Fury (Tranquility Book 3)

  FURY: Book 3 of Tranquility

  Published by Krista D. Ball

  Copyright 2015 by Krista D. Ball

  Cover Design by Indigo Chick Designs

  Editing by C. Hewitt

  This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  “I will no longer entertain, comment, or recognize any correspondence concerning the prophecies. I do not believe in them. I am a person and not a toy of fate. I live my life as I see fit. Judge me by my actual actions and words, not my supposedly preordained ones.”

  —Lady Champion Bethany, in a public letter addressed to the clergy of the Apexian Faith

  CHAPTER 1

  The Present

  “She isn’t dead,” Arrago growled as he thrust a finger in Allric’s direction. “So stop acting like she is.”

  He went back to pacing across the ornate ballroom’s marble floor. The beading sweat made his brow itch, most likely from the roaring fires in the three fireplaces.

  Allric kept his voice steady when he said, “Majesty, please.”

  That just infuriated Arrago more. “My name is Arrago when we are in this room!” He sucked in a breath, stopped pacing at the maps table and slammed his fist down on the papers in sheer frustration. “I know she’s been gone three weeks, but Bethany’s been in worse situations. I can’t believe you’re just giving up on her.”

  Jovan jumped from his chair and shouted, “We’re not! Listen to what Allric is saying, you idiot. The barrier is down. That massive, Magical thing that’s prevented us from launching any meaningful attack for months is now collapsed. The Islands are open. We have to go now, or Sarissa will find a way to get it back up and we’ll be stuck here for Apexia only knows how long!”

  “And what about Bethany in the meantime? Huh? We just leave her to rot in a field somewhere?”

  “We do what she’d want, which is invade the fucking Islands!”

  Kiner put a hand on Jovan’s shoulder. Kiner was about the same height as Jovan, though his dark skin was a contrast against Jovan’s marble-white complexion. “I have twenty scouts looking for Bethany and her group. They’ve found three militia alive so far. Bethany, Jackson, and at least fifteen knights were captured and, from the sounds of it, were taken across to the Islands. If that’s true, the fastest way to find them alive is to win this war. Arrago, you know this.”

  Kiner’s calm voice did nothing to quell Arrago’s anger, though it did add some guilt. Of course he knew it. He wasn’t an idiot. They had to go. But going meant leaving her behind. He needed just a little more time to reconcile his heart to what his brain knew must be done.

  In a calmer voice, he said, “I still don’t know why she was even out there hunting Magi in the first place. She was sick. We all knew it. It’s probably why she got captured. She wasn’t well enough to be out there.”

  He looked around: Allric stood in the middle of the room, holding off the warring sides with just a look. Eve, now Allric’s second, looked at Arrago with a pained expression. Kiner stood at Jovan’s side, his face sad and resolute, while Jovan’s normal pallor was replaced with red fury. Lord Champion Erem stood off to the side, smart enough to know not to get into the middle of it. Somewhere behind him sat Edmund, wisely staying out of the verbal assaults.

  “Arrago,” Eve said, “she is a soldier.”

  “The Lady Champion is more than just a soldier. She needed to be here, where it was safe. Don’t you have other people to send out there? You didn’t have to send her!”

  Jovan reeled on his heels and stormed up to Arrago, standing within striking distance. “She’s not your toy to put on a shelf until you want to play with her. I’m sick of your fucking attitude. So what that you feel bad. Your wife is dead! Your lover is dead! Boo-fucking-hoo!” Jovan shoved him. “I was raised with her! She’s my sister! I signed the order to send her out there—” his voice cracked— “I sent her to what was probably her death. Fuck your anger, you fucking piece of Northern shit.”

  “That’s enough!” Allric shouted.

  Edmund jumped from his seat and stood between them. Edmund was a fair bit shorter than either of them, but had long since lost his fear of Jovan. He held out his arms, creating a physical barrier. “Stop it, you two.”

  By Apexia’s mercy, if Edmund hadn’t gotten in the way, Arrago would have hit Jovan.

