Page 45 of Their Queen

We traveled more quickly than I had anticipated, crossing borders and through towns until we finally reached the edge of Winter territory. After finding a secluded spot near the tree line, Cyerra dropped us off, releasing us from the shadows. We set up camp for the night, along with a few sleeping rolls to rest for a couple of hours. As we gathered up firewood, Cyerra tried to strike up a conversation with us. “So, you’re from the Winter Court?”

Jonathan paused in his task of compiling wood for me to light, eying her like he was astonished that someone would speak to him. “Yes.” His answer was drawn out as if wondering if there was a trap in the question that he couldn’t find.

“What’s it like? Titania is from the Winter Court as well, right?” she rattled off as she set up our bedrolls. For my part, I was sorting through the food we had brought with us.

Jonathan’s eyes darted to me as if I would save him. I snorted at the idea. He was on his own with this one. I could have told her that she had the quietest travel partners while we’d been stuck with the chattiest. I ducked my head to hide my amusement at his discomfort as he cleared his throat. “It wasn’t so different from the other courts when I was a youngling. Already, Titania’s parents had grown power amongst themselves, pushing for their daughter to take the throne somehow. She was groomed for it from a young age. Of course, she was about a few hundred years older than me, and we didn’t run in the same circles. You forget that I was just the son of a Priest of Avalonia. He didn’t get his rise to Head Priest until after I had already begun the rebellion, so I grew up in a small village to the south.”

“Damn. I don’t think I’ve ever heard you say that much,” I told him, smirking when he glared at me. I knew Titania now, but I hadn’t known much about her history or how she’d managed to win the trials, to begin with.

“Yeah, well, you haven’t spoken with me much except to tie me up and hold me captive,” he accused, still not letting that go.

I sighed, handing him his portion of the provisions. “This again? We told you why it was necessary. We couldn’t be sure that you wouldn’t lash out at Rhowyn, you know, considering you didn’t know she was your daughter at the time.”

Cyerra took her portion from me as I went to sit next to the sticks that had been stacked up. Thrusting out a hand, I started the fire, barely giving it any thought. Cyerra took a bite. “So, she’d been trained to compete in the trials?”

For once, I was thankful for the girl’s curiosity as Jonathan sighed, chewing slowly on a bite of cheese before answering her. “Yes. But knowing what I know now, those trials had seemed off, the magic wrong. I suspect that even then, she or her parents had found a way to ensure her ascension. She was ruthless, ensuring that many of her competitors didn’t finish for one reason or another. There was no concern for them as she set her sights on what she wanted above all else.”

He paused to take another bite as we ate in silence, letting that information sink in. I stared into the flames, my affinity, as I waited for him to continue. “Looking back, I can see that her selection was the beginning of the end of honor in Avalon. She encouraged backstabbing and ruthless games within the court. Because if they were too busy fighting each other, then they wouldn’t revolt against her and wouldn’t notice what she was doing. Slowly amassing power within herself. I assume it would have continued except the lower fae began to notice that the land was dying. It was the final straw for many.”

“Well, hopefully, we’ll find something when we explore these ruins. What do you think we’ll find?” Cyerra directed this question to both of us.

“Who’s to say,” I responded. This wasn’t my area of expertise, and I wouldn’t even hazard a guess. Jonathan just shrugged his shoulders, obviously done with talking for the evening.

“Whatever it is, it must be important if Titania was searching the area,” Cyerra commented to herself. I hoped she was right and that whatever we found would help us moving forward.

“Either way, we should get some rest. I suspect we’ll have a busy day tomorrow,” I told them, pulling the flames back into myself to extinguish the fire as I went to lay down in my bedroll.

It felt like I had just closed my eyes when moans of fear sounded out in the silent night. Instantly, I was alert and reached for the sword resting next to me. My hand found the hilt within the span of a heartbeat. My eyes darted around for the source until I caught sight of Jonathan tossing and turning, his moans of terror sounding out quietly, lost in the throes of a nightmare.

I debated for a minute before rising and walking over to him, nudging him with my boot. He startled awake, his eyes darting as he sought out the source of danger. After a few moments, his breathing slowed and his eyes relaxed as he realized that the only threat was the one in his mind. Looking at me, he nodded. Neither of us needed to say a word, recognizing kindred spirits, those haunted specters, in each other.

