25.3

When Zyrdicia stepped into the throne room, it was already filled to capacity with the men she had summoned. As expected, Geoffrey had returned from Tronin. All Dirk's knights and generals were also present. Every field commander had arrived from the South through the magical gates she opened. The few remaining loyal nobles whom Dirk had permitted to live were all present as well. Nearly everyone suspected Dirk was already dead.

The mood in the room was both somber and tense, but almost everyone present was secretly thrilled that the queen considered him important enough to summon. With Andrea's help, she had personally selected the guest list, and handwritten the invitations. Hardly any of them had ever spoken to her personally, and most had no reason to believe, until today, that she even knew their names. As Andrea had predicted, a brief, personal note from Zyrdicia had inspired a great deal of spontaneous devotion.

She felt emotionally and physically drained, but she was determined not to let anyone see that. She was entering a den of wolves whose pack leader had just been incapacitated. She needed them to see her as an indomitable force in control of the kingdom, and no hint of weakness could be visible tonight.

Given her goal for the evening, she had not dressed in feminine court attire. She had instead dressed for battle.

She stepped up on the dais on which the throne was located. She stood and surveyed the room coolly. The military men all stood at attention, already acknowledging her as their de facto commander.

She flashed a charming smile and sat on Dirk's throne as though it had always been her own. She composed serious, earnest expression on her face and said, "Thank you for coming. There has been a great deal of speculation lately about Dirk. I want to assure you that your king is alive. He has fallen into a magical coma. I am doing everything I can think of to bring him out of the coma." As shock registered on the faces of the men in front of her, she added in a sterner tone, "I will find a way to save him. And until I do, the war against the South continues as though Dirk were here."

She found Kai's face in the front of the crowd and found it inscrutable. He was somehow masking his thoughts from her, thanks to some charm Portia had given him.

Nelor, the Captain of the Guard, stood nearest her. Used to standing on the dais next to Dirk when the king held court, he moved to her right side. He asked gently, "Was the king attacked, my lady?"

"Yes," she said matter-of-factly. "By demons."

In the thoughts swirling around her, she sensed confusion, but no anger or malice. They did not suspect her of causing the coma. As Andrea predicted, they could not care less what had caused it. They were too charmed by her to hold anything against her.

Geoffrey stepped forward then. He cleared his throat. He thrust his chest out and said with exaggerated formality, "If Dirk is in a coma, and my father is in a coma, that means that I must assume the throne as Regent."

Out of the corner of her eye, Zyrdicia saw the Captain of the Guard straighten his posture. Nelor's gaze then traveled around the room, meeting the stares of four different knights and three generals in turn before settling on Zyrdicia's face, awaiting her response to Geoffrey. She watched each man respond to Nelor's gaze with a barely perceptible nod.

From their thoughts, she gleaned that they intended to slay Geoffrey to prevent him from taking control of the kingdom. Scores of hands were already creeping toward sword belts.

She moved to face her brother-in-law. As she did so, she touched Nelor's shoulder and said in low whisper, "Not yet, my friend." He looked shocked for a moment that she knew of the conspiracy, but he responded almost inaudibly, "I'm yours to command, my queen."

The room was painfully silent. Behind Geoffrey, several men moved into position in a semicircle around him. Their hands were resting on their weapons, waiting for Nelor's order. Geoffrey was oblivious to the danger.

Zyrdicia believed that killing a member of the Blackpool family openly would send the wrong message. She did not want anyone to think she was trying to steal the throne. This was not to be a coup d'etat; it was merely preservation of the status quo. In her mind, she was simply holding things together until she could find a way to revive Dirk. This sort of power struggle was precisely what she had hoped to avoid.

Zyrdicia said in an eerily calm tone, "There is no need for a Regent, Geoff. Dirk will recover soon."

"But if he doesn't--"

"-Do not dare to doubt my magical resources, Prince!" Zyrdicia interrupted in a dangerous whisper. "You have no idea what Dirk means to me, or the lengths I will go to get him back."

"Until he wakes up, though, our law requires that--"

She interrupted in a louder voice, "There will be no Regent! Not you. Not me. Everything stays just as it is until Dirk returns to us. You will go back to Tronin and continue to oversee the occupation."

Geoffrey stammered, "But I am the last of the Blackpool line."

She shook her head and looked him squarely in the eye and said, "No, you are not."

