Queen Yavara Ch. 42

FIELD MARSHAL SHORDIAN

I was groggy the next morning. Battle always took its toll the night afterward, when adrenaline and terror had eased from my body, and pain took up residence in their wake. I stepped from the citadel, and out onto the ruins of Mid Fort. Usually, I would have to take a few downward steps before crossing the threshold to the courtyard. Not today. The bodies were piled five-feet-high, and even higher along the walls. Thousands were dead in this small spot, no larger than three tennis courts laid adjacently. The defenders had poured from the citadel, the attackers had poured from the south wall, and they had met here, and here, they had learned the truth of war. It was nearly a religious experience. I was there when we lost all sense of ourselves and became nothing but terror and wrath. There was a strange and terrible joy to abandoning everything that made you who you were, and to commit yourself to death.

I surveyed the courtyard, my eyes running all the way to the gate. There she was, waiting for me. She nonchalantly opened and closed the gate while my mages desperately tried to hold it fast. The archers rained arrows on her, the engineers loosed their ballistae, and she yawned, letting the projectile bounce off her shield.

"Hold!" I growled. My men ceased their frantic defense, and I carefully stepped through the new floor of bodies until I reached her.

"Field Marshal." She said.

"Your Highness."

She proffered a mirror from her hip, and handed it to me. "I told you I would give you this back."

"And so you have."

There was a silence between us. She floated over the wreckage she'd left of the causeway, and drew her eyes across the battered fort. "Congratulations on your victory, Field Marshal."

"Should I thank you?"

"It would be the polite thing to do."

"Thank you, Your Highness."

She cracked a smile, her impossibly-luscious lips opening to reveal sparkling white teeth, her orange eyes laughing about her pointed nose and high cheeks.

"Did I say something funny?"

"No, it's just strange. You know a secret that could turn my army against me, but you won't speak it, because it might force me to do something terrible."

"Will you tell me why you did it?"

She laughed derisively, "Love, probably. I don't really know why I do things anymore. Every day this war drags on, I hate the Highlands a little more, and I had so many fond memories there. 'Had' being the operative word here, as my present disdain has tainted the memories somewhat. Isn't it funny how that is? Those present moments were filled with nearly two decades of experience, and all that time amounts to just bitterness right now. Perhaps it will change."

"I've found that looking backward has very little use. Reflection is for those who can't act anymore."

"I suppose there's wisdom in that." She mused, then looked me over, "Do you want to have sex?"

I coughed, but managed to maintain my composure. "I'm afraid I must decline, Your Highness."

"Pity. You're a very interesting man, and I would've loved to get a measure of you."

"Is that really how you gauge a man?"

"Big, small, curved, straight, cut, uncut, veiny, smooth; the parts don't matter as much as men think they do, but a fellow as utilitarian as yourself undoubtedly knows how to use what he's got. I'm a hoarder of experiences, and I bet you'd be a unique one."

"Why did you come up here?"

"To give you back your mirror. Obviously, you and Brock won't be talking anymore."

I looked at the fractured mirror in my hand. "Why won't you and I be talking then?"

"We're talking right now. I prefer to talk face-to-face." She looked over her shoulder at the vast orc line below the Rift. "Zander brought the division commanders to me today so that I could select one to fill Brock's position. None of them could. And so, there will be no Froktora. I will lead the army now, and since orc leaders must be the first into the fray, I will be personally attacking you every day."

My throat went dry, but I did not show a reaction. I could feel her probing at my brain, and though she certainly could've taken control of it, I would not let her read my thoughts. She smiled. "So well trained. Tell me, how many men do you have alive?"

"Seventy-thousand."

She burst into laughter. "Field Marshal, please. I'll get the information from someone else if I need to."

"Less than forty-five thousand."

"And I double that even with my losses. In a month, I'll have triple."

"And? I know your game now, Your Highness. You're not here to invade the Highlands."

"No." She said softly, "I am here to kill every soldier on this wall." She said louder so that all could here. When she spoke next, she projected her voice with her mind, and every man within sight could hear her seductive whisper as she said, I will kill a thousand each day. You will not know when it will come. You will not know where it will come. You will not know how it will come. Your best friend could stab you in the back. You could be compelled to leap to your death. You could burn in a great gout of flame. You could be tossed a thousand feet into the air. If your queen does not call for peace within forty-five days, every single one of you will die. I promise it.

