Silver Rose

The Dark Lord

“Shad! Shad!” Kyrin yelled.

Her voice was hoarse. She’d been trying to contact the mirror for hours. When that girl went in something happened. Kyrin’s mirror had actually fallen off the wall almost crushing her under it. It was now back on the wall, but the huge glass had splintered into two pieces. She didn’t know if that were the reason she couldn’t get in contact with Shad or if it was something more.

All she wanted to know was if the girl was dead. And if not, then hopefully the necklace was taken from her. She didn’t believe the girl was alive. Before everything had gone awry, she was choking out her last breath. There was no way she survived.

But, she had to know what was happening. That morning, Renata had gone to see some witches who’d come from Adger. They had gotten past the wall and Kyrin had to know how. Renata had said she’d sent for many more witches, but all had not reported to her at the time. She’d hoped that they’d show up when she went to see the other three. They were also hoping for wizards and sorcerers. But as Hock explained, witches often lived in communities, while sorcerers usually lived in remote areas. And wizards, well, that depended on the individual. So, they might get some wizards, but sorcerers would be harder since the message would spread by word of mouth. Renata had written to three witch sisters she grew up with. Flike delivered the message. The sisters not only agreed to help, but to find others. Kyrin didn’t like having to depend so heavily on humans, but she had no choice. In order for her curse to be fulfilled, she’d have to destroy them too. But until that time she needed them to kill off the hundreds of thousands of non-magic wielding humans inside the Wall.

Generals Chimise, Bellif, and Neateria had reported in that afternoon. Bellif’s troops had just reached the river that morning. Chimise’s troops had reached the Great River five days ago. Neateria arrived a day later. They waited two days for Bellif, then crossed the river. Crossing the river with over 10,000 creatures not including animals and supplies took them all day. And they were resting for five more days. Bellif would have to cross tomorrow. Bellif had asked for more time for his people to rest. Kyrin granted him one extra day. Chimise and Neateria would initiate war in the small riverside countries. Bellif’s men would come in to reinforce them. Chimise’s troops would go into battle if the humans attacked them first. Neateria would help if needed. Otherwise, her people would wait until the five days were up. Or until Kyrin told them to engage in battle.

Five days… Five days until her curse could begin to see its end. Kyrin sighed. She’d grown tired over the years. Tired of the waiting, tired of the preparing, tired of all the work that went into a curse. More and more now she wanted nothing else than to lie in the flowers under the warmth of the sun in Ambremose. Yet more and more she wondered if she would ever see days like that again. Or nights with the moon full and the stars shining while a warm breeze sent the sweet smell of roses across the land. She shook her head. She didn’t know if she even wanted warmth. She’d been cold for so long.

Her daughter had brought warmth. And her warmth had only betrayed her. After all Kyrin had done for her. Didn’t Mara know she’d done all this for her and Serio? And Mara had thrown it in her face! Now all she had was the memory of Serio. Warmth had only brought the pain back. Coldness allowed her anger to grow. Coldness allowed her curse to continue. Coldness would lead her to victory. It was all she needed. There was nothing else.

“Lady? Lady?”

Kyrin turned to the mirror. It had liquefied. Shad. She rushed over to stand in front of it.

“Shad?”

“Yes, my Lady,” Shad said.

Kyrin sighed with relief.
“I’m so glad. I almost thought I’d never hear from you again. What happened?”

He was silent.

“Shad?”

“I’m sorry my Lady,” he said, “but I’m no longer allowed to serve you.”

“What?”

“I cannot serve two masters.”

“What do you mean two masters?” Kyrin asked, hoarsely.

“The Dark Lord—“

“The Dark Lord!” Kyrin repeated. “The Dark Lord is serving me. As are you, Shad!”

“The Dark Lord has decided to—“ Shad began.

“The Dark Lord and you made an agreement with me. You’d serve me and in return I’d free the Dark Lord. Or have you forgotten?”

“We have not forgotten my Lady. But the Dark Lord no longer needs your assistance. So he deems the contact void.”

“What do you mean?” Kyrin angrily growled.

This was turning in a very bad direction and Kyrin’s stomach twisted in anticipation of what was coming.

“Maybe you should hear it from him instead,” Shad said.
The mirror’s glass swirled.

“Shad! Shad!” Kyrin yelled.

