“And so does Isaac from what I hear.”
“He’s taking a long time,” she said as a passing villager grabbed a taco from her outstretched tray. “I hope he’s okay.”
“This is what he’s trained for,” Aidan said, wrapping an arm around Leah. Bailey glanced down at the woman on his shoulder.
“So this is Leah?”
“That it is.”
“She’s very lovely. You know I was here to witness the exchange between Frederick and yourself.”
“Isn’t that all the more reason we shouldn’t be talking?”
“I only came over to see if you had heard from Isaac.”
“I haven’t.”
“Then farewell until tomorrow.” Bailey darted off to the left and was out of sight before Aidan could ask another question. She blended into the crowd so quickly, it was if she had gotten absorbed.
“Work?” Leah asked, lifting her gorgeous eyes to his. He leaned down to give her a quick peck on the lips.
“Unfortunately,” he said, staring at her cool blue hair. The color suddenly and unfortunately reminded him of Isaac - how he had not yet come back from his mission. How hard was it to find some files and cross out a few names?
“Do you have to go? I understand if you do. I’ve already had a wonderful evening.”
“I think I do,” he said with regret, hugging her tight. “Do you need someone to take you back home?”
“No, I’ll be fine. You go on ahead. I think I’ll go join a few people from my other classes. I’m sure they’ll want all the dirty little details about our relationship.”
“Tell them about how your snoring keeps me up at night,” Aidan said as he glanced over at the Elders’ stage. All but Leah’s father were enjoying the ambiance created by the band. Frederick Ainsley was not being coy. He was staring directly at them. “Your dad needs to get a life,” Aidan muttered, when he suddenly heard a crash come from his right. His eyes were immediately fixated on the situation. A young boy had run into one of the waitresses, resulting in a dropped tray and several shattered wine glasses. The black-haired boy was about to pick up the pieces when Aidan ran over to intervene.
“Hey, be careful with those,” he said, grabbing the boy’s wrist. “You’ll cut yourself.”
“I can do it,” the boy replied, staring back at him with his almond-shaped eyes. “Can you let go of me please? I shouldn’t be here in the first place. I just want to clean this up and go.”
“Not if you’re going to –” Aidan stopped as he felt a sharp pinch on his wrist. He let go of the boy’s arm and studied the strange red bite mark, triangular in shape. “What was that?”
“That was Charlie. He bit you because you were being mean.”
“Who’s Charlie?” he asked as the little boy held up a dragon, a grey and green stuffed animal that was no bigger than his head.
“You’re saying that stuffed animal bit me?” Aidan asked in disbelief as Leah walked up behind them. Nearby the waitress stared at the three of them with a furrowed brow.
“Isn’t anyone going to help me with this mess?” she asked, and they all began picking up the pieces. As they cleaned, Aidan glanced back at the Elders, but none of them, not even Frederick, appeared to notice the commotion. They were all engrossed in the band along with the rest of the crowd, admiring the lightshow.
“What’s your name?” Aidan asked the boy, who was still only picking up shards with one hand. His stuffed dragon was held firmly in the other.
“Sawyer,” he said. “Oops I shouldn’t have said that.” He turned to the dragon. “Shut up, Charlie, I know! Get over yourself!” Leah giggled as Aidan pressed forward.
“The youngest I’ve seen in Lowsunn was a teenager. You’ve got to be no more than eight or nine. Where did you come from? Who are your parents?”
“I can’t tell you,” Sawyer said. “I’m not even supposed to be here.”
“Why? Where are you from? Do you even live in Lowsunn?”
“Of course I do,” he said, rubbing his greasy little fingers through his black hair. “Once you go outside the shield, you can’t come back without an Elder’s permission. Everyone knows that. Geez. Charlie! I’ll stop talking when I want!”
“Charlie’s pretty angry, huh?” Leah asked, patting the stuffed dragon on the head. “It’s okay, little guy. We’re not going to hurt your friend.”
