Kemeia Ascending - Part 2

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Ravela's agents have captured Kemi and taken her back to the place of her nightmares. Where the Queen orders her to heal the sleeping princess. Can Kemi succeed where all other healers have failed? And has Lunete been poisoned, or is something more sinister at work? Kemi better solve the riddle of the sleeping princess and soon, or she, Marta and all the healers will suffer the queen's cruel wrath.

Kemeia Ascending
by armond

Part 2
 
Ravela
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City of Marossa
Palace Infirmary
Early evening

“A novel approach, Ciro, I’ll give you that. I order you to bring me a healer to revive my comatose sister, and you bring me one in a coma herself.”

It is taking every ounce of restraint I possess not to blast something or someone. How long must I suffer the incompetence of fools? Lunete has no time to spare!

Before me, a young woman -barely more than a girl, really- lay in an infirmary cot, unmoving, her eyes shut tight. She wore a cheap woolen robe of a drab olive hue and her feet were bare and dirty. Yet lustrous black curls framed a face that was mysterious and dark. Exotic.

Next to her stood another woman, one well past her youthful days. She donned the rich green robe of a midwife. If I had to place the look on her face, I’d say it was somewhere between distress and attack dog.

“Mistress Kemi is not in a coma, ma’am. She drained herself healing men burned beyond all recognition. Never in all my years have I seen such a thing.” The midwife stroked the unconscious girl’s cheek, and I saw wonder lingering in her eyes. Then she crossed her arms and stared at me.

“Kemi will rouse soon enough I reckon. She needs her rest.”

My eyes traveled over the sleeping girl again because something felt …familiar ...about her.

“By all accounts, her healings were nothing short of miraculous, Queen Ravela.” Ciro shuffled his weary body across the room to stand near the cot. “Agent Devros reported she turned their charred black skin to healthy pink. Surely this one is sorgente.”

His faced wrinkled in an expression of uneasiness, one he’d worn every day since Lunete lapsed into her coma.

“Devros also reported a riot broke out when they took her. The people screamed at my agents to leave their healer alone.”

Riot was there? Damn the people! Lunete needed this healer more than they. For the first time in a year, I had hope. The girl's fiery magic called to my own. Though hers was a healing energy, and my sorgente flowed to high spell craft, we resonated. And this one was so strong. I felt it! She could be as strong as me.

No, I will keep this healer to see what she can do. I needed to know so much more, so the midwife now had my fullest attention.

“And your name is…”

“Marta Coona, yer highness, I'm a 4th level mid wife, trained in Selene's Halls.”

I nodded, considering her words, her thick Glamorgan accent. She wasn't young, I guessed early 40s, but to reach that level before one is silver-haired is remarkable. She must be highly skilled.

“You work with this healer? Who is she? Speak plain and true, your lives are in the balance.”

I cared not that the people think I'm wicked for imprisoning the healers. I know what they call me. My heart hardened the day Lunete was poisoned. My baby sister! She who hosted banquets for the poor. She who couldn’t abide seeing a stray dog on the streets of Marossa without taking the miserable mutt in and finding a home. Everyone, everyone loved her.

Save one. Cormac!

“Her name's Kemeia, though we call her Kemi, Majesty, and she arrived from the Anatol Isles some months ago. I'm paired with the lass, ya see. For she's a mute and I know the sign language.”

My eyes glanced from Marta to the sleeping almond skinned beauty. And she was a beauty; I could tell even with the hideous robe she wore. A mute too? Fascinating. And from the Anatol Isles? Her raven hair, and spicy complexion suggested it.

The Isles ...such a mystery to us mainlanders. Cormac made a diplomatic expedition there once early in my reign. He'd convinced me we needed to reach out to our neighbors to the south, but they rebuffed him. He had so many new ideas for our kingdom: alliances, road building projects, a university even and...

No! Cormac! Traitor!

I shook my head. No doubt some fascinating tale wrapped around the pretty little healer from the enigmatic isles, but I cared not. She would heal my sister or she would join the others to rot in prison. Or die. Lunete was running out of time.

“Wake her.”
 

~o~O~o~

 
Kemi
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Palace - Infirmary
Early evening

I'm bouncing down some stairs.

No, that’s not right.

I'm tumbling down a mountain.

No, wrong again.

Someone was shaking me.

Dammit! Let me sleep!

I pried an eyelid up, to see Marta's face before me. A smile creep across my face, for I'd grown accustomed to the iron-willed midwife. Then I saw others nearby...

To my stood an aged man with white bushy eyebrows, wearing gray ministerial robes. I knew him well - Ciro, Ravela's chief adviser. One of the few bureaucrats I respected when I was here before... before she... before…

Ravela!

My eyes darted to the figure over Marta's right shoulder, and I saw her

Demoness!

