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8. To Arkadia

Amaranth's hand hovered hesitantly over the sixth bark token. She flexed her fingers, rolled her wrist, even gnawed her lip. Just about anything she could think of besides turning it over. Quietly cursing her own cowardice, she withdrew her hand.

Rubbing her knees, she cast her eyes over the five other bark tokens laid out before her on the roundhouse's floor. Each thin wooden oval was engraved with a unique symbol. These were the Comhartha. They were what generations of Erinians had turned to in trying times, in search of guidance or solace.

The tokens were drawn from a larger set of exactly twenty-two, kept in a felt bag beside hers and Shadow's bed. For the purposes of this reading, each token represented one of the six days since her husband rode out of Dalriada. That was how long the ride to Arkadia was said to take.

There was no compelling reason to think he, Knuxahuatl and Blaze might've come to harm. The emissaries would've spent most of their eastward journey traversing Loegria, the domain of Queen Saffron. Her late mother Melissa hadn't always been the most dependable ally, but the young queen bee had fastidiously honored her treaty commitments for nearly two years now.

As it was, the tokens indicated Shadow had passed a very dull journey indeed. However, any seasoned Comhartha reader knew that the longer a pattern repeated itself, the greater the chance that the next token would break that pattern, for better or worse.

Amaranth renewed her focus on that unturned sixth token. Outside, she could hear Silver's grunts as he chopped wood. With Lobo and Susi off mucking out the stables, she'd set him to work with the axe so she could perform this reading in peace.

"And if you don't get on with it, he'll be finished before you are," she murmured to herself.

With rigid clawlike fingers, the hedgehog extended her hand and flipped the final bark token. Her eyes widened as they beheld the engraving of a whirlwind. The Vortex. It portended only one thing: imminent danger.

"Ma?"

Amaranth's eyes snapped towards the roundhouse's low door. Silver was peering inside.

"Silver, I told you not to—"

"Th-there's a visitor, ma."

The roseate hedgehog frowned as someone nudged her son aside.

"Hello, Amaranth," said Honey, stooping to see through the door, "The queen requests your presence."

Amaranth glanced down at the Comhartha, then back at the flaxen-furred feline.

"Very well," she said, gathering up the tokens, "Let me just—"

Silver wretched as Honey seized him in a headlock. She pressed a dagger to his neck.

"You come as you are," said the cat levelly, "As does he."

The bark tokens tumbled out of Amaranth's hands as she clambered to her feet. She nodded frantically.

жЖж

"Men of Harlech! Form up!"

Bees in bronze armor buzzed hither and thither until two rows of spears lined the path out of the hillfort's royal compound. Standing in the compound's gateway, Charmus nodded approvingly, then turned to face Queen Saffron and the honored guests they'd hosted overnight. The hedgehog, echidna, and cat were lined up behind the queen, resplendent in iron armor.

"Your honor guard awaits, my queen," said Charmus, bowing his head.

Saffron buzzed over to stand beside the armored bee.

"So I see," she said, kissing Charmus's cheek, "Another job well done…my king."

"Not quite yet," muttered the armored bee, awkwardly adjusting the sword at his hip.

The queen bee took his sword hand and guided it to the bulge in her cerise velvet dress.

"We'd best make it soon," she whispered.

Charmus stiffened as he felt the larva — their larva — kick against his palm. He quickly remembered himself and removed his hand.

"Saffron," he whispered chidingly, "Our guests are watching."

They were indeed. Knuxahuatl was particularly struck by the sight of a queen being so openly affectionate towards a consort. He could only imagine how Charmus must feel. His relationship with Queen Rouge was one of the more closely guarded secrets in Dalriada. Only her household slaves and bodyguard Honey were privy to the ongoing dalliance.

Oh, and Princess Blaze. That was entirely by accident. They had quite literally bumped into each other one night in the shadowy side-passages of Rouge's longhouse. It seemed the cat shared Honey's bed, though Knuxahuatl wasn't sure why. Initially he'd thought they were lovers, but he'd started to doubt that assumption over the course of this journey.

Every night after they'd stopped to make camp, Blaze had slept in Shadow's tent. Moreover, they'd shared the same room in the royal guesthouse last night. It flew in the face of Rouge's joke about Amaranth being the only true sovereign in Shadow's life, but then, it had been a long five days they'd spent on that chariot together.

"Come, my guests, please join us," said Saffron, beckoning to the ironclad trio.

The emissaries of Dalriada duly obeyed. Shadow and Blaze walked in lockstep.

жЖж

The echo of a spear butt striking flagstones heralded Honey's arrival at Queen Rouge's longhouse. The bat sat up on her carven wood throne as her bodyguard strode across the main hall, towing the stumbling Amaranth and Silver behind her. The hedgehogs' wrists were bound with leather cords. They were both gagged with rope.

"What is this?" asked Percilla, a lilac-furred bandicoot, standing to the right of the queen.

"The queen's justice," sneered Bramble, the white rabbit on the opposite side of the throne's dais.

"Justice for what?" asked the bandicoot.

"My sister," replied the rabbit.

"That's not true and you know it," interjected Rouge.

Bramble looked woundedly at the bat.

"That little fleabag got Thorn killed, my queen. He should be crow food by now."

"And had Thorn kept her helmet on, we wouldn't be having this conversation," countered Rouge, "A conversation that I am now ending."

With that, she rose from her throne and stepped to the edge of the dais. Lurking in a corner of the hall, Lupe hurriedly filled a goblet with wine and delivered it into her mistress's hand. Meanwhile, Honey forced the gagged hedgehogs onto their knees before the queen.

Rouge sipped wine as she looked them over. The impassive Amaranth didn't look up. Her attention seemed unerringly focused on the flagstones. By contrast, the quaking Silver's eyes were shut tight. The queen wondered if the distraught child even knew where he was.

