The Catastrophe of the Emerald Queen (37 page)

Mordalayn
looked at Jared quizzically. “It’s dead. Does that matter
now?” 

Jared watched
as the creature faded out again. “Not the Glaver the little blue
thing.” He pointed but the creature was gone. 

Mordalayn looked concerned.
“What did you just see?” he asked. 

“
Like a
short…err, blue rat…kangaroo I suppose..”

 
Mordalayn looked around but no one else had heard Jared. “You
could SEE that?” he asked quietly. 

“
Yes, why?
Couldn’t you?” 

Mordalayn
stared at him for moment then sheathed his sword. He looked Jared
up and down and then gently placed his hands on his shoulders and
said quietly. “Jared that was a Gryphoid. No one is meant to see
them or know of their presence unless they have just
died.” 

Jared
swallowed hard. “Does, does that mean…?” 

“
No, you are
not dead. It does prove however that you being in this world was
something that was not meant to be.” 

“
But you
brought me here!” Jared snapped, exasperated.

 “
That
was out of necessity. You are witness to knowledge and power that
no one bar Our Lady is meant to know.” 

 “
Riders
at the entrance!” a voice bellowed loudly and Mordalayn turned back
to where a soldier was pointing.  

Approaching
the vast, curving, white entrance at the end of the huge bridge
were five riders of King James’s army. They galloped to the marble
entrance and dismounted as one. One of the Alegrian guard went to
them and after a few words of exchange the lead rider pointed
towards Mordalayn. Mordalayn turned to Jared. “You come too,” he
said and Jared scurried to catch up as the warrior strode
purposefully down the wide steps. 

They reached
the bottom and walked across the green grass of the gigantic,
circular main courtyard. The soldiers could see them approaching
and waited patiently. Mordalayn strode proudly forward, his jaw set
in a hard, determined line. As they came to the waiting horsemen
the leader bowed and spoke formally.

 “
Takoba
Mordalayn. May I present myself. I am Captain Agostios Primmel of
his royal majesty King James’s army.” 

Mordalayn
glared angrily at him and Jared looked nervously from the silent
Caracalic to the captain. The man straightened up and adjusting his
cloak continued. 

“
King James
sends his regards to you. He respects your strength and your honour
in defending your realm.” The captain paused, feeling unnerved
under Mordalayn’s silent yet razor-like eyes. The Alegrian guards
glared angrily at their counterparts who glared back just as
hard. 

“
His majesty
wishes you to know that he offers you terms of unconditional
surrender.” 

Mordalayn said nothing. There
were no others sounds in the vast courtyard. Jared didn’t know what
would happen next. 

The captain
was nervous and after a pause cleared his throat. “The alternative
is that we take this castle and your kingdom by storm, which as I
am sure you are aware, would not be a task now. Your queen is dead
and your magic is extinct.” 

The two
figures stared at each other and the captain spoke again. “Surely
you can….” 

“
I agree,”
Mordalayn snapped. 

The captain
twitched slightly at the sudden response and then gestured his hand
to Jared. “His majesty also insists that this boy is given to
him.” 

Mordalayn
glanced down at Jared and then to the captain. Jared’s heart
skipped a beat and he swallowed hard.

 “
Tell
your king I will formally discuss surrender at the foot of the
stairs to Our Lady’s palace,”Mordalayn turned to the bottom step of
the vast staircase. White marble statues of previous kings and
queens and brave warriors of Alegria lined the high balustrades
either side of it. “I’m sure your king will allow us that one piece
of tradition in his flawless victory.” 

The captain
smiled; relieved his task had been even easier than he had hoped.
“But of course,” he said curtly, bowing again and turned to signal
to his men. They remounted their horses and as they wheeled them
around. “We will return in two hours” the captain said loudly and
then spurred his horse away, his men following at the
gallop. 

Mordalayn
turned to Jared and placed his hand on his shoulder. He looked
down. “Do not be scared Jared, this is far from over.”

 
Jared
stammered and then replied. “But you told him….”

 “
I know
what I said Jared, but believe me this is not the end. We still
have hope.” 

“
Will you
turn me over to him?” Jared said scared at the thought of being in
King James’s cruel clutches again. 

Mordalayn
stared at him. “Come, we have work to do,” he said.

Chapter
37

The soldiers marched on
Alegria. After centuries of living in the shadow of the
accursed Alegrians and their ethereal monarchs, Anghofio would now
be a proud and mighty kingdom once again. The soldiers marched
happily, their feet stomping heavily on the road to the castle.
Regularly the drummers leading them would beat four beats at double
time and the soldiers would raise their rights fists high and shout
at the top of their lungs “KING JAMES! 

Every one of them was grateful
to be there and everyone was hoping that the Alegrians would try to
resist the conquest, so King James would give the order to sack the
palace and city. He had ordered a peaceful march on the rival
kingdom, solely to avoid the inevitable bitterness and resistance
of a people who had not known oppression in over a thousand years.
However, they also knew that their ruler would not hesitate to give
the order if things did not go as he wanted. 

The captain
of the King’s Shield had returned from his meeting at the castle
and the excited buzz amongst the camp had been that it was none
other than Takoba Mordalayn who had agreed the surrender. Many had
seen his battle in the king’s personal amphitheatre. While awed by
his agility and skill, they were secretly pleased that the once
mighty and legendary Queen’s Sword had now been forced to humble
himself. 

“
A pleasant
day for an invasion don’t you agree?” King James said to Galfront
Siavy who rode next to him, near the front of the mighty column of
men. Galfront smiled carefully, unsure if the king was speaking
rhetorically. 

