Masquerading

20. The Nagori

Ma-ineh, the city below the palace was vibrant with life as always, and no one paid a moment's notice to the eclectic group of travellers that passed through. They left their horses with Freesia, just outside the east wall of the palace and had crept through the passage Kyden had used as a young boy to escape lessons.

Kyden pulled Leyva toward him as they moved through the unnaturally quiet outer corridors. "Stay close."

There should have been staff bustling about as they passed the laundry and then the kitchens. Kyden shook off the discomfort; there was nothing to indicate there was still life in the palace. Not even guards as he led Leyva, Killi and Tavis through his childhood playground. He stopped outside a side entrance to the throne room; it had been too easy, and he was terrified of what laid inside.

"What is it?" Leyva whispered urgently.

Looking down at her, Kyden felt his heart constrict, it may well be the last time he saw her. Behind her, Killi understandingly pulled Tavis back to guard the open end of the narrow hallway with him.

He could find no words as he touched his forehead to hers, nothing to communicate how much she meant, how scared he was to lose her, how much he wanted to turn around right now and run with her forever. His face was wet, he knew, and she reached up with a saddened smile to wipe it. He ducked his head and gently brushed her lips with his. Everything he felt—frustration, guilt, lust, love—poured into the salty, teary kiss and he pressed her to the wall, gasping her in like lungfuls of air he'd been deprived of his whole life. She arched against him, her fingers digging into his upper arm as she kissed him back just as desperately. If they died here, then at least she would know he loved her.

"We should move," she whispered against his mouth. Kyden kissed the side of her head, and avoiding her passion-heavy gaze, tapped Killi's shoulder, and nodded toward the small door.

He was a man now, as tall as his father, but seeing him sitting in the throne—even sickly and frail—made Kyden feel like a small boy again.

The Nagori looked unassuming there, a whisper of a figure standing behind his father, so minuscule it matched his sitting height. A shadow wrapped in vibrant red sheer silks in the style of the long eviscerated kingdom of Nagora. The layers of gold around its neck jingled as it moved like a twisted spidery beast on all fours. It crawled up onto the throne and over the king, settling on his shoulder and draping a hand in his hair as if he were a pet.

Kyden whimpered to see his father in such a position and his heart dropped as he saw the Jewel of Nagora among the jewels hanging from its neck.

"Leyva!" he whispered as they crossed the throne room. "It's wearing the Jewel."

The Nagori twisted its head jerkily as it regarded them, a disgusting smile that seemed to shear it's face in half appeared for a flicker of a moment. Its fingers flexed on the King's head and he sat straighter.

"We've been awaiting your appearance, son. I see you've brought some friends. Disappointing I must say. We were expecting an army."

Glowering at the creature that caressed his father's head, Kyden snarled. "It doesn't look like it."

The Nagori laughed. "Little Prince, I don't need an army to defeat yours."

The Nagori had known they were there, and they'd walked right into the throne room without checking for opponents like novices. Kyden tried to stop Leyva from being restrained by the palace guard as Killi and Tavis were.

"Release them!" He commanded the soldiers. When that had no effect, each of them staring him down with hatred, he turned his enraged gaze on his father. "Release them!"

The King, his face impassive, raised a finger, and Kyden knew the action would do nothing to comply with his request. A sickening crack echoed through the room and Killi screamed as he writhed on the floor. Reaching instinctively for Leyva, he could only watch as she shook—in fear or rage, or both—with her gaze focused on the odd angle of Killi's leg.

Pride swelled in him as she threw her weight sideways, smashing her and Tavis' captors together, and drew her sword the instant her hands were free. Spinning around with practiced grace, she attacked the man who'd broken Killi's leg. Even Tavis clumsily hacked his sword at his captor.

He could have let it play out naturally, but in a show of dominance, Kyden felled the man Tavis fought. Holding the guard who'd restrained Leyva, Kyden growled at him, "You serve the blood of Loricus, not that thing!"

On the dais, his father remained expressionless, like a puppet waiting to be animated, and Kyden's anger raged like flames through him. Slicing the soldier's throat, he threw him down and advanced towards the throne.

"Father, you threw me out of my home. You forced me into exile! I came here without an army and you attack my friends? Why, because that thing told you to?"

"Kyden, stay back!" Leyva called out, but he was too angry to listen.

A gleeful sound escaped the Nagori's mouth, "You speak to your father as if he is still here, silly little Prince. There is only I."

The Nagori released hold of his father. The man suddenly looked frailer as he stumbled down the steps. His skin more sallow, his body almost caving in on itself right in front of them. The old man managed one sorrowful cry—My boy!—as he crumpled.

"No!" Kyden shrieked to the sounds of the Nagori's laughter. He caught the old man, and cradled him gently. "Papa!"

He was aware of Leyva, ushering him and his father out of the open and behind a pillar, but could muster no appreciation. He watched, his heart breaking and face drenched in tears, as life left his father's eyes and choked out of his body.

"Papa!"