Warrior Queen (Skeleton Key) Page 3

  Who would he tell? The people he’d worked with? The cops he’d called friends, but really if it hadn’t been for the uniform they wouldn’t have spent any time together. His ex, his parents? The people with fake names that he played against online? Actually they might think this was cool. They’d want to know what quest he was on and if he’d developed and special powers.

  That would be no to both. There was no quest and no magic powers.

  “Your master, your queen?” the priest pressed.

  Bryce laughed. “I have no master. And the Queen is a figurehead who lives in another country.”

  The priest regarded him for a moment. Then he got up and left the room. Bryce sipped his water. They believed the key had magic. Hell, maybe it did, but he needed the key to get home.

  Yeah, because he had so much waiting for him.

  He’d wanted a new adventure, and now that he was living it he wanted to run away. If this was a dream or a near death hallucination—maybe he’d been hit by a car—or even if this was reality, and he still couldn’t quite believe that was the case, he should make the most of it.

  Treat it like a game.

  There would be clues and tasks and eventually he’d find his way out.

  That his brain understood.

  He was willing to bet that if he died here then the game would finally be over. There would be no second chance. Best not die then. He needed to find out everything he could about where he was and work out what he needed to do to survive. Even if this was all in his head, he was here for a reason. Maybe there was a quest that he needed to complete before he could go home. He knew he was trying to apply logic and reason to something that made no sense, but it made him feel better.

  The priest returned with a roll of cloth and a stick of charcoal…and the queen, Keleti, was right behind him.

  The cloth was laid on the table.

  “I would like to see your world.” Keleti knelt opposite him and held his gaze.

  Now he noticed more of the differences. It wasn’t just the points on the ears. Their eyes were wider, rounder. Her cheek bones were more angled. She had two cuts on one cheek and a circle on the other. Ritual scars. He had no idea what they meant.

  The priest had none. None that Bryce had noticed anyway.

  He broke the hypnotic hold of her stare and picked up the charcoal. It wasn’t easy to draw on the cloth, and he was pretty sure that his high school geography teacher would not be impressed with his rendition of the continents.

  “Australia.” He pointed to the largest and best drawn shape. “North and South America, Africa, Asia, Europe.” He was sure that England wasn’t the right shape and as he pointed out the continents he realized that he’d forgotten Antarctica, not that these people were going to know that. He glanced up at the Queen.

  She looked as blank as he had when looking at their maps. “Australia plans to invade us too?”

  He shook his head. “No. I picked up the key. It was in my garden.” Why had he picked it up? If he’d left it there, he could be enjoying his hangover in front of the TV. Or looking for new jobs.

  He looked at the two people opposite him.

  He was on the ultimate holiday, or out of his mind, either way he should start enjoying it. If they kept him tied up, he wasn’t going to be enjoying much.

  “This is all a mistake. I’m not part of your war. I don’t even know who you’re fighting. I’m just lost and want to go home.” Except he wasn’t sure he did, not yet anyway. He was intrigued about what was going on and where he was.

  “Who cut your ears?” Keleti pressed her lips together and frowned.

  “No one. Where I am from everyone has ears like mine.” It was their ears that were odd. However, he seemed to be the only one without pointed ears so to them he was the freak.

  “Rat ears are normal?” There was a golden glint in her eyes for just a moment. A trick of the light?

  “Yes.” Not that he liked being called rat-ears. “See.” He turned and tugged his ear so she could have a better look.

  Keleti reached out and ran her fingers over his ear. The priest then did the same on the other side. That was weird. He’d never had so much attention paid to his ears.

  A glance passed between the Queen and the priest.

  “Show me how the key works,” she said. Her voice had that edge that left no doubt that she expected to be obeyed, and yet her clothing didn’t look that grand. She didn’t wear a crown or jewels.

  Bryce glanced up at her. “I’ll need a lock.”

  Four

  As far as Keleti was concerned, if the man with rat ears opened up a magic doorway and vanished that would be fine, but he wasn’t taking the key with him. That was far too dangerous. If the enemy got hold of it and got in, the city would fall.

  She fingered the cool glass key, half tempted to try it herself to see where she’d end up, but her people needed her here, so she handed the key to the man. He wiped his hands rather awkwardly given he was still tied up, and didn’t look at all certain.

  “What’s on the other side of the door?” He glanced at her, still not sure if he should look her in the eye or not.

  It was a very strange mannerism, and while she would have said it was usually only affected by liars, with him she wasn’t so sure. Maybe his people thought looking someone in the eye was rude. Maybe a person of his standing shouldn’t lift their gaze. She wanted to know why. Didn’t everyone deserve the respect of being acknowledged?

  “It doesn’t matter. All that matters is if this key will open the lock and prove you are telling the truth.” If it didn’t, she was going to have to lock him up and deal with him later.

  “Don’t you think I tried that when I got here? I’m still here.”

  She smiled. She had no idea. It was hard to read him because he didn’t follow any of the usual behaviors. Not even those that she knew belonged to the Southerners.

  He put the key in the lock. The priest was ready to grab the key back, and possibly the man too.

