Chapter 21

CHAPTER 21

WREN

Wren expected Elodie to be enraged, to vow retribution and break out of the Sanctum to track Leander down and expel him bodily from Pelias. But she didn't.

When Wren told her, she already knew all the details of what had happened, and she just bowed her head and nodded. Perhaps, with the beginning of the trial, there were other things on her mind. There was nothing she could do about it anyway. Not now. They were expected in the Sacrum any minute and it was the first chance Wren had managed to secure to talk to her since the ball. A kindness on behalf of Maryn and the maidens, she suspected.

Which was not comforting.

‘To be expected, I suppose,' Elodie said at last. ‘Alessander would not want to break the Pact. Not now. So he will humiliate Leander willingly. Perhaps even gleefully. He does so love to teach people a lesson.'

‘Why not now?'

Elodie raised her face so that the sunlight fell on it and she smiled, so sad a smile. ‘They want to see me suffer. They're here as witnesses. They want to see me condemned.'

‘But you won't be. You aren't guilty.' Wren took Elodie's hands in hers, wrapping her fingers around them. ‘Elodie, you can't give up.'

Birdsong was her only answer, the music of Cellandre.

‘Do you remember the forest, Wren? Do you remember them singing to you like birds?' Elodie whispered. ‘They sounded like that. If we could just go back there, they might still be able to help.'

What was she talking about? Elodie looked broken somehow. Afraid. Wren had never imagined she would see such a thing.

‘What do you mean, Elodie? What's wrong?'

‘It's up to the Aurum now. And the Aurum has been silent for too long. You may need to be prepared, Wren.' She pulled her in for a hug. ‘This may not go as you wish.'

A deep booming knock sounded out, not from the direction of the gate, but further in the Sanctum, where it met the Sacrum and the home of the Aurum itself.

Elodie stood up, the long white gown the maidens had provided flowing around her. Her hair was like gold in the sunlight and she held her head high.

The only adornment she wore was the locket marked with the symbol of the Aurum, which held two miniatures, one of Roland and one of Wren.

She certainly looked like a queen. More like a queen than Wren could ever hope to be. But then, she always had, even when they had lived in the forest and gathered wild herbs to make cures, when it felt like the old magic tangled around the roots of the forest itself was protecting them.

The door between the Sanctum of the maidens and the Sacrum itself scraped open. It was huge, heavy oak banded with iron, and it moved on only the highest and holiest of days. The light around them seemed to dim as the glow of the Aurum spilled out.

‘Aeryn, Queen of Asteroth,' the voice rang out. It sounded like Roland and the noise sent a jolt of alarm through Wren's body. Of course they would send Roland. He was the Grandmaster, the leader of the knights sworn to the Aurum and the kingdom, but he was also Elodie's champion and once her lover. It didn't seem fair.

Worse, it felt vindictive on some level Wren didn't understand. Like someone was delighting in the pain it would cause both of them. Ylena perhaps, or Sassone. Someone had decided he should do it. Perhaps both of them. They didn't seem to like him at all. In fact, she suspected all three of them loathed each other.

‘Come forth and face the judgement of the Aurum. Your council demands it. Your people demand it.'

He stood there, silhouetted in the doorway with the glow of the Aurum behind him. It flickered off the gilded lines of his ceremonial armour and his bare sword. Wren couldn't see his face. She didn't want to. She knew she would see only pain and regret.

‘It's time,' said Elodie.

‘I'll come with you. I'll stand by your side.'

Elodie took her hands this time, and gently squeezed her fingers. ‘Thank you, my love. But I need to know you are safe now. Stay away from Leander and the Ilanthians. And trust in the light. Don't…don't do anything.'

‘But Elodie…' Wren didn't know what to say, didn't know how to voice her fears. She had such a terrible premonition, a feeling of dread and despair. She was going to lose Elodie. ‘I can't let you?—'

‘You won't .' Elodie smiled down at her. ‘You were always like this, my little bird. Stubborn to the core. My fault, I suppose. Come then. Stay close to the maidens and say nothing. Do nothing. Not even if it all goes wrong. And if it does…if they say you are to rule now…you know what to do.'

