“Please, kings and queen of Nevertide, assemble.” A quiet but firm voice echoed from the pavilion, and the sentries started to move—the ministers shuffling back while some stepped up onto the stone, taking their place beneath the arches. I watched as Tejus took the arch nearest where I was standing, with Lithan and Qentos standing directly behind him. I tried to get a better vantage point, but they were all so tall it was near impossible without getting too close.
In a matter of moments, the six royals were each standing beneath individual arches, while the six Impartial Ministers stood in the center of the dome. I couldn’t really make out the faces of any of the royals, but from a distance they all seemed as tall and broad as Tejus, with Queen Trina looking as fragile as a china doll in comparison. Eugh.
“Welcome all.” The old minister spoke again. “We meet in grave times indeed. Perilous times. Which is why the imperial trials have more importance than ever before; our land is in need of a leader, someone to bring us into a new dawn. A new age.”
He paused. Everyone waited in complete silence—even the whispering of the ministers had ceased completely.
“Thus, the trials will begin tomorrow at daybreak. We will reconvene here, and you will receive further instruction.”
This time a wave of muttering went up through the waiting ministers that surrounded the pavilion. I moved closer, trying to see what kind of reaction the kings were having to the news. I could only get within a yard of the structure without pushing through the sentries and drawing attention to myself. From my vantage point, Queen Trina’s face was the only one visible to me, and she looked gleeful.
“Please note,” the minister continued, “due to the circumstances, there will be no witnesses to the trials. No audiences, no crowds, no others than yourselves and two chosen ministers; their names should be delivered to one of us before the sun sets.”
The sentries started moving again, and the murmurs grew louder. Obviously the meeting was over, and as the ministers parted, Tejus stepped down from the pavilion. As I made my way over to him, I couldn’t help but pick up on snippets of conversation the sentries were having amongst themselves.
“Red rains… Hellswan bastard, they’ve been too long in power…the runes have been writ…time is short…can’t remove the borders…just plain trickery! Treachery!”
It frightened me how unpopular Tejus was. If this was what the ministers thought, then surely the Impartial Ministers would feel the same way? What if they swayed the trials in favor of the other kings—or worse, Queen Trina?
I approached Tejus. He was speaking to another man who, judging by his elaborate sword and colored cloak, was a king of one of the other kingdoms.
“It is insanity!” the king hissed. “We need to delay the trials—I fear for our kingdoms, and this is just a distraction! What can they possibly be thinking?”
“They’re thinking that the kingdoms need to be united, Thraxus. I agree with them—these are dangerous times, and we need to stand united.”
The king threw his hands up in the air, “Of course you say that, Hellswan! The danger comes from your kingdom. I have heard mad stories! Old stories, tales long forgotten but by the old ones…” The king shook his head warily, backing away from Tejus.
I looked up at Tejus. He didn’t look offended in the slightest, just resigned as he watched the retreating king.
“Hey,” I whispered.
He smirked down at me. “You can talk now.”
I rolled my eyes. “I was being polite. I didn’t want to intrude.”
“A first,” he quipped, smiling at his own joke.
I chose to ignore him, and began to walk away from the surrounding ministers, hoping that he would follow me. He did.
“Why are you pleased the trials are starting?” I asked as soon as we were out of earshot. “Aren’t you worried? There are more apocalyptic signs to come, there’s an entity trying to escape from your castle…I mean, I can think of a million reasons why it would be a good idea to postpone them.”
Tejus shook his head.
“We need that book. We need an emperor. Otherwise, that entity is going to rise from whatever prison it was put in, and there’s going to be nothing to halt its ascension. Nevertide will be lost.” He paused, gently brushing a stray hair from my forehead, and smiled sadly at me. “And all who reside within it.”
Tejus
I stepped back, my hand burning from where I’d brushed against her temple. As ever with Hazel, her mind called to me in a way I found almost impossible to comprehend. I had syphoned off many minds in my lifetime—so many, each with their unique fabric and texture. None had affected me the way Hazel’s had, and never before had I been tempted into something as intimate as our ‘mind-meld’—the term she used to describe our practice of sharing memories and visions.