Daughter of the Red Dawn (The Lost Kingdom of Fallada) (24 page)

It was sweet, but she could taste the vinegary alcohol behind it.
Intriguing.
She took another long swallow and felt dizziness rushing straight to her head. She set it aside after the first initial buzzing raced through her veins, deciding to take only small sips until she was used to the potent brew. She didn’t want Titus to have to carry her back to her room.

It would be my pleasure to do so,
Titus’ voice was teasing, but his eyes were full of heat as he watched her from across the table. How did he do that, manage to turn her knees to jelly with just one look? He made her feel beautiful
;
which, for the first time since the
Fae
party in Goldun, Selena actually embraced. The garments she’d chosen from her armoire were a lot like Axonia’s and the other servants. A navy blue silk top with long, sheer sleeves stopped just above her belly button, while fluttering harem-style pants flowed around her legs. The matching slippers were dotted with clear gems, and a silver headpiece covered her head and ended in a point between her eyebrows, draping down over her hair in delicate silver chains.
Zoe would be green with envy.

You certainly look the part, Princess, although I do like you in leather and a vest,
Titus said with a chuckle that echoed in her head.

Selena smirked.
I still have that vest and those leather pants somewhere
…
unless the maids carried them off and burned them.

Titus frowned.
Now that would be a pity. Although, I could get used to watching you walk around in that getup. I especially like
your
…
ahem
…
shirt
…
if you want to
c
all it that.

Selena’s cheeks turned crimson as she tried to turn her thoughts back to food. It was hard, but she managed to get through the meal with dignity.

Once the food had been taken away, Eldalwen turned to her from his place at the head of the table.

“It pleases me to see you seated at the family table, daughter.”

“Thanks,” Selena said, still a little uncomfortable around the guy she was supposed to call ‘dad’. He was just too intimidating for words. “I’m happy to be here.”

“Thaddeus and I would like to take you on a tour of
the palace this evening. You might find the war room to be of particular interest.”

Selena’s breath caught in her throat at the same time a flicker of annoyance sounded off in her head. Eldalwen certain hadn’t wasted any time.

“War room?” she asked, trying not to get off on the wrong foot with her dad and brother.

Thaddeus smiled and took a sip of his wine.
“A history in portraits, weapons, and armor that depicts the warrior past of our family.
I’m sure you’ll be interested in some of the wind-harnessing tools.”

Selena sat up straighter at his mention of wind. Her earlier questions surfaced and her need to avoid all talk of war was pushed away.

“Wind-harnessing?”

Eldalwen wrinkled his brow. “You do not know about wind-harnessing?”

She shook her head. “No.
All I know is that I can run really fast. I discovered it when I was about ten.”

Eldalwen’s laughter was hearty and full. “My dear, the strength of Damnunians is not in their speed, but in their power to feel and manipulate the very air around them. Wind, is your gift
,
Selena.”

Selena gasped. She remembered clearly the night that the Minotaurs had attacked. A rush of power surging all around her as she screamed had surrounded her like a gushing wind. It had knocked the ugly beasts right off their feet.

“Oh my God,” she whispered. “So there is more to my abilities than just running away.”

Thaddeus leaned toward her from his place beside her at the table. “Whenever you run, you are pulling on the strength of the wind to propel. It pushes you along, makes you faster. It can do the same for your fighting skills. It can be used to strengthen and quicken your blows, and it can also been used as a force against your opponent.”

Selena’s eyes widened as she realized now why everyone had
bee
n waiting for her return, why she
was so important to them.

“They think I can fight,” she whispered as she stood. Her chair scraped the marble floor noisily and her fingers gripped the chair’s edge tightly. “You think I can fight!” she exclaimed, louder this time.

Axonia stood as well and began circling the table toward her. “Darling, no one expects anything from you.”

“Of course you do!” Selena bellowed, backing away from Axonia’s comforting hands. “It’s all I’ve heard since I got here. The Red Dawn, the
battle against Eranna, and the return of the firstborn daughter of Damu
…
it’s all pointing right at me!”

“Selena, it is your destiny,” Thaddeus said, standing at her side. “It is what you were born to do.”

“Look at me!” Selena cried, gesturing toward herself wildly. “Do I look like a warrior to you? Well, I’m not! I can’t fight. I’ve never even been in a schoolyard girl fight. I can’t throw a punch let alone use a weapon. You’re going to have to find somebody else to fight your battle. I only came here because I wanted to solve the mystery that’s been plaguing me since I was a kid. I wanted to know who my parents
are
and
where I came from. And I wanted to help Titus rescue his family.”

Eldalwen’s jaw was tight and his lips pressed tightly together as he stood also. “
A lot has changed in your life over the past few days, and I understand that you have some reservations—”

“Reservations?
No, try this one on for size. I. Can’t. Do.
This.
Can’t do it.
Won’t do it.
Got it?”

No one answered, and no one tried to stop her as she turned and fled. She half expected Titus to try, but even he hung back as she stormed from the room. The hallways began to blur into one long maze as she tried to find her way back to her room
. She stopped and turned, trying without success to find her way. After a
while, she found herself wandering aimlessly and feeling pretty guilty. She was sure her parents and brother only had the best intentions. Besides, it was their home that would be destroyed if this Eranna person succeeded. Their way of life would be destroyed.

So would Titus’
, she reminded herself.

Then why was this so hard? Why couldn’t she just put on her big girl undies and be the woman Damu needed her to be? She didn’t know why, and hated herself for it. Not just for not knowing, but for being so damned scared.

