Chapter Two

My mouth fell open. I snapped it shut and pulled myself together. I had a legend to uphold, by all accounts. “I am?” I croaked.

Essa turned from the fire. She was paying attention. “The first guardian, the one who sent the kings to sleep, was Arralana, youngest child of the Radiant Emperor.”

“We’re royalty?”

“Technically, I guess. I’m not sure it counts after five hundred years.”

“Was that why the Emperor wanted to marry you?”

Essa’s gaze snapped back to the fire and I wished I hadn’t spoken. I didn’t mean to upset her. “He wanted to marry me because he thought I could deliver the four kings to him. He would have slaughtered them in their sleep.”

Axxon crossed the floor to set a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “That could not have happened. He underestimated the enchantment. You could never have helped him to harm us.”

“No,” I said. “He needed me for that.”

Rey took my hand. “No. You would never have betrayed us.”

“You don’t know that. I have no magic – how could I have stood against him?”

“Except you did,” Essa said, without turning.

“Because I was with you. Essa and Kyann against the world.” I turned back to the kings. “I want to practise. I want to try and get my magic back.” I wasn’t prepared to be a spare part, and I couldn’t allow something so important to be left to chance.

“Of course. We’ll help you,” Rey assured me, reaching for my hand.

His reassurance warmed through to my bones. “Thank you.”

“We need a plan.” Axxon drew up a chair and sat on my left. “Not just for Kyann, but so all of us are ready for what lies ahead.”

I nodded, my gaze drifting to his bare chest and arms, the sleek muscles beneath the decorated skin. A surge of determination flared through me. The kings were magnificent, and I wanted to be worthy of them, a powerful guardian rather than a weak girl.

“What’s our next step?” Rey pulled up another chair, taking the place on my right.

“I assume we all noticed the Emperor’s talisman?” Vashri asked, bringing a third chair to sit in front of me between Axxon and Rey.

A talisman? I was glad when Fon at my shoulder said, “What talisman?” so I knew I wasn’t the only one not to have noticed.

“He was wearing a horn of magic. It’s a gem used to store magical energy.” Vashri tapped the centre of his chest.

“The blue glow?” I asked, remembering the way the blue strands of magic had wreathed up the Emperor’s arms when he’d stolen magic from his prisoners, settling in his chest.

“That’s right.”

“We know the Emperor is stealing magic,” I said. “Which is causing Charnrosa’s problems. But what is he stealing it for?” I looked at the faces around me. “Why would someone usually have a horn of magic?”

Vashri frowned, crossing his arms as though to ward off whatever the Emperor was attempting. “They are rare. And for good reason.”

Rey took up the explanation. “Magic is a natural resource.” I nodded; magic imbued everything in the world. “Those who can control it use it to shape the world how they desire, directing something’s magical essence to change. But if magic is taken from an item, that thing will suffer, whether it’s a flower or a person or the earth itself. Magic should be kept in flow, not hoarded like a miser hoards gold.”

“Is he hoarding it … just because he can?” Afraid to run out, insecure that he might lose what he’d fought his brothers to gain.

“That’s possible,” Axxon said, but his tone betrayed his doubt.

“He could be planning dark magic,” Vashri stated. “He may be seeking enough power to conquer a neighbouring land, perhaps.”

“He plans to become immortal,” Essa said from her place by the fire.

We swung to look at her.

“What?” Fon demanded.

Essa gave a thin smile, drawing the blanket closer around her. “Our less-than-stalwart leader is old enough to feel his mortality. He has no desire to give up the power he’s enjoying. He believes he is powerful enough to cast an enchantment that will make him immortal.”

Silence fell.

“Wait, wait, is that even possible?” My gaze settled on the kings and heat warmed my face again. “Forgive me, of course it’s possible.” The kings had slept for five hundred years without aging; I was displaying my ignorance of magic, just when I’d sworn to recapture my abilities.

Vashri nodded solemnly. Even Fon had lost his grin.

“We are not immortal, however,” Axxon said. He continued before I could speak. “We do not age while we sleep, but we will each have only a normal, human lifespan. Now we are awake, we will age as any man might.”

“True immortality is a perversion of magic,” Vashri said. “The only true immortals are the goddess, and the soultaker who rules the underworld.”

The others nodded.

“Then we need to destroy his horn of magic?” I asked.

“Certainly,” Axxon said. “He will be able to draw power from it. Such a talisman makes him a fearsome opponent.”

“But … you’re the four kings. You’ll be able to beat him?” I hated that the words came out as a question. I’d intended them as a statement. We had to be able to defeat the Emperor. We just had to – or all magic in Charnrosa might be lost.

“Of course we can,” Fon stated with the sort of brash confidence I wanted to hear. “When we have our full powers, he will be no match for us.” He glanced at each of the other kings in turn. “Don’t forget that we each have a horn of magic to strengthen us.”

“You do?” I glanced between them, as though they might pull a jewel out of their shirts or a pocket and show me.

“The Gems of Giera,” Essa said, capturing my attention again. She rolled her eyes at my expression. “Didn’t you listen to any of Ma’s stories?”

“Not as closely as you evidently did.”