King James
smiled to himself. His Shield soldiers rode ahead, either side and
behind him while the rest of the legion followed up. He could see
the bridge ahead of them, maybe two hundred metres further and he
braced himself, drawing in a breath as he savoured this moment.
“
The final conquest of
Alegria
,” he thought. His forefathers had
hated their impotent status in the face of Alegria’s infuriating
complacency and the tremendous power they wielded through their
monarch. Anghofio’s once legendary status as a mighty state of
warriors had paled centuries ago, as soon as Alegria had found a
way to bring a leader to their throne who wielded almost
inestimable power. Their secrets were jealously guarded and it had
taken the mysterious vanishing of Queen Sophie before anyone had
been able to find out anything. The truth had been staggering and
cost King James dearly in men and gold but the revelation of just
where the Alegrian monarch came from had been shattering. With
careful research they had found out exactly what was going on. The
magic that had first created the devices to summon a child from
another world continued. With appropriate bribery and subterfuge
King James had found how to access the well protected portals that
the Alegrians used to allow their queen free passage from her own
world to this one. Now with her gone, there would be no more
mythical rulers to infuriate stronger kingdoms with their sickening
tolerance and desire to only use the magic to keep everything in
balance. “
What was the point of power if
you didn’t use it?
 “

As they approached the start of
the bridge, as one huge voice the legion shouted “KING JAMES!!!”,
their fists again pumping the air. 

The bridge was colossal. Pure
white, solid marble. Around fifty metres wide and at least half a
mile long. The walls either side were chest height to an average
man and the view over the sides was heart stopping. Beneath the
bridge was a drop of about half a mile, above a forest of trees and
two snaking rivers. The kingdom’s main city was four miles west.
The castle could only be approached by this bridge but as Alegria
had not had a standing army for centuries there was no longer any
strategic advantage in the design of the defences. The huge main
courtyard led up to the palace but the battlements either side
again looked down via a sheer drop to the forest far below. It was
a simple yet ingenious piece of engineering. Back in the days when
Alegria had been a kingdom of warriors it had done the Alegrians
proud in the many battles that history had recorded. Now the castle
and all its power would belong to him and for that King James was
determined to enjoy every second of this day. He needed someone to
run the kingdom as his vassal and who better than a former Alegrian
ruler unable to use her power and bereft of her magic. The king
laughed out loud and the nearest members of his bodyguard twitched
their heads in his direction. King James knew that Veer would rule
as he told her, she was bitter and twisted after years spent having
to pretend gratitude. That hatred of the kingdom she had once ruled
would be the ideal tool to keep the confused Alegrians in
line. 

They crossed the middle point
of the bridge. Ahead there were no guards. Alegria had no gate or
portcullis to their entrance or their bridge. In hundreds of years
they had needed no protection other than their magic and King James
threw his head back and laughed once again as he thought of how
such a mighty nation could be so oblivious to threat.  

Further ahead
and at the top of the huge steps they could see a few figures
dotted along, outside the main doorway to the palace. The Caracalic
and a smaller figure began to walk down the staircase to greet them
and the King was pleased. The boy was the only remaining link to
the waking world and would be a useful prisoner. He may also know
much with the right persuasion and as they marched on the drummers
again reached the beat and again the soldiers yelled out for their
king.

Chapter
38

The legion was vast. Jared
could see the huge numbers of men marching in time together, a
moving wall of armour bristling with spears and swords. He and
Mordalayn walked down the stairs to the bottom and stood on the
last step, waiting.

 
He
turned and looked at the tall figure who stared grimly at the
approaching mass. “Let them come,” Mordalayn said quietly and Jared
didn’t understand how he could be so calm in the face of such
overwhelming numbers. 

Some of the surviving soldiers
were in the magisterial tower behind them, others formed a guard of
honour. Their presence, although welcome was insignificant next to
the mighty army sweeping across the land towards them. 

The deafening “tramp, tramp” of
booted feet resounded over the courtyard. Jared knew that while
they had succeeded in saving Sophie’s life they were far from safe
and the kingdom may still fall without its leader. 

A trumpet sounded as the troops
neared the white marble palace courtyard, large enough to swallow
four football fields. The orange and black cloaked men came
steadily inside. 

Jared watched open mouthed as
hundreds of men marched into the building and stood in lines in the
vast square. 

Jared looked
up at Mordalayn again and spoke above the steady pounding of feet.
“I hope you know what you’re doing.” Mordalayn didn’t look at him
but moved back to one side. He looked to the soldiers around him.
“Go back to the top of the staircase, do not come down it again no
matter what happens,” he said with finality. The soldiers looked at
him and then moved away. 

The approaching legion finally
came to rest as the last of the troops stood in the circular plaza.
With the sound of pealing trumpets they came with an almighty crash
of feet to a shuddering stop. 

There was a
pause and then, as if by some unheard signal, the centre of the
mass of men separated and a path appeared directly in the middle.
Slowly two riders walked to the entrance and then dismounted.
Handing the reins to a servant they slowly walked up the path
cleared for them. “King James!” Jared said loudly and Mordalayn
stared ahead, his face full of silent fury. 

As the king approached he
looked left and right and then up the huge steps to where Mordalayn
and the others watched them.

 
He came
to rest at the foot of the stairs and placed one foot upon the
lowest one, saluting and then bowing with a flourish. Captain
Primmel stood beside him. 

“
Gentlemen!”
he shouted loudly, the sound echoing as there was absolutely no
other noise in the huge courtyard.

 “
Gentlemen, I commend your loyalty to your departed
queen.”

 
Mordalayn said nothing. 

“
Your loyalty
knows no bounds. For that we are willing to spare your lives.” King
James paused for effect then looked round at the hundreds of men
standing silent and armed behind him.