After
roaming
for quite some time
, Selena came to a dead end
. The hallway she was in lead to a stone door. Selena frowned. It was strange, since none of the other doors in the palace were made of anything other than oak or gold. Curiosity gripped her and propelled her toward the door. There was no handle, yet when Selena got close to
it,
it swung open on its own. Selena stared up a dark staircase, knowing that if she were in a movie theater she’d be yelling at the idiot standing at the bottom of a dark stair
well
to run. She’d never believed in ghosts, but then she’d never believed in
Fae
ries either and here she was in a palace in the desert in a magical fairytale land. Weirder things just had to be on the horizon.

With a shrug, Selena made her way up the stairs, deciding that once she found her way out of here she would have to find her parents and apologize for her outburst. Maybe even take them up on that tour of the war room. As she neared the top of the curved stairwell, a soft glow lit her path, making her feel a little less creeped out. When her feet hit the landing at the top of the stairs, she realized that she had climbed one of the palace
’
s many towers. The circular, one room tower held a stone pedestal covered in a red, silk cloth and no other furnishings. Axonia stood behind the table, a wide, nearly flat bowl and silver pitcher of water resting in front of her. The glow of the moon filtered in through the
skylight above and kissed the queen of Damu with an ethereal glow. Selena paused in the doorway.

“I’m
sorry,
I didn’t know anyone was up here. I got a little lost on the way back to my room.”

Axonia smiled. “I understand. When I first married your father and he brought me here, it took me weeks to learn my way around. Come in, I am glad you’re here.”

Selena entered the room and stood on the other side of the table. Something about this situation reminded her of the meeting she’d had with Adrah in a very similar room. Axonia answered her unspoken question immediately.

“This is the Eye of Damu,” she said gesturing toward the bowl.

Selena frowned. “It’s a bowl.”

Axonia laughed. “It is. It was forged from the silver of the first Eye, which was destroyed. It was reshaped and now this bowl serves as the Eye. I was just preparing to look in on Mollac and Queen Eranna. Would you like to join me?”

“I don’t know. The last time I looked into an Eye, I saw something terrible.”

“Yes,” Axonia said with a nod. “It can be that way often. It is a heavy responsibility for the royals of Fallada to bear, being the keepers of the Eyes. However, you must know that nothing you see within the Eye is set in stone. The future is controlled by our present actions, which means that we can change the course of our history with a single step in any direction.”

Wow. Not only was Axonia beautiful, but she was wise as well. What
she’d just said sounded like one of Rose’s life lessons. It made her heart swell with that feeling of being at home again.

“Okay,” she said. “Let’s have a look.”

Axonia reached for the silver pitcher and tipped it over the bowl.  Crystal clear water filled the bowl and Axonia set the pitcher aside, and waved her hand over the water once. The liquid responded by lifting up to form a dome over the open top of the bowl. It was within the center of this water dome that the vision was shown.

“The iron weapons are being prepared as we speak, my
Queen
,” said an atrociously ugly and misshapen creature as she hobbled into what looked like Eranna’s bedchamber. The haughty queen was reclined on a black settee draped in a bright yellow nightgown and matching robe, her long, dark hair spilling over the back of the chair and sweeping the floor. Eranna paused, a silver wine goblet inches from her blood red lips. She smiled.

“Excellent. I assume that my
army of Minotaurs is
ready to march?
What of the others?”

“They have come from every corner of Mollac, ready to serve and protect their queen. They will be ready.”

“And the wolves?”

“
Awaiting you in the courtyard.”

Eranna rose to a sitting position, stretching her long legs before draining her goblet. “Wonderful. I will address them now.”

Her billowing nightgown and robe fluttered around her ankles as she moved on swift feet down the corridor that led out to the courtyard.
The stones glowed nearly blue in the moonlight from their coating of ice and snow. Barren trees surrounded an iced-over fountain and cast their shadows over the icy sculptures of swans frozen over unmoving water. The wolves came in as if drawn to the center of the courtyard by Eranna’s very presence. From the darkness of the night they came
;
a mass of white, black
,
and grey fur, sharp claws, gleaming canines dripping saliva and glowing, red eyes, narrowed and fixed upon their leader. At the front of the pack, a large white wolf that Selena recognized as Titus’ father lowered his head in reverence. The other wolves followed suit.

Eranna looked out over them, proud, her chin high as a sinister smile curled at the corners of her lips.
She walked forward until she was face to face with the massive
Alpha
wolf. With a throaty purr of laughter, she reached out and stroked his fur.

“At last,
the mighty
Alpha
Orem, leader of the Awcan wolf pack is mine. You and the other loyal wolf packs have made a very wise decision in serving me. The Day of the Red Dawn approaches in one week’s time, my lovelies. You will join my armies and crush the ranks of those who would rise up under Princess Eladria’s reign.”

Eranna walked through the gathered wolves. They sat on their haunches, eyes locked on her attentively as she waded through them, petting a head here or there, locking eyes with individual wolves and nodding her approval as she inspected them.

“I can see that I have recruited the strongest of the strong, those among your kind who are smart eno
ugh to understand survival. As for those who have chosen the other side
…
” Eranna shrugged and sighed heavily as if troubled by a heavy burden “
…
yes, I know that they are
your children, your brothers and sisters, your pack mates. But you will no longer think of them as your family. They are no longer your friends. They are your enemies, and they seek to destroy the kingdom I have built from nothing with my own hands! They seek to steal our victory and protect those insipid creatures from the other side of the wall! They are weak, clouded by their loyalties and attachments. You are above them, stronger, greater. With me as your ruler, you will annihilate them. We will rise above them, a testimony of true strength and superiority!”