Storm which had gone over Aeloria the night before covered the land the following morning in thick, grey clouds. Coldness seemed to envelope the castle stones, a prophecy spoken by the gusts that passed, behind and through the height of the narrow halls. It seemed the whole kingdom was holding its breath.
Elara stood in the palace's training yard, the frost-covered flagstones crunching under her boots. Around her, soldiers clashed blades, their grunts mixing with the sharp clang of steel on steel. The air was alive with motion—a deliberate reminder to her people that strength would prevail, even when the shadows conspired against them.
She had commanded everyone, from knights to guards to trainees, to hone their swords and prepare themselves. Let the Jade Lotus spies see this. Tell them what awaits them if they break the peace again.
"Are you certain about this, Princess? Bael's voice cut through the clash of weapons as he approached her. His forehead squeezed between the pale lines defining his outline. Training the men is one thing, but this… this exhibition of power? It could provoke them further."
"That's the point," Elara replied without looking at him. She saw two young soldiers fight a series of strikes and parries to a final disarm that grounded the second of them to the ground. "They're already emboldened, Bael. Let them see we're not frightened. Let them fear us."
But what of the great? Bael asked, [his] voice grave. "Some of them question your methods. They'll call this desperation."
Elara fixed her eyes on him, her icy stare meeting his. "Let them call it what they wish. If and when the Jade Lotus shall fly again, and it shall, those who have maligned will owe this "desperation" to me.
Bael grunted but said nothing more. Not one to be messed with, he knew as well as anybody that Elara was, for that matter, no fool.
The North Wing of the Castle
By noon Elara's feet brought her to the castle archives, a once forgotten portion of the castle, with its dusty shelves filled with decaying scrolls and lost stories. She moved her fingertips across the covers of worn books in search of something. If the Jade Lotus had truly been around for centuries, as the stories implied, it is all likely lost in memory somewhere here.
As the only one on duty in the archives, maintained by some pauper caretaker, an old man called Fenrik (literally "from the barn" jumped at the sight of her. "Your Highness! What an honor—"
"Spare the formalities," Elara interrupted, her tone brisk. "I need information. Everything you have on the Jade Lotus—legends, records, anything."
Fenrik's eyebrows shot up in surprise, but he did walk in the direction of farther in the archives. "The Jade Lotus… a shadowed name indeed. They state that it first bloomed at the end of the Silver Age. Traitors, rebels, killers who worshipped power and death itself."
Elara trailed at her heels, her boots leaving the dust on the paving stones. "What do they want?"
Power, Fenrik said, in a low tone, as if speaking too loudly would bring the Lotus itself to life. He fetched a tattered scroll from the shelf and unfolded it gently. The thing of their civilization—a black lotus—was believed to delineate cities in which they committed acts of devastation that end the human world, as well as kings who they assassinated. They do not conquer kingdoms, Princess. They consume them."
Elara's mouth closed in a vise as she looked down at the symbol she has scratched into the paper. A black lotus, petals curling like flames. Underneath it were sentences in an archaic tongue, yet she understood them all the same.
From darkness, we rise. From blood, we bloom.
"This isn't rebellion," she murmured. "It's something worse."
Fenrik nodded grimly. You can't fight them off the way you'd fight a warrior, Princess. They are rot, spreading where you cannot see. To stop them… He paused, as if uncertain whether to continue.
"Speak freely," Elara commanded.
In order to restrain them, Fenrik explained, "you must eliminate their growth centers.
Elara's constricted eyes followed the trajectory of a thought in the sense of its emergence in her mind. Sever the roots. She would need more than soldiers and sharpened steel. She would have to succeed in attacking the apex of the lotus before they reach their maximum potential, however.
The Throne Room
By late afternoon, Elara's council gathered again, though this time, the tension in the room was suffocating. The nobles sat stiffly in their chairs, their unease betrayed by darting eyes and clenched fists. The capture of the intelligence operative had shaken the court. They were beginning to feel the noose tighten—and some clearly wondered when it would find their necks.
Elara stood at the center of the room, radiating calm authority. "The Jade Lotus is no longer an unseen threat. They've made their intentions clear. They want Aeloria to bleed."
"And what would you have us do, Princess? sneered Lord Alric, a balding man with too much confidence and too little spine. "Hunt shadows? Torture servants for whispers of treason?"
"If that's what it takes, Elara said, her voice like frost. "But I have another plan."
The room stilled as all eyes turned to her.
"We will lure them into the open," she continued. "The Jade Lotus believes themselves untouchable. Now we are the ones to show them that even the shadows can be dragged into the light", and so on.
And how exactly are you going to do that? Alric asked, his smile momentarily lost to the force of her gaze.
Elara's lips curled into the faintest of smiles. "A grand feast. All nobility and supporters from all over the kingdom. It is not so much that The Lotus should behold a single and united kingdom, as that The Lotus should be tempted to take a swipe.
The murmurs of disapproval at once, but Elara cut them off with the flick of a single, uplifted hand. "It will not be without risk. But they are quite hard to kill off and so we must be bold. I will bait them myself if I must."
Bael held his breath by her side, face dark, yet he made not a sound. No one knew Elara's state of mind better than he did.
The feast will be celebrated on the Winter Solstice," she stated. "Make preparations. Call to our allies, and let it be known that Aeloria is unbowed.
What if the Lotus does? Lord Durnhold inquired, his voice a whisper.
Elara's gaze hardened. "Then they'll find us waiting."
The Frozen Courtyard, Nightfall
Later that evening, Elara stood alone in the open courtyard. The wind howled around her, carrying with it the promise of a harsher winter yet to come. Snowflakes twirled from the dark firmament and softly landed upon her woolen swathe.
She shut her eyes, sensing the burden of it all weighing her down—the kingdom, the throne, the vipers that all curled and pressed against her heels.
A voice broke the silence. "You tempt fate, Princess."
Elara swung the other way and her hand slipped to the froststeel blade on her hip. However, she almost–but not quite–relaxed, when she perceived the silhouette to come out of the darkness. Varik Stormclaw under a guise of a wolf fur with his silvery sheen reflecting the moon light.
"Varik," she said coldly. "I wasn't expecting you."
"Perhaps you should have been," he replied, stepping closer. His gaze flicked over her, piercing and unreadable. "A grand feast to lure the Jade Lotus? Bold, even for you."
"They need to be stopped," Elara said. "And I will stop them."
Varik tilted his head, his expression unreadable. Are you trying to stop them or to make a statement to yourself?
Elara's jaw tightened. "What I seek is irrelevant. Only the outcome matters."
Varik's" lips puckered into a grimace/smile combination. "Very well, Princess. But remember this wolf baiting, they don't show up for the taking alone.
He just dropped back into the night, leaving Elara standing there in the silted courtyard.
She blew out and the frost from her breath blended with the snowy air.
Let the wolves come, she thought. I'll be ready.
Then from afar, the rain started to grow again.