The major—second only to General Ossen in terms of military power—seemed almost offended. “Let the girl fight,” he said. “It’s your only chance, vanishing though it may be.”
The tall Jestivan dashed forward, but his speed percentage had been drained by his wounds. The major contemptuously punched him in the gut as the lieutenant went for Jilly.
He swept his leg at her knee, but she blocked it with her thigh and hopped back a few steps. The two began sparring while Toshik struggled to get up. The major’s boot pressed him back down to the dirt.
“Your efforts to fight in that girl’s stead are foolish. You have too much pride.”
“Pride shouldn’t be mistaken for commitment,” Toshik said coldly.
The major casually ground his boot into Toshik’s chin. “We are committed to only one thing, my boy: Our journey from life to death. Your commitment, I’m afraid, will be paid today.” He ran his thumb across the edge of his dagger, bent down, and grabbed Toshik by the scalp.
As Toshik glared into the Dev officer’s beady eyes, some strange force tugged him away. Jilly, who had been handling the lieutenant with relative ease, felt the same sensation—as did Himitsu.
The three Jestivan looked around. They were still at the edge of the crater’s rim, but some distance from the Dev officers.
“What was that?” Toshik asked.
“Maybe they teleported us,” Jilly said.
Himitsu shook his head. “No, something or someone grabbed us. I felt it.”
“My sword!” Toshik exclaimed as he twisted and turned. “Where is my sword?!”
Paying him no mind, Himitsu’s eyes narrowed. Next to the lieutenant and corporal stood a third person—a girl.
His eyes widened. “Guys … it’s Rhyparia.”
***
Bryson winced as shards of rock stung his eyes. Ossen had missed! Bryson reached across his face with his left hand, yanked the dagger from the rock, and slashed downward, slicing his hoodie in two. And before Ossen could comprehend what happened, Bryson had disappeared, for he had finally decided to crank his speed percentage up.
Ossen wasn’t prepared, as he couldn’t fathom the existence of someone outside of the Adren Kingdom having such speed. The general didn’t even have time to brace himself before a forearm knocked him backward and into the hard ground.
Prince Storshae gaped in disbelief at what he was witnessing … even to his trained eyes, Bryson’s arms were a blur. He sat on top of Ossen, pulverizing his top officer’s skull and brains to a paste.
Bryson had lost any awareness of Storshae or Fonos. Ossen was dead already, yet he continued to pound away. Like kneading bread, he thought absently, alternating fists with a maniacal satisfaction. Then a hand grabbed his shoulder and threw him backward. An unhappy Prince Storshae had entered the fight.
“Arrogant brat,” the prince spat.
Bryson gazed up at Storshae from where he lay in the dirt, too tired to move. Storshae opened the front of his cloak, where ten steel blades were hooked to his waist. They hovered gently.
It was an uncanny display of skill. A world-class fighter like Ossen could telekinetically control three objects at once; Storshae was handling ten. Even discounting Bryson’s exhausted state, there was no way he could escape the wide area that ten daggers thrown simultaneously could encompass.
Bryson’s thoughts raced to his friends and how he had led them to their deaths. He thought of Debo, the only father he’d ever had, whose love Bryson’s foolishness had thrown away …
Storshae ducked his shoulder, pivoted, and a wide wall of steel swept toward Bryson. Once again, the boy closed his eyes, surrendering to his inevitable death.
And then he heard a clash of metal, like a royal carriage crashing to the ground from a great height. He squinted, then cautiously opened his eyes to see a familiar lean back and ear-piercings shimmering in the sun. Shards of broken steel littered the ground around him.
It was Debo, and Bryson had never been happier to see him. Storshae looked angry, but Fonos reacted differently. His eyebrows scrunched together as his mouth dropped in, what looked to be, disbelief.
“Debonicus …” Fonos muttered.
“Get back, Bryson,” Debo commanded without turning his head from Storshae and Fonos. Bryson happily obeyed and scrambled back to Olivia’s body.
