“Stand down!” Vladisal shouted, head spinning with barely conceived understanding, but not doubting the queen’s threat for a moment. “Remember your duty to Elander. The oaths you swore to Duchess Mayland. Sheath your weapons!”
“No,” Redheart begged. “Not like this. Not for her.”
Abildan looked pleased with herself. “I don’t suppose my thanks will mean much to you, but I give them nonetheless.” She bowed to the knights.
Redheart cursed the injustice of Abildan’s final trick. Vladisal glared at the feliwyrd, wishing to skewer her black heart, but knowing that inaction was the only way to ensure the safety of her women.
Behind Abildan, there was movement inside the knoll-like tent. A boy stepped out. Vladisal’s breath caught.
Elander.
Dishevelled and grime-smeared, his young face looked concerned, gawping at the giant hawks and the host of Ulyyn warriors surrounding the knights. Üban bellowed another command. The sound of swords sliding back into sheaths rang out. Elander’s concern evaporated when her eyes found her champion. Vladisal’s heart broke as she watched his joy turned to confusion at why she was held bound and on her knees at spear point.
Abildan noticed the exchange and was amused by it.
“Queen Amyya,” said Redheart. “I trusted you. I thought-”
“Take the boy and leave, Sir Redheart,” Amyya ordered.
“Vlad?”
“Do as she says,” Vladisal growled, trying her best to smile for Elander as he approached. “You lead the women now. No one will resist the Ulyyn. No one will fight for me. Go back to Mayland and return Elander to his mother.”
Redheart gave her a pleading look.
“Do as your captain commands,” Vladisal snapped. “Now!” Redheart recoiled, and Vladisal softened her tone. “We came here to save the son of our Duchess, my friend, and we have won the day. No more blood will be spilled on my account. I beg you, take Elander home.”
“I’d do as she says, if I were you,” Abildan said with a bored air.
Redheart bared her teeth. “I’ll be seeing you again, feliwyrd.”
Yellow eyes flashed. “I’ll look forward to it, Sir Knight.”
“Go with Redheart, Elander,” Vladisal said, failing to hide the sorrow in her voice. “All will be well.”
Redheart put her arm around the boy. Encouraged by the warriors, they made their way back to Üban and Luca and the rest of the knights. Redheart’s eyes locked onto her captain’s and she mouthed, “We’ll find you.”
Vladisal’s view of them became blocked when a giant hawk landed with a thump several paces away. There was an Ulyyn rider on its back and wooden cage connected to it by thick vine rope. Two of the warriors unceremoniously dragged Vladisal forward and bundled her into the cage and secured its door.
Amyya stared at Vladisal, her face a stony blank. “You will be taken to Uljah. And there you will stand trial for the feliwyrd’s crimes. As for you!” She wheeled on Abildan, snarling. “Be gone from these lands, monster!”
Abildan bowed again. “As you wish.”
The Queen of Uljah strode away and disappeared into the tent.
Abildan watched after her and chuckled. “This is a good day.”
“I pity you,” Vladisal said, gripping the bars of the cage tightly. “You know nothing of honour and sacrifice. You do not understand what it takes to be a real woman… a woman of Boska.”
Abildan seemed surprised. “Excuse me?”
“Had you offered me your tricks at the very beginning, I would have accepted. Had you told me that sacrificing my life to save yours would in turn save Elander, I would have grasped the chance with both hands. Unquestioningly.”
Abildan shook her head, bemused. “Stupidity is not as virtuous as you might believe, Sir Vladisal.”
“May your remaining days be cursed, feliwyrd.”
“Yes, I think they will be.”
The Ulyyn warrior on the hawk’s back gave a loud click and dug in his heels. The giant bird spread its huge wings and leapt into the air, snatching the cage from the ground after it. Vladisal was jostled inside.
The ground fell away. Abildan raised a hand.
“Luck or fate, Sir Knight?” she called. “Only the Wyrd know for sure. Farewell.”
Edward Cox is the author of The Song of the Sycamore, The Bone Shaker, and The Relic Guild Trilogy (The Relic Guild, The Cathedral of Known Things, The Watcher of Dead Time). He lectures in creative writing, has been known to write reviews, and has published a host of short stories over the years, including stories in the Newcon Press anthologies Legends II and Ten Tale Tales. He currently lives in the south east of England where he makes stuff up in his spider-infested garage on a desk that might have once been a functioning tumble dryer.
Table of Contents
One Strange Company
Two Monsters
Three Higher Ground
Four Redheart
Five The Shelter of Daylight
Six Sacrifice
Seven Pride
Eight Hidden Lands
Nine Trust
Ten Uljah
Eleven Eavesdropper
Twelve Abildan and the Ulyyn
Thirteen Darkness
Fourteen Captive Audience
Sixteen Judgement
Seventeen Elder Wisdom
Eighteen Dark Magic
Nineteen The Lair of the Boneshaker
Twenty Sunshine
Twenty-One Old Friend
Twenty-Two Old Enemies
Twenty-Three For Mya-Siad
Twenty-Four For Boska
Twenty-Five Women of Honour
About the Author