Kyrin looked over the field of flowing flowers and then glanced behind her at the two Knights seated on horses. Alric and Trox were out at the Qualsax, and she was asked to stay with the Knights. Memories of the fight with the Qualsax was fresh in her mind, and the thought of how well they restrained her helped with the request for Knights.
She was still surprised at how little her life changed once she married Alric. While he seemed more attentive and even more in love with her, nothing else had changed. She’d had no beatings still, and the vile acts talked about by the new brides hadn’t come to pass.
Kyrin moved forward and waded through the thick pink flowers, running her hands along the soft petals. The Knights stayed closer to her and were watching around. She got the feeling they almost wished Qualsax would attack, but she would prefer if they left her alone.
Although the Knights jumped at the chance to guard her, she realized it was because of the possibility of fighting Qualsax, and trying to keep on the King’s good side. She knew the Knights didn’t trust, nor like her. They hadn’t forgotten how she bested several of them in fights the first week she was with them, nor had they gotten over her brutal attack on Finn’s brother, Hicks, when he tried to kiss her.
She’d told Alric that the first person to call her Queen would meet her flail, but he assured her that she wasn’t a Queen. In Valhara, Kings and Queens had to have noble blood. Those married into their position were simply Lords and Ladies.
***
King Qualsax glared as the Valharan Knights walked in with Alric and stood before him. Eight of them held the heads of dead Qualsax Warriors, and then threw them at the feet of their King.
“We thought you might be missing these,” Alric said angrily.
The King stood up and screamed, “How dare you attack and kill eight of my warriors!”
“We didn’t,” Alric said, now smiling. “They attacked my wife, tried to have their way with her, and she killed them.”
“The idea is preposterous. My Warriors cannot be beaten by a woman.”
“You don’t know my wife. She’s a fighter, and a damned good one. She’s not going to be easy to victimize, so I suggest you leave her the hell alone!”
“We do what we want! She is your wife, and that makes her a target,” the Qualsax King said, and then sat down on his throne. “I’m sure they simply wanted to slowly breed out the Valharan line.”
Alric grew furious, but Trox stopped him from advancing, “So your goddess agrees with your views?”
“I’m sure she does.”
“Then I’m even more disgusted with her and her followers than I was before.”
“Kyrin has done nothing to Qualsax,” Alric said. “Leave her alone.”
“No! It is my duty to make you suffer, and if attacking your wife does that, then I will.”
“Consider yourself warned.”
Alric turned and walked out, followed by the others. They were far away from Qualsax before anyone spoke.
“They have no moral fiber,” Trox said. “I can’t believe that what those Warriors did was sanctioned by their King.”
“I guess we shouldn’t really expect any more of them,” Alric said. “We’re just lucky that Kyrin isn’t that easy to keep down.”
“Do you think they will realize that one of their Warriors is without a tongue?” one of the Knights asked.
Alric couldn’t help but smile, “I hope they do.”
Trox’s voice grew soft, “I wish Finn were here to see what she did to those eight Warriors. He was always so proud of her strength and abilities.”
Alric simply nodded. His death was still fresh on the King’s mind, and as they couldn’t find a body to bury, there hadn’t been any closure for Finn’s family or the Kingdom.
***
“Kyrin?” Alric said from beside her on the floor.
She looked up at him and smiled, “You’re finally back.”
“Yes, finally. Did you have any problems while I was away?”
“No, did you?”
He shook his head, “Not really. They just made it obvious that you are a prime target.”
“They just won’t learn, will they?” she asked.
He shook his head, leaned down and took her wrists in his hands, and then kissed her softly. Her body moved up against his, and the strength of her kiss increased.
Alric broke the kiss and met her eyes, “Do you trust me?”
She thought about it and then nodded.
“Fully?”
“Yes, why?”
He kissed her again and then whispered, “It’s time I show you how much I love you.”
The pit of her stomach dropped, “How?”
“Just trust me,” he whispered, and began to unbutton her nightgown.
***
“Kyrin?” Alric said, sitting up in bed. He looked over at the door just as she disappeared from the room. He sighed and then laid back and pulled the covers up over his bare chest.
The stain on the sheets caught his eye, so he reached over and covered it with the blankets also. A few minutes later, he got out of bed and then bathed and got ready for the day. Today, he met with the people of Valhara. Some asked him for help, while others asked for his blessing, and still others offered up riches to him for his kindness.
When he was dressed officially, he walked down toward the throne room, and met up with Trox on the stairs.