“Kill this fool while I finish the boy,” Storshae barked.
“Easier said than done,” Fonos said, his voice distant as if lost in thought.
“What?” the prince snapped. “You’re a Gefal!”
Fonos was careful to not look away from Debo. “If we are to fight him, I will need your help.”
27
Discovery
Four Jestivan entered Phesaw’s main auditorium. This meeting had been orchestrated by the Energy Directors, who had promised a visit from an esteemed individual.
Lilu, Yama, Agnos, and Tashami walked down the steps with uncertainty in most of their eyes. They were hoping this gathering would give them the answers as to why their fellow Jestivan and Director Debo had been mysteriously absent for the past couple days.
As they reached the bottom, they saw a boulder of a man with blond hair and matching silk robes—Intel King Vitio. The directors were standing in front of the first row as they waited for the Jestivan to take a seat.
“To be forthright, Bryson, Himitsu, Jilly, and Toshik have all been inside of the Dev Kingdom the past several days,” Archaic Director Senex began, “hunting down Dev Prince Storshae and his soldiers in efforts to rescue Olivia.”
Shock blanketed the faces of the Jestivan.
“Obviously, we would never have sent four Jestivan into the Dark Realm by themselves, so the question becomes, who allowed them to do so?” Senex turned and extended his arm to the man on the stage. “I introduce to you King Vitio of the Intel Kingdom.”
While the directors took a seat in the first row, Vitio remained standing at the stage’s edge. He took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I sent four teenagers into the Dark Realm to pursue someone much stronger than any of them. I did it with thoughts of the original Jestivan in my mind and, more importantly, a specific zana we are all familiar with—Mendac. He was unparalleled in talent, and I thought, perhaps, that his offspring possessed the same ability. But I was blinded by my memories of an older Mendac … Bryson is only sixteen. Even Mendac, at that age, could not have handled such a mission—I think.
“Of course, the decision was Bryson’s. I did not force it upon him. I don’t know Olivia personally, but I did know how desperate he was to save her. I warned him and his friends of the dangers—the almost near-certain death—and they still wanted to go, so I let them.”
The Jestivan wore varying expressions. Yama was angry at Jilly’s lie. Tashami simply looked flabbergasted. Agnos wore a look of disgust, probably casting moral judgment on the king. And Lilu … since she already knew about all of this, she was more focused on her fellow Jestivan’s reactions, scared of what they thought of her father.
“So they will die,” Agnos pronounced, “and you will have the lost lives of four youths on your shoulders.”
Vitio turned pale, though undoubtedly he had considered this many times before.
“That’s no sure thing, Agnos,” Passion Director Venustas said. “Director Debo departed immediately when he learned the news.”
“That means nothing,” Agnos said. “First of all, he has to find them. Second, he has to make it there in time. And third, as much as I respect each of you Directors, the truth is that you’re not a Bozani or Gefal.”
Venustas’s rosy red lips pursed, but she didn’t try to deny what he had said.
“T-There is something else,” Vitio stammered. “Now, I wouldn’t burden you with this under normal circumstances, but with our invasion of the Archaic Kingdom, I simply cannot put all my attention toward what I’m about to tell you. Therefore, I ask for your help.
“There is someone in Kuki Sphaira who is a
threat to every royal family in both realms. He is responsible for the assassination of the Prim Kingdom’s prince a few months back and now he is in the Cyn Kingdom stalking a royal there as well. And recently, I received a major tip … His name is Toono.”
The name sent chills up the spines of Yama and Agnos. Agnos glanced at the violet-haired swordswoman, who was looking back at him with furrowed brows. All of her denials of Toono’s involvement were wrong.
As Vitio recounted the conversation between Storshae and Ossen, Agnos thought back to the most recent letter from the Unbreakable. And the more he heard, the more he wanted to find Toono—but not to forgive. He didn’t believe in forgiveness for sins that were too severe. That was his understanding, and he had learned that way of thinking from none other than Toono.
