The King, page 31
part #4 of The Jester King Series
“Ha!” Billy flinched and banged his head on the doorjamb. He rolled away and stepped around the edge of the building, panting and rubbing his head. Still staring at the frozen corpse, he stepped back and bumped into something else. He turned and found someone behind him. “Ha!” he exclaimed with a leap backward. He leaned over with one hand on his knee and tried to catch his breath. “Don’t sneak up on me like that.”
He stopped when he realized he was talking to another frozen faerie. This one, an elf, held a rope in her hand. Billy followed the ice-cycled rope behind her and found yet another frozen corpse. The rope went into the woods to a dozen frozen faeries, some huddled together, some lying alone on the ground, others frozen in mid-step. Billy fell to his knees and collapsed against a tree at the edge of the woods.
“Too late, too late.”
After he threw up and got control of his emotions, he trudged back through the village and around to the side of the ship to retrieve his pack. He opened it on the snow and withdrew a square package wrapped in cloth. The cloth fell away to reveal a wooden box with a stone-lion inlay on its lid. He peeked inside. The thorn blossom was wilting.
It’s too late. They’re all dead. Nothing I can do. I’ve got the cure, but it’s too late.
Just then, a voice said, “Do what you came to do.”
He stepped back and looked up at the Dragonfly. Brimstone stood by the railing, giving orders to his crew.
“Captain!” Billy said.
Toady turned to face him.
“Did you just say ‘do what you came to do’?”
Brimstone scratched his chin and looked distracted more than thoughtful. “No, but it sounds like good advice. Also sounds like that tempest is moving down towards us. I’d like to be out of here before it does.”
Billy looked to the tallest hills. The wild lightning storm swirled around them like a colossal cauldron in the sky. It moved lower, and the thunder grew louder. In the midst of the thunder, he heard the voice again, saying, “Finish the quest. Fulfill your destiny.”
Billy reexamined the thorn blossom in the box. While the petals were drooping, the berry still looked full of life.
The thunder growled again, and he knelt. He dug through the snow, but when he reached the ground, he found it frozen solid. “There’s nothing for it,” he muttered as he drew Lura Zahn and stabbed at the frozen earth. Though it complained, the blade performed well; however, he was still only breaking the crust.
The sound of clattering hooves broke Billy’s focus. He looked up and saw Malkry and her warriors crossing the frozen river on horseback. He grabbed the box and got to his feet with the ship at his back. The dark elves ambled up the bank and all but Malkry and her lieutenant dismounted. Her warriors drew their weapons and circled around Billy as Malkry rode up behind them.
“Malkry!” Billy felt behind him for the Dragonfly’s rope ladder. “Thank goodness you’re still alive. And you’re just in time to help. We need to dig—”
“I’m not here to help you, you half-breed stench.” Malkry glared down at him.
“You’re not? … But I’ve found it! I found the cure.”
Malkry took in the ship at his back, along with its goblin crew. After a moment, she smiled and returned her eyes to Billy.
“And no sign of your bodyguard, Shaldra.” She pretended to pout. “I thought Onian’s whelps were supposed to be tough.”
Billy ground his teeth. Of all the people to survive. Lura Zahn rattled at his side, but he restrained the blade and his hand. “What do you want, Malkry? I’ve no time for games.”
She smiled. “Well, I want you dead, but in order to secure my reign, I must, at least, appear blameless in your death. So I’m here to watch my friend Gulch do it for me.”
Dozens of goblins charged out of the woods and village and scrambled across the slippery river. They ran on all fours and fed in between Malkry’s elves, filling every possible gap like potatoes poured into bins. The dark elves sheathed their weapons and stepped back with their arms crossed as the goblins took the front line around Billy.
Then Gulch gave a husky laugh from somewhere behind Malkry. It came closer, and the ranks of elves and goblins moved aside as the chief of the goblins nudged his way through. At last, Gulch swaggered into the center and stood with his fists on his hips, glaring at Billy.
The goblin paced from side to side and drew his curved saw-like sword. “I bet you never expected I would be the end of you. Did ya? Did ya? You gonna tell me to shut up again?”