"Huh? Of course I am!"

"You aren't even in line for the throne any longer, Geoff. Even if Dirk were to die tonight, you would not have a claim to the throne."

Geoffrey stared at her blankly. He scowled and said, "Yes, I would. By my birthright."

She said quietly, "I'm carrying Dirk's son."

The whole room seemed to gasp at once. Then someone clapped. The clap turned into a roaring cheer.

The reaction stunned her. She had underestimated what a royal heir meant to the kingdom. To them, it was not her pregnancy, it was Karteia's. She wished instantly that she had not revealed it.

Trying to change the subject, she said, "Until Dirk returns, nothing changes. I will stay with the kingdom and protect Karteia. The North will continue to be blessed by prosperity while Camerand starves. By summer, all of Aperans will belong to us."

General Depin, the most senior commander of the southern forces, expressed the thought on every officer's mind when he spoke: "If the king lies in a coma, who among us will you assign to lead the final assault when the snow thaws?"

Annoyed at the general's ambition, she said curtly, "I'll lead the final attack against Camerand and Baaldorf myself."

He persisted in an obsequious tone, "But you are with child, Your Highness."

"Dirk and I planned that assault together months ago. The two of us spent many hours working out every detail of it. Can you think of a more fitting place for his son to be born than the battlefield on which Camerand surrenders?"

25.3.1

Kendall Kraxton appraised the queen critically throughout her announcement in the throne room. He had not been invited, but he was not about to miss this.

To his thinking, the woman seizing power did not look like any queen he had ever seen. Kendall could not blame Dirk for coveting a woman like this, but the knight was surprised that Dirk had risked letting such a dangerous creature acquire a position of power, instead of merely keeping her as a concubine.

After Zyrdicia had announced that she was seizing the throne, Karteia's knights and generals fawned over her, lining up to kiss her hand and swear loyalty to her. Kendall was disgusted by it. He was no fan of Geoffrey, but the knight recognized a power-grab when he saw one.

Nelor, the Captain of the Guard, caught his elbow and steered him to the queen. Nelor said, "You need to meet Her Highness. Come."

To escape being introduced, Kendall would have had to cause a scene. In light of the love-sick loyalty of several score men who surrounded him, he was not about to cross her in public here.

The knight stared at her, speechless for an instant before recovering his manners. He stood up quickly and bowed, "Your Highness."

Nelor said, "My queen, this is Kendall Kraxton, the king's first knight. He's been abroad for several years and returned during your recent absence. He is a loyal vassal of Lord Blackpool."

Kendall waited an instant for her to offer her hand to him to kiss. She hesitated, her eyes narrowing.

Zyrdicia frowned then. Dispensing with politeness, she demanded, "You somehow manage to shield your thoughts from me. Why?"

Kendall's eyes moved from her to Nelor uncertainly. Having to answer to Dirk's new foreign wife was a discomforting experience. He found it repulsive.

He stammered, "Lemica is filled with unpleasant sorcerers. One has to learn to survive in such a place."

"Lemica," Zyrdicia repeated, her face betraying her surprise. "Count Ildewynd spent time there too. Did you know him there?"

"No," Kendall said flatly. He had recently assisted Dirk in torturing and killing Ildewynd. Kendall had expected the Count would confess that he and the queen had been having a sexual affair. Instead the Count had confessed that he served a demon god who had tasked the Count with delivering Zyrdicia to Hell.

"How do you hide your thoughts?" Zyrdicia inquired.

"An amulet," he answered, fully flustered.

The black leather jacket she wore shifted slightly as she leaned toward him, and it revealed the waved-bladed dagger pendant she often wore. Kendall's eyes fell on the necklace, and his mouth opened in shock.

Following his gaze, Zyrdicia said curiously, "You recognize this symbol from somewhere."

"I saw it often, in Lemica."

In his voice, she heard the thinly disguised disgust that Zyr's rune evoked in him. That piqued her curiosity. She said, "Surely you won't mind removing your amulet for a moment."

"My lady?" Kendall blinked.

"The thoughts of every man in the castle have long been subject to inspection. You would be amazed how many potential traitors Dirk and I discovered this way."

"You doubt me?" the knight fumed.

"I don't know you well enough to doubt you. Are you going to remove the amulet, or shall I have it removed for you?"