Agnos stood up. “May I speak?” he asked.
Director Senex granted him permission. As Agnos took the stage, he reached into the front pocket of his white robes. He held up a folded piece of parchment. “If the Energy Directors recall, during the captaincy test back in September of last year, I read a section of a book written by the Unbreakable. Over the past several months, Tashami has been receiving letters from him, which I have been deciphering.
“Now, most of these letters were mindless babbling about pessimistic and morbid matters. There was no doubt that the uniquely macabre atmosphere of the Cyn Kingdom sucked enough life out of this man that he simply was not right in the head.”
Agnos shook the parchment in his hand. “That was until this particular letter. This contained valuable information. Information about a man I once knew when he was a boy.”
Opening the letter and equipping his circular framed glasses, he recited it word for word. He looked back up after finishing.
“Toono was my friend,” Agnos continued. “We were orphans at a foster home. But don’t apply that label to our minds, as we were far beyond any normal child’s mental capacity—especially Toono. He eventually became Yama’s Charge. But several years ago, he met a woman … and he changed.
“I still tried to keep tabs on him, and I knew that he was working at the Archaic Museum as a guard. There’s no way he could have escaped that museum without help from the outside, so I’ll go ahead and assume that he’s still with this woman.”
Agnos began to pace. “Then there was the assassination of the Prim Prince in late October, early November. When we learned of it, I didn’t think much of it besides that it was an outrageously impure act. … That was until this letter.
“The Unbreakable spoke of a man who was accompanied by a woman. He said the man was from the Archaic Kingdom. He said the man had done bad things—the royal assassination, it seems likely to me. He said he had a mission. Now, he didn’t say what that mission was specifically, but consider the context clues. He repeatedly mentions how the dead should stay dead. How he didn’t agree with the man’s mission.
“Clearly, Toono wants someone alive again. The question was, who? Why, Dev King Rehn, of course. Storshae said that his father would be returning after he strangled Itta, and after what King Vitio has told us, we know that Toono and Storshae are working together. Toono is helping him resurrect King Rehn … and, somehow, Olivia is the key to it all.”
The room sat in silence. Agnos returned to his seat, and Spirit Director Neaneuma took the stage, her sky-blue robes cascading down to the floor. “Bringing someone back to life seems farfetched and, quite frankly, a bit impossible. With that said, if there’s a threat of it, we still must act. Dev King Rehn cannot return.”
“But why not?” Tashami asked. “There is always going to be a Dev Kingdom, and it’s always going to have a king … if Storshae wants his father back, why would that be such a disaster?”
Neaneuma blushed slightly. “Truthfully, it’s a mystery. Grand Director Poicus always said, ‘that man knows too much.’ He knew things nobody should know, and it put the entirety of our realm in danger. Therefore, depending on the safe arrival of the rest of the Jestivan, the four of you will be sent on a group mission into the Cyn Kingdom to contact the Unbreakable.”
As the Jestivan sat up intently, the other directors started to murmur. “Perhaps we should discuss this amongst ourselves first,” Director Venustas said.
King Vitio also voiced his disapproval. “My daughter is not going to the Dark Realm.”
“Yet you have no problem sending her friends there,” Director Neaneuma retorted, causing Vitio to flush with embarrassment.
“Besides, they won’t go alone,” Neaneuma said. “Two Energy Directors will go with them, and I will be one of them. And we won’t be taking on any royal heads, or looking for a fight at all.”
The baritone voice of Director Buredo made itself heard for the first time. “Let’s discuss this privately first, Lorna.”
“We will.”
Buredo stood and turned to look at the Jestivan. “Run along. Don’t stray from the campus the next few days.”
Lilu, Tashami, Yama, and Agnos exited the auditorium with clouded minds. Each of them had different issues. Tashami thought about finally meeting the Unbreakable. Yama and Agnos were focused on the possibility of seeing Toono again. And Lilu …
She continued thinking about her friends and how likely it was that they were dead.
