Hail to the Queen (Sage Trilogy, Book 3) (17 page)

“I had little options, James. I couldn’t stay married to her - the King would have had us executed. And I didn’t dare try to overthrow him and cause a mutiny. I didn’t want to fracture the Kingdom I loved so dearly…and yet, I still couldn’t abandon her. I remained a guard in the castle until…until…”

Arimus shut his eyes and he clenched his fists over the memory.

“He began hitting her…just a slap every so often, but it grew more violent and severe by the hour. For a reason I have never understood, he absolutely hated her, and being an easily angered man, she was at the brunt of his attacks often. One day, when I was to leave on a mission, I decided to take a stand. I just couldn’t accept it anymore. I feared that if I left, I may come back and find my love had died under his soft and privileged hands. I didn’t try to kill him, but I gave him the beating of his life, right in front of Ashalynn, right in the midst of their bedchamber. As he was losing unconsciousness, I swore to him that I wouldn’t speak about what happened, but in exchange, he was never to hit her again. He nodded as best he could and blacked out. I kissed my love, embraced her one last time, and left for Languor, deciding that it was the best course of action. If there was any chance that Cornelius was going to adhere to my words, I couldn’t be roaming the halls of his castle. Better to remain a shadow, ready to descend on him when he least expected it. I knew Ashalynn wouldn’t run away with me so I didn’t ask…but, to this day I still wish I had been there to fight the Quietus. Perhaps I could have saved her.”

“We’ll find them,” James said. “They’ve got to be somewhere. And there’s only two Kingdoms left that we haven’t seen for ourselves.”

“You may be right,” Arimus said, clearing his throat. “But the purpose of relating to you my tale is not to vent off of past regrets. It’s to make you understand the seriousness of Catherine’s position. No matter how hard you try to sway her emotions, no matter how fervently you pursue her, you must remember that we are not in her position. We must follow her word and trust in her judgment as the future Queen. If she decides that you are to be nothing more than a friend for the rest of your lives, then that is where the ruling must stay. Any further discussion will just cause distraction – the kind that can get people killed. I’m not trying to dishearten you, and I understand that you too have a heart. Just know that if her heart does break…it will affect the world. Someday, she will take the crown, and be one of a select few to lead. Whether into war or peace, we have to respect her wishes to the bitter end. Do you understand me, James?”

“I get it,” James said with a half-smile. “I understand…but if you loved Queen Ashalynn so much, you should know what I’m going through. And
that means you better be willing to distract me enough to not have to think about it.”

“What do you recommend?”

“Make me stronger,” James declared, placing a hand on the big man’s shoulder. “Take over where Chloe left off. Teach me all you know.”

“James, I’ve taught you – “

“- the basics of becoming a Sage. You’ve never taught me what it means to be a warrior. Give me what I need to get better.”

“As hard as this may be to hear, I’m not a very good educator.”

“Then teach me like most men do. Live and fight…while I watch. Show me your strength, and I’ll do my best to emulate it. If you can promise to me you’ll do your best to make me stronger, I’ll stay focused on my training and let Catherine make the moves from here on out.”

“You can’t keep that promise,” Arimus laughed
as James joined in.

“Maybe not for too long, but at least I’ll give an effort.”

“It’s a deal,” Arimus replied as the sound of a troop headed their way. Catherine stopped in the trail up ahead and waited for Arimus and James to catch up. Standing side by side, they waved to the oncoming guards as soon as they turned the corner. Its leader, Gyruin, laughed heartily as soon as they appeared. James glanced over to his left at the broken gold door in the mountainside – the prison that had once held Jester. It had been completely crushed and obliterated into tiny pieces. James frowned as a realization came to him.

He didn’t show me that level of strength.
James thought.
He was holding back.

But why? Why would Jester continue to hide his true strength even after his Sage transformation? Didn’t he need the Sages dead for his master to perfect his plans?

“My, my,” Gyruin laughed as he left his troop to approach them. “I considered you all dead. Even prayed for your souls in my dailies. Although…” he looked right at Arimus’ missing arm. “it appears you didn’t leave Quietus without giving them some trinkets to gnaw on.”

“The important thing is that we’ve returned,” Catherine said. “And we have the Quietus stone with us.”

“Hoping I’m too stupid to ask for proof?”

“It wasn’t easy, but I assure you, we have the stone.
We lost a few of us retrieving it.”

“Prattlians are known for debate, Princess. So if you think this conversation is going to go in any direction but mine, you’re wasting your time
, and my men’s.”

“We hid it
just in case you attempted to take it by force, but we can prove that its power is under our control. James…show the man.”

“What?” James shouted in disbelief. “Catherine…”

“Go ahead,” she said, refusing to look at him. “Show him your new eidolon.”

Gyrun folded his arms and waited while his men stood around anxiously, hands on the hilts of their sheathed swords. They instinctively huddled closer together in the cold despite their gigantic fur coats.

“Here it goes,” James muttered, shaking his head. “I wish you had told me the plan.”

“You would have declined,” Catherine smiled at him while James rolled his eyes. He began concentrating within him, trying to draw the Quietus eidolon from his soul, but there was no response from the blade…

Only the voice.

Hello James.

James swallowed hard and kept concentrating, refusing to acknowledge the voice.

James, why won’t you talk to me? We were j
ust getting to know each other…hello? It’s okay. If you don’t want to speak with me, that’s fine. I’ll remove any hold I have over you, and you can use your Quietus ability to your hearts’ content. Unfortunately, if there is no way you’ll join me, that means you’ve just become a very wanted man, and I’ll have to be on my way to wipe you and Prattle out now. See you soon, and give Catherine and Arimus my best.

