Queen of Light (The Light-Bringer Trilogy, #3)

Eleven

King Andrei's soldiers were time efficient, Cal had to admit. By dawn the next morning, twenty-five thousand men were saddled up and ready to ride out to Friedens.

Cal mounted Khaleesi, gold gauntlets on her hands and forearms. She turned back to look at the King, Queen, and King's Hand. Andrei was seated in a chair and wrapped up in a fur lined cloak with a woolen blanket over his immobile legs.

"I will either see you alive or in a coffin," said Andrei.

Cal smirked. "You'll see me at my coronation."

As the sun began to rise above the horizon, Cal and the Apparatori soldiers rode west for the long journey ahead of them.

—

Several weeks pass on the journey from Zashchita to Soturi. The week after their departure, the snows began to melt. The streets of Soturi were covered in brown-grey slushy snow.

They stayed in Soturi for the night and restocked their supplies. At dawn, Krigerean and Apparatori forces mingled together.

"Lance?" asked Lucas as he ran towards a tall, lanky, blond figure.

Lance turned to face them. He no longer wore a splint on his leg, and he looked like he was doing much better.

"Lucas!" he shouted, a grin on his face.

Lucas threw himself at his friend and scout partner. Lance staggered back a step, finding his balance.

"Clean bill of health, Scout Erickson?" asked Akaljot.

Lance pulled out a piece of paper and held it out of Akaljot. "Clean bill of health."

Cal's lips quirked up at the corners. "Welcome back, Lance."

He nodded at her, "Good to see you again, Cal."

"Alright, men!" Akaljot bellowed. "We ride to Friedens!"

As they rode through the streets of Soturi, people cheered on the streets of Soturi, people cheered on the edges. Some carried and waved the arctic blue, white, and silver Krigerean flag.

The cheering faded away as they left Soturi far behind them. The slush and snow melted away into grass and eventually the sands of the Verzengend desert.

When they were a day outside of the Eirineften capital, Akaljot sent a messenger ahead to warn the emperor of their arrival.

Cal stared into the campfire. James sat across from her, several guards flanking him.

"I know that look," he said. "You're planning something."

She glowered up at him. "So what if I am planning? It's all going to be to take out Melania and send you back to Helheim."

James lifted his chin up. "I've heard rumours about you, Light-Bringer."

She narrowed her eyes and the fire burned a bright blue. "What rumours?"

He grinned. "That you're no longer in control of yourself. Your magic is driving you into madness—even speaking through you. That you believe yourself to be a god among men."

Now it was her turn to grin. "Because I am a god among men. The God of Ash."

"A god and a Prince of Helheim," he mused. "Sounds like the duel of the century. I look forward to having it out with you, God of Ash."

—

The sun bore down on their backs as they slowly made their way through the sprawling golden palace lay in the city centre. People stared at their party—at Cal, clad in burgundy and golden plates of armour.

The guards at the gates to the palace opened the large doors, granting them entry. They led their horses to the stables and entered the golden palace.

Shafts of golden sunlight shone through the gaps between sandstone pillars. Cal strode through the corridors to the emperor's throne room. Akaljot, Lucas, and Lance flanked her sides, James shackled and held between the two light-wielders.

The Emperor of Eirineftes lounged upon his large, cushioned throne. Several scantily clothed women slowly fanned the elderly emperor with palm fronds.

"Princess Calista," he said. "How nice to see you again. And you brought some company with you as well."

Cal bowed shallowly. "I wish our visit was under better circumstances. I shall spare you our long and dreary tale and tell you what is going on. Queen Melania has broken out of Tenebrarum and taken over Lucis. Prince James has been summoned from the depths of Helheim—" She threw a pointed glare at her partially demonically-possessed husband. "—and we would like to call in the final favour you owe the House of Fire."

The Emperor turned to James. "I take it that you're currently in possession of Captain Gomez?"

"Partial," said James.

"We have yet to find a way to free Matias from the demon's influence," Cal said.

James snorted. "Do that, and he'll be left either mad or dead," he retorted, a hint of amusement in his tone. "Quite frankly, I don't care which one happens—both are amusing in their own ways."

"Well, neither are happening," Cal snapped. "You are going back to Helheim."

"Will you help Lucis, Your Greatness?" asked Akaljot.

Flames flickered and danced in Cal's eyes as she bore into James's - his eyes shifting like burning coals. Her eyes burned as she tried to stare into the depths of Matias's suppressed soul.

"Enough, you two," said Akaljot, snapping his fingers in front of their faces. "What are you? Petty children? Gods."

"Of course not," James said lazily. "I am much more petty than that."

The emperor leaned forward a bit. "To fulfill ancient debts, I will send several thousand men with you to aid you against Tenebrarum."