Ion looked right into Kuba’s eyes from the branch below, but the sight of Ion’s tears did nothing to help Kuba calm down.
“We have to go,” Aurelia cut in.
“Shh,” Ion said, throwing a finger over his mouth. “He’s having a panic episode.”
“A wha—?”
“Shhh!” Ion’s face looked angry. Kuba could hear them, but the sound was muffled, as if they were underwater. He tried to focus on their conversation, but he couldn’t. Their arguing was not helping. Nothing was helping. And they were all going to die.
“Kuba, I know you’re panicking right now,” Ion said gently, placing a hand on Kuba’s knee. Kuba felt him apply a light amount of pressure. “But we really have to get going. Do you remember what Mum taught you?”
Kuba nodded.
“Good,” Ion said with a smile. “I need you to do that for me.”
Kuba closed his eyes and began taking inventory of everything around him. He tried to focus intensely on his senses, and not the thoughts in his head. He focused on the feeling of Ion’s hands. He pushed against the pressure and focused on the give and take. The feeling helped alleviate some of his stiffness.
He smelt the air, the scent of snow and sap filling his nostrils. Finally, he started to feel like he could breathe. He took a long, deep breath and let it out slowly.
He focused on the uncomfortable branch he was sitting on. It reminded him that he was still alive and feeling.
Then he went to feel the ground beneath …
“Ion, there’s no ground,” Kuba said, tightness wrapping around his chest and terror-filled thoughts streaming back into his mind. “There’s no ground!”
“Okay, enough! We have to go,” Aurelia said as she dismounted her branch and began to descend the tree. “Come or don’t, but I’m leaving.”
Kuba’s breath sped up again. She couldn’t just leave them.
“Kuba, I’m so sorry,” said Ion, extending his hand, “but we have to go right now.”
Kuba nodded slowly and grabbed onto a branch with his hand. He understood they had to go, but he could barely move.
“Good, good,” Kuba heard Ion say under his breath. As he descended towards the now snowy plane.
“Hurry. We are out in the open. The snow is reflective, and the moon is bright. They'll see us,” Aurelia said sternly from the ground as she rubbed her temples, seemingly frustrated with their lack of movement. “I guarantee more will come.”
“Not even a few minutes, until Kuba settles?” Ion pleaded. “We can’t just—”
“Look,” Aurelia answered, her frustration even more apparent. “My plan is your best bet. You two either come now or I’m going without you. You in?”
Kuba didn’t dare answer; he didn’t know what to do. All he wanted was to save his aunt, to save his home, but he was scared. He knew they couldn’t do this on their own. He looked from Aurelia to the flames in the distance, his heart shattering.
“We’re in,” Ion answered, his face hard and stern. “If this is our best shot, we have to take it.”
“Hm.” Aurelia nodded. “We need to make it to other side of the mountain. We can lose them there in the forest. Let’s go.”
“We’ll get her back though, right? They’ll help us?” Kuba asked desperately through short breathes.
“It’s the best chance you’ve got.”
It took them until daybreak to make it around Mount Zar to its eastern edge and into the forest. Ion was bruised and beaten, both on the inside and out, from the night before. He couldn’t think of home without his throat constricting and the pit of his stomach feeling like it was filled with rocks. He was sad, and he couldn’t even look at his brother without feeling guilty. Had he only listened to his parents, Kuba would still be on his way to Azul, but he would be safe. His father would be on his way to Azul to negotiate the best he could. And his mother …
Ion shook his head. He couldn’t even think of what was happening to his mother right now.
He tried to focus on something else. Anything else. As they worked their way through the trees, he took in the view of the forest. It was like nothing he had ever seen before. The tree trunks were as thick as houses and the leaves seemed to touch the sky. It was still cool, but something about this place, in the morning sun, warmed him. He had to admit, there was something quite magnificent about this forest. It didn’t take away any of his sadness or guilt, but it did add another emotion to the mix: calmness. And by the looks of it, the forest had made an impression on Kuba as well. The sounds of the birds waking up, and the trees ruffling in the wind, seemed to calm him enough to help him continue pressing forward.