“Kyrin seems pretty mad this morning,” Trox said as they started down the stairs.
“I saw.”
Trox couldn’t help but smile, “You were patient longer than I thought you would be.”
“Not talking about this, Trox,” he said, and then started across the long room to his throne. He sat in the chair on the right, and glanced once at the chair that Kyrin was supposed to sit in.
“Let them in,” Alric said to the Knight at the door.
Trox sighed, “She’s supposed to be in here to make it official.”
“Leave her be.”
“It’s not proper.”
Alric looked up at him, “She’s mad at me, and I don’t feel like turning into a toad.”
Trox grinned and then moved to the side of Alric where the advisor’s spot was.
Kyrin was furious as she stormed through the trees, taking random corners and ignoring the Knights as they fought to keep up with her. Alric had broken his promise never to hurt her, and she was trying to figure out if it was time to shift out of Paragoy. He’d demonstrated the repulsive act she’d heard so much about, and the brides were right.
The thought made her sick to her stomach, and she was ready to have his head for what he made her do. She’d trusted him, and let him continue, but as the night wore on she became more and more furious.
The sight of a cave caught her eye, and she headed toward it. It was deep in the forest and partially obscured by thick vines. She used her flail to slam away the vines, and then stepped inside.
“We shouldn’t go in there,” one of the Knights told her.
Without turning, she took a step further, “Why not?”
“It’s not explored, so it could be dangerous.”
“Are you afraid then?”
“No,” he said, offended.
“So let’s explore it.”
The Knight pushed past her and walked into the cave as far as he could see, “Doesn’t look like much.”
Kyrin and the other Knight joined him. Just when they stepped together, the floor gave out and the three fell through it and landed on a hard surface almost 25 feet down.
“Are you hurt?” one of the Knights said frantically, as he looked over Kyrin.
She shook her head and looked around, “No, you?”
“I think he is,” the Knight said, looking over at the other.
The second Knight was motionless on the rock floor. She knelt down by the injured Knight, “He’s breathing.”
“He’s badly hurt. We have to get him help.”
“Well… heal him.”
“I can’t do that.”
“You aren’t a Holy Knight?”
“No, only a few select are Holy Knights,” he explained.
Kyrin stood up and looked up the sheer walls to the hole above them, “I don’t know how we can get out of here though.”
“There’s a tunnel down this way.”
“Let’s go then,” she said, heading for it.
“We can’t just leave him.” They both looked over when the Knight began to stir.
Kyrin watched as the Knight knelt down by him, “Antony, are you ok?”
The injured Knight finally nodded, “My leg.”
“We’ll get help, ok?”
She looked over as the Knight moved the thick cobwebs out of the way of an opening in the wall. He took a step into the passageway, “We don’t have a choice. We have to go down this way to see if there’s a way out, but it’s too dark to see.”
“I can get us light.” Kyrin walked over and peered past him. With one soft word, her hand lit up, and she held it out to show the long cavernous corridor.
“There has to be a way out, let’s go.”
She nodded and walked down the corridor, careful not to hit her head on low stalactites. The only sound other than dripping water was the sound their feet made against the cold ground of the cave.
It was hours later when the Knight spoke, “We’ve gone miles. There must not be a way out.”
“We can’t get out back that way either,” Kyrin reminded him.
“I don’t like that Antony is alone. If he’s attacked, he can’t defend himself.”
“He’s not going to get attacked. The only way in there is either the long fall or through here, and we haven’t seen so much as a mouse.”
“Fine, we’ll keep going.” He stormed past her, and she shook her head and followed him. To their right was the cave wall, but to their left was a drop off that fell into darkness below. The Knight had thrown a rock down into the black, but they never heard it hit anything. Keeping far away from the edge, they worked their way deeper into the expanse of caves.
After what seemed like an eternity, when both were cold and wet from the cave, and exhausted from climbing, the passageway ended at a wall.
“Great,” the Knight said, sighing.
Kyrin was frowning, “Something’s odd about that wall.”
“Like what?”
“I’m not sure. It just looks different.”
The Knight bent closer to see, but it looked the same to him, “Nothing’s different. Let’s head back. Maybe they’re looking for us by now, and we can call and get someone’s attention.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
The Knight started back the way they came, but Kyrin kept looking at the wall. When he got far enough away that he couldn’t see, he returned to her, “What!?”
Had Kyrin known proper customs, she would have chastised the Knight for speaking to her like that. Instead, what she did was reached out and touched the cave wall, “It’s warm.”
“It can’t be warm.”
“Touch it.”
