“Please hurry,” Rao said. “Our citadel is being battered by the Rezzian gods. Men are dying.”
The third soldier walked up to Rao. “I will not disobey my rajah,” he said as he procured a key latched behind his breastplate. He opened the lock to the room where Lucia’s arms were being held.
“It’s dark in there,” Rao said. “Where are her things?”
The soldier stepped into the room with Rao. He pointed to the opposite wall. “All the way over there, sir.”
Rao waded into the mess, stepping around small piles of clothes, boots and shoes, and personal items from bags to trinkets. His eyes continued to adjust to the darkness.
Rao heard the soldier step outside the room and hoped he hadn’t misjudged the man’s intentions.
Ysa’s sword and shield leaned against the far wall, above a pile of her armor. He hoped for the best as he picked up the sword and then the shield. He was relieved to find that neither object blasted him with any divine protections.
Thank you … Ysa?
His fingers curled around the soft yellow and white handle of the sword—a surprisingly sensual experience—and he had to restrain himself from his sudden desire to swing the white blade in circles through the air. He also admired the shield’s face, its concentric red and yellow circles. He could feel the pith of the object’s history and wondered how many tales it would tell if it could. He gripped the shield’s leather-wrapped metal handle in one hand and carried the sword, pointed down, in the other.
Just as he turned to leave, he noticed a brown necklace and two black gloves beneath the armor. He rested the white sword against the wall and picked up the masculine twine, from which hung a black anvil. Sansone’s holy symbol, he remembered. His intuition told him he would need it, though he couldn’t imagine why. He tucked the necklace into a pocket along with the gloves and left the room with Lucia’s sword in hand.
“Leave this door open,” he told the men as he exited, “I’ll be back soon.”
He felt the eyes of the soldiers he’d initially encountered as he walked past the central axis of the building toward Lucia’s cell. Outside her detention room, another handful of prized soldiers stood still and watched him.
The tallest soldier, a powerfully built young man, drew a long knife from his belt and held up his other hand. “What are you doing with her weapons, Prince Rao?”
“You would question your prince?”
“Yes, I have to. Those arms are not to come anywhere near the prisoner.”
The other four soldiers quietly spread out and raised their own weapons, circling Rao.
“What is going on here?” Rao asked.
“We were told you might try to save the prisoner before she’s killed.”
“She is to be killed?” Rao worried that he sounded too surprised.
“General Indrajit’s orders.” The soldier did not flinch as he stared and searched Rao for a reaction.
“Good. Then you won’t stop me from doing it myself.” Rao transformed his face with a relaxed grin. “I figure what better way to kill the bitch than with her own sword. She’s killed enough of ours with it.”
The soldier let go his own tense expression and smiled. “Briraji was going to do it himself.”
“Yes, he was. Then he came and talked to me. I told him I would do it for him, and let him return to serving our general, fighting the storm. He agreed, saying he was needed elsewhere. Look at this blade.” Rao stepped back and twisted the immaculate white metal, raising and lowering it. “Imagine her blood upon it.”
The soldiers looked to one another. One of them nodded.
“Very well, sir,” the tall soldier said. “We will come in and watch you do it.”
“Excellent,” Rao said.
Not excellent.
Lucia heard the voices outside the room and thought she heard Rao’s voice among them. She stood and wrapped her fingers around the discolored metal bars. Soon the door opened, but slowly. Whoever was coming in paused for some time. An ominous sensation sunk into her belly.
My goddess, I trust in you. May your will be done.
Lucia glimpsed an impossible image.
Gods!
The silver-armored goddess entered the room, Ysa herself. The goddess’s helm covered most of her blond hair, but her face appeared as it did in books and paintings, pale with pointed, petite features.
Lucia dropped to her knees and expelled her breath in shock. Shivers ran down her arms.
You’ve come to me, after all this time?
The image of her goddess disappeared, and in her place walked Prince Rao, carrying Ysa’s white sword and her shield.
Five soldiers followed behind Rao. The dozen men already in the room stood. One drew his short blade, and the others drew their weapons too. The room filled with silent tension, no one wanting to initiate whatever was to come.
“Your Grace,” Rao said in Pawelon. “I am here at the order of my general. Because of this storm, and because we believe your goddess is behind it, he has ordered you to be slain. I am here to do it myself, using your own sword.”
Why did I ever consider a word you said?
“Relax, men,” the prince told the fourteen soldiers and three sages. They didn’t. “Now, you murderous dog, continue to stand where you are. Don’t make me come into your cell. Stand still and die with dignity.”
The prince took one step forward with Ysa’s shield on one arm and her sword pointed down at his side.
Where are you, Danato? You hideous black bastard. Am I dreaming, or are you going to kill me now?
The prince took another careful step toward her.
Wherever you are, you must be enjoying yourself. Laughing at me. Not caring one bit for ‘your daughter.’
Another step.
Fine then. Go ahead and take me. I’ll find out soon enough if I’m dreaming or not.
Another.
And if I die, then take my blood for Caio’s. Let my brother live.
