Tiva Boon: Heir of Abennelp (Tiva Boon Series Book 2) (49 page)

Adam’s wing brushed her back as if reminding her he was still there. Faces appeared between the trees. Many of them she knew, ex-Legionnaires and nobles from Harer’s reign. Tiva shuddered and commanded the group forward in a rush of excitement.

Tiva dodged her first attacker; Neola fired her weapon and struck him down. Harai and Wixx took up arms against a group of three as they emerged from the trees. A secondary battle began and all were fighting for their lives. The Loyalists moved into the trees, holding back the Rebels from leaving their hiding ground. Tiva knew the lay of the forest and battled her way past three men and one woman seeing the outline of the building in the distance.

Her husband tried his best to stay close, but he had his own problems bound to the ground amid the thick trees. “Tiva!”

She ignored his calls and pressed forward; squeezing the last two blasts from her gun before throwing it away. The minds were growing stronger, her shields were allowing them inside, but everyone was too busy fighting to notice her getting closer to the edge of the next clearing.

Come…

As she broke through and the building stood before her, damaged from the last war that caused her to flee, she felt her heart stop. Harer’s family shield, broken in half, still hung above the doorway. She entered slowly. The doors shut behind her and locked, and laughter echoed from deep inside the hallway.

Tiva! No!
Adam’s voice called to her mind. After several attempts to pry open the door, she pressed her forehead against it and closed her eyes.

I love you, Adam…but this is my fight, not yours. Keep safe.

Tiva, please!

With her shields backup tight, and Adam’s pleas fading from her mind, Tiva walked down the corridor ready to face the man who had conspired to take the lives of so many of her loved ones.

T
he end of the hallway led to the main bay where the king’s ship once resided. The room itself was empty save a few containers and discarded weapons, amateurish repair work covered the majority of the damage. Scorch marks of a fire covered the vaulted ceiling. She picked up a hint of pungent cleaner on the floors, but the air was stale and moldy.

Though susceptible to a mental attack without Cala’s help, Tiva walked in, her sword firmly in her one hand, the other warm at her side. Nothing stirred; she heard no sounds, not even breathing. Each side of the bay had several small research rooms, each a possible trap. She moved to the nearest corner, a shredded guardian uniform lay rumbled in a ball.

It was impossible to know what was going on outside, but Tiva had faith the others would prevail. Having come this far already, there was nowhere else for the Rebels to run.

“I am here,” she called, her voice vibrating through the empty room.

Several of the research room doors opened simultaneously. Her gaze darted around the room, but no one emerged.

“Show yourself!”

As you wish,
a female voice replied softly in native tongue, and a cloaked figured appeared in the doorway at the far end of the bay. “I have waited many cycles to see you again.”

Tiva stepped closer and the woman pulled back her hood as she came into the middle of the bay. “Speak your name!”

“Do you not know?” The woman had the same color eyes as she did, Tiva noticed, and a mouth and nose that mirrored her own. “Of course, your father kept the truth from you all these cycles.” Her tone was mocking. Blinking, Tiva froze, and saw the woman’s features clearly. It was as though she were staring into her future; the resemblance was unmistakable. “So you do know.”

“I care not, I am here to claim Abennelp for her people and end this game.”

“Game?” She laughed harshly. “Game! This is no game. We have claimed what is rightfully ours.”

“We?”

The woman approached cautiously. “
He
shall be along soon enough. I wanted to see you first and offer you a chance to save yourself and those outside fighting for you.”

“They fight for peace and freedom; they do not fight for me.”

She smiled softly. “I always knew you would have my drive and ambition, had your father not been a coward none of this would be necessary.”

“Harer was no coward!” Tiva gripped the hilt of her sword tight and felt her hand warm even more.

“And what do you know of him,
Tiva
? Do you know how he tore you from my womb and claimed you were dead? Did he tell you how I fell into despair at the thought? Did he tell you how he hid you with that Boon family to save face and keep you from me?”

“He did what he thought was best, I know not the reasons,” she grumbled, staring into her birth mother’s eyes.

“Your great king was a selfish bastard!”

“He was a good man, do not defile his name,” she spat and stepped closer.

