Queen of Hearts (The Risen King) (19 page)

“
Leanansidhe.” Kane's snarl held all the hatred he had built up over centuries.

“
Kane, darling. So good to see you again.” She lifted her leg and swiveled her hip. “Our last encounter still stings a bit, you know.”

His lips curled into a sneer. “Too bad my aim was off.”

“Move, Leanansidhe. Or you
will
die.” Eden's arrow was aimed at the other woman's head and her hand was steady as steady could be.

Lea cocked her head. “
I
will die? Oh, my dear. I think you may be confused. I think you meant to sa
y
you
will die. You all will die, in fact. One way or another. The only question now is how. Will it be quick and painless? Or will I take you to my lab and show you how talented I really am? My darling Tati can tell you. Oh, wait, no she can't. She seems to be a bit under the weather at the moment.”

Leanansidhe's cackle echoed throughout the garden.

Kane turned to Arthur. “Take her,” he muttered so Leanansidhe couldn't hear. “Take her and your knights. Get to the path and get out. Save my mother.”

Arthur accepted his burden with great care. He cradled Titania in his arms as he had Aiofe not long before. “I will take care of her.”

Kane gave him a brief nod. “Go.”

Arthur glanced around the garden. The main path led straight toward Leanansidhe, but a small dirt track ran around the outside.

“Leanansidhe,” Kane said as he drew his sword and stepped forward. “Today is the day you die.”

Zela's lightning raced out from her fingers and Eden's arrow flew. Arthur ran. He ran into the bushes and pushed his way around the outside of the garden. He reached the corner and turned. Lancelot and Galahad were right on his heels. Their swords were drawn and they kept watch of the path behind them.

“Where's Percival?” Arthur asked when they reached the path Zela had left open.

“
He stayed behind.”

A shout, clearly male, echoed across the trees to them. Arthur clenched his teeth and took a quick glance at the broken queen in his arms. He turned and ran into the path.

*~*~*~*

Leanansidhe ducked to the side and handily avoided both the lightning and the arrow. Kane surged between the women and slashed at the dark-haired faery with all the might he could muster. Percival was right behind him and while she ducked Kane's blow, Percival's sword drew blood from her right arm.

Lea growled and her hand shot out. A blast of wind slammed into Percival and launched him into the air. His cries followed him until he smashed into a tree nearby. More lightning and arrows flew, but Leanansidhe ducked and spun. Her hands danced and she parried each attack like she was invincible.

The wind picked up around her, whipping her hair about into a frenzy and tearing limbs from the trees. Kane glanced back behind him as he dodged a branch that had tried to decapitate him. Their battle had spun the group around and the path was right behind them.

“Zee,” he called through the wind. Zela let a fireball lose and caught his eye. “Go,” he said. “Take him and go.” His head bobbed to the path.

She hesitated as Leanansidhe sent a volley of ice shards slamming into Eden.

“Go,” Kane called again. “I“ll cover you.”

Zela moved toward Percival, who lay slumped beneath a tree. Kane surged forward and grabbed Eden's arm. The faery lay sprawled beneath a sapling, trying to right herself and brush ice off her armor. “Go with them.”

“I won't leave you alone to die.” She rose to her feet and let another arrow fly so fast Kane barely saw her nock the bow.

Leanansidhe moved toward them, bringing her miniature tornado with her. “You were a fool, Kane.” Her voice was magnified by the wind and danced around him. “You could have had it all. Now you will have nothing but pain.”

“Too much talk,” Eden said. Her arrow flew straight and sank into Leanansidhe's thigh.

The other women screamed and stumbled.

“Run,” Eden said and turned toward the path. Kane was right behind her.

Zela had Percival just inside and Eden tucked her other arm under him. They dragged him backward as fast as they could. Kane spun around and raised his hands. Leanansidhe was rising to her feet and his eyes met hers. She glared at him.

“You will pay, Kane. With your life and the lives of your loved ones.”

The lightning bolt singed the air overhead, but he managed to seal the path before she released another one.

*~*~*~*

“
Which way do we go?” Lancelot asked. He was stopped at a crossroads in the middle of the path. It was dark and impossible to see more than a few feet in front of them.

Galahad ran a hand through his curly hair and took a few steps to the right. “I think we turned left before, so we should go this way.”

“Go straight.”

Arthur glanced down at the woman in his arms. Both of Titania's eyes were swollen shut but her cracked lips held a small smile.

“Straight it is,” he said and pushed forward. He walked as fast as he could without jarring the precious bundle he carried. If he moved wrong, Titania would let him know with a whimper and those whimpers broke his heart. The walk took a lot longer than he remembered, but he chalked it up to moving slowly to save the queen further anguish.

“
I see a light,” Galahad called from up ahead. “I think we're almost there. There's a hole. I see...”

The knight's voice trailed off as he broke out into the open. They weren't at the bush where they had entered. Instead, they were on a small knoll behind the combined army. The battle was raging out below them on the plains in front of Castle Eiri Greine. Houses and fields burned. Soldiers lay dying everywhere. Leanansidhe's undead army was winning.

*~*~*~*

“
Go right, go right,” Zela called as Eden raced on ahead. Percival had come around and she was running as fast as she could with her arm tucked under him. Eden took point and Kane brought up the rear.

“
She's not behind us,” he said for the half a dozenth time.

“
Maybe she thinks she can hold the castle.”

“
By herself?”

“
You know her better than I do. Can she?”

Kane ground his teeth together. “Yes,” he admitted.

