The Midnight Queen Read online

  “Both you and your sister, yes.”

  Princess Sapphire’s lips thinned. “And this includes following me and assisting me in whatever I do, correct?”

  Otto’s brow furrowed. “Well, it will really depend on what you’re doing.” His eyes narrowed. “Why? What are you planning?”

  “Oh, nothing too serious. I just need to know you will keep your vow and be on my side if I do something reckless.”

  His mouth dropped. More like when you do something reckless. He decided not to say anything.

  Princess Sapphire went to leave but stopped before going through the leaf-door. “My father always told me that the Paladins were formidable warriors of great renown and a force to be reckoned with. I can’t wait to see one in action for myself.”

  She winked at him and walked out into the twilight.

  If we’re lucky, you won’t have to see what I can do until we reach the Midnight Tower.

  If Otto had his way, he would have them sneak into the Tower, roll the Midnight Queen up in a mattress, and carry her back to the Castle on their shoulders, all the while praying to the Goddess that the Midnight Queen didn’t turn them into frogs.

  Chapter 9: The Flicker Cells

  Sapphire waited until it was dark. She would have to be quiet. Without a doubt, Cree was standing guard outside her door. Despite how good her sister’s hearing was, once Emerald was asleep, a dragon’s roar wouldn’t wake her. There were soft snores in the hammock across from her. She quietly arose and grabbed her sword from where she had left it beside Emerald’s rifle on the table.

  She couldn’t go through the front door, but they were staying in a giant plant. She could easily cut a new door herself. Pressing the point of her sword against the organic wall, she leaned against the hilt, pushing the blade into the wall and dragging it down. Once she had created a long enough slit, she stepped through into another room.

  “Who’s there?”

  Sapphire gasped and turned to see one of the Loom brothers lying on a hammock, although she couldn’t tell if it was Gloom or Bloom in the darkness.

  “Ah . . . you’re dreaming,” she said, desperate to find an excuse for why she was in his room. “Would a beautiful woman really come magically through your wall into your room in the middle of the night?”

  “Yeah . . . You’re right, that would never happen to me.” He grumbled and closed his eyes again.

  Even from the little time she had spent with the twins, she could tell it was Gloom from the pessimistic tone of his voice. The elf rolled over and murmured to himself before going back to sleep.

  Shocked that it had actually worked, Sapphire tiptoed through the room, brushed aside the leaf-door, and made her way out into the darkness. Even during the night, the smother mushrooms lit the Grove with sparks every time a burst of flame erupted from the spores. The guards patrolled around the town.

  Wait, aren’t elves supposed to have really good eyesight? Surely those sudden lights would affect their night vision.

  She waited for a few minutes before running down the road, watching for the bursts of fire so she knew where the rings of smother mushrooms around the town were. Once she had located the majority of them, she took off through the Grove, sticking to the shadows and avoiding the bursts of the flames wherever they plumed. Her strategy seemed to work, for no one called out to her as she sprinted from shadow to shadow.

  She dashed in the direction she had seen Nier lead Aelyph, but after she reached the outer wall, she couldn’t find anything resembling a prison. She scanned the wall until she found a hollow in the interwoven dead trees, curving outward to create a wide, open space.

  Inside the large indent in the wall were several rings of smother mushrooms, each plume of spores lighting up the darkness. Above the mushrooms were thick vines that climbed the walls; empty, cylindrical, metal cages hung from the vines. She could only assume the cages that were occupied were inside the walls, acting like a kind of prison.

  This might be the place.

  She scanned the wall, looking for an entrance. A large root came up from the ground and went into the wall, acting as a bridge into the prison. There was a guard posted outside, striding to and fro in front of the prison’s main entrance. She continued searching for another way of getting in. The thick vines of ivy that held the cages also crept up the side of the wall and into an opening high above. Sapphire could see from the cages dangling from vines outside that the opening was used to shift cages over from the prison to the smother mushrooms for interrogations.

