“Be ready,” he called to his men as it grew closer. “We don’t know what’s happened.”
There were enough clues, though, in the damage done to it. The scout vessel had seen battle, and that alone was a rarity when they were designed to be fast ships, there to run at the first sign of trouble.
Could it have been pirates? No, that made no sense. Pirates took merchant vessels, and scout ships didn’t have the crew to pick a fight unless attacked.
Akila knew what this had to be. He just didn’t want to admit it.
It was only as the ship came closer that Akila realized it was drifting, no crew working its sails. One figure stood aboard, hands on the wheel as if that were all it took to control a ship. When it came closer still, Akila saw that those hands were lashed in place, the figure tied to the wheel sagging against it.
“Move alongside,” Akila ordered, and the Empire’s flagship swung smoothly as the men aboard hurried to obey. “Ship oars. Grapple and board.”
Akila waited until his men had pulled the small ship close, then scrambled down the boarding net to the deck. His feet automatically adjusted to the different way the smaller vessel moved, and he ran in the direction of the wheel.
What he found there made even him feel sick. He recognized the man as one of his, stripped now to the waist, tied to the wheel with cords that cut into his flesh. The marks of a whip covered his back, turning it into the kind of ruin that made it hard to believe there had ever been whole flesh there.
“It’s all right,” Akila said as he got closer. “We’ll help.”
The other man looked up and Akila saw with a start that someone had slashed across the man’s eyes, blinding him. “If you want to help me, kill me now.”
“What happened?” Akila asked. He took his knife, starting to saw at the ropes that held the other man.
“They caught us out in open water. They took us aboard. The others… First Stone Irrien let me live. He said he had a message. I have to deliver his message.”
Akila did his best to soothe the sailor as he kept trying to cut him free.
“You can tell me the message as soon as you’re recovered,” Akila promised him.
That just made the man jerk against his ropes, screaming with every touch of bloodied flesh to them.
“There won’t be any time. We’ll all be dead,” the other man said. “He said to tell you that Felldust is coming. That every man, woman, and child of the Empire is declared a slave by the authority of the five stones, for any free person of Felldust to take. They will be treated as such. To kneel is life. To raise your hands against your masters is death.”
“How far away are they?” Akila asked. “How much time do we have?”
It seemed that the other man didn’t have the strength left to tell him, though. In any case, he could guess at the answer. Tied as he was, blinded and alone, there was no way this man could have steered his ship over the vastness of the sea beyond Delos. The ones who had set him adrift were following, close as a storm.
“Ships ahoy!” one of the lookouts from the command ship called, and the others joined them, one by one, until it sounded like a whole tree full of crows shouting their warnings.
Akila raced back to the command ship, seeking the height of the upper decks there, then clambering into the rigging for a better view. What he saw almost dragged the strength from him, forcing him to wrap his arm through the rigging to hold on.
Ships spread out as far as he could see. There were galleys there, and cogs, barges, and spiked ramming boats. The fleet seemed like a dark stain that spread to the horizon, wide enough that it could have swept over the whole world.
This, Akila realized, was what death looked like.
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
Stephania pressed back into a doorway as rebels swept past. Beside her, she felt Elethe flattening herself, her hand going to one of her knives. Stephania gave a small shake of her head as her handmaiden did so, and she saw Elethe pause.
Stephania smiled slightly at that; at the thought that her handmaiden was so utterly attuned to her actions. The whole way back from Felldust, it seemed that Elethe had been jumping to her every whim, as though determined to wipe away any memory of Felene. Stephania still found it amusing, for the moment.
And useful. Elethe had done much of the work of getting them back to Delos, finding the secluded dock that their hired boat had brought them to. She’d been a source of security with the rebels running around, and if this went wrong, she would be the one giving her life to ensure that Stephania got away safely. What more could she ask for?
“I’ll think of something,” Stephania said softly.
“What was that, my lady?” Elethe asked.
