The Domina

by K. A. Linde

  “Oh, I think…it’s because of its name. When things are named, it can change the property of it. It can become something more.”

  “What is its name?”

  “Shadowbreaker,” she told him.

  He nodded. “Fitting.”

  “So, what’s the likelihood this council will be called?” Dean asked as Cambria and Alchia got closer to check out the sword.

  Jenstad shook his head. “Never. My father is a real asshole.”

  Cyrene snorted. “Great.”

  “What about all of this rise-of-the-seeker stuff?” Dean asked.

  Cambria sighed. “Oh that. It’s said that, when the seekers rise, it will be time to serve the gods with Hohl blades again. So, basically never.”

  “Yeah,” Alchia said. “They’re never going to go fight with the gods or whatever.” She shrugged her petite shoulders. “Even Mags isn’t that superstitious.”

  The girl that Bratton was lying on made a rude gesture at Alchia. “I’m not superstitious. I am mystical.”

  Alchia rolled her eyes. “Batshit crazy.”

  “It’s a shame that this is all going to waste down here, waiting for the gods to return when they already have,” Cyrene said, sheathing Shadowbreaker.

  She could have heard a pin drop.

  Mags jolted upright, letting Bratton fall into a heap at her feet, cursing. Alchia had round eyes. Cambria looked skeptical. Jenstad looked eager.

  “What…what are you saying?” Jenstad asked.

  “I’m saying that there is a war in what you call the wetlands. The gods—the Creator and the Destroyer—have returned. The goddess of destruction, Malysa, is attempting to slay everyone and everything in all of Emporia. She won’t stop until everyone submits to her,” she told them. “And you are sitting on an arsenal, waiting for that day when it’s already here.”

  “But…it’s not in Tygh,” Alchia said hesitantly.

  “Not yet,” Cyrene said. “Do you think she’s just going to stop once she’s gone through the rest of Emporia?”

  “This can’t be,” Cambria said.

  “She’s the sign,” Mags said in awe.

  “I’m not a sign. I’m the Domina. I am here to stop Malysa. I could use Hohl blades and trained water seekers.”

  Jenstad sighed. “That sounds like…a fantasy.”

  “Everything you have ever been told is fantasy is true,” Cyrene assured him. “Take it from someone who knows.”

  “How are we to know you’re even telling us the truth though?” Cambria asked, still skeptical. “You could just want to steal all the Hohl metal we have been collecting forever. You could be a thief.”

  Cyrene nodded. “I could be. But I’m not.” Then she stepped back. “Let me show you.”

  She took a deep breath and went deep within herself. She knew that this was dangerous. Reaching for her spirit magic without linking to Sarielle could leave her vulnerable. But she didn’t feel vulnerable with the Domina diamond at her throat. She felt more secure than ever. Centered and present in the moment.

  She found that place within her that held the ether. Then, instead of going deep within herself, pulling herself out of her body, and crossing the spiritual plane, she did the opposite. She used the strength of her magic and the amplifying power of the diamond and brought the vision to the surface. She focused and filled the chamber with her memory of the battle with Malysa. The two armies poised against each other. Cyrene versus Kael. Light versus Dark. Eternity molding them into this moment.

  She could feel that she had all of their rapt attention. Many of them had never see real vegetation before. Some might not have been above ground. Let alone seen this many people at once. An army had to look impossible.

  Then Malysa appeared. She called forth her generals. Stole Matilde’s body. Spirit merging with flesh. And then she vanished with the promise of chaos and destruction.

  Cyrene let the projection vanish and slumped forward at the exertion. It had taken more than she had anticipated. But not more than she could spare. She took a deep breath and looked at the faces of the Tyghan youth before her. The frightened appearances that merged with…eagerness.

  “That is what is brewing. That is the goddess. She is here now. And these weapons are going to waste.”

  “Even if we wanted to help, they’d never listen to us,” Jenstad said.

  “Yeah,” Alchia said, “they think we’re young and useless.”

  “They do not,” Cambria disagreed. “They just want to protect us.”

