Dhara's life was turned upside down once before, and she had recovered nicely from it, thank you very much.
Then the king dies, which is enough cause for worry, and the reason for all the past upheaval in her life walks in through the front door wit...
Dhara stood outside her home, arms stretched, head thrown back, eyes closed. The soft wind flowed around her, fluttering through her curly brown hair. She sighed and exulted in being one with The Creator, being alive at this moment to see a brand new day. She dropped her arms and opened her eyes with a smile.
Dhara sighed. Today was going to be a good day.
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Today was not a good day. Her aunt had called to tell her that she needed to get back home immediately or face dire consequences. Dhara had no idea what those consequences are, but Aunt Lynda was a seer, so she may be speaking the truth.
Or it may be a ruse to get her back home and properly settled with a husband in the large family home.
That call had put her off a bit, but she had managed to get her good mood back when the local vet called, telling her that her pet owl had taken a turn for the worse, and would have to stay for a couple more days. She had been looking forward to having her back in the house.
She thanked The Creator for the fact that Owl was still alive, and tried to maintain a positive attitude as she created dream-catchers and nightmare watchers for those who had asked for them when her best friend and housemate stormed in with the worst news of all.
"King Dorian is dead!"
Dhara froze for a second, then dropped the charms in her tool basket.
"What did you say?"
"You heard me," Brynn said, removing her scarf and hanging it on a peg by the door. "King Dorian is dead. Long live Queen Edna and her brood of malicious ..."
"I won't have you speaking ill of the queen, Brynn," Dhara said. Brynn threw up her hands and stomped through the living room to the kitchen, muttering under her breath.
"I can still hear you!" Dhara sat heavily on a chair, leaning back with a sigh. King Dorian's death was bad enough because he was greatly loved by the people of Sansia, but his queen taking over the throne was another level of bad.
Queen Edna of Sansia was a sorceress. She was beautiful, intelligent, and a strong ruler, but she was a practitioner of black magic. She claimed to have seen the Light and left all of that long before marrying the king, but that was all a lie. Only The Creator knew why she had wanted to marry the king, and now, it seemed everyone else was going to figure it out soon.
"Oh, Powers that Be, how could this happen?" Dhara whispered. The wind chimes on the front porch tinkled merrily, in contrast with the general mood of the house.
"I can answer that for you," Brynn walked in with a plate, set it down on a side table, and sat on a beanie bag. "The queen finally killed the man, and now she is going to carry out her plans for world domination. After killing off all the people who opposed her marriage to the king in the first place."
"My family is on that list!"
"I know," Brynn said softly, worry creeping into her gaze. Dhara looked at her, then looked away.
"I refuse to worry about this. The Creator won't let anything bad happen to us."
"I admire your faith girl, I do," Brynn mumbled, biting into a sandwich.
Dhara picked up the nightmare watcher she had been making, then sighed.
"Guess I'll have to start making stronger charms from now on."
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Malachi stood with his soldiers, watching impassively as the Guards of the Chamber carried the coffin of the king to his final resting place. He glanced at the queen, who was appropriately dressed in funereal black, a thick veil covering her face. He looked at the royal children, four in all, the oldest a 23-year-old princess, and the youngest an 8-year-old boy. Lucius, his name was. Malachi noted the look in the boy's eyes; that bleak look of one who had seen too much and was bracing for worse to come.
Malachi understood that look.
The royal mausoleum, where all the dead kings and queens were buried, was a cavern-like affair that held over 100 dead royals, a testament to how far back the Zegemule dynasty went: at least 40 of those dead were past reigning kings and queens. The Guards of the Chamber placed the coffin on its allotted shelf and walked backward out of the cavern. Once they were out, the ornate gold doors were shut.
The funeral was over.
Everyone waited for the royal family to leave before they all walked away, heading back to the Meeting Hall.
The palace was a large, multi-storied building, with rooms that hadn't seen a soul in ages, and underground passages that just begged to be discovered. The royal mausoleum was one of the underground caverns running beneath the palace; the other known ones were the dungeons and the escape route in case of a siege.
Malachi had been the king's Captain of the Guard for over 10 years, and he still hadn't plumbed the depths of the palace.
He also didn't believe that his king had died of natural causes.
They walked into the Meeting Hall, where the king and queen held court, and Malachi glanced at the queen again.
She was up to something. He just had to find out what before it was too late.