A clicking sound came from above Billy’s head as Toady Brimstone leaned over the side and pointed his crossbow at Gulch. “No, Gulchmelon, but I will.”
Gulch stepped back, and his eyes bulged when he saw the Dragonfly’s captain had him in his sights. “What are you doin’, Brimstone?”
“Keepin’ an eye on my future king. … Now, why don’t you tell me how you figure to end him when I’ve gotcha dead to rights?”
Gulch’s jaw tightened, and he ground his teeth. Then he growled. “I’ll have him skewered on ole Riptooth here before you can shoot.”
“That doesn’t change the fact that you’ll be buried with my bolt between your eyes. An’ besides, I’m bettin’ Eleanor’s son can block ole Riptooth with that dwarf sword on his hip.”
Gulch growled some more and wagged his finger at the captain. “I never liked you, Toady Brimstone,” he bellowed. “You’re a born turncoat!”
“Aye. Me dad would be proud.”
Gulch sputtered. “With—with—with seawater in your veins!”
“Oh, to be sure.” Toady grinned. “Now, what’s in your veins, Gulchmelon?”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Is it the ink-black warrior blood of our ancestors, Gulchmelon?”
“Stop calling me that!” Gulch threw off his heavy fur cloak and kicked it aside.
“Or is it pale, like milk or lilies?”
Gulch turned his back on Billy with fists clenched at his temples. His whole body quaked, causing jiggling ripples in his corpulent torso. His goblins chanted his name.
“Gulch. Gulch. Gulch! Gulch!”
The goblin chief made a low growl, which crept up in volume and tone until it built to a yowl. Then he threw down his hands and spun around with foam on his lips and blood in his eyes.
Deordrif leapt over the side of the Dragonfly with a shriek and landed between the goblin chief and Billy. Gulch drew back his weapon, and Drif brought her sword down on his head.
He collapsed to the snow like a shovel load of dirt, black blood leaking from a deep split in his scalp. The circle fell silent as the goblin pack stared at their fallen leader. All at once, they hooted and screeched. Some of them stabbed the ground with their crude weapons while others bounced from side to side. They became more frenzied with each second and Lura Zahn leapt into Billy’s eager grip.
Drif brandished her sword back and forth in front of her and stepped back until she nudged into Billy behind her. There were a few short chirps like crickets from the goblins, first from the left, and then the right. Drif and Billy shifted their stances and prepared for the onslaught of the goblin horde. Then, just like that, the goblins turned and sprinted away even faster than they had come.
Malkry leaned towards her lieutenant. “If you want the job done right ... don’t use goblins.”
Her warriors drew their weapons and fanned out around Billy and Drif. Malkry inched forward. She peeked over her elves at Gulch’s body, and then gave Deordrif an icy stare. Lightning flashed in the sky behind her.
“You wouldn’t understand,” Drif said.
Malkry turned to Billy. “Obviously, my niece underestimated you, as did her mother. A mistake I shall not repeat.”
Billy glanced at Deordrif as the thunder boomed. He remembered the thunder of hooves on the gorge bridge where he came face to face with the Night Queen. Drif’s uncanny resemblance to her was more than coincidence, and now he knew the source of it. It also explained why Malkry chose Drif for her agent against him.
“Ready!” Malkry signaled her warriors.
They raised their weapons and took an attack stance.
Deordrif raised her sword. “We are kin, Malkry.”
“You are nothing to me, whelp.”
Drif appealed to Malkry’s lieutenant. “Rafeyn, remind her I am her niece.”
“My niece is dead!” When the echo of Malkry’s voice receded, she said, “Death to all traitors.”
At that, the crew of the Dragonfly popped up at the railing with crossbows, gaffs, and ropes. Captain Brimstone chuckled. “Steady, boys.”
Malkry assessed her opponents, then gave the command, “Shields!” Her warriors snapped their shields into position to block the crossbows above them. “Ready!”
Without warning, an arrow tapped Malkry on the shoulder, then sunk into the Dragonfly’s hull with a thud. Malkry’s head snapped around as she looked to the woods behind her. Onian crouched on a tree root that protruded from an embankment, with his arms hanging between his knees and his bow clutched in one hand. His eyes were on the ground. His quiver bristled with more arrows like the one that had touched Malkry’s shoulder.
