by Elise Kova
She had promised him she’d hold up her end of the deal.
“Oh, fine, let’s get this over with then.” Vi threw up her arms and uttered, “Narro hath.”
She felt the connection thrum between them. It came to life with vivid sensations that culminated in an awareness of Taavin’s existence somewhere across the world. But, for this brief moment, that distance didn’t seem so impossibly large.
“You again?”
“Hello to you too.” Vi huffed at the curt introduction.
“Back for more elementary explanations on Lightspinning?”
“No,” she said firmly to the disembodied voice. “I think I know where this tomb of yours is located.”
Silence. Stillness. And then, with a nearly quivering eagerness, “You do?”
“Yes. I think so, at least… How will I know?”
“When you arrive, merely repeat the process of the last apex and receive the vision. If it truly is a place where fate was malleable, that should be all you need.”
“That’s a bit vague, don’t you think?” Vi mumbled.
“I think it’s perfectly clear.”
He would. He wasn’t the one having to conceive a way to get to these apexes. “After I do this for you, we need to discuss how to stabilize these glyphs. I keep losing them too quickly.”
“The fate of our world hangs in the balance and you’re focused on Lightspinning technique?” His voice went low, almost growl-like.
“The fate of my world counts on me learning this,” Vi insisted. She’d keep up her end of the deal, but she needed him to know that she wasn’t going to be distracted from his in the process.
“I think you need to—” Taavin never got the chance to finish.
A knock on the door startled Vi to the point of nearly jumping out of her seat.
“Vi, may I come in?” Ellene called through the door.
Vi looked at her skin. It was back to normal. The startle must’ve jostled whatever connection had been there. Given how he’d begun his final statement, the productive part of the conversation had ended anyway.
“Yes, come in,” Vi called back, lifting her quill in an attempt to look as though she’d been pouring over her maps.
The door of her library cracked open, and Ellene peeked her head in before emerging the rest of the way. “Maps? Is that seriously what’s kept you this whole time?” Vi couldn’t tell if she was frustrated or pleasantly amused.
“Yeah, I realized I hadn’t had a chance to incorporate my sketches from the hunt onto my main maps.” Vi felt bad for lying to Ellene. But she was in so far over her head when it came to this mysterious power that she didn’t even know where to begin.
Ellene crossed over to her desk, looking down. She dragged her fingertip along the winding lines that Vi had sketched weeks ago, the dry ink staying securely in place. “You really do have a knack for this.”
Vi glanced up, her pen stilling from the three strokes it’d made on the page. There was a softness to Ellene’s voice that Vi was unaccustomed to hearing. If she had to attach a label, she’d call it sadness, and that fact wrenched a corner of her, twisting to the point of pain. But the reason for Ellene’s sorrow or her own was unclear until her friend gave it words.
“Soon, you’ll finally see some of these places with your own two eyes.” Ellene’s finger tapped on the Crossroads in the Western Waste before trailing down to the southern capital. “It isn’t long now, until you leave.”
“We have a whole winter.” Vi caught her hand, giving it a squeeze.
“Don’t spend it here cooped in your room alone with your maps,” Ellene whispered. “Don’t let the idea of places you want to see, that you’ll see soon enough, take you from me in these final weeks that I have you.”
“I won’t.” It sounded like a promise, but Vi didn’t know if such a promise was fair to make. She could never control what consumed her attentions. And it seemed, now, that learning the magic of the world beyond was going to quickly absorb all free thought if she wasn’t careful. Could she go that quickly from merely wanting control of her powers to wanting to excel in them?
“Promise?” Ellene must’ve heard the reservation, too.
“I promise.”
Ellene was right; soon enough she would be taken away. Then, she would have a whole lifetime to spend in the South, years as an Empress going on tours across her territories to attach visuals of locations to the names on her map. She could find tutors for the magic that was already intriguing her, bring them from the Crescent Continent, if she must. She would have far more clout as Empress than Sehra had as Chieftain; she might have better luck as a result.
