by S King
Wiping roughly at my eyes, I put the note back in the box and tucked the thing back into the pocket. Searching the other pocket I found the necklace Demir had given me for Christmas and undid the clasp. Slipping the rings on either side my name, I put the necklace on and relished in the slight weight at the column of my throat.
With more determination than I had started with, I pushed my body from the floor and hesitantly took the first step without the help of the door jamb and the wall. Forcing one foot in front of the other, I crossed the floor before my legs demanded I sit my ass down.
Falling face first in the mattress, I curled in on my side and closed my eyes.
Wait for me. The three simple final words I had heard before blacking out in my descent to the earth below comforted me enough to make me go to sleep and for once have nothing but blackness to comfort me on my way unconsciousness.
The following morning, I awoke just as the sun was breaking over the horizon. The mountains’ shadows blocked out the bright rays but created a scene so beautiful I could cry. For the first time in what had seemed like forever, I hadn’t had a nightmare and woke fully rested. Now to see if my legs wanted to cooperate.
I shoved the blankets away and swung my legs to the edge of the bed. With a deep breath, I used my arms as support as I stood slowly and waited for gravity to pull me back down. When I remained standing—on wobbly legs, I smirked. It was a small accomplishment I didn’t have yesterday but the true test would be if I could make it to the bathroom.
Slowly, I followed my mantra from last night. One foot in front of the other. To my ultimate surprise, I had reached the toilet without any stumbling and issues. As I sat down on the porcelain throne, an irrational laugh left me.
I had walked across the floor and gotten myself started for the day and it wasn’t even seven in the morning. Feeling myself, I flushed and turned on the shower. Maybe today was going to be a good day after all.
However, as my luck would have it, I had spoken too soon.
§§§§§
I spit the mud from my mouth before driving my fist into the ground. This was the fourth time I had completely bombed at running up the river bank. It wasn’t like I was trying to run up the side of the house or a fucking tree. I was just trying to run. Period. End of story. That’s it. But no, here I was forcing my less than favorable legs to carry the brunt of my weight as I set my sights on the small hill in front of me.
“What are you doing?” Shang’s voice came from behind me with mild curiosity hugging each word.
I glanced at him over my shoulder before getting up and dusting myself off. “I’m training.”
“Why?”
I blew out a frustrated breath and spun on him. Of course I had to grab a tree to stop the gravitational pull back to the mush ground. “You said you weren’t going to help me and I’m not going to ask Fefe for help when she has more important things to do.”
His brow kicked up but otherwise remained disinterested as he looked at me. “You’ve gained your ability to walk rather quickly.”
I rolled my eyes and turned back to my imaginary starting line. “Because I worked on walking last night.”
Silently, he watched me take off only to slide on the mud and face plant into the mud again.
“Damn it!” I scrambled to my feet and wiped a hand over my face.
“You don’t have the right shoes on,” Shang observed from a few feet behind me.
“Well then take me to your nearest town so I can get new shoes,” I snapped.
The last thing I needed from him was to act like he was a trainer or worse, a friend. The only one who could get away with such an act was Demir and he wasn’t here right now.
“Fine,” Shang didn’t wait for me to question him further and started for the house. “You might want to take a shower first,” he tossed over his shower.
“Moody ass,” I grumbled, dusting off my clothes. Not that the move did any good, I was thankful he had agreed to taking me away from the confines the house had generously offered me. Maybe I would be able to get some type of answer from him about what guard he was a part of. Along with what was happening in the courts and Castlehedge. Granted, the thought was one hell of a long shot.
I took a step forward, just in time to dodge an arrow cutting through the air only to impale the tree next to me. Spinning around I narrowed my eyes on the person who had tried to kill me.
“Luminous River?” An unfamiliar voice appeared from the bushes as a woman in her late twenties emerged into the field.
I didn’t know the girl standing in front of me and wasn’t trying to get on a full-name basis. Narrowing my eyes on her I took in every detail she had readily available.
Long light brown hair shaved down to the scalp on one side of her head was braided into a neat braid. Her eyes encased in gold rings were the same deathly black as Shang’s. She wasn’t as tall as me. The bow and arrow in her hands warned me about making a stupid move considering I didn’t have my former speed and stamina or my whip. She appeared to be a threat that wasn’t going to go down without the type of fight any guard member was naturally prepared to partake in. Only one winner would walk away from the bloodshed while the other was released to the universe.
Subtly, I took in every disadvantage against me in this moment and tried to think of a way to spin the negative into a positive. If only I had my whip, I thought to myself as my muscles coiled for the impending fight in front of me.
“You’re Luminous River, aren’t you?” She asked, a hitch of excitement taking over her voice.
I said nothing. I needed to get the hell away from her. With my self-preservation kicking in, I waited for her to tilt her head to the side and lower the bow and arrow. As long as I timed my escape perfectly she wouldn’t have time to settle her sights on me with the bow and arrow.
Mentally, I started counting down the time it would take for me to get away and kept my eyes trained on her weapon of choice.
“Funny—” she started saying before I cut and ran away from the house and toward the heavily wooded tree line.
