Asunder

Chapter Eight: Sister

Her spine stretched and compressed with the movements of her horse, body bobbing up and down. Two stone knights marched beside her, but the horse brayed nervously and Lark had to concentrate to keep control over the steed. Tightening her grasp on the reins, she swallowed nothing, her mouth dry as the deserts.

There were two men and one woman. As Lark pulled to a stop a meter or so away, she observed them quickly. One man was older, beard trimmed short and as white as his hair. His eyes were stone, and his wings resembled them, but his gaze was on her stone knights.

The man next to him triggered something in the back of her mind but she couldn't put her finger on it. He watched her with an intensity in the set of his jaw and the furrow of his brow that made her stomach squeeze nervously. There was something in his face, in his raven hair and strong stature that made it difficult to take her eyes off of him.

When the woman spoke and Lark finally looked at her, she breathed in sharply, numb. "It seems that you are the youngest now."

Rhea.

"I..." Lark looked closer and knew it to be true. There was a vision of the young child within this womanly face but she was hidden deep within.

Rhea laughed good naturedly at Lark's stunned silence. The apples of her cheeks were rosy pink and she was beautiful, her hair a waterfall of brown curls with a tiara at the top. "When I heard the rumors of Larkin Starborne making a reappearance, I could not believe my ears, especially when it was said that you had not aged a day. You poor thing. You must be so confused."

Lark's jaw tightened. She noticed now the traditional Fair Folk clothing her sister was wearing; a sleek, color-shifting dress which gave an otherworldly appearance. "Confused?" The clarity returned to her mind.

"Well, I cannot possibly imagine what it must have been like. They say you were trapped in a tower for twenty years?" At Lark's nod, her sister clucked her tongue sadly. "Then, to emerge and see that your whole world has been turned upside down. I just wish I could have been there when you woke, to help guide you, to help explain--"

"They will try to entice you."

This was her sister but it wasn't. Lark's chest ached as her sister rambled on and on about how good Rhylus had been to her, to their siblings. Her sister explained in a happy, light tone, how the two of them along with the rest of their siblings never could have known how terrible their father was to the realm, how Rhylus was a better king, a fair king.

"I am not confused."

Her sentence interrupted Rhea, who snapped her mouth shut and stared with blue eyes. After a moment, she laughed again, but it was shorter and less warm. "Of course you are. Why else would you have these..." Her sister threw a hand up, gesturing at the stone knights. "....creatures surrounding Rhalen'qar? Please, Larkin, I know you must be frightened. That is why I came! I want you to come join me. We barely know each other anymore, don't you think it is time we get back the time that we missed out on? I spent the last twenty years thinking of my elder sister, thinking of what we'd talk of if I had the chance to see her again. And now...!" Rhea laughed, gesturing at Lark. "You are here!"

Rhea. She loved her sister so much that seeing her, grown and beautiful and healthy, made her heart soar. But this was not the Rhea she knew. This was not the Rhea who used to come sneak into her room during thunderstorms, but a Rhea that no longer knew her roots.

Rhea was no longer her Rhea.

Lark swallowed hard and found herself looking at the man beside Rhea. He was still watching her, carefully, closely.

"I am not confused," she repeated, voice harder. "Rhalen'qar is mine now."

"Yours?" The older man scoffed. "You are being extended a hand of peace here. Don't screw it up for yourself."

"They will threaten you."

"Mine. The people named me their Queen."

"Queen?" Rhea's bright eyes flared. "You could never be Queen, even if Rhylus was not the King. You're fifth in line, with no power. Yes, I remember that" She paused, breathing in, composing herself. "You are just confused. You do not know Rhylus, not like I do. Please, sister, come with me, let me show you everything that you have missed. High Tower is incredible, and I am the lady of Windlyn, along with my husband, Rowan. You remember where Windlyn is, yes? We are practically your neighbors."

"Rowan?" Lark asked sharply, glancing at the man beside her sister. Rowan, who was now a man and no longer the boy that once followed her around insistently.

"Larkin," he said lowly, nodding his head in greeting. It was a polite tone in his voice and she gazed at him hard. Rowan, the little boy? He'd been obsessed with her in his childhood, and now he was a man, married to her sister.

"That--it--" she shook her head, snapping herself out of the shock. Rhea was playing games with her. "Perhaps you have given up your roots and abandoned our legacy, but I haven't, and I won't. Rhylus stole you from your home when you were a child. Rhylus murdered our father on the premise of friendship. Rhylus kills thousands of our people each year, forces them into servitude, while you stay snug at Windlyn. I am not the traitor, Rhea, you are."

Lark nudged her horse backwards, her knuckles turning white from gripping the reins. There was a fire in her chest and she saw red, but beyond that it was sadness for her little sister who was no longer hers.

Woosh. The grass in front of her horse was suddenly on fire. The steed brayed, backing up, swinging its head back and forth wildly. Lark looked over her shoulder, at the burning flame in her sister's hand, and met the blue eyes through the fire.

"Rhalen'qar belongs to Rhylus. The realm belongs to Rhylus," Rhea said quietly, voice thin and seething. "You have nothing. You are nothing. If you release Rhalen'qar and come with us to High Tower, you have my word that none of the traitors behind that wall of stone will be harmed. If you continue this foolishness, you will all burn."

Their men were growing antsy behind them. Lark eyed them and the fire which was already dying down, though the threat was fresh and singeing.

The older man unsheathed his sword. The metal glinted. "Let's make this easy."

She had to make her enemies fear her and her people love her. Lark saw her small gathering of mock soldiers behind the Stone Knights, but the crowd was growing steadily. Her people were waiting. They were all watching her, the person they had named their Queen.

"Rid of him," Lark said to her Knights. The words flew from her mouth without a thought.

It happened in an instant. The man was smirking at her in one moment and the next, he was plucked from his horse. A Knight held him in one fist and the old man was screaming, loud then wheezing, his face redder by the moment until his body seemed to concave and he ceased to make any noise.

The body was thrown to the ground, and the Knight returned to its usual position.

"You...how...?" Rhea sputtered, breathless, face white.

Lark was breathless, too, but she stilled her face and looked at her sister. "Fire cannot kill stone."

There was a long beat of silence. Lark refused to look at the body of the man, her hands trembling. She tightened them around the reins, sitting upright. Her sister was staring her down, eyes wide and angry and thinking.

"Your stone monsters may protect you for now, but you forget that our weapons are far superior to rock," Rhea countered. A single, haughty brow was raised. "Your campaign is a weak one. You will bring death to your people."

"Two days," Rowan suddenly said. Rhea glanced at her husband sharply; this was not a part of the plan. "You have two days to surrender. If you do not, Rhalen'qar will be burned the ground."

"Why give me two days at all?" Larkin shouted as the two turned their horses around, back towards their forces.

"Rhalen'qar is a valuable resource to the Kingdom," Rowan said coolly. I should not enjoy destroying it: believe it or not, I have no desire to murder thousands, but I shall if I must. I hope you are smart enough so it does not come to that. It was nice to see you again."