Light the Reign (The Forgotten: Book 3) (21 page)

Lady Aria was more vocal. “Where is this?”
she demanded.

“Just outside the town of Valdor,” Lord
Whitcomb answered this time.

Aria bit her lip. “It is somewhat secluded in
that region, we should be able to contain it as well.” She paused.
“Hopefully we’ll be able to cure it soon.” She glanced over to
Layna and Gryffon.

Layna blinked her eyes wide a few times,
willing them to stay open. “Katya only has one more stone to
retrieve, and it is from the tribe who has traveled with them from
the beginning. As soon as she gets it, we will be able to use the
power of all the stones combined to break the curse. Along with the
chokeroot and the healing water, we can beat this thing.” She
paused in thought, hating to make any decisions when she was as
tired as she was, but feeling as though this was the correct one.
“Gryffon and I will stop taking the chokeroot to prepare for the
need of our talents to help break the curse and spread the cure.
Once we clear it up in the city, we should be able to take care of
it on your manor. Until then, you should try and contain the spread
as best you can.” She glanced over at Gryffon, hoping he didn’t
mind her making that decision for them both, but he just nodded
assent.

“Of course we are!” Lord Whitcomb snapped,
but looked immediately contrite, taking in her sunken eyes and
split cheek, and both her and Gryffon’s haggard appearances. “Are
you quite all right, Queen Layna?”

She smiled, regretting the broadness of her
grin as it cracked the wound, and cringed in pain. “We had a
successful break-up of a fighting ring where people were pitting
the Bricrui against one another. Nice to know that there are people
finding the bright side of this situation,” she added
sarcastically.

“Indeed,” Lady Aria said dryly. “It is good
to hear some better news for a change. However, I am shocked that
you seem to have put yourselves in harm’s way. I must insist that
the two of you be more careful, your combined talent will be needed
for the spell, which is doubly important now that we have another
outbreak.”

“Yes, yes,” agreed Whitcomb, “You need to be
safely tucked away in the palace, not out breaking up fighting
rings!” His sudden concern for their welfare would have been
touching had Layna any doubt that it was based on anything other
than solely his realization that Treymayne might need them after
all.

She and Gryffon both promised that they would
be more careful, and after speaking of a few other matters, they
were finally left alone. The moment the contact was broken, Layna
collapsed onto the table, resting her head on her arms.

“Are you alright?” one of the Council members
asked, and Layna raised her head. She had almost forgotten they
were there. Though it wasn’t nearly as bad as showing weakness to
the Treymayne Ieldran – and Layna would like to think that she
would be cut a little slack after seeing all of them as blubbering
idiots under Telvani’s spell – she could just hear Amelia’s nagging
voice. Telling her that she needed to be regal at all times. Lady
Aria was also watching them with a concerned expression, and Layna
sat straighter in her chair.

“Yes, yes I’m fine,” she assured the woman,
“Just tired is all.” She smiled weakly, but already her thoughts
were headed in a different direction. Thinking of Amelia had
reminded her that it had been a few days since she had visited
either the older woman, or Natalya and Alina, and Layna flushed
guiltily. In retrospect, concentrating so hard on their escapades
into the city had allowed to her forget the horrors that were
happening to her friends.

Amelia, being one of the first to have been
infected, had progressed almost to the stage of her eyes filling
with blood. She may have only days left. The pustules that covered
her body were a source of constant agony, and fear could be seen
plainly written on her face. Layna could hardly stand to see her in
the state. But she knew her friend needed her. She steeled her
courage and told Gryffon where she was off to. Though he offered to
come along, she shook her head, it wasn’t necessary, and he had
things he needed to attend to before he could sleep as well. She
didn’t want to delay him from accomplishing these.

She entered the make-shift infirmary slowly,
looking around at all of the people being housed there. There were
at least twice as many as when she had visited only a few days ago.
She sucked in her breath. Most were only in the beginning stages,
showing symptoms similar to a common winter chill, having started
taking the chokeroot soon enough to stave off the disease the
longest.

