by Jani Griot
“See? Even the angry one has a name. I don't see why I couldn't tell him mine,” the brown-haired girl muttered as the boy pulled me deeper into the jungle.
“The women these days are fun, huh? Lots of interesting personalities to meet and what not,” said the boy.
I moved the shield to protect our backs as we ran for what seemed like a long time. Ark's light was dwindling above.
“Something is up ahead,” the boy stated.
We ran into a small clearing with a shallow pond at its center. I turned around, in hopes of the silence that greeted me. The next moment I was snapping the shield up in front of me. A single arrow flew toward my head. It struck and shattered the shield in two, the halves falling uselessly to either side of my right arm.
The two identical girls strode in first, one holding a sword and shield and the other a strung bow. Then came the three other girls, creeping along behind.
“You have nowhere to run, little worms,” the blonde said. “Maybe, if we bring Avery and the other lords your heads, they will forgive us for not bringing the flower. At least then we would be able to stay with our families, instead of running away for our failures.” She grew angrier as she spoke. “You killed one of the most vital members to the cause, and you’re probably too stupid to realize just how much you destroyed with your actions.” She bellowed the last words, reminding me of Ochloc when he’d had too many spirits.
"The rebellion is never going to happen, you relic,” the boy said. “My lord knows about most, if not all, of its members. It's why we are here. They have been killing such rebels left and right at Vassilious Keep. It's why all the families are in one place.” He still gripped the sword, as if it were an extension of his arm.
“He's right, you know. My lady Vivek said they won't last to the end of the trials. They would rather kill too many than kill too few and have members fall through the cracks,” said the brown-haired girl.
“Shut the hell up, lumpy,” said one of the black-haired girls.
“Can we kill this saboteur, or what?” asked her double.
I took a step back, into the pond. The water was cold, but the liquid-ice swept away any fatigue I felt. I had completely forgotten about my task by this point and was starting to wonder if I would make it back, unsuccessful or not. These girls wanted me to sleep, as I had made the man yesterday sleep.
“Of course we can, especially in such a lovely setting,” the blonde agreed.
They all charged, a pack of warriors, screaming in unison. Things seemed to be going well at first, but that changed. Quickly. They fought in ways I'd never seen. The two black-haired girls flipped and kicked freely, their limbs like whips.
The redhead may have been a poor wrestler, but the brown-haired girl was not. The boy was tripped up midair as she tackled him into the water’s rim. The redhead climbed on top of him, slapping away his sword with her own before raining down on him with three left-handed punches. He was asleep, floating in the shallow water shortly after.
“Come on! We’ll deal with him later!” the redhead shot orders to her fellow slaves in the heat of battle. The hierarchy of their little group formed quickly.
I parried as much as I could until the sword-wielding twin cut the wooden sword I held in half. The blonde landed an effective punch to my jaw, leaving me off-kilter.
I turned, dizzied, and took an additional six body punches from the sword wielding twin. I stumbled back and felt a white-hot pain in my leg, where an arrow jutted out at an awkward angle. The archer leveled her bow again, aiming for my mid-section, barely missing the thin portion of my chest not protected by the cloak.
I didn't want to fail my master; nor did I want to fight these girls, but one or both was going to happen. I tried to stay on my feet, but it was no use, and I dropped to one knee in the icy water. They lined up near the edge of the shallow pool. All smiling, excluding the brown-haired girl. The redhead splashed in after me, spinning her sword around.
“Can I end him?” asked the bow-wielding sister.
The redhead stomped, kicking water up into my face. “I wanted to be the one to do it.”
“You can both do it,” the blonde said, rolling her eyes. The redhead pulled me to my feet with one hand, and the other raised her sword back as the archer readied a new arrow.
“Wait, turn him around,” she said. “I don’t want to look at him when I do it.”
“Will you hurry up sis? I'm hungry,” her duplicate interjected.
That eerie pressure from the cloak clawed at me from multiple locations, and heavily at my back, but she had such a strong grip on my arm. I was so tired. I'd been running all day and hadn't eaten anything Almarine had given me.
I assumed she had given it to me for one of the Honorborn and I would know which one to give it to once I saw them. I know, now, that the food was for me. But back then, I just wished I had eaten something more before whatever pain was to come, be it Honorborn cuisine, or the slop given to slaves.
I was struck from behind not once, but twice. The blows reverberated like steel clashing against steel. The crack of lightning across the water from me, along with the many encircling clouds, filled me with horror. The physical beam of light flashing before me, along with the echoes of the weapons that had just struck me, confirmed what I thought to be my end. I flew forward and deeper into the center of the water. The boy's body floated at my feet. I turned around to five shocked faces.
“What in the realm of Ark's Luminescence just happened” asked the redhead. She made a significant effort to step back, turning her body and even gripping her knee, trying to pull herself away, but her feet seemed stuck where she stood. Both sunlight and moonlight danced across the waters in that moment.
“I can't move,” she said, her voice shaking. “My legs are sinking.”
