Ash (The Elemental Series, Book 6) (4 page)

“All of you, listen up. Our king is ill. Sick in the mind as a result of Cassava’s tampering. This sickness will be the death of our family if we allow it to continue.”

The group nodded, and I locked eyes with each guard and Ender one at a time, seeing in them all the understanding of what I was putting forth. “We are the protectors of our family, against
all
threats. Both from outside the Rim and from within.”

One by one they went to a knee until I was ringed by the best fighters in our realm. By the last fighters in our realm.

I looked at Belladonna. “Bella . . . I do not want you to be culpable in this on the chance that something goes wrong, but you do need to know it is coming.”

Her eyes widened. “You are planning a coup.” Not a question, a statement. I nodded once.

“Yes. You are the heir to the throne. This needs to be done, and done fast before he finds out what we plan. Once you are queen, you can lift the banishment on Lark and bring her home.”

Bella drew a deep breath. “Ash, this is dangerous. If you fail, you will be executed. Or worse, banished.”

I went to the wall of weapons and began to pull them down, handing them to the guards and Enders as they approached. “I know, but this is my job. To protect my family.”

The weapons were dispersed quickly, efficiently. I checked my own swords strapped to my sides. “I do not want to kill him, Bella. But please understand that if he forces my hand, I will. I will do what I must to protect you all.” And to bring Lark home. There was no cost too great in my eyes.

Her dark brown eyes fluttered shut and tears squeezed out from under the lashes. “I understand, Ender.”

I had to make sure those with me truly understood just how serious this was. I faced Bella and went to one knee and began to speak the Ender’s vow taken when a new king or queen rose to the throne, or when an Ender emerged from their final trial. Within seconds, the rest, even the Rim guards, followed suit. Their words wrapped with mine into a swell of resolve and strength that made me proud, and more than that, hopeful.

“I swear to put your life above mine, my Queen. I swear to protect our family, the Rim, the world of elementals even unto death and on penalty of the mother goddess denying me the last embrace of her arms. I do this willingly, and with all my heart and soul.” I stood slowly and then bowed at the waist. “My Queen.”

The Enders and Rim guards did the same, solemn in their actions. She touched me on the shoulder as I passed, stopping me. She said nothing, but her eyes spoke volumes. To wish us luck would condemn her, yet there was hope in her that we would succeed. That we could help her take the throne and end this madness her father had foisted on his people.

I led the way past Bella, leaving her in the barracks. I glanced back once to see her touch the shoulder of each guard or Ender. She would make a good queen. Perhaps not as good as Lark would have, but a good queen nonetheless, and a far, far better leader than her father.

“Tactics?” Elk moved up to stride next to me as he adjusted a whip on his belt.

“Circle the prey. Cut it off from help and hamstring it,” I said. “Drive it to the ground and we will collar it swiftly.”

In other words, knock the king out and get him into the dungeons as fast as possible.

I had helped to put together the various tactics that an Ender could take when facing a variety of situations. It had been part of my job as second-in-command to Granite all those years.

The dungeons would block the king from his ability, and that would give Bella time to take the throne and bring Lark back. Then perhaps, together, they could figure out what to do with their father. Perhaps they could find a healer, though that thought flickered into the air like dust motes. Healing was a false hope, and even I knew it.

Whatever damage had been done to his mind was too great. I had a bad feeling banishment wouldn’t work on him. Nor would he permanently step down from the throne if we let him out of the dungeons—his pride was too much for him do that. I suspected the only way to deal with him would be death. But I would not go that route unless I had to.

Keeping our pace steady, I could feel the energy shift in the warriors around me. The call to battle was upon us and it rushed through our veins as if we were one beast. I loosened my weapons and listened as they followed my lead, the sound of metal and leather shifting around me.

Into the Spiral we strode, three abreast in a line of ten. Thirty warriors to take down a single mad king.

The door to the throne room was still shut, locked against outsiders. I put a hand to it, feeling the power of the earth running through the layers of the wood. I called up my own connection to the earth and threaded it through the door. I’d seen Lark do what I was about to attempt, only once.

I pulled the door apart, fiber by fiber, sending splinters of wood flying into the throne room.

“Impressive” came a voice I knew all too well. “I should say you’ve been learning naughty things from Lark.” He laughed. “But we all knew
that
already, didn’t we?”

Raven sat next to his father on the throne. His blue eyes flashed with irritation. I wasn’t sure if it was because we were there, or because I’d been in Lark’s bed and he had not. Raven had no issue with bedding family, as his twisted relationship with his mother proved.

My blood ran cold. “Circle,” I breathed out, and my men and women rushed into the throne room, keeping to the edges. Thirty to two.

The odds were not in our favor with Raven standing with his father.

“Raven, we have no quarrel with you,” I said. “The king
,
on the other hand, must answer for his crimes against this family.”

Basileus didn’t move from his spot. His eyes were vacant and he sat slumped, as though drugged. But drugged I doubted. Raven laughed. “Oh, he won’t be waking up anytime soon, Ash.” He patted his father on the face and stepped down from the throne. “You, though, are going to be a thorn in my side, aren’t you?”

Tight-lipped, I motioned to him with the tip of my right sword. The Enders and guards around the room adjusted their stances and we circled Raven. He grinned. “Oh, so that’s how it is? What will my father say when he awakens and you are attacking me?”

“Thank you,” I said.

Raven laughed and raised both his hands above his head. “Oh, you have such a sense of humor, Ash. Are you sure you do not wish to fight on my side? I think you will find we are actually already there, you just can’t see it.” Something in his tone tugged at me and I realized he was weaving Spirit through my mind.

I began to close the distance between us, both swords held up and ready to strike. He pointed a finger at me, but I didn’t slow.

