Light the Reign (The Forgotten: Book 3) (5 page)

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Kali walked with several of the other Elders
down to the ground below. Apparently there was some kind of
commotion being caused by that no-good Katya and members of the
Dena’ina tribe. She was eager to see her people’s reaction to that
group. Already she’d heard that young Lorcan had tried to stab one
of them. She chuckled to herself. She would have loved to have seen
that, but she had been deep in meditation to determine if there
were any remnants of the Dena’ina’s stone that could prove useful
in the fake. She was still furious at the girl for having brought
her the false stone. Though it would make it more difficult for her
to exact her revenge against Katya with the Dena’ina present, once
she had turned the people against them, this could prove to be very
useful to have both within her grasp.

Since the Dena’ina leader had been stupid
enough to come himself, they could potentially use him as leverage
to gain access into the forbidden parts of their city where they
kept the marked ones and the real powerstone. Then, her plans would
be back in motion.

She smiled at the man when they had reached
the bottom and gave him the customary welcome from one tribe to
another. His voice was cold. Kali knew he knew the real events that
were going on, and his tone indicated that he’d already discovered
that her tribe did not know the truth. He was obviously not happy
about it. That was unfortunate, she had hoped he hadn’t realized
the lies she’d been spreading, and could have shuffled him off
before he spoke with anyone about anything of importance. She
needed to shut him up before he leaked his poison to any of the
Myaamia. She had gone to great lengths to keep the true purpose of
the parties being sent out secret, and she didn’t intend to have
all her plans ruined by an old man and the meddlesome woman.

“I would like to personally offer you my
hospitality, won’t you join me in my chamber?” she asked him
innocently, desperate to get him away from the others.

“No, I’m afraid that won’t be possible,” he
declined, “as there are pressing matters concerning the entire
tribe which need to be addressed.”

“These matters should be discussed privately
first, don’t you think? And then discussed with the tribe once we
have sorted them out?” she said through clenched teeth. If only
that no-good girl had given her the real powerstone, she wouldn’t
have to try and convince him, she would have been able to just make
him.

“It has come to our attention that far too
much of what has been going on has been done behind closed doors,”
he continued.

She held out a hand and tried to usher him
into a nearby dwelling. “Very well,” she said amicably, “But you
must be tired from your journey, please rest a while and I will
call a meeting of the entire tribe so we can discuss your claims.”
Her mind whirled with possibilities. The obvious choice would be
poison; slip it into a food or drink and he’d be gone. She would
lose her leverage, but this was urgent. She wracked her brain for
the information. She knew there was one that made it look like the
heart simply gave out. That would be believable after such a long
journey.

He didn’t move. “It appears that the entire
tribe is already in attendance.”

Kali glanced around and saw to her dismay
that he was indeed correct. The arrival of the Dena’ina was quite
an event, even to those who knew only that a vague ‘incident’ with
them had occurred which had put the tribes at odds. She forced a
tight smile. “Very well then. What did you want to discuss?”

“I would like to know how you could think it
was right to place an enchantment on the Princess of Gelendan and
send her back to her people to infect them with a curse which would
cause sterilization in any with an ounce of the Dark King’s
blood?”

Kali cringed at his blunt assessment of the
situation. How had he known? The outcry that arose from the crowd
was hard to decipher. Only a very small percentage knew this truth,
so understandably there was a fair amount of surprise. There was
also a lot of anger, but where this anger was directed was what was
important. She needed them to be outraged that this visiting tribe
would suggest something so preposterous.

The man wasn’t finished, however, and as soon
as the dissonance died down he continued, “And furthermore, it has
come to our attention that you are spreading lies about the
incident which occurred involving our two tribes. The truth is that
we of the Dena’ina gave sanctuary to those bearing the mark.” The
Dena’ina leader had turned his attention from her to look out
across the gathered people. “When the Myaamia Elders heard of this,
their response was to send assassins. We regretfully did end the
lives of several of them who could be stopped no other way, but we
had no wish for violence.”

