Page 64 of Skalterra By Nightmare
“Who else knows?” Tamora pulled back Fana’s hood to beam down at her.
“The Riftkeepers you see in this room, our families, and the few who hunt us.”
Tamora drew away.
“You’re telling me that the integrity of the Seven Provinces rests on this child andno oneoutside your little cult knows?” She placed a hand on her chest in faux-scandalization. “Ferrin, my pet, you flatter me letting me in on this little secret, but I fail to see why I should part with my hard-earned Skal and resources to help you, especially with rotsbane attacks on the rise. I had four steamcarts worth of export sucked into oblivion just this week alone. I don’t have the supply left to be handing out charity.”
“Skalterra is on the brink of—”
“Collapse?” Tamora’s red curls flew as she twirled to cut Ferrin off. “I don’t give a ramstag’s hide about Skalterra, Ferrin. I care about Skal, something you are asking me to part from and something that Keldori is teeming with. Why shouldn’t I kill the Sovereign and open the door to the other side myself?”
She spun again, this time towards Fana, and pulled her goggles into place over her monocle as she did. A scimitar of red extended from her grip until the tip of it balanced inches from Fana’s nose.
A golden rapier erupted from Tiernan’s hand, the handle guard wrapping up his wrist and arm. He batted away Tamora’s curved blade and stepped between her and Fana.
“You will not threaten the Divine Sovereign,” he growled.
“You come here asking for aid and would raise a weapon to me in my own home?” Tamora swung her sword to rest it on her shoulder as she surveyed Tiernan with a tilted head. “You who claimed to have no Skal? What wicked trick is this, Ferrin?”
“It’s not a trick.” Ferrin put his hands up in surrender. “Please, we are trained to protect the Sovereign, and Tiernan must have some residual Skal left in his system. He’s young. You can’t—”
“I can’twhat?”Tamora hissed. “Can’t expect my guests to treat me with respect in my own home?”
“No, you—”
“Can’t demand honesty from those who would ask me to part with my hard-earned resources?”
“No—”
“Can’t kill the Sovereign here and now?” Tamora’s round face split into a grin. “Release the Frozen God myself and give us all unfettered access to Keldori and its Skal?”
A second scimitar appeared in her free hand, but her smile slipped at the sound of Galahad laughing from where he sat on the dais step. It was a labored chuckle, and I noticed the sheen of sweat on his forehead for the first time.
“The Lyrian thinks something is funny?” Tamora mused. She kept her Skal-swords pointed at Tiernan but turned her goggled gaze to Galahad.
“I thought you’d have the business acumen of your old man, but I guess that didn’t pass down quite as easily as his hair color,” Galahad rasped. “Or maybe you’re still too young?”
Tamora’s cheeks tinged red.
“I’m flattered you think me young, though we must all seem like such children to someone old enough to remember Tulyr before its fall. Alas, your seniority does not give you the right to speak to me so callously. Titus, put him with the others.”
The gargantuan man dragged Galahad forward, and shoved him towards Tiernan. Tiernan let his sword dissipate before he accidentally skewered Galahad on its point, and Orla helped to steady the old man.
“If you kill the Divine Sovereign, you’ll release Saergrim from his prison!” Ferrin shouted. “Not even you are foolish enough to think you would stand a chance against the Frozen God.”
“The Frozen God is just a man, despite what his nickname suggests. And I fear no man, Quillguard.” Tamora turned away to climb the dais back to her throne. Her swords evaporated as she fell back into the seat of twisted bronze, and she blew a loose curl away from her goggles. “The audacity of you and your cult of Riftkeepers is to be admired. Genuinely, I do mean that. But I’m bored of Skalterra, I’m tired of rotsbane sucking my exports dry, and I’m done with this conversation. This next chapter will be fun. I’m sorry you won’t be here to see it.”
Tamora raised both hands in front of her, and I automatically looked to the floor. I’d seen enough movies to be wary of secret trapdoors. However, Ferrin’s shouted warning brought my attention snapping back upwards.
The waterfall behind Tamora glowed red, and an armored figure stepped out from the cascading liquid. A scimitar like Tamora’s lengthened in his hand, and he regarded us with blank eyes as he stepped down the dais towards us.
“Stop playing,” Ferrin hissed. “You know a Nightmare isn’t going to stop us.”
But then another Nightmare stepped from the curtain of Skal on Tamora’s other side. And another. The streams that ran along the perimeter of the room glowed too, and Skal ran off the shoulders of Nightmares rising from the basins.
“Kill them all.” Tamora settled back into her throne and crossed one leg over the other. “Tonight, Skalterra is freed from the prison the Four Magicians locked us in.”
Green flashed in Orla’s hands as she procured a sword and shield. Ferrin grimaced and followed suit.
