Chapter 4

4

W e travel for half a day on horseback. My thighs hurt from being in the saddle too long. Despite my former training, I don't have the stamina for it.

Willy, seeing my struggle, calls out to the leader, who I now know is called Ivan.

"She's a lady, sir. She can't ride like us."

I give Willy a brilliant smile.

"That's what she says," Ivan grumbles, staring at me belligerently. "It still remains to be established if she is who she says she is."

What the hell is his deal? I am the most non-threatening person ever. I'm wearing pink , for God's sake, and I have a fluffy white dog that takes the word cute to a whole new level. What is more inoffensive than that?

"But, sir. Look how small and frail she is," Willy continues, pointing toward me.

I smile. Yes, look how small and frail I am. How could I be an impostor when I look so innocent? Perhaps I should have said I was a nun, something like Saint Barbi…

Ivan looks at me, and his expression says he doesn't buy my innocent persona. Yep, even nuns would look suspicious to him.

Alas, eventually more soldiers suggest taking a break and he relents.

We find a pasture for our break—a welcome change of scenery from the plague-infested towns we've passed through. I don't think I've ever seen such a desolate landscape, not even in movies. Willy, ever the thoughtful lad, tried to shield me from the death around. We rode ahead while the soldiers remained to torch what was left behind—including any person who might have been alive.

A shudder goes down my back. I can't think of this right now. I need to stay focused on my task and find a way to get back home.

"We have a few more hours until we reach the Capital," Willy tells me as he helps me tie my horse to a tree. "We will get there before it gets dark."

I let PomPom out of my arms so she can stretch her legs and do her business in the bushes. She runs around, letting out a couple of excited barks.

"That's good." Okay, I can do a few more hours. But that also means only a few hours left until we reach the castle and meet the Five. With the lies I've told, I will need to be quick on my feet and make up even more lies.

From the corner of my eye, I note Ivan watching me suspiciously. He's hovering around Willy and me, pretending to stretch his legs, but I can tell he's eavesdropping on our conversation.

He's been awful to me the entire journey, at times insinuating what will happen to me once my lies are exposed. Of course, I merely smiled and pretended not to mind his comments, but inside I've been freaking out.

With how invested he is in my identity, I have no doubt he's going to need confirmation from Lady Jocelyn herself that I am her bosom friend as I implied.

"There will be a feast when we get back," Willy comments. "I can't wait to have some nice food again."

"A feast?"

He nods enthusiastically.

"The Queen organizes a feast for the return of the troops. That's when you'll meet her, too. She comes to address the soldiers in person. She's very nice," he says wistfully.

"I thought I would get a personal audience with her." I frown.

"No, no." Willy shakes his head. "The Queen and King have a very strict schedule. It's because of the plague." He sighs. "They're spending all their time trying to figure out a way to stop it. They do not even entertain their friends. The only way to meet the Queen is during the feast. Even with all this chaos, she finds a way to make time for her soldiers," he adds with a smile. He's definitely a Lady Jocelyn fanboy.

"I see," I murmur. So that's why Ivan has been so adamant about checking my claims. He knows I won't be able to see her by myself and he will be there to witness everything.

Damn it!

I must find a way to speak with her beforehand to consolidate my ruse. But how? She's the Queen.

Willy shares a drink with his fellow soldiers while I remain deep in thought.

Who knows what will happen to me if they realize I've lied about everything? They might think I'm some type of spy sent to infiltrate the Capital.

I purse my lips. This won't work. It's too dangerous. At the same time, it's imperative I see the Five if I want to get back home.

Hmm…

Maybe I can run away once we enter the Capital? I'm sure I could find my own way to the castle, but how would I get to the Five? The Queen and King are almost out of discussion, but what if I could meet the other three? They might not be as strong as Sir Damien, but surely they would have some insight…

I'm wrenched from my thoughts when I realize that PomPom is no longer in my line of sight. The breath is knocked from my lungs as panic overtakes me. I look around, my heart beating wildly in my chest.