The Knight slipped off his gauntlet and touched the wall, “It is warm.”
“I tell you, something’s weird about this wall.”
He sighed, “We need to get back and make sure Antony is ok.”
Kyrin touched the wall again and then a word came to her. She put her hands together against the wall and whispered a strange word.
The wall slowly began to melt, and both of them stepped back when a dungeon appeared before them. It smelled of death and was dark and damp.
The Knight stopped Kyrin when she started to walk into the room, and instead walked in ahead of her.
“What is this?” Kyrin whispered, touching the outline of a crow in the ground.
The Knight’s eyes grew wide, and he whispered back, “We’re in Qualsax castle. I’ve heard about this room. It’s used for torture.”
She nodded and looked around at the torture devices. Some she’d seen the Shadowmere use. Others were strange and foreign.
“We have to get out of here,” the Knight said, taking her arm.
“Wait, there’s a door over there.”
“Of course there’s a door, how else would they get in here?”
“Not that one, that one,” she said, pointing to a smaller door off to the side. It was only half as tall as the other door and wasn’t locked.
“Come on, now.”
“No, I want to see what that door is.”
They both froze when they heard voices outside of the main door, but the voices trailed off as the Qualsax moved further from the room.
“See? We’re going to get caught, and they’ll torture us,” the Knight said.
“Don’t you wonder what’s in there?”
“No”
“I do… just let me peek,” she said, and got down on her hands and knees. She opened the door easily and then poked her head through. What she saw was a large room full of prisoners. Some were dead, some were injured, and others looked to just be sleeping.
“Hey, who’s that?” one of them whispered, looking over at her.
Kyrin smiled slightly, “Just seeing what’s in here. Don’t mind me.”
There was a mad rush to get away from her, and she was just starting to crawl back out of the room when a familiar face caught her eye, “Finn!?”
A starving and haggard Finn looked up at her with wide eyes, “Kyrin?”
Another man in the room looked over, “Is that the Kyrin you told me about?”
Finn nodded, “Yes.”
“Come on, let’s get out of here,” she said, and backed out of the room through the door.
“What did you find?” the Knight asked, nervously watching the larger door.
Kyrin got to her feet, and the Knight was shocked when Finn crawled through after her. He didn’t have the strength to stand, and his face was a mass of bruises. His lips were dry and he was emaciated, with sunken features.
“Captain?” the Knight whispered, helping Finn to his feet.
Another man crawled through, and Kyrin helped him to stand.
“Oh my god!” the Knight said, watching the other man.
“Who are you?” Kyrin asked him.
“Get us out of here,” Finn said, and then glanced nervously at the front door.
Helping the two prisoners, Kyrin and the Knight supported them through the portal and into the cave’s passageway.
“Can you shut that now?” the Knight asked her.
Kyrin looked over at the door, “I’m not sure.”
“Well try or we’ll have half of Qualsax after us.”
She nodded and put her hands together, then held them up in front of the opening. She whispered softly and looked up, but nothing happened.
“Concentrate,” Finn whispered.
“I’m trying!” She held her hands up again, and tried any word that came to her, but the portal remained opened.
When someone tried the door handle into the torture room, they all fell silent. Voices sounded, and they tried the door again.
Suddenly, Kyrin held her hands up and whispered quickly. The door slowly began to flow upwards, blocking the portal an inch at a time.
The door finally opened and the Qualsax that walked in immediately saw Kyrin, the Knight, and two prisoners standing behind the wall as it shut. They ran forward and slammed into the wall as the last of it sealed the portal shut.
Kyrin clutched her throat and turned around, still shaking from fear.
“That was close!” the Knight said as he supported Finn.
“Let’s go,” the other man said from beside them.
“First, who are you?” Kyrin asked him. She wanted to make sure they weren’t about to rescue a Qualsax.
“He is one of our Knights,” the Knight beside him said. “He disappeared five years ago, and we thought he was dead.”
“Qualsax Warriors got me,” he explained. “They threw me into a cell, and then the Captain joined me. He’s been tortured almost every day because of his rank.”
“Why didn’t you go through that little door and get away?” she asked him.
“We tried that, it was a trick. Once you got through, they would be waiting for you and would then torture you. Staying in that room was our only option.”
Finn’s legs gave out and the Knight was now supporting him, “We have to get them back.”
Kyrin nodded and whispered the spell to bring light to her hand, and then started through the caves.
“How far is it?” the rescued Knight asked as he helped the other with Finn.