A silence proceeded her proclamation, the echoes of her voice ringing within our minds. She looked upon the ranks behind me, savoring the terror she saw. She looked back at me, and grinned wolfishly. "Starting... now."

ELENA

The tone of the Noble Court was drastically different than the day previous. It didn't benefit Leveria or Ternias to read the battle report, so I did, trying to keep my voice dispassionate. "The enemy casualties are as follows: an estimated three-hundred who tried to summit sector four, fifty who tried the South Fort causeway, between seventy and ninety during siege exchanges, and seven-hundred dispersed between sector one and sector three in a large, but ineffective assault. Friendly casualties are as follows: fifty-three in siege exchanges, then exactly forty-seven men walked one at a time off the wall. Two-hundred men then systematically killed each other. Three-hundred men were picked up individually and thrown hundreds of feet into the air, and four-hundred men exactly were burned to death by fireballs sent from the sky. The exact total of deaths is one-thousand."

The familiar drone of the nobles' whispers followed, though it was more akin to a panicked buzz. Lord Ternias was the first to break it.

"Cheap intimidation tactics!" He yelled, "There are ways to repel her! She is not invincible!"

"Would you care to share your knowledge with the group, Lord Ternias?" I queried, "Or will she be repelled by your bluster?" I turned to Leveria, "You said that we would outlast the hardships the winter would bring, but our army won't even make it through the second winter month. Till victory or death? It sounds like the choice has been made for us."

"Should we bend at the first sign of a challenge?" Leveria asked, "Yesterday, the enemy was humiliated and broken at Mid Fort. Today, they have retaliated in force to try and regain their morale. The Dark Queen is not invulnerable, as we all know. If she continues to put herself at risk, eventually she will make a fatal mistake, and this war will be over. How many of the men she killed were mages? Ten in total. She fears attacking our magic users. Field Marshal Shordian will adjust tactics, and this terroristic campaign will come to an end."

"And if it doesn't?" I asked. "What will you all say if we convene here a fortnight from now, and a third of our army is gone? The Dark Queen is not fighting the war herself. Every man that dies is a hole in the line, and the more that die, the harder it is to fill the holes when the orcs climb the cliffs."

"We must go on the offensive!" Ternias countered, "She has given us no other choice! If we break the line, we will drive the enemy back into the marshlands, and massacre them! Then our mages can pin their ears back, and deal with the Dark Queen."

There was a loud grumble of concurrence.

"Are we that desperate, Lord Ternias, that we would risk everything when we can end this war right now? I said yesterday that we had a unique opportunity to negotiate with Alkandra while they're—"

"You are an Alkandran whore, Elena Straltaira!" Lady Jonias snarled.

I rolled my eyes. "Lord Ternias, please keep your bitch muzzled while in court; I'm tired of hearing her bark."

"Impudent dark-blood shit!" Lady Jonias roared, rising to her feet, "You have spouted your treason in this court long enough! My queen, if you have any love for your country, you'll have this traitor seized this moment!"

"Sit down, Lady Jonias." Leveria sighed, kneading her brow.

Lady Jonias blushed until the roots of her blonde hair were red. She sat down beside Ternias, and ruffled her dress indignantly. He looked annoyed at her, but she hardly seemed to notice. She was staring a hole through me.

I turned back to the court. "The situation has not changed, ladies and gentlemen of the court. We are still losing this war. Now we have been given a timetable for exactly when we will lose it. In case you have not noticed, the Dark Queen is now toying with us. She has taken off the proverbial gloves, and is now fighting the war herself. What is the ace up our sleeve? What is the deus-ex-machina to save us? While we circle each other in the court, our nation circles the drain."

Fifteen minutes later, Sofia was at my dais.

"Any word on that money?" She asked.

"It's being delivered."

She looked nervously over her shoulder, "You need to deliver it soon, my lady. If the Dark Queen's promise holds true, and you haven't secured those funds, Huntiata is likely to join Ternias's faction. Where Huntiata goes, Feractian goes, his barons be damned."

"And where you go, Percian goes. Or so you say."

"You don't think I can deliver him to you after I've dropped Huntiata and Feractian in your lap?" She smiled incredulously at me, "Elena, you insult me."