But then I spot a flash of white in a sea of green. She's in the bushes!

"Don't eat the grass, PomPom!" I call out, running to her.

God, I hope she hasn't ingested anything. Who knows what the grass in this world can do to her? Fear grips me. One moment I was not paying attention and it could very well prove to be a fatal one.

Bad mom!

"PomPom," I cry out, raising her in my arms and prying her mouth open to check if she ate anything off the ground. I study her teeth and the color of her tongue, releasing a huge sigh of relief when I realize she didn't.

"Good girl," I praise softly. "You're my good girl, aren't you?" I coo, brushing my lips against her fluffy forehead.

She rumbles deep in her throat, a sound that suggests her pleasure.

As I turn to leave, however, my gaze becomes affixed to another drop of color at the base of the bushes, the contrast striking against the deep green of the foliage and the dark brown of the earth. (Okay, maybe it caught my attention because it's a light pink.)

I crouch down, brushing my hand over the small, bulbous root. A memory flashes in my head. Lady Jocelyn had described a plant like this in the third book when she'd been studying plants with magical properties. She'd noted the somniferous properties of the root. Even in the smallest doses, it had the power to knock over a horse.

Stealthily gazing to the side, I spot Ivan talking to someone in his troop and pointing at me, no doubt besmirching my name even further.

My eyes sparkle as an idea forms in my head.

We shall meet the Queen at the feast. But if Ivan and his goons are asleep during that time, they won't be able to accuse me of anything.

My lips curve in a sly smile as I quickly pull on a couple of roots and pocket them. Now I'll just need to find a way to add them to his food.

A comical, almost malefic laugh bubbles in my throat—finally I get some main character energy! Ivan won't even know what hit him.

"Come, PomPom," I say, taking her with me back to our horse. "Maybe the next book will be about us. Just imagine. Barbi and PomPom in Akkaya."

Instantly, I'm flooded with snapshots of our adventures, including defeating Ivan as a symbol of the oppressing patriarchy. It would be a victory for all pink lovers out there! He'd be on the ground, tapping his hand against the floor as a signal of forfeiture while PomPom and I would be standing victorious next to him.

PomPom releases a happy bark.

"Yes, baby. We'd be the next superhero duo," I coo in her ear. And the cherry on top, everyone would forget about Lady Jocelyn and her BonBon because me and PomPom would be the new it duo.

"Lady Barbi?" Willy's worried voice breaks the spell.

I open my eyes, blinking as I come face-to-face with Willy and about ten other soldiers behind him. A crowd has formed around me and PomPom.

"Don't move, sir. You'll hurt Lady Barbi and PomPom," another soldier adds, his eyes on the ground.

"Get this fucking bitch and her dog off me," a strangled voice calls out.

Oh God. I'm almost afraid to look down. But I have to.

Slowly, I direct my gaze to the ground where Ivan is currently on his belly, his hands gripping the grass. PomPom is biting his ear off while I'm holding him down with my foot.

Horrified, I quickly grab PomPom and jump back.

"I'm so sorry. I don't know how that happened," I stumble over my words.

"You're fucking dead!" Ivan yells, jumping at me. But the soldiers form a wall between us, keeping him away and telling him to calm down.

"Are you all right, Lady Barbi?" Willy comes to my side, looking mighty worried.

"I… I don't know what happened…" I stammer. It's almost as if I closed my eyes and then woke up in a different world—pun intended.

"We know it wasn't your fault. We all saw what happened," he starts and my eyes widen as he recounts how Ivan had come to me, demanding I show him my de Havilland birthmark—apparently, there is such a thing. PomPom had jumped out of my arms and tripped him. He'd lost his balance and fallen face-down in the grass, after which PomPom had attacked him—quite viciously going by the big scratch on Ivan's cheek and his bleeding ear.

