A Kingdom Lost Read online

  “There you are,” Averie said. “I feel so lazy just lying around.”

  “Get out of that bed, and you’ll never hear the end from me,” Dawnmother said.

  “Best not to argue with her, Averie,” Starbride said. “I learned from an early age to avoid being sick around Dawnmother if I ever wanted to stand on my own.”

  Averie nodded against the pillow. “I know why you’re here.”

  Starbride held her pyramid up. “I’m sorry, but—”

  “Don’t apologize. I understand.” As Starbride came closer, Averie squeezed her fingers. “Katya would be so proud of you.”

  Starbride’s breath caught. “Just relax.” She waited for Averie to still before she pressed the pyramid to Averie’s forehead. She wouldn’t pry, she promised. She would stick to the captivity and leave the rest alone. She separated the memories into their threads and searched for Roland.

  The ballroom curtains were on fire, the air thick with smoke. Screams of dying men and women surrounded her, but Averie only had eyes for him.

  She worked quickly, putting arrow to string, aiming, and firing. One thudded into his arm, another into his chest. He just kept coming. She tried not to see his horns and claws and fangs, but spirits above, those all blue eyes drew her in.

  Averie blinked, breaking the spell enough to glance behind him. Katya and King Einrich had reached the exit. Katya called Averie’s name and looked back, surely thinking something stupid like rushing to her rescue. “Go, go, go,” Averie repeated. She loosed another arrow as she ran backward. Through her terror, she felt sudden gratitude that no one she knew would see her die.

  Her right foot skidded, and she glanced down to see sheets of blood and a body under her feet. She felt his cold then but couldn’t look. She called to the spirits to protect her, to tell Katya she was sorry; she hadn’t slowed him down enough.

  Starbride tried to pull away from Averie’s terror, but it caught her. She felt the blow as Roland’s fist slammed into Averie’s side. Averie’s memories released her then, growing fuzzy and unsure. She’d barely been conscious as she’d crashed into the wall. It had been so hard to breathe…

  Starbride let her own emotions surround her, fear and sorrow as Averie lay at the bottom of that wall, below a haze of smoke and face-to-face with a corpse. Averie had only flashes of memory then: being dragged by her ankle from the ballroom. Someone had tossed her on a pile of rags. No, they weren’t rags but people, a pile of corpses staring at her sightlessly. She’d tried to struggle, but it felt like she’d been squeezed in a vise. Her head pounded and swam. Her vision wouldn’t clear; she could barely stay awake.

  “Get clear, get clear,” she’d said to herself, the words mostly in her head. She had to free herself from the bodies’ clutches and find out what had happened, if Katya had escaped. Through her agony, she wriggled free of the pile, able only to crawl. She froze when she saw him.

  Roland bent over a worktable, his Fiendish face put away. He fished around in the corpse pile, a horrid rustling sound, not seeming to notice Averie on the edge. He flopped one woman in green livery onto the table: Cristine, a friend and fellow maid. Her brown hair had come undone and cascaded down her face. Roland brushed it away almost tenderly before he crunched into her skull with a dagger.

  Averie fought not to gag at the grisly sounds, at the way Cristine’s body jerked after Roland put a pyramid in her. She sat up, her now-gray eyes glassy and unfocused before they grew hard and cruel. Averie tried to be still, but every part of her wanted to cry out, and she couldn’t control her shaking. Cristine’s dead eyes focused on Averie with lightning quickness, and she let out an ear-splitting howl.

  Averie tried to crawl away. She whimpered as Roland’s footsteps came closer. When he lifted her, she screamed. He held her under her arms, making her body shriek where it was broken.

  Smiling, Roland was very handsome, but Averie could see the Fiend curling beneath his skin. He could never rid himself of the cold of the grave, no matter his face. “Hello, pet,” he said.

  Averie sobbed as she fumbled for her belt knife. She couldn’t get her shaking hands to close over the grip.

  Roland cuddled her close. “There now, dearheart, there, there.” He rocked her as if she was a little babe; her ribs screamed and screamed. Black and gold spots raced across her vision. “You’re a very broken baby, aren’t you?”

  “Let…let me…go.”

  “Don’t think I don’t remember you,” he whispered. “I’m so glad you lived, darling. Now we can have a proper conversation.”

