Flower Queen (Flower Readings Book 3) Page 17

  Triena felt her blood slow as the castle walls sucked at her body heat. Her skin prickled. It was getting harder and harder to breathe, but no one paid her any attention. Triena knew why. I’m a dead woman.

  The captain opened a wooden door and stepped aside. The guards pushed Triena inside and she fell hard onto the rock floor.

  “Wait. Where are they?” She struggled to think of what to ask, what else she wanted to know.

  The captain didn’t answer. He closed the door. Triena heard the bolt slide into place.

  She pushed herself from the ground and looked around. It was hard to see in the gloomy light of the room. A small window let in some gray light. As her eyes adjusted, she made out more features. With the information stored in Arkina’s essence, Triena knew this had been the Queen’s room. But it was different now.

  Everything had been removed. Everything. A different bed was in the corner and there was only one blanket folded on the end. There were no rugs on the floor, nor hangings on the wall. There wasn’t even a lamp. The fireplace was empty, stained black from old fires and stone cold. There was no wood to light a fire and Triena shivered. She was used to living on Oberon in the heat and the dust, not here, in the dark and cold.

  Triena wrapped herself protectively in the blanket and sat on the bed, legs up close to her chest. The cold still seeped through the material, her robe, and into her skin. Stupid captain.

  She couldn’t work out how she continued managing to pass as Arkina. Of course, when they’d arrived, no one saw her, which meant no one to put the captain right. This would’ve been the perfect plan if the other Queens actually trusted Arkina.

  She rested her head on the top of her knees and hugged herself closer. The inevitable had arrived. They would use her in a reading and she’d die. She shivered. She held onto her plan. It could still work. There was just going to have to be a slight modification.

  Something rough rubbed against her skin. The dried flowers. A little hope spiked in her aura as she pulled out the package from under her robe. The energy from the dried flowers she’d selected buzzed with strong energy and flooded her with a sense of calm and strength.

  There could be some hope for me after all. She carefully removed the paper, exposing nine smaller packages of brown paper which kept the flowers separate. The energy from the buds helped warm her.

  Triena’s skin prickled. But this was something to demand. A trial. This would buy her some time, which would then give her the opportunity to change the balance, and give them all a reading of their own and destroy them.

  She yearned to take the crown with Braklen and stop this suffering the Queens had placed on everyone else. And in time, start schools for those talented in the Energy and bring in a proper council to govern the use of the Energy. Excitement flowed around Triena as the ideas came fast to her mind. She could see her future extending out, blossoming into existence. She smiled. They won’t see this one coming.

  Triena resettled herself on the bed. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, bringing Arkina’s energy to the surface of her aura, and then Pernally’s. She was going to need the information these women had given her in death.

  I have to be convincing. This was her chance to do what she had come here to do. Instead of slipping into the Energy Field, she stopped herself and kept her awareness in the first basic level of meditation. She was aware of her body, and her mind moved through the plan blooming in her mind.

  The calmness that flowed through her made her think that someone was looking out for her. The Energy is on my side. It’s all I’ve got. She missed the rabbit’s thoughts in her mind and Braklen’s strength and even one-eyed Rangit. I can do this. There is a chance.

  For the first time since this adventure had begun, since Braklen walked into her tearoom, Triena believed she could trust the Energy.

  ~

  Why did you let me drink so much? The rabbit’s vision blurred.

  “You wanted it.” Rangit set the ship down on a flat surface well away from the castle where the Queens ruled. “I hope you’re up for some walking.”

  You can put me in the pack.

  “Thought you hated the pack.” Rangit locked the ship down and the engines slowed to a stop.

  I’ll have to go in the pack. Otherwise, I’ll slow you down too much. The rabbit limped forward. His entire body ached. The healing plants he’d eaten had helped a little, but cracked ribs, bruised muscles, and a heavy hangover made him think of curling up and waiting for death. He knew his time was close.

