A sergeant walking at Lonx’s side cursed. “She was one of the ones who was unaccounted for. We were hoping…” He shook his head and swore again.
Lonx sighed. “The queen and Prince Serk are without question dead, Your Highness. I’m sorry. They fought bravely and died among many of our men on the castle walls, trying to keep out the dragons who were flying low with their riders firing upon the defenders. I was assigned to the gatehouse and saw a lot of it.” With a firm nod, he again emphasized, “They fought and died valiantly,” as if he wanted the words to reassure her.
Though Syla wasn’t surprised that her mother and eldest brother had battled to the end, she wished they hadn’t, that they’d escaped into the tunnels. That was what the royals weresupposedto do. The soldiers had orders to keep them alive at all costs, sothey could, in the event that something like this happened, survive and continue to rule and guide the kingdom and the military.
“What about Nyvia and Gylonar?” she asked after her oldest sister and other brother.
“We…” Lonx glanced at his sergeant, but the man only shook his head grimly. “We’re not positive, but people have reported seeing them, ah… Some of the bodies were too charred by dragon fire to be recognizable.”
They were nearing the stairs that led up into the castle, but Syla had to pause and rest a hand on the cool stone wall. Queasiness at the thought of being burned alive swept over her, and she closed her eyes, tryingnotto imagine what bodies would look like after that. As a healer in the temple, she’d seen people burned by dragon fire before. Some had survived if it hadn’t covered too much of their bodies, but most…
Syla wiped her eyes, trying to tell herself it wasn’t any more gruesome than the other ways people had been killed. If anything, if they’d been completely engulfed, they would have died swiftly.
“We’re notpositivethey’re dead,” Lonx hurried to say, seeing her distress. “Because we can’t identify the bodies. It’s possible—we’rehoping—one or both of them may have moved away from the area where they were seen fighting and made it into a tunnel.” He waved to indicate their passageway and the others beneath the castle. “We’ve been searching and haven’t found them yet, but maybe…”
The sergeant gave the lieutenant a grim look, one filled with his belief that, if Syla’s other siblings had survived, they would have found them by now, but he didn’t voice the words.
Lonx brightened and added, “We didn’t expect to findyou, Princess Syla. We hadn’t realized you’d been in the castle. And the temple… Well, I don’t know if you know but the Moon Watch Temple was destroyed, so we thought you were dead too.”
“I am aware.”
“We think… the stormers may have been targeting your family specifically.”
Syla thought of Vorik’s words—hiswarning.
“I think so too,” was all she said.
The group limped and groaned its way up the stairs and into the theater. The pervasive scent of smoke and death lingered there and in the surrounding halls.
“We’ll accompany you to your room, Your Highness, and I’ll leave several good and, uhm, young men to guard you.” Lonx glanced at Fel.
Fel squinted at him, and his lips rippled like those of a wolf as he revealed his teeth. He had to be offended by the insinuation that he wasoldor somehow incapable, but he kept himself from otherwise responding. Maybe he was wounded enough and tired enough to know he needed a break from being her bodyguard.
“I appreciate your offer, Lieutenant, though Sergeant Fel has heroically stood by my side and capably protected me all night, but I’m not going to my room.” Syla patted the pack that she was still toting around.
“You must, Your Highness. Especially if… With your mother dead and you the only of your siblings we’ve been able to find… As strange as it seems, you’re in charge of the kingdom now.”
Syla tried not to be offended by theas strange as it seemscomment—the lieutenant wasn’t the most diplomatic officer, was he?—but it made her bristle. It was more the suggestion that she was incapable than disagreement that she didn’t have the proper training and wouldn’t be ideal.
“Which makes what I need to do all the more imperative. I saw the shielder. It’s horribly damaged, and I’m skeptical that it can be repaired, but I want to get an engineer in to take a look. Then, if it’s not possible to repair it, I need to travel to one of the less populated islands and figure out how to bring their shielder back here.Hundreds of thousands of people live here, so it’s imperative that we reestablish protection for Castle Island.”
“Ah…” Lonx lifted a finger but hesitated again.
A horrifying thought swept over Syla as she slowly followed the squad through a hallway that led to the courtyard. Men and women had appeared since her earlier traverse of the area and were clearing away rubble and carrying bodies outside. “There haven’t been attacks on the other islands, have there been?”
What if the dragon riders had somehow learned the locations ofallthe orbs? And what if they’d attacked multiple islands at once? Orallof them?
“Not that we’ve heard about yet, Your Highness, but no ships have traveled here this night, perhaps for obvious reasons. The lookouts in the lighthouses can see with their telescopes to the two nearest islands, and vice versa, so we’d know if there were fires along their coastlines. So far, they’re dark and quiet.”
“Good.” That, at least, was a small relief.
“The thing is that we can’t letyoutake off on some… travel mission. Youmustbe protected, Your Highness. My superiors have already determined, just as you have, that another shielder must be acquired if ours can’t be fixed—thank you for going down to check on it—and we’ll take care of all that. You…” Lonx looked sternly at her. “You must stay in your rooms. If not in a dungeon cell.”
Syla blinked. “Pardon?”
“Because the dungeon is underground and would be more easily guarded.” Fel nodded at the lieutenant.
What, were they going to work together to lock her in a cell? Both determined to protect her?