  Keleti watched. Her eyes focusing intently on the lock, she listened for the click as the key turned. The key worked even though it appeared fragile. The door opened.

  There was nothing but the medicinal stores.

  The man bit back a curse. His shoulders were tight. “I don’t know how to get home.”

  “You don’t know where home is,” said the priest. For a moment Keleti was sure that he wasn’t talking about the strange map. The priest went into the now opened room and handed the man two leaves. “For your headache.”

  The man took them but didn’t see to know what to do with them.

  “You chew them.” What kind of place did he come from when they couldn’t cure a simple headache?

  She made him sit with the guard. He didn’t seem like he was going to run, and he didn’t appear to have anywhere to run to, but she didn’t trust him either.

  She walked with the priest to the doorway so she could see the elements. Today the balance didn’t calm her. Her gaze drifted to the woman in the center, laying down praying. Eyes closed palms up. She would love to find that kind of peace. “What do you think of this key?”

  “It has magic. That I don’t doubt. He is either a very skilled mage or he did steal it and got here by luck.”

  Keleti drew in a breath. “Have you ever heard of any of the places he speaks? Is there anything in the myths about rat-eared travellers?”

  “Myths are not my specialty, Heavenly, but I will consult. What are you going to do with him?” His gaze flicked to the man who was tasting the leaves as though they might be poisoned. “He isn’t unwell, merely sick from too much alcohol.”

  “No one starts a mission drunk.” Which meant it was either an act or he was telling the truth. “Pack some bread and water and we’ll lock him up for a night and see if he feels more like talking in the morning.”

  The priest smiled and walked away.

  “To the cliff door.” Keleti led the way not bothering to check to se
e if the guard and the man were following.

  The weather was mild and the doors were open. There was a railing so people didn’t accidentally fall into the ocean far below. She breathed in the salty air. The sun was dropping and turning the ocean gold.

  She needed to scout soon. They needed to know how much ground the army was covering as they drew closer and she needed to know if her cousin had managed to raise one of their own. Nadri must be with the army, that was why she hadn’t returned. Keleti couldn’t ignore the dropping of her stomach whenever she thought of her cousin. She was sure something had gone wrong. She’d scout tonight and hopefully see a friendly army.

  In a few quick moves she stripped off her clothing and threw herself over the railing and into the air. She heard the man swearing then his voice was lost in the rush of air and crashing of waves against the white cliff.

  “Fucking hell.” Bryce ran forward to the railing. What had just happened? One moment she was dressed, the next gloriously naked, then she’d jumped and no one seemed to care. He peered over the edge. The base of the cliffs was churning ocean and the sheer drop made him dizzy. He couldn’t see her at all.

  A huge golden brown hawk with a flash of white on the neck flew straight up at him. He stumbled back away from the huge bird of prey as it landed at the railing. A railing that he now noticed was covered in scratches, obviously from giant bird talons.

  The bird watched him. Its head tilted to the side and its eyes wide and golden and almost familiar.

  Were they going to throw him over? Were they going to feed him to the bird? He’d seen the way hawks pulled apart their prey and he had no desire to die that way. He’d rather jump.

  “I can’t fly.” He didn’t want to die either, but at least the fall would be instant.

  The guard laughed. “Of course you can’t. Only the Heavenly can.”

  Right. No. Not right at all. That was the Queen. She’d turned into a bird. A dangerous looking bird with a beak that looked as though it could remove the heart from his chest with a single peck. He stared at the hawk unable to look away. How had she done that?

  If this was a dream, he’d really like to get a hold of it or wake up, because it was getting stranger by the second. However the wind was cold on his skin, the rope on his wrist was chafing because he’d kept working it—with no success—and he could taste the salt on the air.

  This was all very, very real.

  The priest nudged him forward.

  “I’m not a spy. You can’t throw me over the edge.” Or feed me to the hawk or whatever other nasty things they had planned.

  “You aren’t going to die. You are going to sit in a cell. Lift your hands up.” The priest tried to raise Bryce’s arms, but he resisted. The hawk was going to pick him up by the rope.

  “I’ve been working the knots. They won’t take my weight.” He did not trust the bird not to dump him into the ocean, and who know what was in there waiting to eat him, and that was assuming he survived the fall.

  The priest tightened the knots, and attached a small bag. “I’d have been disappointed if you hadn’t tried. Tell me, would you have gone through the door to your own world if the key had worked?”

  Bryce opened his mouth, but he couldn’t readily say yes. He should be able to. He wanted to go home. He knew home. At home he wouldn’t be tied up and about to be taken somewhere by a shape shifting Queen. At home he was unemployed and trying to work out what to do next with his life.

  He hadn’t been disappointed when nothing had happened when he’d unlocked the door, because he knew that nothing would. Maybe the magic was used up or maybe he was here for a reason. Whatever. For the moment he was here and he needed to ride this out. He’d wanted a new adventure and here it was. Stranger and wilder than he could have ever dreamed.

  He stepped closer to the bird, her brown feathers caught the sinking sun and gleamed gold like her eyes. Then he lifted his hands. He didn’t have time to draw a breath and get ready for what was going to happen.

