Finnikin of the Rock

left the confines of the kingdom walls and there they saw it, in the cold light of the rising sun. A small bloody handprint on the outside wall of their fortress. As if Balthazar had been hammering all night long to reenter a world that had already ceased to be.

Sir Topher stopped speaking, and Finnikin looked up. As always, there were tears on the face of the king's First Man as he relived the horror of what they found in the Forest of Lumatere that day. Limbs and flesh, clumps of hair, and finally the blood-soaked clothing of the youngest princess, Isaboe.

The novice Evanjalin barely seemed to breathe. Her hands were clasped under her chin as if in prayer, but unlike Finnikin, who could not bear to hear more, her eyes begged Sir Topher to continue.

'In the Forest of Lumatere lived the worshippers of Sagrami, the goddess of night,' Sir Topher said, composing himself. 'In centuries past they were persecuted and forced to live outside the kingdom walls. Many were healers, mystics, and empaths, with gifts that could not be explained, but over the years, they had begun to work and live among their fellow Lumaterans again.

'The matriarch of the Forest Dwellers was a powerful woman named Seranonna. She was once the wet nurse to the queen, and there was a bond between them that the king honored for the love of his wife.

'But on the morning after the slaughter, Seranonna was found with her hands and clothes soaked with blood. Grief-stricken Lumaterans said it belonged to the youngest princess, that somehow the Forest Dwellers were involved in a sacrifice using the blood of the royal children. The Forest Dwellers claimed that at least two of their people had seen Balthazar running through the forest that night, and that in her search for him, Seranonna had found the remains of Isaboe and tried to gather up the pieces. It was for this reason, they swore, that Seranonna had the blood of the child stained in the lifelines on the palms of her hands.

'But the villagers would not listen. Their king was dead. A king directly descended from the gods. His beloved queen of the Mont people dead. His beautiful daughters raped, slaughtered. His youngest daughter torn to shreds. His son, the heir, missing. His palace guards and people slain. And so the Lumateran people rounded up all those who worshipped Sagrami within the kingdom walls and burned down their homes, forcing them out into the Forest of Lumatere with the rest of their people. Neighbors fought neighbors. Cattle were slaughtered. Crops were burned. It was a world gone mad.'

Finnikin had watched it all from the Rock Village, clutched in the arms of his great-aunt Celestina. 'It's the end of the world, Finnikin,' she had chanted. 'The end of the world.'

'On the second day, the king's cousin rode into Lumatere with six hundred men, most of them Charynites,' Sir Topher continued. 'He had been serving in the Charyn court for almost ten years. With the blessing of the remaining rulers of Skuldenore, who were desperate to keep peace in the region, he was appointed the new king of Lumatere.

'The impostor's first decree? Any worshipper of the goddess Sagrami was to be put to death for treason. Those known for practicing dark magic were to be burned at the stake. The Lumateran people were horrified. There was a difference between running the worshippers of Sagrami out of their homes and killing them. But they stood and watched what they had started. One by one over the next three days, men, women, and children were slaughtered, burned in their homes in the Forest of Lumatere. Until the people of Lumatere dreamed crimson dreams and could not walk out of their own homes for the stench of death that blew over their kingdom.'

The novice closed her eyes, even covered her ears for a moment. Finnikin knew there were parts of this story she may never have heard before. No one spoke of those days in any of the exile camps he and Sir Topher visited. Their guilt and despair kept them silent.

'Lumaterans began to leave in droves,' Sir Topher went on. 'The Monts, the queen's people, had already left, gathering every one of their kin and moving them to the safety of the Valley of Tranquillity, outside the kingdom walls, to wait. The noblemen and women of the Flatlands joined them, fearing they would be next on the impostor's list. Some convinced those in their villages to travel with them. The elders of the Rock Village forbade their people to leave. Strategically, they were the safest, perched high, overlooking the whole kingdom. Many of the River clans followed their Flatland neighbors, while others traveled up the river to Sarnak to seek refuge there until the trouble subsided. By the end of the third day, more than half of Lumatere could be found outside the kingdom walls, either in the Valley of Tranquillity or in Sarnak.

