C H A P T E R T W E NT Y- S I X
he palace guards were expecting her and Thea was shown to the throne room. There, King ArtosT sat with Princess Jasira at his side, deep in conversation. Steeling her nerves, Thea strode in and bowed low before them both. Here was the ruler who had turned the tides of her fate – the ruler who had earned her unwavering loyalty.
Once again, Thea found herself momentarily stunned by the magic that reached out to her, exploring the air around her as though it wanted to play. It was more distinct without the powers of the other royals alongside it, almost stronger on its own.
Something within her shifted in answer, in recognition, causing her to start. It was a curious sensation, but she couldn’t forget herself. ‘Your Majesty. Your Highness,’ she greeted them. ‘Ah! Althea Zoltaire!’ King Artos said warmly. ‘Rise, child. Rise!’ Thea did as he bid, returning his welcoming smile, pride swelling in her chest. ‘I have some correspondence from the Guild Master, Your Majesty,’ she told him.
The king waved to a servant, who offered an empty silver platter for her to place the sealed envelope on. She did so and the letter was taken to the king, who slid it into an inner pocket of his doublet. ‘The shieldbearer life seems to suit you, Althea,’ King Artos commented as he surveyed her sun- kissed skin and Thezmarrian uniform. The surrounding magic seemed to pulse with warmth, as though it reflected his good nature. ‘It does indeed, Your Majesty. All thanks to you.’ ‘I merely gave my approval. The rest has been up to you,’ he said kindly.
Thea flushed with pleasure. ‘Thank you, Sire.’ ‘Are you enjoying your training?’ he asked.
Thea’s stomach fluttered, utterly moved that the King of Harenth was showing such interest in her.
Suddenly, she felt the overwhelming need to please him. ‘Yes, Your Majesty. I feel as though I was born for it.’ ‘I’m happy to hear it,’ he replied. ‘Not long ago, I heard that you were injured. Is that true?’ ‘How —’ she stopped herself immediately. It was not her place to question how King Artos had known about her wounds. ‘Only a little, Sire,’ she answered, not wanting him to think less of her. ‘I was back on my feet in no time.’ ‘Well, I’m glad you have recovered, Althea. I must admit, I feel invested in your journey, having
been there at its inception. Though I probably shouldn’t tell you that. After all, the kingdoms are supposed to be completely separate from the guild.’ ‘I’m honoured, Your Majesty,’ she said, blushing again. For the king to take a special interest in her was incredibly flattering.
Thea looked up, realising that Princess Jasira hadn’t spoken a word since her arrival. ‘Are you well, Highness?’ she asked, hoping she hadn’t come across as impolite. ‘Quite well,’ the princess replied.
A strange silence lingered for a moment. ‘I do hope you can enjoy the city this time, Althea,’ the king said. ‘I know last time you were whisked away by Warsword Hawthorne before you could see the sights. You also left before I could give you something.’ ‘You have given me all I could ever hope for, Your Majesty.’ Thea bowed low. ‘Nonsense,’ King Artos waved his hand and a servant came forward again, a palm outstretched to her. ‘You saved my life, Althea Zoltaire. I wish to bestow a small token of my gratitude.’ Curiosity burning, Thea peered into the servant’s palm. It was a small silver coin, not any currency she recognised. ‘It’s my own personal token,’ the king explained. ‘Take this coin anywhere in the midrealms and the bill will be sent to my treasury.’ Thea baulked. ‘Your Majesty, I can’t accept —’ ‘You must!’ he argued. ‘Hailford is beautiful at night. I suggest you start there.’ ‘That’s too generous, Your Majesty.’ Thea stammered. ‘I will hear no more of it. You saved my life. And while I cannot interfere with guild business at Thezmarr, I can treat you as an honoured guest in my kingdom and wherever I have influence across the realms. Take the coin and use it as often as you like.’ Thea couldn’t believe her ears. She took the token with trembling hands. ‘Thank you, truly, Sire.
You are too kind.’ King Artos waved her off. ‘I’ll let you get on with your exploring. And please, I shall be insulted if I receive no bills.’ The magic that she had almost grown used to humming around her retreated and, bowing low once more, Thea spluttered her thanks again and left the throne room.
Outside the palace gates and atop her mare again, Thea couldn’t believe her luck. Not only did she have an entire evening to herself in Hailford, but she also had coin to spend?
Asking a passerby for directions to the Laughing Fox, Thea started the descent through the residences and into the city. She couldn’t take in the sights fast enough - the beautiful townhouses, the stalls and shops. While there was no longer a formal celebration in full swing, Hailford was just as prosperous, just as lively as it had been during her first visit.
After several wrong turns and a set of new directions, Thea at last spotted the wooden sign swinging from the side of a building. It was indeed a laughing fox, its bushy tail curled around its body with a flourish. There was no sign of Cal and Kipp’s horses outside, but she dismounted anyway, and led her mare to the trough, roping her reins to the post there.
