Page 1 of A War of Three Kings

Chapter 1

Aldrin

Iwill go mad here, in this cell and isolation. Already I feel my sanity slipping away.

I rake my fingernails down my face to feelsomething. The walls, ceiling and floor are all the same rough gray stone that seems to close in on me, inching closer until I cannot breathe.

My only saving grace is the narrow, barred window high on the wall. It is my tether to reality, with the stars visible at night and a sunbeam that moves across the wall as the day passes.

Yesterday, I had the strength to pull myself up to the window, to catch a glimpse outside. All I could see was blue sky. It told me nothing of where I am.

A deep weakness rolls through me, and my head spins so badly that I have hardly left this hard pallet all day. I watch the shadows move as I brood on every turn of events that led me here. At least they have removed the damned shackles from my wrists, seeing me for the pitiful shell of a man that I am.

Intense hunger curls in my stomach. It is like a mad beast fighting within me, ripping my guts apart with sharp claws. Nausea threatens to empty my stomach of what little there is inside of it, bile rising in my throat.

Each day they leave me a single piece of bread so stale it takes a long time for my teeth to work through it. Each day except today.

The small pitcher of water they offer always comes with the bitter tang of poison in it. At first, I tried to refuse the drugged water, knowing it would suppress my power, but my thirst grew. It became unbearable as my throat dried out so badly I had coughing fits, and my mouth felt like it had been abraded with sand.

My eyelids become so heavy that I drift away to sleep, the intoxicating fingers of oblivion tugging at my consciousness. I am too tired to fight it.

A burst of ice-cold water falls upon me as though a bucket has been tipped over my head. It keeps cascading down until I gasp awake and rear up, sputtering as it catches in my windpipe.

The room moves wildly around me, but I pin my back to the wall. I am shaking uncontrollably from the cold drenching of my clothes and the shock of awakening, but I am not surprised.

They will not let me sleep.

For days, every time I’ve passed out, I have been awoken in the same manner.

I suck the water from my dripping sleeves and ignore the sourness from my dirty clothes. It is not enough to even take the edge off my thirst, but it is something. Magic evaporates the water unnaturally fast, so I only taste a few drops.

I glance at the five scratches etched into the wall opposite me. I have been here for five days. It feels like a month. A year. An eternity.

A small panel slides open at the base of the heavy door, and a single mug is pushed through. I stare at it as though it is a viper. My parched throat convulses at the sight of water slopping down its sides, but my stomach rolls and twists with the knowledge of the poison within.

A war rages within me. My fingers twitch to reach out for that mug. I stare at it unblinkingly. All at once my resolve shatters, and I leap off the pallet like a wild animal and fall upon the mug. I pick it up carefully, as I would a newborn babe, and without losing a drop, I bring it to my cracked lips.

I gulp it all down. It is the sweetest nectar. The water coats my mouth, my throat, and for a heartbeat they don’t ache or burn.

I take careful steps toward the wall and etch another line into it with the mug. Air magic pools around me, and the vessel that I could use as a weapon is dragged from my hands and pulled back through the gap in the door.

That small volley of air is enough to have me staggering backward. My heels hit the pallet and I collapse onto it. The poison burns in my stomach like the strongest of whiskeys. It shoots through my veins, a fire that reaches the tips of my limbs and blocks my power.

A thick blackness rolls around me. They have overdosed me this time. I know this, but I can’t find the energy to care.

I fall into unconsciousness.

It feels like I am immediately ripped from a dreamless sleep as freezing water drenches me completely, running down my body and off the bed like a waterfall, pooling on the ground around my feet.

The moment I open my eyes, the cascade overhead cuts off and the water evaporates before I can fall to my knees and drink off the ground.

Laughter gurgles out of me at the irony of such desperate thirst when there is constantly so much water around me. My entire chest heaves as the sound hacks out of me. The hysterics continue until I can no longer remember what is so funny. Then I want to cry.

“You must be enjoying your stay here, Aldrin, if you find something so amusing,” a feminine voice rings out. I know who that hard tone belongs to, but I don’t have the presence of mind to place it.

I squint at the door as my vision doubles. A reedy woman is standing there, bathed in light like a white halo. This must be a hallucination. I turn away from the sight that burns my eyes, closing them for just a moment.

“Look at me, you useless fae!”

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