The Hostage, part two
Maya faces the truth in the tunnels beneath Teron
The Great Fire continues with part two of The Hostage. Previously we learned that Maya escaped into the tunnels beneath Teron, leaving the Dancer behind.
The Great Fire is designed to be read in any order but you can catch up on the previous stories here:
The Hostage
Part Two
I slept that night on the floor of the tunnels beneath my city, too weak from the encounter to go any further. I dreamt of memories of my father showing me the stars. He would often take me to the edge of our Kingdom where the Eastern outpost looks out towards Lirahndür and beyond.
There he would show me the rivers of light through the night sky, and even though he knew their names, he would make up new ones as he slowly counted through the infinite lights above us to tell a story that was meant just for me.
He held me tight as I sat on the edge of the wall and told me stories of Queens like my mother and the Queen he hoped I would be become. There were stories of the royalty before me and of the Gods that watched over us, stories of heroes that fought against evil and stories of love.
I often think back to those nights because I would much rather be there than here. Everything seemed so much bigger then, there was so much more room to move. Over time the walls of what I knew grew taller and I became trapped inside them.
When my mother died it became so much harder to see the truth. I believed what any one told me to believe because it was easier than thinking for myself. When my father died, I think he took too much of me with him but still they made me Queen. That was fifty years ago now, I was only sixteen.
I want you to know this because you need to remember that when the Fire began I was young. When I met Favian, I was young. Youth is never an excuse but I need you to try and understand: I only wanted to curse Favian.
I thought that if he forgot everything he knew that I could correct the damage that he had done. I knew that I couldn’t curse him myself but I didn’t appreciate that Favian may not be the only thing that someone else would want to forget. I was young. The curse of course affected nearly everyone in Teron and all the nine Kingdoms to varying effects. But we’ll get to that soon enough when we get to the Fire. First, we must go back to the tunnels.
I awoke in the dark to someone shaking me. I don’t remember falling asleep but I do remember my feet getting heavier to the point where I couldn’t lift them. I fell down and then didn’t have the strength or desire to get back up again. After years of safety and protection I had developed the ability to will myself to sleep with a thought.
Now of course, I struggle to fall asleep at all and it only takes a change in smell to wake me and I’m up and armed before someone has a chance to attack.
Even in the tunnels that night, I didn’t feel immediately alarmed at being woken. I recognised the hands. It was when I felt the dirt of the floor and opened my eyes to the dark that I remembered I wasn’t in my bed and my stretch jolted into alarm. I desperately searched to confirm who was with me.
“It’s alright,” said the voice in the dark, which I recognised at once. It was my son, Thallian. He brought his torch slightly closer to my face, inspecting my wound by the firelight. “This needs to be cleaned.”
He gently peeled away the bandage that was now thick with dirt and blood. I have no idea how much time had passed but my head had stopped aching even though my neck screamed with pain as he took the bandage away.
“I need some water,” he called.
“I don’t – ” I started, but he hushed me, which he had never done before. In fact, I can’t remember the last time we were alone together before then.
I quickly realised that he wasn’t talking to me. A woman appeared in the light and kneeled down next to him with water. I recognised my mother’s necklace before I recognised her. It was the one I had given to Thallian to give to the one he loved.
“Corenne?” I said, her eyes briefly met mine before Thal stole my attention.
“It’s okay, it’s just us,” he said. I don’t know why I didn’t know before then that they were together. I’m not even sure that I had ever seen them speak to one another. Yet they were so comfortable with each other and she was wearing the necklace that had the same jewels as my crown that I was wearing in the same moment.
Corenne had been our ward, she was sent to us from Centra nearly six years before when her mother became sick. They couldn’t work out what her illness was and out of fear that it would infect their only heir, they sent her to Teron for protection. Then somewhere along the way, the years went by and she was still with us.
I had always known her to be kind and quiet but beyond that I had very little to do with her. She lived in her own quarters, received as good an education as my own children, but I admit, I don’t believe that she ever truly enjoyed being with us.
Or at least she didn’t enjoy being around me. To see her with Thal and to realise they were in love hurt more than the attack because I realised that I didn’t know either of them. Thal finished bandaging my wound and helped me to my feet.
“There was an attack," I said. "Some people tried to kill me and the Dancer from Baline. I had to get away but I don’t know who would do this.”
“What do you mean, you don’t know?” He said.
“I’ve been trying to figure out who but – ”
“Favian did this.”
“Thal – ”
“No, don’t try and excuse him. Open your eyes! Favian is taking Teron for himself. Hells, he’s taken it! He’s going to kill you and rule as King.”
“No, listen.”
“No, listen to me. We escaped just before he tried to kill Corenne, all because he believed that she was some sort of threat. He’s butchered seven leaders from other Kingdoms – he’s lost his mind! Anyone who refuses to recognise him as the true King, dies. He wants to rule over everyone.”
I would love to say that I knew all of this before Thal spoke it but I didn’t. His words tied everything together and dragged it into focus.
It wasn’t just anyone who attacked my life, it was Favian. My husband. He was trying to take my crown. Thal let go of Corenne’s hand and tried to take mine but I wasn’t ready to be touched. Even by him.
“We’re leaving now,” he said. “You need to come with us.”
“I can’t leave, this is my home. My kingdom. ”
“Your majesty,” said Corenne. “I’m sorry to say but it isn’t anymore. Please, we’re going back to Centra, my family will take care of us, we’ll be safe there.”
“I won’t abandon my Kingdom.”
“He’s already taken it!” Shouted Thal. “I know it’s hard to hear but we won’t wait. We’re not safe here and either you come with us or you don’t.”
“Thal. I can’t.”
“Fine,” he said. Before I had time to change my mind they turned around and left, my son leading the way.
Corenne looked back once as they fled, her eyes shining with tears that made them impossibly blue. It was the same look she gave me when she arrived and Favian had told her it was all going to be all right because she was safe with us.
A thought often occurs to me like a bad itch and makes me wonder whether she had ever been alone with Favian and I worry what would have happened if she had.
I watched the torch become a smudge of light as they fled. I wish I could say that I’ve seen them since or that I had made a different goodbye, one that he deserved. But I didn’t.
I doubt they made it past the wall.
As I watched them leave I remembered how Favian used to refer to Corenne as The Hostage. I wonder now if he knew that he was calling her that aloud, because the term was one I have always despised.
Memories like that have become clearer over the years in the dark, those moments that should have caught my attention because they were so different to what he showed me.
Favian, after all, is a performer and until Thal said what he did I believed that he was real.
I ran back to the throne room, determined to face him and remind him whose throne sat inside the mountain. But as I climbed back up, and felt the cold marble floor, I saw that those old wooden doors were shut.
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