Hesitating, I turn back toward the wreckage as something gnaws at me.
Ash and embers lift into the wind as a storm brews to the east. What remains of the Guardian burns hot, an orange glow undulating within the chest of the machine.
A human skull lies nearby, safely far away from the blaze. I kneel and carefully lift it up. Peering into its empty eye sockets, I wonder who this person once was. Was she here for the German treasure people spoke of? Did she know the treasure was King Osbourne? Did he have a family of his own?
Placing the skull back onto the ground, I turn it so it faces the bonfire that lifts into the morning sky. With the clovers that bloom throughout the tower’s courtyard and a piece of wire shed from the Guardian, I create a living crown and place it on top of the skull.
“You’re finally free,” I say.
My body aches as I turn back toward Ginger.
“Let’s save the king,” I say.
Leaving Pickpocket to tinker with the downed Haploraffen, the rest of us crawl through a small opening behind a false stone wall located in the farthest prison cell. Led by Hook, we travel damp, dimly lit passageways.
Spiderwebs brush my face, occasionally leaving behind an unwanted passenger on our journey. Water drips in the distance, making the clandestine stone passageways feel more like a cave than part of the castle. Ascending a stairwell, Hook holds a torch in front of him, cautious with every turn he makes. Pete follows with Alyssa, Lily, Maddox, and me close behind.
“The weaponry is this way,” Hook says, leading us to a door. He presses against it with his ear. Seeming satisfied, his metal hand reaches for it, his fingers wrapping around the brass door handle. He hesitates, his single eye focused on the mechanical body part. I trust Hook as much as I trust Jack, but for that moment I can’t help but wonder what is going through his head. What it must be like to lose your eye, your arm … and your soul to a woman you call mother. Sometimes the villains in life are not so obvious. Sometimes they’re the ones we think love us the most. Or the ones we love unconditionally.
He turns the brass knob and steps inside a dim, cold chamber.
Weapons of all kinds fill the room. Racks of swords, sabers, and maces hang from the walls, and an arsenal of guns and bullets fill shelves. Some of the weapons are so medieval-looking I briefly wonder how many lives have been taken with them.
“They may not be the weapons you came with, but hopefully you’ll find something that’ll suit you,” Hook says.
“Keep an eye on him,” Pete says to Maddox with a nod toward Hook.
“You’re kidding me. I lead you to a treasure trove of weapons, and you think I’m still a threat. Five of you against me. I’d say the odds are in your favor, don’t you think?” Hook says.
Pete ignores him and steps toward the daggers and throwing knives, opting for his preferred weapon of choice. Not surprising is Maddox’s choice of a gun, while Alyssa selects a deadly- looking sword.
Last is Lily, as she scrutinizes the weapons. Finally, she makes her choice of a sword for herself as well. The blade is not nearly as fine as her original sword encrusted with precious jewels, but I have no doubt that she can inflict an equal amount of damage. She gives me a passing glance, her eyes falling on mine.
“You have to take one,” Lily says softly to me, concern crinkling her brow. “You’re going to need it.”
Scanning the options, I’m at a loss for where to start. I’ve never been a fighter. Lily knows me well enough to know that the Hippocratic oath runs through my mind as I consider wielding something that could kill a person. I’ve never killed anything, at least not on purpose. Not by my own doing. Sure, I’ve lost many patients along the way, but none were because I didn’t help, or because I hurt them myself. Her concern is for my life, while mine is that I don’t know that I have it in me to take another’s.
Lily picks up a small gun, loads it with ammunition, and hands it to me.
“Aim for the knees,” she whispers. “You don’t have to kill anyone. Just make sure you incapacitate them enough that you have the upper hand. The same goes for the Haploraffen. Look for any exposed gaps in their armor.”
Nodding, I grimace, because harming another is no better an option. She places a hand on my cheek. “Don’t worry. I’ve got your back. Pete will be with you, and when you return, I won’t let anything happen to you. But keep hold of that just in case you find you need it.”
My anxiety slips with her touch and the kindness in her words. I wish I could have a moment with her alone—I miss those.