“Good. I’m going to hold you to it.” Her voice was much brighter, a smile sneaking on her lips.
“You already have something in mind.” Why was she not surprised?
“Well, you missed the market today with Jayme, Darrus, and I, and dinner. You owe us.”
Vi gave a snort of laughter and decided to play along. She owed everyone something right now it would seem. “Okay, I owe you… how can I repay my debt?”
“Tomorrow, after your lessons, come out with Jayme and me. We can walk through the market—show you what you missed—on the way to the outer ring.” The outer ring was the burnt stretch that still remained like a scar on the earth from the Empire’s occupation during the War in the North.
“And what are we doing in the outer ring?”
“Noru races!”
She suppressed a shiver at the mere mention of noru. After the incident in the jungle, Vi was quite content not interacting with the beasts again for a while. But she already promised Ellene…
“They’re the preliminary races for the winter solstice festivals,” Ellene continued. “Darrus asked me today to join the first heat with him. But, of course, I played coy and told him that I’d have to see if you were planning on joining. Since you’re the Crown Princess, I had to be deferent to you and all.” Vi snorted at the idea of Ellene showing her proper etiquette. Ellene clearly had the same idea as she giggled with laughter. “I was thinking we could take Gormon out—he’s faster than mine. Mother still insists I ride the old slow Stanos for safety or some such.”
“Some safety may be good for us,” Vi muttered.
“Vi, don’t take their side.”
“Okay, okay, continue this plan of yours,” she conceded.
“So, we’ll say you race, and we take out your noru. Then, when we get there, I’ll let Darrus be disappointed that I’m not riding with him because you wanted to. And you can say that you won’t ride because… Well, I don’t know. You can decide that there. You’re sick or something.” Ellene giggled. Sick of noru, more like, Vi thought flatly. “Think of how surprised he’ll be when I’m astride. How impressed he’ll be when I come in first on your noru.” Ellene clasped her hands over Vi’s hand. “He’ll fall in love with me then and there, Vi, and we’ll live together happily for forever.”
“How can I argue with true love?”
“So you’re saying you'll do it?” Ellene squeezed tighter.
“There’s not much I need to be ‘doing.’ More what I need to make sure I’m not doing.” Vi chuckled. “Yes, I’ll do it. I’ll tell the servants first thing in the morning to saddle Gormon—full Imperial leathers. Just think how impressive that will look for Darrus.”
“I knew I could count on you!” Ellene clapped her hands. “I’ll let Jayme know in the morning that you agreed to the plan.”
“Not tonight?” It wasn’t like Ellene not to immediately rush off and tell everyone involved of her latest schemes.
“She wasn’t feeling too well after dinner. Said she might have ate something her stomach wasn’t familiar with in the market.” Ellene shook her head. “You know her, no matter how many times she’s been to Soricium, her stomach just refuses to agree with something at some point.”
“I’ll send Ginger.”
“I already offered to get a cleric.” Ellene raised her hands
and shoulders in a dismissive motion. “She said she needs to sleep it off and that she doesn’t need help.”
“Well, we’ll see how she feels in the morning, and if we have to we can force some clerical help on her.” Vi gave Ellene a wink that was returned with a laugh.
“You can do that. I’m not going to be the one to test Jayme. She can be scary when pushed!” Ellene paused in the door frame. “Thanks again, Vi, for helping me. It’d be nice to have a friend in Darrus, at least, after you leave.”
Before Vi could comment on the sentiment, Ellene was gone.
She stood at her desk, tapping her fingertips on it thoughtfully. Darrus, at least. That was one more thing she needed to keep an eye on before leaving—how Ellene would handle it all. She didn’t want to see the girl running into a relationship purely to fill a void of companionship brought on by Vi leaving.
