“They say she begged my father to spare me. Perhaps that is why I still live…why he laid this charge upon me, why he spent his final years preparing me to face the demons that hide in the mountains,”
Erika swallowed, horror still clawing at her throat. “He…he took your wings.”
“The mark of demons,” Amina spat, swinging on her. “My father hoped removing them would spare me their darkness, though he was prepared…” she trailed off, glaring down at Erika. “He took a terrible gamble, but he hoped I would have the strength to stand against them, to do what was necessary. Every moment of my life has been in preparation for these days.”
“He created a monster,” Erika whispered, slumping to the floor. Shaking her head, she looked up at the woman. “But why would you kill my father, when he fought the Tangata?”
A cold smile crossed Amina’s lips. “Your father served his purpose well,” she replied. “Peace had made humanity weak, unprepared for the coming threat. The Calafe king was a fiery man, quick to anger, easily manipulated. He began the war that would forge humanity anew, but I could not allow one so flawed to lead us. Beneath my leadership, the forces of the four kingdoms would have crushed the Tangatan threat,” she hesitated, eyes narrowing. “But King Nguyen ruined everything when he abandoned the alliance. I had to find other ways to bring about unity.” She gestured back in the direction of Gemaho, as though in explanation.
Listening to Amina’s words, Erika felt something die within her, the last remnants of her defiance. Her eyes slid closed, despair withering her soul. All along, this woman had been a step ahead of the other monarchs. Amina was right. Erika could not defeat this woman. She was too weak, her strength sapped, her last hope lying crumpled in the cage, defeated.
Abruptly, Erika’s world spun as the queen grasped her by the shirt and hauled her up. Crying out, she struggled against the queen’s impossible strength—until she glimpsed the fiery light of the gauntlet. Amina wore its silver threads on her hand again. Now its glow bathed the cabin, red and threatening, promising pain.
Watching that light, Erika found herself unable to look away, to fight back, to do anything but slump in her captor’s grip and wait for the pain to find her, for the agony to sweep her mind away on a sea of madness…
…but that pain did not come, as instead the queen suddenly turned from Erika, her eyes drawn to the wooden walls of the cabin. A frown creased the woman’s forehead.
“What?” she murmured. Before Erika could understand what was happening, her eyes widened. “So they have come. It is earlier than I’d hoped, but I am not unprepared.”
Erika cried out as the queen hurled her backwards. The back of the open cage brought her to an abrupt halt and she crumpled atop her friend, drawing a moan from Cara. Before Erika could even roll off the Goddess’s wings, the door to the cage slammed shut with a harsh click, the locking mechanism reengaging. Smouldering emerald eyes glared down at them.
“I will leave you to contemplate your fate, Archivist. If you still have the strength to use your gauntlet, I dare you try and escape. You will not make it far.” She held up her fist, a flash of light sending tremors down Erika’s spine. “And I promise, the attempt will make your end all the longer.”
With that she turned away, disappearing up the stairs to the upper deck of her ship.
9
The Sovereign
Wind whipped at Lukys’s cheeks as the ocean surged around the ship, sending water hissing over the bow to strike at his flesh like knives. He ignored the stinging, eyes fixed on the distant walls that rose from the swirling blue.
Mildeth.
He could still recall his last journey to the city, a brief stop at the end of a short voyage across the narrow sea. The crossing had taken only hours and the Perfugian recruits had not lingered within the city before beginning their march south.
This time, Lukys intended to make an extended visit.
The ocean walls were taller than those in Ashura, raised in centuries past to defend against pirates that had once plagued the coast. The rise of Perfugia had put end to those outlaws, as their fleet hunted them down one by one. But the Flumeeren walls remained, and now they barred the soldiers of Perfugia from an easy victory.
But Lukys had hopes it would not come to battle. Their intelligence was that Queen Amina remained in the south with the majority of the Flumeeren army. That suited Lukys’s purposes. Their own fleet followed a half-day behind with Nguyen, but if things went to plan, they would not need the king’s forces to take the city.
It was a risk, sailing ahead with but one ship. If those in control of Mildeth suspected a trick, they might bar the gates. Forewarned, the city would mass defenders atop those giant walls, making it difficult for the invaders to gain a foothold. They might extend the siege for weeks—long enough for the queen to bring reinforcements.
That was why Nguyen had wanted to attack immediately, using overwhelming force to the city fell quickly. But Lukys couldn’t bring himself to throw away the chance for a peaceful resolution.
Afterall, the Flumeerens had no reason to believe Perfugia came for conquest. The Sovereigns rarely left the shores of the island, but it would not be the first time they had ventured to the mainland in times of strife. He remembered when they’d come to the assembly called by King Micah of Calafe…
…Lukys shook his head, trying to separate himself from the consciousness of the Sovereigns who had come before, who had stood with the other kingdoms and set out to make war against the Tangata. Such a strange sensation, to know he had played no
