Chartile: Prophecy (42 page)

Piper glared at him, and pushed his hand
from her arm. “What kind of Queen am I that I run and hide at the
first sign of trouble, after everything I have been through? My
people are afraid, and they need me.”

Valar watched as she took a sword from one
of the guards at the door, and pointed to the antechamber. He took
off at her request, and Piper consoled the people as they rushed
past her. One woman flung herself into Piper’s arms, crying. Piper
dried the woman’s eyes with her sleeve, and encouraged her
onward.

“
What is she doing?” Valin
asked worried as he rushed to join his father.

“
She is being the kind of
queen we have never had,” he replied.

Jayson ran along the dark tunnel he had
found concealed behind the tapestry. His suspicions of disloyalty
amongst the palace guards had been confirmed, and the time had come
for him to make an example of these rogues.

A door slid open somewhere ahead of him, and
closed again quickly. He heard the lock snap shut, but it did not
slow his pace. He approached the door and reached out with his
magic, sensing the mechanisms in the lock. The tumblers slid aside
easily, and he kicked the door open, his sword held out at the
ready. The hall was quiet, but he knew better than to believe it
was nothing. This was the way to the stables. He crept along the
passage, skirting close to the wall. His heart pounded in his
chest. The sound of pounding hooves raced past the window beside
him. He cursed loudly, and ran ahead toward the door to the
stables.

“
King Jayson of the Hill,”
said the stable hand as Jayson flung open the door wide. The man
was on the floor. His nose had been broken, and his arm had been
cut.

“
Who was it? Did he say
where he was going?” Jayson asked the man frantically. He pulled
the man to his feet but did not loosen his grip.

“
No, my King, but he took
one of the horses meant for the Lord of Hollycrest. It seemed
deliberate, sir. A beck-and came a few hours before the Queen’s
coronation and requested it be tacked and ready for the Lord’s
departure immediately thereafter.”

Jayson nodded and rushed to the grain room.
He pulled his old bow and quiver from an empty grain bin and headed
for the main doors. He had left it there before leaving for the
coronation. His suspicions had been confirmed, and he was grateful
for his increased intuition since the incident with the Kings.

“
There are healers in the
courtyard. Take care of those wounds. Tell no one what you have
seen here.”

The stable hand nodded to Jayson and took
off through a side door that lead across the paddocks.

Once outside, Jayson closed his eyes. He
sent a wave of his energy out, searching for the man he now
tracked. He could feel the panic of the crowd of people in the
courtyard. His heart beat in time with those of the guards
patrolling the borders of the palace. There were horses converging
to a single game trail nearly a mile away. They seemed to come from
all around the palace and carefully avoided the guards as they
went.

Jayson opened his eyes, but kept the
connection he felt tethered to his stomach. He slung his quiver and
bow across his back and opted to hunt his quarry on foot, rather
than horseback. With a mischievous glint in his eye, Jayson took
off silently into the night.

When the aftermath of the battle with Duke
Noraedin had begun, everyone’s concern had been for Piper, and
rightly so. She was to be the next Queen of the elves of Chartile.
She had taken a traumatic blow seeing both her sister and lover die
before her eyes. The pain Jayson had felt when he had killed the
guard had gone unnoticed. Jack and Leo, who had special connections
to the Dwarves, were busy helping with political negotiations and
preparing for Piper’s coronation. Jayson felt alone.

It had been a lonely night sitting in the
little tavern in Hollycrest, a tiny village less than a day from
the Elven Palace. Jayson had needed to get away. He needed to
think, to find some way to cope. Several young men sat in a dark
corner of the tavern. Jayson heard them discussing how they might
steal into the palace to kill the would-be-Queen, Eva Ruani. Try as
they might, their drunken tongues were not nearly as quiet as they
likely thought. They were sympathizers to Taraniz’s original cause
of uniting all the races of Chartile under one rule. Jayson
listened, then slipped away unseen to report to Leland.