Her face …oval in perfect dimensions, rosy and fair without blemish, framed by hair of spun gold. Her lips… full, pouty and deep rose red. Lips I'd kissed so many times. All other rulers in Argentia suffer by comparison to her, save maybe Glamorgan princesses.

A face, in my past, I’d loved. There was a time, when her heart and mind moved in a different direction.

Yet, looking in her eyes now I saw the truth. There, in her irises of forest green with flecks of gold:

Cruelty.

Icy cold.

Insanity.

Memories of my changing and endless sick torture slammed me and panic engulfed me:

ESCAPE! I had to get away from her! Now!

My head thrashed to the right and left looking for a door or window or...

Marta seized my face -the woman's grip was as strong as many soldiers I'd known- and she leaned to whisper in my ear:

“Peace, Kemi. You look nothing like the day I fished ye from the Muln. She hasn't a clue who ye are. Stick to the story.”

It took many deep breaths before the panic relaxed its vice grip on my chest. But finally, my brain started working.

Ravela didn't know? How could she not? Think! We'd been at the docks with the burn victims and now we were here in -I looked around once more - the Palace Infirmary. So Ravela must want me to try to heal Lunete and not resume her sadistic torture.

She …doesn't even know me.

I took a deep breath and exhaled.

‘Stick to the story,’ Marta said. She was the one person in Wildevale I'd managed to tell of what Ravela did to me. It hadn't been easy; she’d been after me for months to tell what happened, or even who I was. One snowy afternoon several months ago, when she'd grown weary of calling me 'lass', she sat me down and made me tell. And somehow, in between my silent weeping, beating the ground with my fists, or her sitting on me to stop me from running, I eked out a sliver of my story.

Of how Ravela’s high spell magic transformed me; twisting me inside out. Her spell ripped and shredded all I was, a man, a captain, tall and in his prime, and left me as I am, this shattered feminine thing.

And I’d left out the worst part.

‘Oh lassie,’ Marta had whispered after I’d finished my tale, 'I grieve you’ve suffered so. I canna imagine. But who you were is dead; you’ve said the Queen has made it so. Screw her! We'll invent a new you. Ye look like you're fresh off the boat from the isles, so we'll call ye an Anatol name, hey? A name came to me in a dream just the other night. From this day forward, you’re Kemeía, wondrous mute healer from the Anatol Isles.’

Stick to the story. I swallowed and nodded to Marta I was calm. But, with the vile beast who sent me to hell standing steps away, only Selene knows how long it would last.
 

~o~O~o~

Ravela
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Palace Infirmary
Early evening

“Is she touched, Mistress Coona? Tell me why I shouldn't be offended.”

Maybe I’d chain the young healer until she settled down. The raw terror in the girl’s eyes when she saw me was disconcerting. Or maybe I should be proud of how the mere sight of me inspires such horror.

I’m not. I’m exhausted.

“Begging yer pardon, ma’am, the lass was confused is all,” the midwife said as she stood from where she'd crouched beside the healer’s cot. With hand on hip, her eyes met mine. “She fainted from exhaustion at the docks, healing men burned so bad that by all rights they should be dead, only to awaken to face her queen? The very one who's been throwing all healers like her into her dark dungeons? Why, it’d give anyone a fright.”

Oh she’s a feisty one!

“Bold words, Mistress Coona. Now, any affront I may suffer will be more than soothed if your little healer...” I struggled to remember the name Marta had given.

“Kemi...” Marta supplied.

“Yes, all will be forgiven if Kemi can heal my sister. Should she fail, though her life, and yours, is forfeit.”

I crunched my forehead when the girl, Kemi, began making rapid movements with her hands. Sign talking, I guessed. “What did she say?”

“Mistress Kemi said she would like to confer with the healers emprisoned in your dungeon to see if she can learn from their mistakes before she tries.”

Kemi nodded her yes, but she wouldn't meet my gaze. She was still panic-stricken.

I frowned; was she stalling? It did make a certain amount of sense.

“Majesty, her request is reasonable and I recommend you grant it...” Ciro's voice trailed off.

That's when I noticed he, too, gazed at me with fearful eyes. Was I so horrible my own chief adviser lived in fear of me? And ...why was I just noticing now? Not ...noticing; I was aware of how unbalanced I've been for the last year. No, the question is, why is it bothering me now? This moment?

“Very well.” I held up my index finger. “One hour, my sweet sweet Kemi. I must attend to preparations for a royal feast tomorrow night. When I return, you will heal my sister of her affliction. Or else other things will happen to you. Unpleasant things.”

I wagged my finger at her the way I do when I begin a spell. And when I did? I swear the young woman turned whiter and almost threw up.

“Ciro, kindly escort these lovely ladies to our quaint dungeon, and release all the prisoners into the dungeon commons.”
 

~o~O~o~

 
Kemi
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Palace Dungeon Commons
Twilight

“We're doomed. Dead men all.”