"You bitch! I'm going to kill that fucking dog," Ivan continues to shout in the distance, but he's contained by four soldiers so he cannot come near us.

"PomPom was so brave," Willy adds as he turns his attention to my baby.

One by one, other soldiers come to tell me how much they admire PomPom.

"She's a fighter," Jerry, a soldier, mentions, nodding with respect.

"She might be small, but she's a worthy adversary," another compliments her.

"Yes, yes. That she is…" I smile awkwardly.

God, I need to stop daydreaming.

If before I might have had qualms about using the pink roots on Ivan, now I am convinced the man needs his comeuppance. Anyone threatening my baby is officially a bad person and they get a special spot in my big bad notebook (when I get back home so I can add the name in it).

Operation Pink Root is officially a go.

In an effort to keep the peace on the road, the soldiers asked Ivan to ride first so they could place themselves between us as a buffer zone. With the threats he continues to make, now targeting PomPom, too, no one wants to take a chance.

PomPom preens in my arms, happy that she's gained new acolytes.

As we continue onwards toward the Capital, I do my best to glean more information from the soldiers to know what to expect. They talk freely, sharing different anecdotes from their lives before the plague. But at some point, the discussion shifts to the Dark One. Curious, I pull on my reins and lead my horse next to them.

"I can finally sleep at night now that the Dark One has been defeated," a soldier jokes.

"Tell me about it." Another laughs. "Maybe my nightmares will finally stop."

I frown at their superlative language. In the books, the Dark One had been the villain in book six, but he had been far from the most frightening one the Five had been up against. If I were to make a top, he wouldn't make the top five of the most powerful opponents Sir Damien had faced.

Yet these people are talking about the Dark One as if he were the devil incarnate.

"Is the Dark One that scary?" I suddenly ask.

Their conversation dies as they all turn to stare at me as if I'd grown a second head. Fearing that I said something wrong, I simply add, "I grew up sheltered, so I am not that familiar with the outside world."

"That makes sense." Willy nods. "Your parents would not have wanted you to hear of the atrocities the Dark One committed."

"If he were still alive, we wouldn't be able to speak so casually about him. I still expect a dark cloud to appear and swallow me whole." Jerry laughs nervously.

I gawk at them.

"Could you explain, please?"

"He was a terrifying fellow, the Dark One. He established his own following in the eastern part of Akkaya, directly challenging the King. A lot of troops were dispatched to the east and they never came back, so it only reinforced the idea that he was invincible."

"Don't forget about Kuma," Willy quips.

"I am getting there, Willy." Jerry rolls his eyes. "As I was saying, when the Dark One gained more followers, he started attacking high officials at the King's court. He wanted to weaken the King as much as possible, and ultimately take the crown for himself. He even killed Kuma, one of the Five and the King's best friend."

My eyes widen in disbelief.

"Kuma? He's dead? But how… He was so strong…"

He was a master blacksmith who could craft any weapon out of metal. His skills were unparalleled in Akkaya, and not even Sir Damien could beat him in a battle with his magical weapons.

"You don't understand, Lady Barbi. The Dark One could destroy an entire army with the snap of a finger. He commanded a dark shadow cloud that would kill a target from miles away. Technically, he didn't even have to move and he could get rid of anyone he wished."

"That's why no one ever saw his face. He was a mystery."

"I heard he was heavily scarred," one soldier whispers. "He wore a mask and a black cloak to hide his features."

"Yes, I heard that too. Some said he had a scar this big running down his face," one soldier says, trailing his finger down half of his face.

"I thought he was just ugly." Another laughs, and a mocking contest begins.

"Maybe he was afraid he'd be called the Ugly One instead."

The jokes run amok.

While they argue about how the Dark One looked like, how ugly or scarred he was, I'm left reeling from all this new information.

This is not the Dark One I read about. Hell, aside from the name, there's very little resemblance between the fictional run-of-the-mill evil dude in the books and this dangerous figure the soldiers are still terrified of.

