Crown & Prophecy

24. Reunions

"I can't believe we were just beaten by a bunch of dead people!" Raveena shouted. She was pacing back and forth, in front of her army, rather what was left of it, her face twisted with anger. "Tell me I dreamed it!"

Nothing but blank faces stared back at her. The mortal knights, the ones left, were too afraid to utter a word, and the Shades didn't have mouths, so all she received, as a response to her rant, was silence, and the calm rustling of leaves by the gentle breeze blowing.

After losing the battle, Raveena had magically lowered the barrier leading into The Forest of Shadows, and she and her army had gone inside. She hadn't realized she could do such a thing, but she tried, and it worked, which was more than she could say for her plan. The plan backfired. There were people in Delaney who were still alive, still with homes. Raveena hoped to leave nothing but death and devastation in her wake. Then the army came, the army of the dead. Some of them she had recognized. Having magic inside of her, allowed her to see ghosts, but only the ones with whom she had some sort of connection, when they were still living. Yet, she had been able to see all of them during the battle. It puzzled her, but she wasn't one to dwell on such trivial things. The only thing she was worried about, was how this setback was going to affect the timetable she had set so perfectly.

"It doesn't matter," she snapped, obviously not going to get an answer. "What matters, is we continue."

One knight bravely stood. His body was tense with fear. He had seen Raveena at her most ruthless. She acknowledged him right away, with a look of surprise, mixed with a smidge of shock. Not many stood up to her, at least, not anyone who still drew breath.

"Who were those people?" he asked, glancing around. The others nodded, urging him to continue, though none of them had seen the ghosts but him. They were wondering the same thing. "Why were they transparent?"

Raveena raised her eyebrow. "You could see them?" She could hardly believe it. It wasn't possible.

He nodded. "I did. I helped the others fight them."

"What's your name?"

"Magnus."

As soon as he said it, she remembered. He was one of the knights who had been so forthcoming in training. The things he had seen during his time with her already! And still, he was there, obviously a great warrior and a loyal servant. Realizing this, she smiled.

"You've been loyal despite everything you've witnessed."

"Yes, I have."

She nodded. "Good. I have a special assignment for you. You're evidently a survivor, and a skilled warrior. Otherwise, you wouldn't be standing here in front of me."

"True, my lady. I take great pleasure in serving you."

"Good. Because I want you to free Viktor from Merrick's clutches. I know his castle as well as anyone. I'll point you in the right direction. After he is free, I want you to focus on the battle. Take out the strongest of the king's men first, then as many more as you can." She paused to gather her thoughts. "And as for your question, I think it might be because you are connected to the ghosts, maybe you killed some of them. Ghosts are funny little things. You can only see them, if you're connected to them, or done them wrong somehow. At least, this is my theory. I don't know much on the subject. And I recognized some of them, from the battle before the last, which means the ghosts you saw were of the people from Alatar, the people whom you killed."

He said nothing. He hadn't been in the battle at Alatar, so why was he seeing those ghosts? As strong as he was, Magnus shivered. It seemed impossible people could just come back from the dead. "Thank you for the explanation, my lady." He bowed respectfully to her, then sat down with what was left of her army.