The Blacksmith Queen (The Scarred Earth Saga, #1)

by G.A. Aiken

I’ve been waiting since your birth for you to ascend to the throne.” “This is my fight.” “Wrong. This is our fight. Do you really think all my other sons actually died accidentally? No. I took their lives because it was my right, as their mother, to do so.

Theres some motherly love for you

before Samuel could truly panic, Keeley came jogging toward him, carrying the axe and her hammer as if they weighed nothing. She tossed the axe back to its owner and said, as she ran past, “Now we run away. Run,” she cheerfully pushed. “Everyone run. Quick like bunnies!”

Ahhhh. The women in her family. They were amazing. And insane. Because you needed to be both if you wanted to survive this world the way they did. Making their own choices and rules and ignoring all the men who tried to tell them no.

I don’t want to have to hear your father complain that his beautiful daughters don’t get along. Gods, the whining.”

Gemma instead asked, “Think Da likes Keeley more than me?” Her mother rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe you are still asking that question. Why are you still asking that question? Do you think your sister is asking your father that stupid question?” * * * “I think Mum likes Gemma better than me.” “I’m not listening to this insanity again,” her father said, before kissing her forehead.

Then he began to grow . . . up. His torso lifted tall, stretching a bit, even widening. And beneath his torso, his legs went from human to horse. Even his kilt turned into a horse’s bridle seconds before two more legs appeared as that part of his body stretched and grew massive. Bigger than any warhorse she’d ever seen.

Why would the kilt urn into a bridle? centaurs have human heads.

heard it first. The counterweight, then the snap of the casting arm being released, and over the pigpen a large ball of fire flew into the pit of mounted soldiers. The pit exploded into flames and the terrified screams of dying men and horses. “You have a trebuchet?” Caid asked . . . because he couldn’t think of anything else to say. “Mum made it. She gets bored when she’s pregnant.” “Huh.” “It’s very handy.” Keeley gave a sad sigh. “But I hate hurting the horses.” She hefted her hammer onto her shoulder. “All right then. Let’s go kill the rest so we can get the children to safety.”

As they walked across, Caid said to his sister, “You know, the longer we know this family—” “Yes. It’s true. Our kin is not nearly as insane as our father insists we are.”

“Come, my sweet Emma,” Archie urged. “I have a lovely axe to show you.” That set their father into a tailspin of even more rage, but Keeley fought hard to keep him under control. “Please, Da,” she begged. “We need him.” “No, we don’t. I’ll kill him and this place will be ours as long as we like!” “Daddy, that’s a horrible thing to say.” Gemma placed her hands on his chest and pushed their father back a few feet. “You need to find a way to get along with Uncle Archie.” “I’d rather set us both on fire!” “That’s enough, Da!” Keeley stood beside Gemma. “You two are brothers. You shouldn’t be doing all this ridiculous bickering over nothing.” “She’s absolutely right, Daddy.”

Her father stared at her, stared at her sister, and then said, “Are you two fucking kidding me?”

I need to know my entire family is safe while they’re here. That includes me da and not just me mum.” He leaned in and whispered, “But if I kill him, I can have her.” Good gods. “Uncle Archie, kill my father . . . and my mother will flay the skin from your very soul. And not in a nice way. In the meanest way she can think of.” He glanced off and she could tell he was actually thinking about it. Wondering if it might be worth it. So Keeley did what she didn’t want to do. She hooked the head of her hammer against her uncle’s leg and yanked, dropping the older man onto the floor, facedown. “Owwww! You vicious cow!”

“While you were off with monks, I was watching our siblings grow up. Like Mum, I can tell you everything about each of them. The ones who’ll stay on the farm all their lives. The ones who’ll go off to join the military. The ones who will be rich and the ones who will always struggle. And from what I’ve seen of Beatrix . . . she’s been waiting for this since she was born. Since the day Mum held her in her arms and declared to the world, ‘This one is a bit plain.’ ”

“You have to do it,” Keeley told Caid once more. “I won’t. I refuse.” The stubborn centaur had his arms crossed over that massive chest of his and his head turned away from her, but he was in his human form, so she wasn’t worried about getting kicked in the head. “But . . . you can’t refuse,” she said, confused. “I won’t do it.” Keeley looked back and forth between the centaur and the horse he refused to ride. “You do understand,” she clarified, “that we don’t have time to walk to our destination, don’t you?”

