[The Soldier]
Time slips by like an eel.
For a few hours or a day, I have no bouts save the worries eating away hopes of my lieutenant's safety. It did not take them long to relieve me of my command, strip me down to a shirt and leather hose, and fling me into a dark prison cell, detained. While Hughes was dragged to another.
Manacles rub on my ankles, on my wrists. A small throb of pain compared to the blow that knocked the wind out of me as Dunn turned us in. Yet I cannot pound him with blame. He chose what was ingrained in him from the very beginning while I chose another.
"I did it for you," he said.
Damn this. They should just flog me with Hughes. Interrogate and torture me rather than this consuming silence, swimming in my thoughts, grappling with my questions and doubts.
"Doubts, heh."
The other prisoner talked. I glance to the corner right. A lone sconce is placed in the hallway outside our cell, the orange glow hardly lighting a quarter of the floor, I only relied upon sensing him with me.
"What did you do to be kept down here?"
He does not reply. Sighing, I work up the interest to close our distance. King Cirrhinus does not take prisoners with minor offenses, taxes unpaid, and similar offenses. He punished them by public humiliation, flogging, and parading them on every street which is why his prisoners are either waiting for a graver sentence or they may have some use to him yet. Chains clank and grit on the floor as the other prisoner retreats further from me.
"Go away, go away, go away…" he chants, mad with intensity to a murmur. I step closer but my shackles inhibit me.
"How long have you been imprisoned?"
"Shut up! He will go away… shh, shh, go away… shh…" I hear him mumbling to himself, almost as if
arguing. Years then, a decade if not more. Enough to drive a sane mind to lunacy.
A crazy, old fool.
I would not be far from becoming like him if Cirrhinus does not kill me first. The other moves suddenly, chains go with him ringing like a thunder clap. In the dim, I make out hands trying to chase me.
"Go! Begone! Go away!"
Hands outstretched, the man clamp and unclamps his fists, inches from where I stand. His eyes are bright with madness, and distrust.
"Illusion. You are not real. Stay away from me."
I touch his fingertips. Intake of breath.
"I am real."
"Real?"
"Afraid so, yes."
The other end quiets.
"Silver," he reverts to yelling.
"Silver?"
"Silver!" Reaching out with renewed strength, he states. I might have excited him for a reason he alone is aware.
"Right, silver." I start to turn, he blurts out, "And jade. Combined and it will tame."
"What?"
"The traveler seeks akin he had lost. Kith of one and kith of another…"
Unblinking, I stare at him. I dare not speak in fear that he might not continue.
"Warriors of gold and brown, who suffers, who sows
Dispersed no more, in silence they gather.
"Silver and jade, combined and it will tame.
Ghosts seized to be–"
"Wait..."
"– Capture the untamed.
Silver and jade, to see the unseen
To reveal the hidden
Amass power within."
I found my voice a minute later. "Who are you?"
The prisoner paces back and again, repeating the phrase about silver and untamed. He was like presenting his case to me and I watch him prowl, trying to wrap my head around the words he put forth.
"It was the prophecy, was it?"
"Prophecy?" He asks, suddenly confused. "I… I do not… I… where was… I need to, I need to do something, something to do… silver."
He pays me no attention now, mumbling back to himself. I ignore the tramp of feet in the corridor, the iron bars banging as it opens, the torch nearly blinding as it shines on the cell. I ignore the hands grasping my arms, the roars ordering me to move, keeping my eyes fixed at the prisoner now hugging himself on his stone bunk, on the link of his chains glinting like a river in the moonlight.
Silver. His chains are silver.
* * *
The tangy, copper smell of blood hits my nose even before we emerge into the courtyard. And before my eyes could adjust to the blinding midmorning sun, they hurl me in front of a stake. As it did, I see the cobbles run with thick blood, left to dry out in the arid ground of the citadel's courtyard. An audience of generals and fellow Elites await, surrounding us on four corners. A distance to my west, another stake stands.
Hughes.
Barely able to upright himself, he hangs by the shackles on his wrists. All my attention sharpens on him. His naked back, torso, and legs were marked with overlaying open wounds, pooling blood around him. Someone yanks my hands, securing me to the stake.
