Aurelie rubbed her sweaty hands together. General Donahue had yet to arrive, so she waited below the stairs of the basement where the necromancer set up her equipment. Her hand pressed against the door. She pulled it back. What if he's actually gone? He heart somersaulted inside her chest, the hollow beat made her dizzy.
Aurelie backed away from the door until she was pressed against the cold, dark wall. Suddenly there wasn't enough air. With her foot on the bottom step, she heard footsteps coming down.
Donahue, fully clad in his uniform, badges covering the entire left side of his jacket, stopped when he saw her. "What is the meaning of this?"
"There's a necromancer through there." Aurelie pointed.
"Your idea?"
"No," she said. "Revin, the shaman, invited her."
Donahue made his way down the stairs. "You want me to be here for this?"
Aurelie nodded. "Yes, if . . . I wanted you to be here in case." How was she ever going to start the conversation about her pregnancy? He looked so prim and proper. So far his son was a legend within the castle walls. They spun the story to sound like he was the one who found her and was captured while trying to bring her back safely. Impregnating her wasn't quite part of the story.
"Has she been vetted?"
"I don't believe so. She just arrived this morning."
He put a hand on her shoulder and moved her so that she stood behind him. "At least, we know Revin is a good man." The general knocked on the door. "You cannot be this careless in the future. All guests must be checked before they visit, especially when they visit you."
"Why?" She wasn't going to be a guest in the castle. If they thought that she'd invite anyone in to harm the King or anyone else, she wasn't going to stay there much longer. I refuse to be a prisoner here.
"The witches see you as an imposter and a traitor and you are said to have killed the ruling Queen of the Icelands. Have some sense girl."
The door opened. A woman, tall and lean opened the door with her twiggy fingers. Dark matter floated around her skirt like a living mist. A gust floated outward, gaining momentum, and turned, crashing into her leg. Niendry swayed to the side with the impact and kicked in its direction. "Not now!"
"Please," she said, and swept her hand forward, "come in." The irises of her eyes were the exact color of the pupil, pitch black. Her nose and chin were both dramatized by their sharpness.
Donahue walked in first. Four candles burnt on a round table which they were stuck to by their wax. There were three chairs, one for each of them. Aurelie hadn't told anyone that she intended to bring the general. Not another fortune teller! The predictions were unwelcome. After the discovery of her child, Aurelie swore them off entirely. Fate was at the wheel, whichever way fortune turned, she would be at its command. What was the point of knowing?
Niendry took a seat and folded her arm on the table. "The Donahue boy?"
"Yes," General Donahue answered before Aurelie could.
"Which of you bought the item?"
They looked at her in confusion.
"A personal item connected to the spirit is required."
Aurelie bit her lip. She hadn't ever seen him be attached to any specific item.
"There are none left," Donahue answered. "Everything of importance to him was . . . We no longer have it."
"I need something." Niendry shrugged. "No artifact, no summoning."
Donahue stood, less wounded now than before they entered. He was happy to abandon the idea altogether.
"Wait," Aurelie said. "Would blood do?"
Niendry raised her brow and smirked. "Well, well! Princess Aurelie." She shook her head and winked. "That will do."
Donahue balanced himself against the back of his chair and bent his neck, looking down at her. "I don't understand."
This was not the way she planned to tell him. In fact, she didn't plan to tell him at all. Not unless Kirin was dead. Aurelie put a hand on her stomach and looked up at him, sighing deeply. It took him a while to add two and two together but he saw him double back a little as he caught on.
He kicked his chair, growing red as a lobster in his face.
Niendry bashed a brass on the table. "Please," she smiled innocently, "don't be loud. You're calling the spirits and," she clenched her fists, "I have enough of them in my head as is."
Donahue sat, looking at her every few seconds and shaking his head. "No wonder he got himself killed. The two of youâthoughtless, so damn thoughtless!"
Niendry emptied a satchel of brown powder into the bowl. "The blood."
Donahue withdrew a dagger from his belt and slid it in Aurelie's direction, without looking her way. She took the knife and poked the edge of it into her finger. The flesh split and dripped onto the table. Moving her finger to the bowl, she faced Donahue. "Have you ever found yourself in a moment that ties together your whole life? It sounds a little insane but I know it's true because everything except this is chaos," she said.
Lighting a match, Niendry threw it into the bowl. Donahue closed his eyes. Either afraid to say something in front of the necromancer or lost for words. He felt more than anger; she was sure of it. If the outcome was bleak and they had killed Kirin, they'd have a little bit of him still. She hated thinking that way but her mind kept crawling in that direction.
Smoke rose from the bowl. Aurelie's arms felt light as a feather and her head began to bobble slightly. "A few minutes and we'll be ready."
"What is that?" Donahue asked, his words sounding oddly far away. The room seemed to be swelling. Aurelie stood up from her chair. The muscles in her legs were weakened.
"Opium," Niendry smiled and knelt closer to the bowl, inhaling. "The good kind."
A vial of black liquidâthat hadn't been there beforeâstood next to the bowl. Or was it? Time felt like it stood still. The longer she looked at the bottle the more familiar it became. She reached for it, her hand leaving a blurry trail of itself behind.
