Page 106 of Queen’s Gambit

Chapter 30

Roksana

We were in the centre of the swamp, and I was standing beneath the branches of a majestic oak. It spread its branches across the clearing, but grass and daisies still covered the hill. The bies chortled behind me and used his massive head to nudge me towards his lair, but I didn’t move.

The plan that made perfect sense in that tent now left me trembling. How could I call the forest to my service? Who would listen? Yet the thought of Rey outnumbered and beset from all sides spurred me onward.

There was nothing to guide me, no ancient knowledge hidden in the depths of my soul. I pressed a hand to the oak’s trunk, bereft and blinking away tears.

My mother would know what to do. She communed with the trees, and nature answered her call whenever she had need. She was the forest, the song of the steppe, and all I had was a pair of wings and melodies half-remembered from childhood.

The bies lowed pitifully at my sniffles, his wet nose nudging my hand like a dog.

‘Desperate times need desperate measures,’ I chuckled, wiping my eyes. ‘At least no one in the Brotherhood will see me singing to myself like a demented lunatic.’

A melody slipped from my lips, the simple words laced with growing power. My view of the world changed as the Aether wove itself around me and cradled the oak with gentle, earnest intent, sinking inside when a welcoming warmth answered my call. I followed, embracing the feeling, entering the oak’s heart.

My world expanded along roots and branches to other trees, their roots and branches entwined and carrying my awareness farther.

Slowly, the land awoke beneath my touch, a sleeping giant answering my call. A giant who had suffered. The pillars had stolen its essence, drawing more and more until even the seasons failed.

It wasn’t just the swamp that was angry, but all the land touched by Niersen’s abomination. That anger was my anchor, a bargain I could strike with the land itself.

The song changed. The peasant melody was no longer a lullaby but my story and my promise.

A story woven around the man who loved me soul and shadow, who’d returned my wings. The friends who stood beside me no matter the circumstances. And everyone who now fought against that abomination to save their home. In the end, I laid myself bare and asked for help. Not for me, but for Rey and the brave souls beside him, for the defiled rivers and leafless forests, for the fields where nothing grew, for all lives that had been taken.

I tied my soul, my magic, and my love to this promise. All for a shred of hope and power that would destroy those who ravaged the land with corrupted creations.

‘Take me, but save him. Rise; help me to stop this madness while there’s something left to save,’ I begged. My tears fell onto the bark, onto the ground, and with each word, each warbled melody, my magic sank deeper.

When I opened my eyes, they were there, awaiting my call.

Hundreds of Aether-born monsters—strigae, biesy, utopce, and even lycans—emerged from the forest. A little further away, the cursed ones converged. There weren’t as many, but one noon wraith, Mamuna, or latawiec, was worth twenty warriors. All of them stood in silence, watching and waiting. Between them loomed a man as big as a bear, with antlers that could compete with the crown of a tree.

The Leshy.

‘My Lord.’ I bowed to the deity whose power was as vast as the land itself and as capricious as the mountain weather. ‘I offer myself to your mercy.’

‘A brazen call, granddaughter. I thought you were lost to humanity just as I lost your mother.’ He sighed and let his gaze glide over my wings. ‘You remembered her songs, yet bonded yourself to that brute of a dragon?’

I stared, my mind blank, at his gentle scolding. ‘I… what? Granddaughter?’

‘Are you surprised that Dobra had a father?’ he asked, his body shifting into that of an old man. ‘If you haven’t come to claim your birthright, why did you sing the Vila’s call?’

‘I need help. The kingdom is on the brink of destruction. If it fails, the people won’t be the only ones to suffer. I didn’t know what to do, so I sang.’ I swallowed hard. ‘I didn’t expect… this.’

‘What you expected doesn’t concern me. The forest heard you, and this is the answer,’ he said, approaching me. The Leshy’s skin kept changing colour, from warm green to unsettling grey, in a pattern I couldn’t look away from.

‘But will they fight for me?’

‘Ask, and find out,’ he said, gesturing for me to face the embodiment of nature. ‘But a word of warning, granddaughter. If they don’t accept you, even I might struggle to contain their bloodlust.’

Fear prickled my skin with goosebumps. Every being turned and tracked my movements with inhuman eyes until I was surrounded. I dropped to my knees, the wings on my back catching the sunlight.

‘I kneel before you, not in fear, but in respect. Our home is in danger. This threat doesn’t discriminate between human, spirit, or creature. It aims to strip the land of life itself.’ I looked around, swallowed hard, and then asked the question that caught in my throat. ‘Help me purge this taint. Help me make it right. I call upon you as Queen of Dagome and Daughter of Dobra. Will you fight for me?’

I bent forward until my forehead touched the cold mud, prostrating myself in front of those whose existence was scorned by all.