“I was saying that I still need to think of a way to get into the castle,” Stephania said smoothly. The journey must have left her more tired than she thought if she was making slips like that. “There are ways though, and perhaps this will be easier than I thought. The city seems more fit for ghosts than people now.”
She gestured for Elethe to follow, and kept making her way up from the docks. Twice more, they had to duck away to avoid people passing, but two groups of people in a city the size of Delos was nothing. It was as though the Ancient Ones had returned just long enough to snatch away nine-tenths of the people there, dragging them off to whatever hidden realms they’d walked to.
Stephania heard the war-horns then, and she started to guess at the reasons people had run. She’d heard some of the rumors that Felldust was gathering its troops. Perhaps she should have paid more attention to them.
None of it mattered though. Not danger, not any of it. Hadn’t she already given away everything that mattered for this? A little thing like an invasion wouldn’t matter if she saw Ceres dead. Perhaps Stephania could even use it, if she judged this right.
The walls of the castle loomed above them. There were ways in, for those who knew them. Stephania knew every passage, every door. She paused by a patch of stonework that looked the same as the others, putting her fingers to a spot where the stones stood proud.
“Help me,” she ordered Elethe, and her handmaiden set her fingers beside Stephania’s. Her strength was enough, moving the door open just a little. Stephania stepped inside, holding up a hand as Elethe made to follow.
“No. Your task is to ensure there is still a safe way out when it’s time to leave.”
To Stephania’s surprise, she saw her handmaiden frown.
“What if Ceres defeats you?” Elethe asked. “What if she cuts you down?”
Stephania cocked her head to one side. “Would you throw yourself in the way of the final blow?” She stopped Elethe’s answer with a raised hand. “No, I know you would. But I don’t want that. You’re more useful alive, and Ceres won’t kill me. She won’t risk killing Thanos’s child, but she might have me imprisoned. You’re my way out if this goes wrong.”
Stephania didn’t linger any longer. Instead, she hurried up into the castle, along paths that weren’t so much secret as simply forgotten. She pushed open doors into rooms that looked as though they’d been abandoned in a hurry.
She stepped out into a storeroom long enough to steal a shawl, an apron, and a few rags.
She stepped out into a bedroom long enough to steal a dress.
She stepped out into a kitchen where it seemed that all the cooks had fled, rooting among what was left until she found bread, cheese, and wine.
That was all it took to turn a noblewoman of the Empire into a servant. All it took to provide her with invisibility as she walked its corridors. It was better than any secret passage. She even risked a smile at one of the passing rebels. With her hair hidden beneath the shawl, the food set out on the platter, there was no sign of him recognizing her.
“Any chance that’s for me?” he asked.
“For Ceres,” Stephania said, affecting the kind of peasant drawl she’d heard players use. “You know where she is now?”
“Where she always is. Thanos
’s rooms.”
That made a small spark of anger light up in Stephania, but what was that compared to the great blazing pyre on which she’d already burnt so much? At least it meant she knew the way.
She shuffled up there, the tray held before her like an offering. She moved slowly, giving herself plenty of time to watch the few people who were still there in the palace. There were no guards by the door to Ceres’s rooms. Stephania hadn’t reckoned on that, but she took the luck while she could get it. Perhaps they were away trying to help with the defense. Perhaps Ceres was simply arrogant enough to believe that she could defeat any threat with the powers her blood had given her.
Stephania knocked on the door, because it was what a servant would have done.
“Come in.”
That voice. Stephania had thought it was burned into her memory, but she’d lost all those small edges that grated on her. What could anyone see in that voice to like, let alone love?
Even so, Stephania made herself enter demurely, falling to her knees in mock awe at the sight of Ceres. As it was, the sight of her only brought disgust.
“You don’t need to kneel,” Ceres said, in what Stephania guessed was probably supposed to be a kind voice. The saccharine sweetness of it only made her angrier.
“Brought you some food, my lady,” she said in her mummer’s drawl. “Thought you might not have eaten. There’s wine too.”