  Starbride yanked out of the memory before the torture could start. She skipped ahead before looking again. Roland had let Averie heal before he’d tortured her anew, asking the same questions: Where was Katya? Einrich? Starbride? Reinholt? He asked her with pyramids and without. Crowe had taught her the mental exercises to resist a mind probe, and she’d used them all. In the end, she’d broken, giving up every Order hiding place she knew of. She’d also told him that Crowe and Pennynail had many more hideouts she didn’t know. She’d rejoiced at this knowledge even as he’d bled her for it.

  Starbride tried to block out the pain and look for planted memories, changed ones, anything that didn’t make sense, small overlays like the one she’d spotted in Scarra, but found nothing. After all the torture, maybe Roland didn’t think he’d needed to change Averie, not if she was going to die in the bowels of the palace.

  Starbride pulled out of Averie’s memories and let her own sobs overtake her. She felt Dawnmother’s arms around her.

  “I knew it was bad,” Dawnmother said. “I’ve held her many times these past few days.”

  “I can’t stay in here,” Starbride said. “It’s too small.”

  Dawnmother hurried her from the room. Averie would remain unconscious for a short time. Starbride didn’t know if she could be there when Averie awoke, didn’t know if she could face someone who’d been through so much horror. It made the time Starbride had spent in hiding seem like a gentle outing in the country.

  The door to the outside loomed ahead, and she changed her mind. Roland was out there. They met Pennynail coming in. Starbride grabbed him and led him to her room. “Take care of Averie,” she said over her shoulder to Dawnmother. Too small was far better than too large.

  “What happened?” Freddie said as he took off his mask.

  “Averie’s memories…I can’t speak it. Tell me of your journey.”

  He eyed her for a moment. “I fenced the silver and renewed some of my contacts. They’re pretty anxious for news. The corpse Fiends have taken over the docks but left most of Dockland to be its crime-ridden, refuse strewn self.”

  Starbride hugged her elbows as she paced. “I’m sure we’ll find a way to use that. Right now I’m just glad we can feed everyone for a little longer.”

  She related what had happened in his absence, lingering on the monks and hurrying through Averie’s memories. She had to pause at the end, thinking it strange that Rage’s death paled to what had happened to Averie. Starbride had only seen him die. She’d lived through Averie’s terror.

  “Sneaking into a strength chapterhouse?” Freddie said. “Sounds like fun.”

  “Only you would say that.”

  “When do we leave?”

  “Tonight. I don’t think our young monk friends will wait any longer now that you’re back.”

  *

  After dark, Scarra and Fury led Starbride, Hugo, and Pennynail to their chapterhouse. Fury strolled in the front door, one more red robe to blend with the rest. He would discern if Ruin was within as quickly as he could and then give a signal from the back of the building. Scarra led them there to wait.

  There were no walls around the large building. A simple garden lay at the back with a short wire enclosure to keep out wandering feet. People didn’t often try to rob the strength chapterhouse. Anything they found within wouldn’t be worth the beating they’d take.

  Within moments, Starbride spotted a candle flic
ker on the third floor. The window swung open, and a knotted rope fell down. Starbride held in a groan. As good as she was getting at climbing, using a rope to scale a sheer wall was another animal. Scarra climbed up as easily as any other person would slide down. Pennynail leaned close to Starbride’s ear. “Just tie it around you, nice and tight, and we’ll haul you up.”

  He scampered up quick as a wink, not as muscled as Scarra, but lean and wiry. Hugo helped Starbride tie the rope under her rump, so she could sort of sit on it. The thought of being lifted three stories, dangling above nothing, made her heart dance in her mouth much more than the time she’d climbed a townhouse with Pennynail. At least then, her fate had been in her own shaky limbs.

  “Don’t worry,” Hugo said. “I’ll be right behind you.”

  “I’m not worried about being up there; it’s getting there that’s the problem.”

  “I mean don’t worry about being embarrassed. I’m going to have to ride just like you are. I’m built for rapier fighting, not climbing.”

  She gave him a grateful smile, gave the rope a tug, and she was off. She ascended so quickly she nearly yelped. She had to trail her feet along the building to keep from smacking into it.

