Force: Book Two of the Zoya Chronicles Read online

  They sat in silence, the tension rising. The King sat draped across the chair, staring at each and every one of them. He had a manic smile on his face and he was daring anyone of them to speak.

  Housing looked around. It seemed like Treasury and Intelligence were both starting to get as uncomfortable as she felt. That made her even more uneasy. If they didn’t know what he was planning then she knew this wasn’t good.

  “Sir…” Intelligence said, breaking the silence.

  The King held up a finger and Intelligence fell silent. They waited again in uncomfortable silence.

  Housing looked around again. Justice had his head down and was averting his eyes. Goods looked as confused as she felt. The humor was lost out of Treasury’s eyes and he was looking genuinely confused.

  The door burst open and everyone jumped except the King. A large dark-skinned man walked through the door. He was bald, with gold and ruby earrings and jewellery. He was wearing dark purple robes lined with gold. He had patterns painted in gold across his head and face. He was joined by large soldiers. Their shining silver armour rang out as they ran into the room, surrounding the council at the table. They held crossbows out in front of them, a weapon rarely seen in Langundo.

  Housing knew in one crushing instant that she wasn’t getting out of this council room.

  She had a sudden desperate feeling of regret. For her entire life. The city she had been devoted to was being destroyed. She’d never had a husband. She’d never had kids. She’d only focused on her work.

  And now it all meant nothing.

  “My dear council,” King Sebastian said smoothly, “I’d like to introduce you to some friends that I’ve invited to our country. This is General Kapre of the Ampulex.”

  Kapre nodded and made his way around to the throne. He held out his hand and King Sebastian kissed his ring.

  They were here. They had come early.

  Housing was filled with desperation. She knew that she had to do something. Anything. She toyed with a dagger in her pocket. She’d never killed a man before. But she had brought it today just in case. Now she wasn’t sure who was the bigger threat, the King or this General Kapre.

  “Now,” General Kapre said smoothly, “I am from an army called the Ampulex. We do not herald from any place but from all places. We go from country to country, inviting those living to join us in our quest for ultimate freedom.”

  “You do not offer freedom!” Treasury said loudly. Housing was shocked that he would say anything against his King. “You offer slavery. Don’t think I haven’t heard the whispers of your men. You ask for complete obedience. And if we don’t kneel, you will make us.”

  The King’s eyes flashed and he went to rise, but General Kapre held up his hand. “We do not deal in slavery,” he said. “Everyone in the Ampulex army is given the choice to join us.”

  “We will never agree to follow you,” Goods said strongly. Housing’s heart leapt at the sound of his voice. “The people of Solias, of Langundo, are their own people. We do not need some foreigner to step in and rule us. We are doing just fine.”

  “Just fine?” Kapre asked. He started to chuckle. His men around him chuckled. “You call this fine?” Kapre said, gesturing around himself. The King’s smile faded.

  “Your people are starving. You have allowed this man,” Kapre pointed aggressively towards the King, “to come in here and kill anyone and everyone he wants. You have allowed a mad man to rule your nation. And you’re surprised that it didn’t work out?”

  The King rose angrily. An Ampulex guard rushed forward and pulled a sword out. He pointed it at King Sebastian’s throat. The King raised his hands and slowly sat back down on his throne, face flush with embarrassment.

  “Good dog,” Kapre said with a venomous smile. “We will dispatch you of your King,” he said to the council. “In return you must publicly announce your allegiance and bend a knee to our illustrious leaders, Lord Roald and Lady Malin. They will soon arrive to your mockery of a country.”

  “We will never bend a knee to someone who is not our King!” Goods said loudly.

  Housing nodded weakly.

  “Fine. No loss to us,” General Kapre said with a shrug.