Pete’s voice distracts me. “Just what do you think you’re doing?” I turn to see he’s got a dagger pointed at Hook.
“Arming myself like the rest of you,” Hook says, rolling his eye as he takes in the various weapons.
“Yeah … no. I don’t think so,” Pete says, giving him a slight shove.
“What? Do you expect me to go in there with only my bare fists?” Hook asks.
Maddox is cleaning the ornate gun he’s chosen. “He’s got a point, Pete. I, for one, have no intention of saving his hide should we find ourselves in battle.”
Pete tosses an annoyed look. “Fine,” he says, picking up a small pistol. “I know your weapons of choice tend to be the big, bad, ugly guns that can wipe out dozens of people with one squeeze of the trigger, but I think this is more your style.”
Scowling, Hook holds out a hand, waiting for Pete to give him the weapon.
Pete hands the gun to Maddox, who then tucks it into an empty holster at his hip. “I think we’ll hold on to this for safekeeping,” Pete says. “You can give him the gun when the time is right.”
Scowling, Hook doesn’t respond to the slight. “How long do you think it’ll take you to get to the lab and get what you need? More than likely the Bloodred Queen is in her throne room. With the Haploraffen guarding her, it’s going to take all of us to get close.”
Alyssa becomes particularly quiet.
“You okay?” Maddox asks.
“It’s not going to work,” she says, shaking her head. “Even if we kill the Bloodred Queen and Katt, who’s going to rule?”
“King Osbourne,” Maddox says. “Once we get rid of them, we’ll send a team out to go find the king.”
“But we know nothing about where he is. And even if we could find him, Hunter had the key,” Alyssa says. “The odds of finding and rescuing him are impossible.”
“We have Jack,” Pete says quietly.
I nearly choke. “Are you out of your mind? You’re talking about Jack, the one who led Hook to the Lost City? The one who betrayed not only the Marauders, but everything you and I built.”
Hook stares down at his feet, clearly uncomfortable.
“I know it sounds crazy, but hear me out,” Pete says, holding his hands up. “Jack … well, he is with us.”
Confused looks pass between us.
Maddox clears his throat. “Uh … would you care to elaborate?”
Pete pauses. “I made a deal with him.”
“You what?”
With gaping mouths, everyone stands speechless, looking at him. As if time has frozen and no one wants to move for fear that what he’s said is true.
“The last night in the village, before it was attacked, I struck an agreement with him. He’d use his position as King Osbourne’s son to infiltrate Lohr and provide us with what we needed to make our strike,” Pete says. “Even though plans changed when Katt took us captive, nothing about that has changed. The deal still remains.”
Maddox brings a palm to his face. “How can you guarantee that?”
Pete shakes his head. “He has no other choice.”
“No choice?” I ask, the betrayal evident in the tone of my voice. “What could you possibly have to exchange for his allegiance?”
“His life,” Pete says. “I made a promise to him back in Everland that the day I got my hands on him he’d wish he was dead. That was a promise I intended to keep.
“He also realized that unless his father
came back alive, there would be no one to take the Bloodred Queen’s place. It could never be Jack on that throne. Not after everything that’s happened,” Pete says. “The country will never accept him as their ruling monarch. And as convincing as Katt is, there’s no way she’ll keep him around. Not when she can rule by herself.”
“Not according to Katt,” Hook says. “She seems to think that she needs him to rule. Who would take a princess of a broken country as their ruler?”
“For now, that’s to our advantage,” Pete says. “That means she’ll keep him alive—for a while at least. Which is exactly what we need. Jack has to play along with Katt until we can position ourselves to take out both Katt and the Bloodred Queen. He knows it and promised me that if we get his father back, he’ll do what he can.”
“And you believed all that babble?” Maddox says.
Alyssa shakes her head. “I have to say I agree with Maddox. Jack has never been one to trust. More than likely he’s after the crown himself.”
“He wants the crown no more than when his father died,” Pete says. “If ruling was his motivation, he’d have done it a long time ago.”