Niendry grabbed it before Aurelie could get her fingers to close around it.
"Hey!" She protested as Niendry removed the pointy silver lid. "That's mine." Aurelie turned to Donahue. "That's mine! She took it!"
Donahue's eyes widened. His neck curved, turning his head at an odd angle. "Hey! Why'd you take that?"
Niendry giggled. "The opium's for us. This," she shook the bottle, "is for the spirits." Two drops dripped from the bottle. Shiny silver particles rose out of the bowl and floated up, forming a mushroom cloud above them.
A pop sounded and silver sparks fell. The mushroom cloud above them evaporated. Niendry shook the vial over the bowl again, with a frown on her face. "This never happened before."
"Well, that's it," Aurelie said, sitting back in her chair, and folded her arms over her stomach. "She's broke it."
The bowl exploded, shooting up from the table and slamming against the cement ceiling. Aurelie held her arms over her head until she heard it land.
"What?" Niendry asked, looking to her right.
"I said you broke it." Her lips felt awfully heavy, she pressed them against each other and puffed out, making a popping sound.
Donahue sat clenching his head and rocking back and forth. "She's not talking to us," he said. "She's talking to them." He peered at Niendry from the gaps of his fingers.
Niendry's expression was grim. Aurelie laughed and pointed her finger at her. "You've never failed before. It's not that bad." She shrugged. "I've done it plenty of times. P," she puffed the letter out, "lenty. What a funny word."
"He's where?" she asked. "How can that be?"
Aurelie finally saw the smoke that floated before Niendry. It was almost the shape of a human but not quite. There were no arms or legs, only a round shape of a head and an oval torso. "Woah!"
Niendry turned back to them. The spirit floated down and disappeared into her dress. "The Donahue boy is lost."
"Oh no!" Aurelie gasped.
Reaching for Aurelie's hand, Niendry took a breath. "Princess, I cannot contact the boy, he is neither alive nor dead. Do you understand this?"
"Yes." Aurelie nodded. "Definitely. Yesâyeah, I do. Uhu." Aurelie reached her hand under the table and poked Donahue's leg. He looked up, blinking. "What's she saying?" she whispered, passing an awkward glace to Niendry.
She rolled her eyes and stood. "I should have given you a smaller dose."
Niendry's dark hair and dress made her look like a floating head. Aurelie moved back in her chair and shifted her legs to the left of her chair. The woman was scaring her. She wanted her to go away.
"I'll inform Revin of this. You can talk to him when you're..." She sighed. "Goodbye. I'll see the King for the payment."
Aurelie awoke in her chamber having no idea how she got there. Both her ears pounded, and her left butt cheek cramped. How she managed to injure it while peacefully sitting on a chairâat least that's all she rememberedâwas something she didn't want to find out.
Cassandra sat in the grand red chair by the window with a pair of glasses resting on the rim of her nose. That was the first time Aurelie saw her wearing glasses. She was reading a letter, with her hand pressed against her mouth.
"What are you reading?" Aurelie asked, her voice croaky.
Cassandra looked up and folded the letter. "They're gathering at the border. My cousin wrote to warn me. Don't know what she thinks I'll be able to do with the information though, but apparently, they're packing their belongings and heading my way." She dropped the letter in her lap and sat back. "That's scarier than any bloody invasion."
Aurelie smiled and found that her cheeks ached as well. The memories came back in bits and pieces. Aurelie saw a ray of light shine through the window and immediately remembered the sparks that fell from the mushroom cloud. Her robe had been damaged by them. Hundreds of brown marks were burnt into the material. Neither alive nor dead.
"Do you know where the Keeper is?" she asked Cassandra.
"That man comes and goes more thanâ she pursed her lipsâwho knows!"
The dream. Her thoughts were doing cartwheels in her head. She couldn't focus on one thing at a time. That voiceâhis voice, calling out to her. The dreams were so vivid. How did she not see them before? Her stomach growled.
The Keeper was needed to confirm. But it seemed obvious now that Niedry couldn't find Kirin's spirit. The Dream Realm still existed and he was trapped in it.
A memory of her and Donahue roaming the castle, holding each other for support and laughing at whoever passed them, drifted into her mind. She sighed. Another speech from the King was coming. Honestly, by now, she would have tied herself to a chair and banned anyone from entering the room. For a ruthless killer, he had the patience of a saint.
"How did I get here?"
"The King brought you," Cassandra said, crossing her legs. She smiled. Of course, she'd find it amusing.
Aurelie fell back in bed and moaned. The smugness was fair. Daily warnings and advice from her were ignored. Not intentionally of course. But, no matter what Aurelie's intentions were, she always seemed to get herself in trouble. The spotlight that dangled atop her head was getting mighty bright.
"Was he mad?" She lifted her head.
"What do you think?"
Donahue was going to get the worst of it. By the time the King gets to her, he'll have taken most of his anger out on the general. There would be some left for her, of course. The man had a limit after all and she was yet to reach it. Running around drugged with the father of her lover was what one would call a boiling point. He's going to tell him aboutâ Aurelie shot up and out of bed.
"Where's the King?" She had to get to him first.