'The next day, the captain of the King's Guard was called forward to swear allegiance to the new king. In Lumatere, tradition dictated that all should kneel in the presence of the king. Except for the King's Guard. Since the time the gods walked the earth, the King's Guard of Lumatere would lie prostrate at the feet of their leader when first in his presence.

'That day, Captain Trevanion refused. It was his belief that the impostor's hands were soaked with the blood of the innocent. And in revenge for the disrespect shown by the captain, the impostor king's men arrested Lady Beatriss, accusing her of treason aided by Trevanion. You see, on the night of the royal murders, the only palace dweller to survive was Beatriss, lady-in-waiting to the princesses. How did she survive such carnage? the impostor king asked. How did the assassins enter a guarded palace if not through the captain of the King's Guard? Of course, deep down, the people of Lumatere did not believe that Beatriss and Trevanion had had anything to do with the murders, but by then everything was in turmoil.

'In front of Trevanion,' Sir Topher said, 'they tortured her. I heard her screams. They tortured her until Trevanion confessed to treason, confessed to anything, for he knew they would come for his son next.'

Finnikin clenched his fist, his fingernails digging into his palms. He watched the novice flinch as if she felt the impact of his nails herself.

'Beatriss was sentenced to death, Trevanion exiled. Some say the king of neighboring Belegonia intervened to save Trevanion's life. But others had a different theory. They thought the impostor king feared an uprising by Trevanion's men. He knew that while their captain was still alive, they would not act.'

Finnikin busied himself with cleaning the crossbow. He tried not to think of what took place after his father was taken away. At times it felt like a blur, while other times he remembered it with complete clarity.

'On the fifth day, they dragged Seranonna into the town square. She was the last of the Forest Dwellers to be put to death, and there was talk that Lady Beatriss would be hanged next. Seranonna's clothes and hands were soaked with blood. Some believed it belonged to the dead child she had delivered of Lady Beatriss in the palace dungeon. Others said it was still Isaboe's blood.

'I was there in the crowd,' Sir Topher told the girl. 'My king always believed we should not turn our backs on our people as they suffered. I don't think anyone understood the rage Seranonna felt for what had been done to her people. Nor did they understand the extent of her grief for the queen and the royal children.'

Finnikin remembered how they dragged Seranonna into the square and she screamed with fury. Screamed the words, 'Beatriss the Beloved is dead!' And the wails rose around him while Finnikin shook with fear at the sound of her voice. He had heard that voice before. She had spoken to him as he played with Isaboe in the Forest of Lumatere. Spoken words that had haunted him for most of his life.

'And then from her mouth came a curse so fierce that it split the earth,' Sir Topher said. 'People were screaming, and those not even an arm's length from me disappeared into the crack before it shuddered closed once more. Others ran for the path that led to the main gate. Cottages that were built high over the main road collapsed on top of those fleeing. I saw the blacksmith's entire family disappear beneath the rubble of bricks and mud. Many were trampled trying to reach the gate.'

Finnikin shuddered. He remembered the Flatlander who had been holding the rope to keep the gate open, urging his terrified family through. As the gate began to shut, the rope tore at the farmer's hands, and his wife and son were forced to let go. But the man's daughter would not leave him, and Finnikin's last image of Lumatere, as he slid beneath the jaws of the iron gate, was of a family separated. Then nothing. No sounds from the other side. And then a black mist appearing above the kingdom.

Finnikin felt Evanjalin's eyes on him as Sir Topher put his head in his hands.

'Cursed land. Cursed people.'

Slowly Evanjalin picked up the hare again and resumed removing the skin, her hands shaking.

Speak, Finnikin wanted to shout at her. Lay blame. Shout. Rage. Rage!

'I think I may have frightened her,' Sir Topher murmured in Belegonian.

'You frightened me,' said Finnikin.

The fire crackled. Beyond it, the novice Evanjalin continued with her task.

'This year will be our last traveling, Finnikin. If he is alive, Balthazar will have come of age these past two