by Jada Fisher
His eyebrows came down, his brow furrowing as he stood. Alarm bells rang in Eist’s head and she quickly tried to think of what do. She couldn’t anger him. She couldn’t lose her opportunity to be out and learn.
“Eist, I’d rather you not be difficult about this…”
She switched her tone to capitulating, forcing a blush to her cheeks. “It’s just… You promised you wouldn’t rush me, and this feels a lot like rushing.” She looked up at him through her lashes. “You wouldn’t rush me, right? You promised.”
He looked at her, his face growing more and more red and his brows furrowing. Just when she was sure he would bellow at her that her trick wasn’t working, he suddenly strode forward.
Eist flinched back, how could she not? But then his hand gripped her shoulder and she felt that slimy, sinking darkness wash over her. It lasted only a moment, but when it was over, she felt even more disconnected from the world outside than she had been before.
She swayed, barely catching herself, and Yacrist just smoothed her hair. “Sorry, just needed to make sure that you didn’t try to use that magic of yours to get yourself in trouble,” he said. “Now, stay put.”
Had it worked!?
She stood there, wide-eyed and in disbelief as he patted her cheek and left the room. She realized that she should probably use that time to make a break for it, but she had a feeling that his absence was partially a test. Like he hadn’t entirely bought her schtick and was seeing if she would prove him right.
So, she waited, and she didn’t have to wait long, either, because soon Yacrist was arriving with a woman in tow beside him.
“You’re here,” he said with a happy grin, but that just made Eist’s heart ache. “Good. Eist, this is Lilian, Lilian, Eist. I’m sure you two will become fast friends.” He gave a dramatic bow. “Now I’ll be off being a gentleman and give you the space you asked for. Because I care for you, and I want you to see that.”
Part of her was tempted to tell him that if he really cared, he would let her go and give up his desire to destroy her world, but she also knew that wouldn’t work, so she just tried to look grateful. “Thank you,” she murmured instead.
He gave her an intense look, like there was something he wanted to say or do, but in the end he just gave a nod and walked away.
That left her with Lilian and how to deal with her. It seemed that Eist was going to have to rely on an entirely different set of survival skills. Punching something in the face or outright aggression wasn’t going to help her.
At least not yet.
“So, you follow the Blight?” Eist asked as the woman closed the door behind her.
“We don’t call it by that name,” she answered quickly. “The Deliverer has fought long and hard to free us from the Usurpers and our revelation is close at hand.”
“Revelation, huh?” she said, starting to loosen her laces and free herself from her clothing. There was far too much peeling going on. “I don’t suppose you brought some spare clothing, did you?”
“Yes, the Deliverer supplied me with a gown once you are clean.”
“A gown, huh? Of course he would. Yacrist would never miss a chance to dress me up.”
“Yacrist?”
“My friend. You know, the one whose body your Deliverer is running around in.”
“Ah. The Vessel. Yes, it is hard not to be envious of him, isn’t it?”
Eist narrowed his eyes at the woman. If she didn’t know better, she’d think the stranger was a midwife or some other standard profession. Not some cult follower with stars in her eyes.
“I’m being held as a prisoner here and this is the first time I’ve been able to clean myself in over a week. Tell me where you think envy comes in.”
She stepped over to one of the tubs and filled a bucket with water, pouring it over her head. Although it was just the first of many, it felt so refreshing that Eist nearly gasped.
“He warned me of you, you know.”
“Oh really?” Eist asked nonchalantly. “What exactly did he warn you of? That I bite?”
She smiled at that. Good, get her laughing. Put her at ease. “Just that you are stubborn and have very strong ideas of what is right and what is wrong, but you’ll come around soon.”
“And why would I do that?” She tried to say that lightly, not accusingly, without any defense in her voice. She wasn’t sure how well she succeeded.
“Because you’re in love.”
Eist sputtered at that, opening her eyes in surprise and letting the water she was pouring over her head get into them. “What?”
The young woman’s eyes grew hazy and she perched herself on the edge of a nearby tub. “It’s all rather romantic. The Vessel being highborn and you being from a noble-less dragon rider line. How he found you in general.” She sighed, and Eist felt the woman looking wistfully over at her. “You must certainly be amazing for the Deliverer to have such an interest in you.”
Eist didn’t know what to say to that so she didn’t, pouring more water over her head and then scrubbing herself with the lard soap. Her mind was spinning, quickly taking in information and trying to figure out the best way to use it to for her own gain.
The one thing that her grandfather had taught her was that there were going to be plenty of situations where she was going to end up outmanned and disadvantaged. Her job was to play along, lower defenses, and bide her time until she had everything she needed.
“When did you know?”
“Know what?” Eist replied.
“That you were destined for each other.”
She considered her words very carefully. How to play it… She wasn’t sure. Too eager and it wouldn’t make sense why she was being held captive. “I don’t know that I even believe in destiny.”
“How can you say that? Given that he found you after all the worlds he saved. He took human form for you.”
What? The earnestness of the woman’s comments let doubt flutter through Eist. “I…I don’t think I’m nearly that important.”
