” I suggested, glancing down at Lieutenant Ragnhild deploying the few guards and ministers we had in a protective semi-circle around the entrance. The small group was thinly spread out.
“Hold this.” Jenney handed me her kitchen equipment, and I took it, staring at her as she marched down the front steps.
“Don’t let the barriers fall!” she cried out to the guards and ministers. “All of you, focus on supporting it. Benedict, run and get our villagers. We need everyone out here, including the kids – they’ll need to be syphoned.”
Benedict dropped his weapon and headed back indoors.
“The guards need to be ready to attack,” Ragnhild snapped at Jenney.
“Only if the wall comes down,” she retorted. “If they work on keeping it in place, we’ll be okay.”
It was too late.
The barriers started to rip and collapse.
“STAND BACK,” Ragnhild screamed at the oncoming rioters. “Don’t attack!”
“We want Tejus! The Hellswan swine, Tejus!” the crowd chanted, hurling insult after insult—some including Ash in their rage, some blaming Hazel. It was a deafening roar of hate and confusion, all of their faces contorted with rage. With Benedict at their helm, the Hellswan villagers started to emerge from inside the palace, pushing me further along the side of the patio as they poured out onto the front lawn.
“We warned you something like this would happen!” one of the Hellswan women cried. “You never listened!”
“Listen!” Ragnhild roared to the oncoming horde. “We have women and children here. Don’t attack! We are not your enemies.”
The Hellswan ministers tried to fix more barriers in place, but each time a sliver of translucent blue appeared in the air, the opposing kingdoms would knock it down. The only blessing was that they still hadn’t charged and attacked, keeping back as if there was an invisible line in the ground that they weren’t willing to cross.
I ran forward to Jenney’s side. “They just want to be heard,” I panted. “Just listen to them. I don’t think they’re going to harm us, not if we listen.”
“I don’t think that’s true,” she replied quickly. “They don’t look like they’re going to be satisfied till they have Tejus’s head on a plate.”
The moment the words left her mouth, one of the villagers hurled something in our direction. Without thinking, I stepped in front of Jenney, knocking her out of the way. She fell sideways just as a sharp rock spun through the air, slamming into my forehead.
“Damn,” I breathed, smarting at the pain, before I fell backward onto the grass.
Benedict
Julian’s head jerked backward and his body tumbled to the ground.
“Julian!” I raced across the lawn. “Julian?”
Jenney was kneeling next to him. “I think he’s unconscious.”
There was a cut across his forehead, bleeding profusely. His spectacles, already broken a couple of times since we got here, lay crumpled by his side, both lenses smashed.
I didn’t know if it was the glasses, the pale, unconscious face of Julian, or the fact that my friend had been knocked down yet again, but my temper snapped. My head rushed, red spots dancing in front of my vision as I looked out at the screaming, hysterical crowd of sentries.
“Hey!” I roared. “HEY!”
Everyone from the palace glanced over at me, but the crowd was still paying me no attention.
“None of this is Tejus’s fault. This is Queen Trina! Everything is her fault—and Tejus has done absolutely nothing but try to stop this from happening!”
At the mention of Queen Trina, I had managed to attract the attention of some of the crowd nearest the front.
“QUEEN TRINA!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. It worked. The sentries stopped yelling, and fixed their attention on me.
“She is our common enemy, not Tejus! And if you want to blame anyone, you can start with the last emperor, and the stupid entity that’s been locked in the Hellswan castle for centuries, and is now free! He caused this mess! It’s evil, and dark—and none of us are going to survive this if we’re busy fighting each other.”
“What are you talking about?” one of the villagers called out. “Queen Trina didn’t start this!”
“She’s the leader of the Acolytes. They want Nevertide completely destroyed, and the only people trying to stop her are Tejus and Ash!” I yelled back. I didn’t want to mention that I had suffered at the hands of the queen or the entity. I knew it would only make the crowd more suspicious – there was no way I could make them understand it, not in the short time I had to sway their opinion.
A boy, probably about my age, stumbled forward, his eyes dark and angry. He glanced warily over at the guards who had started to move toward me, but continued walking up to me, stopping a few feet away. His clothes were ragged, torn and mud-stained, his feet bare.
“Queen Trina is the one who told us that Hellswan was behind all this,” he sneered. “And we believe the queen. We’ve lost everything, and yet all you people are living like royalty in another palace! Strange coincidence that a Hellswan palace remained intact when nothing else managed to, don’t you think?”
I wanted to point out the obvious flaw in his logic, that Hellswan castle had been completely obliterated, but I didn’t think he’d listen to reason. If Queen Trina had put them all up to this, then no one would be interested in anything I had to say—not until we had proof of her crimes.
“Please believe me,” I begged the boy, “she’s not to be trusted. She’s dangerous; she’s been lying to you—lying to us all.”
“Why should I listen to you? You’re just a kid, and a human one at that.” The boy crossed his arms, trying to stare me down.
“What kingdom do you come from?” I asked, not willing to back down until I got through to him. The crowd was listening to our exchange, and I felt that if I could persuade him to at least consider the possibility that Queen Trina wasn’t all she seemed, then we had a chance.
“Hadalix,” he retorted.
?
??Your king died in the trials, right?” I replied.
“What of it?”
“Do you know how he died?”
The boy frowned, impatient at my questioning. “Creatures in the forest.” He shrugged. “It happens—the trials are dangerous. Like I said, so what?”
I shook my head, divulging the information that Ash had passed on. “No. Not creatures. Queen Trina killed him, leaving his body in the forest to be eaten. Ash and Memenion saw it, but the Impartial Ministers didn’t believe them—or refused to believe them…just like you are refusing now.”
“You have no proof,” he shot back.
“Why don’t you wait—ask Ash when he returns?” I replied evenly. “He wouldn’t lie to you.”
“Don’t listen to his lies!” a voice cried out from the back of the crowd. I couldn’t see who it was, but it made no difference. The interruption caused the boy to falter. Whatever semblance of a connection we’d managed to create was broken, and his face grew stormy again, black eyes fixed on mine.
“Are you trying to trick me, human?” he hissed. “You want all of us dead? Swallowed up by the earth like my parents were?”
“It’s not like that,” I insisted.
He reached into the back of his robe, and before I could move, he’d whipped out a scythe, holding the blunted and rusted blade toward my throat. He moved closer, his breath hot and putrid on my face.
“Another word, and you’ll be joining them.”
“STOP!” Ragnhild cried.
I held my breath, staring into the eyes of the stranger who threatened me, wondering if today I was going to die.
Ash
We stared down at the bodies of the ministers, floating peacefully underwater.
“Are they dead?” Ruby asked.
“Only one way to find out,” Tejus retorted, his expression murderous. He leaned into the water, grasping the nearest Impartial Minister by the lapels of his robe. He yanked the old sentry upward, laying him out on the side of the basin and shaking him awake.
“Ash, get another one out,” he commanded, still preoccupied with trying to wake the first. I did as he’d asked, leaning in and submerging my arms in the warm water till I could grab hold of another. I hauled him out, his clothing water-logged and heavy, and pulled him over the side. He didn’t look alive.