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

Thirteen

Breakfast the next morning was chatty. Servants in green and bronze bustled about. There was one seat open and it was to the left of the Emperor.

"Good day, Your Greatness," she said as she sat down beside him.

"Good day, Your Highness," he smiled.

Cal loaded her plate up with different fruits. She got pineapple, dragonfruit, mango, and banana, and piled them onto her plate.

"My men will be ready to be deployed for duty in Lucis by noon," the Emperor said to her.

Cal looked at her father across the table. "Then we leave at noon," she said.

Akaljot nodded. "That can be done. I'll give the order after breakfast."

As breakfast came to an end, Akaljot's orders spread like wildfire. In the courtyard, under the blazing Verzengend sun, Cal waited. She wore her mother's armour, her hair pulled back into a knot. She watched as Eirineften guards escorted James out of the palace dungeons.

He grinned as he approached her. "I can't wait to meet in person once again."

"You sure love hearing yourself talk, don't you," she deadpanned.

"Yes, I truly do."

Someone pushed through the crowd of soldiers. "Commander! Commander Bjorndottir!"

They all turned to face a Krigerean scout.

"Scout Johanne, what is wrong?" asked Akaljot.

Scout Johanne was as pale as a sheet when she said, "Tenebrarum marches upon Friedens."

Akaljot blanched. "How many?"

"Fifty-thousand strong."

Akaljot swore. "How long do we have until they attack?"

"Twenty minutes at most."

Cal turned and began to stride out of the palace courtyard.

"Cal, where are you going?" Lance called after her.

"To give Tenebrarum a show worthy of the gods," she called over her shoulder.

She would show all of Zemlja exactly what the God of Ash was capable of.

-

"You should let me go," he said to the Eirineften guards.

"No," Akaljot barked. "Take James inside and keep him in the dungeons."

"Yes, Commander," said a guard.

The sounds of several muskets firing and people screaming in the distance reached his hears.

The Everlight cursed. "Protect Friedens!"

He was dragged up the steps and into the palace. He was alone. With two human guards. Not the Everlight or his wretched spawn. He smirked.

He threw his weight against the guards. One stumbled and fell. The other drew his sword and brought it down on him. He blocked with his chains. He swiftly moved behind the guard and used his chains to strangle him. He took the fallen guard's sword and ran it through the other guard. The other guard fell to the floor, his dark eyes open and unseeing.

He found the keys to his shackles on the guard. He unlocked his shackles and tossed them all aside. He picked up his stolen sword and ran out of the palace to find the Light-Bringer.

-

The streets were in chaos as Tenebrarum soldier's attacked. Cal halted in her tracks as five soldiers blocked the path ahead.

"Get out of the way," she ordered.

"Or what?" one of them sneered.

She smiled, flames dancing in her eyes. Cal exhaled like she was blowing out a candle. The soldier started to scream as he caught fire, the blue flames burning him until he was nothing more than a pile of ash. She turned her gaze on the remaining four, bright blue flames engulfing her gold-clad hands.

"You're all next."

Cal flung the flames at them, her magic singing through her veins. Three soldiers screamed as her fire turned them into ash. One of them tried to turn and run away, but Cal blocked his path with a wall of fire.

"Answer my questions, and I may just make your death painless," she said. "Are you part of the larger group of soldiers?"

He shook his head. "No. We're part of a smaller group that was ordered to break off."

Cal raised a hand. "They still have yet to attack?"

"Yes, Light-Bringer."

She reached out with her light magic and brought a shaft of white-hot sunlight down on the soldier. There was nothing of the soldier left behind once the light faded. The flames died down as Cal ran past. She didn't have much time left before the larger group of soldiers attacked.

Her pace slowed as she became further and further from the outer blocks of Friedens. Several thousand paces away, Cal watched as the black and silver soldiers drew closer. She stopped and plunged fast and deep into her well of fire magic.

Without a second thought, Cal threw her arms out wide and set the Verzengend desert on fire.