Wyrdroot, who had now arrived in the light, crossed his arms. “You also told me to respect his wishes, did you not? I did that. And I told him about the Mandrakes, I told him.”
The queen shook her head, anger burning in her eyes.
“I have to apologize for my servant. He will be punished for his fault. The swamps are dangerous terrain if you do not know where to tread. Are your enemies still threatening you?”
She snapped her fingers, and one of the large demon beasts stepped forward, nuzzling against the queen’s neck. Absent-mindedly, she scratched its ears.
“N…no,” stammered Valir. “They’re all dead, killed by one of your… demon lapdogs? Well, Kragh saved one, but he escaped, and he’s no threat anymore. Have… have you ordered them to attack?”
The queen shook her head. “How could I? Until now I didn’t even know of your enemies’ existence. I had thought the servant with the brain — the one I tasked with this exact duty — would keep you safe, but alas; at least a demon did.”
Wyrdroot muttered something unintelligible to himself.
“Whatarethese demons? I have seen nothing like them before,” Dagna asked, just a split second before Kraghtol had opened his mouth to ask the same question.
“Poor animals, changed forever when they wandered too close to the center of the swamp. Like all wild animals, they are not evil, just driven by their twisted instincts. The same instinct that tells them to recognize my authority, even after all these years. They are not particularly clever; your comparison to dogs is not wrong. At least they understood the command not to touch Kraghtol on his way here.” Despite the queen’s words, her voice carried little sympathy.
“Now, I suppose I have answered all your doubts, dwarf? More reason to deny your friend his reward?”
“Just one. If you were in contact with this Wyrdroot this whole time, why didn’t he open the seal for you?”
“Yes, good question,” Valir chimed in. “He knows alchemy, and he even told Kragh about how the seals work. Why did you need Kragh for that?”
Kraghtol hadn’t thought of that, and had an uneasy feeling growing in him. There was one explanation, but…
Wyrdroot chuckled in amusement before breaking out in laughter. “No, no, I could not. I was unable — impossible even.” A sharp look from the queen doused his madness, but the chuckle remained.
“You really want to know it all. Fine. You shall have your answers.” The demon behind her growled, but she gestured for him to back off. “An alchemical seal like this can only be undone by someone carrying within them the seed of the Principe it was forged with. This seal was forged specifically to prevent me from breaking it, and only a human — or someone with human blood at least — could hope to shatter it. And that does not include my servant. He is but a Mandrake grown through a crack in the stone that I animated.”
Coldfire silence engulfed them like a blanket, broken only by the amusement of the queen’s servant.
Kraghtol felt dizzy from the revelation, but it made sense. Everything from the miraculously fast healing to the way Wyrdroot talked and moved. Even his name. And then, his eyes grew even wider. The ‘revolutionaries’ who imprisoned the queen so many years ago hadn’t just built a prison; they had created a perfect confinement, in a perfect place. The only creatures capable of reaching this place were the ones who couldn’t open the seal. It needed someone like him — or the most unlikely alliance of races he could think of — to free her.
Suddenly, he felt cold. He had been used without his knowledge, for this very purpose, ever since he had left Mistpine. The queen’s gaze rested on his face, piercing it, and he might as well have had his doubts written on his forehead.
“Has… all of this been your doing? The potion? The expulsion? Virex’s death?” he croaked.
The queen shook her head, a slow and deliberate movement. “No. Wyrdroot’s potion allowed me to touch your mind. Send you dreams. But the effect has long since waned, and everything you have done, you have done yourself.”
That meant each of his failures had been his own. Kraghtol didn’t know if he should feel relieved or horrified. “But you used me. Manipulated me into coming here. Because you needed me to open that seal for you.”
The queen looked at him for a long moment, and Kraghtol could feel his friends’ gazes on him as well. Finally, when she spoke, her voice was colder. “I did not use you. Every single human could have broken the seal. Ichoseyou. Because I saw your potential, Kraghtol, bastard of the beast. I was going to invite you to join my court, but now I see you don’t trust me. You could have been the greatest alchemist who ever lived, under my guidance. You could have been my general, my advisor, you and your friends alike. But not like this. Without trust, there can be no obedience. And without obedience, there is no place for you under me.” She paused, and her voice became warmer when she continued. “I will give you a chance to reconsider. Do you want to throw that all away? Every chance of greatness in my retinue? All you need to do is obey me, and trust me. Is that too high of a price?”
Kraghtol’s eyes darted from the submissive demons to the cackling Wyrdroot, the wide-eyed Dagna and, finally, Valir. The noble looked vulnerable and tired, worn out from everything that had happened. And still he had followed him here.
“I appreciate the offer,” he said slowly. “And I have little doubt what you say is true. You possess a command of alchemy I have never seen before. Learning from you would be… all I’ve ever dreamed of.” He hesitated and looked at Valir again. “But I can’t. I have recently promised to be myself, and free. What you are suggesting isn’t that. I would break that promise.”
Valir shook his head. “Kragh, you don’t need —”
Kraghtol didn’t hear him out. “So, no. I can’t take your offer. As much as it tempts me, it’s not what I want to be.”
The queen looked straight at him once more, and this time, even Wyrdroot had stopped his cackling.
“I see,” she said, her voice cold and emotionless. She didn’t sound angry. “I would have assumed you wiser, but alas; you shall have your way. I won’t force you. Let us agree on one thing, though. If you don’t want to workwithme, promise at the very least not to workagainstme. We go separate ways, and you don’t interfere with my plans. That is all I ask. In exchange — and as a token of goodwill for freeing me from my prison — I shall grant you my blessing, and promise not to hurt you.”
She extended a hand, a gesture that seemed out of place, like her acknowledging him as an equal, not as a prospective servant. It wasn’t a hard decision. Kraghtol didn’t know what he wanted to do next,but leaving this swamp and its inhabitants behind sounded more than agreeable.
“Gladly,” he said and grabbed the extended hand. In an instant, blue fire erupted around the handshake, rising to life without sound or heat. The flames crawled up his arm, under his clothes until they settled on his chest, right above his heart. A short, searing pain erupted as the contract mark burned itself into his green skin, and he could see the same happening on her right elbow. It was different from the alchemical contract he sealed with Thalen Virex months ago in Winterstone. The flames were purer, the sting stronger, and despite the total lack of ceremony — or Activator, as the observant part of Kraghtol noticed — this felt bigger, more serious. There was more. The vast hall, the island of light, the demons and everyone else faded into the background, until only the queen and he remained. Every doubt about her authority shattered away as he caught a tiny glimpse of her true self. Terrifyingly powerful and filled with a burning chaos. The same chaos he knew so very well himself and distilled into the rage that had burned within him for all of his life.