Now, Jayson walked the dark path back to
Hollycrest. The tiny fireball in his hand guided his way. He hoped
that after the weeks of planning and spying, the weeks of torment
he had silently endured, his debt would finally be repaid. At least
in part. The guard he had killed had only been trying to protect
his Princess. Jayson still didn’t know his name.



The panic finally ceased once the people at
the coronation were in the fresh air and the wounds of their
friends tended. There were only a few moderate injuries from the
rain of arrows that had descended on them. The rest were minor, and
easily treated. Piper had addressed them, and the crowd broke
apart, either opting to go back to the quarters of the nobles they
served, or to head home. After nearly an hour, Piper marched into
the antechamber where the Conclave of Nobles and the Dwarvik
royalty were safely taking refuge.

“
What in the name of earth
and sky is happening here?” demanded one of the nobles before she
had even covered the distance from the door. “If this is how you
will protect your people, then you have much to learn, little girl.
Harpy’s Point—”

Piper held up her hand to silence him.

“
I thank you for your kind
words of wisdom and encouragement,” she began, and the noble
blushed scarlet. “I can assure you, I knew nothing of this, and
wish to defer to my Captain for the answers we all
seek.”

Leland cast his eyes downward, his shoulders
drooping slightly. “I suppose this is what I get for putting my
faith in a plan concocted by a child,” he replied.

At once, everyone turned to look at Leo and
Jack. They stared wide eyed and confused back, and Jack threw his
hands in the air.

“
Not us, man,” he
said.

“
Some weeks ago, King
Jayson came to me having overheard of a plan to kill you, Your
Majesty,” said Leland. Murmurs and whispers moved up and down the
group, but Piper looked at Leland unmoving. Jack and Leo recognized
the look at once, and remained quiet. “There are still those who
are loyal to Taraniz. They were never under her control, but simply
agreed with her ideas. Jayson wished to go after them immediately,
but… Your Majesty, it was my idea to wait until the coronation. I
thought we might be able to apprehend more of them at once. It was
foolish of me. I admit, I haven’t had to think for myself in so
long, what with Taraniz, or Noraedin, or whomever it was
controlling me. I admit that I am not yet fully myself.”

“
Then you should have
never continued as Captain!” someone shouted, and the room erupted
into chaos. Piper remained quiet, staring at the man before her.
Leland would not meet her eye, and she realized he couldn’t have
been much older than she was. Leland had mentioned Taraniz had
killed the previous Captain for disobeying her orders. His actions
were certainly foolish, but she knew her own mistakes in the coming
years would be many.

“
We all make mistakes,”
she said to Leland. “This is a new era for us all. No one was
seriously injured. We were lucky.”

She turned to address the crowd before her,
but they did not notice. They argued and yelled over each other.
Una sat in a chair along the wall, her arms folded before her and
shook her head in disbelief. Piper clapped her hands together
loudly, using her magic to amplify the sound. The nobles covered
their ears and turned to stare in surprise.

“
Thank you,” she said
politely. “As I said to Leland, no one was seriously hurt. Mistakes
will happen. It should be our job now to ensure that any of these
rebels are found and brought to justice. I encour –”

“
So it’s true,” breathed
one of the nobles close by. “You as well. You do have
magic.”

Piper looked blankly at the people before
her. Once again, Jack and Leo had nearly forgotten that magic was
outlawed, and they shifted uncomfortably.

“
You will submit for The
Cleansing, or be removed from your office,” said another noble,
more defiantly.

Piper smirked at him. “Who then will take
the throne, Allister?”

“
As there are no more
direct descendants to the throne, your land will be thrown into yet
another civil war.” Gemari crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow
at the elven nobles. “The Dwarves will not back you on this. We
have chosen to support Piper.” She shot a warning glare at Una,
then resumed staring at the nobles from behind Jack.

“
Of course you would,”
spat the noble from Sutton Low. “Your customs are more magical than
you pretend them to be. You have no power or say in the matters of
Elven state, dwarf.”

“
She has as much say as
anyone here,” said Gran from another chair beside Una. “We are all
a part of Chartile. The decisions of one race affects us
all.”

