by Halie Fewkes
Ebby flung her hands out, and a wave of conjured water broke over Vack, quenching the ball of flame. Ebby shot a lightning bolt with no accuracy whatsoever, and it struck the ceiling, splintering the glass further.
Vack dove to the ground anyway, anticipating something being shot at him, and he swung an arm forward, causing Ebby’s feet to fly out from beneath her. The second she hit the floor, Vack pounced on her. He grabbed both her white gloves and pinned her beneath him, snarling as he tried to get them back on her hands.
“Stop it!” Ebby screamed, struggling to shake him off as he grabbed both her wrists. He was doing something to keep her from ghosting through him a second time, and she’d be defenseless as soon as he got those gloves on her. “I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!”
“WHAT IS THIS?” A deeper voice roared. A soft black boot landed on Ebby’s chest, pinning her where she had already been pinned, and a cloaked hand grabbed Vack’s clothes and yanked him high into the air. “What do you two think you’re doing?” Prince Avalask demanded.
“Her friends attacked me!” Vack shouted, dangling from his father’s hand.
“They were trying to protect me!” Ebby shouted back, trying to sit up despite Prince Avalask’s foot holding her down, smelling strongly of smoke. “You can’t keep me away from Ratuan! Neither one of you. And if anybody hurts him again, I’ll kill them. I’ll kill them, I’ll kill them, I’ll—”
“I barely did anything to him!” Vack shouted from above her. She squirmed harder, but couldn’t get up.
“I DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!” Prince Avalask bellowed, which was a first. Ebby had never heard him raise his voice.
“You don’t have time for anything,” she replied, wanting to cry now. She knew she wasn’t supposed to like Prince Avalask, but he had never been unkind to her, other than keeping her trapped, of course. Hearing him yell hurt deep in her chest, and she whispered, “You don’t even have time to notice when I’m being murdered.”
Prince Avalask looked to the ceiling and let his shoulders slouch, as though he couldn’t believe this was happening. He took his foot off Ebby and said, “Alright, stand up,” as he set Vack on the floor. Vack eyed Ebby hatefully and she finally noticed shining red welts running from his eyebrows to his chin where Ratuan had scratched him.
“Both of you listen,” Prince Avalask said. “Vack, you are going to go back to your room, and Ebby, you are going to stay right here. I will be back in exactly one hour, and then the three of us are going to sit down for a good, long chat. Any questions?”
Ebby shook her head no, and Vack spat on her feet. He actually spat a gross wad of slobber onto her feet, making Ebby leap back and yelp in disgust.
Prince Avalask didn’t miss a beat. He snatched Vack’s arm and bit him as Ebby gasped and Vack silenced a cry. She could tell this was normal for them, but that didn’t make it any less barbaric. She might as well be living with wolves!
“Get back to your room, and don’t you ever do that again,” Prince Avalask said, his deep voice dangerous. Vack turned to go, and his father repeated, “I’ll be back in an hour,” before he leapt and disappeared.
Vack paused at Ebby’s door just long enough to shoot her a vicious glare, then he retreated back to his room. Ebby normally would have withdrawn to her bed to have a good cry, but pure adrenaline coupled with strength from seeing Ratuan gave her the will to do something incredibly bold.
She pursued Vack and shoved open the door to his room, which she had never before even had the courage to approach. She opened her mouth to give him the scolding of his life but had to close it again as her eyes widened in shock. Vack lived in filth!
Every piece of clothing he owned lay scattered across the floor, mixed in with dishes, old food, crumpled papers, and the remains of old possessions he had apparently burned to ashes. A few wind instruments, balls, and strange looking tools were mixed in among the wreckage.
Vack was utterly unashamed, and whipped around to bare his teeth at her.
“You live here?” Ebby nearly shrieked, all other accusations seeming suddenly less important.
“Are you insane?” Vack asked, retracing his trail through the clutter to approach her. “You just found out my father is going to be incredibly busy for the next hour, which means you could be escaping right now, and instead you are here nagging me? You are a new breed of stupid, Tear-salt. Get out of my room, and get out of my life.”