Then again, Sehra would be certain to ward against that as well. She would not allow her daughter to fall into despair, or resort to less-than-wholesome means to fill the gap.
Vi stood, extinguishing the candles in her study and starting for her bedroom.
It was then, in the silvery moonlight streaming through the windows, that Vi’s eyes landed on the outer edge of Soricium. All Vi wanted was a good night’s rest. But it seemed that would elude her yet again.
Chapter Seventeen
Vi clung to the walls and interior passages of the fortress as much as possible. Some were usually reserved for servants only, but they were vacant at this time of night. If she did run into someone and kept her head down, no one would suspect her to be here.
She hoped.
Because if she was conspicuous… anyone in the fortress would stop her. That person would take her to Jax, and there was no way she could explain what she was doing. Or, perhaps, she could maybe get them to take her to Jayme, who would either not believe her or insist on coming as well—and this was something Vi felt certain she needed to do alone.
She’d never attempted to sneak out before. It was all very cloak and dagger—quite literally. She wore her darkest and heaviest cloak, hood pulled high and tight.
Yet despite all her worries, Vi stepped out of a back door at the end of a long stairwell and vanished into the city proper without issue. She glanced back, looking at the fortress in relief.
Her feet slowed and she stared up at the silent giants that extended their leafy arms to the heavens. All her life, she’d stayed put, exactly as intended. Never questioning, never wondering what would happen if she did venture beyond the confines set out for her.
Some part of her felt silly for not doing this sooner. It was so easy to slip out unattended. Likely because she had never really attempted it. There was no guard posted at her door or individual on duty watching her room at all hours of the day.
A smile crossed her mouth, an expression that quickly vanished when two small glints of reddish light flashed into view.
It was only a glimpse, and yet it felt as though someone was staring down at her. Vi scanned the bridges and walkways of the fortress, stretching upward with the trees to merge with the dark sky above. There was no indication of anyone watching, no other bright red spots, and yet she had the distinct, sinister sensation of being observed.
She was imagining it, surely. Maybe she’d never snuck out before because she didn’t have the proper constitution for espionage. Paranoia was her just reward.
Turning quickly, Vi crossed through alleyways and wove around small trees that curved to support signs and rooftops. Vi kept her face down, hood up, and hunched slightly. She’d braided her hair and tucked it away. No one should be able to recognize her… Unless they recognized the cloak itself. But outside of the fortress, no one knew Vi well enough that they’d know her by that alone.
Several times, she could’ve sworn she heard footsteps behind her. But when Vi stopped, so too did the sound, forcing her to believe her mind was just getting the better of her. Still, one time, she called out softly, “Jayme?” thinking that perhaps her friend had sneaked out behind her in an effort to keep her safe.
A response from behind her nearly had Vi jumping from her skin.
“Princess, is that you?”
Her eyes landed on a robed man. Long sleeves were tucked into heavy gloves that went to his elbows. On his face was a pointed mask, crafted in heavy leather, extending like a long beak away from his mouth. The inset glass goggles shone in the darkness, like some kind of terrifying monster.
She took a step back. The voice hadn’t been hostile, yet given the strange garb the man wore…
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.” The man quickly pulled off his mask, revealing a handsome face Vi instantly recognized.
“Darrus?” Vi blinked from the mask, to the heavy gloves, to his face—indents of the inside of the mask lingering on his flawless skin. “What are you wearing?”
“You haven’t seen one yet?” He lifted the mask slightly. “I would’ve thought…”
“There’s been much going on of late,” Vi answered cautiously.
“Oh right, Ellene mentioned, you’re going back to your home soon.”
Vi resisted correcting him that she’d never actually lived there. The North could be as much her home as the South… if she had ever been fully accepted.
“What is it?” She pointed to the mask, reverting the topic back to safer territory.
“They call it a plague mask. There are medical screens the clerics have made on the inside of the beak to help filter out the White Death. We don’t know if it’s effective yet… but it feels a lot better wearing one than not when you’re around the infected.”