As soon as the voice stopped speaking, the Quietus eidolon emerged in James’ right hand, sending Gyruin and his troop back in fear. Once the initial reaction was over, they examined it carefully, whispering and noting amongst themselves the rippling black surface, the energy emitting from it and how familiar its aura felt. Even James winced under the power it was giving off.

So this was the uninhibited power of the Quietus…How could anyone stand it? It felt like he was going spontaneously combust.

“I can’t believe you would subject one of your own men to the Quietus stone,” Gyruin said in awe.

“You asked for proof,” Catherine said flatly. “We have it. Now take us to your King. We have a transaction to complete.”

“NO!” James shouted, drawing all eyes on him. James sheathed his Quietus eidolon as he tried to gather his thoughts. “We have to evacuate Prattle immediately! He’s on his way
to destroy us all!”

“Who?” Gyruin and Catherine asked in unison as James squint his eyes and clutched his head.

“The voice, the one who speaks to me from my Quietus side.”

“Oh geez,” Gyruin rolled his eyes. “He’s hearing voices.”

“No, no,” James said, reaching out and grabbing Catherine’s arms. “You have to listen to me very carefully. Since I’ve unleashed my Quietus eidolon, there’s been a voice, speaking deep within me. Before I left Quietus to save you, I learned that all Quietus hear it. The voice controls them and the source originates from Zen-echelon.”

“And you’re saying he’s coming to Prattle?” Gyruin asked. “Now?”

“Yes! And he’s very powerful,” James gasped. “I can’t sense him…but I can tell just by how he speaks. He’s very confident in his abilities.”

“Well, so are we,” Gyruin declared as Catherine continued to study James’ face. “We’re not going to back down just because the kid’s hearing voices. For all we know, it could be a ploy to get us all out in the open. Maybe the Quietus are the ones pulling the strings.”

“This guy is from Zen-echelon,” James stressed. “And I fought Jester – the one who broke out of your prison. Even though we defeated him, I could tell that he was holding back his true power. If he had went all out, I don’t think any of us would be here, and whomever Jester’s master is, this man has got to be stronger. We’re unprepared.”

“And we always will be,” Catherine said suddenly, drawing everyone’s attention. She grabbed both of James’ cheeks and brought him close to her. “
We will never be ready to face Zen-echelon, until we know what we’re up against.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that we need to know our enemy,” Catherine replied solemnly. “If he intends to finally show himself, I am not missing out on this opportunity. Even if Prattle evacuates, I’ll be staying behind. Whether it’s this Kingdom or ours, we have to take a stand at some point.”

“The Princess is right,” Gyruin said for all to hear. “If this boy speaks truth, and Zen-echelon is coming, then we will stay to learn of this foreign Kingdom as well. As Prattlians, we just can’t let this opportunity go by.”

“It’s possible he’s choosing Prattle first because of your people’s intelligence. He wants to remove the brains of our four Kingdoms. And this would be the perfect opportunity to do so – eliminate the strategists before we all have time to unify.”

“Princess, we don’t even have confirmation that any of this is true,” Gyruin said. “Try to look at it from our perspective. We’re not going to start erupting into chaos simply because an Allayan boy says a Kingdom that hasn’t shown itself in decades is deciding to pay us a visit. We’ll do our best to give you an audience with the King, but we can’t promise much beyond that
, especially some kind of formal alliance. It is our Kingdom after all. We’ll decide how to take this information.”

“You’re right,” Catherine said. “But if Zen-echelon does appear before we’re through with our business, know that you have me and my Sages at your disposal. Unt
il then, we’ll proceed as planned.”

“Are you serious?” James shouted. “You don’t understand how powerful this –“ Arimus grabbed him and covered James mouth with his hands.

“James, let them proceed. We are not to question.” Gyruin and Catherine continued talking despite the interruption and they all moved as one unit further up the snowy mountain. The winds began dying down as they proceeded but James refused to let this reprieve soothe him.

“Arimus, this is suicide!” James exclaimed once he was let free. “We could all be killed!”

“A warrior doesn’t think about himself, nor the lives of the men under his care,” Arimus said. “He trusts that they will carry out their assignments with expertise and discretion. Any failure is merely seen as weakness on their part and regarded as such. We’re not given the luxury of weeping and sorrow. There is only our duty, our honor, our code. Think about it, James. If we evacuate and run to fight another day, Zen-echelon is the only one to gain. Yes, we may have our lives temporarily, but Prattle will be destroyed. Their people will be displaced and afraid, and we will be no closer to defeating our enemy in the end. By standing our ground, some if not most may die, but valuable knowledge will be gained. There will be survivors to pass along the information to the other Kingdoms and a plan can actually be formed.”

“You do realize that Catherine could be killed right? If Zen-echelon sees an opportunity to get her stone, it will.”

“If you as a warrior do your job,” Arimus said firmly. “Then you will succeed in protecting her. Anything else will be seen as a weakness on your part.”

“Message received,” James said as he took a deep breath. If he was going head first into battle, he needed to be stronger. A lot stronger....and he knew that his Quietus abilities could probably do the job. He just couldn’t shake the feeling that the voice had been lying to him when it said the restrictions on his power were
magically removed. It might just be another ploy to make him transform into a Quietus, and ultimately put him completely under Zen-echelon’s control…