Secret of the Queen's Bond

The river ran backwards on the day the Queen vanished. The fishing villages were the first to report of the strange occurrence, and soon the news spread across the land. Commoners crowded around every humble hearth to hear the story, while the opulent halls of the great palaces were filled with worried whispers.

It was no surprise that the Queen had returned to the unseen world. Her time had been long in the coming, but the question for many months had been what affect her passing would have on the living realms. Her regal colors were green and white, and it was believed that this symbolized her connection with the mountain forests, where the snows of winter would linger long into the spring. The realization that her bond was with the flowing waters that nourished plants and animals alike came as a surprise to nearly everyone.

Gand knelt beside the river and dipped his hand in the water. The courtier had chosen an isolated place where the current was weak, but he still recoiled at the alien sensation. There could be no doubt that the water was flowing backwards, uphill, and away from the open seas of the lowlands.

He stood and wiped his hand on his tabard, considering what this meant. He was middle-aged now, but he could remember when Queen Nasara disappeared before his sixth birthday. The mountains shifted that day, and thousands of people spent the next week digging, trying to rescue those of the hill villages who had been buried alive in the upheaval.

Years later, Queen Davirel walked alone into the Red Temple. She was not seen again, but afterwards the skies turned a strange hue and contrary winds pulled down one of the temple’s belltowers. For many days afterwards, people looked up and thought they could see something in the heavens above, as if there was another land there with its own mountains, forests, and rivers. This alone would not have been more than a simple spectacle, except for the reports that began to circulate of strangers on the roads, and the unexplained disappearances of children and others.

Tired and feeling very old, Gand shook his head in frustration and turned away from the river. There were some people who believed there was no point in trying to understand the signs of a Queen’s passing, but he could not accept this line of thinking. There had to be some purpose for the Great River’s sudden reversal, but he could not wrap his head around the riddle.

Gand looked up from his troubled thoughts to see a coach parked near his horse. It bore the insignia of the Blue Temple, though there was no driver to be seen. The horses had the sheen of a hard ride on their coats, and Gand could not imagine what anyone member of that mysterious priesthood would come to this quiet place for.

The door opened and he saw a woman emerge from the darkened interior to stand on the coach board. She was tall and young, but wore a plain garment rather than the robes of those who had taken the Blue vows. Sunlight settled in golden hair, and her green eyes lit upon seeing the courtier advancing from the riverbank.

“Master Gand,” she greeted him without stepping down. “I hoped to find you here.”

“So you have found me,” he replied as he stopped a few feet from the coach and folded his arms. “What are you doing out here, girl? Do the priests know you travel in their livery?”

Her face turned pink and he suspected that her use of the coach and animals was likely not approved by her masters. She jumped to the ground and approached him, her movements were nervous, cautious, but also with a certain degree of control over form and limb that few women her age possessed.

“You are a temple dancer,” Gand said, surprised. He realized now that the smock she wore covered the velvet bands and flowing strips worn by those who practiced the holy dances.

“Please, I come to you for help,” she explained. “My name is Reviena.”

“You should hurry back to your temple, Reviena,” Gand replied as he turned and went toward his horse. “A new queen will be chosen soon, and the priests of every order must form the procession to welcome her.”

“I was friend to Queen Jaris, one of the few,” the dancer continued, ignoring him but speaking quickly, as though she feared discovery. “I don’t believe this changing of the river is a random sign, meant to be ignored and forgotten by the people.”

Gand stopped and looked at her again. There was innocence in her eyes, but deceit and treachery could hide in many ways.

The coachman appeared from the bushes, where he apparently had been relieving himself. His expression at seeing the older nobleman was one of shock, and Gand could not help but laugh at him.

“I doubt any priest gave you permission to drive a simple dancer this far from the temple,” Gand spoke to him. “What did she promise you, boy?”

“He is my cousin,” Reviena replied, panic and despair creeping into her voice. “Please, you must believe me.”

“Believe that our Queen Jaris confided in a simple dancer?” Gand laughed again. “I don’t know what your game is, girl, but you need to hurry along and hope my memory is poor.”

“Please,” she grabbed his arm as he reached for the reigns of his horse. “Do you believe that the people are punished when a Queen goes into the Unseen?”

Gand locked his eyes onto the girl until she released his arm.

“You forget your station, Reviena,” he said, his words cold and measured.

“Do you believe it?” she asked again, proving she had some strength behind the fear. “Queen Jaris spoke highly of you. She said you were a man of understanding, and that I could trust you.”

