Chapter 4

Queen Robina was in a foul mood.

Her spies said that Mark had disappeared. The rumour was that the boy had gone back home the same way he had turned up. They said that Vasari had instituted a search of the Palace, the town and the surrounding area.

The only things missing from his room were a few toiletries. He hadn’t packed a bag or taken any other items from the palace that anyone could identify as missing. The staff and guards had all been questioned, but no one saw him leave.

“Is she pregnant?” Robina asked the spy she knew of as Walter.

“No, my Queen, neither Vasari nor her daughter is expecting. The stranger was last seen going into the library, but no one saw him leave. He must have found the spy passage and used it to get himself down to the Sacred Room,” Walter replied.

Robina frowned and tapped her long fingernails on the arm of her chair. She always met her spies in a hidden and shielded room in her palace. “I still do not understand how he got here in the first place,” she groused as she poured them both a cuppa tea.

“Nor I, my Queen, I have checked, and the old scripts mention that the crystals must be charged for the portal to work,” he replied as he accepted the cup from his Queen.

“But he turned up on the dais in the middle of a bloody ceremony. There are too many witnesses to say that it was a hoax,” she stated as she sat back and sipped her tea while waiting for an answer.

Walter shrugged, “Well, they were praying for a solution to provide an heir for Vasari. He must have been sent by the Gods and Goddesses.”

“But Vasari and the princess aren’t pregnant. So who else did the boy service?” she asked.

Walter rattled off a list of names including the ones who had become pregnant with Mark’s sperm donations. He also mentioned that Mark had refused to supply anymore for the last month, so no new females could become pregnant from him.

Robin strummed her nails again as she thought about each of the women mentioned. She dismissed them one by one except for one. “Remind me of Lady Anika’s lineage,” Robina asked.

“She is Alina’s half-sister, so at least four generations removed. I’m not even sure she would pass the blood test as a royal,” Walter replied.

“True, but don’t forget the bloody crowns don’t always go to a royal from the current family especially if they have diluted their magic too much. We will have to watch all of the children and grandchildren. It gives us time anyway. I wasn’t ready for our all-out invasion to happen before winter, so at least his disappearance has given us time.”

“The child can’t take the crown until it is sixteen and if it is one of Mark’s brats we should know, by the time I rule both countries if it requires removal. Any news on the aracnzi antivenin?” she asked, changing the subject.

“Yes, but you’re not going to like it,” he replied. “Baroness Alina’s men have failed to retrieve it. Major Millan has reported that they have spent three days combing the forest, but Jean and her pack, have disappeared.”

“He said that she has the only sample of it and her complete notes are in the pack she had with her. They believe she had gone to check her traps and she must have seen or heard his men, and she ran deeper into the forest.”

“If she did, then she would have been spider bait by now, and her pack could be anywhere. Millan’s men refused to go any further than half a day’s march into the forest. After he lost three men, the rest of them totally refused to enter the forest at all.”

“The aracnzies are very aggressive as they get ready for winter. He said that they have started early this year, suggesting an early and long winter. Even Alina has halted collection of webs until they go into hibernation.”

“So we are unlikely to get her supplies until late spring,” Robina mused. “I’ve had reports that our people have also had to back off. The aracnzies have even been attacking farm animals in the high paddocks, and farmers have to move stock.”

“I’ve also heard these reports,” Walter said. “People are saying that they have never seen so many of them. They are getting very bold and even working together to take down large animals. One of the farmer’s near the range said he saw four of them feasting on one of his camla.”

“He managed to kill one and sent its body to the mages. Mage Trevin informed me it was one of the biggest aracnzies that he has ever seen, and the farmer said it wasn’t the biggest of them in the group that he saw.”

“Hum, that is a worry. We can’t march an army through the Pass, if the aracnzies are becoming a problem. I was hoping to move once the Pass was open but the aracnzies will also be active again and ravenous, by the time we get through if we have a long winter,” Robina said.

“Well, as you said we do have time. I suggest we wait until late summer. We can monitor the aracnzies and then start an eradication program after the spring harvest, when we have enough materials for the suits you need. It will also give us an excuse to have soldiers in the Pass. They can act as advanced scouts,” Walter suggested.

“Yes, that is true. However, we will need to monitor Vasari’s aracnzies too. If she isn’t having the same problems she won’t like our soldiers killing them on her side of the range,” Robina said.