Knowing I wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep, I went back over to my bedroll and started to pack it. Jonathan followed my lead, rolling up his own sleeping pad and blankets. Then we ate more of our provisions, not once speaking aloud, as we let Cyerra recover from our long journey. We’d be pushing her powers to get there and back as quickly as possible. When light started to break over the horizon, I stood and shook her awake. She stretched with a hum, and I wondered if there was ever a time that I had been as innocent as she was now. If I ever had been, it was so far back that I couldn’t recall it. It was refreshing but also painful because I knew that by the time this war with Titania was over, she would be just as jaded. She squinted up at me, blinking to clear the sleep from her eyes. “Time to go already?”

“If you’re feeling up to it?” I asked her, needing to know that she wasn’t going to burn herself out trying to get us there quickly.

She jumped up as if offended. “No, I’m good.” Dusting off her pants, she packed her bag quickly, determination set into her face as she remained silent for once.

“Need to eat?” I asked, letting her know that she needed to care for herself and not worry about rushing on our account. Just because we had been awake for hours didn’t mean that she couldn’t take the time to wake up.

“Nope. Everyone ready?” When we nodded in affirmation, she clamped hands on our shoulders and turned us to smoke once again. Our journey this morning seemed so much shorter, either because Cyerra was moving faster than expected or because a part of me was dreading the arrival to the ruins, with time moving the way it did when you wanted to avoid something. Speeding up and slipping through your fingers before you could prepare yourself for the dreaded event.

The fields slowly morphed from vibrant fields to dead grass. If we had been walking, it would have crunched under our boots. All moisture and life had been sucked from the land, turning the blades into fragile glass. You’d expect that because we were in Winter Territory, the status of the grass was a result of ice and cold, but we were close to summer in Avalon. Which meant that the grass shouldn’t have been so devoid of life. The colors dulled as I witnessed for myself what had everyone so afraid. This was more than just the hibernation of grass in winter, sleeping until spring when it would bloom again. Even if it had been winter, it shouldn’t have looked or felt like this. This was death, never to awaken again, gone from this plane forever.

“Let us down,” I told Cyerra, needing to experience this outside of the shadow form. Not saying anything else, she let us down as if she could feel the same things I was. Once I was on my own two feet again, I stood there, turning in a circle to take in what exactly I was seeing.

The village and homes were vacant, crumbling before our eyes as if even the wood that had built them was dying from the effects of the magic drain. Beneath it all, there was an insidious feeling that crept up my body from the soles of my boots, crawling up my spine like fingers caressing the hair on the back of my neck. Whatever this was, it was wrong. Unnatural.

Cyerra whispered as if afraid to disturb whatever was causing this sensation. “Is this what Rhowyn was talking about? That the land was dying?”

“This is something different, something more malevolent,” Jonathan spoke up as he took a few steps forward, eyes scanning our surroundings as if the answer was just up ahead.

Not a creature stirred because there was no life in our vicinity, yet our movements almost sounded muffled. Like a blanket had been laid down across the ground so that everything was dampened. An oppressive weight hung in the air, and I knew just what Jonathan was talking about. This was not the same thing. It was worse.

“Come on, let’s see if we can find the ruins. The sooner we can get out of here, the better. Keep your eyes peeled. I don’t have a good feeling about this place,” I told them, taking the lead as I walked down the main street. From what I had heard from the others during our planning, the ruins would be the heart of the rot, a vibrant spot amongst all the death. If we kept walking, we would run across it sooner or later. I was hoping for the sooner part of that statement though, not afraid to admit to myself that I was creeped out by this place.

As we kept walking slowly, our muscles tense and waiting for something to jump out at us at any moment, we finally saw what Brannoc had described. “Is this it?” Cyerra asked.

“Has to be,” I said as I stared at the twisted vines and bushes, so thick I was concerned we wouldn’t make it through there. It would take ages if we hacked at it with swords, the vines as thick as my thighs. “Any suggestions on how we get through?” If one of us had Earth magic, we’d be able to get the foliage to peel back from the entrance, but none of us did.

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