by Zel Spasov
Varvara descended the stairs leading to the dungeon. She knocked on a locked door and a small window opened, revealing Big Nino’s big nose.
“Password,” he said.
In all the rush, Varvara had forgotten what the password for the dungeon was.
“I’m General Venari. Open the door!” she said.
“I'm sorry, General,” Nino said in a hoarse voice, “but I'm not letting anyone in without a password.”
“The queen sent me,” said Varvara. “She ordered me to move three inmates to another location. Or do you want me to tell her I wasn’t able to execute her orders because Nino needs the password?”
The warden scratched his chin.
“I don’t know,” he said. “This is very unusual. Which prisoners have to be moved?”
“Do you want me to bring the queen down here?” asked the general. “I'm sure she'll be happy to leave her important work and come to deal with the dungeon guard.”
“All right, all right,” Nino said. The lock clicked, and the iron-plated wooden door opened with a squeak.
“The password is ‘rotten watermelons,’ by the way,” he said as Varvara walked past him. “I don’t even know why I bother coming up with passwords anymore...” he added bitterly.
“I need your keys.”
“Oh, no, you explicitly ordered me not to give them to anyone, even you.”
Varvara wanted to slap herself on the forehead. It was true: she’d really ordered him not to give his keys to anyone, in case someone was impersonating her.
“All right, then come with me,” she said.
They were holding the prisoners at the bottom of the dungeon. Varvara passed by some guards on her way, who stood at attention when they saw her. Nino followed her as closely as he could, but his mass restricted his mobility.
“These are the three prisoners the queen wants me to relocate,” Varvara said when they reached the cells.
Nino's brows shot up. “These three?! But they—”
“Nino, if you contradict me one more time, I'll send you directly to the queen to explain to her why we're late. And believe me, she’s not in the mood to listen to explanations.”
Beads of sweat raced across Nino's forehead. He took a handkerchief out of his shirt pocket and wiped his face. The handkerchief was yellowed from excessive use and lack of washing. He snorted, after which he walked toward the cells, keys rattling in his hand.
“I have to leave this job. I don’t need this kind of stress,” he said as he searched for the right key for the first cell. There were at least a hundred keys on the keychain.
“Can’t you go any faster?” said Varvara, whose nerves were getting the better of her.
“Do you see how many keys are on here?” Nino said. “I don’t remember which keys open which doors, I’m not an elephant.”
You weigh as much as an elephant, Varvara thought. No matter how desperate she was, she couldn’t accelerate the process. Without the right key, these heavy iron doors would remain locked. The only thing left was to fidget nervously with her leg while she waited for Nino to open the door.
At last, one of the keys worked. Varvara stepped into the cell cautiously. It was an unfurnished, dim chamber with stone walls, floor, and ceiling. The room was so small there wasn’t enough room to swing a cat. A rolled-up black cloth lay on the ground. When her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she noticed that the material was wrapped around something. She nudged the fabric, and it moved, swelling and shrinking, until a head appeared at one end. It belonged to the Sloth, who was smiling enigmatically.
The general grabbed the cloth and pulled it into the corridor while Nino worked on unlocking the second cell. This time, he found the right key much faster.
As soon as Varvara entered the room, its occupant launched a verbal attack on her.
“Come on! Come on! I will devour you! Coward!”
Varvara recognized Charles's voice, though she hadn’t heard it for some time. The Rabbit thrashed wildly in his chains, spitting everywhere. The general quickly approached him and covered his mouth with her hand. When he saw it was Varvara, the Rabbit calmed down. With her free hand, she gestured for him to be quiet.
“I’ll get you out of here,” she said. “Do exactly what I say, otherwise we’ll all die.”
Charles nodded. Varvara motioned for Nino to enter the cell. While she was holding Charles, Nino unlocked the chain connecting the Rabbit to a metal ring on the wall.