  Looking around to see if anyone was watching her, she grabbed hold of the ivy and began to scale the wall, climbing up to the opening. As she caught the edge and hauled herself inside, a burst of fire lit the many cages hanging from the vines inside the prison. Unlike the ones hanging over the smother mushrooms, these ones weren’t empty.

  She walked down the hallway of cages inside filled with the prisoners of several different races, most of which appeared to be sleeping. She searched for Aelyph among the many prisoners, stopping to look into the cages each time there was a moment of light from the smother mushrooms. After managing to avoid walking into several guards—even having to hide behind a cage as one passed by—she eventually came across Aelyph’s cell.

  The next flame burst revealed him lying behind the bars, but his eyes were open, their red irises piercing the darkness.

  “Aelyph . . .”

  Like the last time they talked, there was a moment of prolonged silence before he replied.

  “Have you come to free me?” he asked.

  “No.” Sapphire grinned. “I’ve come to make a deal.”

  His eyes shifted to the ceiling of his cage. “What could I possibly have to bargain with?”

  “Information.”

  The next plume of fire showed an amused smile. “That I will give freely, just like I have with the elves. It is up to you whether you believe me or not.”

  Sapphire shook her head. “I don’t think what I want to know can be learned over the course of a night, so here’s my plan. If I free you, you will come with us and be our guide through the Nether Rifts and the Midnight Tower.”

  “I see . . .” he murmured. “I could guide you through the Nether Rifts, but I would rather be trapped in here than trapped inside the Midnight Tower again. I would rather die than return to such a place.”

  “Why? What happened to you there?”

  Aelyph’s eyes widened and he looked away. “There is a place at the base of the Tower, the deepest, darkest chamber. The closest place to the Rifts. It is called the Oubliette. You see, there is a madness about the place that infects your mind, and the closer you are to the Rifts, the worse it becomes. I was trapped in there for two years, only sustaining my sanity and spirit by clinging to the faint, uplifting songs that drifted to me in the absolute blackness. Even then, it is a place of nightmares.”

  “How did you manage to escape?”

  Aelyph sighed. “With much difficulty.”

  “I see . . .” Sapphire trailed off, sensing Aelyph didn’t want to bring up such a memory.

  “Who’s the pretty lady?” a slow voice asked in the cage beside Aelyph’s. “She woke me up.”

  Sapphire turned to see a form that looked like a giant made entirely of pointed roots and moss.

  “Who’s that?” she asked, regretting her question almost immediately.

  “Trent!” the thing called.

  Aelyph sat up against the bars of his cage and shushed him. “My cellmate.”

  “He doesn’t look happy. Why did the Rangers detain him?”

  It seemed Trent wanted to tell his own story, because he was the one to answer her. “I had a friend.”

  Sapphire glanced at Aelyph. The Riftling rolled his eyes, clearly weary of the “I had a friend” story.

  “I had a friend,” the huge tree-beast continued. “But I messed up. Like always.”

  That last part sounded so w
istful that, against her better judgment, Sapphire responded. “I’m sure it’s not that bad.”

  “That bad,” Trent confirmed. “Was my friend. Called me ‘buddy.’ Didn’t want to lead him down the dark tunnels, but I had to. Can’t cross the Forgotten King.”

  Does he mean the Forgotten King? In the next bout of fire, Sapphire looked more closely at the monster. He was huge, all curled up inside the bars. If he stood up, he would burst right out of that cage.

  “Tried to help him. But the big, white dog came and bit me.” Trent pointed a branch at a large scar on the bark of his trunk. “So I ran away.”

  Sapphire opened her mouth to continue her negotiation with Aelyph, but Trent wasn’t finished.

  “So I ran away,” he repeated. “And when I came back, everybody was gone. My friend was gone. So I went to look for him, to tell him I was sorry. And I went to the town where . . .” The Treant looked skyward for a moment. “. . . Where the bad things happened. And I tried to fix it like my friend did. I took leaves and scrunched them up and dropped them all around. But nothing happened.”

