Vankara (Book 1) (8 page)

Gabriel stood up
and indicated with a slight tilt of his head to me that I should follow them.

As we all walked
into the Queen’s bedroom, she awoke as if sensing that the one person she
wanted to see most was approaching.  A faint smile of pleasure curved her pale,
cracked lips when her eyes came to rest on the captain.  She stretched out a
weak emaciated hand, silently asking him to come closer to her. 

Without
hesitation, he strode to her bed side joining hands with her.

“Thank you,” she
whispered.

“I’m sorry, Em,”
he replied.

Queen Emma shook
her head weakly against the pillow.

“No, the apology
should come from me.  I’m the one responsible for how your life has turned
out.  But, I hope to rectify that mistake before I die, if you’ll let me.”  She
took a deep labored breath before continuing.  “And I know I have no right to,
but I need to make one last request for your help.”

“I’ll do whatever
you need me to do,” he said, sincere in what he knew would be his last act of
loyalty to his Queen.

Queen Emma let out
a relieved sigh.

“I need you to
help Sarah look after Dena for me.  Sarah has a good soul and true heart.  Try
to advise her when she needs it and guide her when she doesn’t even know she
needs guidance.  Protect my daughter with your life,” I saw Queen Emma squeeze
the captain’s hand with what little strength she had left as she made her
demand.  “
She
is Vankara’s future.  Help Sarah teach her what it means
to be a leader of people.”

Queen Emma lost
her breath and had to stop speaking to regain it.  When she did, her breathing
was more labored than before and I could hear the rattle of death with each new
breath she took.  I knew in that moment she would not live to see another day.

“I will protect
Dena with my life,” Fallon fervently promised.  “And I’ll help this woman as
much as I can, if that is your wish.”

“Thank you,” Queen
Emma said, letting her hand drop from the captain’s, too weak to hold on any
longer.

Queen Emma directed
her gaze to Gabriel and me. Her violet eyes looked dull now from fatigue and
sickness, no longer able to hold the light of life.

“Would the two of
you mind giving us some privacy?  I have some matters I wish to discuss with
John alone.”

Before Gabriel and
I left the room, I glanced back at the two behind us.  The look on both their
faces revealed they had truly cared for one another at one time.  I couldn’t
help but wonder what might have happened between them if the captain had only
come to her sooner.

Chapter 5

The captain wasn’t
alone with Queen Emma for very long, perhaps only fifteen minutes.  When he opened
the door to her room, his eyes were haunted by the sadness of regret. 

“Would the two of
you come back in please?”  He asked us, holding the door wide for our re-entry.

After we stepped
into the room, Fallon closed the door behind us, making the moment seem more
intimate in the confined space of the Queen’s bedroom.

The look of
serenity on Queen Emma’s face took me by surprise.  She held the countenance of
someone who was facing death on her own terms.  She was sitting up straighter
with the pillows positioned behind her to prop up her fragile form.

“It’s time
Gabriel,” Queen Emma said in a voice so calm you would have thought she was
asking Gabriel for a glass of wine instead of her own death.

Gabriel was
propelled into a state of shock by her statement, his brow furrowed in
consternation.  “There’s no reason we have to do it now, Emma.  You still have
a few hours yet to live.”

Queen Emma shook
her head, the rattle of her breathing had become even more pronounced during
the short time we were absent from the room.

“I don’t think I
have that long, and I want the reassurance of knowing Sarah is holding my hand
when it happens, ready to accept the responsibility I’m asking her to
undertake.”

Queen Emma locked
eyes with me like I was the only other person in the room.  “Come, Sarah.”  She
held her hand out.  “Take my hand and my place.”

I walked to the Queen’s
bedside and sat down next to her.  I took her hand into mine and squeezed it
firmly.

This was it.

These would be the
last few seconds of my life as Sarah Harker.

From the corner of
my eyes, I saw Gabriel pull out the drawer in the nightstand beside the bed and
retrieve a glass vial filled with a colorless liquid.  It triggered a memory
long ago buried but resurfacing now calling into question the last time I saw
such a thing in his hands.