“He cast us aside, do you not realize this? You were the heir to this kingdom and he hid you away denying you what was yours so he could marry a nobler woman whom his father chose. Do you not see how he ruined our lives?”

“You ruined our lives.” Tiva’s marking grew dark. “You caused this war. You forced the people to rebel against their king. You caused the death of my entire family!”
“They were not your family, my dear confused daughter…”

“I am not your daughter!” She felt the heat in her hand rise, her body shaking with fury. “Kevler and D’laja are my parents.”

Tears welled up in the woman’s eyes. “I had no choice…Allania. That was to be your name. Harer placed the dead Boon child in my arms, and we cried together. ‘Ziola, she did not make it,’ he said. I mourned for months. I blamed myself. I couldn’t bear to conceive another child with my own husband. I even stayed away from my duties here in Degort for cycles, unable to look Harer in the eyes…”

Tiva’s voice caught in her throat, she had no retort. She stared at the woman who had believed her daughter was dead; could she in truth harbor ill feelings for her?

Ziola sniffled and brushed her cheeks, her markings a mixture of fear and anger, but she spoke the truth. “I was there the day you were inducted to the guardianship. My heart ached, you were the same age as my Allania would have been, you looked almost like I imaged she would. My eyes, Harer’s smile, but you were Kevler’s daughter, the great Royal Guardian. Still, I could not break from the feelings I had toward you. A bond between mother and daughter is strong even from birth. I returned to the palace more and more, catching glimpses of you during your training. Playing and laughing with the other children, growing stronger and more beautiful each time I saw you…”

“He had his reasons,” Tiva whispered softly trying to convince herself more than Ziola.

“I believed you were mine. I confronted Harer,” she continued. “He called me a fool, banished me from the city. It was then I began my search for the truth. I learned of the complications D’laja faced during her birthing. I investigated every lead I uncovered, I needed answers. I had to find proof for I knew in my heart you were mine.”

“Harer’s deceit was his alone. Why do you make the rest of our people suffer? They have done nothing to you.”

“He denied us our rightful place beside him, ruling this land and these people. I deserved to be his queen. I stood by him; I loved him when no one else would. And now that you have returned to me, we can rule together.”

“After all you have done, the lives you have taken, I cannot allow you to remain in control. Rule belongs to neither you nor I. Control of Abennelp belongs to the people and no one else.”

“You jest, Allania…”

“My name is Tiva,” she snapped.

“Fine, fine, Tiva. These people cannot take charge of their lives; they are mindless drones, weak and inferior to us. Everything I have done has been for you, to ready you for this moment and make you strong and powerful. You are of royal and noble blood, and I will make you the most powerful ruler Abennelp has ever seen.”

Tiva grabbed Ziola by the neck the sword pointed at her chest. She stared at Ziola, ready to kill her if she spoke again. “You treacherous monster. Have you no heart? Did you not once think I was happy where I was? Did you not see the love I had for my family? I am just one person. You have killed hundreds of thousands…I can see why Harer gave me to the Boon family. You are a leech, and all you crave is power and station!”

“I loved you. I mourned for you. When it was confirmed you were mine…”

“I am
not
yours.” Tiva pressed the tip of her sword against Ziola’s cloak.

Her birth mother’s markings were bright with fear, tears rolled down her cheeks like rain on a sheet of glass. “I carried you, I sang to you. I felt your spirit…we even touched minds before you were born. You have my abilities and strengths, you have Harer’s compassion and intelligence; my perfect, perfect daughter.”

Tiva pushed her down to the ground and glared at her. “End this. Call off your Rebels and your life will be spared.”

“My life ended when I lost you. Can you not see how Harer betrayed you? You were his first born, his heir and he hid you away, ashamed of who you are.”

“He loved me!” Tiva quaked.

“I gave him the chance to save you and the others from war. All he had to do was tell you the truth. He knew I was coming for you. He knew I would not stop until I had you. The death of all those people rests upon his afterlife.”

“He would not do that, you are lying.”

“Am I? What do your senses say, Tiva?”

“Call off your Rebels and your life will be spared,” she grunted, feeling her markings go dark as night.