After releasing him, Nino unlocked the third door. Varvara's stomach tightened. What was waiting for her beyond the threshold? Was she going to find the person she knew before, or was he already corrupted by the Red Evil? What if by releasing Cayden she was condemning everyone to a certain death? What if Mira was right all along and he was the enemy? What if...
She turned the handle. Varvara had already chosen her path, and there was no going back. Even if she was wrong, she was going to continue to the end. As she opened the door, a wave of confidence washed over her. Whatever happened, this was her fate.
She peered into the cell. What she saw disappointed her somewhat. She was expecting either to find Cayden the way she remembered him, a proud and brave king, full of energy and dignity, ready to fight, or Cayden, corrupted by the Evil. Instead, she found him sprawled on the floor, his body seemingly lifeless. Was he dead? When Varvara approached him, she noticed that his chest expanded and compressed. She breathed a sigh of relief—at least he was alive.
She grabbed his head and turned it toward her. He looked drowsy, almost like the Sloth with his melancholy, but not the same. While the Sloth looked at life with equanimity and calmness, Cayden emanated apathy. His gaze was empty, yet he didn’t give out the same hatred as Mira did. The Evil hadn’t got to him. No, this was something else. Varvara had seen this look before. This was the look of a soldier who’d lost his friends and family in battle. His eyes were filled with hopelessness, like he’d given up.
“Cayden,” Varvara said. “I’m releasing you. You have to be quiet, or they'll catch us.”
He didn’t respond. After Nino unlocked him as well, Varvara helped him up on his feet. Even when standing up, Cayden’s head bowed forward, his chest caved in, and his shoulders hunched. This man, although he looked like Cayden, was nothing like the man Varvara remembered. The king she knew would never surrender.
“What happened to you?” she asked. The broken creature before her was barely able to bear his own weight, let alone the weight of thousands of lives. What could he do in the face of true Evil? Was the man she had known before still in there somewhere?
“Cayden,” she said. There was no answer. “Are you Cayden Starosta?”
He blinked, his eyes focusing on hers. He nodded.
“We don’t have much time,” she said. “Listen carefully. I need to know if you're ready to fight.”
He sat down on the floor, resting his hunched back against the wall, his head hanging.
“Look at me!” Varvara shook him by the shoulders. “I need to know. When the moment comes, will you be ready to do what is needed? If not”—she drew the sword out of her scabbard—“I will end it here and now.”
“What for?” His voice wasn’t the bright and clear voice she remembered. Instead, it was quiet and hoarse.
“What?” Varvara’s eyebrows lifted in surprise.
“What should I fight for.” Cayden said it more like a statement than a question. “Mira hates me.”
How could he not care? He was letting down thousands of creatures who believed in him. They all had sacrificed so much since his disappearance. He had no right to surrender. It was his duty to fight to the end. She slapped him, then grabbed his bowed head and slammed it into the wall.
“Fight for the lives of the thousands of creatures that will die if we don’t stop this war,” she said. “Mira’s changed, I know. But we can get her back. There is still hope.”
“I got here without knowing where I came from,” said Cayden. “I woke up in
this strange place, and ever since then, everyone’s been trying to kill me. What have I done to this world?”
He didn’t remember? Well, that explained a lot.
“You disappeared, and a lot of bad things happened afterward. Death. Broken families. Agapea collapsed, and everyone blamed you. Mira didn’t believe it at first, but soon she began to listen to the accusers.”
“Why should I fight, then? It’s hopeless.”
Varvara slapped him again.
“Will you stop slapping me?” protested Cayden.
“If we don’t defeat the Red Evil, Mira will forever remain in its grip. Your people will die on the battlefield!” Varvara was screaming. “People who believed in you and fought for you. Is this how you pay them back?!”
“Leave me alone!” Cayden said with tears in his eyes. “I’m exhausted. I can’t fight anymore.”
“All right, then,” Varvara said. “How do you want to die? I can cut your throat.”
