Interlude Part 2

.

Deep within the Eastern Mountains

One week earlier

.

In the short time since Yena had lived under the Queen’s court, she had never experienced such excitement since she arrived.

A straggle of strange and peculiar creatures brought such clangor across the palace as they entered the royal courtyard in a spectacled manner. A hundred voices whispered loudly without a thought to those anyone in proximity, plainly pointing and gawking at the bound and gagged beasts in the procession. The crowd had grown twice as large before the royal guards—gleaming in their red hapak armor—all made it past the gates and quell the nearing mob, forming up like tall fences with their pikes and shields, glowering just the same in suspicion at the intruders in front of them.

Queen Hankatta’s court had almost brought Yena to boredom with each passing day, and she feared she might as well die before she heard more whining about taxes levied by the Staravs or the growing rumblings weaved from folktales in The Forbidden Ice. But today, however, changed all of that.

Looking out from the study room’s balcony, Yena squealed and darted for the stairs, the scroll she’d been reading flew off her hands as her tutor scowled and roared for her to come back at once. She ignored her, wanting to join the cacophony of the crowd, and she would make it up to her once she told of stories about what she had seen. Old Gurtha could never reach the stairs in time before the guards would whisk those strange beasts away, and she wanted to know if her brother caught them on his own.

“My liksha, This is not proper!” One of her four maids called out.

Yena abruptly stopped on her tracks with a laugh, pivoted around, and grabbed the thin silk veil and shawl her maid was holding. She swiftly wrapped the veil around her head while her maids pushed back her silver locks to place the shawl around her shoulders.

“Proper now, my sweet Enthi?” Yena asked playfully.

Enthi bit her lip. “Mal Gurtha wants you back, your highness. At once.” She pleaded innocently.

She ignored her pleas, continued running down the stairs, and reached the pentice, hopping onto the inner war to join the rest of the nobles and the palace workers. Some in the crowd turned and bowed to her, and she let out a low bow of her own. They parted to make a small, narrow path to the front, and Yena graciously took it, thanking them as she passed. Enthi and another maid managed to make it to the front with her.

“We should return to the study, my liksha,” Tomiil said. “If the Queen sees us…”

“Do you see my brother anywhere?” Yena interrupted, craning her neck to search the crowd.

“No, my liksha. He is still in the fringes, I believe. He had not sent word of his arrival.”

“But this is his regiment,” she said, studying the soldiers gathered around the creatures. “No matter. I will talk to him later. Surely, these must be his catch!”

“The Forge guide us, what even are they? Merundali? Kyrians?” Enthi muttered curiously.

“You don’t even know what those things look like,” Tomiil hawked.

“They are not Kyrians. And they sure don’t look like Elafans,” Yena said.

It earned her a frown from the two, wincing at hearing the name, but she didn’t mind it. She was too young to remember the war, but the wounds remained fresh to those who lived it, horrifying stories passed down to the next kin, and her father certainly had many of it. Yena didn’t think they’d be back. They were thousands of miles away, and they wouldn’t risk a voyage through The Dark. Not even the Queen would risk her army to do the same.

“Whatever those things are, they are hideous,” Enthi added.

Yena smiled radiantly. “No. They are beautiful.”

Yena had never seen such creatures before. There must be at least thirty; Standing upright with hairless pink flesh—a few were black and brown—huddled around a circle as the knights kept them at bay like wild animals, garbed in strange clothing in a multitude of colors, however, covered in muck and soot. Funny that they had two eyes instead of four, and they had whites around them, encircling a beautiful ball of varied hues of blue, green, and brown. Some had golden hair and of blackest night, of embers and chestnuts, or mixed in between. What was surprising was that they were as tall as she was!

She tried to remember all the things Old Gurtha had told her, of the People of the Forge in the old bag’s thick tomes, which she insisted Yena had to read by the end of the year, but she came up empty. Whatever they were, they brought a lot of excitement that rivaled even the future Queen’s arrival into the palace.

Yena was extremely intrigued.

