Arrival of the Rifted (The Rifted Series Book 1)

by C. C. York

  He tilted his head to the Aygir. "Come on. We're significantly safer with an Aygir that's taken to us, but we still can't be in the middle of the valley after dark. I'll answer as much as I can while we're moving." Reed gathered up a handful more stalks and walked to the beast's side before he realized Monti hadn't moved.

  "First, tell me this. What were you and your mother running from that you had to go to another world to get away?" Monti asked with arms crossed.

  Reed thought back to the wide, gaping, dark mouth from his nightmares. "I never met him, but my dad was apparently a ruthless man, very powerful, and didn't take kindly to my mom running away with me. My mom believed that whatever we faced a world away would be better than him finding us.”

  He looked down at the grass and tried to shrug off the nagging guilt creeping into his belly. Monti is capable of keeping her wits together, but she doesn’t need to know everything.

  Reed expected to see pity or at least her eyes softening when Monti didn't respond. Instead, she looked at him with sharp eyes and a raised eyebrow that all but screamed, "Bullshit."

  Alik

  Optimism always found Alik. She believed the missing girls, Shauna in particular, waited for her to find them, scared but unharmed. When she and Agnian approached the gathering crowd back in the Palace, she expected good news; to be relieved.

  "They Rifted a whole building."

  "There must be dozens of them!"

  Chills spread over Alik in waves. Rifters. She gathered a meager puff of an Airwerk and shoved her way to the front of the crowd to get context for the snippets of conversation that provided little information. Courtiers, advisors, and servants took a few steps back, opening a path. She managed to gain control over her labored breathing by the time she reached the rail-thin advisor flinching from questions in the open circle before the gathering crowd.

  A strong, commanding voice carried over the crowd, speaking before Alik could. "What is the meaning of this?"

  Queen Firtina had a way of walking. Sure-footed, heeled steps preceded her in an announcement to any room. The crowd's blanket of mixed conversations settled when she strode to Alik's side. She still wore her traveling clothes, though most in the crowd would never know it. The long camel-colored cloak tapered to hit her heeled boot within a hair's width of touching the floor; her cropped riding pants and cream gossamer blouse would have been speckled with grime if it had been anyone else riding outside the Perimeter Wall. An off-white turban littered with strands of Magaran gold covered her black hair, though Alik knew if she removed the turban, her hair would cascade down to perfection. The only color on Firtina was the deep burgundy lip stain she favored.

  Firtina looked once to Alik, her cat eyes glittering, as the advisor whispered in her ear.

  The Queen's voice carried with ease as she pulled her riding gloves off one finger at a time. "I've searched for our missing Daughters for months, looking for a culprit outside our walls that wish us harm. It appears that our kidnapper was not foreign, but one of our own."

  A few gasps cried out, a woman in the front dramatically clutched her jade necklace while her friends soothed her. Alik restrained an eye roll. No one in this Palace was too distraught to stop attending Hasateen parties. No one had been looking frantically for these girls like I have. And definitely, not my mother.

  Agnian stood crossed armed adjacent to her, face tight as Firtina continued.

  "Patrols have picked up a small group of people completely foreign to our kingdom and of the kingdoms surrounding us. They were Rifted, along with dozens of others now presumed dead."

  Firtina raised her palm at the shocked reaction of the crowd for silence. Alik's mind raced. That was the shift I felt. It was a Rift. She was too young to understand the last Rifter Hunt, but she remembered her nursemaid boarding up the windows in the nursery. Years later, she read about the panic-stricken patrols with torches.

  "You are the first to know this information.”

  Not likely, Alik thought. At least half the Trades know by now if Rifters were indeed spotted.

  Firtina continued, “I'm issuing a decree that will be sent to every level of Tiers. We have Rifters among us, hunting us. They've primarily attacked at night, so I'm implementing a curfew. The remaining nights of Hasateen are hereby canceled until we capture these demons and bring our Daughters home. We will arrange for Horde patrols in every Tier, beginning at the Fountain Tier, and work our way down. Anyone caught harboring a Rifter will be hung and--"

  Courtiers do stupid things.

