24 Magical orb

I went back into the room where I was with Kahlan. "You seem worried my lady. Did your conversation with Aurora end with a threat?" Kahlan asked.

"No. Kahlan Aurora is Torren's first love. She turned to a vampire for his sake but he left her"

"No way. Lord Torren is not that ruthless" she argued.

"I know. I mean, he helped me in that tournament, he protected me from that arrow, he..." Just then Kahlan cut me short.

"What tournament?, the one with sir Leone?"

"Yes. That one, sir Leone would've been the winner but lord Torren intervened"

"No way. Diana, lord Torren can never do that. I know he loves you but then, I don't think he cheated his knight to give you an edge over him"

There seemed to be a little confusion in my thoughts but then I was still convinced that lord Torren helped me. Kahlan didn't seem convinced about that. She also thought Aurora had a hand in the death of Torren's bride. She believed she was a bitter vampire who would do anything to get her revenge on humans. We needed to tread with caution.

Later that night, we met king Luther at dinner, he promised to help us but I had to do whatever he asked at any time. He wouldn't say what but he definitely would ask for the unimaginable.

"I will come up with a request anytime. You just have to vow to grant that request queen Diana" king Luther glared at me as he spoke. "I promise it's something you can do" he added.

"Your majesty, anybody can do anything whether evil or good, so please tell us what your request would be" I pleaded.

"Right. Marry me. Not now, after we win. Be like me and stay by my side forever". King Luther's price came as a shock. I thought he'd ask me to give up my kingdom. "I won't Luther. Never" I said.

"Let's get out of here my lady" Kahlan said. We all got up to leave but then king Luther continued "Will you let the people you love die because of your selfishness? Will you let Torren die?, his kingdom will be gone forever, Louisa will die, Kahlan and anybody you've ever loved. You'll be a slave to Qarinah for as long as you live. This is a fair deal Diana"

"Don't listen to him my lady, let's get out of here we don't have much time" sir Owen said. I nodded and we all walked out.

We went in to take our things and leave but Aurora came to me. "Take the offer queen Diana" Aurora told me. I glared at her but she continued, "If you don't, Torren will die, you will lose everyone you love, you will loose your kingdom, your dignity. You can't let Torren die can you?". "He won't die. Why does king Luther want me to be his wife?, he can ask for something else" I complained but Aurora ignored my complaints. "Queen Qarinah is getting more powerful by the day and in 2 days she will be in Darca, you have to make a decision, plus king Luther never takes no for an answer especially from mere mortals".

"Can you show me Darca right now?" I asked. "No. I'll show you Qarinah" Aurora placed her palms together and an orb appeared. In the orb was queen Qarinah. She seemed angry at a guard. She pulled off the gloves she had on and placed her palm on the guard's shoulder, and immediately he froze and dropped dead. Immediately the orb vanished, I closed my eyes and had a vision. It happened like in my dreams just that this time, Qarinah placed her hand on Louisa, I quickly opened my eyes. Aurora also seemed shocked at Qarinah's new powers. "I don't believe this. You're just showing me this to make me take the offer" I said to Aurora.

"I don't want to believe it either. But it's real. Qarinah is more powerful than I had thought. Just a touch and one dies. Diana, there is an explanation to this. Qarinah is in possession of the chalcedony orb" Aurora said.

"Chal.. what?, what does that even mean" I asked in confusion.

"It's an orb that brings life and hope to humanity, but the effect can be reversed, and if reversed, it's really dangerous. Diana, nobody will survive this. As time goes by, just hearing her voice can get you killed..." I didn't wait for Aurora to finish all she had to say and quickly ran to king Luther.

"Yes, yes I will marry you. Save my people and I'm all yours" I said to king Luther. He smiled. "Very well then. You have an ally".

He instructed the guards to give us back our weapons and take us safely back to Darca. They will be with us shortly. On our way back home, Kahlan kept blaming me for accepting the offer.

"Non humans can be sly my lady. She knew you'd fall for it. My lady this is her way of trying to take away lord Torren from you, can't you see. She is still in love with him".

"I had a dream Kahlan. In my dream Qarinah was winning. I'm scared. We need to defeat Qarinah first"

"Defeat her first?, Lady Diana king Luther is not someone to mess with. You can't go back on your words. And I think he just wants to marry you because you're what lord Torren loves the most. I think he wants to take you away from him. He wants to hurt lord Torren. My lady, after we win Qarinah, we'll have a bigger threat".

"Sshhh, his men may hear you" I whispered.

"You trust people way too easily lady Diana" she whispered back.

The rest of our journey was done silently. It took us 2 days and one night to get to Darca. The vampires left us at the boundaries of Darca and turned back.

Darca seemed to be in Chaos. We quickly rushed back to the palace to see Ingrid and sir Leone. "Where's Louisa and lord Torren?" Sir Magnus asked them as they looked scared.

"I'm sorry sir, I'm sorry my lady. I have failed you" sir Leone started as he went down on his knees while Ingrid continued "we, we can't find them anywhere in the kingdom".