“Brave, so very brave. I can see why Lark likes you so much.” He winked. “I have to ask, is she any good in bed? With those long legs
,
I can imagine the fantastic positions she could get into, and all that long hair to grab hold of. Just . . . lovely.”

I didn’t flinch, nor did any of the other Enders, though several of the guards did. This was a classic tactic of distraction Raven was using—try and shock those who were coming at you and force them to make a mistake.

I didn’t make mistakes like that. “Arrows ready,” I said.

The three that had bows had their weapons up in a flash. I held a hand up. “Hold.”

Raven went still, his eyebrows arched high. “Damn, I underestimated you. You really would kill me?”

“In a heartbeat, but I am not here for you today.” I stopped moving. He was playing with us. But as much as I would like to take him out, I needed to collar the king. “Elk, take the king to the barracks as we discussed.”

Elk jogged to the king and, with ease, pulled him up and over his shoulder. This was going too smoothly, and I knew it. There was no way Raven was going to just let us make this coup happen. I could feel it under my skin, the tension of something on the horizon, that same tension that had started when I made the decision to try for a coup in the first place.

Raven smiled. “Enders and guards, you are all so sure. But would you not rather stand with the rightful king?”

The shift around me was palatable, a shaking of the heads, a lowering of weapons. Son of a bitch . . . I didn’t have to see it to know that Raven was using Spirit on them, twisting their minds.

“Loose arrows!” I rushed Raven, knowing I had only seconds. Maybe less.

The arrows were not loosed; the confusion he placed in their minds had worked to his advantage. I leapt at Raven and he flicked a hand at me, holding me above his head with ease. Air held me tightly, squeezing my ribs and lungs, drawing the breath out of me. I struggled, but I might as well have fought iron bands as the air that was around me.

I was going to die if I didn’t do something. I called on the earth and ripped it away from under Raven’s feet. He stumbled and I dropped. He was on his knees. Not a perfect kill position, but I would make it work.

I sucked in a breath and was running at him in a flash even while my muscles screamed for me to breathe more first. I went low this time, dropping to my knees, and using the earth to propel me forward, both swords driving toward Raven’s chest. He flicked a hand at me and I was thrown to the side and slammed into the wall of the throne room. He pinned me there.

“You are a tenacious bastard. I don’t really want to kill you, you know. I would have just done it if I’d wanted to,” he grumbled, rubbing his head as he stood. I clenched my fingers, the only thing I could do.

Elk was there, holding the king over his shoulder, standing like a statue. Unable to deny the power of Spirit Raven had over him.

Raven laughed, whatever seriousness I’d seen gone in a flash. “Oh, Ash, this is going to be fun. I wouldn’t want the king to banish you, that’s too easy. And you’d go right to her, and we can’t have that, can we?” He tapped a finger against his lower lip as he slowly began to pace the room. “You see, I have plans, and they don’t involve taking the throne here yet. Can’t rush these kinds of things, you know.”

“You’re a—”

A binding of air slapped over my mouth. Raven tipped his head to one side. “No bad language in the throne room, please. My mother hates a potty mouth. Except in bed, perhaps I’ll give you to her. But wait, you were already in her bed, weren’t you?” He winked and I tried not to gag.

Another thing I’d done my best to forget. As the queen, Cassava could call any she wished to her bed. And that included me for a period of time. I shivered, pushing those memories away. They would not help.

Raven walked to me, dragging my body down so we probably looked like we stood side by side. “Here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to make sure all the Enders and guards hate you. And then I’m going to let my father loose and
they,
” he pointed at the others, “are going to tattle on you.”

I refused to close my eyes, the utter loss of what I’d planned washing over me in a wave unlike anything I’d ever experienced. I’d failed Lark, Bella, and our family of Terralings.

Raven snapped his fingers and the world sped up triple time. The king was yelling, Elk and Dreg outed me as a traitor, and I hung against the wall, unable to refute any of it. Unable to even fight back.

I’d never felt so helpless in all my life, not even when I’d been forced into Cassava’s bed. Not even when I’d been forced to bed Bella.

Not even when I’d watched Lark walk away from the Rim.

Rage and crushing disappointment battled over me for control of my emotions.

“Ash, what have you got to say for yourself before I banish you?” The king was in my face, his eyes flashing as though lightning danced in them. I’d not even seen him approach, so lost in my own misery as I was.

The gag of air was removed from my mouth. “You are a fool and will destroy our world if you keep on as you are. Your mind is broken, old man. I pity you, for you were once a man worth laying my life down for. A king I was proud to call my leader. Now . . . I am embarrassed I ever followed you.”

The king’s eyes widened, and behind him
,
I saw Raven nod slowly. “Well said.”

Basileus pointed at me, his hand trembling, the Spiral again echoing his emotions. “You are bani—”

“Father, wait,” Raven said. “I think perhaps you might be acting in haste.”

The king slowly turned. “Raven, what are you doing here? I thought you were missing?”

I wanted to shake my head at his confusion, but I couldn’t even do that. Raven approached his father, bent and whispered in his ear. Slowly the king nodded. “You are a wise young man, Raven. Thank you.”

Raven grinned and gave me a wink. “You can thank me later. Even I can see that the world needs true warriors, Ash.”

I didn’t understand his sudden shift. But my attention was brought back to the man I’d called my king for so many years. No more would I bend my knee to him. “What would you do then, Basilieus?”

“Raven has pointed out that losing Lark has pushed you over the edge. I can understand that. I loved her mother that way too and her loss . . . it was . . . .” His eyes softened and for a moment I saw the king I knew and loved. He shook his head. “You need time to cool off. Throw him in the dungeon for a few months.”