The Midnight Queen Read online

  Otto nodded. “The Midnight Tower.”

  Princess Emerald leaned back in her chair again, pointing her finger like a gun at Otto before pretending to shoot him. “That confirms it then. That’s where my sister is.”

  Otto stood and bowed. “I shall tell my father to call upon the mystics. They will prepare the Crystal Chamber and send me and whoever is coming with me to the Midnight Tower immediately.”

  King Jasper rose and everyone else followed suit. “Very well. Heroes of Crystalia, pack what you need and depart before sunset. May the Goddess watch over us.”

  “May the Goddess watch over us,” everyone echoed.

  Otto turned to see Sister Claire on her feet as well, smiling at him. After she followed him down the spiraling stairs, he was chivalrous and escorted her back to the Cells of Silence. From her lively gait, she seemed excited by what had been discussed at the meeting.

  “Can you imagine?” She pressed her hands together. “Can you imagine? That this quest of yours is for the person behind everything? That your quest and the quest of the princesses are one and the same? When you go to the Midnight Tower, you might find Princess Citrine. You might even find Princess Amethyst!”

  Otto shook his head. “Don’t you think this is all, dare I say, a little too convenient? Multiple villains mentioning the Midnight Queen as well as the elves hearing the Goddess’s song that Princess Citrine just happened to be known to hum? This could very easily be bait for a trap.”

  Claire stopped and faced him as they came to the entrance of the Cells of Silence. “What you consider suspicious could just as easily be the Goddess pointing you down the right path. Did you ever think of that? Maybe you should stop being skeptical and start listening to her.”

  She had him there. To suspect these things is to question the Goddess? Dear me.

  He shook his head. “Very well. I must talk to my father before the meeting resumes. I’m most grateful I had the chance to speak with you, Sister Claire.”

  Claire kissed Otto on the cheek and gave him her warm smile again. “Anytime.”

  Chapter 3: The Crystal Chamber

  As always, Otto’s father was in the Crystal Chamber along with several soldiers of the Crown Guard. The huge, open area harnessed the magic that pulsed in the land beneath Crystalia Castle through the massive crystals set in the outer walls of the room. Focusing the reflection off of a mystic’s gemstone activated the crystals to open portals to any point in the world.

  According to the Deeproot Druid, the golem, Daemonus, is also imprisoned beneath this very floor.

  Being the leader of the Paladins, his father would see many of his men off, as well as give last minute orders and advice to those going to the more dangerous regions of the kingdom.

  It hadn’t always been this way. Originally the Paladins had been sent on their quests from the barracks, but after they had learned that the Cult of the Dark Consul had been whispering lies into their ears, his father had taken it upon himself to give them an honorable send-off. For some, it was the last time they laid eyes on the Castle.

  My word, as it could be with me.

  “Were you given all of the information you need?” his father asked.

  Otto nodded. “I believe so, Father. The Goddess has seen fit to give me all of the necessary pieces for me to go on my quest. Please have the mystics prepare the crystals.”

  “And to where will you be going?”

  “The Midnight Tower. Now that Princess Ruby is dead, this will be our last chance to stop the Midnight Queen.”

  “I see . . .” His father looked down. “I know I haven’t always been a good father to you, because of my duty, you see.” He began to walk about the Chamber.

  Otto followed behind him. “You are the leader of the Paladins. What greater role model could a son need in life?”

  “There’s more to being a father than being a role model, Otto. A good father should be there in more ways than teaching lessons of his profession, always pushing hi—”

  “My word! Is this really how you want me to remember you?” Otto shook his head, stunned that he would say such things in front of the other soldiers. “Look at me, Father. I say, look at me and tell me you didn’t do a good job!”

  His father’s eyes roamed over Otto in his immaculate armor before finally meeting the determination in his eyes. Then he turned away. “Indeed . . . Very well. I know that wherever you are sent, you will go with the grace of the Goddess. I’m proud of you.”

  Capital!

