“I think I might have found something about Corvinian,” Meleng said, rubbing his eyes. “I can’t be sure. I’m going to need to check some of the translations with Maneshka who’s a lot better at that sort of thing than I am. But I’ve found something about a child—”

Felitïa placed a hand on his arm to stop him. “This is probably not the best place. Tell me later.” The two guards probably didn’t know Arnorgue, but better safe than sorry.

Meleng nodded. “Right.”

He was still dressed in his formal wear from last night.

“Were you up all night?” Felitïa asked.

He nodded.

“Did you get any sleep?”

“I nodded off a couple of times. I’m not sure for how long. It couldn’t have been very long, though.” He yawned.

The door opened to reveal the young messenger who had brought them here. She bowed, then stood aside, and motioned for them to enter.

The Ninifin apartments were laid out similarly to the Arnorin ones—similarly to all the apartments as best Felitïa could tell. Queen Nin-Xoco’s was one of the larger apartments, like the one Felitïa’s parents were using. It was broken up into more than one room—an initial meeting room and a couple of bedrooms beyond that.

A chair had been set up opposite the front door, a little in front of the far wall. Sitting in it was a young Ninifin woman dressed in a shawl and skirt of mixed colours, though predominantly green. She wore several heavy necklaces, bracelets on her wrists, and anklets on her bare feet. On her head was a tall headdress adorned with green peacock feathers. Her long black hair was draped over her chest and hung down to her legs.

To the Queen’s right stood Nin-Akna, a spear in hand. Another warrior stood to her left, and others were spread around the room. All of them had red jerkins like Nin-Akna’s. Three other women stood in the room behind the Queen, one in green robes, the second in white, and the third in yellow. Several others—servants, Felitïa presumed—also stood around the room.

Felitïa and Meleng bowed.

The Queen leaned forward and peered at Meleng. “Your attendant is a man?”

“Yes, your Holiness.” It dawned on Felitïa that everyone else in the room, even all the warriors, was a woman. Meleng was the only man.

“How strange,” the Queen said.

“He is the same one who was with the young sister, Holiness,” Nin-Akna said.

“This is Meleng,” Felitïa said.

The Queen smiled. “Ah, yes. Forgive my rudeness. I am Nin-Xoco. Thank you for coming so quickly. Can I offer you some refreshments?” She motioned to a couple of the servants, who came forward, one carrying a tray of white fruit chopped in cubes, the other a tray of wine.

“Thank you.” Felitïa took a goblet of wine and a piece of fruit.

Almost everyone in the room was very young. The Queen, the guards, the servants—none of them looked out of their teens. Many of the servants looked barely in their teens. The Queen herself was maybe eighteen at most. Only the three robed women behind the Queen were older, two of them mature women of fifty or more, the third—the one in yellow robes and with a tattoo of an eye on her forehead—looked close to Felitïa in age, maybe a little older.

After Meleng selected a piece of fruit and a goblet, the Queen took a fruit piece herself. “It is a local fruit. Unusual. Tasty, but dry. I do not know the word for it in your language. I apologise that my command of your language is not good.”

“It is called coconut, Holiness,” Felitïa said. “But I didn’t know that before coming to Scovese. Believe me, your command of the language is excellent so far.”

“The Sanalogs are good hosts, wouldn’t you say?” the Queen said.

“Yes. They’ve been very good hosts, very welcoming. They’ve gone out of their way to make everyone comfortable. The ball last night was more than anyone would have expected of them, I think. I don’t recall seeing you there, Holiness.”

“No, I chose not to go. I must be careful about my public appearances. The Sanalogs are good hosts, but I do not trust the Volgs. Do you not find them frightening? Or the Isyar?”

“The Volgs, yes, at times,” Felitïa said. The Isyar?

“It is still strange to me,” the Queen continued. “I did not think they existed. Eleuia revealed that the Volgs are a creation of the Isyar, to misdirect our attention away from their evil. I always thought that meant the Isyar created stories of Volgs. Most others believe the same, but now my advisors tell me it is more literal than that. The Isyar actually created the Volgs. Such powerful evil frightens me.”

There was genuine fear emanating from the Queen, but Felitïa got the impression it was more than just fear of Volgs. Some of that fear seemed directed at her. The emotions from the rest of the room were a mixture of confusion, uncertainty, fear, and a small amount of hatred, but it was difficult to separate where the individual emotions originated—not and keep her attention on the Queen.

