Aurelie's head hit the hard marble floor and bounced twice before Kirin's grabbed her throat and finally pushed it down a final time. The room went dark and a purple flicker passed Aurelie's vision on the right. Kirin pressed down harder and grunted, blocking her air and pressing so hard on her throat that she thought it would snap at any moment. She tightened her neck muscles. Kirin must have felt it because his eyebrows flicked and he pressed down harder.
Niendry popped up behind his shoulder. Her image was distorted in Aurelie's vision. She was more compressed and looked like something one only sees in the Fun House.
"Get off her!" she screamed, her hair falling over her face. It was the first time Aurelie saw her disheveled and her own panic set in, realizing that Niendry's image was distorted by the lack of oxygen. The skin on Aurelie's face felt hot and a pressure set in her head.
She summoned fire into her hand and grabbed his hands. Feeling the skin on his hands melt to her touch, Aurelie thought he'd stop, but he didn't even flinch and so she stopped. Just as the rim of her vision started to darken, the purple light expanded and darkness filled it.
Kirin's eyes were empty. Niendry slapped her hand down the middle of his back, right between his shoulder blades about four times, and then, out of pure desperation, she grabbed him by the hair and pulled with all her might. The skin on his face pulled backward, making his empty gaze even more terrifying. That was the last thing she saw before it all turned dark.
*****
"I bloody well told her not to touch him," the General's muffled voice was the first thing she heard when she came too.
Opening her eyes slowly, Aurelie swallowed and felt a tight pain in her throat. Just a second ago, she heard Kirin laugh in her dream. If anything, that must have made her come to. Her throat felt raw inside and bruised outside. She touched it lightly and groaned in pain.
"Thank God!" Niendry.
Aurelie turned her head. A crushed flower laid beside her. It looked as if it had been trampled. "I picked it for you," Kirin said.
Although she recognized his voice, and her heart swelled at the thought of him picking her a flower as that would mean he still loved her, something was off about the way he said it. He sounded like a big man pretending to be a toddler.
"Then I remembered that you burnt my hands and so I stepped on it," he said in that same, tantrum throwing exaggerated tone that children use.
Revin laughed out loud. Beads of sweat had gathered on his forehead, and the sleeves of his white shite were rolled up and yellowed on the outer ends.
Aurelie searched for Kirin and found him sitting cross-legged by his father's feet, a good distance away from her. His hands were wrapped in bandages, so tightly that it looked like he was wearing gloves.
"I'm sorry," Aurelie said.
"Sorry's not going to make my hands stop stinging," he retorted, widened his eyes and pulled out his tongue.
As Aurelie sat contemplating what the hell was happening, a kind of wind that could only be made by a passing person grazed her neck.
"If you do that again," the General spoke again for the first time since she gained consciousness, "I'm going to pull you over my knee."
Aurelie looked between the two of them, then toward Niendry.
"He's been trying to kill you with his shadows for an hour," Niendry said, somewhat sympathetically. Saying that she was smiling ever so slightly. "Every since Revin stuffed the soul back into him."
"Oh," Aurelie said. It was the only sound she could come up with and it hurt like hell to speak. She touched her throat and rubbed gently.
"I did more than stuff, necromancer."
"Yes," Niendry said dryly, "how could I forget about how you opened that box."
Kirin glared at her from behind his father's shoulder. It was the same face but that happened to be it.
"Will it wear off?" she asked, trying to avoid meeting his gaze. The important thing was that he was alive and, upon first look, well. They just needed to put his head back together.
The General gave Kirin a long weary look. "I'll take care of him."
"Yes, we will," Aurelie said. "That's not what I asked you." His dismissal was expected but nonetheless infuriating. Wanting to keep a level head about it, she didn't say more. They both knew that he was her general now, and whether or not he liked it, she could just give him an order.
"With all due respect, Your Majesty," he started to say.
"Why do I feel that no respect shall follow?"
"Well, Your Majesty, I imagine it's because you've bumped your head," he answered and smiled as Kirin tapped his hands loudly on the table, and then proceeded to do it over and over again while laughing. "He's going to need some time to recover. My father took some time, and well, he's still not fully recovered."
"How long has it been?"
"Since I took his shadow?"
Aurelie was taken aback by the answer, though she didn't show it. The General thought for a second and then shook his head from side to side every so slightly.
"About twenty years, maybe more." He shrugged.
She was about to ask why but Kirin leaped from his chair, eyes wide like a hungry bear's, and was caught in the air by the shadow creature that came right out of the shadow below him. He kicked and screamed, looking back at his father.
"Alright," the General said, sounding quite pleased and not even trying to hide it, "enough fun for today. Your Majesty, I shall take him to the castle and return for you."
"No need, General," Revin said. "I'll take care of her."
The General turned to the door of the chamber which was still blocked by Aurelie's flame. Aurelie saw bodies move behind the door and understood what he was implying.
"I'll be fine," Aurelie said. "Valice is outside."
He nodded.
"General," Aurelie said, as a whirlwind started to pick up from the grey of his shadow, "I want a daily progress report on his well being."
He nodded again, accepting whatever victory he could get, for now. The whirlwind darkened in color and soon the two of them became completely unclear to her.
"Come," Revin said as the particles of the portal fell to the floor.
"No," Aurelie said.
Revin frowned. "I've proven that I can be trusted, several times."
