After a tough fight, Nathaniel was victorious over the darkness. The snippets of dark power coursing through his body had collected in his left arm. For as short a s a few seconds, he gave in to the dizziness, and closed his eyes."Nathan, don't fall asleep!"His eyes snapped open to focus at Aston, who'd reached his side. He was covered in mud from head to feet, leaving only his two eyes, that were dark with worry."Don't look like this, I don't plan to die", Nathaniel grumbled. It irritated him when his brother looked like an abandoned puppy. Where was the pride he always pretended to have? Whenever it was just the two of them, Nathaniel felt like he was talking to a little kid.With a groan, Nathaniel sat up from the lying position and noticed that he didn't know when he had fallen. Wasn't he standing when the Prince attacked? His leg was bandaged but the blood was already seeping through the inexpertly bound fabric. Why did Sam fail on such a simple t
They decided to lay Katherine down on a makeshift bed as close to the King as possible, in the hopes that her magic power would spread over to him. Katherine herself was still pale, but her injuries had healed completely. It was a miracle. If only she could wake up, she could bless one more with this. But she remained deep in sleep, even when a maid washed the blood off her body and dressed her with new clothes.Though cleaned regularly, the wound on the King's chest had inflamed and he was running a high fever. The maid had called Lady Orchid back because the King was coughing up blood. Now and then, his breathing would just stop, and they had to shake him and hit his chest so he would start again. However, every such encounter inevitably worsened his injury. With normal methods, the King was long over the point where he could be saved. If not for the slim hope that Katherine might wake up and help, even the caregivers would have advised to just let him pass over the river a
"He always seems like he is interested in girls", Nathaniel played along, though his voice sounded a bit off. "How would you know it is for real?"Lifting the skirts as quietly as possible, Lady Orchid hummed. "I am his mother. Who if not I would know the truth? He mentioned her already a year ago. I nearly forgot it if not for him talking about her again recently. Funny thing, he always boasts with the beauty of his... I can't think of a better word but 'conquests', though I'm sorry for the poor girls. I scolded him so many times, but it goes one ear in and the other out without brushing his brain even remotely ... whatever, in her case I didn't even get to know the hair color. Only that he admires her.""Admiration, huh?", Nathaniel repeated. He was distracted by the small sounds coming from the side. Though his gaze was averted, it was impossible not to think about what happened right next to him. How Katherine's fair legs would be exposed up to her hip, all the ten
Early in the morning, when the first rays of the sun crept into the cave, the surroundings were quiet and motionless. Some maids sat side by side, their heads leaned against each other and lightly snoring. Only the guards outside and Nathaniel were still awake. After checking the King's vitals for a last time, Lady Orchid had fallen asleep beside him. A while later, Aston had picked her up from the cold ground, wrapped a blanket around her and embraced her tightly. Despite the rough terrain, he managed to fall asleep after a while, his cheek snuggled on his mother's shoulder. It was quite cramped with so many people in the cave, but nobody seemed to care.Suddenly, there was a sound in the content silence. A groan. Nathaniel's eyes lazily shifted to the source. He blinked. With delay, realization sat in and his weary body straightened somewhat. "Good morning, your Majesty."The sea blue irises of the King shimmered behind blonde lashes. He didn't seem to be aware of hi
It was three days later. The King's entourage had moved into a safe-house of one of the King's supporters. Unfortunately, a doctor had discovered that the spine of the King had been impaired during the knife attack, making walking alone a far-fetched dream for him. Since then, the King was grumbling and secluding himself in his sickroom. Everyone hoped that he was ruminating on a solution for the conflict right now and how to free the land of this devilish woman that was his wife. However, it was more likely that he was falling into depression and self-pity. Despite the dire situation, Nathaniel never moved from Katherine's side. He ate, slept and worked in the same room as his wife. Though, to be true, when working he mostly sat there staring into nothing and trying to think of a plan that would better their situation. Since most of the forces were now under the Queen's reign, they had to carefully consider every step they made. As the supposed murderers of the King
It was a spiral of colors. Katherine could see it clearly before her eyes. She also remembered that she had seen it before. Only then, she didn't know what it signified. It was a very beautiful and confusing sight, all those different colors mixing and constantly changing their property."I wonder what they are good for", she thought to herself and lifted a finger to touch them. At least, that was what she intended to do. However, her body felt so heavy and sluggish that she gave up on it soon. It was so comfortable just lying about. Why did she even want to change it?"Whatever, they might not feel like anything great", she consoled herself as her eyes followed a draft of blue that glided through the air like a fabric in the wind. "I still wish they would come here."Though she had watched the colors for what felt like hours, they seemed to be near and far at the same time, like the stars on the firmament. She doubted she could really touch them. They seemed to
