Light the Reign (The Forgotten: Book 3) (4 page)

“No one will be blaming you, young man,” he
told Lorcan with sympathy in his voice. “We understand that the
lies you have been told will take some time to undo.” He turned to
Katya, “How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine,” Katya answered, swinging her legs
over the edge of the bed to prove her point. The spot on her torso
where the knife had penetrated tugged painfully, but she ignored
it, using her years of neutral expressions to keep it from showing
on her face.

“That is excellent to hear,” he clapped his
hands together, “I want to first off thank you for saving my life.”
His eyes darted to Lorcan almost imperceptibly and Lorcan looked
like he’d rather be anywhere other than here, but the man was
standing directly in his path to the door. “But unfortunately, I
have another request for you.”

Katya raised her brow quizzically.

“Being Gareth’s daughter has caused more of a
stir than we had anticipated. He was very well loved before he fell
ill. It seems that his views on the practice of exiling the marked,
and on the dealings of the Elders in general, greatly changed after
throwing his own child out. You.” The Dena’ina leader paused and
studied her for a moment. “Having the things that he was trying to
get people to believe about the marked and the dealings of the
Elders confirmed by another source has made them all take a second
look at him. Even though his ‘illness’ caused him to become
crotchety and the people tended to avoid his presence, it seems
that their respect for him has not diminished. The fact that he
aided you seems to have made an impression on them. Therefore, I
believe that your words may help to convince the people. The Elders
are currently being gathered and we will formally ask them to
explain what they’ve done in front of everyone.” He paused and
looked to Lorcan, obviously debating whether or not to add
something more in front of a member of the Myaamia and Katya nodded
her head to him. “They do not know the extent to which we will
confront them and we hope that the surprise will expose their true
intentions to the rest of their people.”

Lorcan looked up, meeting the man’s eye in
surprise and concern. But it was concern over what the Elders had
been doing, not for wanting to warn them.

“Lorcan’s been suspicious of their activity
for some time,” Katya said of the young man proudly, “he is the one
responsible for allowing us to warn the King and Queen about the
danger that their daughter posed.”

“Is he now,” the leader asked, standing a bit
straighter and giving Lorcan an appraising look.

“Which is why I probably should have thought
twice before believing what they said about you,” the boy mumbled,
“I already knew what kind of lies they were capable of…”

“Sometimes our heart speaks louder than our
head, young man, it is not your fault that you couldn’t hear above
its cacophony of its emotions.” The man paused a moment, looking
thoughtful. “Many of the younger people here seemed not to be very
surprised with the dealings of the Elders. You wouldn’t happen to
know anything about that would you?” He gave Lorcan a knowing look
who resolutely wouldn’t meet his eye. He seemed to be warring
between being proud of what he had done and worried that he would
get in trouble for it. The Dena’ina let the matter drop, and he
rested a hand on Lorcan’s shoulder. “I met your parents once,” he
said after a moment in this position, removing his hand as he did
so and putting it to his chin in thought. “They were good people.
Misguided, but they were only doing what they thought was right. I
am very sorry for your loss.”

“Can you tell me what happened to them?”
Lorcan asked and Katya suddenly felt out of place within the
conversation. She felt as though she was a fifth wheel in an
intimate discussion that she had no part of, but neither man nor
boy seemed to notice she was there at that moment.

“They came into our camp,” the Dena’ina
leader recalled, looking wistfully morose, “under false pretenses;
saying that they were there to speak of peace.” He looked down at
Lorcan, “You see, my boy, they weren’t the first of the Myaamia to
come to our village. There had been many others, all for the
purpose of changing our minds about keeping the marked alive. And
when that didn’t work, they tried to take matters into their own
hands, attempting to kill those we had sworn to protect. We were
able to turn most of these away without violence, but your
parents…” He paused a moment, collecting his thoughts. “Under the
guise of talking of a treaty between our people so that the attacks
would end, they made it into the heart of our village. From there,
they managed to kill several of the marked and a few who were only
defending them before they were subdued.” He said this word softly,
and both Katya and Lorcan picked up on the subtle insinuation that
this subduing was fatal.