If a servant had spoken to her that way, Stephania would have had her whipped until she learned to speak properly, but Ceres didn’t seem to mind.
“Thank you,” she said, taking the food. “I can’t really remember when I last ate.”
Well, she should probably enjoy it, Stephania thought, because she might not get the chance again. She watched, waiting for the moment when Ceres would take a bite out of the cheese, or some peasant gulp of the wine.
She didn’t, though.
“Do you think I don’t know everyone who stayed?” Ceres demanded, spinning toward her. “Who are you?”
“I still don’t get what Thanos ever saw in you,” Stephania said, pulling herself to her feet and letting her voice return to normal.
She saw the shock on Ceres’s features then, and it was beautiful to watch.
“But then, I’m starting to think that Thanos was never really the best choice for a husband,” she went on. She sighed. “Did he tell you quite how badly our relationship went, thanks to you? If he hadn’t put me aside for you, I would never have had to try to kill him.”
“What are you doing here?” Ceres demanded. Stephania saw her look over to the food and drink. “Were you trying to poison me?”
Stephania ignored her. She had no time for peasants who interrupted.
“I managed to persuade him to marry me anyway, once you were gone, but no, he set me aside to look for you, as soon as he heard you might be alive.”
“As soon as he heard what you’d done,” Ceres countered, and Stephania saw her edging toward the spot where a sword sat resting in its sheath, leaning against the window.
“And that would not have been necessary, except for you,” Stephania snapped back. “Besides, he returned quickly enough when I made it clear I was in trouble. I even sent my servant to make sure he did it.”
“You mean you manipulated him, the way you manipulate everyone,” Ceres said, as though that were a bad thing.
“You’re still thinking of the world like a stupid peasant,” Stephania said. “If you don’t make the world the way you want it, who will?”
How did people not see it? Did they think the world would simply be to their advantage by accident? Did a jeweler throw molten gold at the ground and hope? No, they watched, and they shaped, and they waited.
“Well, the way I want the world doesn’t include you,” Ceres said, reaching for the sword.
“Ah-ah!” Stephania said. “Remember Thanos’s child.”
That was enough to make Ceres move away from it. Really, she was so easy to control. She saw Ceres clench her fists.
“That doesn’t mean I can’t throw you into a cell. That’s the problem with poison, Stephania. If they don’t drink your wine, you actually have to be able to fight.”
Stephania had picked her moment carefully. She smiled now.
“Who said the poison was in the wine?”
She took the potion vial from inside her dress, flinging it in one movement so that it shattered on the floor in front of Ceres. Fumes rose up, acrid and harsh to Stephania’s nose.
What they did to Ceres was far more amusing.
Stephania watched as Ceres clutched at her throat, falling to her knees and gasping in obvious shock. She was reaching out for her sword now, but it was slow. So slow that she might have been moving in molasses. Stephania kicked the sword away.
When Ceres collapsed completely, Stephania stood over her. She grinned wide, as it appeared she was slowly dying, the poison eating away at her.
Stephania smiled.
“I think we’ll both enjoy what comes next.”
NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER!
HERO, TRAITOR, DAUGHTER
(Of Crowns and Glory—Book 6)
“Morgan Rice has come up with what promises to be another brilliant series, immersing us in a fantasy of valor, honor, courage, magic and faith in your destiny. Morgan has managed again to produce a strong set of characters that make us cheer for them on every page.…Recommended for the permanent library of all readers that love a well-written fantasy.”
--Books and Movie Reviews, Roberto Mattos (regarding Rise of the Dragons)
HERO, TRAITOR, DAUGHTER is book #6 in Morgan Rice’s bestselling epic fantasy series OF CROWNS AND GLORY, which begins with SLAVE, WARRIOR, QUEEN (Book #1).
17 year old Ceres, a beautiful, poor girl from the Empire city of Delos, wakes to find herself powerless. Poisoned by the sorcerer’s vial, held captive by Stephania, Ceres life reaches a low point as she is made cruel sport of—and is unable to do anything to stop it.
