The rebels gate the quee.., p.1
The Rebel's Gate (The Queen's Blade Book 7), page 1
The Rebel’s Gate
The Queen’s Blade Book 7
D.K. Holmberg
Copyright © 2024 by D.K. Holmberg
Cover by Damonza.com
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Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Author’s Note
Series by D.K. Holmberg
Chapter One
The demonstrators were lined up along the roadway. I shifted my blade so that it didn’t get in the way, and marched along the road, my gaze lingering upon them. Some of them were simply protesting, chanting about the danger of the magical weapons that were being imported from Ardem, while others seemed to have a different approach.
“Are they actually yelling about the Queen?” Ellie asked.
“Seems like it,” I said.
I paused where a pair of large, muscular men were shouting. They were positioned in front of a gathering of protesters, leading a chant about the Queen. I couldn’t even imagine doing something like that. This was the Queen, after all.
“I wouldn’t have thought that she would allow it.”
“From what Prince Dorian has suggested,” I went on, still feeling a little surprised that Dorian was sharing anything with me these days, but I supposed after our shared adventure in Ardem, Dorian viewed me more as an ally than an enemy he had to overpower, “she doesn’t want to use force against them, out of concern that doing so might only encourage more violence.”
“But if they decide to do something—”
“And what do you think they will do?” I turned to Ellie, but only briefly, because doing so was far too dangerous. I needed to keep an eye on these protesters. Not only were we dressed in the Queen’s colors, but we were wearing the insignia of the Queen’s household. That combination put a target on us.
“I don’t know. People get a bit wild, you know?”
“I know they do.”
“It’s just that I would’ve expected the Queen to want to keep things quieter.”
It was becoming more and more apparent that I needed to take Ellie to see the Queen, especially given the current situation. I couldn’t keep Ellie away from her for much longer. She needed—and deserved—an opportunity to know the Queen the way that I knew her, and to better understand what the Queen might want from her.
“How about this?” I began. “Once we get back from this little assignment, I will introduce you formally to the Queen.”
It had been an informal arrangement to this point, meaning that Ellie wasn’t truly a part of the Queen’s household. And though I had attempted to bring her before the Crown, the Queen had been in poor health until recently. Until the Queen recognized Ellie as my apprentice, and granted her the benefit of serving the household, it would not be safe for Ellie to go roaming the city and making claims of working for the royal household.
“You’d do that?”
“It’s long past time I did,” I said.
I glanced at the next row of protesters. These were more disheveled and didn’t look to be from the city.
“I’ve seen people like them before,” Ellie said, her voice low. She had clearly noticed that I was looking in their direction. “People who struggle and have had a hard time. Usually it’s people who have been hurt by some of those weapons before.”
“I didn’t realize that Ardem was using so many weapons against others,” I said.
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m not really sure if the Ardemians have much in the way of weapons, or if it is just a matter of these people blaming Ardem for their situation. Ardemians are the only ones who come out and admit to what they are trading.”
That had been my experience as well. Ardem was one of very few nations that were open about the fact that they had a long history of fabricators and fabrications. And many of the fabrications, from my experience, were also quite violent.
At one point, a pair of men surged forward, lunging at one of the Investigators ahead of us.
Byron.
Irritation surged. I stormed over.
I grabbed the man by the back of his jacket and tossed him back, sending him sprawling to the ground. Several other protesters looked over at me, but then they shrank back.
Byron glanced back. “Sorry about that, Blade. I need to keep a better eye on where I’m going.”
“Not your fault,” I said. “And besides, these people should know better than to attack the Crown’s servants.”
“My fault,” he said again. “I should’ve known better.”
I looked over to where the man was lying sprawled out. He was haggard, dirty, and had a dark gleam in his eyes. I didn’t care for the way he was looking at me, but I really didn’t care for the way that he was looking at Ellie.
I stood in front of her, blocking his view.
“If you have any issues with this procession, then you deal with me.”
“And who do you think you are?” the man snapped.
“He’s the Queen’s Blade,” Ellie said, leaning to look around me.
She needed to be careful throwing that title about in this crowd.
The man sat up, glowering at me. “Then you shouldn’t be there. You should be here. With us.”
At least that answered one question, about whether the man even understood what the Queen’s Blade was.
“I’m just doing my job,” I said. “And none of this is of any concern to you.”