“I don’t know. If it isn’t the crown he’s after, then what does he gain?” Lily says. “What can we offer him to keep him loyal?”
“His dad,” I say.
Everyone looks at me.
“Exactly. What more does he have to lose?” Pete asks. “The Bloodred Queen either thinks or wants him dead. Katt’s all about power. She’ll never let him rise to the throne unless it benefits her. And he knows if he betrays me, I’ll slit him open from navel to neck.”
“I sure hope you know what you’re doing,” Hook says, finally piping up. “Because if he aligns himself with either of those women, I’ll kill him myself.”
“We’ll deal with Jack if and when the time comes,” Pete says. “Right now, Doc needs to get to the lab.”
“What about the rest of us?” Lily asks.
“Find Gwen,” Pete says. “Do whatever you can to thin the number guarding her. When you find her, bring her to our agreed meeting spot above the throne room.”
“I’m going to need more than just that toy gun,” Hook says, waving a hand toward the pistol in Maddox’s belt.
Maddox grabs another gun similar to the other. “If you’re a good boy, maybe I’ll give you two,” he says smugly.
“What about you?” Alyssa asks.
Pete lets out a sigh. “This whole thing started with the virus in Everland. It’s going to end with the virus, but this time we’re delivering the cure. To everyone!”
Slipping the doorknob into its matching groove, I grip and turn the handle. The hinges on the large door whine as we enter the tower.
Once an extravagant tower most likely belonging to some wealthy family, it is a skeleton of what it probably used to look like. Wind howls through the moss-lined windows. Chunks of stone and wood lie in piles throughout the vast foyer. It is evident that no one has occupied this structure in years, and yet I can almost sense the presence of those who once lived here. Although I don’t believe much in ghosts, I have an eerie sensation of being watched. Instinct drives me to nock my bow.
Ginger gives me a puzzled look. “No one is here. No one other than the king anyway.”
I scan the window carved high into the structure. “Just being cautious,” I say.
“You saw that creature. Anyone else who dared to get close to the tower’s walls didn’t live to tell about it,” she says.
“With the Guardian of the Gates destroyed, no one is protecting the tower now,” I say.
Ginger considers that, then pulls out her ornate gun. “Fair enough. Let’s find the king and get out of here,” she says.
We ascend a spiral staircase that climbs several stories up, ending at a wooden door. Ginger lets out a breath and turns the knob.
A break in the clouds casts sunlight into the room from the arrow slits in the walls. The rays fall onto a casket made of thick glass and numerous metal parts. Gears grind, moving pistons on either end of it. Tubes loop around the elaborate box, circulating a golden gas into the coffin. The edges are sealed with a decorative gilded lip.
Resting on a red satin pillow and blanket is a man clothed in chain mail and armor. Flowers, herbs, and berries encircle him. A golden crown constructed to look like briar branches with ruby gems sits on his head of long salt-and-pepper hair. Having been left on his own for years, his beard is wild and unkempt. It’s hard to believe that Osbourne is still alive.
Ginger and I step to either side of his coffin.
“Ready?” she says.
Nodding, I watch as Ginger pulls the necklace with the key over her head.
“Want to do the honors?” she asks, handing me the chain. I gratefully take it.
An intricate lock is affixed to the edge of the casket. Made up of loops and swirls, it almost appears to be a replica of a royal crest. I slip the key into the notch. It fits perfectly. Holding my breath, I turn the key.
A loud clang rattles the room. What I thought were decorative accents to the gilded seal click, releasing like intertwined hooks. One by one, the elaborate swirls shift from a horizontal design to a vertical one. When the final ornament unclips, the lid of the coffin rises up on spiraled supports in each of the four corners. An earthy smell tickles my nose as the cover stops a meter above, like that of a canopy bed.
Ginger and I watch the king, his body as still as it was moments ago. Wondering if I’ve done something wrong, if there is more to reviving the king than simply opening his casket, I look to Ginger.
Worry furrows her brow as she reaches for the king’s hand. “King Osbourne, can you hear me? We’ve come to get you out of here.”