Wasn’t sure, but that was Master Healer Edric speaking? I'd never formally met any of them. None knew what to do with me; the stray dog Marta adopted who followed her rounds among the women of Marossa. From what Marta told me, the male master healers wanted as little to do with 'female health issues' as possible, so they were more than happy to ignore me. Until I started healing people.

“Kreios the fool nearly killed the princess this morning. To let an untrained healer loose on her will finish the job for sure. We'll be executed at dawn.”

Master Tadhgán spoke those words; I’d seen him walking at Selene's Halls on several occasions, always immersed in some weighty discussion, making large gestures with his hands. I thought he seemed full of himself. Philio would gawk at him as a lad does to a girl on his first crush.

Many of the healers grunted their agreement with Tadhgán’s assessment of my chances. One in particular blanched at their words; Master Kreios, I guessed.

Yes, I get they're worried. They didn't know me, nor had they seen me heal. Add to that the days or weeks some had been imprisoned, and they were a cranky pungent lot.

Marta's silence surprised me; the woman wasn't intimidated by anyone. Just moments ago she'd told Ravela off! But now she was quiet and her gaze was on one healer in particular. The one who'd been jailed the longest; his long white beard looked so unkempt, a family of mice could live in it and no one would be wiser. But for all his haggard look, his eyes sparkled and face showed kindness. He shrugged to her, as if saying he was embarrassed for the words of his brethren. I knew him, as did everyone in Marossa: Master Reynard, the Patriarch of the Healer's Guild.

The citizens of Marossa were outraged when the Queen began jailing the healers who failed to rouse Lunete from her coma, especially when she began by tossing their beloved Reynard into her dungeon. But after she continued jailing healer after healer, the outrage faded to numbness. All knew what happened if you crossed Ravela. All knew of Captain Cormac, the queen's own consort, who vanished, never to be seen again, when Lunete was first struck with her sleeping illness, and the evidence, the rumors said, pointed to him.

Everyone knew that story and no one truly knew it at all.

“We will be executed at dawn, I assure you, if we fail to prepare Kemi as best we can,” Reynard said, and walked to me.

“The thing is, we all made the same mistake.”

Mistake? I needed to know this! I made an emphatic swirling motion with my hand, telling him to continue.

“We were each dragged by armed guard to Lunete's infirmary room. Told she had been poisoned. And ordered to heal her, or face execution. You've heard the same, I imagine?”

“The lass has,” Marta spoke for me.

“You were wise to ask to speak with us, for here's the part we didn't know,” Reynard said. “I'll be brief in my telling, for we haven't much time.”

He told me for the months after Lunete lapsed into her coma, she was treated by the Palace's physician Master Jarlath. His diagnosis was Lunete had been poisoned by a tricky toxic Parasian herb called chamalla. Jarlath felt the safest treatment was to let the poison dissipate before attempting to revive the princess. Yet, that process was slower by the stasis spell upon Lunete's body. What should have taken days stretched on for months.

“The Queen’s patience wore thin, because she finally forced him to try to wake her, and when he failed…”

I signed my follow up question to Marta, who spoke it for me.

“She imprisoned him? If so, Kemi wonders if we shouldn’t be speaking with him, too, since he tended to Lunete the longest.”

How could I have forgotten Jarlath? A jovial fellow, even if he was 'in the cups' a little too often. He's helped and healed me and my men many times.

“She did indeed imprison the poor fellow. But we will get little help from him, for the queen was especially angered with him.”

When I gave him a questioning look, his shoulders drooped and his eyes darkened.

“Jarlath? Step forward.”

Everyone turned to a dim corner of the dungeon commons, so I did too. A figure stepped from the shadows…a man, except … oh Selene no! …he had the head of a jackass...

I turned away, my body quivering. Why Ravela, why? You have many sins to answer for.

Marta wrapped me in her arms and I welcomed her warmth.

“Return to your shadows, Jarlath,” Reynard said in a soft sad voice.

When I heard soft braying sobs, my heart fractured; I longed to ease his suffering.

‘You can, Kemi. Heal Lunete’.

I wondered what my private head voice meant, how healing Lunete would help Jarlath.

“As you see, Jarlath can’t help us,” Reynard said, shaking his head. “I cannot recall seeing such cruelty as this.”

I had. And far worse. But I wouldn’t think of that; now was not the time me to lose it.

“So we each assumed a poison afflicted the princess, yet when we melded with her, we found no poison at all, but as nasty a spell as any we’ve seen.”

A spell? What spell?

Reynard read my face and answered. “It’s hard to say for certain as we were only given one try. It seems similar to the obedience spell used by the fell Arcum mind mages which gives pain when the victim disobeys, but tightens tighter when a healer tries to remove it. Yet, it also acts like the sleep spell used by Parasian healers, when a patient has suffered brain trauma and must be forced into a coma to let the swelling subside.”