She had never been inside a tavern before, so she didn’t know what to expect when she entered.
Raucous chatter and music greeted her, and she spotted a pair of fiddlers atop a small stage on the far end. The bar was in the centre of the vast room and there were booths and tables all over, not a single one vacant.
Suddenly unsure of herself, Thea did a lap, taking in the merry banter, the delicious smell of roast
meat wafting in from the kitchens, and the handful of couples dancing to the festive notes of the fiddles. She was just about to start a second lap when the doors burst open with a bang and Kipp strode in, Cal in tow. ‘You!’ A burly man behind the bar shouted, pointing.
Cal flinched and Thea’s blood went cold as Kipp froze in the doorway.
The whole tavern fell silent, even the fiddlers.
The half-door creaked loudly as the huge bartender came through it, tossing a cloth over his shoulder. With a slow, lumbering gait, he approached the lanky shieldbearer, surveying him critically.
Suddenly, he threw his arms out and enveloped Kipp in a bear-like embrace. ‘The son of the fox returns!’ he shouted, laughing joyously and ruffling Kipp’s auburn hair. ‘Clear Kipp’s booth!’ Thea’s legs buckled in relief.
Across the crowd, Cal’s mouth fell open in disbelief. ‘Make way, make way!’ The barman called, shooing patrons from his and Kipp’s path.
Thea made her own way towards them, meeting Cal at the foot of Kipp’s freshly vacated booth.
They stared at him, gobsmacked.
Kipp grinned. ‘Didn’t I tell you?’ he laughed. ‘I was born here.’ Thea nearly choked as she slid into the booth beside him. ‘What?’ ‘Yep, right over there in the kitchen.’ Kipp pointed to the door near the bar.
Cal slammed his hand down on the table, with more force than he intended by the looks of things. ‘In all your ridiculous stories, you never once mentioned that.’ ‘Didn’t seem important.’ ‘Didn’t seem important?!’ Cal echoed. ‘All this time, I thought you were making this place up.’ ‘Why would I do that?’ ‘For a laugh? To annoy me? To prove you knew Harenth better than the rest of us?’ Cal reeled off the list of possible reasons, Kipp looking more and more baffled with each one. ‘Sorry to disappoint you, nothing like that.’ ‘Well, I know that now!’ Thea was sinking further into the cushioned booth, her shoulders shaking as she laughed silently. ‘Are your parents still here?’ Cal asked, scanning the busy tavern as though he might stumble upon Kipp’s mother or father. ‘No, long gone. Ma worked in the kitchens for a time, then I was born. I don’t know anything about my father. But the chef here, she knows me, looks after me when I visit and all that.’ The hulking barman cleared his throat. ‘First round’s on me, Kipp, but born here or not, son, after that you’ll still need your own coin.’ Kipp grimaced. ‘Ahh, about that Albert, any chance you could —’ The man groaned. ‘Don’t tell me you came here with an empty purse again? You’ve still got an unpaid tab from last time!’ ‘Uh… I may be able to help with that,’ Thea said, sliding the king’s coin across the table.
The man stared at the small disc of silver. ‘Holy shit… The coin of the king. I’ve never seen one in the flesh.’ Blinking slowly, Albert picked it up and turned it over between his thick fingers before letting out a low whistle. ‘You’re her then? The lass from Thezmarr who saved his life?’ Thea blushed furiously. ‘Yes.’ Beside her, Kipp beamed and clapped her heartily on the back. ‘Of course she is! Albert, this is the incomparable Althea Zoltaire! Thezmarrian shieldbearer and hero to the king!’ Thea elbowed him to stop, her face still burning.
‘And that’s Cal,’ she pointed to their other friend.
But Kipp was swept up in the occasion. ‘Albert, we’ll have the boar! And three growlers of your sour mead. And roast potatoes. And some of Malva’s sticky toffee pudding and —’ ‘Kipp…’ Thea warned. ‘Be sensible.’ ‘That is sensible, my friend! Or do you think we should get two boars?’ He got to his feet and chased after Albert. ‘Albert, make it two boars!’ Thea shook her head in disbelief and Cal laughed. ‘You shouldn’t have shown him that,’ he said, nodding to the coin Albert had handed back to her.
Before long, the trio sat with the largest tankards Thea had ever seen and filled to the brim with fresh, foaming mead, awaiting what was surely enough food to feed an army.
Kipp raised his drink. ‘To Althea Zoltaire, the shieldbearer who saved the most powerful empath in history and shared her good fortune with her friends.’ Cal snorted. ‘You hardly gave her a choice in the matter.’ Thea blinked. ‘I didn’t realise King Artos held that title. I mean, I knew he was an empath, but… The most powerful?’ Kipp nodded enthusiastically. ‘Oh definitely. Much of the lasting peace in the midrealms is
attributed to him.’