  A woman once insisted that her pallu be lined with matches to show off her control over flame. Someone in her staff happened to be a Waterwerker, so she survived. Another Airwerker believed she could fly if she leapt off a tall enough balcony. No one in her entourage was adept at putting her back together. Yet, the dumbest thing Alik ever witnessed a courtier do to date was interrupt her mother. And in front of a crowd, no less.

  "What good is the Horde against Rifter demons?"

  A wide swath opened up before the speaker, courtiers tripping over themselves to gain distance from the insane young woman with arms crossed and blonde hair so pale it was almost white.

  Alik placed her name. Tenida Grynic. She'd seen her several times at court dinners, usually trailing after Taavi with the usual herd of women. She appeared to be of sound mind the few times we spoke.

  Firtina’s smile crept across her face like a black Magaran cat stalks her prey. Alik's skin itched with the agonizing pause while the rest of the group volleyed eyes between the two women. Tenida, to her credit, didn't break the silence first.

  Firtina replied, "We have the same Tuzaga chains that worked so well to contain Rifters of my predecessors. I would imagine we could reconfigure the chains to form muzzles as well."

  The courtier ignored the threat. "My family has recently discovered a vein of Tuzaga in one of our mines southwest of the Magaran. We will furnish the kingdom with any new chains required for free, and my staff and I will volunteer for patrol duty if you grant me one humble request."

  Firtina replied, "And what humble request do you have?"

  Here we go, Alik thought. Will it be more land? She's bold enough she might just ask for Taavi’s hand in marriage here and now.

  "Most of our miners live in Low Town, and several have missing Daughters of their own. I merely ask that the patrol my advisors and I are assigned to begin in Low Town first and work our way up to meet you."

  The advisor whispered something to Firtina too faint for Alik to pick up. She nodded and simply said, "Done. My advisor will reach out to your mother to work through the details. Patrol begins at moonrise."

  Firtina turned, dismissing everyone else in the hall. Alik quickly scanned Tenida while dozens of conversations bounced off the polished opal floor. Tenida darted past Agnian and the now curious courtiers milling around her, her aura radiating pale yellow worry. Agnian trailed after Tenida with plumes of confusion and disbelief pouring off him, distracting Alik.

  Alik had more pressing matters at hand, though. She was the last to enter her mother's study and joined Taavi and Damari at the offset stone table. Advisors spoke animatedly over each other, quickly detailing the decree that would soon spread throughout the Tiers. Firtina pulled a glass decanter to her and poured an amber liquor while she paced and listed orders.

  "What do you know of Tenida?" Alik asked Taavi quietly. He spent some time with her before Hasateen, though now that Alik thought about it, Tenida had been absent since at least First Night.

  "Not much," Taavi replied. "Her mother is a woman named Danisha Grynic, and she and Tenida came here from a minor village beyond Dvari when Tenida was first gaining her powers for training. No father, no siblings. Her mother is a mining matriarch; they struck an agreement with the Magaran tribes to mine in places we never were granted access."

  Alik fiddled with the embroidered edging of her pallu as she mulled over the news. "How long has she been at
court?"

  Damari chimed in, "Not long. Someone mentioned that her family was new money and that they came here with little more than their mining equipment."

  She never heard of a foreigner gaining access to the mountain range without extensive backing by the Iktidars. Perhaps they came from a place less hostile to the Magarans than Efendi. Alik mulled this over while mentally flipping through the rural villages and minor kingdoms in the archipelago.

  "What of these foreigners?" Alik asked. "Where are they now?"

  "I don't know. This is the first I've heard of any foreigners myself." Taavi looked at Alik. She didn’t need to say how abnormal it was for their mother to know something a Horde patrol found before Taavi did.

  Damari said, "I'll see what my Eyes can find out. They should be in the dungeon by now. But, Alik, there's something I need to--".

