The Midnight Storm (A New Dawn #2)

Interlude - Caracal

When sun's heavenly rays descended on him, he knew the Gods had wanted him to be here, in this moment, where he was most needed. Master Tern's ingenious blaster but a link in the chain of their divine plan. He took a long and deep breath to allow the thought to sink in, to utter the words a second son can only dream of but never say out loud. The King is dead. Long live the King. 

Humility advised him to keep them to himself one last time.

Under the lamenting gazes of half of Moondale gathering in the courtyard, Caracal kneeled down by his brother's mangled, bloodied corpse, his figure twisted and turned, the result of a broken back, no doubt. A boulder had smashed part of his skull, crushed most of his forehead. He did the honour of closing Ariel's eyes and covering him with a silver-grey cloak. May he find Princess Panthera in the Heavenly Halls and find comfort there until the end of time itself.

Caracal stared at Leo, who had personally retrieved Ariel's body from beneath the stones that had the very foundation on which Moonstone Castle had been built, the foundation his brother had refused to spend a silverling to fortify. He couldn't tell if a stronger understructure would have saved Ariel or killed him faster.

"And Felix?" he asked his cousin.

"Alive," Leo said, his voice rough. "But only just. Ari must have thrown himself onto him, formed a barrier between Fe and the rocks."

"That's... noble of him."

"Car." Leo placed his trembling hand on Caracal's shoulder. "You realise what this means?"

"Of course," Caracal snapped. "Do you think so low of me that I care about such things? My brother is dead. My nephew balancing between the two worlds. Where's Cobra? Where's that mage?"

"We're still trying to find them."

"Then what are you doing here? Find them!"

While Leo returned to the gaping hole through which the Left Twin flowed, a few Moondalers approached him. They offered him his condolences and sent their prayers to find the Queen alive and well. One of them, an old man with clothes too expensive to justify the roughness of his hands offered his home as a safe haven to treat the prince's wounds.

Caracal politely refused. He had Felix, along with a bunch of healers and magicians, transported to the northern part of Moonstone Castle, the only part appearing stable enough for people to move without risking their lives. He had to keep the child lying between him and the silver crown close.

After that, he refused to let anyone but guards and family members near him.

The Gods answered the prayers that were muttered in the courtyard. A handful of soldiers along with a few mages freed Queen Cobra from the cavity that had formed around her. Stone dust and chippings had greyed her blue dress, porcelain skin, and long blonde hair.  She appeared dazed until she caught sight of her husband's twisted foot sticking out from the cloak, then fell to her knees and wept like only grief-stricken women could weep.

Like a devoted brother-in-law, Caracal plucked her from his brother's body and took her into his care. He kissed her hair, rocking her into his arms. "Your boy lives, Cobra. Like a descendant from the Gods, Ariel protected him."

"They shouldn't have been there. They shouldn't have been there," she repeated. "Curse that woman. Curse that child."

"They are at the Gods' mercy now," he said.

He kept Cobra in his embrace when the soldiers signalled they had found Hawk and the little boy, then covered her ears when he heard shouts about the Grandmaster being alive. A copper-haired Air Magician was called in to penetrate the force field in which she had locked herself. Had she, in a spur of the moment, decided she had wanted to live after all? That her role down here was far from over?