***
Just before dawn, Lilu—against the wishes of the Energy Directors—lay asleep in her bed in the Intel Palace. She had chosen to stay there instead of the Lilac Suites so she could receive updates from Vistas from Flen. It had been several days since they last heard from him, and Lilu was becoming more stressed as each day passed. She was never happy and made no effort in faking it.
Princess Shelly stood outside Lilu’s door, preparing to wake her little sister. She had been standing there for a good fifteen minutes, for she didn’t want to tell Lilu the news she just received from the city of Brilliance. It seemed as if everything continued to pile up.
Shelly—still draped in her nightgown—knocked three times. “Sister,” she called out.
Lilu’s eyes opened for what seemed like the millionth time that night. “Come in.”
Shelly opened the door but didn’t enter. Lilu didn’t try to sit up. She just lay in the same position she had spent the entire night: her cheek in her tear-stained pillow and her body twisted in the blankets.
“We have to talk,” the princess said softly. “It’s about the blood on Debo’s sword … it’s Mendac’s.”
28
Pogu
Bryson picked up Olivia and staggered away from the fight that was about to begin between Debo, Dev Prince Storshae, and Bewahr Fonos. He felt like he was abandoning Debo to a certain death, as no commoner, not even a director, stood a chance against a Gefal. They were the Dark Empire’s equivalent to the Light Empire’s Bozani. Still, Fonos had asked for help—and called the Energy Director “Debonicus.” Why did that name sound familiar?
“Do something,” Storshae ordered his Bewahr.
Debo stood tall, towering over the prince. “You are naïve, young man.”
The prince looked him up and down. “You look to be only a few years older than—aargh!”
Debo was directly in front of him with his sword impaled through the prince’s shoulder. Storshae hadn’t seen him move. In fact, he hadn’t even seen him disappear. He gazed at the man in horror.
“I’m centuries older than you,” Debo said. “You are a child, and you’re lucky I can’t kill you.” He ripped the sword away, leaving a hole in the prince’s shoulder much like the one Ossen put in Bryson’s.
Storshae clutched his wound and staggered back. “DO YOUR JOB!” he shouted at Fonos.
“Yes, do your job,” Debo mocked with a stern glare.
Fonos finally stepped forward, but he approached with a question. “What are you doing down here?”
Debo disappeared again, and just as quickly, Fonos vanished too. In a blink, the Bewahr was standing casually some thirty feet away.
It was a battle of instant
teleportation and blazing speed. Neither Bryson nor Storshae’s eyes could follow the madness. The only glimpses they could catch were the moments of impact—when Debo and Fonos locked blades or grips. Then they’d disappear again and pop up an instant later at a completely different location.
Bryson shook his head to clear his thoughts. He had to get Olivia out of here—but where should he take her? The battle between Debo and Fonos seemed to take up the entire floor of the crater. As he turned in a circle, trying to decide, Storshae swept his arms forward, causing the daggers lying on the ground to kick up dust as they sprung directly at the boy. Before Bryson could react, they were deflected once again by the slashing sword of Debo.
The Energy Director crumpled to the dirt, and Fonos stood over him. Debo’s sword vanished, but so did the Bewahr. Then Storshae grabbed Debo’s other wrist, and for a moment, the Energy Director seemed paralyzed. The Dev Prince swept four daggers into Debo’s chest. Bryson screamed.
“What are you doing?” Fonos asked, incredulous.
Storshae sneered at his Bewahr. “Something you can’t do, apparently: Killing him.”
Suddenly, Debo was gone again, and then his sword was jammed deep into the prince’s other shoulder.
Debo pulled it out, allowing more blood to spill. “Your mistake is not knowing your enemy. You should have kept me in that trance. In fact, I’m impressed you have that kind of talent to perform such a feat on someone like me … making me relive my worst memories.”
The Jestivan (Erafeen, #1) Page 27