  Firtina's voice stifled their conversation as she asked everyone but the siblings to leave. The three remained close together, a wall of shoulders facing the Queen. Firtina did not speak, but the heat from the fire orbs flared above them in pulses while the last advisor filtered out.

  Firtina said without preamble, "The three of you are worthless. Your ineptitude has put me in a position foreign to any of my ancestors." She stalked behind her desk, her heeled boots setting a steady pace like a war drum.

  "Taavi, you are the general of my Horde, and in the space of a few weeks, creatures from the Batiwood have attacked our borders. The Magarans flat out stopped responding to our missives, and now a population the size of half a cluster dumped themselves in the valley. Yet, I find you here, meandering around the Palace, while you had your second oversee the massive disturbance reported in the valley..."

  "I didn't---" Firtina held a hand up, and Taavi immediately stopped speaking. Taavi was the most loyal son Alik could imagine. He placates every wish of hers yet never lives up to the increasing standard she demands.

  Alik grit her teeth as her mother continued. "....and you are the only one that has had frequent interaction with that woman, and yet again, no one mentioned that her family had control over a new vein of Tuzaga."

  "And you," Firtina pointed a fingernail shaped to a sharp claw at Damari, "Not only did I allow you to live, but I allowed your place in my Palace. As a bastard born, you should remember that the only reason I initially did so was at Talik's request. I could rarely tell your father no, so you can imagine how difficult it was to swallow my pride and allow his offspring from a mistress to live amongst our children. Your ability to discover information allowed you to live even after his death. Yet you failed to provide a hint of who that woman was and failed to give any mention of lost foreigners claiming they're from another goddess-damned world. Take care to remember that your father is no longer here to beg for your life."

  Her brothers stiffened at Firtina's unspoken threat. As children, Firtina often singled Damari out to remind him of his half-brother status. Damari proved himself invaluable, though, so she only brought out the reminder on occasion now. She had yet to threaten to kill him until now.

  Alik's fists dug half-moons into her palms as she recalled the bright-eyed Damari as a boy left in the darkness of the library catacombs. She refused to look down this time from her mother's stare. Sweat poured down her temple at the heat of the arching flames surrounding them.

  Firtina said to her, "And you. Everything I do, I do because I have no Pillar to rely on. Your ineptitude at Dua has forced me to take unthinkable measures to keep an Iktidar on the throne, but I thought I'd at least gain something useful with your soothsaying abilities. Yet a Goddess-forsaken Rifter is here, and you blissfully slept through her dumping a dozen people within our borders from another world. I've given you time. I've covered for you. And. I'm. Done."

  Alik opened her mouth to speak, but her jaw snapped back at the gust of Airwerk her mother fired. The tang of blood pooled in her mouth, and she held her aching jaw as her mother paced ahead of them.

  "I've been too easy on the three of you. My mother would have had my hands mounted above the throne if I showed even a fraction of your ineptitude. So, we'll try something new. I need this Rifter, alive, and I need her found by the week's end. The Hunt about to begin should have been a distraction until that idiot girl volunteered Low Town first. Therefore, Taavi, you are assigned to her patrol. Keep her distracted; she cannot find the Rifter first.

  "Damari, find several women to charge as Rifters. I don't care who they are or why you chose them. They need to be "discovered" soon before the Tiers erupt in chaos.

  "Alik, you will find the Rifter and bring her to me. Should you fail, I will separate the three of you to the corners of this world. Damari, useless as he is, will be sent to live the remainder of his days in Bakilar. Taavi, you will be demoted to a foot soldier and married off to whoever is desperate enough to have you then. And Alik, you will marry the Dvarian prince to solidify our hold and spend the rest of your days on their planks. There is word of an uprising, and believe it or not, I’m disinclined to slaughter another line of Dvarians just to keep the peace."

  The three siblings stood agape, trying to process the threats their mother casually ticked off on her manicured nails. No Iktidar daughter ever faced an arranged marriage, let alone one outside of Efendian Tiers. The men of the Iktidar line always borne that brunt, and Alik thought to only protect her brothers from it. She never imagined she'd need protection from it herself. I should have known better. All the lessons on strengthening my Dua stopped last year. I thought the lessons ended because she wanted me in the council meetings instead. But she stopped seeing me as the one to take her place long before this. Otherwise, she never would send me away.

