Thronegarden by Andrew Dickerson (top rated books of all time .txt) 📕

The furor behind them disappeared as they travelled further away from the courtroom. Damselfly found the stone walls unfamiliar as though this place was no longer her home.

“At least give me a chance to say goodbye,” Damselfly protested.

Tyten’s expression clouded momentarily before returning to the professional mask he always wore. Remembering the soldier’s story, the princess attempted a different angle.

“I know you were told that love would be your downfall, but you cannot live your life without love or you are already lost,” Damselfly argued. “I know it is your duty to protect my family, though I always believed you did it not out of compulsion alone but because you cared that we were safe.”

Tyten removed a silver key from around his neck, hidden from sight by his golden mane of hair, and opened a hidden door that Damselfly had never seen before. Inside it was blackest night and the air was frigidly cold.

“Please, Tyten,” Damselfly beseeched.

The soldier stood impassively looking down on her until a single tear rolled down his cheek. He released his grip on her arm, and Damselfly thought she had finally broken through his hard exterior. Before she could say anything in gratitude, Tyten pushed her just hard enough to knock her off balance and suddenly Damselfly was falling into the cold emptiness of exile.

Blakast the usurper had only just arrived in exile.

Yet it was true to say that he had always been here.

Blakast the usurper was always alone, even his faithful mistress had departed. Though he knew not a single moment of peace, for something inside had broken long ago and left behind a paragon. A contradiction that Blakast had named The Never. The Evergarden was like a physical manifestation of this paradigm; it was always dark and cold although the low temperature seemed to seep into your bones until you barely noticed it.

A clinging fog rose up from the ground periodically, creating shadows and shapes that one never knew if they truly existed.

“In one ear and out the other. It all disappears into The Never.”

Blakast had been a sorcerer. He liked to stand tall with his shoulders back and his head held high in a posture of benevolence, acting like a grand magician with his black ceremonial robes. Then that voice would return, whispering in his ear, screaming into his face.

You’re no sorcerer, your magic is weak!

It is true.

Blakast would sink down to his knees, hiding behind a mass of long dark hair that covered his face and the expression of shame.

Now they called him usurper. Who were they?

Blakast was alone in a black spectral maze of his own design, a subconscious nightmare that was ruled by that ethereal force.

“Another voice screams I am clever, but all this noise is really just The Never.”

He had a friend once, a truly great sorceress who looked after him and guided his darkness into the light.

Mistress.

Why had he lost her?

Blakast had failed in his mission and now the mistress had forsaken him. Beating the ground in frustration, the usurper clawed at his own face seeking to remove whatever weakness was inside that had resulted in this situation.

“This unwanted passenger.

He says you cannot escape from me, because I am

The Never.”

Blakast laughed though it was a sound without joy. He sang the words of his despair in a jolly tone that did not match his darker meaning and beat the ground until his knuckles were bloody.

Blakast was exiled in the Evergarden.

Blakast was imprisoned with his own madness. Blakast was trapped in The Never.

A sound unlike the other voices that constantly haunted the usurper caught his attention. Suspicious that this was another trick against him, Blakast moved cautiously amongst the fog like a phantom. Crawling on all fours like an animal, he espied a strange figure sitting in his territory.

Where had it come from?

Was it real?

Creeping closer, the usurper made out an unfamiliar sound; someone was crying and it was coming from a little girl with red hair.

Damselfly sobbed until her chest hurt.

Tyten had not even allowed her to say goodbye. She would never see her mother or father ever again and that thought alone was enough to bring tears to her eyes.

She was still in shock; everything had happened so fast it seemed surreal as though none of it had really happened and she would wake up from this nightmare at any moment. Damselfly pinched herself repeatedly, always with the same effect: she really was in the Evergarden and everything she had ever known was left behind. A surge of anger burned away the tears as Damselfly thought about Luyna’s smiling face as she was led away. The court had been as surprised as she was and surely someone would do something to help her.

What could they do?

She was exiled beyond anyone’s reach. Even her father, the king, could not extend his rule this far. No one had ever returned from the Evergarden. Thinking of home reminded Damselfly of Buttontail. Remembering the anguished look on her friend’s face as Luyna revealed the truth about his origin, dampened any sign of fire that had been building inside Damselfly and she fell back into despair. Going through her internal struggle, Princess Damselfly had hardly registered her strange new surroundings. In truth, there was little to see as the Evergarden was shrouded in a permanent gloom. A chill, which slowly permeated into your bones, left Damselfly feeling miserable as did the lingering fog, whose cruel tendrils cast evil shapes amongst the darkness and reflected her distressed state of mind. Damselfly had barely moved from the spot where she had emerged through the hidden gate. She was going through such turmoil that she feared leaving the area in case she could not find her way back again. A small hope flickered inside her that someone would