“Yes. So I’ll—” “What? Go as your true self? Even when we pass towns and cities? Does that really make sense to you? We were lucky we made it through the first time, and we didn’t pass any towns on the way here.” She held the reins close to his face. “We don’t have time to argue about this! Get on the fuckin’ horse!” Growling, Caid snatched the reins from her grasp. “I won’t use that saddle. Just a blanket.” “Fine. But with you in a kilt, the inside of your thighs will be less than happy over the next few days.” “Then make it a soft blanket!” Keeley quickly made herself busy removing the saddle from Brim. A good, solid gelding that was easy to handle and wouldn’t feel the need to compete with a very stallion-like centaur. She kept her head down so Caid wouldn’t see her laughing. She knew he wouldn’t like it.

His sister came out from the castle and stopped when she saw her brother holding Brim’s reins. “Oh,” she said. “We’re riding them.” Still laughing, but also fed up, Keeley turned on the female centaur. “We have no choice! Are you two kidding me?” “I was just asking!” Laila snapped. “No need to get hysterical.” “I’m not hysterical. I’m just . . . confused! No one’s asking you two to eat one! Just fucking ride the thing!” She pulled the saddle off. “This is Brim,” she told Caid. “And that’s Frannie,” she told Laila. “Good, solid horses that will give you no problems as ...

“What are you doing?” Keeley asked him. “My horse and Sir Gemma’s horses.” “Sir Gemma can take one horse.” She looked at the three who were currently making her life difficult. “Do any of you understand what we’re doing here? We’re not going into battle,” she snapped at Samuel. “And you’re not making a moral statement,” she informed the siblings. “So cut the shit!” “Gods bless all of you!” Gemma happily announced f...

“Keeley is not evil! She just happens to love animals.” Gemma looked at the beasts snarling in warning from across the chamber. “Even animals with eyes of pure fire, drool of blood, that have clearly been birthed from one of earth’s many hell pits. . . .”

When Quinn saw that Diarmad and his unit were gone, he looked at the rest of them and asked, “A human War Monk and demon dogs?” “Wolves,” Caid corrected. “What the fuck are you doing, Laila? Why are you trying to bring crazy into the camp?” Quinn grinned. “Thought that was my job.”

face your future and your sister.” “I won’t kill my sister. Despite what she’s done, she’s still family.” “She tried to kill you. If she were slightly stronger or you were a little weaker . . . you’d be dead now.” “She’s blood. I won’t kill my own blood. Besides”—she sighed out—“I won’t say I deserved it, but sometimes I can be difficult. A little hard-headed. Sometimes unreasonable.”

“Wow.” The god blinked wide. “You really do care about your family. I’ve had several of my siblings attempt to destroy me and I’ve never made excuses for them.” “But you are kind of an asshole, so is it really surprising they tried to—” “You can stop now.” He glared down at the wheezing demon wolf god that seemed to be laughing at him. “Both of you can stop.”

Keeley took in a deep breath and then told the centaur god her true feelings.... “I don’t like you. At all.” He smirked. “Woman . . . I’m a god. I don’t give a fuck.”

in spite of the fact that a god came to you—” “Gods.” His mother blinked. “Pardon?” “Gods. I met gods. As in plural.” “You met someone other than Ofydd Naw? Who else?” Keeley shrugged. “Not sure about the name, but he was a giant version of my wolf friends.” Laila’s eyes grew wide. “Your wolf friends . . . ? Do you mean the demon wolves we can’t get rid of?” “They’re still wolves.” His mother scratched her cheek. “That’s Maelgwn. The other gods use him when someone makes them angry. They’ll send him up here to destroy whole cities or entire races of people, depending on how pissed off they are.”

Really? Keeley shrugged. “He let me rub his belly.” * * * The entire tent was silent until Gaira looked at Laila with those light eyes and sweetly said, “May I speak to you for a moment, dear?” “No, thank you,” Laila attempted but her mother grabbed her by her hair as she walked by and dragged Laila from the tent. “What kind of mad human did you bring to our territory?”