There were many, however, showing the later
signs, and Layna knew that there were even more now housed below in
the dungeons who had progressed past holding onto any humanity. She
found Amelia quickly, isolated in the back corner and strapped to
the cot she was on. She sat quickly by her side and took the
woman’s hand gently.

Amelia jerked at the sudden touch, a guttural
growl escaping her lips before she swallowed it down. Layna tried
to stop herself from jumping backwards in alarm, and succeeded in
only tensing a bit, but holding firm to the woman’s hand.

“Sorry, child,” the woman said, her voice
scratchy and harsh. “You surprised me.”

Layna just shook her head, denying the need
for any apology. “How are you feeling?”

“To be quite frank, my dear, I feel like
hell,” she coughed out. Layna could see she was fighting back tears
of pain and she clenched and unclenched her hands a few times.
After a moment, she whispered so softly that Layna could barely
hear, “It’s getting harder and harder to remember who I am,” she
admitted, “I feel as though there is a beast inside me, fighting to
get out. But I know that as soon as it does, I will be no more. And
I’ll live out the rest of my days rotting in the dungeon
below.”

“I would never let that happen,” Layna said
fiercely, squeezing her hand tightly.

Amelia turned her head to look her square in
the eyes. Layna could see a tiny fleck of red forming in the corner
and the more she stared at it, the bigger it seemed to get. “I know
you won’t,” the woman said, “that’s why I want you to promise me
that the moment I turn into one of those, those,” she paused and
swallowed, unable to get the word out, “those Bricrui, I want you
to swear to me that you’ll put me out of my misery. I don’t want to
wallow in the dungeons waiting for a cure that would never help me
anyway. I know you don’t just kill them because they were people,
but I don’t want to die like that, I can’t. Please promise me.” She
stared at Layna intently, willing her to accept her request.

Layna was appalled at the thought, but could
not deny the argument behind it. Finally, when Amelia’s demands did
not relent, she nodded. “I promise.”

“Thank you,” Amelia whispered hoarsely, and
collapsed back on the bed, exhausted by their brief exchange. Until
the cursed disease took over their entire bodies and turned them
into the Bricrui, the death-bringers, it took its toll on them like
any other disease. Wasting them away to nothing until it was almost
as if it took the very life from them, then making them rise again
to do its evil bidding. Or perhaps they were just so far gone at
that point that they ignored the protests of its body.

Layna shook her head to clear it of the
unwanted thoughts. She glanced around instead for Natalya and
Alina. Natalya, the saint that she was, not only had volunteered to
take care of the ill, but had also offered up herself as a
caretaker for Phoenix. Though Layna always made sure that at least
one of the mages was also present during the time she took her, it
was a much-needed help. Most of Phoenix’s regular care-takers were
currently here in the infirmary, and there was enough rumors going
around that those closest to Phoenix had gotten sick first to make
others more wary about volunteering for the job.

She spotted them in the center of the room,
spoon-feeding broth to one of the infirm, and she strolled over to
them. She stifled a yawn and she approached, smiling in
greeting.

“Your Majesty,” both girls greeted her in
unison, curtsying prettily even though she had told them time and
time again that such an action was not necessary.

“How are you holding up?” she asked, looking
from one to the other, and addressing the question to them
both.

“We’re fine,” Natalya insisted, and Alina
nodded her head. Layna reached out and put her wrist against
Alina’s forehead. It was warm, but not alarmingly so. The chokeroot
seemed to have worked very well on her. The mages had told her and
Gryffon that resistance to the curse was directly proportionate to
the amount of talent a person had, which was why she and Gryffon
hadn’t yet gotten any symptoms, despite their contact with Phoenix.
So it made sense that Alina, with her also impressive talent, would
be faring well. That was good news.

She smiled again, more genuinely, glad for
life’s small favors. Her expression darkened, however, as she posed
her next question. “And Amelia? Is she in pain all the time?”

Neither girl answered her right off, both
looking anywhere but at her. Finally, Natalya spoke up. “She is in
pain, but the healers have been giving her things to dull it. It
had been working until this morning when she refused to take it
anymore. She said it made it harder to hold onto reality.”