“Do it,” he said. His eyes were those of a man who had already made up his mind.
Varvara put her blade to his throat. “You're going to die like a coward,” she said. “You're not the Cayden Starosta I knew.”
“Do it!” he said. “Kill me! Come on, that’s what everybody wants, right?!”
Tears were streaming down his face. He closed his eyes in anticipation of death. The general couldn’t believe that, after everything they’d gone through to get to this moment, he still refused to fight. Varvara squeezed the handle of her weapon and thrust it forward.
Cayden opened his eyes in surprise.
“Why?” he asked. “Why didn’t you kill me?”
The sword had pierced the wall one centimeter to the left of his head.
“You aren’t worthy of death,” Varvara said.
General Venari strode from the cell, leaving the door unlocked and hanging open behind her. Charles, the Sloth, and she were going to stop this war on their own. The Cayden she had known was dead.
***
Cayden sat on the ground with a heavy heart, in shock at what had just happened. Fear, anger, and remorse tore him apart from the inside.
The woman who had come to release him was vaguely familiar to him. A ghost from his previous life in this world. Although she’d come to save him, in the end even she had wanted to kill him. The only reason she hadn't done it was because she had taken pity on him.
Whatever he had done had split the world into two. Agapea and Windhaven, two cities that would self-destruct in the coming war. Although he saw the horrors that had followed Windhaven’s attack on Agapea, he still didn’t know why he should fight. Mira hated him. Thousands wanted him dead, and Charles and the Sloth had lied to him. Better to end it now.
Cayden took out the ruby from his pocket and threw it at the other end of the cell. That cursed piece of junk had brought him nothing but trouble.
He was completely alone in his cell. He was going to stay here until he rotted. That was what he deserved for betraying Mira.
It was so quiet he could hear his own heartbeat and the pulsating in his head. Gradually, they subsided too. Only his breath remained. His mind raged like the waters of a turbulent lake, but he only observed it. There was no point in fighting with himself. The mental chatter died down. Finally, the last thought and image were extinguished like the flame of a candle left without oxygen.
Then there was another type of silence Cayden hadn’t felt before. Deep calm, which wrapped him up completely. He found himself alone in a large, empty space. The pain he felt was still there, but somewhere in the distance. Although he still sensed it, it no longer defined him.
The ruby glimmered from the other end of the cell, attracting Cayden’s attention. It was trying to communicate with him.
He walked over to it and took it in his hands. “Come to me…” The faint whispers came from the gem. Cayden focused on the thumping in his head, resonating with the pulsation of the ruby. He listened to it. At first, the pulse resembled his own heart palpitations. Gradually, it became louder and drowned all other noises. Cayden closed his eyes and dived in, letting it fill the emptiness. It grew stronger, permeating his being.
He found himself standing on a paved road in the middle of a field. In front of him, he saw a familiar image—the red ribbon that had showed him the way out of the enchanted forest. The strip was flapping in the hands of a little boy running down the road toward a magnificent castle standing in the distance. Cayden recognized it as the palace in Agapea.
Cayden followed the boy, yelling “Wait!” The child didn’t hear him. No matter how fast he ran, Cayden couldn’t reach him. He followed the child inside the castle and into a huge hall. In the room stood an empty, golden throne, adorned with precious stones and decorated with silver. The boy with the red strip hid behind it. Cayden approached the child with caution. He had the unpleasant feeling danger was lurking just around the corner. The child beckoned him in a playful voice: “Come on! Find me!” Cayden came closer the throne.
Blink.
The power of the thumping increased tenfold. The throne room was bathed in red light, blood coming out from the walls. The wails of the dying filled the corridors of the castle. Red tentacles erupted from the floor and the walls and wrapped around the throne. The Red Presence crawled toward Cayden. Its shapeless body swelled and rose to the ceiling, far above Cayden's head. He made a dash for the throne, avoiding the tentacles trying to grab him. The Evil encircled him. Its limbs wrapped themselves around his legs and arms and pinned him to the floor. He tried to shout, but the Red suffocated him, slowly devouring him with its gargantuan body.
