The Born Queen

A barrier of some sort suddenly snapped down between him and the churchman.

"Stop that," A

Stephen backed away, trying to reestablish his co

He looked at A

"You think it's fu

"That was me," he said, "but I didn't know. Dreams, you see? It was all in my dreams. Except in my dreams it was you terrifying me, when I believed I was only Stephen Darige. In your dreams it was me terrifying you, when you believed you were only A

He rose up from his knees. "And now we are both almost who we were in our dreams. And I'll say now as I did then: We should join together, you and I, bright king and dark queen. Don't you see? We're male and female principle of the same thing. Nothing could stand against us."

A

"You're right," she said. "I see it now. I understand. But you know what? I don't need you. Nothing can stand against me as it is."

When Aspar was sure he wasn't being followed, he bound his wounds and slept for a few bells in the crook of a tree. Then he started back to the valley.

He reached it just before dawn and waited until there was enough light to see who, if anyone, was still there.

He made out a still figure in the grass about fifty yards ahead of him.

Closer, he saw it was Leshya, lying propped against a stone. Her head turned slowly as he approached.

"Another bell," she coughed, "and you wouldn't have seen me at all."

She glanced down and he saw that she was holding her bowels in.

"Doesn't really hurt anymore," she said.

He dismounted and pulled out his knife. He pulled off his broon and shirt and began cutting the shirt into wide strips.

"No point in that," Leshya said.

"There might be," Aspar said. "I know something Fend doesn't know, something you don't know, something only I and the Briar King know."

The slit down her belly was fairly neat. Fend's work, for sure.

"He wanted me to tell you he'll find you," she said. "Said he never imagined you could be such a coward."

"Werlic," Aspar replied. "He went in the Vhenkherdh, but he hasn't come out, has he?"

"No."

"Did he leave anyone to guard?"

"One fellow, hidden just in the entrance. I see him now and then. He's careless."

He handed her his water. "Drink it all," he said. "I'll be right back."

"Aspar-"

"Hush. Don't die."

And with that he went softly through the grass, coming around behind the strange growth of trees.

He edged around until he saw the man there and recognized with relief that it wasn't the Vaix.

He closed his eyes, trying to remember, back through a haze of fever and time. Trying to be sure.

He stepped around. The man looked up.

The passage into the Vhenkherdh wasn't covered with a door or any such thing. It was just a twisty little path back through the trees.

The man shouted at the top of his lungs, grabbed the hilt of his sword, and started to stand.

Aspar's ax hit him between the eyes. He sat back down.

Aspar went back and got Leshya. She still was breathing, and her eyes opened again when she saw him.

"Done?"

"Not by half," he said. "Come along now."

He took her arrows and put them in his quiver, then carried her to the Vhenkherdh.

"Now, listen," he said. "I need you to crawl on your belly until you're in there, do you hear?"

"I don't understand."

"When I went in before, it was just for a few moments. For Wi

"I've lost most of my blood," she said. "It's hard to think."

"Yah. Can you crawl?"

"It's stupid, but yes."

"Just do it," he said. "It'll hurt; I'm sorry. But I have to see something. It will help me, werlic?"

He tried not to think about what she was feeling as she drew up onto her elbows and inched into the place. He followed a step behind her, wishing he could help, knowing it had to be this way.

The color of the faint light on her faded, and then she was gone.

He moved up to just that point and drew his hood to cut out any other light, and he saw her again, a bloody shadow.

Beyond Leshya he could make out a few vague shapes, all the dark red ghosts, all apparently immobile. He watched, knowing he had to make the right choices, glad he had a little time.

The Vaix was easy to make out because he held the feysword, and it glowed the color of gore dripped in water. Aspar took careful aim and shot at his neck. The arrow crossed into the same space as Leshya had, faded, and slowed to a snail's pace.

He shot at the Sefry three more times, then located another target, which, as his eyes grew used to the light, was pretty obviously an utin. Its head was turned away, but he aimed for the ear and then the i

He sat down and sharpened his dirk and then his ax. He had a bite to eat and let it settle. He walked over to the battleground and found a lance, which he broke down into a stabbing spear.

Then he went back to the Vhenkherdh and went in.

As before, his heartbeat sped quickly into a buzz, like a mosquito's, and time went strange.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

NEIL COUNTED only four men with Robert, all in black leather. They all carried themselves as if they knew how to fight.

"All alone?" Robert asked.

Neil didn't reply, but he noticed that Alis was nowhere to be seen.

He watched them get closer.

"You'll pardon me if I don't make a conversation of this," the prince said. "Given how our last talk went, I doubt that you're disappointed."

Robert drew the feysword, which glowed even more brightly than when Neil had last seen it. It looked like it had been forged from a lightning bolt.

"The music offends me," the prince confided. "An old friend thought I might like it, but he clearly doesn't know my tastes." He stopped and looked down at Neil's sword and hauberk where they lay on the ground. His eyebrows arched, and his eyes glittered oddly in the torchlight.

Neil had killed his first man when he had had eleven winters, with a spear. He had killed his second a nineday later. He wasn't strong enough to use a broadsword until he was fifteen.

He threw the first spear, feeling the motion come back to him, as natural as walking. His arm didn't protest at all, and the shaft flew true, straight into Robert's shoulder, where it sank deep and stuck. The feysword flew from his hand, and the prince's shriek was a piercing counterpoint to the strange music coming from the house.

Neil lifted the second spear out of the soil. Everwulf had been right-he still had his feet. He danced toward Robert's guard as they tried to encircle him, gripping the weapon underhand with his knuckles against his hip.

He rushed up to the lead man, forcing him to cut before he was ready while Neil skipped to the side. His arm shot out, and the steel head punched in at the navel, splitting the chain beneath the leather and coming out bloody. The man stumbled back choking, and Neil went on to deal with the others before the first one discovered that his wound wasn't critical.

One had come around behind him, so Neil jabbed the butt end back and ducked as something whirred over his hair. He felt the blow co