“Luminous!” Shang’s voice echoed around me, but I didn’t stop or slow my speed.
A break in the river came into view as I pushed my legs harder. It was now or never. Angling my body, I kicked off a rock and tucked in on myself as my body went flying through the air.
My old training came back to me in a rush; effortlessly, I rolled to a crouch on the other side of the river. Feeling the surge of energy and power racing through my veins, I glanced over my shoulder with a malicious smirk playing on my lips. Shang and the unnamed woman were running down the riverbank on the opposite side. Obviously hoping I would fall face first into the mud and give up the escape attempt.
“No way in hell,” I breathed, spinning around and ran at a full sprint in the wooded area. “Ok, think, think, think,” I grumbled to myself and looked around. Trying to recall the map from Silver’s HQ. I was going east which was bad considering Castlehedge was south of Springcrest.
Glancing up at the sun, I cut to my right and started knocking my way through the branches. I needed the other side of the river to head south. However, with Shang and the woman gaining on me, I couldn’t be picky about how I headed south and settled into my pace. For now, heading south-east would have to do.
My foot slipped out from under me and sent my body stumbling into a few thick trees. Shaking off the sharp pain racing up my left leg, I grounded my teeth together. I was not going to die in a town that I knew nothing about or by the hands of some crazy ass Platinum Guard member who had a taste for violence. Not now, not ever.
“Luminous!” Somehow Shang’s voice had grown closer.
Opting for a duck and weave motion, I dodged the tree branches. Controlling my breathing as I launched my body over rocks and fallen trees from the winter storms.
Just a little further, I said to myself as I narrowed my eyes on the mass of trees in front of me. Just a little further. Was all I kept reminding myself while I j
umped, ducked, and twisted away from any natural obstacle I could find.
Grabbing a trunk for support I hooked another right as the river curved. With a somewhat labored breath of relief, I kept running. Whoever the woman was that had tried to kill me first and ask questions later, was following closely behind Shang. Which meant he knew her. Which meant he could’ve set the whole thing up. Which means…I didn’t finish the theory game raging on in my mind and focused on something more pleasant. Like Demir’s words. Like his promise to find me. Like his somewhat veiled proposal.
At the thought of my lover long past, I was made fully aware of the rings and chain bouncing against my collar bone in an erratic rhythm.
“Luminous,” in my haze of longing, I had to skid to a stop before crashing into Shang. Somehow the trifling asshole had found a way to cut me off and now I was forced to either turn back or recognize what was coming my way.
“Stay away from me,” I growled, fully aware of the unnamed woman at my back.
Holding out his hands, he lowered his voice to come off as nothing more than a brother soothing his sister after a bad nightmare.
“Listen to me, Talay isn’t going to hurt you, ok?” He touched his chest as his eyes took on a pleading look, “I’m not going to hurt you.”
“I’d rather take my chances with the devil himself.”
“I wouldn’t recommend it,” Talay commented.
Glaring at her over my shoulder, I had to give her credit toward holding her bow and arrow to her sides.
“Luminous, let’s go back to the house and get something to eat. We can talk there.”
Slowly, I shook my head. I may not have been close to Castlehedge, but I had a vague awareness of just how far I had gone away from my little nest.
“Explain what the Platinum Guard is,” I turned just enough to keep both of them in my line of sight. Just in case Talay decided to pull the quiver back and allow her arrow to fly true for my head.
Shang, in typical Shang fashion, clamped down and closed off his face. Of course he wasn’t going to tell me anything he thought I was unfit in knowing.
“Who told you there was such a guard?” Talay directed the question toward me but kept her gaze glued on Shang.
“Don’t worry about,” I snapped, “I’m going to make the assumption both of you are still active members. Which puts me at a disadvantage when it comes to dealing with you.” I pointed to Shang and subtly took a step back. Neither paid attention—or caught the move but glared at each other.
“Well,” I quipped, “it would appear that we’re at an impasse thanks to neither of you wanting to provide anything other than silence.”
Talay raised a perfectly manicured brow in my direction before narrowing her freaky eyes. “You’re wanted all around thanks to your abilities. Considering we,” she motioned between her and Shang before nailing me with a hard stare again. “Are the only ones with weapons, it’d be nothing to take you in.”
“Try it and watch your life end this afternoon.” I warned.
“Luminous,” Shang tried again with the soft tone. “Let’s go home.”
I smirked, “I am going home. But not to your house.” In a split second I turned and bolted for a hidden path only to barely feel the pinch of the sedation dart embed in my hip.
Blackness consumed me and as my body listed to the side once, twice and a third time. As sad as it was to say, the only thing on my mind was how Demir had looked when he held me the night before my downfall.
Chapter 4 Field Work for the Damned
I stared into the flames of the fire as I flipped the dagger end over end. The courts had agreed on issuing a Platinum Diamond Order on Luminous. A special order meant to be handled with the greatest of care and urgency from the only guard who knew how to handle such situations. The Platinum Guard.
