Yes, I still had the piece of metal I had used to open my lock.
The first guard barely made a sound as I jammed my elbow into his jaw and he started to drop. I caught him halfway down and laid him on the ground just as the second guard spun. Something must have tipped him off that I was there, maybe the sound of the first guard reacting in pain. But I was on the second one before he could cry out. I hit his head against the ground and knocked him out.
Once both guards taken care of, I turned and started running again. None of the other guards were paying any attention to me.
I now saw that there were at least fifteen prisoners trying to reach the scraggly trees. I had no idea how any of the others were getting on. In particular, Senny was nowhere in sight. I didn’t know whether she had made it or not.
When I reached the end of the building, I saw that it was the closest spot to the trees, the shortest distance I would possibly have to go in the open.
I clocked seven guards busy rounding up other prisoners, but saw no others, and I was still passing unnoticed. Taking one last deep breath, I braced my foot against the wall of the Dungeon of Black Stone and pushed off hard, so that I nearly flew through the air. Soon I was moving so fast that my feet barely touched the ground. It was as if wind was blowing me forward, as close as I’d probably ever come to flying.
I hadn’t felt so good in months. Long unused muscles came alive. The air was almost fresh, and it smelled like dirt. My lips split and I found myself imagining being on the other side of those woods, escaping the prison and finding freedom.
And then I was in the woods. Given how thin the trees were, it was scant cover. But it was better than nothing.
My hands pushed off against each tree I came near, just as my feet pushed hard off the ground with each step. I was fighting to run as fast as I could, barely touching the ground as I raced to freedom.
I glanced over my shoulder a number of times, but I didn’t see or hear anything to suggest that the guards had noticed me going past them.
In other words, no one was coming after me. Whatever jailbreak had just happened, I was going to make it to freedom.
Making my way out of the building with the other escapees, I had thought that all I had to do was get to the woods. Now that I was there, I was sure I could evade capture no matter what tracker was sent after me.
Up ahead I saw a particularly big tree and decided to try to climb it and rest for a while. The last food they had given me was like a stone in my stomach, which was starting to react.
Violently.
Suddenly I was so dizzy I nearly fell, but I wasn’t going to stop now. The big tree was about twenty feet ahead, and I had to make it that far. If I could just get up there, I could hide.
My vision danced and I stumbled. I tried to push off from the next tree with my hand and missed, nearly falling again.
Telling myself I just had to reach the tree, I forced myself to keep going. But dizziness was overtaking me now, making me so disoriented that I stumbled against a tree. As I tried to push off, I felt my muscles start to fail.
Still, I kept stumbling forward. The light was getting brighter even under the denser cover of the trees, and that was encouraging. I tried to concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other, but I had never felt so terrible in my life.
My focus stayed on the big tree I was making for, but it didn’t seem to be getting any closer.
What was wrong with me? Somehow, through the increasing fog in my brain, I held onto the idea that I had to get to that tree. If I could, I’d be safe.
But when I glanced behind me, I saw with dismay that several figures were closing in. I couldn’t tell who they were, because they were distorted and out of focus.
Since my eyes themselves seemed to be out of focus, that wasn’t surprising. Just terrifying.
I pushed off one last time and stumbled into the clearing of the massive old oak. Sinking to my knees, I sighed in relief. Then I made myself start to crawl. If I could just hide behind the massive trunk, maybe everything would be okay. Maybe my energy and focus would come back, and I could hide until the searchers went away and I felt well enough to go on.
I moved forward on my hands and knees, my palms scraping against dried leaves and twigs. My knees hurt.
Everything hurt.
Just as I was getting closer to the tree, something snapped. I tried to look upward but landed on my stomach instead, then rolled onto my back.
My eyes stared toward the sky, but it wasn’t the sky or even the tree’s leaves that I could see. What I saw was a net falling toward me. My heart sank along with the mesh that was going to entrap me.
I had no strength left to resist the net as it settled over my body and closed me in.
The last thing I remembered before I blacked out was a face leaning over me.
And an evil smile.
Chapter Two
If I was supposed to be surprised about all of this, I would have had to admit that I wasn’t. Not that any officials were likely to ask my opinion any time soon.
When I came to, a fresh set of shackles was replacing the old ones, fitting neatly over the cuffs that came from who knows where. The cuffs appeared as tattoos on my wrists. They were not meant to bind me physically, but instead to bind my magic. They had been placed on me years ago, and I couldn’t remember who had put them there. If I could have, I would have tracked them down and destroyed them by now.
We were no longer in the woods.
As soon as I was steady on my feet again I was marched back to the Dungeon of Black Stone, guards flanking me. I was still dizzy, but I had come back to myself enough to wonder if Senny had gotten away.
It seemed unlikely.
I told myself that maybe this was all some ridiculous joke. How did it make any sense otherwise?
I knew I’d now be transferred out of the Dungeon of Black Stone. They had kept me all by myself for long enough, and I was far too dangerous to be kept in one place for any length of time.