“You can see the problem,” Reynard said, speaking now to Marta. “We did the logical thing when we melded. We tried to snap the energy band of the spell. But the more we pulled, the tighter it grew, and…”

“The deeper the poor princess sank into her coma,” Marta finished his thought.

Marta faced the group, with her arms crossed. “I know ye think the lass hasn’t a chance to succeed where you’ve all failed, but you’re wrong! I’ve seen the little one do things no other healer in Argentia.”

“I have faith in her,” Reynard said. “For I feel her sorgente burning in her now. It’s a blast furnace! Like none I’ve ever felt! And in a healer. Do you think you can, Kemi?”

I had experience with Arcum mind spells before. When I was in charge of the Guard… before Ravela took me and…

...no! Not now! Concentrate!

…knowing I was dealing with a spell made a huge difference. Easier, maybe, for I had less experience with poisons. I signed my answer to Marta. Who gave the group a fierce grin.

“Yes Master Reynard, Kemi says she can.”

I thought I could! A plan formed in my mind. Sort of.

“Can ye face her again,” Marta whispered so only I would hear. “I hate to be sayin this, but our freedom depends on you. But I know what she did to you, and how much ye quail to be near her. Can ye?”

“Yes” I nodded.

Had I told her the truth? Or lied?
 

~o~O~o~

 
Kemi
healer5.png 
Palace Infirmary - Lunete’s room
Dusk

 
“She wants me to do WHAT?

I’d never been so frustrated by my inability to utter a sound as now. Signing complex spell instructions through Marta -who had scant spell experience- would have been a chore under the best of circumstances. But now, with the devil so close, I couldn’t stop my hands from shaking. Add in Ravela’s sadistic temper, coiled and ready to explode, and -abracadabra!- a recipe for more pain and cruelty. Still, for Lunete’s sake, I had to get it straight. So I took a deep breath and tried signing again.

“Kemi says, once she removes, um, lifts, the mind …erm, magic?” Marta was trying as hard as she could, Selene love her, but she was mangling it. “…you are to capture it in, uh… a ball?”

Ravela was silent for so long, I feared her mind was busy recalling a spell to cast on me. My body shivered remembering the pure agony of her last one.

“So …if I understand …Kemi believes a mind spell is on Lunete, an active one, and once she raises it, I’m to …cast a capture sphere to contain it. Is that right healer?”

Relieved, I bobbed my head. She understood! I hoped she would. In brighter days, before her madness, we even practiced something like this for training. I signed more instructions.

“And she says,” Marta relayed, “you need to be ready to capture it on her count.”

“Leave us, Ciro,” Ravela said as she turned to the adviser, who was standing nearby with several of the Guard. “And take these guardsmen with you.”

“Yes, Majesty.” Ciro, and the men, seemed more than happy to escape the room.

Once gone, Ravela walked in front of me and grabbed my face. I could feel her sorgente rising in her; gods she was strong!

“Oh, I’ll be ready, little healer. And if Lunete is harmed, if she suffers in any way, I will kill you here and now, in as excruciating a way as I can imagine. And I can imagine …much.

My memories crashed back then; the burning pain, the endless torture. If I could have screamed, I would have. Instead, my body shivered and my heart beat raced.

Ravela smiled. “Why, I do believe you are more frightened now than when you awoke. Good!

“Of course she’s scared, you idiot,” Marta hissed. “What she’s going to attempt would be difficult under any circumstances, and now you’ve paralyzed her with fear. Do you want your sister to die?”

I thought ignite Ravela off for sure, but it had a different effect. Uncertainty. Maybe no one spoke frankly to her anymore.

“No… no I don’t want that at all, I…” Ravela paused, removed her hands from my face, and stepped back. “Get on with it.”

I nodded, took a deep breath, and nodded to Ravela I was ready. With a gesture of her hand, the invisible stasis shield that covered Lunete lowered. And I placed my hands on her either side of her temples and melded.

Memories of the young princess filled my mind; happy ones, for the girl was a joy.

Lunete

You’ve become the stuff of fairytales now. The story of the sleeping princess and the insane queen has spread far and wide; I’d heard little else in the city this last year. It’s funny how a story takes on a life of its own, often ending far away from the truth.

The tale, as is now told, is of a beautiful princess, in a shimmering white silk gown, asleep on a bed of roses, under a crystal cover. Mysteriously cursed to sleep one hundred years, while her mad witch sister; bereaved with grief, wrecks vengeance on the poor people of Wildevale.

In fact, Ravela’s stasis spell had to be kept in place to keep her sister alive. Otherwise Lunete would have wasted away from lack of water and food. Her eyes are sunken and dark and her silky blonde hair has fallen out, leaving her bald.

As I opened my soul to her, as I melded, I saw that which the other healers had spoken of, an angry red energy band surrounding her brain. The brain, so wondrous; as a healer I’ve learned some of how it works. I've watched the mind sparks firing, each one, I imagined, a thought. Yet, the red band was suppressing those in Lunete, keeping her dull and unthinking.