Ziola rose from the floor and cast a sideways glance at Tiva.“It is you who have the choice, daughter, side with us and your life and the lives of those outside you care the most for will be saved. Adam is it? He will be next to die if you do not surrender. I have done this all for you so you could learn the truth and this is how you show your gratitude?”

“You are mad…” Tiva trembled with nervous hateful energy.

Ziola laughed and smiled. Her movements were so swift, they caught Tiva off guard, and before she realized it, Ziola had slashed her abdomen with a short dagger. Tiva wrenched her sword upward and kicked Ziola, sending her crashing against the back wall. Lurching forward, Tiva bent over her and pressed the tip of her sword against Ziola’s throat. The scent of burning hair and flesh filled Tiva’s nostrils, the hot sword sizzled Ziola’s skin. This woman, her birth mother, was the cause of everything…everything that had happened on Abennelp since she was a child. Was it even possible? The rage flooded her ability to think clearly. Had Harer truly been ashamed of her?

No, he loved her and he wanted to protect her.
He loved me.

Ziola’s mouth twisted into a smile despite the blood trickling down her neck. “Yes, yes I see it in your eyes. You want to kill me, do you not? That is the strength you need to rule this land; that is the power I have given to you.”

Tiva’s hand began to quiver. Sweat saturated her forehead. Ziola was doing something to her, Tiva felt her shields breaking down. As she stepped back, Ziola rose and from her cloak pulled a small red crystal from its hiding place. “I can teach you to control the minds of others. You and I will take over this land…these filthy people.”

“No,” she replied, shaking her head and stepping back. Ziola bombarded her mind with thoughts and images. Harer and Ziola arguing in the garden. Ziola crying over a grave, then lying in her bed alone sobbing.

“We need no others,” Ziola said softly, inching closer. “Please, my daughter…”

“I am not your daughter.” Tiva fought, pushed back with her mind, and attempted to shield herself. More images surfaced. Ziola talking to Pethor, meeting with the children of Hentor, and ordering men and women near the gates of the palace. Tiva stumbled back and grabbed the side of her head.

“The pain will subside; just let your mind go free, Tiva.”

Image after image of Ziola’s past invaded her mind; she was trying to gain control of her like the other Rebels tricked into fighting for her. Tiva slashed the sword blindly toward her.

“You cannot win. You are of my flesh, I know your weakness…”

Tiva sliced again and staggered to stand upright. “You know nothing of me.” As quickly as she had ever moved before in her life, Tiva removed her dagger from its sheath and thrust it across the room. Ziola raised her hand to shield her face and dagger pierced straight through shattering the crystal in her palm. Ziola screamed, gripped her hand, and then fell to her knees. Tiva’s focus began to normalize, but Ziola’s memories drifted through her mind. Gripping her sword firmly in her hand she approached her birth mother, the stench of blood on metal tainted every breath. Once again, Tiva raised her sword to Ziola’s throat. “Call off your Rebels, I will not warn you again.”

“There is such love in this room, is there not?” Another voice rose up through the shadows.

Ziola rose slowly. Tiva’s eyes drifted toward the voice, but kept her attention divided evenly.

“By the spirits it took you long enough, where have you been.”

“Listening, old woman.”

“I was merely trying to distract her while you finished off the others outside.”

Tiva looked from Ziola to the shadow and back, her hands shaking uncontrollably. “Show yourself!”

“Quiet your tongue,” the man said in an eerily calm voice. “Just the two of you, Ziola?”

“Have I not kept to my word? How dare you question my honor?” She moved away from Tiva’s blade and toward the back of the bay. “I gave you the means to rise to power, do not make me regret it…”

“The only thing I regret, Ziola, is having not killed you sooner.” A flash of green sparked from the darkness and struck Ziola in the chest. Another blast followed tearing off her arm from the shoulder and launching it across the room. Her body collapsed in a heap on the floor, blood staining the ground as it drained from the gaping wound of her missing limb. The man stepped from the cover of darkness and ended Ziola’s life with one final squeeze of his gun. When he faced her, he smiled and lowered the blaster to his side. “It has been a long time, has it not?”