  The Ampulex guards stepped forward and aimed their crossbows. Housing grasped for Justice’s hand. She needed to feel someone, anyone. She desperately felt around for him. He found her hand and held it. His hand shook and she knew he was as scared as she was. They clasped hands tightly. She had flashes of her life. Her boring, lonely life. She had only worked for her country. For her city. She’d had no one. She knew Goods was only involved with her because she was the best of a bad situation. There was no love there. She had lived her life alone. Had lost herself in her work. Her now pointless work.

  She would die as she lived. Completely and utterly alone.

  “You tried,” she muttered to herself. Tears started falling. Justice gripped her hand tighter. “You did your best.”

  She didn’t believe herself. Her entire life had been a waste.

  She let out a sob.

  She heard a thunk.

  She felt a tearing sensation through her back. She felt herself fall, but was dead before she hit the ground. Her dagger, brought to council so she could save her country, was left forgotten in her pocket.

  21

  Eli

  October 29, 210, 19:07

  Location: Solias, Langundo.

  Eli watched the slaughter of the entire council slack-jawed.

  He had come to kill the Mad King. That was his job and his alone. The attack of the city had started. Eli didn’t know how it was going. He had left the Revolt early in the attack to find and kill the King.

  Something was wrong, everyone felt it, but they were too busy trying to rescue the people of Solias to figure it out.

  Eli had sneaked to the council chamber door. He had his daggers on him and a small bow. He had to kill the Mad King by any means necessary.

  He had opened the door a crack, just in time to see a bald black man dressed in gold shrug his shoulders and five soldiers shoot their crossbows into the council members’ backs.

  “Now we’re even,” the man said to the King, completely ignoring the bodies of the council dead on the floor.

  “Kapre, I didn’t appreciate you ridiculing how I rule this nation,” the King replied indignantly.

  “Your rule is one to be ridiculed,” Kapre fired back. “Your people hate you. They have nothing. There’s no honor in what you have done here.”

  “I didn’t invite you here to belittle me,” the King snapped. “I invited you here to help me to establish my rule.”

  “And I’ve done what you asked of us,” Kapre replied. He was pacing around the table towards the door, careful to avoid the blood pooling on the floor. Eli could see him coming in and out of his vision. He was dressed in gold and painted in a way Eli had never seen before. He had no idea where this man had come from. He wasn’t from any Melanthios tribe that Eli knew.

  Maybe Carabesh? Eli thought to himself. He didn’t think so. Those from Carabesh didn’t adorn themselves in gold and robes. They wore light clothing and their soldiers didn’t wear full metal armour, preferring the lighter style of leather armour.

  Eli was thoroughly confused as to where these people had come from.

  West. The thought popped into his head.

  Eli shook his head. There was nothing to the west, just water. He was sure of it.

  What makes you so sure? he asked himself.

  He didn’t have an answer to his question.

  “Where do we go from here?” the King asked Kapre. “I’ve kept my end of the bargain. You said you’d come here and help me if you were allowed to remove the council. Now it’s your turn to help me gain control of these people.”

  Kapre was standing with his back towards Eli at the closest end of the table. He said something softly and Eli pushed his face closer to the gap in the doors to listen.

  Suddenly, the doors burst
open. Eli didn’t have time to react, to turn, to run. He stood there dumbstruck as a hand grabbed him by the throat and pulled him violently into the room.

  22

  Jules

  October 29, 210, 22:00

  Location: Solias, Langundo.

  Jules and Titus were exhausted and riding hard into the night. It was day five, the day of the attack, and they could see the glow of Solias in the distance.

  It made him uneasy. The attack was well on its way if Solias was on fire.

  Jules didn’t think that he and Titus would be much use in battle. They hadn’t slept much in the last five days. They only stopped to rest their horses when they could. He could tell his horse was fading beneath him. Jules knew this ride would probably kill his horse, but he couldn’t stop. They couldn’t rest. They had to make Solias to present Titus for when the King was killed. If they didn’t make Solias in time it would be chaos.

  “Come on,” he said urgently to his horse. He could feel him struggling beneath him but he was trying to run as hard as he could. Jules heard Titus say something beside him and he knew he was encouraging his horse as well.

