by Tammy Walsh
There was no telling how a man might grow up when he came of age. Fate had a funny way of tossing unexpected events in the way, forcing us down avenues we never would have chosen for ourselves.
He might be the maid’s little boy. But then again, he might not. But if he was…
“Was there a message?” I said. “Contained in a handmade envelope?”
“No,” Zes said. “Only this.”
He reached into his pocket and extracted a simple stiletto blade—not dissimilar to the one I now held in my hand.
So, he really had intended on murdering me in my sleep. After my dishonorable decision to call off the Titan army, I thought someone might make the attempt.
“Do you deny it?” I said evenly to the man.
He continued to stare at the floor.
Had he lost his mind? Had he listened to the voices in his head? Or was the voice a real one, whispered in a tavern somewhere?
So many questions, but no answers.
“Take him to the cells,” I said. “Give him bread and water. Don’t harm him. We’re not his enemy.”
Zes said, “Sir, if we act fast and question him now, we could learn about others like him—”
“I won’t repeat myself,” I said. “Double the guards on duty until we figure out what’s going on here.”
And that was that.
Zes didn’t like the order, but I didn’t care. He nodded and seized the man by the arm. He led him roughly out the door.
The prisoner paused for a fraction of a second over the threshold and peered up at me through the hair that hung limp and straggling over his face. His eyes burned with the intensity of someone who knew what he wished to achieve—to upend the world and make a real change.
It sent chills up my spine.
A guard bowed and shut the door.
At least they went silently this time.
I moved to the papers that’d been knocked to the floor during the struggle and gathered them up.
Sirena came out of the bathroom with my robe still wrapped around her. She must have witnessed the whole scene.
“Is everything all right?” she said.
“Yes,” I said, collecting up the last of the papers. “Everything’s fine. Just a local caught in a passageway. Nothing to worry about.”
But it was something to worry about. What if someone else attempted to murder me in my sleep? No amount of guards on the outer walls would protect me from a naked blade in the shadows.
The castle was very old and who knew how many forgotten passageways there were within it?
I placed the collated papers on the desk.
“Now,” I said, turning to her with a smile, “there was something you wanted to tell me.”
She peered between my eyes.
“It’s nothing,” she said. “It can wait.”
I hugged her. She felt so warm and soft in my arms. Her neck was right there, exposed, and I couldn’t help but nibble at it.
“I’m here for you, if you need me,” I said.
She giggled and playfully tried to push me away.
But I’d already stopped.
When she pulled back to look me in the face with her smoky eyes—what ordinarily would have sent me into a crazy whirlwind of desire—I was instead focused on the papers I’d picked up from the floor.
They were reports and notifications of battlements and defenses my brother had set up when news of the Changeling attack first came to us. I hadn’t removed them yet. I still hadn’t gotten used to being the lord.
But it wasn’t the report that grabbed my attention.
It was what had been scrawled across it.
There, written in an unpracticed hand, was a depiction of the playful letters we’d created to pass notes to each other as kids. They were rushed and very rough… but then, how neat would my handwriting be if Zes was busy wrestling me at the same time?
The man must have seen the desk the moment he entered and dived for it. While Zes wrestled him, he hurried to scribble a quick message.
The man was the messenger.
It was the final message he wished for me to have.
It was so rough it took me a moment to understand. My hand shook as realization dawned.
“What is it?” Sirena said. “Is something wrong?”
I had no words for her. I stepped aside and fell into a lounging chair. I raised a single finger. It meant for her to wait a minute, to give me a little time to process what I thought had just happened in my room.
The pieces fit together like a puzzle, one after another, clicking into place. Some didn’t quite make sense. Not unless…
No… It can’t be…
Minutes dragged as the full ramifications of what I’d just learned—or what I thought I’d learned—struck home. It winded me and I could hardly breathe.
Unable to stand aside any longer, Sirena dropped to her knees before me. Seeing me in such deep thought must have given her some concern.
“What?” she said. “What did it say?”
The message the man had brought, the final one in the long series he’d delivered, was emblazoned at the forefront of my mind:
“Light the beacon.”
Sirena stared at me in confusion.
“But what does that mean?” she said.
I told her everything. About the mysterious letters I’d received, the secret passageway he’d used to reach my study. And as I revealed it to her, I became more certain the pieces I put together were the right ones.
Well, I didn’t tell her everything. There was one piece of the puzzle I kept to myself… She didn’t need to know about that just yet. I wanted it to be a surprise.
“It means the people are ready to fight,” I said. “But they need someone to lead them.”
“Why should you listen to the message a crazy stranger scribbled on a piece of paper?” Sirena said.
“Because he’s not a crazy stranger,” I said. “He’s someone I know. This is it. I kept the people alive because I didn’t want them to die needlessly. Eventually, they were going to have to fight. I couldn’t protect them forever.”
