Light the Reign (The Forgotten: Book 3) (26 page)

It started with a sudden shout of surprise as
someone along the street looked, astonished, at his hands. He drew
attention from others who watched as his lesions, previously filled
with puss, began to disappear. He looked up at their parade in
wonder, and Layna made sure to hold Phoenix out in front of her so
that they would know that it was her.

People started pouring out of houses and
buildings, rushing to them. The guards closed in protectively, but
Layna motioned them away. With a very strong magical shield in
place around Phoenix, she dismounted and brought her along the edge
of the crowd. People’s hands stuck out towards them, trying to
touch them as they passed. Layna let them brush against Phoenix
gently, and as soon as they felt the magic working, they withdrew
their hands, looking at them in amazement.

The effects were instantaneous when Phoenix
had direct contact with the person, and as they moved farther and
farther into the infected zone, the crowd grew larger and
larger.

Eventually, they reached an area that was
filled with Bricrui too far gone to be saved. Before they could
turn back, smothered behind by the throng of followers watching
their movements with awe, one came towards them, red eyes
blazing.

Layna readied her magic, hesitant to blast
the creature while the crowd looked on, but not willing to put
Phoenix’s life in danger. The Bricrui came at them slowly, wary of
the number of people, hissing and spitting at them all, but unable
to deny its instincts. It drew closer, reaching out its hands
towards them, just like those in the crowd, but not for redemption.
All it wanted was blood.

A split second before she decided that her
daughter’s safety was more important than her image in front of
these people caused her to lash out at it, it suddenly stopped.

It straightened, and cocked its head to the
side, like a dog surprised by a sudden noise. Then, it started to
shake violently, its eyes rolling back into its head as it changed
back to a more normal, more human, appearance. When it opened its
eyes again, they were clear of blood, and they met Layna’s for the
briefest of moments. She waited in tense anticipation, knowing what
was coming next.

He didn’t die right away, however, as the one
in the cell had. He gasped for breath and looked around at the
circle of people who had come to stand around him. His gaze was
uneven and wandering, as though he was intoxicated.

Phoenix wriggled so badly in Layna’s arms
that she was forced to set her down. As soon as the baby’s feet hit
the ground, she was on her wobbly way over to the man. Layna moved
forward to scoop her up, but a gentle restraining touch paused her.
She looked quizzically back at Gryffon, who shook his head slightly
at her. So, she just watched with the rest of the crowd to see what
Phoenix would do.

She walked right up to the man, oblivious to
the fact that he had been a snarling beast only moments ago, and
laid her pudgy little fingers on his cheek. His drooping eyes
flickered open and focused on her.

His lips cracked into a smile and it was
clear to all those watching that he whispered the words “thank you”
to the little girl. Then his head dipped backwards, his eyes
closing, and his chest stopped heaving up and down with his
breath.

Princess Phoenix stayed with him a moment,
uncharacteristically still for the child, as though she could sense
that it was the right thing to do. Already she was acting like a
Princess. Layna felt a surge of pride run through her. She may have
started out a maid, but her daughter was born royalty.

The crowd was silent. Then, out of nowhere, a
woman began to wail hysterically, and the throng parted to let her
through, as she clawed her way between them. She rushed to the
man’s side, and began sobbing loudly while kneeling next to him.
She rocked back and forth, oblivious to the many faces around her,
watching her grief.

Layna fidgeted uncomfortably, despite
Amelia’s voice in her head that Queen’s ‘do not fidget’, and looked
around. She did not want to just leave a pile of dead bodies in
their wake, left for their relatives and loved ones to find. Spying
an empty cart, attended by a man watching them curiously, Layna
went over to him. He watched her sideways, glancing this way and
that around him, wondering why she would be approaching.

“Is there any way I could convince you to let
me buy your cart?” she asked him softly. He seemed to be in awe of
talking to her.

“Of course, Your Majesty, you can have it.”
His eyes had grown wide and he gestured for her to take the
cart.