  Otto bowed and turned to leave when the Chamber began to shake. One of the large crystals along the wall fell and shattered on the floor. Otto and his father spread their arms to balance themselves as another tremor hit the Castle.

  When the shaking finally stopped, his father called, “Crown Guard, go find out what that is! I will hold the Chamber!”

  The soldiers rushed out. Whoever was fighting the thing that had created such an impact would need backup. Otto’s gaze met his father’s. Otto’s father nodded as a signal for him to join them, and Otto took off, running from the Chamber. He sprinted, panting, through the vast halls. He was about to climb the stairs to the Rain Court when the Castle shook once more.

  I say, this Castle is supposed to be impregnable! What could possibly be shaking it like that?

  Placing a hand on the wall for balance, he continued to climb. As soon as he arrived at the top of the stairs, his question was answered.

  In the twilight sky above the Rain Court, a massive form flew. The tattered wings and the long, jagged claws of a skull-faced, undead dragon filled the sky. It landed on the outer wall. When Otto saw its magenta hue, a name arose from his memory.

  It can’t be . . . that dragon . . . that’s Nightsong the Eternal!

  Chapter 4: Rescue

  The Midnight Queen smiled under her hood as she looked up at Crystalia Castle. Standing in the road before its massive towers, she raised her scythe and created a portal of purple light into the Nether. Lifting one high-heeled shoe, she stepped through the rift. She felt the Dark Consul’s presence there, guiding her to where she needed to go until she could open up another portal to the Crystal Chamber. As soon as she was through and the portal closed behind her, she looked up. The leader of the Paladins stared wide-eyed, open-mouthed at her.

  “Hello, good Sir Paladin.”

  He drew his longsword. “By the Godde—”

  She pointed her gem-engraved scythe toward him and whispered an incantation. The head Paladin fell to the floor of the Crystal Chamber, paralyzed under her spell. She watched him attempt to move, trying to scream for help, but to no avail. The Midnight Queen stepped over him and smiled, tapping the end of her scythe on the floor between his legs.

  “Dear me. You’d think the great Crystal Chamber of Crystalia Castle would be better guarded than by a single old man, but what do I expect of a castle that still gives importance to an archaic order like the Paladins?”

  The Paladin strained to lift his sword, but the Midnight Queen kicked it away. It skittered across the floor.

  “Now, I bet you are wondering why no one is coming to your aid. It’s quite simple, you see. I have sent my beloved Nightsong as a distraction. By now, every Hero and soldier in the kingdom will be rushing into the fray to protect what’s left of the royal family. In the hope of gaining a title, perhaps?”

  She walked away from him and began strutting around the room, heels echoing sharply. Her eyes skimmed along the floor. The room they kept her protector in had to have been hidden somewhere in this Chamber.

  “And here all I have to do is enter from the Nether, paralyze a single elderly guard and . . . oh, what do we have here?”

  Near the outer wall of the Chamber, she found a part of the floor that was not only uneven with rest of the hall but also had a barely visible seam around the edges. She glanced back at the old Paladin, and from the look on his face, she knew she had found the right place. She lifted
the false floor upward with a spell, and before it could fall back down, she wedged her scythe between it and the real floor.

  “Ah, a hidden trapdoor. Very sneaky. I’m impressed!”

  The Paladin again struggled against the magic pinning him. Even as the Midnight Queen ducked under the floor and began to descend the stairs into the hidden cavern below, her spell held strong. She popped a hand up through the opening and waved to the old man.

  “Don’t go anywhere, my dear. I’ll be right back.”

  She descended the stairs that went deep under the Crystal Chamber. Her smile widened when she saw Daemonus sitting in the shadows behind the blazing bars of a magical prison. It was a giant, clockwork machine covered in golden armor with a helmet that resembled a horse with a purple mane. A sword jutted out from the golem’s chest where it had been stabbed to contain its power.

  “My poor Daemonus . . . what have they done to you?” She moved closer, seeing the eyes of the Dark Consul’s longtime servant that no longer shone with life. “Well, we’re just going to have to fix that, aren’t we?”