“From the Major’s and Alina’s reports I wouldn’t be surprised if our soldiers end up working with Vasari’s doing the same job,” Walter replied. “They send just as much trade our way as we do theirs. If merchants are attacked by aracnzi in the Pass, it will upset a lot of people.”

“True. Even after we invade, we still need the Pass open. We may need to ask the Mages Guild to see if they can put better shields over it,” Robina replied.

“They have tried, but without new crystals, the shields just don’t last through the summer storms. I’ve also heard a disturbing rumour that four more of the mage items had failed. They have had four high-ranking mages die in the last month.”

Robina sat up in shock, “What?”

“Two died here and two in Vasa. The crystals on the items have disintegrated making them unusable. I went myself to get the other information for you this morning and found that Mage Robert is one of the mages who died.”

“His novice was still in shock and very upset about the item as she had been groomed to receive it. She doesn’t know when she will be able to gain full mage status now. What worries me more is that as I walked around the Guild Hall, I noted they have very few disciples.”

“Lord Mage Gralin was reluctant to answer my questions as to why. When I probed about hearing of the crystals failing on other items she blanched and refused to say more,” Walter finished.

Robina frowned, “This is very disturbing. Both countries rely very heavily on the services of the mages. I was going to ask Gralin to visit me so I could ask if she could run a recruitment drive for new novices and I was even going to offer to help pay for it.”

“I’ve had complaints about the mages and novices being hard to get hold of lately, and I wanted to make sure I had enough healers. If the magical items are failing, I’m going to have to replan my invasion. I need the mages to be doing their jobs.”

“I’ll check into the rumours for you, but I have a feeling we are not going to like what I learn,” Walter replied.

“Yes please do. I need to know if Vasari is having the same problems,” she replied.

Walter stood, bowed and left.

Robina removed the elaborate non-magical crown and put it on the table.

She then rubbed her temples hard and said allowed, “Stop it. You know why I’m doing this. You have seen my visions. The longer I wait, the worse she will get. The deaths I may be responsible for now will be far fewer than what she will do when she goes completely mad.”

“My friend, I have to stop her. This latest little escapade was intolerable. How humiliating it must have been for that poor young man, fancy selling his sperm to the highest bidder. Not to say anything of those who bid on it and used it.”

“Her people are becoming corrupt. She blames us for harbouring pirates, and everyone that we have caught has been from her people. The attacks on merchants in the Pass have all been her people. Her jails are overflowing, and her taxes are twice mine.”

“I just need to live long enough to have her removed from power. I fear that the degradation of our magical items is affecting me too. How can I even contemplate doing what I have planned? Except in my heart, I can’t let her rule much longer. It will be the ruin of both our countries if she does.”

Robina cried into her hands. Great racking sobs at what her friend was forcing her to do. They had been magnificent rulers in their time, but she knew their time was coming to an end. She feared for the people of their two nations.

She had been trying to find solutions, but other than removing Vasari from power and trying to put good people in places of trust before she died was all she could come up with. She didn’t know who would get her crown. She was beginning to believe the reign of Queens was over.

If the magical items were failing, then she held out little hope of the two countries surviving as they were. War would be inevitable, as her dreams had predicted. She had hoped that by striking first, she could save many lives in the future, but Walter’s latest tidings didn’t reduce her fears.

She had hoped that the coming of the young man would help Vasari, but it doesn’t seem that he was the one she had seen. How could he let Vasari walk all over him if he was as strong as her dreams said their saviour was? No, she had run out of time, despite what she said to Walter. Unless the saviour came before the following autumn, the two nations would be at war.

She saw no other option to save the future of her people.

Vasari was also reflecting on her life that night.

Mark had been gone for four days, and she missed him. She wanted him back. She found herself thinking about their last conversation, and how, he seemed to have perceived her treatment of him. She was pissed that he had thrown her love away. However, she knew he didn’t love her as she had come to love him. He had made that clear to her on many occasions.

His sullenness and lack of response to her this last month had hurt her. So she made a few deals to keep her political allies close. The kid pumped out sperm like a tap, and he got pissy because she found willing recipients for it. What did he care if he had kids all over town? Males here bragged about getting women pregnant especially if they had daughters.

She knew she had only sent him away because he had refused to make love to her again and she knew she couldn’t force him. When she had confronted the mages with Mark’s statements about her being barren, they had stuttered and stammered, and finally agreed with his assessment.