“White Death…” Vi swallowed hard, remembering all the words of panic her tutors had used when her travels were first starting to be delayed due to the plague. She couldn’t get sick, the Empire needed her. “Why are you wearing one? Is someone in your family ill?”
“Thankfully no… I’m helping the clerics. We set up a building for the ailing over there.” He pointed up to the outer ridge of Soricium. Vi couldn’t see the building from where she stood, but she gladly took his word for it. That was one area that, for all her curiosity, she knew better than to explore.
“Are there that many ailing?” Vi asked. She didn’t want the answer, but she owed it to her people to pursue it.
“Again, thankfully no…” He paused, cleaning one of the lenses on his mask. “There might be, though. They expect it to get worse with time. They’re already talking about if we have to move it—the infirmary, that’s what they’re calling it—where the next, or new one, will be.
“But we think we have a handle on the spread. Giving the infected a place to go and be treated, keeping them sequestered from the masses seems to have stinted the spread.”
“What can I do?” Vi asked.
“Unfortunately, nothing.”
“I’m the Crown Princess,” Vi needlessly reminded him for the sake of emphasis. “I have resources, I can get you what you need.”
“I misspoke.” He gave her a tired smile. “There’s nothing anyone can do. The clerics have no idea what’s causing the plague, how it spreads, who it chooses. It’s seemingly random… as if people’s bodies just… give up and die.”
“That’s… terrifying,” Vi whispered.
“It is.” Much like in Ellene, Vi saw two different forces existing in Darrus. There was the terror of the boy she’d seen dancing with Ellene in the spring. But there were also the makings of a man who had the bravery to face his fears. Perhaps Ellene was right, and he had actually grown some.
They fell silent, Darrus looking from his mask to her. Then, as if remembering what he’d stopped her for initially, he asked, “What are you doing out so late? Is everything all right?”
“Yes, just… I needed some air.”
“I see.” He did not sound convinced in the slightest and his blatant disbelief made her feel awkward. His emerald eyes set on dark skin were striking, and they reminded her of a si
milar set she dared hope to see again.
“Please, don’t tell,” she whispered. “Not even Ellene.” Her and Darrus had never been particularly close. But she could only hope the man had enough favor for her as a friend of Ellene, or enough fear of her as the Crown Princess, to oblige.
“Should I come with you? Is everything truly all right?”
“I have to do this alone. It’s important. It’s for the crown.”
He gave a small nod, clearly still unsure. “Well, I need to get back to my work. I’m the lowest rung, so that means I’m stuck taking the late shifts. They’re expecting me.”
“I didn’t know you were so interested in being a cleric,” Vi said thoughtfully. She’d only seen Darrus through the context of Ellene’s gaze—a handsome man who was a good dancer and charming to no end. The fact that she’d never invested more time in learning his true nature, his hopes and dreams, when her friend was so invested, made Vi’s insides tighten slightly with guilt.
“I’m not sure if I am, to be honest.”
“This must be a bit of trial by fire.”
He chuckled. “Spoken like a Firebearer.” Vi’s mouth quirked into a small smile. If only he knew how wrong he was on that. They both knew precious little about each other, and were now unlikely conspirators in Vi’s nighttime jaunt. “But yes, these are rather hard conditions to learn under. I’m not sure if I’m cut for it, but I do want to help people and it seems to me that this is the best way to do so presently.”
The words he spoke now were in stark contrast to the free-spirited boy she’d seen originally become the target of Ellene’s girl-like crushes. Darrus was fast becoming someone Vi could respect. Perhaps, if this gentle and heartfelt manner was Darrus’s true nature, she should be less worried about the idea of Ellene drifting even closer to him after Vi left.
“Thank you, on behalf of the crown.” Vi hoped he took both her meanings: gratitude for his work in dealing with the steadily spreading White Death, and for his silence on her being out long after dark.