Ebby lost a bit of her nerve and took a step back. “I... We don’t know that he’s actually busy. This could be some sort of test, to see if I’ll try to get away.”
She knew it wasn’t a test — the thought of escaping was just suddenly more terrifying than before. How could she just leave, now that she’d finally found Ratuan? And where could she go where Prince Avalask couldn’t follow? And what did she even have to return to?
“Look,” Vack said flatly. “You know how to spy on other areas with your mind. It’s all you’ve been doing for the past month. Just find my father, see if he’s truly busy, and then make your escape.”
“I don’t know if you’ve been paying attention, Vack,” she spat his name, “but finding people hasn’t exactly been a strength of mine.”
“I will show you where he is,” Vack growled. “And if he is busy, then you will get out of here.”
“Fine,” Ebby said, folding her arms uncomfortably. She wasn’t about to admit she was having second thoughts about escaping. Not to Vack.
Vack grabbed one of the gloved hands she held tightly to herself and peered into her eyes. It was teeth-grittingly uncomfortable, but it had to happen to see what he could see.
Vack’s thoughts had a unique feel to them, a strange mix of aggression and caution that she could probably pick out of a crowd by now, as he showed her a location hundreds of miles away.
He’d brought them to a moonlit Escali town where screams echoed across the icy hills and a fire tore across the rooftops. The sun was still an hour from rising and the panic in the air was thick enough to make breathing hard for Ebby, even from miles away. People dashed between buildings, making sure their neighbors were safely away from the flames and shouting where to meet.
The source of the disturbance was a group of five Human men wearing white cloaks, striding between the buildings as though touring the place.
A bolt of lightning struck from the sky and clashed with a blue shimmer of a shield that protected the group like a dome, sending a loud clap of thunder roaring through the valley. Prince Avalask appeared high in the sky and fired bright red bolts down at the intruders, but those also crashed into the magical barrier around them.
The tallest of the five released a fearsome dog with eyes the color of blood and metal plates shielding its chest and neck. She’d heard stories of the Zhauri death hound before, but her imagination was nowhere near as terrifying as the real thing, and she couldn’t deny who the group was any longer. The Zhauri had come south.
The dog tore away from them, bolting toward a trio of armed and ready defenders. He slammed straight into them and wriggled fiercely past their defensive weapons, grabbing one of the thinner women by the arm as though he couldn’t feel the others’ blades slashing into his hide. He shook his head wildly, but her Escali skin held together despite his effort, and Prince Avalask leapt into the air and grabbed the hound by the scruff of the neck, slamming it into a wall. He carved a deep, flaming line into the earth around the demon, effectively trapping it against the building, then looked back to the group of invaders.
Prince Avalask leapt again, but something invisible knocked him straight back out of the air, crashing him into the frozen grass to the screams of everyone watching. A new man, tall with thick hair and a regal stance, had appeared twenty cubits away. He lifted glowing hands to call another lightning bolt from the sky to strike Prince Avalask.
Still on the ground, Prince Avalask threw his arms up to shield himself as the bolt hit him. The following crack of earsplitting thunder struck Ebby with a
panicked realization. This was Sir Avery — the father who’d never wanted her, and the only person alive who could end her nightmare.
Chapter Eleven
Ebby
The death hound paced wildly in its makeshift trap as a kid no older than Vack emerged from one of the nearest buildings, arms wrapped around a furry animal he meant to protect.
“Run to the others!” Prince Avalask shouted, getting just enough footing to dash away from Sir Avery’s next lightning strike. The group of defenders yelled for the boy as he took off and the hound crouched, ready to spring and pursue as soon as a gap opened in the flames.
“Funny seeing you here,” Sir Avery laughed, leaping back toward the buildings to set fire to one more thatched rooftop as Prince Avalask flung his hands out, causing the hound to yelp and stumble.