Even his abilities are different.

The books only spoke of his ability to cast forbidden spells.

I've read the sixth book countless times, including recently for the play, and the main plot revolved around an ancient book of forbidden spells that the Dark One was searching for. The Five had teamed up to stop him since those spells could have serious implications for Akkaya. The Dark One had managed to get the book and was about to perform a spell that would grant him immortality when Sir Damien defeated him. Nowhere had it said anything about his ability to control shadows—or him being so powerful that the entire continent was terrified of him.

"King Damien must have seen him. He fought him face-to-face more than once. Remember when Kuma died?" Jerry asks, and the soldiers nod. "He couldn't kill the Dark One then, but he injured him badly."

"And then the devil started this damned plague," Willy curses in a low, somber tone.

"Wait." I frown. "What's the connection?"

"After the King injured the Dark One, the entire continent was enveloped in a thick, dark fog. Soon after, people started dying. No one knew what it was for months, until the King discovered that the Dark One had been stealing the life force of Akkaya's citizens to heal himself and become more powerful. Anyone who died of the plague served as fuel for that damned devil," Jerry adds accusingly, visibly shuddering at the memory.

"He's been in hiding ever since, but the King had promised the people he would find and kill the Dark One once and for all. And now he's fulfilled that vow." Willy smiles.

"A worthy ruler, King Damien," another soldier chimes in. "No one will ever forget the dark days of Akkaya and how the King defeated the greatest evil to ever grace these lands."

There they go again about the Dark One being the most terrifying evil dude ever. Although I believe them when they say the Dark One is frightening and bad and just overall a supervillain, why is there a discrepancy between their account and the information from my books?

"What about Moloch? Or the Red Flame? Or…the Hybrid Witch?" I ask.

In the books, these three were the most frightening villains the Five ever faced. Moloch in particular, almost killed Lady Jocelyn in book eleven. He was so strong, the Five couldn't destroy him, so instead they merely locked him away in a mystical prison from which he could never escape.

Jerry, Willy, and all the soldiers who heard me turn to stare at me.

"Uhm, Lady Barbi… Who are those people?"

"You've never heard of Moloch?" I blink.

They shake their heads, their expressions downright confused.

"The big bad demon who could turn mages into his servants and have them do his bidding?"

"I have never heard of any Moloch," Willy adds tentatively, but the other soldiers back him up, a chorus of me neither erupting in the air.

I gawk at them.

How is this possible?

Moloch had been the Five's archnemesis for almost six books. Six . That's not just a passing villain like the book version of the Dark One, who only made an appearance in one installment. That's a super, mega, ultra villain.

Something is wrong.

Though this is the Akkaya I know from books, it also…isn't.

I swallow hard as I try to make sense of the conflicting information.

What if this isn't a book world, but instead it's a real world somewhere in the universe? What if whoever wrote the book series had some knowledge of the events but not enough to write an accurate account?

But that means that all the information I have is useless. I have no way of knowing what's true and what isn't anymore, and spouting nonsense will not gain me any favors at the court.

Until now, I've been betting on the fact that I have intimate knowledge of the Five—well, four now—that might make them more inclined to help me. But since I can no longer differentiate between fact and fiction, I need to reconsider my strategy.

"There it is!" Willy exclaims a while later.

Glancing at where he's pointing, I note an imposing fortress, the walls as high as the sky. Magical runes swirl around the perimeter in orange and blue flashes of light, creating a protective barrier. It's so powerful, even birds avoid it, flying parallel to the barrier.

I take a deep breath, a sliver of panic washing through me.

In less than half an hour, we will reach the gates of the fortress and enter the Capital. It won't be much longer until we reach the castle and attend the feast presided by Lady Jocelyn.

The clock is ticking, and I have to make up my mind fast regarding what version of events I'll present in front of the King and Queen.

Because if I mess up…

The plague is the last thing I'll have to worry about.