Fallen Prince

  Fallen Prince

  Tess Williams

  _

  Smashwords Edition

  Copyright 2012 Tess Williams

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  ~ ~ ~

  PART ONE

  Cry alone, I’ve gone away

  No more nights, no more pain

  I’ve gone alone, took all my strength

  I’ve made the change

  I won’t see you tonight

  —I Won’t See You Tonight Part 1, Avenged Sevenfold

  ~ ~ ~

  CHAPTER ONE

  ELLIA:

  *

  If I closed my eyes I could feel the excitement of battle building below. The pounding of hearts in wait. The ringing of steel, sharpened but yet to be tested. The threat of goblins hiding in the trees. The fires they’d built within the forest rose up in smoke and lit the silver sky with pink. It required no stretch of my mind to imagine a flying beast silhouetted against the scene, its slick dragon’s tail swept back into a curl, the feathers of its eagle’s torso rustling with wind, the soft fur of its lion’s head rimmed with light. And best of all its harness of silver, where I, princess of Shaundakul could ride, leading my father’s army into battle. A shining emblem in the sky, prepared to cast the goblins down with not one but two swords and the ability to call upon the skies for bolts of lightning, and the sun for balls of—

  “I can tell by that look on your face that you’re thinking something ridiculous,” said the boy on the wall beside me.

  I had my chin rested on my hand and nearly fell sideways for the shock of his voice breaking into my vision.

  In a moment I was back on the wall of Uldin Keep, high above and far away from the battle—so far that the soldiers were nothing but dots, and their cries nothing but distant echoes.

  “Let me guess,” he went on, “you were imagining yourself riding Kraehe into battle right alongside your father.”

  I finally acknowledged the boy, perched as he was on the supremely unsafe position of a ledge beyond which there was a thousand foot drop. He had his dagger out and was sharpening it, with his legs stretched out in front of him, one hanging over the wall into the air, and his back against a pillar.

  “Cyric, you know I can’t ride Kraehe yet,” I snapped in rebuttal, “She’s too small.”

  Kraehe was my dragon, and while we were bonding well and would one day be able to fly together, now she was only a child.

  “Something worse, then,” Cyric mused. “You were riding Sarx with Scholar Padril?” While he considered he continued to sharpen his dagger. Suddenly he laughed; the tone of it made me scowl. “No,” he said, “You had your own chimera, and you were shooting your fire-bolts and balls of lighting at the goblins.”

  “There’s no such thing as a fire-bolt,” I snapped indignantly.

  He continued laughing.

  “And how can you make light of it?” I asked. “You want to be down there as much as I do.”

  A burst of wind rushed past us—as it tended to do at this height. It blew my long hair wildly and rustled Cyric’s in a way that didn’t seem to bother him at all.

  “Do not,” he said simply.

  I eyed him. “Cyric Dracla, master of sword and shield, would rather be cooped up in a tower than fighting in the largest battle Shaundakul has faced in half a century?”

  “I’d rather not be where I’m not needed,” he said. He slid his dagger back into his boot and looked down at the battlefield. “Or wanted.”

  His features were so grim that I frowned. Instead of arguing I turned my attention down below.

  While I had spoken true that it was large battle, that was only in numbers—the actual threat was minimal. In Shaundakul we usually fought goblins in small skirmishes, but at the recent suggestion of our allies, the Akadians, my father had agreed to try a large-scale battle this time. They had come with plenty of reinforcements after all. That the battle was at the very doorstep of our capitol, Uldin Keep, didn’t matter. My father was confident that the greedy, weak-minded goblins would be easily cut down.

  “You know they only kept you out of the battle because of me, Cyric,” I said.

  “Sometimes I think you’re the only reason they keep me around.”

  “That’s not true.” I felt a knot in my gut, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell him I had actually asked that he be the one to stay with me during the battle. Someone had needed to...

  He shrugged. He was gloomy, more than I’d realized he would be over missing the fight.

  I lifted my finger. “How would you like to hear what’s going to happen in the battle?” I asked proudly.

  “Like you know?” He swung his other leg over the edge and sat up straight.

  I ignored him. “Yes. I had to sit through all of the war meetings, remember? I am going to be queen someday. I have to know how to lead a battle.”

  “They don’t send you to the war meetings so you can learn how to lead a battle. They send you so that you can win over the ally generals with your pretty face.”

  “I will too lead a battle,” I argued.

  He scoffed, shaking his head back and forth.

  I cleared my throat and pointed downwards. “See the Shaundakulians are the blue and purple ones closest to us, beginning the circle. The half-circle is completed by the Akadians, just there beside the north pass; they’re red and yellow.”

  “Red and yellow. Is that the official term?” Cyric broke in.

  I went on, “The goblins are in the forest, and... there, you can see them beginning to make a line right in front of it. Just like my father predicted. Once the goblins advance, the archers will shoot two rounds of arrows, then Scholar Padril will lead the dragons out.”

  “What about the behemoths?” Cyric asked.

  “Behemoths?” I repeated.

  He nodded.

  “Umm... what are those?”