  Kiner grabbed Jovan’s arm and held him back.

  Allric stepped between them, a towering obstacle. “I know it’s been a long few weeks, but this selfish indulgence ends now.”

  “Jovan needs to apologize,” Edmund demanded. “For Apexia’s sake—Celeste is barely cold in her grave. If she were here…” His voice died. “Adding more hurt isn’t helping anyone.”

  “No one has a monopoly on pain and worry in this room,” Eve said, her voice strong but kind.

  “Indeed,” said Allric.

  Edmund lowered his arms. “Arrago, we have to go.”

  “I know that!” Arrago spun around and stormed to the wall, his fists balled in frustration. It took all of his willpower not to pound his knuckles to bloody pulp on the marble filigree. “Shit.”

  There was an awkward silence. He was still the King of Taftlin, even if right now he was merely a man worried senseless that the love of his life was dead. But the waiting would kill him just as surely as the news he feared was coming.

  There would be little action without his approval. The Elven Service was still in Taftlin, by his order. They were allies fighting against Magic. But what was the point if…Apexia, what if she wasn’t coming home? What if the last words they ever spoke together were filled with self-loathing and heartbreak?

  “Arrago, I apologize for my words,” Jovan said, his anger now deflated and replaced with weary worry. “I need to be angry at someone. That shouldn’t have been you.”

  “I understand, and I’m sorry for blaming you.” Arrago felt so weary.

  Jovan held out his hand and Arrago shook it. Then he turned back to the wall and asked in a calmer voice, “What’s the plan?”

  The words broke the tension in the room. Allric strode to the map table. “We move in three waves. The bulk of the force move here,” He pointed. “This is where Kiner’s scouts report the barrier was the weakest and where traffic was going in and out freely over the last five weeks. We’ll land just further down the coast. We’ll mobilize a portion of the navy to serve as a blockade to the south and southwest, in hopes that Sarissa and her inner circle can’t escape.”

  He pointed at a different location. “Five thousand move here, to the north. We’ll spread them across more ships than necessary to make them seem a greater threat. We’ll also drop two thousand with twenty ships to the west, again to prevent Sarissa from escaping west across the other islands.”

  “I’ll go north and take a team of a couple hundred scouts with me,” Kiner said, “in hopes of ferreting out Sarissa and any of the strongest Magi helping her. If we can remove any of them before the battle begins, all the better. If I’m lucky, I’ll make contact with Sanderson, Jacobson, Myra, or some of the other scouts who’ve crossed in.”

  “I suspect Sarissa is holed up in either Castle Brook or Waterton Abbey. By all accounts, Waterton can be taken with a small force, whereas Brook will need a major assault. If we end up in a siege there, it could be months, even a year, before we breach the walls. We need to hit them with everything we have and as soon as possible.”

  “Who’s leading the main army?” Arrago asked.

  Allric answered, his expression grave and resolute. “Myself. I’m taking Eve as my second. Jovan and Erem will be in charge of the northern campaign.”

  “Where do you
want me?” Arrago lifted a hand. “Before you say anything, I’m going. So where do you want me?”

  Allric glanced at Edmund, who gave him the barest of nods. Arrago quirked a smile. He’d already discussed a contingency plan for Prince Henry with Celeste before she died. He’d conveyed all of her wishes and advice to Edmund and his two elderly advisors.

  “There are risks to all options, Arrago,” Allric said, putting a slight emphasis on his name.

  Just that little reminder from the earlier argument. Yet, it didn’t make him happy. It just reminded him that he was a king who could demand almost anything of people like Allric. It saddened a little. Were any of these people his friends anymore? But there was no time for those thoughts.

  “I’ll go north with Jovan. Edmund, go with the main force.”

  “Of course,” Allric said with a slight bow of his head.

  Arrago stared at the map. “I can bring a thousand militia with me north if you want, Jovan. That’ll give Edmund another eight thousand or so to take with him. That’s all we can muster, especially with little notice. Everyone else is back in their fields.”