I didn't understand what was going on. I stood where I was, taking in what I could. I wanted to leave while they were distracted, but I couldn’t move my legs, either. It seemed like the girls on the shore were growing. Or was I shrinking? The four girls on shore turned and ran from the water, leaving the redhead behind. The brown-hairsed girl screamed. Her voice was loud but trembling.
“Quicksand!”
The Sun Lion Diamond
This moment can only be described through my sensations. It's hard to remember with Ochloc rampaging in my mind. Infuriated not only by the thought of losing to his fellow Honorborn, but the cloak I wore was a treasure he hadn't wanted to part with.
You vile little rat! I lose sight of you for more than a moment and you fall prey to the sands! You can't possibly be the son of Vola!
By this time, the redheaded girl and I were waist-deep in quicksand. My mind was working on the problem the best it could. She flailed violently, which I know now was the wrong thing for her to do, but then I didn’t understand.
Are you so stupid you don't see that you’re about to die? Do something, you fool!
Ochloc's hawk pulled at the hood of the cloak. I couldn't move. I had given up on that when I was knee deep. That didn't stop the bird, at Ochloc's command, from intervening unnecessarily. He refused to lose both a possible Fury and the cloak that chose synergy with only their bloodline.
Fury!
The command was like lighting the lanterns at night, but I was the lantern and Ochloc had just ignited the flame. I did my best to fight it at first, but then...
Fury!
Not having a target for my wrath, I swung my arms about vigorously. I couldn't keep it inside. My blood was pumping and my heart beat like the unsynchronized tone that came at midday from the bell tower.
I screamed at the sky.
The moonlight reflected off the water beneath me and the tingling warmth of the cloak enveloped me as it drew itself tighter around my body. The boy floated directly in front of me. It was as if the sands, where I was in the pond's shallow center, were devouring me.
I roared again and again.
The girls had nearly pulled their fellow ruse boy
out the sands. I was shoulder deep, pulling on the boy's body, doing my best to stay above. They used the vines of the surrounding jungle along with the combined strength of four bodies. I pulled on the body of a boy, who was only afloat due to his untethered motionlessness. Why Ochloc thought making me raving mad would save me confuses me to this day.
I screamed again and the cloak took on a red aura in the moonlight, giving off some ghostly energy as we sank deeper. I pulled the boy down with me in my fury, not knowing what I was doing. I was suffocating; the sand spiraled around me, reaching my chin. My lips. My nose. It was as if I were drowning in water without yield or forgiveness. For there was no kicking to the surface with the reward of oxygen.
And then… I could move my feet. I still couldn't breathe but...
Master...
An unrecognizable voice spoke. I still hear it now, but that doesn't help me tell this part of the story.
My legs were unrestricted while the upper third of my body lacked oxygen as the sand corseted my ribcage. My throat. It didn't feel like my feet were submerged, more like they were dangling, as if I were hanging. More unintelligible words came from my mental intruder.
Why haven't you named me yet?
I didn't know what those words meant, but the voice and endless sand without air brought back memories of another time without oxygen. Maybe this wasn't familiar to others, but I don't know how many times Lady Ezra had constructed some unusual forms of torture for me over the cycles, many of which involved water and drowning. Every occurrence ended the same.
Below my waist I could move freely, but as I descended, I was sure I wouldn't be awake to see whatever freedom lie below.
When I realized I wouldn't make it to the other side of this, my mind pinpointed and held onto a specific memory. Almarine above me, encased in sky and Ark's light, clouds floating around her.
“Live!” Almarine would yell. She would always shout something as she hit me in my chest. I never liked the process. Ezra would normally dunk my head in her hot bath water until she was satisfied it no longer scalded. This was not her only avenue of torture. Pretty much any channel of water allowed for what she called discipline. Shortly after, I'd wake up to Almarine screaming and pounding on my chest.
“Live!” she would scream, over and over. Maybe she wasn't screaming anything. The words could have been shouted aloud or into my mind. The words could have belonged to Almarine, but it was hard to tell who was speaking to me when waking from unconsciousness.
On the upside, I could stay awake underwater for longer periods of time. I didn't really like finding my head stuck in the occasional aqueduct channel or fountain, or the vicious pounding from Almarine for failing to stay awake long enough afterward. I kept my memory of Almarine's raised fist above me like a painting. Why had Almarine hit me for this and nothing else?
My eyes were closed, but my mind could still see. The only comparison I can draw to what encompassed the whole of that blinded sight was that what I saw was like a portrait, but it wasn’t one. The image of a swirling doorway. Two bright pillars, and in between them, a roving darkness, but not a dreaded darkness. A beckoning one.
I sucked air into my lungs, as if I were being reborn and taking my first breath. Black spots swirled through my vision, and they replicated vastly until the image before me was eclipsed by total blackness.
My eyes opened to something so grand and confusing I nearly let go of the boy I had dragged into the sands with me.
From what I could tell, I was in a near completely open space. I had never seen anything like it. Mixtures of sand and water funneled in from perfectly sectioned off cut-outs in the ceiling, exactly like the one I had fallen through. I hung above one of the many channels that led to the center of the room. The sand and water trenches flowed in intricate patterns all throughout the area.