Voices dissolve as I count the lieutenant's breath, heaved harder than the former. He is near fainting. Hughes angles his head, second after excruciating second, I ache with it, until his eyes find mine.
Live through this, I try to tell him wordlessly. You have to.
Live, Hughes. Live. Through. This.
Piercing thwack burns through the skin of my back. I clamp my teeth, holding a scream. "Did you or did you not shield an officer under your command?"
General Elricht.
I do not answer. He hits again with a practiced hand, waves of pain rushing to fingertips and toes. I stand as rigid as I could.
"Remenniah, did you conspire with him to commit treason?"
"Answer me, soldier!" Not gracing him with even a grunt, I receive more blows. Clenched jaw, curled fists, my gaze does not waver from Hughes.
"General." King Cirrhinus' voice cuts above the snap. "Push him."
Snap. I draw a sharp breath, feeling a shudder run up my spine. "Harder!"
"Answer your King," he orders in between strikes. Still, I refuse to. Panting now, I hear footsteps.
"My King, they know the game too well," says a stricken voice. Queen Dela's.
"Perhaps… we can find another way for them to yield?"
"Is that so?"
Another shuffling. In time, I transfer my gaze seeing the crop Elricht relinquishes on the king then the backhand king Cirrhinus releases on him. Air seems to left the courtyard. The General of his majesty's army humiliated, does not show any slight interest despite the immediate color on the side of his face.
"Treason, Elricht. On your watch no less."
Cirrhinus halts before Hughes, waving a hand. A man I know to be Minister Sonus, along with his wife and daughters is presented. They are confused, blindfolded, and bound by the very person who turned us in. Sonus is a prominent figure in Cirrhinus' patrons. It did not stop the king from making him kneel inches shy of his son's wretched state. Hughes stiffens as he takes in the man before him. Blindfold gone, Sonus sobs, trying to reach his son.
Cirrhinus jerks his head back.
"Let us start fresh," the king says. A dagger poises on Sonus' pulsing vein. "Did you betray me, Hughes Vertii?"
Hughes is not given a chance to answer. King Cirrhinus slits his father's throat a fraction of a second after he asked. Minister Sonus' body is kicked to the side.
"But of course, you did. Wrong question."
His mother is dropped to her knees next. My lieutenant struggles to keep his head up. Her ululating cry at the sight of her husband and son resonates in my head. She pleads for her and her son's life to be spared, groveling to the king. Dunn steps up and holds her steady.
"Such a shame, you are extremely loyal. To a fault at that," the king sympathizes.
"Who else did you conspire with? The Anagolay?"
Hughes' shoulder and back shake but he is not shivering. He is chuckling.
"Oh, you would want to know that, would you not, your majesty?" Hughes sounds supercilious.
"The thing is… you will watch your kingdom fall apart…"
Cirrhinus stands rigid, lips thinning to suppress a strong emotion.
"You… you are nothing… You will come to realize that all you have taken, all you have done will chase you to oblivion." He spats to the king. In a fit of rage, Cirrhinus attacks Hughes' mother, stabbing her more times than needed. I grip my chains. To ignore his mother's body, Hughes glares solely at the king.
"There is nothing, nothing you can do to stop it."
Cirrhinus makes a visible effort to calm himself.
"Fine." He offers the dagger to General Elricht, giving him a redeeming chance and he takes it. The king looks around at what is left of Hughes' family. Beads of sweat crawl to my wounds, whetting every feeling present at the moment. I swallow dread as he ambles to them, a predator to a weak prey, toying with their fear. He pats the head of the youngest one, Violetta, murmuring hushed tones in her ear.
"Kill them all," King orders.
Hughes' sisters try to plead, but they are dispelled easily. Dunn and his men plant them before their brother, sobbing desperately. General Elricht assumes position.
I can no longer stand this.
As I open my mouth, I catch my lieutenant's eyes. He shakes his head almost imperceptibly, and my gut dips. Do not dare, Captain, it seems to communicate.
