“Then
what are you interested in?”
“Killing
the Quiet King.”
They
both stepped back in shock and exchanged curious looks with each other.
I
extended my arms out to the side and did a small turn. “Do you see my
markings?”
“You
have returned.” The woman continued to smile, but I wasn’t sure yet if that was
a good sign. “Those words are ones that our people don’t read any more.”
“They’re
written by Ambi and Ressi—”
“Do
not place our goddess next to the rapist god!” the man yelled.
A
circle of fire surrounded me and rose two feet in the air. My skin warmed. I
trembled, but stood my ground. Just like the vampires, I figured fear would
only make the mage more excited verses compassionate for my feelings. “I died.
I flew into the dark sky. Stars glittered around me. Ambi and Ressi stood next
to each other, holding hands.”
“You
lie!” the woman shrieked.
The
ground under my feet quaked. I stumbled back. The flames burned my ankles. I
cried out and jumped over the circle of fire. The fire followed. I rushed away.
The ground in front of me opened up with a crack. A hole formed. I almost fell
in and jumped back, barely avoiding the blaze behind me.
“I’m
not lying. Please believe me,” I begged. “They floated in front of me and they
were together. Ressi gave me a message to give to you.”
“You
come to us as a blood mage with no knowledge of our customs looking like one of
the Returned.” The woman stomped my way. Her beads clinked against each other.
Her braids whipped around as she moved. “You wear words and symbols we do not
understand. You lay with a vampire that thinks he’s a king. Why should we
believe you?”
I
opened my mouth, but no words came out.
Make them believe,
Ambi
had said.
How? How do I get them to believe
me?
I
held my hands out. “I don’t know what else I can tell you. I saw them when I
died. They told me to come to you, to unite my kings and the mages. That if we
were all joined together then the Quiet King would fall.”
“And
when the king is dead, who shall take his place?” she asked.
“I
do not know. My king is not interested in castles and land.”
Her
face held a dubious look. “What does he desire?”
“Me.”
“You
said that Ambi said to unite your
king
s.
Are there more than one king over there?” The man pointed to the metal wagons a
mile away.
“Yes.”
I nodded. “The king’s brother and son are there. They are both fully grown
kings and willing to help you kill the Quiet King.”
“Help
us?” She laughed. “I believe
we
would
be helping
you.
”
“You
would.” I considered something and just went with it. “But tell me, do you
believe that your tribes can kill the Quiet King by yourselves? Surely, you
long for him to be dead. He’s brought war and strife to the entire planet and
although you’ve managed to hold your territory, soon one day in the future,
you’ll lose and he’ll step on this land and take over.”
“Never!”
Fire burst from the woman’s hands. “Not while my heart beats.”
“Join
us and you’ll be right.” I turned to the man. “You may not believe that I’ve
returned and saw Ressi and Ambi, but you must believe that the Quiet King will
conquer all of your tribes one day. Maybe not now or next week, but the time
will come when you or your children will die under his claws.”
Silence
passed. All remained still. Even the hundreds of men and women were quiet. The
woman and man walked off together without signaling the other. They moved away
from all of us and whispered among themselves. I stared at all of the mage and
realized all of the tall ones had yellow eyes as bright as the sun. After a few
minutes of them talking, the man and woman returned.
“What
do you expect from us?” she asked.
I have no idea.
“You
say you want us to fight with you, but how and how many of our people?” he
added. “And where will this battle be?”
“I’m
not sure of any of those answers, but one of my kings can discuss all of this
with you.” I held my hands together. “I’m sure you all could come to a
compromise where everyone would be happy. Can my kings and people come into
your territory? The only weapons we have are the swords that my twenty guards use.”
“It
does not matter how many weapons you have.” The man chuckled. “We have the
numbers and power.”
I
nodded.
The
woman extended her hand. “I am Saykoy, the chief of Tribe Rock and daughter of
the Ground Mover. This is Yen, chief of Tribe Flame.”
“Your
kings and people are welcome on our land for now,” Yen said. “But if we do not
like what your kings say, or if we believe that you mean us harm, then all of
you will die.”
I
stiffened.
“Do
you understand, blood mage?” Saykoy asked.
“Please
call me Brie, and yes, I understand.”
“Then
go get your kings, Brie.”
Chapter Nine
~
Samuel
Someone
locked me in the wagon. I punched the copper walls. Pain stung my fingers and
bit through my flesh, but still I beat against the metal. I had no idea how
long I’d been trapped inside. It seemed like forever, or at least hours. The
metal formed into the imprint of my fists. Holes emerged, but not enough to
free me, just enough to piss me off even more. I howled.
Who did it? Ian or Leeta? Surely it
couldn’t have been my queen.
I wished I could speak
to her mind and tell her to free me.
I
shouldn’t have broken the connection.
My
body rippled with rage. The desire to shift into king form bubbled within me.
I can’t.
I slowly trusted Ian more and
more. What he’d said had been right. Wearing that form had shoved me into
madness. The last thing I needed to do was go insane within the wagon.
More
time passed. And then footsteps sounded and locks clicked. I shoved my claws
out, ready to rip my imprisoner’s arms out of his or her body.
“King?”
Brie peeked her head in.
I
retracted my claws. “Did you do this?”
She
bit her lip. “Yes.”
“Why?”
I snarled.