Ion’s face sank once again. His younger brother appeared in his peripheral. Ion immediately felt like he was going to throw up. If only he had been patient. If only he had listened to his father. What was going to happen to them now? What was going to happen to their family? To their village? Were his friends and family even still alive? And now they had no choice but to trust this stranger to help them get to another group of strangers just so they could maybe help.
But despite the worry, the fear, and the uncertainty, there was one feeling that seemed to trump them all. A feeling that he hated himself for having. Jealousy.
His brother—well, adopted brother—was a Wielder. Ion remembered, as a young child, hearing village tales about the age of the Wielders hundreds of years ago. They had just seemed like bedtime stories back then. But the tales of adventure and justice—a justice that was defended by the Wielders—were intoxicating. In school, the old Wielders, the Free-Wielders were vilified, and the dreams of a young boy faded away. They had learned that only the God-King Apollyon’s Wielders were worthy. But now, looking at Kuba, the pang of jealousy was a reminder that Kuba was meant to be the hero of storybooks, not him.
Ion sighed unconsciously, which earned him a warning glare from Aurelia, who had demanded silence. He rolled his eyes.
The group walked in silence for several more hours. Ion kept his distance from Kuba, but forced himself to look in his direction every so often to ensure he was alright. They were both injured and bruised, and he wasn’t sure that Kuba had fully recovered from his panic episode.
Ion glanced back at his brother, who was walking silently with his head down and arms crossed over his chest. He hated watching Kuba struggle with his panic. He’d been having these episodes since he was young, and Ion always felt useless when they came on.
Their walk continued in silence. Ion replayed his decisions over and over, silent tears etched on his face. The soft sounds of the forest occasionally soothed him.
Finally, just as the sun signalled high noon, they came to an opening in the woods. The trees broke overhead and the small footpath they were on broke off into many.
“The northern most path heads to Burrath, my homelands,” Aurelia said. She sounded sad, but she didn’t look back at them, so Ion couldn’t really tell what she was thinking. “We cannot go back there.”
“So which path do we take?” Ion said.
“South. We head south.”
Does she even know where she’s going? Kuba couldn’t help but think to himself as they weaved through all the different forest paths. He was so tired. All he was hoping for now was a nap. Aurelia had promised they would rest once they had walked around the mountain. For some reason, though, they were still walking.
“Psst,” Kuba hissed towards Ion.
“What’s wrong, Kuba?” said Ion, looking at him eagerly.
“Will we ever stop?” Kuba complained. He was sore and broken, tired and hungry. He could barely keep his eyes open.
“We will stop,” Aurelia said, whipping around, and Kuba gulped. “We just need to get deeper into the forest. Apollyon’s armies are trained to track their targets, so the more twists and turns we make, the more likely we are to throw them off and survive.”
“Are you sure you know where we’re going? All of these darn trees look the exact same!” Kuba whined,
slugging his shoulder towards the ground and wincing in pain.
“I’ve been on the run for months, and this is one of the best places to hide in all of Azanthea. I know it like the back of my hand.”
“I’m so sore—” Kuba started.
“Let’s go,” Aurelia cut him off.
“I think we’ve gone far enough,” Ion said. Kuba looked up at him with a relieved smile, and he could have sworn Ion smirked back just a little. “We’re tired and hurt. We need a break.”
“Brave statement,” Aurelia responded. Kuba watched as she glanced from Ion to him and back again, gauging their ability to keep moving. “Alright. Set up camp, and we need to find some food.”
Kuba watched as Aurelia pulled out a very thin, bright blue blanket from the pouch hanging from her hips and smoothed it down on the uneven forest floor, placing rocks on each of its corners. Kuba let out a tired sigh, would that be their bed for the night?
Aurelia instructed him to go find firewood and water while she and Ion tried to hunt some birds. Ion protested the separation, clearly not wanting Kuba off by himself, but Aurelia overruled him, saying they would get things done much faster by splitting up. The one condition of Kuba’s venture was that he was to always keep sight of the blue blanket.