‘Truly?’ ‘Cross my heart.’ ‘And I saved his life…’ Thea said in wonder.
Kipp clapped her on the back, her mead sloshing onto the table. ‘That’s what I’m told!’ Cal was shaking his head at their friend, looking around at the tavern, bewildered. ‘Now we’ve got that out of the way. Are you going to tell us how in the realms you’ve been able to frequent this place so often?’ ‘Are you forgetting that I’ve been a shieldbearer for… Well, a while… Who do you think the commanders use to deliver messages when the rest of the cohort can’t possibly be dragged away from
training?’ Thea chimed in. ‘How long’s a while?’ ‘Long enough to know all the toasts, all the staff and all the beautiful women,’ he replied with a wink.
Thea took her tankard back and took a deep draught. The liquor was cold and crisp on her tongue. ‘Tell us a toast then.’ ‘I need another drink to toast, or it’s bad luck.’ ‘You’ve hardly made a dent in that one!’ Cal argued incredulously.
Kipp seemed offended by the accusation and promptly drained his tankard, a good portion of it slopping down his front.
With a roll of her eyes, Thea went to the bar and refreshed both her friends’ drinks, vowing that her next would be her last. She wanted to actually remember her time here, after all.
Sliding the fresh tankards in front of Cal and Kipp, she waited.
Looking suddenly very serious, Kipp got to his feet, swaying slightly as he took up his drink using two hands. His eyes met Thea’s and then moved to Cal as he bumped his tankard against each of theirs. ‘May you walk amidst the gardens of the afterlife a whole half hour, before Enovius reads your ledger of deeds.’ Then, with utter seriousness, he tipped his head back and downed the entire tankard again, mead
sloshing down his front and onto the table, before he dropped into the booth dramatically.
Thea and Cal locked eyes and roared with laughter. ‘What?’ Kipp shouted.
Thea’s face was aching from smiling so much. ‘Well, that was a toast alright.’ A moment later, several servers emerged from the crowd, their arms laden with trays of food.
Thea gaped at the sight of it. ‘Kipp, you can’t be serious. We can’t eat all of this!’ Kipp had a pork knuckle in his hands before the plates had even touched the table. ‘Watch me.’ The food was some of the best Thea had ever eaten. The roast boar was succulent and rich in flavour, the potatoes were delectably crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside, while the sticky toffee pudding was made by the gods themselves.
When at last Thea couldn’t eat another bite, she rested her hand on her now swollen belly with a contented sigh. She turned to Kipp, who was miraculously pouring another pot of gravy over his plate. ‘You’re going to make yourself sick,’ she told him.
Kipp merely laughed and replied between mouthfuls. ‘Thea, my friend, it’s not my first time at the Fox.’ Cal rubbed his gut with a grimace before surveying the tavern again. ‘So, the Laughing Fox is real, the food is real… What about these so-called beautiful —’ As the words left his lips, a stunning raven-haired woman carved through the crowd and made a beeline for Kipp. She closed the gap between them and planted her hands on the table either side of the shieldbearer as Thea and Cal watched on in amazement. ‘Kristopher Snowden, you told me you would write,’ she declared, her face close to his.
Thea whirled round to face Cal. ‘Kristopher?’ she mouthed, eyes wide with disbelief.
But Cal was too busy half shoving his fist in his mouth to keep from laughing.
Kipp’s hands went to hers smoothly. ‘I’m so sorry, Milla. You know how unpredictable the life of a Thezmarrian shieldbearer can be. I was injured in combat —’ ‘You were injured?’ her lovely face softened at once. ‘What happened?’ ‘Oh, it was nothing,’ he replied. ‘And it’s no excuse for not writing. How can I make it up to you?’ Milla was already dragging Kipp away from their booth. ‘I can think of a few things,’ she told him, her voice sultry. ‘I’m at your disposal.’ Kipp gave a wolfish grin.
Thea watched them go, Kipp’s long arms snaking around the woman’s waist and ample curves. ‘I don’t believe it,’ Cal said as the pair disappeared up a spiral staircase. ‘He was telling the truth… About everything.’ Thea was shaking her head. ‘Did you know his name was Kristopher?’ ‘Apparently, I knew nothing about him at all.’ Cal took a long drink.
While Kipp was occupied with his friend, Thea and Cal drank their mead and listened to the musicians. She told him about her meeting with the king, while he filled her in on how Nobleman Briar threatened to cut off his balls for looking in his daughter’s direction. ‘I mean, you would have looked at her, too. She had a giant wart on her nose,’ he explained helplessly.