  They had to make it, they just had to.

  The broken wall of Solias crumbled in front of them. Jules reined in his horse and jumped off. His legs and hips were stiff and he struggled to be able to run or move fluidly. His teenage sidekick, however, seemed to jump off his horse and start running with ease.

  By the time Jules caught up with Titus he was almost at the wall.

  “Stay with the horses,” Jules said when he caught up with him. “None of this works if you die.”

  “Then keep me alive,” Titus said angrily, refusing to stop. “This is bigger than any of us.”

  Jules didn’t have the energy to argue. They ran through the crumbling wall into the city. Jules hoped their horses found rest and water, they had earned it.

  The city was on fire. Thick acrid smoke billowed through the air. People were coughing and sputtering, trying to find their way out of the city to fresh air. The people from here looked gaunt and poor. Jules could tell they hadn’t eaten well in months. Bodies littered the ground. Blood stained the buildings. Men and women were screaming and crying, trying to drag their children and each other out of the smoke. It was complete and utter chaos.

  “What happened?” Titus turned and asked him. His eyes were wide. The kid had never seen war. And he was much too young to see this. But Jules didn’t know any other way. “I thought they were just here to sneak people out! They were never supposed to kill civilians!”

  “We don’t know if this was us,” Jules yelled back. The black smoke coated his tongue as he yelled and it tasted horrible. “We need to find Vick!”

  Titus nodded.

  “Keep low and follow me!” Jules yelled. He stooped, lowering himself to where the air was clearer and they stumbled forward. The smoke made it hard to breathe. They managed to get past the house that was burning and causing most of the smoke. Once the air cleared Jules stood tall and looked around. He could see members of the Revolt yelling at the civilians, shouting directions to the crumbled part of the wall.

  Jules ran up to one of them, Titus close behind. “Brother!” he said. He coughed slightly. The man turned and looked at him. “Where are Vick and Eli? I must speak with them.”

  “They went towards the center of the city and the castle,” the man yelled back. He pointed. “That way. They are trying to evacuate as many people as possible.”

  Jules nodded, “Did we do this?” he asked, gesturing. A small girl of perhaps four or five was trying to drag her stunned mother out of the chaos, who was limping and disoriented.

  The man ran over to help the child. He put his shoulder under the woman’s armpit, “This was not us,” he yelled, “the Sun Gods did this. There’s someone else here as well! Whatever you do, don’t engage!”

  The man dragged the woman into the smoke with the young girl in tow.

  “What did he mean there’s someone else here?” Titus asked,

  “Your guess is as good as mine,” Jules said. “We’re going to listen to him though. Don’t engage with anyone if you can help it, we have no idea which of the Sun Gods are on our side or not.”

  Titus nodded. They ran the way the man had pointed, directly into the center of the city towards the castle.

  Only a few of the houses were burned. Bodies littered the ground as they ran, both Sun Gods and Revolt alike. Jules ran to one of the bodies of a Sun God and pulled out an arrow embedded in the dead woman’s chest.

  “What are you doing?” Titus asked, shocked.

  Jules looked at the arrow closely and held it out to Titus for inspection.

  “You recognize this?” he asked.

  Titus looked at it and shook his head. “Not one of ours,” he said, referring to the Sun Gods. “Must be a Melanthios arrow.”

  Jules shook his head, “No,” he said, “they use hawk feathers. This isn’t a feather,” he said, running his finger over the base of the arrow. It was paper thin and white, but Jules hadn’t felt this type of texture before. “It’s unlike any arrow I’ve ever seen.”

  Jules put the arrow back down. Jules drew his sword and, eyes wide but face determined, Titus followed suit.

  “Just in case,” he said. Titus nodded his agreement.

  They made their way carefully down the street. The smoke was still there but thinner. Two soldiers materialized in the distance. They were standing perfectly still. They were dressed in bright silver armour and held crossbows in front of them. Jules had never seen anyone dressed like that before in his life. They were flanking the street. They must have seen them coming but they didn’t move a muscle.