All of my friends's being seem to concentrate on his grey eyes. Defiant. Steadfast. Peaceful. Anything but resentful at me. Precious seconds, that lengthen like an hour. Making sure I am watching, Cirrhinus angles his body in my direction. Hughes mouth words to me.
'It was a pleasure to be your lieutenant, Captain. Press on. Be brave.'
Then the King plunges the dagger into his neck.
Wrenching pain.
"You bastard!" I growl. I see red and black, struggling on my chains. I seethe at the sight of him.
"Damn you, you coward!"
"Make him talk," he says to Elricht amusing at my curses on him. "Skin him alive if that is what it takes."
I scream.
* * *
They put me in another cell, on one side of a table while General Elricht sits across me. He makes a gesture which is immediately followed by hands forcing me on my back despite the poorly bandaged wounds now damp, clamping my nose shut. And water.
For the fifth time, water fills my lungs, my stomach bloated off it and I choke. Slowly. Painfully. I try to kick my way and more hands pin me down. Just before I could faint, they bring me back to life.
I cough. Water rushed out of my nose and mouth. Curtain of hair sticking on my face and neck.
"There is only so much pain one can endure," Elricht persuades, trying the promise of ending the pain so long as I talk. I manage a snort. The general is a blur and blunt figure in front of me. He pulls my hands, spreading the fingers on my right delicately on the table.
Mallet in his hand, he starts with my small finger. Bones crack under the force. I squirm, crying an ugly "Ugh!"
"This is how you repay the kingdom who made you who you are?"
He takes my ring finger. "Who gave you everything?!"
Spasms rock my body and I slump forward as if my body is rubber. But suddenly, I feel a different kind of tingling in my nape.
"Do you have anything to say for yourself?"
Forehead on the table's surface, I nod slightly. General Elricht leans close, his ear near my mouth.
I whisper, "Be… beware… beware the… Eng't Urh."
I feel the shackles on my wrist and feet spring open.
General Elricht withdraws from me, taken aback and I raise my head as he turns to the girl. Hood shrouds Lila's face, a dark wrap hiding her identity. In a sweeping motion, she sent the sentries flying over my head and tossed them on the walls. Elricht unsheathes his rapier but with her other hand, Lila stops the general and holds him in place with an invisible force.
I cradle the ribs of my lower abdomen as I stagger up, finding Lila focusing solely on the general. She advances and her face comes into my view. Her oily black eyes are brimming with anger and her lips are puckered down as someone who has ill determination.
Her intent is not to stop him.
Veins jump out of the muscles on Elricht's arms even on his neck. He is turning purple. Alarmed, I step between them.
/Lila, Lai… look at me./
Her outstretched hand seems to enclose a neck, slowly, and the general's lips just turn blue, and his eyes start to go up.
/Do not do this. Lai! /– I shake her shoulders. /Do not put blood on your hands./
A quick glance my way.
/He is not worth it, you hear me? He is not worth it./
She blinks then a small gasp. Her hold on the general breaks in an instant, and he drops to the floor. I release a breath of my own. Lila, back to her usual self, tears up.
"Gaviel… I…" she murmurs. I tuck her under my chin with my good arm.
"Hughes," she says and breaks down.
"Shh. I know."
I let her grieve him for a moment. Until the ground sway and my legs
buckle, I land on my knees before she catches me.
"Gav-!"
She slaps my face lightly. "Stay with me, Gav." Shaking my head, I try to wake myself.
"I need to get you out of here," Lila says, taking my good arm over her shoulders.
She is stronger than I make of her or is it just that I have so little left of my own. We stumble to the hallway. Guards sprawl in a disarray.
"They're just sleeping." She tells me, I regard her. "Not for long."
Passing the flight of stairs of the dungeon we aim straight for the citadel's main hall. Servants and soldiers run amok, and someone outside shouts for fire. Before we could take another step, an explosion rocks the citadel. We veer right, pause and I slid down, both of us breathing heavily.
"That would be the Anagolay."
"He is with you?" I sound surprised. She smiles.
"Yes, well. He's distracting our hosts."
"As is his way," I say and she helps me up.