“You killed our people!” Kali grasped on this
portion of his speech with a vengeance, attempting to corral the
mob into a frenzied anger over this act before he could go on.

“We defended ourselves,” he gave her a stony
look, “and don’t act like you didn’t know the truth. You are the
one who sent the assassins. You are the one who told their families
that they were viciously murdered by us, you are the one who your
people should be angry at.” He wasn’t finished yet. “The stone
which you sent Katya to retrieve is our powerstone. One of the five
fragments of the great stone of the founders. Most of your tribe
appears to not even have any idea that such a thing exists. By
stealing it from us you would have been most powerful, and set into
action a chain of events that could not be undone. What have you to
say for yourself?”

“This is ridiculous!” She exclaimed
haughtily, “You can’t expect us to believe any of this. You march
in here with two people who recently escaped from our prison and
accuse us of horrible acts when it is you who have broken the peace
and killed members of our tribe?” She looked around and saw many
people nodding their heads in agreement. She had taught them well.
They would follow her. She rose an eyebrow at the Dena’ina leader
smugly.

Katya spoke up, “Why exactly was I in your
prison?” she demanded, “because I had in my possession something
you wanted? The Bloodstone – which you then took from me and used
in your spell – and then threatened me and my friend with death
unless I got the powerstone for you. I heard that you even told
people that I had attacked the stranger and that’s why we was being
held in the infirmary, not as a captive, but as a patient. Tell
me,” she addressed the crowd, “Does he look injured to you?”

There was a confused muttering throughout the
assembled people. The events with Katya and the strangers coming
had added many layers to the lies that they had been told, and they
all were different. They were looking around to their neighbors in
confusion as some of them nodded to certain statements, while
others maintained blank stares. It was fairly obvious to all that
something was going on.

Katya continued, “Did you not hear what the
strangers said of the Gelendan Queen? The Three spoke to her
directly – they choose her as their host! Gareth knew, that’s why
he asked so many questions and helped to free me from your prison.
They are not an evil people, and they do not deserve the curse that
was put on them. Do you realize that it will affect almost all of
the population? Kali’s actions are not being done for the good of
the tribes, or the good of the world…they are being done because
she wants revenge on a person long dead and wants to take it out on
the only people she can – his descendants. Even I am one of those.
My mother and father must both have had a least a little in them to
have produced a child with a mark. Were they evil?” She paused a
moment, then answered her own question. “No! It is what Kali and
her trusted Elders are doing behind your backs that is evil!”

The crowd was silent for a few long moments,
looking at one another and at Kali.

“It’s true,” said a male voice and Kali
scanned the crowd to see who had betrayed her. She gasped as her
gaze landed on Slade, who was stepping forward. “All of it is
true,” he spun around in a circle, talking to everyone in the
crowd. “My brother Lorcan has been suspicious of the Elders
activities for some time now,” he said and several angry glances
were shot in the young man’s direction, including Kali’s own, but
more of them held intently on Slade, awaiting his next words. “And
he found out what they were doing and confronted me about it.” The
people watched him, confused. “Because I knew about much of what
was going on and I didn’t stop it. He tried to make me see the
errors in my thinking. I didn’t believe him at first, thinking,
like you, that this must not be true. We have put our faith in Kali
and the Elders, they would not lie to us, not do things that were
not in our best interests. But I should have known better.” He hung
his head.

Kali wrung his neck in her mind.

“And I’m sorry,” he told them, “for I lied to
you as well. I knew of the curse we put on the child. I knew, but I
kept their secret, convinced that it was for the greater good. I
believed the lie about my parents being murdered by the Dena’ina.”
He looked up, a pained look in his eyes, staring resolutely at the
Dena’ina leader. “But I believe his words that they were only
acting in self-defense. After seeing what Kali is truly capable of,
and the evil behind her hidden agendas. The people of the Lost
Lands are not the Dark King, and do not deserve what we have done
to them.”