The glass bubbled then looked like clouds. Shad did this for her when she wanted to talk to Renata face-to-face. Whatever Renata had done, she’d kill her for it. The gassy clouds dissipated, and the glass became clear. Instead of Renata, Kyrin found herself looking at a thin man. His skin was deathly pale, his face very angular, black hair hung to his shoulders. He was dressed in long black robes. But what caught her attention the most were his yellow eyes. They reminded her of a cat and almost seemed to glow. Still, Kyrin had no patience for this strange man. There were bigger dilemmas to squash.

“Who the hell are you?!” Kyrin yelled.

The man chuckled. Then he bowed.
“Lanquor Genley at your service my lady,” he said.

“I don’t care who you are! Where’s Renata?”

“I’m here,” Renata said, suddenly stepping into view. “And I have the Kincesey sisters with me. They have brought six wizards and 20 witches back from Adger.”

“Fine. We’ll discuss their places and objectives tomorrow,” Kyrin said. “Right now I want to know what the hell Shad is talking about!”

Somewhere in the room, females giggled. Kyrin guessed they were the Kincesey witches.

“Renata answer me!” Kyrin yelled.

“How can I? You never asked me a question,” Renata said with a sweet smile.

There were more giggles. Kyrin could have fallen over with shock. The impertinence! Who did they think they were?!

“You little snit!” Kyrin slowly said. “I’ve made you into who you are. Should I take back that beauty spell?”

Renata’s smile fell.

“Turn you back into the pitiful, disgusting, old, ugly, hag you once were?!”

Renata’s eyes filled with fear and her hands flew to her face. Kyrin pressed on.

“Burned, scarred, oozing with hideousness and repulsive old age.”

“Stop it!” Renata shouted.

“Rejected by your people. Rejected by your husband. Tossed aside. Lock away to die alone, in pain and starvation. So disgusting your own son wouldn’t stand up for you!”

Renata dropped to her knees.
“Stop!”

“And your husband didn’t even give you the honor of death before he sought out a new, younger, more beautiful wife—“

“Shut up! Shut up!” Renata screamed.

“You, pitiful coward, still have not had the guile to seek your revenge upon him!”

“Stop.” She whispered.

“Tell me why Shad and the Dark Lord want to turn away from me?” Kyrin asked.

Renata’s lips quivered. Here it was. She opened her mouth.

“Allow me to tell her ladyship,” Lanquor said.

“I asked Renata.”

Lanquor grinned.
“I know and you did a wonderful job. I must say that I was enjoying myself so much I was going to let her tell. Just to see her break…” He sighed. “It’s been such a long time… But I shall have plenty of time with many people. After all I’ve got hundreds of years to catch up on.”

“What are you talking about?” Kyrin asked. “Who are you?”

“As I’ve said before, I’m Lanquor Genley. I’m the ruler of this country. Well, I was before Galcon and his people!” Lanquor spat. “But Galcon is gone. And I’ll take my throne again.”

Kyrin lifted an eyebrow. She really didn’t care. Lanquor chuckled.

“I see her ladyship still does not recognize me,” he grinned. “Let’s see, I’ve also gone by the names Prince, Sorcerer, my wife used to call me her Spider, and then there’s my favorite, Dark Lord.”

Kyrin’s eyes widened.

“Ah, I see her ladyship knows that name. Yes, my slaves, I mean subjects, always called me ‘my lord’. And since I’m such a generous ruler my subjects added the lovely adjective ‘dark’. I loved the name so much I had 80 of them cut open and then tied to heavy stones. And I sent them, alive, down into the ‘dark’ waters of the Sauyan Sea to meet their ‘lord’”

“Was all that really necessary over a name?” Kyrin asked.

“Was it necessary for you to burn people alive for your husband?”

“How did you get out?”

“How? That’s a good question. I don’t know really. All I know is I was finishing off the little princess, when everything began to shake. It shook a second time. Then there was this burst of light and the girl was gone… on the outside of the mirror. She ran off. We couldn’t get a connection with you. I was so angry I slammed my fist against the glass. My hand went straight through. It was like coming through a ghost. I walked out of the mirror and told Shad to ignore any attempts you made to contact him. Then I tried to see if I could still do anything. So I summoned a blustery wind, and moved up to a delightful ice storm. Then we decided to let you know.”

“Just because you’re out of your mirror doesn’t mean you stop serving me,” Kyrin said.

“I think it does. I don’t need you to get me out. I don’t need to serve you.”

“You’ll pay for this, Lanquor!” Kyrin shouted.