  “Control us,” Jenstad muttered under his breath. He stared hard at Cyrene. “Can you show this to the council?”

  “Yes. If you think it will help.”

  “It won’t,” Alchia said. “They don’t want this to happen.”

  “Agreed,” Bratton said.

  “This is the real world,” Cyrene told them. “While you all hide out underground, the world is suffering. The world suffers, and you could help.”

  “They’d never let us help,” Jenstad said miserably. “You saw how he was with me. We’d never be allowed.”

  Cyrene smiled. “Then perhaps it is time to stop asking permission.”

  “Do you think that they’ll help when the time comes?” Dean asked Jenstad as he escorted us out of the training room and down another passageway.

  “I don’t know,” he said honestly. “I’ve seen what you can do. They’ve just seen whatever vision you showed up. Some people want to believe. Others want to keep their heads in the sand. Literally.”

  “Like your father?” Cyrene asked.

  A muscle twitched in his jaw. “Like my father. He’s not been the same since my mother passed. He didn’t used to be like this. So obstinate and afraid of change.”

  “Some people can’t handle change, and some people rise in the face of it,” she said.

  Jenstad shrugged. “I think everyone in Aleut could use a little more change. You showed up for less than a day, and already, we know more about water seeking than we’ve learned in generations. That’s not a coincidence, and I won’t ignore it.”

  Cyrene smiled at him. “How old are you?”

  He flinched. “Seventeen. I just became a water seeker on my name day.”

  “You stand where I stood two years ago, except that I had never heard of magic. You have that advantage. The rest of your powers should come to you easily.”

  He faltered a step. “Other powers? What do you mean?”

  And Cyrene didn’t know how she knew it. She just had a sense that had come over her. As if…as if the diamond itself was speaking to her. But she knew that Jenstad had the capability for three of the four elements. Making him incredibly powerful, all things considered.

  “You have the capacity for water, earth, and air,” she said gently. “I can see that in you. You could be more than a water seeker. You could be a Doma. Trained in my domain.”

  His look was one of awe. “Earth and air? But…how?”

  “Doma all have the capability of four elements and the fifth, ether. Few have all four, let alone the fifth. We draw our energy from within,” she explained the basic Doma principles to him as they continued down the empty hallways. “So, I presume, if you don’t eat or sleep after water seeking, you feel drained. Very dangerous in the desert.”

  He nodded. “Yes. We’re very careful about supplies and regulated sleep schedules. I’m off schedule right now, I’ll have you know.”

  She laughed. “Sorry about that. But I think you’ll be fine for some time. The important thing is that you already understand your water heritage, and you just need to focus on building up earth and air equally so that you can master your magic. Not mastering it means it can master you.”

  “And this means…I’m Doma?” he asked uncertainly.

  “Yes. Yes, you are.”

  He seemed stunned by the words and all the new knowledge she had given him. Dean just chuckled behind her.

  “Way to blindside him,” he muttered.

 
“It’s better to know the truth rather than to continue with half the information you require. I know from experience.”

  “I appreciate it,” Jenstad said. “It’s just all hard to believe.”

  “I know the feeling,” Cyrene said.

  “Okay, Isabylle’s home is here. She’s technically my niece—I don’t know—my cousin’s daughter, which is like my second cousin or cousin first removed or something. It’s confusing. She lives near me.” He shook his head and then knocked on the door. “Isa, it’s Jen. Open up.”

  “Jenstad!” Rita’s voice came from the other side. “Thank Creator. Your father locked us in here. Please help get us out of here.”

  Cyrene gasped. “What in the Creator? Rita, we’re here. Why would he have locked you up?”

  Cyrene gestured for Dean to open the door. He sent a thread of air through the lock, easily lifting it and letting the door swing open.

  Jenstad’s mouth dropped open. “How?”

  “Air magic,” Cyrene said with a wink. “Handy, huh?”

  “I could do that?”

  “Probably. But first, focus.”

  Rita and Isabylle rushed out. “Dalwin said that he wouldn’t let anyone else know about my return. That he didn’t want any of the zealots, he called them, know about the rise of the seeker. He’s planning to kick us all out before anyone rises and sweep it all under the rug. No council or anything.”