It took a while - she didn't know how long since there was neither day nor night - until she could move normally. The improvement was much faster than building up muscles, but sufficient to make her impatient.After she could move her limbs just fine, she discovered one big problem: there was no ground under her feet. When she moved her legs, it didn't propel her forward like it would on earth. She tried swimming motions, fluttering like a bird and everything that crossed her mind, but it didn't work.With a pout, she crossed her arms and pondered what else there was to try. Now, that she had worked off the sleepiness, staying still was very boring. The space around also didn't change much. She had noticed some patterns in the colors already. There were some who only passed by, mostly grey, red, and green. They never stayed long, floating at the edges of her vision. Then there was blue. Blue was the main color in this space. Though it was also floating in several parts and
The wind was stronger this time, almost feeling solid. Surprised, Katherine noticed that the surface was neither flat nor pressing against everything it could reach, like real wind would. This was more like a thing out of wind that was tightly holding her hand.Katherine was excited. Finally, the wind didn't vanish the moment it occurred. She still couldn't grab it, but it was not so far off as the other times. She closed her eyes to analyze the feeling more. What shape did it have? What temperature?Wind usually felt cold, but this one was slightly warm. It made her curious. When she pressed it, her hand was repelled stronger the more force she used. She assumed that she could still press through it if she wanted, but was afraid the wind would vanish if she did so. So, instead, she tried to feel it up. Since she had to struggle out of the wind's grasp elsewise, she used her other hand for it.The surface was smoother than the side that held her, almost as flat as a
Five years later"Your Holiness - Uh, ah, Majesty, I mean!"Leaning on the newly-built rails atop the dome of the palace, with the view of the Capital in the background, Katherine scolded lightly: "Shht, Hazel, she just fell asleep."In her arms rested a baby, maybe a few months old, with a tuft of black hair and fair white skin. If she opened her lids, angelic blue eyes would blink up innocently at the viewer.Hazel's head appeared at the end of the staircase leading to the roof. Apologetically, she bit her lip and whispered. "I'm sorry, your Majesty. A letter arrived from Dragsa, and Prince Patrick hurt his knee while playing. He's on his way here.""Dragsa...," Katherine muttered and stretched out a hand to take it. "I wonder what they want. They were very quiet in the latter years."Lowering her head, she took a glance at the paper. Instantly, her brows furrowed, later followed by a deep sigh. "I almost expected it. What a shame."Her gaze wandered to the west, in the direction of
For once, the third wall belonging to the palace let nobles and commoners alike pass. They flooded in in masses and coagulated on the streets and the grass field before the dome. Everywhere, where they could hope to catch a little glimpse of what was about to happen in the throne hall.In front of the dome, Nathaniel dismounted and reached his hand out to Katherine to help her off as well. For a second, Katherine remembered how Pete helped her when she mounted Bell for the first time, and her smile grew shaky. Pete and Jack. One retired after suffering grievous wounds, and the other fell in battle when the undead attacked the palace to free the Queen, Emilian, and Helmina.The burial was in the time of Katherine's long travel back but she and Nathaniel visited the grave two days ago. Still, she could not believe that her funny, one-eyed companion was truly gone. It was delusional but she could not shake the thought that if only she'd been at the Capital, her power might have saved him
Weeks later, the couple reached the Capital and was welcomed with much tom-tom. Aston, it seemed, was back on his feet. The new scar parting his right brow even suggested that his exaggerated description of a battle with the best undead swordsman in history might be more than just bragging. Infuriatingly, however, the scar made him even more handsome, and he confidently put it on display at any opportunity he got. Especially in front of the ladies.Shortly after their return, King William officially announced his retirement in favor of his nephew. Though the commoners were confused at Nathaniel's sudden emergence, the prepared aristocrats soon placated them, and the rumors of his activities as the illusive sixth General did the rest.Katherine was surprised to hear that word of her ability had elevated her picture in the icelandic society to somewhat of a saintess. King William obviously prepared on this end as well, and thus nobody dared suggest that a dragsean noble was unfit to be