Their mother was saved, which was all that really mattered to him, but the permanent knot in the pit of his stomach grew and hardened further as he realized how responsible he was for the fall of the South. He had been Leanansidhe's right-hand man for so long, she likely would not have succeeded without his help.

He growled at himself and pushed the thoughts away. No sense in worrying about the past. He couldn't change that. All he could do from this point on was try to fix the future.

They reached the end of the path and pushed out into the ongoing war. Miniature battles were being fought all around them. Soldiers from the North, South, East, and West were falling left and right to Leanansidhe's nearly invincible army.

“
It's nearly impossible to kill them,” Eden said as she loosed an arrow.

“
But not completely impossible. Aim for the head.” Kane swung his sword and shortened a pixie at the neck.

Nearby, a knight of the North screamed his final death cry as a banewolf ripped out his throat. The creature bounded off, but another faery, dressed all in black with a red hand on the hood that covered its face, stepped forward. It placed its long, spindly fingers on the knight's head and chanted a phrase. The knight's eyes went from dull to a deathly gray pallor and he rose to his feet.

“What is that?” Eden cried. She took a step back.

“
One of Leanansidhe's servants. She calls them death lords.” Kane climbed atop a nearby stump and looked around. “There are six of them,” he called down to Eden. “And she's using them all.”

“
What do they do?” Percival leaned against the stump and pressed his hands to his rib cage. Zela had determined that three ribs were broken and the young man was having trouble breathing.

“
They raise the dead. To fight on her side.”

Eden's teeth clenched. “So for every one of ours that die, she gets one back?”

Kane's nostrils flared. “Pretty much.”

“
Why didn't you tell us this before?” Zela glared at her brother as she slammed her sword into the skull of a nearby faery.

“
They never left her dungeon before. I didn't think they could.”

“
We have to retreat,” Eden said. “We can't fight like this.” She caught sight of her brother's dragon flight soaring toward them. “I'll have Etain spread the word.”

She raised a hand to her brother and caught his attention. He waved back and his gryphon turned toward them. As his arm was lowering, an arrow flew from somewhere in the chaos. It caught him between the armor and armpit. His fingers lost their grip on the reins and he toppled from the beast.

“No!“ Eden's scream echoed across the plains. She pushed and shoved her way forward, struggling to reach her brother. Kane was right behind her, slicing and dicing as he went.

“
Etain!“ Eden sank to the ground and pulled the body of her brother onto her knees. His eyes were wide, but his chest was still. The arrow had pierced his heart. He never felt the impact with the earth.

“
We have to go,” Kane shouted at her. Zela had sounded the retreat and the hordes of faeries were all fighting their way backward.

“
I won't leave him,” Eden cried. “I won't let him become one of them.”

Kane beheaded another faery and slammed his sword into its sheath. He bent down and grabbed the body of Etain. “Let's go.” He slung it over his shoulder and pushed through the crowd back to Zela. Together, the three of them fought their way to an open path that was quickly flooding with faeries.

*~*~*

TWENTY-FOUR

*~*~*

“They're retreating. Why are they retreating?” Galahad stepped forward and shouted down at the soldiers who were running away from Castle Eiri\i Greine. “Fight, you cowards! Fight for your queen!“

Most ignored him or didn't hear. A few faeries sent him rude gestures to share their feelings.

“Stop, Galahad,” Arthur chided the young man. “If they are retreating, it means one or more of the generals felt the battle was lost.” Arthur looked down into the shallow valley below him “I think they are right.”

Titania coughed in his arms. “Arthur,” she whispered in a broken, pained voice. “We must go.”

Arthur bowed his head. “Yes, your highness.” He looked around. None of the immediate landmarks were familiar to him. “Where?”

Her hand lifted a mere fraction from where it lay cupped over her stomach. “Over there, nearer the cliff. There is a rock shaped like a flarpos.”

“Like a what?” Galahad looked at the queen and then his father. Lancelot shrugged.

“
It's a small tree.”

The young man trotted over to where she was pointing. “This?” He set his hand on top of a stone that had an odd shape to it. It immediately started to vibrate at his touch and he jumped back with a yelp.

“Yes.” As Arthur approached, Titania waved her hand. The stone grew and morphed and a hole formed in the middle, just big enough for a grown man to walk through. “This will take us near Castle Daor. To the woods there.”

Arthur took a step toward the hole, but Lancelot stepped in front of him. “I'll go first. Just to be safe.”

The queen's lips quirked. “Do you not trust me, Sir Lancelot?”

The knight raised his head and straightened his shoulders. He tilted his head in her direction. “With all due respect, your highness, it is not you I don't trust. Leanansidhe is the wickedest woman I have met and we cannot know where her plans lead.”

The queen's smile grew. “Of course. You are wise, dear knight. Please, proceed.”

Lancelot stepped into the hole with his sword drawn. Arthur followed, with Titania in his arms, and Galahad brought up the rear. The hole closed and plunged them into darkness. A small glow blossomed from Titania's hands and floated up into the air to hover over Lancelot's head.

They walked along in the crowded tunnel for awhile before Titania spoke. “The end is just ahead.”

“
That was a lot quicker than before,” Galahad grumbled from behind them.

“
I am a queen, my child. Paths open to me that open to no one else.”

As she spoke, a light bloomed in front of them and the darkness opened to reveal the woods surrounding Castle Daor. The fields below them were slowly filling with the first of the faeries to retreat from battle. They tumbled out of the paths and many fell to their knees, trying to catch their breath after the hard-fought loss. Some tucked their heads and let tears stream down their faces.