The Prince leaned forward and whispered in Rezzian, “We’re getting out of here. Take the sword. If I’m attacked, protect me.” He turned the pommel of the sword toward Lucia and handed it to her through the prison bars. “To prove myself, I turn my back to you.”
Rao spun around and leaned his back against the cell. He held the shield to protect his chest. Most of the soldiers came forward a few steps and pointed their weapons at their prince.
“Wait!” Rao said. “General Indrajit gave you your orders. I know this. But hear me. No one has to get hurt. Pawelons killing Pawelons is insanity.”
The leading sage answered in his smoky voice, “Surrender, my Prince, and your life may yet be saved. You know that we could blame your death on the prisoner.”
“You are going to let us out of here,” Lucia told the mob. Standing behind Rao, she raised Ysa’s sword and felt a shock through her arm, invigorating her entire body. “You don’t want to see what I can do with this.”
A handful of soldiers stepped backward toward the entrance to the room. Two soldiers brandishing long daggers stepped toward Rao from his left and his right. Rao turned around and whispered to her, “Help.” Lucia remembered the prince had suffered his own injuries at the duel.
Either Lucia saw an image of her goddess flash before her, or her eyes were lying to her again.
Protect both of us.
The two soldiers’ boots thudded as they advanced along the stone floor. One yelled, “Go!” and ran forward.
Rao swung the shield in front of him, swatting at both daggers as they came for him. The steel blades clanged against ancient metal. Both attackers took a step back, one of them grimacing and shaking his hand and wrist. The sages closed their eyes and the semi-circle of men closed in.
“I will give you all one more warning,” Lucia said in Pawelon. “After that, I will kill you all. That is the ancient shield of the goddess Ysa. It will protect your prince.”
A sage standing against the opposite wall asked, “Why have
you allied with our enemy?”
“That’s not it at all,” Rao said while turning his head to watch the men surrounding him. “She can help us end the war.”
“You can’t trust her,” the sage said.
“My brothers, we don’t have a better option.”
Lucia stepped to her right to be in position to stab anyone charging Rao from that direction, knowing she could be attacked at any moment by the sages or a thrown weapon.
“One of you step forward and let me out now. This is the last time I will ask.” Lucia held her sword in two hands and raised it, hoping she looked menacing in her filthy robe.
“These are good men, Lucia. They are following orders. They are only doing what they’ve been told.” Rao nonetheless kept Ysa’s shield close against his body. “We don’t want to hurt you, just as we don’t want to get hurt. If you let us out of here, you’ll have my word that I will go to Rezzia and negotiate peace with them. Then all of us can return to our homeland. You can tell General Indrajit we escaped. You can blame it on me.”
Silence, save the stirring of nervous feet.
The sage at the opposite wall spoke again. “Let’s put down our weapons for now. Our rajah’s only heir deserves a better death than this. Maybe he can stop this war.”
No one spoke. A few soldiers lowered their long daggers.
“All we know is that Prince Rao came here, took her weapons, forced us to free her, and then left with her. Their magic kept us locked in here, so we could not chase them nor see where they went. If anyone disagrees with this, or isn’t willing to tell this same story, say so now.”
A soldier, a young man with a thick beard and black eyebrows, shot a look at the sage. “You’re going to let her out of here?” He raised his blade in the air as he spoke.
“No, our prince is going to let this woman out of here. It’s his choice. We should let him make it.”
Another soldier, a thin man with long hair, said, “Prince Rao saved our entire unit from the lightning storm—”
“And we have our orders from the general himself,” the bearded soldier fired back.
“My prince’s orders are enough for me,” the sage said. “I won’t stand against him and I won’t kill him while he is trying to save our people.”
A middle-aged soldier, a man with a large, ruddy face, spoke from across the room, “If we do this, everyone must agree to tell the same story. If any one of you breaks this trust, you had better flee this place before we find you.”
A sage came forward slowly, watching everyone around him, and unlocked the cell. The others stepped back and cleared a path to the door, though their faces looked much less generous. A soldier pushed the door slightly open.
Lucia walked with some difficulty, keeping her eyes moving around the room as she stayed two steps behind Rao. She turned to look behind her, to her right. She heard a clash of metal in front of her, then grunting.
She instantly brought her sword across her chest to defend herself. Rao held up Ysa’s shield in front of her. The bearded Pawelon soldier lay the ground in front of him, his dagger knocked out of his hand.
“Scum!” The insult flew from her tongue.
The soldiers tensed again and readied themselves for a confrontation.
“Stand back!” Rao spun, turning Ysa’s shield in all directions. “Everyone calm down and no one will be hurt. Please.”
Voices yelled from outside of the room, a great commotion. Among the words spoken, Lucia heard the word, “Briraji!”
The sage who unlocked the door raised his voice, “I am sorry, my Prince. Briraji is back.”
“Wait,” Rao said. “Give me three breaths.”
Rao stood still with his eyes closed.
Ysa, save us!
Lucia felt her body disappear. She glimpsed everything around her for one instant as if she had eyes on the sides and back of her head. Then she felt her body again, but much lighter, as if it were air. The persistent pain in her chest was gone.