“Forgive me, Holiness,” Felitïa said. “You said you had something urgent to discuss with me.”

“Yes, that is correct.” The Queen looked to Nin-Akna and nodded.

Nin-Akna tensed and Felitïa felt intense uncertainty from her. “Are you sure, Holiness?”

“You said you believed her trustworthy,” the Queen replied.

“Yes, but—”

“Then I will take the chance. You need not go far. I will call if I need you, but go you must. This is not for your ears.”

Nin-Akna snapped to attention. “As you wish, Holiness.” She raised her spear and motioned to the others in the room. The servants left, followed by the guards, and finally Nin-Akna. She paused at the door to look back at the Queen. “I will be just outside the door, Holiness.” The Queen nodded and Nin-Akna exited the room, closing the door behind her.

The only people remaining in the room were Felitïa, Meleng, the Queen, and the three older women. There was silence for a moment as Nin-Xoco looked behind to the older women, who each nodded in turn. She turned to face Felitïa again. When she spoke, there was a waver to her voice. “Thank you for coming so quickly. I asked you here because I need your help.”

“My help?”

“I fear for my life while I am here on this island.”

“Why do you want my help with that? What of your own people? Your guards?”

“Nin-Akna is devoted and loyal, but she is young and inexperienced, new to her position. I also fear that soldiers and weapons will be ineffective against the threats that may come against me.”

“What do you think I can do that your guards can’t?” Felitïa asked. New and inexperienced? On an important journey like this? As she thought about it, apart from those three women standing behind the Queen, all the Ninifins Felitïa had seen so far were very young. The male soldiers outside were twenty at most.

The Queen took a long sip of her wine. “Before I came here, I was advised to seek you out if I felt threatened.”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“I don’t understand,” Felitïa said. “Why me?”

“Because you are the Will-Breaker.”

Felitïa wasn’t sure whether to groan or shout in excitement. Yet another person was using that term for her, yet for once, it wasn’t someone trying to kill her. Maybe she could actually learn something about it.

“Who told you this?” Felitïa asked.

“How much do you know of Eleuia and her disciple, Nin-Papan?” the Queen asked.

“Very little, Holiness.”

“Didn’t Eleuia lead a resistance against King Everet and Stark Drago?” Meleng said.

The four women all gasped. “Never speak that name aloud!” the one in the green robes snapped.

Nin-Xoco held up a hand to silence the others. “Please refer to that person only as the Dragon.”

“Of course,” Meleng stammered. “My apologies, Holiness.”

“However, you are correct,” the Queen continued. “Eleuia is our greatest hero and the mother of the Ninifin people. Not literally, of course, but she brought the words of the true gods to us, and Nin-Papan recorded her words and actions for posterity. Thanks to Nin-Papan, every child in Ninifin knows the story of Eleuia. We base our whole society on what she taught us. However, there are things that not every child knows. That very few know. Before I tell you more, I must ask that you swear never to divulge this to any other living soul.”

Part of Felitïa wanted to agree without hesitation—anything to find out what was going on—but something continued to bother the other part of her. Nin-Xoco was terrified; so were two of the other women. The third—the one in yellow robes—emanated hatred over her fear. And all of it—the fear and hatred—was directed at Felitïa.

“I will keep your secret,” Felitïa said.

There was silence a moment, and Felitïa nudged Meleng. “Oh yes,” he said. “I swear it, too.”

Nin-Xoco glanced at the other three, who nodded one-by-one. Then she continued, “Nin-Papan wrote of several things that Eleuia said and did that are not in the official story. Many of these were words the gods spoke through Eleuia telling of the future. Some of these refer to a person called only the Will-Breaker. The writings say that the Will-Breaker will first make herself known the next time all the peoples of the world come together in one place to talk.”

“What else do these writings say?” Felitïa asked.

“I am not certain,” the Queen said. “I have not read them myself. Only a few specialised members of our clergy ever study them.”

That probably meant they wouldn’t let her look at them either. “How do you know I’m the Will-Breaker?”

The Queen motioned to the woman in yellow. “This is Ses-Tlacotl. She is one of our greatest wizards. It was her task to locate you.”

Ses-Tlacotl touched her eye tattoo with the tips of the fingers of both hands and bowed her head. “As soon as we arrived here, I began subtly probing people,” she said, lowering her hands. She was a full-figured woman with silky black hair. “When you came with your brother the other day to protest the treatment of your sister, I noticed you. Not only did you have mental defences—which most people do not have at all—but you had defences of a type I have never encountered before. I could not breach them. This left little doubt that you were the one I sought.”