The temptation was to pull on that band with my own energy. Snap it loose and free Lunete’s thoughts. So tempting. But that’s where the other healers failed.

Instead I connected my energy to it, and pushed. Rather than trying to rip it, I poured my energy into it. Because to unloosen a knot I knew you sometimes had to push, not pull. Pulling only made it worse. Simple, eh?

That was my theory anyway. I prayed it worked, because the only proven way I’d heard of removing an Arcum mind spell, was to kill the caster. And it would be I -and now Martha too- who would be pay with our lives, and the lives of the other healer, if this failed.

The energy band soon overloaded, yet I poured my own energy in faster still. Soon it must do something, and as I was not pulling, it could not tighten, so…

…it grew. Expanded. Larger and larger.

More power, Kemi, you have it. Use it.

That voice again! She’d spoken to me ever since Marta fished me from the river, but lately more and more. Oh well, I guess if there’s a crazy voice in your head, it helps if she makes good suggestions.

So I did as she said, I poured in my energy, my sorgente giving me more more more.

“I can see it,” I heard Marta whisper.

Good. That meant the band was large enough for me to try to move it. I gently lifted my energy stream, letting it rise, and the red band followed. Up, up, off of Lunete and floating above her. It wriggled and flopped in the air, reminding me of a gasping fish on a river bank. I made eye contact with Ravel, who, though open-mouthed, nodded she was ready.

I hoped to Selene so, because Lunete’s life now depended on timing. Holding three fingers up, I lowered them, one …two …three, and yanked back all my energy from the band.

As I did, I heard a *pop* and Ravela’s energy sphere snapped around the band, before it could reattach itself to Lunete. Yes!

When I withdrew my energy, the red band shrank, small within the sphere.

Ravela clutched the sphere in her palm moving it away from Lunete.

I heard a gasp. But it was neither Marta nor Ravela who made it.

It was Lunete.
 

~o~O~o~

 
Ravela
ravela4.png
 
Palace Infirmary - Lunete’s room
Twilight

 
R-ravela?

I placed the sphere and the hideous spell creation it contained on the ground -I’d deal with it later- and rushed to my sister’s side. Kissing her cheeks, one after the other.

“Lunete?”

She smiled - smiled!!!- and spoke in a whisper.

“Mmmm. Soooo sleepy. Weird dreams.”

I looked at the healer, and then Marta in disbelief, in joy! Kemi backed away from me, moving to the other side of Lunete’s cot. Why? She must know I’d never harm her now; she’s saved my sister!

The midwife stepped to the bed to poke and prod my sister. Checking her pulse; looking into her eyes. She stepped back, smiling.

“Praise Selene, I believe the princess is past any danger, Highness,” Marta said. “I’ve tended patients who’ve awakened from comas before. Her eating should be light at first. And as her muscles have withered some, too, in spite of the stasis she was in, we’ll need to develop an exercise plan for her. We'll have her up and about in no time.”

Yes! Yes! Energy filled me, and not my sorgente energy either. I meant, the actual will and desire to do and act and live again!

“Coma? Who’s been in a coma, hmmm,” Lunete murmured, as she rolled to her side. “And can I please go to my bed? This thing I’m on is like a stiff board!”

“Hahahaha. Of course, love. We’ll move at once! To anywhere you wish!”

I began crying, my first tears in a year. Through tears of joy I looked at the healer.

“Name your reward, Kemi. Riches, lands, title, anything.

The mysterious creature still wouldn’t make eye contact, but she signed for several moments to Marta.

“She says to be careful with the, er, thing in the sphere, Majesty. If it is freed, it will seek to wrap back around the princess' brain.”

I nodded; I’d determined as much. I had plans for the 'thing' in my sphere. For I knew how to use it to track down its maker, if he or she was nearby. Oh! The things I would do. For casting such spells carried a risk to the caster. One I would exploit.

But that would come later. For now…

“What reward, Kemi, tell me.”

Again she signed for several moments, and again Marta relayed her words.

“She says the healers should be released from your dungeon and Jarlath restored.”

Again I nodded. With Lunete awakened, there was no reason to keep them. Jarlath angered me, for I was certain the drunken fool's dithering worsened Lunete’s condition. But I would reverse my spell as she requested.

“But what do you want, Kemi? Tell me, I command it!”

Her signing message to Marta was short this time.

“Nothing, Majesty; she’s weary, and wants to go home.”

I wanted to wrap Kemi in my arms and tell her how eternally grateful I was for saving Lunete, but I could tell she longed to be away from me. I’d need her to visit regularly to help with Lunete’s recovery, for I trusted her care to no others. But for now, I would honor the little healer’s wishes. For now.

“So be it.”
 