  She raised one hand and created a portal in the air before her. Inside the bars of the golem’s prison, just above where the sword protruded, another portal formed. She could only create portals within a range of 100 feet, but that didn’t stop them from being incredibly useful. Slowly, she placed her hand through the portal and grabbed hold of the sword. She wrenched the long blade free of the golem and tossed the cursed weapon to the floor of the cell.

  Right away, Daemonus’s eyes began to glow a bright green. It couldn’t escape through the magical bars, so—body creaking like it was made of bits of porcelain—it rose in the cell and faced the wall behind it. It punched the wall ferociously, the Chamber trembling with each blow until he created a hole through the thick mortar.

  The Midnight Queen sighed at all the noise it was making and climbed the many steps leading up to the trapdoor. As she came to the top, she pulled her scythe free from the edge of the hole and the false floor dropped back into place.

  Her eyes returned to the old Paladin, who seemed to be staring hot irons into her.

  “Come now; you shouldn’t be looking at me like that. It’s not me you have to worry about.”

  There was a rumble outside and Daemonus came stomping into the Chamber, now holding a shield and sword that suited its massive size. The Paladin’s eyes widened when he saw the massive golem towering over him.

  “Yes indeed, I do believe it is him you should be more concerned about.”

  The old Paladin hyperventilated as the golem’s glowing eyes stared down at him, a sharp hiss passing from between its teeth. However, as it stepped forward, the Midnight Queen put a hand out.

  “Fortunately for you, there are more pressing matters we must see to before Nightsong is finished with what you people call a castle.” She looked around in disgust and turned to walk out of the Crystal Chamber. “Come, Daemonus! We have a princess that needs rescuing.”

  Chapter 5: Nightsong the Eternal

  Even after landing on the crumbling outer wall of the Rain Court, the undead dragon didn’t attack them immediately. Its claws dug into the high walls around the court and its mouth opened wide in a fierce roar.

  Instead of the dragon breathing amethyst fire down on them as Sapphire had expected, spawning points appeared on the tile floor. Sapphire’s gaze darted from one rift to another, seeing all kinds of lizard-like kobolds piling out from the dark Nether below, including a small army of undead kodeads.

  “Protect the king!” one of the soldiers called, and suddenly several armored men with spears surrounded Sapphire, her father, and her sister.

  Nightsong the Eternal may be the one leading these undead kobolds, but those rifts belong to someone else. Sapphire’s eyes shot around the Court, trying to find their source. The dragon’s power is in controlling the thralls, not in summoning them wherever it wishes! Who’s the one pulling the strings?

  The dragon seemed to be waiting for something, but by the time Sapphire had worked out what it was, it was already too late.

  “Wait, it’s trying to lure them in! It’s a tra—”

  “Attack!” The king’s command cut her off.

  The many gathered Heroes drew blades as the kodeads pushed forward. The monsters were simply being used to lure the soldiers to one point, for as soon as the two sides met, Nightsong’s amethyst fire flooded the Rain Court. There were screams as many were engulfed in flame, both enemy and ally alike being lost to the inferno.

  “You idiots!” Sapphire shouted. “Pull back!”

  Emerald put a hand on her shoulder. “Wait, can’t you see?”

  Unlike the kodeads, the gathered Heroes had a White Ember Mage. Blaze’s white flame shot up against the dragon’s fire, protecting the Heroes in a dome around her. Other magicians and sharpshooters in the Court then began firing a cover volley at the dragon.

  Nightsong’s flame cut off as it took to the sky to avoid the rifle fire. No longer pinned down by the flame, the ground soldiers rushed out to fight the kobolds circling the Crown Guard. Sapphire felt the room around her getting smaller.

  There are too many of them! Someone has to take control.

  Around her, the soldiers were shuffling her, her father, and her sister toward the entrance where the young Paladin from the meeting was waving them over. The soldiers were being slowly picked off layer by layer, like an onion, by the spear-stabbing kobold Skewers.

