When Ravens Call: The Fourth Book in the Small Gods Epic Fantasy Series (The Books of the Small Gods by Bruce Blake (books under 200 pages txt) 📗

"Troops are on the move in the Leeward Kingdom and aught is amiss in the Kingdom of Water, not to mention the troubles within our own borders." His eyes fell from hers at the allusion to internal strife. He'd mentioned no such thing to her before, though she'd heard of unrest from Trenan. "I cannot spare more soldiers. You'd have me leave the city, the entire realm, unguarded in the service of finding your children. That might be what they want."

"They?"

He cleared his throat. "Our enemies. It may be foreign agents took them to lure us into a mistake."

"But what about the truce?"

"Don't concern yourself with the politics of war and peace, Ishla."

The king went back to scanning the parchment on the table before him, unwilling to meet her gaze. He said no more; he didn't need to.

"What have you done?"

He ignored her, choosing to pick up the chicken leg instead of answering his wife. His finger traced words on the paper, and he tore a chunk of meat from the bone with his teeth. Ishla watched him, her anger rising into her throat. No tears accompanied it this time as she let it spill out.

"What have you done?"

Errol slammed the drumstick down, the clay plate cracking as it split in two beneath the force. He glared at her for the space of five heartbeats before speaking.

"That you are the queen doesn't give you the right to speak to me in this manner. Be gone from my sight before I recall Osis and his men and leave the children to find their own way home."

Ishla bit so hard her teeth hurt and her jaw knotted. Her fingers curled into fists but she held her ground, silent, glaring at her husband. The king glared back for an instant before waving a hand in the air and returning to the parchment.

"Dar, remove the queen from this chamber."

The guard to her right stood at attention, heels clicking together, before leaving his post and crossing the room toward her. He stopped in front of her, blocking her view of the king. She diverted her gaze to his face, saw he didn't relish carrying out the regent's command but his position left him no choice. He swallowed hard.

"M'lady."

Dar swept his arm toward the door, waited for her to follow instructions, but he did not lay his touch upon her. If he did, the fury and rage within her might have burst forth, directed first at him and then at her husband. Instead, she spun around and stomped away. The guard followed and, when he reached out to grasp the handle, she swatted his hand aside.

"I can let myself out."

She jerked the door open, left it ajar as she stepped over the threshold into the hall. Her action caught Strylor, who leaned against the wall opposite the chamber, by surprise. He stood straight, a look of guilt spreading across his face she may have wondered at another time. Instead, she spun on her heel and headed along the corridor, leaving her husband's guard to shut the portal while her own protector hurried after her.

"My queen. Is everything all right?"

His words registered but her anger continued pressing her lips too tightly together for her to respond. Her teeth remained clenched as her mind worked. How could her husband be so nonchalant about finding their children?

It's not your husband who refuses to search harder, it is the king.

She wanted to believe it, but the words rang with untruth. The monarch should express concern for the heir to the throne, at the very least, even if he considered the princess expendable. If Teryk didn't return, what did it mean to the future of the kingdom?

A thought struck her so suddenly, she stopped dead in her tracks. The queen's guard clattered to a halt behind her, near enough he'd come close to running into her.

"He knows," she whispered.

"Who knows?" Strylor scratched his ear. "Knows what?"

She turned, not wanting to engage the man, but she needed to release her thoughts.

"The king won't do anything else to find my children," she said between clenched teeth. She didn't look the queen's guard in the eye, choosing to direct her gaze toward the red carpet lining the hall floor. "I must take matters into my own hands."

XXI  Teryk – Goddess

Teryk inhaled a sharp breath as though he'd been underwater too long. His eyelids jerked open and daylight blinded him; he threw an arm across his face to block it out until his eyes adjusted.

His shoulder ached, his finger throbbed, the pain reminding him of the forest, the gray shapes. He wasn't in the woods anymore, he understood without seeing. Acrid smoke replaced the scent of loam and cedar. Instead of the chirp of birds and buzz of insects, fires crackled.

Panic formed in Teryk's gut, swirling and expanding until it tingled along his limbs and threatened to choke his breath. He moved his arm away, forced his eyes open and stared up at a firmament marred by smudges of gray and black. Amongst it, the bright yellow sun glowed, its light perverted by the wafting smoke. It took a heartbeat for the prince to realize this wasn't sunlight—its glow flickered, its size grew. His memory skipped back to the black and white beach of the land across the sea, the balls of fire falling out of the sky. He leapt to his feet, every muscle and joint in his body protesting as though he'd been lying in a single position as the seasons turned repeatedly around him.

A quick scan of the area revealed his location, yet it took longer for him to recognize it. This wasn't the courtyard he'd grown up with,