  Cyrene sighed. Of course he was. Why hadn’t she guessed?

  “Well, we can’t have that,” Cyrene said.

  “What a bastard!” Jenstad grumbled.

  “Jen!” Isabylle reprimanded.

  “Sorry, kiddo,” he said, ruffling her dark hair.

  “We should return to the training room,” Cyrene said. “I need time to think about what to do.”

  They were just about to leave when Quidera arrived at a run. She slowed when she saw all of them standing together. “Well, this is convenient. I shouldn’t even ask how you got out of the locked rooms, should I?”

  “Probably not,” Dean said.

  “What is going on here, Quidera?” Rita asked. “Dalwin is sending us away.”

  “I know. I just heard. I wasn’t involved, and he threatened to banish me if I said a word.”

  Jenstad and Isabylle gasped in unison.

  “Into the Tygh with no water?” Jenstad murmured.

  “Creator,” Cyrene whispered.

  “That’s murder,” Dean added.

  Quidera stepped forward. “I won’t let it happen. I’m a true believer in the way of the seeker. I believe what you have told us and that our time is now. But I cannot get you out. Dalwin has secured Aleut for the night.”

  “What do we do?” Jenstad asked.

  Cyrene tapped her lip and stepped away from the group as her mind spun over everything that she had learned this night. Then she glanced up at her waiting company. Rita, Isabylle, Jenstad, Quidera, and finally, Dean. All watching and waiting for an answer from her.

  “Okay…I have an idea.” She grinned. “It’s a bit ambitious.”

  Dean laughed. “My favorite.”

  “Here’s what I think we should do.”

  17

  The True Believer

  “I hate waiting,” Cyrene admitted as she paced the small room they’d originally been confined in. “How much longer do you think it’ll be?”

  Dean shrugged. He was sitting peacefully on the bed against the wall where he’d been meditating for hours. Cyrene was the worst at meditating. She’d never figured out how to get her brain to calm down long enough for it. Mindfulness wasn’t her strong suit.

  “I think you should sit down,” he said.

  “I know you do.”

  She was lucky that she’d gotten any sleep with the plans she’d put together in effect. But eventually, Dean had forced her to get into bed and close her eyes. She’d hardly been able to stand up. Let alone lead. A few hours later, she’d woken up feeling infinitely better. Though she wouldn’t mind a hearty breakfast right about now.

  “I wish we knew the hour,” she said. “How can they be on any type of schedule while underground like this?”

  “They’ve lived here their whole lives. You adjust.”

  “I suppose.”

  She had just finished another circuit of the small room when there was a knock at the door. Dean slid smoothly to his feet and came to her side. She silenced the anxiety that had been eating at her. Just faced the door with all the serenity she didn’t feel.

  The lock turned, and then the door opened. Quidera stood before them. She nodded once at Cyrene. “Hello, Domina. I hope that your stay was pleasant. Councilman Dalwin is here with me to escort you out today.”

  “Thank you,” she said carefully, stepping out into the hallway to find Dalwin with three guards. “My stay was quite pleasant. Thank you for your…hospitality.”

  Dalwin smiled. “Great. Great. Wonderful. Let’s get going then.”

  Cyrene fell into step with him as they traversed the underground city. “This is quite a city that you have here. How was it created?”

  “It began as a mining colony, and as the Tygh intensified, the entire colony moved underground for protection,” he said magnanimously.

  “Very clever,” she said smoothly.

  “I hope that you understand why we don’t allow foreigners. If the word got out about our home, it might mean the end of our way of life.”

  Cyrene smiled. “Yes, I completely understand that.”

  “Good. Good. I’m glad that we are on the same page.”

  “Indeed. And the council meeting?” she pressed, giving him one more chance to change his tune.

  “Of course, the council meeting,” he said pleasantly. “We’ll have one to discuss your appearance and the claims that you brought forward. But, as you can understand, we’re very busy with other matters. The council only meets so regularly. It could be weeks or months before we’re all together and able to get to this.”

