Shadow Queen (12 page)

“…Mother?” She reached out her hand and
traced the edges of the empty painted face. “But then… if I am her…
who is—”

“—
who is that?
How fitting for you to
forget your own sister.”

Astrid’s legs quaked. She turned and found
herself under Anya’s heavy gaze.

“What’s happening to me?” The line between
dreaming and waking was blurred to her. She almost expected to wake
up in a cold sweat at any moment.

“Still only thinking about
you
, I
see,” said Anya. “Away with you, hag!” She slapped the old woman in
the head, sending her racing for a nearby door. Anya continued her
chase until her wrist was caught by Astrid’s iron grip.

“Leave her be,” said Astrid, bringing Anya to
her knees. “I have questions. And you have answers…
how do I
destroy the city
?”

Anya laughed in Astrid’s face. “Destroy it?
And kill everything our dear mother worked to preserve? How vulgar
of you.”

Astrid clenched her teeth. “
Then how do I
stop the storm?”

Anya flashed a wicked smile. “Let me show
you.”

***

Merrick had watched the iron cage descend
onto the roof of the Governor’s villa from the shadows of the
villa’s wall. He waited for the company to disperse from the roof
before climbing a towering, gnarled tree to reach its tiled ledge.
Ilsie had followed close behind him. He felt her burning stare bore
into his back.

The journey in the lift to Alainia was filled
with a dreaded silence.

“Ilsie—”

“—
Don’t you dare speak to me!”
Her
voice was laced with venom.

He withdrew his words and focused on the
wrathful storm clouds looming above them.

After several dragging moments, they finally
reached the top of the wall. Merrick hefted open the cage’s top and
climbed onto the stone wall. Ilsie climbed up the wall after him.
She batted away his open hand. The scales on her arm nicked his
flesh, a bitter reminder of their somber situation.

Merrick led her to the palace. He couldn’t
help but marvel at the massive estates that littered the landscape
of Alainia.
How could so many people live like this?

“You’ve been here before, haven’t you?”
Ilsie’s words shocked him.

“Yes… many years ago.” He kept his gaze
forward, fixed on the palace.

“Was this the place that your vision led you
to?”

“Yes,” he said. They crept into the shadows
of the palace courtyard. Thunder rumbled below their feet. He heard
Ilsie suck in her breath through clenched teeth.

Bloodied heads lined the path. Their hollow
eyes watched from where they were perched high atop jagged iron
spikes.

“Who would do such horrible things?” He felt
her clutching at his arm.

“Demons live here,” said Merrick, his eyes
lowered from the empty eyes of the dead.

“Demons?” Ilsie whispered the word, her voice
icy with fear. “Is that what killed that woman? The one you saw in
your vision?”

Merrick led her through the open doorway.
Bloodied corpses littered the hall.
Phooka
, he thought as he
picked his way over their cold bodies.

“No,” he said. His boots were sticky with
blood. “She was killed by something far worse. Something I fear we
may come face to face with before the day is done.”

They wandered the deserted halls for what
seemed like hours. Merrick strained his mind to recall where he
needed to go, but the memories evaded his grasp.

Ilsie, unable to control her fury any longer,
stopped dead. “This is ridiculous. I’ll have no more of this
madness!”

“We need to find Astrid!” Merrick dragged
Ilsie along the hall. She kicked at him, howling in her disgust.
The further down the hall they traveled, the more violent she
became.

“I’ll not let you kill her, too! I’d rather
live my life out as a monster than let you murder her!” He felt her
teeth sink into his hand, slicing through his flesh.

“Damn you!” He threw her onto the cold stone.
Ilsie, too overcome with grief, lay on the chill white and
sobbed.

“What would Kateri think of you?” Her words,
though gentle, ripped at his heart.

Merrick’s throat clenched as he fought down
the pain. “Don’t you dare speak her name,” he said as he crumbled
to the floor beside her.

She reached her hand out to his and clasped
it in her shaky grip. “We don’t have to live like this anymore. The
Grand Sage does not own us. We can go far away from here—you, me,
Astrid and Ethen. We can be a family again.”