The leader of the forest elves raised his painted face to look at Malkry. “Now that I have your attention ... ” Onian gave a short whistle, and a score of elves stepped into view from behind trees and atop the court village roofs.
“Don’t start without me!” a gravelly voice called from the village.
Billy looked to his left. Thortan came across the snow through an alley, followed by a dozen dwarves. They wore furs over their armor and fuzzy snowshoes like giant rabbit feet, which kept them on top of the deep snow. Frost and gleaming icicles adorned their beards.
Once clear of the buildings, Thortan stopped and pulled out a loaded crossbow from behind him. He pointed it at the dark elves as he panted. The other dwarves did the same as they entered the court. The dark elves shifted their stance and formation.
Still breathing hard, Thortan yelled, “Sorry we’re late, Your Majesty. Came as soon as we dug out from an unexpected cave-in.”
Toady Brimstone cleared his throat. “Well Malkry, looks like you brought a whole lot of swords to a bow fight.”
Malkry turned her mount to face the village, and her lieutenant, Rafeyn, moved between her and Onian. She took in the forest elves and the dwarves. “Thortan, Onian, this isn’t your fight! That goes for you too, Toady. Go home, and I will put an end to this curse of winter.”
Onian stood. “How do you propose to do that, Malkry?”
“I will destroy the cause of this curse.”
“Destroy?”
“Kill. … Then I will use the wild magic to heal the land.”
“Heal the land?” Thortan glared at her. “You couldn’t heal a hammer blister. Besides, I’m startin’ to like this winter.”
Malkry ignored Thortan’s droll remarks and continued in Onian’s direction. “I will spring us out of winter and back into summer where we belong.”
“What makes you think you can control the wild magic?”
Malkry ignored the dwarf again and stared at Onian.
The leader of the forest elves stared back. “That’s a fair question, Malkry.”
She frowned. “I wouldn’t expect a dwarf to understand.”
“Listen, missy.” Thortan squared his shoulders. “Even if I believed you could control the wild magic; given a choice of you and a spring or the boy and winter, I choose the boy and winter!”
“This isn’t about holding onto a piece of earth, Thortan.”
“You’re right.” Thortan looked away from Malkry to Billy. “It’s about serving your king; holding on to his promise.”
Malkry rolled her eyes and addressed Onian. “I told you, he wouldn’t understand. Only the elves truly understand the magic. And I am the most skilled of all the elves. The boy knows nothing. He’s not even an elf. I alone can control the magic.”
“If that were true,” Billy said, “you would have done it already.”
She turned to him with a snarl. Lightning flashed in the hills behind her.
Billy glanced up at the storm. “You and your elves live in the caves, up in the crags of the high hills, don’t you? I’m guessing everything you tried made the storm worse, didn’t it?”
“When you’re dead, the magic will listen to me.”
“To control the wild magic … ” Billy held the wooden box over his head. “You must first tame it. And I have gained the secret to tame the magic.”
Malkry’s hands had been low behind her shield and that of her lieutenant. She shrieked and thrust one hand in the air. It glowed with an eerie blue flame that sent a handful of embers racing into the clouds. Immediately, lightning cascaded across the sky from the storm in the high hills and lit up the clouds above.
Drif stepped in front of Billy. “Don’t do it, Malkry! You won’t be able to control it!”
Suddenly, the air swarmed with bolts and arrows. Several of Malkry’s warriors fell, but her lieutenant’s shield intercepted the missiles meant for her. Deordrif swung her sword in an arc, forcing the remaining dark elves to step back. At that moment, Malkry pointed her finger at Billy, and his hair stood on end.
“Skeldtruma!” Billy thrust his fist into the air. Sudden, acute pain bit into his forearm.
A broad, crackling bolt of lightning shot from the heavens and blasted the ground between him and Malkry. The blast threw Drif and Billy against the Dragonfly and knocked everyone else within ten yards off their feet. A cloud of steam roiled up from the ground. Malkry’s elves rolled on the ground, holding their heads.