Find Finn. Make him help her. No matter what.

That was even worse.

Maryn appeared at the far side of the garden, grim-faced, her back towards Roland and the Sacrum. ‘Are you ready?' she asked. Behind her the other maidens, dressed in white like Elodie, but veiled where she was not, gathered.

Elodie frowned. Clearly she had not been expecting them to come with her. ‘What are you doing?'

‘Accompanying you, of course. You are one of us, Elodie. You always have been. You, and Wren.'

‘But you…' She looked bewildered. ‘Maryn…sisters…you should be in there already, waiting for me. Ready for the judgement.'

Maryn smiled. ‘And we are, my dear. The Aurum will decide. But our decision is already made and we are still with you. You are one of us. Now, let's show them a true queen, one filled with the light of the Aurum and destined to be forever.'

It was a procession with Elodie and Wren at the fore, the others falling in behind her led by Sister Maryn. A message sent to the city and to the council, and to the world. Fifty of them, from the eldest, only walking helped by their sisters, to the youngest, a fresh-faced acolyte of barely sixteen, trailing behind. They moved slowly, stepping into the Sacrum one after the other and light flared up all around them, from within them.

The Aurum danced brighter than before, welcoming them, illuminating the faces of the statues of the Chosen encircling them, all of Elodie's ancestors.

Wren felt it leaping up inside her, rising in a way it never had willingly before. It sang, surging with her blood, illuminating her from within in a way that had only happened when she was with Finn, when she had used it to heal him and keep him alive. This time it didn't hurt. It was pleasure and it was joy. It was everything.

Roland stood by the flames, his sword still bare, the light reflecting off it. No, light was blazing from it. Aurum-wrought steel, alive with its glow, as the maidens were alive with it. As Elodie was. As Wren was.

And it was beautiful. Everything was beautiful.

For the first time, Wren thought it would be all right. The Aurum was already waking for Elodie. It was exonerating her even as she stepped into the Sacrum.

Wren hardly noticed the faces around them, ringing the outer stones, the white polished marble blazing as the flames turned incandescent. The whole room brightened as Elodie stepped inside.

The maidens came to a halt, Wren with them, but Elodie kept walking towards the flames.

‘We bring our sister here for judgement,' Sister Maryn called out, her voice ringing off the roof overhead. ‘Let there be honour in her treatment, and let the light decide her fate. We find no fault in her.'

Sassone stepped forward, a chain of office hanging around his neck. It gleamed in the luminous light. ‘Know you that this place demands the truth, and only the truth. Aeryn of Asteroth, you are here to face judgement. Come forth and face the Aurum. Come forth and face us all.'

The Aurum rose higher as Elodie approached, her eyes closed against the brightness. It seemed to bend towards her, as if reaching out to her. Perhaps it was.

If Sassone noticed the flames and their increased activity, he gave no sign. He was like a cloud crossing the face of the sun, Wren thought and that chilled her. He didn't want the Aurum to judge too quickly, she realised. This was his moment and he intended to relish every second of it.

The light flared even more brightly and it was hard to see Elodie, as if it had already swallowed her up. Roland stepped to her side, hoping to help her perhaps, but she lifted up a hand, holding him back by that action alone.

He hesitated, and stepped back. But he didn't leave her.

‘Read forth her crimes,' Sassone said, and it was Ylena who responded. Her voice didn't shake, didn't falter. There was music in her voice, no matter how cold.

‘Queen Aeryn of Asteroth, daughter of Aelenor and Jonquil, Chosen of the Aurum, you are charged with deserting your kingdom in our time of need, of colluding with the shadows to hide from your rightful destiny, and of refusing the call of the light when it bid you serve. You forsook your crown and your calling. How do you plead?'