Thanos, after killing his brother Lucious, embarks for Delos, to save Ceres and to save his homeland. But the Felldust fleet has already set sail, and with the might of the world bearing down on it, it may be too late to save everything he holds dear. An epic battle ensues, one that may determine the fate of Delos forever.
HERO, TRAITOR, DAUGHTER tells an epic tale of tragic love, vengeance, betrayal, ambition, and destiny. Filled with unforgettable characters and heart-pounding action, it transports us into a world we will never forget, and makes us fall in love with fantasy all over again.
“An action packed fantasy sure to please fans of Morgan Rice’s previous novels, along with fans of works such as The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini…. Fans of Young Adult Fiction will devour this latest work by Rice and beg for more.”
--The Wanderer, A Literary Journal (regarding Rise of the Dragons)
Book #7 in OF CROWNS AND GLORY will be released soon!
HERO, TRAITOR, DAUGHTER
(Of Crowns and Glory—Book 6)
Listen to THE SORCERER’S RING series in audio book format!
Now available on:
Amazon
Audible
iTunes
Download Morgan Rice books now!
Books by Morgan Rice
THE WAY OF STEEL
ONLY THE WORTHY (Book #1)
OF CROWNS AND GLORY
SLAVE, WARRIOR, QUEEN (Book #1)
ROGUE, PRISONER, PRINCESS (Book #2)
KNIGHT, HEIR, PRINCE (Book #3)
REBEL, PAWN, KING (Book #4)
SOLDIER, BROTHER, SORCERER (Book #5)
HERO, TRAITOR, DAUGHTER (Book #6)
KINGS AND SORCERERS
RISE OF THE DRAGONS (Book #1)
RISE OF THE VALIANT (Book #2)
THE WEIGHT OF HONOR (Book #3)
A FORGE OF VALOR (Book #4)
A REALM OF SHADOWS (Book #5)
NIGHT OF THE BOLD (Book #6)
THE SORCERER’S RING
A
QUEST OF HEROES (Book #1)
A MARCH OF KINGS (Book #2)
A FATE OF DRAGONS (Book #3)
A CRY OF HONOR (Book #4)
A VOW OF GLORY (Book #5)
A CHARGE OF VALOR (Book #6)
A RITE OF SWORDS (Book #7)
A GRANT OF ARMS (Book #8)
A SKY OF SPELLS (Book #9)
A SEA OF SHIELDS (Book #10)
A REIGN OF STEEL (Book #11)
A LAND OF FIRE (Book #12)
A RULE OF QUEENS (Book #13)
AN OATH OF BROTHERS (Book #14)
A DREAM OF MORTALS (Book #15)
A JOUST OF KNIGHTS (Book #16)
THE GIFT OF BATTLE (Book #17)
THE SURVIVAL TRILOGY
ARENA ONE: SLAVERSUNNERS (Book #1)
ARENA TWO (Book #2)
ARENA THREE (Book #3)
VAMPIRE, FALLEN
BEFORE DAWN (Book #1)
THE VAMPIRE JOURNALS
TURNED (Book #1)
LOVED (Book #2)
BETRAYED (Book #3)
DESTINED (Book #4)
DESIRED (Book #5)
BETROTHED (Book #6)
VOWED (Book #7)
FOUND (Book #8)
RESURRECTED (Book #9)
CRAVED (Book #10)
FATED (Book #11)
OBSESSED (Book #12)
About Morgan Rice
Morgan Rice is the #1 bestselling and USA Today bestselling author of the epic fantasy series THE SORCERER’S RING, comprising seventeen books; of the #1 bestselling series THE VAMPIRE JOURNALS, comprising twelve books; of the #1 bestselling series THE SURVIVAL TRILOGY, a post-apocalyptic thriller comprising three books; of the epic fantasy series KINGS AND SORCERERS, comprising six books; and of the new epic fantasy series OF CROWNS AND GLORY. Morgan’s books are available in audio and print editions, and translations are available in over 25 languages.