  “A thousand is better than nothing,” Jovan said. “That’ll help a lot.”

  “Lord Allric, how many soldiers are you leaving behind?” Edmund asked.

  “Two thousand to guard Castle Gree. I plan to send another two hundred to protect Prince Henry.”

  “How about Edmund leave behind a hundred of our troops to scout the area here. Keep on the lookout for Magi and…” Arrago gave a little shrug. “I’m sorry. That was selfish.”

  “I’ll leave ten experienced scouts to help your hundred,” Kiner said. “They shouldn’t be sent out without someone who’s trained to do the job. Jovan? That okay?”

  “Ten isn’t going to make a difference to us, but it could make a huge difference here.”

  “Thank you,” Arrago whispered.

  Erem cleared his throat. “We should send more than two hundred with Prince Henry, don’t you think? If anything happened to Arrago, he’s king, isn’t he?”

  Allric shrugged. “We sent a hundred knights when he went to live with the Duchess. Edmund, you’re the only one here who knows the Duchess personally. Thoughts?”

  “The Dowager would be offended that foreigners have come to take care of what she’ll feel is her duty to manage. Cassandra, the current Duchess, will love the foreign help.” Edmund smiled. “Honestly, send an advanced guard and let her know more are coming. I recommend sending them with provisions and money for them to camp in her fields. Normally she’d be expected to pay for their room and board and sure, she can take in two hundred houseguests quite comfortably in her little cottage, but she’ll be easier to win over if they insist on not abusing her hospitality. Oh, say that. She’ll love that.”

  “Arrago?” Allric said.

  “I can ask Rayner to find some money somewhere. Henry is my responsibility.”

  “When do we leave?” Eve asked.

  “The northern advance tomorrow night, Apexia willing,” Allric said, stepping away from the map long enough to pour some wine into an empty cup. He was such a tall man that it only took two long strides for him to reach the other table. He topped up the cup with water, then took a long drink. “The main force the morning after. Who knows when we’ll get another opportunity? We must strike now. Let’s end this war.”

  “May Apexia be with us,” Kiner whispered.

  Arrago wondered if Apexia even cared about their fates, beyond how it suited her schemes and plans. He’d made so many choices, all in hopes of glorifying Her. He wasn’t sure if that was the right course of action anymore. She might see all things, but that didn’t mean she cared about all things.

  “Arrago?” Jovan called out behind him.

  He thought about walking on. But he stood in place and said over his shoulder: “Yes?”

  “I’m ashamed of what I said.”

  “I know,” Arrago said. “I don’t think Bethany would want us fighting. She’d want us to go win a war in her name. So let’s go do that. Everything else can wait.”

  CHAPTER 2

  The Past

  The days were blending together for Lady Bethany: a steady stream of small concerns that needed attention before they ballooned into bigger problems. Old latrines needed filling in and new ones needed to be dug. The sick needed tending to ensure the coughing sickness didn’t spread and wipe out their force before they managed any form of attack. Training, morale, and hot food all needed management.

  It had been this way for months now. The elves, along with their human allies, had been at a standstill for most of the Taftlin winter. Setting aside the issues of the ice and cold, there was a giant Magical barrier between them and the enemy. With Bethany’s Powers now mysteriously gone, there was no way for them to take down the boundary. So they sat. Met. Talked. Planned. Schemed. Bethany couldn’t have been more bored if she’d been stuck in morning prayers for the rest of her life.

  Like every Tuesday morning, Bethany sat in the Hunting Room with the senior commanders of the joint elven and human force. The room’s décor was typical of a room so named; the stuffed heads of several large animals hung on the walls. The room always made her uncomfortable, but Arrago said it was the warmest in the entire castle, so there they met.

  A huge fire roared beneath the mantel. It was the only fireplace and chimney in the entire castle that could handle the heat of coal, one of Arrago’s latest upgrades to his new residence.

  Bethany sat at the long rectangular table, listening to Allric discuss fortifications of their little castle home and surrounding area.