  “Arrowhead formation!” Sapphire called.

  The remaining soldiers shifted into an arrowhead shape and pointed their spears to stop the Skewers in their tracks. Two more soldiers were taken out by kobold Lobbers and their slings. Emerald quickly jumped out from behind the arrowhead and began sniping at them with her rifle before they could do further damage. As always, her shots were dead on.

  “Get back, Sis!”

  Before Emerald could return behind the front line, a Shadowscale, an elite member of the kobold infantry, rushed at her with a jagged sword raised. Sapphire ran out, drawing her sword and cutting down the Shadowscale. She retreated with her father and sister toward the Court entrance, where the young Paladin stood waiting for them. As the battle raged on in the Rain Court, the three royals started descending the stairs.

  The Paladin waved them through and followed, his own sword drawn. “I say, King Jasper, you must tell everyone to retreat!”

  “What?” the king asked. “Why?”

  “Nightsong is already dead, Your Majesty. It can’t be killed by conventional weapons or magic. Only a holy relic can slay such a monster!”

  Emerald stopped on the stairs, looking up as though hearing something no one else could. “It’s coming!”

  Sapphire looked around in confusion. “What are you—”

  Suddenly the wall of the stairwell above them caved in and Nightsong’s purple claws ripped at the walls. Above them was another section of wall that was about to collapse.

  There!

  “Paladin, strike the base of the wall! Now!”

  Unhesitating, the Paladin ran forward with his longsword and struck at the base of the wall. From Otto and Sapphire’s combined attack, the wall shook and crumbled in on the stairwell just as amethyst flame was about to shoot from the dragon’s maw. The purple glow lit up the fallen rubble from behind as they turned to run.

  They rushed down the steps as the stairwell caved in on itself, dust rising behind them. The cave in may have protected them momentarily from the fire, but it also cut them off from the other Heroes battling up above. Those Heroes were now trapped up there. From what the Paladin had said, Sapphire hoped that they could work together to survive.

  They dashed out into a wide hall, breathing heavily.

  “Well, that was exciting!” Emerald looked at them inquisitively as the others coughed to clear their lungs. “Now what?”

  “To the Crystal Chamber, I say,” the Paladin said when he had recovered.
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br />   “Indeed.” Her father coughed. “The magic will protect us there.”

  They swiftly made their way below the Halls of Honor, moving through the throne room and toward the Crystal Chamber. As they came upon it, the Paladin was the first to break into a run and Sapphire’s heart dropped. The place was a ruin. An older Paladin was lying in the middle of the floor, breathing heavily.

  The young Paladin knelt by him. “Father! By the Goddess, what happened?”

  The old man coughed and his eyes flew open as he grabbed hold of the other’s breastplate. “Ruby . . . Princess Ruby! You must . . .”

  Ruby, but she’s . . .

  The older Paladin convulsed, and the other looked to the king.

  King Jasper frowned and turned to his daughters. “Go to where your sister is. Otto, guard them well. I will bring the Sisters of Light to take your father to the Well of Weal to help him recover. Go now!”

  “Sending your daughters into danger; good one, Father,” Emerald said sarcastically.

  Sapphire grabbed her by the shoulder. “Your father is finally accepting that you’re strong enough to be sent into danger. I thought you’d be happy—”

  “Okay, okay, let’s go already!”

  Otto took one last look at his father before standing beside them. “I’ll be back, on my word!”

  Sapphire took the lead, raising her sword and running down the Castle halls to the crypt where Ruby’s body was resting. The royal crypt was at the back of the Castle, deep below the base of the tower. It housed the bones of the previous kings and queens . . . and one princess.

  The three of them rushed toward the throne room; the corridors leading down to the crypt were located behind it. As they reached the corridors, they stopped. The large stone doors at the base of the stairs leading to the tomb were already open, the darkness seeming to radiate outward.

  “My word. It’s already open.”

  “Now who would be in such a grim place at a time like this?” Emerald asked.