Layna sighed and nodded. She closed her eyes
for just a moment, and almost fell as she immediately nodded off.
Only Natalya’s steadying grip on her arm kept her from tumbling
into the poor sick person on the bed in front of her, and the girl
looked at her with apprehension.

“You’d better get some rest yourself, Your
Majesty, you look like you’ve been awake for days.”

Layna did not protest, excusing herself and
walking through the sea of the infirm in a haze. Knowing they
wouldn’t answer, she sent a silent prayer to the Three, the dragon
beings who had shared her mind not long ago. After they had helped
Layna and Gryffon to destroy Nuko, they had left their world,
leaving it up to them to make their own choices. Now, more than
ever, Layna fervently wished she could will them back.

Please, please don’t let this curse spread
through the land…

CHAPTER 12

As they journeyed back to the Dena’ina lands,
where Katya had already once almost been in possession of the
stone, she kept waiting for the Dena’ina leader to approach her.
Just as he had the rest of their trek, however, he remained
stoically reticent on the subject of the Dena’ina stone. Finally,
as the Dena’ina lands came into view across the plains, Katya
trotted to catch up with him.

“Will there be some sort of task that we need
to perform once again?” she asked bluntly, wanting to know how long
the last leg of their journey might take. Layna’s last
communication with her had been rather frantic, and Katya was just
as eager as she to see an end to the curse.

The Dena’ina leader glanced over his shoulder
at her, a smile playing on his lips. “No,” he shook his head, “the
stone is yours. Our powerstone helped to keep the marked safe, but
in our travels through the tribes, I believe you have already done
that.”

“I did?” she asked, surprised, “How did I do
that?”

“Not only are you one of the marked yourself,
along with Petra on this trip, doing a great honorable deed, but
you have also pointed out the errors of the tribes in allowing
their blind hatred to guide their actions. You have forced them to
open their eyes.”

“Oh.”

“Furthermore,” he continued, “You have given
us the means to cleanse are lands from the chaotic magic, to tame
it to our uses. This knowledge will be invaluable. The rest we can
figure out.” He paused and eyed her shrewdly. “You have no idea
what kind of impact you have had on my people, do you?”

“It wasn’t just me,” Katya demurred, but
anything else she had to say was cut off by shouting as they came
into view of the Dena’ina. She braced herself for more bad
news.

She was surprised, then, when she heard what
it was they were shouting. “Katya has come back! She’s here!”

“Why are they shouting my name?” she asked
the Dena’ina leader, but it was Hunter who answered her.

“Because of all you’ve done, my love, don’t
you see?”

Katya was glad when a man rushed forward, not
towards her, but to Petra, embracing her and swinging her around in
a circle. This must be her husband.

“Petra, I missed you so much!” he exclaimed,
kissing her passionately on her bird-like mouth. Katya watched with
interest, wondering just how that was comfortable, but somehow they
made it work. Others rushed forward and embraced her, or patted her
on the back, all offering thanks and congratulations on her part of
their quest. Katya was warmed to see her friend shining brightly
under the praise, finally able to see that she deserved it.

“So, about the stone…” Katya turned to the
Dena’ina leader who smiled at her obligingly.

“Of course, you are eager to complete the
mission,” he said, but he didn’t move. He seemed almost hesitant to
give it to her now that they were here.

“Have you changed your mind?” she asked him,
waiting for him to contradict his earlier statement and decide that
maybe there was something after all that she needed to do
first.

“No,” he shook his head quickly, “no, I was
just thinking. Let’s retrieve it now.”

“Lead on,” Katya waved a hand in front of her
indicating that she would follow him. She had gotten through the
maze of a path meant to keep intruders out once before, but she
would much rather simply have him lead her through it.

The hike up the mesa was significantly
shorter than the previous journey she had made to the stone’s
resting place, but it was still quite a climb. They all paused to
catch their breath at the top, staring into the cordoned off area
which held the stone, now back in its circle of power holding
it.