  Her mother continued as if she hadn't just given Alik a life sentence. "You have only a turn or two before this city upends itself." She flipped open a book at her desk, dismissing them as easily as she did the courtiers in the hall.

  Alik’s mind still spun around the rumor that Rifters reemerged in Efendi, but all the signs pointed to this unlikely truth: Rifters are here. It explains how the girls disappeared without any indication of a struggle. She shut out the threat of an arranged marriage, recalling instead her childhood stories of disfigured women vanishing and appearing in the blink of an eye. Alik’s heart flipped as she thought back to something else her mother said.

  The flame in the hearth behind Alik flicked in tune with her quick pulse, and she fisted her hands at her sides to still their shake. Taavi and Damari stepped away from the heat, glancing at each other and Alik. Taavi’s hand went to his sword.

  “This Rifter, my Queen?” Alik asked.

  Firtina looked up from her book. “What?”

  “You said you need ‘this Rifter,’ and yet you alluded to a group of Rifters in the hall moments ago. Who is this Rifter? What do you know about her? And how did you learn of her?”

  Firtina stepped forward, and it took all of Alik’s willpower not to back up.

  Alik said in a rush, her hands ahead of her, placating. “You need me to find this Rifter. I need to know any information you have in order to find her.” Alik did not ask why her mother thought Alik, of all people, could track this woman. Shauna may be running out of time, and if this Rifter brings me to her faster, so be it. I don’t care about the mechanics of how I can find her, only that we do.

  “One would think that I’d be used to spoon-feeding you everything you need by now,” Firtina said. “You are looking for a girl barely into her powers. She will be 12, maybe 13. Start with the Towners first, and when you find her, bring her to me alive.”

  Alik did not turn to leave. Instead, she said, "For months, I've heard singing, like a lullaby, and chanting in my dreams. And the overwhelming feeling I have when I wake is that someone, or something, is coming, and we are out of time.”

  Alik paced ahead of her brothers, too focused on her thoughts to see Firtina still.

  “Someone is taking our Daughters. Shauna vanished without a single one
of us seeing her kidnapper. My Dua went haywire the other night while you were off to Goddess-knows-where, and I'd imagine that is when the Rift occurred. And if you are telling us that one Rifter brought this many people from another world, she is more powerful and more dangerous than any in our history.”

  Alik recalled her mother’s hidden room and the hundreds of notes on the Edicisi tucked inside. And then she said the theory that had danced in the background of her subconscious since she saw her mother’s hidden room. “Do you think she brought Edicisi back?”

  "What did you say?"

  Alik braced herself but did not repeat her question in the lengthy silence hovering in the room. She expected laughter, rage even.

  Not curiosity.

  "What makes you think it's the Edicisi?" Firtina finally asked, her quiet question hammering Alik's heart in her bones harder than if she had lashed out.

  Taavi stepped closer to Alik, and Damari's hand slipped in hers. They likely think I've completely lost it, Alik thought. But I need to know what I’m up against so I can bring Shauna and the girls home. And if what I believe is true, I will need Firtina on my side.

  Firtina stalked around her desk, the slow clip of heel gaining momentum until she towered over Alik's short frame. Alik had no idea how she would get Shauna and the others out if the monster from their folklore kept them hostage, but she’d find a way. This Rifter knows where Shauna is, Alik, focus on that.

  "Taavi, Damari, you are dismissed," Firtina answered.

  Her brothers paused momentarily, but Alik nodded to both. She turned to face her mother as the door shut again, unable to meet her blue ice eyes.

  Firtina circled Alik and asked, "Would you like the Edicisi to come? Hmm? Wipe out our powers and bring us on equal footing for once?

  "What would you do then, my weak Pillar? Read me and tell me I'm angry? See that I'm disgusted with the one worthless female I managed to produce before my body could bear no more?"