The ship of the king of the Glaciar Coast was a gigantic vessel with a kind of lofty wretchedness to it. In fact, Katherine thought that the silver ornaments on the dark wood looked like bones, and if the sail had been a bit more tattered, the "Charon" would've been the perfect ghost ship. When she mentioned it to Lady Brandon in jest, the sister of said king laughed out loud."Oh, he'd love to hear that! If his crew wasn't ridiculously superstitious, I bet he'd search the whole ocean floor for a sunken vessel to serve him!""Is that so?" Katherine lifted her brows, perplexed. "Isn't it already enough that it can fly?"Granted, the hovering of the gigantic vessel wasn't completely 'flight' as the ship was only lifted by the water the Glaciar Coast's mages manipulated with much afford. It could also only be implemented for short periods close to a water source. For the unsuspecting viewer, however, it looked exactly as if the ship was flying.It was this practical fea
Katherine woke up feeling fresh and well-rested. The plush cushions under her head were like soft clouds, and the blanket bore just the right amount of heat. The air smelled of salt and herbs, an unusual but welcoming combination."Hmmm." With a blissful sigh, Katherine stretched. She didn't feel so good since they resided in the hut in the Icelands with King William, his mistress, and son. Did she only dream of that long, arduous journey to a mountain in Dragsa?"You're awake." Her eyes snapped open when she heard that voice. It was undoubtedly the deep timbre of her husband, Nathaniel. And there he was, sitting next to the bed in a cushioned chair, a gentle gaze in his eyes.Eyes that rested strangely deep in his pale face. A face that was bare of the slight smile that sometimes tugged on the corners of his mouth when he looked at her. Instead, he seemed solemn, exhausted, plagued by a deeply hidden sadness that he maybe wanted to hide. Yet to her eyes, his feelings were an open
Deep satisfaction brought some power to Katherine's exhausted body, yet she did not like the feeling at all. The guilt over hitting an innocent civilian clouded her mind, together with the question if it was the right thing to do. Trapping Ethan in the other dimension was too easy. It didn't feel right.Days and nights she'd dreamed of how to take her revenge, how she would torture him and finally look into his eyes when he died. Now, she'd acted impulsively, and the results were anything but what she imagined. Yet, should she have let the chance slip by?When she'd heard him giving orders, she'd finally stopped in her path because she felt like a coward who ran from the only real battle she'd sworn herself to fight. At first, she only wanted to observe and hid where the canyon's wall stood out a bit, just in earshot of Ethan. But the opportunity was too good. She didn't know how her smart and cunning cousin could act so dumb. It didn't match his usual approach, yet maybe
It was Ethan. He stood just outside the rift, his usual harmless smile on his face, and the hands hidden in the pockets of his dark trousers. "Kitty. Fancy meeting you here."If Katherine had been raised in any lower class than aristocracy, she would've spit in front of his feet. Even so, her face soured as if she'd bitten into a raw lemon. "I don't... fancy it at all."Stepping aside to give the rest of the dark stream free access to the rift, she noticed that Ethan'd brought two helpers who lingered in the back nervously. The white lab coats outed them as researchers. She glanced them up and down and decided not to ask where Ve was. After all that happened today and with her magic nearly depleted, she wanted nothing more than walk away from this whole mess.So, she did just that. Turned around and walked along the canyon that was now almost free of the dark substance.After a second of surprise, Ethan called after her: "Hey, don't you want to know what I'll do with this? Aren't
Meanwhile, the Duke of Sleipnir got comfortable on the edge of the cave. Shortly after he'd disposed of the corpses by sending them into the rolling dark river below, some of Loki's staff came over. They were shocked to see only one person left in the cave. "Um, your Excellency, where... where is the leader?""Hm?" Ethan turned and blinked. "Oh... he... how should I put this? He was too enthusiasistic when he saw his experiment finally succeed. Look, the brilliant result of all his hard work is below this cliff. He didn't want to wait anymore and took everyone to follow him down. Which might have been the wrong decision, so to say."The staff carefully crept closer to the cliff, and when he saw the darkness below, though it was more a creek than a mighty river now, his eyes widened. "Do you mean to say the leader is...?""Dead." Ethan nodded unemphathetically. "Most likely."Unexpectedly swiftly, the staff got over his shock. For a moment, he pondered, then asked: "But the experiment
"Ahhh! It hurts! It hurts! You're tearing me apart!" Nathaniel felt the unusual urge to roll his eyes. He never knew that his magic was such a sissy. First, it asked for his help, and now it screamed like a pig on the slaughter bench because of a little pain. And why could it even feel pain? Its body was nothing but insidious black smoke that appeared like a black liquid in its compressed form. There were no tendons, no bones, no flesh, and no nerves - in short, nothing that could hurt. "Shall I stop pulling then?", Nathaniel asked sarcastically in his mind. Well, if that magic of his wanted to go by itself, all the better for him. "No, no, no! Please don't let go! Don't let goo-oo-ouuuuuuch!" It felt like mentally pulling on an elastic band, Nathaniel decided. Somewhere where he couldn't see, something else was pulling the other end, turning the band longer and longer. It got harder for him to hold on with each passing second. Then, with a last loud howl fr