I had hardly seen any other prisoners in the dungeon. Only once had I been let out, and that for only a short period of time. When other prisoners had caught wind that I was there, they had stepped away, given me space, and I was returned to my dungeon room to be alone again.
In short, the most dangerous young criminals were afraid of me. But now they lined the hallways as I was being marched back through the building. Did they know what had happened earlier with the keys and the attempted escape? I had no idea.
Over the years I had worked hard to earn my reputation, and there could be no doubt that I deserved it. Sometimes, when I was in an extra good mood, I would rattle my chains. Then they would know that their fear was justified.
Today was different. I just couldn’t put my finger on why.
Maybe it was the rolling rain that has started pouring down, as if entire armies of clouds wanted to dump every last bit of water on us.
Maybe it was that there were more whispers than I had expected as I was marched down hallways and past other prisoners.
Maybe it was all of it together.
But there was something different about today.
The guards looked at me strangely, where before they had always looked at me with disgust, contempt. Now they looked at me with all those feelings, but also with curiosity.
Surely that couldn’t be true. I didn’t really exist; not to these fae. I wasn’t real. So what then? Why were they curious about me? As far as I knew, nothing had changed from yesterday to today.
Out another window I saw a row of steeds and chariots, all shining. I had never seen so many before.
That many hooves had never shown up at the prison before. Not once, unless they had come when I was locked away. I knew, because I kept track.
Even when I was in the deepest dungeon I could hear the hooves clopping along. There was so much coming and going that I thought a small army might have arrived, or left.
Now my guards stayed close. As I glance
d around I decided to find out about all those clopping hooves, so I walked as slowly as I could manage, pretending that whatever drug they’d put in my food was still affecting me.
Taking my time.
Gathering the whispers as they brushed against my skin.
“Do you know who those fae are?” one girl whispered to another.
“I hear they’re from the Noble Fae Academy.”
“That’s for rich folk and special folk. Not for criminals. Noble Fae Academy doesn’t take criminals, that’s the whole point of it,” another voice said.
My mind raced. The academy was the most famous school in Whessellond, which was bordered by two other countries, the smaller Greenleaf on one side and the massive and powerful Anemone on the other, neither of which had an academy for noble fae.
Generations before, the three kingdoms had pooled their power. The old rulers had thought that the three countries were stronger together, and their alliance had become known as the Trifecta.
Then, much later, the Trifecta had broken apart again, and all three countries were more vulnerable for the split. In fact, given our failed relationship with our neighbors, there was a chance that Whessellond itself could fail, and become subject to one of our former allies.
Our kingdom was made up of eight provinces, but the academy was so special it wasn’t in any of them, it was in a territory of its own. Only the noble born fae went there.
“That’s all been changing. Haven’t you heard?” one of the voices said. “The most important of the important students at the academy are being killed off. Murdered. One by one. The killer even went after a prince, and now the other princes are in danger. Can you imagine?”
I took that in. I had heard none of this before, but of course I didn’t care anyhow. Murder was murder. It happened all the time. Especially in our world, where there were dangers all around.
I tried to slow down even more, but one of the guards used his club to hit my back. I stumbled in pain and kept moving.
The guard’s sharp eyes met mine. They said not to mess with him.
I ignored the threat, except that I wasn’t actually interested in messing with him. I was interested in this information that I was walking past.
I passed another cluster of prisoners, not as accomplished as I was at being criminals because they didn’t inspire bone-tingling fear. I listened again for the whispers. They all carefully avoided my gaze as I passed them, but they kept speaking in low tones to each other.
“I heard that the academy is desperate to stop the killings. Can you believe they don’t know who’s doing it? There isn’t anywhere else for these fae to go. The academy was supposed to be the safest place for them, and yet one of their own is killing the others. They’re trying to do something to stop it,” one girl said.
“Why should that bring anyone here?” another girl asked.
“I don’t know yet. Maybe they’re looking for ways to break the murder cycle?” she said.
“Who’s being murdered?” another of the girls asked.
“That’s the craziest thing,” said yet another girl. “It really is the most accomplished at the academy who are being killed off one by one, the ones who have noble blood or whose parents are heads of organizations, or the daughters of the nobility, or the sons. Every victim has been killed in broad daylight. Whoever is doing it isn’t afraid of getting caught, or of a fight. Students are afraid to walk around by themselves. Anyway, that’s what I’ve been hearing. I don’t know if it’s true.”
“I heard they want to send some of us there as sacrifices,” said one of the voices.
There was a series of gasps.
“I’m not going there. They can’t make me!”
“They can do whatever they want.”
My eyes flicked to the guard behind me. A surprising depth of emotion was passing across his face. Almost like concern?
Were they really saying what I think they were saying? That they were going to send prisoners from the Dungeon of Black Stone to this academy? As bait? What on earth did that mean?