“A long ways,” Kyrin told him. “We walked for hours trying to find a way out. Once we get to where we fell though, we still can’t get out.”
“Don’t you have magic for that?”
“No, it doesn’t work like that. You’re lucky I got the door closed.”
“He’s starving and weak. He’s not going to make it,” the Knight told her.
“I don’t have my bag of apples either. We’ll all take turns and get him out.”
Finn smiled slightly, “I never thought I’d see you again.”
They continued on, “Well a lot has changed.”
“She’s the Lady of Valhara now,” the Knight told him.
Finn nodded, “I saw that coming.”
She frowned when he groaned in pain, “We need to take a break. Let’s sit down here and rest.”
“Here?” the Knight asked, looking around at the cold, damp walls.
“Yes here. Finn’s injured and too tired to go on.”
“I don’t know…”
“We’re doing it,” she said, and sat down against the wall. She wrapped her arms around herself to keep warm, and then the light disappeared, and they were shrouded in darkness.
“We’re wasting time,” the Knight said, sitting down also.
“If you’re injured and you push it too hard, you die,” Kyrin said. “I’ve seen it too many times. We have to take it slow.”
“I guess.”
“In case you’re wondering, Finn. The Knights still don’t like me.”
“I wouldn’t say we don’t like you.”
“You have to like me. I get that, I’m the Lady. However, you don’t trust me and would rather not be around me.”
“You’ll get us all in trouble if the King hears that.”
“I’m sure he knows, besides, I don’t really care what the King thinks,” she said, emphasizing the word King sarcastically.
“What’d he do?” Finn asked weakly.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“I’m surprised you married him.”
“I had to. Daemionis ordered it.”
“That’s weird.”
“What’s weird is that he and Sithias agreed on it. I didn’t have a choice, trust me.”
“Then Qualsax tried to take her,” the Knight said. “Now she has guards.”
“Why does Qualsax want you so badly?” Finn asked into the dark.
“Oh I know now,” she snapped.
The Knight lowered his voice, “They wanted to have a Qualsax as the next king.”
Finn sighed, “Great. So how is it you two are even down here?”
“We fell,” Kyrin explained. “One of the Knights is hurt back where we fell, and we couldn’t get back up, so we started down this passage.”
“How long ago?”
“I’m guessing it’s been about eight hours since we fell,” the Knight said.
“Shh, time to get some rest,” Kyrin told them. She grinned when it fell silent. She wondered if she could order them around now that she was Lady of the Kingdom. Course, she didn’t plan on staying, not after what Alric had done.
Kyrin leaned back against the cold ground and started to drift off. She woke up a while later and wrinkled her nose, “What’s that smell?”
“I don’t know. It's awful,” the Knight said.
She sat up, “Should we head out?”
“The Captain’s asleep.”
“Should we wake him up and…” Kyrin quit talking when a burst of warm air wafted past her. “We’re not alone down here.”
She scrambled to her feet and used the spell to light up the passageway. Looking at them from the depths of the darkness was a scaly blue head with brutal yellow eyes and long teeth. It hissed at them, and they all screamed.
The Knight grabbed Finn and headed down the passageway after Kyrin, who had immediately taken off running. They moved quickly, even though it didn’t sound like the beast was following them. Kyrin ran with her hands glowing, ready to throw fireballs at it if its head appeared again.
When they barreled into the room with the injured Knight, he looked up at them, “Where were you? I thought you were dead.”
Kyrin turned and brought her hand back, ready to pelt magic at the beast, but it didn’t follow them.
“Captain!” the injured Knight said, shocked.
The Knight laid Finn down beside the injured Knight and then looked up, “Now how to get up there.”
Kyrin finally turned back from the door and looked up, “I have no idea.”
The Knight turned slowly and looked at her, “How well do you climb?”
Her eyes narrowed, “Why?”
“I think I can get you up to that ledge, but from there you’ll have to climb.”
She glanced up again.
“If Alric married her, he’s not going to want her smeared all over this floor,” Finn said, looking way up to the top.
She sighed, “Lift me up.”
He nodded and then picked her up gently. When he had to put his hands on her butt though, he blushed, “Maybe this isn’t a good idea.”
Kyrin was laughing too hard to care, and finally made it to the tiny ledge. Realizing her shoes were keeping her from grasping the wall, she slipped them off and then started slowly up the face of the wall.
“He’s going to kill us,” the injured Knight said, watching her.
“Please don’t fall,” Finn called up to her.
Kyrin started laughing again and almost fell, but steadied herself.
“Why are you even laughing?” the Knight asked, irritated.