Cayden opened his eyes. The world was aglow with red light. Mira was standing in front of him, exactly the way she’d looked when he’d seen her earlier that day. Her lips formed the words, “I condemn you to death.” Her eyes were as red as blood, and her body was wrapped in tentacles.
Blink.
He was on the battlefield. Countless soldiers were dying around him. Mira was on her horse, cutting down waves of attackers. On the side of Agapea, King Fraud stood behind his troops, sending his soldiers in the melee. Though she was a fierce opponent, Mira couldn’t win. Her army would slay many, but it would eventually lose. The screaming of the dying merged with those of the living in an indescribable sound that penetrated Cayden’s soul. He couldn’t stand it any longer; his heart was going to burst. The pain of the dying washed over him like the waves of a raging sea. He cried to the heavens as the corpses buried him...
… just to wake up in his cell where Varvara had left him. He instinctively threw the ruby on the ground and pinched himself to see if he’d really woken up. Though he had no visible scars, he was deeply disturbed. He didn’t know if the images were a predetermined future or a warning. Varvara was right: Mira was corrupted by the Red Evil. It had orchestrated the coming war, which would destroy Agapea and Windhaven. The only hope for Mira and everyone else was to defeat the Evil.
Before the vision had come upon him, Cayden had been hopeless and lost. Now everything changed. He finally knew what his purpose was. His heart beat faster when he realized that, no matter how bleak the future looked, there was hope. He could set things right.
Cayden grabbed the ruby from the floor.
“I’m coming for you,” he said to the gem.
Then, with a strong tug, he pulled the sword from the wall and rushed out of his cell.
***
Varvara caught up with Nino, who was talking to one of the guards in the prison. The guard wanted to know who had ordered the prisoners to be released.
“The convicts are to be moved on orders from Queen Mira,” Varvara said.
“Queen Mira sentenced these prisoners to execution in the morning. We have strict orders not to let them out of the dungeon.”
“The prison isn’t secure enough,” Varvara said. “We're afraid the Resistance might try to get them out.”
General Venari's word was law for the soldiers. The problem, clearly,
was that her command was in contradiction with the queen's explicit orders. The guard scratched his head.
“We need a written confirmation from the queen,” he said.
“I know what the rules are, boy,” Varvara said. “If you haven’t noticed, we are in a state of emergency. The queen has no time to sign confirmations. Her commands must be fulfilled as quickly as possible. Or do you want to personally tell her why you refuse to carry out her orders?”
The soldier’s dilemma was written on his face. It was dangerous to confront the general, but at the same time he could be beheaded for letting the prisoners out. After a short pause, he finally mumbled, “No, General Venari.”
As he was about to step out of the way, Cayden appeared behind Varvara with a sword in his hand—the same sword she had thrust into the wall. Before the soldier could react, the general drew her short sword and hit him in the head with the hilt. He fell to the ground, unconscious.
“He’ll make a good guard,” Varvara said with approval. “What made you change your mind?” she asked Cayden.
“You were right.”
“About what?”
“We have to destroy the Red Evil,” Cayden said. “Otherwise, we’re all doomed. You always spoke the truth, Varvara.”
She raised her eyebrows. So he did remember her. Did he remember Adonis too? She hoped he didn’t. For if Mira's hatred had almost broken him, then that memory would shatter him completely. She’d commanded Charles and the Sloth to keep it secret from him at any cost. The whole truth had to remain hidden from Cayden until they had defeated the Evil.
Nino’s face grew pale. They had officially become enemies of Windhaven.
“But… You…”
“Oh, calm down,” Varvara said. “You’re an accomplice to an attempt to help prisoners escape. Your only chance now is to stick with us.”
