Crown of One Hundred Kings (Nine Kingdoms Trilogy #1) - Rachel Higginson Page 0,51

left intact, long ropes could be spotted, hanging from the same branches in which they built their homes. Gallows.

The Tenovian people lived in dread and grief. The trees that sheltered them had been made to punish them. The armies supposed to protect them abandoned them instead.

I had done nothing. I had hidden away in my little untouched corner of the realm. I had let this darkness grow until these people knew nothing else.

The nine kingdoms needed leadership and direction. The Elysian army needed a queen.

We would reach the border between Tenovia and Soravale this evening and Elysia in three more weeks. I was close, but not close enough.

I looked around at the men traveling with us and wondered what would happen if I confessed my mission. Would they accept my undertaking and charge with haste toward Elysia? Or would they take away the one thing that gave me claim to my throne?

I knew there were men in Arrick’s army that I could trust. They had proven themselves to be decent, loyal soldiers with the realm’s best interest at heart. I had even begun to tentatively trust Arrick. But I dismissed the idea once my gaze landed on the Cavolian men surrounding me.

Gunter had not brought his entire traveling horde with him. He had chosen a select group of warriors to accompany us. The rest of the horde had ridden in the opposite direction.

Gunter and Arrick rode side by side at the front of our caravan. Their heads were bowed closely in discussion.

Oliver had been silent all day as he recovered from the mead. His face had shed its greenish tones and returned to its usual pale. Shiksa slept inside my satchel, content after a dinner of Tenovian soft potatoes and a thimble of water.

I slouched in my saddle and gave my back a rest from the grueling position I’d been trying to get used to. We would stop soon for the evening meal. Or at least I hoped we would. As gentle and intuitive as I’d learned Finare could be, I needed rest, and for the ground to be still for just a little while.

“What was that?” Oliver demanded.

I sat up straight once again. My eyes had begun to drift shut. “What was what?”

“I heard a scream,” he whispered.

I leaned forward, straining to hear. “I hear nothing.”

We fell silent, waiting. It didn’t seem as though the rest of our party had heard anything, either. But when my gaze moved to Arrick, he sat straight as a rod in his saddle. He’d pulled his hood over his head, hiding his face. His head moved with short jerks as he surveyed every inch of the forest around us.

We kept our pace, steady and clipped. I listened until I imagined screams and everything terrifying. My vision jumped from tree to tree. I had just started to convince myself the danger was only in my head when we emerged from a tunnel through one of the black cedars. I saw the raven first, perched on a low hanging branch, its beady eyes fixed on our caravan. Then a true scream, loud and wrenching, ripped through the air.

The horses surged forward. More prepared this time, Oliver and I dug our heels into the bellies of our mounts and chased after the rebel army and Cavolia. We stayed closer this time, trailing by only a little.

The highway speared through another black cedar and then we found them.

The Ring of Shadows.

Six of them, dressed in black and wielding death as though it was a tangible weapon they held in their hands.

They turned to face us one at a time and I realized that no matter what had happened in my past, this was the moment I truly and finally faced real evil.

15

The Ring of Shadows was as dark as its name suggested. The troops were dressed in black from the hoods that hung low over their foreheads to the leather boots propped in equally black stirrups. They sat atop black leather saddles on black horses. Their hands were covered with black gloves and they wielded swords with blades made of dark steel.

The only thing that wasn’t the color of inky death was the stone embedded in the hilt of their swords. One large, sparkling diamond settled in the base, so white it appeared almost blue. It caught the sun no matter how they positioned their weapons, glinting aggressively. In fact, the jewels seemed to pull in the light as if they were made from something more than