  “I see.”

  “I’d love to get it on the table as soon as possible.”

  “Would you?” she asked, silently seething.

  “Absolutely. You bring forth so many interesting new theories to discuss.”

  “Theories.”

  Dalwin grinned as if they were speaking the same language. “Yes. About water seeking and the coming of a new age for the Tygh.”

  “Hmm,” she murmured as they came up to the main thoroughfare that led to the exit. It must have still been early enough in their morning, for hardly anyone was out milling around. He was trying to force her to flee without more people seeing her.

  “Unfortunately, we cannot allow you to stay for weeks or months on end.”

  “No, I don’t have time to wait for the council,” she said simply.

  Dalwin was about to respond when a commotion began at the end of the long thoroughfare. Cheers and chants and then the sound of drums beating a sharp tune. Dalwin turned to the commotion in shock and then horror.

  Hundreds, near on thousands, of Tyghans were flooding the thoroughfare, dressed in water-seeking uniforms and carrying Hohl weapons from the arsenal. Some of them were beating the swords against each other to make the extra clatter. And standing in front of them all was Jenstad, Rita, and Isabylle.

  “What is the meaning of this?” Dalwin demanded. “Guards! Guards! Stop this at once.”

  A few guards appeared at Dalwin’s shouts, but most of them, it seemed, had joined with the parade of chanters. And, as they approached, their chant grew clearer, “Seeker! Seeker!”

  Cyrene, Dean, and Quidera took a step away from Dalwin. Putting a foot of distance to show where their support lay.

  Dalwin turned astounded eyes onto Cyrene. “You! You did this.”

  Cyrene smiled. “I was in a locked room all night, councilman. How could I have done this?”

  “Jenstad, get over here at once,” Dalwin bellowed at his son.

  But Jenstad just raised his chin. �
�We believe in the rise of the seeker. We take up arms for the gods. We will do what we can to stop the impending chaos. It is our destiny.”

  Quidera took a step forward. “We are true believers. The ones that you have silenced and ostracized the last decade as you took power from us and called us superstitious. As you banished the old ways and claimed that our history was nothing but mythology. A story to scare children. You were going to silence any who agreed with Domina Cyrene. And you were going to cast her out before her story could grow. But her story is the truth, and we believe.” Quidera drew her Hohl blade and held it aloft. “We are the true believers. And we say no more.”

  “Quidera, you are on water restrictions for a month. Any others who put their arms down now will be exempt. If you stay with her, you’ll join her fate,” Dalwin shouted.

  “You cannot control us with water rations any longer,” Hulen said, stepping forward to his wife’s side. “We go to the wetlands.”

  “You will die, crossing the desert to get there,” Dalwin spat.

  “We are taking most of the water seekers with us,” Alchia said, nudging Cambria out of her way to launch her tiny attack on the councilman.

  “You cannot get to the exit,” Dalwin said in shock at the words.

  “I believe we can,” Quidera said with violence in her voice.

  “If you…if you leave, then you’ll doom all of our people to death,” Dalwin said. “You would leave us without water.”

  Cyrene stepped between the two fighting factions. “We will not leave you to die. But the goddess of destruction will not stop until everyone who does not submit is slaughtered. I doubt she will stop there. She has no qualms with killing innocents. You doom your own people.”

  Dalwin glared at Cyrene. “You’ll have to go through me to get out of here. My guards are still at the gates. Innocents will be on your conscience.”

  Cyrene smiled sadly, and then realization washed over her. “No, we don’t.”

  Then she withdrew a small gold coin from her pocket.

  “You cannot buy me!” Dalwin said.

  Cyrene didn’t respond to his ridiculous taunt. She hesitated for a mere second, worried that Malysa would be watching the portals. But this was all she could do. It was the best way to avoid violence. She channeled her magic into the coin and pointed it at the blank wall opposite the assembled army. Nothing happened at first. Then a blast of energy ricocheted out of the coin, and the wall disappeared. In its place was a large portal that led straight to the lost city of Tenchala in the sand plains, thousands of leagues away.