“Charlie says he likes you,” Sawyer relayed to her. “He says that you’re beautiful and…Charlie, no! I’m not going to say that! Be nice!”
“Sounds like Charlie’s getting fresh,” Aidan chuckled. Sawyer glowered at him.
“He says that he wants to bite your head off but it would ruin the party.” Leah laughed as Aidan’s face fell.
“Well, I think Charlie’s very handsome,” Leah said, rubbing the dragon’s chin. “And so is his humin friend here.” Sawyer blushed and clutched the dragon tightly to his chest.
“Gotta go!” he shouted out.
“Hey!” Aidan retorted, grabbing Sawyer’s sleeve. “I have a few more questions!”
“Let go!” Sawyer yelled, tugging back with uncanny strength and ripping his long sleeve in the process. He ran off into the crowd with his sleeve still in Aidan’s hand, but Aidan could only wonder about what he had seen branded on the young boy’s arm.
There had been only one seal.
And it had been blackened out.
“Leah, did you see that?” Aidan whispered, pointing toward where Sawyer had gone.
“No, what?”
“He only had one seal, and it’s been used already.”
“Are you sure?” she asked, trying to find the little boy amongst the crowd.
“Positive.”
“Unless he got an exemption or he’s a special case like Zorin, I don’t see how that’s possible. There’s no way he would be here with zero wishes left.”
“Then why is he here? He must belong to someone.”
“I don’t know. There has to be an explanation. Maybe I can bring it up to my father the next time I –”
Her words were cut short as the foyer’s foundation beneath them suddenly lost its front half. The entire infrastructure cracked and caved forward in an instant, as the crowd was literally swept off their feet. Trays clanged on the marble floor. Glasses shattered and the chandeliers crashed into one another. The band collapsed into their instruments and slid off the stage. A booming sound was heard from outside the building, and the lighting suddenly went dark. An incantation was heard from someone in the crowd, and a miniature sun was placed in the middle of the room in order to give off a dim but sufficient light.
Aidan had caught Leah before she lurched forward, but his attention was solely on the Elders for an explanation. But he couldn’t help but be overwhelmed with a sense of dread once he saw that they had cast away their stoic faces…for expressions of fear. They stood to their feet and searched frantically for the cause of the destruction. Everyone else remained still, waiting for the culprit to reveal himself. Suddenly a shout broke through the silence.
“PEOPLE OF LOWSUNN! COME OUT! YOUR DAYS OF LUXURY ARE AT AN END!”
The villagers in the crowd cried out and hugged each other, whimpering over the foreign voice’s command. An intruder had somehow broken through their impenetrable shields. Many had come to challenge Lowsunn in the past, but not one had been able to break through. How had this man done it? How many wishes had he used? And why was this happening on tonight of all nights?
“YOU DON’T HAVE TO DIE LIKE THE ANIMALS YOU ARE!” the voice roared again. “YOU CAN COME OUT BEFORE I AM FORCED TO COME IN!”
The villagers looked to each other for answers, but Aidan only glared straight at the door, which was still closed and acting as the only barrier between them and the stranger that sought to crush them. Of course this was happening now. When he was finally beginning to entertain the idea of accepting the luxury around him. He already had less than a year left before he was kicked out. Couldn’t the loudmou
th outside have waited until then? Did he really have to be woken up when he had just begun to dream?
“IF NO ONE COMES OUT IN THE NEXT TEN SECONDS, I WILL BURN THE GRAND HALL TO THE GROUND!”
“Oh, hell no,” Aidan snapped, violently letting go of Leah’s embrace. No one made a move to stop him as he marched to the double doors, slammed them open and walked right out into the open.
Chapter 7 – I Heard You the First Time
“You can stop shouting now,” Aidan said as he took his time walking down the grand hall’s front steps. The intruder’s eyes widened in shock. He had not expected anyone to come out, and especially not just one defenseless villager. Was this guy insane?
“What do you want?” Aidan demanded. “And why are you here?”