Through his pain and fatigue, Kuba began to wander off into the woods with the water pouch Aurelia gave him bouncing around his neck. His Godstone felt heavy in his shirt’s breast pocket, and with each step it was beginning to get heavier. He hadn’t noticed the weight of it when the others were around.
He started picking up some fallen branches for kindling. The stone grew increasingly noticeable in his pocket. And just like when he had first touched it, he could feel the stone calling to him.
Kuba set down the firewood he had collected and pulled the Godstone out of his pocket. Immediately, he felt rejuvenated. He turned the stone in his hand. It looked like an ordinary rock, except for one distinguishing feature. When he looked very closely, he could see a small crack in it. And when he looked through the fracture, the Godstone was glowing.
Chapter 7
Azul, 4th Day of the Month of Warmth, 1114 A.F.F.
“Do not touch him, you imbecile,” Vallich yelled at the Eleventh who was charging at the human-like creature suspended by thick vines in the middle of the cell.
“Yes, my liege. My apologies.” The Eleventh stopped in his tracks, his eyes darting from the suspended beast to the splash of spit at Vallich’s feet. “These creatures have no respect. Does he not know who you are?”
“Oh, I am sure he does,” Vallich said, stepping towards the hanging creature, “but this is my interrogation and I will not have some an impetuous Eleventh ruining it.” Vallich glanced over his shoulder at the soldier. “Understood?”
The Eleventh swallowed. “Yes, my liege.”
“Good. Now leave.”
The echo of the door opening and closing again carried through the damp cell. Vallich did not turn to watch the soldier go.
“You don’t have to be such a mood killer, Vallich,” Erikah said, stepping out of the darkest corner of the room, her short red hair even more severe in the warm torchlight. “All he was going to do was have a little fun.”
“Says the one who has been hiding the corner this whole time,” Vallich said, looking into Erikah’s glossed over eyes and then down to the green Godstone in her hand. “This is my prisoner after all, not an Eleventh’s toy.”
“Not a toy?” Erikah said, coiling her arm around his waist. “Vallich, have you grown weak?” She leaned in and whispered in his ear, “If word gets out that the heir to the God-King has gone soft, who knows what terrors may ensue.”
Vallich slithered out of her grasp. “He’s not the Eleventh’s toy, he’s mine.”
“Ah,” Erikah said, looking up at the dangling critter. She grasped her Godstone in both hands, and Vallich watched as her vines coiled tighter around his wrists.
“Don’t seem so disappointed.” Vallich waved her off and walked towards the beast who hung in front of them, stark naked. His breath was laboured and his body was marked with scabbing wounds from their earlier interrogation sessions.
Vyvents, though nearly identical in shape and form to a human, were anything but.
Vallich hovered his hand over the captured Vyvent’s thigh, careful not to touch him.
The creature flinched from the proximity.
Vallich stared at where his hand hovered. The Vyvent anatomy was fascinating. So human-like, but so different at the same time. Muscles hard as stone and blood that ran in colours so bright that light radiated right through their skin. This Vyvent’s blood was a stunning purple. The same deep colour high above a sunset just as the last of the day leaves the earth.
Vallich traced his eyes along the glowing lines of the Vyvent’s leg, the glow of the beast’s blood a perfect map of its biggest veins and arteries. Beating, pulsing, and begging to be bled.
Vallich let his Godstone consume him, and a diamond spear immediately formed in his hand. He grasped it and shoved it through the Vyvent’s thigh.
A scream ripped through the stone cell.
“Why are you here, Vyvent?”
The Vyvent heaved, his vibrant sunset blood spewing everywhere, lighting up the dark dungeons.
“You know theft of knowledge is not taken to kindly in palace,” Vallich said, reaching for the beast. Just as his fingers were about to brush the Vyvent’s hair, Vallich pulled his hand back. He was too used to touching his prisoners, making them suffer with his bare hands. When his instincts took over, it was hard to remember that the Vyvents could control anything their skin touched.