  Cyric snorted. “Behemoths, you know, the Akadians’ granted animal? Or do you only have room in your head for the Yanartians’ chimera?”

  I glowered. Every country of notable age had a granted animal: a species of creature native only to their land and said to have been handed down as gifts at the beginning of time. Shaundakul had dragons. Yanartas had chimera. The Akadians had behemoths, as Cyric had said, but I certainly hadn’t forgotten about them. “I know the Akadians have granted animals. I just forgot what they were called because I’ve never seen one.”

  “And you’ve seen so many chimera?”

  “The Yanartas and Shaundakul people have a very special alliance, Cyric. Tied by the bond of our ridable, flying animals. We are the only ones that can even reach the Isle of Yanartas. When I become queen, I will—”

  “Yeah, yeah, I know. You’ll get to ride Kraehe to go to Yanartas and meet the Warriors of Cirali. One problem with that.” He lifted a single finger, but he still looked down at the battlefield instead of me. His legs swung back and forth.

  I narrowed, unable to think of a single possible thing that could keep me from my dream and birthright.

  “And what is that?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

  I watched the corners of Cyric’s mouth lift up; he turned to me when he spoke. “You won’t become queen unless you can get someone to marry you,” he said.

  The space grew very silent between us. The wind continued to race around.

  I considered that I should be angry, but my features were lacking their strength to scowl. M
y crossed arms loosened and my mouth started to twitch.

  We both laughed, I much harder than him, then he held out a hand for me to come up beside him on the wall. I reluctantly complied. He started laughing anew at the trouble I had climbing up in my dress. He straightened the fabric himself after I’d swung my legs over. I had to readjust my crown. Then we both leaned back on our hands. I gave the ground a wary look.

  “I’d think you’d be used to the height after all your daydreams,” he said.

  I punched him in the arm.

  “Ouch.” He rubbed it. “Not bad for a princess.”

  “You’re weak for a soldier,” I said.

  He mocked a bow.

  I turned my attention to the battlefield, content that I had improved the mood which most affected mine.

  From where we were, to the left I could see the dragon stables where Scholar Padril waited mounted atop Sarx, his male dragon. The two other honored riders of Shaundakul flanked his sides on their smaller female dragons. My father’s blue dragon, Noxus, waited close to be called. And poor Kraehe was cooped up safe inside like me.

  “I’ve got an idea,” Cyric said, a little distractedly.

  “For what?” I asked.

  In the pause it took him to answer, I looked over. A knit brow betrayed his other calm features when he said, “To get you to Yanartas.”

  I blinked in consideration. Then my eyebrows dropped even lower than his. “What are you—”

  A loud screech drowned out my voice. I jerked back, but Cyric had me steadied with his hand. Staring down I saw what must have been the maker of the sound. A flying beast, black, and bat-winged, emerging above the forest where the goblins were collected.

  “What is that?” I asked Cyric.

  Before he could answer, another shriek sounded. We both covered our ears. Three more of them flew up out of the forest. Cyric released his ears to jump down off the wall, and then help me down. We turned our attention back below.

  “Cyric?” I urged.

  “Wyverns,” he answered. “I think. They’re really rare.”

  “They’re wild, aren’t they? What are they doing here?”

  If he had an answer for me it was lost when the front row of the blue and purple mass launched a volley of arrows towards the flying beasts. I caught my breath. To attack a granted animal, was the worst sort of sacrilege. I was almost glad when the beasts twirled and dipped and the arrows missed them completely.

  One rose high to escape; near enough that I could see a gem-encrusted harness on its back, clearly goblin-made. Sure enough there were two goblins riding on it.

  By the time the wyvern swung back down to the battle, a chorus of cries was beginning below that sounded from this high up like an airy pounding. The black line of goblins ran forward. My eyes darted to the front line of Shaundakul soldiers, expecting the first round of arrows, but they didn’t come. My panic increased; I realized that the archers had already fired their arrows at the wyverns. A few went off, but sorely un-united, and they did little to diminish the goblin horde.

  One of the wyverns swooped down and toppled a row of Shaundakul warriors. Faces flashed before my mind, of the men it might have been. I reminded myself, as I’d been taught, that this was a natural cost of battle.

  To my great relief a familiar call rose up loudly. Scholar Padril’s dragon, Sarx, flew into the battle, heading straight for the largest wyvern. The two females came after him, and then my father’s dragon, Noxus. The latter three clashed into the line of approaching goblins. Though my breath was held I felt fresh confidence that this battle would be over quickly with only minor casualties.

  “It looks like it’s going to be fine,” I said to Cyric.

  Fishing for consolation as I was, I looked over at him when he didn’t answer. His anxious features troubled me more than anything I could have seen for myself. I followed his gaze below. It wasn’t on the battlefield; it was on the north pass heading away from Uldin Keep. The pass was filled with small dots of red and yellow. The Akadians.

  I looked from it to the battlefield, back and forth a couple times. The mass of black that marked the goblin horde had not yet reached the warriors of Shaundakul, but they were close. And now the hoop that had been formed to encircle the goblins was half its size. All the Akadians had left it.