Sir Avery reappeared to blast Prince Avalask off his feet, but Prince Avalask threw up a shield between them, staggered back, and managed to jump and disappear before he fell. He landed among the buildings where Sir Avery quickly joined him.
The two Epics fired all hues of flames and destructive bolts at each other, along with obscene threats and curses as they dodged in and out behind broken pieces of the town. And while Prince Avalask tried to subdue the death hound and battle Sir Avery, the Zhauri with the black beard and thick arms had reached his hands toward the ground and everything from his fingertips to halfway up his forearms had turned purplish black.
The ground before him shook and cracked apart as massive stones the size of buildings rose to the surface of the world from below. Ebby couldn’t fathom what they might possibly be after, so deep in the ground.
Their excavation pulled the ceiling off a room far beneath the ground, and Ebby’s heart stopped as she realized it was the first chamber she and Vack had occupied together, with no doors or windows, shattered black glass still littering the ground.
Nobody occupied it anymore, and Sir Avery shouted, “Where is she?”
“Clearly not here!” Prince Avalask retorted, firing a white stream of destruction.
Sir Avery snarled, “You better hope I find her before I find your shanking son—”
Prince Avalask swung his arms in a huge sweeping gesture, and an entire building collapsed sideways onto Sir Avery. The charred remnants of wood and stone only buried Ebby’s father for a second before he blasted the debris away and charged back toward his opponent with fire in his hands.
The death hound finally found a break in the flames trapping him and sprang free as a young Escali woman with long, tied hair pulled herself from beneath the pile of rubble created by the Epics. The closest defending Escalis spotted her as the death hound tore toward her, but the only person with a hope of reaching her was the young boy who had time to turn around and race back.
The death hound sprang and landed his massive paws on her, sinking his teeth into her shoulder. She screamed as the metal-plated beast dragged her out of the wreckage, and her scream continued to echo in Ebby’s mind as the death hound clamped its jaws around her throat and crushed it. The boy who’d dropped his furry friend jumped onto the back of the hound to sink his teeth into the dog’s neck with a snarl of his own.
Desperate panic overwhelmed Ebby as the beast jerked its head around and grabbed the boy’s leg, shaking its head violently as he screamed and bit back on its neck. The wolf threw the young boy off and was about to grab his throat too when a sharp whistle jerked him to attention. The broad shouldered leader of the Zhauri whistled again and the beast took off toward its master as the five hunters retreated casually between the burning buildings and screams.
Prince Avalask was desperately hitting Sir Avery with massive, invisible blows which struck an invisible shield but reverberated around the hills until Sir Avery finally leapt into the air and disappeared along with the Zhauri. Prince Avalask also leapt into the air, but reappeared next to the dead woman just as the other defending Escalis reached her.
More began to gather as angry and mourning shouts of denial echoed for all to hear, and several armed guards circled to make sure none of their attackers dare return in their moment of grief.
The boy who’d been bitten was convulsing on the ground with a grey bearded man who was probably his father kneeling beside him.
Prince Avalask knelt down too and spoke hurriedly as the boy’s mouth began to foam and he arched his back, coughing in the direction of the rising sun.
“No, please!” his father was begging. “There has to be a way you can help him.”
Ebby felt ill as two tears fell from Prince Avalask’s cloudy eyes.
“I’ve tried before,” he said, placing a hand on the boy’s neck as he began to thrash harder, lunging suddenly to bite anyone within reach. “This is truly the kindest thing I can do.”
Ebby knew what was coming, but Vack was the one who whimpered and stumbled back from her, forcing the scene to vanish as he threw a hand to his own neck.
Ebby immediately retreated into the numbness that was beginning to feel like a familiar friend. Death was a constant in her life, and for the first time, the person being killed wasn’t somebody she knew or loved. This didn’t feel too much worse than reliving Margaret’s murder every day.
Vack, on the other hand, was gasping for air with his eyes wider than she had ever seen them, glancing all about himself as his lips turned blue. Ebby felt waves of revulsion and despair pouring off him. He had never seen death, and it was a shock that seemed to hit newcomers pretty hard.