When her fingertips touch his skin, the king’s eyes fly open and he gasps in a large breath. Both Ginger and I jump, startled.
The pupils of his bright green eyes dilate. He blinks once … twice … and then turns his stare to me.
“She will destroy the world,” he cries in a raspy voice.
The Bloodred Queen’s claws clack across the floor as we make our way to the dungeon. While I had intended to save Jack for last, it was the only way to convince her that the king was indeed alive. Although I hold myself together, I’m giddy to introduce her to my companions from Umberland, one in particular. I check my watch; the Haploraffen guard should have returned the young doctor and Pete to their cells.
“You’ve found others?” she asks, her words slithering from her lips in a reptilian hiss.
“I’ve done even better,” I say. “I’ve captured the doctor who made us into this.” I hold my scaled hand up, the tips of my claws painted crimson red.
The Bloodred Queen’s yellow eyes widen as her slitted irises constrict. “The boy who stole my beauty? The one who’s made me into this hideous beast?”
“That’s the one,” I say sweetly.
“Take me to him,” she demands, increasing her pace.
We pass through a series of hallways until finally we reach the door leading to the dungeons below the castle. Four Haploraffen guard the door to the prison. They bow as the Bloodred Queen passes and descends the stairwell. She gasps when we reach the bottom. Sitting on the floor, tinkering with the machinery of an incapacitated Haploraffen, is one of the Lost Kids. Pickpocket startles when he sees us and bolts to his feet. Before he can get far, the Bloodred Queen knocks him to the ground.
“How did you get out?” I ask, peering at the open doors of the prison cells. “Where are the others?”
“Are you the doctor?” the Bloodred Queen says, gripping the boy by the front of his shirt and lifting him effortlessly into the air.
He shakes his head. “No. I … I’m just a …” Pickpocket gazes at me with pleading eyes. “I’m a prisoner. I …”
“Is this the one?” the Bloodred Queen says, her frightening stare fixed on me.
“No,” I say, still startled to see him out of his cell. This wasn’t the plan.
The Bloodred Queen throws him against the stone wall with such force, his bones break with an audible snap. Pickpocket slumps to the floor, his lifeless eyes wide.
“You’re useless is what you are,” she says, sneering down at the boy’s body.
My heart skips several beats when her stare falls upon me. She advances on me, each clack of her clawed feet counting down the seconds to my own death. “You promised me the doctor. Where he is?”
Bumping up against the prison bars, I can smell the raw meat of her last meal on her breath. Speechless, I shake my head. “He must be still in the lab. He’s under guard to create the antidote for us … for you!”
“Stupid girl,” the Bloodred Queen spits with a flick of her forked tongue. “If this one has escaped, I can only assume you had other prisoners who have found their way out as well. If you value your frail, insignificant life, you’ll find them. You’ll bring that doctor to me so I can repay him for what he’s done. I’ll disfigure him until he’s as beastly looking as I am. And if you don’t bring him, Princess Katt, you’ll take his punishment in his place.”
My legs grow weak.
“Yes, Your Majesty,” I say with a bow of my head.
The Bloodred Queen turns toward the exit. “You have until dusk.”
When she’s gone, I’m left alone with the broken Haploraffen and the body of Pickpocket. I kneel next to him, my pulse still racing. I’ve seen my fair share of death. In fact, I’m guilty of the demise of so many, but to watch it happen at someone else’s hands, and so violently, makes the air feel thin around me. The deaths in Everland were so massive and so quick that there was no room to feel anything. My sister and I were quickly swept away and taken to the safe lands of Alnwick. We never saw enough of the destruction to really see the casualties.
Maddox saw a number of deaths by his own hand, but he was a mercy killer. The lives he took were at their request, to end their suffering.
And then there are the victims of my orders. But even those lives weren’t taken by me. Those losses were caused by the timsah in Umberland, those who succumbed to Doc’s antidote, the lizard protein taking over their bodies and turning them into reptiles. They weren’t even human anymore. And the Haploraffen were responsible for the deaths in Evergreen.