“How can you say that? You’re the only brindled dragon rider. You have the gift. You have two witch’s eyes. A double blessing. He mentioned that you didn’t understand. That, after so many years of abuse and Three propaganda, you couldn’t see how much you were worth.”
Eist was quiet for several moments, scrubbing behind her ears. “He thinks very highly of me, it seems.”
“Of course. But I’m sure you know as much.”
“…yeah.” She thought back to how he looked at her, his eyes sparkling as he joked around at the cafeteria table. How he would effortlessly sling his arm over her shoulders. How he would tilt his head back when he laughed and just let peal after peal of mirth come out of his mouth whenever he thought she was being particularly funny. “I do.”
The conversation stilled at that, and Eist let her gaze casually scan the entire room. She couldn’t attack Lilian while she was in the tub—the position wasn’t right, and it would make too much noise. She needed to be quiet.
Eventually, the water she poured over herself stopped turning a murky color and she drained it through the side of the tub that was opposite to the heated, natural pool. With just one more rinse, she stepped out and walked to the far edge of the water.
It was quite hot, the stones of it worn smooth from time. It was such relief on her sore muscles that she let herself sit still and close her eyes.
She felt footsteps as Lilian stood and walked along the edge, sitting down on the outcropping of rocks and taking her boots off. Eist listened, barely able to hear her as the woman set her shoes to the side and dipped her feet into the water.
“You’ve got a lot of scars,” the woman remarked.
Eist opened her eyes slightly, meeting the woman’s gaze. “I’ve had a busy life.” She pointed to the circular one at her shoulder. “That was from one of your Deliverer’s followers.”
“Really?”
Eist nodded. “Farmad. You ever hear of him?”
T
o her surprise, the woman shuddered, and her face paled slightly. “Farmad was a cruel man. He used the power that he was blessed with for the Deliverer, but he was…not pleasant to work for. But the Deliverer dealt with him, as all those who abuse his gift.”
Well, at least she didn’t idolize Farmad. Eist didn’t know if she could handle it.
“The Deliverer said you were strong.”
Eist flushed at that. “I get by.”
“What is that one? On your side?”
Eist followed the pointed finger and saw a small, jagged scar just reaching around from her across her ribs. “A follower again. I was thrown into a door and it splintered, so some of the wood was lodged in me. She nearly killed me.”
“Ah, Persinnia, right?”
“You know that too?”
She nodded. “The Deliverer had been hopeful that she would open the veil and weaken the walls of his cage. He gave her just a piece of him, a drop of his vision and being, and she went mad with it. It’s quite sad, she was devout but not strong enough.” The woman looked at her again shyly. “Not strong like you.”
There it was. Her opportunity. “I’ve got some slash marks on my back from being clawed. Wanna see?”
The woman nodded eagerly, seeming to flush, so Eist slowly crossed over her. Turning her back, she heard Lilian draw in a sharp gasp.
“Did this hurt?”
“Honestly, not that much. Not compared to the arrow or when my leg was broken.”
“Your leg was broken?”
Eist nodded. “You can touch it, if you want.”
“Really?”
Eist remembered hearing once that people could go a little starry-eyed around people they admired, and it seemed that Lilian’s love of her sacred deliverer might extend a little to Eist herself. “Yeah. Go ahead.”
It was…uncomfortable when Lilian’s soft fingers gently brushed against the tissue. In some ways, scars often lacked any feeling at all, just tugging occasionally at the live skin around it. But at the moment, it seemed like Eist could even feel the woman’s heartbeat through her fingertips.
She traced it almost reverently, like she was in awe, and Eist let her until she reached the deepest one.
Then she struck.
Whirling, Eist snatched the woman’s extended arms, yanking her off the edge and down into the water. She flailed, a scream starting to punch its way out of her throat, but Eist quickly slapped her free hand over Lilian’s mouth.
The woman flailed, putting up a fight as any panicking person would, but she didn’t have the muscle or experience that Eist did. It was relatively easy to get her arm under the woman’s chin and push her beneath the surface of the hot water.
Eist had to escape. She had to. She had to get free and warn everyone what the Blight was planning, and how he apparently had a whole cadre of loyal followers who thought he was the savior of their world.
The thought came to her that she was going to kill the woman fighting in her grip. That she was about to snuff out an entire living, breathing thing.
In all her battles, she had managed to go without outright killing anything that wasn’t an abomination or some other non-human entity. And she was surprised by the thought that she was ready to. If she had to, she would kill whoever stood in her way to defeating the Blight and ending all its terror.
That was a heady thought, and the weight of it made her head churn. Yes, she would kill, but at the moment, she didn’t need to.
The struggles of the woman were barely there and Eist hauled her up onto the side of the pool, pinning her there. Resting her head against Lilian’s chest, she heard the faintest of breathing sounds.
Good.
“Sorry, Lilian, but we’re about to get a little more familiar than you might like,” Eist said, gripping at her wet clothes and working the woman out of them.