A gesture from Nelor was enough to cause a dozen men to flock to Zyrdicia and surround Kendall. Kendall was one of the best swordsmen Karteia had ever produced, but he knew when he was outnumbered. He reached inside his shirt and yanked out silver disk-shaped pendant. It bore a single, black magical glyph.

Zyrdicia gazed at the amulet, trying to check her emotions. "That's of old Lyrian manufacture. The Old Priests used to wear those," she murmured darkly, her eyes flashing dangerously. She descended into his mind, searching for the explanation.

Within his mind, she realized immediately that the man hated the South and all it stood for. But the depth of his loyalty to Dirk was unusual. She noted that he had already taken a quick dislike to her. Nonplussed by his resistance to her angelic charisma, she looked deeper into his mind. In an instant, she understood why he possessed an amulet of the Lyrian priesthood, and the knowledge left her breathless.

She handed the amulet back to the knight. She met his gaze and said quietly, "Your loyalty to my husband is proven. And killing any of the Old Priests more than earns you my esteem. That you found their hiding place for me puts me in your debt. You've done well. I'm pleased to have you here."

Kendall slipped the amulet back around his neck silently, offended by the episode.

25.3.2

Kendall's shock at the new state of affairs deepened as he watched the new queen take the king's seat at the head of the dinner table. It was as though every formality in the history of Karteia had been cast aside by this woman. He glanced around furtively, looking in vain for a sign of outrage or discontent among the others present at the table.

He gaped at the sight of the table. The distinctive candelabra he recalled adorning the table in years past was long gone. Instead, the room was kept deliberately dim, illuminated only by the flames from the large fireplace. At the table's center, a small ice sculpture of the Blackpool crest stood surrounded by a decorative arrangement of blood-colored exotic flowers and tropical fruit in an identical red hue. Such items would be hard to come by in the North even in the warm summer months. In the middle of winter, it was an unfathomable display of wealth.

Kendall's attention travelled to the head of the table, where the queen peered at him intently. Her gaze made Kendall uneasy. He looked down at his plate then, trying not to stare at her. She gestured, beckoning him to sit in the empty chair next to her. It was an honor that Kendall would have rather not received.

Once the meal began, she ordered, "Let's talk about your travels in Lemica." Her tone was pleasant enough, but its intensity unnerved Kendall.

"Few ever make the passage between Aperans and the Dark Continent," he said uneasily.

"Why is Lemica called the Dark Continent?" Zyrdicia interrupted, her eyes locked on Kendall.

"About a century ago it was overrun with evil sorcerers. They killed every leader and enslaved the populace. It's a grim place. The sorcerers practice a particularly potent form of the dark arts," Kendall answered.

"These sorcerers used the symbol you see me wear, didn't they?" she asked carefully, gesturing to her pendant.

He nodded meeting the challenge of her gaze.

"They are my oldest enemies. How many of them did you kill in Lemica?"

"Several. In Lemica, one either kills to survive, or ends up dead. It's a notoriously dangerous, brutal place."

"Not more so than here!" someone at the far end of the table piped up. Several others laughed good-naturedly in response.

"Here, violence is born of war and political necessity. There it's a religion," he retorted.

"What did you see of that religion in Lemica?" Zyrdicia asked, trying to convey a neutral tone and avoid the temptation simply to interrogate this man.

Kendall paused, taken aback by the intensity of the queen's gaze. He noted that she had not yet touched her food. He smiled thinly, "I would not wish to spoil your appetite with inappropriate table conversation, my lady."

Everyone at the table paused to stare at him. For a single, awkward moment, Kendall feared he had committed a grave affront. Finally, Zyrdicia smiled darkly as though the remark were mildly entertaining. The tension broken, everyone at the table except Zyrdicia erupted in laughter at Kendall's expense. She continued to stare intensely at the knight.

The knight forced a smile, trying to go with the flow of it. He swallowed hard, uncertain how to proceed.

She picked up a small, very sharp knife. Instead of cutting the meat on her plate, she twirled it elegantly in her fingers as though she were ready to throw it. She glanced at Kendall and demanded, "And this violent religion?"

"I suppose it's the nightmare one might imagine if Bethel and Vector were set free of royalty and turned loose upon the world. The sorcerers sacrifice countless people to their demon gods. They keep at it until a river of blood flows down their temple steps into the street."

"Yes, they always were good for a spectacle," she replied dryly. "Can you remember the names of any of their demon gods?"