Billy couldn’t see and his ears rang. He could hardly feel the cold snow beneath his cheek. He pushed up and tried to stand, but promptly fell. After taking a deep breath, his vision returned a little. The first thing he saw were two Lura Zahns sticking out of the snow, next to a blurry wooden box with lions on the lid.
As he focused on the box, his mind became clear, and he sat up. Deordrif lay unconscious next to him while the other dark elves lay dead or dying, or crawled on the frozen ground—their weapons and shields scattered about. Rafeyn, though pierced by an arrow in her thigh, fought to remain mounted, but Malkry’s mount bucked in the clearing, riderless.
Where is she? My spell should have protected us better than that. And why did it hurt?
Just then, Billy noticed the crater in the ground before him. Not only had the lightning burned away the snow, but it had also burrowed deep into the earth, leaving a hole. He grabbed the wooden box and crawled to the crater. Then he flung open the box, took out the thorn blossom, and placed it in the fresh, warm earth. The petals of the flower were now brittle.
“Please, let this be right.” He pushed the dark soil into the hole and formed it into a tiny mound.
With his hands on the earth, Billy did his best to calm his mind and draw together the spell to bind the wild magic. The magic tugged on him. In his mind’s eye, he saw the magic encompassing everything, connecting everything. It flowed like water under his knees, floated on the air like smoke, entwined trees like vines, and smoldered in everyone around him. He said the words whispered by his mother in his vision, “Sakgefan diagor ap ghumilis.”
The magic rose and dipped without warning, curling and churning like the lightning storm descending on the court. At times, it seemed to have purpose, and then it reverted to absolute chaos. No matter how he moved his mind, the magic slipped away like water through his fingers. It seemed as vast and unalterable as the sea.
What am I missing? I have the thorn berry—the last link to my mother. It must be my spellbinder. The magic is all around. It’s so ... impossible! I can’t do it!
Billy heard his mother’s voice. “If you cannot, Tirn Aill is lost.”
“Mother?” It’s too big, and I am so small!
“If you do not solve this riddle, Tirn Aill will be destroyed by the very magic that sustains it.”
But I’m not ready. I don’t have enough training. I’m alone.
“You are not alone, my son. You have never been alone.”
He opened his eyes and saw his mother’s ring on his hand. The tiny stone winked at him. He smiled, took a deep breath, and sat up tall. “I am the heir to the kingdom.”
At that moment, Malkry stepped out from behind a tree just in front of him. Her eyes swelled with pain and anger when she saw him unharmed and kneeling in the lightning crater. She circled her palms together and chanted.
Though his eyes remained on Malkry, Billy turned his attention to the magic raging around them. He used the ring to focus his mind on feeling the magic’s activity. All at once, he could see the magic with his open eyes. Its tumultuous heaving confronted him, but then he saw a ripple in the chaos. The ripple was part of a bigger purpose, and he realized that what he had glimpsed earlier were the actions of an entity or spirit. The wild magic wasn’t mindless, nor was it civilized. It was a force with feral instincts and savage passion. Moreover, it was angry.
Billy realized that while the magic had been bound to him, its nature had been tempered by his nature and the power of the ring. At that time, the magic had been a stabilizing force to Tirn Aill, lending power to promote order and protect life. However, when the Witan severed the bond, it was abandoned to its own inclinations. Those inclinations were to alter reality. That was its essence. Thus, it was inevitable that, left unbridled, it would become the agent of chaos and destruction.
Once again, the eerie blue flame encompassed Malkry’s hand. She glared at Billy and raised it to the sky. As before, embers shot up into the air, and the clouds flashed and thundered, but this time, Billy could see the wild magic flooding into her. She smiled as if warmed by too much liquor, and her eyes became drowsy.
“Malkry, stop! The wild magic is using you.”
Malkry gazed at him and laughed. “You’re weak, like your mother.”
“It’s using you to destroy Tirn Aill—to destroy us all.”
“Not all of us.” Malkry smiled. “Just you.”
Her eyes glanced away from Billy. A crossbow bolt grazed her cheek while another pinned her cloak to the tree behind her. She pointed her finger to Billy’s left, and lightning flashed in the village, knocking the dwarf archers off their big rabbit feet.