“Thank you,” she told him, “I shall try to
return it afterwards, but cannot promise anything.” She waved one
of her attendants over, who gave the man more than the cart was
actually worth. The man looked down at the money, and back up at
her, confused.

Her guards caught on more quickly, however,
already moving to hook the cart to horses. Layna halted them.

“No,” she held up a hand as they grabbed the
reins of her own horse, fully decked out for the parade, “Use mine,
I want it to be the center of attention.”

“Mine too,” Gryffon stated, bringing forward
his own elaborately garbed horse. Though the cart was a bland and
undecorated thing, with the two magnificent horses pulling it, it
seemed grand.

The guards then gently removed the wailing
woman from the man’s body, offering comfort, and laid his body out
on the cart. Layna would turn their parade into one of a hero’s
sacrifice. She wanted these people to remember that the Bricrui had
been people, people who had been forced to give up their lives
because of the curse.

Several people came forward with flowers and
laid them over the cart. Layna looked around, wondering where they
had come from, and noticed that several children were running back
from the edges of town, bunches of wildflowers in their arms. They
must have also read Layna’s intentions and started off as soon as
they figured out what she was up to.

The flowers made the procession much more
beautiful, and as they moved slowly into the worst part of the
town, encountering more Bricrui, more flowers were added as more
bodies piled on.

The number of people they hauled along behind
them was alarmingly abundant when they reached the other edge of
the town, and Layna pulled aside an older woman who had been part
of their procession since the beginning.

“Could you tell me if there is a
cemetery?”

The woman looked at her appraisingly. “Yes,
this way.”

They followed her into the countryside a
ways, the mass of people still plodding along behind them. When
they reached the site, the man who kept up the sacred place came
out of his house. He was covered in pustules, which disappeared at
their approach. Layna waited for his attention to come back to them
after watching in amazement as his body healed before his eyes.

“We would like to bury the dead of the
Bricrui curse, if we could,” she appealed to him.

He looked around at the great amassed crowd,
then to the many bodies on the cart behind her.

“I would happily provide a place for them
all,” he said, “But I have only the one shovel, I’m afraid. It will
take me some time.”

There was a rustling in the crowd, and once
again they produced just what was needed. Many people came forward,
suddenly carrying shovels, and stood before the man.

“Just tell us where to dig,” they stated.

The man was rather taken-aback, but did not
hesitate to show them the ground which could be dug for the graves.
With so many people digging, Gryffon included, they had the graves
dug in no time.

The guards reverently placed the bodies into
the earth while the crowd looked on. Layna tried to think of
something to say, but found that words eluded her. The people were
all eerily quiet. When the last of the bodies was underground, and
the man who ran the cemetery pounded the last marker into the grave
– Layna was pleased to see that every one of them had been
recognized and given a name – they all stood back.

No one moved or said anything for several
long moments. Layna thought about calling out for a priest, but
didn’t want to break the silence. Then Phoenix, who had been
standing next to her, holding her hand to keep her balanced, moved
forward once more. Layna walked with her, catching her now and
again as she came precariously close to toppling over, and watched
with everyone else to see what she would do.

She reached a fat little hand up onto the
cart and grabbed a handful of flowers. Then, with a gracefulness
and elegance far beyond her years, she pulled just one flower out
of the bouquet for each grave, and set it somberly on it. When she
had gotten to the last one, others started coming forward, pulling
the flowers off the cart, and putting them onto the graves.

Layna went and picked Phoenix up, giving her
a proud kiss, and she and Gryffon quietly removed themselves from
the proceedings. The people should now grieve in their own way,
without the Gelendan monarchs in their way.

The guards had once again read her mind, and
already had their horses unhitched from the cart, ready to bear
them away. She handed Phoenix to one of them while she mounted,
reaching down to sweep the baby back into her arms once she was
seated. Phoenix cuddled into her, falling almost immediately
asleep, and they rode off without fanfare. Layna glanced back over
her shoulder and saw that there were many people before the graves,
hugging one another and crying. The crying was both happy and sad.
A mixture of loss for those who hadn’t survived the curse, and
relief for those who had.