“
There have been many
revolutions for the better in our world,” Leo said. “Change isn’t
always a bad thing. It’s sometimes scary, but it doesn’t have to be
bad if you don’t let it be.”

The discussion went on and on, until the
attack at the coronation was nearly forgotten. In the end, Piper
stood her ground. The Conclave had no real power over their
monarchs. The royals looked to them for guidance, and over the
centuries, had allowed themselves to be governed by the Conclave in
order to keep peace. Piper was confident that regardless of her
magic, it was too soon after the corruption of Princess Taraniz for
the nobles to want to cause any trouble.

Soon, only Piper, Jack, Leo, Valin and Valar
were left in the tiny room. Piper plopped into one of the chairs
along the perimeter of the room. “It is not as difficult as I
thought it would be,” she admitted. “It’s that there are so many of
them. It is incredibly draining.”

From somewhere, Valin produced a chalice of
water, and handed it to Piper. She looked at him surprised, and he
smiled at her. She accepted the water and drank deeply as Leo said,
“Do you think they’ll cause any trouble? With the whole magic
thing?”

“
I believe it is too soon
to know that,” said Valar. “However, their next push will be for
you to choose an advisor, Piper.”

“
I thought we had until
the winter solstice for that.” Jack leaned against one of the
tapestries. “Shouldn’t we be looking for Jayson?”

“
Jayson can take care of
himself,” said Valin. “He’s been working with the soldiers night
and day for this mission. He hardly sleeps anymore. Killing that
guard rather traumatized him, I believe.”

“
Well, I hope he didn’t go
traipsing off by himself,” said Leo a cold edge in his voice. “He
should have taken guards or someone with him.”

They sat in silence for several minutes
thinking and worrying about Jayson. Then, Valar gave an impressive
yawn, and stretched.

“
I am far too old for
this,” he mumbled. “Majesty, my Kings, if you no longer require my
presence, I will retire for the night.”

Piper nodded to him, though she seemed lost
in her own thoughts. Valar bowed to her, then to the boys and left
the room, the door click echoing throughout the chamber as he
went.

“
Do you want me to tell
Una or Gemari anything?” Jack asked Piper quietly.

Piper shook her head. “They were here
earlier for the important discussions. They know everything that
needs to be known. You and Leo should go rest.”

“
You, too,” said
Leo.

“
Hmm?” asked Piper
dreamily.

“
You need to get some
sleep, too,” said Leo again, raising an eyebrow at her.

“
Yes, I suppose I should.
I have more prisoners to attend to tomorrow.” She rose, and headed
for the door, nearly asleep on her feet.

“
I’ll look after her,”
Valin whispered to Jack and Leo, and trotted off behind
her.

Piper had barely walked across the room when
she found herself standing at the base of the tower stair. She
couldn’t remember how she had gotten there, and she stood there
dazed for a moment.

“
Are you alright, Piper?”
a voice asked beside her. She turned to see Valin, his icy blue
eyes kind and concerned.

“
Yes,” she replied. “I am
just very tired. And hungry,” she added under her breath. She
climbed the stair and Valin followed. He held the door at the top
open for her and watched as she headed straight for the
bed.

“
Majesty, let me call your
beck-ands to help you,” he said, but Piper had already begun
undoing the laces of her dress herself. When she couldn’t reach
them anymore, she turned to look at Valin.

He crossed the room, and with delicate
fingers, finished untying the laces down her back. Before he could
turn away, Piper let the dress drop to the floor, exposing her
smooth, flawless back.

Valin blinked then turned away quickly and
heard Piper climb beneath the blankets of her bed.

“
Majesty, if you need
nothing further, I—” He dared to turn and look at her. She was
resting peacefully, her lips slightly parted, and one arm drawn up
over her head. It was hard to believe only hours before she had
dared the Noble Conclave by creating her own oaths and calmed her
people in the face of certain death. The Queen of the elves was a
wildfire, and she needed someone to guide her and help her rule her
people.