The door of her room burst open, making Michael jump up from his chair and grab the hilt of his sword. Aurelie felt better, but her energy levels were still rather empty. A little boy, clad in the gold and green colors of the Halbrook school uniform panted. He bent over, hands dropping to his knees, and looked up at Aurelie.
"They'reâseeking you . . . at the gates," he said between heavy breaths. "Master Orken has revealed Halbrook to the army, and said that they're trampling through everyone in five minutes if you're not by the gates."
Aurelie lurched from the bed and the boy's head lowered. She was in her nightclothes, and though not revealing, they were inappropriate for the eyes of strangers. Aurelie picked up her gifted, bear hide cloak off the edge of the bed and swung it around her shoulders.
"Who knows where the bloody gates are?" she asked, already through the door with Michael close enough to tread on her ankles.
'That way." Michael pointed toward a small path between two shops. They broke into a run.
Everything happened rather quickly from then on. Kaiden sat atop a brown stallion with Daerious to his right. The council members were behind him.
"You're damn right, I'd have done it!" Orken's voice dragged her attention. He and Milleanne stared each other down, fingers pointing and faces red as if they'd just come out of a steaming bath.
"A traitor is what you are!" Milleanne's lips pulled down tightly. She spat on his shoes, and Orken's face puffed up twice its normal size.
"Orken," Aurelie kept her voice steady, holding back a smile. "You alright?"
"There she is, my Queen." He narrowed his eyes toward Milleanne and dared her to say another word.
"Ha! You be careful of this one," Milleanne pointed her thumb in Orken's direction, "next you hear, he's gone off to Julopi and found himself a king! Though I don't even think the reek of fish could cover the pungent stench of a dirty snake!"
"I will have you know," Orken's neck spun like that of an owl back to Milleanne, "that I had been protecting and serving our people while you made soap and necklaces for the humans to sell!"
"Maybe you should have made some soap then. Last I heard, everyone in your charge is dead!" Milleanne muttered something under her breath and waved him off with her hand.
"Daerious," Orken shouted, approaching his horse, "if you ever even think of marriage, I'ma cut out your tongue. Makes things much easier!"
"We were married for two seconds and if you'd kept your mouth shut for half of them, you'd still have a wife!"
"Milly, you're the only witch in all the kingdoms who can turn two seconds into twenty straight years for a man!"
Aurelie's mouth opened slightly. Milleanne saw her expression, her eyes wild as a bushfire, and nodded. "Oh yes, Aurelie, I was married to that!" She glanced his way and rolled her eyes.
Kaiden had climbed off his horse and came up behind Aurelie. "Lady Milleanne," he said and bowed his head, "when can we expect the men to arrive?"
"Men?" Her head twitched angrily to the side. "You're not getting my men," she said and smiled darkly. "They're busy with the harvest. The witches will go to battle for you!"
Aurelie met her eyes and smiled.
"You'd think with a Halbrook witch for a wife and a Queen for a niece he'd expect a little more from women," she muttered as she treaded back through the vined metal gates of Halbrook.
"I didn't meanâ"
"Who cares what you meant?"
Kaiden turned to Aurelie with his mouth babbling like that of a fish. "I truly . . ."
"It's alright, uncle," she said and placed a hand on his shoulder. "With Orken for a husband, I think she deserves giving someone a good beating, never mind a lesson." Aurelie tried to keep her mood light, but she didn't know how to look him in the eye now that she knew he hid the news about Kirin.
Time seemed to have been lost to all of them after. The witches came out in thick armor and coats. Behind them, crates of bread, boxes and boxes of waxed cheese, vegetables, and dried meats stacked twenty donkey carts. This food was for the road but once they'd seen how hungrily the men watched the carts pass, the witches set up a stew stand at the gates and fed the men into the late hours of the night.
Kaiden watched the witches tread past the sea of men grimly. "Thank God for them," he said. "The food won't last longer than a week or so, but that'll get us to Redayrah, at least. The Morel army will meet us at the crossing."
"How many men?" she asked purely because she wanted to know how many men would still stay guard at the manor when she exploded in their eye blazing.
"Ten thousand."
"And here?"
"Just about the same. Maybe a little less."
"The witches are giving us a thousand. Though most are healers, not fighters."