“She said she would make Kateri suffer,” he
said, half to himself to justify his actions to his own
consciousness. “I had a vision of her… I can’t live with myself
knowing her soul is being tormented.”

“Oh, Merrick…” Ilsie rose to embrace him.
“There must be another way.”

He could see her scales stabbing through her
cloak. They had spread up her arm in a matter of hours. “Ilsie, I
can’t—”

Merrick was knocked into the wall by a blast
of blistering heat. The blazing air sucked the air from his lungs
and left him gasping. He batted at the flames on his clothing.
Looking back, he could see Ilsie reeling, her body engulfed in
flames.

“ILSIE!” Her body grew still as he scrambled
to his feet. He tore his cloak off and battled the inferno. Her
body was charred, nothing but a blackened statue of his sister’s
screaming face. “No—no!”

Merrick looked up through blurred eyes to see
the fiery face of his son.

“
You’re a monster
,” he said, spitting
the words at Luka.

“It’s in my blood. I come from a family of
monsters
,” Luka said as he spread his wings to fill the
width of the hall. He cast the wicked black needle down where
Merrick knelt. “You’re going to have to try harder than that to get
rid of me.”

Merrick gazed one final time at his dear
sister and covered her distorted face with his cloak. He rose to
his feet, drawing his sword. “
You will die for this
.”

Luka smirked, beckoning him with an open
palm. “Please, do try harder this time.”

Merrick charged him, a roar tearing at his
lips. He slammed into Luka’s scorching body, sending both toppling
out through the large, open window.

Luka laughed as he batted the sword from
Merrick’s grasp. They spun, helpless as a feather. The world wove
around Merrick’s head. He heard the wind catch Luka’s wings and
jerk them upward.

Merrick was driven into the white stone of
the palace. He could feel his ribs snap. Luka’s burning blue stare
drove him deeper into the stone. “
How could you leave me to
die?”
His voice cracked, splintering like Merrick’s bones. Luka
lifted him up into the air and drove him back into the stone. “WHY
DID YOU DO NOTHING?”

They fell backward into the open air, once
again spiraling to the ground. They plummeted past the city walls
and past the mossy earth of Alainia. Luka flew beneath the city.
Merrick felt himself crash through thick glass and skid across
cold, jagged metal.

Luka crouched above him, his claws digging
into his flesh. “Answer me, damn you!” Merrick could hear the wrath
in Luka’s voice. “ANSWER ME!”

Merrick’s head lolled to the side. A shadow
stirred, drawing his attention away. “Luka,” he said, “Luka, you
need to go…” Memories of a familiar shadow filled him with a chill
fear.

“NO! You
will
answer me!” Luka’s rage
boiled over, his words nothing but howls intermingled with sobs.
“Why did you abandon me?”

“
Yes
,” an icy voice floated over them.
“
Tell him. Why did you abandon him?
”

Luka’s gaze searched the darkness. “Who are
you?”

“
A friend
,” said the voice. An elf
with delicate, angular features stepped into the soft blue light of
the room. “
I want nothing more than to know the truth, just as
you do.
”

“No, Luka! Go!” Merrick’s words were garbled
with the blood that pooled in his mouth.

“
Tell your son why you cast him aside,
Merrick.
”

“I had no choice—” Merrick’s words were lost
in Luka’s rage.

Luka raised a glinting clawed hand above his
head, his muscles twitching and ready to strike. He hesitated,
letting his deadly hand hang in midair.

“
Kill him. He deserves no better.
” The
elf’s words were laced with the taint of dark magic. His eyes,
hollow and lifeless, glimmered with glee in the blue glow.

Merrick’s blood poured from his mouth as he
struggled to speak. “No… Luka…”

The elf leaned close to Luka, letting his
thick black hair fall over his pale face. “
KILL. HIM.
” The
words lingered in the air before driving Luka’s talons deep into
Merrick’s chest.

Merrick felt himself slipping away. The elf’s
wicked laugh echoed in his head while the world faded to black.

Kateri?
He struggled to see her face
but could not remember it. Another’s gaze drifted into his dying
mind…
Amaeya?
His eyes fluttered open for a brief moment.
Amaeya’s face hovered near his. Though it was heavy with age, he
could recognize her honey eyes anywhere.