~o~O~o~

 
Kemi
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Selene's Hall
Midnight

 
Somehow even a band poofed into existence. Er, not so much a band, as two lute players and an old woman with an accordion. Still, they were loud, enthusiastic, and mostly on key:

Here's to the bull asleep in the pen
Drink! Drink!
Here's to the cock, asleep with the hens,
Drink! Drink!

Barrels of ale were rolled from a nearby pub, and men and women were drinking, laughing and dancing about the Hall.

For the healers were free and reunited with loved ones and the Princess lived. The first good news in Marissa in a year, and citizens were primed to party.

"Kemi! Kemi! Kemi!"

They kept picking me up and carrying me around. I supposed my days of anonymity were over. I didn’t mind. I was happy to see joy replace their fear and sadness. And I was so relieved to be away from the Palace. And from her.

When I was set back down to earth, I found Myrrine by my side.

"I was so worried when I heard they took you," she shouted into my ear. The roar of the crowd was so loud I barely heard her words.

"If they hadn't let you go, I planned on paying a little visit to the palace myself."

In a lightning fast move, two thin assassin's daggers appeared in her hands and she spun them. Just as quickly, they disappeared to some secret hiding place in her clothes.

When my mouth dropped open, she took advantage of my parted lips and swooped in to kiss me.

'What was that for,' I signed.

"You're a hero! And every hero deserves a kiss. Hope you didn't mind."

I didn't mind.

I signed something else then, and she burst into laughter. You see, several of the healers had been a little too thankful, and had hugged and pawed me more than was comfortable.

"Never fear, oh holy healer of healers hearers...” clearly, she was drunk, "...if they do it again, I'll stab em in the ass."
 

~o~O~o~

 
Ravela
ravela4.png
 
25th day of Winterwane
Palace Dining Hall
Dusk

 
Hahahaha!

Everyone was peeing in their robes and gowns. They were that scared! For they saw me smiling for the first time in a year, and were certain I planned something spectacularly devious. They were wise; I had planned something.

The feast was small, no more than sixty or seventy guests. The Marossa City Council was well represented, with several council men and women in attendance, as were the heads of the Merchants Guild and the Crafts Guild. Hopefully they'd keep quiet; Ciro mentioned a list of grievances they had that was a mile long, but now was not the time.

Master Reynard of the Healers Guild was absent. I suppose I can forgive him; he’d spent the last several months in my luxurious dungeons and had no desire to return to the Palace anytime soon.

My Guard was present too, obviously. Captain Sechnall had sprinkled a dozen or so of his finest in resplendent red and gold uniforms about the sides of gaily decorated hall. And another half dozen archers behind curtains. He had spent some of the day with Lunete, and for once, his headaches lessened. He was also as eager as I to follow my plan.

Seated in the long table before me, were the Parasian and Arcum Ambassadors and their entourages. I wanted them in front, and not beside me.

Everyone stood, all eyes on me, waiting for me sit. After I did, I motioned for people to eat, and then waived my taster over to sample the first course: stag left in salt for a night, and stuffed chicken.

My taster also sipped my wine, a zesty, fruity vintage from the Anatols. When he nodded his poison free approval, I took a long drink; something about Kemi had put me in the mood for the spicy red.

“Her Majesty is glowing tonight.”

“Why thank you, Ambassador Kijek.”

Normally I ignored pandering and flattery, but tonight? I guessed he was right, because I spoke with Lunete this morning and this afternoon; it was no dream! She even ate a healthy bowl of apples and porridge.

We were well into the second course -two enormous pies, filled with deer, gosling, chickens and pigeons with stuffing made from minced veal, fat, hardboiled eggs, covered with saffron and flavored with cloves- when the question was asked.

“Good Queen, though I hesitate to disrupt this happy affair, I must ask, how fairs your sister? Has Princess Lunete’s condition improved? Our ears hear whispers this is so.”

My smile reappeared at Ambassador Aldana’s query. The real main course can now be served. I stood to address my guests.

“Joyous news, my subjects! Yesterday, through the efforts of a wondrous healer, Princess Lunete regained full consciousness. Her health improves by the hour!” I lifted my wine glass. “To the healer Kemeia of the Anatol Isles!”

Murmurs soon rippled through the hall, as the full import of my words hit home. Ciro reported a spontaneous celebration at Selene's Hall last night, when the healers I released returned there. My announcement confirmed it, and they sprang to their feet, cheering, applauding and toasting “to Kemeia!”

When the applause died and all were seated again to continue the meal, excited murmuring still rippled among the guests over the news. Ambassador Kijek leaned forward, and spoke in a low tone.

“Blessed blessed news! Was this healer able to tell you the nature of the princess’ affliction?”

Perfect! I couldn't have scripted it better. I reached under my table and pulled the sphere which held the binding spell still within. Letting it rest hidden in my palm a few seconds more.

“She was indeed, Ambassador. Someone placed a binding spell on my sister, one which suppressed her consciousness and kept her in a coma. Once the healer removed it, Lunete awakened, and spoke her first words in a year.”