Never had I heard anything so insane, and I had lived on the streets, on the run, stealing to survive. I mostly hid with crazy fae, fae who had no one to take care of them anymore, so I knew insane. What these voices were speculating about was insane.
“The only thing anyone in this kingdom cares about is keeping the princes alive. Now that their lives are at risk, nobody cares about anything else. They will sacrifice all of us if they have to,” said the last voice I’d heard.
What she said was true. The princes were all that mattered in Whessellond. The goal of anyone with any power was to re-stabilize the kingdom.
At the moment Whessellond was defending itself from rebels in Greenleaf, not to mention threats from abroad. King Deffy wanted to unite the three countries again, but instead, Greenleaf was mounting attacks from the border and Anemone had sent troops there as well, though Anemone had shown no interest in actually attacking Whessellond. Far from friends, our former allies had started to look a lot like our enemies.
But they were our last chance to wield the magic that would defend us, to fight away the muck that ate at our borders.
Not that I cared much, given who and where I was. Wipe them all out, why don’t they? That would solve my problems. Maybe I would no longer be imprisoned.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
The guard ignored me and just kept pointing ahead.
We were on a floor of the Dungeon of Black Stone that I had never been on before, a nicer one than I had ever been allowed in. I had only been kept in the dark, down in the dungeon. There was no light where I dwelled, so much so that I had started to forget who I was.
At first I had fought against the forgetfulness, at least a little bit. For Julia’s sake. But eventually I had given up. I just hadn’t had the energy anymore.
Now, at least, maybe my luck was going to change.
We came to a set of double doors. Even though I had never been up here before, I knew where the doors led and who was behind them. I knew the part I was supposed to play.
The game had begun.
I suddenly slammed myself backward into the guard. Taken by surprise, he cried out. I used both my feet to slam against the door. They hit it so hard they dented it. I pushed harder and heard the guard cry out behind me.
He fell heavily, and I was on my feet at once, turning to run. Then I heard the doors behind me snap open, and guards came toward me from down the hall. They were all twice my size and dressed in black armor.
I was overpowered. There was nothing I could do against them. Another guard came out of the warden’s office and hit me hard against the shoulders. My eyes spun out of focus and I fell to my knees.
A smooth, commanding voice said, “That’s enough. We need her conscious.”
I knew that man’s voice. I hated that man.
I spit in the direction of the voice. The only response was a chuckle.
I was hauled to my feet. My left side was bruised and I had a bit of trouble standing.
I was taken into the warden’s office, where a wizened old man sat behind a desk. He was gaunt and sickly-looking, his eyes sunken as if he had seen too many winters and not enough joy.
Working in a place like this, how could it be otherwise?
In the room were several other official-looking fae. I ignored them. But the golden voice I knew.
He was McGryth, a tracker. Gifted magically and physically, he had hunted me down. I didn’t begrudge him his success; it had been a fun little game while it lasted. Now here he was, lounging. He always lounged. I used to spy on him, and he did nothing but sit around except when he was sprinting, running faster than anyone I had ever seen.
“Here she is. She was trying to escape,” said the guard who was holding my arm, squeezing tightly enough to bruise. I gritted my teeth.
Across the table the warden’s expression didn’t change, but McGryth’s did. His black eyes sharpened.
“Go to hell,” I said.
“I’m pretty sure we had a race to see who would get there first, and you lost,” he said, raising his hands to take in the dungeon walls.
At that the warden looked offended, as if the feathers he didn’t have were ruffled. Well, too bad. McGryth wasn’t wrong.
“Aren’t you going to ask why you were brought here?” one of the others in the room asked. A woman. Older and commanding. I paid her no mind.
“She’s not that into talking. Or answering questions,” said McGryth. My eyes narrowed on him. He was enjoying this.
“That’s enough. Leave the girl alone,” said the warden. Then he had a coughing fit.
“She’s being charged with high treason to the crown. Why would we leave her alone?” the woman spat back.
“Because I said so, and because I’m still the warden here. Because you have come to me needing help. She is mine to offer, or not. You must understand that,” said the warden.
The official-looking woman lapsed into a disgruntled silence...!
The room took in a collective breath. A terror had entered their midst.
What could they possibly want with me?
Chapter Three
“You’re the lucky one,” said McGryth, looking at me with a mixture of amusement and smugness. “You made it the farthest of all the prisoners we allowed to escape. I knew you would. I told them they’d have to drug you to keep you in bounds. If you hadn’t been drugged, I do think you would have gotten away. So you have me to thank for the fact that you didn’t. The guards were supposed to keep an eye on you, but they missed it, they missed you running.
“I knew that would happen, too. You were the only one who had drugs in your food. The others were just going to get caught. That was obvious.”
He was having trouble hiding his glee. He knew me all too well. But for once I stayed placid, knowing he was trying to bait me into attacking him. Given the shackles and the presence of all the others in the room, I wasn’t going to reach him if I tried, so there was no point.
Noble Fae Academy: Year One Page 2