  “Lazy bugger.” Rangit swivelled around on his chair. “I’m injured too, but you don’t hear me complaining like a baby.”

  I wasn’t complaining. The rabbit glared at Rangit. The man paid him no attention. I was merely stating something obvious that you should’ve realized.

  “Maybe we shouldn’t have celebrated.” Rangit stood up. He swayed, paused for a moment, then walked out of the room. “Come on, we don’t have time to waste.”

  I know a shortcut. The rabbit hopped gingerly after Rangit to the reading room. We can go through the tunnels which will bring us up into the castle.

  “Sounds too easy.” Rangit picked up a pack and began putting dried flowers inside, along with a container of water, and some nutrient pills.

  Well, there’s some steep climbing. He didn’t mention the smell. That was something that Rangit could find out later.

  “That’s better, sounds like the path we are meant to take, then. The difficult one,” said Rangit. He held the pack open and looked down at the rabbit. “Ready?”

  Yes. The sooner we get into the castle, the sooner we can help Triena and Braklen.

  “You think they’re still alive?” Rangit picked up the rabbit.

  Yes. Don’t you? The rabbit’s balance swayed. His legs kicked in the air. Hurry up and put me down.

  “I’m not going to drop you.” Rangit pushed the rabbit into the pack. “I don’t know. I have trouble finding Braklen, but he’s there.” Rangit paused. “I can’t seem to locate Triena.”

  The rabbit’s concern about Triena and Braklen resurfaced and knotted around in his belly, twisting with the discomfort from over-indulging. He was living on hope that they were there alive. They have to be. The consequences of them dying made his mind cloud with worry.

  You could’ve put something soft in here for me, grumbled the rabbit as he settled himself down.

  “You should’ve incarnated as a Queen, not a rabbit.” Rangit zipped up the pack, leaving the top open.

  The rabbit poked his head through the gap. This will do.

  “What if they …”

  They’re alive, and right now I won’t consider any other possibility. We should get going. One thing is sure, the Energy wants us there. The rabbit nearly exhausted himself by going into the Energy Field, more times than he should’ve, just to get a reading. To see if anything had changed. It hadn’t. The message was the same each time. There wasn’t a future to be read. He shivered at the reminder.

  “Us or just you?” Rangit shifted the pack over his shoulder, strapping it around his waist and chest to even out the small load.

  The rabbit didn’t answer. That was something else that had been clear when he’d looked into the future. He couldn’t see any of them, not clearly. It was the sort of information you didn’t want to know about, or talk about, let alone think over.

  “Good thing I’m a gambling man.” The pack settled on his back, Rangit made his way off the ship. “I’m going to miss this old girl.” He patted the doorframe, pausing for a moment. “She was good enough to get us out of two tight spots.”

  She’ll be here when we get back, thought the rabbit, trying to give some hope to Rangit. The rabbit smelled the dusty air. The air was chaotic but he felt good to be back here on Earth. The Queens drew on the concentration to make them better readers of the Energy. This place was his home, where he was born. No matter what happened, it was good to be home.

  “No ne
ed to give me false hope, mate.” Rangit stepped onto the gray gravel. The wind blew hard, dusting up black volcanic dirt. Nothing grew here. It was a barren area, exposed to the elements which took revenge on anything living that came this way. “I know I won’t be coming back.”

  You don’t know that. The rabbit shifted uneasy.

  “No need to sugar-coat things for me. I’m good enough at reading the Energy too.” He stepped away from the ship.

  The rabbit sensed the heaviness inside of Rangit. It stirred the same emotions in himself. The unease didn’t sit right. The course had been set. This was a fixed point in time. They were where they were meant to be. The rabbit had read that much from the Energy. Small details didn’t matter so much. Not now that they were close to the end of their own lines.

  A shame you weren’t properly trained and your skills weren’t used to help us all.

  Rangit shrugged. “The game of life, hey. You work with what you’re dealt, and take what chances come your way.”