"I can't remember the names. They were foreign, monsterous names. I avoided the cities in Lemica as best I could because of the swarms of minions out gathering fodder for the sacrifices. Samie-something."

"Samael."

"That could have been it."

"Do you know where those sorcerers in Lemica came from?" she asked, her eyes glittering

"According to the stories, they showed up in Lemica when they were chased out of their home world by a some mad child of their god."

"Me."

"That's impossible. That would have happened a hundred years ago. You couldn't have been born then, Your Highness."

She smiled coyly, "You don't know me yet. As a girl, I killed almost all of those priests. But I was too young and full of rage to exercise care in their extermination; a few escaped. I hunted the survivors for years afterward but never learned where they had gone. Now I know. The information you brought me today is terribly valuable."

She became restless at the thought of finally finding the hiding location of the remaining Lyrian Priests. She stood up from the table then, unable to sit still. She looked at Captain Nelor and wondered, "Is there anyone still alive in the dungeon? I have the sudden urge to kill something."

"Of course," Nelor nodded. "And if the prisoners aren't to your liking, we have servants aplenty that we can send down there for your amusement, Your Highness."

As she turned to leave, she froze, her gaze fell upon an old servant adding wood to the fire burning in a hearth. He was hunched down on his haunches, pretending to re-stack some wood while he listed to the conversation at the table. Something about him was eerily familiar to Zyrdicia. She turned, searching for Kai at the table. She beckoned him to come to her. She pointed at the servant and whispered, "Who is that?"

Kai answered, "Just an old man whose task it is to keep the fire stoked."

"How long has he worked in the castle?"

"Not long. A few weeks perhaps."

Zyrdicia sensed that Kai was nervous. He had not been to see her since Dirk had fallen into a coma. She expected that he was angry at her for continuing to keep him separated from Portia. His lover was still stuck in Lyr, under orders not to return to Karteia until further notice. Zyrdicia started to read his thoughts and realized he was singing a song in his head. It was an old trick of Portia's to avoid casual mind reading on the streets of Lyr. Zyrdicia was too intrigued by the old man to sort out what Kai might be trying to keep secret from her.

Suddenly it dawned on her why the old man looked familiar. At that moment, she realized exactly who he was, and why he was lingering near enough to hear her conversation.

Her eyes fill with a hell-spawned hatred. Her sword appeared in her hand without any warning at all. She moved against her quarry faster than the human eye could follow. She lifted the old man off the ground and stabbed him through the chest, her sword pinning him to the wood trim of hearth like a little bug. The long blade pierced his solar plexus as though it were paper. He hung there and writhed a bit, blood gurgling in his throat.

Zyrdicia shoved his dirty brown robe aside, revealing a black tattoo of a waved-bladed dagger embedded in the tangle of curled gray hair over his heart.

The old man tried to speak, but the words stuck in his throat. He was suffocating on his own blood. After he expired, she pulled her sword out and allowed the body to crumple on the floor in a bloody heap. She bent down and grabbed his chin, lifting it up. With a deft motion she severed his head.

Zyrdicia summoned Charles to her magically. He appeared, looking surprised. "I hate it when you move me around like that" His voice trailed off when he took in the situation.

She shoved the head toward him and said, "Take this to the Old City in Lyr and put it on the pile of skulls at the foot of the Temple steps. Display it prominently at the center, on top of the pile."

"I'm so not touching that nasty thing," he cringed.

"Do it!" she snapped, shoving the dripping head into his arms. He grimaced miserably and disappeared. She stormed out of the room angrily.

25.3.3

Kendall followed Zyrdicia out of the dining room, running to keep up. The knight called after her, "That servant was one of them - he bore their mark! Are you at war with those sorcerers, Your Highness?"

She froze in mid-stride. She spun around angrily and said, "'War' doesn't even begin to describe the destruction that awaits them. They've been hiding from me for a century. And that rune you saw in Lemica is not theirs. It never was. It is mine. They usurped its magic for thousands of years!" She glared at him and demanded, "Did these sorcerers have a leader?"

"Zirxon," Kendall answered. "He's rumored to be more than two-hundred-years old. He uses the blood sacrifices somehow to maintain his youth."

"So the old goat is still alive..." she murmured darkly. "You are going to tell me everything you remember about where Zirxon dwells, and the forces he has at his disposal. Walk with me."