“I never even noticed,” Felitïa said.

Ses-Tlacotl touched her eye tattoo and bowed her head again. The hatred still poured from her.

“Ses-Tlacotl is very good at what she does,” the Queen said.

“That was three days ago,” Felitïa said. “Why have you waited so long to contact me?”

“Because I didn’t yet know that I would need your help.”

“So why do you contact me now?”

“There is a Volg here by the name of Agranim. Do you know him?”

Felitïa nodded. “I’ve had the displeasure of meeting him, yes.”

“He has made threatening remarks towards me.”

“What sort of threats?”

“He said that once the meeting is over, when we are no longer under the protection of diplomacy, he would see to it that I died. He said that I would not see it coming, that it would come from a source I did not expect.”

“I see,” Felitïa said. “Why are you afraid of me?”

Nin-Xoco grimaced. “Is it that obvious?”

“You or your associates must know something of my abilities if you think I can help you. I would have thought you’d know I’d notice something like that.”

“Ah,” the Queen said.

“Because Eleuia said the Gods foretold that your coming would herald a time of terror worse even than that wrought by the Dragon,” Ses-Tlacotl said. “Who would not be afraid of you?”

“You think I’m worse than the Dragon?”

“No,” the Queen said. “As I understand it, you are not responsible for the bad times. They just follow you. However, it is also said you have incredible powers that can seem terrifying.”

“I see,” Felitïa said. “Thank you for answering my questions.”

“Will you help me?”

Opposing Agranim seemed a likely course of events regardless, so the decision was easy to make. “I will do what I can, Holiness. But I would ask one thing of you too.”

“Of course. What do you wish?”

“I’d like to see these writings that foretell the future.”

A sharp pang of annoyance came from Ses-Tlacotl.

“We do not have any copies here,” the Queen said.

“That’s all right. It doesn’t have to be right away. At some point in the future.”

The Queen nodded. “I’m sure that can be arranged.”

“Thank you. If I haven’t already dealt with Agranim by the time the meeting’s ended, I’ll come to you and do whatever I can to keep you safe.”

“Thank you, Will-Breaker.”

“If you will excuse me then, Holiness. I need to make plans.”

The Queen nodded her assent, and Felitïa and Meleng bowed.

As they left the apartment, Felitïa paused by Nin-Akna. “You can trust me.”

“I believe you,” Nin-Akna said. “But there are things you don’t know.”

That was certainly true. Far too many things. “Perhaps we can talk at some point? If the Queen gives you leave?”

“Perhaps,” Nin-Akna replied.

As they walked back towards the Arnorin apartments, Felitïa said to Meleng, “I hate pretending I know what people are talking about when I really have no clue.”

“Well, at least we’re learning something,” Meleng said. “These prophecies or whatever they are seem really fascinating.”

“You think so?”

“I can’t wait to get a look at them,” he said. “That reminds me what I was trying to tell you earlier. I found something that I think mentions Corvinian. It talks of a child who is of the Volgs but not of the Volgs. Or something like that. It’s kind of confusing.”

“This was written how long ago?” Felitïa asked after he had filled her in on the details of what he’d found.

Meleng shrugged. “Not sure exactly. Twenty-four hundred years ago at least.”

“And it predicted the exact date of Corvinian’s birth? Using a dating system that hadn’t even been created yet?”

Meleng nodded. “Assuming it’s talking about Corvinian. It’s really fascinating. That’s two examples we’ve discovered of people accurately predicting the future in just the last few hours. I wonder how they do it. I’d love to figure it out.”

Felitïa stopped walking and it took Meleng a moment to notice and stop as well.

“I don’t like this, Meleng,” she said. “Don’t you find this predicting the future disturbing?”

“Well, I suppose it is a bit, but think what we could learn.”

“What, that we have no choice? Someone two hundred years ago decided that I would come here now, and so here I am? Do I get a choice? Do you? Corvinian? If the future can be foretold, then what does that say about our ability to make decisions for ourselves? What does that say about free will?”

Meleng gulped. “I didn’t think of that. But we should still find out what these things say.”

Will-Breaker. They kept calling her Will-Breaker. That implied breaking, ruining, destroying will. Removing free will.

No. She would not be part of that. Nor would she let her life be predetermined for her.

She would find another way.