  True. The rabbit’s fur stood on end, electrified from the Energy. He’d still set his own path. There was one person he wanted to help and he had to get to her.

  “Which way?”

  To the right. There’s a gap between the boulders. That’s our way in.

  Rangit nodded and strode to where the rabbit indicated. He took a small torch from his pocket and squeezed between the stones.

  Careful. The rabbit pressed into the rock. He breathed in trying to make himself smaller, but the rock still grated against him. His bruised body pulsed with a dull pain. Not much longer.

  Rangit paused at the small entrance and switched on the torch. A triangle of light extended out, revealing gray rocks, dry and dusty that opened out into a cavern that extended downwards into darkness.

  The rabbit’s fur stood on end. It’s been a while since I was last here. The memory was still painfully strong in his mind. The process she’d forced him to undergo. It was worth it.

  He looked around the area. There was no sign that anyone had ever used this as a home, way back when there was still life around the castle, and the war hadn’t destroyed everything. They’d taken too much from the Energy, and the elements rebelled, taking the life around from them. The balance was disrupted here and it was going to take a miracle to reverse.

  “I guess this way, then.” Rangit’s flat voice broke into the rabbit’s thoughts, bringing his awareness back to the present.

  Just keep following this path down. There will be a few steps. When it flattens, we go to the right. Then it should be uphill.

  “For how long?”

  Hours. The rabbit twitched his nose. The dank air was low in oxygen, and chilled him. The smell brought back the memories. Old memories he’d long buried within his mind so that no one would know how he came to be able to use the Energy.

  Rangit grunted and walked down into the dark mouth-like opening. The torch light revealed a narrow trail, rocked walls all around them. He moved quickly, and for that the rabbit was grateful. It will be best to get this over with.

  The memories came thick into his mind. He could no longer stop the images forming and the old scenes playing out. He missed her. Triena’s mother. No one knew what she’d done to make him, what she’d risked to give him the ability to use the Energy. And it’d cost her. But, by then she’d given up her life.

  Rangit jogged down the steps, taking them deeper into the mountain. The rabbit didn’t disturb him, just sat in the pack, looking out into the darkness, remembering things he’d rather forget.

  The smell wafted towards them. “I guess that’s the way we go?” asked Rangit.

  Yes. Uphill until we get there.

  The scent of death surrounded them.

  “What’s it from?” asked Rangit.

  The readings. The rabbit shivered. The reading he’d managed to survive because of Triena’s mother. She’d taken him out, stolen him away, using this same path. Then he was wild, unable to comprehend what she was doing, thinking only he was going to die. But she’d helped him. Gave him a new life.

  “What was she doing?” Rangit puffed heavily now. His heat radiated out making the rabbit feel twice as hot.

  Who? He knew damn well what Rangit was asking. The rabbit strengthened the walls around his own thoughts.

  “Shutting me out won’t help.” Rangit’s pace slowed.

  The rabbit ignored him.

  Rangit shrugged his shoulders and kept going, holding the light still in front of him, pushing himself forward. In some way, the rabbit was relieved. He wanted to get to the castle as soon as possible.

  It happened without warning.

  A single shot fired out and Rangit gasped, clutching his chest. The torch tumbled out of his hand, rolled away, casting its light into the earth.

  Fuck the Queens, thought the rabbit. He was hoping that they’d make it to the castle without being seen. He didn’t think they knew about this place, other than to dump the carcasses of animals in the cavern next to the castle.

  Rangit swayed. The rabbit braced himself. Everything slowed down. He got ready to jump out, but his foot slipped and he fell back inside the pack. Rangit tumbled to the ground, landing on his face.

  The rabbit trembled inside the pack. He peeked out. Light caught his eyes, blinding him.

  “Looks like we’ve also found a meal,” said a man.

  “Great,” answered another. “I love fresh meat.”

  The rabbit sat frozen. He felt Rangit’s essence seeping out of his body. His heart slowed.

