It was like the night held its breath. Letting not a single whisper of windcatch the air as it waited while Chaya worked. The moon was high into the night sky by now. No clouds blocking the sea of twinkling stars above them. If it was to be her last night at least it was going to be a beautiful one.
She finished with the saltlines, the last of its minerals falling into the grass. Joining the others as they drew intricate circles across the flat earth. It looked rough but no magic was truly perfect, as long as the runes were at least correct in shape the rest could be done with magic. Or so her grandmother had once said.
“I don’t like this,” Menes said again from where he and the others watched Chaya work. “There’s no breeze, no noises, no monsters. This night is a cursed night. We should be safely within the walls of the Fort far from here.”
Chaya straightened, stuffing the sack she’d used to draw the salt lines into her pocket so that she could dust off the stray pieces against her pants. Her eyes carving over the runes, searching for flaws or places she’d messed up the design. It was, for the simplest way to describe it, a magic circle. Lines of salt laid in circles within circles, the patter breaking only for a row of roughly shaped salt runes. The only break being the two offset rings that cut their place out of the outer pattern, directly across from each other.
“It’s the Witchqueen’s moon,” Chaya stated looking up at the sky. “The night she was said to be at her strongest. Perhaps the world still fears her and has not broken its habit of hiding.”
Lea took a tentative step forward. “Ooor,” she said. “It knows we’re doing something we shouldn’t be doing.”
Chaya chuckled. “The wind and clouds wouldn’t care about such things,” she stated. “Besides, we’re doing the right thing. We’re correcting our mistake.”
“Partially.” Connal said from farther back than the other two. “We’re not bringing her back, just her power… right?”
“Right.” Chaya nodded, picking her way through the salt so that she could make her way to her friends. Each step careful not to disrupt the circle. When she’d made her way to them, she crossed her arms over her chest and eyed her handiwork. Yes, it wasn’t the work of a master but it looked close enough to the thing she’d seen in her book.
Menes shifted beside her, moving his weight from one foot to the other. He’d tried countless times to convince the others that what had been done was done. Messing further with the power of the Witchqueen was asking for more terrors to be brought down on them. He, for one, had had enough of terrors. They’d spend so many years toiling over a way to slay the Witchqueen to fulfill the Wechuge’s prophecy. Whether it had been the right thing to do or not, which it clearly had not been, they had done it. The powerful ruler of the Realm was dead, the monsters she had held at bay were loose, and soon it was likely that they would all die. The armies of chaos were surrounding them. They had nothing to do but wait, something Chaya and the others could not do. So determined to right their wrongs.
Still, it was why he’d joined them in the first place. They’d been so sure, so ready to do what they thought was right for the people of the Realm. Even if it meant slaying a tyrant queen. Lea with her blades, Connal his lance, Nace with his sword, and Chaya… Chaya with her magic. Somehow Menes had fit into what they’d needed. A man of business that’d be able to get them where they needed to be, a ranger who could understand nature like the back of his hand. Well he understood it. He understood that that night was not natural. Witchqueen’s moon or not. He cleared his throat, opening his mouth to say something only to be cut off by Chaya as she held up a hand.
“I get it,” she stated. “If you don’t want to watch, head back.”
His mouth closed, opened and closed once more. Then he said, “No.”
“Then I’m going to need you to be quiet,” her eyes met his calmly, “because I need to concentrate.”
Lea stepped forward then, lacing her hand into Menes’ so that she could pull him back a few steps. They’d all seen the way Menes had watched Chaya from the time he’d first joined them. Like a guard dog, ever looming in her shadow to make sure she was safe. It was the same then and just like most times, Menes was left watching. Chaya wasn’t the type that needed protecting, in fact she was often the one doing the protecting. Lea felt bad for him, sometimes. Though she understood that the hint of something that he was always trying to hide in his looks wasn’t something she’d ever be able to stop. This time, however, she could be there for him. Pulling him away so that they were back with Connal, several paces away from the circle. Enough that was safe.
“When I start,” Chaya said as she glanced at them over her shoulder, “I can’t be interrupted.”