Rao’s body wavered before her and then his form returned vividly. She realized then that she was seeing everyone else through a slight haze, but Rao looked solid and colorful.
“They can’t see you anymore. You are invisible to them. We need to go now.”
“Can we get my armor?”
He said with a quick turn of his head, “No time.” Rao led her out of the room. The sage Briraji stood across the hall, close to a door. Soldiers ran around, positioning themselves outside the entrance to her former cell.
“How about my Strategos? Can we save him?”
“I’m sorry. I don’t know how long this effect will last. We have to keep moving.” Rao walked past Briraji and out the door. Briraji looked around as they passed by him, as if smelling something he couldn’t locate.
She saw the great storm and heard the wind, but felt no rain against her ‘body.’ The weather was more dramatic than she’d expected.
“Your brother is fighting again,” he said as he led her across the expansive courtyard.
“I see that. You can expect him to do everything in his power to rescue me. My father, too.”
“That’s why we have to talk to them.”
“Where are we going?”
“We need to talk to my friend Aayu first. This might not be easy. He got himself locked up, too.”
Chapter 71: Brotherhood
RAO’S STOMACH CLENCHED. He clutched his belly and fell to his knees. The downpour drenched his uniform a second time. His tight muscles throbbed again, all over his body.
Lucia returned to her physical form, too. “Ugh.” She sounded like she might throw up.
“It will get better.” Rao looked around the courtyard and yelled to a group of four hooded soldiers running through the storm. “Come here!” He turned to Lucia. “Get down. Cover your head with the shield. I’ll return soon.”
She gave him a piercing look before she followed his directions. Rao left Lucia alone and ran out to meet the soldiers, the strain aching in his legs.
“I need two cloaks now.” You look like you’re about my height. And you look like hers. “All right, you two. Give them to me now.”
“Yes, Prince Rao,” they said together as they handed over their best protection from the rain.
A godlike gust of wind exploded against Rao’s ears and knocked him sideways. It nearly blew the sopping grey clothes from the soldiers’ hands.
As the blast settled down, Rao saluted the men. “Thank you. It’s very important that you do not go near the prison right now. Briraji has asked everyone to stay clear of it. Instead, return to your barracks and stay warm.”
The members of the crew saluted before running off again.
Rao returned to Lucia and handed her the smaller of the two cloaks. “Put that on and hide the sword in it.” Rao covered himself and the shield as best he could. “We’re going to that building there. It’s a much nicer prison than the one you were in.”
“Now you tell me.”
Amazing. The Rezzian almost has a sense of humor.
“My friend can help us remain hidden just as we were before. Then we can easily get out of the citadel.”
“This is the heavy man from the lake?”
“Yes.”
“The one who almost killed me?”
“You attacked us first. Remember the lightning that nearly burned the forest down.”
“Don’t talk about that night.”
You brought it up. “Now I just have to figure out how to get to him.”
“Do you know what you’re doing?”
“I only know I’m improvising.”
Covered in grey from head to foot, Rao and Lucia entered the building from a side door just large enough for them to fit through. Rao shut the door and shivered as rain rolled off his limbs.
He knew the guards would be much more lax in this building. The structure was only used to detain Pawelon’s own soldiers for punishment. The locked door around the corner, at the end of the shor
t hallway, would pose the first obstacle.
“Give me the sword,” he told her. “I might need it.”
“I have to trust you with the sword and shield?”
“We’ll trade,” Rao said with the hint of a smile.
They moved close together and opened their coats. She wore a ratty earthen robe beneath the heavy cloak; Rao tried not to notice her athletic figure. She passed him the sword; he gave her the shield.
“You’re my prisoner, all right?”
She grumbled, but followed him. They rounded the corner and walked down a few paces to a finely carved wooden door. Rao pulled Lucia’s hood down over her face before he knocked.
An old man with a trimmed grey beard opened a hole carved into the door for two-way communication. “What do you need?”
“I have a new prisoner.”
“Prince Rao, is that you?”
“Yes, my good man. I also have to see my partner, Aayu. My father ordered this soldier to be held with him.”
“Come in.” The old soldier removed the heavy length of wood barring the door. It fell with a loud knock against the floor.
“Do you want me to hold this man while you speak with Aayu?”
“No, thank you. We’ll go in together.”
“What offense has the new prisoner committed?”
“Just a little treason.”
“Oh.” The old man didn’t seem to know what to say. “Very well.”
“After you let us in, give us privacy. We’ll let ourselves out.”
“I can’t—certainly, Prince Rao.”
They advanced halfway down the hall, passing six other cells. The old guard searched inside a pocket at his hip. Metal clinked against metal before he produced a rustic key and opened the door.
“Thank you,” Rao said and took the key before the soldier could change his mind. “My good man, if you see anyone coming, please let me know right away. It’s possible I may be needed in the fighting.”
“Certainly.” The jailor nodded with uncertain eyes as he backed away.
Rao held his coat open while he entered the room, showing Aayu the Rezzian sword.
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