Since he was so intent on civility, I played along, offering him the same. “Yes, thank you. Eleanor and I could share, we don’t want to take up too much space.”
“Nonsense,” the king said, waving my words away. I didn’t like the disappointment filling me when he did. Eleanor would be enjoying this independence, and I wanted to snatch it back. “You’re doing a great service to your kingdom, the least I can do is provide you comfort.”
He poured wine again, filling both our glasses, so I took the opportunity to speak. “How are the flowers blooming?” Not the question I intended to ask, but the one to leave my mouthanyway. I had been burning to know since our arrival; with winter on its way, they should have died weeks ago.
“Aahh.” Terym smacked his lips. “That is a very interesting story. Do you wish to hear it?”
At my nod, he continued, rising from his chair as he spoke. “You know our histories? That before the Great Divide, our lands were joined together as one, the Kingdom of Galisordis?”
Though I had learned little of the history before the Great Divide, since my studies ended with my parents’ deaths, everyone knew Torglea and Mortremon were once one kingdom.
Terym didn’t wait for a response, retrieving a book from the overflowing shelf, the pages of the leather-bound tome yellowed with age. He placed it on the table between us, opening to a page with an intricate depiction of the fields where we camped. The trees were younger, thinner, and less intimidating, but the flowers were the same, a breathtaking sea of white and blue in exquisite detail.
Terym pointed to the page opposite, filled with an ancient language, one long since lost to time.
“What does it say?” I breathed, unable to stop myself from caressing the fragile page. Everything about it drew me in. A strange connection I had felt the moment we arrived. Whether it was the field, the forest, or the flowers themselves, I couldn’t say.
“Only a few scholars can translate the old texts, but I know the story. It speaks of an ancient king and a battle waged on the very ground beneath our feet.” I didn’t speak, waiting for him to continue. He regarded me with hands steepled under his chin.
“Long ago, before our land was divided into two kingdoms, one family ruled them all. Their power was so great that none could defeat them, even lands across the seas failed to conquer them.” Terym’s blue eyes seemed to twinkle while he spoke, and unease settled in my chest even though I desperately wanted to hear it all.
“They ruled for generations until one young king desired more. In his quest for power, he made a deal with a dark sorcerer to raise a great evil from the deepest depths of the earth. With it, he could travel across the seas and expand his empire.” He paused to turn the page, this one showing the king pointing at a man in flowing red robes, smoke and flame curling around his feet.
“But the king was betrayed by the one closest to him. His own brother turned his people against him, and a great battle raged. The people fought bravely, but they were no match for the evil the king had raised.”
He turned the page again, a familiar field filled with men and women dressed in leather armor fought against beings of shadow and fire. My mouth dried and an intense shiver crawled down my spine. The creatures were terrifying.
Another page turned. Another depiction of the same field, except bodies filled the ground, and a man knelt among them.
“Knowing they were no match against the creatures, the king’s brother begged the Gods to save them, sacrificing himself in the process. To honor his bravery and that of his people, the Gods filled the valley of their final resting place in everlasting flowers, where they still stand to this day.”
A lump settled in my throat at the sheer and utter anguish on the man’s face. He looked to the sky, sunlight shining down on him despite the surrounding haze of death.
I cleared the emotion from my throat before asking, “And the king, what happened to him?”
“The Gods banished him and the creatures he raised back to the depths of the earth. Where they still remain, or so the story goes.” Terym snorted and took another gulp of his wine.
“You don’t believe it, then? The story of the king and his brother?” Terym studied me, the corner of his lips curled in an expression I couldn’t quite identify.
“I believe powerful magic once graced this land, and I believe evidence of that magic is still visible today, these fields included.”
I nodded, deciding not to voice my opinion on the story. My mother had said stories told our histories and we shouldn’t discredit them. I looked at the book again, at the man kneeling among his people praying to the Gods to save them.
My heart ached at his pain, to have someone he trusted betray him so thoroughly he prayed to the Gods to destroy him. I could understand such a betrayal, had experienced it myself, with no chance of resolve and forgiveness out of reach. It was impossible when the person who hurt you was dead.
Empathy for the king’s brother filled me as I stared at the drawing until something about Terym’s words tickled my mind. “Magic is back, isn’t it?” How else would Mortremon curse the Torglea soldiers if not?
The king’s brow furrowed, and his eyes grew cold. “It would seem so.”
“How do I fix it? What do I need to do?” I finally asked the questions Ineededanswered. I couldn’t be like those five other women. I had to succeed in order to survive.
A man with sparkling armor strode into the tent, interrupting us before I could get the answers I sought. The fine details of his attire gave away his position as someone important, his gray hair almost the exact shade of the metal across his chest. It was his harsh and calculating gaze when he appraised me that was most unsettling.
He stopped to bow before the table. “My king, there is an urgent matter I must discuss with you.”
“General Lenek, can’t you see I’m busy,” the king bit out, not taking his eyes off me. A flash of something in them held me immobile, my muscles freezing like a rabbit in front of a fox. It disappeared as soon as it appeared, but I didn’t dare move.
“It’s quite important,” the general continued, unperturbed by the anger in Terym’s tone. The king broke eye contact, and I sagged in my chair, adrenaline sending tremors through my limbs.