The sincerity in the man’s voice, combined
with the intense tone of regret, seemed to convince Lorcan more
than anyone else’s confirmation had and he broke down into tears.
Inexplicably, he threw his arms around the man.

After a few minutes, he let go, and Katya
cleared her throat. “Well, shall we?” she asked, standing and
motioning towards the door.

CHAPTER 3

Layna sat in the throne room talking with
Gryffon. His fingers lay gently on hers, moving slightly side to
side in a gesture of comfort.

“How is Amelia doing?” Gryffon asked, causing
Layna’s thoughts to go down the tangent they had been prone to of
late. There had just been too many people falling ill, and Layna
was getting rather suspicious of it. She had originally thought
that it may have been a secondary attack to distract them from
noticing the curse, but now she was beginning to wonder. The
overlapping incidences of those they had isolated for possibly
being touched by the curse and those who were coming down with the
sickness was a coincidence she couldn’t ignore.

“She’s been getting worse; the fever hasn’t
let up yet.” She paused, choosing her words carefully, not wanting
to create more issues than they already had. “Do you think it’s
possible that the enchantment is for some reason doing more than
the Myaamia intended? I mean, Amelia was the one who was closest to
the baby, and she’s sick. Philip, the guard who frequently watched
her is sick. Several other nursery maids are out ill with varying
degrees of sickness. I’ve been contemplating the possibility that
it weakens the immune system or perhaps because it is buried so
deeply within a person is affecting their body’s natural functions,
or...” she shrugged.

“I’ve had a similar thought,” Gryffon sighed,
“but I didn’t really want to voice it and make it true. If that is
the case, we’re dealing with something that could potentially be
life-threatening now, not just to the unborn babies of the world.”
He paused. “Although, it would make detecting who had contracted it
easier.”

“I wish we knew more about the tribes,” Layna
lamented. “It’s so frustrating to not know what it is that you’re
up against. At least when Jezebel was chasing us we knew she what
she wanted.”

“Yes: Us dead. Not exactly better.”

She smiled at him. “But she wasn’t some curse
spreading to everyone we know and care about for unknown reasons. I
mean, obviously they still hold a grudge against the Dark King, but
can they really think we’re to blame for his actions and should be
punished for them?” She sighed. “I think I’m going to go visit
Amelia, maybe it’ll give me some insight.”

A short while later, Layna was sitting beside
Amelia, holding her hand, when Natalya and Alina came in. They were
braving the Forgotten’s curse to stay at the palace, as it was the
best place for Alina’s condition to be monitored, and Natalya had
volunteered to bring food and drink to the sick. Apparently Alina
had today decided to join her.

Since they had already blocked off the
entrance and exits to the palace in order to contain the
Forgotten’s curse, they had decided to consolidate all those
showing symptoms of the illness into the great hall as a make-shift
infirmary. They had hoped that that way they wouldn’t have two
outbreaks on their hands.

“How are you feeling today Miss Amelia?”
Natalya asked the old woman sympathetically. The two had hit it off
and Amelia smiled at her.

“Oh, can’t complain,” she answered.

Alina wore a slightly concerned expression
behind her sister and Layna felt a twinge of guilt. No doubt seeing
the ill reminded her of the fate she was currently destined for
unless they found a cure to her ailment as well. She had insisted
on seeing Lord Telvani in the dungeons before he had finally
succumbed to the Bricrui – despite Layna’s attempts to dissuade her
– and no doubt his terrifying visage still haunted her. The strange
herb that Lord Morven had bought from the merchant near Castle
Storm had been keeping the change at bay, but it must be weighing
on the young girl’s mind. Especially so as they had recently run
out of the plant, and were currently awaiting more from the
Knights. At least having something to take for it had made it seem
less hopeless. She reached out a hand to squeeze Alina’s. It was
ice-cold under her grasp, and the girl jumped at her touch.