"I see you made the most of this opportunity," said Rouge, looking to Honey.

"Strictly a precaution, my queen," said the cat.

"A precaution for who?"

"For you, my queen."

Rouge took a long draught from her goblet. She swilled the wine thoughtfully.

"I'm sure it was," she said eventually, "Take this."

Percilla blinked as the goblet was held out in front of her. She accepted the cup.

"My queen?" said Bramble uncertainly, watching Rouge step down off the dais.

The bat approached Honey. The cat stood to attention.

"This was too much," said Rouge sternly, "Even for you."

"But my queen!" blurted Bramble.

Rouge whisked the dagger out of Honey's plaited leather sword-belt, whirled around, and threw the weapon. Its blade stuck in the wooden wall between Bramble's ears.

"This is as far as this goes," the bat snapped, "You will let your sister rest."

She turned back to Honey.

"Remove her from my presence," said Rouge, snatching the leather cords out of her bodyguard's hand, "Then guard the door."

The cat nodded stiffly, then started towards the dais.

"Lupe?"

"Y-yes, mistress?" said the she-wolf distractedly, captivated by the sight of Bramble being hauled away like an errant slave.

"See to the child," said Rouge

Lupe's eyes widened. She padded forward to receive the cord attached to Silver's wrist bonds. Her hands trembled as she tugged it ever so slightly. The albino hedgehog finally looked up, blinking his bloodshot eyes.

The cord slipped from Lupe's grasp. She dropped to her knees beside Silver. Putting her arm around him, she tried to encourage him to his feet. The teary-eyed ten-year-old wouldn't shift.

"Speak some sense into your child," commanded Rouge, yanking down Amaranth's gag.

Flexing her aching jaw, the roseate hedgehog looked to her son.

"Silver, be a good boy for Lupe," she half-whispered.

The albino hedgehog gradually turned his head to meet his mother's gaze. He mumbled something into his gag, then arose in tandem with Lupe. The slave led him away through a side-door.

"How long do you plan on staying down there?" asked Rouge pointedly.

The nonplussed Amaranth cautiously got to her feet.

"Might I ask what's going on, my queen?" asked Percilla, drawing up alongside Rouge.

"It would seem to be a matter of perspective," said the bat, taking back her goblet of wine, "Bramble would have you believe those rebel slaves have found a silent champion in our ranks."

She paused for a mouthful of wine.

"I happen to think someone's bleeding heart got the better of them again."

"How so, my queen?" asked the bandicoot.

"I buried a dead child—"

"You buried Valens's murderer!" snapped Rouge, slapping the hedgehog, "That corpse was left there as a warning, but no, the Wolfmother's conscience simply had to be salved, didn't it?"

Unable to massage her stinging cheek, Amaranth lowered her gaze.

"That's why, isn't it?" Rouge went on, "Why go to the trouble of breaking Honey's spear if you were going to chase him anyway? She could've spared you all that. Don't stand there and tell me you thought the boy was leaving that valley alive?"

The hedgehog said nothing. The bat sighed and sipped more wine.

"Come dawn, Percilla will lead a warband down to garrison Gordian's farm. His baggage train shall require protection. You shall provide it."

Amaranth looked up. "Gordian, my queen?"

Like the late Valens, Gordian was another of the Broskosian warriors who'd fought in Aero and Rouge's conquest of Dalriada. The old bat had since retired to a farmstead in Galderia's deep south, right on the outer limits of the queen's domain. Of all her holdings, it was by far the most vulnerable to attack from the jackals of Songhai.

"Don't think this is a request. Your transgression demands punishment," said Rouge sternly, "Just not the ghoulish ordeal Honey and Bramble might've had in mind."

"I understand, my queen," said the hedgehog, bowing her head.

"I thought you might," said the bat, "Percilla will see to it that there's space in the wagons for your son and slaves."

"My…slaves, my queen?"

"Bramble shall stay here, and while I doubt she'd be stupid enough to harm a quill on your son's head, I fear the same can't be said for Lobo."

Amaranth suddenly dropped to her knees, pressing her forehead to the flagstones.

"Thank you, my queen," she breathed.

Rouge crouched, urging the kowtowing hedgehog to lift her head.

"You will take Lupe as well."

жЖж

Out on the Arkadian prairie, Knuxahuatl whoaed his horse and scented the evening air. The wind blew thick with the smell of sweetgrass and flowering sage. He wasn't sure how much longer he could fight off the temptation to dismount and roll around in the grass. It was good to be home.

Knuxahuatl looked over his shoulder. Through the haze of the dust cloud thrown by Shadow's chariot, he could see the sun beginning to set. He grinned. That settled it. They would camp here.

It wasn't the most secure of campsites, but few such places existed in Arkadia. Unless they went in search of one of the scattered lakes, the emissaries were guaranteed to be spending the night surrounded by prairieland, no matter how far they rode.

Eventually, Knuxahuatl's companions caught up to him. Blaze grabbed the chariot's railing as Shadow heaved on the reins, bringing his two bay mares to a halt.

"We camp here," said Knuxahuatl.

Shadow glanced around the patch of knee-high grass.

"Here?" he said incredulously.

"This is all there is between here and Laputa," said Knuxahuatl, spreading his arms expansively, "That's another day away."

The bay mares and the echidna's palomino stallion all brayed.

"You see, my lord?" said Blaze, gathering up the new tents and sack of honied meats Queen Saffron had sent them off with, "Even the horses agree."

Knuxahuatl hastily dismounted his stallion, lest either of his companions notice the look on his face. In all his time at Queen Rouge's court, he'd never heard Blaze speak so casually to anyone.

What had happened to her in that tent?