The last of the stragglers were brought past the gates, and Yena caught a glimpse of her older brother, riding his pride niji, the giant rat strolled through the courtyard at a slight gallop as two stablehands rushed out to grab her reigns. Several in the yard cheered and whistled at her brother’s entrance, and he drew a gentle wave and nod, acknowledging the crowd and earning more cheers.

Commander Rygen Hildram climbed off his saddle with ease and caught sight of Yena standing at the front of the crowd. He gave a curt nod, earned her a smile, before marching off to one of his soldiers guarding the creatures.

She watched silently as the soldier took her brother’s orders and strode to one of the carts. There, he hauled out a small gilded iron cage embedded with a dozen emerald-green chrysalis. There was only one way to use a chrysalis with that shade: To trap someone—or something temporarily.

Yena gasped, and so did the others behind her when they saw what was inside the cage.

An Adherer.

Yena’s eyes widened, and she took a step back in fright as the creature shrieked at her.

“The Forge guide us!” Tomiil uttered with a cry.

The Adherer rattled against the confines, but it was proven futile. The boundless inside the chrysalis muted the creature’s magic—for now. She didn’t know how long the boundless reserves would last inside the rocks, but it seemed they needed to place more on the cage just to be safe. Adherers were dangerous; her father told her so.

Other murmurings of small prayers spread across the crowd like a tide, made Yena clutched her chest, and glared at Rygen in awe, both furious and impressed at him, catching a beast so elusive in the eyes of many. Rygen knew it too, for he had that pompous cloud of air hanging over his head as he studied everyone’s reactions, could tell his gears were turning at the many potential schemes he could weave from this spectacle alone.

Adherers were extremely rare creatures of magic, and they had never been seen around these parts of the world for hundreds of years due to their reclusive nature. The few news they had from the outside world rarely told of Adherers, and those that had one were owned by powerful and influential houses, families with a long lineage of ancient dynasties, who ruled their own kingdoms of green, mountains, seas, and rivers.

To catch one for the Queen would elevate anyone’s standing in the court. The House of Ponin had sought one for their own for almost a thousand years, and Rygen Hildram, High Commander of the Queen’s Army, made a spectacle out of it.

But if there was an Adherer in their midst, then the warlock was near.

As if the gods had heard her thoughts, a pink-fleshed creature hopped out of the cart. It almost toppled on the landing, but the soldier caught its fall. This creature was like the short version of the ones gathered at the center of the yard, and Yena guessed that this must be a babe—a child to these peculiar beasts.

Though, it was blindfolded, gagged, and bound not by ropes like the others, but by iron chains embedded with a single green chrysalis on each cuff; standard precautions when dealing with a potentially dangerous warlock. Its sight almost sucked out the breath of everyone in the yard. A few shuffled out into the safest spots inside the buildings surrounding the inner ward, several left entirely at the risky turn of events, and others merely stood to hug the wall, afraid to go near. Yena realized she was the only one who didn’t step back, accompanied by Enthi and Tomiil, who, spurred by the bravery of their mistress, stood their ground beside her.

Yena studied the little warlock, though it seemed it couldn’t hurt a fly from its palpable trembling, shrouded in fear.

It was not what she imagined a warlock to be. It was not like the horror stories her nursemaid often told her before bed, of warlocks turning fields in a grim haze of death, toppled off mountains, murdered kings and princes, brought the skies brimming with fire, and swamped a vicious winter that lasted centuries.

“Bring them to the tower,” Rygen barked, pointing at the dozen in the circle, “except those three and this one”—looking at three of the pink-fleshed creatures and the little warlock—“all go to the great hall. Bring it to the tarry room and request a Queen’s audience.”

The soldiers heeded his command promptly and poked and prodded the creatures to follow them. They cried and bawled in their bizarre language, and the three figures being separated by the soldiers screamed and hollered as they fought to stay with a few in the circle. It reminded Yena of her own niji—named Beauty, who, when separated away from her litter, would howl with such sorrow that Yena couldn’t bear it but reunite her with her young.