Each of them nodded when Chaya met their eyes. She even refused to look away until they’d all agreed. Of course, they knew what that meant. It’d been explained to them that the magic they were evoking was a dark and ancient kind. It was like to call things to it, things of equally dark and ancient nature. Things that would want to stop her from calling back the Witchqueen.
Conall took a deep breath, removing his lance from the grass where he’d laid it. They’d set a plan. Each of them would cover a part of the circle’s outer edge. If anything came at them they would try to give Chaya as much time as she needed. He clicked his tongue a few times, eyeing Menes before heading off to his spot. Hopefully he’d pull himself together. They were already two down with Nace dead and Chaya busy. The three of them were skilled, but not if they were distracted.
When they were all in their spots Chaya began. Removing a large white headdress from a bag they’d set in the grass. She paced the outer circle, going to the northern side where she set the crown in the smaller of the two smaller rings. She then headed back, her heart beginning to pick up speed as she stepped at last into the ring on the south end of the circle. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
She took a moment then. Letting her eyes close, she felt her heart beating against her ribs, the rush of blood thunderied in her ears as it did so. Each beat was sending a raw, gnawing wave of fear through her. Making her arms heavy, her legs shaking, her world threatened to turn upside down as she fought to calm it. Her eyes opened, swinging upward so that they could fix on the stars. Take in their beauty.
“Please,” she said in a low voice. “Let me save them. Whatever it takes.”
When Chaya started chanting in the rough, awkward tongue of old Zinnith it sent a shiver through the night. Like the earth beneath their feet felt the surge of magic that was pulled toward them in that moment. It caused the other’s to suck in air, eyes darting away from the edges of their large field to watch Chaya cast her magic.
At first the night seemed to do the same as them. Holding its breath and watching as slowly, the salt that Chaya had laid in careful patterns began to gleam. Taking on a faint blue glow that grew until the ground beneath their feet lit the space with a clear, pure blue light. It was then that the salt began to rise, not all of it but some. Swirling and moving like it was alive. It came in clouds, like smoke that was moved by an unseen current willed to draw similar patterns into the air around Chaya. Her eyes blazing with a similar, blue hue.
Then the night moved. A loud, earsplitting screech broke their silence. Then they were upon them, the terrors that had been simply things of legend. Or so they had thought. In truth it was Ione who’d held them at bay so that they might live in their innocent delusions. Menes had never thought he’d feel like a child afraid of the dark again, but as they stared down the dark creatures who crossed the field he knew that he was still that child.
“We have to hold,” Lea called over the noise of coming monsters. “Whatever we do, we have to let Chay-”
Her words were cut off as she cut down a giant, leathery hound who’d lept at her. Her blade cut into the beast’s skin, sending it to the ground as its wounds sizzled at the touch of her weapons point. They had read that silver worked well against these creatures in one of Chaya’s books. It’d taken them some time to be able to find a smith able to make them and they’d be no use in a fight against other weapons. However, for this purpose they did well.
Cutting through a three headed beast, Conall glanced back over his shoulder. Menes had put his bow and arrows away in favor of his sword, Lea was bleeding but had cleared most of her side, he also had most of the monsters on his side of the circle taken care of. It was Chaya that worried him most. Hands raised and eyes lit in a haunting blue light, her stood in an almost trace as her lips moved over words he couldn’t hear. The salt was rising like smoke around her in the same eerie blue. He was forced to look away again, a new wave of monsters bearing down on them. More this time. Larger. Conall threw his weight behind his lance, his weapon catching onto a beast’s jaw and snapping in two. Leaving him fumbling backwards. Crawling on his back, legs kicking at the teeth that snapped at them.
His hand felt cool, dry salt as he shuffled across the magic circle. Breaking it and at once there was a great gust of power that blew back the beasts. Leaving the three humans where they were. Conall swallowed, his eyes shooting around the field where the monsters fled into the trees and the grass began to sway as a strong wind kicked up.
“Chaya!” It was Lea who spotted her. Standing in the middle of her circle, eyes still glowing as she stared unblinking at the full moon above them. “Chaya, are you-”
Her voice was swallowed but the lump in her throat when she saw her friend’s eyes drift to her and knew at once that something had gone wrong. It was Chaya’s form that stood before them. Her long black hair braided down her back, held out of her gentle and elegant face. She looked beautiful in the glow of the moon, her dark skin twinkling beneath it’s light. However, it was not really Chaya that stood there. The glow of her eyes, the way she held herself with a careless sort of confidence, and the crown that now sat on her head all screamed it.