Vallich dropped his arm back to his side. “Tighten up, Erikah.”
“With pleasure, my liege,” she replied, and the vines coiled tighter around the Vyvent’s wrists and ankles, drawing blood. And though it had a different colour, the familiar metallic smell of bloodshed wafted in the air.
The Vyvent howled in pain again.
Vallich followed the creature’s gaze until he found himself looking at the diamond he had lodged in the man’s leg. It was slowly being pushed out by an unseen force.
Vallich scowled. This Vyvent’s powers were stronger than he anticipated.
“You know, it bleeds more when you do that,” Vallich said, crossing his arms. He could take control of the diamond again and stop the Vyvent from using his sorcery to remove it, but the Vyvent was weak, barely able to force it out of himself. There was no way he would be able to weaponize it. His powers were just causing him more pain and exhaustion.
So Vallich leaned against the damp wall and decided to watch the show. He hadn’t expected the Vyvent to do his job for him.
“Urgh-ahh!”
The diamond fell and the screaming was replaced by laboured breaths and the sharp sound of the diamond clattering on the stone floor.
“Ready to chat?” Vallich asked, using his shoulder blades to push himself off the wall.
Beads of sweat came of the Vyvent’s hair as he shook his dangling head.
“You leave me no choice then,” Vallich said with a sigh. “Remember, I tried to be nice.”
Vallich marched towards the door, brushing past Erikah on his way.
“You’re leaving?” she asked.
“Keep hold of him until I’m back,” he said, checking for Erikah’s white eyes to make sure she was maintaining her wield. So long as she was actively controlling the vines, no Vyvent’s powers could supersede hers. “And don’t get too close. He may put up a fuss.”
Vallich walked out the heavy door and was immediately hit with the damp smell of the dungeons. A dozen Elevenths lined the mossy walls, each bowing as he walked by. He ignored all of them as he marched to the cell next door.
The opened the door slowly, the creaks echoing through the stone cell.
Inside, an Eleventh stood in the far corner, cowering away from the little girl seated at a small table in the middle of the room. Vallich groaned at the
soldier’s feebleness, the little Vyvent was much too young for her powers to have developed yet. The solider had no excuse for this display of weakness.
“Get out,” Vallich said, sitting in the chair opposite the girl, “and don’t be so pathetic.”
“Yes, my liege.”
Vallich heard the echoing of the solider’s heels and the door shutting behind him, but he did not turn away from the Vyvent child. Her cheeks were stained with streaks of dry tears and her nails bitten down to the cuticle. She trembled in her seat, but said nothing.
She was so young, probably not yet ten. Vallich felt his gut churn remembering all of the times he was sent to the dungeons as punishment when he was a young boy. And though she may be a foreign creature, he would wish his fate upon no child.
“I will not kill you,” he said in a soothing tone, “so long as you do exactly what I say. Do you understand?”
The little Vyvent nodded. A single thick tear rolled down her face and dripped off the edge of her jaw.
“What is your name?”
“Abi,” she whispered.
“Abi,” Vallich said, leaning across the table. “What a lovely name. Do you know who I am?”
She nodded slowly. “They … the guards said you were the scary one.”
Vallich laughed, amused by his reputation. “Scary indeed. Now, I’m sure you’ve heard us with your father over there—”
Abi whimpered and curled her legs up towards her chest. She buried her face in the skirt of her long dress. The blood flowing through her veins was the same brilliant purple as her father’s and shined even brighter than his.
“Oh, my dear,” Vallich said, “you see, I want to help you and your father. But you have to do precisely as I say. Will you help him?”
Her glowing blood flowed through the small veins in her wide eyes. She nodded.
Vallich’s face darkened. “Now swear it.”
She wiped the tears from her cheeks with her skirt. “I swear.”
“Good, then I swear to you that you both will live,” Vallich smiled. “I’m going to give you just a little cut on your hand and I want you to scream as loud as you can.” He drew his blade from his belt and reached his free hand across the table.
All the King's Traitors Page 6