“Where are your Elders?” the stranger asked, his deep voice echoing even when he was speaking at a normal volume.
“I’m an Elder. Right here. Address me.”
“You’re not an Elder. You’re too young.”
“Then you know of our laws. Who are you?”
“A resident of Lowsunn,” the stranger said through clenched teeth. Aidan examined him as the words sunk in. He was a few years older than the intruder, but from the tired, worn look in his eyes, the grime on his face and on his clothes, the scars, the filth, the smell…he had been on the outside for quite some time. His eyes were so dark and bloodshot that there was no way to tell what the natural color was. His hair was caked in so much mud that it had lost all of its shine. Whoever this man was, he was desperate. And desperate men were unpredictable.
The double doors opened behind Aidan and Leah stepped through them. Frederick was close behind her. He grabbed his daughter’s arm and tried to pull her inside but she fought against his grip with all her strength.
“I belong by his side!” Leah shouted. Frederick yanked her back once more when his eyes inadvertently shifted towards the intruder. They shined with recognition.
“Duncan,” he said, maintaining his grip on Leah. “You shouldn’t be here. Leave now before you do something that you’ll regret.”
“Elder Ainsley,” Duncan smiled. “The bastard still lives on the backs of slaves while I have to fight to the death for scraps. Do you have any idea what I’ve had to do out there?!”
“We can discuss this.”
“I want to discuss this inside. With the rest of the Elders.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
“Your village has the shields, not the buildings. You think I can’t blow it to pieces with a simple thought? You think I can’t pop you like a grape when I so choose? Let me inside, and you can choose your fate.”
“That’s not going to happen,” Aidan snapped. “You’re in our home. We make the decisions here.”
“Aidan, shut up,” Frederick replied. Duncan ignored the Elder and turned his attention to the robed young man.
“And who are you?”
“Someone who’s seen the same things you have,” Aidan said, letting the words permeate the air. “I know the anger you must be feeling. But taking it out on these people won’t solve your problems.”
“You think you belong here?” Duncan scoffed. “That this is just one big happy family? Are you kidding me? They don’t care about you. They’re just using you. You’re a number to them. You’re not a person. How could you stand there and protect them if you’ve truly seen what it’s like out there? They’re…they’re evil.”
“But there’s still a mutual respect. They may be using me, but I’m also using them, for their shelter, their food, their water.”
“But you’re protecting them. That goes beyond following the program. If you just step aside and let me do my work, then you would be free. Lowsunn could be ours.”
“For how long? A few weeks? A couple months? They may be pompous jerks, but they understand how to run this place. What would you and I do differently? We would have this place reduced to dust in days. Get real. You say you lived here. I assume you were kicked out because your seals were used up.”
“Not used,” Duncan spat, lifting his long sleeve to reveal two darkened seals. “TAKEN!”
“How did they do it?”
“That is none of your business,” Frederick replied. Aidan shot him a cold stare and then turned back to the intruder.
“Tell me.”
“If this man…” Frederick seethed, trying to hold back his rage. “If this man tells you about any of our sensitive work, you will be punished. You do know that, don’t you? We can’t allow this information to spread around the village.”
“How is that any different from what you’ve planned for me already?” Aidan said darkly. Leah looked up at her father and then back at Aidan, wondering what she should do next.
“I want everyone to hear this,” Duncan said. Aidan shook his head.
“That’s not going to happen.”
“Fine, have it your way.”
He’s going to attack! Aidan’s thoughts buzzed as he instinctively thrust out his hands and engulfed himself, Leah and her father in a bubble of fire. In the next second, Aidan was hit with a force like he had never felt before. It burst the bubble altogether, and sent them all flying back through the double doors. The three of them skidded across the floor as the crowd gasped in horror.
Still lying on the floor, Aidan searched for Leah and saw that she had landed next to him. She began to move to stand up, but his eyes ordered her to remain still. Better to play dead for now.