It wasn’t exactly a task she was familiar with, stripping other people out of their clothes, but she hurried through it. She figured it would be better than running around with a gown that Yacrist or the Blight or the Deliverer or whatever it wanted to be called had picked for her.
She checked Lilian’s unconscious form for any weapons and only managed to find a small paring knife in one of her belt pouches. Still, that was better than nothing, so Eist grabbed it and finished up.
Grabbing her old, dirty tunic, Eist ripped it apart, pulling away two long strips which she then wrapped around her blondish hair. Anything to give her a couple extra moments before being recognized.
Time was ticking against her. She could feel it etched into her bones. Grabbing one of the wooden bath ladles for an extra bludgeon, she slipped out of the door.
She almost expected an entire guard in the hallway just to grab her, laughing that she thought she could ever get away. But the corridor was surprisingly empty, leaving her standing in the torchlight, wondering where she should go.
Well, her path to escape probably wouldn’t be back the way she came, so she figured the opposite way was her best bet.
Settling her shoulders, she tried to walk forward like everything was absolutely normal. Like she was just a very damp acolyte going about their business. There weren’t many people about anyway, so it wasn’t as difficult as she thought.
She found an empty staircase after bit of wandering, rock crumbling and the wooden banister having long since been ripped from the wall. It was a testament to the longevity of the old kingdom that their lower mines were still somewhat stable enough for a madman to plan his final coup in.
She headed up, light increasing as she did. It wasn’t from windows, however, but seemed to be from more and more torches being placed closer together. When she reached the top of the stairs, she saw the short hallway in front of her opened into a sort of massive room. One that would have been a community meeting place, or celebration area, if she remembered what her mother had told her correctly.
But instead of being some sort of community space, it was just full of dragons.
Eist’s jaw dropped, feeling all the blood drain from her face. In the large space were dozens of green and silver dragons, all bound with chains that radiated the same inky slickness that Eist had felt coat her when Yacrist had left her.
It was an awful sight, to say the least. It took all of Eist’s control to not make a horrified gasp or break into tears right then and there. All of the beasts looked absolutely miserable, some of them crying softly in the way that only dragons could. Around her there were at least a dozen workers flitting between beasts, some of them harvesting acid, some harvesting saliva, some venom. There were only a couple feeding and watering them, with none of them taking the time to talk to the beasts.
Eist took a step forward, forcing herself to remain calm. This was her normal. Her every day. She was one of the Blight’s followers and wouldn’t flinch at what was her every day.
But she couldn’t help thinking that every dragon in the room meant some dragon rider had been killed. Because they all would have heard about it if multiple riders had had their green or silver dragons stolen from them, which meant no one had survived to tell the tale.
It was like hiding in plain sight. She walked through the large room and finally reached the end of it. The door swung open before she even had to reach for it, and a group of people talking animatedly stepped in.
She moved to the side, letting them filter past her as she bent to tie her boots. Once they were mostly away from her, she stood and hurried out.
There was another short hall in front of her and three different staircases. All of them looked fairly similar, with plenty of wear and tear on each. She hesitated a moment, jumping when she felt a hand land on her shoulder.
“Hey, Lilian, I was calling you. Didn’t you hear me?”
No. Of course she hadn’t.
For the briefest of moments, Eist just stood there, suspended in time as her mind raced. She felt like she had a hundred different choices, but not a single one of them was a good one. What was she supposed to d
o? She needed to get free and go. The longer her absence went undetected, the greater her chances were of getting out alive. But behind her was an entire room of followers who would see if she did anything to the man touching her shoulder. A man who she didn’t even know the face of.
So, she did the only thing she could think of. Grabbing his hand just like Lilian’s, she whirled. But this time, instead of yanking her target into a puddle of water, she pulled him into a fervent kiss.
Like most people, his eyes closed when her mouth touched his. Alright, so she had guessed right that there was a romantic interest there. Pushing the man backwards until they hit the wall, she reached for the closest door and threw it open, pulling the man inside.
He pulled away as she looked around, seeing that they were in some sort of storage room full of empty containers. “Lilian, I didn’t know you—” His eyes narrowed at her. “You’re not Lilian.”
“No,” she answered matter-of-factly before headbutting him as hard as she could.
It stung, that was for sure, but it was nothing compared to how it felt for the acolyte, because he slumped forward then fell to the floor, a groan issuing from his lips.
Eist straightened herself then stepped out of the room. She looked both ways to see that the coast was clear, then slipped out.
She had a choice in front of her, three stairways, all looking the same. She didn’t realize how reliant she had gotten on magic until she closed her eyes to try to evoke her vision. When nothing happened, she was reminded of Yacrist’s words.
No magic.
Well, she had gotten through most of her life without knowing that she had a gift. She would get through this too.
She hoped.
Hurrying forward, she looked for whichever one was the emptiest. That happened to be the left one, and she hurried up it, looking over her shoulder every dozen steps or so.
The staircase turned out to be much longer than she anticipated, and she was a bit breathless when the top finally came into view. She faltered a bit, however, when she noticed someone else coming down the stairs.