He took the
stopper out and handed it to the Queen.  Having made up her mind, there was no
hesitation in her movements as she brought the vial of death to her lips and
drank the contents.  She held the empty container close to her chest,
tightening her hold on my hand as if she feared I would suddenly change my mind
and try to run away.

I can’t lie and
say the thought didn’t cross my mind in those few short seconds.  It would have
been so easy to just let go and stay the way I was, but, my parents had raised
me too well.  I would keep my promises to the Queen no matter how painful the
outcome.

“I’m sorry to
place such a burden on your shoulders but I know you can handle it,” Queen Emma
said to me.

“Why do you have
so much confidence in me?” I asked.  “You barely know me.” 

“Because Gabriel
has confidence in you.  I trust his judgment and my own.  I know in my heart
you are a good person, Sarah.  You simply have to learn how to be a great
leader.”  Her eyes left my face and traveled to where Gabriel and Fallon stood
side by side.  “I’m leaving you with the two people I trust most in the world
to help you learn what it means to be the Queen of Vankara.  Listen to their
advice,” she looked back at me.  “But most importantly, listen to your heart. 
It will never steer you wrong.”

Those were the
last words Queen Emma Vankar ever uttered.

Her eyes closed as
her body slowly went limp.  The glass vial she had been holding fell from her grasp
onto the bed.  I tightly clasped the hand I held waiting for my transformation
to begin.

Almost instantly,
I felt a wave of intense energy leave the Queen and enter my body through our
conjoined hands. The pain was ten times worse than I remembered feeling from
the passing of the real Sarah Harker.  My body felt like it was on fire,
dropped into a vat of molten lava that was melting away my identity and flesh
all at once.  I released my hold on the Queen’s hand, desperately clutching at
the excruciating pain in my stomach as I fell into a crumpled heap on the floor
beside the bed.

“No!” I heard
Gabriel yell.  “Leave her alone, Fallon.  You’ll only cause her more pain if
you try to interfere.”

I wanted to cry
out in agony but couldn’t find a voice to scream with.  My bones cracked and
shifted.  My muscles stretched and pulled.  A memory, not my own, formed in my
mind.  I was chasing a small tow-haired angel around a large oak tree.  Her
curly locks and sun kissed cheeks glistened against the streams of sunlight
filtering down through the oak’s leaf covered limbs.  Her laughter filled my
heart with a mother’s longing to be with her.

I focused on the Queen’s
memory, replaying it over and over again until finally the pain in my body
subsided, and I felt the cool comfort of being whole again.  I opened my eyes
and cautiously lifted myself into a sitting position.  I looked up to find
Gabriel staring down at me with a grim smile of approval as he took in my new
face. My eyes shifted involuntarily to Fallon who wore a mixed look of horror
and fascination.

“Do I look like
her?” My hand flew up to my throat.  I sounded different.  I didn’t remember
that happening before.  But, I was young when I became Sarah Harker.  Children
aren’t as prone to self-awareness as adults are.

“Exactly like
her,” Gabriel confirmed with a certain amount of satisfaction, stretching his
hand down for me to take.

When I stood, I
noticed I was a couple of inches shorter than I had been before and my dress
seemed tighter across the chest.  I looked down at the hand Gabriel held and
saw the pale white of the Queen’s skin now stretched over my bones.

“What are we going
to do with Emma?”  Fallon asked, looking towards the bed at the Queen’s
lifeless body.

I got the distinct
feeling he was purposely averting his eyes from me, a living ghost of his once
beloved Queen.  I couldn’t blame him in his need to act as though I didn’t
exist.  I felt certain viewing my new reflection in a mirror with the Queen’s
face staring back at me would be a haunting experience, one I wasn’t prepared
for just yet.

How long would it
be until I forgot what Sarah Harker looked like, just like I had April Pew?

“Emma wanted to be
cremated,” Gabriel told us.  “I brought a cremation stone with me.”

I actually knew
what stone Gabriel was speaking of.  It was made by the mages at the College,
like almost all magical objects were.  When placed on the body you wanted to
cremate, the stone would give off a burst of intense heat.  I had seen it used
when the Queen’s father was cremated.  Even now I can remember the high blue arching
flames which consumed his body.  It was a beautiful declaration to his life and
a sad reminder of his loss all at once.  In no time at all, the King’s corpse
had been reduced to a pile of sparkling white ashes.