  As the great hawk launched into the air her talons caught the rope and jolted him up. He made the mistake of looking down to ensure his feet cleared the railing, but the world fell away from him with a sickening rush. He couldn’t breathe. While he’d never been afraid of heights…this was…he didn’t finish the thought at the hawk swept down. He was sure that if he’d had the breath he’d have screamed.

  The descent was rapid. The wind was harsh on his face. He opened his eyes as the hawk leveled out. Before him was the stark white cliff face. It was dotted with black shadows. He stared as they approached much too fast. Caves. The shadows were caves.

  Oh shit.

  They were the cells. He glanced up at the buildings perched on the edge of the cliff. Then down to a narrow strip of beach at the base. The sand was white, but there were tide marks along the cliff face. To his right the cliff jutted out into the water, and the surf crashed into the rocks. If he managed to free climb down and he mistimed it, he would drown. He tried to see where the beach went to his left but they flew into a cave.

  Or rather he was tossed into the cave and the hawk flew up and away.

  Bryce rolled a couple of times then lay on his back sucking in air. He couldn’t have been flying for more than a minute. Probably more like thirty seconds. But his eyes were stinging and his arms were aching.

  And he was elated he wasn’t dead.

  Adrenaline was hitting hard as he sat up. No, he wasn’t dead, but he was now in a cave, in a cliff and the only way he could get out was if Keleti came back as a hawk.

  He looked at the small bag attached to his hands.

  This wasn’t at all awkward. He stood, and went looking for something to cut through the rope. However, if he did that, how would the hawk carry him out?

  Maybe he wasn’t ever getting out.

  Five

  Keleti flew inland, and north, looking for the army her cousin was rallying. The last message had said they were only a ten day march away. She should be able to see them by now. They should be about four days away, maybe five. But there was nothing on the horizon.

  She stayed high and wheeled south. It didn’t take long before she saw the camp fires of the invaders glittering in the dark. There were so many. Beyond them, further to the south, she knew that farms had been burned after they’d stolen whatever food they could. They ate any animal they could get their hands on.

  Further south again were their boats. She had made that discovery early on when the first refugees from her cities to the south had arrived. Runners and messenger birds had delivered more news.

  She had, of course, ceased all trade immediately.

  The invaders had been surprised that she knew of the army. They had thought to come into her city under the banner of trade and negotiations. They had wanted to make her think they came with peaceful intent. They had talked, but they had refused to negotiate. They wanted her daughter since she had refused to give up being Queen.

  They wanted war.

  Sickened by the sight of the invading army, she flew home.

  She flew into her chamber and dressed. The magic falling away like water off feathers. She was hungry. Flying always made her hungry. Even though it was late, well past the time for any midnight rituals, she called for a meal and also messengers.

  She was going to risk sending a runner, as well as birds.

  Had her cousin been injured or captured? Keleti closed her eyes as her heart tightened. No, the invaders would be asking for a ransom had that happened. Was she dead? No they would’ve announced that too. What had gone wrong? Why would Nadri send messages about the army she’d raised when there wasn’t one?

  She had a distant cousin three days’ flying to the north. She’d send a message there. They would rally fast and gather an army on the way. She’d also send hawks to the closer cities, warning them again, but calling for aid to repel those that were trying to take over their lands and destroy their way of life.

  By the time all of that was d
one, she knew that she’d manage only a few hours of sleep before she’d have to start all over again.

  She was tired. She shouldn’t be so tired. She was only thirty five. While she had people who happily served her, she needed more than that. She needed more than serving the people too. If she asked, the cities would send willing candidates to be her consort.

  She could have her pick of men or women.

  Right now she couldn’t face making an extra choice.

  Her cousin should be back, she should be here to help with scouting duties. Keliti was the only person capable of flight in the city and she didn’t like it.

  No one had brought forward a young woman who was showing the signs of having Heavenly blood for a generation. Sometimes they appeared; royal blood in their veins when their maternal lineage was traced. It was an honor to be gifted flight.

  It was a burden.

  Perhaps no one wanted to take on the responsibility, and she wouldn’t force anyone either, but that wouldn’t stop her from asking. Maybe it was as simple as her people had forgotten they could step forward. Well, she would remind them.

  She closed her eyes and tried to force sleep. The air trembled with the thudding of the waves on the cliff. High tide.

  What was her prisoner doing? Plotting his escape? She’d pay him a visit tomorrow.

  Tomorrow would be another long day.

  Keleti still had the general running of the city to attend to. While matters of marriage and divorce and the dividing of property were left to the priests, the greater disputes she had to deal with.

  Today one man was resenting that his wife was leaving, and that because she had three children she got a four fifths of their joint wealth. As was typical there was an equal share for each person in the family, the woman looking after the children’s portion. Listening to him argue, Keleti could see why his wife had had enough of their two year union. She read the documented wealth, including two children that the woman had brought to their union, and what he had brought. Then she spoke to the woman, who was more than happy to leave with what she had started with if that would be the end of it.