Kali could sense the tide of the crowd’s
anger turning onto her. She slipped quickly through the throng of
people, pushing aside those that tried to stop her. She could hear
Slade still talking behind her, betraying every secret she had ever
entrusted him with.

She climbed the steps two at a time, fueled
by rage. How dare they convince the small-minded people of the
tribe that they shouldn’t be doing anything to the Lost Lands
people or the marked! It was all their fault, they deserved to die!
Everyone would be better off without them. But these ingrates were
brain-washing her own people! All that time convincing them
otherwise and in one fell swoop, they had completely undermined
everything.

She gathered her belongings quickly, stuffing
them into a travel bag. She glanced out the window and saw that
they were coming. She gave the room one last look-over to make sure
that she wasn’t leaving behind anything important and closed her
eyes, transporting out into the forest.

She walked until she reached the edge of the
trees, her eyes searching the Plains for signs of life. She itched
to use magic to find a good place to stop for the night, but knew
that it would be like a beacon to her pursuers. Instead, she turned
on her heel and walked a few paces back into the forest, looking
upwards for a hidden area.

Finally, she found a tree that was climbable
and also had a plethora of vines cascading down from its top,
shielding the higher branches from view below. She grabbed hold of
a knot in the giant’s bark and pulled herself up the trunk. Once
she was high off the ground, the branches became so numerous and
large she could fairly walk through them as though she was on solid
earth.

Finding herself a small indentation on the
foliage to rest in, she settled down. Unable to contain her urge
any longer, she went into a deep meditation to secure this site
from magical probing. That way, she’d be able to safely use her
magic here without advertising where she was. It might create a
void of magic within the forest if anyone thought to look for it,
but they would have to do a sweeping search in order to detect it
rather than automatically being alerted to its use had she not done
so.

When the shield had been constructed to her
satisfaction, she took out a bowl and filled it with water from her
pouch. She needed to brighten her mood, perhaps seeing the Lost
Ones’ reactions to learning of the curse would do that. She set it
on the branch in front of her and waited while the liquid slowly
calmed into a smooth reflection. She stared into the water in the
bowl before her, concentrating on the Lost Lands. The palace had
become too impenetrable for her to get past their defenses in order
to scry, but that’s not what she needed.

As she sent her magic towards the capital of
Gelendan, Naoham, she suddenly encountered a strange force. Her
magic came up against a power buffer, like it was keeping things
out. She followed it along the edge and soon realized that it
encircled the entire city of Naoham and stretched out for a good
distance beyond. It extended upwards in a great arching angle,
creating a massive dome. It seemed to be a barrier against physical
things, but her magic could still pass through easily.
Interesting.

She spent over an hour trying to find someone
talking about the events happening, made difficult by both the
palace defenses and the time of day. Eventually, however, she found
a local tavern where there was whispered conversation.

“There’s been an outbreak of something
terrible at the palace,” a man was saying to another, looking over
his shoulder warily. “They have them all corralled in the grand
hall where they are wasting away to nothing.”

“And they’ve trapped us all in here with it?
That’s what the quarantine is for?” the other asked
hysterically.

“They don’t want it spreading until they are
able to cure it. Just in case, they can’t risk the infection
spreading to other cities.”

“That’s insane! We have to get out of
here!”

The first man put a retraining hand on the
other as he tried to get up and leave. “You will do no such thing,”
he said sternly, “we will stay and defend the capital as we are
sworn to do.”

Kali grew bored with the conversation as it
turned into a lecture on their duties and she drifted from one to
another. From each of them, she gathered similar stories. Something
was going on at the castle, but it seemed just to be some sort of
sickness.
So a few of them had come down with a little winter
sickness. Why was there no mention of the curse?
Did the Queen
not bother to tell her people what was going to happen to them?
They couldn’t have figured out how to break it already, could they?
No, no…more likely the curse was actually what the dome was
intended for. But it wouldn’t work; Kali would make sure of it.