To either side of the cut-outs were odd lights. They didn't flicker like lanterns. Each light was so bright I thought I may have been looking directly into Ark's Luminescence. There was a dark hallway on the far side of the room across from me. It was like I was in the middle of a place lost to time.
Dust coated the floor; plumes of the stuff wafted up around my feet as I slowly landed. The ground seemed to whir and tremble with power. I immediately became aware of a repetitive clang all around me. I didn't know what they were then, but a very intricate system of gears spun visibly through the glass ceiling above. Nothing like this had been constructed anywhere, not even in the quickly growing city of wonders that surrounded Ochloc's sister.
As I scanned the room one final time, I saw it. It was so beautiful I let go of the boy's legs that dangled through the ceiling. His body fell to the floor like a bundle of rocks.
The Sun Lion Diamond, or should I say diamonds, sat growing in a plush grass segment at the room’s center. They were fed by both water and sand, as well as redirected sunlight from every direction.
I took a single step toward my master's task and the end of my journey. But I stumbled, stopped by the body of the boy I had dragged down there. He wasn't moving. Earlier, I couldn't have gotten him to stop talking or moving even if I'd known how. I nudged him with my foot. Nothing. Not the slightest movement or noise.
I crouched over him, poking at him with my extended hand. Still nothing. I had seen many people go to sleep and never wake up. I didn't want the same to happen to this boy.
I dropped to my knees, shaking him violently. He was soaked and covered in sand from head to toe. I clutched the wet rags lords tried to pass as labor-worthy clothing. I shook him harder and harder. Water filled my eyes and I didn't know why. I hammered my fist down, slowly at first. Then harder and harder. I only used one fist at first, now...
Thwack, thwack, thwack.
I repeatedly drummed both fists on the boy's chest. A word rang out in my mind.
Live!
The word echoed. The murmur of a distant memory as if it were yelled in the cavernous emptiness of my unrefined brain. I held onto the word and screamed it in my head as loud as I could.
Live!
I slammed my fists in interchanging intervals until both hands rhythmically sailed, palms open, toward his chest.
Live!
My hands slammed into him one final time, slapping flatly. I leaned over, pushing all my weight onto him in exhaustion.
Live!
The boy bucked and spit sand and water all over my hands before swatting them away. He spoke in a muddled gargle from his fatigue.
“What in Ark's Mirror are you yelling at me for? I am alive. I just need a little nap is all,” he barely managed to say before he rolled over, nearly falling into one of the trenches that led to the center of the room. Little snores, like those of a cat, came from his direction.
Damnation
“Wow,” said the blonde-haired ruse boy. She took a few steps away from the shoreline. Her teammates looked at one another before smiling.
They had killed Ochloc’s slave. Or they had, at least, caused his death.
The blonde turned her gaze upward toward the king’s hawk and smiled, knowing the man watched as his slave and even the boy from the Sky Kingdom were sucked into the twisting quicksand she stood in front of.
Until her team broke the wooden weapons the slave was using, she’d doubted their ability to kill Ochloc’s slave. Part of her could tell the slaves’ focus was not on their fight, nor harming any of the other ruse boys. She was by far one of the most proficient slave fighters born in generations, but Ochloc’s slave and the boy by his side seemed to be toying with them at best.
She tried to refocus, but something pulled at the edge of her senses. Before the boys were eaten by the sands, the jungles had been silent, excluding the slaves from other Honorborn families that scoured the area separately. Now the noises of the jungle seemed to cascade in from all around her group. As if something had been keeping the wildlife at bay and now that it was gone, their presence was blooming once more. She stood, wondering why the silver-haired slave
hadn’t used the abilities she’d seen him display earlier.
“Something’s wrong,” said the brown-haired girl behind the blonde. The blonde looked over to the girl, who was pointing, indicating a slave who, screaming maniacally, was in the process of being mauled by two panthers.
“Look,” said the redhead. The blonde tightened her grip on the sword she held as she watched a grown man swarmed by dozens of snakes. Then one of the twins spoke. “Isn’t this what happens when patriarchs or matriarchs are killed?”
The question went unanswered momentarily as the group watched slaves run from within the tree line and dive for the water. They were followed by birds of varying species that attacked relentlessly, tearing through the slaves as if they had disturbed a nest of the creatures.
“Yes. When the alpha or an otherwise important figure within the animal’s family is killed, the mothers and fathers of most species will attack the surrounding areas, but…” started the brown-haired girl. The group stood watching as an alligator rose from the sands of the water’s edge and snatched a fleeing slave off their feet, biting down hard on the slave’s ankle as it retreated toward the water.
“This is something else entirely, I’ve never seen anything cause a reaction to an environment like this. Unless it was the power of my lady Dara Vivek, or someone equally as strong, twisting the energies of univers incorrectly,” finished the brunette. The group began to move. No words were necessary. The level of danger around them grew by breaths taken. They were backpedaling before they realized they needed to flee.
They tore through the jungle, back the way they came, running recklessly. The blonde knew that trying to map the jungle was impossible as the trees shifted with the sands. The moving jungles of the kingdom they were in rotated as if a vortex sat at its center, twisting trees and rocks through motion.