  Pennynail pulled her over the sill while Scarra and Fury kept the rope taut. After she was loose, she leaned against the wall in the small storeroom while they pulled Hugo up as fast as they’d pulled her. She took out a detection pyramid but hesitated. If she detected one of the traps Roland had put in the monks, it would explode.

  No, she’d really had to focus, had to be practically on top of that trap before it exploded. They had to risk checking for what they couldn’t see. She half wondered if Roland had modified the exploding trap after she’d sneaked into the palace. Maybe he was tired of people poking around in his things.

  “Everything seems normal,” Fury whispered. “There was a light under Ruin’s door.”

  Starbride kept her detection pyramid out as well as a Fiend suppression pyramid. Scarra, Fury, and Rage had been missing for a few days. Ruin wouldn’t know whether they were alive or dead. He might assume his three protégés were infiltrating the rebels’ lair. The thought that she had a lair nearly made Starbride laugh out loud.

  She sent the monks out first, each with an excuse as to why they were on the top level where only the highest ranking monks had rooms. If Ruin had been the only senior monk to be mind-warped, the others might not know about her new friends’ mission.

  After the monks, Starbride, Pennynail, and Hugo moved as a clump, the better to defend one another if they were surprised. Down a short hallway, they heard voices. They paused and waited. A door shut, and Scarra leaned around the corner and waved them on.

  Every creak, every quiet cough or snore from within a shuttered room made Starbride’s stomach turn over. She tried to conjure some of the excitement she’d felt when breaking into someone’s house, but what waited for her at the end of this journey made it too serious to enjoy.

  That and Averie’s memories kept ricocheting through her head.

  She stopped occasionally to use her detection pyramid but kept coming up empty. She met Scarra and Fury just outside the door to Ruin’s room. Pennynail and Hugo stood to the sides of the door, out of sight. Fury stood directly in front with Scarra behind him and Starbride hidden behind her. When Ruin opened the door, the two monks would step aside, and Starbride would hypnotize Ruin before he could call out. Then they’d all pile inside the room, and Starbride could get to work.

  That was the plan, anyway.

  Fury knocked. “Who is it?” came a call from within.

  “It’s Fury, brother. We’re back.”

  Footsteps neared, but they sounded off to Starbride, as if the walker had more than two legs. She peeked around Scarra’s shoulder, hoping to remain hidden in the dim hallway.

  “Fury?” A large man opened the door, his hair gone gray, but his blue eyes shining. “Did you report to the quartermaster? He was supposed to tell me when you’d gotten back.”

  Scarra tensed, but Starbride grabbed her arm as a shadow shifted behind Ruin’s back. A woman stepped into the light. “Fury and Scarra,” she said. “What are you doing up so late?”

  “Uh, hello, Drive,” Fury said. “How are you, sister?”

  “Well enough. Are you going to tell me what brings you to Ruin’s door this late in the evening, or do I have to guess?”

  Starbride half expected Fury to ask Drive the same question, but she seemed older than him, more in charge. Starbride’s mind raced. What were they going to do?

  “Where’s Rage?” Ruin asked.

  “Well, um, we’d like to have a chat about that, brother,” Fury said, “if we may.”

  He nodded. “Drive, would you mind giving us a few moments?”

  No! Drive couldn’t come into the hallway without giving the game away. As Drive stood on tiptoe to kiss Ruin’s cheek, Starbride whispered, “Go!”

  Pennynail leapt around the corner and barreled into the two older monks. Hugo followed, but Drive caught Pennynail’s wrists and threw him neatly away. Ruin ducked, tripped Hugo, and while Hugo was falling, stood up underneath him and flipped him onto the floor. Both monks’ faces seemed almost serene as they fought. Fury and Scarra burst into the room after that, and Starbride followed.

  She slammed the door behind her. When Ruin looked at her, she lifted her pyramid and pounced upon his mind.

  Oh, what a disciplined mind it was. He squirmed against her as she tried to fracture him with the facets of the pyramid. He took two shuddering steps forward.

  “Whoa!” Drive cried in a happy voice. “You almost had us! Who are these two? New recruits?” She turned in Starbride’s direction. “What in the spirits’ names are you doing?”