  Jules noticed Titus shift his grip on his sword.

  “No,” he whispered. “He said don’t engage.”

  He looked around them. There was no way to get to another street or up on the roofs to sneak by. And Jules was sure that these soldiers would have already seen them.

  Jules shrugged and just walked up to them. He expected a shot to the heart at any point. He just kept his head high and walked towards them. The soldiers didn’t move. Jules and Titus just walked past the soldiers and continued on their way down the street. Jules let out a breath that he didn’t know he’d been holding.

  “Ok, I’m weirded out now,” Titus said shakily.

  “Me too buddy,” Jules said. “Let’s find Vick or Eli.”

  Titus nodded. They sheathed their swords and ran forward a bit, exhaustion replaced by fear. They jogged through the city towards the moat and castle. There were other odd soldiers but they all acted the same. They just stood there and let them pass, unflinching.

  They made it to the inner wall. Jules saw Vick, standing on a fallen bridge, barking orders. They ran up to him. Vick noticed them coming and his smile was huge. He took Jules into a big bear hug, squeezing the life out of him.

  “I hoped you’d make it,” he said. Vick turned to Titus and bowed. Titus just nodded curtly, still uncomfortable with the reverence.

  “My King,” Vick said.

  “I am yet a Prince,” Titus said. “My brother is the rightful King.”

  “Unfortunately there’s been no word of your brother or the man we sent to find him. It has been quite some time since we’ve heard from Ujarak. We are assuming they are both dead. You will be my King in three years on your nameday.”

  Titus nodded but Jules could see a tear in his eye. He felt the loss as well. He’d loved Ujarak as a brother, hearing of his suspected demise was hard to swallow.

  “Until my nameday I am still a Prince,” Titus said. “And you will address me as such.”

  Vick smiled, “Yes, my Prince,” he said. “You’ve done well, Jules.”

  “What’s happening?” Jules asked. “Why the rush?”

  “Well we were trying to get here before this other army arrived but it seems we were too late.” Vick shrugged. “Notice anything unusual about them?”

  “Besides th
e fact that they have had plenty of opportunity to kill us and they just stand like a statue?” Jules asked.

  Vick smiled, “They seem to only engage when attacked directly. By the time we realized this we lost good men. Most of the Sun Gods have defected and fled the city. The other Sun Gods set about killing civilians until the Revolt and this unknown army stepped in. I have no idea if they are an ally. They killed plenty on both sides, they seemed to just be protecting civilians. I’m just overseeing the last of the exodus.”

  “Eli?” Jules asked.

  Vick shook his head, “I have not heard. He went to kill the Mad King alone. He has not returned.”

  Jules’ stomach did a back flip. Poor Eli. He was the youngest of all of them, with laughing eyes and his stupid face tattoo.

  “I’m going to find out for sure,” Jules said.

  Vick nodded his agreement. “The Revolt pulls out in ten minutes. I can’t leave anyone behind to make sure you get out. You’ll be on your own. We’ve lost enough soldiers today.”

  Jules nodded. “He deserves it.”

  Vick hugged him again, “Good luck. I hope this mysterious army continues to be passive against us.”

  Jules disengaged from the hug and ran across the bridge. He noticed Titus follow him.

  “No!” Jules said. “This is a suicide mission. I cannot allow you to come.”

  Titus rose up and his eyes flashed. Jules cowered a bit. The boy looked like a King. “I will go where I am needed,” he said. “And tough shit, Jules, you need me. Now let’s get your friend out of there and get us out of here. My lungs hurt.” He shrank back down again and once again he looked like a teenager, like Titus.

  Jules didn’t argue. They ran across the bridge over the moat into the castle.

  “Where do you think they will be?” Jules asked. They didn’t meet any of the unnerving guards.

  “I’m getting the feeling we need to go to the gallows,” Titus said, “and main fountain. I’m not sure why.”