“Shh! Just lay still,” she said, wiping the
blood from his face. “You’re safe now. They’ve gone.” Tears
glistened at the corners of her lovely eyes. “I always knew you’d
come back for me.”

Merrick choked on his bloodied sobs.
If
only it had been for you… Amaeya.

He felt his life slipping away, leaving only
regrets to smolder in his dying mind.

Amaeya.

***

Anya struggled to keep her fury in check. The
thought of Astrid following so close behind made her skin crawl.
She had longed for the opportunity to make her sister suffer and
now the chance was within her grasp.

“Where are we going?” The sound of Astrid’s
voice was torture.

“Down to the Anvalin,” said Anya, trying her
best to sound bored. “Not that you would know anything about
that
.”

“The what?”

Anya huffed. “You really are dense. Of
course, so was mother and father,” she said as she picked her way
down the darkened stairwell. “It’s the source of Alainia’s power.”
She cast Astrid a gleeful look over her shoulder. “And I am the
only one that can use it.”

They soon approached the chamber’s door. Anya
pushed it open with a vicious shove. Anya beckoned Astrid to
follow. The familiar blue warmth encased the iron room and
glistened on the thick-paned windows.

Anya peered into the chamber, her expression
instantly souring. “Amaeya! You useless thing, clean that mess
up!”

Amaeya’s wrinkled face was damp with tears.
“Go to Hell!” She clutched at the distorted body in her arms and
sobbed. “Merrick, no,” she said, whimpering over the corpse.
How
disgusting
. Anya swooped down upon the old woman, her arm
raised above her head. She felt a rough grip around her neck,
jolting her from her feet. Astrid soon had Anya pinned to the
floor.

“AHH! Let me go!” She kicked at Astrid,
trying desperately to squirm free.

Astrid held a knife to her throat. “Not until
you learn to behave!”

She spat in Astrid’s face. “He’ll kill you,
you know! He’ll rip your soul right out of your chest!” Anya’s
laugh flooded the chamber.

“I do believe she is correct.” Luthen stepped
out from behind the Anvalin, careful to avoid touching its wrathful
blue surface. Anya smiled at him, eager for blood to be split.

She saw Astrid flinch at the sound of his
voice.

“Let her go,” he said, flicking his hand to
the side. Astrid jerked upright, releasing Anya from her stony
grip. “And off you go.” This time, his commands were directed at
Anya.

“NO! I WANT TO SEE HER DIE!” Anya wailed as
she fought against his enchantment. Amaeya jerked upright and
followed her out the door. Luthen’s chill laughter floated up
behind her, teasing her as she fought against her own body. Fanger
and Maggot waited for her at the top of the steps with open
arms.

“NO!”

Astrid felt the blast of energy long after it
had hit. She slouched against the buckling wall, stunned from the
blow. Luthen was upon her within seconds, his fiery breath misting
on her cheek.

“Tell me, girl, do you remember me?”

She glared up at him. “You murdered my
mother…” The words escaped her before realizing the weight of their
truth.

“Yes. Your mother. Your father,” he said as
if trying to recall the contents of a meal. “Your mother’s death
was particularly satisfying.”

“And now you wish to kill me as well?” Astrid
struggled to rise to her feet.

“Oh no, my dear. I have something I want to
give you. A gift for our reunion,” he said, placing a single finger
on her heaving chest. It felt like an icicle against her skin,
chilling its way down into her heart. A numbing cold weighed down
upon her. She felt her soul being smothered inside her own body.
Luthen turned Astrid’s head by her chin just enough to leer down at
her through his empty black eyes.

“When I first met you, I sensed a strength
inside you, a sort of spark that only comes along every once in a
while. I lusted for that spark, knowing the potential of such
power.” He breathed the wretched words onto her skin.

“Then take it and be done with me!”

He laughed with his face twisting into a
snarl. “Look me in the eyes, Astrid. They are dark and soulless.
Just like how yours will be. You’ve been tainted by my power. With
your potential and my magic, you will bring destruction to the
world. There’s no use resisting once it’s started racing through
your blood. It’s an infection. There is no cure. There is no hope.
You can’t fight the darkness,” he said, jerking her face closer to
his.