“What are we going
to tell Inara?” I asked.  The Queen’s voice was a bit higher and softer than I
was used to.  The difference in tone and strength felt strange as it
reverberated against the interior of my throat.

“We’ll wrap her up
in a sheet and tell Inara its Sarah’s body we’re cremating,” Gabriel answered.

“And what’re you
gonna tell her Sarah died of?” Fallon asked.

“We’ll tell her
Sarah suddenly became ill with the plague.”

“Won’t she be
suspicious?” I asked.

“Suspicious of
what?” Gabriel questioned.  “A girl she hardly knew dying of a disease that’s
wiped out half the world’s population?”

“Suspicious of how
quickly I died after catching it,” I tried to reason.  “For someone my age, it
would normally take up to a month not a few hours.”

“I’ll just tell
her you were unusually susceptible to the disease.  I doubt Inara will question
it too stringently.  When she sees her best friend and Queen completely
healthy, she won’t be thinking about much else.  As long as we hide the Queen’s
face, Inara will never know it’s her.”

Gabriel and Fallon
began wrapping the Queen’s body up as reverently as they could in one of her
bed sheets.

“She deserves
better than this,” Fallon grumbled lowly, working the sheet around the Queen’s
corpse.

“She was the one
who planned everything, Fallon,” Gabriel said, his voice sounding tired.   “We’re
simply carrying out her last wishes.”

Once the Queen’s
body was prepared, Gabriel went out to the front room and sat at a small
writing desk situated in the corner nearest the Queen’s bedroom against the
wall of windows.  He took out a piece of parchment, a stylus and an ink pot quickly
scribbling out a short note. He placed the note in a small wooden cylinder. 
From a decorative bird cage standing in the opposite corner of the room, Gabriel
took out a bird made of rose and gold colored metal.  When he placed the wooden
cylinder beneath its gold clawed feet, the bird automatically latched onto it. 
Gabriel pulled out an ornate key from the top of the bird cage and inserted it
into a key hole next to one of the bird’s wings.  He cranked the key until a
click was heard.  Gabriel walked back to the desk and lifted the sash of one of
the windows.  The mechanical bird spread its wings and flew out. 

“Where is it
going?” I asked.

“It will carry our
message to Inara.  I’m sure you noticed the compartments are completely
separate from one another.”

“Why isn’t there a
connecting door?  Wouldn’t that be easier?”

“It’s a security
precaution for the most part.  If someone were to board us, they would have a
hell of a time gaining control of the ship with Inara safely tucked away within
the navigational controls.  It’s virtually impossible to get in there.”

“Has anyone ever
tried to take the Queen’s ship?”

“Once, a long time
ago, but they didn’t succeed.  In fact, the commander of the ship at the time
simply flew them directly to Gromstrand prison.”

A couple of
minutes later, we heard a tapping noise outside the window marking the bird’s
return.  Gabriel quickly read the brief missive inside the wooden cylinder it
carried.

“She says we can
make the stop in another hour.  She knows of a clearing where we can land and
cremate the body.”

I looked through
the open doorway and saw Fallon still standing at the foot of the Queen’s bed,
watching over her like a sentinel of the dead.  I wondered what he was
thinking.  Was he remembering better times with the Queen when they were
lovers?  Was he regretting not coming to her sooner to mend their relationship
before it was too late? 

There was one
question which plagued me most about John Fallon:  did he still intend to honor
the dying wishes of his Queen and serve me as loyally as he would have served
her?

There was no doubt
my naiveté on matters of state would hinder my ability to lead Vankara as well
as Emma Vankar had.  I wasn’t delusional enough to consider myself anything
else but a farmer’s daughter.  I knew I would find myself in dire straits if Fallon
decided advising me was beyond his capability. 

The three of us
were in our own little worlds while we waited for Inara to take us to the Queen’s
final resting place.  I think we were all in silent agreement that talking
about the future while the Queen’s body still rested on board the ship was
highly inappropriate.