"Does Percian know of your true plan?"

She blushed a little, "I... well... no."

I grinned. "You're abandoning him, you evil bitch."

"I am not." She said with and indignant tilt of her chin, "Percian Feltian is promised to wed Sofia Droughtius, but Sofia Alkandra does not intend to be tied down." She giggled a little, "Or perhaps she does, I don't yet know her proclivities, but monogamy most assuredly won't be for her."

"Sofia, you disappoint me. Keeping your promise is the entire basis of trust. You're betraying him." And even as I said it, I felt like a terrible hypocrite.

She blushed even harder, an expression of shame crossing her face. "I did what I thought I had to, my lady. I am sorry."

"Well, it's done." I sighed, then gave her an impish smile, "But I'm going to have to punish you for it later."

LEVERIA

"...now," I sighed, easing into my chair, "what is it I can do for you, Lord Huntiata?"

The old bastard twiddled his mustache. "I have questions about yesterday's battle."

"You understand that I can't divulge military secrets. The Dark Queen undoubtedly has spies in the court."

"Lady Straltaira?"

I laughed, "Lady Straltaira is our spy, my lord."

"Are you so sure?"

"I am."

Huntiata was guarded and uncomfortable in his chair. He was a straight-forward man, and believed that money and swords were the only power that mattered, and so flaunted his abundance of both. Not now, obviously, since he had neither money nor swords with the watch on strike. I'd hoped when he came knocking on my door that he'd be looking for me to help procure his precious wealth, but it was obvious by the chain of ham-handed questioning I was receiving that he was simply vetting another factor. Huntiata was a very poor player of the game.

I poured myself a morning glass of wine, sipped it, and smiled at the lord. "Has she fucked you yet?" I asked.

Huntiata startled like I'd struck him. "What?"

"Has Lady Straltaira opened her legs and let you inside of her, or do you prefer to use her more... unique feature?"

Huntiata turned a shade of red that bordered on purple. "Your Highness, I... I can't believe you'd even suggest such a thing! She's a dark-blood! A monster! A harlot from the bowels of hell!"

"So the noises coming from your open upstairs window at seven o'clock last night after Lady Straltaira visited you through the hidden entrance in the alleyway were you and her just... aggressively moving furniture." I laughed at his reaction, "There are very few secrets I don't know. I choose not to share them because discretion is paramount in statecraft."

"Are you blackmailing me?"

"I would never do that. Loyalty is not something that can be forced."

"You want my loyalty."

"Do I not already have it? I am your queen."

"Of course." He said, tucking his chin. He eyed me from beneath his brows. "Have you... never mind."

My smile broadened. "I am the queen of the Highlands. I have taken oaths that cannot ever be broken. They're not just oaths of matrimony, but oaths of state. Infidelity for me doesn't just mean a divorce, but a constitutional crisis. There are no treasonous questions, only treasonous answers, but I'm a little insulted that you'd even think it, much less suggest it."

"My apologies, Your Highness."

"Don't apologize. It was I who steered the conversation right into the gutter." I tittered sweetly, "While my occupation is a consuming and thrilling experience, the personal life of royalty is designed to be dull. You nobles with your scandalous debauchery are so very intriguing to me. I've heard—and this just might be rumor—but I've heard that Lord Ternias has two dawn-elves on staff that he uses as 'comfort servants.'"

"I wouldn't know anything about that." Huntiata grumbled.

"I'm sure." I said around my wine. "And what of Lady Droughtius?"

"She's a fine young woman. I've heard nothing lewd of her, and I won't slander her name with gossip."

"Of course. And Lord Xantian? Has Lady Straltaira got her hooks into him yet?" I probed with a conspiratorial smile.

"It was my understanding that Lord Xantian already got his contracts procured with the help of Lord Ternias." Huntiata shifted uncomfortably.

My smile broadened. "And let me guess, it wasn't Lord Ternias who told you that."

"My queen, I'm not at liberty to... um... I don't want to discuss court matters here, if it pleases you."

"My apologies, my lord. Now, you were asking about the battle?"

He twiddled his mustache again, and considered me carefully. "What happened to the causeway at Mid Fort?"

"There was a spell that destroyed it if the gate was ever breached." I replied.

