"Cuele?" Snaps Rexxan, stepping into some boots. I should’ve accepted his offer of free language classes.
"Ahia, elenye," says the voice, and Rexxan's actions speed up. "Holn?" He asks. That word I do know.
"Rexxan, what's going on? What are you saying?" I ask, sitting up too.
"Someone's accessing the vault."
"Who can access it?"
"Just the Five Kings and Queens."
"Is that...bad?"
"Not usually. Holn and Hela come every four weeks to check they're happy with the security. Espan and Ocealia come at least once a year too."
"So who is it?"
"A guard is on his way from the vault to confirm," says Rexxan, pulling a black hooded cloak around his shoulders. I begin to dress too, not that I am sure why. Holy mother of fuck. I ache like I’ve never ached.Rexxan, what have you done to me?
"Teasa Kelen a Lana, elenye," says the guard, and Rexxan swings the door open, bolting into his weapons room.
"What the fuck would Kelen and Lana be doing here? Isn't it a five-week journey? They didn't say they were coming?" I hiss, and Rexxan kicks up his sword and catches it as he hurtles out the door, clearly feeling that something is not right here. I grab mine too, strangled by a menacing feeling that somehow, something is dangerously amiss.
Chapter32
Royal Betrayal (Rexxan)
My feet pound the stone hallways as I bolt to the stables.
Never let the people see you worried.My father used to drill that mantra into my brother and I from dawn until dusk. I still remember him betraying no emotion, calmly loading people into shelters as fire rained down from the sky. Even as my mother burned to death, he remained calm.
At the time, I thought he was a cold-hearted monster, and I hated him for it even in his final moments.
But now I see why he did it.
It's in times of panic like this, where I see that even the bravest of my guards are faltering, that people desperately need just one calm person to look up to. That role has trickled down generations of Kings and settled firmly onto my shoulders. That is the reason I slow down as I pass the group of soldiers at my palace steps like I don’t have a care in the world.
I untie my horse as Renna skids to a halt behind me. This woman isstrong. How she’s running after last night is beyond me. "This is fine, right? It's just Kelen?"
"I'm sure it's fine," I state. "But Kelen hasn't visited that vault once. He takes no interest in it." Why now? And why at three in the morning? It's not exactly screaming ‘I have nothing to hide’.
She jumps onto her horse, letting out a short yelp as she settles on the dark saddle. A gentle flush reaches her freckled face and I raise an eyebrow. "Sore?"
"I'msosore," she replies, as I swing onto my white horse, the two of us thundering down a forested road. Despite the situation, I spare a thought for Renna. Last night is burned into my memory forever, and if a stone is removed and we are all to die today, I couldn’t have asked for a better last night on this earth.
My people don’t just have one calm person to look up to. They have two, because Rennalya is everything I could ask of her in this situation. Calm and composed. She’s focused, and I see how she built the Shadow Army into what it is today.
It takes about an hour to ride to the Vault at our breakneck speed. It is enough time for the chilling severity of this situation to truly sink into my veins. If Kelen has taken those stones, we'll all be dead within the week. All of us. But why would he? Even the enemy wouldn’t, because it would kill all of them too.
All I can do is hope I haven’t missed him; it would take them a good half an hour to get through all the doors into the vault. Perhaps we can arrive before he leaves.
Twenty guards stand outside the rockface that houses the hidden entrance to the Hall of the Gods. Four stand tall in blue platinum armour, with deep cobalt-blue cloaks and weapons that look like whaling harpoons. Ocealia's soldiers.
Four in bronze armour, with pale wheat-coloured cloaks and similar coloured blonde hair. Espan's guards.
Four mortal guards wear black steel armour, and bright gold cloaks studded with rubies. Heavy metal helmets with horns sit on their heads, barbed maces in their hands. The Mountain Watch, from Holn and Hela.
The tallest of the twenty are four in gold armour with burgundy cloaks that are stitched to look like autumn leaves. They each carry two enchanted swords that glow orange and yellow, and a gold bow on their backs. My own guards.
