The Reluctant Queen (The Queens of Renthia #2)(134)

"Mama says it's okay to cry if you're really hurt. Are you hurt, Erian? My foot feels uncomfortable. Prickly. Do your feet ever do that? It helps if you shake them." The lift began to wobble-Llor was shaking his foot. "Do you think we're going to die in here? If no one ever knows we're in here, do you think we'll starve? What do you think it's like to starve?"

"We won't starve," she told him. "Don't talk like that."

"What if I have to pee?" he asked.

"Don't."

"But if I really have to?"

She heard a creak from above them, and she froze. Beside her, Llor fell silent without even needing to be told. She listened, trying to hear what it was. She heard a scrabbling sound, like a chipmunk running across dried leaves.

"What is it?" Llor whispered. "Is it a spirit?"

It could be. Very, very much could be. She wrapped her arms around Llor. If it was, there was no place to run. No place to hide, except where they were. Nothing to do, except wait.

So they waited, in the darkness, listening to the spirit crawling around in the shaft.

Time passed. She didn't know how much time. It could have been hours or just minutes. It felt like forever. She wondered if she'd ever see outside this lift again, if she'd ever see sunlight, if she'd ever see Mama or Father. She started crying for real this time, and her tears fell onto Llor, but he didn't say anything. He just squeezed her tighter.



       
         
       
        

The lift lurched upward.

"Erian, what's happening?" Llor whispered, his voice high and scared. "Is it Arin?"

They rose faster, up and up. "Yes, I think so." Hope blossomed inside her, and she looked upward, as if she could see anything in the darkness, as if there were anything to see besides the roof of the box.

"She made it," Erian breathed. "We're going to make it."

The lift jerked to a stop.

Silence.

And then the skritting sound, closer this time. Llor squeezed against her, and she held him tight. It sounded just above them. Definitely a spirit.

They rose again.

Higher.

A thump on the roof.

"It's above us," Llor whispered, directly into her ear.

She said nothing. There was nothing to say. If the spirit realized they were inside . . . She heard it growl, that familiar and awful rumble of a tree spirit, just above them, riding the lift with them.

And then the lift halted again.

They waited.

It didn't start.

Slowly, quietly, Erian unwound herself from Llor. Her muscles had had a chance to rest. She could do it, raise them up a little more. She grabbed the rope and began to pull.

The spirit on the roof moved-they heard its paws as it paced-but Erian didn't stop. She kept going, even when her arms began to ache again.

They rose higher and higher, until at last-at long last-their heads bumped into a ceiling, and the rope jerked to a stop. They were here. The top of the tallest tower. The Queen's Tower. Together, they locked the lift into position.

Bending, Erian opened the little door. She heard a voice, muffled, male, human. She hoped it was someone friendly. She squeezed out and then held her finger to her lips to signal Llor to be quiet. He jumped out next to her. Together, they crept up the final steps to the tower platform.

Erian peeked and saw a man in healer robes, bent over a pile of silk and lace and-the queen! She hurried forward, pulling the vial from her pocket.

At the sound of her steps, the healer spun-he had a knife in his hand. Erian halted, and then she heard a half whine, half bark. Llor cried, "Doggie!" He ran toward Bayn.

But Bayn lunged past him. Jaws wide, the wolf jumped onto the tree spirit who was climbing out of the dumbwaiter. Bayn pinned the spirit down-it was a small one, chipmunk-size, with thorny claws. Howling, it struck at Bayn's face, but Bayn tore into it.

Right before them, the wolf ripped the spirit to pieces. Erian stared, unable to match the sweet wolf she knew with the savage beast she saw. The spirit was like a limp, lifeless doll. Growling between his teeth, he shook its body in his jaws and then dropped it. 

"Erian, the queen!" Llor shouted, tugging on her sleeve.

Erian held out the vial to the healer. "The queen's sister gave this to us."

Llor nodded vigorously. "She said it will make the queen better."

The spirit lay silent, in a pool of brown saplike blood. Erian tried not to look at it. Bayn trotted over to them, and Llor threw his arms around the wolf's neck.

With a trembling hand, the healer took the vial. Erian, Llor, and Bayn crowded into the tower and watched as the healer tilted the queen's head back, gently parted her lips, and poured the liquid into her mouth.