“It’s all our concern. You start bringing weapons into the city, it’s a concern for us all.”
“Weapons controlled by the Crown,” I said.
I didn’t know why I was even arguing with him. It was ridiculous to even think that I could argue with somebody on this matter, as I didn’t have a hand in any of this. I was simply the Queen’s servant, not somebody who was making decisions on her behalf.
I gave Ellie a nudge. “Let’s get moving.”
“Go on,” the man snapped, waving his hand. “Get out of here. We don’t want you here, anyway. We don’t want any of those weapons here.”
Another chant began to build, this one about how the people did not want fabricated weapons.
I shook my head and then turned to Byron. “At least they are getting cleverer with the chants.”
“What should we do about them?”
“Nothing,” I said. “Nothing to do, for that matter.”
“I can have them cleared out of here, if you’d like.”
I looked at the line of protesters along the roadway and then shook my head. “That task would be too difficult for us to deal with. And besides, if we try to clear them out of here, we’ll just stir them up. They’ll move to someplace else, and there’ll be problems someplace else. Just make sure that they don’t move too close to the roadway, and don’t let them interrupt the caravans coming through.”
Byron nodded.
We kept moving, and as we went, I looked over at Ellie. I found her sweeping her gaze along the road, curiosity more than irritation in her eyes.
“What are you thinking?” I asked.
“I’m just thinking that I might have felt the same way at one time,” she said, shrugging. “I’m not saying that I do. I’m not saying that I understand what they are after or that I even agree with them, but I get it. I would’ve felt the same way. At least, had I not been to Ardem.”
“There was a time when I would’ve felt the same way as well. And I’m still not sure how I feel about all of this.”
I kept my voice quiet, because I didn’t want to have to argue with anybody who decided to bring up a question about why I was here if I didn’t know how I felt. Just because I served the Queen didn’t mean I had to agree with everything she did. Then again, it wasn’t my role to agree with everything. I was her Blade, and that was about it.
“Where are we going, anyway?” Ellie nodded along the roadway. “Because you have most of the Investigators and quite a few constables guarding the road.”
“And more than a few Empyreans,” I said.
I had been surprised that Dorian had been willing to
“That still doesn’t answer the question,” Ellie said.
I smiled. “No. I suppose it doesn’t really answer the question. There is something out here I need to see.”
“But why did I need to come?”
I hadn’t realized that she hadn’t wanted to come with me. “Am I keeping you from something?”
She glanced down at her hands for a moment before turning and looking up at me. “He said that I could work with him in the palace.”
“He did, did he?”
I wasn’t sure how I felt about Dorian taking such an interest in Ellie. It had served its purpose at one point, but now…
Now I wasn’t sure how I felt.
No. That was not true. I knew exactly how I felt about it. I didn’t like it. I didn’t like the fact that he was expressing such interest in her, and I didn’t like the fact that I didn’t know the motivation behind that interest. In my mind, there was absolute certainty that Dorian was going to use Ellie in some way. He viewed people as tools. Regardless of the fact that we had started to share a certain understanding of one another, I understood his way of thinking.
“He’s just trying to get me to feel more comfortable in the palace. He said that was going to be important for me as I progress in my role.”
“I suppose that’s not the worst thing, but you have to make sure that you understand the purposes behind such actions.”
Ellie surprised me by laughing. “You think that I’m going to get caught up in politics?”
I shrugged. “Absolutely.”
We were nearing the end of the road. I could see the oncoming caravans, but I could also feel them. And while I knew that there were some Ardemian items mixed within the caravans, I could feel something else about them. I didn’t know what sort of magic I was picking up on, but it was something unique. “Prince Dorian will undoubtedly try to involve you in something, though I have no idea what he intends. And I’m not telling you not to comply. In fact, I think you might be best served by being involved, so that you can understand what he’s asking of you.”
She arched a brow. “You want me to report on what he’s doing with me.”
“And would you?”
I hadn’t planned this, not exactly, but there was something to be said about having someone on the inside. Dorian was still an enigma, not only in what he was after but in his connections. I still didn’t really understand his role in what had happened at the Blade training compound, though I knew that he had investigated it.
“I might be willing to keep an open mind. That is, if you keep an open mind with me.” Ellie grinned. “Maybe this will force both of you to keep working with me.” She started to laugh. “I might really like this, Zaren. This way, I can convince both of you to train me, and then I can see—”
“You can see that you will likely be outmaneuvered.”