“And I’d be shaking in my boots except for one little wall you’re forgetting about.”

The blood pounded in her temples. How dare he! How dare he!!
“My army will crush you!”

“Lady Kyrin,” he grinned, “we both know your army was created to fight humans without magical abilities. They won’t stand a chance against us. It’s too bad. It was a beautiful army.”

“What do you mean ‘was’?” Kyrin’s heart stopped in fear.

“Oh, I almost forgot. That number of 20 witches and six wizards was wrong. It’s actually around 200 witches, 60 wizards, and a few other sorcerers. None as good as me of course. And while half are spreading out among this country and beyond, the others are heading straight for the Great River.”

Kyrin’s heart pounded.

“The non-magic humans will be caught in a battle between the creatures and us. We’ll be killing both humans and creatures.”

“Why are you doing this?! I was going to give this world to you!”

“I like to earn my rewards. Besides, for your curse to be fulfilled you would have had to kill us off some time.” Lanquor said. “And I wouldn’t bother coming down here yourself.”

A large woman shoved a cage into view.

“Flike!” Kyrin gasped.

He raised his head at the sound of her voice. He was covered in blood. Many of his feathers had been pulled out. One of his golden eyes was nothing but a bloody pulp. It took all her control to keep from vomiting in front of them.

“If I see or hear that you’ve come anywhere near your creatures,” Lanquor said. “I’ll have him tortured and killed. And instead of giving your creatures a quick death, I’ll order my people to as many as they can inside the Wall. And they’ll wish they’d never heard of Kyrin the fairy!”

She never should have told him any information. Why did she think she could trust him? Because he was trapped in a mirror! That’s why! And a trapped person can’t do any harm.

Lanquor coldly glared at her.
“Do I make myself clear?”

Kyrin didn’t answer. Lanquor picked up the cage and threw it across the room. Flike cried out in pain.

“Yes!” Kyrin said louder than she wanted. She was glad she couldn’t see Flike anymore. “I understand your terms.”

“Good.” Lanquor smiled. “It’s not like you could make it here in time anyway. It’ll take you weeks. And I only need five days. Isn’t that the same time you’re ‘beginning of the end’ was to start?”

Kyrin’s body quivered in anger. She had to get to him. Make him squirm. But he had all the cards. She loathed him! What allowed him out of the mirror?!… The girl! This was all her fault. And it was Mara’s fault, too, for giving the necklace to her. But the girl had somehow let Lanquor out. And now she was running around with—

“Lanquor!” Kyrin said.

“I’m through with you, fairy,” Lanquor said turning away.

“Where’s the girl?”

“That’s none of your concern.”

“Where’s the necklace?”

“Does it matter?”

“It should to you. But I’m sure you don’t care if you plans fail or not.”

Lanquor squinted.
“What do you mean?”

“Nothing really,” Kyrin smirked. “Only that you should watch out for my granddaughter. My blood runs through her after all.”

“That little twit’s your granddaughter?” Lanquor asked. “You’re lying. Why would you want to kill your own granddaughter?”

Kyrin shrugged.
“How long have you tried to get out of that mirror, Lanquor? Days? Months? Centuries? If you’re so powerful, why was a little twit of a girl not only able to defeat you, but get out of your prison in a matter of seconds?”

Kyrin smiled at the fear in Lanquor’s eyes. She had him. Then Lanquor bowed and grinned.

“I applaud you my lady. I thought I was a dark core, but I’ve never sacrificed the fruit of my loins for my own benefit. If this were a different time, I’d be in love. Maybe, when this is all over, we can let bygones be bygones.”

“I could never be with a human,” she said in disgust.

“You may change your mind. Don’t the poets say it’s not like people, but like hearts? Thin about it my dear. In the mean time, I’ve got a little princess to crush. Maybe I’ll give her bones to you as a wedding gift!” He laughed. “And I already know it’s what you want!”

Livid, Kyrin grabbed a nearby chair and swung it into the mirror. The chair shattered. Lanquor laughed harder. Kyrin thought of the stone beneath her feet. It rose up like a tower in the shape of the fist her hand now made. She pulled her arm back and the huge stone moved back, gathering momentum. She punched the air and the rock flew into the mirror. The glass shattered and Kyrin let the stone return to being a floor again.

She’d get Lanquor for this. He and his people would pay. And the girl would pay. Every single human would pay for the humiliation and suffering she went through.