She took my head in her hands.
“You don’t need to do this,” she said. “You don’t need to do anything. You already made your decision. You decided not to fight. You made the right choice. You saved countless lives. Don’t go back on it now.”
There was a desperation in her voice that I recognized. She wasn’t talking about what was happening on Innel. She was thinking about what happened to her on her homeworld when she was a little girl.
“Your people fought against their oppressors because they wanted freedom,” I said. “They fought against them because the alternative was to live in a country where they couldn’t do what they wanted when they wanted. Everything they did would be monitored and watched. They would be sent to prison—or worse—because they did things they thought were right.
“Your parents died fighting for what they believed in. They died fighting for a better world for you to live in. They might have lost but they still knew they had to fight. That’s what I should have done. That’s what Titans have wanted ever since the Changelings instigated their attack.
“I let them down. But no longer. I will fight alongside them. I will lead them in battle because they want their freedom. I refuse to stand in the way any longer.”
I saw the battle on her face, the inner turmoil she suffered. Finally, she nodded her head.
“I don’t agree,” she said. “But I do understand. It’s your decision to make. You are their lord.”
I held her face in my hands and kissed her.
“And you are my lady,” I said. “There are many spies, lies, and politics going on here. I don’t know how deep the Changelings have already sunk their claws but I know in my heart there is one person I can trust above all others. You, my love.”
She looked at me with both fear and trepidation. Her eyes flicked across my face.
“I need you to d
o something for me,” I said. “I would do it myself but the guards follow me everywhere I go. Listen to me very carefully. Leave this room and head out into the training yard. Go to the outer wall and turn right. Work your way along it. You’ll come to a thick clutch of ivy climbing the walls.
“I want you to make sure the guards aren’t watching you. Then crouch down and you’ll find some bricks concealed by that ivy. Pull them out and you’ll find a hole just big enough for you to fit inside. Climb in and put the bricks back into position behind you.
“Then head down that passageway until you come to the end. From there, you’ll have access to the prison cells. They’re only accessible from your position. I want you to let the prisoner we just saw out of his cell. He will tell you what to do next. Whatever he says, do it. I’m sorry I have to ask this of you, but I’m not sure who else I can trust. Can you do that for me, my love?”
She took only a moment to answer.
“Yes,” she said. “Yes, of course I can.”
I kissed her on her forehead, her cheeks, her lips, and hugged her close.
“I love you,” I said, and by the Creator, I truly meant it.
“I love you too,” she said, a little quieter and more timidly than me.
I tasted her sweet lips once more and then got dressed.
“What about you?” she said. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to light the beacon,” I said. “Only a Taw can do it. I’m going to do what I should have done weeks ago.”
I straightened up and looked her in the eye.
“I’m going to start a war.”
The guards broke from either side of my bed-chamber the moment I stepped out. They were taken by surprise as I left the room and marched down the hallway. Right before I turned the corner, I saw the door of my room open and the gorgeous creature I’d spent the night with snuck out.
I knew I could rely on her. She would carry out my directions to the letter, free the prisoner, and this whole sorry situation would, finally, draw to a close.
At first, I hadn’t recognized the bent and twisted figure who’d been wrestled into my room. How could I? I doubted anyone would have recognized him. He looked nothing like he once had but there was something there in his eyes, that flash that told me everything.
Now all I had to do was carry out the message he’d scrawled on that piece of paper.
I had to go light the beacon.
The people were ready.
Once they saw the rallying cry of House Taw, they would rise and battle their conquerors. They would be victorious. There was no doubt in my mind about that.
And still, the thought of losing just one innocent Titan life weighed heavily on my shoulders.
I marched down the hallways as fast as my legs could carry me. For the first time in weeks, I felt alive and full of energy. First, I needed to assemble the right men around me. The most trusted and loyal.
I met Zes when I reached the foot of the stairs on the first floor. He gave an order to a junior guard who took off at a run. Zes saw me coming, turned, and saluted. He scanned my body language and knew something was afoot.
“My lord?” he said.
He wore a distinct look of wariness in his eyes. He was probably still disgruntled from my earlier order not to question the prisoner. In time, he would learn it was the right decision.
But not right now.
“Come with me,” I said. “We have a mission.”
“Should I alert the men?” Zes said.
“No,” I said. “This doesn’t require all of us. Just a handful of our best.”
I clapped a hand on Zes’s shoulder.
“Today marks the beginning of a new age, my friend,” I said. “It is only right you are by my side when we usher it in.”
Zes tried to read my expression but there was no way he could ascertain what I’d decided to do.
Even I wasn’t sure I was ready for it!
Sometimes you had to begin even when you weren’t fully prepared. You would figure things out on the fly and hope everything worked out.
Zes marched alongside me.