Lucieller was right. Even though I had instantly voted for the order and request to the guard to be forgotten, every other judge—with the exception of Alexi—had pushed the vote through. Now, I was sitting on my patio with a fire roaring in the fire pit, trying to figure out how in the hell I could get Luminous back but keep her as far away from OE and RS as possible.
“Demir, what’s going on?” Dristan came around the side of my house and flopped into the chair at my left.
“What’s been the word on the street?” I didn’t bother looking at him.
I was too busy trying to keep my wits together and figure out the gray area in the situation that seemed so black and white. Dristan and the others knew I had to keep the situation plaguing my mind close to the vest. But that didn’t stop them from asking in their own screwed up way how they could help.
He shrugged and leaned back in the chair, “nothing much, why?”
“Do you know who makes up the Platinum Guard?”
“No?” He said slowly. “Why do you ask?”
I threw the dagger into the chair across from us with enough force to impale the blade to the hilt.
“What the hell is wrong with you?”
I rubbed my forehead and sighed, “if I tell you what is going on behind closed doors you better not tell anyone.” I looked at him with my hand covering my mouth. I could not believe I was seriously about to say the words that had been like acid on my tongue.
He frowned, his brows coming down in a hard line, “what’s going on?”
With a deep breath, I looked back into the flames, “OE and RS signed off on an order to activate the Platinum Guard to carry out a PDO on Luminous River.” Looking at him, I dropped the bomb that had made me sick as soon as Alexi had said it. “She is to be returned to the scientists at which point she will undergo insemination with the strongest of guard members.”
“What?” Dristan shot to his feet and stared at me, “what the fuck did you just say?”
“They’re going to fucking breed her like a god damn dog and when they’re done and the newest round of experiments are hand delivered, she will be killed.”
“You’re kidding me right?” A nervous smile lifted the corners of his mouth as he looked at me. “Please tell me you’re joking right now.”
“Do I look like I’m laughing?”
Just to test my honesty, Dristan bent at the waist and stared into my eyes. He tended to use his ability to see into someone’s mind and their inner most thoughts more frequently since he made sect leader. Understandably considering the type of shit he dealt with on a regular basis.
When he staggered backward, I knew he had had his fill on my mind and the knowledge I harbored.
“Satisfied?” I asked turning my gaze back to the flames of the fire.
“What the fuck is their end game? I mean, it’s one thing to create a ton of test tube babies. But…” he trailed off, looking at me with worried eyes. “How many kids are we talking?”
The answer made me physically sick as I ground my teeth together. “At least ten.”
“What?” He hollered loud enough to cause the sleeping birds in the trees to awaken and rapidly fly away in a frenzy.
“Don’t make me repeat myself, Dris. Please.”
He sank into the seat beside me and rubbed his hands together. “There has to be a way around this.”
“Do you seriously think I haven’t been sitting here trying to figure out something else?”
“Wait a minute,” a hopeful glint lit his white eyes as he looked at me. “They haven’t found her.”
Frowning, I glared at him, “obviously and once they do, she’s fucked and it’s not going to be pretty or pleasurable.”
“Well, yeah, but no that’s not what I’m saying. If the members of HG haven’t found her then she’s safe from all of this shit.”
It was true. As long as Luminous stayed wherever she was, she’d remain safe and not become a guinea pig for some psychotic group of scientists. However, as much as I wanted to keep things that way, I missed her, and the feeling was growing with each passing day.
“We’ll figure something out, Demir, I promise.” Dri
stan nodded reassuringly. Whether it was a move to convince me or himself, I didn’t know. But I had to thank him for the optimism.
“Hey,” he slapped my knee, “want to come with me on an order?”
I smirked and took a deep breath. As I was about to tell him I did, my phone rang. “Hold on.” Looking at the caller ID, feeling the bile rise in my throat and sighed.
“Judge Losett speaking,” I ran a hand over my face as I waited for Judge Alexi to say what he needed to so I could get out of my house and return to my old days.
“We’re meeting the members of Platinum Guard and handing down the order. Be on the bench in thirty minutes.”
“Ok.” There was no purpose in trying to hold a conversation with the other judge. He didn’t like to have any idle conversations that may or may not result in something being said that shouldn’t be said.
The call disconnected, forcing me to stare at the fire again.
“That bad?” Dristan’s voice broke through my melancholy thoughts.
“I’m due to meet the members of PG.” My voice didn’t sound like my own as I answered my best friend.
For a second, Dristan didn’t do anything. He just stared at me like I had told him the biggest lie on the face of this earth. He knew I was having a hard time with everything going on right now. Maybe it was why he didn’t say anything and simply nodded before dousing the flames of the fire.
We didn’t say anything as I turned off the lights in my house and set the alarm before opening the front door.
“Call me when you get done,” he shook my hand after pulling his jacket closer to him.
“Yeah, hey,” I locked my front door and glanced past his shoulder, “be careful out there. We don’t know anything about this new guard and the last thing I want to do is sign off on a burial request for you.”
He smirked, a quick comeback playing on his lips. Instead, he nodded and started the trek back to city limits.
After last year’s fight to save Luminous from the HG, and my promotion, I had built yet another house in the mountains where I could easily slip away into my own little world.
