The Fiend Queen (4 page)

Katya stepped lightly to the door. “We’re not here to hurt you.”

Silence reigned for a few seconds before the door cracked open again. “You’re not guards.”

If Katya read these people right, bold was the way to go. “We’ve come to kill the usurper.”

The door flew open, and a slight, dark haired woman confronted them. She was dressed in servants’ livery, but her posture spoke of nobility. Without all the frippery, it was a heartbeat before Katya recognized her. “Baroness Jacintha.”

Jacintha bowed deep. “Highness.” When she straightened, she had tears in her eyes. “You’ve come to rescue us at last.” She looked at the rest of them, and her mouth fell open. “M…Majesty?”

At least eight people had crammed into the room behind the baroness, probably what was left of her household, as well as a few courtiers. “You’ve been living in the palace since the usurper took over?” Katya asked.

“Hiding, Highness.” She glanced up and down the hall. “We shouldn’t talk out here.”

Katya hesitated, torn between caution and haste again, but if the baroness had been in the palace since Roland had taken over, she was an invaluable source of information.

When the door shut behind all of them, it was cramped indeed. The narrow chamber had been a servants’ bedroom, made to sleep at least six in narrow bunk beds without much room for anything else. Several people began speaking at once, but Jacintha lifted a hand, and they stopped mid-word.

“Highness, Majesty, surely you did not come alone?”

“Our tale can wait, Baroness. You’ve been living as servants?”

Some nodded shamefully, but the baroness shrugged, far from the flippant woman Katya remembered. It seemed she’d finally found the forge that would make her into a blade. “We do what we must.” She sounded wistful, as if the privileged noble still lurked in there somewhere.

When Katya described her mission, Jacintha promised to send someone to tend to Brutal. They couldn’t heal him, but they could look after him until help arrived. It warmed Katya’s heart that he wouldn’t be alone, even if the worst happened. Small comfort, but Katya had learned to live on those.

“You’ll need to keep hidden until the fight is won,” Katya said.

“Of course, Highness.” The looks that the others exchanged spoke volumes, as if they wondered how stupid she thought they were.

“The guards don’t come here,” Jacintha said. “We’ve seen some looters in the regular halls, but no one’s bothered with the servant quarters.”

“There’s nothing to steal here,” one of the courtiers said softly. “And most of the servants fled when the palace fell.”

“We forage for what we need.” Jacintha took the hand of a man beside her without seeming to think about it. His bearing and deference screamed courtier, and Katya bet that before Roland had taken over, the baroness wouldn’t have looked at him twice. Maybe when the fight ended, everyone would have lost a few of their prejudices.

“Sometimes, when we’ve encountered the guards,” Jacintha said, “we’ve pretended to be hypnotized, and they’ve let us be.”

“It’s harder with those things,” the man beside her said, “the dead things.”

“But it can still be done, Highness.”

Katya glanced at Redtrue. From what Starbride had told her, the corpse Fiends could sense pyradistés. Perhaps they could do the same for adsnazi. She carried a pyramid that protected them from mind control but not one that hid them from a corpse Fiend’s unnatural sight.

“Some have gone out and never come back,” someone said. “Or we’ve seen them later, sweeping the halls and sporting that smiling, dead-eyed look.”

“They erase your mind,” another said, “and put whatever they need in its place.”

Ma reached for Jacintha’s arm. “You have done well, keeping everyone safe.”

Jacintha beamed as if she’d forgotten any courtly training she’d ever received. “I thank your Majesty.”

“Will you take the kingdom back soon, Majesty?” one of the courtiers asked. All of them leaned close as if they lived for her answer.

“Soon,” Ma promised, and Katya was glad she didn’t have to say it.

“Any information you can give us would be helpful,” Castelle said.

“Especially if you know where any of the usurper’s pyramids are kept,” Katya added.

Rumors and conjecture were all they had to offer. As a rule, they tried to stay away from Roland’s pyramids. They’d heard of one near the library, and rumor painted it as something other than a mind pyramid, though they hadn’t been close enough to see for themselves.

It sounded like it could be the one causing Redtrue’s illness. Katya was embarrassed to admit that she didn’t know how to get there from the servants’ corridors. She didn’t know them as well as she should have, but she’d never had much reason to go there. Jacintha and her fellows were happy to give directions, seeming both grateful to be useful and eager to see the Umbriels return to power.