“Perhaps if I knew what we were doing I could better prepare,” he said.
“There’s no need,” I said. “It’s a simple mission.”
“Then we might need the proper equipment? The right tools?”
“We already have what we need,” I said.
I marched out the main entrance and toward the large station where we stored the vehicles.
I couldn’t help but wonder about Sirena, right now taking a risk for Titans everywhere. The risk was small but it was still larger than I would have liked.
I thought about the offer I would make her once this was over. To marry me and be my wife. Once we had ejected the rot that’d claimed the empire, we could begin again, fresh and brand new.
She could return to her homeworld whenever she wished—I would go with her. I was fascinated to explore the world that helped fashion the woman I’d lost my heart to. Perhaps, in time, we could lead the charge on discussions between our two species, to share technology. I for one was very excited to learn the kinds of food and drink they had. If the mojitos were any indication, it could be a very tasty relationship indeed.
Sirena had surprised me many times over the past few days. With her openness and honesty, with how she cared for me, and how interested she was in our culture. She grew more beautiful each time I saw her.
And now I knew how right she felt in my arms.
I couldn’t wait to hold her again.
I swore to myself I would never let her go.
Yes, I had made that promise once long ago to another. But she was taken from me. I hoped it was not an experience I would have to go through again. To lose Sirena who I loved as much as my wife…
It was a pain too hard to bear more than once in a lifetime.
Sirena negotiated me through grief better than any map. She forced me to kiss her, knowing I needed it to unlock my agony. When I hesitated last night, unable to bring myself to knock on her chamber door, she’d been the one to show the strength and resolve I could not.
I approached the vehicle station. The guards opened the broad front doors and the master mechanic came blinking into the light. Caked in oil and fuel cells, he rarely stepped outside. He wiped his hands with a dirty towel. He was charged with keeping our vehicles topped up and ready to leave at a moment’s notice. With the number of vehicles we purchased over the years, it kept him very busy.
“What can I do for you, my lord?” he said.
He wore a permanent squint that always put me in mind of a mole that’d breached its underground burrows.
“The shuttlecraft,” I said. “We need to leave immediately.”
“I’m very sorry, my lord,” the mechanic said. “The shuttlecraft isn’t fully operational. I was working on it this very morning.”
“Give us something that will carry all four of us quickly over sharp terrain,” I said.
“The best vehicle for that would be the mountain buggy, sir.”
“Sounds perfect,” I said.
“Will you be needing it now, sir?”
“Just as fast as you can manage,” I said. “I’ll wait.”
The mechanic’s bushy eyebrows rose at the word ‘wait.’ He put his still dirty fingers in his mouth and whistled. The other mechanics stopped what they were doing and hustled over.
“The lord requires the buggy,” the mechanic said. “Let’s move these others out of the way and get it outside as quickly as possible. He’s waiting.”
On the word ‘waiting,’ the mechanics hopped to it.
Zes took me by the elbow and moved me out of earshot of the others.
“Sir,” he said, “perhaps if I knew what all this was about, I might be able to organize everything for you while you wait inside in peace.”
“I don’t need peace and quiet,” I said. “I need that vehicle as soon as possible.”
“Yes, m
y lord,” Zes said, looking a little putout.
A deep thrumming noise grew louder on the horizon. The ground vibrated beneath my feet and up my legs. The mechanics paused to lean outside and see what was causing it.
There was nothing to see.
Not yet.
I realized with dawning horror what it was.
The Changelings were coming. And there wasn’t a doubt in my heart what they were coming for.
Me.
They were coming for me.
Removing the vehicles to get at the one I needed out was taking too long. By the time it was out, it would already be too late.
We needed to act.
Now.
The Changelings must have learned about my plans. How? I didn’t know. They must have spies everywhere.
Perhaps one of the guards in the room?
One of the guards standing behind me right now?
I shook my head. It was impossible to know for sure. None of it mattered. All that mattered was lighting the beacon. Do that, and the spies would crumble.
“Follow me,” I said to Zes.
I marched across the forecourt toward the wall on the other side.
The dust kicked up and swirled overhead.
And there, I saw it.
A distant blot on the horizon.
A mountain moved.
But it wasn’t a mountain. It was a war class frigate—one of five the Changelings had at their disposal during battle. One frigate operated as a single army all by itself. Sections of the ship could break way and carry out more intricate attack formations. Even those smaller ships carried multiple drones and fighters that could spew from the undersides and destroy an entire city in hours.
The most maddening thing? There was only one species that mined the necessary minerals to build such a ship.
The Titans.
Yes, we had sold them the materials they needed to declare war on us.
It made me sick to my stomach to think about it.
It could be reversed… but only if I could get to the beacon and light it. A whole series of events would be kicked off and not easily quelled.
I just needed to reach it.