They thought I wouldn’t see it, so quick was the exchange of glances between the two Ambassadors, but I did.

“Wondrous news indeed,” Aldana said. “She must be an exceptional healer! For we in Parasia, who’ve experience in dealing with similar spells practiced by the Arcum Mind Mages, were unaware it was possible to remove the spell, save by the death of the castor.”

“Difficult indeed,” Kijek added. “Though King Gritha condemns such practices, yet still it is practiced in Arcum by rogue mages. No offense; I don’t doubt what Your Majesty has said, this wondrous accomplishment by this healer, yet I too know of no way to remove such a hideous casting.”

“No offense taken, Ambassador.”

I pulled the sphere from under the table for all to see. The energy band pulsed angry red, straining to get free.

“But as you can see, here it is.”

The hall stilled, all eyes were riveted to what I held. I played with the sphere, tossing it up and down.

“You know, spell tracing is the simplest of magics. Even the weakest nique learns the skill and the beginning of his or her first apprentice year.”

“Majesty, perhaps this is not the time or place for this investigation?” Kijek leaned forward further and tried to speak in a low enough tone so only the few around us heard. “Let us enjoy the rest of this sumptuous feast, celebrate the news of Lunete’s recovery, and investigate the spell in the morning when we are fresh, rested and full of determination to find the castor of this horror.”

“But why wait,” I said, smiling again. “None in this room fear should fear such a test?”

I nodded to my captain to stand ready and spoke the words: rusisr sa sil mi'arsus, y sanni'ars suu.

The red band convulsed and began to spin. I opened my hand; and the sphere floated, as if on a gentle breeze. Traveling slowly, until it stopped. Hovering above Ambassador Kijek’s head.

“Well well.”

With a snarl, he batted it away and jumped to his feet.

“You think you are so clever? You think you’ve won? You’ve lost everything and too stupid to know it.”

"Shut up, you fool," Aldana said in a low tone.

The murmurs in the hall grew loud, ugly, as all now stared at Kijek.

"No, speak freely, dearest friend. We would hear the Ambassador’s confession in full, my people.”

The murmurs hushed, leaving tense silence.

“Go on.”

“Gladly,” Kijek said, and spat. “Think back to a year ago, Ravela. You were feared, and not just by Arcum, but by Parasia and the other kingdoms, too. The young Queen, unparalleled in her sorgente power in all Argentia. Your consort, Cormac, a powerful nique. Leader of an army so devoted, his men would lay down their lives for him. You allied with no one. Were accountable to no one. How long did you think it would be before Amangons launched another war against us using you as the excuse? You threatened the peace of the kingdoms. We couldn't let that happen.”

The crowd's mutterings grew louder as he spoke, especially at the mention of Cormac, because I forbade it. But I motioned for Kijek to continue. Because when he finished, he would never speak again.

“Now, but twelve months later, Wildevale is the pariah among the kingdoms of Argentia. Your Consort mysteriously missing, your army in disarray, and your provinces in open rebellion. And you! Your implosion is the stuff of laughter from Glamorgan Highlands to the gates of the Ysial. I would tell you to fear an invasion, but honestly, who would want this shithole?

“It was child's play to sabotage you. Strike down those whom you most love. Bespell the beloved Lunete. Point the blame to Cormac. And stand back to watch. Now, one year later? Cormac gone. Wildevale, shunned by all the kingdoms, your people, on the edge of rebellion.

“Are you finished?” I asked softly.

“Not quite. Realizing how unstable you were, King Grithra has placed a doom upon you. If I fail to contact my agents within twenty-four hours, it shall be unleashed.”

I snorted; such a pathetic excuse of a threat.

“You shall most certainly not make contact within twenty-four hours, nor even twenty-four years my dearest Kijek.”

“In that case, I have one more thing to do.”

With a quick flick of his wrist, he threw a dagger at me. As did several of his retainers.

Captain Sechnall jumped in front of me, shielding me, taking the dagger strikes for me.

Archers, hidden behind the dining hall curtains, let loose a volley of arrows, striking Kijek and his men so truly, they were dead before their bodies hit the floor.

Yet the binding spell within the sphere did not die completely with Kijek’s passing. No, though faded, it still flickered, and floated softly and slowly, until it hovered over Aldana’s head.

More than Kijek’s magic infused the spell.

Well well well.

End Part 2

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Comments

Hi

What an interesting turn of events. When will the queen find out that Cormac is our heroine and now that she knows she wronged him how will she atone for it? Is war on the horizon. ..cause this sure looks like an act of war by her cousin and the other king. Can't wait for your next installment!

Sydney Moya

Kemi

licorice's picture

I don't think Kemi should. What the Mad Queen did was unforgivable by any standards. if Cormac was innocent, then I think Kemi should seek no revenge beyond making the Queen live with her own memories of the actions, and the knowledge of what she has done. That would be punishment enough.