“W-Who are you,” Menes asked as he took a step toward Chaya. “Chaya, what… happened?”
The woman tilted her head to the side, eyes moving slowly to each of them. “I know you three,” she said and her voice was not Chaya’s. “The assassins.”
Conall was the first to move, bowing his head and speaking loud in hopes that the others would follow suit. “Our apologies, Your Majesty.” He said. “We’ve call you in hopes that we’d be able to right our foolish wrongs.”
The Witchqueen chuckled. “You opened a chest that you were told not to,” she said as if talking to a child. “I suppose you’ve received your punishment already.”
She swept a hand in the direction of the forest where the monsters had disappeared. They knew she talked of the chaos, the armies of monsters that were murdering all in their wake. It seemed like it pained her even, like she felt the pain and suffering that was happening around them. A deep, saddened sigh escaped her lips.
“So much death,” she said. “You’ve caused so much death.”
The three did not speak, instead sat with their heads bowed. Not daring to move as the weight of the Witchqueen’s might grew. It felt like someone was covering them in sheets of water, squeezing their lungs until they could hardly breathe. Letting up only as Ione turned to leave.
“Wait,” Menes’ voice cut through the air, “Chaya, is she?”
Ione paused, turning back to look over him. “Your lover is dead,” she stated. “She and I will give what is left of our lives to save this pitiful realm and put up a wall that will keep you from harming anyone again.”
Menes could hear the choking noise that Lea made across the grass, a soft sobbing noise following it as his own eyes began to burn. “Please,” he said. “Take me instead.”
This time the Witchqueen laughed. A dark low laugh that sent a chill down his spine. “You think you are worthy?” In a blink she stood before Menes, her hand gripping his neck just enough to make it hard to breathe though not enough to completely cut off his air. “Chaya is half Zinnith blood, a child of the energies in part and worth protecting. You.”
Her eyes grew cold within Chaya’s features. Filled with rage as she released him so that he crumpled into grass.
“You three are lesser. Creatures of chaos in Zinnith form. But…” Her voice trailed for a moment, “Go north, north to the edge of the world to the kingdom beneath the ground. You’ll find a forest there, if you truly wish to save Chaya. Perhaps you can do it there.”
Then Ione was gone. Disappearing just as the sun peaked the horizon. Leaving them in a field of grass and salt. It took some time for them to recover, their bodies shaking in the crisp morning sunlight. Tears falling despite trying to hold them back. Then, with a decided nodded of his head, Menes stood and took up his things. Packing what he could into the bag that he then threw on his back.
“What are you doing?” Lea’s voice was hoarse.
Menes slid the silver sword into the sheath strapped to his back, collecting his bow from where he’d discarded it, and looked toward her. His eyes set.
“I’m going to the edge of the world,” he stated. “What else is there to do?”
Conall was on his feet in a flash, following Menes like his shadow across the field. “You can’t be serious,” he said. “What if she’s there? Ione.”
“Then so be it,” Menes stopped to meet his eyes, “if there is a chance. Then I’ll try it.”
Lea was moving then, collecting her things from the ground and throwing her pack onto her shoulders. “We’ll need to get supplies,” she said as she stepped in line beside him. “Better weapons.”
Conall’s eyes flashed between them. “Y-You,” his voice stammered some, “you were right through. Menes, it wasn’t a good idea to get involved with the damned Witchqueen and now Chaya is gone. You always said you didn’t like it so why keep going?”
“Nothings changed,” he said. “I never liked Chaya’s plans. It always meant she was racing off ahead of us, putting herself in danger. The only difference is that I’m not going to stand around and complain this time. I’m just going to do it. Save her.”
Conall’s head ducked, his hands clenching as he stared down at where his boots stood in the grass. They felt like iron. Like the earth had swallowed them whole and wouldn’t allow him to move. Then he nodded, forcing his foot to take a step in the direction of his own things. His lance was useless, but Chaya’s discarded sword would do well enough.
“So,” Conall said as they fell into line beside one another, “Any idea how to get to the edge of the world?”