  Starbride felt them move, piling on top of Drive to keep her from crying out. They tried to reason with her as they scuffled.

  Ruin took another step forward, his fists clenching and unclenching. Starbride swallowed her fear and stood her ground, trying like Darkstrong himself to put Ruin under her will. Finally, he fell to one knee, his mind in too many fragments to keep going. Starbride pressed her pyramid to his forehead. He went limp, and she let him slide from her arms to lie still.

  Fury and Scarra had tackled Drive, but she squirmed against them and Hugo as he tried to cover her mouth. Pennynail lay atop her legs, but even under all their weight, she wriggled so; any minute she’d be free.

  Starbride knelt next to her. After the way Ruin had dismissed her, Starbride guessed she hadn’t been mind-warped by Roland. Still, they couldn’t have her shouting.

  “Listen to me, and we’ll let you go,” Starbride said.

  Drive’s eyes rolled upward, giving Starbride a look that told her where she could stuff her demands.

  “Your friend Ruin has been mind-warped by the Fiend king, and my friends and I are here to help him.”

  “Please listen to her, Drive,” Scarra said.

  “Just knock her out!” Hugo whispered.

  Drive quieted when Starbride showed her the pyramid. “I don’t want to use this. I want you to see what we’re going to do. We’re trying to help him. Hasn’t he been different these past few days?”

  Drive ceased her struggles and watched Starbride intently.

  “Fury, Scarra, and Rage had been acting strangely, too, ever since they visited the palace,” Starbride said. “But I helped them.” All but one. She shook the thought away.

  Someone knocked on Ruin’s door. “Everything all right in there? Having a midnight brawl, are you?”

  Starbride bent lower. “You’ll be awake to watch the whole thing. When I’m finished, he’ll be the man he was.”

  Drive nodded slowly. The knock on the door sounded again. “Ruin?”

  “Let her up,” Starbride whispered. Everyone backed away as if Drive were a wild animal. She leapt to her feet in one easy motion, and everyone tensed as if they’d have to jump her again, but she only eased the door open a crack.

&
nbsp; “What is it? We’re busy.” She sounded out of breath, and her hair was a mess. The man in the hallway laughed and made some comment. She said, “We will if you go away.” Then she shut the door and turned. “If you do anything bad to him…”

  “Understood,” Starbride said.

  Drive straightened Ruin’s legs so that he looked more comfortable. “Who the hell are you?”

  Hugo grinned. “We’re the resistance.”

  “Against the Fiend king?” She smoothed Ruin’s hair. “We were suspicious, didn’t know whether to back this new king, and then one day, Ruin just…wasn’t suspicious anymore. He’s a slow burner. He doesn’t make snap judgments, good or bad.”

  “There’s a reason for that,” Starbride said. “The Fiend king changed his mind for him, just like he did for Fury, Scarra, and Rage.”

  Drive looked them over. “Where is Rage?”

  Starbride tensed, but Scarra touched her shoulder. “The Fiend king killed him.”

  Drive’s eyes went wide. “With this mind thing?”

  “No, afterward. When Ruin is awake, we’ll tell you both.”

  Starbride placed her pyramid on Ruin’s forehead and looked for the day he met Roland. He’d been skeptical; most people were. But Roland had won the kingdom by right of arms, and there was something to be said about that. Well, right of arms and pyramid magic, which seemed less honorable, and those walking corpse things gave Ruin the creeps. But Blade said she’d been won over by him, and she was suspicious of Fiends after what had happened at that noblewoman’s trial. If this Fiend king could convince her, Ruin supposed he was worth hearing.

  Starbride found Ruin’s overlay in nearly the same place as Scarra’s. Instead of the rousing words he thought he remembered, there was the pyramid, though Ruin had resisted. Ultimately, he succumbed. Everyone succumbed to Roland in the end. Starbride plumbed every memory that came after. Blade and Ruin began visiting chapterhouses all over town, convincing high ranking members to “hear the Fiend king out.” Starbride saw the names and faces of everyone he’d taken to see Roland, including Fury, Scarra, and Rage. Drive wasn’t among them, but Starbride said the others out loud so they could be written down. After she’d gleaned everything she could, Starbride lifted out the manufactured memory, again having to take the thread, everything after Ruin had gone to see the Fiend king.