“She’s not mad. Just different.” Gaira stopped pacing. “She rubbed the belly of a demon god.” “Demon wolf god.” “What difference does that make?” “To her it makes all the difference. As far as she’s concerned . . . they’re wolves and therefore, they are more animal than evil being.” “Despite the eyes of flame?” “She just doesn’t put her hands near that area . . . so they don’t get burned.”

Then Keeley did what her father had always told her to do if she was ever lucky enough to meet the centaur who’d saved his life . . . she wrapped her arms around his lower waist—the last bit of him that was humanlike when he was in his natural form—and hugged him. * * * Caid watched his father’s confused expression turn downright panicked; his hands flailed a bit as he tried to figure out where to put them. Caid could almost guess the stallion’s questions: Should he hug her back? Should he push her away? Should he wipe her from the face of the earth? So many questions right there on his father’s face.

“See this?” Gemma had asked pointing at some blood-covered totems built around the entrance. “These are to protect this area from pure evil.” Gemma gazed at her. “And your wolves could not get beyond this point. Does that tell you anything?” Keeley had smiled and replied, “No!” before riding on.

Caid continued to pace in front of the cave entrance. “Where the fuck are they?” he finally asked his sister. “I don’t know. But I’m not waiting any longer.” She pulled out her steel spear, hitting a latch that caused the weapon to extend several more feet. “We’re going in and we’re going to find—” The roar that exploded from inside the cave caught them all off guard, but only Quinn was crazy enough to immediately move in closer. Then he laughed. “I love these women!” he crowed, oblivious to any danger. As always.

Caid started to walk off, but his sister briefly pulled him back to whisper in his ear, “Maybe if she spends the night away from her sister, we’ll all get some sleep.” “I’ll see what I can do.” “Don’t keep her away on my account,” Gemma snapped, apparently hearing Laila’s words. “I can ignore the whiny bitch forever if I have to!” she yelled out toward the trees. “She hasn’t said a word since we left elf territory,” Laila reminded her. “It doesn’t matter. I can see her whining through her eyes!” Quinn laughed at that bizarre statement and Gemma’s snarling at him to “Shut the fuck up!” did not help the matter.

“But the thought of human men telling me what to do set my teeth on edge, so . . . you know . . .” “As a human woman, I have to admit, I feel the same way.”

“Keeley,” he finally said. “Hhhm?” “Keeley.” Startled, she sat up and threw her sword. Quinn barely ducked in time, the weapon impaling a tree right behind him. “What the hells was that?” Keeley opened her eyes and looked at Caid’s brother. “Oh. Sorry.”

Caid kissed Keeley’s forehead and asked, “You knew that was Quinn when you threw the blade at him, didn’t you?” “Oh, yes. I knew.”

Quinn wanted to know, “So you attached to this one, or what?” “None of your business.” “Father won’t be happy. And who knows how long she’ll be queen before she loses her head in battle?” He thought a moment, then asked, “And are you planning to breed with her? That could be strange. What if the offspring have horse back legs but everything else is human? And they can’t shift? Or they have front forelegs instead of arms but human legs? What if they just have a horse’s head on a human body? Can she even marry you? She’s a queen, you know, and you’re nothing, so she may leave you for a human prince. Would that bother you? Especially if they have normal babies and banish your horse-headed baby from the territory.”

“Do you think Dad would be happy with your horse-headed baby?” Quinn asked, either pretending he didn’t see how things were turning or truly oblivious. Caid seriously didn’t know which was worse. “I’m sure Mum would. She’d like to have a horse-headed grandchild. She’d be happy with that. So that’s good.”

Lar s watched the chunky nun approach the closed gates with her two mules. “My lords,” she called up to them. “I beg you in the name of my merciful god to allow me to enter so that I may bring the words of love and care of the god Simon to those who are within.”

The head came off swiftly and cleanly, bouncing a few feet away. Done with that bit of unpleasantness, Keeley switched back to her hammer and headed out to join the fray. “Bring the head along, would you?” she asked the lead demon wolf. “The rest of you can have the body.” Keeley met Gemma outside the doors. Her sister looked in, then glared at her. “Where did all those extra demon wolves come from?” “Why do you ask me questions when we both know the answers will only upset you?”

“Aren’t I supposed to get a stick or scepter or something at my coronation?” “Just use your bloody hammer!” her mother yelled back. “What do you think this is?” Keeley shrugged at that. “Well . . . it is an awesome hammer.”