  Thank you, thought the rabbit.

  Give them hell, answered Rangit. Then he was gone. The rabbit trembled at the sound of footsteps as a man approached him.

  “We should tell them what we found.” A hand grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him roughly from the pack.

  The rabbit kept still, frozen, except for his heart which pounded triple-time.

  “Yeah, we should,” answered another man. “But I vote we don’t.”

  The two men laughed. The rabbit couldn’t see them. Blinded by the light, held in the air, he hung at their mercy, kicking his legs in a pitiful attempt to escape.

  “It’s got some life in it,” said the man holding the rabbit.

  “He’ll be good eating then,” answered the other. “Put him away, and let’s get this body back to them.”

  “Sure.” The man stuffed the rabbit into a different pack. One that stunk of sweat and decay and a hint of mould. The rabbit sat in the bottom cursing his luck. Whatever the Energy had in store for him, he was pretty sure it wasn’t to be eaten.

  But, then that could be the reason why he hadn’t been able to see the future. Rangit was gone. So were the others. And soon he’d be too. I always thought there was a chance I’d end up in the pot.

  Chapter 17

  Braklen gasped with a mix of pain and relief as the nurse yanked the tubes from his arms. He hadn’t been given another dose. His mind was beginning to clear. “Steady on.”

  She pressed her lips together and didn’t answer him. The nurse rested her hand on the straps, pausing as if re-thinking what she was about to do. “Come closer,” she said to the two guards. The men moved forward and stood on either side of the bed.

  Braklen had felt the ship slow and the engines stop. He assumed they’d arrived at the Queens’ castle. That had been some hours ago, he thought. But he wasn’t sure. The drugs played with the fragments of his memory. The pieces were beginning to go back together but he wasn’t so sure that they were in the right positions.

  Braklen sucked in air from the pain that shot through his arms. “Careful.”

  They responded by holding him tighter. He held his breath.

  The nurse started unbuckling the straps. Braklen wished he were up to the task of fighting back. He was ready to give it a go. When they got him off the bed, his legs buckled. The guards hauled him up from the floor and his feet dragged across the tile as they took him from the room.

  So muc
h for fighting back. Braklen saw other Peacekeepers moving around the ship. He’d been to Earth so many times and knew the drill that the men would follow. So far, everything appeared normal. He’d hoped to see Triena, just a glimpse to see that she was all right. She can look after herself. But that wasn’t the point. He wanted to be near her. He was a different man with her by his side, despite their arguments.

  “Where are you taking me?” Braklen asked, not really wanting to know the answer.

  “Where a traitor to the army should be taken,” said one of the men.

  If only they knew what was really going on. Braklen heard the disgust in the man’s voice. It wasn’t that long ago when I would’ve responded in the same way. Over the years Braklen had been responsible for taking men and women down to the catacombs of the castle. He knew the route very well, and this was the way that he was being taken.

  What a turn of events.

  The further they went, the darker and narrower the passageway became. Braklen’s skin prickled from the coolness surrounding him. His stomach twisted into tight knots. He knew what happened to those brought down here. They didn’t come out alive, but worse. They were torn apart by the Queens in hours of pain and torment.

  I don’t want that. Braklen tried to struggle as the guards chained him to the wall but his muscles were weakened from lying down for so long and from the drugs he’d been given.

  The two men didn’t have to exert themselves to keep him under control. They chained his arms at the wrists, above his head, at his feet and ankles. Braklen stood, arms and legs sprawled out.

  “What a shame,” said one of the guards. “I looked up to you once.” He spat on Braklen before leaving.

  Braklen didn’t know who spoke to him. He’d been a Peacekeeper on the rise and had a reputation. He’d led a few teams during the wars when the Queens came to power. The words spoken to him sank hard into his stomach.

  This wasn’t the life he’d planned. It’d been a simple plan, rise to High Commander, work hard, stop the Priests, and protect the Queens. And he’d failed.