Hidden Heirs and Fallen Crowns (Complete)

Chapter 36

The blood drained from Jasmine's face. "H-hundreds?" she stuttered. "But that's ... why ..."

"Kryden underestimated Suzanne the first time," he said, drawing in a deep breath and leaning back, "and if there's one thing that he's good at, it's learning from his mistakes."

"But still," I said, "hundreds ?" When none of them answered I added, "So, do we go ahead with the original plan or are we going to need to make a few amends?"

Jasmine considered the question. "I think we'll go ahead with the original plan," she said slowly. "A quick recap, though: we go to Jays Woods, the spaceships come down, Blade will probably come out first -"

"Probably?" I mumbled.

"- you and Zed get on the ship while I distract them, and you fly away."

"Wait, what?" I said. "What about you?"

"I'll try and come on, but if I don't -" she shrugged -"doesn't matter."

"Er, yes, it does matter," I argued. "What about I distract them, and you two get on and fight whoever is in the spaceship, so that when I get on we can go straight away. Because, you know, you two are a lot better at fighting than I am. So that would work better."

"But what if they attack you when you're outside?" Jasmine countered. "Suzanne, I know you're trying to help, but stop trying so hard to take the most dangerous role. That's what we're here for."

I glared at her, but didn't pursue the subject. Instead I turned to Zed. "Did you say anything about the poison?"

His eyes bore into mine, as if he could clearly see that I wasn't going to listen to Jasmine. "Well, not exactly, no." My heart sank at his words. "But I know there is something in Sayrene that could help."

Jasmine sat bolt upright. "What?" she cried, "I thought you said you had something!"

"I said," he explained patiently, "that I knew of something that could help her. I never had I had it with me."

"So what you're saying is that I need to hold on 'til we get to Sayrene?" I asked him.

"Yep." He tried to look positive about it, but there was a hint of sadness in his eyes that told me I probably wouldn't make it there alive.

I tried to take my mind off it for now. The next day or so was going to be dedicated entirely to getting Jasmine and Zed in that spaceship. Even if Blade got hold of me I'd be dead before I got to Kryden, so I wouldn't be of any use to him. Sayrene would probably be furious at Zed for killing me, but they'd get over it. I'd just have to arrange with Jasmine to tell them not to harm a hair on his head. But what about the whole Queen thing?

I thought about it, and then came to the conclusion that they were doing fine without me. They'd hold on until some other leader came along. Why did they need me, anyway? The Landwa were doing well on their own. It wasn't like I would be able to defeat Kryden if I became Queen.

All these thoughts whirled in my head in the space of a moment.

When I looked up Jasmine was looking at me, concerned. Before she could attempt to give me fake comforting words, I said, "OK! When are we gonna hijack these aliens' spaceships, then?"

"As soon as it gets dark," she answered.

I scoffed at her answer. "Yeah, sure. That's when Blade's gonna be expecting us the most."

Zed shook his head. "He's not expecting us to attack. And he doesn't know that I have hearing Talents, so it's safe to attack tonight."

I still didn't like it. "What's he gonna do for three days, though?"