She calmed enough to speak, “I’m an evil for god’s sake. Why would I come back after you?”
The Knight gasped, “You wouldn’t!?”
Finn grinned, “I bet she would.”
They watched breathlessly while Kyrin maneuvered up the face of the cliff and finally disappeared over the top.
“You ok?” the Knight called up to her. When she didn’t answer, he sighed, “Do we need to find a way out of here?”
Finn shrugged and then slowly shut his eyes.
Kyrin hit the front of the cave running and tore through the trees, heading for the castle. The thoughts of leaving Paragoy were far from her mind, as was Alric’s deception. Right now she wanted to get help for Finn. She hadn’t lied to the Knight. She didn’t really care if he got out or not, but she felt a kinship with Finn and wanted to get him help.
She tried to muster up a spell to help her move faster, but it didn’t work so she cursed and kept running. Once in sight of the castle, she ran past the Knights, who all watched her and wondered where her personal guards were.
Kyrin took the stairs two at a time and burst into Alric’s office, out of breath and covered in dirt.
“Kyrin! Where have you been?” he asked, standing suddenly.
“Fell… cave… Finn…”
“Wait, calm down,” he said, taking her shoulders. “Catch your breath and tell me what’s going on.”
Finally, she was able to talk, “The Knights and I fell down a hole in a cave. We followed the cave around and came out inside a Qualsax dungeon.”
“You what!?”
“Finn was in there, and some Knight that’s been gone for five years. We got out, and they’re stuck down in the hole.”
Alric stood back and then smiled, “Are you kidding me?”
“No, some of us don’t always lie.”
He sighed, “I didn’t lie to you. You have to trust me still.”
“After last night? No, no more trust.”
“We can talk about this later, ok? I have some work I have to get done.”
She crossed her arms, “So after all of that you’re not going to go get them out of the hole in the cave?”
He looked up and frowned, “Are you being serious?”
“Yes”
He just watched her, “And you found Finn?”
She rolled her eyes and started for the door, “Fine, I’ll go get help elsewhere.”
“Wait, Kyrin,” Alric said, taking her arm. “Do you just want me
out of the office to talk about last night?”
She was starting to get mad, “Tell you what… come with me, and I won’t shift before we can talk.”
“Fine,” he said, sighing. He then followed her out of the castle.
Kyrin turned to the closest Knight, “Do you have a really long rope?”
The Knight looked at Alric, who shrugged, “Go get it.”
Once he returned, Kyrin crawled up onto a horse and made sure the others were with her before kicking him and running into the trees. They were deep in when she stopped and slid off of it, looking around, “It’s here somewhere.”
“You don’t even know where we’re going?” Alric asked, looking around also.
Kyrin moved to him quickly and slapped him. He looked at her with wide eyes when she yelled, “I don’t like you right now, so don’t push me!”
Alric backed off the Knights when they went to restrain her. She turned and started through the bushes, still mumbling about Alric.
Alric chuckled and started after her. He stopped when he came out of the trees and saw her knelt down inside of a cave, talking to the floor. When he realized someone was talking back, he ran up and looked down.
“King Alric!” the Knight said, looking up at him.
“Get the rope,” Alric said, turning to the Knights. Kyrin stood back with her arms crossed and watched as they pulled the Valharans out of the hole. The first to come up was Finn, who was still too weak to move much on his own.
Alric knelt and began to heal his wounds, while the others told the Knights what they’d seen over the last nine hours down in the cave.
When Finn stood up with Alric’s help, he smiled at Kyrin, “Thank you, Kid. I owe you for that.”
She spun and started back for the horses, still irritated that Alric hadn’t believed her. He caught up to her and took her arm, “I’m sorry I doubted you.”
She tore her arm away from him, “Don’t touch me.”
Kyrin got on her horse and rode off, leaving the others to fend for themselves.
Alric watched her go and then turned to Finn and shrugged, “Not a lot has changed.”
He smiled and then was able to climb onto the horse with much effort.
“Are you ok?” Alric asked him.
“Just tired.”
The injured Knight, Alric, and Finn rode back on horses while the other Knights returned on foot. Trox was waiting for them and was shocked to see Finn come in with the King.
“Is Kyrin back here?” Alric asked, dismounting.
Trox nodded, “Yes, but she’s pretty mad.”
“See to Finn, make sure he gets a room in the castle and gives a full report.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Alric walked inside quickly, wanting to talk to Kyrin before she decided to take off. He found her in the Lady’s room, sitting on the couch in front of the fire.