“Vack?” Ebby asked, her entire body tense because numbness could only go so far to dull the stirring of old memories.
Vack took a sharp breath, and that was the only response she got from him.
“Do you want me to leave?” she whispered.
Vack nodded and set a hand on the back of a chair for balance, even though the chair itself was lopsided, one leg perched on an overturned basket.
Ebby padded back to her room on silent feet, closing Vack’s door, and then her own door softly behind her. She sat back against it and reached her hands out so the blanket from her bed floated gently into her lap.
She tried to recreate the time Prince Avalask had taken all her suffering away in forced calm, because an Ebby without emotion was an Ebby who could think with clarity. Numbness just seemed to be the closest she could get.
And she knew what she should be doing right now. Escaping. She still had time. Prince Avalask was definitely preoccupied and Vack wouldn’t stop her. But when Ebby looked this problem in the face with complete honesty, she knew she was afraid to go home. That stranger who was supposedly her father was just as ruthless as any Escali.
Her fear of escape was wasting precious time. She needed to go.
Alright, I’ll count down from three, she thought to herself. Then I’ll get up and jump out of here.
One.
She thought of Sir Avery and Prince Avalask snarling at each other as they clashed.
Two.
And Ratuan was so close. She might never see him again if she left him here.
Three.
She trembled and stayed on the glass floor, bowing her forehead to her knees as the tears came. It just wasn’t fair that the world depended on her bravery and then gave her nobody. She was the wrong girl for all this power. High stakes couldn’t change the fact she was weak and afraid, and she hated herself for it.
Ebby tried several more times to count down from three, but held less hope for herself with every digit. Her indecision ended up becoming her decision when Prince Avalask appeared in the late afternoon and she still hadn’t moved. She wasn’t sure she ever wanted to move again.
Prince Avalask went straight to Vack’s room, and Ebby kept her thoughts to herself to give them privacy as the Epic spent the next hours with his son. Loneliness stung her as she tried to imagine a big warm hug enveloping her, assuring her everything would be alright. But she knew it never could be, not while there was magic in the world.
The Everarcs had cursed them al
l. First the Escalis, then the Breathing Sea, then the mages and Epics. Ebby didn’t want to be an Epic, she didn’t want to be at war with the Escalis, and more than anything, she just wished her stupid ancestors would have left the Everarcs untouched. Why was that so much to ask?
Most of the day passed before Prince Avalask appeared in her room without making use of the door, and Ebby failed to even startle.
He nodded to the glass floor beside her and asked, “Is anybody sitting here?” Ebby shook her head, feeling guilty because she was relieved he’d come.
Prince Avalask swept his black fur cloak off to the side and settled in next to her, lacing his fingers around his knees.
“Ebby…” He sighed a deep, sincere sigh that bore the weight of everything wrong. “I am so sorry.”
“It’s ok,” she muttered, rubbing the destroyed fabric of her tunic between her fingers. Of course, nothing was ok, but she didn’t know how else to acknowledge his apology.
“I’m sorry that Savaul and Gataan were able to get up here without me noticing. And I’m sorry for what you just saw.”
“I’ve seen it before.” Ebby shrugged, feeling as little as possible. “Is Vack ok?”
“He’s... Well, no. The first death you see is always the hardest. He’ll be alright though.”
Ebby nodded slowly, then whispered, “Does it ever stop hurting?” The question made her feel vulnerable. One mean comment would be enough to break her right now, but Prince Avalask looked at her with sympathy. “To see a life lost? No. I don’t think that’s ever supposed to not hurt. Not even after a thousand times.” In a way, Ebby was glad to hear so. She never wanted death to feel normal. “Do you see now why I’ve done all this?” He lifted his hands to the black glass walls. “I would go to any length to prevent you and Vack living this nightmare. You don’t deserve it.”
Ebby sniffled, grateful for the effort. She didn’t want this either. “Is every day like this?”
