Siege of Night by Jeff Gunzel

himself with his trinkets once more. “You asked me what it is like. Well, I’ll tell you.” He flashed her a warm smile. “Love,” was all he said at first. She returned the smile with a small one of her own. “The Queen has fully accepted me as well as my gifts.” He turned fully around and placed a hand on her shoulder once more. “And don’t you ever forget, Addel...they are gifts.
    He slowly turned back to his set of toys. “Queen Ilirra is the strongest, most caring woman I have ever met. She loves her kingdom, the city, me... you .” He paused a moment to reflect on his own words. “I know in my heart that I would die for her if called upon,” he said, now staring right at Addel, his voice gaining intensity with every word. “If you can bury the hate of your past, forgive yourself as others already have, and not be afraid to commit all your efforts to a cause greater than any we have known in our lifetimes...” She looked as though she would burst into tears. He cupped her face in his hands as her lower lip quivered with swelling emotion. “Then I promise you...you will know real love as well. Now then,” he gave her a light pat on the cheek. “For our first order of business, I have made a promise to a dear old friend, and I intend to keep it.” He pulled up a chair in front of the shiny pearl on top of his table. “This won’t be but a moment,” he said while wiggling his thin, gnarled fingers over the tiny white globe.
    It wasn’t as though Addel hadn’t seen this or done this hundreds of times before. Scrying really wasn’t all that difficult, especially if you had a location in mind and weren’t forced to search blindly. Being fairly sure she wasn’t going to learn anything new here, she simply wandered around the room, thinking upon the wise man’s words.
    Addel couldn’t remember the last time she felt love. The emotion almost seemed foreign to her. But she had been given no reason to doubt Berkeni’s words. It was clear everyone here was working together toward a common goal, with no clear incentive or benefit to any one individual.
    To think, her gifts would be viewed as an asset and not something to hide or be ashamed of. She would put forth her best efforts to aid in a cause that was right and just, and not purely because the penalty for failure was certain death. Had she really found a home? A purpose in life? Just the thought of it made her—
    “By the gods!”
    Addel snapped out of her daydream and ran over to Berkeni. “What? What’s wrong?” she said while using the minimal power needed to re-conjure the image he had just let slip away. Within a few seconds she was peering into the globe as the distorted images begin to reshape once more. Her blood cooled. Speechless, she turned to Berkeni, whose eyes bulged and mouth hung wide open. The always serene, unflappable man could hardly spit out the words. “We...we m-must... We must find the Queen!”
     

Chapter 7
    Morcel groaned as his broken body attempted to lift itself from the deep, soft bed. Layers of white sheets topped by a thick red blanket with green fringe had kept him prisoner long enough. He found the simple act of moving at all to be excruciating, as the combination of tender skin recently stitched and stiff limbs that hadn’t moved in days sent fire through his huge body. He couldn’t even handle the sudden movement involved with throwing the covers back, instead opting to roll them inch by inch, using no more than the subtle movement of his wrist. I’m useless lying here...I need to get up from this prison .
    Just swinging his legs over the side of the bed appeared to be no option at all. He opted instead to push one massive leg with his hands toward the edge then blew out a sharp breath as it thumped to the floor. The vibration rattling through him was a reminder of where every single wound was located. Well...one more to go . As his last leg thumped to the floor he winced hard again, but the fact that