“I think even those who occasionally voiced displeasure will welcome you back with open arms, Majesty, Highness,” Jacintha said. “The freedom to grumble is infinitely preferable to a ruler who changes your mind for you.”

“I hope they all see it that way, Baroness,” Ma said. “And if they do not, we would be grateful if you could remind them.”

Jacintha bowed, and after making sure they had memorized the route, Katya set out again with Castelle scouting ahead, and Ma helping Redtrue behind them.

After two or three turns, Katya was certain that stopping had been the right decision. The rest of the palace was a maze, but there were clues if you knew where to look. Carpets, paintings, alcoves, and statuary provided signs pointing to which part of the palace you were entering.

The servants’ quarters, though, were featureless. Maybe each new servant was partnered with an older one until they had the place memorized. Maybe it was also the servants’ way of keeping those they served out of the way and out of their business. They couldn’t very well do their jobs with nobles blundering into the linen closets.

Averie or Dawnmother could have led them through in a flash. Katya tried to banish thoughts of both. Averie would only bring her grief, and thoughts of Dawnmother would slide toward the oblivion of worry for Starbride.

At last they found the door they were looking for. Castelle pressed her ear to it. Katya paused with the others and waited. Castelle turned and shrugged, signaling that she’d heard nothing, but that didn’t mean there was nothing to hear. Corpse Fiends didn’t become bored and wander around making noise.

Katya moved closer and readied her rapier. Castelle opened the well-oiled door and peeked out. Seconds stretched on as she watched and listened. Katya strained to hear over Redtrue’s labored breathing. Castelle widened the door until she had enough room to poke her head out.

When she waved behind her, Katya rushed forward, eager to see for herself. The hallway stood empty, but it wouldn’t remain that way forever. The pyramid was undoubtedly guarded, and they still had some ways to go before reaching the library. Even then, they didn’t know if the pyramid was in the library or just nearby. They’d need time to search.

Katya couldn’t help but think of the time she’d led Starbride down these halls, just after they’d first met. She’d let Starbride think her a guardswoman, someone anonymous who could flirt with impunity, someone who didn’t have to wear a courtly face.

Tension spread across Katya’s shoulders, pulling at her wound. When they reached a junction, she looked to Redtrue who waved them to the left. They would have left her with Jacintha, but they didn’t know exactly where this pyramid might be and didn’t have the luxury of opening doors at random. Castelle peeked around the corner then skittered back.

“The Guard!” she whispered.

Katya opened the nearest door and ushered everyone inside. According to Starbride, all members of the king’s Guard had been mind-warped. They weren’t peasants who’d been hypnotized into loving Roland; they were trained fighters, and Katya would avoid them if she could. She shut the door noiselessly and waited. It was a larger room, some salon or study for use by the courtiers or nobles. The fine furniture had been overturned, cushions slashed and books and papers scattered. Looters had turned their anger on the furnishings when no valuables presented themselves, though Katya couldn’t believe no one had carried off the tables or chairs. Perhaps it was just more satisfying to smash them.

She heard the tread of boots go past and counted to twenty before she looked out. If it was a patrol, they’d have to hurry or be caught when it came back. They piled into the hall and took the left. Redtrue’s eyelids had begun to flutter, and her nose dribbled blood. Katya waved at Castelle to help while she took the lead.

The hallway before the massive library doors stood empty. Redtrue gestured into the library itself. When Katya pressed her ear to the thick doors, she heard a thump. Someone moved around inside, and she knew in her bones that it wasn’t a helpful baroness.

Katya hurried back to the others. “Is there any way you can do something about the pyramid from out here?”

Redtrue could barely keep her eyes open. She shook her head.

Katya pressed her lips into a thin line. They couldn’t barrel in like they had before. That was how they’d gotten to their current injured state. Well, it had been going all right until Averie had shown up.

Katya forced herself to focus. “We need a distraction.”

Castelle frowned. “Something that would bring everyone in there out into the hall would be as bad as charging in.”

“Then we need someone to go in there and draw their attention,” Ma said. She gripped her pyramid necklace.