"Come on."
As long as we could, we avoid men at arms. Still, my weight slows us down. Every step is like pounds of stone and I am already dragging my feet. We barely made it to the courtyard and I collapse on the same cobbles that ran with Hughes' blood days before.
"No, no, Gav, don't give up on me now," Lila coaxes.
I try to lift my head to no avail. I realize later that she is dragging me by my feet and muttering,
"Where is that Anagolay when you need him?"
Moving the fingers broken by Elricht, the pain that shots through my arm rouses me. I gather strength to prop my body on my elbow. Lila heaves me halfway.
"That's it," she encourages, hand pulling on my neck.
With a grunt, heavy sweat trickling down, and a whole lot of effort on her part, I can sit up. "This could have been worse," she concludes. I smile at that. When I look up, I notice a man paces away, amusing at us.
"What?" Lila turns and stiffens.
Clad in princely robes, the man is lean and willowy. He has dark skin as perfect as the flawless maiden. His slick black hair is combed back, cryptic eyes under dark eyebrows, and full lips stretched thin by his smile. His visage is striking, clean. Pleasant.
But his liquid black eyes are piercing and sinister. His smile, unnerving. One that can make blood ran cold. I realize why. There is nothing human about it. As he stares us down, my whole being coils on alert. I try to feel his presence.
I cannot sense him at all.
He traces his lower lip with two fingers from end to end. Taking his time, he tilts his head studying us.
"That's him," Lila says under her breath. "He's the one from the plaza."
He is a Mystic. She pushes the hilt of a rapier into my hand.
"I have been waiting for you," says the man. Hands clasp behind his back, he walks to the stake. We trail his movements.
"You know, I never thought it would be you." He tells me. "We killed the wrong inside man."
Hughes. I swallow my dread.
"Bonded and protected by the light of an Eng't Urh."
Protected? I glance at Lila. A streak of crimson crawls down her nose and she wipes it away. I did not realize she is shielding me. From what, I try not to think about. Three soldiers march in the courtyard while we are sitting ducks. They see us and unsheathe their swords. In a fighting stance, their gazes bounce from us to the man.
He simply acknowledges them.
"Ah, yes. Do me a favor," he says. "Die."
And they all did. Like birds shot at once. Lila flinches beside me. Carefully, I unsheathe my rapier despite my heart leaping into my throat.
"I cannot do that to you." He points to the dead soldiers. "But not this."
He makes a pulling motion. Lila and I look over our shoulders and a block of foundation stone shifts from its place, cracks, and tears itself from the column nearest us, flying towards us. We dive separately.
Like it has a mind of its own, the block of stone slingshots past the Mystic and directs to me. I forgot all the ache in my body, too pressed on. The stone smashes into pieces on where I was as I break away rolling. On my feet again, I dash in his direction, daring to face the mystic up close.
At the sword's length, I thrust the rapier into his unprotected neck. It went through harmlessly. Stunned, I only watch as he rips the rapier out of my grasp with inhuman strength. With a flick of his wrist, he sends me flying across the length of the courtyard. I land flat on my back, bounce, then sprawl hapless on my side. Air forced out, the world reels and digresses.
I start awake to Lila's voice and a flash of bright light.
With a groan, I gaze about. Back on me, she stands in defense of the man's attacks. But I see nothing. Only light flashes like balls of fire as she moves her hands.
Mist has settled around us there is not much to discern. It snakes maliciously, darkening the courtyard and hiding the Mystic. Lila is panting hard, breaking a sweat like droplets. All the numb pain reawakened, and I sit up coughing blood. She eyes me a second.
"Try not to think of anything scary, Gav."
Even as she warns there is something in the air that already made me think of one particular thing. I never heard her cuss until she did as the physical form of my thought materializes in front of us. The fifty-foot, hideous giant, towers over us. Its sinuous body and bulbous head stick out over the mist as its tentacles slither everywhere, one landing near us with a thud. I feel myself shiver and the octopus' eyes find mine.
"Listen to me, it's not real!" Lila yells.
It looks real. Two of its tentacles pass over our heads and Lila ducks. "Gaviel, listen to me! Don't let him fool–!"