A few stragglers followed them off, but most
stayed at the cemetery, sensing that the excitement was over. Layna
certainly hoped so. That was about as much excitement as she could
take for one day.

But the day wasn’t over yet. When they had
ridden a fair distance away, they transported back to the edge of
the dome in Gelendan. They postulated that enough of the people had
already been exposed to the cure that it would be safe enough to
take it down. Plus, the relief that it would cause seeing it
removed would be worth it, and hopefully help to draw out the last
of the people holed up in hiding. Though it used the Dragonstone
which was with Katya, they had keyed it so that they could end the
spell without physically having the stone, so she and Gryffon
linked hands. Delving into the power, they slowly removed the
containment field, letting the magic reabsorb into the land around
them.

Once it was gone, its opalescent shimmer
sparkling out of existence, they moved their parade forward towards
Naoham. People started appearing out of the trees, pointing both up
to the sky and at them. Closer to the city, the crowd began to
swarm in around their parade, and shouts rang out.

“It’s Phoenix!”

“She’s cured us!”

Obviously, the initial escapades into the
city to spread the cure had succeeded in also spreading the news
that it was Phoenix’s sacrifice that had allowed it to happen.
Soon, they had an even greater following than they had accumulated
in Treymayne. Moving through the narrow city streets was difficult
as more and more came out to see their passage, and they crept
along through the swarm. Not many were in need of healing, which
was good to see, though a few did come forward to be healed
miraculously at Phoenix’s touch.

As they entered the royal grounds – where the
public was stopped at the gates, shouting Phoenix’s name – Layna
let out a sigh of relief.

“It looks like the worst of it has been taken
care of,” Gryffon’s voice sounded right next to her, and she looked
up to see that he had pulled his horse in close to hers. Axe was a
trained battle-horse, and had ridden with Fly, Layna’s mount, many
times, so they had no problem matching their gait so that it was
almost as if the two riders were sitting together.

Layna looked from Phoenix to Gryffon with
love. She smiled at her husband.

“Let’s go home.”

*

Katya brushed a fleck of dirt off the mirror
and waited for Layna’s face to appear. When it did, the woman was
smiling brightly. Apparently their journey into Treymayne had gone
well. Her smile faltered when Katya failed to return it.

“The Dena’ina leader was correct,” she stated
morosely.

Katya nodded. “Unfortunately so. There are
hundreds of bloodbeasts that have been released into the world once
more. Much worse than anything we’ve seen in our lifetime.” She
paused and glanced behind her where the tribal leaders were huddled
with their heads together, but out of range of hearing her
conversation. “Their prophecy said that the portal would only be
opened when the world was ready to be rid of them once and for all,
but because Kali convinced them that it was actually her that
orchestrated events, and not the prophecy, they are worried that we
won’t be able to defeat them.”

“Do you think we won’t be able to?” Layna’s
face grew more worried.

Katya shook her head quickly. “No, I don’t. I
don’t think with all we’ve been through so far, that this will be
our undoing. But it has shattered their confidence.”

“Are you able to prepare a gate on your
side?” Layna asked, further clarifying though Katya knew what she
meant, “can you tame the wild magic long enough to make it steady
in that area?”

“Yes,” she answered, “we’ve been getting the
technique for cleansing an area down pretty well, many places we’ve
left are still holding, even without constant maintenance. We
should be able to hold a gate with no problem.”

“Really,” Layna looked thoughtful. “I wonder
if we could then make a more permanent gateway.” She stared off
into space.

“What do you mean?”

“Rather than just have it be anchor points
for the person traveling and doing the spell, to open a constant
portal that people could go through. If we are able to hold it open
for any length of time, we could get a large number of people up
there very quickly.”