  “You were trying to heal the evil in the land?” Sapphire couldn’t help but smile at the big oaf. “But that only works with Deeproot leaves. And only if you have a Druid to make them.” She remembered being told this by Emerald.

  Trent’s face fell even further. “Messed up again,” he whispered, then continued in a stronger voice. “Then the Rangers were there, and the still-living people, and they were all yelling at me, yelling ‘There he is, that’s the one who did this.’ And they took me and put me here, and now I’ll never find my friend. Never tell him I’m sorry.”

  Sapphire sighed. “That’s not true, Trent,” she said. “You’ll find him someday. I know you will. And when you do, he’ll forgive you. Of course he will, because that’s what real friends do.”

  The hope on the tree-beast’s face threatened to tear Sapphire’s heart in two.

  Aelyph cleared his throat. “The Tower . . . The Rifts.”

  “The Rifts . . .” Trent repeated ominously.

  Sapphire turned at the sound of a guard’s footsteps. “I have to go, but I will return.”

  “I will be held over the smother mushrooms tomorrow,” Aelyph said.

  Sapphire nodded and stood. “If things get out of hand, I will stop it myself.”

  She went to escape the prison, fuming that she didn’t have enough authority here to simply free Aelyph. She was also baffled as to why the elves would go this far. An elven guard began to patrol the corridor, walking from cage to cage with what looked like a glowing branch. Sapphire lay low, trying not to be spotted.

  As she waited for the path to clear, she recalled what Gloom and the elven soldier at the meeting at the Rain Court had said about the battle on the front lines. Had the battle really become that bad? The guard didn’t leave for a long time, and she didn’t make it out until morning was approaching.

  Chapter 10: Interrogation

  Otto woke up in pain. He assumed the elves that slept in the hammocks were a lot more limber than him, as sleeping in a hammock had given him a crick in his back. He got up and stretched, hearing his spine pop as the idea of breakfast first popped into his mind. Taking his armor from where he had stacked it, he pondered what he might be able to get to eat in the Grove while putting it on. He was two-thirds through his morning ritual when there came a rustle from his leaf-door, and Princess Emerald walked in.

  “Shiny, you haven’t seen Sapphire, have you?”

  Otto stared at her for a moment. Wait, if she doesn’t know where she is . . . oh no!

  He rushed to put on the rest of his armor and jumped to his feet. Striding outside, he looked around the Grove only to see Princess Sapphire coming toward them with an angry look on her face.

  “There you are! I’ve been looking all over for you.” Princess Emerald’s tone suddenly changed and she said, embarrassed, “Not that I was worried or anything.”

  Princess Sapphire nodded and looked to Otto. “Have you made up your mind?”

  Otto shrugged. “Whatever you’re planning, I don’t think I have much of a choice but to go along with it if I want to protect you.”

  She nodded and turned to lead them into the thick of the town. Otto was surprised at how the Grove around them made the hot day much cooler; the pleasant temperature was a blessing of the Goddess in his cumbersome armor.

  They soon found a crowd standing around an indent in the wall. When she saw what they were all looking at, Princess Sapphire cried, “Oh no!” and ran into the mass of elves.

  Otto pushed through the crowd to follow her and eventually the three of them came to the front to see what the elves were all staring at so grimly.

  At the back of the Grove, against the wall, was a cage hanging over a large circle of smother mushrooms. The spores that were coming from it lit up in a plume of fire. Aelyph Maleroth stalked back and forth inside like a caged lion. He grabbed the thick bars and shook them before quickly pulling his hands away from the heat.

  “What do you want from me?” he shouted. The crowd of elves gasped at the ferocity in his voice. “I’ve already told you everything I know!”

  The method of interrogation was rather cruel, but even he didn’t think the princess would react the way she did. She ran up to Tytha, who was watching the spectacle with a smirk, and grabbed her by her long, blonde hair.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” Princess Sapphire demanded.

  “We’re questioning him. Let go!”

  “You’re not questioning him! This is public torture!” She pulled harder. “Let him out now!”