The warlock remained quiet as it was ushered in the opposite direction, flanked by six soldiers, the Adherer close behind.

As the soldiers steered the bound creatures out of the courtyard, the crowd began to disperse and return to the various duties they had left attended. Rygen strode toward Yena with a beaming smile and took her into his arms. Enthi and Tomiil took a step back further, out of earshot.

“Ah, sweet sister. You’ve escaped Old Gurtha’s clutches once again,” he said with a chuckle.

“And it won’t be the last,” Yena snickered.

“Eh? What was it this time?”

“Elafan Civil War. She said we could learn a lot from our enemies.”

Rygen suppressed a groan. “Make sure the Queen doesn’t hear you say that.”

“Never mind the Queen! Tell me about those creatures! What are they? Where did you find them? And where and how did you get an Adherer? The warlock?” Yena asked rapidly. Though, she feared what he would say with the latter. Capturing an Adherer would require sacrificing a lot of soldiers.

Rygen shrugged. “We found them in the valley, but we managed to round them up, which took us three days to do. Lost a quarter of my forces.”

Yena frowned. “You went into The Dark? That is forbidden.”

“Was. The Queen lifted up the ban.”

“Why?”

“The Dark retreated, sister, as of a fortnight ago. For weeks, the Queen had sent scouts from the fringe camps out of the mountains to explore the valley. The Elafans abandoned the entire region completely. We’ve won,” Rygen said, beaming a smile.

Elafans? Gone? Yena roused a thrill inside her chest. Rarely did those imperial brutes abandoned a land they conquered. “That can’t be possible.”

“It seems the Empire abandoned Emmora the moment The Dark showed up, but I fear with it retreating, they will be back. And then, we found those things.”

“Do you know what they are?”

Rygen shook his head. “It's up for the Clerics to know, but they are clearly intelligent. Until then, we’ll bring them to an audience with the Queen. She needs to learn what we found. The Kyrians and Ruvari have already moved into the valley, saw them with the little one, and there could be many still lurking. I’ve posted a lot of my soldiers close to the North River just to stop the Kyrian and the Ruvari’s advance. My scouts bring me reports that there's more of these strange people wandering in the woods.”

Yena nodded. With The Dark vanishing, it was only a matter of time before the rest of the world moved in and tried to re-conquer the rest of the lands left abandoned for many years.

“There’s one more thing I wish to ask of you,” Rygen said glumly.

“Yes. Anything for you, brother.”

Rygen gently grabbed her hands and leaned closer. “Don’t ever come near the warlock. Ever. The little one is dangerous. The Kyrian and the Ruvari, who accompanied it are adamant at getting it back in their charge, and who the gods only know what they will do to it. Stay away. Please.”

“What makes you think I will do that?”

“Because I know you, Yena. You might be the future bride of the crown prince, but that doesn’t give you free rein to do whatever you please. Especially this one. Not under the hawking eyes of the Queen.”

“I doubt it would harm a thing. It's so—”

“Little, I know. But we don’t know what it is capable of. We have to think about the city, and of the Queen and the prince. Remember, Yena: The warlock belongs to the Queen now, if she wants to tame the Adherer to her side. Understood?” Her brother urged.

Yena let out a heavy sigh. She nodded, but she didn’t say another word.

“Good. That’s what I like to see. And also, don’t be surprised at what comes out of the warlock’s lips,” Rygen warned.

“Why?”

“It spoke our language. It understood me. And that’s not all. It spoke Kiri, Elder, Ruvarik…all the languages of The Forge. This is why I think you should tread carefully before you try to sneak off in the dark to see it for yourself. Gods know how many times you’ve done that under father’s watch.”

“Fine. I get it. I’ll stay in my stupid room and die listening to Old Gurtha drawl on and on about the lineage and dynasties. Does the warlock have a name, at least? All famous warlocks have a name.”

“As a matter of fact, it does. Jacob.”

Jacob. Yena rolled the name in her tongue.

She chuckled. “What a strange name.”