"The king told me he'd never heard of such a spell, and it's his family who made those forts."

My smile cracked a little. "My husband, bless his heart, is not an aficionado of history, even that of his own family."

"I had heard from Lady Straltaira..."

"Lady Straltaira wants peace at all cost, and she is not above fearmongering." I gave him an impish smile, "She's not above doing quite a few things to get what she wants."

He coughed uncomfortably, then stood up, and bowed.

"Is that all you wanted to know from me, my lord?" I asked.

"Yes." He grunted, "Thank you for your hospitality, my queen."

"The pleasure was mine." I smiled, and watched him walk away, escorted by Sir Raftas. When the door shut, I practically sprinted across the room. On the table in my office, were the names of the ten nobles. Shordian was in my pile, Jonias and Xantian were in Ternias's pile, and Droughtius was in Elena's pile. In the middle, were Feltian, Feractian, and Huntiata. But it was all wrong, everything, and the jaws of the trap were closing.

ADRIANNA

The mines weren't just a maze; they were a city beneath the earth. The Highlanders of old had sought to extract every last piece of valuable metal from the Great Forest's basement, and they had dug deep and long. There were caverns that stood fifty-feet high, and there were tunnels that required us to crawl on our bellies. Some led to dead-ends, some led to forks, and others led back to where we'd come. When we sniffed the air with our heightened vampire senses, all we smelled was dampness and decay. There was no light. We saw through the darkness with the heat-lenses in our eyes, seeing the path by the way the cool water covered the rocks. We moved deftly through it all, navigating slippery rocks and uneven surfaces without a single errant slip. But we were still lost. In a straight line, the distance between Castle Thorum and Alkandra was a four-day horse ride. The mine exited just ten miles north of Castle Thorum. I had given a conservative estimation of six days for our trip. That was becoming optimistic. With no sense of direction, and no sunlight to guide us east or west, we had to resort to our memory, and our minds were becoming hazy with hunger.

Do you need me to change now? Furia asked me telepathically.

We can only risk it once per day. Vampires can smell blood for a mile.

We haven't seen any of them yet.

You know damn well that doesn't mean they're not here. They won't show up on thermal.

They? A voice interrupted us, Who is 'they?' There is only 'we' down here, distant child of mine.

Furia and I froze in our tracks.

I am disappointed that Drake decided to create half-breeds. I told him to never do that, but you know how boys are. If their mother tells them 'no,' it must mean fun. Is that why he fucked me?

Furia and I looked at each other. Gloria Titus? I asked the void.

Do they still know my name on Tenvalia? That's nice. This backwater continent does have its charm.

We're here at the behest of the Dark Queen.

Hmm... I don't know you very well, distant child, but I know that was a lie. A slight inflection in your thought patterns, a minute elevation of your heartrate. It doesn't really matter anyway. The Dark Queen was never of any consequence to me. What was Alkandi really, but a glorified sorceress? On the pantheon of demigods, she rated very low. I have known true gods. They moved mountains, turned deserts to rainforests, and melted glaciers. The Dark Queen is very good at fucking, but I daresay I've had better.

We looked around, but we could see nothing.

Will you help us? Furia asked.

No, I don't think I will. Old age has made me very lazy, and when food comes willingly into my abode, I think it's just natural selection asking me to help it along. Directed evolution, and all that.

You can't eat another vampire.

You are not vampires. You are pretenders. To truly know what being a vampire is, you must understand the craving. It will come to you, you will see. You thought you knew it when you first transformed, but that was but a glimpse. It will drive you to a madness you cannot comprehend. Just ask those lost children who surround you now.

Though I could not feel the cold, a chill crawled up my spine. I switched from my thermal lenses to my normal sight. We weren't in total darkness. A small bit of faint light came from an unknowable source, and it bounced off the reflective water on the rocks, the pools on the ground, and the hundreds of wide, manic red eyes gazing at us from the mine's ceiling.

They can smell your falsehood. They hate you for it. And when the craving becomes unbearable, you will risk them. You will take off your disguises, and run blindly through the darkness, and my lost children will feed. If you come to me, I promise I'll make your end painless. I cannot promise the same for them. They like to savor the screams. Follow my voice if you wish to die well. I don't really care. I'm not even that hungry.