  Tytha slapped at Princess Sapphire’s hand and pulled away from her, forcing the princess to let go. “Who do you think you are, treating me like this?”

  She raised her chin. “I am Princess Sapphire, heir to all of Crystalia!”

  Tytha’s fellow Rangers nocked arrows and pointed them at her.

  Otto froze and raised his hands. “Okay, easy does it.”

  “What are you two doing?” Princess Emerald called in confusion.

  “We welcome you into our village, and you act in such a way! How dare you?” Tytha’s voice shook with outrage.

  Reading the situation for the danger it presented, Otto stood in front of Princess Sapphire before she could retort. “Tell me, were you not asked by Treffen to protect us during our journey through your Wood?” he asked. “Did you not give him your word that you would be our guide?”

  “Yes, but—”

  “And is it not the honor of a Glimmerdusk Ranger to keep your word to one of your own?”

  “Are you questioning the honor of the Glimmerdusk Rangers?” Tytha asked.

  Otto grinned. “Look at your fellow Rangers. I believe their own actions have already done that.”

  Tytha looked to Nier and Cree behind her and raised an arm. “Lower your weapons.”

  Princess Sapphire ground her teeth and stepped forward. “Now take Aelyph down!”

  Tytha met her icy gaze. “He’s a Riftling. You would side with him over us? We’ve been fighting your war against them for years!”

  “He is not like them!”

  “Says who?” Tytha hissed.

  “All right, enough!” Princess Emerald aimed her rifle up at the cage holding Aelyph.

  Princess Sapphire turned on her. “What are you doing?”

  “Ending this pointless argument.”

  With that, Princess Emerald fired. The bullet didn’t hit the cage but the vines holding it up. The cage dropped onto its side on a large smother mushroom and then rolled out of the ring of mushrooms. The impact sent up a flurry of spores, filling the cage with flames. Aelyph rolled on the grass between the bars until the fire was put out.

  Princess Sapphire ran to the cage. “Are you okay?”

  “I am,” Aelyph said.

  Otto sighed in relief but then whirled around at a sudden movement behind him.
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br />   “What do you think you’re doing?” Tytha asked, advancing on Princess Emerald.

  Otto raced to stand between them. The green-haired princess stared behind him, her grin nervous and her eyes wide in baffled amusement.

  “Oh, sorry. I was just trying to get him down. I honestly didn’t think it would happen like that.” She laughed. “Whoops.”

  Otto nodded. “A mistake; please forgive her.”

  Tytha scowled and looked over her shoulder at Cree. “Take our prisoner back to the holding cells.”

  Without a word, Cree went to follow her commands.

  “He needs healing salve from the lilies!” Princess Sapphire pleaded.

  They ignored her. Cree opened the Flicker Cell and, with Nier, carried him back toward the prison.

  Otto could tell the conflict wasn’t over and was beginning to see what was going on. He had seen the same attitude the elves were displaying in other Paladins when returning from more treacherous missions, missions where lives were lost. It seemed that, in the horror of the intensifying war with the Midnight Queen, this faction of the Glimmerdusk Rangers had become disillusioned with the war and fallen short of the standards that other Rangers followed.

  It’s not safe here. We must leave this place as soon as possible.

  “Return to your rooms!” Tytha waved them off. “I would not have this entitled princess anywhere in my sight during the rest of your stay. She has no idea of what’s necessary for martial law during a time of war!”

  Martial law . . . another name for tyranny. No wonder this town is so well behaved.

  “Tytha, when will we be escorted the rest of the way through the Wood?” Princess Emerald asked, voice high with trepidation. “We still need guides to the Midnight Tower.”

  “Gloom and Bloom will lead you tomorrow. I am needed here to deal with our other prisoners.”

  Princess Sapphire’s eyes burned with a building fury, but Otto chose to make a tactical retreat for now.

  “Come, Princess,” Otto said as he led her away. “We need to regroup and get our gear together for tomorrow.”