In Darkness Lost Read Online Free PDF Page B

ground.
    The first shovel full of dirt hit the wooden coffin with an ominous thud as the sun shone down on the frozen ground surrounding us. We’d thawed the place where he was to be buried using magic. I finally looked away, tracking the movements of a bird wheeling in the sky in an attempt to keep back the tears.
    It failed, but at least I’d tried.
    My father was gone. Gone. It didn’t seem real or possible, but as more dirt hit the coffin and the men finished burying the coffin, I turned my back on the scene, accepting it in my heart. It was the end of my father’s time, and the end of my world as I knew it. Nothing was going to change that.
    ***
    I stooped down to gaze at the sluggish trickle of water flowing in the brook within the palace greenhouse. Crypt stood beside me, and the guards stood a little ways off. My father’s funeral had been a week ago, and tomorrow was my coronation. They’d moved things along quickly, unable to leave Argent without a ruler for long in lieu of the recent events.
    “Crypt?” I whispered.                                                                                
    “What?”
    “Why is all this happening?”
    “I don’t know, Dairdra. Bad things just happen. All of life… It’s like that stream you see there, flowing endlessly, slowing and quickening, but not according to our whims. Sometimes it’s good; other times the flow is fast and dangerous. But we can’t escape it.”
    I nodded. “I guess so. I could still escape this, though. I’m old enough that, by law, Argent must accept my rule if I am crowned, but I’m also young enough that should I tell the Council I can’t rule well enough, they would appoint a regent. ”
    Crypt smiled, shaking his head, “No, you can’t.”
    I glanced up in surprise, “Why not?”
    He crouched beside me, looking me in the eyes. “Dairdra, one of the things I love best about you is that you never quit. When things get hard, you refuse to give up. You just shove on. If anything, you get more stubborn. I can tell you’ve decided to fight this battle, even if you don’t know that you have yet. Once you do that, you never go back. For as long as I’ve known you, you’ve never backed out of a fight once you’ve committed to it.”
    I nodded. He was right. I had decided that this was my fight, on some level at least. I could still back out, but I wouldn’t. I had already made it my fight, and there was no going back, even if the option did still exist.
    Sighing, I stood, turning to leave. Crypt also stood, following me to the greenhouse door. I picked my cloak up. Gazing at the steamy environment of the greenhouse, I wished I could stay forever. But I couldn’t.
    I turned away from the slow, babbling brook and the tropical beauty of the indoor garden.
    We walked out into the cold, and I immediately wished I had not decided to come to the greenhouse. I should have stayed in the palace where it was warm. Then I wouldn’t have to deal with this frigid winter chill.
    Captain Choric came running to my side. His face was red and chapped from the cold. He was out of breath.
    He panted, trying to catch his breath, and then said, “My Queen! Terrible news from the front. General Orin sent me to tell you that all of Argent’s main defense outposts have been attacked.”
    I wondered how I could have thought things couldn’t get worse. A great weight slammed down onto my chest. I barely managed to get the words out. “Who was it?”
    “Cyril, my Queen!”
    I frowned. “But, we were at peace with them. Why would they attack? Have we given any provocation for their attack?”
    “None at all, my lady! So far as we can tell, there is no reason for this attack,” Captain Choric answered.
    His eyes were somber, and there seemed to be more lines etched into his face than usual. His shoulders sagged.
    “Captain Choric, tell General Orin to come see me