As much as Aidan hated being in a submissive position, especially with his back turned to his foe, he knew that it was the only way to formulate a plan under the circumstances. Duncan wasn’t going to stop until he had his say, and Aidan was curious to hear it. As long as Leah wasn’t hurt.
As Aidan heard Duncan’s footsteps coming methodically from behind him, he kept his breathing at a minimum, using the precious seconds to consider his next attack. Duncan had said that the Elders took his Yen, but there wasn’t a way to know for sure until they were already in the heat of battle.
More likely, they had taken just one Yen from him, and he had used the other himself, ostensibly on a power that was strong enough to destroy Aidan’s fire shield and propel the three of them forward in one hit. It couldn’t be an element per se. Wind he would have felt. Water, lightning and earth he would have seen – but there were definitely destructive properties involved. The collapse of the building’s foundation. The overpowering of his defenses. Waiting was truly the key to unlocking this mystery.
“Good evening,” Duncan said, stepping around Aidan’s and Leah’s fallen bodies. He walked past them to address the villagers as they backed up further into the foyer. Frederick had decided to not play dead, and was now standing front and center with the audience. Duncan cleared his throat.
“Forgive me, it’s been so long since I’ve been in the presence of kings and queens. Oh wait, that’s right. You are none of those things. You sure act like it though. Pretending as if Lowsunn is a kingdom high above the world while the rest of us serfs suffer.”
“Duncan Crow,” Elder Borne shouted from the stage. “You are a disgrace to –”
His voice was cut short as his body suddenly erupted. A small pop echoed across the room, as his body was reduced to fine ash, falling off the stage and into the cracks of the floor below. The other Elders kept their mouths shut.
“Until I’m finished,” Duncan replied. “There will be no more interruptions. Am I clear?” The crowd nodded as he smacked his grime-caked hands together. “I want you all to know, that I think you are all horrible, horrible people. Not because you enjoy the luxuries given to you. I understand that. I did the same. What I can’t forgive…is how you believe the words of these liars.” He pointed to the Elders. “They fool you with every word that comes out of their wrinkled, cankered lips. Think about this. They tell you. They TELL YOU that you’re going to have your Yen extracted for the greater good at the end of your fifth year. Now it’s bad enough that you just
mindlessly go with the flow, but do you actually think they’re going to wait until the end of that fifth year? Nooooooooooo. They’re going to take you halfway through those five years and then take your Yen because they know you’re all going to run away before your five years are up.
“Now I…I am no threat to you, as long as you listen. The Elders…they’re the ones that have everything to lose if we rise up against them. It’s funny. Even now they could use one of their many personal Yen to kill me right here, but they won’t. They won’t because they’re greedy, and they want one of you to do it. They’re just waiting for one of you to make a move. It’s so sad. They didn’t even care when Elder Borne died. What do they care about you?”
The crowd remained silent.
“I don’t want you to be afraid of me. So I’ll tell you everything. My name is Duncan Crow, but on the outside, out there in land of Obsidian, they call me Combustion.”
A few worried murmurs went throughout the crowd and Duncan smiled.
“Oh good. Some of you have heard of me. Yes, I remember the survival training, and how we used to study the ‘threats,’ but I’m telling you right here and now. Those classes do nothing to help you. Nothing. They give you little snippets of wisdom like quotes on a piece of paper, but they don’t prepare you for the outside world. Those quotes and nuggets of advice have never kept me warm. They’ve never put food in my mouth. It’s not until you’re out there that you see…you see how real it is.”
Elder Grier began whispering to one of the other Elders, but Duncan caught the movement. With another poof, Lowsunn lost another one of its leaders.
“But…I’m getting ahead of myself,” Duncan said, folding his hands. “Let me explain how I got inside. We all know that the shields of Lowsunn were created by using multiple wishes, right? C’mon, we all know this. An individual, or a group of individuals, could go before the Judge, and where he would have denied one wish in particular, we could offer up a great deal of our seals to him as a sacrifice, and he’ll make it happen. I mean, if we wanted, if we got enough of us, we could bring people back to life!
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