  “Now that the ice is breaking up in the straits, we’ll send word for the ships harboured down South to start their journey up. They can take over patrol duty and we can move the patrols inland to prepare for an assault.”

  “We could do practice drills,” Kiner suggested. Kiner had been appointed spymaster by Allric. Kiner had always worked in that role, though unofficially. Now he’d been pulled into the open and could never work in the shadows again. Bethany liked that idea; Kiner struggled with the many horrible choices he’d made in the name of security and peace. It was time he didn’t have to see his hands so bloody.

  Allric nodded and motioned at the scribe behind him to make notes. Arrago had a small army of assistants, scribes, aides, and helpers left over from Daniel’s reign. Being the soft-hearted fool he was, Arrago didn’t want to relieve them of their positions. So they all got new jobs helping the war effort.

  “I have some good news,” Kiner said, “There’s a section of the barrier that seems weak. The southernmost watch post has noticed people coming in and out there.”

  “What are they doing?” Bethany asked.

  “We can’t be certain, but it looks as though that’s how Sarissa’s people are getting intelligence in and out. And, one assumes, supplies. The traffic is causing the boundary there to weaken and it’s lost much of its strength. My people are trying to determine if there’s any pattern of activity. Also, with your permission,” Kiner said in Allric’s direction, “I’d like to send in an agent or two. Someone to slip inside and see what’s going on. Myra’s been training under Sanderson to prepare for this. They could both go in.”

  Allric thought for a moment. “Wouldn’t we need something to suggest they aren’t spying, especially with Myra being Elorian.”

  “Oh—” Jovan said, “We have a cache of Magical shit in the dungeon leftover from Daniel. Remember? When we moved in, Arrago had it all put down in the depths until we knew how to destroy it. There’s those amulets and stuff that make people invisible for a bit. They wouldn’t need a reason, if they could pass unseen. Arrago?”

  King Arrago—for she needed the title, to separate his new life from their shared past—pondered for a moment. “If you think it’ll help, sure, but be careful. We don’t know what any of that stuff is. It could do more damage than getting captured.”

  Kiner nodded and agreed that they’d be
careful. That reinforced his notion of sending Sanderson, who had a wealth of knowledge on Magic and Magi in general. They could pick out the items they felt were the best—Arrago insisted all books and grimoires stay in the dungeons until they could be properly disposed—and the word of what was down there be kept to a very small number of people.

  “I’d rather not attract more attention to ourselves,” Bethany said. “Word getting out of that junk would put everyone in danger.”

  “Agreed,” King Arrago said.

  He switched gears to discuss how a number of his troops were needed back in their fields. “Which brings us to an awkward topic. I found out that I owe my soldiers two month’s pay before I can release them. I was thinking I may release them slowly, to ease the burden on my coffers, plus it’ll give us a chance for more troops to arrive from Ellentop now that the pass is clear.”

  “We can pay what’s owing,” Allric said. “Can’t we, Bethany?”

  Bethany looked at her own scribe behind her and arched a quizzical brow. “Can we?”

  “How much is owing, Majesty?” The aide asked.

  “Three hundred sovereigns, I believe.”

  The older woman scratched at her paper. “It will put you twelve gold, eighteen silver over your monthly budget allotment, Lady Bethany. However, Lady Lendra did send word to the Elven Council requesting an influx of cash for the war effort two months ago. I suspect we’ll be seeing something soon.”

  Bethany shrugged. “We can swing it, then.”

  “No, that isn’t necessary,” King Arrago said swiftly. He cleared his throat. “I mean, thank you, obviously, for the offer and if we need to, we’ll come back and ask. However, I’m sure we can pay our own soldiers. I’ll talk to Edmund.”

  “Majesty, I can pay for them,” Bethany said.

  “I’m sure you can,” he said. He checked his tone and continued in a much softer voice, “I have no intention of repeating the mistakes of my predecessors by running up endless debts with allies and enemies alike.”