“No, Ma,” Katya said. “With Redtrue hurt, there’s no guarantee we’d get you back.” And no guarantee that once they were inside, Ma would spare her daughter.

“Destroy this pyramid, and Redtrue will regain her power,” Ma said.

“That’s a big gamble, Highness,” Castelle said.

“And yet no other ideas present themselves, and haste is still our ally.”

Katya’s stomach turned over at the thought that she might have to fight her mother. And turning into a Fiend more than once a day couldn’t be healthy. “Ma…”

“Wait a few seconds and then sneak inside.” She caught Katya’s chin. “Do not catch my eye.” She removed her necklace and pushed it into Katya’s grasp.

Castelle offered her hand. “Do you need an angry thought to get you going?”

Ma pressed Castelle’s fingers once before letting go. “Oh, I’ve enough for an entire army.” The gravel of the Fiend roughened her voice as she moved toward the library. Before Katya could run after her, Ma was through the doors, and Katya heard a high-pitched screech.

She leapt up as Castelle dragged Redtrue behind her. A crash boomed within the room, and Katya caught the door before it shut. Forms darted past, too fast for the eye to follow, and a bookcase slammed over, knocking into one of its fellows and throwing it into another until a row of them collapsed. Katya slipped inside, staying low. Her mother had been gone but an instant, and the room was already in chaos, or perhaps the looters had been here, too. Katya hobbled over books and scattered papers. She scurried under the cover of a table, keeping Castelle and Redtrue close behind.

Shrieks rang through the air, and the howls of corpse Fiends echoed as they fought Katya’s mother, but there was another sound: high tittering laughter that Katya recognized from the forest. Cold, paralyzing fear settled around her. There were wild Fiends inside with them.

Castelle pushed her on, but the aura of the wild Fiends pressed in from all sides, stunning her. Katya gritted her teeth and sought to drag her limbs forward. Castelle kicked her in the rump, and she got moving again, cheeks burning in shame as she hurried to a bookcase.

“There, it’s there!” Redtrue said, her voice barely audible above the shrieks and howls. Something thudded into the bookcase they leaned against, and books shuddered from the shelves and rained around them. Redtrue pointed them deeper into the stacks, and they hurried on.

A pyramid the size of a large dog crouched like a spider at the back of the library. It sat on a bed of frost that climbed the shelves beside it in a jagged, splintery web. So cold it stole Katya’s breath, it seemed to pulse, and black oil oozed across its surface like a living thing. With trembling hands, Katya drew her knife and stepped forward.

She lurched sideways as something yanked her right leg out from under her. She fell to one knee, fighting to pull her leg back. Blue and white mottled hands gripped her from the shadows between the shelves, and claws as long as knives dug into her calf.

Katya stabbed at the shadowy Fiend, but it leaned away from her attacks as a blur. It never lost its grip. She sliced at where it caught her, but it released and then grabbed her again before she could blink.

Still, it didn’t seem to want to hurt her. Castelle moved close, but Katya called, “Wait!” The Fiend’s courtesy wouldn’t extend to anyone else, Katya was certain. She fought her fear and forced herself to study what she could see. The creature seemed the same size as a person, but she could dimly see horns, over-large eyes, and a mouth filled with fangs. Her blood pounded in her ears, and the commotion in the room faded.

“Let me go,” Katya said.

It tilted its head and said a word, the sound like a saw grinding across a blade and filling her mouth with the coppery tang of blood.

Katya summoned the only memory she had of being a Fiend, when Roland had first attacked them under the palace, and Starbride had saved her. She’d wanted to kill and maim and destroy. She would have enjoyed it. This creature didn’t seem to share the one other feeling she remembered: she’d wanted to try her strength against other Fiends. This one seemed to want to communicate, and the more she thought of her past Aspect, the more she sensed its interest.

“Go, Castelle,” Katya croaked. She surrendered to the feelings of cold and dread and embraced what it had once felt like. She stared at eyes like liquid silver and reached for the kinship she found there.

Dimly, she heard a crunching sound behind her, what could only be the pyramid repeatedly smashing against the floor. It shattered at last with the skittering sound of scattered crystal, and before Katya could breathe again, the Fiend was gone.