Treachery Everywhere

The Islander Queen and I wandered through the village of Kanett at midday. She admired the simplistic beauty of the village that surrounded us as we walked. I was puzzled by her previous words and her sudden willingness to ally herself with Gihri against his father. In particular, her comment that I would make a good king puzzled me.

“Why do you say I would make a good king?” I asked her.

“From my experience, grumpy old men make good kings,” Queen Rini explained. “When war is on the horizon, they aren't like anyone else. They see the world for what it truly is, and they are not afraid to go and do something about it. History suggests that they make effective rulers.”

“I believe you are mistaken, Your Highness,” I told her. “From my experience, grumpy old men make terrible kings. The years punish us greatly. We tend to get set in our ways. And we want to just live the rest of our lives in peace, but those damned kids from down the hill keep trampling through your flowers. We're afraid of change, but also of watching the world pass us by. We are also very easily manipulated.”

“I suppose that is true,” Rini admitted. “All of those things can be true. The difference is one of perspective. You seem like someone who would allow wisdom and honor to govern his actions.”

“I'll concede that,” I admitted. “But what if I don't want it?”

“Do you not want it?”

“I do not.”

We stopped at a village garden. They had planted all sorts of beautiful flowers here. Roses, tulips, snowshears, carnations, and lavender were among the flowers I could recognize. Many others I had never seen before. Several of these were planted all throughout the village, and many of them had signs inviting people to take their pick of the bunch.

“What if you were chosen to be king?” Rini asked me. “Let's say… the people of your country convened a special council and they elected you to be their ruler.”

“Don't be silly,” I countered. “Kings are not chosen. Crowns are taken, often by force. You saw it in Gihri's eyes, I know you did. He plans on taking his father's throne by force.”

“But what if?” Rini continued as she picked an assortment of flowers. “It's just a silly little question, Halliyah. Just answer it. Humor me a little here.”

“I still wouldn't want it,” I answered. “Surely they could pick someone better, more capable -”

“Younger?”

I sighed. She figured out exactly where I was going with this. “When the war ends, I've considered taking up farming again. This place seems pretty good for it. Even with all this fancy magic, I can feel myself getting weaker by the day.” I showed her the necklace, which I found so long ago in the Dorns. “This is the only thing that keeps me in the fight. I'm not sure what it does to me, but I don't think I could keep fighting without it.”

She took a moment to look over the necklace and admire it. “It's quite an interesting design. There's some strange lettering on it. Let me see…”

Strange lettering? I hadn't seen anything like it when I first found the necklace or at any time when I would put it on. Rini read out the words, but her voice deepened to a frighteningly low voice as she did.

“Hhebar nisha y andh nebet aa.

Enna kim yd hhet ebt.

Sha aa yd disher rimbet ahd.”

The ground trembled slightly as she spoke. It wasn't enough to cause any damage. Well, except possibly to my heart, because the quake struck me with a tremendous fear. The incident, brief though it was, was enough to steal my breath away. “What was that?” I asked while struggling to recollect my breath.

“It's in the language of the Aiurosi,” Rini explained.

“No no,” I gasped. “The quaking, the change in your voice. There is magic in that necklace, terrible magic.”

“Now that you mention it,” Queen Rini replied, “I noticed something unusual about my voice as I was reading the inscription. And the trembling of the ground… If that wasn't caused by my reading, that is certainly one frightening coincidence.”

“Could you translate that inscription into the common tongue, please?”

She did as I asked of her. “It says: The bearer of this golden curse, the god-king shall he serve. His worth is but a corpse in the wind. But his service shall grant his lord eternal life.”

“That doesn't sound like something an Aiuro would write,” I told her. “It sounds like terrible dark magic. They don't even worship a god-king. That means…”

I snatched the necklace very roughly from Rini's hands and threw it onto the ground.

“What are you doing?” she asked as I began stomping the necklace into the dirt.

“No bloody demons are taking control of me,” I answered. “They can forget about that plan entirely.” The stomping probably hurt me more than it did the glorified piece of jewelry beneath my foot. Once I was satisfied with my stomping, I lifted up my foot to reveal the metal plate had broken into over a dozen pieces. Part of me instantly regretted destroying the necklace, for it had given me great strength in my time of need. But it had to be done. If the demons were using it for their own ends, I had to stop them before it was too late.

“Shall we continue this talk later?” Rini offered.

“We shall,” I told her. “Meet me here tonight. Gather up your best soldiers just in case. There is darkness among us.”

“Where are you going?”

“There is someone I need to speak to at once.”

•

I admitted to myself that I had no idea where Hilami had run off to after the battle. Knowing her though, she was probably somewhere in the fields gathering up ingredients for her next batch of potions. Something told me that I would find her in the mountains. I knew not where that intuition came from, but seeing as I had no better options, I listened.

True to my intuition, she wandered up and down mountain passes carrying a basket full of dandelions. I waited for her to stop her gathering before I made my presence known to her. It would have done neither of us any good if I accidentally frightened her beforehand.

“Hilami!” I called out to her.

“Halliyah…” she answered as she turned to face me. “It's about time you decided to speak to me again. What's the matter?”

“I… I destroyed the necklace.”