“I
needed to go over to the mage and talk without you or Ian scaring them and
inciting a war.”
I
drank her nude image. “You walked over there like that?”
“I
needed them to see my symbols and realize that I didn’t bring weapons with me.”
Anger
hit me. I made sure not to show her how mad I was. In the end I didn’t like
anyone seeing her naked, even though the truth of the reality was that many
people had already seen her when Ian opened the wagon door and exposed our
lovemaking.
“Tote!”
I left the wagon and helped Brie out. Once she stepped on the ground, I
wrenched off my shirt and wrapped it around her. She grinned.
Naughty queen. I’ll take care of
that when you’re under me again. It appears the only time I have control of you
is when I’m inside you, and I’m not sure of myself even then.
“Yes, sir.” Tote arrived at my side with shaking hands. He must’ve been scared
of my wrath. There was no need for him to worry. I, myself, was slowly learning
the queen was in charge.
“Get
her a robe.”
“Yes,
sir.” He bowed.
“Brie,
it’s time to call them off!” Ian called from several feet away. Guards
surrounded him and pointed their swords near his back and chest. My sister and
Leeta stood in front with daggers targeted toward his head.
“You
trapped Ian, too?” I asked Brie.
“Of
course,” Brie said as Tote arrived with the beautiful crimson robe she’d worn
earlier.
*
* * *
The
mage removed the line of troops from the area, but no one witnessed where they
went. A mile away, only two mages remained—a woman wrapped in a beaded gown and
a fat man decorated in wolf skin. Brie explained the man was called Yen and the
woman Saykoy. They were Tribe Flame and Rock’s chiefs.
The
fact that the chiefs stayed there without their members demonstrated to me that
they believed they could overpower us. They were wrong. The king within me rose
to the surface as if to sniff the air. I inhaled them—rich mint and the smoky fragrance
of a fire. Their power flooded the land. I felt it as soon as we stepped over
the borderline. The air was thick. It pushed against my skin, clogged my nose
for a few seconds, and buzzed across my flesh. It took several seconds for me
to adjust.
There’s old power here.
Brie and I rode on a striped horse toward the
two mage. Wagons trailed behind us full of our people. Ian refused to ride a
horse. Instead, he sat inside his wagon with his dead queen. His whispering
floated from the wagon’s walls.
“Who’s
in there with him?” I glanced over my shoulder at Brie.
“His
queen.”
“Are
you joking?”
She
rested her head on my back. “I wish I was, but no. I heard him talking to her
during the day. He refused to talk about it when I asked him later.”
“And
this is the vampire you think should deal with the tribal chiefs?”
“Ian
understands their customs and is familiar with vampire-mage politics. I’m sure
he had the opportunity to witness it with his father. And even better, he was
king himself for a period of time.”
“This
talking to a corpse worries me,” I said. “He’s crazy.”
“Don’t
say that.”
“He
is.”
“We’ve
all done things in these past days that many would consider insane.”
I
gritted my teeth as the vision of me forcing my fangs into Brie’s neck
returned. “You’re right.”
“Let
me handle Ian. I’m going to sit him down tonight and make him talk to me about
it.” She sighed. “Maybe he’s so heartbroken and lonely from her death that he
can’t help himself from talking to her body.”
Which is insane.
“Then
there is another option,” Brie added. “One that may be harder to conceive, but
true.”
“What’s
that?” I raised my eyebrows.
“What
if she’s talking to him through their mind-to-mind connection? The one that he
surely would’ve created through the blood…?”
“You’re
forgetting that she died.” I urged the horse to go faster. The distance between
the two mage and us quickly closed. We would be there in a minute. “When you
died, our bond severed. That is the same thing that would’ve happened to them.
If something is talking back to him then it’s—”
“Evil.”
“Yes.”
A throb emerged around my temple as a headache dawned. I’d already been
stressed about the upcoming fight with the Quiet King, dealing with the mages
to gain their support, and trying my best not to harm my queen. The one constant
normalcy was Ian. When I was in doubt about being a vampire king, I knew I
could seek his help. If it hadn’t been for Ian, Brie would’ve never entered
that wagon this morning and tamed me.
Yet he has been acting out of
character.
Ian’s hand between Brie’s legs played in
my head. A growl broke through my throat.
I
don’t like that he took advantage of me when I was coming inside of her. I’ll
have to watch him.
“What’s
wrong?” Brie lifted her head from my back.
“I
didn’t like Ian’s hands between your thighs.”
She
stiffened. “Let’s worry about all of the other hundred things that we need to
deal with and forget about that.”
“Did
you feel disrespected?”
An
exasperated breath escaped her lips. “No…I know I should have, but…no.”
I
gripped the reins of my horse tighter. “Did you like his fingers there?”
“This
is a dangerous conversation.”
“Yes,
it is.”
“Then
let’s stop talking about it.”
We
approached the two mage. I stopped in front of them. Brie hopped off as if
trying to escape further conversation on that subject.
You’re safe for now, but at dawn
we’ll discuss this more.
Ian’s
human servant rode the wagon my way and then stopped it by my horse. The copper
door opened. Ian stepped out with a scowl on his face as he brushed his fingers
through his hair. I didn’t think he’d slept much during the day. Bags lounged
under his eyes. Red tinted the whites of his eyes.
He
headed my way with a grumble ripping from his chest. “What are you looking at, Samuel?”