Niendry looked on between the two of them, visibly bored. "Have you?" she asked, stirring the pot.
"He has." Aurelie started to walk toward the veranda. "And now I will."
Aurelie extended her hands, mostly for effect as Valice could hear her without her having to create the link between the two of them, and a split second later a golden light, flowing like a ribbon, connected her and the dragon.
Can you carry us to the army?
Yes.
"Come on, then," Aurelie said to the other two, sensing a hint of jealousy coming from the side of Niendry. "War's just the thing I need."
"Does she bite?" Revin asked, and showed her a hint of a very nervous smile.
*****
Back at the temporary camp, Kaiden welcome her with some good news. Their spies had found the castle Lukas had his men build for him, so they knew where the core of the city had been. Crack the core and it'll rot and crumble from within, she thought.
His men had scattered between the villages, working for the nobles, and mostly rebuilding their own homes now that the worst of their winter had passed and they could pick the best land for crops. Most of them, however, had gone off to earn coin by working for the crown, building, and training. Aurelie remembered the rebels that had broken into the castle and wondered if they all fell in line as soon as the curse was lifted. Well, she knew one who hadn't, but she didn't see any of his men follow.
The bad news was that they had also discovered gold mines once the ice had melted, and suddenly trading partners climbed out of the woodworks, giving them timber, seed, and livestock. In the last months, the Icelands had developed and found shadow allies, with a speed nobody could predict. Whilst Aurelie mourned and the late King waited, Lucas plotted and worked his men to the bone.
Though the Icelands had spies of their own and by now everyone would know about the large army heading north, giving them plenty of time to prepare. Kara was King Lukas' biggest and strongest ally. They had their own witches, probably five times as many as even Halbrook, and the best healers in the world, not to mention scholars that had studied wars and battles for longer than Aurelie had been alive.
The princes that had come to offer her their hand declined the call to war. The Icelands were Highfire's problem, or so they said. King Lukas had gotten trade from somewhere, and Aurelie heard herself that even Julopi's trade to them had almost tripled in the last few months.
Highfire itself required very little. The large kingdom of Hersa, though never a threat before, had very few people but enough timber to last them a thousand years. Highfire only purchased from them in the winter, and very little at that. The trade was only there to keep the alliance happy and the kingdom had not heard from them in over four months. No letter of condolence, no congratulations for the wedding or of negotiations about the amount of timber the castle was to purchase.
The Icelands, on the other hand, needed tons of timber. Stone houses were preferred but they also took much longer to build with.
No Kingdom would decline extra gold in their coffers, and so no one but the nobles of Highfire agreed to send their men to fight for the crown, and that only happened after Aurelie married Nic and secured Redayrah. Plenty of nobles wouldn't mind the crown for themselves, but with a new army, their prospects looked bleak and protecting the kingdom was their biggest chance to not lose their heads.
Orken had not spoken to anyone since he stormed off after speakingâshouting at Milleanne and disappeared to the front of the lines. Valice would hover above them and then Aurelie would suddenly see her far in the distance like a giant bird. She'd sweep down and a trail of smoke would rise from the ground. When they passed the place Aurelie saw the smoke come from, they had weeping farmers stare at the charred bones of their livestock. Luckily, Kaiden came with the crown's gold and paid almost double the price for every lam, pig, and cow Valice devoured.
Some of the farmers had been so pleased that they pushed their untrained, young sons out the doorâwith rusty blades and barely any armorâand sent them off to battle. Aurelie always made herself look for the mother of these boys. They all looked the same whilst bidding their children farewell.
She made sure to find the boys and write them an invitation to Highfire's training camps and send them right back to where they came from once the fathers were too far away to send them right back.
The crown did not need bodies, it needed soldiers.
"What will we do after this?" Daerious asked, walking close behind her.
"We'll have to survive first," she said. Making plans called for disappointment. Any she made always crumbled.
"Oh, come on!" He whined.
Daerious had not been given a horse. He said that Kaiden told him it was because of his friendship with Aurelie. He did not want the men to think that a simple archer received a horse only because was been friends with the Queen. Orken received one because of his age, but once he found out, he gave it to the nearest man and told Kaiden where he could stuff it.
"What else do we have to do? The damn witches are keeping me away from the carts. Did you see the piece of bread and cheese they gave me? I could see my hand through both! Need something to take my mind off my rumbling stomach."
"It has to last the week and most of the men went out hunting in the evening. Not my fault you were out as a candle as soon as we stopped."
"I'd been on my feet for the whole day. I'll go out tonight and catch us a nice rabbit. So what will we do after?"
"I don't like to talk about the future. Once you think or speak of your plans fate laughs and spins you into the opposite direction."
"Alright, best outcome then. Is that better?"
Aurelie shook her head. "You won't let this go until I answer, will you?"
"Nope." He stopped to pick at a trampled piece of grass and stuck the light green end between his teeth.
"Are you that hungry?" she asked.
"Yes, I'm about to start chewing at my own arm." They only ate once a day to preserve the food. No one was happy about it, and the sound of thundering stomachs could probably be heard from a mile away, but they had to make due. The witches struggled to keep up with the large consumption of vegetables and the cheese supply started to look rather thin.
"Go on now." He nudged her.
"Best scenario?" she asked and smiled up into the heavens. "I'd like the spark back in Kirin's eye, and a little girl-"
"No," he interrupted, "don't say that part. The clouds just parted, I think fate is listening."