I will say this, Ravela's

I will say this, Ravela's fate is not what you would expect...

You just can't trust anyone

You just can't trust anyone these days, especially those who wish to remove you from power. A pretty nasty spell it seems that this one is. Looks like Aldana's day is going to get really bad in a rapid sort of way.

yup, it's going to be more

yup, it's going to be more than a bad hair day for Aldana

I hope this story develops

I hope this story develops into the classic it appears to be.
A fairy story with teeth.
Well done.

Cormac

licorice's picture

so he admitted that Cormac was innocent and the Mad Queen doesn't care. She's insane.

yes, Cormac was innocent.

yes, Cormac was innocent. And yes, Ravela is completely unbalanced.

Cormac forgiven?

I agree wih another commenter, it is doubtful. The queen is insane, the only reason she freed the other healers is that this was the reward Kemi claimed.

Even if she believed the pronouncement that Cormac was innocent, this will fade.

I also suspect that when (not if) she kills Aldana, the spell will still not be broken.

What I wonder is the promised doom?

The doom Arcum planned is

The doom Arcum planned is horrible. Argentia is not a world filled with fluffy bunnies and roses. The world really needs Kemi.

"Well well well."

I wonder if it has sunk in that she hurt Cormac unjustly ...

DogSig.png

Excellent

Chapter Armond. Very well written. I truly hope you continue this soon.

SDom

Men should be Men and the rest should be as feminine as they can be

Queen Ravela isn't insane in

Ameria's picture

Queen Ravela isn't insane in my opinion. She is precipitate, intemperate and vengeful, a bad administrator and a worse diplomat. She let her country flounder for a year dealing with a personal problem. She killed a diplomat before considering if she could suborn him and do harm to his principal. If she couldn't she should have sent him back with a nasty note followed by two reliable assassins. Her magic is so powerful that she has never studied subtlety She wouldn't last a year against the Borgias.

a

Another message from Hissy the Snake.

Nasty.

They drove her insane intentionally? Going to be hell to pay now. Bravo to Kemi for her courage there, too.

Maggie

Ravela is a piece of work for

Ravela is a piece of work for sure. Her worst is yet to come. She wasn't always. Cormac 'balanced' her, until Lunete was struck down. There is hope for Ravela, though.

love the story, i was

love the story, i was wondering after the first chapter if we were going to find out if cormac was innocent, now we know, the next question is how much the new found knowledge will affect the queen and will it be for the better or will it serve to unbalance her further with grief for what she did with no real proof

Jealousy

At first I thought it was the younger sister that Cormac had really been seeing and it'd been the Queen herself who'd cast the curse, but afterward had denied it even to herself. However, this plot is even deeper. They planned for her to crack taking away those who balanced her. It's going to get worse as the spells on the guards fail and they remember the horror of what happened to their Captain as well as what they did.

The Queen is completely insane now, but whatever that doom those rival kingdoms have unleashed their own dooms upon. She as crazy as they come and no terror is too great for her to not dare. Be afraid!

Terrific Stuff!
Grover

Wow, Grover! Really really

Wow, Grover! Really really good observations! You are amazingly close to guessing where the story goes!

Doom will be uleashed.

But like Grover, I think that Grithra is going to regret it more than Revena and Wildvale. True enough, Ravena is insane and a very chancy person to be around but now she has a real target(s) for her unreasoning rages. Will she regret what she did to Cormac? I doubt it given her current state of mind and that she now has real targets to vent her rage on. The rulers of at least two kingdoms created a monster and it is more than likely going to come for them with the determination of the mad.

And if Aldana thinks she's had bad days before? Rude awakening time here, I 'm sure.

Maggie

Thanks, Maggie. God I love

Thanks, Maggie. God I love how your mind works!!!

One of the things I like about posting in chapters, is that it's like you have good editors reviewing my story. I had generally realized (well sorta generally) that Arcum and Parasia would need to be addressed for their acts of war. (what they try to do in the final chapter is horrible). For reasons you'll see in the next chapter, I hadn't thought about Ravela would go crazy on them. But it's a clear point of tension and conflict and I'll need to address it. A little rewriting begins...

I can't understand King Grithra's

Ameria's picture

I can't understand King Grithra's statecraft here. He destroyed Queen Ravela's country to avoid an attack on Arcum by the Amangons.
How was that supposed to work?
It seems crazier to me than anything that Queen Ravela has done so far.

A prince never lacks legitimate reasons to break his promise.
Niccolo Michiavelli

a

Another message from Hissy the Snake.

It's explained (hopefully in

It's explained (hopefully in a sensible way) in the next chapter, Ameria, by Aldana

I do not fear Satan half so

Ameria's picture

I do not fear Satan half so much as I fear those who fear him.
Saint Teresa of Avila

Another message from Hissy the Snake.