“That’s not very nice.”
“I didn’t say that I was going to outmaneuver you.”
“You don’t think that you could?”
“That’s not really my specialty. I’m not really sure what my specialty is, but I’m working on it. However, I do think that Prince Dorian is the kind of person, and has the kind of knowledge, that you have to be careful with, depending upon what he might order you to do.”
“What do you think he’ll have me do?”
“I don’t know. The better question is what does he want from you? As you continue to develop your Blade abilities, he might want something more from you. And if that’s the case, you’ll need to decide if it’s something that you are willing to provide.”
We reached the caravan. Up ahead, I saw Jos leading the Investigators and getting them into position. There were probably two dozen Empyreans arranged around the wagons as well. And even more Ardemian soldiers. However, not only was there the physical presence of the security, but there was something less obvious, at least to most around it. There was a subtle energy that radiated everywhere, and I could pick up on the way that it was building, sweeping outward, and pushing upon me.
It created a barrier, preventing anybody from getting too close to us. That was a good thing, I figured, but how long would it take for others to realize what it was, and how long would it take these protesters to decide to test if they could overpower it? And how long would it be before they managed to find some way to do so?
And how many protesters were here for a very different reason? They might not actually be protesters. They might be here trying to get to the Ardemian fabrications, to claim them.
With that thought, a dozen men suddenly surged toward the caravan.
I felt the buildup of power at the moment an explosion began.
I darted forward, toward the men, unsheathing my blade in a fluid movement, and jabbed with it. In the process, I could feel the rippling of power building. Pressure intensified around me. There was a buzzing sense inside me, a vibrational sort of pained energy.
And the moment I overpowered it, power rippled, retreating.
Then the Empyreans were upon them. They had their own magical armor, fabrications that Matherin himself had made for them, and they battered the attackers. Ellie stayed behind me, quiet. The Investigators hadn’t moved, holding their position around the caravan as I had instructed, and so too hadn’t the constables.
And then within moments, the fighting was over.
“What was that about?” Ellie asked.
“Seems like the protesters decided to elevate their protest,” Jos said.
“No,” I said. “This has nothing to do with the protest. This has everything to do with wanting to claim the power for themselves. And I’m afraid we may end up with more like that.”
The challenge was with these caravans. The Ardemians had thought to mix their own merchandise in with ordinary merchants, but it had been difficult. And now they traveled more openly, with security, but even that might not be enough.
How were they going to handle transporting supplies into the city without fighting their way through the city every time?
“Move,” an Empyrean said. He was stocky, with a scarred cheek, and I had dealt with him before. “We need to get moving, and quickly. The Prince is waiting for us.”
And with that, we surged ahead.
Chapter Two
“Heard you encountered a bit of difficulty,” Dorian said as I strode into the palace. He glanced at Ellie but did so hesitantly. Dorian’s piercing gaze had a weight of intensity in it, and it was the kind of intensity that left me uncomfortable when it was directed at Ellie.
“Nothing that I and your Empyreans couldn’t handle.”
“It took both of you?”
“I’m sure the Empyreans could have handled it on their own,” I said. “But I intervened before that was necessary.”
Dorian hesitated, glancing in either direction along the hallway. We were in the main part of the palace, and the activity here was different now. For one, I didn’t recognize any of the servants. I had no idea who was involved in screening the servants to ensure their loyalty, but I suspected a very different process was now in place compared to when Hobell had occupied the palace. Not only that, but Empyreans were arranged throughout the palace. It looked as if the city and the palace were under siege.
“It is a good thing that you were there,” Dorian said. “I fear that we’re going to continue to have this issue. And the Queen believes that we may need to obfuscate how we are bringing in our supplies. Unfortunately, it seems the protesters are quite proficient in identifying what we are moving and when we are moving it.”
“Then somebody is giving them inside information,” I said.
“Perhaps,” he said, nodding slowly. “Or perhaps it is not quite as alarming as that. However, the idea that we still have somebody in the palace that cannot be trusted is disconcerting.” He twisted his lips into a frown. “After everything we’ve been through, and everything that we have survived, I was hopeful that we would not have to continue to deal with duplicity.”
“Do you think that Hobell still has any influence here?”