  “Where are the Akadians going, Cyric?” I asked. I tried to convince myself that I was calm, but my voice was high and tight.

  “I don’t know,” he whispered distractedly.

  The mass of black drove on like a wave, and it didn’t end; they just kept pouring out from the trees.

  “They make up the entire cavalry,” I said, “will they come around another way?”

  “I don’t know,” he repeated.

  “No,” I muttered. “They couldn’t. There’s no way back through the pass. How will they get back? Cyric?”

  “I don’t know.”

  The Akadians made no sign of turning round. The goblins had almost reached the Shaundakul warriors. The wyverns and dragons battled in the skies.

  “I don’t understand, Cyric. Why are they leaving? What’s happening?”

  “Ellie. I don’t know. I don’t know anything. Stop asking me questions.”

  His shouting made my throat stick. I saw three of the wyverns crowd around Alete, one of the female dragons. She was much larger than them but they drug her down. As she tried to whip them off something shot up from the ground out of a metal contraption. It struck her wing and pulled her towards the earth. The wyverns screeched in success. I looked for the other female; I couldn’t find her.

  “I have to help,” I whispered to myself. The line of black was yards away from the warriors.

  “I have to help,” I repeated. I turned around. I started racing for the tower door.

  “Ellia, wait,” I heard behind me, but I didn’t stop. “You can’t!”

  I ran faster.

  “You can’t go,” he called. I tried to evade him. His arms wrapped around me. “You can’t go,” he repeated.

  “Cyric, stop, I have to.” I struggled, but he held me tight.

  “You can’t. You know you can’t.”

  “I have to help.”

  Suddenly a loud cry rose up from below, much louder than anything we had heard from the wyverns.

  Cyric and I both dropped to the ground to cover our ears. He turned around. I felt my heart drop in my chest.

  “Sarx,” I said.

  “Ellie don’t.”

  I ran back to the ledge. I threw my head over, swallowing.

  My eyes found Sarx immediately, surrounded like Alete had been by a swarm of wyverns. The wheeled contraption on the ground was connected to him by a chain, but he was still airborne. He flapped his large wings, but one of them was shot through—the chain kept yanking him down. I started crying. Another harpoon shot up from the ground and struck his torso. He threw his neck back and cried. I screamed. I felt hands cover my ears and a body brace behind me. Sarx plummeted to the ground in a spiraling twirl. Any hope I had left that Scholar Padril might survive disappeared as a rush of goblins swarmed the body.

  I watched the wyverns croon their necks back to cheer, but couldn’t hear their cries. I could hardly see anything through my tears.

  “Cyric, please,” I cried.

  He didn’t respond. He held me tight against the wall.

  I watched as the goblins engulfed all that was left of the warriors. I watched them break down the door of Uldin Keep. The Akadians were long gone through the pass. I did nothing as the goblins destroyed all there was of my world.

  ~ ~ ~

  CHAPTER TWO

  CYRIC:

  *

  When the goblins started rifling through bodies, I made Ellia move away from the wall. Because the wyverns were still flying around in the sky, I kept us hidden in a corner. It wasn’t easy stopping her from trying to go down, especially once the Akadians came back. They passed the goblins in the field and entered Uldin Keep. Soon afte
r the men, women, and children of Shaundakul that hadn’t been in the battle were led out and loaded up on wagons to who knew where. Carts of precious valuables from Shaundakul went with them.

  We stayed there the whole night—freezing as it was. As dawn broke I studied what I could see of the battlefield through the trees. Lots of still smoking piles of bodies, but not many goblins. I woke Ellia and we began the long descent through towers and causeways to Uldin Keep.

  When we reached the final spiraling staircase the smell was repulsive. The doors along the way were broken or bashed in and I saw bodies—not the first we’d seen—inside. I tried not to let Ellia see these, but there were so many there wasn’t much I could do. I put a hand up in warning as we neared the bottom of the staircase.

  Light glowed from torches. I craned my head around the corner and saw an empty hall; large, familiar, but stripped of all its decorations. I didn’t rest long on this; I waited a moment to make sure that no one would appear, then took Ellia’s hand and pulled her behind me.

  My aim was to get outside. From the rate Ellia was walking, spinning around, and peering into rooms I was pretty sure her aim was to find someone alive. I knew better. If there was anyone alive in this place, they weren’t someone we wanted to run into.

  We’d almost reached the end of the room when footsteps echoed through the hall. There was no way to tell where they came from. I pulled us into a side room. Luckily it led to another. We snuck through a series of rooms until a pair of voices stopped us.

  “…gotten more than what we promised,” the first said. “You should be cleared out of here already.” It was a deep, commanding voice, and clearly human. But there was no doubt the next voice belonged to a goblin.

  “But there’s much more here than you said. We want more. We want the gold. We want the silks.”

  “Don’t be foolish. What would goblins do with silk?” The human laughed.

  I heard Ellia’s feet scuffle beside me. I looked over to see her prepared to pounce on one or both of the speakers in the next room. I put a finger to my lips, making it clear that she needed to be quiet. She may have been careless, but she wouldn’t disobey me.