“Sorry,” Alina murmured, looking down, then
quickly back up to add, “Your Majesty.” Her eyes darted this way
and that. “It’s just that…” she looked very much like she wanted to
say something, but was unable to put it into words.

“What is it?” Layna asked, concern coloring
her voice.

“It’s just that I recognize the magic on
these people. Is that strange?”

Layna shook her head, “Mages can often
recognize the work of others they’ve observed in the past,
especially if the other is less powerful than themselves. Perhaps
one of the healers who worked with you has also worked in here. Can
you determine whose magic it is?” Layna glanced quickly over the
crowd of patients with curiosity. Alina’s talent could potentially
be quite strong if she was able to recognize another mage’s power
at this point in her training; especially since all of the mage
healers were fairly strong themselves, and the girl’s talent was
likely still being dampened by the remnants of the chokeroot she
had been taking.

“Yes,” Alina said hesitantly. She looked down
the long row of the sick and Layna recognized the shift in her eyes
indicating she was using her other sight – magesight – to see them.
When she looked back at Layna, her gaze was suddenly clear and her
voice certain. “It’s mine.”

Layna was shocked. “Yours? Why would your
magic be on these people? Are you sure?”

“She just said it was,” Natalya interjected,
irritated, and coming to stand beside her sister.

“I didn’t mean to imply she wasn’t,” Layna
assured her, “I was just surprised. If that is the case…” she
trailed off, lost in thought. “Was there any other time that you
used magic than under Lord Farthen’s ‘care’?” She used the term
very loosely.

Alina shook her head, eyes wide. “But there
was…” she started.

Layna waited patiently for her to elaborate,
not wanting to demand answers and have her skittishness return.

“What?” Natalya finally asked for her.

Alina still hesitated, but eventually
finished the sentence. “There was something odd when Lord Telvani
came and performed the actual spell, not just the experiments they
had us doing all the time.”

“What was it?” Layna prodded gently.

“Like another spell interfering maybe? I’m
not sure, just like a surge of power from somewhere else. Telvani
didn’t notice as far as I know, probably assumed it was just more
power that I tapped into somehow.”

“But maybe it was more than that…” Layna’s
mind connected the dots and her eyes grew wide. She drew back
Amelia’s sleeve and examined her arm carefully. They were faint
yet, but Layna could just see the beginnings of sores along them.
She sucked in her breath.

“What are you thinking?” Amelia asked her
urgently, “Because that expression is not comforting.”

“Nothing,” Layna said quickly, not wanting to
reveal her suspicions here. “I need to go, I’m sorry Amelia. I’ll
come visit you again later.” She kissed the woman on the forehead,
ignoring her protests and hurried from the room.

She strode down the hallway quickly, wanting
– needing – Gryffon’s reassuring presence. What if her fears were
correct? What if the spell the Forgotten had performed to infect
baby Phoenix had been done at the same time as the one that Lord
Telvani did on the Council and somehow the two spells had
intertwined? The symptoms that the people were showing were very
similar to those described by Lord Farthen’s notes on what happened
to those who had participated in the control spell they were
working on. The Bricrui he had called them. The Death-bringers
according to the townspeople. And now, instead of only affecting
those who had performed the blood-magic ritual, it could be being
spread by her baby girl courtesy of the Forgotten’s curse.

Her memory flashed back to when Telvani had
escaped; his flight had been possible because when he had come
close to Phoenix, something had flared up around her and distracted
them. Having the two of them in close proximity might have been
what set it off. It was much, much worse than they had thought.
They wouldn’t just be dealing with a country of people who would be
unable to produce the next generation if this thing escaped, they
would all be reduced to blood-thirsty raving lunatics before slowly
killing each other off.

How she wished it would be simply a few
unintended side-effects of the Forgotten’s curse as they had
feared, it would have been far better than the truth. Baby Phoenix
was spreading the Bricrui to everyone who shared the tiniest
portion of the bloodline of the Dark King – nearly everyone.