"Uncle," she said, changing the subject and keeping her expression hard as stone as to not reveal anything. Kirin always did say that everything was written on her face. "Has the general joined us?"
"Why do you ask?"
None of your damn business is what she wanted to have said but instead, she shrugged theatrically. "Seeing the army here feels like final and the general and I left things on rocky terms. I'd like to make peace with him, especially now that father is . . ." She caught her breath. "They were such good friends." Her eyes teared slightly.
"I shouldn't have kept him away from you, Aurelie. I am sorry about that. We thought . . ."
"That doesn't matter now, uncle." She tried to say without sounding like she was rushing him. "There's plenty else we've done that we should be apologizing for anyway." Well, she couldn't quite let him get away with keeping Kirin's whereabouts secret from her, could she? The sting of betrayal clung to her like a hungry leech.
He cocked his head a little in confusion. "Do you care to mention what these might be?"
"Perhaps when we're in better circumstances." She could no longer bring herself to smile. "The general," she reminded him, raising her brows.
"I saw him with the council at the back of the camp. Some guards were setting a tent up for them. That or he's scouting with the other shadow walkers."
"Thank you." She nodded. "Perhaps we should make camp here." As much as she wanted to hide her intentions, she didn't want word to spread among the guards that she had run away. That would be terrible for morale. No leader worth their salt would abandon their men during a battle. The last thing she needed was for them to lose their faith in her or, even worse, think that she had lost faith in them.
"How long will you be gone?" Kaiden said, his eyes finally revealing the guilt he felt. Or perhaps, he was just a little sad that she found out about it.
"Don't wait up."
"We tried to get him."
"You failed."
"I know, sweetheart, but we thought you might do worse."
"Yes, I've heard. I'm unpredictable and unstable."
"Oh, you're very predictable, dear," Kaiden said almost breaking into a fit of laughter.
She gave him a sharp look.
"The trouble is, we have to predict murder and destruction."
"I've not murdered anyone since . . . and that wasn't murder either as I thought we were fighting our enemies. We were surrounded and . . ."
"I wasn't . . ."
Aurelie didn't continue, wondering why she was defending herself in the first place. A chilly wind picked up and the earthy clean smell of rain filled her nostrils. The air felt a little damp already even though not a single drop of rain had fallen. Aurelie didn't want to wait until she was completely soaked to meet the general.
"None of it matters," she said, walking away. "If I'm not back by morning, continue without us. We'll catch up."
"Aurelie," Kaiden looked uncomfortable again, "your husband is with him."
"My husband is Kirin Donahue," she said loudly, silencing the voices of the guards around them. "Let that be known. No other men have ever had my heart and no other man ever will."
She left him in tears, looking down and wiping profusely as they toppled down one by one and then as if someone had opened a tap.
By the time she found the tent that had been set up for the council - a grey open one that was no more than a glorified umbrella - her eyes were swollen but dry. She hadn't seen the general since he found the opium on her and honestly would have still tried to avoid him if she wasn't desperate.
"General," she called.
The council rose in greeting. She looked around her and noticed the guards had all lowered their heads too. "Up, up, up!" she called almost angrily, feeling extremely exposed because of their gesture.
The general was the only one not to bow. After raising one disapproving eyebrow in acknowledgment, he turned around. "I have no news of him."
"I do," she said.
He glanced back ever so slightly.
"Let us," she said to the council members. They seemed a little uneasy with the winds of change that had rummaged through their perfect little circle. Some of them stayed a moment, a twinge of rebellion evident in their eyes. Aurelie didn't push. "Please," she added. Showing respect never hurt anyone.
They left but their faces show that they were quite unhappy about it.
"Did you know too?" she asked him.
"Know what?"
"That he's being kept at the manor in Redayrah."
His eyes twitched back and forth, focusing on nothing in particular. "With the Morels?"
"Yes, I believe so."
"He's been there for weeks," a woman's voice said.
The general's eyes flicked behind Aurelie's back. "Who are you?"
"She worked as a maid in the Icelands. Her name is Deborah," Aurelie said.