She began to recite. “The Gems of Giera were imbued with the power of the goddess herself. There were four of them, tied to the elements: her Tears, her Breath, her Bones and her Heart. Their power was too great for ordinary mortals, so they were kept in the underworld when the earth was made whole, and lay undisturbed for centuries. Then, the four kings who were more than human travelled to the underworld. The goddess gave the gems to them and they used them to wield magic powerful enough to weld a divided Charnrosa into a single empire.”

I looked at the kings. I’d forgotten that part of the stories. These men wielded powerful magic, but that wasn’t all they could do. “Are the stories right?” I paused, licking dry lips. “You can control underworld creatures?”

“That’s right,” Axxon confirmed. My mouth dried. My imagination conjured all manner of pictures. I wanted to ask to see, but they weren’t performing monkeys.

I cleared my throat. “I see.” They were kings, and enchanters, and masters of the elements themselves. And I was Kyann, magic-less orphan from Myledene. And also the guardian who was every bit as important as the four kings. Apparently.

I would do my best not to be jealous that I didn’t get cool elemental powers.

Rey shifted, suddenly restless. Before I could ask what was wrong, his stomach rumbled loud enough to echo through the room. “Is anyone else hungry?” he asked. “I think I’ll find a snack.”

Fon rolled his eyes. “Don’t let defeating the Emperor get in the way of your stomach, will you?”

Rey grinned. “Definitely not.” His gaze swept all of us. “Just me? I’ll try not to be long, then.”

“Actually, I’m hungry.” Essa spoke up. “Can I come with you?”

“Of course.” Rey looked pleased to have company, although his gaze rested on me another moment.

I lifted a shoulder apologetically. I was too excited by what I was learning to have room for food.

They swept from the room. Fon sighed melodramatically. I stifled a smile. It was reassuring to see such a sign of human normality as hunger; a useful reminder that the kings were men, after all.

But I understood Fon’s impatience, too. “What’s the plan to defeat the Emperor? Do we try to storm the citadel? And what do I do? Without magic won’t I simply hold you back?” I hoped they weren’t going to suggest I stayed here while they dealt with the threat of the Emperor. The idea of being parted from the kings now made my stomach lurch uncomfortably.

I wished I’d had longer to get used to the idea of being the guardian. If my father hadn’t been in the Emperor’s prison for the last eight years, he would have shared his knowledge with me and prepared me for the role. As it was, everything I knew about the kings was myths and stories, abruptly come to life.

“You made a worthy opponent when you stood in front of the Emperor,” Axxon said, and I wanted to hug him. I’d been terrified and acting on instinct. It was a miracle matters had worked out well. Awareness of the kings prickled over my shoulder blades. Well, not a miracle, I supposed, more a matter of being a part of the right team.

Fon got to his feet, taking on Rey’s role of ‘restless king’. “Does anyone else want to be reunited with their gem?” He grinned at me. “Would you like to see?”

My mouth dried. See the legendary gems created by the goddess? I nodded.

“Come.” Axxon held out a hand. “We’ll show you.”

My palm was sweaty, and I pressed it to my tunic before taking Axxon’s hand.

“The Gems of Giera were made by the goddess,” Axxon told me. “The power they contain… it’s immense, beyond even that of ordinary horns of magic.”

My blood beat hard in my ears.

“Shouldn’t we—” I was about to suggest we wait for Rey when he came into sight, striding two-steps-at-a-time up a staircase to our left. He was chewing, a bitten-into apple in his hand.

“See? I said I wouldn’t be long.”

I looked past him. “Is Essa with you?”

“She’s in the kitchens.” He glanced down at the apple in his hand. “She doesn’t have to be quick.”

“Come along.” Axxon took my arm and led the way downstairs to a room at the bottom of the castle. It was dark until Fon flicked his fingers and four lamps sprung to life. They were set at intervals in the circular wall, above four sarcophagi whose lids had been set to the side. I couldn’t see it, but I felt magic in the air. I thought we were at the centre of it all, where the kings had slumbered for the last few centuries.

They led me to a raised plinth in the centre of the room. A stone box sat on top of the carved pillar, level with my chest.

The kings assembled around me. As my attention darted between the stone box and the four men, I realised they had taken up places evenly spaced around the room, in line with the sarcophagi and the lamps. Each had his place.

“Open the box, Kyann,” Fon prompted. “The gems are within.”

I swallowed and stepped forward. It’s just a box, I told myself. Never mind that it contained jewels made by a goddess, and that it was talked about in legends written centuries before I’d been born. It was only a box.

Grasping the edges of the lid, I shifted the stone top, evaluating its weight. I lifted it, twisting to the side to place the lid beside my feet. When I straightened, I realised the four kings were all watching me as though I were more important than the gems inside the box. I couldn’t hear so much as a breath from my audience.

Standing on tiptoe, I reached into the stone box. I expected to find cold gems, possibly set in straw for protection. Instead, I found something hard and square within. I lifted it up.

The stone had been sheltering a wooden box, an ornately carved casket such as a king or queen would use to store their most precious jewels. I turned, my gaze darting to the kings. They moved to cluster around me, so all could see as I flipped back the hinged lid.

And found emptiness inside.