Thea laughed so hard that her drink came out her nostrils. Wiping the tears from her eyes, she noticed Cal’s arm rested on the back of the booth behind her, his sleeve brushing her neck. They’d been moving closer together as the music had grown louder and louder, but now his leg was pressed against hers and he was looking at her… differently, his gaze hooded.
‘Cal…’ she said slowly. He was close enough that his warm breath tickled her face, and she could faintly smell the mead they’d been drinking all night. ‘Thea…’ he replied, his voice playful, but her name slightly slurred. Brazenly, he put his arm around her fully now, giving her a gentle squeeze. ‘Don’t you want to see what’s upstairs? I could be at your disposal, if you wished it…’ Cal was a handsome man, there was no denying that, and for a brief moment, she let her gaze fall to his mouth, wondering what it would be like to kiss him, to have the stubble of his beard graze her skin. But all the free mead in the midrealms couldn’t get her to risk the friendship they had built over the last few months. And it wasn’t just that… She felt nothing. Her body didn’t sing in his presence. It wasn’t Cal she wanted to kiss; it wasn’t Cal’s hands she wanted exploring beneath her clothes.
Slowly, Thea pushed him back. ‘Bad idea, Cal,’ she said as gently as she could. She braced herself for anger, that was her general experience with men when they didn’t get what they wanted.
But with a sheepish grin on his face, Cal let her push him away. ‘Ah, it was worth a shot, wasn’t it?’ ‘You’re an idiot,’ she told him, instantly relieved that things weren’t strained between them. ‘True.’ ‘Do we leave Kipp to his own devices? Will he find the inn alright?’ Cal laughed. ‘I don’t think he’ll be joining us.’ He got to his feet clumsily and steadied himself against the table. ‘Let’s go sleep this off and pray we’re not hungover for the journey back. He’ll find us in the morning.’ Arm in arm, Thea and Cal stumbled to the nearby inn, falling into their separate beds, Cal snoring a moment later.
The morning was not Thea’s friend. Her head felt swollen, her mouth tasted like sawdust and the thought of being jolted around in a saddle all day had her grimacing before she’d even tugged on her boots.
Much to her and Cal’s annoyance, Kipp was waiting for them, fresh and bright-eyed in the stables. ‘Didn’t know when to stop, did you?’ he said. ‘You probably didn’t eat enough. Rookie mistake.’ ‘Didn’t eat enough? You must be joking,’ Cal groaned. ‘Do you have to be so loud, Kristopher?’ Thea added, adjusting the length of her stirrups.
Kipp gave her a maddening grin. ‘I’m speaking at a normal volume.’ ‘Horseshit,’ Cal muttered as he led his horse from its stall. ‘You’re louder than a bloody mountain drake. And must you be so bloody cheerful? You of all people know that a hangover likes miserable company.’ ‘Don’t know what you’re talking about. And how can you be miserable? It’s going to be a glorious day.’ As the sun inched its way into the pink and purple sky, with Thea and Cal a little worse for wear, and Kipp in incredibly high spirits, the trio left the city of Hailford behind them.
Throughout the journey back to Thezmarr, Thea and Cal questioned Kipp relentlessly about his relationship with the dark-haired beauty Milla, and Kipp turned the questioning on Cal, insisting that he had a woman somewhere he wasn’t telling them about. ‘Remember that morning you were in that foul mood? I was sure something was going on then,’ Kipp insisted. ‘But then Thea and I got beaten to pulps, and I was so concussed I forgot to ask.’
But Cal refused to divulge any information, claiming that Kipp had only recently deigned to share his real name, so the details of Cal’s love life, or lack thereof, were none of his business. ‘What about you, Thea?’ Kipp asked good-naturedly. ‘We know you were seeing that stable boy —’ ‘Apprentice,’ Thea corrected with a groan. ‘He was the stable master’s apprentice.’ ‘Right. Apprentice… I got the impression that was over? Is there anyone else —’ Thea shook her head. ‘No,’ she told him firmly. ‘There’s no one.’
Just as they had on the outward journey, the days passed quickly as they headed home to the fortress.
They saw no one but the odd merchant on the road and, while the nights had grown cold, the impending winter storms were somehow held at bay.
The trip had been good for Thea. She hadn’t once dreamt of her fate stone or the seer who’d given it to her, she hadn’t obsessed over the handful of years she had until her death came to pass, or how many months or weeks were left until the initiation test. She’d lived in the moment with her friends, something that she’d never allowed herself to do before.
But her feeling of contentment did not last long.
As the edge of Thezmarrian territory came into view in the fading afternoon light, a sound echoed
across the land.
Bells.
Warning bells tolling from watchtowers.
Thea’s skin crawled, her stomach roiling with dread.
A lifetime at the fortress had ingrained the meaning of those particular bells – a threat had breached the Veil.
And the Thezmarrians had been called to greet it.