She took two steps toward the woman, feeling the need to hug her so tightly that she struggled to breathe. Her eyes caught a man who was half giant and half worse for wear. A spark ignited in Aurelie's mind. Sure she had seen him somewhere before, she kept looking until a chill swept over her along with a realization. He was one of the men who had attacked the Queen's castle back in the Icelands. It was his friend's hand that Aurelie melted off of the Queen's throat.
"Your Highness," Deborah said, reaction to the situation. "He's a good man. Orken hired him to find your boy, and we thought . . . Well, we thought you might take us in if we found him."
"He's a rebel."
"More of one now than before."
"An enemy of my enemy," he said once he neared them.
"Alorah wasn't my enemy."
"What the bloody hell is wrong with you?" General Donahue exploded. "He could be dying as we speak."
Aurelie spun around. The General's expression was wild and furious. Never had she seen him look so untamed.
"I'm going to get him," he said. "You shouldn't come," he added after a minute. "It won't be good for your relations."
"I don't think my husband will approve of me sitting out of his rescuing." Aurelie beamed, catching a familiar figure out of the corner of her eye. It was Nic.
"Who are you loyal to?" she asked the brute. The general was growing impatient with her, but perhaps he would enjoy what would happen next as well.
"To her," he said looking at Deborah. "If she has a safe place in your court, to you."
Nic was just an arm's length away when Aurelie nodded to the rebel. Her hands began to shake slightly as she readied to act on her anger. "Nicolai Morel, you are hereby charged with treason. Your crime, the kidnapping and false imprisonment of Kirin Donahue, King Consort. You plea shall be heard before the council on their return from war."
He was stupefied. "Aurelie," he said, opening his mouth slightly, trying to find the words. He smiled, hoping to get a smile in return. "What is this?"
Aurelie cocked her head. "Do you not hold the His Highness, Kirin Donahue, in your . . ." she looked at Deborah and then at Keenen. "Where is it that this traitor holds my husband?"
"The dungeons, Your Majesty."
"Seize him."
Nic laughed, raising his hands. "This is an astounding mistake."
The council members came rushing in, Kaiden at the forefront. "What in God's name are you doing, Aurelie?"
"Did you know they had my son, Kaiden?" the General asked in a tone that chilled Aurelie to the bone.
"There were more pressing . . ."
"Kaiden, you have to stop this," one of older council members said, his faded eyes scowling.
A dark circle appeared beneath the general. The draw of it was so strong, Aurelie felt weak at the knees standing so close to it.
"Are you coming?" he asked her, his patience seeing its last drop.
She nodded and then stopped just before she reached the portal. "We need proof that he's alive."
Keenen tripped Nic with one foot, let him drop down on the ground with a thump, and then secured his knee on his back. The rest happened so quickly that the only person to react was Deborah.
"Keenen!" she screamed. "My God, not like that!"
Aurelie hadn't even seen him withdraw his tiny ax until he swung it down. Nic's eyes were wide with shock and agony. He looked at his bleeding stump and then screamed so loudly that they probably did hear him in Redayrah. The whole situation made her want to laugh maniacally. What the hell else would she live through? An intoxicated feeling swept over her.
Keenen wrapped his arm around Nic's head, holding his mouth shut with his hand. Nic struggled but Keened pressed down harder, his fingers turning white.
Aurelie kneeled down and picked up the severed hand. "It's his ring finger hand," she observed quite calmly to the utter surprise of the council.
A tear fell down Nic's cheek and rolled over Keenen's hand.
Aurelie winked at him. "An eye for an eye. A hand for . . . " she said and waved his severed hand at him. "You better pray to God that he's alive or this won't be the last piece your daddy receives from me."
"My God!" someone said from behind her and the shock in his voice made her smile. If every bloody man on the planet thought of her as wild and mad and none of them would cross her.
The blood still oozed out of the hand as Aurelie held it. It rolled down in strings and dripped onto her dress. "
The portal was growing stronger behind her. The General's magic felt stronger than anything she had ever felt. Her muscles tensed as they fought the pull of his portal.
"Uncle," Aurelie she said, ignoring the judgmental glares of everyone around her, "please see to it that he doesn't die. That would be very helpful."
Hands grabbed her by the waist and pulled her into the pit of darkness. They fell. Inside, the shadows whispered blessing to the General. Aurelie felt them flutter around him as they carried them toward their destination. He was a King here, in the Shadow Realm.