Throne of Scars by Alaric Longward

city?”
    “Looks like it,” she said while staring at where her father was. There he and her brothers waited to take the city. “It is impossible to defend.”
    “Is she a bad general?” I asked her boldly.
    “What?” she asked, looking astonished. “No. She is not. She is doing what she can.”
    “Hel’s plan wasn’t very good, was it?” I said, half happy it was so. “Her army is too small.”
    “Yes,” she said. “But Hel has many plans. She wants the Horn, and Shannon has her support. Don’t judge before you see the full picture.” She smiled softly. “She has advisors. Us. The dagger, and Hel through the dagger. It whispers to her and she and the weapon work well together.”
    “The Famine,” I said disdainfully. It had killed Euryale, so it was a mighty artifact indeed. “I’ve not seen her much. Has she changed these past weeks?”
    She nodded. “You know she has. You saw her when she killed the elven mage. But what is, is. Do not worry about it.” She placed a hand on my chest. There was a frown on her face.
    “It’s infected,” I complained. “Your sword was not clean.”
    “No, it wasn’t,” she said unhappily, and looked away. “Do not worry about that either. Don’t fear. I will know where you are, Ulrich, at all times. I’m your friend, no matter if Shannon might not be, one day. Yes, she has changed. I didn’t know her before, but she is changing all the time.” She looked for the mask on my belt. “Ittisana spoke to me about this … Iron Trial? Imagine wearing it all day, every day, and then you know what Shannon is going through.”
    “Yes, I see,” I said simply. Kiera should actually hate Shannon for her cruelty. She had died. She had been raised, and perhaps only to hurt Almheir, Shannon’s traitorous husband and the mightiest man of the land. But no, I thought. She smiled there, her mood odd, but she wasn’t unhappy. While Shannon was changing into a Queen of the Dead, Kiera was finding pleasure in her new unlife.
    I shook my head. Would I, if I died, enjoy it?
    No.
    A wind blew from the Straits, and we both gazed across the wide waterway to the southern part of the city. There, the Safiroons still held sway, though the draugr raided heavily now, since their mighty maa’dark was dead. Fires burned in several parts of the city. There were defiant lights in the buildings. People and elves were living there, fearing the horror that befell their brethren, but doggedly, they held on. Kiera’s eyes glittered. She spoke, almost dreamily. “Shannon won’t have to take it now. She is defending the city. But the dead will go out and kill in the night still. Just to keep the enemy busy. It is fine sport.”
    She wanted to join what she called ‘fine sport’.
    I drew in a deep, surprised breath as she nuzzled close to me. She didn’t do it for warmth, because she was cold, but because she wanted to.
    I saw a fireball go up in the city and knew someone had died. Perhaps a child? And at that I could no longer keep my mouth shut. “Can you explain this to me. There are tens of thousands of humans living there, twice the number of elves. They are getting killed. What for, if she is defending the place?”
    She caressed my face. “She is not an evil queen, is she? It is all part of the plans she has to execute every day. Trust her.”
    “She is killing children . I don’t know what she is,” I said angrily, pushing her hands away. “She was my enemy in Euryale’s tower, and her sister especially was one for the grave. And then she tried so hard to save us all, and it cost her her life. I loved her well until she came back. That night, when the battle was over and the surviving elves were there, by the wall? She claimed to put an end to elven brutality. It seems to me she has to burn down the whole of Aldheim to keep that promise. There are millions of people and elves living in the Spell Coast. What is she trying to do? And in truth, she cannot do anything but kill