Gand did not blush, but he felt something pierce his heart. For many years he had hoped for the Queen’s favor, though it always seemed a prize just out of his reach.

“She held you in the greatest esteem, though she could not reveal her feelings,” Reviena continued, as though sensing his thoughts. “She would point you out to me at court, call you by name, and say that you were a man who could tip the scales of fate.”

The needle in his soul seemed to fade and Gand again felt very old and worn out.

“What is your point in all this, girl? I have things to do.”

“The Queen loved the people, and her passing would not be accompanied by some meaningless, bizarre of act of nature.”

“You think she had some control over the river?”

“It is a message,” Reviena spoke now with steel resolve in her green eyes. “Will you ignore her, your Queen, or will you take heed?”

“All right, what is the message?” Gand asked.

“I... I don’t know,” the strength in Reviena’s eyes faltered. “But that is why I have sought you out. A man of understanding, she called you. Who else better to help me?”

Gand looked off in the direction of the Palace of Wisdom where the nominating debate was undoubtedly in full course. It was his duty to be present for those conferences, though he knew that no one would miss him. Old and used up; that was how the other rulers of the realm thought of Gand.

“They have deaf ears in the great palaces,” Reviena spoke, again as though understanding his thoughts. “They seek only what favor they can gain under the next queen... but Queen Jaris was not a woman to be forgotten so quickly. Will you help me?”

Gand glanced at the driver who still stood dumbstruck near his horses. He wondered if there might be someone else hiding within the darkness of the coach, or if anyone had noticed the absence of the animals from the palace stables.

“Give me some proof,” Gand replied at last. “How am I to believe that you were friend and confidant to the Queen as you claim?”

The relief that was visible in Reviena’s eyes and posture was quickly replaced by new determination, and there was absolute control in her nodding head rather than eagerness or excitement.

“I will show you,” she replied. “Follow me.”

They left her cousin behind as they returned to the quiet bend in the river. There was dense foliage around that place, so even a traveler on the nearby road was unlikely to see them.

“Did you know of this place?” Reviena asked as sat down beside the waters and removed her sandals.

“I don’t know what you mean,” Gand shook his head. He made no movement to take off his riding boots. “I was just seeking a private place, where I would not be interrupted.”

“It’s strange fate, because the Queen would come here, to this very place,” Reviena replied as she looked up to survey the tranquil scene. “She brought me here sometimes. It was a place to get away from the nobles and priests... a refuge.”

“Did you know that she was connected with the river?” Gand asked.

“I suspected, but even she did not know about it,” Reviena replied as she stood back up. “It was the duty of the prophets and seers to understand the nature of the Queen’s connection with the land.”

“And they are all dead,” Gand said.

“Yes, or so it is said,” Reviena shrugged under her smock and then stepped her feet into the river. “Follow me, Master Gand, and I will show you the proof you want.”

The weather was fair, so Gand was not worried about wet feet. He stepped into the gentle current behind the girl, though once again he considered how strange the reversed flow of the water felt to him.

“If this was not caused by our Queen’s disappearance, what would cause something like this?” Reviena asked as she crossed the river. On the far side there was a rock face covered in greenery. Gand’s old instincts brought to mind the fear of an ambush, and assassins wielding long knives emerging from the foliage, but what was the point in murdering an old, unimportant man like himself?

“Nothing I’ve ever heard of,” Gand replied.

“I thought at first of a giant monster in the mountains, sucking up the water as though drinking from soup from a bowl,” Reviena laughed at her own foolishness before she became quiet again. “Then I learned our Queen was gone, and I knew that it was because of her.”

The river was never deeper than their knees, and though the bottom of the dancing girl’s smock was soaked, they reached the hidden wall on the other side where she made some effort to part the undergrowth.

“What are you doing?” Gand asked.

“I know it was here,” Reviena replied. “Here, this is the proof.”

Gand stepped forward to see that hidden beneath the creeping ivy along the rock face there was a mark carved into the stone, as though by the Queen's own finger. It was the stylized letters of her name. Once again he felt something stir in his breast and he choked on a sudden cry in his throat. He had come here, to this place, dipped his hand into the river and sought understanding of this madness, all while unaware that this was a place Queen Jaris had known as well. Some bond had brought them both here, and her mark had been so near to him the entire time.

“What does it mean?” he asked, though his words emerged as a croak. He reached out to feel the engravings for himself and Reviena had the grace to move out of his way.

“She knew you are special, Master Gand,” Reviena replied. “That is why I need your help.”