I got yanked away and her words are cut off by a tentacle coiled around my left leg. I dig my fingers into the ground in a futile effort to stop. I twist my leg, kicking the tentacle with the other as Lila follows suit.
"Take my hand!"
As it lifts me, I reach for her hand as she reaches for mine. Catching it and holding it tight, she makes a sharp swiping motion with her arm, followed by flashing lights and the octopus turning into a shower of black dust.
We drop to the ground like used trash.
"Ow," she coughs. The mist clears. Still catching our breaths, we see the man tapping a finger on his lips as if considering what to do with us.
"There is that," he says. "Trust."
The annoyance in his voice is not reflected on his face. Lila's tired muscles shake with fatigue but she pushes herself up.
"What the heck–" We start at the sudden appearance of the Anagolay, armed to the scalp. "- is taking you so… long…"
He takes one look and he is whipping knives at the man as he runs to position before us. I hear him curse. The knives he threw remain suspended at the side of the mystic's head.
"Two bonds," the mystic states, surprised. "Interesting."
"So, what is he, like you?" Anagolay asks. With a dark look from us both, he hardens his jaw.
"What do we do?"
"Improvise," she whispers.
"Shit."
He pulls his long dagger, separating the blades while I lay gasping for air. The mystic makes a small gesture. Stones and debris, rise as if pulled by a string around us. It all morphs before our eyes. Sharpening. He points at us and the debris that turned into weapons along with Anagolay's knives, fly toward us. Anagolay almost leaps into action. Lila stops him.
"Stay where you are!"
She juts her hands out. I see a metallic sheen surrounding the three of us then disappears. The mystic's marks hit true, turning to dust at our invisible shield. He sends the stakes flying too.
He rains us down with attacks, and Lila holds. With every onslaught, Lila weakens. She drops to her knee, panting hard. As her hands drop, I feel rather than see that her shield is down. He was waiting for it. The mystic touches the ground near his feet. Cobbles trembling, the ground lurches in a wave as if alive. Anagolay easily leaps out of the way while Lila and I are thrown off.
The Anagolay sounds as if he is growling under his breath. I try to get up. The mystic's gaze flicked to mine and my body went stone dead. I stopped breathing, not voluntarily, and my mind is more than well aware. This must have been what it felt like.
The absence of air is sickening, tightening my whole body. Mouth drying to the throat. Every function is commanded by an outside force to halt.
"No!" Lila gasps.
A flurry of motion from the corners of my eyes tells me the Anagolay made headway for the mystic. I can feel my own life draining away like a pool of water sipped dry. My heart pounding faster and faster in an irregular rhythm.
Then I snap forward, reaching for air. His hold is cut like a cord. Lila reaches me, aghast. Along with air, energy surges through me. I feel lesser pain, my body lighter. The broken fingers heal.
I am healing.
I flex my fingers in fascination. Lila looks on wide-eyed. A howl makes us turn. The Mystic, on his knees, bleeds from his eyes, nose, and ears.
"A blood bond?"
The Anagolay takes the opportunity and burrows his dagger into the mystic's torso. I expected it to go through him but it penetrates the mystic's body. Anagolay does not wait around, after pulling back his dagger, he runs to me and assists me up.
We bolt to the trees for cover. I keep up with them, the Anagolay making a beeline for
the wall. Not all of my wounds healed. The injury from the whipping still inflicts my body, I start to slump sideways. The Anagolay swiftly takes a shoulder and Lila on the other. Both of them keep me up.
"Thank you," I say.
The Anagolay gives me a sidelong glance. "Do not thank me yet," he says. "Not until you reunite with your sister."
I stiffen.
"We know," Lila whispers. I stare at her. We reach the forest wall. This is where they entered. Royu climbs the closest tree and then drops with a line of rope in hand. He tugs at it.
"Do you have the strength to climb?"
I look at his hand being offered. At the citadel on my back. Then to Lila who waits patiently. She nods once. As if a promise.
This is it.
My freedom.
I take his hand and did not look back.
-FIN Volume 1-